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Post by Michelle Clarke on Jan 31, 2009 23:34:34 GMT -5
Been wanting to post picts of some of the horses being worked on a daily basis here at the ranch. Reina: Lusitano X out of Madonna, will be four this May. First saddle - no buck, no big reactions; acted like she has always had one on. Actually, I am surprised at this one because she can really be overly sensitive. I can't even walk her into the barn with the music on yet and standing in the stocks is pure torture for her...but on the other hand, she ties well and even if she has pressure on her poll, she never sits back or over reacts. She is very different to train, black and white with no inbetween!   Pache: Charro and Andalusian/Arab mare, coming four in April. This was the horse that last year split his neck open on the t-post and you could see the jugular pumping blood...he is such an easy going horse, nothing phases him at all. His canter is like a rocking chair and he is not even really using himself yet! This is his fourth ride.   This is a little Nevada mustang mare I adopted last May. She is five, I guess going to be six this year now. We halter broke her about two months ago and she is being regularly worked. This is her first saddle and I can't belive how great she did. She moved away the first time I swung it up, but stood like a champ the second time and did not mind the girthing. She was hesitant about moving forward, but held it together and never over reacted. The last pict is her first few steps with the saddle. Proud of her! Of course we have worked hard on preparing her for every next step...   Ora: Charro x Madonna, 8 years old this year. Lynn is riding her here...I recently bought her back from the gal that bought her four years ago. She is in our Fresh Start program and is being reschooled. The gal that rode her had a very forward hunt-like seat, so Ora has adapted her weight on the forehand and even going behind the vertical, breaking in her neck instead of a smooth flow (basically false collection). In order to fix that, we have to go back and get her walk/trot/canter consistant where she is comfortable (which is not being correct), then slowly bring her center of gravity where it needs to be and using herself instead of evading. This picts show her at least reaching forward in her stride, even though her neck is bent and still kind of pulled into her shoulder a little defensive. The other positive is she is begining to use her abdominal muscles too, you can see it some in the canter pict and slightly in the trot one.   |
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dunbnwild
Yearling
Wild horses can drag me away :-)
Posts: 403
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Post by dunbnwild on Feb 2, 2009 13:53:36 GMT -5
Great pics--thanks for sharing them!
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Post by fantasykiger on Feb 2, 2009 16:27:00 GMT -5
Wonderful horses I am in-love with Madonna's girls. I could not win the lottery soon enough...LOL. All kidding aside it is great to see them undersaddle and doing so well. I like your Neveda Mustang project he is a hunk of a Mustang, a quality I'm drawn to.
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Post by Michelle Clarke on Feb 2, 2009 21:23:21 GMT -5
Somba, the Nevada mustang, is a she....but not the most feminine one in the bunch! We went to the adoption because Eric was doing a gentleing demo; Lynn, my sister and I were walking around with the list of horses in the pens, joking how we did not need another one. I stopped to write on my sheet "I do not need another horse" and Somba walked right over and stuck her nose between the panels to touch the paper and sniff all over me. It was pretty much a done deal at that point! BUT, I couldn't leave it there...I brought another one home also that is quite a bit different; she's a hell-fire and a quite the scrapper - a HUGE project I was not banking on. I will have to take some shots of her. She is up in my barn getting roped and worked daily. We named her Diamonte (diamond); for short we call her Dia and she has earned the name Dia Loca (loca being crazy and she is!).
Yes, I am quite smitten with Reina as well. My husband is trying to convince me that he needs to have her! We have 10 horses that are being started in the next four months, so there are plenty to go around for sure.
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Post by fantasykiger on Feb 3, 2009 17:12:11 GMT -5
Sorry Somba I guess I should read more carefully ...LOL. Still while she may not be the most feminine, I like her just as well  Do get pics of the crazy one...LOL, Dia sounds like a wonderful project. I do not blame your husband at all for calling dibs' on Riena she is going to be a bombshell. |
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Post by Michelle Clarke on Feb 3, 2009 20:46:14 GMT -5
The first day I roped Dia in a large stall, she had a fit and scraped up her knee really badly....this is the first wild one I have had to rope - usually I have no problems getting them calm and haltering, so that tells you something right off the bat!
Anyway, every day I rope her, dally her to the top railing of the stall and spray her leg with an herbal healing/swelling/pain reliver I made up just for her (BTW, since having mustangs, I have learned the usefulness of the "stream" setting on spray bottles!). Usually she has one melt down before she starts coming up to the side of the stall and letting me spray her on a loose rope. Today is the fourth day and now instead of coming forward off the pressure around her neck, she will just hang there; she has figured out how to keep enough pressure to be tight, but not too much so she cannot breath. I had to have someone toss a rope at her hindend from out side the stall to get her forward and she had a total fit! Got so mad she went around to the side boards and just started kicking them all out. The gal that helped me said "boy, that was hostile!". That word is the most appropriate word I have heard associated with that little hellfire!
