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WITEZ BLACK
ARABIANS |
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WITEZ BLACK
ARABIANS |
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GENERAL EVENTS:
During the Winter 2002/2003 there was nearly no rain or snow. Just cold weather. We were assuming it was going to be another dry one for us in 2003.
We bought hay in January. It was plenty poor and cost us to much a bale after delivery. The middle of February, we bought one and a half semi-loads of big square bales, 50% grass, 25% alfalfa and 25% old stuff. Field had been CRP in some previous years back. The bales averaged 600+ lb. We added 112 big square bales to our hay shed. We found ourselves a reasonable shipper too, so if we need to ship any hay in the future, he has a big rig and will do it very reasonable.
January with the cost of buying those big round bales, corral panels, round bale feeder and then February and March with the cost of 112 big square bales, it cost us nearly half of what we spend all year for the horses, so we hoped the rest of the year would be uneventful.
We finally got rain, over 11 inches in May. Extremely thankful and needed very much!
We made 1000 grass bales and 500 alfalfa bales the middle of June through the middle of July. Working to six at night sure makes for short evenings. There was no hay baled here in 2002, only purchased hay. We tarped 75 big square bales of hay that we took out from under our hay shed, that we had left over from what we had bought in February and March, to make Room for our new 2003 hay. (We didn't need to, for it stopped raining and did not rain June through August.)
WE WELCOMED DALIN WITEZ BA:
May 21st, our only foal for 2003 was here! Dama had her foal, Wednesday night at 10:30 PM, one week early of her due date by NICKOHLI WITEZ BA owned by Nikki Trauger. NICKOHLI WITEZ BA is EL NIGADIN and GENESIS KOHLI's last foal, a 1999 liver colt with flaxen mane, tail, three socks and strip. DALIN WITEZ BA is a beautiful black filly with a large star. If we had the room, she'd be a keeper! Dalin was foaled very mousy black in color, but very beautiful and of extreme type. We thought the crossing of our late foundation black extreme type broodmare, GENESIS KOHLI with our extreme type black broodmare, DAMA WITEZ may produce something that looked like her dam, Dama and her grandam, Kohli. DALIN WITEZ BA is extremely nice. She is 18.4% *WITEZ II with eleven lines.
HOMOZYGOUS--GOOD NEWS:
SCHTEZ, LAYLA WITEZ BA, SERYA GLORY BE and DJANA WITEZ BA have tested to be homozygous for the black gene. So we are looking forward to their future awesome black foals sired by our black Ofir bred stallion, AN OPUS ECLIPSE.
SPRING BREEDINGS:
We bred Dama and Schtez, they were due to foal by AN OPUS ECLIPSE May 4th and May 5th 2004. They were re-ultrasounded and their foals sexed. In the Vet's opinion, he believed that Dama would have a colt and Schtez would have a black filly. We also bred DANA WITEZ BA, Djana's dam; and Dama's 1995 blue black daughter. Dana is in foal by AN OPUS ECLIPSE, due May 31, 2004. Dana wasn't far enough along to have her foal sexed at the time.
NDAHA NEWSLETTER:
This is a copy below of an article from the June 2003 NDAHA newsletter interviewing WITEZ BLACK ARABIANS:
Reva was born and raised in Red Wing, Minnesota. "My grandparents lived in Medford, Minnesota near Owatonna. They had ponies and draft horses, so I believe I received my love of horses from my grandfather."
That love of horses has contributed to a 28 year breeding program. In 1972, after graduating from high school and getting her first full time job at the Red Wing Shoe Factory, Reva's first money went for buying a horse.
With her new gelding in tow, she moved to the Bismarck/Mandan area in North Dakota after being married November 24, 1973. Having partbreds since 1972, they decided to concentrate on purebreds since 1976 and their first foal arrived in 1977.
Their first stallion was a *Lotnik and Imaraff grandson; followed by El Nigadin, their late blue black Niga son. "When breeding El Nigadin to our Double R mares, we weren't getting any black foals. Liking our Black Niga son, we decided to buy black mares of the same lines.
We bought Genesis Kohli in 1983, at four years of age at a Iowa consignment sale. We paid the top price for a horse that day." Genesis Kohli has since shaped their breeding program and was considered their foundation black broodmare. She produced a Champion Cutting Horse in both open and Arabian competition.
