Baby Greenie Support Group now open: Share Your Pain!

[Merry]

Ah yes, the rollercoaster ride upon the back of the greenies! I think they just tease you along by being good every once in a while just so you don’t A) shoot yourself; B) turn to alcohol to alleviate the depression; C) take up raising birds instead.

What are the low A/A classes for? Those are the classes where you pull up your baby greenie because they’re either scooting through the lines or pitching in the corners when you ask for a lead change. I’ve decided I’d rather humiliate myself amongst my peers than amongst the professionals in the official Baby Green classes.

Pam: Here’s hoping your sale horses stop loving you so much. You’re just such a great home, they don’t want to leave!

“Charter Member of the Baby Greenie Support Group of North America”

[Merry]

My torture session was yesterday on horseback. I took the (now) nearly 4yr. old Barbie Cow to my trainer’s to school her on the flat. We’re back in the English saddle, by the way. She was actually pretty good, hacking nicely in a relaxed frame, but then suddenly I get this: She spies something that intrigues her, then I get the “deer in the headlights” routine, aka “The Frozen Giraffe” pose. Then her tail goes up over her back and she snorts! If I urge her forwad she just explodes, so I just try to get her to refocus by bending her around my leg, making circles, etc. Yesterday it was a horse being put on the hotwalker. Why??? Who knows.

“Friends don’t let friends eat fish tacos.”

[JRG]

I have to admit, I have been looking for something young again, now that my little man is growing up. Something to fill the gap so when the big guy is in full swing I will have another one up and comming. At least that is the argument I tell my husband.

So I would kind of lean toward getting another, but I don’t want to get into a family argument but I would have to side with Beezer on this one. By the way, if you have time to knit an afgan you arent’ spending enough time at the barn.LOL

[wtywmn4]

Oh Beezer, am so very sorry…Poor Tigs… Did the vet have any idea why he has it in all four? Thats something you hear in driving horses from being on hard roads…

But you have to bless Mr. Beezer. That really is an understanding guy!! You might want to keep that one

[RRB]

I’m 28, so I’m another EMLM. This is my first greenie, though, and I’m hooked!

–R

[wtywmn4]

Here here is right, for Great trainers

They help us over come things we may back away from. Am also very lucky to have the trainer I do. She knows me, and can push me, especially when I need a good shove. Plus she is truly awesome with the horses. So, maybe these wonderful people have influenced us more than we know. Starting us, giving us strength when we need it, incouragement, care when we’re down, and a good slap on the back when we “dun good”. But that could be a whole different thread.

[Merry]

So, you mean a year from now I’ll look back on my adventures with the Hot House Rose (aka “Hammie”) and the Hanoverian Cow Beast (aka “Barbie”) and chuckle over how green and obnoxious they used to be?Oh, I savor the day!

Right now the Cow Beast is in a 3 yr. old tirade. She has come to the conclusion that working-- especially the way I want to work-- is not all that much fun, thank you very much. I swear, everyone wants her because she is the cutest thing since puppies, but she is just a COW!
Canter forward from behind?
“I think I’m too tired for that now.”
Bend and be supple to the right?
“That’s a tad uncomfortable for me.”
Work now, eat lunch later?
“But oat hay sounds so good right now.”
AUUGGGHH!

“Friends don’t let friends eat fish tacos.”

[hifi]

I just read your original post for the first time. I need to be right here. I had an experience. We are cantering along, la-de-da, winning the class and boom “What is that over there, I think it is scary” buck buck rear run run run. there goes the prise I was about to win.

If you can’t beat 'em, try harder. And God Bless America my home sweet home!

[DMK]

Yup, Laurie, that is me on him. He is the first horse I have owned that I actually look like a “good fit” (5’8, not such short legs ).

He is pretty amenable, although we had a “discussion” the other day. For the first 90 days I was pretty much just teaching him to maintain a consistant pace at whatever gait we were in (I don’t much care about speed within reason, it’s rhythm that I teach right from the start), then we started to work on sloooooowing those feet down (they were pretty much slapping the ground pretty frantically - but with about 12" of overstride ). He caught on to those lessons nicely so for the last 14 days we have been working on the beginnings of a gasp frame in his trot… (one day he is going to HAVE to cram that big old stride into the accepted numbers!!)

Well even RVs can figure out that this resembles WORK. And apparently the W word can make one’s back a wee bit sore (yep folks, muscles have to be used in order to develop). The RV figured out that if one wanted to avoid the Dreaded Frame and W word one should merely invert ones frame and pick up the pogo stick canter. Until he figured out that as soon as he did that, I put him in a circle, and By God I can make damn sure that at the very least his nose, hips and shoulders are where I want them (as in “not” inverted, just not in a frame - in short a Mexican Standoff with DMK holding the bigger gun ). After about 15 minutes of this game, the poor RV decided that my Trot Frame Plan involved less WORK than the Canter In A Circle Option, but it was a begrudging victory at most.

He does study the jumps a bit - I do like that feature so far He is built on the forehand though - going to be a task to teach him to carry himself to the jumps. Right now he wants to study them but he tends to throw himself on the forehand in the process!

