How Long Does It Take for Horse Show Readiness

April 25, 2012Posted inCountry Frank's Lucky Star, Missouri Fox Trotter
How long does it take to get ready for the casual and relaxed April Kansas City fox trotter club gaited horse Spring Show? SCREAM! My answer is "two weeks of full time focused planning along with 24 hour continual worry". Tomorrow is trim, shave and a real bath. Lucky Star will not be a willing partner when we start the spa treatment. He is so low key about everything except bath shower. We've been taking little mini showers together when the weather is warm enough. When I say we take…

And then it rained

April 19, 2012Posted inCountry Frank's Lucky Star, Missouri Fox Trotter, Velvet
Rain was predicted starting around 4:00. Weather predictions on iPhone apps showed rain& lightning symbol every hour from 4:00 on Wind was blowing hard around 4:00 I said "Do we wanna ride tonight, really?". Carol looked at radar and said "Yes" It was a special ride. I loaned Velvet to Mary Francis. Her horse is in training with Tony and Jenny Vaught. Turns out Mary Francis has not been able to ride since last November. Her first ride was Velvet. They did great together. We clipped along at a medium…

Best Fox Trot Ever

April 19, 2012Posted inCountry Frank's Lucky Star, Missouri Fox Trotter
Wed night lesson night is always wild. Lucky Star is learning how to slow down his fox trot. He's learning how to rate the gait. The game at the end was trying to have a team of riders take turns pushing a big ball thru a two barrel goal. The gaited team lost one and tied one. I even tried to block the other team's ball and they still tied us!  If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying is the motto I live by!

Deer Hop

April 17, 2012Posted inCountry Frank's Lucky Star, Missouri Fox Trotter
When you ride out in a huge park full of deer food late in the afternoon, you might expect to see a deer. Deer stand on the side of the horse trail. They wait until the horse appears. We have a state contest. Then the deer explodes and hops away Lucky Star and I were engaged in the stare down. We won. When the deer exploded into the run away mode, Lucky Star did too. Both my shoulders and that is the left shoulder and the right shoulder ended up…

He’s So Fun!

April 14, 2012Posted inCountry Frank's Lucky Star, Missouri Fox Trotter
You build a relationship with your horse and it's just fun to watch the two of you forging ahead. Lucky and I have lots of little arguments. We argue about staying next to the wall, going too fast or slow, backing and sidepassing. When Lucky does something that I want, I have to immediately praise him, give him release, rub him, get off...whatever fits. I've noticed that the better I get at this, the less Lucky argues with me. Lucky Star is a lot of fun to bring along. I…

Lucky Star in the Wind

April 11, 2012Posted inCountry Frank's Lucky Star, Missouri Fox Trotter
Who is that little horse galloping at liberty with his tail in the wind? The galloping horse looked exactly like Lucky Star, the horse of no impulsion. Teresa played with Belle tonight. I thought I had Lucky Star. Teresa wanted Belle to be free to run at liberty. Belle had been in a stall all day. Belle was running around letting all that stored energy out. I took off Lucky Star's bridle and told him to run off. By golly, Lucky Star took off! His tail tight, streaming in the…