It's very difficult not get frustrated with this entire process. There are days when Fiona is a perfect girl and her manners or good, then there are other days. She has walked away from me a few times in her stall when I go to halter her. She hasn't done this in months! I know it's not a major setback, but it's just frustrating.
I think I am just being too direct and agenda oriented.
I am starting lessons with Debbie Anderson, the owner of Red Mountain Stables, tomorrow. I have been looking forward to this day ALL WEEK! She knows Arabians, she knows my horse and she is going to be a very good teacher I am certain.
This will be my first ride on an Arabian (other than Fiona of course) and Deb said it's totally different than riding any other horse. I am VERY excited! I will post tomorrow and let everyone know how it goes!
YAY!!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Crooked still counts in tacking up
Well I got the saddle on Fiona tonight ALL BY MYSELF! Yes, she tried to nip me when I cinched her up and yes she did move her feet a little bit. IMHO, a little bit is WAY better than "get out of my way or I am going to run you over if you touch that cinch". The saddle was crooked when I was I done, but it was on her. I walked her around in her stall a bit and then took it back off. I probably should have lunged her, but I considered my lucky to have gotten the thing on her with so little a fuss I quit while I was ahead.
Actually I feel kind of stupid about all the worrying I have done leading up to this point. It's weird how much better she is. When she came back from the 30 days of riding at Charlie's, she was WOUND UP, that was in early August. Now it's like she just "straightened up".
A few weeks ago, she was due for her hoof trimming and I wanted to take her all the way across the property to the tack room where Charlie does his trimming (usually he drives over to her barn). So I staged a practice run the weekend before the trimming and ask a fellow horse owner at Red Mountain to help me. We walked over with 2 other horse/owner pairs. Fiona and I walked all the way across the property and she only circled around me once. I put her in a roundpen and she paced, but still ate some grain that I brought her. Afterwards, I put the halter back on and walked her back to the barn. She was GREAT!
On the day of the trimming, I walked her across the property again. She circled a couple more times and called out to other horses on the second trip. Charlie worked with me and her a bit. He tied a lead rope to both sides of the halter and we walked her together. That kept her going forward..instead of stepping into me or Charlie.
I have been taking care to only put a little pressure on her to get her to move her feet, even just in the stall that seems to be making a big different in her demeanor. She just pays more attention now and doesn't try to take over as much. I also make sure she moves her feet for me, instead of the other way around. If I need to get to the other side of her...I back her up and move her around me.
I am definitely enjoying the change...and I think she is too. :)
Actually I feel kind of stupid about all the worrying I have done leading up to this point. It's weird how much better she is. When she came back from the 30 days of riding at Charlie's, she was WOUND UP, that was in early August. Now it's like she just "straightened up".
A few weeks ago, she was due for her hoof trimming and I wanted to take her all the way across the property to the tack room where Charlie does his trimming (usually he drives over to her barn). So I staged a practice run the weekend before the trimming and ask a fellow horse owner at Red Mountain to help me. We walked over with 2 other horse/owner pairs. Fiona and I walked all the way across the property and she only circled around me once. I put her in a roundpen and she paced, but still ate some grain that I brought her. Afterwards, I put the halter back on and walked her back to the barn. She was GREAT!
On the day of the trimming, I walked her across the property again. She circled a couple more times and called out to other horses on the second trip. Charlie worked with me and her a bit. He tied a lead rope to both sides of the halter and we walked her together. That kept her going forward..instead of stepping into me or Charlie.
I have been taking care to only put a little pressure on her to get her to move her feet, even just in the stall that seems to be making a big different in her demeanor. She just pays more attention now and doesn't try to take over as much. I also make sure she moves her feet for me, instead of the other way around. If I need to get to the other side of her...I back her up and move her around me.
I am definitely enjoying the change...and I think she is too. :)
Monday, September 6, 2010
Let's get caught up...
So since my Facebook Note (which was originally posted in Dec, 2009 and reposted here in August, 2010) a whole lot has happened.
At the beginning of this year, I put Fiona through a Colt Starting Clinic. A vet, with all her dogged persistance, convinced me to take Fiona to this clinic. The clinician was so kind. He came and spent 11 hours! loading Fiona into a trailer. It was 1am when he got her loaded. I was the only one who stayed for the whole thing. It was amazing.
The clinic went pretty well and the clinician got a halter on Fiona for the first time. He also saddled her and I rode her twice. The first time was very short and she was on halter with one of her back feet roped. The second ride started out the same way, but then he took the halter off (or tied the lead rope to the saddle, I don't remember) and took the rope off of her back foot. She did ok until he brought the flag into the roundpen. She got moving a little too fast, so I went into the fetal position and got bucked off.
Here's some great video of the whole thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQSNI3weybk
To answer everyone's question..."Yes it hurt!" I didn't break any ribs, which was amazing. I also didn't ride her again that weekend or the next (the clinic was 2 weekends long). The bottomline on this experience; I was too green, the horse was too green. The horse was too thin and fast, I was too fat and slow.
