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 Sexy Bee Yacht
Posts: 5849
   
Location: WA | http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/michelles+plan
I have this little gem and I really do like her. We are learning to work around each other's issues, lol. Her issue: She needs worked hard 4 days a week. If she doesn't get it, she needs lunged when going back to work. My issue: I am a QH girl learning how to work with a TB. I have a pretty good bit of experience with horses, just not super hot ones.
History: She was ran at the track, had a couple foals, sat in a pasture for a few years. I got her in April, she got a rock embedded in her foot in May, got a month off, rode her through summer, I got pnumonia in October, she got 6 weeks off.... so we are just getting back to working 4 days a week. I don't ahve to Ace her to ride, don't have to lunge her down recently. Been working on gait transitions, two tracking, etc. Last summer she was exposed to gaming patterns just for something to do and she was slow loping things.
Sunday I put her on the barrels, she was chargey and a bit arrogant so I let her lope through to see if she made it or failed. She did great. Was nice and soft going through at a fast lope, then we went back to trotting, walked some, quit. Today I was giving a girl a lesson on poles and figure 8 and when we were done I took the mare through. Figure 8 I slow loped down, turned the end pole and she went to lunging, jumping, running sideways, etc... I got her back going straight, got to end turn and she went to turn it fast. Nope, we trotted in a circle around it a few times till she calmed down, went to go to last turn, back to lunging and jumping around. She wanted to RUN. Poles was about the same thing. Put a leg on her and she gets really reactive when she is in that state.
In our house all the horses that are going to run barrels get to game first. Its cheaper to get them out to new arenas, they have to go whatever speed we tell them, listen, do all the same stuff as a barrel pattern (rate, be soft in bit, etc).
Here is where I am stuck: If I can't practice at home, should I be taking her to shows? Should I take a leap of faith and let her run through one and see if she is ready for it? I haven't ran her AT ALL since getting her. I "think" she will come down, lol. I assume she is going to go same explosive/over reactive mode if I let her go. Is this the horse where our usual protocol isn't going to work and she is too sensitive to game and should just stick to barrels? Lots of pondering to do. I have never had a super hot horse, mine can be crazy at the gate to go in and run, but at home are fairly manageable. Lol. Any advice on patterning hot horses is welcome too. They need to be able to go whatever speed I tell them. Or am I asking too much with my cookie cutter? | |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 685
Location: Arkansas | I would go back to walk/trot and really emphasize control. These types of horses generally are "busy bodies" and get bored easily. So try to find some drills you can do with her and change it up every now and then. Pasture/ trail riding are awesome for these horses to let them relax and be calm while being ridden.
As for the "leap of faith", I would definitely not go compete somewhere if she was not experienced at running hard or you comfortable with her doing so. It may seem like a good idea, and yeah, it may work out. But I just wouldn't want to chance running in there and having her bolt or run off and not want to listen to you. That's how accidents happen. I would get her good and solid at home before hauling to compete. | |
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 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
Location: Phoenix | I'd cut grain, and work her twice a day. Leave her saddled in between.
With hot horses, they need a pattern, something consistent, a routine. Maybe all the events are too much for her. Try to find a consistent routine that you am stick to. Once she knows what to expect, she can focus more. | |
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 Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | OMG... Nitroglycerin!!! Handle with care...
live link http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/michelles+plan | |
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 Expert
Posts: 2276
Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | My little mare was HOT HOT HOT! She is a busy body...always needs something to do and needs to be challenged. She used to try to "hurry" her turns like you described...like she knew what she was doing and was trying to just "hurry" through it. We spent a whole summer devoted to getting her back on track. She got ridden 2x a day very hard!! That summer was a very hot one so we got up before sunrise and worked her....cooled her out...waited till nearly dark and we went again. We only waited for dark because of the heat. I would do something along those lines to make her work and respect you and sort of enjoy that she is in a way getting a break. Work on other things than the events. My are is only in our arena to walk and trot every now and then. Other than that she is ridden in the pasture or fields beside our property. | |
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 Expert
Posts: 1482
Location: on my horse | I mostly agree with what everybody else has to say, because she is a hot TB if you decide to work her more days a week or twice a day make sure you get her on some kind of ulcer prevention. In my experience hot horses that worry themselves or work themselves up are more prone to ulcers. | |
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Sexy Bee Yacht
Posts: 5849
Location: WA | Brrlracengirl - 2014-01-21 8:06 PM I would go back to walk/trot and really emphasize control. These types of horses generally are "busy bodies" and get bored easily. So try to find some drills you can do with her and change it up every now and then. Pasture/ trail riding are awesome for these horses to let them relax and be calm while being ridden.
