Horsey girlies

Ok, so who rides, who maintains a horse, and how do you manage it with a bump or a child?
I rode in my pg till I was 27 weeks, and stopped because I had SPD and couldn't figure out an effective way to mount without affecting my pelvis (tried getting up onto a fence to mount?).
Anyway, I've ridden a few times this year, not as many as planned, and now, due to lack of babysitter for the next six weeks, can't get back into it yet. Not only that, pony is out of condition, so I'll just feed him in that time so that he actually has some weight to sit on by the time I can leave DS for a couple of hours again.
I have a quarter horse X TB (mostly QH) and he's 10 this year. He hasn't done a great deal, we're still in level 4 in HRCAV, although I reckon that we'd actually be level 3 if I were to be assessed. Just not for horse trials. Dressage is a passion, but I love to get out and do jumps.
I've had Dante since he was nearly 4, taught him 95% of what he knows...but that doesn't mean he's very educated! I've only been riding (properly) since 1999, and spent a good three years riding just about every day till it dropped off the year I met DP (ain't it always the way?). I would love to compete again next year, but at this stage I just want to enjoy my horse and learn heaps more dressage-y type stuff.
So, that's me, who else????

I'm one of those freaks who started riding so young that I have no memory of not being able to ride.
I think I've tried just about horse sport except tent-pegging. I don't mind the odd spot of dressage instruction but I'm more of an adreniline junkie so by preferance I prefer polo and camp-drafting.
I wouldn't have the time for apony at the moment but once the boys are older I'll probably find them some nice ponies and get an old nag for myself so I can teach them to ride.
I've already put them both up on horses but thier legs aren't long enough to reach the stirrups yet so I can't teach them much.

You're one of the girls I wanted to be! I cursed my parents for only one thing...not raising us on a farm so that I could have a horse!
If Oscar ends up not having horse sense, it won't be for lack of trying - he's been strapped to my back watching what I do since he was 4 weeks old!
I do love my jumping and cross country, for pure adrenaline, but I also really love the thrill of a harmonious movement that required the smallest of aids to achieve - when it's like Dante's read my mind - because it means I got it right!
My poor horse would collapse if I tried jumping him in the next few months, though - he is at perfect basic maintenance level now...which means that he's looking skinny, but not emaciated!

The mind reading thing is what I love about polo and camp-drafting because you get a combination of speed and communication. If your horse is into it they'll turn to chase the ball or the cow before even being told to - you just need to let them know how to approach it.
I do enjoy dressage because it's relevant to every discipline. No matter what you do with a horse the skills you both learn with dressage can be usefull.

Are the Spanish horses going to Melbourne? I really want to go but DH doesn't.

I rode for umm.. about 7 years every week, but haven't ridden in a while, uni, overseas, and then with being pregnant and BF and stuff, but do miss it a lot and can't wait until i can do it again.

I did a lot of shows, i loved dressage! I still have all the ribbons and trophy's somewhere, i think in my parents roofspace.

I saw the Spanish horses when i was in Vienna... in a word - Incredible!

I could ride a horse since as long as I remember. I was put on a horse before I could walk!
We grew up with horses our whole lives. I had a beautiful palomino called Angel (with a devil of an attitude)
The stallion in the paddock next to her got through a fence and she became pregnant the same time I fell pregant with DD
I rode her for a while but knew it wasn't an option to have a baby AND train a foal and look after the horses so I had to sell her to a good friend.
I knew it wasn't fair on her to have no time for her.
My DD has started horse riding every so often, but not as much as I'd like. We just don't have the time :(
We are getting a minature pony for either DD's 6th birthday or for christmas as mum has a paddock and needs an animal to put it in so this is a solution that works for everyone! DD gets a horse, well, the whole family gets a little pet horse. We all adore horses in my family :)

Bumpity bump.

I meant to reply to this when i saw it a month ago but hey ho, life got in the way!

