Despooking Clinic

Well, the worm has turned and the weather is finally nice here. At least it was until today and we have started out spring tune-ups on all the horses and are beginning to fill up the calendar with compeition dates.

Last weekend my good Curly friend, Linda, and I took our Curlies to the Despooking clinic at Sporthorse and had a blast. Once again, our Curlies proved their worth by accepting all the obstacles, responding with calm, curiousity and doing what we asked of them. I took our 4 year old gelding, Khatmoondhu, and we worked the obstacles first on the ground and then under saddle. He has only been ridden 3 times off our ranch and this was his first time under saddle at a new place for the year. I am proud to say that Dhuzie was awesome.

Linda did great as well with her remarkable horse, Legacy. And fun was had by all. Here are some great photos of the clinic and as you can see, my boy is finally growing up.

Up next on the calendar for Khatmoondhu is his first trial endurance race at the end of this month. We will only be doing the 15 mile trail ride because he is 4 and taking it nice and easy so he can become used to compeition without becoming "crazy". But before that my girls and my neice will be taking their minis and my 3 year old Curly gelding, Timbuktu, to compete at the Will Rogers kid's show doing different patterns and barrel racing. Show season has officially started!

Our Last Show

So, it's been awhile since I have blogged but to catch up on everything - we attended the Salute the Flag Show - All Breeds and Timbuktu, my 3 year Curly gelding amazed us by taking not only 1st in the Halter Geldings class, but also Reserve Grand Champion in the overall Halter class. He was awesome and really showed off his striking colors and great conformation. As well as being calm under pressure. Here we are with both of our ribbons.

Halter Class -

He also amazed us AGAIN by winning 1st Place in the Jumper in Hand class and the Hunter in Hand class. In fact, after the first round, the judge stopped the class to compliment me on him and his amazing jumping ability. I would just trot him to a fence, make a kissing sound and he would bound over it. WAY TO GO Timbuktu!!! You are just like your father.

We found out at this show, that we won the over Champion award for 2010 Jumper in Hand and Hunter in Hand classes we attended on this show circuit. What a day of suprises for us.

And now for the cutest pix in the world. My daughters showed their shared miniature horse, Comet, in the kids division. Here is Luna, my 5 year old, at the end of the show with all of her ribbons proudly displayed on Comet's bridle. They are attired in their Costume Class clothes.

Here they are in the Costume Class - Bella, the 3 year old, is leading Comet and Luna. They were fairy princesses and Comet was a unicorn. They won 4th place for this class.

Bella rode in the leadline class and is estactic from winning 3rd place. She was riding against 10 year olds!

Bella and kind, long-suffering Comet. Are they the cutest pair in the world?

Luna showed Comet at Halter and won! She not only won 1st place for Halter Geldings, but Reserve Grand Champion overall. Like mother like daughter. What a great weekend!

Luna, Bella and Comet - one last picture. Comet did enact his revenge for being pulled, lead and bossed around by a couple of kids all day. At the end of the show he "took off" with Luna - she easily reigned him back in, but I think he had had enough of the unicorn horn, puffy leg wraps and ribbons and said, "I'm outta here."

We have started training again after breeding with Traveler the last couple of months and are due for our next 3- Day event at the end of August. Oh boy - I am sore again.

Little Champions

This weekend was dedicated to my daughters and their horsie adventures. Both of them signed up for the 3-5 year old Little Buckeroo's Horse show and they practiced their gaming skills. Of course, the favorite race was the Candy Bar race where they run down to the end of the arena, grab a candy bar off of the barrel and run back again. It was a hoot - Luna, my 5 year old, was really into it and had a blast. She and Comet were Mighty Mites! Bella, the 3 yeard old, was more interested in try to get out of the arena to ride outside. Everyone had a great time and came home winners. Luna and Comet going full-throttle!

Bella - she was yelling, "no trot! no trot!" - so this is our full-throttle walk.

Again, here are my two speed demons.

Luna getting Comet to go around the barrels.

Waiting patiently for our turn to arrive.

My three little Mighty Mites - Comet, Luna and Bella.

You Better Belize It

Okay - we are back. Back from Belize and back to reality. It was a hard transition to come home again. About a 70 degree temperature change. Every other year we try and get to Belize for part of the winter. We had a great time, the horses survived - love those round bales - and now we are getting back into it.

Start lessons on Thursday - won't Traveler be surprised. (I am going to be so sore) - and then we are jumping right into training again. Scheduled events - training with Karen O'Neal starts at the end of March, we had better get our act into gear before then, the next weekend after that is the first endurance race of the season and our first USEA Event is in May. Seems like a long ways off from now - but we have a lot of ground to cover before then.

