Self propelled guilt trip

It's been waaaaaay hot these past couple o'days, and I haven't gone out to the barn to see the horsie.

I feel bad!! Honestly, though, I'm not sure he's concerned, since he's still getting fed, and that's Altivo's main concern in life.

But, prior to my hiatus from the barn, I started training him to lay down for mounting. (Read the last post if you need to know why...)  I found a few videos on YouTube and immediately headed to the barn to make use of my new-found expertise.
Well, Mr. Lippy was more concerned about getting his treat than figuring out what I wanted, but he at least figured out the idea of lifting his foot up when lowering his head, so even if I ask him to lower his head for his carrot stretch, he picks his foot up.

I've got a lesson scheduled for tomorrow night, but on one of my instructor's horses. We both think I'm ready to move to more advanced things than walking in circles, but Altivo isn't advanced enough in HIS training to allow me to learn what I need to know. Once I get more advanced on a better trained horse, I can use those learned techniques while riding him. He hasn't shown any more tripping or falling episodes, so I've been riding him and walking him up and down hills and the steps in the outdoor arena.

Well, I know this wasn't a very exciting update, but have no fear, bold readers, I'll be back with more hijinks later!!!

Oh, and here's a link to a great horse rescue- the owner updates the homepage every morning, never archives it, so if you don't check it everyday, you don't get to read that day's post. He also never updates the horses for adoption on his ranch, but trust me, this guy is an angel, and his writing style is lovely!!

TB Friends

Till next time!!

I haz a saddle!

The heat of the summer is officially here, and it needs to leave now. I've never done well in heat, and I can't see myself forcing my horse to work for me in the blistering heat, so we've been waiting until dark lately to do any groundwork.

And the other day, I let him see his old friend, Mr. Hose. Altivo didn't seem to care about the hose or the water spraying him- didn't seem to really like it, but he also didn't fuss about it. Then he turned his head toward me, and I aimed the hose at his mouth.

He's a mouthy horse to begin with, and letting him chew at the water stream coming out of the hose was heaven for him!! He followed the hose when I moved it, licking at the water and opening his mouth really wide....silly horsie!!

Oh, and the mail came!!! Lookie-

It's the Abetta draft saddle I talked about last blog- it's way comfy, and I put it on him without a cinch just to snap a picture. I'll put my cinch on it and snap a picture of it actually ON him....I put it on him last night and tightened it on- I made sure to go slowly and bit by bit like my teacher said, since yanking it tight the first time can make a horse sensitive to the cinching up process, and I want to make saddling up as happy as it could be with me. I bought a back cinch to help keep the saddle on him, since he's round like a barrel, and it didn't come with a back cinch connector strap. That's one of these:

It connects the front cinch with the back cinch so the back one doesn't slip back and work it's way into the horse's no no spot. That can cause them to become annoyed and think that bucking you off is a great idea.

Oh, and I went with the ESP saddle pad by Classic Equine- I got a great deal on eBay, and it's black and cream, which is nice and understated....though I totally wanna get one of these to go over it!!

The next thing is to find a pulling breast collar that fits him- but I was hoping to find a fleece lined leather one in black....but it seems that in the draft horse world you can't be too picky....I haven't managed to find what I'm looking for yet.

I can't wait for my next lesson- I actually have everything I need to tack him up and have him ready to ride when my teacher arrives! Whoo!!

And on the training note- kissing and tapping his leg now has a 50% chance of him lifting his foot for me....what a change from the day I got him- when the girl showing him told HorseFriend- "if you can lift his foot up I'll buy you a soda, he just won't do it"....HA!