Horsemanship Program summer 2019

Tranquil Acres

Horsemanship Program

https://www.tranquilacresguesthouse.com/

When I was in Moscow I decided I wanted to take what I called "horseback riding lessons" when I returned to Ottawa. When I was younger I've been on trail rides and the horses ALWAYS knew that I was NOT in control and I wanted to change that. 

The worse incident was when we came out of the trails into an open field and my horse decided to take off at full speed. All I had to do (I know now) is pull back fairly hard on the reins and say "whoa" in a commanding voice. That would have stopped me from sheer terror as the horse headed for the only tree in the entire field. I swear he wanted to lose me with the low hanging branch because he went right for it and I had to literally ride sideways in the saddle to avoid being beheaded. I think it was after this incident that I was quite afraid of horses.

Going into the lessons (4 - 1 hour lessons) I was anxious knowing I would be getting up close and personal with these magnificent, but unpredictable animals. 

Tranquil Acres is a therapeutic riding centre. This means they help people "with varying social, emotional, physical and mental health needs who want to experience the transformative powers of horses as teachers and healers". 

(excerpt from their website)  

My instructor Kyle is a registered psychotherapist, but to me, he is just a very relaxed and easy going guy who has made this process enjoyable and dare I say, even fun! He has a lot of patience and a good sense of humor too. 

My horse is lazy. He truly is. He's 1600 pounds of laziness and his name is Monroe. He LOVES to be brushed and he loves treats even more. What he doesn't love is to move very fast, so as Kyle puts it, "he's a great teacher". He's a great teacher because he doesn't easily respond to commands such as going faster, so I really have to know what I'm doing to make him go!

My handsome new friend Monroe... at least I think this is him from their website. lol

All ready for me to brush him!

He's loving being inside the stables where it's much cooler and less bugs! You can see he's pretty relaxed.

Every lesson starts with me brushing him with 3 different brushes and he usually just closes his eyes and gets very mellow because he really enjoys being brushed. After that I clean his hooves. Who knew it was really so easy to make him lift his foot? Just run your hand down the back of his leg and at what would be our Achilles heel area, just give a little squeeze and he'll lift it up for you. Mind you, Monroe gets a little lazy and I end up holding a fair bit of weight, but it's manageable.

After grooming I lead him out of the stable area through a little door (and be sure I'm the one through the door first to show I am literally the leader and the one in control). Sometimes he'd test me on this one and try to get ahead of me. Same with when I'm walking him. My goal is to keep his nose about at my shoulder so again, I am the one leading.

This is my favorite shot. I love his expression. He looks so relaxed. He doesn't look as big when he puts his head down as when he stands upright, but you certainly feel his size when you're riding  him!

He's so handsome. 🐴 After walking him around the indoor arena I bring him over to the steps where I get on him and practice maneuvering him around the ring, through posts, over wood on the ground, etc. It's surprisingly easy to get him to do just what you want. Posture is key with a nice erect spine, shoulders back, head held high. Attitude is important too as horses are very intuitive and the pick up on your emotions. You look to where you want to go... not just at your horses head. He senses this if you're looking in the direction you're headed in it'll be easy to guide him to where you want to go. If I wanted him to go faster I first had to think of something exciting and get my internal energy "up" also. Then I'd squeeze his sides with my heels. If that didn't get him going, I squeeze a little harder or give a gentle kick. As I said earlier, Monroe is lazy (that's what Kyle calls him) and so it does take a bit of motivation... especially in this heat wave we've been having. After our lesson I bring him back to the stairs where I dismount and then walk him back into the stable where he gets another brushing and a treats.

 July 9th - last lesson

Today was my last lesson. 😢I will miss Monroe and our time together, but today I really got in the groove and held strong when he was resisting (it was +32 degrees, I don't blame him).

lol... I look a little tense here!

I think the posture is good although it looks like I'm holding the reins too tight, my hands should be more forward. Good action shot Kyle, thank you!

