Sage the Brave

Sage the Brave ready to be saddled for a trail ride.  She's a sturdy girl. My son will ride her on this day. Here's Rachel's favorite horse, Sage. Rachel leased Sage during the summers at Pine Dell.  They both had a great great time! Sage takes care of all the young horses and the horses that need a friend. She is the dominant horse who takes in those in need.  She's a great friend and protector to many many a horse. She's a great mommy.  Sage the Brave is what…

Nova’s Notebook – Whinny!

Nova's best friend and half sister left in the trailer last Saturday.  It's now Wednesday and again Nova is still yelling in the pasture for Powder. POWDER! WHERE ARE YOU??? Nova and Goldie are pastured together right  now. But because Goldie has a bad leg and is crippled, she doesn't run around like Nova likes.  I believe Powder and Nova went all over the pasture and Goldie was able to keep them in sight.  Goldie must have been a herd of one in Nova's opinion. Nova misses her half sister.

Nova’s Notebook – Liberty Obstacle Course

It was called "Follow the Leader". We couldn't believe it. An obstacle course at liberty.  I was fairly confident that Nova and I would do well.  Were we going to start, run around a barrel and come home? That's all I could imagine. Imagine my surprise when the facility put up a real obstacle course, including a tipping bridge.  1.  Deer head mounted on one long arena rail and you needed to go close to it. 2. Scary stack of haybales with a scary Scarecrow stuck in the top of the bales with…

Nova’s Notebook – Fun Show Ups and Downs

Out of our comfort zone we took part in a Fun Show.  The ringmen were rodeo clowns-dressed in their rodeo clown clothes. Does that tell you how far out of our comfort zone we were?  Hope and Chip and Nova and I went to the show! Nova did fantastic in everything and she provided a great deal of comic relief during the obstacle course at the hay bales stacked up with the scary scare crow.  Think hay bales as a source of food. Forget about the scary scarecrow.  snort To get into…

Nova’s 100 Mile 2+ hour group lesson

Nova and I resting in the middle of the arena after cantering miles and miles.  Well, that's what Nova and I thought anyway.  We worked on flying lead changes today. We didn't get any, but she is a "pop" away from getting that done. Flying lead changes aren't really easy for a Missouri Fox Trotter.  It takes a bit of work to get that done. We also flew around the arena today with 10  other people in our 2 hour group lesson!  Jennifer Vaught gave our lesson today and we…

Powder’s Progress – Development Pending

Sunday, Powder will be headed to "For the Horse" Ranch to enjoy 30 days of training with Jennifer Vaught.  Jenny was a Parelli 3 Star instructor for 15 years.  Pat found Jenny near the beginning of the development of the Parelli people training system and asked her to be an instructor. She has influenced untold numbers of people in the midwest.  She has influenced my life a great deal! Jenny has taken two Horse Development courses with Pat Parelli and Pat's mentor Ronnie Willus and was certified as a Young…