Lily's and Hannah's first time jumping

Last July, we rescued Lily. We paid $125 for her, despite the fact that her hooves looked like elf shoes and she had had no training. We knew that she had a great temperament, pretty coloring, and decent conformation that would help her to excel despite a rough start.

The first day we brought Lily home, she could hardly trot or canter. When the other ponies got running, she would try to go, then give up. For 6 months we filed Lily’s hooves diligently every 2 weeks. Now she is on a 4 week cycle. Initially, for a few days after each trim she would need time to figure out her balance again and could not be ridden. We could tell because she would hop into the trot when asked to go, or would sometimes take a couple canter strides. She would also have a hard time walking off straight when she had been at a halt, or would stop and swing her hind end separate from her front end when asked to turn. Gradually we built up Lily’s stamina and athleticism with tricks and games. She loves chasing the tiger!

10 months later, Lily’s hooves are balanced and she just had her first day of jumping with a rider! The rider, 9 year old Hannah, started with us last summer, about the same time we bought Lily. Yesterday was Hannah’s first time jumping, also! Lily was very careful to trot and simply step over the jumps at first. As soon as Hannah gained her confidence, Lily offered to jump round and tuck her knees, and we rewarded her with a click and treat. Hannah did a great job getting her hands forward to release, never popping Lily in the face. Hannah will need to learn to stay a little closer to the saddle and keep her heels down, but for her first day, she did awesome. Hannah is a very bold, focused rider who listens attentively and works hard. Lily is lucky to have Hannah as a little pony jockey to help her learn!

It’s so great to see the progress the kids can make with the help of the ponies, and the progress the ponies can make with the help of the kids. We are so lucky to be able to give the children the experience of teaching a pony and seeing the impact they can make on another’s life.

(Sorry about the grainy photo! All we had on hand was an iPhone )

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.

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!

Naya, age 6, gets to lead QuickDraw around the arena and find out about focus! She learns to give Q a little YoYo whenever he gets too close. QuickDraw, always the clown, helps Naya learn by trying to sneak up and lick her helmet

Cinnamon tries picking up a hulahoop on the ground, so I click and treat him. Soon I can walk backwards, toss the hulahoop between us, and he will bring it to me. Then I ride Cinnamon around the arena and we stop at the hulahoops. One by one, he picks them up and hands them to me, with me sitting on his back!

Les and Koa ride bridleless using a hulahoop in place of a cordeo. Koa sidepasses and jumps the barrels like a pro. Les says he loves the hulahoop because it creates a frame for the horse to work within but doesn’t add pressure.

Inspired by Les, I longe Cinnamon using the hulahoop as a cordeo. He goes wtc both directions and we even try jumping the barrels! That one got him a little fired up, so we toned it down and did some more fetching.

Instead of worrying about Ilo worrying about the sound of the arena door rattling in the wind, I decided to encourage her. Taking a couple plastic sacks out of our bean bag, we did some desensitization, then I tied them gently to her halter.she looked like a butterfly! Then we practiced things she knew how to do very well with the distraction of the plastic sacks. Eventually she graduated to sacks in her mane and around her pasterns! What a good girl.

Penny, sporting her new custom made pink rope halter, learned to lay down on the soccer ball beanbag like a camel. Since Penny likes the tarp, we laid the tarp on the bag first and scrunching up the tarp is what gave her the idea to lay down. Then Gina used a hand target to keep her laying down for longer and longer. One time she even flopped on it and rolled off the side like a little kid We also got a cute photo of her pawing the bag with her foot. Look out World Cup, here she comes!

Cinnamon, who we now call CinCin (chin-chin) as a nickname, also pushed the ball for the first time while riding. I’ve always thought horses push the ball into things on purpose, and CinCin does without a doubt. He pushed it right into the stackers like he was making a goal. Cowboy soccer anyone?

