Backing 3/4yr olds

Our 3yo discovered the joys of putting her head down to eat and accidentally evicting her child today ?. Grass reins it is then - to be fair she adapted to them well once I put them on. First fall too, and she stayed with the child and didn’t spook, so that went well really.
 
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shortstuff99 said:
Especially for @Caol Ila here is a picture from today of Baby Bean as a rising 4 year old (4 in may) and pictures of her at 2 and 3 years (fugly stage ?)
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Wow, she really has blossomed! I definitely think 3 is the ugly ducking stage, well was for all of mine. I always think in their 4th summer they start to really look smart :) she’s gorgeous, love the stables too!
 
Hormonal Filly said:
Wow, she really has blossomed! I definitely think 3 is the ugly ducking stage, well was for all of mine. I always think in their 4th summer they start to really look smart :) she’s gorgeous, love the stables too!
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Thank you! Everyone thought I was mad when I bought her as she was so fugly but I knew a lovely horse was under there.
 
We had our first proper dressage clinic yesterday!

B has just turned 4, so time to learn a few more grown up things to add to her treasure trove of Human Carrying skills.
Super pleased with her, got on the trailer without hesitation both ways, travelled well, mirrors no problem etc.
Riding wise I need to sharpen her up to leg aids, she was a bit backwards in a Proper Arena. Given we usually ride in a big big field on a slope, I was expecting this and it's fine and we will plug away at it. She's very very baby still and figuring out her balance. Some really nice moments to take away and had her mind on the job the whole time. So happy with her :D
 

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chaps89 said:
Love Turnip, she seems to be taking to the world of work well. What’s the plan for her?
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Thank you! She is a real sweetheart. Nothing set in stone for her really. See how life plays out. She’ll go out on the summer hill soon for a while and might come in and hack about later in the summer. Long term I’m thinking I’ll try and partner her with a talented young event rider a bit like I’ve done with my 6yo. That’s assuming she’s a good jumper, which is still a mystery ?
 
well having been messed around for the third time trying to sell young Frank... we are back in the game. Becoming resigned to finding a way to back him myself and we will try again later in the year :rolleyes: We should be able to do Fri/Sat/Sun regularly now and bonus days when the lessons are quiet, so hopefully that will be enough if I can find a freelancer to help who can fit in with that.

Lunged in his saddle today, w/t/c commands getting more reliable :D

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Young Frank again...

Pressing on :p he was very much up for long reining, i did have to run him into his stable door to stop but I'm taking the keen-ness as a good sign. Nice attitude for a first go, particularly with Quiz The Needy shouting his head off about being left behind ;) Will try this in the school later this week and then perhaps do a circuit down to the outdoor and back. It's nice when you feel like you're starting to speak the same language. I have a lead on a helper for the actual sitting-on bit so feel a bit more positive now. Anyway. can't fault his temperament :D

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milliepops said:
Young Frank again...

Pressing on :p he was very much up for long reining, i did have to run him into his stable door to stop but I'm taking the keen-ness as a good sign. Nice attitude for a first go, particularly with Quiz The Needy shouting his head off about being left behind ;) Will try this in the school later this week and then perhaps do a circuit down to the outdoor and back. It's nice when you feel like you're starting to speak the same language. I have a lead on a helper for the actual sitting-on bit so feel a bit more positive now. Anyway. can't fault his temperament :D

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Love him, go Frank
 
maya2008 said:
Frank looks lovely, can’t believe you weren’t inundated with people wanting to buy him!
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he is the SWEETEST horse, he is such a lovely character. i have had lots of timewasters and 3x as many dreamers! i haven't been in the horse market since i was a teenager and this is a good reminder of why that is :rolleyes: i thought i had screened out the worst ones but clearly need to be more selective again.
we did some more long reining last night and he thought he was well clever. I love it when they feel pleased with themselves like that :D
 
Frank again!
Proof of concept achieved :D Had a friend volunteer to help last night so today was the day :p Bimbled around a bit and then hopped off, repeat a few times. He couldn't be less bothered really, at this point, bless his slightly tufty little socks.

Have decided to put off the person who wanted to come and see him next weekend, i wasn't getting brilliant vibes from them anyway. Don't want to mess anyone around but if he goes it does need to be to 100% the right person.

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Had another play with long-reining my rising 4 year old today and he was super. We're bumbling along very slowly as I have never had a youngster before or even been around them much. (Plus he lives out 24/7 and it's been winter and I don't really have any help on-site.)

I did a little bit of work with 2 ropes last year but off a headcollar. Now we have progressed to working off the bit. We have (some) steering, definite stop on voice command (his favourite), straight lines (if we are heading for something he wants to go towards) and even a bit of trot with me running behind. We ventured out of the field last week but that went a bit wrong and I remembered it is actually less stressful *not* to let the OH help, but I discovered the emergency brake works!

So this next week will be a bit more walking in hand around the tracks and then trying a bit of long reining around the tracks. I need to get my instructor to come too to make sure I'm not doing anything completely wrong!

