finally friday

This week seemed to have an extra day added in for some reason. It just drug on and on. So it was quite the treat to have an amazingly well behaved pony when we worked today.  

But let's back up a little. . .

Last weekend, Whitney Houston was brutally murdered by a raccoon. She went missing in the morning and was found after work. Not going to lie, I am still a little sad about this. She was just getting to be super friendly, laying eggs every day, and being such a talker! Terry decided to give her chicken away so she wouldn't meet the same fate, but overnight she was unfortunately taken as well. We have decided to not get new chickens with winter coming, but to start anew in spring. And work on redesigning the chicken coop. 

Oh, then my car broke down on the way home from Ohio and I had to get that fixed, after being stranded on the side of the freeway for hours. 

One of the most frustrating things about the place where I board is feeding time. They like to feed right when I get there from work. I have two options, either wait until Shyloh is done eating with the herd before we do any work or take her food, work her, then wait for her to eat it on her own before turning her back out with the herd. Either way, I am waiting. 

So, today I waited patiently, while picking burrs off of her. I did these amazing braids earlier in the week. . .

And they actually work!  Even if they look worse as each day goes by they still keep the burrs out! I can hold off on the roaching for now (evil grin).

Shy did have a couple burrs on her forelock, but nothing like the previous mess. The hard part is finding and picking the burrs out of her ever growing body hair. And her ears. Shy hates her ears touched. This caused a bit of commotion when I was trying to maximize my time with her as I tried to pick them off her swinging head as she ran and tried to eat at the same time.  (And I have the nerve to call others crazy!)

After that fiasco, I tacked Shy up in her line driving gear and went for a spin around the barn. I could not have asked for a better horse (except that she ever be that good with a cart attached!). I was able to line driving using only one hand and a loose line. She responded to the slightest movement. Nothing bothered her today as we went around the property and through the woods. And we even worked on minute movements, stepping "gee" and "haw" one step at a time. It was wondrous! Stopping and standing was great and she did not give me any trouble going past the tack/untack spot, where we usually have a fight. 

That was some much needed work time spent with the pony and she got some carrots for her good work. I say this a lot, but maybe there is hope for Shy yet!

Or not. . .

burrs

Burrs. . . I hate them. But Shyloh seems to love them. She is a burr magnet. 

Perhaps this is why. . .

Or this. . .

Ugh! All I know is that I spend the better part of our time together picking out burrs. Big burrs in her tail and little bit of feather. Teeny tiny burrs on her legs, stomach, sides, neck, chest, ears, under her chin, and nose. Clusters of burrs in her mane and forelock. And those tiny burrs, yeah, they are about the same size as ticks. 

I think she sleeps in them!

I don't even know how she gets them here.

Not only are the burrs everywhere, but they have become partially hidden by her hair as Shy begins to turn into a woolly mammoth for winter. So I have to untangle and pull the burrs out of her hair. It doesn't look like much, but they are small and have to be pulled one at a time. Luckily, Shy is very tolerant of the constant plucking of the burrs, except for the clumps by her ears.

Shy is totally okay with looking like a feral horse.

Shy's forelock has about three strands of long hair left, the rest is a fluff from being pulled out by the burrs. It is a sad, sad forelock for a Haflinger. Her mane is a twist of nastiness. And the tail. . .the tail that collects the large burrs, which then clump together and intertwine hairs and create a cluster of a mess is just awful. I cannot wait for the bugs to go away so I can put that tail up for winter.

Ugh

More ugh!

So sad!

Why?

So many tiny burrs hidden throughout.

The burrs stick to her halter and to me. I have even found them in my hoodie pocket. 

But the mane and forelock. . . I am beginning to think it would be easier to roach and start over. Yes? No? Maybe so?

*All these photos where taken on different days.

why weather?

