Damarhe Training

Damarhe Training

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Equine Coach, trainer, Clinician and Judge
Hi my name is Dawn Ferster,

I specialize in teaching horsemanship from the ground up. Love it.

Safety is very important to me Working with horses and people professionally for over 25 yrs. Some clients show National Level, while others do 4h or pony club, or just have their own personal goals of riding in the hills or finessing in the show pen. Body Language is where you learn how to communicate with your horse as they do. Very exciting when it begins to happen and it opens up a connection

01/21/2026

A update from Connect Veterinary Services

Dear Client,

There are currently suspected cases from the Shuswap to Peachland. We are not the testing vet for all the suspected cases so we do NOT have information on exact numbers or locations.

Strangles is caused by the bacteria Strep. equi-equi and gets its name from the severe swelling of the lymph nodes in the throat area that can inhibit the horses breathing if there is no medical intervention. This disease is not transmittable to humans or other farm animals outside of the equine species (horses, donkeys, and mules). Symptoms typically start with a fever and can evolve into snotty nose, coughing, and abscessing around the throat latch/chin areas.

What to do if your horse develops a fever or any symptoms:
Isolate the horse and quarantine the property
CONTACT YOUR VETERINARIAN
due to the contagious nature of this disease you may not be able to deal with your regular veterinarian, as we do not want all of our veterinarians exposed
further information and testing will be provided as soon as possible
What does treatment consist of?
Treatment for strangles is usually symptomatic care:
anti-inflammatories to help with pain, swelling, and fever
wound/abscess care
antibiotic use at the discretion of the attending veterinarian
Frequently Asked Quarantine Questions:
How long does quarantine need to last?
horses diagnosed with strangles need to be quarantined for 6 weeks after resolution of the LAST symptoms (ex: abscess sites closed and healed)
nasopharyngeal swabs/testing should be performed at 4 and 6 weeks after resolution of the last symptom to ensure the horse is no longer infectious
the only way to ensure the horse is neither infectious nor a carrier requires a respiratory scope and guttural pouch lavage no earlier than 6 weeks after resolution of the last symptoms
If only 1 horse on the property develops symptoms and/or tests positive, does every horse on the property need to be quarantined?
YES- this is the only way to ensure your horse doesn't spread the disease, as your horse may still be infectious even if it does not show any symptoms
Vaccination:
Vaccination during an outbreak is not recommended due to the possibility of severe complications, due to this the veterinarians of Connect Vet Services will not be administering the strangles vaccine until further notice
If there is not a current outbreak the vaccination protocol for horses NOT exposed to strangles within the previous 18 months includes:
an initial series of 3 doses given 3 weeks apart
vaccine booster every 6 months
Biosecurity:
Have a complete change of clothes and change prior to leaving each facility
place dirty clothes into a bag and wash once you return home
don't forget about your footwear!
Shower daily and in between facilities
Hand sanitizer between horses/paddocks/stalls
Do not share any kind of equipment or tack between horses
This includes the end of the hose when filling water buckets!
Foot baths when used properly - make sure your boots are clean before using foot baths
Disinfection of any kind does not work on dirty surfaces, as you can not disinfect dirt/organic matter- make sure the item has been cleaned prior to disinfection
Bleach or Virkon are both appropriate disinfectants
Virkon can be purchased at Diamond H
The Strangles bacteria can survive in the environment outside of horses
on hard/dry surfaces for 4 days
on wet/soft surfaces for 35+ days
We are recommending at this time that traveling with horses or between barns and facilities is halted until ALL horses across the Okanagan have been symptom free for a MINIMUM of 30 days.

Thank you for the information!

Very appreciated.

Sincerely,
Dawn Ferster
Show quoted text

Photos from Damarhe Training's post 01/04/2026

For my clients and friends who may not know, this was sent from our vet today. And we thank them so very much. This is highly contagious.

Dear Client,

We have gotten positive Strangles (Strep-equi equi) results back within the Okanagan. Below are some guidelines to help navigate this.

Strangles is very contagious, horse to horse but also on surfaces. Do not travel between facilities/barns. Maintain proper biosecurity at affected facilities such as having a separate set of outer clothing to wear and leave on property. Bleach foot baths. Wear gloves and effective hand washing.

