My last weekend!

Hi everyone! Yesterday was a very busy day! We started off the day in the classroom for our Business class in the morning and went over our Business plans and other important business like tid bits!

In the afternoon we went to the Dressage barn for a movement class with RaeAnn - our teacher for the day! We got to watch some horses go through their paces on the lunge line first and then some others free in the arena, some of those horses can really move well! It was nice to see "correct" movement from some horses, we are so used to incorrect movement that being able to see something like this was very beneficial.

After school I headed up to Maritza's house - she is a neighbour of Ruth (the vet that taught us last week) to see Pixie the little baby horse! She is very cute, she is 1/4 Mustang, 1/4 Shetland and 1/2 Lucitano and she is 2 weeks old!

This is Pixie and Dixie, her mom!

Today I had a riding lesson with Rick and spent the rest of the afternoon lazing at the pool. After the pool Chelsea and I went down to 7 Eleven to get slurpees and to Safeway to pick up some dinner ingredients. For dinner I made pasta with mushrooms, asparagus and chicken in Alfredo sauce... yum yum!

Tomorrow will be another lazy pool day, it will be nice to be able to spend a day without having to go out somewhere!

Only 1 more week! See you Friday Mom, Dad and Kyle!

Love you all, talk to you soon!!

Love Sara XXO

An interesting day... hopefully not the last!

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a good day and that the rain is starting to give up!

It was another learning day here in Colorado and I can’t believe that I only have 6 more days of school left! Today we were out at a Ranch that is out on the east side of Colorado and a bit north as well.

The class met at McDonalds at 7 am this morning and then we headed off into the depths of Eastern Colorado!!! We arrived at the Ranch just before 9 am and got to work promptly gathering horses. The first horse I had was seriously a LOT of horse!! He was a very large Draft and he was like a puppy! He wanted to follow me around and didn’t have half a mind or idea about standing still! I was actually pleasantly surprised when he began to stand and soak up the attention, he was really cute! One of my classmates said that I looked like I was taming the “Gentle Giant!”

The second horse this morning, after a short break involving cinnamon rolls… mmmmmmmm!... was an older chestnut gelding, he was very gentle and really needed to be reassured about what was going on and his role in it all. I felt kind of bad because I was getting agitated by his lack of attention and then realized he was completely and utterly confused, all he wanted to do was please and once I said good job to him he began to soften his body and relax!

For lunch we were fed another amazing meal by the staff of the Ranch and I even bought myself a down filled vest with the Ranch logo on it, imagine… it is baby pink!!!! I decided I am totally worth it!

After lunch we worked on one more horse… remember that horse from 2 weeks ago that I was totally smitten for… well, I got to play with her again today! I was very excited not only because I love her and want to take her home, but because she remembered me and was very well behaved! All of the things I worked on with her 2 weeks ago were still there and I was able to get even farther than before with my work today J yay! The kicker about the whole thing is that I really think she belongs at home… my home… Get this… She is a papered AQH, had a lighter body and darker mane and tail, has a sassy but kind attitude, oh… and her name is “Apple Cider”… I know… she could be my Brown Sugar’s twin… literally! Imagine that, Brown Sugar and Apple Cider entering the ring! They are even about the same size! I just don’t know what I’m goona do… Daddy, bring on the trailer!!!

Today was a very good day for me, I felt that I learned a lot and that I made a difference… even though I spent much of the day working on the lead rope to quiet the horses I was working on, I really made changes! I love my NEW job!!! The amazing part in all of it was that all day the people on the ranch were branding cattle and moving livestock from pen to pen and all of the class was able to keep some attention of their horses and we all did a really good job! I was impressed... now I can walk into a herd of 30, pick one and massage and work with many distractions, loud noises and curious horses!

Tomorrow we have Business and then we get to go to the fancy Dressage barn again for a movement class!! Exciting! Then I will take a little detour to go and see Pixie, the little baby I was talking about last week!!!

I took this picture for you mom, I think Sheba is back in Colorado!!! I couldn't believe the commonalities!

Have a great night everyone, love you all!

Love Sara XXO

A different day!

Hi everyone! Today was a kind of interesting day!

As I said last night we were supposed to go to Vern's for breakfast and then up to the Ranch, well, the weather was kind of crappy up there and so we got a call early this morning that we would meet at the classroom at 9am. Well, this gave me a few hours to kill so I finished up my Business Plan for business class... hrm, imagine that!... on Friday morning and then we were off.

