Saturday
Ten more days until I finish writing on this blog. I can hardly believe it. It is going to be so weird to not write what's going on anymore.
It was such a beautiful day today so I rode Brie outside. She was an absolute doll, I am so proud of her. I think she is really coming along in her old(er) age. Now if only she can keep it up in the show ring.
The music was super loud today (ugh), so we put the pom poms in Harry's ears to try to help block it out so that he could focus. My mom was riding him first and then came outside by me, saying that he doesn't want to flex to the right. I wanted to work on that before I got on and got him to flex on the ground after some struggle. When I got on, I wanted to flex before we started moving and he was good on the left, but boy when he got to the right, he went berserk. He just about threw me off, he was trying to rear to avoid the flex. I got off and made him longe to the right and at first he was like a bat out of hell. After he calmed down, I had him stop and worked on flexing to the right again on the ground and he was much better at it this time. Once he was going easy, I got back on and tried again and he was hesitant but better at it. After he was giving his head to me easily, I walked around with him a couple of laps, took a pass on the board, flexed some more, and got off. I can't tell if he's just being stubborn or if there is some pain there. Everyone is now saying that he is not broke at the pole, so we have to work on that too now, along with the pacing, although I think that once he is broke at the pole, he will be more balanced and the pacing issue should work itself out.
Showing posts with label rearing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rearing. Show all posts
Monday, April 1, 2013
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Day 134
Sunday
Today, two things were accomplished:
1. We got Harry in the trailer.
2. We gave Harry a bath.
I spent two hours trying to get him into the trailer.
It started off really hopeful and then we hit a big roadblock. We started out just calmly looking at it, examining the ramp. We played the YoYo game a bit and I got him to come up to the ramp and put one of his feet on it. After that, he kept trying to jump into the trailer, but never actually jumped in.
He kept rearing into the jump and flailing his legs up in the air. I kept trying to get him to just walk into it, but he wasn't having it. He kept rearing up, jumping sideways over the ramp, never onto it. We got the nose chain to wrap over his nose on the leadline so that he would feel something if he tried to rear up again. After an hour and a half, I was still patient, but I knew I was no where near as strong enough to pull him sideways when he goes up to knock him off balance. A couple more rears with the nose chain on and my mom suggested that I give him to Paco, who was watching the whole time (quietly, thankfully. If he had been telling me what to do I probably would've bitten his head off), and grumpily I handed Harry over.
He looked so concerned when I walked away and knew that Paco was there, like, "Oh crap, this is a man." and tried the same thing with Paco, except Paco was able to give him a good yank back down. He got Harry into the trailer, and I was sour that I wasn't the first one to get him in. After a few walks in and out and teaching Harry to not race and rear out of the trailer on his way out, it was my turn.
He was like an angel. Once he knew that he wasn't going to meet his doom if he stepped onto the ramp and sat in the trailer for a while, he was a little cautious, but wasn't scared. We've decided that, no matter how long it'll take, we're going to do this every weekend. It might suck for the next couple weekends, but after that he'll get better and faster at getting in and out, and by show time, it'll be a breeze.
We gave him a good scrubbing and after he smelled like peaches, we put him away with carrots. Brie was pretty happy that we came, didn't ride, and still gave her food. It was the best of both worlds for her! Nina looked a little depressed when we didn't take her out to play, but she was easily satisfied when we gave her carrots.
We're going to go with Jane and Annie to a local show coming up some time. We're going to bring Harry and Brie. Harry for the trailer practice and show exposure and Brie just so she can maybe start getting used to strange horses around her. It'll be good for both of them.
Today, two things were accomplished:
1. We got Harry in the trailer.
2. We gave Harry a bath.
I spent two hours trying to get him into the trailer.
It started off really hopeful and then we hit a big roadblock. We started out just calmly looking at it, examining the ramp. We played the YoYo game a bit and I got him to come up to the ramp and put one of his feet on it. After that, he kept trying to jump into the trailer, but never actually jumped in.
