A Change in Perspective

All day today, I have been planning on doing a blog entry...got the topic all set and everything.  Then, out of the blue, life hits you with something that you weren't prepared for and changes your perspective on everything. 

Today, Bittersweet Acres lost a dear member of our family.  When you board your horse at a facility, you become part of an extended family with the other boarders because you see them every day and share the love of horses.  A dear friend of mine, Janice Stephens, made the difficult decision to let her mare, Jazz, go due to a very serious case of colic.  Those of us who knew Janice and Jazz knew of the special relationship between these 2; they were a perfect pair.  Janice was the one who rode almost every day, while the rest of us hurried through our chores and prayed for spring to come quickly.  We will miss you Jazz girl, and send big hugs to my friend, Janice.  I have honestly been crying since the news not because I am sad for Jazz, but because I know of the special bond Janice had with this mare, and my heart hurts so much for her.

Ok...trying to pull it together...I want to tell you that I have been totally inspired by the Retired Racehorse Training Project, have you heard of this?  Well, Eric Dierks has a very special mare named Brazilian Wedding (and she's a grey too...coincidence??  I think NOT).  Anywho, Eric has been kind enough to post informational training videos as he takes his mare from the race track to the show ring!  Check it out for yourself:  http://www.retiredracehorsetraining.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=60&Itemid=313

I was pleased to see that I was doing a lot of the things that Eric was suggesting!!  Smokey does have a tendency to lack confidence when approaching a new obstacle, so I decided to spend today doing Eric's tarp exercise and then work a bit on the lunge line.  Obviously, he thought this was quite boring (see picture above).  So, we excelled quickly to walking over the tarp:

Well, that was easy.  Good boy!  He didn't have any doubts about walking right over it today.  Now, I honestly have never, ever done this before with him, and I was expecting a lot more dancing around the tarp rather than actually stepping on it.  Obviously, I under-estimate my horse...

We ended today with every gelding in the field nearby galloping all over the place, causing Smokey to show his ADD side, but ended with some nice, low stretching at the walk.  And, Smokey has a new friend, El Dorado's Tune.  Dorado, Smokey, Erica and I plan on heading to our first official 2012 show debut at the end of March.  As you can see, the boys are already pretty fond of each other.

You can follow Erica and Dorado's blog too if you are interested.  She is a great writer and I'm sure will have many interesting stories:  http://eldoradostune.blogspot.com/  Our latest blog entries are very similar tonight as we both share in the loss of Jazz.

That's all for now.  Everyone hug their ponies tight tonight, because our time with them is a gift not to be taken for granted. 

Kristen