Hand training has been going great so far and the babies have been shaping up nicely. I've started training a total of 5 of my 2 year olds, and one filly, Baby, has already completed all of her under saddle work and is shaping up nicely as a western pleasure futurity baby.
Sadly, last month while training, I was working with my best filly Lola on some walking exercises. She was doing so well that I thought maybe we would work on trotting a bit. Poor girl was such a strong horse she never even let me know she was tired! Before I knew it, she had collapsed in exhaustion and I was thrown into the dirt. Fortunately my truck was nearby and I was able to get a catheter in and some fluids running quickly. We hosed her off, dried her well and got her back to her stall. As she stood there trembling, I cursed myself for working her so much! I was just so happy to see her progress, I didn't even notice the subtle signs of fatigue. Her vitals quickly normalized but I could tell she was exhausted and would be out of commission for some time. Sadly, she will miss the futurity, but we will continue her daily massages and grooming with light exercise to keep her muscle tone up. What a loss!
With Lola out of running for the futurity, I've decided to see if I can get any of my other 2 year olds caught up in time. I highly doubt it, but it will still be fun to see how their fitness shapes up and how quickly each one learns each exercise. The other babies in training are: Annie, Roxie, Pal, and Birdie. They've only had one month in training and with only 20 minutes a piece for me to spend with them, I'm not very optimistic Hopefully next month I'll be able to take more time away and give them each 40 minutes so I can incorporate some lungs and grooming. We shall see!
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