An animated film Kali made on XtraNormal.com 
Cute characters, funny but informative, and irresistibly goofy.
PonyPros are kids, and kids at heart, who are pony professionals – youthful horse whispers who train ponies (and ponies at heart!) to jump, trail ride, and do fun tricks like laying down, rearing, and waving.
Today Les and I took Emma, Katelynn, and Morgan on a long trail ride at Tumalo Reservoir. We started and finished with a deep water crossing – halfway up little BlueMan’s back! And we got to picnic half way. The ponies munched on bunch grass and tried to convince us that tortilla chips and oranges were really delicious and acceptable pony food. We did a little trotting and a little jumping, one steep hill down and one steep hill up. No one fell off, though two ponies did lay down with riders when they spotted some particularly nice sand. Oh ponies… Always good for a laugh 
All 3 girls are age 13. Emma has been in horses for about 8 months. Morgan and Katelynn have been in horses for about 2 years but have only been riding for 6 months.
Emma rode Sam. This was Sam’s 3rd ever haul out trail ride and first one with a youth rider. He surprised us by being very calm, and almost poky! Sam is Kali’s trick pony and is usually pretty up. Kali recently paired Emma with Sam so Emma would put her creative, athletic energy to good use instead of daydreaming and cowboying
Katelynn rode QuickDraw. This was Q’s second ever haul out trail ride and first one with a youth. It is a miracle that Q is now feeling better. He has severe back problems and and was unrideable for the last year. It is thanks to Katelynn’s work and Les’ trimming that Q was able to come on this trip. He kepts us all entertained with ridiculous shenanigans revolving around his trying to keep his girlfriends, Ilo and Koa, away from Sam. He is a big goof.
Morgan rode BlueMan. This was Blue’s first ever haul-out trail ride and his 5th trail ride total! Blue was a superstar. He did well just about anywhere in the group, but took the lead when we were trotting. He has that Welsh cart trot where he can really move. Nice to get out and give him somewhere to go!
Emma said this adventure was more fun than spotlighting at the Parelli tour stop. Katelynn and Morgan said it was close, but maybe not quite as good. We’re all in agreement – it was fun!
Featuring…
July 4th PonyPros took Blue Man, Thistle, Ziggy, Peanut, and Wallie to the Bend Pet Parade. It was a HUGE event with people packed in 12 feet deep on every street. There was a skateboarder being pulled by a Pit Bull at mach 10, a Dachshund in a harness floating through the air with balloons, a man playing military calls on a bugle while reeling about on a horse and waving an umbrella, a guy on a recumbent bicycle with dogs on either side wearing harnesses to propel the bike, not to mention the usual people on stilts, mini ponies pulling carts, wild children, barking dogs, flags, banners, weird hats, etc. The ponies did great, even though more than one renegade tiny girl ran out from the spectating area unbidden, hustling up to stroke ponies!
Featuring…
Trail RideAfter Spring’s terrible weather, we’re anxious to get out on the trails and migrate this summer! Les and I took Maddie, Emma, and Zoey out on a trail ride across the street from the ranch. Fortunately we are right across from the Badlands Wilderness, which includes an expansive 29,261 acres. We’ve been riding on a new trail with an awesome hill. It’s very hard to find hills in our area! This one has a nice, wide forest-service type road, which is great for the kids and dogs. Maddie and I have been going out and practicing trotting duration and it was cool to see that Peanut could come back and do a mellow walk with the group without issues. Wallie is still a little nervous out on the trails, and Zoey, being 8, tends to forget everything as soon as the pony’s life comes up while riding, so Zoey showed good thinking and chose to walk Wallie instead of riding him. Maddie and I each rode Wallie for awhile, just to help him learn the ropes, and he made a little progress. It’s interesting because Wallie tends to be more consistent at shows and Peanut tends to be more consistent on trails. Peanut is LBE with RBE tendencies and Wallie is LBI with RBI tendencies. I’m sure there is something to that but haven’t quite figured it out.
Thistle led the way on the way out. She made her way to the front, even passing Koa and Ilo, who would logically be above her in the herd. Thistle’s uncontested path to the front of the band interested me in terms of alpha leader theory. Presently there are a lot of articles circulating the dog potentially debunking alpha leader theory. The argument is that individual animals display “agonistic behavior” when it comes to their most prized resource, referred to as “subjective resource value.” Herds and packs may not have “overall hierarchies” as originally thought, but instead have different pecking orders when it comes to different resources like shade, food, and water. I have noticed that individual horses also seem to value certain resources differently than others in the herd might.
