October 22, 2025 • 31 mins
In this episode Sandy and Cara talk about their own fears surrounding ponying horses and describe a recent adventure ponying Armani the rescued Andalusian. They describe their favorite gear for ponying and motivate fellow equestrians to take the whole equid family out for a stroll. Ponying Part 2, will discuss groundwork strategies for getting your horse ready for the trail.
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Speaker (00:00):
Clip clop goes, the trail sun is rising.
Hi.
Two gals in the saddle neaththe big Nevada sky.
Laughing and chatting as thedesert rolls on by.
It's Saddle Talk.
Come along for the ride.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Welcome, listeners, to Saddle Talk with Sandy and
Cara.
Whether you're here to laughwith us, learn, or just ride
along, you're in for a reallygood time.
So go grab your helmet or yourpooper scooper and settle in
with us as we discuss life,horses, of course, and all the
unexpected turns along thetrail.
And hey, whether you're aseasoned cowgirl or you're still
learning, remember we'resharing our own stories and
(00:43):
opinions based on decades ofpersonal experience.
Always ride safe and check witha professional before trying
anything new.
Now let's go ride.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Well, hello, listeners.
Hello, Miss Cara.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Hello.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Hello.
So today's topic, we are goingto talk about ponying horses.
Ponying new horses, babyhorses, everything to do to get
your horse ready for the trail.
And making them a partner,making them confident on the
trail, giving them that abilityto be brave.
(01:24):
How would you like to start?
Do you want to start with yournew baby?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Sure.
Before we jump in, I want tosay two things.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I think that you're a badass.
I think that you have yourcowgirl wings.
Thank you.
It's official.
Thank you.
And the second thing is, is Iam a little tired today.
I'm a little sleepy.
So I'm just putting that outthere for our listeners that if
I sound sleepy, I am.
Long weekend, but a goodweekend.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Good weekend.
Great weekend.
And leads right into what we'retalking about because you have
a new six-year-old baby that isjust the most beautiful horse in
the world.
His name is Armani.
Of course it is.
He is a gray Andalusian, and heis just amazing, but he's a
(02:10):
baby, and he's kind of had tostart from ground zero.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah.
And when you say that he'sbeautiful, it's so funny because
when I look at him, all I seeis a punk.
He reminds me of, I want to saylike a middle schooler or like
a sixth grader who's trying towear really fancy clothes.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
But you know, they really they really miss the
mark.
He's like one of those littleboys that puts on way too much
axe.
You know?
They spray all that axe andthen they walk around like they
are the idiots.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Because the bottle says if you spray this on, the
girls will come.
So I'm telling you what,though, we have mares that the
minute you put them around him,they go up and they start
winking.
And yeah, so you know, when Imoved up here, when you when you
(03:02):
have your horses on yourproperty, you're left to your
own defenses.
And one of the things that Idid was I came up with one
horse, and then I had a dearfriend of mine find me the most
awesome horse.
And I had Are you talking aboutMax?
I'm talking about Max, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Sorry, I'm talking about, he didn't start out
awesome, he was on the Sandyprogram.
unknown (03:22):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
And the Sandy program just I feel like it's your
consistency.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
I'm yeah, I'm trying to.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
You are very consistent when it comes to just
going out and doing it.
And even if it's a small thing,I think that that's honestly
like your magic sauce.
And when you hear professionalswho are at the Olympic level or
even like below, justsuccessful riders, they talk
about how it just takesconsistency.
Like that is the number onething that horses need, and I
(03:50):
think that you have that.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
You're welcome.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
and ponying is not a big deal, it really isn't.
I think the hardest part aboutit is just knowing what to do
with the extra rope, knowing todo with your what to do with
your hands.
I follow Mustang Matt onFacebook (https://www.facebook.com/mustang.matt.75929).
He's an amazing Mustangtrainer, and he lives in
Montana, and he's on Facebook.
That's the reason why I'm likegetting his location.
(04:14):
Yeah.
Because it's not a secret.
Right, it's public knowledge.
And I've watched him, and hegoes out with these horses, and
he I think he just has them tiedto his the back of his saddle,
or he's holding them.
I don't know.
Okay, but the horses justfollow.
So I try to tell myself in mybrain when I go out what makes
(04:35):
it easier, harder.
I'm hesitating, I don't reallyknow how to say this.
It's like I can't focus on onehorse at one time.
I have to focus on both ofthem.
So each horse gets half myattention.
So I'm not nitpicking the oneI'm riding, right?
And I'm and I'm not nitpickingthe one that I'm you know
ponying, and you just you justhave to do it.
(04:56):
Right.
And so if there's a listenerout there who maybe has a second
horse or is getting a horse,and they're like, How do I do
this by myself?
Because you don't always get atrainer.
You you can't always just sendyour horse off for training, and
even if you do, you have tostill do your own thing, and
when you get home, so just doit.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Just do it, and just do it.
No, that's really the magicwhen it comes to ponying.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
I had a friend, a friend in SoCal who used to pony
Bob for me when it was really,really wet out.
And I think I just couldn'tride him in those arenas because
they were huge puddles thatlasted weeks.
But she would do the longtrotting on the river trail.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
So she took him and she would take him out on
the river trail and pony him.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
She would take him out on the river trail and go up
and down, and it was like agodsend because I couldn't
exercise him and he needed it.
He was always just a littlechunky monkey.
Right.
And so when you had those wetwinters, which actually did
happen in SoCal, it does rain inSouthern California.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
It does.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
It really does.
And man, sometimes it pours.
And sometimes it pours.
So I would watch her and Iwould just be so thankful for
what she was doing.
And Bob didn't know what he wasdoing, and she would just go.
And then I think I probablyponied, I want to say I ponied a
few times down in SoCal justbecause I was very comfortable
with her horse.
So when we moved up here, itwas actually with you that I got
(06:24):
into ponying regularly.
And I always knew it was theright thing to do.
If you have a horse, just andyou have an extra horse, just
pony the thing.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
And I was real, I was really worried.
You know my biggest fear was Iwas gonna drop the horse.
Drop drop the rope?
I was gonna drop the rope andthe horse is gonna run away.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I know, and how many times have we dropped the rope
and they just stand there andlook at us like oh they're like
uh what are you gonna do now?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I'm not gonna leave my friend.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
So if that's your fear, y'all, just yeah, do it
because when you drop the rope,they literally stand there and
they're like, okay.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
And one thing though, you know, you can practice in
the arena.
Yes, and that's great.
I mean, absolutely, but there'sgonna be a difference when you
actually leave your house.
Yes, it's gonna be all thesedistractions, all these outside,
you know, pressures, exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Because when you're in the arena, I think there's
like this a feeling of cozinessand comfortableness,
comfortability that the horseshave with each other.
So if you're finding thatthey're sort of like nitpicking
on each other, that's notnecessarily gonna happen on the
trail.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Right, they're just gonna be okay with what's going
on because they have otherthings like you know, lions and
dogs and humans and the terriblepeople, the people that wear
white shirts, and the plasticbags.
Yeah, my horses have alwayshated and Armani hates white
shirts.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
I don't know why.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I don't Bob hated anyone.
