~Sheika Moments

Well I haven't put any of my videos of Sheika on here for a while so I thought I would. She is doing great! I know, I always say that...but its true. No she's not perfect, or finished but she tries and she keeps improving. So, she's doing great! Check out my you tube channel to see more of my horsie movies!

~Riding Kat (movie!)

So I finally got one done of Kat! Yes she's been pretty awesome lately. I'm very happy with her. I even figured out how to get a good lope out of her!

So enjoy!

~Birthday blessings

Yep I had another one! Another year older.
My family was so great!

Tash did a photoshoot of Sheika and me in the morning.

But she didn't edit them yet. :( 

Also Marcy n Jess made me a trail challenge through the woods. It was great, so check it out!

They all walked along to watch and Jess videoed it for me. 

So... enjoy! Can't wait to do it again!

~I'm back!

Wow! It really has been a while! Don't worry, I'm still living, I just haven't been very active in blogging land!

 Honestly, for a while I either didn't know what to share or didn't have time to do it. I will endeavor to do so now.

A couple months ago I started putting my horse knowledge to good use by giving riding lessons. I now have 6 wonderful students who do their best to keep me challenged. Mentally and physically. And quite truly, the mental part has been the most demanding! When you become a teacher, you have to step back, evaluate and decide exactly what you believe in order to teach it. I have also come to the conclusion that riding is more mental than physical. If riding to you, is simply pulling left, pulling right, and pulling back, you have only scratched the surface of horsemanship. I have always told people that riding isn't easy and that it takes time to learn. In giving lessons I am almost overwhelmed by that fact! But God has also continued to prove to me that He is interested in the little things...even riding lesson plans.  And when I put them in His hands (along with the worries and stresses that go along with horses and inexperienced people) He works it out better than I could have imagined.

My younger students are especially challenging in their many questions. But then, because of those many questions it makes me think more and realize the areas I am lacking in or don't know enough about. Oh the joys of having to stay ahead of your students! They really do help to push me on further in my learning and thinking.

I have to say, y'all who don't ride are really missing out! Looking back I've learned so much in my journey with horses. Patience being the #1 thing. Also perseverance, dedication, confidence, how to be a good leader, the detriment and dangers of frustrations and anger, to be safe, and not take unnecessary risks. I could go on, but I better stop there. I'm sure you get the idea.  But let me be clear, all these came from God. He simply uses horses to bring these lessons about in my life. Yes, I am a horsewoman. But first and foremost I am a daughter of the one true King. So I try to filter my view and relationship with horses through my understanding of Him, not my love for horses.

 Just had to put on some pix of Sheika I took today.

Can you see her blaze? Hopefully I will have a post about her soon. Hopefully.

:)

~Not so great, but it's life

The other day I was working Sheika and asked Tash if she would come out and video a bit...but unfortunately Sheika wasn't doing the greatest because all the horses were at the other end of the pastures and she was working on having a complex. Ok she wasn't terrible. She just wasn't listening like she should. So I was kinda hesitant to put these on and show y'all but...I guess I will. Thats life right? We can't be perfect all the time. ;D (That was just a joke.) So here is Sheika's most recent video.
Note to self: don't lunge while wearing spurs.
I caught myself all up at least once! I was like "For pity sakes!" Do you know how to lunge or not? I guess I don't usually wear spurs when I lunge.
I also rode Kat and she did really good. I even got her to sidepass over a little log that was directly parallel to her. Not down the log but all four feet stepping sideways over it. I had never tried that before.
So that's some of what I've been up to.
Anybody been riding much lately?

~Snow snow snow...

Hey ya'll! A while ago I was waiting and waiting for snow. We were starting to feel like winter had missed us. Well not anymore. We got several snows now in the last few weeks and well...I'm ready for spring.

The horses have been doing really good in it though and I rode 5 times in the first two days of snow we had. I was really looking forward to pulling my sisters around in the snow with the horses and also to try snowboarding or skiing behind a horse.

The first day we rode in the snow it was so deep we ended up riding up and down the road in front of our house, which was plowed but still had snow covering it. It was so fun since we hardly ever ride on our rode.

