Naked Lucky

Carla has been working with Lucky on their relationship. The result is what you see in the photos...he will walk, trot, canter and jump when she asks using only her seat.

Trail Ride through Los Lopez

The Pony Club´s trail ride on Saturday May 17 took Fernanda, Carla, Carolita, Sean and Nicole through the pueblo of Los Lopez, which was right in the middle of its four-day festival honoring San Isidro, the saint of good crops and rain. Firecrackers boomed over the town from Thursday through the weekend, and on Sunday there were country horse races in the adjoining fields. On Saturday, celebrating niños welcomed the Pony Clubbers as they rode through town.

Jack is from New York and has been in San Miguel for almost five months. His dad went back to the States to work on a TV episode, and his mom and he leave next week. Jack´s last class is Tuesday. Jack started on the longe line and is now riding Retta around the arena very capably himself. Good luck back in New York, Jack! Jack´s blog about his time in Mexico is

http://seisojos.typepad.com/my_weblog/ The photos are fabulous and Jack´s comments about being transplanted to Mexico are wonderful. Check it out.

Summer Camp

Summer plans for a Riding and Ceramics Camp are set! Nicole and Lucinda, whose business besides horses is making fine tiles in her ceramics studio, will host several weeks of horsemanship, including basic or advanced riding with lots of individual attention, horse care and clay techniques. The camp runs Monday through Friday from 10 am to 5 pm and includes lunch. The dates are from June 30 through July 25, then Nicole goes to Holland to see her family and then to France! The camp resumes August 18 and runs through August 29. Some of the year round Pony Clubbers will be helping Nicole. Look for a helping hand from Sean, Carla, Fernanda and others. For more information, see http://www.animatile.com/HorsesClay/IndividualPages/PonyClub1.htm
or email Nicole at ponyclublasanimas@yahoo.com.

Andale has been losing some of the good training Nicole gave him - throwing his head up like when he came to us as a country/charro horse a year and a half ago. He´d become a bit of a handful for Sean. It was time for retraining. Nicole this week put Andale through flatwork, lateral work, extended trots, reminding him he is capable of majestic work.

Nicole is also training Lucky and Carla to do Dressage Level 3 work. Lucky is adjusting well to working with a double bridle for the advanced movements. Carla has ambitions to be as good a rider as Cutch Olympic champion Anky Van Grunsven some day.

Retta Under the Mexican Sun

Cece, who part-owns Retta and rides her when she comes to Mexico, sent a drawing of her horse in the red halter she still uses. Hurry back to San Miguel, Cece!

Trail Ride

Today I rode the donkey Lupita. She is a stubborn girl. We tried to go over a creek and she just wouldn't go over it. Finally I got off to try to pull her across, but she decided she was going to pull me. So I saved myself from falling in. I got on again and Nicole and Vaquero get behind us to push her across and finally Lupita crossed the one foot wide creek. -Sean

Last week I was riding Muneca and she was a little hyper. So I stayed walking in the front part of the arena. I knew she didn't want to go to the back. Then I felt her relax and I followed Dumbum (Dumburi). When I got to the corner, out of nowhere Muneca spooked and started running. She stopped when she got to the other side of the arena.
Today I rode Carolita's horse Savanah on the trail ride and she behaved well. -Fernanda

I left our business (a spa) to my husband today and went out with Nicole and the girls on tiny little Retta. They call Lupita La Burra 'the couch' because her back is so wide. Sean rode Lupita bareback with a halter and a rope - for the comfy ride, but then the pair looked like something out of an I Love Lucy episode - Sean trying to get Lupita across a foot-wide creek. Vaquero used to be nuts on the trail - jumpy and hot. But suddenly about five riders are using him during the week, so, with lots of exercise, he was very calm today. Nicole rode with a double bridle just in case he wanted to race every campesino horse we passed, like he used to. -Sue

We were going to divide the whole group which is Lucinda-Cimarron, Nicole-Vaquero, Janice-Chico, Doc-Tesora, Sean-Lupita, Fernanda-Savanah, My mom-Retta and Me-Lucky in two groups. Group #1 - the gallopers: Lucinda, Doc, Janice and me. Group #2-The enjoyers: Nicole, Sean, Mom and Fernanda. The gallopers were gonna leave 20 minutes before the enjoyers so the horses woldn't act up. While I was warming Lucky up, and we were all ready to hit it, Benito (caballerango) says to us Lucinda and the others already LEFT.
And to make a long story short, Lucky and I didn't get to run. But hey, there is always a brand new day!!!!!!!!!!!!! -Carla