Today we had Wallie jump over Peanut while Peanut was laying down, then Peanut jump over Wallie while Wallie was laying down. Extreme friendly game We used targeting and clicker training to keep the ponies laying down, but really they were very willing. Both ponies were very careful and jumped extra high, seeming to understand the importance of clearing the other pony. We used a carrot stick as a ground pole on the approach side.
A: The best thing to do with a young one, I’ve found, is to have a “tidy practice”. Bring them out and stay with them until you have the mental and emotional state that you want. If you get them out once every 2 weeks and you take a 1-3 hour walk where all you do is show them what calm feels like, you’ll have a dream pony in a few months. 1-3 hours every 2 weeks is at least as good, if not better, than an hour every day. If you’re one of those people who really does work with your colts 15 minutes 4 times a day, that’s great, but ONLY if you have the opportunity to get your colt out AND stay with him until you have the right mental state. The thing is, the mental state is the important part, not the training, because a calm, people-oriented, healthy horse has the presence of mind to learn so easily he can learn a new skill in an instant.
The opposite would be a horse who has skill but it’s messy with “ritualistic behaviors” – behaviors the horse learns to think are part of a skill because he learned the skill without “calm.” For example, horses who put their head down and really “huck” to take the canter with a saddle on, but don’t do that at all in the pasture. Hucking is just something they thought was part of what the trainer wanted because the trainer didn’t have a “tidy practice” while teaching the canter.
A lot of people make their youngstock kind of jittery because they get them out, teach them something, and put them away. Soon, every time the colt sees you coming, he starts anticipating the exhilaration of learning. Some of them become “learning high junkies”, where they threaten to make their own fun if you don’t keep them entertained. Others become worriers because they’re always on a little bit shaky ground with what they know but try to keep it together. Still others become “ritualistically hot” because people move on so quickly the colt learns he’s got to be really “on” or else the hour is going to go really badly.
The number one thing we do with our youngstock is just take them on walks. The exercises we do include everything you need for the vet/farrier (pivots, back up, sidepass, jog in hand), “travel together” (our version of longeing where you walk while the pony trots, focusing on long, straight lines, often with obstacles), “get together” (our version of calm “join up” at liberty), and “migrating” together (just walking in hand and seeing the sites). We start out with just a halter, then add a bareback pad, then have them carry a saddle, and do everything bitless. My belief is that a human doesn’t deserve to use a bit until they can’t imagine why they would need one. The key is to think of the exercises and tack as distractors – deliberate distractions you set up so you can “proof” for them. The focus should be on training a balanced mental and emotional state, which makes physical balance possible.
My favorite colts have been ones that I took this “school of balance” approach with right up through their first year and a half carrying a rider. I didn’t worry at all about what they knew, just let that evolve naturally. I kept them in the right mental/emotional state by doing as little as just migrating with them, hand walking for 3 hours, or as much as really getting going to music as they got older. The key, again, was to have them mentally and emotionally balanced, which makes physical balance possible. As soon as you have “whole balance”, you have your dream horse.
PS All the words and phrases in quotation marks are part of a new vocabulary I’m developing to talk about what we do. The vocab is unique to PonyPros. I’m super stoked to have words for some of these ideas!
Very amusing podcast featuring stories about Blue and Zilla and why they are super ponies! I’m not a podcasting professional by any means. Let me know which link works for you!
BlueMan and CuteZilla have the exact wrong breeding to be the amazing ponies that they are today. Blue is a Section A from hot, hot lines. Zilla is a half foundation Shetland mare. Both are rescues. Blue has only been undersaddle for 5 months. Zilla has a handful of rides on her. Here are two stories that will leave you wondering, “How is it that both ponies do such a good job?” We sure wonder!
As part of the PonyPros program, we take our kids and ponies on regular adventures. For this adventure, we surprised the kids by taking them on a haul-out trail ride right after school! The middle school girls helped us get the ponies to the trail head and the elementary schoolers got to go from school right to the BLM. We walked and rode for about an hour. No water crossings because the canal was off, but we went up and down hills and the kids jumped a sizeable log that was about 2’6 in diameter. It was pretty cool to see how far they’ve come in one year. This time last year, trail riding in a big group was the dream! The kids and ponies learn with natural horsemanship, classical dressage, hunter/jumpers, trail riding, and clicker training, which we call EQxpressionism. We try to make every day as artistic, balanced, wholesome, and inspiring as possible. Being in nature with great friends and pony-people is the perfect set-up for us!
