"Sunny" was a custom ordered foal for
Vicki Thomas in Florida. Vicki was hoping for a palomino colt to take over
as her smooth gaited trail horse when she retires her aged gelding, Dusty. That's exactly what she got! Sunny is a big, strapping
colt, and the morning after his birth, he was gaiting circles around his
dam displaying a beautiful running walk.
"He definitely got the best from both his sire
and dam. The cross worked extremely well. I really believe Gambler
definitely helped Fancy's weaker spots in this crossing. And I noticed
Sunny can do Gambler's running walk and Fancy's stepping pace. Pretty
cool! In order, Sunny flat foot walks, running walks, stepping paces,
canters and gallops. I'm not sure if Sunny does the fox trot though; I
have not witnessed it yet. Sunny is definitely gaited better than his
dam!!! And that's really all I wanted when I bred Fancy to Gambler
(besides a palomino colt)...a well gaited mount. Getting that beautiful
color was just icing on the cake!! I'm almost tempted to cross Fancy again
with Gambler ... the results were so good." - Vicki
"Yes,
he is gorgeous, and he's so well-balanced; it blows me away. I can't
believe how big he is at 3 months; that's what I was thinking;
definitely bigger than mama.
Another good thing is he's not biting so much anymore, but he sure is
mounting every horse in sight. I discovered that if you let him into
your space, he would do alot of the biting behavior, so I stopped
allowing him to approach that close. He's only allowed to get within 2
to 3 feet of people, if he gets too close, I push him away and say
"No" forcefully." He's learned to stop that far away and wait for me
to approach. He's very smart. If I want to interact with him, I
approach him/I cross into his space and he's cool with that. When I do
approach him from the front, I will reach up from below and secure his
head by placing my hand on the bridge of his nose to keep him front
biting...it's the same action you would do when you approach a horse
with a halter, you reach up to secure them before you handle them. It
works quite well with him.
Last night I went out to the pasture to check Spirit. Sunny was about
50 feet away. He nickered to me. It was so cool. I called his name and
clucked, and he gaited up to me nodding his head the whole way until
he was about 5 feet from me. I approached him and gave him a good neck
and rump scratch, which he loves.
I'm big on voice commands, some of which I couple with hand cues that
will translate to leg clues when I train him to ride, so he's already
moving his haunches over with hand pressure on his sides where your
legs would be, and crossing over his front legs when you put pressure
on his neck where the reins would be. He also backs quite well by
saying back and using your thumb to press intermittantly very lightly
on his chest. Very smart little guy. I picked all his feet up and held
each one for several seconds. All this with no restraint, just my voice
and whoa."
March 3, 2008 - Sunny continues to amuse me with how his personality and
little quirks mimic his mom's. For instance, he is real big on food just
like Fancy. No surprise there, and his first response to you coming out to
see him in the pasture is to see if you have any treats. He does this by
walking up to you until he's about 2 feet away, he stops and stretches out
his neck tilting his head sideways so that his quivering lips are almost
touching you at arms length...a the head tilt is very similar to how a dog
tilts its head when it hears strange, interesting noises. Just hilarious.
It is exactly what Fancy does.
Saturday, Sunny and Lucky "helped" me shovel the manure hill they've made
near the water trough. My old gelding is very clean by nature; he'll pick
a toilet area and use it religiously. Unfortunately, he picked the area
right near the fence and the water trough and has "taught" the colts that
this area is to be used as a toilet. They have been very obedient in that
respect and as you can imagine in only a couple month's time it has grown
to quite a pile. As I was removing the pile shoveling it into the truck
bed (it would have taken a gazillion wheelbarrow loads), Lucky and Sunny
both took turns inspecting the pile in the truck bed and basically getting
in the way standing on the pile I had just raked together to pick up or
standing down wind so that the wind blew some of load onto them when I
slung the shovel up. Lucky wanted to get into the truck (I had the windows
down) and had to shoo him away. They were very helpful!! - Vicki
July 2013
Sunny has a clean throatlatch and his
natural head set is gorgeous under saddle (elegantly arched and low),
with a pretty head (much more refined than Fancy’s—more like Gambler).
