Starting with the ponies…

[Thecowboysgirl]

Well, I have no gear yet except for the western saddles and bridles my ponies came with. I have round-penned them both Monty Roberts style.

I have wrapped ropes around the gelding’s butt & also up under his tail and he couldn’t be bothered. He is a bit spooky, although so far he mostly blows and starts a little but doesn’t bolt or jump. The mare (Daisy) is not fazed when he does this, as I am often leading them double and he boogers at something. Hopefully she will be steady enough to steady him. Any tips for working with this type of problem appreciated.

I hope he will gain confidence in me and settle some.

Rode the mare today, she did great. I gave her every opportunity to misbehave because the main purpose of my riding her was to see if she is truly quiet enough for my daughter. She passed with flying colors. What a great “whoa” on this mare! When I roundpenned her, she would sit right down and stop from a forward trot if I even breathed that word. Riding on a loose rein, trotting back toward where Duke was tied up at the end of the arena she also stopped beautifully off the word only. At any rate, I let her trot out towards her buddy on totally slack reins to see if she had any desire to try and take off for him, and she just jogged on over nice as could be. Surely that whoa will come in handy when I start trying to drive them.

[Billy Foster]

I would long line (ground drive) that spooky pony all over the place. It will give you and him a safer way to get used to all the “spooky” things around your place. Ground drive the other pony as well. When you get harnesses do the same thing but with the harnesses on before progressing to pulling anything.
Billy

[Thecowboysgirl]

Billy…this thread is old, I don’t know if you’ll see it, but here’s my problem. I can’t really separate the two. They are the only two horses on the farm and are quite bonded to each other. If I take one out of sight, the other freaks.

I could ground drive him around more if perhaps my daughter would lead Daisy along nearby…

[Thecowboysgirl]

PS his worst spook to date he came pretty close to jumping on me while I was double leading them through the gate to their pasture. I gave him a pretty hard time about it and backed him up and made him walk through the gate nice. Can’t have 1000lbs in my lap. It was the ribbon on the hotwire that made him spook, and I have since shook that ribbon all over him and got him to stand for it and no more trouble at leading at all.

[Billy Foster]

Juliana
I am sure you saw Donn Hewes response on your other thread. I agree with him completely. I may be a new teamster but I have been managing horses (warm bloods) for years and that is basically what I have done in the past to get horses over being separated. Truthfully there has always been another horse at home with the one being left but they were not in the same paddock and I am not confident that they provided much comfort.
In some fashion take one horse for a walk on a lead rope so the two are out of sight of each other. The one staying should be in a place that they can’t hurt themselves and most importantly can’t get out of. You do not want to be training that horse to break out of its paddock when they are separated. Maybe, at first, leave someone at the barn with that horse to scratch them and give them some attention. Take the other horse down the road until they are out of sight. Find some good grass or bring an apple or 2 to distract it. The goal is to get things relatively quiet before heading back to the barn. Remember to set them up to succeed. Think about what tools you have to gradually build their behavior into what you want. I like to strive for smaller goals at first and being successful as opposed to “getting dragged by my new pony when he spooks at the tire being dragged behind him because I asked for too much too soon” :).
I do not like horses that “forget about listening” when they think they are heading back to the barn. As a rule I will not finish working the horse until they walk to the barn under my terms. If they start being rude I simply take them away from the barn, go out a ways and try it again. Sometimes I will stop a couple times and have them stand for a second or 2, whatever I think they can handle at the time.
The more you work with these guys the more they will learn to trust you. Just work with them as much as you can. You are as new to them as they are to you. As they get used to your place they will probably be less jumpy and easier to introduce to “scary” things. I remember something that I heard at a talk at the Common Ground Fair in Maine, I think it was given by Bradbury Johnson, he said even if he can’t get out and work his horses he always does something with them every day even if it is just brushing them and cleaning their feet. I think of this a lot and it helps me remember how big the relationship component of working with and around horses is.
Billy

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