Wow Old Pictures

Hey guys, so I have mentioned on here a few times that horses have been a huge part of my family history, my parents rode horses growing up, and so I do now, but my grandparents were the people who really rode horses, they have so many stories, two of them that I can think of off the top of my head are when my grandma had to go get the cows during a storm, the creak was flooded, the was riding bareback, the horse actually had to swim across the flooded creak, she made it across okay, but on the way back she came off, she eventually got back on the bank a little ways downstream, and her  horse made it across and was standing with the cattle waiting for her. Now my grandpa, he actually had to ride his horses to school, he said it was always funny, because all the horses would be stabled in the barn at school all day, and they were always ready to get home, he said that the horses loved to round the corner of the driveway at a full gallop, and there were quite a few people who didn't really get the info untill it was to late, and then the were stuck walking the rest of the way home! Even my grandpa came off a few times :) So heres some pictures of my grandpa, (sorry grandma didn't have any of her and her horses although I think she has some of her and her moo moos cause she lived on a dairy farm) It is really cool, horses were such a huge part of life, and I wish I had the chance to go back and see how the horses were used for everything.....

Rosemary (aka Aunt Rosie) and my Grandpa and their friend Dean, this is actually their school...

Dean, Elizibeth, and Lana riding, these are my grandpas friends and relatives...

Dean and Elizebeth on the way to school..

donk know why its sideways but this is my grandpa and his brother Edgar, they cut Stars mane, and put it in their hats like the Indians did... What a cool tradition!

This is my grandpa and their horse Star, I'll have to ask my grandpa more about star, but seems Star was a big part of their life...

SPITFIRE! How I love that name, this horse is big! I plan on getting a horse of the same build someday, and maybe I will even name him Spitfire in Honor of my grandpas horse :)

Like I said Spitfire is huge, my grandpa is quite tall, so just seeing this, it shows how big and build he was if he makes my grandpa look small :)

I believe this is my grandpas dad with their horses, I forgot to ask about this picture, but just seeing some of these just shows the history of horses, horses have been in my family for 60+ years, and im sure they will with my family for the many generations to come!

How to put on Profesional Choice Sport Boots, and Silly Horses!

Above is the how to Put on the sport boots, and below is a video from riding a few weeks ago, the horses were having a good fun day! :)

AMAZING DAY!

Hey guys, so today was an amazing day, we rode for hours, and I actually mean hours. So Roni didn't feel like riding today, because she was at Jadens and wanted to stay there longer, so Nick offered to come riding with me instead, and boy was that a good idea! Nick picked me up, and then we went down to the farm and got the horses, its so much more fun to have all 5 of them running after you in the RTV than just the two of them lol, so we got them back up to the yard from out in the field, and we got Chuck and Jack out, then groomed and tacked up and went into the yard to do a little ground work before we rode, they did really good with ground work today, so then we got on and headed up the road a little ways to get to the pasture, we just let them kinda amble along while we were in the open, but then we decided we wanted to go back and look at the trails my grandpa had made, and see some of the stuff we didn't look at while we were out hunting, so we went back there, you have to go down a decent hill to get to the stream bed and trails, and while going down the hill, Chuck slipped and fell on his side onto my leg, but was able to get back up, and Nick is already down the hill, yelling to ask me if im okay, and im getting myself off the ground saying "ya im okay im okay, I gota make sure hes not hurt!" and then go along making sure Chuck is okay, in the proccess swinging my hand into a thorny burn bush, then I said, well now im hurt, as I pulled the stupid thorns out of my pinky, then I had to figure out how to get back on, me being as short as I am and Chuck as tall as he is, I am glad we were on a hill, I know you guys don't see much of me on the ground cause most of my videos are from the saddle, but my stirrups when I stand on the ground, come almost up to my chest. So it is no easy thing for me to just hop back on, so I was able to position Chuck on a part of the hill that gave me the little edge I needed to hop up lol we then proceded down the trail, sometimes walking and sometimes troting, we came to the end of the trail, and then we decided to go to a little more difficult trail riding, I will remember to just tape my phone to my head next time so you guys can see what we were riding in, but it was hard enough to make it fun and challenging. I love working the horses in that kind of land because they have to actually think. We came up to a fallen tree, and nick was like "you think he'll go over this?" I said I don't know, because the tree/log was almost as high as Jacks chest, he ended up carefully (aka as careful as a horse like jack can be) picked his front feet up over it, and then did a almost crow hop like move to get his back end up and then hopped up the nice 3 foot bank up to the top of the hill, Chuck did like was, but it was a little smoother and quicker and then we walked a little ways along this ridge, and oh my goodness it was breath taking, and thrilling, walking along on a 1 1/2 foot wide trail with a 12 foot drop to one side and a nice steep hill on the other is one of the most amazing things ever, we got to the top of that part, and just stopped for a minute, and just looked, its amazing to see all of what God has created, horses aren't just for riding around in circles in an arena to look pretty, remember what they used to be used for, now we mostly use them to glorify and discover what God has made. I got 1 picture, but it doesn't capture anywhere close to a fraction of the beauty and magnificance of the moment. We then proceded down the steep hill on the other side of the ridge, and then we went and did some more extream trail riding and then we rode up to my dads house and led my sister around let the horses rest, and grabbed some water. Then we rode back slowly but surely, overall it was one of the most amazing rides I have had in a long time. I told Nick about one of the hills we used to ride down that scared me to death when ever we did, because my grandma had to hold me to keep me from falling out of the saddle, you had to basicly lay down on your horses back and stick your feet straight out in front of you to keep on. We got back and Chuck had worked up a good soaking sweat, so I did some light work around the yard, and then spent another hour giving him a good rub down and when he was finally dry we let him go back out with Jack, and then we got everything put away, and ready to go home. Overall it was an AMAZING day, maybe next time Roni can ride Jack and Nick Pearl that way we can all go out and ride togeather, for once I am actually sore from riding, I don't get to do fun hard challenging rides like that very often, there arn't many places with that type of riding in our area, so its nice to be able to really push you and your horses to the limits and the amount of trust you have to have is amazing, when in doubt let your horse do the thinking, and I will say I doubted my-self for a couple moments today, when your horse starts backing down a 1 1/2 foot trail with a 12 foot cliff to the side, I think "what in the world am I doing up here?" but it was SO worth it, you can't just get that amazing thrill from riding in circles in an arena. I plan to one day take Chuck out to the mountains and ride in the Rockies, that may be a few years away, but I WILL do that before I die. This is just the start of really building trust, I placed my trust fully in Chuck multiple times today, where if he had slipped we could both have easily died in a split second, but there is nothing that will compare, to just letting your body and horse take over, just letting it happen, not having to think "oh are my hands right" or "I hope I don't look like an idiot", because I know for a fact that jumping up a 3 foot embankment or riding above that cliff sure didn't make us look like some sissy arena riders.