He kept rearing into the jump and flailing his legs up in the air. I kept trying to get him to just walk into it, but he wasn't having it. He kept rearing up, jumping sideways over the ramp, never onto it. We got the nose chain to wrap over his nose on the leadline so that he would feel something if he tried to rear up again. After an hour and a half, I was still patient, but I knew I was no where near as strong enough to pull him sideways when he goes up to knock him off balance. A couple more rears with the nose chain on and my mom suggested that I give him to Paco, who was watching the whole time (quietly, thankfully. If he had been telling me what to do I probably would've bitten his head off), and grumpily I handed Harry over.
He looked so concerned when I walked away and knew that Paco was there, like, "Oh crap, this is a man." and tried the same thing with Paco, except Paco was able to give him a good yank back down. He got Harry into the trailer, and I was sour that I wasn't the first one to get him in. After a few walks in and out and teaching Harry to not race and rear out of the trailer on his way out, it was my turn.
He was like an angel. Once he knew that he wasn't going to meet his doom if he stepped onto the ramp and sat in the trailer for a while, he was a little cautious, but wasn't scared. We've decided that, no matter how long it'll take, we're going to do this every weekend. It might suck for the next couple weekends, but after that he'll get better and faster at getting in and out, and by show time, it'll be a breeze.
We gave him a good scrubbing and after he smelled like peaches, we put him away with carrots. Brie was pretty happy that we came, didn't ride, and still gave her food. It was the best of both worlds for her! Nina looked a little depressed when we didn't take her out to play, but she was easily satisfied when we gave her carrots.
We're going to go with Jane and Annie to a local show coming up some time. We're going to bring Harry and Brie. Harry for the trailer practice and show exposure and Brie just so she can maybe start getting used to strange horses around her. It'll be good for both of them.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Day 69
We had a visit from the farrier today.
We used this farrier, Sam, back in September and really liked her, but then we got caught up with farriers the rest of the barn was bringing up from Florida. We called her out because the latest Florida farrier wasn't answering our calls and we needed their hooves trimmed ASAP before the show this weekend.
I think it's the funniest thing that Brie is anxious in the arena but she absolutely LOVES getting her hooves done. She was pretty much sleeping while Sam was filing them down! This is the first farrier visit I've been present for with Harry, so I was a bit anxious. He reared twice, tiny rears mind you, because Sam was just holding his foot up while talking to us and not really paying attention to him. I guess he's just impatient because after she stopped answering our questions about hooves he was just fine.
Nina.
What a beast. I never realized how feisty she is until today.
Now, the reason why I thought Brie's scenario was funny is because Nina is the exact opposite. She's the lazy little horse in the arena that you have to keep on her to keep moving, but she goes BALLISTIC when you try to trim her hooves.
Don't get me wrong, this is NOT GOOD.
She was absolutely terrible. Today was pretty much the worst nightmare of all farriers.
Since the last time a farrier was out, my brother has been working with her to keep her front feet out for longer. We used to think it was just a balance issue. Today proved that theory wrong, but I'll get to that. Normally, for the longest time now, I stretch Brie's front legs out before I go to lunge her. I do this both simply for the purpose of stretching and to free any pinched skin under the girth. My brother never did this with Nina, so I figured that it would help in those two ways and helping her get used to having her legs stretched in front of her mid-air.
Well, that did help. She was still nervous as all heck, shaking like a leaf. At that point, while Sam was doing the front hooves, I still believed it was a balance issue because of how much her muscles were twitching. The point is that she managed to get her front hooves done. Okay, part one accomplished. Sam now moved on the the back legs.
Horrible. She kicked Sam against the stall a handful of times. Finally, when Sam got a hold of Nina's leg, she tried to stretch it out in front to put it on the hoof stand. She had it there no more than a minute before Nina pulled away and pulled the stand with her. Understandably, she freaked. She jumped to try to get away from it but it only got caught under and between her back legs. TOTAL freak out, she reared, flipped around in the cross-ties and whipped the stand into the stall across from Brie.
So that was unacceptable, but we gave her a moment to calm down. Not happening. After that point, Nina was done. After kicking Sam away a couple more times and getting the stand stuck between her back legs again, after a stint with both of her ears and her nose being twitched, she was still trying to kick Sam away. It's now obvious that either A) She's being a brat or B) something happened that's completely busted down her trust.