I've ridden since i was 7 or 8. We had no money for ponies or even lessons so all of my learning was done on other folks' wild ponies. Between 13 and 17 i rode 3 times a week with no saddle on various wildish ponies (broken age 3 then turned away then used for breeding for 15 years then ridden for the first time in all that time by me and some friends). As a result i have a great seat but no idea what to do with stirrups! Seriously, take the stirrups off the saddle and i am so at home, put them on and i just can't keep my lower leg stable. Very annoying and i'd love lessons to learn "properly" but they're too expensive for me just now. I did some hunting, some cross country, some jumping and not enough dressage. It bored me as a kid but now i'd quite like to learn more.

I managed to get a (somewhat scared) DP on a horse when we went away for the weekend (at the end of July) and despite a few hairy moments (nothing much happened, but the minor things which happened i've seen, in the past, turn into major disasters) which scared him he really liked it and is looking into getting himself some lessons. We only walked up and down the side of a loch for 2 hours but it was beautiful and slight freak-outs aside, was wonderful. I'd love to go riding with him, our local school has an indoor menage with mirrored walls so you can SEE what you're doing wrong LOL. My friend recently bought 2 leadrein shetlands for her sons, and DD is invited to go have a wee trot about whenever she wants. It's a bit of a trek (70 miles) but will be well worth a visit i reckon.

*sigh* oh to be a kid with PONIES. :)

Bx

Going back to the post above of mine, we found the pony we are getting for DD's birthday, and also another one that mum fell in love with so our little ponies are coming to join us in October! How exciting :)

I think I need my brain scrubbed, the title of this thread and I thought perhaps it needed to go in AO ;)

Horses hate me LOL! I've had some very interesting experiences over the years.

*hugs*
Cailin

I have a GF whose riding instructors refer to, affectionately, as "electric bum girl" - the second she sits down in the saddle the horse is off! LOL. As a wise German man told me (while i was fighting with a stallion i was supposed to be in charge of) "don't be afraid, the fear runs down the reins!" ;)

Bx

Not fear related, purely bad luck LOL! I used to work doing Riding for the Disabled when I was in high school and I always got the dodgy horses... Then I took Marc horseriding at an agistment in the blue mountains and the horses were obviously treated badly which we didn't figure out till later. My horse bolted from the guide and my saddle strap broke, I tried to get the horse to stop every way I'd been taught and it just wasn't going to happen so instead of being dragged (which I was close to) I took my feet out of the stirrups and jump/fell and luckily I did when I did as the horse then jumped over a fence shortly after that. I had to sign all these release forms as apparently a high profile footballer had a similar situation happen the week before (and he was an experienced rider) and was suing the agistment. The only horse I loved was a beautiful black gelding that was owned by a friend, he was beautiful and I could ride him bareback without a hitch.

*hugs*
Cailin

Yeah i wasn't really afraid of Rega (the stallion) either, more annoyed! LOL. We had an agreement - he would kick at me but he had to miss or i kicked him back. He was WAY smarter than any gelding or mare i ever knew. If you taught him something on a Monday, by Wednesday he'd figured a way to get round it! LOL. I felt like i got closer to him than any other horse i knew, he was an arab too, very people-centred.

You did the right thing by jumping off your runaway - i rode a mare, May, who bolted every chance she got. You just learn to judge the right minute huh? In fact after a while we put a running martingale on her and she couldn't run off anymore. Broke my arm on her once (well, OFF her) and got back on to finish the ride. My own fault - no saddle so no girth for the martingale. She wasn't abused, just happier being a brood mare and not particularly well schooled, she bolted and i was trying to run her in a circle - she bolted flat out in a straight line with her head turned right to one side (as i'd shortened the rein to try to make her turn) and my leg squeezed tight against her opposite wooden side to no effect then turned very sharply at the fence and threw me into the post. Broke my arm and my HELMET - nearly cracked it in 2! SO glad i wore one.

bx

Sheesh sounds like fun LOL! I think I'd need to really become *connected* with a horse before I rode again. I couldn't just ride some horse I didn't know, not after previous experiences.

*hugs*
Cailin

I know! I went to a riding school/trekking centre with DP and it was, i don't know, an empty experience. I miss that connection more than i miss riding itself iykwim.

