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Kiera the Draft cross Filly and her (learning) New Horse Owner

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7K views 63 replies 10 participants last post by  demonwolfmoon 
#1 ·
Well, I guess I might as well start a journal here. I'm not sure where else to write this stuff down, since my friends are either not aware that I own a horse or think that I'm crazy already...or both. Plus my husband is tired of hearing about Kiera!

I am a new horse owner and I am fairly new to horses. My filly, Kiera was born in May of 2011...I almost didn't get her, and maybe some people here would feel that way as well...I was blasted on another forum for my desire to buy a young horse, and was told that I'd raise something fit only for slaughter...I was told that my horse looked like a mule, that "ugly horses eat as much as (pretty) horses", and that what I paid for Kiera was "more than the meat man would pay (for her)".

....
I was about to wash my hands of horses forever and all horse people, but my husband, who disapproved of the horse thing in general, regardless of what I was going to buy took me to the side and said...look...I know you...you know yourself. You aren't going to raise a dangerous for meat animal, and I don't understand WHY you are letting what these STRANGERS say affect you this way. Why are you even listening to them? When the seller's husband echoed my husband when I voiced these concerned, I put my foot down on all the crap floating around in my brain and put a down payment.

Kiera is a QH/Percheron cross. Her dam is a palamino QH named "Badger's Magic", who is about 14.3. Her sire was a large (I think they said 18 hands..but surely not) black Percheron stallion. Kiera is sorrel and unremarkable in color. She looks very "drafty"....but she is very sweet, intelligent and, as my barn owner says, "willing". She has her flaws, of course...she had not been handled until I bought her, really, late September. She is not 100 percent on her feet yet, though I have to brag, just a little...

The night before last, I told her "foot", and she lifted it for me and held it!!! I am really proud of her! She backs up when I say "back" and nudge her chest (Clearly I'm not a trainer, but the BO's colt, two months older isn't even 1/4 as interested in pleasing as my girl), I can now halter her no problem, she will approach me in pasture, and she seems for the most part to spook in her skin...which is to say, no leaping, jumping to the side or anything...she just kind of twitches strongly but stays planted. I can touch her belly and her butt, and my husband has cleaned her udder (? right word lol?) with no problems.

I am learning as I go, and I have to say that the BO loves my horse to death, as do the other boarders. My BO admits she has taken her 3 year old son in my horse's stall, which I'm not 100 percent pleased with, but it shows how highly she thinks of Kiera's temperament. She claims it's because my horse is "cold blooded"....and maybe this is true, as Badger's Magic did not seem nearly as nice as my girl. The BO's colt is hugely different in behavior to Kiera, it's kind of odd...he was touched from birth and is very used to human touch and presence...but he's nippy, he flattens his ears to the BO when she tries to bring him grain, and is very disrespectful and crowding in the pasture. Kiera tends to lip my clothes, which I will be discouraging, as I am afraid it will turn into nibbling. Other than that....she let me braid her tail and wrap it...I haven't gotten her to stand still in cross-ties yet, but since my time is limited outside of school/my kids, I'm taking it kind of slow. Besides...she's only 7 months old!

Another thing...my BO is of the opinion (other than that Kiera will be a "fantastic", "once in a lifetime find" horse!) that Kiera is going to be very BIG! She says that her paint colt is out of very large parents, and should be beast, but Kiera is already bigger than he is! She also says that Kiera eats every bit of hay that she puts in front of her and is eating equivalent amounts of hay as a GROWN HORSE. :shock:

I measured Kiera's cannon bone to knee, and maybe I did it wrong, but I got 15 hands adult height. I told that to the BO and she didn't believe it at ALL! I did more research and found that for larger horses with short cannon bones, the measurement of the cannon bone isn't accurate. Anyone have any guesses as to adult height?

These pics are kind of old, within a month of when I first got her...I've been super busy lately so I haven't managed to get out there before dark lately.



