New horse

I have a new horse!!!  O.k.a.y., "WE" have a new horse.  His name is Payback Mayday, 'barn' name is Captian Jack.  He is a sweetheart!  He is a Yearling, Arabian, Gelding.  I can't wait to start working with him.  It has been so busy around here, getting caught up after fair, and the wedding, and Aunt Shan here.  I haven't been out there much.  Hopefully I will get out there more over the next few weeks.  Pictures of Jack on the way.....

Silver Spurs Horse Show, Boise, ID 2010, Part 3

Kelsie and I found a ton of arenas, but we didn't know which of them we could or could not ride in.  So, with a lot of prodding from my parents, we decided that after lunch we would go to the main desk and see if they could tell us which arenas we were allowed in. 
We had decided to bring sandwich stuff for lunches.  Mom made the sandwiches because she didn't want our horsey hands in her food.  Kelsie, Sam and I saw the arena that Kelsie and I would be showing in and decided to take a look while we were waiting.  It was huge.  They had split it into two arenas with room in the front of the building to line up and wait for your class.  They were working up the ground and setting up panels, in preperation for the show the next day.  We walked back to the car in awe and saw that it was  our turn to let mom know what we wanted on our sandwiches.  We were given our sandwiches and we tried to find a place to sit where our food wouldn't blow away, which is hard to do in Idaho.  We ended up sitting in the tack stall on the bales of hay.   We ate our sandwiches and then started off to the main office. 
We passed the wash racks on the way down to the office and Kelsie and I were in love.  We hadn't used them but they looked amaZING!  Sam pulled us away from the wash racks of our dreams and we finished walking up to the main desk.
We got up to the office and our fast walk turned into a sluggish crawl.  None of us really wanted to get up there or be first to talk.  Kelsie finally walked up and asked who we needed to talk to about where to sign up for the show the next day and which arenas were off limits.  We were told that they knew nothing about the show.  They only handled the stalls and horse park grounds and that all the arenas were open to ride in we just weren't allowed in the grassy area, as it was under construction.  We thanked her, turned and did a fast walk outta the office, glad to have that over with and done.  We walked back to the stalls trying to gather together a plan.  We decided on riding a bit to let the horses stretch their legs and to get used to the arenas.

Sam is such a good cousin!

Kelsie and Rainy.

We were tired of lunging.....So we agreed it was time to ride!

We teased mom about this one.  "I have something on my head?  What??"

Again, isn't Sam the BEST cousin you could have??

 When we were about done in the warm up arena we were told that the main arena was open to ride in.  We figured better to go in and find things the horses are scared of now rather than while we show.  So, we rode in the massive covered arena for a while.  It was the coolest arena I have EVER ridden in, in my ENTIRE life!  We finished up, our horses were sweaty, we were sweaty and it was time..........  We got to use the WASH RACKS!!!!!  =D

Silver Spurs Horse Show 2010, part 2

We headed off to Kelsie's house to pick up her horse and her brother's horse.  These two horses plus my horse, made a full load in the trailers.  We now had 4 saddles, hay for two other horses, and two extra horses in the trailer.  My dad and brother took the two seats in the van pulling the horse trailer, and in the other van was my mom, cousin Sam, Me, Kelsie, Taylor, Kennedy, and Zoey.  Needless to say it was a tight fit.
Kelsie and I started out the trip nervous about the horse show.  Neither of us had ever been to a horse show that big, and out of town before.  By the time we had gotten a little ways to Boise our nerves had calmed down, but as soon as we took the exit off to go drop the horses off our butterflies decided to do a few rollbacks and spins.  Then we pulled up to the Idaho Horse Park.  This place was HUGE, and scary to think about remembering where it all was, and intimidating!  Very intimidating.  Since Mrs. Cindy wasn't able to come, Kelsie and I had to try and brave it on our own.  We had Sam there to help us which was GREAT!  She wasn't too nervous about the show the next day, so she was able to keep our heads on straight.
We got there and went in to have the Horse Park people unlock our stalls so that we could get our horses out of the trailer.  We decided that the easiest way to do it would be to leave the horses in the trailer, get all the tack put up and the stalls ready then put the horses in the stalls.  Most everyone helped with getting stuff put away.  Mom had the very imporant job of taking pictures of amything she deemed important or special.

