Post by mypintoponee on Mar 9, 2007 22:40:56 GMT -5
Hi all...Im back. And here is more recent new about LADY (now GUCCI) and FOCUS.
Well there are quite a few things I would like to talk about relating to both the horses- Lady (now named Gucci) and Focus.
Over the past few months, I have really been stuggling with Gucci. She has a severe split attitude (like Dr.Jeykl and Mr.Hyde) and its really gotten me confused. She can be the sweetest most willing thing one moment, and the horse from heck the next. I havent worked with her in at all in a long time. Her latest issue was- My dad came out in the pasture and was taking photos of Focus. Gucci walked up to him and reared. Like HUGE vertical rear. Totally unprovoked. When my dad didnt move, she did it AGAIN, and this time attempted to strike out with one hoof a little. I was able to get my rear in gear and chase her off before she did anything worse. She has reared with me before, never out in the pasture, but when she throws one of her temper tantrums when I work with her....WATCH OUT!!!
I did finally get enough courage up to work with her last weekend- the first time in well over 2 months. I saddled her using my old crappy saddle and just let her roam the pasture with the saddle on while I was on Focus so I could keep an eye on her. She had zero reaction (suprising as that gets)- so I hooked up a leadrope to her halter and ponied her behind Focus for a good 20min. Again...Zero reaction....Im stumped ! I did some warmup exercises with her, like flexing her head, moving her hindquarters, backing using no pressure- and I even did some lunging on the lunge line. She has a real problem on the lungeline---she rears and takes off most of the time. This time she had one smaller tantrum and after that was done I had her go around one more time with no issues and called it good. I dont know if she was in an exceptionally good mood that day or if she might be telling me she is ready to grow up and be a saddle ponee someday ?!
So it has been really hard for me to do anything...My confidence is completely and totally deflated...And Gucci's is soaring- in all the wrong directions. We dont really have that "bond" I was hoping might happen- yet. Maybe someday it will be there, but I am not up for risking life and limb everytime I work with her.
So enough of Princess....Onto Focus.
Focus has done nothing but become an awesomely cool horse. He keeps gaining weight (yippee!). His energy is maximum, you would not believe the stuff he pulls off. I have been on him, riding him around the pasture and even used him for ponying Gucci around- which he was extremely tolerable of. He has a gigantic stride and is a fast mover, Gucci has to pick up her pace to keep up with him. Undersaddle I have to hold him back most of the time because he is always ready to run! But what I like about him most is that when someone inexpirenced gets on him, he has a completely different mindset. Very relaxed and calm. I love it!
He is defineatly an Arabian....Which I love. Arabs will always be my most favorite horses. He always has to be right there, and will gladly push Gucci out of the way to come up and give anyone some horsey smooches. He always does this big ol' whinny at dinner time.
We have him on Glucosamine which I am sure does some good. We looked into getting him shoes, the farrier did a test to see if it would bring up his back legs...and it didnt so the farrier told us just to leave it and just do the regular trim(I have full confidence in this farrier's decision...He has arabs and has had one with DSLD).
So anyways....Thats the news on the two of them. I will update with really new pics asap. All this horrible rain doesnt help in that area! Once the rain lets up, there will defineatly be tons of photos. Hope all is well with you all!
Well there are quite a few things I would like to talk about relating to both the horses- Lady (now named Gucci) and Focus.
Over the past few months, I have really been stuggling with Gucci. She has a severe split attitude (like Dr.Jeykl and Mr.Hyde) and its really gotten me confused. She can be the sweetest most willing thing one moment, and the horse from heck the next. I havent worked with her in at all in a long time. Her latest issue was- My dad came out in the pasture and was taking photos of Focus. Gucci walked up to him and reared. Like HUGE vertical rear. Totally unprovoked. When my dad didnt move, she did it AGAIN, and this time attempted to strike out with one hoof a little. I was able to get my rear in gear and chase her off before she did anything worse. She has reared with me before, never out in the pasture, but when she throws one of her temper tantrums when I work with her....WATCH OUT!!!
I did finally get enough courage up to work with her last weekend- the first time in well over 2 months. I saddled her using my old crappy saddle and just let her roam the pasture with the saddle on while I was on Focus so I could keep an eye on her. She had zero reaction (suprising as that gets)- so I hooked up a leadrope to her halter and ponied her behind Focus for a good 20min. Again...Zero reaction....Im stumped ! I did some warmup exercises with her, like flexing her head, moving her hindquarters, backing using no pressure- and I even did some lunging on the lunge line. She has a real problem on the lungeline---she rears and takes off most of the time. This time she had one smaller tantrum and after that was done I had her go around one more time with no issues and called it good. I dont know if she was in an exceptionally good mood that day or if she might be telling me she is ready to grow up and be a saddle ponee someday ?!
So it has been really hard for me to do anything...My confidence is completely and totally deflated...And Gucci's is soaring- in all the wrong directions. We dont really have that "bond" I was hoping might happen- yet. Maybe someday it will be there, but I am not up for risking life and limb everytime I work with her.
So enough of Princess....Onto Focus.
Focus has done nothing but become an awesomely cool horse. He keeps gaining weight (yippee!). His energy is maximum, you would not believe the stuff he pulls off. I have been on him, riding him around the pasture and even used him for ponying Gucci around- which he was extremely tolerable of. He has a gigantic stride and is a fast mover, Gucci has to pick up her pace to keep up with him. Undersaddle I have to hold him back most of the time because he is always ready to run! But what I like about him most is that when someone inexpirenced gets on him, he has a completely different mindset. Very relaxed and calm. I love it!
He is defineatly an Arabian....Which I love. Arabs will always be my most favorite horses. He always has to be right there, and will gladly push Gucci out of the way to come up and give anyone some horsey smooches. He always does this big ol' whinny at dinner time.
We have him on Glucosamine which I am sure does some good. We looked into getting him shoes, the farrier did a test to see if it would bring up his back legs...and it didnt so the farrier told us just to leave it and just do the regular trim(I have full confidence in this farrier's decision...He has arabs and has had one with DSLD).
So anyways....Thats the news on the two of them. I will update with really new pics asap. All this horrible rain doesnt help in that area! Once the rain lets up, there will defineatly be tons of photos. Hope all is well with you all!