Horsey Thoughts

A journal of my training of my new almost two year old paint/percheron filly. Interspersed with time management issues, mommy stuff, and normal daily woes.

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Horses and Family

It’s got to be short tonight, I’ve been tied up with Skye’s recital stuff for the last couple of days, and I’m exhausted!

I did manage to go to the barn twice on Thursday. Thursday morning, Lucas and I met the farrier at the barn and Lola got a trim. She was a good girl this time. I cleaned her up and put some of the rain rot medicine on her.

Went back Thursday night without the kids. I cleaned her up and sprayed her bumps again. Poor thing! I did some work with her in the indoor ring. We had some pretty good success with moving her front end. She's backing up very nicely, and I can move her hind end now with just a look.

For some reason, I decided to try lunging her a little bit. What a stupid idea! I really don’t see why people get so obsessed with lunging. I realized very quickly that lunging was undoing a lot of the stuff I had been working so hard to teach her with the Parelli stuff. For example, I’ve been trying to make her calmer around loud noises. I’ve been working to teach her that they won’t hurt her, that I can crack a whip next to her, swing it around, etc. and it is nothing to be afraid of. Then I start lunging her and the first thing I do is try to chase her with that whip to make her go. It just doesn’t make sense. The more involved I get with the Natural horsemanship stuff, the more I like it. I really don’t know how I managed to make the Parelli stuff work with more tradition things like lunging when I started Woody under saddle. The two are so opposite.

So after about 30 seconds of trying to lunge Lola and realizing it was a really bad idea, I stopped that and we played some friendly game. Ahhhh we both relaxed. I did a little work leading her from the opposite side, brought her to the mounting block and leaned on her, patted her back, etc.

She grazed her way back to her stall, I treated her skin and called it a day.

I just got her new rain sheet I ordered yesterday. I’m heading to the barn at some point tomorrow to treat her again and drop off her new sheet. I’m so thankful that Sarah offered to do Lola’s treatment for the last couple of days.

I love my horse. I love the way I’m able to relax when I’m around her. I love getting away and being with her, but I also know my first priority is family. I was so thankful to be there for Skylar at her recital today and I wouldn’t have it any other way, but I do worry about Lola too. I don’t think I could do this if I didn’t have a boarding barn that I totally trusted. I hope Sarah doesn’t kick me out for a while.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Rain Rot?

Went to the barn today after being away for almost a week because of the rain, no school, and flooding. Got all the mud scraped off my girl, hosed off her legs, and was letting her graze a bit when I realized her back was all broken out in big lumps. Yuck. At first I thought they were bug bites, but they are scabby. Sarah looked at her with me and told me it was rain rot. Poor thing!

I chased all over three towns this afternoon to get her some medicine, so I'm going back to treat her in the morning. The farrier is coming to trim her in the morning, it's a little early, but it will get her on the same schedule as Sarah's horses, so I have to go to the barn in the morning any way. Poor girl! I hope it clears up quickly. I'm sure it doesn't feel good.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Grass and Angel Food Cake

Some very important lessons were learned today. First of all, Lola is OBSESSED with grass. I could barely work with her today. There is grass growing around the ring and she can't seem to focus on anything else. About half the time I spent in the ring with her today was trying to teach her she can't graze all the time.

I also learned that she likes a few bites of Angel food cake, but that'’s it. She actually turned it down after her first couple of bites that she devoured. I guess she wanted to eat her cake and have it too.

Spent some time hanging out in the pasture with her and her buddies today. I brought the clippers with me and just kind of wandered around the pasture with them running. Lola actually came over to sniff them a couple of times, so I turned them off and walked away. She's fine with me touching her body with the running clippers, but she gets nervous as soon as I move towards her neck.

Grooming today was great. I just got her brushes and went into her stall and she wandered in and stood around while I groomed her. No halter, open stall door. She chose to be with me which I thought was pretty cool.

The grass eating was a real pain in the neck today. I did try a new game today, friendly game with a bareback pad. She acted like I put one on her every day. Tightened up the girth, no reaction. I left it on her the whole time I worked with her today.

When I could take her mind off the grass for a couple of seconds, we had some very responsive porcupine game, and I was getting her front end to move better than ever. Our driving game was also really good and I was even able to drive her front end from both sides for the first time. It wasn'’t perfect, but it was a HUGE improvement.