Do you we would be with Bob andwe would be on the trail and
you would see someone with awhite shirt and he could not
deal.
And even when we were inCerritos and I would be in the
arena doing dressage, if therewas a walker on the bike path in
a white shirt, he would stopand just stare and be freaked
(08:04):
out until the person walked by.
And then we were ponyingArmani, was it like yesterday or
this weekend?
Speaker 3 (08:11):
On our way home, uh-huh, that person was walking
down the trail with a whiteshirt on and he stopped and he
looked.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
And I'm like, oh my gosh, not again, not a horse
that hates white shirts.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
So Max has now become my pony horse.
Yeah.
So he has really turned into areally great beginner horse for
beginner people.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Literally anyone can ride that.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
And I pony off of him, and he lets me know when
he's had enough.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah.
So he's been and he did reachhis mental limit this weekend.
He did, he did.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
So we for the first time on Friday morning, we took
your baby Armani out.
And I think we were a littleballsy in what we did.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
We were totally ballsy.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
I know, I know, but but it was fine.
It was fine.
We were safe.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Because I think we both agree that if we're gonna
get into a a spot that feelsdangerous, so when you start
emotionally sort of creepingtowards danger, you can always
just get off.
Yeah, that's I think somethingthat culturally in the horse
world is a big fat no thatreally annoys me.
Like you have to get back onthe horse.
Bitches, you don't have to getback on the horse.
(09:16):
No.
No, and no, but I have a storythat you I don't know if I've
told you this.
Go ahead.
I was showing at regionals, andI was going over some pretty
big jumps that day, and theywere all like three foot.
This is before they did likethe the meter 20, meter 30,
meter 40.
So we're going over theseauxers, and I think the highest
(09:37):
was 3'5, and that was at the endof the course, and I think I'd
been in that arena fourdifferent times, basically
jumping the same jumps.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
So we get to this big auxer, and at the time I was
riding this amazing, and he'dbeen a national champion, he was
beautiful.
He was an Arabian.
I was trying to think.
His name was Gay Rain Royale,so he was a gay pirata grandson.
So anyone who's into Arabs andand you know the gainey bred
animals, they are just fantasticpersonalities.
(10:07):
He would stick out his tongueand just eat snacks.
He got really mad one time whenI gave him chicken.
Ooh, yeah.
I was a teenager, like I Imean, I was probably young 20s.
And I think about it, likereflecting.
I think I was 21.
21 is when I have my bigaccident.
So we were in that arena and wecame up to this jump, and he'd
(10:29):
already jumped it three timesthat day, and he refused, and I
just went flying into the jump.
So I got launched and I landedon the second pole of the auxer,
and my hips landed square onit, and it was the weirdest
thing because the pole didn'tmove.
It was like the jump stayedstill, and my body got squished.
(10:50):
I know it was terrible.
I went down and I was kind ofin shock, and my trainer was
like, Get back on, get back on,right?
Because she's screaming fromthe stands.
She's like, Get back on thathorse, get back on that horse.
Because you're supposed to takeone more jump, supposedly to
give you confidence and thehorse confidence.
I got back on.
I went over this little jumpthat was one of the first jumps
(11:11):
in the course.
On my landing, I it was thegrossest sensation I've ever had
as a human.
On the landing on the offsideof the jump, I literally felt my
pelvis spread.
And it wasn't pain.
That's the weirdest thing tome, is that I didn't feel pain,
I just felt the bones literallyspread apart.
(11:32):
And I just I just got so hot.
My whole body just I had thislike visceral reaction.
I slumped off the horse, Istarted stripping my clothing
off in front of a crowd becauseI wasn't all there, and so ever
since that accident, I've justbeen a proponent of no, no, you
(11:53):
don't have to get back on thathorse.
You can stay off.
And so for me, that was like apivotal point in my riding
career because upon reflection,I shouldn't have been riding
that horse in that bit on thatday with those big of uh jumps
in front of me.
I wasn't really ready for whatI was doing, not really, and so
(12:16):
your trainer should have knowntoo.
I know, but she was kind ofdisconnected from reality.
Okay, yeah, that could beanother podcast.
She really was disconnected.
That actually it changed mylife also because I couldn't
have kids after that.
Wow, I had a fully crushedpelvis, and so the doctor said I
could get pregnant, but I wouldnever be able to bear children,
that I wouldn't be able to takethem to terms.
(12:36):
Yeah.
Well, I wouldn't be able tocarry them to term, that they
would get too big and then Iwould miscarry.
And and and I think as I gotolder, I was like, Oh, yeah, I
don't want to play that game.
No, like I don't want to haveto be on so sorry.
Oh, that's okay.
It it I never really wantedkids the same way that other
women did.
Yeah, but I think I've alwaysbeen just really into safety.
That accident, I'd always beeninto safety, but that accident
(12:58):
really made me aware of I amfallible, I'm a fallible human.
I was in my early 20s and itwas a life-changing event.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
I had a huge concussion after that.
Yeah, I was basicallynon-functioning for about six
months, even though I waspre-vet in school.
It was a really, really toughaccident for me.
And so I'm all about thesafety.
I mean, like you know me,right?
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Yeah, and so to bring that back to the topic, we were
out this weekend and we gotArmani to my house from your
house.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
We got You have to cross a decently busy road.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
It is a busy road, yeah.
So we I rode Max over here, andthen we ponied him back to my
house, and then you got Aspenready, and then we took him out.
He was kind of being a bit ofan ass to Max.
Yes.
And like, just like a littlesibling that is screwing with
(13:56):
their brother or sister, youknow, he kept kind of like going
to his butt, then going underhis belly, and it's like, you
know, and I was doing what I hadto with the rope, and you were
trying to touch his flame andyou were behind me so you could
see things that I couldn't see.
We got about halfway down thetrail, and Max was done.
Just done.
He was so done.
(14:16):
Oh my god, he was doing this,he doesn't buck, but he was
doing those little I call themlike crow hops, you know?
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
You got off Aspen, I ponied Aspen, who is used to
being ponied because of you, andyou walked Armani home.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Which was an adventure in itself.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Yeah.
No, it's true.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Yeah, so I mean, even and then to touch on Aspen a
little bit, you were given Aspenas a free horse.
She came to you a little overchunky monkey.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Uh yeah, she was she was super chunk.
Yeah.
Um, I think she wasn't doingmuch for a while.
My vet actually gave her to meand said, here, because I had a
I had a horse that passed, and Ireached out to my vet who I
love, and I was like, hey, doyou know anyone, you know,
giving away horses?
Because you know, you canalways ask your vet.
If you have a closerelationship, yeah, they're
gonna know someone.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah, right?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
They're gonna know someone that has a quote unquote
free horse.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
And so it's kind of the same situation where we were
just kind of reprogrammingaspen.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Reprogramming aspen and reprogramming Armani, and so
we decided to start with Aspen.
Right.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
So Aspen came to live at my house.
I have more separation in mysetup.
Yeah.
Yours is more communal.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Yes.
Right.
Yeah, I've got more of it haslike a I call it a man shed.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Yeah.
