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.