Exploring New Things!

Well, today it was beautiful out! It was sunny, no wind and a perfect spring day!
So, you can guess what I was doing! Trimming? No... Doing school? well, yes... Playing with the horses? Definite yes!
I played with Eddie today, and I was going to play with Scout too, but they got enough exercise by playing Seabiscuit. But I'll explain that in a moment.
First, I read some more KFH's book and it made me want to try some new things. Aka, a neck rope.
I've tried it before, and I didn't really stick with it, because Eddie didn't do well with it. But today I was like, hey! why not? So I knotted a metal loop to my new rope I got two days ago. (can't beat farm & fleet's lunging ropes! ;-) hehe!) Anyway, I tied the ring on that and then clipped the metal clip onto it, so it made a big loop to go over his neck. Off to the pasture we went! He did awesome with it!! We jumped over things, trotted together in unison, did some fast figure eights and then finished by walking together to the pedestal. Now, granted he did leave once and I had to let go, but the good thing about it, was that I could let it go! He could go and leave if he wanted to! Now, to some equestrians that may seem backwards, but not to me! I want Eddie to prefer being with me than with the other horses. How can he prefer being with me, if he can't leave? So, a neck rope is a good middle of the road tool. It offers communication and freedom at the same time. It gives the horse his head and you have direct connection to his strongest part, his neck! Where do the harnesses for driving go? Around the neck! So, the horse is empowered, freed and there is a choice. Personally, the neck rope is my new favorite thing!
After about 20 minutes of introducing that, we went back to halter leading just so we could finish up. I think the new thing got him thinking and it sure got me thinking too!
:-) So, if you are ever stuck for an idea, try the neck rope! It will give you and your horse both something to think about!

~Lea & Eddie~


2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

A Fun Day!

Yesterday I had a really fun day with my friend that came over!! Bec came out to play with the horses (before the rain, yay!) and we had a lot of fun with them. It was so nice to have someone to play with, usually I'm just out there with the horses and I think that we will get together more often this spring and summer! Especially since it's almost Spring Break! Yay!! You can check out her blog here: http://becnsavyllj.blogspot.com/
Anyway, we did lots of things with the horses. First, we all played out in the pasture. We did some circles together which were fun, then we had them trot over the cavaletties, we hopped on for a little bit and let them graze/walked around. They were all pretty sleepy, although they had their moments and Eddie was very concerned that there were boogie-men in the woods that are a 1/2 mile away from us. :-/ lol! But, he was very trusting and we went for a long walk to top things off too.
It was a really great day, we had a lot of fun, and the horses were very happy to play together too! :-)

Playing with all the horses!!

 On Friday, it was really nice out! It was sunny, there was no wind and it was warm out.
So, I took advantage of the nice weather and played with all of the horses!
First Eddie and I played in the pasture, with some small things, then we went for a long walk out by the tree grove and went in the round pen for a while. He was very spunky once we got in there, but it was funny, because he was very sleepy in the pasture! lol!
Then Scout and I went out for a walk around the pasture.

 Scout was very hyper and just wanted to run when we were going through the tight spaces. But I just wiggled the rope a little bit and he calmed down. ;-) Such a silly guy! He was also very happy for the green, green grass. It was long and lush - aka laminitis lane! hehe!

After we fed them and they all settled in, I took Diesel out for a little walk. He was also happy for the grass and we waited for mom to come home from work. He is such a cutie! hehe, even though he kicked me today! Not hard, but enough to wake me up! lol!

Now, on to today!!! :-)

Cavaletti Motivation!

The past few days, the horses and I have been playing out in the pasture because a) it's flat and b) it's soft. The ground is pretty hard right now and that makes for a rough terrain for their hooves. Especially since it's been wet and soft for a couple of weeks. So, we've been taking it somewhat easy so their hooves don't get bruised. Scout seems to be more susceptible to them, but so far so good, his feet are lookin good!
Anyway, we've been playing with two major things lately, cavaletties and collection. Fun stuff! Eddie is getting the hang of collection more and more and as soon as I have a camera again, I'm going to get some fun footage. He looks so pretty when he arches his neck!
And, with Scout, I've been doing the cavaletties. He usually doesn't like to trot over them, so I set up the smaller ones and put barrels on either side. So he could trot through the poles, and there would be a barrel about 20 feet in front of him where he could stop and get some grain. Then we would turn around, trot over the cavaletties again and there would be another barrel 20 feet in front of him. Well, let me tell you, he was so motivated to trot over them when we had done it a couple of times! Yay! Because he got a reward and a rest every time he did. And it's very good for him to use his back muscles and to exercise.
I've been doing the same thing with Eddie and he likes the rest and reward as well. Although I think he likes to speed around the barrels instead of stop at them. :-)

Hopefully the ground will thaw out soon, or we will get some snow - I actually think it's supposed to snow tonight! Yay!

~Lea & Eddie~


Proverbs 14:22
Do not those who plot evil go astray? But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness.

Wild Eddie!

