About me and the training of my Friesians.

This is a true horse working ranch, not a hobby farm. I do all my farm work with the horses, including mowing hay, raking and retrieving the hay with the horses, feeding the cows in the winter, harrowing the fields and helping the neighbors plow. In the fall of 2009, we helped pack 70 bags of Portland Cement (@90 lbs per bag=6,300lbs) into the Wallowa Wilderness Area to repair an existing dam. We used 5 horses to help with this week long job.

What I love about the Friesian is I can still pursue my other loves of Dressage and packing in the mountains. I chose this horse because I can do all of this with the same horse. Making for a well trained, diverse horse perfect for people like me that want to have fun with my horses. I come from a background of 20 years of intense training in sports and competition, including 3 Olympics and stage wins in the Tour de France Feminine, so I have a good feel for developing a very fit, well balanced horse.

I am the sole trainer of the horses. With the exception of one mare, all the horses have been born here and trained by me. They have the run of 160 acres, alleviating the problems that come from a horse that is kept confined for long periods. All horses are brought into the barn daily, tied while I work the older horses. This gives the babies patience, handling and exposure watching the older horses work. The babies love following their mothers while driving.

I start all the youngsters at about a year old in Natural Horsemanship. With just voice and body/hand signals, no halter, they will spin, follow at a trot, back and other movements. I start this when they are yearlings. Starting their second year, I move to desensitizing, harnessing, ground driving and light packing in the mountains. When they are 2 1/2, I will have them pull a lightly loaded bobsled for gentle, easy work feeding cows. I also challenge them by introducing them to water crossings, cantering in harness, driving in town and other things that will help them be steady horses. If they are steady at this point, I introduce mowing hay and raking. By the time they are 3, they have lots of gentle, steady practice without having had weight on their backs. I stay on this schedule until they are 4, when their backs mature, before I start their riding training. Gentle, slow training makes for very confident horses.

My background is in lower level dressage and I begin formal work at this point, during the winter when things slow down on the ranch and their riding can be steady and consistent.