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
I’m not a Dog
So I’m starting to think that my Dachshund, Ammo, doesn’t know that he’s a dog. Lately I’ve been taking him to the dog park along with my parent’s Labrador/Austrailian Shepherd mix, Trooper. Trooper, like most normal dogs, romps around and plays with all of the other dogs at the park. Ammo (which I know he’s small) prefers to play by himself in the water (there is a neat stream that runs through the dog park). When other dogs approach him he sucks into a ball and gets very submissive – not only towards bigger dogs, but small dogs too. As soon as they turn their back he starts to romp towards them in a playful manner, but if they turn around again he’s right back to being submissive. Now again, I know he’s small – and I’m sure he’s not the only dog to do this, and I’m not going to force him to play with other dogs if he’s scared – so you may be asking yourself then, why do I think he doesn’t know he’s a dog?
I’ll tell you why. Ammo won’t play with other dogs, but he will play with the trick ponies and the barn cat, Cricket! Very odd considering that the ponies especially should be even scarier to a small Dachshund. Anyway, luckily you don’t have to take my word for it. Just watch these two videos I took the other day.
Sharing the Gift
Next Monday I leave for Chincoteague Island, Virginia – with my best friend, Chincoteague Minnow, in tow! I’ve been looking forward to this trip all year. Minnow and I will spend our evenings doing 2 shows each night at the Chincoteague Pony Centre. Now this is my kind of vacation!
You may be thinking, vacation? sounds more like work. Well it sorta is, but thats what I love about it. I like that I’ll have something to do, and my favorite thing about the whole experience is that I get to watch people enjoying my pony. I love to see Minnow bring a smile to a young child’s face. I love the fact that he might start the spark of a life-long obsession in horses for some lucky kid. Afterall thats what happened to me!
Minnow has a special gift and I am greatful that I am able to be the one to help him share his gift with the world. Its never been about making money (although I do sell his paintings for a profit – more out of neccesity). For me it has always been about sharing the joy of horses with others.
Horses have been a part of my life since the day I was born. I was lucky to have a mom that was also passionate about our large equine friends. I am greatful everyday that I have grown up and been able to learn from some of the most amazing equines.
So now is your chance to experience Minnow’s gift! Stop by the Chincoteague Pony Centre all next week to visit Minnow and I! (sadly my Dachshund, Ammo, will not be tagging along).
To celebrate our upcoming trip I’d like to share two articles about my friends at the Chincoteague Pony Centre:
Horses, Like People, Have Their Bad Days
Chincoteague Pony Drill Team Makes it Look Easy
My favorite part in the Drill Team article is a quote given by the Pony Centre Manager, Kendy Allen:
Mrs. Allen can easily relate to these feelings. You cannot spend time with her and fail to see that as much of a business as pony centre operations have become, her goals go far beyond the commercial undertaking.
Hope to see you all soon at the Pony Centre!
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
Front Page Headlines
Sunday started off like any other day – up early to feed and let the dog out, turn on my computer and play a few rounds at 666CASINO as my luck in online gambling is higher in the morning, checking my e-mail over a bowl of cereal. That is until I decided to check the online newspaper for my area. As the Daily Local News Page was loading all of a sudden a large photo of myself and Minnow pops up on the screen! I was so excited! I knew that Minnow was going to be in my local paper – but I had no idea it would turn out so big. A month earlier I had sent a press release to some of the local papers about how Minnow and I would be attending this year’s 2009 Pony Penning in Chincoteague, Virginia (we leave next monday, yipee!). A few weeks later I received a call from the paper requesting an interview with me. We set up an appointment over the phone for the next week and she asked if she could send a photographer to take Minnow’s picture. I mentioned that on July 13th a group of campers would be coming to watch Minnow perform – so she put in a request to have a photographer attend (not knowing if they would actually show).
My favorite photo from the day! by Photographer Kali Wallace
So Monday came, and I proceeded to do my interview over the phone. I don’t mind doing interviews – especially about Minnow (I could talk for hours about him). But its always so hard to gather your thoughts when you are asked unexpected questions. For the most part it was pretty straight forward. How did he learn how to paint? I’ve never done an interview where they didn’t ask that! What are his favorite colors? This one always makes me laugh – as if he really cares – but I always get this question too. How did he end up with you? This question always turns into them wanting to know about his “neglectful past”. I always struggle with this question because what I know about Minnow’s past is what I have been told from previous owners – and I just have to take their word about it. I’ve heard things from he was locked in a stall after breaking someone’s collar bone and not fed properly – to his coat was dull, his feet too long, and he looked very sad. So there really is no way to know for sure what really happened to him, but I do know whatever it was it caused Minnow to not trust me for a very long time. But no matter how I explain this story to interviewers it always gets written like he was “abused”. I can’t really force them to not write “abused” – but I always cringe when I see it because I know that I really am not sure he was “abused”. Neglected, I’m pretty certain he was, but abused? I’m not really sure. His temperament when I got him sort of goes along with maybe he was hit some, but unless he can tell me himself I will never know.
Giving my best friend a kiss. By Photographer Kali Wallace
I had one question in my interview that really threw me off this time. What do you think Minnow’s legacy would be? Wow, how do you answer that? I thought I had a pretty good answer for that – but the quote came out a little bit like a jumble of thoughts. I basically said that I thought Minnow would be an example of overcoming challenges and a not-so-great past. He came from this bad situation and now he’s becoming something great and he’s really happy. He enjoys painting and it’s almost like a therapy for him. A way to express himself and let go of whatever may have happened to him before. (I wish that had written it that way, haha).
