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Ponichiwa congratulations on cantering Queso! Having a cantering machine for a dressage horse is a very good thing:) Good luck on the saddle shopping, aka saddle hell:/

Red's mom wow so sorry to hear of your accident! Ouch, Red very much had a reason to spook, not sure if any horse could handle a ladder following them around.

Glad Maia is healing well. Hope the trailer situation resolves without anymore accidents.

Anne glad Fergal is doing well and I do like that series you posted. Very much.

My filly is a year younger than you all's horses. She is ready to get on now waiting for clinician to give me a hand. The problem with having horses at home and doing everything yourself. I don't have any grounds help.

Red's Mom wrote:
I will do my best to keep updating and commenting on this thread. I will also try to figure out the photo posting as I have tons of photos!!!!!

Just when we think we're aware of every possible thing that could ever go wrong, we find out there are new and different ones. What rotten luck to get hooked on a ladder. :-{

The difficult part with photos is that they have to be small enough (less than 200KB, maybe)? So most photos have to be edited down before they'll attach.

Somehow, I will have to figure out how to post photos! Khall, I understand completely aboutnot having ground help. I also keep my horses at home. My husband is pretty good about helping out, but he can't just be there all the time. I took up driving a few years ago, and that requires grounds people even more than riding does.

Red's Mom - yowee, what an awful accident, I really hope you heal up quickly. But super nice to hear of your huge progress with Red!

Heddy - we are in parallel with the trailer loading, yesterday Fergal got all 4 feet into the truck for a moment before turning and coming down the ramp. He is very leery of the truck, but gaining confidence, I've done many short sessions over the last few days, and this morning he pretty much marched up to the top of the ramp, 2 feet inside, and repeated this a good few times, so we left it there for today. I just have to let him have time to think it through.

Khall, looking forward to your updates on Joplin, how exciting to be coming up to that first 'ride'.

Here's Fergal this morning checking that his buddies are still within cooee, while he is being such a brave boy standing (nearly) in the truck.

Happy to see so much progress on this thread. Red's Mom, so sorry to hear of your accident; I hope you heal quickly so you can start enjoying your horse again. Tio is chronologically too old for this thread but maybe he can slip in under the mental clause. He was progressing really well. On the other thread i even posted a video of us "jumping", but I too got side-lined by parting ways with the big lug. Yesterday, I watched him do in the pasture what he most likely did that day in the arena, and I am glad I did not get hurt more seriously. In both incidents, he was cantering, made a quick sideways move which caused him to tangle his front feet, almost somersaulting over his nose. He then catches himself, gets back up on all 4 feet and then does a HUGE celebratory buck, flinging both hind legs high overhead such that he's almost doing a straight up handstand! I don't feel so dumb about falling off now. Anyhow, I look forward to maybe riding by November first; assuming, of course, I'll be able to carry a saddle by then. Here's the link to me and Tio 2 weeks before I fell off.

https://youtu.be/XXEA2ipKcNY

Yesterday, I started walking without crutches! I can walk around the house with them, but can't do stairs or anything horsey. Sorry to hear about your fall, Sue! What did you hurt? I thought I pulled a groin muscle, but when I saw the doctor, he had me get X-rays, and it was shown that I had fractured my pelvis. I was surprised by that. What hurts worse than whatever I did on the last fall, is my lower back pain. That started years ago, but I have been trying to ignore it. Since my scan found that I have" severe lower back facet arthropathy" I am convinced I can't ignore it anymore, and I am going to see about getting help.
Sue, I loved your video. That is something I can do, post video! That seems to be easier for me than posting photos. Tio is a real beauty. He is quite well built! How tall is he?

My trainer has agreed to take Red to a dressage schooling show that I was supposed to take him to on Oct 14th. He is going to ride T1 and T2.

Red's mom, I did not go to the doctor but will try to convince DH to shot a film or two before I ride so I don't do something stoopid. I landed almost flat on my back, so my sacrum is messed up and I have some extra pain around L2/L3 or so which affected my quad strength for a bit. It did feel like I broke my pelvis when I was laying there sorting out what was hurt, but when Tio made me get up and I could sort of walk, I figured pelvis was basically ok. My lower back already looks like someone ran it over with a mack truck from previous injuries (horses and skiing) so I don't worry about it too much except to maintain a very strong core. Did docs give you any pt you can do?

