Well here it is 80 days later from my last blog.  I have been very busy, but not riding Boots.  I have been competing in the ACTHA, American Competitive Trail Horse Competition, trail rides in the area.  This last one that I did was in Chadwick, Mo.  and it was tough!  I rode my quarter horse gelding, Shorty.  He is 6 yrs old and he has been broke out using Clinton Anderson's system. I really like the way he handles, but he can't seem to get it together in the competition.  He gets too fired up during the obstacles.  IF I can get a 2 hr ride in the day before, it helps to put his mind on track. If not, then, he's fired up. 

So, back to the ride on Saturday.  It was a beautiful ride.  Deep in the ozark mountains, southeast of Springfield, Mo, the Rockin G Ranch is full of great scenery, crystal clear rivers, and lots of up and down, rocky trails.  They are a new equestrian trail group, just getting started.  The camping was primitive,  but the customer service made up for the lack of amenities.  These people were sooooo nice.  I give them a 5 star rating on hopitality.  If you needed it, just ask and they would try to get it for you.  The trails are brand new and they back up to the Mark Twain National Forest, so don't go too far off trail, or you will be lost. 

The ride itself was very nice.  The weather was hot and luckily we crossed the river enough to let the horses drink, however once we went overt the final cross of the river, then it got pretty warm for the horses, and we could have used a water stop.  All in all I liked the ride and the location.  I will definitely go back to this place.

If you have any favorite riding spots, please comment  back and let others share in the fun!!

Happy Trails!!!
Debbie

Well, it's been a few days since I wrote.  The weather was very nasty, and now it's just mud.  However, I did go to the ACTHA trail ride this past weekend, and I got 4th out of 10 riders in the open division.  I took Shorty to ride, because Boots was not ready for these obstacles.  That ride was alot of fun.  My hat goes off to Steve and the gang at Eagle Ranch.  They really rolled out the red carpet for us and the entire weekend was wonderful.  The weather held off and turned out very nice, and we had a great ride.  My friend Erika and her horse Jazz, got 2nd place in the open division.  Congratulations to her!! 

So now it's back to riding Boots.  Tonight we had a good ride.  We just went over some of the yielding and circling we've been practicing to refresh her memory.  Fridays are always my "checkpoint" day when I ride with Cindy.  I video on that day so that I can observe our weekly progress.  (As soon as I get software I will put up video.)  I am very pleased with how Boots is coming along.  I love her responsiveness, I love how she is still playful but learning.  She is starting to get more serious about this, but is still having fun.  By that I mean she still comes to me in the lot, she is attentive and is trying really hard to please me and do what she thinks I'm asking her to do.  She is a really cool horse to ride. 

I love my horses!!!  Happy riding!!

Wow what a beautiful day!! Needless to say, I rode today.  After 3 days of grizzly weather, we catch a break and boy, was it nice. 

Poor Boots, her world has been turned upside down.  The looks that she gives me, whew, she is not happy.  

Boots is still working on her ground work, we refresh that everytime before we ride, her one rein stop, yielding her hips, and loping off.  We have been working on this for about a week now.  She has her days when she is very soft, and then the days when she just leans on the bit and won't soften at all.  Today was one of those days.  She started off just stiff.  I did a lot of yielding to the bit by flexing her head around and asking her to give.  She finally softened  after a lot of trotting in circles and flexing her head both ways, circling, and driving her hip up underneath herself.  Then I would ask for the one rein stop, and we'd take off the other way.  

I will say that we have a much better trot.  She has slowed down by 1/2 her speed, and we are becoming softer with the lope off.  It's not such a big deal anymore.  I know now, that the slow lope will come by way of the circleing, forcing her hip up underneath her, which in turn will soften the shoulders, flex the ribs, and voila, soft slow lope.  Yep, that's all it takes.  Time, time and more time.  Patience, repetition, and consistency.  That's the key.  She is making solid improvements, and that's all I can ask for.  I will ride again tomorrow at Cindy's, and will hopefully see an improvement over today.

Until tomorrow, happy riding!

 Boots is a 4 yr old orphan filly, that has been broke to ride but is not soft, supple or finished.  This is due to the fact that I have her 6 yr old 1/2 brother that is more broke and very fun to ride.  Poor Boots, she has been ignored, so to get her finish broke, I have decided to make 2010 our personal challenge year. 

