Young horse progress!!

I am so lucky to have some young horses in training that I am starting. I really enjoy starting the young horses. I probably need my head examined, but I keep my "brain bucket" on, and so far, so good.

I rode Cessna for the 2nd time on Wednesday and we were trotting around the arena!! Sandy is a witness. We didn't really have any steering, but Cessna was happy to oblige.

I sat on Diva Tuesday afternoon with the help of Lisa. She was more interested in the horses outside than me being on her back!

I'm going to ride Duncan tomorrow, and hopefully he will be good as well!

Hopefully we will have someone out to take pictures in the next couple of days so we can post pics of these newcomers under saddle!!

Tracie

Welcome Duncan

We have a new horse in the barn and his name is Duncan. Duncan is a 5yo grey WB gelding who will be with us for a few months for some training. He came today and is hanging out in the run-in shed area. He and Diva are getting along fine, and right now I have Ali in the back pasture. Between Diva, Ali, Cessna, and Duncan, I'll be trying to find the right mix of horses for the run-in shed vs. stall.

Feel free to give Duncan a carrot to welcome him!

Wonderful pictures! Thanks, Lisa!



It is amazing how much pictures can demonstrate about our riding! I was most struck by the fact that Sandy's position was GREAT in the trot work, and was completely different in the canter work! Her core was really engaged in the trot work, but her shoulders come forward (losing her core) in the canter. This might not be an accurate assessment of the overall ride, but the pictures give us great feedback. We'll be working on the canter next Wednesday!! :-)



H0lly was kind enough to video my ride on Ali on Wednesday, and I was amazed by what I saw! Ali was behind my leg the ENTIRE ride! Sheesh! I'm excited to ride him again and see if I can get him more forward. It was a perfect example of how video can make you see what is REALLY happening.



Pictures and videos are a wonderful training aids. I am planning to bring my digital camera out to the barn as well (and maybe someday I'll figure out my blackberry!)



On a completely different subject: I talked with Martha today and I am going to start Diva over the next month or two. I think starting young horses is one of the most fascinating experiences. Why in the world do they let us sit on their back and put a bit in their mouth??!! I am always in awe of their willing spirit...



More later.... kids need to go to bed! :-)

Sandy and Fritz

These are pretty bad photos on my part-Sorry Sandy...I am working on my action shots... However despite the quality it shows your position as it relates to your discussion with Tracie on having your upper body well back so your hips and core are doing the work. Hopefully Tracie will be on tonight and can comment on Photos 1,2,3,4,&5

I think your position in number 5 at the trot is super. Your hands are together and quiet. Your shoulder, hip and heal are aligned well and Fritz is in a good frame-he is driving into your forward hand-way to go! Photos 1-4 were taken in the canter. I like your position in #1. Let's see what Tracie says.

GM's New Working Student

Larry and Tracie

Larry's first ride with Tracie! He is on the mend :) Please note we have our own papparazzi in the background aka GM Working Student ;) aka Kasen!

Larry's New BFF

Trailride...

So I heard the trail ride was very successful until the killer cow....

Maybe we need some (de)sensitivity training...

I'm loving this sunny weather! Hopefully the west side of the arena will dry out. Thanks to Natalie for grooming today, so I could get all the horses done in reasonable time!

Maybe someone can bring a camera on the Sunday trail ride this weekend?? It would be fun to get some pictures up here! I was going to bring Ali, but since the playoff game starts at noon, I'll be watching football instead.... hard to believe, right? Ha!

I love the nice weather... I'm hoping the paddocks will dry out at least for 5 minutes! I think Natalie got everyone clipped this week... yeah! A big thank you to her.

We've gotten a couple people who figured out how to blog (Lisa and Monica) and a couple people who figured out how to comment (Sandy and Kathy). We need more!! If you need any technical assistance to set yourself up to post, let me know. We can do it from the barn computer. I'm excited to get everyone set up so we can "play". :-)

Rex and Holly were AWESOME today! His trot was really uphill and supple. It is so exciting to see them both progress so quickly! :-)

Yeah Lisa!

Awesome! Now we have Lisa blogging as well! Let's go girls.... the rest of you need to get signed up too!

