Lungeline Jumping the Minis

I cannot remember if I already mentioned it or not, but when it was still nice and warm we lunged the minis. Over elevated cavaletti poles. It was fun!

The basic setup was easy, but it did require a lot of running (for both horse and handler) and the horses wearing either wraps or boots to protect their legs. Generally when lunging the handler should stay in one spot, but for this it was pretty essential to move around or the horses would be lazy and avoid the jumps.

When I recorded this (and that's my awesome horsey friend doing all the hard work!) Angel was on the lungeline, but sometimes during the session we would free-lunge them both. Free-lunging is lunging them without using a lungeline. :)

Lunging Angel and Toy Toy

On Saturday I worked Angel and Toy on the lungeline! It was good to be with them and hopefully work some fat off. After some time it got boring, but I'm glad I worked them longer than usual.

MY FAVORITE PICTURE OF ANGEL EVER.

IEBHA Horse Show

The IEBHA horse show was last Friday, and it went quite well!

It was dual-judged, which means there were two judges from which you get placed, but also means each class is about twice as expensive. Angel and I went in six classes: Adolescent Lungeline, Non-Stock Type Halter, Miniature Mare Halter, Adolescent Trail, Open Trail, and Miniature Obstacle (which is also trail).

In the lungeline class Angel did pretty well, and placed two seconds of three horses. In the two halter classes she didn't do that great - she wouldn't stand still for me and kept fidgeting. So, she has room for improvement there. :)

In the trail classes she did quite well, and got a fair amount of thirds, firsts, and seconds. I really cannot remember which ribbons she got from which class - I just know I got two firsts, four seconds, and four thirds.

Overall I'm quite happy with how it went. Here are some pictures. :)

The trail course for all three of the classes Angel and I did.

Waiting for our turn to go at the trail course.

Yay! Over a few of the cavalletti poles she was jumping (not the best, really), but she did it right on this one. :)

This step was turning the horse 360º to the right. Angel was doing it pretty good when this shot was taken, but getting her to properly turn on her hindquarters is something we should work on!

Aww, tired little Angel.

Of course it isn't till after the classes are over that she actually stands still and doesn't fidget after being squared up. But that's okay - I guess she's just photogenic. :)

No, she's not crying. She has a bit of a sinus infection though, and that's what is causing the eyes to be a bit drippy.

Okay, I love having Angel sport my hat! (And the reason you guys are privileged to not see the handler in this one is because her hair was a horrid mess. Believe me, I saw it.)

Because Angel is just epic like that.

Show Results

Angel did fantastic at the show last weekend! There were two judges per class, and in two of the classes she got first by both judges. We came back with two glasses, a hoof pick, and a fancy body brush. :)

We entered five classes: *AOB Halter, Miniature Halter, *Adolescent Lunge Line, Adolescent Trail, and Miniature Obstacle-in-Hand.

*AOB = All Other Breeds (basically open to any breeds)
*Adolescent = Horses of 3 or less years

Angel only was mediocre in the halter classes on Saturday morning. It wasn't that she had bad conformation, but that she didn't want to stand still after being squared up.

In lunge line a bit later that day, she got first by both judges! There were two other contestants, both respectable horsewomen with their yearlings.

The purpose of lunge line is to have your horse's gaits judged, as well as to see how well you lunge your horse. Here are a couple reasons I think Angel placed first.

1. Not just her, but none of the horses walked as they were supposed to.
2. There was plentiful slack in the rope between Angel and I.
3. One of the other horses broke into a gallop instead of a canter.
4. I didn't jerk on the rope to slow her.
5. I stayed in one spot the whole time.

Now, I'm not saying I'm better than the other two ladies. It's more that I work on lunging Angel for good amounts of time twice each week, and she has learned to lunge well. Regarding the last point, I think that may have made a big difference. When I lunge Angel at the stables, there's a certain rock I set one of my boots on, and the boot doesn't move from it. Both Angel and I have gotten used to lunging in that manner, and I think it made our presentation more professional.

On Sunday morning Angel and I had trail classes, and in the adolescent class she took both firsts! That was epic. She didn't do so well in the following class, but I'm still proud of her. :)

Treats for Angel

This is what Angel and the other two showing minis (Sonny and Toy) had for a treat last night. Can you tell I had spare time? :)

Adding More Time to Angel's Log

Actually, I don't really have a logbook of how long I work Angel, but I did work her for more than an hour today! It was really fun.

