“Hard Lessons” a horse story
“Hard Lessons” By Kathy Rogers Years ago, I boarded my mother/son Arabian duo at a large ranch, near a big lake, in the beautiful but dry Almaden Valley of California. At the time, Kalero was just a yearling, and even though I rode his mother on a regular basis, I tried hard to set aside a block of time to “work” with the youngster. Calero Ranch is a sprawling equestrian facility, with a handful of arenas, pasture areas, paddocks and barns. So, I liked to lead Kalero throughout the property, exposing him to different sights, sounds, horses and experiences. It…
“Buried at Trail” a story of ignorance
"I haven't seen old Yankee out for a long time", I pointed out to the pleasant young blond woman now working a curry over the big buckskin. "That's right!" she explained. "Bob said I could ride him in the Ride and Tie today up in QuickSilver Park!" My brain quickly calculated the ride and concluded that the start to the Ride and Tie was about three miles and 900 feet of elevation down the road, and old Yankee had not even been out of his paddock in over a year. "Are you sure he's up to that?" I queried with…
“To martingale, or not to martingale…
"To martingale, or not to martingale?" By Kathy Rogers "Where's the martingale? You know he needs to be ridden in a martingale", I could not have been more clear.. "That was then, this is now", smiled Tracy. "I've been working on his ground manners and riding him everyday. He is doing so well at giving his head to the bit, that I don't even need the martingale". Now Kalero was pretty green at age 5. In fact, Kalero was green until the day he died - at age 17. And, for whatever reason, both Kalero and his mother have always…
“Picture this…” a horse story blog
Picture this… by Kathy Rogers “You know horses think in pictures”. Tracy made the statement in such a matter of fact tone, I didn’t even bother to question her. “And if you want to communicate properly with them, you have to think in pictures too”. Well of course you do. Made sense to me. Horses are herd animals. Watch a herd of any animal traverse an open plain and you can clearly see they are well aware of each others coordinates, direction, intentions. And since they don’t have language of course their thoughts are driven by pictures. “There’s Hajji”, I…