Friday, May 22, 2009
Yoga for Equestrians
8-week course focusing on:
Hip openers, hamstrings, lower back, and shoulders
Learn to work with your horse in an energetic, yogic fashion
and correlate your body to that of your horse.
The class will address:
Riding anxiety, muscle soreness and joint pain
Learn:
Breath control exercises that will help calm any anxieties
and bring you into the present moment with your horse.
Does your horse have a stiff, tight back? Maybe you do, too -
this class will help you heal your own body in order to get
top performance out of your horse's body.
Sign up early at The Yoga Place - class limited to 12
Classes: Thursdays (June 4 - July 23)
Time: 9:00—10:30 am
Fee: $88 for 8-class series
Monday, May 4, 2009
Mika's First Endurance Ride
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Mika's Endurance Ride
By Mika Pitre
In April I did my first endurance ride. I have just passed my level 1 in Parelli Natural Horsemanship and my coach, Tracy Browne, invited me to be her junior partner in the Nevada Derby in Winnemucca Nevada. The Nevada Derby has a 50 and 25-mile ride. We chose to ride the 25 miler. I took my 25-year-old Appaloosa, Geraldine and Tracy brought her 23-year-old Spanish Arabian, Princess. I think they may have been the oldest horses there.
Before the ride I took out some horse spray my mom had packed for me and I sprayed my horse with it and when I tried to brush it out it turned her mane and tail purple, so the vet called her a purple roan instead of a blue roan. The first day we woke up to ice on our sleeping bags. I knew it was going to be a freezing cold morning. Before we were able to start out on the ride we had to go through vet check. There were four vet checks on this ride. The first check was in the mourning before we took off and two in the middle of the ride and one at the end when we came in. At each one the vets checked my horse’s pulse, digestion, muscle tone, anal tone, they checked her gums and I had to trot her out and back while they looked for soundness and attitude. An attitude check is where they are looking for how the horse leads. Is she moving lightly or pulling on the lead and are her ears forward and happy or not. At one check Tracy’s Princess got a B for her attitude because her head wasn’t up like most Arabians. Princess is a very calm left-brained Arabian.
Up on my horse my toes and fingers were numb and I had a hard time slowing my old gray mare down. Tracy and I were the only ones riding Savvy. Most of the Normal riders started out early and I think they wanted to race. On the 25-mile ride I saw rabbits, birds and my first Pronghorn Antelope. I even saw Stud Piles. Stud Piles are piles of wild horse poop where a wild stallion returns to poop and mark his territory. Nevada has a lot of wild horses and burros. Our pit crew was my Mom, Dad and little sister, Kiyana. They would come meet us at the checkpoint stops to feed us and check up on us. Back at camp Dad was camp cook while Kiyana and Mom kept the stalls clean and the horse groomed. I think if you are doing an endurance ride you should take a pit crew like I did. There were four vet checks on this ride. The first check was in the morning before we took off and two in middle of the ride and one at the end when we came in. We finished the ride towards the last of the group of riders because we were riding Savvy the whole time, but our horses were happy and not exhausted. That evening Tracy and I decided to do the 15-mile ride the next day. This is a fun ride for people and horses new to endurance riding.
On the 15 miler I mostly saw sagebrush and domesticated horses, burros and dogs. We rode by the Painted Mountains. These mountains look like they have streaks of reddish browns and orange painted across them. This shorter ride had only two vet checks. One check is in the morning and one when we came in at the end of the ride. On this last check the vet got very excited when Geraldine peed because this shows how well the horse is doing. My horse Geraldine got straight A’s on all her vet checks and I am very proud of her.
I am very thankful that Tracy invited me on this ride and introduced me to endurance riding. Next time I would like to try the Nevada Derby 50 miler.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Lucy Found a New Home
What I've Been Up Too
Only problem - Princess is skinny right now and I have a hard time putting weight on her. I hope the hay bags help. I started Cocosoya Oil too and more alfalfa, beet pulp, and senior feed. What would help is to pull her out into her own pasture and free choice her there. But the problem is she really needs other horses for her mental and emotional fitness. She doesn't like being alone. So I put her in a stall for a couple hours a day, enough to get her alfalfa and bucket finished, then out she goes with the herd. Let me know if you have any suggestions. All my other horses are fat, so none of them would do well on unlimited hay....
Boots - Rides of March I rode in Gloves, worked well, got a little gaiter rub, and then Nevada Derby rode in Renegades. Perfect, no rubbing. This horse is so sensitive that the Renegades work best and don't rub.
Feather - she doesn't like to go fast and I don't think I'll be doing endurance any more with her. She is a mountain horse, loves to camp, eat grass, and climb rocks and all the Sierra stuff, but fast endurance rides - not her thing.
Luigi, my 5 year old, will be a great horse. I will be riding him next year at rides, multidays and such. So you probably won't see me around much this year with endurance, but maybe next year.
Hay Bags
Here is a link to a good place to buy the bags: http://www.smithbrothers.com/product.asp?pn=X3-27286
Thursday, February 19, 2009
EasyBoot Gloves and the Fit Kit
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Booting and Shoe Removal Clinic
Also, I am looking for a live "demo" horse that would like his shoes removed for free. It is easier to teach shoe removal if we actually do it!!
Contact me if you are interested in the clinic, open to the public, this is a very unique opportunity to learn how to correctly boot a horse.
Cost - $175 to PHCP Members, $200 all others.