[LuckyMe]

Thanks so much to all you guys for responding so quickly and thoughtfully! I’m feeling a little better, was about ready to give in this afternoon but maybe I can find a way to work this out.

I’ve always liked greenies because they were like a clean slate, whereas riding older, problem horses meant dealing with all sorts of quirky issues that were often dangerous, engrained, and hard to break. I should have stuck to the greenies-- it was while riding really rank auction horses last spring that I ended up in trouble, on a horse that had no sense of self-preservation…Now any sort of unpredictability of any kind just freaks me out!

My mare is a pretty mover and very athletic-- I bought her with the hopes that someday she’d make it to the hunter ring and be competetive, at least on the local circuit. (which she should be capable of!) Now all I want is something I can hack quietly a few times a week…in another five years she may be that horse, but its going to take a lot to get there. (for both of us.) Someday my goals might change again and I might want to get back into more competetive riding, but for now all I want is a trail horse! (Merry…once Barbie gets over her “random explosions” send her my way! At least then I can hack in style!!)

I think its worth it to give the trainer thing a shot before I go making any decisions about selling her. I could use the training as much as she does.

Thanks again for letting me butt into your thread, good to know I’m not alone in this!

[Beezer]

Welcome. We are all here for each other!

(Hey Wty … yes, heard that song the other day and thought, you know, that is just sooooo appropriate for these times we live in.)

I see trees of green, red roses too. I watch 'em bloom for me and for you. And I think to myself … what a wonderful world. Yes, what a wonderful world." – Louie Armstrong.

[PonyLuvN]

some kind of brakes! when i pull you into the rail I dont me jump out of the arena!!
corners are not made for running and speeding around cross cantering!!
When I pull to stop that IS IN NO WAY the signal for a game of tug-o-war!
X’s arent scary! you can see the other side!
running into the jump isnt the easiest way to get to the other side!
and worst of all…
when you are so horrible for me AT LEAST be some-what bad for my trainer!!!
Now i know Im not the only one with this problem, but Im sad to see SO many of us.

-Stephy

[Janet]

I dunno about the age factor. I am well over 40, but I am much more likely to be “too forward” than otherwise.

[Justice]

Ooooh - been in that club and I must say, reading your post made me realize just how far the greenie has come! One of my particularly fond memories is one of the first times I attempted a canter on Justice. I remember remarking, gosh, he’s really on the forehand, isn’t he? - and then having him show me he could go down even farther - TO HIS KNEES! Very Scary.

At least he doesn’t fall down any more. . .much.

Chef, I must confess - he did learn a new trick last week. I cantered off a gymnastic and said whoa right before I was going to ask for the change. He was about to trot so I put my leg on and said “hey!” - next thing I know he has jumped the bank (the barn has a 2-tiered grass bank at the end - Jade impressed us all by jumping it instead of halting after a line when she was a baby). Just as I was realizing what had happened, he popped right up to the second level. I thought he’d be panicked (I was!) and he whipped his head down and I prepared myself for a huge buck. False alarm - he just wanted to eat the grass

[Bumpkin]

This thread sounds like where you want to be!!!

You will get a lot of support from everyone here.

[Merry]

T-shirts and sweatshirts with an obvious greenie horse on it, amid a pile of jump poles saying, “Oh my God, I’m green!”

Thanks for sharing that. It just totally made my day! I’ll be laughing for quite some time.

“Charter Member of the Baby Greenie Support Group of North America”

[DMK]

verra funny Peggy! Many years ago, way before the “I see dead people” phenomena, my sister saw a movie about these aliens who looked justlike everyone else. The only way the aliens could spot other aliens was with their special glasses… Which brings us to my old hunter who really had a fence spook in him (and of course was also the BEST jumper I ever owned, but god help you if you didn’t hold his face and sides all the way to the fence). Anyway, after one of his more spectacular spooks, she commented that it was obvious that there were aliens in the fences, and Raven clearly had the glasses. He couldn’t be held responsible for his actions…

Merry - you know you just invited the Cow-ness of it all by bragging on that forward moving Barbie!!!

I am feeling beseiged lately…

Saturday I went to go to barn to meet farrier who was reseting RV’s shoe (see “Clip of Death” a few pages ago ). I get in vehicle. Vehicle does not really move too easily. Vehicle has flat tire. Take vehicle into street (driveway is a wee bit steep). Neighbor offers to help me change tire. This is wonderful, but MY SPARE IS FLAT!!! sigh… Arrange to borrow a vehicle, take spare to get fixed before tire place closes, go meet farrier. Farrier resets shoe on RV, damage from clip appears minimal. Life is looking up. HAH!

Sunday afternoon I go to barn with plans to hack RV. RH leg is swollen around fetlock. No wounds, scrapes or dingies to justify the swelling. I put him on the lunge line to see if he is sound. He is not. And of course since the LF is the foot just reset from the quarter clip disaster, there is just a wee bit of doubt to say is it the RH or maybe that LF is still a wee bit sore? I opt for 10 cc of banamine, ice for 20 minutes, paint with DMSO/dex, wrap and reevaluate tomorrow.

