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Spring Song and Kye Will Winter Together

With winter just around the corner I’ve been figuring out which paddocks the horses will be in. Currently Spring Song goes up the driveway, past the arena and into the largest paddock on the farm. She is with two other …

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Magic Hands and Goblins

In the November/December issue of Horse-Canada, in my article “Starting Them Young: Clicker Training Foals,” I mentioned two new games – Magic Hands and Touch the Goblins.

The goal of magic hands is to have the horse maintain a …

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Clicker Training Foals

Begin at the Beginning.

No matter what the age of your horse one should always begin at the beginning of training because there will always be holes to fill in. Going back and revisiting basic lessons is always valuable.

In …

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Teeter-Totter as a Training Tool

Several things have happened in the past two weeks:

1. I’ve been playing with Zelador creating an on the spot tiny trot under saddle (the beginning of a piaffe) and taking this two-beat movement forward into a very slow trot.…

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Selecting Rubber Mats

Imagine how uncomfortable it would be to stand on an uneven or hard concrete floor for hours on end. The strain it would cause to your body’s joints is similar in horses. Some horses spend much of their time standing …

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Hula-Hoops and Horses

About a week ago I thought, “I wonder if the horses can learn to pick up a hula-hoop and place it over a pylon.” They’ve certainly seen us throw them at pylons many times from the ground and while mounted. …

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What to Leave Behind, What to Take Forward: Part 2

Expanding Clicker Training Through the People Who Use It

I have always said clicker training benefits the most from two groups. The first are the experienced horse trainers who bring their horse handling skills and knowledge into the community. We …

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Moderately Better Beastie

After last week’s ‘episode’ of bad behaviour, I was really hoping for a nice easy ride this week, but as usual, Luc had other plans. The giant grey giraffe unfortunately reared its very tall head for most of the ride, …

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Horseplay Sanctuary Fall Fundraiser

We’re practicing like crazy for our fall fundraiser in support of Horseplay Sanctuary this Sunday. Our vizsla, Trooper, just might make it into the fundraiser! You never know!!!!

Here’s our flyer. Pre-registration is necessary. Hope you can come!…

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The Trip Home

As you have likely heard, all of the Canadians were pulled from the Endurance race at WEG. Disappointing, but understandable in the very tough conditions where only 35 riders completed out of 161 entries. I believe the time cut offs …

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For the Love of Spring Song

The American Horsewoman’s Challenge is six months long. It started April first and is ending at the finals in Oklahoma October 3,4,5. At the beginning of July I researched trailering Spring Song to the finals. That’s the first time I …

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Choosing the Right Stall

When looking for a durable and dependable stall system for your equine friends, you must consider a number of factors:

  • What features do I require…posts or no posts?
  • What is my budget?
  • What does the stall package include?
  • What type
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Bill’s Homecoming

I brought Bill home from the hospital on Sept 26th. Within hours the PhD Physicist’s brain was at work, leaving bits and pieces of evidence around the house.

His mode of transportation was a walker with wheels on the front, …

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Bad Beastie

Well as you might be able to guess from the title of this week’s blog, my ride on Luc was not one of our better ones. In fact, I experienced some of the worst behaviour from him ever with me …