hump day haflinger series #5

Have you ever seen a video of a horse and rider and just thought, "Wow, those two are amazing!"? A couple years ago, I saw a video of Chesna and her Haflinger riding bareback at an event. The kicker to the whole video. . .She put a blindfold on the horse! How cool is that? From then, I saw Youtube videos pop up now and again and they have captured my interest as a great team to watch. Chesna has a blog, www.chesnaklimek.com, where she shares her riding stories, has informative articles, and shows some videos of her riding her Haflinger, one of the most recent one is an Ugly Sweater Christmas ride.

Sweet pony!

Chesna has known Pippin since he was two days old. His breeders and her friends, the Baker/Maddox family allowed Chesna to halter break Pippin when she was only 13 years old. When he was two, they gifted Pippin to her, along with Cheryl Smith, the owner of Nayborly farms. From then, Chesna and her friend Kelsey Smith started Pippin under saddle. They were teenagers and it was the first horse they had trained. Together, they have done all his training and showing.

Baby Pippin

Grown up Pippin

Haflinger: Waidring SCH or Pippin

Sire and Dam: Wynston M&B and Suki M&B, both from Folenhof in Vernon, BC. Suki's dam, Siwa, was imported from Austria. Suki is only 13.1 hands and Pip was her last foal of seven, bred by Southern City Haflingers in Olympia, WA.

Age: 13 year old gelding
Height: 14 hh

Leaping!

Personality: As a colt, Pippin was timid and mischievous. Now, he has a fun personality, he is extremely smart and willing. Pip is also self-possessed and has a big head, literally and figuratively. Pippin has above average athleticism and is the most trustworthy horse on the property where she keeps him, Naborly Farms. 

Likes: Pippin does not like jumping ditches or trakehner fences, even though he has never refused. Pippin does like escaping out of fences. If there is an open fence, Pippin finds it and is gone. He will also push through not working electric fencing and use his long mane to shield him from the electric fence to graze underneath. Pippin loves eating. He does tricks for treats, including Shyloh's favorite, the smile. He also picks pears off of trees to eat as he pleases. Pippin likes to preform in from of crowds and race, even if he isn't the fastest horse on the property. He has a competitive spirit.

Smiles!

Favorite Food: Treats of all kinds.

Discipline: Pippin has a diverse training and competitive background. He has successfully competed in Three Day Eventing at Training Level, Show Jumping up to 3'6", FEI Dressage through Prix St. Georges, and Trail Competitions. 

Prix St. Georges level dressage is the first level in the international levels of Dressage, which is governed by the FEI. Required movements for this level are the medium, extended, and collected trot, half-pass, shoulder in, extended and collected walk, pirouette, medium, extended, and collected canter, counter canter, half-pass, and multiple flying lead changes every 3-4 strides, volte in an 8 meter circle at the trot, and a collected canter to halt.

Dressage

Awards:

• 2010 - United States Eventing Association Area VII Training level champion (fences to 3'3"). He was also the only pony in the championship class, against mostly Thoroughbreds and Warmbloods; and at the time he is believed to be the first/only Haflinger to win at Training level in Eventing in the U.S. He has never placed lower than third at a one-day or three-day event. 
• 2012 - All Breed Challenge in Albany, OR (a versatility/trail competition) 
• 2012 - Extreme Cowboy Race in Lynden, WA 
• 2012 - United States Dressage Federation silver medal for successfully campaigning at FEI Prix St. Georges Level. Previous to competing in Dressage at these levels, their only Dressage background was training for the Three Day Eventing. They are now focusing on Dressage and hope to continue up the FEI levels. 
• Won all of the fourth level dressage classes he has entered in recognized competition. 
• Competes successful at local Show Jumping Competitions with fences between 3' and 3'6". Despite his size, he often wins speed classes by his ability to make inside turns that the bigger horses can't follow.

Winners!

Not only is Pippin a star in the show ring, he does recreational trail rides, has been a therapeutic horse, a trick horse, and a cow pony. Pippin also has harness training where he helps drag the arena a few times a year and has even pulled a cart. Whew! What a horse!

And a sled!

