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Mark & Angie Strem
Home: 514 NE Balboa
Farm: 12405 Harris Rd Lees Summit, MO 64063
816-935-2877
trademarkfarm@excite.com
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2007 Buffalo River Trail Ride, October 8-12 - Jasper, Arkansas.
http://www.mcrush.com/brranch/
Two and half years later were were finally
able to return to the Buffalo River for our trail
ride.
The scenery, the
people, the history are so captivating that it compelled us, like most
vacationers, to not return to the reality of our every day lives. Our
cabin was so remote that
we did not have television or cell phone reception the
entire stay. This in itself is a
fine reality check. October is also a
beautiful month to be out of doors. Especially because
there are not
as
many
flying biting bugs.
 This
year our oldest son, Colton, joined us on a few of the rides.
He will be 4
in November. What an added blessing for Angie and I to
experience
his first trails with him. Another first was for Sir Spattson.
Neither of them had been on more than a two hour trail ride. At first
we were not sure if we would take Sir Spattson or find me another
horse to take.
I had sold my gelding and my riding
mare was nursing
her foal, so I needed a
mount. Most facilities have a no stallion policy;
however, we
received permission to bring him. He as well deserved a
vacation from his
stall and paddock. I am so glad we took him. He
was amazing.
He was the gentleman of the barn and the trails. We received so
many
complements regarding his behavior and that he is also "pretty
nice to look at."
Sir Spattson took to the trails like he had been
traveling them his entire life.
By the second day I started calling him
"Sure Foot". The mountain trails
are very rocky and he would place
his feet with near accuracy up and down the
trails around cliffs, over
fallen logs and through the river.
Sir Spattson's biggest encounter was the
flow of the river water. This
he has never seen before. Yet with
only about ten minutes of a gentle
introduction he was standing with water up to
his belly. By the fourth
day of our ride he would lead us into the river
without hesitation.
When we would stop for lunch or a break along a bend
in the river he would stand like a statue and wait for us to move on.
I can certainly see why Endurance Riding
and Competitive Trail has gotten so popular. Trail riding is such a great
experience.
Most important it is time well spent with your family, friends
and horses of coarse.
Other things to do near Jasper is Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
http://www.eurekasprings.org/ Which is actually an
international city. There is always good food, shopping,
galleries and
music. Just out side of Eureka Springs is
Turpentine Creek Wildlife
Refuge.
http://www.turpentinecreek.org/ They care for over
100
rescued big cats and bears.
2005 Buffalo River Trail Ride, April - Jasper, Arkansas.
http://www.mcrush.com/brranch/
Please excuse the quality of some of these pictures as my digital camera
didn't handle the heavy humidity. Yes the humidity
came from taking a dive in
the rapids while crossing the river. Otherwise, we had a great time and will go
back. Just a perfect
vacation.
The Buffalo River Ranch Resort offers a lot for
those that enjoy fresh air, beautiful scenery, as much or as little exercise as
you
want and just a memorable time. Horse stalls and corrals are available.
They even offer canoe rental. Accommodations
include a cabin, travel trailer
hook ups, a bunk house with showers and kitchen also a place to put up your
tent. They even offer
the fine humor of owner Jim Culver.  We choose the
cabin. It worked out great as we took our son and his grandparents. They
watched him and went sight seeing while we rode during the day. Most of the
trails are in the National Park and are
what remains of the roads the
homesteaders made when they settled the area. The resort's property boarders
the
park. Most of these pictures were taken on our last ride of the trip. We
rode 20 miles that day from Jasper to Pruitt.
I truly feel that our horses
enjoyed the trip as much as we did. I rode our gelding Sonoma Son (Sir Spattson
x
Sonoma Moon) and my wife rode one of our mares, Morning Glory (
Spatts x Mi Morning Starr ).
Along the trail
were
elk prints;
however, we never had the
pleasure of introducing our horses to them. Nor did we see any of the
reported black bear.
However, near our cabin is an elk reserve where you can go and view the wild elk
every evening as they
come down from the mountains to graze in the valley.
Even though we didn't encounter any wildlife bigger
than our horses, Jim Culver was
still very impressed with them. He
commented that most visiting horses have to
stop and rest four times when climbing the mountains. Our horses, our Arabians,
didn't miss a step. They didn't stop until we got to the top to turn around
and
see where we had been. To gaze at the beautiful
canyons, cliffs, horizon,
river, streams, and the list goes on...
Introducing: Sneakers (Sir Spattson x Run
Really Run)
2005 Anglo-Arabian Filly.
 Sneakers
is owned and bred by Laura Wood of The Inverted Y, Brooksville, Fl. Laura
has
been breeding Anglo-Arabian Working Hunters since 1976. In 2005 she
was honored with
USEF Half Arabian Breeder of the Year and was also Half
Arabian Owner of the Year.
