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Wednesday, May 9, 2018

The Terrible Fives: Baby Draft Mare Style

So last year I get this absolutely fantastic baby horse who is the champion of all things baby horse. She's calm and honest and straightforward and adorable and sweet and fun and brave and yeah basically I think she's perfect.
can you even? you cannot.

But anytime I said, "she's four" to other people, I straight up got the JUST YOU WAIT FOR THE TERRIBLE FIVES.

Which like. 1) Whether or not I'm having fun with my horse does not impact the amount of fun you can have with yours, so chill TF out about that. It's not like there's a finite fun pile and my heaping portion is taking away from yours. 2) While horses certainly start to push boundaries once they understand them, the whole point of ZB is that she's not evil or fried, so while yes, some resistance is expected, it's not like she's going to turn into some horrific hellion harpie.
well i mean. this aside lol. 

Now my baby mare is the dreaded five. She's been in training for a while and she's starting to really understand what we're asking her and where the boundaries are.

I've gotten a couple texts from trainer lately indicating that ZB has been less than 100% foot perfect. Which is still like 95% foot perfect, which I think is pretty damn good.

But hey. After spending most of a week out of state, it was time to hop on and reassess what was going on.


If you're not a video watcher (like me!), here's the relevant stills:
R LOOK AT CHAMPION BABY MARE
Her good moments were really super. 
R SHOW MOM HOW ZB R CANTER CHAMPION
Yup. 

She was cracking me up. She juuuuust figured out how to put the pieces together in terms of canter being an expected behavior under saddle so now she's like "HOKAY MOM I R CANTER LIKE GOOD BABY" and then after 1-4 strides she's like "R BERRY TIRED PLZ TO STOP NAOW HOKAY". 

But like. Constantly. Before I snagged this video, I couldn't get ten strides of trot without popping into the canter. Also #babyhorseproblems, we can't really canter and steer yet. 
R NEED COOKIES NAOW
I mean, when your baby mare "acting out" is just her being proud of herself for learning something hard? 

That's basically the cutest thing ever. 

Oh and this is what her good moments look like right now:
omfg baby mare champion
I was going to write a sarcastic comment here about "too bad she's not more fancy", but again after almost a week out of town, I came home and got on my baby mare with zero prep and had a super excellent ride and yeah... ZB is the best. I adore her. That is all. 

32 comments:

  1. Sometimes people make me laugh. A lot. But not ZB, she makes me smile! So do you 😘 you guys keep on rocking out and having a great time.

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    1. I mean, everything could still go sideways and make me eat every word.

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  2. Grif also thought canter should be the answer to all things even before he could do it well. Oohh baby horses.

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  3. I have until July before the “terrible fives” hit. Hope mine are just as bad as yours!! ��

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  4. GAH! She is the absolute cutest and best Baby Champion of the World. Where is her crown??? I think she needs at least a neck sash. Geez mom, you better get on that :)

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    1. Agreed on the neck ribbon. I'll have to scrounge one up.

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  5. Look at that reach in that last pic!

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  6. lol i love that feeling when i horse finally figures something out, and then suddenly that's all they want to do, all the time. like, LOOK HOW CLEVER I AM WOW!

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  7. I wish we had free rein (#yeahIdid) to bop people on the forehead when they say stupid things like "just wait until they turn 5."

    ZB is bestest and I know she will remain so.

    I also second the neck sash. I think that qualifies as a birthday celebration fail.

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    1. I've never done much with birthdays. Maybe I need to rethink that.

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  8. Opie thinks all corners are for cantering...and that's all they're for. Pretty much the most clever trick until we're trying to walk or trot through them which we do far more often than canter, sir. Baby horse geniuses! She is looking so good!

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  9. Aw the sweet Zoe baby bird. I love her.

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  10. She's 100% perfect. Love her :)

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  11. We all love ZB. And yes, horses push boundaries but people need to stop trying to bring others down.

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  12. Terrible fives?! I've had worse luck with four year olds. And I agree, why they gotta try and rain on your parade? ZB is the bestest baby horse ever!

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  13. I am just so incredibly happy for you! There is nothing better than loving your pony this much <3 <3 <3

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  14. Just wait until she's 22 and knows all the tricks and all your buttons and all the correct answers....then you're in trouble! JK, that's just Cosmo.
    ZB is the best, no matter how old she gets.

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  15. I have never heard of or dealt with horses having "terrible _____" years. What I have dealt with more is the people expecting, proclaiming or blaming the "terrible _____" years when things go a little sideways.

    I wouldn't give it any more thought. When you expect them to- they will almost always deliver. So if you expect her to get wonky on you because she's 5, then she will likely be a wonky 5 y/o.

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  16. I'm loving how much your horse life has changed since ZB!

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