Added the Yo-Yo game today as well. She was fine with it. We tried that a couple of times. I don'’t think she's going to have many problems with that game.

Ended the afternoon with a walk down the street. She was busy trying to eat everything in sight. When she realized that she wasn't going to get away with it, she started spooking at cars instead. How nice. We had to do some circles on the side of the road, and a backed her up a couple of times to get her thinking again.

I always let her graze a bit when I'’m done working with her, but decided it was for the best if I didn't today. I hated not letting her graze, but I need her to learn there is a time to work and a time to graze. I'm hoping it will be a lesson she learns quickly. She did get plenty of carrots, some bread, and the angel food cake she wasn'’t sure about.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Happy B-day!

Lola officially turned 2 on Saturday. No big celebration, I actually didn’t even make it to the barn until Sunday. Sunday she and I had a very nice visit, lots of carrots, bread slices, scratches, hugs, and a bit of grazing. She was a happy girl.

Back to the barn tonight for a quick-ish visit. It was pouring rain again, so I did all the same games I did last time in the indoor arena, but more on line tonight. The rain on the roof of the indoor didn’t seem to bother her at all. I pulled the clippers out for a bit, she wasn’t thrilled, but she was tolerating them. She got pretty good about having them on and rubbed on her neck, and even by her ears, but she walked away when I approached her nose with them when they were on.

I threw the trash can cover around again like I did last time, and she didn’t care. I played Friendly game with the trash cover and rubbed it all over, then I left it on her rump. It was SO funny watching her turn to look at it, but not really wanting to move. She turned to check it out a few times, and then started sniffing the ground, so I took it off for her.

I brought her over by the mounting block and leaned over her and patted her opposite side. She just looked at me funny like she had no idea what I was up to. We did lots of Friendly game, a bit of porcupine, and some driving game tonight.

I’ve got to try and remember how I finally got my cue right to move Woody’s front end all those years ago. I remember struggling with porcupine and driving games on his front end and then finally one day I just figured it out. I’m struggling with Lola on that one now. She’s doing really well moving everything else though.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Beauty Day!

Big day for Lola today, she had her teeth floated this morning, and I gave her a bath. The teeth floating went well. Boy howdy, that vet had a lot of equipment! It was a little sad to see Lola drugged up and vulnerable, but she was very snuggly ;-) and she snapped out of it pretty quickly. As soon as she started asking to get out of her stall, I let her out and she was fine. By the time I got back to the barn this afternoon, she was acting totally normally.

The vet mentioned she has a slight heart murmur. She said it is usually no big deal, just something I should be aware of. I hope it isn't a big deal.

Went back to the barn this afternoon and gave Lola her first bath by me. She wasn’t impressed, but since I let her eat grass, she tolerated it. Trying to get the white parts clean is a challenge! I trimmed all the feathers off her feet. I’ve been debating doing it for a couple of weeks, I kind of hated to, but they were so muddy and nasty, and I just don’t believe it can be good for her to have all that wet hair around her ankles. I also used scissors and trimmed a bridle path for her while she was recovering from the teeth floating.

I tried to play some games with her, but the flies were terrible and she was cranky. She did model her new Rhythm Beads! It’s this cool bead horse necklace with bells and a little clip to attach them to her mane. It’s so cool to have the bells jingling as she walks. We took a walk down the street with her new necklace on. She was pretty nervous. She kept turning towards home, so I’d turn her back around and keep walking. As soon as she went a few steps without turning around, I asked her to turn and we headed back to the barn. She did quite a bit of prancing when a car went by.

I pulled out my clippers again today and ran them for a bit. She was pretty nervous about them, so I didn’t push it. More grazing, and we called it a day.

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Follow the leader

Got to see my "old" horse on Saturday, so cool! I forgot how HUGE he is! He's about 17 hands now. He looks awesome and seems very happy. I watched him do a clear round in the stadium jumping phase. As he left the arena, his new owner pointed to me and yelled "He did that for you." I got a little teary. It's great to see him doing so well. I can't believe he just turned 11. I don't know where the time goes!

Not seeing Lola all the time is a bit frustrating. I’m constantly reminding myself that there is no reason to feel guilty. She’s perfectly happy, well fed, and enjoys her horse friends. I’ve always been the kind of owner that is at the barn every day, so it is really hard for me to be doing this 2-3 visit a week thing, but as long as Lola is happy and healthy, I’m thankful to have her, and I’ve got to get over my guilt.

