Sue- How Do You Do- No-Where Horse Back at the Park!

Sue and I went on a trail ride at James A. Reed Park. It took us 14 months to get here. This park is the precipitating event of why she became my horse. When she spooked at this park and her rider (who was trying her out as a trail horse) fell off, Sue set herself up to come to me. Neither of us knew it at the time. She had no where to go after that. The no-where horse became my horse. After 14 months of slow fear recovery,…

Sue- How Do You do in the Ozarks?

                        Caitlyn on Velvet - Nichole on Sue I let Sue roam in the pasture with grass just too long.  She is starting to get the first sign of a cresty neck.  Then, she started limping...abscess.  This is the first sign that insulin resistance has started and laminitis is around the corner. I tried shutting her in her stall with limited turn out.  This is a horse for whom weight loss is DIFFICULT! I had a brilliant idea!  Jenny's…

Sue- How Do You Do Amazing with Nichole Copple!

Sue - How Amazing You are with Nichole Copple!  We had a group lesson 1/11/08 and I got to watch 12 year old Nichole ride Sue.  In the recent blog, I mentioned how Sue had gone to the Ozarks to be rode by Nichole.  Sue was getting very heavy and I knew that being with Nichole would give Sue much more confidence and muscle to replace fat. I knew Sue's confidence would improve, but until you see it in person, you just don't know. I did note (upon Sue’s return) that…

Sue – How do You Change from Right Brain to Left Brain 100 times!

  The positive wondrous news is that I Sue and I went on a trail ride at the same place where she bolted, spilled her rider and became retraumatized fourteen months ago.  On this month, we had a wonderful ride.  I was with a calm gelding and his calm owner.  My plan was for the gelding to lead and we would follow, thus getting more and more confidence.  My plan was thwarted right at the get go when the gelding refused to lead.  To get the gelding to go, my riding partner would…

Nova’s Notebook – Being Ridden!

Nova in training with Jenny - November 2007 Three year old Nova - in training.  These are the first pictures I've seen of Nova being rode.  What a beautiful picture of a beautiful horse on a chilly fall day in Fair Play, Mo.  She is being rode by Jenny Vaught.

Nova’s Notebook – I Started Riding in Fall 2008

Nova got kicked in the knee while in the pasture. She came limping up to Jenny dragging her leg.  We got the vet out, xRays were taken and a splint was put on her leg. They couldn't see anything, but didn't want to take a chance. Poor Nova had to stay in a stall in the hummid summer heat. Barb climbed up on the stall and mounted a fan so it would point down.  Nova laid in her stall quite a bit. We took the splint off and couldn't see…