A project for winter

So not sure why the picture is sideways, but this is the project for winter! A big red ball, courtesy of Margie as a Christmas present. Margie and Roberta put the effort into inflating it (which was quite a task in itself), after which we rolled it outside along the gelding paddocks. This was cause for a great deal of excitement! It may not have helped that there was a very frustrated little dog pushing the ball around in the snow barking in frustration as she couldn't pick it up...but the geldings all swarmed like fish as Margie commented, in unified fear of the big red ball. Well, all except for Wolfgang who used the distraction to get a prime spot at the round bale feeder. Even cookies could not entice the horses to come closer!

As you can see, Wiley seems to have made peace with the ball, as has Shawn, but Magnus almost sits down if I roll it by his stall!

I figure step one is to get the horses comfortable having the ball around, and then we will worry about teaching them to push it, then to push it through an obstacle course, with the ultimate goal of teaching them horse soccer. My hope is that this will help certain unbrave equines to learn to face their fears, and also to work on precise steering and body control. Plus, it will be fun I think!

Karen

This week in lessons

This week in lessons I am teaching Monday afternoon, Tuesday afternoon, and Wed/Thurs evening, as well as regular lessons on Sat. I am willing to teach during the day on Wednesday as well if anyone is interested.

More work compiling video of position over fences; once I have it all together I will make sure everyone gets a copy for their own use/viewing. This week I will try to set fences that will set you up to take long and short distances, so we can analyse the adaptability of your positions in the air.

I hope everyone is enjoying the warmer weather! The cats were happy to be able to wander about outside yesterday...although Charlie wandered all the way back to the house last night, meaning I had to lug him all the way back to the barn for the night...our black and white house cat really does not like him!

Also wanted to announce the official new addition of Wiley! Margie's new and obnoxious riding partner. He is out with Shawn and Rocket. He is a but of a shark when it comes to cookies, so beware! Magnus was fascinated with him for the first few days, but seems to have relaxed about his presence.

Karen

This week in lessons

By the looks of the weather forecast, this is going to be one nasty week of weather! Hopefully the roads improve so everyone can visit friends and family safely over the Holidays.

For lessons, I will be teaching Monday and Wednesday morning only, and then back to evening lessons on Thursday, although I am open to teaching a daytime lesson on Thursday as well. Let me know if you want to switch your times! It will still be cold during the day, but the sun seems to make it more bearable.

Lessons will be kept simple this week, with a continued focus on position/equitation, and I will be doing more videoing.

I hope everyone has a good Holiday and is able to spend Christmas with people that they care about.

Karen

Big Bang Theory fans?

Apparently the actress who plays "Penny" is quite a good rider and has four of her own horses:

http://www.self.com/healthystars/2013/01/big-bang-theory-kaley-cuoco-slideshow?intcid=homepage1220_2#slide=5

Pretty impressive equitation over a good sized fence!

Lessons and Christmas Break

I have not yet decided what days I will be taking off over the Holidays, so am looking for feedback as to who is away, and who is available to ride during the daytime rather than the evenings. Thought some "horse switching" lessons might be fun over the holidays as well.

This week in lessons we will be continuing to work on position over fences, and I will bring the camera out to get still shots of riders so we can better assess areas of improvement. If you wish to bring your own camera, feel free! Lots of two point to build the base of support as well. I like two point as a riding fitness exercise vs riding without stirrups as I think the latter makes people tight/stiff, which is not what I want.

Not sure if it is sad or funny...

In the last 30 days or so, I was interested in two separate horses, but before the seller had a chance to even show me the horse, the price increased. Now sometimes prices increase because the horse goes to a show, learns a new skill, or shows an aptitude for something of value, but in both these cases the horse hadn't even been ridden between price A and price B.

The interesting thing? Both horses are still for sale.

Both sellers and a potentially interested buyer, got greedy, and now have "must sell!" ads up.

Now the one horse is at a barn with no arena and seller has NO trailer, so when the cold hit, she lost her chance to sell me her horse...and likely anyone else...as who wants to try a horse out in the snow, with the weather we have been having? The other horse is further out, no arena, but seller has a trailer...not really sure why that one hasn't sold, but I have decided to wait until I see if Margie's horse works out, and get Gody sold before I should really shop anymore, so that person lost their window of opportunity to sell to me as well.

Greed doesn't pay. And when someone tells you that your horse is priced to low, offer to let them buy the horse rather than up your price and piss of that ready buyer!

Wow I have been tired...

Not sure if it was the cold, or the clinic, but I have been absolutely exhausted lately. Hoping this week's warmer weather will re-energize me!

This week in lessons we are going to continue to explore some of the imagery that was touched on at the clinic. When I figure out what seems to help the most people I will write it all out so that everyone knows the new terms and I can add it to my teaching repertoire.

I am also going to try to adapt some of the flat work imagery to jumping, so we will be working on position over fences using a short grid and single fences to focus on details of our riding over jumps.

As you drive in, you may also notice the new horse in the wood pen! That is Margie's potential new horse (here on trial). He is a colour that is new to Hillside! I don't want to go into too much detail about him here in case we don't keep him, but so far so good...although he really doesn't like it when I walk by his pen without feeding him!

Karen

Clinic was good.

Karen is tired.

Roads are crappy.

let me know if you are still planning to ride tonight, otherwise I am fine to reschedule.

Karen