Posts Tagged ‘trick horse
Mounted Shooting
On Sunday I took Boomerang to his very first mounted shooting clinic. My mom and Blitz tagged along too – although they had been to one other shooting session before.
The clinic was held in NJ by the Jersey Devils Mounted Shooters. We started off with a bit of gun safety and practiced firing from the ground at our balloon targets.
Surprisingly I was a better shot from my pony than I was from the ground, ha!
The guns we fired were fairly loud, so I wasn’t sure how Boomer would react. He’s pretty brave, but any horse would be scared if you fire a pistol from their back.
To introduce our horses to the gunfire we rode around as a group while riders routinely shot off rounds into the air. The first few shots startled Boomer as I’m sure he wasn’t expecting it, but being in a group with the other horses that had all done this before – he was quickly put at ease. After a few laps around, and a few clicks and rewards from me, he seemed to hardly notice the gunfire anymore.
Next we each took turns running through a pattern and firing at the balloons. In competition you are scored on speed and accuracy, and in my first run through I shot 8 out of the 10 balloons. I was really surprised Boomer hardly jumped at all – shooting next to the horse is much different than shooting into the air, because the sound is louder and they can see the gun out of the corner of their eye.
Below are two videos I put together of Boomer and Blitz running through the patterns:
Blitz is a little bit more of a nervous horse, but he improved greatly with each time he went.
It ended up being a really fun day and a great experience for both ponies. I don’t have plans to join the mounted shooting club (although I was really fun) but I did it as a way to introduce my pony (and myself) to something entirely new. All of the different things I do with my ponies are helping to make them better mounts. I think if the club wasn’t a two hour drive for me I might have considered joining, because it was fun to wield a pistol!
And Boomerang was pretty proud of himself in the end, evident by his beaming smile!
My Amazing Flower Pony
October 4th, 2008 is a date that holds much significance for me. Not only is it the anniversary of my wedding to my high school sweetheart, but it is also the anniversary of when I became the official owner of Minnow, so I planned a good celebration, with food and great decoration using a party supply tablecloth for this event.
Minnow had been living with me since 2003, when his then owners had decided to lease him out to me to use as a riding mount. In those 5 years I got to know an amazing pony that has since changed the entire course of my life. I knew he was one of those “once in a lifetime” ponies – and in the back of my mind I always feared that someday he would leave me.
When he was diagnosed with Ringbone in March of 2008 and his competition career came to an abrupt end, it became evident that the “backyard tricks” I had taught him were now more important than ever. Not only were they a way for us to continue to interact with each other, but they became something even more special that we shared together.
I knew that Minnow HAD to be at my wedding, he was such an important part of my life, and when my mom jokingly suggested he should be the flower girl, I set out to train him how to toss petals out of a basket. Tossing the petals proved to be the easy part, it was performing in front of a crowd of wedding guests that couldn’t be practiced.
Until today, I have yet to share the “real” wedding video of Minnow wowing my guests (and me). To FINALLY get it up for viewing I had to film it off of my computer and onto my iphone – so granted the quality isn’t the best. But, I’m proud to share with everyone, the greatest FLOWER GIRL PONY there ever was!
Not only was Minnow simply amazing, but he performed for my sister (and not me). Minnow has always been quite sensitive, and most times will only perform tricks for me – after we built a relationship of trust over many years. So for him to perform for my sister (who never works with him) and in front of a large crowd of people, it was an amazing accomplishment for him.
When I returned home from my honeymoon in Nicaragua I opened a very special card from Minnow’s owners. Their gift to me on my wedding day was Minnow! To know that he would be mine forever was one of the greatest gifts anyone has ever given me. I know that I’m truly blessed to have him in my life and I’m so thankful that we were able to find eachother.
So Happy Anniversary Minnow! I look forward to many more adventures with you, as I know we are just getting started!
And Happy 3 year Anniversary to my wonderful husband :), thanks for accepting my love for the ponies (and Ammo).
