# Starting my 2 year old filly Nova.



## Plains Drifter (Aug 4, 2009)

Looks like you've made a good start with her. Congrats!! Only suggestion I have is not to leave the lead rope dangling so far when your riding. That could be a recipe for disaster. Hope you will keep us posted on your progress with her.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## draftgrl (Jan 8, 2011)

Wow for only having her for a couple months you have done a great job it seems! One thing I do with lunging is instead of walking up to the horse when you ask them to stop is to have them walk up to you, that its a good thing to be near you. If you want more info on how I do that just get ahold of me, I use a mixture of clinton anderson, ron olsen, and a bunch of other stuff mixed in for training. But looks like you got a good grasp on what to do! Congrats on the good lookin horse!


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Plains Drifter said:


> Looks like you've made a good start with her. Congrats!! Only suggestion I have is not to leave the lead rope dangling so far when your riding. That could be a recipe for disaster. Hope you will keep us posted on your progress with her.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Hi - thank you. I did not notice that when I was riding her that it was hanging that low - till my hubby told me LOL and I saw it on the video I was banging my head against the wall hehe- thank goodness she already learned that if she steps on nothing will happen  Cause when I first got her she really was not even halter broke, she would not lead or anything, so for like the 1st week if I let her into the indoor arena, I'd leave her lead rope dragging behind her, she got used to it really quick. I did ride her with a colt breaking hackamore I borrowed from my neighbor and it is much easier to turn her head too.


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

draftgrl said:


> Wow for only having her for a couple months you have done a great job it seems! One thing I do with lunging is instead of walking up to the horse when you ask them to stop is to have them walk up to you, that its a good thing to be near you. If you want more info on how I do that just get ahold of me, I use a mixture of clinton anderson, ron olsen, and a bunch of other stuff mixed in for training. But looks like you got a good grasp on what to do! Congrats on the good lookin horse!


- Great - I love Clinton - thank you! That is mostly how I train. About me coming up to her - I actually had to start stopping her a little away from me, because as soon as I ask her to stop she comes running to me and will stop nose to nose with me. I was worried she will get too comfortable being really close to me and eventually will stop respecting my space..
- I don't have the videos from Clinton - I just kinda do whatever I find online - I wish I had the Colt starting series (videos) from Clinton. I did try to trot her under saddle yesterday and she did freak a little and wanted to buck so I shut her down... That makes me think I will really have to wait for better weather to be able to have someone outside in the round pen chasing her around with me being just a passenger..? Any ideas on what should follow next as to get her to go into / trot or canter without freaking out?


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## MacabreMikolaj (May 9, 2009)

Fantastic progress!

I agree with the lunging issue - it really depends if you want to go natural horsemanship or not, or to what extent. I do NOT want my horses ever walking up to me on the lunge. When I say whoa, it means whoa and stand until I give you another command. I've had to lunge natural horsemanship horses before and it can be a bit of a pain when they're immediately trying to run into you, and creating a dangerous situation if you can't get the lunge line reeled in fast enough. Over the years, I've learned you CAN actually teach them the difference between join up and being lunged, but it takes a bit of training!


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## draftgrl (Jan 8, 2011)

I'm not sure if this is a Clinton technique or not but get her into a trot for about three steps then shut her down, repeat and add length when you and Nova feel comfortable. Might be an option. 

With the lunging yeah don't blame you at all then for not having her walk up to you. Like I said you are doing a great job with her it seems, hell, I'd be asking you for tips if I had a horse that needed work. Just don't have the time, or more so finances for one at this point in my life, good thing I have friends with them and can go see our old boy Jack whenever I want lol.
 
I do NOT want my horses ever walking up to me on the lunge. When I say whoa, it means whoa and stand until I give you another command. 

I'm sorry I didn't clarify myself enough on what I said. Yes that is exactly what I had meant with coming to you, there needs to be a signal for the horse to come to you. I can't remember exactly what I use at the moment, actually have to lunge the horse to remember.

Wow there were a lot of "I's" in this post, sorry about that, not really a self centered person.


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## draftgrl (Jan 8, 2011)

OH and it looks like Nova REALLY enjoys your rewards to her (petting on the forehead) that's awesome!