We recommend monitoring horses for symptoms such as snotty nose and swollen throat latch lymph nodes as well as checking temperatures daily. If you have a horse with symptoms on your property quarantine immediately and call the on call vet to get testing to confirm.

Attached below are the Strangles Guidelines from the American Association of Equine Practitioners for further information. Please keep in mind that our vets are very busy with this at the time so please contact the office via email or text if you have non-urgent questions and we will get back to you as soon as we are able.

Thank you,

Connect Vet Services
(250) 863-5996
[email protected]

10/10/2024

Strangles is a highly contagious disease characterized by abscessation of the lymphoid tissue in the upper respiratory tract and it is caused by the bacteria Streptococcus equi equi.

Transmission of the disease occurs by ingestion or inhalation of secretions (from the nose, mouth or abscessing tissue). This can also be transmitted by contaminated equipment/environment.

Clinical signs to monitor for:
๐ŸŒก๏ธ Fever (temperature over 38.4 Celsius)
๐Ÿ’ฆ Nasal discharge
๐Ÿ’ค Lethargy
๐ŸฉนSwelling under the lower jaw/throatlatch region
๐Ÿ’จ May have difficulty breathing or swallowing

Biosecurity:
๐Ÿงผ Wash hands before and after handling your horses
๐Ÿ›‘ Have designated clothes and boots for on-farm work and change before/after going into communal areas (ie. feed stores)
๐ŸŽ Limit exposure to other horses outside of your farm, especially if they have an unknown health history
๐Ÿด Quarantine any new horses for 4 weeks prior to herd integration
๐Ÿชฃ Virkon solution for disinfection of potentially contaminated equipment

Vaccination:
๐Ÿ’‰ Not recommended in potential outbreak scenarios

๐Ÿฉบ Contact the clinic at 250-706-3341 if you have any questions or concerns.

Photos from Damarhe Training's post 10/02/2024

I am so very blessed today! A few of my gals came together to celebrate. I am so honored to have these amazing women in my life, each of them hold special moments in my life.
I Thank-you so much my friends for taking the time today. It means more than you know!

06/09/2024

A very good read.

If you need some guidance working on you and your horse.

Call me for a lesson private or small groups.

We have a indoor arena and a fun obstacle course outside and a separate area with water boxes for extra fun.

๐Ÿ’ฅ๐Ÿ’ฅ. ๐Ÿ‘๐ŸŽ ๐‘๐š๐ง๐œ๐ก ๐‘๐ข๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐“๐ข๐ฉ๐ฌ. ๐Ÿ’ฅ๐Ÿ’ฅ

๐Ÿ. ๐’๐ข๐๐ž๐ฉ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐’๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ
Do not execute a leg yield (where the horse is bent. Leg yields makes the horse lead with his ribs in the direction of the maneuver). A proper sidepass is perfectly straight. Staight sidepasses offer more engagement, slick footwork, consistency, speed, and a prettier picture. Furthermore, spin-sidepass-spin does not work with leg yields, it works with straight sidepasses (or looking slightly in the direction of travel). Making a horse reflexively wrap around your leg is not going to help spins. The horse should accept the pressure and move off it without ONLY wrapping around it. This produces a nice, slick, speedy, engaged sidepass that is just beautiful to look at. Sometimes in practice, it can be a good idea to have the horseโ€™s head touch the shoulder in the direction of travel. This further instills a straight frame in the horse for when he goes to show.

๐Ÿ. ๐’๐ญ๐จ๐ฉ ๐„๐š๐ซ๐ฅ๐ฒ
Loping up to the sidepass obstacle can be scary. In a perfect world, the rider would stop with perfect accuracy and sidepass without wasting a single step. That is perfect. If the horseโ€™s footwork is not slick enough to confidently perform the ideal maneuver, the rider should stop a step or two early and walk up to the sidepass. This is unideal, but looks far better than overshooting it. By stopping early, the horse/rider team looked cautious. By stopping late, the horse/rider team looks reckless. Even though both are unideal, the former may keep a judge on the side of the rider more so than the latter.

