LARA Shares A Day of Horses with Keystone Heights Elementary

Several LARA members spent the morning of October 24th with the fourth graders of Keystone Heights Elementary. As part of the Black Stallion Literacy Program,  Lisa Buchanan & Jewel, Lyndel Hale & Ralph, Suzy Forbes & Tiny, Karen Bridges & Taj and Mike Woodard & Rusty shared interesting facts about their horse and breed with the easger kids. Smiling faces and interesting questions made the event so worthwhile. Some of the kids got to get their picture taken on Rusty, and the other horses put their best hoof forward to show off their talents.

Thanks to Ernie Thomas for helping transport horses and Jill York for taking pictures. And a big thank you to all the kids and staff at KHE that made our club feel welcome! Click here to see the pictures from this event!

Meet Wizard

Wizard is a 10 year old Fresian Stallion who will be learning the benefits of being a good safe trail horse. Wizard has led a somewhat sheltered life, so he has all kinds of surprises coming his way once his training begins. We look forward to seeing him blossom into a good quiet horse for his owner!

Never Too Young for Ground Work

Eight year old Denise gets some pointers from Mike on ground work when preparing Rusty for a riding lesson. Denise and Rusty are getting ready to show at the NFAHC open show March 5th. It is hard to tell who enjoys the visits more... Denise is happy that she is riding a horse that won't run away with her and Rusty is happy that he gets a good brushing and lots of petting after the ride.

Have a SPRITE

This is SPRITE... he is living with us and learning to be a good trail horse. He is a 10 month old AQHA colt, sired by Mister Montana Nick, who recently won gold and silver at the WEG in reining. Sprite's owner has big plans for him, as he is going to his first horse show in March. We will show him in open stallions (since there isn't a class for youngsters!) and trail in hand. Sprite enjoys hanging out with his pal Rusty when he isn't learning about obstacles and other important facts of life. Sprite has already hit the road, and his recent outings include a trip to a local dressage show to visit his previous owners and two camping trips to spend some fun time in the woods.

Storm Warning

A good friend of ours has a nice Appy gelding that has been a "Dennis the Menace" type horse for a ling time. Mike has been working with horse and owner to help them establish respect and control so he is safer to ride. Storm spent a week with us and passed with flying colors. Click here to see an album of our adventures with Storm!

It Takes All Kinds

In about two years of training, our clients have included wild untouched mustangs, kid's ponies, gaited horses, fresians, Arabs, Quarter Horses, and a similiar range of ages, from weanlings to 30 year olds. Each one has taught us something about horse training. Thanks to the owners for trusting us with their horses!

Our Adventure in Training

I decided to create this blog as a way to keep track of the many different horses that we work with. Because this is a growing experience, it is hard to tell exactly where to start. I have owned horses since I was in elementary school, while Mike was adopted into the horse world by marriage. I spent my early years happily plodding through the Florida woods on horseback, then later developed a desire to compete. As a youth rider I showed English and Western events on my solid colored App Cricket. He helped me develop confidence and I not stopped yearning for more challenges yet.

After growing tired of the politics of the show world I decided to become "just a trail rider." I was happy with that until Obstacle Challenges became popular and now I ride in all challenges within my budget and driving range.

Mike was happy to be the tag along husband, until we attended our first Clinton Anderson clinic in Newberry Florida. For the first time he understood that HE could actually control a 1200 lb. horse and he could be the leader. The DUH program has opened a whole new world to us, and we learn new things everyday as we teach horses. 

Both of us have AQHA geldings sired by Executive Protection. Both horses were purchased when they were weanlings and we trained both of them ourselves. We have had great success with our horses and they are admired where ever we take them. They are a true testament for what the CA Method can produce.