PS. I am going to be taking lessons....I have seven more weeks of Calculus which has been eating up my time. And I'm definitely going to work with a trainer...not planning to have her backed until she's three more than likely, so we have time. =)
 
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#31 ·
OMG!
So my barn owner ripped Kiera's blanket today on accident...she texted me asking how much I wanted her to pay...I was like, no, sh*t happens, it's ok, no worries!!
She texted back saying that she will give me a free lesson to make up for it!!! It will be my first official riding lesson!!!! WHEEEE!!! *excited*
 
#32 ·
First lesson tonight!
I went over and brushed Kiera and picked out her hooves, then the Barn Owner saddled up her paint horse, Beauty. I was slightly worried, since Beauty is THE lead mare...she's kind of aggressive, but the Barn Owner told me she'd be a good girl, since she rode her earlier and because Beauty is kind of lazy. Well...yeah. I got on, and Beauty neck reins, which was interesting. I made sure not to have a "crotch seat" as people were saying on another forum, and I made sure not to pull her mouth or anything. It was kind of easy because well...neck reining. One thing though, is keeping my hands straight. I apparently did really really well...but Beauty kept stopping. =/ We had to get the riding crop out, since smooching, then kicking didn't work. That got her going a little better for me, but since she had so little desire to go for me, after about an hour the Barn owner decided to trade her out for the TWH, Maya.
Maya is apparently a really good horse, but started misbehaving after a leasee was timid with her, but with the BO in the arena with me, she didn't think Maya would be a problem. Maya, she assured me, didn't actually ever like to stop, so I'd have no problem getting her to go. I had to hold the reins differently, and that did take some getting used to...but the funny thing was...
Maya didn't want to go either. xD
I didn't have to hit her, but I did have to kick her and remind her we were supposed to keep going. The Barn Owner had me canter her (or is that called something different with the TWH?)...which was a weird feeling. I have to say that I did go "Oh Sh*t" LOL. The second and third time I made her canter all on my own. The barn owner was really pleased! She says that getting her to start obeying and canter for me is great progress for a first lesson! Apparently a lot of beginners give confusing signals to the horse, and don't know when to release pressure, which she tells me I'm very good at. I know my posture was crap...she did mention posture a few times, so I'm inferring that...but she did tell me I wasn't tensing my legs or anything bad. Anyway she said she'll invite me to go with her the next time she goes on a trail ride when the weather warms up! Whee!
I hope that I can schedule another lesson soon so I can practice keeping the horse going a little better, and keep my mind on holding the reins the way she showed me specifically. Good day though, I think =)
 
#33 ·
Well I haven't posted in a long time...so much went bad for me. Kiera is down the road from Sacramento and I'm back in PA....I miss that horse so much! I worry that she will hardly remember me, or that she won't "care" about me anymore...blah. I know, the horse will remember me, but when I'm feeling melancholy, I can't help feeling otherwise!

Anyway I will be moving back to CA and going to pick her up by April...I can't wait to see my girl again and make at least that part of my life right.

The Barn Owner has been sending me pictures of my girl. Here she is this month:



She seems so much bigger and THICKER than she was, even though it's only been a few months.
I've been working with the Ponies, and though they do give me some comfort and distract me from all the stress of my life, it's not the same feeling as I get when working with Kiera. I really did get lucky when I chose that horse, as so many things could have gone wrong, but didn't. She is such a precious animal.
 
#36 ·
Thanks guys...yeah board is a little pricier than it is in PA...but I'm going to move to Riverside...it means I won't get to go to UC Davis as planned, but we will be near family, and should be able to rent a farm/horse property at a decent price. Just paying for hay/supplements for soon to be four animals is sure to be much cheaper than boarding all of them!!!! xD

On the winters thing, I am truly surprised she got fuzzy...didn't think that after living through a winter HERE she would grow a winter coat in North Cal!
 
#39 ·
No, I'm not familiar with Riverside at all. I did stay with my husband's aunt for a week a few months ago, so I know where Albertson's, CVS and Kohl's are...but that's about it. My husband says that there are some horse properties an exit or two away that might work...we're definitely trying to keep them on our own property at this point LOL.
 
#40 ·
The "horse-iest" area there is Norco, but it's a bit more expensive also. But the best tack stores are there & lots of vets. It's also one one side of the river-Mira Loma is on the other side-it's also "horsey", but a little less pricey. Just thinking of all that makes me miss my friends & all the fun I had there.
 
#41 ·
The "horse-iest" area there is Norco, but it's a bit more expensive also. But the best tack stores are there & lots of vets. It's also one one side of the river-Mira Loma is on the other side-it's also "horsey", but a little less pricey. Just thinking of all that makes me miss my friends & all the fun I had there.
Aw, I'm sorry you miss it. You can visit, right? California is even more awesome when you've been away for awhile!

After the horrible sh*t that's happened to me in the past three months, I think it's safe to say that I deserve some of that awesome. It would be a nice change of scenery... I really can't wait to see my Kiera and see...who in the world is going to be head mare. SOMEBODY has to do it, right? And both my girls are submissive as hell.
Maybe we'll have a head gelding:



Anyway, one thing I've been wondering about...are there horse/tack auctions over there???! I LOVE the tack auction and I've been keeping my fingers crossed that between riverside and even TJ we might find a new place to check out.
 