And all of that was AFTER I got her leg sprayed! She was better taking the lariat off today though - yeah, I still have to go IN the stall with her and get my hands on the hondo to remove the rope! I still can't touch her, but I can take that rope off if I just touch the hondo and not her. What is bad about her is that most mustangs will try not to run into you (at least in my experience), but she will take you out if given the chance. I always give the wild ones a way out both forward and behind themselves if they get too nervous, but her I have to stand in a way that she won't try to come past me because I feel if she did and accidently touched me, I would be laying around like those broken boards...no good!
The good news is tonight I was able to go into the stall and spray her leg from about three feet away without her giving me too much trouble. She moved away once, but then parked back in her spot, and let me soak it good.
Forgot to get picts today, but will tomarrow...
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Post by fantasykiger on Feb 3, 2009 21:16:56 GMT -5
I have heard tales of Mustang terrors or those that are bit more challenging. Of course most are the opposite in attitude. I sure would not want to be on the recieving end of temper tantrum like those boards...LOL. Hopefully beneath all that bravado' or bluff is a smart girl once she starts thinking and quits jumping to react.
It seems like she is settling into the medication application routine alright.
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Post by sbutter on Feb 10, 2009 17:07:31 GMT -5
In Pache's pictures you don't have any kind of a headstall or bridle on him. Do you work on body ques before any kind of pressure on the mouth?Or are you just introducing things slowly and taking it one step at a time before adding too many stimulus? I love seeing how people train horses with all the different methods and then comparing the pros and cons.
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Post by Michelle Clarke on Feb 10, 2009 21:29:23 GMT -5
We get the horses used to the rider seperate from the saddle...usually we get on them bareback first (we have a whole routine of mounting, dismounting, sliding off, etc), plus either being worked by someone on the ground (we call that "dope-on-a-rope"), or riding off alone. Then once they can do all their groundwork as calm and comfortable in the saddle as without, we ride with the saddle. Keeping these two subjects seperate makes a big difference to alot of horses, they can really concentrate on dealing with one issue at a time. The first rides are one of two ways: some horses that are more on the lazy side or more hesitant (but not reactive), we work first on line with the rider maybe once to make sure they are switching eyes well and not afraid, then I turn them loose at liberty with no headgear and work them. The rider is not doing anything, just a passenger, legs off and rubs them when they do well. They already have the confidence in me on the ground, so they are focused on listening. This type of horse usually gets worked then without anyone in the roundpen or headgear and just works on going forward and rubbing to a stop. We don't care what direction or how fast, just that they learn to move out. The other kind of horse that is more sensitive and reactive gets alot more work with the rider and ground person, however a halter is kept on them in case they need to be hindquartered to head off any trouble they might get themselves in. Most of these horses get dope-on-a-rope for a much longer period. These horses then usually need a ground person while the rider begins to aide them so the ground person can reinforce or assist with the horse learing what those aides mean calmly without getting upset. The exception are the horses that are my personal own, I usually do it all myself....I really don't like other people riding my horses!!! Most horses are not bitted until all their teeth come in (about 5 years old) and many people that buy them never even bit them at all. We especially don't bit them until they can do all the basic gaits, turns, following the rein, obstacle and trail work, so they don't have anything else to worry about and they get all the basic training without ever having to be pulled on in the mouth. We use what I call a Cavesson (I have them made) - it basically is just like a flat leather halter with two reins. The reins are close to where the snaffle bit will eventually go, so they transfer over easily. Our whole training is based on seat and leg aides, so we start that early on and only use the rein as reinforcement when needed. Most of them get to where they can move the hindquarter over, then go lateral and then move the forequarter over without the use of rein within the first three months of training. They all learn to stop when the rider leans foreward and rubs their neck...I can't tell you how many times this has saved a scared rider (and a scared horse!). The biggest thing with a young horse is to stay out of their way as they learn to balance and carry you - hey, isn't that the goal on any level?! |
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Post by sbutter on Feb 13, 2009 13:05:10 GMT -5
Have you ever had "interesting" horses that made you scratch your head about what to do? We had a TB mare awhile back that did the opposite of whatever the typical response should be. If you wanted her to go slower you had to squeeze your legs and give pressure as if you were asking her to go faster. If you wanted her to speed up you would ask her to "slow down". She was just so different to break and work with, we didn't know if anyone would really want her. It ended up that a lady was looking for a good cross country jumper and absolutely loved her. Because the mare was a little on the "crazy"/bold side, she would never refuse a jump and did not want to just stay on the "kiddy" jumps. She always leaned towards the bigger scarier jumps.
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