Ty's Extreme Makeover

So it's been two weeks since Ty's been home and just about a month since I officially purchased him. Ty's been made over from pasture ornament to being a sport horse prospect extraordinaire. Ty's makeover began with his gelding. Since he's been home he's been properly groomed.

Yesterday my farrier tackled his feet. Ty has a mild club foot and since his feet were left to get too long they are very out of balance. Ty made it through his trimming pretty well, he didn't like his one back foot being picked up but otherwise he was pretty cooperative. His feet look amazingly better and his club foot looks a lot less extreme. My farrier will be back in two - three weeks to trim him again and will do so for the next couple of times until his feet are balanced and growing correctly again.

Today the vet was out to do Ty's teeth. Once he took his gallop around the pasture and let me catch him he was quite good about being handled by the vet, of course a little dose of drugs didn't hurt. Ty had a number of points on his teeth and had a wolf tooth pulled, he should be feeling much happier in his mouth in the next couple of days and will be officially ready for work!

Tonight We Lunged

So tonight I put Ty on the lunge line, he did extremely well for the first time. I worked him for 10 minutes at most. He was really good going to the left, that seems to be his better side. It was hard for him to figure out that he could go to the right, but we eventually got a few circles and then called it a night. When I tell him to whoa he always walks up to me and stops, I guess there are downsides to the join up game, but he's very polite about coming in so we'll work on that a bit later on. Ty's going to be off for a few days, we'll probably get back to work this weekend. My trainer will be up on Sunday to work with us and I'm sure she'll have some new exercises then. Considering Ty has likely been handled more in the last two weeks then his entire life his willingness to please is extraordinary.

Two Hours & One Bottle of Conditioner Later

We were finally able to get the dread lock that was Ty's tail out. It was amazing how tight it had wrapped up. Ty has a lot of hair so it was not easy. I'm sure I ripped a lot of it out but he now has a combed out tail. He stood pretty well for the process, we did let him have his dinner while we worked on the tail but otherwise he tolerated us. He wasn't too fond of water being sprayed on him so that will be something we will work on in the coming days, but at least his tail is back to normal. I'll have to get pictures of him tonight, I didn't get to take any before pictures as I was mostly intent on spending my time getting the knot out. I'm hoping to get out to lunge Ty a bit tonight. He gets his feet done tomorrow and his teeth done on Thursday so we'll give him a couple days off while he recovers from his procedures.

Oh the surprises...

I didn't have much time to spend at the barn this evening, but wanted to spend a few minutes handling and grooming Ty. He's in need of a good farrier visit, which is scheduled for Wednesday. His feet are pretty dry so I wanted to get some conditioner on them tonight and it was another opportunity to work on him holding up his feet.

Since working with his feet went well, I decided to start working my way back to his tail and was hoping to make that look a little more presentable. I hadn't ventured towards his back end since last week when we put him on the trailer and I got a swift kick to remind me I had gotten too close, I likely bumped him in an area that was still tender from his gelding, but I wasn't taking any chances of heading towards his back end until he was more comfortable with me. Tonight as I ventured towards brushing out his tail, I found the largest rats nest I've ever come across. The very top part of his tail hangs down normally and just under that is the largest mat of hair I've ever seen! I don't know if we'll get it out, but we put half of a bottle of baby oil on it. We'll see what we can save, the rest of it will be chopped off. The good thing with hair is that it grows back. Every day has truly brought up new surprises both good and bad. I can't wait to see Ty in a year when he's conditioned and all groomed up to show.

I Did Buy a Crazy Arab, Right?

I was back at the barn this afternoon to work with Ty. In the pasture he has good and bad days when I go to catch him. Last night he was determined to not let me catch him and we spent about 20 minutes with him running around the pasture. This evening he thought about running once and then promptly walked up to me, realizing the simplest path.

I took him inside and decided to introduce him to a saddle pad. He stepped sideways about twice and then stood perfectly still while I rubbed and flopped it all over him. Ty continues to impress me as he has taken every new thing in stride and seems very unflappable. Ty has also never been taught to lift his feet. We've been working on his front feet the last couple of days. Today I decided he was being good and I was going to push my luck and try to get him to hold up all four feet today. While he stood perfectly still in the middle of the ring he let me pick up all four feet, hold them for about a minute and tap on them. I worked on getting him to join up a little more and I only had to chase him for a second before he promptly followed me around the ring. We walked all over and changed directions often and he stayed right by my shoulder.

My friends were out today so once I felt he had gotten the join up idea I went to chat with my friends, Ty followed and stood with me for almost an hour while I chatted with my friends. He of course enjoyed the occasional treat and loved the pets and scratches my friends were willing to share. I had to take a close look at him today to make sure that I in fact did purchase an Arab who was only four years old and has had very little handling. Ty seems to not be fazed by much, he's curious but not afraid of much. I hope that it will continue as I continue to introduce him to new things.

Welcome

Welcome to our blog. Since bringing home Ty I've decided to document his progress here as well as other interesting events that occur in my life with my horses. Bringing home a very green 4 year old who was recently gelded should make for some interesting events and I thought I'd share my experiences here.

Ty is a very sweet guy who just doesn't have a clue on what he's supposed to do with himself other than to charm those who share treats with him. He was gelded two weeks ago and has been home with me for a week. He's had his first trailer ride and has begun to learn how to lead. He has also learned to come when he's called, which is something I've yet to teach Roze. Today we put the bridle on him and after a little chewing he seemed to accept the bit very well.

Ty's had a big two weeks and its just the beginning. Plans are to put the bridle on him again tomorrow and get him to join up again. Next week we'll start lunging him and we're hoping to have him saddled in about a month. It should be quite an adventure...

Ty's first day home