All Blog Posts Tagged 'john harrer' (16)

Clinton Anderson Las Vegas Walkabout Tour Stop 2010 Part 2

Sunday

I arrived the arena at 7am and one volunteer, Keely, was there. The Downunder folks hadn't shown up yet. Shana was rehearsing with Jillaroo for her trick riding demo, so we watched for a few minutes. When the crew came in our first chore was to wipe down all the graphics and displays and then fill in any missing merchandise from the previous night.

Clinton had had a crew doing interviews with guests, crew, vendors, and… Continue

Added by John Harrer on June 18, 2010 at 5:00pm — No Comments

Clinton Anderson Las Vegas Walkabout Tour Stop 2010

Last Thursday I headed off to Las Vegas to volunteer for Downunder Horsemanship's June Tour stop. This was my fourth tour stop, and my second stint as a volunteer.

Some of my friends and family wonder why I take the time and expense to work my ass off for two and a half days, essentially for free. Let me see if I can explain. It may sound corny, but it's my blog, it's supposed to be corny...

I don't have many natural talents. When I… Continue

Added by John Harrer on June 17, 2010 at 7:51pm — No Comments

A Quick Update

Well, I don't know what it was, but it appears to be gone. Jessie seems almost back to 100% as measured by how much she kicks up at feeding time. She doesn't kick up excessively but I can entice her to kick up if I make a few playful moves or if she is just feeling "perky".

The swelling in her pasterns is down. I'm still a little concerned with the crack in that hoof. I'll keep an eye on it. The farrier is do out week after next.

It's what I call a fugitive occurrence or,… Continue

Added by John Harrer on May 27, 2010 at 5:11pm — No Comments

Trouble in Paradise?

So far I've had Jessie for three + years and thankfully no health issues. We were scheduled to leave town for a family wedding 250 miles away last Friday. Thursday night I came home and was busy getting ready for the trip. About dusk I went out to see Jessie and noticed she seemed a bit lethargic. I went in and rubbed her and she felt warm so I took her temperature...103.4. She was eating her dinner, her stools were normal, her rear pasterns were a bit swollen but held no more heat than the… Continue

Added by John Harrer on May 25, 2010 at 2:29pm — No Comments

Horses have us figured out!

After 55 million years of evolution, you gotta believe they have us figured out. So much so, that I believe there's a book of tricks hidden somewhere. They all have it. They all know the tricks. You know what I mean. Leave the reins in the wrong place - they get chewed on. Trying to take a picture - your "stone still" horse appears to be standing on an ant hill. Late for a trail ride - your horse decides the trailer is "just not for me right now". There… Continue

Added by John Harrer on May 20, 2010 at 2:32pm — 2 Comments

Five Days Straight

I'm not a morning person, but I will get up if there is an opportunity to ride Jessie. We rode Thursday and Friday mornings before work and got two two-hour rides in on the weekend, then another hour ride Monday morning. I don't know about her, but I'm a little sore.

The Sunday ride was out to the city farm area. There are a lot of natural obstacles like this ditch to cross.…

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Added by John Harrer on May 18, 2010 at 4:06pm — 2 Comments

A Conversation with Jessie

I was up at six and had the horses moved and Jessie saddled by six-thirty. Armed with with my index card of exercises, fresh from re-watching the DVD's for the ??th time, we were ready to go.

The first exercise, Yield-to-Stop at walk, trot, and cantor, went pretty well. Jessie stops easily and isn't crazy about yielding or flexing, but I could feel her trying and getting softer in the process. The next exercise is the same except I add a bending circle around my inside leg and her head… Continue

Added by John Harrer on May 13, 2010 at 1:11pm — No Comments

We try to take the trailer out at least once a month. Family obligations are taking up many of the May weekends so we decided to take another river ride on Saturday. It was a beautiful day and we pla…

We try to take the trailer out at least once a month. Family obligations are taking up many of the May weekends so we decided to take another river ride on Saturday. It was a beautiful day and we planned to ride out to a little bar about 4 miles away, have a beer and a snack, then head back.

