Photo by Nicole Handley

In Bend, we have “early release” Wednesdays. Kids get out of school 1-2 hours early. Our intermediate and advanced students take group lessons on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We have been trying to do a show on Saturday for a couple weeks now, but the weather was never good enough. So, I promised the kids the first sunny Wednesday or Saturday, we would have our show. It was sunny yesterday, though a bit cold – around 45 dropping to mid 30′s by the time we left. Still, that was good enough for us!

As the kids are getting a little older, it’s been hard to know what to have them wear. Do we try to create a natural horsemanship show attire of our own? Do we dress Western or English? It’s kind of confusing when your horses are in English saddles and bosals, or in a treeless saddle and a bitless bridle. We want something that looks classy and makes the kids feel like the show is important and for the parents to take the shows seriously. I feel like wearing a hunt coat for shows helped me feel confident dressing up for job interviews as a teen and young adult, so for now, we’re going with hunt coats and breeches.

Since we only had a little over an hour and a half, we did 5 classes – Liberty/Online (where the kids were judged on their ability to warm their horses up on the ground), walk/trot pleasure, walk/trot equitation, walk/trot/canter pleasure, and walk/trot/canter equitation. This was actually our first show offering a walk/trot/canter rail class. It’s way more than people realize to ask kids and ponies to canter on the rail in a group. They have to maintain their spacing, keep the horse going at a reasonable pace without breaking gait, and reassure the horse that just because everyone is cantering doesn’t mean there is something to be scared of.

I really liked having the show be after school because it kept it short and sweet, which meant it was less tiring for us, and more like half again as hard as regular lessons rather than 4 times as hard.  I think the shorter schedule and the fact that the show fit almost right into a regular lesson slot reduced some of the kid’s anxiety. Coming from school, they came from a bustling social atmosphere, into a bustling social atmosphere, rather going from home to the show. They didn’t have much time to worry about getting ready, which meant they had less opportunity to work themselves and the horses up. All in all, I think it made a lot of sense.

We usually play music at our shows, but we didn’t have time to set up the PA system, so we went without. I missed the music. I think it is easier for the kids to stay focused with the music and helps keep the horses moving. Horse shows are all about hurry-up-and-wait and it is hard for the horses to go from standing around to riding in a class, then back to standing around, then back to riding.

For Hannah and Linnea, this was their first show doing a rail class. Last year they were still on the longe. This was Gillian’s first show ever. The kids did a good job on their spacing. That’s probably been the hardest thing to teach. I had to really ask myself, what do I look for when I try to find a new spot on the rail? How do I know how much time it is going to take me to get from where am I to where I want to go? Is the spot still going to be open by the time I get there? What if it’s not? Where do I go then? Passing is a hard thing to teach. Sometime I’d like to do a study to see if horseback riders are in few car crashes than normal drivers. I bet they are because we have to be good at judging distances and being aware of our surroundings.

Something that is kind of cool is that almost all the advanced kids have taught themselves to braid tails, and a few of the parents, also. That all came from me teaching Maddie and the other kids picking up on it seeing her do it. Braiding tails is kind of a “high barrier of entry” activity. It takes about 10-15 minutes to do, you have to stand directly where you could get kicked, and it’s easy to mess it up. Despite being challenging, it is a really good skill to have, especially if you want to french braid your daughter’s hair one day Horse tails are much easier to learn on. Plus it makes the horses look so much more put together.

This was the first show we clipped up the ponies. Emma and Morgan, who are now 14 and 15, did Thistle and Ilo. Ilo is really interesting because she’s the only horse we have who truly loves to be groomed. Most horses put up with it. Ilo likes looking clean. I had never introduced her to clippers, and she clipped perfectly for me and for Morgan. It was pretty amazing. She’s such a girly horse! Thistle used to be terrible about clipping, but clicker training was really effective for her, especially because we had her stand tied and watch Ilo get treats first. That got her motivated. She was actually great for Emma and Morgan to clip. It’s funny, but clipping is another surprisingly challenging thing for a horse to do. To clip under the chin, the horse has to stand well with the halter just around her neck. It’s pretty amazing that they can learn to stand and be clipped when they could easily just leave. Something I’ved noticed about clipping – most horses are either ok with their legs or with their face. If one doesn’t work, try the other and work your way from end to end. Usually by the time you finish with one end, they’re ready to get started on the more troublesome area. I thought it was good experience for the kids and ponies to know how to clip, plus it made us all feel a little more like spring was coming, even though we all know that in Bend it isn’t Spring until June.

