Farriers Victor Hernandez and Eric Virgin share some insights on horse shoeing. Encore! benefits from their broad experience.

Victor: I met Chuck when I was working for Dick Winter and Ruth. I was a groom for ten years and that’s how I met Chuck. He was my mentor. Holman Ranch is where I got started with the Winters. I was grooming for them. Right after that they moved to couple of different places, but it was at Holman where I met Chuck Colb. I started as a stall cleaner. I‘ve been working with horses for 16 or 17 years. I grew up in Oaxaca, Mexico. I used to have a horse there. My dad had cows and horses, so I was around animals. When I came to the United States, that’s when I started working with horses. I was interested in learning about how to shoe horses because I would see Chuck every six weeks. I just started watching him and the way he would make the shoes. I asked him if I could work with him and he said, “Yeah, start pulling the shoes and finish the feet.” I was an apprentice for five years. Eric here is a farrier too. We both have worked with Chuck. He had a very good reputation. He was amazing. Chuck was about sixteen when he started shoeing horses. I think he got his training in Arizona.

I do a “hot” shoe and I also make my own shoes. All the shoes I’m using on the horses, they are handmade. I know the measurements for Encore! that’s why I make the shoes ahead. She doesn’t want to be here for very long, so I make the shoes ahead to speed it up. I make the shoes from scratch. I have bars on the truck. Not very many people make these shoes. There’s maybe one other guy around here.

I know a lot of farriers because I see them at the competitions or at the various clinics. Last weekend we had Chuck’s memorial shoe making clinic. We had two days of forging and making shoes. That’s when I see my farrier friends. Last year I went down South to compete. Division One is just a factory shoe, trimming and put the shoe on and also a modification on the shoe. Division Two you make a shoe for the horse’s foot and another shoe that is a specimen in an hour. The judges check everything, trim, nailing, finish, the quality of your shoe, every single detail. Last year, in October, right before Chuck passed away, I won the whole thing. The contest was sponsored by South Central Classic Western Farrier Competitions. I won everything and got my belt buckle. I made Chuck crazy happy. It was two weeks later that he passed away. I think I did it just for him. Honestly, I didn’t practice that much. He told me just go and do your best. Don’t go too fast, just have fun. I was really concentrating in every class. I competed three years in a row in Division One and didn’t win anything, so I just decided to move up to Division Two and won the whole thing. Open Division is really tough. You have one hour and it’s really hard to make the shoes. There is one in May, in Placerville. If I have time to practice, maybe I’ll go.

Some farriers don’t care, but I keep competing because I learn more and get better and better and that’s why I like competing. I can make any kind of shoe, like a therapy shoe hard bar, whatever the horse needs. I can make them because I’ve been competing pretty much all the time. The hard part for me is the language, learning English. Sometimes it’s hard for me in the competitions and the clinics because sometimes I don’t understand! I like going to all those clinics and competitions because they’re judging the trim quality of the shoe and how you finish. Nails have to be in line. Everything depends on what the judge wants and the judges are professional farriers.

Eric: The judges you know are farriers who have won a lot of competitions.

Victor: Sometimes we have seven horses a day, sometimes four, sometimes three. Everything depends on the schedule.

Eric: When you first start off you give out cards all the time. Then later you stop giving your card out because you get too busy. I was shoeing at race tracks. It’s a pretty hard life for a horse. They’re fed pretty well, but they’re all hyped up. They move around a lot because some tracks are illegal. You have a track in Madera and its legal and Fresno. Guys go down there or to Santa Anita, near Los Angeles. Did I like doing that? Not really. The shoeing depends on the race and the training, but you just put them on right away, every two weeks. The shoes they don’t want them too long to avoid hurting a tendon. It all depends on the trainer. I worked a lot of different tracks and a lot of match races too.

I lived in Guadalajara for four years. My Dad and Grandmother are still there. I did horse shoeing there. I started in 2002. I had some horses too. I went to school in Sacramento. After that, I apprenticed with some farriers at Woodside. I met Chuck later on and apprenticed with him.

Victor: To shoe a horse properly, it takes five, six or seven years to learn how. Everyday you’re still learning something.

Eric: At that same time you might have customers on the side. I’d do them on the weekends. I used to ride and train horses. I had reining horses. I’ve tried other jobs. I’ve had good jobs, but I come back to horse shoeing.

Victor: I just want to keep shoeing horses for the rest of my life. I do it because I love horses and I want the best for them. I feel bad when I see horses shod really bad you know. Poor horses, sometimes I don’t know how they still walk.

OK, all done.

~ Catalina

Encore! returns to Stonepine. The doomsday sky from the troubling fires that have engulfed the West finally clears in Carmel Valley. It is a challenging time on so many fronts that a slice of simple stable life might be a refreshing pause. . .

