This month I met the goals I had set at the end of July. Other than the vet bills for both surgeries and Dakota’s infected leg my biggest expense for the fillies has been buying hay when we ran out of the hay we raise. Some of the hay we had to buy was $14 a bale and because of their smaller size it cost almost twice as much to feed hay for about six weeks. We are now feeding our own hay again.
I finally got to meet with local Professional Horseman Paul Adix. When he came we went through the checklist and talked about the past year. He gave me advice on saddling the fillies and beginning to work with them with saddles on. I plan to do this in October and early November and then give them the winter off. I’ll keep working with them on ground manners until the weather improves in the spring and then begin riding them. I plan to use traditional Vaquero methods when breaking them to saddle. What I’m most excited about is that we will be moving to the ranch in Kansas and they will get a lot of ride time in our pastures tracking cattle and checking fences. I believe that young horses benefit greatly from the variety that pasture riding can provide and that it helps to lessen the risk of injuries that the can happen from the repetition from arena work.
In August my mom and I went to watch the Youth World Show in Oklahoma City. We watched the Barrel Racing, Stake Race, Pole Bending, Ranch Horse Pleasure, Jumping and Showmanship. It was a lot of fun to hang out with the Iowa team and to cheer them on. I have set new goals with my other Quarter Horses to represent Iowa next year in the Barrels, Poles, Stakes and Ranch Horse Pleasure and then in a few years to qualify in the Ranch Horse Pleasure with both Faith and Dakota. I was disappointed that there was no information available at the AQHA booth about the Young Horse Development Project.
I also got to meet with Denise Gerdis who owns Painted Prairie Acres in Waukee. She shared with me how she planned her boarding barn, what she would change about it and about her policies. I hope to board Bubba there in April so we can be ready for the Mayflower show in Des Moines.
The filly’s papers came and they are officially named AH Dakota Drifter and AH Drifting Faith. Both names were my first choices and I plan to use the prefix AH when I register future horses. Faith is still bigger than Dakota. She weighs approximately 760 pounds and is 13.2 hands tall while Dakota is about 630 pounds and 13 hands tall.
In two weeks I will be taking them to their first Quarter Horse show. There is an introductory show in Spencer, Iowa and I’ll be taking my gelding and mare to show in Ranch Horse Pleasure and the fillies will be shown in Open Yearling Mare Halter and Youth Yearling Mare Halter. Next spring I will take them to the Quarter Horse shows to show in the two-year old mare classes and work towards riding one in the Two-Year Old Western Pleasure class at our county 4-H show and both of them in the trail class.
As the program winds down I find it hard to believe that a year has passed since I applied to participate and got word that I was selected. The past year has been super busy, super fun and an unbelievable blessing. I’ve learned a lot about raising and training young horses. I’ve learned to be more patient with my horses, a lot about goal setting (especially that it’s okay to not meet my goals, that they are targets and sometimes need to be adjusted due to circumstances) and made many new friends and contacts with my involvement with the AQHYA and the Iowa Quarter Horse Youth Association. I’m really excited about what the future holds for me, Faith and Dakota.
I finally got to meet with local Professional Horseman Paul Adix. When he came we went through the checklist and talked about the past year. He gave me advice on saddling the fillies and beginning to work with them with saddles on. I plan to do this in October and early November and then give them the winter off. I’ll keep working with them on ground manners until the weather improves in the spring and then begin riding them. I plan to use traditional Vaquero methods when breaking them to saddle. What I’m most excited about is that we will be moving to the ranch in Kansas and they will get a lot of ride time in our pastures tracking cattle and checking fences. I believe that young horses benefit greatly from the variety that pasture riding can provide and that it helps to lessen the risk of injuries that the can happen from the repetition from arena work.
In August my mom and I went to watch the Youth World Show in Oklahoma City. We watched the Barrel Racing, Stake Race, Pole Bending, Ranch Horse Pleasure, Jumping and Showmanship. It was a lot of fun to hang out with the Iowa team and to cheer them on. I have set new goals with my other Quarter Horses to represent Iowa next year in the Barrels, Poles, Stakes and Ranch Horse Pleasure and then in a few years to qualify in the Ranch Horse Pleasure with both Faith and Dakota. I was disappointed that there was no information available at the AQHA booth about the Young Horse Development Project.
I also got to meet with Denise Gerdis who owns Painted Prairie Acres in Waukee. She shared with me how she planned her boarding barn, what she would change about it and about her policies. I hope to board Bubba there in April so we can be ready for the Mayflower show in Des Moines.
The filly’s papers came and they are officially named AH Dakota Drifter and AH Drifting Faith. Both names were my first choices and I plan to use the prefix AH when I register future horses. Faith is still bigger than Dakota. She weighs approximately 760 pounds and is 13.2 hands tall while Dakota is about 630 pounds and 13 hands tall.
In two weeks I will be taking them to their first Quarter Horse show. There is an introductory show in Spencer, Iowa and I’ll be taking my gelding and mare to show in Ranch Horse Pleasure and the fillies will be shown in Open Yearling Mare Halter and Youth Yearling Mare Halter. Next spring I will take them to the Quarter Horse shows to show in the two-year old mare classes and work towards riding one in the Two-Year Old Western Pleasure class at our county 4-H show and both of them in the trail class.
As the program winds down I find it hard to believe that a year has passed since I applied to participate and got word that I was selected. The past year has been super busy, super fun and an unbelievable blessing. I’ve learned a lot about raising and training young horses. I’ve learned to be more patient with my horses, a lot about goal setting (especially that it’s okay to not meet my goals, that they are targets and sometimes need to be adjusted due to circumstances) and made many new friends and contacts with my involvement with the AQHYA and the Iowa Quarter Horse Youth Association. I’m really excited about what the future holds for me, Faith and Dakota.