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| Gambler on Easter 2015, all doped up so the vet could stitch his eyelid. |
Last Easter - about a week after Gambler became mine - we arrived at the old barn to discover a mysterious cut above his right eye. To this day, I don't know how it happened. He was in a stall without any obvious sharp edges. The cut was deep enough that we called the vet out (yes, on Easter Sunday) to stitch it.
This Easter was a much more cheerful experience. We brought our black lab/golden retriever mix Sweetheart to the barn with us. Gambler LOVES dogs. And cats. And bunnies. And beavers. And eagles? But I'm getting ahead of myself.
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| It is shedding season and mud season. |
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| Is that . . . |
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| A dog! |
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| Check out the curve in his neck. So Arabian! |
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| He was so gentle with Sweetheart, lowering his head and being very still and quiet even though he was really excited. |
For our session I revisited the problem of leading from the off side. Gambler warmed up to it much faster than he did on Saturday.
He is still extremely herd-bound, which we need to work on. During our session Kezi wandered out of sight - cue blind panic. Gambler cantered around in circles, bucking and ignoring my cues. As soon as Kezi came galloping back (so dramatic these horses) he was 100% obedient. Originally, I wasn't going to make him canter because the ground was wet, but since he had decided to canter through all my protests, I proceeded to ask for walk, trot, and canter transitions as well as many changes in direction. Not that it mattered since Kezi was back and peace restored to the universe.
Other than that, Gambler was in a fantastic mood, so I decided to ride. I wasn't sure how he would react to being ridden after a week or so of groundwork only. I did a little mounting prep and then jumped up. I am happy to inform you that I'm getting better at mounting smoothly, a little more like girl jumping onto her horse's back and a little less like a monkey falling out of a tree. There was nothing to worry about. Gambler did very well.
At one point in the ride two eagles started flying around in the field next door. Gambler was very looky and a little balky. I'm not sure if he was spooked or if he wanted to befriend them. At first I thought about getting off, because I had never dealt with a new situation while riding Gambler and I didn't know what to expect. I'm glad I stayed on. Gambler never spooked or bolted and he walked forward when I asked him to. Together we overcame our first obstacle under saddle.
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| Gambler in the cross-ties after our ride. |
Herdboundness that leads to blind panic like that is THE WORST. I hope he decides to listen to you instead of paying mind to his friends with time! Good work on the mounting improvement. Once he's steady with it you can practice a vaulting mount! They're super fun but take a bit of muscle memory to develop. =)
ReplyDeleteIt most certainly is the worst! I have a few ideas to try, but for now I'm focused on other things. Eventually Gambler and I will have a discussion about it and he'll learn to get over himself. I definitely plan to vault onto Gambler's back someday (especially because he is so short), but I don't want to freak him out too much since riding is still very new right now.
DeleteYay for a great ride!! Congrats on getting through your first obstacle. Hopefully he'll be a stop and stare kind of horse. :D
ReplyDeleteWhen you ride do you make sure that Kezi can't get out of sight? I would hate for him to fly into a blind panic with you on him!! Herd bound horses is so annoying and hard to retrain, but I'm sure you can get him through it. It's probably a lack of experience thing.
On the ground, Gambler is a run sideways horse, but as soon as the rope becomes taut he stops. I'm hoping that when I am riding he won't get as far because I can tighten the reins faster that I can reel in the longe line.
DeleteWhen I work with or ride Gambler I shut the gate to the farther pasture so that Kezi has to stay in sight. I definitely don't want to be on him when his brain is disconnected! I have a few ideas for getting Gambler over his herdboundness that I'm going to try out soon, so we'll see what happens.
That's good about Kezi!! I hadn't even thought of that being a possibility until I read this post, but I'm glad you thought of it hehe.
DeleteI forgot that Gambler is the run sideways type. Chrome has only done that to me once while I was on him and it's when I fell off, but it's because I was bareback and he spooked hard. I was sliding off and pulled on the rein by accident. It scared him and he cantered sideways out from under me. The times that he has bolted he went forward, but stopped easily when I pulled back on the reins. I was in the saddle those times though. I think Gambler will be fine. He is very responsive to light pressure and that's a really good thing. He still could be a stop and stare kind of horse under saddle though. Chrome is like that in most cases, but if whatever is spooking him is really close, like the dog that crashed out of the bushes right over our heads, he bolts. It's scary, but as long as he continues to stop when I ask it will be okay. I really think the reason he went sideways out from under me is because I never worked on having stuff slide off his side... he was super confused and scared by me getting unbalanced and sliding off his side, not to mention I clamped on with my legs out of instinct, which is his go forward cue lol. I probably need to do some desensitization with thing sliding off his back now that I think of it. Those missed steps always come back to bite me lol. Anyway, sorry for rambling.
I don't mind your rambling at all! I love hearing other people's experiences with their green horse.
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