Bye Bye horses

Kinda wierd here now.  There are no horses at home for the first time in over 2 years. 

The trainer's other client horse was not able to come by, so she asked if I wanted to bring Evil Poneh by as well, have them both trained at the same time.  So I packed her up and was on the road 2 hours later!



Evil Poneh waiting to be loaded



EP was a dream to load.  Zero issues.  But she did not trailer so well.  There was a lot of trailer shaking goin' on!  Even though I always tie my horses, and drive slowly.  By the time we got to the Barn, she was drenched and hollering!  

Boy, was she happy to see Red!  And I was happy to not be dealing with her herd bound self!  That will be one of the trainer's challenges with her.  And I will be building fencing this year to be able to occasionally seperate the two, so they are more used to it.  My bad.

Narra checking out her new home (for a month or two, at least!)

The trainer has promised to keep me updated with occasional emails on their progress.  I'll be sure to share!

A big day...

Well, I had set myself a goal, but I was still not making it out often enough to get Red properly started.  So I decided to send him out to the same trainer Evil Poneh was going to.  But she could only take one, and since I want to do the mid May CT ride, I decided to send Red out first. 

And today was Moving Day.

This morning I made up ziplocs of his munchies mix, packed all his tack and ran out to do some shopping.  When we got back it was time to put Sqwid down for his nap, and time to load Red.

Remembering The Great Trailering Wars of 2011, I thought I'd start as soon as Sqwid went down for his nap. And with good luck and dogged perseverence Red would be loaded in time for me to run in, feed Sqwid a quick snack, and then leave by 4:30.

So I haltered Red, put his munchies and hay in the trailer and grabbed the longing whip in anticipation of having to make him work. We walked up to the trailer, he snorted (like he hasn't been tied to it for hours over the last two days). I walked up and tossed two cookies on the floor. His ears snapped forward (I felt the rush of wind) and he snuck up on the cookies and gobbled them before they could escape.

I asked him to step in. I got a "No way, Lady!" So I backed him quickly 10 feet, sent him in a tight circle, then approached the trailer and stepped in. He stepped right up. I stood there confused on what had just happened.

We turned around and stepped out. Then loaded right back in.

My nerve broke at this point and I decided to leave him in there with his food until it's time to leave. lol

So there he sat, all relaxed.

Evil Poneh wass a basket case; hollering and running back and forth. Oh, well, she needs to loose weight. 

She did not settle down the whole time, and was a bit sweaty by the time to leave!  I got Sqwid dressed in his snowsuit and put the poor Berner puppy in the crate.

Please don't make me go in the crate!

And we were off.  Unfortuantely, due to an accident, we had to take a long detour that add 20+ minutes.  But we got there before nightfall, barely.  Here is a picture of Red's nosy neighbours.

 And a quick one of Red exploring his new paddock.

The trainer has promised to keep me emailed with regular updates on his progress.  Yeah!

My New Resolution

I've been doing horrible this year for my training resolutions.  I have two untrained coming four year olds just sittign in my yard.  And while I am sure they are perfectly happy just trotting around, having fun and eating hay, I believe it is my responsibility as their owner to see them trained. Horses are not like dogs, where if something were to happen to you, can still find a home relatively easily.  There is not a very good market for untrained horses, and it greatly increases their chance of going to the knackers!  And the more training and exposure to things, the better home they can likely find.

So I set myself a few goals this year.  General ones, like ground work on Red.  Undersaddle work by March, 2-3 pleasure rides at the endurance rides this ride season. 

But at the rate I'm going, I'll be lucky to be undersaddle by September!  So I have set more exact goals.  With appointments on my e-calendar and reminders that pop up!  Every Wednesday is a ground driving lesson for Red.  Fridays are a short longeing lesson for Red and other stuff to fill in an hour.  Such as carrying a bit while I groom, or hobble training.  Sundays are another ground driving lesson, at least for another week or two, until I feel comfortable to ask someone over to lead us as I sit on his back.

