Today (as the title says) was the first time I rode Suri bareback. I felt like having a short ride but did not feel like saddling. I also felt Suri was in for something new because yesterday she seemed bored with just riding in the field. All the new things I ask she learns really quickly and then maybe also gets bored easily??
So to do something different I put her rope halter bridle on instead of her normal one and put nothing on her back. Then I parked her next to a fence, climed onto the fence and then she moved away (just one step but to far for me to get on) so I got of the fence again, parked her next to it again and told her to stay. I climbed on the fence again and she stood still so I got on her back! She was great but for me a normal mounting block or just stirrups are easier than climbing this fence:) We had a short but great ride and she was really exited to be doing something new. I noticed that she keeps looking out onto the driveway. I have not been able to go out onto the road with her. I want to ride with someone else first to make it a good experience for her but so far everyone is bussy and we have not been able to ride together. What I did do is place an ad on a dutch horse forum looking for people to ride with in this area and got several responses within half an hour! So hopefully are riding out wont be long now!
With Voelie I had the real bareback pad on her to do groundwork. She was great with this and is so trusting, such a change from last year when I in despair told my husband "I cannot do anything with this foal, I cannot even touch her". Great to see this progres in her and also in myself because while working with the horses you constantly learn!
The RAC began in 2007 and continued until 2015. It was created to unite all curly horse owners to encourage and motivate each other and to promoting the breed. Participating riders earn points to win amazing prizes. This blog was created to share with others their personal journey with each other and the public. *This blog is not a training blog and any techniques or methods shown here are not necessarily enforced by the RAC. Consult your trainer for advice. http://curlyhorsecountry.com
Dear Jessica,
ReplyDeleteThe mounting from a fence is a wonderful training tool. The bare back riding is an even better training tool for the rider!
I would love for you to give me some teaching about how to gentle a difficult colt. I am asking because I have on colt, named White Bird, that the vet said was brain damaged at birth. I am NOT going to sell him because that would not be right. But if you could give me some help on how to gentle him I would be grateful. I consider this a chance for me to learn and to improve my skill.
Thank you,
Penny Johnson
Bonners Ferry, Idaho
Dear Penny,
ReplyDeleteI agree that bareback riding is so great, you automatically have to sit straight and all your cues work more direct!
I am honoured you ask me for advice with your colt but I am not very experienced with colts/ foals. I just have my one (first) foal Voelie and I don't really think she is very difficult but she is (or actually was, now I think she is great and really comes to get attention) more shy and spirited than some of the other Curly foals I have met at other places/ breeders.
Mainly what I did was stop trying so hard to do something with her. I first had the idea that I should have a halter on her every day so that she would get used to it and nd would be easy to halter. I tried to put a halter on her everytime before feeding but she is not as food oriented as some horses I know (she is learning though!) and chose to not have food and not have a halter:) For me this was at that time extremely frustrating, me chasing her and trying to corner her (they are out in the field 24/7) to halter her. I realised this was not working and that I was making the situation worse so I decided to just enjoy watching her for a while and ask nothing in return. I just put down food for her and her mom (who I still owned at that point) everyday and some days when she was feeling brave I would pet her a bit. This almost naturally grew into petting more of her body, picking up feet etc. All the time without ever having a halter on again. Then when the vet and farrier came I needed to put a halter on of course so I just put a leadline around her neck first so I had a hold of her and then could slowly put the halter on. After that she was a bit shy again but her confidence grew faster. And since january of this year I began doing more and more with her. I now take her out of the feeld 2 to 3 times a week and do something fun with her. I always keep it short and ad a nice walk and some grazing ( a real treat since the grass in the field is short). She is now easy to halter, comes to me when I come into the field and enjoys company.
I feel that we would have had a better start if I could have spent time with her from birth but since I had just had my own baby I had my horse in a livery where she was taken care of for me. Of course the food etc was all fine but attention wise it could have been a better start.
Maybe some of the other RAC ers with way more experience with colts or horses with brain damage (I have actually never heard of this before in a horse) can give some more appropriate advice for your colt!
Good luck and let us know how it goes!
Dear Jessica,
ReplyDeleteThank you. It is very plain that you did the right thing with your filly. That is proven by the good out come. The dam of White Bird is a very nice mare, she was a rescue. She has a very hard time staying in foal. So I think that there may be a hormone problem for this mare. (She is in foal now and will foal soon. However, this will be her last breeding because two of her foals, White Bird and Ranger, were just not right mentally.) (What is so interesting is that her other foal, also a colt, is literally PERFECT. He is Penny's Chief, and is being ridden and winning in dressage! Her other foals have been lost while she was carrying them.)
For White Bird, he will NOT be sold because he is very difficult to work with. I have had two vets examine him and both agree that there was brain damage that occurred either before or during delivery. There is just something that is not right in his mind. But as a breeder, I can NOT sell him because this would be wrong.
Thank you for your good wishes. I treasure them. The mare in question, Maeve, has a forever home with me. I used to ride her and she is very good to me.
Sincerely,
Penny