The challenge is to use Clinton Anderson's Gaining Respect and Control on the Ground and Riding with Confidence series to assist me in my training endeavour. I started this challenge on March 1, and I want to see how soft, supple and finished I can get my horse by November 1, 2010.  I try to ride every day, and I am training myself to journal or blog as I ride to track our progress.

I should let you know that on Fridays and some Saturdays, I will be riding in an indoor arena.  Yeah!! Otherwise, I am riding at my place which is NOT an indoor, or an arena.( I just have pastures.)  With the rainy weather, I have to ride down the road, which has its advantages as far as distractions, and scary objects.  Perfect for keeping your horses attention, and working on hip yields, shoulder yields, stopping, flexing, bending, you know, the usual basic training.  Clinton says you can't do too much of this stuff, so that's what we do down the road. 

Today and yeserday, I rode in the indoor.  We are still in the beginning stages of bending, flexing, and hip yields.  Boots has a fast trot, and she is not collected at all in the lope, so I have been doing the one rein stop, then incorporating the hip yield and moving off.  Today we had a slower trot, yeah!, and a decent lope.  I am sooo excited!  I am seeing progress as well as feeling it.  Boots is becoming much softer in the face and poll as well as bringing her hips up underneath her and driving more.  My goal is to have a good driving lope by the end of March.  Keep your fingers crossed on that one. 

So far, I am very pleased with how Boots is coming along.  Being an orphan, I know that she missed out on a lot of important "horse" information from her mother.  I have to really think about my training program and keep it very consistent so that it's easier for her to grasp the concept of what I want.  This is important for any horse, but I think it's especially important for her.  Mentally she only acts like a 2 1/2 or 3 year old.  She is very sensitive and is trying to do what I want, but is very confused at the same time.  Consistency and repetition is the key.

I'm not sure if I will be riding tomorrow.  It may be a study day if it's raining.  Until next time, happy riding.

  Yes I've started my filly (and gelding) on Clinton's program. She is doing great.  The thing I like about this is it's a no brainer in coming up with a training outline.  He's done it for you.  I've studied his dvd's, now it's implementing them and applying the techniques.  Boots is coming along very well with it.  Of course Shorty has already been thru it, He's taking a refresher course this spring.  I usually ride 4 days straight, then off a day then ride again.  That schedule works well with Boots. She is the priority, so no matter what, I have to make the riding happen. When it rains we train on the road because its soft, and the gravel doesn't bother bare feet.  You can really do a lot of shoulder and hip yielding with many distractions.  I love this type of training, it really puts their mind in a good place. I prefer to stay out of the arena at this point so she has to learn to do what I ask, when I ask, and its out of her comfort zone. 

Once again I apologize for not writing sooner.  Daily blogging or journaling is new to me and I forget to do it. 

On that note, let me catch you up to speed. I rode on Friday (3/5) starting the foundation portion of the Riding With Confidence.  Today we introduced the one rein stop.  To do the one rein stop, you move your horse forward at a walk, reach approximately half way down the rein with one hand and grab your rein and pull it up to your hip bending your horses head toward your foot. You hold this position until 2 things happen.  1) The horses feet stop moving, 2) your horse then gives her head, or softens, the other 1/4 way to your foot, in that order.  Then you flex her head to the other side, wait until she gives, or softens, then you move her forward again and repeat this exercise.  Do this exercise at the trot and canter too.  You can't do this exercise too much, because this is your emergency brake.  This is the exercise that controls your horse's brakes.  This is the foundation that we build from.  We have to get this exercise. 

These are the problems I"ve ran into already.  1) My horse thinks this is a game.  When I bend her head around she leans on the outside of the bit, and lays there while I'm basically holding her head up.  How do you make that uncomfortable? ( Without jerking on the mouth, which is the habit I'm trying to break). The second problem is the slobber straps have to go.  Boots thinks I have given her toys to play with. She is so distracted by lipping these things, that I can't get her to concentrate on anything.  She loves to fling her head when we canter, because it throws the slobber straps around.  Then she leans on the bit, we try the one rein stop, and she's grabbing the slobber straps again.  OMG!!  I am so worn out after a ride!  I can't get the horse to focus.  MORE GROUND WORK!!!!!!  AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!

