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,
Once she figures out the schedule she won't miss out on many meal times I'm sure :) Glad she's not lowest and that she's making friends.
ReplyDeleteNo she won't miss. . .unless I have her working at that time. I just have to figure out something so I can work her and not have her miss a meal.
DeleteBring her back to Ryleigh! I was there again tonight...and he was the same. He's a sad pony. He misses her so much.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, this makes me so sad :(
DeleteWhat a strong girl Shyloh! I know exactly what you mean by scheduled feedings. Every barn I've been to has been like it. Although, maybe asking to leave some hay outside of the pen for Shy could possibly work?
ReplyDeleteThe other barn did not have scheduled feedings. I am going to ask about leaving some hay. . .
DeleteI can see that being a problem... it would take her at least an hour to eat all her hay, even more in the Winter when there's no grass and she needs more hay. I hope you and the owner can work around it.
ReplyDeleteYeah, in her stall, she scarfed hay down in 20 minutes. . .outside, it takes much longer. I will work something out.
Delete"... Shy met me at the gate". Who loves yah?!
ReplyDeleteHope the feeding situation works out for you and Shy. That's an important issue.
If it happens again, I'll believe it, haha! It may have been a timing fluke :)
DeleteYour new barn sounds like overall a good arrangement.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure if you talk to the barn manager that you'll (hopefully) be able to figure out some arrangement so that you can work with her and she still has time to eat all her hay.
~Mary
That's my plan.
Delete