Baby Horse

So yesterday I went down to ride the baby horse I mentioned a few times in my last posts. He's three years old (coming four in early 2015) and a Friesian x Oldenburg cross. His sire is the Oldenburg stallion, Ideal, and his mom is a Friesian mare who I've met and who is very very sweet.

Ideal

I got there and his trainer, Ali, took me out to see him in his pasture that he shares with a little black Morab. I've never seen such a young gray horse so I didn't even think that it was him because he's all black with random gray hairs. He looked like he was an older black horse who was graying but nope! Just a baby gray horse.

The first thing I noticed about him was that HE IS HUGE! He's 16h and he still has some growing to do. He had his head way up to look at us so he seemed enormous. I liked his conformation, he's got a short back, big feet (barefoot), and a long sloping shoulder. He's a bit steep in the croup but he doesn't move like it so I didn't mind much.

Cute little gray face

We brushed him off and Ali said that they didn't really have a saddle that fit him, so I ran over to my parents' ranch (which is like 3 minutes away, super convenient) to grab mine. Luckily my saddle fit him perfectly! He has some wither to him and is built pretty uphill like Rico so he went super well in it. He used a big fat snaffle, which I was glad to see too.

When I got back with my saddle, Ali was longeing him. He only gets ridden twice a week so she gives him a longe (and works on it since he doesn't really understand staying on a circle yet) before riding him. He didn't seem to really need it, he's kind of lazy (just what I need, right?).

He's got quite nice movement given his Friesian-ness, as Ali put it (since the mare is a little more baroque than sport horse type, although she's not too heavy). His trot was really great, and his canter wasn't as lateral as it could have been (since Ideal's canter was slightly lateral and the baroque type horses can get kind of earthbound and lateral, it crossed my mind). I think with development, he could actually be a nice little dressage horse. Here is a short video I took of him being longed:

I hopped on him and immediately felt what I had seen in the video- he's incredibly balanced for only being three. It was easy to walk in straight lines, turned without falling over his shoulder, and he only really felt like a baby when he got distracted. When I redirected him, he happily obeyed which was nice. A certain furry bay thing that I saw earlier in the day used to get all sorts of pissed off when he wasn't allowed to stare at something.

I worked the walk to get him a little more relaxed, he tends to want to get retracted in the neck and high in the poll so I wanted to immediately start on relaxation and getting him to understand lowering his head and neck so I could later access his back.

Poor guy was a bit confused. He tried everything. He pulled on me a little, stuck his head to the side to stare at me, stuck his head between his legs, and wrung his neck around. He never did anything bad, he just knew I wanted his neck and head to do something else and he wasn't sure what. Whenever he softened forward and downward (not getting behind the bit), I praised him. Soon he was walking pretty reliably on the bit! Such a fast learner.

This one didn't figure that out very quickly...

The trot was a little more baby-ish undersaddle. He struggled to stay balanced in the corners and on circles. He got distracted with staring at stuff so he'd randomly stop to look at something or hope that he could leave with the other horses. It wasn't mean or getting out of work, just a lot of stimuli.

Once as I figured out the steering (you have to prepare to make a turn SO much with babies ah! I was lucky that he had a good stop on him), I worked on the go button and getting him at least bending enough to turn more easily. I love how balanced he is already so I didn't want to mess him up by asking for too much bend too soon. Then we worked on connection. Again, I just wanted him to start going with his neck more forward and downward to encourage relaxation, he's not ready for being through or round just yet. He figured it out SUPER quickly, like scary quick, and was actually relatively reliable when I'd ask. His trot immediately got super floaty and big, SO much fun! He was a little worried about how big his trot got, he backed off quickly, but I praised him a lot and ended there. He needs more muscle before he can really hold that. It was nice to feel the potential there though.

I didn't canter, I felt like we made some huge strides with the forward, bending, and connection at the walk and trot that I didn't want to push it. Their arena is a touch small for his big canter so I feel like I want to give him a couple of weeks of trot work before I push it. He's big and those breeds are known for being slow growing, so Ali and I talked about not putting too much pressure on him.

Look at that hind leg! What a cool horse

When I got off, he immediately stuck his face in my arms to be cuddled. He loves people! We took him back and tied him up (he ties beautifully). Ali said I could play with him this winter, she really appreciated having someone else ride him, and I really appreciate having a toy to play with.

I think my plan is to go down there twice a week and play. My main goals for him would be to get him more consistently forward, more consistently relaxed so he lowers and lengthens his neck (again not round just yet, but the beginnings of it), and start really addressing bend on circles and changes of direction.

Oh yes, this one!

I also stopped in to see my animal of course. He was happy that I brought him cookies and picked the mud out of his feet. He was not happy that he doesn't get his pasture for a few weeks because it's too muddy, he stood out there staring at it the whole time I was there. The plan is to give him the rest of the year off and see what he looks like in the arena in January. I'm not convinced that he'll be okay for any sort of real work but I do want to give him a chance since he has enjoyed his jumping/dressage rides in the past. As I've said before, my main goal now is to get him sound enough to enjoy trail rides, even if I have to give him a bit of prevocox beforehand.

I'm glad I have baby horse to take my mind off of Rico's issues and I'm sure Rico is glad for me to have some entertainment while he has time off.

Tomorrow I'm going to watch Hilda Gurney give a symposium on the new 2015 tests! That should be really cool, I'm hoping to get pictures and have some interesting things to bring back to this blog.