We started out in the classroom and watched a video with a couple (one in particular) amazing horse(s), one day I really want my Copper to be able to do the moves the horse in the video did! It was Sara's Birthday today and we wrote "Happy Birthday" on the board and sang to her when she came in the classroom this morning! She was very surprised, and we all must thank Karen for the flowers she brought for Sara.

A little later in the morning we decided to go the Ranch we go to alot of the time because it is close and we were all itching to get our hands on some horses. We worked on one horse in the morning before lunch. I had another Sombrero horse today he was kind of neat, and we think that he has a little bit of "string halt" (a muscular disease) developing in his hind legs so he was very appreciative of me working on his hindquarters. He also really liked having his head worked on, he was kind of sad and had a tear drop in his eye when I first got him and once I started working on him he really understood that I was trying to help him. He was a very sweet boy!

For lunch we all (most of the class) went over to "The Great Wall" chinese buffet for lunch again (we had gone there once before as well). The food is really good there and I still can't get over how cheap some restaurants are here!

After lunch we went back to the ranch and worked on one horse each. I had a horse who was very into having one spot on his neck scratched and he would cock his neck really funny and get right into it. I think that he had a bite where it was really itchy because there was a little bump and when I was done scratching the bump was a little smaller! When we were working on the horses in the afternoon all of a sudden there was a very large gust of wind and dust storms all around so we quickly put the horses away so nobody got hurt and called it a day!

We came right home after school and then Sue (one of the ladies from our class) called me up and asked if I would like to go to the tack store in Lafayette (a town) today instead of Saturday, seeing as we had a few hours to kill! The store was beautiful, I drove and Chelsea, Sue, Barrymore (Sue's dog), and I all had a fun mini roadtrip! I bought a very nice padded saddle pad for my ponies - it is white and big and very nice, I think that my saddle will fit with it well :) as well as a DVD video of the horse in motion - this is one of those where they draw the bones on the horse and then have it to movements so you can see how the bones actually move. I haven't watched it yet but as soon as I stop blabbering I will get on it!!!

Tomorrow we are going to meet at McDonalds for breakfast at 7am and then off we will go to another Ranch out East. This is the one where they feed us an amazing lunch!!! It will also be good to get my hands on some other horses!

Have a great night everyone, sorry there are no pictures - my picture taker Casey was missing today... we really missed her! I will be sure to try and get some tomorrow!

Much Love

Love Sara XXO

Busy Busy! only 8 days of classes left!!!

Hello everyone! Today was another great day at school! I am learning so much everyday I can’t even being to explain it!

Today we stared off at the Ranch working on horses. My first horse was a big chestnut and he was having some very interesting problems, I really don’t know what we going on but he as kind of ADD, he was responding to every noise, every movement, every breeze! I really learned how to diversify my massage by working on him, I had to get big sometimes and get small other times, a little in limbo between listening and telling. I really enjoyed him. I was talking with Casey (she helps out in our class) and we both think that he has had an injury on/to his left shoulder. I took some extra time to work that area in and around the scapula as well as with the withers and spine and he seemed to really make a change… I kind of wish I had taken a before and after picture of him, he made some real positive changes!
For our second horse we all went into the pen again and worked on the horses with no halter or anything. I had a really big bay horse and he was very sweet… I am really going to miss these horses; they are so quiet and forgiving. I was instantly drawn to his hindquarters and when I started to work on his psoas and adductor muscles he was very grateful; stepping is legs apart and leaning into me when I hit that “just right” spot!


















This afternoon we were at Rick’s and, as usual, this was very fun and interesting. I so enjoy working with the horses in this manner and feel that I am making really big strides towards being able to work in an entirely different way with horses. We got to lunge one of the ponies this afternoon and I was happy that I was able to get things accomplished… once again, thank you Pony Club! Second in Rick’s class we had to use feel to maneuver another one of the ponies through an obstacle course, I hadn’t had any practice with this yet so I was kind of horrible, but next week I will get to do it some more so that will be good and should help to solidify things… seeing as it will be the last class!!! AAAHHHHHH!






This is Joe handing the line off to me.

A walk to the left.

A quiet walk to the left.A trot to the left.

Changing directions.

A pat for a job well done!

Maneuvering the obstacle course with Song. (the horse!)

And another pat for a job well done!









This Saturday I will be going out to Rick’s for a lesson on one of his horses, he is so amazing that I want to pick his brain as much as possible and embrace as much of his knowledge as I can while I am here!
Tomorrow we are going to another Ranch (we were there once before) to work on more horses. We will be there all day and I hope that the weather is really nice! These horses are a little different than what we are used to because they are handled a less than the usual ones. I am really excited!
On the way we are going to a place called “Vern’s” for breakfast… the place with the jymungous (that’s a technical term!!!) pancakes and amazing cinnamon buns! This should make for a good start to the day!
Anyway, have a great night everyone! Miss you all!
Much Love
Love Sara XXO

A Magical Day

Hi Everyone! Today was another magical day!

