Tricks
Its a Trick Life
On this rainy Friday I’ll share with you some photos of Minnow and I performing at the Ludwigs Corner Horse Show last weekend. Minnow was a bit “sluggish” as he was last year as well. I’m not sure why. He was sort of slow to respond to my requests and sometimes wouldn’t do specific tricks. I really don’t know why he was like that – perhaps it was during his normal mid-day nap….who knows? Maybe he didn’t think it was a “real” performance because he wasn’t on a “stage” per say. But no matter, everyone loved him anyway…how could you not?
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
**We will always remember 9.11.01
A New Addition
Minnow at the Ludwigs Corner Horse Show
Recently I have been training a new addition to the Trick Ponies of Chincoteague. And although he’s not really a pony, he likes to think he is. Ammo, my 11 month old Dachshund, has officially begun his training to be part of the trick pony gang. Last week you saw that I taught Minnow and him to give eachother kisses. This trick was in preparation to have Ammo attend the Ludwigs Corner Horse Show with Minnow and I.
I even made Ammo a shirt that said “Trick Pony Side-Kick”. And a side-kick was just what he was.
Ammo at the Ludwigs Corner Horse Show
I kept having to push the time that Minnow was going to paint back because the organizers of the show wanted him to paint after a specific demonstration (which of course was running really late). So in order to please the crowd that was growing around my small coral I decided to have Minnow do a few tricks. Not his skit, just some fun tricks. So I brought Minnow out and had him up on his pedestal, shaking hands, kissing me, playing fetch. And then I remembered Ammo.
Ammo trotted into the arena and did some of his tricks. The crowd favorite is “Bang Bang” – where I pretend to shoot Ammo with a fake gun and he staggers to the ground and “dies”. It makes me laugh everytime, mostly because Ammo exaggerates it so much. I then had Minnow and Ammo kiss eachother, everyone loved this trick, as do I. Its quite adorable.
I’d love to come up with an act to showcase Ammo’s and Minnow’s tricks someday. I think they would be such a funny pair together. The hard part is that Chincoteague is not the most dog-friendly island. Most of the hotels don’t allow dogs, and you can’t take them into the fairgrounds and many of the parks. It seems to be the one place where horses take president over dogs!
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
A Kiss for my Friend
Time to reveal Minnow’s newest trick – I know you are dying in anticipation! This is the first time I have worked with two animals on one trick. Currently I work each trick pony separately – Boomer and Blitz are too young to work in conjunction with Minnow because they don’t understand waiting their turn. Eventually I hope to have all 3 trick ponies performing at once, but we’re a long way from that goal. So you may be wondering who collaborated on the trick then? Well it was Ammo, the Dachshund.
Ammo and Minnow are great pals. I’ve never seen a horse – dog relationship quite like it. And as I plan to attend tomorrow’s horse show with both Minnow and Ammo I thought it was only fitting I teach them a trick together. They are cute aren’t they? I was clicking when Minnow reached up and touched Ammo (Minnow added the lip flare on his own) and then both animals got a reward. Minnow got grain and Ammo got a cheerio. Less than a minute before I filmed this is when I first asked Minnow to “Kiss the Dachshund” – as you can see he mastered this trick in mere seconds. My amazingly smart wonder pony (and the Dachshund too).
Tonight I’m planning to practice working this trick into Minnow’s beach act. I’m even making Ammo a t-shirt that he can wear for the performance. Sadly I bought him a baby onesie at goodwill (and it fits!) So now the plan is to figure out what to write on it. I’m thinking “I rode a Chincoteague Pony” or “BFF with a Pony” or “Trick Pony Side-kick” – suggestions are welcome!!
I hope everyone enjoys their labor-day weekend. I’m looking forward to mine! I’ll hopefully have lots of photos and videos from the performance to share on tuesday.
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
Trick Horse in Chincoteague
Ok, so those of you following this blog have probably been WAITING for me to post an update on how my trip to Chincoteague Island with Minnow went. We had kind of spotty internet – so posting down there wasn’t much of an option, not to mention my days were packed with pony swim excitement and performing! So anyway, this week I’m going to go over how our trip went – complete with videos and pictures from the exciting week.
Today I’m going to share with you some of the videos I took (well had someone else take) of Minnow performing. The first video is of us performing our beach picnic skit. Considering that Minnow learned some of the tricks only a week before our trip I was so proud of him! We had a few little mishaps during the week, like Minnow not wanting to do some of the tricks, but we pressed on and overall I think everyone enjoyed his performance.
This next video is of the Extreme Pony Race. Basically it is one small “act” in the Chincoteague Pony Center Performance in which some of the ponies/riders are asked to go through sort of an obstical course. The whole thing is timed, and if you have to skip a task (or you don’t complete it correctly) then 5 seconds is added onto your time. Minnow was asked to perform the extreme pony race twice during the week – having never seen or tried it before. I had been buting him all week so that he wasn’t in any pain from his arthritis (normally I never ride Minnow), and honestly, he could use the exercise and its good to use his joints sometimes. Anyway, this video is of the first time Minnow tried the extreme pony race, and much to my surprise we won, infact we were undefeated the entire weekend! Go Minnow! If you watch closely you can see me using the bitless bridle with Minnow, I had many comments after the show from people asking about this unique bridle and how I liked it. Of course I think the Bitless Bridle should now sponsor me because I was quite the spokesperson if I do say so myself!
As you can see I didn’t ask Minnow to complete the backup task. He did back up for me at first, but when I asked again he gave me a big head toss. Now I know my pony well, and I decided he was not happy with this request, so I opted to skip the skill. Some people may see this as me being too “soft” and I should of made him do it, but honestly Minnow has done so much for me, and he constantly performs for me when I ask him to, with barely much of a protest. So when I can tell he’s frustrated and not up for it, I opt to let it go and ask for it another day. This is what makes our relationship so special. If you had a bad day and didn’t feel like doing something – and someone forced you to do it anyway, you can bet that the next time that person asked you to do something you’d start to resent them for asking. This is who I like to view horse training. I pick and choose my battles. If I can tell my horse is definitely not in the mood (maybe they are grumpy that day, maybe the flies are bothering them) then I usually decide to save it for another day. 9 times out of 10 if I respect how they are feeling they will perform bigger and better for me the next time I ask.
After the extreme pony race I was actually complimented by several spectators for not making Minnow perform the back up. In the end those compliments were well worth it to me. Minnow was happy, and specators appreciated my decision to make it more enjoyable for my horse.
So there you have it, a little peak into my week on Chincoteague Island. And for those of you wondering, sadly I did not come home with a new foal, but I swear I will someday! I actually had my eye on a georgous colt, you can hear all about it in this weeks posts, so keep reading!
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
Pony Penning Countdown
Only two more days until Minnow and I leave for Pony Penning! So excited! I’ve been shopping for the finishing touches for Minnow’s performance. We need some new paint brushes and Minnow needs some sunscreen (we don’t want him to get burnt at the beach now do we?).
For all of you that are curious about Pony Penning here is a great article from today’s Daily Times. Pony Penning Countdown.
I hope to be able to post updates from Chincoteague about Minnow and his performances! So I’ll try not to leave you all hanging!
And until then, I’ll leave you with some videos from last year’s pony penning.
This next one shows our little “performance” from last year. Last year was when I first started performing with Minnow, and if you have been following our blog along lately you can see that we have evolved GREATLY from this. This year’s act promises to be much more exciting!! So don’t miss seeing it in person at the Chincoteague Pony Centre!
-KD
