Zac

Another newbie has come to my home. Zac is a 7 yr old gelding who has been sitting in a paddock untouched for 14 months. The owners of the property say he came with the property and they want to breed QH's so have no interest in keeping him. I had him float up from Boyup Brook after it took over 2 hours to catch him. When he first arrived I was like "uh oh, what have i got myself into". Pushy, frightened and NO idea what was going on, he was all over the place. I started work with him straight away. First thing I taught him was to yield his HQ's AWAY from me. Last thing I want to see is a horses butt in my face! I then taught him to get put of my space. I cannot lead a horse that is walking on top of me. I did 3 10 minute session a day for 3 days and on the last day did it with the saddle on. He is a good horse, but just has no idea what is required of him. The day after he got here I spent an hour, a bottle of oil, alot of shampoo and half a bottle of conditioner getting his tail not to resemble a piece of wood. He can now swat flies without getting bruised. Today (Thursday) I worked again on the ground with the saddle on and he is coming down quickly. I stood up and down in the stirrup and laid across him but no one was home and I'm not quite prepared to get on this horse without someone being home as I'm not sure how he will go. He took very well to me standing in the stirrups so will give him a few more days and see how he goes.

Well yet again I have been extremely lazy updating this blog, so this is another catch up entry. Mickey has come along great! My last entry told how he dropped his shoulder on the right rein quite badly, so I started doing lots of walking corners with him. By that I mean, I concentrated on walking a straight line and focusing into my corner. When I got into the corner I applied a little inside leg just behind the girth, and little inside bend and then turned the corner doing a hindquarter yeild. At the next corner, I did the same but shifted my leg forward slightly and did a forequarter yeild by moving his shoulders. Eventually I was able to walk the arena in a square and thus was able to get him yielding his right side to the left and was showing him he could bend through his body. I have just picked up another horse, Zac, and he is showing me the same online. He does not want to bend into his right circle, but more on Zac later. So now I had Mickey bending better through his body, I thought it was time to try a canter. I always try the left first as this is usually the better lead and I can get an idea on what the right will be like. Put him into a nice steady, balanced working trot and asked. He surprised me by not speeding up to much to make the transition, but oh my god, did he make up for it in the actual canter! He hooned around pretty damn fast but I just sat and told him he was a good boy and let him go. He fell out of it after about 20 meters but thats ok. Did that a couple more times then tried the right. Holy crap! The right was pretty bad! He dropped his right shoulder and led with the middle of his neck and shoulder with his head on the outside. Is that possible? Well, he did it. I had to pull him up as he felt like he was really going to fall over. It is possibly the worst canter I have sat on, but thats ok. He got the right leads straight away so thats good? Anyway, for the next week I got off his back and practised transitions online. This is a brief outline on how I do it online.
All I do with horses who don't understand canter is I put them online (lunge, with NO gear) have them trotting nice and balanced and relaxed, warm them up a little, then I raise my leading hand and say "canter" in a sharp voice. Now of course most horses at this stage will just keep trotting and not even acknowledge I have done anything, so I then put the stick (whip, whatever) behind me, not at his hock, but behind me and keep repeating "canter" while I start flicking the whip and bringing it closer and closer to the horse until he breaks over. Basically I up the annoyance until he finds what I want. The second he breaks, and I mean the very second, I stop all sharp voice, whip, everything and bring my voice right down saying "good boy". Now what usually happens with green SB's that don't know how to canter is that when they break, they bugger off and drag you half way across the arena. Thats ok, I don't care what they do, how they do it, I still tell them they are good. After doing this a few times each way over the course of a few days, you will find you don't need you stick/whip. All you need to do is have a nice balanced trot and say "canter" and they break over. They will fall out of it, but again, thats ok. At this stage all you are doing is teaching the cue. When the transition was looking easier online, I jumped back on. Left rein first. Nice balanced trot, ask for canter and used my voice as well, and he pops straight in and what a different canter! It is still a little rushed and he does shoot his head up, but I sit off his back a little and ask his head to come low and it is actually not a bad canter, AND he is holding it fine now. Now for the right. I try to stay relaxed as possible and DON"T put the image of the last canter in my head. Same deal as left and BINGO! Much better! Still bloody awful, but not nearly as bad and he doesn't feel dangerous this time. Over the next week we do alot of canter and he improves heaps! After being with me for 4 weeks, I advertise him and have a handful of calls. A young girl has taken him for a week or so to try. I have explained to her how green he is and the work he needs and she is confident she can do it so I will call her at the end of the week and see how he is going. It is really hard to let them go sometimes and to cover my costs of feeding etc they can't be here for too long, otherwise I end out of pocket. One day it would be nice not to worry about the money side of things and just give them all much more time, but at this stage I have to rely on whoever takes them to carry on with the training. I won't be too sad if Mickey comes back as I would rather he go to the home that suits him most and not just anyone.