I always feel like I should be doing…

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Added by John Harrer on May 11, 2010 at 1:28pm — 2 Comments

Of Riding and Training

The sun is rising earlier. The sun is setting latter. The opportunities to ride are more plentiful. Anyone who has followed this blog or it's shadow on blogger (Training Jessie) knows that I'm trying to work through all the exercises in the two Downunder Horsemanship's Gaining Respect on the Ground and Riding with Confidence… Continue

Added by John Harrer on May 7, 2010 at 6:30pm — No Comments

I Love Gadgets

I love gadgets. I'm also pragmatic and I have to rationalize their purchase or I am left to just admire them from afar. Like the ipad, for example. A very cool machine, but I don't have enough of a reason to justify the expense...yet.

One gadget I picked up a couple of years ago, my Garmin Forerunner 201, is a very cool tool I use while riding. The Forerunner 201 is an outdated model now. If the folks over at Garmin would like me to review the newer models, and they have an old… Continue

Added by John Harrer on May 5, 2010 at 2:57pm — No Comments

A Little Riding - A Little Cleaning

Friday night we had tickets to the rodeo... It was fun except for the second bareback rider got hung up and then under his horse. They said he was okay, but they took him out by stretcher anyway. Those guys are crazy tough.

Saturday morning I had to get more hay. The rain and cool weather has limited the supply. Most farms are just now cutting their second, so I opted for getting more of last year's hay. It looks good.

We rode for about 2 1/2 hours Saturday afternoon. Mostly… Continue

Added by John Harrer on May 3, 2010 at 6:46pm — No Comments

Catching My Horse

I've only owned two horses (and my wife has owned two), I've played with a couple more and I'm relatively new to natural horsemanship (about 6 years). My point is, I'm not always sure if the behavior I see in my horse is due to my fab skills or just that I have a good horse (I'm fairly certain it's the horse). I don't really think it makes much of a difference as long as I am getting the behavior I want.

Here's what got me thinking about this: Catching my horse. I understand some folks… Continue

Added by John Harrer on April 22, 2010 at 2:44pm — No Comments

A Busy Weekend

Friday evening I got home in time for a short ride - which was perfect. We worked on riding out by ourselves. Everything is always scarier when we are alone. One of the houses along the canal we ride had goats tethered to keep the weeds and grass down. They were a very scary looking bunch. Jessie did well and as soon as she relaxed we turned around and headed back.

Saturday the weather was perfect and we decided to trailer out to the… Continue

Added by John Harrer on April 19, 2010 at 7:11pm — 2 Comments

The Days Are Getting Longer

It's been a busy week, but I was saving Thursday evening for a ride. One of the disadvantages of my job is that I do not get off until 5:30 pm. It's been impossible to get home and ride before darkness falls. Last night I rushed home, changed clothes, got Jessie ready, and was saddled by 6:15.

Our neighbor was out and about and I asked if we could use his arena. He said yes. This was a real treat for us because the rains had the ground packed and it wouldn't be too dusty. We went over… Continue

Added by John Harrer on April 16, 2010 at 2:46pm — No Comments

Weekend Tidbits

Well, after writing about vaccination and worming schedules last week I went to the vet's to pick up the vacs and talk to them about Jessie's sensitivity to the flu vaccine. There were two vets in the lobby and as the senior vet was talking to me about trying to give the vaccine intra-nasally to reduce the risk of reaction the younger vet was nodding her head. Two "yes" votes - motion passed. Four vaccinations $127.

Clinton Anderson had talked about giving vaccinations in the chest… Continue

Added by John Harrer on April 12, 2010 at 8:14pm — No Comments

The Care and Feeding of Jessie and Dusty

Thought you might be interested in how we keep our horses. Here's a little run down:

We live in Southern California. We have two quarter horses on our 1/2 acre property. Each horse has it's own 40' x 40' pen. Unfortunately, we do not have cover for them yet. Our climate is temperate and our rainfall averages less than 6" a year. Both my wife an I work so we clean pickup the the manure twice a week Thursdays and Sundays. It's taken to the green waste facility. We use… Continue

Added by John Harrer on April 9, 2010 at 1:00pm — No Comments