My next equine project horse

It has been four years in the waiting but next Tuesday Ted and Alice will travel together and compete against one another. They had their first lorry trip together last weekend and were reasonable, Alice was bit clingy unloading but when she noticed the extremely lush grass her mind left Ted and concentrated on her stomach.

Judging by the smacking Alice gave Ted yesterday in her rush to reach me before he did in the barn it seems she is gaining an upper hand now. She used to stand back and let him dominate her but she really meant the thump she landed him yesterday.

When I recover from plaiting two and actually getting them in the arena on time, in one piece and hopefully without any hissy fits, I will report on how well it all went - or didn't !
 
I have been awol for a while. Lovely to hear Ted is still doing well and Alice too now. BBH - Molly looks lovely and if AA considers her a good stamp of horse you don't get better than that! My Clyde cross has been having a go at dressage this year. He is a worrier - similar to Ted initially. His default stance on being worried though is to freeze which has made for some interesting tests! There is something very rewarding though from training the babies as when you make a breakthrough there is nothing better! AA - it seems so long ago when I first started reading this thread and how very far Ted has come from the 'feral carthorse'. :)
 
It jumps !, the furry ecking fool can jump, and do walk to canter transition and adores M&S fizzy sweets.

Sitting at my desk yesterday afternoon I get a call asking me if I can come to the yard. Me being me immediately fears the worst and wonders what has gone wrong. Ted has been busy this week and the end result is impressive, his rider wanted me to see the improvement, phew and calm down.

I watched Ted perform simple changes on a serpentine and then on the long side. For a horse that has really struggled with canter it is such a leap forward for him. His rider was so pleased and said Ted is much more relaxed although he still anticipates a lot. Ted needed a treat and the only thing I had were M&S fizzy fruit sweets, he likes those. I hope Poundland does similar because he is not going shopping at M&S !

This afternoon Ted accompanied another horse on a XC schooling ride. Ted has done the odd line of trotting poles in the school but had a tendency to hit the panic button if he trod on one or kicked it. Today he was shown a telegraph pole which puzzled him and he dodged out the side, 2nd try he popped over with suspicion and 3rd try he jumped properly and was looking for the next mini jump.

We now have a happy sweat sodden cart horse who has jumped around a mini xc course including drops and a ditch. I can't quite believe how he is progressing, all that time and effort is being rewarded. I just wonder if we should show him hounds this season before opening meet or wait until next autumn. Anyway he has dressage on Tuesday, no simple changes in prelim 7, are you listening Super Ted ?
 
Sorry I was just speechless after that latest news...and am now holding breath, waiting to hear how it all went today (not least the plaiting/sprucing up of all those hairy bits - eeek that sounds rude, I meant the horses'!).
 
Hope all went well today AA, and you are a bloody brave woman considering hunting the Furry Fool! I have visions of Ted plus rider - in oversized, Thelwell fashion - disappearing into the sunset :D
 
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What a lovely day we had, they both remembered their manners with no clinging or calling to one another at all. Alice was a little green but it was only the 3rd time she had been off the farm and her first trip to this venue. Ted beat her by 4% in the walk and trot and they both made mistakes in the canter of Prelim 7. He was 2nd and she was 5th. Ted had a dray pulling moment when asked to canter right and Alice did the wall of death before falling out of canter.

Ted won't do any further W/T tests now and Alice will do another couple. The judge said Ted had huge potential and was a pleasure to judge which we thought was nice.

They are both going out again soon and hopefully they will behave well again.
 
The furry fool might have sussed the dressage out and been brave enough to clamber over some min cross country jumps, but he certainly failed in the show jump training this morning. He came into the school to watch Alice doing poles and thought he would have a go himself.

Have a laugh on us, his face is just a picture...........

You want me to do what ?

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I think that shows promise for the first time, at least he is looking at them and taking an interest many just plough through and don't even notice, he is making an effort over the last one, he is really growing up.

