welcome

We hope you will visit often for news about upcoming events, post-event press releases, photos and information pertaining to our riding facility.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Here is the rest of it...3 of 3.

Here is Lark unloading....

Here is the trailer loading video...[2 of 3, Lark]

Here is the other video that shows Lark trailer loading...[2 of 2].

Is this really the same Lark?...[1 of 3]

Pat Parelli has a little saying....'I've never seen it take more than 2 days....' teaching us to be passively persistent in the proper position! Well, when Lark was given to me from Horses for Healing it took 2 days to load her in the trailer! Lark was untrained, scared of her own shadow when she came to Twin Springs, but after playing the Parelli games with her, using Love, Language and Leadership in equal doses she has now learned how to be braver, calmer and smarter. I was so proud of her trailer loading that I just had to share it! Jimmy video taped us. She loves to go out on the trails too, so here we are trail riding..what a blast. [her new name is Larksie PooPoo!] I plan to use her as a lesson horse, I think she'll do great!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Frederik the Great presented at Twin Springs....




Frederik is a Friesian Stallion standing at stud at Pinnacle Friesian right here in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. His owners' Kim & Stacy Nazzario presented him Sunday, Oct.24th to a crowd of about 200! He did an outstanding performance of Liberty and Dressage Riding style. Yours truly did the announcing and what fun we had! We had door prizes of T-Shirts, Mugs, Posters! Frederik truly WoWed the crowd with his magnificent presense, he is absolutely stunning to watch with his beautiful black flowing mane that touches the ground! His rider was Stacy Morrison at Equus Manor in Centerton. We will post more pictures as we get them in! For more info on Frederik, go to www.pinnaclefriesians.com.

Tammy & Creek....


This is one of Twin Springs' very first volunteer, boarder, friend! Tammy has an awesome story about her horsemanship journey with her horse Creek. In her very own words: "We needed each other..." Creek came to us with a distrust for humans, very dominant out of fear, in Parelli terms, his 'horseanalyity' is mostly Left-Brained Introvert. Tammy has done a wonderful job of starting a relationship with Creek that has developed into a partnership. They go everywhere together, what a truly inspiring 'love story'!

Friday, October 22, 2010

"I love the Cloverleaf Pattern!".....



Christi's horse, Maverick is very relaxed after playing with the Cloverleaf Pattern! She and I had so much fun together; Pat Parelli teaches us this pattern to help horses find relaxation, it has enough consistency for impulsive horses and yet enough variety for 'short' horses (short=only go short distances; 'under-impulsive'.) After a few laps at the walk, our horses began to 'get it' so we would only stop in the middle, making the center or X the sweet spot instead of stopping at the gate every time. My horse began to get better at the trot and then even a few canter strides on the pattern. Good stuff!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Lori's students having fun....






Here are some of Lori's students having fun during their lessons. Emmie, Lori, Amber, Emily, and Lily.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Maverik is definetly enjoying his roll in the grass!


This is your boy Christi! Makes you want to be here to scratch his belly! ;) What a happy horse!

A beautiful day at Twin Springs.....


What a beautiful morning! Here is Memphis and Cashmere, 2 of our boarded horses who are pasture buddies enjoying the sunshine and grass! (Thanks Lea for taking the photo) Yours truly, Cindy

Monday, October 11, 2010

Me with Triplestep...


Our friend Lea took this picture of me with Nick's horse, Triplestep. He is a beautiful black gelding who is full of "horseanality". He can be aloof sometimes, so we halter him, scratch him and keep him friendly. What a fun horse to ride too!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Twin Springs Play Day.....





Well, if you weren't here, you missed out! It was so beautiful this past Saturday at our Play Day. Here are some pics for you to enjoy!

We had fun times with the pedestal; the trail ride was awesome! Lark and I did good together; Joy and Diva were so connected, great job Joy! ;) Jimmy and Misty looking good, as usual by the way! Mike and Willie, we have missed you two! Bonnie and Zane moving right out there, nice saddle too! Tammy and Creek, how great a feeling to be "back in the saddle", right Tammy?! Linda Lou and her Chiefie, so cute a couple! Nina and Cashmere, beautiful as always! Liz and Hank, so glad you could come and join us! Sharla and Smokey, what a perfect pair!

