monday musings by shyloh #9

Holy hormones, Batman! All I can say is I am glad that is over til spring. When I am in heat, I just want to be left alone by everyone except for Ryleigh. . . or Mocha. . .he was looking pretty good over the fence.

Okay. . .Are you ready for it. . .

The idea was to be My Little Pony (right. . .after the little rant about me not being a pony that Allie had). Allie thought it was the best idea since baled hay. It is hard to see, but I actually have  purple and blue stars on my rump. But I heard the two leggers talking and it seems like I look more like Punky Brewster or something else straight from the 80's! I can't say that I am too happy with the results, but what can I do about it now?

Candy please!
I like Kit Kats, but only the Halloween ones, not the regular ones.

What are YOU looking at?

Next time Allie tries anything crazy like this again, I may not be so nice. Plus, she knows how much I hate spray things! I get startled by them. 

Eating some eyeballs with my grass

I am getting used to being in my stall. It is not so bad, after all. I already have the schedule down. When the other horses start to go inside, me and Ryleigh go up to the gate and wait. . .when it is our turn, we go in real nice. I know that my dinner is waiting for me! But then I am stuck inside for the rest of the night, unless Allie comes. And we have not done any work in a week. I think she was being nice, cause I was a crab from being in heat. 

I am good in my stall. Not like Bob, all he does is kick kick kick! And he can escape from his stall! He knows how to open it. . .I am going to have to learn that trick! 

There are lots of different noises in the barn, sometimes they startle me. But I am learning to adjust. Mostly I get startled when I am eating. My hay is just so delicious, I zone out while eating!   But then something startles me and I jump back to reality! 

Anyway. . .I hope this stuff comes out soon. I am tired of looking like a neon sign! Happy Halloween!!

~Shyloh

NOT a pony

As cute and adorable as Shyloh may be, she is not a pony! She may be short and stocky, but she is definitely a Haflinger Horse! Only I am allowed to call her a pony. Whew. . .I had to get that out!

I spent the day at the barn helping muck stalls and taking the horses outside and back inside. Then I hung out with Shyloh for a bit in her stall. I groomed her and just chilled with her. 

And now for your enjoyment. . .photos taken and edited by Robin!

Pretty girl!

Ryleigh: tall, dark, and handsome. Shyloh's kind of guy!

Grow mane grow!

Tail caught on the weeds!

Participating in her favorite activity, eating

Anyone from Michigan knows that there is a great rivalry between University of Michigan and Michigan State. Well, I am a Michigan fan and Robin is a State fan and she just HAD to do this with one of the photos. I can't help but laugh at it, it is cute and hilarious!

Actually, we are practicing our sprints so we can kick Michigan State's butt!

fantastic idea turns bad

You know when you have a fantastic idea? And in your head it the idea is so awesome, so great, that you know it will turn out to be incredible? In the picture that you imagine, the idea comes together perfectly and looks amazing!

Well. . . I had one of those ideas the other day. It was like the sky opened and the idea shined down on my, so I just knew I had to act on this idea. It was perfect for Shyloh in every way!

The idea had to do with Shyloh's Halloween costume. . .it was flawless. Cute, funny, just an overall good idea. Today after work, I collected the items needed for my project, which basically required going to a Halloween store. 

What I did not take into consideration was that fact that Shy is still in heat and when I walked into her stall, she gave me this look. . .

Glowing eyes. . .Shy is possessed by hormones!

But this did not deter me, oh no! I was determined to execute my awesome Halloween idea. I cleaned her up real good and let her eat some of her dinner. Of course, because I had plans, she was taking her time. So I rudely put her halter on and led her out, with some hay left behind.

You want to do what? Do you see all this hay left?

I put her in the cross ties and began to work on my masterpiece. . .Amazingly, she was quite tolerant. How I did not get kicked is beyond me! 

Let's just say, the end product was nothing like the image in my mind. Actually, what ended up happening is too embarrass to post. . .It was horrible! Awful! Shameful! Poor Shyloh. I did give her extra treats to make up for what I did.

But I promise to post it Monday, on Halloween. Just know that I am embarrassed. . . and will never make THAT mistake again. But hey. . .we can't have an adventure without some mishap, can we? 

roly poly

Horses having fun rolling around in the arena!

Shyloh!

Ryleigh!

Forseti!

Casimiro Tomas or CT, formerly Melvin! It means peaceful twin in Spanish. CT is very peaceful and he is a twin Appy, too!

 Is it Resy, or a zebra?

CT and Forseti

Shyloh and Ryleigh

Watch out! I have discovered the reason for Shy's moodiness. . .she is in heat! This is her first "real" heat cycle since she has been at this barn. And let me tell you, it is gross. Don't worry, I won't share the details. . .just know that this is quite an experience!

growth

At the place that I bought Shyloh from, the horse she lived with had grazed on her mane as a daily afternoon snack. Here are today's pictures of her re-growth:

Needs some more growth at the end

This side is looking better!

On another note. . .I think Shy is really trying to test me and see what she can get away with. I need to work on being consistent and asserting myself. We played around in the arena today and Shy did very well. We worked on a trick (funny how she only "knows" the trick if she can see a treat is coming), worked on the side pass, and worked on the mounting block. 