And it it's like a 36 by 12 andlike this big cave, plus I've
got an emergency stall.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
But it is really herd living.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
And whereas you have more of separated stalls.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
And she needed to be separated.
She did.
Yeah.
She was overeating.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Yeah, she was eating everybody else's good food.
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
I can't blame her.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Yeah.
So we put her on a diet, and Ijust started ponying her with
Max.
And there were times when I wasout there by myself, and Max
would have enough.
I mean, I think one time I gotoff and just walked both of them
home.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Oh, okay.
Because I was like, Good foryou.
Good for you.
Max doesn't like when a horseis right on his butt when he's
going down a hill.
Max is a draft draft quarterpony.
Draft quarter pony.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
And he's got the shortest little legs.
And so he He reminds me of likea Dachshund.
He does.
Or a Corgi.
And and he takes little tinysteps when he's going down a
hill, if there's another horsethat's anxious or or nervous
behind him, he'll start, he'llstart hopping.
And I think I got down to thethe bottom of that one section.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
And I was like, that's it.
We're just we're just gonnawalk home.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
So that's what we did.
And that I just feel like yousay, you know, I just want to be
safe.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
And so you know, if our listeners are getting
anything from this, it's justalways safety first.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Safety first, get off the horse.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
And if you have a horse, if you have more than one
horse and you hate leaving theone alone, you could get a third
horse, you know, to keep thatsecond horse company when you
take the first horse out.
But then if the first horseneeds company, you could pony
that second horse.
Right.
And but now if you do havethree horses and you do pony
(17:20):
another horse, you might need toget a fourth horse to keep that
third horse company while yougo.
No girl, I don't know.
And pony the second horse.
Right.
So you guys leave it up toyourself.
You make your decision.
I have four horses.
So Armani did pretty good.
(17:41):
Uh yesterday we ponied him inthe morning.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
We did.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
And it was maybe 20 minutes.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Um we stayed local to my backyard.
Backyard, yeah.
So I have an arena in mybackyard, and we stayed local to
that spot.
And I have Autumn in mybackyard, which is Sandy's
horse, but it's more of she's mygirl too.
I love her so much.
So we actually just went backand forth on this little
footpath that's behind my house.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Yes, and he would not walk over the ditch.
Yes, he would not walk inthrough the ditch.
I thought he was gonna jump it,and I dropped the rope.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yeah, he wasn't rearing, but he just stopped and
he would not go.
Yes.
And you couldn't get him to go.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
No.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
And then poor Max is like Max is like, bro, I'm
going.
And then you had to let go, andhe literally just stood there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think you actually dropped iton two different occasions.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
I did, did.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Which is healthy.
In reality, do the safe thing,right?
Where's he gonna go?
What's he gonna do?
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Right.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Because we already had two horses, so we could
always just run up on him andgrab, which he's he's never
gonna run away.
That's his backyard.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Yeah, so I think that's another thing that people
need to to realize too.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
And just like relax on just kind of be calm.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
You know, your your horse loves you, your horse
knows who feeds it.
Yeah, it's not gonna leave you.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Right, they're like whales, they travel in pods,
right?
They just want to hang outtogether.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Yeah, so is there anything else you want to
mention about ponying or youknow?
Speaker 2 (19:08):
I think I wasn't afraid of ponying ever after
having ponied in SoCal, but Ithink my first experience
ponying here was actually withJewel the Mustang.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
And I ponied her and I was like, all right, let's go
do this.
And she was such a good girl.
And you know who ponies a lotis polo players.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Really?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
They'll they'll pony seven horses at one time.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
I think that's so cool.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
It's so cool.
Like, hey family, let's go out.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
So I don't even know how you would do that.
Like, how would I pony horseson like a horse on each side of
me?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
I guess they would have to figure it out and they
have to get along.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
And then how do you like when I've I mentioned
Mustang Matt before, I've seenhim have more than one horse.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
And they all stay behind each other.
Because Armani wasn't doingthat.
Armani wanted to come up to thefront.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Butt nugget.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
He was, and he wanted to come up front.
And I mean, how do you get thathorse to get to the back?
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Right.
Well, I was working with himtoday because I'm trying to get
him to just be more polite.
Because what he was doing toMax, he was he actually does on
the ground with me, which is whyI'm such a big proponent of
groundwork.
And I kind of always have been.
But I am sort of leaping intothe Parelli world, which is is
is I understand it, and Iunderstand Clinton Anderson and
(20:20):
that whole movement, like ChrisCox, all those people who I want
to say in the early 2000s,maybe it kind of took off, like
late 90s, where you had naturalhorsemanship just sort of as a
wave go through America.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
And at that point, I'd already been riding for a
while, and so I absolutelybought into some of the ideals
of natural horsemanship, butI've always been able to train
my horses without the use oftrue a hundred percent ideals of
one certain trainer.
I've always mishmashed what Iknew.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
It's like having children, it's like having kids.
When you have children, youtake advice from a million
different people and then youtailor it and make it your own.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Yeah, there's two brands of groundwork because I
feel like the word groundwork iskind of a misnomer now.
Groundwork today, I think,means natural horsemanship.
But when I was growing up,groundwork to me meant training
a horse to be ridden, and youwould do every single thing you
could on the ground that youwould do on its back.
(21:22):
So I love long lining.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Yeah, but you're still doing everything that
you're gonna do in the saddle onthe ground first.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
It's totally different.
Okay, I promise.
You'll you'll you'll see mewith Armani.
And I have to say that I likecalling him Smarmani because
it's a combination of shhmegmaand armani.
He has the most disgustingpenis.
Like it is gonna go so awful.
It is so like I thought Bob wasbad.
(21:54):
This guy, like when I go toclean his penis, it's like
gooey, poor guy.
That's actually how he startedliking me.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Yeah, because he was kind of an aggro.
Yeah, I was cleaning him.
He's like, oh, okay, you canget in there.
Sweet.
Yeah, so schmar, I call himSchmar, Schmor Mani.
But he he did a lot betteryesterday, but I feel like when
I start groundworking him from arider perspective, you know,
I'll show you kind of what allthat all entails.
(22:21):
Okay.
And I think I think nowadayswhen someone say says
groundwork, they're thinking ofthe Parelli thing in it.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Which is working.
And I tried that today, and hedid a lot better today than he
did, you know, the day beforeand the day before that.
So I'm trying to be consistentwith just going outside and even
if it's only 15, 20 minutes,going out there and just making
sure that I have some type ofgroundwork, the sort of Parelli
(22:48):
style where I'm trying to teachhim that I'm the leader.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Right.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
And you will not encroach upon my space.
And you know, trying to nip meall the time is not okay because
he's sick.
They say he was gelded late, sohe must have been gelded at the
end of his third year, but tome that doesn't seem late.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
I thought they gelded him at five, but I guess it was
three.
I talked to the lady, the ladythat owned him, and uh we had to
talk because he was mating withone of the horses I had boarded
here.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
I only had one boarder, they were together, and
they definitely started mating,and I just could not let that
happen.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Right.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Obvious for obvious reasons, right?
Your horses are gonna get hurt.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
She lives at my house.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I'm so glad you took her.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
So glad you are.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Yeah.
