Dannii & Rubys Diary Feb 2010

Dannii5691

Dannii5691

Owned by Ponies!
Nov 16, 2009
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I really wanted to start a diary for ruby as at the minuite it seems having a nice calm hack out wih ruby seems years off - not to mention breaking her in in the first place!
For those of you who havent read any of my rants about ruby let me introduce you :)

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This is ruby :)
Shes a 9 year old unbroken tbx who mooched onto the yard with 4 other horses! The first time i came into contact with her i was trying to catch the little madam after she jumped into a neighbouring field! After being offered her on free loan with permission to do whatever I want with her, providing i give her lots of attention ... me and ruby got to know each other a little better!

First problem ... Ruby dosent catch ... at all ... I have lost count of the number of hours I have spent pointlessly mooching around the field with carrots after her! After a couple of hours I managed to get her in, de rugged her and set about grooming her.

Second Problem ... Ruby dosent stand! Dances, rears, paws the ground, but dosent stand still!! After about half an hour of avoiding a swinging backside i managed to have a good look around her! I also tried to pick her feet out.

Third Problem ... Ruby dosent pick feet up ... when asked to pick her feet up she strikes out with her fronts (appologies to the poor unsuspecting girl who was holding her at this point) and cow kicks with her backs (lovely deep purple bruise on my b****y leg :mad:)
As she is living out 24/7 she has two rugs and a bib on, she is absoloutly fine to rug up ... but getting her bib on and off .... Oh dear

Fourth Problem ... Ruby is UNBELIEVABLY headshy (in hindsight probibly part of the problem when trying to catch her, i wondered why she was the only one in the field with a headcollar on :rolleyes:). Its been a bit of a nightmare trying to get her bib on and off, im just over 5"1 and when she is throwing her head up it dosent make life easy, i cant just get it off quickly ... poorly shoulders :eek:

Fifth Problem ... Ruby becomes very strong to lead when shes away from her field friends. She is fine to bring in, however once she is in leading her in any which way away from the field becoms slightly like trying to lead a charging bull!!

So ..... so far this is what I have discovered ... I have taken on a 9yo unbroken tbx who wont catch, is a wimp, with little manners, difficult to lead, cant pick feet up without them meeting my legs and back, is terribly headshy and wont think twice about rearing and b*****ing off back to the field.

If it wasnt for the fact she does (for a very short time) chill out, rest her head on my shoulder and give me a nudge and a nuzzel i would be re-thinking my decision! I am however smitten ... as i was with india when i was having problems with her, that somewhere (obv hidden very deep) inside this animal is a loving little horse with alot of potential (oh yes ... she jumps and clears fences now on a regular basis! Its like field roulette when i go down!) The O.H is clearly slightly more smitten than i am, as has told me i must perservere with her, (oh yes he says that after he comes down from work ... when she has been caught, groomed, de rugged and bibbed, and has chilled out and she has given him a hug and a kiss!)

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point proved??
 
Wednesday 10th February 2010

(more or less copied from one my my previous threads just to keep up to date)

Today I managed to catch ruby after bringing her in and grooming her (and letting me brush her head) we went for a walk, and she was very well behaved so we headed to the big field for a mooch round (nothing unusual!). As I opened the gate she was quite calm and waited till I closed it ... Then reared and bronked then started trying to kick me (at this point I was determened not to let go of the little cow)! After one almighty rear, me taking a trip off the ground I ended up in a heap on the floor after being dragged a short way accross some hardcore that had been put down and she is loose in a 10 acre field ..... I ached something terrible thursday morning, not to mention full of cold aswell with a fantastic graze accross my back!! After 20 mins of her galloping full pelt backwards and forwards and jumping a barrel (very nicely I might ad ... Defo show jumper potential) she was so tired she let me catch her and plodded out the field like nothing had ever happened! You wouldn't have known anything had ever happened If it wasn't for the fact she was dripping in sweat, caked in mud and I was battered and bruised! After letting her cool down and checking her over she went back in the field. I had recently spent ages grooming her, she was immaculatem and then she got down and rolled, in the biggest muddyest puddle in the field, urghhhhh!! Bloody horse :( :mad:

Had to go and get india in to give me a lovely sloppy kiss (on the plus side she rode around the field for the first time on her own ever ... does this mean i can class her as broken yet :p)

Lessons learnt today ...

If she is being well behaved chances are she is defo plotting something ...

Notes for future ...

