EQUINE UPDATES!

moving.

2007-08-30T11:47:09Z

i can't keep track of 2 journals so..
i'm moving to mymangotree
which is my personal journal.
but i have made a custom friends group for pony entries.
so if you'd like to be added to that group, leave me a comment.
i will most likely add you! thanks. xx

lessons on mooka

2007-08-10T05:35:02Z

somehow mum talked me into giving 13 year old owen and my brother, riding lessons on mooka. so owen came around at 2pm today, and felix, him and i went up and caught the mooka pony and i taught them how to groom and saddle up etc. owen got on first and i taught him the basics. then i let him experiment by himself in the big paddock. i don't like to step continually unless either 1. the horse is getting yanked around and being ridden in a painful kind of way 2. the rider is in danger 3. the rider is really very confused. otherwise, i'm a believer in experimenting and praciticing over and over until you figure it out. mooka is a great teacher. felix and owen were like "he's so stubborn" "he won't go where i want him to" "he WONT go". =D haha. but they figured it out and were soon trotting around and having fun.

tinto and mango were going CRAZY in the next paddock. galloping in huge circles, leaping, bucking etc. we were all yelling "show off!" at mango cause she just is! she's such a prancy little thing, and when she slips or trips she gets all angry and embarressed and does a huge buck/leap kind of thing just to pretend that she's actually really 'with it'. ha ha! tinto came flying up at one point and when she was level with us she did this massive buck and then flipped over and landed upside-down. it was HILARIOUS. but i felt so sorry for the poor baby, she's such a little galoot. she scrambled up and went galloping off in shame. i went and checked her over. she was fine. *shakes head* they are too crazy.

my baby pony

2007-08-06T10:51:27Z

omg. I LOVE HER.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/august/Mwahs.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/august/OmgPerfection.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/august/Shnoozle.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/august/TugOfWar.jpg

collection through transitions

2007-08-06T10:42:33Z

sat in the paddock today for like half an hour with tinto and mango and just chatted. mango is so. so. cute. she was practically in my lap, snuffling around at everything and trying to steal the halter i had. oh and i found out that her favourite place to be rubbed is her chest. hehe. i caught tinto and groomed, saddled and then mounted in the 2nd paddock. walked her to the dirt corner and then did walk and trot circles for about 30 minutes. no canter today. practiced collection through transitions. she's in the habit of coming out of frame when we do any transitions at the moment, so that's what i worked on. i was really happy at one point where we went: halt, walk, trot, walk, halt - all in collection. it was only once, but i'm quite pleased. she's so good to work with now. i love her incredibly. she's so cute and shy and wanting to please! &hearts;

need more riding pictures!

let's sing lullabies...

2007-08-02T08:08:01Z

quick update... horses have been locked in 1st paddock up until today, been loading the float full of hay every day and miracuosly, it's vanishing. woohoo! i also put a bucket up the very front with some chaff in... all gone. ^_^ so they've been going inside the float and eating, which is great. not sure WHO exactly... really hoping it's mango! and yeah... need to ring judy soon about weaning. farrier's coming soon. *stresses*

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/august/NoWay.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/august/Munchkin.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/august/Mang.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/august/Float.jpg

these autumn leaves, i dont have nothing to hold

2007-07-26T06:01:17Z

pictures

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/Zoom.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/Thunder.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/Spring.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/ShowOff.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/Playing.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/Pelt.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/HelloLithelChild.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/Elegant.jpg

today mum helped me get the float into the 1st pony paddock. tinto must have either thought that there was another horse inside, or that i was going to take her somewhere, 'cause she went absolutley crazyyy! so of course mango joined in. they were pelting around and trying to round up poor mooka (who really can't be bothered wasting all the energy escaping something that is of no harm to him). so i finally coaxed the ponies out of paddock 2 and locked them in paddock 1, with the float. let down the ramp and put a huge pile inside, then left. i'm hoping that tinto and mooka will venture in and out to get the hay, setting an example for mango. my aim is to get her to judy's before the farrier comes. haha, i so don't want to go through with that drama again.

it's been a while...

