Sunday, February 22, 2009

Meet Mike

Hello my name is Mike. Mel invited me to do blogs on her blog and as I've been thinking of keeping a horse blog myself I figured I might help her out. So a little about myself I guess.
I'm a ranch owner in Canada. I currently own five horses on my farm and I am boarding four more for clients. I've lived here for two years now. I've been riding since before I could walk and have competed in lower level cutting and roping and I currently compete up to a professional level in the show jumping community which is a good opportunity for travel and meeting different trainers so I really hope I can contribute to this blog.
Right now my horses include a arabian gelding, two clydesdale thoroughbred cross mares, a shire quarter horse cross mare, and a warmblood gelding. i hope to share more about them in the time to come. In the mean time feel free to ask me anything you want to know.

28 comments:

  1. Haha yes, so happy you agreed to do this.

    You're hurting my head though =( you even failed to capitalize one of the "I"s.

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  2. You'll survive. This might be fun though thanks for inviting me :). I'll talk to you tonight though because I have to get back to the horses. See you later Mel!

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  3. Okay love. Talk to you tonight and give Paul and Summer a huge hug from me =)

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  4. Hi Mike. I am just a trail rider but I will look forward to reading your entries. I always like to learn just in case situations change. In most situations I have no clue but maybe one day it will sink in.
    When you travel for jumping, do you ever come to the US?

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  5. (rushing in the door) Did I miss him? Darn!!!
    Hello, Mike, Mel mentioned you met Eric.(You know who I mean:) What do you attribute his biggest successes to?
    How great a rider he is? What would you say is his strongest point, as a rider, for yourself, as a rider? Is there anything you have learned from watching him?
    darn, I should know better than to run all the way from my blog to Mel's blog. It's a long way from Ontario:)

    drat, this made more sense in my head. nothing new, there. Not to worry about capital letters. this is capital free day.

    sorry, I'm an Eric groupie.
    What level do you show, currently? GrandPrix? Modified?

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  6. GoLightly said...
    (rushing in the door) Did I miss him? Darn!!!
    ============================================

    He's gone but look at Mel. She thinks we cannot see her. We can see everything.

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  7. You can't see me if I'm under my blankets...

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  8. AMM,
    Go to my blog to see pictures of the noble Shire.
    trooperandsarah.blogspot.com

    I enjoy reading your posts. Keep it up.

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  9. Welcome Mike. It will be good to have two educators.
    Mel neglects us sometimes.
    As, she is, a very busy woman...

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  10. Hi Mike,

    Anyone who is good with Mel has to be pretty special.

    I have hunters, used to show here in Virginia, not too much anymore. Have picked up foxhunting.

    My question too, do you ever come to the U.S.?


    bhm:

    You have a blog now too?

    Alright, I am just pathetic. Was going to start on it yesterday but went to see Chuck instead and then decided I should pick a fight with my husband.

    Running over to your blog.

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  11. Mel:

    You need to give us something here, we are getting into alot of touble without you here. The whole lot of us have gone on a trashed Fern's place since she is in Cabo.

    Aren't you going to Hawaii? You might want to think of something to keep us kiddies occupied when you are gone.

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  12. I can't WAIT til Mel goes to Hawaii. I'll bet she has tons of cool stuff at her place. I'm planning this shindig already! Shhhh...don't tell Mel.

    Hello Mike,

    So nice to meet you! I'm really looking forward to your input. I learn so much from everyone here. We have 9 horses here on our hobby farm, 7 full sized and 2 minis. My girls show 4H and local open shows, just small potatoes but we love it. :) I trail ride and try to keep up!

    P.S. Everyone email me later so we can make a list of what we need for our Tupperware Party. (that's secret code for our crashing Mel's place party)

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  13. SWA,
    My party recommendation is: Bring FV's goat.

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  14. SWA- will we be playing indoor volleyball at our "Tupperware Party"? If so, I think we will be needing a new net after the goat became the referree at FV's.

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  15. This goat is turning into quite the celebrity. I think we have to name him.

