This is where we,  here at Baymount Farm,  can help you with trail and obstacle training.  Periodically throughout the year we will be having Obstacle Training Clinics.  Our first is January 28, 2012.   Following is a quick run-down of what we are offering and will be teaching.

1. 9 am    Introduction and explanation of the days activities.
2. 10 am  Demonstration on safely leading and moving your horse around an obstacle and how to calm them down to keep from being trampled.
3. 10:20 am – 12:30 pm  Demonstration on the obstacles.  We will take this one obstacle at a time and answer any questions you may have.  There are no more than 10 obstacles.   Each person will have the opportunity to practice these with help from the staff if needed.
4. 12:30 – 1:30 pm  Lunch!   Grilled hamburgers, chili, slaw, southern potatoes, dessert, drinks.
5. 1:30 – until dark thirty pm.  Demonstration on obstacles, practice trail, practice obstacles and afternoon snacks.
6. 7:30 pm  Seminar by the bonfire on Bach Flower Remedies for horses health given by local pharmacist.  This will wow you on how simple homeopathics can change your horses demeanor and calm them down.   A brief demonstration will accompany talk.
7. Sunday  Saying good-bye and heading out to ride or for home.  Take your time on this, no scheduled time to be out.  I will be up and around by 6:30 to feed our crew, so just let me know if you need anything that morning.
8. For information on cost and directions visit Baymount Acres Training.

   This is one of my students learning to cross a bridge safely.  This is also one of the obstacles we will be practicing crossing.

Here is Jake taking a student over poles.  These are moveable by the horses so they learn to walk through limbs on the trail and not spook if they should shift.

Here is Jake taking a student through simulated vines.  This little girl was a trooper learning to do this.

We will also be opening and closing gates, crossing creeks safely, going through tunnels, going over catwalks, trotting poles and much more.  You will leave feeling like you have accomplished a lot and be more confident on the trail.    Please register by emailing me at Sherry@BaymountAcres.com  or calling 704-902-7345.

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I spent a lot of time riding him and refreshing his memory in the arena on being supple.  I used all the natural riding aids as in, legs, seat, hands and voice.  I also occasionally had to tickle him on the rump with the crop.  When I say tickle, I actually mean tickle, not hit, strike, beat or anything else.  Just the thought of the whip often times gets the horse motivated.  This particular horse was already well trained.   I found he became stuck occasionally when asked to move forward on the trail or going past his buddies.    This is where arena work comes in handy for the horse.

The main point I want to come to in this post is teaching the rider.   His owner had raised him and taught him herself.  But she was a little intimidated by  his attitude when he left his buddies or got stuck on the trail not wanting to go forward for her.  I worked with her for a few hours when she came to pick him up, teaching her to sit properly and use her natural aids.  Once she kept her legs on him, learned to bend her horse (which is a form of getting your horse supple) and learned to sit properly and securely, her whole riding experience changed for the better.  So techinically I helped her improve the way she rode which fixed the horse.

The moral here is to improve the way you ride to improve the performance of your horse.  The more you learn about riding, the more you convey that to your horse when you ride and before you know what is happening, the two of you are working together for a safe and happy ride.

For more on training the perfect trail horse check out our website at www.baymountacres.com or contact me at sherry@baymountacres.com   704-902-7345.

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Learning the Obstacles

This is my quarter horse, Lakota. Not much to look at, but he is a very good trail horse. Not much in the arena, but then I rarely ride him in the arena. He is just a good dependable trail buddy. Goes through anything and over anything. Although, he is always hungry and does like to snatch a leaf now and again.

I have recently started building a trail obstacle course to teach the horses and my students more about trail riding. We have a lot of fun learning to walk the horses through the obstacles and then to ride them through. This is a great way to get over fears for both and to have fun with your horse.

Fall is a great time for riding with the days cooler and a lot fewer biting bugs. It is also a great time to have your horse in training as well as through the winter months when you won’t be riding quite as much. Here at Baymount Farm we train the horses from ages two years and up. We start them out in the round pen and continue through until they have plenty of saddle time to understand what is wanted of them for the basics of riding. More on our training at Baymount Acres Training.     We take our time in making sure the horse understands the lessons from the ground up before we get in the saddle. Then we build on each task or skill being sure to repeat as often as necessary until they have a good foundation before we move forward.  After we have established a routine for the horse that is safe, we invite the owner to take as many lessons as time allows for them to learn everything we have taught the horse.    This ensures safety, knowledge and an immediate fix to any problems that may arise when we are not there.  Training both the horse and the rider is high on our list of priorities when we are in the process of training the perfect trail horse. 

Contact me at sherry@baymountacres.com or  704-902-7345.

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It was a long process, and at times I became very frustrated trying to juggle that with my own riding business and lessons for myself, but I made it.  I just came back from 4 wonderful days in Ocala, FL at the Marion Therapuetic Riding Association where I attended a four day workshop and certification program.  Two and half days of classroom and hands on experience learning about disabilities, adaptive equipment, safety in teaching, plus a day and half certification in riding skills and teaching a 20 minute class to students with disabilities was enough to wear my nerves to a frazzle.   I was second in line for my evaluation to see if I had passed.   I have never seen 15 minutes pass so slowly while waiting for them to call me in next.  I just new I had blown the riding test, because I got so nervous I forgot the riding pattern.   But the test wasn’t about the pattern, but about my riding abilities.   So I passed!  

