Nova’s Notebook – Young Years

May 9, 2004Posted inMiscellaneous
For years my horses were just a little too much to trust them to my son to ride.  I did have him take horse back riding lessons for about 3 months in the early years of his life.  In his adult life, he told me that the people tied his legs to the stirrups and once the saddle turned and he rode underneath the horse.  Who Knew these things!  You just can't trust just anyone with with your child. The past two years I've been afraid to have him ride…

Nova’s Notebook – Baby Time

May 4, 2004Posted inNOVA
Nova has turned into the color of dark pumkin pie.  I'm calling her Nova Spice at the moment. She gets to be out in the pasture with the herd now (during the day).  Her mother no longer worries about the other horses.  Nova gets to play with everyone and runs back to mom if she feels that she needs to.  Every horse is pretty nice to her, but she is learning about moving out of Velvet's way.

JR’s Journal – Passed the Parelli Level 1!

March 31, 2004Posted inJR
JR has now officially passed Level 1 in the Parelli program.  The wonderful family that came up here from Florida had a great time riding Velvet and JR...we took turns.  The husband rode JR today and was formally assessed in the L1 test.  I am very proud of JR and pretty amazed that someone else could take him through the tasks and pass. Congrats to Kevin and JR-Great Stuff! NOTE: A couple years later, Kevin bought a yearling from me and is doing amazing things with him.  Here it is…

JR’s Journal – Show Horse in the Making!

March 14, 2004Posted inMiscellaneous
Missouri Fox Trotter Starts Show Horse Career after "Kicking" the PaceA magical thing happened in March. We found the secret to life and JR started fox trotting consistently. At the time we were at the point where I could keep him in a fox trot about half way the long wall of the arena, but he would speed up to a hard trot, pace or slow down to a flat foot walk. He also started that popup gait. We would be fox trotting along with three legs and one front…

JR’s Journal – No Hands!

December 26, 2003Posted inJR
LOOK MA! NO HANDS! It’s been coming. The knowledge that JR can be controlled with my seat and legs alone has been lurking in my brain about the last half of 2003. I knew it; I shoved it back in my head. Today, JR and I skipped over to Pine Dell with the full intention of me riding bareback. Well, funny how that saddle just put itself right on JR without asking. Ok! Don’t mess with good intentioned saddles, I say. The reason I need to ride without a saddle…

Velvet and Susan attain (original) Level 3 in Pat Parelli Program!

October 18, 2003Posted inVelvet
FIRST MISSOURI FOX TROTTER ATTAINS ADVANCED STATUS IN PARELLI PROGRAM  The Parelli program is modeled after Martial Arts program (Judo) with the different colored belts to signify the status. Velvet and Susan will be wearing a green 6’ rope, which is the mark of their status. Each level has from 20 up to 53 tasks that must be assessed by a certified Parelli instructor in person or via videotape. Velvet and Susan had to be assessed on 53 tasks in Level 3.  Most of the tasks seem simple, but none…