Now, it's actually pretty hard for me to reach a conclusion here. When Nina was a baby, she had a trimming incident with Andre and he had to put her on the ground to trim her and her leg swelled up. That could be the cause for lack of trust. But then almost a hundred trimmings later and this having never happened again, no other bad incident, she's still going at it. This could be her being a brat.
What I've come to is that we need to rebuild this relationship with her with discipline. Up until now, we've all looked on her being the baby, the cute little baby Nina that we bought 3 years ago, the little baby Nina who could do nothing wrong. We never really disciplined her and just hung on her and let her hang on us. This has resulted in a lack of respect on her end. She needs to be able to trust that we won't let anything harm her and we need to stop treating her like an oversize dog (because chances are you won't even let your dog get away with bossing you around).
Now I just need to get this through to the rest of my family. Showing isn't everything. You can go in and lose a few shows and it's not devastatingly horrid. Manners and respect for humans is everything. You can't go into a farrier or vet session with no respect and no discipline because you can lose a life.
We used this farrier, Sam, back in September and really liked her, but then we got caught up with farriers the rest of the barn was bringing up from Florida. We called her out because the latest Florida farrier wasn't answering our calls and we needed their hooves trimmed ASAP before the show this weekend.
I think it's the funniest thing that Brie is anxious in the arena but she absolutely LOVES getting her hooves done. She was pretty much sleeping while Sam was filing them down! This is the first farrier visit I've been present for with Harry, so I was a bit anxious. He reared twice, tiny rears mind you, because Sam was just holding his foot up while talking to us and not really paying attention to him. I guess he's just impatient because after she stopped answering our questions about hooves he was just fine.
Nina.
What a beast. I never realized how feisty she is until today.
Now, the reason why I thought Brie's scenario was funny is because Nina is the exact opposite. She's the lazy little horse in the arena that you have to keep on her to keep moving, but she goes BALLISTIC when you try to trim her hooves.
Don't get me wrong, this is NOT GOOD.
She was absolutely terrible. Today was pretty much the worst nightmare of all farriers.
Since the last time a farrier was out, my brother has been working with her to keep her front feet out for longer. We used to think it was just a balance issue. Today proved that theory wrong, but I'll get to that. Normally, for the longest time now, I stretch Brie's front legs out before I go to lunge her. I do this both simply for the purpose of stretching and to free any pinched skin under the girth. My brother never did this with Nina, so I figured that it would help in those two ways and helping her get used to having her legs stretched in front of her mid-air.
Well, that did help. She was still nervous as all heck, shaking like a leaf. At that point, while Sam was doing the front hooves, I still believed it was a balance issue because of how much her muscles were twitching. The point is that she managed to get her front hooves done. Okay, part one accomplished. Sam now moved on the the back legs.
Horrible. She kicked Sam against the stall a handful of times. Finally, when Sam got a hold of Nina's leg, she tried to stretch it out in front to put it on the hoof stand. She had it there no more than a minute before Nina pulled away and pulled the stand with her. Understandably, she freaked. She jumped to try to get away from it but it only got caught under and between her back legs. TOTAL freak out, she reared, flipped around in the cross-ties and whipped the stand into the stall across from Brie.
So that was unacceptable, but we gave her a moment to calm down. Not happening. After that point, Nina was done. After kicking Sam away a couple more times and getting the stand stuck between her back legs again, after a stint with both of her ears and her nose being twitched, she was still trying to kick Sam away. It's now obvious that either A) She's being a brat or B) something happened that's completely busted down her trust.
Now, it's actually pretty hard for me to reach a conclusion here. When Nina was a baby, she had a trimming incident with Andre and he had to put her on the ground to trim her and her leg swelled up. That could be the cause for lack of trust. But then almost a hundred trimmings later and this having never happened again, no other bad incident, she's still going at it. This could be her being a brat.
What I've come to is that we need to rebuild this relationship with her with discipline. Up until now, we've all looked on her being the baby, the cute little baby Nina that we bought 3 years ago, the little baby Nina who could do nothing wrong. We never really disciplined her and just hung on her and let her hang on us. This has resulted in a lack of respect on her end. She needs to be able to trust that we won't let anything harm her and we need to stop treating her like an oversize dog (because chances are you won't even let your dog get away with bossing you around).