Then on top of that a biggie, and I mean a very biggie is remembering to close the gate after the riders enter the ring.  On the role playing part where I taught, I FORGOT to close the gate.   In a real situation that could have been disasterous.  And had I done that during my certification while teaching actual students I would have failed.  But I remembered to close the gate, however, in reverse, while they were bringing the horse up to the ramp for mounting, I FORGOT to have them OPEN the gate during the actual evaluation.  But this did not count against me because I remembered before I have the student mount, so all was safe.  Anyway, you had to be there to understand how important this is in the certification process. 

The important thing it, I PASSED!   And I am very proud to be a Registered Riding Instructor for NARHA.    Now this simply means that I can work at a center teaching people with disabilites to ride.  Eventually, I may open my own center, but that is a long way down the road.  My next step is to work toward my Advanced Certification.   This is a lot harder, requires more teaching hours, 120, and a lot more knowlege of disabilites and their relationship to riding.   This may take me a couple of years to achieve. 

Thankfully, I had three wonderful, and I mean really wonderful evaluators.   One was the Advanced Riding Instructor at the MTRA center in Ocala, FL, Kate Robbins.   She did an excellent job as host of the workshop and was extremely helpful in telling us the things we needed to know about the center while we were there and provided breakfast and lunch for us everyday.  Thank you again, Kate.  The other two were Lily Kellogg and Gail Pace from Texas.   They were just as wonderful at putting us at ease, answered all our questions, made sure we did not miss anything and were very forthcoming on constructive criticism and how to do things properly, safely and professionally.   Wonderful ladies, I really enjoyed them.  They all are great teachers full of compassion for people.   

Please look up the NARHA website    www.narha.org.   You will be amazed at how detailed and involved is this organization.

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It always amazes me how being with a horse opens up a person’s awareness of who they are and what they can do.  I have found a new niche in life after changing careers and re-opening Baymount Farm to the public again for lessons and training.  I have also found a new direction in riding that earlier I did not know existed to strongly in our society.  That is using horses for therapy for people with disabilities.   I volunteered last year with a NARHA (North American Riding for the Handicapped Association) Center in Concord, NC called Wings of Eagles.  That was a life changing experience for me literally.  Since then I have been working on getting certified as a registered riding instructor for NARHA.  

I will be leaving soon for a four day on-site workshop and certification program for NARHA.    I am a little nervous and have been studying a lot for this OSWC program.  I have two and half days of workshop with role playing, then a riding test (which should be a peice of cake?), then actually teach a 20 minute class to people with disabilities.  That I am really looking forward to doing.  Hopefully, after all this is over, I will be able to volunteer more time to NARHA centers in our area when I am not busy teaching my own lessons.   The great thing about NARHA certification is that is does not limit an instructor to people with physical disabilities.   We are trained to teach people of all levels; mental, emotional and physical disabilities and people without disabilites.   It has really opened my eyes in learning how to communitcate my instructions about riding to my students. 

There are many certification programs out there for riding instructors and I have looked into quite a few of them.  But the NARHA training is the only one that I have found that offers me what I wanted in training.   I have had to hone up on my horsemanship skills, riding skills, people skills, communication skills, barn management skills, training skills, and get CPR and First Aid certified before I could go to the  OSWC program.  I also had to take tests about NARHA standards and accredidations, learn about many disabilities, get 25 hours of teaching people with disabilities and learn to look at teaching in a whole new light.  In preparation for this I started taking more riding lessons myself in different disciplines just to make sure I was well rounded in my teaching practices.  There has been a lot of preparation for this as I said, but it has been well worth the process and I am excited to be going to the workshop finally.  Hopefully, my next blog will be about my actuall certification.  Wish me luck.

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This is part of what we do here at Baymount Farm.  Not only do we teach people to ride hunt seat, equitation, western or just to trail ride, we also train the horses for the trails in order to have save and fun all day rides.  I am lucky enough to have a wooded area in my back property for training.   We cross creeks, mount and dismount on stumps, go over gravel areas, learn to back uphill, walk over or jump small logs, accomodate hanging vines, trot over poles, open and close gates, walk calmly by scary objects, but much, much more.  We often have running and barking dogs, turkeys flying by when spooked, large equipment next door, or horses in nearby pastures wanting to play.   All these distractions just help in our training efforts to get a horse ready for the trail, so they can be ridden anywhere.    We also have a large pond for training them to go into a lake or cross a river.  The more exposure the quicker the horse becomes accustomed to different areas and the safer they are to ride. 

Take your horse out and have fun, but be safe.  Spring is here, they days are warmer and longer.  It’s the best time of year for training.

