Golden Charmer

Golden Charmer was another racehorse who lived with us for several years. He was a Thoroughbred of 5 years old when we first met him on an October 1st evening. 

First Day we met Golden Charmer

 

We enjoyed having a second horse to train and ride, but he was quite a bit different to train then others we have had over the years. Being a Thoroughbred, he had long legs and a narrow body, which felt much different, especially at the center, than our other horses.

Since he came off the racetrack later in life, he was more "set in his ways" making it harder to work on his conditioned response. 

A conditional response is an interesting concept. You can't tell a horse to not get scared, but you can condition his or her response, so they will do what you want even when they are scared.

One of the last days we owned "Charmer"

 

After training and riding Charmer for over 6 years, we sold him. Last we knew, he was enjoying his life as an easygoing trail horse.

SEYVILLADAWNPROOF

SeyvillaDawnProof was the first ranch horse we started and she became the first equine for SS Ranch 77.

Seyvilla came to use from the racetrack where he sweet personality caught the attention of our uncle who happened to be a farrier at the same track where she was racing. He had shod her a few times and when the owner decided to sell, our uncle gave us a call.

What followed would be 16 years of training, riding, and enjoyment as well as challenges. Being an Arabian she was definitely a handful. Over the years we developed a bond with her that increased our love for horses and our desire to train other young equines. Other horses he had for a few months at a time, during those years, helped us continue training her while bettering us as trainers and riders.

Seyvilla taught us so much and we are grateful for the time we had her. Thank you for the opportunity!

Be looking for our book "Our Arabian Cow Horse" coming soon!

September 13, 2020

Now with the newest addition to the barn, we have three horses at very different training levels. This works great for us because it helps us have more variety of training each day. We can go from beginning training on the "go forward" cue with Serita, to the flying lead changes with Shine. Then jump over and work with Soot on pulling the tire.

Each horse has a different learning style too, much like people do. Having these horses at the same time also helps us keep our minds open to different ways of training that might work better for different tasks we want them to learn.

Here is a recent update on each horse:

Shine: He is enjoying our time together, usually meeting me at the gate when I enter. He has good energy. Working on having him bend in the correct direction when I am mounted. Have worked on the barrel pattern and he is getting better. Have also done some pole bending practice.

Shine and Soot: (8/3) We did Soot and Shine together. I rode Shine bareback and Sheena led Soot. We walked all over the SPVR property then to the round pen in the corner. We did some with working them together in there, but then one of us waited in the middle while the other one worked. Shine did a good job and listened quite well, both when Soot was being worked and when he was just standing there. Soot was a little distracted when Shine was being worked, but then listened better when Shine was just standing in the center of the round pen.

Soot: Soot is getting more confident in pulling the tire. He pulls it with almost no effort now and seems to love it! Getting better control of turns and practically drags the whole round pen until it's flat!

Serita: She loves to be petted and loves attention, though she has learned to calmly wait her turn while we work Shine and Soot. She is learning to more consistently "go forward" and to hold her feet up in preparation for hoof trimming.