There was a lovely old ex-polo gelding, Ronnie, i used to ride. Got an SMS yesterday telling me he'd died the day before. Don't know the story yet, he must have been at least 28 though. Still sad. He was one of those horses with terrible conformation, looked like he'd been lashed together with string the vet said, but he had brilliant manners and was just such a gentleman. Speedy but only if he felt you could cope with it - really kind to beginners, little bit cheeky with the rest of us. Him owner must be in bits :(

Bx

I was taught to ride at aged seven and went every fortnight after that untill I started working. My family could never afford to own a horse nor did we have the space and we lived in close to the city so it just wasn't an option. But I oh so wanted a horse. I learnt to muck stables and rub down horses and groom etc. But I never got much practice at this as my riding was paid trail rides. I sit a horse very well and I feel totally at home riding. Unfortunately, I haven't ridden often since meeting Dh as I have put on way too much weight and I would not subject any horse to that cruelty. Maybe a draught horse hehehe. I miss riding. Thanks to riding when I was young, I had thinish legs and butt, I swear it helped me stay slimmer and toned. I miss it so much and I keep at Dh that when we get enough money and he no longer has to go into the office (ie can work from home), we are moving out further and he can use the net and I can have my horse and teach the girls all about horses and maybe inspire them to love them as much as I do.... Well I can dream can't I? heheh

Bec, I think stirrups are over-rated and so are lessons lol. I used to ride bare-back with just a halter and lead every afternoon because I was too lazy to tack-up my horse and once you can take a jump etc with just a leading rein doing it with full tack is a piecew of cake. One of my dressage instructors used to make us take our stirrups off every second lessone because you should be able to use your thighs to rise to the trot etc (although I don't think my muscles now are what they were then lol). As for lessons, the 2 people who taught me the most about horses did so informally and one of them had never had a formal lesson in his life. He was an old man who lived down the road from us and he could break-in a horse in 3 days flat without it bucking or resisting once - it was just amazing what he could coax a horse to do. I doubt I will ever meet someone who knew horses like him again. My Mum was a really acomplished horse woman and the kind of stuff I learnt from her just isn't covered in lessons.

Cailin, You've really had some bad luck with horses haven't you.
IKWYM about that connection. I still miss my old mare Onyx who died 6 years ago. I got her when I was 7 (and so was she) and even though I rode other horses she was always my favourite - she had so much spirit and personality. I could go on about Onyx all day but I'll restrain myself lol.

Dee, how exciting about your little ponies. Are they a little bit fat? I like fat little ponies.

Kerrie, it sounds like we have similar dreams lol I'm really hoping that in a few years time we can lease a paddock and get a couple of fat little ponies for the boys, a nice polite hack for DH and someone a little firey for me. Or maybe live further out...

yeah, some cute fat ponies for the kids, I want a horse with spirit (nothing better as far as I am concerned and Dh, well he's not into horses, and he reckons even a Draught horse would have problems. Maybe one day he'll come round to my way of thinking.... again, I'm prob dreaming, but hey....

Hi girls,
Love my horses, I was one of those horsey girls that started riding at 7 and had a great bunch of friends ( abit like the saddle club lol ) We all came from different back grounds and I am still friends with them to this day. I was a one day eventer and had my share of nasty horses but had a few that will stay in my heart forever. I have a 13h gelding at my brothers property for DD it needs work and I am neally 6ft so it is left to one of my shorter friends of course I lunge and do a bit on hands on stuff. I would love to get one for me...but DH is against it, apparently it is going to cost too much well that is because what I want will ..rofl.
Hmmm now the weather is getting better must do something about it.
I love the time away from kiddies and DH and its just the serenity of it all
Bec

Well, I went out to see my horse today, but in the end I didn't! I packed up the kid, went to see my dad, called his GP and left a message. Get to the paddocks and as I arrive the GP calls back saying I should try to hide my dad's keys (long story, but he's threatening a drive back to East Gippy from Melb today and he's NOT well in the head or body, after dropping his major depression bundle again last week). So, sadly, I looked out at the paddocks where my horse is, somewhere (couldn't see him, and I'm looking at 60 odd acres with hills and trees!), and drove back to my dad's :( I am determined to see my horse this week, so I'm going to force the issue tomorrow. After swimming, the kid can stay with his daddy while I head out for some pony time. THEN I can come back and study! Sunday I'll be at weekend school, so I'll have something nice to daydream about...
Oh, and I managed to make it to my club's rally day last Sunday (well, I WAS on duty to close up!) and a new member was riding around on a beautiful big black thing. A Fresian stallion, no less. That's what I want (well, not a stallion, I'll take a gelding!) when I have a farm!! My dream horse!! Alongside my current equine beau, of course!

