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My mother has this 22-year-old registered QH gelding named Jazz, whom she's had since he was 2. The plan was to, y'know, train him, as one does with a 2yo, but then she had kids, and Jazz got put on the backburner and she couldn't afford to send him to a trainer. So, fast forward to now, he'd just a big ol' lovebug and a pasture pet. It is my new year's resolution to get him rideable by the end of 2025, and I'll be tracking his progress in this thread :D - The milestone goals: Get a surcingle on him by April Sit on him by August Actually ride him by the end of 2025. - What he does know: Basic groundwork The flag Gobbling - What he doesn't know: Things above him won't eat him My saddlepad is not evil Excersise won't kill him Weight on his back isn't scary - So, to start us off, I'm getting a few weeks headstart and was working with him today. I rubbed the flag all over him to make sure he still understood that(he did), and found he's okay with it on his back so long as it's moving. Once it just sits there, god help him. He was better this time than the last time he was worked with(which was probably a year ago😬) and didn't go rodeo bronc on me. He just clenched his butt and quivered a little before calming down and giving a good lick 'n chew. Once he was okay with the flag on him, I used my horse, a bombproof ranch+trail boy, to show him that my navajo saddle blanket wasn't gonna kill him. Now, he's been worked with on and off over the years, so none of this was new, per se, he just needs a refresher course and consistency. I flapped the blanket over Big Tractor, who stood there like the angel he is, then it was Jazz's turn. Surprisingly, he hardly flinched as I flapped it on and around him, letting it lay across his back before pulling it down and doing it again. Slowly I started leaving it longer, then put it on him and left it entirely. We followed Big Tractor around a little with the blanket over Jazz's back and he hardly batted an eye. Then we started walking around without Tractor, and he was wonderful, kept his focus on me and didn't mind the pad. Then Tractor came over and started scratching at Jazz's withers and grooming him, and he grabbed the blanket and ever so slowly pulled it off of Jazz. This made him nervous, but he stood still as inch by inch, Tractor freed him from the blanket. Since he did so well and we worked for a good half hour, I figured that was a good time to finish- on a high note. So Jazz got his grain and got over some of his fear of things on his back. I have a feeling I'll be ponying him off Tractor for some time so he sees his buddy being ridden and he gets it without sending me to the hospital, given he's a 15.1hh 11-1200lb wooly mammoth👍 |
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So happy to hear you are making progress with him! Slowly but surely I believe you will be able to ride him! Especially with your horse showing him things won't eat him lol I will deffinitly be susbcribing and following your progress! Thank you for sharing this journey with us! :3 <3 P.S. I would love to see pictures of the old boy! |
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Angels angels said:
So happy to hear you are making progress with him! Slowly but surely I believe you will be able to ride him! Especially with your horse showing him things won't eat him lol I will deffinitly be susbcribing and following your progress! Thank you for sharing this journey with us! :3 <3 P.S. I would love to see pictures of the old boy!
Aww thank you<3 I think with Big Tractor's help we'll have Jazz out on trails soon, and possibly working cows! xD I will definitely try to include pics with each training session, I just didn't have my phone on me today ^^; |
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It was very wet today, and Jazz, being the mud monkey he is, stood outside while it was sprinkling all morning and got saturated. So he gets a break today as I don't wish to ruin my good, well, anything by getting muddy and stomped on. Plus Jazz is a certified klutz and has a tendency to slip and fall in mud xD Hopefully it clears up, if it does I'll be back at it this evening. If not, he gets the day off I guess xD |
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It was dry today, and Jazz was not a filthy mongrel, and we had an excellent session🥰Having missed a day, I am glad to say he hadn't forgotten anything, and was wonderful! He is kind of a big baby, and tends to try to hide behind me when there's something he unsure of, and I don't like that because he also has a tendency to freak out and haul ass when he goes from unsure to ohmygoditsgonnaeatme, so here are some things I said today: Yesss there's a good boy, thank you mister Please don't jump on toppa me, I don't wanna go to the hospital today Thank you for not killing me, sir ...that was my leg, mister(his front leg slipped in the mud while walking and he whacked the back of my leg with his) Okay, yes, thank you, mister - We worked in the front pen/arena, not Big Tractor's pen, and I was a little nervous that he'd be a butthead not having his 'training wheels'(aka Tractor), but he did fine! Tractor watched from across the fence and Jazz never once freaked out, and I was able to put the pad on him over and over and over again from both sides without even a flinch :D We walked over the dirt mound('bout 3 feet high by 6 feet long and hard packed by the go-karts) to get used to the blanket sliding back toward his but and down to his withers, and no problems there! He even picked up a little trot going down the pile and was good. I think, if I can get his lazy self in shape, Jazz may let me sit on him sooner than I'm hoping for :D |
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Yay good boy Jazz :D Also I know how that is. We have a horse at the barn that likes to try to walk behind you but he will bolt at the tiniest spook so I am always trying to stay beside him! I don't want to die lol. Has he ever had preasure around his belly? (Girth pressue even with a rope or something) or do you have to start from the beginning with that too? When it is time obviously. |
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Angels angels said:
Yay good boy Jazz :D Also I know how that is. We have a horse at the barn that likes to try to walk behind you but he will bolt at the tiniest spook so I am always trying to stay beside him! I don't want to die lol. Has he ever had preasure around his belly? (Girth pressue even with a rope or something) or do you have to start from the beginning with that too? When it is time obviously.
It's funny because here's this elephant of a horse trying to hide behind little ol' me- like trying to hide behind a telephone pole xD When we got him as a 2yo, they said he was halter, saddle, and harness broke, which is, y'know, mildly concerning for such a young horse. My mother said that years ago, when she had time to work with him, he was okay with things on him(not so much above him) but girth pressure was a pretty surefire way to make him flip a lid. So basically I assume I'm starting from square one with Jazz. I want to take it slow with him and be thorough since he's the sort that seems great and wonderful up until he decides he's not, and he's no pony. And on top of that, we've got the sort of fence here at my grandparents' place that is definitely not horse fence; the white vinyl four-rail stuff that I could probably take a run at and smash xD this stuff. So I gotta be careful >.< |
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Day 3 I think, and Jazz was great! I had him standing next to this wooden bridge thingy and I was on it, and good lord the temptation to just hop on him was strong >.< He let me lean over him, pet his opposite side over his back, even act like I was gonna get on him with no issues. but alas, the knowledge that I would absolutely go smashing through the fence and prove how breakable it was and how indestructable I am not kept me from doing something stupid. I'm kind of hoping that I'll be able to sit on him before his 23rd birthday, which is April 11th or 9th I think. Hard to remember since Jazz and Riley were born just days apart xD |
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Oh how awesome! I hope his birthday is the 9th because that is mine! He would be a year younger than me though. |
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Angels angels said:
Oh how awesome! I hope his birthday is the 9th because that is mine! He would be a year younger than me though.
That's neat! I'll have to check his papers, and I forgot where those are ;_; They're here somewhere, I'll find 'em eventually xD Since he's my mother's, she'll know where they are lol |
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Clear with Temps dropping into the Teens
