5th Anniversary Spring Equestrian Retreat - A Journal

2017 5^th Anniversary Spring Equestrian Retreat – A Journal

If you have wondered what the Spring Equestrian Retreat is like or what goes into creating such an event then this journal is for you. Read along and share the adventure!

EVENT HISTORY & CULTURE:  This event was first organized by Michael and Laurie as an activity for The Golden State Horsemanship Club in 2012. The idea was to have a multi-day event where members of the group could do a little horse training, have some fun experiences, enjoy good food and good fellowship and perhaps try something new while relaxing and recharging themselves. The culture of the group, since its creation in 2011 has been one of support, learning, inspiration and courtesy. This is the fourth year (2017) we have opened this to the “public” and as such we want YOU, the attendees, to be aware and prepared to support the ideals of this event and to embrace them over the weekend. This is a “team” event, meaning that we all work together to make the event fun and successful.

 IN THE PREVIOUS MONTHS:  We have sold this event out to capacity three times in the past several months. In fact we were FILLED the first time (ie: no more spaces) within the first two weeks of promoting the event! Life happens and folks have had to cancel here and there but for the most part we have stayed at capacity! This is a good thing!

We have planned out activities, changed our minds, crafted menus, changed the menus, settled on the menus. Shopped like crazy for cool raffle prizes, figured out what type of beer and cider will go in the Beer Truck, got the super nice commemorative glasses ordered and explored many ways to take the FUN to new levels…without breaking the bank!

Finally we come down to the final week before the event…

THIS WEEK: It is all about shopping to FEED everyone! It is all about PACKING all the things! It is all about ANSWERING all the “last minute” questions! It is all about logistics and organization and COOKING and preparations and…well you get the picture.

Add into this joyful chaos this crazy little thing call LIFE! Dealing with automobile repair issues, school projects (Michael is working on his MBA), traveling for work, PROMOTION at work, family demands, domestic demands and…again, you get the picture.

Thursday is the BIG PACKING/LAST MINUTE ERRANDS DAY. Early Friday morning “Retreat One” heads off to Bar SZ Ranch to being set-up! Friday afternoon “Retreat Two” leaves for the site with the remaining supplies in tow.

The WEATHER looks to be great all weekend! The food will be awesome and the activities will be FUN! Since this is our 5^th Anniversary Event we are pretty jazzed! Looking forward to making new friends, seeing old friends and creating some grand memories!

Ronan and Michael- Getting ready for the Retreat! Also trying a bosal for the first time.

DAY 1 (Friday): The “staff” of Laurie, Mark and Nicole arrived on site about 12:00pm and working with the Bar SZ Ranch team began the process of event set up, registration and helping to get the incoming guests situated with housing (both horse and human), meal prep team assignments and more. It is always happy chaos with a tad bit of drama mixed in just for giggles. Still, we get through it with creativity and style. Good times.

Friday night we had a great pasta dinner. Folks were HUNGRY and we actually ran low on pasta and sauces. Note to self: We have never have too much pasta or sauce. We covered some basic “ranch rules” and event announcements, sold some commemorative glasses (gets you beer/cider all weekend) and generally enjoyed the campfire by DOC’S BAR with some fine fellowship and good country music. The “horse junkies” in the group took advantage of the lighted/covered arena and rode for a while. The evening wrapped up close to midnight and folks headed off to bed.

Always a good time!

DAY 2 (Saturday): Breakfast casserole was a hit! We set up the Adventure Poker Ride and got the City Slicker Cattle Drive groups set up. There was a mini workshop on Foundational Communication (90 minutes), Knife/ Axe Throwing got moving along, and got our “horse rental” folks all squared away. Then Group #1 headed out to play with the cows! Bridge crossings, major water crossings (like up to your stirrups in places) and lots of laughter happened as folks moved the herd around. The Adventure Poker Ride also kicked off and folks rode the Ranch following clues and picking up their cards. Yes, all of this BEFORE lunch! It was a pretty full morning!