๐Ÿ‘. ๐๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ค ๐ƒ๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‚๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ž๐จ๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ฉ๐ก๐ฒ
Ranch Riding patterns are just dances. That is all they are, preplanned choreography for a dance thatโ€™ll get compared to 10 other horse/rider teams. Dancers understand the necessity of marking and practicing each move one at a time. This offers the dancer a chance to work out the kinks on each individual move before blending is with the others in sequence. Once comfortable, the dancer will put each move together and get a seamless dance. Ranch Riding is similar. If a rider struggles to do a gait consistently, break it down into steps. Step one: walk forward. Step two: pickup pole. Step three: Backup. Step four: turn right. Step five: walk forward. Step six: move the haunches out. Step seven: sidepass to the gate. Step eight: settle. Step nine: close gait. Step ten: rebalance and depart. If a rider cannot do each step efficiently and effortlessly, how can they ever hope to put it all together? Much like a gyrating dancer, the horse will not look good. There is no shame in breaking it down, there is shame in forcing it. Listen to the horse.

๐Ÿ’. ๐…๐ซ๐š๐ฆ๐ž-๐ฎ๐ฉ ๐…๐จ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ
If your horse is not adept to cross poles, frame him up a tad. Many people do poles and just let the horse figure it out. There is a time and place to do this and it is not wrong, but if you can help the horseโ€ฆwhy withhold that? Especially in the show? Lightly pickup the bridle, squeeze your legs and get that horse framed up for the poles. A couple steps out, let go and ride over the poles. This helps to get the horseโ€™s belly picked up and his legs under him, it also encourages the horse to look down and properly trek the poles.

๐Ÿ“. ๐…๐จ๐จ๐ญ ๐๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ž๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐’๐ฉ๐ข๐ง ๐๐จ๐ฑ
People leave points in the spin box because they take the obstacle at face value. A showman should always ask himself how he can raise the degree of difficulty. Doing a spinbox without ever stopping would be a simple way to increase the degree of difficulty and also increase eye appeal. Watching a horse walk in, spin, and walk out seamlessly would make any judge have hearts in their eyes. To do this, it usually makes sense to enter the spin box slightly off center to the outside, this places the inside pivot foot in the dead center of that spin box. By doing this, the horse should be equidistant to all the poles. This, of course, is reliant upon the horse doing a very clean spin on the inside pivot foot. For horses who move their hips around a lot, walking into the spin box perfectly centered may be a good idea. For those who have versatility horses and may end up spinning on the outside foot, it may make sense to enter a little to the inside. This would place the outside pivot foot in the middle of the spinbox. Though it is unideal to spin on the outside pivot foot, it is far worse to recklessly hit/step/kick the spinbox.

๐Ÿ”. ๐‹๐จ๐จ๐ค ๐Ž๐ง๐ž ๐–๐€๐˜!
Pick one direction to look during a backup, this creates consistency in body and weight distribution. The novice will often look to both sides repeatedly, shifting their WHOLE body weight, moving the horse under them. This often results in a series of 1 point penalties for a hit backup.

๐Ÿ•. ๐ˆ๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐š๐œ๐ค๐ฎ๐ฉ
During backup L obstacles, it is a toss up whether or not the rider will look to the inside or outside. Always look to the inside. By looking to the inside, the rider is granted a better view of the obstacle (way more than the outside) and it can be done more comfortably. Furthermore, if rider aims to glue themselves closely to the inside pole, they are out of the danger zone with the outside pole. The final reason is having a clear focal point to wiggle around with their horse during the backup L. It can be challenging moving the hips, then the shoulders, then the hips againโ€ฆbut by having the corner in clear view one can more easily navigate it

๐Ÿ–. ๐๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐‘๐จ๐ฉ๐ž
Roping obstacles don't judge the person, they judge the horse. The judge is going to ask himself how helpful the horse was. A smart showman will play to this. They may walk up right on the roping dummy, loosen up their reins, show off a quiet horse, and rope the dummy. Sure, the showmanship of roping is a nice touchโ€ฆbut the biggest determining factor for the score is going to be how helpful the horse was during the roping obstacle.

๐Ÿ—. ๐”๐ฌ๐ž ๐•๐š๐ช๐ฎ๐ž๐ซ๐จ ๐‡๐จ๐ซ๐ง ๐–๐ซ๐š๐ฉ
When I do drag obstacles, one of the most tricky parts is establishing the right amount of slack. This determines how close the drag is to my horseโ€™s back feet. Sometimes, It seems perfect but in reality, I should have given 10 inches of additional room. I only figure that out once I drag and my horse nearly gets flat-tired. To fix this mistake on the go, I prefer slick horn wrap such as mule hide or elk. This allows me to slip some rope and subtly compensate for my mistake. Rubber horn wrap is too grabby for this benefit, hence my preference. The other use for slick horns is to slide some rope if the drag starts getting a little fast. This may take some momentum out of the drag and help prevent the picture from looking hectic.

๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ. ๐ƒ๐จ๐ง๐ญ ๐‹๐š๐  ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ ๐ž
So many people do bridges and let it just stall out their horses. A proper Ranch Horse should notice the bridge and walk over it. Looking down, sniffing, and halting significant motion is not realisticโ€ฆit would be quite annoying in a real ranch situation. Likewise, barreling through recklessly would also be quite annoying (and dangerous). A subtle look down and assessment followed by consistent footwork over the bridge is ideal. The horse therefore shows off their use as a tool (keeping the rider and themself safe) and their use as a mode of transportation (consistent pace in their steps). Bouncing your legs off the horse rhythmically, similar to swaying your hands whilst walking in a subtle way to sustain cadence in the horseโ€™s walk. It acts similarly to posting in English riding whereby the rider supports the horseโ€™s current speed.

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ. ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐จ ๐“๐š๐ข๐ฅ = ๐€๐ซ๐œ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐‚๐ข๐ซ๐œ๐ฅ๐ž
In figure 8s, serpentines, circles, or other rounded maneuvers, the horseโ€™s body should mimic the arc. A larger circle can have a straighter horse. A smaller circle should have a more arced horse. Showing a horse that looks where they are going and retains his proper balance is a nice way to pick up credit. This is especially true if the rider is subtle with their hands and sells the judge on the idea that the horse arcs naturally. That is a pretty sight.

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ. ๐‚๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž๐ญ๐ž ๐Ÿ ๐…๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ƒ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ!
Satisfy the full dally requirement for the drag.

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ‘. ๐’๐ž๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐‚๐ก๐ฎ๐ซ๐œ๐ก ๐š๐ง๐ ๐’๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ž
Drags are an obstacle where the riderโ€™s showmanship can play a good deal into their score. This is because a rider who can effortlessly multitask AND ride their horse has one heck of a horse. The rider is so confident in their horseโ€™s ability, they donโ€™t even need to allocate attention to him. That's how good he is. What many people end up doing is setting up the dally, getting tangled, and manually fixing all the coils. It's ugly and impractical, moreover, the horse is never once highlighted on his ability! When the rider is getting ready to dally, they should tighten the reins, hold coils in that hand, put the tail end of their rope on the other side of the neck, and bring that hand forward. While sidepassing away from the drag to establish the right drag distance, the other hand should measure the rope and dally with light tension. That is realistic, and highlights the horseโ€™s ability. Separation of Church and State is an expression I use to illustrate how each hand works in its own separate area. By keeping the rope/rein hand (church) away from the dally hand (state), everything just seems to work more seamlessly.

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ’. ๐’๐จ๐Ÿ๐ญ๐ž๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐‡๐ž๐š๐
A soft head is not the calling card of a ranch horse, however, it is ideal that with each use of the bit, the horse gives. They should demonstrate appropriate bridling (NOT overbridling) and always appear maneuverable in any condition. This is realistic to ranch situations working cattle, a soft head and neck is a must to properly get around. Without a soft head/neckโ€ฆit's going to be a long day.

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“. ๐”๐ ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐‡๐ž๐š๐
Keep a consistent head. Though AQHA Ranch Riding and VRH Ranch Riding favor slightly different framed horses, consistency is ultimately the most important. If your horse is a bridle horse with a higher head, that's fine. If they are more cowpuncher, even headed, that is also fine. What is not fine is a shifty, inconsistent head. It can be a huge eyesore to an otherwise nice maneuver. Work at bringing the head to a comfortable medium where the horse can keep it consistently.

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ”. ๐๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ž ๐š๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ% ๐‚๐š๐ฉ๐š๐œ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ
There is a controversial school of thought to over collect horses in training and let their heads go in the showpen. The idea here is that when the horse shows, their head will now be at vertical due to the overcollection in practice. It's an illustration of the idea that trainers practice/train at 120% because the horse only gives 80% in the showpen. Though overcollection is a controversial topic, the idea still holds. Practice extensions and push that horse and as far as they can go, get that spin as fast and pretty as possible, make their side pass as effortless as can beโ€ฆbut when you show, understand theyโ€™ll be at 80%. Work for something harder.

