Schooling and Showing

May was a lot! And all of it was awesome! After the awesome experience with the Alberta Ballet, we had a site visit to Westlock Continuing Care and then started schooling days. First we went to Minds Eye Ranch. Ali and I took the 4 driving ponies, Falcor, Jasmine, Phillippe and Toast, and had a great time exploring the grounds. Ali got Toast going through the water without hesitation. I didn't push Falcor for that, but Phillippe did have a go through. Not happy, not fast, but we got there. Our good friend Brooklyn brought out her jack Norman and had a great go with him too!

The following weekend was the Sparrowhawk Spring Fling. It was the very last of these events as the event hosts are retiring and moving on to other adventures. We spent 2 nights with the 4 littles. Ali and I camped in our 2-horse bumper pull trailer. We had some canvas slings made to fit into the stalls. It wasn't perfect, but it worked well enough. The littles were golden in the electric fencing with a little solar powered charger. It was a great dry run for the Bonanza coming up in July where I'll be away for a full week! Falcor schooled his first full marathon course. Toast and Ali went ahead of us, but we went for every step of it and I was thrilled!

The following weekend, the end of May, we held our collaborative show weekend with the Alberta Donkey and Mule Club and the Northern Lights Driving Club. Saturday was driving. I had entered my mom in the show with Phillippe to do a few rail classes, but a day or two before the show, she had something very urgent come up and wasn't able to make it. So I showed both Phillippe and Falcor myself. Phillippe missed 1 rail class as I prioritized Falcor, but Falcor rose to the occasion and won that class (Pleasure lady to drive.) He also won Pleasure, ponies and taller and the Super Reinsmanship class. He took 4th in the two cones classes and the barrel race. All in all, he was a wonderful animal to show! He walked a lot, hung out politely at the trailer, and was relaxed in the show ring. Phillippe had a great day too and did well in all his classes. He missed out on the high point long ears this year. Brooklyn and her young gelded jack Pete had a great day ground driving and took the accolades! It was just awesome to watch her success!

Sunday we had the ADMC open show. It was a blustery, windy day, but the rain held off. We had more long ears this year than we ever have before! Ali took Phillippe in a couple of in-hand classes and won herself the junior high point long ears belt buckle! I had a great time with him in hand and we placed really well in the long-ears class, showmanship and in-hand trail. We had a riot in the costume class. I wore my sombrero and poncho, and put the wee sombrero back on Phillippe with a hand-made Navajo Germantown Sunday Saddle on him. We were waiting for Ali to get into the class so I laid down in the sand to "siesta". Phillippe is just as good at ad-libbing as I am and laid right down with me. He had a roll but then stayed down and relaxed while we waited. I'm so glad there were people around to take pictures. I couldn't have trained him to do better, but he did just what donkeys do!

So now we're on a bit of a "break" while I work on other projects. We have a competition on June 28 with the Klondike club for their 40th anniversary show! Phillippe and I are going to go for some fun!

So until next time, Happy Horseing!

So There was This Ballet Thing...

We had a whirlwind few weeks at the end of April/early May. Horse Expo in Red Deer went really well again. Phillippe came with me to demo with the Alberta Donkey and Mule Club. This year, the club got to demo in a large arena, the same one we were in over the summer for Westerner Days. It was nice to have more space, but we lost one day of demos. They schedule had us only Friday and Saturday; although, Saturday's demo performance was pretty packed! Phillippe was a great kid, bravely went in and did his cones by himself without issue. The ADMC had their AGM at the Expo. I've stepped away from Secretary this year, but am continuing on as a director. I like being involved, but I think a different role might be more appropriate for me. They also gave out year end belt buckles. Phillippe won: High Point Driving, Education, In-Hand, High Point Recreation and Overall High Point! 5 buckles! I went out and bought 2 more belts!

Once the expo was over on Sunday, we came home, unloaded the donkey's stuff and packed Jasmine up. She and I headed out Monday morning for Calgary! We first arrived at the Alberta Ballet studio, right in the core of the city! I'm thankful that my rig is small and Calgary drivers are patient with horse trailers in places you wouldn't expect them to be! Jasmine had her first practise with the dancers in studio for the performances of Don Quixote. They were marvellous! Every step of the way through, everyone was kind, patient, helpful and understanding of the pony's needs. The pony was equally cooperative! She took everything we threw at her in stride. She never had any issue with being in the studio with her cart and harness, nor being on stage with props, set decor, music, lighting or even the audience. She was led on stage each time by one of two "Sancho" charaters and a lovely young man, Yaro, played Don Quixote each time. He became very comfortable leaping out of that cart on stage. Jasmine went out for bows after each performance as well! The audiences seemed to love her! The ballet's artistic director, Francesco, was also very kind, greeting me each day of practise and performance and ensuring to thank me and Jasmine for making his vision a reality.