I'll try to keep myself honest by blogging about the training days.  They'll likely be short, and not all will have photos.  So this may get boring for those reading this!  lol

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Two weeks ago I ordered some stuff from a tack store closing.  75% off!!!!  And I have anxiously awaiting delivery.  I got my stuff yesterday, only to have 75% on backorder!  So who knows when it will arrive!

In that order, I got bits for both horses.  For Evil Poneh, who has a normal tongue and good arch, I got a simple 5" loose ring snaffle in German silver.  Since she is going to the trainer in 2 1/2 weeks I wanted to do some basic prep work.  I will be beginning hobble training and bitting her.  Just low stress, pop the bit in and brush her, which she loves!  Unfortunately her bit was one of the items on backorder.  So I ended up borrowing a happy-mouth eggbutt snaffle.  Meh.  I attached it to my stupid simple Snap-On bridle last night and resolved to go outside today and put it on!

So as Sqwid went down for his nap, I could delay no longer *shudder*  I bundled up and brought the bridle outside.  I haltered both horses, and tied Red a distance away so he wouldn't chase Narra away from me. 

Then I got a gander at Evil Poneh's bridle path.  I would categorize her as follically well-endowed.  I would have had to let out the cheekepieces a few notches to get over that fro.  Unfortuately the roaching shears I ordered were also on backorder.  So I re-trimmed her roach (it was starting to flop) using the twine scissors.  Hmmmm... not the same effect.

It came time to try the bit.  I put it on my hand, and she gobbled it up like candy.  She was not too impressed that it was not edible.

But other than constantly mouthing it, she didn't care. 

So I slipped it off, then back on quickly.  Gave her a few treats, and took it off and left her alone.

By this time my pinkies had gone numb, and my legs were freezing so I packed it all up and ran inside. 

It's a start.

Found a Trainer!

It has been difficult trying to find a tainer for Evil Poneh. She will be the Sqwid's pony, so I feel she has to have an excellent base on her. I have called, talked to and checked refernces on 6 trainers before finding the young woman I decided on.

And I never would have even heard of her if it wasn't for a friend of mine. She knew a pony the woman had trained, and liked what she saw of her riding. She also knew the young woman from Pony Club (where I HOPE Sqwid will want to go!) I think PC is a great place for kids to learn responsibility and horsmanship.

I was pretty undecided on type of trainer, as I just wanted a good base. The plan is to put 1-2 months on her, just enough to really get her reliable; solid on transitions, whoa and steering. Have her riden, but not too much cantering as she still has growing to do. Then bring her home and keep up on her exposure to new things and places. Then later, when a little more mature and able to better hold up to a more grueling workout, send her back to get the fine tuning and finishing.

I gave a list of all things I want her to be able to do. She said most of these are what she does for all horses, but a few are new to her! I said I would do the hobble training, as I am now an "expert". lol

Musts:
*excellent whoa (either off voice or seat or legs) gonna be kid's pony
*ground ties (so stops when rope hits ground, gets loose or reins are dropped)
*walk/ trot in hand (so my son can do endurance with me!)
*more responsive, quicker to move off lighter pressure
*longing
*ground driving (would eventually like her in harness for winter fun!)
*MUST be forward, HATE plugs
*a good working trot with impulsion
*hobble trained

Wants:
-willing enough to be ridden in sidepull or hack
-low jumps (to see if likes)
-head down at "eeeasy" command (so kid can halter/ bridle her)
-teach to stand, four square, without moving at "stand" command (got my gelding doing that in just 3 quick sessions) Very useful.
-stops if saddle slips
-clips (because she is a hairy yak late into spring, and for ease of roaching)

Boy, am I glad the search is over! It was hard to find the right trainer. Most of the ones I talked to were not overly fond of ponies, and had no one small to ride them. They would do a lot of ground work, but either could only do a little bit of undersaddle work because they felt they were too big, or would do lots of undersaddle work because they didn;t care if it was too much for Evil Poneh. Bah! And few were really wanting to spend the time to talk to me. They wanted me to drive out to meet them instead of simply talking on the phone (for me to even decide if the drive was worht it!)

This woman came out to meet EP, to decide if she likes her and would work with her and also to talk to me about her training ideas. I liked all that she said. She is smaller than me and so would not stress EP, and can ride more. And she likes ponies! Not many of those around!

