General -- 06/17/09

Sorry for the lack of posts here these days! Things have been so hectic around here with putting up new fence and trying to keep up with the day to day things on my own that I haven't had much chance to work with anybody. I have spent some time with the munchkins, just trying to get them halter broke and leading well. Jasmine is finally wearing a halter, but she doesn't know how to lead! It's always fun trying to get a skittish 1000 pound horse to lead without an enclosed area (like a round pen) and by yourself! But she's slowly coming around and finding out that what I'm asking isn't going to hurt her. Marbles and Maggie are leading pretty well now, but they are still not easily caught. They haven't figured out about treats and carrots yet, so the only reward they appreciate is a good scratching. They're getting better about having their feet messed with, so hopefully I can get those awful hooves trimmed soon.

Abbi has a hairline fracture on her left front that Doc says is almost calcified, so her training should begin in the next couple of weeks. Genesis leaves for Anastasia's pony training this weekend, then it's on to her new home when she's ready.

Gentry has improved when it comes to taking the bit and the terrible head tossing that he was doing. I haven't done anything special except to make the bit just something in his mouth, rather than something that causes pain. Soft hands and a plain snaffle did wonders for this guy! I put some beginners on him last week on the lunge line and he was awesome!

Frisky seems to be a fairly well-broke mare. She did test me when I first rode her and didn't want to go where I was pointing her, or even move forward when I asked. But she's the type of mare that shows her stubbornness by stopping and growing roots, not by bucking, rearing, or taking off. After 10 minutes or so, she finally gave in and decided that doing as I asked was a lot easier than doing what she wanted (which was head back to the gate and her little heard of dwarfs). After that, she was great! She has a very comfortable little western jog, but her canter is a bit spastic. I had heard rumors that her previous owners had done nothing but gallop down the trails, leaving their horses rode hard and put away wet. So when I asked for a canter, I got a "OMG, I have to RUN!!" reaction. The calm demeanor went away and she was off like a Thoroughbred out of the gate! Quiet legs and seat, half halts, and low-key 'whoa's and she finally settled into a fairly nice canter. As soon as she quieted I asked her to halt, got off, loosened the girth, and put her away.

I've been ignoring Jewel's training for now. One of the summer projects is to build a round pen and that's what I'm going to need with Jewel. She's going to take a lot of work and patience and I feel like I'm just wasting time with her on the lunge line in the middle of the pasture since her attention span is that of a cat being taught to sit on command. It's practically non-existent.

Tabby has gone on her first trail ride and went by herself since I couldn't find anyone to ride with me and Glenn was out on the road. I only took her out for 30 minutes, but she was awesome! She crossed a small stream without trouble, went past a big rusty van sitting beside the trail, and totally ignored the barking dog at her heals as we went past the neighbor's house. She was a little concerned with being by herself, but once she was out of earshot of the rest of the herd, she settled down and seemed to enjoy the ride. Her adopter is just about ready for her and Meghan, as their fence is almost done! Woohoo!

Tabby – 04/08/09

I’ve ridden Tabby a few times since the last blog post, but if I blog about every uneventful ride of circles, halts, and transitions, someone might think I was a card or two short of a full deck.  And we certainly don’t want that.  Even if it is true some days.

Last night Kayla and her brother, Jessie, came out to do some volunteer work with the horses.  A lot of help that I need is grooming, lunging, and riding.  As the two are intermediate riders, they’ll be a great help for giving some of the more experienced horses some exercise, but neither of them knew much about lunging or riding a green horse.  Jessie wants to adopt Abby when she’s ready, so we got Tabby saddled and Abby on the lunge line for the first time.  I started with Abby, giving Jessie some pointers and the basics of lunging:  stand at her hip to make her move forward, move to her shoulder when asking for a whoa, move in a smaller circle within her circle to stay at her hip, use consistent voice commands.  Abby seems to have had a little training on the lunge, but she still insisted on turning into Jessie at every opportunity. 

After Jessie was on his way with Abby, I gave Tabby over to Kayla for a lunging lesson.  Tabby is much better on the lunge, so after a few minutes of Kayla proving that she had the knack of it, I went ahead and mounted up.

