Shiny and New

So we bought Gracie a new bit on Saturday. I felt that her current bit that we used to mouth her was not the best bit for her, as we have come to a bit of a plateau with her mouthing, and she is starting to show signs of resistance maybe due to her being uncomfortable.

Pictured above is Gracie's current bit, a tom thumb. I was using this bit mainly because it doesn't get pulled through the mouth, or pinch the sides. The loose rings helped her be able to move the bit around her mouth to play with it (an eggbutt holds it in place more) and I wanted her to mouth the bit and get used to it.

I have been on the look out for a eggbutt bit that looks like a french link but with a bean in the middle instead of a flat piece. (I'm madly googling for a picture, hang on).
Ok, apparently it's called an oval link eggbutt snaffle (I bought the one by JP Korsteel):



So, I have chosen this bit because:

• The oval link in the middle negates the snaffle 'nutcracker' action, and does not have effect on the upper palate (roof of the mouth) and lips.
  
• The D's on the side still help to keep the bit from pulling through (important in a young green horse still figuring out what some bit pressure means)
  
• I prefer the oval 'bean' link as I feel the flat one would pinch the tounge
• I like the curve that follows the line of the horse's mouth

I have put the bit in her mouth and tied her up to have a chew for about 5 minutes so far, but that is it. I haven't ridden in it yet. I will probably do a couple of short re-mouthing sessions before I hop on so she is used to the new feel and understands what I am asking of her.

My only hesitation is maybe I should not be changing bits on her this early in her training? If she doesn't like her current bit, she needs a new one, but is changing sooner rather than later a better option?

She also got a new rug, her very first combo. We had to take it off her as she went a bit crazy with Savanna (her paddock mate to replace Becks) and they both ran around like crazy ponies. Which they are, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised...

Peektures:




Lese.

Update!

Gracie is doing well.

What we can now do:

• Walk and trot both ways under saddle
• Figure 8 under saddle, walk and trot
• Halt
• Back (sort of in a bit, very well in a halter)
• Walk and trot bareback
• Shy, gallop off and pull up without bucking or dumping the rider (yay, I think?)
• Understand what support leg means in relation to directional aids
• Not move our feet when having a plastic bag tied to a whip flapped about all over our body and head
• Have a tarp put over her entire body
  

She is doing very well. Such a mare, cheeky, bratty but very sweet and loves learning.

In case anyone wasn't aware, Becks passed away. I don't really want to talk about it, it was a few weeks ago now, I'll write an entire blog on it when I feel I can do it justice.

But for now, crappy phone pics and videos from tonight.

So much has changed.

Lisa here.







So, Becks and Grace now live with me, Andrew, Chakra & Eddie the dogs, and Evan the cat, on 5 acres at Castlereagh, NSW. I know, right? It's awesome. The days are long, I get up before the sun does, but to have them here at home with me is a dream come true. Natalie comes over maybe twice during the week and then every Saturday and sometimes Sunday too. We have ridden Grace two more times since we got here (taking it very very slowly), and we have taken her out on the roads in hand or ponying off Beckham quite a few times now too, to expose her to traffic and dogs and pushbikes and trucks and rivers and other horses running along fence lines and goats and trails and motorbikes.... she deals with everything really well, super proud of her. She is so funny... when push or motor bikes go down our street, Grace runs to the front paddock and chases them along the fence line like a dog! She is just shy of 15hh at the wither now. (15.1hh at the hip, she's quite bum high!)
Beckham is doing really well too. He LOVES sharing a paddock with Gracie and grazing all day long. There are acres and acres of trails surrounding our property, plus quiet roads and a river close by. Becks doesn't mind going out by himself too much (He still neighs his head off for Grace though). The other day I was cantering down a trail on him on our way back home and he was so connected, so light in my hands and under me, he was totally off the forehand, I have never felt him move that way before - impulsion, self carriage, hocks underneath him... just amazing. I never get that out of him during schooling. He was just so happy.

We have kangaroos that visit our back paddock and try to jump in front of our cars at night. I was out on a trail ride and I saw about 30 of them all grazing in the back paddock of the motor bike race track around the corner. They all started to hop away together (thank God Becks is so quiet!) and it was just so graceful.

