October 2011
Hello Everyone! We had our last clinic for 2011 last week. Thank you to everyone that has come out and supported our 32 clinics over the past five years. Our next clinic will be in April 2012.
Tonda Lewis brought her young horse, Merle to the clinic. Tonda & Merle have experienced many firsts at our clinics over the years from first trip away from home, to first mounting to first "little horse hunt." Virgil Gutshall was riding his new horse, Joker. It is great to have him back at the clinics as a rider after his ordeal a year ago. Maria Downey was the winner of our "little horse hunt" and together with Lynn Witmer went home with lots of flexing and bending exercises to help their horses become more supple and develop more self carriage. Remember ladies, you have to actually do those exercises! Click here to see Oct. 23, 2011 clinic pictures.
FREE SADDLE FITTING LECTURE on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011 at 9am
I will be talking about the saddle support area on the horse and demonstrating saddles that fit, don't fit and I will be explaining why. We will look at western and english saddles on my horse. No evaluations will be done on this day. This is strictly a free educational lecture. There will be no sales.
BACK PAIN CAUSING BEHAVIOR ISSUES
A lot of times are horses' behavior or misbehavior is being caused by an ill fitting saddle. An example is in an email from Cheryl this week. A horse experiencing back pain from an ill fitting saddle makes strong behavioral statements like pinning his ears or biting when being saddled, not moving forward freely, not standing still for mounting, fidgety or anxious, unexplained lameness issues, reluctant to engage hindquarters, reluctant to back up and trouble going up and down hills.
A saddle fit evaluation would make a great Christmas gift for your horse. Evaluations can be done here at Buck N Horse Hollow for $129 or at your barn within 100 miles for $149. Go to FIT RIGHT SADDLE SOLUTIONSfor more information. or
There is still time to schedule an saddle fit evaluation with Jochen Schleese on Nov. 15,
FMI contact: lhaughton@schleese.com or tpeiper@aol.com
pre-registration is required through Schleese Saddlery. Jochen's fee is $149
"Western Dressage is defined as training and developing the western horse and rider by using classical principles. "
This is like music to my ears!! Many of us have already been doing this but now it is officially recognized as a new discipline by the USDF.
Personally I have been battling internally for over 30 years and with my Mother for 10 years before that. My Mother wanted me to ride english. I wanted to ride western. When people ask me if I ride english or western, I still say "I haven't decided yet." Reining is fun but special sliding shoes is not practical for every day use and spinning makes me dizzy. Western Pleasure just doesn't work for me. But barrel racing was very close to the direct reining and forward movement that I was accustomed to when I rode hunt seat horses. Pole bending let me feel like I was riding a dressage horse in my barrel saddle. So, for about 20 years barrel racing and pole bending was my passion. When I turned 40, I finally realized that I didn't need that adrenaline rush anymore and it wasn't worth the wear and tear on my horses. What I really enjoyed was the training and the process of building up the athletic horse. Sounded like dressage, so I bought a dressage saddle and the journey began.
For the past few years, I have been focusing on dressage and my Fancy mare. And this year, thanks to Master Saddler Jochen Schleese, I have been able to ride and show Easy again. But after attending a Jack Brainard clinic with my retired barrel horse, Nicholas I have another new passion, Western Dressage. I haven't had this much fun in a long time. check this out
Favorite Link of the Month http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fFMNDYvRGg
As always, thank you for reading our little newsletter and for all the responses. I sincerely wish you all great fall riding! Keep in touch.
TTYS & God Bless
Terry
