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.