Horse Talk

[chickluvinfreak]

Yes another horse would definitely help! If you can't afford a full size one get a mini. And did you say she sleeps in the round pen? I would stop having her sleep in there. She's probably thinking now it's a place to relax and not work.
And no harm in riding in the summer. I'm in MO so even though the temps are usually high 90s or low 100s, the feel like temps and the humidity are aweful. I still try to get a few rides in though so my horses don't think they get to be total free loaders, and so they don't get bored of ground work. It won't hurt you or her to get a little hot, just make sure you're both hydrated

My vet had recommended turning her out at night to get exercise. But I have heard that where a horse sleeps and works shouldn't be the same place. Plus its been storming at night so I don't think I will be leaving her out over night anymore. Thanks again for everything. I'll make some of the changes everyone suggested and update if anything changes.

 

[chickluvinfreak]

I'm not sure if this is the right thread to put this on, but my horse has been acting kind of wierd. I try to lunge her every evening because it's too hot to ride. Normally she is very hyper and trots, bucks or breaks into a canter. But the past week she has acted very sluggish and I'm constantly telling her to go. It's a struggle to keep her trotting just 10 minutes. And as she trots she bobs her head up and down very oddly. I know horses do this when their lame but it looks different. And even when I stopped lunging her she was still throwing her head up and down. Normally she will do this if she excited to see me or give a really sweet treat. But she just stood their doing this for no reason for awhile (she wasn't wearing a bit anything on her head). I was really starting to worry she may be lame and I needed to call a vet. But I got up this morning to walk her back to her stall (she sleeps in the round pen at night) and she literally dragged me back to her stall. So is she really lame or is she testing my authority in the round pen? I talked to my trainer about how her attitude in the round pen and outside of it are so different. And she suggested that she may be developing joint issues and that working in a small area is too difficult. But would a horse that's in pain from walking in a circle try to run off with you when you leave the round pen?

UPDATE- I walked her around the yard the other night and no limping or head bobbing. She was perfectly normal. So I'm pretty sure she isn't lame. Whatever it is, is just in the round pen. Farrier comes out next week so hopefully he can help me figure out what's going on. I think she might just be bored possibly...

 

[res]

UPDATE- I walked her around the yard the other night and no limping or head bobbing. She was perfectly normal. So I'm pretty sure she isn't lame. Whatever it is, is just in the round pen. Farrier comes out next week so hopefully he can help me figure out what's going on. I think she might just be bored possibly...

What size is the round pen?

What footing does it have?

What type of fencing? Pipe panels? Wood fence? Solid wood fence?

Sometimes horse *can* be uncomfortable in a round pen if it is too small, and they are arthritic. The small diameter puts stress on ouchy joints.

Footing can be an issue, too. Too deep in a small area can be bad, again, especially if arthritic. Too hard... can make some horses show symptoms of being footsore, especially at the trot.

If she has "banged" herself on the fencing, she might be remembering that and possibly be tense because of it. Usually not an issue with bigger round pens, but it can happen no matter the size of the pen if the horse is acting stupid. Most often an issue when working the horse at a canter, especially if they break into a gallop.

 

[chickluvinfreak]

What size is the round pen?

What footing does it have?

What type of fencing? Pipe panels? Wood fence? Solid wood fence?

Sometimes horse *can* be uncomfortable in a round pen if it is too small, and they are arthritic. The small diameter puts stress on ouchy joints.

Footing can be an issue, too. Too deep in a small area can be bad, again, especially if arthritic. Too hard... can make some horses show symptoms of being footsore, especially at the trot.

If she has "banged" herself on the fencing, she might be remembering that and possibly be tense because of it. Usually not an issue with bigger round pens, but it can happen no matter the size of the pen if the horse is acting stupid. Most often an issue when working the horse at a canter, especially if they break into a gallop.

I'm not sure of the exact size of the round pen but it is small. The footing is awful, hard ground and some dirt. The fencing is piped paneling one of those movable ones that are easy to connect and take apart. She hasn't bumped into it as far as I know and the ground usually doesn't affect her. I don't make her gallop or canter. It would be dangerous for both of us in a pen that size. But she used to (before all this started) break into a canter for a couple of strides. But nothing more than that. I really hope she isn't getting arthritis. I'm going to keep taking her on walks and do some carrot stretches with her. And hope to work the stiffness out of her. Then after she gets her feet done see how she does in the round pen and riding.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Is there any way to make the round pen bigger or use another pen/arena to work her in? And/or maybe get some different footing for the pen?

 

[chickluvinfreak]

Is there any way to make the round pen bigger or use another pen/arena to work her in? And/or maybe get some different footing for the pen?

We're in the process of building a arena and eventually a large permanent round pen. But it will be awhile before either of them get done. So right now its the only turn out available.

 

[ShrekDawg]

We're in the process of building a arena and eventually a large permanent round pen. But it will be awhile before either of them get done. So right now its the only turn out available.

