monday musings by shyloh #101

My How-To Guide on how to keep a Haflinger in perfect(ly fat) condition:

1. Provide a round bale and 18 hour turn out with large draft horses. Us Haflingers cannot regulate ourselves and feel we have to be near or eating the round bale at all times.

This dive into the round bale gets an 8.9 for form and function.

Notice the drafts giving this Haflinger time to eat all she pleases before they have their share

2. Watch as Haflinger naps near the hay to make sure no draft horse takes any more hay than is absolutely necessary. 

This Haflinger even has a watch horse watching over her and the round bale.

3. To burn calories, have a Haflinger tug-o-war with the two legger every time they want you to leave the pasture. The Haflinger will put all her might into not budging from the round bale. 

This Haflinger protests at leaving her precious hay.

4. Put a grazing muzzle on the Haflinger. This is not to prevent the Haflinger from eating as much, it is just to provide a 5-10 minute session of extra calorie burning as she works at getting it off.

Haflingers get super sad when their access to food has been restricted. Then they get angry!

See the muzzle hanging down? At least this Haflinger has the decency for once to not leave it at some random spot in the field to be searched out by a two legger..

5. Stop giving the Haflinger her night night hay, only so she can burn extra calories by stealing the hay from the every growing  Percheron baby stalled next to her. . .

Look into my eyes. . .you are getting very sleepy. . .give the Haflinger all of the hay. . .

6. Watch as the Percheron willingly shares all of his grain with the Haflinger by dropping it over on her side of the stall and onto her water bucket.

Haflingers tend to not be picky about where their food source is coming from. . .the ground, a wet water bucket, another horse's mouth. . .

7. Finally move the Haflinger to the diet pasture with the minions, much the the Haflinger's displeasure. Minions are instantly entranced by the beauty of the Haflinger and follow wherever she goes. Haflinger is highly irritated, but then decides that they can be bent to her will and uses them accordingly. The hinny is upset whenever he can't see the Haflinger and one pony is in awe of a "big" horse that looks just like him. 

This Haflinger is sharing secrets with the minions on bad behavior.

The minions are following their new leader.

The minions are excited that a "big" horse gets to hang out with them. The "big" horse is not as excited, but thrilled at the prospect of bossing minions around. 

8. Break the two leggers heart and stand at the gate where her drafts are (or is it where her round bale is?) wanting to be with them (or it).  Either way, the drafts are equally as upset that the Haflinger is in the diet pasture. 

This Haflinger looks as if she is in foal. . .with twins. I assure you, she is not. 

9. Constantly remind the two legger that none of this is helped by the fact that pony time or potential pony exercising time has been drastically reduced due to other, less important obligations such as school and work.

Exercise must be gotten in various ways. . .after a tough workout, the halter is usually awry. 

10. Continue to try and convince the two legger that the Haflinger is just preparing her body for winter. 

Winter pony!

11. Surprise the human by taking first place in halter mare class. Apparently this judge loves perfect(ly fat) Haflingers!

The extra fat makes the Haflinger's body just shine and glow!

And that is how it is done!

~Shyloh

trick or treat

Happy Halloween!!

Yesterday would have been a perfect day for trick or treating. . .today, it is all rain. So far, only three kids have come knocking at my door. 

I was deciding whether or not to go to the barn all day. . .if I went, there would not be much I could do, so I decided to save the gas. Then I got a message from Jaime. . .she was going to put the horses in the barn to let them dry out for a while. 

She said Shyloh and Reba looked like they wanted in anyway since they were up at the gate.

Wet ponies in a muddy pasture

Of course all the other horses with sane minds came in right away. Not mine. She ran right to the round bale (to get in the barn from diet pasture, Shy must go through round bale pasture). Shy wouldn't let Jaime catch her, she was being such a brat! Jaime tried to coax Shy in with a flake of nice dry hay but Shy was having none of it. Sole horse with unlimited round bale!! How could she pass that up?

So Jaime, trying to be nice, left the barn door open so Shy could go in of she decided to be normal or got lonely. It didn't long before Shy wandered in. . .but Jaime had left the barn area. By the time she made it back, Shy caught on quick to the plan and scooted right back out to her precious round bale. 

She doesn't care, eating hay blocks out everything else: rain, loneliness, just everything.

