muddin' and lungin'

It has been rainy here. Rainy and muddy and just gross. One day, there was a break in the drizzle, so I went to visit with Shyloh.  I got to the barn and bonus!, they had already fed and the horses were finishing the last of the hay. I thought, maybe we would do some fun clicker stuff that we haven't done in a long time or maybe we would line drive. 

Shy had other plans. I guess she felt like running because she played a mean game of "catch me if you can". We ran through the mud, we ran through the trees. She would let me get so close, then off she would go. My Air Ariats (named so for the "air vents" in both sides of both boots where the plastic toe piece meets the leather) collected mud as it seeped through the holes. Yuck.

She makes up her own paths

Shy has not played this game in forever, so I was not prepared with a peppermint. The mere crinkle of the wrapper will stop her in her tracks. I tried many methods, even scooping up hay remains and trying to feed them to her. It was a no-go. 

The more she evaded, the madder I got. She wanted to run? Run we would. . .as soon as I caught her. Eventually, after chasing her out back and through the woods, she stopped and I caught her. Shy then did her walk of shame back up front where I promptly de-burred her and put on her lunging tack.

Thirsty? From 40 minutes of evasion? No. . .Too thirsty to continue any further? No. . .

Oh yes. . .we were going to run. I was even more pissed because I hate lunging. It is boring. And there is no round pen at the barn, so I couldn't even free lunge.

We trotted and trotted some more. I did spiral circles, big to little to big again. I had her do walk/trot transitions. A little cantering (so hard for her, even harder for me to get her into it!).  Then we reversed and repeated. 

A few reverses later and I had a slightly sweaty, very huffy puffy, fat pony. Guess who wasn't trying to play that game with me anymore and did perfect ground ties?

I decided that since Shy was warm, I would stretch her out. She loves her stretches! But even those weren't enough to keep her not pissy. I hope she decides it is not worth playing that game next time I go out. Plus, I don't want to lunge again.

Haha. Gotta laugh at pony, still mad after the lunge.

piss and vinegar

Shyloh was quite the spunky pony today! But I can't blame her. . .most of her pasture is flooded (at least the part all the horses prefer to hang out on, strange) so I am pretty sure she has been mostly stationary for the past few days.

Minimal mud

Surprisingly, Shy was so clean! The rain/snow mix made her mane so white! Only the very bottom of her legs where a little muddy. Yay! I had decided to lunge Shy since I had not done that in a loooong time and I had not really worked her in a couple weeks. The reason behind that is I think Shy needs her teeth floated. She is dropping food and had been holding her head funny with a bit in. The equine dentist comes next week.

Flaxen mane

Anyway to the arena we went. . .the following is my internal (and possibly external) thoughts:

-Wow, Shy is looking good, she is walking very forward.

-Oh, she wants to trot. Well, I need to ask for it so I will bring to to a walk. . .Walk. . .WALK!

-Now she can trot. I can't believe she wants to trot so bad.

-Shy is tracking up really well. She is holding her head in position for short amounts of time. Pretty good for not working in a while.

- Hmmm. . .keeping up the trot. Going faster. I will try asking for a canter. Shy hates canter.

-What horse is this? A canter that I don't have to keep her in? Correct front and rear leads the first time?

- I think she wants to buck, yeah, she wants to buck. . .but she is keeping herself together, just going faster. 

- Shy is looking good. I think this living outside is really benefiting her.

- Time to stop and switch directions. Whoa. . .whoa. . .whoa. . .Whoa. . Whoa. . .WHOA!!

- Let's try that again. . .and again. . and again. . .no not faster, STOP! Dang this horse is feisty today!

The opposite direction was pretty much the same, but when we switched directions again Shy was listening better. But she was a trotting machine! A fast trotting machine!

After our lunge session, I did some stretches on Shy. What is the best way to tell if your horse likes being stretched? When she is already holding her legs up when you get around to that side! She looves her some stretching!

