I bought a pony! Meet Lola

[quietann]

This little mare is smart. Really smart. And she wants to please. The first time the trainer’s mother put her on the longe, she leaped into a very very fast uncontrolled trot. Given what I saw at the barn Lola came from, this was what longeing there was: a way to burn off calories quickly. Throw the horse on a longe and trot the cr*p out of it. She literally did not know how to walk on the longe line. By the end of that session, she could walk maybe half a circle before flying into the trot again. I could not longe her at all.

She’s had, I think, 4 or 5 more sessions, and she now starts out walking calmly on the longe, and will do all 3 gaits and good transitions up and down in a mostly relaxed manner on a verbal cue and a very slight change in “energy” from the longeur.

More importantly, I can longe her at the walk and trot, with a little bit of coaching. That’s why she got profuse praise from me in the video; I’d just stopped longeing her and she’d been perfect - because she understood what was being asked.

So now I’m looking at some of her behavior “problems” as her simply not knowing what is being asked. E.g. at the mounting block she tended to rush off the moment one’s butt hits the saddle, but she had someone to hold her on the ground the 2 times I tried her, and that may have been her normal, with only people who could deal with the rushing off getting on her alone. Now she’s much better; she does better if someone is standing near her head but not holding her, and she’s learned that standing still for a bit will usually get her a cookie.

[quietann]

OMG y’all. Lola got shoes and pads in front yesterday and isn’t she just the fanciest little thing! Trainer sent me these videos.

We’re still working out bits, contact etc. She was ridden in draw reins a lot before I got her so she doesn’t quite know what to do with herself.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/uG8RUiruWTRtNB787

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qNKTctEYLX47TUrk8

[Eclectic_Horseman]

Adorable!

[MsM]

Super cute! She will have a big stride for a little girl!

[Jenerationx]

I love her. She tracks right up.

[quietann]

The big change is her stride in front; she was more footsore than we guessed.

[chestnutmarebeware]

I love her!

[quietann]

So Lola had a rough Thanksgiving and Friday. She’s become a bit herdbound and going to the orchard by herself - which she’d handled with little stress when I first had her - made her very anxious. (The trainer’s mom took her in hand on Thursday, and the trainer under saddle on Friday.) On Thursday, she was badly spooked by a group of children who came out of the woods running and screaming.

On Saturday I worked with the trainer’s mom and we took another horse with us (a very calm, aged gelding). Lola was fine, alert but relaxed. She popped her head up when we got to the place where she’d been spooked, but no reaction beyond that. Trainer’s mom and I switched horses for the walk back, and other than having to be reminded to stay back and not try to pass the gelding, Lola was fine – and very relaxed by the end. She responds quickly to cues, so holding a dressage whip in front of her kept her back and I was able to go back to just carrying it normally pretty quickly.

Yesterday the trainer and I both rode her in the arena (the trainer better than me of course.) And then I got a pony ride – trainer on foot leading Lola – back out to the orchards, and she was perfect!

I’m starting to hand walk her a bit more now, bringing her back and then going out again (we have not left the barn property yet.) She has that upright neck Morgans tend to have, but a cue to lower her head while walking next to me must feel good, because she kept it down for most of our walk.

I’m liking this mare. Not 100% sure she is the right horse for me (and much of that will depend on how she develops as a trail horse, because that’s mostly what I do, and a solo trail horse at that.) She is quick in a way Feronia never has been.

[skydy]

Have confidence in yourself and your mare will feel it.

I had a gelding that was very alert and fairly looky out hacking. He really took my vibes to heart and looked to my guidance. Your pony sounds the same.

I had him from a weanling until he died at 18yrs. I only went off him twice, both times I was uninjured and he waited beside me for me to get back on.

Good luck with your new pony. I think you can do this.

[quietann]

Feronia could be a handful at times when she was younger, but somewhere along the way I figured out that she tried her best to be safe. I only came off her once in 13 years of riding her, and it was not her fault – she spooked, which I was used to, but in the process backed into a cattle strength electric fence and just exploded. And then was all upset because I was on the ground and I wasn’t supposed to be there!

