What's happened to Kinsey?

Besides all the photos of her and Abby, I really have not mentioned too much about Kinsey lately. I have been giving Kinsey an unfair shake. My attitude has been an absolute Negative Nelly when it comes to her.

"Oh look Kinsey is afraid of a brush." "Guess what Kinsey doesn't want to be caught." "Oh great, yet another thing Kinsey is afraid of!" I could check off the number of things that Kinsey has done to disappointment me. I won't though.

I need to stop saying to myself, complete with eye roll, "Purchasing this horse was a huge mistake." It may sound very callous of me to think of her that way. I made a mistake. I should have followed my gut and not purchased Kinsey, but alas I didn't. After weighing my options, at the time, I though that selling Abby and buying a horse more suitable for me would be the best choice. Although Abby is still here and Kinsey is not what I would call suitable at this point. The fact of the matter is that I just have to get over that part.

I have been working with Kinsey on and off. Something else would frustrate me about her and confirm yet again why buying her was a mistake. She has never liked to be caught but she was getting worse. Well why should she want to be caught when I had such a bad attitude. Not that I was anything but kind to her, but I think she knew how I felt. She could feel my frustrations, even though I tried to hide it. Kinsey is a very sensitive horse.

I have been thinking about Kinsey's attitude. She act like what I would think a horse that was in a Clint Anderson demo probably acts like. You know the demos right, he takes a completely untrained horse, chases it around for two hours and when the horse is so tired it can't move he stands on the horses back cracks a whip declaring that the horse is trained. Yes I did watch him do that on a video once, made me sick. Anyway that is what Kinsey acts like. She knows what she is supposed to do, but scared shiftless when you ask her to.

Well what do I keep saying? Has anyone been paying attention? Be positive!

After Midwest Horse Fair and listening to some suggestions by Tommy Garland, I decided to start over with her. Tommy talked about doing the same activity for 7 days. His point being that you can't do some of these activities too much, for example: teaching "whoa" on verbal command. Not only does it make sure that the horse knows the command well, but it also build the horse's confidence. He made a few comments about how the horse looked calm and wasn't sweating bullets either . . . unlike some training methods. He didn't actually say, "unlike some training methods," but it was clearly implied.

Another clinician, from Harmony Horsemanship, as well as Tommy discussed how a horse gains confidence as they learn a new obstacle. Such obstacles as ground polos, bridges, the big ball, etc. help the horse to become desensitize to various objects. Linda Tellington Jones also mentions building a playground for the horse with some of these same obstacles for the very same reasons. Of course as the horse does things successfully, it is going to gain more confidence. A half pass, leg yield, spin, sliding stop, it really doesn't matter to the horse. You don't need to use a big ball, bridges, or other things like that, but it makes it fun for the trainer. And isn't that why I have horses? To have fun with them?

So most of my energy has been focused on Kinsey and Abby the past few days. I take Kinsey out, she is getting much better about being caught. Then I groom her and work some TTouch into the routine. She hates to be touched around her poll. I tried to see if my Australian stock saddle fit her and she was really upset by that so I have gone back to just a saddle pad and getting her used to that. Then we practice "whoa" in a rope halter. She is so sensitive I have a really soft rope halter, thick and with no knots. She basically knew what I was asking even on the first day, but she did it with head up, and at breakneck speed. Now we are fine tuning and allowing her to be more calm while doing it. We even started moving on to pole work. Finally I end with clicker training, a little hand grazing and grooming. She really like to get treats and she needs to be touched a lot.

I have been looking for what Kinsey does right:
+She picks up her feet really well to be picked out.
+She knows a lot of commands and cues already.
+Kinsey picks things up quickly and really thinks.
+She is not afraid of water or being hosed down.
+She is a very sensitive horse that tries.
+Kinsey is not afraid of fly spray.
+ And she has such a sweet face!

Just like I need to build on my positives I will need to build on Kinsey's. I don't know if I will ride Kinsey. I am going to be more positive and maybe if things go well, I will. I think I want to wait to send her to training until I have her more confident on the ground. So that is what is up with Kinsey.

Midwest Horse Fair

I love the Midwest Horse Fair in Madison, Wisconsin. It is the best horse fair around. I started going to Midwest ( as it is locally known as) when I still lived in Illinois. I was in middle school at the time and my mom and I drove all the way up here to do to it. Ever since I still love to go with my mom. As I kid I never wanted to go to the circus, but I was all over the Midwest Horse Fair!

Midwest has changed a lot since I start attending. Back then it was just a show case of breeds, stallions, and liberty demonstrations. It was all held in one building with just a handful of vendors. Now there is one arena, at least 3 smaller arena/ round pens, rooms for lectures, a whole other building of vendors, stables and stables of breeds from Arabians to zorses, and top trainers, clinicians, and equestrian entertainers from across the United States. All rolled in to three days! There is not enough time to see everything.

Today my mom and I saw our favorite attraction: Preifert Texas Thunder. A six horse hitch of Percheron horse, the smallest of whom is 17.3 and the tallest 19.2. Shaq is the tallest Percheron in America at this time. They are an amazing high-speed, yet highly controlled team. I get tears in my eyes watching them. Watch the video on their page, just chilling! My these shots are from out side the arena, my camera could not take good pictures inside.

I got to watch Steffen Peters give a clinic to two lower level dressage riders from our area. One young lady was on a beautiful Friesian. Some think they are just lowly cart horses, but several Frisians do wonderfully at dressage, including Jane Savoie's own Moshie. The other girl was on a German warmblood pony. Cute little sorrel mare, but I could not get good photos of her. One thing that Steffen kept saying to the women was: "Let him learn from his mistake." As it was more or less like watching a lesson, I picked up little bits here and there, but was not quite what I was hoping for.

One of the wonderful things about Midwest is watching clinicians I would normally never go to. I watched two clinics by Tommy Garland. Now he is in one sense a typical western clinician: "Here, buy my special halter, bridle, and extra special super sized ball." He is not a natural horsemanship guy though. I think the horse world is going through a paradigm shift. It was all NH and now we are swinging back the other way. I actually agreed with a lot of what he said, even though it was "old school", it was not abusive either. He does have his schitk. His philosophy is Tommy's CPR (Confidence, Training, Respect). Hey, all I can say is I picked up a few things I want to try and I didn't buy any crap so I feel good about it.

Remember several years ago when nobody except the cowboys knew what a rope halter was? Now I bet there is at least one rope halter in everyone's tack box. Even if you don't want to admit it you have to admit that you at least know someone who has one. Well this year, the new product seems to be over sized balls. NO I am not kidding. To really have a "spook proof" horse, you need a really big ball, and of course everyone thinks their ball is the best. Not only can you spook proof your horse but you can play equi-soccer. What new gimmick will they come with next? Okay, so I want one, but I didn't get it.

I am proud to say that the only thing I got I actually did need. Like I mentioned in a past post I have a half a dozen mini halters and most of them don't fit anyone. I have one that fits Ike and Madison. So Madison really needed her own halter and I actually found one. And for only $6.

It was a long day, but I loved every minute of it. I think it is even nicer that I can still share that special time with my mom. It was a long day for her and her shoulder really hurts, but she loves it just as much as I do. The funnel cakes, the horses, the new demos and the old favorites. We learn something new every year and remember the years past. I love the Midwest Horse Fair!