Lifes left turns

Over the years I have sent horses to various people for training. I'll admit I have holes in my ability and as time has gone on it has become more of a time and size issue than ability. To correct the situation my oldest and I planned to have her do the training and me take care of the rest. Her with daughters (3 and 1) it became very evident that life loves to get in the way of plans. Mojo had been slated to be kept a stud and run barrel futurities. So when we had Jon a futurity trainer come out to assess Mojo we had some reality checks that were not rosy. Jon has been doing this with fairly good success for years so when he said that Mojo wasn't where he should be and that it would be difficult to catch up and also if he couldn't be at the top of the heap not to bother keeping him a stud. So off to the vet Mojo went to get fixed. Then we would send him up to Justin (reigner/reigning cattle trainer). Again life intercedes and due to infections and such we're set back another 3 months. For the last 2 months MoJo has been at our best friends parent's place where he is being rode daily (when it is above 15 degrees F). Now MoJo is fine and Justin has recovered from AQHA world so off he goes this weekend. In this whole ordeal what makes me sad is since we don't keep studs that we had a stud that was probably better mannered than any other horse we have. It took a lot of work to get him there but very little to keep him there. A program that we have been working on for some 20 years this one was a keeper. If life treats him well he will probably be the wife's last mount. Dear he is one of the smoothest riding horses we have and he will take care of you.

Below is a 2009 picture of our extended family friend who has helped us so much on a horse out of our mare and their stud doing poles low 20's all day long without pushing. Now if she (the horse silly) would just do barrels :)

Pride in one's Self

My wife is a therapist specializing in bonding and attachment for a non-profit organization that deals with pregnant teens. These girls come from all sorts of backgrounds. The one common feature is that they are unsure of their future and their soon to be born child. I don't blame them; I'd be just plain scared if I was in their situation.

Once a week some of the girls with their newborns come to the barn to get some horse time. Helping my wife is our horse lady friend (mother of the barrel racer shown in an earlier post and licensed riding instructor). I go out to feed the horses and on the other side of the wall I can hear the girls, their kids and staff giggling and laughing. For a short time life is without care and fun as it should be. At the end, one of the girls from an inter-city background calls me over she is so proud of herself. There is a twinkle in her eyes where suspicion used to dwell. She got to trot bareback on my horse. Before coming out here she had never touched a horse. In a short couple of months she now is riding. For these things I am thankful, it truly is about the kids.

  Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Mojo 4, Granddaughter 3 (2009)

Quick Note

Sorry to those about my not posting. This is turning out to be a busy time....seems to be a common theme :)

I am trying to get the fencing shored up so the horses can go out into the hay field.
We have 2 green broke geldings, a yearling and a weanling we are working with and I am in the process of upgrading a pasture pet into my competition horse for next year. My trusty boy that I have rode for the last eight years is being retired into a lesson horse. It is so hard to start over once you have a horse that will take care of you in any situation. He is retiring from speed events strong and healthy which is good but hard not just to grab him to go run when things don't go well with the mare. It is kind of a hard decision for the mare is faster and I could be more competitive but she can also eat my lunch at the drop of a hat. The one green broke gelding is to the point where my wife can now ride him which is a real good sign. He will be going off to training in two weeks so that will help in our trying to manage our time. Well at least it is a thought.

Hope things are going well with you.

Tuff as a 3yr old

A Sad Day

In our household the rule was trophies and awards could only adorn the mantle for a month and then had to be put in storage (the girl's bedroom if they wished)

After a bad run only up to 15 minutes of quiet time allowed then back to family and friends.

Thus after my whine; time to remove my comment.
Now that I have had my say time to move on for a better day.

2009 NSCA Nationals

What is success

Some 12 years ago I was assistant riding coach then after a few years I was the riding coach for our little 4-H club. For me a main goal for a coach is to look at the girls who are riding on the rail and determine 5 factors to help them achieve success. Talent, drive, horse quality, sadly money and parental support. It is  rare to have a girl come to 4-H with an abundance of all five though I think we were lucky to have such the rare group we did. Every so often at the club meetings there would be grumblings and movement to have attendance requirements to be in the club. My wife and club leader would always handle it as we are a club to help not judge. Some girls could only make it a couple of practices a summer. Between having to work and no parental support we always tried to help them succeed and have a good time.  At that time my oldest daughter and Aimee were well beyond what I could help them with. For me my job was easy just don't let bad habits creep into their riding. So a flash forward to current time. My daughter has a degree in athletic training, 2 wonderful daughters, a caring husband and more horses to work with than time. Aimee has moved on to be one of the top female natural horse instructors in that system and I saw in the paper her engagement notice. So to me both have been successful. The other girls to a one of them have had successes way beyond their young days on the rail. Yes I am proud of all of them.

