Horse Agility??

So my partner brought up an idea last night...horse agility. She said you should do this with Pixie and or Navi. And you know what, she is right. It goes hand in hand with my liberty work and it would a fun way to improve our relationship. I think both of them would be great at it and have fun! So its my mission to do some research and start working on it :)

In other news, Navi is making great progress. Everyday she is learning more and more. She wears the bareback pad like its nothing, she is getting better at being ponied, and she is starting to understand liberty work. I can have her trot around me both directions off line :)

And here are some more pics from our winter photo session.

Finding Pixie's Daughter

I always wonder what Pixie's life was like before she came to me and before she made it to Roundup, MT. There is not a lot of information I know about her. Starting from when I adopted her...at adoption time I was told she born in 2001 the name of her Dam (Cedar Creeks Fairtale )  but the Sire was unknown. She came from the south and was starved with a baby at her side. The person I got her from nursed her back to health and then put her up for adoption. To try and find more info I turned to good old Google. I spend hours searching her name and for months nothing came up until early 2012 when I came across an old for sale ad for her. The ad was from North Dakota, it stated she had had 2 foals with 2006 being the last known foaling year. It also said she was broke to ride and had survived Hurricane Katrina. Using some of that information I continued to search for more, much to my disappointment nothing came up. I kept hitting dead ends so I took a break from searching until a few days ago. Much to my surprise this time when I googled her name a for sale ad popped up not for her though, but for a 2006 mare that listed Pixie Dust as her Dam! Could it be I was so excited to have found another lead...they had facebook and a website too!!! It still only had Pixie's Dam listed on her pedigree with unknown Sire, but it gave me hope that they would know more. I emailed them asking for info. They emailed back saying yes, Pixie was the Dam of their "Shanna" They had gotten Pixie from someone in KY who didn't know much about Saddlebreds. She was breed in Kentucky where they live currently. They trained her and did some trail riding with her. They breed her to their Warmblood stallion for her 2006 foal. They then sold her to someone in Florida. They knew that she had lived in KY, MS, and FL and where surprised to see that she had made it all the way to Montana in the 6 years after they sold her. While they didn't know a lot about Pixie's pedigree they helped fill in some more information for me :) It appears it will still be a mystery on how she ended up being for sale in North Dakota back in 2008. I will probably continue to search for history on her in hopes of filling in the holes in her background, but in the end if nothing more is to be found that is fine. I believe everything happens for a reason, so if I am meant to find out more I will. Her past is unknown, but her future is with me :)

"Shanna" American Warmblood Pixie's 2006 foal.

Navi wears a saddle!

The past two days I have been working with Navi a lot. We break up our time through out the day so she doesn't get burnt out or over worked. Two days ago I put the bareback pad (stirrups attached) on her for the first time. I was not too surprised when she didn't care one bit! That tends to be her nature, not a lot bothers her. When it does she will let you know by swishing her tail, nipping, or lifting her leg, she is not one to try and run away from the situation. I like that in her, I think it will make her a great trail horse. She hasn't actually bitten or kicked at us so its something we can't manage. A little attitude isn't bad :) Needless to say we carried the bareback pad around and didn't even bat an eye. We lunged w/t it made no difference to her.

Since that went so well yesterday I tried an english saddle. It something light, but has a girth and a bit more weight than the bareback pad. My BO was nice enough to let me use her saddle. She helped me get it on Navi and off we went to lunging. No fireworks!! Again she didn't even bat an eye. No big deal to her. We set up some poles and a small cross rail for her to go over. She trotted over those wearing the saddle like a champ! She even picks up her feet better than Pixie does! This is one smart little filly. I love her! She is stubborn, lazy, and has some attitude, but she is the perfect fit for me :)

Besides desensitizing her to tack and other items we continue to work on our liberty work. Side passing on-line is going well both directions. Lunging on-line is also going well. We are starting walk/trot off-line next to me and around me when given the cue. We are also working on lunging off line. I want her to lunge in a circle around me at a certain distance without the lead line. She is starting to understand when she goes to the right, but going to the left she is still leaving. She will stop and turn into me after she breaks out of the circle, but its a stop and go progress. Slow and steady wins the race, so she will understand soon enough. I am starting to see her offer behaviors to get rewarded for. She is starting to become a bit more lively moving off and picking up speed without being asked. I like that she has figured out she has some say in what we do when we train. By her offering behaviors I can catch and shape a behavior I want. It is important to me that my horses aren't afraid to try something new as long as that behavior isn't dangerous to me.

