Good Times this Holiday with our Group Lesson

We sure enjoyed our indoor, heated arena Wed for our group lesson! We played with the 'Theme of the Friendly Game'. How many different ways can you play the friendly game with your horse? How about challenging yourself to do everything with only phase 1?! ;) [We used the Cloverleaf pattern as one of many ways to practice with phase one on turning and with different gaits.]

Nina and her Cashie....

These 2 are definetly having a Happy Holiday! ;)

Ahh, this is a cute pic....

Oh, what a cute picture Christi of you and Mav! You both look sooo cute together!! ;)

Xmas Fun with Christi and Maverick....

Here is a true test of winning the Friendly Game; Christi's horse Maverick is completely accepting of his Reindeer antlers while she is laughing! ;)

Parelli Demo success....

Here is Amy Walsh on her equine partner Whiskey, WoW! What a jump! And, with only a halter, Congratulation Amy! We had alot of fun watching you at the demo showing some Finesse Savvy and some Level 4 (performance). Continue to keep it natural, it looks great on you and Whiskey! ;)

Family fun on Chloe's birthday at Twin Springs....

Our Parelli Demo last Saturday was a huge success in more ways than one! We had a surprise gift for Chloe's 13th birthday, her new horse, Phoebe! Her parents purchased Phoebe and 'hid' her in the stall until we announced there was a special guest with a wonderful surprise; there were some tears of joy from all of us watching as Chloe saw her new equine partner come into the arena! Congratulations! [Pictured with her parents and siblings.]

One of our farriers with Creek....and Creek posing!

This is Tammy's lovely gelding, Creek. His feet were in pretty bad shape over 2 years ago; he foundered and it didn't look like there would be much hope. We have 4 farriers that come to Twin Springs and one of them is John Rhine and he is Creek's favorite one! We took these photos to show how much Creek has improved and we're so happy for him and Tammy! [See how Creek is posing his front foot!] lol!

Twin Springs Play Day....

We rode inside the arena doing some Finesse on the cloverleaf pattern. Spikey did a great job in his cradle bridle, again! We had this photo taken outside to capture the lovely sun. Jimmy on Misty me on Spikey and Tammy on Creek.

Here is Linda Lou on Chiefie at our Play Day....

What a cute picture Linda! It was so nice to see you and your Chiefie!

And another....

More pictures from the Play Day with Aponi Studios...

Here is part of our group photo; Jimmy, Cindy, Tammy, Barb, Linda, Nina and Ashley.

What fun we all had!....Play Day Pictures....

More photos to come, but here are just a few pictures from our play day today! Even with the brrrr wind, we had several riders come and we sure enjoyed the warm arena!
Linda & Chiefie, Ashley and Timmy, Barb and Scooter.

Play Day the First Saturday of every month!

Don't forget this Saturday's Play Day! Bring your horses! Enjoy the arena, obstacles, trails! BONUS: Aponi Studios is coming too, Yeah! Get your picture taken with your horse and use it for a Christmas card! Great Deals!

Here is the man behind the woman!

Here is Jimmy on just 'one of his most used' pieces of equipment! He is keeping the arena nice and groomed! ;)

The Twin Springs Arena has been enjoyed alot....

With cooler temperatures, our arena has been a haven for students and instructors!
Here are just a few: Dina on her 'newly leased' Tango, Congratulations Dina!
Christi on Maverick, Sharon on Handsome, and yes, he is handsome!
And, Kayla on Noble with Amy instructing.

Nice close up of Amy on Whiskey with Aaron....

Aaron Wilsons' Private Lessons at Twin Springs....

Here is Amy on her equine partner, Whiskey taking instruction from Aaron.

LOOK! Check out these 'Holiday Specials'!

Give yourself, a friend, or family member a unique gift this year!

“HOLIDAY SPECIALS”

From:Twin Springs Equestrian Center

Holiday Special: $40 lesson
Holiday Special: $35 (If you are a Twin Springs
Boarder or Savvy Club Member)

BEST DEAL: $25 (Buy 4 pre-paid lessons to get this bargain! You can stretch them out OR schedule them all together.)
NO EXPIRATION DATE! Save them for Spring if you like!

*BONUS*: FREE T_SHIRT {when you
sign up for the BEST DEAL}

*Bonus2*: 1 FREE Arena Rental (1 hour maximum)

Lessons are with 1-Star Parelli Professional, Cindy Savage (soon to be 2-Star!)

Phone: 479-619-5272
Email: cksavag@hotmail.com
Website: www.twinspringsequestrianctr.com

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

We hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving Holiday! And, congratulations to the students who are coming for the weekend to have their lesson with Olympic Dressage rider and instructor, Aaron Wilson! We're thankful he is setting time aside for our students; Saturday and Sunday.

