Calista Update

[sbutter]

I am practically walking on cloud 9 right now:D We bought one of those giant blue balls that horses play with to use with our riding horses. My mom's Morgan gelding (Latte) is always scared of new things and sometimes old things for that matter, so it took her a while to finally get him to stand near it. I walked in with Calista and she walked straight up to it and touched it with her nose like it was old news. Bobby was riding my dad's TB mare and I was curious to see how she would do. She is a very smart filly and we know she got it all from her sire (Swiss Yodeler), since her mom was one of the weirdest mares we had to deal with. She, like Calista, did not show any concerns over it and was actually the only one by the end of our ride to be able to kick the ball around while trotting. We were very impressed with her. But...back to Calista

She hadn't been ridden in a couple of days and it was the first time for us to be able to ride in our arena this year, so she was feeling pretty good. After I showed her the ball, we started trotting and working on bending. I could tell that she really wanted to move out and canter (which she normally is not to thrilled about doing), so I decided I would take advantage of her willingness and to make it a positive fun thing for her. I asked her to canter and she went right into it. I didn't want to mess too much with the reins or her speed, and I let her decide somewhat where she wanted to go. After about three laps of letting her do her own thing, I decided that I wanted her to change directions. All I did was shift my body weight and turn my head in the direction I wanted to go and she immediately did a flying lead change and went the new direction. I was shocked at such the smooth easy response that she did it in, so I had to try it again Every time we passed through the center or whenever I asked her to change directions, she did it like she was a "trained" horse lol. None of this was from my hands and all I did was just shift my weight and turn my head. She was so in tune with me that it just gave me chills and I was grinning from ear to ear. I have never ridden a horse that could do flying lead changes like that and she did it so naturally. So, I am a very happy camper

[Michelle Clarke]

Okay, first off...where are some of your famous pictures!!! Guess it's hard to do when you are riding. It is so neat for you to experience that with the lead changes. When we had a Kiger mare in to be started under saddle about 12 years ago, I was riding her for about the third time in our big indoor in Chicago. Back then I started all the horses in a dressage saddle and she got a little spooked at the closeness of it. She went into a canter and as I tried to settle myself in, she started swapping leads under me to stay balanced. It was way cool and I knew at that point what rare treasure these horses really are. You just don't find many horses that naturally balanced!

On that note, I was at a clinic with Curt Pate when I had my first Kiger, Zorro (aka Midnight). He asked to ride him and afterwards commented that he had heard Tom Dorrance always talk about horses that have "undertow", they are careful to take you with them where ever you go, and he never knew what Tom was talking about until that moment.

So...when do we get to see film of tempi changes with you and Calista???!!!

[stlkigers]

WOW....sounds like a wonderful time....Calista is such an amazing mare.....And I second Michelle's request for PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Angela

[lindad]

How wonderful to have such a fine example of a Kiger! She is a natural!

[DianneC]

Yipee! What a great report!

[sbutter]

Yeah...I had been making it a habit of carrying my camera around with me, but its a little difficult to take pictures of yourself I will see what I can do though. Now that you described it, I have never felt off balanced with Calista. She is always right there under me even if she gets startled by something. Its like she pulls me with her when she moves. So I am pretty excited at how she is developing! I know she can do a lot more than I am asking her, but I need to make sure I really have it down so I don't make mistakes She has been such a fun horse to work with and I always see progress with her. She is definitely a gem.

[sbutter]

I got a fun video, but it isn't of that. My brother was on spring break, so I took advantage of his camera to get all of these videos. I have "dreams" of using Calista as my camera packing horse, so I played with my brothers little camera while on her. We went riding at Mt. Diablo and it was a gorgeous day! Most of this video is on the back of Calista, so it was a little shaky, but she will get the hang of it It was also pretty windy in places, so we had to hold on to our hats to keep them from blowing away, so a lot of multitasking went on. I had to focus hard on the video while we were cantering, so I had both hands on the camera while the reins sat on the horn of the saddle. All in all it was a fun day, since we also finished it off with Chinese food. Youtube somewhat pixelated the video, but you can still get an idea of how fun it was. It starts out as pictures and then goes to the video footage. Oh, and the part where my mom says, "she is violent," she is not talking about me lol.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERpVSKNBM6U

[fantasykiger]

That was a great video what a fun day out on the trail and fabulously GREEN trails at that....just a little jealous...LOL. Your mom's Morgan horse remeinds me so much of the Morgan I ride most of the time, they just travel the same way. Hawk cracks me up what a character a good match for your brother of course the water trough scene is classic...LOL ;D