About a year ago now I started working at our San Francisco location. It’s located at Bercut Equitation Field in Golden Gate Park, and it offers everything from lessons, camps, trail rides, pony rides, beach rides and more.

While they are mostly a western program like the majority of Chaparral, we do offer some English riding options for our San Francisco and Woodside students. English lessons are an hour long a piece, and require an evaluation process to select that lesson online at sign up.

Once you’re passed through the evaluation and your first English lesson has been scheduled you’ll probably ride our horse Curly in San Francisco. So for todays post, you’re going to meet Curly.

Curly is a late teenage early 20 year old American Curly horse. She’s on the cusp of being a pony technically, but breed wise she is a horse. It is suggested that American Curly horses are related to the Bashkir Curly. Originally an Iberian horse was bred to a Bashkir resulting in a curlier haired horse than usual. Through selective breeding, we have established the Curly horse breed we know today. They can come in all shapes, colors and sizes, and the hair ranges in texture based on genetics or the time of year. Like the common day poodle, or the hairless Guinea pig, these horses are said to be hypoallergenic because of their special coat.

While the assumption would be it’s just their body hair that’s curly, it’s all their hair. Whiskers, ear fluff, mane, tail and body hair are all thick curly hair, much the opposite of the average horse.

On the left you can see how poofy her mane is and what a wavy mess it is when in work regularly and little time to brush it out. On the right is her winter coat coming in on her shoulder. There’s a slow shift to the ultra curly phase of body hair, and a slow shed out in the spring. A metal curry comb or a shedder are your best friends for this type of horse. During the winter months with all those long deep curls be sure to break up all sweat marks and such on your Curly horses as they retain all the salt from their sweat in their hair. I know this because poor Curly was stinky by the time the winter months hit due to sweat absorption and low management.

She’s a super sweet mare who will teach you the ropes of English riding, but she isn’t easy. You have to ask things correctly, she teaches you to be clean with your aids and she brings out confidence over time. She was the only other horse besides Capone who ever used my saddle and bridle so the photo below is from my ride on her when her use was low in the program.

She’s wearing my Equestrian Stockholm Emerald jump pad, my Oaklyn girth, my Barnes Tackroom Nova saddle paired with my old stirrups and my bridle for Capone.

I haven’t seen this cute mare since I left for Woodside and Milpitas, but I’m sure she’s rocking it up in the city still.