Slightly less cranky today

I de-wormed all the horses today and Shelby was very good about letting me administer that. Funny how that's okay with her, but she hates to be brushed on her belly. I got her mane and tail all brushed out and looking sleek.

She did try to nip me when I picked up her front feet to clean out. I guess we need to work on that a little more. She was also riled up about the dog licking the stall mat under her bucket of grain. She's a curious little thing.

I measured her because she looks so unbalanced, back to front, right now. She is just about 15hh even at the withers and 15.3hh at the hip! Yes, I am hoping the front plays catch-up with the back end. In the pictures you can see the discrepancy. Before you say "her hind end is on a stall mat!", well it is, but that's only 1/2 inch and I measured from where each end was (on the ground or mat) so it's still accurate on each end. Though, it does look all the more strange with her back end on a bit of an incline.

She has definitely gained weight recently and is putting on a nice winter coat. I think she'll be a really nice looking filly in the spring.

Front legs. Not so "Easty-Westy" anymore.

Hind legs.

Winter coat

Shelby is getting fuzzy for the winter. She has the best coat so far, so that gives me hope that she is getting the correct nutrition. Whew! She's gaining weight and, as the vet foretold, she is blooming.

She is easier to handle each time and less prone toward fits of crankiness. I can tell she still doesn't like to be messed with, but she doesn't despise it like she used to.

She let me put on a fly mask and spray her all over today. I rubbed her belly and legs for good measure and let her go. She walked over to Chavez, her comfort zone, and hid behind him. Someday, I hope she'll enjoy being with people. I'm not worried about it yet. She's handlable and lets me do what needs to be done. The rest will come.

Ground driving

She was much better this time. She fussed a little and gave right up and did a good job.

From afar

I took some pictures of Shelby as she was taking a drink on the other side of the panels. I didn't have time to spend with her today, other than feeding and a quick check to make sure everything is okay, no weird lameness or anything like that.

She is pretty. For some reason, she always is full of scrapes. I don't know if she hasn't learned where not to stick her head and neck or what, but she has hair rubbed off in little patches always. Could be trying to get rid of the flies, but I think it's from sticking her head through the feed door and pulling it out too quickly.

She looks way downhill in these pictures, but I think it could be the slope of the ground to some extent. She is definitely still downhill, but not as bad as a few months ago.

September 11 attacks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11,_2001_attacks

Poor little Shelby

Poor little Shelby has had to do precisely nothing in a very long time. She eats and sleeps stretched out in the grass in the sunshine. That is all she does. She drinks once in a while and puts her head on other horses backs and rubs against the fencing, but that is it.

I think she likes it.

She's still a baby in so many ways. Her body is growing so fast, but her eyes say she doesn't always quite know what is going on. She likes the company of other horses, but has been very content in her own space next to the others lately. It's good for her to not share her food with Chavez all the time. Phelps and Shelby are about the same ribby factor, so after Phelps is done with is antibiotics, I'll put her with him to eat together.

Funny that she seemed so tall to me before Phelps came. Now, she seems even a little small. She is nicer all the time and hasn't pinned her ears at me in quite awhile.

Shelby is fine. Her feet look better than I have ever seen them and she is getting more personable all the time.

I've been watching the Olympics and haven't had time to work with the horses lately. They'd better be glad for fresh food and water until after the Olympics. :-)

Same old, same old...

Shelby and Chavez are thick as thieves. You won't catch one very far from the other. It has worked out very well for Shelby as Chavez has started sticking up for her at feeding time. I think he's realized he's not a youngster anymore and is starting to assert himself a bit. I like it.

Shelby seems to be filling out a little. Perhaps due to Chavez making room for her at the hay piles. Perhaps that she is not nearly as skittish and squirrely as she has been in the past. I think a calm horse has more ability to concentrate on being healthier and more fit in general. Somewhat "new-agey" which I am not at all, but think about it. Most nervous, constantly moving athletes (long distance runners, cyclists, etc.) are skinny and fussy. (Okay, maybe just the ones I know and/or hear about.) People who are calm and work out, but don't take it as life and death can be fit and healthy without being skinny and crazed.

