The Mane Event 2014

The Mane Event at the Horse Expo was fun as usual.  We didn't have to witness the crazy cat lady presentation again, phew!  Below are some iPhone videos I took.  Not the best quality but it shows some of the diverse equine entertainment that was presented.  The Icelandic's usually just run around showing their gaits but they are so cute you just clap along.  They did some coordinated riding.  I think they are adorable!



Later there was a freestyle group.  I do love Haflingers and thought these guys did a great job.  I don't think I could do that with Dani, she'd run off to go roll in the sand!




The fiesta group was cool.  We had seen the little kid on his gorgeous Andalusian a few years ago.  He's grown but is still a tiny guy and still a great rider of these magnificent stallion.  They have a Friesian now who is gorgeous!



I enjoyed meeting my good friend Jessica and her hubby up there.  They've been in WY for several years and are finally able to move back home to MD.  I'll miss them.  It's been great reconnecting with her.  Jessica was my next door neighbor when I was in 4th grade.  We met while I was collecting rollie-pollies.  We played Breyer horses and took riding lessons at the same places.  She's my oldest horsie friend and I'll miss having her so nearby again.

The Cat's Meow????

Okay!! I happened upon the video of the cat lady on horseback from the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo!!!

It was one of the weirdest things I've ever seen!!!

Fjords at the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo 2012

WARNING:  This post contains pictures of really cute Fjords.  If you are easily overcome by cuteness this post is dangerous!!!

Fjords are so cute!  I squealed when I saw them coming out into the arena! 

Their manes are so Trojan looking with the dun stripe running through it and the spiky way they are trimmed.  Most people with Fjords shave the mane so it stands up and shows off the cute little black stripe!  I've seen pictures (posted below and not my pics from the Expo) of even crazier designs where they make a zig-zag cutout from the white part of the mane or a block cutout.  Either way is neat and so is just leaving the manes long.  So many options with these guys fun manes...talk about my little pony!

Close-up of the cute dorsal stripe and the little Fjord ears.  They are very sturdy horses that even full adults can ride them when the horse is only 13 or 14 hands. 

They were all on one side of the ring by the fences, I tried to get some good angles but it was difficult.  I only had my 100-300mm lens so I still had to be farther away so it was a challenge to get some photos.

This stallion below was so beautiful.  His cresty neck really emphasized the shaved mane and dorsal stripe.  He was very pretty!

His owner is a breeder and gave me her card asking if I was willing to share photos.  I said sure....I just hope these pics are decent enough.  Given the challenges I'm pretty pleased though.

Below is one  of the cute mares.  She just looks like a teddy bear!  Kids were petting on her to no end and she loved it!

Here's another pic of the stallion....he's magnificent!  Look at that neck!  How can a horse be so cute and so handsome at the same time?

Back at the barn the Fjords were just as friendly as they seemed.

Nummy, nummy hay!  Looks like a teddy bear, eats like a horse!

I love the Fjords, so cute yet nice sturdy little steeds.  I haven't seen any in the rescues or many even on dreamhorse.com.  I would certainly consider a Fjord as my first horse but I do love my Arabs....only time will tell which horse I end up giving my heart to.  The expo definitely showed me that when Steve and I have property we'll have a huge assortment of breeds to love I'm sure!

The Mane Event at the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo 2012 (Friday)

Steve and I attended the "Mane Event"  hehehe, that's cute, on Friday.  The same program occurred on Saturday but Friday had mini horses and Saturday had vaulting apparently.  It was packed!  I was shoulder to shoulder with the lady next to me and had no room to get my big camera out.  Later towards the end Steve and I saw that people had moved to the cordoned off area and we figured we should get some more room.  Then I was able to spread out with my camera and 300mm lens.

On Friday the event was opened with a bridle less rider going over a series of obstacles.  There was a teeter-totter that the rider took his horse on forwards and backwards, a string gate to open, a kriss cross of poles and a bridge.  All this was done without a bridle to use for cues.  It was pretty impressive.

There were pretty Friesians pulling a wagon, along with a pair of draft mules and Percherons. 

Then we got to watch a lady with a rescue Andalusian (sweet!) and a man on his stallion doing a Spanish dance on horseback.  It was awesome.  The gal had only been riding a year and had her mare trained quite well, she even did rears under saddle to go with the music.  When they first came out I was pissed at over hearing some lady say that "Oh that's definitely the rescue horse".  Sure she was a rather plain Andalusian mare compared to the cresty black stallion but lots of well bred mares are when standing next to a flashy and cresty stallion!  I wanted to smack her!

