| No doubt about it, he's growing up! Hard to believe that it's really only been a few months that we've had him and now here he is with a saddle on his back! He's such a little guy that this particular saddle, which is really a "pony saddle" covers him nearly completely. It's still going to be a long time before anyone occupies that saddle, or any other, but it's started. Who knows? Maybe a year from now, when he's physically ready for it, he'll be so accustomed to the saddle we'll be able to simply "hop right on". Naw, I couldn't get THAT lucky. You know, I hadn't thought about it until just a minute ago - you're probably wondering about some of what we're doing with training him; I've made several references throughout to "his cooperation", "...coming to us", things like that. I think it might be time to explain a few things. We are both firm believers in a rather new (unfortunately) method of training horses - a method that has been developed over time by a man named Monty Roberts. This gentleman has observed and worked with horses all his life (some 60+ years) and has learned their language (yes, they really do have a full language of their own) that he calls Equus. Anyone who works with horses knows that they're pretty much silent animals - they really rarely make any vocal noises. Their language is based almost totally on "body language", and it's not all that hard to learn. We've read his books and will be seeing him in action in early June (2002). But, the biggest thing that really convinced us that you can "talk to a horse and work with him with HIS cooperation" came when we had Blue in a 50' round-pen and simply dropped the whip (actually, we didn't even take one in with us) and addressed him in his own language, using body positioning. His reaction was immediate, and exactly what we'd come to expect. It didn't take any experience at all, neither one of us really knows hardly anything about horses - and it worked the very first time. So, now we've learned to talk to him, to "listen" to him talking to us - it's a marvelous experience! In addition, we've used the same methods with Holly's horse, Banjo. Soon we'll be trying it with Arizona, Cherokee & Max. UPDATE: 3 April 2002 -- We heard, a few days ago, from the lady who owns the farm where Blue was foaled. She sent us so much information on his background - I can't believe it! Fabulous stuff! Among other things we've learned is the meaning of the initials "DLA"; "Dawn's Little Acres", the name of the farm - which was named for Blue's grand-mother, a half-Arab / half-Welsh, which probably explains his really thick coat of fur. Dawn's gone now, a real shame. However, there is now a page devoted to Blue's ancestry and I have pic's of mom & pop, along with some of Blue's brothers & sisters. Take a look at the "heritage" page. |
| 16 January 2002 Blue & Susan are really becoming something of a team. The pic's today are more "portrait" than anything else. We've found that he likes cameras (good thing too, I've almost always got one around to take pictures), especially the movie camera. |
| This pic came about as a result of a day about a week ago. Susan went riding on Banjo (Holly's Paint) and Blue went bananas! He flew all over the field, chasing her and Banjo. We figured it might just be time to try out a saddle on him, just to see his reaction. Here he is, just like the big boys - and happy as a clam. He took to it like he'd been doing it all the time. |
| Blue & Susan Now, is this a proud mama or what?! |
| Blue & Susan Yup, no doubt about it. |
| Blue With A Saddle For The FIRST Time |
| BLUE'S PAGES |
| BLUE'S PHOTO GALLERIES |
| Baby Pictures April 2000 |
28-29 October 2001 | 15 November 2001 |
| 1 January 2002 | 16 January 2002 | May 2003 |
| 26 August 2005 | 23 May 2006 Third Day of Riding Blue |
24 May 2006 Fourth Day of Riding Blue |
