Sat Jun 12, 2004
Getting a good idea why they sent that horse to the Auctions!!
But as I told Quzqo today; "I've been riding TEZLU for fifteen years, BOY; YOU haven't thrown anything at me so far I can't handle!" LOL!
He's an opinionated little snot, he has his own way of doing things, up to a point, but in the face of assertive authority, he crumples like a wet kleenex and rolls his eyes and carries on wearing the saddle blanket of victimhood to the nines, LOL!
He's still easy to catch in the pasture, but I had a bugger of a time getting him AWAY from the Pasture. He didn't want to leave...it was sunny, 75 degrees, 1 in the afternoon, he saw no reason WHY he should leave such a nice setup. Okay, Tez had his balky days too, especially with the afore mentioned circumstances, but Quzqo has a little threshold that's easy to cross, the threshold from sweet pocket puppy to rearing, eye-rolling, nose-to-the-sky psychoArab...if you try to pull him...he plants his feet, shifts his weight to his rear, and up goes the head, out pop the eyes. BUT...when he balks, I found that if I release tension on the rope, walk back to his shoulder with my eyes on the ground, and face the same direction he's facing, he lowers his head, exhales, and will continue walking quietly at my elbow. If I so much as turn my head to look AT him, he balks and begins panicking and resisting.
Good thing I just watched that Richard Shrake video that dealt with the whole eye-contact (predator) vs no eye-contact (friendly member of the herd) thing...sure works!
Eventually got him to the barn...it's kind of fun this weekend, as the local Pony Club is having a big show/clinic/campout Fun Weekend there, so the place is packed with huge horse trailers (one advertising Friesians, but I didn't see any Pony Club Friesians around), campers, tents, and young girls...good stuff for Quzqo to get used to...but he had no problem at all, couldn't care less!
Rode him indoors, and I've decided to just concentrate on one thing at a time. I'll forget about trying to make him canter until we have a better foundation built. I've gotten him past that gate business, he's over the "OHMYGODI'MALONE!" foolishness, he stands like a rock when I get on and doesn't move a muscle until my Okay (beats the tearing off bucking he did the first time!). But if I ride him without a whip, he's ALL over the place, refuses to go to the West end of the arena (big open doors to the outside), spins, resists, hollows his back, swerves everywhere, just a total mess! But if I just CARRY my dressage whip, he's responsive, agreeable, willing and very supple, unless I so much as TOUCH him with it, then all bets are off...Away we go, head flinging, mouth gaping, back hollowed, LOL. What a maroon. So all we pretty much ended up doing was 20M circles at the East end of the Arena...sitting trot, posting trot, walking...round and round and round, both ways...but by gosh, he was smoothing out, getting more responsive, LISTENING to me, quiet transitions up and down... so I think we'll stick to that for quite a while, maybe branch out to the other end of the arena eventually.
I have to keep reminding myself, he IS young...so I think we're doing okay.
In fact I asked the barn's resident Dressage Queen (real nice lady, with the Pony Club) that if she ever sees me doing something stupid or wrong with Quzqo, to PLEASE tell me, because I don't think I know what I'm doing. I'm used to horses that are smarter than me! But she said from what she's seen, I'm doing great...so that's hopeful.
After our lesson I was feeling confident, so we went for a little Trail Ride. Boy, THAT was a test...for us both! Didn't even get near the fences before his first spinning fit of fear at a shiny reflection off of someone's horse trailer...he thinks he can spin and start heading back, but nope, not with me aboard you can't! Lot of circling, firm application of heel to horse side (I left the whip back at the barn, didn't want him going nuts outside an arena). It was a trail ride by inches...creeping forward a few feet, BIGRESISTFIT...spin spin spin snort bunny hop halt...creep forward, creep creep creep...DOWN goes the head for grass...yank up head, kick in sides, go forward....BALK and shy at scary bird, spin spin, circle circle, rear, head yank (I find if I keep my head turned, I avoid getting hit by his neck when he rears and flings his head around)...I just yank his head to the side and give him a good kick in the sides, spoiling his rearing fun. Okay, I don't know if I can legally call it an official "rear", I did observe and his
forehooves maybe come 1/2 to 1" off the ground, LOL. Little pussy rears. Baby weenie horse stuff. They can't rear if you've got their head to the side, and if they're moving forward, THAT much I know!