More

I am adding to my previous blog because I failed to mention that we also worked on Mickey coming off my leg. He really drops and leads with his right shoulder when on the right rein. Left isn't good, but not as bad. It is very typical of this breed as they have been taught not to bend. He started to yield nicely so will follow up with that with every ride.

More training for Mickey

Well, Mickey has had 4 more rides and a couple of ground work sessions since the last blog. The day after his first ride I did a little bit on the ground with him teaching him to yield from pressure and laterally flex. He picks things up well but needs a very calm steady consistent hand. I am feeding him a fair bit so this could be a factor. After the little bit of ground work I got on, repeating all of the previous days lesson on getting on and lowering his head. He came down much quicker but I find if i talk while I'M up there, he startles, so my neighbor comes over and we talk the whole session lol. Walk him around talking and relaxing him for a good half hour. Next ride was pretty much the same, still only walking and relaxing(and talking to myself lol). This is all so new to him I want every ride for him to relax into. Next day only did ground work. Yielding of pressure again, some circles and playing with the carrot stick with he is terrified of! Will keep playing with that. Next ride was same as the first and second but I felt he was relaxed enough to try a trot. I asked very gently by clicking as he is so sensitive and he shot forward like I had kicked him and then slammed to a stop. Ok, no probs, go again. This time, I got a shuffle pace but I just let him go, then he stopped again. All this time I am keeping him slightly flexed to the inside. If all goes to hell I can put in a one rein stop. I ask a couple more times and finally I got a trot. Not much of one but it was ok. More asking and pretty soon we are trotting around the arena no problem. I don't put any pressure on him at this stage and although I have a feel on his mouth, there is no pressure. I just let him travel forward. He is going around like a Llama, so I get a bit of forward happening in the trot and then bring him back to walk and lower his head, relax him and finish.
Next ride all the same is repeated. Groundwork, yielding flexing, circles, hop on, walk and relax, trot forward this time asking him to slow up and start to lower his head in his trot. He is learning quick. Next day, all the same but this time I find when I go to scratch my face or play with my sunglasses his head shots up and he gets very tense. Almost like he has been ignoring the fact that I am up there but when I raise a hand he jumps. I then spend half the session waving my arms around and getting him used to it. He is lowering his head really nice in the trot now. I must clarify that when I talk about "lowering his head" it is NOT asking him to work in a frame or "on the bit" It is simply asking him to relax and have his poll lower than his wither. This little horse is such a darling, he really really tries hard even tho he is a nervous type. Will ride again tomorrow and then he can have some ground work for a couple of days and will have Friday off as I work.

Mickeys first ride

Mickey has only been here 3 days, but has settled in really well. He is a bit of an introvert, so doesn't seem to fuss about much, although he will show his feelings at some stage, as I will ask to see them. Yesterday in the humidity, he had a very high respiratory rate, although his temperature and colour were fine. I had given him a bowen the day before, so I think this contributed, although today he was fine. I put him online yesterday to get a feel for him and get to know him a bit. He was very worried about the circles I was asking and the stick in my hand, but soon settled enough to show me he could hold a circle better than most SB's OTT. He didn't take much to move off the pressure of my hand on his girth and flank, so it shows me he should be quite easy to move of my leg. He is quite sensitive, yet sensible.