Then Buddy the Belgian came into the arena for his riding lesson. As big as Buddy is, he can be a scaredy-horse. He was afraid of the back corner of the arena and making the "thinking noise," which can also be referred to as the scared noise. Shy, who never had a problem with the arena, was feeding off of Buddy's vibes and perked her ear and was jumpy. Weirdo. 

Buddy is a giant Shy!

We finished our day with the Tour-de-Hay, which includes the Tunnel of Hay and all the other hay spots around the barn. Shy knows them all and I let her lead the way. 

nom nom

When I put her back in with her herd (minus her buddy, Jesse, he moved, so sad) Shy even gave a little attitude to Lukas! That was a shock! Sassy pony is feeling that tomorrow is March!

how to break a saddle

. . .or how to ensure no one will ride you ever again. . .or at least until another saddle is found and bought. . .

Step 1. Run out of tack stall at full speed.

Step 2. Get saddle horn caught on low overhang.

Step 3. Continue running until front of saddle is ripped back and you are freed from overhang.

Step 4. Stop and eat some grass.

Step 5. Run again as two legger gets near, just for fun and because smoke is coming from her ears. 

Needless to say, I am pretty upset over this. For some reason, Shyloh does not care for the tack stall. It really is just a stall with wood flooring. She goes in every time, but does not like to stay in it. I think it might be that she can't really see out of it, but who knows. Usually, she just calmly tried to walk out, like no big deal. Previously, I could tack her anywhere and she would just stand. Here, she is a little more antsy, even during our stretches. I am sure she is still getting comfortable with the place.

I tacked her up just fine and we had a great lunging/stretching session. I actually got sweat! And there was even foamy butt sweat! There was only one other time Shy had foamy butt sweat and it sure wasn't from me lunging her! I can already tell a difference in Shy from one week of being out all the time. It is nice to see and I was looking forward to riding sooner rather than later. . .

And, I asked the feeding lady to leave Shy's hay out since I was getting ready to work her just as she started feeding and she did. Yay. The only downside to that is I have to feed Shy in a paddock and wait for her to be finished, then put her back with the herd. I do really love that Shy has the whole pasture at her disposal, to walk around and explore as she pleases. 

But at the same time, I don't dislike it, but I wish things could be different. For instance, I wish they had feeding spots where they could each go to feed. And I wish I had a spot where I could take Shy and just hang out, like we used to in her stall. Tomorrow, it is supposed to rain all day. So there is no point in me even heading over to the barn. I will have a wet pony I can't work and no where to just spend time with her. It can be frustrating. But other than that, Shy seems to be adjusting well. No major chunks are removed from her flesh. I am going to reserve some thoughts about this place until I get a little more comfortable. Nothing that has to do with the care or safety of the horses or the people, just some personal thoughts about what I want for me and Shy and our future. 

In the mean time. . .anyone have a saddle for me?

not at the very bottom

I witnessed my first feeding time with Shyloh and the herd. It went much better than I thought it would! The feeding lady put the grain and hay in a bunch of spots around the pasture, opened the gates and the horses each went to a spot. I guess the horses each have kind of a spot. . .

Shy's new home, the gates are red.

Shy and her new buddies, Dancer and Analeesa, go to the far side of the pasture to eat (orange) , the others eat at the near side (yellow). They stay pretty stationary to eat. I thought it was a wild, all horses higher in the herd running off the lower in the herd, squealing, bucking mess. I was wrong. But I did discover Shy is higher than Analeesa in the herd and did walk Analeesa off her hay pile when Dancer walked Shy off of hers. And, for a strange reason, all the horses seemed to eat at a slow pace. . .much slower than when Shy ate by herself in her stall. Only once the horses higher in the herd finished, did some running around start. Shy got bucked once in the belly, but mostly stayed off by herself.

Eating under the shelter

Hay head!

I still have not had to test Shy on being a wild and free pony. I have not had to walk out to the pasture area to get her yet. Today, as I walked through the gate to the pasture, her and Dancer were coming through the woods (blue dashes) and met me at the gate (blue star).

Dancer is not being mean, he is shaking his head

Today was our first day back at normalcy. We lunged. We stretched. I used the outdoor arena to lunge. I felt the footing may have been a bit deep, so I am going to try the indoor next time. Also, it is smack in the middle of the barns and I feel watched. . .

