Stormy Meets a Tire

Last night, Cherokee Storm was introduced to the big tractor tire. Another obstacle to encourage listening, trust and self-confidence. He sniffs it a few times. He is not afraid of it, but does not want to step into it either.

Each time he approaches the tire, he is rewarded with a scratch and praise, backed off and asked again. After a few times of trying, he finally steps in from one direction and follows through quietly. Let's try it from another angle.

Hey, Stormy, that's cheating.. !! Schooling over jumps will come later in your training !

After some work on that side, Stormy does walk through nicely from all directions and angles. By the end, Stormy is able to stand in the tire and move his haunches around.

Here is a photo of Stormy standing on the bridge-- very proud young man. I am not sure what our project will be for tonight, but Stormy is ready for the challenge.

OYY Salvadore ICHO 882-D is a wonderful, handsome, sporty little 12.2 hand curly colt sired by Mead's Chocolate Chip. He is also now in training. He has completed all the obstacles easily and willingly. He LOVES to jump ! Here he is practicing some neck/head bends. Last night he was long lined with blinders for the first time. It's so great when you have not only a very handsome horse.. but a very SMART one too !!

We ended the day working with OYY Pal's Job, a fabulous smooth coated pony out of Frostfire's Tadpole. Tadpole was leased from Sharon Williams - a knowledgable Curly horse breeder who sadly passed a few years back. As the offspring of Tadpole's grow and advacne in their training, I miss the opportunity to let her know what super foals Tadpole has sired. All his foals are easy to train and have such nice attitudes. Job was a driving pony as a 2 year old. He is being ridden now as a 4 year old and working on his collection and smooth transitions in the ring. He's just the right size for an aspiring youngster or smllaer adult. He'll make a great trail horse-- but also shows potential for pony dressage... sensitive and responsive.

Last night ended earlier... the sun was still bright but low in the sky. I captured a photo of some of my day lillies on the way back to the house.

Enjoy your day ~

Cherokee Storm meets the Tarp

Last night trainer, Lisa Wheelock, introduced Classic Dreams Cherokee Storm ("Stormy") to the tarp. We have working with him-- our goal is to have him under saddle. He has been doing some obstacle work.. which I find really builds trust and respect. He mastered the bridge-- so on to the tarp. Here he is .. flipping the tarp at him for the first time. Stormy has to stand still for 1,2,3 touches, each side. then, Lisa goes on to rub each side with the tarp all over, front to back.

Left side and right side.. until he stands and accepts it quietly with no response.

In addition to being rubbed with the tarp, Lisa throws it all around his body.

In the end, Stormy can walk around "wearing" the tarp and walking on it slowly.

Stormy is smart and catches on quickly. He's also a great stallion, with some super offspring. OYY Finnegan is, so far, the only offspring of Stormy's that is old enough to in training and he is quiet, willing and also very smart-- picking up his driving training like nothing !! Stormy is 14.1 hands, so he is a great stud to make ponies or horses.. and add his cremello coloring -- I am pretty pleased to have him in my breeding program.

By the time we were done, the sun was setting -- I snapped a photo on my way into the house for the night--

Enjoy your day ~

It’s been such a looong time since my last entry, I am now wondering – with so much to report from Top O’ The Hill Farm – should I attempt to catch up in one lengthy blog post ? or use all the old news to fill August up with July’s events?

Last time I “blogged’ we were lamenting DRY weather and wishing for rain. Well, rain we have received--- for awhile it seemed as though we were living in the tropics instead of Vermont, as we experienced daily afternoon booming thunderstorms, with intermittent oppressing humidity. The main concern is of course… how to get in a decent crop of hay. It’s still raining almost every day (or night), with over 4 inches two nights ago.

In addition to hay concerns, each time we plan a trail ride, we worry if we’ll get caught in a sudden downpour accompanied by BIG boomers and lightening. One Sunday morning, I went out on a new trail by myself, managed to get lost, (which comes easily to me). The skies darkened quickly, so we just finally took a trail I thought would lead down to the road home, knowing it would be close. The sky opened up to release BIG torrential drops of rain, so we had to power trot through some rough goings in order to get home any old way that would get us there. I have been back on that trail since and learned the way—sort of.

The pattern of afternoon thunderstorms has made working with Mead’s Chocolate Chip challenging. His trainer, Maya Dobush, rides Chip usually after 3:00… so she has been rained out quite a few times. Chip had his first off the farm foray on July 4th. That day was gorgeous sunny weather and Chip was superbly well behaved. He stood tied to the trailer, waiting for his turn in the dressage ring—not a single whinney – a calm and cool dude. Chip came to Top O’ The Hill Farm as a 4 year old from Wisconsin in September of 1998 and has been strictly a pasture stallion until this summer. We are very proud of him !!

The Vermont Morgan Heritage Days (2 days of dressage and driving competitions) takes place on the Tunbridge Fairgrounds, home to the "Tunbridge World's Fair," one of the oldest continuing agricultural fairs in the country, as well as host to a variety of events held every year throughout the warmer months. The Fairgrounds' racetrack is one of the few half-mile tracks remaining from the days when trotting races were a regular and much-anticipated feature at country fairs throughout northern New England. Chip was the only Curly present, and did attract a few quizzical looks from the other Morgan horse breeders and owners.

Tunbridge is a beautiful quintessential Vermont town nestled in the green rolling hills - the fairgrounds a classic country setting. The show was busy, with many arenas set up and dressage tests of every level taking place. We arrived in plenty of time for Maya and Chip to ride the fairgrounds and warm up. Chip was entered in the

introductory walk/trot class since he was new to his show career

and still somewhat green under saddle. We were pleased with the results - Chip and Maya earned a fifth place ribbon in a class of 10 entries.

Most of all, Chip impressed us with his behavior and willingness - an old man learning new tricks with grace and style.

On the way home, I stopped to photograph a wonderful barn along the way.

A great way to celebrate the Fourth !

For all of you who visit my blog and look for news -- I will try to add more each day and catch up on all our goings on.

For now-- Enjoy your day ~