Starting over with Joe....again

'Well it's been 11 days since my fall off Joe, I'm still a little sore but nothing I can't work through. This week hasn't been that great, lots of stress and worry and yesterday I hadn't stopped all day and was tired, I think my state of mind had alot to do with the lousy ride. yesterday was the first time up on Joey since my fall and it didn't go so well. I walked him out of the barn and almost had a panic attack and I wasn't even on him yet. Kelly rode him around for awhile and he was fine but by the time I was ready to get on him the mosquito's where out in full force. I got up first try, he stood nice for me. I sat on him for a while trying to breath, then I noticed the hook on my boot was stuck on the stirrup and I paniced ($100.00 boots are going in the garbage). Any way we got through that and the trainer walked me around a bit, and I was done. He was doing alot of fussing because of the mosquito's and it made me more nervous. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to ride him again. We are going to start all over again and I'll keep trying.

An Interesting month

Well I found a new trainer and she is working out great, she is focussing right now on keeping Joey happy which is a good thing. When she first started she wasn't really making him work, just feeling him out. She noticed that he didn't like his mouth pulled or any leg and if you did he would get mad and she didn't want to make him angry she just wanted a happy horse. Well he's been doing excellent, when she first started as soon as you put your legs on him he would buck, so she is trying to get him to respond to voice command and it's working great, she just says walk on and he goes, to get him to trott it's Joey wanna trott and away he goes at a nice little trot. She cantered him yesterday but I warned her he bucks and kicks at the canter, not mean but he does it anyway. Sure enough as soon as she started bringing her leg back he kicked out and bucked a little , they are not high bucks but you can tell he doesn't want to do it. She finally got him to take 3 steps at the canter with no bucks so she was happy. He really doesn't look mean he looks more playfull when he's doing it, he just doesn't know how to do it with a rider on him.

So on that good note I can tell everyone about how he has been treating me. Two weeks ago he decided that he did not want me to get up on him, and he started cow kicking at me with his ears pinned, it got so bad that I couldn't even stand in the right position to mount and it made if more difficult. I know that I am nervous around him and that's probably why. I never was able to get up on him that day, so Kelly worked just on mounting and dismounting and getting him to stand, when she was done it was time for me to take the saddle off, well the minute I put my hand on the cinch he cow kicked and it was pretty close to my arm, I'm not quick enough to smack , I don't really believe in hitting a horse but that was really dangerous and it had to be fixed. Kelly stood behind me and her husband held the reigns, again as soon as I grabbed the cinch he cow kicked and kelly smacked him in the ass with the crop and he never did it again. So we fixed that problem. The next ride he stood quietly when I saddled him up and when I rode him, my husband watched the video and he said he looked like an old school horse and so happy , listening to everything and just doing what I asked.

My ride this week, ummmm not so good. Kelly rode him and he was just like the old school horse again, just doing what was asked of him and he was quit happy, When I got up on him, again he stood quietly and was just happy being ridden, we were working on voice commands and stopping and going, really light work. I trotted a little and we were fine I was relaxed, he was relaxed. In one corner of the riding ring about 10 feet away from the corner there is a hydro post and for some reason he seems to not want to go near that corner , that day he spooked a little for Kelly as she came around to the corner so she walked him into it , ever since we started riding him that corner is bad , so she makes it a point of going into the corner and showing him. there is nothing there that he should be afraid of. When we let him loose with no saddle and no bridle in there he'll go in the corner no problem but when there is a rider on him he's a little nervous. Well anyway, I finishes my trott and stopped to talk to kelly, his butt was facing the corner he doesn't like but we were no where near it when we stopped, so I was just talking to Kelly like I always do, loose reign, no leg everyone was relaxed including Joe , then all hell broke loose, he snorted swung around and Jumped all 4 feet off the ground about 3 times by that time we had reached the fence, but by this time I was sideways on the saddle, I saw the fence coming and we didn't think he was going to stop so I pulled the left reign to turn him , well he put the brakes on and turned left , that's when I flew off, It happened so fast , there was no time to react. After I came off I looked at Joe and he looked so concerned you could just see it in his eyes, What ever happened was not mean. Kelly thinks that it was either a bee or some kind of electric charge from the post , is it possible for Hydro posts to have a short and give off a charge that a horse can feel? I know that they are very sensitive and I think Joey is overly sensitive. I tape all my lessons but this happened just out of camera range so I wasn't able to see it but I do have the audio. I know that Joey really didn't want to hurt me because while I was down he was really careful not to step on me. I did get back up on him after about 20 minutes but I was scared to tears. Kelly walked me around and walked me back where I came off and Joey was fine, it was almost like he didn't want to move in case I fell off again. So now I had my first fall and it was a doozy, no broken bones but a sprained ankle, Dr said I might have had a slight concussion but my helmet saved me there, my butt, is really sore, my shoulder and a few bruises here and there, I survived the fall. Hopefully I can ride Joey again , but I think we are going to have to start all over again. I won't be riding again for at least 2 weeks but Kelly will keep riding him until I'm able again.
Wish me luck

