Posts Tagged ‘video
Cyber Monday Sale at Painting Pony!
The holiday shopping has begun! And today we decided to offer up a little discount for all of you Cyber Monday Shoppers!
Use the coupon code CYBERMONDAY13 for a 30% Discount on all orders over $20! Just use the code at checkout to receive your discount! Sale ends 12/3/13.
P.S. Make sure you check out Ammo’s Blog for some more Cyber Monday Deals on his etsy shop!
Pony Penning 2013: Painting Pony Performs in Chincoteague
Each year our ponies are invited to perform during Pony Penning week at the Chincoteague Pony Centre. This great honor is the main purpose of our trip each year – and something we look forward to.
This year we decided to bring two ponies, the ever talented Chincoteague Minnow and his buddy Chesapeake Boomerang. This was Boomer’s first trip to Pony Penning and his first time ever performing tricks in front of a crowd.
Boomer settled in quite easily, and Minnow enjoyed having a buddy to boss around with him. Minnow quickly took on the roll of head “stallion” and kept a close eye on his younger pal Boomerang.
One of the first ponies they met on the trip was Boomer’s little half sister Juniper, who had been born on the last day of June. Boomer was particularly fascinated by her, and took every chance he had to get close to her.
Juniper reminded me a lot of Boomer, fearless and brave – not much fazed her, even as she plodded around the arena in the nightly shows at the Pony Centre.
When it came time for our boy’s performances in the Pony Shows at the Centre Minnow performed like the pro he is.
Minnow opened each show by painting a special work of art that would later be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
Minnow always does his best work while on the island, and he created 8 wonderful paintings that all went off to happy new homes.
Later in the show Minnow came back out for everyone to sing Happy Birthday to him as we celebrated his 20th Birthday. He loved being the center of attention.
Now Boomer had spent the weeks leading up to Pony Penning learning a trick skit that he would perform during the shows. Having never even performed in public before let alone learn an entire performance, this was a completely new experience for Boomer. And honestly I wasn’t sure how he would react.
Boomer’s skit was based on the idea that he was headed off to Trick Pony School, and as his teacher I had lessons that he had to learn. Here you see me holding up a photo of Misty shaking hands with Marguerite Henry, and then asking him to mimic the photo by shaking my hand.
The first time Boomer entered the arena things seemed to be going well, and then the crowd let out a cheer and applause and he about jumped out of his skin – bolting to the gate. I was able to get him to return to his pedestal to perform each trick, but every time the crowd clapped he would again bolt to the gate.
Amazingly Boomer performed every single trick I asked him to – including his spectacular sit on the beanbag trick, he was just clearly frightened of the clapping. But about the 3rd performance in he started to get over it and by the end of the week he could of cared less that people were cheering and clapping for him.
Boomer got so into his performances that he knew the order of tricks that were coming before I could even ask him to perform them. I would have to rush to get his beanbags set up for him before he decided just to sit on the ground!
I was so pleased with how he did, and I think everyone loved his big personality. He did a wonderful job showing just how smart and talented these Chincoteague Ponies are, and I’m sure this is just the first of many performances for Boomer.
On our last day on the island Boomer got to compete in the Pony Show’s Extreme Pony Race – I think he was a bit surprised to enter the arena this time with a jump in front of him, but he did well – and only threw in a few small bucks! I was relieved he didn’t decide to show the crowd his bronco bucking skills!
By the end of the week I was so proud of both of my boys. Thinking back on how far both of them have come, and how talented and amazing they are makes me proud. I love being able to share these amazing ponies with people and I hope everyone that gets to meet them think they are just as special as I do.
Tomorrow I’ll be back to share all about of experience at the epic Chincoteague Pony Swim, and you can read all about the Beach Walk in yesterday’s post.
You can check out all the photos from the beach walk, pony swim and auction HERE. They are also available for purchase!
Boomer tries Team Penning
Lately we have been doing a lot of cattle work. We’ve gone to a couple ranch sorting clinics and we’ve even tried some team penning. Boomer has really started to enjoy chasing cows, and I think my favorite of them all is the team penning!
Here’s a short video of Boomer trying some team penning, this is only his 4th time on cattle.
On this particular trip we even brought along my sister’s mare for her first time on cattle. She was a natural and jumped right in to chasing cows.
Perhaps someday we’ll get our own cattle on the farm, because it seems all the ponies really enjoy moving them around!
Maintaining Ringbone: Minnow tries Ground Control Shoes
In January I took Minnow back to New Bolton Center to have his diagnosis of Ringbone reassessed after being treated 5 years earlier. Without too much hope we were left to experiment with different types of shoeing in the hopes of maybe making Minnow a little bit more comfortable in the coming years.
I decided to test out the Ground Control Shoes with Minnow first, to see if they might take away some of his pain. Some of the key points I had read about the Ground Control Shoes are:
- Outlasts metal 2:1 guaranteed!
- Unsurpassed shock absorption.
- Better than barefoot flexible fit!
- Keeps performance horses sounder longer!
- Provides relief from arthritis pain, navicular, founder and ringbone.
- Safer on roads and rocks!
- Won’t ‘snowball’ in winter.
- Shapes and wears to fit your horse’s needs!
- NO special tools or nails required!
Feeling hopeful I made sure to take videos of Minnow prior to having the shoes put on and then again 2 weeks after wearing them.
After having Minnow wear the Ground Control Shoes for almost 4 weeks I’ve decided that they haven’t benefited him significantly – if anything he might be a tad worse than he was when barefoot.
So next shoeing they will be removed and we will try something else – I think a rocker type shoe.
I think the ground control shoes could probably work for some horses – depending on what you need them for, but for Minnow’s situation it’s just not enough of a benefit to warrant spending the money to have them put on every month.
So onto the next shoeing experiment!
Minnow and Ammo on Animal Planet, The Year in Pup Culture
On December 22, 2012 Animal Planet aired a new show called The Year in Pup Culture.
It’s an action-packed hour of non-stop, over-the-top cuteness. THE YEAR IN PUP CULTURE looks back at the defining moments of 2012 as only Animal Planet can — with puppies! These adorable pups reenact the most memorable moments of the year, including scenes from top blockbuster movies and ripped-from-the headline bits. If these moments piqued public interest in 2012, they are getting “puppified” in the cutest hour on television.
The exciting thing about this show is that they had requested to use a clip of Minnow and Ammo playing together on the farm. This is the third Animal Planet Show which has shared clips of my boys, America’s Cutest Dogs, America’s Cutest Cats, and now The Year in Pup Culture. Well when I actually got to watch the boys on tv, I was excited to see that they had compared them to the Kardashians! I must admit, my guilty pleasure is watching Keeping up with the Kardashians.
Check out the boys in their debut:
Oh yes, you heard right – Ammo and Minnow are like the Kim & Kanye of Animal Planet! Well, except the fact that we’re best friends instead of lovers, although they do love each other dearly. Proof:
I’m pretty sure they now think this means they get designer dog and pony gear since they are associated with the Kardashian clan. Or at least a feature on Khloe Kardashian’s or Kim Kardashian’s Blog?
We’ll keep dreaming. 🙂
