Hey all! Hope everyone is doing well, we are good!
I got out and was able to work with mr Tuff the other day! The original plan was to lunge him then ground drive him with the surcingle and halter. Welll, seeing as I had to take little girl out with me I only got the lunging part in. But thats way better then nothing! And I had a lot of fun. It was SO good to work with a horse again!
So I planned going out about the time my girl goes down for her nap, I was counting on the stroller walk out there to put her to sleep. And it worked GREAT. By the time I got out to the pasture and had gotten Tuff tied up to the rail she was just about out, and it wasn't long till she was. Whoo hoo!
So I got him all cleaned up, even brushed out his tail etc, he seemed to enjoy it! He was easy to catch as well (which is nothing unusual he is the first to come up and see you out of all 4 of them). Then I called the BIL out to push little girl over to the round pen for me while I lead Tuff. I wasn't sure if Tuff would be keen on the stroller. But really all he did was sniff towards it and that was about it! None of the horses seemed real concerned when I walked up to the pasture with it, surprisingly!
We got out to the round pen and I sent him on out. We did a lot of walk, trot, walk, halt, etc. Then a few inside turns. Which he remembered pretty good, but still bad to the one side. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but I can't ever get him to make a very sharp one, I always have to get out of his way :/. Anyway, by this time the BIL had decided it was a good idea to feed all the OTHER horses and then Chloe decided she had had enough and started screaming. So I got a few canters in to the left, which he did AWESOME with, then we did the right which was a little harder to get him in to (his weak side) and he picked up the wrong lead originally but did a flying change and did well after that.
Here is a few clips from it. Chloe is also in it at the end! You can see her after I rescued her from her stroller, lol. She gets to sit on her first horsey too! Which is Tuffs first rider sitting up, haha. You can see him go, who are you? And then keep eating. :) Then later for her first time sitting on the grass! (If you go to the actual youtube page you can watch it in HD. This was shot with my new camera! Looks SO much better!)
So not much else going on lately! The weather has been pretty junky last week or so and haven't gotten out. Today its finally back in the 50s! Although apparently we are getting another winter storm this coming week. OH YEAH! -_- Please hurry spring!
So I tried out Tuff Tuffs new bit! I'm not sure about it...I think I'd be happier if it was another 1/2 inch wider. But, he doesn't seem to mind it as far as I can tell. He chewed on it for a bit, so I just left it on him while I went back to trying to brush off 20lbs of hair, and he quit after just a few minutes. Yeah! If I moved his halter around at all (which is under the bridle) he would start chewing on it sometimes, but he wasn't gaping his mouth, or putting his head up, etc. I can get my finger between his lip and bit easily, its not tight, but there is def not anything extra.
So! Here are some pictures of him wearing it that yall can look at and give me your thoughts about it. Too small? Okay for now? Just see how he does with it? Gracias! (they should get bigger if you click)
Sorry I didn't get a face on shot! Anyway, what are yalls thoughts?
Other then that yesterday, we started some work on turns on the longe line. Well, that was...uh hum...interesting. He was a bit of a pill at times, but I'm not altogether sure I wasn't contributing to it. I have a bit of a low patience level! So after we had a galloping fit done with we settled down and he started doing inside turns to the left when I pointed my arm in that direction, quite well! Quite quickly. But then the right was a totally different story. Sigh, he was just not getting it! I didn't know how to make it any clearer to him! He was at least starting to turn his head towards me but I still had to step in front of him and push his head to the right. Every time. But we will keep working on it! He is definitely a left sided horse, as are a lot of them.
I have a short video of us doing a few lefts and a right or two (thats when we go out of frame). I also took off his reins and left his bit in, leaving the lunge attatched to his halter of course. He didn't seem to mind a'tall. It was a beautiful day! I'm glad I put sunscreen on though, or I'd have been a bit crispy. Yeah for spring!