Today, I put him back online with saddle on, and again, he was sensitive but sensible so I thought I would see how he would take to his first ride. I ALWAYS take my time on mounting to gauge they response and feelings to the process and Mickey was no different. Ok, so, foot in stirrup, face horses head, stand up in stirrup, horse FREAKS OUT!! Half way across arena. Cool, thats ok. I bring him back and do it again. Quietly, calmly, more freak out but he's still listening. I keep my energy low, sing to myself, get him back, foot in stirrup, stand up, head shoots up, but he stands. Rub opposite shoulder, good boy. Stand down, he freaks. Thats ok. Do it all again. Same process, keep singing, stand up, good boy, rub shoulder, step down, head is up, still tense but stands. He's coming down quick. Repeat process few more times till he is sighing, licking and chewing. Cool. I hand walk him around for a bit. Bring him back, do it all again and this time I lay across him and ask him to move. Head shoots up. I keep him going until he relaxes and then stop and get off. Repeat a few more times.Next I swing my leg over, I sit lightly, rubbing his wither., get off when he relaxes. Repeat this a few more times until I feel he is ready to move off. He has a real pace action and wants to stick his head in the air and hollow his back. He is tense, but I find if I open and close my hands on the reins (NOT seesaw!!) in time with his front legs, his head lowers and he relaxes. Strange! I don't really know what made me think of this, but it works! As soon as he drops his head low, I stop "playing". I am not asking him to come "on the bit" (I hate that expression) but just to lower and not be a giraffe. Of course once he lowers his head, he relaxes and I can feel his back lift. I walked him for a good 20 minutes, until he was really relaxed with head low and then finished.This horse is going to be my biggest challenge so far as he really feels like a pacer compared to most that I have done. A couple of times he wanted to speed up and although I never let him, I could feel if I did, it definetly would be a pace at this stage and not a trot. Will be interesting to see what tomorrow holds!

More on Ash and new horse arrives :)

Well yet again I have been a little lazy and not blogged for a while, so this is a bit of a catch up again and an introduction to the new retraining prospect.

Ash has been coming along really well. Although never raced, he has the typical gaits of a SB. Don't be fooled into thinking just because they never raced that they will move like a normal horse. Some do and some don't. Ash moves like a SB. He was extremely unflexable and we did have some issues with resistance about 3 weeks ago. My fault though as I had excepted mediocre from him and not really getting things right before I moved on. He had been coming of my leg so so and going forward so so and flexing so so, which unfortunetly set us up for a fight when I asked for more. Oopps! Lesson learnt! Get it right first time. So what ended up happening was that when I went to ask him for lateral flex and a one rein stop (at a walk) all I got met with was a huge resistance! He set his neck when I put feel on the rein (mainly to the right) and when I applied my leg to roll his ribs and hips away, he just said "wha???" After about 10 minutes of this reisitance, I got off, and asked for him to yeild away from my hand where my leg was. Once he softened on that, I got back on and started again. Asked for soft flex, only a little, little bit of leg and it was much better. Now three weeks down the track and his one rein stop and lateral flexing is excellent. His forward is much better and his stop and back up is brillant! We had our first canter the other day. Not the most comfortable but we will work on it. I'm not in a hurry until he is a little more mature in mind and body as he is still very immature.

Next project is a little gelding called Mickey aka, Miami Key. He is approx 14.3hh, bay, very plain but very cute. First things first, I did his feet today as they were terrible and gave him a small Bowen. I never give them a big Bowen first up as I like to see how they react to it. He is extremely sore, reminds me alot of Striker. Very weak through the back. I will give him a couple of days and start on the ground, teaching him to yeild of pressure and getting to know him, probably until the end of the week and then put the saddle on and go from there. I will be sure to keep the blog updated on this one as he is a very special little horse.

Catch up blog

Well, yet again I have been extremely lazy and not blogged for a while. Time for a catch up.
Mango came along really well but had a little problem with his suspensory again. He was re homed with a lovely lady and her daughter, who gave him some time off and then restarted his training. He came out to our Standardbred winter show and did really well and looked a million dollars, but was just pipped at the post for Reserve by my little baby Ash. He is entered for the Royal Show so I am looking forward to seeing him there.

My next project is my 2 rising 3 yr old Ash. Although he hasn't raced he certainly has the Standardbred gait and was born pacing so will still be a challenge. He has had about 5 rides so far, 2 bareback, just sitting and bending and flexing, and 3 with saddle just concentrating on getting a nice forward swinging walk. i will take it very slowly with Ash as he is mentally very immature and can't handle too much work at once. I will concentrate on lots of ground work still, with bending and flexing, yielding from pressure etc.

More work for Mango and a show as well

Well, I have been a little lazy with blogging Mangos training so will do another catch up.

