# The adventures of Midnight, Belle(Baya), and Whisper! :D



## Ebonyisforme (Oct 23, 2013)

Hey, I thought I would start a 'journal' and I know a lot of the stuff I do, is not approved of, but it works for me and my horses... Anyway! Quick rundown of the horses.

Midnight-11 year old Quarter horse. 14.2hh and complete angel. Been there done that kind of horse. She is the most responsive horse I have ever had and my 'go to' mare. She's the one that I can ride miles away from the others bareback in a halter and not have to worry about anything. She's pretty much awesome. 

Belle(Baya)-Her names is Spanish, which is why it is pronounced differently...anyway, 8 year old Paint mare. She is pretty good, definitely not perfect. Super lazy. Thinks her way is the only way, but with some pushing will go yours.

Whisper-10hh 9 year (10 on the 24th) old Shetland/Hackney show pony cross. Has all the ground work down but has never had any weight on her back, whatsoever.. Gorgeous black and white tobiano and registered with the show pony association and the pinto association.

First couple days of having Whisper-just getting to know her...found out that she was extremely spooky. Still is a bit. Hates being caught, also. When she was put in the pasture, she had a halter on and had for a long time. After a couple days I took it off. Turns out, she is afraid of the halter and so the previous owners left it on all the time. After a couple sessions, she isn't afraid of it anymore, just stubborn. So, chase her around until she lets me catch her. After 3 days, she is now letting me catch her within 5 minutes! I have been working on desensitizing her. I haven't gone super in-depth with it though. When I first got her, she was afraid of the lead rope, I would reach up to scratch my eyebrow or something and she would bolt. So, I have gotten her so that she will let me flick it all over, over her back, under her belly, around her legs, around her rump, and twirl it on both sides and above! She is coming along amazingly! Finally got a saddle fit for her and decided I was going to start getting her used to that. I was just planning on sitting it on her and letting her get used to it just sitting on her back. Well....I walk towards her with it, let her smell it, rub her with it, start to lift it, and she swerves. So, I back down. Approach again, and...she stays COMPLETELY still! I set it down and undo the cinches just to let them dangle. She is falling asleep...literally.

So, I slowly reach under and grab the cinch. Still relaxed. Do the whole pressure and release thing (where you pull the cinch tight, then drop it over and over) still relaxed. Amazed, I slowly cinch her up just enough that it will stay on while I lead her. I even stick a breastcollar on her and a grand whopping 4 pounds on her back!! WootWoot!!  I lead her around at a walk, and eventually a trot. With how spooky she is, I expected to maybe, maybe be able to get her to sniff it in one day...haha.

That's the last I've done with her..

Belle-is very very herd bound. I decided to take her in the mountains with a friend and she was neighing the whole way. She is out of shape a bit and was really sweaty by the time we finished. I thought she was going to plop down and roll...anyway, start up the mountain and she tries to buck me...twice..I do the one rein stop and keep her going. She tells me she doesn't want to go, but I keep her walking. After about a mile, she calms down and is good the rest of the way. I was so proud, she has only been in a trailer 3 times, but she loaded and unloaded on her own! *Proud mommy moment* 

Midnight-I haven't been riding Midnight very much because as of right now she can only light ride. She has a sore on her cannonbone that opens if you ride her too hard. I am working on getting boots for her and they are on their way! Today, she has a lesson. We caught her, led a bit, groomed, saddled, and then the little girl got on. We lunged at a walk and played red light, green light. (I had her on a lunge with a halter on her neck so I could control her, just in case, while the girl held the reins) Then, practiced her turns with me walking beside with a hand on the reins. Went back, unsaddled, groomed, played with a bit, and let go. She is perfect so not much juicy gruesome details there. 

I am hoping that tomorrow I will be able to work with Whisper and her saddle some more...Midnight has another lesson on Friday and the boots are supposed to come Monday so hopefully I will be able to start taking her on my long rides again!

Thanks for reading...this first post was kind of just a rundown of what has happened recently in the past, so future posts will be more descriptive and fun...


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## Rebelwithacause (Aug 7, 2013)

Glad you're journaling it all-- give us some pics! )


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## Ebonyisforme (Oct 23, 2013)

Yeah, I definitely will, Rebel! Next time I go out, I will take some to post!

Today, my sister and I worked with Belle because she was getting really food aggressive and transferring that over to thinking she was the dominant horse over all of us. We separated her and put her grain down, but then followed the Missy horse whisperer method and would chase her off everytime she came to eat it (this is my food, like what she does to the other horses and occasionally to us) Eventually she got the point and we picked the bucket up, walked it over to her, put it down and gave her the okay signal "alright" I think she was getting it though. She definitely submitted to us! 

