Answers To Some First Ride Questions

Thank you everyone for the great comments on yesterday's first ride post.  I'm still grinning ear to ear from the ride.  It's taking everything I have not to go for another ride (probably not a good idea with a painfully twisted ankle which I did yesterday and then had to work nine hours standing up on it).  Anyway, I just wanted to answer some really good questions that I got on that post from the gang over at the Poupounette (http://thepoupounette.blogspot.com/). 


Unusual dismounting technique after that first ride!?  Yeah the dismount was for fun and also to show some people I know in real life who thought Chrome would buck me off during our first ride that he's such a laid back horse I can do anything with him.  I've had him since he was five months old and he's used to my crazy antics lol.  :)

Also seeing you get on from both sides.  Yep I always get on my horses from both sides.  After an incident where a horse (not mine) threw me because I lifted my right hand I always work with them from both sides.  It's good for them to learn everything from both sides so nothing ever catches them by surprise lol.

Why did you ride bareback rather than on a saddle? I rode bareback for two reasons.  Number one I don't have a saddle that fits him right now and number two it's less distracting for the horse.  I wanted him focusing on me and not on a saddle.  I really wasn't expecting him to feel so narrow and for my balance to be so off (from not riding bareback in a long time) so I probably should have used a saddle, but it didn't hurt anything and it just gets him used to even more craziness.  I like my horses exposed to a lot of weird, different and unusual circumstances and stimuli so that they are far less likely to be spooked by something in the future.

Are you planning to always use a bitless bridle?  Yes I am planning to always use a bitless bridle unless something comes up that makes that impossible.  I also used a bitless bridle (or his halter) for his first ride for the same reason I didn't use a saddle.  Less distraction.  And it's a good thing because I caught him in the face with the reins a couple of time and that would have hurt with a bit in his mouth.  He also had his teeth done fairly recently so I'm doing everything I can to protect his mouth.  If I ever put him into dressage training with my old trainer I will probably teach him to wear a simple snaffle bit because that's what she rides in.

Are you planning to ride Faran too eventually? We hope to maybe someday ride Faran, but right now that's just not in the cards.  Due to the way he was raised (not handled much I guess and definitely not desensitized to everything like Chrome was) and the abuse he suffered from previous trainers, he is just way too unpredictable.  If you walk up to his left side and hop up and down he bolts away from you.  Everything scares him.  I worked with him with the mounting block the other day and we made progress, but he was on the point of exploding for most of it.  I'll do a video soon to show you what I mean.  We're going to keep working with him and when/if we ever get to the point where we trust each other we might ride him.  For now we're just loving him and giving him the life he never had and teaching him to trust.  Thanks for the questions!! 

If anyone else has any questions feel free to ask.  I will happily answer them all.  :D

Chrome's First Ride!!!!!!! (with pictures and video!!!!!!)

 This is like my new favorite ever picture of Chrome.  He's so handsome in his bitless bridle!!

So here are the pictures/videos you've all been waiting for!!  Chrome's first ride!!  We had so much fun.  We invited all of our friends over to watch and then had grilled hot dogs and zucchini (along with chips, potato salad, etc.).  Everyone had such a good time.

    Sorry for blurring out all of the faces.  I don't feel right posting peoples' faces online!  

Chrome had a good turnout for his party!  :D

I love his expression as he checks out the little girl.

 Okay so first things first.  We had to get all "purdy" for our party.

 

I couldn't find my blue ribbons so we went with silver.  His SCA colors are going to be blue and silver so it works.

I got to use my homemade mounting block that my husband built (and I never painted oops)!  Here's a picture of my first time ever sitting on Chrome's back.

 

 I look weird because I was sliding forward.  He was so relaxed he was resting a hoof the whole time.  Silly boy.  You can tell he's wondering what's going on though because his head is up and his ears are back listening to me.

