A blog about training trail horses.
Posted in Trail Horse Training, Trail Horses on Dec 22nd, 2009
If you are a trail rider, and you have been bored with the same trails year after year, you need to look into ACTHA.us . I recently started to feel I need a more challenging trail experience, so I signed onto the American Competitive Trail Horse Association website. I quickly discovered I needed to brush [...]
Posted in Trail Horse Training, Trail Horses on Dec 21st, 2009
Picked up a few pounds since Thanksgiving? Expecting and dreading picking up a few more over Christmas and New Years? Tired of sucking it in every time you zip up? Yeah, me too! Forget about walking 20 minutes a day, getting on the treadmill or killing yourself with aerobic exercises. Ride a horse! Riding lessons [...]
Posted in Tack and Equipment, Tennessee Walking Horses, Trail Horses on Dec 18th, 2009
This is the back of a Tennessee Walking Horse, commonly known as a gaited horse. They use these horses a lot in field trials for their quiet disposition, forgiveness of our stupidity and long, smooth stride that covers a lot of ground quickly. Keeping their backs healthy and fit is so very important for the [...]
Posted in Trail Horse Training on Dec 15th, 2009
Know what your goals are. Don’t just round pen to wear your horse down and don’t round pen unless you have a specific goal in mind for training. For example, when I round pen a horse the first thing I want to teach that horse is to look at me for direction. Then I want [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Dec 7th, 2009
Let’s face it, when cold weather comes around most of us want to hibernate. It’s not much fun going out in the cold to ride, especially if it is wet out. And in Statesville, North Carolina it seems all we have is wet winters. Cold one day, warm the next, plus rain…… Shorter days, yucky [...]
Posted in Trail Horse Training, Trail Horses on Dec 6th, 2009
Sir Alex will be coming to us by the middle of December. Sir Alex is a wonderfully bred standardbred who won lots of mulah as a two year old, but as a three year old didn’t progress as quickly as a racer. So his owners at the time decided to sell him and since he [...]
Posted in Tennessee Walking Horses, Trail Horse Training, Trail Horses on Nov 29th, 2009
Boogie came to us a couple of weeks ago because Boogie lost his beat. Boot Scootin Boogie is a competitive trail horse that has competed in NATRC trail rides that can be grueling and very demanding. (www.natrc.org for more information) Boogie and his rider both came in with a score 0f 99 out of 100 [...]
Posted in Tack and Equipment, Trail Horses on Oct 20th, 2009
I have done a lot of searching on saddles and saddle fitting. I have been trying to purchase the right saddle for my new horse, mainly because I decided to take up hunt seat to improve my riding abilities. There is a lot of information to go thru and can be confusing. But I am [...]
Posted in Trail Horses on Oct 12th, 2009
Meet Serenade, our 12 year old Thoroughbred mare. I never had much interest in Thoroughbreds before now. I had run a boarding barn and found that the Thoroughbreds that stabled with me were ‘goofy’ and thin skinned. It seemed that they were flighty and always running into something and getting puncture wounds. I realize [...]
Posted in Miniature horses on Oct 9th, 2009
I have two extended families, but the one that lives with me are my minis. Not to mention a few larger members of the family that I will talk about in another blog. As my friends and family can tell by now, my passion is in my animals. I have had many jobs and friends [...]