Jasmine regularly "brought" snacks for the dancers as well as the crew! We picked up Smile Cookies from Tim Hortons in Red Deer on the way down, then picked up cookies, tim bits, and other tasty treats that kept everyone in good spirits throughout the long rehearsal and performance days. I appreciatiate that "Jasmine" did not overlook the crew who worked so hard to ensure we were provided the room we needed and hit our entrances each time. And they appreciated that recognition too. There were 4 performances in Calgary over 3 days, then another 2 in Edmonton the following weekend. It was nice to go home after a full week (and a very busy week!) in Calgary. We attended one rehearsal in Edmonton where Phillippe joined us! The crew and dancers, and of course Francesco, all were delighted by the donkey's appearance backstage! It was great exposure for him as well. The shows in Edmonton were extra special for us because our family and friends got to attend. As my "fee" I asked for tickets to the shows. I ended up having 7 pairs of tickets to the Edmonton shows (plus one pair for a Calgary show for a pair of wonderful friends who came and saved Jasmine and I from a truck and trailer lighting issue...) that I gave to friends and family. The first Edmonton show was my favorite because my mom was in the audience with her best friend. And Jasmine was feeling great!

I'm truly humbled by the generosity of some animals. That lovely pony did everything I asked her to, willingly, calmly and with a trust that I'm not sure I ever truly earned. She brought so much joy to each person who encountered her, from crew, dancers, and audience members, especially those who were able to meet her outside of the venue after the matinee performance in Calgary. I will treasure the memory of a young girl who came up to meet us, proudly telling me that her name is Jasmine and she's also 7 years old! Her mom took pictures of the "twins" together. I hope she treasures that memory too. I'll share a parting thought with you. Adventure is not something that only happens in far away, tropical locations. If you're brave, it can happen in your backyard, neighborhood, home town or province. Happy Horseing!

Full Tilt

Nothing like hitting the ground running, and that's what's happening since the days got longer and the snow is nearly gone. Rubber boots and mud galore, but we're going! The wild and wooly clinic was great! I received some wonderful emails back from parents and participants. So glad it all went well. Our next amazing adventure... Ali and I took Phillippe and Jasmine to the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium at the end of March to meet the Artistic Director, Francesco, and a number of the cast and crew from the Alberta Ballet. They are preparing for the May production of Don Quixote and are wanting to encorporate a mini horse pulling a cart on stage for the production. I have such a pony who is capable! We brought Phillippe along for this encounter as there is a donkey as part of the original storyline as well! Everything went so well, the littles met everyone, had no issues being inside the building, and posed for loads of pictures. They have decided to have Jasmine in the Calgary productions to keep it simplified, but Phillippe may come along for company. There are 4 shows in Calgary May 1 - 3 and then 2 additional shows in Edmonton May 9 and 10. We're very excited to have this opportunity. I love adventures!

I'm not a trainer. I don't train for other people or even teach clinics of any form anymore. I enjoy helping my friends out and spending time helping them grow, if I'm able. It's a fine line I find. Anyways, this situation has delivered me 2 small animals to start in driving. Groot, I mentioned previously, now dubbed Binkerton, Duke of Sammich, has 14 hitches at this point and is doing just fantastic! He's very ready for his own person to continue adventuring with. The other, now Sparky, is a tiny appy gelding. He's a feisty little manimal (he's gelded) with a lot of big feelings and questions. I actually quite like him and have spent the first month with him just listening, learning and interacting. I think we are now at the place where we are ready to move towards hitching to the cart. He has pulled the tire twice and isn't afraid of working hard. He is fairly reactive to sounds behind him though. That's fair, we can help him through that. I feel like he'll be ready to hitch in the next couple of weeks. Long lining clinic this weekend. Falcor is going to come with. He just started his riding career (at just shy of 18 years young!) as my niece is wanting to ride in horse shows. So they are working on learning about riding and what that entails. I think Falcor will come along with it all just fine in short order. Practise makes perfect! And then Horse Expo! Phillippe is going solo, unless we head directly to Calgary from there... we shall see. (For some reason, blogger is now allowing me to upload my photos... sorry!) There we go, throttle full speed and bring on those adventures! And Happy Horseing!

T'Is Spring - Well, Very Nearly Anyways

It's right there, all the big, fun, busy things. Right around the corner! This weekend is the spring tack sale. What do I need? Nothing. Do I need to go? Nope. Am I going anyways? You betcha! Follwoing the tack sale, we're planning a group pony drive at the farm. I've put 3 drives on my tiny friend, Groot. He belongs to a very good driving friend. Groot has had extensive ground-driving experience. He just came to visit me with his brother, Bobbie, while his mom was in Jamaica. I had worked with Groot a few times before and had a pretty good feeling that we could get driving between the shafts. It took about an hour and a half the first time, from harnessing to sitting in the driver's seat, but there was really no issue with it, and each drive has been getting better and better! He certainly likes to work, and go forward. I get to keep him for another month and then either he'll go back to his mom's for the year, or he'll go to my good friend's for some more refining-type training. She hasn't seen Groot hitched yet - just video clips I've sent her. I'm excited and hope she's happy with him.

