The End of the First Training Week

April 30, 2010

The week ended very well. The training horse is riding very well. He came in a little ansy and a little pushy, even though he is a big puppy dog. He stands quietly in the stall now. Shaggy settled into being into the arena by himself.

I started with the training horse. He does not need any free lunging now, as I use free lunging to get the horse accustomed to the arena and to establish myself as herd mare, the “boss”. Boss does not necessarily mean a bad connotation. Horses want a boss mare. They want someone to take care of them. They want someone to alert them to danger. And I am here to take care of the horses that are in my care. And I am here to put horses in their place when they don’t know what their place is OR they don’t realize that they have a place in MY hierarchy!

I am concerned that the training horse is still kicking out when he lopes off. I will talk to the owner about getting his back checked. I am an Equine Massage Therapist, but my disclaimer is that I can not diagnose. Only Veterinarians can diagnose and treat. As I checked the training horse’s back, he did not display any reaction to pressure on the muscles adjacent to his spine. I checked both of his hips, and he did display a slight discomfort or movement when I added pressure around the muscle on his left hip. As I free lunged him, I did notice a slight change in stride.

When I rode him, he rode fine. I did not ask him to lope off, but going to the right, I felt that he wanted to lope off. I’ll wait to see what the vet says.

Shaggy did not buck as he was free lunged with the saddle on. I left him in the arena longer with the saddle on, and he was much more settled when I rode him. He wanted to buddy up sooner. I did ground drive him, and he turned and responded and gave to the bit as well as he gave last year. He did not forget anything.

He rode better, without shaking his head as much. But he gave behind the vertical. I think since he was behind the vertical at the trot, even on a loose rein, he was evading the bit. I checked his teeth after I finished riding him and they were sharp. He will have his teeth floated next week.

I can’t wait to ride the training horse after his back has been checked and after Shaggy has had his teeth floated. They are starting to move really nice and are being responsive to my legs.

Next week’s rides will be awesome!

Come along on the ride with me!