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Post by jaybird on Feb 17, 2006 11:26:44 GMT -5
seriously Critters, Barb at the barn wants to adopt her? Should we send her an application, or...a layer cake, or...a stripper, or... You can at least tell Barb that I don't know her, but I already love her very very much. Tell us more!
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Post by critterseverywhere on Feb 17, 2006 11:33:45 GMT -5
Yes, Barb is very serious about wanting to adopt her. However, she also is sensible enough to know her own limitations where horses are concerned, both ability-wise and financial. She doesn't want to commit (and I agree with her) to adopting Laney until she is solid on her ground work and we can be fairly confident about what type of horse she's going to be. If she adopts her, the plan would be to do only ground work with her for a year and let her grow-up. Then in a year, bring her in for 2-3 months for Cassie to start her under saddle. Barb lives just down the road from Cassie's barn and hauls her other horse in for lessons twice a week (though currently he's in full training for 2 months). Barb's husband is really attached to her other horse, and the thought is that her gelding would become hubby's horse and Laney would become Barb's.
Of course, all this is contingent on Laney continueing to make good progress on her ground work and show signs that she will be a very sensible, brave horse. (Barb pretty much only trailrides...but she does a lot of it!)
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Post by horsekrazi on Feb 17, 2006 11:41:16 GMT -5
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Post by pdevlieg on Feb 17, 2006 16:44:04 GMT -5
Barb sounds like the perfect home for little Laney. Did we ever decide if a stripper-gram or cookie bouquet would be better incentive.
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Post by critterseverywhere on Feb 19, 2006 14:59:35 GMT -5
I think Delaney’s true personality is ‘fireball’ more than ‘sweetheart’. Not that she isn’t sweet, because she’s that too, but holy smoke! This little gal has got enough energy and strong will packed into her little frame for about 3 horses. On Friday, I worked her in a group lesson on ground-work. She did well and learns very fast, but you’ve got to watch her because she will absolutely take advantage if she thinks you aren’t paying attention. (The little rascal actually did manage to nip me once when I really wasn’t paying attention...my bad! I don’t think she’s too keen to try that little experiment again anytime soon though...she had to work pretty hard on her least favorite yields immediately after that little incident.) But she settled down to work and learn nicely which was especially impressive since we had 6 horses in what is a fairly small arena. For the last 20 minutes or so, Barb and I switched horses so she could see how her & Laney did together. Barb did really well with her and had a lot of fun...said Laney is MUCH easier than her horse to work with! On Sat, I turned Laney out in the arena by herself to play for awhile while I cleaned stalls (I do all the stall cleaning at Cassie’s on Sats). And boy did she play! Ran around like a maniac, did sliding stops & spins, rolled barrels around, tossed the cones, ran around some more. I confess I spent as much time just watching her have fun as I did working! When I went to catch her (after she’d been running around playing for a good hour and seemed to have tired herself out), I discovered she had a little relapse in her training and felt like playing catch-me-if-you can. Fortunately, this seemed to be more of a playful/bratty thing than a fear thing like it was when she first came. So I worked on catching her, letting her go, catching her letting her go, etc until she had completely gotten in through her head that being haltered was not optional and was much less work than being yielded from the ground all over the arena. I’m amazed at how fit she’s gotten though. She was breathing hard, but not sweating at all. Actually, I’m a little concerned that she wasn’t sweating because she really should have been. I’m going to keep an eye on this new twist. (Peri...unfortunately (?fortunately?) Barb is quite realistic about horses & her abilities...the best incentive for her is training, which I'm working on as fast as I can. Promise!)
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Post by bshorses on Feb 20, 2006 12:49:22 GMT -5
This mare sounds very nice. Do you know what age she could be started under ground? Would she do well with a younger teen handler? Delaney really looks like a walker. I'm out on a limb on this one, but does she look gaited to you?