So Shy made a conscious choice to stay in the rain all by herself. Just for some hay. My horse will never fit back into her harness, will she? She is determined to be large and in charge.

I also didn't get to put Shyloh's Halloween costume on, so I will do that tomorrow. I hope it turns out cute. 

monday musings by shyloh #118

I had the best weekend ever!

I spent time with Allie cleaning the barn, picking up spilled grain and left over hay. And I got to spend most of my weekend with my big horses. . .and more importantly, the round bale. I was beyond happy!

Haflinger Heaven

At first, Isaac was all up in my ish and I had to squeal and give him a couple double barrel kicks to the chest. Geez, sometimes a girl just doesn't want to be bothered like that. Fortunately, Isaac got my drift and we were able to eat hay together without him harassing by butt. 

I did keep getting kisses though.

Since the two leggers know that I can be a bit difficult when I have access to my round bale, I had to be put back with the minions so I would come in at night. It's cold and windy and the two leggers think that I am bothered by that. I am not, for the record, they seem to forget that I thrive on cold air. Mountain pony. . .right?

Walking up to Allie

I got to go back out and hang out with my big horses again the next day. Even though I needed a new round bale and didn't get one, I still had fun. I had to not so politely remind Isaac again that I was not interested in his nose up my butt. I was also told that my squeals may sound like a bunny dying. . . 

Opposites attract!

At least in the back pasture, I could see all the action in the back field with the horse sledding going on. I sure peaked my interest to watch. And it gave me a reason to run around a bit. 

Sledding is that way. . .

I got some bananas, too! I love bananas, peel and all. Hope everyone has a wonderful week! I know I will if I get lucky enough to hang out with my big horses and round bale again.

Yum!. And a new, girly lead.

~Shyloh

horse ninja

I got a text from Jaime on the coldest day this week saying they just got in from fixing the fencing. . . 

Can fit through small fence sections with skill and grace. . .?

Shyloh had somehow broken through the second and forth fence line and was found with the big horses eating round bale with no halter on. What? How do two non consecutive fence lines get broke? How did she squeeze through? What happened to her halter? How does Shy do that?

I have four possible explanations. 

• Shy and Isaac were snuggling up over the fence, Isaac grabbed Shy by the halter and tossed her over the fence, right out of the halter. Possible?

Flying Shy!

• Shy and the minions were playing limbo and Shy got tangled in the fence, which removed her halter. Once she recovered, she decided to visit her round bale. Could happen?

Shy is terrible at limbo. . .she can't go very low.

• Shy and Isaac where playing halter tag and he got her halter off. Shy tried to leap the fence to get it back, but totally failed. To make herself feel better, she ate round bale. Maybe?

Needs to work on leaping over things and not through them? Wait. . .needs to work on not leaping at all!

• Shy climbed up the pole, snapping the fence lines in the process. Once she got on the pole, she began to pole dance to try and seduce Issac, the removal of her halter was part of the seduction. Perhaps?

Work it, girl. . .yeah, that's hay in her thong.

So. . .Which scenario do you think is most likely? Pick a scenario and that will be the story we are sticking with!

Shy is generally not a fence tester. She respects boundaries and leaves them alone. Only a few times has she actually broken boundaries and that was because she was leaning against them to get grass. There is no grass in the pastures any more. So fences will be turned on. . .

What is up with my horse breaking things lately? Halters and fences, it is not cool! I felt bad that Jaime and Kyle had to be outside to fix fencing from my little horse, it has been to cold for all this nonsense! Hopefully, Shy can get herself together and be a respectable Haflinger and not destroy stuff any more. 

sweety pie shy gets to work

Shyloh was incredibly affectionate today. Being all snuggly is not her M.O., but I'll take it when she gives it out. I was grooming her and she  put her head on my shoulder and just held it there for a while. It was definitely an "awwww" moment. Especially since after I pet her head or rub her neck, she always shakes it off afterwards. 

I went out to the barn with a plan. I had been re-reading a book sent to me by Dreaming on training a horse to drive. I know Shy can drive, she (we) just need to get some confidence in ourselves. So, I thought to take a few steps back and really drill in her commands, mostly whoa and stand. We always have trouble with stand.

