the jerk shyloh show

Shyloh is a jerk. Plain and simple. I haven't actually worked her in ages due to the extreme heat and extreme rain, but today it was beautiful outside. What better way to spend the evening than working with Shy? I could picture it. . .cool breeze, sun, no bugs, and a nice complaint pony.  It was going to be a lovely line drive.

I could not have been more wrong. Shy was fine in the beginning. Not overly thrilled about getting tacked up, but when is she ever?

Happy working pony?

We actually started out on a good note. We spent a lot of time working on walking in a straight line. We both have this problem that compounds on each other where we walk like we are drunk. Our lines are zig zags. It's awful. So we spent a good deal of time walking along fence lines and rails. We were halfway decent today, as long as I kept my attention up.

Then I wanted to work on our corners. When we are in the cart we do not do corners. Most of it is me and my horrible steering abilities, but some of it is Shy knowing she has to turn so she does it when she thinks she should. This was the first act of the Jerk Shyloh Show. We fought about the corners, circling back until she would go into them until I told her to turn. 

Act two was backing up. Today, backing up consisted of turning completely around to look at me. We fought and we fought. I got mad, but I had to keep myself in check because one of the boarder's granddaughters was tagging along because Shy was "so cute." Shy got mad and spent a good deal of time doing the frustrated head toss. 

Next came the I don't want to walk by that thing. What was that thing? Oh, anything Shy did not fancy going near. The tractor, the tires, a trailer. . .stuff she goes by all the time with no issue.  So we fought about going past these things, complete with circling, round about backing up, and temper tantrums. 

The final scene was going past the area that we tack up, but more importantly where we untack. Shy only had eyes and thoughts on getting to that area. I was not going to let Shy win. And since she refused to go straight past the tacking area (even with a couple taps of the whip), I decided to make her work until she would comply. 

How does she manage to end up in front of me when I ask her to back?

Making Shy work more also made me work more, since I made her trot. . .which meant I had to run behind her. We went straight back, as far away from the tacking area as we could. Then I lunged her in circles, making her keep up the trot. Hahaha, take that Shy! 

We walked around a bit more, then tried walking past the tacking area. After a quick struggle we made it! Success! The final scene in the Jerk Shyloh Show was Shy getting to the tack area, but refusing to step up to be tied. Why pony, why? Now it was all about backing up. Shy finally wised up and stepped up so I could tie her. 

Then Shy decided to do an encore. She is used to me taking her bridle off pretty soon after she was tied. But I was explaining some things to the little girl who was following up. Shy took it upon herself to try and spit the bit out (impossible), then rub the bridle off on the pole. Grrr. So I made her keep it on until she was able to stand still and act like a respectable pony. 

Bad pony? No, never. . . 

So when I heard someone at the barn asked if Shy was for sale because she wanted to buy her. . .I was halfway tempted to give her an offer. Just kidding. . .I can never sell that jerk pony. She makes life interesting and challenging. Never during the whole show today did Shy try to take off or do anything mean, she was just being a jerk and trying to get away with things and do the things she wanted. I think I should start working her more. . .

say what?

Remember when Shyloh was driven all around the barn property? Remember when she was perfect?

Flashback to Sunday

So why, just a mere two days later does she act like she has never pulled a cart before? Why does pony torture me so?

I was told by the barn owner that Shy and I could drive in the big pasture. This part of their pasture has been closed down for the winter to protect the precious land. Currently, the barn workers are spreading the manure on there for pasture management (imagine that. . .).  So I dragged the cart to that pasture to work Shy. I had to go through part of the outdoor pasture to get to the big pasture. I figured the horses would leave me alone and be afraid of the cart. Wrong. They were so curious. Surprisingly, Shy was the first one to leave the herd and walk towards me. That is the second time she has done that! Shy doesn't run anymore, she usually stands and makes me walk to her. So this approaching me is something new. Anyway. . . as I was trying to open gates, maneuver the cart, not let horses escape, and so forth, I had a bunch of horses very interested in what I was doing. 

