Sittin' on a Fence Post

The Ranch was insanely busy today, probably one of the busiest I've seen. So I didn't even bother going in. There were a couple people I was not fond of in there, those know-it-all's that don't really know anything type of people... I didn't even want a chance to cross paths so I went out to the girls pasture, sat on the fence post, and enjoyed some peaceful time with them; along with snapping a couple photos.

The horses in the next pasture over were quite intrigued
with me sitting up there.

Ava and Poco standing next to each other <3

I plan on going out tomorrow, hopefully it won't be quite so hectic and will be able to ride. I am not really liking how little room there is, it is almost becoming an inconvenience. I mean my BO is making his horse training and lessons a priority over his boarders... Which shouldn't be the case. It is becoming quite agitating and I think I'm going to try and keep an eye out for another place. I mean I absolutely love the facility (I plan to own it one day, haha!) here but the people are starting to wear on me, some of them anyways... I don't want to go on a rant but I just don't understand some of these horse people sometimes, I just don't get it...

In other news Ava and I are entering a show! And not just any show, we are entering an online show! We won't even have to leave The Ranch! I found this site called Horseshow.com and it hosts online horse shows. At first I was like "yeah right, this is too good to be true, there must be a catch..." But it is totally legit, testimonials, they sponsor other live shows, it is wonderful! Anyways, we are going to enter the Spring Youth Festival, most likely do the showmanship and either the hunt seat equitation along with english pleasure or do western equitation along with western pleasure. Maybe do them all! It also says that you don't need show apparel but I am totally dressing up for this, I mean why not? I'm super excited and also if you get first you can win a $100 gift certificate to Dover Saddlery! We are going to be practicing a lot, this is going to be fun!

Flexy Pony

Lots of hugs and kisses for my girl today. She tried so hard and you could tell she was concentrating, boy, I was even concentrating!

We warmed up quickly in the round pen and then tacked up. I've been using my old Stubben for Ava lately and love it but sadly it is too small for Babe and too big for me so I think I may sell it to make some cash for my new saddle. Anyways, on with our day! I started Ava at a walk and began asking for some vertical flexion, she was doing okay when all of a sudden she KEPT the posture! Not for a half a second but for many many seconds! I was so proud of her. We then moved on to the trot and worked on some more flexion, looking good but still needs work. We also worked on sidepassing, leg yields, and arena patterns. I then asked for the canter, she didn't do too bad, cantering needs the most work. Towards the end of the ride I was trotting her and then asked for the canter while asking for her head down and poll broken, she did it! That was one of the best transitions into cantering she has ever done. Of course, I am so proud! After that I ended it, although wanting to do that same thing over and over again I didn't want to push her, at least not yet. We cooled off, untacked, then went on a walk towards the outdoor arena, it was so warm, it must have been close to 40 degrees! I may have said before under stress and frustration that I didn't love Ava anymore but the truth is that I could never stop loving her, she is apart of me. If I stopped loving her it would be as if I stopped loving myself.

Poco's Training Log #5

Poco had a wonderful session today. I started her in the round pen for a short warm up then went and lunged her in the arena. She is becoming so light that I am almost not pulling on her anymore. I worked on the Lunging for Respect st.1 and st.2, sometimes making her canter after the turn. This pretty much solved all of our pulling problems at the canter which I predicted. After she was a little sweaty I tied her up and then put all her tack on. This was the first time she has had a back cinch and western saddle on in quite some time, she didn't buck, charge, nothin'. I lunged her in the arena (someone was in the round pen) and worked on flapping the stirrups, sending, and Lunging for Respect. She did well in the arena especially since three other working horses were in there, we did our best to keep stay in our own spot. The round pen was finally empty so we went on in. I did some mounting tests then got on. We flexed from side to side, did a few one-rein stops, turning, whoa's, backing, trotting, and cantering (yes cantering!). She is definitely coming along, all she needs is time. After she was finished I groomed her, picked her feet (she's better but still needs a little work) and then took her on a mini walk.


She did a great job!

The Still Life of Ava's Training

Here are two stills from the riding session I video taped of Ava and I. She doesn't stay in this position, but we are working on that. After I took these stills I noticed that in the first one she looks like a western horse and in the second she looks more like an English horse. I am still deciding whether to do western dressage or classical. I may be weighing towards classical a little more just because that is what my gut is telling me but western dressage is new and would be a great way to get my name out there if I wanted to become a WD trainer or whatnot, ya know!

Western looking pony

And an English looking pony

Which looks best?!

Hot but Connected!