Over the last week or so I have done alot of ground work with Mango as he is struggling to keep up in behind. He looks like a strong horse but is quite weak in behind. When on the lunge, he starts of well in his trot but gets weaker and weaker after I start to canter him. I have been doing alot of yielding HQ's, small circles opening up into big circles and back to small again, back leg stretches and he has had 2 bowens. Interestingly tho, is that he is the type of horse that even at rest is stamping his hind feet and constantly swishing his tail. I have been getting the feeling that he feels "pinchy" in behind. I know that doesn't quite make sense, but it is the only way I can describe it. After the bowen I gave him last night, the stamping stopped and the tail settled so will be interesting to see what happens. I will give him a couple of days before I do anything with him again. He went to his first show on the 20th and did really well. He looked a million dollars and was so well behaved. He won Champion Standardbred gelding and Champion open hunter horse gelding. Fantastic results for his first show! I was really pleased with him.

Mr Mango comes home. :)

Have a bit of catching up to do as my Internet connection went down last week for the whole week so I was a bit lost lol.

Well, where do I start. Mango had 3 rides over at Sharons before he came home. 2nd ride I did same as the first pretty much. Started online, little bit of yeilding, circles. Then just lent over him before mounting, relaxed him, swung my leg over and just walked him around a bit. 3rd ride I took him to the neighbours place in there nice big arena and we had our first trot. Typical of a Standardbred OTT, no direction, has no idea on what a circle is, does straight lines VERY well, and is generally all over the place lol, but he tries. Took it pretty easy on him tho, just did some gentle trotting. I'm trying to be gentle and not do to much at this stage as I'm not sure how much work the suspensory will handle. He did feel a little proppy at the end of the session so I left him alone for a week before I got back on. 4th ride, again at neighbours, he was great. He is such a trier and so willing. Did a little bit of yielding on the ground and a few circles. He is great with his circles on the ground, especially for a Standardbred. As long as I keep my energy at his rib cage, he stays out. Not doing to much circles or lateral stuff on the ground at this stage, again because of the suspensory. More gentle trotting. He was a good boy. I am a bit worried about his canter tho, as from what I have seen in the paddock it looks like a washing machine canter lol.

Friday the 11th of April I bought Mango home. He settled in very quickly. He is not a horse that fusses about to much at all. Had a little ride and started to ask him to work a little better from behind. He uses his hocks quite well for a Standardbred so that is a good sign. As he is starting to use his hips he is momentarily dropping his head. I'm not putting too much pressure on him at this stage. I finally got his shoes off after a week of trying. Would have been easier to call a farrier of course but that would have been way to easy lol. Well, what a difference it made. He was obviously shod for more effective pacing as he had very heavy shoes on the front and very light ones on the back which would have helped with timing. The next ride I tried out the canter and was pleasantly surprised. With the shoes off it wasn't so bad. After the initial flat out trot, he broke over and it was an ok canter! He can't hold it at all at this stage but thats ok. I don't want to push the canter issue yet, will see how the leg holds up first. All in all I am extremely happy with Mango. He is proving to be just as quiet and sweet as Striker. He will make someone an awesome Halter show horse with his magnificent body and hopefully a great riding horse too.

I will do an update on Envy in the next couple of days as well.

Striker is Sold :(

Well, Monday was an exciting day for Striker. He had a young girl and her mum come and look at him as a prospect for a pony club/jumper/show horse. I hadn't actually put him up for sale as such, but these ppl had heard through word of mouth that he was here, so contacted me and came down for a look. He didn't put a foot wrong! What a good boy he was. I was so proud of him. The young girl instantly fell in love, but i told them to go away and think about it. They rang me the next day and said without a doubt they wanted him. I took him to his new home on Tuesday. I was sad to see him go but happy for him too, as he now has a person that loves him dearly. Another happy ending

Mango
Mango had his first ride today and what a champ he was. I had done some ground work with him on Wednesday and followed up today with same ground work (yielding to feel and circles) all done with the saddle on. Then I stood in the stirrup to get a gauge of his reaction. He was tense so I lent across and stroked the opposite shoulder. Did this until he relaxed, then lent across the saddle and asked him to move in a circle for me. Again tense, but I repeated this until he was relaxed with it, making sure I never quit while he was tense. I then graduated to sitting on him and rubbing, while flexing, left and right, and eventually he was ready to move off. What a good boy! Just walked around, making sure he was always bent to the inside, for 10 minutes and quit while he was relaxed. I will follow this up tomorrow with more of the same. He is proving to be worth his weight in gold just as Striker did.

