you'll shoot your eye out kid

Shyloh has continued on her never ending attempt to poke her eye out. I am not sure what happened this time (or any time, really), but it involved a broken halter, Notch out of his stall area and standing on the poop sled, and a barn that looked like a rave happened overnight. 

Layout of the barn, note the gate swings  back in to the area. So the Percheron had to swing it in and maneuver the poop sled to get to the other area of the barn.

Hay was everywhere, blankets strewn about in sawdust, and a plastic bag that once had sawdust in it was empty. Notch had somehow opened the gate to the other side of the barn, rifled through the hay, and then ended up on the poop sled and stayed put. I have no idea what Shy was doing, but she did not spend a long time in her stall because that was clean. 

Somehow during their horse free for all, Shy busted out of her halter which broke the metal ring on the side and almost took her eye out. Again. I am a little sad because this is the second halter Shy has broken out of, never has she done this before. I hope this does not become a habit. 

Sad face. I loved this halter. 

In this padded halter, she never slipped out of it. But in her regular nylon padded halter, she can remove it and go about whatever business she feels that she has in the middle of the night. The other night, that halter made its way into Isaac's water bucket. . . 

How? This is the set up. . .Horse's heads cannot fit through the openings. What goes on when no one is looking??

Past attempts at eye removal have happened right before a couple shows and other random times when she feels like seeing is not an almost necessary part of horse life. I will say, she is getting better and better at getting closer and closer to actually getting her eye ball.

• First documented attempt at eyeball removal. I had to put silver spray on it because every time I went out to the barn she had shavings in the wound. 

When I wrote about this, I also wrote that she keeps doing this and in the same spot. . .so this is not the first actual time.

• Second documented attempt called for a much longer gash. After this attempt, I duct taped everything I could think of that she could have been hitting in her stall. At this time, she had a box stall. I am pretty sure there were more cuts at this barn, I just may have never mentioned them.

Same eye as before, cut is a little higher up, but longer.

• Third documented attempt, new barn, no stall. This time, the whole eye was swollen and Shy kept it closed for a couple days. Perhaps trying to figure out what it would be like if she actually lost an eye?

Not as large as the rest of them, but noted due to the swelling. Shy was able to go about her normal life without the use of this eye.

• Fourth documented attempt had Shy trying at poke the other eye out. Here we can see that she is working her accuracy, as she is now getting much closer to the actual eye ball. Again, this could have been done in any way, as Shy was pasture boarded. 

Also, right before we went to our clinic last year.

• Fifth documented attempt at stabbing her eye out was a mere few weeks later before our first show of the season. Note that she went back to the original eye that she wants out of her head. She also tried going under the eye instead of over it. 

A little less close to the eye this time.

• Sixth documented attempt at eyeball elimination, the most recent attempt. This is another under eye attempt. It has the closeness to the eye that is scary to see. This is the first attempt at this barn, Shy is outside the majority of the time and only comes in late at night to eat and is out first thing in the morning before work. Not much stall time at all.

Shy says, no worries, this eye will come out!

So, if I ever have the news that Shy is missing an eye, don't be surprised. Someone must have given her a Red Rider BB gun on Christmas past. And she is intent on shooting her eye out.