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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Pasture, pasture, and more pasture

See those brown dots over the hill there? That's the quarters enjoying their new home.

Check this out:
See that treeline in the distance? That's where their pasture ends. Yeah, it's horse nirvana. I wish the fence was a little less sketchy but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that won't be an issue.

Yesterday the fabulous Kate G. came over and spent a couple hours with me getting the quarters used to the trailer. Gwen was an absolute super star, she actually ended up being my lead horse since Coriander wouldn't get on the trailer alone. I'm so impressed with her.

I learned two interesting things yesterday. First, Coriander has issues with his hind end, he was really concerned backing down that ramp and couldn't quite figure out what to do with his hind feet. Now I know where we need to go next with his ground work. Second, if you aren't laughing while you're trailer training you aren't doing it right. Seeing my horses stretch as far as they possibly could to touch the target, all the way to their lips, was just too funny. Silly quarters!

The guy who owns the trailer sent over one of his employees to haul them out this morning. Fortunately he was young and impressionable so he didn't have any problem with me running the show. I think I blew his mind with the targeting, "You're going to get your horses on the trailer with that?" Yup, watch this kid. They didn't load quite as quickly as I was hoping, it took about 20 minutes instead of 10, but they stayed calm and I think that kid learned a few things.

Following that trailer was incredibly nerve wracking. Every time they'd stop at a light and I saw the trailer start to rock I'd find myself saying, "please don't flip out, please don't flip out." It was rough. But they made it, albeit a little sweaty and nervous. Nobody was hurt and they actually backed off the trailer pretty calmly when they arrived. All in all I call that a success.

4 comments:

  1. WHEW! They did it! Yay! Their new place looks awesome. You must be sooooo relieved. Do they have these pastures to themselves??

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  2. Nope, there are two other horses living there with them- which I think is a good thing. I'll put up some pics of them later. And yes, SO relieved.

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  3. Sounds great!!

    I'm glad the loading went so well.
    I saw your post on the clicker yahoo group the other day--I'm glad you were able to get some good advice and also the help from Kate.

    They will be very happy with all that room to roam!

    Mary

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  4. Hi Mary, yeah that was a bit of a desperation post but I got so many great responses! I now have training plans to take me through the end of the year at least. First up- matwork.

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