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Out on the road

Time for an update on Vinnie. I’ve been pretty busy with life, so he’s had a ride or two per week. We usually ride on the road down to Mt. Pisgah or to the Three Cedars arena. This usually involves riding home in the dark on the road. I sometimes have my headlamp on and always flashers hanging off the saddle. We’ve ridden in moonlight, pitch dark and rain. Vinnie does just fine with all of it. The one thing that has startled him so far was someone hand pruning up in a tree across the road. When I had her say hello, he was just fine. He didn’t mind a bit when it was someone with a power pruner.

My friend measured his cannons and he has a circumference of 7″. Not bad for a 13.1 hand boy! He has plenty of carrying capacity for the average adult rider. He will ride off a snaffle or sidepull, though he prefers the sidepull at this point. I can still ask for bending with it and he stops on a very light cue, sometimes even just sitting deeply and exhaling. He’ll be a light, responsive mount.

I am starting to loose count of the number of rides Vinnie has had. It is likely just at about twenty, equivalent to one month’s steady training under saddle. I’ve started him on moving off my leg with turns on the forehand and sidepassing. He’s doing quite well and just needs more miles at this point. Yes, he’s still for sale. Current price is $2,200. and will increase with training.

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Posted in AR Cirro. Tagged with , .

Looking forward to being together

“Horses should be trained in such a way that they not only love their riders, but look forward to the time they are with them.” Xenophon, 400 BC

I know I feel similarly about my horses. I visited with Lily and Vinnie this evening. Now that I am home, I miss them already. I feel so incredibly fortunate to have two such wondrous beings to share my journey this time around. I can only hope that they look forward to our time together as much as I do.


Gratitude creates it’s own attitude. It can give you a new perspective, a new focus. I am going to use this day as my opportunity to see those things.


Take a few minutes today to create your own Thankful Thursday.

How:

  • Sit back and consider what you have to be thankful for. Listing three to five things is nice, but one will do.
  • Post about gratitude on your blog. If you don’t have your own blog, go ahead and write about what you are thankful for in the comments here instead.
  • If you blog, please link back here or leave a comment.
  • Feel free to tag other bloggers, if you like to do that, but it’s not necessary. This is not a meme that obligates you to do anything, but look for gratitude. Oh, and link back, and comment, that’s all I ask.

  • Visit these other blogs that often participate in Thankful Thursday:

  • Tired Dog Ranch
  • Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch
  • Earth Dancer Spanish Mustangs
  • The Pony Expression
  • From the Horse’s Back

  • Posted in Thankful Thursday. Tagged with , .

    Power of Positive

    And I mean true heartfelt positivity, not just acting it.

    I love this blog post.

    You horse (or dog or child or husband, friend, co-worker, etc.) can tell on some level whether you are authentic or not. Animals, especially horses, I find, pick up on this much more easily than us humans. They have less layers of societal stuff to get in the way. And they pay far more attention to our real intentions that we sometimes do ourselves. That’s what I find so wonderful about working with them.

    Posted in Sprit, Training. Tagged with , .

    Tell me, what is it you plan to do?

    The Summer Day

    Who made the world?
    Who made the swan, and the black bear?
    Who made the grasshopper?
    This grasshopper, I mean-
    the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
    the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
    who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
    who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
    Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
    Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
    I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
    I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
    into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
    how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
    which is what I have been doing all day.
    Tell me, what else should I have done?
    Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
    Tell me, what is it you plan to do
    with your one wild and precious life?

    -Mary Oliver


    I plan to spend less time on blogging, facebook, twitter, message boards, etc. and more time on real life. I may post here occasionally, but likely even less than I have been. And I won’t be feeling obligated to do so. Just letting everyone know that the tangible world is calling me more than the bits that fly over wires and through the air.

    Posted in Sprit.

    Paisano has moved on

    It’s time to post an update on what’s happening with Paisano. In November, I took my last ride out with him at Mt. Pisgah. I ran into Lisa and Laura and Lisa took some photos.



    Then he shipped off to Utah a few days later with Zelda and Mike.



    He has settled in very well with Amanda and Cody. He has two fillies to care for and watch over. I am very happy that he has his own little herd now. I wasn’t able to have him in a place where he could be turned out in a group. Now he really has that.

    Amanda has her own blog at Earth Dancer Spanish Mustangs, where you can see updates on Paisano, Rosie and Miss. And the recent photos of Rosie and Paisano on her Flickr site make my heart melt. It is wonderful for me to see him find such an excellent home, where he is loved by both his equine and human friends.


    Rosie and Paisano



    Posted in Paisano, Sold Horses. Tagged with , .