We are pleased to announce two new opportunities for horse lovers who have limited time and funds, but would love the opportunity to become involved in riding and various equestrian activities.  Baymount Farm has created and is offering a new Intro to Horsemanship class at Mitchell Community College this fall.   This class starts September 9, 2010 on Thursdays from 6:30 – 8:30 pm for six weeks.  The class will cover briefly many aspects of the equestrian industry, including various disciplines; hunt seat, dressage, equitation, western and gaited riding.  Also covered will be the different equestrian businesses, equine contracts and laws, grooming and demonstrations at local barns.  More information can be found at http://www.mitchellcc.edu/cec/forms/MCC_CE_Schedule_Fall10.pdf    on page 14 of the Continuing Education Booklet online. 

Also beginning in September will be special classes just for Mom’s.  These will cover learning to care for, tack and ride horses with trail riding for groups of 4.  Classes will be scheduled Monday, Wednesday and Fridays in the mornings.   This gives Mom’s an opportunity to treat themselves special while their children are in school and take a break from the humdrum of cleaning, shopping, planning and all the daily activities of managing a family.  Visit the LESSON page on www.baymountacres.com for pricing and more information.

All in all, I am expecting this to be an exciting fall for 2010.  Hope to see you soon.

We saddle up first thing after the kids get there and go to the ring.  Most of the children have no idea how to ride, some think they know and a few have had lessons from friends and family.  Their hands, arms and legs are everywhere.  Thank goodness I have a group of slow, forgiving horses who don’t mind all the pulling, yanking, kicking and thrashing around done by these kids.  By the end of the first day the kids are in love with the horse they have ridden.   They have tacked, groomed, washed, picked hooves, grazed and loved on their horse and want to stay for more.  

The rest of the week is spend working on using their hands, voice and legs to ride.  They learn through coloring pictures of horses and tack the different parts of the horse and the difference in english and western tack.  They learn the parts of the hoof and how to take care of it.  And they have cleaned and oiled tack, cleaned a stall, learned how to feed and what to feed, learned about wormers and parasite control as well as washed their horse.   I think the most fun they have on the ground with their horse is braiding manes and tails. 

At the end of the week, they have a horse show where they present their horse all braided and ride a pattern they have learned over the week.  They are so proud of themselves for riding their horse all alone and stand quite proudly for pictures taken by family and friends. 

I am glad I have done this for these children.  It has been fun for me and fun for them.  I think the parents appreciate their children getting to do something for an entire week they they would not normally have had the chance to do.  I so look forward to doing this next year.

For anyone reading my blog for the first time; Seranade is the thoroughbred I purchased last year to add to our collection of horses.  She was very underweight and a little scared.  She was slightly fearful of trailers and looked around a lot.    But she never bucked, bit or did anything dangerous, she is much too sweet for that.   After a time and with the help of a wonderful trainer here in Stateville, NC, Jennie Dipple  I have been able to work with her gently and regularly to bring out her best.

Seranade, formerly known as Our Sister Gina on the tracks, has gained all her weight back and become quite a robust sort of mare.  She is gentle as a lamb, and a beautiful mover.  I wish you could see her, so I will post soon a video of her.  I am quite impressed with her.  I have been learning dressage on her.  And needless to say, she knows more than I do at this time, but I am learning and having a wonderful ride.  We have taken her out on the trail in the woods around our farm and she loves it.  I think she would make a good hill topper or gallery horse, maybe even a fox hunter as she is quiet and listens.  However, that sport is not for me.  She is wonderful in the ring and loads of fun.  My daughter can jump her, but that isn’t my sport either as I am older and afraid of jumping now.  I don’t bounce back as quickly as I used to, so….

 Here she is grazing peacefully with her friends.  Sad to say, that this fall Sera will be up for sale as a dressage horse.  She will be good for a teenager or adult beginner and will do quite well in the shows.  I would love to keep her, but I have to stick to my plan of conditioning her and finding her a suitable home.  Whoever buys her will fall in love with her immediately.   I have 17 horses, some of which are minis, lesson horses and others for sale, such as TWH horses.  So as much as I love her I will have to let her go.  If I can:(

So, thanks to some clients of mine I have had the opportunity to hold a clinic with just such a thing in mind.  They requested that I come to their farm and teach them specifics in their area of riding for the entire family.  I did and it was great!  My daughter and I both held the two day clinic for my clients who were a family of four.  They provided their own horses and equipment.   I think that is the best way to learn.  I can easily use someone else’s horses and equipment when I am learning, but then I get back to my barn and horses, discover that my equipment is slightly different and my horses aren’t quite trained the same and that adds to the confusion of putting it all together.  With their own equipment, horses and on their trails we were able to progress with comfort and ease.  This added to the quickness in which the children were able to pick up important skills in riding and apply those skills without as much hesitation by being on their own territory. 

