Soggy cobby tonight, bad mum had put him out without a neck cover! In my defence it was only drizzle when I turned out, and cobs don't actually dissolve in the rain!
New boy on the block
- Thread starter carthorse
- Start date
Bad mum who let a cob get wet also forgot to put his tiny dinner in last night! I found it this morning when I went to get his breakfast which for once he ate all of and licked the bowl clean. Now in my defence he walks straight past dinner at night and heads for his treatball - no way I'd be allowed to forget that! - and dinner is still usually untouched when I leave, so it's not as big a deal as it sounds but tonight when he came in he stopped at his bowl, took a taste, looked at me and then went to the treatball. That's me told then 
lol I know hes your special boy.
I would love to meet him one day, might try to persuade OH to go for a staycation and tell him he can fish if i go do horsey stuff lol
I would love to meet him one day, might try to persuade OH to go for a staycation and tell him he can fish if i go do horsey stuff lol
"Accidental" training
Well maybe not accidental, but certainly not formal targetted training. A combination of little things that I've noticed after someone's comment about him not biting anymore made me look at the overall changes in Luka's behaviour on the ground. Biting, or even just nipping, has never been a...
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Everywhere is still too frozen to ride, but at least he's got friends to play with (pester?). 
And if that hasn't bored you don't know what will
And if that hasn't bored you don't know what will
Well full marks to the boy, he's had about a month off but he rode without any drama today. "A bit fresh" yes but I let him keep moving forwards and he did nothing more than swagger, strut, and generally be safely pleased with himself. Ok it would have been better if he'd stayed in walk, but the trot was mannerly and if that keeps him settled it's better to go with it than have him act up because he has too much energy and too much time to think. Piaffe for passing cars is coming along very nicely, as is passage in the hope they'll get by before we reach parked cars 
. If I had the inclination to compete, and he had the mindset to do shows without losing the plot (which I very much doubt) then he may be small but he'd be a cracking horse to do dressage with.
. If I had the inclination to compete, and he had the mindset to do shows without losing the plot (which I very much doubt) then he may be small but he'd be a cracking horse to do dressage with.
We need a friend of yours to video your piaffe in the passing places. I'd love to see it! Luka is gorgeous, he sounds such a character and I love it that you don't suppress him.
@Jane&Ziggy I think they tried to suppress him in his last home and came close to mentally breaking him as a result. I work with him and that way he shows what a kind and honest lad he is. Not much chance of getting video I'm afraid, we hack a lot on our own because he's so forward, and on hyper, ie piaffe, days he really is better on his own so he can keep going without making another horse move outside it's comfort zone.
A dog escaped from a garden today and was jumping up at his quarters and hind legs snarling and snapping. He shot forward a few steps - downhill on the road - then stopped to voice before turning to face it. The postie saw, kicked it off, and then the owner grabbed it. Postie asked if I wanted to report to the police, which gives you and idea of how it looked! Since no harm was done I said no and let him get moving so he' could settle, I've seen this dog a lot before, always on a short lead and well behaved, so something had clearly gone wrong and it didn't need blowing out of proportion. It reminded me why I value Luka so much though, when it's needed he's solid.
A dog escaped from a garden today and was jumping up at his quarters and hind legs snarling and snapping. He shot forward a few steps - downhill on the road - then stopped to voice before turning to face it. The postie saw, kicked it off, and then the owner grabbed it. Postie asked if I wanted to report to the police, which gives you and idea of how it looked! Since no harm was done I said no and let him get moving so he' could settle, I've seen this dog a lot before, always on a short lead and well behaved, so something had clearly gone wrong and it didn't need blowing out of proportion. It reminded me why I value Luka so much though, when it's needed he's solid.
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Interestingly it seems the dog bothered him more than I'd realised because when we did that route again today he was a bit reluctant to turn that way and when he did we had three lots of poo in a very short space of time. No silliness or refusing though, which was just as well since my ankle was sorer than expected riding and I wouldn't have wanted to put a lot of leg on.
Lovely hack this morning though it took him a little while to settle, mind you he hadn't been ridden since Saturday. I'm surprised at how well he's coping with this very erratic work pattern, yes he's forward (very lol) but there's no longer the spookiness and constant over reaction. We had a nice long jog trot to burn off some adrenalin after having to pass very close to a bus and he was so polite, after a few quick strides he settled into a steady not too steppy pace and gently bowled along looking at things but not reacting at all. Then had a short uphill canter on the way home, again so polite and stopped on a word, though that was much higher stepping than the trot work. What a boy he's turning into!
Another good calm hack today, I do hope this is a pattern he's going to settle into. He's just generally quite relaxed about life at the moment, calm in the stable, chilled in the field - unless I'm late catching lol - and all in all taking life in his stride. Oh he'd still be some people's idea of too full on, but by his standards this is a big improvement.
Ha, so much for calm rides! He was like Tigger on drugs this morning. Yesterday I brought him in and trimmed up his feathers then put him back out and I got the feel he was miffed that there was no ride. Today he was creating from the start, not eating his hay block and digging fit to take the toes out of his shoes. Tacked up, got on and as soon as both feet were in the stirrups he was off at a trot which pretty much set the tone for the ride. A little powerhouse the whole ride, we weren't out for very long at the pace he was setting, and no minor detail like thatchers working by the side of the road with tarps flapping on their vans were going to interrupt his power trot - maybe he was powering on too much to see them!
I've left him out tonight. Although he's still been happily coming in at night he's been desperate to get out the last couple of mornings. He's done well stabling this year so he can go out before he starts acting up - he might lose a bit of weight too!
I've left him out tonight. Although he's still been happily coming in at night he's been desperate to get out the last couple of mornings. He's done well stabling this year so he can go out before he starts acting up - he might lose a bit of weight too!
A bit of drama today!
First fall from Luka, and he doesn't do it by halves. We went to the rivers, that were a lot higher than I expected considering we've had no rain for a month, they must have opened the floodgates further upstream. I would have gone back, but there were workmen digging up a concrete car park...
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