"Tis The Season...of Rain, Mud and the Flu!

‘Tis the Season!

Yes, it is the season…of catching the flu, heavy rains and increased workloads on the job and at school! Add to this the “cheerful chaos” that the holidays bring to everyone! Both Laurie and I got the flu. Miserable. It has been COLD and RAINY in the Sierra Foothills. Making the time when the rain stopped and the footing was somewhat safe to do some basic groundwork review with Cerra has been tough. We have sneaked in a few short session between the showers and being sick (sneezing, coughing and sporting a fever makes being in sync with the horse just plain hard) and the demands of home, work and school. Sometimes they just get to be horses.

Sadly the weekend looks to be VERY wet so we have had to reschedule both the G.S.H.C practice and the Horsemanship Workshop.

The last two families that met Cearra are BOTH interested. Now they want to schedule time for their “trainers” to come out. Sigh. This is always a challenge because 8 times out of 10 the “trainer” also has a horse that they want to sell their student so it makes it very hard for any horse but theirs to be “good enough.” Add to this most “trainers” train for the show…not for the overall well-being of the horse or the advancement of horsemanship skills in their students. We will see what happens but we are not holding our breath.We actually had someone low ball offer us before they even met Cearra. To say we fired them with extreme prejudice is an understatement! It was more like fired with BOTH barrels! Some people. Sigh.

Today was a sunny and mild day. Tomorrow and Sunday we get more RAIN so we decided to medicate the heck out of ourselves, bundle up and get out there and work ALL the horses. Cearra got a “skills review” which is basically a review of EVERYTHING we have been working on both on the ground and under saddle. Took about 90 minutes or so. She was a little frisky at first but after a few athletic direction changes in the round pen she was focused and thinking. We have added new suppling/ feel exercises and new desensitizing exercises to her skill set. Very happy with how she is doing. Her confidence, fitness and carriage is really improving and she is enjoying having a family and herd that is active. While our original plan was to sell her, we REALLY like her so…well…we are in NO RUSH nor will we be accepting anything less than fair market value for her AND the family has to be just right. We might be shooting ourselves in the foot taking this attitude but that is how we feel. 

After her session she got to pal around with Argent and Ronan as we did our sessions with them. Nothing like having a 1000 pound dog follow you around as you ride the obstacle course. Never a dull moment!

 Cearra following her "boyfriend" Ronan.

...and we're cruising..

...and more crusing...

 STOP! Time to look AWESOME!

More Weekend Fun!

We had TWO WEEKENDS IN A ROW of house guests (like 10+ people each weekend) at our place. Both weekend folks played with the horses! This was GREAT exposure for Cearra. She got worked with, loved on and her picture taken quite a bit. Her social side got a work out as she loved on children, new dogs and adults alike! She acted like a champ!

We actually showed her to two potential families as well. Really, we were just testing out her marketability. She performed really well on the ground and under saddle. Whenever we meet potential families it is always…interesting. Some are fun and some are funky and some we just can’t say “no thanks” to fast enough. Highlights of these showings were having a cross beam on our fence destroyed because the humans backed their SUV into it –sigh (don’t think they will be contacting us again). Cearra worked well for the young lady on the ground and under saddle and we could not have been more proud of her. The other folks were on a “scouting mission”, didn’t really engage with the horse (no ground or riding –we did all that and she just watched) at all and wants their “trainer” to come out next time. Seems they want to create a show horse. Cearra has the breeding and the movement for it. Not sure if it would make her “happy” and since we didn’t see real connection/interaction between the human and the horse it is hard to feel good about it. Cearra did well for us again, even though she was cranky about getting taken away from her breakfast.

Needless to say we felt good about Cearra’s program progress up to this point and we know we can get fair market value for her. As she grows and develops we will be raising that price! The families were the fun/funky type to be sure. Thing is we REALLY LIKE this mare so it is going to be hard to want to part with her.

The last two weekends have been fun! Next weekend we have a practice and a workshop to participate in. Going to be VERY horse focused!

Catching Up On The Journey

We have had a lot of things going on in our corner of the world and have gotten a bit behind in our Journey Journal. Here are some "highlight entries."

Working Between The Raindrops.

We have had quite a bit of rain this last two weeks. Our “in house” training area is a muddy mess. The one local covered area has been booked heavily so getting in training time is tough. The last thing we need is a horse slipping and hurting themselves.

Still we have worked in training as best we can, Leadership walks, some round pen/ quiet conversation groundwork, TLC time and rides at the walk have occurred. This time of year we work more in maintaining /improving known skills more than “teach new stuff.”

Our truck decided to start acting wrong during this time. It is not going anywhere fast. Just need to limp it to the shop and pray the damages are not too high. Sigh. When it rains it pours.

We have a G.S.H.C. Practice set for 11/19/2016 and a Horsemanship Workshop set for 11/20/2016. Should be fun!

Working on the “Quiet Conversation.”

Today’s goal was to work on the “Quiet Conversation” with Cearra. What this means is that we want to riase the bar on her awareness of the human, even when there are distractions around (our farrier Steve Elliot was working with Ronan and Argent today). The goal was to have her focus on the human, not anticipate a command, move off with control when asked and basically respond to smaller cues/looking for the answer.

Have to say she did really nice. The round pen and riding area is still REALLY muddy and slippery in places so “low impact/low speed” was the rule of the day. Cearra focused on  us quickly, would draw in when asked, moved well and was a cuddle bug at times (when we deemed it okay that is.) She went through a series of exercises that tested her focus and retention of previous lessons. Very pleased with her work ethic and performance. All the ground work is translating nicely to under saddle work. We see an increase in confidence and body control which is…well…just fun. We have gone through some ugly to get to this point. Glad we made it.

Those Little Magic Moments.

            Some days are really special in the development of a partnership between a human and a horse. Today was one of those days. The goal was to introduce some new concepts into the program with Cearra and see if we could maintain the confidence and “quiet conversation.” From the groundwork to the work under saddle things went pretty well. Cearra had a couple of insecure moments and thought about reacting but quickly came back to using the thinking side of her brain. We have uncovered a tiny bit of “baggage” that has not been fully overwrote yet but hey…we have not even hit 10 weeks yet…and she really did look to us for leadership. No complaints and a great learning opportunities for everyone.

            Cearra is also very social and very curious by nature. Today as I sat near the round pen while Laurie was working with her horse, Cearra came over to watch. I was holding our “pom-pom on a stick” which is made of a piece of bamboo and a pom-pom. Well she wanted to see it as has she sniffed it she made the handle “whistle.” A new game was born. Walk up to her human, say hello, make a whistle and walk a circle. Big fun!

You can’t beat those little magic moments.