Just do, I think we should justsay, just do it.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
You know, our topics aren't gonna be these long,
in-depth, I don't know,mind-blowing.
I mean, it might bemind-blowing if you're like, I
never thought I could do it bymyself, and here's two people
that just did it.
That's what I'm hoping thatpeople get out of this.
Right, you know what I'mthinking though, too, is if you
do have a partner, let's say youreally are afraid to do it, but
(23:58):
maybe there's someone at yourbarn that you feel comfortable
working with.
You could do what we did,remember?
You held one lead rope, I heldwe put two lead ropes on Armani,
I held the other lead rope, soit's more like he was in a cross
stall, cross tie as we walkdown the street.
Maybe we do that the next timewhen we ride.
Yeah.
You ride Aspen, I ride Max, andwe'll both have a rope.
(24:21):
That way he can't go to one orthe other to bite.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
We could try.
I think Aspen might get alittle saucy, but we could try
it.
I'm down to try it, because youknow what?
I'll just drop the rope.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Just for a minute.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
Just you know, like just see.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Just see if it works out.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
If I don't know, yeah.
It might be a shit show.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
I do recommend wearing a helmet.
And I do recommend wearing avest.
Yes, yes.
I always wear a vest.
I've seen enough accidents, sothat's something that I am
adamant about.
The vest, the helmet, and Sandyforgot her helmet.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
And you did not see it.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
I did not see it.
We were so excited.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
And you looked at me, you everything, and it wasn't
until I cleaned it out, you didnot even comment to me that I
was not wearing my helmet.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Honestly, that's kind of why I wanted to end early.
Really?
Yes, yes.
Okay.
And he he was doing good.
He was doing good enough.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
We ended early, if you think about it, we were at
least for 20 minutes.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Yeah, but it was like the last seven minutes.
I was like, mm-hmm, I need to Iwanna hurry.
I wanna hurry with this.
She doesn't have a helmet.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
I know.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
So then I gave her mine.
She used it all the way home.
Yeah.
As she crossed that road.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Yeah.
That was just weird.
I don't even know how ithappened.
It just doesn't.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
You know what?
One more thing, we used a ropehalter.
And I've been using the Parellihalter, but for the actual
ponying, we used the ClintonAnderson halter.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
I really prefer the Clinton Anderson.
It's a little more rigid, has afew more knots on the nose, and
I just feel like it has abetter control.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Yeah.
I I mean you can get a leadrope anywhere.
You can get a rope halteranywhere.
It doesn't have to be ClintonAnderson.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
It just was like the four knots versus the two.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Right?
Speaker 3 (26:00):
And I just, you know, I got sucked up into the wave
like everybody else.
Of course.
And I was introduced to ClintonAnderson prior to Parelli.
I kind of felt like the name ofall the games just seems kind
of silly for me.
Yeah.
And Clinton Anderson is justlike, do this, this, this, and
this.
And it was these.
(26:20):
It's almost like the steps arekind of the same.
And even the games, Parelli hasnames.
He just says, do this.
Right.
It's just a differentpackaging.
Same action, differentpackaging.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
And I think that's kind of what turned me off
between the two of not actuallyjumping into that world.
And I felt like it was all thesame.
It was like good practice,good, great practices that these
trainers are using with thisdifferent packaging, and you're
just making a book.
And I'd seen it kind of grow.
I saw it start.
My trainer in Norco used tohost natural horsemanship
(26:53):
clinics at her place, and Iwould watch Chris Cox, and I
thought he was amazing.
So I kind of have workingknowledge of it, and I just
never needed it.
And then with Armani, he isjust a different deal.
He's a hot mess.
He's a hot mess.
He's a hot mess of a horse.
So I feel like that's one of myfavorite things about horses is
that they're gonna make you gowhere you didn't know you could
(27:16):
or would or should.
Right.
And because I'm so in tune withthat one particular animal, I'm
just gonna do what that oneparticular animal needs.
And this horse needs somethingthat I don't know.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
The direction.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
The direction, right?
So we're getting help from aParelli trainer.
She's a licensed parellitrainer in town, and she's
coming, she's trying to comeevery other weekend, and she
gives me homework.
And she did not give us theponying homework, but I just
know how well ponying works.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Yeah, and I just think that we need to get him
out there.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Yeah, just do it.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Just yeah, go.
I mean, even if you have himamazing out here, the minute you
take him on the outside of hissecure environment, he's gonna
be a different horse.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Yep.
So I feel like we call it theshow, right?
Like the moment you open thegate and we we leave our
properties, it's almost likegoing to the show.
Yeah, we're just going on thetrail, but in in a lot of ways,
it's that same emotionalpressure for the horse.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
New environments, new threats.
Yes, and so trail riding, Ithink, in general, kind of gets
like this this bad rap.
It's like all these old ladiesthat are just what do they call
them in England?
I think it's called happyhackers.
Oh we're happy hackers.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Oh, we're happy hackers, right?
Speaker 2 (28:28):
And we don't, it's like we don't have the same
prestige, but in reality, Ithink that we're doing something
that is completely mentallyhealthy for the animals, yeah,
and sort of underrated.
And if you have access totrails in any way, you will be
amazed and surprised at howhappy your horses are if you can
just hack out once a month,twice a month.
(28:50):
That animal that you areboarding at a barn is just gonna
love what you do on the trail,and it creates a different
connection.
Yeah, it really does.
Like I noticed it right awaywith Bob.
Yeah, like he's like, Oh, Ilove you, but then he's like,
Oh, I really love you.
Yeah, because you go to a newlocation, you become the safe
person, and you're together andyou're with your little herd
because hopefully you go with atleast one more horse and one
(29:11):
more person.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
And you know they bond the minute they're in the
trailer together, so you know,when you get done, yeah, you've
got that to deal with.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Yeah, and Autumn taught Bob how to trailer and
how to trail ride.
Yeah, and he was okay attrailering, but as soon as we
started trailering with you, hebecame a pro at it.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Because he was like, Oh, my girlfriend.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
It was.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
It was, it was great.
Yeah.
So, riders, just do it.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Just go pony your horse.
Like Nike.
Yeah.
Alrighty.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Well, we hope you have a great time, whatever your
horse endeavors include, and weurge you to be safe.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Wear those helmets, wear those vests.
I have not tried the air vest,so I use the other one.
I'm not gonna do the air vestyet.
So be careful of the air vests,because I'm one of those people
that would hop off the saddleand it would inflate, and then
my horse would get scared.
Wear a helmet, wear a vest.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Well, thank you for listening.
And we really hope that you getsomething out of it, or we at
least pass the time while you'recleaning up your arenas.
So take care, everybody.
Tootles.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Hey friends, that's the end of today's ride.
We hope you enjoyed listening.
Don't forget to follow SaddleTalk with Sandy and Cara
wherever you get your podcasts.
Please leave us a review, shareus with a friend, and saddle up
with us next time as we ridethrough more stories, questions,
and our wild tangents.
Till then, friends, keep yourboots dusty and your hard hats
(30:36):
on.
We hope to see you out on thetrail.
Speaker (30:38):
Sandy and Cara stir ups swinging free, talking about
life and love and mystery.
