Teaching and Learning

Helping Chrissy and Kris, Kristina watched

sideways on the ground. both chose to improve distance (gave them the choice of quality, distance, speed)

then isolating the ends

ended with follow the leader with lots of bending

Great day!

Z was a great teachers mount. Love her.

walking and riding

with chrissy and kyle

cowboy, rain, z

walked 4 then rode 2 back

rode cowboy a bit

chrissy did great

kyle walked rain some (i think he and Rain were not getting along great)

lesson with kris in the morn

she and rio did 20 mins of passenger!!

great, great sideways

figure 8

mounting is improving

rode ellie - great ride

lots of trot and feeling her move out

rope hack, want to get back to the bit

she's ready for more

Come on, SPRING!

The weather finally gave us a reprieve today. It was warm (about 50) and only a little breezy. The snow is finally melting and the horses are starting to shed. I had a little pep in my step! I maybe did too much, as I was absolutely exhausted by bedtime.

Started with a short trail ride with Kendall and Chrissy. Chrissy and Cowboy left the property confidently, but unfortunately the country road sights and sounds were a little too much. We only went about a mile before we decided to turn around. Z was excited but responsive. It was great to ride away after a few months of indoor arena and riding only on the property.

I trimmed Z's fronts and Ellie's fronts. Z is struggling with some thrush so treated again with white lightening and managed her frogs. Ellie has a very flat foot but some good structure to work with. I didn't get to her hinds as she was having a hard time standing still with the herd out of sight.

I then rode Ellie in the indoor. She was full of energy and again, worried about the herd. She actually reared with me in the saddle for the first time. Surprised me! I brought the herd closer with some hay outside the indoor and we were able to have a better ride. We worked on the trot and circling and figure 8's. I thought she'd be going home today, but looks like she's here for a few more days. I will ride her some more while she's here. I want to build on the new attitude she found after yesterday. I had to hop off after the rearing and do some focused ground work. She worked up quite a sweat, but her idea of partnering with me was much better and she was ride-able.

After that, Steve and I fixed fence so I could re-open the west pasture. It's been closed due to down fence for 2 months. There's still 1-2 feet of snow in that pasture! This will be a huge melting week.

After all that, I had my 4 miles to walk for Avon training. I was so tired, it was more like a stroll. But I did it! Great day.

What a GREAT day...

Finally, some horse time.

Taught Chrissy and Kris together on Z. Sideways, figure 8, then riding.

Then Ellie with the bit for the first time. She was a little bothered, but we worked through it.

C'mon Spring!!

Lessons and Playtime

Today was a great day. Had a coaching lesson with Kris and Rio. They are making huge progress with every session. Today was mounting session #2, Figure 8 session #1, and sideways session #3. The next lesson is slated for riding.

Had Gem with me to coach Kris. He had a serious need for attention today! I tried to play with him while I helped out Kris, but it was tough. He gave me some gorgeous COD's though and a couple at the canter. We also did some nice figure 8's at the trot on the 22'.

Then I played a little with Ellie and we rode around the indoor. Chrissy was there with Cowboy and Kendall had kids over, playing in the sand. It's just been so windy that the indoor has become a place for playtime for kids AND grown-ups! I worked on Ellie's forward when asked and worked on trot. Her feet got stuck a couple times and I wasn't sure if she was worried or just not feeling energetic. Either way, I took it slow and tried to build the communication.

Kris got Cowboy and Ellie trimmed.

Playing with Gem and Chrissy

A little ground work - zone 5 driving.

Then in the saddle for some support for Chrissy. We did figure 8's bridleless. I trust him!

Chrissy and Cowboy did well and tried to help Chrissy with the figure 8 pattern. She put in some time, but it got boring pretty quickly. As she progresses, she'll find more delight in the small changes they make. For now, practice is tough.

Sideways and cantering

Chrissy and Cowboy - thresholds, approach and retreat, sideways.

Gem - sideways, then cantering. Some time on the 45' to start.

1 hour of mental break

Long work day and at 5:30, I still wasn't done. However, dang it, I left my desk and got to it. Chrissy had Cowboy, Kendall came out and tacked up Rain for a ride and I grabbed Gem to see how cantering on the left lead from the ground looks.

Played with left lead canter, stick to me and zone 5 driving. He was great.

Trimmed Gem.

Kendall rode around and just smiled and had fun.

Played with Cowboy, gorgeous sideways trot and a few sideways canter strides. He's so cool.

A great fall ride with some of my favorite people

Had such a great time with Jen, Jess, Chrissy today at Indian Creek. I took Rain so I could help her and bring her along some more. This was Chrissy's first ride of the year and she did beautifully (so did her horse!). Jess rode Kade on the trail for the first time and Jen and Lynx worked on more advanced concepts.

