The first ride!

Peg is gaining weight, her feet were done a few weeks ago, she looks sound and ready.... I will try her out for the first time since she came to our farm. I had tried her before I bought her, but she was thin and I felt extremely bad, so I only did a circle, a figure eight and a back at a very slow walk and got off!!! I didn't want to make her work. It took longer to saddle her!

So, I get my saddle and pad ready, her bridle and brushes. She is standing cross-tied in the barn, I've brushed her before, so that is no big deal, I know she has good manners on the ground. I brush her, clean and check her hooves. Put the pad on, no reaction, put the saddle on, no reaction... she is a bit girthy and probably always will be no matter how carefull I am. She pricks her ears at me, she doesn't like the grith, she kicks at it with her hind legs. I quickly correct her, I don't want any of my horses to use their back legs as a defense mechanism even if it's not against me, I was standing close enough. I don't over correct them, just a slap on the thigh of the leg she kicked with and a mean "NOOO!". She understood and quit. She took the bridle like a champ, for Peg, I use a plain "O" ring snaffle and she seems to be very comfortable with it. I lead her out of the barn to mount.... keep in mind that she is somewhere near the 16.2-16.3 hh mark and she won't stand for me to mount, after many tries (I always try to get on their back by myself, unless they are REALLY nervous and jigging around), I ask my sister to hold her while I try to mount... I'm 5'8'', but not super thin, plus, I've never had a horse this tall, I'm really stretching to get my foot in that stirrup! I finally get on her back and as soon as my butt is in that saddle, she's off! I can't stop her, she only goes and goes. I manage to get a bit of control over her and towards the middle of our ride she is doing better... but she can't stop for more than a half second. Since I've had many horse related accidents (nothing really bad), I don't feel safe getting her in a quicker pace.

I ride for a bit and my boyfriend wants to try her out. He gets on and is doing great! He needs a bit of tunning, but he is not pulling in her mouth and he's being quiet. Of course, Peg does not understand leg cues so well, but she manages to catch on quickly. She is light on the bit, except for stopping. As soon as you put a leg on her, she jumps... she is nervous, she is sweating profusely. I had also saddled Dandy, my reliable mount (she's was 3 at the time!) to keep Peg good company. We also had to get Pearl out of the paddock because she would've jumped the fence... she's still in foal at that point so we took her in the alfalfa field to change her mind! She was still thin, so green alfalfa couldn't hurt. She grazed in it for about 15 minutes.

My sister and I were now riding, she was on Peg and I was on Dandy, we rode around the alfalffa field and my sister tried her other speed... at that point, she only knew how to walk and pace, so she paced a bit around the field, by that time, she was soaking with sweat and was in a lather. She's so out of shape... our little outing lasted about 30 to 45 minutes and she was drenched, Dandy didn't even break a sweat and I made her trot around much more! We will work on Peg's fitness and training during the whole summer.

The wait

So I was pretty thrilled to get our new horses... but were they going to fit in our plans and activities??? Right then... I didn't know. I put off evaluating them because I wanted them to gain weight before I would do anything with them... they got handled and groomed, but that was the extent of it... I trimmed Peg's feet. Pearl was in foal and due any day, I did not subject her to standing on three legs to trim her feet.

Here are a few pictures of their feet.

To start, we have Peg... Peg was probably born base-narrow, which means that her legs, viewed from the front, taper at the bottom... so it looks like a "V" shape from her hooves to her chest. As you can see from this picture, the heels are very long and a bit narrow for my likings... also, the left side (from your perspective) of the hoof looks much longer than the right... and it is. Since Peg is older (16 years old), her feet probably wont ever change dramatically... so I will have to trim and rebalance often to keep them right. The other thing I have noticed is that when /if I balance her feet the way they should be, she becomes lame, since pressure is on her joints to force the leg in a straight line... I have later found that she is arthritic, so I no longer force her leg straight as much as I did by trimming her feet... I still trim to have as much balance as possible, but I don't want her to be in pain. At her age, she needs to be comfortable, we don't use her all that much, she is mostly retired. Her hooves grow so slow, she only gets a trim avery 2-3 months, much less in the summer if we ride her, her feet wear down, so no need to trim, just rebalance where needed.

