# Hi from New Jersey



## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum. I am 20 years old and my boyfriend and I are proud parents of two appaloosas. My mare is 4 years old, and my boyfriend's gelding is 8 years old. Since we got them about 5 months ago, we've gone through a lot at the place where they are. I'm just looking for some opinions on some topics.


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## Miss Dent (Sep 11, 2007)

Hi Appylover31803- Welcome, you say you are looking for opinions on some topics? What are you after??

Hope you enjoy the forum!


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

Well this is the first horse that i own, and the place i board her at would only teach me stuff and tell me things if i got lessons. I have 12 years experience of riding( i know not much, but its decent) and I'm working a lot on bonding with my horse than just to work her. I have started to jump her over small cross rails. im taking it very slowly, but i just want advice on what to do. The riding rings are very small so i feel its hard to really work if you're basically going in a circle. My horse, Vega, freaks out when we go in the indoor ring. I've tried a lot of things to make it better, but nothing seems to work, and i'm going to say a good magarity (sp?) of the horses spook in there. 

I'm not really happy with the place my boyfriend and i board our horses at, but the board is rather cheap and as of right now spending more than $1100 a month isnt ideal. I think thats about it.


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## emilou423 (Oct 6, 2007)

hello  i have an appy too, but she's quite a bit older than your kids.... she's about 20.

im sorry to hear about the less than ideal work area, i know how frustrating that can be, though i kinda have to opposite problem, too much space! my appy cant walk a straight line w/out a fence and my parents refuse to fence a work arena! 
anyway.... you are absolutely right to work more on the bond with your horse, especially since she is so young. when we had a foal, our focus was on bonding and trust, that has made the entire training process 100x easier. when it came time to walk onto the big scary trailer all alone with no mommy or gramma, she followed me right on as though she had done it a thousand times. because she trusted us. so keep up the bonding and just be patient, she is only a baby after all. 
also, since she is only a baby, i would be EXTREMELY slow with the jumping lessons. even at 4 her bones/joints/muscles are still growing and developing, and jumping is one of the most strenuous tasks we can ask of our horses.

good luck!


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

I am taking the jumping extremely slowly. The last time I jumped her was July i believe. But since then I found out she has HyPP, and that put a damper on this, not that she's unable, i was just so concerned for her well being I didn't want to do anything. But its all sunken in and things are improving. I was actually lunging Vega over a tiny tiny jump (like 6 inch) just to get her back into the whole pick up your feet when this thing is here. She did fantastic, so I was very pleased.

And my boyfriend's horse is looking amazing. He was a schooling horse that was worked way to hard, and we believe was abused as he is kind of very wary of new people and new things. And if the old owners are around and he can hear/see them, He'll freeze up. But since he was a lesson horse, by boyfriend is working on bonding with him and getting him back into shape and just being a happy guy. He's only eight but acts like he's a lot older. We've had them for 6 months now, and the improvement is huge. Its amazing what a little time and patience can do for a horse.


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## emilou423 (Oct 6, 2007)

> Its amazing what a little time and patience can do for a horse.


it truly is


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