|
|
 Member
Posts: 25
Location: TN | Last year I purchased a 3 y/o Tiny Charger appendix colt with about 14 days of riding on him. The lady we bought him from said that she had intended on using him as her futurity horse but his knees were still way too open to push at the caliber she wanted. For the past year and a half he's been living the life of leisure with daily pats and loves while he grew.
He's quite possibly the quietest horse we've ever dealt with on the ground. He's the kind of horse that doesn't bat an eye as you roll and snuggle all over him while hes out basking in the sun. I have saddled, unsaddled and lunged this gelding several times in the past year with no problems whatsoever. Touch his side, sack him out, pick his feet up, pull his tail etc. he doesn't care. We didn't think that he would be a problem restarting when he was mature enough... WRONG.
He's been at the trainers for about 60 days now and although he's making progress, its pretty slow going. He has issues with mounting most of the time no matter how many times you step on and off. He doesn't fly into bucking or anything, he just looks scared and lurches forward. He also tries to kick anytime he catches a glimpse of someone's foot off to his side.
I have wondered on several occasions if maybe these issues are things that developed with the first 14 days of training he had as a 3 y/o. Maybe the first trainer was too hard on him and now he instantly assumes that hes in trouble or about to be spurred to death as soon as someone sits on him. Is that a ridiculous assumption? When he's not being weird hes actually really calm and relaxed under saddle but his fits worry us a bit.
We're in no rush to have him finished since my main horse and I are finally beginning to click. If he just needs a little time and patience, then that's what we'll give him. I just wanted to know if anyone else has had a young one like this and if they had any tips on how to help get him past it. |
|
| |
|
 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
 
| I wouldn't call 14 days started by any means. You are basically starting from scratch.
Glad that he's happy on the ground, but that doesn't mean he's at all used to human feet lifting up beside him, someone bouncing to get into the saddle, being pulled on at the withers under saddle, etc.
You would think 60 days would help, but is trainer poking their foot into shoulder or belly? Did the trainer kick him in the gut when they were frustrated? Lots of scenarios come to mind, especially if trainer thought it would be easy. Could also be the stress of being away from home and being ridden. Ulcers or pain elsewhere. |
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 25
Location: TN | He's was checked for ulcers and although he didn't have any, our trainer decided to put him on some supplements to be preventative.
The trainer is super patient with his horses (that's one of the main reasons we love him so much). He's been careful not to gouge his sides or be heavy with his hands. He's not ridden him with spurs at the moment either as we figured that would just add to his anxiety. There's been a lot of just wiggling his feet and showing the colt that they're there to help him get more comfortable with that too but it hasn't seemed to do much good. Sometimes it's just a flinch, others its like your watching a spinning top.
He works with mounting and dismounting everyday before he rides. On and off over and over again until the horse relaxes. Once the horses relaxes he'll ask him to move forward. |
|
| |
|
 Born not Made
Posts: 2937
 
Location: North Dakota | Some just take longer than others. 
I am ASSUMING your trainer has done a lot of ground work with the colt to desensitize him to "scary" things? If not, that is part of your problem.
Also, how well does your trainer's saddle fit your horse? I understand that trainers have a lot of horses to ride and it would be very difficult to have a saddle for each horse that comes through their hands .... but if the saddle doesn't fit and is causing him pain in anyway, that may explain the flinchiness.
|
|
| |
|
 Expert
Posts: 3782
Location: Gainesville, TX | I know that sometimes it helps desensitize a horse to certain things if they just are repeatedly exposed to it. I'm sure the constant mounting/dismounting will help. I kind of wonder though if you could take a pair of pants, stuff them with foam or something and fasten them into the saddle so he got used to seeing a 'foot' next to his side out of his peripheral vision if he might calm down. He could be lunged or driven and if he did buck or something, he'd have some time to get over it before someone had to get back on and might adjust a speed and moving forward a bit faster. I know just to get ours used to a saddle and the way it moves, far before we ever get on them ourselves, we saddle them up and lunge them and let them get used to the stirrups flapping and the way it moves. They usually buck a bit and then get used to it, figure out it's not going anywhere, and settle down. |
|
| |
|
 Famous for Not Complaining
Posts: 8848
Location: Broxton, Ga | Some will always be touchy.........I had one that was............I just dealt with it.........she was like that about getting on.......you could not even slap a bug on her........... |
|
| |
|
 Ms Bling Bling Sleeze Kitty
Posts: 20917
Location: LouLouVille, OK | So said horse is only 4 and just now got 60 days of riding, right?
so your problem is that he's flightly getting on? or am I not catching everything?
Is the trainer hanging on to the reins when getting on? Pullin his head to the left?
Sounds to me like a desentizing issue...
jmho  |
|
| |
|
  Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | Here is my personal story. We had a filly that my husband put 3 rides on. He is an excellent colt starter, but day 3 the wind was screaming. We were fixing to move back to his family ranch and he was scurrying to put some rides on some of the youngsters in the meantime. He didn't want to take a day off even with the wind. So he gets on her and something spooks her, he literally couldn't get off without her going CRAZY running. So I ponied her that day and she did get better but just had it in her head to by jumpy and panicky. We never had a day to get back with her so we moved and out to pasture she went. We sold her to a young woman in CO for dirt cheap with story told and she had her re-started from scratch. Sacking out and all. She had no issues and went on to win a lot of Futurity money and is still winning for her owner. Six Duster is her name. Anyways, if we ever buy a horse that is barely started, we go right back to day one. Round pen, drive, sack out, saddle, bridle, ride in roundpen-all our way. You just never know what they know and I am not stepping on one going on what someone else is telling me.
