AdorableAlice
Well-Known Member
He's gorgeous! Exactly my kind of horse too. Love your stories about him, hilarious! How tall is he now? You may need a step ladder to back him![]()
Thank you.
I don't know how tall he is to be honest. We do have a proper stick with a spirit level on it but he got upset before I could get an accurate measure, he was 16.1 ish. The string test, both methods say 18 hands. He is 19 months old this month. What am I going to do with him ! I will need a huge mounting block, a parachute to dismount, travel sickness pills and oxygen.
He is teaching me a lot about handling nervous horses and it is very rewarding. He caught his headcollar a few days ago and trapped himself, totally my stupid fault, he panicked but listened when I spoke to him and let me cut him free. Not a big deal unless you know the horse, but for him it was a massive deal not go bonkers and break his neck.
It has taken me six months to realise that he tells me when he is ready to move on to the next step and it is not wise to push him out of his comfort zone just yet. Getting him to trust us enough to pick his feet up has been a major problem and yesterday we had a big celebration. Ted allowed my farrier to enter his box, catch him, park him with the rope over his neck, and do a proper trim on his fronts. I had to hold his head for the hinds because Ted likes to see what you are doing to him and it became a bit technical to bend himself in half and put his foot on the farriers knee at the same time. He has been improving each time but yesterday was the first time he relaxed rather than tolerated the process and it was the first time he didn't run from the farrier.
He has just gone to bed and is snoring like a trooper yet again, no doubt he will have grown another inch by morning.