Post by Shelly on Sept 24, 2014 6:05:23 GMT
I feel as if I haven't been able to get on here in the longest time! So how about I bring you up to date 
--- all the good, bad and ugly lol
Last friday, My friend and I trailered our horses in to the stable where we take lessons with our young horses for the first time. It was a pretty big day for both of us!
It was the first time I ever brought Sheldon off property. Sheldon came home when he was about 6 months old and other then walks down the road, he has never left the farm since (he is now 3 and a bit). I was so excited, I got him all dolled up the night before and everything!
The morning of our lesson we arrived with the horse trailer. After doing my trailer prep and wraps with Sheldon I went to load him and he sniffed the trailer and just walked on! (One proud mama over here!). Then we went down the road and pick up my friend's horse. He did the same as Sheldon, looked at the trailer and then walked on no problem.
When we got to the farm it was like extreme desensitizing for Sheldon! From lawn mowers, to whipper snippers, new horses and dump trucks dumping dirt. Sheldon got exposed to a lot! He was pretty calm considering. He has his head up and alert most of the time but he was respectful of my space and when he got a bit overwhelmed I did a quick ground work session with him (got him to back up, move side to side, etc.) and it worked great at keeping him calm and focused. Sheldon was not a fan of being in the outdoor cross ties. He tolerated it but got a bit scared when he tried to take a step forward. He isn't used to having pressure on his face so when he tried to step forward he reared up just a little bit (ok this was not good!). I gave him heck and he just stayed put and calm after that. I was able to finish grooming and tacking.
Keep in mind, the outdoor cross ties have a paddock behind and beside them of "new" horses for sheldon (not that it's an excuse for misbehaving but it was a big day).
Then came the riding part! I brought sheldon in the outdoor, walked him around once and he was pretty good. Very alert. I got him to sniff a few flowery jumps, he was not a fan of those but eventually went from not wanting to go neat them to trying to eat them lol.
I then proceeded to mout him, he was perfect. Started walking him around and he was being very good. He was not sure about one spot in the ring and he didn't really like the guy pushing the lawn mower either. His reaction though was just to sky away from it a little the first few times we went by.
Then our lesson started. We worked on walking and circles, we did some trotting and large circles at the trot and finished with just cantering on the long rail. The lesson was pretty short itself considering but honestly it was perfect for sheldon and his ability. We were told to work on transitions while lunging to help him pick them up faster under saddle and also to encourage Sheldon to carry his head lower while being ridden.
After the riding portion of the lesson was done we went and untacked our horses. At this point Sheldon was the perfect little gentlemen like he is at home. Let me do a good groom and I took my time to rewrap his legs.
Then came loading time! Should be easy right???
WRONG
I have been working with sheldon at home to move forward when I "tap" on his bum and to back up when I "tap" on his chest. I was REALLY hopping that would help me when it came to loading! BUT I was wrong. I fought with Sheldon for a while and eventually gave up and let my friend try loading her horse while Sheldon and I held the trailer door open (it kept trying to close). They tried and tried and her horse was being quite naughty also and she eventually gave up. I tried a bunch of different things to try and get sheldon to load. I tried leading him in, and tapping on his bum, tried getting him to trot on, circles, ropes behind his bum... we tried ALOT.
Being "forceful" with sheldon obviously was NOT working for us. I tried it and we where failing so I felt like it was time to try something else. I calmly tried to get him as close to the horse trailer as I could. I let him just take a minute and stand there.
I then took the lead rope I was using and loosely put it around on of his front leg. I pulled on the rope and moved his leg forward (kinda like a puppet). Sheldon didn't fight just looked at me slightly confused lol. Then I would put the rope around his other leg and did the same thing. After doing that a bunch of times we where actually getting somewhere! I eventually got a hand on two ropes and really was doing a puppet show and slowly walked sheldon on to the trailer. It was amazing. I never thought in my life that I would get my horse to do something that way LOL The great thing was that once he was on his was very calm and relaxed.
Then it was the other horses turn to get on... Took about 2 hours, but eventually everyone was successful. I Am amazed sheldon was so calm on the trailer while they tried to get him on over and over again for hours. Mind you I made sure that he has hay in front of him the whole time while I kept him company.
