New boys got moves

This past week was an exciting one for us, as the 4-week quarantine for new guys Baxter, Acadia and Snickers came to an end. We moved them out of the aptly named ‘Far Far Away’ shelter and brought them up to the farm, where they were easily incorporated into their new turn-out groups. All three seemed happy to become a part of the busy daily routine, and settled in immediately with new found friends. In the beginning we keep it very low-key with these guys, and in the first week we brought them into the main barn for grooming and a brief introduction to obstacles in-hand, followed by work in the roundpen to get a sense of how they move and interact with people.

The roundpen is a wonderful training tool which we use all the time. It’s a perfect space for working on obstacles and for introducing new concepts such as tack or a rider. It gives us a chance to see how a horse moves on his own, and it is also a great way to allow a fresh or tight horse to loosen up, relax and burn off some steam.

Round pen work gives us a clearer understanding of new and unknown horses, both physically with their strengths and weaknesses, and mentally in terms of previous training and attitude toward people. With practice the round pen allows a person to direct the horse’s movements through body language, and this process of communication and connection can be a valuable tool as we progress with a horse’s training.

We were pleased to see that both Baxter and Acadia are sound and have three lovely gaits, which they happily showed off for us. Baxter surprised us with a fancy little trot, and Acadia has an athletic, ground-covering stride and showed some understanding of stretching down and loosening towards the end of the session. Overall all we were very impressed with these boys, as thus far they have displayed excellent manners and have really taken everything in stride. Next week we will likely introduce saddles during work in the roundpen, and at some point soon we will go for a ride–we can’t wait!