Update - Morgan the 7 year old paint mare has been sold!

Sawyer - Here's to wishing you a VERY Merry Christmas son! May all your horse dreams come true!! (lol, now you'll have to get up extra early in the morning to ride one horse before school and the other horse after school!!! *wink*) Don't you agree Amanda?

~A

Well we picked up "Morgan" our son's Christmas gift last night... oh my! As much as I enjoy winter riding, I HATE loading horses who are trailer shy on a FREEZING cold winter night!!! We had a good snow last week, then it warmed up and melted a bit and then froze again, so there was ice under a thin layer of snow... ice + freezing temps + nervous horse = cold to the bone and in need of hot chocolate!!!

I'm happy to report that I'm still batting a 98% average for getting an unexperienced horse on a trailer in 30 minutes or less... but man-oh-man, that was a COLD one! Miss Morgan is a skitterish little thing and it took a bit to gain her trust that I wasn't leading her into a trailer full of wolves, but we did it without trauma and she's happily munching hay in a quarantine stall this morning.

I love quarantine time... we always use this time to bond with a new horse and work on some of the "oh-no's" before turning out with a herd... For this young lady, a few days getting to know her and then some practise loading onto the trailer...

I like to nip fears in trailer loading in the butt right away... what are some of the things others like to work on as a priority when they get a new horse?

~A

When I get a new horse I guess It is kinda similar to your approach. I try to get him used the barn routine. And I always start out at the beginning , so to speak. To find out what they know and to find any "holes" in their training. A lot of ground work, even with a seasoned horse, this helps build trust for both of us.
One thing I teach all my horses is to be what I call "rope broke" ( sack them out so they don't fear it on any part of their body and then to give to the pressure, whether it be around their head, foot, or rump. This is a great trust builder and a really useful tool for getting out of a jamb.
2 examples are :
1 when they step on a lead rope or rein, they stop and give to it instead of that panic backwards we have all seen.
2 One day Winston was trying to reach the other horses over the fence( i'm sure his intentions were pure ;) ) when i found him, he was standing with one leg woven down through the strands of the fence. He was just waiting patiently for me to remove him and he had not a mark on him. I consider us really lucky and give the credit to all the time we spent "playing with the rope"

~ Carol Ann

Hi Carol Ann,

I love this kind of training and I need to do more of it! You have inspired me to work on my Quarter Horse more. My beautiful Thoroughbred, who was one heck of a gift (that I am forever grateful for) from Annie has had awesome ground training by her! So I must get the other one up to speed! Amanda :)

Yep, it’s definitely becoming quite the “horsey” Christmas for our family this year eh Amanda? One horse sized Christmas gift coming in for Sawyer and one horse sized Christmas gift going out to you… I never thought in a million years I’d re-home my precious Cytherea, but then again, I never thought there was anyone who could love her as much as I do…With her vim and vigor, it takes a mighty special person to get through her bluster, and see that beyond her beauty and grace, there’s so much potential for this girl and that was you my dearest friend Amanda… I’m just thrilled you accepted my gift, as I know there’s SO much to consider when taking on the responsibility of a second horse! (Lol, or a third, a fourth, or a fifth, sixth & seventh! *laughing*)

Yes, groundwork is definitely “my” thing, lol… Oddly enough, I enjoy building the mental foundation of a horse’s mind more then I do riding… With our work with OTTB’s, we start by turning them out with a large herd to get them accustomed to being a “horse” again… depending on the horse, sometimes they can be running with the herd for 6 months before I bring them up to start ground training… I find that my relationship with the herd helps to accomplish the first level of trust with a new horse… It’s kind of like a “Monkey see, Monkey do…” mentality. Each day as I make my pasture rounds and hand out treats, I’ll find the new horses will start edging closer to me, and then suddenly one day it magically happens, they walk right up and touch me first, and that generally marks the beginning of our relationship…

A couple times a year I put on a family events day in groundwork… This is generally a fun day for our family, but it’s has two main purposes, 1) to see how far each horse has progressed in their ground training, and 2) to work on any challenges we (husband, children or myself) have encountered with a particular horse…

We set up a course of obstacles over 10 acres with a variety of challenges with a point system and a score card… the winner at the end of the day gets a gift certificate to their favourite tack shop, everyone gets a little plastic trophy for participating and then we celebrate the day with cake and ice cream…

This year I want to add Horse Soccer into our ground training games… anyone up to starting a Canadian Horse Soccer League?

~A

Carol Ann - that's a FANTASTIC outcome to what could of been an extremely serious situation! You're right, how many times have we each witnessed a horse caught in a fence and the horiffic aftermath of injury? Other then covering them with bubble wrap (an Amanda phrase), the only protection one has against a situation such as this is groundwork... thank you so much for sharing this story, it's a HUGE reminder that many accidents and injuries can be avoided if we build a better foundation with our equine partners!

*hugs*
~A

I live on a beef farm in a small village . We have lots of land but lots of fences also, So I ride the trails around our farm. There are so many of them... If you cross the road there are litterally miles of woods roads to explore with everything from watercrossings to open fields for a nice run. I don't know how to describe them all. but the oppertunities are enless and you rarely have to retrace your steps.
I have to confess I am not a cold weather rider and this morning the therm. is saying -17 I do hope to get out on the trails again before the snow gets too deep... but not today :)
~ Carol Ann

Hi Carol Ann - Great topic! Definitely sounds magical, can we come to your house for Christmas?

Admittedly I hang my head in shame when it comes to celebrating Christmas with our horses... lol, and our family too I suspect :(

I'm one of those types of people who can't seem to stockpile gifts until Christmas day... I'm a "see it", "buy it" and immediately "gift it" type of girl... shame on me! I just get so darn excited about buying gifts for human and horse family and friends that I play Christmas 365 days of the year!

One thing we use to do special during the holiday season was to spend New Year's Eve on horseback... Our old farm was in city limits and surrounded by subdivisions, so we'd spend the evening riding down the streets looking at all the Christmas decorations and lights and then we'd ride to Starbucks for a coffee and then out to the trails to ring in the New Year at midnight.

Since we're wintering at a friends farm until we move to New Brunswick, I have no idea what we're going to do this year... the town's population is maybe 200 and there's not much to see in the way of Christmas lights... perhaps we'll ride out to the back forest and celebrate the New Year around the camp fire instead!

Like Carol Ann, I'd love to hear how other's celebrate the holidays with their rquine babes... who's next to share?