So. Narra is off to the trainer's barn on March 1st. I'll be sure to keep you updated!

Progress!

The last several days of nice weather have made me feel horribly guilty for not being out working Red. So today, I sucked it up, dressed warm and put on two pairs of gloves. Cause I just don't enjoy winter like I did as a kid.

It had been a few weeks since we last worked. So we started off kinda slow, with a lot of flat sides to our circle. And I came to a realization, becase he is so sensitive I tend to baby him. And surprise, he takes advantage! When he didn't want to do what I asked, he tried to evade. His choice of evasion is to spin to face me and back, or even rear if I keep pressuring him. Delightful.

Since having the Sqwid, I have noticed I am a lot more cautious working around the horses. I am constanly aware that I cannot afford to be injured and still take care of him. So I find myself getting nervous and even backing off when the horses get bad. This is not good!

So I gritted my teeth and got after him. I ran around to his side, got big and noisy and drove him forward. Once he trotted forward again, I stopped him and lest him rest.

And a fascinating thing happened. I had to do that another time, and then I got a beautiful working trot. We executed a nice turn, and did the same going the other way.

And on that note we took a break.

Later we moved onto a bit of ground driving.

You could tell I had let him sit too long and he gave me a bit of trouble. But eventually we got going nicely in the trees. It's a nice place to walk him, as every 50-100 feet there is a fork in the trail. Here he is taking the right fork.

Afterward, since he was nice and relaxed, I decided to do some hobble work. He was just lightly sweaty, and in a pretty good frame of mind.

I had done 3 (5 minute long) sessions of prepwork before this. Always at the end of a work session. Using a 12' cotton rope, I got him used to ropes around his legs. Stopping once he stopped moving away. Working him up to wrapping the rope around and then pulling it off. Last session I had wrapped the rope around 3 legs at once, tugging on both ends. When he moved not at all, I decided that next time it was ok to starp them on.

So today, I did a quick refresher, using the rope to wrap his two fronts, then drawing it off slowly. Yup, time to strap them on! So I carefully attached one to his near side pastern. He politely stood still, trying to see over my shoulder to find out what I was doing. I told him "stand" and shifted over to strap on the second one. Then I undid the lead and walked away.

At first he just looked at them...

Then he chewed them a bit...

Then he backed up...


Then he stood still and chewed for a bit. He relaxed and just looked around. He watched Caerwen patrolling in the distance...

In all, it was a good day.

And I think I found a trainer for Evil Poneh!

We're getting there!

I'll start off by apologizing for not taking any pics (was a little busy), but promise that despite the lack of pictures, it did actually happen! Here are some pics from earlier in the year.





I have been feeling like we are floundering in my training of Red. I felt like I was not communicating effectively what I wanted from him, not progressing greatly, etc... So I called out my old riding instructor (also starts, trains and finishes horses) to come out and help me with the getting Red going on the longeline.

I will admit, I have only put about 7 training sessions into Red since I got him. The rest was just messing around while moving him here to there, a bit of trailer training (after taking him to a hoof clinic off site and having difficulties with the trailering). But only 7 real sessions with goals in mind. He is coming 4 in March.

Anyway, she came out today and started by her putting him on the longeline. I told her my goals for him, and what I'd already worked on. Walk/ trot in hand, head down (has high head set), yield on fore and hind, back, accustom to lunge whip (once), turn on the long line with it down far side of his body, and beginning hobble training (2 sessions). So she attached my 30 ft line and started longing him. Took a few minutes, but she got him doing a circle (my attempts yielded a square, hexagon and an isosceles triangle before I gave up and called an expert!). Walk and trot, transitions up and down. Then handed him over, saying I did a great job of putting a stop on him. I basked in her praise, not wanting to tell her it took 2 sessions to teach him that. And I achieved it by teaching him like I do the show dogs to free stack. LOL. I can now whoa him and walk 10-15 ft away to grab the whip, etc. And it is due to his innate awesomeness, not any skills on my part. But I let her believe it was my great skills for a while.