But aside from a few uncorrect things (they said I went to the University of Delaware instead of Kutztown University) I thought it turned out really well. And on Monday when the photographer showed up at Iron Horse Farm I was even more surprised! I really had no idea that when I actually when to buy the Sunday paper that Minnow and I would be on the FRONT page! In color to boot! It was very exciting. I got recognized at the gas station I picked it up at, and I’ve been getting calls and e-mails from friends and family saying they loved it.
I feel a bit like a proud mom! The last quote in the article is perfect! “He’s an example of a horse that didn’t have a so- great past, but he’s gone on to become something great and amazing and my best friend.”
You can read the article here or download the PDF from the actual paper. Minnow already sold one painting yesterday – so you better hurry and snatch up your favorite before its gone!
Pretty in Pink
So Boomerang is going to kill me, but I have to post this horribly embarrassing photo of him in his new grazing muzzle. Poor BOY just got knocked down a few more pegs in the herd hierarchy because of this bright PINK ensemble. The story behind the muzzle is that Boomer sneakily ripped a large hole in his (in order to get more grass) so in a dash to keep him from getting any fatter my mom hit the tack shops in search of a new one for him. After not much luck (for ones in stock) she found this stunning pink one at a used tack shop – and at $15 cheaper than a black one, Boomer will just have to make due with pink.
So aside from our muzzle debacle yesterday, I was able to sneak in a ride between rain storms (hence why Boomer is really wet in these photos). My mom, my sister and I are all getting our ponies ready for a big competition on August 15/16 in New Jersey. This will be Blitz and Boomerang’s very first mounted games competition in the masters division. The masters division is meant for top playing skilled individuals with ponies to match. Many of the horses resemble race horses as they charge the starting lines and make turns to match the best quarter horses in the world. Boomer and Blitz will now be among some of these top playing horses as they enter into a playing field where the best horses are not only the fastest, but the most controlable.
So in order to get Boomerang ready for his big competition we did a little mounted games practicing in the ring. Boomer was on his game yesterday and had an explosive urge to race around the arena. Now you may be thinking – this doesn’t sound like such a great thing for a horse to be doing. But mounted games is unlike most equestrian sports, because in this sport we all strive to have horses that want to race at the drop of a hat, yet have the control to do sliding stops and turns at their rider’s request. Now Boomer wasn’t always the race around the arena kind – we had to work towards this. Boomer spent 5 years of his life trying to be slowed down to the ideal hunter pace before I bought him last summer. I was slightly concerned that he wouldn’t have that urge to race – like mounted games horses need to have. But I’m a bit more of a conservitive rider in that I prefer a horse that starts off controllable and slow and I can work up towards the speed and the desire to race. (Most racing professionals would totally disagree with my mentality – saying that the desire to run has to be there first).
Boomerang in competition(see my clicker around my arm)
But I think Boomer (Blitz too) might just be proving this theory wrong. With each practice Boomer seems to want to go faster and faster, and he’s really enjoying playing the races. I’d much rather train a horse to give me speed than be riding something that I constantly feel like I have to pull on to slow down. That is not fun for me, or the horse. And believe me, the majority (not all) of mounted games players spend entire competitions doing just this. It saddens me to see this because obviously the horse is just doing what it has been trained to do (race) but the rider can’t complete the skills at these speeds so the result is a horse that is constantly being yanked around by the mouth or forced to wear a stronger bit to get the him to slow down. Riders that train/ride this way have no idea about training a horse properly in my opinion. I am by no means a professional (no formal training) but I do know that the way to a well trained horse is not through force.
Boomer waiting patiently for his turn to go
I could go on and on about this subject – since as you can see I am very passioniate about training without force. But I won’t bore you with my rants (for today atleast). I do want to say though that through the methods I have been training Boomerang (and how my entire family is training their horses) I hope to provide an example for the riders within my sport. My family (to the best of my knowledge) is the only group of people training their horses using clicker training within the organization I belong to called Mounted Games Across America. We arrive at the competitions with clickers and treat bags, and even ride with them during most of the races (a fact that we hope to eliminate once our horses are fully trained the way we want). I know that we are slowly getting noticed with our odd methods, and I hope that other competitors are also noticing the difference in our horses. I would love to provide an example of what could be achieved without force in training – perhaps we will even save a few horse’s mouths along the way. I do know that through clicker training we are creating a connection with our mounts that most other riders in the sport don’t seem to have. Spectators can even pick up on the difference in our connections with our mounts compared to the other riders.
Minnow and I during our very last competition as a pair.
Numerous times I was singled out in demonstrations and competitions when I rode my now retired Chincoteague Minnow because of the special connection that spectators could tell we shared. I’ve been told that while watching me ride Minnow it was almost as if he performed each task before I even asked him (our cues were that subtle). Not to mention that it was obvious to all that Minnow was willing to do anything for me and was loving what he was doing. These to me were some of the biggest compliments ever. I am more proud of the fact that I can display how clicker training has completely transformed my once rogue Chincoteague Pony into a horse that people can see the connection we share, than the fact that he can “shake hands” or “paint a picture”. Any horse could learn to do these tricks, but the difference with Minnow is that he does these skills because he wants to please me and genuinely enjoys it. Not because I MAKE him do it and he is complaint.
A properly trained horse has a connection with their trainer and they are only complaint because they desire to be. And you can quote me on that.
