Up and early with the heat today. We recently decided to switch it up with Sarge and play with poles. This is something totally new to him. I like to pattern all my horses on different things to get them off the same three barrels, and get them listening and partnering with me no matter what I ask for, where the turn is, what my legs are saying, or what obstacle is in front of them. We have some work to do still as is expected with any new thing, but he is trying and he’s getting it. I’ll take that any day. Good boy Sarge!
Boy has time flew by. We have been super busy with all the horses and June is a busy month for our family. We have new horses in, some horses out, amazing rides with clients, and baby Sage is just blowing us away with her willingness and easy going attitude.
Today though I want to check back in on Sarge. He is the big red boy that came in last month to get back going on barrels. He was board stiff to the right, dropped his shoulder really bad on his first and was quite chargey on all three. We got his teeth done, have been working on standing him up, and trying to help him stay flatter leaving his turns. Yesterday I just went out and breezed him through real quick and husband was able to grab a quick video. He got a little lost coming off the third but I’m loving how this boy is standing up so much better, being much softer in the bridle, and listening more to his rider for help rather than charging through on his own. We have some work to do still but he’s coming along nicely. Bonus is he’s a pleasure to have in the barn and to ride. Always rates down or opens just as much as I want. He’s a good big boy that has a bright future.
Sometimes making good youngsters includes throwing shenannigans at them and seeing what they will put up with. Today was a LONG day of lessons, new horses in, catching up on chores, etc. By the end of the day I knew I needed to go work some more horses but didn’t have much left in the tank. I grabbed a bridle and grabbed baby Sage and headed for a quick bareback ride. Her 13th ride, she’s in heat, new horses and the geldings around, and she was perfect. I said what the heck and asked her to trot and lope. This was only her second time loping and baby girl was easy and smooth as silk. Just for fun I grabbed a video between the ears. Don’t mind the somewhat lack of steering, remember this is a young green horse with 13 spread out rides total and I’m loping bareback with one hand on the reins and the other holding a phone. Enjoy the ride!
Baby Sages 10th and 11th rides were this last week. First trail rides, first obstacle ride, also first lope, back cinch, and ponying another horse. She did so well!
We have June and July openings to start your young one under saddle, put it on gaming patterns, or ground work youngsters. Contact Krystle's Quarters LLC today!
What has Miss Kiki been up to? She’s been getting rides, getting miles, and keeping our barn sassy and sweet. Today we got to do something different. Today she got her first day of barrel work! Was it perfect, heck no! This girl had literally never even walked a gaming pattern. By the time we were done though she was walking and trotting a decent pattern with pockets, finishing her turns crisp, and looking ahead to the next barrel. I like to keep my horses calm, soft, and engaged with me especially when we create gaming horses so as always we start slow and steady and it showed because when we were done she collected and stopped solid, dropped her head, and did a nice haunch turn to walk off calm and at ease. Good girl Kiki!
On another note, I am so happy with our new arena and what it means we can offer our clients. If you are looking for a tune up, getting your horse patterned, lessons or clinics, just reach out. We look forward to hearing from you!
Sometimes when you start them right, coach them well, and they have good upbringings, you can sprinkle a little luck and love in and have a super cool moment where a good minded student gets to put the 8th ride on a good minded filly. The theme of the night was soft and calm. It was Sage’s first ride in the dark, Miss K’s first ride on a totally green youngster and was a big night for them both. They each have a lot to learn but I’m sure we will see them partnered again in the future. Good job girls, super proud of these two tonight 🥰
Took a little detour last week and hauled Kiki and Nemo out for a little arena riding. Their owner is learning to pull a trailer and is doing very well. She is gaining confidence on getting on her boy in new places and working through the brain of a youngster while also adding tools to her kit of how to be a better rider.
I hadn’t realized that with all the hauling all over the place we did with Kiki last summer outdoor, that I never hauled her to another indoor arena. She was SUPER sassy and FULL of herself last week. I admit in my haste to load I grabbed a different bridle than what I usually ride her in and she hated it and was very clear in her opinion with plenty of fire to make me aware for the first while we rode. Rather than give up on the ride, we turned it into a lesson that she can have opinions but she still has to learn to deal with it. She also got to learn what a flock of dumb pigeons flying out of rafters right above her is like and put to the test how sticky my seat is. We both survived. She got to learn what bleachers, shadows, doors and signs are. I was pretty proud of her though in that most everything she looked at once then moved on. The only thing that scared her were the pigeons but she recovered quickly and I have to give her that. What I didn’t expect was the girl found her wheels and wanted to move! Last summer freshly started under saddle she really disliked arena work and while she would move out some, she really didn’t want to and instead relished trail riding so we did more of that. After being in the round pen again for the winter I think she loved the opportunity to stretch out and this girl was all forward all night. Long trot an English rider would relish, a canter my barrel racing side wants to test on a pattern, and she showed her cow lines by getting LOW and eating the ground up when asked to stop. She still threw some sass and made me ride for every step but what a night. Looking forward to our arena being done to see w
Yesterday Arrow went on her first trail ride. She’s a 6yo mustang that was started elsewhere with about 30 days then came to me with her new owners to restart and continue. She showed us yesterday that even in new places she is a thinker, watching sometimes with apprehension things around her, but never spooking or loosing her cool no matter how much pressure we put her under. We rode out in a fall windstorm with branches and leaves blowing all over. She was skeptical of the less natural obstacles even though she did them but breezed through the more natural ones. She handled the moving bridges with caution but confidence. She has a thing for water, not refusing it but had to play in every single puddle. She handled the helicopter and the nearby explosions with ease and overall truly did very well. As a bonus she showed me that even the times she slipped or tripped that she will pack her rider to the end and she took extremely good care of me. I’ll add the slips in comments to show what I mean. Don’t panic on those ones, she held me strong and was superb.
This girl is for sale. I will get a video of arena work soon but she is solid w/t/c stop, back, turns, starting off leg pressure. She is big at I’m guessing 15.3 and probably 1600#. She would be perfect as a confident novice or above husbands horse that wants to pack, hunt, trail ride for days. I can see her leading a pack string with some additional miles with her good hard feet. She has had confident beginners on her in an arena and did well for them although I would say at this time she needs a strong leader as her main guide while she gets more miles. Overall she’s a sweetheart that wants to please and we’ve enjoyed her in our barn.
Thanks also to my trusty pal who tags along rain or shine to video our shenanigans!
Well yesterday little Miss Elle went home. Little girl came in this summer with basic handling as a true 2yo. She was very slow to trust and was pretty sure the world was going to eat her, until it didn’t, but then it might again. She is either solidly in the “I got this” camp or solidly in the “run for your life” camp but she came a long way in her time here and with some hauling for exposure and time to grow up a bit I think she will be just as much a sweetheart in the saddle as she is on the ground. She leaves here with walk, trot, lope, stop, back, start of haunch turns, and tackled a few obstacles. She has a jog trot to die for and while she is a total clutz with her 2yo baby feet, she always stayed on her toes.
We took advantage of the break in the weather yesterday to do one last ride and just hang out. Give her a break in the loping part of the video. I had rode her for about 30 minutes only to find my camera hadn’t been recording so these videos were from round two and baby girl was tired and didn’t want to lope anymore.
Elle sweetheart, you challenged me but you have a good start and I can’t wait to see where your little hooves take you. Be good darling, I’m so proud of you!