I just finished our video from the 4th of July! Boy am I behind on video July 4th, 2010 we took 5 ponies in the Central Oregon Pet Parade. It was a very exciting event with packed streets and crazy things like a Dachshund wearing a harness, floating in the air, held up by big balloons, and paddling like he was swimming through the air! Everyone did awesome. The ponies unloaded well and did amazing walking through the busy streets and letting spectators pet them. We were extra special because we were accompanied by Cinderella. Emma’s 17 year old sister is an amazing seamstress and put the costume together only the night before the parade!
The ponies are all young – ages 4-7 and are trained with natural horsemanship and clicker training. The kids are ages 8-12. This was the first-ever parade for the kids and ponies!
Penny is a 14 month old miniature. She should mature about 28″. Penny has been with Gina at PonyPros for about 5 months, learning everything from haltering to all the great tricks she knows now!
Last Saturday we took the kids to Spring Pferde, a nearby Warmblood breeding farm, for an adventure. We had a great time! We warmed up on the ground with natural horsemanship and clicker training, then got on and practiced over low jumps. This was the first time any of the kids or horses had gotten to go jump out somewhere. Two of the girls have only been riding 5 months and one 8 months. The smallest pony, Caron, who is a liver chestnut, is 3 years old and has only been under saddle for 2 months. This was her first time ever hauling out. The stouter Mustang, Ilo, has about 20 rides, the more Spanish-type Mustang has about 30. The buckskin pony with 4 stockings, Blue, has about 4 months training. The thicker buckskin, Thistle, has about 6 months. The white mare, Sarah, has 8 months. So, lots of greenies, plus the white rescue Arab, QuickDraw, and bay rescue Welsh, Sam! It was a really great opportunity for both kids and ponies to get out and get their feet wet We hope to come back again sometime and bring some of the younger girls who didn’t get to come today.
Colt starting should be low-stress and fun for everyone. PonyPros practices EQxpressionism, which is a combination of clicker training, natural horsemanship, trail riding, hunter/jumpers, and art of natural dressage. We start our colts bareback and use poles to help them see a purpose. In 3-5 rides they’re out on the trail for easy migration and in 10 rides they’re usually riding walk/trot over little crossrails.
Lilwen is being started by PonyPros in preparation for going to her new home in Hawaii in February 2011. Lilwen was bred by Evans Welsh in Joseph, Oregon.
Now that I’m back from my honeymoon I can finally tell you about our amazing wedding! We had a beautiful wedding Saturday, August 21, 2010. Hawkview Ranch, the facility we train out of, was generous enough to host our special day. All of our students and friends came together to make the event possible.
Instead of having a groom’s dinner, we had a groom’s breakfast. Les’ family treated all of our guests to the most perfect breakfast at McKay Cottage, my favorite breakfast place in Bend. We had a huge table with something like 25 of us all sitting together. It was at 9am and already a nice temperature out. There were delicious fresh scones and traditional breakfast dishes with the Cottage’s special coffee drinks. We had everyone introduce themselves and give us a one-line piece of advice. They were all great, especially Erica’s – “Uuh, umm, ya, I am, uh, sixteen, sooooo, I don’t really know anything!” I was thinking, “Ha, you probably know what we all have forgotten!” I also really liked a few other’s. The best man said, “Make pretty babies,” (good to know we have his blessing, eh?). My dad said, “Don’t forget that how to love can be learned.” The MOH said, “Never got to bed angry.” Les’ stepdad said, “Do one thing for yourself every day.” Les’ cousin-in-law, Brent, said, “Say ‘I love you’ every day,” and Brent’s wife, Katie, said “Just keep doing what you’re doing!” I can’t believe how many of the pieces of advice I can remember! Apparently I was really focused that day, lol.
After breakfast I went to have my hair done and Stephanie, the friend I have known the longest and joint MOH, drove me out to the ranch. It was wonderful to arrive and see all the girls dressed up – it made it real! I walked into the ranch owner’s house and 9 pony girls and Gina, one of our instructors, appeared on the stairs. I felt like Mr. Von Trap when he whistles and all the kids line up in the Sound of Music! We had decided ahead of time that the girls would all do their hair in rag curls. They looked outstanding and their positive energy really made everything exciting. The house was filled with giggling.