My farrier led us around in a few circles to see how he was doing.  He spent the whole time trying to chew on his brand new blue (notice the color theme?  It's our favorite color!) lead rope.  Brat!  I'm glad he was so calm about the whole thing.  He acted like it wasn't the most bizarre thing to have a human on his back.  It's almost like he knew that's what he was meant to do someday.  :D  Then we decided to try standing on the pedestal.  He did great!

He's so cute! 

 And then we decided to try it on our own!!!  My farrier unclipped the lead rope and let us go.

He had no steering at all!  And he was so easily unbalanced.  I could shift my weight and he would move over.  

 And then he stopped to scratch an itch!  When he reached around to scratch he lost his balance because he's not used to carrying my weight and had to step over with his right hind leg.  I had to grab his neck because I wasn't expecting his haunches to go sideways so suddenly lol!

Some of the two of us just riding around.

 

Okay here is the video of our first ride!  I hope you all can watch it because there is a surprise at the end of the ride.  If you can't watch it on YouTube and would like me to email it to you let me know.  :D  Oh and sorry about the quality.  My camera is dying (lens error) and I can't afford to get it fixed right now.  Sometimes it works right and sometimes it doesn't, unfortunately it chose my ride to mess up.  That's why the black edge is around the right top corner.  Annoying!






He did so great!  Chrome is such an awesome horse ever and that was the best first ride a girl could ask for.  :D  Here are some more pictures.

 After the ride Chrome was getting scratches from THREE different people all in his favorite itchy spot (the underside of his neck)!  He was so cute.  He stuck his head up as high as it would go and wiggled his lip.  He loved it!  He was totally loved on and spoiled all day.  I think he enjoyed his birthday.

 

 More spoiling.  He LOVED his birthday apples.  It took him forever to learn how to eat them.  I'll post a video of him eating one later.  It's totally adorable.

 

 His expression is so blissful!  :D

 I think Chrome enjoyed his party.  He was all smiles lol!

 After that I got comfortable (my pretty blue shirt was synthetic and very HOT!) and changed into my "happy first ride" present from one of my friends.  It's an awesome t-shirt.  Enlarge to read.  Oh and I was being a dork lol.

Now the observant of you will have noticed that my first ride was in his blue halter (and matching blue reins), but the first photo of the post he's wearing his homemade sidepull bitless bridle . . . . hmm . . . wonder why?  Because after everyone went home and I took a break (was up at 5am) I went out for a second ride.  Don't worry both rides were only around ten minutes a piece and I'll only be riding him once or twice a week.  I'm not going to get carried away and overdo it.  The fun part is that the second ride we did clicker training.  :D  Well tried.  We need work on our treat delivery.  I also made some mistakes (clicking too much, rewarding naughty behavior, clicking the wrong thing, etc.), but we had fun and nobody was hurt so I call it a success.  Here's the video of the second ride (at the time that I'm posting this it's still processing so if the quality is bad try again in a few minutes!).





I was a lot more relaxed without an audience.  I have stage fright which is why I never competed when I was young lol.  We had so much fun.  He had me laughing the whole time.  After watching the video back I also realized he was offering his shoulder yield at times.  So cute!  He kept throwing me off balance though because he's soooooo narrow!!!  It's like riding on a 2x4 lol.  I can't wait for him to broaden out.

Here we are after our second ride (only got video, no pictures because only my husband was there).

 And some of Mr. Faran, so he doesn't feel left out.  Zeppelin chose not to attend the party.  There were too many people lol.

 

I wish the last one wasn't blurry because he's so handsome checking out all of the stuff I was carrying lol.

I'm soooo happy how our first ride went!!!  It was funny because after I rode him I couldn't believe that I had.  It felt like it was all a dream that never happened (one reason for the second ride was to sort of confirm to myself that it did happen lol).  He's been my baby for so long it's hard to think of him as an adult riding horse.  It's going to take a while for that feeling to wear off I think.  :)  I'm so proud of him.  He's still such a baby, but he's so friendly, laid back, accepting, curious, etc.  I just can't say enough good things about my boy.  I hope you all enjoyed the pictures and videos.