As usual, Tabby stood perfectly still for mounting.  She’s moving off my leg much better now and feels so much stronger and sure of herself under saddle.  Her halts are getting much better and she doesn’t toss her head as much and stops when I roll back on my seat before I even ask with the reins.  She’s also getting better about standing still.  I’d like to get her out on the trail, but need to wait until someone can go with me on another horse for safety’s sake.

As I was finishing up with Tabby, I asked Jessie if he wanted to ride her for a few minutes.  He wants to be involved in Abby’s training and is a quick learner when it comes to riding.  At first, Tabby didn’t want to pay attention to Jessie and just followed me around.  Eventually, he had her doing as he asked and the two looked great together.

Next week when the kids come out, Tabby will be ready for a short trail ride.  Sounds like fun!

Tabby – 03/24/09

Tabby did extremely well again tonight!  I don’t even know why I bother lunging her before getting on anymore.  She stands perfectly still for me to mount and waits for me to cue her to walk on.   Today we had a bit of a problem at first, as she thought backing up would be the way to go when I gave her a squeeze.  After backing for 10’ or so, she finally figured out that forward was easier.   Mind you, the reins were totally lose the whole time she was backing up.

She only whinnied for her buddies a few times tonight, which is a drastic reduction from the almost non-stop crying she did the first time.  I took her on a mini trail ride around the top pasture, and the only signs she showed of being nervous was not wanting to walk a straight line.   She started tossing her head when she really got worried about being so far from the herd, so I circled her a few times until she relaxed, then headed back towards the barn.  

On the way back we did more circles, figure eights, and worked on our Whoa.  Whenever I asked her to whoa, there would be head tossing, turning on the forehand, and maybe, just maybe, she’d eventually stop for a split second.   Every time she’d stop moving I’d loosen the reins as a reward.  If she moved off again before I asked for it, I’d bring her back to a whoa, wait till she stopped moving, then loosen the reins.  It took about 10 stops for her to learn that stopping and standing was a good thing, worthy of much praise and adoration from me.

Once she had figured out the whoa, I headed back to the barn and on the way up the hill I asked for a trot.  It took a little convincing, but she finally picked up a nicely paced trot and continued it all the way up the hill.  At the top, I sat down and squeezed the reins, gave her a “WHOA”, and she came down to a walk with a bit of head tossing then stood quietly as I dismounted and loosened the cinch.

She’ll be ready for Mikayla in no time at this pace!  What a good girl!

Tabby – 03/19/09

I haven’t had a chance to get back on Tabby until tonight.  The plan was to lunge her for a few minutes to get her warmed up and make sure she had all the kinks out, then get on her and follow Glenn and Willow on a mini trail ride around the top pasture.

The lunging went fine and she was a calm and willing to please as ever.  She stood still for me to get on and waited for her cue to walk off.  She’s still a bit herd bound and as we were walking away from the barn she called for her sisters, but never once offered to buck or spin.  She just kept marching away and even led the way in front of Willow.  Willow was being a total witch for Glenn – she wouldn’t listen, tried running out from under him several times, and even reared on him twice.  Tabby ignored Willow’s shenanigans for the most part and just kept walking the direction I pointed her.

Then we found some deer who thought it would be great fun jump as soon as we rounded the corner, then bound away like a sabertooth tiger were after them.  Tabby simply threw up her head and looked at them and kept moving forward on a loose rein.  Just as I was about to tell her how much I adored her, I heard loud profanities and the sound of frantic hoof beats behind me.  I looked back to find Glenn on the ground and Willow galloping and bucking her way back to the barn, with the saddle sliding dangerously off to the left.

I could feel Tabby getting tense, so before she decided she wanted to join Willow, I hopped off.  It’s better to get off while she’s standing there being a good girl, rather than force a big fight on only her second ride.  Glenn was fine, just a little sore and incredibly angry.  Willow had not only run back to the barn, but had jumped the fence to join the rest of the herd.  We found her unhurt, but with the saddle hanging below her belly and one stirrup missing.  I think that’s the last time he’ll get on before tightening the girth.

I got back on Tabby once we were back in sight of the barn and everyone had calmed down.  I can’t express how impressed I am with this mare!

