We had a busy weekend this weekend... Annette hosted a clinic on Saturday for 6 little girls. The little girls are just starting out learning to ride so it was a very mellow lesson but by the end, the little girl that I was leading around was tolting/troting and holding onto the reins while I was running with the lead rope, and she was only 5!!. It was so cute, her feet kept falling out of the stirrup and she would go, "OH!! My foot fell out AGAIN!!"
I also rode Giefa to before the lessons started, boy! did she have some go in her! I asked her for trot and she went into a full on gallop!! So I pulled her into the middle of the track and did some circles, by then she calmed down a little bit so we went out on the track again and I asked her for trot and she went into gallop again!!! Again we did some circles in the middle and by then she had tired herself out so much she was willing to listen and we had a good rest of the ride which was only a couple more times around because she is so out of shape.
Yesterday we went riding on the beach!!! It was so much fun. I went with a girl named Kait. She is 14 or 15 and she needs to earn some money by riding Annette's horses because she is going to be getting a gelding of her own. Anyways, I rode Giefa and she rode Hekkla, and Giefa really wanted to go, but she's really out of shape so she cantered for a little bit and was panting by the time we were to turn around!!
Annette and Bruce walked with Donny on the beach and picked up some shells and sand dollars for me, which was really cool. I have 3 sanddollars that are almost perfectly intact.
When we got back to the house we groomed Fraya and Thokka and put everybody away in their stalls and gave them their hay.
After we got cleaned up and relaxed a little bit we went to a restaurant called The Whole Enchilada, and I had wonderful Cabos Fish Tacos. They were SOOOOO good. They had battered halibit, lettuce, a little bit of cabbage and this really good ranch sauce.
We came home and fed the horses their mash and pretty much went to bed.
I'm TRYING to get out and take some pictures, but there is so much else to do! Maybe this week... Talk to you all later!
Monday, January 25, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
How to ride an Icelandic Horse
Today (Monday, Jan 18) was a really wet and rainy day so I didn't ride at all. I worked on some school this morning after we came in from doing chores and will probably be doing some on Wednesday because Annette and Bruce will be gone and I won't have anything to do.
We went to the Montery Bay Aquarium, but I don't know what to write about that cause almost all aquariums are the same, aren't they? There was cool stuff there, and I learned some new stuff about ocean life.
We picked up our travel mugs at Petrogliffs and they turned out really good! Annette put a horse on hers and it is so cool. I'll put up a picture of them when I get some taken.
Today we went for a walk right by the ocean because Annette wanted to show me what the ocean looked like after a big storm. Then after that we went to a bakery called Emilies, which was really good. We both had Blueberry cream cheese fold over things that were awesome.
Later, we drove up to the UCSC, (University of California, Santa Cruz) also known as Uncle Charlie's Summer Camp:) Once we were done she took me to her beach house to see how the construction was going. One whole wall was pretty much falling down! She said that if you touched it or if a gust of wind came the whole wall would sway. They got is 5 months ago as a fixer-upper--it'll be so nice when it's fixed up.
For those of you who are interested in horse stuff, I'm going to describe how I'm riding and the cues we use here. Most people think of riding as either English (saddles without horns, black and white uniforms, traditional and precise--think about Olympic dressage for an example) or Western (saddles with horns, lots of leather, athletic-fast-moving games--think of rodeo horses for an example). Icelandic is neither. Icelandic horses have differnt gaits than other horses--the walk, trot, canter are the same, but there is another gait called the TOLT that has the same footfall beat as a walk, but can go way faster than walking. Icelandic horses also have a fast gait called the flying pace (not something I do yet!). Icelandic horses are very smooth and comfortable to ride. They are smaller (and furrier) than other horses, and are extremely sure footed. There are no natural predators in Iceland so the horses are curious, calm and gentle. They don't freak out easily and are very comfortable around other horses, even in confined areas.
I've only ridden Kydee's horses, so I was a little bit curious to see how I would do at communicating and cueing new horses. It's been FUN!! I'll put up pictures of Annette's horses when I get them taken. Annette has a large track and a round pen where we'll ride.
It's important that you need to know that Annette's horse are trained for voice command. So walk is Fett, like feta cheese, trot is Brokk, you roll the "r" and don't linger to long on the "o". Tolt it just clicking your tongue, it's not Icelandic but it works, and finally canter is Schtuk, it sound like the word stuck but put a "shh" at the beginning instead of the harsh "stu" sound.
To warm the us horses up we first bring them into the center of the track. We work on bending and flexing and warming up. We do serpentines and figure eights, circles, shoulder in's and shoulder out's, then we go onto the track and walk a couple of rounds both ways. After they have got a good walk and head position we move on to trot. We trot a few rounds both ways until the horse, again has a good head position and is moving with ease and good rhythm.