Another thing about this place that is not my favorite. . .they feed on a schedule. Which is fine, except that it does not give me much time to work with Shy by the time I get to the barn from work. Because she is in the pasture, if she is not there for feeding time, she misses out. Unless I bring my own hay to give her. Ugh. Not everything can be perfect, right? I am going to talk to the barn manager and see if I can work something out though,

jolly ball beatdown

What a seriously fabulous day at the barn! Except for maybe the Jolly Ball beatdown. But I can look past that in light of how great today was.

I did my usual spiral lunging with Shyloh. She looked better to me and was really forward. No problems there. But the best part. . .when I ask Shy to stop she normal turns in to me. The other day she took a step forward to me, but stepped on the lunge line and stopped herself. Today, she walked all the way in to me! She has never done that before! And it wasn't a fluke, she did this more than once. 

I think we have reached another new level in our relationship. The last significant level up was in December of last year. . .almost a whole year! Now, Shy is letting me catch her in the pasture without treats (as long as she was not just let out) and it just seems we have morphed into something new and better. 

We lunged, mostly at a trot in both directions. I used the timer feature on my phone to time us, just to make sure I am lunging both sides evenly. Then we went through our stretching routine and I lunged her once more for less time. Great results again!

Shoulder release down and back

Bringing the  hind legs forward

The chiropractor was scheduled to come out today, so I kept Shy busy by working on some clicker training with the mat. I used a new mat and not a piece of wood. Now she does not tap dance on it. 

What a cutie!

Then I tried something new. I moved Shy a few feet from the mat and told her to go to it. She did! I was stunned! We did it a few more times, clicking and treating each time. It was really cool to see her do that!

We were still waiting on Dr. Dave, so I put Shy back in her stall. The Jolly Ball, which I have never seen her interested in, except when I introduced it to her as a click and treat exercise, was not the object of her affection. All on her own, she kept picking the ball up and swinging it around. Then she got me. . .right in the nose on one of those swings! Ouch!! She got me again in the chest. I was stunned! Beat up by my own horse! I was still awestruck by how she was all about the Jolly Ball!

Finally, Dr. Dave got to the barn. Shy was dropping her right shoulder kind of hard, which crosses over to that darn left hip. Shy got her adjustment and was very well behaved for Dr. Dave. He said the lunging, backing, hills, and stretching were the best thing for her. He also said to add stretches where she bends between her front legs (like practicing for bowing), and this will stretch her withers. And then he said to add a saddle to the work. This way, she gets used to the saddle and will have a little extra weight on her. He even said eventually to put sand bags around the horn to add even more weight. The saddle and no rider should also help with her breathing. Shy will learn to breathe, since she trends to hold her breath for a while when we start working. Then she does a series of blows and starts breathing. 

Overall it was a great night! Shy is doing well with her chiro work and her strengthening exercises. And she seems to be connecting with me on a new level. Happy dance!!

Super relaxed pony

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!

autumn fun day!

Today is the first day of autumn and Shyloh and I had a fun day! We did do a little bit of work. . .spirals on the lunge line in the arena. It was raining all day! But after that, we had a lot of clicker fun!

And Shy was featured in the Stale Cheerios blog for the Almost Wordless Wednesday this week! It is a blog on clicker training and it has a ton of great resources for anyone who wants to try it. 

For our Autumn fun day, we. . .

• Did a lot of at liberty clicking, see, no halter, no lead! Shy was amazing. She walked right up to her "new" mat without a problem. The old mat was leaving chunks all over the arena. The new mat is a little too narrow, but that didn't stop Shy!

On the mat!

• Played with cones. Lots of cones. Shy was all about cones today! I was trying to get her to hold them for longer so we can work on more tricks. 

There is something on my butt. . .

A cone on the butt. . .a cone in the mouth!

• Kicked the ball and licked the pole. I was trying to teach Shy to kick forward, but she likes to kick back. Something to keep working on.

Then we got some horsey friends out and played with them. Casi and Robbie wanted to play way more than Shy did!

