Radar - 11/12/08

Today was Radar's first real training session. I spent the first 20 minutes trying to teach him what a circle is and how to stay more than five inches away from me when on the lunge line. Radar is the same age as Hunter, but not nearly as intelligent or laid back. The main reason I was trying to teach him to lunge is because he's terrible about having his feet picked up.

Make sense?

I'm all about making the thing I want easy and the bad behavior hard. Whenever I try to pick up Radar's feet he backs away and yanks his leg out of my hand before I even get my hand to his knee. Meghan was the same way when she got here and Jewel still does the same thing. I had great success with Meghan using this method and just haven't tried it with Jewel yet.

Once Radar had the lunging thing down well enough to stay out of my personal space and do a halfway decent circle I tried picking up the inside front foot. As soon as he'd back away or yank his leg out of my hand I'd send him back out on the circle at a trot. Don't want to do as I ask? Then go back to work! I only make him trot around the circle twice before asking for a whoa and trying to pick up his foot again. It only took Meghan about five minutes to figure out that standing there and letting me handle her foot was a lot easier than trotting around in a circle. It took Radar 20 minutes. That was just for the right foot. Like I said, not the brightest bulb in the pack.

As soon as Radar let me pick up the right foot and hold it a few seconds without yanking or pulling away I put it down and let him stop for the night. Tomorrow we'll work on the left foot. The good news is that by the time he lets me pick up all four feet he'll be a pro at lunging!

Megalia -- 11/12/08

Meg's soundness issue in the left hind is only on the lunge line going to the left, which makes me believe even more that it's a mechanical lameness. I'll have Doc look at her again next time he comes out to confirm. If it is, then she should be fine for light riding duties, such as trail riding.

So instead of lunging I did some line driving with Meg. Like Tabby, she didn't care about the saddle and just gave a big sigh as I tightened up the girth. I have always loved training the old broodmares -- they're so EASY!

Meg also has a good handle on WHOA and turning with the bit. What we did today was really a big waste of time and I should have just gotten on her. Maybe tomorrow!

Tabby -- 11/12/08

Today was the first day that I had the time to work with any horses during my "vacation". I started with Tabby, who really didn't care what I did to her as long as it didn't take her away from her hay for too long. I put the synthetic western on her, which she didn't care about at all, even when I tightened up the girth as far as I could. She took the bit in her mouth like it was old hat and she was ready to be hitched to the sulky for a race.

I lunged her for about 15 minutes, both directions at the walk and trot. To my complete surprise, she actually broke into a canter when going to the right! What?? A Standardbred off the track voluntarily cantering?? Could I be so lucky? It was short lived, but there it was. I was tickled pink and almost broke into my happy dance. After lunging I put a second line on her and ran both lunge lines through the rings on the front of the saddle so I could line drive her. This was old hat for her as well, but I wanted to make sure she understood WHOA in conjunction with pulling on the bit. Yup.

Her paperwork from the other rescue said that she was not broke to ride, but I think it's going to take only one or two rides to have her at least walking and trotting well enough to have Mikayla ride her. I wanted so badly to get on her today, but was home alone. My one rule for myself is not to get on a greenie or new horse without someone else here. Bonnie is coming over for a lesson on Steel tomorrow, so I might be able to talk her into staying long enough after her lesson for me to get on Tabby.

Hunter -- 11/03/08

I am discovering that the worst part about pony training is not being able to ride him. If only I could get on Hunter and polish him up. But I am too big. Even if I lost weight, I would always be too big to break ponies. The down side is that you don't always have a kid that is well trained enough to persuade the pony to do what is necessary.

Take tonight: Hunter got to play with Emilee and Mikayla. We were riding through our pasture (stallion removed of course) on a mini trail ride. Hunter was fine to go with Emilee, but anytime he was unsure of what to do he stopped and stood. Overall, a great trait for a kid's horse, but a bit frustrating for Emilee. She does not have the experience to urge him effectively. Several mini disasters later, I ended up leading Hunter having surrendered my horse, Keisha, to Mikayla who in turn surrendered Old Joe to Emilee. Not that Hunter was bad at all....just a little confused at times.

The thing to focus on here is that a less secure horse may have bolted, bucked, turned around to slog toward safety, etc. Hunter just quietly and alertly stood while he tried to work out what was supposed to be happening. He just needs more wet saddle blankets.

Hunter -- 11/02/08

He did it! Hunter went on a trail ride without being ponied. And he thought it was the coolest thing, ever. If a horse could giggle, he giggled the entire time.

