Lesson Horse

Just a few days after Yellow arrived in Spokane, I had some friends out to the barn to meet him. These friends were Becky, her husband Chris, and daughter Brooke (7) and Grace (4). Yellow, was also 4. Grace found that very entertaining.

Grace and Brooke brought their new riding helmets and I had been on Yellow enough that day to know he would be fine just carrying them on his back while he walked around the arena. And sure enough, that's exactly what Yellow did. Pretty soon each of the girls was in control of the reins, and I walked around with them, just in case.

Becky and Chris held a very strong point of view that if their girls were to ever get a horse, they must first understand all the work that goes into caring for one. During the months that the girls received "lessons," they were encouraged to groom, pick up after, and feed Yellow. There were a few times when the ride only lasted 15 minutes or so, because there was a lot of other care that needed to take place. As all of you with horses know, this is a very realistic occurrence.

When Yellow came to live on the farm in February, Brooke and Grace were pretty sad. Grace drew me several pictures of Yellow, most of them were of him getting to eat tons of apples (which the girls found out were his favorite!), and they write emails to check in on him.

In June, a former teacher of mine contacted me and told me her daughter, Audrey, was about to turn 5 and LOVES horses. Well, what 5 year old girl doesn't? She would love to pay me to let Audrey come pet the horse, brush the horse, feed the horse, and if it wasn't too much trouble, ride the horse. Of course!!

So on a beautiful Monday in June I got Yellow out and had my fiance saddle him up. We practiced having an adult ride behind the saddle because I knew both mother and child were anxious about riding a "big horse." He's 15 hands, only 2 inches taller than a pony, but most people don't realize that.

Audrey and her mother on Yellow.

Little sis Maggie and mom take their turn.

Audrey was quite nervous about getting on, and was very quiet. After her mom mounted and moved into position, we got Audrey in the saddle and off we went in a small loop in my back yard. After about 15 minutes, it was younger sister Maggie's turn. We took a short break to have some hot dogs and cupcakes, and then Audrey was ready to try it by herself. She was getting a little more assertive about wiggling her little legs to have him move forward, and gently pulling on the reins and saying, "Whoooooaaaaaa" to have him stop.

Just a week later another young lady, this time the daughter of a friend of my mom's, came over to ride the Amazing Lesson Horse. She was a lot more confident and sure of herself on my horse's back, and had lots of fun getting Yellow to go wherever she wanted.

Since these young cowgirls have ridden Yellow, he has also been ridden by many a novice cousin. He never loses his patience or his will. It's truly remarkable to watch a 5 year old horse respond to a 5 year old child the way he does. I will have absolutely no doubts putting my daughter on Yellow. And that will happen as soon as she can sit up on her own!

Cousin Brooklyn on Yellow.

Cousin Haley on Yellow.

Cousin Jamie on Yellow.

Cousin Tena on Yellow.

Me on Okie, because Yellow was too tired after all the cousins getting to ride him!

The name of the game is...

...TAG!

So I've been tagged by Middle of the Road. Apparently, she doesn't get enough of me every day and would like me to share some unusual facts about myself. Well, here goes...

1. I LOVE TV! I worked for FOX for about a year, and was much more in love with the atmosphere than my specific job. I'm hoping to go back to work for a TV station soon. I love knowing what shows are performing the best, what demographics watch what show, I love seeing good actors work with good writers, I love quality TV.

2. Before I got pregnant, I used to drink 2 coffees and 2-3 diet cokes every day. Caffeine addict!! I blame part of the reason I was so tired during my first trimester on the pregnancy, the other part on the absence of caffeine.

I sure love me some diet coke!!

3. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love the low-key, minimal planning of Thanksgiving. No buying gifts, just a wonderful meal with several of my favorite foods. I also love Fall, all the colors and the smell of apple cinnamon. So Thanksgiving incorporates all of that!

4. My favorite hobby is starting new hobbies. I love learning new things, getting new supplies, and becoming good at something new. This has included (in the last 5 years) rock climbing, golfing, wakeboarding, knitting, snowboarding, guitar, dog training, and getting back into horses after a short hiatus. Oh, and photography. I even downloaded instructions for turning your bathroom into a darkroom, just in case I ever have a spare bathroom! I might still like to do that...I wonder if I still have all the darkroom supplies...

The guitar I bought and played 3 times.
















My candle making class...shortly after the class I purchased all the necessary equipment to make my own candles...but, sadly, never made a single one.

5. I have a designer jean problem. My fiance used to think what I spent on jeans was ridiculous. Until he got his first pair of 7s, and now he doesn't want to wear American Eagle jeans. I haven't bought a new pair in quite a while, but having spent so much money on nice jeans gives me EXTRA incentive to get back into them when Baby Grace is here!

6. I don't care for a lot of the natural horsemanship hooey. I know Pony Girl is a big fan, and we actually have a lot of similar ideas about things, but I don't think you need to make everything a game for a horse to like it. Some horses like work. Sure, some are more lazy than my perfect Yellow horse, but some horses like to compete! So I see our time together as "work," and work can be fun! Haha! And I don't "spoil" my horse. I don't feed out of my hand, I don't let him graze on grass (especially not with a bit in his mouth!), I don't have any tolerance for goofiness. Now, I say "spoil" not because the act in itself is going to do harm, but because that's what I see a lot of horses spoiled on. You know, the horse that is constantly trying to eat on the trail, or nips anytime a hand is near his face because he thinks that hand contains a treat?

