They make us who we are

We have returned and been processing all the info from the August clinic weekend with Emily Kemp Horsemanship and Hope Horsemanship back at The Big Lonely. Three days on a remote mountain in VA ‘disconnected’ from most things other than each other and our horses.

To say I was nervous about taking 2 horses, and an almost 9yr old kid to this clinic, is an understatement (lol). The weekends leading up to it we had hauled both horses to Skyler’s lessons to ensure the boys could trailer the upcoming ~2.5hrs together without issues, and thus leaving Prophecy by himself again. I found if I load Sully first, Scooby comes on much easier than he does by himself, but also takes 2 as we have keep shifting Sully left to leave Scooby space. I still do need to get Scooby a head bumper as he is so tall, but he seems to do just fine in there otherwise. They actually seem to prefer to share hay bags, which I find funny, as despite any effort of mine to make them stay at their own side with how they get tied, they always manage to share. I guess I will just move the bags to the middle hook! Thanks to a friend, we got a 2nd set of shipping boots in time to leave and everyone’s legs were protected for the windy steep roads we traversed (Sully is in shoes, so really wanted to protect Scooby from any “step on” issues). Doug picked Skyler up from her camp a little early so we could hit the road by 4pm and thus avoid any crazy traffic on 64 & 81 where we spent the first hour part of our haul. They traveled well, Skyler spent most of the trip coloring, and we pulled into the TBL around 645pm and then went to settle the boys into their paddock. I found I missed that Sully’s hay bag had gotten unthreaded so most of his hay was on the floor upon arrival 🤦‍♀️ I guess it was a good thing he could reach Scooby’s!

We had a small “Oh No” moment as I saw 3 cows that appeared to be in the paddock I needed. We put the boys in the side holding pens to munch some grass (and apparently have a much needed pee break) while we checked out the situation. Thankfully they were not in the paddock themselves so we chased them off and then grabbed the boys again and left them to drink and chill in their weekend home away from home. Skyler helped me unhook, then we unloaded the truck up at the studio of our stuff, set up our bed, and lastly moved lots of things from the trailer to the barn for tacking up and feeding 2 horses the next few days. Jaime and Emily arrived a bit later, we all enjoyed some pizza together on the porch, and then called it a night. Unfortunately I can’t say I slept much getting elbowed and punched most of the night 🤛 our air mattress is comfy, but apparently Skyler was worried about the edge and therefore stayed pressed against me…

Day 1

Friday morning Skyler and I were up early, so we took our time eating breakfast then went down to take care of the horses. I fixed Sully’s hay bag and we hung their nets in the pen to munch on. A little later start to the day than originally planned, but the gang all arrived – a smaller one for the first day with us, Jaime, Emily & Iva. We watched Jaime & K work on lateral movements and refining the “go button” in preparation for working on the canter, and then it was Skyler’s turn. We grabbed Scooby, and brought him in to tack up, which left Sully talking a bit back in the paddock. Skyler really wanted to get Scooby leading better (closer, he drags behind) and able to do Trot-outs with her, as well as refining her connection with him and learning his trot. She learned how to use the lead rope and/or a stick-n-string as a tool to encourage him to keep up. They had a totally successful first day on all accounts, even earning candy in a trot game where she had to go a loop, then stop him at a fence post to pick it up, and go again. Her position and feel with him really improved and they looked great together. She really took to Emily and her instructions and didn’t have any “moments” where she felt overwhelmed or worried. We untacked and let him back out with Sully.
I have a bunch of videos of her, but can’t post them on here unfortunately!

As I suspected though, his saddle is not going to fit much longer. He has come a long way with his weight, and is just having to build muscle and topline now mainly; and while he needs a wide saddle, he also has high withers. He is already showing that it pinches when she mounts, so I’m on the hunt for them… We did switch out the padding set up to my other Balance Quilt the second day, but still had the same reaction.

