Saturday, May 31, 2014

New herd member


We picked up this guy at a sale today. 13 years old, grade gelding. Spent last summer working at a summer camp teaching kids to ride, he helped move cattle and loved it, been to gymkhana shows, been in parades and has tons of trail miles under his belt. 
We have been looking for Pistol's protege, as nothing we are trying for his heaves has been helping him. So we have decided that he is retired. Hope that this guy works out for us.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

George-ous is home.

We picked up George-ous from the trainer on Saturday afternoon. And I am happy to have him home and I think he is happy to be home. He really missed his pony girlfriend. 


I’d been in contact with his trainer throughout his time away, and she said that he had been wonderful for her. His manners really improved. When she was first working with him in the cross ties, he tried to take a chunk out of her, but she gently popped him under the chin, and she said he was shocked that someone had stood up against him. He didn’t try it again. He was wonderful in the cross ties. He would just stand there, even when she walked away.
As far as riding went, she said that he went wonderfully for her. Everything she asked of him, he did. He was a bit sticky going into the canter, but he would do it. When he was done cantering, he would come back down and wasn’t ‘up’ afterwards.


I went out to see them on the Thursday before I picked him up. I watched her ride him and she said that he had bigger strides than she was used to, but in the trot, if you slow your posting down, he will match you. The one problem she told me about that she had with him was when another horse was lunging in the arena, he got really competitive, and crabby. She hopped off of him and they watched and he was fine. She said that might be something that he needs the most work on. I was able to hop on him, and he is still a lot of fun to ride. He really does have big forward gaits.
Also one of the things I noticed was that when he was ridden in his figure 8 bridle, he lets his tongue flap out the side of his mouth. Like a lot. Does anyone have this problem with their monster? When he is ridden in plain caveson, he doesn’t do it as often. Occasionally, but not as bad as when in a figure 8. He was ridden in a myler comfort snaffle if that means anything to this flappy tongue equation. I’d be willing to try out different combos if anyone had any helpful hints.
I am also going to get him adjusted by the chiro. Once he speeds up a bit, he holds his head a bit crooked. I’m thinking his body might just need to be re adjusted, and obviously, I am going to have his teeth checked.
When we went to pick him up, he was very sweet, but again, forgot how to load into the trailer. Funny how he forgets that. Every. Single. Time. But his trip home he was much more relaxed than when we went to the trainer, and he wasn’t all worked up by the time we got home. He unloaded and was happy to be reunited with his pony.  When he hopped off the trailer he was squeaky clean and spotless, so obviously he found the first mud pit (not hard with the rain we’ve had) and rolled until he was a paint horse. 


Sunday evening I saddled him up. I am still not ready to take him down the road. I want to build up my trust with him, but mostly I want to regain my confidence in the saddle. So I set up some ground poles, and just kind of played in the yard on him. We did serpentines, and figure 8’s and 4 leaf clovers, and circles, and one thing I noticed was that he never got bored. Even if it felt like we were doing the same thing over and over. When Piney got bored, he would slow down, and get a little fussy. Piney hated dressage for that reason. It always seemed like the same thing to him. He loved trail riding, because it was different scenery, even when it was down the same road. George seemed to enjoy working in the yard on our little patterns. It may take some time, but we will get back to riding down the road.

So that is that. Big gray monster is home. And we are all happy. He doesn't seem as pissy towards everyone as he did before he left and he can be a bit of a pest in the pasture. But here is to hoping that we can work on our partnership this summer!