Ranch House Chili was the feature for lunch. It too seemed to be a hit. Then Group #2 headed out to bring the cows in for Team Sorting/Penning later in the day. Tim, Michael, Colton and neighbor Tanner (a Champion in the Roping world) went out and finished building fences and setting up gates to complete the cattle corral/arena area. The Gun Range got going and had lots of folks shooting a variety of firearms. Impromptu Roping workshops happened as did some arena work and general socializing at Doc’s Bar. The Beer Truck had Coor’s Light, Blue Moon and Angry Orchard Cider on tap. Helped to slake everyone’s thirst for sure!

Did we mention the awesome trails? With over 600 acres to play on the trails were very popular!

Dinner was a Pot Pie Casserole which folks seemed to enjoy. Music, a little dancing under the starts and lots of laughter happened. A western themed Poker Game happened and the FOURTEEN Raffle Prizes got laid out for inspection. The night wrapped up a little earlier as folks were tired from a very full day.

Here are just a few pictures....

DAY 3 (Sunday): Another day in horsey heaven! Breakfast was a classic. Pancakes, sausage and all the fixings! Great way to start the day! More trail rides, more cattle drive groups, a mini workshop on Quiet Control (90 minutes). Knife/axe throwing, the gun range, billiards, darts and LOTS more of the same awesomeness that Saturday brought to the event. It was a good morning. We had a cow give birth to a new calf on Saturday. On Sunday it was noted that Mamma Cow was not taking care of her baby as well as needed. So we brought the calf in, made sure it was healthy, gave it some nutrition and later in the day reintroduced to the herd. In between everyone got to love on “Norman” the calf.

Lunch was a taco bar! This year we had marinated (and slow cooked) pulled pork carnitas and chicken ranchero along with all the fixings. After lunch the fun started all over again! Folks could do as much or as little as they wished! Folks really put some miles on their horses!

Then it was the BBQ DINNER! We had THIRTY pounds of mesquite marinated tri-tip and THIRTY pounds of teriyaki chicken that was slow grilled over oak wood coals! Sweet corn on the cob….and BEER! Did we mention the BEER TRUCK? The truck holds kegs and folks could purchase a cool commemorative glass and have access to ice cold beer all weekend long! We had Blue Moon, Angry Orchard Cider and Coors Light (we did come home with some Coors Light however). It seemed a popular feature of the weekend.

We had the Raffle! We have 14 PRIZES to raffle off. It was fun. Folks hung out and socialized late into the evening (this happens every year) and the bonds of fellowship were solidified.

It was a good time!

DAY 4 (Monday): Breakfast burritos started the day off! We announced the three best hands from the adventure poker ride and gave away PRIZES! Then folks went off for final rides all over the ranch. Some knife/axe throwing happened and generally everyone had a mellow morning. Folks also began to pack down and prep for their journey home. 

Lunch was a grab-bag affair with some fun featured items and some leftovers from the weekend. After lunch the major exodus off the property began in earnest. By 3:00pm most everyone had sad their goodbyes and hit the trail homeward. By 4:00pm the Team (Laurie, Nicole and I) said our goodbyes to the Borelands and we headed home.

Always a bittersweet day, Monday. Folks hate to go but they look forward to the next year!

Plans are already underway for the 2018 Spring Equestrian Retreat! Ranch costs of 2018 are going up a bit (like by $2000.00) but we are doing our best to keep the single and family package prices as low as we can and still cover all the expenses. Surveys have (and will continue to) go out to past Retreat Attendees so we can gather feedback. 

The struggle is not to host a great equestrian vacation event, it is to do so under $500.00 a person! When you look and unfun things like budget (ranch rental, food, prizes, insurance, clean-up crew costs and so on) and then you want to add stuff like Clinicians (who have to be paid mind you) it is super easy to blow right past the cost consideration. We spend LOTS of REAL VALUABLE TIME preparing and then marketing this event. We will do our best to keep costs low so stay with us, help out by getting in your surveys and support the Retreat as best you can!

Looking forward to 2018!

MEETINGS & BLESSINGS

A MEANINGFUL MEETING

If you have been reading along with our “training journals” you know that: 1) Horses teach humans just as humans teach horses. 2) Inspiration happens when you least expect it. 3) True horsemanship translates to almost every horse. 4) If you put the “Good” out there, real blessings come back to you.

