Category Archives: Therapeutic horseback riding

First Ride of the Season

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Saturday was a glorious day. Sunny, cool, breezy, and dry. At All-Star Therapy Group,  Logan got to ride out across the pasture and through the woods for the first time this year. Of course I came along to document the event.

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The new green of Spring is great. Everything is very lush right now right now in northeastern  Oklahoma. As one heads west it dries out quickly and there have been several big grass fires not too far away.

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But on Saturday we were just enjoying the riding and walking through the pasture and woods.

When was the last time you went on a walk through the woods?

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First Ride of the Year

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The Christmas Break involved more than just school. Logan’s Therapeutic Horseback Riding Lessons also went on hiatus. Last Saturday we started back. Breaks are a good way to relax and recharge but hey its time to get back to work at the good old horse arena where nothing ever changes. Whoa, hold on what is that at the far left?

#allstartherapy #therapeutichorsebackriding #horses #igersok #cross #symbols #ramona #oklahoma

Hey Bob must have got this for Christmas. I like it. I like so called Cowboy Art. I think when it is good it is ironic, good hearted, and funny, without being vicious.

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Cowboy sound systems though… They need a little work.

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The various halters, leads, and bridles for the horses. They are all tagged individually for each horse.

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Logan rode Seven today. Seven is a trained cow pony but the arena got him for a song because he has a trot that will “scramble your brains.” Bob had Logan riding the horse doing things and then answering your questions. Logan got them all except “What is your Dad’s middle name?”  So, then it is like “Daaaadddd? What is your middle name?????”  “I don’t know buddy, if I tell you you will laugh at me.”, “No I won’t!” Well he did.

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The good instructors know how to keep the kids engaged and interested. It takes more than instructors though. It takes an army of volunteers to brush the horses, saddle them up, unsaddle them, feed and water them, muck out the stalls, clean the horse poop up, and just generally help out.

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It’s all about the “clients” at this place. Most of them are kids but they have some adults also. 

It’s all good at the horse arena. I’m glad to be back.

A Little of This and a Little of That

Our young man is getting all grown up. I used to call him SuperPizzaBoy. It doesn’t seem to quite fit any more. He is growing into a young man. I’ll have to think of a new nickname for him.

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(He is kind of handsome I think.)

He is a busy guy. A sophomore in high school now. He also does chess club and the lego club at school and singing lessons, and other stuff also. He has a full schedule so he has to budget his time to make sure that everything is done. This past weekend is a good example.

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(Around and around we go. If the weather is good he rides outside, which is much nicer)

He has to get up early, get dressed, have breakfast and after a fast stop at Starbucks we drive 36 miles one way to therapeutic horseback riding. He has come a long way and is getting more comfortable all the time with his horse.

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(He has a great sense of humor, most of the time.)

We drive back into town and then he changes, has lunch and then we head to his weekly Improv Comedy class. This past weekend was a double dose as he had to go back in the evening for their first show.

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He loves improv and is pretty good at it. I’d find it really tough. There are guidelines to improv but you really have to be on your toes and think fast. Two things nobody has ever accused me of doing.

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(Take a bow kids for a job well done. The adult leaders also, talk about a handful!)

The show was great. Many of the kids have been together for several years. They are really a lively and energetic bunch and can be very funny.

Fun with #geometry
(Poor kid, he has a Dad who just has to try all the Hipstamatic combos)

Today, we got up and went to church. After lunch son had some homework to do. He doesn’t find geometry near as much fun as I do, but he is getting good at writing papers for his English class.

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(How much farther Dad! About 20 minutes Son! That’s what you said 20 minutes ago!)

And then for a little outside time. We ventured up north Tulsa to Oxley Nature Center and hiked the Northern Woods loop for an hour and a half to get a little fresh air.

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(How come teenagers don’t like lily pads?)

He doesn’t like near as much as his old man does but he indulged me.

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(They don’t like the sun shining through trees either)

We saw a deer and enjoyed the silence. We didn’t see anybody else the whole time we were there.

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(Poor kid, his Dad dresses like such a dork.)

And then home, and some video game time, dinner, a chore or two and the day is used up.

He is a busy guy and his Mom and I are really proud of him.
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Our World – The Fricking Frackers, Bison, and Longhorns of Woolaroc

Son and I went on another road trip Saturday.

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First, SuperPizzaBoy does his weekly session with All Star Therapy Group. Here he riding the barrel racing pattern with Seven. Then it was off to Frank Phillip’s Woolaroc (Frank is the guy who started Phillips Petroleum way back when. He has been gone since 1950 or so but his company goes on. Woolaroc is his old ranch and museum. It is a heck of a place.)

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When we got to the entrance it was a zoo. I’d never seen so many people. They told us at the gate that Phillips Petroleum was having their annual employee picnic. So we paid our admission and joined the fricking frackers of Phillips Petroleum at Woolaroc. (Note, I’m a big fan of fricking frackers.)

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It was stop and go from the highway to the parking lot. The bison were wondering what the heck is going on.

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Well at least some of them were. The rest were like ho hum.

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This guy is all depressed looking for some reason.

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There were some Texas Longhorns at the ranch.

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I mean if you were a Texas Longhorn confined deep in Oklahoma Sooner country you’d be depressed also.

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In the barn, the llama was bemused. He had never seen so many fricking frackers and fricking fracker family members.

