In October of 2011, Edie traveled to Lexington, KY with four fellow horse-friends to audit a four-day Buck Brannaman clinic. She looks forward to possibly riding with Buck someday and was overwhelmed by the knowledge she gained while watching Buck work with roughly 30 different students over the four-day clinic. In addition, Edie and her friends visited Kentucky Horse Park for a day and were able to connect with the Lexington Mounted Police at their annual Colloquium, which is held on the Kentucky Horse Park Grounds. Edie garnered an invitation to ride in the Colloquium next year and hopes to be able to do so with HotShot.

HotShot and Edie continued to compete in ACTHA (American Competitive Trail Horse Association) rides in 2011, once again placing well each time. The blue ribbon continues to elude them, but 2012 is another year!

In September of 2011, Edie and Libby traveled to Lindstrom, MN to ride in a "Riding With Connection" clinic with Karen Rohlf of Dressage Naturally. They learned a lot and intend to pursue this new and healthy way of looking at dressage.

In July of 2011, HotShot and Libby's sire "Baron Von Black" moved to Hope Hill Farm. He had been living in northern Wisconsin for the past 7 or 8 years and needed a new home. Edie is very excited to have Baron at the farm, as he is a very special stallion. He was featured on Stallion Avenue for many years in the 1990's at the Midwest Horse Fair and has been shown in both english and western disciplines, as well as being an accomplished Cowboy Mounted Shooting horse - the only known Arabian stallion competing in this sport at the time. He was also given a special award by the Janesville Police Department and recognized by the Wisconsin State Horse Council as Horse of the Year in 1998 when he ran down a runaway team in the Janesville Labor Day Parade with his then-owner Al Bluhm and stopped the team before they became deadly. Edie is thrilled to finally realize her childhood dream of owning The Black Stallion!

Edie got word on Sunday, April 3 that her winter police horse training project "Luna" had successfully completed her first day on official police duty downtown, passing with flying colors! Luna even participated in her first arrest with no problems. Edie is very proud of her big Percheron girl! :)

2011 seems to be bringing Edie around full-circle. She was retained in late December, 2010 as the official trainer for the Madison Mounted Police. Her duties will include assisting with the training of three Percheron horses that are prospective mounts for spring, as well as coordinating and instructing twice-monthly training days for the officers and their horses. Edie (and HotShot too) are very happy to be "back in the mounted police saddle" helping the unit with training and at a variety of upcoming events, including the Midwest Horse Fair. She will also be accompanying them to Nashville at the end of February for a week of mounted police training with the Nashville Metro Mounted Police - over 100 mounted officers are expected to be in attendance.

Edie and HotShot had quite a riding season in 2010. They tackled a brand new sport in Wisconsin, riding in two Competitive Trail Challenges sponsored by the American Competitive Trail Horse Association (ACTHA). The first ride was held at Big Valley Ranch in June and was the first-ever CTC held in Wisconsin. Edie and HotShot placed fourth out of over 60 riders! In their second attempt at Endless Valley in September, they placed second out of over 50 riders! This was especially gratifying, since the Endless Valley CTC was a fund-raiser for the Madison Mounted Police - HotShot got to hob-nob with a few of his old buddies in addition to competing. This is a wonderful sport and seems to be the perfect niche for a retired police horse. HotShot's mind (OK, and Edie's too) is challenged and stimulated by the various trail obstacles and they both have a lot of fun!

In October, Edie and HotShot took part in a fund-raiser at Ukarydee Horse Campground to benefit a woman who was injured in a riding accident last spring. A good bit of money was raised and Edie's friend won the Paint colt that was raffled off! Pictured below are (l-r) Kim and Ellie, Alicia and Jade, and Edie and HotShot on the day of the benefit ride.

In another first, Edie took off the bridle on a trail ride at Big Valley Ranch in September and rode for an hour bridle-less on the trails. HotShot is getting better and better at bridle-less riding, using only a neck-string for back-up to Edie's seat and leg cues. Next we hope to get rid of that pesky neck-string!

Edie traveled to Ft. Worth, TX for the Ray Hunt Memorial Clinic Feb. 28-29, 2010, where 22 of the U.S. and Canada's top horsemen started roughly 30 "fresh colts" over two days.  It was an amazing experience attended by "everyone who is anyone" in natural horsemanship from all over the world!  On Saturday night at the banquet, some of Ray's personal tack items and other effects were auctioned off to benefit his widow, Carolyn.  One saddle brought over $43,000.00 and Pat Parelli bid almost $7000 for the spurs he won in the auction! 

Edie received word in January 2010 from the Parelli Audition Team that she passed her Level 3 video auditions in all four savvys (on-line, liberty, freestyle, and finesse) with 3+ and 3++ ratings.  She also had marks in four categories (relationship, rapport, draw, and friendly) of Level 4 and 4+! 

Edie and HotShot traveled to the Parelli Natural Horse-Man-Ship International Study Center in Pagosa Springs, Colorado last August for four weeks of Level 3/4 "Master Courses."  This was their second trip to study at the Parelli Center, having spent two weeks there in 2006.  Hotshot's sister Libby also made the trip, as she did in 2006.  This time, Libby provided herself as a lease-horse for a student who came all the way from Australia!

Check out the "clinics" page for news of Edie and John presenting "Basic Horse Handling for Emergency Professionals" at a number of locations throughout Wisconsin in 2009!  There is one more clinic currently scheduled for 2009 and more are being planned.  This is FREE TRAINING for first responders - spread the word!

Our latest clinic at Tracy Porter's "The Farm" in Milton, Wisconsin was attended by 19 first responders and was a great success!  Here is the link to the news stories in the Janesville Gazette and the local radio pod-cast!

http://gazettextra.com/news/2009/may/15/law-enforcement-learn-deal-skittish-horses/

http://wclo.com/podcasts/wclo-news-features/2009/may/15/emergency-responders-learn-about-horses/

Edie was invited to be a clinician at the 2009 Midwest Horse Fair, where she presented two seminars on "Emergency Horse Handling," based upon the above-mentioned curriculum she developed for the Wisconsin State Horse Council - Equine Foundation in the summer of 2008.   Three four-hour clinics were held last fall and as stated above, more are being scheduled for 2009.

John and Edie traveled to Eastern Kentucky University March 30-April 3 to attend a course on “Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue.”  John was the first law enforcement officer in the State of Wisconsin to become certified in this area, and Edie audited the course.  See more information and photos soon on the "TLAER" page, which is currently under construction!