3equines
12-30-2009, 07:03 PM
I have a new project pony to work on for awhile. I have taken on Sweet P's sire, Gibson, to train to ride and pack. He arrived on Monday.
"Gib" has been trained to drive but is about 10 and hasn't been put to work consistently, he's spent most of his life living comfortably with his herd of Haflingers in the pasture. My boyfriend trimmed up his hooves and put shoes on him yesterday, they were pancaked out pretty badly and there is still a lot of flare to the fronts but we can only take so much off with the first shoeing.
Gib has been a little jumpy but holds himself together even when nervous, I think he just needs a lot of handling. I am tying him up at feeding time and he is allready learning to come to me to be haltered. I do annoying things like wave my arms around his head and jump up and down while he eats, he is learning to ignore it all.
Today my boyfriend and I took Gib out with us, just ponying him off of Peach for now. Peach is strong enough to pull Gib along when he sets back on the rope. He got really tired and started really pulling hard, so I stopped and used a piece of leather bootlace to attach the nosepiece of his rope halter to the curb chain of his bit, loose enough that he had to really set back on the rope before any pressure was put on the bit. He learned real fast to keep his feet moving after that.
We pretty much stuck to the logging roads, and only covered about 7 or 8 miles round trip. Gib really calmed down once he was put to work. On the way home I put the saddlebags on him, with a camp stove, saucepan, silverware and cups rattling around in them. He got to where he quit flinching every time you made a fast move around him and would just totally relax when he had a chance to stand still.
On the way home we had to help a neighbor catch some Houdini calves that had brokent htrough his fence. We did this on foot, the horses were pretty wore out. It was twilight as we headed down the last 1/4 mile home. I felt like it was a good time to hop on Gibson's back and see how he handles, so my boyfriend took him out in the pasture in the moonlight and rode him around for a few minutes. He was a little nervous but didn't do anything bad, and stood nicely for the mount/dismount. I hopped on him for about 5 minutes after that, just to get the feel of him, and though he is very green as a saddlehorse I think he is ready to get some miles put on.
We untacked and blanketed the horses by moonlight, it was very peaceful.
PS I transitioned the Paint mare Roxy from a hackamore to a Fench link snaffle bit today. She did very well, no head-tossing or bit chewing. My boyfriend held her back a bit on the way home and worked heri n circles while I ponied Gibson.
"Gib" has been trained to drive but is about 10 and hasn't been put to work consistently, he's spent most of his life living comfortably with his herd of Haflingers in the pasture. My boyfriend trimmed up his hooves and put shoes on him yesterday, they were pancaked out pretty badly and there is still a lot of flare to the fronts but we can only take so much off with the first shoeing.
Gib has been a little jumpy but holds himself together even when nervous, I think he just needs a lot of handling. I am tying him up at feeding time and he is allready learning to come to me to be haltered. I do annoying things like wave my arms around his head and jump up and down while he eats, he is learning to ignore it all.
Today my boyfriend and I took Gib out with us, just ponying him off of Peach for now. Peach is strong enough to pull Gib along when he sets back on the rope. He got really tired and started really pulling hard, so I stopped and used a piece of leather bootlace to attach the nosepiece of his rope halter to the curb chain of his bit, loose enough that he had to really set back on the rope before any pressure was put on the bit. He learned real fast to keep his feet moving after that.
We pretty much stuck to the logging roads, and only covered about 7 or 8 miles round trip. Gib really calmed down once he was put to work. On the way home I put the saddlebags on him, with a camp stove, saucepan, silverware and cups rattling around in them. He got to where he quit flinching every time you made a fast move around him and would just totally relax when he had a chance to stand still.
On the way home we had to help a neighbor catch some Houdini calves that had brokent htrough his fence. We did this on foot, the horses were pretty wore out. It was twilight as we headed down the last 1/4 mile home. I felt like it was a good time to hop on Gibson's back and see how he handles, so my boyfriend took him out in the pasture in the moonlight and rode him around for a few minutes. He was a little nervous but didn't do anything bad, and stood nicely for the mount/dismount. I hopped on him for about 5 minutes after that, just to get the feel of him, and though he is very green as a saddlehorse I think he is ready to get some miles put on.
We untacked and blanketed the horses by moonlight, it was very peaceful.
PS I transitioned the Paint mare Roxy from a hackamore to a Fench link snaffle bit today. She did very well, no head-tossing or bit chewing. My boyfriend held her back a bit on the way home and worked heri n circles while I ponied Gibson.