So, Thistle led the way out, and interestingly, also wanted to lead the way back. To help her settle in, I took the opportunity to do a lesson with the kids on the varying degrees of flexion. I had the kids practice using a suspension rein to put the pony’s weight on her haunches, then yield the sidebody to create a turn on the center (this is a good video to explain the movement, but we were doing it with vaquero style reining as we are riding with rope halters). The kids are finally starting to get how to use their hands this way. It’s hard, but will ultimately give the kids the ability to take a very slight flexion to regain the horse’s attention, versus disengaging the hindquarters completely and starting over. Being able to take a slight flexion and release immediately builds a finer degree of communication and will help kids and ponies stay connected in distracting environments. If anyone knows of a good resource for vaquero bosal riding, let me know. I’m collecting information about it!
Penny’s First BathGina prepared Penny for her first bath by doing lots of clicker work with the hose. Penny, being a very confident little mare, went from truly being very scared of the hose to pretending to be very scared of the hose for her own enjoyment, almost imperceptibly! After about her 3 clicker sessions with Gina, Penny was ready to just go for it. Gina hadn’t been exposed to much pressure and release training in the past, but bathing Penny made for a really interesting example. When I turned the hose on, Penny reared and struck at the spray with her forelegs. She tossed her head and stomped her feet a little, and definitely created some commotion, but she didn’t behave like what one would normally expect from a frightened prey animal. Had Penny been really scared, she would likely have displayed the typical flight-mode maneuver – running over the top of the human (ie., bunching up with the herd), then flying around in a circle when the human fails to let go of the rope. Instead, Penny mostly retreated, but did not make any huge attempts to put the hose in the dust behind her. Because she did not hurry to run me over, I felt that Penny was present, thinking, and ready to learn. I put my thumb on the hose and Penny reeled backward. I sprayed until she leaned ever so slightly forward, then immediately released the spray. Though she could have chosen to stand still because the aversive disappeared, she danced because her energy was up, so I aimed the spray at her chest and continued on. She reeled backwards, I let the rope slide but kept her with me, and when she leaned forward, the spray stopped. In about 5 minutes, Penny was standing quietly letting me spray her all over. She even rubbed her face in the spray a little, which is the start of most of her playful behaviors. She loves to toss her mane and shake her head!
There is a time and a place for pressure and release as a teaching tool. To know when to use it, you just have to remember to ask yourself what the horse is motivated by – safety, comfort, food, or play. Penny is mostly motivated by play. She gets bored easily and loves to have an audience. However, because she is a baby and because she is a horse, her first instinct is often to be afraid. Given that, Gina did a great job making Penny feel safe by getting her used to the hose slowly with clicker, comfortable by getting Penny confident in her environment and in the mode of teaching, and created Penny’s motivation through the use of food. As it follows, the last necessity for her learning was to turn bathing into a game. By spraying Penny with the hose until she came forward slightly and stopped pulling away, I gave Penny an opportunity to win the game. Of course the human’s intention is paramount in this type of training, and every other. Energy is everything to horses and I took care to maintain a playful expression and demeanor while getting Penny used to the water.
My choice to use pressure and release with Penny’s bathing training was reinforced by the fact that when we turned her loose in the round pen to roll, she bucked and romped and pranced all over the place, buzzing by us like Tom Cruise with air traffic control in Top Gun. If Penny had been really disturbed by the bathing, she would have run round and around the round pen with her nose looking out. Instead, she kept trying to engage us for play
Les’ Fabric PaintingsLes painted these about 3 years ago when we were at grad school in Colorado. They are made from fabric from thrift stores and painted with discarded house paint. The images are all of horses. My favorite one isn’t shown here. It’s a beautiful corduroy horse, a lot like the horse from the Science of Sleep. We have to pick that one up from the book store where it was hanging. It’s about 5ft square and really great!
Kira and GideonKira and Gideon came for their second lesson. Their mom has trained over 40 BLM Mustangs, most from failed adoptions. Marietta is an amazing trainer. We had her judge the outdoor trail course at our Play With Purpose shows and she taught the kids so much. She also did a bridleless flag carrying presentation to open both shows. If you haven’t seen it, watch it now! Back to Kira and Gideon – they remembered most of the 7 games from their first lesson. Both are working with horses at are a little challenging, as all Marietta’s animals are rescues. For their first lesson, we learned the first 3 games and learned about sending. I set a bunch of obstacles up as squeezes by the rail. They sent the horse next to the rail, through the squeeze, and stayed on the outside. That got the horses a little further away from them. It’s a great way to get started.
