Note's Improvements

I've said it before and I'll say it again, when training horses fast is slow and slow is fast. I've been so meticulous with Note's training and getting him to respond appropriately, for MONTHS. Thursday last week he started real grid work. Apparently he then spent the weekend thinking about it.

When Note and I did it again today I had a different horse under me. Incidentally, he also must have discussed it with Highboy over the weekend, because Note had a couple Highboy-esque celebratory hops after each well done round today, too.

For comparison's sake, here's the best photo we had from his jumping session Thurs, side by side with his best photo from today.  This horse is SMART, it's his best quality and his worst.  He truly must have spent the weekend pondering the jump grid to have such a marked difference in his form today.

I've had other horses that were this smart, who would take their time off to improve their game.  It's a blessing and a curse.  Today his flat work was mediocre at best, he was bored and wanted to get back to the fun stuff.  Now that he's getting the idea of how to play the jumping game he's starting to really enjoy it.

Here is some video from his work today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-5d3Gu53aY

Note Rides With the Girls

Note, (Jockey Club One For Nothing) has had a wonderful boring week! Riding in the arena and working through a jumping grid, riding out in the back 40 with Darby and Sara, and today was a giant victory. We rode in the arena with the mares on whom he has the biggest crush (this ex-stallion likes him some well endowed quarter horse buns).

He was well behaved, focused on me, and made minimal comments on the mares. Then we rode out to the back pastures with two of the alluring girls, and he behaved himself nicely while we walked around in close vicinity to them in the fields. Who knew that this horse with such a temper could be so reasonable!

Note at the Circus

Over Memorial day weekend we set up the Bit of Honey Circus.  It consists mostly of toys I scrounged from the dollar store, though I do have plans to fortify some of the obstacles with PVC pipe to make them a bit more durable than just my pool noodles!  Note enjoyed himself and did well with all the obstacles.  Despite there being several mares in the arena with him he kept his focus on me and was very level headed about all the horse monsters masquerading as tinsel and balloons.  Track life prepares horses so well for many other endeavors.  The busy-ness and commotion at the track makes for horses who generally adapt well to all kinds of stimuli!

There were several other Thoroughbreds who participated as well.  Some are retired racehorses, some never saw their first race.  CANTER Colorado owned Sweetpeacefuldream was in training here and went with me to the 2015 Retired Racehorse Project Makeover in Kentucky to compete in showjumping, but her new owner brought her back to Bit of Honey specifically for the circus this weekend!

Sweetpeacefuldream

Xena, now owned by Bit of Honey and called Raven

Colorado High, "Highboy"

Doit's Cat, "Dewey"

Note Goes to Horse Yoga

A friend of mine has a fundraiser in lieu of a birthday party every year.  This year we had an afternoon of horse yoga (humans doing yoga with horses, not the horses doing yoga).  Everyone who participated gave a donation to help the family of a colleague who was a horse person and yoga person, who passed away a few months ago from a brain tumor.

Tao the Haflinger went with his owner, Kathy, and Darby the Quarter Horse type went with Jasi, and I took Note for the traveling experience.  He's not yet reliable enough for me to actually do yoga with him, but he needs as many field trips as he can get, so off to yoga he went!  I loaded Tao in the trailer first, then Darby, then I left an open stall to leave room in case Note got silly, then Note went in last.  It was partly an experiment to see how he would haul with horses other than Fason, his roommate.  We had success again!  Note loaded right up, traveled well, and settled once we arrived even faster than he had settled at the show the previous weekend.

The other two horses are very seasoned travelers and are accustomed to such adventures.  Highboy was left behind since I was taking Note, and boy was he upset!  He knew there was one more spot open in the horse trailer, and when I emerged from the tack room with Note's leather halter Highboy was falling all over himself declaring, "Pick me!  Pick me!"  Unfortunately he had to stay home, so he had to content himself with bucking a little in his paddock.

Once everyone had arrived, we convened in the muddy arena to have introductions.  I kept Note a safe distance away from everyone, since he's not opposed to throwing a few kicks in here and there to spice things up. 

Once everyone had introduced themselves and we recognized our friend who had passed away, the yoga began!

There was all kinds of stretching performed by the humans, and Darby kept trying to steal the show by smooching on Jasi mid-pose.

