All is going well through an extreme winter. Everyone is thriving. The creek on the north side of the farm is running very full. It sounds like a river rushing by, but I haven't been out to investigate close-up. All the snow could too easily disguise one of the high-water tracks the creek takes and I don't want to risk falling though. The horse pasture is on the south side of the property, so the boys are high and dry, which is what matters most. Luckily the snow came before a hard frost froze the ground here, so with the warm temps the ground has been absorbing the rapid melt-off. Whew! No flooding or mudslides at our place.
My latest curiosity has been directed at Quigley's winter coat. He has a curly pattern. But he doesn't look all-over curly, which is a head-scratcher. They look like waves crashing instead of corkscrew or dreadlock curls. I've looked at a few Curly horse registries to try to learn more. But it does make me wonder...being a registered Paso Fino, a horse brought to the Americas by the conquistadores, could this have something to do with the gene pool among the wild horses that are recognized as the source of the dominant-curly genes? It would be interesting to be involved in the genetic research. I do know that some of the offspring of one particular mare, which was one of my grandmother's, have shown curly withers in the winter coat. She is Quigley's great-grandmother on the paternal side.
Anyway, I don't know if this makes him eligible to be registered as a recessive-gene curly or not, and since he is a gelding and I never want to sell him, it is simply a curiosity to me. It certainly won't impact how much I appreciate him just as he is. Boy, I wish you could see him move! WOW! He does a beautiful gait. He looks like water flowing. Head held proud, ears up and forward. He looks like a happy athlete doing what he loves to do...moving out and getting attention!
