We moved the horses to the new barn on the 27th, they went out into a halfway pasture with their pasture mates next door to socialize safely with a fence in between them. This pasture was one the other horses had already grazed too, so there was less grass for them to pig out on so there's less chance of laminitis/founder. They're still getting fed oat/alfalfa hay once a day too (and might I add LOTS of it, Bijou had 4 flakes waiting for her after her ride such a nice change!!) so they're getting plenty to eat.
Everyone seemed to take to the pasture just fine and Bijou buddied up with the other mare out there right away. Monday we went out to do our first ride, our tack is still all in the trailer until everything dries out a bit.
Apparently our tying issues expand to cross ties as well. There were three very open nice cross ties which we hooked the horses up to, I went to get my tack from the car and came back. While I was brushing off mudd on Bijou's belly, she tried to kick at the brush under her belly. I gave her a verbal no-no signal, and tapped the brush on her back leg, trying to tell her that was not an acceptable response, she way overreacted, pulled back, and wrenched her neck around until the velcro cross ties gave up. She turned around and munched on some grass while I grabbed her leadrope. I don't know what to do other than find a tree to tie her to.
After that, we had a very eventless lunging session, followed by a nice wtc over poles and tiiiiny crossrails lesson. She's learned that jumping isn't always necessary and that trotting over the crossrails is definitely easier. I don't know if I should be letting her just trot things, or encouraging her to always jump. I like that she's calming down and just picking up her feet, and that 18" obstacles are not intimidating to her, but I don't want her to get lazy when I show her 18". Any opinions anyone? I'll have to do more research into creating an eventing/hunter horse and see what I can find.
On a seperate note, everyone's been doing the beautiful blogger award and telling 7 things about themselves, and I've been anonymously tagged, so here goes:
1. I've been riding since before I was born :P . My mom rode in a few 3'6" jumpers classes when she was 6 mo pregnant with me. Secretly I know this is why my love of jumping comes from :P
2. Bijou's name was Jane (seajanequickly is her registered name) before I got her. I couldn't stand having a bay tb mare with a plain name like Jane so I found the most unique one I could.
4. I love the sound of horses eating, I used to sit backwards draped over my quarter horse mare Heather's rump just to spend time listening to her eating.
5. I knit things. And Crochet things. It's been a while, but I might get back into it soon. I love fiber arts.
6. I have a problem with deals. If I think that something is an incredible steal, I buy it. This is how I ended up with two 'free' horses.
7. I'm in the process of trying a few new more natural ways of doing things, like barefoot/bitless/and full turn out. I love to hear everyone's thoughts on these new technologies (or anti-technologies?) so if you have a blog that talks about them, let me know.
5. I knit things. And Crochet things. It's been a while, but I might get back into it soon. I love fiber arts.
6. I have a problem with deals. If I think that something is an incredible steal, I buy it. This is how I ended up with two 'free' horses.
7. I'm in the process of trying a few new more natural ways of doing things, like barefoot/bitless/and full turn out. I love to hear everyone's thoughts on these new technologies (or anti-technologies?) so if you have a blog that talks about them, let me know.
Hey! As far as suppling exercises, with my young one I mostly do straight lines (I throw in a 20 meter circle here and there) and I keep a light, but consistent contact with his mouth no matter what he does with his head. (He's more likely to duck behind the bit than throw his head up, and in that case I push him more forward). When your mare (is she off the track by chance?) decides to invert, keep a steady and consistent contact no matter what. If she raises her head, you raise your hands, send her forward and keep contact. Do you lunge her in sidereins? This is the only "training device" that I ever use, and I find it very helpful for horses who need to find balance and accept contact. I hope this helps ... would love to see pictures of your mare!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! I have been trying to keep a nice contact, which she seems to respond to when she feels like it, and then she inverts when it gets too hard. I think you're right about needing to push her forward when she inverts. She was never raced, but bred for the track. I have been working up to using side reins, but when she came to me she had almost no lunging experience, and lunging in a bridle was waaaay too much for her little brain to figure out. Now we've got lunging in a halter down, so I'll switch to bridle and then add side reins as soon as we're ready.
ReplyDeleteI'll try to get some pictures this weekend, my camera broke so I'll have to borrow one. I need some of the new barn anyways :)