Hilde - our 7 year old Friesian mare - is being ridden here at her very first dressage test by Virginia Pony Club champion Michaela.  We are especially proud of both because the marks received from a highly acclaimed judge were nothing short of outstanding considering the short time Michaela had to prepare Hilde for this event and also for the lack of previous exposure Hilde has had as well.  We look forward to Michaela continuing to work with Hilde and know that more wonderful experiences are yet to come from both.

Bob & Linda (along with Linda’s sis Lauren and bro-in-law Ken) visited Niagara Falls on the Canadian side to celebrate their 45th anniversary in June 2009.

We wish to thank Stephanie Harding for purchasing our beloved Percheron mare ” Maggie Degas”.  Maggie has been our gentle giant favorite here at The Desert Rose Ranch and she has produced some beautiful 1/2 Arabian foals for us over the years.  It is always a bit of a sad day when it is time to sell one of our treasured horses, but in this case - Maggie has found a wonderful new home and we have met some new friends in Stephanie and her husband Brent.   Thanks again Stephanie and we hope you have many pleasurable years with Maggie.

It is with great sadness that we have learned of the passing of John Sharp at his home in Prineville Oregon this February 2009.  This picture was taken when Frank Bell and I visited John in 2005.  It was a real privilege to finally meet John after years of reading about his horsemanship feats and further to learn that the majority of his adult life was spent near my childhood home in the high desert country of Oregon.  Frank’s words say it best in that “I’ve lost a great friend but will retain wonderful memories forever”.

John Sharp is a somewhat unsung Oregon cowboy who is finally getting the recognition he deserves at age 92. John is featured in the December issue of Western Horseman beginning on page 100 and the article is a tribute to his contributions to the horse training world. He first perfected a technique back in 1936 of training wild mustang horses that never had human contact with the use of a 12 foot bamboo pole and this method is proving useful in other instances as well. His grand daughter is now carrying on the tradition taught to her by John and she has produced an excellent video in her own right. The article attributes John first gaining international recognition after he attended a clinic put on by Frank Bell in 1997 after which the two linked up to participate in several Wild Horse Work Shops. Frank then produced his own video with John using the pole technique and Frank has now passed on that information to his accredited instructors like myself. I participated in one of Franks clinics in Oregon at the grand opening of another of his AI’s in 2005 and then he and I visited John at his Prineville ranch where the above picture was taken. What a pleasure it was to learn from and listen to the stories of a true no frills but honest to goodness real life cowboy trainer.

Al-Rokkad (Rokki) is our three year old purebred Arabian colt that we are quite proud of.  He had incredible old world bloodlines on both sides, is conformationally correct, quite athletic, extremely gentle and very people oriented.  He has benefited from natural horsemanship training and handling from the moment that he was foaled and imprinted.  He has been handled virtually every day of his life since and gives every indication that he has a very promising future ahead of him in the show ring and then ultimately as a breeding stallion.  He is following in the footsteps of his sire - “Diadhem” of Midnight Dreams Arabians - who is a black stallion of Al Khamsa breeding who combines Egyptian, Davenport and Hamidie lines.  He is linebred to the black Egyptian import “Adhem” and is a son of the black “Aziza Al Dunn” with multiple national and Canadian championships in his background.  His grandsire on the dam side in the legendary “Bahim Hisan” who was perhaps one of the most famous black straight Egyptian Al Khamsa stallions of all times.  Bahim was chosen as the Busch Beer commercial stallion and was winning halter championships well into his late 20’s.  We fully expect that Rokki will ultimately make all of ancestors proud.

Please click here to watch his video.

We are pleased to offer our yearling 1/2 Arabian/Friesian filly “DRR Desert Rose” for sale.  She is dual registered with the Arabian Horse Association where she is sweepstakes nominated and with the Friesian Heritage Horse Association.  Her full brother “DRR Gijs” (Dutch) was a multi-time champion in both halter and sport horse and she exhibits his same traits of beauty, conformation correctness and train ability.  We would be pleased to provide other information to those interested.  Please click on the link below to view her video.

Click here for Desert Rose Video