My First Ride!

Sebastian has been ridden by James Cooler for a few months now but today I saddled him up and walked him around the field!  My horse turns four June 18th and I think he is now at least 16 hands. The vet is visiting in April and I will have Sebastian measured.

Quite a different feel than riding Oberon, my 14'2" QH!  Sebastian was a bit of a "drunken sailor" but very responsive to my light pressure.  I can see what he needs now is just ... time and hours upon his back.  He is very, very happy to walk along FOREVER and for now, that is FINE by me :)

Sebastian is a bit "down hill" still and has a slight dip behind his withers and I'm hoping he will grow and fill out a tiny bit more as I'd love to have the saddle fit him a bit better.  I'm going to post about that piece of "equipment" soon.

Ebony Park Friesians - Videos to make Friesian lovers hearts soar

HERE is their website.  I signed up for their free monthly on-line magazine.  Below is an interview
and three points below which I found quite interesting.  My Sebastian is half Friesian, he is a Friesian Sport horse.  Thank goodness, my trainer, James Cooler, understood to be patient with Sebastian as he was one horse very resistant to pressure at fist.  Now, he is amazingly light and responsive.  He also is a horse that gets bored very quickly with endless repetition and ring work.  For him, quality, not quantity, if key.  I posted a video of the horse just below, Orlando, being worked by Sarah.  The last video is of three adorable foals of their 2011 season.  Enjoy!

So what you can learn from this story!?

1. All young horses are different! Some take longer to learn that others.

You need to respect that, and be incredibly patient, loving and generous. To begin with, Orlando wasn’t too sure about contact – if we had forced his head down and ‘made’ him work, we would be in a whole lot of trouble. By just using gentle persistence and encouragement, it became ‘his’ idea to come round and through and now he loves it – it’s also a lot easier for us as the rider.

2. With the young ones, and with all horses we firmly believe it’s the quality of work you do that is important, not the length of time. Orlando was never worked longer than 30mins – usually 20 mins. With each session, as long as he tried, that was considered a ‘great’ session. We never compared the last session to this one, and we were always impressed if he walked, trotted, cantered half straight, and half forward – we were onto a good thing!

3. We am always in awe that a horse allows us to ride on his back. That he carries us, and tries to understand what we want, and where we want him to go. That respect and love has to be there all the time, and we always give the horse a carrot, apple, mouthful of food after we ride back into the washbay to say thanks mate – you did good.

and here is a sweet video of three Friesian foals of their 2011 season.  So adorable and the selected music is very nice as well.

Bentaiga Saddles

Thanks to "My Equestrian World", I was introduced to the Bentaiga website.  I found one page very interesting regarding saddles over time.  HERE  Haven't investigated these saddles yet, but I have found it interesting!   I would LOVE to see how these feel ... Looks to me like they are mighty comfortable trail riding saddles!

Has anyone ever ridden in a Campo Flex Bentaiga saddle?

I have a half Friesian.  Still waiting for him to finish growing ... he is almost four.  But I wonder if the following would apply for him.  James, my trainer, made the comment that Sebastian was a bit difficult to fit with a western saddle.  (it is from the Bantaiga website)

The reason is that almost every Baroque horse has more or less a curved back. It doesn't matter whether they are built downhill or tend to have a hollow back- the result is the same. Straight shaped trees don't fit properly because they were made for horses with rather straight backs. The tree factories don't really care for this problem because the baroque horses still are very small minority. The costs for the tools to be able to make a special tree in three seat sizes and gullet sizes are already higher than the profit would be, because there are not many horses which need such a special tree. But the increasing number of ambitious dressage riders with baroque horses encouraged us to start this project. Because of this, we decided to go with a handmade laminated wooden tree.

Life is Beautiful

This is a sweet video - yes, a bit graphic, but I love the Mare's tongue cleaning her baby.  This fillies daddy is my horse Sebastian's daddy.  :)  

Oberon's "Blanket of Dreams"

A blanket of dreams I wear

resembling "Big Red" himself

don't you think?

I strike a pose

worthy of a triple crown winner

my sporty stripes cover

a studly physique

flowers tossed from admirers

cause me to prance and paw the ground

rear, cause a ruckus

because I can...

Neigh, snort, we horses dream too.

Oberon, Art Happens 365, March 15, 2012

This is for "Friday Flash 55" - a story in 55 words - no more, no less.   My girls and I were so happy when it snowed for a few days in February and were able to put Oberon's "cooling off" blanket on.  Well, it really wasn't necessary as we don't work our horses up in a frothy sweat during the winter months, but he does look cute, doesn't he?

The above b&w photo is linked with "Friday Fences #25"  

I have been away from blog land for about three weeks... we have our house on the market now and wow, this was not an easy job!  Purging quickly became my favorite past time (much easier than reorganizing!  :)  

An I-Pad for your HORSE!

Couldn't help but post this!

Still on a "Blogger Break" and it's NO vacation!

Still on a blogger break as we are hustling and bustling to get our house up for sale.  Just wanted to send this photo of Sebastian your way (with his winter coat) and I hope to be back playing with photography and poetry after this weekend.  I miss all my blogging friends