The weather was wild that day and made getting ready very complicated! The ponies were quite up because of the wind and inclement storm. We were supposed to have rehearsal at 11, then at 1:30, and finally had it at about 3. The girls were running in and out of the house grooming ponies, shining ponies, moving ponies around, and exercising ponies when the ponies got too overwhelmed by all the grooming, shining, and moving! I was very proud to see how knowledgeable they all were about what to do to get ready, especially having to get themselves ready as well. They were very cute running all around in dresses and cowboy boots. The ponies looked amazing. They were clean and sparkly. We got stick on crystals for them and Peanut looked especially grand. Katelynn, one of our 13 year old girls, had gone way out of her way to arrange meetings for the girls to decide on a walking order and to make sure everyone had supplies to make decorations for the ponies. She even downloaded the walking music so they could practice! Seriously – how cool are these kids?! The moms were amazing too. I don’t dare start listing all the things they did because I would be writing for days…
Right up until 4:45, we were very uncertain about whether or not we were going to be able to have the ceremony outdoors. Last minute, the groomsmen moved the reception tables into the coverall arena so we could have the ceremony outside and then send the guests inside after the reception so they would be at least somewhat warm. I walked around trying to answer questions, wearing a bandana because apparently the groom isn’t supposed to see the bride “in all her splendor” before the wedding. The bandana kept Les from seeing my hair, which, thankfully, became looser in the wind. My hair stylist, who is also named Kaylea (kay-lee), and who happened to be getting married one week after me, used a ton of hair spray to make sure the curls could handle the outdoors. I was relieved that between the bandana and the wind it loosened up some and didn’t take its job of being curly quite so seriously!
While everyone else was working hard outdoors, my mom and my 3 bridesmaids were working hard indoors. When they helped me into my dress, it felt like it took 30 minutes to do all the buttons! The buttons ran the length of my back and then some. I have no idea how they got them all buttoned. I had what, to me, was the best dress ever. You’ll see it in the photos
The flowers were my one “bad luck thing” that got all the bad luck out of the way. The gal I had doing my flowers failed to tell me that her sister had had a baby and she went out of town. So, after calling and emailing to check on my flowers for days with no response, I finally sent a text. I received a message back that read: “This is Faith’s assistant. Didn’t you know? Faith’s sister had a baby and she’s out of town. She’s not going to be able to do your flowers.” Gah! 2 days before the wedding! So I called another flower shop saying, “Before you tell me you’re really busy and hang up, let me tell you my story!!!” Fortunately, the woman was able to make bouquets with stargazer lilies (which I love) and blue hydrangeas, which kind of worked with our colors (our colors were purple and gold). So, in the end, I had a bouquet, the 3 bridesmaids had bouquets, my grandma had a corsage, the pony girls each had a carnation, and we did Salvia in galvanized buckets on the tables, so we were good!
We ran a little late (of course, it’s “us”) and the wedding procession started at about 5:15 instead of 5. The ceremony was set up in one of the pastures with a view of the mountains. It began my brother, Cory Vanagas, playing acoustic guitar. Cory learned Pachabell’s Canon and Hear Comes the Bride specifically for our wedding so we had wonderful music for the whole ceremony. The PonyPros were radiant leading ponies down the aisle. The girls were wearing dresses of all different colors, cowgirl boots, and halos – head pieces with tulle, stars, and streamers. The pony geldings sported bowties the girls made themselves to match their dresses and the pony mares wore tiaras and tulle. All the ponies sparkled with glitter and stick-on rhinestones
Little Zoey, age 9, led the group. When Wallie balked at the site of the pergola decorations blowing in the wind, Maddie took the lead. Afterwards, a friend remarked that he was very impressed at how Zoey handled Wallie’s nerves, and how Maddie jumped right in to help. He said that he was surprised that kids could be so composed with an audience and not become nervous when the pony became nervous. I told him that I was so glad that he could see that because that is what PonyPros is all about – teaching kids to train ponies. Ponies take physical, mental, and emotional balance. To excel, you have to be a self-directed learner with a vision and the self-confidence and emotional fitness to pursue it. I think all of our kids have that, but of course I am biased!
The girls walked down the aisle past the 80 adults and 20 kids in attendance. The PonyPros were Maddie & Peanut, Zoey C. & Wallie, Zoe V. & Frank, Katelynn & Quick Draw, Kae & Sam, Morgan & Blue, Elizabeth & Caron, Eden & CuteZilla (Zilla, can you believe it?! She’s a much better now!), Gina & Penny, then, at the very end, Emma & Thistle, with my little sister, LuLu, riding. The older girls did a really good job keeping thing moving calmly forward. It was only LuLu’s second time ever on a pony and she is only 2 years and 1 month old. Her mom walked right next to her but LuLu did an amazing job balancing on her own on such a wild and crazy day! She was in a purple corduroy dress with horses on it and a little cowgirl hat. I suspect we have another pony-lover on the way up
After the PonyPros procession, the bridesmaids and groomsmen made their entrance. We have such amazing friends…5 were friends from high school and one bridesmaid was Les’ 1/2 sister, Erica, who is also a wonderful friend. While the bridesmaids and groomsmen were getting situated, Maddie and Zoey ran back and carried my train for me while my dad walked me down the aisle. Maddie and Zoey looked very fancy in dresses that their nanny helped them to pick out at a hispanic dress shop. The dresses were the perfect color to match the intensity of the sky, which was periwinkle, purple, and white, just like our decorations.
