A New Slant on Clearing Fences in Newton County
Instructor Heidi Dahlstrom Offers Jumping Lessons
By Lisa Broadwater

NEWTON COUNTY — Up here in prime trailriding country (where two and a half out of three horse trailers are either headed for the Buffalo or returning from it), you don't expect to hear about too much jumping activity goin' on. Actually, you don't expect to hear about any jumping activity goin' on, unless perhaps it involves a broad creek or a downed log. So when we heard that a woman was offering jumping lessons, we figured we'd better investigate.
Turns out that local resident Heidi Dahlstrom — who also happens to be a farrier, the local youth director for the Arkansas Horse Council and the local 4H leader for the Deer School District — is in fact trying to build a clientele interested not only in studying English riding techniques but in learning to jump horses. To help her in her quest, she recently acquired an 18-year-old Thoroughbred gelding named Wilbur, whom she found through the The Arkansas Equine Foundation's "Second Careers for Horses" program. Wilbur's previous career was as a successful show jumper.
Dahlstrom, who's been teaching jumping lessons to several clients using another younger horse, a 4-year-old Quarter horse cross mare named Sugar Foot, is happy to have Wilbur.
"He'll be great for lessons because he's really good at jumping," she says. "And it's a lot different to jump a green horse than it is a seasoned horse. A seasoned horse will take you right over the jump with no hesitation, while you're going to have to push a green horse."
When she isn't busy giving lessons, shoeing horses or working with AHC and 4H kids, Dahlstrom also offers a free horsemanship class (every Thursday) to area youth. She started it early this summer to help them prepare for the Newton County Fair in September.
"I figured there might be some kids interested in showing their goats and stuff, and I can help teach them and combine that with horsemanship if they're interested in horses," she explains. "I want to help the youth in this area who want to ride, so they can."
Here at the Dahlstrom household, there's always some sort of horse-related activity going on. That's because just about everyone has the bug in one fashion or another. Heidi has been around horses pretty much her whole life and has passed on her love of horses to her husband, Scott, who enjoys pleasure riding, and all three of her children. There's 14-year-old Fawn Curtzo, whose range of riding expertise is enviably broad (she's proficient in Western, English, jumping and dressage — in fact, she scored an impressive 55 on her first dressage test — and shows in Western Pleasure, Halter, Showmanship at Halter, Horsemanship and Bridle Path Hack.
There's 13-year-old Cody Kurtzo, who has trained and shown his own horse, 3-year-old Penta (the duo recently placed seventh in trail and ninth in Western riding at the state 4H competition). Cody's a whiz at the flag races and graced the pages of the May Western Horsemen riding a cutting horse at the famous Punk Carter ranch (which he visited as part of this year's American Horse Council Youth Council seminar in Dallas, which he and Fawn both attended — they were sponsored by the Arkansas Equine Foundation).
And then there's feisty 2 1/2-year-old Buck Dahlstrom, who started riding earlier this year and scrambles ably atop his trusty steed Lightning, a Quarter horse/pony cross the Dahlstroms' bred and raised, which Cody trained and Heidi also uses to work with young kids to build their confidence.