I have a new trick for teaching circles – I tell the kids we are going to travel from one end of the arena to the other with the horse circling around them. I help them send the horse and then they start walking. All they have to do is keep walking and move the stick when the horse stops. Sure enough, the kids learn Travel Together very quickly. Since learning to play with flow is such a challenge, this is a good way to get started moving with the horse straight away and reduce the whole “stand around looking confused” phase. Travel Together is essential to making ground play fun.
Kali and IloIlo and I have been working on suppling. Ilo is a very muscle bound little mare. She’s a stocky Mustang from the WY BLM. I’ve been using the suspension rein technique I mentioned earlier in this post to activate her hind quarters, plus using Linda Tellington-Jones idea for an impulsion rope behind, some stretches to open her hips, and volte’s while longeing. The idea behind the volte, in our case, is to make the smallest circle the horse can make while staying united. This article is kind of similar. Things are working awesome and Ilo is calmer, more synchronized, and more flexible!
Simone and ThistleGina gave 6 year old Simone her second lesson. Simone started out doing Stick Together to synchronize with Blue Man but we were moving the ponies to a new pasture outside and their prancing got Blue fired up. After switching to Thistle, Simone did seatwork on the longe and a tiny bit of trotting on the longe. Bareback, of course, since that’s how we start the kids out. I got some adorable pictures of Gina, Thistle, and Simone. It just so happened the girls all matched today, right down to Simone’s white boots with pink toes.
Elijah and ThistleLucky Thistle did 3 lessons in a row Friday. First she helped Alicia, a 5 year old with sensory processing difficulties, then little Simone, then Elijah. Five year old Elijah was in from out of town. His grandma is pony-shopping for him. Elijah had only ever ridden a little mini at the fair so this was his first real lesson. Les taught Elijah the basics of Friendly and Porcupine and they played with a ball and stomped in mud puddles. Thistle is the most amazing pony with little kids. Elijah’s grandma said she couldn’t believe how calm all our ponies are (yay!). Elijah was too nervous to ride, so Les had Elijah tag him for the pieces of mounting up on Thistle, then for little tasks while riding. It must have worked because when Gina taught Elijah’s lesson today, he was on and off riding 3 times and begged for more.
Anna and SargentoI’ve been working with Anna and her Lusitano, Sargento. Sargento is a huge horse. He’s only about 15h but is built like a Percheron. I’ve been helping Anna to get Sargento’s weight on his hindquarters and limber him up. We’re working on piaffe and taking levade when Sargento offers it. You can see he’s showing good elevation in his canter, now. He’s really heavy and out of balance but he’s Anna’s primary riding horse so we’re just doing whatever we can to get him put together more so she can keep going with him. It’s been cool to work with a Lusitano. He’s a different sort of horse. Very smart but gets very nervous and emotional.
So, we’ve had a busy few days for just getting back from Alaska Tuesday evening! Next stop – Bend Pet Parade. Wish us luck!
The PonyPros tell you how to develop communication and relationship with your pony using the terrain of your natural environment. Great video for kids and pony-lovers!
Photos from our awesome field trip to work with youngstock at Evans Welsh. We took 2 coaches, 3 moms, 9 girls ages 8-13, and colt started 11 ponies and did halter training with 7 yearlings.
Featuring Penny learning to rear, Ilo practicing her sit, Blue’s first real ride, and Emma riding Cinnamon
Initially I had Blue out just for for an easy day. However, when we came into the arena, he acted very spooky about the stick and string. Silly man. He’s normally very good with it. So, I did the whippings and got him thinking. Then Kae, one of our 12 year old students, needed more info on how to play Hippity Hop, where you lay on the horse’s back. Since I was working with Blue, I asked him to demonstrate, since he’s usually very good. Blue spun around, protesting like he was scared, then nipped at my side. Aha! One big hint that he was actually feigning fear because he was so bored that he had to make up things to entertain himself!
When a horse nips at my side when I’m jumping next to him, it’s usually time to do the first ride. The nipping is an indication that they’re confident enough in their relationship with me that they feel they can express their opinion about things and I won’t eat them alive. Generally nipping is an indication that the horse feels he holds the cards and that the ball is in his court. So, riding will only take their confidence down to a normal level, rather than making them into a scared prey animal.