Normally people drive anywhere from 55 to 65 on it, so it is not very safe for horses. I've done it a few times but found out that some people just ignore you and buz right on by without slowing much or giving me extra room. So yeah I don't like riding on roads much.

But since hardly anyone was out driving we rode the whole way to the end of our road which is somewhere around a mile and a half from our house. I rode Dunny and pulled Jess on a sled and Marcy rode Hank. It was an awesome experience. Mostly we walked or trotted but on some on the more level spots we cantered. There was always that thought in the back of my mind "What if we hit an icy spot?" but we didn't really have any problems. I don't think I give our horses enough credit for what they can do. They are so much more athletic than I think they are.

I love to snowboard and had seen some skijoring movies so I decided to try except with my board cuz I'm a lot better with that than I am with my skis.

Dad was so sweet and came out to pull me. It was actually harder than I thought. I think it was because it was plowed but still really bumpy.

Also I did a medieval dress-up with Kat which was so fun. Yes I still like dressing up. Hehe!

It was really deep though, most places the snow was up to Kat's knees. She was very ready to get back to the barn, which didn't help in taking pictures. She was always moving! We had Hank along to keep her company but patience has never been her strong suite.

                       Note to self: Need to work on getting Kat some patience.

All in all I have had some very good times in the snow with the horses, but I'm ready for spring! And grass, and warmer weather, and dry ground, and no mud, and...etc. (End of thinking capacity.)
 But I'm also reminded of the verse "In everything state I am, therewith to be content." So I will try to be content till spring and maybe even be thankful for all the snow we still have!

~Riding Sheika movie

Hey everyone! Here is a movie of me working with Sheika. It's kinda a run down of all I do with her and how she acts. So if it gets too boring you can skip through. I'm so happy with how she's doing! Now you guys can see why. The only real problem I have so far is that she is a bit lazy. Which is kinda funny because I normally like higher energy horses. Ok Ok there really haven't been that many horses that I didn't like...so...yeah.

~Sheika's first ride

We did it! Yesterday I rode Sheika for the first time! It was awesome, she did great. No problems, no bucks. NOTHING! I felt like I could just pick up and go with her...but you can't it's only her first ride. Correct training and preparation for the horse is sooooo worth it! We walked in tight circles first making sure she's calm and thinking and gradually quit circling and just walked straight. After that we cantered! She's more on the lazy, laid back side so it was harder to keep her going. At the end I got her to canter two complete laps without stopping. So I was pumped!
Lesson learned - Don't rush, take your time and wait for your horse to tell you it's ready.
  I did it Clinton Anderson style with my dad directing from the middle. Down Under Horsemanship all the way!! I am so happy with the results. Crazy to think I actually trained her!

It was windy as you can probably see. Poor girl is very dirty. Light horse problems. :(  

Just got off and soooo happy

~Sheika

Let me introduce our newest member to our horse collection- "Sheika aka Sissy"

 She's 3 and has absolutely no training. When we went to pick her up I had to teach her to lead.
Her coloring is cremello and she has really neat light blue eyes but she has the pink around them and the nose, which I'm not real crazy about.

 She does have pretty blue eyes though.

 She's really quiet and she loves to follow me around. I keep forgetting how green she is when I'm around her. I pretty much treat her like all the rest when I should be watching her more. How quiet she is, is really why I got her, because we figured she would be a good first trainer.

So as I said she is my first horse to start and train on my own. In some ways it's intimidating but in other ways simply challenging. I did four sessions in the round pen with her so far. She is doing great and I plan to finish her up in there soon. She is a very fast learner and just wants to please you.

 I love how calm and laid back she is except when she doesn't feel like moving much. Then you have to work to get her motivated. When we first led her over to the fence to meet our other horses she marched right up and stuck her nose in their faces. Obviously she isn't intimidated by other horses! She squealed at them a little but hasn't been silly like some mares are.

As you can probably tell, I'm really happy with her. She is pretty photogenic too. Except she likes to come right up to see what you're doing. Silly girl! I've never had a horse this color to take pictures of before. But it's really fun because she stands out so much.
 My dad recently got me Clinton Anderson's "the Fundamentals" kit and I am planning to use that completely on her. Let me just say "the kit is amazing!" Totally worth the money. Clinton does an extremely thorough job at explaining and making sure he doesn't miss anything.