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

I am so sorry guys that I did not respond to any of these last responses I got from you.. I actually did not get any email notification so I did not even know someone responded.
- Now I feel really guilty - work has been hectic and I haven't done anything with Nova since Sunday.. anyways thank you for the tips.
to the responses posted:
--------------------------------------------------------------
draftgrl - thank you - yes I agree - whoa means whoa. Nova started coming to me in on the lunge line - I am guessing because I did so much desensitizing on her from the beginning because she was so worried about humans  So at some point I had to start setting her back a little cause she started getting almost too comfortable with me.
"
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=930165#ixzz1EBNzQx2i
"
<-------- that is what I was going to do but she actually flipped out before she got into trot with me on her.. I will have to get her a little more wore out before I get on her and try to trot her. Currently I am waiting on the weather to get a little better so I can throw her into the round pen outside and whoop her butt  she doesn't wear out easily LOL
------------------------------------------------------
MacabreMikolaj:
Thank you! 
I agree with the lunging issue - it really depends if you want to go natural horsemanship or not, or to what extent. I do NOT want my horses ever walking up to me on the lunge. When I say whoa, it means whoa and stand until I give you another command. I've had to lunge natural horsemanship horses before and it can be a bit of a pain when they're immediately trying to run into you, and creating a dangerous situation if you can't get the lunge line reeled in fast enough. Over the years, I've learned you CAN actually teach them the difference between join up and being lunged, but it takes a bit of training!
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=930165#ixzz1EBPUNGG5

<------I completely agree.. I think it may be dangerous when they run up to you like that - what if something startles those 800 - 1200lbs and they are moving towards you? I am trying to teach Nova to stop after she turns in on the outside of the circle by raising my forefinger in front of me.. she already knows that cue when she is standing still it means "backup" - so raising the finger while she is moving towards me means "you better stop before I make you"
I really like Clinton's method of training, but I don't hesitate to borrow advise from any other trainers regardless if they are "natural horsemanship" trainers.. I board at a Vaquero barn - and they are quite harsh with their horses - I don't agree with a lot of the training methods they use, but being around then did teach me to be a lot more confident around horses and handling them and taught me to be more assertive when the horse is literally "smoking a cigarette" instead of listening to me LOL - I don't mean by that to mindlessly beat on your horse of course. 
​


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

eh .. sorry that post did not display as it was supposed to.. the links were supposed to be quotes from the last 2 people posting to my thread.. still learning how to post - bear with me please TY


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## draftgrl (Jan 8, 2011)

So I just had a though....How does Nova do with other people? Being she has really never been handled by anyone before now, how does she respond to say your husband? Just a thought for future possible problems, say when the vet, farrier or a friend come to see her.


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

draftgrl said:


> So I just had a though....How does Nova do with other people? Being she has really never been handled by anyone before now, how does she respond to say your husband? Just a thought for future possible problems, say when the vet, farrier or a friend come to see her.


- she does great with my husband - cause she knows him - she loves my barn owner - cause he feeds her (she does get a little food aggressive - she is better - we are still working on that issue - when I first got her she actually was turning her butt to me and wanted to kick me!)
- I had the farrier come out 3 weeks ago to give her first trim - it took her about 5 minutes to warm up to him, she was not afraid of him, just did not know him - so I told him to rub on her for 5 minutes and then she was relaxed about him and as result she stood still for him 

-I'd say other people will not be a problem - my female friend stops by my barn once in like 2 weeks and Nova comes to her to get a pet on forehead over the fence  I think Nova associates humans with a lot of lovin' and rubbing on her and the humans = rubbing feels good :-D


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## draftgrl (Jan 8, 2011)

Awesome! Sounds great, some people tend to overlook that part when training. Just figure yeah they're doin great with me, shouldn't have any problems! But ONCE again sounds like you are doing an amazing job with Nova!!


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## horseandshow (Jan 19, 2011)

Great start with your horse Nova. Fantastic idea posting the progress on a thread. this would be a great idea for my site!