I got Shy from the pasture, put her harness on, then walked her through her pasture to the cart. I tied her to the gate and Lukas, Tony, and Rainy Day proceeded to watch us. Lukas must have figured out Shy was about to do work because he immediately began trying to untie her! Halfingers work together. . . 

Shy's posse

I put a stop to that and put the cart on Shy. She was perfect and I was having high hopes. . . which she almost immediately dashed.

Shy was listening pretty good, but randomly she would tuck her butt and scoot forward. For no apparent reason. It was frustrating. Each time she did that, I made her back up. We ran over a stick. . .tuck and scoot. Imaginary noise. . .tuck and scoot. Wind. . .tuck and scoot. None of this stuff had bothered her before. One time, over absolutely nothing, Shy tried to take off. I thought to myself hold on, no matter what you do, do not let go! If you let go, you will have to start all over again! Luckily, I was able to hang on and stop her. But what happened to my pony??

Eventually I was able to get a decent amount of work without any scoots out of her. Then we stopped. I was, still am, just so frustrated with her. She is always testing me. We have been working pretty hard core since November and I am still not confident in her ability to be able to drive alone. I see some people who drag a tire once, hook a cart to their horses, and off they go in a matter of a week or so.  This is just my little pity party and I'll get over it, but why does my horse have to be so damn willful?

frustrating mare

Oh Shyloh, Shyloh, Shyloh. . .

I asked Beth to watch me lunge Shy in her spirals and give me some advice because Shy was giving me a hard time. When we do small circles, I am able to keep her moving forward, but when I open the circles up, I cannot keep Shy at the trot. Frustrating. 

I had only walked Shy a few circles when Beth came to watch. I was warming her up, so I did not have side reins attached. Beth asked me to trot Shy. . .I did and immediately Beth said "She is still off." Ugh! Frustrating.

But then Beth clarified and said she is tracking up okay, but her movement in her left rear is not fluid, it is jerky. Beth asked to try something with Shy. My answer was of course! Beth attached the side reins and adjusted the lunge line in a different position. Then she had Shy do very small circles and asked her to step her inside leg underneath her at a criss cross almost.  

Kinda like this. . .make sense?

At first Shy would only do a step or two with bringing her leg underneath her. This horse just does not want to use that rear end! All the other exercises I have been doing, Shy figures out ways to get around using that rear end. She ends up compensating in various ways to not drive herself from behind! Frustrating.

Eventually, Shy was able to do more than a few steps in each direction. Each time, I let the lunge line out some to give her release. And she began to keep a forward trot when I let the line out! Beth said she noticed Shy was moving better after using her legs, so maybe she is just stiff at the start of her exercises and loosens up when used. Frustrating.

How long has this been since Shy has been off? Too long! It is frustrating to me that everything I try, Shy figures out how to get around it. But this new exercise seems to really put Shy to work. She was not sweating after our workout, but she was breathing hard. We did not work long, Beth said it was hard work for Shy. So. . .we will add that to our routine. Frustrating.

Question of the day. . .Why does Shy have all these pool noodles on her back? Find out Sunday!

tire tracks

For as sensitive Shyloh can be sometime, there are times when she is able to block everything out. Every urge to move forward, every, tap of the lunge whip, every scream, every, curse word, every push, and every smack (I don't like to hit, but as a last resort it is sometimes necessary). Shy is able to be a statue, but just when she wants to do so. It is very frustrating.

I don't wanna work, Allie!

I rigged up a tire for Shy to pull. Luckily for me, Beth's dad has an abundance of tires in all sizes. I picked a smallish one to start with.

Checking out the tire

I went through our "getting Shy more comfortable with me being behind her " exercise and then did some line driving. So far, so good. I even did the dreaded trail obstacle and it only took Shy one refusal before she just went over the tarp and board. Yay!

I really could not have asked for a better Shy when I attached the tire. It was probably not the safest way to do this, but it worked for us and no one was hurt. Shy was moving forward, not backwards! She did not balk at the weight of the tire and we did a lap each way around the arena and a serpentine each way. . .with no stopping! This is so much improvement for us. 

