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All about horses in northern B.C. Issue # 123: April 30, 2002 Published each Tuesday by Kristi McCrindle, editor, Southbank, BC WOW!! I can't believe how nice the weather has been this week - I hope that all of you have been bitten by the "Let's Get Riding" bug! I started looking at the calendar the other day and realized that I am booked into a team penning clinic in the middle of June. Sounds like a long way away, doesn't it? Yet this clinic is barely 6 weeks away - and I have to get Raime into shape for it unless I try team penning on Tori! ACK! You can just guess what shape Raime is in right now... he sat in a pen all winter, with a nice warm blanket, bored to tears unless he was eating... no exercise at all, plus he is 16 this summer and therefore more prone to gaining weight and losing condition... Yup, Raime is FAT!!! So my work is cut out for me now - get that chubby little horse licked into clinic condition in 6 weeks - whew! Add in his breathing disorder, and this is going to be a challenge and a half! I started Saturday by hand walking him before the evening feeding. I will try to take him out once or twice a day for the next week or so - we started by alternating walking 100 meters, then trotting 100 meters, for 1.2 km (did you know that the average hydro poles are 100 meters apart? Handy!). Good exercise for me I tell you - I'm leading rather than riding until he gets little narrower! Once I am able to ride him regularly, I'll add more trot work, and then some loping later on. Hopefully by the time the clinic comes he'll be in semi-decent shape. photo courtesy Chris Hassell So that is what I'm up to these days when I am not on my computer working on the Fall fair stuff - look for me and the chubby white horse trotting down the road! Until next week, ~ Kristi :) email to editor: kristi@hiway16.com Photo Show for horse photos Horse articles (word search: horse) Foal Announcements are back ! Add your announcement or check what's new New - we now accept both offers and requests for rides Check our Horse Trailer Sharing Page or... add your listing if you wish to share your horse trailer ride Join us for a discussion about everything to do with horses on Horse Talk Your opportunity to meet horse enthusiasts across northern B.C

	Past articles are all available in the
Choosing a trainer - Choosing a trainer - Regular lessons - Part 5		Colour genetics 101
What qualities do you look for in someone who you want to use as a trainer/coach on a more permanent basis? For a regular coach I would always choose someone who is up in the discipline I am working in. If I ride jumpers, working full time with a dressage coach isn't going to help me on the competitive scene. This does NOT mean that I can't greatly benefit from the dressage lessons, just that I don't want to choose the dressage trainer as my full time coach. Especially if you are wanting to be competitive, it is important to choose a coach/trainer who is up on the current styles, trends, and so on in your chosen sport. This person MUST be a good communicator! In order to gain the most benefit out of your regular lessons - which you are paying good money for - the trainer must be able to tell you how to do it so that you get the desired result. If the trainer is riding your horse several days a week and you are riding on the weekend, you can really gain ground! Pick a trainer who has time and energy for as many lessons each week as you can afford. If your pocketbook will allow, a good situation for a non pro rider can be one where the trainer rides the horse three days a week and the rider takes lessons twice a week. Many trainers that do this have a set fee per month of training and they include a certain number of lessons, others charge on a per ride or lesson basis. Western, English, Penning or Trail riding, all equine sports have a voice on Northern B.C. Horse	With the start of the riding, schooling and competition season, we can again begin to run a regular Current Events column. This column can be used to advertise your shows, clinics, meetings and special events such as workbees, fundraisers, open houses, and so on - as long as it has to do with horses, we will run your info! We would like to cover both sides of an event - the advertising coverage beforehand as well as a report after the fact that tells everyone how the event went. To send in your info, please email kristi@hiway16.com (please put ?NBCH current event? in the subject line). My current events this week are the J.P. Forget reining clinic in Vanderhoof from May 2nd to May 4th, and the PGRHA Schooling Show on May 5th in Prince George. As many of our long time readers know, J.P. Forget is a reining coach from Olds, Alberta. J.P. has an excellent non-pro program as well as training horses full time. I have been riding with J.P. for about 4 years now, and really enjoy his teaching. He is a very good communicator - many clinicians are very gifted with horse training knowledge but are not as good at telling riders how to get the same results. J.P. used to teach in the Olds College Equine Program, and he has always been known for his teaching skills as well as his riding and training abilities. If you are interested in meeting J.P. and seeing him at work, please stop by Riverside Stables in Vanderhoof from May 2-4. There may even be a couple of openings in the clinic - if you'd like to get into the clinic or for more info, contact Randy at 250-567-4269. The Prince George Reining Horse Association is holding their annual schooling show on Sunday, May 5th, at the Prince George Agriplex. This show is a great way to check and see if your fuzzy equine still has his spins, slides and lead changes in preparation for the upcoming show season. Classes cost just $5 to enter - a pretty safe way to get your feet wet this spring (especially compared to some of the BC reining shows which can have classes up as high as $200 to enter!). Most of the classes are two-handed optional - giving you the perfect opportunity to correct the mistakes your horse is likely to make this early in the season. The Schooling Show starts at 8:30 am (registration is from 7:30 to 8:30) and the judge is Randy Ophus from Vanderhoof. For more info, call Carrie Lynn at 250-560-5232.	The colour genetics column is sitting in a stall right now due to the Appaloosa genes. I have contacted five different people for their help with this colourful spotted pattern, and so far nobody has come through. The fellow that I most recently talked to seems possibly interested in writing the column himself and if he will, I will certainly let him - I know very little about the Appaloosa! In the meantime, I will start looking around for other topics to write about - if you have questions, please send them my way - kristi@hiway16.com please put ?NBCH topic? in the subject line). If you are new to Northern B.C. Horse, check out all the previous issues on the Archive page. Kristi is building a great knowledge base about horses, with the emphasis on our area of the world. Northern B.C. Horse is brought to you courtesy of our advertisers including: Burns Lake Building Supplies Griffin Crick Ranch Hoskins Ford Northern Horse Supply Ridennoure Paint Horses The Tack Store Thanks to our advertisers for making this all possible... ...for information about advertising, email jim@hiway16.com
	If you have tips or questions you'd like to share with other local equestrians, please mail them to kristi@hiway16.com

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