3D Ranch and Training

04/10/2025

Tip of the Day:
The kindest thing you can do for a horse is to educate him well.

04/10/2025

Check your tack! Found rid evening in arena

03/21/2025

Please, if you are planning on attending please get your forms and deposits in! I would like to fill this soon so less stress lol!

03/14/2025

Hey lesson riders! HS Soccer is here and that means being a mama comes before being a lesson giver! GO EC!

Lessons will continue, we just have to be flexible in our scheduling and will consider weekend lessons to get through the next couple months! Please keep this in mind when you ask for lessons after 3. I am doing my best to wear both hats, I promise!

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03/08/2025

It has been a fantastic week and like I guessed, I got behind on sharing rides. Luck worked on some extending of stride ("going faster") and my new found arena zig zags in the arena. Today we did the 4 corners or 4 barrel drill where we did barrel turns on it as well as just big loping circles. We extended a bit between barrels but kept turns to a trot or slow lope.

Rosa mainly did conditioning and a simple trot/lope altering.

Classy is up to 15 minutes trotting and we added elevated ground poles. She was not a fan the first couple days but by day 3 was clearing all of them.

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03/07/2025

You may have noticed the 10 mph sign at the top of the driveway. This sign actually applies to everyone besides police, fire and medics. If you are late to a lesson, it still applies to you. If you are mad at your spouse or kid…. Still applies to you. You get the idea. Thank you!

03/02/2025

2 for 2 but lets not hold our breath! Today's rides...

Luci - (For those who don't know, he will be 4 in April, just starting to add speed on the barrel pattern, very earliest he would be entered at a race is November). Warmed up walking for 10-15 minutes (didn't clock it but walked from barn to arena and 2-3 laps in the arena). Then we jogged big square zig zags because sometimes I like to chat with friends while riding and this enabled me to work him and chat), then trotted a lap, and loped a lap with circles in the corners. After that we worked on our stop and back because he likes to get heavy, which then morphed from a jog, stop back to a jog, stop, back, haunch turn, jog off on a straight line. This turned into doing big zig zags down the arena with a long trot, stop, back a couple steps, haunch turn, trot off. Then we did some big circles, small circles around a barrel both ways and then finished with the big zig zags but let him move out a little.

Rosa - (9 year old mare, seasoned barrel horse ridden by my son) - Walked about 10 minutes then our usual jog a lap, trot a lap, lope a lap and reverse. This is our standard warm up. After that we worked on stopping without throwing her nose up and being soft. Key race was set up (4 poles in a 5' x 10' rectangle) with a pole added off each end about 20 feet off the rectangle. We spent some time jogging and trotting left, rights, circles, and doing figure 8s with the outlying poles. Just moving her feet and keeping her thinking. There was no set pattern, just lots of left, right, right, left, randomness. Finished with loping circles around the end pole, then the 4 center poles and the far end pole. Both directions, at least 2 circles around pole or set of poles and we did this two times each. Then we walked for about 20 minutes just to relax.

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03/01/2025

All my harping about the basics matter more than anything, so I am going to TRY and list what my rides are everyday..... no promises, but lets give it a try!

*Rosa Jean - Warm up (10 minutes of walking), lap each jog, trot, lope. Reverse repeat j/t/l. 6 laps of my arena one directions - 3 laps of trotting the long sides and loping the short sides followed by 3 laps of high loping/hand galloping the long sides and trotting the short. Walk 2 laps. Reverse and do the same the other direction. Grabbed Classy off the wall and ponied her at a walk for 10 minutes to cool out Rosa and get Classy moving. (12 laps in my arena is 2 miles)

Classy - Slowly rehabbing back from a tendon/ligament injury last summer. 5 minutes walking under saddle (after 10 being ponied). Then 9 minutes of jogging half the arena and trotting, mixed directions, little meandering at times to accommodate others riding. Then 6 minutes of long trotting. Grabbed Rosa off the wall, ponied her for Classy's cool out.