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Aaaah! I wish my hubby was in the barn with the video camera today.. I really wore Nova out on long lunge line in the indoor today, then got on her asked her to trot, she spooked a little bit initially but then she trotted around with me on her with no problem! She has an awesome western pleasure like jog.. gosh - I just love this filly! Took me like 40 minutes to cool her of - she got a great workout, nice wet saddle pad and a steamy horse


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

MyBrandy said:


> Aaaah! I wish my hubby was in the barn with the video camera today.. I really wore Nova out on long lunge line in the indoor today, then got on her asked her to trot, she spooked a little bit initially but then she trotted around with me on her with no problem! She has an awesome western pleasure like jog.. gosh - I just love this filly! Took me like 40 minutes to cool her of - she got a great workout, nice wet saddle pad and a steamy horse


- hard to see my wet horse after today's workout - she deserved her food today - please pardon the bad quality of the picture - my phone is not "smart" :-D


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I think you are doing very, very well. And the filly is adorable. I guess you do have a pretty nice butt, too. Certainly your husband thinks so. Or is he your husband? (none of my business!)


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

tinyliny said:


> I think you are doing very, very well. And the filly is adorable. I guess you do have a pretty nice butt, too. Certainly your husband thinks so. Or is he your husband? (none of my business!)


LOL!! - really it was I think the only thing he said in that video and he had to comment on my butt.. :-D
Men - gotta love them - can't live without them


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## DubyaS6 (Aug 30, 2010)

Very nice job! Adorable horse 

Regarding the horse walking up to you on the lunge when asked to stop...I would never allow this either. I was always taught that when you asked the horse to stop, they should stop and face you, but NOT to advance towards you. This shows respect, but without getting in your space.

The horse should naturally want to face you when they stop, but should wait for you to ask them to move toward you (I would still not get in the habit of asking them to do this, I always approach the horse when I am ready).


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## Plains Drifter (Aug 4, 2009)

Great job!!! Glad to hear you were able to get the trot from her.


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## Tejas (Jan 31, 2011)

Wow! Great progress! How did you teach her to pick up her feet? How was she about touching her face when you first started? I too have recently started with a filly that was out to pasture with 0 handling. She is very nervous around people, but she is starting to come around. She refuses to let me touch her muzzle. I will be sending her to a trainer to get her started under saddle when she is old enough and trusts people more.  You have given me hope!


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Tejas said:


> Wow! Great progress! How did you teach her to pick up her feet? How was she about touching her face when you first started? I too have recently started with a filly that was out to pasture with 0 handling. She is very nervous around people, but she is starting to come around. She refuses to let me touch her muzzle. I will be sending her to a trainer to get her started under saddle when she is old enough and trusts people more.  You have given me hope!


Hi Tejas,
about the 1st week - I left her in her stall took her halter off and just let her get used to the stall - cause she has never been in one. I would come in couple of times a day and try to approach her - not really making too much eye contact, I would have the halter hanging over my arm and try to spend some time in the stall with her and let her get curious about me. Eventually I would come closer and closer till she would let me touch the side of her neck and withers and then head and I would rub on her A LOT. They will come to you for more because it feels good to them to rub on something. I would not go to touch her nose at this stage as she is learning to trust me and most horses don't like to have their nose touched at least at the beginning.
- on about day 3 I finally put a halter on her - it took me 20 minutes to do so! Once I had the halter on her things would progress a lot faster, because every time she got scared or spooked and tried to kick or bolt I could pull her pretty head facing me in no time. 
- For the next 2 weeks I did a lot of desensitizing of her with lead rope (throwing the lead rope over her back, withers, butt, hind legs eth. and again lots of rubbing and love as she still did not know me well and was learning to trust me. 
-at the same time I would start teaching her a little bit of backing away from me because you want her to respect your space - because if they spook they naturally run into you not away from you - so i made sure that running into my space was uncomfortable. Practiced some sending exercises - sending her left and right, disengaging hindquarters etc.
- at this point i would not be be real quiet around her - opposite is true, I was just working with her with my normal speed, being noisy, whistling, talking loud, making noises - if she spooked at anything, noise or moving object I would continue doing that noise or moving that object till she would stop moving her feet and relax
- why I am I saying all this? This was basically about getting the fear out of her and making her respectful towards me, so that anything I would ask her to do in the future she would do without much hesitation. Basically teaching her to trust me and respect me  That is a big one because you build on it - teaching to pickup feet was not that hard after this initial period - front feet were easy. Rub down her legs and cue for her to pickup was to squeeze her fetlock. Once she picks up you rub her leg - that is the reward - I would not just grab her foot at first though - she would freak out  
- Hind legs - that one took a while - I made sure I did lots of desensitizing with rope, throwing rope around her legs, make sure she won't kick at it or spook. The use the rope to lift one of her hind legs, when she does - release. Lot of repetitions, when she was comfortable with that I would carefully reach down with my hands, but again lot of rubbing - as a form of desensitizing the horse to you as an object.