As for the "leap of faith", I would definitely not go compete somewhere if she was not experienced at running hard or you comfortable with her doing so. It may seem like a good idea, and yeah, it may work out. But I just wouldn't want to chance running in there and having her bolt or run off and not want to listen to you. That's how accidents happen. I would get her good and solid at home before hauling to compete.
Haha, was NOT going to take her somewhere and take a leap of faith!! I meant letting her do more at home. The few places I have taken her away from home to game we have walk/trotted. All the time spent going to game shows is to get her used to going places and new arenas. I don't do slow walk/trot stuff at home and then go somewhere new and run her into the ground. I guess I wasn't clear on that in my OP. My plan tonight on the couple patterns was to just jog. Letting her out a little into a lope was a train wreck. Some day she is going to have to go faster though, lol.
She is broke to the point of walk, jog, trot, lope on correct lead, can lope about a 15' circle, back, side pass, haunch turn, still working on a good forehand turn.... can two track, I do that with her to settle her in sometimes, sometimes I have to circle/figure 8 her to settle her in. Rail work is not good because I have a huge arena and you go around a corner and she is rearing to go (figuretively), I think it is track flashbacks. | |
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Sexy Bee Yacht
Posts: 5849
Location: WA | hammer_time - 2014-01-21 8:28 PM I'd cut grain, and work her twice a day. Leave her saddled in between.
With hot horses, they need a pattern, something consistent, a routine. Maybe all the events are too much for her. Try to find a consistent routine that you am stick to. Once she knows what to expect, she can focus more.
She doesn't get grain. She is on E WA timothy hay and that is it. Our warm up is the same every time, I do that with all horses. When she gets frazzled, I take her back to small figure 8s to relax her and get her listening again. Worse case scenario I do it in the middle of a pattern. I wonder if the different patterns are too much for her. Things are pretty black and white in her riding and training. I started her back on patterns to teach them to her since that is what my original plan was to game her. If it is too much for her, I will just barrel race her. Even though she is just a project horse, she still needs a job at some point. | |
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Sexy Bee Yacht
Posts: 5849
Location: WA |
You always make my links live for me, thank you!!
She is a bit of a live wire, but when I can get her to focus, she is good. Tonight just wasn't happening but I don't want it to become a habit to be an ass on patterns. I'm not a rookie at this (horses and riding) as my post may have made me sound, but I didn't want to take the time to outline my entire riding history along with every ride the mare has ever had on her.
I might go to Ace'ing her when we do patterns for awhile. It helped her when I brought her back from time off to not be such a hot air balloon. | |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 411
Location: Smack in the middle of WA! | I'm riding one right now that is also very hot! I do lots of slow work, transitions and just plain getting her soft and responsive. My mare would never handle 2 workouts a day, pretty sure it would make things worse with her! I always praise her when riding, she seems to respond better to that then getting after her or working her into the ground. She ran on the track for 2 years and it doesn't take long to get excited! I walk the pattern a lot with her. I also pony her for exercise a few days a week, seems to relax her some as well. I let her pick up some speed on the pattern once or twice a week and she seems to be handling it well. I also am very soft on her mouth as that sets her off as well! I think the quieter you are on a hotter bred horse the better! | |
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Sexy Bee Yacht
Posts: 5849
Location: WA | redmansmyman11 - 2014-01-21 9:08 PM I mostly agree with what everybody else has to say, because she is a hot TB if you decide to work her more days a week or twice a day make sure you get her on some kind of ulcer prevention. In my experience hot horses that worry themselves or work themselves up are more prone to ulcers.
Good call. Will watch her for any signs of discomfort. I really do like her, otherwise I wouldn't be taking the time to work through things with her. She's on pasture, always a little grass to nibble on, timothy hay and that is it.
Thank you everyone so far for your advice! It is appreciated! | |
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Sexy Bee Yacht
Posts: 5849
Location: WA | lexyy12 - 2014-01-21 8:55 PM My little mare was HOT HOT HOT! She is a busy body...always needs something to do and needs to be challenged. She used to try to "hurry" her turns like you described...like she knew what she was doing and was trying to just "hurry" through it. We spent a whole summer devoted to getting her back on track. She got ridden 2x a day very hard!! That summer was a very hot one so we got up before sunrise and worked her....cooled her out...waited till nearly dark and we went again. We only waited for dark because of the heat. I would do something along those lines to make her work and respect you and sort of enjoy that she is in a way getting a break. Work on other things than the events. My are is only in our arena to walk and trot every now and then. Other than that she is ridden in the pasture or fields beside our property.