But then I made a mistake. I asked for a whoa near the arena door. It was a perfect whoa. But when I asked Shy to walk on, she walked backwards. And backwards. And backwards. No matter what I did, she moved backwards. And eventually ended up like this. . .

What is wrong with this picture?

This horse, who practically has each hoof lifted in turn for me to pick them absolutely refused to pick her feet up. I pulled. I prodded. I tapped. I tugged. Nothing. I had to unhook my tire contraption and fix it before we attempted again. I was all set and I asked Shy to walk on. Statue Shy. I told Shy to walk on. Statue Shy. I pushed her. I taped with the whip. I yelled. I swore. I smacked. Nothing! I finally had to turn her at her head to get her to move. Then I made her trot the arena three times before stopped. I figured make her work harder when she does not listen, but I was the one sweating!

Aside from that little hiccup, I am really happy with Shy's progress! I figure we will pull this size tire a few more times and increase the length of time, then move to a bigger tire. And work on a safer tire set up!

I took Shy to do what she loves best for a few minutes. It is so funny to watch her leave the barn when she knows she gets to graze. As we approach the barn door, Shy stretches her head and lowers it, then stretches her lips out as far as they go moving them up and down in anticipation of the grass she will get to eat. She does not even get all of her legs outside of the barn before she starts grazing! It is quite a site!

Pretty girl 

So good!

Whachu lookin at?

monday musings by shyloh #37

Imagine this. . .

You are a pretty little pony trying to get your beauty rest. Then, in the middle of your slumber the barn light flashes on and you hear your Allie. You scramble up from the floor of your stall and there she is. Whoa! It is early!

But you quickly get over that cause now you have a flake of yummy hay. Allie is bustling about the barn. And before you know it, you have a halter on and you are walking down the driveway and getting into a trailer. Hey. . .wait just a minute here, there is still hay left to eat!

In steps grumpy pony with one mission for the day: Make Allie miserable!

Mare on a mission!

I was a good pony at the show, I really was. But I was also hungry and sleepy. Allie made me go everywhere with her. There was a ton of horses, even more people, and fresh green grass. Naturally, I tried to eat the grass.

My day went something like this:

Flippy lip

Pull on Allie as hard as I could to try and get grass. Get a nibble before getting yanked back up. Try again. Get yelled at. Lip Allie and make her think I am gonna bite. Get my face pushed away. Do the flippy lip. Get told to stop. Spray snot all over Allie. Gross her out. Try to get more grass. Get a chain put under my chin. Chain does not really stop me. Try and get more grass. Get yanked back up. Bite the chain and rip it out of Allie's hand. As she fumbles for the lead line, dive down for more grass. Get yanked back up. Get yelled at.

Why bag, why?

Take a break from shenanigans for lunch! Oh my gosh. . .Allie brought the hay bag. Sad face. So I banged the hay bag on the trailer for a while, then scooted myself over to share hay with Notch. His hay was much easier to get out. Then Allie tied me closer to the trailer, so I started digging at the ground. And then  dumped my water bucket. And knocked over Jaime's grooming box. And kicked the trailer license plate and bent it. That will get her. . . 

Bored me getting into everything within reach!

After lunch, I promptly got back to my mission. I started digging holes to China with my front hooves. Get yelled at. Got told to go ahead, keep digging to China, the people there will eat me. Flippy lip response. Get ignored. Dig more holes. Lip Allie's legs, get popped in the nose. Dive for more grass, don't get any. Hey, what's that? A pine tree? Try to eat it. Not that tasty. Spray snot in disgust. Try the pine tree again. No thanks, spray more snot on Allie. Dig. Lip. Dive for grass again. Success and a yank. Rip lead rope out of Allie's hands. Dive again. Repeat multiple times.

After two attempts, I do not recommend pine tree.