Even the puppy dogs love it here. They need to be locked away in their dog pen for long periods of time during the day when we are at work and at night (bush full of ticks and snakes on one side, giant bull mastiffs on the other and very little vet-bill finances) but they come out every morning for about an hour and they stay out for about 3 or 4 hours at night. Lucky they are old, disabled dogs, otherwise they would go stir crazy.

The cat has become an indoor cat, only going out for short periods of time to chase and eat bugs. He's on a diet right now as he got too fat!

So horses are wonderful. Funny that I still don't ride anywhere near as much as I want to though, even though they are right there.

More pictures? Ok.

(If only she had grown a longer neck...)

(Cutie pops!!)

(Not long after he first arrived - the move was hard on him as Grace came 2 weeks later and he lost a bit of weight. He wouldn't drink for 5 days! I was forcing the water down using the hose in his mouth, and soaking his feed. We had to borrow a pony for company for him.)

Dear Mum No#1 and Mum No#2

 

 

Hello, Mums!

It has become apparent that I seem to be the object of some kind of experiment you have both plotted in your minds.

Since being here at BCL, the horse you guys like to call "Beckham" (the one I like to call "Honey Bun") has taught me some very valuable lessons when it comes to you people. And I am going to let you in on a few of them, and you give you my views on them.

1. When in doubt of a human, act completely oblivious as to what they want. This generally works when they are trying to get you to perform some kind of act that you already know how to do (i.e walk through the fence of your yard, or just stand still for the straps of your rug to be put on).
   

   
    

   Gracie in – I got a bit sick of pretending my back legs were incapable of moving when you tried to get me to walk through the gate of my yard, so I gave up on this manoeuvre. Then I got a little tired of acting like the electric fence scared the poops out of me, so I sort of gave up on that as well, since I realised it wouldn't take either of you long before you realised I have electric fencing all around my yard so I cant really be THAT afraid of it, especially since I started going for visits in the horses yard next door, I think you call him "Fox"? I bet your wondering "just how did she get through the fences EVERY NIGHT without managing to break ANY of them?...you will never know.
   

   
    

2. When you feel like playing silly buggers, and throwing your human off track, star into the distance at absolutely nothing, and then when they walk you through a gate or lane, rush through REALLY QUICKLY so you knock them over, just to make the worried look more intense.
   

   
    

   Gracie in – As you may have noticed, this is my FAVOURITE game to play with you. Its partly your fault, your "bomb proofing" skills aren't exactly up to scratch. But in all seriousness, those white chair things you and all your friends sit on, they really do terrify me to death at night....
   

   
    

3. When your human, or any other for that fact, is bringing you your feed, don't chuck a Faith and appreciate it, give them dirty death stares with your ears flat to your neck, they will be in and out in no time.
   

   
    

   Gracie in – Yeh, I have mastered this with some. It kind of doesn't work with you guys, I'm still working on it but its hard when you waving your arms at me and telling me to "bugger off", don't even know what that means..... I just really want the food.
   

 

1. Act oblivious to anything you are being asked by your human when you really could be bothered making the attempt.
   

   
    

   Gracie in – This works a treat!
   

 

1. Try not to show too much affection, it's un-horsey.
   

   
    

   Gracie in – I admit I tried this, but I failed miserably...
   

 

1. When your human gives you a nice long bath, role immediately after you are let off the lead. This generally works better when you are still a wet. Try to get mud everywhere on you, especially on your poll, humans HATE trying to scrub it off.
   

   
    

   Gracie in – I find this works best in the sand arena or in the dustiest part of my yard.
   

 

1. Neigh robustly when I am not in sight, or if I am further then 10 metres of you. This gets annoying, like when you hear one of the dogs barking non stop but you cant do anything about it? Humans cant do anything about our neighing. The impact is worse if you don't stand still while doing it, you will get out of work AND annoy the hell out of your human.
   

   
    

   Gracie in – This is never a problem, I can do this with my hooves tied behind my back and a blindfold on.... go on, test me ;).
   

 

So, mums, as you can both see there are few things that make me who I am, some I am still working on, others I am disregarding completely.

