Mountain Wind Appaloosa

                      Just some info on myself I grew up on a family dairy  farm in New York State. When I was  6 mo old my moms  friend Lee Lounsbury  had  an Appaloosa named  Redwing  T2487 and  Lee had a great breeding farm for Appaloosas. Well they put me on Redwing which was a mistake because from then on I wanted a horse . At 5 my dad got me a pony and away I went . I rode that pony for several years  until  I got Sunny a Palomino Quarter Horse.  Sunny and I had a great time he was well trained which was a blessing , I showed him in 4-H and rode him all over Sullivan County he did well even though I had no idea what I was doing. At 13 my dad purchased a solid Appaloosa filly named Duchess  Sioux she became my learning project if you could do it wrong I did.  For  as little as  I knew Duch turned out ok.  I did 4-H with Duch and Lucky and as I think back I cringe in shame for what I put those poor horses through .

         Duchess                         Lucky              YUCK bad leg position                                Dusty                         

        Showing Western and English                                         

                   At 17 with many riding hours behind me I found a riding instructor school only several hours from home. I applied and was accepted , the school (Stone Ridge) was 2 years long and you name it I did it. Dressage, Western,  English, Jumping, a mock fox hunt, I taught beginners, intermediate and advanced students and I rode all types and levels of horses.( this was way before it was cool to be a certified instructor ) and I successfully completed  and became a certified riding instructor . The head instructor Susan Harris told me at graduation to go with my first instinct, to this day I try to go with that when working with the horses.

                    I  married a Navy man and gave up teaching to raise my family. We lived in Washington State for many years and had 2 Quarter horses Boo and her son Magic.  The boys rode Boo  and a pony named Budweiser, boy could he buck. I loved to have young horses, so I raised Magic instead of selling him. Magic was a big horse and at 2  I started riding him on trails and by 4 we were riding all over the Olympic Peninsula. In 1996 Brian retired from the Navy and we moved to Oregon. We bought 20 acres and I was going to raise Quarter Horses, but during this time we were  given  Dud an Appaloosa and as old as he was he out distanced every horse we rode with. I decided at that point If I was going to raise horses it would be Appaloosas. 

                    I started looking for a horse to replace Magic who was in his teens. I not only found 1 Appaloosa but 3. This is where my interest in Foundation Appaloosas began. I brought Shawnee her dam and Gypsy home and began training. You can look on Shawnees and Gypsies  pages to see how they have done.

               I love the young horses and find I have a good knowledge as to what works with them and what does not. I believe these Foundation bred horses are sometimes to smart for someone who wants nothing more than to control the horse instead of working with them and letting them think what they are doing is good for them. To this date I have successfully trained 2 babies to well trained riding horses and have a coming 3 year old ready to ride also a yearling and weanling  well on their way.

Questions? Email us at: mwappaloosaranch@yahoo.com

This page last updated  26 Dec 2006