Post by ina on Jan 23, 2011 17:12:01 GMT -5
Last summer, as my old boy was getting on for 22 and intermittently lame through arthritis, I decided I had better start looking for another younger horse, as I do enjoy not only hacking, but also trec and a bit of xc and ode.
So, come the summer holidays I started to trawl the internet for anything that caught my eye, within my price range - which wasn't that much! When people asked what I was looking for I couldn't really give them an answer as I didn't KNOW what I was looking for. But the one thing I knew I definitely was not looking for was anything unbacked and nothing approaching white - the blacker the better as far as I was concerned. So how, you may ask, did I end up with a 2 and a half y o unbacked grey Andalusian who goes by the name of Regalito (Reg to those who know him), with a pure white sire? Who knows? But I just saw him and there was something about him that attracted me to him.
So at the beginning of Sept I brought him home in my lorry, which he did his best to wreck. On the hour long journey he managed to chew his was through the partition and put his head through the ceiling and was absolutely wringing wet when we arrived! A good start.
With a little persuasion he came off the lorry and into the sand school where he immediately went down to roll! Then there was the usual formal introductions to the two old boys Forrester and Jake. Everything went really well with very little in the way of fur and feathers flying, and even a little bit of tentative mutual grooming. The whole move and journey had obviously been quite traumatic for Reg as he spent most of the next day resting - quite often lying down with the two old boys standing guard. It was just lovely to watch.
I did nothing with him for a couple of weeks apart from groom him. Just let him settle in and find his feet. After that we just started doing little 10 to 15 min slots - leading and a few basic ground skills, setting up little obstacles - tarpaulins, cones, leading over poles and through poles and although his concentration span was somewhat limited he took everything in his stride. So by the end of October I decided we were ready to go and explore the wider world. This meant a foray onto the road and traffic - up to this point I had just lead him as far as the road and we had just watched it go by.
For our first outing I headed for the nearest lane, which meant about 100 m of road to get there. We met 6 cars, one of which was towing a very rattly trailer but Reg showed no concern at all, in fact the only thing he seemed a little uncertain of was the road sign announcing an approaching bend, which he gave a cursory glance.
And so it has gone on. We have met all sorts of vehicles now, lorries on there way to the power station, tractors driven by mad farmers that don't like horses, diggers etc, though we still have to encounter a bus.
More recently we have been back in the lorry for a couple of short excursions and he has not done any further damage to it, though he does still get hot and sweaty. On our last outing I took him to a nearby livery yard in another village and we went for a walk on totally new territory and Reg just took it all in his stride, including passing road works with a mini digger parked at the side.
I am now considering when to back him and how. I will continue to post any other bits and pieces as we encounter them and will be happy for anyone's input and advice as this is something I have never done before. In fact this last 5 months has comprised of lots of things I have never done before! So it has been a steep learning curve for me as well as Reg!
Ina
So, come the summer holidays I started to trawl the internet for anything that caught my eye, within my price range - which wasn't that much! When people asked what I was looking for I couldn't really give them an answer as I didn't KNOW what I was looking for. But the one thing I knew I definitely was not looking for was anything unbacked and nothing approaching white - the blacker the better as far as I was concerned. So how, you may ask, did I end up with a 2 and a half y o unbacked grey Andalusian who goes by the name of Regalito (Reg to those who know him), with a pure white sire? Who knows? But I just saw him and there was something about him that attracted me to him.
So at the beginning of Sept I brought him home in my lorry, which he did his best to wreck. On the hour long journey he managed to chew his was through the partition and put his head through the ceiling and was absolutely wringing wet when we arrived! A good start.
With a little persuasion he came off the lorry and into the sand school where he immediately went down to roll! Then there was the usual formal introductions to the two old boys Forrester and Jake. Everything went really well with very little in the way of fur and feathers flying, and even a little bit of tentative mutual grooming. The whole move and journey had obviously been quite traumatic for Reg as he spent most of the next day resting - quite often lying down with the two old boys standing guard. It was just lovely to watch.
I did nothing with him for a couple of weeks apart from groom him. Just let him settle in and find his feet. After that we just started doing little 10 to 15 min slots - leading and a few basic ground skills, setting up little obstacles - tarpaulins, cones, leading over poles and through poles and although his concentration span was somewhat limited he took everything in his stride. So by the end of October I decided we were ready to go and explore the wider world. This meant a foray onto the road and traffic - up to this point I had just lead him as far as the road and we had just watched it go by.
For our first outing I headed for the nearest lane, which meant about 100 m of road to get there. We met 6 cars, one of which was towing a very rattly trailer but Reg showed no concern at all, in fact the only thing he seemed a little uncertain of was the road sign announcing an approaching bend, which he gave a cursory glance.
And so it has gone on. We have met all sorts of vehicles now, lorries on there way to the power station, tractors driven by mad farmers that don't like horses, diggers etc, though we still have to encounter a bus.
More recently we have been back in the lorry for a couple of short excursions and he has not done any further damage to it, though he does still get hot and sweaty. On our last outing I took him to a nearby livery yard in another village and we went for a walk on totally new territory and Reg just took it all in his stride, including passing road works with a mini digger parked at the side.
I am now considering when to back him and how. I will continue to post any other bits and pieces as we encounter them and will be happy for anyone's input and advice as this is something I have never done before. In fact this last 5 months has comprised of lots of things I have never done before! So it has been a steep learning curve for me as well as Reg!
Ina
