Golden Butterfly - another great ride!

It sure was a beautiful evening for a ride! My husband and I went out to the barn together to play/ride - and I thought what a great opportunity to see how Golden Butterfly would do in the ring with another horse. Short answer: fantastic. She is so laid back, and she continues to relax more and more and just be a really good horse. She has been coming up to my husband in the field and letting him pet on her, and she looks happy and curious almost always nowadays.

Tonight, the only time she pinned her ears was when I was girthing up the saddle for the first time in the aisleway. She did not pin her ears when I tightened it in the ring, or any other time. I have to say she was in a super good mood - came right to me when I opened the door to her stall, easy to halter, etc., and she was in absolute heaven as I curried her and got rid of the last bits of winter coat. I think she was just enjoying her grooming (which we do regularly when she comes out of her stall - she waits for me to curry her before going out of the barn and is disappointed when I don't brush her first). Anyways, I haven't ridden her in a few weeks and I think the saddle was not what she was planning on, but she was great.

I am finding that GB is actually a very lazy mare. :) She understands longing, but I have to be really serious about it for her to stay moving/trotting. As soon as I relax, she comes down to a walk. Same thing under saddle. I pretty much have to give her gentle reminders/squeezes with my legs to keep her going - and at the first sign of me relaxing, she comes down to a walk. But it's not like the dead-sided school horse - you just have to be serious about what you want and she will do it.

We walked and trotted both directions in the ring while my husband was in there with his horse longing, and I had no trouble at all. GB was great. She stood perfectly still for me to mount up (no ear pinning or at all!) and was easy and calm to ride. She is such a sensible mare, and would make a great trail mount for a lucky adopter! Now that she is finally getting over being afraid/pinning her ears so much, she is really turning out to be a sweet girl!

Golden Butterfly's first ride!

The idea of the first ride on a horse when you know nothing about their history is always filled with some anxiety. You go on what you have observed, and hope your instincts are right.

I have not had a chance to play with her in a few weeks - family was here, we've been busy on the weekends, but we do now have a routine after every meal that she walks out of her stall into the aisleway and waits patiently for me to groom her from head to toe. She knows when I'm done and walks on out to the field. Or not - and I can carry on around her, clapping my hands, clucking, etc., and she just stands and waits for me to put the lead around her neck to walk her out.



In preparation for today - (and all I really planned on) - I switched out the rubber bit for a metal loose ring snaffle the right size, and pulled out the molasses. She was good about letting me put it on her and loved the molasses! Her mouth quickly quieted down as she accepted the bit and I put the saddle on. She turned to look at me with her ears pinned as I started to connect the girth and I said, "no" and she quit.

Out in the ring we lunged at the walk and trot both directions, and then went to the mounting block. Before doing anything else, I asked her to turn towards me on the ground using the reins as a cue - and she didn't completely understand, but then I did it like neck reining and she knew right away what I was doing. I put my foot in the stirrup and put some weight in it and she turned to look mad with her one pinned ear(her bluff) and I told her no, and leaned all the way over her. She stood very calmly, so I went ahead and slowly brought my leg around and sat up in the saddle. She still stood perfectly, so I dismounted and got back up on her again 2 times, and the 3rd time I decided to see what she would do if I gave her a cue to turn.



Before I knew it, we were walking around the ring, turning and halting. I could hardly believe it! I almost had tears in my eyes as I was so proud of her and she was being so calm and relaxed about it all. The worst thing she did was to want to turn back to the gate - like an old school horse trying to get out of work. But her body was otherwise calm and fine the whole time. Amazing. She stood calmly as I dismounted and was just such a good girl!



I am SO happy for her and excited to ride her again!

Golden Butterfly update

Yeah, she's looking better!

Here is a photo of her cute stumpy ear:



I had been waiting for Ms. GB to get up to weight before testing her out to see what she knows - and I suddenly realized I had a super fluffy mare that was well up to and past weight. :) So I started yesterday with her, and after grooming her and trimming her front feet, I put a saddle on her, and we went out to the ring to see what she know. I longed her both directions at the walk and trot and she did great - and then I put pressure with my hand in the stirrups. She wasn't too sure about me bouncing around on the mounting block, but it sure seems to me that she was at one time trained and ridden.

Today, when I went to get her out of her stall/pen, she did not want to be caught and moved away from me. So, I asked her to trot round the pen and when I stopped, she waited patiently for me to halter her. We've done this a few times before, and it's clear she has been worked in a roundpen at some point and knows that standing still is the way to do less work. I groomed her and picked up all 4 feet - she is still a little nervous about letting me have her back feet.

Whenever I am working with her, just as it is clear she did have training somewhere in her past, it is also clear that she was abused after that. You can tell she really wants to relax and trust again, but every once in a while, something worries her and she pins her ears, or tosses her head or kicks in worry. My job is to not react other than to remind her of her manners with a swift "NO" and then go back to being affectionate towards her. She really does enjoy the affection in spite of her fears - rubbing her all over, scratching her itchy spots, etc.

I did not put a saddle on her today, but took my long longe line and whip with me into the ring. We longed both ways at the walk and trot. Just enough to get her breathing up a little, which wasn't really very long. A couple of times when trotting to the right, she got frustrated and turned and went more quickly to the left. I calmly said "easy" and asked her to go back to the right again. One thing that I'm not sure about is that whenever I longe her, she turns her head to the outside to look around. Some might consider this disrespect or not paying attention, but as soon as I say "easy" or "whoa," she slows right down and turns and looks at me. If it was only to one direction I would wonder if it was an eye or body soreness bothering her, but doing the same thing both ways seems like it is just her looking around.

After longing, we went over to the mounting block - without the saddle. I pulled her up to the block and stood up on it and she moved away - she knows that me getting up on the block means she's about to get ridden, but that wasn't in my plan today. We worked to get her to stand well at the block, and started putting my arm over her. She pinned her ears and moved away. I told her "NO" about pinning her ears - and then got back up on the block and did it again until she stood still, then stepped down and rubbed on her forehead. We repeated the next steps also and ended when I could lay my arms/head over her back while she stood relaxed.

Back to me rubbing her forehead - that is actually something she would not let you do when she got here. She didn't want you to touch her face or get anywhere near her ears. Today in the ring, she was relaxed when I would rub her face, and even lowered her head to the ground as I rubbed the top of her nose. She had one moment where she got worried and lifted her head up and jerked it around, so I stopped for a moment and then went back and she was fine again.

Even cooler than rubbing her forehead, was that I was able to rub around her ears and poll without her being worried!!! THAT is a HUGE deal for her! Maybe she was distracted being out in the ring, but man, that was awesome. I just made it part of rubbing her head and took my hand along her good ear first, then even rubbed gently over her bad ear. I think they are finally feeling well - they were still very sore when she first arrived - and her stumpy ear has a lot more movement to it now. It used to be that it always looked the same, but now it turns back and forth and you can see a lot more movement. As her (current) human, I also have to pay extra attention to her ears - usually when I'm working with a horse I can see their ears out of the corner of my eye and quickly notice if they get mad and start pinning their ears - it is much harder to judge with GB with only one ear to see.

Overall, I was delighted with today - being able to rub her around her head so much - it was hard to believe that she was so relaxed about it. Yay, Progress!