Category: Newt

Worked and rode Newt in the round pen. It was a brisk, cool morning with a b risque north wind. Newt was very nice until I go on his back. Then there was lots of head shaking. I keep busy turning. He wants to get his head down, wonder why? Just a few little stiff legged lunges and one halt. But we got through it and it was a successful ride. We made two or three rounds at a walk. I was not about to ask for anything faster that a walk. I was hoping to have a good, intentional, balanced dismount. And I did! We rode the Stubben saddle. I will try the Crosby next ride. It seems like a good stiff drink would be a good idea before I get on Newt.

Magic and I are going to ride the Buffalo tomorrow. We loaded into the trailer twice with no trouble or hesitation at all. I am a believer in having a short step up for Magic.

Worked and rode Newt in the round pen. I tried another saddle and swapped the bit for a halter. It seemed like the halter pressure bothered him more that the bit. So it is probably not the bit that makes him shake his head. I could not tell if the saddle was an improvement or not. It was fun. We will keep working on it.

I groomed, trimmed, worked and rode Newt in the round pen. They were kicking up their heels this fine cool fall morning. Newt is very good at the ground work, stands untied for grooming, generously gives his head when I pull the rein and moves his hind end over if I just look at his back feet. But when I am on his back I feel it really tests his resolve to be nice and kind to humans. (Oops, I just talked myself into a new saddle!) Lots of turns to keep his attention off me on his back. He never shakes his head except when I am on his back. Once, when contemplating human communication gestures, I thought it was probably arbitrary that yes was a nod and no was a shake of the head. As I learn more about horses, I know horses taught us that a shake of the head meant there is some serious disagreement. Newt did shake his head some this morning but we had a successful ride. I plan to keep at it with little short rides in the round pen until I see a whole lot less shaking goin’ on.

I trimmed Newt today. I trimmed Laddie yesterday. His hooves were in very bad condition. He was so sore footed earlier that I would have had to trim him laying down. It is all better now. Newt’s feet are in pretty good shape as I trimmed him about 6 weeks ago. Newt will stand in the hallway for grooming and trimming. He likes the attention. I worked and rode him in the round pen. This is the first time I have ridden him in a year. I thought I was taking a chance riding him in the arena and oak pasture last year. It is a long way from the barn and, although I rode him for several weeks in that situation, I did not feel that the trust was increasing. For the past few months I have been haltering and leading him to the barn when they came in for feeding. It is not everyday but probably at least every other day. I feel that this attention has improved the trust and decided to try riding him again. Recently I have been leading him to pasture and leaving him alone when I came back to the barn for Magic. The first time he acted like the world was ending, yelling bloody murder and running flat out. But no harm and he is getting better at being alone (for a minute or two). He will have to learn to trust a lot more before I can ride him away from the barn very far. Speed (cantering) seems to heighten his anxiety, so we will restrict cantering to the round pen and lunge line unmounted until things get better. We rode at a walk today changing directions often to keep his mind occupied. He showed some irritation from the slight contact of the reins by shaking his head. He was a good boy and let me stay on his back. We made maybe three rounds on each rein and ended on a good note. Different attitudes for different horses. Magic cocks his hind leg whenever the brush touches his back but is very trustworthy under saddle. Newt acts like he would stand untied in the hallway all day for grooming but I’ll swear his back feet were ten feet in the air this morning when a horsefly sat on his back.

Groomed Newt and worked him in the round pen this morning. I had him stand in the middle of the hallway, not tied. He must enjoy the grooming. He stood still for the most part. He was very good in the round pen. He cantered some. I did not ask for it but had him continue for one round. He seems coordinated but he bends out rather that in. The speed excited him. When I rode him last spring we cantered a little bit but it did seem to excite him so we did not do it much. He seemed improved this second day of ground work.

I worked Newt in the round pen this morning. He has been much more affectionate in the barn. When I am near him I now have faith that he will temper his actions and reactions out of kindness towards me. Yesterday when I moved the horses into different pastures, the mares ran to the far end of the Sycamore pasture. In addition, I had just completed refurbishing the electric fence. I have noticed the horses, well some of them anyway, have keen awareness that the fence is hot. Newt and CeeCee, both chestnuts, know when it is on and will not go anywhere near it. Anyway, Newt was running back and forth. He puts lots of effort into it. He is very fast and will run flat out across the creek / low muddy area. Last time he did that he bruised his sole and was lame for weeks. Little More got excited and running too. Magic was way off from the action, grazing and completely relaxed. I have always enjoyed watching them run but knowing Newt has bruised his foot and is inclined to “come apart”, I began to think maybe it was fright and not just exuberance. I walked into the pasture and petted Little More. He stopped immediately. Newt noticed what was going on, stopped running, and came over to get petted. He was breathing hard and hot and sweaty but he stood completely still and absorbed all the affection. He calmed down completely. When I left he went to grazing.

When I groomed him today, he stood still, quite different from Magic. When I took him to the round pen, he focused all his attention way off at something, or nothing, 200 yards away in the woods. I think it is just a habit he has to avoid paying attention to me. He did good work. He remembered when turning to turn in towards me and not towards the fence. It was good work except that he avoids focusing on me. We did walk, trot, walk stuff. My thinking is that if I can get his attention, he will become a devoted horse because it will help him gain confidence. Well, maybe I am optimistic.

It may be anthropomorphic, but I think Magic acted jealous when I was grooming Newt. He was in his stall shaking his head, scratching on the door and putting his ears back at Newt. Well, maybe working Newt will have a good effect on Magic.

I rode Newt this morning. I changed the crossbar to a 24 inch jump. Newt would stop sometimes and then jump or walk over it. It did not flow from ground poles trotting to inducing him to jump. But he did not balk so maybe we can work into it. I thought I noticed slight improvement in the exercises today. He was not lazy like a few days ago. We even cantered in both directions with both leads. It did involve some baby bucking and we did not canter very far. We rode the three exercises. He still seems to have some reluctance to bend to the left. After working in the arena we rode up the east end of the Oak pasture. This was new for Newt and he noticed it. He must work into accepting new things very slowly. We rode to the top and turned around and went back to the barn. It was a good ride.

I walked Newt to the arena. Moses, York and Topsie were trying to find some animal in the rock pile about 30 feet from the arena. Newt was concerned about what they were doing and we had to restrict our exercises to avoid that area. Then, as we were working at the other end of the arena, Moses sensed that I was a little worried and came down there to be with me. Actually, he was standing in the way of what we were doing. My horses are used to a lot of dogs but the fact is they always show at least an awareness to as much as a displeasure when the dogs are in the way. I love those dogs but I need to put them up when I am working a horse. So we had a limited workout. Newt’s lack of bend is on the left rein. Just the opposite from Magic. Newt had a little of the resistance and a little of the lazy, which I think is a form of resistance with Newt, but there are times when I am riding him that it feels good. We’ll just keep on working and moving in the right direction. We rode down the middle of the pasture to the west end and back on the trail. I walked him back to the barn.