"Every few years we acquired another black mare. They were expensive, so it took many years to acquire a few black *Witez II bred mares. But good horses cost the same to keep as poorer ones. These foals bought in allot more money, than from our previous breeding programs."
Currently the Orsos own 10 mares and fillies. Now breeding for breeding, cutting, race, ranch and pleasure horse prospects, conformation with pedigree and athletic ability are of top priority.
Stallions that have been most influential for Witez Black Arabians include Hal Gibby, G-Amigo, Niga, Nitez, *Witez II and Ofir. Their new breeding stallion is AN Opus Eclipse, a pure Polish black stallion by Opus One+ and out of Saturnia by Strike. Eclipse has 18 lines to Ofir, the renown sire of *Witez II. He will be used with their Hal Gibby, G-Amigo, Niga and *Witez II bred black mares.
Witez Black Arabians will offer linebred Ofir/*Witez II foals. Their breeding philosophy is to outcross their beautiful black pure Polish stallion, AN Opus Eclipse with their intense *Witez II breeding program, as "Eclipse" does not carry any lines to *Witez II, but has 18 lines to Ofir PASB his sire.
Eclipse will increase the Polish percentage of Arabian blood and should increase the size of their foals from their linebred *Witez II black broodmares without sacrificing Arabian type, athletic ability and accomplish their goal of producing beautiful quality foals suitable for breeding, cutting, race, ranch and pleasure, carrying on the Ofir/*Witez II legacy.
Although weather and economy pose challenges, Reva and Lyle Orso strive to produce "something especially unique, that not every other black breeder of Arabians are producing. A strong breeding philosophy. Our horses are not bred for color, but for their athletic ability, beauty, conformation and pedigree." Outside the horse world, they hold positions as a mechanic and a collections agent for TL Enterprises. THE END.
LATTE WITEZ BA GOES TO NEW HOME:
The Shippers picked up Latte June 18th and she was on her way to MA. There were horses on going to Ohio, Maryland and two to Maine, so Latte had company all the way. We think Latte did fantastic, for she had never been on a horse trailer before. LATTE WITEZ BA had been sold to a lady in MA contract for purchase last December 2002. Nancy bought Latte to become her future Sport horse, endurance horse and broodmare. Nancy has bred Latte to Padrons Mahogany for a 2004 foal. Latte is a 1999 blue black full sister to our 2000 blue black filly, Layla Witez BA.
LOSS OF LADY BRIQUETTE:
We are glad that we have LAYLA WITEZ BA, LADY BRIQUETTE and EL NIGADIN'S last daughter. May 2, 2003 Nikki (who had our former black broodmare LADY BRIQUITTE), had to put Lady down. Lady will suffer no more. Lady was 21 years old.
TRAIL RIDING:
We went riding in the South Unit of the ND Badlands, Medora out of the RoundUp Horse Camp August 14th until the 18th with many of our friends and my Sister, Brother-in-law and Nephew from SE MN were there too. There were way too many flies in camp, I got way too little sleep, only 2 or 3 hours of a night. It was way too hot every day, we could only ride in the mornings and the evenings. But the rides were fun, though at times we did have a few areas where it was a little more difficult to figure out where to go, since we didn't always stay to the marked trails.
It was DJ's first trip away from home. He did better than we figured in some respects, but in others he needs more experience yet. Walking on narrow ledges and going down steep hills. He may have not done it exactly the way it was suppose to be done, but he is probably the most athletic horse Lyle has ever ridden, he just doesn't fall. Though the other riders just couldn't see how Lyle stayed in the saddle at times, they said Lyle must of had glue on his saddle.
One small stream we had to cross, DJ didn't think he wanted to cross it, so instead he side stepped and fell over a belly high hill of dirt, then directly into the stream anyway, of course then he was coming up out of the stream in the wrong place, the others called out branch and Lyle ducked or he would have lost his head. No one can figure how DJ can keep his feet in all of the ways he gets himself into. Wider streams, he walks right into, he seems to really like the water. He's almost fearless, in the respect you can point him just about anywhere and he is willing to give it try.
