silence is golden

I actually took pictures today with a real camera and not my cell phone! Here are a few of Shyloh and Ryleigh in the pasture.

Waaaay in the back of the pasture!

Hiding behind this plant. . .You can't see me!

Oh. . .you found me. . .

I must run away now!

C'mon, Ryleigh. . .let's go! We get hay when we go in!

Okay!! Yum!

Fun fun fun!!

Dante and Lexi in the pasture next to Shy and Ryleigh

Once I got Shy inside, I had intended to lunge and long line. But I could not find the long lines! I started freaking out because I hate losing things and I had borrowed those. But, I texted Jaime and she said she used them last night for Clutch the Clydesdale, but they were in her locker. So only lunging it was. . .

Shyloh had her dinner waiting when I brought her in, but I did not let her have it. We had work to do. I lunged her each way and  we worked on our transitions. They were rough. But every time I asked Shy to trot from the walk and she threw her head and gave a little jump, I asked her to walk and started over. The head swing and jump does not seem like it is defiance, it is more like a whoo hooo, she is used to trotting in the pasture how she wants and it is fun! Eventually, she was able to transition more smoothly. And I did not use the side reins to do this :) I asked Kathy to take this video of Shy's head toss, but it was after she had been tossing, so it is not as pronounced as it generally is.

Yesterday, another discovery that Beth told me about was that Shy was able to lunge without me speaking because she was very in tune with my body language. I tried the silence today and it was amazing! I can get to her to walk on with my body language, trot with a cluck, transition back to a walk with a wiggle of the rope, and stop with my body language. It is pretty cool! 

It was relaxing to lunge in silence and only speaking to praise Shyloh when she was doing as I asked or when she made a smooth transition. We also did not have an issue with her backing up or being preoccupied with the door back to her stall. I ended the night with giving Shyloh apple and granola as a treat. And she got to eat her dinner hay!

mud party!

I guess this week's theme is party time! Shyloh has been having a mud party! And with all this rain, I can't blame her. Can we please send the rain to Texas or somewhere else that needs it? 

Shy has species identity disorder. . .she must think she is a pig, rolling  in the mud like that!

I had no plans today at the barn, except beat the rain. In that respect, I was successful because it started raining on my way home. Hard. Poor Shyloh. She has to stand around in a muddy paddock. But at least she gets to be outside, all the other horses have been in for the past few days. She can go in the shelter if she wishes, but I will guess that she does not wish to do that!


Yuck, the paddock was so muddy! I told Shy that she better come to me because I did not feel like walking out there. Surprisingly, she did! Without a peppermint! She just walked right up to me! Not that it did much good, I still ended up leaving the barn covered in mud. But, I think we are over the being caught hurdle, time to work on something new. I also discovered that Shy is not afraid of puddles, she will walk right through them. Good for me when we get to the point of trail riding!

Muddy faces!

I cleaned Shy up (why? I have no idea. . .), then took to her the big pasture to graze a little. She must have been delighted to be on solid ground, because she did this. . .

Then I let took her inside to let her run around in the arena. She trotted and I even got her to break out into a canter! I did not really want to put her back in the muddy paddock quite yet. I wanted her hooves to be able to dry up. I am going to have to be on the lookout for thrush, I think. But, she had a mighty fine time in the arena. . .

Can someone please explain her Justin Bieber head toss? That is her and Chick calling back and forth to each other. When we are working, she never calls back to him. At one point, I felt she might actually jump the half wall to get out to Chick!

Pretty girl trotting

I also have some really exciting news, but I am going to wait to share! I want to see how it goes first, so next week I will let everyone in on it! It kind of has to do with getting a program together, I am not sure yet. But I am very excited to check this out!!

the mystery secret!

We discovered the mystery secret that makes us able to catch Shyloh without chasing her around for an hour and without putting her in a corner!! With this mystery secret, Shy comes right up to me and lets me put the lead rope right on her halter! It is amazing! It is grain!

That's right! Just a little bit of grain in a bowl will send Shy running across the paddock. Me and Robin figured it out today, after an attempt to get Shy to come to us. We did it three times. We showed her the grain, let her have some, put on the lead rope, gave her a little more, then walked her into the barn and out the other door to graze. Then brought her back to the paddock, let her chill in there for a little bit, then did it all over again. 

Then Robin and I groomed her up and did some bonding with Shyloh. Shy really likes Robin. I think that her movements are slower than mine, which makes Shy feel more comfortable. I feel that I move too quick and my movements are jerky, which maybe puts Shy on edge and can startle her. I try to make a conscious effort to slow down, but it is hard! After grooming, I hosed Shy off with some cool, stinky, well water and we went into the arena.

Shy's first order of business was to roll. I got to see it, which was awesome! Then she ran around and tossed her head, in a Justin Bieber kinda way, and just checked stuff out again. She must be a klutzy horse, because she knocked down some wood that was blocking the back arena doors and spooked herself. That is the second time she knocked something down. Shy and Robin played a following game. I think she is starting to trust, she is at least interested in us!

Overall, tonight was very successful! I hope tomorrow will be, too. I am going to try and put a fly mask on her. And since she does not like her ears touched, I think it is going to be a struggle! Robin took a ton of pictures tonight, so I will share when she posts them!