He was being a touch lazy, but still showing off his nice trot. :D Now I just need to get the clicker out and teach him to put his head down again. The last three pictures show him getting ready to buck. He decided not to buck at the last second and just took off cantering, so I don't have any fun bucking pictures. Like I said, he's lazy hehe. I only trotted him in the round pen for less than two minutes. Then I let him have a bite of hay (which is being stored in the round pen temporarily) as a reward for his good behavior.
I love how the picture above turned out because he was chewing which caused the hay to move and blur. So cool!
Then we went for our walk. We've been walking between 1 to 1.5 miles several times a week. I think next week I'm going to start the Couch to 5k with him. I'm having trouble deciding how I want to do it though... should I run with him (with him trotting) out on the asphalt roads so we both get in shape or should I longe him on dirt? Any thoughts?
He loves our walks. :D I had to remind him today that he can't balk when headed home because he wants to stare at the neighbor horses lol. Am I the only person who has a horse who is all eager to go on the way out, but turns into a slug headed home? Growing up my horses were always in a hurry to get home. I guess Chrome just enjoys going new places and exploring. :) I can't complain about that! I love it!
I like his pictures, he has nice hock flexion in them! How strange he is a slug going home but I would much rather that behavior then what every other horse does which is rush home. He just finds new things interesting!
ReplyDeleteHe's filling out so nicely. The muscles are really starting to come in :)
ReplyDeletehe's looking good.
ReplyDeleteMe, I would put a saddle on him and walk/trot him the 1.5 miles as long as it's not hard going the whole way.
Unfortunately every single road out here is asphalt... there are places with wide ditches, but if it's wet outside at all he sinks too much so I'm stuck on the pavement... I know a lot of horses overseas trot all day every day (carriages) on pavement and they seem fine... some even live on pavement... I just don't know if that will hurt him since he's not used to it.
ReplyDeleteI would assume those oversea horses have shoes with padding? I'm not crazy with him walking on the hard road so much... You can't have him walk on the grass edge? What about hand walking/trotting him in the pasture? Does it have hills? That would be great exercise for you both :) He is a cutie.
ReplyDeleteShoes just make the concussion to the hoof and legs worse because the hoof can't utilize it's shock absorbing abilities like it should... not sure if they put pads on them or not... There are places where I can and do let him walk in the ditch, but it can be risky because of glass bottles people throw out of their cars and if it's really wet he sinks too much which is just as bad for his tendons. I'll just keep him at a walk on the pavement. I've been longeing him in the pasture, but as soon as I can ground drive him I'll do that to get him off of the circles. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm a barefoot person myself with horses, but I'm pretty sure horses who are on pavement all day do need special shoes... if not boots.
ReplyDeleteI'm not an expert, but I can't imagine walking him on the hard road is good for growing bones?
I do a LOT of ground work with Oberon, a fraction of it is "circles" and much is "mobile" lunging. He is on a long line and rope halter and he walks, trots, canters when I do and stops when I do. I can easily face him and put him back into a "circle" This way you can use your big pasture and property and go up and down hills and also teach him to watch his feet on uneven ground. Just a thought. You can still use the road, but it would be greatly reduced. A mix is always good, anyway.
With that said, I taught him the cues for transitions from trot to walk, stop, etc. I use a long stick and string to act as my "second arm". Perhaps I'll video tape my girls doing this over spring break. Because of this, we have now "graduated" to freedom work in a round pen... NO halter, not lead. It is so FUN! and Oberon enjoys it... you can tell by the gleam in his eye. It brings on the play drive, I think, and HE has to decide to concentrate and pay attention to ME. I think it has made our communication so much better.
ReplyDeleteSebastian does this as well - James Cooler and Sebastian (the 1/2 Friesian I used to own) are at our barn. I think "Freedom Work" is excellent for Friesians... I mean, they LOVE to play and are so smart get bored with repetition.
ReplyDeleteAt almost four Chrome's legs shouldn't be growing anymore... I guess being a gelding it's possible his hocks haven't fused yet.... anyway I do agree that walking on the pavement all the time probably isn't good, but I don't walk on the road as much as it may seem.
ReplyDeleteI can work him at liberty but he is extremely lazy and doesn't work with the amount of drive he needs to. A lazy jog isn't going to build the muscles he needs. Once he's learned to move with energy on the longe I'm sure I will be able to add that into our liberty work. Thanks for the suggestion/reminder. :) Oh and I would love to see a video of your girls with Oberon. I never say no to a video of Oberon hehe.
I think Chrome's about to the point right now that I want to try ground driving again, so that will get us off of circles too. :)
Oh and I forgot to mention the reason I'm longeing is to teach him the vocal cues like you said you do with Oberon, so hopefully I'll have more control over which gait he uses at liberty. Up until now he just goes at whatever gait he wants to (and he usually chooses the laziest option). :) Oh and our pasture at our new home is totally flat except for that dirt pile.... :( LOL! I wish we had some good hills. :)
ReplyDeleteI guess what I meant to say is mix it up. I do mobile lunging which is me walking/jogging in the same direction. I'll try to video that too. I think circles, mobile, side passes, cutbacks, walking poles, backing poles and then taking him for a walk like you do are all good. So many horses eyes roll back in their heads when they see car, etc.
ReplyDeleteI don't use voice commands, actually I only use them in "emergency". Horses don't talk they use body language. I should do a post about this and why I am not a fan of teaching them verbal cues. Of course, some love it, and that's ok. To me, it just means I didn't cue my horse appropriately so that he could see it. His eyes/attention should be on ME. Thanks for the idea of a post. :)
LOL! I was half asleep when I read your comment and where you wrote you taught him the cues for transitions I could have sworn it said voice cues LOL!!! I wanted to teach the voice cues to make it easier to teach him under saddle. The cues on the ground and under saddle are different, so a voice cue makes it easier for him to understand what I want. :)
ReplyDeleteI will mix it up I promise. :D Thanks for the ideas for all the stuff we can do. I totally forgot about poles again! I really need to play around with poles. That will definitely help his stifle. :)