Sue – How Do You DO!

July 7, 2007Posted inSue - How Do You Do!
Susan and Sue at James A Reed Park - July 2007.Sue, a Missouri Fox Trotter, came to Pine Dell to be sold. Jenny told me, "I really like Sue! She's light, fun to ride and very smooth. "WOWSA", I thought. "I wish I could have her". I had a horse for sale then. Our pasture was being fenced and part of it was off-limits to horses until fencing got done. There was no way, I thought, that I could buy another horse. Of course the price was what Sue was…

Sue – How Do You Love Being a Trail Horse Again!?

June 17, 2007Posted inSue - How Do You Do!
 It was a Sunday. We had 40 acres of downed trees, water crossings, shrubs, close trees and forest paths to traverse.Sue and I took our first real trail ride with Jenny and her horse on their property in Fair Play, Mo...down in the Ozarks. Later on, I realized that I forgot to be scared. I wasn't scared or nervous the entire ride! Sue lowered her head and relaxed before we even took off. What a miracle! We mounted the horses and off we went. Sue was anxious to go faster…

Sue- How Do You Do at Trail Ride Clinic?

May 26, 2007Posted inSue - How Do You Do!
Finally the long awaited trail ride clinic was here. It was postponed for bad weather nearly a month ago and the wait was fretting. Is Sue ready to ride with other horses out in the open? We spent the morning engaged in getting horses used to scary things outside. Most horses in the clinic weren't scared of anything. Sue and I got to circle with two and then three other horses. When we circled with the three horses, she became noticiably more relaxed. However, when we were circling with two…

Sue- How Do You Do with New Horse Friends?

May 12, 2007Posted inSue - How Do You Do!
Sue and I attended a Problem Horse clinic. It was a nice day and we were outside. We had about 9 horses in the clinic and while there was enough space...it really wasn't enough space for SUE, until.. Jenny selected three horses that had varying degrees of unconfidence. We were told to have our horses be as close as possible and play the games. We circled the horses with the humans standing back to back. We didn't pass the rope, we just kept our own horse. At first we trotted…

Sue – How Do You Do -Another Crowded Arena?

March 27, 2007Posted inSue - How Do You Do!
Sue - How Do You Spell Crowded! We had a What Do You Want to Do clinic yesterday. A bunch of horses and riders showed up. We had 10 horses in the arena. It's a smaller arena than Pine Dell and 10 horses was just about the amount that the arena could comfortably hold. Of course it was a little too cramped for Sue, the horse that is scared of many other horses. A couple of times, we started to bolt forward when Sue got scared. Several times I caught…

Sue – How Do You Scoot?

March 18, 2007Posted inSue - How Do You Do!
Sue - How Do You Scoot Foward So Fast? I rode Sue today and we did really well. I try to keep one hand on the horn at all times to prevent me from jerking back on the reins if she bolts forward. She's doing so good now that she runs out of gas and tries to stop. That's when she gets pretty relaxed. There's a "short" horse inside her. Today, she tried to stop as we were doing a clover leaf pattern. I picked up the hand that is…