Ponying
This
newsletter is a personal letter from me to you,
a fellow horse owner and
enthusiast.
My goal is to answer some of your questions and send you interesting
stories and helpful tips for your
horse care, training, and riding.
*****************************************
Sherlock Update
Ask Cherry
Ponying
*******************************************
Sherlock Update
Sherlock
is 30 months old; 15.2 hands tall and weighs 1050 pounds.
I've
received a number of letters asking, "What about Sherlock??!!"
If
you are new to SHERLOCK'S PAGE, it is a text and photo chronicle of the training
and management of one of my horses from birth. You can read about early handling,
leading, tying, health care, hoof care, yearling conformation, gelding, wolf teeth,
and now, Ponying.
Go to the Horse
Information Roundup and to the section titled TRAINING SEQUENCE: SHERLOCK'S
PAGE. The latest addition to SHERLOCK'S PAGE is his first
ponying lesson.
********************
Ask-Cherry
Dear
Cherry,
After longeing my horse, she is more tense than before longeing her.
She seems to hate doing the longeing. Can I just ride her to exercise her? Or
is there an alternative to longeing?
Thank you, Patricia
Dear
Cherry,
A friend of mine is renting from a couple who have horses. Their brood
mare foaled ten months ago but the couple has taken no real time to handle the
colt. My friend would like to help out by working with the colt to tame him and
get him used to handling. Where should she begin? Most books only address handling
from birth. And it is much too late for some of those suggestions! Please HELP
before it's an impossible task!
Marcia
Dear Cherry,
I recently bought a yearling quarter horse mare. My father has broken many horses
before but I would like to know what you think is the best way to start her. She
is halter broke and has had a saddle on. What do you think?
Megan
Dear
Patricia, Marcia, and Megan,
Ponying could be an answer to each of your questions
however you need to be an experienced rider and have a solid pony horse. To see
if ponying is for you, visit Sherlock's page (see above) and read the following
article.
Ponying
Are you looking
for an exercise alternative for your young horses? Do you need a safe way to recondition
a previously ill or injured horse? Are you often a one-woman show with more horses
to work than time permits? If your answer is yes to any of these questions, then
perhaps you should look into ponying, leading one horse from the back of the one
that you are riding. It benefits the mental and physical development of the young
horse especially.
Ponying a young horse on the surface he is to be worked on as an adult is an excellent
way to provide safe and varied exercise as well as to condition bones, joints,
and tendons. As an alternative to the concentrated stress of a treadmill, the
harmful canting that results from longeing, or the boredom associated with a hot
walker, ponying can furnish the young horse with a more natural type of exercise.
To read the rest of the Ponying article,
go here: ponying.
For
more information and photos related to Ponying, see:
Making
Not Breaking, pages 119-120, Ponying for the first ride.
********************
That's it for this
month. Keep your mind in the middle and a leg on each side.
*****************************************
Before you copy,
forward or post anything from this newsletter or Cherry Hill's Horse Information
Roundup, be sure you read this article! https://www.horsekeeping.com/copyright_information.htm
Don't forget
to regularly check the Horse Information Roundup at
https://www.horsekeeping.com/horse-training-care-info.htm
to find information on training, horse care, grooming, health care, hoof care,
facilities and more.
Take the time
to browse the complete Cherry Hill Horse Book Library at https://www.horsekeeping.com/horse_books/book_list.htm
2.jpg){kind=small}