I could feel Allie's frustration. Then she took me for a walk. We went on a real trail! In the woods! It was fun until we got in pretty deep and the mosquitoes attacked! I was a-dancing with all legs kicking up under me to ward off the attack. On the way back, we got to jump over a big downed log! Also, I was not too sure of Allie's intentions of taking me so deep into the woods, so I called out a few times to let the other horses know where I was and that I was still alive. Just in case Allie had malicious intents in the woods.

Real trail walk!

I made it out alive and now I needed a nap! 

Mission: Annoynace makes for a sleepy Haffie!

While we were watching Jaime and Notch, Kyle and Clutch do their cart classes, I stayed strong with my mission of annoyance. I was really getting to Allie, I could tell! I think we were all a little tired. It was a long day. . .

Let's go already! Or let me eat grass!

~Shyloh

retired

I have retired my Ariat boots. I think it was time. . .

Pretty good for wearing them almost every day for a year, doing all kinds of barn things in them! They have been replaced by these. . .

I can work at the barn with these. They are comfy, I had them on today.

And I hope to get another pair of boots soon. Oh boots, I will miss you and all we have been through!

On a rougher note. . .Shyloh is really pushing my buttons! I wanted to do some round pen work with her before the rain came, but I am pretty sure I got much more of a workout than Shy. 

First was the battle with the grass. She keeps coming up with new ways to eat it. When I turn her, she dips to head to grab a bite each time. Then, Shy made her circles smaller so she was on the grass and not the track of the round pen. Ugh! Next, she refused to go into a canter when I asked her. I pretty much had to chase her to get her into that gait. Not how the round pen is supposed to work. The only really good thing she did was when    I asked her to whoa, she would stop and turn into me. I held her at that whoa for a bit (pushing my luck), but she did not lower her head to graze. Whoo hoo! Then it started to rain and we went inside. At least we ended on a good note.

I did some clicker training with Shy and the mounting block. It took a while, but we eventually made some progress. I could tell she was getting irritated; she kept swishing her tail every time I moved her back over to the block. My goal is for her to stop stepping away from the block when I step up on it. I think that this will be useful when (if) I go on trail rides and I need to step on something to get on her and no one is available to hold her. It is a work in progress. . . as is everything with this sassy horse!

frustrating pony

Scenario 1: Shyloh has been in her stall all day due to the threat of thunderstorms. She has not been worked in a week. The wind is so strong it feels like the barn roof is going to rip off. It is so loud. There are no other people or horses.

Scenario 2: Shyloh has spent the day outside with her herd. She was just worked the previous day. The weather is nice, the sun is shining. The arena doors are open. There are two other horses in the arena and some people.

Which scenario do you think Shy would be an absolute dream pony and which one do you think she would be a horrible nightmare in?

For the dream pony, if you guessed Scenario 1, you are correct! Yesterday was amazing! Shy was awesome. I got to the barn and turned Shy out in the arena to run some energy off of her and get a good roll in the sand. She was being very sassy and having herself a good ole time running around, bucking, and doing these little bunny hops. Then she riled up the hole barn by calling to the other horses and they all answered back. The wind was howling, but Shy never gave it a second thought.

Shy's fan club

Once Beth got to the barn, I tacked Shy up and Beth began to put out poles and a tarp. Something new! Beth wanted to work on getting Shy to use her back end more. I told Beth that Shy has not shown any spookiness at the wind (it sounded like it was going to rip the roof off), so if she becomes spooky, she is faking. 

No worries, because Shy had no spooks or scoots this ride! Wow! She walked, trotted, and cantered over poles and tarp. She hesitated once when going over the tarp the first time, but never gave it a second thought any other time. Beth was very impressed with her canter transitions, she didn't know where the improvement came from. Shy has not been ridden since the testy ride last Tuesday. Her transitions were really good and much more controlled and balanced! 

Beth also worked on a side pass with Shy, which Shy figured out. Beth was very impressed that Shy was responsive to her legs and not jumpy at all. Shy was also able to disengage her hind end without a fight! 

