Friday, June 20, 2014

Chrome's Monthly Progress Report

 I LOVE that neck!  So sexy!

Date: 6-20-14
Age: 5 Years  & 1 Month
Height: 15.2hh
Height Gain: The measurement was actually 62.5 inches.. well almost a half.. but I'm not really counting it because he's way overdue for a trim since we're having trouble with scheduling.  I'm betting he's still 15.2hh.  
Weight: I didn't check because I couldn't find my tape measure anywhere!
Weight Gain: N/A

Progress:  Between the reoccurring back pain, all the rain and then building our kitchen I haven't been able to do anything with Chrome lately except let him graze and put his neem oil on at night.... yeah I suck.  However earlier this month I did introduce him to the bit and we made good progress when I actually was able to ride.  I did wash his tail, but I never did practice braiding it.  I rode him bareback and bridleless so that's awesome!  I got his teeth and vaccines done.  I did not get around to working with him on the trailer though.  So I'd say this month was a mild success LOL!


Assessment:  The book suggests asking yourself five questions at the end of each month to see if you're progressing, pushing too hard or not hard enough.  Also keep in mind during the Prep phase there won't be a very noticeable change in appearance.  The Cardio phase is where things will start changing.  Here are the questions:

Where are his muscles filling out?  I haven't noticed any changes, but we haven't been doing our cardio workouts so it's not really a surprise.  I have to get back into gear!

Has he developed any resistances/or has his behavior changed?  
I haven't noticed any changes at all.  He's still does the balking occasionally and the trying to turn back the way he wants to go, but with the bit things are definitely improving.    

Does he start out stiff each day (as if he hasn't recovered from previous day's exercise)?  I still haven't noticed any stiffness.

Does he fade during exercise or show signs of fatigue?  Nope.  :)

Has he lost, gained or maintained weight?  He looks the same to me.  I was going to check his weight today, but I couldn't find the measuring tape.  

 Goals: My goals for this month are.... finish my kitchen LOL!  Find a job.  Let my back heal.  Where are the horse related goals???  I'm going to try to start exercising him again, even if it's just hand walking him.  Other than that I can't make promises.  We'll see what happens.  :)


A very lazy. lame attempt at a smile.  :)

P.S.  I was bored the other day and made a new page showing Chrome's gray progression in pictures.  I know everyone can just go back through the blog to see how he's changed, but seeing it all together on one page in chronological order is so cool!  If you have decent internet speed you should check it out!  If your internet sucks beware because there are a million pictures!  I have DSL with 3mb download speed on a good day and it takes a minute to load, but it gets there eventually hehe. The link is at the top of the blog!

2 comments:

  1. He looks great! I finally got the chance to actually read through your blog. I never realized that you clicker train and use the barefoot trimming for your horses. I do too! I'm really looking forward to reading your future posts now :)

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  2. Oh my goodness you have a FJORD!!!!! Cool!! I'm totally following your blog immediately hehehehe!!! Yep I did a lot of his beginning training with clicker. I just kind of slacked off with it when we got to the under saddle stuff. No reason in particular... just lazy I guess. And I suck (and hate) fading out the reward so I was having problems with him only working for treats. That was my fault not his. :) I'm so looking forward to reading your blog! Thanks for commenting!

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