float on

Shyloh got her teeth floated this afternoon by Doug LaRose. I had heard great things from him from fellow Michigan blogger Kristin and her OTTB, Laz. Doug also has Clydesdales, which Jaime liked and booked Doug to come down our way. When I got to the barn, Shy was laying down and napping. By Lukas. I think he is her new love target since Jesse is gone. And I have not seen Lukas be mean to her in a while. I have seen Shy pin her ears at him a few times when I am near her and he moves in, thinking I have food for him. When Doug got to the barn, he said that he heard I had a pony, so of course I had to correct him. Turns out, he was joking with me since he floated Jaime's horses at her barn first. 

The mouth opening contraption

Doug was very patient and gentle with Shy and she took to him pretty quickly. At first, of course, Shy stuck to her namesake and wanted to keep her distance from the new person. But real soon she had no problem with him or any of the tools he used. I like that Doug would show Shy the tools first and run her nose with them before he started using them in her mouth. He also didn't keep Shy's mouth cranked open when he did not need it open.

She did keep her eye on me when he was floating

Doug let me look in Shy's mouth and I got to see her pointy edges. They were not that bad, but they were rubbing a little on the sides of her mouth. He said that it would explain the behaviors I described. But he also said that her teeth were not bad and he recommends that a year is a good interval for her. 

Doug wanted to work with Shy on the grass. . .Shy wanted to eat the grass!

After he was done he remarked that Shy was a good horse and very well behaved. Yay Shy!

Post float eating. . .silly face!

No more sharp edges!!

After the float, I hung out with Shy and all the mud at the barn. The beginning of spring is the worst. We went into the arena to get on some dry, non-muddy ground. The horse that a year ago would wander around the arena and stay away from me now chooses to stick to me like glue. The horse that would not come near me if I stood on the mounting block or was in any way taller than her now will walk right up to me when I stand on this mounting block. And this is a tall homemade mounting block. I love that Shy is a relaxed horse and has such a natural curiosity.

View from Shy at the top of the mounting block

This weekend, we will be back to working with the cart! I am excited, it's been too long!

driven to drive

After Plow Days and all the fun I had riding and driving, and since I am out of a saddle, I have decided that I want to really get Shyloh driving over the winter. I have grand plans of working on line driving, then when I feel she is really good with that having her pull an empty sled and working all the way up to pulling me in the sled. My thought is that by the time the snow comes she can give sled rides!

Them other day, I got Shy's harness out of her show box and tacked her up. Shy's patience with me is also amazing. She stood like a pro while I untangled all her lines and got myself ready. I figured I would have some issues getting her going, but she walked on like she had been doing this for years. We went all over, including places I have never walked her before. We even trotted some. At one point I decided to test out Shy's "gee" and "haw." I can't believe that I have to learn more words for right and left. . .I have a hard enough time as it is with that! I wanted Shy to go right, so I said "haw." She started turning left. . . even though I was using the reins to tell her right. Then I said "gee" and she immediately corrected herself. Good pony. Clearly knows more than me. . . I was quite impressed! 

Shy did spook once, but it was so minor and if a spook can be good, I would call this spook good. We were coming up around a trailer and the lady that owns the two Halfingers was sitting on the edge of it. I didn't even see her, but Shy jumped sideways a little. I am just happy that she did not try to bolt or run forward! We worked on whoa and stand and Shy did her typical moving to the left until she was halfway around me. We need more work on that.

Today, I did some more line driving. I am so happy with Shy's progress!  

To be sure that we can be in the big leagues of driving, I have marked Shy so I can get the "gee" and "haw" straight. . .

This is what the pros do, right?

I think going around the barn property and not being inside has a lot to do with this progress. It is not a boring arena. I remember discussing using the outdoors quite a while back and now I have little roads to do that on!  Shy is very curious about her surrounds and got a little side tracked with some new horses she has not seen before. That was the only issue we had today, and I took her past those horses over and over until she walked right through and stopped trying to go up to them. It only took three times.

On the go!

Shy had a terrific whoa and stand today! So much so that she didn't move when I stopped and talked to some friends for about 5 minutes, she even cocked a leg and stood perfectly still!

Not going anywhere!

I worked myself on keeping contact and trying to match my walk to that pokey pony. I think I am getting better. We worked on some more trotting too. . .until I ran out of breath!

Shy did so well, I bought a plastic sled from Target. 

