Where Have the Strege's Been? (Long)

Nancy, Debbie, Lena, and Dru in quadrille

My last update was from the Florida Parelli campus where we spent the month of March while I was teaching the Foundations of Horsemanship class.  What a treat to see this small group of students advance their horsemanship!  Each of them advanced at least one level in one or more savvies.  One was honored with her Level 4 black string (another probably would have, but her horse came up lame the last week of class before the auditions.)

Leslie and Meredith of the Houston Mounted Patrol

On April 1 we left campus and went to Palm Coast to visit with my son and his lovely wife. It was a short visit and then we began traveling west and north with the goal of getting back to Washington and the horses by April 15.  On the way we stopped in Houston:  the Space Center, the Houston Mounted Patrol, and again for some lessons with the students there.  Being good students, they had practiced what I had given them in February and were ready for some new assignments on line, at liberty, and riding.  (Look for their lesson notes in an upcoming blog:  Notes from Houston April 2016.

From Houston, we traveled north to my brother’s place in southwest CO, where we picked up our Honda Pilot.  Having now spent over six months traveling, we could see the benefit of a second vehicle far outweighed the cost.  Now driving two vehicles, we headed northwest and arrived at Debby Williams’ Kozy Manor right on time.  The girls looked great!  Thank you Debby for the loving care you gave our critters over the much-longer-than-expected winter! 

The next day Debby and I attended a Carol Coppinger clinic and—thanks to Carol—I had several people approach me about lessons and colt starting.  Back at Kozy Manor--after getting settled and cleaning up tack for a few days (the humid WA winter had done a number on every piece of leather I had)--I started developing JoyFull in preparation for the Master Class with Pat Parelli in Lynden, WA at the end of June…that is a story for another blog.  While at Kozy Manor, I helped Debby with her horsemanship and gave lessons to many of her students.  Debby used these as opportunities to get feedback on challenges the students were experiencing and ideas on how to keep everyone progressive.

At the end of May, Debby and I traveled to Elkton, OR for 3 days of lessons with Candace at Rivergate and then to the Atwood Ranch in Red Bluff, CA for the Foals to First Ride Master Class with Pat.  (Dave stayed at Kozy Manor taking care of the place for Debby.)   It is always stimulating and revealing to hear from Pat and an extra perk for me was that I got to work with JoyFull’s full sister that was a yearling…they are like 2 peas in a pod!

The first weekend in June, we all (Debby, Dave and I) traveled down to Eugene, OR for the Oregon Parelli Rally Roundup.  It was record setting temperatures—100’s—but everyone kept their cool and had an enjoyable two days of increasing savvy thanks to all the Northwest instructors and an indoor facility—Oregon Equestrian Center.

While we were in Eugene we purchased a pickup to replace the Honda.  This allows us the option of towing a shorter rig (the coach plus the horse trailer was nearly 60' long!) and also enables us to “go light and short” to some more remote places where we have been considering camping with the horses.  Many forest service roads are are not very big rig friendly.

We returned to Kozy Manor and within a day or two packed up the horses and headed north to
Redmond, WA, where I had the privilege of starting an Andalusian gelding named Santo.
If you have followed the story about Dazzle and JoyFull (see The Rest of the Story blog entry), you will have a little glimpse of my fascination with Andalusians.  The time went quickly and updates are proving that Maureen, the owner, and Santo are continuing to progress.  In addition to the colt start, Maureen had also set up a number of other lessons.  The longer we were there the more calls we got.  We got to meet Fred and Joanne who lived way up on a mountain and had a wild turkey as a “watch dog!”

While we were in Redmond, I found out that Pat needed a horse to ride at the Master Class in Lynden.  I had previously gotten notice to bring/ride my best horse for the class, so had switched development to Treasure while in Redmond.  I decided to give Pat the choice knowing that which ever horse he chose it would be a great experience for both the horse and me.  When we got to Lynden, Pat made me choose!  I really wanted to ride JoyFull and I looked forward to Pat riding my “good horse."  Most of the time he gets to ride problem horses and I hoped he would appreciate the good ride.   He did!  He complimented me several times on her development and commented about how sensitive she was.  To my surprise, he rode her the whole weekend in the halter…in a Master Class.  I still have to ask him about that.

Traveling back to Ridgefield, we stopped on Camano Island to be introduced to Carol who was a friend of Jill, who was one of the other lessons that Maureen had set up.  The Camano Island location was an ideal stopover for the trip back to Kozy Manor, for a lesson and welcome overnight.  Win-win!

Kalama Horse Camp

Trail beyond McBride Lake

We stayed at Kozy Manor for a few more days then headed to Kalama Horse Camp very close to Cougar,WA. 

Mt St Helens from McBride Lake

Originally we had planned to stay here 2 weeks, but we got a request to come back to Lynden and also had a request at Mossy Rock.  After a couple of sunny days at the horse camp, it started raining.  We took the truck and drove around to see the sites at Mt. St. Helens.  It rained the next couple of days so when it was time to leave, we did not mind.

JoyFull playing in McBride Lake...which was really more like a river.

We stayed overnight at Mossy Rock, WA with Karen and Todd for whom I had done a prepurchase consultation earlier in the month.  Now Karen wanted a lesson with her new horse.  She had plans to attend a Kristi Smith clinic at the end of the month. 

From Mossy Rock it was a short, beautiful trip on up to Lynden where I had 10 hours of lessons with a delightful young lady, Vivienne, who has some big dreams…to live lightly and sustainable off the land.  It is so uncommon these days to find young people who know where they want to go in life and who are working on it.  Horses will be part of getting that done for her.

Heading back from Lynden, we had an overnight at Kozy Manor and then headed down to Elkton, OR again to stay a few days with Candace and Dennis at Rivergate. I did lessons with Candace.  Dave and Dennis enjoyed some golf.  I’m beginning to think of Rivergate as a resort…they treat us so well..but more than that they have become good friends. 

Ruby's first ride

Once we left, Elkton the plan was to start heading, in earnest, toward CO, via Bend, for a stopover at Parelli Instructor, Patti Devencenzi's.  (If you ever need a lift, just stop by the Devencenzi's...their house is filled with laughter all the time!)  While at Rivergate, Patti contacted me and asked if I was interested in starting a horse.  When folks heard I’d be there for 2 weeks, a second horse start opportunity showed up.  Actually neither of these was a true colt start.  One horse was four years old and the other was fourteen.  Both were fascinating!  You can read the logs of their progress on ParelliConnect on My Horses wall…Ruby the 4 year old appaloosa and Koala, the 14 year old mustang.

Koala's opinion of the saddle

One of Koala's ride first

On August 1, we left Bend headed generally for northern Colorado, but with some horse camping along the way…and some well deserved rest and some greatly needed alone time with the Lord!

Have you ever noticed how often in scripture it says that Jesus went to a solitary place?  Even the Messiah needed to recharge…and wilderness is where he went to do it!

When was the last time you went someplace to recharge and get alone with your Heavenly Father?