That is probably WAY beyond the scope of this blog . I just mean that she is settling in, doesn't seem so nervous and is, possibly because of that, gaining some weight and looking sleek.

Could just be that she has stopped growing UP for awhile, too.

Lots of busy days with getting kids in for Optometrist and Dentist appointments. Not much time for the ponies right now. I need to make some hard decisions on a couple of horses in the next few weeks and that has taken up much of my horse time.

I'm not selling or giving them away. Just my old gelding, Dodge... he wintered REALLY hard last year. He's IR and hates low carb, low starch food. He's ancient and I don't know what his past really consisted of. He has started favoring a foreleg more than normal. He's skinny and ... the list goes on. So, when I took Dani in last week, I talked to her about Dodge. I'm probably going to put him down in the next few weeks.

Selfishly, I know I can get him through another winter. Honestly, I don't think that's in his best interest. He went downhill so quickly after we had to put his buddy, Gambler, down last year about the same time. I'm so not ready to go through that heartache again, but I think it's the best choice. I can't make him any younger.

More ground driving

We worked on ground driving again today. She is quite calm in the round pen and for the minimal equipment I attach to her. I started with just a little lunging, then attaching the surcingle and long lines, piece by piece, until she had everything on, doing a circle or walking a little in between each step. I like doing a little work each time I add an element. I think it's just too much all at once if I slap on the surcingle, add a line to each side and off we go. If I do that, I have no chance to really see how she's feeling that day and how she's processing each step. So, we're always slow. We always make progress of some kind, but not always as fast as I think it should be. I need to get over it, realize she's a barely two-year-old filly and do the groundwork until it is done. And by done, I mean, she's got it all and knows what I want, before I climb aboard to ride.

I know there will come a point, where I just need to get on and go. We're not there yet. I continue to work with the saddle and laying over her, putting a foot in the stirrup, but that's not where all my concentration is now. The emphasis has to be on understanding. I feel like she's barely gotten a chance to be a "kid" and now I'm making her work. I don't mind that fact, but I don't want to push so hard that she hates it either. I hope (knock on wood) that I take each horses' personality into account before I even put on a halter, let alone ask them to do something for me.

So, ground driving; she caught on much quicker this time. She knew what I wanted and was showing me her stubborn side. I only drove her outside the round pen for a few minutes until she was in tune with me and listening well. We did a couple of things well and stopped. As Clinton Anderson says "Horse training is the opposite of sex...you stop when it feels good."

She's climbing the ladder.

Not necessarily of success, but that will come.

We are leasing/fostering a mare from a local rescue which has TONS of horses right now. I think about 80!!! Go to http://www.equineoutreach.com/ for information on how to lease or adopt a horse.

Back to Shelby...well, the leased horse is so submissive that Shelby has been forgotten in the rush to show the new mare who's boss. Shelby just stands quietly, hoping no one will see her and chase her around next.

New mare, Flame, is sweet and holding her own. Sadly, she took her repressed irritation out on the pony, Belle. Poor little Belle got her bootie kicked by the new horse. Just when I thought they were friends.

So, Shelby has climbed up a notch. Not sure what will happen there when the new horse finds it's forever home or we take her back.

New pictures.

Shelby, apparently, enjoyed being sprinkled on this hot day. No working with her in the past few days. Just pets in the pasture. She's getting better about not immediately walking away when she sees me coming, so that's good.

Ground driving

I ground drove Shelby a few days ago. We started in the round pen, just lunging on a long line. Then I put it through the stirrup. She thought that was very strange, but picked it right up and did fine. Then from the other side.

After that, I kept the long line through the stirrup, on the inside, and attached a lead rope to the outside stirrup and halter, wrapping the end of the lead rope up and out of the way, but with no real pressure on the halter.

Then, double long lines, through both stirrups. We got tangled up a few times, and apparently there is no "whoa" when she is being driven. After stopping (to the best of our current ability), turning, untangling a few times, we headed out to the pasture where there is more room. No horses there, but there were plenty about 50 yards away on the other side of the fence. You can guess to where she directly headed.

It took about 15 minutes to get her to understand the lines outside the round pen and then to agree to turning away from her buddies. We were eventually driving through a large gate and around the outside of the round pen. She had resigned herself to going away from her buddies and it was smooth sailing after that.