Tio is 16.1 or so and built like a brick s***house but surprisingly comfy to ride. He turned 7 this summer. I was supposed to be taking jumping lessons this fall, but oh well. I do plan on building some jump standards over the winter so I can play more next year.

Ouch, Red's Mom and Sue B. I hope you both heal quickly.

Weekly update from me and Queso: we're canterin' fools. We're also longe-free fools after I took a gamble and got on cold one day for a trail ride and nobody died (or even got close).

On the cantering front, I had a bit of a "duh" moment. He struggles to pick up the correct lead to both directions... which had me a bit flummoxed until I realized he just doesn't have the strength and balance to pick up the canter on the correct lead with correct bend (which, yeah, I've been kind of greedy about). Once I figured out that a little bit of counter bend = correct lead every time, the light bulb went on. So I'll be letting him stay a bit counterflexed until he steps into the canter and then we'll develop some true flexion.

I've been riding him in Kiwi's saddle, which is how I learned that my little Mack-truck of a QH is actually narrower than my GRP. So Kiwi is now on a weight loss plan and Queso is on the weight gain train.

Ponichiwa wrote: Once I figured out that a little bit of counter bend = correct lead every time, the light bulb went on. So I'll be letting him stay a bit counterflexed until he steps into the canter and then we'll develop some true flexion.

After 3-4 months of counterflex into canter, Maia's leaping into the correct lead now. She's still all legs every direction once we're cantering but the departs are pretty solid. Now we're counter bending while cantering, which keeps her balanced

ETA the whole point (rolling eyes at myself): we're on the slow learning curve. By January we should be able to canter a normal, fairly balanced circle.

Great reading about everyone's progress (except for the unscheduled dismounts - ouch!).

Cross-posting from Annabelle's separate thread in the training forum, a little video from our lesson yesterday. We are pulling off a respectable training level test now, and putting together some basic lateral work. Next up is getting a little more serious about jumping (by which I mean graduating from x-rails to 2' verticals).

https://youtu.be/bbrYGpvgGew

Well, I'd better jump back into this thread too! My little guy was started very lightly with just a few weeks going W/T under saddle the fall of 2016, with plans to get him going last summer. EPM had other plans, but he came through that with a complete recovery. About two weeks after we got the green light to go back to work, he gashed his head on something, and needed 30 stitches right behind his ear at the poll, and couldn't wear a bridle. At which point I gave up until spring

I sat on him once over winter and he was a gem, but I was a chicken so I sent him out to be re-started this spring. All was going great, and he was learning to canter and going pretty well when I brought him home in July. At which point I discovered that the gal who had been working him did nearly everything in a round pen, and in a larger arena he literally had NO CLUE how to stand up, balance, or turn without walls. So we've been working on that with lunging and long lining OFF THE RAIL, and just a few rides. Because I figure if he can't stand up on his own, he's sure not going to balance with me up there, so not much point in riding other than to remind him he knows how to be ridden. It's slowly getting better. And then my mare needed surgery and he took the back burner again while I took care of her.

So he was lunged yesterday for something like the first time in two months. One minor temper tantrum, but otherwise he was pretty darn good. I've got high hopes for REALLY getting him going this winter, and maybe getting him out to some shows next summer! But I hesitate to make plans, lest he ruin them

Proof that he can be ridden and that I have actually sat on him:

Ironbessflint, your journey sounds an awful like my journey with Tio. That's why I have a baby green 7 year old! Love your pictures and am jingling this winter/spring is fruitful training-wise.

ETA: LOve the matchy-matchy.

Very cute little guy Ironbessflint! Yes horses are good at throwing monkey wrenches into any plans we might make!!

SF I did not comment on the training thread, I will here though! You have gotten Annabelle going very well! Her trot looks amazing:) How much do you think jumping has helped her with the canter? Wondering if I need to visit it with my mare Gaila (who is quite a bit older but needs more strength in her canter). It's been years since I've jumped but I have good friends who do so, thought about hauling her up there for them to put her over fences some.

