Sunday, March 16, 2014

I'm Back!!!! Welcome Spring 2014

Nice to be back for a quick post. Spring is always a time for renewal . Maybe it's time to renew the blog a bit since it's been terribly neglected.

Winter is it's usual  stubborn self this year as the spring season  slowly tries to gain momentum.  The bluebirds and Robins have returned,  giving me hope that it won't be long. The piles of snow where we had to plow or shovel,  lay like corpses,  decomposing a bit more everyday. I do hope the snowblower can be put to bed for a while and the worst of it is over.  The ground is soggy, the air is damp and the old familiar smells of spring time on a farm hit me like a wall when I step out to the horse corrals.

Ah, yes...spring.. mud, mess , shaggy horses.  As the old saying goes,  hope springs eternal.

So , a short post to say hello , get re-aquainted again, and see who , of my few followers, might remain out here in the blogosphere.

The latest and  greatest??  Well, lets see.  We  decided to get rid of the old beast  of a horse trailer we had, the all steel gooseneck stock trailer. Tom had bought it new 15 years ago and it was time. It was getting pretty rusty in places and would cost us way too much to get it fixed and repainted. We decided we wanted to go with a smaller bumper hitch trailer. We ended up getting a Circle J 3 horse.  Right about that time, our truck got hit with the horrible hail storm we had. We were looking at having it fixed but as it turned out, my brother had some interest in buying it. So, we sold that too. We replaced it a  2005 Dodge with the bigger cab, an automatic transmission and a topper. We would eventually like to get a pick up camper for it. We haven't hauled much with the new "rig" but   I am looking forward to not having to shift a Diesel pick up anymore. That got really old , especially since 90% of my hauling is around town to get to trail heads. I imagine it will take me time to get used to pulling a bumper pull.
I spent some time this winter doing more  jumping.  So much so , I finally got tired of borrowing my trainers lesson saddle that wasn't all that great of a fit for me  and  bought myself a jumping saddle. A Collegiate Connoisseur Close Contact saddle.  It's very much like the saddle I grew up riding in.  I got lucky and found a used one on E bay for a price that was within my budget. I rode twice a week all through January and then a few more times in February .I was on a roll and  finally made my goal of jumping 2'6.  It was a thrill.  The lesson horse I was riding is an amazing jumper but a complicated ride. He jumps big and he is powerful so staying with him is not always easy for me. He also  has some issues on his landings. He definitely challenged me as a rider. Unfortunately, right when I was making progress and feeling more confident about things, I had to travel for work so I have not been able to get back into any sort of groove.
Tomorrow, we are taking Brego over to my trainers barn Monday.He will stay there for a couple of months so I can start him in earnest over fences. It will be nice to be riding my own horse.  Brego  is an athlete. Last summer I jumped him over a few small cross rails and unlike Maggie, there is some untapped talent there. We will see what we can discover.
Jumping is fun and I definitely see myself sticking with it  on the side, but endurance remains my first love. I don't want to put the cart before the horse, but there is a ride in Spokane, Washington later in the season.  I am pondering the LD for Maggie. We will see how things shake out.

The other update I wanted to share with you all  requires some introductions.

My husband has been mentioned on this blog from time to time but mostly I tried to keep him out of the fray , at his request. As you might know, he is the horseback archer. What you might not know is that his horsemanship/training/riding experience predates his dive into horseback archery.  Last year, he was requested to do  some horsemanship clinics at this  Montana  guest ranch. It was a overwhelming success.

It looks like that clinic schedule is expanding for 2014. He was talked into offering some additional Western Dressage and other horsemanship clinics. The lady who is helping him promote this wanted him to start Facebook page but he is not really into the FB scene. So after much coercion, he agreed that maybe a blog about his horsemanship would be doable.  This would give people a source to learn about him and see what he has to offer. People often don't know his vast background and experience training horses because he isn't one to self promote so this is kind of a big deal for him to take this step.  I might be biased but he is pretty darn good and I have always counted myself lucky to have my own personal trainer when I got stuck!So far, I have not seen a situation with a horse/rider he can't improve. He has so much to offer so I am very excited for him.

Take a look !  Kelner Horsemanship   Tell us what you think ..











3 comments:

Hannah said...

I've stumbled across your blog many times...glad to see it reactivating! :)

Jonna said...

Hi Hannah, glad you have dropped by and thanks for reading.

irish horse said...

Welcome back! Sounds like you have some good adventures planned. Your re-found jumping enthusiasm is awesome, hoping for a Spring of good stories!