- Basically to me it's kind of like child upbringing - you get back what you put into them  She needed time to adjust and get comfortable in the completely new environment and get used to the noises and people and horse etc. - give your filly time to adjust and spend time with her -even if it's only 15-20 minutes daily - it's better then 2 hours 1 - 2 times a week, because you will become a regular part of her life. Don't get discouraged if there is a setback, she will come around - she needs time 
How long have you had your filly? Congratulations!


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## draftgrl (Jan 8, 2011)

Well to tired to say much more but wanted to congratulate you on the mile stone!! Keep up the good work!


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## Tejas (Jan 31, 2011)

I have had her for 1 week as of yesterday. She came with a halter on, but is very weary of you touching her face and chin, so I don't think I will be able to change her out to a new halter just yet.
We had to worm her yesterday. I had the trainer take care of it. She ended up whopping him with a front hoof. I'm glad I wasn't in his place!

She is going to need some time. I like your "go about your business" method of making normal noises and motions. I will have to be less cautious around her when shes tied safely


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Yes - the more you try to be quite and creep around them the spookier they will be. I rode Nova again on Saturday and got her to canter around in the arena with me! There were some crazy vaqueros riding with us.. she was really spooky at first spinning with me LOL, cause they were cracking whips and roping a bucket. But then she was a really good girl she got used to it. All this distraction helped her to not be worried about me asking her to canter. We had a blast.


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## draftgrl (Jan 8, 2011)

Tejas said:


> She is going to need some time. I like your "go about your business" method of making normal noises and motions. I will have to be less cautious around her when shes tied safely


That is so true, don't be quiet or try to not let her get scared, in the long run she'll be scared of everything, even if she's not tied, do it, if she's in her stall or a small pen make alot of noise while doing normal stuff, or waving things around. Get her used to stuff, as long as she does not relate any pain to the noises and everything, she will get used to it. Just by the sound of you, no offense, but you seem like a timid person with your horse, I could be completely wrong. But don't be, you need to be assertive! good luck!!




> I rode Nova again on Saturday and got her to canter around in the arena with me!


Good for you!!  She got a nice lope to her? You sure do have some interesting boarders there huh? But that sounds like a good time...roping stuff off of horseback!


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Good for you!!  She got a nice lope to her? You sure do have some interesting boarders there huh? But that sounds like a good time...roping stuff off of horseback![/QUOTE]

- Nova has got an awesome bouncy trot (she has got sort of longer back.. at least now it seems like that). Rocking horse lope.. she is only like 14 HH right now (cutting blood lines - mostly small horses, she will still grow - but I don't think she will be taller than 14.2HH) - but her gaits are awesome.. 
-now I haven't done anything with Nova since Saturday - it's been way too cold - so she is having a break for few days, which is fine, she is young so I don't want to overdo it. If I get on her 3x a week for 15 - 30 minutes, I think that will be fine for now. She is taking her "breaking" (I hate to call it that way) really well - like she knows she is meant to be a riding horse - she has really given me little resistance.. it must be the "working cow horse" bloodlines or something 

- yes the owner and the boarders are all rodeo vaqueros.. basically everybody gets together on a weekend, drink some beer and ride horses in the arena. In the warmer months there is larger outdoor arena.. so we grill food and have fun riding horses - race in the fields etc.. good times


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## draftgrl (Jan 8, 2011)

Wow yeah just a lil thing huh? Lol, I myself enjoy the larger ones, draft or draft cross's  

How cold you got it down there? Heard you guys got a bit of snow this year, did you get hit with this last storm?


