Fancy

Backing? You want me to back? sigh... My wonderful friend loaned me a horse so I could ride while my own horse was recovering from stifle, later diagnosed as EPM. She came with past problems, but she was rideable. I needed a horse to ride. Winter depression sets in when you are a crazy horse woman without a rideable horse. Plus there is the sadness seeing your beloved horse with a limp. Fancy came into my life. I got her and took her home. A few days later I took…

November 25, 2019 Group Lesson under the direction of Erin Patterson Cloverleaf pattern with poles in a small arena is hell with a fast cantering horse. The turns are very tight and then there are those nasty poles in the way. It takes some nimble foot work to accomplish this pattern at a fast canter. Fancy has yet to perfect a slow canter. Why go slow when you can go fast. That is also my guiding light life principle. Fancy and I are so alike. sigh Fancy is suspicious of…

Early Susan spur rule, in effect at least 18 years before Fancy was born:  Don’t use spurs until you can ride bareback with spurs. Translation into English:  Humans should not achieve balance while riding by holding on with the legs and feet.  When becoming unbalanced on a horse, one should not clamp the horse’s body with a spur death grip.  It might end in a condition called run-away-horse-dumped-rider. Your favorite rider, me, adhered to that rule. Fancy is much more advanced in her spur rule:  “Do not touch me with your spurs.”  She is teaching me…

Fancy is the age to graduate from a snaffle bit and go into a curb bit. I have been setting up the Wonder bit as a snaffle. Today I changed where the rein fits on the bit and poof, she is wearing a curb bit. Yee Haw! I self-graded C- to C at keeping my one hand grip on the reins. It’s very tough to cast aside one entire arm. The used arm gets upset as it is being asked to perform precision light handling of the horse’s mouth through…