Shelby's new family

On Wednesday, Shelby went home with her new family. All seemed happy. She loaded easily with 2 other horses in a three horse slant and was munching hay for a ride to Lakeview. Her first day was spent at their vacation home munching waist high grass. Lucky horse.

Here are some photos:

Meeting her new owner.



Kali and Les, our amazing trainers.

The happy new family. Mike, Kathleen and Katie. Shelby will be Mike's horse.

A purchase offer...

We had a local lady make an offer on Shelby last week. We've tentatively accepted. I have never met the woman. Our trainer has done everything in regards to finding her a new home and I totally trust that.

I will, obviously, meet with the potential new owner and get more information before presenting a contract or taking a check.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QZJj5FUWnQ&feature=channel_page


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXK5oi919ws&NR=1


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEip9jQeYFM&feature=related

Some links to YouTube videos of Shelby that our trainers, Kali and Les, made. Enjoy.

Shelby pics

Who's a riding horse?!

Shelby is being ridden once or twice a week now by our trainers, Kali and Les. Sometimes, they trailer her out to go on a trail ride with another horse (Dani) or they work in an arena. They say she learns quickly and is really easy to ride. I haven't ridden her yet, but expect to within a month or two.

Some photos from today. I saw her canter! I can count, on one hand, the number of times I've seen her hurry.

Trainer time

Kali and Les have been working with Shelby when they come over to work with Chavez. No riding, just ground work and getting her to be more interested in people. She's pretty easy to get along with now, but just doesn't like to be with people so much. Hopefully, that will change.

She is getting very tall and Kali knows someone who may be interested in her as a project. I just want her to be happy and find the right home.

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.