January 19, 2012-Happy New Year everyone! I knew it had been a while since I posted but really? Where do the days go? It has been a "not so bad" winter so far. I am trying to relax and let the horses relax in anticipation of another great season. We have been trying to keep the horses moving a bit by handwalking them around our hill and including a short period of lunging on the slope. It all went really well until last weekend when the rain froze solid leaving us on an iceburg. SO I am hoping that lots of melting occurs today so that we can resume this activity (I need it as much as the horses). We are looking forward to seeing Johnny again in the spring for some continuing education. For those of you who don't know, Johnny came to us for a month of training a couple years ago and his owner has been trying to get him back to us ever since. His stable mate Stella will also come for some training after he leaves. So happy winter to everyone! Keep dreaming of warmer days and long rides in the season to come!
October 26, 2011 Okay so tell me please how it got to be almost November. We had a great season. Lots of saddle time, lots of students learning and just a lot of fun had by all. The riding ring did finally get finished and it made such a huge difference. Now all I have to do is cover it, that's my dream. I am not looking forward to winter at all but thankfully I haven't had to chip any ice from tubs yet. The girls and I will head off on our annual trip to Springfield, MA for Equine Affaire In a couple of weeks. We are very excited.
5/28/11 Finally, we got a bit of sun! We, up on the mountain top had the great blessing of three whole days of sun and warmth! It was great. We got lots of riding. lessons and some work done. Keryn began work on the riding ring, the highlight of my week. Hopefully in between work and his daughters wedding he will be able to put some time in with the excavator. Don't worry though, the old ring is still in use until the new part is done. We should only loose a day or two as I join the two together.
May 21, 2011 Well, what a soggy Spring! Everyone at the farm, horse, hound and human is aching for some sun! We have started lessons and many have been scheduled and many have been canceled due to RAIN. Alright, I'm tired of hearing myself complain so I will let you in on the good news. Our riding ring is getting bigger! Right this minute the excavation has begun! So, Lord willing and the creek don't rise we will have a much larger ring in a couple of weeks! I think we will have room for some jumps and/ or some barrels! I am very excited so drop by and check it all out! We are also very glad to welcome home our daughter Ashley Harvey. She is home on leave from the Navy! Please pray that she will get some sun while she is here as it is not a whole lot of fun to ride in the rain.
April 18, 2011 Okay! I am slightly afraid to say this but I think maybe we are ready to start riding! The ring is dry (well solid anyway), lesson horses have been ridden and I am beginning to find the ground under all the snow, hay and manure.
Spring has been busy for us with two newcomers! Ben, a halflinger/quarter horse came for a month of training, he is owned by Jim Osterguard. Ben had little knowledge of anything (even haltering/leading when he came but is now ground driving well and even dragging milk jugs behind him. Flint is our other newcomer. He is a two year old quarter horse owned by Annie Hammat. Flint is boarding with us and I will be assisting Annie with his training.
March 21, 2011 Slow but sure we are getting there. Amber, Hannah and I have been working on getting the horses shed out and cleaning up the barnyard. Raking up hay and piles of poop that have been frozen under a deep layer of snow all winter. Cutting bridle paths, trimming tails etc. etc. We have been out a couple of times on horseback so there really is hope! I look forward to starting lessons around the third week in April if all continues as it has been.
March 8, 2011
Okay! We are getting closer! Two weeks ago a new working student started, Amber. She has been doing stalls and helping me give everyone their Spring "beauty treatments." Yesterday we had Desi and Pippin out and Desi is shedding like mad! Fistfuls of hair are coming off and as messy as it is I am so grateful. After the groom Hannah and Amber took the two for a walk up the driveway. This in itself is a miracle. We have actually lost enough ice that it's possible for them to walk down the driveway. So next time we will ride, even if it is just up and down the driveway. You've got to start somewhere right?
I deny that it's going to happen every year. Yes, winter! It is here and every day is spent pretty much getting horses fed, frozen poop shoveled, thawing frozen water etc. There is hope though. It is February now and soon we will tap the maple trees which means (Lord willing) thawing will start soon. The days are getting longer and believe it or not Desi is starting to loose her winter coat (she's always the first to let it go). So hang on just a little longer, we'll be back in the saddle soon.
Equine Connections would like to welcome its most recent addition, Lieutenant Dan (yes he does have all his legs). He is shown here with Hannah White. Hannah is a resident working student here at Equine Connections. She had all these horses to ride but like every good horse lover she dreamed of having her very own. LT. Dan was a gift horse and you know what they say about those so....we don't know a lot about him, his training or anything! Since Hannah is an aspiring trainer this will be a great opportunity for her to get some practical experience.
The first couple weeks that Lt. Dan was with us we just let him adjust to his new home. Hannah took him for short walks out in the riding ring and spent quality time just hanging out with him. Hanging out with your horse is a very important, much over looked training technique. It builds a relationship. Horses spend 24 hours a day in constant "relationship" to one another. They know all their herdmates inside and out. Then we come along and expect that in and hour (give or take a little) they will learn to trust us, to know what we want the second we ask, to work hard for us etc. Sometimes it's nice just to be wanted for your companionship.
In the banner picture Hannah is sacking out with a saddle. We started with a little saddle pad all folded up to the size of a washcloth and as we saw that he was comfortable with that we worked our way up to full size. The next session we moved onto the saddle. Since we don't know anything about this horse we are starting at ground zero. I suspect he's been ridden but how or when I don't know. We intend to more along just as we would with an untrained horse. If he is okay with everything we do then it will go quickly, if there are problems we will be well aware and can work through them.
Stay turned to hear how Lt. Dans training comes along.
UPDATE 1/1/11
Hannah has been working diligently up to mounting Lt. Dan on this school vacation week. Jumping up and down beside him, putting her feet in the stirrups then starting to put weight in the stirrups. She introduced the bitless bridle on Thursday and started asking him to give left and right from the ground. He did a lot of fussing with his head in an effort to avoid pressure but she stuck with him until he settled. She decided that it would be good to quit once he had settled. The next day she repeated all the same exercises and he was like a different horse. None (well almost none) of the same fussing. He has taken a liking to rolling when he is saddled (thankfully it's a treeless saddle. Hannah has become aware of this and is getting pretty good at figuring out when he starts to think about it and giving him something else to do. It seems to be working.
So after spending some time working on giving and some time putting weight in the stirrups and laying over his back she swung her leg over his back. The first time she just got on and then got off again but then she got back on and sat there for a few minutes. It all went very well and she decided that again would be a good place to stop for the day. Not bad for a winter break buried in snow.
