Saturday 14 January 2012

And.. Progress!!

Today we finally got our winter... everything is frozen and covered in snow. I went out to the barn to find G soaking wet and all worked up for some reason, i took him into the indoor arena to let him warm up and dry off, as soon as i took the lead rope off he bolted kicking and snorting around the arena stopping frequently to roll. Now i am not the most experienced horse person in the world and i am learning a lot as i go, i have had a major fear since putting G in quarantine that he would colic. As soon as i seen how often he was rolling and the clear discomfort he was in i tried to catch him to at least get his wet blanked off of him but he would not come near me as soon as i got close he would run off bucking and snorting again. The only thing i could think of to do is to get some water into him or at least give him the option to drink, if he doesnt drink then its not lack of water its just some Fizzies as Panicandthepony would say in her blog. I ran and grabbed some warm water and he couldnt get it down fast enough, i had to fill the bucket 2x just to quench his thirst, i felt terrible but after the water he started to calm down and allowed me to take his wet blanket off.

We worked on a few different things today;
-first of all i lunged G he seemed to be favoring his right hind leg after all the running, kicking and rolling he was doing. After a few minutes in each direction his strides evened out and he was putting equal amounts of weight on each leg. His lunging is coming along really well, he stops less on his own accord and easily starts moving forward when asked. Finally we have the hang of lunging.. somewhat...
-we worked on a few exercises to encourage G to turn around me in small circles crossing his front legs over each other. He did this exercise really well when he realised what i was asking him to do. (I found this on someones blog and i cant seem to find the post now to link it.. sorry!!)
-worked on no more walking off at the mounting block which with the help of a whip in front to prevent him from moving forward we had PROGRESS!! He finally stood still for a good 3 minutes while i played around with the saddle from the mounting block petting him all over his back pulling on the stirrups and finally when i got on. When i got on he did not move forward at all he stood still for the most part.. minus a few steps back. He was a little uneasy with the dismount but that will come in time.
-I didnt have to halter or tie him to tack him up he stood still and patiently waited for me to tack up and ask something of him.

I dont think i am missing anything.. i am glad he was ok after all... before we left the arena he pooped once then waited until i cleaned it up to poop some more on the otherside of the arena. I am finding that i am not nervous with him, i am calm, i trust him more than i trust most people. Other than his head rubbing he is very gentle around me, when i walk he walks beside me like a partner he does not push just walks shoulder to shoulder with me, i run he runs with me... it is an amazing feeling. I am so lucky.

But i must be off i need to find a way to fix his winter blanket because he will most definatly need it.

I will leave you all with a picture of G eating his beet pulp mixture... i left to much water in it this time, he spent about 10 mins pushing all the beet pulp to one side so he could eat it withought the extra water.

1 comment:

  1. Nothing like the freezing weather to bring out the crazy pony! I think it's awesome that he will just stand there while you tack him up!

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