New Herd Friends

Nova had spent a little more time than usual in the large stall and run because of some logistical things here the past couple weeks.  Happily, the past couple days she's been in the ring sharing the secure fenceline with my herd, and now everyone knows each other.  That means it was time to turn Nova out with the others in the big pastures!

Thankfully it all went really smoothly.  I initially let her out with Note and Pea, since they are more particular about new friends than Highboy, who loves everyone.  I was on the phone with an old friend but still outside so I could supervise while I filled water tanks.  Once the first squeals and sqawks were done and everyone had gone back to browsing the grass options I let Highboy out too.  

Everyone got along fabulously, and had a good romp around the front field.  I'm sure Nova will be much more content now that she's out with her friends.

Nova's Big Feelings

Nova had her second ride here at Bit of Honey Training yesterday morning.  As mentioned before she's only five, and because of her age she has different responses to things than Lynx did.  She has figured out walking and trotting in the ring, and so we headed to the fields for a hack.  

 

I groomed her and tacked up in the equipment she seemed happy with when we ended last time.  She seemed happy with it again today, so I kept things the same.  My dogs of course assisted with mounting, and got a cookie each for their efforts.  They are remembering training from years ago, when they were much younger and would help me back horses for the first time.   

Since I teach horses to be mounted from both sides, I'd lead a horse to the block, and the dog would stand in front of them and tell them to hold still.  I'd stand on the block, pat the saddle, lean over, and weight the stirrup.  Then I'd turn the horse around and stand at her head myself.  The dog would then get on the block, pat the saddle with nose and paws, weight the stirrup with paws, do everything I'd done.  This was great desensitization for the horse!  If she'll stand still for the dogs to assist, they'll generally stand still for most everything.

Once I was on, we reviewed walking and trotting in the arena and a little bit of ground pole work.  She was a little "up" as we headed out - after all this was exciting for her!  I hadn't seen her pace at all in turnout or while under saddle yet, but I noticed her walk tends to get lateral when she's very excited and trying to walk as fast as she can.  This isn't a big deal, I can correct it by putting some tone in my core and moving my seat in a more clear pattern of a four beat walk, and she's good about matching my seat and moving to a clear walk instead of borderline pace.  Once she is more confident about riding out in the open and has better core strength herself from walking up and down hills I fully expect her to have a fantastic free walk.  This is important for her training because I'm aiming her at eventing as a sport horse, and she'll need a clear four beat walk for her dressage tests.  

One way I'm helping her to get more coordinated and to learn how to move in this big, fast growing body is with ground poles.  We walked each direction over them, and we do it on a very long loose rein.  I'm mostly steering with my seat and supporting those directions with the reins if I need it, but she's in charge of her footwork and how she carries her body and me.  I explain this as "the human is in charge of steering, the horse is in charge of feet".  She was a little loosey-goosey and wiggly through the poles the first time or two, but quickly figured out how to do it without hitting her hooves.  You can see in this first photo she's kind of crooked and a little off balance, but is stepping over the pole.  In the second photo she's taking a longer step with her hind leg, her back is lifted, and as a result her head came down.  This is why I don't ever tie horses's heads down, if they are taught how to think and move their body correctly themselves, their head will end up where it needs to be to balance. 

 

 

Once we were done in the ring we headed to the fields.  She did great heading out, and then we arrived in the spot in the back field where we have to go a little bit downhill and into the shade at the same time.  This is tricky for a horse for a couple reasons involving their vision.  As a preview of coming attractions, an eventing horse is required to jump in and out of shadows and light, up and down hills, which is much trickier for the horse than people realize!  

 

Horses have a huge field of vision, seeing nearly 360 degrees around themselves with only two small blind spots directly in front and behind them.  This photo shows the blind spot in blue.  However, they don't have great depth perception because their eyes are on the sides of their head instead of in front.  Just that piece would make stepping down into an unknown drop a little intimidating.  

This area near the pond also goes from bright sunlight into shade in the same place as the downhill.  Horses' eyes don't adjust to changes in dark and light as quickly as humans' do, so from Nova's perspective she could have been stepping off a cliff into a dark abyss for all she knew!  I asked her to walk forward into the shade and downhill, and she said "Nope, nope nope!"  We had a little hopping side to side with her front legs in a rough imitation of a cutting horse as she declined to go forward.  Part of this was swinging side to side so that she could aim each eye at the front facing blind spot in an effort to see better what was ahead.  I asked her again to go forwards and she got a little light in her loafers, lifting her front end up a bit in refusal.  I can't really blame her, she's a five year old with big feelings and she's never done any of this before! 

These very circumstances are why I ride especially green horses with my border collies.  When Nova made it clear that she did not have the courage to go downhill into the shade on her own, I called in the dogs.  They were close by as usual, and I told them to go ahead of us to show Nova it was both safe and not a big drop.  The dogs were happy to oblige, passing us carefully while wearing their bells on their collars so Nova could hear them.  They walked down the little drop and into the shade.  Once Nova realized they could do it safely, weren't apprehensive, and she could follow them, she happily went right behind.   There was one other spot in  the back field that was similar and she had a similar reaction, but as soon as Pascal went ahead of her she was instantly good with going there too.  