Now I just need to get this through to the rest of my family. Showing isn't everything. You can go in and lose a few shows and it's not devastatingly horrid. Manners and respect for humans is everything. You can't go into a farrier or vet session with no respect and no discipline because you can lose a life.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Day 50
First off, I'd like to say, Wow. I've been at this for 50 days over a span of about 9 months. I didn't know that 9 months of my weekends was the equivalent of 50 days. It doesn't seem like that much time I've spent working in reality. I've been expecting all these changes, but really it's just like Brie's had about 2 months of training.
Brie was nothing compared to Harry today.
First thing I did with Brie was SHED HER. She is SO furry! I spent a good half hour with that charcoal block shedding her. It was nice enough so I rode a little bit outside before Ray asked me to get on Harry. I switched with my mom and agreed.
Harry. Is. Insane.
Well. Not so much insane as anxious and uppity. He was giving Ray a bit of a hard time and while I just wanted to walk him around the outdoor arena, Ray insisted on having me gait him around. Less than one lap around the arena, I was up in the air, lost a stirrup and was about to make my (short) fall onto the ground when I yanked him to the side. Even off balance he was trying to rear up on me while Ray was yelling "Release the reins!" No way in hell was I going anywhere until that horse was staying still underneath me and I had my stirrup back. He continued to try to rear up throughout the rest of the ride so I circled him everytime I felt him getting angry or anxious.
I've come to the conclusion that his rear is much different than Brie's. When Brie goes to rear, which she hasn't in ages, she simply pushes off with the front feet up a little bit into the air. When Harry goes to rear, he sinks in his back feet and propels himself upwards in an attempt to do a Shawn Johnson backflip. Now that I know this is his preparation, I know exactly when to circle him.
Not to mention that Ray did nothing to come and aid me. I think that was a test. I think he was trying to use my possible injury as an example of why he needsmore money to train more. I think I thoroughly shocked him when I not only stayed on, but handled myself accordingly.
How I wish I could make it out there every day to train. My horses would be so much happier.
Not to mention that Ray doesn't want any horse that he's training to be let outside. Bullshit. Only a couple more weeks and then all three of my horses can go outside, not just Brie. I feel bad for Harry and Nina. I wonder if Ray every considered the reason why his horses are so unruly is because he never lets them outside.
Why is this a recurring pattern with the trainers I've experienced?
Brie was nothing compared to Harry today.
First thing I did with Brie was SHED HER. She is SO furry! I spent a good half hour with that charcoal block shedding her. It was nice enough so I rode a little bit outside before Ray asked me to get on Harry. I switched with my mom and agreed.
Harry. Is. Insane.
Well. Not so much insane as anxious and uppity. He was giving Ray a bit of a hard time and while I just wanted to walk him around the outdoor arena, Ray insisted on having me gait him around. Less than one lap around the arena, I was up in the air, lost a stirrup and was about to make my (short) fall onto the ground when I yanked him to the side. Even off balance he was trying to rear up on me while Ray was yelling "Release the reins!" No way in hell was I going anywhere until that horse was staying still underneath me and I had my stirrup back. He continued to try to rear up throughout the rest of the ride so I circled him everytime I felt him getting angry or anxious.
I've come to the conclusion that his rear is much different than Brie's. When Brie goes to rear, which she hasn't in ages, she simply pushes off with the front feet up a little bit into the air. When Harry goes to rear, he sinks in his back feet and propels himself upwards in an attempt to do a Shawn Johnson backflip. Now that I know this is his preparation, I know exactly when to circle him.
Not to mention that Ray did nothing to come and aid me. I think that was a test. I think he was trying to use my possible injury as an example of why he needs
How I wish I could make it out there every day to train. My horses would be so much happier.
Not to mention that Ray doesn't want any horse that he's training to be let outside. Bullshit. Only a couple more weeks and then all three of my horses can go outside, not just Brie. I feel bad for Harry and Nina. I wonder if Ray every considered the reason why his horses are so unruly is because he never lets them outside.
Why is this a recurring pattern with the trainers I've experienced?
