BFO DOG WALK!

Posted inNOVA
BFO = Blinding Flash of the Obvious.  We horse people have them every now and then. That's why our foreheads often get dented. Check out  my forehead the next time you see me.  Does it have a dent? Warning:  Non horse people and horse people with non-gaited horses are going to find this exceedingly dull. Gaited horse people are going to hang on every word and probably not breathe until I run out of words. I have an IQ over 100.  I've been understanding why the dog walk is so…

Nova is a Blessing

Posted inNOVA
Snow in Missouri.  Stacks and stacks of it.  My truck and trailer have been buried.  I forgot how to ride a horse in six weeks. This was a big day.  I got the truck and trailer out of the snow drifts.  Now to get the horse out of the barn.  There's still a foot of snow out there and it's hard to walk thru. I tried to open the barn door. Drat, the cord that hangs on the door was buried in 3" of ice.  I hacked and hacked with…

Four Outdoor Horse Hours

Posted inNOVA
Thank you Jennifer Vaught for the great lesson and the fun time riding with great friends. Great friends, a great teacher and great horses.  The greats pile up! We rode slow with occasional times of speed and many rest periods.  We didn't want sweat. OK, most of the four hours wasn't outdoors.  Most of it was in an indoor arena. Someone did forget to turn on the furnace.  I left home at 11:30 and came back at 4:00.  The lesson was from 1:00-3:00, but it always runs longer. We did toast up in the…

Nova’s Notebook – Trail Riding is on Trails

Posted inNOVA, Velvet
My friend Ken loves to rode.  He is a rider. That's the highest compliment I can bestow on a person. Hope on Velvet and I on Nova decided to double grace Ken's life and let him ride with us at Lake Perry again.  My last post was a statement of the rules.  Let me repeat my rules: Two hours Flat places for going fast This ride Ken followed the rules.  He found long stretches of flat land for us to go fast.  Ah...sigh... Then he lead us into the forest where…

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…

Friday thru Monday Happiness

Posted inNOVA, Powder, Velvet
Just singing my happiness living my life with horses. Friday was wonderful.  Powder came home from her 30 days of training with Tony and Jennifer Vaught.  It was good to have her back in the pasture again.  Powder and Velvet had never met.  Powder didn't move fast enough to suit Velvet, so Powder lost some hair. She's very aware of Velvet now. Friday was lesson night.  I have my winter goals for  with Nova.  We are to trail walk with head down until she is really relaxed.  You remember that…