The First Day

Yesterday, I had a day off before going back to work for another four days. (I work an odd schedule. I work four, ten hour shifts per week which means that some weeks I will work 6 days in a row and other weeks I will have four days off in a row.)  Anyway.  I was planning on taking Rocky out, doing some groundwork and then hopping on for a quick ride.

When I went out to get him, he had his nose buried in hay.  He greeted me, then went back to eating with the apparent hope that I would allow him to finish his meal.  As I went to move him off the hay, Ella walked over to say hello.  Her eyes were bright and she seemed to say, "You came here for me, right?" 

My plan was to start working with her next Tuesday, when I have several days off in a row and the lessons would have a better chance of sticking with her.   Rocky's absorption in food and Ella's eagerness for human contact changed my mind, and I slipped Rocky's rope halter over her head.  It was a little big, but I tied it off so it sat correctly on her face.  She came with me without hesitation, until we got to the gate.  Then she seemed a little unsure of herself, and needed guidance to know that she should turn around outside of the gate so I could close it.

I took her to the round pen, and Ella made soft snorty sounds as we walked.  Her tendency was to want to crowd me, warning me that if she were to get scared she would likely try to climb into my lap.  I urged her gently into her own space.  I let her go in the round pen for a few minutes on her own.   She snorted, bucked, and moved around the space, spooking herself at the same place three times in a row.  Her yearling antics were fun to watch.  She tested the fence, nibbled at stray grass that poked up around the pen's posts through the snow, trotted with high steps before throwing a buck and running across the pen, only to stop and smell the ground again.

Once she seemed to accept the boundaries of the space, and lost some of her wide eyed look, I entered the pen.  My plan is to start slow and basic, keeping the lessons simple.  

We started with Ella moving in the direction I point, and to continue moving that direction unless I specified otherwise.  She spent a lot of her time looking out of the round pen, but within a few minutes she was starting to get the idea.  I began by pointing to the right, waiting a few seconds, then clicking while pointing, waiting a few seconds, and finally snapping the lunge whip against the ground.   The first five times or so that I asked for her to move out, she ignored my pointing and vocal commands completely.

After that, she started to turn her head so the outside of her eye could see me.  It was beginning to occur to Ella that this two legged thing was not going to leave her to her own devices, and was instead insisting that she move in a specific direction.  I did not make any effort to control the speed she moved at, only the direction her feet were moving.  Sometimes she scooted off because I ended up snapping the whip directly behind her butt before she would go.   Other times she slid off at a walk after the first sound of the whip from the center of the round pen.

Ella liked to stop to smell a pile of manure on one side of the pen, and then stare out of the pen at her pasture just across the barn yard.  On the opposite side from her pasture, she would cut across the round pen and consider coming in to me.  I directed her feet to keep going when she would get stuck somewhere, and only asked that she stay at least the lunge whip length away from me when she cut across the pen.

After she followed my direction based on only my point-and-click, I invited her to come in to me by turning around and walking away from her.  She immediately came off the fence, smelled the ground and then went to stare off at her pasture mates- who, by the way, were all staring back at her.  I let her breathe for a minute, then went back to asking her to go to the right.

She responded better, still needing the occasional sound of the whip to motivate her but starting to figure out that she has two chances to go before the whip would come out.   Ella walked off after I pointed, and I invited her again to come to me.  This time, she came halfway across the round pen to me and stopped, watching me.   She let me approach her and I rubbed her neck on both sides, praising her for listening so well.   Her skin was warm under her thick winter coat, almost to the point of getting sweaty.  Her breathing was harder than usual, blowing in hot streams on my hands.

For her, she had gotten a lot of exercise.  She had played around in the pen before I asked anything of her, and then had walked, trotted, and occasionally cantered of her own volition but in the direction I wanted.   As a now-former pasture puff, her time in the round pen with me was hard work.

I stopped rubbing her neck, took a few steps away from her, and crooked my finger while clicking.  She didn't know what I meant but, being the friendly filly she is, took the invitation and walked up to me again.  I clipped the lead rope back to her halter, and that was the end of her round penning session. 

I walked her through the barn, which she blew at uneasily.   I stopped and let her stand to look around several times.  Her eyes were wide but she followed me with minor hesitation.   Ella was then brought to a tie ring, where I let her stand tied for about half an hour.  I got Rocky and fiddled around with him while keeping an eye on Ella to make sure she didn't hurt herself or loosen her lead rope too much. 

She pawed at the ground, whinnied to nearby horses, and once pawed with such a big step that she put her foot over the bottom tape of the arena that she was tied next to.   She reared, scooted back a step and was free of the arena tape.  Ella stood blowing with her head up, waiting for someone to do something.  When she discovered she was unhurt, still tied, and that no one was coming to "save" her, she looked distinctly disappointed.

