Backing 3/4yr olds

[TheMule]

great update TM , it’s a relief when you get the first canter out of the way
Franks developed a knack of letting himself out of his stable .. which has progressed to also letting his friend out the other day . I have visions of the scene from black beauty where little legs let’s everyone out ??
He’s also had his first jump under saddle , but mainly hacking .

Haha naughty boy! And that's exciting he has had a pop under saddle- like cantering it's another pivotal moment where you just hope your preparation has been good enough!

 

[TheMule]

Poppy was turned away from mid December, and I was just starting to bring her back into a bit of work. Didn’t have any saddles suitable for her short back so her first time being sat back on was with the saddler out trying on different saddles and walking and trotting round the arena. She’s not flashy, but she proves every day that I was right to take a chance on her- she just takes everything in her stride! View attachment 69089

Oh bless her, what a poppet to just get back on and do that! Nova is quite short in the back too, saddler came last week and happy with my 17” jump saddle but don’t think I'd get away with much more than that

 

[TheMule]

Here's a bit of Nova this morning. Obviously still to learn about contact but he's only done 4 short sessions in the arena this time and I'm pleased with his rhythm, the rest will come with strength and education

 

[daffy44]

Its lovely to see everyones youngsters coming on so well.

I'm very excited that my rising 4yr old came home last week from being backed, its lovely to have him home again, and its brilliant to actually be riding him now! He has been very good so far, lovely, drunk and wobbly in the school, and brave and sensible out hacking, I just hope he stays this good! This is him with the cat helping us get out and about.

 

[TheMule]

Its lovely to see everyones youngsters coming on so well.

I'm very excited that my rising 4yr old came home last week from being backed, its lovely to have him home again, and its brilliant to actually be riding him now! He has been very good so far, lovely, drunk and wobbly in the school, and brave and sensible out hacking, I just hope he stays this good! This is him with the cat helping us get out and about.

What a useful cat- how did you train that, mine is totally useless ?
Looking forwards to seeing more of him in the coming weeks (cat and horse)

 

[Asha]

Its lovely to see everyones youngsters coming on so well.

I'm very excited that my rising 4yr old came home last week from being backed, its lovely to have him home again, and its brilliant to actually be riding him now! He has been very good so far, lovely, drunk and wobbly in the school, and brave and sensible out hacking, I just hope he stays this good! This is him with the cat helping us get out and about.

think your cat is doing the downward dog impression ?? great to hear he’s come home and has taken it in his stride ?

 

[daffy44]

Thank you, the cat takes stretching after exercise very seriously! I dont know why, but my dog is very lazy and really isnt interested in silly horses, but the cat is very focused, she is always on the yard, she often comes to the school to keep an eye on things, and is very fond of hacking too! Actually, now I remember, when I first started this one on long reins, we started by following the cat, and it worked very well, she is a big help.

 

[lannerch]

How is everyone getting on with their young horses?

My 2 are being really sweet and making good progress. My sister came and helped me for a couple of sessions in the arena so Nova did his first canter and the mule is now a bit better at steering- she's very quick at popping in through her left shoulder! A bit more hacking and strengthening and then Nova will start to go to some little arena hires in a month or so ?

This video is from last week, she has done 2 sessions since and is getting better and better

Love the Mules fat belly

 

[TheMule]

Love the Mules fat belly

? I won’t tell her you called her fat. She just has well sprung ribs and a lot of fluff.... ?

 

[Northern]

Bella had three rides last week after a few weeks off because of various deluges etc. Two lunges/rides in the arena for safety first (I have no one to be my eyes on the ground ) and then we ventured out into the world.
Have had to remind her that forward off my leg is A Thing, but she's been nice and sensible for me AND we had our first accidental canter in the school, nice and comfortable!

Took her down to the jumping paddock for her first ride in there and she was great! Stands well for me to get on/off after doing gates. Unfortunately all the horses in the riding paddock decided a horse being ridden was unusual and came up to her. She was sensible but I got off, just in case things escalated. Led her back up to the mounting block and did a bit of trotting up the top after said horses had lost interest in her. Such a drunk and wobbly giraffe creature but willing and sensible so far

Plan for her is just hack a couple of times a month now with and without friends and not use the school, I think trotting her up behind another horse in a big paddock will help with forward. Winter is now on its way so she will probably transform into a fluffy big elephant. She's really matured in the last few months

Looking disgusted after a bath, riding is hard work!


Bella likes copying her "mum", my TB She's much larger than her now but still under her alpha mare spell.

