Gran Teddy Auto Log: #183 - My Granny wont float

Gran Teddy Auto Log: #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 coaxe...

#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.

Gran Teddy Auto Log: #182 - A new blog name has been chosen!

Gran Teddy Auto Log: #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 ...

#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!

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...