Me, me! I'm horsey! I actually haven't ridden though since I was pregnant with my first - 5years ago! I do hope to ride again as it truly is my sanity. I do a bit of pencilling now and again to try and stay in the loop but I haven't even done that now for about 12 months. I have done dressage and some eventing.

God, i wouldn't have anything fiery! All the wild nags of my youth have put me right off. GIve me something with a bit of scope and a VERY even temper and i'm happy! A nice cobby gelding i think - something about 15-15.2hh but broad so it can take up my long legs, manage most riders, and still short enough to vault onto. Also hairy - i can't be doing with rugs all year round or expensive food in the winter. A nice native cross. A gypsy-pony would be fine. Got it all planned ain't i? ;) My friend is breeding her riding mare this year - In a few years i'll be begging her to cross her with a nice cobby stallion..though i'm not sure i can be bothered breaking a youngster again... No probably not! LOL. So lazy!

Dach i can remember wondering WHY we had to rise to trot, so infrequent was my use of a saddle. But i find it SO hard to sit to trot in a normal saddle. Has anyone tried the treeless saddles? They're totally amazing! We used bridles often but not always. Some of them coudn't be trusted without a bit, but even then we never used nosebands or browbands, just a headpiece and throatlash, bit and reins - the bare minimum to fasten and to clean LOL. I loved bareback jumping! But then these were ponies, 14hh! I can remember jumping one of the mares 2 foot 11 bareback (the highest jump we could build with our oil drums, traffic cones and improved poles!) from TROT - she could really fly! It's a bit different on the 16.3hh cobs all my friends seem to be keen on nowadays!

I'm so excited to see if Smee likes the idea of horses or not. in a way i'm jealous of her - my parents were mainly disinterested, i would actually go without to let her ride!

Bx

Bec, it sounds like you'd like the Australian Stock Horse. My favourite breed - they're so versatile, not too big & not too small, spirited yet trustworthy, they're happy in a paddock but if you want to stable them they gloss up beautifully and they have a bit of fire but they're not so hot blooded that they're stupid.

Aye but how much bone Dach? I'd want a minimum of 8.5 inches, preferably 9 or even 10, aren't stock horses lighter than that?

Bx

They're medium weight and very athletic. My wonder mare Onyx could carry anyone although she frequently chose not to if they were carriers of the Y chromosone. She had a particular aversion to ****y young men who thought they were very gifted riders rofl.

DP isn't at all gifted (or ****y!) but his normal weight (he moonlights as a personal trainer and has a lot of muscle) is around 14.5 stones (100kg?) and i'd like it if we could have a family horse but that he weren't restricted by the horse's type, so when he's ready to jump he can, kwim? I do like the look of the ASH, reminiscent of the ponies i rode as a kid, just a hand or two taller, but same type, you know, solid but speedy. Maybe i could have a cob for him and the kids and an ASH for mummy to have fun on... Ah, dreaming of horses is so much cheaper than buying/keeping them ;)

I'm in love with Irish vanners. You can get youngstock in Scotland right off the boat for a few hundred pounds if you're willing to take your chances. My friend had a beautiful black gelding, Ivor (as in Ivor the Engine, VERY apt) who was from Ireland. He was a little tall for me at 16hh, but SO much horse. 9 inches of bone, lots of feather, flaxen mane down to his elbow, forelock to his nostrils. Such a handsome lad. We used to ride him on the village green and jump the public benches on him. LOL. The owner of the old manse (no longer an manse and NOT occupied by a churchman anymore as demonstrated by the swearing) used to come out and yell that we were churning up the turf. Which i guess we were but you don't think about that when you're 100 feet up on the back of pegasus' evil twin do you? ;)

Bx

Ooh I've been having a look at some Vanners online - they're magnificent!! Not really my type but absolutely gorgeous none the less. I love the prevalence of Pintos - I'm a sucker for a paint pony (just so long as they don't have pink eyes).

