New boy on the block

He did very well today dealing with flags, bunting, banners, and road closed warning signs ahead of tomorrow's street fair. A little bit up about it to begin with but allowed into a steady trot he went by sensibly, though with his head up and a rather high step even by his standards - maybe he thought the flags etc were to celebrate him :rolleyes:🤣. And after going past all of that he then spooked at a person standing on the pavement, fortunately just one of his all four feet off the ground then land in the same spot spooks. I suspect he was quite focused on me and the flags and actually didn't see him until the last second, it was more of a startle than a spook and as he landed he was happy to carry on.

I do need to get him out on some longer rides once the weather improves, but at the moment the byway that leads to the better ones has two low branches and while I could get under them I don't like to and certainly won't try to coming home. They aren't of a thickness that they'll break if I hit them, they'd take a rider off and I'm just not chancing it.
 
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Spring is in the air

Mares are catching his eye, and no I didn't ride! On the plus side I managed to get a photo of him standing still, on the downside he was so fixated that nothing else was registering and that doesn't make him easy to deal with.
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The week so far.

I was on holiday in Scotland last week so Luka was a field ornament with friends looking after him - a wild brumby was how the vet assistant friend described him by day 4
🤣
. This meant he wasn't ridden or even brought into the yard, everything was done in the field, though he had trained one non-horsey boyfriend to hold his buckets and give scratches
🙄


I was back Saturday night so went up Sunday morning. He was pleased to see me, whickering as he trotted to the gate, then snorting in horror at the headcollar. Which kind of set the tone. Had a graze in hand for 10 minutes then took him in. Well you'd be forgiven for thinking he'd never seen the yard before, and I was early enough that no-one else was around. Most of his breakfast went on the floor. He was in desperate need of a groom, but that wasn't going to happen either. Nearly tipped himself over when a car drove past the yard, by which point I was losing the will to live. Managed to pick out his feet. Decided to put my big girl pants on and tack up since people were starting to turn up and that was winding him up even more - it only took 15 minutes to get the saddle on, and the bridle went on as he was marching round the yard
😳
. The very gung ho teenager asked if I was going to lunge before I got on, when I said no she threatened to get the YO! I did get a friend to stand at his head with some mints and strict orders not to touch him or raise a hand whatever he did. Left the yard at a trot, which isn't great going downhill on roads, and basically proceeded at varying degrees of trot for nearly all of short ride - short because I lack stamina and strength for those paces! I felt like having a Tshirt printed saying "It's not you, it's him. Sorry!" because of people's faces! At least when I got the sweaty foamy mess back to the yard - we were out 20 minutes tops - he settled down and ate some feed and hay.

Monday was still tricky to tack up but quite civilised to ride as long as you don't mind forwards. Actually got a compliment on his manners when he stood as an escaped dog ran round him - I wouldn't have liked the dog's chances on Sunday.

Tuesday he had off since I wanted to give him a good groom and trim his feathers. I think he doesn't get groomed much, but oh does that daily flick over make a difference. I haven't done the best job on his legs, but greasy feather plus fidgety cob isn't a combination my trimmers like. Oh well, the chibbled look will no doubt grow out quickly.

Yesterday I wised up, got everything out the car before I caught him and got his saddle on while he was eating breakfast. It confused him a bit, but once he realised saddle on didn't mean we were going straight away he settled down and ate some hay. Result! When we did go out he was a gem to ride, much more settled and coping well with a couple of things he'd have had every right to object to.

Today I didn't ride. Dad was taken into hospital last night and I didn't know if mum would need me to go back, plus I was stressed and that doesn't work well with Luka. So he got another groom, to his disgust, and a day off. Luckily I then heard that after some scans they'd managed to sort dad without surgery and he should be home now.

So that's us.
 
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He got really lucky landing with you, you understand him so well, he would have been labelled something terrible in the wrong home.
 
Oh I hope your dad's OK. Always a worry when someone goes into hospital unexpectedly. As for Luka - is it just cobs that faint when their routines upset?
 
@Jessey he'd already got a name for being a problem, but he's just a bit of a diva and sensitive. The problem was people tried to bully it out of him :(

@Huggy I'll give mum and dad a ring today. but I was working on the theory no news was good news and they didn't want people ringing all evening. He has major long term problems. A lot of cobs aren't the laid back types people expect!
 
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Two years today!

I got Luka :D He's been more work than I initially thought, I knew when I got him that he was green but hadn't realised how much of his hacking relied on him being more scared of the rider than anything he came across. That's not the case now though, and he's a fun forward going hack who's...
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Trailers, the metal type used by landscape gardeners and the like, have remained a big issue especially when towed by a 4wd. We can now get passed them without having a meltdown if they've stopped, and he's a little less scared if they're so loaded up that they don't rattle, but he's still sufficiently uptight that I'll always try to get him to somewhere with some space so he isn't too close.