2007-07-24T11:21:53Z

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/001.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/002.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/003.jpg
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http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/005.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/006.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/007.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/008.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/009.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/010.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/011.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/012.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/013.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/014.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/015.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/July/016.jpg

wow, i havn't updated for ages! i guess it's time for some more photos and news, lol.

mango has grown into a little cyco. she makes me laugh so much! she's the cheekiest, craziest, strangest little thing ever. she does the BEST mad-bucking-leaping-gallops, but i never seem to have my camera with me when she does, which is so frustrating! i'll have to be on high alert from now on... =P she's in serious need of being weaned. she's 210 days old, and feeling her power. tinto and mooka are the ones who should be teaching her how to behave properly, but mooka's such a softie, and seeing as tinto is a first time mum and has no other experianced mares to 'explain' child care to her, she just doesn't know how to act. so of course, mango is the boss - and she knows it. the way she pushes those two poor horses around is unbelieveable. quite hilarious actually... but it's got to the point where i think she could turn dangerous if she doesn't get put back in her place. my plan is to take her to judy's place (my old riding instructor and friend) and leave her there for a while. she'll be put in with some mares who have had experiance with dealing with foals, so hopefully she'll learn how to be respectful. now i just have to work out HOW to get this ball of energy onto the float without being killed. =D at the moment i'm feeding her out of a bucket that hangs on the fence (she was terrifyed of it to start with, so funny). soon, i'll hang it up inside the float and put some feed in, then let her go in and out as she pleases. then judy will come and help me get her inside, and she'll be carted away to boarding school, mwahaha. >=D

tinto is pretty fed up with her child who has not yet stopped suckling off her, which is understandable... and is coming along nicely under saddle. at the moment i'm just working on collection in walk, trot and a little canter, and lots of transitions. she's not doing too badly with jumping either. she's such a gun. i love riding her. she has so much power and energy.

mooka is well, although he has dierreha at the moment. he gets it every year with the new grass coming on. he's up to date with worming... just needs more dry feed, so i've got him on that. oh and my brothers friends have suddenly become interested in riding. so he was a very polite gentleman and let four twelve-year old boys get on him and have a short ride each. haha, they loved it. currently feeding - 1 cup gumnuts, 1/2 cup oats, 1 cup soaked copra, 1 scoop oaten chaff, 1 scoop lucerne chaff. minus the gumnuts for mango.

how sweet. ♥

photo post

2007-06-16T09:53:45Z

judy over

2007-06-16T00:03:32Z

so on wednesday judy came with her two friends who are into horses and wanted to come and watch mango being worked. all 3 horses were in the round yard, so i took tinto and mooka and tied them to the outside and judy began to play with mang. just keeping in time with her front feet. when she walked, judy would walk, when mango stopped, she'd stop. it only took like 10/15 minutes and and mango had walked right up to her and she could rub under her chin and on her face. it took hours to do that last time. so obviously me working with her this often has made a difference.

a few times there mango laid her ears back, and when she did that judy sent her away with more energy. when she got to stand in front of her, she'd take her chin in one hand and kind of rock it really gently (you could hardly notice) until she softened. she then proceeded to work around to mango's wither, so that she could be in haltering position. mang didnt think much of that! =P but she got there in the end, holding her under the chin and asking for her head to come around to her shoulder, a nice softning excercise.

she then rubbed her with the rope and put a loop of it over her face, then took it off. there were a few times that she could have put the halter on perfectly, but it's important that she didnt 'betray' mango's trust, if that makes sense. finally she put the rope around her neck. mango was nice and quiet for her. she led her around like that for a while and then walked around to her shoulder, but nope, she doesnt like that. she pulled back a few times and jude almost lost her but no quite.

she asked me in to have a go and she guided me through what i was doing wrong. i need to be able to take up the rope really smoothly, walk to her shoulder not holding her back, but blocking her so she cant block me. when she stops moving around, i stop to reward her. then i start up again. soon i could stand beside her wither and pat her all over. did it on each side a few times. she pulled back once, but i managed to go with her so it didnt jerk on her. did a few other things and then let her go carefully and everyone clapped lol.

i know that alot of this probably doesnt make sense, but i'm just writing it as notes for myself. ;] oh, farrier came on thursday and did tinto and mooka but not mango. judy and i decided that it would be more damaging to her brain to get them done, than to her feet if they were left undone. they're pretty good anyway. =]

the last few days.