We went for a long ride - about 4.5 hours and covered about 12 miles. The fall colors were still in force and we got some great pictures. Everyone was smiling and happy! We stopped for lunch in the meadow just as the forest opens up towards Sharptail.

It was just a fantastic day. I loved this day.

A fun time with Chrissy and Kendall

Rode Gem, KK tacked up and rode Rain all by herself, and Chrissy rode Cowboy!

I was playing with leads in the trot, helping Gem stay upright and balanced and a little with the left lead canter. I was using the serpentine to help me get this done with him.

Kendall also did some serpentine, but she couldn't handle the arena for long. She left the arena and rode Rain around the property. Rain was looking pretty bracey, so I asked her to soften Rain by also doing some serpentines before calling it a day. She is becoming such a great little horse woman! Proud of her and our horse Rain.

Chrissy followed me and Gem in the trot while we did our serpentines. She's working on her fear thresholds and allowing Cowboy to move w/o holding on tightly to the reins. I'm trying to help her build some trust in herself and her horse. She said she didn't feel very fluid with him, so hopefully she'll keep riding and find more harmony in the saddle.

Fun time with horses!

Dressage Practice and Chrissy rides!!

OK, my first show is coming up fast! I realized today that I REALLY need to get these tests memorized! I finished work and tacked up my pretty gelding for some time in the arena. We tried to ride in the indoor but he needs some more time to get used to it. I didn't want to waste daylight, so we headed to the outdoor. I worked on teaching him to stretch down in the trot, left lead canter (oh no! where'd our left lead canter go?!), and trot/canter transitions. Transitioning down is not so smooth, he wants to slam on the brakes (not a dressage move at all!). OK, Tia... breathe...

Chrissy came out with Cowboy, too. She played a little on the ground and then hopped on him. So happy to see her get on! She seemed less nervous and I believe she took some trot strides. She's mounted up only a few times this year. Hopefully, she'll find more time to get out and hang with Cowboy, maybe work through some of the riding troubles. Great to see her hop on!

Nice evening. Got to go review those tests now.

Conditioning!!

A fantastic ride on Z at Highline Canal for 14 miles with Melissa and Kholo! Rode in my Barefoot and I dare say I'm starting to like it. Z felt great - she's ready for the Happy Jack. Kholo has great endurance - we're going to have a blast.

Came home and hopped on Starlet briefly and helped Chrissy get through a short riding session with her horse Cowboy. She hasn't ridden him in months, so I was glad she hopped on. She didn't seem very scared at first but she had a hard time getting him to go along with her ideas at first. Starlet felt nice and we trotted a little until it started to rain.

It's really time to get Starlet going!

Day 3 - no riding

I had a great day of hiking, hanging at the site with the family and then later in the day, some riding. I pulled out Gem and Rain and helped Chrissy work on her riding with Rain. This was interesting as she was unable to get Rain to do some things. This was eye-opening for me as Cowboy sometimes responds to Chrissy the way Rain did today. That tells me Chrissy needs to keep developing her cues so that Cowboy continues to get softer. We just stayed on the campsite, but it was fun to ride Rain and play with her before Chrissy got on. I rode Gem around the campsite a little too. It wasn't a trail ride like I planned, but it was nice to ride 2 of my horses before the sun went down.

Light day

Cowboy and Chrissy - she got on a little but she was feeling nervous today.

Light riding on Gem in english saddle - he was lethargic! Practiced our new dressage a little bit.

Some trailer loading with Z. Big progress.

Too tired to do much. Big conditioning ride tomorrow.

Breaking through barriers with Gem

Best ride with gem on the trail yet! Took him alone to Hidden Mesa and made it to the bridge. I believe this was #5 for solo riding with Gem at Hidden Mesa. It was the furthest we've gone and he was such a good boy!

Rode him at home first and it seemed like it wasn't going to be a great day. He went to bucking in the arena just before I rode. He had energy and wasn't very compliant in the beginning. I decided after playing around the property a bit that I was bored of riding at home and since I was on my staycation, decided to just load him up and drive away. He was saddled already, why the heck not!? I was so glad I did.

When we returned, I rode Starlet a bit and coached Chrissy. Today we worked on simply backing up. She was more tense today for some reason. So, again, I felt like knowing that she can stop him and back him would make her feel more confident. I decided to teach her to stop him and back him bridleless. It seemed like a good time to open her eyes to the power of her seat. I think she was quite surprised that she could do it and she had some great, soft moments with her horse. She didn't stay on as long today. I hope it's not because she did too much the previous session.

Starlet and I just played with Chrissy, practiced more lateral flexion and worked on bridleless backing. She got a little agitated at one point and needed to move forward. I obliged and trotted her around a bit. She settled again and we got back to helping Chrissy out. I'm really enjoying Starlet!