Stonepine is located in Carmel Valley just past the Carmel Valley Village. The stable is home to a variety of horses learning a variety of disciplines. Encore! is learning dressage and hopefully will arrive at the point that she can perform a Grand Prix freestyle choreographed to sizzling Latin music. Other horses are learning and refining jumping skills. Olympic rider Lauren is putting all the disciplines together as a USET Three Day Event rider for the Olympics in Tokyo whenever they happen. You get the picture. All levels of riding and all kinds of horses call this picturesque equestrian compound home. The Estate also includes more than three hundred acres with well groomed trails.

Stonepine Equestrian Estate has a colorful history. Hence the Estate is officially designated as an Historic Hotel under National Trust for Historic Preservation. Years ago the Hollywood crowd frequented the Estate’s Chateaux Noel to enjoy a private golf course in the middle of a forest of oak and a few patches of redwood and pine forest with giant Stone Pine trees growing strategically in the landscape. The Thoroughbred breeders stayed at Stonepine along with their elite thoroughbred race horses and the Polo players hit goals on the polo field that is now a jumping arena and dressage court inside a four furlough race track. At the Chateaux the natural pond and the traditional swimming pool bring coolness to the California chaparral. The stately elegance of yesteryear still lingers in this quiet oasis of refinement.

When Ramone Becerra and his wife Carolyn delivered Encore! home to Stonepine after the fire, they ran into Gordon Hentschel, owner of Stonepine since 1983. Ramon and Gordon shared mutually fond memories of Ramon’s monthly Wild West shows at the Estate.

One event stands out in my mind. Ramon played Zorro and rode a black horse into the party celebrating Bob Hope’s ninetieth birthday! True to Zorro’s fame, the horse reared and Ramon rode up to the head table with a rose in his mouth and delivered it to Bob Hope’s wife and then galloped away! I could feel the fun and the sparkle in their reunion. It gave me a glimpse of what it must have been like back in the days of Bob Hope’s Hollywood.

The ranch was founded in 1927 by Henry Porter Russell, a founder of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association and was known as the “Double H Ranch”. It’s not surprising that through the years it has hosted celebrities, international businessmen and business women, world dignitaries and statesmen and stateswomen. The beauty of this place is it’s absorption of all the history of tinsel and glamour into a serene and simple stable of big hearted horses and generous caring people.

I was in my art studio when I got the call…

“We’re evacuating Stonepine.” Lauren speaks calmly. I’m stunned but not surprised, if that makes sense. The old oak forest, dry grasses and undergrowth are fuel for a random lightning strike. Lauren continues, “The fire is six miles away. How far away are you?” “I’m in Pacific Grove.” Lauren is decisive, “We’ll load Encore! and take her to Steinbeck Equine Veternary Clinics in Salinas. We’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

My own horse trailer stands idle at Stonepine threatened by encroaching fire. I jump in my truck and drive half an hour to Steinbeck Equine Clinics just a couple hundred yards east of highway 68, near where the River Fire is ranging to the southwest. Encore! has already arrived and is in the mare barn. I wait for an attendant, fill out paperwork, and then go to see Encore!. Horses know. They know when there is danger. Encore! is subdued and affectionate. She seems to ask “Are we OK?”

Encore! just recently learned to trailer under the masterful skill of Ramon Becerra. She just recently moved to Stonepine and now she’s moved to an equine clinic while smoke fills the sky and evacuations everywhere are speedily underway. I stay with Encore! for a time, then drive back to Pacific Grove. However, on the way out the driveway of the clinic I see billowing flames in the distance. I turn around and notify the staff.

“Yes, we have our eye on it. We’ll let you know if anything changes.”

I continue on back to Pacific Grove and choke up as I see horse trailers coming and going, all working to save livestock from the rapidly expanding River and Carmel fires.

The next morning I call the clinic and Encore! has been moved to a place in Gilroy. Finally, I find out she’s moved again and not sure where. Then I get a call from Ashly who tells me Encore! has been taken to her mom’s house in Hollister, but will have to find another place in the next day or two…

The sky is getting progressively darker and it’s morning. I watch the news and see that alternatives for Encore! narrow. I remember Susan Ashbrook’s generous offer when the fire first broke out that she would come pick up Encore! and take her back to Lompoc. I call Susan.

“Can I take you up on your offer? It’s out of control here and any options I had are up in smoke!”

Susan says she’ll leave after lunch. True to her word she arrives at 4:00 p.m. in Hollister and we load up Encore! for another evacuation to Lompoc. This time it’s to the ultimate horse spa! Susan is the creator of EquineVIP Shampoo and Conditioner, and rides horses that shine in the dressage arena.