Our next Play Day will be the first Saturday in Nov.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Linda Parelli's Blog...Just had to copy this one to share with you!


I just had to share this latest blog of Linda's, awesome stuff going at the WEG:

Love Your Problems
by Linda Parelli on October 4, 2010

I’m here at WEG, and West Point is my horse-buddy for the next 16 days. Remmer and Allure are here at WinStar farm enjoying a nice vacation in a lovely pasture. For the first days Westy was really worried about the environment. All that emotional baggage from his competition days was back to haunt him and I started to experience the things Lauren told me about: pumping adrenaline, terrible frights and spooking, wheeling violently to the left and a dripping full-body sweat in 60 seconds. Poor guy.
Each day Lyndsey and Kalley would take him for grazing walks and then I would ride him either before or after our demo. He certainly was in no condition to be in the demo ring! On the first day, he had such huge thresholds that we didn’t get more than 50 feet from the barn. When we found a threshold I would turn him and trot back to where he felt safe and this went on for a good half hour. Little by little, the thresholds widened out and all of a sudden we walked around the back of the barn, all the way around.

Then, accompanied by Kalley on Zeus, we would head down to the warm up area near the Village Arena inside a big oval track. There were thresholds on the way there, but being with another horse helped him to cross most of them but when he was really hesitant, I just stopped him or backed him up and waited until he was ready to move forwards again. Once there, we went grazing for a good 15 to 30 minutes.

Each day there were less thresholds and his spooking got less intense, but each day I started the same as the first. I didn’t have any expectations for him to be better. I tried to stay fully in the moment with him, doing whatever it was he needed. I also didn’t give him anything to brace against or panic about if he spooked because I spooked with him. In fact, when I felt him start to tense as he was looking skeptically at something to pass, I side-stepped him away from it “helping” him spook. Sometimes there were several spots in a row, left and right, right and left, right and right and right and left! The key is to keep his head turned towards it, but move his body away as far as he needs to. The great thing about this is that it’s all in harmony, you never feel like you’re going to come off because you’re doing what he’s doing rather than the opposite.

By day four, Westy was left-brain 70% of the time so I asked Pat if he could be in the demo. I didn’t know what I’d be able to do with him so the plan was to stay on the ground and see how he did, and talk to the audience about how to build a horse’s confidence. Westy found thresholds coming into the arena and was pretty right-brain once he got in. So I helped him move his feet and he jumped and spooked at the obstacles and the crowd and the fence, and pretty soon calmed down. So we called it quits there and left with a good feeling.

The next day, he was so good I mounted up. I showed the audience how I would help him spook and soon he started lowering his head, blowing and relaxing. Too cool!

The third day he gave me green lights all the way. He still found a threshold going into the arena, but once in was really left-brain and playful. So I guided him around balls and Figure 8s and chose to jump him over the barrels as the ultimate test. Of course he didn’t jump it so I showed everyone how I would handle it, treating it as though it was the edge of a cliff. I was not going to push him and it had to be his choice to jump. After several retreats and reapproaches, I opened a little space for him to go through and it was only a few reapproaches after that before he jumped over, left-brain and confident. The audience went wild and of course that bothered him, so I had them keep it up until he realized he was fine. Once more over the barrels and I mounted up.

He started blowing right away, so relaxed. I could then walk and trot around the arena and he was responding to my energy, totally tuned in. Time was up so I dismounted before everyone clapped, turned him loose and to all of our delight, Westy didn’t even flinch. Here’s a photo of us walking around while I’m talking about confidence:
West Point, left-brain in our demo!

He’s going to be in the demo again today and I’ll just take it one step at a time, setting it up for success.

People often tell me they don’t have enough patience for that kind of a challenge, but most people don’t know that I didn’t used to be a patient person… before Parelli! Since then, my attitude is completely different. Instead of being frustrated by problems with my horses, I love them. I love what I discover as a result of solving the puzzle, the learning is phenomenal. Instead of dreading something not going as expected, I look forward to it. Also, I’m passionate about helping the horse become more confident and emotionally fit, so it’s never about the task for me. I love watching confidence and trust build between us in all its tiny increments.

So that’s why I called this blog “Love your problems!” I think that’s the real secret.

Let me know how it helps you to start thinking this way.

Linda