Avrispecial – Tight Turns are Tough

Avrispecial stretching his legs in the round pen

Avrispecial is doing very well. I worked him in the round pen on Friday. He was full of energy! He willingly went both directions, the only bad thing he did was kick out at me when he was asked to stay on the rail. I did not make to big of a deal about it right then, I would just send him forward. He was a little off balance in the round pen (I think its about 60 or 70 feet.) He tried to canter some in the round pen, he was cross firing in the back.

Saturday the round pen was a little to muddy so he spent the afternoon in the pasture. He has become great friends with a little Arabian! They are so cute together. I have been gradually getting him use to being out to pasture. He has been spending about three to four hours a day out in the field.

Avrispecial and new dad take a break in the round pen

Sunday morning my husband came with me to see Avri. He likes him a lot, He was relived to see I had not purchased some crazy horse!
I worked with him in the round pen. He did much better this time, he only tried to kick in my direction twice when he was asked to stay on the rail, I popped him in the butt with my lunge whip when he kicked out, after that he did not try it again. This morning he did great in the round pen! Stayed on the rail, no kicking!!!! He walked, trotted and cantered both directions very quietly, cantered on the correct leads both ways — no cross firing!!!
I am going to start teaching him to lunge later this week and then gradually introduce some side reins.
His ground manners are great!! He loves to be brushed and have bathes! He has been eating great! I have been feeding him grain three times a day. He needs to gain about 100 pounds. I am keeping hay in front of him whenever he is in his stall. He always eats it all by morning.
I started him on Strongid C2X, I am going to do the worming system I saw in your training notes. He is going to be so easy to train!

Elizabeth’s Note: Thoroughbred horses off-the-track are not used to making tight turns. A racetrack is about a mile around! The turns are very easy. Most Thoroughbreds are weak in the back end because they pull with their front end. The best thing you can do is walking up and down hills and lunging. Start lunging at the walk and trot until the muscle gets built up. Try not to make the horse sore. Many horses need a chiropractic adjustment when they first get off-the-track. It makes the transition to sport horse so much quicker if you can eliminate any soreness or pain with a chiropractic adjustment. Read my Training Notes on chiropractic and do the exercises that are listed.