Lexie does Sacramento

A farewell to Lexie (Sweetpea). Friday afternoon Lexie went to her new home. I was happy for her. Mrs. Cowboy is the perfect mommy for her. Great references, tons of experience, and she has the facilities to keep her just the way I'd love to be able to house mine!

The trailer she brought was exquisitely bedded down, a nice airy stock trailer full of straw and a variety of foodstuffs. It was so inviting that Lexie climbed in with us after just a minute. It was totally anticlimactic!

Mrs. Cowboy gave us some much needed help with the board and for Rose she brought a draft size dressage bridle! Yah! Rose can be dressed like a real horse now :)

I heard from her that Lexie traveled fine, but didn't stay in her new paddock long, apparently she jumped the fence to join the herd in the pasture. (you did say you wanted a jumper right Mrs. Cowboy?) I'm glad she didn't get stuck this time. It surprised me a bit as she was staying confined at my barn, either in the round pen, arena, or in her stall with the top door open. I guess the excitement of a new place was too much for her!

Anyway, I wish you all the luck in the world, and hope that you keep us updated on her.

Who say's you need snow for ski joring?

So we finally had our first disagreement. Rose has been doing so well, I guess I got a bit cocky. She longes, she ties, she loves being groomed, she leads like a champ, so I figured I'd see how she was about the hose.

She was actually a really good pony at first. Led right into the wash rack, snorted and puffed at the hose when I turned it on but stood nicely. Let me hose her front near hoof and up her leg to her shoulder. I should have left it there, but hey hindsight is 20/20. As I said, I pushed it to far and tried hosing her hind end. Who knew such a big horse could move so fast? :)

This is where the ski joring comes in. Have you heard of ski joring? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f0AnFDa8X4 so imagine that, with a 1700 pound Belgian, on asphalt, repeatedly. OK, can I just say I'm STILL a little sore.

Anyway, the lesson of the day quickly became "do not drag the trainer". I'm amazed that I actually managed to hold on. Of course while I was hanging onto the last 6 inches of the lead rope, squashed up against a galloping butt the thought running through my head repeatedly was "please don't kick out, please don't kick out, please don't kick out..." So I added the chain back into the mix and it didn't do much good. I just wasn't able to get enough slack to correct her so we made several more trips out of the wash rack and down the barn aisle. Finally I added the longe line and that did the trick. It gave me enough room that I was able to stop her more quickly each time until she stopped trying it and led and stood where I asked her to go. So the next week or so, I will reintroduce the hose, this time in different locations and more slowly.

The good news is that she was pretty good about it, no panic and no kicking, no meanness at all. Just get the heck out of Dodge, and she has now learned that that isn't an option. All in all a good lesson to learn early on. I'll tell, her size certainly played into it. I've delt with some pretty big beasties, but nothing felt quite like this! It felt a bit like being towed by a small car!

More progress is made

Lexie has decided to be a good girl and stay where she is put, so I leave her stall top open while I'm there now. She is so friendly, she whinneys when I get to the barn and is no problem to catch or lead. I've started turning her out in the big arena. When I go out to bring her in she comes trotting up. It's hard to get pictures of her out there, I've got the whole nose filling the whole frame problem going.


Her new mommy, Mrs. Cowboy, is coming to take her home Friday. You'll have to bear with me, these pics are from my phone. Someone insisted that I post more pics, and this is all I had ;)

Rose is still a champ. Yesterday I finally found a bit hanger big enough for her, I'm trying to avoid buying more stuff. The 6" bit is barely big enough for her. She probably needs a 6.5" I slipped the hanger under her halter and then attached the bit on one side. Popped it into her mouth and fastened it on the other, it was a snap! So far she's the easiest horse I've started. She stood and chewed the bit while I finished grooming her. Is it wrong that I found it highly amusing? I always do.




We headed out to the round pen for a longe lesson. She's doing great. We do lots and lots of transitions. She's very responsive and quick. Whoa, trot, walk, reverse, all excellent. I had actually expected that she would be a little more "dull" being a draft, but I was wrong. She's quite sensitive. She's very good on the ground, completely aware of where I am at all times and very respectfull of my space.

Hopefully today we can have a horsey spa day. I can't wait to give her a bath. I groom her every day, buy she has years of dirt and I want to see her white socks!

So now that I've appeased you with pictures of the oh so beautious Rose, I once again apologize for being such a slacker blogger. Things are going well with the very large mare and her filly.

Lexie, the cutie pie formerly known as Sweetpea, is doing great. She's super friendly and leading and grooming like a champ. I can't wait for her to have pasture again though. I hate that she's so cooped up in her stall. She gets turned out every day but it's just not enough.