**Okay! Got to work, here is our video! (its short for once!)
A good note! His cantering was much improved yesterday! I was watching closely and didn't see him cross canter once either way! Whoo hoo! :D I did have video of that part too but somehow it got corrupted on my memory card. 30 minutes gone! GRRR.
I found my girth that goes on my bareback pad but it was WAY too short, I swear! So anyway I have a 30 inch western cinch that has a buckle on it, might try that next time. I know some of you are thinking "just buy one!" Well I would if I lived near a good tack store, or had the extra money right now to order one. But we are just floating with all the doctor bills and other baby things going on right now! Before I start riding him I will of course get a proper one.
So thats about it! After we worked quite a while on turns etc I took him back to the side of the pen and took his bridle off. I had taken it off once earlier and he put his head up but this time he stayed calm and wouldn't open his teeth to let it go! lol. Then we headed back to the house and I hosed him off a bit (he was a very good boy for that; he likes to drink from the hose) and let him graze for a bit. Boy did that make the other horses jealous ;)
I wanted to get out there again today but it rained this morning, so its probably a mess out there...its supposed to get sunny later on (which its 2 o'clock now and still cloudy boo) so maybe I'll go out there and just work on our turns and him toting that bit and saddle around.
Next Post: Scarlet Gets Rode. The FIL got her out and rode her for the first time yesterday.
Tuff says "um, what did you put in my mouth, and why is it still there??"
Here it is! The promised post! Sorry it took so long to come about!
So anywho, last Wednesday we had a gorgeous day! High 60's, low 70's. When I got home I left the husband mowing the lawn and packed up my saddle and bridle.
I was hoping the horses would be up at the house eating hay, but of course they were out in the pasture eating grass! So the two dogs and I traipsed out there. I was calling them the whole way and once I heard Tuff call back, but no sign of them. So I finally hit the back lane and saw all of them clustered at the top of the hill. Then they all came running down the hill, eep! I still worry about Missie (my mini schnauzer 5/6 month puppy) around the horses (not to mention my unborn baby!) so I yelled WOAH and put my hands up. That got them all to stop in front of me. Scarlet and Stormy were up front of course, but Tuff was right next to Stormy a little back from Scarlet, so I called to him hopefully and he actually stepped right up and I got him hooked! Phew, did NOT want to get into the middle of them in that lane.
So I walked back with him, Stormy and Skip following, and Scarlet was my little pest the whole way on my other side or right next to him. I think she didn't believe that I had not hid grain from her in the bucket of brushes I had, lol. "What? I just know your holding out on me!" -->
We made it back to the gate without incident. (Missie ran on ahead, she is pretty determined about not getting near the horses. I'm glad, harder to get stepped on that way!) The gate was a little hairy, with Scarlet wanting to escape with Tuff, but thankfully he knows the drill at gates and I was able to keep her in. Phew!
We walked to the round pen and parked just inside by the gate. The older BIL had come out and was my helper the rest of the afternoon, which was super of him! I so much appreciated it.
So first we tracked down the lunge line and whip and then I brushed him for a bit. He is starting to lose hair and it had been awhile since he'd been brushed, so that took a good 30 minutes I bet, lol. His mane was a mess. But finally I got that straightened out and clipped the lunge line on.
I sent him out on the lunge, just acting like it was something we do every day. The first time I had him in there I walked him around myself a few times on the perimeter, just to give him a chance to acclimate. But I didn’t think it necessary that day. He was a little lookey, but not terrible, and we just did some walk/trot for a bit. He was better about the pulling this time, probably because he wasn’t as giraffe necky trying to pay attention to everything but me!
So I decided the footing was well enough to do a little cantering, it was a little loose, but only muddy in a few spots. I tried to keep him out of the worst. He has only cantered on the lunge once two summers ago and I’ve been wanting to get him comfortable doing it for awhile.
So anyway, he did pretty well! He transitioned up to it very easily, like he had been doing it forever. I used the standard kiss and "canter" in a higher tone cues. He dropped back to it pretty quick once he hit the corner and then rocketed away again after he got into it. I think some of his playing up etc was him trying to stay on his feet/get his balance. Anway, I was pretty happy with him! You’ll see all this in the video I’ve got below the BIL was nice enough to take.