Sunday the 25th works for me.... that's the weekend before the superbowl and there is no football. I will be going through withdrawals in February. :-(

Jeremy's analogy about dragging an anchor seems to have really helped everyone, including me! I found myself really keeping my core solid today when I rode. It gives a feeling of pushing into uphill contact. What I love about this sport is that you never stop learning... there is always a new piece to the puzzle - that "ah-ha" feeling.... or maybe the "high" to the addiction! Ha!

Video Afternoon

Yeah! I'm blogging. How does Sunday, January 25th in the late
afternoon sound for looking at videos. There were some conflicts
with this weekend and after emailing ya'll, I realized I have out of
town guests. Any whooo, let me know via email lhdaws@gmail.com
if you would be available around 3:30ish after we ride.

Thanks, Lisa

Awesome!!! Monica is blogging (I agree, a totally weird verb!).

Let's all get going... it will be fun!

Test Client Blog

I think this is going to work. I already had a google account, so I clicked on the link from Tracie's e-mail inviting me to contribute to this blog, and signed in. I am now blogging! If you don't have a google account, you can create one from this same page.
Who whould have thought 'Blog' and 'Text' would become verbs in the 21st century.
OK, better say something about horses here... Jeremy was great. Keeping my shoulders back and thinking about being 'heavy' in the saddle helped me feel much more connected to Gen - more like a part of her vs. sitting on top.

Open Blog and More Jeremy

I think I figured out how to open up this blog so we all can post to it. It will be MUCH more fun this way. Now you can all post pics, videos, opinions, or whatever! I really encourage you to join - I think it will be fun!

Lisa and I rode with Jeremy today. Chris called me with a last minute opening in the clinic. Lisa was already at the barn, so I came out and told her she was riding! Fritz looked absolutely amazing today, so I think I'll just surprise Lisa in the future..... :-)

I am determined to get the ones on William. I got a few more today, but now I'm on a mission!! (Poor William!)

Blue Ribbon Show

The next Blue Ribbon show at Devonwood is February 7th, and the prize list/entry form is on their site, http://www.devonwoodec.com. This is a great venue, and it might fill fast. It opens tomorrow, so get your entries in!

Jeremy Clinic

Once again, we all gained some wonderful insight from Jeremy Steinberg. I always come away from his clinics with a new sense of enthusiasm. Of course, when Jeremy hopped on William and knocked off 18 ones, it wasn't exactly enthusiam that I was feeling! How humbling! But now I'm determined to figure this out!

Lisa and Monica had great rides as well. Some of the really good information was about keeping your shoulders back in such a way to enable your hips to open and move more freely. It really made a difference in the softness of the seat for both Lisa and Monica.

What's great about Jeremy is that you come away motivated.... whether you are riding or watching. How lucky we are!

My favorite Pas de deux

I was looking through some old videos today and came across my favorite pas de deux videos. This is Kasen, Fuzzy, Sandy and Fritz. Don't they look great!?!?

If only I had learned to ride when I was 5, maybe I would have the seat Kasen does! Look at those relaxed legs and soft hips! Ha!

Re-learning and Jeremy

Today I had one of those "break-through" rides that are really inspiring. I was riding Eternity today, and I suddenly realized I was using my core too strongly throughout the whole ride. On horses that want to run through the bridle, you correct this by creating a "wall" with your seat, core, and hand. However, once the horse gives, you need to SOFTEN the wall. I realized with Eternity that I was holding the "wall" almost constantly! So, once I lifted my ribcage and softened my core and arms, I was able to get much better gaits. Such simple things we have to re-learn over and over again! It's amazing how complicated this sport is!

We are really fortunate to have a couple of extra rides with Jeremy this weekend! Lisa, Monica and Kathy are all going to ride. I'll have a schedule posted sometime tomorrow once Chris gets back to me on ride times.

William

The star today was William. He was consistently giving me 4 and 5 ones today! This is a big improvement over last month. I'm still learning how to "fire him up" without working to hard, but today he was really great. We also worked on passage and piaffe. His passage gets better each week as he gets stronger. We'll be working with Jeremy this weekend, so hopefully we can get some good work in on his piaffe!

