The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread EIGHT

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[linkinpunk]

The new TB has done 3rd level dressage, eventing, jumping, etc.

This will help my daughter move up in skills and experience. Because my daughter is SO attached to her Arab that has limited skills, she has limited her own experiences.

So we told her she could do some Arab shows next summer with him but do 4-H with the new TB. (our 4-H is pretty complete- English, Western, Dressage, Jumping, etc.)

So hopefully she will broaden her horizons and try new things.

[FrogInABlender]

...She needed a little help. 2 eggs were taken. Even though, she was told if both used she might have twins, they were both her babies and that was alright.

She's a lucky girl. I tried the invitro thing for a couple of years and had no luck, but I was 36 yrs old before I started, so the odds weren't in my favor anyways. This clinic would implant 4 embryos at a time and I was always a little worried about what would happen if they all "stuck". But it never happened and it was just as well. I have horse and cat kids, plus my great niece and great nephews. I can play with them but they get to go home with their parents when they're bad. How much better could it be? ;o)

[HairOfTheDog]

I do hope you take some pictures!

[FrogInABlender]

Wow! Sounds like a really nice horse. Your 4-H program sounds really nice too. I wish they'd had all that when I was in school. I always wanted a horse but I was just a city kid and had to wait until I got out on my own go get my first horse. Your daughter should be proud to have such a nice Dad.

[FrogInABlender]

I'm going to a Pat Parelli seminar tomorrow in Shelbyville, TN. A friend of mine is a Parelli Club member and got several free tickets so I'm going with her and her husband. I've been to them before and about all they're good for is demonstrating what is "possible", and getting people fired up to buy their instructional material and training tools. But they're always entertaining and there is some good information presented as long as you don't think that that's all there is to it. I'll take the camera and try to get some pics. It'll be in an indoor arena and there are really no bad seats, but it'll be hard to get decent pictures from that far away. I'll give it a shot though. He does a lot of liberty work and will almost always will jump picnic tables bridleless. It's pretty fun to watch.

[HairOfTheDog]

Hey that does sound fun. My friend Tiff is doing Parelli stuff. She didn't do a real seminar, there's someone else she's going to who's teaching the methods.

[FrogInABlender]

She's probably taking classes from a certified instructor. There's a couple within driving distance of me. I went with this same friend to a weekend Level 1 class a couple years ago that was taught by a lady named Carol Coppinger who lives east of Nashville. It was really great and I learned alot. I took Tennessee and he did really well. My friend went on to get her Level 1 certification and is working on Level 2. Like I said earlier, she's a member of the Parelli Club (at a cost of $25 a month) and has gotten into it bigtime. She and her husband go out to the Parelli International Study Center in Pagosa Springs, CO for the Savy Conference that they have every September. She also won a week long class down at his place in Ocala, FL. I'd like to do more of it myself, but I just never seem to find the time.

[HairOfTheDog]

I think it's someone who is studying for official certification? It came up that the woman wasn't certified but was practicing on Tiff LOL...

[FrogInABlender]

Ooooh. Could be the blind leading the blind then. The lady I went to is a Parelli Certified Instructor who certified to teach through Level 4. Being certified as an instructor is different from "getting" certified at a particular level. You know how it is. Just because you get certified to do something doesn't mean you're qualified to teach it to others. There's another lady around here who's closer to home who "teaches" Parelli methods, but she's not certified and she doesn't teach pure Parelli, it's kind of a mishmash of Parelli and some of her own ideas. The real deal is kind of expensive. I paid $285 for the weekend back when I took it and I think it's closer to $350 now. So I can see why counterfeits might look appealing. The tickets for this seminar would've been $65 if bought in advance and $100 at the door for non-Parelli-Club-members. I wouldn't be going if I had to pay for them myself.

[HairOfTheDog]

Tiff would never pay to do the real thing. - she's cheap. :~D

I don't know how good the lady is, though Tiff's been trying to encourage me to go. She's taking her two young ones... a 3 year old and the yearling that came here. She's doing mostly ground work with them.

To me, it really doesn't matter how good the purity of the Parelly method is there, any time Tiff spends doing ground work is a good thing. She took her young horse out on trail about the third time she'd ever climbed on, figuring she'd be fine if she could follow the other horses. So the horse has never had any real training, it usually bores Tiff to tears to do any basics.

But I'm encouraged that she's going... she's also interested in the Tuesday night riding at the local arena that we keep putting off going to. So, good for her. :~D

[FrogInABlender]

Hey, there's nothing wrong with being cheap. I'm so tight that Lincoln squeals every time somebody hands me a penny. ;o)

But you're right about anything being better than nothing. I'm guilty of falling into the "do nothing" category. The only time that's not true is when whatever you're doing is counter productive. So sometimes the method does matter.

[HairOfTheDog]

I'm guilty of falling into the "do nothing" category.

Oh I don't think so.... you sent yours to training with a pro, and that counts for something, even if just a sense of self-preservation!

Tiff is fearless, very athletic, and has lived her whole life by the seat of her pants.

She gives me nods about how slow and easy I do things, processes I believe in, conservative and careful, then she takes off runnin'. Ordinarily I'd say she was bound for disaster, but you know, she's gotten away with it for so long that I have to admit, she's just charmed that way. Life at the edge of the envelope.... With a beer and a big grin on her face.

Her son (below in front) is just like her. That kid (when he was 6) got dumped off my pony 20-30 times before Tiff gave up on her and gave her to me. But it didn't make him afraid.

What's the saying? "Blessed are the risk-takers"?

That's why it's an odd turn of events for a 'whup and go' gal to get into these 'seven' games activities... One of those contradictions in life that make me go "hmmmmmmmm".

[FrogInABlender]

...That's why it's an odd turn of events for a 'whup and go' gal to get into these 'seven' games activities... One of those contradictions in life that make me go "hmmmmmmmm"...

Well, there's an old saying that goes "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got". It may be that she's seen the results that you CAN get with hard work and practice and has decided she would like to have horses that behave like that too. It's never too late to learn something new. That's why I enjoy talking to everyone here. We've all got different perspectives and tricks that the others can benefit from.

[FrogInABlender]

Oh, great pictures by the way. Especially the one of her son standing up on his horse's back going down the trail. He looks like a cool kid.

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, and I think what's changed is that she's now trying to break and train two young ones, and when tested, they don't behave like those old trusty horses she's got.

Someone laid a lot of groundwork for that Grey Arab and the chestnut QH the boy is on to behave the way they do in the scenarios Tiff ends up in :~D.

[HairOfTheDog]

He is a cool kid as long as someone else raises him. :~D He's gonna be capable of big troubles, and you'll never catch him.

[HairOfTheDog]

someone else

Besides me, that is. His mom's doin' fine with him.

[FrogInABlender]

...someone else ... Besides me, that is.

I understand completely! ;o)

[HairOfTheDog]

Oh, great pictures by the way. Especially the one of her son standing up on his horse's back going down the trail.

A photograph is the only way to describe how those two are. I've got others where they are going down trail trying to wrestle and pull each other off the horse.

And all the while, while they're having a grand old time, I'm thinking about how hard it's going to be, 10 miles from anywhere, to get that kid back on the horse with a broken arm, screaming the whole way because it hurts to move, all the way back to the trailhead. And I end up with knots in my stomach, and the worst never happens to them.

She's a blast sometimes, but I so much prefer the relative quiet and peace of riding with my husband, just us. :~D

[FrogInABlender]

Some people do seem to lead charmed lives. If it was me, I'd break my neck in 5 minutes doing that kinda stuff.