Twice a day would be great... just not feasible. I have a 4 year old son and have to work around him as well. And other horses to work with only so many hours in the day. I do have lights for our arena, so I can ride at night. Busy body is a very good description of her. It is as though she just has so much energy in her body she doesn't know what to do with it all.
There were others riding around in the arena tonight too, so maybe that was setting her off too. It wasn't the first time she has rode with others by any means, but that and crisp weather, maybe it just set her off. Poor excuse though as she will have to work in breezy weather and around others doing different things. | |
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Sexy Bee Yacht
Posts: 5849
Location: WA | hank520 - 2014-01-21 9:40 PM I'm riding one right now that is also very hot! I do lots of slow work, transitions and just plain getting her soft and responsive. My mare would never handle 2 workouts a day, pretty sure it would make things worse with her! I always praise her when riding, she seems to respond better to that then getting after her or working her into the ground. She ran on the track for 2 years and it doesn't take long to get excited! I walk the pattern a lot with her. I also pony her for exercise a few days a week, seems to relax her some as well. I let her pick up some speed on the pattern once or twice a week and she seems to be handling it well. I also am very soft on her mouth as that sets her off as well! I think the quieter you are on a hotter bred horse the better!
YES! If you get after her, it makes her worse. She can actually sit and chill now and she couldn't before. She gets a couple pats for being good. She likes Adele on my Pandora, lol. That an calm her down, but riding with others I don't have it on so I can talk with them if needed. She has a real sensitive mouth and if I get on her at all, she reacts, BUT when she is jumping and lunging, I can't just leave her be. When I work with what I had before labeled hot horses, I would let them go as fast as they could handle. As soon as they started getting strong, I would break back down to a jog or walk. Maybe if she can handle herself on barrels, I'll let her go faster a couple times a week and keep her at a walk on the other patterns until she can prove herself. Stay in control, go faster. Be a putz, get demoted, lol. | |
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 pressure dripper
Posts: 8699
Location: the end of the rainbow | I guess I feel a bit differently about these horses than most, I love a spitfire. If it were me I would start by teaching her speed control off the pattern. Ie. Breezing her a bit then making her come back to my speed, relax & walk when I asked. I'd see how that went be for I let her blow through a pattern.
Edited by willrodeo4food 2014-01-22 8:39 AM
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Sexy Bee Yacht
Posts: 5849
Location: WA | willrodeo4food - 2014-01-22 6:38 AM
I guess I feel a bit differently about these horses than most, I love a spitfire. If it were me I would start by teaching her speed control off the pattern. Ie. Breezing her a bit then making her come back to my speed, relax & walk when I asked. I'd see how that went be for I let her blow through a pattern.
Great idea!!! I will have the track people come over to ride so that if she doesn't come back down, someone can catch my a*&. I have thought about doing this, but hadn't committed to it. I have to do it on my finished mare a lot. | |
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 Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11511
Location: 31 lengths farms | My 10 year old mare is wild child. The good part, she has no bottom to her, she loves to work, she will drill till the cows come home. The bad part she has an enquiring mind as in "WTH was THAT???" if you don't keep her busy and the feet moving. I started her at the gymkhana's also as I did my other ones, but for her the idea at that time of barrels being in places they shouldn't be and what was up with the darn tall white things amidst her barrels was actually more confusing than a teaching tool for her.
She was so fractious that I did end up putting her on Silver Lining Herbs Keep Cool which I started to notice a distinct difference in about a week and a half. She was still active, but not reactive and scaring herself. After about 3 months of that I was able to take her off of it and only give it to her a few days out before an event where she hadn't been before or a place that maybe in the past wasn't a good fit for her. Now I'm able to go and not give her anything. Before that if you tried to lope her down, she caught on to you and was like "OH H%LL no!!! You aren't gonna beat me !" and she'd just wind up even more. The first year I went to Pendleton for the July race I put her on the Keep Cool as she is a free running fool and figured that could get ugly in a hurry when she saw that dirt "track" lol. Last year she didn't need it, it was old home week for her. The first year I thought for sure I was going to have to have one of the out riders steer dog us to get us to stop but she handled it beautifully.
I do a ton of speed transitions with her when I ride in general, when she pulls on me at all she usually gets to do a few counter arcs, that has helped build some rate, keep the arc in her body and me not having to pull on her. They are a different breed of cat for sure, but she is a ton of fun, she can do stuff with her body that boggles the mind, just have to work a little harder to keep her brain attached to it when she does, LOL!!!