Hopefully he has his quirks ironed out and is ready to be a big horse now. Annabelle went through a series of things like that last year, and *knock wood* seems to have gotten it out of her system. I am also loving the blue. Is that the Midnight blue LeMieux pad/polos?

khall wrote:SF I did not comment on the training thread, I will here though! You have gotten Annabelle going very well! Her trot looks amazing:) How much do you think jumping has helped her with the canter? Wondering if I need to visit it with my mare Gaila (who is quite a bit older but needs more strength in her canter). It's been years since I've jumped but I have good friends who do so, thought about hauling her up there for them to put her over fences some.

Thanks! I don't jump her a lot, so I can't say it's improved her canter. Mostly she was very crooked and needed the mileage under saddle so I could start getting control of her body parts and straightening her. However, if you remember my previous mare, Maya, she had NO canter when I got her, and jumping helped her immensely. Grids of cross rails will do the trick, there's no need to be a crazy jumper to do enough to get results. I think even cantering over ground poles is helpful because they learn to adjust the stride and be mindful of where their feet are.

It's finally feeling like fall where we are-- a little crisp, a little nippy, a little chill in the evenings. As a result, yesterday's ride was LET'S CANTER EVERYWHERE. I think Queso thought he was being a bit naughty, but his canter is so balanced I just let it happen. And it happened everywhere.

In other fall news, Queso became a mud ball. I'll post a picture later. It's actually impressive.

Great updates!

Yes, need a photo of the Queso-mudball.

Just. Why, Queso? Why?



But he was so proud of himself.

Haha he's still super handsome even with his mud accents

That's a lovely mud pack, Queso!

I've joked before that I'm running the world's poorest-controlled experiment: What will happen to a congenial young horse's temperament when:
- he gets all-day turnout with a posse of geldings after a life in a stall
- he's gelded
- he's fed better grain and hay than he's had before
- he gets fit

Anything could happen! So far he's been pretty mild-mannered but I'm starting to see glimpses of the "What if I don't wanna"s, like when he reared up at the mounting block the other day and fell on his tush. Luckily, it's self-correcting (mostly). But I anticipate the 5yo temper tantrums may emerge under saddle, too.

My barn owner put up game cameras to document how many feral hogs are running through the property at night... or so she thought. In reality, she's just gotten lots of shots of Queso cantering photogenically.

My "let him canter everywhere" philosophy has somewhat backfired in that the trot appears to have evaporated. Young horses, man.

Well. We've lost the formerly easy lead cantering, but the disasterous two-men-in-a-horse-suit lead is going great. She's on the bit and connected more often than not, lol. IF I ignore the bucking into the canter part, the bad lead's going pretty well (She can't figure out foot placement, and gets PO'd when I gently correct ... not trying to unload me, it's more an energetic "don't tell me what to do!")

Tonight it took 13 minutes to go from ground work to my butt in the saddle -- LEAVES were falling! The neighbor's dogs were frolicking in/outside the arena! Everyone else was eating ALL THE GRAIN!! BO was doing her normal barn chores! And once I finally got in the saddle of Ms. Wiggle and Freak, it was an exhausting ride

Your mare sounds like a challenge and a firecracker. Hopefully it will all pay off with a very determined and dedicated girl when she finds herself.

I think she'll mature into exactly what I want (the previous two generations did), but right now we're yo-yo-ing between nutty and too calm

We did eventually get about 15 minutes of really nice trot circles (really up and forward!) before the sun was completely set.

way to go Heddy, I'm sure you'll get the middle ground (between too calm and too umm, 'energetic') eventually, she sounds like she is pretty opinionated! I'm offshore again, so no more Fergal updates until I'm home next month. In the mean time I'm re-visiting your gym suggestions, and have discovered that an elliptical machine is a good way to get some cardio work to keep my fitness up.

Gratuitous photo of all the boys taken just before I left (they were agog at a friend's Golden Retriever who was visiting!):

My boy is coming along really well - so well in fact I have been offered to sell him a few times, but I wanted to keep him for a while longer. The mare next to him is 16.2.