Striker goes to his first show :)

Well yesterday I took Striker to his first show. We just went in hand and although he was a little nervous and fidgety, he behaved himself so well, I couldn't have been happier! He ran out for me well, was a little difficult to stand up for the jugde but afterwards he had to stay at the float while I rode Trix and he didn't bat an eyelid. What a good boy.

Today he had some people come to look at him to buy and he was perfect! This horse just has the nicest nature, I am going to be really sad to see him go. The people were really wrapped with him but I told them to go and talk/think about it and to call me in the next couple of days. I won't be too upset if they don't take him but it will be a nice home if they do.

Mango

Naughty me has picked up another one for retraining. Mango is a 7 yr old gelding that was one foot in the knackers due to a suspensory injury. The same lady that i got Striker from rang me about him so i went and had a look. He is very much a "WOW" horse. She didn't want to send him off, but due to the injury, told me I was pretty much the last port of call for him. He is staying at a friends while the suspensory heals and i finish Striker. Won't have much to report on him at the moment, but will give updates if anything comes up.

Strikers last couple of weeks

Well I haven't been able to blog for a week or so, so there is a little catching up to do.
Striker has been going extremely well despite a couple of setbacks. For some reason, over the last couple of weeks, he keeps managing to bang his legs around. I have no idea how he is doing it, but almost every day there is a new bit of skin off. Nothing serious but one of his legs has had a little bit of swelling for the last couple of days, although he hasn't been lame. Anyway, over the last couple of weeks I have spent much of the time on the ground with him, going over the yielding and voice cues for the canter. I got back in the saddle with him about 3 days ago and he is so much improved! He now jumps into his canter from a nice slow steady trot and although he does lose it he always makes an effort to pick it back up. He is only losing it because he is not quite strong enough yet to hold it. His trot work is great! He could almost go out in a walk/trot ring now. He is probably working a little low but I am encouraging that at the moment as I want him to build up the strength and reverse the frame from harness racing. I am so pleased with this little horse. He really does try his heart out to please. He is quite introverted but is slowing coming out of himself the more we get to know each other. It will be extremely hard to let him go when the time comes. Will get some more pictures in the next couple of days. The great thing is, he seems to be no longer lame!!!

Now to Envy. I have also gone to the ground with Envy and have yet to get back on, but I will be riding her on Wednesday. I have concentrated on yielding and getting her more forward online as i was finding that very hard on her back. Wednesday will be the day that will tell me whether or not this has worked. Still finding it a little hard to lighten this mares front end. She just goes looking to lean on what ever she can. It is a hard habit to break from a horse that relied on a headcheck for balance.........but we will do it!!! Hopefully my next blog on Envy will go something like this..............................YAY!! Lol.

More saddle work for Striker

Start of session

Saturday afternoon I got back in the saddle with Striker with fingers crossed that his lameness had at least improved, if not gone. I was presently surprised. Although not gone altogether, he was still a little proppy, it had improved enough that I decided to do some light work. Today we just focused on rhythm and relaxation. To begin with he was hollow back, head high, but about 15 minutes into it, using the lift, reach, relax method of NH, he really started to relax and come through from behind. I was very tentative on the right rein as this was his lame one so I only did a little to keep some sort of balance but worked pretty much 70% on the left. We worked for most of the session in trot and only did 2 canter transitions on both reins. He stills falls out after 10 meters or so but at this stage i am only after the easy transition with no "run on". His rhythm in his trot work is really good now, I'm not working hard to keep him going. I have him on willow bark, celery seed and comfrey leaf so this is probably making him a bit more comfortable through his body. This little horse never fails to astound me. His temperament and willingness is second to none. He is still quite shut down, so I will contact Rosemary for some essences for him. Mind you, I should just use my own intuition and delve into my Bach flower essences!

End of session

Striker goes to the beach!