Luci - Arrived at the arena to A LOT going on. Got in, started walking circles and getting him to focus on me, not everything else. Used half the arena to warm up at a jog and trot, circling in each "corner". Loped circles around a barrel because his brain was not going to make it loping long straight distances. Was used as demo horse for a lesson so did a lot of walk, stop, haunch turn, walk... then at a jog. (Training for key race, done off the pattern until that haunch turn is solid and fluid). Loped a few circles around a barrel here and there. This was a light day for him for was under saddle for a good hour and had to learn to cope with horses coming and going and trailers coming and going as well as, well, just being Luci.

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02/28/2025

Get your deposits in! The best "Yes you can do that!" clinic I have ever been to!

Registration form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSex6Aq4pBTIe_obY7o_d0R1RexppCKUYhWh9fmRjqvuyta1Sg/viewform?usp=sharing

02/28/2025

Whatever you call it, basics, foundation, etc… it all comes back to that training no matter your discipline There is a certain level of competitor who embraces this and those are the competitors who are crushing their goals Then there are thise who just want to run patterns with no whoa, no skill to move each part of their horses body, and no STRENGTH to run fast because the basics are also what build their muscle and wind Not constant pattern work

I’d get off my high horse now buti kind of like being able to things from up here

5’2” lesson giver who wants the best for you but am not a baker 😉

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19NYpuucR1/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The Strength of Your Foundation

A house is only as strong as the foundation it stands on. It doesn’t matter how beautiful the structure is—if the foundation is weak, the house will eventually crumble under pressure.

The same applies to your horse. When the storms of barrel racing hit—whether it’s tough competition, tricky ground, or off days—your horse will always revert back to their foundation. If that foundation is solid, they’ll weather the storm and keep standing strong. If it’s weak, things start falling apart when the pressure is on.

Skipping steps or rushing through the fundamentals might seem like a shortcut, but in the long run, it’ll cost you. A well-built foundation ensures your horse has confidence, consistency, and the ability to perform at their best, no matter the circumstances.

So take the time, do it right, and build a foundation that won’t crack when the storms roll in.

02/22/2025

Your Friday funny!

02/20/2025

Let me start, I love mares. This isn’t sarcasm. I really do love them. They’re gritty and bitchy and I love them. Their attitude doesn’t bug me.

Enter Classy.

Classy is opinionated and gritty and will do anything you ask of her. Except…. For a week or so in Spring and a week or so in fall. Yesterday I ponied her past a gelding and she squealed and double barreled at him. He was in his own pen. Later I put her in her stall and had to walk by Steele in his stall. Squealing and trying to kick…. Turned her loose…. She struck out (not at me), squealed and ran off.

It has come. That week where we don’t look at her, we don’t talk to her, we try not to say her name (she lost phone privileges after striking yesterday so I’m safe). Tonight at chores, I said “Classy, move”… I was throwing in some loose alfalfa on a stall fork…. Y’all, she literally squealed and stomped her foot. I. Was. Feeding. Her.

So if you are out at the ranch anytime in the next week, proceed with caution. Probably best to avert eye contact. Walk quickly and quietly. This too shall pass.

🤣

I love mares.

02/12/2025

Message for a registration form or any questions!

01/31/2025

Tis the season… For abscesses…. I had to break it to Luci tonight that he, in fact, could not help me help him and that I just needed him to stand there with his mouth not on me.

01/22/2025

Who would be interested in a summer barrel/horsemanship clinic with Brenda and Lynne Mays? No, I do not know dates. In summer it is impossible to have a “free” weekend from any other race/activity.

01/16/2025

…when you have one SERIOUS pet peeve and it’s back cinches. Your back cinch is meant to TOUCH your horse. Shocker I know. But it can’t stabilize your saddle in all maneuvers if it can’t touch.

I’m forever that person mentioning this small fact on other trainers videos and no, IDGAF. It’s literally a matter of safety and function.

01/04/2025

This is why I appreciate when I do have to raise board no one fusses. S**t never breaks when it’s 70 and sunny. And no, board is not getting raised lol.

01/03/2025

Players… riders… competitors…