Pony Problems..........

MONDAY 1/17/11

Ambrose actually had yesterday off.  Since we were under saddle on Saturday I decided to pony him off the quad.  Ambrose on occasion will throw his RR boot if I let him run the hills a little.  A quick fix for that is to add a wrap of athletic tape around the hoof, this will in most cases keep the boot in place...  So, we booted up, tape on all 4's after a quick hoof trim on the front feet.  We started off down into the canyon for the one mile trip to the bottom and then back out.  Ambrose wanted to canter at about 15mph so I let him, he cantered the one mile to the ranch and then he wanted to go in the other direction.  He has done this before, so I end up dragging him for a 100 feet or so and then he will usually pick it back up.  He did this again today, just a little more resistive.  The next part of the trail is a 150 yard downhill, where he really picks up the trot.  At the bottom we usually go right and do two up hill loops and then come back on the same path, so left is the road to home, a long road but it does head for home.  So, as soon as we turned right Ambrose put on the breaks, I drug him for a 100 feet or so and then stopped and get off and look at him, he looked fine.  I made him run in a circle a couple of times and he looked OK, so we started off again...  Ambrose was to have none of it, he did not want to go...  My first thought was that he was tying up, he had had the previous day off without any work, and still had his ration of grain..  So, feeling very stupid I turned the quad around and headed back in the direction of the ranch.  All of a sudden Ambrose was back, he looked exceptional, wanted to canter and trot fast.  We continued the way we were going and did the 3 miles back to home, and he was perfect.  After we got back and he recovered I turned him loose and I went in and got a bite to eat.  I returned 40 minutes later and took him for another little pony.  I literally had to drag him, I drug him passed the trailer and retried my dressage whip.  Just him knowing that I had it made all the difference in the world.  No more dragging Ambrose, we did another 3 mile pony and went by the places where I had to drag him before without a hitch.