Her first set of shoes

Time has got away from me! It's already May, and I haven't done anything with Flamenco since December when we turned her out as it was just too wet to work with her.

So today, Tuesday 5th May 2009, I decided it was time to get Flamenco in again. My farrier was here, so I then decided that we would put some shoes on her too! Poor little Flamenco... she hasn't been touched for over 4 months, and the first thing I do to her is shoe her! BUT... she was great!

I brought her into the stables, and let her stand there for a little while getting groomed and fussed over, and listening to the farrier make some noise while he was shoeing another horse. Then is was her turn... she stood up quite well, and only got a bit of a fright when the first couple of nails went in. From then on she was very good, though!

We only put the front shoes on this week, but next week she'll get the hinds on. I use Malaysian concaves, which have several features that I like: Concaves tend to give a bit more 'grip' on hills; the Malaysian shoes have many more holes in them than other shoes, which helps when re-setting the shoes because the farrier can use different holes; they tend to be quite a hard shoe that stands up to a lot of wear, hence we can get more than one re-set out of them usually.

With a young horse just coming into training, we would generally get at least 2 or 3 re-sets out of a set of these shoes. Of course, when the horse is in full work and getting shod to go to a ride, then I always put a new set on.

So, Flamenco now has front shoes on, and will be gently started again over the next few weeks. It will be interesting to see how much she has retained from last year!

After her shoeing experience, I decided to measure her. Her mother, Fiesta, was 14.3hh at 5 years of age, but has since grown to just over 15hh. Flamenco is spot on 14.3hh at the moment, but I'm hoping that she'll follow in mum's hoofprints and make 15hh eventually!

Rain, rain and more rain!

We have been in quite a severe drought for the past 4 years, with nothing but dust in the paddocks. All the dams in the area have been bone dry for at least 2 years, and all the stock have either been moved to other agistment paddocks, or (as in my case) been getting hand fed twice a day.

And now it has started to rain! In the past 4 weeks we have had over 10 inches of rain.... and all the dams are over-flowing, the weeds are starting to really get ahead now (bugger!), and the horses are starting to get mild laminitis from the fresh new sprouts of grass. Not that there is a lot of grass, mind you! The dust bowl that was my paddocks ensured that most of the grass roots had completely shrivelled up and died long ago, but there are a few hardy patches of grass coming back through.

Mostly we just have weeds. Some of them are horse-friendly, and some are not. The pests like Lantana, Privet and Prickly Pear are just having a field day!! But the place LOOKS green, and it really is refreshing to see.

Of course, this means that I've had to put the work on Flamenco on hold for the past couple of weeks, as the round yard has been just too wet and slippery to do any work in it.

A few days ago we got her into the stable to do some more mounting and dismounting practice, and I'm pleased to report that she's really very solid on these aspects now. Then today we took her into the round yard again, Tarni mounted her with no problem at all, and I led her around for nearly 30 minutes. She was pretty full of herself to begin with (all that time off, and some fresh grass in her belly!), but she soon settled down.

Flamenco's mother, Fiesta, was quite a handful at this stage of her starting process, and Flamenco is following in Mum's hoofprints. She is quite an alert mare, always looking and aware of what's going on around her, and too willing to react to the slightest movements. The flies are out in force (courtesy of the rain), and as it heated up they were beginning to bother horse, rider and handler (me)!

Flamenco was not impressed! She didn't like me brushing flies off my face, and she certainly didn't like Tarni trying to wave the flies away.

So after about 30 minutes, we took her back into the stall and Tarni did a lot of de-sensitising her to arms being waved about, and sudden twitches! It was a good session, and Flamenco did end up not being too fussed about it all.

This week we hope to work with her every day, but then she'll have another break over Christmas as I'll be away for 9 days or so. (Then it can rain some more!)

Day 11 of the starting process

Today we only worked Flamenco for about 10 minutes, due to time constraints. She was thoroughly groomed (which happens every day she is worked with), including picking out her hooves, and then saddled and bridled, and then taken into the small yard for some more mounting and dismounting practice.

She was really quite solid today, with hardly any reaction to the mounting and dismounting, so we left it at that!

Day 10 of the starting process

Today Flamenco had a lesson in one of the open stalls, which is a rectangular enclosed space about 4 metres x 5 metres. Because she has had a few issues with stepping away when Tarni has dismounted, I wanted Flamenco to be in a secure area where she could not get away easily.

So firstly, Tarni did the 'bouncing' and putting weight into the stirrup from both sides. It is important that Flamenco has the same experiences on both sides of her body, as it allows her to develop overall balance with the weight of the rider.

Then Tarni mounted her from the left, and I led her around the small yard, positioning her into a corner before stopping. As Tarni dismounted, from the left, Flamenco found that she couldn't move away due to the wall being there! We did this a number of times, and then repeated it from the right side.

After Flamenco was quite solid and accepting that she wasn't able to move away from the dismounting rider, we then repeated the mounting/dismounting lesson in the centre of the yard. At this stage, Flamenco was quite happy to stand quietly and not try to move away. Success!

Day 9 of the starting process

After a couple of days off, Flamenco was once again saddled and bridled today, and put into the round yard to think about things for a while (about 20 minutes).

Then Tarni mounted her while I held her, and I led her around for about 20 minutes or so.... a much longer training session than previously. Flamenco resisted a little at first, but soon relaxed and by the end of the leading session I was not applying any pressure at all on her... she was basically just following me around.

Dismounting is still a little bit of a problem, as she doesn't seem to like the change of weight in the saddle as Tarni starts to dismount. So our next lesson will concentrate on mounting and dismounting.

Day 8 of the starting process

Today we repeated all that we did yesterday, and Tarni again rode Flamenco around the round yard (with me leading her) for about 5 minutes.

Again, we only spent about 20 minutes with Flamenco, and finished the session on a good note.

Day 7 of the starting process

First time on her back! Tarni spent another 15 minutes or so 'bouncing' and putting weight in the stirrups, before just swinging her leg over and sitting up.... and Flamenco took it all like a pro! I was very proud of both of them!

I led her around the round yard for about 5 minutes, and then we un-tacked her and turned her out again.

Although I am taking this process very slowly, and only working with Flamenco for no more than 20 minutes at a time, she is learning fast, and is relaxed and confident during the process.