Trailride to the Neighbors

This morning Son of a Lynx and I warmed up in the arena and then headed out to the fields and trails to the neighbors.  I'm fortunate to live in a rural area, and to have fabulous neighbors who have given me permission to go around their places as well as mine. With just under 30 acres at my place, combined with one neighbor's 40 and the other neighbor's large field, we have plenty of space to cruise around.  I'd made some trails and when I was running regularly (I currently have an injured foot but riding is ok), one circuit of the paths was about 3 miles.

When we were approaching a grove of trees at the neighbor's, I saw a round greyish critter start moving in the tall grass going towards the trees.  Once it hopped up a little I could see it was a racoon!  It looked at me, we looked at it, and then we all just kept walking.  Son of a Lynx watched it hop through the tall grass into the trees, but he wasn't concerned at all. 

As we got to the other neighbor's place, she and her toddler were outside.  When the little girl caught sight of us she shrieked in excitement!  Lynx started a little, then carried on as though he went on trailrides seeing toddlers every day.  That's one of the great things about off the track horses, they've seen so much action and commotion of all kinds during their days at the racetracks.  They often are very accustomed to new things, and can handle novel encounters because they've learned how to handle themselves in the face of new and weird stuff. 

The biggest spook (which still was only kind of a jump in place) came when we were near the end of the driveway.  Several deer came crashing through the woods and out into the clearing, darting in front of us and then taking off.  The suddenness surprised both of us, but we were able to watch them run across without any drama from Lynx.  What a good fellow!

As far as skills, Lynx is now quite proficient at the basics, including stopping and steering when I use weight shifts and breathing.  He does hesitate a little when I'm neck reining and talking with the video recording, but can you blame him?  When I'm just riding I'm super clear with my voice, leg, hands, weight shifts and breathing, when I'm taking video suddenly I'm talking differently, and not always to him.  One hand is on both reins, but the other is waving around holding the phone.  Even my weight is different because I'll hold the phone up or down depending on the angle for the video.  So it's no wonder he pauses and holds his head a little to the side to watch what in world I'm doing!  He's really a pretty good sport.

https://youtu.be/KQv35zNnl0c?is=VnUbLBzkVwfowUvE

Once we were all done riding I hosed him off and let him back out to pasture with his friends.  They are still having occasional skirmishes, but mostly are all getting along fine now.

First Ride in the Fields

Come for a ride with me and Son of a Lynx!  It's his first time riding out of the fenced ring, but it was definitely time.  We were both getting a little bored going around in circles now that he has the idea of walking and trotting under saddle.  The ring is good to have for a secure and safe area to do his first rides, to introduce the leg aids, to practice standing for mounting.  

Once I've got reliable gas, brakes, and steering, off we go to bigger and more interesting locales!  The long walks in the fields (and soon on my trails) are so good for a horse.  Developing correct muscling, better balance carrying a rider, teaching him to trust his rider in more unpredictable environments, and giving his brain something else to think about so he doesn't get bored, sour, or frustrated with arena work. 

I always prefer to have a dog working with me, especially on these early rides outside the arena.  Mahzi has been amazing, she's come out of retirement to help me with Son of a Lynx.  She led the way on our ride today, giving him confidence and showing him that it was safe to go through some of the scarier places, like into darker areas between trees.  

I'm so impressed with her, she's been a house dog for many years, but still remembers all the things she learned when she was young and a working dog in the barn with me.  She's seen me start horses under saddle, and even though it's been such a long time, she still remembers all I need her to do.  For example, she walks behind us following while Lynx is moving forward confidently.  If he hesitates or gets nervous, she'll go out in from of him and lead the way so he can follow her and do what she does.

Lynx and I will go back in the ring for starting a little jumping later this week, and I'll also put jumps out in the fields so he learns how to go over obstacles in the wide open and in the trees.  Stay tuned- he's well on his way now!

Son of a Lynx Adoption Information

One of the great parts of the ReBrand Challenge is that the horses are available for adoption at the end of the project!  Son of a Lynx will be available after Nationals in September, and by then he'll have had all this training and show experience.  In preparation for that, my photographer friend Lena O'Brian came over this week and took conformation photos for us.  He's a good looking guy!

