#183 - My Granny wont float

Yay, I have a new horse with her own issues. Thankfully it appears to be her only one but she just wont go in the horse float and when coaxed in she plays up.  She goes left and right and jumps around and being such a big girl I need to be particularly careful.

I am trying to get her in each day and when she will go in she backs out virtually straight away.  She pulled back with such force that even when anchoring with all my weight she still managed to take me skiing in the paddock on two occasions. I had to drop the lead twice too. I got her in about five or six times and she ate a mouthful while she was there about half the time but she quickly backed out again. I try being encouraging and talk sweetly and pat her while she is in but if she backs up I have to let her go until she gets passed the entrance as she may hit her head on the top of the float and that would just be more  trouble. She grazed the top of her head today on the top of the float flap but I stopped her on the ramp. Stopping her on the ramp is successful some of the time and I will just have to preserver.

It doesn't help that I have a shocking headache or that Teddy decided to run around neighing for 30 seconds while I was inside the float with her. Sending her searching for him (this was when she grazed the top).

Ideally I hope she will learn to self load but we are very far off that now. I will try again tomorrow and the day after that, so on and so forth. I may have to buy a rearing bit just to gain more control.  She certainly gives me a workout though and don't be fooled my the photo looking like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth... we that is actually unfair, she is great apart from the floating issue.

#182 - A new blog name has been chosen!

Yeap I have decided to call the revised version of this blog Gran Teddy Auto. It just has that special kind of ring to it.

From now on I will be writing about my experiences with both horses. Most likely any writing on Teddy will focus on ground work, natural horsemanship (no particular teaching, just whatever I have adapted that works for me) and liberty work. With Granny I will be focusing on dressage, eventing  and trail riding.  But you never know I might mix it up a bit.

So for any new readers out there (perhaps you were drawn in by the new blog name!) these are my babies, photos taken today:

Granny 

Teddy

Here's to an awesome equine 2013!

#181 - Looks like this is the Teddy and Gran Log now

It's been two weeks since I got my new horse Granny. Not a name I would have chosen but what are ya gonna do! I cant think of a good name that sounds like it either and if I do change her name it would have to sound similar.  I must admit that Gran is kind of sticking with me now though, so keeping it looks inevitable.

She is a 14 year old Clydie X TB, 16.1hh. light bay with a baldy face and white patches around her body. She looks mostly Clydie to me, even has the feathering around her hooves and she is built like a tank.  She has great dressage scores from the past but has been out of work for nearly five years so we need to work to get both of our fitness up. It looks like she has her dressage aids firmly committed to memory she is doing so well. She has had one foal in the past but I have her as my new riding mount and Teddy has been doing ground work.

I originally hoped that seeing as she is such a sweet natured girl that some of that may rub off on Teddy but they are in separate paddocks now as the only time I put them together Teddy started being a bossy boots. I don't want her picking up his bad habits, so for now at least, they are talking to each other over the fence with a driveway between them. They seem happy enough with that.

I doubt I will find the time to write a blog for each horse but I still want to record our progress and my ups and downs of returning to riding, so this will now be the Teddy and Granny Log (I need to work out how to change it on Blogger - maybe something like GranTeddy).

Teddy has been doing a bit of ground work and is doing very well. He's a lefty like me so he is working on the squeeze game on the right side. He has actually turned a corner from his rude behaviour of the last month and I  think it might be that I have moved him down the line in the pecking order. I want Gran to be seen as my number one and I do everything with her first. On the one occasion when I didn't, I started Teddy on ground work and took him out of Gran's sight and she started to threat and pace up and down the fence line calling out to him. She is such a girl!  Teddy did the same the first time I took her out of his sight but now he couldn't care less.  And his ground work has been consistently good so I hope we progress a lot on that front. The real test is when I get the float modified to accommodate Gran and take her away from the farm. It will be interesting to see how they both behave.

I have been working Gran fairly regularly after initially coming off her on the first day. She spooked as I was getting on and I hadn't even put my foot in the other stirrup when she seems to simultaneously jump forward, up and to the right and I went backwards and to the left! I fell flat on my side and once again I felt pain in places I'd never experienced before! It took some help from Kim the next day to get me on the right path as I was kind of shaken up by the fall but I'm OK now. Gran is such a lovely horse to ride. Such smooth movement. We are coming along OK but she is still pulling up a little sore. I cant get a physio or masseur out here until next year due to the Christmas holiday (a two week wait) so I've started her on Bute just to be sure. I also find that she is so wide that I'm pulling up sore too!