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I am concentrating  my efforts on not just riding and riding well, but skill games for balance, games for confidence building, safety around horses, games for spatial awareness while mounted, riding patterns and accomodating trail obstacles.  All very important steps in learning to be a safe, confident rider.  This is also a wonderful opportunity to stress the importance of dressing appropriately for winter riding.  Layer, layer, layer in equestrian sports is just as important as location, location, location is in real estate. 

Lots to do, lots to eat, lots of fun to be had.  The barn is equipped with a heater in case of ‘really’ cold weather, which hasn’t be a deterent yet.  The tack room is nice and cozy and the aisle is plenty wide to hold quite a few children and their horses.  The lesson horses here have had plenty of exposure to all types of riders and styles of riding.  This will be a treat for them as well.  Here are a few of the horse staff working that week.

These are just a few of the horses we will be using in our camp.  We will be having fun playing games, learning better riding skills and bonding with each other for an entire week to continue the Christmas spirit and bringing in the New Year!

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Recently, I had two very green 3 year old horses come in for training.  They had some ground work and saddle work done, but basically everything was new to them.  The owners needed a little help to get over the hump and continue themselves and I was happy to help.  These two horses had been pasture buddies since they were one year old.  They were very dependent on each others comfort for security.  However, this did not interfere in their training.  I put them in stalls on opposite ends of the barn and pastured them together in the evenings.   They adapted quickly and only whinnied to each other occasionally as if they were checking on each other. 

Training went quickly and easily as they are both very intelligent animals.  I always start out with basic ground manners:  standing, tying, grooming, picking up feet, bathing, clipping, moving left, right, back, forward, leading, bridling, saddling, using a bit, moving away from presssure, the walk forward cue, stopping with the bit, the one rein stop, etc.   All this I teach them from the ground before I ever get on their backs.  

I started with the male first.  It was interesting that he was very apprehensive about anything being above him and want to bolt everytime I got higher than him.  We worked on this quite a while just to be able to get on his back safely.  I put him in the round pen and started raising my arms up until he accepted that, then I used the rope or lariat to go over his back, around him and over his head until he was ok with that part.  Then I progressed to twirling it over my head and throwing it over his head, behind him and in front of him until he was ok with that.  However, he still did not want me above him.   We have a flat bed goose neck trailer that puts me quit a bit taller than him.  I walked back and forth on the trailer leading him alongside until he allowed me to pet him on the neck and head.   After that , me being above him was not a problem.  From their we progressed to riding.  He took to it quite well. 

However, his sister, who had already been exposed to the saddle, did not have a problem with me being higher than her.  I could get on without a hitch, but she spooked at different things in the yard or pasture.  (Needless to say, I do all my basic training and first time rides in a round pen.)  I did the same training on the trailer with her, but it did not make a difference.  So then I progressed to different desensitization techniques.  I got out our exercise ball.  I started out rolling it around her, under her, over her  and bouncing it until I could bounce it off her sides, rump and shoulder with her standing there.   Not a problem, but she still spooked under saddle if she saw something move suddenly.  So I started waving my arms around like a mad woman, doing jumping jacks, anything I could think of until she started standing there looking at me.  Then I rewarded her with lots of strokes and soft language.  She spooked less and less. 

Time went by too quickly and the owners took her home to finish her.  I cautioned them to keep her on a lead line until they were comfortable with taking her out alone.  They have since emailed me twice to let me know she is doing great and they are now riding her off the lead line and she is the first one at the gate to be worked.   Awesome.   That is what I like to hear.

Here is their testimony:      “ Both horses are doing great! I’ve started riding Zazzy last week off the lead line and she hasn’t spooked yet. She has started just looking at me like I’m crazy when I jump or do jumping jacks with her. She really acts like she is enjoying working, she’s always the first one at the gate and ready to go with me to the round pen. Had too give Sluggo a few days off due to a swollen leg, I think his sister kicked him, but doing much better and he did fine today when I started riding him again. We are very pleased with the progress they have made after being with you. Thank you again.”

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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.

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I had a wonderful client who brought his TWH to me to be trained as a trail horse.  This horse was a little spooky to ride, but boy did we have fun together.  She taught me a thing or two, like how to get over my fear of losing my seat when horse gets excited on the trail and wants to take off running and bucking.  She went back home at the end of her session at Baymount Farm and has become a favorite of my client.  Jazzy Plays Soccer  This same client has asked me to come to his farm and hold a two day clinic for his family.   I am happy to comply and very excited about this opportunity.  I plan to hold many more clinics in the future. 

This particular clinic will be customized to my client’s needs.  I will be teaching harnessing and driving TWH’s, giving riding lessons to his family, giving trail lessons and teaching how to handle horses properly.  The wonderful thing about clinics is that they can be tailor made to fit the needs of the individual.  Not all clinics need to be so organized that they become boring or a show of trick training skills.  I won’t be starting out by round penning, then moving onto sacking out, tacking up, etc.  I will be using their horses that they are already familiar with to teach them how to become better riders and drivers.  How fun is that! 

When I finish I am hoping the whole family will be confident enough that individually they can go out saddle up, or harness up and take off for a wonderful time with their horse.   Watch for the video of this clinic.  I think you will find it interesting. 

Happy Riding!

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