Flint and Casper

Remember those draft horses we were training a few months ago? Well here's an update on two of them, 4-year-old Flint (black) and Casper (grey), living it up in Delaware and proving to be total rockstars in their Mounted PD program. :)

What a ham

Flint and Finnagan update

Flint and Finnagan, the two drafts, are doing really well. Flint especially. He has made a complete 180 from the aggressive and touchy guy he was before to a horse that is very sensitive and fun to ride; once he trusts you he will give you everything he has, which I really like. Plus he is very adjustable in his gaits. Can Percherons do dressage? I think this one can. :) Here are a few short videos of both boys from the other day.

Finnagan is nice and comfortable, but kind of blah; it's hard to get through that blocky head. He's very cute, but not my cup of tea for a riding horse although he is more rideable by multiple people than Flint who is definitely a one-person horse. Both are for sale and will stay at our barn until they are sold.

I actually got to ride Flint's mom, Bonnie, today (sorry no pictures but she looks just like Flint only bigger and beefier) in preparation for a prospective buyer who is coming to see her tomorrow and she was amazing. Thirteen years old, having not being ridden for 2 years, I just got on and went and she was practically perfect, automatically going into a frame and everything. What a nice horse! She will make a wonderful backyard/trail horse for someone. The family who owns all of these guys is liquidating due to retirement/health issues so they're trying to find homes for all five of their drafts and their ancient quarter horse.

Videos

We've been battling some pretty awful snow and ice this past week so riding was limited.

Icicles everywhere and several solid inches of iced over slush on the ground

Luckily Dan was able to watch me train a bit this week so (yay!) I finally have documentation of me actually doing something! Here are a few shots and some video clips:

First solo ride on Flint (we need to do something about those reins....

they are way too short for such a long neck!)

It is such an accomplishment getting his head low like this

We also started both horses in blinders to get them used to their driving attire. We'll start adding the harness bit by bit next week, then begin adding some weight. In the pictures here we were working on desensitizing them to walking over tarps and around scary objects with confidence and being able to maneuver around each other when being driven both separately and in tandem.

Finnagan adapted immediately to the blinders, driving like a pro

What a mush muffin

Colby the Chincoteague pony is pretty much done at this point and though his owner isn't paying for us to train him anymore, she doesn't mind if we exercise him so I decided to play around with riding him bareback. He was so much fun!

Tessa was coaching from the sidelines

Colby has a lovely floaty trot, perfect for bareback!

Working at the canter is tricky as Colby tends to be racey and uneven when indoors.
His steering isn't too great, either, but he's got the basic concept now.

Coty's problem behaviors emerge when he's outside so until the weather cooperates and we can get back out there, we're left with just riding him to keep him fit rather than to really train. "Technically" speaking he is perfectly trained and has lots of installed skills (half-passes and the walk and trot, walk-to-canter transitions, turns on the haunch and forehand, etc).

However, he is sooooo lazy! He'll move, but you really have to work for it. Give me my ground-covering TB any day, I'd rather not have to convince a horse to go all the time (but I guess the slowness is preferable for a western pleasure horse, which is what he'll be doing). He definitely gives me a workout, especially when I ride him bareback, but he's really good and he seems to prefer the bareback pad.