7. I think I had a very special connection with Clinton Anderson. He came to a town nearby for his clinic, and we signed up right away. On the first day of the clinic, he was giving away prizes. He was sitting on Diaz right in front of me, and he started to ask a question about rollbacks. I shot my hand right up in the air and he said, "I haven't even asked the question yet! How can you know the answer?" to which I replied, "I bet I do!" and he said, "Okay, what is it?" I said, "Slow to turn, quick to get out." Well of course that was right! So I won an advanced riding DVD set. The next day I had him autograph it and I made sure he was going to do more horsemanship clinics in 2009. Rumor has it he's about done with the traveling clinics. Anyway, he said he was, and I told him all I could do for the next 9 months was groundwork so we should be pretty amazing by the time he comes back. He asked why and I told him I'm pregnant, and he told me to be careful. See? Clinton Anderson definitely cares about me. Me. He didn't tell anyone else to be careful. But he was concerned for my and Gracie's safety. We have a connection.

Okay, so that just about sums it up for my moderately interesting facts! In turn, I must tag a few unsuspecting bloggers, and I choose:

Adventures of a Horse Crazed Mind

Photog Chic at Equine Mine

fssunnysd at It's Sunny in SD

and

Flying Lily at When Lilies Fly

My Excuse

My poor horse, Yellow, must think I've lost it. First, I'm riding him almost every day like we're training for some sort of Olympics. Then, I stop riding him for three months. Then, I start riding him sporadically, and start putting on some serious pounds which causes me to be off-balance, especially when posting. I'm posting a lot more frequently, and all of a sudden he's become a walk-trot horse...no loping. No rollbacks. No galloping into a sliding stop. And certainly no cattle work.

Worse yet, I don't even saddle him anymore! All of a sudden I would rather poke around riding bareback, or try this new saddle, a hunt seat saddle.

It's all very odd.

Yellow, it's because you have a sibling on the way. Well, sort of. If this baby comes out looking or shaped like you, I'm going to have a heart attack. But I did find out in April that I am pregnant, and have had to be cautious ever since. And who pays the price? My darling Yellow horse.

Baby Grace Lauryn Kendall, ready to ride, I think!

I had to wait for doctor clearance to be able to ride, and she said second trimester was safer. But I'm not allowed to lift more than 30 lbs, and throwing a saddle was completely out of the question. Well a fat-lot of good that does me! So I just started riding bareback if there was no one around to throw my saddle for me.

And then one day I became inspired...I remember back at the barn in Spokane, someone told me my Yellow horse had a lot of good English action. "WHAT?!? You mean I bought this western pleasure/roping/reining horse, and he looks like one of those sissy English horses that prance around like fricken unicorns?!?" No offense, to all you English riding folk. But it's just not what you expect to hear about your stock horse, you know?

We're riding western, but we look rather...English...guess those gals at the barn had a point!

So I drove my hiney to the local feed store and got a new dressage-style pad. I managed to find a larger girth (my former mare that I showed on in 4-H was not quite as...round, we'll say.) and my breast collar. I saddled up Yellow and explained to him that this wasn't supposed to be pretty, but functional. And it would hopefully help me get a little posting balance back. Or I would fall off, and in that case, he needed to drag me by my foot down to the hospital. I quickly told him the quickest route. Then I asked him to get up next to the fence so I could mount.

I wish you could see the look Yellow sometimes gives me. This was one of those times. I never have to use objects to get on, and he was just thinking, "Listen lady, if you can't mount from the ground, you really shouldn't be riding. Don't make me call your doctor."

"The Look" is something like this...

So, we headed to the riding area, doing one-rein stops all the way there. He seemed perfectly comfortable with this half-saddle on him, and oddly enough, I was comfortable too! I think I have better posture when I ride hunt seat, and it took some pressure off the belly.

We didn't ride for very long because it was crazy-dusty in our riding area. Quite the opposite from Pony Girl's riding area! Wanna trade, PG? But I did lope him in a few small circles...shhhh! Don't tell! He was EASIER to lope in this danged English saddle! Or maybe I was using my seat and legs more efficiently? Whatever the case, it was FUN!

I have only ridden English once since, and that was for our pony cousin roundup in Cle Elum. I have it on video, and it doesn't look too shabby, especially for not having had an English lesson in over 5 years, and being on a horse who has NEVER been ridden in that manner. But I think he likes it!

Looking mighty pregnant in Cle Elum! No wonder I have trouble balancing, I'm front-heavy!

Anyway, Yellow, I am very sorry that soon I will have to stop riding again. And realistically, once this little one is here, who knows how much time I will have to devote. We will remain members of the Back Country Horsemen, I would still love to take you to a Clinton Anderson 3-day clinic, and we will be joining the Yakima Valley Team Penning Club, and either get into team penning or sorting, or both. But, about this time next year, you're going to have to be your old, solid self so Baby Grace can get her first few rides in on you. Of course, I won't let her steer. I know you don't like to be tugged on, but it will be a lot like when you gave Stella her pony rides, except that Travis and Nana will be snapping about a million pictures and Travis will probably be a nervous wreck and threaten your life just before he hands our daughter over to me, sitting on your back.

From LtoR: Yellow, Travis, my dad, Rory, Me, Yellow's butt.

The good news, Yellow, is that we have the horse trainer looking for a small QH for Gracie. I have spent many nights explaining to the bouncing baby after a particularly exciting horse day that Yellow is Mommy's horse, and we will get her a beautiful horse of her own...just don't get too excited and start thinking Mommy will give you Yellow. Mommy and Daddy will give you a lot of things...Mommy's horse is not one of them.

Cowgirl Baby Shower...yep, this baby is being raised correctly right from the start!

On a side note, I have to say that while I am not yet a parent, I have heard that many horse training techniques can be directly applied to children. Is this true? What techniques might some of you parents or aunts or uncles use?