I'm pleased because he wanted to flip out but changed his mind. The wind blew the rump rug around and spooked him before we even got to the lunging area. But directly after the spook he just stood there, head high, but dealing with it.
So I let him stand there and rubbed the rug with the whip a little.
Not only does he have the rump rug on, but two little pieces of horsey jewelry attached to the front of the saddle pad. I wish my saddle had strings hanging down, I might make some out of hay twine.
Not a relaxed horse, but this shows how well he holds it together when worried. That thing is loud when I tap it with the whip. (The rump rung is not on correctly because I intend for it to slip down one side more than the other.)
Hm, is his hind leg resting, thinking about kicking, or other? I also think it's amazing how good he is about saddling and girthing up. I wonder about the time he kicked me as I tightened the surcingle - what was that about? Before and ever since, I can saddle and girth up and get no reaction at all.
The video shows the J-tail I was talking about, as he is overcome with the urge to kick. But he didn't, so, 3 minutes total. He never was completely relaxed in the video, and if I'd kept going a few more minutes he would have settled down more, but I felt it was more important to reward him for his great effort than to push him into boredom.
The video also shows that I've lost weight and my shorts don't fit anymore and no one told me. OK then. Please watch the horse, not the person.: )
I realized later that it's hard to see the J-tail in the video so I captured some stills for you. Who knew, I had a Paso Fino instead of an Arabian. And now I have a little bit of trust in those Paso Fino people who say the J tail is natural for the breed, that the tails are not necessarily operated on.
If you've never seen a Paso Fino J tail...
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8 comments:
Now I see what you meant as a J tail! He is such a beautiful horse.
Gawd, Lytha, he's so beautiful. I'm glad his feet are doing better.
Camryn, can you believe those J tails are sometimes natural? I had no idea until Mag came along. It got me thinking about cosmetic alteration - we see a breed characteristic, that's good, it becomes the breed standard, but then one is born without it, and we do some sort of operation to fake it. A QH might have its tail nerved to stay still while reining. An Arabian might need ginger to keep it up. Really!? But no, really, I saw this once. It was an Arabian stallion at a horse expo and its tail stayed in a perfect flag posture and never swayed side to side or moved at all no matter what speed the horse had. It was a frozen tail, the horse was clearly afraid to move it in any way. It was my first time seeing a chemical tail. So the Paso Fino people like the J and not all the horses have it, so some of them get nicked. And from what I've seen, the Saddlebred people like the arch and keep the horse in a harness in its stall to keep the arch, which looks to me like a broken tail. Strange how much importance we place on tail posture or lack of tail movement, huh? Mag has one of the best tails I've ever seen, so it's funny to me that he has the ability to turn it upside down.
KB, I wanted to ask you what you saw in the video. Did you see a particularly lame leg, or just a horse scooting around hindend dropped? I know, I look out my window and say OMG he's so gorgeous just standing there sleeping. And I looked at old photos of Mara and thought, Wow, she was clean. But....just clean.
Hmm. Well, at the walk he seemed to be tracking up ok. And yes, at first he was tense with his rear end dropped when you asked him to trot, but he didn't seem "off." And then tracking right, his movement seemed even freer. I know that in dressage, Arabians are known for being outward in their hind ends, but that doesn't bother me so much. I can easily imagine Mag on the bit and carrying himself nicely. My riding muscles twitch when I watch him move. I wonder what his long trot would be like? Sigh....
Yay for losing weight!
I love how he tried very hard to be "good". Nice work.
I know I've told you before that Fiddle was THREE YEARS behind mentally/emotionally when I started working with her--she was five but acted like a two year old. So I had to train her as I would if she was two.
I see some similar delay here, also: he's done the work of an adult horse in the past (you RODE him!) but his body language says "young" to me. Not "dumb" but definitely not ripe yet. Your three minute longer session would be perfect for a two year old, and he responded perfectly to it.
Something to consider.
BTW, Fiddle is 14 ths year, and acts like a grown up horse...which makes sense, as 11 year olds are adults. Finally.
KB, you noticed too that he's better to the right, which is ironic cuz he hates going to the right.
Teresa, I only lost 5 kg but I'm down 12 or so cm from my waist, which makes me feel so much better about myself. I'm full on Atkins. Sugar is not in my life anymore, and I don't even want it.
Aarene, I'm glad you reminded me of this. Keep doing it! As sad as I am to not be riding (longest I've ever been without riding!), I look at him and know he's gonna be great, based on his reactions to new things. First reaction: Snorrrrt, then "Oh wow, I must put that in my mouth." I call him a dolphin cuz I wonder how much garbage he's got in his innards. Then again, I found a brother of his online for sale because the horse was supposed to be an endurance horse but had no drive. But I get the feeling Mag's curiosity will be the drive to see what's around the next corner, even if he's got no work ethic. Like you said before, I can do this, it's just gonna take a lot, lot longer with my circumstances.
I love watching him move. He is gorgeous. He doesn't look lame to me. That's so cool that he can make a J tail. I've never noticed if Chrome does it.
Good job on the diet. I'm addicted to sugar. It's so hard to cut it out completely. Keep up the great work!!
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