So after the first canter (actually I think he was galloping, lol) he was pretty up, so I did some trotting with him a bit, then some walking, etc. We did a few more transitions that way and then reversed. This way he got a little cheeky and bucked up a bit and kicked out which I growled at him about and the last transition up and down was very nice. Quiet and easy. So its something we just need to work on a bit and I’m sure it will be ho-hum in no time.
Question! When I was editing my video, I started looking at his legs…they look…funny. Like, he isn’t cantering, so I thought…is he galloping? At times when I slowed the video waay down I can see a distinctive 1,2,3,4 footfall sequence. But then I’m like, is he really going fast enough to be galloping?? Is he cross-firing in the back maybe? Or what? The hind legs are what look wonky. I don’t know enough about footfalls to be sure. So yall more experienced eyes let me know what you think!
So after we were calm and doing well on the lunge (every woah he did was excellent by the way, yeah!) I gathered him in and we went over by the gate again and the BIL got my saddle and bridle out of the car for me. I had tried to find my bareback pad earlier, but with no luck. I’d planned on using the girth off of it for the saddle, since Daisy’s is way too long for him. Boo, well I still wanted to get him used to it being on and off his back. I sat it on the panel in front of him for a few minutes while I swapped the lunge for his lead rope and he sniffed it a few times, ladee da. Then lifted it off, let him see it, then just plopped it on his back. And he did SUPER. No problems at all. On and off a few times, wiggle wiggle. Baby stuff for him, apparently.
So then I decided well, what the heck lets just waltz around. I of course was sure to admonish him before we started to NOT, under any circumstances, dump my pretty saddle that was given to me in the dirt!! (thanks again Becca! ;) If I thought he was going to be a problem though, I wouldn't have done it. But I've had stuff on and off his back since he was 6 months old with no difficulty at all.
Here he is looking so cute and grown up:
So I didn't do that but maybe one or two rounds and then had the BIL grab Daisys bridle from the car. (Did I mention he was a good helper??) I was pretty sure it would be much too big for him so I shortened it up and then looked at it and thought, okay too much. So I let it out to one smaller then Daisys normal setting after I held it up to his face. I definitely would rather have it hanging in his mouth then choking him! Well turns out that was about right! I always knew Daisy had a cute little head ;).
So he did well when I put it in his mouth, I was just patient with him and let him figure out what I wanted. It took a little bit for him to decide he wanted to open his teeth but after that no probs slipping his ear in the bridle, etc. I love having a horse that will keep their head low and calmly take a bit, so I am very careful to be slow and easy with him. Who loves bridling a horse with his head in the air like a giraffe?? Not I!
Well of course all he did after that was chew chew chew on it. You'll see at the end of the video how he is concentrating so hard he isn't picking his feet up high enough, lol. But he was calm and pretty okay with it all, so I was happy. I took it off and put it back on again, being careful to not bang his teeth, etc. and he did awesome. He even stopped chewing for a second! I took it off real quick when he did that, lol.
So here is the video!
So all in all a good session with Tuff Tuff! We do need more lunging work (kicking out and playing up are not to be the norm) and only time will get him doing well with a bit. I'm still so happy to see that he is okay with leaving his buddies and not being able to see them, and not being distracted by that at all. I will try to remember to measure his height next time, I'm curious. I'm hoping we are real close to 14.3! But not holding my breath...lol ;).
I ordered him a full-cheek off ebay, maybe I'll get it this week. I'm afraid it will be too small...I forgot to measure his mouth when I was out there! But it was only .99! (well, $8 of shipping, lol) So I jumped on it. We'll see. Like I keep telling my husband, you can NEVER have too many bits. Its impossible. ;) He doesn't believe me.
First off, Happy New Year everyone! I for one am happy to see 2009 go! And looking forward to a great (and totally different) new year.
