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September 18th Was the NWRDC Gymkhana. I took Bentley, my Uncle's Morgan gelding. We did pretty well. 1st place in the stake race. Two 3rd place, and a 4th and 5th place (I dont remember what I got what in.) I DQ'd in the…

Pretty much everyone riding is aware that trees come in narrow, medium, or wide, but did you know that those designations can refer both to the width of the tree (more about that in Saddle Fit Tip #9) and to the angle of the tree? If a saddle fitter tells you that your saddle is a…

So I'm pretty new to blogging, but I decided that I had a super day today and it would be fun to at least document some of it. Today was Treasure's third show of the year (second show away from home) and he was absolutely brilliant!! I think today was the first time he went to a show and didn't spook at anything - a milestone for sure! He was a bit quick for the judge's liking in our Western…

I've been on vacation, and that was quite nice. After the long weekend I took my mare down to Lethbridge (plus 3 cats), to visit Mom and Dad and the other three horses. My big girl is great in the trailer, but every time I put her in, I worry. I suspect part of it is just me being a worrier, part of it is that I've had some tires blow with her in the trailer, and had to change them. Now that went well, and I have a full set of new tires on the trailer (please people, after 5 or 6 years, just…

Today was a beautiful day. I tried to work all my horses but only got a few done. Its all good though.

I did ground work with Fergie, (Painted Beauty), (my newest baby a 3 yo paint. The filly from my late paint mare, B (My Bayou Beauty). I got her completely green. So I am starting from scratch.)

I lunged Fergie in the arena with a western…

My coach Belinda Trussell just headed off to the WEG training camp with her horse Anton and two helpers. Bonnie Bonello has had her lovely horse Pikardi at our barn and they went with our gang as well.

Photos and reports have just come in...

Hello everyone!



I'm very happy to report…

Hi Guys,



Attitude is a choice. You don't have to have a bad day. Here are 3 simple ways to insure that every ride you have with your horse is a great one!



1. Learn to see things in shades of grey.



Want to know how to have a great ride everyday? Stop expecting perfection. Don't look at training and competing in black or white terms. Instead, learn to see things in "shades of gray". The key to seeing shades of gray is to recognize…

Today I worked Lazz. (14 yo OTTB that I free lease. that came to me June 20th 2010 in really rough shape. He had no muscle and was quite thin.) We worked on things I read in Centered Riding the night before. I worked at calming my self and FEELING my horse. I also worked on my contact on the reins which is a big problem for me. I feel like Im being kinder with loopy reins but I know now that Im not doing him any favors. I had…

My latest, a little different from the rest. Not as outrageously funny, more poignant. What's important is the final message.

In it I make fun of everyone, myself included. It is of course completely ridiculous yet annoyingly true. I hope you all like it! (Dressage Queen with over 15,000 views is a hard act to…

The end of summer, and the beginning of fall. Beautiful cool mornings that turn into blast furnace afternoons. This time of year can be difficult for me while riding, the cooler morning temperatures mean it is too cold to wear my ice vest, but as my core body temperature rises during my ride the outside temperature is also rising. This means at the beginning of my rides my body works pretty well, but during the ride my nervous system deteriorates, and the horses…

Hi Julie,

Try to settle this discussion - please! Is posting on the correct "diagonal" only important in English riding? I always thought it was about the horse's balance in a bend....some say it's just not a "western thing"...and will post in a western saddle, but not with any regard for the diagonal???



Sharon





Sharon,

You are correct that posting…

I have decided that since it has now been a year since I started posting my blogs on Barnmice, I need to up the ante and increase the frequency to three times a month! So I will now be posting stuff on the 10th, the 20th, and the 30th of each month - especially since I keep adding stuff to my 'blog fodder' file. I keep finding stuff to write about and share with you!…