Week 19

Tuesday: 2 hours at Sunnyluck Farms. Did stalls and rode Hollywood demonstrating some 4-H skills for a sale video. Then 4 hours at Laughing Buck Farm. Taught 2 lessons and worked with some of the kids on Sassy and Shadow. I started Cliff on grain last weekend because he's starting to look a little thin because of some rotating horses during feeding time (i.e. he doesn't get to finish off slow eater's feed anymore) and he is thoroughly enjoying it.

16.2 hand Clifford in the 13" kids saddle :)

Thursday: 1 hour at Sunnyluck Farms. Braided horses and wormed. Then 2 and a half hours at Laughing Buck Farm. Grained Cliff and helped clean and reorganize the tack room.

Munching

Friday: 2 and a half hours at Sunnyluck Farms. Tied Fiona's head around with the bit for the first time, and rode Hollywood. Fiona is getting better about being saddled and her general ground manners and respect are getting much better.

Fiona

Sunnyluck Farms Facebook
Sunyluck Farms Website
Laughing Buck Farm Facebook
Laughing Buck FarmWebsite

Week 18

A lot going on this week, so here goes a long post :)

Tuesday: 2 hours at Sunnyluck Farms. Worked with DG on desensitizing and touching around her mouth to prepare for the bit. I wouldn't say that she's headshy, but she doesn't like her lips being messed with, so I spent about 15 minutes just touching her all around there. There are many ways that people like to work with a horse that has a certain part of their body that they don't like touched, but I've found that the best way that works for me is to find a spot (usually on their neck or chest or withers somewhere) that they're extremely comfortable with having scratched, and then start resting your hand on the spot that they don't like being touched, and as soon as they keep still, remove your hand and scratch the place that they do like having touched. If you continue this for a while, gradually increasing the length of time that you leave your hand in the 'no no' spot, or increasing the activity (for example, with DG's mouth, I eventually practiced putting a finger partway in her mouth because that's what you do to ask them to open up for the bit) and then make sure you end on a good note. After that, I round penned Fiona and did the same kind of thing on her ears again. She was worse with her ears than DG is with her mouth, but after a few days of alternating scratching her neck (which she LOVES) and touching her ears, she's improved a lot, and  where she used to throw her head all over the place and try to get away if you touched her ears, now I can run my hands down both sides of both ears and she barely moves. After I worked with those two, I fed and then rode Hollywood, he did a couple of great stops today.

Hollywood

Cute picture of momma and babies!

Thursday: Was feeling a bit under the weather today, so I just stopped by Sunnyluck Farms to do stalls super quickly, but I also scheduled a jumping lesson for Cliff and I on Saturday! I've always wanted to learn how to jump, and Cliff loves it, but I have no idea what I'm doing so I'm super excited!

Friday: Two hours at Sunnyluck Farms. Saddled Fiona and tied her head around, and rode DG. She is on the lazy side (which is better than the alternative in a green horse, in my opinion), and we're working on keeping a steady canter. She LOVES to stop, and naturally just stops and starts backing, which is great, but we're working on not stopping until she hears the word "woah".

On DG

Apple

DG Stopping. *Ignore my position*

Saturday: A gal from my barn who is a really talented jumper gave me a lesson on Cliff this evening. We focused on my 2 point position and setting Cliff up to go over poles (I haven't jumped hardly at all, and I haven't ridden English more than 15 minutes at a time in years). Here are some pictures of the lesson:

Warming up

It's a start! :)

Working on using his body in the circle and keeping a bend around my leg without dropping his shoulder

Softening up

I forgot how much work English can be. My legs were burning by the end!

Clifford is not impressed. 

Sunday: Spent 2 hours at Laughing Buck Farm messing around and riding with a friend. I also put Cliff on grain because he's starting to look a little thin.

Just walking around on Cliff bareback because I was so sore from the jumping lesson yesterday :)

*The stopping picture of DG belongs to Sunnyluck Farms*
Links:
Laughing Buck Farm's Facebook
Sunnyluck Farms Website
Sunnyluck Farms Facebook
And, I'm excited to announce that Laughing Buck Farm's website is now up and running, and it looks amazing! Go check it out ((A short bio of yours truly is on the "Meet the Instructors" page))!

