Newt – Page 4 – horseweblog.com

2011-04-18

Monday, April 18 2011

I rode Newt today. We walked to the arena and lunged and then rode in the arena. He now has a tendency to canter on the lunge. That is OK with me except that it excites him. Today he wanted to go faster and faster. I had to hold the lunge line tight until I got him to slow down. He did slow down and we ended the lunge session with several rounds at a walk. He showed the most excitement and bucking when he was going clockwise. I have not previously noticed whether or not Newt has a hard and a soft side. Today I got to thinking about it since there is more inclination to get excited and go fast lunging clockwise. When I rode it seemed like clockwise, the right rein, is his soft side, or at least he goes better in that direction. Newt is very enjoyable for me to ride now. He does a good job and has enough energy. I do not canter yet as that seems to excite him. I’ll wait until he canters calmly on the lunge. We rode all the way to the west end of the Oak pasture. (about 100 feet further than last time.) I am taking it easy with Newt’s training. He is doing good and if he spooks hard and throws me, it may have a bad influence on his confidence. At this point I am considering Newt the turn around horse. He is going in the right direction now and we just need to keep it up.

I have been taking Newt to the trailer since it helped Magic so much. He got in the trailer today. He was very calm. That may be the biggest advantage of the routine. If you wait until you are going someplace, it puts raised expectations on loading. And I’m usually in a hurry which does not help.

2011-04-13

Wednesday, April 13 2011

Led Newt to the Oak pasture. We lunged and rode in the arena. He seems to have an inclination to canter on the lunge. Today he maintained a good balanced canter counter clockwise. Going clockwise he would get excited and buck and kick (not malicious). I do not know if it is his hard and soft side or what. I cannot see that it is more difficult clockwise. I’ll watch more carefully. We rode the circle and around the arena. Newt did good. I did not think of trying the loose rein circle like we did the other day. That is probably a sign that it did not feel as good today. Nor did I try cantering after the excitement on the lunge. I am happy with our progress and I can wait until the time is right. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is so appropriate for training. We rode about 100 feet further than the other day on the path around the pasture. Newt did seem more relaxed and I did not feel it necessary to keep him busy navigating a serpentine around grass clumps. When we got near the gate, remembering yesterday, I dismounted in case there was a calf explosion that might spook Newt. And there were about 4 unseen calves laying behind the log pile so it probably was a good idea. The calves kept their place and chewed their cuds. Once through the gate I mounted and rode to the barn. Unbuckling the girth, I noticed one of the billets had broken. They were old billets that looked good until I used them a while. I re-rigged an old western saddle with bucking swells to handle English girths. I will re-do it western style because I might need those swells some day soon. Newt is turning into a nice horse and it would be good to keep my seat if he tests our togetherness.

The ponies are requiring more care these days. Laddie recovered from a founder after I put them in dry lot. I had moved them up to grazing half a day in a grazed pasture. Four or five days ago I started leaving them on pasture all the time. In about 2 days Laddie had sore feet. I have dry lotted them for half day for three days and Laddie is much better tonight. They are sweet ponies and deserve good care. Mara will be here this weekend. They will be thrilled.

2011-04-10

Sunday, April 10 2011

Groomed and rode Newt. I trimmed his bridal path and Newt had no concern about the clippers at all. I led Newt to the arena. Madelyn was working in the garden and had a black rubber mat laid out near our path. It was no problem for Newt. The cows were at the gate as we went through. It seems the concern for cows and horses is all over now. They pay no attention to each other. Newt wanted to canter on the lunge. He was able to canter and keep his balance on the lunge circle in both directions. The lunge circle is almost as big as the inside of the circle I ride. I need to measure my circle as I have just guessed 20 meters. We rode one round at a walk, then trot for one round and change directions by riding, still at the trot, through the center then trot the same circle, inner, middle or outer, in the other direction then walk one round. Then repeat for each size circle. We cantered for about 4 strides and then back down to a trot. This was a first for us and I found Newt has a nice canter. It excited him, was different, more speed, and I thought the 5 stride might be a buck. When we finished the circle, I let Newt walk on a loose rein. It occurred to me that it would be very interesting to ride the circle on a loose rein. I achieved some success but would often need to resort to slightly taking up the rein slack in one rein in order to communicate exactly where I wanted to be. We rode the rectangle maybe 2 or 3 rounds in both directions, mostly at a trot.