One thing that I want to warn you about.  Be sure you get your horse warmed up very well and don't ask for too much in the beginning.  These exercises are very difficult for the horses to perform, especially when they don't know what we want.  When you are starting out these horses are not flexible and they are stepping all over the place, and it is very easy for them to come up lame.  Be patient, (I'm still working on this) and reward the effort.  

I have video, but it's not edited.  Still working on it.  Until next time, Happy riding!

 

Well, I forgot to write last night.  Sorry.  It was a busy evening and I didn't get to work my horse, fell asleep on the couch, and forgot to write.

Soooooo, today was beautiful, and I did ride!  The filly did very well.  I am very excited!  She picked up a gallop, and we managed several circles, and even managed a few lope strides!! Yeah!  Light at the end of the tunnel.  I hope it's not a freight train. Seriously, this was a huge success, because when I stopped riding last fall, we had no lope what-so-ever. We could not even do a full circle without dropping the hind lead.  Today was great.  Of course, we did our ground work first, then proceeded to ride trotting a serpentine pattern to help drive the rear end up under her and to help slow the trot down.  She has a very full stride.  Cindy Jones, my good friend and trainer, helped me alot by showing me different techniques to help Boots keep her hip up under herself, which in turn is going to provide impulsion and strengthen the hip and ultimately slow down the jog and lope.  It's a great theory.  

I will be riding again tomorrow, and possibly Sunday.  I'm still working on that video, I'm new at this and it takes a lot of coordination.  Frankly, I'm scared to see myself, and my horse is a wooly mess.  I will try to get my act together and do a video. 

Until tomorrow, happy riding!! 

Day 3- Wow what a beautiful day.  I rode my bike to work this morning, 3 miles, and I thought it was gonna kill me.  I had the wild idea that I will get myself into shape, huh, I might want to condition myself before I try that again. 

Today was a conditioning day for Boots.  We lunged, then worked on ground poles, and low jumps.  She did very well with her yielding, and we worked on showmanship. 

I like to lunge first because that gets the horses warmed up, gets the freshness worn off, and just kind of puts them in the right place to learn.  While we're lunging, I take the oppurtunity to use the ground work skills that we have been working on from Clinton Andersons dvd's Gaining Respect and Control on the Ground.  I will be conditioning as we go and will try to start riding this Friday.  I need to start watching Clinton's Riding with Confidence dvd, then move on up to the Horsemanship.  

I used the sending exercise to put Boots over the ground poles, then yield the hip and send her the other way over the poles. Gradually, I increased the height of the poles to an x, then up to 18" across the bar.  Boots responded very well with the sending exercise, and didn't refuse the jumps.  I believe she actually enjoyed this exercise. 

Finally, we worked on showmanship.  I like to work on this last, because its a good cool down.  With winter coats, it doesn't take much effort to work up a sweat and the stop, walk and turn of showmanship is an easy exercise. 
I always start with walking forward, stop, turn myself to the horse and ask for a set-up.  I do this all the way around my pasture.  Then I ask for the set-up and a trot off.  I include circling at the trot, both ways, and stop and trot off again.  All of this teaches the horse about my body language and keeps her attention on me.  Finally as one of the last exercises I like, I will do the "square". This is my favorite exercise both on the ground and riding.  I start out walking a straight line, stop and ask for a set-up, then do a 270* turn to the right. This puts you going left of where you stopped.  Repeat the exercise again and you will make a square pattern. I do this exercise a lot.  You can trot off, stop, do a 270* then trot off again.  You can really mix this one up, and the best part is, it really sharpens your horse to your body language.  Once again though, always start off easy and build up to it. Try it though, it is fun.

That's all for today.  I will video the square exercise tomorrow and post it.  Until then, happy riding. 

Day 2- Today was a conditioning day.  Since I had an evening appointment, Boots just lunged today.  She had a lot of fun on the lunge line.  Wow!! There was bucking and running and woohooing of all kinds.  I think we all love this weather!! and I knew she needed to let loose. 

After 20 minutes or so of energy release, we then went to lunging over ground poles, and then raised them to a small jump.  She did this with some apprehension, but in her usual style, she overcame the obstacle with ease.  I always find that ground poles and low jumps really make a horse "round up" and use their body better.  It also helps with their coordination.  This is definitely something that I will implement into our ground work routine. 

Boots also did very well with both, her hip yielding and her front end yielding.  She is very aware of my body positioning and responding to it.  I am very pleased with this progress so quickly.  Thank you Clinton Anderson. 

