Calista

[sbutter]

These were taken a couple days ago after I had worked with Calista and then turned her out for a little bit in one of our big pastures that was not in use. She played around and then told me she was all done and then I took her back to her pasture where all of her friends are.

[kigerfan]

You really got some great shots! She definitely looks like she's having a ton of fun

[fantasykiger]

woohoo she looks great during play time, wonderful pictures.

[DianneC]

She looks really happy and healthy Sarah, thanks for sharing the pictures and taking such great care of her.

[sbutter]

Another fun event for Calista happened while I was gone. Before I left for Hume Lake this past weekend for a conference, we practiced ponying Calista off of another horse that was previously used for ponying at the race track. Calista caught on quickly and learned to never leave my right knee when we did circles at the walk and trot. I then took her out of the arena and did a little trail ride around our ranch and also ponied her over a log (she likes to jump them). All this was practice to see if she would be good enough to go for a ride with my parents ponying her over in Pleasanton. On Saturday they loaded the three horses up and took them over to the Pleasanton racetrack. While my parents went to see one of our horses work, they parked the trailer where they could see it and opened the windows so the horses could hang their heads out and watch the horses and people walk by. Everyone stood nicely and waited until they left again for the park. At the Pleasanton Ridge regional Park was where they were going to do their ride. The horses unloaded and tied on each side of the trailer. Calista was with Sedona (the mare she was ponied off of) on one side and Hawk (our big paint gelding) was on the other. The two were saddled up and my dad road Sedona while ponying Calista while my mom road Hawk. There were a lot of hills and different trails with a lot of people and bicyclists using them, so it was a great learning experience. My parents were so impressed with Calista! They said that she had acted like she had done this hundreds of times and didn't even bat an ear at anything. They talked to a couple people on the trail and they introduced Calista to them. One lady said that her day was now officially complete since she got to see a kiger in person. She was so happy to see that we were actually using Calista and turning her into a great riding horse. So, on Calista's first trail adventure she got an A+.

[sbutter]

I rode Calista out on a trail ride yesterday and it was a lot of fun! We started out in our round corral, then we went and worked in our arena and then we hit the trails! She didn't want to go over a big telephone pole that was lying down at the back of our ranch on one of our roads (it is blocking the road so people don't think of stealing hay from our hay barn). She has been over it many times before without a person on her, but the extra weight probably made her think twice about it. On the plus side she is really good at backing up lol. She decided that going forward wasn't good, so maybe backing up really fast would be better. I got her to walk right up to the pole and stand with her knees touching it and then I would praise her. There was a barbed wire fence next to us and I didn't want her to back up into it, so I asked my mom to walk next to her and lead her over it. She got her front legs over and then she hopped the rest of herself over. We worked on crossing over it a couple more times before moving on. Here are some picts of the rest of the ride.

[stlkigers]

Great to see pics of you and Calista out and about...Makes me want to head outside and ride...If the darn rain would go away!

Angela

[sbutter]

I just worked with Calista yesterday in our big arena and she is definitely progressing nicely! She not quite comfortable yet cantering out in the big open area, so we will keep working on that in the round pen and then try again in the arena. Here are some snapshots.

[sbutter]

About two weeks ago we took her on her first official trail ride! We hauled about an hour away and road up in the foothills. Everything was so gorgeous! It was hard to keep the horses from fidgeting while we took pictures of them and the beautiful scenery.

[dunbnwild]

Calista looks gorgeous! And what an amazing backdrop--things aren't nearly that green in Oklahoma yet.

[angelsdream]

Wonderful pics and great job - looks like you 2 are doing great together.

[sbutter]

We went on another trail ride this last weekend and Calista did even better! We took are riding horses to the backside of the place that we went before, so it has a little bit different scenery. There was one section of the ride that we started going down a relatively steep hill and it ended up being wet clay. So we all got off of our horses and led them down the trail. There was no mishaps but it was pretty funny. Sedona is one of our new riding horses that was used at the track, so I don't think she had much, if any trail experience before we got her. It was funny to watch Sedona and our big paint gelding Hawk as they went down this trail. Sedona's eyes got pretty big when she put on her "breaks", but still kept moving down the slope. Hawk has a lot of trail experience, but he was the one that slid the most out of everyone. He had to at least slid six feet several times, but thankfully it was a very slow controlled slide. Calista made no fuss about the whole business and no one could tell that this was her second trail ride ever.

[kigermamma]

Wow what a beautiful place to ride!! She is such a pretty mare, looks like so much fun

[sbutter]

I took these pictures when I was home a couple weeks ago and my mom wanted to show me everything that she had been working with Calista on. I was the only person who had ever ridden Calista, so I was excited to watch my mom ride her. Can you believe that my mom is 50 years old! I hope I look that good when I reach her age.

[DianneC]

Your mom looks great on Calista! Calista has muscled up nicely with all the work she's getting and looks wonderful. How is she to train and ride compared your other horses?