Steve Rother Clinic

Did you see Steve at the Horse Expo last weekend? If not, there's another opportunity to check him out this coming weekend in Washougal at a four day clinic where he'll showcase many different horsemanship techniques.

Here's the outline from his website.

This clinic is designed to be an overall learning experience that builds on
several aspects of communication, confidence, respect, trust, impulsion, and
performance. The clinic is open to people of all skill levels and disciplines,
beginner to advanced are welcome. We also welcome horses of all ages and breeds.

This clinic builds on concepts that take several days to achieve. The best
format is to take the entire clinic. A minimum participation of 2 days is
required. If your horse is not rideable or too young, you can take just the
ground work class.

What you will learn:
• Confidence to overcome fears.
• Tools to keep your horse calm, curious, and respectful.
• Feel and timing to increase your horse’s try.
• Common mistakes of both the horse and rider.
• How to think from a horse’s point of view.
• What to do when your horse does the unexpected.
• How to accomplish incredible things with your horse.
• Key exercises to unlock your horse’s potential.
• Exercises to correct your horse’s bad habits.

Essentially we will be teaching you the building blocks for success!

Spectators are welcome - $20 per day
Friday Eve Demonstration $10 (buy one get one free)

I really enjoy watching Steve's clinics. He blends entertainment with information making it informative and engaging for both riders and spectators. His natural horsemanship methods are straight forward, easy to follow and are rooted in the Ray Hunt and Buck Brannaman tradition.

Use this rainy weather as an opportunity to improve your knowledge and skill before you hit the trails (or arenas) this summer!

For more information on this clinic or to participate, contact Leeann at 600-4686.

A little bit of this ... a little bit of that

I'm a big fan of "horse multi-tasking". What I mean is that I want my horse to be well-rounded and able to handle any number of different sports and activities. This is primarily because that's how I am and I want a horsey-partner that can adapt to my changing mood.

We're all blessed to be living in a very active horse community where horse multi-tasking is a very real possibility.

We have beautiful trails that we can use year round, cow events at many different venues, drill teams, gaming, barrel racing, jumping, dressage ... well, you name it and it's probably happening somewhere in our county.

Along these lines though, I recently started sorting at the Silver Buckle on Thursday nights. It's a great environment to get your horse used to cows (beginners are welcome). It's a laid back atmosphere where horse and rider have plenty of opportunities to learn and play.

If you aren't sure of the rules, just ask! The group is great and willing to answer any questions you might have.

The activities start promptly at 7:00 pm so arrive around 6:30 pm to pay ($20 for 4 goes) and get settled in. If you don't have a partner, don't worry. There are lots of people that come each week that need partners so they'll be glad to find someone for you to ride with.

Just make sure you give Bryan (he's the gate guy) your name so that you're on the ride list. Or, like I found out my first night, you might be standing around on deck for an awfully long time!

In my opinion, sorting is a great way to get your horse in shape while keeping their mind occupied and alert. I don't know about you, but I'm gearing up for a great summer and that means I need to start getting my horse out now so that we're ready for warmer weather!

Anyway, I'll be there this week and hope to see some new faces!

Trail Closures

It seems that the bad economy is hitting everywhere and everything. Even Washington State Parks are not immune.

In poking around their website, it looks like there is a potential budget reduction of $23 million which means some parks might need to be mothballed (closed). For more information and to have your voice heard, check out their site.

Here's a snippet:

With our state and nation in a deep economic recession, the Governor and Legislature are faced with a budget challenge. Washington State Parks must do
its part in reducing expenditures in the 2009-11 budget to help meet the
challenge.The Governor's budget proposal, announced in December, was based on a revenue forecast that predicted a 5.7 billion revenue shortfall. The Governor’s
budget requires State Parks to take a 10 percent budget cut (approximately $10
million in general fund). More recently, the state’s revenue forecast was
predicted to have a revenue gap of more than $8 billion. As the Legislature
creates its budget for the Governor to sign in late spring, this greater
challenge may require State Parks to make even deeper expenditure reductions
that will affect parks and services. Legislators have asked State Parks to
prepare a scenario that would reduce the State Parks budget by approximately $23 million. The Legislature will adopt and the Governor will sign a final budget
into law in late spring, then the Commission will implement the final budget.

Public comment may be sent to pao@parks.wa.gov. All comment received from
the public will be shared with the Commission.

Horses for Free Foster

Want a horse but don't want to shell out big bucks for it? Royal Ridges has a couple great horses available for a free lease. These horses are already trained and just in need of a loving home where they will be ridden and cared for.

Check out the Royal Ridges website for more information.

http://www.royalridges.org/salehorses.html

Mustang Motiviation

I don't know how many of you had a chance to watch the Mustang Makeover at the Horse Expo last weekend, but let me tell you, it was inspiring!

I was lucky enough to watch on Saturday and was blown away by some of the horses and trainers. After 90 days, most of the horses could switch leads, had beautiful collection, could work cows, and one even laid down on command.

Hmmm .... I should be ashamed! Granted I'm not a trainer, but my goodness, I've had my horses for 5+ years and we're lucky to just now be working on leads and lead changes!

I find it motivating that these trainers were able to take wild horses and turn them into amazing mounts in such a short period of time.

Surely that means I should be able to get my already gentled (sometimes) horse to do some of the same things. Or, at the very least, to switch leads when asked!

Most of the trainers were from right here in the Northwest and the horses all came from BLM land in Oregon. At the end of the event, all the horses were sold and went to approved, loving homes.

I was humbled, inspired, and motivated watching this event. If you get a chance to watch an event like this in the future, I would highly recommend it.

Perhaps, as it did with me, it will inspire you to get down to the barn to work with your horse!