Settling In

Here's a pic of my daughter riding Matt in barrels at the local show.

People advised me that it generally takes about a week for horses to adjust to a new place. We've had our horses a month, now, and I can see that it has taken them this long to start to settle in. Of course, they are older and were previously in one place for a decade, at least. I can see in their dispositions now that they are calming down and settling in. Of course, not having the periodic "cowboy" episodes is certainly helping Dude, also. I feel he is starting to bond with me. Matt likes me okay, but that's because I discovered he loves a hip/butt massage. LOL.

Haltering and Leading Work

I got a pretty good look at the tongue, but I didn't see anything unusual. It seems to get pretty narrow way far up, but that is probably natural. We didn't have much time until dark, so E was riding Matt - bareback at a walk only -- he is stiff in his right front now (yesterday it was the left, WTF?) I cut up some apple and worked on haltering Dude. He was all sweet and lowering his head and sniffing my cast (??) I found out that if the lead rope is around his neck first he is completely amenable to the halter, hmmm. Apple for that, anyway. Then, I led him around and practiced halting squared without swinging his butt around by halting along the fence. We went into the scary corner that he avoids for some mystery reason. I was just kind of being in the pasture while E rode. We also had to establish that Dude needs to start moving again when I start moving. It was harder to mark that as good behavior, but a "good boy" seems to work. Its hard for me to get a treat out when we are doing something on the fly.

I tried to give him a treat while riding yesterday, but he had no idea how to turn his head and get a treat while being ridden. Anyway, halter off with no fuss and lots of scratching and loving. And apple pieces.

Dude did not like me giving E apples to give to Matt -- his facial expressions were like "Hey, those are my apples!!" Tomorrow we should be getting home early because of a field trip and I am off from work to be a chaperone, so will probably ride. E will pout because I have to see how Matt is doing to see if she can ride him at all. I ordered some Keratex that should be here in a day or 2 so I hope that will help his hooves. Matt is without shoes for the first time in a long time because his hoof was cracked so bad when I got him that he had to be left barefoot by the farrier when he came. His hooves grow fast, though, so he should be ready for shoes in about 1 1/2 weeks. However, that is a long time for 10 year old with a new horse. Oh well, she will have to learn to be a good horsewoman who puts her horse first.

More Background on Dude

By the way, when Katharine came by Sunday, I told her what happened to Dude's head (skinned parts of his face in the trailer saddling incident). When I told her about the idea I went along with about trying to saddle him in the trailer she snorted in amused derision. She has known Dude for 10 years and she knew what the rest of the story was going to be before I even told her. Doh!

She made me feel better about his wounds, saying they get beat up worse than that in the pasture sometimes. She was very sweet to not make me feel bad for my stupid idea. I'm glad I learned my lesson without further harm to Dude.

She did give us more of Dude's story, saying that the fat man who had him before had cut his tongue on purpose and also twitched his ears to try to get him to lower his head. According to Katharine, only Mar has seen the mysterious cut tongue, but I'm going to try to get a peak one day. Sounds horrible, I had no idea they did things like that!!!

10/28/07 cont'd

I started to get frustrated and I said, "Dude, don't you want to go for a ride? It will be fun!" He seemed to understand my tone. He relaxed a little. Shortly thereafter, he stood for the bridle. He did a lot of walking in his circle for the saddling, but I finally got one of the long billets throught the buckle. I had to sit down and rest for awhile. He watched with interest as I drank my diet coke and and caught my breath. I offered a carrot piece and he took forever to step forward and get it. I resumed saddling, giving much praise and carrot peices and led him over to the little chair. He was reluctant to approach it, but finally did.

I mounted by reaching across to pull on a fence post to help mount (still not putting a foot in the stirrup to mount, just sort of sliding on). We walked around and I tightened the girth some more. We had a nice ride walking and trotting. I just couldn't bring myself to try the canter (chicken!!). I got bored in the back pasture, so got my daughter to let us out the gate and went on a mini trail ride around the front yard, down the street and back and over to the neighbor's and back. Encountered 2 dogs -- one merited a half-hearted kick. I got him to stand near the trampoline while the girls jumped up and down -- little to no alarm. I went to look at the ditch I want to cross to get to a trail behind our house and he didn't like that. He backed up and carried on a little. I wasn't going to cross the ditch, I was just looking to see if it had a low place anywhere. He just didn't want to stand there while I looked at the ditch -- strange.

Came back and trotted around the front yard. It was fun for me and I hope it was for him, too.

Sigh. I don't know that I am making much progress with getting Dude to change, but I got him to ride without any drama, so I call it a win. He was better at haltering. I'm encouraged to keep working on him.

Saddling

Today is the first time since I have had him that I have gotten to work all the way through to saddling and riding Dude all by myself. I figured out I can wear my walking cast on my foot to do everything and then stop and put my boot on for mounting and riding. It worked out well. I loaded up with carrot peices in my fanny pack and gathered all my stuff. First, I haltered him -- he did fantastic for that. He seems to respond to "good boy" about as well as he does to the clicker. The, I undid the halter and put it on his neck. I had trouble with the bridling for awhile. He would back up, but I would stand with my shoulder under his neck and my hand around on his nose and just step back with him.