Beginning of the School Year!

This summer has been amazing and I've learned so much from my months working at Sunnyluck Farms and Laughing Buck Farm, and now the school year is starting again and unlike a lot of students, I can't wait to get started, because I know I'll be able to explore what I'm interested in!

This year I have a few projects that I am planning on. I'm going to be continuing to work at Sunnyluck Farms and Laughing Buck Farm (Laughing Buck Farm is adding some additional lesson programs this fall, and I hope to teach some of the new lesson students how to ride), I'm in 4-H with Clifford again, and I'm hoping to get a program started with another Innovation Lab student to let any kids ride and interact with horses that want to. Horses are expensive, especially with the cost of hay right now, so a lot of kids can't afford lessons or leasing, and very few can afford to own, however horses are also one of the best stress relievers around, so we believe that everyone should have access to them, because it can only be a positive thing. We have a meeting about that tonight, so hopefully we can get the ball rolling and I can provide more info soon!

Enjoy the rest of your summer, I'm ready to see the changing leaves and some cooler weather!

Links:
Laughing Buck Farm Facebook
Sunnyluck Farms Website

Week 17

Tuesday: 3 hours at Sunnyluck Farms. Round penned and roped Fiona and saddled for the fourth time, and rode a new client horse, DG. Fiona did pretty well, and even went into the barn in a stall for the first time and stood tied after her session, and DG is an awesome little mare who should be really fun to work with.

DG!

Thursday: 2 hours at Sunnyluck Farms. Fed and did stalls, and rode Hollywood.

Saturday-Sunday: Both Sunnyluck Farms' owners, and Laughing Buck Farm's owners were out of town on Saturday night, so I took care of all of the horses.


Sunnyluck Farms Website: http://sunnyluckfarms.com/
Laughing Buck Farm Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LaughingBuckFarm

Week 16

Tuesday: 3 hours at Sunnyluck Farms. Worked Fiona in the round pen. Saddled her, and then Sabrina ponied her on Dare for a while. She was a little pushy with the ponying so we tied her head around in the halter for a while while we rode. I rode Hollywood. Then 4 hours at Laughing Buck Farm. Worked with Bella and the ponies, and rode Lady English.

Thursday: 1 hr at Sunnyluck Farms. Did some feeding and cleaning.

Friday: 3 hours at Sunnyluck Farms. Worked with Fiona on touching her ears. In about half an hour of alternating between scratching her neck and chest (her favorite thing) and approach and retreat with her head, I got to the point where I could run my hands down each side of both of her ears. Then round penned Hollywood with his head tied as a reminder and rode him in the arena a bit. Then rode Denzel who was extremely level headed, and extremely lazy (as was I). It was pretty hot.


Sunnyluck Farms Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sunnyluck.farms
Sunnyluck Farms Website: sunnyluckfarms.com
Laughing Buck Farm Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LaughingBuckFarm

Week 15

Tuesday: 2 hours at Sunnyluck Farms. Groomed and braided Ruby, Hollywood, and Calypso, rode  Hollywood working on counter cantering. Then rode my horse, Clifford bareback for a little while.

The light in back was doing weird things to my cell phone's camera, but here's a kind of blurry picture of Hollywood in the cross ties.

Thursday: 3 hours at Sunnyluck Farms. Worked Fiona in the round pen and saddled her for the first time. She bucked a little bit in the beginning but once she started moving she was fine. Also but the bit in her mouth for the first time. She's a little bit head shy, so putting it over her ears was a bit scary at first, but she took the rest like a champ and I think she'll get over the ear thing in no time. Then rode Ruby and Apple.

Friday: 2 hours at Sunnyluck Farms. Went for a short trail ride on Apple then worked with Fiona a bit on bridling.

Sunnyluck Farms' facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sunnyluck.farms
Sunnyluck Farms' website: sunnyluckfarms.com
Laughing Buck Farm's facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LaughingBuckFarm