Sunday, October 30, 2016

Puffer #3

Well, Not so good today (Thursday, 10/27)
I worked with Puffer, a little rd penning, disengagement, moving the shoulders (real stiff here, but I think that is due to his lameness in the front feet), backing up. He was real calm. I saddled him and moved him around. I even got on and off several times. I tried to get him to move his feet with yielding the hindquarters and then the shoulders. But I think it is too painful for him to put weight on his front, especially when he takes away a leg to take a step.  She even stumbled a couple times and rolled over onto her fetlock. I told her owner that if I was to ride her forward and she did that she would likely go down on her knees. So between me and his owner we decided to discontinue working with until they can get this figured out. I guess it has been going on for two years.
Sometimes we just have to accept that things are not going to go our way. God is the one who is in control of all things. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without Him knowing it, then a 5 years old mare cannot stumble without His knowledge. While I am disappointed to not be able to work with her more, I am thankful for more learning on my part. All things do work for my good and God's glory. So in some way God is getting the glory through this situation, (Romans 8:28).

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Puffer pictures

Here are a couple of pics of Puffer. They were taken after I had taken the saddle off of her.



  This was the second time I worked with her. She is lame on the front legs. It seems to change from day to day. Because of that I have had to take it easy with her. I have not been able to do much round penning because of that. This has been a chronic problem for this horse. They are not sure what has caused it. The vet has been out and they have tried shoes, exrays etc. Nothing comes up. It seems that she breaks over to her fetlock as though she walks on her fetlock. Her right tendon has been swollen some too. At any rate I am working with her very lightly. 
  So what have I done? Well, I have worked with her to move her hindquarters into a disengagement, which she is doing quite well. She doesn't give her shoulders as easily, but we are working on that. Yesterday, I also added flanking her out with a rope. She gave no resistance nor tried to buck even when I put it near her groin. I could put my weight against it and she just came off the pressure, not once offering to buck. You might say that she didn't because of her lameness, but I can guarantee that if she wanted to buck she would. I have seen it the day before when I let her get to bothered with a flag. So I am confident that she was okay with the flank strap. I mainly did it because when I saddled her I was going to use a flank cinch. Needless to say she handled the saddling with the collar and flank cinch without a glitch. 
I also got on her back several times from both sides. She stood calm even though I was acting like a drunk, bumping her on the butt and sides with my feet and legs. I was doing whatever I could to be as sloppy getting on and off as I could. I didn't have her step off at all. That will be for the next time. I really want her to get softer at lateral flexion and moving her shoulders and hindquarters before I ask her to move too much. I want to make sure I can control her feet. 
This reminds me that it works best not to give her more than what she can handle. That is the same way that God works with His children. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (ESV)
He doesn't ask us to bite off more than we can chew. We shouldn't ask our horses to do that either. 
Well, that is all for now. 
Remember, you can handle what God sends your way!

Monday, October 24, 2016

Puffer

Now that is not what I was doing. However, I have started working with another horse and decided to continue on my blog.
Puffer is a 5yr old Quarter Horse that has not been started under saddle yet. She has struggled with various issues since birth, beginning with a cleft palate. Then she got into some wire and injured her rear cannon bone and now she has a problem with her front tendons along the cannon bone. But I have started to work with her kind a slow. I evaluated her last week and started today to see what we could get done. I started to round pen her, but she began to favor her right front leg so I stopped that and went to see about saddling her. Her owner said she has been saddled many times. So I put the saddle on and off as I usually do a new horse, just to see where she was at mentally with it. It went alright. No bucking. I didn't want that anyhow. Then I brought my flag out and she went nuts so I really had to back that off alot. I got her much better with it. Chatted with her owner as to where she wanted to go with this as long as she favors that leg. So we decided I would work on getting her to accept various things and that I would just start from the beginning and see where we get to by the time I am done with her  at the end of the week.
I am certain that I will be learning alot from this horse.
On another note I have learned alot from Wildfire a 16 year old quarter Horse I have owned for a couple months. He is a sticky footed horse. However, He is getting much better now that I ask for speed much softer and that he immediately gets a reward for quick response. I plan on taking him to a clinic next month and see where we can make improvements.