Gypsy Vanners multipliziert
Wednesday I loaded up the truck with a whole bunch of training gear and headed North. It was a bit over an hour drive with just a brief sticky spot at one of the freeway interchanges.
Coors was the first horse, a three year-old liver-colored tobiano gelding. He had spent some time with a trainer before heading out this way. He was supposedly working towards driving, but his reaction to the PVC pipe dragging was pretty dramatic! He jumped sideways and tried to kick it. It took several minutes before he stood still and stopped threatening the pipe with his foot. There will be a lot of work on that response because as I learned with Olaf you don't mess with kicking!
We did do some harness shuffling as he was just about bursting out of his girth. Next week I am going to bring my long tape and get measurements for a harness that will work for both Coors and Trinket. She had three other harnesses, but one (Gypsy's) was too big and the others were too small (she has a hackney pony too).
I started out asking him to move his hips and shoulders around. He was a bit sleepy about it so it took a while to get a response out if him. After that I worked him briefly on the long lines and got a nice little walk and trot out of him in the sidepull (the bit she had was a twisted wire french link halfcheek and I don't use twisted wire anything, sorry). I'll bring the sidepull again in case her other bits are too narrow.
We moved on to Trinket, who is a red roan tobiano with a mane to her knees. She's four and was pretty much untouched until Cindy got her. She was more interested in eating the PVC pipe than anything. When it came to moving her hips and shoulders she was quick and light, just about the opposite of Coors.
She hadn't long lined yet so we stuck with lungeing. It was a bit more exciting than I had hoped! It was well over 90° and she decided to rip around like a lunatic instead. I worked on keeping her from running me over (staying to the outside) and really wished I had my Snazzy Stick(TM). I'll bring it next time.
Changing direction was a no-go to start, but when she finally realized I wasn't taking bolting off for an answer she finally yielded her shoulders and we had a lightbulb moment. She did three more nice direction changes and she settled into a walk and called it a day. Both of us were puffing and sweaty, which is not how I wanted her to be at all, but I did zero driving after initially asking her to step off.
So we definitely have work to do with where they are at before we move forward. Cindy is interested in improving her own skills and I will start integrating her into the work as I get a better feel for her two horses. We'll also be adding Gypsy in to work on Cindy's driving skills. Cindy has a friend with a POA who might be joining the docket so the weekly trip northward should be pretty productive.
Chroi was in the cart for the first time (this year, third time total) Saturday. It started out pretty well, had a rough patch, and ended on a good note. I have a list of things to work on to make the second hook better and continue to build and move forward.
Video from Friday, which I was pretty pleased with.
Chroi's owner was there for the hook and took some video. She was very pleased with how it went, even if we had some rough spots that I'll give more detail on later. It does appear that the Gypsies are multiplying in my life.
Coors was the first horse, a three year-old liver-colored tobiano gelding. He had spent some time with a trainer before heading out this way. He was supposedly working towards driving, but his reaction to the PVC pipe dragging was pretty dramatic! He jumped sideways and tried to kick it. It took several minutes before he stood still and stopped threatening the pipe with his foot. There will be a lot of work on that response because as I learned with Olaf you don't mess with kicking!
We did do some harness shuffling as he was just about bursting out of his girth. Next week I am going to bring my long tape and get measurements for a harness that will work for both Coors and Trinket. She had three other harnesses, but one (Gypsy's) was too big and the others were too small (she has a hackney pony too).
I started out asking him to move his hips and shoulders around. He was a bit sleepy about it so it took a while to get a response out if him. After that I worked him briefly on the long lines and got a nice little walk and trot out of him in the sidepull (the bit she had was a twisted wire french link halfcheek and I don't use twisted wire anything, sorry). I'll bring the sidepull again in case her other bits are too narrow.
We moved on to Trinket, who is a red roan tobiano with a mane to her knees. She's four and was pretty much untouched until Cindy got her. She was more interested in eating the PVC pipe than anything. When it came to moving her hips and shoulders she was quick and light, just about the opposite of Coors.
She hadn't long lined yet so we stuck with lungeing. It was a bit more exciting than I had hoped! It was well over 90° and she decided to rip around like a lunatic instead. I worked on keeping her from running me over (staying to the outside) and really wished I had my Snazzy Stick(TM). I'll bring it next time.
Changing direction was a no-go to start, but when she finally realized I wasn't taking bolting off for an answer she finally yielded her shoulders and we had a lightbulb moment. She did three more nice direction changes and she settled into a walk and called it a day. Both of us were puffing and sweaty, which is not how I wanted her to be at all, but I did zero driving after initially asking her to step off.
So we definitely have work to do with where they are at before we move forward. Cindy is interested in improving her own skills and I will start integrating her into the work as I get a better feel for her two horses. We'll also be adding Gypsy in to work on Cindy's driving skills. Cindy has a friend with a POA who might be joining the docket so the weekly trip northward should be pretty productive.
Chroi was in the cart for the first time (this year, third time total) Saturday. It started out pretty well, had a rough patch, and ended on a good note. I have a list of things to work on to make the second hook better and continue to build and move forward.
Video from Friday, which I was pretty pleased with.
Click to viewChroi's owner was there for the hook and took some video. She was very pleased with how it went, even if we had some rough spots that I'll give more detail on later. It does appear that the Gypsies are multiplying in my life.