Settling in and First Trail Ride

Drogo is settling in his new home pretty well. He is getting used to coming in and going straight to his stall. He seems content in his stall and likes his buddies on each side. 

Saturday he had his sheath cleaned for the first time ever. He was quite naughty about it. The girl was so brave. Drogo was being sooo defensive (trying to knock her head off) and she just kept at it. She doesn't sedate, so we wound up using a gum chain to get the job done. I hate that it was a shitty experience.. but it needed done. To be fair, the last time he had someone "working" under there, they took his balls at 7 years old.. so can't blame him for being on the defense. 😂

Finding comfort in his stall buddy, Domino, after the ordeal.

"WTF did you do to me?!"

The farrier was scheduled for after the sheath cleaning, but I opted to spare my farrier's life and reschedule. 

Sunday was our first ride since being back at SVS. The outdoor is right on a road that cars drive too fast on, and also has an intersection. A lot of horses get spooked by a zooming car, or when a car turns at the intersection and revs their engine. Luckily, Drogo usually isn't phased by the cars. In any case, I like to lunge him for a few minutes out there before hopping on. 

After a quick lunge, we had a nice ride. Mostly walking and trotting doing circles and figure eights to loosen him up. Then I got brave and took and down the trail for the first time. He was a little anxious, but actually behaved quite well. There were SO MANY spider webs with that we had to turn back after being down there only a few minutes. 

Good trail pony

Aurora, the mare I essentially replaced with Drogo, is smitten with him. 

The next day, I brought my girls and Jon with me to the barn. I got a brief ride in while Elly and Clara played around the farm. 

 

Yesterday was Drogo's first "real" trail ride. We have ridden by ourselves for 90% of his time under saddle, so I knew riding with others would be an adjustment. He was pretty "up" from the get-go. He definitely wanted to be leading. I started off with him second in line, behind Smog, one of his pasturemates. He seemed ok there, but still rushy. Once we got down the hill, I put him last in line, behind two mares. That didn't make him happy. I eventually decided to get off of him to walk him around a water filled ditch. He was acting like an asshole and attempted to run into me to get around the water. I hand walked him for a few minutes before climbing back on. He was a little better to ride this time. I tried to keep reminding myself that it was his first ride with multiple horses, and first real trail ride. But, I would be lying if I said it wasn't frustrating. We ended the trail on a good, much more relaxed, note. I'm looking forward to progress on the trail, I know he will be much better with miles. 

 

                            

 

Once we got back to the barn, I untacked Drogo and brought him to the round pen for some free lunging and ground work. I need to keep ground work in our normal routine. I notice if I let it slide, we have more trouble under saddle. Drogo is a horse that really requires trust in his rider. Especially being at a different barn, I need to reestablish our bond.