Edit: CE, I meant started under saddle. Sorry
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Post by critterseverywhere on Feb 20, 2006 18:10:29 GMT -5
bshorses...Laney is definitely not gaited. Actually, she has a very, very nice trot (especially considering how butt-high she is right now!). She is being started on her ground work now, so I assume you meant when could she be started under saddle. No one (trainers, vet, etc) have thought she should be started under saddle until next summer (2007) and even then recommended someone on the light side (ie, no 200 lb men....of course, she's so tiny she'll probably never really be suitable for a 200lb man!). Most people who have seen her in person think she looks like a Walker cross...she definitely has the head and the ears! And the vet thought she had a Walker hind-end. Also, she moves like the non-gaited Walker crosses we've seen. But no way to know for sure. Delaney (a teenager at the barn who is an EXCELLENT horseperson...and the reason we call this little mare "Laney") has worked with her a bit and did very well with her. But Delaney is frankly a better horseperson than some professional trainers that I know! For at least the next couple months, Laney is going to need daily handling (let's not get into how much work it was today since she had Sunday totally off since both Cassie & I were gone). This is pretty normal for a baby who was left pretty much unhandled until they were 2...especially a smart one! She also needs someone who can be absolutely fair with her at all times...that means absolutely every single undesirable behavior gets corrected immediately (obviously, at appropriate levels for the action...over-correction & under-correction are equally damaging at this point) AND every desirable behavior gets a reward. Right now, Laney is a real find because she's a blank slate. She doesn't really have any bad habits to unlearn. (no pressure on me though! lol )
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Post by cardicorgi on Feb 24, 2006 19:40:31 GMT -5
No bad habits until...until she discovers the bag of various treats my friend Robyn is sending along with us ... She will have many flavors to sample: carrot treats, berry treats, apple snacks, and about 5 different flavors of licorice.
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Post by critterseverywhere on Feb 27, 2006 12:21:50 GMT -5
I did a short session with Laney on Friday & she's doing very well. She leads, backs, halts, etc on a slack lead, will let me come up and take the halter on & off unlimited times, etc. She's really irritated that she has to do what someone says now (she's definitely a dominant personality!) and she expresses her displeasure at this by having her ears back while doing something she doesn't like (such as yielding her shoulders) as she does whatever it is nearly perfectly. Poor little Laney! She'll get over it though...actually, she already is. On Sat, I was too tired to do a serious session with her so opted to turn her out in the arena and work with her loose a bit. While I was on the phone with cardicorgi & certifiedgirl, Laney was terrorizing the arena (after rolling all the barrels around, trying to seperate the top of the safety cones from the bottoms, pestering me, etc she went down the one side of the arena where there are blankets hanging from hooks just outside the arena & reached over the rail to carefully unhook each one and drop it on the ground (monster! ;P)). Then when I got off the phone, she decided to grab a brush she had been throwing around earlier and play keep-away with it from me. She's such a little goober! But it's so nice to just play with her, especially when she looses interest in whatever she's playing with and comes up to nuzzle me & get her forehead rubbed. I can't get over the change in Laney just in the couple weeks I've had her, and the changes are still happening every day. It's truly a joy to watch her learning to take pleasure in people & in her world.