 Well, yesterday it rained all day, so today the horses were very hyper!!
I took Eddie out to the round pen for about 10 minutes and he was totally nuts! He was rearing up, galloping on a 12ft line, bucking and just being nuts. 0_0 And the whole time I was just standing there... lol! But I did get some nice, fast backups from him and he went sideways really lightly!
hehe, anywho, it doesn't really matter that he was crazy. He had fun and got some energy out. Tomorrow will be a fun day too, I'm sure he'll have just as much energy, if not more! :-)
I did groom Scout and Eddie in their stalls and they were very happy for that! Plus they looked really pretty and Eddie looked handsome as he was being crazy!
Oh, such silly ponies we have!


~Lea & Eddie~



Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes

Natural Collection

So, that has been a big thing that I have been thinking about lately, which has transferred over into our playing. I'm about 1/4 of the way through Klaus' book and it's very, very good. He talks about collection a little bit and says that if you learn how to ask your horse to do things that he normally does out in the pasture (i.e. collection, extended trot, lead changes and other fun things) then the horse will be willing to do it. Well, we've been playing with that and Eddie's doing good with it! He's been sleepy the last couple of days, but I tried it with Scout yesterday and he was collecting himself and just loving how dominant I let him be! Which is really good for him, since he is an introvert.
Anyway, we're playing with that and also doing some cavaletties to get back into shape. :-)

~Lea & Eddie~


1 John 4:11
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

New Jackets!!

Well, we got our farm jackets yesterday! They are amazing, and look so good! My jacket with Eddie is in the middle, my sister and Scout are on the left and my mom and Diesel are on the right.
I love them, and can't wait to wear them to special occasions.

Update!

Sorry, I haven't posted in a while. I've just been lazy and using my computer time to watch Pete Ramey DVDs.
Anyway! Here is a video of things Eddie and I have been playing with lately!

Riding in the Snow!

The other day, Eddie and I had a blast!!
It was warm out and we took advantage of that and rode in the outdoor for a nice long time. We ran through some drifts and he hopped over some of them. It was really fun and I was totally confident and he was confident too. So it was a wonderful ride!!

 Eddie and I are getting really good at requesting things to one another. I make polite requests like, "Can we go over there, please?" And he has yet to ignore one. But he makes requests too. "Can we just stop, mom?" So I have to do my part and listen to him as well. It's really fun and we've reached a new level of understanding. :-) That's always so exciting!!!

 Weee! Plowing through a huge drift. It would probably be about 3 1/2 feet if we measured the depth! Crazy!!

And mom got me this book for Valentine's day! I can't want to start reading it and learn some new things. I glanced through it last night and it looks really good!!
I'll be posting more on that book as I read through it!


~Lea & Eddie~


John 13:34-35
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Heat Wave!

haha, not quite!
But it was warmer today. In the 20's with only a little wind.

So, I did get to play with Eddie and we ran around out in the pasture. We jumped over the tube, barrels and did some big circles out in the drifts. He was having quite a blast running through them and kicking up his heels. But this morning, they were really romping around! It snows some more this morning too. We have gotten so much snow this winter, probably 4 feet, or more - easily. It's fun though! Riding in the snow is a blast, even when Eddie is crazy and hyper! :-)
Anyway, we played out in the pasture today and Diesel and Scout would follow us around. It was really cute and really fun to play with our boys! I love our ponies!


~Lea & Eddie~


1 Corinthians 13:4-5
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵ does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;

New video!

Here's a video with clips from the Great February Blizzard! :-)

Thoughts on being a leader

Well, the forecast is quite perplexing... A high of 12 today and a high of 41 on Sunday. That is going to feel like a major heatwave!!! Welcome to Illinois!

Anyway, yesterday Eddie and I got to play for a nice long time, an hour to be exact. even though it was in the teens, we still had a lot of fun! We trotted around out in the pasture and the ponies came with us. It was really cute! We would all run together and then of course they would get a little treat. After a while, I started to get cold because the wind was picking up, so we headed to the outdoor, where it was a little more sheltered.
I hopped on Eddie and we rode around in there for a while. I think he really enjoyed it! And I did too, because I was sitting on a nice, warm, black blanket! hehe! It was very warm! We walked around a little bit and I just focused on using my intentions to direct him. It went really, really well and I referred back to Carolyn Resnick's dvd that I watched earlier that day. She said that a leader is anyone who makes a request. I thought that was a pretty good explanation of a leader. Not the best, but a fairly decent explanation. So I made thoughtful requests and he responded to them like, "Sure! Let's go that way!" or "Sure! Let's stop."
It was really cool! :-) I love my Eddie!

So, I've been thinking about what a leader is and I came up with my idea of a leader.


A leader is any person (or animal) that leads.