Edited by run n rate 2014-01-22 10:49 AM
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Sexy Bee Yacht
Posts: 5849
Location: WA | run n rate - 2014-01-22 8:47 AM My 10 year old mare is wild child. The good part, she has no bottom to her, she loves to work, she will drill till the cows come home. The bad part she has an enquiring mind as in "WTH was THAT???" if you don't keep her busy and the feet moving. I started her at the gymkhana's also as I did my other ones, but for her the idea at that time of barrels being in places they shouldn't be and what was up with the darn tall white things amidst her barrels was actually more confusing than a teaching tool for her. She was so fractious that I did end up putting her on Silver Lining Herbs Keep Cool which I started to notice a distinct difference in about a week and a half. She was still active, but not reactive and scaring herself. After about 3 months of that I was able to take her off of it and only give it to her a few days out before an event where she hadn't been before or a place that maybe in the past wasn't a good fit for her. Now I'm able to go and not give her anything. Before that if you tried to lope her down, she caught on to you and was like "OH H%LL no!!! You aren't gonna beat me !" and she'd just wind up even more. The first year I went to Pendleton for the July race I put her on the Keep Cool as she is a free running fool and figured that could get ugly in a hurry when she saw that dirt "track" lol. Last year she didn't need it, it was old home week for her. The first year I thought for sure I was going to have to have one of the out riders steer dog us to get us to stop but she handled it beautifully. I do a ton of speed transitions with her when I ride in general, when she pulls on me at all she usually gets to do a few counter arcs, that has helped build some rate, keep the arc in her body and me not having to pull on her. They are a different breed of cat for sure, but she is a ton of fun, she can do stuff with her body that boggles the mind, just have to work a little harder to keep her brain attached to it when she does, LOL!!!
Very helpful, thank you!! | |
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Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11511
Location: 31 lengths farms | Just gear yourself up for a little longer seasoning process, LOL!!! Annette kind of wondered what the heck I was thinking when I took my little hot head to Pendleton the first year, she was like "OMG, if I took Mare the wheels would come off..." I just laughed because I dealt with the wheels coming off daily for about 2 or 3 years until I found the Keep Cool, then it dropped to monthly :-) I figured if I had put the wheels back on that often before, I could certainly do it again. As it turned out CC proved to me that she was ready to be a barrel horse. She just needed some help to calm her over active brain at first. | |
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Sexy Bee Yacht
Posts: 5849
Location: WA | run n rate - 2014-01-22 9:17 AM Just gear yourself up for a little longer seasoning process, LOL!!! Annette kind of wondered what the heck I was thinking when I took my little hot head to Pendleton the first year, she was like "OMG, if I took Mare the wheels would come off..." I just laughed because I dealt with the wheels coming off daily for about 2 or 3 years until I found the Keep Cool, then it dropped to monthly :-) I figured if I had put the wheels back on that often before, I could certainly do it again. As it turned out CC proved to me that she was ready to be a barrel horse. She just needed some help to calm her over active brain at first.
As I was riding yesterday I was thinking "Um, how do get one used to speed on a pattern when you can't give them any speed on a pattern?!?!" Lol. I will look into the Calm stuff. Someone else mentioned it to me too. I tried one of the daily calmers when I first got her, but it didn't seem to do anything to her. I was still Aceing her to ride. I think she could be a bang up little horse if I can keep her brain. She's a project, no time limit on her, but would like to eventually run her and not be stuck trotting patterns for the rest of her life, lol. | |
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Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11511
Location: 31 lengths farms | You have to find the one that works for them, I tried a couple others and 1 of the popular ones made her comatose. She loped a really nice little pattern pretty as could be, me kissing, hustling, kicking...she was on sleep walk, LOL!!! Then tried another one and that one actually made her worse, it was suppose to help her focus and she focused all right, on everything that was scary to her. She was terrified, it was horrible to watch her and then being hot on top of it my heart broke for her to have that much anxiety about life in general. Finally tried the Keep Cool, put that off because I really didn't want to have to use a daily product but we had pretty much tried everything else and I knew she needed something. Knew she was extremely smart as even with the issues she was still learning everything I was giving her, figured if I could help her brain quiet down a bit she'd gain some confidence that she was okay. Like I said, she is still hot, but she looks to you for help first before blowing or grabbing her butt, and once you send her to the first barrel all the BS is gone and she works and now her Slow Work is by far the best of the 3, the other 3 get bored senseless with slow work, CC just likes anything that mean her feet get to move. With her like I said, it took about a week and a half to notice this difference in her and by the end of the first month she really came around on it. | |
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