All this is very normal for a green horse, and the added drama fits for a five year old with big feelings.  She overall was very reasonable, she just has to have these experiences and figure out all these things.  Thank goodness for good dogs!

The girl is learning her selfie game as well.  First try was a little cheesy with her smile,  

Second time with her eyes shut and sticking out her tongue, 

Lastly she and I got it right for the camera!

Here's her browband bling for the day courtesy of Chameleon Browbands.  

Here's the video from her ground pole work in the arena and her walk out in the fields with the dogs.

https://youtu.be/OT7903v_urM 

 

Nova's First Ride at Bit of Honey

Nova had her first ride here this morning.  She was great for mounting and walking around to start.  I'm told she's had significant riding prior to coming here, but I don't want to make any assumptions about what she knows or not.  I treat each new horse like they are just starting out, even the ones with advanced training. I gradually go through the things they might know until we reach something they don't understand.  Plus, I may do things differently than previous trainers, and she'll need to figure out what I'm doing too.

Here's the video from her first ride at Bit of Honey.

https://youtu.be/WXD7fuVw9tM?is=GRQP-qDW9veoijTo

Mounting and having cookies

A little trot each way after some discussion about appropriate ways to express discomfort with the girth.

One little canter departure.

As always, with border collie assistance!

Getting to Know You

When I have these first training sessions with a new horse, I often think of the song from The King and I, "Getting to know you, getting to know all about you..."  Depending on the circumstances, sometimes I go into a first session with a lot of information about the horse, sometimes not so much, sometimes conflicting information from different sources, and sometimes what the horse tells me in the first session doesn't match at all what the humans have told me.

In this case, Nova behaved exactly as I'd expect a typical five year old to behave who had been staying in a stall overnight at a horseshow, then rode in a trailer for eight hours, then stayed in a small paddock for three days.  She was very full of herself and ready to PLAY!!

I'd spent a little time with her yesterday figuring out what of my tack library fits her best.  Since she's got that look to her of a baby who's been growing a lot recently, I fully expect her tack preferences and fits to change over the next weeks and months, but at least I've got some gear that fits her right now.  The piece that I tried the most variations was her bit.  She has a warmblood sized face, but her actual mouth and tongue are quite narrow and thin.  I initially tried a regular two piece snaffle bit, but the mouthpieces were straight and didn't lie nicely over her tongue and bars of her mouth.  She looked at me and tried to keep her mouth shut like a well behaved creature, but I stuck my finger in the side of her lips and had her "say ah".  This made it clear to her that I was looking at fit, and she proceeded to gape her mouth open, wagging her tongue at me to clarify that no, this was not the one!

Next I tried a three piece snaffle that was curved, but the side pieces were still too long.  This made it so the angles of it once more didn't lie smoothly across her tongue and bars, and actually projected out the sides of her mouth.  She made funny faces again.  

On the third try I put a very curved three piece snaffle in her mouth, with more equal length pieces.  This one laid nicely over her tongue and bars and didn't poke too far out the sides of her mouth.  She was much quieter with this in her mouth and noticeably relaxed once I had everything adjusted.  I'll say this for the opinionated baby horses - they sure do make it clear when you've got something right or wrong!

Once we were tacked up we headed out to the ring.  It's a little bit of a walk the way I currently have pasture fencing set up, and she was eager to get going!  She has such a huge stride she could out walk me without trying, but she was sure trying!  We practiced a little bit of walking and stopping and being polite, which is super hard when you're full of beans.  

Eventually we got to the ring, and I set her up with a rope halter over her bridle and put her on the lungeline.  I had the dogs with me, and I suspect working around dogs is new to her from how she reacted.  Initially she gave them the side-eye, wondering if she was supposed to be paying attention to them and what they said, or me and what I directed.   Quickly she figured out they are more playmates than taskmasters, and thus began the young horse circus!  

 

This photo of her playing with the dogs with her front legs going one way and her hind legs going the other way makes me laugh, and reminds me of a very similar photo I have of Highboy near the same age when he was playing with the dogs.

 

 

I'm hoping that it's just a fluke similarity and not a harbinger of what's to come in this mare's training - Highboy took a VERY long time to mature physically, then mentally.  While he's totally solid today, he didn't get his last half inch of height until his eight year old year, and his brain didn't really kick in until he was closer to eleven!  Hopefully being a Standardbred and not thoroughbred, Nova will have an easier time of it despite their photographic similarities.  

Then again, this photo reminded me of one of many shots I have of Highboy doing the same maneuver.  However, he had no qualms about doing it under saddle to express disdain at small jumps.

 Nova had a good hard look at the ground poles while she was on the lungeline.  There was certainly lots to think about in this first training session!