So I longed him for another 10 minutes or so, working on getting a round circle. He tends to collapse in to stand with me when he is uncertain. Walk, trot, transitions; he was doing beautiful.

Then she asked if I had a second cotton line. I ran to get it. We attached a line on either side knot of my rope halter (a home made one with rings it the side knots) and she walked in ground driving position while I led off the side to get him used to it. We wandered around like this for a while before she took over, running both lines through the surcingle. Took him a bit to understand since he didn't like the pressure on his nose AT ALL! But he REALLY hates the cavesson, so halter works better. She got him going pretty good, but we found out he would absolutely ROCK at twister! Man, that horse is flexible!

Then she passed him over to me to ground drive. Whee!!! She suggested he would do better at this with a bit in as he did not like the twisting the halter did. The bit would clear up the signals. So I'll be bit shopping sooner than expected!

Then she casually asked if I had a helmet handy. I ran to go get it. Thinking; she can't mean to...

But she did! Said he was doing so well and is so calm and accepting that we could try if I was comfortable. I decided it would be better with her there than with my inexperienced husband! So she boosted me up to lay over his back. Then I hopped down and we did on the other side. Rinse, repeat. Then the same but with a few steps. Then a few more times with me sitting like I was side saddle. Then she asked me if I was comfortable with astride. I thought, well, we've gone this far! So we did that too! When he stood completely relaxed with me fully upright we quit for the day.

She came in for hot chocolate (we had been outside for an hour in the minus 5 with 35 km/h wind) and we chatted for a bit. She was impressed with his mind and willingness. I told her how much work (or how little) I had actually done with him. She was even more impressed with him. And in her opinion, she feels I am doing fine by myself. Whew! I'm not ruining him like I thought! But I will be asking her back often to keep us progressing!

I am feeling great about this horse again! Because I totally credit him with ALL his great progress. I have never dealt with a horse who tried so incredibly hard to please me and was so careful around me.

Breeder Report

This September, I finally went on a vacation with the whole family. First one in over 9 years! We borrowed my parents 40 ft RV and packed up the Sqwid and the Kuvs (dogs) and set off for Alberta and beyond. Boy, was it hard to come home.



But on our travels, I managed to squeeze in a trip to Red's breeder! That was a highlight of the trip for me! Bold Vantage Farm has one of the largest herds of purebred Akhal Tekes in North America. Cynthia very graciously came and picked me up at the RV park in High River and drove me around to the 3 sites with her horses. I had a blast with her. She is funny and loves to talk about Tekes. Me too! But I don't know near as much as she does!

We started at the old farm site, near town. Right away I met Murgab, in a paddock with a leased bay mare and her buckskin filly. The mare was of heavier build (not quite massive type – she did have a German? mare of MASSIVE type. She called her Cookie). Fun thing about Cynthia; she names all her horses funny barn names. The magnificent Murgab is Murray, there is also Cookie, Potato, Dinnerplate (Potato's part bred colt), Smootches, Covergirl, Cabbage, etc...

I liked the leased bay mare and her buckskin filly. Substantial girls! I think the filly will grow into a very nice mare! They may not be super “typey” but they are correct and will be sound! I'd rather that. I hate those Teke breeders that compromise proper conformation for typeyness. Another thing that struck me is Murgab has TONS of bone! I drooled. I would post pics of him, but he was INCREDIBLY uncooperative for photos.

Unfortunately, Mr. Murray was feeling lazy in the warm fall sun and he WOULD NOT MOVE FOR ME!!! I was really looking forward to seeing his awesome movement in person. No such luck. In fact, we saw 6 more PB (pureblood) Tekes at the old farm site before we came across one that would move out for me! More on her later.

We visited the broodmare pen. There were several of her broodmares in this pen, of all breeds. These were all the pregnant or without foal mares, most of them of other breeds. She had a lovely Welsh pony mare, cannot wait to see that foal! Bahilana was there (Red's dam). She has a really soft eye and while a little fat (hence the name Potato) she was very nicely built. She was bred to Kopeli last year, before his gelding, but did not take. (Not to worry, she did a collection on the old guy – 18 years – and has about 50 frozen tubes) So I am curious to see how his future foals come out!

