Training Updates

I know I said I was condensing down to one blog, but I realized that when I start working with Chrome and Zeppelin daily I'd be posting nothing but their training progress on my main blog and that's just not going to work. So what I'm going to do is keep posting about them on my main blog along with everything else, but also post about their training sessions here. :) So for you horse fanatics, donkey fanatics and clicker training fanatics you can come here and read about our progress with clicker training. Enjoy!

Chrome's Monthly Progress Report

Date: 12-19-10
Age: 19 months
Height: 14.3½hh
Height Gain: Approximately half an inch. In another month he should be fifteen hands and not even two years old yet!!! :D
Weight: Approximately 810lbs.
Weight Gain: He gained thirty pounds! I was happy to see this because I thought he was losing weight. I guess it was just a growth spurt that made him look like he was losing weight while he added on height. I better be careful about increasing his feed too much.
Progress: As you know from the post a couple of days ago I finally had Chrome's hooves trimmed again. I think this farrier will be a lot more reliable and easier to schedule with. She was very organized and even had appointment cards and invoices!! He looks a lot better after having his hooves done. Considering she took off almost half an inch it makes me think Chrome probably made it to fifteen hands for a little while at least lol. :)

I did get hay finally, yay. At least selling my goats provided me with enough money to do that. I do miss them though. The farrier also gave me some insight into Chrome's behavior. She said he's very lazy, which I knew he would be because Friesians aren't known for being energetic. She also said that I'm letting him get away with too much, blaming it on him being a stallion. She said I need to make him behave or having him gelded won't do any good. I will admit that I have been letting him get away with stuff. As you know from a previous post he was crowding during feeding and I resolved that. He's been nipping, but all I have to do is reprimand him in a stern voice and he stops, because he knows better, he's just testing.

I need to start taking him for walks again and make him work and pay attention to me before he starts seeing me as a lowly pasture mate. He's not rude at all, he's just started to test his boundaries. I haven't been working on any yielding or softening with Chrome so I think I'm going to use the methods Kate wrote about on her blog A Year With Horses. I think those will help get him softer and listening to me better. I have a head cold right now though so we'll see how that goes later when I'm feeling better.

Goals: My goal is to get better lol. I want to work on the softening exercises with Chrome and start walking him again. If that goes well (I'm super lazy in the winter) I might start trying to clicker train him again. I've just been so busy with the extra hours at work and my husband's doctor appointments for his back that I haven't been doing anything. I haven't even worked with Jackal on crawling. :( I'll do better I promise!! I also need to read blogs. I'm soooo far behind. I have almost three hundreds posts to read. Sorry I haven't been commenting a lot. I am or will read all your posts though. Okay I'm going to rest before work.

Chrome's Monthly Progress Report

Date: 11-19-10
Age: 18 months
Height: 14.3hh
Height Gain: Approximately 3/8 of an inch. Not much . . .
Weight: Approx 780lbs.
Weight Gain: Approximately fifteen pounds . . .
Progress: Okay, Chrome's growth has slowed down a LOT! I don't know if that's because I switched him from Safechoice to Enrich 32 or if it's because he's eighteen months old. Or it could be because it has gotten cold and a lot of the grass has died off. I'm not going to worry about it too much. I'm feeding him approximately two pounds of Enrich 32 so I may increase it to 2.5 pounds as suggested on the bag. I'm also giving him some crimped oats for energy so I may increase those. I don't want to increase everything too much and go the opposite direction though lol. I may start using the weight tape on him weekly to monitor increase needs in his feed.

I haven't done much with Chrome besides just spending time grooming and playing with him. I'm trying to get his mane to grow back in. The wet spot on his neck in the picture is the MTG I'm using. It's so oily and gross, but it's definitely helping grow his mane back in.

Goals: My goal for this month is to get hay. That's my number one priority. I also would really like to have the trimmer out again. If money permits. If not then I need to do some trimming on my own. I would also like to start clicker training again.

I'll leave you with my favorite picture from our short photo shoot. I threw my jacket on the ground and got this expression from Chrome lol. :)

I love my boy. I can't wait until he's done growing so I know what size halter to get him. That old green one is ugly. I've had it for fifteen years lol.