What are you doing with your two-year-olds?

[Pocket_Pony]

I’ve had Princess Fancy Pants* for a month now and she’s just as cute as ever. I can’t wait until fly season is over because her eyes are so beautiful but she wears a fly mask all day so I can’t look into them. :lol:

She’s my first two-year-old, first pony, and first mare! She has settled in nicely with Paddy as her companion and she and Mac have met over the fence once. It wasn’t as eventful as I thought it might be, but I did see the little cartoon hearts and lovebirds hovering over their heads, so they won’t be going out together any time soon.

Anyway, since she’s my first young horse and I keep her at home, I don’t get to keep up with what other people might be doing - so tell me, what are you doing with your young ones?

I want to make sure I’m on the right track. Let’s see . . . she wears a fly mask every day, I can fly spray her, she’s gotten 1/2 a bath, she stands well in the cross ties, she ties well enough using a Blocker tie ring (I don’t leave her unattended - she’s fidgety). I handle her 2-4 times per day between various turnouts, tuck-ins, and small adventures. We’ve done a little bit of flag work in the arena, worked with a saddle pad and surcingle, walked over some cavaletti, done short trail walks. She’s no longer bothered by the deer jumping and running all around her pasture, and seems to not be bothered by the dogs barking, tractor, and ATV coming and going. I’ve done her feet twice now, and every time I’m with her I pet her and run my hands all over her body and up and down her legs. Oh, and I found her favorite scratchy spot.

I haven’t tried to get her on the trailer because my truck was in the shop, but I’ve tried to simulate her going through a “tight” space like that - every time I turn her out I stand by the gate and have her go by me so she moves into that sort of space on her own. She’s good at yielding her hind quarters and working on following a feel/lead on the rope.

Now, of course, all of these things aren’t perfect because, well, she’s only two and I’ve had her a month. But these are just things I try to work on in small increments.

What else could I/should I be doing? I think it is too early to be lunging her. I’ve thought of putting a saddle on her and walking her around just so she can get used to that feeling (started with the surcingle). She doesn’t like her ears touched very much so I’m trying to casually work on that.

Other suggestions? Or tell me what you’re doing so I can add it to my list!

*Princess Fancy Pants is the 2yo cob filly I got from exvet and she is absolutely the cutest filly in the world (her blog is in my sig if you wanna be a looky-loo).

[exvet]

Glad to read/hear the progress. Sounds like she’s coming along nicely. Tomorrow a PPE is being performed on her sister. Fingers crossed that not only all goes well but we’ll be sending another Welsh Cob filly up the west coast.

[Pocket_Pony]

Oh, yay, good luck with the PPE!!! You sure do make good ponies! :yes:

[oliverreed]

She is adorable! Gorgeous filly!!!

[RedmondDressage]

Congrats! You’re going to have so much fun with her

I didn’t do anything with mine. He was my first baby - got him at 18 months. Since he arrived he has been out in his field being a baby. The only things that I expected were for him to behave for the vet and farrier and load in the trailer. Otherwise I found that just in the course of doing regular farm work he learned to be sane, friendly, and well behaved. He was exposed to the loud tractor, watched us fell trees outside of his field, learned to be sane about rifle shots (people hunt semi-nearby), learned about dogs, etc. All of these things challenged him and made him a solid citizen better than anything I could have set up without me requiring formal work from his youngster brain and body. I had all kinds of grand plans for what I was going to do with him - trail walks, DSHB classes, etc - but I’m glad I let him be a baby. I backed him last spring just after his 3rd birthday and he was so easy and super eager to learn. Now he’s back out to finish growing and will start for real sometime in the next 6 - 7 months. It’s been so fun watching him grow and figure things out on his own, plus I’ve really gotten to know and understand his personality by interacting with him in his own element out in the pasture. This is definitely how I’ll do things with my next baby!

[Loopy]

Current 2 year old, nothing, apart from vet and farrier appointments I’ve not done anything much with her this year.
i did plan on showing her inhand this summer but then one of my other horses was sick and took priority. I nearly got to one show, and since I was getting a lift in a horsebox of instead of using my trailer and she’s never been in a horsebox, I got her out of the field for the first time in 11 months to practise loading (much steeper ramp) she was perfect as ever…then broke my leg the next day so…she’s back in the field

Shes well behaved for everything though, super willing temperament, if she was needing more input she would have had it.

[clint]

I don’t do much with my current two y.o. She is quite well behaved, and had a lot of handling as a foal including several trailer rides. I expect her to stand for the farrier and vet, lead, she wears a sheet and is fine about having a blanket on and off. I have tied her several times, and that has been uneventful. Otherwise, she is turned out 24/7 with another horse. Another two y.o. I had had a bit of a challenging attitude. I brought in a trainer to work with her for a month and at the end of it, she knew how to lead, load, stand, and the rudiments of lunging. She also wore a fly sheet and stood for the vet and farrier.

[netg]

I didn’t do much with mine. Taught her to lead from both sides, trot in hand, the basics you mentioned but not even a surcingle. I did teach her to move away from a longe whip/body language, as the first time I tried to show off her movement she let me crack the whip just behind her and looked at me like “I’m not scared. That’s good, right?” Teaching her to move away when requested was helpful once she was in training and we wanted her to longe - that had no bobbles, she just did it.

I’m sure with an exvet baby you’re already starting off with a youngster who has a good mind and early handling. It sounds like you’re doing plenty! I do love taking babies on trail walks when possible, so recommend that, too.

