I worked with Harry today. What a little punk, he tried to rear when I was going to flex him on the right side! At first, I got off and started to flex him from the ground, then I got back on and of course while everyone was watching he started to act up again. He started spinning me around until I kicked him to go forward instead of backwards. Then he stood still and slowly gave me his head on the right side. We did flexing for a few minutes until he wasn't giving me any problems anymore and then we worked on walking. He has a nice walk when he isn't all riled up, but after that it's kind of hard to get him to walk again.
His corto was kind of all over the place because Ray was in the arena cowboying another horse, so Harry was nervous. He settled down only when Ray left into a nice corto. After working a corto for a while, we tried to largo. He had a good largo for a while and then started to break into a canter. By that time his little brain was fried from the heat, so we all decided to go for a walk outside around the property. After walking up to Gary's house and talking to his dad for a while, Harry seemed to have the walking-outside-thing pretty much down pat and we walked very calmly while Brie was the one acting up with my mom. She just wanted to charge everything! She's so goofy, I swear. One day she's walking with a super loose rein outside, confronting deer and the next she's this insane little dinosaur!
Afterwards, we gave them all nice baths and my mom did a little talking to Gary about Brie's leg since it looked kind of swollen today. He suggested that if it keeps up even after we had the steroid injection in her hock that we should bring her down to the University's animal hospital so that they could study her and have more of a cutting edge team working to find out another solution. He made a good point: the vet won't think about it for very long, but she might serve as a good couple of class sessions for a whole swarm of new-thinking vet students! So we'll just have to keep an eye out for any more leg problems.
Showing posts with label going on a walk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label going on a walk. Show all posts
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Day 158
Hopefully, I can smell some changes afoot at the stable =] But I won't jinx myself by telling you my hopes now, I can only wait and see that they happen!
It was sooo hot today and it's only gonna be hotter tomorrow. Great. Things started off quite scarily with Nina. My brother was lunging her while I was lunging Brie and I look over and just see Nina start bucking like a mad woman and yell over "What are you doing to her???" and he's like "Nothing, I don't know what's wrong!" and she starts spinning and yanks my brother with her, wrapping the pisador all around her legs and violently shaking her head. He's trying to run around her fast enough to untangle the pisador and I just yell to him to drop the rope because she'll be able to get out of it (it's pretty short) so he drops it and runs screaming for my mom to come see what's wrong while Nina is just spinning around and falling over herself in the sand, not really trying to run anywhere but throwing her head all over the place. She had the rear end collector (fruit basket) on and that had fallen off to the side and now I was just worried that she would step in the net part of it and get stuck. I couldn't really do anything with Brie so I just get close enough to try to see what's wrong when my mom gets there with my dad and they both hold her head down long enough to untangle her and for me to spot the problem: there's a HUGE bee in her forelock! I tell them and my brother runs for a brush and my mom tries to take it out with that, but it's stuck in there so she just mashes it and my brother runs back with a comb so she can comb the squished bee out of Nina's hair. I don't know if it bit her or if she just got scared from the buzzing or could feel it stuck under her hair, but the poor baby was so shaken up she was sweating and huffing and puffing! Everyone took her back into the aisle and patted her off with a cool towel until she stopped breathing so hard. Poor thing. I'm glad my brother dropped the rope when I told him otherwise he would've been trampled underneath her if he had still been hanging on two seconds later!
After all the commotion and another huge round of bug spray, we all started riding. Nina seemed pretty relaxed afterwards and it was Harry who was giving my mom a hard time. That sucker doesn't want to flex to the right again! He kept trying to rear on her. I can't wait to get a hold of his punky butt tomorrow if he tries to pull that with me!
Brie was a little canter machine today. She turned everything she could into a canter step! Sometimes I regret teaching her that, but then I forget when we have great romps outside like we did today. On our first trip outside, we saw a deer. That freaked her out. I said that it's pretty great that she didn't bolt while I was on her, but I doubt that freezing in place would help her in the wild if she was faced with a mountain lion or something! All circumstantial I guess, since she'll never be out in the wild as long as I have her! She'd probably die from a lack of carrots.