I tacked her up in the barn, it is getting cold outside! And Shy promptly tried to get into Clutch's food. 

Her head almost fits through. .  .

Which brings us to another problem. . .Shy's ever expanding girth. Seriously, I could not buckle her harness girth! I think Shy may have to live permanently with the minions because she clearly has not demonstrated that she can handle herself with the round bale. And, as if she does not have access to the round bale all day, when she comes inside, she tries to steal Isaac's food! Jaime even had to change out her buckets so she stops getting to Isaac's and dumping his. How she does this, we have no idea. 

No self control

Anyway, Shy got her harness on and we stopped for a quick photo shoot. . .

Go Blue!!

Then I took her to the round pen. I lunged her and worked on her commands. I was pleasantly surprised that Shy was spot on. My only issue was that her trot to whoa was more of a slow down shift to a stop than a quick stop. However, I think that may be okay because I don't want a sudden and jolty stop. And then we she did stop she turned into me and started to walk towards me. 

Ready to work!

While we were lunging, I was dragging the whip behind her, through the leaves on the ground. Shy was fine with that until she heard it coming up next to and in front of her. That made her stop. I clicked her on and she would walk until the sound came up next to her again. But hey, a stop is better than a bolt forward. Shy eventually got over this. 

See the hay baby?

Then I line drove her around the round pen. This is were we worked on stay. Shy was a rockstar with stay! We made this short and sweet since she was doing so well. Why is it that going back into work after time off, Shy is always so good? It is after she has been in work that she starts being a butthead. I think a couple more sessions of this then we can work on hooking the plastic sled again. Then maybe Shy can shed these extra pounds. . .

And another shout out to the Horze college jacket contest! Click here to enter now!

things to think about

I told myself I would not do this, but I can't stop thinking about it. And since I have missed my exits on the freeway three times, I decided to just write it out to get it out. Trying to figure out what is wrong/bothering Shyloh is pretty pointless, she can't tell me, and I can only speculate. I appreciate all the comments and insights, and they are definitely something that I considered. So here goes. . .

Change in food

At the other barn Shy was being fed hay, grass pasture, and barn grain. She pretty much got as much hay, grass, and grain as she wanted since she was at the top of the herd. I fed her the supplements I give her (magnesium, raspberry leaf, and multi vitamin crumbles) when I was at the barn, since the barn was unable to separate from the herd to give them to her. I would say I was at the barn about 3-6 days a week. 

At this barn Shy has grass and round bale access. She gets her supplements daily. 

So could it be the supplements? I can't imagine this kind of behavior from a lack of grain, it is usually a problem with too much grain. 

Change in herd

At the other barn Shy was top of the herd. She ate what she wanted, went where she wanted, and could move other horses off when she wanted. 

At this barn, I am not quite sure where Shy fits in yet. She can hold the others off of the round bale if she wants, but sometimes they don't let her at the bale. 

She seems comfortable here, but maybe she is lacking the confidence that she had when she was top of the herd? Also, she may be getting a little herd sour. She doesn't want to leave them and she nickers when she sees them. Shy rarely nickers. 

Less doing nothing time

At the other barn, we did spend a lot of time walking around, through the trails, grazing, and just doing nothing.

At this barn, I have been leaving Shy in with the herd until I want to do something with her. 

Maybe she needs that do nothing time to be comfortable?

Those are really my top three. I don't think she needs less work, we don't really work much. She may need more work or harder work. The work we do does not even put her in a sweat. So maybe harder work? Pull more weight? Or maybe more intellectual work. Get back into clicker training and even try some horse agility stuff. Other thoughts are that maybe Shy is only comfortable driving team? She does really well in a team. She is more nervous by herself. She also does really well with my lead line kids. She feels more comfortable with someone on the ground with her. Like I mentioned earlier. . . so many possibilities, I will never know the answer. 

I spent some time with Shy today walking through the soybean fields and discovered that Shy loves soybeans! Then we spent some time cooling off in front of the fan. It was a good day, even if it doesn't solve the problem. 

Also, She Moved to Texas is going a Horze halter give away! Head on over and check her out!

new rule

Jaime is always making up new rules at the barn. They are mostly for me and Terry's benefit as we can be Snarky Rider's dream team of what not to do. 