Today was an unplanned rest day as I've had visitors all day and ended up having a BBQ which left no time to ride. It wont hurt her to have a break but I hope to still work her each day, even at just a walk, to get her fitness up.  Once we are on our way I think I will have to alternate days between Teddy and her. There are also a few clinics coming up mid January so I want to take Gran out to them as well.

So far so good. 

Teddy Log #7 Friendly, porcupine, driving

Teddy was being his normal self today. Dodged the halter until he realised that I wasn't going anywhere then he was fine. It is still annoying that he does this as once it is on him he is right as rain. Stop it Teddy!

Anyway, once it was on I took him to the front paddock and he was perfect at the first three games. I will still need to work on them so I can do the porcupine from his chest as he is much easier to back up from the nose. I will also concentrate on combing the lead rope to drive him back. He will do a step or two now and that is great by me so it will be a matter of progression. Then I will work on expanding porcupine and driving and add a bit of the next level as well.

Go Teddy!

Teddy Log #6 - desensitizing to the dogs

The desensitizing is going really well on both the dogs and the horses side. We walk around the whole property and the dogs and Teddy are loose and they get along fine. I have to remind the dogs every now and then to pay attention and that's about it.

Steve is also improving with Teddy coming along with us on our walks and is not being so jumpy every time a dog goes near the horse. He was really panicking for a little while there but now he is getting used to Teddy at his own pace.

I have opened the front paddock up to Teddy to go in and out as he pleases and he was very nervous about it at first, like he usually is with all things new. He was running around which had Murray excited but I just sent everyone away and let him calm down without any pressure. It only took about 3 minutes and he was happily walking out the gate again and back to other paddock. The second time around, this morning, he was good as gold and the only thing that seemed to have made him ultra alert was a truck driving passed. It was a brief second thing though.

I am really pleased with his progress and its great to walk around the property like a big happy family, all the dogs, the horse, Steve and I. - Perfect.

Teddy Log #4 - haltering

Teddy did really well today. As usual he started off evasive but I tried pressure and retreat and noticed its totally the halter he is aprehensive about. I use the hand without the halter and he is totally fine. I use the hand with the halter and he steps away. He was ok after a while so I just rubbed him with it and rested the lead rope around his neck and left him to eat.

Steve and I then walked the dogs in the back paddock and Teddy came up and followed us all the way back. He was happy then to be patted and the dogs he would just sniff then move on after Steve, which freaked Steve out a bit LOL! He kept his head over the fence and wanted Steve to pat him but he wouldn't. Love getting pats from me though. He just loved a rub between the eyes.

We later went back to the paddock to repair the fence and Teddy met us half way and followed us back to the garden gate.

Teddy Log #3 - undemanding

Teddy has had a bit of time to just enjoy the patting and carrots and stuff while I have the halter and lead rope in my hand so he doesn't get the feeling that every time I am with him he is expected to do something.

Saturday was time to put the halter on him again and he would get within cm of me then back away. But once the halter was on he was totally fine - its bizarre! I ended up doing the pressure retreat about 5 times before he gave me his head. Then after that every time he was fine. It looks like we have a fair bit of work to go.

Sunday was pouring when I was home so he had a break day but was at the gate for Steve so he was definitely wondering where I was! That's a good sign that he wants to be with me. We will see how he goes tonight.

Teddy Log #2 - Catching

I'm working back late tonight so Teddy will get some undemanding time. I have been studying the catching game today during my lunch break (if you can call it that) and as this is a new issue, I think its because when I bring out the halter its always to "do" something. Last time and for the next few sessions it will just be about haltering and that's it.

I am also moving his feed bucket to the gate but slowly because he still has some trust issues. I've only had him for 6 weeks so dont know what this steams from but they are minor. It's probably a matter of him getting to know me better. He's an extremely quick learner but very smart which has its pluses and minuses.

I'd love to hear from other natural horsemanship readers so feel free to drop me a line.

Smiddy

Teddy Log #1 Catching

I have decided to start from the very beginning with Teddy, so today was all about him letting me put his halter on. He's evasive and seems concerned about the halter itself more than me. Food is a good lure but I dont want to rely on that so i spent about 40 minutes with him today trying to ease him into my approach. I rubbed the halter and lead all over him but he was quite evasive still. I put the halter on and off three times, with plenty of rubs during and after. We finished on a good note.