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Pickles Training Thread

4K views 30 replies 8 participants last post by  smrobs 
#1 ·
I've never started one of these, but always enjoyed reading them, so I thought I'd give one a go. Pickles story:

I was selling a well bred appy broodmare of my BO's when a reputable breeder contacted me, asking to trade a two year old. We went to take a look at what he had. as we were standing in an an open feild watching the horses have a bite of grain, my BO serious concidering a snowflake filly, I felt something furry touch me. This was pretty unusuall, as these youngsters had been out to pasture for 6 months and wernt particularly interested in people. I looked down to find the sadest little brown thing I'd ever seen. ribby, with a skinny neck, hay belly, short and half shed out in June, she was the most pitiful yearling of the herd, and she refused to leave my side. where I went she went, ignoring the other horses and piles of oats. The BO saw what was happening and bought her on the spot, and sold her to me the next day.
I kept telling myself I would sell her, but I've grown attached. I tried all sorts of names and none fit the quirky little thing, until someone sugested 'Pickles'. It stuck.

her sire is a halter bred appaloosa named 'Coolest Dream' and her dam is a pleasure bred mare named 'Docs 3 d Sonata'. Pickles is registered 'Docs Sonata Dream'.

She is three and will be getting 30 days of light under saddle work pretty quick here. so far this is what we've done;

great gound manners, w/t in hand, ties, trailers, bathes, lunges, basic yeilds to preasure well in the ground(yeild hind, yeild fore, back, side pass, lowers head with pole preasure). had a saddle on multiple times(no reaction), been bridled, ponied all over, and ridded twice bareback in a rope halter. Perfect for the vet, farrier and deworming. This was all done last fall(except for the farrier and deworming of course), and she was kicked out to be a horse, so I will need to do some refreshing before I hop into the saddle, but I dont anticipate any problems.

I dont have any current confo shots, so the first her as a two year old, then two from this spring, you can see how she's starting to color out. I'll update with pictures and progress.





 
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#28 ·
Thanks everyone :D

we're working on neck reining and leg aids. I always use my legs, so she gets the basic idea, but we're starting to work on specifics, yielding the hind more precisely and working on yielding the fore, which she has more trouble with, and starting on a side pass. We're also working on lightening up her cues as much as possible and getting a smoother, more consistent back, as well as better acceptance of bit contact, which she has always struggled with. She's about as western as you can get, and I ride with little bit contact, but I still want her to be comfortable with it.

I'll be honest, I'm a trail rider through and through, and I find arena work about as interesting as watching paint dry, so I tend to just do either a short arena session and head out on the trail, or work my schooling sessions into a trail ride.

We did dress up English the other day and pop over a cross rail, which she responded to with her usual "yes weird human, whatever you like" attitude. She looked pretty cute actually:lol:
 
#30 ·
Still so busy, working with a new project, plus canning and gardening and all the other things that need to be done this time of year, so haven't been riding as much as I'd like. we've been playing around with English the last few sessions, working on softening more to the bit and accepting contact, which she's never been fond of. Its going well.
Then I was asked to take a few pictures and my subjects regular horse was lame, so I volunteered Pickles. The girl is 13 and a beginner. She had a blast:D


 
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