I started Ava with some dressage training the other day. It is literally going to be perfect for us! Dressage gives Ava something to focus on, strengthens her muscles, works her mentally, teaches her to respond well and calmly to my aids. I didn't wear spurs for the first time in a while and couldn't believe how well she did. I didn't even notice that I wasn't wearing spurs until now! It also makes me concentrate so much more, I couldn't believe how focused I was, I usually can't focus very well, haha! We started working on leg yields and then worked more on breaking at the poll, she can do it but won't stay that way. I also video taped one of our sessions and couldn't believe that she was actually becoming connected, it was lovely, no hollow backed pony!

I need to work on transitions a lot. I end up working in one gait for too long and basically just wear her out and get her too overheated, which I don't want. She has a lot of potential and in my gut it just feels like the right thing for us.

Not only did I discover classical dressage for us but I just found western dressage! How amazing is that?! It is still very new to the horse world but this intrigues me and we may end up doing this. The downfalls to doing WD is finding a western saddle that fits Ava for a decent price (less than $1000) and finding shows locally will be near to impossible. As for classical dressage I already have a saddle that would be perfect for Ava (less than $800 and english saddles fit her conformation better) and shows would be a million times easier to find around her. I will be thinking about it but for now we will just be working on the basics. This is so exciting! You can check out what WD is below, it is a simple test that someone is performing.

Here is miss girl in her new cooler, it finally came! I love it, I thought it would be more of a light blue but this looks just fine, I am happy with it. I have been wanting a cooler for quite some time and now it has come!

Back to Packed (Schedule that is..)

Sad, sad, sad... School started yesterday. I ended up changing classes at last minute and I am much happier with my choices, I am already liking them!

I worked a little with Ava today. Since no one was at the barn I told myself not to ride. I just lunged her for a bit. She did great, a little nervous but actually handled herself well (she is not quite used to no horses in the barn, so quiet!). Afterwards we did a wee bit of showmanship, flexing, and then I went to groom her and pick out her feet. My cooler should get here either Thursday or Friday, so excited! I then took her on a walk around the barn then let her get some dinner. I think the new horse that was put into their pasture is chasing Ava and/or Poco off their water, she has done this before but it was more severe, that is why my BO moved her in the beginning; I don't know why he moved her back with them... I am going to let him know the next time I see him, it is really agitating me. I also noticed that Ava has a bump (possibly a bruise) on the lower part of her nose, it was a little sensitive if touched but I put some Sore-No-More on it and hopefully that will help will the swelling. Other than that it was a decent day.

When I got home I discovered something. I discovered what I want to start Ava in! Dressage! I feel like it just clicked when it came to mind. Can't really go wrong with it either, it can lead you in many different directions. I think this will be perfect for us and gives us something to work on every single time we ride (we get bored sometimes). So this will be quite exciting, we can go to little shows and work our way up, just what we need.

Thorowgood T4 Dressage Saddle, around $700.

This was the saddle I was thinking of saving up for, much less expensive than a new roping saddle and it has a changeable gullet, Ava is an extra wide! Anyways, life has become busy again, well, busier than before. Can't complain though, I'd much rather be busy than bored!

Poco's Training Log #4

Poco showed quite a bit of improvement today! Especially for not being worked for three days. I didn't have much time so I told myself just to do simple things that she already knew but we actually did a few new things with ease!

I brought her into the barn (there was no one there, zero!) and lunged her on the lunge line. The first time I tried lunging her on the line she was all over the place, pulling immensely, and was nervous at every move I made towards her. Today, she was almost a different horse, not completely but well on her way there. I had her start out walking while throwing the whip over her back to help her become more desensitized to it then did a lot of trotting along with our oh so helpful lunging for respect. We tried a little bit of cantering but she still needs work on softening up while doing it. I think transitions will work well for that as well as more flexing on that side. I took some video of her lunging but my stupid phone won't send it to my computer, hopefully I can get it up soon. At the end I did a lot of whip desensitization, some flexing, and then was done. She definitely has improvement, all the trainers said she was basically impossible. I'd like to see what they say a few months from now!

The Busy Bee Barn

Holy moly! The barn was so busy today!!

