Kjaer having a light lunge with sleigh bells, and going over our wooden bridge.
I havenāt been up to much lately with any of the horses or around the farm. Iāve been *trying* to nurse a knee injury I got a couple of weeks ago. I think Iām finally on the mend now!
Kjaer had a nice session this evening. A little light walk trot on the lunge line, and some work in the long lines. This is his 2nd time in long lines. When we started, my husband walked at Kjaerās head to help him understand what I was asking him to do. He really picks things up quickly! When we were all done, Kjaer stood quietly and patiently while I undid the lines.
Yankee update:
His results from the UW-Madison full respiratory evaluation were somewhat inconclusive. There is no clear cut answer. There was little evidence that he has heaves/asthma. On the farm, he doesnāt present that way either. The only curious finding was the presence of blood in his lungs. More than what shouldāve been there. He maybe has had a touch of EIPH (exercise induced pulmonary hemorrhage) his whole life? Itās possible. His symptoms more closely fit that potential diagnosis, but it isnāt a for sure thing either.
The good news, he is doing just fine otherwise! While I wish there was a clear cut answer, at this time there just isnāt. Iāve made the decision that he will not be returning to any full time lesson program. Partially due to his health, but also because heās just so darn happy riding around the property and trail riding. After being heavily used in lessons as an arena horse for many years, heās just so happy riding outside! I couldnāt take that away from him now.
Lessons!
I have 2 lesson openings available for new riders! I work with children (6yrs and up) and adults. Both English and western lessons offered. Lessons will be held at The McNiesh Barns and Stables. Located about 25min north of Appleton, WI.
Enjoy this video of the horses living their best lives enjoying their new pasture space.
My husband and are celebrating 6 years of marriage today ā¤ļø
To celebrate, he actually came riding with me! He rode my gelding Nathan and he did great.
I have leased Nathan out to the same therapy barn where Ellie lives. He will be spending the summer helping out with both in hand and riding programs. He really needed a job and some attention. So far heās been doing really well!
I got to spend some quality time with Kjaer on this beautiful Sunday. We did some groundwork in the round pen and then went for a nice walk down the road. His 2nd birthday is just a few days away!
Since he is about to turn two, will I ride him this year? The answer to that is no. While he is doing awesome, he is much too physically and mentally immature to ride. I will keep doing bits of prep work with him this summer (today we did a tiny bit of weight in stirrups), but nothing too strenuous. I still keep sessions rather short with him. I want him to be relaxed and enjoy what weāre doing.
It was a beautiful sunny morning. I was able to get Sonja out for some light exercise. The ground is still too soft to do much else.
The highlight of my day was a successful first canter under saddle with Ellie. She was very unsure, but we got it done without any problems. Super proud of her!
Today was my fourth time working with Auggie. Desensitizing, desensitizing, and more desensitizing. He wasnāt phased at all by the flag touching him. I also rubbed him down with a big plastic bag. That too was uneventful. Itās the unexpected noises, movements, and contact that make him a little upset (for obvious reasons).
In addition to desensitizing we have started other ground work exercises. He is learning to lower his head, give his nose to pressure, yield his hindquarters, and do a little lunging.
The semi frozen ground allowed the boys to have some play time this morning. Theyāve been cooped up most of the week. This mud season feels like it will never end.
Here is a quick bit of Ellie beginning some canter on a lunge line. She is coming along! I only had a video person for a few moments. Sorry I donāt show her going both directions! We played around at the end of our ride with some more desentizing. She isnāt phased by the goofy things I do. When working on desensitizing always work on both sides of your horseās body! Its important they learn to be comfortable with you moving all around them.
A little video update for Miss Ellie. Iām super excited to say that she starting to offer me a relaxed jog on a mostly loose rein. Gosh to feel her relax is the best! Even if it is only a few strides here and there. Weāve been playing around with some turns. I got some video of her turning on her hindquarters. She sure tries. Super happy with her!
