Youtube Training

Young horses
- Do transitions at the same point in the arena every time- it helps them figure out that something is going to change there so you can refine transition cues easier.

Catchup game

Okay. So... I've been super remiss. I hate winter. I HATE winter. I hate being cold, Sherwood is a total psycho pants, and.. I just hate winter. So, hence no posts. But! Let's catch up.

we had some nice weather a couple weeks ago, and.. we have an accident. Andi may have broken a fence post due to Sherwood being a.. well, being the new and ridiculous Sherwood.. and proceeded to drag said fence post down the road. Many hours of emergency vet call later, and.. he has scrapes. Literally. THe horse got 1" of stitches, but really suffered nothing more than superficial scrapes and lacs. *Sigh* Thank God. But he did need to be on stall rest for antibiotics and healing.

So... Off to Aunt Chelsea's he went. And over the course of 10 days of stall rest and hand walking, I came to 1 conclusion. He was staying there for the good of everyone involved. What do I mean by that?
1: I'm not sure if I've given y'all the correct impression of Sherwood. But, here goes. I heart her. But thank God, because no one else does. In fact, most people who know Sher are.. nervous, if not outright scared, of her. She has a penchant for being unpredictable in that every once in a while, she just.. loses her mind. Then there's the times she just refuses to calm down no matter what you do- she has decided to be scared and no matter how much Clinton Anderson, Buck Brannaman, Parelli crap you try (and trust me, I have hired multiple trainers, have most of the books and videos, and...yeah), she is just going to... explode. -Unless- you can distract her with something super fun- like jumping! Yes.. let's take a ridiculous reactive horse who is refusing to pay attention and is ready to kill everything around you, and send it over some jumps. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right? All I can say is, before Sherwood, and through most of owning her, I thought it would be too. Live and learn, I guess. Anyway. You are now getting a feel for the idiosyncracies of owning Sherwood.
So, enter Andi- and you have been hearing about the herd-shy buddy sour crap I've been dealing with, of being kicked and tossed through fences, and all that BS. We have a vet who only remembers her rearing for the sky and striking out at her, a farrier who refuses to do her feet unless she's Dorm'd- it's been a rough year for Sherwood. Oh, and PS? This is the horse who, a year ago, our old farrier used to give me a deal because he wished "every horse was as good as Sherwood". WTF??

So. Now.. Andi left. And Sherwood is.. back to being Sherwood. She calms down. She doesn't lose her shit over leaves blowing- hell, we were lunging and the guy across the street dropped a 60 foot oak tree 100 feet away. And my crazy TB jumped, snorted, checked it out, and went back to trotting. THAT is my Sherwood. And I am so happy to have her back. She's still a bitch, she'd still reactive and pushy and opinionated AF. But I heart this mare and can't wait to start working courses with her catty ass again. Bring on the scary shit, because that is what we rock at!!!

2: Andi is less reactive without Sherwood reacting to everything and nothing. I didn't even realize handwalking an 8 year old TB without Dorm after 10 days in a stall was possible, nevermind relaxing. He.. ate grass. We checked out new spots in the yard. Hell, we worked on some groundwork. He's got two rides under saddle that was phenomenal, with only one big spook in the first one that we worked through. He goes through puddles and you can take your vest off on him. We'll make him into a fearless machine too, no worries.

And now... Corona. Barns are closed- although I have permission to go to Andi's, because it's tiny and we do not touch anything but our stuff, I do work in a hospital and am.. squeamish about going anywhere that's not completely necessary. I could make the argument Andi is necessary, but let's face reality, if I infect my barn owner, shit gets ugly real quick. And.. this virus is scary. Real scary. This is supposed to be a horse blog, but I feel like I would be remiss if I didn't say something about Corona- after all, how often do Pandemics just roll around?? LoL Seriously, though, this is a nasty mamajama bug that people are either panicking about or completely ignoring. Both are poor ways to deal, but I might say erring on the side of extreme caution wouldn't be a bad way to work it. And possibly infecting Chelsea or Max or her two fosters is not something I'd want to be responsible for. So.. Andi may have more time off. And is anyone else getting the idea that SOMEONE wants me to just keep this horse?? LoL kidding. Too early??