The first part of each morning consisted of learning to harness, hitch and drive a carriage horse.   This went very well, was lots of fun and the family members learned the basics of driving down their driveway and out onto the property.  They learned how to fit the harness for comfort and security, how to handle the reins properly and how to drive, turn, back and slow down their driving horse.   Most of this they were already doing properly, but just needed a little brush up on their skills and confirmation that they were doing it correctly. 

The second half of the day consisted of trail riding, a few lessons on jumping, two-point position, proper leg placement and usage in the saddle, the correct way to balance and the difference in hunt seat, western, and equitation.  Since we were using gaited horses, the hunt seat was a little challenge but the lessons were learned and the students were jumping by the time we left.   

Unfortunately, because of the weather, we were not able to do as much as I had planned.  We were facing wind gusts up to 25mph and temperatures in the low 30’s.  This made it quite cold, our fingers and toes were numb, our faces wind burned but our spirits were up and that hot chocolate sure was good!  Plus the cooks were magnificent, they provided the lunches and we dined like kings.

At any rate, I have a video of our clinic just for fun.   Baymount Farm Natural Horsemanship Clinic.   I hope you enjoy watching as much as we enjoyed filming and working.  I wish I had more to show you, but our battery went dead, must of been the extremely cold weather. 

Future clinics can be held for you, within a reasonable driving distance, no more than 2 hours away please.   Clinics run $110 per person daily, 8 hour days,  for 4 people, plus hotel.   More than 4 people the price can be adjusted.  Just email me for more information.

Eclipse was born here, on our farm, on April 17, 2001. She was a tiny little thing, and when she was born she terrified me! I swear, I thought she wasn’t breathing. But, as she is now, Eclipse was stubborn and took her first breath and was up in less than half an hour. Since then, I’ve played and worked with her though not as much as I have recently.

In the first year of her life, I was more of a pasture buddy to Eclipse than anything. There were not very firm boundaries that I set, so she literally started to walk all over me, push me, nip me, and run from me. It continued this way through the years, and it was never a realization for me until I went off to college full time in 2008. The thing is that I never worked with Eclipse on solid ground manners, and that goes a long way in every type of training you do with your horse. I’m a firm believer in making the horse behave on the ground, which makes it easier to deal with them in the saddle.

Eclipse has transformed wonderfully since I started working with Jennifer Dipple, a great trainer and instructor over at Full Circle Farm. It was close to impossible to get Eclipse to listen to me over two weeks ago, and now she is not only listening but trying to do it before I even ask her to! Something that I have discovered since I’ve started working with her consistently, and something I have been semi-aware of the entirety of her life, is that Eclipse can read my body language before I even ask with the aids.

It’s frustrating a lot of the time, because I am still learning myself and am not completely solid with my aids. So when Eclipse tries to take these “shortcuts” it doesn’t really help me to understand fully. Nonetheless, she is an incredibly smart horse with an appytude which makes a frustrating combination.

As you can see in the video posted previously, she transformed from the beginning of the lesson into the end. It is an 8 minute long video, and you can hear my instructor, Jennie, in the background but it shows the change she went through in only that hour long lesson. Incredible how quickly she learns. The video was on Friday, and on the Monday before I could not get Eclipse to listen or even pay attention! She was throwing a fit around the entire arena, trying her hardest to find anything else to look at, or just ignoring me altogether!

Consistent work with her in just a week has done wonders. It takes quite a bit of patience, which is something I am still in the process of learning. I have no patience, and I frequently get angry with Eclipse. The trick is finding a way to channel that anger and frustration instead of taking it out on your horse. Your horse doesn’t know why your angry at them. Why should they? Think of your horse as a toddler, they have the same attention span and the same way of learning. I know for a fact that Eclipse is intelligent and learns quickly, but she constantly finds way to test me. As if to ask,”Okay, are you letting me get away with this today? Are you sure you remember?” As soon as I have finished reminding her of what we worked on previously, and as soon as she has done testing me, it is an almost smooth ride. I say almost, because she is still not one hundred percent with the aids or reactions and it will be a while before she is.

I have found that working with her on Bending and Suppling has really helped her and myself. I’ve learned to work with my horse, instead of against her or trying to force her to do what I want. Before, I never really understood what I was asking or why I was asking these things. I did not understand, really understand, how to ask the horse something. Since working with Eclipse, my relationship with he has also grown. We are a lot closer than we were before and I understand her better. I’ve found that both Patience and Consistence are very important to working with a horse, and although I have always known this it is different knowing it and understanding it.