I am going to drag it behind me next time, that way, if Shy spooks at it, I can let go and she won't be dragging it behind her.  Then, I will need one of these. . .

no herd today

The horses at this barn eat on a pretty tight schedule, so the pasture boarded horses know when it is dinner time. And since by the time I can get to the barn after work, they are up waiting at the fence to be let into the feeding area. I didn't want to turn Shyloh out with the herd during this time, so tomorrow will be the big day. 

I have no idea how it will go. . . I am a little nervous, these horses all know each other and seem calm around one another, but they also seem more dominant than the horses Shy is used to being around. Herd dynamics. . .I love it! I plan to go out tomorrow morning and put her with the herd so there are many hours between feeding time for her to get adjusted.

But I did turn Shy out into the huge pasture. The pasture board can be gated off into two parts, and to protect precious grass, the horses get switched out. I am not sure of the schedule with that yet. Shy was so curious. She had the cutest bouncy walk, checked everything out, then burst into a quick gallop. She checked out the two Haflingers that are also pasture boarded, but they stay separate from the bigger herd. She liked them and grazed by them for a while, then came close to me. 

I was really surprised how close Shy kept to me! She had the option to go where ever she chose, but she chose to stay close. That was a new development and not the typical Shy I am used to! After a while, I put Shy in a paddock near the herd she will be with. She went up to the Haflinger, no squealing or striking. The Haflinger is boss of the herd. He kept chasing other horses away from her. I hope they can be buddies!

Two Haffies! What a fatty!

and a donkey! Not the ideal fencing. . .but it is high enough for the horses not to get hurt.

I met the lady who owns the two Haflingers that stay together, Leon and Gem (I think it was Gem). She has been into horses for 40 years and knows a ton about Haflingers! Squeee! She said she was at the barn all day and Shy was hanging in the corner of her paddock, closest to them. She said Shy was real good all day, not calling out or anything. This lady is a Parelli fan and told me Shy seemed like an introvert, but later, after Shy did something with her tongue, she said Shy was definitely an extrovert. I don't know anything really about the Parelli Horsenality stuff. But she said she does a ton of fun things with her boys and I am welcome to do it with her. And she talked about driving and helping each other out! Exciting!

So tomorrow is the big herd introduction day. . .wish us luck! At the very least, wish us no hard kicks!

goofball animals

Goofy Shyloh short stories: 

One day I was talking to someone and petting their horse in the cross ties. We heard a strange noise and turned around. Shy was on her knees, with her butt still in the air, neck stretched halfway across Ryleigh's stall, trying to crawl under her stall guard to get a single piece of hay! It was one of the funniest sights ever and I what I would not give to have gotten a photo of that! I told the chiro and the farrier that story and they both said no wonder she had problems! My horse is a contortionist!

Then, the other day, I was walking Shy down the aisle. Sometimes when I do this, I let Shy sniff and check everything out as we walk. She is so curious! She came upon one of those plastic totes. It was filled with hay replacer pellets for the new horse, Maverick, an underweight and scarred up rescue Standardbred (possibly) . I let Shy fiddle with the tote. She pushed it around with her nose, then figured out how to open it. I just stood next to her watching. Shy sniffed inside, stopped and looked around (I think she knew she was not "supposed" to be in the box), then dove her head inside. The tote moved and Shy jumped in the air and stepped back. But curiosity got the best of her and she went immediately back. Then stepped back, but not as far this time. This happened about six times, each time the reaction (which was completely caused by her actions) was less and less, until she was finally just flinching a little. And I think it was not because she was scared of the tote, but because she knew it was not hers to have. Can that be possible? If not, I'd still like to think so. Anyway, it was rather funny to watch the whole interaction!

I have also caught Shy stretching like a dog, with her butt in the air and her head and front feet down. This horse can make me laugh as easily as she can frustrate the daylights out of me!

As for the dogs. . .

My husband got a phone call from the neighbors saying that we were blaring music  in the house. They could hear it in their house! And we were both at work. It appears that one of the dogs (I am guessing Cooper since he likes to lay on remotes, phones, the computer mouse) decided to nap on the couch, stepped on the receiver remote to turn on the radio, then continued to lay on the volume button until it went as high as it could go. Mike said he could hear the music through the neighbor's phone!

Wasn't me!!

He asked his sister to go to our house to turn the music off. She said she could hear the music from the car! And when she went inside, both Cooper and Maggie were hiding in the furthest room from the source. Oops. . .no more just throwing remotes on the couch for us! 

Didn't do it!!

What goofy things do your animals do?