# Three Walkers and a Clydesdale



## MajorSealstheDeal (Jan 4, 2011)

The obligatory introduction post...please bear with me!

Like many members here, my life revolves around horses. I've been a member on this forum for many years, but cannot for the life of me log back into my old account, which was MajorSealstheDeal. I've followed many journals on here and they are probably my favourite part of this forum.

I felt compelled to start a journal of my own lately because a big change is coming up, so big, that it definitely warrants a journal. For as long as I've had horses, about 17 years or so, I've always wanted to live on the same property as them. As a kid my family and I took a lot of road trips. My favourite part was seeing all the horses in their pastures from the backseat of our Ford Explorer. Every horse I saw, I felt insanely envious, and I would think, _if those were my horses, I'd be riding them right now._

My horse was kept at a local boarding stable and I was subject to when my single mom could drive me the half hour there. Since money was tight, she wouldn't waste the gas to drive back home again, so my mom would wait. I had to work every weekend and a couple nights a week at the barn to help pay for my board. That meant my mom had to go too. I think back now and realize how wonderful she was. She worked Monday to Friday, and then got up at 5 am on the weekends to drive me to the barn. Some days she'd stay and help, other days she'd go home. On the weekends I'd be there all day, playing with my little Arab once all the chores were done. 

I'll be 31 this year, and the move is happening sooner than expected. Our official first day in our new home will be May 1st. We are moving from a growing city to the middle of nowhere. I couldn't be happier. Our horses will be coming home that week as well. All of April will be spent getting hay, feed, and moving our own stuff to the property. 

Our little herd right now consists of my husbands mare, Amiable or Ami for short, Bless My Bloomers (Bloom), and Saga. Ami is a Clydesdale/QH cross, the other two are Tennessee Walkers. Saga is out of my mare and a nice little flat shod stud that a friend of mine brought up from the States a few years ago.

Bloom has a date with another stud this May, and we added a new mare to our herd. Northern Sundance is my husbands door to the Tennessee Walker world. She is a big bay mare, about 16 hands, with lots of white on her legs and a big blaze on her face. For all her height and bone, she is very elegant with a good over stride. We bought her as a project horse with the intent to sell in a few months, but we'll see. 

We met three years ago at the barn when I started boarding there. He was and still is, most at home in the bush, back country or mountains. All of his riding and training is geared toward that type of environment. 

He was also able to keep up with me and my gaited horses. He had fun teaching his big mare to step out quickly at a walk, and to time her trot to my mare's run walk. The mares learned to time up together, and to this day are a great, although mismatched, pair to ride out with.

As for myself, I spent my youth riding a little Arab. When I was 19/20, I converted to Tennessee Walking Horses and was very lucky to have had two great coaches fluent in the breed and gait. I started showing locally here in Alberta and had a lot of fun and success. My real passion is long distance riding. I've dabbled in endurance and had a blast. 

The most fun I've had is going out to the mountains and disappearing for a week. There's something about it that's so primal. It brings a closeness to you and your horse that can only come from long hours together. Working together, riding with softness and intent. Hanging out around the campfire after a long day of riding, listening to the horses munch away between crackles of the fire. The absolute solitude with no cell phones or computers. Just your wits and your horse. That's what I love.

Pictures: The first is Ami at Rock Lake Lookout. It's a very steep climb up a cut line to the top but so worth it. Than there's Saga, the compact little walker. Bloom is parked next to my weim, Sniper.


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## cbar (Nov 27, 2015)

So glad you are finally able to realize your dream and have your horses at home. 

We made that step about a year and a half ago - moving from the city out to the stix. It has been a lot of work...and lots more to come. But best decision I ever made. 

I'm looking forward to reading about your adventures!


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## BlindHorseEnthusiast4582 (Apr 11, 2016)

Very nice looking bunch  

Do you have any pictures of Sundance? She sounds like a real stunner.


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## bellagris (Dec 6, 2010)

I find this really funny J -I literally tried to sign on to my account a month ago for the first time in years...couldn't figure it out and made a new one hahaha. Saga looks fantastic :-D


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## Larasun (Mar 23, 2017)

Your story is so nice and the images are awesome!


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Awww, cute story! Cute pictures too.  Can't wait to hear all about it!


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

Welcome back Major!


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## MajorSealstheDeal (Jan 4, 2011)

Looks like I should be back to my old username soon, jaydee has been helping me with that. Not sure how that will work with this thread but I guess we'll see!

We sealed the deal on our place well over a month ago, and with another month yet, it's been a long wait. We've been slowly going through our checklist of things we need for the horses too. Luckily we'll be able to start moving our stuff within the next two weeks. The horses will be the last to arrive. 