  

I wanted to get a picture of her next to the boys to show how little she is but it didn't happen. Anyway I'm so glad she's finally here!

~To overcome

(To start off with, you should have your Bible on hand.)

 (My lil' sister Jess letting Dunny lick her hand.)

He is victorious

He is all-powerful

He is almighty

He is supreme

  He is so much more but there are not enough words to describe Him! His being exceeds our understanding. But do you know that as followers of Christ we have access to all that He is?

He will give strength and peace-Psalm 29:11

He will give grace-James 4:6 (But there is a condition with that one. We need to be humble to receive it.)

He will give wisdom-Proverbs 2:6

 

  These are just a few that I picked out so you go and find more!

Do you believe God? Do you believe His word? If you do, accept it! Cling to it! Believe it! And live it!

   Here’s something for you to do. If you can, do it right now. You can say it in your head but it would be better to say it to God out loud.

 

  Dear Father,

I accept your word as truth and believe that you can show your power through me. That your grace is sufficient and that through you, I can overcome anything! Thank you God, for giving me the ability to be victorious.

Love,,

Your child who wants to know you  

If you have time here are a few more verses to look up. If you don’t have time, write them down so that you remember to check them out later.

~2 Corinthians 2:14

~2 Corinthians 12:9-10

~Romans 8:37

Now the last thing is that God has given you all this for a reason.

“For God, who commanded His light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

He is now saying “You have found me, it is your turn to show me to others.”

“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man;

  That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

  May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

  Now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

  Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

  ~Ephesians 3:16-21

~ To Compromise

  Satan is out to get you. (I hope you realize that by now.) He wants you no matter what, no matter the method he has to use. He hates to see revival in your life and he will fight for you even harder when he sees it happening. Satan comes to you saying that he only wants to make a deal with you. He will give you peace and prosperity, he says, but who is talking? The Bible calls him "the father of lies." You can NOT listen, cling to God's word! Satan may promise freedom, but in the end, it is only bondage that you are left in.

  You do not need to fear him! You can not compromise because compromise always takes away the glory of God. His word is not negotiable. It is firm. It is true. You are loosing ground to the enemy with every single itty-bitty compromise you make.

 

 That outfit is modest enough, isn't it?

It won't really matter that much.

I can do it just a little bit. 

No one would ever know.

  

  If you ever find yourself talking or thinking along these lines, you are dabbling in compromise, and God is obviously not in the center of your life, nor is He being honored. It is sin. Will you admit that? Will you repent and turn away from it? True repentance is always followed by obedience. 

   

  To sum it up, yes, Satan will fight to get you back, but God is stronger! He has already won! Cling to Him, live in accordance to His word, and you will conquer!   

~Without faith

  
"But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him."

Do you believe that? That without faith it is impossible to please God? Even though your life may look good, you do the right things, say the right things; if you don't have faith it is meaningless because God will reject it. 

He will reject your life.

He will reject you.

You MUST have faith! And faith in God comes from resigning your will totally to Him and trusting your life totally into His care. He can take care of you. If you let Hi, if you ask Him, He will take care of you! (Philippians 4:19) 

  Ok trust me on this one, because I'm learning this right now. And do you know what? He hasn't let me down, and He won't because He can't. His word is true!

     You MUST have faith! We must do our part and then He will do His. 

"I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and fortress, MY GOD!

In HIM will I trust!

~Psalm 91:2

Marcy and I took Dandy and Hank back to the creek yesterday to take these pictures and I'm really happy with them!

I was trying for a reflection shot but Hank had other ideas! Water is just a big toy to him! He thinks it is his duty to splash and paw whenever in it! But I did get the picture I wanted! I had to wade in up to almost my knees! It was cold in the beginning! But I had so much fun even after my boots filled up with water! The only drawback was that I could NOT fall with the camera! And I didn't so it was good!

But I'm not putting on the good one! I took it for the new photo challenge on Girlfriend Gazette so if you want to see my GOOD one you'll have to wait for their next issue to come out! And you can join in on the fun and enter a "reflection" picture of your own! Check it out!