2007-06-12T09:32:06Z

been too busy to update to every time i've worked with mango, so i'll do it all now. since thursday i've had 4 training sessions with her. on thursday i put tinto and mooka in kate's little yard and followed mango around with the halter, just being with her. she was pretty relaxed about it all... she came up a few times to sniff me all over and say hello, but i didnt make alot of progress in that hour. on friday the round yard had arrived! =D it's so damn good, i'm really really happy. so after dad, mum, felix and i put it up, i got mango in and tied tinto and mooka outside, in their paddock - about 100 meters away i guess. looking back, i should have let mango settle in to the new situation before trying to work with her, she just got really spooky and went trotting around working herself into a sweat and whinnying. i couldnt get near her so i took mooka in which calmed her down alot (good old moo man ^_^) and i was able to get a little closer but still nothing great. it was a pretty bad session really, just frustrating for both of us. but oh well, you live and learn.

on saturday, mum drove me to unicorn stables at 1pm. tiffany and caitlin were there, wooh!! =D havnt seem those girls in ages. we had lunch and then caitlin went and got changed and judy, tiff and myself drove up the hill to get get brandy and her 1 year old foal, sage. both gorgeous buckskins. jude told me that brandy was the horse she wanted me to work with. she's been giving people a lot of trouble lately, apparantly she's been bordering on dangerous... the people who handle her either are too wishy washy or agressive, and she doesnt respond well to either of these methods. she's also really hard to catch because of previous owners tricking her with food and trapping her to get the halter on. but we did manage to get her and sage in the end and we led them out of the car windows. i took brandy. she pulled back once and i let go of the rope so she could go back, but was still holding the end, so i just reeled her back in. =P got them down to the tie up, and i groomed brandy. tiff was with her QH x banjo, caitlin with her 3yo morgan x tb, cassi and judy had sage. we led them down to the round yard and judy proceeded to teach us about softness... it was really interesting and i learnt alot. at first brandy was coming into my space and was a bit bargy, but judy said she was looking really nice and soft after a little while. i spose we experimented for about 30 minutes and then put them away in their paddocks. tiff left and caitlin and i just hung about and then we noticed that cassi was walking down the road grazing, we were like "what the?". =P she jumped the fence. caitlin caught her, and we found there was a tree down on a part of it. so i got a halter and went to catch brandy. and oh i'm so proud! i caught her first shot, she didnt even attempt to walk away! =D so that was saturday.

on sunday, i put mooka, tinto and mango into the round yard at about 10am and left them there until around 1pm, to let them settle in. came back and they all were doping around looking happy. =] i did some of the softning work i did at unicorn stables, with tinto and mooka and they responded well. mooka knows what i want when i ask for softness, but he kind of ignores it... probably because he's got the 'quiet horse syndrome'. cause people kind of take his quietness for granted and cut corners. which i have been guilty of... but i made him a promise that i would never take it for granted again. ♥ and tinto... hmm, tinto. she can be a very needy horse. as soon as she gets either confused, upset or challenged, she'll walk right up to me, straight into my space and just stand there needing to reassured. and that's not such a good thing. i want her to be brave by herself. so i worked with getting her to stay out of my space. =]
mango was next. it's always hard to describe what i do with her. it doesnt sound like much when i write it down, but it's alot when i'm actually doing it. i made sure i kept in time with her front hooves, staying in the space i would if i was going to put the halter on, and i followed her like that for about an hour, and stood with her like that when she stopped. she came up more this time, and she let me work her much closer.

and today! was better than yesterday, in terms of mango boo. she walked to me about 6 times, and i scrubbed her under the chin and down her neck, on her shoulders and her rump. i gave her the rope and she chewed it around a bit. i put a loop of the rope over her face and got her used to that. she was nibbling my fingers too... i better watch that, it could turn into biting. after an hour, i transfered the ponies from the round yard to the house paddock and mucked out. stacked the ute with hay and drove it down for them. then mixed their chaff feeds and that was it. phew, long update. oh, sorry i havnt got any photos... well i do, but i cant upload them cause computers being a [beep].

judy's coming tommorow!

catching training.