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Post by critterseverywhere on Feb 28, 2006 10:33:46 GMT -5
Normally I turn Rain & Laney out in the arena to play while I clean their stalls (Laney is a pest if you clean while she's in there...always trying to play with the wheelbarrow or check your pockets or knock the shovel over or something and poor Rain has a hard time moving around to get out of your way) but last night Rain was a little too sore & depressed and Laney was just JUICED (even more than normal!). She was running & bucking and play rearing when I turned her loose before I went to get Rain. Rain was NOT impressed and even though Laney is the boss, nipped at her & pinned her ears when Laney came over to play. Laney was absolutely shocked! Laney came over to me wanting to play instead. So her and I played tag and 'fetch' for awhile. I ended up putting them back in their stalls while I cleaned so that people could ride in the arena (what a concept! wanting to RIDE in the arena! ;D I'm lucky that normally not to many people are around when I'm there but last night was busy for some reason). I took Laney back out and after a quick 'quiz' on leading, backing, yielding front & rear, and picking up all 4 feet (all of which she did just fine), it was time to introduce a new activity. Although Laney is now very good about letting me handle her head (including ears and mouth), I still feel that is one of her weakest areas and where she is most likely to develop problems over the course of her life. So I worked on flipping the lead rope back and forth over her head (sort of the way you would do reins), eventually working up to intentionally allowing it to land on her head, or ears, or wherever until she was thoroughly bored & relaxed with the whole thing. I was quite pleased with how little time that took! (try this on some 'broke' horses sometime...you'd be amazed how many of them will throw their heads back and away and get very nervous about it!) So decided to move on to another exercise that will help her when it's time for riding...and also helps teach them to give to pressure & not to panic when they feel things around their body & legs (something that will come in handy if she ever gets tangled up in a lunge line or for ground-driving). I start by flipping the lead over the head, the letting it slide down the far side of the body until it slides down over her butt to just above the hocks. Again, you would be amazed by how many 'experienced' horses freak out about this. Laney took it like a champ...didn't kick out at or flinch away from the rope at all...even when I intentionally let it go under her tail! ;D So if the rope was on her right side, I would be standing on her left and gently pull on the rope until she gave to the pressure on her head & turned towards the right and ended up facing me. If you've done much NH, this is a pretty common exercise. Laney was very good both ways, although a little stickier to the right than the left. We ended the lesson about there (other than lots of petty of course!). One of the things I haven't mentioned, and certainly deserves mention, is Laney's attention span. I think she has the longest attention span of any 2 year old I've ever met. In fact, if I hadn't seen her teeth myself I would never believe she's 2. I've done sessions as long as 2 hours with her and she's still interested and engaged and having fun. I always stop when I think her attention might be wavering b/c I don't want her to burn out, but usually I tire out before she does! She is truly a special little horse!
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Post by critterseverywhere on Mar 2, 2006 11:58:47 GMT -5
We’re trying to figure out who we can turn Laney out during the day to play with. Rain just isn’t up to Laney’s constant energy so (other than in the arena where we can supervise them), Laney normally has her daily turnout alone. But she REALLY wants to play with the horses on the other side of the fence! We want to make sure that we pick someone that isn’t going to clobber her, and who isn’t going to GET clobbered. My mare Brandy probably would have been the perfect match, but since Rain has Brandy’s stall (Brandy is having a vacation at my house) that’s not going to work! There is a new pony who just started boarding who may be an option. Hmmmm… I sure wish horses weren’t so prone to injuring themselves at the worst possible time/way!
Last night was basically continuing on with the same activities we’ve been doing. The only addition was that I’m continuing to work on things that will help her when it’s time to start her under saddle. Last night I worked on wrapping a lead rope around her barrel, sliding it around, pulling it tight, etc. I was once again impressed with Laney’s confidence and lack of concern…she didn’t even tense up or kick out once! She thinks humans do weird things, but that was about it.
I can’t emphasize enough…if there is someone out there looking for a brave, confident little project horse for a small adult or youth rider to be used for trails or eventing, don’t pass this horse up! Right now she is truly a bargain. Although she’s not developed enough to start under saddle right now, she will be soon and it looks like she’s going to be an absolute breeze!
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Post by pdevlieg on Mar 2, 2006 12:11:58 GMT -5
She thinks humans do weird things, but that was about it. And she sure is right about that! Your work with this little lady is very appreciated. Delaney sounds like a wonderful little lady who just needs someone to care for her. I love the stories you give about her playing! Those lippy two year olds sure are dolls.
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Post by safehorses on Mar 2, 2006 17:51:12 GMT -5
I hate to admit it, but Delaney never really registered in my head very much this winter. I just never had a grasp on what kind of horse she is. After reading your wonderful accounts of her CE, I now love this little girl! Thank you so much for telling us about this special girl.
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Post by cardicorgi on Mar 6, 2006 12:02:39 GMT -5
She IS a really neat little horse! When we came out on Saturday, CE showed us what Delaney can do - she's come a long way from the lil' wildish girl we met 6 weeks ago! She's a delight, truly, and thanks to CE's diligence, will have very good manners. Thank you CE!
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Post by schwung on Mar 12, 2006 17:34:56 GMT -5
Congratulations to SAFE member critterseverywhere who fell in love with Delaney while caring for her and decided to adopt her!! Thank you CE!!
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