There was also a Grand Prix dressage free style that honestly I wasn't too impressed with.  The timing for the music was off and though I can't do anything near like what she did I still have seen better presentations.  Pretty horse none the less.

Next were some gaited horses!  Peruvian Pasos, Tennessee walkers, and Mangalarga Marchadors.  I didn't see the lateral leg movement or "termino" that Peruvian horses are well known for but it was interesting to see similarities of the gait. The Peruvian termino is the swinging out of the shoulder, much like a swimmers arm and provides a really smooth gait. I would love to ride one sometime! Most gaited horses' gaits are a modification of either the running walk or amble.  The difference in gaits is style and speed...therefore there are a million terms for a gait that has a similar footfall but a different feel and slightly different look to an observer. 

Mini horses pulling fancy little carts were next.  They did a synchronized number much like a marching band.  It was entertaining and VERY CUTE!!!

Another gaited horse, the Icelandic Horse, was next.  I enjoyed seeing these sturdy pony sized horses Toelting around the arena.  Yet another ground covering smooth gait.  I recently read an article in Trail Rider that traditionally Icelanders would ride their horse in a herd and change out mounts every few miles.  It was an efficient way to travel the country and still a tradition...they have a yearly festival for these horses!

Then there was a beautiful black Morgan horse I think.  The man riding did a precision show with a long pole where he maneuvered his steed in circles around the pole without the rider lifting it from the ground.  It's hard to describe!

The next presentation left me in shock, The Cat's Meow".  I'll sum it up for you.  A lady in a cat suit riding a horse and doing "dance" moves in the saddle like she was attacking the horse.  The music was like that of a horror film interspersed with loud cat howls and whinnies of frightened horses.   HUH?????  I was in so much shock that I didn't even think of recording a video with my iPhone....YouTube fodder for sure!!  The following act was weird too but not horrifying.  It was a lady on a Peruvian with the music Wings of Love.  She road around with golden wings...at least it was visually appealing to  a certain extent...

A man on a beautiful horse and a lady doing a Spanish dance were the next show.  It was quite electric and I tried as hard as I could to get some good pictures.  They had the lights off and only used the spotlight to give a dramatic effect but I couldn't get a clear picture.  So I made it into a "painting".  I haven't done this before so I didn't take too much time to play with the settings but I see the potential of some of those "fuzzy" pics I got....I could make them into something I wouldn't mind hanging on my wall!

I squealed at the next group....Norwegian Fjords!!!  They did a routine that was very much a dance, like synchronized swimming.  See the Norwegian Fjord post to come!

Just a Fjord butt teaser!!!

The next act was a lady on a Shire with her daughter on a Peruvian horse riding around the arena to Celtic music and performing some movements with their horses and their bodies in a lyrical music interpretation kind of style.  The horses and costumes were pretty but a lot of that lyrical stuff just didn't seem to work as well on horseback. 

Finally the end showing was three Andalusian horses with two men and a little boy riding.  They were in sombreros and typical Mexican fashion.  The horses were to die for gorgeous!  The little boy, apparently age 7 but actually looked 4 was riding the biggest stallion who had a mane and tail that Lady Godiva her self would envy!  If you chopped off the mane I bet it would weigh more than the little kid on that horse. 

After the show was over, all the horses came back out for people to come down and meet them and their riders.  People were able to pet some of the horses and this allowed me to take lots of pictures.  The lighting still wasn't perfect for handheld photos with a 300mm lens but I got a few good shots I think.  Honestly it was beautiful pony overload!!!!

Other Fun Horse stuff at the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo 2012

Steve and I mainly went to Julie Goodnight talks at 10am and then 2 or 3pm on Friday and Saturday.  The rest of the time we went to some other presentations but then just walked around at the expo exhibitors (aka Fun Stuff to Buy!) or went to the barn (aka pretty ponies to pet!)

One presentation was about obstacles that you took your horse over with speed, so instead of just the walk the lady demonstrated trot and canter.  I never did get to see what she did with the second horse that was pawing at the ground while tied.  He was not very happy! 

Anyhow, she had a tarp, a bridge type obstacle and then something I'd never seen...a channel with balls in it!  Hmm.  That makes a horse really have to see where their feet are going, I bet it's great training for trail riding particularly in rocky areas.