Oh wow......

So guys, you can go ahead and watch this, and I will tell you what I think of it, it may only take a few minutes for you to get the point.

 So just to clear some terms up, a hackamore is a general description for a wide range of bitless bridals. So her experience with bosals is bad, the person in her story is one of those stupid people who don't deserve to own or ride horses. I fully believe in using bosals, no doubt about it, but they like bits, halters, hackamores, saddles, and every other piece of tack must be fitted right, it the horses muzzle was bloody from using a bosal, then...

1. the person was not very attentive
2. the person doesn't know about fitting bosals
3. the person had hard hands 
4. the horse wasn't ready to be used in the bosal, but the person couldn't see or didn't understand that
5. the person was to preoccupied to pay enough attention to how the horse was doing during to ride to notice what was even happening

So did you notice that every single one of these things were caused by human error? Also this girl needs to learn more, it makes me sad when people go out yelling at other people for being misinformed, when in fact they are misinformed themselves. There are over 300+ comments on Horse Debate Central on facebook about this, many people (including myself) think that you need to practice what you preach. She is out here telling everybody to go learn the difference, but she didn't even say what the difference was? Why?  The difference is just how they are made, hackamores are a very widely used term, and bosals are essentially the same as "hackamores" but they are thicker, and made out of different material. I use a hackamore, and I fully support using hackamores and bosals and halters, but they all need to be fitted right. When she goes into a rant about "bosals can break even break your horses nose!" so can a halter, so can a hackamore, so can a tie down, but there is a much greater chance of that happening if the person is like the guy in the story and hasn't prepared the horse for riding in a hackamore or bosal or halter. People just need to learn to slow down, and do whats best for the horse, not easiest for them. So what I learned today, is that...

1. there are to many horse uninformed in this world
2. people need to be more informed before making a post like that, or they get 300+ comments bashing them on facebook
3. people like to make a point even if they don't have any proof to stand behind them
4.  people are lazy when it comes to training their horses, they always just want a quick fix

So God Made A Cowgirl

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth. On the seventh day, while he was resting, he thought about what he was missing. On the eighth day, God looked down at his paradise and said, “I need someone who will never be broken, to care for my creation..” So God made a cowboy. First, he filled his belly full of guts. Then, he gave him a heart full of trying. He needed someone who could handle a horse, someone who so needed to be in the saddle. He needed someone who could make a living with their rope, dog and just a few good horses. Someone who would never know a 40 hour work week, nor would care… So God made a cowboy. While his creation was tough, it still just wasn’t enough. He needed someone who could break a colt, rope a steer, brand a calf and cook supper all in just one afternoon… So God made a cowgirl. He made her strong enough to handle a hot bull, but tender enough to rock her babies to sleep at night. He made her love unconditional and taught her to always forgive. She’s someone who could open her own doors and would take fresh wildflowers over store bought roses any day. She can patch a fence and her cowboys jeans. She looks past muddy boots and spurs in the house and has an eye for a good horse.She can make a home and she can hold her own. Someone who can live a cowboy’s lifestyle but rock those Wrangler jeans and Ariat boots. He needed someone who knows rewards of sweaty saddle pads and dreams of gold buckles. Someone’s who greatest accomplishment in life would be for her children to grow up in the same cowboy mentality and lifestyle just as she did. There was only one person for this job… So God made a cowgirl.