Friday I took Striker to the beach. I'm not sure if he had ever been before, I would guess not, but in true Striker form, he took it all in his stride. He was a little hesitant at first but having Trixie with him really helped as she has no problems at the beach and he followed her straight in. It is times like this that you can really see that he is only a baby as he really relied on her for support. Trix was great as she gave him all the confidence and support he needed, she did me proud. Leading was a little difficult as I had only just started to teach him at home to lead with me and not behind me, so when leading off Trix he wanted to lead from pretty much up her bum! Lol. He did well in the end and I had him leading right beside her. I jumped on bareback which he was very unsure of! He was very tense and a little frightened, so i just took him for a little swim and let him be.

Envy also had some work Friday. Today I played with her online. Mainly yielding to feel which she finds a little difficult and confusing but after about 10 minutes she had softened considerably, so I let her be. Next I taught her to canter online. She was surprisingly good, maybe it was all the canter work we had done under saddle? She broke over pretty quick, with minimal "run on" so i was pretty happy. It ended a good session.

Ok, I have a couple of days of Striker to catch up on so i will start with him. Didn't do much with him over the weekend, just a little bit on ground yielding on Saturday morning. Monday I rode him and concentrated on leg yielding under saddle. He is quite flexible for a Standarbred and doesn't have trouble bending, but he does have trouble with a bit of stifle lock. It doesn't affect him when he is moving and going forward, but for the slow stuff like teaching him to yield his HQ's from a stand still, he finds it really difficult. I thought it was only the right leg but the left leg seems to have come up with it too. Maybe because he is losing muscle tone from racing??? Not too worry, we will get through it.

Tuesday it was back to yielding HQ's on the ground as he is still slightly lame. He gets a little confused and is quite scared of my carrot stick so I am spending time rubbing him with it. I had a little ride. His go forward button is not too flash, I am working harder than him, which is NOT a good thing lol. I am giving him the benefit of the doubt at the moment as I know his feet are still sore, so i am not pushing the issue too much at this stage.

Wednesday. I have just done ground work today. More HQ yields and transitions on line. Walk, trot, walk, trot, canter, trot, canter, trot, walk. He is a very quick learner and although he falls out of his canter after half a circle, I let him be as at this stage all I want is the easy break over, which he is giving me, so I don't care how long he holds it for, just as long as he understands what I'm asking when I lift my energy and say "canter". Started to teach him to back up from pressure today, from nose and chest, as most Standardbreds find a back up extremely difficult, ESPECIALLY from pressure. Most will automatically lean back against you. He did well, although the stifles are a bit of a problem with this, but he tries. To finish up today, we did some short sessions of asking him to lead WITH me. Not behind me not in front or to the side but WITH me. He was very confused as I don't think anybody has ever asked him to be WITH them. All in all, I am really happy with this little horse. :)

Envy

Started Envy's session today with HQ's yield from the ground. She is a very "dull" horse to touch and I had to use quite alot of stimuli to cause her to respond. I found voice was enough. Then more HQ yields and leg yields in the saddle, again, quite alot of stimuli needed - slap leg, slap reins. She gets it, she just thinks about it carefully first. I did do trot and canter today, and WOW, how much better is her canter! She holds it for as long as I ask her too now. It is a little bit of hard work on my part but she is getting easier, but most of what I did today was trying to help her unlock her neck and get her laterally and vertically flexing, just at a walk. I would guess she wore a head check because she really wants to lean on my hands, so we did ALOT of flex release, flex release, flex release. Trying to keep the forward in the walk still there. She did well and really tries but has a bit of trouble letting go of the past habits of racing. I am also really please with Envy, she just takes a little longer to respond but she tries hard.

Envy and Strikers day

First up was Envy this morning. She did extremely well today. The focus for today was teaching her to leg yeild. Standardbreds are typically taught to lean into pressure, ie, to pull a spider they must lean into the pressure of the harness, they are also taught not to bend through there rib cage or neck so this can be a challange for some. Envy picked it up fairly quickly. She did want to lean as soon as the leg went on, but quiet persistance with an increase in pressure and/or sound, coupled with the quick reward (release) and she was picking it up in no time. She was much more flexable to the right and was willing to bend and yeild much easier that way, which is also her easy canter lead. Once she waqs confidently yeilding at a walk, we stepped it up to a trot, which of course was MUCH more difficult for her. She started off quite canter happy and each time my leg went on, she went, "oh I can canter" lol. I just kept persisting until she got the idea what it was I wanted. She never recieved the reward until she found what I was looking for. I didn't hammer her with it tho, just enough until she "got it" then we had a quiet walk around with the two yearling following close by. To finish up we did a bit of canter which she held VERY well, I was really impressed with how much her canter had come along since Wednesday. She picks up her right lead very easily but the left you really have to set her up well before asking. I will always do a bit of canter in each session with a Standardbred, even tho it may not be the focus of the lesson.