From coyotes to coffee, they'llcover it all with the sagebrush
blowing and the wild birdscall.
So cinch up your boots, we'rehitting the track.
Saddle talks on, and we're notlooking back.
Clip clop goes, the trail sun is rising.
Hi.
Two gals in the saddle neaththe big Nevada sky.
Laughing and chatting as thedesert rolls on by.
It's Saddle Talk.
Come along for the ride.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Welcome, listeners, to Saddle Talk with Sandy and
Cara.
Whether you're here to laughwith us, learn, or just ride
along, you're in for a reallygood time.
So go grab your helmet or yourpooper scooper and settle in
with us as we discuss life,horses, of course, and all the
unexpected turns along thetrail.
And hey, whether you're aseasoned cowgirl or you're still
learning, remember we'resharing our own stories and
(00:43):
opinions based on decades ofpersonal experience.
Always ride safe and check witha professional before trying
anything new.
Now let's go ride.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Well, hello, listeners.
Hello, Miss Cara.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Hello.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Hello.
So today's topic, we are goingto talk about ponying horses.
Ponying new horses, babyhorses, everything to do to get
your horse ready for the trail.
And making them a partner,making them confident on the
trail, giving them that abilityto be brave.
(01:24):
How would you like to start?
Do you want to start with yournew baby?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Sure.
Before we jump in, I want tosay two things.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I think that you're a badass.
I think that you have yourcowgirl wings.
Thank you.
It's official.
Thank you.
And the second thing is, is Iam a little tired today.
I'm a little sleepy.
So I'm just putting that outthere for our listeners that if
I sound sleepy, I am.
Long weekend, but a goodweekend.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Good weekend.
Great weekend.
And leads right into what we'retalking about because you have
a new six-year-old baby that isjust the most beautiful horse in
the world.
His name is Armani.
Of course it is.
He is a gray Andalusian, and heis just amazing, but he's a
(02:10):
baby, and he's kind of had tostart from ground zero.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah.
And when you say that he'sbeautiful, it's so funny because
when I look at him, all I seeis a punk.
He reminds me of, I want to saylike a middle schooler or like
a sixth grader who's trying towear really fancy clothes.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
But you know, they really they really miss the
mark.
He's like one of those littleboys that puts on way too much
axe.
You know?
They spray all that axe andthen they walk around like they
are the idiots.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Because the bottle says if you spray this on, the
girls will come.
So I'm telling you what,though, we have mares that the
minute you put them around him,they go up and they start
winking.
And yeah, so you know, when Imoved up here, when you when you
(03:02):
have your horses on yourproperty, you're left to your
own defenses.
And one of the things that Idid was I came up with one
horse, and then I had a dearfriend of mine find me the most
awesome horse.
And I had Are you talking aboutMax?
I'm talking about Max, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Sorry, I'm talking about, he didn't start out
awesome, he was on the Sandyprogram.
unknown (03:22):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
And the Sandy program just I feel like it's your
consistency.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
I'm yeah, I'm trying to.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
You are very consistent when it comes to just
going out and doing it.
And even if it's a small thing,I think that that's honestly
like your magic sauce.
And when you hear professionalswho are at the Olympic level or
even like below, justsuccessful riders, they talk
about how it just takesconsistency.
Like that is the number onething that horses need, and I
(03:50):
think that you have that.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
You're welcome.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
and ponying is not a big deal, it really isn't.
I think the hardest part aboutit is just knowing what to do
with the extra rope, knowing todo with your what to do with
your hands.
I follow Mustang Matt onFacebook (https://www.facebook.com/mustang.matt.75929).
He's an amazing Mustangtrainer, and he lives in
Montana, and he's on Facebook.
That's the reason why I'm likegetting his location.
(04:14):
Yeah.
Because it's not a secret.
Right, it's public knowledge.
And I've watched him, and hegoes out with these horses, and
he I think he just has them tiedto his the back of his saddle,
or he's holding them.
I don't know.
Okay, but the horses justfollow.
So I try to tell myself in mybrain when I go out what makes
(04:35):
it easier, harder.
I'm hesitating, I don't reallyknow how to say this.
It's like I can't focus on onehorse at one time.
I have to focus on both ofthem.
So each horse gets half myattention.
So I'm not nitpicking the oneI'm riding, right?
And I'm and I'm not nitpickingthe one that I'm you know
ponying, and you just you justhave to do it.
(04:56):
Right.
And so if there's a listenerout there who maybe has a second
horse or is getting a horse,and they're like, How do I do
this by myself?
Because you don't always get atrainer.
You you can't always just sendyour horse off for training, and
even if you do, you have tostill do your own thing, and
when you get home, so just doit.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Just do it, and just do it.
No, that's really the magicwhen it comes to ponying.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
I had a friend, a friend in SoCal who used to pony
Bob for me when it was really,really wet out.
And I think I just couldn'tride him in those arenas because
they were huge puddles thatlasted weeks.
But she would do the longtrotting on the river trail.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
So she took him and she would take him out on
the river trail and pony him.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
She would take him out on the river trail and go up
and down, and it was like agodsend because I couldn't
exercise him and he needed it.
He was always just a littlechunky monkey.
Right.
And so when you had those wetwinters, which actually did
happen in SoCal, it does rain inSouthern California.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
It does.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
It really does.
And man, sometimes it pours.
And sometimes it pours.
So I would watch her and Iwould just be so thankful for
what she was doing.
And Bob didn't know what he wasdoing, and she would just go.
And then I think I probablyponied, I want to say I ponied a
few times down in SoCal justbecause I was very comfortable
with her horse.
So when we moved up here, itwas actually with you that I got
(06:24):
into ponying regularly.
And I always knew it was theright thing to do.
If you have a horse, just andyou have an extra horse, just
pony the thing.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
And I was real, I was really worried.
You know my biggest fear was Iwas gonna drop the horse.
Drop drop the rope?
I was gonna drop the rope andthe horse is gonna run away.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I know, and how many times have we dropped the rope
and they just stand there andlook at us like oh they're like
uh what are you gonna do now?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I'm not gonna leave my friend.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
So if that's your fear, y'all, just yeah, do it
because when you drop the rope,they literally stand there and
they're like, okay.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
And one thing though, you know, you can practice in
the arena.
Yes, and that's great.
I mean, absolutely, but there'sgonna be a difference when you
actually leave your house.
Yes, it's gonna be all thesedistractions, all these outside,
you know, pressures, exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Because when you're in the arena, I think there's
like this a feeling of cozinessand comfortableness,
comfortability that the horseshave with each other.
So if you're finding thatthey're sort of like nitpicking
on each other, that's notnecessarily gonna happen on the
trail.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Right, they're just gonna be okay with what's going
on because they have otherthings like you know, lions and
dogs and humans and the terriblepeople, the people that wear
white shirts, and the plasticbags.
Yeah, my horses have alwayshated and Armani hates white
shirts.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
I don't know why.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I don't Bob hated anyone.
Do you we would be with Bob andwe would be on the trail and
you would see someone with awhite shirt and he could not
deal.