We rode about 400 feet down the trail around the Oak Pasture. Newt has an unusual behavior when he is not comfortable doing something. Most horses start showing some nervousness at the first uncomfortable feeling but Newt just keeps on going until he just cannot stand it and then has a violent reaction. Hopefully I can instill confidence and we can get past something like that. We are much further along than when we did it two years ago. I had set a goal to reach on the trail and I think Newt was thinking hard when we turned around. I don’t want him to think too much in these situations so I navigate by this clump of grass and between two other clumps, anything to keep him busy. We had no problems and got back to the gate and went to the barn. It was 80 today and Newt had a little sweat on the sides of his neck when we finished.

2011-04-08

Friday, April 8 2011

Groomed and worked Newt in the arena. Newt enjoys being groomed. When I brush his tail, he will back up, just to be a little closer. Today I started requesting him to stand in the isle for grooming without being tied. He had the initial tendency to move forward so he could graze but seemed to respect my request to stand still. I certainly would not say he is trained to stand for grooming, but it seems like that will work with Newt if I am insistent with my request. Something like this takes time. They do not instantly become trained but gradually get accustomed to doing it the same way all the time. I walked Newt to the arena knowing that today would include some surprises for Newt. Newt accepted the cattle with a little more confidence than Magic did. I expect Newt has had a little more bovine exposure than Magic. When one came up behind Newt, Newt showed her how he could kick if she got too close. They seemed to understand each other. When we lunged, all 18 of the cattle stood in a circle watching. I guess they don’t have much entertainment in the Oak pasture. Newt put on a show with a little bucking and kicking but mainly he showed them his beautiful extended trot. He was not disobedient, just showing off for the the audience. I do enjoy watching a horse get puffed up and showing off. Acknowledging that Fate needs no temptation, I did not ride in this environment.

2011-04-02

Saturday, April 2 2011

Groomed and rode Newt out on the arena. I led him out there. I graze some cows for my neighbor and they came yesterday afternoon. I was concerned how they might react to each other but the cows were so happy and content to be on good pasture that they never got up. And they were a ways off so I don’t know that Newt was aware that they were in the pasture. I rode Tut over to JD Adam’s pasture one day. JD has lots of Scissortail Flycatchers. Tut was hot blooded and full of himself when 50 black cows came over the hill. Tut had never been in the pasture with that many cows and they had never had a horse in the pasture. All 51 of them stuck their tails straight up in the air and snorted at each other. The cows thought the best thing to do was to run flat out and circle me and Tut. Tut thought the best thing to do was fly out of there. But he listened to me and we came out of that pasture at a reasonable speed. Tut showed better behavior than I did judgement that day. I do not trust Newt that much yet but we are building trust. Newt did good in the arena. He was so relaxed that he even seemed a little bored. I like a horse to pay attention and be eager to go. I will probably start him on riding the trails to see if that will stir up his interest. After I opened and shut the gate, I rode Newt back to the barn. First time. He did good. Even a little too relaxed.

Glory was like that at one time in her training. Bored. She got over it and is a pretty lively ride. I would be riding her also except she is too wide for my comfort.

Magic showed some hesitation at the trailer. I encouraged him a little and he loaded. We’re getting there.

2011-03-31

Thursday, March 31 2011

Sunshine today. I groomed and worked and rode Newt in the arena. It has been several day since I worked Newt. And it was about 36 degrees. But Newt remembers what we want to do and did it. He did not fuss or complain, much. He has not decided to devote his interest in the riding relationship but he does have nice balance, transitions, and gaits. When I start posting, I am often on the wrong diagonal. But on Newt I am surprised how often I start on the correct diagonal. We rode the 20 meter circle walk trot both directions middle inside and outside. Then we rode the arena rectangle and then did a few walk trot walk transitions. I enjoyed the ride. Newt just started shedding. He had a little cut on his off hind cannon bone, more like a bad scratch with some dried blood. I washed it, cleaned it and applied neosporin.

