Trixie
14th May 2008, 08:13 AM
I thought I'd start a thread in this forum which allows me to keep a record of the Training of the Mouse.
First a bit of background. Mouse came to me last year as a three yr old WelshxTB gelding, approx 13.2hh. He was ewe-necked, cow hocked, very thin and ribby, horrible tufty coat, wormy tummy - he looked awful. He's a very shy little boy, but did show an affectionate side and very soon he'd come to you in the field.
Sadly, in the middle of last summer, airguns became a problem. I was unceremoniously dumped from my 16.2 IDxTB cross due to some idiot firing an airgun and landed at the feet of Mouse. Then Mouse went lame behind and was sectioned off in a little paddock with electric fencing. Again, an idiot with an airgun fired very close to him and he freaked, taking off with the fencing tangled in his back legs and giving himself friction burns. A few days later, I was just taking the headcollar off the 16.2 (who is a bit flighty) when an airgun pellet smashed into his feed bucket, out the other side, ricoched off the wheelbarrow and skimmed past my temple, missing my eye by about an inch and slicing my scalp open.
By this time all three horses in the field had become terrified and were a nightmare to handle, Mouse being the worst and you couldn't get near him so I had to move them. They wintered with a friend 40 miles away and she's now starting to work with little Mouse.
This year, Mouse seems to have grown into himself. He seems to be quite deep through the chest, the ewe-neck has improved, he's filled out nicely and is alot calmer. My friend started working with him on Sunday. He will now tolerate being touched and scratched, although he's a bit wary.
The plan is for my friend to back him for me then I'll school him quite lightly for a year and see how he comes on, hence this thread. I'll try to get some piccies of him last year and this year to show the change in him and I'll update this thread when progress is made.
First a bit of background. Mouse came to me last year as a three yr old WelshxTB gelding, approx 13.2hh. He was ewe-necked, cow hocked, very thin and ribby, horrible tufty coat, wormy tummy - he looked awful. He's a very shy little boy, but did show an affectionate side and very soon he'd come to you in the field.
Sadly, in the middle of last summer, airguns became a problem. I was unceremoniously dumped from my 16.2 IDxTB cross due to some idiot firing an airgun and landed at the feet of Mouse. Then Mouse went lame behind and was sectioned off in a little paddock with electric fencing. Again, an idiot with an airgun fired very close to him and he freaked, taking off with the fencing tangled in his back legs and giving himself friction burns. A few days later, I was just taking the headcollar off the 16.2 (who is a bit flighty) when an airgun pellet smashed into his feed bucket, out the other side, ricoched off the wheelbarrow and skimmed past my temple, missing my eye by about an inch and slicing my scalp open.
By this time all three horses in the field had become terrified and were a nightmare to handle, Mouse being the worst and you couldn't get near him so I had to move them. They wintered with a friend 40 miles away and she's now starting to work with little Mouse.
This year, Mouse seems to have grown into himself. He seems to be quite deep through the chest, the ewe-neck has improved, he's filled out nicely and is alot calmer. My friend started working with him on Sunday. He will now tolerate being touched and scratched, although he's a bit wary.
The plan is for my friend to back him for me then I'll school him quite lightly for a year and see how he comes on, hence this thread. I'll try to get some piccies of him last year and this year to show the change in him and I'll update this thread when progress is made.