Ahh that makes sense, guess you'll have to make do then

 

[abigalerose]

Well it's been a while since I've been on here! I've been super busy. I'm finally gonna be moving into my house on the 30th (yay!) and I should be able to move the horses over there within a couple weeks of moving in, not that it's super urgent, my grandparents only live 2 miles down the road. I also bought some golden retrievers (I've been working for a while on getting into raising them), I actually bought 3. Which wasn't the plan but some good opportunities presented themself and I couldn't pass them up. They're all such good dogs too, the youngest is four months and the oldest is gonna be 3 years in October. The 3 year old insists on sleeping in the bed with me and my chihuahua every night

My little sister has a shih tzu that just had puppies so I've also been busy with that. She doesn't want to raise dogs but she has the shih tzu and a male chihuahua and she wanted them to have a litter. Although I'm not really for just letting your mix breed pet dogs have puppies, I did promise that if she was serious about it I would help her out with it. And I'm gonna keep one of the babies, and she's gonna keep one (there's four) and a lady that my grandma works with wants one. So they're only a week old and we just have one left to find a home for. I think all of them will be well taken care of when they go off to their families. And I'm sure someone I know will want the last one. I had to help the momma through birth, she pushed the puppies out but then didn't know what to do so I had to tear the sacs, cut the umbilical cords, ect. And the first 24 hours she wouldn't care for them so I had to step in and feed them, help them potty, keep them warm. We did get the momma to hold still a few times so they could get colostrum. And she is a very good mom now. Once they're weaned my sister is going to get her and the chihuahua fixed. And we'll both have our puppies fixed as well.
I don't know if I posted on here on June's birthday or not. But she turned 3 on August 30th, I tried to give her some carrots and apples but she didn't like them

She's so weird. So I gave her some horse treats and loved on her and then the rest of the horses got to celebrate her birthday by eating the carrots and apples.
I've been refreshing June a little becuase I haven't spent much time with her and she gets a little naughty acting out in the field. But her Liberty circles and back up are still good, and her back up under saddle is super good, my cousin was very impressed with that. She's still making a little progress on neck reining too. And me and my grandpa have been getting her use to swinging the rope off her as well. I got her use to it (not that it was a whole lot of work, she was okay with me swinging it above her head within five minutes) but since I'm terrible at swinging the rope and multitasking I had my grandpa swing it over head and ride her at walk and she was totally cool and calm. She's such a wonderful horse.
I haven't worked Jade much, the new buckskin mare, becuase I've been trying to get her to bond to me. She's not a very friendly horse. She's just been made to do a job all her life. She's coming around to me, so I'll start putting a lot of rides on her soon. I also don't like working her in the round pen much becuase it's rocky and she's got sensitive feet. I'll probably get started with her once I move. But she's amazingly trained so she'll just need a tiny refresher, I'm not worried about it.
I also rode Penelope for the first time since I brought her home! She's put on lots of weight so I padded her up real good and tacked her up and rode her in the round pen. She needs some work. She HATES the bit, something she didn't show when I picked her out at the rescue (probably cause she didn't have much fight in her) and she also doesn't understand the concept of small circles. I am 99% that she was, or was in training to be, a show horse. She responds to very odd things.
Hmm what else is happening..
Oh, I'm almost done working with a horse for someone else, a little paso fino mare, she's a good horse but real hot blooded. And because I don't want to mess with liability and insurance stuff I won't be training other people horses after this one. I'm going to buy (sale authority) mustangs, and spend around 3-4 months training them, and then rehome/sell them. I just got approved for it a couple weeks ago.
That's pretty much everything that's going on in my world

 

[henny1129]

Wow, tons has been happening! Congrats on the Retrievers and moving into the house soon! It sounds like June has been making good progress! Jade is very pretty, hopefully she comes around......and what your going to to do with Mustangs sounds exciting!

Hmm, I'm trying to think of Libby and I's progress. We've been working on bending a lot and Libby is doing quite well! She's also learning to tuck her head on her own and I rarely have to remind her to do it. Oh, and one of the biggest improvements of all is that she has been doing great keeping a steady pace in the trot no matter what we do. We've been working a bit on getting her to tuck more while cantering, so that's the next step, but I have hope it will go well considering how training has been going recently.

 

[abigalerose]

That's good! By tucking her head do you mean collecting? That's something I'd like to teach June once were steady in all her gaits.
I'd love to be able to keep June in an even trot!
I'm really wanting to take Jade to an arena so we have somewhere smooth to work so I can practice my riding through all the gaits, since she works off leg pressure and neck reins and even knows lead changes. Thatd be great practice and a real confidence booster for me.
I'm excited about the mustangs too! I think it'll be a good way for me to practice training while still taking things at my own pace. Plus I'll be doing some good for the mustangs. I'll probably start with 1 at a time, and if it goes well I'll start bringing home 2 at a time. You can buy 4 every 6 months, unless you get special permission to get more. But if I told them my plans they'd most likely let me do more, if I wanted.

I really want to find a good arena to ride the horses in, not just for practice on Jade but I need to work on trotting and cantering with June. She gets bored trotting in the round pen and I'm little scared to trot and canter on her in the field becuase sometimes she gets excited out there and I don't want her to take off full speed becuase she is FAST. By far the fastest horse I've owned, and that's even with her being fat and out of shape.