Back 9 Farms

I am so glad for a new thread! And I am very proud of all our wonderful kids too! This will be an awsome season. I have to let you all know, Kenzie's Dad was at Oakfield and he was filming her and was amazed at how much Kenzie had progressed. What was so funny was when he said to LeeAnn, "you mean you're not leading her????" He was so taken back at the ability she had to make Diego do what she wanted, he had tears in his eyes, well I should say his eyes had water in them!!! We may just get to see more of Kenzie's Dad in the future!! Congrats to LeeAnn for the very hard work and patience she has had to display. She has often said that she has no patience when it comes to little ones (which is why my job is safe here at the farm heheh) but she has risen to the challenge. Congrats to Mom!

O.K. Linda, now I have tears in my eyes!!!!! LeeAnn tries to fool us into thinking she has no patience, but those of us who know and love her know differently. What she has no patience for is whining :)

I will agree about the whining comment!!! Just say no to whining!!!! Kenzie has done very well!!! But all the credit does not go to me. There have been lots of influences...certainly Ms. Linda has been in there helping to instruct at various times and then little Linda and Lyssie have inspired her. Ms Annette has given her several lessons and Ms Carrie gave her an English lesson. And believe me, there will be lots more lessons to follow...epsecially since Kenzie informed me yesterday that she is ready to ride Lil B!!!

I cannot wait until McKenzie feels comforable with someone other than Diego and Belle. They are both great horses and so patient with the kids. I know when Rachel graduated I was so proud even though she had to fight with herself because the horse did not do what she wanted it to. Rein trained horses are great. Maybe we should start the kids on harder horses and then let them show on the great ones like Diego (if we could find more like him).

Mackenzie is already wanting to ride the others. Like I said, she is asking to ride Lil B!! She has already ridden Brandy..and Brandy was such a good girl with her. She did everything Kenzie asked! If we had more Brandys, Belles and Diegos, we would be set! they can do it all!! They are gentle enough for anyone to ride but will go faster for those that want to and can then go to a show and be safe and win a blue ribbon! (If we could just clip them without having such a struggle!!! I have to hold Diego's legs up and clip them like that!) But we are very lucky to have so many great horses for our kids to practice and learn on!

Jen, I don't know whether LeeAnn is aging at a rapid rate or what, but she has gotton to the point where she will not take a student with no experience that is little!!!! Or Maybe she is just being kind to me and telling me that because she wants to make sure that I still have a job!!!!!

My apologies for the bad weather we've had today, (not that I had anything to do with it) you might know that we had a schooling show scheduled for tonight and of course we had to cancel it because of tornado watches in the area. There was one that touched down along Hwy 70 about seven miles from us and again we were spared. I am grateful for the little things. We will reschedule for later this month! Will let everyone know when!

I just know where my weaknesses lie!! And Linda's strengths! And don't be blaming it all on me...Annette doesn't jump in with the little ones either! LOL! Too bad that we had to concel last night. And it is not looking promising for the Henry show tonight either. Oh, well - at least maybe we can get a few things done around the barn!!!

You are absolutely right!!! I want Linda to have job security with the little ones. LOL They have to saddle and lope before I'll take them!!

All kidding aside - Linda is great with the little ones. She has patience and compassion that I don't.

THANK GOODNESS FOR LINDA!!

Amen to that!!! Linda is so good at explaining things to those small ones. That's wy we keep her around...well that and she owns everything ;o)

rain, rain, go away!!! We have missed three shows in the last month due to rain and I am wondering about this Saturday's show at Oakfield! I know we will be crying for rain come July, but I feel like I am floating!!! The blog is pretty quiet - is anybody out there?
School is almost out for me. I go through next Thursday. Then a quick vacation to Gulf Shores and summer camp gears up!
Belle and I went to another Clinton Anderson Apprenitice Clinic with Saundra Carrington and her horse AJ. We had a lot of fun and learned a lot. Belle was her usual good self and did all I asked her to.
Hope everyone is getting ready for summer!

Well, we've got some unexpected but exciting news over in our neck of the woods. Our quarter horse mare had a little filly yesterday! She is so cute...too bad she's not gaited. :) Hope everyone is doing well over there. Maybe we'll see you at Oakfield!

Rachel, why were you surpised? Did you know that she was expecting? Or was the baby just early? Babies are always fun! Hope to see you tomorrow night....if they can get the arena dried out!!

