A Gold Whirlwind, Tenor

March 26, 2024Posted inMissouri Fox Trotter, Tenor
Whirlwind’s Golden Tenor is my horse, ridden by Jenny Vaught in this competition. My son is an opera singer, thus the name, Tenor. Tenor’s sire was Whirlwind, the black horse used at the Celebration for many years  to honor those who died that year. I bought Tenor from Teresa Osborn when he was a weanling because I didn’t have enough horses…haha. I gave Tenor to a client of Tony and Jenny Vaught, who all live  in Florida.  When Tenor was a yearling, the man and his wife from Florida came…

Fancy Parelli Level 4 Freestyle (Bridleless) Journey 2

January 31, 2024Posted inFancy
My confidence is high and I didn’t need the halter with lead role.  Nothing is on her head.  She has a neck rope. Today, Fancy stopped inside the 4 markers  which we call a Question Box.  What do you want Mom?  Do you want to go through the box?  Do you want to stop.  We go through the box with a straight center line or in circles.  We could do straight, figure eights or half arena circles.  Yesterday I asked her to stop going thru the circle in the straight…

Fancy Parelli Level 4 Free Style (Bridleless) 1

January 31, 2024Posted inFancy
IMG_1226: Note:  I write with humor and self sarcasm. Today I was going to ride without the bridle as a backup. However, when I was actually in the arena after our ground play, myself was frightened. So, I left the halter on and anchored the lead rope to the saddle horn. I felt safe.I discovered a mounting problem when I couldn’t use a rein to guide her to the perfect mounting block position. Oh my, mounting is an audition task. It didn’t take long to get her in position, but…

Airs Above the Ground

January 7, 2024Posted inFancy, Flying Change
42 Degree Group Lesson Day     I wore thick cotton jodhpurs/breeches, long sleeved medium weight shirt, sweatshirt and my new coat.  Fancy gave me quite a workout early on and my glasses steamed up.  I put them in my new coat pocket.  How cool to have a big enough pocket! We were doing a new pattern today to get flying lead changes (my 20 year passion goal) and it was working!  The pattern was much like another pattern we had used a few times earlier this year except my lead…

Miss T’s Christmas Present

January 6, 2024Posted inMiss T and Doug
Miss T’s Late Christmas Present It’s been a long time since Miss T got to go on a ride in my car plus enjoy her favorite dining experience.  Yes, she loves McDonalds!  When I eat my Bacon Quarter pounder, she sits quietly and watches me with those deep begging eyes.  I always respond with 1/3 of my sandwich and about half of my fries.  (Weight Watcher points applaud her!) Well, hell, thinks I.  I’ll just get her a plain cheeseburger.  Nope that didn’t work in my brain when I pulled…

I’m So Angry (at myself) and Sore

December 22, 2023Posted inFancy
I’m in a horse development program something like Karate.  It’s called Parelli Levels Program.  We are given tasks to do in four different areas:  Finesse, Free Style, On-Line and Liberty and we get different color ropes when we pass a Level.  I’m working on getting my black rope with Fancy.  It’s the highest level for a non professional.   I have passed L4 Finesse with Fancy. Because I am a self confessed bragger, I offer you the video of Fancy and my Level Four Finesse “Swan Lake” audition: https://youtu.be/_Luz9CkYjO4?si=bSMFRwgk-yhLht9r Hint,…