So I am just saying that I would take her back to scratch and try again. Good luck |
|
| |
|
 Chasin my Dream
Posts: 13651
Location: Alberta | cindyt - 2014-05-29 2:52 PM
So said horse is only 4 and just now got 60 days of riding, right?
so your problem is that he's flightly getting on? or am I not catching everything?
Is the trainer hanging on to the reins when getting on? Pullin his head to the left?
Sounds to me like a desentizing issue...
jmho
I agree with this!! 14 days isn't really a lot of "training" time to base anything on, if the horse had little to no handling prior OR wasn't taken along well.
|
|
| |
|
| What is his pedigree ... Tiny charger was a 1960 model ... no 4 year olds by him .. |
|
| |
|
I'll Be Your Huckleberry
Posts: 1488
Location: Arizona | Sounds like he needs to be "pushed" more IMO. In my experience "babying" a horse does them more harm than good, especially one that is prone to being a drama queen. If he doesn't have any serious physical ailments then he just needs to get over himself. After 60 days there is no reason any horse worth your time would still be scooting out while mounting or kicking out at a rider's leg. I don't think 14 days is even enough time to be called "started" and doubt any serious damage could have been done in the time frame. |
|
| |
|
Veteran
Posts: 204
Location: North Louisiana | People laugh at me because I haul my yearling colt around. I have had him for 2 months and he has been on a trail ride, in a grand entry and hauled to play days and rodeos. He has chickens running around under him at feeding. I feel like that exposing them to everyday situations helps when it comes to riding later. I aggravate him I throw the buckets over the fence at feeding. I pull his tail walk up to him in pasture and just pick on him. I have a 3 year old little boy and I want my horses booger proof.
I am not knocking horse trainers but I know several they ride them everyday and they are broke to the max till you take them in public. They booger at every thing! |
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 25
Location: TN |
What is his pedigree ... Tiny charger was a 1960 model ... no 4 year olds by him ..
-----
he's not an own son of Tiny Charger. He is a great-grandson on his dams side.
Edited by npurvis08 2014-05-30 11:21 AM
|
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 25
Location: TN | He's been handled since the day he hit the ground. He was out of his breeder's personal mare of over 25 yrs so he was a special baby to her and she had her hands all over him from day one. He's been hauled to horse shows since he was a yearling just to get the exposure to the commotion.
This shouldn't be a case of not having the proper ground work done or not be desensitized properly. We have worked on both of those things since the day we brought him home and he's been just about perfect with all of it. He stands tied, picks up his feet, minds his Ps and Qs in hand, ground drives like a dream, bathes, hauls, saddles/unsaddles easily etc. It's just mounting and the feet thing.
He's making progress, it's just very slow going progress. I guess I shouldn't complain though because slow progress is better than no progress. I was just wondering if anyone else had horses like him. |
|
| |
|
Elite Veteran
Posts: 1034
| shearhappichick - 2014-05-30 10:26 AM
People laugh at me because I haul my yearling colt around. I have had him for 2 months and he has been on a trail ride, in a grand entry and hauled to play days and rodeos. He has chickens running around under him at feeding. I feel like that exposing them to everyday situations helps when it comes to riding later. I aggravate him I throw the buckets over the fence at feeding. I pull his tail walk up to him in pasture and just pick on him. I have a 3 year old little boy and I want my horses booger proof.
I am not knocking horse trainers but I know several they ride them everyday and they are broke to the max till you take them in public. They booger at every thing!
I guess you can laugh at them when they're trying to pattern and get their horses used to hauling and sights and sounds at the same time. I did the same with my now 3 year old. He's a total gentleman. How does that hurt anything? |
|
| |
|
 Playing the Waiting Game
Posts: 2304
| Pony him and then pony him some more... I'd pony him with someone on his back also. Helps desensitize them. |
|
| |
|
I'll Be Your Huckleberry
Posts: 1488
Location: Arizona | npurvis08 - 2014-05-30 11:35 AM
He's been handled since the day he hit the ground. He was out of his breeder's personal mare of over 25 yrs so he was a special baby to her and she had her hands all over him from day one. He's been hauled to horse shows since he was a yearling just to get the exposure to the commotion.
This shouldn't be a case of not having the proper ground work done or not be desensitized properly. We have worked on both of those things since the day we brought him home and he's been just about perfect with all of it. He stands tied, picks up his feet, minds his Ps and Qs in hand, ground drives like a dream, bathes, hauls, saddles/unsaddles easily etc. It's just mounting and the feet thing.
He's making progress, it's just very slow going progress. I guess I shouldn't complain though because slow progress is better than no progress. I was just wondering if anyone else had horses like him.
This is just my experience but most people only do the "bare minimum" with their colts. For me it's not enough that I can get by with my horse. Not only do they have to be OK with being saddled, they have to be good with gallon jugs filled halfway with water tied to the saddle horn, and by their flanks. The more they buck or try to get rid of them the more noise they make and the harder they slap. Same process with, tarps, ropes, pool noodles anything and everything I can find that won't hurt them. It's not OK that they stand tied for 30 minutes, they need to stand tied ALL DAY quietly. Not only must they pick up and hold their feet like gentlemen they must also be accepting of being hobbled and lunged with a rope around one leg at a time. I'm not suggesting a novice or someone who doesn't have a lot of experience starting colts should try to implement any of the things I'm suggesting but in my opinion a horse is much easier to work with when they realize me just sitting on their back or getting on and off them is not nearly as difficult as some of the other work we do. It's just like when a green colt is wanting to trot really fast, usually once we start loping them trotting is easy and not exciting. You have to do MORE than just the end result you are looking for. Yes, I want a horse that is polite, quiet, well mannered, and does all the things a good horse should do. I just think it's important to go further than just he leads, picks up his feet etc. |
|
| |
Folks on-line