Chesna began riding at age six and got her first pony, a Haflinger named Mikey, five years later. She has always kept her horses at Nayborly farms and had her start in Eventing and Jumping with Mikey. Her start with showing horses was with Haflingers and Chesna has been to various expos and fairs throughout the Pacific Northwest representing the versatility of the Haflinger breed.

Wow!

In addition to everything that she does with Pippin, Chesna also owns other horses that she trains for Eventing. She spent 2007 in England working with Helen Bell Equestrian, specializing in the training, competition, and sales of sporthorses and ponies.

Pretty!

Chesna also participated in the 100-Day Trainer Challenge for ex-racehorses and won with a seven year old OTTB named Solar, which she chronicled in her blog. Chesna keeps extremely busy working full time with an online mental health agency and offers training and other horse services on a limited basis. Her goal is to help people and horses help one another.

Leaping!

I am looking forward to see all the things Chesna and Pippin accomplish in the coming years. These two are a fun team to watch and inspire me to continue working on my relationship with Shy. 

More leaping!

monday musings by shyloh #74

What Haflinger can leap recycling bins in a single bound? Who can leap through doorways from a stand still?

Super Haflinger! That's me! This contraption that Allie set up no longer hold me. After three successful escapes from it, you would think Allie would find something new. But then again, Allie is not as smart as me. 

I can leap that!

The first time, I just plowed through the trash can and recycling bin. The second time, I stepped into the recycling bin on my way out. And the third time, I leaped over the recylcing bin without a running start. There was hay in the snow that desperately needed to be eaten by me! While my escapes are short, I still have fun. And watching Allie chase me around is a bonus!

Now that I am a leaper. . .

Leap Jaime and Notch!

Leap the RenCen in Detroit!

Leap dinosaur bushes!

I wonder what else I could leap?  With the power of the leap, I have discovered freedom!  And leaping expends much more energy than I am used to spending, but I do enjoy myself. Even if it is short lived.

~Shyloh

monday musings by shyloh #36

Guess who's back? Back again? Dream pony's back, tell a friend!

I am back and better than ever! So much to share. . .what first?

I graduated from the German martingale! Back to regular reins for me. And I am doing good in them. And guess what we did?

Jumped!! Never mind that we did it in a dressage saddle. . .we were just trying it out and I went over! But not like Casear. . .Beth tried jumping him for the first time ever and he did good at 1.5 feet. Then he decided to get fancy on all of us and jumped the 4.5 foot pasture gate! Whoa! And all he did was scrape his leg. 

But back to me. . .I was soft and supple and not scooty at all! It is because I am awesome. I was feeling really pokey yesterday and I made Beth work her legs pretty hard. My thought is that if you want to ride me, you must be an active participant. I am not a couch! But then Beth got "my best friend", which really not my friend at all: the whip. She doesn't even have to use it, just knowing that she has it gets me moving! Enjoy some canter transitions. . .I still need the German martingale for those. Something about moving off my rear end during those is just so difficult right now with out it.

Today was even better. I got to ride in my Western tack. What a difference. . .I was not used to it and got surprised a few times at how different it felt, but no scooting!  Beth did leg yields, which I rock at and canter work.  My canter still needs work, but everything else is all good!

Then. . .da da da dum. . .

Allie rode me! She learned how to disengage my rear end properly and we walked around a bit. She had to work to keep me going, because I don't really believe her when she tell me to walk on. She needs to say it like she means it! But, I was so good and when I was done I got a banana and blueberries. Yum!

Go me! I am an awesome horse!

~Shyloh

sass-a-frass, farrier, and free-jumping!

I was a little (okay, a lot!) frustrated the other day with the pony! I must have spent 30 minutes trying to mount Shyloh. It got to a point that I would have spent all night lining her up at the mounting block, just to get prove a point that I WILL get on her!

Every time Shy moved away, I would trot her in a circle back to the mounting block, which was actually more work for me than her! Sassy pony knows how to make me work harder than her. . .

But I did it! Shy's mind was completely on getting back to her stall, but I made her weave through the cones a few times. And she did great! I worked on getting her to turn using my seat and Shy was very responsive, even though she was being a sass-a-frass!

I also took her outside to get some fresh air and graze for a few minutes. This was on Wednesday. One day, the water and mud will be gone and the horses can go back out to the pastures. . .one day . . .

Oh grass. . .how Shy has missed you!

