Team Dance 2023

There is nothing I can say, except I am so proud of this girl.  The Team Dance competition was kind enough to give everyone the professional pictures at no cost.  What a treat!  Here are a few of my favorites.

My friend, Kristin, sent me a cute note saying that "Kendall is made to have a hot pink bob with bangs".  Hilarious!!!

Just stunning.

The competition also gave us the videos.  Here they are for your entertainment.

Winter Jump Series Finale.

This weekend was the final show for the North Wind Winter Jump Series.  Heading into the show, Sidney was in the reserve champion position (2nd place).  We were super excited at the prospect that she had a shot at one of the titles.  She went into the series having never done this with Pigeon before and have only done it herself once last year and only ground poles.  I even remember the first show, she was a ball of nerves.  I think she may have attempted 2', but certainly not 2'3".  My dad even made a comment at the last show that she and Pigeon seemed so incredibly relaxed and at ease.  The way it works is that the horse/rider must have attended 3 of the 5 shows in the series.  Points are awarded based on placements for each event/show.  She did very well in the final show.

Here is a close up of one of the ribbons that she earned for one of the individual events.

She and Pigeon had a great day.  Jayde, her friend from the ranch, was also in the running for her division.  They both worked so hard and managed to earn awards in their division.

Jayde was awarded Champion for the senior low division and Sidney took home Reserve Champion for the junior low division.  Way to go ladies!

Pigeon even received his very own sash.  Way to go Piggy!

Dance Fierce 2023.

Kendall competed at Dance Fierce this past weekend.  I was able to watch all of the routines.  Her day started at 7am (5am wakeup) and ended at midnight.  It was a long one, but she had fun.  I decided that instead of recording the dances, I would just sit and soak it all in.  It was amazing.  When I am recording the dances, it is hard to actually live in the moment.  I must admit, her solo had me fighting back a lump in my throat.  Though I did not get pictures of the dances themselves, I did get quite a few of her with her friends.  

I even managed to sneak in for a few pictures.

Kendall took some pictures with Cozey, the choreographer for her solo.  I love this one as it shows just how much Kendall is enjoying this season.

Funny story.  When Kendall took the stage for her solo, I thought something was different.  I attributed it to the fact that I was just watching and not recording.  However, as it turns out, she had different pants on.  That morning, she had somehow managed to get a lollipop-like substance on her pants.  Thankfully her lyrical pants are similar, so she did a quick costume change.  It worked!

Mustang Mania 2023 - Part 03

We have now had Levi for a week.  Sidney has been trying to get out there and spend a little bit of time with him each day.  She was able to get the lead rope on him and get his BLM tag off on day one.  This is a pretty big accomplishment.  I was not out there, but apparently when you put the lead rope on for the first time, it is quite a thing.  The mustang is not used to the pressure and rears up.  The trainer must hang on for that initial ride.  Otherwise, you have inadvertently taught the horse that rearing up will take the pressure off.  Levi is full of mud clots.  Sidney has been able to start brushing him, slowly but surely, so some of the mud clots are going away.  She did try to use the clippers to get some of them off, but he was not a fan of that.

Each day can be a bit like staring over, as he forgets what they worked on the day before.  However, he is starting to remember that not everything is scary.  When Sid walks into his stall now, he will come right to her.  Anyone else?  Not so much.  I walked up to the panel while he was eating and he gave me the side eye and took two steps in the other direction.  I will not take it personally though:).

He is pretty skinny still.  Sid tried to introduce him to grain.  He had zero interest the first few days.  In fact, just yesterday he seemed to have finally consumed the grain Sid left out for him.

Sidney brought Pigeon into the big arena that is adjacent to the round pen so that the two could meet.  It was pretty cute.

Things have been going so well that Sidney decided to put a sursingle around him.  This is the first introduction to having something around him.  It was pretty loose, and he did not seem to be super bothered by it.  Later on in the training process, Sid will tighten it up and even hang things, such as buoys from it to desensitize Levi.

She has been starting to tie him to the post, so he gets used to it.  There are a lot of manners that need to be taught here, as he likes to paw quite a bit.  Though this is very expected at this point.