Paintings from September 10 & 11
Well, it took me long enough to share the paintings Minnow created during the Chadds Ford Dog Days of Summer Event, but better late than never! Here are some of his lovely new paintings that are now available for purchase in the shop. Enjoy!
"Mango Splash" by Chincoteague Minnow
This is such a fun and vibrant painting. Add a pop of color to your walls with this mango inspired painting. Just a splash of silver, yellow, and white make it so much fun!
"Golden Waves" by Chincoteague Minnow
A kiss of sun as the ocean waves come crashing down around him. Minnow probably envisioned his days as a youth growing up on the shores of Assateague Island when he painted this.
"Purple Rain" by Chincoteague Minnow
Perhaps Minnow was channeling his inner Prince when he painted this purple rain piece (video). Either way it’s a fun splash of colors for your walls!
"Field of Green" by Chincoteague Minnow
Painted on the 10 year anniversary of the September 11th Disaster, we imagine Minnow was wishing for growth and change as well as fields of green grass when he painted this.
"Remember" by Chincoteague Minnow
Painted on the 10 year anniversary of the September 11th Disaster, we imagine Minnow was remembering the event as it shaped the history of the US. Red, White and Blue dawn this patriotic piece.
"Light at the End of the Tunnel" by Chincoteague Minnow
Painted on the 10 year anniversary of the September 11th Disaster, we imagine Minnow was thinking of the light at the end of the tunnel when he painted this vibrant piece. Disaster is terrible, but there will always be a shimmer of hope.
Each painting has a different story to tell. Which painting speaks to you?
Judged Trail Competition – Sept. 18
On Sunday I took Boomerang to a Judged Trail Competition at the Bucks County Horse Park. I’ve never been to one of these before but it sounded like fun. You ride a 4 mile long trail through the park and at certain check points you have to complete an obstacle. You are judged on your performance (and sometimes timed). Boomer was great, completing every one of the obstacles to the best of his ability. We encountered several obstacles that Boomer had never seen before, like a teeter-totter, dragging a boogie board through water, walking across a carpet in the grass, opening trash cans, playing mini golf, and a few others. I was able to film some of the obstacles – but I wish I had remembered to film all of them, I got caught up in all the fun we were having!
Here’s a short compilation of some of the stuff we encountered throughout the day:
We’re still waiting to hear the results, so hopefully we did well enough to place. But either way it was a fun experience and I hope we can make it out to another one soon.
Here’s a video of my mom and my sister’s mare, Jet, doing some of the obstacles:
Chadds Ford Days
This past weekend we attended the Chadds Ford Dog Days of Summer II event. Having never been to this event it was a new experience for all of us including the pony and the dogs.
Minnow (and the dogs) had a new encounter with a cow named LuLu and her cute 8 month old calf, Annabelle.
I’m really not sure if Minnow had ever been this close to cows before, although he did spend some of his life living on an Amish Farm – so it’s probably pretty likely that he had at least seen them before. In the beginning I was a little worried about him, because he was utterly terrified of them as they approached his corral on Saturday morning.
But, about an hour later he had decided that they were to be his new friends – and I think he actually started to enjoy hearing them Moo at him – reminding him that he wasn’t the only livestock hanging out all weekend at a fair.
Minnow painted several pieces each day (which we will share soon) and showed off some of his favorite tricks to the crowds.
And after Ammo had a chance to show off some of his tricks, we handed out little trading cards to all the kids, which I think they really enjoyed.
By the end of the weekend we were all pretty exhausted, including the dogs.
I think we all need a well deserved rest this week!
So what about you? Have your horses/dogs ever met cows before? Anyone on the East Coast ever hold a “cow introduction” clinic? Blitz actually has plans to visit a farm soon to start working cows & I’m hoping to take Boomerang at some point too. Or did we meet any of you this weekend at the Chadds Ford Days? We’d love to hear from you!
You can check out more photos from this weekend on Ammo’s Blog! And we’ll be back soon with a post to show some of Minnow’s new paintings!