Falcor has had his first drive down the road. We did 4 km with Jasmine the other day. He seemed happy enough to go along, but quite glad to have a buddy with him for confidence. The weekend after, I'm co-facilitating the annual Wild and Wooly ground/green driving clinic for the driving chapter. I'm going to talk about harness types, fit, and vehicle types and balance. I'll take Falcor and maybe Phillippe - if I can find a ride for him. I'm going to take Groot and our other boarder, Toast, with Falcor in my trailer, since the other two are participating. Falcor is just for demoing. The weekend after the clinic, I have a very exciting appointment planned in the city with Jasmine and Phillippe. Fingers crossed everything goes really well!!! I can't wait to share the news. Just got to make sure it's a go before I get my hopes up too much! Then it's April, ta da! Long-lining clinic with Falcor. I'm really excited to see how that one goes. A pair of French instructors (one from France and the other from Quebec) will be leading. From there, it's Red Deer for Horse Expo with Phillippe! I got 100 heart-shaped stickers made up of him to give out. May starts CDE season with Sparrowhawk Spring Fling. I ordered a pair of canvas slings to put in my horse trailer like hammocks so we can sleep in there. I have a solar charger and electric fence set up too so we can now stay overnight with the ponies at an event! This is going to be my dry run before Bonanza in July! All in all, it's lining up to be another really fun year. I can't wait to get into it! Until then, happy horseing!

Taekwondo and Dressage - More Alike Than I'd Expcted

Honestly, I thought I would be getting into a sport and hobby that was completely unrelated to dressage and equestrian sports. On the surface, it absolutely looks that way. But digging into it, they have far more similaries than I'd ever anticipated. And none of it has to do with horses. Last weekend, I had the pleasure to participating in the 50th Anniversary Hanmadang in Edmonton. I've been to several tournaments now, in taekwondo, on my journey to black belt, so I was really interested in participating in this format. Indeed, the similarities start right off the hop. When you consider an "open show," there are a number of classes - english, western, games, and age divisions. Hanmadang offered poomsae, freestyle poomsae, creative board breaking, tile breaking, long kick, hich kick and speed board breaking. Volunteers came Friday nightfor ring set up, despite a January rains storm. We weren't measuing a 20 x 60 and putting up a little white fence, we were pulling matts from trollies and building competition rings. Bless volunteers. Especially those who flow with short-notice change and keep showing up! A late night Friday and an early morning Saturday - sounds like a horse show weekend! The Hanmadang started Saturday morning with registration and 3 seminars with your choice of 3 different speakers in each time slot. I attended a talk on Taekwondo Spirit, Taekwondo through the ages (including a black-belt pattern) and "My Name is Trauma" a talk about how taekwondo can help people with mental health challenges and recovering from taumatic experience. Great information from people who are professionals in their areas. I've definitely attended equestrian conferences with similar formatting. Tournament went well! I took bronze in my poomsae (which was great because I'd barely practised at all since prior to Christmas!) a silver in tile breaking (which was great because I'd never done tile breaking with a hammer fist before) and a gold in high kick! Clean up went fairly quickly once the day was completed, unfortunately the day had run long (#amIright) and we were late to the dinner we'd planned to attend. I learned a very important skill: I can indeed change pants in my car! At least I got out of my dobok before going to dinner. We were sat at a table with a couple of Grand Masters, a new Master and a couple of other black belts. You could think of them as the dressage masters, the FEI competitors, etc. There were speaches and plenty of congratulating each other. Sunday gave me a bit better sleep. And this time, we didn't leave the hotel for the conference. There were a number of speakers, professors, doctors, grand masters speaking about varioius topics. The Hanmadang was held in celebration of the University of Alberta's Taekwondo club/team's 50th anniversary so it was logical that it remained fairly collegate in it's topics. When one speaker started speaking about "Authentic vs Traditional Taekwondo" and I couldn't help but compair that with the people who feel "classical dressage" is the only dressage. My feeling about Taekwondo has always been purely recreational, a hobby, something fun I enjoy participating in with my club friends and keeping my body moving. Likewise, I have no desire to be on a national dressage (or driving) team, but train and compete purely for the enjoyment of my animals, my progression in training and participating with friends. Hearing achedemics say "That's not REAL taekwondo" was absolutely paralell to riders saying "That's not REAL dressage." I think the fundimental of both of these sports/disciplines is that they're both fluid. They both evolve. And what elite competition looked like back in (your) hay day is not what it looks like today. And neither really look like what it was where it started. And people debate. They debate where it originated, who influenced, which (grand)master was most influential or should be credited with this or that... And how to help athletes to become more obsessive (this is my own takeaway) in training and competition. What mattered to me was how to better engage the recreational user. Likewise in how I only judge for entry-level horse shows (pony club, 4H, agricultural fairs, open shows, etc) my interest within my club is for the recreational participant to be supported and enjoy the sport at the level they want. Overall a great experience. I certainly do have some ideas on what I can contribute to our club, and maybe a slightly better understanding of taekwondo. Bottom line: It's a vast field of training encompassing many parts that should be practised together in balance. There is plenty of room to specialize, if that's what you're interested in, but none should be perceived as better than any other. Like dressage, and equestrian sports, there's a lot of ways to do it "right" and ultimately what's important is that you're enjoying your own journey.