2007-06-06T04:13:57Z

judy arrived at 9.30am this morning. i'd caught tinto and mooka before hand and tied them in the house paddock. we both went down and mango was lying down at tintos feet and didnt want to get up, lol. ♥ i explained to judy about how i feel that i'm kind of stuck at the moment and dont know what to do. how mango is harder to get near after the farrier, more spooky. judy ended up spending 1 and a 1/2 hours on getting mango to feel comfortable enough to let her walk to her shoulder with the halter. yes, it took that long. we didnt want to rush anything. you see, mango's fine when she's got the halter on. she knows how to be led around and how to respond to pressure. but what she doesnt know, is how to be caught in a big space. every time i've haltered her has been in a small yard - it can JUST fit two horses in, and they cant move around, so we're talking pretty small. it's been like a 'trapping' experiance for her - nothing scarring, but it's just that she hasnt had the option to walk away if she feels she needs to.

so today, we put tinto and mooka in the yard so they couldnt distract mang, and judy spent all that time getting her to be comfortable with her walking to her shoulder. she didnt try to make anything happen, it was all about asking for it to happen. and if mango wanted to walk away, that was fine. because she had the option to do so, it made her want to be with judy even more. you could see she SO wanted to be with her... but she just had that unsureness. she was following her around a few times, it was so gorgeous. a few times she got so much energy inside her she had to have a big bucking canter around the paddock, hehe. she layed her ears back a few times - a sign that she wanted jude to back off a bit and give her space. but gosh, she made SO much progress. her expression was so relaxed and beautiful. really really happy. i'm so glad judy could come - like i said, i felt kind of stuck. but now its better.

i'm going to try and do 1 hour to 1 and a 1/2 hours each day, of that kind of work. and i'm hoping that within 10 days i'll be able to catch her okay out in the paddock by myself. the farrier is coming in about 10 days, so i want her to be better prepared for that. so yep! photos:

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/June/Judy1.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/June/Judy2.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/June/Judy3.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/June/Judy4.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/June/Judy5.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/June/Judy6.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/June/Judy7.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/June/Judy8.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/June/Judy9.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/June/Judy10.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/June/Judy11.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/June/Judy12.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/June/Judy13.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/June/Judy14.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/June/Judy15.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/June/Judy16.jpg

new camera

2007-06-04T05:20:40Z

photo post.

2007-06-03T08:40:18Z

equineupdates @ 2007-05-22T17:12:00

2007-05-22T08:13:22Z

equineupdates @ 2007-05-16T10:55:00

2007-05-16T01:16:57Z

went out this morning to take tinto on a short ride. finally! havnt been able to ride her for a while now, everything seems so busy. but anyway, went n got her, lunged her for a few minutes then groomed & tacked up. mango was fiddling around with the plastic trough, tehe cutie... she was biting it with all her might. anyway got on in the second paddock & just walked around a bit. she was a bit sluggish. wish i could find my dressage whip. =S got her into trot & she started collecting. did a bit of that for a while & then tried to bring her into canter still collected but she always puts her head up. tried a few times but nah, wasnt working. i decided since she hasnt been worked for a while i wouldnt concentrate too much on the collection, so i just tried to get her gaits more free flowing & even. wasnt the best ride but hopefully i can have a go again tommorow & we can do some more. =] should have seen mango! she was going crazyyyy, galloping flat out up & down, bucking and rearing. she's absolutley stunning! love her so much, she's such a cute little pudding. unfortuneatly i got hardly ANY good photos. camera was out of battery, woop de doo. >=[ but anyways...

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Zooom.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Cutie.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Lil.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Yay.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Wah.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Spirited.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Silly.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Woot.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Oh.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Lookk.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Huh.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Heyy.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Dirty.jpg

saving up for a new camera. woot! oh & the round yard has arrived at the feed place in town! *jumps up * down* exciting! haha.

equineupdates @ 2007-05-06T03:27:00

2007-05-06T09:26:00Z

Did a bit of work with Mango yesterday evening. Had all 3 down in the house paddock so I just put Tinto in the yard and got Mango in too, with hardly any trouble. God she's a clever little thing... she knows how to avoid what she doesnt want! But yeah, got her in, took Tinto out and just rubbed her all over and got her more relaxed. She's defenitly more nervous with me after the farrier's visit... but I'd say she'll come good soon. Put the halter on her, took her into the paddock and just led her around. She was more reluctant than usual... she'd just stop every now and again and refuse to walk. Just kept the same ammount of pressure on the rope and waited and she'd toss her head and step forwards, then I'd continue walking.

