Gift Of Gray (Maggie)
Maggie came to me off the race track when she was just a three-year-old. I had never owned a mare and never really wanted one, but a free horse with a great personality and sound body sounded like a fun project. The deal was that Maggie would be my senior project for high school. I would re-train her for english pleasure and dressage then sell her in order to purchase a western pleasure gelding. After Maggie had three months rest in the pasture, and eleven rides since coming off the race track, I took her to a 4H show and competed in green horse (classes for in-experienced horses), we placed in the top five in every class. Maggie took everything I thought about mares, thoroughbreds, and ex-racers and tossed it out the window. I decided to keep her.
I used Maggie as my project horse for my first year of college at Northwest College in Wyoming pursuing my degree in equine riding and training. She is gentle enough for a beginner and smart enough to keep an experienced rider focused and learning.
I used Maggie as my project horse for my first year of college at Northwest College in Wyoming pursuing my degree in equine riding and training. She is gentle enough for a beginner and smart enough to keep an experienced rider focused and learning.
Shez My Kinda Rain (Rain)
Rain is by the same sire as Sunny, the horse that drew me into the horse world. She was my western pleasure project my sophomore year at Northwest College. Rain is sweet, calm, and takes good care of her rider. She has training in western, english, showmanship, and is awesome on the trails. I have also started introducing her to dressage and mounted archery.
Jetsets Extra Cash (Oz)
Oz started teaching with me in July of 2014, he has a big personality, is calm, and takes everything in stride. He is also out of the same sire as Rain, Bow, Flynn, and Sunny. He is teaching western, english, and trail to both adults and children. Oz is learning how to be a 4H horse and is starting to do showmanship, bareback, and a bit of dressage.
Juniper Pearl (Juni)
Juni Joined Sketchbook Equestrian in December of 2014. She is a fun, quirky, and smart medium sized cremello pony. She has been teaching some of the smallest riders, she enjoys her work. She is constantly proving she is a pony with her little stubborn streak, but is very willing and gentle to work with when it counts. Juni is everyones favorite J(unicorn)!
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In loving memory of: Sonnys Extra Tuff Joe (Sunny)
In loving memory of Sunny, the horse that inspired me to become a trainer. Sunny was the best teacher I could have ever asked for, before Sunny came into my life I was ready to give up on horses. Because of Sunny's kind and forgiving personality I changed my mind, he showed me how beautiful horses can be and made me want to share that knowledge with others. While Sunny lived he changed many lives, and helped teach people of all ages about the friend a horse can be.
Long whiskers brush the back of my hand, while in my palm cold brass and soft twisted cotton rope gives me the power to guide an animal ten times bigger than me. With no more then a movement in my wrist and a click of my tongue, my gentle giant of a gelding moves to follow me. Iron shod hooves keep in step with my dark leather working boots, reminding me of a saying that brings a smile to my lips as I run the words through my mind yet again.
“Wherever man has left his footprint in the long ascent from barbarism to civilization we will find the hoof print of the horse beside it.” ~John Moore~
Walking next to me, my gelding bobs his head nudging my hand with his whisker-covered chin. Glancing over at him, I see the worry wrinkles around his eyes and his pinched up nose. Ears swiveling back and forth he nudges my hand again, letting me know, he knows what’s coming. My smile widens.
Sunny always worries when he starts his work every Saturday, he knows that he is going to have people that have no clue what to do depending on him. My horse almost always realizes something is wrong before I do, and has his own ways to let me know so I can fix it. I can always trust my gelding to do everything in his power to take care of his rider.
As we walk up to the barn from the pasture, I can’t help but be grateful yet again to have this gentle giant as my friend. He has been my companion in the show ring and on the trail, and my teacher for the past seven years. This partnership has shaped my present and my future.
Long whiskers brush the back of my hand, while in my palm cold brass and soft twisted cotton rope gives me the power to guide an animal ten times bigger than me. With no more then a movement in my wrist and a click of my tongue, my gentle giant of a gelding moves to follow me. Iron shod hooves keep in step with my dark leather working boots, reminding me of a saying that brings a smile to my lips as I run the words through my mind yet again.
“Wherever man has left his footprint in the long ascent from barbarism to civilization we will find the hoof print of the horse beside it.” ~John Moore~
Walking next to me, my gelding bobs his head nudging my hand with his whisker-covered chin. Glancing over at him, I see the worry wrinkles around his eyes and his pinched up nose. Ears swiveling back and forth he nudges my hand again, letting me know, he knows what’s coming. My smile widens.
Sunny always worries when he starts his work every Saturday, he knows that he is going to have people that have no clue what to do depending on him. My horse almost always realizes something is wrong before I do, and has his own ways to let me know so I can fix it. I can always trust my gelding to do everything in his power to take care of his rider.
As we walk up to the barn from the pasture, I can’t help but be grateful yet again to have this gentle giant as my friend. He has been my companion in the show ring and on the trail, and my teacher for the past seven years. This partnership has shaped my present and my future.