Listening is sometimes hard

Last Sunday it was a balmy 18 degrees here so we decided to take a nice Sunday drive north about a 120 miles to see how Mojo was doing with the trainer. We get up there and the snow is melting and 45+ degrees. The trainer has Mojo saddled up and already had been riddin but was just calmly standing there waiting. The trainer got on Mojo and showed us what he has been working on for the last two weeks. Mojo has made some good improvements in a short time between the -too cold days. Then we are all standing there talking and I ask 'well what do you think now that you've rode him.' I am a firm believer in when I hire someone to do something to take heed on there counsel. The first thing out of the trainers mouth was 'He's a real sweet boy'. Of course my heart sank at that catch all phrase that is used when there isn't much other to say. A little further in the conversation the trainer said that he would make an excellent kids horse. Another hard swallow. Twenty years of breeding horses with the goal of having good level headed athletic fast horses and I seem to have only gotten the first part right. How does one take and have good running lineage on the top and bottom and produce 'a real sweet boy' as his best and only quality. Luck of the draw.........maybe. On the way home we had some indepth and long discussions. An interesting pattern developed the mares are fire breathing speedsters with a controllable amount of attitude but all the geldings seem to be of the pocket pet mentality.
I have the two year old filly to break this spring so we will see if that theory holds. We can always use another horse for lessons but his younger brother may have to go if he follows the pocket pet mentality. As with any of this only time will tell.

                                            
   The lemonade in all this:
                                           Mojo's future jockey (in 8 years:)

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