And. . .I found another toad!

Toad on Shy's butt

Toad on Shy's head

Shy liked the toad so much she tried to eat it. I had to pull it out of her mouth! Poor toad. . .I put it in a safe place, far away from Shy's chompers. 

The first day of fall gave me and Shyloh some good old fashioned fun, even though we were stuck inside because of the rain.

plant

If a Haflinger was a plant, what kind of plant would she be? Maybe a fern? A Venus Flytrap? An Hibiscus? I don't know, but Shyloh seems to grow a set of roots whenever it is convenient for her. Sometimes, those roots seem to take place right on my foot!

Today started the day of lunge lining. Beth gave me some feedback for the horse that will try anything to get out of using her rear end. And lunge lining was part of the solution. And I can't stand lunging. Part of it has to do with my lunge line. Upon its purchase, I had bought it to color coordinate with the lunge whip. . .a pretty turquoise, because matching is the most important part of equipment, right? My pretty turquoise lunge line is thick and heavy and not suitable for my clumsy self. It makes it hard for me to wind and unwind as I am using it. Luckily, Kathy had a nice, light, lunge line for me to borrow. 

I took Shy to the round pen to get started. I opted for the round pen over the arena because the round pen is outside and it was so nice out. I warmed Shy up, then attached the side reins (brought out a notch) and did spiraling at the trot in each direction. I felt Shy did good, she kept up a nice forward motion and she looked good to me, but she still needs to get more impulsion. 

After our session, which wore me out more than her, since I had to keep driving her forward, I decided to treat her for a walk down the street. I thought it would be nice to get away from the barn. . . it had been a while. I forgot to take into consideration that Shy has never walked down the street by herself. We have always gone with a buddy. 

I am a trillium!

So, off we went. . .for two steps. And Shy planted herself. I got her moving for two more steps, then plant. Two steps, then plant. It was frustrating, but I was bound and determined to make it to a certain point down the road. 

This was our end point!

We finally made it. . .after Shy planted her self to watch every car pass, near and far, planted herself to sniff the road, planted herself on my foot when climbing up a ditch to check out some corn, and planted herself in the middle of the road just for fun. 

This road looks like a good place to set roots. . .

Corn! And a bit of grass.

The way back was a different story, of course. We had no problem going toward the barn. Shy was a dream with a nice pace, no planting, and no spooks. But there were not any spooks on the way out, either. Yay!

On a mission to get back to the herd!

When we got back, Kathy asked if we walked two miles. . .um, no! Just to the corner and back! I guess planting is much preferred to bolting, though!

it's hot!

It is way too hot for not even being officially summer yet! Too hot to do work today. It is one of those stifling, non breezy, humid hots. 

I had really wanted to do some line driving with Shyloh. We did some practice the other day and it went really well. I am working on keeping contact with her as we walk, which is hard because Shy tends to slow down and I keep going at the same speed. When she loses the contact, she thinks she is a free pony and able to go whichever way she wants. 

The goal is to push her into the contact. . .harder to do on the ground than while riding her. Beth suggested lunging her on long lines. I did and it worked! After we did some lunging, I took Shy in some patterns around the arena, concentrating on keeping the contact on Shy. We did serpentines, figure eights, and circles in the corners in all directions. I was very satisfied with what we accomplished. 

Shy even had foamy mouth when we got done!

Today, it was over 90 degrees! So I took Shy for a little walk around the property. We checked out the napping cat. . .

Bubba loves this chair!

. . .and the pond. . .

The reeds and cat tails are so high! And tasty, according to Shy!

. . .got some grass. . .

No small bites for this dainty lady

. . .and practiced our new trick. 

Say cheese!

Word in the barn is that Shy has started "smiling" at people that walk by. . .looking for a treat!

Then I hosed Shy down to cool her off. I am not sure if she really minds the heat too much. She has a fan on her stall, but she never stands in front of it like the other horses do with their fans. Shy prefers her window. Hopefully it cools down a little bit so we can do some work this week! It is not looking too good with us going to the show if the heat keeps up. The trailer ride, no shelter, and long hours are very hard on the horses when it is so hot. 

something cool. . .

