Wednesday, June 1, 2011

It's All The Rage

It's kind of funny that Paint Girl's recent post was about her testing the waters with her 2 y/o, Chance....(as if any of you don't read her blog...LOL)

It really wasn't my intention today to copycat that. ;-) But the sorrel horse pulled back while I was trying to halter him and it really pissed me off. Every spring and summer, I end up dealing with this horse becoming a nightmare to halter. Dangerous even, as he is quite violent about slinging his head and yanking away. Why he primarily does it in the spring and summer, I do not know. I suspect a bit of it has to do with the fact that he has the papillomavirus in his ears. However, several of my brother's horses have that and nothing else becomes headshy unless the virus is active. Since I realized what was going on a couple of years ago and have doctored everyone's ears that have the virus, I have had no problems with active lesions. I guess I could understand if the sorrel horse was actually sensitive about his ears...but he is not. He's quite willing to let me rub his ears and smear Swat in and around them to keep the knats out. If it was something he did all of the time, I might suspect he needed his poll adjusted...but that is not the case either. So while it may have some physical roots, I am leaning toward...the damn horse has nothing better to do than overreact when it suits him. He may be fine 5 times in a row and freak the sixth time or he may freak out about it for days on end. I also know he gets over it reaaaallll quick when his BS is not tolerated. ;-)

After he freaked out on me and drug me half way around the round pen, I got out the flag and put his butt to work. When he finally grew his brain back and dropped his head into the halter properly...I figured I had taken all the wind out of his sails and it was as good a time as any to...



He's actually a pretty neat little horse. Whatever his 'boogery' issues are about when being handled on the ground, they don't translate to when he is being ridden. THANK GOD!

Remember what I said last post about, Monkey see, Monkey do?...
First Megan flopped all over B, then she scooched into a sitting position...
Sat up and rubbed B all over...
Scooched back, flopped all over her some more and slid off...
Beretta took a few steps of her own accord and then just stopped. Meg flexed her both directions while sitting on her and we called it good. Does that count as a first ride? ;-)

* Using a bucket with a handle on it is NOT recommended as a stepping stool. If a horse/colt knocks it over, they can get a leg through that and it's a hellava wreck. I told Meg that, but she was already on.

16 comments:

Mikey said...

That's the way to do it though. Just nice and easy, bareback in a halter, having fun. No big pressure, just playing around. Meg is surely your daughter :)

cdncowgirl said...

Can you send Meg down in a year or two when its time to hop on my colts? I just can't do the bareback thing, even on a broke horse lol

But did I miss something? Little Miss B had someone up on her back, has Shooter had his turn?

GoLightly said...

Love the look on their faces. "Hmmm. This is interesting. I had a feeling they'd do this to me one day."
Kudos to starting off right!

Fantastyk Voyager said...

That is so cool! My Yalla! is still too little. I'm looking at next year.

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Lisa-I did the same thing to Shooter last spring, before I took him back to South Dakota. I have been trying to get to SD for the last couple of months, so I can pick him up and get him started proper. First it was the weather, then the EHV-1...now I am just waiting for my mare to foal before going back to get him.

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Oh and you guys know what is funny? When I was a kid, I used to crawl all over the colts like this and everybody was like 'Don't do that. You'll ruin them. They need to be broke first. Blah, Blah, Blah.'

Now look...30 years later and I have reverted back-LOL.

Sherry Sikstrom said...

Wonderful! Do you girls want to slip up here for a few weeks this summer? just for a visit , yeah thats it , and if you feel like riding some colts...

Carroll Farm said...

Very cool. I like the no pressure, just enjoying the horse.

GunDiva said...

You are such a brat! You hopped up bareback without a mounting block or a bucket or anything. Ugh. I hate you a little for that, you know. Okay, so I actually heart you a lot and I'm hugely jealous.

I'm glad they're coming along and Meg is most certainly your daughter.

Anonymous said...

Colts schmoltz! Casey could use a refresher. It's been about a year since anyone was on his back. And he's had a bit of a 'tude change since then! Come on down and take him for a spin!

Oh, and I must be the one reader who doesn't read Paint Girl. Only so many minutes in the day to myself when we're homeschooling! I'll wander over and read her shortly so I'm not left out.

Shirley said...

Nice to get on them the first time and they take it in stride. That pulling back business is really annoying. I never take it for granted that even my old broke horses won't pull back for some unbeknownst reason, and always tie them accordingly- better safe than sorry.

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

fern-Umm...When it's a 110 degrees here and we are melting...yup...we'll head that way. ;-)

GD-Believe me, the sorrel horse is S.H.O.R.T. I was kinda surprised I got up there so easily myself. LOL

Shirley-Luckily it's not a tying issue, although I am careful about any sudden moves when he is tied. It's a haltering issue. He spazzes when I am buckling the halter. He's got his timing down pretty good. :-/

GunDiva said...

It's not as though Estes is TALL. Heck, she's barely not a pony. It's that I got no springs. And no legs to speak of.

Rising Rainbow said...

I got some colts here that need to get started. I wish I was raging right with you but it's too cold for these old bones. I'm waiting for drier weather and hopefully before that happens I'll get my brain examined and realize I'm just too old to be starting colts. Then you can come visit me on your way back from Canada and FernValley.

in2paints said...

I love the look on their faces... definitely processing the situation but they were both very good!

Paint Girl said...

I'm glad to know I'm not the only crazy chic just jumping up on a 2 yr old! I never thought I would do something like that, but Chance is so trusting of me and I actually really trust her! I had a feeling she would handle it quite well. I can't wait to do it again, maybe this time I'll get all the way on like Megan!! Or maybe Megan can come up here and test it out for me!
My Arab Brandy pulls back, she has gotten better but she will catch me off guard after a year without doing it, then all of a sudden she just does it. It drives me crazy!