Well today we had one of those blessings. When you meet a true “student of the horse” it impacts your own journey. Helps you to look at this Art we love in new ways and usually creates a new friendship in the process. Sharing some laughter is almost always part of the experience as well.

We met another “student of the horse” and it was pretty darn cool.

Cearra was the reason for said meeting. This horseman was interested in her. The journal was really read, the videos watched and good communication happened. This horseman knew exactly where Cearra was at in her development and was ready to work with her. Positive beginnings!

The first meeting between New Human (in Cearra’s mind) and Cearra went well. Lots of the ‘getting to know you” actions happened like touching, talking, scratches, picking up feet and so on. Then we did some basic groundwork to show New Human what we have worked on and how we warm up before a ride. Then the New Human got in the pen and they did great. They worked out the differences in “conversation style” when Cearra communicated her unease how a particular request was done - New Human adapted quickly -  and then were off and doing great. New Human adapted quickly in the conversation, rewarded quickly and had a really great energy that Cearra responded to. It was inspirational and educational to watch!

Then it was time to ride. We saddled up and rode her for a bit to show how we cue and what we have been working on up to this point. Then we switched saddles (Hew Human had a real nice Dale Chavez that fit like a glove) and even tried a breast collar (we did not have one for Cearra so this was a first). New Human quickly adapted to Cearra and they did some pretty nice work together. At one point Cearra thought she was done and “tested” New Human’s seriousness on the matter of continuing to ride. A small crow hop offered up by Cearra led to a quick correction and some hustling of feet in small circles. Cearra understands that correction type and was very much “message received” with her New Human and they worked some more. A couple of thing stood out to be put on the “will work on that” list but overall they were smaller things that just need to focused on during training sessions as they really are the last vestiges of her old reality. Again, it was really cool to witness and (for us) very inspirational. Add to the fact that they looked really nice together was a bonus.

At the end of the day it seemed they really liked each other. At the end of the day WE liked them liking each other. In fact this was the best fit we had seen since this journey began. Seems New Human felt the same way and offered to help her on the next leg of her development. We agreed. Cearra has a New Family and New Home (we got to see lots of pictures of it…WOW…lucky horse) and headed home that day!

So, one chapter ends and another begins. We made a new friend in the process and we got inspired too! We feel good in our hearts and spirits that this was the match Cearra was supposed to have at this point in her life. She’ll be loved and guided to new levels of skill and understanding. We could not be more pleased. Yes, it is hard to let them go but when you meet a true “student of the horse” like this you know it was meant to be.

What’s Next? Well, we are taking a serious break from “project horses” for a while. Life has placed some new opportunities and challenges on our trail and we want to devote the time and energy needed to meet them head on. So we will focus on taking Ronan and Argent to new levels through clinics, workshops and lessons this year. There are some great equine professionals we hope to work with during 2017-2018 and now we can do just that.

Thanks for reading and being a part of this journey!

THIS WEEKEND....

This weekend Cearra was a rock star…and “people” have gotten on our last nerve! Odds are if you are reading this entry you A) are of a “fan” of theses adventures or B) are thinking about coming to see Cearra. To those who fall into Group A – THANK YOU. To those who fall into Group B – for the love of all that is holy and good PLEASE READ THE FRIKKEN BLOG! Seriously! All the information about Cearra is here! The good, the bad and the ugly…it is ALL IN WRITING!

What Cearra IS:

• ·         She is “advanced green broke” meaning she works well on the lead line and knows lots of cool groundwork exercises.
• ·         Takes the saddle and bit well.
• ·         Had had quite a few rides in the arena on the trial.
• ·         She walks, trots, lopes, stops, backs up, yields her hindquarters, yields her forequarters, cues off seat/leg nicely and laterally flexes.
• ·         She is BEGINNING to work on vertical flexion and lateral movement.
• ·         She loads up in the trailer well. She stands nicely for the farrier.
• ·         She has really nice bloodlines too!

