4-H going into the hair salon business?

This week was our biggest turnout at 4-H.  We had 12 kids, 4 of them first timers.  The kids had a blast learning how to braid the horses’ manes.  The horses were, as always, perfect test dummies.  Watch out for these well turned out horses at shows this year!

Girls are loving this life sized my little pony.

Learning makes us better teachers

This weekend we (Kate and Kelly) went to Shawnee Acres for a clinic with eventing judge and trainer Nanci Lindroth.  Each of us did an individual dressage lesson, then we came together for a jumping lesson. 

Kelly gets some feedback after working at the canter

Kelly brought Spring, who she has been training regularly over the winter.  For those of you who know Spring, you know she can be…springy.  She was on her best behavior and the two made some great strides in the relaxation and softening Kelly has been working towards. 

Spring in a working frame

 

Kate asks August to move forward and bend on the circle.

I brought August after Monopoly showed some soreness on Wednesday (he’s fine now).  He is an angel and allowed me to get some much needed tuning up on my position.  The jumping lesson was a lot of fun, and gave us some new exercises for us and for our students. 

Kate talks with Nanci about her goals for the lesson

 

Clinics are a great way to improve our riding skills, as well as our teaching skills.  I think part of being a good teacher is understanding what it feels like to be a student.  What better way to do that than to actually be a student?  We hope to continue this trend by attending more clinics, and possibly hosting a clinician at Spence’s.  In the meantime, we have plenty of homework!

CRAFTS…more than just scrapbooking

CRAFTS is a philosophy that we use all over the farm, and particularly with the horses.  It’s an acronym for Communication Respect Acknowledgement Trust and Setting good boundaries.  It is the way we train our horses and teach our students.  As instructors, we preach CRAFTS all day long, but we wanted to find out what the kids thought about it.  One student wrote a piece about CRAFTS, and it was interesting to get her take.  Some of her interpretations were different from what I have been teaching, and it made me think about all the other ways I can utilize this great method of partnership.

CRAFTS

by: Iris

Crafts means a lot to us here at Spence’s.  They are the things we need to have, make, or do to not only build a good relationship with your horse, but to have fun and not get hurt while doing it.

Communication:  Communication is one of the biggies.  If you don’t communicate with your horse, or with the people around you, something is almost sure to go wrong.  It takes a lot of communicating to train, interact with, and ride a horse.

 

Respect:  Horses can read your mind.  If you don’t respect them, and know that they are much more powerful than you, then you could build a bad relationship with your horse, or even get hurt.

Acknowledgement:  To acknowledge is another way to communicate, only always in a positive way.  When you are training or even riding and being around a horse you must acknowledge them for working with you and doing the right thing.

Friendship:  To build a good relationship with your horse you must develop 4 major things (along with others): Trust, forgiveness, patience, and friendship.  Becoming a friend to your horse is not easy,  it takes some time.  But if you do it right you can get a great result: your horse not feeling scared or suspicious around you, and much more including you and your horse having a good time!

Trust:  Trust is very important in the world of horses.  If you don’t trust your horse while you are riding it, are are likely to get scared.  When you get scared, your breathing changes and you get tense.  When that happens the horse can sense it and will get scared, too.

Setting good boundaries:  This is the final, and one of the most important parts of crafts.  Setting good boundaries means not to push yourself, only do things when you are ready, take your time, and make sure you are ready.  One example of setting bad boundaries is that you decide you want to canter when you have not perfected your sitting trot.  Not setting good boundaries can end very badly.  You could get both mentally and physically hurt.

CRAFTS has helped me and every one else at Spence’s have a better time not only with the horses but with my friends and other people.

Practice Makes Perfect

August and Molly lead the way

 

For several weeks our Saturday students have been working on a drill team performance.  The six to eight riders form two lines and ride a mirror image pattern together.  

This weekend, the team rode the final pattern from memory and put it to music.  We were able to work out some 

Timing must be perfect!

 

timing kinks and technical difficulties to make the pattern ride smoothly.  

 

The horses are learning to stand still for the salute!

 

From here on out the team will be working to add more finesse for the March 20th performance.

Mini-camp, mega-fun

  Today was mini-camp day at Spence’s Farm.  Kids enjoying a day off from school participated in a variety of activities, including horsemanship.  Mini-camps are fun for us because many of the campers have little to no horse experience, and we get to start from the very beginning.  We firmly believe that teaching helps us become better horsewomen, as we get to revisit lessons learned long ago.  During  mini-camp we can start at the beginning, focusing on the relationship between horse and human, and be reminded of the power in it.

Today, the campers helped with some barn chores (stall cleaning and sweeping), then learned how to tack up their horses.  The mounted part of the session was a blast!  The kids did an obstacle course and some even learned to trot!

  Be sure to check spencesfarm.com for upcoming mini-camp dates!

Keeping busy, keeping warm

Winter can be a challenging time in a barn.  With the cold weather and extra work, it’s hard to stay motivated.  We have been keeping busy with fun and educational activities since the fall, and have a lot to look forward to in the spring.  Our 4-H club started in November, or Saturday students have been working on a drill team, and the kids are working on a project to help monitor the weight and health of our horses.  And if that’s not enough, the students are blogging about all our activities!

Blogging the old-fashioned way!

4-H

At Spence’s Farm 4-H we learn different things about horses and riding them.  Previous topics we have been talking about include horse digestion, horse showing, and lunging.  The topics we will be discussing in the future are braiding and show grooming, introduction to Parelli, and assistant instructing.  There are about 7 people in 4-H.  Its very fun and a lot of my friends are here to do it with me. — Bridget

Drill Team

Drill team is where the horses ride side by side.  You can do different patterns, but remember, it takes a lot of time to practice.  It is fun.  There are six members.  The horses we use are Rosie, Reiny, Mexi, Pepper, August, Spring, Tonka, and Molly.  We are going to perform it on March 20, 2010. — Vera

Weight Monitoring Project

Recently in 4-H we have been working on a weight management program.  Basically, we’re each observing one specific horse and looking at their health.  One thing we look at is the horse’s weight.  We use a special weight tape that we wrap around the girth area.  We also record the horse’s diet.  One of the most important things we look at is the physical features.  Those are the horse’s coat, conformation, and their current mood or temperament.  We all are very excited to watch the progress of our horses after learning about their physical needs. — Kelly M.