Recently I was reading about Native American scouts in the army. Apparently they could pass all kinds of amazing tests. For example, they might be asked to sleep in the woods, and the scouts would somehow always wake if there was a person sneaking up. However, when they got their military hair cuts, they could no longer perform as well. I’ve found that our ponies with the most mane are the most sensitive, especially auditorily. I’ve been playing with braiding their manes and seeing how it affects them. They are more sensitive when it is loose. Clipping their muzzles seems to be good for making them calmer also. It makes sense to me. It must be hard to be pet on the muzzle all the time when someone touches your whiskers first. With our horses that need to be a little more sensitive, I’ve been leaving them Mountain and Moorland style/hippie pony style – all unclipped. Just one more tool for making our interactions with horses a little less complicated.

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…”

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!

Kali+Les Wedding Film from Kyle Stott on Vimeo.

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!!!!!

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!

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.

Today we almost didn’t get to have a lesson! Here was the barn owner’s message to us at 10am:

Hi all,
The air right now is positively brown with sand. Don’t come out here unless you call me first. Maybe later it might be better. We just hit the highest winds ever since we’ve lived here. Everything is blowing around, the horses are hunkered down behind, in and around the sheds. You can barely walk around. I don’t really want any body in the arena or the barn. Although knock on wood everything is still standing. Kali, if any of the kids are planning to be out here today, Monday, please call them.

Call me later if you are thinking of coming out. It might calm down. I HOPE.

Take care,
K

When we called Karen at 3pm, she said it was down to 20mph winds, with gusts up to 40, so the lesson was back on! It was Lauren, Taylor, Morgan, and Katelynn’s first official arena lesson with us. The horse’s were AMAZING despite the very trying weather.

Today’s lesson was all about synchrony. Synchronization exercises create equality between horse and human, help you learn about each other’s motivations and goals, teach you to read each other’s body language, and create connection. When all those elements align, you are in synch with your horse and, with any luck, with the world at large!

Lauren (10), worked with Thistle. Thistle is brand new to the idea of yielding to pressure. Lauren showed awesome persistence and ability to change her technique in the moment to help the horse understand. She was very willing to just come up with her own ideas for what she thought would help and try it out. It was cool to see. Lauren did lots of Friendly Game and The Whippings to help Thistle quiet down when she first entered the rattling arena. Then she learned the rest of the Parelli games and did more Friendly Game with the ribbons and ball. The last part of the lesson, she did a seatwork lesson on the longe. It was her first time in an English saddle. She was very enthusiastic and would repeat a motion if she didn’t think she did it as well as she could, even though I told her to do them just one time. She’s very self-motivated.

Morgan and Katelynn are 13 year old twins who got their first introduction to horses with us while we were working at the rescue. It’s been about a year since we last saw them. The twins oddly enough, ended up with horses who are as similar and different as they are – Quick Draw and Sarah – both white Arab crosses, but very different horsenalities. After warming the horses up on the ground, Morgan did a lesson with Gina and Katelynn did a lesson with me.

Gina had Morgan doing seatwork on the longe. Morgan’s balance got way better in just this short lesson. All our seatwork is done without stirrups so that the rider’s posture can evolve naturally. We make a point of not coaching the rider’s position. We choose whichever seatwork exercise will help the balance problem we see and good posture develops naturally. When I was growing up, trainers made us ride with sticks threaded through our elbows and behind our back so that the lower back would arch and the shoulders would come back. Today like-minded trainers buy a special vest that has the same effect. Such silliness. Seatwork exercises do wonders for a rider’s seat and confidence.

Les worked with Lauren’s sister, Taylor (13) on seatwork on the longe at the same time as Morgan was riding. Taylor did the same seatwork exercises riding Blondie. Did I mention we started Thistle, Blondie, and Sarah ourselves? Blondie is a coming 4-year-old and has had all her training with us. She’s virtually bomproof and an absolutely amazing teacher. She gives everything to a complete newbie, responding to the most convoluted cues, tests the cocky advanced beginners, and really goes the extra mile for kids who truly want to learn. This palomino mare is worth her weight in gold. Sarah is the same way, and we only started her in January.

After her seatwork lesson, Les tagged Taylor to help her learn how to steer. They worked on lifting up the reins and sliding down one side, opening the rein up to show the horse’s eyes where to go.

At first I tried having Katelynn do a little cantering on Quick Draw on the longe, but he wasn’t feeling it today. So, we switched to learning about lateral movements. I let Katelynn feel shoulder-in as I cued Q from the ground, then showed her how to use her aids to ask for it. All our lateral movement comes off one rein only  – no confusing things with 10 million cues. Quick Draw has amazing lateral movement, so learning shoulder-in was a breeze. Net we did a little half-pass, which is much harder for a rider to feel. In shoulder-in, the horse’s nose is bent away from the direction of travel. In half-pass, the horse’s nose is bent in the direction of travel. Katelnn and Q both did an awesome job. Katelynn is light enough to allow Q to do the movement and patient, calm, and cheerful enough to work through confusion. She seems never to get frustrated, and that is a cool quality in a student!

Gina played with her mini both before and after the lesson. Looks like she’s naming the little one Penny Lane

All in all – a great lesson. Very fun and rewarding.