Go Fast, Fancy! Yee Haw, Mom!

Yesterday was slow bareback day.  I can't take slow on a daily basis.  Today, my insides were churning with a small fire called "Go Fast".  Yes, I can go out of control.  We are in our last days of Fancy training with Erin Patterson, world renown Missouri Fox Trotter champion and trainer.  I decided that today would be a good day for Erin to ride Fancy before I rode.  Fancy was quite relaxed during our ground session and games.  I figured Erin could get Fancy going. When I rode, she…

Bareback On Fancy

Before we begin this account of the amazing adventure today, I would like to mention that it is day five of Question Box Pattern.  Thank goodness for this pattern which keeps horses going in an circle and helps to slow them down.  I needed a pattern that barely moved. Many things contributed to this day.  I've started pursuing the Parelli Levels program.  They no longer require bareback riding, but do encourage it at this level .  Plus, I had to do it all my early life in the program with…

Fancy’s Cow Clinic -Susan’s Cow Clinic with Cow Horse

When we got in the arena, Fancy was very calm. We each got to walk thru the tight herd of cows. Fancy was scared to get too close. The owner went to the herd to help Fancy, but started driving the hotdog straight towards Fancy. I was saying, “Don’t  drive the cows at her”.   The herd magically split before Fancy decided to bolt!  Fancy was able to go into the spread out cow herd. She looked relaxed after a few moments. Next all cows went out and one cow…

Day Four of Question Box Pattern

We ended our Question Box Pattern ride today  by riding bridleless.  I took off her bridle and we ventured around the circles.  Fancy is a go, and go faster horse.  I’ve been dreading this.  There is a maneuver that can be used to slow down a horse if you have a Horsemanship stick.  When they speed up and go too fast, you direct their head into the wall.  Arena walls are very handy.  We ended with a nice full lap at a flat foot walk. Yes, it worked.  It worked…

Fancy on High

Occasionally when Fancy gets to run around the arena at liberty or on the 22’ rope she gets exuberant. Her tail sticks out behind and she gallops. Many times she will turn in and face me and do little rearing hops.  Today, she turned, faced and did some big rears.  She was impressive.  She also bucked a few times when running. While she was in her exhuberant state,  a dog came running into the arena behind her.  Fancy jumped straight up.  All four feet left the ground at the same time.  I’ve seen only two other horses do this.  It is almost the same as how a deer jumps.  The  Lippizon  Stallions do something similar in their Spanish Riding Demonstration.

Fancy has athletic talent galore!  (P. S.  This is not Fancy)

Later we were dragging a large cone on the end of the 22’ rope around the arena.  She has been trained to drag.  We stopped, turned and faced the cone.  I started dragging it towards her and she was frightened of it.  She walked up to the frightening cone and stomped and stepped on it till it died.  That has become a ground exercise now.  I remember something like this as a level 2 or 3 Parelli task.

Day 3 of Question Box Pattern

Yee Haw.  We continued the Question Box Pattern.  We did walk, flat foot walk, fox trot and canter transitions.  We could not canter around the Question Box circle.  Fancy did not want to make the turn in the middle.  It was too tight a turn for her and she won the argument.  We cantered on the outside of the entire Question Box.  It was not pretty.  Once while I was urging her to canter down the rail, she did pick up her hind legs in protests.

Fancy Fierce

Fancy Head Bump

See yesterday’s post about Fancy’s thoughts on body domination.  If Fancy gets too close to me, it is not in her genes to back out of my space. At a nasty 23 degree New Year’s Day, I elected to veg out at home. Late afternoon I went to visit Fancy. It would be nice to feed her the pelleted alfalfa and clean her stall.  I used the horsemanship stick with the rope around her neck to lead her from the pasture through the sliding barn door in the 20’ trek…