Getting in a rhythm.

I am not going for big achievements or great strides (no pun intended) each time I work with Shelby. Sometimes it's just about her letting me brush her without moving around. Sometimes, it could be hanging out with her so she doesn't think every time she sees a halter she has to do something taxing.



Today, it was getting late. Probably about 8:30pm or later before I even had time to do anything. I let her eat some grain as I brushed out her mane and tail. I used a new product (forgot the name already), the same one I used on Dani. I like it and she let me brush her tail with no flinching and moving away today. Much better.



She didn't like me brushing out her forelock, but I think it's because I was putting eye ointment in her eyes for a few days and she's used to that area being a not-so-great experience. She was fine when she realized I wasn't going for goop in the eye.



I saddled her and was very easy about tightening the cinch. I didn't intend to get on her tonight (too late, tired, didn't want to go there...) so I made it tight enough to stay but not riding tight. She seemed to appreciate the extra breathing room and didn't get snarly.



In the round pen, I sent her around in both directions until she would look at me. Usually when she stops, she looks for Chavez or nibbles grass. If she did that, she kept trotting. Eventually, she stopped, sighed, and looked at me. She didn't turn her whole body to me, which I am totally good with. I don't want her to turn her body to me, I just want her undivided attention. If she turns her body, that sets her up in a habit that isn't helpful while trying to mount a horse.



She is way better about forehand and haunch turns than last time. We worked on her moving forward without me tugging on the leadrope to get her to move; using the stirrup as an indicator of "GO".



We worked on steering, on the ground. I tied the leadrope so they were "reins" and stood near the saddle and turned her head right and left with the reins. She did okay with that, but will need more work. I thought I might try long lines/driving, but we ran out of light. Perhaps tomorrow.
I know, I know... she's wearing Dodge's halter. It was the one I grabbed. It worked fine. :-)




Faith took this one. You can see my hand on the horn. She was wondering about the cinching part, but was pretty darn good about it today.

Better for trim. Not great.

Shelby got trimmed yesterday by my faithful and trusted farrier. She was the best she's ever been. I don't know if it's just that she doesn't like her feet messed with, or she still isn't quite used to it, but she tried to bite and pull away a few times. She settled right back down, but is still testing in that area.

I was going to work with her a little today, but I am exhausted. She has the run of three smallish pastures with Chavez and Dani and no one wanted to come away from play and grazing time. I felt myself getting frustrated with three youngsters, who are normally quite easy to catch, who were running me in circles trying to get them into a smaller area. I let them have their freedom and went to feed the others.

I put the halter away and when I went to let Dodge out to graze with them (he had already eaten his pellets) there they all were, happy as you please. I petted each and came inside.

Some times it's just best to save it for another day.

Shelby...saddled?

She looks a little wild eyed in this first one. I think she's just wondering what's going on.

You get to see Chavez.

It started out as brushing Chavez, which led to saddling him which led to sitting on his back. Very, very briefly. He is so much feistier than Shelby, that I just knew she could do that too.

I brought out the same tack I had used with Chavez so it would smell like him and be familiar. She took to all of it very well. She got somewhat antsy as I was putting my hair back to tuck under my helmet, but I was awfully slow.

Out to the round pen. She wasn’t excited about standing still at the mounting block, so we worked on that awhile. Then I just lay across her back briefly, put my foot in the stirrup, etc. until I felt that she was comfortable with all that. So, I swung my leg over. She looked a bit nervous and swayed to the side, but didn’t take any steps or do anything naughty, so I got off quickly. I gave her lots of pets and told her how great she was.

I led her around and let her just relax and think about it. Then we went back to the mounting block to do it again. This time, when I was mounted, I moved around in the saddle to get her used to movement on top of her and to see if she would take a step if she got a little off balance. Well, she did take a step, several actually. All were backward and sideways. I’m not sure she ever did take an actual step forward. I stopped her and got off. That was enough.

We ended on a good note and I hand-grazed her in the lawn for about half an hour afterward. I want this small bit of work to be a good experience every time. Of course, then I had to ruin it by putting more Neo-poly-dex in her eye. She doesn’t like that a bit. I think I actually poked her in the eye with the tube. That can’t be helping anything.

