Training Updates

 

It’s either feast or famine around this blog lately.  I either hit you with multiple posts in a week or zip, zilch, nada for weeks at a time.  Sorry about that!  Here’s what you’ve missed:

1.  Jethro was adopted and just left today.  The kids were also trying to sneak Amigo into the trailer without me noticing.  It didn’t work, but it was amusing to watch them lead him around with just their arms around his little neck.

2.  Traveler went for his fourth ride and first trail ride ever on Wednesday.  He was AMAZING!  Read all about his ride on Tamara’s blog.  Traveler heads over to my pony foster next week for daily riding and further training.  Then, it’s likely he already has a home waiting for him with Jethro’s adopter!

 

3.  At the same time Traveler heads to the foster, Chip will be headed to the vet for some much needed brain surgery.  Then he’s off to the foster as well for training.

4.  Did I tell you the story of Whiskers?  She was actually rescued by a friend, but turned out to be too dangerous and unpredictable for her to keep at her barn with larval humans running around.  She’s three, but I wasn’t going to start her training this year because we had so many other youngsters.  However, she kept hanging out around the round pen, watching everyone else and  looking left out.  So just to see how crazy Tamara really is, I asked if she wanted to work with Whiskers and see if she accepted the saddle as well as I thought she would.  Whiskers never batted an eye when she was tacked up, so Super Crazy Volunteer laid across her back, then swung on up.  Whiskers went berserk!

 

 

Can’t you tell?  I know it’s not a video, but that’s what happened.  Whiskers stood statue still, just swishing her tail at flies.  Tamara dismounted, untacked, and called it a day.  Now that we know Whiskers accepts pretty much anything, we’ll start her ground work and teach her voice commands and cues.  Once that’s done, the rest will obviously be pretty easy.

5.  Jasmine is doing so well that we’ll probably take her out on trail for the first time this week.  I’ll take pictures this time because I just know she’ll do awesome!

 

6.  Quill.. what can I say about Quill except that he’s incredible?  We should have him out on trail soon, too.

 

I never imagined having this many Maverick-wanna-bes in the herd!

Traveler’s first ride

 

Tamara wasn’t even going to get on Traveler the other day.  She’d already been there for a few hours, worked four other horses, and it was HOT.   Let me tell you a bit of a secret… it’s a LONG walk from the round pen to the driveway where she had parked.  After she was done with the last horse and had him untacked and turned loose, she was cursing herself for not leaving Quill tacked up and just letting him carry her saddle and bag down to the car.  Luckily, Traveler was standing right outside the round pen and he volunteered his happy fat butt to carry the saddle.  So I grabbed him and we threw the saddle on.  Then it was pretty silly not to go ahead and work with him.  So she put the bridle on him.  Since he has much the same attitude as Quill and she’d already done some ground work with him, we decided she should just mount on up and see what happens.

A whole lot of nothing happened.

 

 

Which is a big bonus since she forgot to put her helmet on before mounting up.

 

I let him follow me around the pen for a few minutes until he got his sea legs under him, then we called it a day.  Except that he still got to carry the saddle and bag down to the driveway for Tamara.  He’s such a gentleman.

 

Traveler will be going to the same foster that took River and Casper.  I can’t wait to see little Lexi riding him.  I think she’s really going to love the little guy!

Quill’s first ride

 

When Tamara was out the other day she got on Quill for the first time.  Let me tell you, it was devastating!  I thought for sure Quill was going to… going to… oh, I just can’t say it… I thought he was going to fall asleep!

 

He looks really upset about this whole human on his back concept, doesn’t he?

 

She only stayed on him for about 10 minutes.  Just long enough for him to find his balance with the extra weight, and wake up.  Just a little, mind you.  Not enough that he actually put any effort into the session.  I think Tamara worked harder than he did. 

 

Now I’m going to let you in on a little secret.  Quill has been worked with in the round pen a total of ONE time.  That’s just the way he rolls.  Crazy humans want me to do something? Okay, let’s do it!

 

 

I just love this little guy and I think Tamara feels the same.  How could she not?

Jethro

 

I haven’t been posting over on Training the Unwanted this year because I haven’t been doing any of the training.  Tamara has been volunteering her time to come out and work with these horses and she has her own blog to tell you all about it.  It’s over there on the right and it’s called “All about horses in training”.  Tamara helps other people with their horse troubles, so her blog isn’t just about the horses here.  Go check her out sometime!

Yesterday she came out and worked with Quill, Jasmine, Traveler, and Jethro.  This was Jethro’s evaluation ride and I was pretty confident that he was already broke to ride just because of his excellent ground manners and calm, relaxed way of handling new situations.

For instance, this was the first time Jethro had been introduced to the main herd.  The first time he’d been up on the ridge and in the round pen.  And it was probably the first time he’d ever had a little “helper” in a round pen with him.

 

 

 

 

I’m very impressed with the way Jethro handles himself and can’t imagine why someone would have turned him loose, or not gone looking for him if he had escaped.  He’s an awesome horse and I can’t wait to find the time to hit the trails on him for a more thorough evaluation!

And what do I say about Amigo?  How many times can I tell you how adorable he is before you get tired of reading it and find another blog to read?