We had a St. Patricks Day show this past weekend. It was the same format as Valentine’s Day – Liberty/Online Spotlights, then riding in the afternoon. We had to be indoors because of poor weather, but it was interesting to see what the kids could do in close quarters. We play music throughout the show to help everyone feel festive and keep things positive.

The ponies are ages 3-12 and trained with natural horsemanship and clicker training, which we call EQxpressionism. The kids are ages 7-14.

Penny, the white mini, invented a couple new tricks on the spot – she did a double humming top, then targeted the Tiger backwards with her rump. Today we started teaching the other ponies to do rump targeting with the Tiger because it’s pretty cool! This was also Penny’s first time debuting her Spanish Walk in a show.

We went to the dollar store to pick up more bright colored leis after Blue Man snatched three through a stall grate and decorated his pen with petals. Fortunately he didn’t eat any! The store was out of tropical colors but had St. Patrick’s Day white and green, and it worked out perfectly.

March weather here is quite tough. We had wind and gray skies – not what we were hoping for! The kids were all coming down with bugs, but remarkably, still did some pretty cool stuff. We played Irish music for the show. I was especially impressed with Linnea (10), who helped our new student, Ella (7), perform with Lily. Lily is the pinto mini. You’ll see them really going for it, chasing the Tiger across jumps and all over the arena. Ella, who just turned 7, has only had about 6 lessons but clearly wasn’t going to let that hold her back!

PonyPros is not affiliated with 4H but we volunteered to give 3 presentations at 4H Idea Fair – Classical Dressage, Hunter/Jumpers, and Horse Agility & Trick Training. The kids were out of school Monday so we did a mini-camp where we worked on horse agility. We used a pattern that was designed by the International Horse Agility Club so the kids could prepare to enter online competitions. We did a lot of simulations for fun and to help the kids learn the course. Each of the less experienced girls was buddied with a more experienced girl who was there to help teach. That afternoon, we took a trail walk in the snow so the kids could work on migrating with the ponies. At the end, there is footage of the kids singing a song we made up. It’s a variation on “There were 5 in the bed and the little one said…” This is “There were 11 in the SHED and the little mare said…”

Highlights:

- Bella trotted a jump on the lead-rein for the first time and learned the Tango
- Haley got Pixie to trot after much difficulty and afterward had extra solid legs on Thistle while trotting jumps
- Hannah rode Pixie over all the jumps at a walk by herself and mounted Blue from the ground
- Zoey was a rockstar with riding Pixie and set a really good example for the other kids about perseverance and believing in yourself
- Katelynn took great pictures and, we forgot to mention, did an awesome job improvising with TAGteach to help Anna earlier in the week
- Maddie impressed us by being really calm and focused with Hannah and Blue, and by riding Zilla with a lot of conviction
- Morgan did a good job keeping Thistle trotting straight and smooth for Haley on the longe
- Emma put a great ride on Zilla, showing a lot of improvement since last spring in her steering and focus, and remembered to get off and give her back a rest intermittently

*Also, special thanks to Karen for the hot beverages! They were just the boost we needed half way through! And thanks, Kirsten and Gina, for helping out!

Summary:

Friday’s mini-camp was a big success and made up for the tough Wednesday weather It was cold, but sunny, and we had a ton of fun. We started with setting up jumps. The kids did a great job counting strides and getting the jumps on good angles – good retention from earlier this week! You’ll see the in the photos that the kids jumped the jumps a lot themselves during set-up We also played Bumpity Bump Bump Bump with horse and tack anatomy and did the Hokey Pony again to solidify our horse anatomy knowledge.

We began our pony time by having a contest based on university equestrian team competition. Because most college students can’t afford to bring their horse and because horses are hard to transport, when you go to a college equestrian team meet, you get about 2.5 minutes to mount a horse you don’t know, adjust your stirrups, and ride into the arena to be judged. You don’t get to practice – you are scored on how well you ride a normal class on a horse you’ve never ridden before. The horses are warmed up before the show starts and they have classes in everything. Jumping is especially big on the East coast. For our competition, the more experienced girls (ME’s) rode Zilla and the less experienced girls (LE’s) rode Pixie. Zilla was nervous about the snow sliding down the roof and Pixie was a bit stocked up and ornery after having had about 10 days off. But, the girls did a good job of focusing and riding the ponies through their issues and coming out with some good results.

