Gypsy Vanner Horse Society
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THE VANNER BANNER

June 2012

Welcome New Members

  Stacy Tejel
Roy, WA

Nancy Stern
Bellville, TX

Patricia Phillips-Wood
Random Lake, WI

Sandra Schlager
Eaton, CO

Board Of Directors

Bill Ricci

Michael Litz

Sue Rathbone

Joyce Christian

Rita Cardy-Susgin

David Riedel

Deb Noonan

 

Officers 2012

Bruce Mitchell

President

 

Michael Litz

Vice President

 

Kathy Mutti

Secretary

 

Kim Kramer

Treasurer

 

Editor Of Vanner Banner

Pamela Litz

 

 

GVHS Members Enjoy Showing At The Feathered Horse Classic in Swanton Ohio. 

 

zorro and pam
G.E. Zorro N'Co. & Pamela Litz

 

bobbywand luck
Westmoreland Lucky & Bobby Wagner

 

rita and manni
N'Co. Man In The Mirror & Rita Ostrom

 

halter class
Halter class

 

rianna and sizzle
N'Co. So Hot I Sizzle & Rianna Ostrom

 

Julie Steinmetz-Usoff and Michele LeVan
Julie Steinmetz-Usoff & Michele LeVan

 

Barbara Williamson with Marvin & Felicia Britt And WR Latcho Lou

 

dan lepley
Dan Lepley & Old Mill Farms Gideon

 

 

The Presidents Corner

 
 
  Last month the Board of Directors reluctantly accepted Wayne Hipsley's resignation as Interim Executive Director. Over the past few years Wayne had become a part of the fabric of the Society and his wisdom, insight, and experience will be missed. He told us during the Annual Meeting in Texas that the GVHS had reached the point in its growth to think about adding a permanent paid Executive Director's position to do the "heavy lifting" as he called it. Wayne, never at a loss for words, said there were too many things to be done to sustain the organization with only volunteers. And we have taken heart to his advice. While volunteerism has been the backbone of our existence, and volunteer help has allowed us to accomplish much at a very low cost, the GVHS must now step forward and secure the help of an experienced equine professional. I believe his departure was his way of saying "now is the time." Wayne left us with many items on our "plate" and the Board has many things on its "To Do" list just to keep the organization moving forward. I think we can now say that "We hear you big guy and hope we can find someone to fill your shoes." On behalf of the Officers and Board of Directors, I thank Wayne for what he has done for us, wish him only the best in his future endeavors, and hope we see him soon at a GVHS function.

A copy of the Executive Director's Job Description can be seen elsewhere in the Vanner Banner. If you are interested, or know someone who may be, contact Bill Ricci or Mike Litz at [email protected].

Minnesota Horse Expo And Gypsy Vanners Experince Love 

Attendees of the Minnesota Horse Expo had a special treat this year! On Saturday, April 28th Jalina Mcpheeters and Shawn Sodren wed on horseback in the Coliseum for all to witness! It was a beautiful and touching ceremony.

Shawn and his Gypsy Vanner stallion, Don King have been participating in the Expo for years. Shawn proposed to Jalina in the Minnesota State Fair Aisle of breeds while exhibiting his Gypsy Vanner. The Director of the Minnesota Horse Expo offered to host the wedding!

Don King did an outstanding job escorting the groom to the event, a fabulous representation of this amazing breed! Jalina rode in on her lovely paint she purchased from Shawn and the rest is history!

The wedding party arrived in a horse drawn wagon, and other Expo participants lined the arena on horseback. Congratulations to Shawn and Jalina!!

 

The other farms representing the Gypsy Vanner at the MN Horse Expo were, Creekside Gypsy Gypsy Dance Ranch, Lakeridge Gypsy, and Vintage Vanners! We had a wonderful time!


 


 

Gold Cup Futurity and Horse Evaluations

 Where: Champions Center, Springfield, Ohio

 When: Saturday, August 11th, 2012

 The 2012 Futurity classes will be held for all Futurity eligible Gypsy Vanners. You can find a list of eligible horses on the website, or by contacting the GVHS registrar for information regarding the eligibility ofyour horse. This date is also a chance for you to have your Gypsy Vanner horses inspected and evaluated. You can find the information on this program on the website. There is a limited number of horses that can be evaluated so be sure and get your time reserved for evaluation right away. Contact the GVHS registrar at [email protected]

or by calling 888-520-9777 extension 1, to reserve your slot for evaluations. At that time you will be given instructions and forms to register. Contact the GVHS office for pre-registration of these events. 

 

 

sue rathbones cart

Hand Crafted Gypsy Cart 

Brand new, has never been hitched. Available for $15,000 OBO.

Gypsy Harness also available.

