Apollo

Went and saw Apollo the pony today.  Cute, cute, welsh X thoroughbred, former fancy A show pony.  Looks like he may be coming for a visit.....stay tuned!




Loretta
 the natural horseman
clear communication/visible results

Emotional Eating

I have always had a problem with this.  Since I was a kid.  My mom used to buy me a hot fudge sundae at Friendly's when something was upsetting me.  She had good intentions I know, but it created a life of looking at food  for comfort.  Now, I realize I am an adult and I make my own choices.  I'm not blaming mom here.  But it is REALLY hard to break the cycle!

My large pony is driving me absolutely crazy.  When I come in and am stress about it, I look for food to munch.  The truly funny thing here is that what is making me crazy about her is that she is totally food driven.  When she sees any kind of food, nothing else matters in her world.

As I write this I am wondering if this is not a message for me.  What if I try shifting the way I look at food?  Perhaps she will shift too?  I have often experienced the horses' mirroring ourselves, and or teaching us with their behavior what we need the most.  We need only to observe with an open mind and heart.

Loretta


 the natural horseman


 clear communication/visible results

Pony for Lease

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Dear Equine Enthusiast,    I apologize in advance for sending so many emails this month.  It is a very busy time with many important things I feel you should know. I have been presented with the opportunity to take on a lovely pony.  (Where's my t-shirt when I need it? I do not need another horse, I do not need another horse, I do not need another horse.)  She is a 13.3h mare that has been there and done that.  She is a lot like Piero in the way that she can do and will put up with anything.  The thing is, I cannot afford to take her, unless she is leased.  I am willing to half lease her to 2 people, even 1/3 lease her to 3.  I would like to know if any of you would even be interested in discussing this.  It is a good step before ownership, or simply to build your connection with a special pony.    :O)  Please give me a call or shoot me an email to express your interest.  Thank you! Sincerely, Loretta Arey 20/20 Horsemanship

Loretta the natural horseman clear communication/visible results

Busy spring day

Busy day today.  I met with two new students after doing a lot of outdoor chores.  Trying to soak up every bit of sunlight possible!


Duster arrived yesterday and has already settled in nicely with Piero and Astro.  Piero remembered her and Astro is in love! :)  They make quite a cute couple.  Duster yields to Piero, (who wouldn't with that kick a** fast backward walk and buck!)  And Poor Astro is yielding to Duster.  Since we are expecting rain I have all 3 ponies at the next door barn, aka the Pony Barn.  They really are quite the site all together there!


Things are picking up here, I'm getting lots of calls.  Thank you to those who are referring their friends.  I really appreciate it!


Loretta


the natural horseman
clear communication/visible results

Lessons on as scheduled

The bluestone paddock is clear and dry, yeah! For those of you who are more advanced, i.e. trotting on your own, we will most likely be meeting at the ring behind my house. I will give you directions before our next lesson is scheduled.

I also have a little news. A dear friend of mine will be boarding her large pony here for a while. This mare used to be Piero's herd mate. I will be using her in lessons with some you. She is a very well seasonal pony, did pony club for a few years and has shown a lot. For those of you who were riding Stryker, if Duster is not an option, then I will have you ride Gus, who lives at the barn where the ring is located. Gus is a Belgian Draft / Quarter horse cross. He is wide and large enough to hold a man.

Lots of fun things will be happening around here with the onset of spring. Some tree branches in the front ring area will be cut down to make for more riding space. A new gate/door will be put up on the open run-in area. I will be scheduling an open house/fun on the farm day, along with a spring show for students. I will also be holding a week or two of summer camp.

With this in mind, please schedule your regular lessons now. The phone calls from new clients are spilling in already and we still have snow on the ground! Surprisingly I have a few Sunday openings, which are hard to come by, and also one or two after school time slots available. I'd like to give my current students the chance to pick their lesson times first.

Don't forget to check the website for details on the referral policy and the packaged lessons discounts.

Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you soon!

Loretta

the natural horseman
clear communication/visible results

Piero the escaping pony

I have these spaces between my fence sections and my barn. I call them people walk throughs. They are a little wider than I had wanted when my fence was built, but I figured, "Oh well. I have a draft and a thoroughbred. Can't imagine ever having anything small enough to fit through this little 18 inch space." Meet Piero.

He not only can fit through, he can move the obstacles I put there in an attempt to keep him in!

