May 2023 "Unexpected Surprises" The high mountains of Southern Nevada, about an hour to the Northwest of the famous city of Las Vegas, contain some of the most beautiful country in the lower USA. The area is known as the Spring Mountain Range and Mount Charleston Wilderness. The area hosts miles upon miles of great trails for hiking and horseback r...
June 2022 One Step At A Time These times have created an expectation of immediate gratification for most people. It takes just a few clicks on your phone to order some food, and a few minutes later someone knocks on your door with your meal. Unable to get to the store? Click an order, and the item can be on your doorstep in one day. So few things t...
Finally, spring in the Las Vegas valley presented itself, other activities on the home-front began to slow down some, and it was time to get out on some more trail rides. I couldn't wait. A few days ago, I loaded Sihr Brigadier Mac V ("Sonny") up (er, rather he loaded himself, which is a far cry from taking 5-10 minutes to load just a few months ag...
In horse raising and training, we as owners don't always share the bad stuff. Maybe it's a pride or ego thing. Regardless, all pride and ego set aside, I've discovered that lots of things can start occurring in a young horse's brain after he turns about 4 ½ years old, and Sihr Brigadier Mac V ("Sonny") has been no exception to that rule. The start ...
Every spring and fall, the El Zaribah Shrine Mounted Patrol puts on a roundup at the EZ Ranch in Cordes Junction, Arizona near Prescott. We've attended and worked it every fall for several years, and this year I decided it was Sonny's turn to go. I felt he was ready for another experience and adventure, since he'd been doing so good on the trails. ...
As our September 2021 trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota drew nearer this summer, I watched my mare TU Sihr With Love ("Lovey") closer and realized quickly that her being in foal to Major Mac V again had brought her barrel size much larger than I recalled her being when pregnant at the same point with Sihr Brigadier Mac V ("Sonn...
Looking in the arena gate, my palms were sweaty, I could hear my heart beating in my ears. What had I gotten myself into now? Arizona Mac V was fairly relaxed as he stood looking over the gate. Well, at least he was until the mule brayed from not far behind him. He seemed to shout at me "THE ALIENS HAVE LANDED!" He'd never seen one before. After ou...
He is simply brilliant… and humble, and well-read, (and not at all hard to look at, either). He'd picked up Arizona Mac V the end of October after he and Bruce Sandifer had put on a California Bridlehorse workshop in Walla Walla, Washington, and taken him home to Colorado. There, he'd ridden him in the snow, hauled him to the fairgrounds, ridd...
Roverto was leading a young mare across the road when I drove up. She was following politely, but would startle, flinch, at something to the right, then at the gate, then at a sound from the house. I watched this perfectly put together little bay in awe. She simply could not be any prettier. Earlier that morning, I'd stopped by the little graveyard...
Here in Idaho, there are shepherds. They are mostly Peruvian men, non English speaking, that live the entire summer out in the mountains and valleys with enormous bands of sheep, a few great pyrenees dogs and a couple of horses, roaming from place to place grazing the grasses from springtime to fall. For decades, these men have carved their na...
It had been a whole week since I'd even looked at Arizona. A short trip to Seattle followed by three days of intense work requirements took up every minute of my days. Finally it was Saturday. After a leisurely breakfast with friends at the Farmer's Market, I said hello to him, burying my face in his mane, rubbing my hand over his perfect back and ...
She startled me! She'd zipped right in through the big north window of the arena, stopped right in front of my eyes underneath the brim of my hat and hovered there for a few moments, looking right at me, intently it seemed. It took a second for my eyes to focus on her, she was so close. Her colors were of the rainbow, but more intense, her ti...
Waking up in Sheila's bedroom, the sound of the cars on Corbett Canyon told me that it must be around 5:30 AM. The early light seeped through the lace curtains as I stretched my legs and imagined what the day would hold. At around 9:00 I walked Arizona to the trailer, saddled him up and walked to that big beautiful arena, saying hello to the cat on...
It had rained for days…. and days. When my plane landed in San Luis Obispo, the clouds were clearing out. In the morning, the sun felt good on my back as I put Arizona's halter on and walked him down to my trailer, where my saddles and bridles waited. Scrubbing the mud from his belly, his legs, his neck, his back, I looked up and saw Mike waving at...
December 27th, two days after Christmas. The morning was perfectly glorious. No wind, no clouds, the sun warmed my back through my jacket. I found Mike at the wash rack hosing the soapy suds off a big bay horse. "Good morning Lisa!" his blue eyes smiling at me. I'd asked him the day before if I could shadow him and watch while he worked with the yo...
"Lisa, this guy is a genius!" Sheila was talking about Jack Brainard. She had met him through the Light Hands clinic, had picked up his book, "If I were to train a horse," read it and re-read it, voraciously studying every word and practicing his maneuvers. She was a perpetual student her entire life. A year later, there we were, in her arena, with...
Arizona Mac V and Roy had been hanging out in their own nice roomy pens at Varian Arabians since we'd arrived after the clinic in Grass Valley. Arizona had developed a rather large white spot on his withers, telling me that I either needed a new saddle, or a change in my padding. Possibly he'll fill out more by next year. Nevertheless, I figured Ar...
In that time between sleeping and waking I see Sheila and I in her big arena on a beautiful fall day. Mostly she is just riding her horse, enjoying the bliss, the dance that is her and her Jubilation. When she looks up and happens to see me doing something that she doesn't' like, she corrects me, as if it disrupts her dance. I focus, try to emulate...
I decided that the only thing to do was to open the window and fling my ego right out there into the breeze. My perfect young Arizona Mac V had begun to go from that contented agreeable little soul to more of a schoolyard bully. He was biting at Roy, he kicked another horse, he was pushing through the bit and was being unresponsive to me. I remembe...
We picked up Roy and Arizona Mac V and drove an hour south and east, past a small town called Tollgate and parked in the Andies Snow Park parking area in the Umatilla Forest. We saddled and crossed the highway, finding the Horseshoe Trail trailhead. Dropping down onto the trail, we followed it through dense forest and ferns. Arizona feels...
