Silver1
13th May 2006, 09:00 PM
For those who like Mear updates:
We love the stable at the back of my friends house, it has electricity and an electric waterer, and a hose attachment. A barn and tackroom all to ourselves, bridlepaths that go on forever and get this...NO FLIES! A heavy fly day consists of five gnats, and just after I discovered fly boots and a fly mask that won't come off and a fly spray that really works and comes in 100 gallons worth of concentrate. (For only $12 too!) We love the paths, and there is nearly always someone to ride with, and who actually wants to ride, trails that go on for thousands of miles, a round pen, one general arena, one jumping arena and one dressage arena. All carefully looked after by management. The price you ask? Just pay for my own hay and $4 every other month for my own trash can...I don't care if the homes cost a million each, I'm moving there.
Now then, about Mear. I've promised myself that no one is going to push me into anything with my horse, with the happy result that I actually want to ride more. I have been riding once or twice a week for the past several months, and ground training about twice a week as well. You don't notice these things when you ride bi-yearly, but some small issues have come up with Mear and I'd like to ask about them.
The questions:
#1. Is it possible for a horse to accept a bridle and a saddle and a rider...but not be trained?
On my rides I've noticed that Mear does not understand any kind of leg cue at all. She doesn't understand any bridle cue except go where your nose has been pulled, (Which in my opinion, is not really a cue,) and while she is fantastically brave when it comes down to scary things, she is completely flabbergasted when you do normal every day stuff off the right side instead of the left. She never bucks, or kicks, or pulls any kind of pranks at all, but I have this feeling there is a complete lack of understanding when I ask her for something using a cue, and no obvious answer.
Example: She knows to follow a trail if she's put on one, but if you ask her to walk on a specific side of the trail, or to straighten her body or something, she doesn't understand.
#2. What are the basics anyway?
I've gotten several books and (Yay!) Have even gotten the courage to take a lesson or two, and it makes me wonder what every horse is supposed to learn in their basic training. What is a young horse just being ridden supposed to learn? And ground training? What about that?
#3. Why would a horse be afraid of its own feet?
I was experimenting with the notion that Mear may have not actually been taught some of the basics, and started working with her back feet. She knows she's supposed to pick them up when you touch them, but she jerks her feet up in a kind of reflex. (It's not stifle lock, I had the vet out.)
She's gotten the idea of just taking the weight off the foot now, but when I'm holding her leg I can feel tension all the way up to her hip. She isn't pulling away or fighting, she's just tense. She relaxes after awhile, but she's tense every time I pick up the foot.
Any ideas?
We love the stable at the back of my friends house, it has electricity and an electric waterer, and a hose attachment. A barn and tackroom all to ourselves, bridlepaths that go on forever and get this...NO FLIES! A heavy fly day consists of five gnats, and just after I discovered fly boots and a fly mask that won't come off and a fly spray that really works and comes in 100 gallons worth of concentrate. (For only $12 too!) We love the paths, and there is nearly always someone to ride with, and who actually wants to ride, trails that go on for thousands of miles, a round pen, one general arena, one jumping arena and one dressage arena. All carefully looked after by management. The price you ask? Just pay for my own hay and $4 every other month for my own trash can...I don't care if the homes cost a million each, I'm moving there.
Now then, about Mear. I've promised myself that no one is going to push me into anything with my horse, with the happy result that I actually want to ride more. I have been riding once or twice a week for the past several months, and ground training about twice a week as well. You don't notice these things when you ride bi-yearly, but some small issues have come up with Mear and I'd like to ask about them.
The questions:
#1. Is it possible for a horse to accept a bridle and a saddle and a rider...but not be trained?
On my rides I've noticed that Mear does not understand any kind of leg cue at all. She doesn't understand any bridle cue except go where your nose has been pulled, (Which in my opinion, is not really a cue,) and while she is fantastically brave when it comes down to scary things, she is completely flabbergasted when you do normal every day stuff off the right side instead of the left. She never bucks, or kicks, or pulls any kind of pranks at all, but I have this feeling there is a complete lack of understanding when I ask her for something using a cue, and no obvious answer.
Example: She knows to follow a trail if she's put on one, but if you ask her to walk on a specific side of the trail, or to straighten her body or something, she doesn't understand.
#2. What are the basics anyway?
I've gotten several books and (Yay!) Have even gotten the courage to take a lesson or two, and it makes me wonder what every horse is supposed to learn in their basic training. What is a young horse just being ridden supposed to learn? And ground training? What about that?
#3. Why would a horse be afraid of its own feet?
I was experimenting with the notion that Mear may have not actually been taught some of the basics, and started working with her back feet. She knows she's supposed to pick them up when you touch them, but she jerks her feet up in a kind of reflex. (It's not stifle lock, I had the vet out.)
She's gotten the idea of just taking the weight off the foot now, but when I'm holding her leg I can feel tension all the way up to her hip. She isn't pulling away or fighting, she's just tense. She relaxes after awhile, but she's tense every time I pick up the foot.
Any ideas?