Comety's Off to Training

                                         Prep-School
For the past week I've been working with Comety every day.

• Brushing in till my arms fall off trying to get her to love me before my trainer takes her and Comety falls in love with her... This has happened previously to my Arab Merlin.
• Lunging her so she'll be relaxed enough to stand still while I'm brushing her.
• feeding her like a  manic( trying to make her fat).
• working with her feet(more about this later)Working with and the trailer(more about this later)

                                          Lunging with Comety
The funny thing is that shes a better lunge than my other horse Merlin....
        Even with the occasional take off with the nearest scary object(so far this has been three year old humans, Dogs,Bunny's and the most scary of all (Drum roll please) a branch, yes a branch.

                                            FOODFOODFOOD!!!!!
OK imagine this, theirs two horses, hungry horses , and they BOTH want their four pound of LMF Gold , with beet pulp and oil.

And out comes the poor stable girl or otherwise known as pasture girl(that's me ) clutching two buckets of the very sustenance that they are craving.

Not pretty right?

Do you see the flying hoofs that I do?

The greedy snorts?

The dust and scattered grain?

Then when they each get their identical buckets, what happens, you might ask?

They think the  grass is greener on the other side, or the grain is better in the other bucket, resulting in something that looks strangely like musical chairs.


                                                 

                                         New Feet

Comety is a six year old Thoroughbred that has never had her feet trimmed.

Front feet

front feet

Front foot

Hind Feet

Hind foot

Here are some pics of before, there will be after pictures in a couple of weeks.
The Farriers diagnose was that if trimmed properly  Comety's feet will grow back normally and that her Frogs are excellent and her feet are very good for a Thoroughbred that's never had its feet trimmed. Through her hoof walls are curved as shown in the first pic if you look closely. Comety did very well for her first trimming, infact she did better than some of our veteran horses!

The TRAILER

When I bought Comety she had been worked with for about Two  to Three weeks, before that she had had no training. The Lady we bought her from had rescued her from a Ranch that had been breeding for Palomino Thoroughbreds, and had run dry on funds, resulting in starving horses... The four or so horses the lady's rescued  had no previous training, so the only way to load them into a trailer on a gravel road was sedation. Comety's first touch into the world of trailering...

So When we came to pick her up for a six hour drive we were expecting SOMETHING and were rewarded with nothing... Comety was perfect, we loaded the companion animal we brought with us(Josie my first horse).

Then the local trainer just led her in!

So now I'm trying to replicate her success

My Tools of Persuasion

Helmet firmly attached to my head                                                                            

                                                                          

BOOTS protecting my delicate toes






A HUGE bucket of Grain







A LONG lead rope







And most importantly PATIENCE

 
I put Merlin in the first stall as Comety is infatuated with him.

Stocked the trailer and my pockets with hay and Grain, and sat down to wait her out.  Its surprising how far horses can stretch their neck when they want to!

But eventually ( about 45 minutes) my patience paid off and one could see her mentally say "  Aw Screwy it I'm going in". 

One set after another she got in and was promptly rewarded with a bucket of grain.

Must have worked because the next day she hopped in to go to my trainer Ayah .

This is the official BEFORE picture so I can properly see the changes in her, after training.

I wish I had been able to get more fat on her....

Comety is now at Ayah's and already beginning training on the first day!
Comety now knows wash racks don't bite.