Technorati

dz3ipm874v

Froggy and Friends Go to the Creek

I have been writing and waiting for so long, it's almost like a dream. The Pr department emailed this morning and the new book, Froggy and Friends Go to the Creek will be available on August 29th, 2009. So mark your calendars.

I'm going to do a book blog promo, so if you are interested in the doing a review, email us.

Cheers and have a good weekend.

RD

First Book Review

Hi,
Just wanted to let everyone know we've gotten a new review and comment on Amazon.

Please support our reviewers blog:

Super Mommy to the Rescue

and read our review at:

HOTR Review at Super Mommy to the Rescue

Cheers, I'll be posting new info on every single review we have and what the blogs are about.

RD

Diggin our Book

Hey Everyone

Just wanted to add some food for thought.

We recently added our BOOK to Digg.com and StumbleUpon.com
We are asking everyone if they like the book to Digg it and add it to your StumbleUpon favorites.
Getting the word out about natural horsemanship is a huge undertaking. Any help is greatly appreciated.

We're giving away a $50 gift card for parents who order the book. You need to go to the website and register with your Amazon order number.

We're also giving away a signed copy of the book to give to kids of your dreams. Comments here will put you in the drawing to win.

Thanks,
Have a good day.
May the Horse be with you.

RD

Crafting for Kids

I'm going to be starting a new series on the website, crafting for kids.
It's so difficult to keep the four I have occupied, but with crafts it's easy.
Drawing, writing books, creating refrigerator magnets, etc. All keeps them focused and out of trouble.

Just so you know if that doesn't work, I put them to work in the barn. This works like a charm, they settle down and are happy to help me.

Buckets of feed draw kids like flies to honey. So does a water bucket and a muck fork is the best toy in the barn.

Hopefully, we'll get the pdfs uploaded on the site, just for you to download for your kids.
Happy crafting.
RD

How to mount your horse properly, with GRACE

What screams GREEN? A rider hanging off their saddle, clutching the leather like a monkey in a tree. How many people are taught to mount? How many leg-ups have you given? Do you mount from a fence, block or the tailgate of a pickup? Ever wondered how to mount with grace?

Here are the steps...
First, get your horse to stand still. By moving your horse back and forth, you can teach him to balance himself. Squaring up will help him support your weight.

Once he's stable, face his tail, put your shoulder to his shoulder, twist the stirrup and place your foot in the stirrup. Holding on to the saddle horn and hop around and face the same direction as your horse. Shorten your reins in order to direct your horse toward you and the hindquarters away from you, in case he moves away from you. This will cause him to pivot away from you and keep contact.

Now, you're facing your horse, look him in the eye and pull yourself up using the saddle horn. Don't grab both sides of the saddle, don't worry, the tree/bars of the saddle will brace against your horse's scapula and help to leverage you up.

At this point, you should have your body weight supported in the stirrup and be able to swing your leg into the saddle and sit comfortably.

There is one thing to ask, does your saddle slip, slide, shift or roll? If you horse has mutton withers, this could be an ongoing issue, but it could mean something more. For instance, if you mount and ride, noticing the saddle shifts off to one side most of the time, your horse could have a rotated scapula. How do you know? If you can feel along the back of the scapula and when it ends there is a knot of muscle, round or egg shaped, the shoulder is rotated. If there is a pocket behind the shoulder, leaving a hollow place, then you have a rotated shoulder.
Also, rotated shoulders lead to misaligned ribs. If your saddle slips down to one side, the ribs are lower on that side. If you horse has trouble taking a lead, the ribs are out on the opposite side.
By shifting your weight on to the opposite side or bar of the saddle, you can help your horse to shift those ribs over. Swinging them back into balance. If you focus on the pocket where the saddle slips, your horse will have trouble mounting, cantering and with lead changes.

If your saddle slips, slides or rolls while mounting, you can try mounting from the opposite side until the ribs are back in balance. This helps the saddle stabilize against the shoulders, withers and back. It is able to grasp the body and allow you to mount.

I hope this helps you mount more gracefully.
Hopefully, we'll get some mounting pictures up for you to see the execution of this.

Stallions as a First Horse

I just wanted to address something I recently encountered. I must say at the outset, I am a horsewoman. I love horses. I have nieces and a nephew who tolerate me as a horsewoman. I have been doing my best to teach them about safety first and fun overall. That being said, I don't allow them to be unsupervised. They don't spend enough time around the horses to have an feeling yet.
I monitor them and usually it's with a very centered and kid friendly gelding.

I wanted to address this issue, because even though I have stallions, I usually have the kids steer clear of the stud pens. It's not that I don't trust the kids or the stallions, but the two together could be fire and dynamite. So I was deeply disturbed this week when a friend called and had bought a long yearling stallion. The disturbing part, she's never owned a horse before and has two small boys.

I want to address this now. As a natural horsewoman, I think stallions, especially very young stallions, are meant to be handled by experienced horse people. After hearing how he cute and sweet he was, she explained how he'd been neglected and was underweight. I bit my tongue. He was being fed "Junior" feed, but they wouldn't be giving him alfalfa, it makes them go blind, and he could eat grass. They live in the Texas Hill Country, which grass is scarce.

They have turned him out in the yard. Great! What do you say to that?
Even though cute and sweet come in to your vocabulary, at no time is a stallion permanently cute and sweet. Trust me, I have 3 stallions currently and have had 6 stallions at one time, in the recent past, but have owned them for almost 15 years. My stallions have been hand raised, schooled for manners and nurtured for their personalities. Not one of them has been left in the yard. Each one has specially monitored feed and hay regime, and I keep them socialized for sanity.

Stallions are herd animals, just like mares and geldings. They need to be schooled, taught where the boundaries are, who the leader is, and at what time they get to play. Purchasing a stallion is like taking on a 1200 pound baby, for the rest of his life. These babies need leadership. As a stallion owner, you need to be qualified. I usually don't recommend someone own a stallion unless they have many years experience. I don't recommend stallions as a first horse. I don't recommend stallions for children with no experience. I don't even recommend them for intermediate riders, either.

What do I recommend? Geldings and mares with plenty of riding experience, usually older. I try and hand pick horses with gentle, easy going personalities. The reason, they are less likely to get upset or even worried when kids or inexperience adults do something wrong. I have a gelding in my pasture the kids can basically hang off of and he won't do a thing. This is what I recommend. At some point they will graduate to more lively and spirited horses.

On the other hand, I think stallions are amazing, beautiful creatures. I love them. I love the spirit, personality and power they have. I enjoy the mental sword play with them. Playing with them is a treat, but I'm not new at this. I am often called when people have unruly horses, or even rouge stallions. I get to see first hand what inexperienced owners can do to them. Stallions often get a terribly bad rap when they are left to their own devious devices. They become unruly, uncontrollable and all out brats. One minute on the outside of their paddock will give you a clue. I teach them what is accepted and what isn't, but I do it with love. I am an avid Parelli student. I play with them, I don't force them. Anyone who doesn't give them the utmost respect, is sure to find out the good, bad and the ugly.

I wonder if anyone else feels the same? Do you? What do you think about giving a young stallion to a beginner? What about for inexperienced owners? What about for kids?

The reason I asked this, they've been trying to learn about stallions on the Internet.
Maybe they'll find this entry.

Your comments will be a definite eye opener.