So any way, went to the barn tonight. I think the single most important thing I’ve learned from all my Parelli studies is to be willing to change my plan. In fact, I’ve gotten to the point where I never really have a plan, other than to have some fun with my horse.

It was pouring rain when I got to the barn. Lola came right over to me as soon as I got there. I couldn’t do any grooming tonight since she was so wet, so I hung out in her stall for a bit and ignored her. I really enjoy a few minutes of quiet time when I first get to the barn, just to kind of watch and see how the horses are interacting. Eventually, I played Friendly game with the halter and lead rope, and haltered her for the walk down to the indoor. She got very nervous as soon as we got near the indoor. It’s a huge metal building, and the rain and wind made it very loud. I opened the door and she pranced her way in. I fought with her for a few minutes trying to calm her down and get her to relax a bit, but I quickly realized there was a better way.

I closed the doors tight and let her loose. She trotted around a few times, snorting and sniffing everything, and then she came over and stood right in front of me. I walked away, over a little cross rail in the middle of the ring, and she followed me! Using the driving game, I asked her to back up, and she did!

There were a bunch of old fence posts leaning up on the wall, so I knocked them all down and walked over them. Lola followed me very carefully stepping over all the posts.

Lola started sniffing at a metal garbage can cover and spooked when she knocked it over. I knew what my next game was going to be! Garbage can cover in one hand, and carrot stick in the other, I paraded around the ring and randomly threw the top. After a couple of spooks and trots around, she ignored me. Excellent! I grabbed the garbage top and started using it as a drum, bang, bang, bang, and I marched around again. She thought I was nuts, but she ignored me and eventually started following me around. I walked all around banging my new drum, what fun! She followed me everywhere, over the little jump, over the ground poles, around in circles. I stopped and let her sniff the top, and then I rubbed it all over her. So much for being scared of garbage can tops!

I found an empty plastic jug, a lunge whip, a plastic bottle, and my crinkly raincoat and played the same game I played with the garbage top with all of those things. Anyone watching me would have thought I was crazy, but I was making my horse calmer, smarter, and braver!

More driving game, I was able to move her hind end in both directions and to back her up. I didn’t even try moving her front end at liberty, knowing it still needs some work when she is on the lead. A couple of times I asked her to come to me from half way across the arena, and she did! The only thing I tried and couldn’t get her to do was to trot after me. If I ran, she just kept following me at the walk.

I never expected to be doing any games with her at liberty yet, but it was so much fun! I didn’t ask anything of her that I didn’t think she could handle, except asking her to come to me, which I didn’t expect her to do, but that was a nice surprise!

Time to graze a little on the way back to her stall, and then time to worm her before I headed home. Last time I wormed her, which was also the first time, I had no trouble at all, pulled out the tube, put it in her mouth and that was that. I expected the same this time, but Lola had other ideas.

She threw her head up, I was unprepared, and I managed to scrape up my thumb on the side of her stall. Needless to say, my initial reaction was anger!

Thinking of what Parelli would do, I left the stall and went outside in the rain for a couple of minutes. The cool mist, and the sound of the rain on the roof were so soothing. I took a couple of deep breaths and went back in. Cap back on the wormer, and lots of rubs all over for Lola. Forgot about the wormer for about five minutes and just patted her. Rubbed her face, her ears, lips, her favorite itchy spot on her butt. Went back and rubbed her mouth some more, put my fingers in and rubbed her gums. Out with the wormer tube again, this time with the cap still on, rubbed it all over her face, mouth, ears, mouth, neck, mouth. Took off the cap and did the same thing. I put the tube in her mouth a couple of times without squirting the paste in. She didn’t like it, but she tolerated it. Finally, I squirted the paste in, and called it a night. She wanted to leave quickly, so I let her. After a couple of minutes, I went back and fed her some treats and just scratched and rubbed her while she ate her treats.

The worming experience tonight really made me thankful I discovered Parelli. Who knows what kind of battle I would have been in for with her if I had tried to just fight the paste into her. I’m looking forward to lots of time with her on Thursday. I’ll actually be at the barn twice on Thursday, first thing in the morning to be there when the vet comes to do her teeth, and again in the afternoon to play. I hope we get some sunshine.