Battle of the Geldings?!?!?!

So I get  home last night and go outside….. it was quite dark (as you know now at 745-8)…. Gabriel was barking up a storm and I could hear a ruckus from the “arena”….. I could see Hannibal Lightning standing patiently by the gate to enter the dry lot… in the background I could faintly see a “whirling” of shapes and shadows…. As I got closer I was able to make out   Takota running around in circles throwing up kicks here and there… I could hear snorts and movement….. I got closer still and was able to make out the outline of two rearing bay geldings… one a copper colored red bay, the other a dark bay…. It looked kind of like this………(red bay on left, dark bay on right):

Only in shadow, in the dark, in a makeshift riding arena, with no water, and ground poles and barrels strewn around……. Up they both would go, then one (or the other) would come down, spin, semi kick and run off only to return….  It was actually quite dramatic… I let Hannibal onto the dry lot and took his muzzle off…. Throughout this whole thing, he stood by the gate calm as could be, totally oblivious to the drama behind him… focused on “the lady that brings the bounty.” LOL!!  When I let Lightning in the two bays ceased fire and both stood staring at me….aka “the lady that brings the bounty”…. It was all quite interesting…. I’m not certain if they were play fighting, or jockeying for position, or a combination of both…. I can say that Kopper was quite subdued and removed when he entered the dry lot… I’m thinking maybe Dusty FINALLY is getting tired of his (Kopper’s) shenanigans?!?!?

And this is them in "real" life....... shortly after introducing Dusty, aka Mr. Withers, to his new herd....

"Herd Politics"

(Kopper is the 14.3h red bay arabian gelding with the Napoleon complex, Dusty is the 16.3h dark bay OTTB that encourages and enables the little dictator, Takota is the gray 1/2 arabian mare....errrr...gelding, and Lightning aka LB is the 15.3h black/white tobiano TWH gelding)

Lightning's 2nd training session

Yesterday I had my second training session with Lightning Bug and my fantastic trainer.. our first session (about a month ago) we worked on in hand, hips over and shoulders in... yesterday, we did more of the same.. well... shoulders in and having him give to the bit, lower his head... I have been working very hard with him on manners, respect, and lowering his head.. usually on ground, with a rope halter.  He lowers his head like a dream as soon as I even get close to his poll using the verbal "head down" cue..


showing off his mad head down skills, very light almost no pressure when using halter

Well, the stinker made me look like an azz last night.. hahaha! Leeandra said we should work on having him lower his head when he had his bridle on.. sort of like training him into him a "diffuse" button....I applied downward pressure to the bit, and he attempted to ignore me.. too funny!! I increased pressure.. he continued to blow me off... keeping pressure constant, I moved his head slightly and slowly from side to side... he dipped and gave.. I immediately released... Interesting to see.. honestly, the last thing I expected from him was obstinance, especially considering how great he is with his head down cue when using the halter and slight pressure on his poll.  I guess that serves as a reminder to me that we have work to do.  Now when we had movement and I asked for the give on the bit, he would lower his head.  It was primarily when standing still that he would blow me off.  I'm really looking forward to how he does under saddle.  Leeandra said this in hand training will make quite a difference and I will notice it immediately!  We shall see!!  He does seriously need a "diffuse" button as he can just blow up and lean into the bit under saddle.. totally ignoring my aids... Yes, learning brakes and speed control will benefit the both of us.


Move out of the way DH!!! He's about to BLOWWWW!!!!

He was very ouchy and "lame" in September  (due to a serious hack job... I was livid and out of my mind paranoid he was going to road/mechanical founder~ especially considering how hard I've worked to get his feet "right"... will save that for another day)and I wasn't able to work/exercise him as much as he needs.  I have determined that LB needs at a minimum of 4+ days of serious, heart pumping, sweat building cardio to keep him in shape and his IR tendencies at bay.. (IR= insulin resistance... another topic "we" will tackle in a later post).  Without careful management of his diet and regular exercise he starts to "crest" out and is prone to laminitis. Of course the fact that we are in the "seasonal" rise doesn't help his case.  Since he had most of September "off" due to a hack job by a "substitute" farrier while my farrier was out for back surgery, I have found it necessary to bring out the "big guns"... his grazing muzzle...

I asked my DH to put it on him the first day and this is the result:


Poor LB!! LOL!! Thank goodness DH sent me a photo of his handiwork!



When I received the photo from my VERY proud husband, I couldn't help but laugh (I was at work), then hit a brief moment of panic when I realized that hubby was leaving for work soon!! After hurriedly sending DH pics of how the muzzle looks on real horses (had to do a quick copy and past from online websites.. thank goodness for my blackberry!!), DH sent me this:


Much MUCH better!!!

Whewwww... thank goodness for text messaging!!!  When I came home and removed his fly mask Lightning was very much chagrined that I didn't take off his muzzle too... he gave me the most disgusted look!!  Since both he and Kopper Top are in "fat camp" they are put on the dry lot to be fed and eat their hay out of "hay pillows"... no worries, I take off the muzzle when they are "in camp."

Here are some of the shenanigans that go on!! 



harassment by the pick pocket Arabian



Hey there Hannibal Lector... let me help you!



Aiding and abetting.....

 It's all fun and games now Kopper... wait until next spring and summer when we will turn you into Hannibal Lectors little cousin...bwwaaaahaaahaahaaaa.....


[[edited to add: this is actually 2 posts... 2 different days...]]