So why equine in sync you ask? Simply, I believe that a horse should be in tune with their rider, and the rider in tune to their horse. I do not believe in riding a horse with aggresion. For those horses who like to test, sometimes, a little force may be neccesary, but I believe that getting a horse to do what you what can be accomplished without striking them, or switching to a bigger bit, or putting on sharper spurs. I also believe that it can be done without bribing a horse with cookies, and without letting them be in your space and being dominant with you. There is a happy medium. No, I don't say, "I follow Natural Horsemanship", Im actually opposed to several big time NH trainers. I just follow what I have found works.
This blog is mainly just a journal for me to keep track of my horse training adventures, while providing a little entertainment for those who would like to watch my efforts. :) I regularly ride, start, and condition other people's horses, along with riding my own boy, Kolo. I have been riding in general for about 12 years but I have taken lessons for the past 8 and still do occasionally take lessons.
About me: I live in Western, Nc. Im homeschooled currently, and starting college next fall to get my occupational therapy assistant degree, and then hopefully going to get my masters and full o.t. license after that. While I have never shown at any shows of recognition, I show open circuits frequently and typically show other's horses for them, mainly hunter under saddle, or running barrels. I board my horse with a lady who runs a group home for mentally challenged adults, and I help her with the theraputic riding they do on occasion, and sometimes walk the girls through leadline classes for her. I hope to begin my dressage career with Kolo once he is under saddle completely. I also have waardenburg's. It is a genetic malformation that causes hand and foot deformation. <<< a mouthful huh?. So when I start posting pictures and videos of my rides, you are now aware, that no, it was not a tragic shark attack accident that caused this (though it is rather amusing to tell people that is whathappened).
My Riding Skills: I have shown hunter under saddle and huntseat equitation. I have schooled cross country in the past. I have jumped up to 3'6 flat jumps and 3' oxers, though that was about two years ago and I have not seriously jumped since due to starting to train horses instead of riding the school masters. I game horses on occasion, and mostly stick to barrels though I will run poles sometimes as well. I am basically a jack of all trades master of none. I dont claim to be wonderful, but I do claim that I know enough to place in lower level shows and get a horse through basic training.
While I only own one horse myself, I ride two others for my barn owner.
Kolo: Kolo is my personal horse. He is a 3yo friesian/arabian cross, about 15.1 and my dream horse. He is currently at a trainers barn being started, as I lacked an arena previously, and was NOT starting a 3yo who hadnt been handled in a 15acre field. He will be coming home within the next few weeks where I will take over his training. His previous owners were going through a rather nasty divorce, so he was only handled bare minimum, he got fed every day and had his feet trimmed every six weeks, but that was the only handling he had. While he still is rather impulsive and tends to get nervous easily, he is doing wonderfully, and now clips, bathes, picks up his feet, lunges, wears a saddle, and is now fine tuning his long lining skills.
Jessie: Jessie is my BO's arabian cross mare that she recently purchased. The girl that Jessie was purchased for to ride was too nervous to ride Jessie and wants nothing to do with her, which is understandable seeing as Jessie hasnt been ridden in 3 years, and is the epitamy of spazz attack arabian. She is quite the looker and stands around 15.2. I will be restarting her and hopefully attending a few shows next year.
Bailey: Bailey is my BO's 20yo QH mare. She's a pretty bay, about 15.3hh. She was once tossed out by the mounted police because they said she was insane and unpredictable, but she found her calling giving the handicap rides. She is not the unpredictable horse she was once called to be, and is semi-retired, occasionally giving pony rides, or having me giving her prescribed excercise to keep athritis at bay. Shes extremely spry at 20, and still w/t/c without problem, and while she has a mind of her own occasionally, she is an extremely kind horse and takes care of her rider. I hope to start working with her on some tackless riding to improve mine/her skills.
I hope you enjoy the blog, and hopefully some of my experiences will keep you entertained enough to keep you coming back ;)
Ride in Sync
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