Great Day!!

I spent all day at the barn yesterday. Any day that is spent there is a good day :) But yesterday I had a great time playing with Pixie. She and I played at liberty for a while. She is getting so good! I love to see her trying to figure out what gets her the reward. Currently we are working on her learning to back up when I stand next to her tail and give her the cue. She is getting it on the left side, but struggles a bit more when I stand on her right. On her challenging side she wants to yield her hips and turn towards me. We made some progress yesterday, she was able to back up while I stood at her stomach. After working on the ground for a bit, I haltered her and jumped on her bareback. She was perfect. We worked on turning off leg pressure alone. We did figures eights around the arena with just leg pressure, no hands :)

 For a long time I had certain goals I wanted to reach with Pixie, I have reached most if not all of those goals, so now I decide where to go from here. Pixie and I will never show, she will always just be my friend and trail horse. Because of that sometimes its hard to come up with new goals.  Over time I will continue to teach her new things. I can't say what they will be, time will tell. The one thing I know for sure is that I will continue to strive for the best possible relationship with her. Something that can only be gained through time spent with her.

Later in the afternoon it was time for a picture session with Navi and Jess. A good friend came out to the barn and captured some stunning photos of the two of them.  I can't wait to get my CD of them so I can order some to frame.

Jess

Navi

Catching On

Navi's ponying sessions have continued. We are so lucky to have barn full of boarders who want to help :) Navi has been ponied by four different horses ( not counting ours) so far and she is finally getting the hang of things! Yesterday was her best session yet. By the end she was walking off at the exact same time as the other horse. I was proud of her! And I am very thankful to all of our barn friends that are helping us with Navi. Navi will grow up with a team of caretakers instead of just us.  

Yesterday was also the last nice day here in Montana for a while. We have a big winter storm coming our way with expected snowfall of around 10 inches and temps below zero. So we took advantage of the 50 degrees and rode outside. By doing this we reached a BIG milestone for Willow...she had her first bitless ride outdoors! My partner rode her in just a halter. Willow was fantastic! We even left the property and went down the gravel road. Pixie was a little up because of the wind, she even spook a little at one point, but Willow didn't follow suit staying perfectly calm :) After the ride came chore time in preparation for the winter storm. It was time to clean pens and fill water troughs.

Jess

Pixie

Haha...I caught her sticking her tongue out

Willow

Goals for Navi in 2013

These goals are in no particular order. I just listed them as I thought of them. Navi has a lot to learn before I ever think of getting on her. I am sure we will have bumps in the road as she will be my first start to finish horse. Notice that I don't have riding on here, that is because I don't plan on putting her first ride on her for at least a year. We are in no hurry to ride her, so I plan on waiting till she is at least 3 years old. 

GOALS FOR NAVI IN 2013

•   START TO UNDERSTAND LIBERTY WORK

•   YIELD HINDQUARTERS WITH VERY LITTLE PRESSURE
•   YIELD FOREQUARTERS
•   BACK UP STRAIGHT WITH LITTLE PRESSURE
•   LUNGE ON-LINE WALK, TROT, CANTER
•   LUNGE OFF LINE WALK, TROT, CANTER
•   TARGET HAND AND TOUCH ON COMMAND
•   LOWER HEAD ON COMMAND
•   ACCEPT HALTER GOING OVER EARS
•   ACCEPT BEING TOUCHED EVERYWHERE
•   SIDEPASS AWAY FROM ME IN BOTH DIRECTIONS
•   LOAD INTO TRAILER
•   DESENSITIZED TO MOST OBJECTS
•   GET A BATH
•   STAND IN CROSSTIES
•   LEARN TO BE PONIED
•   ACCEPT ROPES AROUND BELLY AND FLANK AREA
•   LEARN TO STOP WHEN FEELING PRESSURE FROM ROPE
•   WEAR A BAREBACK PAD
•   WEAR A SADDLE
•   WEAR A BIT AND BRIDLE
•   LEARN TO GIVE TO BIT
•   ACCEPT STRANGE OBJECTS MOVING AROUND HER
•   HAND-WALK ACROSS THE STREET
•   ACCEPT EVERYTHING BEING DONE ON BOTH SIDES