It has been a while that I have posted an update about Rajmani even though he has been with me for thirteen months now.
I have not posted much as things have progressed so smoothly. The unruly, impatient and impertinent gelding who arrive in March 2021 has become a well-behaved, calm and gentle riding horse. He still questions my decisions at times, but in a totally acceptable way.
Where are we standing now?
On the positive side, he is perfect when I groom or saddle him. I work on his feet, put on boots or clean his head. He will stand still and let me do it. No more biting, no more trailing from side to side in order to avoid my touch, no more nibbling on whatever comes close to his mouth.
He stands still when I mount and dismount him. No more fidgeting. No more trying to run when I have a foot in the stirrup. I can easily put him next to a bench in order to get into the saddle. I manoeuver him parallel and he will just patiently wait for me to get up. I can also mount him from the ground, when we are out on trail and I need to get down for a reason.
The other day I even opened a gate from the saddle. I put him parallel to it, opened the latch and pushed the gate open. All from his back, putting him where I needed him with my legs and one hand. He would make a great Working Equitation horse with a bit of training.
On the ride, he got a lot more sure-footed and nimbler even though he still stumbles at times when he is not paying attention to where he puts his feet. But then I ride him up and down mountain trails which are a challenge for any horse.
Like most young horses, he likes to look around and when he turns his head to look in one direction, his body often follows. So, when I ride him I still need to pay attention, otherwise he is prone to wander off into a bush, another direction or not the way I wanted to go.
So far, so normal.
Otherwise, I walk, trot and canter him outside and on our farm. He still favors a right-hand canter and rarely canters on the left, but I am not really overly worried. Once his balance improves, he will also canter on the left lead more easily. I make sure we trot and canter longer periods of time now. I want him to work a sweat and get his pulse up. By nature he is more of a lazy horse. He will just do as much as he needs to. I have a nice around 1 km route which is straight and level. I now canter him all the way from beginning to end. This is tiring for him and towards the end I will need to push him to keep him from falling back into a trot, but with a little leg, he does well. Of course we don’t gallop at full speed. I am only asking a nice, composed canter, which he can sustain over a medium distance now. I never ask my young horses to gallop. There is no sense in doing it. They lack the balance and routine to do it safely and by the end they only learn to race in an uncontrolled way, every time I am asking them to speed up. Gallop will come much later and only once in a while.
My friend was here twice now and rode him. Both times in a group situation. The first time was his initial ride out in a group and I was a bit worried, as it was also his first time with another rider. We went out with six horses together and Rajmani just went along, carrying my friend on his back, as if he had done it a hundred times before. He made me proud.
Last weekend again she came and rode him. Again, we went out with two other riders, so it was the four of us. We went up and down the mountains and passed lots of different things on the way such as a pack of barking dogs.
He still struggles a bit to keep up with faster horses. Most of my riding horses have a quick pace as they are well-trained and need to eat kilometers when we are out on trail. Rajmani is still lacking the muscle tone for a brisk walk. When we are out on our own, he loves to amble along and take his time to look around. I keep on pushing him a little now, that he gets used to a bit of a faster pace. I also make sure to trot and canter for longer stretches now in order to build up muscles and stamina. However, I never ride him two days in a row. After every riding day, he gets a day off. Muscles grow during rest periods, not during hard work. Especially young horses need their time to recover and to mull over things. I usually work him three times a week, sometimes less.
Looking at his appearance, I am satisfied. He is still on the lean side and could do with a bit more muscles and flash on his hind quarters. His hips still show. But he looks much better than three months ago. More rounded and ready. He is still lanky and he will probably still grow a couple of centimeters which would be great. Still, he does not look as small and thin next to my big mares as he used to when he arrived.
His skin has gotten a lot better with the extra minerals I feed him. He still scratches himself and his mane has not grown back, but he also does not have any bald patches anymore except for one on his belly and some smaller ones on his ears.
After losing his winter coat, he is black again with some brown hairs inside his ears and on his poll, the typical markings of the nd-1 gene. I never got him tested but I believe that he is a carrier as his coat really turns light during winter.
He is also much better doing groundwork now. More relaxed and happy to work over poles. I have not lunged him in the last weeks, as I fear he is not ready for that yet, but I will probably start again with some lunge-walking again as I feel, working with two rains might give him more stability and security than just working him on a simple lunge line, given the issues he has.
I have also ridden him a couple of times on the farm now with the aim of improving his flexibility and getting him supple in circles and turns. That has worked also well, with the exception of a left-hand canter which he still does not do most of the time.
Again, keeping in mind all the issues we had during the last months, I am not overly worried. It will improve once his balance will get better and that is something I will be working on with him now during the coming weeks.
Altogether I can say, he has become a fun horse to ride and work with and I enjoy my time with him.