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ•. ๐„๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ƒ๐จ๐ž๐ฌ๐ง'๐ญ ๐Œ๐š๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ...๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ƒ๐จ๐ž๐ฌ
Ranch Horse, as a discipline, calls the judges to judge the horse, not the rider. This is only true on paper. Judges are human and are not immune to liking a good picture. Be the cherry on top and round out a nice picture for the judge to score. Equitation also has a bearing on how the horse moves, one example being posting or perching for the extended trot. A school of thought is that perching allows even more extension from the horse in the extended trot. The opposite school of thought is that posting supports and almost controls the speed of the extended trot, helping to prevent breaks of gait. One idea is not more right than the other, but the point remains that equitation can have a large bearing on the horseโ€™s performance.

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–. ๐๐ž ๐’๐ฎ๐›๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž
Going hand in hand with #17, be subtle. One example could be lead changes. Even though on paper, the judge evaluates the horse. It will always look cooler if the rider effortlessly cues the lead change, almost undetectable by the eye. Another example would be transitions. Rating using rein or body cues is good, but relying only on vocal cues is amazing. Being able to control the horse with such subtlety can help oneโ€™s case for additional credit in their maneuvers. In a real Ranch situation, itโ€™d be far more pleasurable to ride the horse with subtle cues, especially in a wide array of Ranching jobs.

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—. ๐…๐š๐ฌ๐ญ < ๐‚๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ญ
Ranch Horse is not fast; it's consistent. The horseโ€™s feet move similar to a metronome, keeping cadence and seeking not to break rhythm. The lack of hesitations, constant stops, and blatant pauses gives Ranch Horse a look of speed. All this โ€œspeedโ€ is merely consistent movement. Keep the train moving and youโ€™ll be in the running for more credit. It raises the degree of difficulty and eye appeal and presents a far nicer picture.

๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ. ๐‹๐จ๐จ๐ค ๐–๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ'๐ซ๐ž ๐†๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ !
Looking at your horse could be one of two things: 1. Distrust 2. Lack of showmanship. Neither is good. Show the judge that your horse is good enough that you could watch clouds, and heโ€™d stay on task. That highlights the horseโ€™s ability and can persuade the judge to award more credit.

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ. ๐Š๐ž๐ž๐ฉ ๐ข๐ญ ๐‹๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ
Ranch Horse is generally AQHA, and a proper quarterhorse generally has a level (or close to level) head. Its nothing crazy above or below the topline. Keeping in line with the tradition, Ranch Horse calls horses to be at or a few inches above or below the topline (within reason). Be aware if your horse is going below the topline, even if only by a couple inches. Ranch Horse has fought an uphill battle divorcing itself from show norms of low, over-bridled heads and seeks to truly preserve functionality in the horses. If a judge catches a whiff of Reining frame in a Ranch Horse it will likely reflect negatively in the scores. This is not due to any bias, it is simply to preserve Ranch Horse as a discipline and prevent it from falling into the trap other show disciplines have fallen into.

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ. ๐๐จ ๐‘๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ก๐ฒ ๐‘๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ก๐ฒ
Ranch Horse may go faster than the other classes at the horse show but it is by no means a speed contest. Fast, rushy horses are not going to preserve themselves long enough for a full day of Ranch work. So, why have them perform like that in the showpen? Efficiency and accurate footwork create speed and earn far more credit than rushing ever will. Rushing is a quick ticket to hit pole penalties, low scores, and break-of-gait penalties.

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ‘. ๐‡๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐‘๐ž๐›๐š๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐Ž๐๐‹๐˜
The obstacle is a stop and side pass. As previously established, the ideal ex*****on of this obstacle is a lope up to, stop, and immediate sidepass. The perfect ex*****on wastes no steps or readjusts, it just happens seamlessly. If the horse is a particularly hard stopper, it may be wise to give him a second to get his hocks out from under him. Rushing into the sidepass would throw him off balance and likely result in a rooted nose, poor footwork, and a hit pole penalty. Give the horse a quick second to stand even before cueing the sidepass. This is an appropriate hesitation. Do not hesitate longer than needed for rebalance. Other than lope to stop, there is likely no other time a horse would need this hesitation to rebalance himself.

