 A Non-Profit Organization PO Box 47 Zimmerman, MN 55398 (763) 856-3119 |
||||||||||||
The Challenge | The Trainers and Students | Event Information Photo Album - http://www.flickr.com/photos/44326898@N03/sets/72157623905338529/ Tuesday, August 10 Day two of the show was the hunter/jumper day. Tina participated in hunter in hand, as well as four rail classes. She was very well behaved for all of it and got many compliments. She went over ground poles and walked, trotted, and cantered with large groups of horses, and kept her cool no matter what noises came from the audience or what other horses in the ring did. The judge loved her! Tina enjoyed being fussed over by everyone at the show and soaked up all the attention she could get. Again, I couldn't have been happier with her. Thank you so much to all the volunteers who made Tina's first show at Alpha Equus English Riders a huge success! Monday we practiced a few things for the trail class. Tina is very bold and generally goes over whatever I ask without question. She adjusts to new challenges very quickly and I think she genuinely enjoys it. We worked with tarps, pool noodles, giant cones, milk jugs, poles, towels that get draped over her face, and "brick" walls – the kind you jump, not the actual paved ones. Recently Tina was also ridden by a big reining trainer- her first time being ridden by someone other than me- who gave me her honest opinion. She said Tina was super easy, very willing, and very fun. I was very excited about this because now I know that it isn't just my biased opinion that thinks she's a great horse! On a side note, Tina was featured in last Sunday's "Grand Forks Herald" – our local newspaper, as well as a local magazine called the "Valley Equestrian" and the newsletter of a local riding club, Alpha Equus English Riders. I will be bringing copies of all the articles to the challenge for anyone interested in reading them. Tina definitely has a lot of friends in the press! I really encourage anyone interested in Tina to contact me. She is truly a fantastic horse in every aspect- she is sound, young at heart, and game for anything you present to her. Look for pictures and videos from her show weekend on her Flickr page and YouTube channel! We are looking forward to meeting everyone at the Challenge this weekend! Monday, June 28 Hello Everyone! Tina had a very eventful week, but in classic Tina style, she took it all in stride. Last Sunday, due to the large amounts of rain we have been getting which makes it difficult for me to work with Tina on my own property, we moved Tina to a local boarding stable, where I also stable my Thoroughbred, Gus. At the barn Tini (as I often find myself calling her because she is so tiny compared to big old Gus!) is stabled right next to Gus and they have become very close friends. She is very happy there, and loves her stall- which is fully decked out to sack her out, including a giant tarp hanging from the ceiling (which Gus later pulled into his stall, and now plays with very noisily- I jokingly call him my assistant trainer), a dozen milk jugs strewn across the floor and draped across her stall, and some crunchy old feed bags. A huge thank you to Doug and Rebecca Torgerson, owners of Grand Marais Stable, for the wonderful care they are giving her! This past week Grand Marais hosted a Girl Scout camp. Tuesday I happened to be working with Tina in the barn isle and noticed a few of the girls watching. I invited them to come pet Tini, and next thing I know there are about thirty of them, jumping all over her, giving her kisses and hugs, playing with her mane and tail. Tina loved every minute of it, dropping her head so everyone could reach out and pet her. Because it was such a positive experience for everyone, I decided to take her out to meet a new group of Girl Scouts on Thursday. They all loved her. She once again stood happily while they vied for a piece of mane or tail to braid, a brush to use, who got to hold her. It was such wonderful exposure for Tina, and she truly enjoyed every minute of it. This horse loves kids, and is so gentle and careful around them. Never once did she nibble at someone's fingers when they fed her a treat or step on someone as they crawled under her belly and in between her legs (the girls wanted to make sure simply everywhere was clean!).
Saturday was perhaps the biggest day of all for Tina - her first ride! I'm so glad that I spent so much time working on ground work and round penning her. She let me swing up onto her no problem, not even batting an eye, and was very willing to walk around with me on her back. Thanks to Brooke Leininger for being ground support! Tina never showed any signs of any inclination to do anything even remotely naughty. She seemed very content to have me up on her, and was responsive to leg and rein aids. So far she has been very quiet and brave about every new thing asked of her. I am extremely happy with all the progress that Tina has made so far. She has no bad habits, except for occasionally pulling back against being tied, which she gets better about all the time. This past week she also had her feet done by our wonderful farrier, Rob Mckinnell, and after some minor fussing and a bit of patience from Rob she settled right in. Tina is learning to ground tie, and has gotten to be a pro about the trailer, which used to terrify her. Nothing spooks her- including gunfire, tractors, dogs, other spooking horses, you name it. Despite being broken so late in life, so far she has truly been one of the easiest horses to bring along, and based on our first ride I strongly believe she will continue this way. Thursday, May 20 Participating in the 2010 Challenge is going to be a bit of a challenge in terms of geographic coordination - my barn is five hours north of the Twin Cities, which will make things a little complicated for visitors to "swing by" and see how Tina and I are progressing. So, to help out MHARF, I've created a blog and photo gallery that we use in parallel. That way, I can update Tina's blog as often as I'd like without burying the webmaster's mailbox with updates, as well as send updates that can be posted on the site! Here are the links relating to Tina: > Back to the Trainers and Students
About TRAINER: A quick note: since I'm already working with another bay mare who's name is "Tia" - seriously, what are the odds? - I'll be referring to my student as "Tina" to avoid confusion. With that explained, here's a little information about myself. When I was about seven years old, my parents signed me up for a horse camp. After those three days, I was hooked. I’m now sixteen, going to be a junior in high school, and more horse crazy than ever. Over the years I have ridden many different styles. Currently my primary focus is in eventing and jumpers, where I compete up to the 3’6” division. So far in my life I’ve had the privilege to ride a wide variety of horses, from school masters to green horses who’ve never had a rider. I strongly believe in cross training and learning anything and everything, even if I have no interest in competing in a particular event, and have worked with western pleasure horses, gamers, reiners, jumpers, dressage horses, driving horses, eventers, and of course the reliable trail horse and even a couple of mounted shooting horses. My favorite thing about horses is that each one teaches you something new and they are all individuals. I really look forward to working with Tina this summer!
|
||||||||||||
Copyright © 2000-2010 Minnesota Hooved Animal Rescue Foundation, Zimmerman MN USA |
This last weekend was a big step - Tina’s first show! Prior to the show I was on vacation so Tina had some time off, but you would never know it by her behavior. She took all aspects of the show experience very well, handling busy warm up rings, noisy barns, and all the other excitement that goes along with shows. Everyone thought she was an old show pro! Tina did two dressage tests – Intro Tests A and B – and was fantastic, scoring a 65% and a 64.5%, earning her a blue and a red ribbon. Later that day we also competed in a dressage equitation class for rail experience and she was quiet and calm in the ring with many other horses. 