Lola is young for her age, and a LOT of horse in that tiny package, and hasn’t had a lot of life experiences – I hope that in the spring I can take her to a couple of schooling shows, not to ride, but just to hang out.

The question for me at some point may be whether, at age nearly 60 and not especially fit, I want to deal with a LOT of horse. Not whether I can or cannot, but whether I want to.

BTW she is MUCH less nippy, and her treat manners are improving. The groundwork lessons really help.

[skydy]

I get it. I’m not young anymore either. If she is greener than you were told, that is unfortunate. Hopefully the trust can be worked out between you. If not, I hope that you can sell her to a suitable home and find a dead quiet trail buddy.

My gelding had a huge sideways spook to which I became accustomed, but I was younger then.

[Eclectic_Horseman]

@quietann

ola is young for her age, and a LOT of horse in that tiny package, and hasn’t had a lot of life experiences

The thing about the young ones is that they try so hard to please, and don’t know when to blow off the unintended aids from their rider. Bear with my little story as an illustration.

I went with a friend to look for a new horse way up in Vermont. My friend was older and an intermediate rider. We went to look at this 6 or 7 year old Morgan/Percheron cross mare that was short and stocky with a calm and sweet temperament. My friend tacked her up and took her outside to the ring, and she was really good. At one point while she was riding, a young horse, not much older than a foal, came bombing into the ring where she was riding and zoomed around. The mare (I remember she was named Idgie) stopped and just watched the loose horse. I’m thinking, “this is great!” So my friend took her up the dirt road for a hack. Again, perfect. No barn sourness, left on her own, cool and collected. On her way back, a police car was coming up the road and stopped next to my friend to ask a question. On the side of the road where my friend was riding Idgie, was a very very steep shoulder that went down into a ravine. My friend got a little nervous for some reason about the police car stopping next to her, and she clenched her hands on the reins. Idgie started to obey her aids, and started backing over the side of the cliff. My friend freaked out, clenched her hands and arms even harder, leaned forward and gripped with her legs. Her brain went into unconscious self-preservation mode and she was completely unaware of the aids that she was giving to the mare. I saw what was happening and ran up and grabbed Idgie by her reins and led her off.

I convinced my friend not to buy Idgie because the mare was too young and inexperienced for her. She ended up with a 17 year old warmblood who knew when to tune out her inadvertent aids. The mare that she bought would never have backed over the side of a cliff because the rider was unintentionally telling her to do that. My friend happily had the warmblood mare for another 10 years.

With younger horses, you really have to have control of your emotions and your body, because they will try to do what you are asking, whether you mean it or not.

This may not at all be the case with you and Lola. But I like to tell this story to people who are considering whether a young horse is appropriate for them so that they understand another dynamic of which they may not be aware.

[appypaint]

Lola seems pretty smart for her inexperience. As she gets older, you may find that intelligence translates to a sense of care and connectedness. She may look after you in ways you don’t anticipate.

It doesn’t make the green years better and I don’t blame you for your hesitance. I certainly don’t have the nerves for greenies, so I don’t want to convince you one way or another. She just looks like a real gem in the making, whether you want to be the one doing the “making” or not (and no shame if not!)

[Jackie_Cochran]

Many decades ago I was finally able to determine the probably Arabian ancestry of my wonderful sainted Anglo-Arab gelding, a true angel from heaven.

I was able to buy 2 pure Davenports who shared many, many, many of his probable Arabian ancestors, a stud colt and a 3 year old filly. I was hoping to get more sainted horses!

Well these two Arabians liked my wonderful horse just fine. However they REALLY RESENTED me comparing them to my first horse. It took them a little while to get me to understand that even though there were deep similarities in breeding and type that they were their own horse, not a clone of my sainted horse.

Once I got the message and started appreciating these horses for their own uniqueness then everything, just everything, got so much easier training them.

[findeight]

OP, I feel your pain here, BTDT more then once. Whatever you feel is best for you is the way to go.