DJ can out walk any of the larger horses and has a fantastic canter, very smooth. DJ reins and stops very well. We think he would love to make someone a little endurance horse. It seems he would like to go faster than regular trail riding, but then he may slow down with more experience and training. A very friendly puppy dog disposition, he follows you around everywhere without even a lead rope. He doesn't seem to be that terribly scared of other horses, as he was anymore either.
MORE DROUGHT CONDITIONS:
When we got back, we looked at the yard, there wasn't hardly any grass left, only some little brown patches here and there, otherwise only dirt. We were so sick and tired of the heat.
Lyle wanted to lock the horses off of our South pasture later in the Summer and reseed it now that we had actually gotten some rain in May, the last couple of years it just had been to dry to do any reseeding. But now that June, July and August were here, we were into extreme heat and our drought was back, so there wouldn't be any reseeding again this year.
ANOTHER BREEDING:
We had a friend's outside mare here for breeding to Eclipse in early September. We told her that we really did not breed outside mares any more. We decided to trade care, she said her mare needed a buddy and we told her that she could take SERYA GLORY BE to her farm for this winter and next, if she has the grass for her next winter too. The lady's Quarter mare is eleven years old and had never been bred before. All went okay. I put Glory in with her. They got along just Fine. Glory is only three years old. The mare and Glory left for the lady's farm west of Mandan. The mare is due to foal Aug. 11, 2004.
LOSS OF SCHTEZ:
SCHTEZ could no longer walk on her left front leg, she was now dragging it. SCHTEZ was only 10. The Vet. was afraid that now SCHTEZ'S other front leg would break down and we'd have to put her down. But he said it would have been good, if she could first have her foal.
SCHTEZ and her unborn black filly (THAT HURT THE MOST), was laid to rest September 11, 2003. To bad her filly wasn't due earlier, she wasn't due until May 5, 2004. SCHTEZ 498826 was foaled June 23, 1993, sired by EDS WITEZ (Niga x Mona Witez) and out of SCHAKA (Hal Gibby x Ni-Ah). The Vet. said she would not have made the winter. This was very sad and upsetting, but it was for the best. I know we will never buy a lame horse like SCHTEZ again, it is just to heart breaking.
There has been a Memorial Page added to our website. EL NIGADIN, GENESIS KOHLI, LADY BRIQUETTE, SCHTEZ and her unborn black filly are there.
MYCHAELA WITEZ BA GOES TO NEW HOME:
WITEZ BLACK ARABIANS offered MYCHAELA WITEZ BA, a 1995 black EL NIGADIN daughter out of a black Hal Gibby daughter for sale. Our last black EL NIGADIN daughter to be offered for sale. Now we only have two blue black EL NIGADIN daughters retained for our breeding program. Mychaela was Sold Under Contract to Purchase to Elizabeth Huyck of St. Ignatius, MT.
Liz is a 45 year old lady that just moved down from Alaska to MT. Liz bought her first horse last Fall and moved her down with her to MT with her 4 cats and 3 dogs. Liz e-mailed me just before her moving trip down from Alaska to MT and said she wanted to purchase Mychaela. That was April 21st, the contract was signed the 5th of June.
We're so pleased Mychaela has found a wonderful new home. Liz had been living in Arlee, MT all by herself with her other horse, 3 dogs and 3 of her cats without even running water. Liz just moved a valley over to St. Ignatius, MT and her daughter and another cat joined her. Liz was originally from CA.
Liz wrote: I know I keep repeating myself, but I truly can't thank you enough, Mychaela will be so loved and well kept. I don't know if you really know the little girl dream you helped fulfill, yes mine. 45 years old and it is so awesome to know that you have helped fill that dream. I love Jewel and will always keep her, but to own a beautiful Black Arabian Mare with such awesome lineage on top of all of it. Is just to much to see sometimes and believe sometimes. But it is so true and so way COOL, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. We will keep you posted on our comings and goings in the years to come. THANK YOU again.
I wrote back: I hope Mychaela can and will live up to all your dreams you expect of her. Mychaela has a real responsibility to live up to all your dreams, I hope she can for you. Liz wrote and said we could plan on having Mychaela shipped October 16th.