So Tuff finally made it into the new round pen! Which isn’t so ‘new’ anymore, lol. But it was to him! I got out of ‘jail’ early yesterday (yes, had to work on new years, yipee) and knew I had about an hour or so of daylight so I rushed into the house put all my warmest clothes on and grabbed my trusty, rusty steed (bike, lol) and got out there. I met the husband on the way out (yes, HE was off, sucker) and we headed out together.
The little bro in law has been training them to come up to the sound of a whistle. So he whipped that out and about 3 or4 minutes later here them came sashaying up the lane. Yeah! That definitely saves time (and effort, lol).
I was a little shocked when I got a good look at Tuff. He is a wooly beast (that didn’t shock me) and he WHITE! He’s lightened even more. He is also a good few inches taller. We may have made 14 hands finally! ;) He is bigger all around, hooves and all. His neck needs to catch up though. Which all the fuzzy hair doesn’t help it look longer either! I noticed I can’t lean over his back on my stomach anymore! I’ll have to bring me something to step on now to put weight on his back. ('I’m 5’7 by the way in case anyone is wanting to compare) I’m glad to see he is keeping his perty head his momma gave him!
So I took him straight out to the round pen. He was very alert! It was cold and a little breezy and he was checking it all out! We walked into the round pen and I led him around the perimeter a few rounds both ways to get him acclimated. He was pretty good, but like I said, very aware of everything! No spooks or yee haw moments though.
Once I let him out on the lead rope a bit to lunge he was looking all over and then walking with his nose on the ground on one half of the circle. It was pretty funny. I guess he was smelling all the other horses that had been in there. Everyone but his mama.
So after he showed me he wasn’t going to be a wild thing I took him to the side where our audience was (both BILs and the husband) and we swapped for the lunge line and got the whip. I rubbed him with that a few times (he’s only seen it once last summer) and off we went! I did a lot of transitions from walk to trot and vice versa since he was so interested in everything but me most of the time. As is demonstrated to the right, lol.
He did good though. Was quite responsive to my cues of walk, trot, woah, etc. I was pleased. He hasn’t been lunged in a good while. He does need some work on pulling though. He was making my arm sore with how hard he was leaning on the line. Ugh! Definitely need to work on that. It has never really been a problem lunging in the open though, strangely.
I called the husband over after a bit and he came in and lunged him as well. He did good! It was funny because Tuff kept looking at him with his ears pricked like “your not the one that usually does this!” lol, it was pretty cute.
By then it was pretty darn dark so we called it quits! I had Lee hold him for me while I picked his hooves up, then we took turns leaning on his back (which I was able to do because he was resting his foot) He wasn’t too sure about Lees weight on him, but we did it a few times until he settled then the husband lead him back to the pasture. After he let him go he started looking around like, hey, where did my peeps go?? They had apparently ditched him! So he looked a bit more then he did this funny half rear thing and bounced around a bit and took off up the lane after them. Silly boy.
Well yesterday started out fine, was going good...and then I found out my violin was stolen. :( In case yall don't know I've played for about 15 years, I taught for about 7. It's a big part of my life. And its gone now. I don't even want to think about it. I'm going to trust God with it...(it was stolen out of my car behind work) Here's me playin a while ago...
So I got home feeling pretty crappy. I was like, okay, I need to see my horse. I'm sure you all can relate!
I got my shoes changed and grabbed my camera and a light coat (its getting cool at night!) and hopped on my bike. I left it at the end of the lane that opens into their pasture and walked down the hill. I was hoping they would be close, but there I saw hide nor hair of them. *sigh* So I started calling "Tufffff, TUUFFFFFF" and rattling the bucket I had picked up with brushes, lead rope etc in it. I wasn't real optimistic, but I figured I would try. And then lo and behold! Here he came!!
