Events

Mondays
Jumping Fun Classes at Canterbrooke, (Ames)

Tuesdays
Riding Communication Classes at The Paddock (Truro) .

May 8-9
Clinic at Catalpa Corner

April 10 and 11
Clinic at Catalpa Corner.

June 4-6
Clinic and Schooling Show Catalpa Corner
(Iowa City)

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Waiver form

"Only way that horses will win is to sit there and spend time with them. Show 'em that you're trying to help 'em. Love 'em. Talk to 'em. Get to know 'em. Now that's what you gotta do. You love 'em and they'll love you, too. People might call me crazy, but that's the way it is."

-Eddie Sweat, groom for Riva Ridge and Secretariat

6/23-24/07 Buck Davidson clinic with Jay on board. The showjumping day started out a little tight, but everything came together quickly and she was very good and learned some things when going through the 5 obstacle one strides. Sunday's xc started out a little tight too, with one refusal, but she figured that out too, and by the end of teh day was doing excellently, including the training one stride drop into water.

6/21/07 Dressage school and then hack around the pasture. Very good.

6/19/07 Schooled outside and let her stretch her legs in a little gallop. Some work on staying ahead of the leg. She did very well.

6/18/07 Schooled at Longview. Started out a little behind the leg, but with reminder, got her courage up. Went well for Nancy. Fun day. Traveled home without incident.

6/14/07 Two mile trail ride. We discussed who gets to decide what is scary. Went fine.

6/12/07 Hauled over to a local schooling course and had a school. She was behind my leg and looky for the first part of the school, but figured out that forward was the easy way pretty quickly. She wants to rush or get behind the leg by turns. By the end she was jumping over a log into water and jumping all sorts of stuff pretty well.

6/11/07 Worked in the indoor on softening and staying with me mentally. She was doing very well in walk, trot and canter and then had a big shy going by the door when she saw the new sandpile on the other side. Had a discussion about who decides about going forward. Came to an agreement.

6/7/07 Tarp desensitization day. I brought it out and got her used to it. By the end of the day she was wearing it and walking on it, crunchy sounds and all. Then did in hand work. Very good.

6/6/07 Thunderstorm developing outside so worked in the indoor. She was shying at the door so we discussed that. Then did some trot and canter work, focusing on her being even between the reins. Went well.

6/5/07 Worked in the indoor in hand which went quite well. Then got on and did a hack and worked on scary things for instance the hay bales, the bleachers, the jumps. Worked on her being EXACTLY where her rider said she should be, i.e. no popping out of shoulder or skirting by things. It was a lot of work, but went well. Then a mile hack around the property, with forward, forward, forward.

5/31/07 Warmed up with in hand work which gets better all the time. Becoming a bit more free in her shoulder and neck. Then worked in the arena with some very nice canter work. Then out for a hack, focusing on her keeping her neck down and focus on me and not going out mentally and looking for things to spook at. She did very well at it. Then we went past the bleachers by the team penning ring (yes, we are in Iowa!) and shied at them. So we had a session about that. I asked her to stand next to it and she did, but then decided to jump away from it. In doing so, she pushed off the bleachers which made a loud noise which scared her more. So spent the next 20 minutes with her standing next to the bleachers with me making it make noise by touching it with my foot until she was non-reactive to that. Then we walked by the round bales and when she thought she might push back from them I sent her forward and she went. Then I asked her to walk through a narrow passageway between two bales, which she did, but when my foot brushed against the bale she over-reacted to the sound and did a mini bolt. My mission is to get her out and expose her to whatever I can to help her get used to all of it. She needs help with desensitization. Tomorrow I am buying her a tarp to walk on...

5/30/07 Did much better during in hand work today. Starting to soften in her neck and come through. Wonderful. Under saddle she managed to spin twice by the door when something caught her eye. I responded by flexing her firmly to the direction of the spin and then waiting for her to relax in her neck, which she did. Canter work was improved, with her coming a little more up in her shoulders and even between the reins. Good progress.

5/29/07 In hand work. She is very stuck in her shoulders, especially to the right. Did some things to help her with that. Horses who are stuck in their feet or shoulders tend to panic early because they need the extra time to maneuver. This may seem unrelated to the problem at hand, but I find it is a big factor for horses.

5/25/07 Trail ride with another horse. She did very well for the first mile. Then we came across SCARY THINGS and she demonstrated for me what you described. She stops going forward and wants to spin over her shoulder. When I put my leg on to send her forward, I rec'd an inadequate response. We had a discussion concerning the proper response to leg aids and who is the "decider" (thank you Geo. Bush) regarding where her body goes and does not go. She came through it just fine. Now I have a very good handle on the additional fundamental work needs to be done to help address this issue.

5/23/07 In hand work which was resistant at first. Once it got through to softness, I went on to some flag desnsitization work, tacked up and got on. We did a lot of transition work and had long discussions about who is in charge of her attention and just exactly where her body goes. She is a smart kind mare and figures things out quickly.

5/21/07 In hand work incorporating a flag which she thought was pretty scary at first, but she figured it out pretty quickly. Very good. Then work in the tack on suppling and keeping her focus on me. Coming along.

5/19/07 In hand work went well so on to under tack. Continuing discussion regarding focus. Over-reacted to an item blowing in the wind and clicking outside the arena door. Will do some desensitizing work coming up.

5/18/07 In hand work which went very well, then tacked up and rode. She has good alacrity, but a short attention span. She is pretty sure that she is the "Decider" about where her attention and her body should be. Much discussion concerning proper response to rein and leg aids and dropping out over right shoulder. She had another paradigm shift, and did very well.

5/16/07 More work in hand. She maintained what she learned on Monday and moved on to some new items today. Smart mare.

5/14/07 Did some in hand work in the pasture and arena. We discussed where she should be focusing, and who is the "decider" and who is the "doer". It was a firm, but kind paradigm shift for Miss Suzie and there's more work to be done, but I didn't want to comletely rock her world on day one. She did very well. She's a beautiful, kind mare.

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