Horsin' Around - Jan. 9th Edition!

As Donna posted, the New Year got off to a *great* start.  I certainly hope the Wilsons and Downers have found their new annual tradition!  The pace really hasn't slowed down here much since.  Some "food for thought" for my fellow breeders and owners who are overwhelmed by herd numbers.  This past fall I opened my barn up to knowledgeable horse people.  The long and short of it is they can ride my broke Curlies to their hearts' content free of charge but they must spend equal time with my greener and young stock.  So far I have 4 people coming out on a regular basis and it is working out very well.   The most amazing thing is the horses and handlers seem to have "chosen" each other.  Each rider has their own mount and a young horse they are spending time with.  The bonus is that I am out there with them so in a given week each of my 14 horses has been handled/work, sometimes twice.  No small achievement considering I work full time and on my own am lucky to work 6 in a week.


*DCC Wyoming Gold


Donna and I did a thorough job of tearing up the ground in the round pen so the snow we've received has been very welcomed.   The footing is now excellent!  Yesterday was a busy day.  Tanya, one of the riders, was out for her Sunday session.  She has chosen *Moon and they are working very well together.  While Tanya and *Moon were doing their thing, I took the opportunity to bring *Gold out.  *Gold is a coming 15 year old broodmare who was my very best trail horse when we lived in Virginia.  She's been with us since 2002 and, except for maybe 4 rides has been a broodmare only since 2005.  She is not expecting this year so I am putting her back into the riding string.  This mare never ceases to amaze me.  She is the boss mare of the herd and exercises her authority ruthlessly but once she is away from the herd she is for the lack of a better description, the consumate professional.

I groomed her as best as I could, tacked her up and brought her to the round pen.  She is horribly out of shape (I suppose bearing 9 babies will do that to a woman!) but she responded to every request.  It was a very basic session of giving to pressure, moving out at a specific direction and speed and full body desensitization but it was certainly enough for the first session in 2 years.  I need to build up her muscle again but there is no reason we won't be participating in competitive and judged trail this year!!  More to follow!