Never gets silly

Never shared his lesson yesterday with Indy, a 3 yr old grey Arabian, and everybody involved learned something.

Working with Indy is like flying a kite on a windy day: he goes right to the end of the rope, screaming and calling and bouncing around. You ask him to do something, and if he's paying attention he'll do it then lose focus and bounce and call. Never takes his lessons seriously. He'll get distracted by horses outside of the arena, but when you ask him do something or pay attention, for the most part he will.

Yesterday, they switched.

The trainer decided to work them both in the arena at the same time, off lead, as neither one had done anything like that before. We thought that after some running and goofing off, Never would decide to relax and learn, and Indy would keep doing laps around the arena. What actually happened was that Never started herding Indy around, and when Indy decided he had had enough and wanted to go to his handler, Never would cut him off and drive him away. He would move him around the arena, back and forth along the wall, even causing him to side pass!

Finally,after 45 minutes of this, Indy said enough and went to is handler and stood quiet. He was quiet and paid attention for the rest of his lesson. Never did laps for about 10 more minutes, and finally agreed that it was time for a lesson. Because of the incident last week, we worked on being near things that were dragging and making noise and desensitizing his hindquarters more. We didn't do any under saddle work, but the trainer has him going at a trot now.

He seems to be doing fine, his top-line looks good and his hindquarters are muscling up well. He's not really black anymore, more of a sunburned dark bay, but overall he's looking good and more mature.

Never's lesson in pictures

I took some pics of Never during his lesson last week. Not with my good camera like I should have, but with my cell phone, so the picture quality is truly awful. But they clearly show (okay, maybe not clearly) that his training is coming along very nicely.

Here we go...

Never picks up his feet, especially his hind feet, without kicking or shying




I tried to capture Never's reaction to the splint boots and bell boots, but the lag time on my phone is horrible. Suffice it to say that he could compete with Saddlebred for knee action!




I know, it's a ball. But it's on his back and he doesn't care!


The saddle went on without a problem, and she tightened the girth and he didn't seem bothered.


"Hey, you're on both sides at the same time!"


And she's up!

The trainer sat there for a couple of minutes, until he relaxed a bit, then she hopped down and did some ground driving. After a few rounds she hopped on again, worked on backing up, and then got back down for some more driving. At one point he pulled the rope from her grasp and started to run around the arena like a goofball. She caught him, but he spooked at the rope and took off, hit the gate at the other end of the arena, and nearly took it off the hinges. Then he took off down the path to the other barn.

The trainer seemed a little worried that he'd take off down the road, but I was pretty sure he'd just go to the gate and talk to the other horses. And that's where we found him, blowing and sweating and talking to the other horses.

The trainer caught him and calmed him down, then took him back to the arena. I tried to fix the gate, while she worked on getting Never's mind back in the game. I gave up and shut the door, and by the time I had finished and walked around the barn to the other entrance, Never was calm and paying attention.

The trainer did a little more work with him, ended the lesson on a good note, and handed him off to me to cool off and graze a little. It was nice to hang out with my boy, and especially nice that he had better manners than before. We grazed until he was dry, and then walked down the the pasture. His goofball buddies were waiting by the gate, but he let me open the gate, walk in, and then he politely walked in when I asked him to. It was a good end to a fun filled day.

Never's Training Progress

Never has gone through some big changes in the past few weeks. The first week, the trainer could hardly get near him. He would hide behind other horses or just run off. When I came for my first 'lesson' (mostly just watching her train), we corralled him in a smaller paddock so she could work with him up close and personal. By the end of the lesson, he was following her around and would allow her to touch his face.

During his stay in the corral, the trainer would spend her spare time sitting with him, or would send her working students out with a book, just so he would get used to new and different people

The second lesson was so nice. He came up to the trainer after a few minutes and let himself be haltered. He was somewhat distracted, but he eventually let her pick up his feet without too much fuss. Yay!