Tabby -- 03/07/09

The weather has finally started to warm up and today was an unseasonably warm and sunny 75 degrees, even though it was incredibly windy.  The original plan had just been to lunge Tabby with the saddle and bridle and work on voice commands.  I figured since it's been a few months since I worked with her, that she'd have forgotten everything and we'd have to start over.  Nope.  Even though the rest of the herd was gallivanting around the other pasture and she was by herself, she was quite the lady and did everything perfectly.  Glenn wants to learn more about training horses so I coached him as he lunged Tabby, which gave me a chance to take some pictures.

 

Because she was doing so well and acting bored with the whole lunging routine, I decided today was as good a day as any to get on her for the first time.  I had kept her halter on under the bridle, so had Glenn keep a lead rope on her while I put weight in the stirrup, smacked the saddle, hung my body over her back and patted her everywhere, and generally made much to do about how wonderful she was for standing still through all of it.  Then I took a deep breath to relax myself and swung on up from the mounting block.  Of course she stood still.  It only took a light squeeze and a "walk on!" from me to get her moving.

It took her a few moments to get used to my weight on her back and get her feet moving straight, but once she had the hang of it we did some pretty nice circles at the walk.  Once she was doing well I had Glenn remove the lead rope and we were on our own.  She had a little nervousness about the newness of it all and the herd still playing in the next field, and she let out a whinny or two, but that was it!  I stayed on her only for about 10 minutes, just walking circles, practicing WHOA, and getting her used to my leg on her side. 

When I asked for a WHOA, I'd say the word in conjunction with rolling back on my hips.  If that didn't stop her, then I'd squeeze on the reins lightly.  Most of the time I didn't even need the reins.  The last WHOA, I waited until she was standing quietly, then dismounted. 

It was a very uneventful first ride and that's just the way I like 'em!

Yes, I know I'm riding in shorts.  So sue me!  It was nice out! :)

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.

Tabby -- 09/10/08

This was only Tabby's second session with me. The first was just to make sure she was sound for work and only lasted a few minutes. Like Megalia, tonight's session was about learning voice commands and seeing what she knows.

Tabby is the only horse so far that seems herd bound. Or I should say, Classy-bound. She and Classy are joined at the hip lately and the whole time I was walking her out to the pasture she was screaming for Classy. Once I sent her out on the circle she quieted down, but it took a good 10 minutes of work at the walk to teach her what a circle is shaped like. Once she got that down we did some trotting, but mostly worked on WHOA, and walk to trot transitions. Tabby still has some weight to gain so I don't want to work her too hard, but I do want to get her used to working and being away from big sister.

Tabby has a really nice head carriage for an ex-harness racer. She kept her head and neck level, even at the trot. And that trot... I just can't get over how this mare moves. Compared to a warmblood or fancy TB she's not that great, but for a STB off the track she's awesome! Glenn was there to watch and is still convinced that she is his new horse. I told him that he may have to fight me for her eventually, but for now I'll let him have his fantasy.

Tabby -- 08/29/08

Tabby is a 13yo seal bay Standardbred mare, sister to Classy and Megalia, daughter of Dolly. Tabby came to us very thin after an injury to her right hind ankle. The ankle is still very large, but it's all proud flesh and scar tissue now. Tabby has finally put on enough weight where I feel comfortable to start ground work with her. She is not broke to ride, but I'm assuming she was on the track at one point before her broodmare career began and is broke to drive.

Tonight was just about finding out what she knows and getting a better look at how she moves. She's not only sound, but looks VERY smooth too! And she's not nearly as lazy as her two sisters. She had no problems moving off at the walk or trot. Her problem lies more with a lack of brakes. She wasn't afraid or moving fast, she just wanted to keep going in that gorgeous floating trot of hers. I can't wait to ride this mare! I'd like to see another 100 pounds on her before I back her for the first time, so it may be another month or more depending on how she progresses in her training. And I'd really like to have the round pen up rather than backing them in the middle of a 16 acre pasture, but if that's where it has to be then so be it.

I only worked with her for 15 minutes tonight. Just enough to get the her figured out and start working on a plan. Voice commands are totally unknown to her, so that will be first -- especially the WHOA part! And like most all horses off the track, her right side is her stiff side so we'll be doing a lot of lunging to the right.

Tabby is the only horse of the 10 rescues that still has no interest in humans. We can pet her and groom her and she's not mean and has good ground manners. But if you're out in the pasture with the herd she is the only one that will not voluntarily come up to see you. I'm hoping this will change now that she's getting some work