Today, the farrier came for Shyloh and Ryleigh. He trimmed Shy up and put my mind to ease. He said her hooves and frogs look real good, no signs of thrush and no signs of founder. Whew. I asked how they seemed since I moved her inside and he said they are still good. Whew. He also said all the Haflingers he sees have nice hooves and he has never seen a Haflinger with founder (not to say it can't happen).

Kathy and I took Shy and Casi outside. They grazed for a bit and enjoyed being outside. Shyloh and Casi have been hanging out a little but more because Ryleigh is being mean to her. He keeps biting her and she just ignores it. So Ryleigh got to hang out with Lexi so she could put him in his place.

Then, I put Shy in the arena and set up a jump. Ryleigh had done some free jumping to get the sassy-ness out of him the other day, which reminded me of Goal #2 for Shy. Wednesday she spooked at the jump (she was pre-occupied with it before I attempted to mount her 600 times, so we walked over to check it out and I picked up a pole and accidentally dropped it), so I thought she might be hesitant to jump today. Not so! She watched with great interest as I set the jump up, making her "thinking" noise.

When it was time to jump, I swear I got more of a workout than Shy! I was running and she was out-running me! That pony can be quick! The trick was that I had to stay at her rear with the lunge whip to push her forward, but then keep her along the wall near the jump and not let her go around it, so I had to get to her side. Eventually, I was able to do it and soon enough Shy did not need much to get her over the jump! She is pretty good at free-jumping! I look forward to working on this some more!

Shy says "Okay, I jumped, now give me a treat!"

I decided to get on her to walk her around so she could cool down, although she was much less out of breath than I was at this point. Getting on her was not nearly as much as a process as it was last time. When I mounted, I tried to give her a treat to let her know good job, but she wouldn't take it! Unheard of!! I guess when she has a rider she is all business. The evening feeders even took hay out the door for Notch and Clutch and she watched them, but did not spook. 

I am noticing differences in Shy these past few months. Kathy stated today that she has come a long, long way. Kathy said that Shy is fantastic for her when she lets her out in the arena and will let her come up to her to take her back to her stall. She is not head shy anymore. In her stall, she used to turn away and position herself in the corner if I went in. Now, she might take a step like she is going to turn away, but then she changes her mind and will come to me. Little improvements, but they mean big things!

More food!!!

awesome day!

Me and Shyloh had the best day ever! I spent ten hours with my pony and we did some amazing bonding!

I got to the barn early and helped Kathy feed horses and muck stalls. The horses have been staying inside due to the rain and overall nastiness of the weather, so they were pretty anxious to stretch their legs. We turned out two at a time into the arena while we mucked stalls. Barn work is hard work! I am so sore!

As soon as I got to the barn, I took Shyloh inside. I put her in an empty stall to eat her breakfast hay and supplements and to let the mud dry. One of the horses that was on equestrian team left (season is over), so there was an empty stall. 

Eventually, it was time to clean the stall Shy was in, so we put her in the arena with her friend, Forseti. Then other boarders started coming to the barn to work their horses, so Sandy and I put Shy and Forseti out to graze. They get along so well! 

I did not want to put Shy back outside with Caesar (he was moving inside later in the day), because he is such a bully to her, so when we brought them in, I put Shy in another empty stall. Shy checked overy square inch of that stall and discovered an apple treat! But soon, she was sleepy. She let me hold her head and was falling asleep while I pet her forelock. It was the cutest thing ever! She was relaxing her head so much that it was getting heavy in my arms! She "came to" then I let her go and I sat on a stool outside the stall and chilled with her while she relaxed.

Yummy toy!

Tired muddy girl!

Sleepy time

When nap time was over, I groomed Shy. The mud was dry so it came off of her pretty easily but it still took forever to brush her! She was so dirty! I made sure to brush her front legs really good so I could put her new splint boots on her. We were going to work on jumping!

New boots!

I don't think she has ever has any kind of boots on her legs before. . . she was walking funny at first! It was a little like when I put socks on the dogs and have them walk, hilarious! 

I set up some poles to walk/trot over for practice and I set up a little jump. We went in to the arena to warm up and began walking over poles. 

