After being spread so thin all these years with all the horses, it's been a slow, sputtering start to making plans again. I think, after toying around with the idea for years, I'd like to try and start training Bo for Reining. I've had an interest in that event for many years and I have always thought Bo might have the makings of a good Reining horse. He has the build for it and is a nice mover. He's willing and has a good disposition.
We have a LONG way to go to get there. Most of the required movements are things I've never done before and have never trained a horse to do. Things like flying lead changes, spins, and sliding stops... Then there's the fact that Bo is not very soft at all. He's got a good, soft mouth, but he's kinda lunk headed and doesn't have much finesse as of yet. A lot of that is my fault; back when I first started him I didn't know much more than how to get a horse rideable at a very basic level. He is very willing to please though and has a great mind. I foresee a bit of starting over in some areas.
Compound all of that by both Bo and I being pretty out of shape right now. Yeah, it's gonna be a bit of an uphill battle from the start.
I would like to put him in some local open shows this summer in whatever classes we can get ready for. I had planned to start with stuff like Walk/Trot classes and maybe... maybe Novice Reining - if we can get anywhere close to being ready for that. We both need a lot of conditioning and need to learn a lot more together.
I think it will be fun and if we can go to some shows and not make fools of ourselves, having done most of the work on our own, it'll be great.
Showing posts with label dreams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dreams. Show all posts
Monday, January 30, 2012
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
The End of an Era
First off, I have to be the world's worst blogger... Once again it's been almost a YEAR since my last post. *sigh*
For anyone who doesn't know and might come across this blog and the possible cliffhanger of my last post... I'll give a super fast update. I decided to name the mustang Calen. His training went well, but we did not go to the competition in Fort Collins. It was right around the time of the EHV-1 scare and it turned out that a man where I keep my horses had taken a real liking to Calen and wanted to adopt him. So I was allowed to swap from the Makeover into their Trainer's program and let the man adopt Calen straight from the BLM and me, without going to the competition. I was sad to have missed out on going, but overall I think it was a great outcome. Calen got to stay right here where he was comfortable. This man is good with his horses and takes excellent care of them. Best of all I still get to see Calen every day!
On to my post of current events...
----------------------------------------------------
Ok, so my title might be a bit dramatic but, for the first time in almost 12 years I only have one horse. (and I almost had none)
A few months ago as a result of health problems, escalating hay costs, and I'm sad to say some general burnout on a lot of fronts, I decided to find homes for my horses, Hay has been twice what it normally costs all year - when I can find it. With winter coming I didn't want to get into a situation where I couldn't feed my horses. I felt financially, physically, and emotionally exhausted. At one point I had decided that they were all going to go, I just couldn't do it anymore. The horses, the trailer, the truck, the tack, anything that said horse was going to go. Luckily my husband talked me out of such drastic measures and he wanted me to keep Bo.
I first saw Bo when he was a month old; he'll be 11 next year. Over the years he has been my faithful compantion, my steady mount, the one I can "put away" for months and then go for a ride like we were never apart. Over the years this has caused him to be put on the back burner while I worked with a string of youngsters and training projects - both mine and other people's. As of last week when my last other horse left, it's just Bo and I. It never really has been just Bo and I. From the time I first had him, I had at least one other horse and at most, 6 other horses. All of the other ones needed more work, more training, more attention.
Through it all, Bo just watched and waited. Now he will be my focus.
I've had a lot of dreams with horses flicker and die out over the years as life and a string of bad luck after bad luck interfered. I've been trying to stoke the fires for the plans I once had with Bo, before getting sidetracked by all of the youngsters who came along and all of life's inevitable interruptions. I think maybe next year he and I will finally do more together. I'd like to show him and spend a lot more time riding in the mountains.
This is the first time I've ever had just one horse, but what a horse he is!
For anyone who doesn't know and might come across this blog and the possible cliffhanger of my last post... I'll give a super fast update. I decided to name the mustang Calen. His training went well, but we did not go to the competition in Fort Collins. It was right around the time of the EHV-1 scare and it turned out that a man where I keep my horses had taken a real liking to Calen and wanted to adopt him. So I was allowed to swap from the Makeover into their Trainer's program and let the man adopt Calen straight from the BLM and me, without going to the competition. I was sad to have missed out on going, but overall I think it was a great outcome. Calen got to stay right here where he was comfortable. This man is good with his horses and takes excellent care of them. Best of all I still get to see Calen every day!
On to my post of current events...
----------------------------------------------------
Ok, so my title might be a bit dramatic but, for the first time in almost 12 years I only have one horse. (and I almost had none)
A few months ago as a result of health problems, escalating hay costs, and I'm sad to say some general burnout on a lot of fronts, I decided to find homes for my horses, Hay has been twice what it normally costs all year - when I can find it. With winter coming I didn't want to get into a situation where I couldn't feed my horses. I felt financially, physically, and emotionally exhausted. At one point I had decided that they were all going to go, I just couldn't do it anymore. The horses, the trailer, the truck, the tack, anything that said horse was going to go. Luckily my husband talked me out of such drastic measures and he wanted me to keep Bo.
I first saw Bo when he was a month old; he'll be 11 next year. Over the years he has been my faithful compantion, my steady mount, the one I can "put away" for months and then go for a ride like we were never apart. Over the years this has caused him to be put on the back burner while I worked with a string of youngsters and training projects - both mine and other people's. As of last week when my last other horse left, it's just Bo and I. It never really has been just Bo and I. From the time I first had him, I had at least one other horse and at most, 6 other horses. All of the other ones needed more work, more training, more attention.
Through it all, Bo just watched and waited. Now he will be my focus.
I've had a lot of dreams with horses flicker and die out over the years as life and a string of bad luck after bad luck interfered. I've been trying to stoke the fires for the plans I once had with Bo, before getting sidetracked by all of the youngsters who came along and all of life's inevitable interruptions. I think maybe next year he and I will finally do more together. I'd like to show him and spend a lot more time riding in the mountains.
This is the first time I've ever had just one horse, but what a horse he is!
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