Contact Sue at [email protected]

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Getting To Know Your GVHS Members
       (VB)  Can you tell us your farm name and how that came about?

DeeAnn: For right now it's Harper's Fiesta Farms. Way back, when we were first breeding llamas, we wanted something with our name in it but with a South American flair. We will probably give the Gypsy Vanner breeding program its own name, anyway, thinking about it.

(VB) Did you own horses before the vanners and if so tell us about them please.

DeeAnn: Yes. I've (DeeAnn) had horses all my life. My first horse was an older draft/walking horse cross. He was used on the set of "Have Gun Will Travel". He was one of Richard Boone's favorite horses to ride in the series. Then on to Quarter Horses, and then, Arabians. We showed, bred, trained and managed a large herd of our own and also managed some for clients. We owned and campaigned Class A, Regional and National Champions. We did a lot of breeding and show conditioning/grooming as well. I loved and still do, turning out a perfectly conditioned and groomed horse. Now our daughter, Carey, is doing much of that for us. She's a perfectionist as well.

  (VB) How many years have you owned Gypsy Vanners and what made you choose the breed?

DeeAnn:   We've been involved with the breed probably 9 or 10 years, but have owned them for about 7 -8 years. Sheer beauty and attraction drew me in. I love cobby baroque horses too and when you add all that hair, bone and body, what other breed is there!?
 
(VB) How many Gypsy Vanners do you own? Stallions, mares and foals?

DeeAnn: As I write this, we own two stallions, six mares and four fillies with one more foal due this year.

 (VB) How many foals do you normally have a year?

DeeAnn:   We usually only have about three a year, but that will probably increase to around four a year.
 
(VB) Do you put a limit on how many foals you have a year and if so how many and please explain why.

DeeAnn: We don't really set a limit, but I think for us somewhere around four is a good number in order to give them a lot of attention and handling.

 (VB) Do you have a favorite out of your Stallions, Mares and if so please tell why.

DeeAnn: That's a tough one! We love them all, but Emmy (our Midget daughter) has to be a favorite mare. She just oozes cob type and is an excellent producer as well. The stallions are up there on the list too. We're so proud of them, their dispositions are extraordinary and they certainly make alot of friends!

(VB) Do you feel any of your stallions or mares are prepotent in producing one thing or another and if so please tell us about it.
DeeAnn: Our young stallion, Highway Star is very dominant in what he has put on the ground so far, blue eyes, his excellent conformation, nice dispositions, and he's very generous with passing on his abundance of hair. Would be hard to discount any of our breeding stock, as they have been retained because they produce what we feel are valuable breed characteristics. Rio has earned a reputation as being a producer of high quality foals. He's had a lot of foals and their owners really treasure them.

(VB) Do you ride or show your Gypsy Vanners and if so can you tell us
about that and what other activities you do with your Vanners and do you

 prefer one discipline over another or do you have a favorite discipline?.

DeeAnn: We are very active with our horses. We drive and ride our horses often. We also show our junior stallion, Highway Star. He's remained undefeated since we first started showing him in December 2010. He's been shown in hand only so far. Our daughter, Carey, will be looking to do some performance classes on the Gypsies. She's a saddleseat enthusiast and rides Saddlebreds, Morgans and Friesians, so it will be interesting to see what discipline she will choose for the Gypsies. I guess it will have to be whatever a specific horse is best suited for.  Carey and Highway Star were in a large local parade a couple of weeks ago and they were a huge hit. People were reaching out to them and even coming to the road median to get a closer look. We try very hard to promote the breed and be a positive contact for anyone wanting to learn about them.

We own a busy feed store here in Southern California and it's actually situated on a corner of our property. It has been an excellent way to showcase our horses to the public.

(VB) Do you have a specific feeding program?
Explain what you feed and why?

DeeAnn: Oh boy, it's kind of involved! We own a feed store, so I have a lot of choices in what I feed. My hay of choice is high quality imported timothy hay from Nevada. They get that for the main part of their four meals a day. We also add a little alfalfa for calcium and some orchard if they need to keep weight on during nursing, showing, weaning, etc. We feed the highest quality feeding supplements available to us, King Feed. We use the broodmare and foal pellets for our mares and babies. They have an excellent low carb, low sugar feed as well for horses prone to foundering, so we use that for our chubby girls if we need to. They all get an additional vitamin on top of their feed every day. We feed two main meals and two snack meals a day because we believe all horses should eat fairly consistently throughout the day. We like them plump and so far this has worked well for us. We haven't had any colic or founder.   Of course our vet would like to see our horses a little 

"trimmer". I think I heard her mumbling something about "fat" the other day, but again I like the Gypsies on the heavier side.