 

Love always, your favourite little bratty mare, Gracie.

Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend, or a Friends Old Friend...

 

 

It's incredibly heartbreaking when a horse passes away. No one quite understands just how painfully easy it is to choose between a potential life in pain or to end a life in pain, whether it be a young horse or an old horse.

Over the past month we have lost two horses at BCL (our agistment property) and it always feels like something is missing, even if we never see the horse, if it is right at the back of the property, the fact is that we might not think about it or see it everyday, but once it is gone something feels empty.

 

A friend of ours did the most courageous thing and got her 6 year old, 17 HH thoroughbred put to sleep after finding out he had chronic arthritis in his hocks at only 6. The saddest thing about this is not the fact that she had to have him euthanized, but the fact that she rescued him from the sales, where he could potentially have been sent to the doggers, spend loads of money on boarding fees, feed, vet bills and chiropractor bills (he was also a bucker) and in all that time she was spending all that money, she grew to love him and appreciate him. I can honestly say that I have never really seen anyone have that much dedication to a horse they hardly know, but then again, I don't really come across a lot of horsey people other than aggisters.

 

Another horse passed away on Monday morning, diagnosis...colic. In the end it takes them all, and it's sad that it comes down to that, but that's mother nature. If we could see it coming, I'm sure we could all do our best to prevent it*, but sometimes it is too late. Dotcom was the horses name, he was a 15 HH appy gelding, 24 years young. He was a SAINT, his owners had him since he was quite young and spoiled him to the point where he had too many rugs to count. He was still in good health, no problems with arthritis (that I know of?) and he was ridden often enough to keep him happy. He was owned by a family of four, mum, dad and two 15 (I think?) and 17 year old girls. I can only imagine how hard it is for them at the moment, he was their first horse, he did the good yards and its sad that he didn't get the retirement he deserved.

 

Both Lisa and I lost our first horses to colic. I was thinking about both of their deaths last night after a song came on the radio that reminded me of the day I had to have Anira put down. It's that song by Newton Faulkner, Dream Catch me I think it is called. That song played while I was driving out to see her (speeding to get there as soon as I could) and also on the way home from saying goodbye (this time Lisa was driving, I wasn't up for it, I left my car there until that night), listening to it then made both Lisa and I cry our eyes out, and it still does for me, its difficult to listen to it as it just makes me feel what I felt back then.

 

That was one of the worst days of my life, but in saying that it was one of the easiest days of my life, making that decision when the vet gives you the stats and tells you the chances of a healthy survival (if possible), is the easiest decision I have ever had to make. I could say goodbye to my first pony because I loved her enough to put her before myself and give her the quiet passing she deserved. The only thing I regret is that I didn't get to do that earlier, it still gets to me that while I was asleep, she was going through a whole lot of pain. I miss her everyday.

 

I would tell you about Pom (Lisa's first horse), only that it is not my story to tell. All I can do is leave you with a diary entry that Lisa wrote a few days after poms death. I hope she doesn't mind.

 

"The death of a horse is strange to define.

It's not quite like loosing a friend or relative. It's definitely not like loosing a pet cat or dog.

It's loosing that special bond that can only be described as "horse and rider".

And boy, does it hurt like hell.

Pom was put to sleep at approximately 3pm on Thursday the 20th May, 2004, after a night and half a day of extreme abdominal pains diagnosed as Colic. His intestines were dead.

I had ridden him on monday, over the cross country course and in front of a bunch of my sister Natalie's friends, jumping a maximum height of a metre, Up and down ditches, over creeks, acting so full of himself, on the bit and collected up doing a very good impersonation of a lippizzaner stallion, he thought he was so cool. So did I.

The last time I saw him his eyes were swollen so badly from thrashing around on the ground he was following me around blind. He Kept laying down and thrashing about. The last time he layed down after I agreed with the vet, he laid as still as a mouse. I talked to him, saying "I love you", "be good", "You'll be ok soon". Then he was gone from my life forever. Just like that.

And I'll never get pissed off at him for stirring the other horses up when I'm trying to catch him.

I'll never gather the feed out of the corners of his bucket that he couldn't get to.

