hey all,
so yesterday marks a very important day. Loki was delivered to my barn to begin her training with me. i'm looking forward to the adventure!
Loki is a coming 3 year old standarbred mare. she's never been trained for the track or raced. she's a trotter, not a pacer. not registered due to the timeline not being met, as per her previous owner. chatted with a friend that is well versed in standie lines and she says she's nicely bred.
she was for sale so dirt cheap that my business partner and i were very worried the meat man would show high interest. so we snapped her up.
she's had very minimal halter training so far, that's it. i don't believe she has even been trained to pick up her feet much. i was informed she was pretty much untouched until last october, when her halter training started, then not worked with much over this winter.
the round pen's top rail is about 6 feet tall. as you can see, she isn't standing on a lot of snow, maybe 2 to 3 inches at most under her back feet, front feet are on the dirt. and she's not done growing yet! her sire is over 17 hands. she's going to be a big girl i was going to get some nicer photos, but figured day one was better for getting to know her than becoming her paparazzi right away, lol.
yesterday we didn't do a whole lot. new place, new sights and sounds and new horses to distract her. brought her into the round pen just to assess her personality (it's verified, she is part moose, lol) and see what she knew as far as leading. she is happy to come up to me when at liberty and will follow me for a few steps, albeit a bit wary (new environment and people most likely was the factor there). she does need to learn about respecting her human's space, as she does like to crowd and push a bit when on the lead. when the seller unloaded her from the trailer and was holding her, she was being very pushy and obstinate. i took the lead and the first moment she tried pushing on me i pushed right back, fist in her chest and the lead taut. she backed pretty good and i think ground manners won't be too difficult for her to learn.
today we will start work on just standing nicely for some light grooming, and depending on her attention span we may work on getting those feet picked up. she let me lift her front right quite nicely yesterday but showed a good bit of resistance with the right hind.
stay tuned for more adventures with Loki!
so yesterday marks a very important day. Loki was delivered to my barn to begin her training with me. i'm looking forward to the adventure!
Loki is a coming 3 year old standarbred mare. she's never been trained for the track or raced. she's a trotter, not a pacer. not registered due to the timeline not being met, as per her previous owner. chatted with a friend that is well versed in standie lines and she says she's nicely bred.
she was for sale so dirt cheap that my business partner and i were very worried the meat man would show high interest. so we snapped her up.
she's had very minimal halter training so far, that's it. i don't believe she has even been trained to pick up her feet much. i was informed she was pretty much untouched until last october, when her halter training started, then not worked with much over this winter.
the round pen's top rail is about 6 feet tall. as you can see, she isn't standing on a lot of snow, maybe 2 to 3 inches at most under her back feet, front feet are on the dirt. and she's not done growing yet! her sire is over 17 hands. she's going to be a big girl i was going to get some nicer photos, but figured day one was better for getting to know her than becoming her paparazzi right away, lol.
yesterday we didn't do a whole lot. new place, new sights and sounds and new horses to distract her. brought her into the round pen just to assess her personality (it's verified, she is part moose, lol) and see what she knew as far as leading. she is happy to come up to me when at liberty and will follow me for a few steps, albeit a bit wary (new environment and people most likely was the factor there). she does need to learn about respecting her human's space, as she does like to crowd and push a bit when on the lead. when the seller unloaded her from the trailer and was holding her, she was being very pushy and obstinate. i took the lead and the first moment she tried pushing on me i pushed right back, fist in her chest and the lead taut. she backed pretty good and i think ground manners won't be too difficult for her to learn.
today we will start work on just standing nicely for some light grooming, and depending on her attention span we may work on getting those feet picked up. she let me lift her front right quite nicely yesterday but showed a good bit of resistance with the right hind.
stay tuned for more adventures with Loki!