Karen Moulis was my first instructor. It was she that took me from rigid fear to someone that could ride. Karen is great for beginning riders, aging old beginning adult riders and everyone in between.
When I passed Level 1, I discovered lessons with Karen’s daughter Jenny and my life with horses evolved.
Karen is still instructing at Pine Dell Farm and has thousands of students since I left her way back when. I decided that Lucky Star would benefit highly in weekly lesson at Pine Dell Farm. Where else can you take a trailer ride, be in an arena with other horses, encounter every scary object possible and learn to communicate with your blessed human partner.
The temperature started out a warm 40 degree during the day, but had plummeted to the low 30’s by the time the lesson got done. No problem for me! Lucky Star and I played on the ground. I got to move so much that my muscles warmed up my entire body.
Lucky Star became a “Horse That Wouldn’t Move”. Lucky Star became a boulder. Do you remember driving in a car up a steep Colorado mountain and looking at those boulders. Remember thinking, what if that boulder decided to drop into the highway. The boulder would be bigger than the road and if you were lucky enough not to be squished, your drive to the top of the mountain would be terminated. No one could move a big boulder.
That’s what Lucky Star was last night. Sadly I had to move up to phase four to get him to move. We had a move battle. I stayed at phase four whenever he gave me the smallest try. That is a sin. Release for the smallest try, even for a boulder.
Treats work really well for Left brained introvert horses. I explained to Karen that I had been unable to get Lucky Star to accept a treat. He didn’t know what I was trying to put in his mouth and wouldn’t try it. I didn’t have any yummy Winnie’s cookies to try..just pepperment nuggets and a carrot. Failed
Karen had been through this before. Alfalfa cubes smell like delicious grass. She got some alfalfa cubes. Lucky Star moved without effort on my part and he got a treat. When he took that alfalfa cube into his mouth, his entire life changed. His horse expression couldn’t have been clearer! WOWSA DOWSA!!! Humans have delicious things! Lucky Star tried to crawl into my pocket the rest of the night. He did a lot of backing. He is really good at backing.
Karen also suggested that we use a plastic bag on the end of the carrot stick. Many times a shaking of the plastic bag to ask a horse to move is more effective than the string slapping the body.
We got the plastic bag carrot stick. I carefully opened it up. I drug the plastic bag and Lucky Star instantly followed it. We walked around the arena for a while with Lucky trying to get his with his teeth. After that, I swished the bag all over his body and he remained a confident horse.
The lesson was about ended. Karen took Lucky Star and tried to sidepass on the wall with the stick and bag as directional tools. It worked great.
Tonight, I got Lucky Star out of the pasture and in the barn light, we did a few circles both ways. He was not a boulder tonight. He was the ocean waves. He moved along nicely with some slow down and speed up moments. We finished up by backing into the barn. I told you he was good at backing!
Karen has group lessons most every Wedneday. Anyone from Pine Dell can come. If you would like to trailer in for lesson, give Karen a call at 816-540-3566.