Here, I am trimming Peg's back hoof (not the same pictured above), if I didn't have the rasp in the way, you'd notice how unbalanced her foot really is. Her back feet are in much better shape than the fronts, back feet are usually naturally well maintained so there is always less rebalancing to do and the hooves are naturally more even. You can see that the heels are less narrow and wider that the front foot (above), that is a sign of health (of the hoof). Note that I am using a chair to sit, I have bad back problems and I feel the effects even when sitting and using the stand... this is why I only trim my horses and do not do this as a job. Also, I do not use a rasp handle and hold my rasp as close or as far as I need, this gives much more control and you can hold a good flat edge, not like when holding a round handle... then the rasp has a chance to not be completely flat, therefore causing discomfort to the horse if not corrected.

Half done! Note how the sole compensate for the wall... I did the rest of the foot too...

Here's the final result after the first trim... there is still imbalance but as a first trim, this is all I could do, heels are pretty much the same length, she seems to have sustained an injury to her hoof, in the quarter area, she has a lot of sole compensation on one side and the outer wall and inner wall seem to be permanently disconnected. I would like to take pictures of her feet today, If I have some time this weekend, I will. I would like to see the improvements on film (or computer screen!). I did work a bit more on that left quarter after this pic.

This is Pearls feet... they were all like that... the lenght over the toe area was okay, but the heels were a mile high and super contracted, which had me concerned about mechanical founder, especially that she was in foal... I don't have after pictures, since I trimmed her after she foaled (like right after) and I didn't have my camera handy, I will take some soon. Pearl has great legs, her feet are mostly balanced on their own, she is very sound but very hot, even at 18 years of age!
I wish I had taken more pics but it is hard to try and take pics while trimming and making sure the horses don't get impatient and uncomfortable.

I'm back!

So Dandy as spent all of her life alone up to this point (spring 2009), she was born and she had only lived with her mom, no other horses until she was weaned and place alone in a small paddock... The closest thing to a horse there was cattle in an adjacent pasture. Since Dandy was my first horse and that she started this whole journey, I didn't have any other horses to put her with... board was a bit over my budget and we had the land to put horses on... we needed fences and a shelter, but we were planning on getting some horses in the future, so we still had to build it anyways.

So I brought Dandy home... to live all alone, again. I always felt really bad for the fact that she didn't have any friends and was actively looking for a pasture mate for her, but I didn't want a horse with special needs. I applied to foster rescue horses, but never got a reply, I guess the lists were so long... so I kept looking in the classifed ads for something that would suit me.

In the mean time, I've met my boyfriend and after a few months together, noticed his interest in horses. He already had horses as a breeding farm but the market was not there, so he sold the herd to loving families, we can still see some of them today when we drive around, he lovingly points them out. He showed some interest in coming along for rides with me, but we didn't have two horses and I would never subject a horse to double-riding, especially a young one like Dandy (except if it was an emergency situation). We had to get another horse!

I found a horse near where we live, she was an older mare, ex-racer that had started to ride... I thought it was perfect for him, I could work on her training while he could ride Dandy. We went and seen the mare, I tried her out, she did good. The guy had just rescued them from the meat pen and wanted to place them in a home, he was a kind of trader I guess. He also had another horse that was a friend of the one we were interested in... only one problem, she was in foal and untrained to ride. My boyfriend was interested in getting them both..... so we did... I would have quite a challenge retraining those horses... so... introducing Peg (Registered name: Mattsabreeze) and Pearl (registered: Minto's Foly), I don't have registration papers, since they were bount for meat, but I've done my research! These pictures were taken about 1-2 weeks after we got them home, they had been on poor pasture grass for one week... you can see how shinny they are... they didn't look exactly like that when we got them... They have also put on some weight, about 50 pounds in one week!! Also, our barn has considerably changed since then!!!! I'm just noticing that right now! Peg's pictures aren't really reflecting what she really looked like... I would say she was about a 2 on the scale, Pearl was a definite 1!

Keep in mind that Pearl was in foal... she looked awful for a mare about to foal (she was on her last weeks to a month in these pics).

