Baby Greenie Support Group now open: Share Your Pain!

[Merry]

I love the lunge whip chasing scenario. Fortunately, we take the lazy route now and ship our babies out to a local training ranch that has a round pen. So, after only about 2 weeks, they understand all about going forward and shifting gears. I know, we’re cheaters!

As for the cantering issue: Don’t get me started, don’t even get me started…sigh. Barbie, the Hanoverian Cow Beast (aka “The Flying Couch”) is just now getting the idea of cantering in somewhat of a straight line, at somewhat of a steady pace. I no longer have to pop her with the crop at the instant I ask for the canter with my leg. Finally, we’re passed the “leg/whack/cluck, canter… strung out/balance/break… leg/whack/cluck, canter… crooked/straighten/break… leg/whack/cluck, canter…” You get the idea.

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

[CharleyHorse]

oh and congratulations- soon you guys might have the longest running thread that actually stayed on topic! Kepp up the good work! LoL

QUINCY COME HOME! I MISS YOU! and of course Piggy Par, Princess Anisette, and Boberino! Oh did I forget Stro? Hey BTW whats an 8 letter word with only one vowl? SP?

[onelanerode]

awww!! poor boy! i hope he’s doing better soon…
i have a sort of baby greenie story … but i’m not sure if it counts cuz the mare i rode was like 22 or so at the time
we got her for free, and consequently don’t know her history at all. she’s a relatively easy keeper and was able to jump up to about 3’ even in her 20s (and yea, we did have the vet out to make sure she was ok with doing that ) well, she jumped much better out on cross-country type fences than in the ring - she’s never much cared for our show-jumps and tends to do the run run run STOP!! thing or the run run run try-and-duck-out thing … keeping her slow is a major challenge
but anyhow, my trainer had set up a line of verticals that were about 2’6" or so - big enough that she kind of had to rock back and use herself and not run over them (her preferred method ) well, we had done the line several times, and then my trainer moved the last one in a bit to make it a big 5 instead of the 6 we had been doing. she’s naturally short-strided, though if she’s ridden regularly w/ dressage work and lengthening exercises, she’ll stretch right out and look lovely
she hit that 5 perfect the first time, and then got down into the corner and started hopping around and shaking her head back and forth - obviously much pleased with her old self i thought my trainer was going to die laughing she’s such a silly old goose but i love her!!

[Chef_Jade]

that Saturday was the big “move” to take Dekster to the animal farm to do some growing up (mentally only - please - he is already 17 ++++ hands!) I had nightmares about him not going in the trailer. I scheduled the shipper to arrive at 7:30 when I knew no one would be at the barn to see my beastly horse balking and fighting, throwing me around like a rag doll, etc. So what does he do? Walks frickin’ RIGHT INTO the trailer like a pro! I STILL can’t believe it!

Then he gets there and walks right off the trailer and quietly to his pasture about 1/2 mile from where we unloaded him. He had to pass llamas, camels, zebras, cows, and god know what other animal I was unable to identify. He didn’t spook once!

I am still in shock! Looks like he will be able to handle being a show horse with no problem!

[TrickOfTheTrade]

Took Trick to the show on Sunday and jumped him for the first time at a show.
My greenie is wonderful and takes very good care of me!! I ofcourse was very nervous so in the practice ring I was aiming at the standard, once I relaxed he jumped great. Mabey too great because I pointed him directly at the middle rail of the warm-up ring at the Oaks and he decides that he would jump it, totally my fault but he will jump ANYTHING.
Decided to do a cross rail round befor the Long Stirrup. Refused the first fence twice due to hme cutting the corner and aiming at the standard. Once I got over the first fence the rest of the course (2x around outside) was beautiful. Since I did goof there I added the Long Stirrup where in the first round we did great and had no refuasls. In the second round I did the first fence and didn’t look far enough ahead around the corner and came off right by the entrance (no gates), at least I didn’t jump the rail again. So now I have a very brused tail bone and back, but I should be ok.
Other than that Trick and myself had a great show!

[Merry]

Why is it I envision myself venturing up to the local cowboy-themed tack store to purchase yet another western headstall to reform yet another greenie warmblood into a wannabe western trail horse?

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

[Janet]

After several months of steady progress, Belle picled today to impersonate a giraffe. It took half an hour of “lots of transitions, lots of leg” to get her head out of the stratosphere.

I think it was the cold fromt that came through.