He is still very chunky today at 6 years old, and a powerhouse under
saddle as you witnessed on the Golden Gambler Reunion Trail Ride in
April 2013. ... His natural trail gait is a dream to ride. Crossing
Fancy with Gambler did indeed work extremely well. And like I read in
one of your previous posts (I think on Facebook), the hybrid horses
from crossing Gambler with his western bloodlines with mares of
eastern bloodlines grow much taller than their sire or dam. Sunny is a
full 3 inches taller than his dam, Fancy, who barely reaches 14.3
hands tall. Beau is, I believe, 1 inch taller than Spirit (who
measures just under 15.1 hands high). His natural trail gait is a
dream to ride. Crossing Fancy with Gambler did indeed work extremely
well. And like I read in one of your previous posts (I think on
Facebook), the hybrid horses from crossing Gambler with his western
bloodlines with mares of eastern bloodlines grow much taller than
their sire or dam. Sunny is a full 3 inches taller than his dam,
Fancy, who barely reaches 14.3 hands tall. Beau is, I believe, 1 inch
taller than Spirit (who measures just under 15.1 hands high).
GAMBLER'S
TEQUILA SUNSET
RHBAA #1070059
PSHR #07-270
KMSHA #200707136
DOB: 5/8/2007
SEX: GELDING
COLOR: PALOMINO
GENOTYPE:
[ee A- N/Cr]
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GOLDEN GAMBLER
TWHBEA #20112890 KMSHA #200607069 RHBAA #1012883 IPWHR
#1454
COLOR: BUCKSKIN HEIGHT: 15H
GENOTYPE: [Ee AA NCr]*
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Blue Gold
TWHBEA #905820
Color: CREMELLO HEIGHT: 15.3H
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Jetstar's Sunrider
TWHBEA #868692 DOB: 1986 COLOR:
CHOCOLATE PALOMINO
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Delight's Jetstar
TWHBEA #702623 COLOR: BLACK |
Merry Man's Charm
TWHBEA # 698609 COLOR: Palomino
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Big Star's Gold Lady
TWHBEA #790692 COLOR:
Palomino
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Eldorado's Big Star
TWHBEA #662833 COLOR: BLACK |
Hero Merry Rose
TWHBEA #694854 COLOR: CHESTNUT |
Cindy's Image - GH
TWHBEA #823206 COLOR: BAY HEIGHT:
16H
|
Solitude's Eb Master
TWHBEA #685658 COLOR: BLACK |
Ebony Masterpiece
TWHBEA #560586
COLOR: BLACK
|
Go Boy's Lady Ann
TWHBEA #550330 |
Threat's Cinderella
TWHBEA #730274 COLOR: BAY |
Triple Threat
TWHBEA #612233
DOB: 5-1-1956 COLOR: Bay
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Handshaker's Sue
TWHBEA #655566 COLOR: BLACK |
SHAKER'S FANCY SENSATION
MFTHBA #97-53658
RHBAA #975081 |
Sensational Shaker
MFTHBA
#82-20686 |
Merry Boy Sensation
MFTHBA
#F-8324 |
Mr. Koscot
MFTHBA
#9580 |
Go Boy’s Betty Boop
MFTHBA
#F-16763 |
Yankee’s Ripple
MFTHBA
#13288 |
Mack K’s Yankee
MFTHBA
#F-2092 |
Holly Ripple W.
MFTHBA
#5233 |
Rose’s Pepper Shaker
MFTHBA
#92-40483 |
Bomber’s Potter Pepper
MFTHBA
#F-10889 |
Sun’s Rockaway Bomber |
Sun’s Ricochet Shadow |
Jank’s Red Rose
MFTHBA
#81-19034 |
Red Perfection
MFTHBA
#F-15846 |
Ebony’s Honey Rose
MFTHBA
#F-14624 |
SHAKER'S FANCY SENSATION
MFTHBA #97-53658
RHBAA #975081
Westwood Farms - Locust Dale,
Virginia 22948 - stephanie@westwoodfarms.net
- 540-825-1300
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