I caught her cocking a hind leg in relaxation a few times, but as soon as she saw me coming to release her she began to paw again.  Ella earned her freedom from the tie post out of luck, as the stallion on the property needed to be brought in and I was asked to move her.   She walked nicely back to the pasture, but made the mistake of whinnying at her pasture mates on the way.  I had her back up a few steps, taking it slow so she could decipher what I was looking for her to do.

Overall, her first day went very well.  She seems interested in learning, and is much calmer about the process than she should be considering her lack of handling.  Here's hoping the rest of her training continues as successfully as her first day! I'm curious to see how much she remembers when I take her out on Tuesday.

Ella

When she first arrived at my barn, the 3 month old filly had never been outside before, except for her trip from her stall to the trailer.  She was an "oops" baby, and a young man purchased her dam plus one out of the kindness of his heart.  He saw the chestnut mare locked in a stall and decided that he could afford to buy her, releasing her and her foal from their stalled prison.

My barn owner, Silver, decided to keep them in a stall with a run for a while, allowing both mare and foal to acclimate to the outdoors before placing them in a pasture.  The filly was so excited, she ran straight through the stall and out the end of the run, bucking and leaping with joy.  She was caught without much trouble and returned to the run, where she learned what a fence means.  Her dam was cautious about being friendly, having learned that humans can lock her away without a thought.

Ella, however, was not so reserved.  When she saw people, she came right over to say hello.   She sniffed my hand delicately, then let me run my fingers through her soft, fluffy coat.  Her eyes were warm and interested, not at all afraid to have a stranger rub her neck.   Ella stuck her nose up to smell my face, and we exchanged breaths until she was satisfied.

When she was freshly at the barn, I remember admiring her markings.  She was a soft sorrel color, and I figured she would deepen into her dam's coppery hue.  She has four white socks, the hind ones rising above her hocks in the front, and the front ones coming to her knees.  With her wide blaze, I could see what she would look like as an adult, her white legs and face would be quite striking to see.

I was wrong.  Ella did not shed out her baby coat to match her mother's chestnut one. Instead, she turned butter yellow with a thick white mane and tail.  This little angel I was falling for turned out to be palomino, the color of my first beloved mare.  If I could afford it, I would have bought her months ago, when I still thought she would be chestnut and her mane was only wispy curls above her neck.

Her owner doesn't do anything with her.   Ella just turned a year old this fall- more evidence of her being an oops baby.  The owner doesn't drive, so he relies on friends to bring him to the barn.  Silver says she usually only sees him when he drops off board checks once a month.  He did put Ella's dam into training with Silver, to get her riding.  I've seen him out a few times to tool around on her, but the last time he was out he planned to get on her after not seeing her for a few months.  He didn't know how to put the saddle on, and when my mom went to help, cautioned her that "the mare has already bucked today."

He isn't a bad person, he simply isn't able to or doesn't put time into his horses, into learning to be a horseman. They are now out in a pasture with other horses, where they receive all of the vet and farrier care they need.  I itch to take Ella out, teach her to be a good young horse that leads, stands quietly for Silver to trim her, and start ground work that will make teaching her to carry a rider someday so much easier.  I could even pony her behind Rocky, a good exercise for him and for her, getting her out on the trails to explore more of the world.

Right now, she's a mostly unhandled yearling.  Every other month, Silver takes her out for a trim but otherwise, she's a pasture puff.  Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think she should be in any sort of intense training.   However, it's much easier to put manners into a young horse than into a large, adult horse who has had plenty of time to decide how things should be on their own.

I debate what I should do about this situation.  For several months, I avoided Ella's pasture because I was becoming increasingly attached to her, and again, I simply can't afford another horse.  I don't know what the owner's plans for her are, or if he has even considered her future.  Right now, my guess is that she is going to be a fairly tall palomino Quarter horse mare, not registered (to my knowledge, anyway), with decent conformation and a good temperament.  I think she could really be worth something, if she had even basic training to fall back on.  She's going to look flashy once all of her growing is said and done, and she seems to have a laid back, calm attitude.

I wonder if he would have any interest in paying me to work with Ella, but I suspect he may not.  Like I said before, he did put her dam into training but hasn't done anything with either of them since.  I keep telling myself that I should stay out of their business and mind my own, but now Rocky has been put in her pasture. I can't avoid seeing her anymore, and it tugs at my heartstrings to think of all the potential being wasted with this filly right now.