I'll never shape those perfect, dainty little hooves ever again.

I'll never yell at him when he scratches his mane/tail/any possible body part against a tree/fence/other horse again.

I'll never ride behind those perfect, hairy little ears again.

Or kiss his little nose, or sit underneath him and kick his belly gently, or fall off and have him put his head down close and sniff me, or hear that deep, throaty whinny when I'm making his feed, or ride that little bouncy trot, or have him give me filthy looks when I do up his girth, or any of the hundred million billion things that make up one individual horse, my horse, my baby, my meaning.

It's feels strange to be horseless.I don't know what to do. I have no one to go feed, brush, worry about too many or too little rugs, jump on and ride whenever I wish, show people and say "That's my pony".

I've started to keep my room really clean. I'm even doing my bed of a morning.

I'll be getting another horse soon. I just have to pay Pom's vet bills first. Then save.

But I wish I didn't have to.

What am I going to do? I'll figure something out. It's just hard to be alone"

Its hard for me to read this, I'm fine with being upset myself but when its my family it kills me. I miss Pom everyday, I'm sure Lisa does just as much

I just remembered I have a blog! I may as well have forgotten about it, even when I log in EVERY day to read the latest on FHOTD or Cakewrecks I still manage to let it slip by that I have one of my own.

In the past month the sentence "write a blog about Grace and Becks" has been clumsily thrown around the house, mostly commonly from my mouth, but it seems it has still be untouched up until now. Very lazy of us. I promise we don't forget about our horses the way we forget about our blog :|.

So moving on to the more important stuff!

Since the last post we have ridden grace a few times, equip with saddle and bridle. She is a quick learner. Naturally we used leg aids automatically without thinking, this proved to be quite a good move as she learnt within the first proper ride what leg on means and how it works in conduction with what's going on in her mouth. Lisa and I were very proud of her.

Since that first legit ride we have ridden her a total of about 4 or 5 times. Lisa has had a total of 2 kick-offs and me nil (well that's probably because I am the one with no guts, and have only ridden her once). I wouldn't call them a fall, since Lisa landed on her feet both times (she is pretty switched on when it comes to Grace, no sneaky manoeuvres there), but she was kicked off. The first time just because we stretched our expectations to far and asked for a trot, so Grace wanted to know "What the hell is bouncing on my back! Buck!", the second time because she was super fresh and spunky that day and decided she wanted to test Lisa...it didn't work, she still got back on.

So all in all we are very proud of our little grace when it come to her first few rides, she listens, she pays attention, she is yet to freak out (minus the trotting thing) and she is learning very fast!

We have given the ridding thing a rest for the past couple of weeks as Grace has some kind of lumps (about 6 all up, all in a row ,3 on each side) just sitting before her nipples. The lumps are squishy, not hard, they are all the same size and haven't grown or shrunk and she gets annoyed when you touch them, not as though they hurt but as though they are irritating her. We are hoping it is just a problem with the glands or some kind of mild hormone condition that can be fixed, please don't hesitate to inform me if you have had a similar condition with your horse. We will know what they are on Friday, our vet is coming out to float the pony's teeth and check her up. Fingers crossed! Watch this space.

Lunging is a success, FINALLY, it took a while for her to perfect it, but she has it, she even canters almost a full circle without too much encouragement. And we don't need to use a lunge whip anymore! SUPER happy about that, there's nothing worse then a lazy horse when it comes to lunging. My first pony Anira used to HATE lunging, she wouldn't go faster then a slow trot no matter how much you forced her too, she just wouldn't. She got away with it because she was so sweet and old, woops!

Leading = success also. We take Grace on rides with us when we go out in the back 1000 acre paddock now, leading or ponying, depending on how lazy we feel. She likes it because it is interesting to her, seeing all the cows, foxes and machines (they do some kind of turf farming or something in the back paddock, so there is always machines doing something out there) keeps her interested and distracted from being a young bratty horse.

I'm glad to say that she will finally trot beside me on the lead now also. Thumbs up for improving ground manners, there's no point in a well behaved horse under saddle if its ground manners suck!

So in conclusion I am super proud of my little growing filly! She is doing well, very well :).

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.