Photos from Oreana by Merri Melde

Follow this link to Merri's picasa album of the Oreana clinic. Thanks Merri!

Oreana Clinic Fall 2014

OREANA CLINIC overview and pictures!

The clinic at the Teeter Ranch was awesome! The clinic did fill (at the last minute!) so we had seven students and their horses. It was a great weekend with a fantastic bunch of participants. We even had quite a few auditors over the three days which was particularly nice. Several of the participants indicate that they would love to do another clinic at the Teeter Ranch in the spring so we may be setting the date for another clinic there soon!     

Each day began somewhat like this picture of day one of the clinic.

On day two a little bit of practice without our horses followed the lecture time;

Morning three began with a round penning demonstration. Multiple participants told us that the round pen demo was extremely helpful to them. Ted used a two year old filly of Steph's for this demonstration. He explained throughout the exercise what he was doing and why. 

Each day was a full days work for all the participants. The first day was all ground work, with the second and third days being a mix of ground work and riding exercises.

Steph Teeter on Smokey during a session of riding exercises. 

More info and photos from the clinic to be added soon - keep checking in with us and thank you for visiting the blog! 

Another 4 Year Old - Cruiser

Current Training Projects - Finally - One for Terrence! Introducing Cruiser 

Our sixteen year old son Terrence is a hard working member of the horse team around here. Of late, he is a horseless hard working member of the horse team.  Terrence has been using hours and hours of his time helping train and care for the horses here owned by the rest of us! Like all members of the family; he is expected to buck hay, fix fences, clean pens, and in general pitch in with all duties. He even trims most of the hooves here, (which is suddenly getting to be quite a few hooves!). If any kid has ever done enough to earn the privilege of owning some "maintenance on four legs" of their own here's one (of course all of our kids work hard but Terrence undoubtedly puts in more hours on other peoples horses than anyone else!). Terrence has had the opportunity to work with a bunch of horses over the last two years in particular. As he has had exposure to all of these horses and gained experience he also developed a pretty good idea of just what kind of horse he was looking for. So how blessed is our family that exactly the perfect horse for Terrence just happens to become available this summer?

Terrence showing Cruiser's vertical flexion off!

This horse came from the same ranch as Hugo and is also registered half Arabian, although unlike Hugo (who is half POA) Cruiser's non Arab half is AQHA.  The previous owners had run an endurance horse breeding ranch for many years but this summer were getting out of the horse business and putting their range to other use. Therefor they had quite a few horses to re-home in a short time period. This horse was a bit of an awkward case to place as he had not been gelded when he was younger so now he was a virtually untrained four year old half Arabian stallion. (So not an ideal prospect for many people!) Since this horse still needed to be gelded he was living with their other ranch stallions which means he was familiar with being picketed on a long line as their stallions spend a lot of time out on stakes. That was however, the only thing he was really familiar with! Upon arrival here Terrence scheduled to have him gelded, began training immediately and struggled to find a good name as he was NOT going to call him the name that he was going by when we picked him up (Hottie). Imagine that! What guy wouldn't want to introduce his horse as Hottie? (Presumably the nickname was derived from his registered name Hot Buttered Rum.) Terrence settled on the name Cruiser and had the horse gelded July 3. He was barely phased by the operation and Terrence was able to continue his training uninterrupted, putting his first ride on him on July 4th. Cruiser has finally started to realize he is not a stud horse anymore so we will be able to integrate him into the mixed pasture herd now. So far he has been in a gelding only group but we hope to be able to put most of the herd together on the bigger pasture for winter. Terrence has been working consistently with him and has done all of his training (with coaching and advice from Dad always available!).  As a half Arabian Cruiser has some physical traits (that extended trot!) of Arabs but he definitely didn't get the reactive streak that Hugo has. He is actually one of those 'in the middle' horses that everyone would love; calm and not over reactive but very willing to go.  He is also rather nicely put together and quite athletic, and according to Terrence, easy to teach.  Currently Terrence has Cruiser through the fundamental and intermediate levels and is now refining intermediate exercises in preparation for moving on to advanced. He is also devoting some of Cruiser's training sessions to preparing him for trick riding. Because who doesn't want to do headstands on top of a loping horse?