As fire crews work to tame the flames of this perfect storm of disastrous conditions, I hope that all livestock and wildlife find unique sanctuary from this devastating fire event.

Friends in the time of fire are precious. Encore! is still in Lompoc enjoying her naps, her full bin of hay, exercise in the round pen and all the amenities of Susan’s equine spa.

~Catalina

Two and a half months ago, preparations for Encore! began for her move to Stonepine Estate, in Carmel Valley, CA. At eight years old, Encore! had enjoyed a life of unrestricted movement, in a large paddock and five acres of free range. Unfortunately, her education suffered a large gap. I didn’t have a truck or trailer to teach her the basics of riding the roads in a horse trailer to enjoy adventures beyond our trail rides and low level dressage.

Gratefully, Ramone Becerra stepped in to fill the gap. His superior abilities as a horseman, with uncanny understanding of horses, brought Encore! through some difficult moments to final acceptance of loading up and driving out in a horse trailer created by Sundowner and supervised by Sundowner Representative, Matt Heacock, of Heacock Trailers and Truck Accessories.

One of his spectacular feats of horse training prowess is demonstrated in country pop singer Shania Twain’s YouTube video of her Las Vegas show that features Shania riding an Andulusian horse on stage to sing the opening song “You’re Still the One.”

With Encore! Ramone first had to trailer Encore! to his training operation, which was a significant challenge, but in Ramone’s own words, he simply “never gives up and there’s only one outcome.” If patience is a virtue, and we all know it is, Ramone has it in spades. Ultimately, he had to back Encore! into the trailer with the wry statement, “Sometimes you have to fool them.” and fool Encore! he did. She was loaded up after a struggle that ended up defeated by Ramone’s unflagging patience.

On Tuesday, July 21, 2020, Ramone with his wife Charlotte and daughter Catherine delivered Encore! to Stonepine Estate.

I found out that years ago Ramone performed in monthly Wild West Shows at Stonepine. So it is that Encore! gave to Ramone an opportunity to revisit a past full of amazing equestrian entertainment.

Catalina

Broad hats and weather worn faces, everyday’s a picnic and a rodeo.

-Tim McIsaac

This week I had the pleasure of sitting aloft Encore! in a collected-light-airy-canter for three strides; like being on a carousel (where a sculptured horse slides up and down a pole while the base circles around and round). It was an extraordinary feeling and, for a moment, I experienced a dream realized.

Encore! is a thoroughbred born to run long, flat and fast; which she does daily, on her own, with bucking and jumping thrown in, just for the fun of it. She’s bred to win races, not to dance up and down. Today, I experienced what I only hoped was possible. She lifted and squeezed her powerful forward movement into a collected couple of strides and danced! The best part is she chose to do it herself. It’s the first time I felt the athletic lightness that comes naturally to the Akhal-Teke horses I used to ride in the wild hills behind Los Alamos, CA and, in the back country , on the coast behind Refugio Beach, in Santa Barbara County, CA.

Anyone that has a dream of doing something difficult has experienced, “the hint of success” that keeps one trying to achieve the goal. Today the hint of “it’s possible” brought joy into the challenge and, as the moon was rising on our left and the sun setting on our right, I decided we deserved a trail ride to celebrate.

The gate was already open, so after finishing our transition exercises (with my valiant effort to glue my seat to the saddle at the sitting trot) we headed out on a springy walk for the open country next door.

I chose a new direction after we passed the flapping tarp that floats above an unfortunate calf that spends his days eating in confined quarters unsuspecting of an inglorious end on someone’s plate on a table. Encore! boldly walked by without concern, which was an achievement all its own.

We crossed the street and headed out through an open meadow with a small neglected pomegranate orchard and uninhabited house. Normally, we take the trail through the oak tree thicket, but wisdom whispered it’s late and a deer might flash out in front of us causing both of us to over-react. When I ride the wild alone with Encore! I try to err on the side of caution to keep us safe.

As we traveled on the edge of the forest, Encore! was buoyant from her happy workout on the dressage arena and tried to hurry ahead. I checked her enthusiasm on every stride and gave the rein when she complied. Sure enough, on the far side of the meadow, a young buck bounced across a safe distance ahead of us and ran into the thicket, on the hill beyond us. Encore! took notice, but didn’t worry. It was a lesson confirmed in listening to wisdom.

At the top of the hill, we stood, quietly, while we watched the sun drop down through the fog bank over the Pacific Ocean. A sliver of light outlined the place where the river meets the sea and a silver lining shined under and above the fog bank to give us a narrow view of the sea. This was our reward for making the steep climb. Behind us the rising moon took over and provided a soft light for the way home.

~ Catalina