 

[TheMule]

Bella had three rides last week after a few weeks off because of various deluges etc. Two lunges/rides in the arena for safety first (I have no one to be my eyes on the ground ) and then we ventured out into the world.
Have had to remind her that forward off my leg is A Thing, but she's been nice and sensible for me AND we had our first accidental canter in the school, nice and comfortable!

Took her down to the jumping paddock for her first ride in there and she was great! Stands well for me to get on/off after doing gates. Unfortunately all the horses in the riding paddock decided a horse being ridden was unusual and came up to her. She was sensible but I got off, just in case things escalated. Led her back up to the mounting block and did a bit of trotting up the top after said horses had lost interest in her. Such a drunk and wobbly giraffe creature but willing and sensible so far

Plan for her is just hack a couple of times a month now with and without friends and not use the school, I think trotting her up behind another horse in a big paddock will help with forward. Winter is now on its way so she will probably transform into a fluffy big elephant. She's really matured in the last few months

Looking disgusted after a bath, riding is hard work!
View attachment 69121

Bella likes copying her "mum", my TB She's much larger than her now but still under her alpha mare spell.
View attachment 69120

She's looking super, and great that she's sensible and sweet for you to do on your own- I have the same issue of rarely having any help so I fully appreciate how important that is!

 

[daffy44]

She's looking super, and great that she's sensible and sweet for you to do on your own- I have the same issue of rarely having any help so I fully appreciate how important that is!

Me too, I'm another one who is on my own, its makes you appreciate the sensible youngsters so much!

 

[Northern]

She's looking super, and great that she's sensible and sweet for you to do on your own- I have the same issue of rarely having any help so I fully appreciate how important that is!

It's definitely a bonus to have! The place I am at is huge though, so there are always people "around" and driving up the road, so if something happens riders are usually found quite quickly. As she's the first I've backed I would prefer someone there but have to work with what I have. She's my 4th youngster now so have the very green but rideable part well rehearsed!

 

[rara007]

We’re doing short confidence building hacks in harness and blinkers now

 

[southerncomfort]

Training my 4 year old has been frustratingly stop start due to frequent gale force winds here. Also, he keeps having growth spurts and going all lean and gangly on me!

Weather has been much better the last couple of weeks so we've finally started making progress.

He's now long reining off the bit rather than headcollar, can trot sensibly on the long reins and I even had a sneaky sit on him bareback. We've also been going for lots of long walks to build some muscle and he gets more sensible every time out.

He is more than ready for a rider mentally and physically. Unfortunately we have gale force winds again now. ? But as soon as it settles down again we will be cracking on with getting him used to a passenger.

I have to say he's the easiest youngster I've ever had. He's so kind, sensible and willing. Absolutely adore him.

 

[j1ffy]

It’s lovely seeing lots of positive updates! The babies are all looking and sounding fab.

Chilli has been out since early November bar some recent in-hand walks and loading practice. I decided this was the weekend to hop back on ahead of a saddle fitting next Friday and he’s been lovely!

On Friday I tacked up with my old dressage saddle - it’s not a great fit but ok for a few minutes. I lunged, which he claimed to have forgotten how to do, then hopped on and a friend led me around. Steering, stop and go seemed ok so left it at that.



An experienced friend was coming to play ponies on Saturday so did the same again but with her on top. All boxes ticked again and lunging better.

Yesterday I took the metaphorical safety wheels off and rode solo after a perfect lunge. Chilli was great, we did a bit of trot and an accidental canter and he felt surprisingly balanced given his six months off and a fairly uneven, sloping arena. Absolutely delighted, even though we disturbed his siesta:



Next stop new saddle on Friday, then slowly build up from there ?

 

[palo1]

Me too, I'm another one who is on my own, its makes you appreciate the sensible youngsters so much!

Yes and it goes a really long way to being able to do more interesting things which I think may lead to greater success and certainly a strong partnership Always having to have help does tend to make things that need repetition less easy to do at the 'right' moment I think.

 

[daffy44]

Yes and it goes a really long way to being able to do more interesting things which I think may lead to greater success and certainly a strong partnership Always having to have help does tend to make things that need repetition less easy to do at the 'right' moment I think.

Thats a really good point palo, and I totally agree with you, being alone with the youngsters has pros and cons like everything else, but the pros are pretty strong, especially if its a sensible youngster.

 

[Caol Ila]

I'm on my own with the youngster for some time yet. Contacted a few trainers, hoping they would put us on the right track with our groundwork, but they are all interpreting the Covid rules to mean that they can't leave their local authorities to teach. Horse trainers are in fact allowed to travel for work, so I was very surprised by this. Clinicians have been showing up at Gypsum's barn since January, after the Scottish government said one-on-one teaching was kosher and trainers could travel to their clients. I was thinking that if people were allowed to work, especially in a job that takes place outside and does not require close contact, they would. C'est la vie.