Name:  Son of a Lynx ("Tony")

Age:  10 yrs

Height:  15.1 h

Color:  Bay with no white

Training:  Drives (raced as a pacer), started under saddle with some show experience riding english, will be jumping in the arena and in the field

Location:  Halifax, VA  

Future career: Jumpers, trail horse, eventer, fox hunter, CDE driving, really unlimited options!

Soundness history:  no limitations, retired from racing sound

Adoption fee: $9000, to increase with training and show experience 

You can see all his videos at this link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS3pbqYQdzgw 

 

Son of a Lynx raced for nine years as a pacer, collecting 14 wins, 20 seconds, and 28 third place finishes. Total he won just under $170,000 over the course of his harness racing career. He retired sound and is currently ten years old.  His last racing owners had him for the previous four years.  He is currently owned by MMXX Standardbreds and is in training here at Bit of Honey with Kim Leonard as part of the ReBrand Initiative:  Trainer's Challenge. 

Lynx is 15.1 h tall measured with a stick and level.  He is big bodied, and he takes up my leg nicely.  He's very well mannered and friendly, though of course has opinions on things like brushes and tack.  Happy living in a stall, paddock, pasture, or combination.  He gets along with my mixed herd after learning some social skills when he first arrived.  A nice mover, he trots and has started offering a little canter under saddle, though trots easily and canters on each lead when loose in turnout. 

Lynx is proving himself to be a nice sporthorse prospect.  He rides out happily in the open alone or in a group, rides well with dogs, and will be started over fences both in the arena and cross country soon. He's intelligent, willing, hardworking, quiet and easy to handle.

A bay with no white markings at all (easy to keep clean!) other than pin firing marks on the outside of his left front. 

The adoption application is at mmxxstbs.com/adopt or you can reach out to MMXX Standardbreds on facebook 

The requirements are:

1. Safe fencing (Photos)

2. Shelter (Large Run-in in absence of stalls) (Photos)

3. 4 References including vet + farrier

The biggest things to note about MMXX Standardbreds adoptions is that we do not allow for resale BUT we are flexible; not all horses will be a perfect fit. If a horse doesn't work out, the owner will reach back out to us and we will readopt them (they just have to hang on to them)! 

Additionally, because Lynx has come though the Bit of Honey Training program, he will always have a place here.  While Bit of Honey doesn't buy back horses, should he ever need a place to land for any reason, he will always have a space here.

To inquire about adopting Son of a Lynx, contact either 

Kim Leonard at BitOfHoneyTraining@gmail.com or 970-231-9999

or 

Molly with MMXX Standardbreds mmxxstbs.com/adopt or you can reach out to MMXX Standardbreds on facebook 

Training Progress!

Son of a Lynx is making good progress in several ways!  Here at Bit of Honey we like to use holistic methods for helping a horse learn his new job after racing, whether that was on the flat, steeplechasing, pacing with harness racing or trotting. That means using the knowledge the horse already has from his first career, and also incorporating things like diet, tack fitting, social skills, and living situation with turnout and friends. 

The under saddle work is coming along nicely.  We do quite short riding training sessions, usually less than a half hour, but we don't need a long time since Lynx figures things out quickly.  For example, we started trot work earlier this week, and he began by pacing. I encouraged any little effort he made to do the right thing, so he's now trotting with just a little pacing to start.  Once he catches his balance and goes over a ground pole (he's trotting those well now too) he switches to the trot. 

Future jumping horse in progress!

Good boy!

Mahzi is such a good coach!

Getting a few canter steps in occasionally!

Mahzi and Note are supervising this ride. 

 

Still reviewing standing still for mounting.  Photo credit Lena O'Brian

 https://youtu.be/y8zW1QKZqVE?is=IUCAuc5iLIMblk7M

We've also had some friends and fans come watch his training this week.  One friend isn't super familiar with horses, but wanted to see what I've been doing with him.  She noticed he was different when going faster, so I explained about horses' gaits. Most regular horses have a walk, trot, canter, and gallop.  Because Lynx is "gaited", that means he also has a "pace", which is kind of between a trot and a canter.  It's a lateral gait, so both left legs move at the same time in nearly the same way, then both right legs move at the same time in nearly the same way.  Interestingly there are only two other animals who move with this gait- cats and giraffes! 

