Quick update
Yesterday, I got lucky and the weather was absolutely perfect. I hope Spring is finally here. Went and spent a couple of hours at the barn. I love that Lola came trotting over when I got there. She always seems so happy to see me. It’s great! I brought Lola into a stall, fed her some treats, and put her new rope halter on her. The Parelli warmblood halter seems to fit her well. I guess I’m going to need a new bridle one of these days. She’s got a big head already. I’m sure I’m going to have to buy a new saddle too. Ugh. I left her loose in the stall and groomed her. Lots of currying and shedding blade. It’s so strange that her white parts are fuzzier and courser than her black parts. The black hair seems much finer than the white. I don’t know if it is just the way she is shedding or if they hair is really that different. It will be interesting to see as she sheds more and gets her summer coat.
I probably spent 45 minutes in her stall with her, grooming her, rubbing her legs, rubbing her belly, ears, even in her mouth. I was trying to get a feel for spots that she didn’t like touched. Her back legs are a bit of an issue. She is OK with me lifting her tail, but she isn’t totally relaxed about it. She’s not really happy about me messing with her mouth either. Over all, I think she is doing great for a horse with so little handling. I discovered that she really likes to have her butt scratched!
I led her up to the outdoor ring, and just walked her around a bit and let her get used to all the new smells and sounds. She stopped a couple of times, but nothing horrible. I walked her over a ground pole, tried bending her to smell her tail. She didn’t like that game very much. Backing her by her nose is pretty impossible at this point. She did back pretty well from her chest. I did a little bit of the porcupine game with her and got some yields from both her front and back ends in both directions. She did great with the Yo Yo game for her first time doing it. She’s got a VERY short attention span. She was looking all around and very distracted. I’m sure some of that is her age and some of it is her new surroundings. She also isn’t used to being worked with at all.
I was surprised that she was very resistant to being led from the off side. I really like a horse that isn’t one sided, so I worked on leading her from the “wrong” side for a bit. She looked at me like she was very confused and she didn’t want to move forward. That's something we'll keep working on.
She’s very sensitive to my cues overall. Moving her hindquarters in both directions took very little pressure. Front end took a bit more, but I’m not totally sure she knew what I wanted.
I walked her down the hill and into the indoor. She walked in no problem. Walked around, stopped about half way in and froze, and then with a pat, walked on again. Very calm for what was probably her first time in an indoor arena.
Brought her back to her stall, groomed her a little more, worked on cleaning out her feet. She wasn’t too bad with her front feet, but she didn’t want me messing with her back feet. That is going to take some work. I can’t have her misbehaving for the farrier or vet.
I definitely need to brush up on my skills. I was going to do the circle game, but I had a really hard time trying to remember all the little parts of where I’m supposed to look, etc. I hope I can do this!
I hung out for a little bit, just enjoying the nice weather and watching the horses play. Gracie, a young thoroughbred at the barn was picking on everyone. She was trotting around just looking for trouble. I saw her chase Lola, and Laya (the pony) back behind the barn, and the next thing I knew Lola and Laya came running up the hill, out of the fence! Ugh! I called to the barn owner, she started working on fixing the electric fence where the horses had run through it, and I went to catch Lola and Laya. Thankfully both horse and pony had found a little grass and were quite content not to take off. I put them each in a stall and helped fix the fence. I'm hoping that Lola won't continue to test the electric fence.
Quick stop at the barn today and the horses were calm and happy. It's a great barn for a baby horse. She has access to pasture and stall 24/7 and friends to play with. She seems very content. I groomed her quickly, cleaned her feet, fed her lots of treats, and headed home. She was MUCH better about having her feet cleaned and worked with today. I can't believe I won't get to see her again until Wednesday! I hope she is a good girl. The farrier is supposed to be coming to do the other horses at the barn tomorrow, so they are going to try and do Lola's feet. I hope she is a good girl for him. Fingers crossed!
I probably spent 45 minutes in her stall with her, grooming her, rubbing her legs, rubbing her belly, ears, even in her mouth. I was trying to get a feel for spots that she didn’t like touched. Her back legs are a bit of an issue. She is OK with me lifting her tail, but she isn’t totally relaxed about it. She’s not really happy about me messing with her mouth either. Over all, I think she is doing great for a horse with so little handling. I discovered that she really likes to have her butt scratched!
I led her up to the outdoor ring, and just walked her around a bit and let her get used to all the new smells and sounds. She stopped a couple of times, but nothing horrible. I walked her over a ground pole, tried bending her to smell her tail. She didn’t like that game very much. Backing her by her nose is pretty impossible at this point. She did back pretty well from her chest. I did a little bit of the porcupine game with her and got some yields from both her front and back ends in both directions. She did great with the Yo Yo game for her first time doing it. She’s got a VERY short attention span. She was looking all around and very distracted. I’m sure some of that is her age and some of it is her new surroundings. She also isn’t used to being worked with at all.
I was surprised that she was very resistant to being led from the off side. I really like a horse that isn’t one sided, so I worked on leading her from the “wrong” side for a bit. She looked at me like she was very confused and she didn’t want to move forward. That's something we'll keep working on.
She’s very sensitive to my cues overall. Moving her hindquarters in both directions took very little pressure. Front end took a bit more, but I’m not totally sure she knew what I wanted.
I walked her down the hill and into the indoor. She walked in no problem. Walked around, stopped about half way in and froze, and then with a pat, walked on again. Very calm for what was probably her first time in an indoor arena.
Brought her back to her stall, groomed her a little more, worked on cleaning out her feet. She wasn’t too bad with her front feet, but she didn’t want me messing with her back feet. That is going to take some work. I can’t have her misbehaving for the farrier or vet.
I definitely need to brush up on my skills. I was going to do the circle game, but I had a really hard time trying to remember all the little parts of where I’m supposed to look, etc. I hope I can do this!
I hung out for a little bit, just enjoying the nice weather and watching the horses play. Gracie, a young thoroughbred at the barn was picking on everyone. She was trotting around just looking for trouble. I saw her chase Lola, and Laya (the pony) back behind the barn, and the next thing I knew Lola and Laya came running up the hill, out of the fence! Ugh! I called to the barn owner, she started working on fixing the electric fence where the horses had run through it, and I went to catch Lola and Laya. Thankfully both horse and pony had found a little grass and were quite content not to take off. I put them each in a stall and helped fix the fence. I'm hoping that Lola won't continue to test the electric fence.
Quick stop at the barn today and the horses were calm and happy. It's a great barn for a baby horse. She has access to pasture and stall 24/7 and friends to play with. She seems very content. I groomed her quickly, cleaned her feet, fed her lots of treats, and headed home. She was MUCH better about having her feet cleaned and worked with today. I can't believe I won't get to see her again until Wednesday! I hope she is a good girl. The farrier is supposed to be coming to do the other horses at the barn tomorrow, so they are going to try and do Lola's feet. I hope she is a good girl for him. Fingers crossed!
posted by Lisa @ 9:01 PM
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