Mouse is doing great... I found her a great new treat... Medi-Treats for dogs! They're completely vegetarian, and Mouse just loves them. It was raining today, but I put Mouse out anyway; she is getting really good and just walking beside me nicely when I take her out. I don't even need a halter or anything.
I suspect that Mouse may have finished her growth spurt. Only one way to find out, though; and that's to measure her and see if there's any change from last week. Time will tell, I guess!
I finally got around to replying to that wonderful letter Mouse's breeder sent me. The reason I took so long was that I wanted to send some pictures, and knowing me, that's the part that always takes the longest. I hope she likes them, though! I also started updating Mouse's baby book... it looks great so far!
Well, if Mouse truly has finished her spurt, then I think I would like to take her into the show at the end of the month. We had so much fun last time, and it was such a brief day... I 'm not sure if we'll ride the dressage test, though. I'll have to put at least one ride on her first to make that decision, and see if she's still having any "forward" issues.
August 13, 2004
Well, it looks like Mouse has finally stopped growing... she now measures in at almost 16.2hh, but not quite. She's still bum high, but at least her front end grew more than her hind end this time!
Tonight, Nikki and Leanne and I went for a trail ride... unfortunately, it looks like Mouse is still having forward issues, but we'll have to work it out. She was really good on the trails, no spooking, and was nice and forward when the other horses were. Nikki had Jake trotting, and Mouse was trotting very nicely behind him, but kind of running up his butt, so Nikki moved him out more. Mouse is easily able to match his pace or exceed it, so Nikki asked Jake to canter... then Mouse broke into a canter behind him!!! I really was not expecting that to happen, so I screamed, but Mouse was perfectly fine! No bucking, no stumbling... she has a lovely canter. I let her go for a couple dozen strides as I collected myself, then asked her back down to a trot... wow wow wow wow...
Despite this terrific little "breakthrough", I still will not be asking Mouse to canter until next year. I am very happy with her, though!!!
August 21, 2004
Well, been busy as usual! Mouse is doing great; she is just loving her trail rides and we are working out the forward issues rather nicely. She has taken upon herself to prove on a couple of occasions now that she is more comfortable cantering on the trail, going as far as moving into a rather nice gallop the other evening! I'm not sure how we will do at the upcoming show as she seems to be rather herd-bound at times. But it is something we will work out as we go along.
I can't believe how long her tail is getting (I'm sure I ramble about this enough!), but when I let it down (it is up in figure 8 knots right now), a few hairs actually do brush the ground. When it gets a little longer, I think I will bang it off so it is thick and even at her heels. I guess I could grow it longer than the ground, but then she would just step on it whenever the knots came undone.
Well, Mouse's second under saddle show was August 29th... it was interesting, to say the least!
Here's the rundown:
Mouse stayed over night, under Bonnie's watchful eye and was just fine. In the morning, I fed her, groomed her and got her braided up. No problems. Then, we went into the big ring for warm-up, and she was pretty spooky, but ok. It was the first time she had even been surrounded by so many horses she didn't know.
Then, first class: Walk/Trot English pleasure. Ten horses in that class. I had my whip, so it was all good. Mouse was pretty forward, no major tripping (well, she is still a baby), but she didn't like the rail on on side of the ring. No worries. We placed 6th, but were also told that we weren't allowed to ride with a whip. Craaaaaaaaaapppp...
Second class: Walk/Trot Equitation. We considered doing it without the crop, but Mouse immediately planted before going into the ring. However, spurs we allowed, so I grabbed the ones that live in my tack caddy (I've never used them with Mouse) and quickly fastened them. We headed in for our class, and Mouse was pretty good, realizing that she had to listen to what I was asking (and let me be clear, it's not like she's confused; she's very well trained on voice, etc, but she is STUBBORN! And when she doesn't want to go, she doesn't!). We got 5th out of 10 in that class.
Final class: Walk/Trot Suitable to Become a Dressage Horse. Well... this is the class Mouse bombed last show, and here history repeats itself. After one lap of the ring, Mouse decides to stop. And she doesn't move for 5 minutes. The whole class she stands motionless, at the rail. ARGHHHHHHH!!! But it was funny, I heard a fair bit of chuckling. And there was cheering when the judge asked for the horses to halt (Mouse was doing that part quite well!) Needless to say, we didn't place. Oh well!
