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IN THIS ISSUE

 

* Our New Shire Mare
  - Gentle Giant's Princess - "Tess"

* North Fork Cash update
  with Trick Trainer Jackie Johnson

* Upcoming Events for North Fork

* Facebook and LeapFish

* A Gypsy Cob Movie Star in
  "The Greening of Whitney Brown"

 

February 2010 / March 2010

Happy Spring everyone! Yes, we just had the last snow storm early last week, and now it’s all melted and the weather is warm and sunny. Of course, with all the melting comes the mini-lakes in the paddocks and pastures, and the lovely fresh smell of horse - well - you know, coming through the window, carried on the breeze! But hey, we’re not complaining! We are looking forward to our first foal of the year, have been busy getting registered for the shows we’d like to be in, and after many road trips, have bought our first Shire mare.

So it’s been busy as usual but all is well and we’re excited about our breeding and training program this year. Relax and grab a coffee and find out some of the things that have been going on at North Fork. As usual, we’d love to have your questions or comments, so if there’s anything you’d like to talk about with us please feel free to email us at info@northforkhorses.com.

We hope you enjoy our updates and find something we've shared to be of help or interest. Make sure you stop by our website for more on the highlighted stories or to check out our horses for sale.

North Fork e-news - your source for news, information and fun facts.

Our New Shire Mare - Gentle Giant’s Princess - “Tess”

We are very excited to announce our very first Shire mare, Gentle Giant Princess “Tess”.

Born in 1998, her sire is Fox Valley Felix's and her dam is Gentle Giant’s Dynasty. At approximately 17.2hh, Tess will be a very welcome addition to our brood mare lineup. She is a fully registered Shire in both Canada and England. As a yearling in 1999 she was awarded a "Classic" in the Alberta Horse Improvement Program, the Junior Champ Shire Mare at the Calgary Stampede and National Shire Show of Canada and the 1st Place Shire Broodmare at the same show in 2002. Her daughter Gentle Giant Nikita was an AHIP "Classic" in 2003, Jr Champion in Calgary 2003, & Grand Champion in Olds, 2004. Her daughter Gentle Giant Sheba was Grand Champion in Calgary in 2008 and her daughter Gentle Giant Ava was the Champion Shire Foal at the 2009 Alberta Foal Show.

We decided to introduce Shires into our breeding program in response to a great demand for the taller Gypsy Cob, so we’ve decided to branch into breeding a limited number of Drum horses. We look forward to great foals from Tess, and will be taking her “beauty photos” as soon as our pastures green up. Thank you Blake and Fran!

North Fork Cash Update with Trick Trainer Jackie Johnson

Cash has been busy travelling with Jackie to her clinics as a training horse, in between session of his own training. He has been started under saddle, started driving, can sit, bow and lay down on command. Apparently he’s become so popular in Jackie’s clinics that kids and adults alike line up for an opportunity to get their picture taken with him and spend time with him.

Jackie has kindly agree to loan him back to us for breed demonstrations at Red Deer’s upcoming Mane Event, an Equine education and Trade Fair taking place April 23-25th. Cash will be in a 8-10 minute demonstration every day as well as a “meet the breed” opportunity. In addition, he will be in the Breed parade on Saturday night. Jackie’s assistant Megan will be leading him through his paces while we man the booth, and we couldn’t be happier for the opportunity to have Cash show his stuff. Check out www.maneeventexpo.com for ticket information. We will feature pictures of Cash and Megan on our site after the event, so stay tuned!

"In my travels, I have worked with a great many different breeds of horses, from gaited, to heavy and everything in between. I have never worked with any horse (including my own) that has been so easy to train, and so quick to learn. Cash IS everything that the Gypsy Cob breed promises. He is smart, versatile, kind, gentle, quiet and has an amazing capacity to extend his kindness and caution when working around children"(Jackie Johnson)

See more of Jackie's comments on her Blog at www.stunthorse.com

Upcoming Events for North Fork

The Mane Event - April 23-25, 2010 Red Deer Alberta, Canada
The largest equine trade show in Canada, there will be thousands of equine related products and services, clinics on a wide range of disciplines, equine breed demonstrations, and the trainers challenge. Also included is the Saturday night “Equine Experience”.


The Calgary Stampede - July 9-18, 2010 Calgary Alberta, Canada
A world renowned event, the Stampede includes competition, showmanship, music, food and fun for all ages and interests. Not to be missed, full details are at www.calgarystampede.com

North Fork Gypsy Cobs will be participating and showing from July 9-13 with Cash and our elegant white mare Bailey. Bailey has recently been added to our For Sale page, however she will not be available to take home until after show season has completed. For more information and pictures on our star mare, see www.northforkhorses.ca/sale_mares.php


Spruce Meadows “Masters” - Breeds for the World September 8-12, 2010
The Breeds for the World Display is a diverse and interactive exhibit of 18+ breeds. Developed for the horse industry, organizations come together to market their individual breed by showing gaits, conformation, and various talents. It is a “live breed advertisement” which reflects the style and character of the breed being showcased www.sprucemeadows.com

We will be available to visit with at our booth which will also have a stall beside it to showcase one of our horses. In addition, both Cash and Bailey will be participating in the breed demo.

Come on out and visit with us, ask questions, and meet our show horses. We’d love to see you!

Facebook and LeapFish

Advertising, networking, and internet presence is a large part of getting known, sharing information and finding what you are looking for. To facilitate this process, in addition to maintaining a constantly updated website, writing articles and doing print advertisements we decided to join up with the Facebook social network and the multi-facetted Leapfish, an environment that brings all aspects of search engine information together in one place.

You may have thought Facebook was just a place to share personal information or talk with friends, but it’s more than that. It connects you to other horse lovers, other business owners, and ultimately provides the opportunity for other clients. If you wish to concentrate on business and have a timely way of updating interested people on horses for sale or event information, adding a “Page” to your personal profile gives you ability to share this in real time, and get immediate feedback.

Leapfish, on the other hand, provides both search information from all your favourite search engines at the same time, and the ability to share information quickly and easily with anyone you choose. Media is easily accessible by providing enlarged photos and viewable videos in an instant without actually downloading them. Less stress on you, and less stress on your computer’s memory!

So excuse the computer-techno-babble that’s part of this newsletter, but even though we are just beginning to explore all of the possibilities of these new mediums of communication, we think they are great ways to open up and share thoughts, information and news with fellow horse-lovers out there. We dare you to try it - even if you’re not that computer savvy, you may be surprised at what you can learn.

www.facebook.com
www.leapfish.com

A Gypsy Cob Movie Star in "The Greening of Whitney Brown"

So what is a Gypsy Cob doing starring in a movie? Well were were very excited to hear about a film coming to theaters soon starring “Odd Job Bob”, owned by Sue Rathbone and Ed Fitts of El Brio Vanners in Chester County, PA. They wanted to promote the Gypsy Cob (Gypsy Vanner) breed and were looking for a different way to do it. What started out as a script for a play grew into the idea of using a full-length motion picture with a message.

THE GREENING OF WHITNEY BROWN is a non-animated family film, following the adventures of a privileged teen whose world is upended when her parents hit hard times. Whitney and her family moves to her grandparents’ old country farm where she finds a new best pal: ‘Odd Job Bob’, a beautiful and spirited Gypsy Vanner horse owned by her new neighbor. Through Whitney’s new relationships with Odd Job and her family, she rediscovers what it means to respect her family, nature, and finally, herself.

A great way to share the glory of the breed using a new venue and actors we all know, we thought this was worth sharing. Check out behind the scenes video clips, photos,personal commentary by the actors and more on Facebook.