Haltering her was a girth (fine, cinch :P) as always, and she was really good today about not moving around while I'm cleaning her hooves. I start with her left hooves, and usually when I walk behind her to do the right hooves, she shifts her hind end away from me three steps or so. This time Angel didn't do it; yay!

Generally, I lunge Angel and walk her around a bit (maybe work on some basic trail concepts), but that's all. Today was a bit different in that respect as well! I hunt around for the lunge lines and lunge whip for a bit, but alas, no luck. For a bit I lunged Angel with the lead rope, but only at the walk and trot. However, for not having a lunge whip to cue her as well as usual, she did great! I am very pleased with her. :)

Well, I didn't lunge her for very long, what should we do now? I decided to work on turning, trotting, backing, sidepassing, and trotting figure-eight shapes around poles! It was so much fun. ^_^

Mostly I was leading her around at the trot, and just having fun with it (giving us both plenty of exercise). As we were trotting around, I would work on turning her to the right; something that can always be worked on. Anyway, it had been awhile since I had actually ran/run(?) with her, so it was great fun! A couple times she even broke into a canter. XD

We also worked on backing and sidepassing. Angel has never really had a problem with backing, and didn't today either. Sidepassing? She did a lot better than usual! /me is very happy with Angel's results for today

Anyway, there's a show the last weekend of this month, so that's exciting. I might see about dragging a photographer along with me too; if you're lucky then you'll have a 5% chance of seeing pictures. ;)

Time for bed now. Night, God bless. :)

Some Pictures of the Mini Girls

Here are some pictures of Toy Toy and Angel the day before (or was it the day of?) Pawnee's birth. They're both pretty cute, and I didn't realize till looking at these pictures that Toy does have facial markings, and possibly carries some splash (note her star, stripe, and snip). Or, maybe she just has markings and doesn't carry any pinto alleles. Ah well, time may tell. :)

Pretty tails.

Nom nom. 

"Oh hi!" says Toy Toy.

Hi, do you have any treats for me this morning?

Now it's Angel's turn to say hi!

"Darn," Angel thinks, "she didn't give me any treats."

I like Angel's thin muzzle. It's cute. (:

Finished Clipping on Angel

Last Saturday, MiniOwner and I finished clipping up on Angel after what we started on Friday! I just did the easy stuff - getting the majority of the hair length off using the variable clippers again. MiniOwner was the one to use the finishing clippers to get the hair even shorter, as well as get more technical about stuff.

The result? This. :)

(Also, I did get some pictures with MiniOwner's real camera, but don't have those yet. I'll upload them when I can.)

Standing in the cross ties while being clipped. The hair-length difference from the draft versus finishing clippers is pretty noticeable.

Giving Angel a break between the clipping and a quick bath.

Clipping on Angel

Today I was able to do a couple things for the first time ever!

First, MiniOwner showed me how to do a bridle path on Buster (he's one of the best to learn on for stuff like this!), and then I finished up most of it. A bridle path is a clipped section of mane that's closest to the head. Usually for a Western-style horse, the length of the bridle path is the length of the horse's ear. For English and driving horses, it's about the length of the ear and a half (so ear x 1.5).

Anyway, it was really easy. I didn't do the hard parts (right next to the forelock and right next to the longer mane), but it was good that I learned. :)

That (where the front section of mane is clipped) is a bridle path.

The second thing I learned was how to body clip! Even though this is my second year of being around the stables, I had never done it (mainly because it is somewhat complex and Angel used to throw a HUGE fit about being clipped).

I was using the variable clippers, which can be set for different speeds. They were pretty heavy and big, but it actually was pretty easy! At first when MiniOwner was showing me how to do it, we had to cover Angel's eye on that side to keep her from freaking out. After a while, though, I just did my thing and she was really good about it. :)

The main thing when clipping is to clip with the hair, and try to keep it streamlined. Luckily for me, I was just performing the draft for the final clipping (which I won't be doing). I did a pretty good job for my first time on her barrel and hindquarters, but her flanks were tricky.

Also, no, I'm not done clipping her. It's just that I only had 40 or so minutes this morning and I didn't have time to finish. Tomorrow morning, though, the plan is to finish clipping her. :)

Anyway, here are the pictures. :)

The un-clipped side.

Her side. At least when she's outside, the streaks aren't quite so noticeable! 