Another active day!

I started on Gem today. We did trot and canter ppl around obstacles on the property. I have only done trot ppl outside the arena on Gem, so it was a good step to move to the canter. He loves to jump, so that makes canter ppl especially interesting. He'll decide last minute to go over instead of around the obstacles. We rode in the front pasture, around the playground and around the arena. Then, we rode off with no issues around the east of the kreitzers and up the road. No threshold issues whatsoever. I was so glad I didn't push him yesterday - I'm sure we would have had threshold issues if I'd not honored them the session before.

Deb came over and rode her 2 horses again today, as well.

Starlet - I brought her into the arena and we did ppl at the trot. We started to build more lateral flexion in the rope halter. She felt so nice!! I'm ready to work her more into my riding routine. She's ready and acclimated to her changed lifestyle here with my herd. She looks amazing - muscled, shiny coat, good weight... she's ready for something more.

Z - we did some arena riding today. FTR at the trot, snaky bends at trot, some ppl at canter. She was moving quick today at first, but seemed to settle and get more even impulsion quickly.

Chrissy rode Cowboy 3 different times! Throughout the day, I'd coach her and we built on yo-yo, then some circling around obstacles or me, then a little passenger at the walk. Huge steps, Cowboy was great for her. I tried to find the right times to ask her to quit. She'd quit, but then want to do more a while later. So she pulled him out 3 different times and really made great progress. Good for her!

Kendall also got some more time riding. This time, she wanted to ride Z over the obstacles like she did yesterday on Rain. I explained that Z is a much different horse - faster and more spirited. I think Kendall really understood what I meant after we got started. She did well and she was in a saddle this time. She got scared once or twice, but we ended on a very high note. Z jumped unexpectedly at one point which surprised both me and Kendall! Kendall did great though, her seat is solid and she just needs to let her desire grow. She talks about riding some, but I think the desire isn't really very strong right now. Still, it's great time with my daughter and horses.

great day

An active day on the ranch!!

The focus was Chrissy, but a whole lot of other things happened, too. Deb came over to use my property, which was fun to watch. Kendall wanted to ride today, too!

So, started off thinking to ride Gem and support Chrissy from Gem's back. Gem had been off for about a week due to my travel and I was surprised that he was a little silly. He didn't want to partner up, so we needed warm-up time. He didn't buck or anything, I think that's behind us. But he definitely had some other ideas about following my leadership at first. We started off on the 45' and he did ok, but once I mounted I felt some brace. Interestingly, we couldn't leave the property today. Later in the day, Deb and I thought to ride out some and Gem immediately hit a big wall. I bagged out of the ride and decided to rebuild Gem instead of pushing him through his threshold. It was hard, but it was the right thing to do.

Kendall wanted to ride Rain, so I decided to set up some challenging things with her to help her develop her seat. I asked her to go over some of the obstacles, with me leading and her riding bareback. She went over a 1 ft jump repeatedly, until it was easy. I just kept sending Rain over until I saw Kendall relax. I can tell she's relaxing because she starts talking a lot. :) Then we moved to the tractor tire pedestal. That was pretty scary for her at first, but again, we kept it up until she felt confident again. She wanted to keep going, which ensured me that she was in a good spot. Then, I said - OK, that's enough! She felt proud of herself and marched off happily. It was a great spot to quit.

I set Rain up for a hoof soak and moved on to the next task. I did a little frog maintenance, but didn't really trim her.

I rode Cowboy for Chrissy. He definitely felt softer and he definitely is understanding that it's easier to loosen up and let go of some of the brace. He's such a nice horse and when he starts to loosen up I imagine him being quite a performance horse. He's got looks, confirmation and great try. I think it helps for Chrissy to see him do so well and makes it easier for her to mount up. She also can feel the difference in his responses to her if I warm him up first. He's softer in the bit and that makes it easier for her to relax. We did more yo-yo and she started to talk a little on him. I talked her into getting off of him today when she seemed fairly confident. I hope it was the right time.

I also dewormed Cowboy, Starlet, Rain and Rio. They had positive fecal results this time. I'll retest in 4 months. Gem and Z were negative - interesting that only 2 horses would be negative. Maybe because I ride them more and their systems fight the worms better due to the high activity? I'll continue to monitor. Z and Gem haven't been dewormed in 2 years. This was Rain's and Cowboy's first time in 2 years. Rio was dewormed last fall after a high fecal count. His count was half what it was last year, but still just high enough to need a deworming. Starlet has been on daily dewormer a lot of her life, so I imagine she's still adjusting. She's been off the daily treatment since last August.