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

draftgrl said:


> Wow yeah just a lil thing huh? Lol, I myself enjoy the larger ones, draft or draft cross's
> 
> How cold you got it down there? Heard you guys got a bit of snow this year, did you get hit with this last storm?


Yeah my other mare is 15.2HH and that is what I prefer 15 - 15.2 - I used to ride a 16.1HH Trakehner.. I just did not feel "insync" with the huge body movement.. I am not short though about 5'8".. dont know what it it.. yes I am really hoping Nova will grow at least couple more inches (fingers crossed).
- we did get quite snowed in couple of weeks ago.. snow on my driveway was about 3 feet - 7-8 foot drifts on the barn.. we could not get the horses outside till about a week later, till it thawed out at little - never seen that much snow around here


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

[QUOTE

How cold you got it down there? Heard you guys got a bit of snow this year, did you get hit with this last storm?[/QUOTE]

- all the snow thawed last week when we hit 60 degrees downtown Chicago for couple of days.. taste of spring.. then a day later went back to 35 degrees 
- then yesterday downpour all day, that all froze to black ice this morning.. everywhere - literally step on the driveway, then whoop - feet up in the air and go to the bottom of the driveway on your butt - crazy weather I want May, sunny and 70 degrees


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## draftgrl (Jan 8, 2011)

Ugh yeah same here, for the most part, last week was in the 30's or 40's was AMAZING, and now back down to below zero, least it aint -20 or so again. Was quite slippery here too, not that bad but got about 6'' of light snow last night so made everything slick cuz it stuck to the roads. 

Oh, so went riding with a friend and her husband who currently own 6 horses, and they are lettin me go out and work with their newest mare who hasn't been rode in many years, am so excited, just now need time to get out there to do stuff. Would love to get out and work with my dad's gelding but he's crazy, don't have anyone to be out there to supervise, its that bad with him. About fell over the river bank once with him, when he was being rode by dad. (dad got a tramatic brain injury almost 2 years ago)


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

draftgrl said:


> Ugh yeah same here, for the most part, last week was in the 30's or 40's was AMAZING, and now back down to below zero, least it aint -20 or so again. Was quite slippery here too, not that bad but got about 6'' of light snow last night so made everything slick cuz it stuck to the roads.
> 
> Oh, so went riding with a friend and her husband who currently own 6 horses, and they are lettin me go out and work with their newest mare who hasn't been rode in many years, am so excited, just now need time to get out there to do stuff. Would love to get out and work with my dad's gelding but he's crazy, don't have anyone to be out there to supervise, its that bad with him. About fell over the river bank once with him, when he was being rode by dad. (dad got a tramatic brain injury almost 2 years ago)


-Draftgrl - so sorry to hear about your dad :-(
-yes - praying for warmer weather really soon.. I think everyone in the Midwest and Northeast is this time of year - 10 day forecast doesn't look that great though..
- have fun with your friend's new addition - be careful though!


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## draftgrl (Jan 8, 2011)

Thanks Brandy. I actually rode this horse of theirs weekend before last, she's a great mare, and I'm not the biggest fan of mares, nice lil trot and lope, just needs to get over her fear of odd things lol. 

yeah its about time spring got here, still don't know why mom and dad stayed in this area! For that matter why I'm still here lol


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Hi guys - sorry for not following up earlier.. I have been promising another video of Nova's progress and here it is:
Nova's 6th ride under saddle on Vimeo

This is her 6th ride - she is cantering and backing a little bit. The video is uncut so it's a little long -sorry about it - towards the end you may see her backing up.. she even tucks her head on the backup  gosh what a good little girl...
BTW I sticked her yesterday and she is still 13.3HH.. so she did not grow at at since I got her at Christmas.. I guess I am really impatient about her growth..LOL
She did fill in quite a bit though.


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## Gizmo (Dec 19, 2010)

Ok, I have to say, that I hate you. Just kidding wise. You are doing an awesome job and you got a great littler girl. The first horse I ever broke was awful! He was a Mustang and why I ever decided I wanted to buy him and finish his training I have no idea, I learned a lot but it was a horrible experience I finally had to pass him onto someone with more knowledge because I couldn't do it anymore.