Short fat lass keeping hold of a lungeline so horse dosent get loose resulting in being dragged accross a boggy field is comedy gold apparently! :cool:
 
Sunday 14th February 2010

Today, The O.H had do do his "the only mechanic in the family and a family member miles aways boot of there car wont open so he must rush over and fix it because the boot not opening is the end of the world" oh and did he forget its valentines day?? so ... i mooched up the yard and in my poorly state i walked straight past Rubys field as truth be told i really couldnt be bothered to tramps round the field for an hour trying to catch her after wednesdays antics (she refused to catch friday and saturday) and went straight to indias field.
After bringing her in, grooming her then going for our first ever solo hack around the village (meeting the local riding school ponys, a tractor and a very scary sausage dog) we made it back in one piece, alive and counted it as a very successful attempt at riding out :)

So once we were back, I turned India back out and standing in at the gate waiting to be brought in ... RUBY!! She mooched up to the corner of her field (where the gate to indias is) and whinnied at me! I almost fell over ... i think i probs would have if it wasnt for the fact i was stood in a big pile of sloppy mud! I played it cool and ignored her and gave india some treats, then gave ruby one, and after about 10 mins of this, she let me get hold of her head coller!!! FANTASTICCC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then India flew at her and took a chunk out of her ear :( Bloody pony ... after explaining to india that she has a sister she has to share her mummy with i headed back to the yard, convinced ruby wouldnt let me near her again because i had already had hold of her headcollar she knew i wanted to catch her :rolleyes:

Passing rubys gate she was stood there, i gave her a stroke and a treat, got hold of her head collar, wacked a leadrope on it before she realised and got her out of the field!

By this point the O.H had arrived and gave me a hand getting her bib off, I spent about half an hour grooming her, before doing some "baby games" with her!
We spent about an hour all in all getting her to come to me and then back up and move sideways etc, getting her to respect my space! She was a dimond :) after giving her a feed i turned her back out then did the O.H's head in all night going on about how fantastic both horses were :)

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Wednesday 17th February 2010

Today I came home from the yard so so annoyed and for once it wasn't at ruby! She was an angel!! After catching straight away she came in and took about 20 mins to stop whinnying and dancing about (which is good for her!) after giving her a brush down and working on touching her head we got her bridle out and put it on (well I didn't ... I'm to short!! She's defo not daft she knows I can't reach the top of her head!!) She was being well behaved, started salavating with it as normal and tucked into her haynet! We decided today was going to be as good as any to back her (she lunges and longreins, spoke to her owner who assured me) and I grabbed a friend who stood on the mountin block and leaned across her back. After 10 mins of leaning she hopped on bareback and ruby just stood there, falling asleep! After leading her round the yard I put the leadrope around her neck for a photo, and when jade asked her to walk on she did, all on her own!! After feeling like a very proud mummy jade hopped off and we brought her back to the yard and gave her a brush down!!
At this point her owner turned up and saw her with a bridle in and asked what I have been doing with her, I told her I had been working on getting her to lower her head and I'd been walking her out in it, and today jade had backed her! Owner got very excited at this and said she wanted to ride her (can I just point out she had brought friends down with her aswell to ride some more of her horses) and went and got a saddle out of her boot and plonked it on rubys back. After making her trot and canter around the field she then got her two mates to do it aswell! Apart from being utterly mortified that she thinks it's acceptible to bomb an unbroken horse around the field I was gutte ruby didn't chuck any of them off! Nasty thing to say but under the circumstances ...
Oh yes ... And did I forget to mention that because she had her head in the air they put a standing martingale on her ... And wondered why she reared!!! I was so so so so SO angry!!! Apart from there utterly stupid behaveour everything I have taught ruby over the last few weeks it will now be out the window!! But what can I say - at the end of the day it's her horse! When I finally got ruby back she was stressed and jumpy and wouldn't let me get her bridle off!! After spending 40 mins calming her down I turned her back out hoping and preying that tomorrow she would catch and have forgotten all about it! My poor car took the brunt of my anger and was driven very hard to the point a normal car would havE given up and conked out at the side of the road!!

