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Well I’ve been buuuusssy! I guess that’s good though. I went to Idaho (kinda windy there) and met some wonderful people there. I got to ride, watch some amazing trainers, and see some really beautiful horses. Now I’m getting ready for the Les Vogt clinic in Washington this weekend! Woohooo! I’ll be on a borrowed horse, but thats kinda how it is for me right now. A borrowed horse is soooo much better than no horse! I’m getting the feeling that I might be learning a lot by riding so many different horses. I think when you have your own horse you know what they’re going to do. When you’re on a new horse, you have to pay attention a lot more because you have no idea what they’re going to do. I’m hoping it’s making me a better “listener”. 

I hope everyone is doing well! We’ve go sunshine today!!!

I think I’ve finally found my trainer, my instructor, my cow chasin’ guru! I had a cow horse lesson with a new instructor today. It was so much fun! The second part of my lesson was on the flag. The horse knew what he was doing. I didn’t. I hung on and had an ear-to-ear grin plastered on my face. SO FUN!!!

How long have I been blogging on this site? Maybe a year and a half? It’s taken me that long to find a trainer/instructor. There aren’t very many cow horse people around here. I just can’t believe how well the lesson went. I had the best time, and that’s what it’s all about right? He wasn’t hard on me, but also pointed out the things I was doing right. Perfect balance.

I rode with romel reins for the first time. It was hard since I’ve never ridden one handed. He showed me how to adjust the reins in my hand. Learning that is going to take A LOT of practice. I remember when I was first learning how to used those 8ft reining reins. I thought I’d never get it, just like I think I’ll never get the romels now. I will though!

Woooooooooo! Cow hooooooorses!!! Yeeeeeeehaaaaaaw!

Hope everyone is doing well! Summer’s getting closer! 

 Today I got to be a scribe for an NRHA reining judge at a local show. Never having been in a reining show, I know next to nothing about how they are judged. I learned a TON! For example, 70 is the score you start with…you just have to try to keep it.

The first thing I learned was the definition of a reining horse, according to the NRHA, which is something like, “The horse should be willing to be guided with little or no resistance.” With that thought in mind, I could see a pattern emerging from all the patterns I was watching. Horse/rider teams were deducted points for any resistance in the maneuvers. Like backing up, if the horse pulled against the bit, BOOM! Deduction!

The most common subtle reasons for deductions were: 

• resistance in the stop, back up, and spins
• trotting before picking up the canter 
• slaughtering the circles (slicing into the second set of circles after the lead change, or making the smalls too big) 
• no significant change in speed from the big circles to small circles  
• almost running over the judge and scribe with horse (ok, that only happened once–and turns out I’m pretty quick to get out of the way in near body-crushing experiences).  

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 I’m still working on those turn-around. I’ve been riding the last few days and watching Les Vogt’s Maneuvers Level. He goes over how to make corrections in the spin. He breaks it down, never correcting “the whole horse”, only one part at a time–the neck, the shoulders, the hips, etc. I watched the spinning part over an over and saddled up totally determined tonight. I kinda like riding at night, with the arena lights on and the dark pastures all around.

I tried to remember how Les rode the turn-around at the clinics too and what he told me to do. We did soooo much better tonight. We got some actual speed to the right. Still struggling to the left. But I think I’m getting it. We had a good work out anyway. When I hopped off, he was lathered and had his head dropped so low he was almost dragging nose. I was dragging my feet for sure. It’s amazing how a few weeks off and you’re totally out of riding condition!

 I’ll probably watch the spin section of the dvd a few times before I go to bed. I end up watching in sections-one time I’ll watch Les’s feet, the next time his body position, the next time his hand position and so on. So much going on! 

I read Al’s blog. It looks like hay is cheaper in Illinois? It’s $300 a ton here right now. The lady at the barn told me a horse goes through about 3 tons a year? Is that about right Al? I’m thinking about it you guys…I’m toooootally thinking about buying Leo. That picture of him is how he looks when I get him out of the pasture every day. He’s Pig Pen for sure. 

Oh! Guess what! I’m going to a reined cowhorse facility this weekend for a reining lesson!!! I wonder if I’ll get to see anyone training down the fence!!!

 This picture from my ride today makes me soooooo frustrated! RRRR! Back pockets! Back pockets! I’ve been trying so hard to learn how to sit right, but it seems like every single time I go to cue that horse into a canter, I lean forward.

Years and years of English riding taking it’s toll? Bad habits hard to break? My riding instructor last summer was always telling me to lean back when I cued for a canter. It makes sense to lean back (sit down), it’s just really hard to do. Do you guys lean forward? You don’t right? It’s just at the beginning, when I ask for the lead that it happens. 

My plan for the spring is to just canter, canter, canter, right lead, left lead, counter canter, canter canter.

So I’ve been doing the numbers over and over in my head. Am I ready for horse ownership? Probably not. Am I ready to let my angry little horse go yet, probably not.

What is the real cost of ownership anyway? You know…he (the owner) said I could keep the horse at his place for free. Can you BELIEVE that? That would have been the biggest monthly cost for me…   

I can always tell when I haven’t blogged in awhile because of the amount of spam in my inbox. I looked today an I had 5,000 junk emails waiting for me! That’ll teach me!

I haven’t posted in awhile because I haven’t ridden in awhile. First there was the, “selling the horse” news, then the snows came, then the floods came, then the winds, and now it’s fog if you can believe it. So, I haven’t ridden in awhile and I’ve noticed that I haven’t been as happy. I’ve been doing other things like going to the gym and going out, but not riding. I’ve been happy, but not AS happy. I’m now convinced that horses are the key to happiness.

