Following the progress of my off-the-track Standie

Hello Stranger

I am almost unsure where to start - there is so much to update - winter wools or accomplishments. I guess the first thing is: my work schedule permanently longer [and regular] which makes barn time scarce but I’m usually able to get in a good ‘lesson’ once or twice a week. 

D’Art and I had been working with the dummy-saddle for a couple weeks before we moved onto applying pressure and weight on his back. I wanted to make sure I could build his topline and weight as much as I could before really getting on him. 

He is doing so well; he has already gained over 300 lbs and continues to fill out. He really makes you go “holy shit…that’s a big horse”, I have to make sure the alley way is clear so he can turn around in the barn. Over the winter I think I’m going to pull his shoes, unless we get a lot of snow I don’t think he will need them. His feet are really starting to shape up and finally look nearly even. I had my farrier out ‘Turkey Morning’ and this past time really made you notice the difference in his feet. I will have to try and take a picture soon. =]

I managed to take my first “ride” on D’Art mid-September. He didn’t do much, just stood there and looked amused. He was able to learn “back up” really well. But “walk-on” took a while. He didn’t take long to catch on, he already understands to go forward and from all our long-lining we were able to make the crossover so smooth. He really does riding work, I’m excited for us to maybe take our first mini trail ride. Once he really learns to go I’ll feel more comfortable taking him on a longer one. It’s not that I am worried he will take off or scare, I’m wor

ried he won’t do anything. Honestly, he is so lazy. Sometimes I literally have to drag him on walks. So if I go on a long trail ride; I don’t want to end up walking the whole thing too, but saying it out loud kinda makes it sound selfish, haha.

Anyways….pictures! enjoy. 

And a couple with Jillian

Meet my new warmblood

I’ve been able to spend more time with D’Art this week as the weather has been cooler  and my work schedule is a little more balanced. D’Art has nearly mastered the trot and the canter. He picked up both great and rarely paces. He does however, pace when he needs to make a quick downward transition from a canter. All we have to work on now is improving his topline so he can support himself better. I really think once his topline fills out he will look like a total other horse.

Today [9/1] D’Art and I decided to take things rather sluggishly. I treated him to a long brush then I tacked him up (in a bridle this time!) and took to the arena. We worked clock-wise at walk and trot , D’Art was great, he had absolutely no troubles picking up the trot or slowing into a walk. I used the trot poles this time and he did stumble a bit clearly not used to being to watch what’s under his feet (haha) but realized his mistake and again made for a short lesson. I then took him over to the mounting block and applied pressure to the saddle; no fussing and very little interest from him.

With that, I will be backing him for the first time soon! I will be catching this on video and uploading it to my youtube channel as well. I think D’Art will really enjoy saddle work, he has taken to everything so well.

Well without further adieu, here is my ‘warmblood’

Just to prove you don’t need fancy names and overpriced registration papers to experience a damn-good looking horse. 

Moving right along.

The last week or so DArt and I have been working on transitions, bending and trotting. He has been progressing so fast in all 3 areas. I have to stop and remember that he just started all this. Sometimes I find myself wanting to move faster, introduce new things then I realize that all this stuff still is new to him. He takes everything in so fast and really does want to learn and he enjoys working; which isn’t a trait you find in a lot of young horses. 

Yawning

He is doing so well with longing. We haven’t done a whole lot with longing, currently just sticking to the basics and moving slowly. Be knows that he has to walk around me as he knows that the whip means go forward and he also is doing amazing with voice commands. He is at about 85% with ‘walk on’ ‘whoa’ ‘back up’ ‘slow’ and ‘trot’. Trotting is definitely harder for him in a longe but he does try and he isn’t asked to do it for long nor is he asked to perform in a small circumference. Soon I hope to be incorporating regular use of trotting poles and am hoping to bump him up to a full longe trot within the next couple weeks. 

The farrier came out again on wednesday to put new shoes on DArt but he actually rescheduled saying he wanted to see a bit more growth on his feet so his nail holes weren’t too close together. Oh well, works for me - we rescheduled for august 26. 

Mr. Big Ears

I have also put DArt on full board for winter. My BO ended up having one of his full boarders sell his horse and now the BO has a bunch of extra hay and no horse to feed. So works great for me cause then I only have to go there once a day in the winter as the BO will feed 50/50 grass/alfalfa twice a day and I will feed grain and possibly cubes once a day depending on how his weight is through the winter. I do prefer my horses with a few extra pounds in the winter so I’ve started feeding DArt hay now. I will also be measuring him for a winter blanket probably end of september/early october. I am also hoping to clip him for winter. I’ve only got his bridal path and whiskers clipped now; I’ve got to start desensitized him to body clippers. I’m unsure whether he has been body clipped before but I’m assuming not. 