Got Mooka and Tinto and put their halters on and then led all three ponies up the hill to their paddock which was quite an achievement, tehe – have never led all 3 of them together before, and have never taken Mango out of the house paddock with a halter on. Let them all go in their proper paddock and watched them go waddling off into the sunset. =] How sweet.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Dork.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Excitable.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Fluffy.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Messy.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Mmm.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/NoFeedLeft.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Nosey.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Nozzle.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Wait.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Whattt.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Woop.jpg

Look at how green it is! =O We've had quite a lot of rain lately – over the pass week we've been getting on and off showers. It's absolutley fantastic. Oh – I'm going to change the ponies feed soon. Need to buy all the ingredients. I'm thinking lucerne chaff, oaten chaff, soaked barley for all 3 and gumnuts for Tinto and Mooka. Since they're all unrugged, their going to loose condition if I dont give them some fatty food – and I've heard copra (I think) is good for that? Anyone know?

equineupdates @ 2007-05-03T19:23:00

2007-05-03T09:40:51Z

Today was terrible. Mango was even worse than I thought.

Daniel arrived at 3.30pm, trimmed Mooka's feet while I went and got Mango ready. I'd put her and Tinto in the yard to start with. Took Tinto out, and haltered Mango. She was pretty twitchy cause of the wind and rain, trust it to be the windiest day in ages. She was moving round alot in the yard but I got the halter on okay and she was fine. Dainel said he'd like her to be out in the paddock so I took her out and handed her over to him and she completely freaked. He couldnt even walk to her shoulder. She pulled back, reared, ran sideways, leaped around, she was full on. I've never seen her panic like that before. I felt so bad for her.

I dont know what it is about Daniel but she wasnt a happy pony. I think he doesnt let her have time to think. He'll do something that scares her (cause he moves quite strongly and in a very preditory way) and then instead of backing off for a few seconds to let her think about it, he'll go in stronger and that only panics her more. Usually I back off, let her think, try again and she's fine. But she didnt have any time to think so she just blindly reacted. It was so sad, half the time it was just a tug of war. =[

Finally he got all four of her hooves trimmed, but my god, it took an hour and alot of patience. I wish it hadnt been so hard on her. =[ I feel so bad. While he was trimming Tinto, I went to Mango's shoulder and patted her all over and she didnt move away. So she's okay with me. Just Daniel she has a problem with. Gah. I'm going to have to have a few sessions with her where I move like him, lol. Sigh, so thats how it turned out.

Going to Judy's tommorow to see Daniel work Caitlin's 3 year old Morgan and the colt Barwon who Jude wants me to work.

equineupdates @ 2007-05-01T21:51:00

2007-05-01T12:04:05Z

farrier's coming tommorow... either tommorow or thursday. mango's getting her hooves done for the first time. eek! dont know how she's going to act... i havnt done that much work with picking up her feet. she cant tie up yet. maybe i'll just put her in the little yard? i just hope to god she doesnt panic and have a really bad experianced. not sure whether to hold her for the farrier or what... ahhh. i'm nervous. any ideas as to what to do? should i put her in the small yard where she cant run away but could feel trapped, or take my chances holding her in the paddock, where she could possibly pull back and get away? i'm thinking the yard but i dont want to force her to do things.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Toss.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Mr.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/May/Feed.jpg

rain rain rain! =D it rained last weekend, 2 INCHES! the bottom dam is completely filled up! how good is that. =D so happy. but i've still got this drought mind set... you can never be too careful with water evev in better times. =]

more mango training.

2007-04-26T11:22:41Z

in order...

