Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Whats your earliest memory of horses?????


I don't remember a time I didn't day dream about horses. When I was two my parents got me a springy rocking horse.(you know the wonder horses) Of course my horse was named White Star.
My mom told me I would wake up at 5:00 am in the morn and start riding my White Star.
They loved it because I would ride for hours as they slept in to the distance sound of Squeak-Squeak.
I don't think I ever told anyone I rode him until I was nine. I would love to hear your first experience.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Journals from the past....

What if we could write a dairy backwards. You know after we went through our life we could look back and tell the stories with the perspective we learned. Well who said we cant. As i look back on the last 28 years of my horse career I am able to see the stories from such a neat perspective. The lessons I learned. I will be sharing some of these stories and would love any feedback.

Monday, February 22, 2010

ride like a kid again!!!!!!!


My beautiful 12 old daughter riding her arabian,Bravo Bravheart. ohhh...the freedom.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

spring.....


Spring brings all the excitement of new growth and warm weather. Lets take this time to get our minds and body's in shape before we expect our horses too. For those of you who are feeling guilty that your horses are standing in mud or cold weather, or you cant ride yet, pull out that yoga tape or get out your horsey DVDs and be ready to be all you can be for your horse.s

Some Thoughts About Cinchy Horses......

Thank you all for your great advice. I really loved seeing how everyone is considering their horses. There was a time when horses where not considered and that is the tradition we are trying to change. True horseman consider their horses.
When I started my horse program many of my long time horse friends were so excited to have a place to retire their good old faithfuls. I begin to get a reputation for the greatest retirement home for these horses.
I gave lessons to kids and adults at all different levels. I was able to take 17 head of horses and turn it into the greatest program around.
I soon realized that these old faithfuls had lived amazing lives and were performance horses till the end.
With all of those amazing qualities they all had their little corks too. Many of them came to me in their late teen or early 20s, I didn't always know their complete history and many where cinchy.
The perspective that I would like to bring to this discussion is to remember all of those techniques can be successful but the key is you have to know when, where and how to use them and read each individual horse. Also remember that years of bad saddling can leave a muscle memory mindset in the horse so be realistic in your expectations.
I still have a lesson horse name Jazz. When we first started working with her saddle issues she would try and turn around and bite us. We applied all of the positive options to her. In the end she would chew on the rope instead of biting us. We finally realized that was a fair compromise.
Take it slow, take a breath, and break it into small pieces. Take the time it takes so you don't have to take the time to do it over.

Friday, February 19, 2010

WHAT TO DO WITH A CINCHY HORSE?????

Ok guys. question and answer time. what to do with a cinchy horse???? I would love for you to share some of you thoughts on ways to help a horse that does not like to be saddled or have his cinch tightened.
.....so stay tuned. Christa Lynn