OK, I've been busy but Rose is getting worked and has been making tons of progress, I just have been to swamped to write about it. I have however been taking pics of our progress so I can catch you all up. So start at the bottom and scroll up, sorry for the picture quality. As you can see I've gradually been adding equipment and dangley/clanky bits one thing at a time as I introduce new concepts too her. First the saddle sans fittings, then just with the girth, adding stirrups and side reins, etc... Thanks to Debbie for loaning us her wide saddle.

I've been bitting her in a stall, first with the side reins to the halter and then to the bit. In the round pen I've continued to reinforce her verbal commands and am now using the lunge line and whip to get her started on some basic steering. I'm just using one line to the halter and essentially ground driving her with it, at a walk and trot. Next we will add a second line to the halter for double lunging and once she is totally accepting of the side reins I can move to using the bit for ground driving.

She's very good about grooming and I can pick up and hold all four feet, I can't yet stretch out the hinds. She is still a little flinchy to touch on her legs, particularly when I groom one from the opposite side, almost like she can't figure out how I'm reaching it and it makes her a bit nervous. She's not at all kicky though. I won't get someone up on her back until all the flinchy is gone. So that's holding us back a little but in general she's making good progress. She stands tied and is now living with no halter on, I have no problems catching her and she gets turned out in the large arena to run around but will always come to the gate as soon as I want to bring her in. She's definitely forming a bond, which is good, but she really needs her own person. Any takers?












OK, I've been busy. Rose is getting worked and has been making tons of progress, I just have been to swamped to write about it. I have however been taking pics of our progress so I can catch you all up.

OK, yes once again I've been a bad bad girl, but look shiney pics *waves pictures around to distract you*












Check out the big girl bridle courtesey of Mrs. Cowboy and my friend took these nice pics, way better than my one handed iphone shots :P

Lexie does Sacramento

A farewell to Lexie (Sweetpea). Friday afternoon Lexie went to her new home. I was happy for her. Mrs. Cowboy is the perfect mommy for her. Great references, tons of experience, and she has the facilities to keep her just the way I'd love to be able to house mine!

The trailer she brought was exquisitely bedded down, a nice airy stock trailer full of straw and a variety of foodstuffs. It was so inviting that Lexie climbed in with us after just a minute. It was totally anticlimactic!

Mrs. Cowboy gave us some much needed help with the board and for Rose she brought a draft size dressage bridle! Yah! Rose can be dressed like a real horse now :)

I heard from her that Lexie traveled fine, but didn't stay in her new paddock long, apparently she jumped the fence to join the herd in the pasture. (you did say you wanted a jumper right Mrs. Cowboy?) I'm glad she didn't get stuck this time. It surprised me a bit as she was staying confined at my barn, either in the round pen, arena, or in her stall with the top door open. I guess the excitement of a new place was too much for her!

Anyway, I wish you all the luck in the world, and hope that you keep us updated on her.

Who say's you need snow for ski joring?

So we finally had our first disagreement. Rose has been doing so well, I guess I got a bit cocky. She longes, she ties, she loves being groomed, she leads like a champ, so I figured I'd see how she was about the hose.

She was actually a really good pony at first. Led right into the wash rack, snorted and puffed at the hose when I turned it on but stood nicely. Let me hose her front near hoof and up her leg to her shoulder. I should have left it there, but hey hindsight is 20/20. As I said, I pushed it to far and tried hosing her hind end. Who knew such a big horse could move so fast? :)

This is where the ski joring comes in. Have you heard of ski joring? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f0AnFDa8X4 so imagine that, with a 1700 pound Belgian, on asphalt, repeatedly. OK, can I just say I'm STILL a little sore.

Anyway, the lesson of the day quickly became "do not drag the trainer". I'm amazed that I actually managed to hold on. Of course while I was hanging onto the last 6 inches of the lead rope, squashed up against a galloping butt the thought running through my head repeatedly was "please don't kick out, please don't kick out, please don't kick out..." So I added the chain back into the mix and it didn't do much good. I just wasn't able to get enough slack to correct her so we made several more trips out of the wash rack and down the barn aisle. Finally I added the longe line and that did the trick. It gave me enough room that I was able to stop her more quickly each time until she stopped trying it and led and stood where I asked her to go. So the next week or so, I will reintroduce the hose, this time in different locations and more slowly.

The good news is that she was pretty good about it, no panic and no kicking, no meanness at all. Just get the heck out of Dodge, and she has now learned that that isn't an option. All in all a good lesson to learn early on. I'll tell, her size certainly played into it. I've delt with some pretty big beasties, but nothing felt quite like this! It felt a bit like being towed by a small car!

More progress is made

Lexie has decided to be a good girl and stay where she is put, so I leave her stall top open while I'm there now. She is so friendly, she whinneys when I get to the barn and is no problem to catch or lead. I've started turning her out in the big arena. When I go out to bring her in she comes trotting up. It's hard to get pictures of her out there, I've got the whole nose filling the whole frame problem going.


Her new mommy, Mrs. Cowboy, is coming to take her home Friday. You'll have to bear with me, these pics are from my phone. Someone insisted that I post more pics, and this is all I had ;)

Rose is still a champ. Yesterday I finally found a bit hanger big enough for her, I'm trying to avoid buying more stuff. The 6" bit is barely big enough for her. She probably needs a 6.5" I slipped the hanger under her halter and then attached the bit on one side. Popped it into her mouth and fastened it on the other, it was a snap! So far she's the easiest horse I've started. She stood and chewed the bit while I finished grooming her. Is it wrong that I found it highly amusing? I always do.