Let me tell you that is where my whole night turned around, folks. Such a sweet boy. So we walked around a bit doing the same sort of stuff as the day before. Pivots improved! Trotting off promptly did as well. Then I decided to lunge him a bit. Did some good trot circles. It was getting DARK though and all of a sudden Tuff flew off in the other direction spooking bad at something. I knew it had to be Lee, who had called a few minutes ago saying he was coming out. It was so dark I couldn't seem him but Tuff could!
Well he flew to the end of the lead rope (and drug me a bit, but I wasn't letting go yet!!) and I just held on and yelled WOAH at him and finally he stopped backing up and I reeled him in, lol. Right after he spooked he calmed down and that was it! I put him back out on the line and we resumed our lunging. Good boy.
Then I had Lee hold him while I played farrier again. He did very well and no pull backs with the hinds at all. He also wasn't slamming his fronts down when I put his hoof down either, which he does most times. Then Lee did the rounds and we let him go because it was DARK. But our eyes had adjusted pretty good and we got back to the house without any trouble.
So talked to the FIL last night about the round pen again. He says it needs to try out more before he can work it more. *SIGH* It rained again this morning a it, so hopefully it will dry out soon. I want to be using it!!
Hey everyone! Okay, took me about 3 tries to figure out a title. Seriously, why are there so many ways to write lunge? There is longe, long line, lunge, etc. Geesh!
Anyway, not much of an update. I went out with the little BIL Saturday when he went to feed the princess to check on mr Tuff Tuff. He and Skip were out grazing, the princess was in the barn row of course, lol. She seems to be very sensitive, about rain and bugs at least.
So they came up to see us though, and of course Stormy was very excited to be getting fed. She was running them all off and made me a bit nervous because there is not much room at all in that shed row, plus there is a tractor in there. Skip got knocked against that trying to get away. Not cool. I dont know if itd be better to just block it off in front of the tractor or what, so they can only come into the barn one way, you know? I know I dont like the way it is now though!
Anyway, he put her in the stall to feed her and I played with Tuff outside a bit. Making him pick up his feet and STAND there because I am messing with him, not just walk off and do whatever he wants once I put his foot down. He learned that pretty quick. And did very well picking his feet up. Although I did notice one of his fronts is already chipping up in the front. -_- Too much to ask for Daisy's rock hard hooves I guess. Oh well, he's young, maybe he has to grow into them, haha.
After that I brought him back into the row and clipped him to the lead rope tied on the post. He's still shedding so I attacked that, then brushed his icky mane and tail out. They feel really greasy. Overdue for a bath! Also got him all War Painted up. (fly repellant, looks like a bar of deoderant haha, works REALLY well)
He kept wanting to move forward and stick his head over the stall door to see Stormy, and I want him to be still and stand right where I put him. Of course a foot moved is fine, but after I put him back and told him WOAH, he would move up there again and stick his head over. I must have moved him back at LEAST 7 or 8 times before he figured out it was easier to just stand still, lol. Genius! ;) After he did that I let him go.
The BIL was done feeding and let the princess out. I then saw the lunge whip in there and asked if they still had the lunge line out there. He said they did, so I got that and decided to see how well he would do on there, its been awhile. He was perfect of course! :) That picture up top is from my phone, and no he wasn't pinning his years, its the blasted gnats!! I'm sure he was in the process of flapping them around, lol. They were on the ATTACK, I had a hard time keeping them out of my mouth and eyes. SO ANNOYING. I'm glad the horses have the barn to get away from them, for some reason they won't go in there. Weird. This is another I took (its really hard to lunge a lazy horse and take pictures!) and it looks so weird. I don't know if he was about to stop on me or what, lol. Very awkward! Anyway, I can see his neck needs to have another growth spurt, lol, I love a nice long neck! Of course his is def adequate.
Anywho, we walked a bit, and did about a circle of trot each way only because it was SLOPPY out there. I swear we might need to start driving boats around with all this rain. Then I practiced a bit of setting up and let him go. He's a good boy.
So thats it! If it ever stops raining I want to get out and ride my Daisy May again. Maybe we will try putting the solid pole across after she does some good cross-pole jumps! :-D (and after I get some more energy out of her!!)