Oh dear, I'm glad I found this thread..... I need your help/opinions.

Sadly we have to put down our lovely Razz (actually he's MIL's), he's 30 and has cancer. We can't put it off, it's to happen this Saturday.

Mitch ADORES him, loves to go feed him and run around the paddock - what do we tell him? We want him to say goodbye one last time, and I think we should say something next time we see Razz - but what?

I want to tell him to say a special big goodbye to Razz because we won;t see him again because.................please fill in the blanks for me! Mitch is only 3, I don't believe in bull$hiting him, and don't have any firm religious beliefs.

It's going to be a very upsetting day and not looking forward to it. At least Razz won't feel so sick anymore. Poor old fella.

Oh I just found this thread too!!!!

Thats so sad lulu2 Its hard enough to deal with it yourself let alone explaining it to kids. Im not sure what to tell you sorry :(

I have been riding since i was 4 or 5 and have had all sorts of horses, I had arabs when i was younger and showed them for years at a pretty high level, but now have a lovely TB gelding who is nearly 17hh and by far the biggest horse i have ever had.

Not long after i got him i found out i was pg and has been has been hard to work/ride him with bad m/s. Am just starting to feel better but being in lockdown makes it pretty boring just doing flatwork. I suffered last pg with SPD and have symptoms starting already so have no idea how i am going to get on him in a few months. chair could work if he keeps still he walks off when you get on.

I didn't ride through any of my other pg's so this is a new experience and being such a big boy its going to be interesting.

I was planning to do some dressage and eventing with him so that will have to wait until next year.

So glad i found you girls!! People think i am mad when they know i ride still (they think i should be house bound or something)

:hug: it's so hard saying bye-bye to our animal freinds.
I think it might be best to just explain the facts - that you have to say a special bye-bye because he's sick and he has alot of owies so the vet is going to visit him and put him down and after that he won't come back. That it's very sad but it's best for Razz because now Razz won't be feeling bad anymore. Maybe you can give Razz a special going away present like some carrots.

There is a book about explaining death and other hard questions by Miriam Stoppard - perhaps your local library or bookshop has it. It's important to avoid euphamisms like being put to sleep because it can make children scared of sleeping.

:hug: Lulu2. It's so hard :(

My friend's horse died last week. She went out to him and he was down, looked maybe colicky, spasming and flailing. Her and the farmer (who owns the grazing) managed to get him to his feet and page the vet but he went down again before they could get him walking and he just died, right there. He was 29. The vet said, maybe colic, maybe something neurological (rythmic kicking out didn't sound like colic to him) but in a lot of ways, though it was traumatic, it was easier for her than having to make the decision. He was otherwise old but healthy.

I guess i'd tell the truth, the horse is very old and is sick in a way that won't ever get better, and hurts a lot, so the vet is going to come and make it not hurt anymore but that means Razz can't be here anymore. As a very small child my mother used to tell me when horses died they went to be the foam on the waves in the ocean (she also told me the northern lights was the angels singing and the moon eclipse was perhaps (she was raised evangelical but didn't practice anymore) God blinking. I don't know where you stand on such things. SHe never lied to me and she never stated them as fact she KNEW, but she allowed my natural sense of wonder at that age to comfort me, if that makes sense. I still love to watch the ocean horses race to the beach even now i'm a grown-up who knows better :)

allgirls i too would have ridden through PG if i'd had a horse. I have tips for teaching a horse to stand while mounted if you're interested. Taught a 14 year old once (who used to rear, walk off, spin his quarters out, you name it) so it should work on any age.