On our second trip outside with everyone else, she was a total doll. I had a completely loose rein, I was literally holding it with only three fingers and she was walking beautifully! Her favorite thing is to charge up the little hill that's on the property and look over everything like a watch-tower.
Now that Brie is getting better at walking (keyword: WALKING) outside, Harry needs to get over himself. He's such a ball of nerves whenever we go outside and if Nina walks 10 feet a head of him or decides to stop and turn the other way to look at something, it's like the world is crashing down around him! He's such a follower and Nina's his leader. He needs to get a little independence. =]
It was sooo hot today and it's only gonna be hotter tomorrow. Great. Things started off quite scarily with Nina. My brother was lunging her while I was lunging Brie and I look over and just see Nina start bucking like a mad woman and yell over "What are you doing to her???" and he's like "Nothing, I don't know what's wrong!" and she starts spinning and yanks my brother with her, wrapping the pisador all around her legs and violently shaking her head. He's trying to run around her fast enough to untangle the pisador and I just yell to him to drop the rope because she'll be able to get out of it (it's pretty short) so he drops it and runs screaming for my mom to come see what's wrong while Nina is just spinning around and falling over herself in the sand, not really trying to run anywhere but throwing her head all over the place. She had the rear end collector (fruit basket) on and that had fallen off to the side and now I was just worried that she would step in the net part of it and get stuck. I couldn't really do anything with Brie so I just get close enough to try to see what's wrong when my mom gets there with my dad and they both hold her head down long enough to untangle her and for me to spot the problem: there's a HUGE bee in her forelock! I tell them and my brother runs for a brush and my mom tries to take it out with that, but it's stuck in there so she just mashes it and my brother runs back with a comb so she can comb the squished bee out of Nina's hair. I don't know if it bit her or if she just got scared from the buzzing or could feel it stuck under her hair, but the poor baby was so shaken up she was sweating and huffing and puffing! Everyone took her back into the aisle and patted her off with a cool towel until she stopped breathing so hard. Poor thing. I'm glad my brother dropped the rope when I told him otherwise he would've been trampled underneath her if he had still been hanging on two seconds later!
After all the commotion and another huge round of bug spray, we all started riding. Nina seemed pretty relaxed afterwards and it was Harry who was giving my mom a hard time. That sucker doesn't want to flex to the right again! He kept trying to rear on her. I can't wait to get a hold of his punky butt tomorrow if he tries to pull that with me!
Brie was a little canter machine today. She turned everything she could into a canter step! Sometimes I regret teaching her that, but then I forget when we have great romps outside like we did today. On our first trip outside, we saw a deer. That freaked her out. I said that it's pretty great that she didn't bolt while I was on her, but I doubt that freezing in place would help her in the wild if she was faced with a mountain lion or something! All circumstantial I guess, since she'll never be out in the wild as long as I have her! She'd probably die from a lack of carrots.
On our second trip outside with everyone else, she was a total doll. I had a completely loose rein, I was literally holding it with only three fingers and she was walking beautifully! Her favorite thing is to charge up the little hill that's on the property and look over everything like a watch-tower.
Now that Brie is getting better at walking (keyword: WALKING) outside, Harry needs to get over himself. He's such a ball of nerves whenever we go outside and if Nina walks 10 feet a head of him or decides to stop and turn the other way to look at something, it's like the world is crashing down around him! He's such a follower and Nina's his leader. He needs to get a little independence. =]
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Days 84 & 85
By the time I post this, I going to feel really bad for keeping this for so long. I've just been waiting for a chance to put up the videos and pictures on my computer.
Day 84 - Saturday
Today was the day to face the scariest thing ever: the trailer.