[Justice]

She just want to make sure that you remember she is a legend in her own right. I’ve been mostly lurking on the boards at odd hours as I have been working my a** off here in the wilds of Michigan. Sounds like everyone’s green beans are cooking up nicely. . .except poor Mr. Tigger. It does sound like Beezer has found a match in Sam, and hopefully we all have years of Sam/Ham stories to look forward to!

Chanda - I was so sorry to hear about Chase

At least it happened in the winter and I must say. . .you look simply mahvelous on that big grey horse!

Our barn is packing up for Ocala and so it will be pretty quiet for the next month or so - but at least I can live vicariously through my barnmates.

My mission (and I’ve been given no choice but to accept it) is to have my horse fit by the time they get back. I said, don’t worry, he’ll be fat and fit. . .it was gently pointed out that he is already fat

[Merry]

Ha! No, you’re not the “only one with these issues”.

I believe we’ve all had the baby who is so unfocused that the itch-on-the-way-to-the-jump is just routine behavior. Wait until you’re winning your baby green hack class, and someone’s golf cart lurches forward, or the PA mike clicks on, or a pigeon flies out of a tree. Your life… and $25… flashes before your eyes.

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

[DMK]

Bertie, I second what Lord Helpus suggested, especially the part about getting the canter work done early. As she said, nothing wrong with it, and - unrelated- it’s actually pretty much the only way to go with a back sore horse.

Your rides described about every ride every had on a TB - don’t know if that is what your mare is, but I swear, their motor just gets past “idle” after about 20 minutes!

Also, sometimes the lunge-after-the-ride method is a good thing (but sounds wierd, I know!) Last week when I was riding my greenie I could tell he was trying very hard to be a good boy when all he really wanted to do was go completely ape$hit After about 15 minutes of trot work that was ranging between a 4 and a 7 at any given moment (I was aiming for an 8, it was amazing he hadn’t delivered a 2 ), I got off and threw him on the lunge line. Sure 'nuff, he went COMPLETELY ape$hit for about 5 minutes, then we actually finished with some nice canter work on the line. No way we ever would have done that if I stayed on and frayed his last nerve.

Greenie update - we did our first flower boxes! He never even peeked at them And I finally saw a quick video of his trot X work (got 2 fences before battery died), and boy am I excited… He really rocks back on his hocks and is way rounder than I thought. He just may be one of those “stylish reachers” if the video is anything to judge by. That and he may rub a lot of hoof polish off on his nose…

[Merry]

JumperEq, I totally understand what you mean about your horse looking at something else when it jumps. Hammie spied a new pinto next door to my trainer’s last week. As we headed to a three-foot vertical, he just started staring at the pinto (thinking, I’m sure, that it was his dearly departed Spot) and kept looking even as he passed. I swear, he was looking behind himself as we left the ground for the jump. And yes, I was trying to pull him up, but he wasn’t listening to that, either.

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

[LuckyMe]

DMK… we have an orphan foal at our barn, a really lovely colt, but his six months thus far has been a struggle.

He was bottle fed, then weaned onto a bucket. Unfortunately he is always wanting to suck on people, fingers, clothes, you name it. He’s too used to people for his own good and his owner is going to have her hands full when he’s bigger and stronger!

[murdoch]

Hi
I think I qualify to enter this discussion. I recently bought a baby greenie myself. He’s a 5 year old TB - just under 18H by about a quarter of an inch. I keep hearing all these scary things about TB who actually grew between 5 and 6. No, don’t tell me that! I can just barely get on him now. Someone will just have to tell him that he’s not allowed to grow any taller. He’s a late baby to is actually not yet five and a half, but no growing allowed (maybe I can get him to take up smoking isn’t that supposed to stunt your growth? )

Anyhow, he’s quite green - just starting over fences. Some days the flat work is quite good and I think yes we’re ready to jump - other days well … we have this nice rhythmic canter type gait going - canter, canter, buck, canter, canter, buck - never misses a beat.