Just a few days before the third lesson this past Wednesday, he relaxed enough to pick on the ponies he was in with, so back out with the herd he went. When we went to get him, he played hard to get for about five minutes. He went to show his dominance to a new horse to the herd, and when the new horse pinned his ears at him, he jumped straight in the air and ran to hide by the trainer. She was laughing so hard she could hardly fasten the halter!

We walked up to the arena, where they worked on different things: yielding front and hindquarters, desensitizing to different objects (he loved the big ball!), and finally, the saddle. He had had the saddle and pad on before, but never cinched up. She tossed the saddle and pad on him a few times, and he really didn't care. She attached the girth, and he flinched a little when the girth brushed his leg, but he stood still. She led him around a little then reached under, grabbed the girth, and carefully cinched him up. He didn't seem to care. The trainer walked him around a bit, then fully tightened the girth. She kept waiting for him to blow up, and he didn't. He did plod around like a zombie plow horse, though!

After some more walking, the trainer tried a couple of steps of trot, saying that he will most probably blow up when he feels the saddle bounce. She asked for a trot, he trotted for about three strides, then did his zombie walk again. Twice more they trotted, and twice more he just plodded along.

It was getting close to the end of the lesson, but the trainer decided to try one more thing because he was being so good. She stood at his side and bounced up and down. No real reaction. She did it again, and still nothing. So she stood on the mounting block, and then jumped up and down again. He looked at her, but didn't move.

Eventually she got to the point where she draped herself over his back. He seemed a little surprised that she was on both sides of him, but still didn't move. He did try and eat her shoes, so she called him to his other side and gave him a treat. He then went back to play with her shoes again! Once again she got his attention to his other side and gave him the last treat. I'm on the other side so I couldn't see, but I guess after the last treat he was so thankful that he gave her a big kiss!

Finally...

Never finally made it to the trainer's barn yesterday, but it wasn't as straightforward as I was hoping it would be.

The day started out well. I fed everyone and turned them out in the pasture and put Never in the round pen, which he was not happy about. Last Monday we had to load hay in the loft, and to do that I had to move Rho to the round pen to get him out of the way. That meant I had to turn Never out in the main pasture. I was afraid he would get dominant and pushy out there, but Cora kept chasing him away from the herd, so he spent most of his time grazing elsewhere.

Anyway, I expected the trainer to arrive at 10am, so I got some work done on the computer and did some cleaning around the house. 10 comes and goes, then 11. I went out to check on Never, give him hay, and put on a fly mask as the flies were really bothering his eyes. At noon I called the trainer, and after much discussion the problem was revealed. Apparently, my appointment had been lost and the directions to my house were accidentally deleted. We got it all worked out, and the trainer's assistant headed out with the trailer.

After a couple of calls and a wrong turn, she arrived around 2:30. We chatted for a minute, then went to catch Never and load him up. Unfortunately, he didn't want to be caught! He usually comes right to me, but he just kept avoiding me. I figured out what was wrong pretty quick: it was the first time he had ever worn a fly mask, and I don't think he really realized it was me! It took about 10 minutes to calm him down and catch him, 5 minutes to hop in the trailer (good boy!), and then I hopped in my truck and we were on our way.

I followed them back to the barn, and even with the window down I was sweating all the way (no AC in the truck, and the car is out of commission. Long story.). We get to the barn, I finish signing some papers, and then we unload Never and take him to the communal pasture where he'll be spending his training days. It seemed like he had to check out every pile of manure! The creepy thing is, it was so quiet. There was no squealing or neighing or anything! The assistant said that they put most of the squealers in the pastures near the barn, and the ones in this particular pasture were more mellow.

The first one to come up to greet Never and check him out was a Paint/Pinto named Joker, who apparently lives up to his name. Then a couple of Pasos came to see him, and then he went on a grand tour and I lost sight of him for a bit. I walked back to the barn with the assistant, and sat down with Holly the barn manager/secretary/ all around go to person to figure out when my lessons were, and to chat in general.

I finally left around 6pm. I debated stopping at the mall complex on the way, as I'm out of yellow printer ink, but I decided I was beat and just went straight home. I got back about 8, hung up Never's halter and lead (they use their own equipment for training), did chores, and watched Super Troopers before heading to bed. It was a lovely day, even if it had a few bumps in it.

