Ollie In The Pasture

Hello!

~CBL

NEW HORSE!!! Meet: Cheyenne

Well, that was fast. 

Sold the mini's on Saturday, and bought our little Cheyenne today. 

I had been emailing the owner for about a week and a half  before the minis were sold asking questions about Cheyenne (her name was formerly Hope, but my family and I wanted a more Indian originated name). 

Anyway, today (even though it was my younger sister's birthday) my dad, mom, two little sisters, and I all drove an hour and half to meet Cheyenne. 

She is a barrel horse, and when I first got to the barn she stays at, I could see that her owners have her run all of the time. I asked about it and her owner said that every time they ride Cheyenne her daughter gallops her and that they have never been on a ride where they did not have her run. 

As I watched Cheyenne, I could see that when when her daughter asked her to canter, she did it, but it was obvious that she was saying "really!? I have to canter again!" As soon as I got on her and she found that she didn't have to run, she was like "Oh, this is nice. I don't have to run!" 

Can't you see Ollie in her!?

My mom rode her, and she did fantastic. Cheyenne is a 10 year old POA mare, and is 13.2....perfect size for lessons. After thinking about it for about 2 minutes, I decided (along with my mom and dad, of course) to go ahead and get her (did I ever mention i was a impulsive person?). 

For the first few weeks she is at our house, I will just do groundwork and show her that she does not have to run all over the place. I do not know exactly when she will be arriving, but sometime after the brand inspection this week or early next week.  She has a amazing mind and a kind eye. I actually see a lot of Ollie in her when I am walking her, riding her, or standing by her. I think she will have a great home here, and my dad and mom love her!

We got another horse! (well, pony actually but.....yeah).

~CBL

SOLD!!!

As you all know......

I put the mini's up for sale last week, and within just this week I got 5 people who were interested in them. I scheduled them to see the girl's, and yesterday evening the first woman interested came. I spent a total of 10 hours in the barn yesterday, with 6 of them being heavy cleaning, grooming, brushing, sweeping....etc. The barn is so tidy now you can lick off the floor....(which I wouldn't advise it..but it is true!).

Anyway, I let all of the horses out in case it could be the last few times they were together. They ran around, kicking, bucking and just having a grand time. Ollie made use of the soft dirt and rolled, then Sherman did, then Tucker..they all wanted dirt baths. 

Ugh. The annoying fact of having a white horse. 

I did more cleaning, and then it started to rain. A lot. the freshly groomed mini's got soaked and I was disappointing because I worked on them so much to get them looking nice. I just gave them another brushing and put them in the stall. 

The woman arrived, and I showed her how to tack Half Pint up, and then we drove her up the rode once. After Mrs. Richardson was comfortable, I got out and stood by the driveway while she drove back and forth a few times. Half Pint did amazing, and I was so proud of her. 

After Haffy was done, we went in to get Rosie. As Mrs. Richardson went to get her, Rosie bolted and wouldn't let her get near to put the halter on, which disappointed me because I really liked the woman. I squatted down and Rosie came walking over quickly to me. I haltered Rosie, and took her to the round pen to show Mrs. R the tricks Rosie could do. Rosie performed beautifully, and also did fantastic when Mrs. R tried them on her. Then I quickly harnessed Rosie and we took her out for a quick ground driving session. by this time it was 7:30, and about two hours after feeding time. Rosie started to act up, but I showed Mrs. R how to correct it, and then she did great. 

After we finished ground driving, Mrs. R decided that she wanted to buy them, and I couldn't be happier. She will be a great home for my little girls, we are going to do a first right of refusal, and she will try her best to update me on how they are doing. I am so happy about it, and now I am already searching for a nice small horse or large pony to take her place. 

My (or actually, Mrs. Richardson's minis) are leaving here next Saturday. It will be sad to see them go, but good because I can continue going down by journey as a horse woman.

~CBL

Horsey News

I am selling the mini's. 