Wearing platform shoes to help keep my dress off the ground was quite a trick! Not only do I not normally wear heels, but, in fact, I normally wear negative heel shoes. I’m glad I didn’t try to practice ahead of time or I might have nixed the shoes all together! I made it down the aisle relying on my dad’s arm some and glad Maddie and Zoey had control of the dress! My veil was blowing in the wind behind me and I was so glad we went with finger tip length and not long. As it was, it felt like a long mane, with one always having ponies on the mind
Somewhere in there all the girls had found their seats on haybales. My mom had wrapped the haybales with white sheets and tied them with bows. It was such a nice touch. Really made the wedding feel home-y. I doubt many brides feel like everything is that perfect when they get to the altar, but I felt like so many of the people who are important to me had had a role in the ceremony and made it special. I really felt like the day brought together the best parts of my life for all to experience. It felt like 10 Christmases, New Years, Easters, Halloween’s and birthdays all rolled into one!
The ceremony it self made me laugh. Ryan, of course, brought his unique goofiness to his speaking parts. We had the 3 bridesmaids and 3 groomsmen alternate speaking. We had given them copies of the script to read over a head of time, but the script we set at the altar had a surprise – at the very end, we had written in a section for changing our last name. I have grown tired over the years of hardly being able to pronounce my own last name and Les’ last name isnt very exciting, so we decided to opt for taking a new last name. We picked “Kiger,” jokingly because Les’ horse, Koa (aka “The Big Bear”) is head of family, but more truthfully because we like how the word sounds and Kiger Mustangs are smart, kind, playful, and athletic, all things that we value. Our friends were surprised to find themselves reading the new lines but recovered well.
Instead of having readings in our ceremony, we had 3 couples who we admire speak. We asked them to speak about something they saw in us that they thought would make us successful as a married couple. It was really great to be able to put these 6 busy people on the spot and hear their thoughts. Seeing as how it was my wedding day I figured I could ask for what I wanted, haha. The first to speak were Henry and Sandy, our college art history and painting teachers, respectively. Next were Neil and Teri. Neil was our college English lit teacher and we got him back into horses about two years ago. Neil’s wife, Teri, owns a used bookstore downtown and is just a really genuine, cool lady. Lastly were David and Kelly, our acupuncturists/herbalists. David treats us and Kelly treats my mom and brother. Kelly and David had written something where they alternated lines, which was very cute, and ended with a Thoreau quote, which I thought was awesome since Henry and Neil used to team teach some together and Thoreau came up often. We know what we like
After the ceremony, we did the receiving line and got to say hello to all the people we thought we would have time to talk to but didn’t (which was pretty much everyone!) I had to stand on a linen table cloth in the arena so as not to get my dress dirty (hurrumph) but at least had somewhere warmer for everyone to go. The weather made for amazing photos… It was our favorite kind of light, the light we based our theme around, in fact. So, it is only fair that the wedding itself would end up having crazy weather.
Our friends were amazing about making the photos special. It seemed to take forever, but the Giant (our 6’11 friend) added goofiness to the photos by pretending to propose and other charming stunts. We did a shoe photo with all the girls (something like 15 of us total with the PonyPros and bridesmaids). The colors in the photo are awesome – just about every color in the rainbow as we had hoped
We did the cake cutting and eating back in the arena. Few people there I think truly knew how important the cake was to us. We had been engaged for 3.5 years and people were always asking us when we were getting married. Our answer, for the last 3 years, had been “when we can eat cake.” Since we had gotten sick in Colorado, we couldn’t eat any sweeteners or any starches, so cake was fully out of the question. We have only just recovered enough to eat gluten-free carob cake, so that is what we had. It was amazing.
By the end of the day I was completely exhausted, as I think was everyone else! We left on our honeymoon 3 days later. It was the best wedding and honeymoon I could ever imagine. Ten million thank-you’s to everyone who was involved!!!!!
We used targeting and clicker training to keep the ponies laying down, but really they were very willing. Both ponies were very careful and jumped extra high, seeming to understand the importance of clearing the other pony. We used a carrot stick as a ground pole on the approach side.
