 A Non-Profit Organization PO Box 47 Zimmerman, MN 55398 (763) 856-3119 |
The Challenge | The Trainers and Students | Event Information Tuesday, September 2 Hello all! Gidget has been a master student of the discipline of reining. She is learning how to spin, rollback, stop on a dime, and lope the big fast and slow small circles! She is pretty funny and will make little grunting noises when she rolls back (she concentrates VERY hard on all this training!). I get on her now and she is all fired up and ready to work, and seems to enjoy this new training quite a lot. When she's thinking hard she pins her little ears and shakes her head, and then she gives about 110% to whatever it is we're working on. Last night we had people over to the Walker Ranch, and I was on Gidge when some of them arrived. My friend's parents, who have horses and ride quite a lot, were very impressed just watching Gidget practice her reining moves, and then I heard my friend tell them that Gidget was a rescue horse. THAT got their attention, so I told them the whole story behind the Challenge and they were super impressed. Her dad told me that Gidget is, and I quote, a "very saleable horse', and that she looks "quick and catty". He very much liked the look of her and was wowed by her 'it-girl' factor! Gidget has also been on a long trail ride (2 hours) with her boyfriend (the 25-year-old gelding), and on this trail ride she:
WOW! I will see you all at the Challenge Show, and will be VERY sad to see Gidget go. I hope she meets up with someone who can take her talent to the next level! Goodbye for now! Rachael and Gidget
Friday, August 15 A quick update from a humbler Rachael. :) It's been good for me these last few weeks to hear about Robin and George, because Gidget and I were also having a few issues, mostly me being frustrated with her fears of the great outdoors. HOWEVER . . . One day last week I pulled my head out of whatever hole in the sand that it was in and took a good long hard look at Gidget and said to myself, "Self, that horse does not look very English to me. In fact, she kinda looks like a reiner." This is sad, sad news to someone who believes that everything can and should be ridden in a close contact saddle, but I lugged out the husband's Wade again and threw it (UGH!) over Gidget's 14.1 hand back (thank goodness it's just her butt that's 14.2!). To make a long story short, I took Gidget in the arena, warmed her up and then loped down the wall. Halfway down I sat back, lifted up the inside rein and bumped a little with my outside leg and BAM! Gidget stopped like a freight train and took about two leaps around her hind legs. I was so surprised that I just sat there and laughed and Gidget perked her ears up and trotted our next circle with her tail in the air. Since then we've been doing slow spins and some work on stopping and turning and loping circles. She has been MUCH better outside and seems very happy with her work ~ the other day I started to turn her around her hind end to the left and she suddenly got a spurt of energy and took two great leaps and started spinning like a real, grown-up reiner! Apparently I had to change my way of thinking and start listening to my horse. She seems MUCH happier. Also, Gidget and I have taken two field trips (and she loaded into the trailer within two minutes each time, no fuss, no freaking out, just calmly walking in on both the outward and return trips). We went to my friend Maria's house and followed the roping sled around (fun and a little scary!) and swung a rope off her back (no big deal ~ I think I saw her yawn!). Then we went down the road by my house a little, which was very good for Gidget (who previously had problems leaving the arena!), and saw some new sights and watched the cars go by. And THEN we went with Rabbit (also a Rescue horse and the LOVE OF MY LIFE ~ don't tell my husband) to the indoor arena at UWRF and Gidget stood fairly patiently and watched Rabbit jump a few courses and then we rode in the BIG indoor. And the funniest part is that a friend of mine showed up as I was taking down the course and looked at Gidget tied to the wall and said, "Who's the little reiner?" And I had to explain to her why I was laughing so hard. I guess it was obvious to everyone but me. Sorry, Gidge! So Gidget and I are making great strides now that I have my blinders off. Thank you, Robin, for sharing your struggles with George, because it's nice to know that every trainer has road blocks, and I hope I've become a better rider and trainer in learning, once again, to listen to my horse. I have noticed that everyone I've been riding has been going better lately, so I think I have learned another valuable lesson from yet another great horse. She makes me wish I rode reining, and I will be so VERY sad to see her go. She has loads of talent (from her pretty pink reins down to her recently pedicured feet), and is a wonderful cuddler. Whomever adopts her is getting one heck of a pony. I think she would do a lovely job in the reining pen. More to come before the Challenge day arrives, I promise. Love from Rachael and Gidge! Saturday, August 2
