Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2013 15:28:52 GMT -5
I rode my new horse today! He was PERFECT!!
I'll back up a bit: I bought a new horse last fall, right at the end of riding season. He is a horse that I have known for years. I think he was 5 when I first met him. I rode him at least once per year every year, and usually more often. I have always loved him and wanted to buy him. He was waaaay out of my price range, but this past fall the owners offered him to me ( out of the blue!) for about a quarter of his asking price. I sold my horse I'd had for 7 years, to buy him.
He is 12, and has had one owner, and lived on one farm his whole life. He didn't handle being moved and new people well at all. He kind of lost his mind. He forgot his ground manners, and I was scared to ride him. He's a veteran show horse, and knows better! I started working on ground manners this past winter, but very lightly. However...I could see him coming around.
Yesterday I took him out and did some ground work, but it was obvious he knew everything I asked.( previous owners trained him well) So today I just saddled him up and took him for a ride. Let's just say...he is back to himself! I couldn't be happier with him. He's the sweet old guy I'm used to. We had so much fun.
A couple of things happened during our ride that I have to share:
~I rode on the edge of a cornfield, for a fair distance, back and forth, on the fence line of the pasture. One of the other horses would lose sight of us and come running up on us screaming her head off. He didn't even flick an ear. This is the same horse that he was madly in love with last fall, and felt he could not be parted from. Today he could have cared less about her.
~We loped twice. I would have loped more, but....our dog decided that he would run beside the horse's head and bark, jump and bite at his nose each time his head came down. The horse didn't change his pace, nothing. Zero reaction. The dog then got more aggressive, and the horse still had no reaction. It was amazing. The dog then tried to "heal" us the rest of the ride, horse still not reacting.
~ He wanted to go out farther...into the valley and the woods. I think he will trail ride on his own! That is a dream for me!!
I'm so happy he has settled in. I learned a lot from this. Even well trained horses need a leader. If you aren't prepared to lead, they will, and that just doesn't work. I just expected that he would be perfect, but didn't think about the fact that I needed to be the boss mare. I'm so happy it is all working out now. It's going to be so much fun1
I'll back up a bit: I bought a new horse last fall, right at the end of riding season. He is a horse that I have known for years. I think he was 5 when I first met him. I rode him at least once per year every year, and usually more often. I have always loved him and wanted to buy him. He was waaaay out of my price range, but this past fall the owners offered him to me ( out of the blue!) for about a quarter of his asking price. I sold my horse I'd had for 7 years, to buy him.
He is 12, and has had one owner, and lived on one farm his whole life. He didn't handle being moved and new people well at all. He kind of lost his mind. He forgot his ground manners, and I was scared to ride him. He's a veteran show horse, and knows better! I started working on ground manners this past winter, but very lightly. However...I could see him coming around.
Yesterday I took him out and did some ground work, but it was obvious he knew everything I asked.( previous owners trained him well) So today I just saddled him up and took him for a ride. Let's just say...he is back to himself! I couldn't be happier with him. He's the sweet old guy I'm used to. We had so much fun.
A couple of things happened during our ride that I have to share:
~I rode on the edge of a cornfield, for a fair distance, back and forth, on the fence line of the pasture. One of the other horses would lose sight of us and come running up on us screaming her head off. He didn't even flick an ear. This is the same horse that he was madly in love with last fall, and felt he could not be parted from. Today he could have cared less about her.
~We loped twice. I would have loped more, but....our dog decided that he would run beside the horse's head and bark, jump and bite at his nose each time his head came down. The horse didn't change his pace, nothing. Zero reaction. The dog then got more aggressive, and the horse still had no reaction. It was amazing. The dog then tried to "heal" us the rest of the ride, horse still not reacting.
~ He wanted to go out farther...into the valley and the woods. I think he will trail ride on his own! That is a dream for me!!
I'm so happy he has settled in. I learned a lot from this. Even well trained horses need a leader. If you aren't prepared to lead, they will, and that just doesn't work. I just expected that he would be perfect, but didn't think about the fact that I needed to be the boss mare. I'm so happy it is all working out now. It's going to be so much fun1