Taylor was a huge help the entire weekend, constantly untacking and tacking back up for me so that I was able to change my clothes for the next class.

Nate was a big help carrying things into the tack stall.

It looked so nice for a few minutes anyway.  By the end of the weekend it looked nothing like this.  We should have taken a before and after shot....

Once we had the tack stall put together, we spread shavings in the horses stalls, brought buckets of water in for them, and put hay in there feeders.  I felt bad for making my horse stand in a trailer after driving for two hours so I added a bit, ok a lot, of grain to his feeder.

Then we decided to stand and rest for a minute or two before we got our horses out and put in stalls.

I had braided Silver's mane so that It wouldn't be such a pain to untangle right before the show.  It doesn't look too nice now, but it sure wasn't as knotted as before!

We got all the horses settled in and then we ate lunch.  After lunch, Kelsie, Sam and I walked around the Horse Park, looking for arenas to ride in and trying to get a feel for the place we would be spending a lot of time at.  We came to the conclusion that this was indeed a big place, but not nearly as intimidating as before and within a few hours my butterflies had started to calm down.

Silver Spurs Horse Show Boise, Idaho Part 1

This year I was informed of a big horse show in Boise, Idaho.  It was during our Church camp, and my sister's birthday.  Mom and dad decided that it would be a good experience for me and they said that we could go.  My best friend Kelsie and her brother decided to show as well and we were able to bring up my cousin Sam.  So, not only was I able to show my horse, but I would be with my two best friends.  I work for a lady who has been to the Idaho Horse Park, which is where the show was being held this year, and she was able to tell us a lot of information about the park.  She was going to join us and enter the Open Show on Sunday with a couple of her horses, but things happened and that wasn't possible.  So, going up, we had to figure things out on our own, which was an adventure in itself.  The first part of our little summertime fun starts with the packing.....

I wasn't prepared for this trip very far ahead of time.  This year, our 4H group has a few more English riders that usual.  So, I, of course, wanted to try English for myself.  I ended up liking it more than I thought I would and I was able to borrow or buy the things I needed to be able to show in English.  I ordered my English boots about a week ahead of time and had them shipped 3 day.  I ordered them in a size 8 (one size too big) and they had stretchy stuff in the back (hopefully to accomodate my big calves.)  I got them and...they were too small around my leg.  So we ordered a size 9 (2 sizes too big!!)  and they were still TIGHT!  I had to make them do though, because by now, the show was in 3 days and we had to be in Boise in 2 days.  I had to suck it up (literally) and wear the boots that were huge in the foot and tiny in the calf, or not show English.

The night before we had to leave for the show (Thursday the 10th), my cousin spent the night and I tried on all of my outfits (I had 3 of them) to make sure that I had everything and that I didn't forget anything. (HA!)  I tried on Engilsh first, which wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  I had everything, boots, breeches, belt, shirt, jacket, collar, pin, helmet.  All good.  Hang that up and put a grabage bag over it.  Next, Western: Boots, jeans, belt, chaps, shirt, hat.  All good there too! Hang, and garbage sack it as well.  Next, was my showmanship/halter: Boots, Jeans, belt, shirt, hat, again all good!  Hang and cover it.  By this time, I had turned into the Carrie Underwood of horse shows!  If you have seen a concert you will understand, she had at least 10 outfit changes!!   Then it was time to pack my bag of regular clothes.  Extra jeans, tee-shirts, socks, underwear, and p.j.'s. With a lot of help from Sam, we got that done and I sat down to polish the show saddle and bridle that my boss let me borrow for the show.  When I got that done, took another check of the room, wrote down a quick list of what not to forget tomorrow. (Again HAHA!!)  By this time it was midight.