Hank and Marcy did so very good even though poor Marcy got missed in a lot of the pictures! 

Woops! Sorry Marcy! Oh and not to forget my Dandy boy! He stayed on shore for Hank's moral support!

~Riding Dunny

Hey I rode Dunny today and Tashia came out to take some pix for me!

She did a really good job! I am so happy with these pictures! Thanks Tash!

Although some did get a little blurry or not quite focused but we were moving a bunch so it's understandable.

We ended up taking a bunch!

I started off doing some groundwork with him first since I haven't done it in a while, but mainly just for fun! I do what Clinton Anderson calls "Lunging for respect and roundpenning for respect." It pretty much consists of directing the horse, keeping it's mind on you and disengaging the hindquarters. Since starting to use this method Dunny has really calmed down and started trusting me more. He still doesn't trust much at all but there is progress. He's a very tense horse so I like these exercises to get him relaxed before I ride. I don't do it every time. Just when I feel like it. I'd encourage you to go watch  some of Clinton's stuff. Especially his walkabouts. I've never seen them in person but I watched it on his TV channel.  

I had a bunch of small logs lade out in a circle and lunged him around them. He was a bit dopy though. He doesn't pick up his feet as much as he should.

Good boy!

Working on disengaging the hindquarters. I usually start off by doing this. I learned it from watching some of Clinton's stuff. I start by tipping his head back to me a bit, while encouraging him to move his hindquarters around. I either swing my whip a little or tap him on the rump. It's just like swiveling on the front end instead of the back. Because he they should just pivot on the front end. 

Then on to tacking up. He's such a good boy I don't need to tie him. Unless maybe if we were standing in grass, THEN we might have a bit of a problem. He can't resist eating! (Can't you tell!) When I was cinching him up I was like "You are FAT!"

Dunny knew how to ground tie when we got him so I didn't have to teach him that, but I have been training some of my other horses to. I start off by stopping them and dropping the lead to the ground. Maybe pet on them a bit and tell them to "stay," I like to use a hand signal with it. Usually I just hold up a hand when I say that. Not a limp hand. You need to have it stiff like you are commanding something. Then take a few steps away. If they stay standing, go back and tell them "good", pet them, what ever your reward is. If they do move to follow you or walk away, taker the leadrope and back then up to where you had them and do the same thing again till you can walk away, around, behind, what ever direction you want but that they stay there. Don't get frustrated. I'll take some time but if you keep at it your horse is sure to get it!  

I then warmed him up and did a good bit of cantering.
Yeah I ride forward. He is kinda hard to sit on when he's worked up. His strides are pretty surging until I can get him to collect. He likes to keep his head up though so I do need to work on lowering it a bit. A lot of fine tuning, but isn't that riding for ya?

On to jumping we go!! Nothing big, but I think it's fun! When I was younger a friend taught me how to jump English and ever since then I've been hooked! I can normally just feel when I need to rise and don't really have trouble going along with him. And yes you can jump western just watch out for the horn!

I LOVE JUMPING!!

And a bit more jumping!

Did I mention that I like jumping?? Ok I guess you get the idea!

• Do you like jumping? 
• English or Western?
• Have you taken lessons?
• What riding and training style do you use?

~Just been riding

I wrote up this post about a week ago then never did anything about it. So here it is. Just some pictures and an update on what I'm doing with my horses.

All the photos were taken a couple weeks ago by my lovely sister Tashia ;)

Yeah I've been riding! 

Jess was out riding with me too.

And yes I'm wearing sneakers! I like them better for riding bareback. (Don't ask me why)

Doesn't this look cool?

We were having a bunch of fun riding around bareback. As I'm sure you can see! I rarely ride Dunny bareback (except when I bring them in from the pasture) so I thought it would be fun to do it then. And you know then you don't have to tack up! LAZY!! I actually had one near disaster while doing it. I was cantering around and somehow got a bit out of place. So I tried to right myself and must have tensed up while doing it, because he took off! The bad thing was that I still wasn't in place to stop him and he headed right for a corner! As you can imagine I was trying to hang on while pulling back while prepare for a sliding stop or a quick turn. It wasn't looking good. Thankfully he just stopped and I threw myself around his neck to stop from flying over his shoulder. So it ended up OK and yes I went and did more cantering but with no more catastrophes! And also Tashia wasn't watching so no real embarrassing pictures! 