Monday comes, I drop off the original flat tire to be fixed, go check on RV. Swelling gone with wrap, but still just the barest hint of unsoundness (and a generous helping of Young TB Insanity). After leaving the leg open for about an hour (while I went to get tire put back on and spare safely put back under vehicle) a suspicious (and depressing) swelling reappears around fetlock. Sigh… Repeat Sunday’s regimen and reevaluate on Tuesday.

Tuesday - get in vehicle to go to barn. Vehicle once again does not easily move. THE SAME DAMN TIRE IS FLAT AGAIN!!! At this point DMK is so beat down by all this, she merely backs car onto street and quickly and efficiently changes the tire, instead of throwing a glorious Temper Tantrum, the likes of which would put a weanling to shame (her normal response to Car Trauma). Drop tire off on way to checking out RV. RV at least does not have any swelling, even with leg open a few hours. I didn’t check for soundness, but did not give banamine today, so tomorrow will be a better test. At any rate he will have at least 10 days off just to be on safe side (assuming we have no more swelling/lameness when not on banamine)… sigh… However, after riding the Made Horse today, who was Certifiably Insane, I am tempted to give them all Jan/Feb off, and visit again in March And just to cap off the whole experience, the tire guys told me the tire had additional damage near the rim. Unfixable, of course. Sigh…

Right now I am lighting candles to the Wheel Gods, and praying that all the “Bad Wheel” Karma is in the Stupid Tire and NOT in RV’s RH wheel.

Why again do we like owning horses?

[Chef_Jade]

Grace went on trial yesterday and I am already looking for someone to fill her not-even-cold-yet stall. I found what appears to be an amazing 3 yr old jumper prospect in my price range. Great! So the lady tells me “He is a lot of horse.” Well I’m wondering if he just has a lot of energy, is spooky or what. Her reply? Well, we like to keep all our babies out in a field and rarely handle them. He has never been bathed, clipped, trailered, etc. But I am still interested him!

[DMK]

No, no… Wonkies just expanded to Maryland, they are still in Georgia…

The rains had not hit this morning, and it was 68 degrees ( ) so I figured I better get a ride in while I could. The ring is rolled but still beyond wet from last rain, and I didn’t want to tear it up before the next deluge hits, so I was just going to do a little walk and trot work, and stay out of the really wet spots.

So I guess that is why RV had to do his impression of Point Given today… Not the fast part, the AIRBORNE part (except he likes to add a little forward leap to the equation)

I tried to 'splain to him how when you are from the last crop of Mr. Prospector, win millions of dollars, have testicles and romp home in the Belmont, you are permitted to cavort a bit more than, let’s say, a gelding great grandson of Mr. Prospector who managed to only beat one horse in 5 starts…

When that failed, I re-acquanted his nose with my knee… We managed to finish with obediant, if not stellar and certainly not soft, work.

Yeesh! What he really needs is to rip around the pasture, but he has finally figured out that when it’s this muddy he can’t run without slipping. Failing that, he needs a really good LTD, but the ring just won’t tolerate it right now. So the energy just keeps on building… Methinks it’s getting to be like Three Mile Island.

I’m starting to understand why people used to give babies off all winter and stick with foxhunting (alcohol and ace probably makes that a pretty “doable” affair ).

Beexer - are you SURE you don’t want to trade him for Sam???

An optimist thinks we are living in the best of all times…
A pessimist fears this is true.

[DMK]

Lowering the average (slightly) - 39 MLM reporting in!

Update on my Neighbor From Hell… I have decided that my neighbor must be on some sort of cosmic plane that forces him to do something that would totally freak out a greenie at the exact moment I decide to ride said greenie… It is an amazing thing, really.

On Sunday I went out to ride the Riverman when he had not a) been ridden since Wednesday (family obligations) b) the first cold front of the year snuck in and c) did I mention the cold front?

So I go up to the ring, and I was setting up a gymnastic, when all of a sudden my horse leaps 87 feet to one side (thankfully not in my direction). I look over to the corner of the ring that has him utterly terrified. Yup, I see the cause now. This corner of the ring abuts the woods, and a lot of smaller trees are growing there. We now have a rustlerustlerustlerustle SNAP CRASH rustle rustle rustle thing going on here.

My dearest neighbor is trimming the trees right next to the ring. After standing stock still in horror for 10 minutes (when I explain that my horse is not actually capable of moving he is so petrified), I decide maybe I will lunge him in that corner to let him become used to it. After 10 minutes I was really quite happy with how well he handled it, but I really didn’t want to waste a perfectly good Sunday ride battling the Tree Demons, so we went in for an hour and came back out after the tree demon was gone.

This horse may not be broke to showrings and “other places” but he is going to be broke to death on the topic of People Who Have ZERO Horse Sense!

As for greenies I have tried, what can I say other than I used to leg up layup horses at a farm I helped out at (used to clean stalls and what not on the weekends, leaving the owner free to go to track and update trainers, etc. on their horses). Ain’t nothing like hopping on a TB who has been confined to a stall for 3 months The guy who owned it would also get a few track rejects, and I would try them too. At least I had the advantage of KNOWING the layup horses!!!