Then I got on Shy! I think we are like a vicious cycle. If she is relaxed I am relaxed so she is relaxed. If I am tense, she is tense, so I am tense. Make sense? As soon as I got on Shy, I could feel how relaxed she was; sometimes I can just feel the nervous energy in her. We walked on and went over the poles and the tarp. Shy was wonderful! She listened to what I was asking her and was so calm. This is the pony I want her to be all the time. Shy got a ton of praise and we ended the lesson a little short, but on a great note!

Scenario 2 was today. I went to the barn with high hopes of my perfect little pony and she did not deliver. Shy was fighting Beth every step of the ride. Shy wanted to go fast, so Beth made her go fast. Round and round they went. Shy wanted to stop, Beth said nope, we are going fast! Shy was very hard on the left rein and kept locking up on the bit. She gave Beth a hard time when she was asked to disengage her hind end. She kept scooting into her transitions. Beth would touch her mane or the side of her neck and it would send her flying forward. It was horrible, awful, terrible. Not as bad as it could of been, but where was my Shy from yesterday? 

Getting ready to give Beth a hard time

I did not get any video of the disaster that was today. I was in shock and disappointed in Shy. Clearly Shy knows what is being asked of her and is able to perform, but chose not to do so today. I should have got video of her ride today. And to think, poor Shy (and me) would have got the day off tomorrow if she was a good horse. Oh well, more work tomorrow. . .

sass-a-frass, farrier, and free-jumping!

I was a little (okay, a lot!) frustrated the other day with the pony! I must have spent 30 minutes trying to mount Shyloh. It got to a point that I would have spent all night lining her up at the mounting block, just to get prove a point that I WILL get on her!

Every time Shy moved away, I would trot her in a circle back to the mounting block, which was actually more work for me than her! Sassy pony knows how to make me work harder than her. . .

But I did it! Shy's mind was completely on getting back to her stall, but I made her weave through the cones a few times. And she did great! I worked on getting her to turn using my seat and Shy was very responsive, even though she was being a sass-a-frass!

I also took her outside to get some fresh air and graze for a few minutes. This was on Wednesday. One day, the water and mud will be gone and the horses can go back out to the pastures. . .one day . . .

Oh grass. . .how Shy has missed you!

Today, the farrier came for Shyloh and Ryleigh. He trimmed Shy up and put my mind to ease. He said her hooves and frogs look real good, no signs of thrush and no signs of founder. Whew. I asked how they seemed since I moved her inside and he said they are still good. Whew. He also said all the Haflingers he sees have nice hooves and he has never seen a Haflinger with founder (not to say it can't happen).

Kathy and I took Shy and Casi outside. They grazed for a bit and enjoyed being outside. Shyloh and Casi have been hanging out a little but more because Ryleigh is being mean to her. He keeps biting her and she just ignores it. So Ryleigh got to hang out with Lexi so she could put him in his place.

Then, I put Shy in the arena and set up a jump. Ryleigh had done some free jumping to get the sassy-ness out of him the other day, which reminded me of Goal #2 for Shy. Wednesday she spooked at the jump (she was pre-occupied with it before I attempted to mount her 600 times, so we walked over to check it out and I picked up a pole and accidentally dropped it), so I thought she might be hesitant to jump today. Not so! She watched with great interest as I set the jump up, making her "thinking" noise.

When it was time to jump, I swear I got more of a workout than Shy! I was running and she was out-running me! That pony can be quick! The trick was that I had to stay at her rear with the lunge whip to push her forward, but then keep her along the wall near the jump and not let her go around it, so I had to get to her side. Eventually, I was able to do it and soon enough Shy did not need much to get her over the jump! She is pretty good at free-jumping! I look forward to working on this some more!

Shy says "Okay, I jumped, now give me a treat!"

I decided to get on her to walk her around so she could cool down, although she was much less out of breath than I was at this point. Getting on her was not nearly as much as a process as it was last time. When I mounted, I tried to give her a treat to let her know good job, but she wouldn't take it! Unheard of!! I guess when she has a rider she is all business. The evening feeders even took hay out the door for Notch and Clutch and she watched them, but did not spook. 