Oh yeah, I am also moving to Texas. 

Woah. Wait. WHAT!? Alyssa must have gone crazy. How could she be possibly selling those little adorable 32 inches of horse. 

I am not being crazy at all. To hear the whole story though, you have to go back a few weeks to when I stumbled across one of this guy's videos:

This is Clinton Anderson. I have known about him for years, but had focused more on Pat Parelli and  the more "Natural"  side of horsemanship.  In the video above, he is using his techniques on his 19 year old Australian QH mare, Mindy. After this video, I found that he had a TV show (in HD!)  and  watched every single episode he had available. I was hooked.  I also got my mom and dad involved, and we spent almost every night for a week watching on how to fix bucking problems, fear problems, rearing problems, herd bound problems, etc. I did the work with Ollie and he has acted much differently (in a good way) ever since. 

For Mothers Day, my dad bought my  mom the whole Fundamental, Intermediate, and Advanced series of Clinton Anderson's training. In over 90 hours of video time, Clinton shows you how to get the same results he does on his horses and how he trains other people's horses. Mom cried, and I was ecstatic (about the DVD's). 

Anyway, Clinton has a training program for people too. If you are 18 or over, you can apply to his Academy. If you get accepted (only 15 people will be allowed into the Academy each year) you are professionally trained by Clinton himself for 1 1/2 years (for a Certified Clinician certification) and 3 years for a Professional Clinician. I would stay at his ranch in Texas  and work 4 horses a day. I then knew that going to his ranch and getting certified would be what I wanted to do after I graduated. After my mom and dad and I saw a  1 1/2 video of everything that happens for the 1 year and a half (which is what I would do) at his ranch, my mom and dad decided that it would be a good route for me to pursue after school. 

So..in 2-3 years I will (Lord willing) be packing my bags and going to Texas. 

Yes, Ollie has no halter on. 

Now, why would I be selling the minis??

Okay, so I need to start making more money in order to be prepared for Clinton's academy (and a little left over for misc. stuff). So, teaching horse lessons is a good option. However, I cannot do it on Ollie because he really enjoys testing people and would not be a good lesson horse. So, what I would have to do would be to sell the Minis and get a large sized pony or small horse that is very broke and kid safe.  While it is sad for me, it is time for me to move on, and the mini's aren't used as much since the big horses arrived. Both Half Pint and Rosie will go together and I hope to do a first right of refusal if the other person somewhere down the line decides to sell the Mini's.

I took Rosie's sale photos today.

BTW, here is her ad. Sadly the pictures are not working on the website, which is sort of irritating.
http://www.horseclicks.com/red-wine-and-roses/horses/801707#FiXZmw5e4rXJpCJB.97


Because Rosie and Half Pint are leaving soon, I have been spending a little more time with them, and just playing with them a little. In the pictures below some leftover runoff from the snow of Mother's Day made a temporary pond and I brought Ollie and Rosie out for some fun time in the water. They both enjoyed it.

                                                           The snow on Mother's Day. 

I will keep you updated on the Minis' status and my search for another horse! 

~CBL

Out Of The Slump

I think I may be out of that hobby slump I talked about. 

I bought a model horse at Dover Saddlery a week ago or so. He is modeled after Picasso, the wild Mustang in Sand Wash Basin, CO. Breyer decided to use the Desatado mold. Breyer did a great job on this model, whom I have affectionately named Midnight Tango or "Peppermint" (after my dad saying "He looks like a peppermint.") He is also super photogenic and has got some great angles I can capture behind my camera lens. 

His markings are very clean and his color is stunning. He does have a little bit of overspray on one side of his head, underneath the chin. However, he is still great to me. 

Midnight Tango gave me the extra boost I needed to stay in the hobby. I have started re-working my pedigree website, Wintergreen Park and added/am adding extra features. Other models are also being added. If you would like to check it out, here is the link. http://wintergreenpark.weebly.com/ Still has a long way to go!

~CBL