Isn't the difference in coloring (for both the brown and the countershading dorsal stripe) interesting? :)

This is where I could've been a bit more careful!

Toy Toy after MiniOwner's clipping :)

She is so cute. :)

The Fat and Fuzzy Show

Overall, it was good! Pretty cold the whole day, and as always with the location where the show was held, super super sandy and windy. My hat tried to get away from me at least three times, and my hair (which started out awesome!) doesn't feel so clean anymore. XD

Anyway, there were two modifiers to this show that made how Angel and I got scored worse than usual. I still consider it a good show, however, because it was an excellent practice (or schooling) show for both Angel and myself.

The first reason was that there were some top-notch mini people and mini horses there. And by top-notch, I don't necessarily mean the best. I mean, the type that's very very very slender and Arab-y and most people consider that's how minis should be. IMO, it can go either way. There are some things that you can do with a stronger built horse that you can't do with some weird horse-looking exotic specimen!

As I was saying though, some people brought about 4 slender, in shape, minis that were fully clipped. The reason we didn't clip the minis (other than their heads and fetlocks) was because it's still too cold for them. Another purpose (a more minor one, though) was that the show is named Fat and Fuzzy for a reason: It's fine to bring horses that are both fat and fuzzy and you won't be judged on that.

So, anyway, these people brought four of their super Arab-y little minis, and yeah, they were pretty! However, it was pretty obvious that the owners bred them for their beauty. Not their attitude. Apparently there were quite a few times when the little things were trying to bite at and be rude to their handlers!

The second thing that altered the show for it again has to do with the name and purpose of the show. I really don't think the judge should have been judging horses for being fat or fuzzy. But she was. Yes, yes, I know the first few classes Angel and I both messed up. However, we also had really good classes, and we didn't get placed at all...well, with the exception of being placed third in a class of three horses, and second in a class of two horses.

*shrugs* Ah well. Not every judge is perfect. She was nice and smiley though, and did actually give me advice on lunging after that class! It was really nice of her; not many judges will come and discuss how you can personally improve your performance/training with you, so that was cool.

So, that's that. Angel and I got the second and third I mentioned previously, and it's been a long day! A good training day for both of us as well. One thing that pretty much made my day was when a well-respected lady trainer was passing Angel and I as I was leading her to the arena with a lunge rope coiled in one hand, and the lunge whip in the other hand. She just started smiling this huge smile at us and she was like, "That's just so cute! *:D*". It was really cool. A bit after that I passed her again, and she didn't say anything, but she just smiled at us. XD That was cool.

Well, it's probably time for me to go do dishes. Tired from getting up at 4:11 lol.

Night!

Horses are SMART!

They are very smart. Probably more than they want to let on to, for rather obvious reasons.

Today I had the opportunity to hit the stables for 45 minutes and work Angel Eyes. She did pretty good! I need to work with her more on cantering both directions while lunging, and still a bit more on giving me space when I'm turning her away from me.

However, she did really good! After lunging her for just a minute, she was trotting and cantering through the 4" deep puddle without any hesitation. I even ground tied her twice (once for 5 seconds, once for 10) and she didn't move a step! I ended the session on a good note, and decided to reward her with a carrot after I quick-tied her to the hitching post.

Digging my triple-bladed knife outta my pocket, I sliced up the carrot chunk as so.

Yum!

After giving her one or two slices, I decided that I'd try something. I stepped a couple feet away from her, and using gestures and vocal commands ("step up", "step back", "stand", et cetera), attempted to get her squared up. Here's the thing: It worked! She knew exactly what I wanted, and was willing to do it for a mere carrot slice.

I had her earn her way by squaring up for all the remaining carrot slices, and was able to take a few pictures as well. :)

I just gotta get those carrots!

"Hold it!"

As she was happily munching on the last carrot, I managed to get one more shot.

Awwww! She's so adorable. :)

Showing Season is Almost Here!

The first show we'll be attending with the minis is April 20, only nine days away!

I'll be showing Angel again, and I'm pretty excited. I have a year of experience under my boots, and Angel knows how stuff works as well. I'm not sure how we'll do at showmanship this time; it'll be the third time I've done it, but it sounds pretty complex! However, Angel should do awesome at halter and trail, and I wouldn't be surprised if she placed in adolescent lunge line either.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to it, and I hope Angel is too! Showing means waking up at 6:15 or earlier (once it was 4:30), freezing as we get the halters on the minis, tie them in the trailer, and feed the other horses, talking with our coffees handy on the way to the show when it's only starting to get light, and then being busy with no spare time to relax.