We weren't even going to bother with Brie because we all know we would've been there all day and we already have a great way to get her in without any problems: We blindfold her! Now I know some people might say "Wait, you have to blindfold your horse to get her in the trailer? That hardly seems like she trusts you at all!" Well to you I say this: Can you blindfold your horse and get them into an enclosed, tight space, while still trusting that they won't freak out and squish you? Yeah...didn't think so. To me, that represents the ultimate in trust on both ends.
Anyways Nina just waltzes in as usual. No problems. Harry's been in a trailer before but we've never loaded him or brought him anywhere so we wanted to test out his skills before the State Fair in a couple of weeks. He went in perfect the first time and then we realized that must've been a fluke. He did the typical planting his feet in the ground and wouldn't go up the ramp.You'd think it'd be less scary because we have a ramp on our trailer right? Wrong! So after much grunting and bribing, he still wasn't moving. Annie and her friends showed up for a bit to gather up Jane and we found our solution to get Harry in the trailer: Jump up and down behind him like a bunch of crazies and he'll load in just fine! Now all we need is a mob on trailering day...
After locking him in there for a bit by himself (we weren't too sure about locking Nina in there with him just yet...) we let him out and after he nervously stepped down the ramp we turned him out into the grassy pasture that I've ridden with him in. He ran like crazy and shook off his nerves. I then walked in and he proceeded to follow me everywhere around the pasture (except into the shed) like a total sweetheart. I think he likes me. =]
Riding was great, as it has been for the past couple of weeks. I'm so pleased with Harry. His lunging in the arena is getting there, but it's a HUGE improvement from last month when he kept trying to run me over and rear up and escape. I even got a nice canter out of Brie. She was happy as a clam after that.
Day 85 - Sunday
We brought the camera today! Yay! My dad, the unofficial camera man that he is, took a bazillion pictures of us but I'll show you the best.
On our Borders trip this past week, my mom picked up this adorable book.
The idea is that you read it every day for a year. It's full of all sorts of knowledge, from breed characteristics to health issues, it's such a great buy. I recommend every horse owner or lover buy it. On the weekends, it gives you fun activities to do with your horses. For the first weekend of the book, it told us to just go on a walk with our horses. That's exactly what we did.
It was fun and different. Mom got Harry, my brother got Brie, and I got Nina (yay!) and we walked the back of the property. It was a great bonding experience for all of us. My brother got a taste of what handling Brie is like (mega hyper and NEEDS TO BE IN FRONT AT ALL TIMES or she might explode), my mom got to get to know Harry outside of just brushing him and I got to bond with Nina outside of just feeding her carrots!! As we walked back to the stable, Paco and Ray pulled up getting back from Ohio this weekend. Paco came out and watched us as we all took turns lunging Nina, Brie, and Harry like I'd been working with Harry: just a carrot stick and a round pen. Nina and Harry went along just fine, but Brie was being a stinker about it. She's so spoiled and never asked to do anything like that (she automatic lunging in the arena) so it was good that she got to use her brain a bit today.
I started off as usual on Harry. My mom has given Nina up to my brother for him to start and train (it's about time that he learn how on his own!) and she worked with Brie. It's the first time that I can remember her starting Brie in a while and Brie was, of course, being spoiled and trying to get away with everything and anything, including running Harry over and trying to kill him. She does not like boys...or horses other than Nina. So we're working on that, but not pushing it very much because we don't want any injuries. Harry's actually scared of her! She's such a bully.
Then my brother and I switched. Our words to each other before we started: "Don't do much, he/she's really simple and just goes." YEAH RIGHT! Nina was trotting! Not gaiting! And my brother was complaining about some problem with Harry. Sound board? We both sounded horrible!
Switching, our words: "YOU SCREWED UP MY HORSE!" But we got them back.
It took a little longer to get Harry back. He gets so excited when he hears the sound board. But he finally did it.
Afterwards, mom cooled Harry and I got on Brie. Canter city, baby!
