Training Questions or Comments

Recently I recieved a comment from acjumper but im not sure how to contact them. If anyone else has any questions about training feel free to email me at thebartjr@gmail.com, i check my email every night so ill be sure to get back to you soon...thanks

Fancy Flyer

Just after Christmas we had an opportunity to start another Hanoverian for a local breeder. Since I had got the chance to work with the last one my dad trained (who was very easy) I thought "No Problem right." Wrong!! Its not that he has a bad attitude or anything, he is just scared of The World. The most nervous animal I've ever worked with. Though he is scared of just about everything and everyone, he is very willing to please. Anything you ask of him he'll try, though he may jump out of his skin in the process, he will try and thats all I can ask of him. After the first couple days of working with him I began to realize that this was going to be a demanding experience. His just doesn't retain the trust in fearful obsticles as a horse normally does, its almost like I had to desensitize to everything everyday. Finally when we started establishing a daily routine he began to figure things out a little quicker. With a normal horse you carry his fears just to the edge of his comfort zone and retreat, with Flyer you carry him beyond and bring him back. His comfort zone is really about the size of a pea. For the first time since I have started training horses I actually skipped ridding bareback for the first couple of rides(normally I am at least riding bareback by 2 weeks and it had now been three)... I know, I hated it too. But it started to take up entirely to much time just jumping up and down attempting to lay across his back. So I decided to go ahead and desensitize him to the saddle which took a little more than a days worth of throwing it on and off....and on and off (its a light saddle). The day after I threw it on and off so many times I decided to go ahead and cinch it up. He didn't freak out as much as I thought he would, partly because of the boat bouys that we put on the surcingle a couple of days before. Currently I can get the saddle on him with little fear that its just gonna eat him up! I've been on his back for 3 days, flexing left and right, and forward motion and stop. This normaly happens all in one day. With Flyer, 7 days and counting. ...more on that later. Remember to please leave comments/criticism or just email me at thebartjr@gmail.com

T's New Home

Soon after I got rid of Blue a story that was a little closer to home came to my attention. A friend that everyone calls Shorty had gone his whole life not having a horse. Through our trail rides Shorty has always been near and you could see the desire in his eyes to own his own horse. I cant even begin to explain how helpful and friendly Shorty has been to me and in building our new barn. On several different occasions he had stopped by the house to help with the barn or just say hey and has never asked for anything in return. I knew that I wanted to do something but I didn't know what. Then it hit me, my baby boy, T, that I couldn't afford to keep on my own, but also didn't want to sell(I never wanted him to drift too far from home), would be the perfect Christmas present for a more than deserving friend. Just as quickly as the idea was thought up it was put into action by my dad, Helena, my sister and I. On the first Friday after Christmas my dad called Shorty up and asked for some help with putting tin on our barn. More than happy to oblige, Shorty came by the house at about 9:00 that morning. After a long, cold day of work on the roof we decided to call it a day. Just about that time Helena called to see if we all wanted to come over for a hot meal and some good gossip...perfect timing. It was all going as planned until Shorty said that he had to get home to feed a buddies horses. After a lot of convincing we got Shorty to come over for just a little while. Dee(my sister) and I left to "take T and Scarlet to another pasture up the road" while Dad rode with Shorty to go by the store for some "beverages." Dee and I soon arrived at Helena's where a rag-tag pit crew unloaded both horses and moved the truck faster than we could get out. T was hidden in a far corner that Shorty was escorted to, eyes closed and all, to see HIS horse for the first time. I'm not giving any names but several tears of happiness were shed. I couldn't be any happier, T had a wonderful new home and he was guaranteed to never drift to far from home. PLEASE leave comments or email me at thebartjr@gmail.com to tell me what you think...tips, hints, criticism, etc.

Bye-Bye Blue

First off, sorry for waiting so long to post. Lately I have gotten a little wrapped up in school because I'm now halfway through my senior year, YEAH!! But, excuses aside, I've got great news. Just a few days after Christmas Blue's girl, Paige, came down for what would hopefully be her last visit before she took Blue home. Since she was going to be down for a couple of days, I wanted her to come and work with him while I was around. Basically all I had to really encourage her to work on was being the "alpha horse." Backing down from Blue had already gotten Paige in trouble once when he kicked at her. Once he figured out that kicking was all he had to do to get rid of her he decided to stick with it for a while until I showed her how to "redirect" his energy. After showing Paige some exercises that helped her demonstrate her superiority like yielding the hind-quarters and backing him out of her personal space, she was really ready to ride. Of course after a month and a half of almost constant riding he was no problem for her to ride. Unfortunately, Paige had to get home for a family dinner and we didn't get to do all we wanted.
A couple of days later Paige was ready to come and get her horse and take him home. I sure wasn't going to pass up another day to work with her and Blue together so by the time she got here I had Blue all tacked up. After the last of the basics, which took almost no time at all because they're both fast learners, I showed Paige all of Blues tricks (i.e. standing on the saddle with the tarp and vaulting on to him while he was trotting around the round pen). Needless to say she was impressed but I still had one more trick up my sleeve. Just when Paige was ready to dismount and go home I told her to ride to the center of the round pen. If she was up to it I was going to get her to stand on Blues back. After a little confidence and balance building, Paige took the final bend out of her knees and stood up straight and proud. With my final consent that Blue was ready to go home she packed him up in her Grandpa Joe's trailer and we said our final goodbyes.