Well, we have been doing a little bit of working with the horses, but between being busy with other things and rain, it has been few and far between. I have had the opportunity to properly start working with Dicko, and I have also started working my old horse Shadow. He is 27 years old, a standardbred, that I have had for 17 years now. I have started working him in the roundyard, just a couple of times a week, to keep him fit. Phil told me years ago when I met him, that a horse will stay as fit as it needs to be, if you only ride them once a week on Sundays, they will stay fit enough to be able to do that ride, if you just leave them in the paddock doing nothing (with the exception of foals - as they play and run everywhere) they have no reason to have any fitness at all. It made sense to me, so I try to keep them doing something at least once a week.
With the addition of the roundyard, I have been able to do a bit of liberty work with all the horses, it was really interesting for me to work with shadow at liberty for the first time. This is a horse that has carried all of my mistakes, i got him as a teenager who knew nothing at all, and have grown and learnt ever since. But I must be doing ok, because he knew what to do. My signals were clear to him, and I was able to trot him around in circles, change direction, call him into the centre. COOL. It takes me about 5 minutes each time I work him, just to get his heart rate up, get his muscles moving. Then I call him in, brush him and pick out his feet. 15 minutes a week and my old horse should be around for a while.
Dicko. Wow I am having so much fun with this horse, and learning so much. He is nothing like any horse that I have worked with before, and If i didn't know his background ( which is great) I would probably assume that he had been a little mistreated. He lets you do anything with him (he has a little problem with his ears - but I’m working on that) but he is easy to worm, shoe, float, whatever you want, he lets you do it. But that is the thing, its almost like he lets you do things to him - he doesn't like it, but he wont muck up to let you know that he doesn't like it. This is obviously a good thing, but i like a horse that at least will stick up for itself.
We are having breakthroughs though. I have worked with him 3 or 4 times in the roundyard, and he is really good - he trots around, changes direction, draws in, canters, pretty much whatever I want, he is not relaxed though - you can see that he is always worried about things, like he is waiting for something to happen to him. He is the horse I am working to sell, and I truly believe that once he gets an owner, and he is the number 1 horse, then he will form a bond with that person. In our household so far, he has been part of a number of horses, and we have cared for him in every way, but he has always been temporary, and I think when you have that in the back of your mind, you aren't bonding as much as say I do with my stallion or my old horse - who are both here forever. That is changing with Dicko though, now that he is being worked, brushed, and time spent with him every day he is finding his place. At the beginning when i called him into the centre of the yard to stand with me, he would almost hold his breath, he would take just the minimum breaths, where as when i call my stallion in, he takes a deep breath, licks his lips, lowers his head, he knows that in the middle with me is where he wants to be, Dicko is only just starting to learn this. The first day it took up to 10 minutes for him to breathe properly and relax. Day 2 was a little bit quicker, and yesterday we were quicker again. I am quite enjoying seeing the changes in him, and forming this bond. I am learning heaps, especially how much patience is required, and what to do and when. I am a real cuddly person with the horses, and I rub them and touch them all the time, but with Dicko it seems to make him tense up. I remember Ken Faulkner saying, “make sure you reward the horse with something he sees as a reward, there is no point in rubbing a horse if he doesn't like it - that is not a reward to him”. And it is so true, when I call Dicko in and he comes and stands near me, if i rub him when he is not ready to be rubbed, he tenses up, his head goes up, and he doesn't enjoy it at all. The challenge for me is to just stand there, still and let him relax. He actually put his head down and into my hand yesterday, and enjoyed a bit of a rub on the nose, so we are getting there.
COOPER
Cooper is pretty cool to work with in the roundyard. He is so expressive it is just great to watch. My stuck spot personally is the canter. All of my horses will trot around the yard until i change their direction, gait or stop them. But I just cant seem to get the canter. They will strike off, but then they will fall back into the trot. So I'm working on it.
We decided to go for a ride, and I hadn't ridden Cooper in a while, so I got him out of the paddock, saddled him, and headed up to the roundyard to warm up. Phil was using the yard already so I went into the paddock to lunge him. He was fine, despite the other horses being around, he was trotting nicely in both directions, stopping, turning, coming in, yielding his hind etc. But when i went to canter - boom! He started bucking like a bronco! He didn't take off and try to drag me or anything, but the bucks were coming fast and strong, and boy this horse can buck! When i started him he smoked me pretty bad, and this was like watching that all over again. I just kept working him through it, and basically ignoring the bucks, and rewarding him when he cantered properly. After a little while Phil was finished with the roundyard and headed over “You’ve got yourself a horse” - thanks babe - i noticed! I asked Phil about it - he reckons there are 2 schools of thought - what i was doing - ignore the bad, reward the good, and the other - punish the bad and reward the good. So, what to do? I decided to keep doing what i was doing to a degree - when he took to bucking, I just disengaged his hind and changed direction, and when he cantered off nicely I disengaged him and let him rest.
I headed up to the roundyard to let him canter around at liberty, upon heading out of the paddock he was carrying on like a stallion - the head was up, the tail was up, he was the man of the moment! He was controllable though - i was able to move him, lead him etc - which is a great sign to me. Once we got to the roundyard - the bucking was forgotten. I cantered him around, trotted him changed direction, whatever, and he didn't buck at all, so headed back into the big paddock, tested him, led him down the bottom where phil was, tested him, and he seemed ok to get on. We headed out for a ride - and both of us decided to head out at the canter - if there is one thing that these horses need - its miles and wet saddle blankets. We cantered most of the 4km ride. Not aggressive cantering by any means, but just a nice lope through the bush. The problem with being busy and the rain coming, is that you tend to feed them the same - but they are not expanding the energy. I try to be very aware of this, and I do reduce the feed, but when you haven't ridden for a while, particularly with a stallion, you really need to be on top of the game.
I will ride him again for the next few days, and make sure I make the time to ride him a few times a week.
Happy trails
Tk