Yesterday some *!*! came round a junction with poor visibility far too fast on the wrong side of the road because he clearly knew there is nearly always a row of parked cars on his side of the road. He was towing a trailer with machinery and tools clattering in it. We were on the right side of the road nearly at the end of the parked row of cars and had absolutely nowhere to go apart from getting two feet up on the narrow pavement that has houses straight onto it. He missed us by very little! Poor Luka grew a hand but stood like a rock while I reassured him it was all ok, I could feel his heart and him shaking but he stood and then when it had gone he turned his head to check he'd been a good boy (mints were given alongside a lot of praise!) did a big sigh and carried on. He did twitch a bit as a driver in a car further back blasted his horn and gave the trailer driver some verbal, the sentiment was good but it didn't help the situation!

After that I changed the ride we were going to do to a short one that he's very comfortable with, I felt he didn't need any more challenges that day. I was so proud of him.

As a bonus we met a man walking a dog, the dog was very scared of horses. Since I wasn't in a rush and Luka is good with dogs I said I was happy to stand around for a while - Luka was very happy since there was a tasty bit of verge :) - if he wanted to use us to try and reassure his dog. After a while his dog was calmly standing having treats within a couple of feet of us which he was very happy with since like he said he's unlikely to need to be as close as that. Luka was a bit miffed at having to move on while there was still grass to munch 😂
 
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A little reminder today

Luka has grown up a lot now, or got over himself depending on how you care to look at it. He's generally forward but trustworthy, looky but not spooky if you get what I mean. The much hotter weather in the second half of this week, plus a change of field and an overnight breakout, has meant he's...
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A still somewhat bloated stunner, yesterday morning I found them in the field the other side of the gate because someone hadn't done it up properly (YO has had strong words!) and all three of them had stuffed themselves silly. Yesterday I was a bit worried because his crest had gone hard but it's back to normal today - still a bit gassy on his ride though!
 
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@Jane&Ziggy BIG! His owner says he was sold to her as 16.2, personally I don't think she'd have a hope in Hell of getting him to measure that with a proper stick.
 
Just waiting to check in after a week in Ireland so I thought I'd update here since I've been a bit lazy about it.

He's far happier in his new field, though given there's still a bit of attitude between them I'd still rather he wasn't so much smaller than them. Anything is safer than the situation in the other field though.

He's had another one of those leaps forward with his attitude and before I went away was actually looking to do some of the longer rides that he previously was only happy with in company. Now he pootles out in a relaxed fashion, softer through his whole body and not stressing about much - though he'll still play spook if he thinks I'm not paying attention! He's also become very cuddly - though this may change if he's cross that I've "abandoned" him! I've also made some serious headway on the fidgeting when tacking up, I started putting his saddle on while he ate his balancer that he comes in to and then doing grooming etc around it. It's not ideal but it does seem to have broken the association in his head that the sight of the saddle means there's a job in hand and he needs to get on with it. I'm now not putting it on while he eats, but am still trying to avoid tack on and go. Everything with this lad seems to involve taking a step back and looking at why, but he's so worth the thought and small compromises 😍

He's been good for my friend that's done him while I was away though I did get a text saying he doesn't like Doritos :rolleyes:🤣 and apparently it's windy at home today so he was wild to handle, she's very capable though and knows to just keep him moving on a loose rope then send me a text saying "good luck getting on him tomorrow!". Hopefully luck won't be needed!
 
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Physio again today for Luka. It's not been that long since his last visit - 3 or 4 months? - but there was quite a bit wrong and sore then so I wanted him done again.

Jackie was so happy with him
🙂
Straight and level everywhere except for his neck where he'd had a bad kick 6 weeks ago - there's still a bit of a lump there, but at the time the swelling was very big and it had split the skin badly too.

Anyway her initial view is that now he looks "like one continuous horse with no weak areas or anything out of balance" and on a thorough examination and stretches she liked how soft and flexible his muscles were, how far he could easily reach, how relaxed his movement was and also how chilled he was in himself - confession time, hot weather produces a much calmer Luka lol. The neck had a few tweaks, some massage and a bit of laser therapy, but it's "just" tight knotted muscles and keeping him soft and stretching will continue to ease it. I'm hoping this will help with the nose tilt he's had when ridden since this happened, it's been getting less but hasn't gone - she's confident it will.

So I'm happy today
😃
 
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