This video shows him pacing when I first started riding him - look for the left legs moving together, then the right legs.

You can see in the videos more clearly his pace and his trot, by looking to see whether both left legs are moving at the same time, or whether diagonal pairs of legs are moving at the same time (for example left front and right hind together).  He usually starts with a few strides of pace, then switches into the trot over a ground pole. 

Lynx has been going out with my horses a bit in the mornings, and has had a chance to socialize and roam around with the herd.  There have been some arguments, mostly between him and Note, and the first day Miss Pea would chase him off if he was at all rude.  Highboy wants to be friends with everyone and isn't sure why anyone WOULDN'T want to hang out with him.

Highboy is just hopeful for a new friend

Some initial arguments with Note.  While it looks dramatic, they were mostly posturing about who was going to be in charge.  Little did they realize that Miss Pea, my mare, is actually the one who runs the show around here.

 

 

 

While I do have one chestnut, mostly it's become "baywatch" around here.  They all graze together now.

Eventually the horses sorted out who was going to play what role in the little herd.  Miss Pea came into season and suddenly the new boy is really cute.  My horses are still pretty clear with Lynx, though.  If he's at all rude, they all walk away from him and he's left alone.  Herd animals need the protection of the group, so this has worked pretty well to teach Lynx that he needs to be respectful.

We went on a little field trip today after our training session.  I'm planning to take him to a small local schooling show next weekend, so I needed him to be current on vaccines and have a negative Coggins (a blood test that shows he's negative for EIA, equine infectious anemia).  We hauled to the vet since appointment times were scarce.  That meant traveling in my mirrored horse trailer, and once at the vet clinic, standing tied to it while seeing his reflection.  

The socialization has served him well, when he stood tied to the trailer he was polite and even a little friendly with his reflection. 

https://youtu.be/yFCguufuhps?is=qN0QkWHx9D0h7uqz

First Trotting Under Saddle

Mahzi the dog was willing to come out of retirement for me this morning to help with our training session.  Mostly that involved chasing the lunge whip during ground work (an old game she used to play with my border collie, Miles) but it counts for desensitization.

We got some real trotting today!  He starts out pacing, but we used the ground poles to get him to switch into a trot.  It's a very similar feeling to getting a stick shift vehicle to change gears, there's a noticeable surge and his trot gets much springier than the pace.  He also offered a step or two of canter as he tried to figure out in which pattern to move his feet.  I'll take whatever he offers, but for now we're focused on getting the trot, then getting it balanced.

His green bling is custom, courtesy of Chameleon Browbands.

https://youtu.be/vaF891sZK78?is=G3lt-EQbdyAnNndQ

Social Media Update Son of a Lynx

 https://youtu.be/EAbGCqhOc0Y?is=-pSR-JSSvrDF4CDA

Here is the link to go vote for us on the ReBrand Initiative FB page.  Remember, only likes and reactions on the ReBrand page count for the competition, though of course we love to see interactions everywhere!

Second Ride

Son of a Lynx went for a second ride today.  While mounting he was trying to step away from me and the mounting block if I made any sudden movements.  To fix this I got off the block and started jumping around erratically, putting weight in the stirrups with my hands, patting him and the tack. Initially he looked at me like I'd lost my mind!  He's starting to realize that while I'm a very strange human, at least I seem to be mostly harmless.  Once he came to this conclusion he stood quietly for my antics, and I was able to slide into the saddle.

Once I was on board and after a little explaining, he figured out that my leg pressure means "go forward".  He was a little "bunchy", feeking like he was tense and considering unplanned quick movements.  He did settle when I instead worked on figure eights and circles at the walk.  He of course already has brakes and steering using the bridle because he  was a driving horse, but I'm trying to add in weight shifts, breathing cues, and leg aids.  So far so good!

https://youtu.be/sNonPX1hZ0U?is=OTZ735NJDEMGtMrI