FLORIDA TRIP:
So we made definite airplane reservations for our Florida trip. We flew out from Minneapolis October 23rd and came home November 3rd. We had hoped the weather would hold and Winter wouldn't come to early this year. But that wasn't to be the case.
(We got home around midnight Monday night Nov 3rd from Minneapolis, MN 450 miles. The driving conditions were not good most of the way. Most of the time it was freezing drizzle, but toward the end of the trip it had turned to all snow. It was very hard to leave the mid eighties of Orlando, FL everyday for 12 days, for this!!!)
REPORT RECEIVED ABOUT MYCHAELA WITEZ BA
Liz signed up MYCHAELA WITEZ BA for a Pat Parelli class after her arrival at her new home in MT on October 19 for November 1 & 2. She wrote: Mychaela was a dream, she was lots of fun and I really learned allot about her. She does want to learn so much and I have to watch my energy because when I get excited she gets excited, but when I stay calm she stays calm and we both learn more.
She did everything I asked of her and I even rode her bare back with just a halter and 1 rein and then a saddle with a halter and 1 rein again. I learned so much about her and I have to say everyone really liked her and thought she was beautiful and so soft. She is very sweet. And she did give me a really good work out, but it was still lots of fun.
Liz informed us, she was now moving to TX November 14th. So now Mychaela has become a Texan.
BHR HOSANS KAPTAIN ADDED TO OUR RIDING HORSES:
On Labor Day we made a 460 mile round trip, looked at and purchased BHR HOSANS KAPTAIN, he is by the same sire as our BHR HOSANS FANCY FACE. Kaptain is a 15.1+ hands black tobiano gelding foaled June 10, 1991. IAHA # 2A 303514 and PtHA # 67455. Kaptain is 13/16 Arabian in blood, 1/8 grade tobiano pinto and 1/16 TB. Kaptain is a quiet-natured horse. They had owned him for the last 10 years. He is a big horse, larger than Fancy in all ways, bone and size. Not quite as typey as Fancy. Fancy is only 1/2 and he is 13/16 Arabian. I think Kaptain will be a nice horse, at least Lyle can't complain about the size of his horse anymore. Lyle said if he does okay, maybe even I can ride Kaptain and he'll take Fancy back, well we will see about that.
Kaptain will be one of our trail horses, also used for trail riding in the North Dakota Badlands and Killdeer Mts. And where ever else we decide to venture, maybe to the Mts. in MT and WY too. We brought Kaptain home September 6. KAPTAIN IS THE 97TH HORSE THAT WE HAVE OWNED.
HORSE BREEDING BUSINESS:
Lyle would like us to quit breeding. I told Lyle, we need to keep a bare minimum of three or four broodmares and stallion to keep in business, along with two or three riding horses. I told Lyle, we want to keep the two EL NIGADIN daughters and two of his granddaughters. To keep the *WITEZ II percentage up, we should keep the two Preservation fillies. This now includes, the three blue blacks and the three homozygous mares. Taking all this into consideration, that has us keeping six mares for now:
So due to lack of space and too many horses, we decided we needed to cut down our numbers and add a couple more horses to the For Sale page of our website.
So in November, we offered our extremely typey 1985 black broodmare in foal for May 2004 by our Pure Polish Black stallion. Dama Witez is so very beautiful and easy to work with. (Dama will be making Lakebay, WA with the Dana Pedersen family her new home in March 2004.)
We also reluctantly offer Dama's very beautiful 2003 black filly, DALIN WITEZ BA by a *Witez II bred stallion. This lovely horse, along with others on the For Sale page of our website are being offered for sale at this time by WITEZ BLACK ARABIANS.
OUR CURRENT SALES OFFERING:
DALIN WITEZ BA. Extremely typey 2003 black filly with star. 18.4% *Witez II with eleven lines. $7,500/Offer. Others offered on our website.
OUR HERD SIRE:
Introducing AN OPUS ECLIPSE 565723, pure Polish black stallion by OPUS ONE+ and out of SATURNIA by STRIKE.
Visitors Welcome by Appointment
e-mail:
WITEZ BLACK ARABIANS
LYLE OR REVA
ORSO
3790 HWY 1806
Mandan, ND 58554 USA