After I was done filming she actually had her first significant spook with me. Iām not quite sure what happened. The only thing I can think of was the light caught her eye a way that was upsetting to her. We were riding towards the back of the arena where a lot of sunlight comes in. There was no other obvious trigger for why she got upset. All of a sudden we were starting to scoot backwards, and she spiraled into an absolute tizzy. She responded to my emergency stop right away. (yield her head, and yield her hip). Iām thrilled she stopped when I asked, and didnāt escalate to bolting away. I elected to dismount and lead her up to the scary area. Kicking on her or chasing her up with the end of my split rein as some may try would just upset her more. She was adamant to not return to that spot in the arena. There is a time and a place to perhaps discipline more heavily for that behavior, but this wasnāt one of those times. We calmly walked back over and checked it all out. No arena monsters to be found. I remounted her in the scary spot, we stood and relaxed before walking off, and then went on our way. She remained fine the rest of our ride.
Kjaer and I went out in the woods this afternoon. Kjaer is a coming 2yr old Fjord gelding. He is super curious and loves to be out! We walked all through the woods, over some cut down logs, and stopped by my husband driving the tractor.
He is sporting Sonjaās purple halter today š. His regular halter was in use on another horse.
The Fjords are enjoying what may be the last of the fresh snow weāll see this season. Itās a beautiful Sunday!
Ellie is making nice progress. She is getting a little more adjustable. We started to work on some sitting trot last week. She sure tries to do the best she can.
I started working on her canter today. She clearly has either never been asked to canter, or itās just been many years. It was a little rough š. I start working with the canter on the ground. Itāll be a little bit before sheās ready to canter under saddle. I am keeping her old injury in mind as we go forward. In the few strides of canter she gave me today she looked just fine. Iāll be looking for any signs of discomfort as we go along. I donāt expect her to be exceptionally proficient at the canter, but I want the peace of mind that if she were to have a spook and canter away, that she wonāt be additionally startled by a rider. Weāll see as we go along! I donāt want to sell her short yet. She may surprise me!
I caught some more of Kjaerās antics on camera this evening. Enjoy š
I apologize for the lack of posts lately. I came down with a cold/flu bug thatās been going around. Iāve havenāt been outside more than I needed to be in the last 10 days. Iām super grateful for my mother-in-law who helps take care of my herd if I canāt be there.
We have had some crazy weather in Wisconsin this past week. Iāve needed to keep the horses in a smaller paddock closer to the barn. It has been a cycle of thawing during the day and freezing as night. That cycle has deteriorated the footing, and it is now a paddock full of frozen ruts š. I want some more snow āļø āļø This evening I let them out in the big paddock, which hasnāt been used, while I did their chores. Kjaer was thrilled for the better footing and demonstrated some excellent zoomies. I love how despite the ruckus, Sonja never lost concentration on her food š.
I had to dust off Kjaerās mental cobwebs today. Other than hand walks or ponying him around the property, we havenāt been doing too much. I wonāt be introducing anything new to him now until spring. Today I played around with groundwork exercises that he has done before.
I started with asking him to yield his inside front leg (leg closest to me) to sideways pressure on his halter. His inside front leg should be the first to take a step out. After a few misses, he begins to catch on again. This nose/hoof connection will eventually develop into a kindergarten level of steering. Someday in the distant future when he is ready for saddle training, I will use that in his first few rides. Then we played around with the mounting block. That he remembered! He walked right up and stood like a champ for all the pets.
What a fun horse filled weekend! Lots of lessons and time with my own horses. Here is a short clip of baby Kjaer out and about this weekend. He was quite spicy and very excited to be out with the grown ups. I took him around the corn field several times. Why wrap his legs? His legs normally do not need to be wrapped. I just wrap them every so often so he gets used to having them on and is comfortable (and patient) with them being put on and taken off.
This nice looking horse is Max. He has been a part time training project all summer. Max is an ex Amish driving horse. We knew he had been saddled and ridden somewhat, but the actual extent of his riding education was a bit of a mystery. Over the summer I completely restarted him for saddle training.
Iām addition to just basic riding skills, weāve had to overcome some minor anxiety and confidence issues as well. When we started he had a hardened personality likely due to his previous life. He didnāt want to connect to people. Truthfully I donāt think he even knew how to. I had to try to crack that exterior and make him a suitable horse for his owners. Today he is far more trusting, willing, calm, and quiet. He even enjoys a scratch or two at the end of his ride. This video is his 2nd time loping under saddle with a rider. It is uneventful, just as I always hope it will be.
