Horse Talk

[abigalerose]

I got a new horse one week ago, I went through several horses trying to find the right one, and she's the one! (picking based on personality, not color or training). She is a 2 and a half year old registered palomino quarter horse, that I named June. When I picked her up Monday she had never been halter broke or worked, just givin treats all the time, so she's a little stubborn but she seems very smart. I've worked with her about 5 days this past week (I would every day but she's at my grandparents and it's a bit of a drive from my house) and so far I have her leading wonderfully, stopping great, making improvements on backing, flexing, yielding fore and hindquarters (hindquarters still needs some work) and picking up her feet (well, 3 of them anyways). Also getting her use to standing tied and doing some desensitizing with a plastic bag. I trained a horse when when I was younger in 4-h but my grandpa did most of the work since I was so young and he knew more than me. This is my first time training by myself and I know I still have lots to learn but I think me and the horse are both doing good so far. I've also got some riding lessons set up for sometime in the next couple of weeks since it's been quite a while since I rode and I need to build confidence. I want to make sure im ready once June is ready to be ridden. I will most likely hire a trainer to start her under saddle, and hopefully they will work with me and teach me while they're teaching her. I've done a lot of reading up and training and have been watching Missy Wryn videos, what does everyone think of her?
I'm thinking June will be ready to start lunging in the next week or two, I did try once but it was evident that she wasn't ready yet.
I've also been thinking, I may want to breed her sometime (after she's broke), maybe next spring or the next. I've had mares before but never any that I've wanted to breed, but she has good conformation, good color, registered (and several people have told me her bloodlines are good ones, I don't personally know a ton about bloodlines yet), great personality and she's a pretty quick learner. If I did breed her, i would most likely keep the foal for myself, or at least the first one if I decided to breed her more than once. I've been doing some thinking on this and I would either go with another qh with good bloodlines, conformation, personality, and if I'm lucky, color. Or I would go with a friesian stud that I like that is close by. I know the friesian would add height (she should mature to 14.3) and the thick build I like, as well as good personality. But I was also wondering, what colors would be possible from a friesian and a palomino? Not that that's the most important thing but it's fun to think about.
Anyways, I wanted to post this thread to get as much advice on training as I can (because like I said I have LOTS to learn) and talk some about breeding as well.



Ignore how messy everything is, ill be picking up rocks when it gets warmer. And I have more pictures, they wont upload right now but ill try later!

 

[abigalerose]

More pictures of June!

 

[res]

This is my latest purchase... Bonnie, a 6 yr old Haffie mare. This was her first time under saddle, EVER, during a trial ride at the Mennonite farm we bought her from. The Mennonite kids all ride bareback, with twine for reins on harness bridles. The day we unloaded her at work, she stepped right off the trailer and into a packing demo, and had a Decker saddle and panniers thrown all over her and lashed down. She didn't even flinch. She has been mobbed by wheelchairs - they literally raced toward her and surrounded her, she didn't flinch.

I know there are lots of opinions out there regarding Amish and Mennonite, but there is no dispute that they turn out well broke QUIET horses.

 

[abigalerose]

Some new pictures of my baby

 

[Bunnylady]

I have my horses trained to come in the barn. Every time they come in, they get some grain, even if just a handfull, that way whenever I open the gates and call them, they all come and put themselves in their stalls. makes it much easier, I don't catch mine out in the field very often.

The old guy that owned the barn where I used to work had his horses trained like that, too, and I guess it can work for you if you are the only person at the barn. Unfortunately, he was trying to run a boarding establishment, and that means a lot of different people and their animals and a lot of different schedules. When someone wanted to get their horse out of the field, they had to wade through his horses crowding around the gate. Several of the horses knew how to open the gate, so if you didn't make sure to chain it shut behind you, you'd have horses in the barn aisle that you'd then have to work around and put back out. When he opened the gate, his horses came racing around a corner and into the barn; I always worried that one of the boarders' small children might be in the aisle when they came tearing in like that. One time, he let his horses in, and a boarder was tacking her horse up in the aisle. When he found himself suddenly surrounded by a bunch of milling, excited horses, her horse flipped over and broke the snap on his lead rope. A couple of the boarders' horses got really agitated when they had horses running around outside their stalls when they were eating; one of them bit the old fella when he was driving his horses past the stall (I'm still not sure whether that bite was meant for him or the horse just inches in front of him). He often remarked how patient I was, leading each animal in like I did; I know he thought it an inefficient use of my time when it could be done so much faster his way. But I looked on it as a brief, twice-a-day refresher on ground manners; some of those horses didn't get much handling beyond that. The payoff was that I could walk up and halter any horse there at any time, anywhere on the property; that habitual obedience came in really useful several times when something unexpected occurred.

 

[abigalerose]

I hope so! Especially if smoke is your favorite!
Here's some new pictures of Jasmine

 

[abigalerose]

He's home!

 

[abigalerose]

Wow I'm in love. He reminds me of the mustang I use to have.

I think it would be kind of nice to adopt older mustangs.. if you got 15+ year old sale authority ones out of holding facilities, you'd be giving them a chance at a good life, without all the pressure of having to start them under saddle and find them a job for the rest of their lives

 

[abigalerose]

Someone told me to try taking pictures of the horses from different angles than just straight on... I tried.. I think I failed lol. But check out Reno's little speckly chin, I love it.

 

[abigalerose]

She is that's why I'm so frustrated with myself. I can't imagine how nervous I'd be if I had a bad horse lol.
June is definitely a once in a life time horse, I've had a lot of horses before her, and I've gotten a lot of horses since, and not a single one compares. I mean, how many 4 year olds do you know that have been broke by a nervous wreck who's first lope was also the horses first lope, yet will be a perfect angel and take 5-8 year old kids on their first ride?!
I'm just gonna list all her good points as a reminder to myself and maybe I won't be so nervous next time. Let's see
• she will load in a trailer if I point and say "in"
•I can catch and tack her up in a wide open field
•she comes when I whistle now
•I took her on a trail ride one day and thought she looked really pretty while we were out in the completely non-fenced field far from home, so I untacked her to take pictures and she never tried to wander from me
•she's given my grandpa (has a bad back) and my little cousins who are 5, 6, 7, and 8 rides and done whatever they asked
•only one little buck the whole time I've had her and it was kind of expected
•was calm and listened good the first time we rode down a road (when we got lost in the creek lol)
•will ride over logs and through ponds
•does circles at liberty
•can swing a rope off her, stand up on her, pretty much whatever you wanna do lol
•will gently pluck the hat from my grandpas head
•always comes to the fence to kiss me as soon as she sees me
Okay, I feel more trusting already haha I forget how sweet she is sometimes, I had to remind myself. I could really only think of 3 bad qualities, the occasional head tossing, sometimes she stubborn and decides not to move at all so I have to use the riding crop, and you have to use literally all your strength to hold her feet up when you pick them up because she won't put any effort into it.