Big steps forward

Kel was stabled for the first time today in his life. Whe first confronted with the small, dark box he followed me in while shaking like a leaf. Within a few minutes though and with a haynet and likit up to keep him busy, he chilled out. It was also the first time outside of the field since tuesday. He doesn't like puddles and he leads pretty badly. He's very strong, walks very close and is quite fidgity with his head - its all over the place. On the plus side, despite being totally overwhelmed and scared of everything, he kept moving forwards. No balking, no spinning. He even took the lead which was surprisingly easier that trying to keep him behind Nell or Rocky. He stood on my foot once when trying to dodge a puddle and once sidestepping in the stable, both through no fault of his own but I have my first youngster related injury now.
He had his first grooming session with me today so he's looking a little more presentable (with the benefits of added handling and bonding) and we tested his ability to pick up front feet which wasn't too bad after a bit of encouragement. Tomorrow we test his ability to tie and back feet. He accepts me grooming his back legs so I'm not expecting too many issues - although its always best to keep an air of caution around green horses just in case. So far he is turning out to be a decent little chap and although very inexperienced and nervous, is soldiering through it all. Despite the lack of confidence I think he'll be quite brave when confronted with the unknown. The signs are promising so far.

Celtic Flame

Told you he's a pretty boy! I'm going to passport him as an appaloosa x cob. He's got quite heavy bone but his fairly sparse tail indicates that appaloosa breeding was fairly close up on his pedigree so that's the cross I expect. I'd describe him as lightweight as he hasn't got the standard, short legs of a cob. The rest of him is quite well put together. His neck is a bit short but that's not really going to have much of an effect on his way of going under saddle. He's a nice straight mover and he has a big trot for a small horse. We shall see though. First things first will be to find out what he does and doesn't do.

The Project starts...

Finally, I have a project horse. He was an absolute bargain at just £400 although I've let myself in for something more than I originally intended.

So he's called Celtic. Or Kel. And we're passporting him as Celtic Flame.
He is a lovely 15hh, 5yr old bay appaloosa x cob. And he's a tad feral... He's insecure and I've certainly chosen a good one for my first breaking project. But he seems good natured enough. He's very nervous. They people who had him before did sweet FA with him from what I can tell and he's been nothing more than a spoiled field pet. He's never really seen anything and was fairly difficult to lead when we bought him back so there is going to have to be a major refresher course on manners and personal space. I havn't much time to blog tonight but I'll get a picture up soon. His conformation is pretty good and he moves nicely so somewhere along the line he should be a nice riding horse. For now though slowly does it.