Strikers turn. Unfortunetly still a bit foot sore, but again I did some ground work with yeilding with him, then jumped on for a small session of yeilding at the walk, which he picked up straight away. He has such a soft mouth, I have to be very gentle with him. Did a little of trot but not too much. Although he was better than yesterday, I decided it was time for a proper Bowen, so got off and gave him a Bowen and a bath. He was so very sore through the QL, psoas and lumber region, he was buckling under my hands. Tomorrow I won't ride him, I will give the Bowen time to work and just do some more ground work with yeilding.

Envy

Although this blog so far is mainly about Striker, I thought I would also write about another little Standardbred that i am in the middle of retraining. Envy is a friends horse and as I am only seeing her twice a week at this stage, he progress is likely to be slower than that of Strikers. She is a little black mare, about 15hh and is 8? yrs old. A very sweet and pretty girl but can be a little piggy lol. I first rode her a couple of months ago and she was a very typical ex harness horse. Mouth as hard as they come, they more pressure I put on her mouth, the more she gave back. She was looking for something to lean on. Head and neck stuck out like a giraffe, pulling herself along as best she could. Asked to go forward and she had a habit of grunting her disapproveal and trying to throw in a few bucks. Great! I thought. I didn't ride her again until a couple of weeks ago and her training has now commenced. So far I have had 3 rides and one pessoa session which she took to very well. I am very pleased with Envy so far. She has started to carry more of herself instead of relying on my hands, the bucking in protest has nearly been eliminated, although she still grunts and throws her head to show her dissatifaction lol and she has much more balance and rythem. Yesterday we even had a couple of canters, which were extremely hard to push her into to begin with, but with reward offered as soon as she did, rest, she was soon offering it on the first ask with little resistance. I next see Envy on Friday the 22nd. I am really looking forward to seeing what this little mare has to offer.

20th Feb 2008

Striker is still lame today so I had a little ride just to keep the "go forward" fresh in his mind, then did some yeilding HQ's from the ground. He is such a willing little horse. Not much to report until he is over this lameness.

Second day for Striker

19th Feb 2008

Today I put him on the circle online to have a look at him move and assess him a little more. He knows what a circle is (thank god!) so I had little problems. He seemed a little foot sore but i thought I would have a little ride anyway. Started to teach him to yeild him HQ's on the ground in preparation for my leg. He responded very quickly although still having problems with the back end sticking. I am not convinced it is stifle lock, more of a soreness problem. After a walk and trot, I thought I would try out canter today just to see what I have. I was presently suprised. Although I had to push pretty hard to get him to break over, he didn't speed up too much and although he couldn't hold it, what he gave me briefly was a nice 3 beat canter. He still seems a little foot sore so I jumped off and have a look at this feet. They were shocking! Two front club feet! They were so upright!! I'm angry that I didn't check them out first, poor little horse, so I took him back to the stables and did the best job I could. Will see how he pulls up tomorrow.

Strikers first day of training begins

18th Feb 2008

Striker has been here since Friday but due to the Standardbred State Champs I haven't started any work until today. Doesn't matter as it gave him a chance to settle in. Striker has had about 6 rides before he came to me so his training is pretty much all from scratch but as he is only 4 with minimal race starts, he shouldn't have too much problem. It will depend alot on whether he is a natural pacer or not . He is not your typically built Standardbred as he is very fine and quite narrow.
Ok, so today was more of a feeling out session. Just walked and trotted gently around getting to know each other and getting a feel for each other. Very typical of the breed of the track, he has no balance, no direction and absolutely no rhythm at all. Leg means nothing to him (typical again! lol) but he is willing and a very quite little boy so I don't anticipate many problems. He seems to have a few back/hip problems though as his back legs seems to get stuck, stifle lock?? I will have to suss this out but he is extremely sore all though the back, psoas and QL's. Nothing a bit of Bowen won't sort out. I didn't do much today, gave him a light Bowen after I had finished and a nice feed of barley.