Month: February 2010

Are you late for a very important date? Well, I showed up well in time for a charity luncheon tea themed party. Each table held a theme and I was invited to the Alice in Wonderland theme. I guess she couldn’t get anyone else to dress up as the White Rabbit so I was let in on the gig. Of course I jumped at the chance to dress up like a bunny and sit with a group of ladies at a fairly tale designed table. Janice, the host of our table, did an amazing job putting the design together and each of the participants were great! I didn’t get a group picture emailed to me yet but this is one of me just before the event started. We had the Queen of Hearts, Alice (of course!), Mad Hatter, Tweedle Dee and Dum and the White Rabbit too.

The food was great. The conversation at our table oh too fun and it was really nice that proceeds from this clubs events go to high school scholarships in the local area!

Oh check out the vest from http://www.ridingcouture.com/ and of course I’m wearing white breeches and a riding scarf so a bit of horsey got into the rabbit costume!

After a hiatus from laying our hens decided to start working again. This is our first egg of 2010. Unfortunately only one sad day after this photo was taken, our neighbors dog came down and killed one of our hens. Then there were two. It was really sad to watch that unmanaged dog run back home down the street with our food providing hen, dead in her mouth. This will likely stunt their laying and set us back further still buying eggs. At least our other neighbors hens are laying and we can buy from them to keep it local and fresh.



This is a reminder to pet owners. Please be responsible. Spay and neuter your pets. Don’t buy from puppy mills and for heavens sake DON’T let your dogs run loose all over your neighbors property. But then again, I would imagine most all HorseGirlTV viewers ARE responsible pet owners and don’t need this sort of reminder.

A local stable called Blossom Ferry Farm (http://blossomferryfarm.com/) offered a Fix-A-Test recently and I drove out to meet some of the locals as well as watch Tanya and Fidge go. It was a bit of a trek to get there but well worth it meeting several nice dressage folks! Tanya and Fidge were super as shown by a few pictures I snapped with my trusty iPhone.



Here’s Tanya getting a few notes from the Fix-A-Test judge Susie.



No DQ (or Kings) here! I was met with big smiles and even handed a cooler with something to put in it! Wow! These folks roll the way I like to enjoy a horsey afternoon, mellow and without pretension! The owner of Blossom Ferry, Paige, actually gave me 2 of the coolers which I proudly brought home and look forward to enjoying outdoors as the weather warms up!



It was such a great time and I look forward to getting out and meeting more local soon!

I occasionally read and post to some bulletin boards online when the notion strikes me that my opinion might be helpful to at least one person. Most all the time the threads I post to are constructive and people very friendly but not all are this way and some people get quite heated which I find interesting as I enjoy debate but feel it shouldn’t result in name calling. The poster I’m replying to in the paste below commented about my training with Anky but she also included a great quote from Kyra “If you always do what you always did than you’ll always get what you always got” which is brilliant that if you’re fighting your way around the sandbox beating you head against the slanted wall wondering why what you’re doing is not yielding the results you desire then why keep doing the same old thing. For what it’s worth I thought this particular reply might be inspiring to being open minded about your training and hopefully reflects Kyra’s wonderful quote.

Quote:

Originally Posted by caddym Horsegirltv – I love your blog and am so envious of the time you had in Holland

Thanks caddym. My time training with Anky was life changing in many ways. I likewise spend a significant amount of time training by Hilda Gurney in SoCal in 2004 and must say that my time with her was simply amazing. The opportunity to work extensively with one great legendary top sport person is a fleeting chance for most but two simply amazing. I’ve also ridden with Anne Gribbons (best elevated trot), Jeff Moore (grasp of rider biomechanics), Janet Brown-Foy (toolbox), Sabine Schut-Kery (soft seat), Bettina Drummond (riding from independent seat) and the late Hans von Blixen-Finecke (just in aw the this incredible, yet fragile looking older gentleman would still mount and school passage on your horse for you! RIP).

My point with the name dropping is that I’ve been lucky to train with some wonderful people at the top of their game many of which are complete contradictions in their systems.

Parenthesized above, my best take away, apart from major training scale reinforcement with Janet Brown-Foy was her analogy of riding with your toolbox and I’ll completely paraphrase now as over the years I’ve morphed it yet essentially the toolbox is you and your horse, the tools you put in it must build as the training scale does adding more and more advanced tools (i.e. – don’t attempt lateral is your straightness is not there). Some people never obtain more than a hammer and a handful of nails so to master the use of the hammer and a few handful of nails is the ultimate goal.

The above blathering aside, my tools of speed control building to softer and softer use of a ‘resistance rein’ (giving/softening when the horse gives but NOT throwing the reins away) and tap with the leg instead of push was a great addition to the growing tool box from training with Anky.

Further digression… some people prefer Sears, Black & Decker, DeWalt or Makita and might think their brand superior to the other but if the end result is a successful building project then who is to say the Makita is better than the Sears brand or components of Anky’s brand is better/worse than anyone else.

It was nice to see this thread last as long (even though still quite short) as it did in a focus of talking about training technique before it was taken off track.

I look forward to another one that lasts longer even. Perhaps keeping it focused on training techniques it’s all tied up in the Subject line utilized? What I enjoy talking about is not the labels placed on a single component of a particular riding style but riding fundamentals and true basics.

Best regards,

While the upper east coast will not likely rally around the title of this blog, a few snow days were welcome here. If the weather is going to be cold and wet and training halted simply because the arena is closed then why not get to enjoy the lovely white stuff? We received about 5 inches overnight to wake in a winter wonderland Saturday morning. This was Zita’s first snow at the farm as she was in training this time last year and missed out on the one (much lighter dusting) we received last winter. Even Picollo got out a bit on the dusting we received up on the porch.