I ended up only working Ava because there were a lot of people down at the barn today; Poco needs a calmer day to focus as she progresses though the more commotion I will let her take on. Anyways I brushed Ava off for a minute while waiting for a horse to be moved out of the round pen but another person ended up going in there so I just lunged Ava in the arena. After I got her all warmed up I scurried back to the cross-ties and tacked up. Then another cutting lesson started in the arena. I don't mind the cutting lessons too much but it takes up the whole arena and since the outdoor is dumped with snow it would be almost impossible to get anything done. So I stuck with the round pen and the holding area. We worked on disengaging the hindquarters around the mounting block, sidepassing, and backing. When the arena finally cleared I long trotted Ava around quite a bit and then finally cantered. We worked more on collection but she is starting to resent her bit a lot and it is becoming quite agitating. I'm looking for a new one, I'm thinking just to move her in a curb, it is about time she was to be moved to one anyway. After she got all huffy and puffy I worked on her neck reining, she can almost be ridden on a nice loose rein! Then we cooled out and ended on a good note. Very proud of her. Besides resenting the bit she is coming along just fine.

I have also decided that I would like to start Ava's showing career in roping. As I think about it more and more it becomes more and more our thing. Even during the summer I loved working on the metal calf and lassoing a cow for the first time, Ava is also very tolerant and learned all of it so fast. So, for now that is what we will start towards. I also saw this roping saddle from Cultured Cowboy, it would be astonishingly perfect for us, so I want to start saving up for something like this.

I won't be going to the barn for a few days. I have work scheduled at the times I would be heading down there; not only that, school starts on Tuesday! I swear, the time flies when you don't want it to!

Lovely Little Lady

After having a long workout with Poco I enjoyed myself with a little ride on Ava. Although we could only ride in the round pen (cows and a cutting lesson going on..) she still did amazing. We worked on a little bit of collection, rollbacks, follow your nose, and then at the end I desensitized her to a really noisy feed sack. I would hang it on the saddle, throw it on her, wave it around, and at the end she was really good. At the end of every session I will always do some desensitizing, there needs to be a balance between sensitizing and desensitizing; too much sensitizing and they will end up being jumpy, too much desensitizing and they will become dull. It works really well for Ava and Poco.

I have also been wanting to try working with Ava on western pleasure. Although I would love for her to be a working rodeo horse I think I need to look at the big picture. What I really want is for my future children to be able to ride her and take her on trail rides and possibly if they want to they could even show her. If Ava has a life of rodeo I don't think she would suit young children (just my opinion, every horse is different); and I think western pleasure, showmanship, things like that could keep on the right track. So, yeah, for now I want my end result for Ava to be a kid safe horse with a little competitive attitude, haha!

A couple years back my mom got me
this book and it is supposed to be very
good so I will definitely be reading this

Right before our little workout

She always looks wide eyed, or, distracted?

Poco's Training Log #3

Yesterday I rode Poco and Ava!!

I started Poco in the arena because my BO was in the roundpen working a horse. I had Poco lunge around me then worked up to Lunging for Respect st.1 and st.2. She did very well and barely pulled. After the roundpen cleared up I tacked her up (while she stood there cows were brought in and she kind of bumped into me and I did my best to keep her from doing that) and took her in there. I started with some sending, something was making her nervous on the other side of the pen so I sent her until she wouldn't mind it anymore. Then I tied her reins loosely to her saddle and lunged her, and lunged her and lunged her. After she was super sweaty (she always gets like this no matter what!) I grabbed my helmet, did a few more flexes (which she is getting very good at) and then hopped on. I also realized afterwards that that was Poco's first ride back in months! The things we worked on was the one-rein stop, a couple rollbacks, and moving forward. I thought she did very good for her first time back.

Our one step forward: she wasn't pulling on my nearly as much as she was in the beginning.

Stuff I've Bought #11

Alrighty so I finally bought myself a cooler! I am so excited and it will be super helpful with all the work these girls are doing. I got it over at horse.com for only thirty-five bucks, it was half off! Anyways I can't wait to try it out, I've never owned a cooler before.

Oh Lord! It's Wildfire!

There is this television show called Wildfire. It is about a girl named Kris Furillo who just gets out of prison and as her parole (I think?) she starts working at racing stable called Raintree Farms. This is her story. I am in love with this series! It has also made me slightly obsessed with horse racing. At the moment I am dying to be a jockey and enter races. I know that the show is fantasizing the whole thing but I really don't care, it looks like a ton of fun! Has anyone heard of it or seen it?

In other news (related to the above) I found out that there is actually a horse racing facility only two hours from here! I couldn't believe it and also the first day it opens is on my birthday, so, guess what I'll be doing, haha!

Anyways, I won't be going to the barn today. I'll be going tomorrow and over the weekend, hopefully the girls can make some progress!

Poco's Training Log #2 & Ava Begins Collection!

Today Poco had improvement!