We enjoyed lunch together & chatting, then we watched Iva & Hope for a bit working on yielding until I had to go get Sully ready for my time slot. He was a bit of a different animal leaving Scooby behind and knowing there was another horse in the arena. Not a side of him I see often – total ping-pong for saddling, pawing, calling, and just not connected to me unless I was touching him to groom. We got out to the grass to wait on our turn and that is where we stayed for a bit! His disconnectedness to me meant it was time to refocus and use where we are. Some circles, and switching of directions on the side of a hill, then we moved on to backing him up the hill. My focus for him right now is stifle strengthening and better balance. Once we had his mind back in order, we went into the arena to work on standing at the block and backing under saddle. He is still very resistant to the lighter cues, but making progress. A few trot loops to give him a mental and physical break, then it was time to untack and move to the other barn for the last lesson of the day. There we set up a high-line and saw how it works to help them learn to yield to halter pressure. I wish I had gotten a few pics of us using it as a zipline and swinging on it to stretch the rope out! Amy, Madison & Stephanie arrived during the high-tying adventures, and after some lessons there with horses on the line we all headed to the cabin for dinner.

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Once back at TBL I put Skyler in a shower while I went to feed the boys in the dark and set out more hay. We popped in a movie on her little DVD player for a bit to decompress and then off to bed. At least that night was better sleep! I had Skyler swap sides of the bed with me and I was punched less 😆

Day 2

Saturday we slept a little later and ended up slightly rushed to be out at the barn at 8:30 (oops). Jaime and K worked on more of the lateral movements and canter prep, and then it was Skyler’s turn again. This time she worked on learning several different ways to ask Scooby to lower his head, turns into the rail, and then more trotting. She showed a huge change in her riding just overnight! Her candy game this time was to trot by Emily, Jaime, and me in different spots around the arena and grab candy from us on the fly – without leaning too far over. Scooby really said NO about trotting by me, it was pretty funny; she was the most successful going by Emily. She had a bunch of fun with it and was all smiles 🙂

Some cool stuff came next with Madison & D working on lateral movements down the fence-line on the ground and then Sully and I were up after lunch. This time he was much calmer (did some pawing) and wasn’t calling or focused on Scooby being left in the paddock. We did a little more on the ground backing up the hill, then we worked on it with me in the saddle in various places and degrees of steepness. After we went back to the arena and worked on moving his hind-quarters off-track, creating a 3-track walk down the fence-line. He definitely has more trouble one side vs. the other, and it took using a dressage stick and my leg to help him move over, as well as some micro-managing by Emily on the ground in the beginning. Then we got to do some fun stuff with trotting…super slow and then his big fast extended trot to help him learn to push from behind more in those transitions. I swear his slow trot is way more work for me! I was winded! It is hard to keep him in the trot vs a drop to a rack at about 5-6mph. But, he was stretching out his back nicely at that speed too.
Next up was Stephanie working on her leading and horse handling skills to be of “better” help (she is awesome already really!) to Madison and others while crewing and such. After that, off to the other barn again to work with one of the new horses who has had some trauma related to catching and worming/medicating; Skyler dolled up Peggy Sue with flowers while they watched. Dinner and smores around the campfire, and off to bed late again!

Sleep wasn’t as great Saturday night with a few more jabs in the middle of it! We got up Sunday and did some packing then went down to feed and watch the morning group. Cool canter stuff for Jaime & K that I caught the end of after reloading the trailer of all our stuff from the barn, Stephanie & Frills working on the ground and a little under saddle, and Amy & Luna doing yielding and lateral work on the ground. Skyler and Iva were having flower hair decorating time during all this 😛 We all had lunch together, then Skyler & I finished up packing up, hooked up, cleaned up the boys paddock and then headed out, getting home about 515. Sully took off running for the water tank then had a good roll… oh and BTW – those Wave forks, now that I’ve used one to clean a paddock, are totally worth it! I think that will be replacing my little trailer fork here soon!

Despite my nervousness in the beginning, it turned it out to be a great experience for Skyler and me, and our horses too of course!

Scooby and Skyler are really a great fit it seems. I look forward to watching them grow together, as well as joining Sully & I at rides. Skyler is already looking forward to her next clinic adventure with us! 😊

There is a lot left to process, and things I need to get more consistent in doing with Sully too – We’ve made a lot of good changes over the last few years and look forward to continuing build on them and our relationship 🥰