NYDH contest5

[gabrielle1976]

Night night

 

[gamebirdsonly]

Some chicken ideas that I have saved. (These are not my pictures.)

Broody pen out of old dresser

I like

 

[TMNfarm]

My DS and his Golden Retr, Shmi at our county fair...

 

[TMNfarm]

My DD and her 3 legged Jack Russell, Jack doing rally at our county fair.

 

[TMNfarm]

My younger DS and his Aussie, ACD mix, Chopper. Chopper is being a bit of a bugger during his rally run. He's quite easily distracted. Much like his trainer!!!

 

[TMNfarm]

Shmi during her long down...

 

[SleepyOwl]

Cute! I love that all your kids have their own horse and their own dog!

 

[TMNfarm]

Chopper during his long down.... Believe it or not, he stayed and Shmi broke her down stay...

 

[TMNfarm]

Cute! I love that all your kids have their own horse and their own dog!

Thank you!! I thought it was best for them if they eadh raised and trained their own dogs. My older two, I am totally hands off. I do little tune-ups with Chopper, mostly because Arthur is ADHD and gets a bit frustrated, and The Cattle Dog part of Chopper can get stubborn, but he has done 98% of the work himself. I only help out when a meltdown is imminent, otherwise I let them work it out on their own.

With the horses, I truly believe that the relationship you have with your horse is a HUGE part of your success. My kids' horses know who their kid is and they prefer them to anyone else. My DD's Q pony won't eat as well if he doesn't get to see her!

I have a good friend who was in the Quarter Horse world as a western pleasure trainer for many years. She said so many parents would buy a big$$ horse and hand it to her to train. She would put hours and hours of work into the horse, get up at 4 AM on show day, bathe the hose, ride the horse, get it ready for the show ring, warm it up, the the kid would walk up ,get on, ride it in the rshow ring, come out, hand her the horse to cool down and untack and care for... It's just wrong... My kids muck stalls, they know what each of the 9 horses get for grain, meds, hay... They can do barn chores by themselves if I have to be gone. They tack their horse at the shows. I'll help if they need me to, but most of the time they don't. They need to warm their horses up properly before each run, amd cool them down after. They know to give them a drink of water and loosen their saddles when they put them back at the trailer. They are not allowed to run them into the ground in between runs. At a show, they are there to run the games for them, and in my opinion, that is asking a lot already from the horse. We do plenty of trail riding, and just for fun riding in between shows. When they have a bad run, they need to figure out why. 99% of the time, it is rider error. They are NEVER allowed to take it out on their horses! It makes me cring every time I see a kid yanking on a horses face because it knocked a barrel, or whatever...

I was so proud of my older DS at the county fair. A teenage girl was having a bad day at the show. Her horse was very excited and she didn't have much control. She was yanking so hard on her bit, I was surprised the horse didn't flip over backwards on her! I wouldn't have blamed the horse a bit... Then she ran her back and forth across the fairgrounds, over and over, yanking at her bit to stop her, yanking her face around to turn her around, then kicking the snot out of her to push her into a full gallop again. The poor horse was dripping wet and frantic. My DS looked at me and we both had the same look on our faces. We were wating for her to get dumped... HARD. I finally couldn't watch anymore, so I walked away, and when I went back, my DS was on her horse, calmly showing her how to bend and flex and get the horses attention gently and respectfully. He turned her in some small circles with soft, subtle cues, and the horse looked visibly relieved. As I watched, he got off, and the girl climbed into the saddle. He then continued to coach her on how to do the same thing he was just doing. He helped walk her horse into the arena for her next run, and she had a fantastic run!! Her mare performed beautifully... She came out of the arena with the biggest smile on her face... Keep in mind, this girl was my son's competitor that day, but he helped her anyway. He said he couldn't stand to see the horse treated that way. (He and that girl just went to his high school Turnabout dance together...) As a Mom, I couldn't possibly have been any prouder of my child!

Of course, none of this would have been possible without the help of my dear friend, who started out as our trainer. I knew frighteningly little when I got into the world of horses, and she was kind enough to take us rookies under her wing and teach me and my kids about horsemanship... I am forever grateful to her!!

(Sorry if this sounds like bragging... Proud Momma moment!!)

 

[TMNfarm]

The kids at a show in October 2011... For the costume class!!