I am having a great time doing this challenge.  For one thing, I love my horse.  Working with them is my happy place, and for another thing, this challenge makes me accountable.  I enjoy blogging, even though I'm not that good at it, but the best part is I tell my family that I have to work the horses for the blog.  And they believe me!! Ha!  I love this! 

Anyway, thanks for reading and I wil write again tomorrow. 

Today is the first official day of Boots Camp.  Boots is a 4 year old registered APHA filly.  She is an orphan that we have raised.  I understand they can get difficult at this age, so I have taken on a personal challenge to finish her out this year.  The Challenge is to use Clinton Andersons Down Under Horsemanship training to train this filly and ultimately show her at the APHA World show in the Non-pro versatility class in November.  Right, piece of cake.  Ha Ha!!  Okay it's a bit of a stretch, but I did say it was a challenge. 

I am going to start with Clinton's ground work exercises to gain respect and work our way through his advanced horsemanship series.  I will be doing an occasional video on this blog so I can check my technique and have a video journal of our progress. 

I really like this filly so she will make it alot of fun along the way.  If anybody out there wants to share information and thoughts, please do so. 

I was able to work her tonight and I did take video.  I will upload some tomorrow. 

Day 1 is done.  It only gets easier from here.  LOL!!!

I worked my horse today.  Yeah!!  The weather was good, my cold is almost gone, and I felt good enough to go out and play.  This is a lot harder than it looks.  When I get the camera going, you guys are gonna laugh out loud. So here's what happened.  My horse doesn't like to back up, so I am trying the different methods that Clinton shows on the dvd.  She finally backs up, but she doesn't have the quality of steps.  Clinton tells us that you just want a few steps at first, then slowly increase the pressure.  How do you know when to increase the pressure?  If she takes the steps back, but they are not whole hearted steps, do you apply pressure when you're not sure if she knows what you want?  Because she will back up but she waits until you are on top of her to do it.  Introducing the stick.  However, she is still resistant to willingly back up. 

Now that I've written all of this and thought about the training session I realize I'm expecting too much, too soon.  Ha Ha, trainer lesson.  See this is what I mean.  You have to remember so much at the same time, the horses position, your position, the technique, oh, and don't hit yourself with the stick.  And don't get tangled up in the lead. I ended up abandoning the stick and using the end of the lead for encouragement.  Plus I have to remember that daily training makes a huge difference, rather than this off again on again training.  

More snow suppose to be coming this weekend, so probably won't work much more this week.  

Sorry for not writing the past couple of days, but my head cold had me shut down.  I'll try to do better.

Thanks for reading,
Debbie

For the past couple of days, I have been studying the Gaining Respect and Control on the Ground dvds.  This time I was paying more attention to Clinton's body position in relationship to the horse's position. There are a few things I need to adjust.  For example, when asking for the hip yield, I noticed that Clinton loops the end of the lead around the horses neck.  I keep it looped in my hand. This is ok I think, because if my horse gets away, I can still hold the lead.  If Clintons horse pulls away, they are in an enclosed area and I am not.  The other things that I noticed is, his comfort level with the stick and the lead vs. my awkwardness with them (and yes I have whapped myself on the back with the whip).  I need to work more with them to become more comfortable.  It is very difficult to coordinate the mental work, remembering the exercises, watching the horse for the correct movement, and thinking of where you are and remembering your body position.  After all, this is what the horse sees and ques from.  Sounds like it might be important to get the body position right.  I'll bet the video camera will help me with that issue.

Speaking of video cameras, I have been looking for a new one that has the sd card to upload video to the computer more easily.  I'm thinking a helmet cam would be fun.  If anyone else is reading this, let me know what you think of that idea.  I'm thinking it would be fun on a trail ride, or training.  It would definitely bring a different perspective. 

The weather is gonna be bad for a few more days, and I have a bad head cold.  Probably not going to get much ground work with Boots done this week. Oh well, I need to finish watching the first  series of Gaining Respect anyway.  I'll try to map out a better plan for this next week and let you know whats up. 

I hope you keep following Boots on her road to the world.