Her
gelding
was National Champion over fences; also,
Horse Of The Year for all Half-
Arabians
and Hunter/Jumper.
Right now Sneakers measures 15.1 as a yearling. Laura reports that
right
now Sneakers is living the live of being pampered. She eats,
sleeps, and plays all day.
Laura believes Sneakers
will be 16.2H at maturity. Laura says, "She is an
extremely elegant
filly and I think very competitive in the Sport Horse arena. I
have also recorded her for lifetime
USEF points."
We are excited about Laura achievements and what the
future holds for Sneakers. If you
would like to visit Laura's website, the
following is her address:
http://www.animalpages.com/anglo%2Darabians .
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLKy_37eFWs
2008 Feature Article from SHN Payback, Inc.
Sonoma Son (Sir Spattson x Sonoma Moon)
Bay Purebred Gelding.
Owned by Lyn Owen of Campobello, SC
Lyn purchased Sonoma as her new endurance
horse prospect. We are anxious to see their progress together.
Lyn writes: "Sonoma
is wonderful....I'll attach pictures to prove that.
I have really put some miles on the boy in the last several
weeks...I was
thinking of doing a race in Nov....we'll see...he is such a card....I love
riding him...I know he loves me...he'll run to
the fence when he sees my car
come up the drive and if he hears me come out the back door...he has to
call...he loves
his food...ya think that might have something to do with it...."
We are very proud!
Colton
Strem rode in his very first show on Geronimo at the 2005 American
Royal in Children's Lead Line.
Many thanks to Mary Waring
for offering her perfectly gentle gelding.
CONGRATULATIONS are
in order for a terrific match!!!
Thank you Kirk and
Linda Kenton for allowing us to help you market your gelding.
Thank you Christina for
purchasing the TradeMark Horse, Blazin Flame (x Sir Spattson).
We are all very excited
for what is in the future for Christina and Blaze.
(Blaze pictured with owner Christina Tokarczyk.
)
Christina reports the following on her and Blaze's progress:
"Hey everyone! I have a lot of great news I wanted to share with you
guys.  I have had the most
amazing past three weeks with horses ever! The first
week
was Blaze's first endurance ride where he came in
2nd place (prior e-mail).
I just got back from Zeb,
Oklahoma (around Talehquah, OK) on Blaze's
second
endurance ride and he
absolutely amazed me.
We were the first to come in
and
pulse down out of 23
riders and second place was
40 minutes behind us. Then
at the
awards ceremony they
announced Best Condition
and Blaze won best condition by 60 points which is a TON of points in best condition. He won a bucket of peppermints
which are
his absolute
favorite so he was very happy! We also won an 8.5x11 photograph of the
two of us which I am excited about since I love pictures so much! I am
just
amazed how wonderful my horses are. I am having the time of my life and I know
that the rest of this show/endurance season is going to be
just as much fun."
~Christina
Sunday Starr TM owned by Judy Demshar of Sunfield Arabians
and President of the Northeastern Ohio Arabian Horse Assn.
Judy writes regarding Dino: "We're having a blast
with him. His personality is just wonderful.
He's the
horse I've always wanted, and now I've got him. I've got him qualified
for Nationals in
both Open and Amateur Hunter Pleasure so we'll give it a
noble try in October. I didn't know
he had done so well in Halter. Maybe
I should give that a try... Be assured he's loved and
at
a good home."
The following was taken from the
Northeastern Ohio Arabian Horse Association news letter:
"Judy
Demshar continues to enjoy unlimited success with her National Show Horse
gelding,
Dino. In the words of at least one observer, "you can't take your eyes
off them" when they
are in the show ring, in this case the COSCA show in Medina
on May 28. Here the Dynamic
Duo of Demshar and Dino came back as Half Arabian
Hunter Pleasure champion and NSH
Hunter Pleasure champion. . Additionally, at
the Southwest Pennsylvania Show, Dino won
open and amateur NSH Hunter Pleasure
classes and was Champion Amateur Half-Arabian
Hunter Pleasure.At the beginning
of May in the Ohio Morgan Spring Show, Dino won the
NSH Hunter Pleasure class
and was reserve champion in the Jack Benny Class. Dino has
already qualified for
U.S. Nationals in both Amateur and Open Half Arabian Hunter Pleasure.
Dino's
registered name is Sunday Starr TM, by GG Bask Starr out of Saddlebred mare, MS
Miss D the Spots. For Judy, Dino is the horse she has been waiting for her whole
life. She
is enthralled with his willingness to try hard and to please. She
loves the way his ear flicks back to listen for her instruction and how
he makes
riding him such pleasure. We congratulate the team of Demshar and Dino for their
well-earned success as they sweep the
circuit in 2006."
