Just a little late :/

So once again I got caught up with other things and have neglected this blog :(  Let me start out by saying that I am sure I will fall behind on posts again but I will try to keep updating this as often as possible.  With that being said, here at Centennial Acres, we have a lot planned already for the spring and summer :) In the upcoming weeks we will be going down to St. Louis for the MAHA Arabian Horse Show where I hope to earn enough points to qualify for regionals, additionally Lizzie will be coming with us to show Rave in 3 walk trot classes. Also Molly will be joining us as a helper and groom :)
In April we have the possibility of some new shows, and a Saturday trip up to the Midwest Horse Fair.  We are planning on hosting a summer camp at some point this year with instruction available to riders of all skill levels and we are also hoping to start up some meetings to go over different types of training, health care and grooming styles, but alas that is still in the works.   So with that being said let's talk about another horse. 
We might as well start with Trixie.

Trixie came to us the summer of 2006. I had previously been hired to start Trixie undersaddle for a wonderful family a couple of years before this.  At her previous home I was told that Trixie had been given to them as a weanling that just didn't pass for the show horse her breeder had intended her to be.  Supposedly,Trixie was out of an unregistered mare that was bred to a top cutting horse here in Illinois.  While the days went by, working with Trixie turned out to be pretty easy, I had been warned that cutting bred horses were difficult to work with but Trixie was quickly proving them wrong.  We were walking over tarps, through water, learning to do showmanship, and getting pretty close to start undersaddle. 

Trixie running through the field.

The day came for me to ride her for the first time. I had enlisted the help of a friend to lunge Trixie with me on her back. All was going well and the next step was to canter her, as I gave her the all familiar cue Trixie picked up a nice canter and a few laps around I sat back and said WHOA. In a million years I wouldn't have been prepared for what she did, years of chasing cattle in her bloodlines she sat back on her haunches and did a nice sliding stop. Years later she still pulls those out once in awhile, if nothing else to teach us all to sit back and not get too far forward while riding :) The rest of that training time was spent going on trail rides, getting her new riders used to her and working in the arena. 

A couple of years went by and when Trixie's family ran into some health problems, we became her new owners.  Over the past six years we have done quite a bit with her,  she has been on countless trail rides, been in a few shows, has particpated in team penning, jumping, driving and pulling a sled. 

So there you have it,  the story of Trixie :)

A New Program

So as winter quickly approaches and time spent outside is less and less, I thought I would begin to tend to this neglected blog :) So here's my idea,  for the next few monthes I will feature some of the horses and animals here at Centennial Acres and fill you in on their back story complete with pictures and all.  After I've run out of interesting animals I will turn to you my students and clients for your questions about us, riding, or horses and I will do my best to answer and provide information regarding the question. Mixed in there I will be updating this blog with news from the barn and our day to day happenings. Then if I still run out of topics I will just have to start featuring information about you guys, lol :)

So for starters today we will start with Stark Raven Reggie.

Lol just kidding... Introducing the real Rave

Rave is a registered Half Arabian gelding who is going to be 12 years old in May. I have owned Rave 9 of those years and after all this time, we have bonded quite well.

I bought Rave as an ornery 3 year old, at the time when he was offered for sale he was training project at work and at the time I could have done without him.  He was impossible to catch, would kick at me while cleaning out his hooves and wasn't very fun to ride. As time went on I soon realized that beneath those mule ears, Rave had a brain and soon became my favorite horse to ride on the trails at The Riding Center. The more time I spent with him the more he began to like me too and soon enough he was mine.

Yep hard to believe all those are pictures of Rave the first year I owned him :) From there I brought Rave home with me and took him with me to BHE for my final year luckily the class I took him for was jumping his favorite.

Over the years Rave has taken me on many adventures, and together we have blazed many trails, ridden in parades, won blue ribbons, jumped many jumps and played lots of games.  He is a true ambassador for his breed excelling in so many different areas and being safe enough to teach new riders the basics and advanced riders new skills.  I will wrap up this post with a bunch of Rave pictures and next time you're out here give Rave an extra treat for me.

 

Welcome

Welcome to Centennial Acres.  We are a small horse stable where we offer riding lessons and training.  The point of this blog is to keep everyone updated on the happenings around the farm.  So for today I'm going to keep it short and just say Welcome.