That is what you get for $3500.00!

What Cearra NEEDS:

• ·         She need more miles under her hooves.
• ·         She needs more group rides.
• ·         She needs some conditioning and muscle.
• ·         She needs a calm, consistent leader who is confident and kind.

That is what she needs and why she is only $3500.00!

If you are looking for the following:

• ·         A “finished” horse.
• ·         A horse that you can just hop on a go without any warm-up on the ground.
• ·         A “dead broke” horse.
• ·         A “Husband” or “Kid” horse.
• ·         A horse you can enter the show pen, trail trials or work cattle on RIGHT now

Then…you need to move on. Period. It is ALL IN THIS JOURNAL! Even in this market finding ALL that for $3500.00 is tough. Any questions? Really, we are just about done dealing with people who do so little “homework”, who blatantly LIE about what their skills are, what their needs/expectations are and who waste valuable time. We provide LOTS of pictures, videos and information. If YOU come out and have either lied (that is a deal killer) or don’t see the horse you “want” it is your own damn fault.

Okay….now that THE RANT is done…

05/13/2017 - PRACTICE: The session went well! Here is the review posted on the Golden States Horsemanship Club forum: “Wow...what a great practice!

We had a bit of everything to work with.Young horse (not yet 3) to trailer loading! Body language, Body position. Riding with softness, feel and timing! Groundwork and a variety of different levels and different needs! We rode the Wrangler off our jeans! Patterns. Cones. Transitions, Lateral work and more.

Just...wow.

Pretty tired but a great day!

Cearra: Our mare worked on:

• ·         Groundwork – Preflight Check Exercises: Yield HQ, Yield FQ, Lateral Flexion, Backing Up.
• ·         Ground School Circles (the 5 in 1 exercise)
• ·         Forward/Backward Transitions.
• ·         Rollbacks Along the Fence.
• ·         Ground School Circles Under Saddle (the 5 in 1 exercise)
• ·         Serpentine (at the cones walk/trot).
• ·         Cloverleaf Pattern (walk/trot)
• ·         Ride the Corners.
• ·         Transitions – all three gaits.
• ·         Dealing with “new-to-her” horses.

Overall she did really well. Everyone had a productive session!

05/14/2017 – MOTHER’S DAY RIDE & SHOWING CEARRA

We were contacted on Friday by a potential buyer on Friday (this person could not respond to text or emails or…sigh…really even read the blog…whatever). They were lloking at a 3+ hour drive. So we sent them EVERYTHING we had on Cearra, repeatedly said “advanced green broke” and “you will need to put more miles, conditioning and training on her to “finish” her off and so on.

Sigh. They still want to come see her even though they are less than clear as to what they are looking for. Remember…she is $3500.00. She is what she is. We have answered the few questions they had. Supposedly they “read the blog and watched the videos” and they were going to be at the arena by 12:30pm.

When Possible Buyer shows up TWO HOURS LATE they say very little. If fact getting ANY real information for them is tough. Okay, so we do about 10 minutes of ground work to show what the horse can do and to warm her up. We did NOTHING but groom her before these folks arrived. Potential Buyers say nothing during the warm-up (this is ALWAYS a red flag to us). Sigh. They has ZERO interest in doing any ground work. Okay (red flag #2 right there for us). So Cearra gets her bridle on and rides really nicely. Listens to seat and leg, very little rein contact, transitions well...all the basics because ADVANCED GREEN BROKE! We hop off to allow the Potential Buyer (who showed up with a trailer by the way and had to ask how I turned her because he could not see/tell what I was doing - sigh) to ride the horse. The Potential Buyers opts out and say "we wanted a horse that was more broke, just want to get on and go." WHAT THE FLYING F&$K! Are you kidding me? Not only did you waste your time and my time but you did not event respect the horse to let her show you want she could do!

She was a frikken $3500.00 rock star. Period.

(NOTE TO SELF: I think it is time to be a bit harsher with these folks from now on. If you cannot prove that you actually read the information provided we will not make an appointment with "you'. Sanity and time have to be preserved and valued.)