A couple of hours later I recieved a text saying I must let her know the days I didn't ride ruby and she will ride her!!! Needless to say I almost dropped my phone!!! Ggrrrrrrrrr :(
 
Thursday 18th February 2010

Went to the yard today and ruby was stood at the gate ready to come in (thank god!) so I got ruby in, a friend got india in and after having a quick chat with the gypsy who popped down to see how india was (and commented on how well she was looking, always nice to hear!!) we set about doing some more ground work today! She was lovely and calm and almost let me put her bridle on (when I say almost I mean she had her head low enough for me to put the bit in her gob but not over her ears - which is better than normal, normally she wouldn't even let me get that far! Takes advantage of my shortness) and after a bit of gentle persuasion she had it on and set about her haynet! Managed to get her bib off all on my little lonesome aswell ... So either she is getting better with her head or I'm getting better at the jump and flick :p or I woke up 6 inches taller :) worked on backing her up and yeilding away from pressure before lunging her for 10 mins. Friend hacked india around the field who was in abit of a misciefous mood and decided to drop her shoulder and jump to the side - a trick I'm accustomed to and dosent effect my ability to stay on however the friend who is used to a very fine tb ... And a saddle did not cope well with this! So I'm in the middle of lunging rubes and india trots over snorting ... And jade is walking over from the top of a 10 acre field covered in mud! So one horse has decked her and the other has Kicked her!! :rolleyes: ooops :)

so all in all not a bad day!! Both horses almost well behaved!! Thank god!!! :)
 
Saturday 20th February 2010

Today I took the OH down to the yard as he hadn't seen ruby for a week! We got her In and brought her down to the yard! After grooming her and him feeding her some treats we tacked her up and took her to the field to lunge her! After lunging her for 20 mins and a bit of persuasion from him I jumped on and went for a walk in her! she felt very tense so i spent a few mins just letting her mooch about on the buckle before asking her for a little trot. She was fine although found it quite difficult to keep her going - put It down to the rough ground. Brought her back to walk and asked her to turn left - I was met with a rear, a buck and her spinning and taking off in flat gallop!! I bail out the side door, foot gets caught in stirrup and dannii gets dragged along the field until saddle slips enough to let my foot free!! After a few rolls I skidded to a stop on my front, layed still for a couple of seconds, wiggled my feet and my toes, and spotted the oh running towards me (awww he is all concerned - no ... Get up now dannii she is galloping back towards you and she's not stopping! ) oh dragged me up and ruby galloped straight past - exactley over where I had been layed. I think it wouldn't have made a difference wether I had been there or not she would still not have changed course! After making sure nothing was broken (thought my ankle had gone but no such luck :p) we court ruby and checked her over! Apart from being very very muddy, my saddle being very muddy and my so called "safety stirrups" still in one piece OH and YO insited I got back on!
Hopped back on and walked about, trotted a couple of circles and then went to where she shot me off and asked her to turn left again. She was absoloutly fine, bending nicely around my leg and being very light in the mouth. Brought her back in and groomed her down before attempting to take her bridle off - it took 3 of us, she was letting me stroke and groom her ears in the morning!! I don't understand her, it's like she has a switch in her brain, one min she's an angel, then turns into a witch and then back into an angel!! So apart from my major fall she worked quite nicely at times haha! Oh this horsey defo is spirited :) x
 
crikey that was quite a fall, i am really enjoying reading your progress having just taken on a project myself its nice to know im not alone.

What are you going to do about the YO?

Keep up with the diary it will be great for you to look back and see how far youve come xx
 
dani_gurl said:
What are you going to do about the YO?
Click to expand...

Theres nothing much i can do, at the end of the day its her horse :( however she has taken on two loaners for a pony who are very very very nove and need someone to hold there hands so she is currently busy looking after them.

Flipo's mum - i am very very sore!! The next day i had very limited movement!! bruised ankle, and pulled muscle in my leg! little grazes here and there! but im good!! I think if i didnt get back on i probibly wouldnt!!

I dont really have any more updates on ruby atm ... as i so far have failed to catch her! however i have thought of a ingenious soloution to get her back in however need another bag of carrots!! this horse is costing me alot of money to catch!!!

This however is a picture that was taken the day she was backed by my little friend (who ruby has kicked and india has decked!) :)

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Saturday 27th February

:mad: Short post ...

Finally got ruby in today, groomed and lunged her
she decided to rear and b****r off. long story short im very muddy again :mad:
ruby has been banashed to the field again while im deciding what to do with her!! thinking need the OH to be there as back up when she goes so one of us can keep hold of her!! and someone with a velcro backside aswell!!

Jade and me finally managed to catch her although jade did end up taking a dive for cover when a very fast horse was galloping at her .... hmph!!!
 
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