Monday, March 22, 2010
Day 48
Late post. Sorry guys. This one's for Saturday. I didn't make it out yesterday because I got a new puppy, Bella! You can read more about that here.
Got to the stable and, as usual, Brie doesn't want to come out of her stall right away. This really bugs me, you know? She comes out very easily for everyone else, just not me. She's playing mind games and it's not fair! I will win though, however long it takes. Then sometimes I feel bad because I feel like she doesn't like me, but that's not true, she loves hanging around me. It's definitely just because I've always been the one she messes with, even when we first got her. I was the most challenged because apparently we're on the same wavelength for these mind tricks. Oh Brie. So she was a good ride, didn't really do much with her because I started riding Harry and Nina today! Yay! Especially for Nina!I rode Harry right after Brie though, so I'll start with him.
We only took forever to get Harry's jaquima put together and figure out how do you cinch a non-button-holey girth. For those of you who don't know what a jaquima is, it looks like this:
It's kind of like a hackamore, and is actually very practical. It amazes me why more people don't use this, but that's beside the point. My mom's friend bought one from Colombia and it's very nice, except we wanted to change it up and it just wasn't working. So about a half hour later, we end up with the same set-up we started with. Harry's snout and mouth are very small, so we weren't sure how tight to make the bit hanger. We set it to what we thought would be the correct setting and off I went. I lunged him and he was pretty good, then I got on him. He was very excited so I just walked and walked and walked to calm him down. All was going well until suddenly, near the end of my ride, he rears up. Now I'm not talking little hop, I'm talking full on rear. Now I could've panicked like my dad, but even though I felt him toppling backwards losing balance, I pulled him to the side and he went back down, shaking, and I pet him to calm him down. Turns out the bit went under his tongue and he freaked because of it. I called my mom over to adjust it for me and once it was tightened, he was perfectly fine and we ended our ride on a good note.
Onto Nina. I can't see what we paid for in training, honestly. She still won't gait and her head is all over the place up in the air. It looks like she's swimming! I'm just worried that we may have lost our shot at her being a Fino horse due to this lack of proper training. It just frustrates me so much! She was trotting the entire time! I'm aware this sounds silly, since most horses trot, but Paso Fino's are not supposed to trot. They're supposed to look a little something like this:
So you can see why trotting is bad!
I'm just so frustrated. It looks like we won't even be showing. Even Brie, because my parents would rather bring Harry and get him into the showing setting to desensitize him, which makes sense, but I'd really rather bring Brie and show her. We may just end up going to Memphis to see Carmello and spend the weekend with him and he can give us some pointers on how to get Nina to gait better and what is opinion is of Harry.
Got to the stable and, as usual, Brie doesn't want to come out of her stall right away. This really bugs me, you know? She comes out very easily for everyone else, just not me. She's playing mind games and it's not fair! I will win though, however long it takes. Then sometimes I feel bad because I feel like she doesn't like me, but that's not true, she loves hanging around me. It's definitely just because I've always been the one she messes with, even when we first got her. I was the most challenged because apparently we're on the same wavelength for these mind tricks. Oh Brie. So she was a good ride, didn't really do much with her because I started riding Harry and Nina today! Yay! Especially for Nina!I rode Harry right after Brie though, so I'll start with him.
We only took forever to get Harry's jaquima put together and figure out how do you cinch a non-button-holey girth. For those of you who don't know what a jaquima is, it looks like this:
It's kind of like a hackamore, and is actually very practical. It amazes me why more people don't use this, but that's beside the point. My mom's friend bought one from Colombia and it's very nice, except we wanted to change it up and it just wasn't working. So about a half hour later, we end up with the same set-up we started with. Harry's snout and mouth are very small, so we weren't sure how tight to make the bit hanger. We set it to what we thought would be the correct setting and off I went. I lunged him and he was pretty good, then I got on him. He was very excited so I just walked and walked and walked to calm him down. All was going well until suddenly, near the end of my ride, he rears up. Now I'm not talking little hop, I'm talking full on rear. Now I could've panicked like my dad, but even though I felt him toppling backwards losing balance, I pulled him to the side and he went back down, shaking, and I pet him to calm him down. Turns out the bit went under his tongue and he freaked because of it. I called my mom over to adjust it for me and once it was tightened, he was perfectly fine and we ended our ride on a good note.Onto Nina. I can't see what we paid for in training, honestly. She still won't gait and her head is all over the place up in the air. It looks like she's swimming! I'm just worried that we may have lost our shot at her being a Fino horse due to this lack of proper training. It just frustrates me so much! She was trotting the entire time! I'm aware this sounds silly, since most horses trot, but Paso Fino's are not supposed to trot. They're supposed to look a little something like this:
So you can see why trotting is bad!