Then Terry came to the barn. She let Resy loose in the arena so he could stretch his legs because he did not get a chance to earlier. Resy and Terry played around a little bit and Shyloh just watched. She must have gotten tired of watching because she started walking over the poles on her own *without any instruction from me)! She never did that before! I was so proud of her. But then she took it one step further. . .she walked over the jump all by herself! It was pretty cool to see her do that! 

When they left, we continued to practice the walk and the trot over the poles. Shy is getting so good at trotting next to me! All it takes now is a few clucks and she is trotting! Such an improvement from before when I needed a crop to get her moving!

Little jump!

Next it was time to try the jump. We walked over it a few times, then worked the jump at the trot. The first time, Shy balked, but then she stepped over it. We tried again. This time, she tried to jump a little, but hit her hoof. But the next time, she went over! Amazing! We even got the the point were I would be running next to her and before the jump, I took unclipped her lead rope so she would jump over on her own! Shy got lots of praise, she was just great! We are on our way to goal #2 of free jumping!

After jumping, I opened a side arena door. This is why Shyloh is going to continue living outside. . .she really loves it!

Ahhh. . . 

She spent almost the whole day inside, but the minute I opened those arena doors, she went straight to the fresh air and had the happiest look about her. Everything in her being said that she wanted to be outside, with the fresh air and breeze and mud and everything that outside means!

Before I put her back outside (minus Caesar), I cleaned her muddy tail, braided it, and put it up so it does not drag in the mud. What a great day with Shyloh! We are really bonding. She comes to me now; I have developed a signal that lets her know I want her to stay in place and she lets me come up to her to halter her or attach the lead rope. It was just an awesome day! I am so proud of my pony!

day six and bonding

I think I may be back on track with Shyloh! Having a plan really improves my outlook on things! Today, I went to the barn right after work. This is what I walked in to. . .

What's wrong with this picture?

She usually does not wear the halter in the paddock, but she has been trouble to catch and she needed to be caught yesterday.

I took the wheelbarrow and went into Shy's paddock to scoop poop out of her shelter. She was very curious about the poop removal. . .

After making sure that there was only poop and no hay in the wheelbarrow, Shy went to hang out with some of her neighbors over the fence. . .

Moo!

Whatcha doin ova there?

Then, I took her inside. I groomed her and put on her Fung-a-way. We went into the arena and worked on a bunch of small tasks. I worked with Shy on ground tying and she did well. We still have a ways to go, but it was a start. Then I did some desensitizing work with a dressage crop until she was totally comfortable with it. She even put the crop in her mouth! Then we did some walk/trot on the lead line over poles. Shy did everything I asked of her! Next, I put a pole on the lowest setting of the upright poles, added some poles to lead Shy to the jump (or hop) and walked her through each way. She was amazing again! Although the closest we came to a jump was when Shy walked two legs over the pole, stopped, then hopped her back legs over together, she still never balked at anything I sent her way!

And finally, we worked on the mounting block. Shyloh is terrified of people on the mounting block! I have been walking her by it, standing up on it while she was loose in the arena, and jumping off of it for the past few weeks. Today, I lined her up to the mounting block and stood on the top. She stood there!

View from the top of the mounting block!

I stepped her up and she swung her back end out, so we repeated this a few time. Eventually, I was able to put my hands on her back and apply pressure! We stopped there. Shy had done a lot this evening and we really bonded tonight! 

I want to take a moment of silence and send my thoughts and prayers to Kathy and her horse, Captain Morgan. He passed on this morning after coming down with colic. I love this picture of Captain! 

Captain Morgan

It encompasses everything about him; his handsomeness, his goofy personality, and his fun attitude! Captain Morgan will truly be missed!

Five foods. I love food! My mother in law owns a restaurant and I get to eat good on a regular basis.


Food 1 - Pickles. I love pickles. I always have loved pickles. Seriously. . .I can eat a whole jar in a day. For Christmas every year, my dad gets me a giant jar of pickles. Yum!


Food 2 - Ice Cream. Dark chocolate ice cream with peanut butter is my favorite.


Food 3 - Mashed potatoes and gravy. Pure comfort food and deliciousness.


Food 4 - Crab legs. Ah. . .buttery goodness. You really have to work for these!


Food 5 - Chicken Paprikash. My grandma used to make this and it was the best!