Previously in 2004 Julie Ott and
Sunday Starr TM, aka Dino, went Top 10 at the Canadian Nationals in HA
Hunter 18-39 and Top 10
in HA Hunt Seat Equation 17 &
Under. (the girl who
showed him in Eq. rode him once/first time Friday afternoon and showed
him
Friday night and went Top 10). Julie says,
"He sure has found his thing being a hunter -
he has really turned out to be SUCH a
good boy and he's as sweet
as ever."
Scene's from our trail ride in the Missouri Ozarks.
Angie and I took off for a week long ride on our half Arabians sired by Sir
Spattson.
The ride was amazing because of the weather and scenery.
But most of all because we were on two trustworthy horses. Next trip is
in
Arkansas along the Buffalo River.
http://www.mingsville.xoxocandles.com
.
Our latest addition: Sally the large miniature horse.
This is Comet. My first horse.
 From
as early as I can remember I had begged and pleaded my parents to buy me a
horse. At nine years
old they let me take riding lessons. The
lessons reinforced my natural interest in horses.
A work mate of my mother
told her about a colt for sale. She reasoned with my mother
that
$800 was an inexpensive investment because in a few years I would become
interested
in cars and girls and forget horses. At 13 years old I was
given my first horse. His
registered name was Magic Sands, I called
him Comet. A comet is what he reminded me
of when he would race
across the pasture with his bright flaxen mane flowing in his wake.
My
mother's work mate was correct in her reasoning as I did become interested in
girls and
cars but I have never lost interest in horses. Even though
arthritis took over my $800 horse
Comet at 24 years old his memory and education
are priceless. Over the coarse of our lives
together we
started showing in 4-H and
went
on to
learn dressage,
english,
halter and driving. 
In the winter months we would rig up a
make-shift-sled
to Comet and he would
pull us
around in the snow. In the
summer months we
would trail ride
around Cedar Creek in Lee's Summit, MO
all the
while I would
enter him in grass
shows and some class A shows. One
year we even tackled Arabian Costume.
My
grandmother was a seamstress and she made the costume. She was such
a skilled seamtress that she
helped make a ballroom gown worn
by Eleanor
Roosevelt. Even so, making and Arabian's Native Costume is
something else. Our debut was
comical as the ring master, Bob Whitlach
had to pick a piece of the costume up
off the
arena floor with every
pass.
 English
is where we excelled. My $800 horse would always be in the ribbons.
At times we would even
bring home a blue ribbon because of out performing
horses monetarily valued more than him. Yet I
definitely learned what kind of horse
is needed to compete on a Regional and National level. Regardless,
first
and foremost I was proud of my horse. We were a team. We grew up
together. I learned that judges
opinions vary so go and have fun. If
you have to win then do your home work and come prepared. If we
didn't
win, I had still spent the day with my special friend. Comet and I
had also invested two years with
a dressage trainer. There I learned the
concept of my competition was myself. That carried over to the
english arena.
I soon realized from the multitudes of constructive and sarcastic comments that
 
Comet was not the "ideal" Arabian show horse. So with the
support of my
family I set out to make Comet and myself the
best team we
could be.
My family doesn't believe in luck
and would never wish it. They instilled
in me that what you get
out of something reflects what you put in to it.
My mother as
well would always remind me of Joshua 1:8. I must add that other than the support of
my family the most
influential person that set a solid foundation for me to
continue
showing horses is Bev Cathcard of Hidden Valley Stables.
Bev was
my first riding instructor. There was a time that Bev
was "the"
instructor in Kansas City. I still apply the discipline and reasoning skills to other areas of my life. Bev has since retired but you can
see
her center ring at the Longview Horse Park. Bev would hold training
clinics on her lesson horses.
She would hire judges that
would also explain why they made their placing and
help the riders improve. Mostly
 Bev was an American Saddlebred trainer;
however, she was
extremely diverse. In my course with Hidden Valley I was
exposed
to Quarter Horses, Paints, Morgans, Hackneys and what
impacted me the
most, Arabians.
A dear friend of the family,
Judy Warren, had stabled El Grande Uno, her grey
 Arabian gelding
there. The first time I
had rode him I new that Arabians are
what I want. Today I still love
the excitement
of a high stepping American Saddlebred. However,
riding a
will trained Arabian Western horse was
beyond any fun I had experienced.
 In
time Comet retired to our fun family horse.
However for a couple
of years he was leased by
the Ellerman family for their daughters
to ride in 4-H. To this day if you look
at the coloring and marking
of Comet you can quickly see that I love
chestnuts and horses
with lots of white. My gelding Allende Son resembled
just that.
In fact the wedding present I gave my wife is a mare
colored and marked
like Comet.
My stallion, Sir Spattson although
black has lots of chrome and a similar disposition and
athleticism.
 (pictured
right: El Grande Uno, Bev Cathcard and myself with hair) |