So, I’m going to saddle up tomorrow, rain, snow, flood, fog, wind or shine. We’ll see how that ornery horse feels about it. Maybe I’ll have a good wreck story for you tomorrow.

Al, I want you to know, that I have officially retired the English riding boots. The spurs are now attached to the Rod Patricks. By this summer, no one will ever know that I used to sit up straight in a saddle and hold four reins. Well, I guess now that I’ve announced it to the world they’ll know…but you know what I mean.

It is COLD around here! The Seattle area just isn’t prepared for it. There were people stranded at the airport for days because flights were canceled. I took this picture in my front yard where there’s easily over a foot of snow.

I’m snowed in, so I can’t drive to get to the horses and ride. I haven’t ridden in over two weeks now. It completely changes my mood. I certainly don’t feel as cheerful.

We’re not entirely confident about taking care of horses in this kind of extreme cold either. Just from our (Jim and I) conversations, here are a few examples:

1. If they’re normally without, do you keep them blanketed 24/7 or just at night? Then when the snow is all thawed, can you just take the blanket off, or do you have to work toward that slowly (keep it on part of the day for awhile?)
2. I learned that you have to keep an eye on their hooves for snow pack. I guess they can end up walking on balls of snow under their hooves if you don’t pick it out.
3.  Keeping up on their water is more of a chore since it keeps freezing.

Other than that, I’m not sure if we should look out for anything else.

Stay warm everyone and Happy Holidays!

It’s been awhile since my last entry. A lot has happened. There’s been action, there’s been suspense, there’s been victory, and finally, there has been defeat. Oh the AGONY of defeat. :::: sigh :::: Woe really IS me.

Leo (the horse) is now up for sale. The reason isn’t because he’s an untalented or unlovable animal; it’s because he and his owner simply have no chemistry and never did.

Where Leo and I get along like peas in a pod and I love all of his quirky and challenging ways, his owner only finds him difficult and will never trust him.

In our two years together, Leo has never bitten me, bucked me off, kicked at me, or kicked me. Unfortunately, he has done all of these things to his owner. Last week, his owner was taking hay out, Leo tried to pull some out of his arms, his owner barked at him, and Leo whirled around and kicked him in the leg, sending him to the emergency room (he’s ok; five stitches).

I wasn’t there. I didn’t see it happen. It just seems so strange to me that Leo would do that. But he did, and the final words were, “I’m going to sell him as soon as possible.”

I’m sure many of you will agree, that this is a perrrrrrfect example of how chemistry between horse and rider is essential. Leo and I get along beautifully. He’s relaxed with me, he respects me (never getting in my space on the ground), and he works for me. A horse can be one rider’s angel and another rider’s devil.

I’ll be so sad to see him go. I think about it, and I’ve spent more hours this past year with that horse than anyone else I know. He’s my pal. With the economy the way it is, there’s just no way I can buy and take care of him. Anyway, his price will be set at somewhere between $7,000 and $8000 I think, waaaaay out of my price range.

Sad news. Heavy heart. But he will go to a good home and there will be other horses. I want to tell his owner that he’s making a mistake, but he isn’t really because the two have no chemistry.

My advice to people looking to buy a horse, get to know the animal a little before you buy it. If you don’t feel the magic, don’t do it!

So how is everyone?

I now have another hero. I don’t know who all of the well-known trainers are yet since I’m new to all of this. But at the futurity, I was able to learn and see them all together, under one roof, riding their hearts out. One man, stood out for me, over all the others, Ken Wold. That guy can ride! He was spectacular to watch. I don’t know what it is that makes one rider stand out from all of the other incredible riders, but Mr. Wold has whatever that is. He was magic.

This is one of his rides during the futurity with Playgirls Miss Grace. You can tell by the crowd that I wasn’t the only one who was thrilled to watch him. I heard that he was inducted into the NRCHA hall of fame this year. Congratulations to Ken and thanks for the show! WOW!

Ken Wold’s web site is: http://www.kenwoldtrainingstables.com/

I’m home! I’m too sleepy to make the movies tonight, but wanted to post this photo because I was thinking about the fashion I saw. Ok, ok, I’m fairly certain that cowboys don’t EVER use the word fashion, but, well, what else should I call it? Maybe “cowboy style” or “cowboy gear?” Anyway, I’m not sure who he is, but does this guy have some style or what? One of the things about the futurity is you see a huge variety of cowboy fashion/gear. This guy, with matching blue horse, was the winner of fashion week in my mind.

I saw a lot of square-toed boots still, but also a lot of those tall buckaroo cowboy boots. There were a lot of men and women wearing the buckaroo boots with their pants tucked in. There were also a lot of elephant and hippo hide boots for sale, if you can believe it. They said the elephants all died of natural causes. I walked away grumbling.

I like the more unusual hats, like the traditional cowboy hats that have some crazy shape to them. I love the one this guy is wearing, but I saw this other guy wearing a palm hat that had THE COOLEST shape. I think I captured him of video. I’ll try to find it. I don’t even have a hat, but if I could find just the right one…

Al, I bought another pair of boots, and I’m actually going to wear them and retire my English ones. They’re soooo comfy. First thing I did was get some of that futurity arena dirt on them for luck. I also got a pair of Ricotti spur straps. Then I lost my mind buying NRCHA shirts. Amanda, I got the cutest hoodie and jacket with the NRCHA patch on it. Ya! I was THE BIGGEST tourist. I don’t care if I’m a big goofball. I was to excited about everything to care.

And can I say, no matter what they were wearing, rich or poor, famous or unknown, everyone was so nice. What a great group of people. I didn’t meet anyone that had a nasty attitude and best of all, I didn’t meet anyone that didn’t want to talk about horses.