I've been managing to ride Tori about 4 days a week - I love the longer days and hope that you readers are also taking advantage of the later daylight to spend time with your horses. Somehow it seems easier for me to gather the gumption to ride after work when it is still light outside, even though I ride indoors!

Brass is looking fantastic - he is slicked right off and has lost a few excess pounds. Raime and Shasta are taking their time giving up their winter woollies but you can see where their summer coats are taking over. Karisma is looking quite sleek but not yet shiny - all in good time! I am very happy with how everyone has wintered and I expect that they will continue to bloom as the sunshine makes more appearances.

Tori is in the barn with a blanket on, so she is looking fabulous! She also tends to not grow a very thick or long winter coat so it doesn't take her nearly as long to sleek off as a hairy fellow like Raime.

Photo credit: Chris Hassell

With the advent of the warmer weather we have to pay more attention to horse housekeeping again. Mud is still an issue for some of us, and bugs will become a problem very soon. We also have to watch for grass coming up - those of you lucky enough to have pasture for your horses can refer to June 5, 2001 in the Archives for tips on how to safely reintroduce grass into your horse's diet.

And that's all for this week! Please keep those requests coming - if there is any question I can help you answer, please let me know at kristi@hiway16.com

Till next week, happy riding!
~ Kristi :)

Coming up on Friday night is a team sorting clinic with Jeff Giesbrecht. Jeff hails from Grassy Plains, and has been taking clinics all over western Canada in the sport of Team Sorting and Team Penning. (It has also been reported that he is one of the best penners around here!) There is a maximum of 20 people allowed in the clinic, and it is almost full, so hurry and sign up fast.

Saturday morning finds us eating a pancake breakfast served up by the Elks Club of Houston. Then it's on to team sorting until noon. We have a jackpot gymkhana in the afternoon, and wind up the day with an exciting round of Chariot and Chuckwagon racing!!

We also have a dance on Saturday night at the Community Hall in Houston. The music is by Rocky's Mountain Music, and it only cost $5/ person.

Sunday morning finds us eating breakfast again, and sorting until noon. After that it is jackpot barrels, followed by the fun events. ( Like cowhide race, rescue race, etc.) This is always a crowd pleaser. We have ladies goat tying and open steer daubing. We end up the day with Chariot and Chuckwagon racing again.

Monday morning finds us starting our Grand Entry for our Little Britches Rodeo at 10 am. We have steer riding, barrels, pole bending, stake race, steer daubing, goat tail tying, and goat tying, and of course, Mutton Busting! Also we have the Kispiox drill team here to give us two performances. The Chariot and Chuckwagon finals are run at noon. We will run the greasy pig just after that, then the BCBRA Barrel racing.

It is a fun day, with exciting draws to follow in the afternoon. We have two airfare tickets, Smithers to Vancouver, return, donated by Hawk Air, that will be drawn on Monday. We also have four tickets from Houston to Prince Rupert donated by Via Rail to be drawn just before the awards.

So there you have it! If you have any questions, feel free to call me at 845-2121. Come on out and cheer on your favorite kids! (no matter how old they are!)

Dawn Park, signing off.
Pleasant Valley Days coordinator

In addition to speaking with the people that helped me with the pinto genetics columns, I had contacted an Appaloosa breeder I know from one of the mailing lists I am on, and she sent me to Gene Carr, who is considered somewhat of an expert on the subject of Appaloosas. Gene is very busy this spring with judging and calving among other things, and so he put me in touch with Bob Lapp.

Bob Lapp was an ApHC (Appaloosa Horse Club, the American version) National Director from 1995 to 2001. Bob resides in Eau Claire, in west central Wisconsin. He has been researching Appaloosa genetics for some time and is amazed at the amount of misinformation out there.

Bob writes: "...there's been a lot of misinformation for years, good bit of it published in the [Appaloosa] Journal too. I took on the whole topic of color genetics in conjunction with research I was authorized to do for the Board of Directors. More I researched what had been done, more pathetic it got... so many myths built up as "truth"...beliefs folks took for granted because they didn't know any better, "speculation" by various PhD geneticists that was taken as "fact". Half of what Gene Carr and I are doing involves just trying to straighten out the beliefs from the past as we try to do our own research and help folks learn more about coat color inheritance."

Fortunately, Bob has agreed to write for us here at Northern BC Horse. He also holds a busy schedule so I can't promise when we have the Appaloosa article(s) to publish, but rest assured that when we get them, we will be reading the most up to date and factual version of Appaloosa genetic literature. We are looking forward to them!

We will also soon be covering silver dapple and champagne, two genes I am not all that familiar with. Actually, with my extreme lack of education I wasn't going to cover them at all! However, Lewella Tembreull, a Shetland breeder, has agreed to write the silver dapple information for us, and I checked out the two champagne websites for more information and feel confident I can at least share the basics of the champagne dilution gene with you.

So in coming weeks, look for the final three sections of the Colour Genetics 101 series - Appaloosa, silver dapple, and champagne!

Northern BC Horse is sponsored by local businesses who support equine sports in our area including:

• Burns Lake Building Supplies
• Griffin Crick Ranch
• Hoskins Ford
• Northern Horse Supply
• Ridennoure Paint Horses
• The Tack Store

Do you have a horse to sell? Want to buy a horse or equipment? Check the Free Classified Ads.