just more pics to admire of my boy:)

The search is over

as you previously read i was on a search for a coach to bring me and doran along on our much awaited journey to eventually be in the hunter ring..
well just as the title says "the search is over" . I  have found a coach.
she came well prepared and professional when she arrived and had a very open personality at first impression.loved it! as i am not into hard people.. sorry didn't know how else to word that.at first meet seemed to click right away.
before she arrived i had lunged doran and had his attention as he is a pro at it.  though he was a bit goofy at times,but was generally himself. I started to tack up..i hadn't gotten my saddle on yet by the time she came here.did apologize for that, as most coaches prefer you be saddled and mounted by the time your lesson is scheduled.she seemed okay with that, as it was our first day with her.i try my best to be professional about things too,shows you mean business and up to learning and not wasting their time.
coach was very good at explaining things(which in my world need alot of these days to understand what i am looking for and how to correct things when they come up.she was very open to answering my questions i had while things were going along.she took to doran as far as compliments go about him.she said he was very good looking and for good for such a green horse.
all together she had most attributes i was looking for in a coach. yaaaay.
lesson was only half hour long as doran doesn't need any longer at this point at his level of learning.
lesson consisted of just getting him to keep his pace at walk and trot without having to use so much leg work.legs are a bit sore.ouch!, and some turns on the forehand.
doran had his baby stubborn moments when asked to go forward but didn't go as far as just some head fussing and a very small hop in the hind end and eventually stopped when he knew he wasn't going to get away with it and just focused on keeping him forward and attentive..
i got off as she asked if she could hop on him,just wanting to get a feel of what i am working with and she asked for turns of the forehand too. she just did a couple rounds and then lesson was over.
got some homework on first day to keep my head up(seems to work better when i am..go figure!),work some more on groundwork,and just be consistent on riding more(rain or shine),keep at what im doing and i'll be fine.
had very nice chat afterwards and look forward to next lesson on tuesday the 4th of october.

sporting the mohawk

this is a result of having to roach his mane after a another horse got their muzzle on it in may'11 when i was boarding.horse took a chunk out right in the middle(which is still evident in pic)..it looked horrible:( .it has since then has grown longer and half of it has laid over,but still sports the mohawk up closer to his poll. when i roached his mane,i was so regretting doing it afterwards as ive never had to do it to any of my horses i have owned,but surprisingly looked fine with no mane....now working towards the show worthy mane.which will take a while yet.  more pics to come of him.

now that doran has been under saddle for almost 2 months now(since mid aug),we haven't been riding everyday as the wet fall/winter weather is here. i have been on the search now for a coach to bring me and him along.even though i think i could do quite a bit on my own, i just would like some guidance and some goal setting help.miss having an instructor,haven't had one for 6-7 yrs i have put a ad on horse council bc and have received a couple replies and have someone coming this thursday the 29th. it will be just a meet and show where we are at type 1st day,so there won't be much to blog about,but i will anyways.
its been very rainy and windy here in bc and am hoping it will be a nicer day on thursday"crossed fingers"..even if it doesn't rain i will be happy. its times like this i miss my big barn in matzqui that had an indoor attached to the barn.
any of my followers have atleast 50 g's to build me a new one...lol.

stay tuned for how the new instructor works out.

learning together

as a re rider with a green horse can be work and more then i thought.i am trying to find my balance and co ordination again as it apparently has gone into the oblivion at some point.lol very frustrating as i feel i am holding not only myself but my horse as well back.
i had started doran in a eggbutt snaffle w/ copper roller and have for a while now, felt like it wasn't working for him,so today i switched to a d ring snaffle just for curiosity,i actually wanted to put him in a regular snaffle,just another thing that has disappeared into thin air..".those darn barn gremlins are at it again". he seems to like it a little better.doesn't chomp on bit as much and responds a little better to it.or to put it another way as much as can be expected out of a greenie.
did some walk /trot trying to keep rhythm with good balance.apparently that was to much to ask out of this out of shape body of mine.ugh!
 mom put me on lunge line and did some no hand and no stirrup work to help me with my failing EQ.while trying to teach doran somethings at same time. doran has become really,really lazy so what we worked on was keeping more forward in walk and trot. him being slow can only be blamed by myself as i trained him to be slower in his gaits,cuz i like a horse i don't have to constantly slow down or hold back,but he went over board with the don't go too fast method and now regretting doing that method. i am at a point of going against my strong beliefs and getting some mild spurs.yikes..NEVER had to use them since my 4h yrs on a leased horse.never my own.but if that's what going to work then thats what i have to do.simple as that!
mooving over is a hard thing for him to grasp as well. not quite clicking in his brain. finally got him to do it by me putting my leg on and move on the ground tapping with the whip behind my leg right away.
backing up is getting better not putting his head up as much,which is nice.
at this point me and my horse are learning together,just like i did with his mother.
thank you to my horse for trying the best he can.even when things get frustrating for him too and not making me eat dirt lol.or in this case right now its very hard gravel..OUCH

ended on  where i could walk trot nicely in one round both directions,gave him a pat and a treat and start the whole process again next ride when weather co operates.
CANT WAIT TIL I HAVE ARENA!!!!!

thanx to the people who are following my blog.

my first blog post intro

i am a 29 yr old rider who started riding at the age of 8-9 yrs old ,i lost interest for a while,then started again when i was 13, and have ridden ever since.in that time i have had my share of all kinds of horses in size, temperment and training.to the smallest 13.h pony to a big  17.2 tb x.keep in mind i am only 5 feet tall.i owned my first horse at the age of 17.my first horse was a rescued weanling filly named shadow. we learned everything together and she became the best horse ever.i had already been riding a long time before i got my own horse.when shadow was 7 i got her bred to a wb stallion named dorian grey.as in the sport i want to pursue ,wb's are greatly valued and i couldn't afford a made one,so why not raise my own...by this time i have raised quite a few babies and green horses,so another one shouldn't be a problem.
in may of 2007 i awoke to a very leggy and bright chestnut colt at my mares feet.he thought right from the start he was king of the barn.i have a few photos to prove it...and boy was he bred to jump.when he was 1 month old he jumped out of my arena which was approx 3'6 and then at 2 yrs old he jumped a 6 foot fence.he was a very hard horse to convince to stay in his paddock/pastures finnaly had to electrify fence line to keep him in...from that i new i had a jumper on my hands and was excited to have a horse that had talent for jumping.as thats exactly what i wanted.
as i want to make this short i will jump to present.
he is now 4 yrs old and was started under saddle later then i had hoped,but we have had some bumpy roads along the way as far as moving from here, there and everywhere and finally settling him here at home again.
he has been under saddle for a little over a month now.i am finding he is very sensitive to the riders seat which has its pro's and con's.he is doing walk/ trot and i had gotten 1 canter from him and yet to try again.,but we have limited space and is hard to canter no more then a couple strides around.he is also finding ways out of things and is testing me a bit,which is a bit frustrating at times.
like yesterday i had to quit as myself was getting a bit upset as i was feeling like i wasn't riding at my best i could be and was making my horse finicky and was just in a frustrating cycle type of ride.tomorrow is another day right.
otherwise he is learning quickly and is a very smooth and floaty ride.i love him so much.