6:00 AM
"SAM!! Where are my glasses??!"  Half an hour later we finally found them and tried to get back on track.  We neeeded to have EVERYTHING loaded and be at Kelsie's to pick up her horses at 9 AM.  We dressed quickly, and bounded up the stairs to eat, get things loaded and the house cleaned up.  In two hours, Sam and I had folded 5 baskets of laundry, cleaned out a cooler, packed all the food and loaded up the trailer.  Here are most of the things we shoved, neatly into the trailer/van. 
Saddles (3), bridles (3), halters (3), brushes (too many), hoofpick (1), mane detangler, shampoo/conditioner, show clothes, hay, grain, wheelbarrow, hose, spray nozzel, hats (2), boots (3), and a big green tub of things that we might need.  Oh, and buckets, a couple buckets for grain and water.  Most importantly Silver, my wonderful horse!  We loaded up the minivan and headed off to pick up 2 more horses and drive to Boise.

Blond moment

Alright, so I was sitting down on the floor with my little brother's bright orange hat on and my sister came up and tried to yank the hat off.  The keyword here being, tried.  In the process she had grabbed a handful of my hair and continued to pull until I yelled, "OUCH!"  Then she backed up with a horrified look and said, "Oh!  I forgot you had hair under that!"  *Eyeroll* Sisters.

Hunny's Story

The last few weeks I have sporadically been working with my 12 year old, Arabian, mare, Hunny.  She hasn’t really had very much done with her especially since she arrived at our house almost 2 years ago.  I have decided that I will have gotten on her at least once by April 26, hehe, wish me luck. 

Last year in February my mom, dad, and I went to a Clinton Anderson tour stop in Utah and I loved the way he trained horses.  The way he explained everything was so simple, (he calls it idiot proof horsemanship) and it seemed like he got very good results and they were easy to understand.  I really wanted a few of the training DVD’s but, ahem, they were *sigh* 150 dollars, each.  So that dream is gone until I have a job.  But, mom and dad did get me a lead rope, halter, and handy stick.  Anyway, I used this method with Silver and I LOVE it!!  So, I will use it with Hunny too. 

I built myself a round pen earlier this year and have used it so much.  It is like, the best thing in the world!  I have started the round penning exercise with Hunny, she really dislikes the halter.  The concept of Round Penning it to teach the horses that as ling as they are with you or looking at you they can rest, but if they are going to be stupid and leave then they are going to have to work (no horses like to work, they are very lazy creatures).  It also, teaches them that when you are wherever they are, they need to stop and look at you.  “You can out run any horse that is facing you” If that horses eyes never leave your eyes as you walk up to them you can always catch them.  “Two eyes are better than two heels.” 

The first thing you want is to get them in a round pen and you take the halter and lead off and get them going around the round pen.  You let them “find the arena” you let them figure out where the enclosure is.  After a few rounds you start to actually push them, you get them to lope/canter and let wait until they aren’t franticly running in circles (this can be quick or take forever) then you start to try ad grab their attention and ‘pull’ their nose into you.  Crouching and backing away will help them turn and look at you.  As soon as the horse turns and looks at you, you stop what you are doing and let them rest, “their biggest commodity at this point is air”, so as we let them rest they are going “Ha, I look at her and she leaves me be!  Then you carefully get them going the other way, and repeat what you had just done.  When you can consistently change direction, having the horse turn into you, you start crouching and walking in circles around the horse whenever the horse turns to keep their eyes on you, you let them stop for a few seconds then do it again.  Soon, you can walk around and they will follow you because they start to realize that as long as they are with you they get air!   

Doing this with Hunny takes quite a bit of energy that sometimes I just don’t want to even think about it, but then I want to be riding her by May, so, I go out and do my best.

So far, I have done three round penning exercises with Hunny and there has been an improvement, not a HUGE improvement but enough that I will continue trying.  She likes to throw many different stunts at me to see if she can ‘change my mind’ and let her off easily. 