Happy Sunday! Itās a bit gloomy and rainy today. Baby Kjaer is going through a mouthy stage (just toward objects, not people). He really enjoys rearranging his stall mats every night š. I thought for sure heād enjoy a pumpkin to kick around and play with outside. Below is his encounter with the pumpkin.. itās safe to say I was more excited about it than he was. After a few moments he lost interest š
I apologize for the lack of posts this week, but the truth is I really havenāt been doing much of anything. Iāve been absolutely crippled by mosquitoes. For the first time in what seems like all summer, there was a nice breeze keeping the bugs away today. I took Kjaer for a walk around the property. Iāve got a few clips from that below. I see cooler temperatures are forecasted for the week ahead. Hopefully the worst of the mosquitoes will soon be behind us and we can start to enjoy fall.
I heard on the radio this morning that it is national dog day. That being said, I couldnāt pass up the opportunity to share this video of my girls playing at a stable I previously worked at. My life certainly wouldnāt be the same without them. Happy National dog day to all the pet parents out there!
Itās been a busy vet day for me. My sweet pup Mia needed to have multiple fractured teeth extracted. I donāt know exactly what caused that to happen. Itās hard to say. Kjaer also needed a quick vet visit for a vaccine. Hereās to the expensive part of owning animals š°š£
I came across this video today to share. Itās a little throw back video from an extreme trail riding clinic I did a year ago. I hope I can find an opportunity to go do something like this again!
Good Sunday morning! The horses are tucked inside this morning out of the rain, mud and bugs. My yearling Kjaer thought the shavings bag was pretty fun to interact with. I enjoy and encourage the curiosity (until he started to chew it! š£).
Iāll be out of town the next couple of days. Iām off to spend a little time in the UP of Michigan. Have a good week!
What a busy weekend and start to the week. I also work full time as a surgical technologist at a local hospital, and spent much of the weekend on call. I didnāt get much horse time the past few days.
Iāve got a short clip for you today. My apologies for the quality. I was trying to take some video while also keeping a safe hold of Kjaer. I just wanted to share that we FINALLY had a day working around traffic that Kjaer did not get upset. Adjusting to traffic has been the hardest thing for him thus far. I wish I had some video from previous encounters. Heās taken me lawn skiing a time or two š. Today he quietly watched as the car drove by. To keep as much control of this as possible, the car is being driven by one of my clients who was kind enough to help me out. I will keep building his confidence this way until I see heās very comfortable. When that foundation is there, heāll then be ready to go out and encounter whatever may come along.
Today was the second time cantering for this young lady! I love to see the excitement on the faces of my lesson kids when I tell them they are ready to canter.
Anyone who has ever taken a lesson from me knows how important I think work on a lunge line is. I have all of my beginner kids (and adults too!) spend some time being taught this way. Heck, itās even a great exercise and refresher for the experienced rider. In my collegiate riding classes and in practices for my collegiate riding team, we would regularly have lessons on a lunge line. Why bother with it? It helps develop an independent seat, and balance on the horse. The lack of a good seat can lead to issues such as excessively bouncing on the horses back (I see this the most in the canter) or relying on the mouth of the horse/reins for balance (yep, it happens!). Youāre never too experienced to give this a try.
I finally was able to get in some ride time this afternoon. Baby Kjaer had his baby brain turned on to the max during most of our time today. I was still able to catch a couple clips of him at his good moments (not that he was bad.. he was just very distracted š). At the end I ponied him over some trail obstacles, and took him for a short ride down the road. Overall, the award for the most confidence over the tarp goes to black kitty! šāā¬
I would like to add that ponying a young horse like this is not something I would recommend to the average horse person. Iāve spent a great deal of time working with Kjaer to get to this point. Please donāt try this at home if you are not confident in what you are doing. I want to make sure I set my horses up for success on outings like this (both Kjaer and my lead horse Sonja). As always, please reach out to me or a trainer you trust before trying something new with your horse if you are unsure!
There is nothing better than a good roll in the mud! On the left hand side is Kjaer and to the right is Sonja. The rain finally let up enough this afternoon to let the horses outside. They all had multiple rolls in the mud, and the geldings were very playful. It was fun to watch! Itās been a wet week with not much riding, or anything else interesting to share. Hopefully next week Iāll get back to some saddle time.