New Friends

Featuring Cole, Garmin, and introducing Major!  Major is the newest kid on the block, which Garmin was quick to point out, trying to boss him around and eat his mash.  Cole is on top of things as well, introducing Major to the finer points of WWF horse wrestling. 

Introducing Garmin

Meet Garmin!  He's the newest resident here, and has a very long story to accompany him about his arrival.  It was quite a search and a couple months to find him, and it seemed the stars were in alignment with maybe some help from satellites for me to get him home.  Because of this, his name is Garmin, after my dad's GPS device.  I picked him up from his last stop before going to slaughter (even after the auction, he was at the hauler's who takes them to Canada or Mexico) and he's been neglected quite a bit.  But in spite of all he's been through, Garmin is happy to follow me around and always looks thrilled to have another pile of hay!  His feet will be my biggest challenge, here are today's photos of "before" and "after" of his front feet.  The plan is to rehab him as best I can, he will learn party tricks and a circus pony routine, and become the pony which kids learn to groom and handle on the ground.  (My riding lesson horse is tall enough that kids can usually only reach his belly.)  Garmin has a bright future here!

Snapshots of a Good Day

My working student in the new show shirt I found for her at a sale (a spectacular deal - $300 showmanship coat that doubles as an equitation shirt for $25!!)
One of our "show moms"
All the competitors in this leadline class were from our barn - 3 handlers, 3 riders, and 3 horses! A great bunch of people. We all enjoyed this show - I was preoccupied with Samson and making sure his (and thus my) day went well. But I did get to observe my stable in action! We had a large bunch of people there representing the barn and competing, helping each other out, cheering, and taking pictures. I felt like I really had "arrived" as a trainer when I saw all my folks able to safely and efficiently groom, tack, and compete with their horses without any assistance from me! I have the best bunch of clients and kids, independent and responsible people who can do anything necessary with the horses. I feel like they have been taught well, after seeing that show go so incredibly smoothly while I focused on Samson.

Josie's First Show

Cole continues to fulfill his summer duties as the riding lesson horse! He took his owner's daughter into the leadline class and they came away successful. One can't help but notice the adorableness of the purple shirt, purple bedazzled helmet cover, purple saddle pad, and purple halter on Cole. The saddle was shiny and they got a ribbon - what more can you ask for?

Samson's First Show

Samson has finally learned to tie, to stand quietly for grooming, to self-load in the horse trailer, and to stand bravely inside it while I leave and shut the partitions. We tossed Cole in the trailer for a leadline class and to keep Samson company, and off we went to the last saddle club show of the season. Samson was a a star - though he was pretty upset about all the shapes and sizes of horses there. I don't think he had ever seen a paint horse - those white spots really worried him, and the ponies were PRETTY scary. He had calmed down by the end of the day, though, and we counted it a success!

Cecil in the Limelight

We went to the dressage championships in Parker and Cecil was a rock star. It has been a long season, but we've been extremely fortunate to show in places like the phenomenal Colorado Horse Park (think: wood in stables is nicer than wood in my house) and in the mountains of Estes Park (think: best views of the Rockies ever seen from horseback at a show)

In this particular picture, I like to think this is the judge's view of Cecil and they are thinking, "Wow, what a gorgeous, balanced canter."
Final salute - Cecil takes his job seriously.
Lovely uphill canter!
Trot work

More Behind the Scenes

This is Tally, our ultimate horse show dog. She wore her harness and followed us around like a dutiful hound should, never barking, only the occasional howl or yodel at the other dogs there that looked like Miles the border collie. She has come to all the overnight shows this season because of her health issues we couldn't leave her at home. (Epilepsy and others) We must admit she is spectacular to have around for moral support.
Speaking of moral support, Rebecca came to the Estes show and camped with me and Tally in the trailer. Here she is, pictured preparing the ultimate PB&J sandwiches.
Sheridan was our official groom in Parker at the championships, she caught this picture of the sunset as I was distractedly working my way into pajamas.

We're not sure what happened to this banana, but we took it out of the cupboard and it looked like this. We elected not to eat it.

Kim's Friend in Estes Park

This is my friend and neighbor, Trisha. Her horse, Surprise, is from Florida and they competed at Prix St. George (a division in dressage) at the Paragon Dressage Show in Estes. They didn't have a camera with them so I filled in as impromptu photographer.

Sa-lute!

Here is our salute at the end of our test last weekend in Cheyenne. Cecil is so focused, I love this horse!

What we really do at shows...

These are the girls who have been helping me all summer as my working students. Their reward was to be taken to a show where THEY could compete! Many ribbons were won this past weekend, and we had a blast. I'm making "rabbit ears" over Yeller's head, for those who are wondering why I look like such a goof.
Yeller may be 24, but he's still the master show horse. And shiny, too.
This was a day for schoolmasters - Cole rode western and was a champ.

Trailriding at Soapstone

Me on Skipper, a 4 year old client horse I've trained. We went to Soapstone with Bethnie and Missy, rode about 10 miles, saw many many little lizards, baby antelope, and a coyote. These horses were AWESOME.
The view from Skipper's back
I love trailriding!
Bethnie on Missy, another client horse.

Jumping Show - Stadium

These are the pictures from Cecil's second jumping round at the show. The first round was through some standing water in the arena, and though he was happy to leap over any fence in the arena, he also felt the need to jump every puddle so as not to have splashing. This second round was much better after he had schooled his cross-country and realized that it's just like trailriding, just with jumps!

Jumping Show - Cross Country

My long term plans for Cecil are to compete in eventing with him. This generally involves 3 days of competition, the first is dressage (horse ballet), the second is cross-country (as seen here) the third day is stadium jumping (in the next post). This weekend I went with some friends on a whim to a local stable and showed in some jumping classes and schooled (practiced) on the cross country course they had available. SO MUCH FUN. This is why I ride, the precision of dressage, the fast trailriding over jumps, and the thrill of fences in the arena!