This weather sucks!!  Sooo, all I have been able to do is minor messing around with Boots in her stall, you know, picking hooves, brushing tail, light trimming, etc..  I have been able to study the dvd's, and put some of them on my ipod.  After studying these, I have a lot to learn, or re-learn.  I tend to be the "barbarian" as Clinton Anderson puts it.  Meaning that I tend to over-react in the training process.  I need to quit making a big deal of the horse's reaction, step back and recognize what it was that made the horse react, and then work it into the groundwork steps.  Take more time to be patient with my horse and observe.  If I don't want it to be a big deal, then don't make it a big deal.  That's my personal motto from now on. 

I will say though, that after working Boots the other day, I am pleased that she is so willing to try.  It was interesting  when I was smacking the rope on the ground by her,  she did not understand at all why I was "threatening" her.  It took her a while to stand, and  a little longer to relax.  My arm got very tired of slapping the rope on the ground waiting for her to relax.  Then I had to move onto the other side.  Why? Because what you do on one side you have to do on the other.  Horses have a split brain.  They have a left side and a right side.  Just because the left side may understand a training method, the right side may not.  This is why you ride one way down the road and your horse is fine, but when you turn around, it's a whole new road to your horse.  This is an important piece of information for anyone working with horses.

I only worked with her for about an hour.  She was yielding her hip, not great ,but I was getting 3 cross over steps from the rear feet.  I need to remember to come back to waving the air when she starts to yield.  Clinton says to ask for the lightest pressure first, then increase your pressure level to achieve the desired result, but to back off the pressure, or retreat, when they give you what you want.  I have homework also, ha ha.

Clinton tells us most horses do not like to back away from us.  This is a form of submission and they are reluctant to give this up.  Well, Boots, like so many other horses, is not willing to back away from me either.  She did back up when I applied heavier pressure.  I walked toward her tapping the air with the stick, 1,2,3,4, then I tapped the lead with the stick, 1 2 3 4, then I hit the lead heavier, 1 2 3 4.  At this point, I tapped the snap with the stick then she backed away.  I then retreat and rub her forehead with the stick, which does "rub the scare away".  It's like it didn't happen.  You can literally see it in their expression.  I repeated this exercise for quite a while until I felt that she was backing away from tapping the air.

This backup session took the most effort.  I quit on a positive note, took her into the barn, tied her up while I cleaned her stall, and brushed her down.  When the weather gives me a decent day, we will do this same process again, and add the shoulder yields.

If you have any advice or comments you would like to share, or questions on anything I have done, please feel free to e-mail me at dmurry@kchorseevents.com.  Follow Boots on her "road to the World".
   

Okay, its February 3rd, and today was the first day I got to work with Boots.  Like all of you, I too have a very busy family.  Monday night my mom had a familyl birthday dinner for my dad and my husband, Keith.  Tuesday we had to go shopping for a homecoming dress for our daughter.  Sooo, tonight I got to work my horses!!!!!

I like to use the month of February for conditioning the horses in preparation for riding in March.  I like to do a lot of lunging, "respectful" groundwork, and combine some playful stuff.  All of which is meant to remind the horse that we are a team and as a team we need to be on the same page.  I'm the coach of the team and I call the plays, but my team members have to be in on the plays and know whats expected.  This is why I do conditioning groundwork.  They are in spring training.

Tonight we worked on moving our feet forward, backward, left and right.  We started out getting use to the stick and slapping the ground around Boots.  She was skittish at first, but then stood right away, and relaxed.  We then moved on to yielding her hips.  This is when I remembered that I have worked on this a little before, because she knew what to do.  We worked on both sides of course, then moved on to backing away from the stick, and personal space.  She picked it up, but we will work on this a lot more.  Boots, like so many other horses, doesn't like to  back away from me.  

Overall, she did very well.  I am pleased with her willingness to do what I asked.  We will spend the rest of this month doing these same things over and over.  This is our base from which we will build from.

I hope to be getting a new video camera that we will be able to upload some video of our work for you to follow along.  It doesn't sound like the weather is going to hold out for me to work Boots a lot this week, so feel free to e-mail me at dmurry@kchorseevents.com to comment or ask questions.

 

It has been a few days since I wrote last, so I will catch you up with what's going on.  I got the dvd's and started watching "Gaining Respect on the Ground". In the first week of training I hope to get Boots through a lot of groundwork.  I will start by getting her acquainted with the stick and the rope, then move on to moving her hip away from me, backing away from me, and moving her shoulders.  I will "warm up" with these same exercises everyday as we progress.  By week two I hope to be moving on to Lunging for Respect.   I am dealing with ugly Kansas weather, but I am going to work the elements to  my advantage.  I think of it this way, if she can stand out in this weather and eat, she can work in it too.  I can suffer through it for an hour or two, with her. 