My something cool finally came in the mail! I was so excited! The something new was the harness and line driving down the road. The something interesting. . .well, it is still a work in progress and proving to be a little more difficult than I thought. But, for my something cool, I had walked to my front door with my arms full of stuff and saw a package on the porch. I dropped everything and jumped for joy! Even the dogs had to wait to go outside until I was done with my jumping.

But first. . .the reason I was walking into the front door was because I was coming home from the barn. It was a nice day, but so so muddy. I really wanted to take Shyloh on a walk outside, but we would have sunk in the mud for sure. Instead, we had a little spa day.

Shy was not impressed with spa day

I groomed her really well, took my time, and just talked to her. Shy is shedding already; her body is so confused by this weather. I put some hoof conditioner on her hooves because they seemed to be dry. This dryness was the cause of a minor meltdown the other day, on my part. I had no idea what was wrong with her hooves, but after settling down and becoming rational. . .I realized that they are just dry.  Kathy confirmed this for me, whew. Shy has been inside during the week days because the pastures are dangerously muddy. I have been letting her out on weekends when I was there to supervise. 

I played around with her mane and came up with an evening "do" for her. It is a side swept mane-style that exposes a little more skin than Shy is used to showing. 

Showing a little neck. . .ooh lala

It is much more sophisticated than her normal double mane. Kathy said she looks more like a horse and less like a pony with her mane on one side. I would have kept it for a while, but as soon as we got in the arena, Shy shook it out. Back to the double mane. 

We lunged for a while. This is something we have been doing every time I have been going out. It's boring, but useful. We have been working on whoa and transitions. I did make a discovery today, though. I already knew she would not canter on a lunge line, but I found out she has two different trots. I cluck gets a slow, bumpy-looking trot and a kiss gets a quicker, more elongated, and smoother looking trot. Very interesting.

Anyway. . .here is my something new!

It was made by Sand at Manitiba MoonSox and Me. She does wood-burned signs and has a website called Cantering Customs. She does gorgeous work! She came up with the design and it totally encompasses everything that Shy is. I love it! Thank you so much Sand!! I can't wait to put it on Shy's stall tomorrow.

new things!

Oh my! The rain came down yesterday and re-flooded the almost dried up pastures. This was only a few hours worth of rain, too! Boo. Are we destined to live in a mud filled world? My jeans are never clean, my boots are always muddy, and my horse is very dirty!

They had to cross an ocean to get to the dry land. . .and grass

I got my order from Schneider's today! I put up the hay bag and it was a hit for Shyloh! Although, I am not sure it slowed down her hay intake much. The way she was chomping at that hay, I actually won't be surprised if I get to the barn tomorrow and the hay bag is destroyed. I don't need to use the tail bags yet.

I also attempted to use my new long lines. They are much longer than the ones I was borrowing so I have to deal with the extra hassle of the length. 

Not down with work today. . .

We definitely need another lesson, so I set one up with Beth. I need to get ready to ride and I need to get Shyloh ready to ride because I am asking for a saddle for Christmas! I want to be trail riding come summer time. But today, Shyloh was all over the place. We tried lunging and we were less than successful. 

No?

Then we tried the long lines. Again, I would not call it a successful attempt. 

Not this either?

I am hoping another lesson will help us get back on track so we can be one step closer to our goals. 

Barney the barn cat. He watched our whole cat-astrophe today.

I read this post from Kate over at A Year With Horses about the dangers of fall grass. Since Shyloh is an easy keeper, I have decided to keep her inside for tomorrow. And maybe for a couple days a week for a while, I'm not sure yet. All I know is I do not want her to founder! For some reason, it is a big fear of mine, even though she does not have a history that I know of or IR or Cushings and she does not get grain. As I have mentioned before, I prefer that she be outside almost always, but the only place where there is no grass is the big guy's (Percheron and Clydesdale) paddock. But having to spend the day inside trumps dealing with founder! Have any other Haflinger owners had an issues with their horses grass intake and/or founder?

Need your input, please!!