I am noticing differences in Shy these past few months. Kathy stated today that she has come a long, long way. Kathy said that Shy is fantastic for her when she lets her out in the arena and will let her come up to her to take her back to her stall. She is not head shy anymore. In her stall, she used to turn away and position herself in the corner if I went in. Now, she might take a step like she is going to turn away, but then she changes her mind and will come to me. Little improvements, but they mean big things!

More food!!!

day four and frustration

Today was very frustrating. Frustrating at work and frustrating after work. I was looking forward to going to the barn and hanging out with Shyloh and trying some new things with her. Shy was not in on this plan. . .

Chick was moved inside, so I think this really upset Shyloh. It took me a good thirty minutes to catch her today! Lately, she has been coming right up to me; today she was playing keep away. I had to go into the shelter because it started to rain. Shy kept circling the shelter and peeking in. Then she would step in and step out. If I moved, she would step away. Frustration!

Shyloh was just acting all off today. I know that I have been saying that Shy has been making tons of improvements and I have been waiting for her to hit a wall and regress a little. This could be it, or she could just be really stressed that she lost her BFF. Hopefully, Notch will be out there soon. 

I actually had a plan today, but I was on a time schedule! I was going to do some Parelli exercises, modified for us.  I am not sure how I feel about Parelli in general, but I think some of the stuff could be useful, so I am going to try it. But I did not get to them today, so I will try when I go back out. Anyway, I went to groom Shy and she had some flakes of skin coming on her neck. She has been getting flaxseed and that cleared up her dry skin, so this concerned me and it was only on one side of her neck. I asked Beth to look at it and she said it was a fungus, probably from all the rain. I put some Fung-a-way on it, but still, frustration!

On top  of that, the barn owner, Beth said that Shyloh has been very rude to her, especially during feeding time. Shy had to be brought inside for a little bit yesterday because an extra gate was being put in her paddock. Beth said that she went to go get Shy and Shy backed up and turned her butt towards her. Apparently, she was also doing this when Chick was getting his grain, as in a statement of I will do anything for grain. Why is my horse acting like this? She does not do that for me, but then, I don't feed her. I definitely do not want a horse who thinks she can be rude! Frustration!

And the kicker. . .I was taking Shy her hay. I wanted to walk it out to the shelter so Shy could eat it without the hay or her getting wet. She was so excited for her dinner! She trotted next to me, never invading my space, and did some little hops. She was also doing her head tossing. She must have tossed her head hard as she was making a little circle at the trot, and slipped and almost fell over in the mud! I can laugh about it now, because she did not get hurt and it was a sight, but at the time, it was scary! I think it startled her because she stopped it right away.

At least my husband cooked an awesome dinner!

Seven Wants! Easy, because I want a lot!

Want 1 - To be able to ride Shyloh bareback. I just want to hop up on her and ride off into the sunset!

Want 2 - To own a house on some acreage, with a creek flowing through, a barn, a pasture, and some woods. Sweet bliss!

Want 3 - To have no more debt and no more student loans! I guess I could deal with a mortgage and a car payment, but credit cards and student loans need to go away!

Want 4 - To finish my Master's degree. I have one year left, but that year includes a 500 hour internship, which I am not looking forward to doing. So I went on a "break." I already completed a 400 hour internship for this degree, and it was not easy to do that, go to class, and work full time. . .and I did not own a horse then! 

Want 5 - To visit every state in America. Mike and I plan to do this in our retirement in the giant RV we do not have. Except Hawaii, we will have to fly there. Unless we get that RV that turns into a boat that I saw on the Travel Channel.

Want 6 - To be able to read like Johnny 5 from Short Circuit (hey. . .I am a child of the 80's!) Imagine all the stuff I could read if I read at that speed!

Want 7 - For all my family, friends, and animals to be happy and healthy! Really.