So, having been nipped at by Blue, a light went on. Mount up. So, I yielded his forehand a few times to make the point that he was not to nose me while I was getting up, and then hopped up and sat on him bareback. Blue took a big sigh and appeared glad something new and interesting was happening (I love ponies, lol). I called Gina over since Blue was supposed to be her first PonyPros colt. I passed Blue off to Gina telling her to open a rein to give him somewhere to go and ignore him when he backed up.
Of course Blue felt the open rein and backed up several times. That’s what colts do. But Gina was patient and persistent, and soon he walked forward like an old pro. They rode about 15-20 min bareback and called it a day.
The next day Gina warmed Blue up with the 7 games, rode him bareback for about 5 minutes, then longed him in the saddle (something he’s familiar with), and then rode him for about 15 min in tack. Blue was amazing, riding all around the arena with kids and ponies every which way. Fortunately Blue tends to get worked with on the craziest days, so he’s very comfortable with a full arena. He got a little gate sour, but even with 3 new visitors standing there watching, I was proud of the job Gina and Blue Man did together.
So many new things today…
I worked with Ilo on her sit. Something we haven’t done in a long time. I pushed the beanbag up to a barrel and had her leaning back on it. Ilo knows “target back” (where she backs up into a hand signal), so I transferred the hand signal onto the beanbag, using it as the target. Once Ilo could rate on the beanbag backwards, she started backing right into it and would offer leaning back with just a little porcupine or driving at less than 4 ounces. I was so proud of her! It was great to see her lowering her haunches with confidence. The beanbag, of course, is sized for 12h ponies, so I couldn’t have her truly try to sit, but we’ll try it again with a hay bale one of these days. The cool part is she has the idea and is stoked on it!
The other thing Ilo and I worked on is her piaffe. It’s really not a piaffe at this stage – I’m just teaching her better proprioception. I wanted to teach her to lift her hind leg straight under her body with confidence. It’s usually hard for horses not to lift it out to the side. So, I transferred the gentle squeeze of the tendon that I use for hoof picking to a light touch on the hind leg, and then transferred that to reaching for a pool noodle under her belly. When I touch the pool noodle to her hoof, she follows the noodle up into an nice expression of movement with the hind leg. Most horses reach for the noodle. Ilo follows it. Her way is always so unique Anyway, I’m SO excited about what it has done for her confidence and balance. Just a couple short sessions of this and her hind end has really improved. I she’s happier, too, with her increased flexibility, balance, and awareness. Who wouldn’t be?
Then there was Penny learning to rear. What a riot. Gina had been asking me about rearing since Sam and Q are both trained to do levade and pirouettes. Penny showed the same propensity as QuickDraw and when asked to go sideways, wanted to place her hind feet and lift up. Cool. That could be problematic, but only if you let it be So, after observing Penny’s propensity, Gina and I decided to capture it and transfer it onto a pool noodle.
Thankfully Penny had just learned leg targeting earlier that day, so all we had to do was place the pool noodle in the right position, tease Penny a little, and click and treat when she offered a rear. That little one has amazing balance. She could got into a pesade and pump her legs in unison 3 times rapidly like a little ninja! Most horses have to develop the balance. For Penny, it was easy. She never wobbled or had sloppy forelegs. She kept them in tight except for the time striking at the noodle She even took a few steps on her hind. How wild! We got several pictures of Penny with her pool noodle. We used one that is hot pink and matches her halter, just to be extra ridiculous
Later I remarked to one of the moms that Penny was going to have to learn to do some useful things too and Paula happily stated that she couldn’t be more useful if she tried – “She’s really a pet, after all. Entertaining is her job and she’s really good at it!” Paula is right. Penny is still focusing on the 7 games and lots of groundwork, but we couldn’t miss out on this great opportunity. Plus, just earlier that day, we’d spent an hour clipping her up, and she was a perfect angel. What other 9 month old pony with only 1 month of training would stand untied for an hour to have her face and neck shaved, never having been clipped before? Penny’s just a superstar, thanks to clicker, Parelli, and some awesome breeding.
At the end of the day Emma rode Cinnamon walk/trot for a few minutes in the saddle. Emma was super distracted, some CinCin was pretty lazy for her. That said, I’m happy to see a 3 year old pony opting for lazy instead of hot when paired with a new young rider! CinCin is so handsome that it was easy to capture a couple nice trotting pics.
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.
Video of our spotlight at the tour stop: