Articles with the topic Training

As an older lady I consider myself fortunate to still be in the saddle, even more so to still be riding colts. When the action starts though, and riding a frisky three-year-old pretty much guarantees that, I’m reminded of Jack Nicholson’s line in the film The Bucket List “never trust a fart”- in this case it not only applies to the colt but to me as well…More

The beginning of this April there was a very large scale dispersion sale of the Hairpin Cavvy belonging to Jim Leachman. It consisted of roughly 800 horses: brood mares, herd studs, fillies, young studs and whatever yearlings and babies hadn’t been weaned…More

If you’re anything like me, you’re always on the go. Like an old fashioned record player that has the speed set too high for the song, our lives seem to be running at an ever faster pace. Things move by so quickly, we wake up, start our day, then next thing, we’re saying goodnight and we’re back in bed; where did the day go?…More

Riding into competition on a green horse generates its own unique pressures. Aside from the normal nerves, a host of anxieties often get tossed together during those last few minutes of warm-up when your number has just been called. Then there are those stubborn insecurities jabbing through the back of your brain as you head through the gate and into the show pen; is this horse really ready for this?…More

It wasn’t the usual packed house that Pat Parelli is accustomed to. The small crowd attending the 3rd International Dressage Forum in Portugal, November 6-7, 2010, numbered just over one hundred but they were a tough bunch to please. Pat Parelli was on the schedule as a speaker during the conference held at the famous Daniel Pinto Academie De Dressage Portugal…More

Labor Day weekend was especially fun this year for a few people; those that attended the Joe Wolter Ranch/Horsemanship clinic at the Wald Ranch. Hosted by Nate and TJ Wald, the clinic was a great learning experience as well as a fun get-together for fifteen friends…More

It actually wasn’t that much of a surprise this morning when I pulled into the barn (the scuderia as it’s known in these parts) for my weekly Dressage lesson with Derek Frank. He was standing outside holding a big sorrel horse. I was instantly stuck by the obvious, “I’ll bet I’m not riding Casimere today”…More

So one might ask why a woman of my age has only ridden young stock since she climbed back into the saddle again after so many years? I ask myself that question and my answer is always that it’s the joy of the change, the personal challenge, the consistent improvement with each new two-year-old prospect I take on…More

The sheer fact that a clinician has hung out their shingle in the realm of professional horsemanship leads folks to believe the shingle hanger is an experienced, expert horseman. Sadly, this is not always the case. Some clinicians are better showman than horseman, others are neither expert horseman…More

I’d like to talk about the colts Dad and I are riding right now. At the moment we have four; Jr. (Cause he looks just like his dad), Tiempo, Sleepy (after the dwarf), and Choc, all two-year-olds and the first batch by our young stud Stylish Tip. Jr. is a sorrel with one white spot in the middle of his back…More

I’m a mid-level kind of rider. After being fortunate to have had a horse when I was a teenager, I didn’t ride again until I was in my early forties. Now as I near 51, I’m heading up to take a “test ride” on my three-year-old quarter horse filly, JR’s Blonde D. In Florida, we’re lucky to have as a resource, the dynamic duo of Tom & Trina Curtin…More

Alright, here’s an ordeal I was involved in lately. We’ve started calving about full time here at the place. Well, we had a cow that calved sometime between our night checks and her calf ended up in the creek and was frozen in the ice by morning. Reminded me of the character “Scrat” from the movie “Ice Age”…More

So, the new addition to my ever-growing herd of equines is ‘Eddie’. Eddie is a half-shire, half-Quarter horse and is originally from Small, Idaho; where he was raised by Butch Small. I started wanting a half-draft one calving season when a good part of our cow herd was made up of old, sorry, counterfeit, stubborn, and mean red angus witches…More