Horse Training

I have continued to work with my horse over the last several months.  The summer, this year, was too hot to do much riding.  So with fall here, my horse and I have been putting in some quality time.  Being an Arabian she is always going to be a little temperamental.  But over the last few months I have seen her start to come out of her fear/flight instincts.  It has been a rewarding experience to see this kind of change in horse like her. 

Tarps have always been a hard thing for her, it moves, makes a noise, and they come in different shapes size and colors.  A true monster for this horse.  She is now starting to lip the tarp.  I was so excited.  Hopefully one day she will be able to confidently walk right under it and not blink and eye.
Until next time...Rebekah.

Horse with a Sore Back

My horse has been off the last half of November, December and January due to a sore back.  We started doing light ground work the first of February.  She had lost all of her muscle tone.  The vet was not sure as to why her back was sore because her saddle fit properly.  We have a new pad and are taking things at a much slower rate now.  Here are some pictures that were taken a few weeks ago.

You can see from the above pictures that she has very little hindquarter muscles and her forequarters are also under developed at this point in time.  Her coat, hair and hooves are very healthy.  She also has all of her energy back and is not sluggish now or resistant.

Week 4

This week we mainly focused on the same thing all week.  Riding, riding and more riding.  I rode 4 days this week and kept it to an hour and a half to 2 hours, 30 to 40 min of trotting with the same time spent walking and 5 to 10 min of canter somewhere in the middle. 

Khari's mouth seemed sore after 2 days this week of riding in a full cheek snaffle, so I rode in a rope halter one day, and then went back to her Myler comfort snaffle.  Her head quit bobbing up and down and she seemed more relaxed.  Her back, legs, and feet seem to be handling the work fine.  I did notice a little thrush in her feet so I started a bleach and water treatment to kill it.  All in all she seems to like it.

My goal is to slowly increase the distance, with shorter days of speed training.  I need to find a few longer trails and take her on them.