Rose is a rock star. As you can hopefully see she's getting groomed every day and is making great progress in the round pen. I got her tail banged and brushed out and it looks fabulous. I softened up those troublesome ergots with some petroleum jelly and used kitchen shears to trim them up. They aren't perfect yet, boy are they tough! She is picking up all four feet for me now. I can hold her fronts but just keep a hand on the hinds at this point. She doesn't yet relax them so I can stretch them back. Oh and I think she's actually a roan. Now that she's so much cleaner, I can see that there is white sprinkled in through all of her hair. It's pretty even all over. Maybe some color expert can tell me exactly how too tell? She did have one funny reaction when I was at her hind end. I think it must be related to her PMU days. She's fine as long as I'm facing back towards her tail end , but when I turned and faced her head while I was at her hip, she seemed to get scared. It was quite odd. I went back to the scratching and grooming that she has learned to relish and she seemed to work through it, but its a reminder that she's a bit different than any other horse I've worked with.

I've started introducing the equipment to her. First by just having the pad and surcingle hanging on the fence by her head while I groom her, then having them slung over my shoulder, and finally having them sitting on her back un fastened. She never batted an eye. Thursday I slowly tightened the girth on the surcingle one hole at a time while I was grooming and then Friday I did this again and longed her in it. She took it all in stride. It slipped back a bit and while I was readjusting it she cow kicked a bit once, but that was it. I'm very carefull with her and had clipped the lead back on to readjust it so was able to disciplinin g her for it. Not that she was aiming at all. She reacts strongly to discipline. It takes very little. I think I've had to smack her twice now and so far she hasn't repeated either behavior. I've been fiddling with her face and mouth to get prepped for introducing the bit. (I bought a 6 inch french snaffle but have yet to find something big enough to hang it from) She's a bit iffy about me sticking my fingers in her mouth so we are working on that. A few more lessons with the surcingle and I hope to start bitting her in a stall. First with her halter and then moving to the bit once she is carrying it. All and all progress is good.

So if anyone out there knows somebody who may want to adopt this mare, now is the time to get a hold of me. I really think she's going to be great fun for someone!

OK, OK, I'm a bad bad blogger. So I'll get you all up to date.

The last few days have been pleasant. Rose has been round penned daily and has learned whoa, walk on, trot and reverse (by turning her head to me). She has learned to stay out on the circle, and to continue at whatever gait I set her at until I ask her to change. She has a little bit of attitude. I like it! Mainly she expresses it by snorting and with a little head tossing. I would say she has a little spark.

In her stall she is standing tied nicely and is really enjoying this whole "grooming" concept. It's obvious that she has had very little grooming in the past and none of it past the girth area. Her tail has never been brushed and her ergots are like nothing I have ever seen before.

She's decent about her front feet. She has a tendency to snap them up and doesn't want to hold them up very long but she's very nice about it. I haven't actually gotten ahold of her hinds yet. Mainly they are stuck to the ground. She's not at all kicky about them and lets me slip a lead rope around her fetlocks with no problem. I can scratch and groom her hind legs as much as I like. I've gotten her to pick them up a few times. It will just take a little more time and that's just fine. I'm pleased with how it's going.

She is great, if a little unsure, about her hind end and lets me brush all the way down the inside and outside of both hinds. When I finally got my hand into that mess of a fetlock I found that the ergots were the size of my fist and had split into fingers that curled all the way back around to her leg. I've never seen those get so huge! It makes me so mad that her owner has been paying for her to have training for the last four to five months and she has obviously never had her tail or hind end even brushed, nor has she been taught to longe. Anyway she's a sweetheart and a pleasure to work with.

Sweetpea has had some good news! She's found an adopter! Mrs. Cowboy, on her appears to be the perfect new mommy for her. She came out to meet her Friday and brought excellent references. She has experience with drafts, with babies, and with rescues. She has the perfect facility to keep her and seems like a truly nice person. I have every hope that they will be a perfect fit. Sweetpea will stay where she is for the next two weeks and Mrs. Cowboy will be taking her her home on her next trip to the area she is making for one of the rescues. In the meantime, Sweetpea will continue getting attention every day. She's leading like a champ and each day she is tied for about ten minutes while I groom her. I have to keep reminding myself that she is only 10 months old and has a short attention span. She's bigger than most two year olds I've worked with and a very mellow little girl.

So that is where we stand. This week I will begin introducing different equipment to Rose. The surcingle, the bit, etc... And I will try to be a better blogger :)

Major Setback

The day started well enough... Dum dum dum

I went to the barn and turned Rose out in the round pen. She's such a sweetie. She is learning to be more respectful of my space and leads quietly. As soon as I let her go I heard a crash. Sweetpea had attempted to follow us and tried to jump the fence into the next paddock. She miscalculated and ended up stuck on the top rail, hind end hanging off the ground with her hips caught. It was obvious that there was no way she was going backwards into her pen, rather we would have to bring her hind end over. I got some help from the barn and we dragged a bale of hay behind her and then one in front. I picked up her front foot and got it onto the bale and she came scrambling over. The good news is that she is fine and I highly doubt she will ever try that again. She stayed very calm the whole time we extricated her. I led her around for ten minutes and then put her in a stall with the door shut and a alfalfa cube mash laced with bute.

