Sold Blu.. New Horse!

Its been a LOOONG time.. happy to be back :)

I recently sold Boo, finally, to a family I know we keep him working and happy. Yayy! Now as for my new horse.. long story short..

Off the track Thoroughbred mare "Whats Reality", came from Cali, 17hh, born in 1994, Bold Ruler bloodlines. Now named Demarie.

She hasn't been ridden in over five years. She was given to me from a family friend because she was too much horse for my friend. She's big and energetic (not crazy). She was at a ranch where she was only fed once a day so she lost some weight. I took her trailriding twice a few months ago and just yesterday we took her to the fairgrounds to the arena and the track. To my surprise, great ride. I even jumped her a little bit. Remember, she's had very little done with her. So she must have a great head on her shoulders.

Anyhow, I have a couple questions and I can give more info but I'm short of time right at the moment. I need tips for neckreining, softening her mouth, and both our transitions to English. She has no concern for the jump.. which is good.. but she just lets her feet hit it because it doesnt bother her. Also, tips for putting weight on her? She has unlimited grass hay, she's fed alfalfa twice daily, I recently took her off beet pulp/pellets/red cell and now I started Ultium.

Much appreciated!! Thank you!! :)

Not sure but I would think that you are doing right by getting her weight up. Time to because you don't want to put to much weight on to fast. It seems though you are going in the right direction.

As far as softening the best thing is maybe the snaffle bit. It helps to teach them to be soft you don't have to use much pressure on it either.

She's very cute.

This video is awesome for neck reining. It's also rather funny to hear him describe things.

To add more weight I would def be adding the beet pulp back into her diet and working on a snaffle as well for softening her mouth.

Congrats...she is beautiful!!!

I second working her in a snaffle to help soften her mouth, and responsiveness; you will have that lateral control with the snaffle that you don't in the curb bit that is on her in your picture.

Neck reining will come as she understands cues from your legs, and as she becomes more responsive to you over all.

As for the curb in the pic, I had no choice. I didn't have anything else. I rode her with a. D ring Sunday. I was trotting her a few feet then askin her to stop and back up.. she picked it up quickly and started to stop right as I asked rather than me having to pull on her face. :) Maybe I should have someone record our next ride as well... yayy :) Thanks everyone!

Any other thoughts/suggestions/comments/questions?

How are you asking her to stop? What I do to teach my horses is tighten my abs when I ask them to stop so eventually that is all you have to do to slow them down or stop them and you don't even have to use rein or verbal commands. As far as neck reining it will come w leg aides but you can def help with working on the ground as well and getting her used to the idea that pressure means to move away so that way when you put pressure on her neck with the rein eventually a little lightbulb will go off in her head saying pressure means move away. A good way to do it is when ur on the ground take the lead and put it across her neck and push as soon as she moves even a little reward her, keep doing that till she actually starts stepping over. Same thing with her sides and hindquarters and shoulders, reinforcing on the ground so that she will understand while your on her. Another good thing to help with working on softening her mouth is a lot of neck bending exercises while your on her. Of course teach her from the ground first then move it to the saddle.

Basically you want to bend her head around to her shoulder, not too far at first and hold the pressure, once she gives to you and bends her neck release. You do the same thing while riding, bend the neck until she releases... difference is when you're on her and have the bit in turn your hands up to where your knuckles/fingertips are facing closer to the sky at an angle and ask for the bend and as soon as she gives you release immediately. This will help for softening her mouth and jaw which you need for longitudinal suppleness. After you do these a couple times on each side get her into a nice strong walk with a good stretch down for her neck

I teach a one rein stop on every horse I work with or own. You will have to teach her to laterally bend/flex first, and give to that one rein pressure from a standstill, and make sure she gives consistently before moving onto teaching the ORS.

I teach it 1) by sitting deep in my seat first and saying "whoa" 2) giving the horse a few seconds/strides to respond 3)then taking up one rein and pulling it to the side, and waiting for him to come to a halt and give to that pressure. I like to do some lateral bending each side, once he does stop as well. I get him solid in a walk, then trot, then canter...only advance as you see he is 'getting it'.

The reason I do it in the 'order' I do it in, is so that eventually the horse starts responding to "just" my seat and whoa vocal cue (I will usually eventually drop the vocal cue, once the horse is solid on the seat cue). The pattern will usually be the horse circling several times (this is okay, let him figure it out), before coming to a stop, and giving laterally. As he gets the concept he will stop circling so much, and will start stopping when you pick up the rein (I still flex both sides once he stops), And eventually he will start figuring it out, that he can stop to your seat, thus you no longer need to pick up the rein...but because he has 'learned' what it means, it will stick with him, and if you ever need it, that 'emergency' brake is always there.

I've been doing an exaggerated sit back for the stop and then I asked her to back up each time.. I'm still impressed at how quick she picked it up. But we definitely need to keep up the good work.

The flexing is what's hard. I just hold one rein over.. she keeps turning but as soon as she stops I release. That way she'll understand what I'm asking. I got her to sidepass, not without defiance but I stayed persistent.

I'm sure I'll end up riding again this weekend. Probably work on more circles and such. I also had a question about cinching. She isn't cinchy at all.. but when you touch her belly in certain spots she doesn't like it at all. I'm guessing she's had sores??

She makes me laugh.. I was brushing out all her winter coat. If you brush too hard most horses just sort of wince at it and you say oops! Well, Demarie tells you it hurts. She turns her head at you like "excuse me?!" Haha she's got an interesting personality.. ha mares!

For the flexing, it's important to not release until she actually gives, even once she stops moving her feet. Otherwise you are just turning circles without a point, and she will never understand what you are really asking of her when you pick up that rein.

For her tickly spots on her tummy just keep rubbing those areas until she's not worried about it anymore...unless she actually has something there, don't make an excuse for that behavior; help her through it instead

And yes, mares are interesting in comparison to geldings, or stallions, but I like 'em. Enjoy her