The Plan: New Horse Edition

Y'all might have noticed by now, but I tend to be a planner. I like doing things in an orderly, methodical fashion. Creating logical hierarchies wherein each incremental activity naturally progresses into the next, until, step by step, we arrive at the prescribed destination. 

let's use the photos in the post for a little unrelated trip down memory lane, yes? let's revisit all the red mares who played starring roles in my journey as a rider and horse person <3

Why yes, I'm very fun at parties lol --- why do you ask??

Toby! she was not the most popular lesson horse, but i really loved her. a few red mares preceded her -- Missy, for the newest of riders, then Sugar, a sweet ornery thing to help you learn early to stay humble....

Lol, just kidding. Sorta. For real, tho. I'm not getting a second horse for my health. In fact, it's probably true (even if nobody's ever asked) that 9 out of 10 doctors would recommend strongly against a second horse. Esp one fresh off the racetrack. It's probably a safer bet that 10 of 10 financial advisors would be even more strenuous in their opposition. 

spent a lot of time in middle school riding this elegant creature, plus riding her at one of our annual "demonstration" type shows meant i actually have pictures

But I'm doing it anyway. So.... why? And, if that "why" is so important to me -- which, it is -- then what am I doing to get us there? What are those incremental steps? The methodology??

some favorite red geldings in there too -- far left is Ace, far right is Chauncey, both very good (red) boys. Rusty, second from left, somehow remained one of very few horses i never rode at that barn

And ya know. I'll be perfectly honest with you, I do not have an expert answer to that question. I don't do this for a living -- I do it for myself. But, I have done it a few times now. And maybe I've been lucky, but every horse I've "gotten going," so to speak, ended up being a horse I really truly enjoyed.*

(*Except Angel.... Sorry lady, you were a tough nut to crack!)

in high school, there was liver chestnut Candy. we didn't have the most successful partnership, tbh, but i got along much better with other red mare -- Penny. alas, no pics of us together tho.

So my hope is to proceed along basically familiar lines with Mondeuse. In some cases, nearly identical lines to how Charlie's earliest months unfolded. The order might be a little different this time around, depending on what surfaces as the most urgent priorities given the mare's condition and reaction etc. But the steps will probably be the same.

fast forward to college, and we arrive at my first official 'project horse' - Ellie Mae, red TB pocket rocket lovingly referred to as "Smelly" <3 she taught me so, so much. another red mare in college, Rosa (a finely trained creature, not a project), also taught me a lot. slightly less lovingly tho, lol, but still useful all the same! 

In this case, we'll be starting ulcergard on day 1. It's just a thing I do. Charlie's favorite chiro / acupuncturist is also already scheduled for a double session. She was among the first of my network to meet Chuck too, and I really appreciate the baseline she sets in the horse's emotional and physical state. Plusssss the horses love her lol. Always a nice bonus.

finally, more recent history --- Isabel!! an arabian somehow made of slightly hotter stuff than TBs, even as she remained eminently sensible. y'all can refer to the archives to see how that worked out for us (hint: was amazing)

The next likeliest step is a session (or sessions) with the horsemanship professional who helped me with both Isabel and Charlie (and actually a whole bunch of others along the way). He's technically my trailer guru, except we learned with Charlie that there's more fundamental stuff to be done in the early days too. A shared vocabulary to be learned, let's say.

ok this is actually Big Brown, Mondeuse's sire.... hopefully we'll have fresh pics of the daughter herself soon!

Intermixed with all of this will be actual riding activities --- presumably including the "first sit." And then, ya know, the first.... everything else. Ground poles, cantering, hacking..... That all seemed to happen quickly with Charlie, tho he was older than Mondeuse when I got him. So we'll see. 

Obvi I'm eager for lessons, but the order and intensity and progression there will depend a lot on how we get through the first few early steps. For example, I kinda have this idea of maybe doing a jump chute clinic with Martin, renowned developer (and whisperer) of baby horses.... But there are a lot of dependencies there. 

So again, we'll see. It's all ahead of us. Hopefully lol. For now, Step 1 = bring the little red lady home!