Kenansville, Fl: The Great Florida Cattle Drive of 2006 took place from Dec 6-Dec 9 in mid Florida. The event was a re-creation of the great cattle drives that took place in Florida during the last century. One other cattle drive has taken place in modern times -- THE GREAT FLORIDA CATTLE DRIVE '95 which was held to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Florida’s Statehood. Then, one cow-hunter from each of Florida's 67 Counties - along with 700 trail riders and 100 horse drawn wagons - set out to move 1,000 head of Cracker Cattle 70 miles along the historic Peavine Trail in South Central Florida from Yeehaw Junction to Kissimmee. It took six days and was witnessed by 15 to 20 thousand spectators who cheered and applauded the trail worn Cow Crew and Wagon Train as they arrived with the massive herd of cattle. This historic reenactment drove home the point that Florida has significantly contributed to the development of the cattle industry in the United States. Ever since the first cows and horses set foot on this continent in Charlotte Harbor in 1521, the Sunshine State has played an important role in this vital industry. Florida Cattlemen still send over one million feeder calves annually to feed lots and backgrounders across the Nation, making Florida one of the top cattle producing States in the Nation. But worries are that with ranchland rapidly being turned into tourist destinations, no more cattle or historic cattle drives will be possible. Thus the 2006 re-enactment.

The 2006 drive was somewhat smaller than in ‘95, covering only 50 miles, but still had plenty of cows and 500+ riders along with a number of wagons. It crossed many historic locations such as Nine Cabbages, the Whaley Ranch, the native Florida wilderness of Three Lakes Wildlife Preserve, the North boundary of Lake Kissimmee, the Joe Overstreet Ranch, and many other long time working cattle ranches in the Heart of Florida's "Cow Country". And the 2006 drive had something that the 95 drive didn’t! Balmullo’s Swamp Fox (Seven Hills Grey Ghost x Ballywhim Candace) aka Buddy with owner Barbara Beckford carried a flag for the ACPS and gallantly trekked and swam his way across central Florida.

Buddy didn’t seem to mind the cold or primitive conditions….. he carried a heavy Western saddle and lots of gear (although tents and personal items were carried in trucks and picked up each night by participants). The Western saddle was a requirement (although Buddy went in a bitless bridle that was overlooked by the cow boss) as even attire was carefully edited: no tennis shoes or ball caps were allowed, and no T-shirts, either. But, as one participant observed, “it's hard to completely escape reality. Sheriff's deputies escorted us across a busy road early yesterday morning. Emergency Medical Technicians followed on all-terrain vehicles, and a trio of pick-up trucks brought up the rear of the wagon train. Cell phones ring constantly, port-a-potties are available for those who prefer privacy to the great outdoors, and the caterer -- yes, caterer -- has so many generators and RVs that the "chuck wagon" feels more like the food area at a carnival. One night dinner was cooked by a chef from the Food Network.”

Barbara had always been a Quarter Horse or TB person…until she met and fell in love with Buddy. But after she bought Buddy she gave her Quarter Horse to friend Stephanie Davis who also went on the Cattle Drive. Barbara was never sorry for a minute! This is what she had to say about Buddy…

“Having spent most of his five years lolling in the pastoral fields of Balmullo Farm, the cattle drive was a very big adventure for Buddy. He took it all in stride, rapidly overcoming fear of many new things such as red portable water troughs being filled by firetrucks, drafthorse drawn wagons, cracker whips, mules, less-than-sane horses and even cow piles! The first morning out he was wary of the large palmetto stands (could there be cougars hiding in there?) but by the end of the day, true to his breed, he was munching on them. Our "wagon wheel" which was comprised of all the folks from our region of the state got to "drive" the cows after lunch the first day. After an initial adjustment phase where Buddy kept a very close eye on the moving herd, he got right into the spirit of driving cattle, dropped his head and walked quickly along with the herd as if he was born doing it. He is a very bright, if somewhat bratty, pony and we had a bit of excitement the 3rd night of camping when Bud and his companion discovered that our portable electric fence was no longer electrified! When we checked on them around 5am we found that our OK Corral was not so OK--it was empty! We found them a few campsites away visiting some other cowponies. True to his name, Swamp Fox loves to play in the shallow lakes in our area and on one windy, cold evening as we were riding into camp after our longest ride of the week, I rode Buddy down to a small pond for a drink. He was pretty thirsty and being a brave and forward pony, didn't stop at the edge but plowed on into the middle only to find himself swimming; it was DEEP! The water came up over his back and almost over the saddle. It really surprised both of us but after a couple scary seconds he found solid ground underneath again and pulled us out to the other side, both of us pretty covered in mud and drenched! I borrowed a blanket for Buddy and found a campfire for myself and we both survived without catching pneumonia! It was impressive to me how quickly Buddy adjusted to the clamor of this event. Several horses colicked and had other problems. Buddy never even acted tired. He was a pistol to the end of the drive. He was a champ.”

