Week 6

Dallas has had a great week with now 6 rides under saddle and a few rest days to take everything in. She has surprised me so much this week, her third ride was straight out of the round yard through the paddocks and up the bush where she couldn’t be happier! Super relaxed lead the way without blinking an eyelid, up and down hills under trees over fallen trees, through deer wallows and past the machinery shed. We have been doing lots of basics getting body control under saddle keeping her soft and is moving her hind quarters when she’s asked to and just starting to get the idea of moving her shoulders. Yesterday she did the obstacle course for the first time under saddle and tried her heart out, although she had done all of these obstacles on the ground they were very scary without me on the ground next to her helping her through but we worked through it and she did all of the obstacles under saddle! She has also been fantastic to catch this week I was leaving the halter on her in the paddock to make it easy to catch her but she’s been halter free all week and we haven’t had a problem, she now runs up to her bucket of feed every night and if I’m lucky she will nicker out to me when she can see me walking around.

Week 5, time really does fly when your having fun! Dallas has had a few days off since my last update due to work but I have had a really good week with her this week, we have had some beautiful days and we are making the most of them,  she’s coming out of her shell more and more every day, she’s more confident and relaxed and starting to admit that she’s enjoying being a spoilt domestic horse. 

Same as last week I have spent a lot of time going over everything, mouthing, riding her bareback in the halter keeping her soft, lots of ground work and obstacles, exploring around with my other horse, and the big thing this week has been getting her comfortable with the saddle and relaxed enough for me to ride her in a saddle. And we ticked that box this week she’s now had two rides under saddle and with her bridle and she has been great! 

Everything we have done on the ground still paying off, she’s moving forward well, stopping backing up, moving her hind quarters when asked and staying nice and soft, she’s always listening and thinking. 

Now to get her out and about and let her enjoy being a ridden horse.

Week 3, Dallas had her first ride bareback which went great all the ground work leading up to it really paid off! Already knowing through ground work that a click meant to move her feet and she knew how to move her hind quarters and her shoulders, I spent hours getting her soft in the halter so that when I got on her she would give to the pressure on her nose and follow her nose. And she did exactly that she stayed soft she worked out how to move forward and stay soft even when she was confused she stayed soft and listened. Super happy with her efforts this week 

Since then she has had many bareback rides, I am mouthing her with the bridal while I keep riding her in a halter. She’s happy with the roller and getting better with the saddle, I have just been leading her around the farm off my other horses to get her to relax with the saddle on and stretch out. This week we have been doing some obstacles which she seems to enjoy, I started with leading her over everything and now I can send her towards an obstacle on a long lead and let her make the decision of doing the obstacle or going around and she always picks the obstacle, she’s very cleaver and she’s getting much better at problem solving and dealing with situations that she doesn't like.

Dallas has come a long way on week 3, I’ve been working very hard at gaining more and more trust with Dallas and getting her comfortable with me, at the start of the week she let me have my first sit on her bareback. She’s still weary and watching my every move but she stood there and took it all in handled it like a gem. 

She had become comfortable with the pressure of the rope around her girth area so I moved onto the roller which she handled well and now into the saddle. She has had the bridle on a few times just getting used to the bit in her mouth now that her teeth have been done and I just keep working on her flexing and giving to pressure in the halter. She’s getting softer every day and understanding how to stay soft while moving her feet as well. 

I have been leading her off another horse while she’s saddled getting her to relax and stretch out while taking in new places and new things to look at. I've also been laying over her and moving her hind end just to get her used to my weight over her as she moves.

You can follow Hayley and Dallas here: https://m.facebook.com/Hayley-Hinton-Austrailan-brumby-challenge-trainer-2020-112976883802577/?ref=bookmarks 

 Week two with VBA Dallas has been a big week! 

She has been upgraded to a paddock and gets a bucket of hard feed every night like the big horses, and she had been pretty good to catch. 

She’s had her feet trimmed and was better behaved than most broken in horses I do. She’s also had her teeth done which she handled very well and I’m glad I got her teeth done because she had a few issues there. I like getting all of these things done before starting any horse to rule out any problems and give them their best shot at starting their ridden career. 

Dallas is a very sensitive and reactive horse which can be hard at the start but normally can be very rewarding in the end, she is very smart and works things out quickly.

I’ve been introducing new things to her and getting her comfortable with me being above her, starting to lay my weight over her. She’s had the saddle cloth on, a rope around her girth area getting used to pressure around her because girthing her up, pool noodle all over her, 

she’s been soft in the halter learning flexion and to give to pressure.  

She’s so much more relaxed and her personality is coming through more every day.

Week one with VBA Dallas has been a lot of fun and she has impressed me a lot with how far she has come is such a short period of time, I have been focusing on getting her comfortable with being caught and letting me pat her all over. Iv been able to get control of her feet and establish basic body control. 

She’s leading well with me on the ground and off another horse, she’s getting used to me being above her when she’s being lead off another horse which will help her when I go to get on her.

I started my week doing a lot of join up getting her comfortable with me while teaching her to face up as well as the start of me being able to move her feet, 

I caught her off my other horse at first and then started working with her on the ground. She started off being very uncomfortable with me on her off side but we have worked through that and she is much happier with me on both sides. 

She’s a very smart mare she’s always thinking which makes it very rewarding working with her. She’s always keeping her eye on me and that makes it easy for me to keep her interested.