Raising young horses

It seems a lot of people don't know what's involved in acquiring a foal and raising it to the age where it's usable for riding. As with keeping any age of horse, the first consideration is a safe environment. A pen with solid fencing- not barbwire!- is a good place to start. This can be board, pipe, or mesh fence, or some other material that a horse won't injure itself on. As with adult horses, a good source of water and a safe place to put feed, and some sort of shelter; a run-in 3 sided shelter is usually  enough- like this one I had for Chickory and Andee (now owned by Fern Valley Appaloosas):

That's Andee on the left, Chickory on the right

Once housing is taken care of, that leaves your interaction with them. As a side note, it's always good to have a companion for them, either another youngster or an older horse. Until they are in the summer of their yearling year, most of what you do with them will be just getting them to lead nicely, pick up their feet, behave for your hoof care provider, stand tied, and tolerate grooming all over. If you plan on showing, you can add in training specific for the class you show in, eg. halter, showmanship, in-hand trail, etc. Since I don't show, I can't advise on what you  can do for that. 

As a yearling, you start introducing other things, such as trailer loading, ponying, sacking out. 

Rio trailer loading at age 11 months

You also increase your expectations of good behaviour. If you plan to introduce them to riding in their 2 year old year, then in the fall of their yearling year you can introduce them to longeing for short periods (not too long because it's hard on their joints), sacking out with saddle blankets, and progressing to setting a light saddle on them.

Longeing Sassy as a long yearling

 I like to have them checked by an equine dentist and get their wolf teeth pulled before they are 2.  There is lots of ground work you can do with them as a yearling, like getting them to move away from the pressure of your hand on their side (imitating leg pressure). There are many books written on the subject of training, and I'm no expert, I just do what works for me.

None of this is rocket science, and there is no horse-whispering- mystery involved in getting a youngster prepared for their life as a good using horse. It's all common sense, and treating them like a horse, not tolerating bad behaviour just because they are cute, and laying out a training plan for them. If you aren't confident in being the first one on their back, plan ahead and save enough money to send them to a reputable trainer for at  least a month. Remember, the ground work you do with  them helps to build a bond and establishes your "place in the herd". Start as you mean to continue: if you don't want to be pushed around by a  1100 pound horse, don't let a 500 pound baby push you around. Establish boundaries from the get-go. 

The end result will be a horse that you know the complete history on, one that you helped form, that you know inside out. 

Me and Sundee,  Coyote Belle's mama; my first heart horse that I bought as a weanling.

Tack talk

Canadian Cowgirl did a post on tack, about how you put your tack away. I find that I put my latigo up differently from most folks; this way was taught to me by Walt Vermidahl, who has spent more years in the saddle than I've been alive. I feed the latigo through from the back to the front:

Then I pull it down a little and feed the end through the loop I just made:

Walt always did things with two objectives- safety and efficiency. This method fits the efficiency category, because you can just grab the tail of the latigo-

and pull it down and feed it through your cinch ring in one easy move, one handed. Having fed it through from the back, it releases easily.

Things are getting cooler here but I'm sure it won't last; this is just a little gift to all the hunters who were complaining about the hot dry weather.

There's snow in them thar hills; that is the Skyway pass, and the snowplows have been out there the last two days.

I took Beamer for a little ride today, carefully watched by the girls as we rode by them.

(Tess wasn't supposed to be in that picture!) Such pretty girls! Love the little tufts of red in Velvet's ears, the last remnants of the dun color she was born with. She is getting darker as her winter coat comes in.

My 300th post

I wanted to do something special for this post, so I am going to introduce you to one of the best horses I ever was blessed to own; Coyote Belle's dam, Sundee. I bought this mare as a weanling at the McLean sale in Calgary in 1995. My husband had just received his first paycheck as town councillor for Black Diamond, so, jokingly, he gave me all $400 of it and said, "here, that's all you can spend!" I don't think he was really surprised when I came home with a little black filly. He helped me to get her halter broke, and we registered her in his name- and he got to name her. Since she went back to Sunday Times and Wagon N, and her dam's name was Destiny Dee, she became Sundee Wagon Ride. So technically, I never owned her, but as time went by, she was definitely my horse. I sent her to a friend for the first 30 days riding on a ranch, and then to a reining trainer which proved to be a mistake- this person rammed and jammed her too much and got her afraid to stop- which really isn't a good idea on a horse that's 25% Thoroughbred! It took me about 2 years to get her soft and willing in the stop after that. When she was a 3 year old, I hauled her to Montana to help in the fall cattle gather on Walt Vermadahl's ranch near Polson. We covered about twenty miles that day, and she worked every minute of it and still was willing to give me more at the end of the day. That mare had heart!The next year we hauled down there again; she loved working cattle and I could always count on her if we had to bust through trees and brush to head off a bunch quitter. I rode her in many parades, and won a little money team penning on her. I loved riding this mare, she was feather light in the face and leg, always willing, and she had no quit in her.

Sundee raised three babies for me; this one is Jess Dial It at about 8 hours old. All her foals were fillies. Coyote Belle was her third and last baby. I was boarding them at a friends place that year, and shortly after weaning, Sundee was kicked in the front leg by a draft horse, breaking her cannon bone clean through. I called the vet and had her euthanized. She was only 8 years old.

She had the kindest disposition, all the other horses loved her- she fit into any herd she was introduced to.
She was a smoky black, and went through 4 or 5 colour changes in a year, just like Coyote Belle does. I see a lot of her in Coyote Belle, and hope her legacy of heart and willingness carries on through her daughter. (I don't ride Belle because of an old injury to her right shoulder.) I'd also like to buy back her buckskin filly, but the owner is using her as a kid's horse ( which I'm not surprised!) so it's not too likely at the moment. Maybe someday.

Sunday Silence - 10 years ago