Jessie, my nephew, rode him. Jessie weighs 113 soaking wet. If there are any readers that are following this, I have a 27 nephews and nieces, and 14 great nieces and nephews. As soon as a kid starts to weigh too much for riding a pony, my family will output another kid. Anyhoo, Jessie was looking forward to this, as he hadn't ridden for over a year. The delay was due to 4 wheelers, bad grades, football, video games and girls. But he's back and wants a horse of his own. And willing to prove to his dad that he will make riding a higher priority than video games. We'll see.

I rode my good old bad-tempered mare, Keisha, since she and I do very well together and I wanted to be maneuverable if it proved necessary. It did not, at least with Hunter. Kasey, my fairly well-trained niece, rode my new boy, Joma. Her boyfriend, Andy, rode good old Appy Joe. Off we went without a hitch into the woods and fields.

Hunter was great. He acted like a seasoned horse. He outperformed Joma, who was sure there were piranhas in a puddle and had to be ponied by Keisha for a spell. Hunter did not care who he followed, who was in front, who was in back and actually passed Keisha in the lead a couple of times. He stopped when asked, waited quietly when asked and - get this- trotted and cantered when asked!

I wasn't sure how the ride would go, but after I saw how well Hunter was doing, I coached Jessie on how to cue him and we trotted. Jessie reports that he is as smooth as Joe. Believe me, Joe is smooth. After a while, we had a nice, long, easy, uphill slope and decided to ask Hunter to canter. This made me anxious, as I feared Hunter may buck in a romping kind of way. Nope. He acted like an old hand and Jessie said he was just as smooth as Joe on this, as well. Jessie also used the reins to guide him back and forth, left and right, on the wide trail to reinforce Hunter's earlier lessons. Oooo I wish I was not fat so I could ride him, too!

We rode for about 45 minutes or an hour. Mostly easy walking. Lots of stopping to wait on the slow guy, ex-racehorse Joma. Then back home where Hunter again acted like a pro while we pulled up to my front yard where we untacked. Funny thing - it was the first time I have ever seen my little man sweat. He wasn't tired, though. He was a living doll and Jessie is SO disappointed that Lacy has adopted him. Lacy, if you change your mind, I know my niece and nephew want him very very very much! But we know you would never let a dream horse like this slip through your hands.

-- Anastasia

Hunter -- 11/01/08 #1

I think Hunter is part Wookie. When I bitted him up today he made a lot more of those bizarre noises. He is just protesting the bit, but he was not so bad this time.

Today he got the surcingle on and I did what I call line driving. For anyone who is reading this and learning it works like this. You essentially are behind the horse like you are pulling a plow, but there is no plow. You walk behind the horse and use the reins and your voice to control them. This will get the horse used to following commands when he cannot see you...like when you are riding him! Hunter did his best to get me where he could see me, but I kept darting around behind him to be square with his rear. I had the lunge whip with me,but that turned out to be largely unnecessary. Mostly I ended up using it to flip the lines back over him when he kept twirling to get me into his sight.

After he got this business of me behind him where he couldn't see me figured out, we went to go and whoa. Too easy. He had that figured out a good while back. Then we started steering. He had the basics of this figured out from yesterday's lesson. After only 15 min or so of this he was steering pretty well - by no means fluently, but nicely done at this stage.

Of course I stopped frequently and told him how great he was and petted him. He forgot all about how unhappy he was about the bit and stopped making Wookie noises.

-- Anastasia

Hunter -- 11/01/08 #2

Hunter has found a wide spot in the fence and has been getting out. So he got a second lesson on line driving because he made himself so handy. Actually, I probably would have done it anyway to get him ready for tomorrow's planned trail ride.

He took the bit willingly. Huh? He made no Wookie noises. Double huh? Dear reader, this little fellow figured out that the bit equals playtime.

First I should say I forgot to mention in my earlier post today that we worked on flexing the neck from the movement of the reins. When I first flexed him, he thought he should back up, but I blocked his feet moving backwards with either my leg or the whip used as a block. After flexing toward me, I reached over his back and flexed him away from me. He loved this lesson, I am sure, because it gave him more excuses for touching and petting.

We line drove all over the field: left, right, whoa, go. He had a ball. So did I. Since we both thought this was splendid fun, we did this for about 45 minutes, stopping periodically to adore him. Normally on a new horse and/or new skill I limit the time we spend so I don't sour the poor beast. But Hunter wanted to do it, so we did. When I stopped and untacked him, he wouldn't leave and followed me around. I think he wanted even more.

I have only had one other horse as easy to train as him, and I handled her from the day she was born. He has ruined me for the next horse.

-- Anastasia