It was cool to see the LE’s step up a lot after watching the ME’s ride. The LE’s rode with a lot more conviction That’s really the key to riding – believing that what you’re doing will work – because horses pay a lot more attention to what you are thinking than what you are doing. Horses think 8 times as fast as humans do so a lot of what the LEs learned with Pixie was that you have 3 seconds to get a response. If you don’t get it in 3 seconds, the pony is going to learn that what you just said didn’t mean anything and ignore you. On the other hand, if you can make something happen in 3 seconds, the pony will wake up and want to see what you’ve got in the works.

A lot of the kids had never ridden Pixie before so it was a very cool challenge for them. In horses, there will be times when riding a lot of different horses is really valuable to your learning and times when riding the same horse all the time is the right choice. There is a lot to be said for developing one horse to the most of his and your potential, but it’s also really important to ride different horses so you have perspective. What you learn by riding another horse can really add a lot to your relationship with your normal horse.

After the pony riding contest, we got hot chocolate and turned the heater on in the tack room for a little break. While the kids were finishing their cocoa we went over horse colors and quizzed the kids as we flipped through a big horse book. At the end, we made sure all the kids could answer the basic questions about their horse – name, age, height, breed, and color. Riders ask other riders these questions all the time and it’s kind of a status thing that they know the answers

After the cocoa, we got the ponies out and reviewed our bandana checklists. We ran a little over (sry! thx for your patience!), but the kids all got awarded their bandannas at the end of the day. The bandannas are meant to be like the belt system in karate or tae kwon do, going from white to black. The MEs seemed proud of the LEs, and the LEs seemed proud of themselves. We picked bandannas since their sort of an icon of the Old West. The MEs haven’t gotten their bandannas yet as this week was mostly about the LEs but we’ll be working on their lists in the next 2 weeks and getting them bandannas too!

What We Did Today:

Learn, Do, then Teach

• Gaskin, Cannon, Pastern, Hock song
• Hokey Pony song
• Tack anatomy with Bumpity Bump Bump Bump
• Course setting
• Riding demo with TAGteach
• Working on Challenge Sheets

Photos:

• Counting strides (4 people steps = 1 horse stride)
• Haley trotting a jump, working on her “crest release”
• Working the angles for a straight approach to the jump
• Riding our imaginary ponies to the jump
• Linnea working on 2-point (because you only have 2 points of balance, one on each foot versus 3 if you are sitting)
• Putting up the jumps, choosing the appropriate height
• Counting strides
• Linnea’s first time doing posting trot
• Anna doing a twist

Long Version:

Today’s mini-camp got off to a bit of a rough start. One of the horses had an eye injury in the middle of the night and was undergoing minor surgery when we arrived. It is always very difficult for the other horses when something like that happens because the energy of the situation is scary to them. The outdoor arena was also frozen so we chose to give the indoor to a gal who’s trainer had driven in especially for a lesson. So, we had to change our plans on the fly and start with the quiet indoor games we’d planned to end with.

We went into Karen’s shed to get out of the wind and worked on horse anatomy and parts of tack. We did two songs – “Gaskin, Cannon, Pastern, Hock” (akin to Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes) and “The Hokey Pony” (like the Hokey Pokey but with horse anatomy). Then we looked at English, Western, and Endurance saddles and talked about the differences and why they are made that way. The kids learned the parts of the tack like cantle, pommel, fenders, irons, billets, etc, and we played a game called “Bumpity Bump Bump Bump” where the kids had to recall the names quickly. The kids also learned to feel out the saddle’s tree and got to feel the difference between treed and treeless. Horse anatomy and tack anatomy are really important parts of a complete horse education but very difficult to find time for so it was especially great to get to cover these things today. Makes giving explanations while teaching so much easier!