Why blanketing is bad for most horses..

Hey guys, so heres a post why 99.99% of the time blanketing is bad for horses.
The ONLY reason that a horse should be blanketed is if they are very old and by old I don't mean 20 I mean 30+ years.

Horses DONT NEED BLANKETS!
Horses are made to keep warm, horses can easily survive in below 0 temps, our wind chills recently got down to around -40 or so, and our horses are just fine, no blankets you only need 3 things for your horse to keep warm. The 3 THINGS that your horse needs to stay warm is 1. Food 24/7  it it is really cold we feed free choice, we go through spurts of free choice and non free choice, depending on the horses health and weather, our horses stay at a good weight and if ANYONE starts dropping weight they get fed more. :) 2. Your horses need fresh clean water thats at least 35 or above, you can buy water heaters, but if you really can't afford one, fill up a large stock tank (anywhere from 30 gallons up) with water, put something that is bigger than your horses mouth in the water that floats, and let the top freeze, take out the object, and take down some of the water so the ice is not toutching the water, always keep the water below the ice level, and is is self insulating, if your horse is drinking as much as it should, they will drink often enough to keep the hole open without trouble. 3. A good shelter, I DON'T MEAN STALLS that is unless the stall door is open 24/7, and they have free choice in and out, horses do know whats best, if they don't stand in it, they don't need it, or theres something wrong with it, if you have a muddy shed, then your horse probably would like to stand in a dry spot rather than a wet spot.

Why blankets are not good

• You must be able to monitor your horse every few hours, and take blankets off as needed
• your horse loses his winter coat, or doesn't grow one at all, and you HAVE to use blankets for the rest of the winter time after that
• your horse can get tangled, blanketing is a huge NEVER for mares with foals, there have been accounts where the foal gets stuck in the blanket, and the mare has spooked and accidently injured her foal, horses can just as easily get themselves tangled up
• your horses may over-heat and this will cause them to sweat, this will cause them to become chilled later and the blanket will be even worse for them
• your horse can become de-hydrated easier, horses usualy drink less in winter as it is, but if they are to warm, they will become de-hydrated quicker, and this can cause colic
• if your horse rolls in water the same thing can happen as mentiond above
• healthy fit horses do better WITHOUT blankets
• just because a horse shivers once or twice does not mean he is cold, also another reason your horse should be outside with the ability to go into a shelter, he can move around to keep warm if he wants too, some horses don't move around as much though
• any blanket that is not properly fitted (if you haven't measured before, make sure you have an experienced horseperson help you 
• blankets that are ill fitting can cause a blanket dip that effects the nuchal ligament that runs down the horses neck, some signs to watch for are hair loss, cold skin, and the dip beginning to form, here is a picture of what a blanket dip looks like and a diagram of the horses neck and the nuchal ligament
  
  
  
   
  don't let this happen to your horses, let them be horses not baby dolls, they were built to survive in the wild, I take Gods word for what it is, so I take  a horse for what it is its a horse, not a baby lol, God made them so wonderfully, some animals would die in this cold, but God made horses.

Why stalls can be bad for horses

So I am going to tell you guys why I am a no stall person and what I think about stalls

To start off, stalling is bad 90% of the time, that other 10% is in the case where you A. are in the stall with them because you are grooming or tacking up or something that doesn't take long   B. Your horse is injured and is on stall rest or C. You are at a show

I think horses shouldn't be in stalls at all, they really don't need it, if your taking care of them like you need to to they can easily be nice and happy outside 24/7, I dislike stalls, I dislike having Jet in a stall, and if you do have your horses in stalls you need to be home often clean out at least 3 times a day and feed at least 2-4 times a day. 