And even when we were inCerritos and I would be in the
arena doing dressage, if therewas a walker on the bike path in
a white shirt, he would stopand just stare and be freaked
(08:04):
out until the person walked by.
And then we were ponyingArmani, was it like yesterday or
this weekend?
Speaker 3 (08:11):
On our way home, uh-huh, that person was walking
down the trail with a whiteshirt on and he stopped and he
looked.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
And I'm like, oh my gosh, not again, not a horse
that hates white shirts.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
So Max has now become my pony horse.
Yeah.
So he has really turned into areally great beginner horse for
beginner people.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Literally anyone can ride that.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
And I pony off of him, and he lets me know when
he's had enough.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah.
So he's been and he did reachhis mental limit this weekend.
He did, he did.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
So we for the first time on Friday morning, we took
your baby Armani out.
And I think we were a littleballsy in what we did.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
We were totally ballsy.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
I know, I know, but but it was fine.
It was fine.
We were safe.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Because I think we both agree that if we're gonna
get into a a spot that feelsdangerous, so when you start
emotionally sort of creepingtowards danger, you can always
just get off.
Yeah, that's I think somethingthat culturally in the horse
world is a big fat no thatreally annoys me.
Like you have to get back onthe horse.
Bitches, you don't have to getback on the horse.
(09:16):
No.
No, and no, but I have a storythat you I don't know if I've
told you this.
Go ahead.
I was showing at regionals, andI was going over some pretty
big jumps that day, and theywere all like three foot.
This is before they did likethe the meter 20, meter 30,
meter 40.
So we're going over theseauxers, and I think the highest
(09:37):
was 3'5, and that was at the endof the course, and I think I'd
been in that arena fourdifferent times, basically
jumping the same jumps.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
So we get to this big auxer, and at the time I was
riding this amazing, and he'dbeen a national champion, he was
beautiful.
He was an Arabian.
I was trying to think.
His name was Gay Rain Royale,so he was a gay pirata grandson.
So anyone who's into Arabs andand you know the gainey bred
animals, they are just fantasticpersonalities.
(10:07):
He would stick out his tongueand just eat snacks.
He got really mad one time whenI gave him chicken.
Ooh, yeah.
I was a teenager, like I Imean, I was probably young 20s.
And I think about it, likereflecting.
I think I was 21.
21 is when I have my bigaccident.
So we were in that arena and wecame up to this jump, and he'd
(10:29):
already jumped it three timesthat day, and he refused, and I
just went flying into the jump.
So I got launched and I landedon the second pole of the auxer,
and my hips landed square onit, and it was the weirdest
thing because the pole didn'tmove.
It was like the jump stayedstill, and my body got squished.
(10:50):
I know it was terrible.
I went down and I was kind ofin shock, and my trainer was
like, Get back on, get back on,right?
Because she's screaming fromthe stands.
She's like, Get back on thathorse, get back on that horse.
Because you're supposed to takeone more jump, supposedly to
give you confidence and thehorse confidence.
I got back on.
I went over this little jumpthat was one of the first jumps
(11:11):
in the course.
On my landing, I it was thegrossest sensation I've ever had
as a human.
On the landing on the offsideof the jump, I literally felt my
pelvis spread.
And it wasn't pain.
That's the weirdest thing tome, is that I didn't feel pain,
I just felt the bones literallyspread apart.
(11:32):
And I just I just got so hot.
My whole body just I had thislike visceral reaction.
I slumped off the horse, Istarted stripping my clothing
off in front of a crowd becauseI wasn't all there, and so ever
since that accident, I've justbeen a proponent of no, no, you
(11:53):
don't have to get back on thathorse.
You can stay off.
And so for me, that was like apivotal point in my riding
career because upon reflection,I shouldn't have been riding
that horse in that bit on thatday with those big of uh jumps
in front of me.
I wasn't really ready for whatI was doing, not really, and so
(12:16):
your trainer should have knowntoo.
I know, but she was kind ofdisconnected from reality.
Okay, yeah, that could beanother podcast.
She really was disconnected.
That actually it changed mylife also because I couldn't
have kids after that.
Wow, I had a fully crushedpelvis, and so the doctor said I
could get pregnant, but I wouldnever be able to bear children,
that I wouldn't be able to takethem to terms.
(12:36):
Yeah.
Well, I wouldn't be able tocarry them to term, that they
would get too big and then Iwould miscarry.
And and and I think as I gotolder, I was like, Oh, yeah, I
don't want to play that game.
No, like I don't want to haveto be on so sorry.
Oh, that's okay.
It it I never really wantedkids the same way that other
women did.
Yeah, but I think I've alwaysbeen just really into safety.
That accident, I'd always beeninto safety, but that accident
(12:58):
really made me aware of I amfallible, I'm a fallible human.
I was in my early 20s and itwas a life-changing event.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
I had a huge concussion after that.
Yeah, I was basicallynon-functioning for about six
months, even though I waspre-vet in school.
It was a really, really toughaccident for me.
And so I'm all about thesafety.
I mean, like you know me,right?
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Yeah, and so to bring that back to the topic, we were
out this weekend and we gotArmani to my house from your
house.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
We got You have to cross a decently busy road.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
It is a busy road, yeah.
So we I rode Max over here, andthen we ponied him back to my
house, and then you got Aspenready, and then we took him out.
He was kind of being a bit ofan ass to Max.
Yes.
And like, just like a littlesibling that is screwing with
(13:56):
their brother or sister, youknow, he kept kind of like going
to his butt, then going underhis belly, and it's like, you
know, and I was doing what I hadto with the rope, and you were
trying to touch his flame andyou were behind me so you could
see things that I couldn't see.
We got about halfway down thetrail, and Max was done.
Just done.
He was so done.
(14:16):
Oh my god, he was doing this,he doesn't buck, but he was
doing those little I call themlike crow hops, you know?
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
You got off Aspen, I ponied Aspen, who is used to
being ponied because of you, andyou walked Armani home.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Which was an adventure in itself.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Yeah.
No, it's true.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Yeah, so I mean, even and then to touch on Aspen a
little bit, you were given Aspenas a free horse.
She came to you a little overchunky monkey.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Uh yeah, she was she was super chunk.
Yeah.
Um, I think she wasn't doingmuch for a while.
My vet actually gave her to meand said, here, because I had a
I had a horse that passed, and Ireached out to my vet who I
love, and I was like, hey, doyou know anyone, you know,
giving away horses?
Because you know, you canalways ask your vet.
If you have a closerelationship, yeah, they're
gonna know someone.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah, right?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
They're gonna know someone that has a quote unquote
free horse.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
And so it's kind of the same situation where we were
just kind of reprogrammingaspen.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Reprogramming aspen and reprogramming Armani, and so
we decided to start with Aspen.
Right.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
So Aspen came to live at my house.
I have more separation in mysetup.
Yeah.
Yours is more communal.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Yes.
Right.
Yeah, I've got more of it haslike a I call it a man shed.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Yeah.
And it it's like a 36 by 12 andlike this big cave, plus I've
got an emergency stall.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
But it is really herd living.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
And whereas you have more of separated stalls.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
And she needed to be separated.
She did.
Yeah.
She was overeating.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Yeah, she was eating everybody else's good food.