The next gait is either tolt of canter depending on the horse. We go from trot to canter on Giefa (Gieva, said like the word guy with a "va" at the end) who is a little bit harder to get to tolt. On Mosa, pronounced like it looks, we go from trot to tolt because she gallops instead of canters:) So we need to work on slowing down her canter to where she can be relaxed and in no hurry to where she is going (which is just in circles around the track:).
The last horse that I ride is Hekkla, also pronounced like it looks. Hekkla is the horse I ride when Ashley, Annette's barn manger's daughter comes to ride and we need to pony or carry alone on another horse. That sums up what I've been doing for riding, I'll be doing more and riding some other horses, but in the round pen, which is to slippery right now because of the rain. Now you know how to ride an Icelandic horse:D
I'm going to start a shutterfly or picassa account so you can see all of my pictures. I haven't taken many yet, but will get out with my camera this week.
Talk to you later!
We went to the Montery Bay Aquarium, but I don't know what to write about that cause almost all aquariums are the same, aren't they? There was cool stuff there, and I learned some new stuff about ocean life.
We picked up our travel mugs at Petrogliffs and they turned out really good! Annette put a horse on hers and it is so cool. I'll put up a picture of them when I get some taken.
Today we went for a walk right by the ocean because Annette wanted to show me what the ocean looked like after a big storm. Then after that we went to a bakery called Emilies, which was really good. We both had Blueberry cream cheese fold over things that were awesome.
Later, we drove up to the UCSC, (University of California, Santa Cruz) also known as Uncle Charlie's Summer Camp:) Once we were done she took me to her beach house to see how the construction was going. One whole wall was pretty much falling down! She said that if you touched it or if a gust of wind came the whole wall would sway. They got is 5 months ago as a fixer-upper--it'll be so nice when it's fixed up.
For those of you who are interested in horse stuff, I'm going to describe how I'm riding and the cues we use here. Most people think of riding as either English (saddles without horns, black and white uniforms, traditional and precise--think about Olympic dressage for an example) or Western (saddles with horns, lots of leather, athletic-fast-moving games--think of rodeo horses for an example). Icelandic is neither. Icelandic horses have differnt gaits than other horses--the walk, trot, canter are the same, but there is another gait called the TOLT that has the same footfall beat as a walk, but can go way faster than walking. Icelandic horses also have a fast gait called the flying pace (not something I do yet!). Icelandic horses are very smooth and comfortable to ride. They are smaller (and furrier) than other horses, and are extremely sure footed. There are no natural predators in Iceland so the horses are curious, calm and gentle. They don't freak out easily and are very comfortable around other horses, even in confined areas.
I've only ridden Kydee's horses, so I was a little bit curious to see how I would do at communicating and cueing new horses. It's been FUN!! I'll put up pictures of Annette's horses when I get them taken. Annette has a large track and a round pen where we'll ride.
It's important that you need to know that Annette's horse are trained for voice command. So walk is Fett, like feta cheese, trot is Brokk, you roll the "r" and don't linger to long on the "o". Tolt it just clicking your tongue, it's not Icelandic but it works, and finally canter is Schtuk, it sound like the word stuck but put a "shh" at the beginning instead of the harsh "stu" sound.
To warm the us horses up we first bring them into the center of the track. We work on bending and flexing and warming up. We do serpentines and figure eights, circles, shoulder in's and shoulder out's, then we go onto the track and walk a couple of rounds both ways. After they have got a good walk and head position we move on to trot. We trot a few rounds both ways until the horse, again has a good head position and is moving with ease and good rhythm.
The next gait is either tolt of canter depending on the horse. We go from trot to canter on Giefa (Gieva, said like the word guy with a "va" at the end) who is a little bit harder to get to tolt. On Mosa, pronounced like it looks, we go from trot to tolt because she gallops instead of canters:) So we need to work on slowing down her canter to where she can be relaxed and in no hurry to where she is going (which is just in circles around the track:).
The last horse that I ride is Hekkla, also pronounced like it looks. Hekkla is the horse I ride when Ashley, Annette's barn manger's daughter comes to ride and we need to pony or carry alone on another horse. That sums up what I've been doing for riding, I'll be doing more and riding some other horses, but in the round pen, which is to slippery right now because of the rain. Now you know how to ride an Icelandic horse:D
I'm going to start a shutterfly or picassa account so you can see all of my pictures. I haven't taken many yet, but will get out with my camera this week.
Talk to you later!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
California... the next leg of my journey
WOW! Here I am in northern California, on a pretty Icelandic Horse farm owned by a friend of Kydee's (where I ride and work in Duluth). Annette and Bruce Coulon are their names, and their farm is called Mountain Icelandics (Check it out at: http://www.mountainicelandics.com/). There are about a dozen horses here, and this place is really pretty!