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The deer were on point also. If the bambi’s are not afraid of fricking frackers why should you be?

Later, I’ll post some pics from inside the museum. If you love western art, you’ll love Woolaroc.

Our World Tuesday

Our World – Road Trip with SuperPizzaBoy to Ride Horses, see some Bison, and Save a Turtle

Saturday Sweetie was going to spend some time with a friend so me and SuperPizzaBoy had the day to ourselves.

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First stop was All-Star Therapy in Ramona, north of town. SPB rides there almost ever week. Here he is with “Seven” doing some rounds outside.

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SPB worked under the direction of Lisa who should slap me silly for this pic. There was a daytime moon I was trying to get in the pic and didn’t even notice what Lisa was doing until later. You can just barely see the moon about right in the middle of the pic.

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After All-Star SPB and I loaded up and went further north to the Nature Conservancy’s Tallgrass Praire Preserve north of Pawhuska, Oklahoma. I just love it up there for a number of reasons. You can really see a long ways. 39,000 acres of tallgrass praire. The largest remaining tallgrass praire on earth it is claimed.

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You really are out in the middle of nowhere up there. You barely have cell phone coverage. An investor group wants to put a bunch of windmills up there to generate some so called “renewable” energy. They would sure ruin the view. But it would sure make investors rich! You are not one of them are you? What are you going to do with the money? I bet you are not going to build a home near any windmills.

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We didn’t see any bison on our way into the preserve. We stopped and did the short loop nature trail. They have loops from 1/2 to 3 miles.

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It was about as nice a day in July as you are ever going to get. It was in the low 80’s when we got there. See how lush and green the grass is. Usually everything is sun bleached, beat down, brown this time of year.

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The wildflowers were pretty also.

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SPB really liked the trail. He announced it was too short so we we walked a little on the longer trails.

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On the way out the bison made an appearance. Here is a momma with two calves. 

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And then these two guys came straggling past along with a bunch of others.

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In another part of the preserve we saw some cattle. Cows are more sociable than buffalo. They always stop and look where bison just barely acknowledge your present. I love these three.

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And there were some white cattle also. You can tell that I really know my cows. You see you have white ones, black ones, multi-color ones, and so on. Anything else you want to know?

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Very pretty coloring.

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On our way out I almost ran over this dude. He was right on the edge of the ruts taking a nap.

#turtle not appreciative at all for getting moved off the road

I moved him to the side of the road. Hopefully it was the side he was wanting to go to. He was about to be turtleburger if I had left where I found him.

And then, SPB headed to Bartlesville for some barbecue and then “Home James”  to the house. We were near the Pioneer Woman’s ranch but just were not in the mood to go say hello.

I love road trips. What did you do Saturday?

Skywatch Friday

Under a big blue beautiful Oklahoma Sky in Pioneer Woman country north of Tulsa.

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SuperPizzaBoy takes his weekly therapeutic horseback riding lesson. Bob, the guy that runs the place decides to make a few changes.

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SPB is riding Frisco instead of Sally. Frisco has better brakes than Sally.

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Which means that son doesn’t have to worry so much about keeping his balance on the horse. Which means that he can relax and lower the reins.

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Which means that the horse can lower his head.

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And that makes for a better ride.

I don’t understand it all, but I have confidence in Bob, and I can see that son is getting more and more relaxed in the saddle but is also more and more in control of the horse.

It is all about observation and making changes and seeing what happens.

Under a big blue beautiful Oklahoma Sky.

Camera Critters – Sally

SuperPizzaBoy is turning into quite the rider. Here he is with Sally.

Therapeutic Riding Update

He is riding weekly at All Star Therapy in Ramona and they have him riding independently more and more. He is going from being a passenger on the horse to actively controlling and working with the animal. Sally, the name of the horse, takes a lot of working with. She gets irritated by the other horses and likes to bite them so SPB has to take charge and prevent her from doing that. 

It is really fun watching him ride these days.

Camera Critters

SuperPizzaBoy Goes on a Ride

SuperPizzaBoy has been participating in Therapeutic Horseback Riding for some time now. But it was time for a change.

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His old therapy place had volunteers lead the horses while the clients rode. It works wonders but SPB was ready for a step up. Something the old place couldn’t do for various reasons.

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So Sweetie went to work researching the issue, hard, as is her style. She was looking for a place that was safe and dedicated to the kids. After calling and checking and researching and then visiting she found All Star Therapy out of Ramona, a ways north of Tulsa on the way to Bartlesville.

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So Sweetie and SPB went up and checked it out and we got SPB all signed up. Today was his first ride.

He has a little ways to go before he joins the pro rodeo circuit but guiding the horse is a whole new ballgame compared to sitting on the horse while somebody leads it.

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I don’t know a thing about horses and even less about riding horses but I think a horse is looking for a little leadership from the rider. So the rider just can’t check out.

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They had son guide the horse around the arena for a while while doing various exercises and then he went out for a ride on a short trail.

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It was about ten minutes but SPB had to guide the horse along the trail.

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Sweetie couldn’t be there. A family baby shower in western Oklahoma had to be attended. But hey I was there to document the affair. So I guess she did all the work and I get the glory, right? She’d say “So, sounds about normal to me.” And she’d be right.

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Way to go my gentle giant of a son, take a bow Sweetie!! You both are wonderful.

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