Welcome to Bit of Honey Training LLC

Welcome to Bit of Honey Training LLC
Welcome to Bit of Honey Training LLC

Sunday, July 26, 2020

Faline Conformation Photos


Faline is a 2019 buckskin filly who is 15.3h as a yearling.  Her expected height at maturity is 17+h.  She is eligible to be registered Oldenburg.

Faline is by the Oldenburg stallion Carrico (a Catoki son), who is a 1.6 meter jumper.  https://www.redfieldfarms.com/carrico.html

Faline is out of Oldenburg mare Marzipan GF (Blonder Hans/Metallic Dream/Senussi), a rare imported cremello warmblood mare,  http://www.gestuet-falkenhorst.com/
 




Faline is easy to catch, halter, and lead.  She can be a bit pushy and as most yearlings do, she needs occasional reminders of her ground manners.  She has been exposed to all kinds of things including llamas, dogs, bridges, hula hoops, and various small cross country fences in-hand.  She adjusts to new things boldly and is eager to learn anything new and interesting.  Faline ties, bathes, loads, and hauls well, and is used to having her hooves handled. 



 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNaf_5Yq5n0



Faline is available to be purchased at $18,000 firm, price to increase with training.  For more information contact Kim at 970-231-9999.

Seller prefers that Faline stay in the Bit of Honey Training program, or buyer shall provide references to a similar program.  Faline may be stabled at Bit of Honey, or return annually for a minimum one month of training each summer with Kim Leonard.  This annual training program continues up to and including starting under saddle at age 4-5 depending on when she is ready.  Faline has unlimited potential as an eventer, jumper, or dressage horse, it is imperative that she is brought along properly or breeder will not sell. Special considerations may be made for out of state buyers.

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Moqui Meadows Cross Country Day

This weekend we took horses to Moqui Meadows for a cross country day.  Many thanks for the photos by Kimberly Hale Photography, Tim Rett, and videos by Sara.  Each horse and rider pair did two rounds of the course, Highboy at training level and the other horses at elementary.  Though he's schooled each of the types of individual questions before, this was Highboy's first time doing a full course at training level.  It was extremely fun, and very satisfying to have him behave like he was actually listening and focused on the course instead of messing around to amuse himself.  He just needs it difficult and/or complicated for him to act interested.

The warmup was silly as usual, he wanted to just get going already.  Once we left the start box, however, he was all business and rode incredibly well. 





This rock wall was quite large, I'm impressed at how Highboy cleared it with no difficulty and with plenty of room to spare.




These stairs were fun to go up - no hesitation.







Highboy did his characteristic deep knee bend before he hopped into the water, too.


Here is the gopro video from my helmet camera from Highboy's round.


Here is video that Sara got of Highboy doing his second round.


Ferriana also went to Moqui.  This was her second time here, we had come last fall as her first outing.  So this was Ferriana's second time going around this particular elementary course.  She warmed up well, though seriously over-jumped the warmup fences resulting in some audible gasps from onlookers.  On the course she went fabulously, forward but listening to me, jumping clear but not over-jumping too much.  By the time she was finished her second round she had made it very clear to me that these jumps are now too small for her, and she'd like something more challenging, please.  She expressed this by cantering to the last several fences and BARELY jumping them, just taking a mildly larger canter stride over.  Now that she's jumping conservatively that tells me she's ready for something larger.






 Here is the gopro video from Ferriana's round.


Moqui Cross Country Part II

Sidney and Linda also rode the elementary course at Moqui this weekend.  They had very conservative rounds, because we're working on getting Sidney to really relax on course and enjoy herself.  Linda did a great job following the instructions I gave her regarding which fences to jump and which ones to go around so that she and Sidney had a really confidence building ride.


I feel like this first photo should be captioned, "Horseshows in the time of Covid"...







Daisy had been to Moqui several years ago when I had her in training before I sold her (and subsequently bought her back).  She didn't ride that time, though, she had just come along for the field trip and to stand tied at the trailer.  So this was her first time riding the course, and Jasi did a great job piloting her around the elementary fences.









Silver and Gillian did the elementary course, too.  Silver was really good, listening to Gillian's cues and looking for his fences.  I'm so proud of this pair and the courage from both of them.  It was a reach for them to do a full cross country course together, but they did it incredibly well.









Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Silver in the Jump Chute

It was ridiculously windy this morning, so instead of a riding lesson, Gillian and I reset the jump chute and put Silver through it.  That horse is so quiet, confident, and athletic, he looks like he's barely trying and he easily clears everything we set. 




The last oxer at the end is 3'3" tall and 4'6" wide, but you can see him clearing the orange jump standards, which are 4' tall.  I see so much potential in this horse, including the ability to do upper level work in eventing.  Once he relaxes when traveling and rides away like he does at home, he is going to be phenomenal.