As you can see, they lacked a lot of muscle tone, they were lethargic. Peg was in a bit better shape than Pearl, since Pearl had to feed a growing baby. They both had scars from their halters, scars from being whipped on the track and REALLY bad feet, you'll see in the upcoming post!

Sick!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately... I've been sick all of last week.

I'll catch up on everything and post a little later today!!!

My best friend

I've had Dandy for 1.5 years now... Along the way, she was somewhat transformed. As a matter of fact, I don't recognize the horse that I bought in spring of 2008.

I went trough a lot with Dandy even in that short year. She became my best partner and a friend that was always there to listen. I've learned to know her and respect her and she did the same for me... although there was a lot of dominance and trust issues at first. She knew I would always guide her so she wouldn't get hurt and she understood that I wanted the best for her, so she didn't need to be scared. We've had our ups and downs with training, sometimes, she would fall back to that rank bitch I brought home, but mostly because on those days, I felt impatient and cranky. She is a true mirror of me.

I know I've thought everything to Dandy, everything she knows today is because I was there to help her along, otherwise, she would've ended up in a dog food factory. Dandy too has thought me so much! I've learned to control my emotions and feelings, to talk smoothly even if the barn was coming down, she kept me in check on my feelings too! She would make sure that I could control myself at any time, in any situation. She tested me on every level, she tests everyone that touches her or gets on her back. Now that I've proved myself, she doesn't do it anymore.

I've learned to trust her enough to know when she is feeling nervous (it's like sitting on another horse), if she is faking (does not want to go forward for no reason... or if there really is a bear down that trail!). She has learned to understand what I want from her, to forgive my sometimes clumsy mistakes... and I've learned to forgive hers too and to take it easy. Dandy is a sensitive horse (not extreme sensitive) and she needs calmness and gentle handling, if you rough her around, she will rough you around right back.

We've had good rides, bad rides but I've only fallen off of her once. I could tell she was sorry and she has learned to keep an eye on me and I keep an eye on her. I've thought her that things that look scary (like dogs or cows) will go running the other way if you just impose your presence enough. We are currently working on cattle... she is still shy about them. She was around cattle most of her life so the sight and sounds from them don't bother her. The other day, while I was sorting some cattle to send them to an adjacent pasture... Dandy seemed great, we were closing on our cow to send her past the gate when the cow decided she would cut in front of Dandy... I pushed Dandy to close the gap and "shut the door" to the cow, but she slammed on the brakes and jumped sideways to let the cow happily run us by... I nearly fell off, lost both stirrups and was nearly hanging off the side, Dandy still cantering in the field... I had to canter without stirrups until I could get my balance back, then I stopped her, she didn't freak out, she just continued reliably on... the fact that I was squeezing my calves to hang on didn't help in slowing her down!

We have a great bond, I can make her go over, under or through anything and even if she is scared, she'll still do it because she trusts that I will never hurt her.

I love her to death, just wanted to share my love and appreciation for her with all of you.

Ongoing battle

This is Dandy in 2009!

So since May of 2008, I've worked on training Dandy. I've thought her to lead correctly, stand tied and stand when I stop walking, I thought her to lift her feet for picking and trimming (she was pretty aggressive about her feet, but they had never been touched), I thought her to saddle and bridle quietly, to lead with a bit, I've work on long reins with her, done tons of groundwork (mostly Parelli, but not the seven games, just moving around and respecting my space, I might've modified it a bit).

After some extensive work on the ground, I've decided to get on Dandy's back, she'd been home for nearly a month and I felt I would try her out. She was leading well and getting more light to the cues. By that time, she had been desensitized to pretty much anything from blanket to swinging ropes, etc. So I tied her lead rope to the other side of her halter and hoped on bareback... now, I know... I was completely aware of the risks of my actions. I am an adult and I am aware of the risks involved in training horses. My first ride lasted about 10 minutes, I just wanted Dandy to understand that it's ok for someone to sit on her back and also, to give to pressure to turn and stop. She did well, but offered to buck (without actually going through with it) and she got a mean "hey" from me, that was enough to discourage her to do it.