We don't have a lot of pasture here in Southern California, so we do have to feed hay. I chose to feed timothy because of its high fiber and superior nutritional quality. Each horse has its own special diet though. We also make sure we have a Redmond Rock in each stall/pen for a natural supply of salt and minerals.

 (VB) Do you train your own Vanners or do you have
someone else train for you and what age do you normally start training them and can you please share some things on this.

DeeAnn: Our daughter has put training in on some of ours, but some of them have come fully trained. Training begins with the day they are born. We're there to do some non-invasive imprinting and gentle handling. As far as lunging, saddle training etc, we start that at about a year and a half to two years, just getting them used to the round pen a little bit, then long-lines and then saddle training about 3 or 4 years old, depending on maturity and size. Our daughter has actually just put a halter on some of them and rode off on them. That's something I treasure about this breed. They are incredibly docile, sound of mind and intelligent.

(VB) Can you please tell us what you look for when
you are purchasing a gypsy vanner.

DeeAnn: We look for a proper cob build first, then leg conformation, a pretty head, a nice willing disposition, a good shoulder and since this is a breed defined by hair, it must have adequate feather, mane and tail. Color isn't usually a concern to us.

 (VB) Do you prefer to buy from a importer/trader
or a private breeder in the USA and why?

DeeAnn: It doesn't matter who we buy from as long as it's a quality Vanner and we feel good about the person we're buying from.

(VB) Does it make a difference to you on who you
are buying from if they show their horses or not?

DeeAnn: It's nice to buy a horse with a show record but it doesn't really matter to us if the seller shows or not. Although if someone is serious about showing their horses it does tell us they're striving for perfection in order to compete successfully. Showing can also validate your breeding stock to a point. Again, we're looking for a specific type, not a record.
 
(VB) Have you attended a GVHS breeder/judges seminar and evaluation? How do you feel about the GVHS
breeder/judges seminars and evaluations?

DeeAnn: No we haven't, but I like the idea of the seminars and evaluations. Continuing education is important.

(VB) What made you decide to reg your horses and
become members with the GVHS? Are you pleased in the direction the GVHS is going? If so or not please explain why.

 DeeAnn: I like the members that I know in the GVHS and for the most part, it seems like the majority of the horses are good 

quality. Most of the people I know in the GVHS seem concerned about the welfare of the horses and the direction in which they're going. I have to thoroughly review the GVHS policies to make an educated assessment of the rules and policies, but from what I've read, I like the GVHS. 

 

 (VB) How do you feel about crossbreeding?

DeeAnn: Sticky question with a lot of different views. For the most part, I don't really like it, but I have to say I've seen some excellent crosses that are stunning to look at and are top performers. Some Gypsy lovers can't afford a purebred so they turn to some of the crosses and I think that's okay, but I think cross-breeding will be less desirable in the future with prices adjusting down on some of the horses that aren't breeding quality and more people willing to take terms.

  (VB)If you have stallions do you stand them to
the public? If not please explain why.

 DeeAnn: We have two stallions that we stand to the public.

 

 (VB) Is there anything that has happened that is
special or funny with your vanners that you can share .
DeeAnn:  Everyday is special with these horses! We are so fortunate to be able to share our lives with them. I think you have to have a sense of humor with this breed as well. They're pretty funny and we enjoy their expressions and whimsical ways. No other breed quite like them! We did have a funny thing happen at a show not too long ago. We were waiting for Highway Star's class. There were people and horses standing all around him and he was kind of bored. I think he was yawning and then he shook his head. His new halter went flying off of him! I stood there with my mouth open and panicked.   He just stood there while I raced over to put his halter back on. Honestly I don't think he ever caught on, but even if he had, he would have probably just stood there. He's that quiet. I'm the one that always panics over little things like my stallion standing there in a crowd of people and horses with no halter!
 
(VB) Do you have a mentor or someone you look up to in the breed and if so why?

 DeeAnn: I haven't really had any mentors. We've learned everything through intense research and experience. 

 (VB) Is there anything else you would like to add
to this or other questions you would like to answer.
DeeAnn:  I have a lot to say about this breed, but probably more than what anyone would want to publish!

 

Highway Star

Highway Star winning the CH. class 

 

 

 

 

 

June brown photo2

 

"Gypsy Spirit" Bronze Sculpture

By June Towill Brown, of J.T. Brown Sculptures

"Gypsy Spirit" which is the second of the stallion series

"Gentle Giants ~ Series of Three"

Soon to be released:

"Mare & Foal - Series of Three"

Orders Now Accepted

Limited Edition of 35 / Swivel Base Included

Length 24" / Diameter 10" / Height 18"

For more info:

June Towill Brown

P.O. Box 4398

Incline Village, Nevada 89450

www.junebrownsculptures.com (775) 831-1313 studio/fax

 

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