If you wondering what all the horses names are I'll try and name them all. There's Gilfa, Hekla, Klaudis, Freya, Mosa, and her baby and I have no idea how to spell her name, but it sounds kind of like Flickra. Those are all the horses in the first barn. Then there is Batman who is Annette's daughter's horse, Thokka, Ligfey or something like that, and then 2 borders. Catla and a gelding which I can't remember what his name is right now(his name reminds me of the name Brutus:), but he is the same color as my friend Kristen's horse Fjolia. Then there is Donny, the black lab. He is so cute he follows me everywhere!! Oh!! and then there is Annie's grey miniature poodle, Picasso, he is really cute to and he has a Mohawk. Annie is Annette and Bruce's 26 year old daughter who's staying here for awhile, too. So that's the jist of the animals.
My bedroom is at the end of the hall and has a big window facing I don't know what direction, but just outside there is an orange tree!!
The whole place is fenced in and the driveway has a gate, so the horses just roam free where ever they want-- except the boarders, they get to go in a grass paddock. I will eventually take pictures of the house and the barns, but the weather isn't suppose to be nice tomorrow.
Today, my first full day in California, was very nice. It was probably in the late 50's to early 60's. I wore a long-sleeve shirt the whole day and was perfectly fine. We cleaned the 10 stalls this morning which was really easy 'cause Annette uses wood pellets like Kydee (instead of wood shavings). After that we started to groom all the horses because we were going to have people here tomorrow, but got canceled because of the weather. After cleaning the animals, we cleaned the barn and the tack boxes.
By lunch time we were starving so we ate quick and went to the grocery store to stock the fridge and cabinet. When we came home we put all the horses away and gave them their nightly hay and then got ready to go to a place called Petrakliffs. Its a place where you can paint your own pottery and then come back a couple of days later and get your finished product. Annette and I both pick travel mugs to glaze. We're really hoping that they'll turn out as cool as we want them to!
When we finished our mugs, we went to a restaurant called Papalos for Bruce's dinner meeting. I had chicken enchiladas with rice, refried beans, guacamole, and sour cream. We came home and gave everybody their nightly grain/mash that they get. And now I'm sitting here at the computer typing this up :)
I'll be posting photos and blog updates pretty often. I'll be here for 5 weeks, then will go to Tijuana, Mexico for a couple weeks, then to Albuquerque, New Mexico for another couple weeks before I go home in March. There should be lots for me to blog about!
Don't forget you can email me... ceocon16@gmail.com.
Until next time...
If you wondering what all the horses names are I'll try and name them all. There's Gilfa, Hekla, Klaudis, Freya, Mosa, and her baby and I have no idea how to spell her name, but it sounds kind of like Flickra. Those are all the horses in the first barn. Then there is Batman who is Annette's daughter's horse, Thokka, Ligfey or something like that, and then 2 borders. Catla and a gelding which I can't remember what his name is right now(his name reminds me of the name Brutus:), but he is the same color as my friend Kristen's horse Fjolia. Then there is Donny, the black lab. He is so cute he follows me everywhere!! Oh!! and then there is Annie's grey miniature poodle, Picasso, he is really cute to and he has a Mohawk. Annie is Annette and Bruce's 26 year old daughter who's staying here for awhile, too. So that's the jist of the animals.
My bedroom is at the end of the hall and has a big window facing I don't know what direction, but just outside there is an orange tree!!
The whole place is fenced in and the driveway has a gate, so the horses just roam free where ever they want-- except the boarders, they get to go in a grass paddock. I will eventually take pictures of the house and the barns, but the weather isn't suppose to be nice tomorrow.
Today, my first full day in California, was very nice. It was probably in the late 50's to early 60's. I wore a long-sleeve shirt the whole day and was perfectly fine. We cleaned the 10 stalls this morning which was really easy 'cause Annette uses wood pellets like Kydee (instead of wood shavings). After that we started to groom all the horses because we were going to have people here tomorrow, but got canceled because of the weather. After cleaning the animals, we cleaned the barn and the tack boxes.
By lunch time we were starving so we ate quick and went to the grocery store to stock the fridge and cabinet. When we came home we put all the horses away and gave them their nightly hay and then got ready to go to a place called Petrakliffs. Its a place where you can paint your own pottery and then come back a couple of days later and get your finished product. Annette and I both pick travel mugs to glaze. We're really hoping that they'll turn out as cool as we want them to!
When we finished our mugs, we went to a restaurant called Papalos for Bruce's dinner meeting. I had chicken enchiladas with rice, refried beans, guacamole, and sour cream. We came home and gave everybody their nightly grain/mash that they get. And now I'm sitting here at the computer typing this up :)
I'll be posting photos and blog updates pretty often. I'll be here for 5 weeks, then will go to Tijuana, Mexico for a couple weeks, then to Albuquerque, New Mexico for another couple weeks before I go home in March. There should be lots for me to blog about!
Don't forget you can email me... ceocon16@gmail.com.
Until next time...
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