She and Chavez are sharing a bale of hay for being so good today. Well, Shelby was quite a bit better than Chavez, but I pushed him pretty hard today. He’s been in training with the trainer for MONTHS. It’s time.

These pictures are of Chavez, not Shelby. I forgot to take any pictures of her. I didn’t want her standing around too long as I had worked her quite awhile. Just so we’re clear; I don’t think I’m a trainer. I enjoy doing things with my horses that I don’t think will ruin them for the real trainer. I have no visions of being the next Stacey Westfall.

Visit to the vet.

Yesterday, I noticed that Shelby's right eye was a little weepy. This morning, at feeding time, it was crusty and gooey. I called the vet and made an appointment for 1:30pm today.

She was a dream to load, trailer and waited fairly patiently for our turn. Once inside they sedated her to get a good look at the eye. It only took a 3/4 dose to knock her almost completely out. Her butt was braced against the back of the stocks and her head drooped as low as it could go.

What did we find out? Basic conjuctivitis. Triple antibiotic in eye twice a day for a week. She also got her 5-way and a blood work-up and fecal sample was taken to analyze. Ha! Anal - ize.

Moving on.

She had two strongyle eggs in her fecal sample. The blood work-up was in great shape. She was running a slight fever, but it was a warm day, she was a bit stressed, etc. Nothing to worry about. He listened to her heart and lungs, looked at her teeth and said she should really blossom in about 60 days. Nothing was wrong with her, other than to really get a handle on the parasites, make sure she gets her own eating space as she's a bit skinny and to just take care of her. He thought she was a sweetie.

He measured her at 14.3 almost 15.0h tall. Said that she was definitely a baby (right around 2) and that she should conservatively grow to 15.2, possibly 16h!! Yikes. All my horses are short little things. Stocky, but short.

$432 later, a very sleepy Shelby and I are headed back home where I dose her with Ivermectin and put more antibiotic ointment in her eye. I am supposed to give all the horses Ivermectin as well. I got two others done. Three to go tomorrow.

I was glad the vet seemed to like her. Sometimes, I get tunnel-vision thinking my horses are so great, when maybe they are tyrants. Thankfully, she's just a mellow "little" girl who needs to eat more.

-Grooming, sans drama.

I brushed Shelby today. I got her out, tied her up and brushed her. She pinned her ears a couple of times when I brushed her belly, but did not try to bite.

I combed out her mane, forelock and about 2/3 of her tail. There are some dreadlocks going on in that tail. I fed her a few treats and picked up her feet. She was really very good. I had intended (yes, the road to Hades...) to saddle her today, but forgot about Faith's lesson. Oops. Trainer shows up, works with Chavez. Time to get Faith from school. Then it's get Belle, brush, saddle... Shelby goes back into the dry lot. Another day, girlfriend.
Faith took the picture below. It seemed so peaceful with Shelby enjoying a quiet, late afternoon with her buddy, Chavez.

-Fly mask and sheet day.

I'll get pictures of this in the next couple of days, but Shelby wore a fly mask and sheet today! Wow. The no-see-ums are horrible for some reason and all the horses are rubbing on the fences and trees for relief. I didn't realize they were this bad (or they weren't until now), but a couple horses even had welts and what looked like hives from either the flies or rubbing themselves raw to get relief.

To comment a moment on our fly control; we use Fly Predators which are fantastic at keeping the general fly population at bay (house/horse/deer/etc. flies), but the little tiny buggers are apparently unfazed by my studious application of the Fly Predators. So, we use WarPaint and Equi-Spot topically. I also use a Citronella-y based fly spray when the flies are bugging them in places the other ointments don't go. I use fly masks and sheets too. I think the leg wraps (to ward off flies) don't work very well and are something of a hazard at pasture. The fly collars (like a flea collar for dogs) work okay, but can irritate the horses skin and smell really bad.

This morning, Shelby came right up to me and just stood there as I was doing something else. She wouldn't budge. I noticed the flies on her first and scraped them off with a metal brush. Ewwww! Then I applied some organic type fly ointment to her really irritated areas and used the Spot repellent. I never haltered her or tied her in any way.