Pretty simple, huh? Well, here are a few things that LEAD can mean:
to go before or with to show the way;
to conduct by holding and guiding
to influence or induce; cause
to guide in direction, course, action, opinion
~~~~~Now there's a change~~~~ 
to be superior to; have the advantage over
to command or direct
to have the directing or principal part in 

And there are still 50 more things that it can mean.
But, as you could probably see, there was a clear distinction between the first four and the last three. I think that our horsemanship can also have two types of leadership. One is being passive, the other is being dominant. I'll talk about that in my next post! :-)


~Lea & Eddie~


Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Playing in the Round Pen!

Well, the round pen is the only place that is actually 'playable.' So, Eddie and I went in there and ran around together! I set up a little jump for him and he hopped it over a couple of time, he was so cute! Then he cantered around the edge and I waited until he got some of his energy out.
He was really enjoying himself! We did some more jumps and we found the pedestal that was buried under snow.

After that, we went through the track, into the outdoor and we played in there too. The snow was really deep, so we couldn't do much, but we made the best of the space that was available! :-) Oh yes, and we also got a couple more inches of snow this morning, so that was interesting... hehe! I think that we finally have enough snow!!

hehe, that's not how deep it really is, but it's still really deep!!

~Lea & Eddie~


Proverbs 21:21
He who follows righteousness and mercy
      Finds life, righteousness, and honor.

Blast From the Past!

Just for fun, here is a video from June 11th, 2009.

We've come a long way and I'm so proud of Eddie and all that we are doing together!
Love you Eddie!

Going for a walk!

Today was mostly sunny, warm and there was no wind. So it was a perfect day to play with the horses!
All I go to do though, was take Eddie for a run around out in the pasture (wore me out more than him! the drifts are huge!) and we went for a walk around the barnyard. We found some yummy grass and hopped over some snow drift. It was fun and he was very happy to get out and explore!
Here are some pics from yesterday, when Al and I hung out in the outdoor with the ponies!

 It's been a really fun/lazy couple of days and the horses are very happy to have somewhere to run around.
This is a pic of Ed going through some pretty deep snow! And that's what it's like all the way around the track! 0_0

 I sat on Eddie for a little bit while he ate some grain off of a barrel. That's their new favorite thing to do now, lick barrels! Oh what silly ponies we have!

Scout! He looks pretty collected in this pic.

I trimmed him up today and he was awesome. :-) Such a champ! His feet are looking really good and I got them the most balanced they've ever been when I've been trimming them. They are pretty tricky feet to trim, but it's getting easier every time I do it!


~Lea & Eddie & Scout~
And Diesel too!

Psalm 33:4-5
 For the word of the LORD is right,
         And all His work is done in truth.
 He loves righteousness and justice;
         The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.

Finally! The Sun!

The sun finally came out today! And you know what Finally and sUN equal.... FUN! :-)

This morning the horses slept in the sun and then this afternoon we opened up the track (which is a continual 2-4 drift) and the outdoor (which is the same). Eddie didn't go far and neither did the ponies. They trotted around a little bit, but stayed pretty close to the barn.
So, while the horses were sleeping, I skied around the property. Some of the snow piles were awesome! I skied down those and then by the time I came back, Eddie was awake!
We went for a nice walk through the pasture and I felt tempted to hop on him and let him carry me through the drifts. Because they were huge and I could hardly walk through them. Let alone run through them!
Even though it was freezing (high of 15) we did get to play and enjoy the snow.
Hopefully tomorrow will be warmer so we can explore some more! :-)

~Lea & Eddie~



Psalm 59:16
But I will sing of Your power;
         Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning;
         For You have been my defense
         And refuge in the day of my trouble.

Pictures of the Blizzard!

 These aren't even half of the pics we took, but it summarizes how much snow we got!

Our neighbor plowing us out. Thanks so much!!
hehe, we need to get ourselves one of those! ;-)

 Snow in the barn. Not bad, and Eddie was keeping it at bay by eating it! lol!

 Tundra much?

 The wind was incredible!
50+ wind gusts and drifts galore!

 My sister's car all drifted in. WOW!

Eddie and I out playing in the snow! More like surviving the elements. Eddie was in the process of running back inside!


Such good horses we have!

Blizzard! Take Cover!!

B  -  First we Baked yesterday morning. The snow was coming down and the wind was blowing!

L  -  Lock up, we locked up the horses at 10am yesterday, and they were in until 10 this morning.

I  -  Ice. It snowed all day, and left 15-20 inches of snow everywhere!!

Z  -   Zany! The wind was incredible!! 40+ mph winds and the gusts were insane!

Z  -  Well, s is close enough. We went out at Seven and woke up to 3+ feet drifts.

A  -  A is for aftermath. There was snow everywhere!!! There were drifts in all of our buildings!

R  -   Rest. We took some time inside to rest up for the...

D  -  Day ahead.

It was an awesome day! We let the horses out for the rest of the day and they were running around and jumping through the drifts that were far up above their chests. I have a ton of pics coming. But here's my personal favorite!!

Our neighbor plowed us out and the horses were so happy to have their paddocks open.

More pics to come soon! :-)

~Lea & Eddie~

1 Corinthians 2:9

Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
      Nor have entered into the heart of man
      The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.