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
I can't blame her.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Yeah.
So we put her on a diet, and Ijust started ponying her with
Max.
And there were times when I wasout there by myself, and Max
would have enough.
I mean, I think one time I gotoff and just walked both of them
home.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Oh, okay.
Because I was like, Good foryou.
Good for you.
Max doesn't like when a horseis right on his butt when he's
going down a hill.
Max is a draft draft quarterpony.
Draft quarter pony.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
And he's got the shortest little legs.
And so he He reminds me of likea Dachshund.
He does.
Or a Corgi.
And and he takes little tinysteps when he's going down a
hill, if there's another horsethat's anxious or or nervous
behind him, he'll start, he'llstart hopping.
And I think I got down to thethe bottom of that one section.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
And I was like, that's it.
We're just we're just gonnawalk home.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
So that's what we did.
And that I just feel like yousay, you know, I just want to be
safe.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
And so you know, if our listeners are getting
anything from this, it's justalways safety first.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Safety first, get off the horse.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
And if you have a horse, if you have more than one
horse and you hate leaving theone alone, you could get a third
horse, you know, to keep thatsecond horse company when you
take the first horse out.
But then if the first horseneeds company, you could pony
that second horse.
Right.
And but now if you do havethree horses and you do pony
(17:20):
another horse, you might need toget a fourth horse to keep that
third horse company while yougo.
No girl, I don't know.
And pony the second horse.
Right.
So you guys leave it up toyourself.
You make your decision.
I have four horses.
So Armani did pretty good.
(17:41):
Uh yesterday we ponied him inthe morning.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
We did.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
And it was maybe 20 minutes.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Um we stayed local to my backyard.
Backyard, yeah.
So I have an arena in mybackyard, and we stayed local to
that spot.
And I have Autumn in mybackyard, which is Sandy's
horse, but it's more of she's mygirl too.
I love her so much.
So we actually just went backand forth on this little
footpath that's behind my house.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Yes, and he would not walk over the ditch.
Yes, he would not walk inthrough the ditch.
I thought he was gonna jump it,and I dropped the rope.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yeah, he wasn't rearing, but he just stopped and
he would not go.
Yes.
And you couldn't get him to go.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
No.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
And then poor Max is like Max is like, bro, I'm
going.
And then you had to let go, andhe literally just stood there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think you actually dropped iton two different occasions.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
I did, did.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Which is healthy.
In reality, do the safe thing,right?
Where's he gonna go?
What's he gonna do?
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Right.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Because we already had two horses, so we could
always just run up on him andgrab, which he's he's never
gonna run away.
That's his backyard.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Yeah, so I think that's another thing that people
need to to realize too.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
And just like relax on just kind of be calm.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
You know, your your horse loves you, your horse
knows who feeds it.
Yeah, it's not gonna leave you.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Right, they're like whales, they travel in pods,
right?
They just want to hang outtogether.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Yeah, so is there anything else you want to
mention about ponying or youknow?
Speaker 2 (19:08):
I think I wasn't afraid of ponying ever after
having ponied in SoCal, but Ithink my first experience
ponying here was actually withJewel the Mustang.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
And I ponied her and I was like, all right, let's go
do this.
And she was such a good girl.
And you know who ponies a lotis polo players.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Really?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
They'll they'll pony seven horses at one time.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
I think that's so cool.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
It's so cool.
Like, hey family, let's go out.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
So I don't even know how you would do that.
Like, how would I pony horseson like a horse on each side of
me?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
I guess they would have to figure it out and they
have to get along.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
And then how do you like when I've I mentioned
Mustang Matt before, I've seenhim have more than one horse.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
And they all stay behind each other.
Because Armani wasn't doingthat.
Armani wanted to come up to thefront.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Butt nugget.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
He was, and he wanted to come up front.
And I mean, how do you get thathorse to get to the back?
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Right.
Well, I was working with himtoday because I'm trying to get
him to just be more polite.
Because what he was doing toMax, he was he actually does on
the ground with me, which is whyI'm such a big proponent of
groundwork.
And I kind of always have been.
But I am sort of leaping intothe Parelli world, which is is
is I understand it, and Iunderstand Clinton Anderson and
(20:20):
that whole movement, like ChrisCox, all those people who I want
to say in the early 2000s,maybe it kind of took off, like
late 90s, where you had naturalhorsemanship just sort of as a
wave go through America.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
And at that point, I'd already been riding for a
while, and so I absolutelybought into some of the ideals
of natural horsemanship, butI've always been able to train
my horses without the use oftrue a hundred percent ideals of
one certain trainer.
I've always mishmashed what Iknew.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
It's like having children, it's like having kids.
When you have children, youtake advice from a million
different people and then youtailor it and make it your own.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Yeah, there's two brands of groundwork because I
feel like the word groundwork iskind of a misnomer now.
Groundwork today, I think,means natural horsemanship.
But when I was growing up,groundwork to me meant training
a horse to be ridden, and youwould do every single thing you
could on the ground that youwould do on its back.
(21:22):
So I love long lining.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Yeah, but you're still doing everything that
you're gonna do in the saddle onthe ground first.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
It's totally different.
Okay, I promise.
You'll you'll you'll see mewith Armani.
And I have to say that I likecalling him Smarmani because
it's a combination of shhmegmaand armani.
He has the most disgustingpenis.
Like it is gonna go so awful.
It is so like I thought Bob wasbad.
(21:54):
This guy, like when I go toclean his penis, it's like
gooey, poor guy.
That's actually how he startedliking me.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Yeah, because he was kind of an aggro.
Yeah, I was cleaning him.
He's like, oh, okay, you canget in there.
Sweet.
Yeah, so schmar, I call himSchmar, Schmor Mani.
But he he did a lot betteryesterday, but I feel like when
I start groundworking him from arider perspective, you know,
I'll show you kind of what allthat all entails.
(22:21):
Okay.
And I think I think nowadayswhen someone say says
groundwork, they're thinking ofthe Parelli thing in it.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Which is working.
And I tried that today, and hedid a lot better today than he
did, you know, the day beforeand the day before that.
So I'm trying to be consistentwith just going outside and even
if it's only 15, 20 minutes,going out there and just making
sure that I have some type ofgroundwork, the sort of Parelli
(22:48):
style where I'm trying to teachhim that I'm the leader.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Right.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
And you will not encroach upon my space.
And you know, trying to nip meall the time is not okay because
he's sick.
They say he was gelded late, sohe must have been gelded at the
end of his third year, but tome that doesn't seem late.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
I thought they gelded him at five, but I guess it was
three.
I talked to the lady, the ladythat owned him, and uh we had to
talk because he was mating withone of the horses I had boarded
here.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
I only had one boarder, they were together, and
they definitely started mating,and I just could not let that
happen.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Right.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Obvious for obvious reasons, right?
Your horses are gonna get hurt.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
She lives at my house.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I'm so glad you took her.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
So glad you are.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Yeah.
Just do, I think we should justsay, just do it.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
You know, our topics aren't gonna be these long,
in-depth, I don't know,mind-blowing.
I mean, it might bemind-blowing if you're like, I
never thought I could do it bymyself, and here's two people
that just did it.
