Now we have HORSES!
Lily is a horse I have had my eye on ever since our stable owner bought her. She had a kind eye, was fast, but sane.
Since then she's had a foal, gotten a little cinchy and is now pretty rusty from lack of riding. Still, I know this horse. She has almost no spook. She has had western pleasure training. She has a lot of experience doing play dates and barrels. She likes trail riding. She'll be great for Sierra and Adam.
But, boy, is she rusty. That's what having babies does to you, I guess. :)
We round penned her and it was as if she'd never round penned before. I haven't run into that before, so if anyone has any advice, send it on. She keeps turning early and it takes a while to get her into a rythmn. She runs in toward the center of the circle, and is just a wreck. Every now and then she runs in a sort of panic, although I'm working to keep her in a trot. I'm going to video tape her tomorrow and try to see if I can get some ideas on how to approach her.
She also has a bad habit of storming out of the trailer. Goes in fine, comes out like the place is on fire. Then stops and waits patiently. It's wild. Ideas? Help? Please?
Time will bring her around. That much I'm sure of. As long as we're consistent and don't screw up too badly. There's so much to say, but I'm a little worn out - we are in quarantine, sort of and I've stayed up too late again. More next time, I promise!
In the meantime, welcome to the family, Lily.
11 comments:
Welcome Lily!! She's gorgeous!! What does Canyon think of her?
It's so good to have a horse that your kids can ride safely, too.
I can't trust Baby Doll with my kids on her back out on a trail. She'd run for home and ignore their directions.
Like you said, I need to sell this horse. I discovered early on that she was too much horse for me, but felt she could teach me how to be a better rider. She did...and then some. Some lessons that I didn't want to learn at all.
I listed her on CraigsList the other day and have someone coming to look at her this Sunday. Send positive selling vibes our way.
If she sells I'll be buying my neighbor's 26 yr old Arabian. The mare I enjoyed riding even before I bought my mare. The mare I trust my kids to ride.
I hope Lily is a great horse for you and the kids. And I hope she figures out the round pen routine soon, too.
And what is up with this quarantine stuff?? Did I miss something? I'll need to go back and see what I've missed.
Here's me sending you lots of healthy healing energy. Get well quick!!
~Lisa
Congrats on the newest family member!! Patience will help...I think I saw a round pen video of you and Canyon (wasn't that you?) and you both looked wonderful! I may not have much wisdom to impart, I think you can do it!!! Practice, patience, repetition and voice and touching rewards will get you far, especially if she is just rusty and you aren't teaching anything she's never learned!!!!
We need to find another date for a trail ride!! We would like to get together-the timing was CRAZY on that one! If you want to do something COOL and that is great experience for your horse come on out to Triple H Equitherapy on the first Sat. in June...read my latest blogs to find out more info...it will be a super cool scavenger hunt on horseback and excellent experience for your horse! Since there are 3 levels there is one for everyone no matter what stage in their training they are at! Guaranteed good time! www.triplehequitherapy.org
Take care!
--Mindy
wish i could help, but i have no idea.
i'll take running out of trailers over spooking though, cuz i believe you can actually fix that!
best wishes with your new one,
~lytha
Two of the very things I have learned to rely on, time and consistency. Lily is a lovely mare.
Congrats! It is nice to "know" the horse, that is why I ended up buying the one I was leasing...since I knew him, quirks and all, but trusted him.
Good luck with the getting the kinks out...sounds like she'll be a great horse with a little work. Do you back her out of the trailer or lead her out forward? Is she the only horse in, or is she coming out after another horse and being panicked about being left behind? Interesting...keep us posted!
Happiness is a new horse. I've had lots of problems with horses turning in early. I learned that each horse has a different point at which I need to push. With Lostine, I can square my shoulders up with her shoulders and even as far forward as her neck, and she'll keep moving forward. I have to step way in front of her head to turn her. With Bombay I square up my shoulders with his hip to keep him moving forward, and with Gabbrielle I have to push from behind the tail. If I turn my shoulders to point anywhere at her body, she turns and goes in the other direction. I was trained to always square up with the horse's shoulders, but I found that different horses have different levels of sensitivity, so now I just adapt to the horse. Ultimately, you should be able to train them to do it your way, though.
With backing out, start teaching her the word EASY every time she gets too fast with anything. While backing her out, take one step at a time and encourage her to only take as many steps as you do. Easier said than done, but it's something to work towards.
Lisa - I'm glad you are moving on, not giving up! I'm sending you selling vibes BIG time!
Mindy - We do need to find a good date and Ill check out the scavenger hunt - sounds fun! I am great at round penning Canyon, but I seem to be not quite finding the rythmn with Lily yet...
Lytha - true, I've picked a safer problem to manage. Right now she's so rusty she seems spooky, ironically. But I've seen her in great shape so I know it's really just the rust showing. LOL
ORH: Thanks, I think she is so pretty too!
Pony Girl: Actually, she backs herself out. No one leads her. She doesn't really need to be tied in the trailer - at least we didn't on this first trip.
NM: THANK YOU! GREAT TIPS!
I thought I was going crazy today because she reacts so differently to what I do precisely with Canyon. I had her running for some unknown reason, so I just let her run out a bit, then slowly got her back down. I've got to figure out how to dance with her, find her correct drive line. I'm going to video it so I can see if I can figure out how I'm setting her off.
I've had a few horses act the same way as Lily. A LOT of horses want to come to the center right away, because they want to stop working, and so they want to "join up" and stop the work you're asking of them. As for turning in early, I just send them back out. Pretty soon they figure out they're not going to get out of work or a "release" by coming to the center until I let them.
And every horse's drive-line is slightly different, and it can even change once they get used to you. Stay well behind that drive-line to keep her going forward.
She isn't used to your cues, so you might have to experiment and TEACH her your cues with consistency.
As far as cutting the circle short, and going ACROSS the round pen, I get closer to them and reach out with my lunge whip to "push" them closer to the edge of the round pen. Pretty soon, you can anticipate when/where they're going to do this in the round pen, and you can act BEFORE they cut the circle. And they'll do it at one place going clockwise, and usually a completely different place going the other way.
And if she runs like a maniac for a good 5-10 minutes when you start, GOOD! That'll get her good and tired and more likely to "watch" your cues, and that's the time to ease her into trots and walks by easing in front of her drive-line.
Be TOUGH! I know Lily, and she's fat and lazy right now. She's had her way for over a year. She needs to be put in her place and develop respect again. And I know you BOTH can do this!
I think I'm going to like it here. I was horse nuts my whole childhood and we ended up with two boarded horses my teen years.
Gave it all up when I moved to Hawaii, but sure do miss it.
Awww, she's beautiful! What a nice looking mare. Just keep doing what you're doing, she'll come around! I like her!
They are beautiful, I would love to have a horse or two to take care of they are absolutely beautiful.
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