Wolf-Kim: My head is spinning!

[hwillm1977]

Pretty boy. What breed?

American Quarter Horse

Old foundation on his mother's side and Impressive and Pine Bar on his father's side.

He takes a lot after his mother, which is exactly what I wanted. Unfortunately the one thing he did get from his father are those small feet, probably from the Impressive breeding(halter horse type). Other than that, his build and temperment comes from his mother.

He really is a gorgeous boy! What a huge difference you've made in him... he looks like a different horse in the 'before' picture, and beautiful and sleek in the 'after' picture.

My girl is a quarter horse too. (appendix, and half thoroughbred but you would never really know) She does great in local halter classes and we're working on dressage and getting her pregnant now

 

[farmerlor]

Yes, it is awesome when they behave for the farrier. We condition all our horses for the farrier, but if they are going to act up, it will most likely be once the farrier is here. LOL

We had an older mare that would NOT let you mess with her back hooves. She was fine if you messing with her back legs, but something about picking them up set her off. She would cow kick. We decided that was going to stop quick because we don't accept dangerous behaviors, especially kicking. So we took her into the round pen, pick up her front feet like we were doing farrier work and then try her back with a rope. We would be very strict, if she even tensed her leg like she was trying to take it from you, we'd run her. After doing this a few more times and picking it up with our hands, she quit cow kicking and never ever had an issue out of her again.

Hmmm, that might be something that would work with my old girl. We have a PMU rescue, Perch who's 19 years old. When we got her she was 14 and headed to the meat sales and had NEVER had her feet touched. We have drugged her all these years to take care of her feet but man, that get expensive and I confess to letting it go a little longer than it should because of the hassle of moving a 2200 pound drugged horse around and the cost. But I'll give your method a try once I'm back on my feet and it warms up a bit.

 

[farmerlor]

Pretty boy. What breed?

American Quarter Horse

Old foundation on his mother's side and Impressive and Pine Bar on his father's side.

He takes a lot after his mother, which is exactly what I wanted. Unfortunately the one thing he did get from his father are those small feet, probably from the Impressive breeding(halter horse type). Other than that, his build and temperment comes from his mother.

Ah, I thought so. I've got a little appy mare who's got a lot of QH foundation if you go back far enough (why is it that app and QH are so intertwined anyway? You don't see that in any other horse breed.....wrong, always find a TB if you go back far enough in the QH pedigree) and she's got that same build MINUS the teacup feet. She is such a little sweetie. I'm hoping to slap some refresher on her if I ever get better and ride her.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Yes, give it a try. I like this method, because it's not direct restraining aggression. It's not like some people do and just tie the horse up tight, hobble their feet and do their feet that way. Horses settle disputes by the dominant horse making the more subordinate run until the dominant feels it has the message across.

Since your mare has such extreme behavior, here is what I would do.

First take her into the round pen. Get her to trot around a few times and then ask "whoa". Once she does stop, tell her 'good girl' and give her a scratch. Then repeat it a few more times. Then end the lesson.

The next day, take her in the round pen. Get her to trot, ask her whoa. Do that a couple of times. Then you want to attach a lead rope to her(or lunge line, if that's what you use). Rub her all over and work down her front legs(these are most often easiest) apply a little pressure just above the hoof and give her a command( I use "foot"). The moment she lets weight off that foot like she's even thinking about giving it to you. Tell her good girl and scratch her. Do it again, this time try to get her to lift the foot. If she does, hold it for just a second and put it down. End the lesson, tell her good girl, give her a scratch and then leave the round pen and put her away.

Next lesson, work on whoa. Then try the front foot again. If she holds it, move to the other front hoof. I always wait make sure both front feet are down perfect, before working on the back feet.

You want two people when training on their feet. One to hold the horse and moniter the horse by reading their displays. You want a horse smart person as your buddy. Because one will be holding the horse, while the other is working on the feet. Normally I will hold the horse while hubby does the feet, since I'm better at reading the horse. If those ears pin, that horse runs. If she jerks her foot away, she runs. If she strikes out, she runs A LOT. Offensive behaviors such as kicking, pawing, or biting equals a lot of running, these are more dangerous than defensive behaviors like shying or just pulling her feet away. Go slow, don't try to rush it.

For each lesson, set your goal small. First lesson=whoa. Second lesson=just picking up the hoof. Third lesson=picking up the hoof and holding it. Fourth=picking it up, holding it, and relaxing. Then repeat for the other feet.