I am also hoping to start pulling his mess of a mane. It’s long and I have to admit I hate long mane. I know it’s “taboo” to cut a STB mane but I can’t do it anymore. I redo a running braid sometimes twice a day on him just so I don’t have to look at his mane- ha ha. Bad, I know. I DO however like a decent lengthed tail and his is growing out nice. And DArt is developing a gorgeous neck so he needs to show it off. I *may* leave the mane until spring to see if I still like it. 

The weather guru’s have been declaring that this winter is going to be so nice and very somber but they have also been stating that it is going to be the worst in 50 years. I personally am hoping for more of a somber winter as I would enjoy riding throughout winter. But we will see. In a normal year I usually give my horses the winter off. But I would also like to work DArt since we haven’t had as much training time this spring/summer as I would have liked. 

Oh I forgot to mention; I am going to start an official binder for DArt. Listing his vet work, regular farrier bills, tack, etc. I have it all now but it is kinda scattered around my house. Haha. 

Until next time 

Getting impatient

Yes, I know I’m cute

Don’t judge me

walk the line

I was finally able to spend some time up at the barn with someone else. It’s difficult to take working shots when I’m working him and the camera, ha. Today was a short lesson, maybe 30 minutes. I brushed him out and re-braided him. Which is a good portion of the lesson. Some days he just has jitters and wants to work; making standing boring. D’Art is really starting to fill out wide-ways which is awesome but really accents the fact that he is lacking a strong topline. 

With that, today’s main lesson was longeing. He was so good, where I keep him has no round pen, but there is a small arena that most use as a longe arena. I chose to long-line him in the big arena, I didn’t want to stress him walking around in a small area. I was unsure if he would get what I asked right away or if it would take a few tries. He pretty much got it right away. We had been working on forehand turns and hindend turns which really transferred to getting him to bend into a circle. I was able to use the longe whip to ask him to move forward, he took it all with little effort on his part. There was no dissapproval of the whip or being asked to move around me. 

We will have to work on his transitions and I will be working with four trot poles next time, to start to get him to pay more attention to the ground than the other horses. Everything today went great, he was in a good mood and really enjoyed learning and being asked of something. After the lesson we were able to wash him down and soak him with a nice bath. After he was all clean and dry I soft-brushed him then put his ‘fly saviors’ back on and put him back in his pen. It has finally been mildly-hot for one week this summer (bouncing between 28-31C) so I’m sure he appreciated the douse of cold water. 

Updates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmxigyEriws

Diamond in the rough

When I first said I would take D’Art, everyone told me he had ‘quirks’. You can’t pet him on the neck, he is tough to handle, he is bad with other horses, he is very picky with people, etc. None of these are still true, I almost think they gave me the wrong horse.

When I first got D’Art home he was excited, nervous, stressed and curious. Curious is what D’Art has always been and most likely always will be. Everything we do is interesting to him in one way or another. He wants to know what we are doing, why we are doing it and how he can do it the best. 

I went to the barn this morning around 7:30am and brushed him out and let his fly sheet + mask dry off (it had been raining last night apparently). I rebraided his mane, tail and forelock and off we went into the arena. Today was day 3 of “retraining” and he took it so well. We worked on “walk on”, “back”, “whoa”, “stand” and “trot”. Every time he did something right he got a cookie. He got a lot of cookies. I was able to get him to do everything with a leadrope and without. He will still (mostly) listen as well without me holding onto him as he does when I do. I’m excited for us to start to really work, he enjoys it and it constantly feeds that “curiosity” bug.

Yesterday I took him for a walk around the neighborhood and a guy in a big diesel truck asked if I could walk down to the end of the road so his daughter could meet my horse. It was not the way I originally planned to take but I had lots of time and I always like to get my horse around as many different people as possible. When I got there, there were four people outside. The dad that I talked too, the mum, the 3-ish year old daughter; Piper and a 4/5-ish year old son; Jett. They seemed so happy to see D’Art, they asked what his name was, if they could feed him some cookies, if it was a boy or a girl. And D’art just stood there, smelling them and letting these two young kids fuss over him. 

Unfortunately I didn’t grab any pictures, which is a total bust I wish my camera still worked (thanks sister). Next time for sure though!! 

