Extreme Words of Wisdom

Posted inMiscellaneous
I've been formulating how to convey the learning experience I'm getting with Lucky Star. He is an extreme left brain introvert. I'll say my piece later. This will help you understand why I have developed such a deep relationship with Lucky Star. Words from Linda Parelli:Linda's Blog has posted a new blog: 'Horsenality™ Is Not An Excuse!' The reason for this blog is that I keep hearing this comment: “People are using Horsenality™ as an excuse!" We've all heard people say "I can’t ask my horse to do this; he’s…

Just What the Heck Is Natural Horsmanship?

Posted inMiscellaneous
NATURAL HORSEMANSHIP For more than 6000 years, man tried to bridge the chasm between his own species, the ultimate predator, and the horse, the ultimate prey animal.  Man needed the horse to be a servant. The horse was programmed to be anything but a servant.  The man adopted his most efficient tool, brute force.  It was the basis of horsemanship practiced by the common man for millennia. We had early natural horsemen: Simon of Athens (400B.C.), Xenophon (430-355) and Alexander the Great are the names most well-known  by natural horsemanship…

Trail Rules – Everyone has rules!

Posted inNOVA, Velvet
Ken, Hope and I rode a small portion of Lake Perry. Kansas, trails today.  I gave Ken my rules about trail riding.  It's gotta be 2 hours, It's got to be in the high 40's and There's gotta be flat land on which to go fast. He had great success with rules one and two.  We didn't have much flat land upon which to go fast. Oh well.  Other than the last part where we couldn't find a trail back to our trailers and we were lost for seemingly, hours - It was…

Powder’s Progress – Two Years Old Today!

Posted inPowder
  She was born two years ago.  Her birthday is today!  But hold on! She's going to be two again in 2011...for showing purposes!  Powder is two, she'll have two birthdays.   Isn't that two cool! Powder was born in October and the rule is...Oct. thru December babies are deemed to attain their age in the following year. In this past few weeks, I'm determined that Powder will have the best horse development ever.  I've been playing with her at home and taking her to Pine Dell. Taking Powder to Pine…

Powder’s Progress- Liberty Game

Posted inPowder
It's a game we love to play. We turn the horses loose in the arena and wait for them to want to come back to us. The rules for the horses are trot or canter, maintain the same direction and don't cut thru the middle.That last rule is important because that's where the humans stand.  Tony called her "sassy"!  Sassy she was indeedy.  In the above picture, her goal was to be the leading horse. She cut the corner to pass Spike and JR. Not only did Powder cut thru…

Sue – How Do You Do Plateau?

Posted inSue - How Do You Do!
Yep, we've plateau'd. Of course that's not a real word. Sue has spent her first week at the boarding stable, called "For the Horse" Ranch. A small amount of her fear came back and I spent two riding nights with her completely on the ground. I managed to ride her the third night. After a couple laps around the arena, we stopped and I breathed again. That fear is there waiting.... We had two clinics on Saturday. One was with Jenny Vaught in the am and the other one was…