Today for example he had been stuck in his stall for two days due to unusually wet weather (no drainage here - we’re not used to rain!). Of course all the other horses had been stuck in too.
So I get him out and lunge a little and he’s pretty good. Of course it’s nice and quiet when I’m lunging but as soon as I get on everyone decides to turn out their horses in the paddocks adjacent to the ring. So now we are surrounded by screaming galloping maniacs - not a good thing for huge, high energy, baby green TB’s with attention spans of fleass. Whee. At one point (after threatening to rear a couple of times) I just stuck his nose in the corner and made him wait until he got the hump out of his back before continuing - it was either that or another mid-ride-lunge - sigh.
Actually we worked through it pretty well but only got to walk and trot due to the mud - tomorrow should be better.
Anyhow - he was trained for the track as a 2 year old but never started (I can see why he must have been majorly ungainly at that age due to his huge size - he’s all legs). His previous owner bought him and didn’t do all that much with him until last spring. I bought him a couple of months ago and am still trying to figure out if I will ever manage to turn this beast (with help from trainer) into a jumper.

Oh and it get’s better - my other horse is a 12 year old baby greenie (no really). She’s my broodmare that I decided not to breed and that she really needed a job - she raced as a 2 year old and had done nothing but have babies until about 2 years ago. Our training since has been very spotty and when we finally got to the point where she was ready to jump she had some soundness issues (mostly due to bad shoeing ). But she is also now ready to get back into work now. I’m not totally convinced it is worth the effort to start jumping her at her age but she has no problems that would prevent it and vets fine so why not…

Oh and I ride a couple of other horses for friends occasionally - you guessed it - both baby green TB’s (4 and 6 year olds) (well one is sort of dark green I guess).

I must be crazy… but at least I’m having fun

[Chicago]

…as DF tries not to burst into tears…

My magic wand would make my fabulous greenie who is the fastest learner I have ever encountered sound again.

Looks like he isn’t going to hold up to serious working.

Too much talent.

[Beezer]

The Tig Man had an attack of them last night. His pre-ride turnout kinda went like this: Boing! Bounce! Buck! Snort! Boing! Bounce! Buck! Snort! (repeating several times.)

Twice, he tried to fool me into thinking he was “done” and ready to go to work. But his Humom knows him too very well. So back out boing-ing, bouncy-ing, bucking and snorting he went … eventually, though, he settled down and was a very, very good boy.

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.

[Merry]

Sounds like some of these greenies need a few rides in a flash noseband… and I think Tigger needs his tightened up, ahem!

Yesterday Barbie, the West Coast 3 yr. old (aka “Barbie Cow”, “The Hanoverian Cow Beast” or “The Flying Couch”) was escorted through her first little, weeny gymnastic. It consisted of a trot pole to a small x, then 18 feet to a set of standards with 2 poles laying on the ground, sort of like an oxer but with the poles ON THE GROUND. I got this from a GM clinic.

First we worked on trotting through a series of simple cavaletti, which she does great. Then we started. The trot pole and X were fine, but hop over/across the 2 ground poles? Ha!It was as if I was asking her to jump across a pit of vipers. So I regressed to walking her through the exercise 4 times. Each time, she had to leap over the parallel ground pole. sigh But I must admit, our afternoon concluded with her finally trotting nicely through the exercise. Wow, talk about a slow study!

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

[Beezer]

My Tigger is a wonderful boy. But I long ago came to the realization that he is never going to be the horse I’d hoped he would be when I “engineered” his existence.

His pluses: He is a joy to work with, tries really hard, worships me (which I find his BEST trait! ), has the cutest head in the world and the kind of silly personality that I really, really like.

His minuses: He is barely big enough, he is not by any stretch of the imagination a good mover, he has – at 4 – ringbone, he has recovered from his bizarrely fractured hock (how he did THAT we will never know) but seems somewhat limited in his movement behind regardless … well, you get the idea.

He has “another one of Beezer’s lifelong pets” written all over him.

I have moments when I throw up my hands at his latest ailment and think, I’ll just put him down. Then I look at that face and think, can’t do it, I’ll find some kid to love him. But then I look at that face and think, nope, can’t do that either, I just need to be content with who and what he is and face the harsh fact that at this point in my life, with the time I have available to ride, he’s it and I should just shut up and enjoy doing flatwork and “playing.”

But I get so danged depressed going to shows with Merry.

So … thoughts? I’m not sure exactly what I’m looking for here, maybe just a slap upside the head.

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.

[DMK]

Excellent idea Merry - I think they would go well with our Kermit The Frog embroidered saddle pads… You know, the ones that say “It’s not easy being green”

[Bumpkin]

Can you help my friend in Horse Care?
She is asking about swollen coronet bands

[LaurieB]

And one more picture–notable for the presence of Mr. LaurieB (note towel in hand!) who has now become such an accomplished horse show hubby that he wants his own bucket for carrying supplies to ringside.