 A couple of weeks ago I was at a benefit barrel race and roping for a young ruffie that I know. Broke his back riding a bronc. There on her horse was one of my past 4-H girls smiling ear to ear from her run and happy to see me there to see her run. As for me that is success.

2008 Newdy and Mona

A "W" Day

Why?

 Yesterday the wife asked me why I was doing a Blog. Well for me I had a few reasons and they are:

1.  For my grandchildren. At some point in there life they maybe interested in reading what I have written. Writing about the horse part of our lives opens the door a little to show a side of myself that they may never really see during the day to day bustle of chores, haying, fixing stuff, day job and grandpa being tired at the end of the day.
2. Back around 1990 I started hauling the oldest to clinics, horse lessons, practices 4H, pony club, O-Mok-See, Rodeo. That went on until the youngest hit highschool. During those years we occationally had money and opportunity for me to ride in some of those clinics and take riding lessons myself. To date I have never set down what I have learned that works for me. I am amazed that in the heat of the moment how much I forget and that afterwards it is like 'Oh I remember now' and next time I run into the issues I have two or three ways to overcome the current issue at hand.
3. As a training tool for myself. I have pictures of me goofing up and when I look at them I see it but I hope to internalize what I need to do by documenting the points I need to change.

For those that happen upon this site I hope you find something that helps you also.

Mojo 2009

When Cowgirls Grow Up

Here is one of my girls that I have known since she was around 11 in 4H. During the Highschool Rodeo years her mother and my wife hauled our daughters every weekend to some HS rodeo. We finally had to put a 4hr trip limit on it because getting up before 5:00am was just too hard. The night before I would hook up the horse trailer to the motorhome and get everything ready so all they had to do is load up and go. While on the road the girls would get to sleep and the mothers talked. I have always been surprised that in those 4 years and now going on 20 years those two mothers have never run out of anything to say. :) During the early years I always wondered if they would make the transition from Horseshowing to running on the edge. Well it looks like the transition is complete but it is still a pleasure to watch both girls train their horses because they still maintain that equitation and quiet seat. It still is form to acheive function.

So to my new girls that are venturing into the the horsey world Yes you will get there and thank you for giving the chance to see you grow up.

Day late and a Dollar short

OR Stride late and a drop in placings.

Dropping the shoulder around a barrel is always a tenuous situation at best. Sometimes you luck out and sometimes things happen very quickly. For the rider to anticipate and go into correction mode before it happens is almost as bad as the horse anticipating the barrel. In the following pictures we went into the barrel ok but on the back side Tenor dropped his shoulder and it was 2 strides before I had him picked up again.

A little late in releasing the outside hand which has left Tenor straight and the left shoulder is dropping.

Starting to pick up the shoulder but alas the time has been lost.   We never went down as his left front came forward my left hand helped by lifting up.

Quick Saying: Never quit riding until you dismount :)

So it is back to the barn to do corrections, on myself as well as the horse.

 Agenda of corrections:

   Horse: loping big circle little circle

   Me: Keep Tenor's inside eye and no outside reign.

          Keep inside reign steady, picking up the inside

             shoulder and use legs for circle size.

          If needed, move outside leg back to help keep Tenor

             rounded.

                                                                                               

Quick saying: Best way for a horse to do their job is get out of their way and let them do it. :)

Hope this is a help for others
   but if you are one of the blogging nit picking english riders that search for goof ups I'm happy for you

Skip

Ya gotta start somewhere

My first post will it be great.....nope just a little history(boring) and some W's



History (The Horsey thing):

Back when I was young we spent our vacations at grandpa's on the lake on a reservation. A glorious beautiful area with mountains, water and all sorts of fun stuff to explore. Well as it happened when I was in the fifth grade the neighbors at the lake got a Shetland pony. This thing was wild haired, wild eyed and that is where the mean started. It fell on the neighbors oldest son and I to make this beasty a suitable ride for his younger sisters. So next door to the abandoned rendering plant we went(Only place that had corrals, pens and where the beasty was to live) to saddle and ride. Rotted fencing, wooden water troughs, chunks of iron safe enough for us little buckaroo's to tame this beast and after both of had been thoroughly bludgeoned by our surrounding we finally succeeded......The pony was now a suitable mount for his sisters. There was no horse mystic to help us in our quest it was ride until you were brushed, dumped, bucked off by/on one of the furnishings in the corral.

I was hooked but would live in denial for years.



Some W's



Where: After years of looking for barn time for riding etc. etc we
sold the old place and bought this. Long and short retirement will just have to wait. 

2008