After our sojourn in the garage, we took the less experienced kids to the arena to learn about setting a jump course. I bet the kids were surprised to see how much thought goes into the obstacles we set out for them! Setting a course is a very interesting process because you have to count the number of horse strides between each jump and also set the jumps up on the correct angles so that the horses can make proper turns. The kids rode imaginary horses through the course and it was very revealing to see that they made the same mistakes without horses as the do with them I was glad we did the exercise because it gave us an opportunity to teach them how to look ahead through the turns and plan a good approach. No doubt this will come in handy down the road when you are teaching them to drive

Next Emma, Katelynn, Morgan, Maddie, and Zoey did a riding demonstration for us using the course we built. While the more experienced girls were riding, we asked the younger girls questions about what they were doing that was good and had them Tag the girls for a good release over the jump. In other words, the girls used a clicker to mark the moment they saw the riders extend their arms to allows the horse to extend its neck while jumping. I was impressed – the younger girls didn’t miss a single tag point. That’s very good focus for such young kids and for tagging a task most had never done themselves.

While the more experienced riders untacked we went and got the less experienced kids’ ponies. Unfortunately right about this time the temperature dropped suddenly and the wind ramped up. None of us were expecting it and before we realized it, the sudden change had as all a bit on edge. Not really realizing how tired we all were, we continued on with our activities (see highlights).

Highlights:

- Hannah trotted a pole on the longe for the first time
- Anna learned to write her name in the air while riding
- Lauren concentrated really hard to learn to bump, drive, then send the horse out on a circle to smooth out her lunging
- Taylor did a good job learning to increase her phases and match Sarah’s energy level when Sarah got a little pushy because she was nervous about the blocks under her feet
- Linnea trotted on Lily for the first time in a saddle and learned to post
- Haley worked on jumping on the longe and is getting much quieter hands
- Zoey did a great job riding Wallie faster and getting him over the 3-jump gymnastic
- Morgan did a great job getting Ilo over all the jumps and taking the jumps like hurdles versus big events
- Katelynn did a great job keeping her seat and not putting any weight on Q’s neck over the jumps
- Maddie did an extra good job keeping her cool after riding and then going on to helping Hannah
- Emma did a really good job being self-directed during her warm-up and focusing right in on her turn to jump the course

So, if the kids are really tired, we are too! Being a little off schedule meant that there was less one-on-one pony time than expected and the activities requiring a lot of exertion were at the end instead of at the beginning, not to mention that lunch was late. That said, everyone did some really cool things today and the kids are learning a ton, even if they haven’t realized it yet Right now the forecast for Friday is mostly sunny so hopefully it will be a little warmer out. We have the option of pushing back to 12-3 also if that would help.

Today we started camp by showing the kids a sheet with challenges. We explained that they would each try to complete a certain set by the end of the week. The goal for the week was to get all the kids confident in the skills they already have and set them up to take on some new fun challenges in the new year.

Highlights

-Riley worked really hard to learn about keeping contact on the longeline so Sam would stay confident
-Hannah learned how to put on a Western saddle
-Haley did sideways over new, bigger obstacles for the first time
-Linnea rode in an English saddle on Lily for the first time
-Anna learned how to have CuteZilla back up while playing Stick Together
-Maddie did a great job explaining posting diagonals very correctly to Hannah
-Katelynn caught on really quickly to teaching Anna hoof picking tag points
-Emma made sure to have Lil and Blue fed and grained when we got there
-Morgan did a really good job teaching Haley change of directions at the trot, which is tricky

Photos

• Kids raising their hands to show that they already knew how to do many of the tasks and would just be working on perfecting them.
• Playing a game called “I Like” to teach everyone each other’s name
• Playing “Pulse,” a game that teaches kids to use laser focus and improve click timing. The person in the middle clicks when they see the “pulse” going around the circle.
• Laughing while playing Pulse
• The kids learning about how clicker training works with other animals, like dogs. They took turns having our dog, Asher, do regular dog things like sit, roll over, etc, and pony things like jumping the blocks.
• Linnea having Asher jump, Riley giving the treat
• We paired the kids who had more experience with the newer kids. The more experienced kids helped the younger kids work on their Challenge Sheets, which included ground skills and riding.
• Just a funny picture of Koa, Les’ horse, laying down during lunch
• Everyone lined up to eat while we waited for parents

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!

• Stream .mov
• Download .mp4

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!