Gem and Cowboy

With Chrissy in the arena, we played with Cowboy and Gemini. Chrissy wanted to start riding her horse again so I coached her for about 90 minutes. We warmed him up on the ground and then I rode him for her. Afterwards, she hopped on and started to play with 2-step yo-yo's. It was her first ride on him in many months, so a great first step.

Rode Gem a bit after Chrissy mounted. I helped her from Gemini's back, then rode him around a little in the arena when she was done.

I had Chrissy and Cowboy doing yo-yo, 2 steps, then 3. I wanted her to feel more control of him and yo-yo seemed like a good place to start. The softer she can get his backup, the more comfortable I think she'll be. She can get pretty tight when she rides him, so I was hoping just a few steps each way would help her loosen up. She seemed to relax some and wanted to do more. I talked her out of it, though. I'm trying to encourage her to respect her thresholds and reward herself when she relaxes by getting off and patting herself on the back.

Great to see her back on her horse!

Cowboy and Zarah

Zarah was quite the RBE today. I decided to do PPL on the property at the trot. That horse is so fast! It seemed to really calm her and after 5 minutes or so, she started to move her feet slower. We then went into the arena to try PPL at the canter and just move her feet more. She calmed way down and I got a great, soft trot that had tons of elevation. Lovely feeling.

Then, I played with Cowboy for Chrissy and tried to help her understand to bring her phases down and start giving Cowboy something to think about. He was very fun to play with! We played with a very subtle send on the circle, some sideways, some falling leaf, and transitions. Then, I hopped on and really focused on the bending/suppling exercise I learned from Josh Lyons. Basically, I ask him to turn until he's soft and supple then go the other way. We did it at the trot and he was really getting better as we went. He's a stiff necked horse and I really believe that's partly why he's so bracey. I offered to ride him a few more times for Chrissy to soften him up and get him moving and partnering. Such a nice horse.

Slightly less wind...

Today, I got to play with TWO horses! Whoo-hoo! I used to play with multiples every day, but with winter and short days I've been happy to just get one moving.

I started with Gem and zone 5 driving. I used my new feather lines for the first time. I've only done 1 line driving with Gem so far, so this was new to him. At first, I think he felt slightly worried and he tried repeatedly to get me in zone 1. He got better over time and we even did some trotting together. The feather lines are so light and honestly, they are harder on my hands than the normal lines. They are hard to throw over Gem's back or other things I want to do. I might try to use a surcingle with them next time.

Gem and I need to work a little more on the forward ask from zone 5. He goes backwards like a champ, but forward is not as soft. He's unsure of what I'm asking for so that tells me I need more consistency with "how" I ask for forward from behind him.

We did some very nice sideways from zone 5 - I was impressed with his try! Also, some nice sideways from zone 1 today.

We ended up in the round pen for a little liberty play. His draw started off great but by the end, his draw was wavering. I must have been too forceful at liberty. We got some beautiful flc's and he was quite respectful of my requests. We will build more draw at liberty and maybe start playing with more transitions at liberty.

Got lots done with him today!

Chrissy played with Cowboy a little today, too. She wasn't really into it. The wind was calm all afternoon, but when it picked up she abandoned any thoughts of hopping on Cowboy. Too bad. Maybe this weekend she will get some time to hop on and do some development for her and her horse.

Then, I tacked up Z for a conditioning ride. This was tough today. It became so windy and it was quite cold. I thought I had enough clothes on but when I got out there, and as the sun got low, I was too cold. I got off and ran/walked next to her to keep my body warm for the 2nd half and we didn't go near as far as I'd intended. Not a great conditioning ride, but time spent together at least. There's a section on the trail that is quite scary to her and tonight she balked and refused to go closer and pass it. It's a yard that has lots of "junk" along with goats, chickens, dogs in kennels, beehives, etc... They have definitely added stuff to their yard since the fall when we were riding trail. I thought of my plan for a minute as I asked her to weave forward (approach and retreat) and she told me louder and louder, "I just can't!". I decided to get off and lead her. She was fine being lead, head low, not afraid. We stopped at the peak of the scary stuff and I let her soak in the environment. Then we moved on. I hopped right back on after passing this yard and she was fine. We'll have to spend some time at that yard and work through her fears there. I have to be careful not to push her through her thresholds when she's so clearly telling me it's too much for her to handle.

Starlet looks so much better today. She's been on extra fat for a few weeks and I've been blanketing her on these cold and windy days. She just needs the support right now. I brushed her the other day and removed a lot of that dead hair and winter coat. When I pulled her blanket off today, there was a more full horse with lots of shine. Good! I feel better about where she's heading.

It was a good evening with two of my best. I really, really hope the wind settles soon. It's wearing me down - 20 - 25mph winds every day is hard to bear.