We also celebrated Dorothy’s birthday and Hawkview Ranch’s 10th anniversary. It was a great party! The kids were playing with these wild spongey, snake-like toys right outside Sundae’s pen (great desensitization!). It was adorable to see how at first he was scared, then he wanted to play! He watched the kids enthusiastically all evening. Halfway through the night, the kids came running up asking if they could do groundwork in the arena. Smart kids. They knew I’d have to give it to them if they asked for groundwork and not riding So the ponies got out for the second time that day. I met a nice family at the bbq and we now have another set of twins in the program (fun!). But, the best part of the evening had to be Dorthy’s horse shoe cake with the cute bay pony lounging on it. Not longeing, but lounging (hanging out), mind you I never noticed how closely related those words are. Anyway, it was hilarious when ten-year-old Maddie ran up to ask me if she could have a piece of cake, even though her mom was at the party. The trainer next to me looked at me like, “Wow, you run a tight ship!” Really, Maddie just wanted me to cut it for her, lol.

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

Wednesday was a madhouse! Maddie and Zoey had a make up lesson and their nanny’s daughter, Desiree, wanted to ride. We say “yes” as often as possible, so Desiree got to join in the lesson. She rode Celeb and let me tell you, I have never seen a girl in a tutu on a pony before, but it was seriously cute. Tutus and horsehair – every little girls dream.

Celeb’s new name is Rusty. Spencer, the little girl who is buying him, renamed him and it is perfect. Celeb loves it. Rusty is a perfect fit. It’s rare to have a new name that immediately sticks, but this was one of them! Doesn’t he just look like a Rusty?

Rusty was unbelievably good with Desiree. Desiree is 8 and has only ever ridden a horse 3 times before in her whole life. She took one riding lesson with us last summer and has had a few ground lessons, but mostly just watches while Maddie and Zoey ride. Desiree is normally quite timid, but that’s an 8 year old girl thing. We’ve found girls feel really mortal, so we are careful not to push kids at that age in particular. Instead, we let them watch and observe, and then, poof, out of no where, they jump on and ride like they’ve been riding the whole time. We have started telling our students who are not sure they want to ride, “I will teach you if you get on and start to walk, but you have to get on on your own,” so that we’re not in between them and the horse. It’s amazing because when they are no longer afraid, they just get on and go. Desiree didn’t even use a mounting block – jumped up on Rusty herself. She had watched Maddie and Zoey enough to know how to steer and, of course, when there is no fear in the way, ponies do just what they’re told. Desiree rode all around the arena, getting on and off a few times on her own experimentally, and walked over the poles like a pro. All the while, bareback in a tutu Can you believe we’ve only had Rusty for four weeks?

The arena was packed the whole time and you couldn’t hear yourself think over the sound of little girls giggling, lol. Maddie asked me how to know if she was in the right position over a jump. I told her stick her arms straight out to the side and if you can do that, then you’re in the right position. Maddie started out with one arm and eventually progressed to two arms. It was awesome! She could drop her reins right before the jump, then let her hip angle close and allow her body to naturally assume two-point in the air. Very cool!

Chloe tried it next, riding Thistle. Chloe worked on having her hand behind her back instead of out to the side, which helps exaggerate the closing of the hip angle. You can see her working on it in the photos. Wacky hand positions is my new favorite way to teach jumping. We are, after all, all about letting the body find the position naturally. This way, I don’t have to say much about closing the hip angle or letting the hips drop back – I just set it up and let them find it, same as with a horse

Zoey worked on her confidence with Wallie. She trotted around in her Western saddle and cruised over some poles and small jumps. Wallie is getting a new saddle pad soon, which will look very cute with Zoey’s breeches and helmet.

Katlyn had her third lesson on Sarah. She’s trotting in the treeless English/Western hybrid and riding some off the longe at a walk. She and Sarah get along great. Sarah was particularly worked up because Gina had Penny Lane out for a walk and Sienna, who has adopted her, was quite frantic about where “baby” was. So, for their warm-up on the ground, I had Katlyn circle Sarah from one end of the arena to the other so she would learn how to travel with her. It was tough, but they made it!

I think that was about it…plus Les and I riding Koa and Ilo. Did I mention I took these photos from Ilo’s back? It was a long day!