My next equine project horse

AdorableAlice said:
Of course you can, are you sure you can cope with non stop farting ? he is the most tuneful horse I have ever known. Please be aware he has a Ted mankini and it is bright orange.

No one has told him he has 10 miles to cover on Sunday at his first pleasure ride. I am going on the barge horse, I will need all of next week off and several packets of paracetomol.

Off to oncology now and hoping nothing has changed.
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AdorableAlice said:
Woohooooooooooo, red rosette for me too. No change.
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Great news AA, pleased to hear all is ok.

That's fine re. the mankini, motivation for his fun ride to keep him in beach ready shape! I'll dig out my fluorescent tutu, leg warmers and string gloves - tell Ted to pack his glow sticks, we'll have a right old rave up! ;P :D
 
What an amazing outing! Wonderful photos. He looks so grown up!
Can't believe he got a red rosette on top of all those other achievements and yes he will probably be unbearable when he gets home. <g>
Glad you got good news too. Onwards to the pleasure ride; really look forward to the report. Hope he manages to keep his halo intact, bet he'll be fine but I would search any parcels he gets as Alice might well post him sweets laced with amphetamines, lsd or worse, just to make sure he gets knocked down a peg or two...
 
Clare85 said:
Great news AA, pleased to hear all is ok.

That's fine re. the mankini, motivation for his fun ride to keep him in beach ready shape! I'll dig out my fluorescent tutu, leg warmers and string gloves - tell Ted to pack his glow sticks, we'll have a right old rave up! ;P :D
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Knowing his breakers I shudder of anyone in a mankini this weather... I think of Davids joints!
 
Fun ride is off.

Ted has a face like a chipmunk, he was looked at in June and had a lot of loose caps. He is coming home in the morning and the vet can have a poke around in his mouth.
 
Oh, what a shame about the fun ride. These caps can be very troublesome. My 4yo has recently had a sliver of a cap removed from her gum, where it had embedded itself. She'd had a full float 5 months before that, but there's still a lot of dental stuff going on at that age, so problems can occur.

In retrospect, probably just as well that his face swelled up, so you knew something was awry, rather than discovering a painful problem whilst on the fun ride..

He's going to have so much to tell Alice when he returns!
 
A mixed day for Ted and I.

He came home with his wingman in the trailer. His face has gone down so we decided to hack him locally and then for me to ride him for a few minutes.

i wanted him to do my favourite hack so he can see the route before I ride it. There is a music festival going on this weekend and I was absolutely thrilled to watch Ted lead past all the coloured horses that are tied up on the verges and all the other distractions.

He is not shod, he did not shy or trip so watching him flip over on his side with David underneath him was both awful and shocking. A lot of our lanes have been resurfaced and are very slick for the shod horses, but the unshod don't have a problem. The lanes were very wet and he went over so quickly. The only pleasing thing was his reaction, he got up as quickly as he went down and did not panic or run away. He carried on as if nothing had happened. I was the only one upset ! David assured me he was fine but I bet he isn't in the morning.

Despite me making every excuse possible to not get on him, after all he had fallen, he has worked and he might have a sore tooth or 2, I knew I had to and I felt really safe on him, we did the 20 minute block and I was chuffed to bits. His trot is huge but comfortable.

So it is over to me now.
 
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Tiddlypom said:
Eek to the slippery road surface. If you report it to the BHS, maybe something can be done about it?

http://www.bhs.org.uk/safety-and-accidents/common-incidents/riding-on-the-road/slippery-roads

You're one gutsy lady to ride him after his tumble, which could have upset any horse. Am in total admiration.
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Thank you for that link, I am going to follow it through and send the information. What got to me was the speed he went down at. he went from walking on, balanced and concentrating to on his side in a split second. The off hind went first and he was down. We know the shod horses struggle on that piece of road but the unshods never have. That is what is puzzling me.
 
Could have even been something like a wee bit of diesel or oil on the smooth part of the tarmac. You (and the horse) wouldn't have seen it, but it's freakin' lethal.

I'm glad he took it in his stride.
 