I read Fugly Horse of the Day, I know what happens to unregistered, untrained yearlings if their owners' financial situation changes.  My other worry is falling in love with her, only to have her disappear after I've worked with her and spent a good deal of time with her.  I think I may ask if he would be interested in paying me almost anything to put some training on her, and if he ever decides to sell her, that I would "help" him find someone appropriate for her.  I have no problem with Ella going to someone who is going to love and care for her, so I think that may be my best bet.

Thoughts?  Have you ever been in a similar situation, and what did you do?

New Saddle!

I got a new saddle two weeks ago.  My "old" one (which was only about a year and a half old) refused to stay off of Rocky's withers.  I used a crupper for most of that year and a half, a leather strap that attached to the back of the saddle and went around the base of his tail to hold the saddle in place. You can sort of see it in this photo, a little knot of extra leather. 

 

I didn't like how the crupper was pulling on his tail, wearing a path in the fur along his spine where the crupper would lay. I let it go though, until one day Rocky pulled out the D-ring on the back of the saddle that the crupper was clipped onto.  He had spooked, clamping down with his tail as he scooted away from the terrifying tarp laying on the ground, and when the dust settled the crupper was laying on the ground, still attached to the D-ring from his saddle.  It made my saddle nearly unusable, as without the crupper his saddle slid inexorably forward until I was riding on his shoulders- not a comfortable position for either of us.

 I took my saddle to a repair shop, where they replaced the rubbery strap that used to hold the D-ring in place with a leather one.  It seemed like a good solution, so I went back to using my saddle the same way I had before.  Except, the new leather strap stretched.  And stretched.  And stretched some more.  I had to make a new hole on the crupper to shorten it enough to make up for the slack created by the new leather piece.  I became increasingly distressed doing this, as it made me realize how much pressure the crupper had to be putting on Rocky's tail and spine.  To make it worse, the crupper wasn't even mine, it was an equipment loan from my barn owner.  

I finally decided that I was not going to continue to torque Rocky's spine to hold his saddle in place, especially when it wasn't working very well anyway.  I arranged for my mom to drive Rocky and I two hours away from the barn to visit a tack shop that regularly boasts over 300 saddles.  They have a round pen on site and saddle fitters, so they can help you find the right saddle.  I spent about an hour cleaning my saddle, breast collar, and saddle pad so that I could hopefully trade them in for a good price. 

Once we got to the store, it took us four hours of shopping and two rounds of saddle fitting to find two saddles (out of that 300...) that would fit both Rocky and I.  While riding, one of those two saddles started to rub my calves in an uncomfortable way, so it was an easy choice to go with the one I bought.  It was an expensive purchase for me, but I think owing my parents is worth it.  My new saddle stays in place without any additional hardware, comfortably fits Rocky and is a pleasure to ride in.  Without further ado:

I needed to get a new saddle pad, too. My old one was too small.

It has a "rough" leather seat, which feels more secure to me than my smooth one did. Who knew?!

Gotta love all of that cushion. 

You can see a large 'tunnel' of sorts in the saddle above Rocky's spine.  It's large enough to stick your arm into it, and creates air flow so he doesn't overheat.  It feels good to know that, not only am I no longer pulling on his spine, he has a saddle that actually cushions and airs out his back.

Emergency Plans

Earlier this week, my area was inundated with a torrential downpour of rain.   Some places got up to 10 inches of rain in 24 hours.  There was a lot of flooding, which is very unusual for us- the last time we had a flood of any seriousness was in 1972.  I called in to work, as I was unable to cross two brand new rivers on the one road I had to take into town.   I began to worry about Rocky after I heard about some other road closings that effectively closed off any access I might have to him.

It occurred to me for the first time that there would be nothing I could do if the barn I board him at were to flood badly enough for the horses to need to be evacuated.  Saying that, I don't mean to sound naive, but my area rarely has "evacuation" type weather.  No tornados, hurricanes, or -until now- floods.  Sure we have some hard winters, but that is easily solved with hay and a good winter blanket.  Plus, Rocky grows a thick coat so he doesn't often need a blanket anyway.  (My favorite is the thick fur that grows behind his ears; it's downy soft but makes his ears look all cute and small because of the amount of fuzz.)

It took me a while to manage to contact my barn owner the day of the flooding, but once I caught her on the phone she reasurred me that the horses were all okay.  I was able to breathe much easier after that, but for a while I had been trying mightily not to panic.  This was the type of random, suddenly dangerous situation that you can't do anything about when it happens. Our meterologists didn't even know the storm was going to be as bad as it was, how were we supposed to plan for it?

The thing is, I don't know what I would have done even if I had known.  I lucked out in many ways, but it made me wonder what people in other parts of the country have planned for major weather events such as the one that inspired this post.  Do you have a place that you know you can take your animals in the event of a flood/tornado/hurricane/other extreme weather?  Would you try to leave your area, or dig in and hope for the best?