She was exactly a month late! I really thought she had lost the baby, but she's sooo cute and at least I'll be a little more prepared for when Bell has her baby next year.

Rachel, I saw the baby yesterday when I drove by - she is really cute!!!

Well, despite the big rain earlier in the week, Oakfield had a show. One corner was a sloppy mess and no one could get closer than 15 feet from the rail on one side, but it was a beautiful night! The area around the 3rd barrel was too muddy to run, so we mostly made it a pleasure night! Here's how it went down:
Youth Halter Showmanship: Rachel Gokel 3rd, Mackenzie Johnson 4th
Pony Class: Mackenzie 2nd
Youth Poles: Sara Saddler 3rd, Linda Trautwein 4th
Open Poles: Sara 3rd
Open Hunt Seat: Lyssie Simons 2nd, Linda 3rd, Rachel 4th
Youth Western Pleasure: Lyssie 2nd, Sara 3rd, Kendall Davidson 4th, Rachel 5th
Youth Walk Trot (in a HUGE class of 17) Sara 1st
Youth Flags: Rachel 5th
Open Western Pleasure: Linda 1st, Rachel 2nd, Lyssie 3rd, Sara 4th

So it was a great night for everyone!!!

Annette and Justin went to the Clarksville 79 Pleasure show and had a great night, too, but I will let Annette give all of those results cuz I can't remember them all!!!

Next week will be the Gibson County Show - and hopefully we won't have any rain to deal with!!! Everyone have a great week!!!

Well it is 11:30 Sunday night and we are just getting back to the farm. We had a great time at the Clarksville 79 show. Koda racked up the ribbons for both Justin and myself. He was 2nd in a class of 10 geldings. Mick won the class so I don't feel bad at all about 2nd. Then we stood Reserve overall. I won the Adult Showmanship, Walk-Trot, Ranch Riding, Horsemanship, and 2nd in Trail. Justin won Intermediate Trail, Ranch Riding and was 2nd in Walk-Trot. Not bad his 1st time showing Koda. Poor Koda was pooped by the end of the night. It was good for him - the later it got, the better he rode.

We were at Gibson County yesterday for a huge show. There were so many in the pee wee classes!! Our kids did great!!! And there was a big crowd for open and youth barrels and poles since it was an added money show. But we had a great time - even though it was REALLY hot!!! Here's how the awards went:
Pony Halter - Mackenzie Johnson 3rd
Western Halter - Lyssie Simons 5th
PeeWee Walk Trot - Rachel Gokel 1st, Peyton Judkins 2nd, Mallory Chute 3rd, Linda Trautwein 5th
Adult Walk Trot - Annette Reese 2nd, LeeAnn Johnson 3rd
PeeWee Western Pleasure - Rachel 1st, 2nd Mallory, 4th Linda
Youth Western Pleasure - Sara Saddler 5th
Adult Western Pleasure - Annette 1st, LeeAnn 3rd
PeeWee Western Horsemanship - Rachel 1st, Lyssie 2nd, Mallory 4th, Linda 5th
Youth Western Horsemanship - Sara 3rd
Adult Horsemanship - Annette 1st, LeeAnn 2nd
PeeWee Hunt Seat - Rachel 1st, Linda 3rd, Lyssie 4th
PeeWee English Equitation - rachel 1st, Lyssie 2nd, Linda 5th
PeeWee Poles - Peyton 1st, Rachel 2nd, Linda 4th
PeeWee Flag - Rachel 3rd
Open Flag - 1st 2D Justin Reese
Youth Speed - Sara 2nd, Rachel 5th
Open Speed - 1st 2D Justin
Pony Barrels - Mackenzie 2nd
PeeWee Barrels -Linda 1st, Peyton 2nd, Rachel 5th

I think that we ended up with 39 ribbons in all! That is fabulous!!!! Great job, everyone!!!!

Sounds like you guys really cleaned house @ Gibson County! It was good to get to visit with you guys for a little bit.

Linda- Do you happen to Wayne Hodge coming anytime soon? I have one I need worked on but hate to have him come all the way for one so I thought before I called him I would see if he might be making a visit to Back 9 soon.

Where are you guys going this weekend?

The really great thing about Gibson was seeing LeeAnn and Annette competing together. Both of them work so hard teaching and taking care of our kids that they do not often have time to show themselves - especially LeeAnn. McKenzie is finally old enough to be left in the care of others so LeeAnn can get back into showing again. Way to go!