Nancy Rae Lee

Big Al and Mike at Uldrikson Clinic, Part Two

2008-07-19T17:47:00.029-07:00

Once Mike had Big Al settled and paying attention, we walked down to the arena where the Uldrikson Horsemanship Clinic was being held. Mike brought him up close to a corral panel for mounting, but instead of getting on right away, just lets him hang there for awhile. He's a different horse than he was an hour ago. He's relaxed and feels safe. So let's get that bridle on. Mike starts doing all

Big Al and Mike at Uldrikson Clinic, Part One

2008-07-19T13:53:00.030-07:00

Mike Thomas picked me up at 5:15 am Saturday, July 12, at the Log Wagon Inn in Wickenburg, and we headed over to Buddy Uldrikson's Horsemanship Clinic near Congress. Buddy had trailered Big Al over to a pen near the arena where Becky, Mike and I planned to work him in the clinic, but when we got to the pen at quarter to 6, we found Big Al hyped up and spacey. He doesn't exactly get jumpy - he's

Big Al at camp, end of second week

2008-07-09T19:02:00.020-07:00

It's the end of Big Al Dante's second week at summer camp and Derwin and I have come to visit and learn. Buddy starts groundwork with a halter and lead rope. After some work on the lead, Big Al Dante gets a saddle and I move him in a circle. I'm not holding my hands correctly, and Big Al looks a bit stiff, but we're not doing too bad. Buddy teaches Al how to get himself positioned by the

"Big Al" Dante goes to summer camp

2008-06-30T18:21:00.022-07:00

Many of you who know me remember that my big ol' horse, Dante, gave me a gruesome black eye last year, followed by a vehement bucking-off when I was dumb enough to crawl up on him bareback just before dinnertime. Being submerged, as I was, by work and chores, I kept putting off the issues of riding and training him and settled for getting him fat, shiny and spoiled. That was before my friend and

The man who talks to dogs

2008-05-01T21:43:00.006-07:00

I don’t know whether David Hartwig started with a question or not - say, “Would this dog understand me if I asked him to do something in plain English?”, but that’s what happened. He discovered that the family dog, Skidboot, seemed to understand sentences just about as well as a small child, and loved demonstrating his comprehension. Maybe the uncommon question would be “Why don’t we talk

Mysteries of human nature solved

2008-04-24T12:12:00.001-07:00

It's one thing to understand, intellectually, that the human race evolved from the same ancestors as chimps and bonobos, and quite another to recognize their apish influence on our daily affairs. "Sure", we shrug, when the scientists tell us that we share 97.3% of our DNA with chimpanzees, "but that other 3% makes us extra-special. I don't see Bonzo driving a Beamer or J. Fred Muggs building

Discovered online scrapbooking

2008-01-26T22:29:00.004-07:00

Just discovered an online Scrapbook site called "Scrapblog", written in Flex. Quite extraordinary. Fooled around and did something, shown at the top of this blog. It's not a multipage scrapbook yet, but this online program lets you create them.