Sunday.
I missed my ride, so i thought i'd make the best of the situation. Prince was across the river, and had no grass. i was on the normal side that the house is on - with all the grass!
I walked across the swing bridge and wound up the fence reel i wasn't using and i gathered up some standards, prince's water trough, water buckets (used to carry water up from the river as we don't have hose) and the electric fence unit. i set up a the fence on the roadside and poured water into a bucket
i then dashed into my room to get changed, and then grabbed prince's rope halter and lead and marched arcoss the swing bridge (jumping and swinging it as i ran) and when i got to Prince's paddock i jumped the fence and waited. And waited. i waited until i felt his nose touch me, then i slowly turned around and rubbed his neck and then i haltered him.
i walked down the bank to the river and waited at the bottom for Prince to jump down. he half jumped and the kinda waddled the rest of the way down. Once down he snatched mouthfuls of Native New Zealand trees. he knows he's not aloud to eat them. this is why he pinches bits when he can - because they taste soooo good!
anyway i took him across the FREEZING cold river, numbing my legs off after two seconds of been in there.. and plonked him in his paddock on the roadside.
About three o'clock i got my butt into gear and decided i was going to ride that naughty horse of mine. i did a bit of groundwork. jumping and such. i made a long jump - by laying the barrels down and putting three fence posts horizontally across them. He didn't want to jump it but i put more 'ask' into it and he jumped it. Then to my surprise he offered and from a standstill (just checking for traffic) and jumped clean and clear!
then when i asked Prince to do the circling game he switched in to play drive mode and galloped about fifteen circles either way (him throwing in a change of direction for fun) and plenty of bucks chucked in for a good measure. i'm not kidding about the laps either..
So when he calmed down i tightened his girth and jumped on and started off by doing lots of walking to get me used to his gait again. i also did backing through the two barrels, and sideways over some poles and up a barrel (this one was done on the ground).
i then started trotting. i trotted posting, and i trotted sitting. When i got confident enough i wanted him to canter. No matter how many times i tried - going through my fazes and asking and asking he still didn't. Our ride was two hours long. i gave up but finished on a posting trot. i figured if i couldn't get him to canter then it was something i was doing.
i talked to mum and she told me i was me. She told me how to fix it so i cant wait to get back on and try again.
i won't be able to ride in the holidays because i am going to tauranga for five days.. maybe I'll do it on saturday...
Thursday 27 September 2012
Thursday 20 September 2012
Horse escape!
On Wednesday instead of going to RDA like i normally do, i stayed at my course. I accidentally booked a driving lesson in the middle of RDA.
i had quite a hectic day, with finishing two assessments, a driving lesson and my darling prince who decided that it was the best day to escape.
i drove home and stopped in the driveway in shock. There was my horse who so obviously swam back across the river. He was looking pleased with himself, and very bloated. i quickly drove down the drive and parked the car and then got changed (i was still in my town clothes) and grabbed prince's halter and tied him up. i then turned detective.
He had obviously been out all day. The grass in the paddock i found him in was munched quite alot. there was two rolling patches in two different places.
i walked across the swing bridge to the other side of the river to do more investigating. he had obviously got a fright because the fence was broken very bad. i found one end in some brambles and another end wrapped about six times around a fence standard. There was some bent fence standards and some ones lying flat. There was also heaps of grass eaten and loads of hoof prints so obviously his.
My conclusion came to this, he got out about nine (because he had eaten his morning grass - i had shifted him over at quarter past seven, and a friend came over to feed the other animals (about ten) and he wasn't over across the river when she arrived but when she left he was across the river).
He must have been eating under the fence and the fence got caught on one of the brambles and he brushed the bottom of the bramble and it banged the fence against his neck. he must of panicked and swung around to the left (he had some hair stuck up the wrong way - to the left - on his nose) and scratched his nose.
He would have seen the fence go flying so he galloped into the pressure and broke it. then he would have galloped around like a loon until his adrenaline had gone down then wondered around eating. he would have heard the car and come across the river thinking it was me coming home (I've been in that car a couple of times) and he would have stayed there eating until i came home.
So there you have it. i ended up taking him back across the river (i can't take him across the swing bridge - it wouldn't hold him) and resetting up his fence.
I almost forgot to mention - the fence wasn't on at all. i haven't had it on for four weeks now.
So that was most of my week. i've been asked to move out from the house where i'm living- i have to be out by the end of November. i've been thinking of places to go to - any ideas?
i had quite a hectic day, with finishing two assessments, a driving lesson and my darling prince who decided that it was the best day to escape.
i drove home and stopped in the driveway in shock. There was my horse who so obviously swam back across the river. He was looking pleased with himself, and very bloated. i quickly drove down the drive and parked the car and then got changed (i was still in my town clothes) and grabbed prince's halter and tied him up. i then turned detective.
He had obviously been out all day. The grass in the paddock i found him in was munched quite alot. there was two rolling patches in two different places.
i walked across the swing bridge to the other side of the river to do more investigating. he had obviously got a fright because the fence was broken very bad. i found one end in some brambles and another end wrapped about six times around a fence standard. There was some bent fence standards and some ones lying flat. There was also heaps of grass eaten and loads of hoof prints so obviously his.
My conclusion came to this, he got out about nine (because he had eaten his morning grass - i had shifted him over at quarter past seven, and a friend came over to feed the other animals (about ten) and he wasn't over across the river when she arrived but when she left he was across the river).
He must have been eating under the fence and the fence got caught on one of the brambles and he brushed the bottom of the bramble and it banged the fence against his neck. he must of panicked and swung around to the left (he had some hair stuck up the wrong way - to the left - on his nose) and scratched his nose.
He would have seen the fence go flying so he galloped into the pressure and broke it. then he would have galloped around like a loon until his adrenaline had gone down then wondered around eating. he would have heard the car and come across the river thinking it was me coming home (I've been in that car a couple of times) and he would have stayed there eating until i came home.
So there you have it. i ended up taking him back across the river (i can't take him across the swing bridge - it wouldn't hold him) and resetting up his fence.
I almost forgot to mention - the fence wasn't on at all. i haven't had it on for four weeks now.
So that was most of my week. i've been asked to move out from the house where i'm living- i have to be out by the end of November. i've been thinking of places to go to - any ideas?
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