Sunday, September 21, 2014

obstacles for shyloh and me

After a few more sessions of line driving with Shyloh and she was ready for the kids to try with her. 
Mustache tail
Some obstacles Shy encountered:
Shy met Stella, a Jeep with a plow attached, and was instantly suspicious of her. Where did she come from and why was she there? Shy's reaction was to stop and stare, but I eventually got her moving toward Stella and around her in both directions. Shy kept giving her the hairy eyeball but listened to me and kept a slow, steady forward motion. 
Oh Stella, why u so scary?
The next obstacle we faced was walking through the barns. There are shadows and horses in stalls and other things that were going to "get" Shy. Again, her response was to stop and look. I let her think about it and decide what she wanted to do before asking her to walk on. She would walk a couple steps, stop, then walk a couple more. But after a few times going through in each direction and Shy was able to walk through without stopping. Shy really seems more calm and comfortable in the open bridle. 
So much to look at!
An obstacle I encountered:
I have been doing our line driving after work. It is always a rush to get to the barn, tack up, and get to working before feeding time. With Shy being in a pasture and herd situation, she can't miss feeding time or she won't eat. Normally, this is not an issue. If the feeders see me working with her, they will feed last to give me time. There is also the option of leaving Shy's feed out for her so I can give it to her on her own.
Always a hungry pony
However. . .there is this one lady who feeds who still harbors resentment at Shy and me from the last time we boarded there. Shy kicked her horse square in the vagina and the lady was pissed at us and anyone who thought it was kinda funny. It's not like I can control my horse's actions in the pasture or that I told Shy to do that. And it was over a year ago! Get over it! Anyway, she was us working and fed the pasture horses first and didn't leave Shy's hay out, so we had to cut our session short. Pretty crappy, right?
Totally okay with short work sessions
But, since I am disinclined to participate in barn drama, I just ended our session and put Shy back with the herd. One, it is not like Shy is starving by any means, and two, they have pasture to graze upon all day.  Oh boarding again. . .any one else have any silly/dramatic boarding situations?
It's not the lushest grass (which is good for us) but Shy has access to it 24/7.

5 comments:

  1. I like the new layout. It's definitely more readable. I've been thinking of changing mine, too but I'm finding the Wordpress Themes a little frustrating, it's hard to know what will work.

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  2. "Barn drama" can be the worst but it sounds like you don't let it get to you which is smart for sure. After years of boarding horses, I've dealt with just about everything - people using my tack, stealing my tack, people using my horse in a lesson, people trying to hide the fact that they stopped feeding...

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  3. eh - annoying. Im a confronter by nature - so I would just walk up to the lady and say in the nicest possible way - hey that was great you fed the horses, i have an arrangement with the BO (or whoever) that they leave shys food out for me if they are going to feed, or just feed them last when I am done working...do you think you would be ok with this too? It makes everything simple and drama free for the horses.

    something like that....worth a shot?

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  4. Loving the new layout!

    Also, barn drama sucks. :( Sorry you have to deal with that!

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  5. Barn drama is THE WORST. Sorry to hear you're dealing with it. =(

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