Happy New Year

We had a WILD December to end the 2008 season. First a week of arctic temperatures and then the biggest snowstorm in 40 years! Since we don't see alot of snow around here, several of the horses really didn't know what to do with it. They walked around in only a small portion of their paddocks, creating paths in the snow. With all the cold weather, the water pipes froze and getting water to the horses became quite a chore. However, once the power went out and we had no well pump, it got even more interesting. We owe a big THANK YOU to Chris and Mike Feves for allowing us to come up to their farm and fill up garbage cans with water from their well. Mike plowed the driveway for us so we could get our truck through.

Thank goodness it is over, and hopefully the rest of the winter will be a bit more normal!

I'd like to introduce you to our "community". Hopefully we'll get some pictures to put up here as well!

Martha Caldwell has 2 horses here, Fritz and Diva. Martha bred both of these horses herself, and she did a fantastic job! Fritz is showing PSG, and he is very impressive. Diva will be 3 years old this year, and will be likely started under saddle this spring. Fritz also is ridden regularly by Sandy Grossman-Tobin who half-leases him.

Monica Borrell also has 2 horses in the barn, Tully and Gen. Monica is relatively new to dressage. She and both her horses spent the previous several years in the jumper ring. Going from hunt seat to dressage is actually a hard transition. Monica has been learning how to develop a correct dressage seat, and her horses have been learning how to accept contact. This is hard to tackle at the same time! Tully is also half-leased by Jen Miller-Davis, who rides him in all her spare time from her medical residency! Jen has had a long break from riding, but she is getting her "riding legs" back really quickly!

Lonnie Sexton and her horse, Eternity, joined (I should say RE-joined) the barn in July. Lonnie welcomed a new baby girl, Lauren, in August, and was back in the saddle after just a few weeks! She and Eternity are picking up where they left off. Maybe we'll get Lonnie back in the show ring again if she is done having children!

Jackie Anderson brought her horse, Killiarc, to the barn in the Spring. Killiarc has successfully shown at I-1, but is now rehabbing from a tendon injury. He and Jackie are doing well, and we keep our fingers crossed that his rehab continues smoothly.

Holly Schlepp purchase a new horse, Rex, this fall. Rex had a career as a jumper, so he is now learning how to accept contact, listen to the seat, and understand "bend". Holly has been riding for several years, and she and Rex seem to be a perfect match. Rex might just win the award for the "cutest" horse.

Alex Carey purchased the horse "William" from Green Meadow Farm in September. William is a PSG horse with alot of talent. Alex purchased William and then headed off to college, so she doesn't get to see him very often. She was home at Christmas, but because of the snowstorm didn't get out here much. Bummer! Once Alex gets home from school in the spring, she'll be probably riding non-stop. In the mean time, I am working to get William to Grand Prix, and Tina Johnson half-leases William. (Although she managed to take a tumble recently - hopefully she'll be back in the saddle again in February!)

Kathy Porterfield also has a new horse (seems to be a pattern!). Her name is Welka. Welka came to the barn the day before our 2 week snowstorm started. Poor thing! What a crazy welcome to a new home! Kathy was riding my horse, Percy, while we were horse shopping, but now she has a new, wonderfully talented horse to dote on.

Lisa Daws is the newest member of the barn. Her horse, Larry, just came to the barn a few days ago and is settling in just fine. Larry is also rehabbing from a tendon injury, so we have all our fingers and toes crossed as he starts the slow road to full recovery. Lisa is also riding Fritz, William, and Eternity, so she can get her "real" riding time in!

We will have a new horse in the barn in a few days. Erin Warren is bringing her horse, Cessna, to the barn so he can be started under saddle. Cessna will be 4 this year, and he is a big moving, flashy, tall, and super sweet horse. I'm excited to get him here!

The last 2 horses in the barn, Percy and Ali, are mine. Percy is a Grand Prix horse that I have had for about 6 years. Percy is one-of-a-kind.... those who know him understand why I say that! Ali is my baby ... I bred him and have been anxiously waiting for him to grow up so I could ride him. Ali has been under saddle for about 4 months, and is doing great.

Hopefully now that we've introduced everyone, we can get some pictures and/or videos up here as well!