My Thirty Degree Birthday – Truck Hell

February 4, 2021Posted inFancy
Fancy and Delta have a vet tomorrow about eight miles away from home. I need to bring Fancy home from the stable. Oh drat! It has started snowing and drizzling. I started the truck a few weeks ago. Surely it will start. No, my truck hates me in winter. It did not start. It made that clicking noise that sez, "Charge my Battery; I'm out of enough juice to start this big engine!" Damnation. I'll get the cables and charge the battery after Terry and I eat our late breakfast.…

Great Day in the Sun

February 3, 2021Posted inFancy, Flying Change
Fancy was a super star today. I have Erin Patterson ride her two days a week. She rode her today and did awesome flying changes. Sweaty when I rode, but got all the flying changes I asked for. Sometimes when Fancy canters, I bounce. It has nothing to do with flying changes…just regular cantering. I’ve tried to lean back, maybe my knees are braced, no. It’s embarrassing as I make noise when bouncing in the saddle. People think I can’t ride! It’s embarasing. Sometimes, relief comes and we get a…

Even More Pigs!

February 1, 2021Posted inFancy, Flying Change
I know everyone is dying to know how my horse and the stalled mini pig situation is coming along! It was so cold and snowy last week, Erin rode her several days. She reported that Fancy was fine on the second day. They cantered and did flying lead changes in the indoor arena. That afternoon, the pigs moved into a stall on the other side of barn aisle. My horse became fearful again…snorting and fearful. How perceptive are horses! Trainer and horse did a lot of walking in the scary…

Freezing / Piggy Update

January 29, 2021Posted inFancy, Flying Change
The group lesson people had an opportunity to get our weekly lesson four days since the horrid cold rain and mud shut down our regular Monday lesson. Erin told us we could have a lesson on Friday and scheduled for 3:00 warm afternoon. Sadly, something came up and it was scheduled for 9:30. That time of the morning was a 32 degree day. I've been thinking a woman in her third childhood should not have to ride when it's that cold. However, I jumped at having a group lesson. I…

It was a Piggy Day!

January 21, 2021Posted inFancy
I had asked Erin to ride Fancy today. Flying lead changes are still a training item. Also today, the future new owner of the stable moved in. Erin Patterson will continue to train a few horses there and then change to giving only riding lesson at the facility. Mini pig and two mini babies had moved into a stall adjacent to the arena. Three sheep and a young llama moved into another stall. These stalls are attached to the indoor arena. When I asked Erin to ride my horse today,…

What is Good Horsemanship

January 19, 2021Posted inHorsemanship
Dressage FEI researchers undertook an in-depth literature review together with semi-structured interviews with 105 people (51 men and 54 women) from six continents, 30 countries, across eight disciplines and 21 stakeholder groups. They concluded that horsemanship could be defined as a sum of these 14 attributes: comprehensive knowledge, practical experience, growth mindset, respect for the horse, ethological empathy, effective application of the learning theory, awareness of and attentive to body language, commitment to the priority of equine welfare, emotional intelligence, humility and integrity, adaptability, patience, selection and treatment of support…