Sage – Cow Pony Part III

11/16/98Sunday morning was "COW EVENT" time. We formed into groups of three. There was a three-sided pen set up in the middle of the 30 acres. Our goal was to get our cow into the pen. My team was made up of a high level PNH certified instructor, who was experienced with cows, and a 13 year old girl. We managed to work together well. The teenager was too much in a hurry. I was too laid back, and the PNH instructor was perfect. We were able to talk together…

Sage becomes a Cow Pony – Part II

11/15/98 Working with real cows was much better. The real cow didn’t yell at us about forgetting our back and hindquarter turn when we got excited about keeping up with the cow. Our first task was to follow the same cow around for about 15 minutes to give the horse an idea that we were focused on that cow. "What fun! Sage thought, Let’s play with cows every day." (Although she enjoyed her time in following one cow, she didn’t catch on to the idea that it was her cow).…

Sage Becomes a Cow Pony! (Part I)

11/14/98  Cow Clinic was out on 60 acres of landed divided into three pastures.  A herd of unlucky cows were minding their own business when 22 riders showed up. It was the best clinic that I’ve ever seen or participated. It was 3 days of constant challenge. The 1st two days, we played games and were given tasks to increase those skills needed for working with cows. We played ground games with our horses to get them to get better at backing up and loading the hindquarters so we could…

One Minute from trailride to Underwater

Back in the early years of Velvet and I is the memory of the back property trail ride.  Oh my goodness My new best friend, Lanie, brought her horse, Sparkles, and her husband, Tim, over to the house. Husbands went to the shop. Horsewomen got on their horses. We were exploring my 20 acres of forest, creek, glen and glade and then we explored the neighbors acres.   Oh what a marvelous time were Lanie and I having on our horses, Sparkles and Velvet. We came upon Big Creek running thru north/south thru the property. …

1998 Celebration Saturday

Velvet and I spent an uncomfortable Firday night in the reedy lower pasture. I was in my tent with punctured air mattress and she had to paw her patch of ground to make it comfy. Finally 6:00am Saturday morning came and we are up. At 7:00 am, I am to meet people who are interested in getting some information. They want names and addresses of people with nice trail riding fox trotters for sale I’m going to give them Larry and Mona Dollarhide of Larry’s stable. They want to find…

1998-Glorious Life at World Celebration

Both Velvet and I were on an emotional High. We were AVA winners in a SPEED event. Just wait till folks back home heard about this. They were the ones that snickered at the horse who wouldn’t canter the whole way around the arena. This news would knock em off their horses! We returned to the trailer and went about getting Velvet comfortable. I took off her straight jacket saddle, and got her robe and slippers…uh..er I mean she got fed her special grain. I turned on my switch to…