I'm really not sure time wise, what I'm expecting or how this will go.  I am going to let her tell me when we move on, keeping the time line in mind but not in stone.  That is one thing I know with this filly, she will let me know where she is mentally.  

February 1st is Monday.  Yeah, here we gooooooo!     

Our daughter had her high school dance team competitions this past weekend, so now that those are out of the way, I will re-focus on Boots' camp agenda.  When I left off, I was mapping out small goals, of course, how much ground work gets done in February will depend on weather. 

I don't know how I'm going to do the video portion of this venture.  I guess I will set up the tripod and then edit the tape.  I think it would be very boring to watch all video of me being drug around the pasture.  Ha ha!!  I will show some of that video though.  I might have to edit for language also, sometimes it gets pretty "colorful".  If anybody has any suggestions on the video stuff, let me know. 

Well, I am going to review what steps I have thought of, and see if i need to add some more.  I will write more tomorrow.

Now that we have a MAJOR goal written down, we need to break it up into smaller steps.  Starting Feb. 1, I will begin working Boots on Clinton Anderson's Gaining Respect and Control on the Ground, and the Lunging For Respect, weather permitting of course,( I am dealing with Kansas winters).  Before we start that though, a few purchases must be made.  I have e-mailed Clinton Anderson asking his permission to use his name and method on the blog.  I received a confirmation e-mail from him, so now, I need to get a rope halter, a stick, and the DVD's.  All are on order, and I am anxiously awaiting those items to come in.
 
Next we have to deal with a lack of facilities. My husband and I have 6 acres divided into 3 small patures.  I do not have an arena, or a round pen.  So I do alot of road riding when it is too muddy to ride.  That should work fine because Clinton highly recommends taking these horses down the road and getting those saddle blankets wet.  Sounds exciting to me! 

February, being a transition month into spring,  gives us up and down weather, but it is a short month so I use it to take the edge off of horses.  I have a feeling that Boots, being cooped up for the winter, might be a little fresh and need a month of ground work and conditioning before climbing on for a ride. Of course, it's much more exciting to just climb on,  for the sake of the blog though, we will play by the rules.  I know that I will not be able to do groundwork everyday, but I will do something with her everyday that I can.  By that I mean that when I go out to the barn for chores, I will mess with her in her stall.  Brushing, picking hooves, asking her to lower her head and general touchy feely that she will need.  She tends to be head shy on her right side so we will be working alot on that along with the clippers.   All of this counts toward her being a much more accepting horse.  

Boots will also have to do some "camp activities".  In order to see where she is in her training we will have to get her out to events to "test" her skills.  I have some events lined up that she will go to. At the end of March,there is an  an ACTHA casual competition at Collins, MO and in April, there is a New Shooters Clinic in Oak Grove, MO to teach you how to shoot from your horse.  I thought those sounded right up our ally.  Visit the calendar for more events and information.    

With all of these being addressed, weather, facilities, equipment, and skill tests, we have a solid plan to get us through phase 1 of the "Boots Camp Challenge".  Ha Ha!!


 

 Some of my friends have informed me that to achieve a goal, it must first have 3 components.  A start date, a purpose, and an end date. Otherwise the goal doesn't get accomplished.  I have a start date, but I think I am going to change that to Feb.1, 2010 so I can take the first month to do ground work and hopefully be ready to ride by March 1.  So, the start date will be February 1, the purpose is to develop an all around show horse, and the end date will be November 1.  This is 9 months of training, along with a busy family schedule.   The end result will be her performing in the Non-pro versatility challenge class at the APHA World Show in Ft.  Worth, TX in November.   I  have never shown at this level or anything like this.  It has been a dream of mine to try it, but it is very expensive and a long time from January.   Her and I  may not achieve this goal, but I am going to try my best to do it.  Shoot for the stars and end up on the moon?  Is that how the saying goes? 