Still, she hung right by me. I brought out a fly mask and she stood perfectly still while I RIPPPPED the Velcro apart. I put it on her face and she didn't move. Not one little bit.

I found a lightweight cotton, waffle-weave sheet. All my actual fly-sheets are way too big for her. I didn't want her to get tripped up in something too big. I put the sheet on her and she didn't mind at all. After I was done, she continued to follow me around.

I don't know who put the happy juice in this filly's oats, but keep putting it in!!

- She's doing great! I'm so excited for her!

So...um...Shelby has either had some work done with her in the past or she has, overnight, become the most docile horse on the place.

I began yesterday afternoon with just leaving her in the round pen, by herself for a few minutes, while I tacked up my mare, Pie. Pie needs help with accepting other horses around her while under saddle so I thought this would be a good time to work on ponying Shelby.

I brought Pie into the round pen and hopped on. Well, clumsily clambered aboard with the aid of an overturned bucket. I just "herded" Shelby around with Pie to get both of them used to each other being in the same small area. I really wanted Shelby to know that it is okay for someone to be above her, at the height that seems like something scary is on her back. She didn't care at all. Not one little bit. Interesting.

Then, I started scratching Shelby, from Pie's back and she came right over to me and stayed right by me, putting her head on me and Pie alternately. O...kayyyy.

I dismounted, haltered Shelby and had Adam (my husband) hand me her lead rope after I had remounted Pie. I led Shelby around the round pen from Pie. Pie hated it, pinning her ears and swishing her tail, but didn't try to kick or bite, which I considered a "win". Shelby did just fine, albeit a bit slow in the following, but more of being a teenage slacker than a disobedient or frightened one.

Adam opened the gate to the round pen and I led Shelby, while still on Pie, out to the pasture. Adam opened the gate to the dry lot, where I had previously dug a shallow trench and built a large mound, as trail obstacles to work on. We went all around, through some still quite sticky mud. Over the mound, through the trench and back out the gate. No problems, other than the aforementioned sluggishness from Shelby. Well, and I need to work on some quiet manners issues with Pie. Another issue for another day.

Pie was exhausted after almost 15 whole minutes of ponying Shelby. Yes, I'm being sarcastic, but Pie acted like that. I tied Pie in the shade and took Shelby into the round pen. I picked up her feet and, other than losing her balance, was not truculent about it. I showed her the saddle pad and she did not care. I flopped it over her back and let it drop off her hindquarters. Nothing. I put it over her head, and though she didn't really like that, she didn't really care either. Hmmm...this horse is full of surprises today. It's like the lightbulb was lit in her head that signaled a knowledge that I wasn't going to kill her.

So, here are pictures with the saddle blanket on. The first pic is the only time she let me get far enough away to almost get her whole body in. The rest of the pics were like this, or even less of her body in them. She just wanted to be by me. I like that, but wonder at the change.
So, brought out my Cashel Soft Saddle. A glorified bareback pad, it's lightweight, but has plastic stirrups to flop and create racket. You can see how horrified she is by it. Not.
I don't think I've been pushing her too hard. I think she just turned a corner in her trust. I stood on the bucket over her and she still didn't care. Not the wisest move I've made lately, sans helmet and with no one around. Adam left to shoot a gun or something.

I'm excited to work with her again. What a change. What a horse.

-Working on tolerance.

I let Shelby out onto the lawn by herself today. I want her to know that it's okay for her to be separate from her buddies and have me around. I didn't harass her, but I followed her around and she eventually followed me back into the pasture.

She is prone to biting and she's threatened to kick a few times, so I've been walking around her and just patting her like a "normal" horse. She's laid her ears back, but when she realizes I'm not focusing solely on her, she's fine. I just want her to be a happy part of the herd for awhile. Well, that and it's raining cats and dogs and I hate traipsing through the muck to work on specific lessons.

-Brushing 101

Shelby doesn't like to be brushed. While she is insensitive to most things being put on her body (Clinton Anderson stick thing, ropes, etc.) I think the brush is too close to the hand. It's almost a hand.





Today I fed Shelby separately to get some extra groceries in her. She is so far down the chain of command in the herd, I think the dog and cat rate higher. So, she got her grain in a smaller area so she could eat in peace. Perfect for a little one-on-one time, I think.