Joey's training

Well my husband found someone to train Joey. She really impressed my husband when he was talking to her, but it was me she had to prove herself too. Well prove herself she did. She came over a couple of Saturdays ago to meet him and try him out. We had about a half hour befor the farrier came and I figured there was no way she was going to ride him, it would take at least 15 minutes to put the saddle on, I sure was surprised to see how quick she was and Joey was fine, except when we put the mounting block beside him and she stepped up.... well up come the front feet , I thought he was going right over on his back, she tried and tried and everytime she stepped up he would just move away. So the next thing I knew she moved the mounting block out of her way and up she got, Joey just stood there. I was so amazed.. she walked trotted with little protest from Joey. She tried to get a canter out of him but he wouldn't and we ran out of time as the farrier was waiting.
So needless to say we hired her. Last weekend we worked on me, She wants me to get comfortable with him first because she says Joey is fine, just a little bull headed, he's gotten away with scaring everyone and to him it's just a big joke. She actually went into his stall and picked up his feet without anyone holding him and he just stood there. That almost floored me because it always took two people to do his feet, hmmm well not anymore. I have been trying to brush him with out the lead rope or him being tied but it's not going very well, he is nipping at me and I'm still a little nervous and he knows it. I guess only time will tell.

Vet visit

Tuesday, we had the vet out for checkups, vaccinations, teeth and wormer, I know we are a little late, but at least its done. I was so stressed out about this visit because of the floating of the teeth. Dakota got hers done last year so I wasn't worried about her, it was Joey I knew they were going to have to use that big nasty looking metal thingy they put it their mouth to keep it open and I was not looking forward to it. Well it turns out I had to be away that morning and didn't have to see it. I thought they were going to have a hard time with Joey and they would probably have to sedate him. My husband even bet the vet he would have to sedate him. Well Joey surprised everyone, no sedation and he was a good boy and didn't try to kill anyone.
So all and all the vet visit went really smooth. Hmmmmm imagine that :)

Horses in the riding ring for the first time.

Well monday morning was quit a morning. We decided to try and get the horses use to being in the riding ring and I'm happy to say every thing went well. There was alot of snorting and running for the first 10 minutes and then they where fine. They were still a little jumpy but all they wanted to do was eat. I worried for nothing......again. We left them in for a couple of hours and then put them on the grass at the back. They will be in the front for a few hours in the morning, hopefully everyday. Don, my husband is going to start lungeing Joey next week and then I have someone coming out to ride him twice a week until I can trust him. I trust him when we are on the ground, but when I get on his back, well that's a different story.

I took a few pictures of them in the front.

