June 26, 2008
Progress is going slowly but well with Jasper and long lining. This video clip is from 2 weeks ago. We moved up to long lining him in the bridle with a bit and one line attached. In this clip we’re giving him the time to figure out what we want (to turn). Eventually, he figured it out!
Seriously Jasper, it was 45 minutes,! Mentally, it’s a lot for him, though and that’s why we’re taking it slow.
June 10, 2008
Sorry folks, I didn’t end up going to the Expo so I have no stories or clinicians to report on. Head on over to Nuzzling Muzzles as she has pics and stories from her visit.
I realized I had an enormous amount of work to do. What am I working on ? Well, I would love to tell you and I eventually will announce what it is when I get closer to launching. Let’s just say it’s horse related and I think a lot of you will be interested in it. I’ve been putting my heart and soul and a lot of hours into getting it just right and I’m really excited about it!
I’ve also started riding again and – I’ve noticed that things are jiggling that didn’t jiggle so much before! I’m a little horrified because I work so hard on keeping in shape. I decided that I needed to work on that rather than sitting and watching clinicians probably eating stuff that would make me jigglly -er. So I also chose to mountain bike all weekend.
Went out to see Jasper today and my husband tagged along. It was a cooker today – 93 degrees and very little breeze. Jasper was noticeably sticky so we gave him a nice cold bath and let him graze on grass while he dried out. It was too hot to work!
June 3, 2008
The Western States Horse Expo starts this Friday until Sunday. Although I am a little disappointed in this years lineup (or lack thereof), I am looking forward to seeing some of the clinicians:
Another horse blogger, Tracey at Mustang Diaries, is entered in the Mustang Challenge. She has been training a wild mustang for 3 months and now her and the other competitors have to show their mustangs in various in-hand and ridden work. John Lyons is going to be doing the judging Saturday night. All of these mustangs then go up for auction to the highest bidder ( I must not buy another horse, I must not buy another horse).
Lets all wish her luck! I sure admire her guts….
David Lichman, a 5 star Parelli instructor – which makes him next to God -er, I mean Pat’s level – is working with gaited horses at the show and working with them naturally. I saw him briefly last year and he does some amazing stuff with horses at liberty. But cmon, the mustache? Do you have to LOOK like Pat Parelli too??
Jane Savoie is one of the only english type riders appearing. I have all of her dvd’s but have never seen her in person. She looks like a really good clinician.
Chris Cox – now this should be interesting. On Saturday, his clinic is ‘Colt Starting a Warmblood Dressage Horse’. This is a real western cowboy type dude so I wonder what exactly he is going to be doing with this ‘dressage horse’. Hopefully not calf roping.
Johnathan Field – a Canuck (yeahhhhh!) will be doing natural horsemanship work. This is another Parelli disciple, but the Canadian version! I wonder if he uses a hockey stick instead of a carrot stick. Oh dear, I crack myself up!!
He obviously learned something from the Parellis – he has a 10 DVD set for 500 bucks….gotta love capitalism 🙂
I am bringing lots of cash and looking for bargoons. I really need a pair of zip-up dress boots. Yes, I am riding again after a 2 year hiatus! At a farm close to Jasper. I have been riding a sweet 17.2 warmblood with a trot that launches you to Mars! If I can master that, I can ride anything.
And, of course, I will be blogging about the event and each clinician I see. So if you are at the Expo, I’m the one taking notes!
Project Jasper 