Dude Intimidates the Pony Party Riders

10/28;Today was my daughter's birthday party. Matt was her present for her birthday, but we had friends over, hers and mine, and rode the horses. Dude was okay with bridling, it took awhile, but we got there with scratchings and carrots. I got interrupted with arriving guests and Jeanine combed out his mane entirely and petted him all over his head while I was off greeting. When I got back, I got J to take all the kids and people over to the other side of the paddock and get them started riding. I took my time saddling Dude and got him saddled with the usual walking around. It took some patience and carrots, but his circle was small and not too energetic, so I was able to follow. I put my leg cast thing back on because my foot's been hurting. After I got him saddled, I led him around because I had to go get a bridle for the others and stuff so I just took Dudie around with me. When the time came I got a chair and tried to get on him. He moved around a little, but then I laid across his back first and then felt him relax. Then, I remembered I probably wanted my helmet so I had to lead him around to go get it. When I got back I got on him without putting my foot in the stirrup == just kind of bare-back slid a leg over. He walked a little, but not fast. I got my stirrups and then tightened the girth some more. Then we walked and trotted and were fine. J rode him, too. She said he did the head shake with her, but I had warned her so she was wise to him. Surprisingly, the kids didn't want to ride long and we unsaddled pretty soon. No one wanted to ride Dude. Just as he craftily planned. LOL. Later, I worked on haltering him with a rope halter. He let me put it on his nose. He wasn't going to go for it this time, so I ended on just letting it rest on his nose. I didn't have any carrots so I left it there with some scratchings and praise. Katharine comes tomorrow, so maybe I'll lope.

Working on Bridleing Issues

Wasn't home last night until late -- got them fed and a blanket on Matt (it went down into the 40's and felt damp). Tonight, it was dark when I got home, but I did Matt's feet (picked and applied hooflex to fronts). I had put some baby carrot pieces in my pocket, so I worked on getting Dude to let me hold his head and put my hand on his nose. I stood beside him and just scratched and petted and rubbed his nose. I gave him carrots when he was still and when he was not trying to snuffle my hand or pocket. He tried to back up a little, but I just stepped back and stayed with him. Gradually, I touched his snout with the halter. He nodded and tried to get it off. He got a carrot piece when he got still. I felt the carrots running out so I went for the big finish and put the halter on and buckled it. He is usually pretty good about this, but I want him to be good 100%. He got the last carrot and lots of scratching in his favorite itch spot under his jaw. When I reached up to take it off, I must have been talking and had a "finished" tone in my voice because he was perfectly still for the removal. He got more pettings and scratchings for that. He was so sweet at some points during the session he was almost resting his neck on my shoulder and completely relaxing. I just want to work on small increments to get his trust completely. I hope that was enough. Lord knows we need more days like this without any drama!

Working on Saddling Issues

Lexie came over and we worked on getting the simulated girth tightening some more. Dude got to the point where he would almost stand still when it was tightening. He would go in one circle and then stop for his carrot piece. We put the synthetic dressage saddle on him and girthed him loosely. More circling, but progress. Bridling was, however, a big problem again. It took about an hour to get that on without him tossing his head. Thing is, he doesn't walk away, he just moves his head. Same as saddling in that he could easily try to walk away and pull away completely, but he doesn't. He just has his nervous tics. Lexie put the bridle on and off about 5 times and then I did it twice. My daughter came out and started whining to ride, but it was way past dark, has turned cold and it was time to eat supper. So, Dude got a reward of release for his troubles. Lexie says she had a mare that had been abused and started out worse than Dude. It took her about a year to get the mare over the worst of her fears. Meanwhile, Jeanine went out to eat with Pedro and he still called Lexie twice to see what she was doing so we had a hard time sneaking around. LOL.

Escape Attempt or The Grass is Always Greener!

I don't know if my old heart can take much of this. Dude, the trickster, just escaped while I was putting Matt back in the pasture and strolled around my front yard exploring the much better grass (its greener because of the other side of the fence and all). Thank goodness I had carrots in my pocket and caught him with the lead rope. He dutifully went back in with Matt, but my heart was pounding with what ifs. I did want to "doctor" a cut I found on his hip and I had the wonder dust in my pocket, too, so I got him, haha. I practised "Squealing" and running them off from their hay. I'm not a good squealer as I have one of those low pitched voices. But they were appropriately alarmed by my attempted dominance and backed up a little. Don't forget who is the pasture boss in real life boyz. LOL.
Oh yes, Dude has the backing up problem, too. He starts to back up when things get tough for him or he gets grumpy. Thanks a lot to whomever originally taught him how to back up so well. Thankfully, so far, just sitting still and doing nothing gets him to stop. Then wait to feel him relax and he's willing to go forward again. I like everyone's ideas on fixing the backer upper, here: p068.ezboard.com/ffhotd64...ID=4.topic.

Pics

Here are some pics. The sorrel is Dude and the liver chestnut is Matt. Included is a rare photo of my daughter riding Dude.