Learning to Turn on his Haunches

For the last 2 months, Dale has been doing exercises to prepare for a turn on the haunches. What does this mean? Walking, halting, backing, trotting and bending for 20 minutes each day. Dale is beginning to get excited about the way his "new" body feels and tries to anticipate my cues. This makes me smile and tests my patience:)

Pony - You Make Me Proud

Rosie, my super fast, super quick, sometimes annoying pony surprised me yet again. She showed me her loving, kind, sweet and adorable side. I know, who would have thought.  When Ellie started riding Rosie, I realized my little racehorse pony liked little girls. When an even younger rider rode her last week, I wanted to close my eyes, but my pony made me proud. Well, Rosie, I get the point, you like little girls, not big girls and that makes sense.

Dear Pony, You Win

I thought I could change you. From day one you wanted to go fast and jump high. I wanted you to fox hunt and event, slowly. This weekend when I chose to ride you at the hunter pace (not because all my TB's had missing shoes or anything), I finally agree. So, watch out pony jumpers, here comes Rosie and she likes to win!

Get a Witness - Jubilee Novice 2nd place

Meet Get a Witness. Isn't he gorgeous? Wit came home with 2nd place in his first Novice 3 phase last weekend at Jubilee HT. The new course at Jubilee is very impressive to say the least. Some of those jumps looked huge!  The drop down, which some competitors said looked training level, got several inquiries, but met regulation.  Get a Witness sailed over everything without hesitation including the super scary halloween table which had several stops.Wit is Sum Mojoe's best traveling buddy. They stable together at shows and swap stories. I think it was Wit who got Mojoe fired up about running his cross country round:)

A long wait, but Worth It

After watching all his shed row mates showing all day Saturday while he was left behind, Mojoe was a bit upset. He could see the cross country jumps and couldn't wait to get out there. On Sunday, he was the star and happy to be in the spotlight all day long. Sum Mojoe not only came home with the blue in his first 3 phase, but with great comments to help improve our dressage and a realization that even at a show, Mojoe needs to have his early morning training just like I need my coffee:)

Horse-you are suddenly awesome

Little Dale is beginning to get it. This morning his canter was to die for. He was so collected that we actually did a sort of nice 20 meter! He had tons of momentum, knew where his feet were and was so happy to be training. Little Dale, you made my day. Please keep surprising me with your awesomeness:)

My horse Dale likes the wind

Today, with the wind gusting over 35mph, my super horse Dale had his best training session yet. He was forward moving, easy to collect, and did his first auto lead change! I've trained hundreds of ex-race horses and Dale is the first who didn't spook in the wind. Then I remembered. Dale grew up in the plains of western Oklahoma where the wind never stops blowing. Today, Dale felt right at home.