For the back feet, we start with a rope. Just loop it around, just above the hoof, until she's picking it up, holding it and relaxing, before moving to hold it by hand.

You may also want to look into training her to hobble. Even if you never plan on hobbling her, it still desentizes them to their feet and legs. Because sometimes the issue is just that they don't like having their legs restrained. Hobble training can also save you hundreds of dollars, because hobble trained horses will stop and wait patiently if they ever entangle their legs in something(fence, wire, rope, etc) where as many horses not hobble-trained will panick and tear their legs up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye7kfKtlrDM

There are several training videos on YouTube. Take some time to watch them and then decide your course of action. After watching the videos, I highly suggest this training for your horse.

Good luck!

 

[farmerlor]

Hmmmm, I wonder if this means that my little Appy has been hobble trained? She once got tangle up in a hot wire (that wasn't hot obviously) and the ONLY way I knew it was that I noticed she'd been standing in that spot for hours and her baby was afraid to go near her. The baby was eating off the other mare so she didn't care.
LOL! You don't know Fiona. Trot, is not something she does. She's old, she's tired and she's bigger than me. She'll walk, she'll even walk fast for me but trot? No, that's probably not gonna happen. And she's been whipped before and it does not scare her. I've seen her run a couple times when she thought the baby (not her baby, see above baby) was in trouble or she thought she might be missing dinner.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Time for an update.

We reclaimed our peach tree. Researching the type of spray we need to get on it for a good peach harvest this year. The pear trees need to be pruned to start their training. They were only planted last spring but already have poor growth structure.

The strawberries need to be thinned and spread out. The rest of the gardens need to be mulched.

Hubby and I are getting spring fever and planning the gardens already. Hoping to expand on out herb garden. Adam will be getting his grapes this year, his extended family rooted some runoffs for us last year.

All three rabbit does have a litter of rabbits on them.

Ordered some redworms today, they should be here in a few days. I'm going to start a bin of redworms and a bin of European nightcrawlers. The redworms will be main source of compost and vermiculite. The Euros will be bred and extras released straight into the garden for direct fertilization and aeration.

The bin is ready for them, they just have to get here and we can check that off the list.

We'll be getting bees this spring, just have to wait for the extra money to come in.

So things are getting done, what an exciting feeling!

The new chicken tractor which was just in the 'tossing the idea around' stage, is now sitting in the backyard, thanks to a surprise from my husband. It was to be finished today, but it's cold and rainy out there and I'm perfectly content to sit here next to the fire. LOL So meaties will be a new project this year!

Blackjack has fully recovered and I've now been on his back 4-5 times now without incident or injury. Time and daylight are my biggest dilemmas with his training. I've been working 10-7 and soon will be working 12-9; ugh, what horrible shifts. But I graduate my CNA class in May and will work as a CNA, hopefully with better hours and definately better pay. LOL

Going out for coffee now. Be back later!

 

[valmom]

Oh, very handsome boy, by the way!

The worms in the title caught my eye- I kept mine over the winter in the sunroom. I am going to let them loose in the garden this spring to thin them out.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Oh, very handsome boy, by the way!

The worms in the title caught my eye- I kept mine over the winter in the sunroom. I am going to let them loose in the garden this spring to thin them out.

What type of worms do you have? I've heard the the nightcrawlers do well in the garden, but I've heard that the actual redworms would die within a couple hours of being released. Haven't experienced that myself, I think as long as they are kept moist and have plenty of organic material, I don't see why they wouldn't be fine, it was just what I've read.

Were they a burden to keep in the sunroom? Did they stink or did their bin leak or anything unpleasant like that?

We don't have a sunroom, so I'm curious how they do keeping them in a living space.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Ended up going to Wally world, they started putting out veggies and I found some Lemon Thyme, couldn't pass it up.

So now we have some Lemon Thyme to add to the herb garden. That brings the total to the mint, rosemary, and now lemon thyme. Hey, it's a start!

 

[Wolf-Kim]

My worms came today! A few died, but the rest wriggled away into their new home. As I peered over the tub filled with rabbit poo and old hay to my new friends squirming into their new environment, I grinned and thought go, go and multiply, eats tons of poo and garbage and turn it into black gold. *buahahaha*

The chicken tractor is almost complete. Just have to ziptie some plastic roofing panels down and voila, it's done. Now I just have to find some partners to bulk order some meaties with. We only want 25, but the more you order, the cheaper you get them.

-Kim