Kelly on Riddick

Riddick is an 18 year old Hanovarian gelding owned by NWA Balanced Jumping, who gets to stay with us here at Twin Springs. Here he is with his rider, Kelly Brophey; they won 2nd place in Novice level at Southern Hills one-day Schooling event in Okemah, Oklahoma. Beautiful Kelly! Riddick came to us last year with multiple issues; not able to stand still was one of the major problems. After several Parelli sessions and Kelly 'taking the time it takes' to build a better relationship with Riddick, he now has a much better attitude and his impulsiveness has turned into impulsion. Nice job Kelly!

Chloe on Little Maverick

How cute is this little painted pony!? Every little girls dream, eh?! Well, Chloe is living her dream on this jumping pony named Little Maverick. He lives here at Twin Springs and according to Chloe and her trainer Amy Walsh every show they go to, everyone falls in love with him. Amy Walsh is a Jumping/Eventing instructor who has been teaching Chloe all about how to keep those 1st place ribbons coming on Little Maverick!

Tango is For Lease or Sale....

Tango is a lovely black Missouri Foxtrotter gelding, 8 years old. Yours truly is riding him! He has been started by his owner, Robin Duncan, using the Parelli program. We're happy he is staying with us at Twin Springs, he loves it here! We would like for someone to sign up for a partial lease; you pay 1/2 his boarding fees and get to enjoy this guy all you want, out on the trails or in the arena and we take care of him for you, what a great deal! Contact Robin at: bossmare59@cox.net.

He's Baaaccckkkk!!!

Aaron Wilson is coming back to Arkansas Nov. 25-29. We plan to schedule lessons here at Twin Springs with him. Email or call us to reserve your spot, it will fill up fast!
Here is the previous flyer for you to get info from:
Find the Flyer here: http://aponi.us/twinsprings/documents/AaronWilson.pdf

Love the Cradle Bridle....

Tuesday I tried Spikey's new cradle bridle on him. He wallowed it around for a little while at first, playing with the little roller and sucking the molasses off; then he got pretty quiet. It wasn't until the second time I put it on, which was today, that we really enjoyed what the cradle bridle can do! My hands began to lift the reins and slowly start to shorten them as I asked for just a walk; boom, his neck flexed and I could feel his back, it was amazing! We only spent about 20 minutes at a walk while I practiced playing the 'friendly game' with the reins and asking for flexion. Can't wait for our next session. Spikey is still recuperating from his ligament strain on his back right leg, so I'm really happy that there is something light and provocative we can do without stressing him out.

Bow-Tie Pattern....

Do you want your horse to get the correct lead? How does your horse do with changing leads? The bow-tie pattern is fabulous for helping set you and your horse up for success with leads and lead changes. We practiced it inside the arena this week.

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!

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'!

"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!

Lori's students having fun....

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

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

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!

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.

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

Parelli Lessons at Twin Springs...

Here are 2 of our students/friends with their equine partners enjoying the indoor arena. We have Wed morning lessons so Karol with Memphis and Amy with Whiskey took advantage of our time together to learn more about 'Stick to Me' game; and then some Freestyle riding for fun! Thanks, Cindy

Pagosa Springs, Colorado was beautiful....

I wished I had pictures to post for you from the Parelli Performance Summit last weekend, but we do not have any 'picture-taking-savvy'! Besides that, we do not have a nice camera! So, here's something even better, Parelli's Professional Pictures, simply copy/paste the link below and Enjoy!

We sat behind Mr. Walter Zettl and his lovely wife Heidi; we sat beside Pat Parelli's parents. We had a blast! One of my favorite learning experiences was Linda showing some of her demo secrets. And, watching the 'Drill Team' done Naturally, so beautiful!

We plan to schedule our very own Play Day the first of every month....will keep you posted when we get the first one scheduled... ;)

Oh yeah, I filled out my scholarship application to attend the 2*Star course in Florida next January! WooHoo!

http://www.youtube.com/user/ParelliTube?feature=mhum&utm_source=Parelli+Natural+Horsemanship+List&utm_campaign=09c55889f6-eNews_09_17_2010&utm_medium=email#p/u/0/wec4-jGvAAY

How Cute is this! ;)

This is our friend Karol's horse, Memphis, a sweet bay Thoroughbred gelding who is boarding here, with his little Palamino buddy, Trigger. They love to snuggle on each other over the fence. Trigger is a miniature horse who we use for the Social Skills class for children with Autism.

Clinic Fun

This is Sharla, Karol, Jimmy and yours truly at a 5*Star Parelli Professional Carol Coppinger Clinic in Prairie Grove. We enjoyed the learning experience! 1*Star Parelli Professional, Cindy Savage