Will say that, most of the time, horses like this have never been taught what they are supposed to do, only corrected for guessing wrong. They have never been in a regular “ program”, you know, set schedule, clear direction, consistent repetition and clear expectations. Instead they get pulled out at random times and intervals with random riders/handlers and no goal based schooling based on gradual progression. These horses do learn to cope but are otherwise clueless.

You only recently brought her home. Suggest just handling her as often as you can insisting on ground manners, be consistent every time you touch her. Be her leader, let her settle into a routine. That will help enormously.

Unlike some of the other projects, she does not look underfed but sure sounds like she was underworked. Maybe figure out how to get her working more, lunging/ ground driving, and reduce the octane in her feed. Shes anything but underfed and overworked…more overfed and underworked.

Course we all have learned this is not a great time of year to get sillies out of of any of them…unless you are in Florida. Take a deep breath, no rush, get her used to a good routine and the ground manners up and give you and Lola both some tools.

If nothing else, it will help her go to a good home should you decide to move her on. Give it some time. Remember you don’t trust her any more then she trusts you right now, that can be fixed.

[quietann]

It would be hard to cut her feed much more. She’s getting a pound of ration balancer and 2 cups of Outlast split into 2 feedings. Supps are one ounce CocoHoof, one TB plain salt, and 1000 IU Vitamin E since she gets basically no grazing. We’ve cut way back on her hay, and she’s getting it in a small hole net. It’s first cut timothy. I think she’s lost a little weight, but really should find my weight tape so I can track her progress. Easy keepers are hard! At the very least I’m not feeding her some larger quantity of a 28% NSC pellet like she was at the barn I bought her from!

Three people work with her: the trainer, her mom, and me. Her ground manners are much better although there’s still room for improvement.

One thing that will be added is more handwalks with me. I’m pressed for time, but can take her 3 times a week. There’s a barn sour issue to be dealt with, and I’m comfortable working her on my own in hand for that. She’s getting ridden 5 days a week and 1 long groundwork session per week. Two of the rides and the long groundwork session incorporate lesson time for me. Now that her feet don’t hurt, her rides are longer.

Goal is simply an improved horse at this point, whether I keep her or not.

[findeight]

Think you are making decent progress in the…what? 6/7 weeks?… you’ve had her. Took her several years to get where she is. Take a minute to unlearn, reset her perceptions and learn the things she should have learned but was never taught. Then you can build mutual trust.

Mares care once they get in your corner but it can take some persuasion to get them close enough.

[quietann]

Hi – Yes it is 7 weeks now. I think the several years that she sat between when she was started (at 3 I think) and restarted (at 8, earlier this year) is part of the problem. I know she was ridden sometimes in the winters she spent in Florida, but after she was moved to NH full time – in 2021 I think – she was a pet.

Luckily the trainer and her mom are very much on board with stepping way back on the trail work to stay in the more familiar first orchard, though I’ll have to explain a bit more about keeping her “below threshold”. For whatever reason, she is quite traffic safe, so the 150 feet or so that we have to be on the road to get to the orchard is not a problem. I can get her there on my own, let her graze a little at the entrance to the orchard, walk a little further into the orchard, let her graze a little, etc. Turn back before she gets nervous, start over… I have the time for this. And the apple trees give me a good way to set goals – can we get 5 trees in? OK did that, try for 5 more. Too much? Go back to 5 and try for 2 more. And so forth. I actually love this kind of work.

[findeight]

Memories…used to ride serpentines in the orchards, how I learned about planning track and staying on course, intro to lead changes too. Didn’t have access to any arenas…improvised.

[Bluey]

@findeight

Memories…used to ride serpentines in the orchards, how I learned about planning track and staying on course, intro to lead changes too. Didn’t have access to any arenas…improvised.

Use and keep repeating the head down cue, until is your default behavior to ask for if she is less than attentive.
Doesn’t need to be way down, only what is comfortable for her below her normal.
Head down has been shown to have a neurologic calming effect.
Just stay always safe, you relax along with her, but she is way more fast if something unexpected makes her jump.
You need to always stay where she has a clear out not right over the top of you.
I know of several people that were run over when grazing horses.