That's what I'm hoping thatpeople get out of this.
Right, you know what I'mthinking though, too, is if you
do have a partner, let's say youreally are afraid to do it, but
(23:58):
maybe there's someone at yourbarn that you feel comfortable
working with.
You could do what we did,remember?
You held one lead rope, I heldwe put two lead ropes on Armani,
I held the other lead rope, soit's more like he was in a cross
stall, cross tie as we walkdown the street.
Maybe we do that the next timewhen we ride.
Yeah.
You ride Aspen, I ride Max, andwe'll both have a rope.
(24:21):
That way he can't go to one orthe other to bite.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
We could try.
I think Aspen might get alittle saucy, but we could try
it.
I'm down to try it, because youknow what?
I'll just drop the rope.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Just for a minute.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
Just you know, like just see.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Just see if it works out.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
If I don't know, yeah.
It might be a shit show.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
I do recommend wearing a helmet.
And I do recommend wearing avest.
Yes, yes.
I always wear a vest.
I've seen enough accidents, sothat's something that I am
adamant about.
The vest, the helmet, and Sandyforgot her helmet.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
And you did not see it.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
I did not see it.
We were so excited.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
And you looked at me, you everything, and it wasn't
until I cleaned it out, you didnot even comment to me that I
was not wearing my helmet.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Honestly, that's kind of why I wanted to end early.
Really?
Yes, yes.
Okay.
And he he was doing good.
He was doing good enough.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
We ended early, if you think about it, we were at
least for 20 minutes.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Yeah, but it was like the last seven minutes.
I was like, mm-hmm, I need to Iwanna hurry.
I wanna hurry with this.
She doesn't have a helmet.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
I know.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
So then I gave her mine.
She used it all the way home.
Yeah.
As she crossed that road.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Yeah.
That was just weird.
I don't even know how ithappened.
It just doesn't.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
You know what?
One more thing, we used a ropehalter.
And I've been using the Parellihalter, but for the actual
ponying, we used the ClintonAnderson halter.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
I really prefer the Clinton Anderson.
It's a little more rigid, has afew more knots on the nose, and
I just feel like it has abetter control.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Yeah.
I I mean you can get a leadrope anywhere.
You can get a rope halteranywhere.
It doesn't have to be ClintonAnderson.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
It just was like the four knots versus the two.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Right?
Speaker 3 (26:00):
And I just, you know, I got sucked up into the wave
like everybody else.
Of course.
And I was introduced to ClintonAnderson prior to Parelli.
I kind of felt like the name ofall the games just seems kind
of silly for me.
Yeah.
And Clinton Anderson is justlike, do this, this, this, and
this.
And it was these.
(26:20):
It's almost like the steps arekind of the same.
And even the games, Parelli hasnames.
He just says, do this.
Right.
It's just a differentpackaging.
Same action, differentpackaging.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
And I think that's kind of what turned me off
between the two of not actuallyjumping into that world.
And I felt like it was all thesame.
It was like good practice,good, great practices that these
trainers are using with thisdifferent packaging, and you're
just making a book.
And I'd seen it kind of grow.
I saw it start.
My trainer in Norco used tohost natural horsemanship
(26:53):
clinics at her place, and Iwould watch Chris Cox, and I
thought he was amazing.
So I kind of have workingknowledge of it, and I just
never needed it.
And then with Armani, he isjust a different deal.
He's a hot mess.
He's a hot mess.
He's a hot mess of a horse.
So I feel like that's one of myfavorite things about horses is
that they're gonna make you gowhere you didn't know you could
(27:16):
or would or should.
Right.
And because I'm so in tune withthat one particular animal, I'm
just gonna do what that oneparticular animal needs.
And this horse needs somethingthat I don't know.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
The direction.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
The direction, right?
So we're getting help from aParelli trainer.
She's a licensed parellitrainer in town, and she's
coming, she's trying to comeevery other weekend, and she
gives me homework.
And she did not give us theponying homework, but I just
know how well ponying works.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Yeah, and I just think that we need to get him
out there.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Yeah, just do it.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Just yeah, go.
I mean, even if you have himamazing out here, the minute you
take him on the outside of hissecure environment, he's gonna
be a different horse.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Yep.
So I feel like we call it theshow, right?
Like the moment you open thegate and we we leave our
properties, it's almost likegoing to the show.
Yeah, we're just going on thetrail, but in in a lot of ways,
it's that same emotionalpressure for the horse.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
New environments, new threats.
Yes, and so trail riding, Ithink, in general, kind of gets
like this this bad rap.
It's like all these old ladiesthat are just what do they call
them in England?
I think it's called happyhackers.
Oh we're happy hackers.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Oh, we're happy hackers, right?
Speaker 2 (28:28):
And we don't, it's like we don't have the same
prestige, but in reality, Ithink that we're doing something
that is completely mentallyhealthy for the animals, yeah,
and sort of underrated.
And if you have access totrails in any way, you will be
amazed and surprised at howhappy your horses are if you can
just hack out once a month,twice a month.
(28:50):
That animal that you areboarding at a barn is just gonna
love what you do on the trail,and it creates a different
connection.
Yeah, it really does.
Like I noticed it right awaywith Bob.
Yeah, like he's like, Oh, Ilove you, but then he's like,
Oh, I really love you.
Yeah, because you go to a newlocation, you become the safe
person, and you're together andyou're with your little herd
because hopefully you go with atleast one more horse and one
(29:11):
more person.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
And you know they bond the minute they're in the
trailer together, so you know,when you get done, yeah, you've
got that to deal with.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Yeah, and Autumn taught Bob how to trailer and
how to trail ride.
Yeah, and he was okay attrailering, but as soon as we
started trailering with you, hebecame a pro at it.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Because he was like, Oh, my girlfriend.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
It was.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
It was, it was great.
Yeah.
So, riders, just do it.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Just go pony your horse.
Like Nike.
Yeah.
Alrighty.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Well, we hope you have a great time, whatever your
horse endeavors include, and weurge you to be safe.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Wear those helmets, wear those vests.
I have not tried the air vest,so I use the other one.
I'm not gonna do the air vestyet.
So be careful of the air vests,because I'm one of those people
that would hop off the saddleand it would inflate, and then
my horse would get scared.
Wear a helmet, wear a vest.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Well, thank you for listening.
And we really hope that you getsomething out of it, or we at
least pass the time while you'recleaning up your arenas.
So take care, everybody.
Tootles.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Hey friends, that's the end of today's ride.
We hope you enjoyed listening.
Don't forget to follow SaddleTalk with Sandy and Cara
wherever you get your podcasts.
Please leave us a review, shareus with a friend, and saddle up
with us next time as we ridethrough more stories, questions,
and our wild tangents.
Till then, friends, keep yourboots dusty and your hard hats
(30:36):
on.
We hope to see you out on thetrail.
Speaker (30:38):
Sandy and Cara stir ups swinging free, talking about
life and love and mystery.
From coyotes to coffee, they'llcover it all with the sagebrush
blowing and the wild birdscall.
So cinch up your boots, we'rehitting the track.
Saddle talks on, and we're notlooking back.
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