morning roading, my lil black horse might need some extra room. 
lessons lessons lessons
we hope he learned that water surprise is ok
doesnât hurt and even feels good when it is hot.
Well, at least you know heâs capable of upper level movements! LOL! Poor guy; I bet both of you were surprised at that one.
Let us know how it goes tonight, OK?
my 2 cents!
My 2008/9 hunt horses were untamed pmu weanlings from Canada and even thoâ I couldnât touch them muchâŠtheir first hot humid Virginia summer came with the ârun-thru-the-sprinklerâ game! Iâd be filling the water trough and curiousity made them play with the bubbles (oh yeahâŠand paw and put legs into it etc but I digressâŠ) so Iâd spritz them. They learned to LOVE IT! Theyâd walk back & forth thru the spray until they were soaked then theyâd go roll in the dirtâŠthen come back and walk back & forth etc. This spraying routine was nightly when I was filling the trough. Sometimes theyâd demand the sprays and not let me fill it by putting their heads in the wayâŠor lips. So needless to say, theyâre good about hosinâ!!! Iâve always thought horses were part hippo ie: a mud bath is just the thing!
In my opinion you have published a clasic example of messing around with a baby horse for no good reason until you manage to create a problem. Congratulations!
[QUOTE=facinated;3328665]
In my opinion you have published a clasic example of messing around with a baby horse for no good reason until you manage to create a problem. Congratulations![/QUOTE]
I beg your pardon? Handling & exposing a yearling to basic horse care routines is âmessing around with a baby horse for no good reason?â. Thats a new one.
This âproblemâ showed two things- I kept his trust and watched how he responded when confounded. He is going to be fine.
What reason could there be to hose off a yearling, other than to entertain yourself. Tons of baby horses are injured in wash racks, and on crossties. I have never heard of one suffering any ill effects from being dirty.
Oh I get it nowâŠI donât train your way.
When people(me included) did stupid things with horses with the excuse that they were âtrainingâ, Cappy Smith used to say âyouâre gonna die someday too; it doesnât mean you have to practiceâ
At the risk of feeding the trollâŠ
I wouldnât really call working with a yearling to desensitize them to different stimuli stupid. It isnât dangerous to the horseâs health. It is not putting a 300 lb man up on them and galloping on slick, hard pavementâŠthat would be stupid. This is HER horse that she is clearly keeping. I am SURE she will never say, âfacinatedâŠwhy donât you ride my horse.â So, to my way of thinking this is none of your business. SLW didnât ask for an opinion, SLW was just relaying a story.
In case you missed itâŠthis is the hunting forumâŠthey are happy hereâŠgo be angry and judgemental elsewhere.
ThereâŠI am done. Thanks.
I wish my 17.2 hand witch of a mare had been hosed off and desensitized as a yearling. Convincing her at 1 would have been much better than at 17.2 and 4 years old. We handle all our youngsters ( brush, pick up feet, bath,etc), makes life easier later. Ok, no more feeding the troll.
I am not angry and judgemental. I am happy and open minded. It sounds like the yearling was doing well with the bathing, then started to worry about it, and the owner who has the right to do whatever they want to with the animal proceeded to do something which could have caused a big problem. They have made lemonade from lemons by saying it was a chance to confound it and then regain itâs trust. The person who raised D1nonlyrocketponyâs mare would probably argue that they did everything right also.
I sell lots of horses, and most horses have soundness issues associated with soft tissue and joints, and their connections. Horses which were handled alot and shown as babies rarely make it to the performance level because they have been physicaly damaged as babies.
I also raise lots of horses, and have worked for people who have raised lots of horses. Baby horses have a very very short attention span. There is nothing you can teach a baby horse that you canât teach it when it is 3 or 4. Then it will be smarter, and strong enough to be less at risk from the physical restraint involved. Back when horses were a much more important part of life than now, and their soundness, and training were a matter of life and death to the riders, horse were left alone until they were about 4, because people knew that they were babys, and needed to develop.
Last week someone was talking about how well it worked to flip her baby over backwards when it played around âto train itâ I said what I thought about it and they came back with the same line of argument that has appeared here.
We only use humor here!
Mr or Ms. âhappy & open mindedâ couldnât possibly be a hunting person!!
Whereâs that sense of humor!!?? Facinated - no humor? no fun!! Come on! Ease up! Leave it!!
SLW is exposing her youngster to life and some things are better done when they are babies, smaller, less physically able to hurt you IMHO. It was kinda cute! Weâve all been dere, done dat!! Lets join SLW in celebrating the first of many adventures it takes to make a fieldhunter!
