Farm Life
The Best of the Best
So last time I posted I showed some photos of my Christmas Card Mishap. Today I’m sharing the good ones! It wasn’t all chaois during our Christmas Photoshoot, so here’s the Trick Ponies at their finest!
So..which one do you think my parents chose to feature on their Christmas card? Which is your favorite? I’d love to know!
Three’s a Crowd
So as I posted before, my parents decided to feature the Trick Ponies on their Christmas Card this year. The idea was simple – get them to stand together holding fake berry swigs in their mouths. The reality was – its never that easy.
I knew I probably should have worked them on targeting a stationary spot on the ground first (like a carpet scrap or piece of wood), but of course I never got around to it. I have taught all of my boys to stationary target the pedestal. Meaning when I put out their pedestal – get them upon it and ask them to stay put, they will all do so. (well Boomerang needs a bit more practice with this one). But since I only have one pedestal, the problem arose, how do I get all 3 of them to stand together? The answer is – I never actually did! Ha!
In fact, I have never worked all three together at the same time. Not because I don’t want to – but mainly because I didn’t want utter chaos, and currently Minnow is the only one I trust to “behave” properly when the food pouch comes out and there are competitors for the treats.
So anyway – that will all be a task for another day…now onto the Christmas Card. Below are a series of outtakes from the attempt at a Christmas Card (all before the sun set). I did end up getting some nice ones, but I will have to save those for another post. I hope you enjoy a good laugh at my attempt to “corral the wild Chincoteague Ponies”.
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
Spending My Time Wisely
On Friday I did something I haven’t done in a really long time…but was long overdue.
It was a surprisingly mild November night, and after finishing all of my barn work and chores I decided to spend some time with Minnow. Armed with a few brushes (and the dachshund bundled in his winter coat) I settled myself into the pile of hay in Minnow’s stall. Minnow munched around me, occasionally giving me and the dachshund kisses (he’s so sweet like that). I scratched his itchy spots, brushed his muddy coat (from all the rain we’ve had) and basically just enjoyed being with him. I sat in his stall for about an hour before dragging myself away.
I’ve always known the importance of just enjoying my horses, not asking for something specific from them, just letting them be horses and observing. Its of huge importance for horses to bond with their owner/rider/special person – and to be undemanding of your horse helps to accomplish this. But, in actuality its always hard to find time to do this. You carve out time to go to the barn – and you want to “do” something. I know the feeling, I’m guilty of this all of the time. But horses don’t feel this same need, and sometimes its better to do nothing.
I think I spent the most time doing nothing with Minnow when I was in college. When he was in his most intense part of training with me I decided to bring him to college with me. Needless to say I think I spent more time at the barn evading school work than anything else. But it brought Minnow and I much closer.
I’d just sit in his stall and watch him eat hay, or I’d lay in the grass with him while he got his fill. I even studied in the pasture while he was just “being a horse”. Most of the time he ignored me, but occasionally he’d wander over and nuzzle my hair, or tug at my boots – signs that he was interested in me and what I was doing in there with him. Getting a horse interested can sometimes be one of the toughest things to accomplish – and for Minnow especially, these steps were huge. He was a pony that was easily terrified of everything – but rather than touching it to see what it was he opted to completely ignore the situation – to the point where when faced with a strange object he would turn his head all the way around so he didn’t even have to look at it. So bringing curiosity out of him was always a major struggle for me. So with each time Minnow CHOSE to touch me, or my books he was becoming more and more curious – curiosity that helped me to get him over his fear of the mounted games equipment, fear of noises, fear of pretty much anything.
So on Friday night as I sat in Minnow’s pile of hay I thought back to those wonderful days we spent together in college and I vowed that I MUST do nothing with my horses more often.
Happy Halloweenie!
In the spirit of Halloween here are some pictures of my Dachshund, Ammo, and his best friend, Trooper, dressed up in their favorite bearable costumes.
Ponies aren't supposed to eat Dinosaurs
But mom....he tastes so good!
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
I’m on TV mom!
OK so I was going to wait a few more days to post this…because I thought I could get a better video of it, but I just can’t wait any longer.
My boys were on National TV!! Thats right, Ammo the Dachshund and Minnow appeared on Animal Planet’s America’s Cutest Dogs clip show on Saturday, October 24th. They weren’t one of the main videos – but a short clip of them showed up in the “Odd Couples” section. The coolest thing about it is that I didn’t even know that they had made the show. In the beginning of the summer I received an e-mail from Animal Planet’s casting director mentioning that they had come across my videos of Ammo and Minnow playing on youtube. They asked if I would consider submitting them to be considered for the show. Of course I agreed (how cool would that be) – they came back to me a few months later and asked if I would sign some release forms – which had me thinking they were really going to use the clips. But after several more months of not hearing anything I assumed they decided to go a different direction. That is until I got a facebook message from a friend who said she was watching the show and saw a clip of my boys on the show.
When I got the message I of course rushed to the tv to try to record a re-run of the episode. Thankfully it was playing again and I was able to catch all the action. Neat to think that even though it was a small clip someone still recognized them on the show. Anyway – without further ado…here is the clip as seen on the show followed by the full original video that I took of them.
Pretty cool. I hope that its the first of many television appearances – and this is infact the very first time any of the Trick Ponies have made it on TV – and to think its on Animal Planet! Way to aim high boys!