We headed out to the round pen for a longe lesson. She's doing great. We do lots and lots of transitions. She's very responsive and quick. Whoa, trot, walk, reverse, all excellent. I had actually expected that she would be a little more "dull" being a draft, but I was wrong. She's quite sensitive. She's very good on the ground, completely aware of where I am at all times and very respectfull of my space.

Hopefully today we can have a horsey spa day. I can't wait to give her a bath. I groom her every day, buy she has years of dirt and I want to see her white socks!

So now that I've appeased you with pictures of the oh so beautious Rose, I once again apologize for being such a slacker blogger. Things are going well with the very large mare and her filly.

Lexie, the cutie pie formerly known as Sweetpea, is doing great. She's super friendly and leading and grooming like a champ. I can't wait for her to have pasture again though. I hate that she's so cooped up in her stall. She gets turned out every day but it's just not enough.

Rose is a rock star. As you can hopefully see she's getting groomed every day and is making great progress in the round pen. I got her tail banged and brushed out and it looks fabulous. I softened up those troublesome ergots with some petroleum jelly and used kitchen shears to trim them up. They aren't perfect yet, boy are they tough! She is picking up all four feet for me now. I can hold her fronts but just keep a hand on the hinds at this point. She doesn't yet relax them so I can stretch them back. Oh and I think she's actually a roan. Now that she's so much cleaner, I can see that there is white sprinkled in through all of her hair. It's pretty even all over. Maybe some color expert can tell me exactly how too tell? She did have one funny reaction when I was at her hind end. I think it must be related to her PMU days. She's fine as long as I'm facing back towards her tail end , but when I turned and faced her head while I was at her hip, she seemed to get scared. It was quite odd. I went back to the scratching and grooming that she has learned to relish and she seemed to work through it, but its a reminder that she's a bit different than any other horse I've worked with.

I've started introducing the equipment to her. First by just having the pad and surcingle hanging on the fence by her head while I groom her, then having them slung over my shoulder, and finally having them sitting on her back un fastened. She never batted an eye. Thursday I slowly tightened the girth on the surcingle one hole at a time while I was grooming and then Friday I did this again and longed her in it. She took it all in stride. It slipped back a bit and while I was readjusting it she cow kicked a bit once, but that was it. I'm very carefull with her and had clipped the lead back on to readjust it so was able to disciplinin g her for it. Not that she was aiming at all. She reacts strongly to discipline. It takes very little. I think I've had to smack her twice now and so far she hasn't repeated either behavior. I've been fiddling with her face and mouth to get prepped for introducing the bit. (I bought a 6 inch french snaffle but have yet to find something big enough to hang it from) She's a bit iffy about me sticking my fingers in her mouth so we are working on that. A few more lessons with the surcingle and I hope to start bitting her in a stall. First with her halter and then moving to the bit once she is carrying it. All and all progress is good.

So if anyone out there knows somebody who may want to adopt this mare, now is the time to get a hold of me. I really think she's going to be great fun for someone!

OK, OK, I'm a bad bad blogger. So I'll get you all up to date.

The last few days have been pleasant. Rose has been round penned daily and has learned whoa, walk on, trot and reverse (by turning her head to me). She has learned to stay out on the circle, and to continue at whatever gait I set her at until I ask her to change. She has a little bit of attitude. I like it! Mainly she expresses it by snorting and with a little head tossing. I would say she has a little spark.

In her stall she is standing tied nicely and is really enjoying this whole "grooming" concept. It's obvious that she has had very little grooming in the past and none of it past the girth area. Her tail has never been brushed and her ergots are like nothing I have ever seen before.

She's decent about her front feet. She has a tendency to snap them up and doesn't want to hold them up very long but she's very nice about it. I haven't actually gotten ahold of her hinds yet. Mainly they are stuck to the ground. She's not at all kicky about them and lets me slip a lead rope around her fetlocks with no problem. I can scratch and groom her hind legs as much as I like. I've gotten her to pick them up a few times. It will just take a little more time and that's just fine. I'm pleased with how it's going.

She is great, if a little unsure, about her hind end and lets me brush all the way down the inside and outside of both hinds. When I finally got my hand into that mess of a fetlock I found that the ergots were the size of my fist and had split into fingers that curled all the way back around to her leg. I've never seen those get so huge! It makes me so mad that her owner has been paying for her to have training for the last four to five months and she has obviously never had her tail or hind end even brushed, nor has she been taught to longe. Anyway she's a sweetheart and a pleasure to work with.

Sweetpea has had some good news! She's found an adopter! Mrs. Cowboy, on her appears to be the perfect new mommy for her. She came out to meet her Friday and brought excellent references. She has experience with drafts, with babies, and with rescues. She has the perfect facility to keep her and seems like a truly nice person. I have every hope that they will be a perfect fit. Sweetpea will stay where she is for the next two weeks and Mrs. Cowboy will be taking her her home on her next trip to the area she is making for one of the rescues. In the meantime, Sweetpea will continue getting attention every day. She's leading like a champ and each day she is tied for about ten minutes while I groom her. I have to keep reminding myself that she is only 10 months old and has a short attention span. She's bigger than most two year olds I've worked with and a very mellow little girl.

So that is where we stand. This week I will begin introducing different equipment to Rose. The surcingle, the bit, etc... And I will try to be a better blogger :)