Yesterday I went out to throw them some more hay. I noticed Piero was missing. I couldn't find him so I got nervous and started calling his name. I felt like I was calling my kid to come home for dinner. So I go to the tack room, quick grabbed a halter and lead and headed for my gate. I'm calling his name the whole time, and then I see him trotting across my neighbor's field toward home. Not wanting to scare him off and have a loose pony roaming the neighborhood, I just watched him for a moment. He approached my fence line, put his head over, and said, "Did you call me, mom?" A bit surprised, I walked over to the gate and said, "Piero, glad you're back. I was worried about you. Why don't you come in and have some hay with the others?" And through the gate he came.

Maybe this does not sound surprising, but there is grass in my neighbor's field! And that is what he wanted in the first place.


Loretta

the natural horseman
clear communication/visible results

Teaching Piero Ground Work Day 3

It always fascinates me to watch horses interact with one another. My established herd understands that I am the lead mare when I am around. Piero on the other hand, has yet to figure that out. He has asserted his position above Astro, and understands he falls beneath Tango. Yet when Scottie runs toward the fence where Piero is located on the other side, Piero stands his ground, pawing and flinging his head around. He was attempting to behave this way with me too.

When I approached him today, he turned and walked away from me. I then told him he had to keep moving, and moving. After about ten minutes of cantering around, and me running along, he finally stopped and faced me. Yippee. I immediately turned my shoulder toward him, and lowered my head. If he attempted to look away or graze, I slapped my thigh, made noise, whatever it took to keep his attention. It was either that, or he'd be moved again.

Piero is working hard to understand what I am asking of him. He steps back when I shake the lead rope a few times now. We'll keep working on that to improve the timing. When I lead him he is following at a nice position behind my shoulder, and he stops when I stop, and does not attempt to get ahead of me. He is learning to yield his haunches to me and to be driven forward. He is clearly accustomed to being lunged. I am striving for him to understand the difference between lunging and being driven. I point right, and he does go to the right, so I am very pleased with that. The next nice weather day we have I will tack him up for his ground work, in preparation to be ridden again.


Loretta

The Plight of Piero the Pony

I never realized how much I loved ponies. Two summers ago I got an itch to buy a pony. For my daughter, of course. Sadly, we had her only 8 weeks and she had to be put down. She was very ill with a liver disease. That's another story entirely.

This past summer the itch came back. I've always wanted a paint. There's just something about those colors. So I was thinking, paint pony. Works for me. I found the BEST paint pony ever. I really am getting to the point here. I only realized after having Astro (the paint pony) for a while, that I just have a thing for ponies. Funny since I also have a thing for Drafts. They do look kind of cute together. Sorry, back to the point.

The other day a friend calls me up and says she has this pony and asked if I will take him. She's had him for a few years, but he is not ridden regularly and she felt it wasn't fair to him. She let a friend borrow him and while at the new place he started to misbehave. The new barn didn't have time to deal with it....enter Loretta.

My first thought after going to observe him was that he is misunderstood. I am at times clairesentient with animals, especially horses. (That simply means that I pick up their feelings, or intuitively know or understand what they are feeling.) He had been checked by a vet and his feet are great, so I decided to take him.

He arrived on Sunday, just 3 days ago. He seems very mad to me. He quickly has established his place in the herd, above Astro & below Tango. I have not turned him out with Scottie yet. Scottie wants to eat him, so I'm delaying that for as long as I can. I pretty much am just letting him chill for a while. Relax and know we love him and will care for him.

He's an interesting character. I asked a few things of him, basic ground and respectful behaviors. He learned fairly quickly that when he walks away from me I will take over and tell him to move. He seems to understand that he will have to keep moving until he stops and faces me, and at that point that I want him to come to me. I am pleased about that. He appears to be totally relaxed on the ground. Did some rope work, fligging over his head and ears, nothing bothered him. What puzzled me is that mad feeling. He continued to hold onto it, even had his mouth clenched. I saw him lick and chew maybe once during the 20 minute session we spent together.

He clearly does not understand flexing at the poll. We went in many circles and didn't get anywhere. I finally decided to make the request so quiet that his head was hardly bent at all. But at least I felt him give so I could reply with a release. Hopefully he'll get that soon. I think pressure and release is a new subject for him. He is only 10, so he should pick it up quickly. I plan on pretending like he was not ever broken, so I won't be getting on him for a while. I am also counting on the assumption that he has never had a human establish themselves as herd leader. He seems puzzled by my behavior. It fascinates me how different they all can be. Astro accepted it right away. He would say, "Ok, is this what you want, here, like this, like this?

I have to put my kids to bed, so long for now.