After she was all tired out, my brother and I just roamed around the arena, reminiscing about Andre and Nina and Brie played tag as we rode without reins or stirrups. They finally got that full bath I'd been promising all of them and after smelling wonderful for about 10 minutes, they all promptly rolled. Oh well...it was nice while it lasted!
Day 84 - Saturday
Today was the day to face the scariest thing ever: the trailer.
We weren't even going to bother with Brie because we all know we would've been there all day and we already have a great way to get her in without any problems: We blindfold her! Now I know some people might say "Wait, you have to blindfold your horse to get her in the trailer? That hardly seems like she trusts you at all!" Well to you I say this: Can you blindfold your horse and get them into an enclosed, tight space, while still trusting that they won't freak out and squish you? Yeah...didn't think so. To me, that represents the ultimate in trust on both ends.
Anyways Nina just waltzes in as usual. No problems. Harry's been in a trailer before but we've never loaded him or brought him anywhere so we wanted to test out his skills before the State Fair in a couple of weeks. He went in perfect the first time and then we realized that must've been a fluke. He did the typical planting his feet in the ground and wouldn't go up the ramp.You'd think it'd be less scary because we have a ramp on our trailer right? Wrong! So after much grunting and bribing, he still wasn't moving. Annie and her friends showed up for a bit to gather up Jane and we found our solution to get Harry in the trailer: Jump up and down behind him like a bunch of crazies and he'll load in just fine! Now all we need is a mob on trailering day...
After locking him in there for a bit by himself (we weren't too sure about locking Nina in there with him just yet...) we let him out and after he nervously stepped down the ramp we turned him out into the grassy pasture that I've ridden with him in. He ran like crazy and shook off his nerves. I then walked in and he proceeded to follow me everywhere around the pasture (except into the shed) like a total sweetheart. I think he likes me. =]
Riding was great, as it has been for the past couple of weeks. I'm so pleased with Harry. His lunging in the arena is getting there, but it's a HUGE improvement from last month when he kept trying to run me over and rear up and escape. I even got a nice canter out of Brie. She was happy as a clam after that.
Day 85 - Sunday
We brought the camera today! Yay! My dad, the unofficial camera man that he is, took a bazillion pictures of us but I'll show you the best.
On our Borders trip this past week, my mom picked up this adorable book.
The idea is that you read it every day for a year. It's full of all sorts of knowledge, from breed characteristics to health issues, it's such a great buy. I recommend every horse owner or lover buy it. On the weekends, it gives you fun activities to do with your horses. For the first weekend of the book, it told us to just go on a walk with our horses. That's exactly what we did.
Nina and I
Harry in his natural state.
I think this is the funniest picture. Look at both of their faces! My brother and Brie.
I started off as usual on Harry. My mom has given Nina up to my brother for him to start and train (it's about time that he learn how on his own!) and she worked with Brie. It's the first time that I can remember her starting Brie in a while and Brie was, of course, being spoiled and trying to get away with everything and anything, including running Harry over and trying to kill him. She does not like boys...or horses other than Nina. So we're working on that, but not pushing it very much because we don't want any injuries. Harry's actually scared of her! She's such a bully.
Then my brother and I switched. Our words to each other before we started: "Don't do much, he/she's really simple and just goes." YEAH RIGHT! Nina was trotting! Not gaiting! And my brother was complaining about some problem with Harry. Sound board? We both sounded horrible!
Switching, our words: "YOU SCREWED UP MY HORSE!" But we got them back.
It took a little longer to get Harry back. He gets so excited when he hears the sound board. But he finally did it.
Afterwards, mom cooled Harry and I got on Brie. Canter city, baby!
After she was all tired out, my brother and I just roamed around the arena, reminiscing about Andre and Nina and Brie played tag as we rode without reins or stirrups. They finally got that full bath I'd been promising all of them and after smelling wonderful for about 10 minutes, they all promptly rolled. Oh well...it was nice while it lasted!
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