However, some good did come from my massive wipeout. I started taking riding lessons and got myself on a diet to lose weight. Fiona was moved from the rescue I got her from to Red Mountain Stables (http://redmountainstables.com/). She has her own stall now and there's plenty of room for me to work with her. She has put on weight;
Before:
After:
She's had her teeth floated, for the first time in 6 YEARS!!! She gets her hooves trimmed regularly. All good things.
We did have one setback in May of this year. I was trying to put on Fiona's flymask and she decided to fling her head into my face. The results was a spectacular shiner:
After seeing my resulting black eye, the same trainer I work with before offered to take Fiona to his new facility for a month of training. She got saddled and ridden pretty much every day in July and then was brought back to Red Mountain Stables at the beginning of August.
So here's a run down of where all this work has gotten her in terms of her behavioral changes. In October of last year here were her disguishing traits:
1) Had to be sedated to have hooves trimmed
2) Wouldn't allow a halter to be put on her and she had to be roped around the neck to move her anywhere.
3) She would bolt through gates or just plain refuse to go through them at all.
4) She would pace in her stall
5) She would walk away from pretty much any human who came near her and tried to touch her.
Now she has the following traits:
1) Stands still for trimming without sedation
2) Halters consistently, even after a good scare or if she's been pacing in the roundpen
3) Walks calmly through most gates.
4) Stands quietly in her stall or moves calmly in it.
5) She LOVES people. I can make kissing sounds in the roundpen and she will come right to me, without a halter/lead rope on. She actually get quite irritated if you don't pay attention to her.
She is much better about the flymask too, which is odd because I never worked with her on it after she almost knocked me out. When she came back from the month at the trainer's, one of the other horse owners at Red Mountain helped me put it on her...and she's never had an issue since. It's really wild.
I love this horse and I love watching her change from a scared, wild eyed creature into a curious and calm companion.
At the beginning of this year, I put Fiona through a Colt Starting Clinic. A vet, with all her dogged persistance, convinced me to take Fiona to this clinic. The clinician was so kind. He came and spent 11 hours! loading Fiona into a trailer. It was 1am when he got her loaded. I was the only one who stayed for the whole thing. It was amazing.
The clinic went pretty well and the clinician got a halter on Fiona for the first time. He also saddled her and I rode her twice. The first time was very short and she was on halter with one of her back feet roped. The second ride started out the same way, but then he took the halter off (or tied the lead rope to the saddle, I don't remember) and took the rope off of her back foot. She did ok until he brought the flag into the roundpen. She got moving a little too fast, so I went into the fetal position and got bucked off.
Here's some great video of the whole thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQSNI3weybk
To answer everyone's question..."Yes it hurt!" I didn't break any ribs, which was amazing. I also didn't ride her again that weekend or the next (the clinic was 2 weekends long). The bottomline on this experience; I was too green, the horse was too green. The horse was too thin and fast, I was too fat and slow.
However, some good did come from my massive wipeout. I started taking riding lessons and got myself on a diet to lose weight. Fiona was moved from the rescue I got her from to Red Mountain Stables (http://redmountainstables.com/). She has her own stall now and there's plenty of room for me to work with her. She has put on weight;
Before:
After:
She's had her teeth floated, for the first time in 6 YEARS!!! She gets her hooves trimmed regularly. All good things.
We did have one setback in May of this year. I was trying to put on Fiona's flymask and she decided to fling her head into my face. The results was a spectacular shiner:
After seeing my resulting black eye, the same trainer I work with before offered to take Fiona to his new facility for a month of training. She got saddled and ridden pretty much every day in July and then was brought back to Red Mountain Stables at the beginning of August.
So here's a run down of where all this work has gotten her in terms of her behavioral changes. In October of last year here were her disguishing traits:
1) Had to be sedated to have hooves trimmed
2) Wouldn't allow a halter to be put on her and she had to be roped around the neck to move her anywhere.
3) She would bolt through gates or just plain refuse to go through them at all.
4) She would pace in her stall
5) She would walk away from pretty much any human who came near her and tried to touch her.
Now she has the following traits:
1) Stands still for trimming without sedation
2) Halters consistently, even after a good scare or if she's been pacing in the roundpen
3) Walks calmly through most gates.
4) Stands quietly in her stall or moves calmly in it.
5) She LOVES people. I can make kissing sounds in the roundpen and she will come right to me, without a halter/lead rope on. She actually get quite irritated if you don't pay attention to her.
She is much better about the flymask too, which is odd because I never worked with her on it after she almost knocked me out. When she came back from the month at the trainer's, one of the other horse owners at Red Mountain helped me put it on her...and she's never had an issue since. It's really wild.
I love this horse and I love watching her change from a scared, wild eyed creature into a curious and calm companion.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Fiona
This is from a note I posted on my Facebook page back in Dec, 2009. It tells the beginning of this journey, which has taken many twists and turns since then.
"Anyone who has been friends with me on Facebook for a while knows I talk about my horse Fiona all the time. I am sure for some, particularly those who are not animal lovers, I sound a little crazy (i.e. Getting excited about her progress in training and posting status for every little new "good" behavior she exhibits).