#44 ·
Sometimes it's hard for me to remember what a PITA Kiera was when I first got her. I remember some days leaving the barn so frustrated, thinking I'd made a mistake in getting her. Other days I'd make progress, and leave happy. Then those days began to outnumber the days I left frustrated, and as time passed, it's easy to glorify my drafty girl, and not remember when she wouldn't let me pick her feet up, or when she ran away from me in the field when I first got her, or that time we were walking a few months after I got her, and she pulled away the lead and ran back to the barn. xD She has done everything I've asked her for, for so long that it's easy to not remember those beginning days.

I'm working with the ponies, and it honestly in some ways seems like working with babies is easier LOL. I still see what a PITA They are...I mean they don't know SPIT, don't know why they shouldn't turn a butt to me at first, don't know wth a halter is, why they should put up with me etc. ...But they learn pretty quickly. Especially with the shetland colt. I mean, what's he going to do to me? I don't think he'll ever figure out if he's stronger than me, and thats a good thing.

Mama Pony is a completely different story. I would get so frustrated with her and think, my god I should throw in the towel. But then I reminded my husband what a butt Kiera was at first, and he in turn reminded me that our struggles aren't that different...Mama Pony has spent ten years of life not knowing that people know all the scritchy spots, and that we are not bad folk. It seems like with her it's 2 steps forward, and one back...some days she's ok with being brushed...this WEEK she's acted like the brush is going to bite her, and is back to flinching here and there. She'll make me dizzy in her stall to pick up a foot, then let me just HAVE the other. I know we've made progress, I just have to keep reminding myself that patience is they key, and to not expect to solve all her problems quickly.

I have probably ten days where I have nothing better to do but start packing nonessentials, start learning to play bass...and check out the videos and articles people have recommended to me. I think that reading up on horses with similar issues...and stopping to take a breath...will be good for the both of us.
 
#45 ·
Hm, so I'm scratching my head right now, figuratively speaking.

I've been working with the semiferal shetland pony mom, and I finally had a breakthrough two days ago, when she lowered her head for me to braid her forelock and seemed to appreciate the touch. This was huge...she only takes treats about half the time when I'm next to her, and not once has she shown any appreciation or enjoyment in contact.

Today I went out to see the ponies, and left happy, but truly confused and not sure where to go from here, really. We did the halter dance again...she moves in quick circles around her stall to get away from whatever it is that I'm doing...I threw my leg across her back at one point, because oddly enough, this usually makes her still...got the halter on her, snapped the side on, no biggie...led her out of the stall, again, no biggie, no lead rope...put her on the cross ties...and she just stood there.

*scratches head*

So yes, I know this is what she's SUPPOSED to do, but she also stands pretty quietly when tied. It's almost like ONCE UPON A TIME someone cared enough to work with her...note, she goes still if I put a leg up on her back. Kiera, good as she is, will stand when tied because she's a lazy little slug, but even though she wants to please, even she paws in cross ties. Mama Pony just stood there....*scratches head again*

So, I brush her out, stick her on a lead rope, brave the snow and lead her out to the indoor. After a verbal reminder to stay behind me (yes, I know the horse doesn't speak Engrish, but it worked lol), she walked at an acceptable distance, didn't crowd, didn't pull...I stopped walking her twice, and the second time I can say definitively...she leans across....and will put her face close to me, almost leaning a cheek against me.

...I think she's starting to like me... O_O

It's all very confusing though, the things she is willing to do vs the things she appears apprehensive to do...I swear, it makes no sense!!! We will be moving by June, and I'm definitely going to find someone to train her. As long as I can get her to trust human beings somewhat, a real trainer should be able to easily bring her the rest of the way along.
 
#46 ·
So, true story, I'm still scratching my head as to what to think about Mama Pony. Today I confirmed to myself that now, every time I go near a front leg, mama pony lifts and HOLDS her hoof up for me to clean... O_O
Imagine this... "Dammit, pony, I'm just trying to brush your leg!!!"

I haven't gotten to pick out her back legs yet...the vet said she can wait for the farrier until next month and gave us two injectable sedatives. He gave me some tips and told me to keep working on touching, just touching until she stops trying to kick. So we've been working on that.

She also allows anyone to approach and touch her when I have her on the lead, which is nice.

