Growing Up Tiger

Mommy first met me in late August of last year. She was attending a Gentling Wild Horses course with Monty Roberts .  The course was 2 weeks long and located at Flag Is Up Farm in Solvang, CA. A group of students (including Mommy) supervised by Monty gentled four young untouched Wild horses. One of these horses was me. Me (behind my assumed half sister Peggy Sue) August 2016 Out of all the horses I was definitely the most aggressive and afraid! Second time in a halter August 2016 But, I seemed to like Mommy. Mommy & I after my very first join up! August 2016 and Mommy seemed to like me too. Me & Mommy on my very first walk around the farm August 2016 I would be quieter with her, more patient, I seemed to know that she wasn't going to hurt me. I chose her. Mom & Me at Flag Is Up August 2016 So She decided to adopt me. But really, She thinks I adopted her! As soon as she got me home a few months later, I ...

Hello Tiger Cubs! Sorry I haven't brightened you screens with my presents these past few days. Mommy's been too busy to help proof read my posts. But today she is back, so I am going to tell you another fact about me.  I have Rolly Polly Syndrome. A beautiful picture (if you don't look at my dirty coat) taken this morning! You've already heard about my water addiction! WATERLILY! But most of you probably are not aware that I have recently been infected with RPS. RPS or Rolly Polly Syndrome , is fairly common among horses. But until recently I had not exhibited any of the symptoms. Rolly Polly Syndrome - The need to roll in the most disgusting sand a horse can find, following a bath or extensive grooming session.  This is done directly in front of Mommies and Daddies (PURPOSELY!) and may cause them to experience: Difficulty Breathing Light Headiness Panic Attacks Blubbering Disbelief Anger Fainting Loss Of Speech Slack Jaw...

There is one thing that I LOVE to play with. Every day, all day, it provides me with endless entertainment! WATER ! WaterLily! It was very obvious that I liked water right from the beginning. Our trough used to have a goldfish in it that Mommy called "Fin-ly".  I would wait be the trough until he would swim to the surface, then I would blow bubbles in the water and scare him. I thought that was so fun! But we recently had to replace our trough so Fin-ly had to move out. But lately the weather here in SoCal has been getting hotter and hotter as we move into Summer. It is now completely normal for Mom to visit our house and find me covered from my ears to my hooves in water! Lola likes water too and we have splashing wars ALL DAY LONG ! Lola & Me first time playing in the water trough together! Loving water can cause some extra maintenance however, During this week alone I have dug a trench around my water...

Here at The Ranch, my "landlords" have a herd of breeding cattle. Every Spring a bull is brought in. Once the calves are weaned the bull is let loose in the mountain pasture with the cows.  The hope is that he will cover all of them and father next years crop of calves. This year, we have a very handsome bull.  He is in the holding pen by the roping arena awaiting the calves' weaning. Mommy doesn't know the name of this year's bull, so she is calling him Sampson! The sleepy Sampson I have made friend's with Sampson.  It's funny, Mom expected me to be a bit scared of Sampson at first, after all he is MUCH bigger than all the little roping steers I know. But instead, I took to him right away! I first saw him when I was turned out to play with Papa Pollo earlier this week! We both spent about 20 minutes peeking over the fence at Sampson. I don't think he noticed, we were very stealthy! Super James Bond. ...

Hello! Welcome back to GROWING UP TIGER ! Today we will be talking about the importance of whiskers. All horses have whiskers on our eyes and muzzles.  Our whiskers act like human fingers. We use them to feel the texture of something or to tell us how close something is to our faces. See my whiskers? As you can probably imagine, these whiskers are incredibly sensitive and play a big part in our everyday lives. Now, some people like to trim or shave off our whiskers for competition purposes. it is the style in most types of horse shows for a horse to have a clean shaven muzzle.  Example: Show horse with shaved whiskers (Photo by Mommy) There is nothing wrong with this practice. We can still get around and do everything we need to without them. But what I want you to consider, is that by trimming our whiskers you take away one of our senses.  Where we would originally only touch our whiskers to something, now we have to rub ...

My Mommy often has multiple horses to take care of or train (besides me) a week. All these etc horses some times make it difficult for Mom to make enough time for me. She's figuring out how to balance both my needs and those of the others. What really helps, is that I get along with most horses, so having me out with a "client" isn't usually a problem. One of us will be tied while the other is worked and then we switch. Recently, Mommy has been pleasantly surprised to find that not only am I OK being out with a strange horse, but I actually seem to enjoy "helping" Mommy train. For example, today Mommy worked with a newer "client" Joey. Joey He is a sweet and affectionate gelding. But he has some fear issues. This afternoon, Mommy turned me loose in the roping arena to explore while she worked with Joey on over coming one of his fears: Our dummy steer. Smarty The Steer-Master Of Practice (Photo found on Google) ...

I've heard a lot of humans use the expression: "Patience Is A Virtue." Around the Ranch, I mostly hear it applied to how people need to handle or train horses, but sometimes it's used to express the way a horse should learn to behave. Now, if it isn't obvious by now, I'm a bit of a diva. I love attention and always find it completely unacceptable if I am not the center of every one's universe at all times! Thinking about making a mess I like to paw or toss my head while I stand at the tie rail, if "un-pampered" for longer than 5 minutes. Mommy has been working on teaching me that I don't need to throw a " Tiger-tantrum " every time she walks away to get something out of the tack room or to say hello to another horse. And, I've made some very quick progress!  This picture was taken earlier this afternoon, as I'm sure you can see, I am standing relaxed and quiet. My ears are focused on Mommy bu...

This past Saturday, for the very first time, Mommy and I had a photo shoot. Mom has a nice camera and a little side business for her photography. She has been meaning to photograph me for months but hadn't gotten around to it. But she decided that Saturday would be the PERFECT day for some pictures! Mommy let me loose in the roping arena and let me do my "thang", I was SO excited! I ran around and kicked up my heels but had tired myself out before Mommy could even get her camera out of the tack room! So, I guess photos of me galloping and playing will have to wait until next time. But we still like how the pictures turned out! Here are some of our favorites! Hope you enjoyed my cuteness! I loved posing for all of these! Hopefully we can get somemore for you guys soon! Lots Of Kisses! -TigerLily

There are many different types of halters and head harnesses on the market. Some people use halters for recreational purposes, and others use them for ground training. Personally, I have three halters. One for training My training halter one for play My recreational halter and one for show My show halter (Borrowed from a friend) Each of my halters have a very specific job. Today we will discuss types of training halter. My training halter  is in charge of teaching me new things! It is what I wear when Mommy and I have a training session. There are many different types of training halters and each are available in many different materials. some nylon, some rope, some leather, some paracord, etc. The brand and style Mommy and I use is The Dually Halter by Monty Roberts . Me modeling my dually It is a pressure and release system. Pressure is applied to the bridge of my nose (not my head) and as soon as I do what is desired...