We made it past the scary gates that thwarted us our first time out, and man, it was hard work, getting that horse up the hills and down the trail. We went maybe 1/2 mile total, all along the fenceline of the property so he could still see horses and the buildings and all...but it was a lot of
grass-grabbing and trying to yank on the reins (to get to the grass) and trying to turn and spin and resisting, but I found if I just turned him in circles every time he tried his little nonsense, he'd settle down, and towards the end of our heading away from the barn, he was marching right
along like a little trooper, ears pricked, looking around. Even did a little trotting!
We turned around when *I* decided to (not him!), and he was much better heading back (no wonder why). We went back and forth through those scary metal gates about 5 times for good measure, which he did willingly and without fuss....came back to the barn area in a calm and civilized fashion. By that time the Pony Clubbers were done for the day, so we went right into
the outdoor arena, which was set up full of jumps and poles and whatnots. No, we didn't do jumps, we just walked around the rail...he had a major spookfit at a tent outside the rail, so we just did lots of circles and things until he stopped being silly about it, walked more, and when we got to the middle of the arena, I dismounted, and we walked back to the barn.
Happy to say for the first time I actually got that horse SWEATY! LOL! I didn't think I could do it!
It was around 4, but they don't feed them 'til around 6, so I tried to put him back out...nope, he didn't want to go back out, he wanted to go IN! LOL! Arabians must have clocks in their brains, they know when it's dinner time. And it was, they had put about 3 flakes of hay in his stall (they think he's skinny, but luckily he only gets 1/2 scoop of grain)(don't need any more energy). Much to my surprise he was an actual gentleman about me removing his halter...in the past he'd start lunging backwards before I got the thing unbuckled, but no, he was very good this time. Who knows!
I was talking with the Dressage Queen (who also does the evening feedings some nights), and she told me last evening Quzqo was actually standing at the gate at 5:30!! Surprised her! Surprised me, after his pinheaded performance this afternoon in the pasture, I was worried if he'd do that with other people trying to bring him in. But maybe it's only at 1 on nice,
sunny, days.
Getting a good idea why they sent that horse to the Auctions!!
But as I told Quzqo today; "I've been riding TEZLU for fifteen years, BOY; YOU haven't thrown anything at me so far I can't handle!" LOL!
He's an opinionated little snot, he has his own way of doing things, up to a point, but in the face of assertive authority, he crumples like a wet kleenex and rolls his eyes and carries on wearing the saddle blanket of victimhood to the nines, LOL!
He's still easy to catch in the pasture, but I had a bugger of a time getting him AWAY from the Pasture. He didn't want to leave...it was sunny, 75 degrees, 1 in the afternoon, he saw no reason WHY he should leave such a nice setup. Okay, Tez had his balky days too, especially with the afore mentioned circumstances, but Quzqo has a little threshold that's easy to cross, the threshold from sweet pocket puppy to rearing, eye-rolling, nose-to-the-sky psychoArab...if you try to pull him...he plants his feet, shifts his weight to his rear, and up goes the head, out pop the eyes. BUT...when he balks, I found that if I release tension on the rope, walk back to his shoulder with my eyes on the ground, and face the same direction he's facing, he lowers his head, exhales, and will continue walking quietly at my elbow. If I so much as turn my head to look AT him, he balks and begins panicking and resisting.
Good thing I just watched that Richard Shrake video that dealt with the whole eye-contact (predator) vs no eye-contact (friendly member of the herd) thing...sure works!
Eventually got him to the barn...it's kind of fun this weekend, as the local Pony Club is having a big show/clinic/campout Fun Weekend there, so the place is packed with huge horse trailers (one advertising Friesians, but I didn't see any Pony Club Friesians around), campers, tents, and young girls...good stuff for Quzqo to get used to...but he had no problem at all, couldn't care less!