Alice looks really well in the previous photos, very trim and beside Ted looks more of a lightweight than a cob, it is strange how they can change so much once they start work and shape up.
 
I too think he shows promise for a first time.

I once had a big carty Police horse, and his first time he managed to get the front legs over, then stopped. After this happened a few times we went back to the drawing board, and learned to jump with a few sessions loose jumping!
 
He looks great!

My Shire-X kept trying to step over jumps, however awkward. Then my trainer draped a hoodie over the rail of a little 2' high vertical we'd set up and she popped it like a deer. Something clicked in her mind, and as she matured she became a good enough jumper to have made someone who was a lot braver than me a great eventer.
 
Super Ted is burning the midnight oil studying prelim 13 and 14. I am told he has done some nice work this week, not that I have seen any of it, I really need to win the lottery and retire so I can spend more time with the horses. Ted has a severe case of anticipation, the furry fool reckons he knows it all and makes a lot of his own decisions. I hope the judge is deaf tomorrow because the tests will have a lot of no's and whoa's in them.

P13 has an interesting trot walk trot on the centre line towards the judge. Now Ted has serious impulsion, 40 metres is a mere few steps for Ted and if he slips into turbo the judge is in the direct line of fire. He is just shy of 17h now and around 780kg, hope it does not get too alarming for the poor judge sitting directly in his way !

He has been primped and preened, his feathers are ruffled, his tail is a bog brush and his mane resembles a porcupine plugged in to the mains. Swallowfields here we come.

Alice is staying at home due to a wardrobe malfunction. I gave her a partial clip earlier in the week, she didn't much care for the experience and now she needs a cardigan to hide the end result.
 
This funny, quirky, deep thinking horse is so special - read into that special needs !

He has the travelling cracked now and we don't even know he is on the truck and he is an old pro in the lorry parks too. He went into the warm up arena and didn't show his usual smiley forward going self and seemed anxious and then he napped towards the open entrance. His rider persevered but Ted was hollow and unwilling, he is usually overbent and in turbo charge.

With that horrible sense of doom you have when it appears you have a sick horse at a show we went back to the lorry, well that was the instruction but Ted marched straight past the lorry onto the nearest bit of grass and peed for 10 minutes with much grunting and farting. With a final impressive fart he stood back up with his smiley face back on and was happy to go back to work. I stopped searching on my phone for the nearest equine vet and put the thermometer back in the first aid kit.

Prelim 13 went nicely, he was very forwards to the point of rushing and managed 67% for 4th place, he managed to maintain all of the canter on both reins. Prelim 14 was a disaster, the sun had come out and there were random lines of sunshine in the school surface which Ted decided were trotting poles, upset by that he stepped into left canter in the correct place but panicked and galloped off around the school instead of cantering a circle. The judge was kind and after composure had returned, Ted finished his test and managed right canter. We didn't bother to wait for the class to finish so don't know what comments the judge made, but we can guess !

The most pleasing part of the day happened a couple of hours ago when he let me turn the clippers on and actually get them on him. (last year I had to sedate him). He was frightened but he didn't move his feet and I kept rewarding him by doing a small patch and removing them. With the pressure and release method and a bucket of carrots he let me do his stifle to top of neck on the left hand side. I was so shocked and so pleased I nearly cried ! The right hand side which has always been his worst side to handle, was a problem, but still progress because even though he scrunched himself into a ball and I physically could not clip the coat off, he still allowed me to place the clippers on his neck, shoulder and behind his elbow. His four feet were all in a tiny square underneath him, but and it is an important but, he did not run.

The dressage and rosette were nice, but being in a small space and him allowing me to do something that terrifies him is simply the best. Trust in people is coming, so proud of him tonight.
 
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Ted is so fortunate to have an understanding horse woman like yourself AA as an owner, you have so much patience with him, but the rewards seem to be worthwhile. Without understanding it could have been so different. Congratulations to the whole Ted team.
 
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