Ahhhh

Life is good.

New(ish) Saddle Set

I got this set a while back (I was in school at the time!). It's a western working set by Pam Perkins.

I have a pleasure set by Pam and absolutely love it. She does a fantastic job, and is a pleasure to work with! Super sweet and always helpful!

I got this set for my future Rose Reiner, but I am going to try to use it before then (who knows when he will be done. Especially with my current 'no spending money on models!' rule.) I really love the pattern, the seat, and the horn. I love how it looks so practical, yet there is a touch of fancy. She took a very simple design and spiced it up a bit!

Hopefully I will get to use it at my show in October!

And I know you're wondering, what's up with the horse? That is my BHR western pleasure horse, who is currently legless. I really want to get him fixed and a new paint job, but that probably won't happen any time soon. The reason he is modeling the tack it because I keep all my show horses at my Godparent's house and all my bodies at my house. So, he seemed to be the best fitting body I had laying (literally) around...

This is How We Do It

Unfortunately, Sonny wasn't nearly as excited as my dog, Nellie, when I asked "Wanna go bye bye?".

When we bought our new trailer, I didn't realize just how small it was. Because of it's size and the fact the Sonny hadn't been loaded in 2 years, he was not interested in getting on the trailer.

I worked with him a couple days before the move to the new barn, but it took me forever to get him in. I got him in good enough to take him to the new barn, but knew that we had some serious practicing ahead.

I moved Sonny to the new barn on August 5th, the same day Linda Parelli posted on her blog about trailer loading. Was that a crazy coincidence or what?

Using that blog and a little advise from some fellow Parelli students, I got back to work on the trailer.

Starting last week, I got Sonny to be confident and comfortable with the trailer. I could get him to go on, but he didn't want to since there was nothing in it for him. To make it more appealing, I worked at making the trailer a 'sweet spot'. Sonny doesn't like moving; he likes being lazy and eating. So what I did was made him move, move, move. Cantering, trotting over ground poles, jumping, etc. Then I would take him to the trailer and ask if he wanted to get on. If he said no, I said "That's fine, you don't have to go on. But now you have to trot, canter, jump, and so on". If he answered yes and went on, he got to relax and eat treats.

I really didn't know if it was going to work or not. I was never expecting the results I got. I used the above theory and then the very next day (day 5 of trailer loading) I was walking him by the trailer and he walked on without me even asking!

I was so amazed by this, I had to take a video (day 7 of trailer loading). Since we both were so confident, I took his lead rope off to show just how good he is at trailer loading!


I am so very proud of him! I can't wait to see what we can accomplish next!

Tooling Leather

I probably shouldn't be posting this shortly after Pam Perkin's saddle, but here goes anyways. I don't know why I never showed this before, but this is my first attempt at tooling leather. Right when I got out of school I started to make a western saddle, but only got as far as cutting out the pieces :(.

I figured that my first saddle would be horrible no matter what, so I might as well practice on it! I started tooling just to get an idea. I realized it is WAY harder than what it looks like. I got some good tips from Blab, but have never tried putting them to use.

As of right now, this is where it stands. I want to get a swivel exacto knife and start practicing again, but things have been so busy lately I haven't even thought about it.

Suggestions are always welcome!

Keeping Posted

Just a few quick updates:

-I have posted two of the four topics that fall under the "Catching Up" category. Once that is over with, new things will be coming!

-Wednesday I will be leaving to go to Myrtle Beach! My dad is a mailman, which means he listens to the radio all day every day. He listens to so much radio, he wins things all the time. Recently he won plane tickets and hotel stay in Myrtle Beach! It is only from Wednesday to Saturday, but I am not going to complain! It will be a nice, cheap getaway for the both of us!

-On top of that, I have my first Parelli Playday Sunday! I couldn't be more excited! This is my first time being around Parelli people with Sonny! The idea is to get Parelli people and their horses together to play, have fun, each lunch, try new things, and everything else! Best of all, it's free! I am sure you will be hearing much more about this in the near future.

-Bint Soraya arrived safely! With getting ready to leave and working extra to make up for the time I won't be working, I haven't had time to take any pictures. But, that will be coming soon, too!

-Other exciting news: I am working on going to another live show in October!

-Finally, (and possibly most importantly!) I have started working on tack again! I start school in about a month, so nothing major. But, it is better than nothing!

Western Horsemanship

Horsemanship is a lot like Equitation. The difference is Equitation is always associated with english riding, and Horsemanship is the western version.

Horsemanship and Equation are like the riding version of Showmanship. The majority of the class is judged on the rider, but also how the horse responds to the rider. "Judging focuses on the rider’s body position, seat in the saddle and ability to control the horse."

Just like Equitation and Showmanship, horses enter the arena and line up tails to the rail. One at a time they step up to the first cone, wait for the judge to nod, then start their pattern. As always, they always look back at the judge been the pattern is finished and look for the nod again.

I never mentioned this before, but most classes (not only patterned ones, but pleasure classes, jumping classes, etc.) are often divided up into categories. Sometimes they are divided up into age groups (for instance, dressage is divided into Young Riders which is 21 and younger, Adult Amateur which is over 21 and Open). A majority of open shows are also divided by Walk/Trot and Walk/Trot/Canter.

At this show, there was a class for only Walk/Trot and Walk/Trot/Canter. Since one class included canter and the other didn't, there were two different patterns for the horsemanship class.

Since I went through all the steps with Equiation and Showmanship, I am going to skip over the individual parts of the pattern. Here are a few pictures form both of the patterns combined.

As you can see, Horsemanship follows the same general trends as Western Pleasure.

Here is a video of the walk/trot pattern.


Notice the rider's equitation (meaning, what she looks like in the saddle). She is sitting up straight, with her shoulders back, her back arched, her heels down, and her eyes up. Overall, she has a good position. Just as important, notice what very little she does to cue the horse and he responds decently well. These are the things that are important in Equitation and Horsemanship classes.

Also, here is a few examples of the walk/trot/canter pattern.

Again, the girl's have good position and the horses respond to very minimal cues.

Those are the basics for a Horsemanship class!

Questions? Just comment or e-mail labelle012@yahoo.com

Back to Belle

Here are some photos I have of LaBelle from my visit in July! I never got a chance to share them, so now I finally am going to!

One of LaBelle's best qualities is definitely her head. For being as big as it is, it is surprisingly feminine. You can't forget those big, kind, eyes that are the ultimate persuaders.

One of the greatest things about having Belle around was that she was so photogenic. I would take tons of photos of her, and she would always look so good, making me look good.

I have to share this photo. Between her forelock, her lips, and her browband, it always makes me giggle!