 A Non-Profit Organization PO Box 47 Zimmerman, MN 55398 (763) 856-3119 |
The Challenge | The Trainers and Students | Event Information Friday, August 15 Drew, Can you believe it! Less than a MONTH until I “graduate” from camp and show you and everyone else what I have learned! I have been working very hard to prove that I am ready. Do you want to see me? If you do, go to this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w15wYjxZk2g This brings you to a place called “YouTube” where you can see a movie of me (sorry it’s in hieroglyphics, but that’s what they told me to write).
Just in case, I’ve also sent you a couple pictures of me trotting and cantering. I have to say it’s easier for me to go one way than it is the other, but that doesn’t stop them from asking. I can’t help it – one way just feels funny to me and I have suggested to them that they can get to wherever they are going eventually, if we only go in one direction, but still they ask and, I guess it is getting better. I like what I am doing, Drew, and am very glad I got the chance to come to Sleipner Stables camp. I’m looking forward to seeing you and my other friends from the Rescue in September and can’t wait to see what everyone else has been doing! Until then, take care!!! Kara Myst Tuesday, July 22 It’s nearly the end of July and I can’t believe how much has been going on! I’ve been moved to a new stall which is right in the middle of things. I can see all the horses come and go as they get ready for work. I call out I am still spending nearly every day with Dr. Ken and counselor Lisa. Headmaster Alison always watches and she often rides me too to see how I am doing. I did not know that dressage was such an intense affair! I thought I could just run around and look cute, but everything matters to them. Now that I’ve gotten the basics down of someone being on my back and what not, we are working on things like building up my top line, improving my balance and increasing my self-carriage – as if I know what any of that means. They try to explain things to me slowly, but still I have to figure things out myself. I am an Arab, as I do especially love my play days with counselor Lisa. I never know what I will see or do. I am very smart, she says, and very curious. I will climb on or over just about anything and I’m learning to jump over things, too. I am getting really good at watching her signals and I can figure out what she wants me to do in about a nano second! While I miss my friends at the Rescue I have been meeting lots of new people here. Everyone who comes to the barn seems to want to see me and pet me and give me treats. I suppose that is all part of the “program” that Headmaster Alison has devised for me, but I like to think that it’s because I am so darn cute. Young girls especially like me and there are several who have come and spent time with me. I think I would very much like to belong to a young girl, maybe one who knows a little something about riding, but wants to learn more, just like me. Thanks again for sending me to camp – will write again soon! Kara M. > Back to the Trainers and Students Sunday, June 29 Dear Drew,
I thought since it was camp, I could come in my casual attire. Well, that did not last long. Before I could even explain myself or defend my cultural heritage –off I went to the camp spa were they bathed me, gave me a hair cut, shaved me (and I’m a girl!) and put me in a camp uniform. A nice man by the name of Brandon came in and even gave me a full pedicure. Well, I have to admit I was curious more than anything else and I did love all of the attention. Besides, everyone thinks I’m cute and I know because they told me so! You see, one of my first “jobs” was to serve as greeter (and occasional grazer of the food table) at the stable’s recent open house and something like fifty people came and they all said that I was adorable!
By the way, the food is great here. We get three meals a day, with special things they call “supplements”, AND they give me time all by myself in a pasture where I don’t even have to bend down to eat AND on Saturdays we get bran mashes. Boy, do we make a lot of noise when that is served! Plus, everyone is always giving me treats and things called carrots and apples – those are pretty awesome, but harder to eat right now because I’ve lost a few front teeth and am eagerly waiting for the new bigger ones to come in. Let me tell you about some of the camp counselors here. The head master’s name is Alison. She sets my schedule, like when I will have my play time, my grooming time, even my nap time. Right now she is having me spend lots of time with counselor Lisa. Some times I go out with just her and it’s called play time. Some times I go out with counselor Lisa and Dr. Ken and then it’s called work time.
Oops, I have to go now! Head Master Alison just told me lights out, so I’ll be rested and ready to go for next week’s schedule. She gave me a peek at it and it looks like I get to learn more about this dressage stuff those Warmbloods are always talking about. Thanks for sending me to camp, Drew. Say "Hi" to all my buddies at the Rescue. With love, Kara M. > Back to the Trainers and Students About Kara Myst: Kara Myst, foaled in 2005, is a chestnut Egyptian Arab mare with a super-sweet disposition. She trailers well, is halter broke, and is all-in-all very easy to handle. While only a couple inches over 14 hands, she's still growing and with proper nutrition, she should be a gorgeous horse.