I also briefly worked with Whisper. She is still a bit bad about facing me while being caught and will try to turn her head away. I started walking towards her, she walked off, so I made her run for a bit. Then, she stayed still but kept moving her head, so I moved with her and waited until she stopped moving her head while I put it on. Only had to do it for about 30 seconds! When I fed Midnight and Whisper their grain, I made them wait with their heads up until I told them it was 'alright' because usually when I feed, I put the food down and they are all over it immediately and I hate that. I didn't really get to do all that much today because it was super cold and foggy. :/ Midnight has a lesson tomorrow with a new little boy. He is only 4, almost 5. The mom doesn't actually even care if he learns anything, she just wants him to be comfortable around horses because apparently he is terrified of them! I have Midnight's boots coming soon so hopefully I will be able to ride her soon! I also went through and made a schedule for each of the horses(not that I will stick to it...) just as a general idea of what I am doing each day. My sister has decided to ride Belle tomorrow! It made me so happy, she expressed a desire to get back into horses, so we made a schedule of what she will do with Belle everyday! Let's hope that she sticks to it! That's all that happened today, it got pretty sunny so I might go back out, so may post again depending...


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## Ebonyisforme (Oct 23, 2013)

So, it got a lot warmer so I went back out. Didn't get a chance to take pictures, sadly.  But, I ponied Whisper behind Midnight for a couple minutes in the pasture and she did awesome! She acted like she had done it a million times before but it was only her first time...ever! After that, I rode Midnight and my sister rode Belle. We just went a mile bareback at a walk because with hard work Midnight's sore will split open until I get those boots. Belle was upset about leaving Whisper and halfway through tried to buck sister. Luckily, I had taught her the one rein stop just recently and she managed not to panic and got her to stop before she was too far into the buck. The rest of the ride was uneventful but Midnight's sore didn't open!  I am hoping if we slowly build up to greater distances and faster gaits it won't split open..Belle is really out of shape so we will be doing that with her also. Hopefully by the time it is warm enough to do things like jumping, galloping, etc. they will be full of muscle, hehe


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## Ebonyisforme (Oct 23, 2013)

Midnight's riding lesson:

So, I brought all the tack down a couple minutes early and caught all the horses but Midnight and tied them up so that they would be out of the way. The little boy arrived 20 minutes late :/ He was terrified. I had him walk behind me and I caught her for him. Then, I started leading her to the 'tie area' and I asked him if he would walk with me and hold my hand. So, he did. He was scared to go any closer than that. I brought her over, tied her, and then asked if he would help me brush her so that she was pretty when his mom came back. For some reason, he got really excited about that!

While brushing, I taught him how to go behind a horse and all the different brushes. After we were done with that, I asked if he wanted to ride. He really didn't. For some reason though, he was scared to have a saddle on her, so I just let him sit on her bareback. We didn't move. He just sat there for probably about 20 minutes. 

He led her (with my help) and then wanted to show off to his mom when she got back so he got back on and I led him around. His mom was very amazed that I had even got him to get on the horse at all! Surprised enough that she scheduled a lesson every week!


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## Ebonyisforme (Oct 23, 2013)

Today, I just felt like taking a nice leisurely ride on Midnight because her boots finally got here!! I felt bad, though. The weather has been holding back my training with Whisper so I decided to do that first and then get rid of the frustration with Midnight... 

I saddled Whisper and she acted like she had done it a thousand times! Literally. Her only problem was that if I tightened the cinch faster, she would swing her haunches around (not towards me, away from me) so not too big of a deal. I played the pressure and release game to cure that. Pull up on the cinch, she moves, I hold it there, when she calms down and stays still, I release. She figured it out pretty quick and stood still the rest of the time.

After saddling, I lunged her at a walk and a trot on her good side and then tried to get her to walk on her bad side. She was having 'technical difficulties' Every time I would try to get her to move off to the side, she would stop, turn and go the other way, back to her good side! Urgh! She is very smart and cooperative, though, and after 5 minutes of continuously pushing her back to the right side, she would walk around me once and then stop and wait to see if I was going to make her keep going. When I got her going pretty good, I stopped her, unsaddled her, and just let her go.

Midnight!  I caught Midnight and just hopped on her bareback and took a awesome ride! After that, I worked on getting her to pull things. (She is really scared when she moves and the things moves too....it must be....CHASING HER! ) 

That's about it... But, I did take pics! These were for another thread, so some of them are kind of weird and off topic, but might as well share the same document instead of making a new one...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13x28I3rHNoPVnrcqpFuUHOzNi_RgX77ykou-WtqPuF0/edit?usp=sharing


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## Ebonyisforme (Oct 23, 2013)

My brother came out with me and rode over to the neighbors house to give their kids rides. We saddled Belle and Midnight just fine and when taking them out of the pasture, for some reason Belle spooked really bad. She shot backwards, pulling my brother with her. He held on as best he could but finally let go because the fence gate slammed shut on his shoulder. (wince) Luckily, he was fine and so was she. He just went and got her and this time she was fine? We think Whisper may have done something as she was right behind her? Anyway, I was giving my little brother a ride so he sat in front of me on Midnight. We rode total about half a mile as we were just picking something up for my mom and then giving them rides while we were there... little kids are so cute with horses! Whisper is really scared about being left alone. She is fine with me taking her, just not leaving her. I think it may have something to do with the way her filly was 'weaned' They were selling her too and just went cold turkey the day she was bought. No separation at all, one day, filly, next day, no filly...:/ Hopefully, we will get over that soon!