The non-pro versatility class consists of 4 events in one class.  First you perform in english pleasure.   The judges leave the arena then you and your ground crew have 5 minutes to do a complete tack and clothing change to western pleasure.  The contestants stay in the arena to do this.  You then perform in western pleasure, take 5 minutes to add accessories for reining.  You perform a reining pattern individually, allow 5 minutes to make adjustments for a barrel race.  You then run a barrel pattern, and the winners are scored and announced.  Last year was the first year they offered this class and I thought, "wow that's the kind of horse I want.  One that is well rounded and will do it all". 

Am I scared?  YES!!!!!  This is way out of my league!! In the back of my mind I don't think this goal will be reached, but it is a dream, soooo, I am going to put myself out there on the web, in front of the entire equine world, and go for it!! 

Ok, so we have a start date, Feb.1.  We have a goal, to use Clinton Andersons ground work and riding with confidence to train an all around performance horse, (or as close as we can get) by November 1, 2010.  This is a very big challenge. I think I've lost my mind!!

I will be using these days in January to study the videos, gather the tools I will need and prepare my horse.  I will vaccinate, worm, float her teeth, and prepare her for "camp".  I still have to map out our journey, break it down into short-term goals, so I can determine where we are in the big picture.  Of course, I know that the horse will tell me when we move on to the next step.  That is why I'm not sure about showing at the world show.  She may not be ready.  Time will tell.

I guess I should give you some background on me and my horse.  Gitzherbootsdirrty, "Boots" is a 4 yr old APHA filly.  Boots is an orphan that we have raised and is starting to find her place in the herd.  Now, I am considered by her, to be part of that herd because we raised her.  I was very aware of trying to keep her a "horse", meaning that I put her with another weanling very early and kept her with other horses alot to learn to be a horse and not a pet, however, in her mind I am still her "mom". 

This winter she is invading  my personal space and turning her rear-end to me when I enter the stall. Normally I would take the bucket or whatever I have handy and beat her butt with it, but as Clinton Anderson says, the action is not the problem.  I have to get to the source, which is lack of respect.  I have worked with her on some of Clinton's methods, but I have never put the time on this filly that she needed.  She has always been on the back burner due to family activities or, my lack of enthusiasm on working with a young horse.  This year she becomes the priority and gets to grow up and learn about respect.  The time has come for her to enter  "Boot's camp."  Ha Ha.  

Enter the challenger.  I am a 47 yr old wife and mother of 2 daughters.  I have ridden horses my entire life.  My dad had me on a trail ride when I was 6 months old and I have never been off of a horse since.  I showed locally here in Kansas and Missouri showing in KSHSC and Golden Circle horse show circuits, and in 4-H where I did have a lot of success at the State level. My childhood dreams were always to have a world champion horse.  I'm not sure I ever forgot that dream, but I definitely never went after it.  

 After high school, I went to work at a hunter/jumper stable where I learned how to deal with people, bosses, and veterinarians(very important). My job was to feed, turn out, prepare lesson horses and train ex-race horses to go to the right and become a show horse.  From there I went on to an apprenticeship at an Arabian/Saddlebred show and breeding barn.  I rode both english and western, conditioned the halter horses, and assisted with the breeding and foaling season.  When I decided to leave that career path, I came to work at a veterinary clinic in my hometown, and have been there off and on since 1986. 

So you see, I do have a quite a bit of equine experience, but, that was 30+ years ago.  Alot has changed since then, including myself.  

How good can I make this horse?  Only time will tell. 

I have chosen Clinton Anderson's method, because it's very similar to what I have used before on my horses.  I am putting myself out here in front of the entire equine world for criticism and input.  (Please don't be too hard on me.)  The way I see it, I am going to get a good broke horse at the end of this challenge, and that is a good thing!!  

Ok, it's 2010, I have a four year old filly who is broke to ride but not finished to anything.  Honestly, she doesn't lope yet.  I attended a Clinton Anderson clinic this past weekend in Kansas City, Mo..  As I was listening to him talk, I wondered how many people will actually put this method into action, and how far could you take your horse?  Could you, a plain old normal person, get your horse to that magical level? Then I wondered could I get my horses to sit like a dog?  Could I get both horses to work in sync?  So, this is my personal challenge for 2010.  Starting March 1, I, Debbie Murry, am going to start Clinton Andersons, ground work and riding series with my 4 yr old filly, and my 6 yr old gelding.  I am going to keep a daily blog/video journal to track my accomplishments, and frustrations.  I hope you will follow my journey with me to offer suggestions, and keep me company along the way.  Wish me luck!!