Rode him indoors, and I've decided to just concentrate on one thing at a time. I'll forget about trying to make him canter until we have a better foundation built. I've gotten him past that gate business, he's over the "OHMYGODI'MALONE!" foolishness, he stands like a rock when I get on and doesn't move a muscle until my Okay (beats the tearing off bucking he did the first time!). But if I ride him without a whip, he's ALL over the place, refuses to go to the West end of the arena (big open doors to the outside), spins, resists, hollows his back, swerves everywhere, just a total mess! But if I just CARRY my dressage whip, he's responsive, agreeable, willing and very supple, unless I so much as TOUCH him with it, then all bets are off...Away we go, head flinging, mouth gaping, back hollowed, LOL. What a maroon. So all we pretty much ended up doing was 20M circles at the East end of the Arena...sitting trot, posting trot, walking...round and round and round, both ways...but by gosh, he was smoothing out, getting more responsive, LISTENING to me, quiet transitions up and down... so I think we'll stick to that for quite a while, maybe branch out to the other end of the arena eventually.
I have to keep reminding myself, he IS young...so I think we're doing okay.
In fact I asked the barn's resident Dressage Queen (real nice lady, with the Pony Club) that if she ever sees me doing something stupid or wrong with Quzqo, to PLEASE tell me, because I don't think I know what I'm doing. I'm used to horses that are smarter than me! But she said from what she's seen, I'm doing great...so that's hopeful.
After our lesson I was feeling confident, so we went for a little Trail Ride. Boy, THAT was a test...for us both! Didn't even get near the fences before his first spinning fit of fear at a shiny reflection off of someone's horse trailer...he thinks he can spin and start heading back, but nope, not with me aboard you can't! Lot of circling, firm application of heel to horse side (I left the whip back at the barn, didn't want him going nuts outside an arena). It was a trail ride by inches...creeping forward a few feet, BIGRESISTFIT...spin spin spin snort bunny hop halt...creep forward, creep creep creep...DOWN goes the head for grass...yank up head, kick in sides, go forward....BALK and shy at scary bird, spin spin, circle circle, rear, head yank (I find if I keep my head turned, I avoid getting hit by his neck when he rears and flings his head around)...I just yank his head to the side and give him a good kick in the sides, spoiling his rearing fun. Okay, I don't know if I can legally call it an official "rear", I did observe and his
forehooves maybe come 1/2 to 1" off the ground, LOL. Little pussy rears. Baby weenie horse stuff. They can't rear if you've got their head to the side, and if they're moving forward, THAT much I know!
We made it past the scary gates that thwarted us our first time out, and man, it was hard work, getting that horse up the hills and down the trail. We went maybe 1/2 mile total, all along the fenceline of the property so he could still see horses and the buildings and all...but it was a lot of
grass-grabbing and trying to yank on the reins (to get to the grass) and trying to turn and spin and resisting, but I found if I just turned him in circles every time he tried his little nonsense, he'd settle down, and towards the end of our heading away from the barn, he was marching right
along like a little trooper, ears pricked, looking around. Even did a little trotting!
We turned around when *I* decided to (not him!), and he was much better heading back (no wonder why). We went back and forth through those scary metal gates about 5 times for good measure, which he did willingly and without fuss....came back to the barn area in a calm and civilized fashion. By that time the Pony Clubbers were done for the day, so we went right into
the outdoor arena, which was set up full of jumps and poles and whatnots. No, we didn't do jumps, we just walked around the rail...he had a major spookfit at a tent outside the rail, so we just did lots of circles and things until he stopped being silly about it, walked more, and when we got to the middle of the arena, I dismounted, and we walked back to the barn.
Happy to say for the first time I actually got that horse SWEATY! LOL! I didn't think I could do it!
It was around 4, but they don't feed them 'til around 6, so I tried to put him back out...nope, he didn't want to go back out, he wanted to go IN! LOL! Arabians must have clocks in their brains, they know when it's dinner time. And it was, they had put about 3 flakes of hay in his stall (they think he's skinny, but luckily he only gets 1/2 scoop of grain)(don't need any more energy). Much to my surprise he was an actual gentleman about me removing his halter...in the past he'd start lunging backwards before I got the thing unbuckled, but no, he was very good this time. Who knows!
I was talking with the Dressage Queen (who also does the evening feedings some nights), and she told me last evening Quzqo was actually standing at the gate at 5:30!! Surprised her! Surprised me, after his pinheaded performance this afternoon in the pasture, I was worried if he'd do that with other people trying to bring him in. But maybe it's only at 1 on nice,
sunny, days.
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