About Alison: Alison Sader Larson has been involved with horses her entire life and is a skilled trainer and Grand Prix level dressage rider. Her accomplishments include earning her USDF bronze, silver and gold medals, placement on the USEF high-performance list and participation in Olympic selection classes on her sponsored Grand Prix horse, Legretto 04 (aka "Legs"). About Dr. Ken: Ken Larson is also a lifetime horse guy. He is an equine veterinarian as well as an accomplished trainer and Grand Prix dressage rider and is especially good at starting young horses. Ken and Alison own Sleipner Stables, located in Maple Lake, MN where they teach and train all levels of horses and riders. About Lisa: Lisa Alexander is a student of Ken and Alison's and a strong supporter of the Hooved Animal Rescue. She and her husband, Gordy, find themselves with six horses, including Loosa (aka Tuskaloosa) happily adopted from the Rescue last year!
|
Copyright © 2000-2009 Minnesota Hooved Animal Rescue Foundation, Zimmerman MN USA |
I am finally getting an understanding of this whole connection thing. Do you know what that means in the dressage world? Well, it means that I am confident enough to go forward and take the bit and then give in to it enough that I yield my head and listen to what the rider is asking me to do. I did NOT know at first that that’s what it meant. I thought it meant raise my head as much as possible and show them that I’m in charge. I was wrong. I kind of knew that I was wrong because they said my name A LOT, like “Kara no; Kara easy; Kara, Kara, Kara; Kara KNOCK IT OFF! Well, once they explained it to me that way a few times, I figured out it was just easier to go along with them. Turns out I was pretty smart and now I think I’m looking good (I sneak peeks in the arena mirror when it whizzes by)! 
But dressage is not everything I’m learning. They want me to be comfortable with lots of different things so they set up stuff for me to experiment with. Sometimes we go outside and explore new things. We walk down the road, I jump big blue barrels and I go into horse trailers. They let me see and go lots of different places inside, too. I’ve been in different stalls so that I learn to be flexible and I get to play with stuff like tarps and poles and other funny things. I think you probably got to see that on the video if you watched (you DID watch didn’t you??). 
"Hello" to anyone I recognize and sometimes I bang when I feel I have waited too long for attention which is naughty, but I haven’t been in too much trouble for that. I have a routine, which I like to stick to, but Headmaster Alison is always throwing in surprises. The other day, she took me on a “field trip” around the camp. It’s kind of hard to recognize me in the picture --- I’m the one with the perky ears right in front. 
you know, so I’m quick on my feet and very flexible, but I’m also – what’s the word they like to use – oh, yeah, "o-p-i-n-i-o-n-a-t-e-d" and I feel comfortable enough now with them to tell them EXACTLY what I think of some things. I have to say they are very patient with me when this happens.
It’s been three weeks since I left my Hooved Animal Rescue home for summer camp at Sleipner Stables. I thought at first there had been a mistake because I am the littlest one here, but all of the other campers (they call themselves the “Warmbloods”) have been very friendly to me. I met this one horse, “Legs” – he knows everything! By the way, Drew, what is “Grand Prix” and will I go there some day? 
That’s not all, though. I’ve also spent time with the camp doctor, Dr. Ken. He has lots of cool toys! I have to say this must be a pretty vain group here, because one of the things he did was to take lots of pictures of me – well, mostly of my legs. It was funny, because I didn’t think the pictures looked like me at all. They were gray and white and looked like sticks. But Dr. Ken said I had great joints and that he liked my feet as well. If he’s happy, I’m happy. He said he will put all of my pictures on a computer CD and I can take them with me wherever I go. 
In play time, I’m at one end of a rope and counselor Lisa is at the other end. She’s teaching me to do things with my body based on how she wiggles the rope. Strange, huh? Work time is even stranger. There, they are teaching me to carry things on my back and in my mouth. Do you know what we did this week? Dr. Ken had counselor Lisa climb on my back and I carried her around! I was just glad it wasn’t Dr. Ken who climbed on my back. Have you seen Dr. Ken? Even when I reach my head up really high, he just laughs and looks down at me. He always makes sure I feel safe. He walked with me all the way at first. But now I’m even trotting and he holds a rope so I still feel connected to him and don’t have to worry too much about what’s going on up there on my back.