Next pen over was a lovely, stereotypical golden buckskin Teke mare. At heel was her cremello (too bad) 2011 colt. He is a lovely boy and a stallion prospect. He was sold to Australia and about to be shipped when the prospective new owner has a reversal of circumstances and said she couldn't pay for him. So we loaded him and his mom to go out to the broodies herd a few miles away.

Last horse I looked at the yard site was another Murray filly, a coming 3 yo. They call her Smootch. She is stunning! And she actually moved when asked! Here are some pics... I am very eagerly awaiting news of her in the future, as I think she is very special. She is also Cynthia only filly of her favourite and foundation mare that she just lost this spring.

She is very bright and hot, and lovely to watch. She is very typey, but displays great conformation. For Murgab getting only a 7.5 for type, he sure throws typey foals!

We also put Kogan on the trailer, he was going to another site.

The next stop was the broodie herd a few miles away. Here I met Olimpic Gul, the mare that was for sale in foal to Murgab last winter. I looked at the foal and said... DAMN, shoulda bought her! While she is not hot stuff to me (though high marks in inspection) she makes REALLY nice foals! She improves very nicely. Unfortunately this was also a herd of slow pokes that day and they only moved a little, even when we let out the mare and foal off the trailer. But I did get some pics of what, to me, is a huge Teke herd!

Out in that field, I didn't spend time with her, was a PB Teke mare that sounds ideal for endurance. She is trained, but does not like going English. But put her out on the trail on a loose rein and she goes anywhere, anytime. She is forward, easygoing and confidant. Sounds perfect to me! Forgot her name though! Oops!


Our final stop was the new farm site. It is about 25 kms out of High River, on a GORGEOUS ¼ section of rolling land. I want to live there. They had just purchased it a few months ago and there was lots of work to do before moving themselves and all the horses on.

On the west side was her gelding pasture. It was gorgeous, with hills and gulleys and a nice big pond. There were 3 boys in there; a he-doesn't-count-because-he's-just-a-QH, SwiftSure (Red's full younger brother) and a very lovely flashy black yearling PB gelding. He was very typey (another Murray foal), but very conformationally correct. He was one of the top rated colts (if not THE top rated colt) in North America in the 2011 evaluation tour. I liked him, he was pretty, but also personable and friendly. AND A MOVER! Sorry no pics of him. Some are apparently angry Cynthia gelded him, but I think he will be an EXCELLENT ambassador to the breed. I hope someone with dreams of competition swoops him up!

Now SwiftSure, AKA Dinnerplate, named for the dishy head when born.

By the end of our little visit with him, I was ready to stuff him in my back pocket and try to smuggle him home with me. He has Red's (and their sire's, Murgab) wonderful temperament. They are really easygoing, but very responsive. Lovey, huggy boys. SwiftSure is more Arab-ish, rounder and less dry, than Red, and just a smidgen shorter (but a year younger, so...). SwiftSure takes after his dam, while Red really takes after his Teke sire.



We let out Kogan to play with the other geldings, and then drove over to the east side pasture with the mares. This had 2 older mares. One of which is not used because, while she is a very nice mare, she is the unfortunate colour of cremello! Lol. Cynthia is not fond of cremellos. And when bred to Murgab she has a 50% chance of another cremello foal. (She actually has 3 cremellos on farm presently)

I also got a tour of the buildings, one of which is an ancient old barn. It used to be the livery stable in High River, and was moved out to the farm decades ago. I cannot wait to see what they do to this place. It will be a stunning farm for them, I think!

I went inside to have tea and meet JK. I finally understood why he sold Red. He is well over 6 foot. I just sticked Red, he is 14.2 h @ 3 ½ years old. However, apparently he is working on an oil rig and claims when they strike it he is buying Red back. I said it had better be a gusher if you want to afford him! We enjoyed a delicious tea and a great chat about dogs (she has the shaggiest Springer EVER) and Tekes, before she drove me back to the RV camp.

Next year I am coming back for a ride in the mountains though!!!