Anyway, Mondays are my day off so I had a hankerin to go visit Tuff Tuff and work with him a bit. It was a pretty nice day, a little hot, so thats why I put on my short shorts and tank top. And of course paired them with my way cute socks and sneakers, haha. (I've already learned lunging in flip flops = bad idea!) So I took myself out there and called him. Then I went to the shed/barn and got the lunge line, whip, lead rope, brush, fly spray, PHEW, oh and a mane and tail comb, lol. (I think I need a tack box!)
I got out there and didn't see him, so I called again, and then I saw him making his slow way up the lane. I was kinda dissapointed because he didn't call back to me. And then I heard it! His cute little high pitched whinny, hehe.
Bowser came out too, as you can see in my top pic. The two of them touching noses. Tuff does really well with dogs. (as you will see in the video, he doesn't mind them running around him at all!) I think its because the pasture he was born in was right next to TWO houses that each had at least 4 dogs. All of which roamed the pasture at will. So he's been there done that, lol.
Anyway, he's only been lunged in the area right in front of his pasture, so I knew being in a new place could be interesting. But nah, not with mr Tuff Tuff! After I brushed him down real quick and combed his mane and tail a bit, we waltzed over to the larger area out by the driveway, to the side of the in laws house. (who were all miraculously not at home, strange) Along the way we stopped and sniffed various things, trailers, tires, stump grinders, etc. He did very well. I let him out on the lunge at a walk and he was lazy of course, and REALLY wanted to eat grass, but was a good boy. No spooks or freak outs.
We trotted quite a bit. But when I went out there I had in my mind that I wanted to try out his canter that day for the first time. I was a little apprehensive, see as it was his first time doing it. I wasn't real sure he would know what I was asking for. (I even researched about it on the internet! haha) I just wanted it to be a good experience for him.
Well he did fabo! As if there was any doubt! ;) I decided to use the kiss, which is universal, and what I'm used to. So I first got him in a good working trot and then in one of the 'corners' started flicking my whip pretty vehemently and kissing and PLOP there he went! Only one or two strides mind you, but thats all I was really wanting to begin with. I let him trot another half circle and asked for it again in the same place and he did even better, and actually went quite a ways before I brought him back to a trot and then walk. And of course went over and loved on him, he was like, ladee da. Whatever.
Now for the bad news. WRONG LEAD. Every time! UGHHH. Now, I dunno, I wasn't even worried about that part! I just figured him being on a circle and all he would have no reason NOT to be on the right lead. I've seen him get both just fine in the pasture. Well, to the left for sure he didn't get any of them. And if anything, he is left handed. (I did maybe 3 or 4 transitions) Now when I reversed him and went to the right, he MAY have stayed on the right lead and got that one, but by that time I was second guessing myself, and also my video had run out so I can't watch that either. Bummer. Next time I will have someone out to help video and watch.
So! A baby thing? Or will this be something I'm going to have to do some serious work on? I HOPE it was just a ahh, first time on the lunge, what do I do with my legs??? thing. Any ideas on what do to do help him get it? Bigger circle? Smaller circle? I know what your typically supposed to do is keep pulling them down from it until they get the correct, and then let them go on it. But with it being his first time I was very hesitant to reprimand him for something he didn't know he was doing. Ya know? So next time I might try a bit harder to get the right one, but still not sure what the best way of doing that IS.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Overall I was very pleased with him. I was expecting maybe at least ONE acrobatic maneuver, maybe a spurt of speed, etc. NOTHIN! Fine by me! I'm sure I will see this at a later date of course, but I'm glad he was so ho hum about it. He came right back down to his old plodding walk afterwards like it was nothing. :) He really wasn't hot either! Not really blowing or sweaty at all. I WAS! lol. So he must be in pretty decent shape. Could be all that chasing his uncle and momma have been doing to him lately, lol.
Here's some of my favorite stills from the video.