Does our 2011 future fieldhunter have a name?!! How about Fascinated!!! :winkgrin::D:lol:
Dear Happy and Open Minded,
You wrote:
[QUOTE=facinated;3330304]
It sounds like the yearling was doing well with the bathing, then started to worry about it, and the owner who has the right to do whatever they want to with the animal proceeded to do something which could have caused a big problem".[/QUOTE]
Nope, Ms. Fascinated, you are entirely 100% wrong. Go back and reread exactly what happened.
NOWHERE did SLW say or indicate that the yearling was worrying about anything. She was merely hosing him off and he was being âeyeballyâ but doing âterrificâ until she hit the spray nozzle.
And you continue in the same idiotic line of thought when you wrote:
You assumed they viewed it as a âchance to confoundâ but SLW did not convey that thought; rather, she saw it as necessary to regain her yearlingâs trust (which she did) and continue on.
The incident was ENTIRELY accidental and not preplanned nor set up to confound anyoneâŠ
Except maybe YOU for making all the ridiculous assumptions and accusations.
And then you say:
I am unclear on how handling a baby can damage it physically for performance purposes. Showing it undersaddle, riding and jumping etc. it too young, yes, but teaching it stable manners can physically damage it?
and:
Yes and no. They are stronger and lot more able to hurt YOU when they are an undisciplined 4 year old weighing in at 1500 lbs. If I had followed your advice with my 5 year old I would have had a major problem on my hands last year. He was shipped to a pro for 3 weeks as a yearling and taught basic stable manners, loading etc. and then came back for more turn out. He shipped out an unruly little s.o.b and came back with manners that he never forgot. Would he have learned them at 4? Yes, but it would have been more difficult for both him and the trainer. I would much prefer to restrain a yearling than a 4 year old.
Oh, and as to this:
That is nothing, absolutely NOTHING comparable to what SLW was doing and you insulted her by even using that as a comparison.
And in another post you remark:
SLW was not âentertainingâ herself, get over that assumption of yours.
She was WORKING with her horse.
And could you please provide some statistics regarding âtonsâ of hurt young horses? How many exactly are tons? Where? What accidents? etcetcetc
WHAT PROBLEM?
SLW doesnât have a problem. She has an eyebally yearling that is doing great and probably better than ever in the wash rack this week.
We have a classic example of a horseman (SLW) spending some time with her yearling.
It is a shame there are not more people doing that. I know someone who breaks untouched 4 year olds. He says it is totally unfair to theâŠHORSE.
(A thousand pardons for feeding the troll)
Tally Ho!
Dang it Tantivy!! You been hittinâ that Starbucks extra strong coffee again this morning??? :eek: And way, way too much sugar!!! :eek: You gotta cut back! Heck, Iâm tired just from reading all that!! :winkgrin: Now I need the coffee!! See what youâve done??? Iâm a mess!!! :D:lol:
Iâm gonna have to go out and hose the horses just to calm down!!
Shhhheeeeesh!!! 
No, Iâm gonna get my perfectly ruined performance horses out and ride oneâŠSLW!!? Wanna join me??? :yes:
Any of you performance horse foxhunter people wanna come!!??? 
Tailgate afterwards!! Feels like a Mojito kinda day!!
Sorry, Wateryglen, but sometimes certain things justâŠhit me the wrong way. SLW was doing nothing wrong.
It has not been the best summer so far.
Donât even know where to begin, so I wonât.
PS I donât drink coffee. (Maybe thatâs my problem?)
Sorry, I forgot how much you people drink. Maybe the woman was drunk when she assaulted her lucky pupil with the pressure washer?? Tally HicâŠ
After âfacinatedâ insisted that DRUGS were the problem in eventing, I blocked himâŠjust didnât want to read the blather any more.
That caused him to send a long tirade to my personal email address about how he is a professional and knows more about horses then I ever will.:rolleyes:
This guy is such a TROLL
I never INSISTED that drugs were the problem. I suggested that the apparent abuse , or overuse of the horses at the upper levels, which frequently results in their deaths may involve the use of permitted medications, which might encourage the horse to perform beyond their heart/lung , or other physical capacities. I remain confident that I do know more about horses than you ever will.
git R done!!!
WellâŠTHANK GOD someone has joined our board who knows something about horses! And more than we ever will too!!! :eek: Praise the Lord!!
FacinatedâŠwhat hunt are you a member of currently? Iâve hunted with you in the pastâŠ
Had to laugh at the power washing thingâŠI LOVE to power wash mineâŠitâs SUCH a labor saving device!! One swoosh and youâre done!
Pass the popcorn and pitcher of MojitoâsâŠburp!!