Our new mare is being kept at her previous owners place until the end of April as well. Other than the day we bought her, we haven't had a chance to do anything with her. 

A lot of waiting....:neutral:

But some exciting news that's happening right away....there was a little blue roan colt at the same place where we bought Sunni. Some friends were with us who knew the seller very well. I was so close to taking the blue roan, but we just didn't click with him like we did with Sunni. He is very well bred with a nice head shake and a good over stride. Nice shoulder, bit thick in the neck and a pretty head. Well my friend made a deal with the seller and now the blue roan will be at her place tomorrow.

And we are going to start him! We'll be able to put 30+ days on him before we move, with the possibility of getting him for another month after. My friend and I made a little trade on the training fee as well...so pretty excited about that! :wink:

Other than packing and cleaning the house, we've been out playing with our other horses. 

We've been riding all winter, but mostly bareback and around the track at the barn. Lately we've been saddling up for a few small trail rides and arena work. 

I threw in a pic of my two weims just for fun. After having gone from one to two weims, I would recommend that for anyone with one weim. They are the best entertainment for each other.


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## MajorSealstheDeal (Jan 4, 2011)

"I don't want to be up here while you're fighting with him!" I squealed, quickly abandoning my bravery.

"I'm not fighting with him, we just had some miscommunication, that's all." DH sounded nonplussed. But if you know DH, he usually laughs while the horse he's riding goes to bucking. 

My job was to be the passenger, so I shut up and held on. 

He was right of course, there was nothing to be worried about. Stetson (formerly nicknamed Blueberry while his owners kicked around potential aliases) was totally relaxed for his first real ride. DH stood in the center of the round pen with the lunge line urging the colt to step up a bit. 

"I'm going to ask him to change direction this time without stopping."

"Okay, whatever you want." I had resigned myself to my fate. The little colt was nimble, as soon as DH pointed for a change of direction, Stetson did a little spin on his hind feet and moved off appropriately.

Three days ago, direction changes were not pretty. Now they are fluid and controlled. I started to enjoy the swing of his gait, how relaxed his body felt beneath me. There wasn't any tightness or the feeling of riding a coiled spring. 

DH asked for a change in direction again, and the colt obliged. After a few more circles he asked Stetson to yield his hindquarters and halt, which the blue roan did. 

Three days, with one day off in between day two and day three. Both of us were grinning like Cheshire cats. 

The hardest part about training other peoples horses is trying not to fall in love with them. 

Stetson is a stud colt, so although he is not mine, I do imagine what having a little Stetson out of
my mare would be like. 





:twisted::twisted:


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## MajorSealstheDeal (Jan 4, 2011)

Where to start...

Yesterday we took our first load out to the new house. I had a bad case of nerves prior to arriving. The last month has felt more like a dream. Yesterday was a taste of the future and man it's exciting. It was also the first time seeing our new home without any snow. I'm so happy that our dogs will finally have some real room to move, we won't have to pack up and go to a dog park once a day so they can stretch their legs. We can step outside and play ball. I can have my own agility course!! There's so much room! 

And obviously, I'm excited to get all four of our horses home. 

We also had a little photo shoot today, so that was nerve wracking and exciting. We hired a local photojournalist to create a poster and business card design, as well as take some updated photos. For a pair of introverts, it's very disconcerting to have so much attention centered on you.

She was awesome though. DH is not an arena guy, and she saw this right away. She said, "You don't look happy in here."

"I'm not", he said. There was no sugar coating it.

"Can we go somewhere more natural to take shots?" 

So we did, just a minute or two from the barn, there's a little island of trees and hills where the quads like to rip through in the summer. So we played up and down the hills there while she took more photos. 

She is also really into the Science of Movement. I'll probably get it wrong, but it sounded like using dressage movements to identify and heal lameness or incorrect movements. She was really interested in DH's horse and her movement, but stayed away from my two walkers.

According to the guy who spearheaded this, (and I'm paraphrasing here from a conversation that happened last week), the gait of say, a walker, is an 'abnormal movement', as in 'not sound movement. So he stays away from gaited horses. 

:|:|:|

Our client horse, Stetson, has had 8 sessions so far, each one averaging an hour and half, with the exception of one or two. He's working independently under saddle in the outdoor arena. We've even cantered him a bit out there. 

Here's a little video compilation from our last session.
Than we have a teeny tiny walker, Saga, next to the Clyde cross, Ami. 
And finally, Delta, our female weim. 









*This journal has been closed due to prolonged lack of participation by the author. Journals that have no active participation by the author for a period of time greater than 18 months will be considered abandoned and will be closed until the author asks for them to be reopened.*


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