Chah-ryut, Kyung Nae and Happy Horseing

Not Too Late for a Big Success in 2024

The year isn't over yet! I plowed a path throughout the field so I have somewhere to drive that isn't too deep for the littles' legs. Hadn't had the opportunity to try it out until yesterday. Well, Falcor met me at the gate and was happy to go around. This time, I didn't even lunge him, I just took him for a walk in the middle of harnessing and that was enough. Once given the ok to go, he walked calmly up the driveway and out to the field. He did ask to trot and I gave him the cue. Happy boy set off down the path and around the corner. I've been playing with the thought of asking him to canter in harness and starting to school it, so when he offered to canter, I wasn't disappointed. However, I was cautious because he often bucks on the lunge when he canters, so I wasn't quite sure what was going to be offered pulling the sleigh. I also noticed that I neglected to buckle his left bucking strap around the shaft!! So he cantered for 8 - 10 strides nicely and came back to a trot without issue when I asked. Falcor enjoyed the trip around the field and made no complaints when I turned him around to loop again in the opposite direction. This time, when we came to a nice, long straight away, I told him he could canter if he wanted to, and he was glad to oblige. This time he cantered for longer, a very happy, forward, balanced and relaxed canter. Just pure joy of moving out in a big space, not any feeling of running away or tension, no tail over his back or snorting, just a happy pony feeling great. And we cantered a lot further the second time. I wasn't concerned about which lead he was on; I might have schooled it more deliberately if I'd had the second loop of the bucking strap done up, for my own mental security, but I just wanted to see how he felt about it. I love that he is feeling so good in his body that he's willing to try moving in different ways in his work. It's such a win!

16 months ago, when I first brought him home, this was little more than an aspiration I dared to dream. Well, I was committed to learning him and put the time into doing, even when I was not confident and felt like the pony might leave with me, and it's absolutely paid off. We have a lot of trust in eachother now and I'm excited for the future. Bring on 2025! And Happy Horseing!

Planning Ahead

I'm a planner. Not like a list maker, but a planner. I've found that I really like having events lined up to look forward to. This time of year is a bit ho-hum for me because I haven't got anything really exciting coming up to look forward to for several months. Yes, Christmas, time with the family and getting to slow down a bit is lovely, but I really enjoy going out and doing the activities with the horses (ponies/donkey) and my crew. The next thing on the list is Horse Expo in Red Deer in April, after the long-lining clinic. An excellent way to start the show season and I'm looking forward to it. But that's in April... it's December... Seasonal affect is a real thing! So what's the longer picture? Last year I had a goal of participating in Falcor's first combined driving event and we did that! He's come along so well and I'm more and more confident with him. Jasmine and Phillippe are just rockstars to have out as well. This year we'll drive again. With Ritchie home, we'll breed a couple of the mares. While Special's doing the mom thing, Ali can be driving - or may be too busy working by then. But after breeding season, it's time for me to get back in the tack. My health has improved greatly and stabilized. My horse is home. It's time to ride. I reached out to a friendly aquaintence last weekend, asked if I could come hang out at the barn with her, see if I could get the bug to ride. She's super cool, a Saskie, like me. And it was awesome to just hang out, talk horses, talk life (we're both 40-something) kids, etc. By the end of the visit, I felt like I wanted to go home, put my horse in the trailer, and bring him over to ride together. That's what I was wondering if I could find again, and it absolutely found me! So my game plan is to ride at home in between driving, get my body back into it, and then see what kind of fun we can get into in the fall next year. I'm not going to make a goal of showing FEI or what have you, I just want to have fun. Because isn't that the point anyways? With that, I wish you the merriest of merries, good health and all the joy you can handle. I wish you good fortune and welcome that same goodness to my own home and world. And, of course, happy horseing!