Tees 4-H Wranglers Clinic with Flattop Horsemanship At Vic Almond's Arena

Well, to say that this weather we have been having is annoying is likely a pretty big understatement.  However, we didn't let the weather deter us from having a great clinic with the kids this weekend.  Marty and Yvonne trekked up from Stavely with 3 horses and we rolled out the Wrangler Red Carpet for them.  The weather was absolutely awful on Saturday, so Vic generously offered to fill up his stalls with our horses so that none of us were risking life and limb or that of the horses on the way home.  So, we had 2 great days of learning about pressure and the release of pressure and how that applies to everything we do with our horse!  It was a great reminder from the clinic we had in the fall and the kids and adults alike got a lot out of it.  Marty and Yvonne are terrific to work with and a good time was had by all!

Ranch Horse Versatility Clinic - Cochrane April 2013

April 6 & 7 - Diary of our journey

In March, I made a selfish life choice and bought myself a new horse.  Lucky for me, my husband is one of those patient, supportive, good guys that believes in happy wife, happy life.  Yes, I know what you may be thinking, we do have horses, LOTS of them.  However, in my whole entire 35 and a half years, I have never owned a broke horse.  I am not talking about a horse that has had some training and needs miles and work, I am talking about a broke horse.  A horse that knows what the job is, knows how to do all kinds of things, a horse that knows more than I do and can teach me.  A horse that would allow me to learn ways to teach our young horses the finer points and to teach my kids and 4-H members easier way to do things.  So, that's the kind of horse I bought. 

Lucky for me, we have made some great connections in the past year that allowed me to have some terrific people come into our world, which in turn brought Nevada in.  So, our adventure begins.  Josh's one and only stipulation to our making the decision to purchase another horse was that I had to have some specific goals with him.  So, my goal for the year is to try to get out and try some showing with the Alberta Ranch Horse Versatility Association and maybe a few fun light horse shows as well. 

This past weekend, Nevada and I loaded up and headed down to Cochrane for a 2 day clinic that was part introduction to the sport, part skill enhancement and part fun.  I had only ridden Nevada 5 times before this clinic, so it also served as large part "get to know you"! 

 

 Mom and Rylee met us in Cochrane on Friday night and we had some pool time and a good visit.  Then Saturday morning it was time to get our game face on.  First up was Ranch Trail. 

We had no troubles with the bridge, trot poles, sidepass, etc.  We learned that Nevada is a bit oversized to go through a 5 foot wide gate, lol.  But we did it.  My ability to rope air is phenomenal! 

After that we worked through the transitions that make up the Ranch Riding pattern.  After lunch we had some more fan support show up when Josh and Jordynn got there as well as Wardley's and Morgan!  We worked on some reining pieces after lunch.  It was a great chance to work through some of the paces and really pick up on each others quirks and jerks and perks :)

After dinner, I was so happy to be enjoying the weekend that Josh, the kids and I went back to the arena and I rode bareback for another 45 minutes.  Addicted???

Sunday we got to play with the cows.  FUN!!!  We worked on Ranch Cutting and boxing, etc.  My horse may or may not have tried to eat a couple cows, lol.  If they got too close to his mouth, he thought they would make a good afternoon snack.  A person could get easily addicted to that part of it!  We had a lot of fun sorting, boxing and tracking.  Fun, Fun, Fun! 

Anyhow, it was a super fun weekend for me because I got to forget the world for a couple of days.  Just me, my pony, some like minded individuals and a lot of fun getting to know the horse and some more ins and outs of this discipline.  Took me back to my youth when all that mattered in the world was the next time I could get my butt in the saddle and ride!  And the plus is, after 2 full days of riding new horse in new saddle, I am not even sore!  God Bless Billy Cook for that!  Can't wait to see what the summer brings!