Show Horse Day

April 30, 2012Posted inCountry Frank's Lucky Star, Missouri Fox Trotter, NOVA, Velvet
What did Lucky Star think about the clinic and horse show?  Lucky Star recounts his first Horse Show  Story: "It was an adventure! My good friend Sheyna came to stay with me in the barn the might before the clinic and rode in the trailer with me to the clinic. That was fun.  I like Sheyna. When I got there, I got to eat green grass.  That trailer parking lot was plush grass.  I liked that a lot too. After a while who shows up and parks right behind me? …

Everything I Hate about Horse Shows

April 27, 2012Posted inCountry Frank's Lucky Star, Missouri Fox Trotter
Everything I hate about horse shows is the making-the-horse- pretty part.  My love of grooming, clipping and bathing is a triple infinity negative. Lucky Star is extremely protective about his ears.  Clipping his ears just didn't work well with the clipper.  We had an evening long disagreement about the scissor noise next to his ear.  Guess what Lucky Star and I are going to do during the May 2012 week-long Natural Solutions Horse Camp with Tony and Jenny Vaught.  Yep, we'll be working on clipping his ears, using natural solutions to…

How Long Does It Take for Horse Show Readiness

April 25, 2012Posted inCountry Frank's Lucky Star, Missouri Fox Trotter
How long does it take to get ready for the casual and relaxed April Kansas City fox trotter club gaited horse Spring Show? SCREAM! My answer is "two weeks of full time focused planning along with 24 hour continual worry". Tomorrow is trim, shave and a real bath. Lucky Star will not be a willing partner when we start the spa treatment. He is so low key about everything except bath shower. We've been taking little mini showers together when the weather is warm enough. When I say we take…

And then it rained

April 19, 2012Posted inCountry Frank's Lucky Star, Missouri Fox Trotter, Velvet
Rain was predicted starting around 4:00. Weather predictions on iPhone apps showed rain& lightning symbol every hour from 4:00 on Wind was blowing hard around 4:00 I said "Do we wanna ride tonight, really?". Carol looked at radar and said "Yes" It was a special ride. I loaned Velvet to Mary Francis. Her horse is in training with Tony and Jenny Vaught. Turns out Mary Francis has not been able to ride since last November. Her first ride was Velvet. They did great together. We clipped along at a medium…

Best Fox Trot Ever

April 19, 2012Posted inCountry Frank's Lucky Star, Missouri Fox Trotter
Wed night lesson night is always wild. Lucky Star is learning how to slow down his fox trot. He's learning how to rate the gait. The game at the end was trying to have a team of riders take turns pushing a big ball thru a two barrel goal. The gaited team lost one and tied one. I even tried to block the other team's ball and they still tied us!  If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying is the motto I live by!

Deer Hop

April 17, 2012Posted inCountry Frank's Lucky Star, Missouri Fox Trotter
When you ride out in a huge park full of deer food late in the afternoon, you might expect to see a deer. Deer stand on the side of the horse trail. They wait until the horse appears. We have a state contest. Then the deer explodes and hops away Lucky Star and I were engaged in the stare down. We won. When the deer exploded into the run away mode, Lucky Star did too. Both my shoulders and that is the left shoulder and the right shoulder ended up…