Teddy Log: #181 - Looks like this is the Teddy and Gran Log n...

Teddy Log: #181 - Looks like this is the Teddy and Gran Log n...: 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...

#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: #180 - Did the Parelli Wild Horse Catching Method ...

Teddy Log: #180 - Did the Parelli Wild Horse Catching Method ...: For a week Teddy was isolated in the laneway so he could not get to water and was fairly confined. This was to allow me to train him to be c...

#180 - Did the Parelli Wild Horse Catching Method Work?

For a week Teddy was isolated in the laneway so he could not get to water and was fairly confined. This was to allow me to train him to be caught. The idea is that the confinement is so he cant run too far away, the rubbing the halter and lead rope on him and massaging him with it etc. is to give him a good experience,  and the only taking him water twice a day and letting him drink after he has been caught is to tell him that I am the boss and he is dependent on me as the pack leader to provide him with what he needs.

So I have now done this for seven days straight and contrary to the Parelli literature saying that this method doesn't fail and that it works on wild horses within a week or two - it failed on Teddy.

Teddy didn't even improve. He is now actually more apprehensive than he was before. Of the two times a day he was offered water from me he refused them. He didn't drink at all on the first day and only drank once a day after that.  He refused to come for food - even his favourites, pears, licorice and peanut butter cups. He would flinch each day I would first put the halter and lead rope on his body to massage him with it, although he was shown it and allowed to smell it each time. And for reasons unknown to me he has now taken to rearing up when I pick his hoof up to oil it each day. He has never done this before in the time I've had him. This isn't a "I have a sore there" rear either, he does it with each hoof and pulls back his back legs with the back hooves over and over and over.  One day he carried on so bad he broke the hay twine the leap rope is tied to twice.

When I go out to him without the halter and lead rope he's fine and on Thursday I was leaning on a gate and he rested his head on the side of my arm and stayed there quietly for a good five minutes before I moved as he was falling to sleep.

I can see no signs of injury or pain. The worst thing he has is a cracked front hoof but its just on the rim and the farrier will have it off next week.

So where to now? I know people will tell me I didn't try the Parelli method long enough but there are two reasons for this. One - he's worse after seven days, and Two - I had to take him out and he will go back in for the next week as our new horse is coming tomorrow and I want them in adjoining paddocks until they get familiar with each other and I've wormed my new horse.  So like it or not he will be getting the same deal next week. It does say in the literature to do something unusual like leave the gate open, so I consider this one of those things it's just he's gate has been open for full day and night (after tonight).

Maybe Granny Smith will bring Teddy back around. We will see.

Teddy Log: #180 - Tough love for Teddy... Again!

Teddy Log: #180 - Tough love for Teddy... Again!: This evening I put Teddy in the laneway where he will stay for a week, maybe two, depending on how he goes. I will bring him water twice a d...

#180 - Tough love for Teddy... Again!

This evening I put Teddy in the laneway where he will stay for a week, maybe two, depending on how he goes. I will bring him water twice a day (obviously more if it's hotter) and lead him to the area where he can drink it once he has accepted the halter and lead rope without being a la la.

He isn't being fed right now apart from the mercy cup he gets with his vitamins and there is plenty of feed in the laneway so he should give it a good mow.  I'll expand the area he can be in after the first week and he's achieved good progress.

You can do it Teddy!

Teddy Log: #179 - Teddy and my love/hate relationship with hi...

Teddy Log: #179 - Teddy and my love/hate relationship with hi...: I have decided to retire Teddy from dressage and trail riding, and concentrate on ground work with him. He just has too many issues that are...