[Pocket_Pony]

[QUOTE=netg;7737534]

I’m sure with an exvet baby you’re already starting off with a youngster who has a good mind and early handling. It sounds like you’re doing plenty! I do love taking babies on trail walks when possible, so recommend that, too.[/QUOTE]

That’s for sure - I was so impressed with how well behaved she was from day one when I brought her home.

I handle her every day just by nature of how I manage my herd/do my chores/rest my pastures. I only do “work” 1-2 days a week for 10-20 minutes - just so she can get away from the other horses, really. I want her to learn to be focused on me when she’s with me, not her boyfriends who are calling for her when she goes out of sight. Just this week we had a “breakthrough” where for the first time she didn’t call for Mac when I was riding him. So that’s good news! :yes:

[Trinket]

Prepare (in what ways you can) for possible vet visits! Dealing with my 2 (now three next month) year old, and her bad luck with health…Well, just prepare for the worst!
Make sure you can get her to stand still even if things are bothering her (it’s hard to do, but once they get it, they GET it. I use treats, longer she stays still, more she gets).
Make sure you can stick fingers in and around the mouth to prepare for the dentist! Obviously you’ll have help of a speculum and possibly drugs (And the vet of course!!), but I find it helped a LOT to keep her calm during.
Make sure you can touch those NONO spots (Like under the tail for temperature taking). This is easy for my girl, but not so for others.

You’re doing great though, and shes soooooo cute!!

EDIT! Make sure you can lunge her lightly too, for if (Hopefully never! lol) gets lame. Apparently it’s useful, and my girl is only now working on it. At the least make sure she can run if you run.

[ljc]

She’s lovely, Susan. So glad to see you working with a young horse! And a pony at that.

I got my first pony this summer, as well. Always wanted one and when I lost Benjamin in June and needed a companion for my other horse, I ended up with a 14 hand pony. As I get older, my equines get smaller!!!

Have fun. Liz

[Pocket_Pony]

Oh, Liz, I’m so sorry to hear about Benjamin - he was such a special horse.

Enjoy your new pony - is it for riding or only companionship? Or maybe a bit of both? :winkgrin:

[Beentheredonethat]

I get my young 'uns out with the older horses and they stand tied for long periods of time and come with me ponying on the trails. I know you have other horses, so you can pony. I think that is one of the best things in conditioning them young, because you really don’t want to be lunging, and they learn to behave like the big guys when ridden.

[propspony]

Well, since I don’t live in a pasture/turnout optional place, my baby has ended up getting a lot of handling since birth out of necessity. So the bathing/clipping/trimming/loading stuff is pretty old hat. We’ve had some vet visits, and our teeth done, and she longes. (for short periods)

Now we’re working on going W/T/C in the big arena and doing it in a forward manner. Not for very long, maybe 10-15 mins tops. We pony a lot with her mom too…

It’s not really my choice to be quite so hands on, but like I said, it’s kind of a necessity in our situation.

[enjoytheride]

You can do rope work with her. Use your rope and move it all over her body, on her feet, her legs, her belly, her neck. She needs to stand still and recognize the difference between when you are using the rope to ask her to move off and using the rope as a method of touching her. Can you put the rope around her hocks? Can you turn her around when you pull on the rope over her hocks or does she explode? Ground drive her with one line. Ground drive her with two lines. You can do it off a halter.

[bathsheba8542]

Mostly just long walks around the farm to see different things, experience being out with no other horses around, and hear stuff in the woods. We practice standing in wash stall and getting hosed off, tolerating stuff on back, over head, walk/trot over a few ground poles, step over limbs out on walks, etc. Take him next to a fence and climb up so he has something over/behind his head, and lean on him so he feels a wee bit of weight on his back. He is groomed every day and loves attention. This one is super easy…couldn’t be a nicer two year old! As they say, I think he was born broke.

[Pocket_Pony]

[QUOTE=enjoytheride;7740780]
You can do rope work with her. Use your rope and move it all over her body, on her feet, her legs, her belly, her neck. She needs to stand still and recognize the difference between when you are using the rope to ask her to move off and using the rope as a method of touching her. Can you put the rope around her hocks? Can you turn her around when you pull on the rope over her hocks or does she explode? Ground drive her with one line. Ground drive her with two lines. You can do it off a halter.[/QUOTE]

I have done just a little bit of rope work with her - just what I can do with her long cotton lead . . . so running it up and down a front leg, looping it around the fetlock and asking her to give to pressure and lift a foot and hold it and gently place it; putting the rope around her belly and holding or adding pressure (like tightening a girth); putting it around her butt/hocks and asking her to turn around. She does all those pretty well but there’s always more to do!

How do you ground drive with one line? How is that different from hand walking or lunging? If you ground drive with two lines I assume you don’t use a rope halter but a halter with brass cheek connector pieces (what are those actually called?!)?

Good idea on the mouth/dentist stuff, will start that.

Ponying, ditto - I’ve been walking her from the pasture to the barn with Paddy so she’s used to being led on a halter next to him, so I think ponying would be just fine.

Thanks for the ideas!

[alibi_18]

Start giving her treats in her mouth with a big seringe (apple sauce) or use a long carrot to simulate a de-wormers being given. (I don’t give much treats by hand otherwise so horses I work with are usually pleased to get their meds! )

Gently start banging on her feet using a small hammer like a farrier would do.

Get her used to blankets and bandages/polos/boots.

Get her used to being touched everywhere; especially ears, stiffle, udder and tail area.

Teach her to lower her head on command “head down” when touched at the poll or pulled from the lead rope.