All in all, it was an eventful day. We have many many things to work on but I am very glad we got this experience and I am looking forward to more!
Sorry for the book!!
--- all the good, bad and ugly lolLast friday, My friend and I trailered our horses in to the stable where we take lessons with our young horses for the first time. It was a pretty big day for both of us!
It was the first time I ever brought Sheldon off property. Sheldon came home when he was about 6 months old and other then walks down the road, he has never left the farm since (he is now 3 and a bit). I was so excited, I got him all dolled up the night before and everything!
The morning of our lesson we arrived with the horse trailer. After doing my trailer prep and wraps with Sheldon I went to load him and he sniffed the trailer and just walked on! (One proud mama over here!). Then we went down the road and pick up my friend's horse. He did the same as Sheldon, looked at the trailer and then walked on no problem.
When we got to the farm it was like extreme desensitizing for Sheldon! From lawn mowers, to whipper snippers, new horses and dump trucks dumping dirt. Sheldon got exposed to a lot! He was pretty calm considering. He has his head up and alert most of the time but he was respectful of my space and when he got a bit overwhelmed I did a quick ground work session with him (got him to back up, move side to side, etc.) and it worked great at keeping him calm and focused. Sheldon was not a fan of being in the outdoor cross ties. He tolerated it but got a bit scared when he tried to take a step forward. He isn't used to having pressure on his face so when he tried to step forward he reared up just a little bit (ok this was not good!). I gave him heck and he just stayed put and calm after that. I was able to finish grooming and tacking.
Keep in mind, the outdoor cross ties have a paddock behind and beside them of "new" horses for sheldon (not that it's an excuse for misbehaving but it was a big day).
Then came the riding part! I brought sheldon in the outdoor, walked him around once and he was pretty good. Very alert. I got him to sniff a few flowery jumps, he was not a fan of those but eventually went from not wanting to go neat them to trying to eat them lol.
I then proceeded to mout him, he was perfect. Started walking him around and he was being very good. He was not sure about one spot in the ring and he didn't really like the guy pushing the lawn mower either. His reaction though was just to sky away from it a little the first few times we went by.
Then our lesson started. We worked on walking and circles, we did some trotting and large circles at the trot and finished with just cantering on the long rail. The lesson was pretty short itself considering but honestly it was perfect for sheldon and his ability. We were told to work on transitions while lunging to help him pick them up faster under saddle and also to encourage Sheldon to carry his head lower while being ridden.
After the riding portion of the lesson was done we went and untacked our horses. At this point Sheldon was the perfect little gentlemen like he is at home. Let me do a good groom and I took my time to rewrap his legs.
Then came loading time! Should be easy right???
WRONG
I have been working with sheldon at home to move forward when I "tap" on his bum and to back up when I "tap" on his chest. I was REALLY hopping that would help me when it came to loading! BUT I was wrong. I fought with Sheldon for a while and eventually gave up and let my friend try loading her horse while Sheldon and I held the trailer door open (it kept trying to close). They tried and tried and her horse was being quite naughty also and she eventually gave up. I tried a bunch of different things to try and get sheldon to load. I tried leading him in, and tapping on his bum, tried getting him to trot on, circles, ropes behind his bum... we tried ALOT.
Being "forceful" with sheldon obviously was NOT working for us. I tried it and we where failing so I felt like it was time to try something else. I calmly tried to get him as close to the horse trailer as I could. I let him just take a minute and stand there.
I then took the lead rope I was using and loosely put it around on of his front leg. I pulled on the rope and moved his leg forward (kinda like a puppet). Sheldon didn't fight just looked at me slightly confused lol. Then I would put the rope around his other leg and did the same thing. After doing that a bunch of times we where actually getting somewhere! I eventually got a hand on two ropes and really was doing a puppet show and slowly walked sheldon on to the trailer. It was amazing. I never thought in my life that I would get my horse to do something that way LOL The great thing was that once he was on his was very calm and relaxed.
Then it was the other horses turn to get on... Took about 2 hours, but eventually everyone was successful. I Am amazed sheldon was so calm on the trailer while they tried to get him on over and over again for hours. Mind you I made sure that he has hay in front of him the whole time while I kept him company.
All in all, it was an eventful day. We have many many things to work on but I am very glad we got this experience and I am looking forward to more!
Sorry for the book!!