I'm 5'6. he's grown at least 2 inches since this photo

*babygoliath

Can I jump in? I've been absent almost since UDBB stopped but I have missed the forum and I have a cute new boy that's going along and he happens tpo be a 2013 baby.
This was from his very first show in June this year. He is a welsh cob x dutch, named Castleberry Rio, but I gave him the barn name Joey. He's curious and suilly, steady, brave, kind. LOVE him.

Second show, with a ding on his leg which we thought was just a cut, but.... turned out to be a sequestrum. and he was a very very good boy.

Two days later, he was diagnosed with the sequestrum. It was a four and a half inch bone chip with infection in the bone. He had to have surgery immediate;y, which involved removing the path of the infection, scraping the infected bone out, smoothing the bone and stitching it all back together. Then he had to stand for six weeks followed by very limited movement. Seriously, the surgeon told me he was allowed to walk three steps at a time. And he did it. He was a great patient. When the vet told me I could then ride at the walk for ffiteen minutes a day, I thought poor Joey would be airborne, but he behaved remarkably well. We bpth got really sick of all the standing around and not moving. Fina;lly in september, I got the green light to work him back into shape. I was able to show him twice more to qualify for year ends. Our scores weren' t amazing. I think he will have an avergae of 61 or something, but he has been an incredibly good boy and he has done every single thing Ive asked. Last show :

ZinniaZ, he's beautiful! what a strong hind leg he has...good grief! lovely

Beautiful, ZinniaZ, he looks like an absolute joy to ride. I love your smile too.

ETA: Hey, Linden, nice to "see" you posting again. It looks like you and your beautiful horses are doing well. Keep up the great work.

Sue B wrote:ETA: Hey, Linden, nice to "see" you posting again. It looks like you and your beautiful horses are doing well. Keep up the great work.

Thank you!! I have someone else riding my boy right now still, but I get daily updates - he's got a fabulous aunt and *hopefully soon I will take over - I am keeping the faith.

Linden wrote:ZinniaZ, he's beautiful! what a strong hind leg he has...good grief! lovely

He’s wicked strong!! He’s one of those boys who thinks canter = UP. . Thank you!

Sue B wrote:Beautiful, ZinniaZ, he looks like an absolute joy to ride. I love your smile too.

ETA: Hey, Linden, nice to "see" you posting again. It looks like you and your beautiful horses are doing well. Keep up the great work.

He’s an absolute joy. I’m grateful he’s in my life.

Nice Zinnia! I was wondering where Lisa's crosses were going. Glad to see an old UDBB member is his person. He looks great!

Linden, your guy is gorgeous (and huge)!

Zinnia, nice to see your new boy too. He sounds wonderful. What a scary episode with the surgery; glad he is being a good patient and healing!

Zinnia, I'm glad to see you here! Joey sounds like a wonderful guy. That injury. So scary. But it sounds like he came through it successfully.

SIX weeks of limited movement? Ha ha ha ha. What a good boy. My 2013 mare paces her stall like a loon, and she's only stalled over night.

exvet wrote:Nice Zinnia! I was wondering where Lisa's crosses were going. Glad to see an old UDBB member is his person. He looks great!

Do you know her? I contacted her after I bought him from someone else. I would most derfinitely buy from her again. He has such a great mind and seems to have the body needed to do what I'd like him to do

The surgery was incredibly scary. I was convinced he was going to die eventually from it. I think he is sound but needs rebuilding at this point. He has left hind weakness and a little crankiness in his back. I'm using cavaletti for strengthening and motivation-- it's amazing how happy he is if I put one simple pole in the arena.

Yes know Lisa and have for quite some time. She is an exemplary breeder and just an all round good person.

Some nice looking horses coming into this thread. ZinniaZ-- that's some scary stuff. Glad you two have pulled through!

Queso and I are trucking along. He spent the first ~5yrs of his life in a stall or roundpen and I suspect he grew accustomed to circling in just one direction. As a result, he's pretty one-sided (left). We're now introducing baby bending via big friendly opening inside rein and he's doing well.

