Monday 25 May 2009

Contains a little rant.

Grace is improving, as always. We have almost solved the halter problem, by spending quite a lot of time with her when we turn her back out in her yard, holding the halter on her until she lowers her head, and repeating the exercise if she flips her nose up when the halter slides over the end of her nose. She is getting better with her food too, being less aggressive and standing patiently until you walk away from her bucket. Not 100%, but better, safer.

We have had a couple of sit-ons on Grace now, as it is really hard not to. She is really very quiet and takes it in her stride. I had a 3 minute walk around the yard on her, and I will leave it at that for now. We will revisit when the winter is over. She is still too immature and I am afraid that we will get carried away because she is so willing to please that we will do too much for her (fairly) immature body. I have been getting comments from fellow agisters telling me that I should be breaking her in now, to help with her attitude problem, and that I am leaving it too long. Humph. We can work on her 'attitude' from the ground, thankyouverymuch, and even my very-un-horsey fiance can tell that she is still immature in the body. One of the agisters there told me about a little filly she broke in, then took on a 20km endurance type ride when the horse was only rising 2!!!!! Holy-broken-down-6-year-old batman! I'm sorry, but we intend on keeping this horse, and to wait 6 months to a year at this end of her working life will add on years to her working life at the other end. And you know what? She doesn't have an attitude problem around me. Funny that, huh? She is spunky and cheeky and I do have to watch what I am doing around her, but she is a freaking rising 3 year old!! That was totally unhandled and wild last september!! I don't think people realise that I have done this before. Harmph again.

We need to work on mouthing her a bit more, as she is reluctant to move forward. The recent rain doesn't help either, as there is almost no undercover places to work with her.

Grace was unrugged, but fed extra hay over the last wet week, but managed to catch a mild cold anyway. She is now rugged at night when it rains. She just fits into the 5'3'' lightly lined canvas we bought for her. Length ways it fits fine, just her chest is a little wide. The chest strap needs to be on the biggest hole, but it won't rub. She is looking more and more like a horse every day. She has a wither now!

I got hoof boots for Beckham for my birthday! I love love love them. I got a pair of Easyboot Edges from the Easycare Downunder website. I have only ridden in them twice (due to being rained out, and no daylight savings) but they were great for the short ride I did take them on, out on the road (he was forward over gravel!) and through the muddy dam, and a couple of big canters through the back paddock. He found them a little clunky at first, but it took almost no time to get him used to the feel and thinking about his feet. I cannot wait to ride in them again! They are super easy to put on, and I got a pair of comfort pads to go in them to simulate ground pressure. The pads actually molded to the shape of his sole, which is pretty cool. I can't believe I waited this long to get a pair of boots. :D

Pics? Ok.

I know that these are small pics, but do you agree that she is still too immature? She is 14.2hh. I look freaking huge.