Finally a little time to myself

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately but alot has happened in the past month and I had no time. Since we brought the horses home, I have never left them, I am always around for feeding and bringing them it, this month I was away for long periods of time that of which I had no choice. My husband works long hours and he needed help so we had to rely on my neighbors and a close friend of ours. Everything worked out fine. It is so good to have friends and neighbors that you trust with your babies. I have had no time to work with them, so training is pushed back again. We were suppose to put the horses in the riding ring to get them use to it , but that hasn't happened yet. Things are finally calming down a bit so hopefully the training will start. This year it seems that there is always something going on that interferes with our plans. I guess we just have to take it one day at a time and hope everything turns out for the best. My list of things to do just keeps getting longer and longer and I can't seem to catch up. I do know one thing though, training has to start soon, because the horses are getting flabby.

Drying up nicely

Well , I guess all the hard work last summer is paying off. My riding ring has no puddles and is drying very nicely. the paddock around the barn is pretty good too none of that sticky heavy mud, so I guess I won't be falling on my butt this year lol, or getting my boots stuck and not being able to move. The horses will be happy to, they won't have those mud balls weighing their tales down. We have taken them off the big paddock , because we are getting it ready for planting more grass. They are in a very small paddock right now and I think they are pretty bored. Hopefully Joey's training will start soon. Next tuesday we are planning on putting them in the riding ring , to get them use to the traffic, so they won't be so scared of the trucks going by. I also plan on parking my truck on the highway and honking the horn, so when some idiot comes by honking it won't scare them. I can't wait to ride Joe, it's been a long time.

Nice weather finally

Well finally winter is coming to an end. I think everyone is happy about that, including the horses. We found this year to be a hard winter, with way too much snow. The snow was so high this year it reached the top of the fences in some spots. We couldn't use the riding ring this year either because of the snow. We were not expecting that much. We also had problems with the electrics through the winter (brand new barn, go figure). We dealt with frozen water buckets and a frozen water trough and frozen hoses. Well at least we are done with that now and ready to face new challenges (mud). Last summer we put tile drain in the paddocks around the barn and in the riding ring, can't wait to see what the paddocks look like when everything starts to melt. I am sure that the horses will find mud anyway, but at least they won't be standing it all the time.
Training will be starting as soon as the snow is gone, I should have some stories and pictures to post as training is always a challenge because I am so new to it.

Happy Easter

Hi Everyone, Just wanted to wish you all a Happy Easter.

Lungeing

Lungeing, an important factor in training a horse. Well I have one problem, which is a pretty big problem when you think about it. Okay , picture it, I go out to the barn and get all the equipment I need to lunge an 1100 lbs animal, catch the horse hook him up to the lunge line, the minute I push him out to start he starts galloping and bucking. After the first couple of rounds, I am having a hard time focusing because I am so dizzy. Needless to say I don't lunge my horse any more, my husband does. I have read many articles on lungeing even went to a lungeing clinic, but can't stop myself from getting dizzy. I've tried looking at the horse, I tried looking at the background, tried walking with the horse, nothing works. If any one has any ideas, I'd love to here them.

Pet Peeve

Okay, this is going to be short and sweet.
If you can't afford vet care or food for your animals, then give them away to a good home that can.
Having animals especially horses can get very expensive. Why can't people do a little more research into what is involved in caring for their animals. I think if people knew what was involved they would think twice. Animals don't just need a home they need love and care, they need regular vet visits, and good healthy food. They need to become part of your family, and treated with respect.
Too many people are going out and getting a pet only to realize this is too much work. These animals then end up on the street or in animal shelters, or worse dead.
Wake up people and please do a little research.

Colic

What a scarey thing to see your horse rolling in pain. Well it's happened to us 4 times since Dec 23. Vets don't know what the problem is. We haven't changed anything. same amount of feed, same time, same hay, same everything. Vets are thinking it is the change in temp from mild to very cold by 4 pm. we watch him very close now. I give him a syringe of medicine every night and it seems to be helping ( touch wood). He is such a good boy to take his medicine just laps it all up. He sure has come a long way, now if only I had some one to ride him.