We were both a little exhausted in this heat wave

Love ya Monroe and I will miss you! 😭

Thank you SO much to Tranquil Acres and my wonderful instructor Kyle for his kindness & patience and for allowing me to build the confidence to be much more comfortable around horses.

Glassblowing class experience

March 24, 2019

As a unique experience I decided to bring my Dad to try glassblowing. Both of us have always been interested in the blown glass process and the beautiful things that come from the craft.

The transformation from solid glass to liquid material takes place at about 1320 degrees Celsius and then is left to level out (which allows the bubbles to rise out of the mass). The working temperature is 1090 degrees.

Everyone choosing their colours for their "friendship ball"

We were told to lay out the colours within this template and we could choose between spotted (like the ball with yellow on it) or spiral (the blue one). Dad chose spotted and I chose spiral. Mine is the all green one on the right.

Dad's colours are the ones on the far left (without the paper). Blue and pink looking here.

The furnace... if you're cold, just stand next to it to warm up in a jiffy

Our instructor dips the rod into the furnace with the melted glass and constantly spins the rod in the liquid for it to accumulate in a blob on the end. She then rolls it on this metal table (to make it one solid piece without any air in it).

She then holds it in the furnace for a few seconds to reheat it, then rolls it into the glass pieces each person chose earlier. The cold glass pieces stick to the hot molten glass

When you choose the spiral form, this extra step is taken. She uses a plier-like tool to pinch the end of the blob and then twists the rod while holding the tool in place. This creates the swirl effect vs. just leaving it as spots.

You don't want to get too close to that heat!

This is the nearly finished ball of the first participant. Here our instructor is adding the little hook to the top of the ball by getting a little more molten glass, plopping it on the newly formed and still hot ball, pulling away some of the excess then bending it back and forth and finally wrapping it around a small tool to form the loop. The left over molten glass on the rod is placed in a bucket and because this glass is cooling too quickly in room temperature it eventually cracks and shatters with an audible snap, crackle, pop

Dad's up 2nd... the first bit of molten glass is added to the rod, then rolled on the table

Then it's reheated for a bit

Then rolled again through the cold glass pieces we chose earlier (when she has enough glass to make the entire ball).

Then reheated again for a moment... you have to constantly turn the rod or the glass blob will just fall off the rod when being reheated.

Getting ready to blow!

Dad has a good set of lungs to create the initial start of the ball (the hardest part to blow as you're blowing through a thick part of glass).

Blow hard Dad! 🌬

Good job! While we were blowing she was constantly turning the rod, so we had to blow while moving

It's getting there... keep going!

Such concentration!

Ta-da! (minus the loop)

Here she's adding the little loop to Dad's masterpiece

At first it looks like SUCH a huge amount of glass to create the loop

Then she takes most of that blob away. Just about done, then it goes into a little incubator to slowly reduce the temperature so that it doesn't just shatter like the left over glass on the rod.

These are the buckets she puts the hot rods with leftover glass in and they snap crackle and pop as they cool

Time for mine... I do wish we were more "hands on" to make it and not just do the blowing part, but that's a more advanced class and would take much more time.

Rolling it to pick up the cold glass pieces which form the colour in the otherwise clear glass

Apparently my Dad & I have good lungs (according to our instructor)

It's not too difficult... the young girl in our class was easily able to do it also

Look at the strange colouring of my ball... it totally looks pink, but there's only clear glass with green swirl. The colour changes as it cools

Now it's green... It will actually be more of a bright green when it fully cools, but right afterwards it was this olive green.

Here you can more clearly see how she forms the loop

Look at this funny water glass! lol

Dad checking out the tools

Some of the beautiful coloured glass pieces you can choose to customize your piece

And our finished pieces ...

From these pieces of glass...

to this... the finished friendship ball

From these two different-coloured pieces of glass to...

To this pink & purple masterpiece!