I Say It Best When I Say Nothing At All.....

Do you remember the old Perry Como song, Catch A Falling Star? One of my horses is named Kachina.  I sing to her: Kachina Falling Star and Put It In Your Pocket,  Never Let It Fade Away! Kachina Falling Star and Put It In Your Pocket,  Save It For A Rainy Day! I'm here with Kachina and singing to her.  She's not interested..... Sometimes I'm in the mood for West Side Story.  You know this one too, right? Kachina The Most Beautiful Sound I Ever Heard: Kachina, Kachina, Kachina, Kachina.... All The Beautiful Sounds Of The World In A Single Word... Kachina, Kachina, Kachina, Kachina, Kachina.... I've Just Met A Girl Named Kachina And Suddenly That Name Will Never Be The Same To Me Kachina! I've Just Kissed A Girl Named Kachina..... (it is when I get to this point she has had enough and walks away)

On days where I don't particularly have time to ride the horses, I'll take them over to my neighbor's round pen and lunge them for about twenty minutes.  What is lunging you ask?  It is more than just letting the horses loose and running them in circles. Lunging is a great way to build fitness for your horse.  It can improve your horse's movement, balance and flexibility.  It also teaches a horse a lot of basics.  It teaches her to move forward at the trainer's will and to change gaits at the trainers command.  There are good lessons in obedience from lunging.  It is great exercise and develops muscles, lungs and heart. Ebony and Kachina being lunged in the round pen. It has been fun to do a lot of ground work with my horses and to witness their recognition of verbal queues.  I typically get them started with a click of the tongue.  To increase their gait, I'll say, "pick it up" and they'll move out from a walk to a trot to a canter ...