Touch of the West Equestrian

Lessons last night were so much fun!! Everyone left with their pockets full, since every trail obstacle involved picking up Halloween treats unfortunately, I didn’t think about taking pictures (or have time) until the last lesson of the evening.

Ryleigh and Vaquero had a fabulous first day at the hunter/jumper show! They had their first division champion in the cross rail hunters, and got a 2nd in one of their 2’ classes. Tough competition in both! Pretty proud of Ryleigh and how hard she works to do well Today she was even changing leads when needed on course - something I know I for sure was not doing at her age!!! I had a couple people ask how old Vaquero is now (21) and comment that he’s still doing so well and looking so good, that is all thanks to Robin Coldwell hooking me up with the Excel that keeps him healthy and happy #excelambassador #excelsupplements #excelsupplementscanada

This weekend’s dressage show was a great success for my crew!! I think we all finished the show a little sweaty, a little dirty, and very happy It was a hot weekend, and super windy on Saturday, but these girls rode SO well and I am SO proud of them!! And of their horses - they were all superstars for their first (only?) show of the season Two of these girls are on horses they’ve been partnered with for a long while, and had personal bests on them this weekend. Two of the...m are on horses they’ve only been riding for two or three WEEKS. That’s some serious horsemanship and hard work! All four of them now know what it feels like to score a 60% or higher after this weekend. And one came to her first show to cheer on her friends - I bet she’ll be on her horse at the next one! As an added bonus, congrats to Raina on winning the intro level champion, and to Tyah on winning the training level reserve champion!! It was a close one with Tyah and Ryleigh being less than 1% apart, they all really did their very best this weekend Thank you very much to Siobhan for organizing a great event for local riders, it was very well done! And a huge thank you to my group of riders, parents, and supporters - I could not ask to be around better kids or people (Peso and Vaquero are a great example of competitors being friends and helping each other out - they were doing their best to help each other get rid of their braids when they were done )

A couple of weeks ago one of my students welcomed this lovely mare, Charlotte, into her life as her new lease horse! It has taken me this long to post about it because every time I think about what to write, it turns into a novel about how special lease horses are, as well as their owners who trust us enough to lease their horse to a young rider. These horses make a big difference in a riders learning, whether it’s a horse leased to lesson program for numerous riders to lear...n on or an individual lease that will really create a bond and be a one-on-one long term partnership, as this one is. These owners and their horses fill the giant gap between riding a lesson horse every week and becoming full-fledged horse owners, and for that we (riders, parents, and coaches) are grateful. Done right, it’s a win-win-win situation for the horse, the owner, and the rider. Thank you to the wonderful owners who give young riders the chance to gain experience on good horses and get further in their horsemanship journey After only a few short weeks together, Charlotte and her young rider will be doing their first show together this weekend - good luck to this pair and all the others ready to get back at it after a quiet summer!

Star is showing off her mare stare - and where the pony bit her on the nose this morning! Anyone I talk horses with very much knows how much I love Excel EQ for my horses, but when you have a horse like Star who just has to have at least 3 (but often more ) open cuts, scrapes, nicks, etc on her at all times, Excel Rescue is my go-to product as it helps them heal quick and helps keep the flies away! #excelsupplements #excelsupplementscanada #excelrescue #marestare