As for obstacles that I could "make", the tarp or the balls and PVC pipes would be easily transportable.  The bridge....not so much, it's heavy and hard to move so something that would need to be more or less permanent at a boarding facility.  I wonder if I could build one and then just store it at a facility for all boarders to use?

Steve and I also stayed to watch some of the mini horse show.  We unfortunately missed the costume class, we did see them headed towards the arena but I think we were running to a Julie Goodnight thing.  Anyways to see the cute costumes check out Braymere's blog!  The costumes were so cute!

I loved watching this little girl and her horse.  She was standing in the gate area between her runs and holding her cute pony while swinging her legs out and about. Here's what I think was going on in her mind.   " La la la, holding my little pony....la la la, do de da!"

Then later she had issues getting her pony over this one jump.  Apparently a couple of the ponies did not like those fake flowers!!

Temple Grandin was also there on Saturday giving a talk.  The seats were full and the curtain they had set up was pulled back in areas as a ton more people stood to listen to her talk.  She is an amazing and very smart person.  She has a doctorate in Animal Science...she now teaches at Colorado State University I think.  She is Autistic and in her book, "Animals in Translation" feels that this has attributed to her being able to really understand animals.  Autistic people tend to think in pictures rather than words or thoughts like the rest of us.  I seriously think you should check out the movie "Temple Grandin", not only is it well acted but it's about her amazing life with a "disability".  Wow.

Next was a polo match between University of Kentucky and Colorado State University.  I've never seen a polo match before.  It was very fast paced!

It reminded me of Quidditch...or perhaps Quidditch reminds me of polo!  The girls were brutal!  They would ram their horses up against each other in a way that I was so surprised that the girls did not fall off!

The tack had lots of straps but the one think I found most interesting was they didn't just wear polo wraps.  The horses also had a boot on the front legs and bell boots over the front hooves.

Most of the game was just a jumble of horses and riders...I had no idea what was going on.  Then the ball would suddenly be free and loose and the pack would disperse and the riders would chase the ball again.

Lots and lots of galloping!!  It was hard with the lighting to get these action shots, I am going to have to plan on going to one in the outdoors so I can get these action shots!  Again we didn't stay for the entire match since we had another Julie Goodnight thing.  She must be one of my favorite clinicians you'd think!  More posts about the expo to come!!

Julie Goodnight at the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo 2012

I was so excited about seeing Julie Goodnight at the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo!  We went up Thursday night to stay at a hotel and be there for Friday, Saturday and Sunday....well we only did Friday and Saturday.  We slept in on Sunday but that's another story!

The first day we went to Part 1 and 2 of the "Natural Ride"  Julie demonstrated the physics of riding and why we position ourselves the way we do.  It was a refreshing new look at riding for me, at least the way she explained it.  There were two horses and riders in addition to Julie and Twyla.  There was a cute Pintabian and a palomino.

 Julie explained the footfalls and demonstrated her body movements with the gaits using exaggerated movements of her body as she rode.

What really helped me was learning how to feel the diagonal that you are on by feeling the horses outside rear leg as it pushes you upwards...your outside hip is lifted and this is the correct time to rise.  This seems to work better on a curve since that outside hind leg would indeed need to move forward and cover more ground but if you pay attention to the lateral side to side motion you can feel your hips lower and rise with the horse (kind of like you are trotting too!).  I'll have to do some practice!  I wish I had my own horse to practice and feel the trot and know what diagonal I'm on even in a straight line!

Then Julie went onto the canter in another one of her presentations.  This time it was just Julie, Twyla and the gal who had the Pintabian.  They worked on stopping with little rein use, Julie had a neat way of explaining and showing how to really work your seat and not so much the reins.  It's still easier to say than do but watching her presentation and her standing on the ground showing our body positions during different cues was a lot of fun. 

The canter is something a lot of us fear and it often has to do with that first swinging up and then down of the head as the horse begins.  That makes sense.  She stated that you lift the inside rein as you press with your outside leg to help lighten the horses shoulder to get the correct lead.  I think that's the order...see I need to pay more attention rather than take pictures huh!!

Most of what she went over is in her principles of riding DVD set that I plan on purchasing.  I really enjoy watching her show on Mondays so seeing her at the Expo was awesome!  I will certainly have to attend clinics and perhaps at a future date when I have my horse go to some with my horse.  I know that things will come up that I will like to have the Goodnight eye on!  She also has several weekend Yoga and Riding vacations where it's several days of concentrated riding, yoga and good times.  How fun would that be!