I have to give credit to her instructor here in Statesville, NC.  She is wonderful!  My daughter has learned so much in such a short time.  The trainer is Jennifer Dipple at Full Circle Farm.  You should definitely check this place out.  You will be impressed, I promise you.  I, too, take lessons there.  Any good trainer and instructor will always be furthering their skills and knowledge through lessons and I am glad I found this facility.

My daughter has an appaloosa that she raised and trained from birth.  She has always wanted this horse to show and through the years have been working towards that goal.  Now she has the opportunity to realize her dreams.  She has come a long way in teaching Eclispe to become a wonderfully well trained horse.  Here she is working with Jennie at Full Circle Farm teaching Eclipse to bend and supple. They are learning to find their rhythm and work together as one.  They have come a long way in the past week.

At the beginning of the week, Eclispe didn’t even want to be ridden.  She ignored commands and did everything she could to the opposite of what she was being asked.  But after a week of consistent work and encouragement, the trainer and my daughter were able to get Eclipse to bend and supple enough to have a very good lesson.  I am sure she will be showing her in competition this summer.

I have decided that ex-race horses really don’t like staying in the stall, which is quite alright with me.   My other one, Sera, a thoroughbred stresses and walks the stall if I try to keep her in.  Sir Alex just chooses to try to crib.  There isn’t a place in the stall he can sink his teeth into except the buckets, so out he goes.  I don’t need my buckets torn up.  Also, one less mess to clean up, you know.  As long as he is happy outside, so be it.  His coat is thick enough and he is heavy enough that I doubt he will even notice the cold.  He is also barefoot, which I like during winter.  Ice, snow and mud doesn’t get so clogged up on his soles and I don’t have to worry so much about him getting hurt cavorting out in the pasture. 

My daughter rode him two days after he arrived and he was wonderful.  Sir Alex raced his second year and won a fair amount, but started to get sore so his conscientious owners decided to retire him rather then risk his getting hurt.    After that he went on to being a lesson horse.  He trots and paces which makes him perfect since he is so versatile.  I finally rode him a few days ago and decided that I needed to work with him on the snaffle bit to see what he would do.  In the video he was wearing an eggbut snaffle.  I put a full cheek snaffle on him which is my choice in bits when I get a new horse to try out.   I have been suppling him and asking him to walk straight without all the chewing.   Alex does like to chew, so I think I will try a snaffle with a french link and see how that works for him.  Today we had a great day!   Obviously  he has been very well trained by his previous owners and is a pleasure to ride. 

Sir Alex has quite a smooth trot, doesn’t canter, but that is ok, he does pace and is very smooth.  That’s all I need anyway.  He was a nut today when I was riding him in the ring.  My dachshund, Izzy, came out to say hello to me and Sir Alex thought he was going to get attacked.  I never dreamed he would be frightened by such a small, unassuming dog, but by golly if he didn’t spin around and try to run.   Thankfully, he is very, very well behaved and trusting of humans.  He settled down easily and we just kept going.  That is a good training technique with a spooky horse.  If you can stay on, just ride it out all the time trying to gain control and give the horse something to do that he does well to get his mind back on work and off whatever scared him.  They have a one track mind, so stay calm, regain control and keep going.

Anyway, to me Sir Alex is special and I really look forward to giving lessons on him.  I think my students will love him too.

Riding lessons are a wonderful way to shed a few extra pounds.  You will have fun, learn better balance, feel great, build muscle all while you are loosing weight and you won’t even realize it.  I lost 15 pounds this summer riding horses.  I sat for years on my, well you know, and gained more pounds than I cared to.  I picked up running and ran a few half-marathons for a few years and lost weight just to have it come right back.  I bought an elliptical machine and still have yet to use it religiously in order to keep my weight down.  Then I picked up riding.  I loved it, loved the horses, loved being outside, loved the activity and lost pounds….and I am talking serious pounds.  Pounds off my stomach, thighs, hips, back.  All where it counts for a female!  Guys, you will lose weight too.  Feel better and treat yourself right.  There is nothing like learning a new skill to make you feel exhilarated and confident.

What style of riding do you pick up?  Depends on what your interests are.  Trail riding is relaxing and fun and can be ridden in any discipline; western or english.   The basic skills are the same.   Most people just starting out are more comfortable in a western saddle or endurance saddle.  But don’t stop there, learn hunt seat and increase your skills.  Equitation is another step up, as in dressage, saddle seat.  You decide what makes you the most comfortable and where you are having the most fun.  Exercise should be fun, otherwise, we just won’t keep up with it.

