im afraid my neighbors will laugh at me if this short little horse totally pwns me
thanks for the idea. i might do that. he looks/acts healthy for his age. the owner my s-i-l acquired him from was the original owner and she cried when he left. but she had 14 horses at that point, and she didnt have time to mess with him much

 

Use the lunge however it is comfortable for you. The bigger the circle, the slower you have to turn with it though, so it will keep you from getting so quick. You just need to be close enough that you can make him do what you want him to.

Personally, if you aren't working a horse I don't think they need to be grained. (I know I'll get some differing opinions on that one) It just gives them more energy to be onery with. But, with a horse as old as he is, it may not work to rely on pasture/hay only. You probably don't need both though and I would be careful anyway if he's coming from getting not much in the way of feed to getting quality stuff. It could cause more problems as mentioned above.

 

yea if he aint workin cut back on the grain, give him about 4 or 5 flakes of hay when you feed.

 

Horse the Other Red Meat!

 

This is a great thread! I love reading these kind of things because it's like getting all these people's opinions on stuff all at the same time! Most useful! I think you should take a quick video of said horse, just so we know what we're workin with here! =)

 

no videos, but heres a photo.

 

Looks like he could be a bit wormy.....I'd check it out.

 

he just had a full on vet exam right before we brought him out to our place. dont they check for that when they do their normal annual exam thing?

 

Should have.....may just be a bit of a hay belly.

 

Saw this tonight on Craig's list.

http://kansascity.craigslist.org/grd/1112107263.html

 

mmmm....seems fat.

 

Horses need hay or grass. They are grazers by nature. They don't need grain unless his age prevents him from maintaining his weight properly. Our horses are ridden every weekend and are not grained at all. They get free choice hay in the winter and grass in the summer. My Wife and I both run a breeding and training facility. It's a shame you are so far away or I would show you how to work him on a line. Don't just run him in a circle on the line. Send him out into the circle and when you want him to change directions stare at his hip and pull in on the line so that he turns in towards you. Then send him in the opposite direction. You always want a horse to turn into you and not show their rear and turn away from you. Changing directions is important. It gets the horse to see you as his leader because you are moving his feet and making him think. Just running them in the same circle doesn't really accomplish a whole lot. They can react and do that without having to think. Getting them to think calms them down. Have him stand still in front of you and make him back up by shaking the rope and pointing at him with the same hand and arm you are shaking the rope with. As soon as he steps back stop shaking the rope and wait for him to either lick his lips or blink before asking him to back some more. Don't allow him to come forward until you ask him to. You are again teaching him that you control his feet. Reward your horse for doing the right thing by releasing pressure on him. Pressure is many things. Shaking the rope is pressure. Holding your arm with the rope out and sending him in a circle by using a buggy whip or cattle stick with a rope on the end of it is pressure. Pulling on the reins is pressure. The trick to getting a horse to do something is to release the horse from that pressure as soon as you feel a hint of him doing what you want.

 

Not bad advice really from anyone serious in their reply. If your horse is grazing and/or eating from the ground (taking the hay out of the feeder and tossing it to the ground to eat) I would consider using Psyllium or similar product to prevent sand colic.

No matter what you do, the horse has to know that you or whoever is supposed to be in command of the horse actually needs to be in charge! If the horse reacts differently then you want him to you have to encourage him to listen to you.

I have been team roping for the past 15 years and am actually in the business end of that deal but one thing I can tell you is I am no horse trainer and never will be! If a horse isnt well broke I sure as heck am not going to be able to fix him! Not for the lack of knowledge but for the lack of patience and time to do the job correctly. I pay someone to do that for me and then I just try to not ruin them! In the practice pen I run no more then 15 steers on a horse over the course of the day. My current "A" horse has an 8 day no ride policy. If I dont work him for 9 days he becomes a cranky, crow hoppy (sometimes bucking machine). If you ride/work him with 8 or less days of pasture time he is a perfect horse. The moral of the story horse and animals in general are just like humans as everyone is different. Know one that does not know that horse first hand is going to be able to give you the perfect answer to address each horse's personality quirks!

Joe

 

i am giving him some stuff to deal with the sand. thanks everyone for the advice. im hoping to mess with him some next week and see if we cant learn to get along

i think hes starting to see me as his food source, since whenever i walk by he goes to his feed bucket and stands there looking at me. if i go up to pet him, hes only interested until he sees if i have food. LOL.

if i start feeding him some hay, should i cut back on the grain? i dont have much grass for him, we're hard up for rain right now.

im hoping to give the lunge line thing a try next week and see what happens. he stepped on S-I-L's foot sunday, so i doubt she'll be doing much with him this weekend

 

If you're going out to do some ground work with him I'd suggest your have a picture of what you're attempting to do. I'd suggest from you descriptions go down to the store and pick up a copy of Horse & Rider mag. It's probably the discipline you'd have interest in.

Every magazine has practical articles you can read and see pictures so you can get a mental picture of what you're trying to accomplish. Example: In April edition there is an article on dealing with a horse that spooks. Descriptions, problems, solutions with pictures.

We often go out to accomplish a task thinking, practice makes perfect. That's not necessarily true. Practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect.

If you practice doing it wrong you and your horse will get real good at doing it wrong!!