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Gizmo said:


> Ok, I have to say, that I hate you. Just kidding wise. You are doing an awesome job and you got a great littler girl. The first horse I ever broke was awful! He was a Mustang and why I ever decided I wanted to buy him and finish his training I have no idea, I learned a lot but it was a horrible experience I finally had to pass him onto someone with more knowledge because I couldn't do it anymore.


LOL - thank you Gizmo - I am enjoying every minute training her - it's very encouraging when I see the results.. she's like my kid 
- sorry to hear about the Mustang incident.. well good thing is you learned a lot -nobody will take that away from you 
Did you break any horses after that? If so I hope they were better experience.


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## Gizmo (Dec 19, 2010)

No, he got a lot calmer and I could lift myself half way on his saddle and I could lay across his back without a saddle on no problem. But the lady who owned him before me and was helping me train him, decided she was going to raise my board on me 300 dollars! So I couldn't afford it, so I brought him home, but I didn't have the money to buy a round pen to really work him and no one is home here during the day, so it was just too dangerous. So I had to sell him  but he has a great home now with other horses and she has been working him a lot and his hoping to get on him in the spring, or have her neighbor do it. I love training though, I just don't think RJ was the best first horse to train. He even was kicking some butt of some cowboys that came up and tried to work with him.


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Gizmo said:


> No, he got a lot calmer and I could lift myself half way on his saddle and I could lay across his back without a saddle on no problem. But the lady who owned him before me and was helping me train him, decided she was going to raise my board on me 300 dollars! So I couldn't afford it, so I brought him home, but I didn't have the money to buy a round pen to really work him and no one is home here during the day, so it was just too dangerous. So I had to sell him  but he has a great home now with other horses and she has been working him a lot and his hoping to get on him in the spring, or have her neighbor do it. I love training though, I just don't think RJ was the best first horse to train. He even was kicking some butt of some cowboys that came up and tried to work with him.


- Oh WOW - sounds like he is quite a project..hope you get to see how he does..


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## Gizmo (Dec 19, 2010)

Yes, me too. I have been keeping in contact with her and I only wanted him to go to a home close by so he only lives about twenty minutes away.


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## Plains Drifter (Aug 4, 2009)

Drats, can't watch it on my iPod. Wish it was on YouTube.


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Plains Drifter said:


> Drats, can't watch it on my iPod. Wish it was on YouTube.


Plainsdrifter - I could not put it on youtube - it was too long - did not have a way to cut up the video - so it's one block - it's like 18 minutes... sorry.. maybe when you are by your comp


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Happy spring everybody! At least there was glimpse of it today here in Chicago - yaaay!
To follow up on Nova's progress - I rode her outside for the 2nd time - this time the video is not as long, I plomise 
She is getting a lot better with backups, and yes we are cantering now. 
Her faults I have noticed - she is "full of oats" when I take her our first LOL - you can't see that in the video, she was quite tired at this point.
she is still not quite as soft in her face as I would like, but she is in a snaffle bit now and seems to carry it with confidence, this was actually about 3rd time I rode her in a bit.

Here it is:


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

When I saddle a youngster for the first time, I do it in the middle of an arena, or round pen, no tying...that way if they wig out for any part of it, both you and the horse are alot safer from a bigger wreck. 

I would definitely do alot more flexing side to side, as it seems she is quite resistant to it; you will also find that she will give easier on the circle, the more flexing you do. 

Over all though, looks like you are doing pretty good with her


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

MacabreMikolaj said:


> Fantastic progress!
> 
> I agree with the lunging issue - it really depends if you want to go natural horsemanship or not, or to what extent. I do NOT want my horses ever walking up to me on the lunge. When I say whoa, it means whoa and stand until I give you another command. I've had to lunge natural horsemanship horses before and it can be a bit of a pain when they're immediately trying to run into you, and creating a dangerous situation if you can't get the lunge line reeled in fast enough. Over the years, I've learned you CAN actually teach them the difference between join up and being lunged, but it takes a bit of training!