Thats not all we did though! I've been wanting to give him a 'real' bath now for some time. Well the opportunity presented itself and I took it! He did that very well also! (Yall can't tell I wuv him can you, lol)
It was a bit awkward trying to give him a bath and keep him from eating grass, etc, but I got it done. There was just no where to tie him up where the hose would reach. I tried to get him pretty wet while the water wasn't COLD yet, but not burning up either (you know how hot water in a hose is on a summer day!) and he didn't move, just wanted to drink from it lol. You could tell he wasn't thrilled when you got around his hind end, but he is MUCH better then he was. Last time I got him wet he would pick up each hind leg and hold it, lol. This time he stood but for a few times.
He felt and looked SO GOOD afterwards, all silvery and silky, love it. After I was done I let him graze in the grass in front of the pasture, he LOVED THAT! I just left him there while I put things up, gave them water, etc. He was very happy.
So! Another 'first' thing to cross off my list! Next is his first trailer ride. The BIL and FIL are thinking of buying a 2 horse soon maybe, so that would be good. I'd like him to preferably not be full grown for his first time, lol. After that riding! Fun fun! I don't forsee that being a problem at all. We need a round pen first though! Even I don't trust him that much, haha.
Oh, I just remembered. I also tried my bitless bridle on him, but sadly its still too big.
Here's a few more pics, of course!
This was before his bath, after lunging. I sat down on the bench to adjust the bitless bridle and he thought my knees were very interesting. The colors are kinda ick in this one, but you can still see how perty he is ;) And wet!
Grazing happily. Other side! Still grazing happily, lol.
Some other good news, the little BIL had a great idea. He decided to divide the big pasture up, so that the colts could eat in peace on one side, and the older horses wouldn't be able to bother them. So I was able to walk Tuff out there and introduce him to it the other day. They were both very happy! Skip even TROTTED by himself down the hill to the grass! Haha, I was also pleased that Tuff (who I had on a lead line) stayed calm and behaved while his buddy went flying past him, he didn't mind at all. I walked him up the fence line a bit and then let him go. He went straight to eating of course. Here's a pic of him from then:
So thats all for now! Its taken me all week to get this thing published, lol. Have a great weekend everyone!
So I'm at work, its Saturday, boo, and quiet here, so I have time to blog! Yeah!
I got both babies out yesterday and did some work with them. Not much, but it was fun. Lee and I had went out to the big pasture that afternoon to scope out the bird action. Dove season opens today and he has been feeding them cracked corn out there to get them to come in. Well we rode the BILs 4wheeler out there to see how many dove were out there and then came back to the in laws house. Skip came rambling up to the pasture near the house, but there was no sign of Tuff. Odd. I called for him and I hear his real high pitched NEIGH coming from the gate to the big pasture. That cracks me up that he will answer me almost every time I do his special 'call'.
So the little BIL gets on his 4wheeler and goes out to find him. Well a few seconds later we hear the 4wheeler revving up and slowing down and revving up and slowing down, and we're like, what is he doing?? And then here they come, he is HERDING Tuff with the 4wheeler! LOL, it was so funny. He was trotting ahead of it for a bit and then when he met up with Skip, they both plodded along in front of it like plow horses at about 2 mph. It was so funny. I'm glad they aren't scared of it!
So I went to the gate and Tuff plodded up to greet me, and then I grabbed a lead rope, brush, and the weight tape. Dragged him out of the pasture and parked him up near the trees where the swing and bench is, and also my husband, his brother, and then later the FIL came out. He didn't want to 'park' to begin with, but after a few times of, if you move you get to back really fast down the hill, he decided it was easier to be still, lol. He's no dummy! I think he was just excited to be out of his pen and out and about.
So I brushed him a bit, picked up his hooves and held them, weighed him (he is around 554 :) ) and then practiced some lateral flexing. He remembers it quite well. He should be pretty light in the face by the time I'm ready to ride him. Which with the way he is growing now, wont be for another 2 years! I was wanting to start him next summer/fall, just walked and steering stuff. But we will just have to see.