I had so much more confidence when I had a similarly-aged youngster back in 2006. Was that just a manifestation of being 20-something instead of 30-something? Or was it because he was a draft-cross, and no one is going to tell you that you can't do X with a draft-cross because it's not like any other horse? I was also in a much better barn situation.

 

[Northern]

Just back from taking the three year old out for her first ridden outing. Wasn't sure up until yesterday whether it would happen, she had something stuck in her eye for the last few days and I couldn't get it out at all (and she was a star coping with me poking and prodding around). Ended up sedating her with some detomidine paste yesterday and got the thing out. The "thing" was a long, thick and very stubborn hair. Must have been uncomfortable for her, so am very glad it's out. I did stain the eye just in case and no uptake, yay!
Eye looked perfect this morning so I loaded her up and off we went. Apart from meeting every red traffic light and texting/rude drivers she travelled very well and got off nice and politely.

I had low expectations from this outing, she's only been to Another Place once and that was in hand. But she walked around politely, had a bit of a lunge and was really pleasant. So I went ahead and got on and had a short but nice walk/trot lesson with my instructor. She's starting to understand moving into a bit of a contact and didn't let anything distract her, bless her. It was nice to have backup on the ground again, need to do that once in a while I think. Got back on the trailer first go and travelled home nicely. Just a small blip in the trailer as I went to unload her, she gets her head stuck behind the divider and panicked a bit. Back on and off a few times after that and put her away.

I was super pleased with her attitude, she's still working out the forward but seems to have a nice trainable mind so far. Aim for the next few weeks is to try a canter in the big field if I can find someone to ride my pony in front of us

No photos of the event, but have one of her looking cute from the other day.

 

[milliepops]

Sounds like a perfect outing northern ? she looks super cute.
I pull forelock hairs out of my Welsh's eyes occasionally. It seems like a design fault ??

 

[Northern]

Sounds like a perfect outing northern ? she looks super cute.
I pull forelock hairs out of my Welsh's eyes occasionally. It seems like a design fault ??

Must be! I initially thought it was a grass seed, but I did pull one of those out in one of my attempts and this hair stayed in stubbornly. The fly masks have gone back on 24/7 now to prevent any more seeds adventuring in. Hope the grass drops all seeds soon so they can come off again!

 

[TheMule]

Just back from taking the three year old out for her first ridden outing. Wasn't sure up until yesterday whether it would happen, she had something stuck in her eye for the last few days and I couldn't get it out at all (and she was a star coping with me poking and prodding around). Ended up sedating her with some detomidine paste yesterday and got the thing out. The "thing" was a long, thick and very stubborn hair. Must have been uncomfortable for her, so am very glad it's out. I did stain the eye just in case and no uptake, yay!
Eye looked perfect this morning so I loaded her up and off we went. Apart from meeting every red traffic light and texting/rude drivers she travelled very well and got off nice and politely.

I had low expectations from this outing, she's only been to Another Place once and that was in hand. But she walked around politely, had a bit of a lunge and was really pleasant. So I went ahead and got on and had a short but nice walk/trot lesson with my instructor. She's starting to understand moving into a bit of a contact and didn't let anything distract her, bless her. It was nice to have backup on the ground again, need to do that once in a while I think. Got back on the trailer first go and travelled home nicely. Just a small blip in the trailer as I went to unload her, she gets her head stuck behind the divider and panicked a bit. Back on and off a few times after that and put her away.

I was super pleased with her attitude, she's still working out the forward but seems to have a nice trainable mind so far. Aim for the next few weeks is to try a canter in the big field if I can find someone to ride my pony in front of us

No photos of the event, but have one of her looking cute from the other day.

View attachment 69464

That’s sounds like a really successful trip out, well done. I did a very similar thing for Nova's first outing and it was perfect

 

[TheMule]

Unfortunately my plans have had to suddenly change as I lost my dear little Moon to colic yesterday (Nova's mother) so I no longer have my nice reliable lead horse. So I'm going to turn my 2 away for 6 weeks and then a friend will bring her horse over to stay who can escort them out over the Summer. I don’t think a break now will do them any harm, they've reached a good point in their training.

 

[milliepops]

sorry to hear that, TM. sounds like a sensible plan while you draw breath.

 

[daffy44]

I'm so sorry TM, thats very sad.

Well done Northern on a very successful first outing.

 

[rara007]

Very sorry to hear that TM

 

[lannerch]

So sorry too Tm , a break will do your two no harm whatsoever ?

 

[shortstuff99]

Sorry TM, what sad news ?

 

[TPO]

Very sorry to hear about Moon. Hope you're ok