Small Lee update and a question ..

[Ruskii]

Lee's had to move fields, basically the grazing he was turned out on was to lush for him and after talking to the YO a bit more he's been turned out with the other cobs at the yard into a slightly smaller field but there is plenty of grazing for them all, well he settled in quite well in his old field and this new field that he was turned out into last night..... if he's gained any weight in the last three days I'm sure he's burnt it off now ! :eek:

The main gelding in that field was quite clear with his instructions of 'This is my patch and dont you forget it!' Poor Lee copped a few kicks and scrapes but he did give a few out at well (I'm glad I dont own a wimp :p ) both he and Spirit (hubbies horse) were both kept running for about 20 mins they kept heading back to the gate and into the direction of their old field, they looked quite confused, but horses will be horses and I'm sure they'll be fine in a few days time.

I havent ridden Lee yet since I got him on Saturday, however I intend to go for a short hack tmw evening ! Part of me is a bit frightened and the other half is saying 'You've ridden him before dont be such a wimp!' I wont be on my own but doesnt mean I wont still be bricking it ! :o So wish me luck ! :D

I'm a bit confused on something, Lee's taken to scratching his head on me, quite hard, he's a big boy and part me thinks it's ok for him to do it and another livery has given me ear bashing about letting him do it so early on as it shows no respect for me. What would you do ? Would you let your horse do it ? I let Spirit do it to me, but Spirit is quite light and doesnt shove you, Lee has got a bit of strength behind him and nearly pushed me over tonight, he got a sharp ' No' loudly and he did stop it. But I'm not sure if I should let him do it in the future. So I could do with some advice about that. :o

Apart from the scratching thing and feeling a tad nervous about tmw, I love him :D He's incredibley easy to catch (even when there is no titbit) and he is ever so patient about being fussed. Only been 5 days but I love him to bits. But we shall see how tmw goes !!

Will post some pics tmw after our ride if anyone is interested :)

[sarah--x]

Aww he sounds lovely and yeah i would liketo see some more pics =] let us know how it goes! xxXx

[NicP]

Good luck with the hacking and def need pics!

Re the scratching, I would try not to let him as he may do it to others and push them about. Cody does the same to me and I am trying to stop him too.

[fairlady]

Morse (my 2 year old) does it to me, it hurts, cos he has some power behind him even now. I am trying to stop it as well, easier said than done, along with the nipping, although there is no malice in either:)

However there is one young smaller girl on the yard that will have to handle him now and again and I would hate it if he did it to her and knocked her over, or hurt her so I am actively discouraging it:)

[conkers]

Mandy tends to use me as a scratching post, especially when she comes in and I take her fly mask off.
As I don't want her to get into this habit i put my hand on her nose and say 'no' quite lately. its not that I don't want a hug, I just don't want to be knocked over whilst she does it!

[Joyscarer]

Using me as a scratching post is one thing I will not tolerate. I started off thinking it was irritating and now, having delved into natural horsemanship and ground work, see it as my horse trying to control my feel and have power over me.

When I considered it irrating I would step back with a stern 'NO!'. Now I realise that this just controlled my footfalls and so I make HER back up out of my space ;)

She is voice trained so a simple 'Back' and squaring up to her will do the trick usually. If not then some nifty hand waving (like Kenny Everett used to do in his big hands for the pretcher character) and eye contact definately does it :)