A few weeks later, I got a saddle, tryed it on Dandy and it was perfect. I saddled her and went for a little ride in the backyard, our ride was brief, I didn't want to push my horse... plus, she had to take in so much information, legs, hands and all of the surroundings, I didn't want her to feel overwhelmed. I never pushed Dandy during her training. When I gave her a cue, like trot, I expected her to go into a trot, but I wouldn't push her to continue when she stopped. This has worked well for me, since now, I can trot her and if she gives an indication that she wants to slow down, I only squeeze my legs lightly and she answers right away. She rarely offers to stop trotting, since it is her favorite gait. She will do a dressage-y trot, a jog or a fast trot and can go all day.

My training philosophy is "Give your horse as little cue as it takes" you will then have a light horse. The heavier cues are used mostly when a horse is not responsive or does not understand... but even then, it's important to climb the ladder with lightest, light, heavier, then correct with a quick snap (at that stage, your horse is probably ignoring you and that will get his attention focused back on you). I do not like to hit horses, but I absolutely do not tolerate biting, kicking or striking, that kind of behaviour will get a mean correction (smack on the shoulder with a lead rope until horse backs off, smack on leg that tried to kick me or a quick smack on the nose for biting or trying to bite) My horses aren't headshy and understand that this is not acceptable behaviour. Now, they hardly ever offer to kick, bite or strike. I can't stand seeing someone being threatened by their horse, dragged around, getting their feet stepped on, bit, etc. I'm not saying that this never happened to me, but that I do not allow it to happen and they get corrected if somehow they managed to do it.

I feed treats to my horses... they do not nip at me. They are only mouthy when I have the treats in my hand but they know that they can't touch me until I offer the treat... and I offer the treat when I want to... not when they decide that they want one. I work their patience and they won't get a cookie until they back off! Be consistent, horses are big creatures and can seriously hurt you without even putting effort into it. Horses are our friends and work partners... don't allow your horse to do something that you wouldn't allow another human to do, in other words, you wouldn't let a human walk all over you... well, don't let a horse do that!!! We seem to be more tolerant of misbehaviours from our pets and animals than other peoples. They won't love you more if you don't discipline them, love is unconditionnal for animals, but they will certainly respect you more if you discipline unwanted behaviour... and there is nothing like respect to build a strong and reliable relationship. My Dandy will come over to see me wether she is with 10 other horses or alonce, if she can't make it quickly enough, she will nicker to let me know she is on her way. If horses are mirrors, she certainly reflects the love I have for her!

Finally... Pictures!

There, I've gatthered all of the pictures from my moms computer... she was keeping the first pics of Dandy.

Ok, here's the horse I bought... This is on her first day at home... She looks quite lethargic compared to today... also, this was in May, she was wooly, she looked awkward and the previous owners had cut her forelocks, mane and tail with scisors... **Yeah, I was pissed...** I freak out when I see this, she has no muscle tone whatsoever, she looks sad and I think she was a bit wormy. She's 2 years and 2 months in this picture. She was in desperate need of minerals and vitamins, after this was taken care of, her coat became true black and shiny. No wonder I was questionning my buy... for 2 weeks, I didn't know what I had done! She looked like this, plus, she was a real brat, probably used to getting away with everything at her old home. Took a good 6 months or more of groundwork to get her to respect people and their space.

We don't see her feet, unfortunately in the picture above, but the were bad... I think I purposely left them out to spare anyone the horror... it's bad enough that she looks like this! Just to compare... here's Dandy this summer. This is taken in May 2009, she still has a bit of winter hair (I'm in Canada, so this takes a while to shed!!) This picture is taken on my boyfriend's farm after a two hour ride to move her there (yeah I rode her there) so spare me the mean looks, we just got there and I didn't have her brushes and stuff there yet.

And this is Dandy in August 2009. She is growing quickly and putting on nice weight. I've measured Dandy a few weeks ago and she is a bit over 15 hands and over 1 000 pounds at 3.5 years old.

Now, here are Dandy's feet (pictures are of left fore) AFTER her first ever trim (*ever*)... Her feet were about 6 inches overgrown (maybe more in spots). You can see that her heels are still about 1.5 to 2 inches too long, but I couldn't lower them more than that at first.

To compare her feet... here is a picture of the same foot less than a year later. This is in May after our 2.5 hour ride. There is still a bit of work to do, but this is way better than the first pic! Round happy feet are the best!!!

Let me know what you think in the comments!