So I get back on and ride her some more. Get my WINS over yesterday’s performance and I call it done (I had Ronan to work with next). Cearra basically reviewed all the skills from yesterday. Retention is a beautiful thing. Very proud of her.

What’s next? This week is nuts. We have a few other interested parties. We will see how it goes. Hoping to train a bit when I get home in the evenings (tough because of the new job and school but will do my best). Other than that it is one ride at a time.

Farrier Day!

This entry was written by Laurie who wrangled all three horses so they could get their hooves taken care of. Cearra was a rock star!

Today was pedicure day and to help our farrier out with his scheduling, we met at the local fairgrounds. The crew onsite were setting up for a “farm day” for the local schools so there was a lot of activity. If you’ve been reading the blog, you may remember that Cearra has had trouble settling down when we have come to the fairgrounds before. We were unsure how she was going to act today with all of the activity going on – bulldozers, weed-whackers, fork lifts moving bleachers and stacks of tables, inmate work crew moving noisy pipe panels. To say that we are proud of her demeanor and behavior is an understatement! She stood quietly for the farrier even with big equipment working less than 100 feet away!  She was curious and watchful, but none of the noise or activity phased her one bit! What a long way she has come!

 Here comes the tractor...

 Cearra could care less...

 And there goes the tractor...

A Bit of A Review & Some Fun New Stuff!

REVIEW & NEW

Today’s session “goals” were to review the exercises we have been working on, improve overall softness and attention to seat/leg cues and to introduce shoulder elevation and vertical flexion at the standstill and walk.

It was a good day!

Groundwork was really good. We worked on the following exercises:

•           Lunge for Respect #1 (circle, stop and look at me) and #2 (circle, slow down, change directions and circle).

•           Backing with Steady Pressure, and Tapping the Air.

•           Yield the HQ #1

•           Yield the FQ.

•           Side Pass along the Fence.

•           Turn and Go (incorporates a HQ yield, a FQ yield and impulsion)

•           Ground School Circles (incorporates FIVE exercises into one fluid movement).

It is always fun to watch the horse “process” the say and communicate back to us. We, as humans, set a “performance bar” to be sure but that bar needs to be flexible. Cearra was a little stiff on one side (probably slept wrong) so it took a little more effort to loosen those muscles and get back to giving 100%. We wrapped up the groundwork by stringing a few of the noted exercises together to create some fun interactions. Of course we balanced this out with some lateral flexion and desensitizing too!

Under saddle we worked on the following:

•           Forward, Back, Forward Transitions.

•           Yield HQ at Standstill.

•           Introduction to Rollbacks.

•           Yield FQ.

•           Forward, Back and Yield HQ.

•           Serpentine through Cones (two gaits).

•           Ground School Circles Under Saddle.

•           Side Pass along the Fence Under Saddle

•           Introduction to Elevation of Shoulders and Vertical Flexion (Standstill and Walk)

The riding portion of the day went very well!  The horses did really well with the exercises. The footing at Pioneer Park is a little hard right now so long lopes get a little uncomfy because of the impact but overall the exercises went over really well.

We got nice improvements on the “review” side and some quick acceptance/understanding on the “new” exercises. We had a little bit of sass at first (typical) but everything mellowed out quickly and we had a great session!

Next week we have a G.S.H.C. Practice (Saturday) and a Horsemanship Workshop (Sunday). Should be a blast!

Three Entries, No Waiting....

SATURDAYS & SUNDAYS IN THE PARK

We took advantage of the recent weather and made it a weekend of horses! We hauled out with all three horses. We set up the cones for Serpentine, Ride the Box and the L Box so we could change things up a bit. Groundwork (about 10 exercises) happened first. When we got improvements in these in comparison to our last session we moved on to the Riding exercises. We did another set (about 10) of exercises. Overall Cearra did great. She had a little sassy attitude when we first started riding but quickly came back to herself and behaved like a lady. Her trot transitions were really nice and her work on the various patterns was good. This winter was TOUGH on everyone. With so little opportunity to ride/train to a level that improved conditioning we ended up fighting just to maintain good weight and muscle tone. Still, given all of the challenges created by the weather Cearra retained most all of her skill set. We have a Workshop happening next weekend (Saturday) so this will be a good “test” of her condition and work ethic!

