Posts Tagged ‘Chincoteague
Spills and Thrills
As promised I have some videos to share from our competition this past weekend. So here you go!
The crying hyena in the background is actually my parents australian shepherd/lab mix who is DYING to herd all of the ponies together.
You can’t quite tell from these videos, but both my mom and I are riding Blitz and Boomer with our clickers. After each race, as long as our ponies didn’t buck or do anything unrequested, then they received a click and a reward after the race. It has added benefits in that the horses are right there to put on the brakes after they cross the line (which is helpful if there is a missed handoff that has to be grabbed quickly). It also helps in getting the horse to move quicker through the race. Our ponies know that usually at the end of the race they will be getting a reward – so in their minds the faster they go the sooner they will get to that reward.
I forgot to mention yesterday, that my mom actually took a spill off of Blitz during our first session on Saturday. It was mostly an accident, but Blitz began swerving as he was approaching the finish line for a handoff to me – and in doing so he tripped and fell to his knees. My mom naturally went flying and landed on her back. She ended up being fine – and I grabbed the handoff from her and ended up wining the race anyway. I guess it was inevitable – after this time last year Blitz had bucked me off during the first race.
Tomorrow I’ll talk about how my little Dachshund survived his first camping trip!
Weekend Camping Re-cap
I’m back from my mounted games competition in Mullica Hill, NJ. It was a great trip, as I knew it would be, and despite the heat I had a blast camping and hanging out with the ponies all weekend. My team brought home first place in our division with a score of 61 points (second place scored 52 points). I was especially proud of Boomerang, who performed like he had been doing it all of his life. He’s such an easy pony to travel with, infact all of the Chincoteagues are. I look around at some of the wild eyed/crazed ponies that are really upset to be away from home and I’m glad that my boys are so quiet and well behaved. It makes me really appreciate the Chincoteague Pony Breed.
So for today’s post I thought I would share with you some photos from the weekend. And the rest of the week I have videos of the competition, details on how Ammo my dachshund fared on his first camping trip and overnight horse show, and even some training talk as I discuss how I trained while I rode during competition. So be sure to keep checking in the rest of the week!
Chesapeake Boomerang
Ball and Cone Race
Completeing a Flying Dismount
3 Leg Race with my mom and Blitz
Ponies and S’moores
Camping with friends
Today I’m packing up the ponies for a weekend of camping and riding in New Jersey. This is the second thing I look forward to all year with the horses (first being pony penning). Each year in mid-August is held the MGAA Mid-Atlantic #3 mounted games competition in Mullica Hill, NJ. Riders from all over the US (and this year Australia too) travel to NJ with ponies in tow, and tents in the trunk. This is the only competition of the year where pretty much EVERYONE camps. Something about waking up in a tent to the smell of hundreds of ponies is amazing. And to top it off we get to compete!
I’ve always LOVED camping. S’moores around the camp fire, hot dogs on a stick – I love every second of it. This year is doubly special because I get to bring my little Dachshund, Ammo. This will be his first camping experience, and I have to say I’m a little worried his guard dog instincts will kick in while we’re inches away from the outdoors and the sounds that accompany it. He may be relegated to the horse trailer if he can’t control himself.
Minnow and I competing at the Mid-Atlantic in 2004
What also makes this competition special is that I get to ride on a team with my mom and my sister. Usually my younger sister and I play in the masters division, while my mom who prefers a slightly slower speed (despite being an exceptional rider) competes in the fossil division. But this year since my pony is still green (as is my mom’s) and my sister is due for another knee surgery and has to take it easy, we have opted to play with my mom in the fossil division. I think this is the very first time all three of us will have played together. Amazing considering we’ve been playing since 1998 (11 years).
Me after my fall from Blitz at the Mid-Atlantic 2008
Not only that, but this is Boomerang’s first overnight competition. Last year at the Mid-Atlantic #3 I brought Blitz, as it was his first overnight, and as I had just purchased Boomer the week before, he stayed home. (so I guess this also marks a year of me owning Boomer as well). Boomer I’m sure will take to the overnight with ease, nothing seems to ever bother him – I’ve actually never met a pony so unfazed by everything. So I’m basically just thrilled to put our months of training to use and see how he really performs.
So I’ve decided to share with you some videos from last year’s mid-atlantic competition when I competed Blitz – this was actually his very first competition ever.
I look forward to sharing our trip with everyone when we get back! If you find yourself in NJ be sure to stop by!
Never Bite the hand that Feeds
Boomerang
So these past few months, in addition to working with Chincoteague Minnow, I have been intensely training my green pony, Chesapeake Boomerang, how to be an exceptional mounted games pony. Boomer has been learning how to play each race, how to move quickly off of my leg, and how to spin using his hind end. He’s progressed greatly over these past few months, but we still have a long way to go.
Recently my focus has been directed to an issue Boomer has with leading. He’s always been sensitive about stuff on his face and I only use a bitless bridle on him now because he pefers to have no bit in his mouth. So the issue that has come into play is when I go to lead him. Some races require that I jump off of him and lead him through an obsticle and then remount. Boomerang is not at all thrilled at the fact that I use slight rein pressure to ask him to move forward and has a tendancy to either try to bite the reins or me when I ask him to move forward. Definitely not an ok option.
So the past 2 weeks I have been working on getting him to match my speed when I move. First we started with me not holding the reins at all and when I would start to run I’d ask him to follow. Then click, reward. It didn’t take long for Boomer to get that part down. So once he had that figured out I added my hand into the equasion. I’d pick up the rein and if he made a move to bite me I’d gently bump him away with my finger. I’d wait until he kept his head straight before I would click and reward him.
I took a video yesterday of the progress we have made. As you can see for a momment Boomer makes a move towards my hand, you can see the push away correction I give him and then he goes back to keeping his head straight. Since he did not bite me and followed my correction I rewarded him at the end. This is GREATLY improved as to how he used to be, not to mention he keeps trotting through the whole drill, even when I drop back to his shoulder to remount (this can be a difficult concept for a horse to learn).
We still have a lot to do with working with this issue, and Boomer still has what I call “grumpy face”. He may not actually be biting me, but his ears are back and I know the thought is there. For right now, since we are still training, I am going to accept the grumpy face as long as he does not make a move to bite me, but as we further this skill I will eventually ask him to keep his ears forward.
Fan Mail
Chincoteague Minnow recieved his first fan mail letter today. I have to say it put a big smile on my face to know that people are really enjoying Minnow’s artwork.
I bought a picture your pony, Minnow, painted at the pony show on Tuesday, July 28th at the 8pm show! The painting is great! I ended up giving it to my nieces because I couldn’t buy them their own pony, so I got them the next best thing! (haha) They really love it!
It was then requested that I kindly sign a newspaper cliping of an article that Minnow and I had published in the Chincoteague, VA paper 2 weeks ago, and mail it back. Of course I was happy to ablige!
This simple little letter really has brightened my day, because I know that Minnow’s paintings are out there, scattered all over the country, putting smiles on people’s faces. I was asked in a newspaper interview last month, if Minnow were to leave behind a legacy, what would it be? I’d like to change my original answer now. I’d hope that Minnow’s legacy would be that he was able to touch each and every person that either owns one of his paintings or has seen Minnow paint/perform. I hope that he’s able to put the sparkle of a life-long love of horses and Chincoteague Ponies in a child’s eyes.
Big kisses to my Chincoteague Minnow today!