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/DriveBy.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Follow.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Jump-1.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/GoodGirl.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Eeep.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Uhmmm.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Phew.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/WhatsThis.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Wrap.jpg

^ she wasnt sure what to do so she spun really fast and literally wrapped herself up. =P
quite amusing. she was a good girl though and didnt panic, just looked puzzled. =P

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Huh.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Mummy-1.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Shant.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Steady.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Eeee.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Help.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Rahh.jpg

she's absolutley sure she doesnt want to touch that scary ramp. =P but finally...

therrre! not so bad is it, lol.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Sleepy.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Oh.jpg

and the mooka man, on the loose.... *shifty eyes*

_________________________________________________________________

at unicorn stables...

old photo of scarlet and flame http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Scarlet.jpg
scarlet is the mare, mango's half sister. the foal is flame, mango's 1/4 sister.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Hottie.jpg
the colt judy wants me to work with. aint he gorgeous?

zeplin http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Zeplin.jpg
tanjil http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Tangil.jpg<
sage http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Sage.jpg<
maya http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Maya.jpg
nifty http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Nifty.jpg
ned http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Ned.jpg
holly http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Holly.jpg
banjo, brandy http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/BrandyBanjo.jpg
cassi http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Cutie.jpg
flame http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Flame.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Graze.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Halter.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Nerrr.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Stare.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Stunner.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Trot.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Whatshisname.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Lead.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/April/Maya2.jpg

today was great! judy arrived at 10am and we had a little chat before going down to the paddock to see tinto, mango and mooka. i had put them in the 1 acre paddock over night. i caught tinto and tied her in the yard, and then jude and i moved mango in with her. so much easier with two people! took tinto out, and tied her and mooka to the fence a little way from the yard. poor mang was not happy, lol... then digger and bounce (judy's dog) went crazy and were shooting around madly, barking and making a fuss with was rather, er, 'challanging' for baby, haha. judy went in and got the halter on, had a play around with her. took her out of the yard and led her around the paddock. she said i've done a really good job with her, getting her soft and responsive. =D woot! did some 'drive by' excercises, put a few ropes over her, just generally tried new things for a while.

after a while i took tinto and loaded her into the float. jude came with mango and let her have a look at it. asked for her to step up onto the ramp, but noo, it was too scary. =P played around with floating for about an hour. she was good. didnt want to go onto the float so we didnt make her. in the end, got her 2 front hooves on the ramp and we were happy with that. just to make it clear – in the photos, the rope around her back legs is not to force her in, it's to help guide her so she understands better. she's so good with everything. =D she's a very intelligent filly. jude thinks she if she was designing a paint horse, mango was just about excatly what she'd want. &hearts; finished up with floating, unloaded tinto and took both her and mang back to the paddock. mooka had got off his lead and out of his paddock, lol... he found a patch of grass and was quite happy with himself. =P

had lunch and then jude said i could go back to unicorn stables with her and spend the rest of the afternoon there, cause mum was going out to town anyway and she could pick me up. yay! so i went with judy. spent the whole car trip talking about horses, haha... she's got some really good stories. got there and first thing we went to dress the sickie's leg wounds. sage, a 12 month old colt, got his leg caught in the plain wire fence and literally had a whole peice of flesh sliced off. it's healed up heaps but the scab still needs to be cleaned every day, and she's putting copper, garlic, tee-tree oil and vinegar on. the other sickie, a 3 year old morgan filly also had a leg wound – not sure what happened. she had it when judy got her which wasnt long ago.

went and mixed up feeds for 10 horses and drove them up the hill to the mares paddock, with the 3 year old morgan leading from the car. put the buckets out, all the mares came trotting and cantering down the hill to us. quite a few of them are in foal to the stallion, ned. ^_^ i got to see mango's 1/4 sister, haha... a little 7 month old chestnut called flame. very cute. her mum, scarlet, mango's 1/2 sister was put down a short while ago. she had wobblers syndrome which means she couldnt walk properly, and if she panicked he would fall right down and yeah. it was sad. =[ went and fed the stallion ned and his mare, jane and then drove up to have a look at zeplin, banjo, brandy and a new horse who judy was given to sell. he's 3 years olds, mostly morgan. judy wants me to do some riding work with him sometime. it'd be good experiance for me. beautiful horse. 15.2hh, but seriously he looks like 16.1hh! he has a big presance about him. took him back down and let him in with sage. then we went inside and looked at some photos. and that was my day! =]