The first day that I had Gidget out riding around the yard (see picture) went SO well, until the neighbors started shooting their rifle. YIKES! I've got to hand it to Gidge, though, she spooked through the first two shots and then decided it was OK. While she was a little more nervous with the civil war re-enactment that seemed to be going on next door, she was a real trooper and we finished our mock trail ride well, and even had a session with her personal pedicurist! We have since taken many rides around the farm and while Gidget is always fairly willing, her 'freak-out-factor' is a little hit-or-miss. Some days she thinks the world is OK and some days she feels like everything is out to eat her. Even on her frightened days, though, Gidget is very good about taking direction and walking around the farm. Even during the times when it seems a blade of grass blowing in the wind frighten her, all it takes to defuse the bomb is a few circles and figure eights to settle her mind. Inside the arena, though, you would think Gidget had been under saddle for a lot more than three weeks! She walks, trots, canters, sidepasses, turns on the haunches and forequarters, lunges like a pro, and tackles any obstacle in her path! She is so much fun to ride and has beautiful gaits ~ a long, flowy trot and a gorgeous rocking-horse canter. Her canter, however, is a little rougher lately because Gidget is GROWING! She measures 14.1hh at the withers and 14.2 hh at the rump! I had wanted to start a little jumping with Gidge, but in the middle of such a growth spurt maybe this isn't such a great idea. Overall, Gidget is great to work with and has a wonderful attitude. She is sweet and smart and very determined - she tries so hard at everything! We'll be taking a few field trips at the end of this week and next, which will hopefully get her out in the wide wide world and help with the scaredy-horse mentality. I'd love for Gidge to be as assured and confident outside as she is in the indoor arena. > Back to the Trainers and Students Wednesday, July 9 Hello again!
Apart from the difficult business of learning to be a saddle horse, Gidget has tackled a few other previously unsurmountable obstacles in her life. Yesterday we went and 'played trailer' for a little over an hour, and (once Gidget managed to communicate to me that I was going about this all wrong!) she hopped in and out a half a dozen times and stood like an angel in the big scary stock trailer. A pocketful of horse cookies sweetened the deal for her, and I'm hoping this all comes right back to her the next time, and we can take a short field trip. After trailer loading we had a short session in mud-puddle crossing, courtesy of 'the spot' in the driveway that always gets driven over and has yet to be filled in! After about fifteen minutes Gidget was walking right through it like a pro, getting her pretty palomino feet all dirty! (I suspect this might have been the reason for her initial objection ~ what beautiful palomino wants to get mud on her feet?!?). All in all, Gidget seems to be mighty happy here ~ she's hooked up with a 25-year-old gelding (whoah, Gidge!) and is always at the gate looking for attention. Not to mention she and two others have the run of the overgrown North pasture (read: all the grass you can eat right at muzzle height!). She is learning to take baths and stand tied and hasn't felt the urge to rear and run away for about three weeks now. Next steps: 'trail rides' around the farm and a few field trips to my friend Jane's for some young-pony training on Gidget and on Jane's young Morgans. Gidget says hello to all ~ to Drew and Jodi especially ~ and says she is doing well and enjoying her time under saddle and her extensive grooming sessions. Doesn't every pretty blond deserve a personal stylist? > Back to the Trainers and Students Tuesday, July 1 Gidget and I went for our first ride last night, as planned! She's a little confused about me telling her where to go from her back as opposed to the ground, but she's getting the idea and I think with a little practice she'll be trotting figure eights in no time!