I've been riding Kat too and she's doing great! I started lunging her before I ride and it helps soooo much! A couple days ago I did her first round penning with her and riding her after that was amazing! She was so much more relaxed and was starting to extend a bit more in her canter. When riding, I was having problems with her cantering or lack of it. (before I started lunging and round penning her) She would canter a few steps and that was it. And just those few steps were so bad that I felt like a sack of potatoes flying around. I don't think she knew how to canter with a rider on her back. 

Before I had gotten her she hadn't done any trail riding but I've been taking her out and have never had her try anything! No bolting, no skitzing out, not even any panicky moments. She just takes everything in stride. Thats pretty amazing to me, knowing how little training she has had. She's just so calm! Its not because of me either, she just has such a great temperament. I love my lil gal! 

 

~Meet Kat!

WARNING-horse topic ahead! 

Hey I FINALLY got some good pictures of Kat! I rode today and thought it might be fun to tell ya'll about it seeing as I haven't written anything real horsie lately.

For you who don't know much about Kat, we just got her this past fall, and soon after, she got sick for a while. So I couldn't ride her much, but now I'm trying to get to her. When we got her she was 8. As far as training went she had 30 days put on her as a 2 year old and hadn't been ridden since! But I right away felt very comfortable with her. She's pretty green but because she doesn't get worked up about much I tend to think of her as more of an older experienced horse. (Which she isn't!)

She's more of a light built horse which I'm really liking. I'm used to the more short and stocky quarter horses. I love wrapping my arms around her neck and it feels like your holding on to a foal because she's so delicate like. I don't know how tall she is exactly, somewhere around 14.2 probably. Maybe a little taller than that but not by much. 

She kinda has mule-ish coloring but I think she's gorgeous! For the pictures I had to have Jess hold her because she wouldn't just stay there! That is one thing I really need to work on: she was never taught to just stand and do nothing. Tacking up is a bit of a chore. OK she's not bad but I'm used to my horses just standing there. I guess I'm spoiled!

Anyway today Jess and I rode and it was beautiful out! As you can see I used my barrel saddle. I've had a hard time finding a saddle to use on her. My cutting saddle is way too big, so I've tried one of our trail saddles and I had a hard time staying sitting in that one. (Kat work so much off of your sitting postition, which is goo and bad. When I get out of place she comes to a screeching halt whether I'm ready or not!) Finally I just went to a barrel saddle. I rarely use them any more because they are so impractical for more of the working horse style. Rollbacks and sliding stops just don't go well with the high rise fronts! (Although barrel saddles do hold you in better than others, which is why I started using one on Kat.) The problem is with them is that they sit you in a forward position and our horses are trained with body language where you need to be sitting down and back more, not up and forward. 

I started out just walking mainly in circles working at bending and keeping her attention on me. She's been getting feed and weight builder lately and when I swung up on her I knew I was in for something. Just not sure what! She had more energy than I've ever seen her with, but she still behaved very well. After warming up a bit I rode her into the roundpen and started trotting around. She was more than willing to comply. Then I decided to get down to business and ask for a canter. I haven't done a lot of cantering with her yet so trying to keep her at a canter is sometimes a bit hard. I get as much of a workout as she does! Anyway I squeezed with my outside leg, kissed, and picked up the inside rein just a bit, and she took off! Crow-hops came immediately after and then a mid air lunge! Nothing real big or crazy like and I was expecting it so it wasn't a big deal. I pulled her in a tight circle and banged her with my outside leg a bit. (I don't use spurs with her right now so it was just my heel.) I wasn't rough but I wanted to make it plain and clear that behaving like that is not acceptable. I know she is green and inexperienced with a lot of energy at the moment, but she needs to still be shown what is right and what is wrong. There was a little bit more of that then next time I asked her to canter but not as bad. After a while she started evening out and didn't just bust forward as much! I'm happy with how she did and can't wait to ride her again. I just keep imagining the day when I'll be able to let anyone ride her. Which actually... probably... isn't that far off! Yay!