Denny's Horsemanship Goals Part 2

21)  Whatever your sport, learn its history, riders, horses and traditions.
I do know some of this, but I'd like to know more.  And the winter months are the perfect time to do some reading.
22)  Learn how to properly lunge a horse.  Know all about the requisite equipment.
Check!  I know how to lunge both with tack and with a surcingle.

23)  Understand that becoming a top rider and getting a college education are not incompatible goals.
While not a top rider, I do have a college education.

24)  Become involved, either as a volunteer, or paid, in helping to run shows or events.  The perspective from the other side is very different.
Check!  I have volunteered at South Farm, and most likely will volunteer again this summer.

25)  Learn how to work horses in long lines.
I actually want to start working my horse in long lines.

26)  Try and get the chance to be a scribe for a dressage judge.
Done.  I scribed for a very nice German judge at the Northwest PA Arab show a couple of years ago.

27)  Realize that you have years to attain your goals.
As frustrating as it is sometimes, I do understand this.

28)  See if you can get a job on a real ranch, doing real cattle work, sometime while it's still possible.

29)  Ride your horse all night, from dusk till dawn.
I would love to do this sometime.

30)  Go swimming with your horse.
Again I would love to do this.

31)  Teach your horse to jump into water.
Done!

32)  Learn to drive a tractor.
Done!  Drive the tractor all the time.

33)  Help with haying.
Done!  I've helped with every aspect of haying.  Mowing, raking, teting, baling, and stacking in the hay loft.

34)  Try to spend time with an equine veterinarian.  Learn lots of basics, lameness, colic, wound care, as much as possible, because sometimes it's just you and the horse until the vet arrives.
I do know some basic vet care from my trainer.  Basic wound care, colic, lameness that sort of thing.  but I need to learn more.

35)  NEVER think some manual labor type of task is beneath you.  ALL the greatest horsemen and women have a towering work ethic.  They can do everything on a horse farm.
I have done just about everything on the farm, haying, cleaning stalls, taking down cobwebs, anything that needs done.

36)  Teach your green babies that the "Ditch Troll" doesn't really eat them for lunch!  But be ready for the gravity defying launch, just in case!
My pony is actually pretty good at jumping ditches sanely.  But I'll get to see how a baby does in another year or so with Titus.

37)  Unlike most addictions, tackaholism isn't bad for your health, just your wallet.  Learn all about tack, how it fits, how it works, what's essential, and what probably isn't.  Especially learn about saddle fit, both for your horse, and for you.
Tackaholics anonymous please!  I do know about a lot of the basic equipment, but I would like to learn more than just the basics of saddle fit.

38)  Become the best ATHLETE you can be.  Use all sports to jump start your physical fitness and drive.

39)  Make sure the goals and dreams you pursue are truly YOURS, and not those of the sometimes pushy/needy adults around you.

40)  Totally take apart a full bridle into its many parts, and put them on a table.  Now, wearing a blindfold, put it back together.
Hehehe, fun winter activity for the kids...

Read more...

Denny's Horsemanship Goals

So about a month or so ago Denny Emerson of Tamarack Hill Farm fame, began posting his Horsemanship Goals on his Facebook page.  It started after hearing comments about kids at George Morris clinics who were expected to *gasp!* take care of their own horses.  And as in most other things Denny says, I agree with his goals.  So...


1)  Learn about sport horse and racing pedigrees.
I know a bit about pedigrees.  Not as much as I would like though.

2)  Start to develop an independent seat so you don't bounce at the sitting trot and canter.
Lunge lessons, lunge lessons, lunge lessons...

3)  Ride bareback enough so that you are completely comfortable, on all kinds of terrain and at all gaits.  And, while you're at it, learn how to get on bareback.
Spent many a winter riding ponies bareback.  Or riding Dalal around the show ground bareback.  Or riding Dalal up to the barn bareback because I'm too lazy to walk.

4)  Clean stalls.
I'm practically an expert.

5)  Teach your pony to drive.
This is something I have wanted to do for a long time.

6)  Show your horse or pony in fitting and showmanship classes.
I never showed in fitting and showmanship, but I was taught how to.  And I showed in Arab halter before.

7)  Ride in a 100 mile trail ride or endurance race.  Or at least a 50 mile.
I took my pony on a 20 mile or so trail ride over 2 days.  I would love the opportunity to ride in an endurance race though.

8)  Learn how to determine distances between fences by developing an accurate 3 foot stride.  Then, learn ALL the math.  Know the normal distance in a bounce, a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 stride line.
I do have a 3 foot stride.  And I pretty much know the distances, but I still get a little bit confused.

9)  Take your horse for a sleigh ride.

10)  Ride western if you ride english, ride english if you ride western.
I've been showing Dalal in Western Pleasure classes for the last 2 years.

11)  Try a discipline totally unfamiliar to you, or a breed totally unfamiliar to you, like perhaps, saddleseat.
I actually really want to learn how to ride saddleseat.  Maybe I'll give Nikki a call and see if I can take lessons at C and G...

12)  Breed and raise a foal.
Well, I've been helping with Spider.

13)  When that foal gets older, break him to ride.
I was the first one on Titus' back this fall.

14)  Ride in races, either flat or over fences.

15)  Study--really study--the great riders, so that you have a picture in your head about how whatever it is you do, should be done.  Another way to say this:  Acquire GREAT role models, whatever your sport.
That's why I love going to Rolex every year, I have the chance to study, in person, riders like Phillip Dutton, Becky Holder, William Fox-Pitt, Boyd Martin.  They are the greats of this day and I will take anything I can learn from them.

16)  Try, try, try to get to ride an APPROPRIATE horse or pony, that will let you make mistakes while you learn.
I am very lucky that I have had the chance to ride horses like Kaye and Miss.  Both of them have let me make mistakes while also saving my butt so that I didn't get hurt.  Best learning tool ever!

17)  Whatever your sport, go watch the very best riders, on the very best horses, at the very best competitions, and STUDY, ANALYSE, and EVALUATE, what you are watching.
Again, why I go to Rolex every year.

18)  Learn all about bits, and how they work, and the principles behind various kinds.
I know about the bits we use, but not much about all the others.

19)  Create the kind of bond with your horse that Dorothy Trapp had with Molokai.
I have two horses that I have been lucky enough to have that bond.  

20)  Try to emulate Becky Holder's total commitment to self improvement, a striving toward excellence that won't take no for an answer.

Read more...