One of the other riders observed, “The participants here seem divided into two groups: ranchers who are here to make a point about Florida's vanishing ranch lands, and horse lovers who saw an opportunity to spend five days in the great outdoors with their horse. I am among the horse lovers. Horses are how I get my spirit back. When I get on a horse's back and go to the woods, it's better than paying any psychiatrist." Especially when the horse is a Connemara.

Windy Isles Farm, IL: Jessie Cohen, whose family’s Connemaras are half in Illinois and half in Ireland where Jessie’s grandfather lives, reports that in Ireland they have just purchased a new mare, 8 year old Carragh Glass (Rynn Richard x Glenmore Daisy [by Maam Hill]) who is in foal to I Love You Melody for the Spring. Their other mares in Ireland, Harwells Jenny Wren (Maam Hill x Anna's Girl [by Ormond Oliver]) - in foal to Ashfield Storm Cloud -- and Woodhaven Molly (Ashfield Storm Cloud x Woodhaven Sally [by Moyvoon Star]) -- in foal to Shadows Dun -- are also due in the Spring. All of their mares in America - *Cree Lady (Forest View Sparrow x Castletown Girl [by Mervyn Kingsmill]), *Summer Sun (Ashfield Jovial Joker x Silver Lady [by Thunderbolt]), *Catherine's Pride (Gurteen Paddy x Annagh [by Robin Hood]) are in foal to *The Quietman (Moy Hazy Cove x Balthin Chonamara [by Cloonisle Cashel]) for Spring Foals, making it 6 Connemara foals expected this spring in Ireland and the US. Jessie and family are going to Ireland for Christmas and she promises to have lots of stories and photos when she returns. Jessie has many entertaining stories of her grandparents and their ponies in Ireland with which she regularly entertains the Yahoo Connemara Pony One-list group. One of her favorites is when her Grandma was left at home alone while Grandpa went for groceries…. Says Jessie, “Now even Grandma will admit to you she's terrified of horses (one end kicks and the other bites) - she's a Dublin City girl who had the bad luck (her words) to marry a Clare farmer. About twenty minutes after Grandpa left she just happened to look out the window to see Windy (Windy Day, stallion of National Geographic fame and sire of Windy Isles that stands at Ridgetop Farm in Virginia) jump the fence and go trotting down the road. None of the neighbors were home and she had no one to call and nothing to catch him with. So she grabbed one of her scarfs and ran after Windy. She managed to catch him and looped it around his neck and put him back into his stall. Poor Grandma was shaking and Windy was just staring at her with a baffled look on his face. Sure says something about the Connemara temperament…..”

Atlanta, Ga: On December 10th Rai Pullin and Caraway Charlotte aka Lottie (Maplehurst Michael Macdaire x Wensum Plum [by Hearnesbrook Fastnet])) attended a clinic with Mark Russell, author of Lessons in Lightness. Rai said, “ As soon as we walked into the arena Mark asked if Lottie was a Connemara Pony. I thought it was fun that a non Connemara person could so easily peg her as a Connemara! We fully enjoyed our session and both learned a great deal. Mark worked with Lottie on elevating her frontquarters and suppling her hindquarters. He approaches lightness from the inside out and focuses on aligning the horse's spine and relaxing the muscles which then leads to flexion and strength.” Lottie has also been featured in their local feed and seed store ad. Rai had completely forgotten this until she opened her issue of Lake Life and there she was! The picture was taken at the Georgia International Horsepark about a year ago. Lottie is the grey with the ribbon in her bridle.