The lesson horse 2: Cob lunge extravaganza

[glenatron]

Now mr shanks01 was thinking he'd like to learn to ride maybe and we figured he could probably come over and have a try at sitting on Zorro to give him a start. We've never put a total beginner on Zorro, however, and although he was once sold with that intention he doesn't always come across as a beginner's horse. So this morning we thought we would test out his ability to be sat on whilst being lunged. So sleepsy_mouse lunged him, I got on and sure enough he was absolutely perfect. He was forward, willing and didn't fling any parts of himself skywards. He just knew what he needed to do and did it well. After a bit we switched from the saddle to the bareback pad ( because if Stu's going to learn he might as well start out right ) and he continued to do really well. So this project does seem to be viable.


I walked down to the ponies today and one of the little herds of exmoors was walking up the trail behind the pesky small grey pony and made a very appealing little line.

Ponies all in a line...


Wandering off up the hill.

In the afternoon we went to visit our friend Karen, who is recovering from some knee surgery and so is largely stuck at home. As we had wheels we all went over to her yard and visited her ponies.

This is TP, cute little muddy pony mare.

Comments

[dreamswept.livejournal.com]

Goodness, are the Exmoors following Small?

Wonder what's going on in their brains? "Hey, did you fall in a bucket of bleach?" "Are you a unicorn who lost his horn?" "Dude, did you turn into a ghost?"

It's very cute though?

[sleepsy-mouse.livejournal.com]

He does look a bit like Small, doesn't he? Now there's a thought... Small Pony, king of the Exmoors....

The one they are following is the only non-Exmoor grazing on the Punchbowl (there is a rumour that the owner would only allow the Exmoors to graze if the grey nuisance came too!) He seems to be at least part Connemara and is...how can I put this nicely?...feisty! I suspect they're following him because it's safer to keep him where they can see him!!

[http://users.livejournal.com/blitzen_/]

it's surprising how well some horses respond to beginners. blitz was always good with a total beginner on him. whereas taz, who one would PRESUME would be great, gets really narky & shitty about it & makes generally evil faces the whole time. hence why he wasn't sold as a beginner's horse.

and beejay? well, we just won't go there, haha.

the pics of the exmoors are lovely! they look very mystical & lovely there.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Well this is it, Zorro tends to look after people who aren't in good balance, but he very rarely cuts me any quarter. Maybe he figured that if sleepsy_mouse was driving at least he didn't have the usual idiot to contend with...

[wldhrsjen3.livejournal.com]

I *love love love* those photos of all the ponies!!

Also, good Zorro! Isn't it funny how they just know sometimes that they're supposed to be calm and gentle? Maisy is a love with the kids and would never dream of acting up, but with an adult on her back she's...shall we say...more expressive of her opinions. :)

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Zorro almost always isn't calm and gentle for me, I think he was just really in his comfort zone with this.

Maybe that's the job he's best suited to really, being a teaching horse...

[penella22.livejournal.com]

I find that most interesting that Zorro was so well-behaved. Hmm. Full of surprises huh?

Sage is good with kids...not sure about adults though.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

We'll see how he is on the lunge with a real beginner at some point soon but it'll be useful to me to get better at sitting his more bumpy canter, which I need to be able to do if I'm to find his comfortable one.

[fleefloodle.livejournal.com]

I doubt either of ours would cope with beginners. I've tried it once with Willow and she just won't move. Ranger tends to get worse and worse the less experienced the rider is.

[skiesfirepaved.livejournal.com]

Haha, oh wow - I love the Exmoor photos! How weird, I don't think I've seen wild (feral...) horses follow each other in a line like that before. o_O I wonder why?

Also, omg, TP = I WANT. What a face! Looks like she's got an awesome forelock/mane combo going on too?

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

You know precisely the kind of horse you need ;)

They clearly do it a lot - you could particularly notice it in the snow where there were these narrow channels and after a while I realised they had been made by the ponies walking along there, not by other walkers as I had first guessed.

In that situation it's pretty clear why it benefits them to line up, I think a lot of the time round us the easiest trails are quite narrow so they tend to just all go along together. Also maybe in the wild it leaves fewer footprints so it would be harder for a predator to judge the size of the herd. That's kind of conjecture though.

[shanks01.livejournal.com]

Wait, I get to learn bareback? that would rock!