Hatts Off Horsemanship

08/14/2024

Cupid went through a lovely transformation of becoming a gelding. Now he’s chiller than chill. 😎

07/05/2024

Sweetie had her first ride back since LAST FALL!

She was started under saddle at the beginning of last summer and handled it so well. She was simply just a horse all winter. Then we bred her in April to Cupids Golden Gun.

~90 days later, she rides off like she’s done this all along. Simple little trail ride around the property and a little bit of a trot went smoothly like she had no break.

I hope this mare’s foal has a mind as good as her! 💕

07/03/2024

Missy

Jockey Club OTTB. 6 races and placed.
2011 model.
From track to broodmare.
Restarted under saddle.

W/T/C with ease. Smooth transitions with a nice stop. Can move laterally. Went from round pen to fun show pen in one week. Can go any direction.
Judges tip was she has a lot of suspension and would make a nice hunter!

Desoto, MO
🤚🏼🥕🥕🥕

Check out my reel for video!

07/03/2024

Charity Gerst

06/22/2024

2023 recap:

We ended the year 1st in the 5D in the Saddle Series.
2nd in 5D year end.

We also landed top 10 for 5D in the Missouri Region for BBR World Finals.

06/22/2024

Wow, it’s been quite the minute since I’ve posted much. Let’s do an update:

Miss Hattie is in foal to Smoken French Winner and we couldn’t be more excited!

Sweetie is in foal to Cupids Golden Gun and I’m super intrigued with how this baby will turn out.

Cupid himself has been gelded and is not too fond of the boring life of isolation while he recoups.

Gunner has been living his best life relaxing at home with a few runs here and there, winning 2nd place last weekend in barrels at a local fun show.

I’m not sure we’ve formally introduced her, but Tiger is the sweetest old lady and has been the best pony for Levi to love. She is a tad jumpy but calms to tolerate all of Levi’s desires, including placing him in poles and flag! One of these days we will get her going without a leadline.

Well, that is all for now. Thanks for stopping by!

01/29/2023

12/20/2022

If anyone needs some festive lesson ideas, here’s what we are doing this week for Christmas time!

The Christmas Tree Race
use either five barrels or one barrel and four poles in a V shape to make the “tree”. Use ground poles to make the “stand” or “trunk” for your start and stop. Basically it’s the barrel pattern with two firsts and seconds. We added some fun for the horses by putting “ornaments” on the tree. They loved their post-ride treat!

08/01/2022

Not a horse, but let’s talk animal behavior.

It always bugs me when people say animals are “mean”. My first question to them is why? What made that animal have that behavior? Similarly to bitter people or misbehaving children? What happened in their life or that particular scenario that made them act out?
It’s all about solving the mystery that is discovered by dissecting the behavior.

My daughter brings home her hamster from her mother’s house and tells me it’s mean and she doesn’t play with it. The only time she takes it out is by using a towel. She says it bites. Well, once she was home and settled, my husband takes her and holds her with his full fist closed around this little dwarf hamster. She’s entrapped. You can visually see her biting his hand looking for a way out.
She’s not mean. She doesn’t like to be trapped. I held her for over five minutes letting her run over my hands and through my fingers repeatedly. I could feel her try to dig between my fingers with her paws and nudge with her head. If my hands were a little too stiff, she would throw in a bite to make her way through. As long as my hands were opened and my fingers remained light and soft, she was content. My daughter was amazed and asked how I did that. She was afraid to hold her thinking she would get bit. When I showed her that all her pet wanted was space and freedom, she was able to hold and play with her hamster and no longer called her “mean”. She now understood why she had the behavior she did. We will work forward on not being threatening towards her and allowing her to have her space when holding her.

Behavior dissection works with all animals, including humans. You know the saying “everything happens for a reason”? Most behaviors will have a “reason” behind them and they may not always pertain to the current situation.

07/31/2022

Cupid participated in his first walk/trot classes. He handled it like a pro.

07/31/2022

When you have good foundational groundwork, you can go wing your first Showmanship pattern and it not be atrocious.

07/20/2022