Virtual Horse Shows During the Pandemic

Keeping social distance, stay at home, quarantine and home shuttering is happening in our world. Horse show managers have hit on the idea of virtual shows. Perform the class at home and video it. Post the video. The judge will watch the class videos and determine the placings. I really like this idea. The dress is usually casual. The horse grooming is not as intense. The hours of waiting for your class to start is eliminated. There is no trailer hauling. Those things are all what I dislike about horse…

Fancy April Update 4/9/2020

We are living in the time of the Corona Virus Pandemic. A horse was withdrawn early from Erin Patterson's training since all the horse shows are being cancelled. That gave me a chance to enroll Fancy into training. The goal is for Fancy to be able to do flying lead changes while being ridden. You readers might know my twenty years of flying lead change addiction. With Fancy, flying lead changes (FLC), are very possible. She needs to have an expert rider with feel and balance, who understands FLC. Fancy…

Great Rides and Temper Tantrums

It is embarrassing to write the stories of my Fancy Horsemanship failures. This isn't a fiction book. Tony Vaught is Fancy's farrier. He comes from Florida to take care of Fancy and many others. We Midwest customers refuse to let him be free of us. This particular day, he got done early with his other customers on this day and showed up early. I asked if he would ride Fancy after her shiny new shoes are attached. YES! I was near heart attack happy. Sadly, it was a long cold…

Just Another Day in the Life

Great day Started our eating time at small town cafe where our great waitresses knows our order better than we do and coffee is non-stop.Fabulous vision exam for Terry with Dr. Harper st Vision Quest.  Dr Harper is kind, caring and technical superior diagnosis.Home to feed and water horses.  Sweetie tries to keep the stall clean by pooping in the heated water bucket.  Ugh.  The next water bucket I checked had something odd floating.  I thought, "is that another poop?" I picked it out of the water.  Nope, it was a dead mouse.  I was holding a…

Canter Crazy & Lost Saddle

Well now I've gone and done it. It's now difficult for me to get Fancy to go into a gait. We just want to canter. Fancy canter pop-up all over the place in anticipation of me asking for her to canter. Finally we were able to flat foot walk, but not fox trot. Finally we got a fox trot. Then I asked in my normal way for canter. What the heck, she was upset at my request. We cantered. I tried for lead change. Fancy changed in front. There were…

Over the Hump

Now and then in the human life, we experience a hump. A hump blocks forward progress. Fancy and I have made amazing progress. I realize she is a most amazing horse. She is smart and athletic. She can do anything if asked "right".. Just within this past thirty days, her canter has become amazing. She is balanced and in better control. I'm in shock and awe up in the saddle. We come to the time where I'm asking Fancy to do something athletically difficult. She is right there with me.…