First there was "no getting on your horse from the hay loft, " ahem. . .Terry. 

When they are so big, mounting blocks don't work!

And now there is "no round pen work with the minions." A week or so ago, Clutch had a really strange episode of kinda tying up. His muscles got hard and we was in a lot of pain, so Clutch was moved in with Shyloh and the minions went to live in the round pen. This was so Isaac and Notch would not chase or play with Clutch and Shy is not much of a chaser/player.

Since the weather has been nice, I have been doing my grooming in the round pen. And because I didn't feel like wrangling some minions (which really is a chore) and putting them on the hitching post, I left them in the round pen with us. When I worked Shy, none of the horses cared. The minions stood around and Shy ignored them.

We also stretch! Shy is holding a stretch here, she loves stretching!

If they were too close to the panels, Shy would push through them. Minions didn't care, Shy kept on working and listening to me. All was good. But soon, Shy came to enjoy busting through the minions. It was like "Red Rover, Red Rover, send Shyloh over!" and if I had her at a walk, she would pick up a trot and plow through them, then resume her walk. Once, she actually jumped Meatball! 

But overall, Shy was still listening and working really well for me and the minions ignored her. 

Not the other day. I got Shy out of her pasture and she was in heat. For some reason, Isaac makes Shy go into a nasty heat. Grossness in the next sentence. . .I think she squirts so much that she chaffs herself, then her skin starts to peel. I have to put Bag Balm on it. So, that is what was going on the other day. 

We get into the round pen and she is ready to go, giving a very willing canter. But I wanted her to walk. So she would walk half the round pen then canter through the minions. Dexter must have finally gotten tired of it so he started chasing and biting and trying to mount Shy, so she just went faster. And faster. And faster. And would not listen. 

I put a lead rope on Meatball and tried to catch Dexter, who was being impossible as he chased and bit at poor Shy. She did pop him pretty good though. Eventually Jaime had to come and save the day and a new rule was made. Shy was a tense, sweaty mess from all that cantering around. I felt really bad, but this was the first time it was a problem. Lessons learned the hard way . . . I let her rest, then worked on walk and whoa, because before we needed to be done, I needed Shy to listen to me and she needed to cool down.  She was able to bring herself back together for that, thank goodness.  

The pasture situation should be worked out soon, as the big, giant pasture is almost ready. It is just hard when you have a big, playful blue roan who only wants to hump Shy and chase minions, a Haflinger who can't handle the round bale, and an older Clyde with special needs. 

deep freeze

We got our first snow storm of the season! I think we ended up getting eight inches by the time I left the barn. And that was the day we planned on lots of travelling. We drove slow and stayed safe. It took us forever to get anywhere and we did not have time for horse sledding. I am not upset though, there will be plenty more chances.

White pony!

Terry had never been to a local-ish tack store that we frequent for treats, grooming stuff, halters, and other things we may need. They specialize in English riding, so they also have a ton of stuff that 1. don't fit the giant drafts and 2. we will never use.

Dexter is covered with snow!

But Reba is trained in dressage and Terry wants to convert, so we thought to show her what she has been missing. The girls that work there are super nice and helpful, all riders themselves. 

Anyway, getting to the barn then getting to the tack shop and back took up a large chunk of our day. And we had somewhere to be at 6:00, which we barely made.

Frozen whiskers!

The horses were cute in the snow. They were having a blast, especially Isaac who though snow was the greatest thing on earth! He was picking on poor Clutch so much that Clutch had to hang out with Shy and the minions. 

Minions have so much hair that they can't feel their snow blankets

At one point, we opened the gate and let the horses mingle. All the drafts run into the minion pasture and Shy ran to the round bale. Then she ran around some more and Isaac and Notch started following her. She took a lap and went back to the round bale. Isaac started eating the snow off her back, it was pretty cute!

Follow that sexy Haflinger!

Butt licker

We brought the horses in to dry them up a bit and Gunny dried off in the way only mini mules do. . .

Gunny just drops right behind the horses for a roll

Getting his head. . .

He could really care less about his body, he concentrates on his head!

Haha! Sawdust face!

Even though we froze our asses off all day, the horses didn't even seem to register the cold and had a rip-roaring time playing in the snow and eating their extra hay!

Meatball! He is such a hoot!