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  Photo of me on a Teke (Raindancer, aka the Dragon, owned and ridden by Eve Deering almost always) just to show I’m still that Teke crazy person I’ve been for almost 40 years.  Eve took this photo too.

2024 – time does fly!

Here it is, AUGUST already and I feel like it should be maybe May? It’s been quite the rollercoaster this year. Let’s start with mares…(mare is a 4 letter word, btw). Of those 5 we were so excited about last year, one we decided to wait on, one got pregnant but lost it before 45 days and the rest just said nope.

And that, dear friends, is why I don’t need to go to casinos; I gamble at home.

Big things so far this year: Barn: Rare Steeds Show, Virginia, June 27th – 30th. I went early and came home the day after. Lots of work, but so much fun!

Working Equitation Show: August 9th – 11th. Article coming soon.

Not barn: the manufactured home my mom and I had been working on for almost 3 years became a reality. Article to come.

Mom passed away in June, after being in hospice since November. She got to live in her ‘virgin’ (no one else had lived in it) house for the last few months of her life…and she enjoyed every minute. Oh, and she really enjoyed sugar…in all its forms. 

My MIL went from assisted living to memory care. It took us about 2 months to find the right place, but she is now happy and mostly content. 

Larry, me and 2 other founders have a start-up business, that we are slogging along on. Let’s hope it will end up funding our lifestyle.

Kids…growing up, moving in, moving out, finding themselves. 

Riding? I wonder why I haven’t had the time or energy? Instead, when I’ve been frustrated and/or angry, I’ve been working on my Murder Garden. Why not ride to get that out? Horses don’t tend to like sad, angry, frustrated humans, and they shouldn’t have too. Plants and dirt might object, but they don’t do it very loudly. I will write that story up, sooner or later. Here is one teaser photo:

I do have plans for the rest of 2024 – including lots of riding. Stay tuned.

2023…what to say?

So far, it’s been a whirlwind, although not necessarily in a horse related way. Between elderly family members, young family members, and the barn, this year seems to have been flying by. Good horse news: CGAT and our partner are breeding up to 5 mares for 2024! If they all oblige, next spring and summer will be foal-a-riffic. 

We’ve sold 2 mares so far this year, one youngster went to an endurance rider in California, and an older mare will be heading to Montana. Time will tell who else finds a partner. 

CG Arya and her partner Agathe in California, photo courtesy of Agathe.

The older boys, Galen and Ari, are pretty bored this year, although Ari is being used as a school horse for beginning riders. Both boys are over 20 now, Ari 21 and Galen 23 and are on a senior protocol. Still plenty of sass there though! I will update this website as I can and you can always check out the Cascade Gold Facebook page here

Looking back over 2022

2022 was, well, interesting. Our first barn event was the Northwest Horse Expo in Albany, OR in March.  This had been put off since 2022 (Covid), so was well attended.  We had lots of fun.

I knew we were hosting the 26th Annual ATAA Conference in September, so used that as a forcing function to ‘GSD’ (Get Shit Done), which was our mantra for the year.  Our largest project was updating the barn tackroom. The idea started as a new coat of paint….and grew from there.

We (April, Niki, Larry and I mostly) spent the summer and early fall fixing, cleaning and working on the tackroom.  We did go to one little show early in the year, but for me at least, family matters ended up taking precedence over horse matters.  

We did try to get my client’s two Teke mares bred, but neither obliged. So, no foals in 2023!  I think this will be the first year with no foals born here since, well, 1995. I am sad, as I love the babies, but on the other hand, I’m not getting any younger.

Our other big event for the year was the 2022 ATAA Conference.  It was sort of a nice ending for me: I hosted the 1st ATAA Conference way back in 1995 (?) and helped on several in ensuing years, along with hosting one in 2012.  I was quite sad that not many people showed up; a few of our PNW Teke people came, but not very many.  Oh well, more of the delicious food for the rest of us!  I guess it did show me that it really was time for me to step back from the ATAA and let the younger generation take over.  (OK, that was a big thing – being part of/handling secretarial/editing newsletters/etc has been a large part of my life since, well, 1997, when I was on the original Steering Committee for the ATAA.) I am still available to answer questions and have all the paperwork and files from 1997 on, but I’m not in the thick of it anymore.  I look forward to going to events that OTHER people organize and promote!

During the Conference, our latest HorseFlicks DVD was premiered.  We did that in 2021 at Equitana in Lexington, KY.  I guess I never did do a write up on THAT!  Here is a link to the video though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt9J72qwdds

We also premiered the first in a series of educational videos that we started in 2019 at the ATAA Conference in Canada, this first video is on the correct way to measure your horse for registration and inclusion into the VNIIK studbook: https://youtu.be/rYFbgV2fhhc

Let’s see, other events worth mentioning:  Aishet is now retired from breeding, she had quite a rough time with her last foal, so she is now the head babysitter. (we’ll see how that goes!) Salam went across the Rainbow Bridge; it was time. I do miss him! Aya’s last two fillies both went to their new homes this fall/winter. 

Hay has gone through the roof: there was a 70% increase in price, which made me grateful that I didn’t breed this year.  We will see what next year brings. 

Breeding horses is about envisioning a bright future – but nearly thirty years ago, when I met my first Akhal-Teke, I could never have envisioned this moment. There are now over 600 pure and many more part-breds in North America. The growth in awareness of the breed has been astronomical. The breed booth at the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky attracted visitors and competitors from around the world who were fans of the breed, including many owners. Once again, in 2018, I spearheaded an AT breed booth at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon, NC.

True to their origins in Turkmenistan, where they were raised in close quarters with their nomadic owners, these are horses who succeed best in a partnership with their rider. Their athleticism and stamina are a good fit for the disciplines of Jumping, Eventing, Dressage and Endurance, but can excel in western pleasure, horsemanship and trail competition, driving or high-country riding.

Please see the individual horse and sale pages for lots more photos, and the blog for our latest adventures as we compete in endurance and dressage, participate in clinics, expos and other horse-centric activities.  We love to hear from breed enthusiasts, and are happy to have visitors even if you are not planning on buying a horse in the near future.

In addition to the background materials on this website, the Akhal-Teke Association of America website is a great resource for general breed information. We encourage you to join as a friend of the organization, even if you can’t own an Akhal-Teke. Dream big, start small – look where it got me!

— Cathy Leddy

To contact me:

425-870-9789 or c.leddy@frontier.com