A new leaf

I’ve really started to feel like 2011 is going to be a great year. I am well aware that is already more than half over - but it HAS been great already. D’Art has been amazing, he is just an amazing horse. He is beautiful, he’s smart and he is so much like me.

D’Art has this attitude, where he needs consistent work with someone who is going to be in charge. Either someone is going to be in charge or he will. He doesn’t do anything half-assed. Even when we are learning something; if it’s “challenging” he will give it everything he has and then some. If it is “simple” he won’t even try. I’ve been trying to get him to run around the arena for some exercise since all he is doing is eating and walking. He can trot in hand he just doesn’t want too, he can run around the arena - he just doesn’t want too and he thinks it’s stupid. However, when we learn to “back up” or “stand” he really tries to do it right; to get that praise.

Right now, all we are learning are basic ground manners, learning to stand, voice commands; back, whoa and walk on and how to walk properly on a lead. Going into detail, when we learn the ‘back’ cue. He is standing and I stand in front of his shoulder (facing the ‘back’ direction) and say “back” I say that twice, if he still hasn’t moved back I place my hand on his chest and say “back” again. Again, if he hasn’t done that after two times, I then apply pressure and say “back” all I want is that smallest sign that he got it. Either he moves 1 foot back or both, then the pressure/voice command is done he gets his praise and his pets. I normally do this with cookies, but I’ve actually ran out and keep forgetting to go buy more.

Once we’ve mastered the basics we are going to move into tricks. I’d LOVE for us to learn to lay down, sit, count, bow and kiss. I’m sure it will take a long time but it would be so much fun to do. Fun for him and me. I know too many riders who lack the fun in their style. They school and school and school, they are of course, amazing riders but they are just - blah. They don’t go trail riding, they don’t ‘play’ with their horse, it’s work all the time. Which isn’t all that great, you need those days and/or moments of fun, things that make you go “oh yeah, that’s why I am doing this”. And a horse that looks like this doesn’t hurt.

haaa…. oops

Well I promise, I didn’t forget. I just didn’t have time. The last two or so months have been crazy busy. So I’ll try and update as much as I can in this post.

So I ended up getting a farrier out, he gave D’Art a trim and made his feet all purdy. Then D’Art discovered how much he enjoyed rock climbing and broke all his feet. So a week after he got a trim he got shoes on. And my farrier bill looked insane for one month. 

I really didn’t get to do much with him this last while. We got an order for 20 bales of hay to hold us through the whole grass-is-not-growing stage. Of course after I go through a couple bales the grass grows faster than ever… I also got to take him out on a couple walks. Where he is is close to a highway, not the main highway but a busy street where people drive like the highway. We discovered he is super calm and super lazy. I basically have to drag him on walks he is god damn slow. 

I had accidentally (yes, really) broke the up-top water and the BO was sick so D’Art got a few days in with all the other ponies (there are 4 horses on group turn-out). And he got the shit kicked out of him. He is definitely bottom of the bottom, which is funny since 3 of them are about 15hh arabians and a fat quarter horse. Anyways, after the water was fixed and his cuts were cleaned up and his ego put back he got his own field back. 

Yesterday (June 30) D’Art got to go to his new home!! Well, that sounds not what it should be. We switched barns. My friend who owns where he was, is moving and I didn’t want to stay there without her so I moved to the barn across the street. It’s got a barn a large outdoor arena and individual turn out. Not an A-circuit barn but a nice place. He seems to really like it, we worked on some voice commands today, just “walk-on” “back” and “whoa” he is doing so so so well. I am very proud of him. He certainly has his moments but is SUCH a dog. We are also learning that whips aren’t the enemy and they won’t hurt him. 

I have always hated people who abuse what a whip is really for. A whip is a tool, an extension of your arm. Not a f-ing beat stick. A whip should be there to encourage a horse to move forward, not to scare it into obedience. However, D’Art is taking it well, he still kicks out a bit but doesn’t shy away. He will let me spin it over his head and rub it all over him though does get touchy when it goes around his back legs. We currently are only practicing with a longe whip but will move into the crackle-whips soon. 

We are going to focus a lot of our time this summer into team-work. I don’t want the kind of relationship with my horse, where I am the human and he is my pet. I want him to be my friend. I want him to be happy when I come down and look forward to working and exploring. 

So far D’Art has just been on pasture and grain. He currently gets bran-mash and kelp. I’m going to be introducing more protein once we really start working, he is in serious need of topline + butt muscles. He literally has none. It will be nice though once he starts filling out. Right now he is just… lean. He’s so narrow it’s weird. If you look at him straight on you might not notice him at first. It’s not actually that bad but it is bad. We will really have to bring in side reins for him, he has no balance or flexibility at all, which is normal for a OTSTB. Lots of time and lots of work. Simple fix. :)

And some pictures. First two are of him eating his bran, the last is his pasture in his new place. He is in there… way at the back. 