We started in the roundpen just to warm up. Then we worked on groundwork; we started with lots of backing, Poco tends to throw her head in the air when I ask her to back so I worked on getting her to lower her head and accept the pressure. Then we did disengaging the hind, yielding the front, and just basic ground stuff. Then I started her on Lunging for Respect st.1 and st.2 (this is from Clinton Anderson's program, and if things go well I will be using a lot of his techniques, they are working well for her). She did well with all of that while in the round pen. Then I took her to the arena and did some more Lunging for Respect in there and it went very well, she thought about pulling only a couple times but ended up saving my hands, very happy!

After we were all done I groomed her and picked out her feet (she pulled away one of her feet but I made her behave). Then I showed her a scary bag to help start building confidence and then took her back to her pasture.

That is pretty much all I did with her, still a step forward though!

---

As for miss Ava she did great! I lunged her only for a bit to get her wiggles all shook off (although, she didn't have any!) and then I tacked her up to ride. We had to do most of our riding in the round pen because a cutting lesson was going on in the arena at the time. We still got a lot of things done though, I started to get her to began collecting! I don't know why I haven't really focused on it before but I guess the time was now! After the lesson was over I took Ava into the arena and worked more on the collecting. Then I had her canter some small circles, neck-rein at the canter, and desensitizing to this red can filled saddle bag. Ava did very well, she is coming along nicely. I do need to advance her along more though, she is starting to become too good at what she is doing, haha! So, I'll be looking for some new stuff for us to do. We need to start on carrying a flag if I decide to rodeo queen this year!

And Poco!

Poco's Training Log #1

I know that Ava was supposed to be doing the posting but I decided that she could do it some other time. She was a little agitated but understood, hopefully. Anyways, I wanted to tell you about Poco and I's work session yesterday.

---

I am starting a training log for Poco and hopefully I can keep up with it. This post is a little late but I'll see how much I can remember.

So I started by roundpenning her until she was not so fresh anymore. She did good roundpenning and responds quickly to my ques although she does get a little too quick at times, so we'll need to work on that. I have also noticed that she is not very desensitized to me while I lunge her (she has always been this way); so I also worked on that. After she was relaxing I put on her halter and did some groundwork. We worked on backing, disengaging the hindquarters, yielding the forequarters, flexing (she is not very good at this but is getting better). She is a very responsive horse but also a very alert horse, not always the best combo but I could use it to my advantage.

We then made our way to the arena. I started lunging her on the line and it began fine but then she started leaning. Whenever I would ask for a faster gait she would do this, again, she needs to be desensitized to me more before I should've done this. I did my best to keep her from pulling but at times she would pull me with her. This is my main goal for her, not to pull! We worked on that for a while. I stopped at the best point I could and then went over to a wall and started to work on sending. This ended up being perfect for her. Poco started by walking quickly or even slightly jogging between me and the wall but she soon started to just simply walk by. Then I would move in closer and closer; at times she wouldn't want to pass through but she ended up doing and did great. She ended doing a very good job and just one step closer. I ended our session with desensitizing to a whip, it went well. Then I groomed her off, put her back, and told her she did a job well done.

I didn't work Ava on this day, I surprisingly worked Poco for longer than I had expected to.

All tired and sweaty

Look at that head! She almost never keep her head like this!

Ava stalking Poco

A nice roll

Ava's Point of View

Ava asked me if she could write a post of today's events. She's been pestering and pestering me about this for some time and now she has finally broken me down to say yes. Since she is so inclined on posting I thought I'd take a break for a bit and let her take over for a few posts. She was delighted to hear this. So we'll see how this goes; if she starts getting agitating let me know and I'll have a talk with her, she can get kind of sassy!

---

 This is how my day started. I was just standing in my pasture minding my own business when mom comes up from behind me and starts taking pictures while baby talking Poco and me. I looked back at her thinking, you sure are crazy, woman. Then afterwards she captures me with her head trap thing then takes me into the barn. I don't mind going into the barn, but I would much rather stand in my pasture doing nothing. Mom put me into these things that she likes to call "cross-ties" and I tolerated it fine. I watched the horses in the barn as Mom ruined all my perfectly waterproofed fur by smoothing it down with a thing she calls a brush and she also rubbed it down with this purple blanket thing which is called a towel. Mom is always telling me what she is doing. Silly human, if you're always teaching me all these things don't you know that means that us horses are one step closer to ruling the world?! Oops, I shouldn't say too much, don't want Mom to find out, best to keep it a secret!