One thing that I corrected for today, is that I was Furminating her belly (she does not like belly touch, IDC, it's getting done), and she halfheartedly kicked at me. It was like a brush away and not a real kick...not sure how to describe it. And when she did it, she immediately moved away and looked at me to see how I'd react, like she KNEW she did wrong. Hm...I corrected her and continued brushing.

Anyway, weird horse, glad that she's starting to turn around. She seems so much BIGGER when I think about her and talk about her, and when I go there, I realize how small she really is, and how crap that such a small thing was so afraid...Then I bend her to my will hehe. It's nice to see her lean into a scratch, or lower her head and gravitate a cheek towards my body. Several times I started to doubt if she could be redeemable, and I'm sure we aren't over all the humps, but we're making progress.
 
#47 ·
So, good news!!!! Despite my ex's tax fraud and the delay on our return, we FINALLY got our tax refund...on Saturday for some reason, but who's complaining!

So the GREAT news is that a few days ago I bookmarked a local trainer who does PONIES AND MINIS!!!!!!

I emailed her last night as soon as I found out!!! If it sounds good, I may send Mama Pony to a real trainer soon for a couple of months training!!!! WHEE!!! I do want to pick up her hinds and get the farrier out first, but we are making so much progress now that I can't see it taking more than a week at this point! =D

On another note...god I miss my Kiera. I keep finding myself browsing horse ads and half arguing with my husband that we can *somehow* afford another horse before we move to a place where we can keep them at home. Deep down, I know we need to move first...and I know I'm only looking because I miss my girl. Well, either way...two months and I should be with her again! I just have to sit tight and be patient.
 
#48 ·
well I got my baby girl back, but she is way obviously not so little anymore! its only been a couple days but things are clearly different. she defends herself with the older mare....and she is a little more standoffish with me. But I had not seen her in nine months so I guess its to be expected.

she has had 30 days of training, 14 under saddle....but given our situation I probably won't back her. I may wait another year and get another 30 or 60 days. That would make her 3 and undoubtedly allow for more muscle mass and maturity.
 
#53 ·
Thanks! Shes my little piggy! shes approx 15 hands though she kinda looks bigger lol.

we moved to Nuevo but really Im told we are more towards Perris I think. Somehow we are in the middle of nowhere XD

We went to Norco the other day...I want to explore more. Its totaly crazy they have a horse crossing sign outside the 7-11, right on the main road! O_O

also I just saw ads on cragslist where you can rent horses. :O Pretty cool stuff.

and um...how does anyone ride around here?! Its SOOOOO HOT!
 
#58 ·
Ok so update: I've ridden Kiera (I say that loosely LOL) three times total, the last being today.

I got her to trot! I can definitely see the "green thing". I've been pretty sick for weeks now, it's hard enough to get out of bed and off the couch, let alone go out in this nasty desert heat and ride a horse!!!

Anyway I finally got a real trot out of her today! It did take a riding crop. i gave her the cues many times and all she did was flick her tail at me and refuse...so...I pulled out the crop and whacked her but. At first I couldn't make myself smack her really, I know I need to get over that....lesson horses mostly need to know I have the crop, and my other horse definitely doesn't need any encouragement to GO...so I smacked her I'd say medium hard, and she picked up a trot! I immediately praised her and after we did a circle, I got off. My body definitely feels the last few weeks of sickness and couch surfing LOL. She stood to be dismounted like a good girl, and then I gave her a big old handful of hay and put her back with her buddies.

So, short, and ending on a positive note. Not really sure where I'm going to go from here though. I'm torn between wanting for her to have consistent light training and leaving her completely alone for the next year.
 
#59 ·
Quickie update because tablets suck. I have NOT been riding Kiera, in case anyone is worried. ;) I realize that she is probably not hurt by a walk, which was 95 percent of what we were doing, but right now, between her age, motivating her, this HEAT, and my own lack of motivation....she ia getting some time off, lol.

She is doing good thpugh! I got up the energy to bathe her for the first time since we got her back, and 90 percent of the time she stood like a lady! She did knock DH's hat off trying to kiss his face, and she slobbered my right cheek doing the same. TBH, I think the bath must have felt good, since its been anywhere from 90-100+ degrees! ;)

It was funny because while DH went to rinse her tail, I was holding the lead rope and she brought her knee up to paw. I just gave her a LOOK and went "AAH!". She slowly brought her leg down with this embarassed expression on her face, like..."sorry, Mom"!

I had wanted to take pix, but she is missing fur and scabby in a bunch of spots. Needless to say, I am NOT pleased with Hubbys mare....So...hopefully Ill get some new pix soon.
 
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