After our work, I put her in her stall because Beth was bringing the horses inside. When she saw Ryleigh coming, she nickered for him! So cute!

They are cute!

I hung out with her for a little bit in the stall, then her dinner came. I went to say bye to her and she swung her rear end around at me so fast! I jumped out of the way (luckily there was no kick out), but I got the message that she did not want to be bothered when she was eating. So. . .we just found something new to work on, because that was unacceptable behavior. I let her know this, but I did not strike her. And I did get my good bye in. . .even though I was upset with her.

But as I think about this behavior some more, maybe it has to do with the move inside and maybe it could be that I discontinued her red raspberry leaf supplement? Robin suggested that Shy could be upset that I disrupted our schedule by going away for the weekend. But I might start the red raspberry leaf back up and see if anything positive happens.

On a funny note. . .Beth told me that she has been taking Shyloh and Ryleigh outside at the same time. She said the first time was a disaster! Shyloh stopped to eat grass and would not budge and Ryleigh was pulling to get to the pasture. Beth was being pulled in two directions, stretched out to the max! But the next time, both horses seemed to work out a system and walked just fine to the pasture.

Trying to squeeze under to go visit Ryleigh!

So, I need to re-connect with Shyloh and work on our bond. This will be my focus this week and we will be taking a break from the long lines. But not for long. . .

If you have Facebook and you want to see some more photos of Shyloh, like her very own page, here!

monday musings by shyloh #8

So, Allie left me alone again for the weekend! She tried to make up for her absence yesterday but coming to visit, but I played hard to get. Hey, I was outside with Ryleigh, eating grass, and the weather was wonderful! I surely did not want to go inside and work, if that is what she wanted. But she did not have my halter or lead rope, so I eventually let her some up to me. We hung out for a little bit and it was all good. I got a carrot, so I really can't complain.

But more on my weekend. . .

I had a great weekend! I spent some time with Ryleigh outside. We galloped around and made sure to hit all the puddles in the pasture. What fun! 

Here are some other things we did. . .

Ate grass

Had a masquerade 

Ate more grass

Messed with Ryleigh

Continued eating grass

Basked in the sunlight as Princess of the Pasture

Got some food and loving from Robin

And finished my weekend with eating some grass

I would have to rate this weekend a huge success!! Two hooves up for grass! Allie didn't come again today, though. I thought I heard something about a birthday dinner. Isn't a birthday one day? So what is up with today and the whole weekend? Aren't I important too?

~Shyloh

best place on earth

I spent the weekend in Traverse City with Mike and the dogs. It was the best weekend ever! We had a blast! We went for my birthday and our 5th anniversary. 

On the way up to Traverse City. . .it was a five hour drive. It was Maggie's (the black dog) first vacation. Cooper is an old pro at going places. They love car rides, however, after a while, Maggie started to look worried. . .she had never been in the car THAT long!

The hand-carved Welcome Bear at Moomer's, the best ice cream ever!

The Stone Cottage that we stayed in! It was so cute! Perfect for us! It had a little kitchen, a claw foot tub, and a loft for sleeping. No TV, no computer, and spotty cell phone service. . .perfectly relaxing!

The patio area. The stars were so clear and beautiful at night from this patio! The Big Dipper looked amazing!

The wood stove. It kept the cottage warm and toasty. . .sometimes very warm and toasty. Mike was the burn master, starting the fire, keeping it going, and getting the wood.

A view of the land from the patio. Twenty nine acres of awesomeness! And there were some trails cut out for hiking. Of course, we checked these out with the dogs!

 A little bridge over a creek. 

Running up a hill! Most of the property was hillside. The trees and colors of the leaves were amazing to see!

Made it to the top! The dogs had so much fun running around. Me and Mike got our work out for the day! But after that long car ride, it was needed. We all slept good the first night!

Maggie's first vacation did not start off so well. She tried to escape back to our car, she was scared of the loft area in the cabin, and she tore off her back nail, past the quick. Mike did emergency surgery on her toe and we bandaged it up. She later realized that the loft was okay and that we would not leave her at the cabin.

Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes! Such a pretty sight! We love this place! There is nothing prettier than standing on top of the dunes and looking over Lake Michigan!

We hiked all over the dunes with the dogs. They loved it! Sand is incredibly hard to walk through and has a sneaky way of making it through socks and shoes.

They were too excited to sit still for a picture! We are on top of a dune here! So many new smells and sights for Maggie and Cooper.

 A little lake that we found that opens to Lake Michigan. So pretty!

Cooper and Maggie went for a swim. Maggie likes to retrieve sticks and Cooper just likes to wade. The water was so clear and peaceful. We were the only people out there, so the dogs got to run free.

Deer hoof prints in the sand coming from the water. And some paw prints from the dogs. 

 Mike said that if he was on Man vs. Wild this would be his home base.

Scenic drive through the woods.

We stayed just north of this sign! How cool!

Time to head home. 

Maggie's vacation ended up much better than it started and Cooper takes pretty much everything in stride. We all had a great time. The weather was beautiful. We spent all day Saturday walking outside and discovering new places that we have never seen before. We went to downtown Traverse City and bought all kinds of cherry things from our favorite store. Traverse City is the Cherry Capitol of the World! If only Shyloh could have fit into the truck. . .