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Nova's Training Thread!

4K views 32 replies 13 participants last post by  mom2pride 
#1 ·
For those who aren't sure who Nova is, shes my new 8 year old reg solid paint mare! Shes green due to her sitting in a paddock for 3 years doing nothing. Just started getting back into work maybe a month ago.



This will be where I post my questions I have about her, and our progress on a day to day bases. I hope some people learn form this thread and its going to be a positive one. There will be the obvious pictures and videos for all of you. :)

So lets begin!
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Nova will be coming home friday!
My plans so far is to really get her trust. Where shes at right now hes very aggressive with his disipline, which is fine to an extent..but Nova seems to be very sensative when it comes to that so shes learned to be very careful around humans. I went to her stall before I left the barn yesterday and called for her and she jumped a foot then froze in place, poor girl.

Also in order to help her loosen up the first few days is going to be grooming and grazing and get her to understand humans are okay to be around. Then I want to start carrot stretches and nose to tail, because shes a VERY stiff horse and maybe half of it is because shes scared to do anything wrong and the fact that she hasn't done ANYTHING in 3 years?

So I will start there. First day will just be walking around and showing her her new home of course!! :) Possibly groom if shes relaxed enough.

OH and she will be getting vetted and checked over soon as well :)

Pictures will come soon enough when shes home!

Hope everyone will enjoy this thread!
 
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#2 ·
Was she abused or something? I mean, why she needs to learn that people are OK? :)

When I got both mine (however they were completely unhandled plus paint was abused), I did grooming for while every day, stayed with them during feeding time, and let them play in round pen with me being around. Also taking Jemma for walks with some grazing involved was part of my "program". Have fun with your new horse!
 
#6 ·
Friday is going to be sooo sad, because Im letting go of my horse that I've had for 2 1/2 years. But at the same time its going to be very exciting to be getting Nova!!

Turns out im going to be keeping my stall for one more month, because Nova has never really been turned out much, so we decided to introduce her to the pasture slowly over the month.

1 more dayyy! Then trailering Chance to her new home at 9ish, then heading down to Nova!
 
#7 ·
Did you vet her before you bought her or are you vetting her after? Just curious, it was unclear from your first post.
 
#10 ·
Oh gosh so todays the day!! It came a lot faster then I thought it was going to!

Ill probably have pictures of some sort when Nova gets to the barn.

Long day ahead - 2 hours to the barn Chance is going to, then 2 hours from there to Nova, then 1 1/2 hours back home! So thats 51/2 hours JUST in the car! *sigh* lol

Ahh wish us luck.
I dont even know if I made the right choice now as far as letting Chance go.. but sadly I have no choices now.
 
#12 ·
Photos will be in next post!

Today was intense. I drove Chance to her new home, and it was the hardest thing to do honestly. When they walked her to the barn and I walked away... she just called and my heart DROPPED! She was beyond perfect today too, she got straight on the trailer, and got right off and did everything they asked of her. I was so proud of my girl. But she has acres of pasture to run and will be happy I think.

Nova is ... just WOW! an AMAZING horse!!! She got on that trailer, and got off and NOTHING ... and I mean NOTHING phases this mare... well.. sheep are a little scary. I took her off teh trail and she snorted a bit and just stood next to me like.. oh hey? We walked around and even did some free lunging. Im NOT use to having such a calm horse LOL! Im use to chance where it was like flying a kite. LOL.

Then it came to grooming: She was perfect! Stood there and everything. But you can tell shes never been taken care of right. SHe had a knot in her tail the size of texas... realistically.. put your fists together... thats how big it was... took me and 2 others to take that out, and CRAP load of detangular! I washed it and put M.T.G in it, then wrapped it. She LOVED this attention.. shes such a cuddle bug anyways, and the people she was with never paid much attention to her. Oh and to proove how.. level headed this mare is..I had her on cross ties.. and the wind was blowing realllly hard, and the trash can fell over and flew across the barn... and the cover even came off.. making huge noises.. and she never even really moved.. she just looked at it like.. hmm whats that? I was so confident in how calm she was [this was a good 3-4 hours shes been at the barn] a little 5-6 year old I was helping baby sit asked if she could groom Nova, and I said of course! So this little girl brought a red step ladder over to Nova and just groomed that horse till her heart desired and Nova was just as still as can be. :) It really made me happy. Shes young and green, but shes worth her weight in gold already honestly.

Shes going to need a lot of manner work.. and just basic ground work like moving and front and back end etc etc.. because she doesnt quite understand that.

Im going to try and start a little friendly game.. because shes a little flinchy when it comes to human hands or anything swinging at her. She just needs to get use to ALOT more human handling. We'll see how she progresses tomorrow!!

Now picturessss!
 
#16 ·
wow. nova is gorgeous. i wish you the best of luck with her!
 
#18 ·
Today was very long, spent ALL of it with Nova and a little time with Little.

I got there and bathed Little, then turned him out. Then decided that since it was such a nice day out, why not try bathing Nova?!

I took her out of her paddock, brushed out her tail then went to the bathing area. She was perfect. Stood there for the whole thing. Then I took her out to graze so she could sun dry.

Did a little parelli, got up to the circle game... this poor girl was so confused cause shes never done any lunging or ANYTHING so I had to get her going in a circle which took a lot of thinking on my part because if I tried to swing the stick a lot to drive her away from me she would shoot backwards. Then she finally got the idea and it was SOO much fun to watch her figure out what I wanted, and once she realized she offered to do it!

Then I decided to try and ride her because she couldnt not do anything.. I would turn her back into her paddock and she would pace and call for me when I went by haha!

I tacked her up and we did walk/trot/canter in both indoor and outdoor arena!!! On the second day!! It was just to get a feel of what we need to work on. Which I got a pretty good idea!

After that she got lunch, and I spent a good hour just sitting in her paddock with her while she ate, shes pretty skittish of humans BUT after the first 20 mins she ate beside me! :) I got a HUGE sunburn tho.

Then that was pretty much it. :)
Shes a good mare! Love her. Cant wait for tomorrow. Pics of today coming soon.
 
#21 ·
Ahh

I've never been so proud of a horse for such a ridiculous small thing HAAHA!

Like I mentioned before Nova has had a hard time bending at all to her right side, even staying on the wall that way.. with out counter bending..

WELLL!!!!! Today we had a HUGE break through!! She can finally do a walking circle with a nice bend and doesnt throw her shoulder out, AND shes staying on the wall!! Im so so so happy! Its at the walk but this is great! I also finally got rid of that head set she had going on im letting her balence herself out and what not before setting her head again.

She was so soft in the mouth foam was just falling out of her mouth, which is a good sign! Shes relaxing! The teeth grinding as stopped too!
Nova has also started to be a lot more interactive with me and with now lower her head almost to the ground when shes relaxing near me! YAY! Also has the confidence to roll next to me!

3? days and so much has improved its great! :D

Tomorrow I think were going to take her on a trail alone and see what happens! :)
 
#25 ·
Best wishes with her...she really does sound like one in a million. I really hope you and her to really well together; and it sounds like you are already! Here's hoping she vet checks okay as well!!! :D

I was really proud of my mare today, because I was standing leaning on her corral this evening talking on my phone, and she just came and stood next to me. She had even left her evening meal to do this! Such a vast difference from the horse that stood on the other side of the corral, and I had to do approach and retreat everytime I wanted to catch her.
 
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