Here’s Zita frolicking in the fresh snow!



Ex even got up early with us on Saturday morning for feeding to witness the wacky Zita play in snow.



Our low tech feeding system isn’t really built with a snow day contigency plan. Just a bit more horse (or in the case) human power to drag the hay and grain through the snow.



To keep the horses toasty warm we shut the top Dutch doors overnight leaving their back windows open for fresh air. Of course Carrara is always excited about morning hay and grain!



As soon as it was warm enough they were turned out in the fields to stretch their legs a bit. They both were quite playful but surprisingly they were both quite careful with their fun! Smart horses!



Here’s the little guy playing around. Man is that horse balanced and athletic!



This is day two of snow and the arena almost free of snow. It’s still lovely. The horses got out yesterday as well for quite a bit longer since much of the backside field snow had melted. Now today it’s quickly melting away and we’ll be looking forward to jumping back into training by Wednesday! It was certainly a fun break!

I’ve been chatting with the company that makes a compressed pine bedding product for a bit now. I love all things innovative and environmentally friendly and their stuff seems to fit the bill on both so I am giving it a trial!

It’s like one – two – three! You dump the bags in the stall. Then you smooth them out level. Then you “just add water” enough to fluff the uncompress pine. Here you go.

ONE



TWO



THREE



I’m really interested to see how well it maintains. So far the horses don’t notice a difference and it’s QUITE easy to pick especially with the Shaken Fork which is a whole nother neat innovative product I am hoping to produce a piece on this season! We’re working a deal for HorseGirlTV® viewers to get 30% off! I think all you have to do is go to Shaken Fork website and when buying use our coupon code HGTV01 for the savings of 60 bucks! More to follow on this neat fork!

Carrara walked into her new wash stall and enjoy a rinse off on this warm winter’s day! I grabbed a quick shot and now realized I should have waited until I donned her Draper Equine Therapy cooler and anti-sweat sheet. We started this ride, rinse, Draper routine at Anky’s and I’m enjoying keeping it up here at our home stable!

Every afternoon, evening, late-night (depending upon the Marine Corps requirements for that particular “work day”) Ex comes home and the dogs know the sound of his car as most dogs do and as most dogs do they completely freak out that he’s back as if it’s been eons since they’ve seen him. It’s definitely fun for me as while I’m not jumping up and down wagging my tail, I am excited to see him too. 😉 One particular night Zita was extra excited and extra pushy so Ex picked her up. Now here’s my ramble about all that went through my head when he did this. It’s been an amazing journey for me to watch Ex grow in his love of dogs and how his personality has made little shifts as that love of dogs developed. When I first met him he tolerated Picollo and (I would guess) thought I was just one of those weird Ashland people who had a paralyzed dog that traveled the world with me. While one part of me might be a weird Ashland type person (think granola Pacific Northwest, tree hugger type) another part has just always loved animals, especially Picollo.

I won’t bore you with further details on my thoughts of the little changes here and there but I must include it was a shock when Ex came home from work a year ago and said “Would you like to adopt a Weimaraner?” whoa! Those dogs are insane, big, with lots and lots of energy which are all reasons why she was being given away. A colleague of Ex’s had bought her and she was just too much dog for their suburban lifestyle with two little kids that didn’t take fondly to be jumped on by an energetic pup about their size. It was with a little apprehension I said yes if they are okey with us doing a trial for her to meet Picollo. Long story short, we did the trial, we adopted her, sent her to much needed doggie obedience with an AWESOME trainer (check them out at http://www.rwrkennels.com), we closed escrow, moved to the farm and it’s been a great decision since! It was with this photo I realized Ex had completely converted from this kid who only ever had a goldfish as a pet in his childhood to this full blown dog lover. It’s been a nice evolution to witness!



Oh the irony! While I was typing this blog I notice Picollo and Zita curled up in the sun together. If you’re a dog lover and one of those “weird Ashland types” then you’ll completely understand how sweet this sight was for me while I was typing this particular blog. I love my little family!

While I was training with Anky, I took plenty of mental notes about how they did things like feeding schedule, turning out in fields, what type of stalls, footing, fencing and in general how they had their set-up operating. Of course this is just part of my MO when I’m at top barns and I love to see how the best facilities organize their horses lives. Of course my all time favorite public USA place is in the heart of the awesome Pacific Northwest is Devonwood. Those are the nicest folks with the horses safety so seriously in mind. They created a haven for horses and humans to work together not to mention their facility is absolutely GORGEOUS. They host a pretty fun show(s) as well and are home to some of the amazing FITS breeches photoshoots!

So, one of the things I thought that was really neat about Anky’s is how they setup their fields. I was imagining this massive barrier built from teak, old growth oak or some amazingly crafted fence posts when really it was a simple and functional series of 4×4 posts with 2 rail 1×6 planks. It gave me this great idea for the fields we’ll put around our arena and while it’s still a work in progress I have it functioning. Zita and I went out this morning with my awesome J&N Structures mug full of coffee to reconfigure the dividers. Once we get this rolling it will be quite easy to resize each field to accommodate just about any horse. Like Anky’s we have the step in posts and 2 strand rope as dividers with sold fence posts across the front and the back.

It was a beautiful morning, fun to get a little bit of physical labor to let my mind wander and we have four 60 feet by 90 feet mini-fields now for the horses! Here’s Zita. She loves to “kennel” in the back of the Jeep. Do note the awesome J&N Structures coffee mug they sent me for Christmas!



Oh and here’s Carrara grazing at Anky’s this past November. I need to get a picture of her and the little guy grazing here in our configuration!