“I’m sure it’s imaginable”

Well, what can I say… it’s been a while. I’ve been so busy lately I haven’t had time to update here. Okay so where to start? First the farrier no-showed on Friday apparently he “double booked”. Whatever, we rescheduled and he came on Tuesday. Not the best farrier I’ve ever had, but he is still good and knows what he is doing- which is what counts. He did clean up Darts toes, which is what I was most worried about, since they were quite long and he is already toed out enough. 

I have also been taking Dart out of his field more and more. He is so much calmer and very much lazy. I put a running braid on him and brushed him up he looked so good :D then he thanked me and rolled in the wet poop pile. So he smells like… well I’m sure it’s imaginable. His hair is also growing back quite fast, it was bare from where his hobbles would have been rubbing. So far no MTG has been used, but I will be using it on his sad excuse for a tail. hahah. 

I did put Dart in the round pen for a bit on Thursday. He was really good. He is becoming very responsive and knows that when I stop, he better damn well stop too. We have been working with whips since he is quite scared of them. So far, he will let me rub him all over with it and will let me hit myself with it (go figure). We will continue to work like this, and just take things very slow. We’ve got loads of time and loads of stuff to do I’m sure we will be busy for a while. I also ordered 20 more bales of hay to be delivered on the 20th. This hay is AMAZING, it is a rich alfalfa/grass mix and DARK DARK green. I swear I would eat this stuff. I also have 110 bales ordered to be split between first and second cut. 

I also drew up the plans for his new shelter!! TOOT TOOT. It’s going to be HUGE. Roughly, 16x12x10. Hopefully he will like that much. I’m also building a new tack shed to feed my addiction to new tack. Normal women have giant walk-in closets. I have giant walk in tack sheds… walking into a tack store is like taking an alcoholic to a liquor store. Bad stuff happens when I go, I come home with way to much stuff. 

My mum is also looking into buying a truck! Which will be great, and very useful I will no longer have to stuff hay in the back of my car :D. Plus when the top water pipe freezes in winter I will have a truck to cart water up. 

Oh, oh oh major good news here. So I was watching Dart be a goof in the field yesterday and he was rippin around and GUESS WHAT? Not a single pace was to be scene and he actually CANTERED. WOOP WOOP. That will make training a breeze. 

Tomorrow I have a bunch of appointments to go to and I babysit Tuesday and work Wednesday but I have Thursday off and it is completely delegated to D’Artagnan, and I will actually get lots o pictures and hopefully better videos. 

Till then!

Baby Steps

Well its almost officially been a week and D’Artagnan has been doing great! When he came he wasn’t very sure of me, of his new surroundings or of all the people. He now recognizes my car and me and comes up to see me. He also loves to follow me around and get cuddles. This horse I swear, is a giant dog. All he wants is 1 or 2 people to be constant and give him all the attention he needs and wants. He isn’t a huge people horse, he won’t be the first horse to go to anyone for snuggles and scratches but if he does come to you- you know he really wants to be with you and is genuinely interested. He is amazing, he really is a special horse. He is a bit rude and a bit of a goofball sometimes but he is young. He will become more comfortable and we will work on his manners. I’ve stared the basic manners, if I go to brush him with a halter on he can’t move without me asking, not to walk into my space without being invited, and not to bite. He is getting a lot better. When Jill was at the track with him she said he bit her quite a bit or tried too. He now tries to bite if he wants you to do something- which is still wrong- but will be corrected. He also has been getting better around feeding time. He knows not to barrade me when I bring his grain and to wait for me to put it down before he digs in. He has his farrier appointment. I’m kinda annoyed it took so long to find a good farrier but I am glad he was able to fit me in. We are finally going to pull his aluminum shoes and get him trimmed up. I don’t think he’ll need shoes. He’s got a bit of an odd shoe job now, but I believe that was because he kept hitting his knees. I will also be staring him on a biotin supplement just because its something good to feed and I really prefer to keep my horses barefoot if they can. Not for money wise just because its better for them. In my opinion anyhoo. Today, I think I’ll be going up and finishing up some cleaning and weeding. I’m obsessed with brushing and braiding him up. I want to keep his mane long and I want to grow his tail out. Remington had such a long tail and I want Dart to have one too. So MTG here we come!!