Let me explain her background and then perhaps my nuttiness will make more sense. Fiona was brought to Wildhorse Rescue Ranch almost 2 years ago now. The ranch got a call that Fiona was left on a property in Scottsdale, AZ. The caller was the renter of the property. As it turns out, Fiona had been left in the stall she was born in for 2 years.
Now, for folks that are not familiar with horses, it's important to note that horses NEED companionship. They are not meant to live alone. Though she had been fed enough to stay alive, leaving her in that stall was still VERY cruel.
The ranch had to sedate her, get her in a trailer and it took 3 days to do it. She was so frightened of people that she tried to CLIMB OUT OF HER STALL, when they even came near her. They got her to the ranch and worked with her to the point that she would go in a stall and eat. She was released with her own herd by the time I started volunteering in Feb 2009. The ranch had already done wonders with Fiona.
Over the last 10 months volunteering I have grown very fond of this horse. There are many horses at the ranch, but each horse connects to each volunteer differently. Fiona struck me for many reasons; She is small, only 14 hands. She's a Polish Arabian who is brimming with attitude. This horse KNOWS she is an Arabian. She even runs with the tail up and like she is floating on air, it's amazing to watch. What really hit my heart though, was the fact that she was so uncomfortable in her own skin.
She would go into a stall, eat her dinner, and then pace, and pace, and pace. She never stopped moving. It was so sad. I have seen a plastic bag blow into her stall and then watched her jump in fear.
I never really intended to adopt this horse, even though I wanted to with all my heart. I promised myself that I wouldn't do it until I could provide her with a great life. With encouragement from Kim, the ranch founder and Meta, my amazing wife, I adopted her in October and I have never looked back.
After just one month of training, she had already stopped pacing in her stall whe she is done eating. She also doesn't have as many cuts from being nipped at by other horses in her herd or from running into gates, fences and just about anything that's in her way when she gets scared.
She is also just starting to let us pick up her hooves, which is critical, because right now we have to put her under to clean and trim them. This sedation is not very good for her, though not directly harmful, it's comes with risks.
All I really want for this horse is for her to be a happy, safe horse. If I get far enough to ride her one day, I think my head might explode I will be so pleased!
I will continue to post pictures, and post goofy comments, which hopefully will make more sense now. "
There's much more to tell. I have ridden her and luckily my head did not explode. It did however fall off and hit a fence with my ribs. I have also been hit in the face with her head hard enough to give me a black eye....as I said much more to tell.
"Anyone who has been friends with me on Facebook for a while knows I talk about my horse Fiona all the time. I am sure for some, particularly those who are not animal lovers, I sound a little crazy (i.e. Getting excited about her progress in training and posting status for every little new "good" behavior she exhibits).
Let me explain her background and then perhaps my nuttiness will make more sense. Fiona was brought to Wildhorse Rescue Ranch almost 2 years ago now. The ranch got a call that Fiona was left on a property in Scottsdale, AZ. The caller was the renter of the property. As it turns out, Fiona had been left in the stall she was born in for 2 years.
Now, for folks that are not familiar with horses, it's important to note that horses NEED companionship. They are not meant to live alone. Though she had been fed enough to stay alive, leaving her in that stall was still VERY cruel.
The ranch had to sedate her, get her in a trailer and it took 3 days to do it. She was so frightened of people that she tried to CLIMB OUT OF HER STALL, when they even came near her. They got her to the ranch and worked with her to the point that she would go in a stall and eat. She was released with her own herd by the time I started volunteering in Feb 2009. The ranch had already done wonders with Fiona.
Over the last 10 months volunteering I have grown very fond of this horse. There are many horses at the ranch, but each horse connects to each volunteer differently. Fiona struck me for many reasons; She is small, only 14 hands. She's a Polish Arabian who is brimming with attitude. This horse KNOWS she is an Arabian. She even runs with the tail up and like she is floating on air, it's amazing to watch. What really hit my heart though, was the fact that she was so uncomfortable in her own skin.
She would go into a stall, eat her dinner, and then pace, and pace, and pace. She never stopped moving. It was so sad. I have seen a plastic bag blow into her stall and then watched her jump in fear.
I never really intended to adopt this horse, even though I wanted to with all my heart. I promised myself that I wouldn't do it until I could provide her with a great life. With encouragement from Kim, the ranch founder and Meta, my amazing wife, I adopted her in October and I have never looked back.
After just one month of training, she had already stopped pacing in her stall whe she is done eating. She also doesn't have as many cuts from being nipped at by other horses in her herd or from running into gates, fences and just about anything that's in her way when she gets scared.
She is also just starting to let us pick up her hooves, which is critical, because right now we have to put her under to clean and trim them. This sedation is not very good for her, though not directly harmful, it's comes with risks.
All I really want for this horse is for her to be a happy, safe horse. If I get far enough to ride her one day, I think my head might explode I will be so pleased!
I will continue to post pictures, and post goofy comments, which hopefully will make more sense now. "
There's much more to tell. I have ridden her and luckily my head did not explode. It did however fall off and hit a fence with my ribs. I have also been hit in the face with her head hard enough to give me a black eye....as I said much more to tell.
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