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!
At long last, I have the video completed from the PonyPros Halloween Show. All the footage took 6 individual vids! I wanted to get the footage completed since we have our first show of 2011 coming up Feb 12 and one soon after on Mar 12. It’s amazing how much the kids improved since Oct. I think you’ll see a huge difference in the upcoming show footage.
I’m not sure why the footage looks low quality here on the blog, but click the YouTube icon on any video to watch on YouTube where it will look better. You can also click here to go directly to our Channel.
At the Halloween Show, kids and ponies exhibited in Liberty/Online and Finesse Freestyle. Age groups were 11 & under and 12-17. In lib/on, kids showed off their trick training and horse agility. The more advanced kids worked with their ponies in cordeos (a rope around the neck, no halter) or let their ponies be free, without a lead rope. In Fin/Free, the kids had the option of riding bareback and bitless, and many did. Kids exhibited 2-3 at a time and performed for 2 songs. It was a very fun day and the ponies looked amazing in the costumes the kids made for them! None of the costumes were purchased, all were made by the kids.
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.
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!
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!!!!!
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!
After 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 Bath
Gina 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 Paintings
Les 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 Gideon
Kira 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 Ilo
Ilo 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 Thistle
Gina 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 Thistle
Lucky 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 Sargento
I’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!
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.
