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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
   
Location: North Dakota | I HIGHLY recommend dressage. Working with a very serious dressage trainer is the best thing that ever happened to my riding, and every horse I've ever ridden. Dressage is actually my focus now. If you're up for an investment, mayhaps mounted shooting? That's my next adventure. I agree that jumping is fun too. | |
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 Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | della - 2014-07-14 5:13 PM rodeowithjoker - 2014-07-14 10:44 AM Ok small update - Chance likes jumping. We spent a half hour Wednesday night going back & forth over my fancy jump (2 buckets with a pvc pipe balanced on them LOL) in the yard. I ran him at one rodeo over the weekend and he still acted like he couldn't have cared less about running barrels. He should have the weekend off this time (everything around here is in small pens) so I'm still looking for other ideas of crazy things I can do with him to break out of the rut. Is chance the one who's been having soundness issue? I mean no disrespect but maybe is not so much board as wore out and tired of it, played out not zoned out? Maybe he just needs turned out for a few months and alowed to just chill. Cool he likes jump in though, there was a horse in collage who competed as a show jumper and ran 1D times. And another 2/3D mare that was a retired grand prix jumper! They were GREAT horses.
He had a lot of issues earlier this year but has been working good, clocking pretty well (he was 8th at the one rodeo I ran him at over the weekend - warmed up like a million bucks and would have placed if he hadn't stumbled at the first barrel) and everything looks & feels right with him other than his attitude. I've barely run him this summer because Clifford has been coming on so strong, and Chance has had a ton of extra turnout/vacation time the past few months. Chance ran 4 total times in June and has made 3 runs so far in July. He's not been overused or even hauled an excessive amount, and the more he sits around in the pen just chilling, the nastier he is to my other horses. It's like the extra energy he would have used running barrels gets put to use chasing his buddies around.
I can tell he's tired of the status quo and that's why I'm looking for other ideas of things to do with him. He is not the type to just hang out and relax.....he is very curious and likes to DO STUFF. Maybe he needs to learn tricks? | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 762
Location: NC | Maybe try setting up an extreme trail obstacle course in the arena. (bridges, logs, etc) Jumping is good too. When my black horse got tired of barrels a few years ago we went over to english for a bit then came back.
Also have you ever given him one of those inflatable giant balls? my youngster has one which she ignores but i know a few horses that love them | |
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 Expert
Posts: 2457
| cavyrunsbarrels - 2014-07-14 5:51 PM
I HIGHLY recommend dressage. Working with a very serious dressage trainer is the best thing that ever happened to my riding, and every horse I've ever ridden. Dressage is actually my focus now. If you're up for an investment, mayhaps mounted shooting? That's my next adventure. I agree that jumping is fun too.
There is a great Grand Prix trainer over in Chapman that is pretty neat to work with.
Mounted shooting is another avenue and you have a club based out of Alma, hit me up if you have q's as I'm the secretary.
Also - holler at me ... we haul over quite a bit to MO for team sorting practices. We rope weekly in Manhattan and check the craigslist around here too as we post on there when we have team penning/sorting events too!
Jumps are a great start and certainly will help a horse think about their feet too!
Good Luck!
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | rodeowithjoker - 2014-07-07 10:45 AM I've got PVC pipe I think, we might have to steal it from my pole bending poles though. We've got an assortment of buckets, tree stump pieces etc so I bet Brett can rig something up pretty easily. Chance has gone over a super low jump once......we did a trail course competition last winter and it had a jump. I think he might have been the one that stepped over it at a walk. Clifford was probably the one who actually jumped it lol.
I'd love to try team sorting if there was any around here. Heck I'd even go track cattle out of the box or just help clear the pen at a roping if there was anything like that around here. Might have to put out a plea on facebook and see if anyone around here is roping during the week and would let me tag along.
I just wanted to say that you should NOT use PVC pipe for jumps. If they happen to land on one, it will shatter.
Wood is a much better option, although it is heavier.
As far as other ideas you can do with your horse, here's what I do with mine:
Showmanship
Halter
Western Pleasure
Reining
Ranch Horse Competitions
Competitive Trail
Carrying Flags (never actually at a rodeo, but just at home)
Horsemanship
Western Riding
Lots of different gaming events (barrels, poles, keyhole, ring race, sack race, flag race, etc etc)
Work cattle
Yes, I do A LOT of different things with my horse. But I'm proud to say that he 100% listens to me at all times. I can head into the arena at mach 90 speed, or I can Western Pleasure walk through the gate. He doesn't look at banners, cattle, signs, the loud speaker, etc because he's too busy listening to see what we need to do in the arena.
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