I took Mouse out for a brief spin after her class so she could remember what "forward" meant, then after a short canter across the field with Bonnie and Taylor, we called it a day. It's wasn't that bad, always a learning experience!
September 13, 2004
Bonnie and I worked with Mouse a few days ago, and man, was she ever total ATTI-TUDE! She was dancing in the cross-ties, stepped on me, being pushy... I had planned on riding her, but instead chose to take her into the ring and do a whack of groundwork. We did some circle work, worked on obedience to voice commands, being forward, etc. Then we did some work with moving away from pressure... by the end of it, she was responding MUCH better. So, Bonnie and I decided to jump her. (in hand, of course!) We set up the barrel jump with a crosspole, and took Mouse over it twice, and she was just lovely. So then we raised, and since it's not a proper standard, when it goes up, it goes up to 3'. I trotted Mouse up to it, and she LEAPED over, in lovely form, very scopey, and no hotness. I love this! With that, we called it a day.
The following day (yesterday) I took Mouse into the ring for some more groundwork, and she was excellent. Hopefully this will work its way into her forwardness under saddle issues.
Sorry, I've been lazy in keeping updates. Mouse did great at the last show, no high placings (she got a 5th and a 6th out of 12 riders), but she didn't plant once! Yay! Her low placings were due to the fact the she broke her gait several times. Oh well, the goal was for her not to plant. And she didn't even have a crop to motivate her! :)
Other than that, Mouse has been doing great. She's a solid 16.2hh now, and I have to measure her pretty soon, because I suspect she might be going into another growth spurt, even though she's not due for one. She's been looking very uphill lately!
We went for a trail ride last weekend; it was AWESOME! The trail were perfect, and Mouse was so well behaved. We went down hills at a walk, and did very little trotting. We rode all the way down to the river, and Mouse even got brave enough to step in (after she saw how much fun the boys were having with their pawing!).
Mouse hasn't been drinking much water lately, which is worrisome since Jo Lee coliced because she wasn't drinking enough water once. So, I started Mouse back on beetpulp... what can I say, she loves it! Look in the photo gallery for the most recent pictures. :)
October 16, 2004
I took Mouse for a ride today, on the trails by ourselves. I've been really working with our forward issues, both on the ground and in the saddle. Of course, it's not as though I ride much! ;)
I have to report that things are progressing VERY well. No whip, no spurs. And when I said walk, she walked. When I said trot, she trotted. Ears forward, she was totally loving it.
We took the Chantrelle trail up to the logging road. On the trail we did some long and low work, I rode her on the buckle and let her stretch her neck out. For the most part, she didn't misbehave; though she did think about stealing a few nibbles now and then. But she didn't! After a bit, I got her to move out at a trot, and aside from the odd moment where something didn't quite seem right to her (and let me tell you, she can stop on a dime!), she was awesome.
From there, we took the trail that heads behind the gravel pit. There, was one of Mouse's greatest challenges; we came across two dirtbikers. We saw them, but they didn't see us. I held onto both reins with my left hand and tried to wave them down, but they didn't see us until they were only about ten feet away. They ripped to a halt, and Mouse freaked, spinning and bolting. One of the reins got pulled out of my hand, so I really had no control. All I said was "Whoa, Mouse whoa!" and she stopped. She had only taken about 5 strides. What an amazing horse! It was like she was trying to get US away, but because she trusts me, she listened despite being so scared. :)
We actually ran into those bikers twice more, but they were pretty good. Mouse was a little upset, but she was so calm given the circumstances. Then, was out big "test".
I wanted to see how well Mouse had learned "RULE #1": that is, she has to WALK down hills. Of course, she can go up at any speed she wants, but she has to walk down. That's the rule.
So, we came to the BIG hill on the trail. This is the hill that terrified me in my younger days, due to it being so long, and so steep. Jo Lee used to run down it when I first got her, but eventually she learned "RULE #1".
Anyway, Mouse was a bit nervous, as she had never been on that part of the trail before. But, she walked down beautifully. Half way down, I gave her rein, and she continued down on a loose rein. We got to the bottom, no problem, and then we started back up again. She walked up, paused a couple of times (it's a steep hill!). Then, we took another trail back down to logging road to head back home. That hill was shorter, but steeper, and Mouse did the whole thing on a loose rein. That's my girl!
Anyway, that's my update. Mouse is... AWESOME! :)