Woke up at 4:30am. About 8 hours of sleep in 2 days combined. Took 9 horses and ponies to the Parelli tour stop. Filled the arena with PonyPros. Blew even our own socks off. The Parellis were amazingly generous with us. They gave all the kids halters and lead ropes, plus the levels 1-4 pack, and gave Les and I four-week scholarships to the center in CO. Feel like I need to sleep for days, but it was worth it Can’t believe how awesome the kids and ponies were. Check out the photos of Linda when we showed her our video, told her we had 5 more kids at home, and that we boarded 30 minutes away.

Some quick facts:

• Blue Man has only been with us for 4 weeks. This was his first experience traveling off property for an event. He was rescued a year ago by Mustangs and Mohr, then came to us at the very end of April. At that time, he had basic groundwork but had not been started. He has 1 ride on him now and is, as you can see, having a ton of fun with Parelli!
• Thistle has only been with us for 2 months. She was 10 years old and was ranch raised, so had had no training before coming to us. This was her second time ever in a trailer and only only her second time away from the home she was born and raised on. Look how awesome she is now!
• Thistle’s partner, Emma, is a 6th grader and has only been involved in horses for 3 months. She has learned all this from PonyPros in just 12 weeks!
• Peanut and Wallie are only 4 years old. This was only their second time hauling out to a different arena. They have been with us for about 9 months now and were unstarted when they came to us.
• Casey is an adopted rescue horse. Conner has only owned him for four months.
• Koa is an adopted rescue horse. This was her first time ever hauling out to a strange arena.
• Celebrity has only been with us for 2 months. Chloe, age 12, was his partner at the tour stop.
• Sam is a rescue pony who used to stand like a tri-pod because he was so fearful and in so much pain. He used to run to the other side of his pen and smash against the panels when someone walked by. He has been with us for almost 2 years now.
• Because the horse who Katelynn normally works with is a rescue who is not strong enough to travel, this was Katelynn’s first time ever working with Sam. Talk about a good pony and natural student to put it together so fast and so well!
• Our dream is to have an Atwood Ranch style program for ponies and to have the best kids program in the world.

There were a huge number of successes today…

-Zoey, Maddie, and Emma stood on their ponies for the first time.
-Zoey and Maddie stood on Peanut and Wallie bridleless in cordeos.
-Emma and Maddie jumped the barrels, and jumped them bareback nonetheless.
-Chloe sat like a frog on Celebrity, cantered him, and jumped him over a bigger jump.
-Blue Man got ridden for the first time. Chloe put the first rid eon him.
-Cinnamon got ridden by someone other than Kali for the first ride. Chloe put the 4th ride on him.
-Desiree rode a horse for the 4th time in her life, getting to ride Celeb. It was her first time trotting bareback.

Apparently PonyPros and ponies flourish in tornadoes and monsoons

There is a scene in Baby Mama where Steve Martin says to Tina Fey, “Congratulations, Kate. I want to reward you with five minutes of uninterrupted eye contact.” Baby Mama is a dreadful movie, full of over-the-top stereotypes, but this scene really made me laugh. While we wouldn’t necessarily want it from a loony, new age boss, how true it is that uninterrupted eye contact is a commodity these days…

When you are telling someone what a good job they did, pause, and let them see that you really mean it. Make eye contact, even if it is cheesy. Stop and let the moment sink in.

When we tell someone they’re doing a good job, inevitably they will laugh it off humbly, but if you wait through the initial giggling shrug-off, the person will look to see if you really mean it. If you’re still looking at them after the ritualistic “chirping laughter, look away, and look back again,” it means your praise is sincere. The person then has permission to stop and internally praise him or herself.

Go ahead, smile, and make eye contact. Let someone know they really got it right!