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Veteran
Posts: 233
 
| I have an 11 year old mare who I’ve owned since she’s been 5. She was started on the pattern and running before I bought her. She hasn’t been over ran in the time I’ve had her. I live in ND so she has been getting the entire winter off and I very rarely would do any tuning during the summer weeks.
Fast forward to now. She has had the last two years basically completely off from any riding at all. Just out to pasture being a horse. I’ve recently started riding again to get her back in shape. She’s usually a hotter horse and can be a bear to bring back on the pattern after her time off in the winter. In the spring I would usually start off with slow work and when getting into a slow lope she likes to throw a tantrum and just wants to run. She will walk and trot perfectly and calmly but once adding speed she will be a spazz. Once she gets that out of her system for a week or two then she will be back to business and run focused, nice patterns.
With both of us having two years off I’m not sure how to go about bringing her back on the pattern and keeping her level headed. Any tips to help keep her calm just for us both to get back in the swing of things? I don’t want to drill her on the pattern for weeks but I feel I need to be able to do some slow loping and tuning before sending her in full throttle ahead.
ETA: majority of her conditioning is pasture riding. Very rarely are we in the arena.
Edited by ILuvSnap 2018-05-21 8:40 PM
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Location: in the ozone | From what I am gathering on your post, this horse has not had her legs run off, nor pushed hard. Have you considered she could have RER (or PX) if she is easily excitable? That is one of the variants they test for if you do the dna PSSM2 variants testing. |
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2931
Location: North Dakota | Hey Hey!  Will I see you this summer??
Which horse is this? Is Penny 11 already?
I know what you mean about bringing them back. When Red and I went to the first barrel race after almost 2 years off, we did an exhibition .... for my practicing sake! Which I shouldn't have done because he knows his job and he was excited and ready to run. I didn't do another exhibition after that - he just didn't need it.
You are a really good rider so I don't think you'd NEED the practice either. You have a good foundation to fall back on, even if you feel like you might be rusty.
You could easily do a "practice run" once a week until you feel like you are ready to enter again. I doubt either of you need much in terms of drills, but as you said, just need to get back in the swing of things and get her running air back.
As far as tuning, that can be as simple as loping circles in the pasture and asking her to be responsive to your leg aids and body.
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 Expert
Posts: 5290
| If she is a finished horse and just needs a tune before hauling and tends to get hot, couple of ideas. Take your barrels OUT of the arena and put them in some open field. Maybe its the arena situation that makes them nervous. Another thing you can do is talk to your vet about giving some Ace under the tongue about 45 minutes before you ride. Just levels them out and might let you get done what you need to get done. Once tuned and if finished, don't let them ever see a barrel before the barrel race. Enter up and go! |
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Veteran
Posts: 233
| r_beau - 2018-05-22 11:22 AM
Hey Hey! Will I see you this summer??
Which horse is this? Is Penny 11 already?
I know what you mean about bringing them back. When Red and I went to the first barrel race after almost 2 years off, we did an exhibition .... for my practicing sake! Which I shouldn't have done because he knows his job and he was excited and ready to run. I didn't do another exhibition after that - he just didn't need it.
You are a really good rider so I don't think you'd NEED the practice either. You have a good foundation to fall back on, even if you feel like you might be rusty.
You could easily do a "practice run" once a week until you feel like you are ready to enter again. I doubt either of you need much in terms of drills, but as you said, just need to get back in the swing of things and get her running air back.
As far as tuning, that can be as simple as loping circles in the pasture and asking her to be responsive to your leg aids and body.
Yes, hopefully be seeing you and everyone else again! Hoping to get back to hauling this summer and fall. Thanks for the kind words-maybe it will be like riding a bike and we will get back at it easier than I thought
Edited by ILuvSnap 2018-05-22 6:16 PM
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How to start a ‘hot’ horse back on the pattern after time off?