Our First Ride!!!!

The party turned out great and Chrome was absolutely fantastic!!!!  It is going to take me a while to get the pictures and video edited, but I wanted to update because I know you guys are dying to hear how it went.  It went very smoothly, but you guys are going to laugh your butts off at me.  I've been up since 5am, I'm wired on Mountain Dew and I haven't ridden bareback in so long my balance was awful!!!!  I never realized how narrow he was going to feel.  And so unbalanced.  When he would turn to sniff my leg he would almost fall over LOL!  I could shift my weight and feel him move over.  I'm only going to ride him about twice a week because he has a ton of muscles he needs to build and get stronger and better balanced.  Silly boy.  Anyway I had so much fun and everyone had a great time so I'm thrilled.  :D  I'll get pictures/video up as soon as possible!

Less than a day to go until our first ride!!!!

 Sorry I never did finish the countdown.  I got really, really, really busy!!!  Chrome got a bath in preparation for our big day tomorrow.  I think he looks awesome and I hope he stays that way until the party lol.  I'm only going to have an hour after work to get ready tomorrow before people start arriving eek!  I wish I could have had the day off.  Sheesh.  Anyway these pictures were taken with my cell phone so they aren't great, but enjoy them anyway hehe!

 He was swiping at flies so it's blurry, but I LOVE his neck and how it shows his changing color so well.

 His mane is getting so white.  I wish it would grow long by his withers like it is by his face.

Did I mention I had a dream about having to completely shave off his mane before the party and I cried (in the dream, not while awake lol)!

 Handsome boy!  He's almost turning into a rose gray because he's bleached out already lol.

This one is overexposed and blurry, but too funny not to share.  He's itchy because of the ticks!  I feel bad because I forgot to fly spray (kills ticks too) him!  Poor guy.

Anyway look for an update and pictures on Sunday evening!  Sorry I can't get them posted before then.  Working sucks lol.  Thanks for following along on our journey the last two and a half years.  I think some of you are as excited as I am for tomorrow.  It's been a long wait lol.  Night guys!!

5 Days Until Our First Ride Countdown

 

 Sorry I don't have time to go through picture right now because I need to go to bed, but I felt bad for bailing on the countdown!  Sorry guys!  I can't believe it's only five days away now.  I've been working my butt off getting everything ready for the big day.  :D  That's one reason I haven't posted.  The other reason is because I decided to stay at a friend's house and she doesn't have internet, but I'm back!

I don't want to dampen the excitement, but I would like to share with you something that just happened.  I was out in the yard talking with my husband and a couple of neighbors when two other neighbors came by on their horses.  They stopped to say hi and were asking about Chrome.  I told them that he turns three on Saturday and they asked who I was getting to break him in.  I said I was and you should have seen the looks on their faces!  He said they should come by and watch the show and then she said she was sure Chrome would be fine since he'd been worked with since day one.  Should I be offended?  Are they just being concerned or do they think I'm incapable of starting my own horse?  They don't even know me or my experience with horses!  Anyway we continued to talk about other things and they moved on, but I just don't know what to think.  I know you can't really answer my question because you didn't see their faces and didn't hear their tone of voice.  Maybe I'm just over analyzing it.  Maybe he was joking when he said they should come by and "watch the show", but if he was, why did she say he'd be fine?  

Anyway I'm not going to let it bother me.  Chrome is a good boy and I've put a lot of work into him to prepare him for this day, so I'm not worried about it.  I guess we will just have to get out there and show them how awesome we are lol.  Anyway sorry I've been quiet.  :)

12 Days Until Our First Ride Countdown

 Yay, Allison from Adventures with Shyloh asked, "What kinds of things do you plan on doing with Chrome once you start riding?"  That's such a fun question! Thanks Allison!!  I have a lot of dreams for Chrome.  I hope to spend the next 24 to 27 years with him, building a strong bond and trust in each other.  I plan to try a little bit of everything with him (within his physical abilities since he is club footed and post legged).  My main objectives with him are dressage and competitive trail riding.  I doubt I will compete in dressage except for a schooling show or two at my old barn because it's expensive.  The competitive trail riding I plan to do a lot more of once he's old enough (he has to be five to compete) and once I have the money to do it.  It can be expensive too, but since trail riding (and overnight horse camping) is going to be our main goal in life we should have just about everything we need.  I think a new horse trailer and a saddle will be the most expensive lol!

