Post by Zoe RA on Jan 22, 2010 20:30:25 GMT 1
Our Man is a 16 year old been here done that Thoroughbred who Cate has on loan.
She wants to be able to hack out on him whilst she accompanies her daughter on her pony.
When I met them, Cate had had Our Man on loan for a week, but already things where beginning to go down hill. This is understandable when you take into account the fact that Our Man had been bred and had lived out his whole life on the yard he had come from the week before!
Cate had been unable to tie Our Man up in the stable, he was barging about to have his rugs on, would not move over in the stable, and had been generally very anxious. He settles more when he has equine company on the yard, but never really settles.
Under saddle, he frets, throws his head about, and is not a happy horse.
So, we started off, as usual, doing some ground work in the school just to establish boundaries, and to get him focused on Cate. We worked on backing up, and moving his quarters over when asked. One of the things I picked up is that Cate was "telling" Our Man to move over/back instead of politely "asking" him. Quite rightly he was perceiving this as a gross insult, and he was getting cross and fretful with Cate, which was making her frustrated and fretful. Once I spotted that, Cate was able to tone down her "ask", and she was totally amazed at how sensitive he is and how subtle she could be with him
We then went back to the stable, to put this all into practice, and as soon as we got in the stable he started screaming his head off - in spite of the fact that his little chum was in the next stable.
I held him with the line through the ring so that he thought he was tied up, but I was able to give and take with my contact. I then encouraged Cate to just get on with what we wanted to do so that she didn't appear to be hesitant around him. Cate was much more subtle by this time, and within a very short time he settled and she was able to move him over from both sides, and fiddle around with his rugs etc.
Once I was sure Cate had got this sussed, we move on to the ridden work.
Our Man had come with a single jointed snaffle, and a martingale. Cate's instructions were to have the martingale done up as tight as possible - much tighter than normal - because Our Man throws his head up and around otherwise. On the few occasions Cate had hacked him out since he arrived, he had thrown his head around anyway, and was doing little half rears.
So, the first thing I did was to take the martingale off, working on the theory that if he has nothing to fight against, he wont fight!
He was actually remarkably calm and steady on the short ride that we went on, but he was very unhappy in his mouth still.
When we got back to the yard I demonstrated how the bit, which was too big for him, was pinching his tongue and, on occasions, pinching the side of his mouth.
Here he is walking the calmest he had since Cate took him on loan - and all because he has no martingale on
I suggested that Cate try riding him in the Dually, which she has now done and he was as good as gold, and things are settling down nicely in general.
Watch this space ;D
MTA that the Dually is under the bridle in case Our Man got too bouncy for Cate to stay feeling comfortable.
She wants to be able to hack out on him whilst she accompanies her daughter on her pony.
When I met them, Cate had had Our Man on loan for a week, but already things where beginning to go down hill. This is understandable when you take into account the fact that Our Man had been bred and had lived out his whole life on the yard he had come from the week before!
Cate had been unable to tie Our Man up in the stable, he was barging about to have his rugs on, would not move over in the stable, and had been generally very anxious. He settles more when he has equine company on the yard, but never really settles.
Under saddle, he frets, throws his head about, and is not a happy horse.
So, we started off, as usual, doing some ground work in the school just to establish boundaries, and to get him focused on Cate. We worked on backing up, and moving his quarters over when asked. One of the things I picked up is that Cate was "telling" Our Man to move over/back instead of politely "asking" him. Quite rightly he was perceiving this as a gross insult, and he was getting cross and fretful with Cate, which was making her frustrated and fretful. Once I spotted that, Cate was able to tone down her "ask", and she was totally amazed at how sensitive he is and how subtle she could be with him
We then went back to the stable, to put this all into practice, and as soon as we got in the stable he started screaming his head off - in spite of the fact that his little chum was in the next stable.
I held him with the line through the ring so that he thought he was tied up, but I was able to give and take with my contact. I then encouraged Cate to just get on with what we wanted to do so that she didn't appear to be hesitant around him. Cate was much more subtle by this time, and within a very short time he settled and she was able to move him over from both sides, and fiddle around with his rugs etc.
Once I was sure Cate had got this sussed, we move on to the ridden work.
Our Man had come with a single jointed snaffle, and a martingale. Cate's instructions were to have the martingale done up as tight as possible - much tighter than normal - because Our Man throws his head up and around otherwise. On the few occasions Cate had hacked him out since he arrived, he had thrown his head around anyway, and was doing little half rears.
So, the first thing I did was to take the martingale off, working on the theory that if he has nothing to fight against, he wont fight!
He was actually remarkably calm and steady on the short ride that we went on, but he was very unhappy in his mouth still.
When we got back to the yard I demonstrated how the bit, which was too big for him, was pinching his tongue and, on occasions, pinching the side of his mouth.
Here he is walking the calmest he had since Cate took him on loan - and all because he has no martingale on
I suggested that Cate try riding him in the Dually, which she has now done and he was as good as gold, and things are settling down nicely in general.
Watch this space ;D
MTA that the Dually is under the bridle in case Our Man got too bouncy for Cate to stay feeling comfortable.