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## Ebonyisforme (Oct 23, 2013)

Midnight had a lesson today. There were two kids, 4 year old boy and 7 year old girl. They were wonderful! The only problem was the little boy kept yelling....had to remind him several times that he needs to be quiet around horses or they might get scared. Haha, I told him that and he goes all wide eyed and says, "Ya! We can't scare her because then she will run to the mountains and we won't find her! And then, I will say help and my mom will come!" I just started laughing...

Anyway, I just led him around, I let the girl start working on steering(with my hand on the reins to help guide) she did great! As did Midnight! I wouldn't be able to give lessons at all if I didn't have Midnight! Have discovered that Whisper is a houdini, though! She got a bit nervous when I led Midnight away and got untied twice by moving her head in just the right places! Eventually, I just had to tie like 5 knots(I know, not the safest) but the only way I could get her to stay...:/ Guess I will have to work on that!


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## Ebonyisforme (Oct 23, 2013)

Well..today was just awesome!  My sister and I rode Midnight and Belle about 3 miles. On our way home, Belle got spooked by who knows what and took off. Sis fell off but was fine, but Belle kept running for home. I had fun trying to keep Midnight calm as her buddy booked it away..and sister ran home trying her best to keep Belle at least on the road(We were only about 1 and 1/2 miles away) Luckily, my sister was in a good mood and just got back on! Happy day!  Anyway, we didn't want to let Belle think she could just spook and get out of work so we went another mile(a total of 3 miles) and then came home. Bringing them back into the pasture, Whisper darted through the gap in the gate as I was shutting it...*face palm* and decided that she didn't want us to walk up to her because she is the "runaway" now. We ended up having to herd her back in! On the happy side of things...when I was feeding them this morning, Whisper didn't even flinch when I did my usual routine! I make loud noises, run around, grab the wheelbarrow and drag it behind me, touch her all over, make quick movements to help her stop being so spooky. She was awesome!


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## Ebonyisforme (Oct 23, 2013)

I forgot to write about yesterday! Midnight and I had a lesson and the girl is progressing beautifully! She was working on riding by herself, manuevering around a series of cones in a set pattern. The first time, I would keep a hand on the reins but she would do everything. Second time around, I just walked in front of Midnight, and then she did it completely by herself a couple times! After she got it down, I would set up the cones a different way. By the end of the lesson, I had her walk to one cone, trot to the next, etc. Overall, it went pretty good! Afterwards, I figured since Midnight didn't really do any work and she was already saddled, I might as well ride. So, my sister jumped on Belle bareback and I got on Midnight and ponied Whisper for the first time. She did AWESOME! We live on a loop road that is 1 mile long and we went around that. Before anyone thinks I am stupid for going out of the pasture for the first pony session, I did pony her around a couple times for a grand total of like 5 minutes in the pasture before.  Anyway, her only problem, was that she would drift to the side of the road, onto the grass and try to lie down. It wasn't anything serious, I would just pull her head back up and bring her back to me and she would be fine. The other thing is that she kept coming up too far. She would come clear to Midnight's neck and this is a pony, not a horse, so basically, walking alongside instead of behind. But a jiggle of the rope in her face stopped that pretty quick. She is very extremely out of shape though! She didn't even have anything on her and we only walked, keyword walked, a mile, but she was dying!


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## Ebonyisforme (Oct 23, 2013)

Ponied Whisper again. She only tried to lie down once! Other than that, she was perfect! She came up too far a couple of times, but quickly figured out where I want her to be. I finally got a cinch that should fit her so I will pony her with a saddle on tomorrow and then after that, I am going to start really stressing getting her used to weight on top of the saddle! Yay!


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## Ebonyisforme (Oct 23, 2013)

Sorry! So much has happened! I have been working with Whisper daily now that it is getting warmer and...I got a saddle on her and the last couple days have been mounting and dismounting! The first couple times, she was definitely nervous, but now for the most part, she stays still! So, I started working on getting her to stretch her neck to touch my knee with her mouth. I guess she didn't know I had the reins, haha and got scared when I started giving pressure on her mouth, but after I rubbed the reins all around her and just let her know I was there, she was fine. So, she has head pressure down. I haven't made her move her feet yet, so any tips for that would be much appreciated!


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

This journal has been closed due to prolonged lack of participation by the author. Journals that have no active participation by the author for a period of time greater than 18 months will be considered abandoned and will be closed until the author asks for them to be reopened.


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