I finally got my camera back from the shop so I should be getting some more current photos up on here soon!
Next post on our current training projects will be Ted's new horse, a beautiful foundation bred AQHA bay stallion, Cowboy. Next post after that - my ride for this winter! I am so excited to have M.J. here!!!

Advanced Clinic

Advanced Clinic in Wyoming
If you know Ted at all you know he is always excited about learning and increasing his own skills. Thus he was super excited to be able to participate in this clinic!

This was a private clinic hosted by Robin and Dennis Harris at their beautiful property in Jackson, Wyoming this July and taught by Clinton Anderson Certified Professional Clinician Brittany Huff.   

I guess you should never be surprised when things don’t go as planned; it seems to be a bit of a pattern in life actually! Originally we had planned to take Karen Bumgarner's horse Brass along on our little jaunt to Wyoming. Ted had been preparing Brass for advanced work since our return from the Fundamentals Clinic in Texas. Brass has had intermittent soundness issues over the last year (as he recovers from years of nutritional neglect as well as what Pete Ramey (equine hoof expert his website is  hoofrehab.com)  calls LOF [lack of farrier] disease). When another instance of unexpected, mysterious lameness suddenly manifested itself just two days before we planned to head to the advanced clinic we both thought that we should reconsider taking Brass to Wyoming.  The lameness vanished almost as quickly as it appeared.  Karen was fairly confident that Brass’ issue that weekend was muscular and that it would likely not be a risk to Brass to take him to the clinic. Neither Ted nor I were comfortable with taking any risk whatsoever that there might be harm caused to Brass, and so in spite of Karen’s generosity we made the decision to proceed to the clinic without a horse in tow. This was a big disappointment for Ted who had been looking forward to this clinic all summer. I called Robin and explained what had happened and that unfortunately, we would not be bringing a horse with us so Ted would be observing only. Robin however insisted that Ted would have a mount for the clinic if she could make it happen. Twenty minutes later she called me back to tell me that Rio (a three year old gelding of the Harris’) would be available for Ted for the week! We had met Rio in Texas as Robin and Dennis' daughter Dusty had taken him as her horse for the Fundamentals Clinic this spring. Meanwhile Dennis had taken Rio through the Intermediate level of the Method (just as Ted was doing with Brass here!) so Rio was prepared to begin advanced level and was a perfect horse for Ted to work with at the clinic.  

Ted and I then decided to leave a day earlier than originally planned for Ted to have a chance to work with Rio a little bit before the official beginning of the clinic. So we spent our eighteenth wedding anniversary en route to Jackson! It was a very pleasant little drive in our Honda (in sharp contrast to a long unpleasant drive to Texas this spring!). The setting for the clinic was almost surreal; I have never been anyplace so beautiful before. Dennis and Robin were wonderful gracious hosts who made this Advanced level clinic possible for everyone. They have made their own home a lovely display of their personal artistry and craftsmanship; that added to the delightful scenery all around us made for a breathtaking week. I originally planned to watch each day of the clinic, learning what I could by watching, listening and taking notes. Of course I also planned to be taking a lot of pictures (as usual!). I definitely took a lot more pictures of the amazing surroundings then I did of the clinic! There were two different horses available for me to ride out into what we referred to as Robin and Dennis’ backyard (the back property gate goes straight onto National Forest Service property).  It was so beautiful and I absolutely loved the opportunity to simply mount up and head out to enjoy it! As a direct result I have less pictures of the clinic than I originally planned to have. The downside is that I learned very little from observing the clinic because I did not spend a lot of time observing!  Everything was a pleasure; the surroundings; the companions; the beautiful scenery; and for Ted the added pleasure of working alongside a like minded group of horsemen all focused on taking their horsemanship to a higher level. Ted enjoyed being able to work with Rio at the clinic, Rio was much better suited to the execution of the advanced maneuvers than Brass simply due to his conformation type. Ted said  his best takeaway piece of knowledge was how to put all the parts of a collected rollback together and perform it. 

Like the clinic in Texas; one of the best things about this one was the people there! Ted was one of four people invited by Robin and Dennis to participate in the five day lesson taught by Brittany. The amazing thing is we just met Dennis and Robin in Texas this spring; just barely in time for Ted to be able to participate in the only Advanced Clinic (which was technically a five day private lesson) that any of the Downunder Certified Clinicians have ever put on.We both are so thankful for having had this once in a lifetime experience! Like everyone else, we have our challenges in life but we have certainly been blessed by the people we keep meeting on our horsemanship journey!