He also got to wear a quartersheet for the first time yesterday, and as per usual was fine. Here he is, modeling his new blanket:

awww. He is adorable

Maia is a dork. She's had two weeks off -- vacation out of town, then sick -- which seems like 10 days too many

We did lots of ground work in the icy cold rain. I had been planning to get on her, but, yeah, no. There was too much belly showing for my taste. Tomorrow sounds much better!

StraightForward wrote:Linden, your guy is gorgeous (and huge)!

Zinnia, nice to see your new boy too. He sounds wonderful. What a scary episode with the surgery; glad he is being a good patient and healing!

thank you yes he is pretty massive. wish he was a bit smaller TBH. but, hes as nice minded as any I have ever seen so I lucked out. I couldnt imagine if he were spooky or ornery. Yikes.

I rediscovered last week that winter Joey is hella different from summer Joey. He's got a fair amount of impetuous, naughty, and cranky if it is cold. SO. I am working on warming his muscles via blanket, etc, doing a little bit of supplements for muscle tightness, and using cavaletti and jumping to help him feel happier-- and it is working.

He's still extra spunky, but his back is getting less tight and stuck. After this week's work and new supplement program and new heat program, my ride on friday was crankiness free-- and it was only 15 degrees out when I rode. I longlines over cavaletti first and let him have a little jump tp go over. Under saddle, he was willing, forward, and not curling his butt at me or acting like his back was feeling horrible. No going with the brakes on, nada. So yay. This means I might get something done this winter instead of just treading water,.

ZinniaZ wrote:I rediscovered last week that winter Joey is hella different from summer Joey. He's got a fair amount of impetuous, naughty, and cranky if it is cold. SO. I am working on warming his muscles via blanket, etc, doing a little bit of supplements for muscle tightness, and using cavaletti and jumping to help him feel happier-- and it is working.

He's still extra spunky, but his back is getting less tight and stuck. After this week's work and new supplement program and new heat program, my ride on friday was crankiness free-- and it was only 15 degrees out when I rode. I longlines over cavaletti first and let him have a little jump tp go over. Under saddle, he was willing, forward, and not curling his butt at me or acting like his back was feeling horrible. No going with the brakes on, nada. So yay. This means I might get something done this winter instead of just treading water,.

winter can sure be rough. try getting him some warm water (apple flavoured?) before/after you ride as well

Linden wrote:[

winter can sure be rough. try getting him some warm water (apple flavoured?) before/after you ride as well

ooh, good idea.

It took 4 rides, but Maia's back to her usual semi-sane self: in the midst of a tight-backed "I think I wanna blow" moment, the neighbor's fluff ball mini dog came racing through the hedge and fence line to bark up a storm at her feet. She just looked at him like "what's your problem??" If it had happened yesterday, I would have been sitting on the soggy ground.

I'm hoping that tomorrow we'll have nice trot work to go with the today's decent+ canter work (it's a struggle to canter on the bit ).

I have been back in the saddle for about a month. doctor's order was to take it easy and just walk for a while. We are now back to walk and trot. I actually cantered a few steps last week. Over the years I think I ae developed PTSD from being thrown and getting hurt too many times to count. It will take me a while to get back to where I was before my fall in September, but I will get there. My trainer was riding him 2-3 times per week while I was out of commission, so that was good. I still haven't bought a new saddle with a deep seat and huge thigh blocks (in hopes of keeping me in the saddle better)... But Red is a sweetheart and i just have to bite the bullet. our canter was getting good both directions, we were even doing some nice walk/canter transitions. Picking up right lead has really improved

Great update Red’s Mom!! I hope you continue regaining your confidence

Thanks Heddy! I do too. I am going to a 2019 Test clinic lead by Hilda Gurney tomorrow at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center. That should be ery fun and motivating. I will try and post some videos.

I got a little Texas young-horse training help by way of a botfly over the weekend-- broke Queso right out of his "this creek bed is scary" balk right when I put my leg on to ask for one more step forward. I'd rather be lucky than good any day.

His Cuteness before I cleaned him up:


I've also gone full-stock horse and just impulse-bought a dressage saddle with tooling for him for my birthday. I'm not proud, but hey. No regrets.