After that I decided to see how well he remembered his lunge lessons, its been a good 3 months since I lunged him last. And he did just as good as I knew he would. A little 'sticky' but thats no suprise. After I whacked him with the lead rope (brought out my special long one, I love it, its soft and long enough to lunge a smallish circle and still have enough to whack with! haha) if he didn't respond to my light cue, he decided it was easier to not get whacked. He trotted out good on it too, and even did good on his 'bad' side! (the right) I was very pleased!
So, I let him sniff the 4wheeler a bit, threw the white weight tape around his body a bit, around his head, swung it in circles, etc, then put him up.
While I was lunging Tuff the little BIL had said, "how did you get him to do that? Skip won't do it for nothin." I replied, "I bet I could get him to do it". Sigh, famous last words!
So after I put Tuff up I got Skip out. I've not done anything but hold him for the SIL (sis in law) a bit, so I don't know much about him. The last time I really did anything with him he was VERY skittish about people. He's not like that anymore, thankfully.
So the first thing I notice is he has a big, heavy head. Tuff is very light and watches my body when I go, stop, etc. Skip hasn't been worked with as much and you can tell. He is a sweet boy though.
So I decided to teach him about lateral flexing, which took about 30 mins, yikes. The thing with him was he couldn't understand that I wanted him to turn his head to the side, but NOT MOVE. We backed and sidepassed all over that area, lol. But I did get him half way consistent with it both sides before I quit. Then I decided to try what I had origionally brought him out for, lunging. I put him in a real short circle and waved the lead rope at his butt, until he moved a foot, then quit. Very quickly he was doing well on a small circle at the walk. Stopping well, etc. Then I tried to get a trot out of him. TRIED being the key word. Yall, there are no words to describe how DEAD SKINNED, DEAD SIDED, DEAD HEADED, whatever way you want to say it, he is! I was litterally BEATING him with the lead rope at one point and he would NOT break into a trot. It was about to drive me crazy. I got it a few times, but a step or two at MOST. I was working FOUR times as hard as the colt, lol, never a good sign! (the lead rope kept getting wound around and was not very effective, part of my problem)
So the little BIL brings out the lunge whip. I kept the lash in and just tapped him with the pole, that worked marginally better, but not very well. I was chasing him all over that area with it, basically. And then he started turning to face me. So then I finally had a light bulb moment and pulled him in on the circle close enough that he couldnt do that, and I could stay behind him to drive him. And AGAIN, literally beating his butt with the whip and getting MARGINAL response. I have never in my life heard, seen, such a thing. I know I could have done something better, but I'm no expert! I did my best, although I have to admit I did lose my temper with him.
He wasn't misbehaving, per say, I just don't think he really KNEW what I was wanting. If it had been my colt, I probably wouldn't have asked him to trot that quickly. Even though he had been lunged a few times prior to this, I had not been there, it wasn't me. My bad.
So anyway, finally I got him to the point where he would walk faster when I told him, and then we got a few trots without me beating him, lol. So I quit on that. I made sure I rubbed him with the whip a lot so he didn't think it was evil, but he didn't seem to mind it. He is a very quiet horse. DEAD quiet almost, yikes. He didn't seem upset or resentful at all. I don't know if I should get a stick with a rustley bag on it, or what. I heard that somewhere for a horse that wont get any energy up. (not sure it would work for him anyway) But I think once he realizes the cues for speed up better, he will be okay. Just lots of work to get him to respect and understand them.
So that was my adventure yesterday! I'd like to get Tuff out and work on some long lining. I did one session a while ago, and he was a bit confused. He didnt get that swinging lines against your butt means go! I think I will bring the lunge whip with me this time, so I don't have to pull on his head at all. And also inlist a person to lead him a bit until he gets the hang of it.
Thats all! Wow, can yall believe I have just posted a entry with NO PICTURES!! Unheard of!! ;)
