Mowing the lawn, and working on Booās bow at the same time š
We are all settled in at USET Foundation Inc. for the Best of the West Horses sale this Saturday in Gladstone NJ!
Iām already missing my precious KitKat but I know sheāll make someoneās dreams come true.
Finn has also been a rockstar, and I canāt wait to see what the future has in store for them!
KitKat
I have lots of mixed emotions on this oneā¦.
But as hard as it will be, my beautiful girl will be offered at
š„The Best of The West Saleš„
in Gladstone NJ this September. She truly is a one in a million kind of horse and you wonāt want to miss out on her. Huge thanks to Savanna for putting this little sneak peak together of her as we start gearing up to take a ton of sale footage.
ā
Kid tested ā
parent approved #trickhorse #gypsy #gypsyvanner #irishcob #followingfinnegan
KitKat
KitKatās third time ever around gun fire, and our first attempt shooting while sheās down š„° good thing this horse trusts people as much as she does. Sheās gonna make someone an incredible partner.
I spent years saying a wouldnāt be that person with a miniā¦.
I spent years saying I wouldnāt be the person with a mini š¤£
But they do come in handy for teaching kids the ropes (especially on the ground), without the danger factor of a large horse.
Love my little Minnie Mouse ā¤ļø These two couldnāt be cuter
Baby fever is strong around here ā¤ļøā¤ļøā¤ļøā¤ļø
#babyfever #summertime #filly #SaylorTheAzteca
Finnš
I think at this point Finnās lay down is better that KitKat š³ He is such a sweet boy ā¤ļø
#FollowingFinnegan #gypsyvanner #trickhorse
Our trot is coming right along š¤© we might have to do a western dressage show this summerā¦ or traditional dressage at this rate
How to set yourself up for failure to ride bridleless? Never ride your horse without the bridle (while you still have it on).
If you want to ride bridle-less, ride your horse with a bridle on and donāt use it. I cannot stress this enough. Tie your reins to your saddle and DONāT. TOUCH. THEM. Ride like that on crazy windy days, high traffic days, with other riders in the arena days, through spooky days. Do it with no warm up. And when youāve learned how to manage your horse through inevitably difficult situations and ALL THREE GAITS, then youāre ready to actually ditch the bridle.
So many times people think that they can just ditch the bridle because they have a āgreat relationshipā with their horse and they supposedly ride off seat and leg. And maybe thatās true on a good day, when the horse is paying attention, and no out side distractions arise. However if thatās what you do, you just setting up the ingredients for a disaster. Because if you get rid of your bridle and a vent flaps, or your horse gets going too fast, they break into a faster gait, or a kid with an umbrella runs across the arena, you havenāt set yourself up to be able to manage the situation. You havenāt achieved the ability to mitigate things if they start to go awry because youāve never had to. The conditions we ride horses in are not always ideal, and thatās something that needs to be taken into consideration during training as well.
You donāt just take your bridle off to see how good your relationship is. Because thatās how people get into wrecks. You can test that theory while your bridles still on and you donāt touch it.
(Unless of course youāre as cool as Luke Gingerich who does so much prep work with his horses they never have headgear on to begin with. But I can guarantee he didnāt just jump on there and hope things didnāt arise. He spent the time before hand teaching his horse how to handle those environments before he ever got on)
So here is k
Iām in desperate need of some lessons and I know that. This is not something Iāve ever taught before.
I can pick quite a few things apart about this video myself, that really need improvement. Itās really easy to get stuck on the end result, but without mistakes, you donāt learn. And without learning, thereās no progress. This is a TERRIBLE video (a bit embarrassing really), but just because we donāt post the really sloppy stuff doesnāt mean it doesnāt happen. Itās so easy to get caught up seeing the highlights that everyone else posts we forget that those moments arenāt what the journey actually looks like. Working with horses is about all the mess in the middle that leads up to all the progress towards the perfection.
Hereās a reminder to all those who need it, especially with all the Internet trainers out there that can be extremely discouraging. Itās okay to look like a mess sometimes, just donāt stop there. And for the others, when you see crappy videos, instead of belittling others maybe just offer some encouragement. Even if itās encouragement to seek help from a qualified trainer, it doesnāt have to be nasty or passive aggressive. The horse world is terrible for tearing people down, letās focus a little more on building people up.
Learning together ā¤ļø
Couple clips from our session today. Iāve never taught a piaffe before, so Iāll probably mess this one up, and learn what to do better for next time. But I do think itās starting to come together. Weāve also started working on a rear using a different method than I have in the past and Iām really liking not standing in front of her to cue. Poor KitKat just gets to be the Guinea pig for it all.
#keepingupwithkitkat