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ’. ๐’๐ž๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฉ ๐‘๐จ๐ฉ๐ž ๐’๐จ๐จ๐ง๐ž๐ซ
A simple way to add a little extra finesse in a trail course requiring roping would be to setup the rope early. As soon as possible, departing the prior obstacle, the rider should start setting up their coil. This could be done during a walk or trot to the obstacle, highlighting the horseโ€™s ability to perform despite the riderโ€™s multitasking. Once in position to rope, the horse can stop, the rider will swing once and rope. Whether or not the shot is made, the rider and horse look very slick and preserve every bit of cadence until the obstacle. There is no long stop and pause before the roping is done. In a real ranch situation, the rider may need to set up their rope on the runโ€ฆso it's not unrealistic.

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“. ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐‡๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐–๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐š๐ง
Ranch Horse judges the horse, not the rider. The roping obstacle is a prime example of this; whether or not the rider makes a clean shot is irrelevant. The judge wants to see a reliable horse in a good position, quiet temperament, and easy moving. A perfect horse puts his rider in the best possible position to rope and stays out of his way. The horse is there to help, like a good wingman!

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ”. ๐๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐’๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ˆ๐ง
It is not bad to work in a martingale, draw reins, twisted wire, gag, or slip bit ... .but all things must be done in moderation. The bulk of practice for a horse should be done in the equipment the horse is expected to show in. An easy way to avoid the pitfall of โ€œbigger bit syndromeโ€ is by using any โ€œgimmickโ€ or training tool for three or less rides before returning to the normal bridle. Practicing too much in different bridles will take away familiarity and comfort in the horseโ€™s show bridle, and could serve to hide holes in training that will only show up bigger on show day.

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ•. ๐ƒ๐จ๐ง'๐ญ ๐‚๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐š ๐ƒ๐ฎ๐œ๐ญ ๐“๐š๐ฉ๐ž ๐‡๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž
If there is an opportunity to school the horse, take it. Reiners are very accustomed to this idea and they have some of the most obedient horses in the western riding sphere. Do not avoid schooling because the problem is too small or because the blue ribbon is too tempting. You can't win them all. Attempting to win every small-scale show is going to slowly chip away at the horseโ€™s training until theyโ€™re held together by duct tape at the end of the season. Schooling is incredibly important; maybe you won't walk out of the show with a blue ribbonโ€ฆbut the horse will walk out with a lesson.

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–. ๐…๐š๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ง'๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ž
An EXCA champion out of Canada told me this, though its application is EXCA-based, the idea is a good one during backups. It is common to see novice riders back one step at a time, very slowly. This is a good thing and has its place in training, but it can be risky. A small sidestep from a standstill can result in the horse stepping out of the backup altogether, which is a hefty penalty. If that little sidestep occurred during a consistently moving backup, it may result in a nick of the poleโ€ฆbut it would be far more subdued. A lot of hit pole penalties would be avoided if people just kept their horses moving. Use caution when employing this school of thought and know your horse.

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—. ๐’๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ 

12/25/2023

Merry Christmas Facebook friends and family.

Wishing everyone peace in your lives and love in your heart.๐Ÿค—๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ’•

10/04/2023

Thank you so much for the birthday wishes. I appreciate so very much! ๐Ÿค—๐Ÿค—

Waste and recycling 08/20/2023

Not sure if everyone has this info.

No garbage or recycling pick up until further notice.

Curbside collection suspended
until further notice

REGIONAL DISTRICT OF CENTRAL OKANAGAN
Public Service Announcement

August 18, 2023

Due to extreme fire conditions across the region and the closure of the Glenmore Landfill, all curbside collection of garbage, yard waste and recycling is suspended until further notice. The Westside Residential Waste and Recycling Centre in West Kelowna is also closed until further notice.

Residents are asked to bring their carts back in from the curb if they were brought out today. Given the dynamic fire situation in the region, all residents should be prepared to store garbage, yard waste and recyclables for days to weeks. Wherever possible, please store garbage, yard waste and recyclables in a garage or away from the outside of your home where it may pose a fire risk.

For up to date information on waste collection, please visit rdco.com/recycle or download the Recycle Coach app for notifications.

Waste and recycling Residential garbage/waste and recycling information for the Regional District of Central Okanagan.

01/01/2023

Wishing you a very
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