and the crowd roared…

July 8, 2014Posted inCISCO, Missouri Fox Trotter
It was 1999 and Velvet and I were doing the World Celebration for Missouri Fox Trotters in Ava, Missouri.  It was night and Velvet was tucked in her stall for the evening. I wandered up to the arena to watch the horses in the historic arena perform the gaits of the Missouri Fox Trotter. It was the Four Year Old Stallion and Geldings class that I sat down to watch.  The riders and horses blew into the arena and the crowd studied the horse and rider as they passed by.…

Whah Whah Whah 2014

June 30, 2014Posted inCISCO, Country Frank's Lucky Star, Missouri Fox Trotter
Winter blues along with Lucky Star little progress.  Will I ever get to show him.  Will he stop in the middle of the arena during the class.  How can I keep him going.  I've not been in a show arena for going on three years now. Will Lucky Star make it this year?  Canter isn't anywhere near solid yet.  Will he balk while we are in the show ring?  Will he argue on transition from one gait to the next?  When I ask him to slow down from a fox…

Liberty Trailer Loading!

June 25, 2014Posted inCountry Frank's Lucky Star, Missouri Fox Trotter
Here's what went viral.  A beautiful country scene with quite a few trees.  "CRACK!"  The crack of a bull whip.  Thundering hooves.  Seems like several minutes of thundering horse hooves.  We anticipate seeing the horse come thru the tree line.  Finally, we see the horse galloping through the tree line headed our way.  The horse gallops to a horse trailer and hops in!  "Wow," we all said as we shared it with friends.  This was Australia and the bull whip cracker was a Pat Parelli student. I replied to all…

Mouthy Mouthy Tales of Lucky Star

June 20, 2014Posted inCountry Frank's Lucky Star, Missouri Fox Trotter
Nearly Summer in Kansas City land.  Lucky Star and I went at it this morning about 11:00 till after 12. We cantered. We zoomed around. We played pair class with Karin. Something sensational happened with our pair exercise with another gelding.  Lucky Star did not pin his ears and threaten to eat Karin's gelding.  We rode close together without a Lucky pinned ear swishy tail non verbal war.  I might survive being in a horse show rail class! I was starting to feel like a heat stroke victim, so we…

Lucky Star Lost His Slide Stop

June 15, 2014Posted inCountry Frank's Lucky Star, Missouri Fox Trotter
Lucky Star has a two foot slide stop from a slow walk.  You think I'm exaggerating!  OK, try this... Lucky Star can do a slide stop at the slowest walk speed that exists.  He can almost do a slide stop from a halt.  He's got the chunky four corner square body and conformation to do this. So that's why I was really surprised when our slide stop evaporated at the Cow Clinic.  It turns out, Lucky loves to move when he's dealing with other horses and cows.  Stopping fast isn't…

Sam’s Fairy Houses

April 17, 2014Posted inMiscellaneous, Missouri Fox Trotter
Samantha (Sam) Cowick, age 7, told her mother, Summer, that she wanted to help children who needed help.  After some research, she told Samantha about some places where children could use some help.  When Sam heard about SAFEHOME, a shelter for battered women and children, she stated, “this is the one”. Sam’s idea is to decorate birdhouses with the goal of making them suitable for fairies to live in the houses.  Summer, Sam and others in the family go find birdhouses that meet Sam’s approval.  They buy material that Sam…