> Back to the Trainers and Students Monday, June 30 Hello All! It's been a few weeks with Gidget, and I'm hoping to put the first 'ride' on her tonight with the help of my husband. She arrive here six days before I ran Grandma's marathon, so the schedule's been a bit hectic! But she has made very methodical progress and is a real sweetheart to work with. Gidget's arrival was much less fussy than her loading ordeal to get here! Thanks to a few volunteers and a bit of sweet treat enticement, we got her loaded in just over a hour, with a few 'hi-ho-Silver' black-stallion-type rearing moment! (side note: more work on loading to come!). Her ride in the trailer and unloading at her new home were quite uneventful comparatively! Shet settled in unbelievably quickly and was wearing a saddle on the lunge line in two days' time. Her groundwork is remarkable and she seems to have gotten over the habit of rearing when stressed (at least I'm hoping she has left this habit behind!). Two days ago Gidget wore a bridle for the first time, and though she seems to still think she'd be better off without the piece of metal in her mouth, she had adapted well and wears the bridle like a full grown horse! She has made great strides in training, and is getting more comfortable every day, although new experiences still make her hesitant. I will hope to continue to send updates, though I only have dial-up here in the boonies of Wisconsin. Also, hopefully soon to come will be pictures! > Back to the Trainers and Students About Gidget: A healthy and friendly palomino mare, Gidget was foaled in 2004. She's done well with ground work and is halter broke, and we think that she's ready to start under saddle. In fact, this is why we thought she'd make a good student for the Challenge!
About Rachael: Rachael Walker has been teaching riding lessons at Walker Farms Boarding Stable in Beldenville, WI for the past eight years. She holds a degree in Equine Science from the University of Wisconsin, River Falls and showed hunter under saddle on the flat and over fences, dressage, and western pleasure during her years at the University. Since then she has focused more on dressage and hunter over fences, and hopes to begin competing her new mount, Rabbit, in some low-level eventing this summer. Rachael offers lessons at her place on her own horses for students who do not own a horse, but also offers riding instruction to those with their own mounts and is willing to travel to teach (see below for pricing and possible trip charges). She specializes in teaching dressage and jumping, especially for beginning and intermediate riders.
|
Copyright © 2000-2009 Minnesota Hooved Animal Rescue Foundation, Zimmerman MN USA |
Sending in the LAST UPDATE before the challenge! 
And, last but not least, Gidget and I would like to leave you with a little game to play to occupy your time until we meet in person at the Challenge Show! I call it "Spot the Palomino". As in, can you spot the palomino in the following picture? (Here's a hint: Look under the mud!).
Gidget continues to do well, riding now in my close contact saddle instead of the big 'ole Wade. We've done work with ground poles, tarps, cones, ropes, etc. and nothing seems to bother her too much inside the arena. Outside, however, she is quite spooky, even in hand. Yesterday we took a trip around the farm on the lead rope and checked out the red barn, the machine shop, the new cows . . . everything! There was a lot of snorting and wild-eyed "You want me to go WHERE?!?" looks involved, but I've noticed that if I give Gidget a little time and space she is naturally very curious and will come around step by step (actually, she prefers to 'paw' her way along, using her front hooves somewhat like a blind man's cane!). So we slowly explored the places on the farm that make her the most nervous before we started the day's under saddle work. She arrived in the arena much more settled and ready to work. 
Gidget is pretty happily settled into her daily routine. She has learned where she goes to stand to be curried and brushed and saddled, which she seems to enjoy (especially the brushing down after a ride!), and has come to see the Coverall arena as her 'safety bubble'. She is a joy to ride in there, and is learning about long straight lines and carrying me and my long legs around the arena in zig-zag lines and hexagonal circles. She walks, trots and canters under saddle and has never gotten upset about having me on her back or about carrying me around. Her steering is improving daily and she already stops off seat pressure! The way she stops makes me think she wants to be a little reiner ;).