THE WORKSHOP

            The “theme” of the workshop was “Improving the Partnership” and so we did! Cearra still has issues with “new-to-her” horses in “her” arena. She acts like she is intimidated of them and loses focus a bit. This is the last remaining challenge in our journey. It is just going to take more miles and more exposure.

We did our usual warm up on the lead line to get the mind and body ready to learn! Then we dove into Groundwork!

• ·         Lunge for Respect #1 (circle, stop and look at me) and #2 (circle, slow down, change directions and circle).
• ·         Backing with Steady Pressure, WWWW, and Tapping the Air.
• ·         Yield the HQ #1
• ·         Yield the FQ.
• ·         Side Pass along the Fence.
• ·         Leading w/ Back Ups
• ·         Circle Driving
• ·         Turn and Go (incorporates a HQ yield, a FQ yield and impulsion)
• ·         Ground School Circles (incorporates FIVE exercises into one fluid movement).
• We then took a short water break and saddled up!

Under saddle we focused on “softness” and our feel and timing, giving back to the horse when we asked for something from the horse. For most of the Riders this was both a challenge (they never really gave back to the horse) and an epiphany (they realized it)! This was a Good Thing ™! We worked on the following riding exercises:

• ·         Forward, Back, Forward Transitions.
• ·         Yield HQ at Standstill.
• ·         Introduction to Rollbacks.
• ·         Yield FQ.
• ·         Forward, Back and Yield HQ.
• ·         Serpentine through Cones (two gaits).
• ·         Ground School Circles Under Saddle.
• ·         Side Pass along the Fence Under Saddle
• ·         Introduction Lateral Work though Cones.

People had some solid wins and saw real improvements in their communication and control with their horses. It was a very cool day! Lunch was AWESOME too!  Sloow BBQ’s pulled pork was on the menu!

CEARRA: This was a long day for her. She was pretty tired by the end of the day. We had a couple of sassy moments but she got over her “I am a Princess” attitude and tried her best. Even though she was not 100% cool with the other horses being in her arena she did relax more in a group setting. Overall she did nicely!

SETTING THE SEASONAL GOALS

Cearra in a nutshell:

She has been with us for almost nine (9) months. She was so out of shape and had a crappy attitude when we brought her home. She had not been worked with in a long time and had an “I’m a Princess” mindset. Reality shifted quite a bit on Day 1.

She is a totally different horse today!

She has GROWN in these last months. She is a solid 15.2 now. Of course the good diet and exercise probably helped. She is certainly a pretty girl. She gets lighter in the summer and darker in the winter.

Speaking of winter…this one was ROUGH on all the horses. So much rain and snow. We lost a good four months of training/conditioning. We struggled just to maintain her weight (she lost some because she grew over the winter) and muscle. So now we are playing “catch up” by adding more calories to her diet and doing everything we can to get her condition back. Add to this challenge that both Laurie and I are now working away from home quite a bit and we have only been able to train with Cearra twice a week. This means that we are on a slower path to getting her to new levels of fitness.

Also, with the demands on our time we have decided to market Cearra. Even though we KNOW she has amazing bloodlines and can do some pretty cool stuff we feel she is still “advanced green broke.” If she was just a little more finished we know that getting $5000.00 for her would not be unreasonable. Yet, our goal is always the well-being of the horse so given her “advanced green broke” status and our limited time to finish her off we will be asking $3000.00 firm. We will not be 5 panel testing her and will leave that up to her new family if they wish to breed her. We just want what is best for Cearra. She is a great horse who just needs more miles and more exposure to new places/horses/people. We figure $3000.00 will encourage interest for real, serious families who want to work with a well started horse. We will see,

So, the plan is to keep working the program, get her really fit and as polished up on her skills as we can. If she is with us at the end of the month she’ll go to the Spring Retreat which will expose her to lots of horses, cattle, new trails, new people and more!

That is Cearra in a nutshell right now.