Guest Post from Emily – A Great Summer Day!
4 August 2009
Hi, it’s me, Emily. What a lovely day today is! I just want to share with you a typical day at Fish Bowl Farm for me and Biscuit and the rest of the horses. I started the morning at 6:45 with a mellow walk with Tut the dog in the riding field. It was overcast and cool – the kind of day where you are so happy it’s no longer hot that you enjoy being cold! Tut galloped around – he’s a standard poodle with a lot of energy – and I strolled, and picked a few blackberries which were delicious! Heading back to the house, Robyn arrived and Tut decided to play Big Noisy Watch Dog (as if I didn’t see her drive down the driveway, Tut!), and barked up a storm! Robyn just laughed, greeted the noisy dog, and we visited before she set off to clean paddocks and I to put the dog in the house and go get a bale of hay for horse breakfasts.
We got 10 tons of very nice mixed grass hay last Friday from a new grower in Madras, Oregon. Nice hay, nice grower, happy horses. I put a bale on the back of the golf car (it’s electric so there are no fumes and it’s so quiet), and headed out to fed. Biscuit and Molly were first, and very happy about that! Then Coco, Sherman (he is so handsome!) and Braeburn got their hay. Annie, Nils and Buttercup were next, and very happy. Buttercup sometimes wants company more than food, but this morning she tucked right in. Then Joey, who is silly and always politely pushy, Rio who acts like he hasn’t been fed in weeks, and Inigo, who is patient about being last on the meal delivery plan. Inigo is a great horse, and he just makes me grin. Robyn was cleaning paddocks, which is the happiest sight of the day to me! She does a great job, tells funny stories, makes me feel like everything’s ok, and is just a pleasure to have in the Fish Bowl. Thank you, Robyn! We chatted a bit – remind her to tell you about Sparky one day soon – and then I scooted in for my breakfast.
Ok, I won’t go minute by minute for the day from here on, but I do want to tell you about the three lessons I taught, as they were all wonderful, each quite different, and yet each very similar!
Pictured above are Presley and Bobby. They’ve been a pair since this Spring, I think April or May, when Bobby became her first pony, and they are coming along nicely. Presley’s pony lives at her grandpa’s stable, so I go to them each week for their lesson. (That’s also why the background in photos of them looks different than our arena, if you’re paying attention!) Presley just got back from a trip out of town, so she hadn’t ridden in a couple of weeks. So she had a longe lesson, and it was such fun! Bobby is pretty great on the longe, and he was attentive and helpful today (yea!), helping Presley by staying rhythmic in his trot. She’s getting to really be able to steer with her seat and legs, and keeping her hands down really well when she posts!
Next was a lesson at home, with Gabrielle in the irons on Nils. That Nils, he is so predictable and awesome! He knows his job so well, and concentrates so hard on keeping his rider safe that he occasionally forgets to pay attention to what is going on outside the arena. He spooked at Gabrielle’s dad walking towards the arena – no frightening action, but it startled him. Gabrielle sat up and was fine. A great reminder to keep one’s eyes up and heels down! She is learning to post, and did a really good job.
This afternoon Gina came over from the City and had a lesson on Biscuit. The temperature was still nice and cool (about 74º I’d guess) and the sky had cleared from this morning, with mare’s tails blowing up high in the sky. Gina hadn’t ridden Biscuit before, and they had a lot of fun. Biscuit demands that your hands are just right on her reins – not too tight, not too loose, and don’t forget to use an indirect (outside) rein while the direct (turning) rein does its job! Gina got the hang of Biscuit’s way of going at the walk and trot, practicing posting and keeping her hands low, while her mom and dad and her friend Natasha, watched. Her mom is a wonderful artist, and she worked in watercolors and kindly showed me her work before they left! Biscuit in color on paper!
What did these lessons have in common? Each rider continued on her learning path in rhythm and balance with each horse. The horses all have a lot to teach us, and today I took away a big reminder that when we ask clearly the horse understands. As soon as things become unclear the horse becomes uncertain. (Sound familiar? I’m the same way if someone isn’t clear with me!) Be determined, be clear, and what you want to happen will. I am really fortunate to do what I do each day: work with horses and riders who are fun and work hard! Thank you!
1 comment
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Gina posted on 08/18/2009:
It was fun to see me on your blog!