Up to date

The vet came out on Thursday to float Gem and Jul's teeth and to give Alex and Never their booster shots. Jul's teeth look incredible, just a little grining to get some of the points off and a rotting molar had to be pulled, but really good otherwise. Not bad for a 36 year old mare. Her son Gem wasn't as lucky, though. Dr Esser said that if I had to prioritize floatings in the future, to put him low on the list as he didn't have much to work with anymore. She did the best she could with him, though, and he seems to be dribbling less, so I call it a job well done.

Then it was on to booster shots. Alex was a little skittish, but he stood pretty well and took the shot like a trooper. I wish I could say the same for Never. *sigh* It took forever just to sedate him. Dr. Esser tried to inject directly into the vein so he would sedate quicker, but he was just not having it. CJ, the vet assistant, wrestled with him for about 10 minutes before the good doctor finally was able to inject in the muscle instead. Then we had to wait for 20 minutes. I was so embarrased, I wanted to hide.

After the wait, he was sleepy, but not so sleepy that he couldn't put up a fuss about the vaccinations. We took the opportunity to trim his feet while he was sedated, and while he was bratty and we still had to fight with him, we managed to get his front feet trimmed. His hind feet still look okay, and that's good because he kicked Ken when he checked the left hind!

Still, they're done and trainer will be picking him up on the 10th. Thank goodness. I just don't know what happened to him. He was so good before he was gelded, it's like his brains were in his balls or something. Everything he learned before seems to be gone.

I hope Jessica can help him to be an equine good citizen.

Another vet visit, and a stunning discovery

Never needed his shots and Coggins test before he went to the trainer's barn, so I had the vet come out to do that and float Heather and Zora's teeth as well. The appointment was Tuesday, and when the receptionist called she said 'they' were on their way. I didn't think much of it, until the truck pulled in and both my preferred vets stepped out.

Apparently, Dr Esser, the younger of my preferred vets, who has been with the clinic for almost a year, had reservations about her ultrasound readings of Zora and Hope. Since it was a slow day she asked Dr Johnson, the senior vet, if he would double check her findings, at no charge to me. I was a little relieved, as they had passed the second possible due date with no sign of birthing in sight.

We sedated Zora first, and as Dr Esser was prepping the power float, Dr Johnson put on the glove and palpated. A minute later, he had the verdict: open. Not pregnant, but coming into heat if we wanted to breed her. HECK NO!!! I was somewhat relieved, as Zora was apparently a maiden mare and in her early twenties.

So we floated her teeth, then did Heather's. Then we did Never's shots and blood draw for the Coggins test, and tried to get him to stand still for pics (the new paperwork has the horse's pics on it. Cool!). I decided to give Alex his shots while we were at it, he and Never will have their boosters in 4 weeks.

Then it was Hope's turn for palpation. After the sedation kicked in, Dr Johnson reaches in and... OPEN!!! Neither mare was pregnant! I was somewhat relieved, and a little disappointed, as I would have loved to see what Never would have sired. It's better this way, though, even if Jac is pissed because she couldn't go to Rolex because of foal watch.

Trainer time

I got back from visiting with the trainer that I'm thinking about sending Never to, and I have to say that I like her. It's an hour and a half drive to get to the barn, but I'd only need to be there once a week for the lesson, so it's not so bad.

She took me on a tour of the farm, introduced me to the horses and told me about their training, and also about her methods. She's into natural horsemanship, but also classical dressage, and she's pretty nice and easy to talk with as well. I watched part of a lesson with a beginner, and she explained everything clearly and didn't lose patience or get frustrated with the student. I was very impressed.

She charges $275 a month for training, and the barn charges $200 a month for pasture board, a total of $475 that I have to come up with for 1 to 3 months, depending on how well he does and how trained I want him right off the bat. He also needs his Coggins test and vaccinations updated, so that's another $100 up front. It'll be worth it, though, to have a nice, calm gelding that understands what I want him to do.