Bx

I came across a book only last week aimed at children about life and death, 'Beginnings and Endings: with Lifetimes in Between' by Bryan Mellonie and Robert Ingpen. It's a Puffin book and the ISBN is 014-350144-5. At three, he might even be very ok with it, as long as you say the truth.
My GF's 3 year old dealt very well with the death of their dog just before last Christmas. They told him that the dog was sick and he was dead and not coming back. He nodded and never asked where the dog was after that, because he understood enough that he was gone forever.
:hug: I haven't had to deal with this when I have a child, it's hard enough trying to process it alone. I was devastated for months when my first horse was put down in 2000.

Lulu, it just occured to me that you might want to make sure you explain that it's only animals who get put down when they're old and sick - you wouldn't want Mitch fearing for his grandmother's safety or getting scared if he's sick.

Thanks ladies, I really appreciate it. The other things I am dreading (I know, I'm horrible) is the sixteen million question I will be asked repeatedly, and the fact that he will have to go over and over and over it for so long.
I didn't have very much to do with Razz (it was very much a "DS and Daddy" thing)so I can distance myself a little - I feel more for the rest of the family that is so upset already. The mechanics of the whole episode (burial etc) is pretty jarring too.

Thanks again - if MIL relents and takes on another horse ( she swears she won't rescue another one), I'll pop in again.

xoxoxoxo

Thanks hoobley that would be great. Because he is the biggest horse I have ever had just getting on is a challenge, all my energy is used getting on him its quite a sight really..

He is getting heaps better and only takes a couple of steps now, being off the track he doesn't have the greatest of manners on the ground, he isn't being nasty, he just doesn't know any better and nobody has given him the time basically. He is such a big beautiful baby.

We cant get the farrier in or a vet either we are in complete lockdown. Anyone else like this?

Well, it takes a few weeks and the more often you train the quicker it is, with horses over about 6 you might need to do a refresher every now and then.

In my experience it's better to use a block and get on easily than to use your thigh muscles and end up hopping and hopping and put the horse off being mounted forever. The whole premise of horse-riding works because the horse moves away from the leg. He does this because somewhere deep in his mind he knows if something is gripping his belly it's a predator (ever seen lion hunt zebra) and he should run. Obviously with domesticity and training horses learn to curb the full-on flight reaction, but it is this premise which allows us to teach them so easily to move away from the leg, and mounting that is anything but easy and smooth for both horse and rider tends to incite this memory of predation and incites worry/panic (depending on the horse). If you're on already when he feels you mount he's ready to hear the next request, if you're trying to mount you become the lion-without-a-good-grip and stepping away from the "fuss" is a natural reaction. If you have to mount from the ground is there anyone who can give you a leg up?

Anyway, teching him to stand... THis worked on an arab stallion who was well past training age and downright dangerous when he chose to be. I started by grooming him from my mounting block. If it helps you can begin with him tied as usual and the block just next to him, then progress to standing in open space with the block next to his belly as it would be to mount. I used his bridle at first for better control but progressed to a headcollar and then nothing, just voice commands.

So you climb onto the block (or a chair - whatever it is make sure it is safe for you both- i found those large round plastic water-tubs, which have gently flared sides are good - stand it upside down and it has a biggish bottom for you to stand on and a wider base for stability) and say "stand" then begin to groom him. Whenever he fidgets you stop grooming and give the command again "Stand" and as soon as he's still say "good boy" and simultaneously go on grooming. Grooming the neck and withers is very bonding for horses so it's a good area to work on, be firm but gentle, scratch and pet him too. I tended to keep up a running commentary in a soothing voice "gooooood, there's the boy, there's the man, easy now" etc. while he is still and immediately be quiet and say only firmly and a little louder (don't shout or growl though obviously! lol) "Stand" if he moved. The idea is to get him thinking that standing next to that mounting block is the loveliest idea and he'll have a happy time.

Once he'll stand to be groomed, tack him up from it too. Lots of horses are eager to be off so the aim here is to let him see it's ok to be calm and that we don't have to get too wound up about going out for a ride. Once he's tacked up you stand on that block and chat to him and groom his withers and neck and keep asking him to stand if he fidgets.