Once things were calm again I headed up to the roundpen to work Rose. She loved her turnout time. I think it had been months since she had been out of the stall. She rolled in the sand over and over. She was a very good girl. I spent about 20 minutes teaching her whoa and to reverse by facing me never to turn her butt my way. We headed back to her stall where I had tied a piece of baling twine with a quick release tie (this big girl would take down the corral if decided to pull back). I clipped her to that and gave her her first grooming. Ever since I first saw her I had been lusting to get that ratty mane brushed out. I curried her brushed her and combed her mane. Today I will do her tail. She stood just fine and really seemed to enjoy it. She bent her head around a few times and sniffed up my back as I worked. I grabbed a rope and checked to see how she was about her feet. She was just fine about the fronts. She had no problem with me scratching up and down her hind legs and let me slip the lead rope around her fetlock. It was a real struggle to get her to lift them off the ground and I was not able to clean them. It will take more work but she didn't offer to kick at all so I'm very happy with how we did. She is a bit slow to move over when I ask and sometimes requires some poking. Once when I did that she swiped at her owner with her teeth (she was standing at her head at the time). It was just a threat and she didn't intend to make contact or she would have. Nevertheless it's not acceptable behavior and I immediately smacked her. She pulled back and popped the baling twine. I calmly got her, tied her back up and started grooming her again. The next time I asked her to step over she was WAY more responsive, so lesson learned.

We drove out to where Peace was confined in the catch pen. I went into the pen with her and started to work on getting close to her again. It was tricky because of the mud, the confined space, and the fact that the pen is square. I did my best to keep the pressure really low so that she would just walk. It started out really well and I had high hopes. We did whoa a few times and I approached and retreated several times with no problems. Then her particular pasture mate came galloping up. She seemes to be fine and didn't pay much attention even when he left again. I'm not quite sure what happened at that point. Maybe she was just to energetic from the confinement, but she started getting more frantic and even though I backed away and tried to mellow things out she tested the fencing one board gave and she ended up jumping/pushing through another spot and went galloping into the pasture. It was definitely something I had been concerned about. The catch pen was not sturdy nor in good repair and although we had reinforced it with pipe panels it couldn't hold her. I'm very sad. I think she will make a great horse if she can get a couple of weeks of work, but without the right facilities I can't do it. It's a real shame. She's young, healthy, beatiful, and had a really tractable temperament. So I'm back to the drawing board with her. I'll call some cowboy trainers I know and see if anyone has any ideas. What she needs is to spend a week or two in a bullpen getting halter broke but I'm not sure how to accomplish that. For the next month she will be on hold while I regroup and focus on Sweetpea and Rose. In fact I have someone coming to see Sweetpea tomorrow!

I'm about to head out to the barn. Hopefully today will be less eventfull!

A measure of succsess

So another Saturday came around with another opportunity to move these girls. This time we made a very flexible plan and thanks to some awesome help things went smoothly. A friend volunteered her extra tall trailer to move Rose and her significant other to help move pipe panels. Another friend with a lot of experience was a long to help so in total we had 5 experienced horse people and two novices. The extra help made all the difference in the world!

First we all gathered at Peace's pasture and made a plan. All the other horses had been moved out and her breakfast was withheld. We set up the pipe corral panels in our round pen corner and herded her in first try. Everything was nice and calm and easy. I spent about an hour and a half working her in the round pen, and finally got to touch her! I'm very happy with the way things went. She was well behaved and submissive and relaxed quite a bit. I was able by the end to stand next to her and scratch her up her neck and withers and rub her with the rope end while she remained relaxed. Everyone there commented that she would be a really steady nice horse with some training.

She was tense but not scared

And eventually I got to touch her!

Finally she relaxed and I was happy with her progress

We had hoped that we could get farther and actually load and move her but I honestly did not expect that to happen and planned accordingly. So we made a chute with the pipe panels and moved her into the catch pen adjacent to the pasture. The plan is for me to go back as many times as I can over the next week or two and take a little time to get her haltered and leading. I really didn't want to loose her trust so I feel it's the best approach for the horse.

Since we weren't moving her we decided to move Sweetpea to my barn until Peace can be moved. We will get her leading as she really doesn't know how yet and once we are sure she is more handle-able, move her into a pasture with a friends two year old Connemara (who she already outweighs). My friend will work with her until we find her a new home.

We headed up to the barn to load up Rose and Sweetpea. Rose was a bit snorty but loaded in a decent amount of time. Sweetpea had a quick leading lesson and we got her loaded as well. The trip to my barn was uneventful and the horses unloaded and led to their new accomodations like a dream.

I ended the day with a really nice sense of accomplishment. No one got smooshed, the horses remained calm and learned good lessons, and they are all in position to be get some much needed attention. Now all we need are some forever homes :D

Finally a HUGE thank you to the friends that helped out. It would have been impossable to do without them and because of them things were safe and sane.

Will pose for food


Rose (with Sweetpea in the background) in their new accomodations