 
If a horse is trying to run you over on the halt on a lunge, then he needs work on respecting his handler's space, not necessarily to change the mode of lunging. :wink:


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

mom2pride said:


> When I saddle a youngster for the first time, I do it in the middle of an arena, or round pen, no tying...that way if they wig out for any part of it, both you and the horse are alot safer from a bigger wreck.
> 
> I would definitely do alot more flexing side to side, as it seems she is quite resistant to it; you will also find that she will give easier on the circle, the more flexing you do.
> 
> Over all though, looks like you are doing pretty good with her


- Thanks - she was flexing really well when I had her in a hackamore, she was giving great side to side, but now the bit I guess is so new to her (completely different feel), she stiffened up.. I work on flexing her first thing when I get on her and she has gotten much softer one every new ride in it, but sometime she has so much go I have to make her trot around in the arena till she settles down a little bit, then she is more "pliable" and pays attention more. I think it may be also combination of things: my barn guy doesn't turn the horses out in winter and early spring, because of the footing in the paddocks, so when I come to ride and pull the 2 year old out of the stall after standing there for a day (sometime 2), she is pretty wild.. I want to get her in the roundpen but the footing is still no good.


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## draftgrl (Jan 8, 2011)

I'm sure she's quite full of herself after a couple days of doin nothin, hell I would be too! lol Great to see more from ya!! You said this is the third time riding her in a bit, have you had her play with it anyother times? Was just noticing that whenever you go to stop and a little bit when backing she is somewhat fighting it. Just an observation, could be wrong, but does the snaffle have a break or (dog bone) in the center? I no longer use snaffles without them, all they seem to do is pinch the tongue or jaw bone. 

Looks great, sure wish i could be out with no snow, we just got another 5 maybe more inches last night!!


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## MacabreMikolaj (May 9, 2009)

mom2pride said:


> If a horse is trying to run you over on the halt on a lunge, then he needs work on respecting his handler's space, not necessarily to change the mode of lunging. :wink:


Run you over? :-| I wasn't talking about being run over, I was just referring to a horse that will walk into you from the outer circle when they've been trained with natural horsemanship. "Run into you" meant run into the circle to get to you because they've been taught to do so when asked to halt from natural horsemanship practices.


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

MacabreMikolaj said:


> Run you over? :-| I wasn't talking about being run over, I was just referring to a horse that will walk into you from the outer circle when they've been trained with natural horsemanship. "Run into you" meant run into the circle to get to you because they've been taught to do so when asked to halt from natural horsemanship practices.


My mis-understanding then...it should have been "run in to you" then...and I wasn't saying that you had a problem, just highlighting that if a horse runs into (not in to) his handler, then you have a problem, that is not so much the method of training as a lack in respect between horse and handler. 

I train my horses to turn in toward me (I want the hip AWAY), and eventually they are also taught to walk in toward me, once I know they understand my 'personal bubble'...and they are never to just clamber on up and into my face...I want a good 3 ft between me and the horse, and I will finish the distance if I desire to give a scratch...otherwise I back them back out into the circle, and send them in a different direction. I have trained this way long before the NH thing went crazy.


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## Frankiee (Jun 28, 2010)

wow great job love your horse very pretty and i like the way she moves !!!!


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Draftgrl - yes she is in a regular 1-break in the middle snaffle.. I do have a offset D snaffle with 2 breaks in the middle and a copper rolled in the middle - I used that one on my mare Brandy - cause she absolutely hates the classic snaffle. I will try the one with the roller in the middle on Nova next time I ride. It's this one: Offset Dee 7/16" 3-Piece with Copper Roller | Reinsman
- BTW we got some of the storm from you LOL - it's snowing here right now and it's 32 degrees :-(
Fugly..
So I haven't ridden since last Saturday.
I took Nova out on her first trail ride with a friend of mine last Saturday - she did great - we kept it to 45 minutes to mostly walk and jog, cantered a little once. She did get spooked at some dog passing by growling haha- I was glad to ride in my high-backed barrel saddle :-D


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Frankiee said:


> wow great job love your horse very pretty and i like the way she moves !!!!


Thank you Frankiee - yes I love the way Nova moves.. I had her in a training surcingle and side reins and oooh - she looked so nice, in a really slow jog all collected up.. I gotta get her in the surcingle more often to build her neck muscle..


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## draftgrl (Jan 8, 2011)

Yeah that storm was no fun! Glad you were able to get out and expose her to new "monsters!" lol


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