Queenbee
Well-Known Member
As pretty much everyone who frequents the New Lounge knows, this year I lost my beautiful Ebony. It was six months ago today that she left Ben and I... we miss her every day and this week has been hard with the realisation that it has been so long since I physically saw or touched her. However, this isn't a pity party post... Its a post to praise how far Ben has come and how he is...
Following his teenaged angst temper tantrums a couple of months ago which culminated in him rearing then backing into an electric fence... kicking it and then getting tangled up and breaking four wooden posts... you will be pleased to hear that he has been an absolute saint ever since and is back to his foot perfect self.
He is coming on in leaps and bounds, he has a 15 yr old girl that exercises him for me in the week to help him tick over, she lunges and rides him out and with the help of the YO is going to start focusing on a couple of short schooling sessions in the week. In the last week, he has started lunging like a pro, it was quite a battle, his brain wasn't quite with it, so we back to backed short sessions for a week... its really helped it to sink in and he is now showing three balanced and controlled paces, although he only gets asked for a couple of circuits of canter due to his age. He is hacking out fantastically and yesterday we saw three tractors... trailers, a horse lorry, 2 motorbikes, one bycicle and numerous cars! He is also behaving really well in company on hacks, we have actually started to hack in company more often, it was so rare that we would go out in company that he became a bit hot headed and joggy. Now it is a regular occurrence he is much more relaxed with the concept. He is having his hacks mixed up, sometimes walking the entire route and other times, we have the works... walk trot and canter... we are even tackling puddles with semi confidence
Tack wise, we didn't have to change the bit, well not for now, addressing the frequency of the hacks in company has completely relaxed him, and we have removed his running martingale, he actually seems to have a lower and less fussy head carriage without it. If he does start to raise his head, I drop the contact and he drops his head... I then slowly re-engage... for the moment this tactic seems to be working!
I have just been on holiday to turkey and I sobbed my heart out about the loss of my girl... it felt like while I was removed from everyday life, I could really start to process my grief, but my god I missed my boy and my YO was great giving me regular updates via facebook.
Last night, he switched to coming in at night, which meant that he was in for 24 hrs! Like the gentleman he is he was so good when he finally went out this morning This week is a week of firsts and pampering for benny. Tommorrow he has his first sports massage off Aunty Tamar, and later in the week he is to have his first clip... Its all coming off! He is going to look like a proper little hunter He is also now wearing his big sisters rug, the one I couldnt bear to put on him... it suddenly felt right, anthropomorphism isn't my thing but it felt like she would have wanted him to wear the rug as it was the best one I had... It kept her warm when she was ill and it warms my heart to know it will be keeping him toasty this winter.
I have often said that without ben I would never have got on another horse, but he truly blows me away, ok he had a wobbly moment a couple of months ago and I thought I was going to have to don my dom outfit, but that wasn't necesarry, and that aside, I have never known such a willing and grounded baby. He is happiest when he is out exploring under saddle and learning new things... and I am happy when i am with him.
Anyway, its been a wee while since I have updated everyone regarding ben... and he is doing exceptionally well
Following his teenaged angst temper tantrums a couple of months ago which culminated in him rearing then backing into an electric fence... kicking it and then getting tangled up and breaking four wooden posts... you will be pleased to hear that he has been an absolute saint ever since and is back to his foot perfect self.
He is coming on in leaps and bounds, he has a 15 yr old girl that exercises him for me in the week to help him tick over, she lunges and rides him out and with the help of the YO is going to start focusing on a couple of short schooling sessions in the week. In the last week, he has started lunging like a pro, it was quite a battle, his brain wasn't quite with it, so we back to backed short sessions for a week... its really helped it to sink in and he is now showing three balanced and controlled paces, although he only gets asked for a couple of circuits of canter due to his age. He is hacking out fantastically and yesterday we saw three tractors... trailers, a horse lorry, 2 motorbikes, one bycicle and numerous cars! He is also behaving really well in company on hacks, we have actually started to hack in company more often, it was so rare that we would go out in company that he became a bit hot headed and joggy. Now it is a regular occurrence he is much more relaxed with the concept. He is having his hacks mixed up, sometimes walking the entire route and other times, we have the works... walk trot and canter... we are even tackling puddles with semi confidence
Tack wise, we didn't have to change the bit, well not for now, addressing the frequency of the hacks in company has completely relaxed him, and we have removed his running martingale, he actually seems to have a lower and less fussy head carriage without it. If he does start to raise his head, I drop the contact and he drops his head... I then slowly re-engage... for the moment this tactic seems to be working!
I have just been on holiday to turkey and I sobbed my heart out about the loss of my girl... it felt like while I was removed from everyday life, I could really start to process my grief, but my god I missed my boy and my YO was great giving me regular updates via facebook.
Last night, he switched to coming in at night, which meant that he was in for 24 hrs! Like the gentleman he is he was so good when he finally went out this morning
This week is a week of firsts and pampering for benny. Tommorrow he has his first sports massage off Aunty Tamar, and later in the week he is to have his first clip... Its all coming off! He is going to look like a proper little hunter He is also now wearing his big sisters rug, the one I couldnt bear to put on him... it suddenly felt right, anthropomorphism isn't my thing but it felt like she would have wanted him to wear the rug as it was the best one I had... It kept her warm when she was ill and it warms my heart to know it will be keeping him toasty this winter.I have often said that without ben I would never have got on another horse, but he truly blows me away, ok he had a wobbly moment a couple of months ago and I thought I was going to have to don my dom outfit, but that wasn't necesarry, and that aside, I have never known such a willing and grounded baby. He is happiest when he is out exploring under saddle and learning new things... and I am happy when i am with him.
Anyway, its been a wee while since I have updated everyone regarding ben... and he is doing exceptionally well
He was slightly tight at the poll, but this is all released now and should really help him with his head carriage, and had a tiny bit of tension behind the forelegs... again this has been sorted. All in all though he was pretty ok. As the massage went on he fell more and more sleepy