Need a lesson barn?  A great place to look is NewHorse.com where you can search by state and zip code to find your nearest stables.    Have fun, go out and shed those holiday pounds!

This is how thin she was when we first got her on the farm.  As you can see she is doing very well with her weight gain and health.  I keep a blanket on her in cold weather and feed her equine senior to give her the nutrients she needs.  She also has access to all the hay she can eat during the day.

Sera is a wonderfully trained horse and can be a low level dressage horse or a jumper.  She actually takes the jumps quite well.  I will be, hopefully, showing her in the spring.  Of course, my daughter will be the one riding her since she is younger, in better shape and less fearful going over jumps than I am.  I have really enjoyed this horse and look forward to continuing her training.

does your saddle fit?

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 one to keep going, taking things a step at a time.    I will try to make this easier for those of you who are interested in learning saddle fitting.  Look at the saddle above.  See how the deepest part the seat (the area where your seat bones will sit squarely on the saddle) is at its lowest point.  Start there in evaluating whether or not your saddle fits your horse. This will show you that the saddle is sitting level on your horse.   Next, drop your stirrup leathers and measure the distance from the stirrup bar and the center of the seat.  There should be 6 to 7 inches in distance.   Make sure your horse is standing square when you do this.  An improper fitting saddle can bridge causing soreness in your horses back or causing you to tilt throwing you off balance.   Bridging is when the panel is not contoured to fit the shape of the horses back.

Make sure your saddle is level

Now, run your hand along the gusset of the saddle feeling for gaps or pressure points.  You want your saddle to be level and sitting smoothly on your horses back.    This is one way to also check for bridging in case you can’t see it right away.   You can always have flocking added to your saddle.  Wool flocking is best to use and lasts longer, whereas foam flocking has a tendency to wear out quicker.

Saddle is far enough back.

It may be difficult to see here, but look for and feel for the large muscle at the withers over the scapula.    Your saddle bars need to be directly behind this muscle to allow for freedom of movement.    Putting the saddle on this muscle can cause your horse to be sore and restrict his performance.   Check for the movement range in this muscle by marking where the muscle ends when your horse is standing square and where it ends when you stretch your horse’s leg out in front of him.  This will give you the best indication of how far back to put the saddle.

Next look at how the gullet fits at the withers.  You should be able to get three fingers in between the gullet and your horses withers.  If you can’t chances are the saddle is too wide for the horse.  However, if the gullet is too high, as in four or more fingers the saddle could be too narrow.  Most english saddles for women should have a narrow twist, for men a wide twist.  However, if, like my horse who has very high withers,  I will need a half pad or theraputic pad to raise the gullet off the withers.  The saddle is a good fit everywhere  else, she just has exceptionally high withers.   As you can see with an added pad I get the correct distance in the gullet for this particular horse.  By the way,  we can’t all buy a saddle for each horse we own and many times have to use the same saddle on different horses.  So adding a half pad can help tremendously in this situation.   Another detail to look for when checking out saddles is to make sure that the tree has not been twisted.  Put the saddle on your knee looking at it from the front and see if you can detect a twist.  If the nails on the outside are parallel then it probably isn’t twisted.

Although it may be difficult to see from this pic, you want to look at your saddle from the back and be able to see light all the way through.  This is a good way to check for the gullet width and thickness.  You want the gullet to be wide enough to NOT sit on the horses spine or to be touching it at all.  You should be able to get at least three fingers between the narrowest part of the gullet.  Turn your saddle over and look at it from beneath.   Some saddle gullets will be wider at the pommel and narrow slightly through the middle then get wider again at the cantle.  Some won’t, depending on the brand.   Pressure on your horses spine and ligament that runs down his back next to the spine can cause soreness.

One you are sure your saddle fits your horse, go out and take a ride to see how the saddle fits you.  You should be able to stand up in the saddle and balance without  feeling you are tilting forward or back.  This means your saddle is balanced.    There is a little more to it than this and you can always hire a saddle fitter to be sure you have the right saddle for you and your horse.  But these are the basics and I think will help you a great deal if you are unsure.

Why is it so important to have a properly fitting saddle?  Comfort, soundness and performance.  You want to get the best out of your horse and not be riding wondering why your horses ears are back, why he/she doesn’t move forward, etc.  Sore back horses are never much fun to ride.  Remember, just because a saddle fits one horse doesn’t mean it fits all horses.  Be sure to check the saddle bars also so they aren’t pinching his back.  Have a pleasant ride and watch for more blogs on fitting western and gaited horses.