My name is Bonny (Buchardt) Curless. I live with my husband Dave; my two sons Joshua and Tyler; my two horses Justine and Delite; and our two cats Oliver and Smokey in East Berne, NY.
I have been passionate and involved with horses since before I could remember. I am third generation horse crazed female, from my grandmother, to my mother, to myself. I have had many wonderful opportunities to learn from and play with many different types, styles, sizes and personalities of horses in my life. My grandmother owned and bred American Saddlebreds when I was very young. I was fortunate enough to be able to play in and around the horse barn with lots of horse activity going on around me.
At the age of 9, I became a member of the Hoof Beats and Clatter 4-H Club. I learned many things from our leaders, who were Clara Marsh, Marilyn Miles, and Glenda Armstrong as well as many other folks from the Albany County Cornell Cooperative Extension.
I didn’t “own” my first horse, Bon Banary (Barney), until I was 22 years old, but I was fortunate enough until then to have had many great teachers such as; Stars Shining Knight “Sparkles” an American Saddlebred gelding my grandmother owned; Severn Jezebel, Severn Marl, and Locust Knoll Moondust, ponies owned by Clara Marsh and Marilyn Miles; and Shawnee’s Cinnamon Twist an American Saddlebred mare who was my best friend. There have been many other wonderful horses in my life, stretching from NY to Florida and back again.
In 1995 I bought a 6-month old little bay morgan filly named Finally’s Miss Bay Bee, (whom I call Justine). She was (and still is) sassy, stuck up and very opinionated. This filly has taught me more about myself than I ever wanted to know. Unfortunately, 2-months after Justine arrived I lost “Barney” to Kidney failure that December of 1995. He was only 13 years old.
About the time Justine hit her 3rd birthday, she didn’t think much of me as a partner or a leader. She felt she should be the lead mare. Justine demanded I get help if I was going to be any kind of partner for her. So, I did. I had to find a better way for us to play together that wasn’t offensive to her. One night a member of the Golden Horseshoe riding club brought in a tape of Pat Parelli playing with horses and doing things I only dreamed of being able to do. This was the help Justine wanted me to get and I started studying Parelli Natural Horsemanship in 1999.
During that time of study, I realized that Justine needed more social involvement with her own kind. So, in 2001 I bought a yearling filly for Justine to “play” with. She is a Pinto National Show Horse named Khemo’s Island Delite (who is a great granddaughter of the legendary Khemosabi++++).
Justine and I have traveled a long way together emotionally, physically and mentally. We have officially been tested and passed Levels 1, 2, and 3 of the Parelli program. I will continue to learn from these magnificent animals... Where do we go from here? The sky and our imagination is the limit!