I couldn't always make out the names of the yoga poses, but after looking through photos I dubbed this one Starfish:

These others were interesting to watch as well.

Since Note needs more mileage before he can be a yogi himself, we spent our time walking around the other end of the arena, hand grazing, and having a good look at both the elderly stallion and the broodmares.

I suspect Note is taking in the view and pondering how much wetter and greener it is here than where he last raced in Arizona! 

Note at the Show

The trailer ride to and from the show today was a success!  About a year ago when we came home from Greeley after his cryptorchid gelding surgery, Note had gone into self-destruct mode in the trailer.  This memory was bright in my mind, so partly this show was a first field trip to see how he handled a trailer ride with another horse in it.  (If the trailer's a rockin, don't go a knockin!)  But today Note did great with Fason in the trailer with him.  Uncle Fason is so good for so many babysitting duties.  I did put Fason in first, leave an empty stall, then loaded Note.  That way if Note pitched a fit he couldn't reach anyone else to do damage.  It was a total non-issue, though.  Note was excited, but no kicking or excessive screaming in the trailer.  

Because of a hectic morning, Note and I ended up only doing western showmanship at the saddle club show today.  There was lots of commotion at the show grounds, including kids riding mares near Note.  He was stunned at the sight of a quarter horse doing spins and backing long distances in the warm up area as preparation for reining.  Apart from gawking at the sight of a horse going as fast as possible in circles, Note really was quiet and well behaved on the lunge line and in hand. 

 I was proud of him.  He looked at everything, taking it all in, and while I was handling him he really behaved himself well.   He spent time tied at the trailer with his hay net, just like we practice at home.  He settled in nicely while tied to the trailer, and while I was handling him before and during the showmanship class he paid close attention to me.  It was a great first outing!  Hopefully next time the morning will go more smoothly and we'll arrive in time to ride in the english classes, but for today I was happy I had some extra western wear on hand. 

We got a little video of his showmanship pattern which can be seen here:

Note thought breakfast arrived awfully early

Note Free Jumping and Tarp Training

Today Note and I went to the round pen to play.  He has become a typical Bit of Honey horse in that he loves to jump, even without a rider.  I prefer to introduce jumping to horses this way because it gives them a chance to figure out what is required of their bodies without a rider to balance as well.  Note enjoyed himself running around the round pen and jumping the barrels, and also took a couple swings at Mazhi my dog when she tried a little too hard to motivate him. 

Some video of Note free jumping can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWbP3hE3Uys

Once we were done jumping we decided to mess around with some of the toys I keep in the round pen.  First were the tires, which Note has seen before. Mahzi helped with the obstacles as well since she is so good at demonstrating they are harmless.

Lastly we worked with the tarp.  Usually something big, green, flappy, and moving is scary for a horse.  However, I have a few ways of introducing the tarp which minimize the boogey-monster qualities.  Sometimes I introduce it with cookies, so whenever the horse approaches the tarp they get a treat.  However, I didn't have any treats on me today so I decided to use one of my other techniques.  This one involves chasing - but it's the horse chasing the tarp.  It works really well with horses who are curious and intelligent.  Note is also a very confident fellow and is always keen to boss someone or something around, so this method was going to work well with him.

I began by standing near the tarp with the dogs so Note could check it out and see that the dogs didn't think it was anything dangerous.  He went up to it and did some snorting and honking, also poking it with his nose.  Because my tarp has been around for a few years it's in rough shape, which worked in my favor today since I could grab a smaller piece and drag that around. 

I picked up a section of the tarp and I proceeded to walk away from Note with it.  Once it started moving Note really began to pay attention.  He followed it, still snorting and honking.  This began our game of "chase".  When Note stopped, the tarp would stop.  When Note started chasing, the tarp would retreat away from him.  In Note's point of view, this monster could be herded around the round pen, and monsters are much less scary if they run away from you!  It was a fun game for him, and he even grabbed a piece of it and tore it off.  Eventually it wasn't a scary thing anymore, and he took a break to roll.  After his sand bath he resumed following the tarp around.  Tarp training:  mission accomplished.

Here is some video of Note chasing the tarp:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ne6Rdw9KYs