I'm in that awkward nowhere land of owning two year old ponies. They're good citizens for their age. They're also bored and smart little sponges.
My own happy place for these particular 2 year olds would be to find things for them to do so they can be involved and challenged, but also keep it 1. Fun and 2. Not physically demanding.
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| Hanging out in the field of dreams |
In an idea parsed out from a bigger conversation with the clinician last weekend, maybe it might be fun to teach the ponies some useful 'tricks'. Both to keep us all engaged and entertained, but also to challenge myself to being more precise and intentional with what I ask for. I've got really tuned in, sensitive horses, why not play with that?
Baby Pony Challenges:
- Instead of the standard taking a feel of the rope or verbal whoa or using my body language to ask for halt, what if I really refined it, even better what if it was something useful under saddle one day. Clinician's example was a deep exhale. From there, could we even refine it further to a square halt? My future dressage test self might like that!
- Same with 'go'. Does it need to be a pointing arm or 'chasing' body language? Could it be a small, specific sound that asks for 'more'?
- Come to me/back up. We practiced using little gestures. Hand up in your standard 'stop' gesture meant stay, standard shoo/go away gesture had him back up, and curling my fingers towards me had him coming to me.
- Teaching them to align themselves at mounting blocks etc, and reliably come when called. Sophie comes running and whinnying like we're in a Disney movie, Buck is a little leech as soon as he sees me and wouldn't THAT have been a nice feature to have installed with Reggie last weekend? Until then, I'm going to need to buy shares in Folgers :D
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| It's a pony leech, they attach themselves to you with their slobbery nose. They're especially attracted to clean office clothes. |
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| Reggie giving a dramatic re-enactment of how catching him was going last week. It got worse before it got better, current status is I can call him and he'll (slowly) come if he's close-ish and put the halter on without dramatics. |
The clinician (I'll call her B) comes to us via Germany. In a fun coincidence, once in Canada she had a job training, riding and showing for a Welsh Cob breeder for many years. So it was a bit fun that she immediately recognized Reggie's type and had an inkling that giving the pony a job and rules wasn't going to be nearly as important as teaching to pony to be ok with taking a time out and not trying so hard. She's also well aware of how surprisingly flexible and 'wiggly' they can be under saddle so there were a lot of moments on the ground where she was already trying to get me to be hyper aware of having him completely straight.
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| when the grass is so long you don't even need to stretch |
I was contemplating taking Buck next month and alternating them, but we decided to just focus on Reggie for 2025, and I'll take home whatever I think I want to try with Buck and keep him learning in the background. Next year, they'll reverse roles. I like that because as she rightly pointed out it will be a lot more fun to just be consistent monthly rather than kind of being static every second month.
I really, really enjoyed her approach. If I'm honest, I sometimes I feel a bit like the square peg locally. It's always exciting when we find clinicians with a background in different disciplines and who are open minded to a variety of breeds, especially if they're willing to commit to regular visits!
Looking way ahead, if you've been here a long time you might remember the days of me living closer to the city and boarding and training with Eventing Coach (EC). I really miss seeing her regularly and part of my bigger long term plan is to find a way to get back in her area and on her schedule part time. Hopefully once the boys are ready to be going under saddle (and I finally have a new and reliable truck). Between B and EC and just owning some generally good ponies I'm feeling optimistic we're in good hands for the near future.