Some things never change. Many pages back I described Ted failing to stop in front of me in the field. He managed it again this morning.

Called him and I was pleased to see him look up and set sail in my direction. Husband at my side said ' he will stop won't he ?', yes of course, make that maybe, get out of his way quick. Ted put the brakes on and slid straight past us.

I left him in the barn to dry out before riding and was not amused to see him bucking and leaping around like a giant tigger. Telling myself what he does in his free time is his business, I got the tack.

Feeling much less confident that I did yesterday when his breaker was here, I tacked up and bottled it, so I put him on the lunge for a few minutes whilst I gave myself a talking to. My riding buddy arrived and I got on board. We had a lovely hour long hack and apart from the normal baby wobbles he was a total star.

At the dinner table this evening my darling husband asked me why I was nervous of riding Ted and pointed out that my face was as white as a ghost when I got back from the hack. I pointed out to him that Ted is/was special needs, I am heading towards 60 and I have not ridden a 4 year old since 1998 ! He said, 'but Ted is broken now and it cost us a fortune, so what's the problem' husband was very lucky not to be wearing his chicken tikka at that point.

Next hack is tomorrow evening. I can do it, I really can do it.
 
Wobbly nerves are understandable. You have seen Ted at his worst. This is a whole new chapter for both of you now though. You will from here on in see him at his best. Hacking escort is a very good idea at this stage. Have you ever tried any NLP techniques? I can recommend it as it really helped me with my fear of jumping x :)
 
Tell me more, what is NLP please.

I have to get over myself, Ted is a good boy and thorough out the breaking process had not bucked, napped or spun round. I so wish I had not seen him go over on the road.

Saddler coming asap. The only saddle I have that fits him is a Jaguar dressage saddle which is comfortable but I feel a bit perched. I need a nice comfy gp. My armchair Farrington is fitted to the big mare and she is a lot wider then Ted. I hope they still make Farringtons.
 
neuro linguistic programming. It is basically where you try to re-programme your brain to visualise the positive rather than the negative. I have read a really good book for horse riders whose name escapes me but I have at home and can look up later. I had great success with jumping which I had to do for my instructors exams. Basically close your eyes and step by step imagine yourself having the perfect hack on Ted. Even if stuff is thrown at him he remains calm and un-phased. Repeat and repeat. You are training your brain to take on these positive images and it really does help your confidence. Try to never dwell on the -ve but focus very much on the +ve. You have not had a scary experience whilst mounted on Ted so you have a very good place to work from. I will look up book and let you know.
ETA I actually had a hypnotherapy session which was just NLP for something else. I can't say that actually worked on my and hypnotherapy definitely didn't. But repeating the +ve images to myself really did. Last thing at night thinking about that perfect showjumping round or in your case hack. Worth a shot and costs nothing! :)
 
Nerves are awful and get worse when you are older as we lose our "gung ho". You are focusing on him falling over so every time that image comes up, mentally tell it to get lost and wave goodbye to it. Refocus on Ted walking past all kinds of distractions. That was Ted behaving. The slip was not to anything he actually did.

Saddles..can you nick a dead sheep pad? Then see if the saddle that you like will work with a pad? And as others have said, keep visualising yourself feeling safe and enjoying your hack..
 
7 years ago I slipped on a wet floor on holiday and broke my cheekbone. Even though it's never happened again I'm still wary of wet floors. It's totally natural for you to be worried / nervous but just because it's happened once doesn't mean it'll happen again. And what an amazing boy he sounds, leading the way on a hack in a new environment past many unusual / scary things. That's what you need to try to remember.

Wishing you and Ted (and Alice) many happy hacks to come!
 
Hoping all is going well on the hacking scene?

How is Alice coping with Ted being back?

Sistrer Bridgette is back on the straight an narrow after a few days of Brat behaviour!
 
Sorry to hear you and Ted have had a tough week, really pleased everything is going well though and well done on your successful hack! :)

It's totally understandable being a bit ginger about the riding at the moment but as always you have had the courage to get up and get on, you should be very proud of yourself and Ted :)

How is Alice finding having Ted back home?
 
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