Kalae the awesome girl

Kalae did double duty and carried 2 riders each day for the 3 day clinic. She went first in the morning and then last of the day.

Her morning lessons were pushing the envelope or comfort zone and learning new things. She still worked in the afternoon but not quite as hard. Overall she needs more submission as when she tends to become more compressed she wants to come above the bit for moments (transitions) and also she becomes more crooked. She is not totally through. I need to work on thoroughness and straightness. When I get her more compressed and she is powered up I need to learn to be more subtle in my aids as it will require less from me. There is a fine line and it just takes feel and tact.

Homework is to begin to introduce the double bridle. Start with easy work so she gets used to double bridle. Do not work on my flying changes for a while. Work on my canter pirouettes and making the counter canter absolutely balanced. Think a wider working pirouette. Initially I was trying to make the Canter Pirouette too small and loosing the canter.

The canter needs to be absolutely straight. When I canter down the center line in right lead canter, she wants to put her HQ to the right. This makes the flying change to the L impossible. I have learned from the Kyra Kirklund symposium that I am subtly collapsing my waist to the R. This puts more weight on the L seat. The horse is harder to bend L. If I am conscious of this and collapse subtly to the L to counter the R collapse I feel more pressure in the R seat. Then suddenly my horse goes straighter. Need equal weight on both sides of the horses spine. Ride the horses back, not the saddle.

Her lateral work is OK, she is doing it but she could be more expressive in the lateral work. With time it will come.

* Video #1 is Trish and Kalae

* Video #2 is Marilee and Kalae - John advised to invest in more ground poles so that I have at least 12 in a fan position so the horse can really bend the joints and strengthen their muscles. He states Conrad Schumaker uses up to 16 poles in the fan when he comes to Goodwood every other month to teach.

Lassetter clinic

Ride, ride , ride!!! Whooo pass the oxygen please. "Freederic the Great" dish's out the aerobic workout. Gasping and sweating but having fun flying around the arena. Come on down and get on the "big boy". Mr Lassetter puts you though the gymnastic routine. Go at it for 45 minutes. "Determination! Come on Tishie - Grit teeth and spit ivory"
* Freederic is wearing a single support rein from the middle of his girth. through the bottom of his flash nose band to the left hand of the rider. Held outside the little finger w/ the snaffle rein held between the 4th and 5th finger. Not attached to the bit or threaded through it.

Horses in Tombstone Arizona

"The West was won on Horseback" . Our Nation was dependent on Horses. I can not imagine riding across the US. You would be looking for water, shelter and food. Suddenly you come across something like the Grand Canyon. How do you get across? Why do you keep going? How do you find out where to go? How do you find the towns? There were rudimentary maps at best and no GPS.

Riding between rainy days

May be this post should titled be "Mud, Mud, Mud". It seems like we have been getting a day of sunshine and a day of rain and another day of sunshine. I am not one to ride in the rain but after 11 days of not riding a light drizzle was OK to ride in. Brandi and I'Claire rode in the drizzle. Brandi was not feeling to good prior to starting but after a little while in the saddle, all smiles she reported her headache was gone and she felt good! See our horses really are excellent therapy of us! Margrit who is visiting from Germany rode the Big Boy "Freederic the Great" She had him going forward nicely! We had Margrit's husband Axel on the John Deere tractor grooming the arena prior to our rides.

Snuck in a ride in the drizzle

Bill and Freederic the Great

I called my friends who live out in the rain belt and said "Come ride, my footing is perfect"!

It was dark grey on the horizon but it was a high cloud cover with Haleakala and Kauhakuloa clearly visible. As we started to knock the mud off it started to drizzle very lightly.

Linda and Bambino arrived just as I finished riding. While Linda lunges Bambino. I get Kalae ready. Soon Julie shows up and amid a very fine intermittent drizzle we get our rides in. Kalae is back on track after 3 weeks of being sore from shoeing and off from being kicked in the hind pastern. Next Jessica with Roo and Julie 2 with Elroy arrive for a group lesson. Late in the day Bill arrives to ride Freederic. It was a great day with horses and Friends.

Rain inpeeding the training

Rain, rain go away. We have not been able to ride at all this week. Yes, It is still winter in Hawaii. We have not been riding for the last week due to gale force winds and cold spitting rain. The horses are all slipping in the mud and full of energy. Evenings are spent in front of the roaring wood burning stove wrapped in sweaters trying to get warm. 50 degrees at 90% humidity is quite cool.

Bambino

My name is Bambino. I am a big kid, I think I might still be growing. If I played football I would be a lineman. My dad's a TB and my mom is part Clydesdale. They say I am 17h something what ever that means. My mom says I am a character. I'm a teenager and like to kid around. Sometimes I get into trouble. Like when I remove my mom's halter, chase the dog, chew any thing I can get my mouth on...lunge line, halter, reins. Ha I even pulled the saddle off at a big clinic, before my mom tightened the girth and that sacred me a bit and I couldnt let go as it dangled from my teeth. I have been pretty good in my school lessons. I study round pen, ground manners, trailering, dressage, trail riding and jumping.
I was kinda fooling around, trying to see what I could get away with the last 2 dressage lessons. Kinda like slowing down when the teacher said go. Putting my head in the air and twisting it. They were thinking it might be the saddle or my teeth until My mom figured it out.
Man, I am had! She put me in the round pen first thing to make sure I was listening on the ground and paying attention. "If he isn't listening on the ground, he wont be listening under saddle" Then they lunged me with side reins for 10 minutes. Then Mom got on and I tried to suck back but she yelled at me to go forward and tapped me with the black stick, thumped me and I decided I better not to fool around. There was this other lady watching. She is a school teacher for special education kids and she was telling them kids don't want to misbehave, they want guidance and ground rules and the quicker you nip the bad behavior in the bud, the better the kids are. The kids are just testing to see if you are going to be the leader. They told me I did really well in school today. I guess I was flying and actually had fun too.