Here's his lovely bum!! He loves a bum scratch so I see it a lot :D

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After trying multiple saddles that didn’t work for Finn a couple of weeks ago, I managed to pick up a lovely second hand Black Country saddle that with a bit of adjustment yesterday is now perfect. He was good as good for the saddler and today we hacked around the block in company and he was a superstar. He’s going away to my trainers yard in a weeks time just for a couple of weeks to get a bit more life experience under his belt. All very exciting!

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Hermosa still gets a bit upset when things flap against her legs, so I worked on that today. Need to fix it before we go to the long reins. It's an issue that comes and goes. We'd made a lot of progress when we were doing some desensitisation work with the foal at foot, but then the foal became big and obnoxious and would do things like rear up and jump on top of her, which felt super dangerous when you were holding her lead rope, trying to work with her. I kind of gave up trying to train her at that point. When we weaned him, she became so overwhelmed by life that she forgot everything. But now we seem back on track, although repeating some lessons. I spent a while today flicking a lead rope at her legs. Got her to accept the cowboy trick of wrapping it around her front fetlocks and gently lifting the foot. Then got her to let me flick it around her hindlegs without moving away, but didn't feel she was ready yet to have it around the hind fetlocks.
 
Caol Ila said:
Hermosa still gets a bit upset when things flap against her legs, so I worked on that today. Need to fix it before we go to the long reins. It's an issue that comes and goes. We'd made a lot of progress when we were doing some desensitisation work with the foal at foot, but then the foal became big and obnoxious and would do things like rear up and jump on top of her, which felt super dangerous when you were holding her lead rope, trying to work with her. I kind of gave up trying to train her at that point. When we weaned him, she became so overwhelmed by life that she forgot everything. But now we seem back on track, although repeating some lessons. I spent a while today flicking a lead rope at her legs. Got her to accept the cowboy trick of wrapping it around her front fetlocks and gently lifting the foot. Then got her to let me flick it around her hindlegs without moving away, but didn't feel she was ready yet to have it around the hind fetlocks.
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Beryl was a touch upset at the lines on her back legs but surprisingly got over it as quickly as she got upset. Hopefully Hermosa will remember her lessons just as quickly, and find that it’s not that scary after all.
 
Had a helper tonight so Frank did human carrying again :D

We did some long reining revision after our first sit on Saturday so today I managed to do the going and stopping by myself. I think next time we need to try and do some proper steering and then we will probably be self sufficient.
Good little chap. We will long rein round the yard and have another visit to the outdoor arena (yesterday's trip was slightly overwhelming for him!) and then hopefully manage to twist someone's arm to help us again.
 
HufflyPuffly said:
Beryl was a touch upset at the lines on her back legs but surprisingly got over it as quickly as she got upset. Hopefully Hermosa will remember her lessons just as quickly, and find that it’s not that scary after all.
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She mastered single-line lunging really quickly, and she happily accepts the surcingle (or roller, as you guys say). But got into a panic the other day when I removed it in the lackadaisical way I would unsaddle my other horse, and, God forbid, the girth hit her off-side front leg! Oh, my God! The worst thing, ever! "Oh," I said. "I should probably fix that."
 
So please with Finn. First ever ridden hack without another horse for company this morning (just my trusty OH and dog).

He was fab, considering it’s quite blowy out we had no spooking and he was good trotting ahead and passing large lorries. He is a bit unsettled in his mouth but he is due for the dentist who is coming tomorrow so hopefully that will help settle things down.


 
Last weekend we went to our first ever clinic. He was a superstar. He found it very exciting initially, especially when the others started trotting and cantering around him, but I got him concentrating on the poles and he soon settled down. After 30 mins I could tell he was getting tired, so I called it a day for him as I wanted to end on a good note, and we spent the last 30 mins stood in the middle of the school watching the others quietly whilst he could have a snooze in the sunshine. We're really lucky to have 4 schools in hacking distance that hold regular clinics, so the aim for this year is to get him out and exposed to lots of new things.
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Another hack for Finn this morning. Our house is on the same road as the yard so this time I tacked up and left the yard alone this morning. OH met me at the house, walked around the block with me then again I did the last stretch back to the yard alone. Finn was good as gold, no napping or silliness and very relaxed ?. He had dentist yesterday and was such a good boy. Teeth in really good shape and luckily no wolf teeth to cause any issues so can crack on and work on the contact.

 
Cheeky Chestnut said:
Fab hack for Faran today. Out with his auntie ruby who has a love hate relationship with him ? Mares ?

getting more confident in the canter. Enough so he’s having some humpy moments and head tossing for fun ?
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Love the ‘behind the ears’ look of Faran :-)

Out of interest, everyone with 4yr olds (4 this year) do you have them barefoot or shod?
My mares gone footy and turns out a difficult boot size for boots but I’m nervous about putting shoes on a youngster :-(
 
Hormonal Filly said:
Love the ‘behind the ears’ look of Faran :)

Out of interest, everyone with 4yr olds (4 this year) do you have them barefoot or shod?
My mares gone footy and turns out a difficult boot size for boots but I’m nervous about putting shoes on a youngster :-(
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thank you ?

My boy is barefoot and I plan to keep him that way. I really want a pair of scoot boots for him ?
 
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