Something my husband and I both really want to do is take the horses to SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_Creative_Anachronism) events.  I would especially love to try mounted archery (and mounted shooting!) along with all of the other equestrian events they hold at SCA events.  :)

Another thing I really, really hope to try with him someday is driving.  I've always thought it would be sooo much fun to learn, but it will be a while because I don't have a harness, carriage or the know-how to do/teach it.  Someday though we will do it.  :D  I also want to ride him on the beach someday because that would just be a dream come true.  Other little things I would like to do are to take him on a cattle drive and ride him in our local Christmas parade.  :)

I think our ultimate goal is to develop such a strong bond and understanding with each other to eventually ride bareback and bridleless.  That would be the most awesome accomplishment ever.  I've ridden horses bareback and bridleless before, but it was just while they grazed.  I've never had one who knew how to  move off of the leg or worked in a cordeo before.  And of course we will continue clicker training and I want to teach him lots of adorable tricks.  :D  So how is that for a really long answer Allison??  LOL!

Okay, here are the pictures from June/July 2010.  :)

 

 Playing with (destroying) a box.

Love that neck!!

 One of my favorite pictures.  Tail hugs for the donkey!!

 Great stretch!  I love how bright his teeth are against his wet fur.

Rolling in the hay!

 

 He got sooooo bleached out that first summer!  Knowing what I know now I wonder if it was a mineral deficiency . . . considering he never bleached out that bad after he started eating Enrich 32 (a ration balancer).

 

 

 This picture is so cute!!  He stole a sign when we walked by lol.

 Chasing the chickens lol.

 Please enlarge this one and look at his lips!  Hilarious!

Beautiful trot!

  

 And just for comparison of how much they change in two years.

July 2010 as a yearling.

April 2012 as an almost three year old.

When I do his progress report this month I will show a picture of him from each year so you can see the changes.  It's been so much fun watching him grow and change.  I've loved every second of it!

Oh I also wanted to mention if you or anyone you know is looking for a really awesome Haflinger please check out Janine's blog here (http://enzo-janine.blogspot.com/2012/05/sad-news-but-please-pass-word.html).  She has to sell Kaspin and would like everyone to spread the word.  Kaspin needs someone experience and patient because he needs someone who can help keep him confident.  Thanks you!

13 Days Until Our First Ride Countdown

 I didn't receive any questions on my last post and I just realized I didn't start his training journal until 2011 (we're currently reviewing April-May 2010), so I don't really have anything to write about.  I'm really tired so I guess I could just cheat and show you a bunch of pictures.  I do want to take a second to say that I'm really excited about riding him!!  I keep thinking of all of the things we will get to do once I'm riding him!  :)  I just have to keep reminding myself that he's only three and still very much growing, so I have to take it easy with him.  So anyway, here are some pictures.  I'll try to write something interesting tomorrow (yay a day off finally!) when I can think coherently. 

 

Meeting the neighbor's horse.  Even at a year old he still did the submissive champing.  Silly boy!

 "Look mom, I can fly!!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Still one of my absolute favorite pictures!

 He LOVES to play with empty feed bags and even ran around blind with them across his face like this lol.

 Almost didn't stop fast enough and just about ran over his Jolly ball.  :)

I hope you guys are enjoying the countdown.  My husband is almost done with finals so we will be able to get started prepping everything for the party and I finally got my car back (was in the shop for repairs).  Yay!!