No more slow walks on the beach, drinks by the pool or reef diving..... I will miss the sun, but I won't miss the sand fleas. Nothing like burning bites waking you up in the middle of the night. The only one who didn't have a single bug bite was Bella, our 2 year old, she is just too ornery and doesn't stand still for a moment.

I have 7 horses that have had the winter off and now it's time to begin again. Here we go......

Pictures of a warmer time

Luna, Bella and myself walking the dock and looking for fish

Dad with the girls

Fun in the sun and sand

By the pool, getting ready to leave. I look so sad. (I am)

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to all! Here are our Scary Scary Pumpkins....

As for what's going on with the horses... we finally weaned Xanadu - our 3rd Curly Arab colt and turned him out with his full brothers. The girls were taken to the pasture across the street and almost to the point of out of sight, out of mind.

Neither mom nor the baby seemed to care initally that they weren't together until it began to grow dark. And the crying commenced. Thankfully it only lasts about a day - I'm sure the neighbors loved it. :)

Xanadu - 4 months old. He has the most white markings out of all the colts - and his markings are the most similiar to Traveler's coat.

Xanadu with his oldest brother, Khatmoondhu or "Khat" - our 3 year old who is really really fun to ride!

The two year old, Timbuktu - "got any treats?"

Eating away at the last grass of the year.

My Curly boy - he's a cutie!

Luna and Comet - off to the races (well, off to the horse show)

Here they are - the terrible twosome - Luna and her mighty steed, Comet. He might be little, but don't you dare tell him that, he thinks he's as big as they come.

This last weekend we had our final horse show - I have a few more 3-Day events planned and perhaps an endurance race, but this was it for our final horse show of the year. (At least, this is what my husband thinks...)

My helpers include my 2 year and 4 year daughter, so with them tagging along, I managed to wash 3 horses, work on all the basics and showing classes again and tame the horse's manes (not an easy feat, as you all know) to get them ready to show. By the end of Saturday, that was it - I was exhausted.

I took our 3 year old Curly gelding - Khatmoondhu, our 2 year old gelding Timbuktu and my daughter's mini to Arabian Heritage Farms for their horse show - open to all breeds.
Our results? It was a dual judge show - so everyone received 2 placings depending on the judge's preferences -

Khatmoondhu - Halter Geldings class, 1st and 2nd place

(He is awesome at halter!)

Trail in Hand Class, 3rd and 5th place

Timbuktu - Jumper in Hand Class, 1st and 1st place

Hunter in Hand Class, 1st and 1st place

Trail in Hand Class, 4th and 5th place

Timbuktu jumping the pattern with my encouragement. He had never donet this before!

Khatmoondhu and I showing off our 1st and 2nd place ribbons.

My "helpers"and I, heading back to the barn to get ready for the next class.

And now for Luna's results. She received 1st and 2nd place in her halter class with Comet. Isn't he handsome! (All kids under 10 years of age must be accompanied in the showring by an adult.)

Luna getting ready for her riding class. She was in a full class competing in the 10 year old and under class and received 5th place! Way to go - she's just 4 years old. And some of her competition were 9 and 10 year olds!

Luna - "caught in the act". She wanted so badly to be a part of everything with her horse we would catch her standing up on the trailer wheel-well and undoing Comet's lead rope so she could "walk him around to see the other horses".

Luna with all her ribbons - she also received 5th place for her Trail in Hand class.

And younger sister, Bella, who wanted so badly to be part of the action. Here she is helping Luna display her ribbons. Next year Bella, I promise, you have to be 3 to start showing your own horse.

(I know, I know Bella's absolutely filthy. But good grief, it was a horse show and I had enough trouble keeping 3 horses and her older sister clean for 5 hours.) A dirty child is a happy child.

It was a great learning experience for all of us, horse and people, and we learned lots, gained experience and reaped some rewards. Good deal.

Hello from the Pacific Ocean!

The horses have been just loving the last two weeks. We have been on vacation! The kids have never seen the Pacific ocean and so my husband and I decided it was time to go. We loaded up the RV, sans horse trailer, and drove 8 hours for the coast. We stayed at Kalaloch in the National Park and had the time of our life.

Visited tide pools.....

Played in the rocks.....

It was cloudy and overcast most of the time - welcome to the coast - but we still were out on the beach every second of the day. It was a nice break for us and the kids loved it. When we returned home Luna wanted to know if where we were headed next.

Well, this next weekend we have a horse show, so stay posted for updates. Luna will ride in several classes and I will show my two colts.

The horses were safe, fat and happy when we returned. They're certainly not going to stay that way for long.