equineupdates @ 2007-04-22T13:20:00

2007-04-22T03:24:09Z

Halter training

2007-04-17T03:30:42Z

It's been so busy around here lately, but things are starting to quieten down now so I should be able to update more reguarly. Last Wednesday my old riding instructor Judy came to our place to do some work with Mango. She arrived at about 9:30am and we went down to the paddock to say hello to the horses. Mango came up and sniffed Judy, then laid her ears back, and turned her rump towards her. Jude just held her hand out in front of her and moved it up and down to create a 'moving block'. Mango tossed her head and backed up a few steps which is when Judy gave her a whack on the rump. She jumped fowards and did a little buck and then settled down. Judy says it's nothing I've done wrong to create this agressive additude, it's her herd situation. She can actually chase Mooka away from his food and Tinto really isnt a very strict mum, haha. She needs a really bossy horse to put her back in her place. I'm thinking of asking one of the neighbors Liz, if I can borrow her mare Melaluka – possibly the bossiest mare I know.

Anyway, we have a small corral made from portable round yard panels that Kate lent us (it's actually too small, but it'll do for the time being), so we led Tinto in and Mango followed. Once she was in, we took Tinto out and tied her to the outside of the corral. First Judy took her dressage whip which had a plastic bag on the end, and poked it through the bars and stroked Mango all over. She was pretty twitchy as you would expect and shifted around a bit but was fairly good. Then Judy went into the corral with her and touched her all over. Put the rope over her back, under her tail, through her legs (at different times) and she was fine with all of that. Judy tied the rope around her lower neck and asked her to turn her hind quarters away from her and face up, both ways. Every time she took a step in the right direction, INSTANT release of rope pressure, and then we just stood quietly to let her think about it. Moved the rope up the neck and did the same things. She only had one little rear but it wasnt a panic thing, she was just testing to see if that was the right thing to do or not.

Finally Judy put the halter on, making sure it didnt touch her nose. Did the same excercises, turning of the hind quarters, getting her to face up. Then we took her out of the corral and did it again. Naturally she was more 'fiesty' in a bigger space and had a few rears and pulls backs. She fell right over at one stage when she over balanced, poor bub... Judy guided her down with the rope so she didnt hurt herself. She probably wont do that again. Isie (my friend who was over) untied Tinto and led her around, Judy and Mango followed. I was filming pretty much the whole time, haha. I'll upload some of it to YouTube as soon as I can.

Before Judy let Mango free, we tried to get some calendula ointment on her scab. She laid her ears back whenever we tried, was attempting to bite, she even struck out with both her front legs. It's a shame that most of her first handling had to be pain related, to do with the cut she had that we had to treat. =[ But we got the calendula on in the end and was okay. Judy said that she can defenitly tell that I handled her when she was just born, she said she's generally more trusting than most foals. Also, she kept commenting on how BIG she was! She's got a 7 month old who is as big as Mango now – Mango's only 4 months. So we think she'll grow to about 15.hh - 15.2hh which would be great. Over all Jude thinks Mango is an extreamly intelligent filly. She said she's a 'thinker'. Some horses will either panic or simply 'shut down' when they get confused, but Mango will do her best to work out what is wanted of her by trying everything she can think of. ^_^ Clever girl.

The next day Isie and I let Mango have the day off to think about everything that had happened. And the next day we put her in the corral again and I managed to do everything Judy did – touch her all over, put the rope around her neck, get the halter on, turn her hind quarters, got her to face up. Then I picked up all 4 of her hooves and tapped them, she was amazing. So quiet, not one rear, not even a head toss. I'm so proud, haha. And I think that brings us up to date regarding halter training. =D

equineupdates @ 2007-04-07T16:37:00

2007-04-07T06:51:51Z

Sorry I havnt updated for so long. I've been away at the beach with friends, which was lots of fun. =D But the day we were due to leave, I went up to check the horses – and of course, Mango has a bad limp. It HAD to be the day we were leaving didnt it? Gah. Her cut had been healing up well until then, but for some reason it suddenly got worse, all infected and such. Wasnt nice. Tried to get some speical spray stuff on it but she was spooky with the wind and I didnt get much on. Of course I didnt want to leave her in that state, so we called Kate, who's owned horses all her life. She came over and had a look. Mango tried to kick her at one point which was strange – she NEVER does that with me anymore... so she obviously feels entitled to tell strangers to get lost... Hmm. Anyway! Kate said she'd come over every day and check her, even cart around few panels of her round yard so she could get a bandage on. Ahh I'm so grateful! She managed to hose out the cut, get the bandage on and give her a tetnus injection. Woot! =] I went up yesterday and it's looking heaps better!