Anywho, Mom lead me into the circle of death, I stopped before entering trying to subliminally tell her that I do not want to go in there. Mom waited for me to move but I stood my ground; she didn't have much patience with me on this, so she pointed and clucked to me. Ugh, I rolled my eyes, swished my tail, and stomped in there. She then let me loose and walked away. So, to embarrass her I decided to start dancing and running around trying to get her attention. I don't do this often but today I was feeling good! Mom finally came back and I immediately calmed down, haha, silly human. Then she made me work...

After mom wore me out she tortured me some more and started putting all these contraptions on me. I was too tired to resist though, ugh... Then to take it even further she straddled my back and started working me more... Again I was too tired to give her much of a fight. I behaved like she asked although Mom needs to stop nudging with her heel after I am already doing what she is asking of me; it gets really annoying... She will pay for it one day if she doesn't learn soon, muahaha! Oops I'm starting too say too much again, silly me! Well, after mother was finished with my daily routine torture she started to get off of me but something made me nervous and I moved; this agitated Mom and she got after me, I stood like a stone afterwards. Hopefully those invisible monsters won't scare me any time soon, Mom can scare me much more sometimes... After that little spell Mom gave me a stroke on the neck and said I did good. Phew!

Mother released me from all the contraptions and then made me stand stand for a bit. Then for some reason Mom started putting something away and left me, it freaked me out, so much that I peed. When she was coming back I pulled out the scraping the ground with my hoof trick, it works every time. I calmed down when she came back. Finally after a super long ten minutes Mom took me back out to pasture and surprised me with a yummy treat, I don't get many, Mom says I get "pushy," whatever that means...

Hoof out my beautiful horses and ponies!

It was snowing outside.

On the Mend

For the past week as some of you may know that I've been sick. Today I am feeling so much better, throat doesn't ache, nose is clearing, and I don't have the sudden urge to take naps anymore! Although my cold is getting better my stomach on the other hand is so unpredictable. It started hurting a few days after I got sick but it truly began on Christmas Day but went away after a few days then came back. Ugh, there is always something I need to worry about. I am wondering if I have some kind of food intolerance for something, I'm trying to weed it out but so far it is taking a lot of time...

Anyways, besides that I finally went down to see Ava yesterday! Gosh I missed her so much, being stuck in the house for a week is no fun for me, I make a horrible couch potato...

Today the farrier came down and did Ava and Poco's feet. I lunged Poco for about an hour beforehand and surprisingly by the end she was literally dripping with sweat. I didn't even work her that hard! Poco stood for the farrier fine but jumped away when snow fell off the arena roof and making a loud noise; I don't blame her though, it can make a really scary noise. Ava stood like champ especially for just being pulled out of the pasture. Afterwards I put Poco out then came back lunged Ava and rode as well. Ava did fine but was kind of all over the place and was also a little ansy too, a storm is coming, so the weather says. Overall she did fine though and it was great to get back in the saddle. The saddle I was trying ended up not working out, I found that it actually rubs her in quite a few places, so, that is definitely not going to work. I'm pretty disappointed but my BO said I could use one of his western saddles and could also try an Australian saddle he has in the back. So, we'll do that and see what happens. It is so nice to be back doing my horsey stuff, it makes me all happy inside!

Horse Tripping...

I was waiting for the holiday season to end so this wouldn't damper on our Christmas spirit. I was surfing through some horsey blogs when I found this article on horse tripping, a sport! It is exactly how it sounds like too, a horse runs between two men swinging ropes, they snare it, and it usually flips over or falls on their face... My heart ached as soon as I saw this.

Here is a little piece from the article:
Horses and cows are completely different.  Their instincts and mental capacities are completely different.  Their physiological structures are completely different.  And thus the way they move, including speed and agility are, you guessed it, completely different.  When a horse has its front legs ripped out from underneath it while it’s running from a predator, it reacts and falls completely differently from the way a cow would react and fall.  It is not a fair, nor accurate, comparison.  Just because they’re both classified as livestock, doesn’t mean they look and/or act the same.  You wouldn’t compare a horse to a pig, would you?  And yet, they’re both considered livestock. - Posted from SnarkyRider

If you want to see the article here is a link to it. There is a video as well but viewer discretion is much advised. I wanted to hopefully make this more aware to people so we can help put an end to it.

Link [here]

Sickness is Upon Me

Ugh, I'm sick. I've got a cough, runny nose, on and off headaches, sometimes a fever, body aches, and anything else that goes with it. So of course I haven't been down to see my pony. I got sick at such a horrible time too; I need to try out that saddle before I have to take it back, it has almost been a week since I've ridden, Ava needs her feet done, and school starts back in only a few weeks... I'm hoping I'll get over this, I do feel much better today though, maybe I'm over the big hump. We'll see...