Clinic Day at Sonrisa Stables

My first annual clinic at Sonrisa Stables. What a great place to be at. I can't begin to say how nice it was to meet the staff, parents, and students that came out to learn that day. I started off by working with their 4 yearlings headed for the San Jose BLM adoption event this weekend. We talked about pressure and release, herd instinct, moving their feet, and disengaging their hind quarters. After, the girls got to work with their yearlings while I coached. It was so cool to see the progress made in only a few hours. One team got their "first touch" and another was able to teach their horse to disengage instead of turn and run. Each game we taught them seemed to sink into their heads so quickly. I haven't worked with such young mustangs and it was certainly cool to see how they learn so fast! 

Working with one yearling and the other two wanted to see what was so interesting!

First touch

Sonrisa girls

Being groomed feels sooooo nice!

First time lifting a hoof

What a champ!

Learning to follow on the lead

Practicing their new moves

Touch!

A previous graduate of the Sonrisa mustang project

BIG THANKS to Karen for inviting me out. I look forward to seeing you guys again!

Good luck in San Jose :)

Big news...

The BIG NEWS is for once, not about horses! Anthony came out to the barn last weekend to help work the mares (or so I thought) and PROPOSED! I was so surprised, but of course I said YES!

It was a really special weekend and I am really glad the mustangs got to be a part of it. 

Dixie in a round pen session. I also began riding in the big pasture since the rain turned our round pen into a small lake. She has been doing really well!

Cinna-Man learning how to bow! It only took 2 carrots :)

Kay on Dixie

Karin ponying Dixie on Ranger

and then Trixie

We got a lot of rain this past week...

Color corrected picture, but still pretty cool! 

Alex came out to see what all the mustang fuss was about and fell in love...

I think this story will have a happy ending very soon!!!

April already?

Dixie's first trim!

Trixie lunging in full gear :)

Some "at liberty" training together

Dixie trying out some english tack

A little run after some hard work! 

I know the saying "time flys" but WOW, it really does! Next month (May 19)  Dixie and Trixie will be in the 2012 Extreme Mustang Makeover in Norco, CA. They will have to show everything they learned in order for them to find homes at the event. There are a total of 40 horses competing so that is a lot of pressure! Good thing both of these mares are wonderful and I have no doubt whoever they end up with will be very lucky :)

CONGRATS TO SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!

I am VERY pleased to announce Summer has been ADOPTED by the Carter Family! I am so happy they found each other ( and me!). I will continue to work with her and keep all the "summer fans" updated on the blog. Thank you to everyone who has emailed and inquired about this amazing girl. She really has found her 'happily ever after' family!

33.33333% done!

One month in, two more to go. Both horses are working well and I am proud that they have come so far in only one month!  

Dixie is so calm under saddle, it has been awesome to ride her around the pen. It is almost like she knows she has to be careful with me on her back!

Say hello to my brand new 2012 Maverick stock trailer! I was thrilled to get it, although the girls were not as impressed. In fact, they didn't seem to like it at all. 

After about an hour of work and a lot of food, Dixie finally decided to see what all the fuss was about. I am going to be very careful about making sure she enjoys her next trailering experience since the last time she was in a trailer she was still wild! 

Trixie not only had the saddle on for the first time, but also lunged and walked around in it. I was shocked to see she did not try to get it off or spook with it on. It was as if she just accepted it once it was on. She is a really smart horse, hesitant, but smart. Once she decides to do something, she is completely invested. It is just getting her to that point where she is willing to try! 

Check out her movement...wow! This horse is going to have an amazing career in whatever discipline she goes into.

What better of a way to end the day then a nice cool bath? She even took a little drink out of the hose!

We have a beautiful 300 acre piece of land that we can use for turnout. Of course that means I have to be able to catch DIxie and Trixie again! We have been working on taking walks together and finally I decided it was time...

they took off running! 

After a lap or two, they settled back down and we continued our walk. It was a great way to end a successful week!

A week in pictures

Lots of great thing going on in this amazing California weather! I figured I would just narrate the last week in pictures:

Summer has been amazing. Her steering and movement was a little 'sticky' the first few days of riding (which should be expected) but she seems to have gotten the hang of it after 2 rides. We practiced trotting figure eight's to get her listening and moving off of my leg. Once I was sure she could steer, we went out of the round pen and took a walk to the outdoor arena. We walked over a bridge, around poles, and then worked a little more at the trot. Then, an older mustang at the barn showed up to go on a trail ride down the street. We decided to tag along! It was incredible to see how confident this horse is under saddle. We passed traffic, bikers, joggers, dogs, and she was great! I am so proud of my little Summer. I can't wait until she finds her forever home. In the meantime, I get to enjoy working with her :)

Dixie is leading all around the property and exploring the trailer. This was her first time seeing such a small trailer. Her first ride was in a big stock trailer with 2 other horses, quite a difference from the last time she was in a trailer!

Trixie is getting used to taking nice walks and enjoying the mustard weeds! She may look into finding work as a weed puller in the future, lol!

Dixie worked really hard and was so sweaty that I thought it would be the perfect day to try giving her a bath.  I slowly introduced the water by letting it fall near her feet and then letting her sniff it. She shoved her nose into it and took a nice drink. She seemed to love the cool water in her body, and of course our little 'pig pen'was rolling in the dirt minutes after she got rinsed! 

Remy has been with me since July 25, 2011. He has been far and above the toughest horse to train. But you know that just means that he has taught me the most about training horses. I thought he should try and make a few other friends (besides me of course) and introduce him to the little pony on the farm. It seemed like they were two long lost friends, playing halter tag for almost the whole time they were together. It was nice to see him interact with another horse and I am looking forward to introducing him to some other friends soon. 

Here he is working under saddle. His movement is incredible and I just can't wait to see what this horse will end up doing. He will most certainly excel at anything he is trained for. 

Cinna-man! He loves to show off for the girls. Maybe he has some Arabian in him, that tail shoots straight up when he is showing off. It has been really great to see how he has grown and matured. 

Dixie preparing for the fly season! 

Trixie found a more fashionable way to ward off flies :)

Dixie and Trixie after 15 days of training:

The girls have made a lot of progress in such a short period of time! They are quickly becoming popular with my friends too! Trixie was following Kim around like a lab, it was pretty cool to see that these mares trust not only me, but anyone they meet that shows them kindness.

After lunging Dixie with all of her tack on, I started to practice mounting up. She never even batted an eyelash when I  put weight in the stirrup, a good sign! 

We decided to go for a walk and see all of the fun things on the property. Tarps, tractors, wood piles, you name it! Dixie took it all in, I was very proud! When it came time to go back in her pen, she was not very convinced that was such a great idea. It took a lot of time to get her to willingly walk back in. Poor Trixie was not happy she got left behind! I told her that in a few days she would be ready to take a walk too!

Karin has been making friends with Trixie. 

The saddle pad was a bit of a challenge, it took some time to convince her that it was not a scary animal trying to kill her. I think a few more days of practice and she will be fine with it. 

"What the heck is that and why is it on my back?!?"

I promised Trixie she could go on a walk too as soon as she was ready. Once Anthony came out and worked with her, I could tell it was time. She was following him around in the pen and so they took a walk outside. It was nice and uneventful, except for the few whinnies from the distressed Dixie who was not happy about being left behind. I figured that would happen so I was busy introducing side reins and lunging her while Anthony and Trixie were on a walk. 

You can see Trixie in the background, they both look great!

And finally, we decided it was time to take a little walk with a rider. It was so exciting to be in the saddle for the first time! Anthony was there to lead me around (and he got a ride too!) 

These last 15 days have been great, I can't to see the next 75!