That's about all I can think of right now.

equineupdates @ 2007-03-23T19:23:00

2007-03-23T08:51:25Z

Did about 5-10 minutes lunging with Tinto today. Put Mango in the tree line, she didnt mind being seperated at all... we were working very close. So yes, Tinto on the lunge... she's quite unbalanced and rushy as you can see, but there's a really nice moment towards the end of the trotting clip... she slowed down and was looking really good. I'd like to do a little lungeing a few times a week and try and get that happening more. Oh and ignore the lunge line - haha need to get a proper one. Question for anyone who knows: as you can see, she's lost her topline... can I get some of it back by 5-10 minutes of lunging a few times a week, if she's working nicely (like how I decribed her good moment)? I want her to gain fitness before we start back at ridden lessons in about 3 months.

Bidding on this. =]

equineupdates @ 2007-03-22T09:44:00

2007-03-22T23:00:34Z

Today... hum, fed in the morning, mucked out, applied the disinfectant to Mango's cut... it's looking a bit better. In the afternoon I did some ground work with Tinto. Led her down to the round yard, sent her around a few times at trot, got her going over a few small jumps. God she looks beautiful going over them, such a little talent muffin, tehe... out of work and all. =D Mango found all that a bit strange, I couldnt keep her out of the round yard because it's only made out of star posts and electric tape that isnt electric lol, she just stepped through. So she just trotted by Tintos side which was fine. Didnt go for very long, only around 10 minutes. Tinto was following me everywhere after, nawh. Cutie. Put them back in the paddock and fed. =]

We're thinking about buying a portable round yard. The one I use at the moment, is just tape and starposts as I said, and isnt very suitable. There's one we found for a resonable price and good quality in NSW. 15.5 meters across both ways, good size. I'm really hoping we get it... I've always used round yards, they're so handy and it would be great to have a proper one. =D Yay!

Things to buy from horseland - Unvita creme, white saddle blanket, feed buckets, mane thinning comb, lunge line.

equineupdates @ 2007-03-21T17:28:00

2007-03-21T06:59:02Z

Yesterday:

http://s131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/March/MovieShots.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/March/Eat.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/March/Arrrrr.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/March/Excitable.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/March/Finish.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/March/Little.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/March/Ooh.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/March/Prance.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/March/WetBum.jpg

Today:

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/March/Comb.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/March/Dry.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/equineupdates/07/March/Watchful.jpg

Today was fun. =D Fed the horsies their grass hay in the morning, and spent about an hour mucking out. I'm going to try and do at least an hour mucking out each day and hopefully I'll get on top of it. After lunch, I went down and caught Tinto, and tied her up in the far dam corner of the paddock – just felt like a change. Tried pulling her mane again (dont know if I mentioned that I tried yesterday), but she did her little tossing/shaking of the head and started prancing about, so I left it. I'll do a little bit each day and hopefully she'll get used to it.

Mango was really good, again she let me pat all done her back and sides and legs, even leg me comb her tail, hehe – It was so cute, she started rocking from side to side. ^_^ I was able to walk along beside her with my hand on her back, she didnt mind. Things are starting to come better. Thank god. I was a bit nervous that running into the fence at such a young age would have scared her and taken ages for her to get quiet again – but its coming good. Very happy. =D I left them after about 2 hours or so. Let them into the tree line – I dont think dad will mind, the trees are pretty big now and wont be trampled. Theres better grass in there. =] They loved it.

Came back later with their feed. Walked up the hill, doing my whistle for them to come, heard their galloping hoofbeats... They seemed quite flighty and kept trotting around everywhere. And ugh, Mango had cut her front left fetlock. =[ It was a very fresh wound, there was quite alot of blood and it looked very ugly. =[ She wasnt limping though, which is good. I hosed it off as best I could cause she was trying to avoid the water. Ran back down to the house and got the dis-infectant, went back up and sprayed it on the wound. And thats all I can do for the moment. Poor baby, its quite a nasty cut – dont know how she did it. I think it may be one of those looks-worse-than-it-is cuts though. I've got a photo but it's on the other computer so I'll get it tommorow.