Trestle Wood Stables week 2

The second week I was at Trestle Wood we got rained in about 3 hours after I started working with the horses.  It was interesting, it looked like a pretty nice day and then while I was riding one of the horses they are getting ready to be a lesson horse and then the wind picked up.  I had brushed a horse and detangled his mane and then Mrs. Bingham came back out after eating her breakfast and told me that we were going to work with, Sammy, one of their new horses that they had the saddle on once.

I was pretty happy that I was going to get to work with a horse that they had just started.  We got the saddle on Sammy and lunged him a bit.  He did a few little bucks when the stirrups would move but after a while he calmed down and we put him up.  Then Mrs. Bingham and I went out and caught one another one of their horses (I can't pronounce the name, let alone spell it), this is one of the ones they want to use as a lesson horse.  So she had me get on and make sure the horse will go forward, turn right, turn left, and stop.  While the horse would do all of those things, she was a little stiff.  She would relax but she felt stiff through the turns.  About 2:00 the wind started to pick up, I was still riding but I was cooling her out.  At 2:30 we went inside to eat lunch and have some hot cocoa, within a few minutes it was pouring down rain.  Mrs. Bingham started water for hot cocoa, it was chocolate, with white chocolate bits, and crushed peppermint sticks.  Oh and marshmallows, you can't forget the marshmallows.  Well, as we sat inside watching the rain come down, "Like a Texas rain," Mr. Aaron said, Mrs. Bingham decided that we would clean tack, hee hee.  I haven't cleaned tack in my life so that was very new.  

 She braved the rain and brought back a bottle of tack cleaner and an armload of bridles and reins.  While Mrs. Bingham and I cleaned the bridles, Mr. Aaron played the wii.  I guess he has only cleaned tack once in his life, Mrs. Bingham wanted to know when that was.... "Oh, right after we got married I cleaned tack.....once."  Mrs. Bingham informed me that they had been married for 13 years.
When 4:30 rolled around we had finished cleaning the bridles and I had 5 minutes before mom got there, so, they let me play their wii, hee hee.  It was a fairly easy day, but let me tell you when I got home I got my bridle down and I cleaned it.  Its actual color is a lot lighter than I thought.

Trestle Wood Stable

I also got to learn a new lunging technique, I am still trying to get the hang of it but hopefully I will soon be able to do it as fluidly as Mrs. Bingham does.  I also got to ride one of their horses one the first day.  I learned so much that day, the witches knots, catching horses you have never caught before, getting a horse to lope off on the correct lead.  I was amazed!  I got home and started working with Silver on the things that I learned.

I got home and I couldn't wait for next week and the things that I would pick up. I have been working on lunging like she showed me, I have been brushing my horses more and I have been working on a lot of leads with Silver.  So hopefully by this summer I will be better at everything that I learned. 

Sunday Fun

A couple of Sundays ago my family and I  went out and rode some of our horses.  My horse, Silver, is an Arabian.  He has to be the best horse in the world! ;-)  I mean come on, how many horses put up with a 7 year old boy who wants to go fast, fast, fast all the time??

 See how Nate is urging him to go FASTER!!

Then he likes to do the daredevil stuff like no hands, OK, so I showed him how to do it... but see the rein is slipping?

   Notice the rein is now on the ground, I had to intervene and help bro get his rein back.
My sisters rode Sackett, Taylor's little ol' Quarter Horse.  I have found that most people prefer to ride Sackett to Silver and I still can not figure out why.....
I was able to get my dad on Silver and now I think he may be hooked and wants Silver to love him like Silver adores me but with that Arabian loyalty he won't....Sorry Dad.
Once family was done riding Taylor and I took over and we decide to goof off a bit and made the mistake of giving Kennedy the camera and she caught our antics on the camera.

I am happy to say that the day ended with a tired, happy family and no broken bones or blood or any other injuries.