This first show is at a nearby-ish outdoor arena that most of the shows are at. Angel and I will be going in a couple trails, halter, halter championship (I can scratch that if we don't make it though), one class of lunge line, showmanship, and showmanship championship (again, very scratchable).

Anyway, thought I'd let you know. :)

It's that Time of Year Again!

Yep. Shedding time!

Not all horses have started shedding yet, but some DEFINITELY have. Yesterday the stable ladies and I were grooming on Toy-Toy and Angel before we worked them. Little punkite Angel is hardly shedding at all. Toy, on the other hand, is. XD

Anyway, we also clipped around their heads. Angel's head is only part finished, which is why she looks so cute and silly. :) Toy's head is all the way clipped, and she also has a new accessory for now - a zebra-striped sweat collar so she sheds out a bit better around the base of her neck.

Time for pictures. :)

Before the clipping on Angel. :)

Hair from just one side of Toy!

Standing in a hair mess. :3

Angel's new style!

The silly! :)

Aww :D

Like it? :)

Working with Angel

Last Thursday, MiniOwner and I realized that I really, really, really need to work on turning Angel away from me, instead of towards me. The problem with turning a horse towards you (like I had been doing) is that, after awhile, the horse will always try to get ahead of you - pull you, tromp past you, and just get in the way.

On Thursday I got to work with Angel on turning away from me, but it didn't seem to help that much by the end of the session. Today, however, she ended on a much better note! At first she was trying to lead me (as well as completely ignoring my cues), but then MiniOwner lunged her until she was quite tired, which helped tons. Afterwards, she was much better! She was listening, and actually let me get ahead of her to make her turn.

After working on turning her right (right as in both the opposite of left, and also right as in correctly) for some time, I worked on her sidepassing. Sidepassing has never been her forte, to put it simply. When she is happy she'll do it great at the barn, but at the shows she always thinks she can get out of it. And, I think she's right, as I don't discipline her in the show ring (because it'll get us DQ'ed).

However, my plan is that in the first trail course with sidepassing this year, if she misbehaves, I'll get after her. She needs to know that the show ring ≠ getting out of certain tasks she doesn't particularly like. If I get disqualified for it, I guess I lose ten bucks or so, and that's that.

Anyway, for a fair portion of the time I spent working with her on sidepassing, she was just paying attention to Milo (the dog). When she listened to me, though, she did pretty good! On the last time she did exceptionally well (for me not having done it with her for  along time) - not even bumping the pole once - so I decided to end it at that.

And as always, after a horse has a good training/working session, they should be rewarded. Usually this just means getting a quick grooming again, but today she also received some pieces of apple core. Angel Eyes really, really likes it when I have treats for her. ^_^

The point is, when you are leading a horse, do not make the same mistake I did and turn the horse towards you just because it's easier. It won't end well, guaranteed. Also, after a good training session with your horse (or even if your horse does something you ask of him exceptionally well), reward him. Not only does a well-trained horse need discipline, but also praise. (:

Angel Eyes, Nolia, and More Big Horses

Last Saturday (the 19^th), I finally got around to working with Angel Eyes. It had been about a month since the previous time I played with her, so even though she wasn't cooped up in a stall, she did have a lot of pent up energy.

She didn't seem to be forgetting her cues (or even pretending to not know her cues), which was great. I just wish she wasn't so fat. XD I know that part of it is because she's fuzzed up and is maturing, but I still feel kinda bad for not exercising her more.

Anyway, I'll just tell my story of visiting the stables with the camera using some pictures I took.

Nolia (ee/Cr/To) and Spirit (A-/Cr) come to greet me.

Spirit's eye.

Nolia's eye.

Sparky! Such a sweet boy.

Angel Eyes really is quite fat.

Toy looks and me while Angel just stands looking at me.
What are you doing? Can't we go?

If you won't move the brush, I'll move my face.

Such a tame girl (most of the time) - her knee is just resting on my knee.

Silly, trying to mess with my falling-apart knot.

Note how fuzzy her head is, and kitty Thomas in the background.

So happy to be running!

Sparky and Angel say hi. :)

Yep, Angel got Sparky excited as well.

Jump!

Finally starting to emotionally cool down.

Cool hooves!