This view is the beginning of almost every ride I went on! I love this photo!

This picture was taken from almost the same location as the previous photo only facing back towards the arena.

Some more pictures from my personal time on this trip follow. They are just scenes from my recreational rides out while Ted and the other participants worked on the Advanced exercises!

One spot available at Oct. 10, 11, 12 Clinic

We have one participant spot still open for the October Clinic at the Teeter Ranch in Oreana next month. Ted limits the clinic group to seven students. The limit is in place in order to ensure that Ted is able to give enough individual attention to each student. We want everyone to have as much help as they need and to receive great learning value in their clinic experience. There is no auditor limit so if you would like to come watch any or all of the clinic feel free. This even extends to being able to camp at the Teeter Ranch for this particular clinic! Check out the page on the clinic and the recent events page for more information about what one of Ted's clinics is like. If you would like to participate in a clinic but this particular clinic timing is inconvenient (or you don't get a spot!), don't worry; Ted will schedule a clinic at a time and place which will work for you, see the services offered page or contact Ted for more information.

Current Training - Hugo

INTRODUCING HUGO

This has been the year for four year old geldings! Hugo is one of the three four year old geldings our family has acquired this summer. He is half Arabian, half POA and full of potential. I am super excited about him as our "Next Level" pony. He was an amazing find and we believe he will be with our family for years and years. He has a lot of athletic ability, fantastic hooves (open range raised!), and a super abundance of intelligence and energy. He is pretty much the polar opposite of Ardreth in personality, while Ardreth's favorite part of training is NOT moving, Hugo loves to go and the faster the better. Because Hugo was basically a wild horse and much more reactive than most of the horses which come here, Ted has spent significant time on him but at this point he is receiving a lot of training from Beth with some help from Terrence. Terrence has been 'lucky' to have several very reactive types of horses to work with over the last two years and so has really developed a lot of experience with reactive horses!

BETH on HUGO -still working on cruise control.

I love how Hugo watches her feet and follows every step!

I am so excited about his athleticism.

LJ gets saddle time on Hugo under direct Daddy supervision only at this point.

Even though she is the one who Hugo likes the most and who we hope will be the one enjoying him for the next several years she is not given any unsupervised ride time yet.  Hugo is so quick to learn that we are being very cautious that her lesser experience doesn't end up teaching him something we don't want him to know (i.e. - That she is not as quick or as strict as Terrence, Beth or Ted!).

Current Training Projects

LJ working on following the fence on Ardreth on his sixth day under saddle.

   INTRODUCING ARDRETH
These are pictures of a four year old Welsh gelding which Beth purchased this summer. He is another great training project for her. He is smaller than the Welsh filly which she trained last winter so Beth has enlisted her little sister's help to put miles under his feet. LJ doesn't mind one bit being the one to ride him on trail rides and is even hoping to go on a 25 mile (also known as LD or limited distance) endurance ride on him before snow flies this year. Beth is continuing to train him on the ground and under saddle and has ambitions to teach him all kinds of tricks as well. The original plan to buy him, train him and sell him next spring to be somebody's dream pony did not last very long. The current plan is to teach him absolutely everything she can and be able to use him as a solid lesson pony. Currently Beth gives riding lessons on Clay and she is a wonderful lesson horse but Beth thinks having a lesson pony as well is a great idea. And even just looking at the pictures can you blame her? I wouldn't want to sell him either!

Whatever his long term career becomes, for now he is a pleasure to work with for both Beth and her little sister. He has been the horse (well, the pony anyway) to bring a bunch of new horsemanship firsts to LJ's life including the execution of her first 'First Ride'. I'm the Mom (and I know I am biased) but I have to say she did AMAZING at doing the riders job on that very first 'first ride'.

LJ and Ardreth just finishing up a picture perfect first ride with Dad.

Beth and Ardreth embark on a groundwork session.

 Ardreth prefers lessons which involve standing still and being petted.

He does move when asked......





but this is the best part according to Ardreth.