This morning we were at the Ranch and worked on 2 horses each after a short demo by Sara.
The first horse I worked on was what they call a “Sombrero” horse, these are horses that the Ranch brings in on a lease basis for the summer from a large company that does this as a business. The horse I had was very interesting to say the least! He had had some sort of a neck injury and the Left side of his neck had a portion that had a large scar and was quite indented. When I first tried to work on that area he as kind of resistant and would turn away from me each time I went towards it; as soon as I realized… and yes, this sounds kind of corny… that he was a little ashamed of that area and didn’t like to have anyone touching it I said; it’s alright, I don’t mind it, and then he was very willing to let me in and touch and feel and do anything that I wanted!

After we were finished with the first horse we had a little break and then got to go into the pasture where all of the horses were (about 25 of them), pick a horse and start massaging… no halter or anything! There was one horse staiding off by himself, his name is Top Hand and he is the one who was laying down in class last week! I started to work on him very slowly and he really didn’t want anything to do with me and started to walk away but when I followed and changed my presentation a little he was totally into it! I knew that he really benefitted from what Sara had done with his head and neck last week so I started there and when I finished with the Right side of his jaw he gave a really big stretch. When I worked on the Left side of his jaw he wasn’t so enthralled but stood for it, once finished there I moved to his rump and he started to walk away again… only this time he had his head down and was looking for a place to lay down! This was really amazing to me, he laid on his Left side and let out a really loud sigh, stayed there for a while and when another horse came over to pester him he sat up and got up! This was really amazing, I was almost proud of what I had done because I knew that this was a positive response!

This afternoon we went to the Dressage barn and had our English saddle fitting class! I found this very informative as we went over where to place the saddle and what they are made of and how to tell if they have broken trees and such… I am so excited to get home to teach all this wonderful stuff to my Pony Club kids! At the end of the class I went and asked Bev (our teacher for the afternoon) if she knew of any way I could get my hands on a saddle tree (broken) so I could use it to teach. I was so surprised and excited when she said that she has one at her store and would love to give it to me so I could teach with it and tear it apart!!!! I really can’t wait to get home now!!!

This is a picture of a common part of the English saddle called the "pint pocket" I am always asked why it is called this and what it is for and today I found out! It is where the "point" of the tree slips into the padding for the pannels of the saddle! Yet another new and interesting thing to tell the Pony Club kids!

Tomorrow we are starting at the Ranch again and in the afternoon we are at Rick’s and our assignments are due so I will have to leave you now so I can do a final critique and print!

Have a great night everyone, miss you all

Much love

Love Sara XXO

A quiet weekend

Hi everyone!

This was kind of a lazy weekend so I feel bad about now Blogging last night! Yesterday I had a me day, I was supposed to go to Ruthie’s but I was feeling a little “blah” – that’s a technical term you know! – and just had to veg! I spent most of the day on the computer making up a brochure and checklist sheet for when I get home to use when I am with clients, spent about 1 hour at the pool catching some rays and did little else!

I will be going to Ruthie’s (neighbor’s house) on Friday so you can expect some pictures of the baby then!

Today I went and bought some shoes first thing… and when I say first thing, I mean first thing!!! I actually arrived before the store opened and sat for about 10 minutes for the doors to open! After this adventure I was home by 10:30 and headed over to Safeway to get some ingredients for my dessert Cheese Ball to take to the pot luck at Rick’s this evening. And of course, this afternoon I went to the pool… this is becoming a daily ritual… Daddy, I think you need to talk to Danny and Sheree!! Just kidding… hehe. I will be so busy when I get home I won’t have time to go and laze at the pool, I have to admit though… it is kind of nice! We went to Rick’s around 4:30 this evening and had yet another great feast for a Pot Luck! For the rest of the evening Rick took each of us around in the cart with the pony’s! This was really fun!

Tomorrow we are starting off at the Ranch and then we will be heading to the Dressage arena (we were there in the second week as well) for a class on English saddle fitting, I am very excited about this one! I can put my previous knowledge to the test… again!!!

I will post some pictures of the pot luck from today and the pony cart rides, and the fitting tomorrow when I post tomorrow night.

Love you all muchly, I can’t wait to get home!!! 2 weeks!! (Kyle and I are counting… 12 days until he comes to see me! YAY!

Much Love

Love Sara XXO

P.S. I am missing the comments Mom!