It has been pretty fantastic for Sidney.  She has grown so much in the short week we have had him.  She has had to process all the information that she has learned and observed and decide how she wants to train him.  As I watch the process, it is very analogous to first time parents.  How will you teach?  How will you discipline?  How will you learn to block out the noise, and the opinions of others?  I am very excited to continue to watch and be part of this journey.

Axis Dance 2023.

While all of the crazy mustang antics were happening, Kendall was competing in a dance competition in Nampa.  My parents were more than happy, I should say, exuberant to go and support her.  They loved having the time with her and the other parents.  It was Kendall's third time competing her solo, and each time it gets even better.  Look at this girl fly!

Some of the parents got some great shots of the team dances that they shared on the team app.

While their hip hop dance is doing quite well and is a fan favorite, their lyrical dance is sweeping the titles.  It is just a stunning dance.

My parents took some adorable pictures afterwards.  These three girls have been such supporters of one another.  They are truly having a blast and doing what they love.

Such a gorgeous young lady.

Pictures with the grandparents (my dad and his weird faces, again).

Mustang Mania 2023 - Part 02

March 3 was our scheduled pick up day at the BLM.  We attended a trainer dinner the night before and got to know some of the other trainers, as well as learned what to expect during pickup.   They have this process really dialed in.  Each trainer signs up for a one hour window on either Friday or Saturday, 10 trainers total for each hour.  The BLM has the mustangs pre-sorted.  When we arrived, Sidney went into the office to write a thank you card for Mustangs Forever for paying her mustang adoption fee.  I headed over to the BLM trailer to pick up the paperwork and sign on the dotted line.

Pam, another boarder at the ranch, also adopted a mustang this year.  Sabrina, the owner of the ranch, volunteered to drive her trailer to pick up the mustangs.  I was happy to take her up on that, as this was my first time through.  Sabrina lives for this stuff and has trained countless mustangs herself.  Everyone at the BLM knew her by name.

When it was our turn, Sabrina backed up to the loading chute. 

Sidney was waiting anxiously, checking everything out.

Sid, Pam and I climbed up onto a cement pillar to get a better view of the horses coming down the chute.  We brought a halter, as the BLM said they would put this on the horse while in the chute.  Having a halter on is a game changer.  Here is Sid snapping some pictures of her mustang coming down the chute.

..and they were loaded.  It was time to close the doors and head back to the ranch with our very wiggly cargo.

Once we got back to the ranch, we backed the trailer up to the round pen, which is adjacent to the two stalls that were set up for the mustangs.  There was a chute set up from the round pen to the stalls to make things a lot easier.  The mustangs backed out of the trailer and were inseparable in the round pen.  It took them a bit to go down the chute and into their stalls.

Frankly, it all was going incredibly smooth and that should have been the end of the excitement.  However, none of us noticed that one of the small man gates at the far end of the second stall had been left open.  Very big Holy Crap!  The mustangs went in one side and right out the other, before we even knew it.  The whole ranch scrambled to shut the perimeter gates into the ranch.  Now we had two wild, untrained mustangs on the loose on 40 acres.  

After some quick thinking and quick acting on everyone's part, most notably Sabrina and Noel, we were able to get them back into their stalls (2 hours later).  Frankly, two hours seemed like nothing as none of us were sure we would ever get them back.  The mustangs explored every inch of the ranch, including both the big herd and the needy herd.  Levi jumped five of the lower fences, while Lester just decided to plow through them.  Yes, Sid named her mustang Levi.  Pam named her mustang Lester.  

A few pictures of the 'where are they now' antics.

Noel jumped on her horse that had just gotten back from the trainer and drove the big herd into a smaller pen.  Levi and Lester followed the crowd.  Then, everyone separated the herd horses out until only Levi and Lester were left.  Those of us hanging back made a wall of cars, etc. from the pen back to the mustangs stalls.  Pam grabbed one of the older, well broke horses and used that horse to lead Levi and Lester through the 'car chute' and back to their stalls.  It was a crazy, wild morning that, thankfully, ended well.

Sabrina was mortified and swore us all to secrecy.  Yet, in true Sabrina spirit, she was laughing and sharing the story with everyone by the afternoon.  The mustangs were tucked in safely and ready for training to begin.