A Lifelong Passion
Dahlstrom's diverse riding background extends back into her teenage years, when she was very involved in showing livestock with 4H.
"I started going to the sale barn and buying horses that needed a little work, feeding 'em, bringing 'em home and riding them for 30 days or so, and with that money I was able to feed my livestock," she explains. "I was showing lambs and heifers and pigs. I kept the circle going, teaching riding lessons and working on different farms."
Dahlstrom had horses all through college at Sam Houston State in Huntsville.
"I always took the horse class so I could have a horse in the barn," she says. "There were always guys around there who wanted their colts broke. So I did it through the class, got my credits and kept a horse in the barn."
While there, Dahlstrom was interviewed for a job as the primary trainer and a therapist at a therapeutic riding stable in Galveston. When she was accepted, she dropped out of school (all she lacked was her student teaching) and went down there to work.
Initially, she wasn't all that interested in the job.
"But after I was there for a while, I caught right on to it and really liked it — I really liked seeing the results," she says. "Some people, we'd get up there and ride double so they could feel like they were riding by themselves; others, we would just lead. And we had obstacle courses for the kids who were able."
While she was working at the center, Dahlstrom decided to become a farrier.
"I would watch the farrier, who had been my neighbor as a kid, come — and there would go a big chunk of money because he'd shoe 11 horses every six weeks," she explains.
She convinced the owner of the center to send her to Gulf Coast Farrier School (she already knew how to trim horses), arguing that the training would only cost as much as a single shoeing cycle and would benefit the both of them.
"When I got through with that, when I wasn't working on the weekend, I would travel with that farrier to the show barns and see how to do specialized shoeing, where they really do the nitty-gritty instead of just flat shoeing. So I got a lot of good experience before I was on my own shoeing."
For Dahlstrom, shoeing is a means of survival.
"It's the only way I could afford to have horses," she says. "I can take care of my own horses, and there's always someone around who needs some trimming done, no matter where you go.
"When I moved up here," she adds, "I had to learn to shoe a little differently because of the terrain. You need a different size of nails, you put on a little thicker shoe so they'll last six weeks — they'll wear a flat shoe right out on these rocks."
After working at the therapeutic riding center, Dahlstrom's equine experiences ran the gamut. For a while, she drove carriage horses in Galveston, on the tourist strip known as The Strand.
Next, she went to work at a large Appaloosa ranch in Florida, where she broke horses and worked cows. When the owner died, she moved to Georgia and worked on a racehorse farm. From there she moved back to Texas, to take care of her ailing mother until she died.
Shortly thereafter, she started the whole process again, buying a big Belgian-cross horse for her two young children to learn to ride and train. Meanwhile, she began to acquire horses (often, ones that other folks had given up on). First came her Quarter horse stud, Loco, which she adopted after a neighbor called to inform her that he was going to shoot the horse because he had jumped on a T-post, which went in through his chest and came out his ear.
"I went over there, and the horse was grazing and nickering to me, and I said, 'I'll take him if you're gonna shoot him.' The guy was all upset because he had just spent all this money on the colt, and he tried to put him in a pen and it didn't work. But by the time he healed up, all he had was a dent in his neck. I was able to ride him and everything; he was really good."
That was eight years ago. First came a little strawberry pony.
"A friend of mine knew I needed another horse because I had two kids, so they gave me this little pony," Dahlstrom says, "and she could rein like you wouldn't believe because she was used for barrels all her life. You could rope off her and everything. And my boy just loved her, so I bred the Quarter horse stud to her to get the bigger pony for teenage kids to ride, so they wouldn't outgrow their ponies and have to get rid of them. We got about four babies out of her — she made a really nice little colt that looked just like a Quarter horse but was small."
Then there's Buddy, a 3-year-old Thoroughbred cross that Dahlstrom also acquired through the Arkansas Equine Foundation.


Lesson Info
In addition to her 4H work, Dahlstrom is offering basic horsemanship lessons to kids age 7 and up.
"We'd start with the basics — how to catch a horse, how to put a halter on, take them in the barn and brush them, tack them. From there, I would lead them until they got comfortable with the horse or I would ride double with them, because that's usually the best because then someone is right behind them if they lose their balance.
"The main thing is to teach them how to be safe around a horse. It's so easy for a kid to be hazardous without even knowing it because they don't realize what can scare a horse. Then I'd focus on what they are most interested in — let them try English, try Western. However, I think English is the basis for everything because not every horse you get on knows how to neck-rein. So if you don't know how to draw-rein a a horse, you're kind of in trouble."
Dahlstrom's goal: "I'd just like to help the youth — and the adults — in this area," she says; "if they really want to ride, I'd like to be there to help them."
The cost for Dahlstrom's lessons varies (beginning at about $20 per hour), depending on whether they're interested in basic horsemanship and are starting from ground zero or are upper-level English and want to learn jumping. Group lessons are also available. She can be reached at (870) 428-5896.