I'm just so frustrated. It looks like we won't even be showing. Even Brie, because my parents would rather bring Harry and get him into the showing setting to desensitize him, which makes sense, but I'd really rather bring Brie and show her. We may just end up going to Memphis to see Carmello and spend the weekend with him and he can give us some pointers on how to get Nina to gait better and what is opinion is of Harry.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Day 47
Didn't go to the stables yesterday because I was at the Black Eyed Peas Concert! Whoohoo!
Onto today,
predators trainers never last long.
In short, Ray contradicts himself a whole lot.
Firstly, he caused an uproar when he announced that he wants not only his hotel paid for at the Memphis show (understandable), but he wants his food and drink paid for too ("I go to party with my friends, too"), is charging a "show fee" and wants to be tipped (but will disagree if he is tipped too little). Secondly, after telling us last week that we had the best horses in the barn potential-wise (Nina and Harry), he turns around and says he has no idea why we bought out horses because basically they're crap and he could be doing better things with his time. Seriously. WTF.
Brie was pretty angry today. Maybe it's because tomorrow's her birthday and she's like every other woman who hates birthdays. So I didn't ride her and instead stuck her outside for the first time since it started snowing. I like to think that made her extremely happy.
So after Ray was done getting in an argument with my dad which resulted in him saying that he would train Mon-Fri and we could do whatever we wished on Sat & Sun until April 1st, I got on Harry and rode. Ray rode him first though to explain the problems he was having with Harry, which was basically just excess energy and a lack of flexibility, so I'll be working on that. He was very antsy and I walked him for a good hour so hopefully I'll make some more progress this Saturday.
As for Nina? Well. Ray rode Nina and said that she's been giving him problems with rearing. Hold the phone: Nina. Rearing? I couldn't believe it! It looked more like he was making her rear because when my brother got on she was perfectly calm. Admittedly she is having problems collecting her head when gaiting, but that is a problem we can easily fix.
So it sounds like we're just riding this deal out until April 1st and then finally, we start the real training. And oh, won't I be looking forward to that.
Onto today,
In short, Ray contradicts himself a whole lot.
Firstly, he caused an uproar when he announced that he wants not only his hotel paid for at the Memphis show (understandable), but he wants his food and drink paid for too ("I go to party with my friends, too"), is charging a "show fee" and wants to be tipped (but will disagree if he is tipped too little). Secondly, after telling us last week that we had the best horses in the barn potential-wise (Nina and Harry), he turns around and says he has no idea why we bought out horses because basically they're crap and he could be doing better things with his time. Seriously. WTF.
Brie was pretty angry today. Maybe it's because tomorrow's her birthday and she's like every other woman who hates birthdays. So I didn't ride her and instead stuck her outside for the first time since it started snowing. I like to think that made her extremely happy.
So after Ray was done getting in an argument with my dad which resulted in him saying that he would train Mon-Fri and we could do whatever we wished on Sat & Sun until April 1st, I got on Harry and rode. Ray rode him first though to explain the problems he was having with Harry, which was basically just excess energy and a lack of flexibility, so I'll be working on that. He was very antsy and I walked him for a good hour so hopefully I'll make some more progress this Saturday.
As for Nina? Well. Ray rode Nina and said that she's been giving him problems with rearing. Hold the phone: Nina. Rearing? I couldn't believe it! It looked more like he was making her rear because when my brother got on she was perfectly calm. Admittedly she is having problems collecting her head when gaiting, but that is a problem we can easily fix.
So it sounds like we're just riding this deal out until April 1st and then finally, we start the real training. And oh, won't I be looking forward to that.
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