Hattie heads out

Last evening a bit after dark, Hattie hopped into a large gooseneck horse trailer headed east...she is off to her new home. I know for a fact, that her new owner will love her, and care for her with the highest standards, but I have to say, a piece of my heart goes with that filly. Hattie taught me a whole lot about myself this summer, how much grit and determination I have buried inside and how rewarding caring for these creatures that God put on this earth for us can be. I have SO many great memories of raising this filly. It was certainly tough on my nerves, but all my worries were pushed aside one by one.....her horse social skills soared as she first shared spaces with her sister "Heather" then the rest of her 2009 siblings, and finally the rest of the herd. This is one very special filly, in many, many ways. I truly appreciate that her new owner will cherish her as much as I have.

Merry Christmas everyone !

This is the week of Christmas! My, how fast this year has gone....here is our Christmas greeting for you, our family, our friends. I imagine this week will be a little hectic around here, so I am sending greetings off to you for you to enjoy all week! Merry Christmas from Creekside, the humans who handle the ops and the herd members who bless our lives ;-) and very Happy New Year to all of you too!

that lovely snowfall

What a week we have had for weather....we got about 6" of snow...then the next two days a good steady rain...lucky my horse work involves using our arena....as they say the outside footing is "not fit for man nor beast" !

While we still had some snow on the ground, I was able to catch a couple of really cute shots of Hattie and Mike. We needed some updated pics, now that Hattie has grown up a bit...and she always is in the mood for attention.

Loving my job

I sometimes forget HOW much I enjoy working with horses...sure it is always there, in my mind..but when I really get concentrating on what I am doing, using newly learned methods, I realize how rewarding it is for me.

I have been working with our mare "Izzy" she has been gently started under saddle, and ridden a few times after her initial training. BUT...in order to progress her through my 5 star Trail Horse Deluxe program...I must fill in the holes in her training that may have been skipped...One of those holes was clipper training. I also wanted to take her through the progressive training of the "101 Lunge and Long linning lessons" from the book by Cherry Hill.

In a segment of Julie Goodnight's training session, viewed on RFDTV I learned some very advanced lunging methods...this session was a young lady with an unruly and unattentive horse.....often I have a bit of "I am not paying attention" in several of my horses, esp just after being taken away from their buddies..so, I put the learned info to task..and it worked SO well.....

Izzy continued her crosstie training, I added clipper training, and we did some very successful lunge work, with her learning voice commands and also learning to read my body language. I can only imagine how far I can take this mare.....and I will soon start the same training regiment on my own keeper filly..."Kallie"...my first keeper foal from our ranch stallion....

More often than not I have limited time training on a particular horse...breeding season interupts HeartBreaker's training ( mostly due to my time limits and duties ) preg mares need time off for foaling and raising a foal, so...this is a Luxury for me....and I am excited about how well this is working.

A very small start

well, I have gone and done it....after years of having "learn to drive" on my list of 100 things to do in my life...I have stated learning to drive! Now...it is a very small start ( pun intended ) a miniature donkey named "Tango" is my kind and gentle teacher.....My friend "Diana" of Red Moon Acres has graciously helped my make my first venture into the world of driving. You can see Diana's donkey herd at www.redmoonacres.com.....frankly they are all terribly adorable..lucky I already have a pasture full of equines ;-)

Some of you might wonder just exactly what my goal is here...after all, we have a highly successful dressage program, and also raise Trail horses deluxe...
Driving is something I have always wanted to do...and did you know, you can compete in Driven Dressage????? I think I have a few horses that might be very suitable for that. So, I will learn to drive, and then learn to teach driven dressage to one of my very own equines...Diana is teaching me driving basics, and Tango allows me to learn from my mistakes...there is a whole lot more to learning to drive, than one might think, and I am ready for the challenge!

Izzy is back to work

Izzy is back to work...after just a couple weeks out on pasture ( our farm green grass rule, "if you don't have to feed hay...you don't" ) I just could not take it any longer, and am breaking my own farm rule...but, I just needed a horse to work! LOL.....so, I brought Izzy off pasture, and put her back to work....I am working on all the little things that have not been done in her ground work, like learning to crosstie....Izzy ties well, but I like to work with my horses in cross ties, and it needs to be taught to them to handle it safely. I am also doing some advanced lunge work with Izzy, and will start riding her again next week...I just wanted a chance to really instill some of the advanced ground work skills I require of my higher trained horses.


After our work session, I noticed how lovely Izzy looked in her winter coat, and the sun here was just spectacular..The sun this time of year has such a lovely quality to it...so, I headed out to our outdoor arena, and let Izzy play and bit while I took some shots. I also had the chance to use our outdoor time as a schooling tool too, as a different location resulted in a chance to help her learn, "same rules under any circumstances"
There is just something about the color of a chestnut and this winter sunlight...Izzy's coat is just coming in, and I really love the look of her curls at this time of year.

I really enjoy working with Izzy, she learns quickly and has a pretty unflappable attitude...and did I mention she is for sale? Give us a call or drop us a line..this could be your next riding horse!

Visitors....it never gets old

Sharing a hug

We had visitors to our farm over the weekend....a Mom and daughter team....came to see our horses and to test the hypoallergenic qualities of our herd....as you can see from this picture...our horses were completely hugable and hypo for these gals.

We spent the afternoon playing with the horses, all the horses got attention, and our weanlings especially loved the attention...Legacy also claimed the Mom for her human of the day, and kindly shared her soft curls and showed her stellar people friendly attitude to our guest...

These gals also raise curly coated dogs for guide dog service..of a hypoallergenic type....They associate with www.genesisservicedogscom a wonderful organization that helps provide hypoallergenic service dogs to the needy.

It was truly a wonderful afternoon, I always enjoy sharing my horses with folks, and as we talked we found many similarities between training and personalities of the dogs they raise, and the horse we raise.