I was also pretty impressed that my husband never picked up the magazines he brought to read when "he got bored", he was captivated the whole time watching Julie!  Awesome!!  And of course knowing me, I just have to say I really appreciated and applaud Julie for wearing a helmet during her clinics and encouraging others.  The other riders wore helmets as well, it's most likely a Julie Goodnight requirement!  Rock on!

Endurance Race

Steve and I went up to Aurora to help out for the Kenlyn Urban Challenge, which is an endurance race.  The option is to ride in one of the limited distance races 15 or 25 miles or the endurance race 50 miles.  Friday night we arrived and Steve and I were put on "butt number" duty.  Each horse in the race gets a number for their rump so it's easy to record their times and vet exam results.

The evening before was very cold, windy and even started snowing so we ended up doing the the vet checks and numbering in the indoor arena and Kenlyn Arabians Farm.  They only had red number sticks so a lot of the numbers were hard to see on the horses bottoms!

Horses are checked before being officially entered in the race.  The check includes capillary refill, tenting of the skin (for hydration), gut sounds, muscle tone, leg checks and gait checks.  Each horse has to be sound and healthy in order to go into the race.  There are several vet checks during the race to make sure that a horse is still sound during the race.  If their condition deteriorates the vet or sometimes the owner will pull the horse from the race.

We met lots of really nice horse people.  Rachel has two younger mustang horses and was talking a lot about her experiences with that breed.  Michelle had a beautiful chestnut gelding she had purchased from Kenlyn when he was two days old.  She volunteered in the beginning of the vet checks but was busy riding on Saturday since she did the limited distance 25 mile run.

Most of the horses were well behaved but there were a couple that needed some manners classes.  One beautiful buckskin was a side kicker so the vets and butt marker (Steve!) had to watch out!  Several horses were swinging their hind quarters every which way in the excitement.  Overall though the horses were excited but under control.  Still with all the pretty horses it was a feast for the eyes!  There was even a Shetland being ponied for part of the race in the owners attempt to get him used to endurance races before her daughter rode him in one.  We named him "Double 0" since we gave him an honorary butt number!

Many people camped over the night before and after (since it's not the best practice to trailer a fatigued horse).  Most people had trailers with "pens" set up for the horses or used a high line set up.  Steve and I decided we want to look for a cargo van to pull our trailer in the future since we can "camp" in the van on a bed; I'm still on the fence about what containment to use in camp as I keep learning about that.  The newest edition of Endurance News has an article about this very thing!  People who either had more $$ or more debt had nice big trailers with live in quarters in the goose neck of the trailer.  That would be nice someday!

At the end of Saturday while we were awaiting the last 50 milers to finish their last laps Michelle and I went over to a paddock to view some mares.  Most were for sale and I asked her some questions, since she knew how Kenlyn was run, purchased her gelding from Kenlyn and she boarded there as well.  Most horses start getting trained under saddle at 3 or 4 and have training in the ring and on the trail.  One mare, Freeze Frame was a beautiful chestnut who was very interested in nuzzling me and my fleece; though I suspect she was after my energy drink!  She even stayed right at the fence when fresh hay was dropped off in the paddocks!  Another chestnut mare, Scarlet, was also affectionate but was greeted with pinned ears by Freeze so she didn't stay around to make friends for very long.  Who knows maybe if the price is right one of them would be a nice match for me!
 

Michelle and I then headed over to the baby paddock where mares and their one to two month old foals were hanging out.  OH MY GOSH!!!  I was in love with a black colt who was nuzzling me and getting me to scratch his neck.  Another chestnut liked his chest scratched.  Rachel and two other ladies joined us and we all spent a long time loving on each foal.  Oh my goodness I could have taken one home with me!  One of the black colts was a sweetie and the little chestnut was so friendly it was hard to get enough distance from him to take his picture.

Later Steve and I decided we were ready to head home, it had been a long and dusty day with winds blowing most of the time.  We got a flat on our way out of the property, hence the reason I'm very happy to have a full size spare....they are so worth the extra room!!!  After changing the tire we headed home to a nice shower and to absorb the horsie things we learned.  I'm even more excited to get involved in this when I have my own endurance mount!