Now some side affects of stalling, if you guys comment on one of them I can go into greater detail for you :)

• Horses can't interact with eachother
• The horse doesn't have any mental stimulation
• they need exercise lots of exercise
• even if your stall has a small run, that is not enough space
• horses kept in stalls are more likely to get hurt during turn out
• some people say their horses exercise is riding, with 40 mins of riding 6 days a week your horse still won't get very much exercise, and why in the world do people think its okay to have their horses only come out to ride them?! The horse will only learn to hate and resent his job.
• So many bad vices that I can't even mention them, if the horses were out, they wouldn't be going insane bored, and chewing and cribbing, and they have these magical products that stop these vices that only make the horse owner look better because their horse doesn't do things that make it actually look like its bored.
• Did you guys know that cribbing horses actually are slower learners, or they don't learn hardly at all? If you want comment and I will post the article for you guys :)
• Can cause colic from many different reasons
• the horses lung health is put at risk with being stalled, they have no fresh air
• the stall smells like poop and urine, they can't get away from it, in pastures horses ususally pick a spot to poop and do it there away from where they eat
• constantly stepping in urine and poop can cause a wide range of hoof problems
• horses have respect issues, like I said horses teach first, horses also teach other horses, they teach pressure and release, so if your horse is never out with others he may have trouble understanding this

Some people say their horses love stalls, so if you really think this, if you left your stall door open, and your horse loves his stall so much he would stay in right? The answer is probably not, he would at most finish the food he had there "if any" and then leave to go somewhere where he wasn't bored out of his mind, theses are just some of the reasons you shouldn't stall your horse, and there are many more that I havn't mentioned! Thanks for reading and THINK LIKE A HORSE! :)

The Saddle

 The saddle is AT LEAST 124 years old! Like I said at least, It is anywhere from 123-134
Heres what we know because of the saddle stamp!
 
Frank Meanea was a well known and very respected saddle maker in Cheyenne, Wyoming in the late 1800s up to 1928. Cowboys coveted Meanea gear and considered anyone being able to afford to ride a Meanea saddle a top hand drawing top wages.  
The saddle was made somewhere between 1881 when Frank Meanea started using his maker's mark with "WT" on it and 1891 when he changed it to "WYO".  The "WT" is for "Wyoming Territories" before it became a state in 1890.

 Its pretty cool to know we have an amazing part of history this saddle has been through many things. Its still in really good condition, its pretty neat, saddles never used to have sheepskin or fleace on the bottom, they used to have cow or horse hair, I believe ours is horse hair, but its kinda interesting to see how different it is, it has a really deep seat, saddles weren't really made for comfort until Frank Meanea started making saddles, and it IS REALLY COMFY! It is one of the most comfortable saddles I have sat in that isn't padded in the seat. It is so cool to have this saddle!

Saddle!

Hey guys, so I am going to post a picture of a saddle we got today its VERY old!

Today and lunging exercises!

Hey guys, so we got so caught up in our session, that I didn't take any videos and it doesn't help I forgot my phone in the RTV, so lol anyways, today was really good day for ground work, and boy did we go at it, we did ground work for about an hour and then let the horses have a short break while Roni and I warmed up, then we went back out and did more ground work for another hr and a half, so what exactly do we do during our ground work? We work on pivoting (good for showmanship classes), we work on backing, its really fun because the horses can now back up as fast as I can run forward your not yanking on their face, but Jack is the amazing backing horse, I PROMISE to take a video tomorrow, but we can back up doing circles and weaving in and out, and its AWESOME! He can't back up as quickly when hes turning, but he can still go pretty quick! Chuck isn't as fast, but he is still pretty good! Chuck is the amazing lunger, he is going very far, like I said earlier, I have been watching the Down Under Horsemanship show where Clinton Anderson retrains a OTTB and have started that with Chuck. He is doing amazing, I am finding out that he has a new respect for me, he had it before, but not at this level. So heres a few exercises to do with you and your horse!

I will be doing a video of your guy's choice on 3 of these tomorrow, so vote on what ones you want to see!

1.  Teach your horse to yield its hindquarters (this is a major roll in all ground work and you can immediatly get your horses attention on you when you do this)
2. Start working on lunging (work on your send-off and your stops, you stop by yielding the HQs
3. Start working on your backing (back your horse up as much as you can it will really help him trust you and respect you)
4.  Work on half circle lunging (this is where you only lunge in a half circle, it make your horse pay attention and you have to really control your horses feet and have clear ques)
5. Work on half circle lunging by an object (Clinton uses a gate, or area wall, but you can use many things, today I used a grain bin, use this step to desentize your horse)
6. leading at strange angles (gets your horse used to you being in a different spot and you still leading and controling them)
7. walking test (this is a good one walk normally then adjust your speed and try to make your horse walk the speed your walking, it may be harder then you think)
8. spiral lunging (this helps your horse get more flexiable and bend easier)
9. working on flexing and bending (it helps your horse get more flexiable, and helps you train for in the saddle, this is also the beginning of a one rein stop)
10. spin around (you may need a helper to make your horse stand still, but you get a long lead rope and wrap it around your horse, and if you have done the proper ground work your horse will yield to pressure and "untangle" himself by turning