Very soft brush. Very gentle, but confident, strokes. She pinned her ears and would have tried to bite if she wasn't chewing her food with such vigor. I just continued, ignoring her tantrum. When I worked my way down to her belly, a hind foot came up. I ignored and kept going. When the hind leg kicked out, I popped her on the rump and kept going. I'm not sure her ears ever did stay up, but she did stop kicking. I don't know if I did any good, training-wise, but she is cleaner.
The pictures, of course, are before I brushed her. Always how it goes, isn't it?

-Day one - Manners = Treats!

Shelby is a sorrel filly I bought at auction in Hermiston, OR on February 12, 2008. I was there to drop off a horse for a lady and that was a logical, known place to meet that was horse friendly and had plenty of room for our trailers. Said horse was not auction bound, just FYI.



Lady had been to this auction many times and took me inside to point out the killbuyers. They were getting many horses. It was the last day. The loose horses were being run through. I saw a sorrel filly led through that went to a killbuyer for $125. The next horse could have been the sorrel's twin . The only information available was "Red yearling filly". Duh.



I yelled (yes, I actually did) down to see if they had any more info. Nope. He asked if I wanted to bid and I said "no". I didn't have a number. There were no bidders yet. Finally, the aforementioned killbuyer yelled that he'd give $50 for her, irritating me a bit. I raised my hand and bought her for $75, sans bidding number. They didn't care, as long as I showed up at the window to pay.



Okay, moving along...I brought her home...well, to a friends' house since I hadn't told hubby about her yet. She stayed there and I thought I had a home for her which fell through after she chased his cattle.



Back home to my place and I fed her and left her alone for a couple of months. She was trimmed (bad, bad pony to the farrier!) and dewormed and that was about it.



Today, I realized that my farrier is coming back on Thursday and she really was a pill about it last time, rearing and dancing away. He was patient, but must think I'm losing my touch since all my other ponies are so nice. Even my "wild" mustang is a doll to trim. (He's not that wild.) So, today was the day. I wanted her to accept me picking up all 4 feet and be darn happy about it.



I know I'm a bit long winded. I'm thinking of doing a Cliff's Notes version as well.



Out to the round pen. She's easy to halter and lead, though she's a bit sluggish about the leading part. She's not sensitive to things being put on her. I know she pins her ears and tries to bite when I touch any part of her other than her shoulder. She didn't care AT ALL about me rubbing her anywhere with a Clinton Andersonesque stick thingy. She didn't care that I flopped the lead all over her and wrapped it around her legs and ears. Well...she didn't like the ears part, but accepted it quite readily.



Okay, hands on. Ears immediately go back. It's like a Pavlovian response. I come forward with hand/self/human and she opens her mouth and her head looks like a Greyhound chasing a hare. I do this numerous times from both sides. I'm only working on the shoulder and chest at this point, occasionally going back to halfway down the barrel. Each time she unpins her ears or closes her mouth, or at least doesn't make contact with my hand or arm, I quit rubbing.



This is not obnoxious poking or prodding. I was rubbing her. She eventually accepted it, looking at me out of the corner of her eye, but she never liked it. I decided to try a different tack.



I really like to keep Packer Pellets around. They are a complete feed for those times when I'm out with a horse too long who really needs a meal and we're still miles from home. Hubby uses them when he's hunting on horseback, so he doesn't have to mess with that elusive "weed-free" hay. They also make excellent horse treats. You can break them into smaller pieces or leave them big so the horse has a mouthful to munch as she's, hopefully, thinking about what just happened.



I put a few handfuls of Packer Pellets in a bucket and Shelby knew exactly what that sound was. Her ears perked right up and she stepped toward me, which is not normal for her in general. I scratched her chest, ears stayed up. Shelby got a whole pellet. I let her munch it down and waited. She looked at me and I scratched her more on her chest and neck. She tolerated it and when I stopped, she looked expectantly at me. Pellet acheived.



We continued this under a variety of conditions and even tried simulated fly spray (water in a spray bottle) and she got each new thing fairly quickly. I even picked up each foot several times and cleaned them out. When we were done and I turned her out, she didn't hang around hoping for more as all my other horses do, but that will come. Yes, it will.