Once I had her walking and trotting politely on the line and mostly ignoring the dogs, I took her tack off and let her run around free in the ring.  I didn't realize until later that I managed to leave the pivo recording while I put gear back in my tack room, but it produced some fun photos of her goofing around with Pascal.

I don't want anyone to be worried about the dogs, though.  While Nova was expressing her jollies, my dogs remembered their early days helping as horse training dogs.  They are not opposed to barking and creating some merriment, but they are quite good at staying out of the way and avoiding flying hooves.  

Ultimately Nova showed some fancy trotting with Pascal along for encouragement - check out the length of her stride when she's extended!

Nova also must have figured out the ground pole thing, because I caught her actually trying to jump it on the video that recorded while I wasn't in the ring.  I'm hopeful that she thinks this is a fun game if she's trying it all on her own, and that she'll enjoy jumping once I start introducing it.  Her jumping training will begin relatively slowly, because she is after all only five.  Horses skeletons aren't mature until at least 7, and in a horse her size quite possibly eight.  So her early jump work will include lots of cavalletti and footwork to help her figure out where her feet and body are in space, and that will go a long way towards teaching her how to do bigger and faster jumps for having the time spent on the little things.

 

Nova did settle down once she was done with her shenanigans.  What a good looking girl.  I'm very excited about this new project, and I think the dogs are too! 

 

 

Lynx is still here, he'll likely start his journey to his new home in Kansas on Monday.  The poor guy is a little confused as to why I'm doing this with Nova instead of him.  When I led her down to the ring, he followed along the entire length of the pasture on his side of the fence, watching us and occasionally whinnying.  I don't think he was calling to Nova, as he hasn't seemed interested in her at all since we all go home.  But he does this sometimes when I drive my truck along the property, following me from his side of the fence.  He also watched our training session from the gate, and I could almost feel him rolling his eyes at her baby horse antics.  He then walked the length of the fence back to the barn watching me.  He's the one in the fly mask in the photo.  I think he misses the job!  I've given him a few days off after working so hard at Nationals, but he says he's ready to get back to it.

 

 

Highboy is in this photo talking to Nova over the fence, hopefully telling her how pleasant it is to be a well behaved grown up horse, and not giving her any additional ideas for shenanigans.  Once Lynx leaves I'll gradually start introducing Nova to my herd so eventually she can live outside with them too.  I don't want to create unnecessary drama by trying to incorporate her into the group while Lynx is still here, it will be simpler to do it once she only has to determine her place with my three who have been together for so many years.

 

Introducing Fox Valley Nova

We're all still recovering from the horseshow, but we did get home safely Monday evening.  We ended up coming home with four horses, so a full trailer!  

The two in the back behind the screens were geldings that I brought to simplify transport to their new home in Georgia.  It was definitely easier for their new owners to get them from here than from NJ! They were picked up yesterday and headed to what sounds like a wonderful equine facilitated sports psychology program for volleyball players, coaches, and family members.

Lynx was in the front.  He came back with me and will continue on to his new home in KS  beginning of next week. I'm glad he's getting a few days of down time to recover from the trip and show before heading to his new home where he'll do competitive trail riding and some dressage.

Next to Lynx was Fox Vally Nova, my new project.  They were a little funny with each other during the trip, they had a very sibling rivalry thing going.  Whenever we stopped for water and a rest break and I opened the windows, Lynx and Nova would make faces at each other, but it was more of a "Kiiiim!  She's LOOKING at me!" than any kind of actual arguing.  I did find out they were in the same racing barn for a while, so they probably remembered each other and were just irritating each other for fun.

Nova is 5 years old and she's quite nicely put together, though I think she's got a lot of growing left to do. I measured her with a stick and level, and she's currently 16.2 and 1/2". I string tested her and she measures to 17.2 when she's fully mature! It's not out of the realm of possibility, I've had several big ones that didn't get their last half inch of height until their 8 y/o year...! We'll see how she does in the next few months.  Growth spurts and coordination are often at odds with each other!

Miss Nova got a haircut this morning to begin her transition to sporthorse life.  She also figured out the head tilt/lips wiggle to earn cookies.  She's been very fun so far.  I've missed having a youngster around, my current herd is getting to be elderly.  While I am grateful their brains have finally kicked in and they are a lot less work than when they were young and always causing trouble, it's fun to have a squirrely baby again.

She does like all the cookies I've offered her, and has figured out the head tilt and lip wiggle to ask for additional snacks.  I prefer this to getting mugged for treats, so I like to teach this party trick early.

She of course raced under the name Fox Valley Nova, and has been going by Nova since her racing career ended.  In this part of the country however, "NOVA" is short for Northern Virginia.  There's a general consensus around here that SOVA (Southern Virginia) is preferred to NOVA, so she may be called Sova while she's here in training.  It sounds similar enough that I don't think she'll get confused, and everyone here loves Sova!