Magic stepped all the way up in the trailer today. We walked forward and turned around in the trailer. He was relaxed.

2011-03-24

Thursday, March 24 2011

Groomed, worked and rode Newt at the arena. Walk and trot on the 20 meter circle and a round each way on the rectangle. Newt was all work today. He did not seem impatient at all. He sometimes looks off rather that at his work but we are working on paying attention. When we were walking to the arena, he spooked at something on his off side. He reacted by jumping forward. I’m looking at this as an improvement because he did not run over me. In the past he would have shied directly away from the spook. That would be right over me. I’ve had horses before that sometimes shied but it would be posturing and snorting. Dodger did that, anything for a chance to show off. Newt reacts immediately with his whole body which is not endearing. He is making improvement. He did very good today.

I took Magic to the trailer. He put two feet in the trailer, twice. We are going in the right direction.

2011-03-22

Tuesday, March 22 2011

Groomed, worked and rode Newt in the arena. That is a first. We rode a 20 meter circle both ways at a walk and a trot, four times around total. Then I got off. Success!

Groomed and worked Magic in the round pen. This is the first time I have worked him since he got lame. I noticed the limp 22 days ago on March 1. He trotted sound. We did not do much. I just wanted to see him trot a few rounds.

Then we went by the trailer. I have begun to think this clicker thing might not be working for Magic. Then, bingo, he stepped up in the trailer. Only two feet but it is progress. His interest limit is about four treats. He did it on the fourth. And I did not make it to where he had to get in the trailer to touch the target. He just had to stretch. If I had made it where he had to step up to touch, then if he did not step up, it would have been a failure. I want to avoid failure. I want to make training successes.

2011-03-20

Sunday, March 20 2011

Newt and I did the same thing we did yesterday. He was a lot calmer at the arena and did very good. Again no enthusiasm for riding in the round pen. Newt does like to be groomed.

Magic had a good day. No limp. I cleaned out his hoof and groomed him a little. Magic tolerates grooming. I think he likes me and everything but grooming is not something he enjoys. I am keeping Newt, Magic and Little More together. They seem to get along together just fine. Newt has just been with them a few days. He was with the mares until then. And he misses them now. If they go to the far end of their pasture, Newt quits grazing and if they don’t come back soon, then he starts running. It is nerve racking to watch for me. And I was installing the electric fence and watched a lot. I got to see Magic get kicked by Newt and it made one of those sounds that I don’t like to hear. But there seems to be no damage.

I got the electric fence working. A split second electric jolt is much better than cuts that take months to heal, if they do heal. It came to me that I needed to avoid being around when Newt got shocked. The fence was not hot and then it was. Newt would come up to me as I was working on the fence. I worried about it and changed my plans and avoided being there when he touched the fence. And he did. And he had a strong reaction. But I was not there thank goodness. I can hear him thinking “I was beginning to trust John but then he just hauls off and kicked me hard. I’ll watch out for him.”

2011-03-19

Saturday, March 19 2011

Newt got over being mister perfect. After grooming and tacking up we walked to the arena in the Oak pasture. It is about 600 feet from the barn. He was perfectly OK with yesterday’s walk halfway to the arena but today he found uncertainty in the last half. We lunged when we got there and he thought I needed to see how he could kick way over my head if I had been on a tall horse while he was bucking just a little. When he acts up he puts his heart into it. I finally got him to walk one round and I thought it was a good time to quit. I walked him back to the barn and rode in the round pen. He was just plum tuckered out and didn’t put much into the ride. It’s simple, I just need to figure out how to channel his energy and effort in the right direction.

Magic had a good day. No limp.