Once he'll stand fully tacked up, relaxed and easy and not move you progress to putting your foot in the stirrup. Don't get on, just put a little weight there in the stirrup and wait. If he fidgets say "Stand" - you might find he takes a leap backwards in training and you need to recap the tacking up phase but it's worth it because it reassures them that what they thought to be true was in fact true. It's nice to stand still next to the mounting block.

Once he'll stand with some of your weight in the stirrup you can progress to getting on. Repeat "stand" as you settle and find your other stirrup, sit for a moment, then get off again. Do this a few times, each time giving lots of petting and scratching and "good boys" when he is still.

Eventually he will be standing still all the time you use the word "stand", and if he's fidgety the command will remind him to relax and wait.

Horses need reassurance that you know what you're doing. In the wild a lead mare makes all the decisions about who goes where and the pecking order and the stallion fights off all the competitors and protects them from unwanted attention. That means mares need to be dominated a bit (NOT whipped or shouted at, just dealt with firmly) and boys, even geldings, need to be treated with consistency and not fought with - stallions especially pick fights - outwit, don't battle - he weighs a quarter of a ton and he'll WIN! In all of this your aim is to make even better friends with him and teach him that it is the most positive and favourable option is to stand when you tell him to. Lead mares tell the others where they can graze just by looking at them, authority is confidence and confidence need only be projected, not felt (in case you don't always feel it).

Don't overdo the training sessions' length - 3 5-minute sessions will have a far more positive effect than one 15 minute one. Try to stop before boredom/frustration sets in on either side (you'll get to know the signs) and always end on the best note possible - if he was standing for 30 seconds at a time and it's turned into 10 then say stand, wait 8 seconds and then praise praise praise and end the session. Even if he is tied up to begin with, give him masses of praise for standing still.

HTH and it works for you. I take it you're flooded in? I hope that resolves soon.

Bx

Equine Flu has hit out here and most of NSW is in lockdown. It's totally ballsed up this years racing carnival and the industry is losing millions by the day.

Victoria is ok so far.....

Oh. Crazy. Don't you guys have to vax?

ETA - ah, i did some reading. So, what now? Are they going to start vaxing? Or wait it out and retighten quarantine? In the UK you just have to vax and boost every 6 months and you're good to go. You have to keep up to date (they're really strict - can't get onto showgrounds etc. without your passport/vax card being up to date) but it's no hassle once you're used to it. Not everyone i know vaxes, but everyone who shows/breeds does. Others don't always but it rarely kills so it's not too bad if they get it. It's funny to imagine you guys never having had to deal with it - like us and rabies i guess.

Bx

We never had to vax because we never ever had it before. Vaxing was only ever done in quarantine before horses left here and before horses arrive :(
Anyway, it's hit more than just the racing industry in Vic now.I just got the press release from DPI, EFA, HRCAV and PCAV that no events are to be held for the month of September. No rallies, clinics nothing. Unless you can certify that you are following all the biohazard protocolly stuff...and what pony or riding club can be bothered with all that kerfuffle??

We cant transport horses, nobody is allowed on the property that has contact with any other horses including farrier vet or instructors. We cant ride outside the property either and have to pick up our own horse feed, cant get anything delivered at all. All races, shows and any other horse events are all cancelled or postponed and some poor people are stuck at some events they were competing at and can't leave until the lockdown is lifted, they must be going quietly insane.

Thanks for the tips, he isn't that bad so that has helped so far, he has improved about 50% in 4 months and that is not really trying too hard, so i am lucky to have a lovely boy.

It could be, allgirls, that his previous owner/rider was doing something else entirely that had him in this habit and that simply by being around you he'll cure himself of it. I know one pony who worked in a riding school with beginner kids on her back all day, they had to use a lunge whip in the school to get her to canter as she was so reluctant to go forwards. She was bought by my friend, fast-forward 3 months and they had her in a running martingale because she's so keen she's practically bolting! Only working 8-10 hours a week instead of 3-5 hours a day and not having inexperienced riders bumping about on top had turned her back into herself. :)

What on earth do you do in a medical emergency!? The vet can't come to you at ALL?

Bx