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  16. nccatnip said...
    Hi Mike. I am just a trail rider but I will look forward to reading your entries. I always like to learn just in case situations change. In most situations I have no clue but maybe one day it will sink in.
    When you travel for jumping, do you ever come to the US?
    ..............................................

    Yes I do I've been to most of the states except for some south-eastern states and hawaii.
    ..............................................
    GoLightly said...
    (rushing in the door) Did I miss him? Darn!!!
    Hello, Mike, Mel mentioned you met Eric.(You know who I mean:) What do you attribute his biggest successes to?
    How great a rider he is? What would you say is his strongest point, as a rider, for yourself, as a rider? Is there anything you have learned from watching him?
    darn, I should know better than to run all the way from my blog to Mel's blog. It's a long way from Ontario:)
    ...............................................
    Eric is a very determined and devoted man. I immagine he lives and breathes show jumping and his complete dedication has to be the key to his sucess.
    I am fasinated at how well he rides at such high speeds. He pushes his horses very fast through the course but at the same time he always checks them and judges everything to a dime. I admire how quick his mind works in that he can judge footing, distance, height, spread all at top speeds and still have enough brain power left over to hold himself over the actual jump. If I've learned anything from him it's more passion for the sport showing that alot is possible. I also had the priviledge of asking him for a few tips too, and have carried a couple of them through to my own technique.
    ...............................................

    Thank you to every one else for the great welcome, I'm sorry I haven't been around but it's a very busy time here right now, getting the horses ready for spring and we just had a nasty bout of weather, I've spent the days salting ice, fixing my fence that my arabian broke again and shoving shovel handels through the trough water. Mel sent me a prodding email this morning so sorry if I was ignoring you.

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  17. Also I'll bring the party ponies to the party.

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  18. "I also had the priviledge of asking him for a few tips too, and have carried a couple of them through to my own technique. "

    And the tips were?

    He is Lamazing, that's for darned sure:)

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  19. OOps, Mel.

    Duh.
    Forgot to ask YOU this question, please?
    What's the short history of barrel-racing?

    How did it evolve?
    Pretty please?

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  20. Okay, I'm in a little pickle and I feel bad. I thought this would be a good place to ask because Mel always has such sound advice.

    I've had my farrier for over 3 years. We moved almost 2 years ago and he still comes out for me, even though it's farther for him. Over the last year I've noticed a change in my horse's hooves. I'm not in love with the way they are trimmed and a couple of the horses have hooves that are beginning to flare out, most of them look long in the toe, even right after a trim. I trim every 6-8 weeks without fail, I have a standing appointment. I have a hoof angle device and I measured after he left one day and every angle, on every hoof, was slightly different. Now I know that can be done on purpose, but he never uses a device to check the angles. Ever. And it takes him (and I am NOT kidding here) one hour to trim 9 horses. I feel like he's not giving me his best any longer and my horses are suffering for it. The show season is coming and my horses feet look like crap and I'm also afraid that since we are starting our conditioning program back up that the poor trims might cause problems.

    I got a name for another farrier from my girl's trainer. I want to try him. How do I tell my farrier, who has been so loyal? How do I "complain" nicely to my current farrier and tell him of my concerns without accusing him of not doing his job correctly?

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  21. Hey, mel. How's your cold? If I were there, I'd cook you a nice Thai curry to clear out your head. Hope you feel better in time for your performance. I know how that is. *passes over box of Puffs + with lotion*

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  22. Mmmmmm, Thai curry. Now I'm hungry for Thai food. I don't have a cold AG but I do have a nasty hangnail...how about whipping me up a batch? :) Okay, I made up the hangnail part...I just want some curry.

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  23. Sure. Hangnail not required. When i was 3, I slipped between my dad's legs and the workbench on which he was running a grinder with a large rough wheel. I reached up and the wheel grazed my thumb. What a mess that was! My dad was just sick about it. I have a weird scar and always have some form of hangnail. Imagine how bad it'd be with no curry.

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  24. Ooh, I love curry. I don't have a cold or a hangnail, but a couple of years ago, I smashed two of my fingers in a trailer hook-up accident so bad, I had to have surgery. Does that mean I get some curry too?

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  25. I haven't seen Mel in so long! I miss you Mel!

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