Dolly has a new home.  She hopped right into that little on horse trailer without backward glance or a nicker good-bye. She is off to a place near Gimli to have some one on one time with her new owner and then will be  doing  some trail riding.

Beau , our token Arabian, has been retired to a kid filled home, where he will give leisurely pony rides and be fussed over.

Barni , the brat, has gone on to a jumping career at one of the big  barns in the south end of the city

In case you haven’t noticed there are many new faces around the barn, equine and human.

New boarder Luna is hanging out with Teyha in paddock 6.

Max is trying to make friends with Harley and his posse in paddock 4.

Three new ponies in the front paddocks are here for some training so they can become useful participants in the equine world too.

Reba the rescue mare is in the round paddock. She too is here for some training.

And the summer gets busier!! There is still some room in our camps.

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/eve-horsewoman

Sign up early for camp and save $30.

Sign up by May 1st and one week of camp is $320 plus gst, after May 1st camp is $350 plus gst.

I can’ remeber what this gait was called – the vibro-something!

I know there are several breeders of gaited horses in Manitoba, the folowwing are samples of extra gaits that some horses may exhibit.

Extra Gaits of the Horse

–The Boink: one-beat gait with suspension, often exhibited by horses ridden into a field of white-tailed deer.

Dad what were you thinking?

I know what pony was thinking -”Holy F*&^%- – I am outta here!

Isto went home, his little holiday  of staying in the barn and being the king pin in gate 1 is over. Angela’s crazy schedual of work was not allowing her to accomplish her riding goals and she was not spending the time she wanted with her horse so she took him home and will be taking lessons on one of our horses now. He did not want to go, I don’t think he is boss at home.

Molly (aka Tank) has a beautiful new purple coat. I do believe the horse thinks it went to heaven.  She has a new blanket, she has a pretty new halter and reins,  she has a new herd of horses she can boss around, and she works like 2 hours a week and gets brushed for about 5 hours a week! Great job if you can get it!!

We are getting a new border by the end of the month, so gate 4 will have a new gelding buddy.

And we have a new staff member, Cathy. She will be barn staff on Saturday, when Tia will be helping her, and Thursday morn and be in the Barn on Monday nights helping with horses during private lesson night. We also have a couple of new volunteers that come out sporadically during the week to clean the barn and feed the horses in the morning.  So if you see some new faces in the barn , stop and say hello. 

Congratulations, you have intelligently chosen a qualified instructor, and you are ready to take an official riding lesson. Good for you. If you own your own horse, or if you are using one of the trainer’s lesson horses, please arrive at least ten minutes early. If you own your own horse ask the trainer ahead of time if you will be riding first or doing ground work. Sometimes trainers want to work with students on the ground first to see how competent and confident he or she is.  Insist on learning to groom the horse yourself. Do not tie the horse on your own however. Let the trainer show you how, and where, to tie the horse.  If you are riding, learn how to saddle and bridle and groom yourself. If it takes an entire lesson or two to learn these skills, so be it.

During the lesson, keep your ears open , be quiet and mindful, but give the instructor feedback . If you are not understanding how to do something, ask about it  until you get it. Do not forget to breathe! So many students begin to breathe very shallow, or stop breathing altogether as soon as the horse takes its first step. If you have taken lessons before, from another instructor, do not say “Well my last instructor told me to do this exercise …blah…blah”. If you are going to doubt your instructor/trainer, then TEACH YOURSELF! Listen and breathe, listen and breathe. Do what you are instructed to do.  Enjoy.

When the lesson is over, ask questions that you want to ask. Then learn how to unsaddle and once again groom the horse yourself. If another question pops up during the week be sure and ask it at your next lesson. Go over in your head what you learned during the week. Visualize what you learned. Or if you took the lesson on your own horse, practice, visualize, practice, practice, practice, visualize and practice.

I received this from Jim Prather:

The Jesusita Fire in Santa Barbara , CA , last week caused these two to take shelter together. The fawn is 3 days old and the bobcat about 3 weeks. The fawn came from somewhere in the fire and the bobcat from Carpenteria. They immediately bonded and snuggled together under a desk in the Santa Barbara County Dispatch Office for several hours.

The bobcat kitten was rescued near Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ranch, where it was dehydrated and near death. They rescued the fawn during last week’s wildfire. Although wild animals, especially of separate species, are never placed together due to regulations, in this emergency situation, they had no choice. During the mayhem of the fire, they were forced to put animals anywhere they could, since they had run out of crates large enough for the fawn. The kitten ran to the fawn, and it was instant bonding.