What a weekend. It started out with a tornado and massive loss of power. Luckily, my house has no damage and there is no damage to the barn or any horses. My power is not scheduled for service to be restored until Wednesday at 11:30 pm. PM!! I have been charging my phone in the car and walking around the house at night with a candle. Currently, I am borrowing power from a friend's business to internet. Terry had a tree fall on the back of her house during the winds and storms. . In all this mess, I did manage to make it out to the barn for some chill time and just to double check on the  horses. 

Oh hi there. We are all fine! I got this!

Shyloh is doing fabulous back in her giant pasture. She has managed to find all the burrs, once again. I was told by another boarder that Shy doesn't take the path back to the large opening, she prefers to go through the brush and woods. Of course. . .

Big burrs in the tail. . .

Tiny burrs in the forelock. . .and on the feather, and the belly, and the legs, and the chin. . .

Reba continues to follow Shy and gets upset when I take her away. Poor Reba is getting into scuffles with the other horses and is all beat up. The other ones have marks, too, so Reba is retaliating. Shy. . .well, Shy is mark free. 

Eating together

I've been taking Shy for little walks around the property again. This week, I've been by myself when I've been there, so I won't get on her. And when I kidnapped Terry to bring her away from her fallen tree mess, we just loved on the horses. 

Walking and grazing. And practicing a little bit of sidepassing and backing up while we are out and about.

Mustache tail says hi

Me and Shy did take Terry and Reba through the woods and Reba was not a fan. She kept trying to pull Terry back. And Shy was not understanding, there is food in the woods! Endless food! Shy even grabbed a branch of leaves and took it with her for the walk. 

Woodland pony

When we got back, I just hopped on Shy and laid on her with my eyes closed while she napped. We totally interrupted her nap time and she was not afraid to let me know that.

Golden

While I didn't have quite the weekend I was planning on, I still got to get my pony time in. I think Shy is happy with our new arrangement. And from just one week, her hooves look even better than before. I think it is from the varied footing in the pasture plus more movement and grazing opportunity. 

More grazing

Sunsets

Hopefully the power gets restored soon for us!

burry good pony

I arrived to the barn to find myself with a burr covered pony. . .again. What does she do? Where does she get them from? And why does she keep going back to the burr place?

They really are tiny and all on the side of her face, too. Her forelock was a tangle! 

I de-burred Shyloh. I am so glad I had been working with her and her ears. She lets me touch them now and was fine with me picking burrs from them. Then, I tacked her up in her harness. I am bound and determined to conquer this fear of something dragging behind her. I got out the sled, which coincidentally makes it very convenient to carry my grooming bag, the tack, her supplements, and whatever else I need in one trip. She went straight for the sled and touched it. she knows if it is not moving, it won't turn into a horse eating mountain lion. 

We went for our walk around the property. I am sure the other boards were thinking. . .there goes that crazy lady and her horse, dragging that damn sled all over the place. Oh well. . .We walked for about forty five minutes. Shy was great! I even drug the sled over the grates, so it made a different noise. The first couple times, Shy tensed up, but after that, she could have cared less. 

Dragging the sled on dirt ground. . . 

Dragging the sled on gravel. . .

Dragging the sled over grates. . . 

I made a discovery today, one that does not really work in my favor. Shy is completely comfortable with me at her head. The problems seem to occur when I am not at her head. She tends to get a bit nervous. This is not going to work if I am going to be driving her from behind. 

I did some testing and slowed my walk (which was practically turtle pace, Shy is so pokey!) so Shy could not see me. She slowed and turned her head to make sure I was still there. Then I thought back to when I was line driving. Every time we stopped, Shy would look back. Was it to make sure it was still me back there? Do I provide her with some sort of comfort? Or is that just wishful thinking? How do I fix this?

Wishful thinking :)

monday musings by shyloh #62

I have been trying my very best to make Allie not want to work with me! Twice now I have covered myself with burrs. Itty bitty burrs, too.

I think I laid on a burr bush

So small and hard to see through the fuzz. . .

Everywhere. . .

I got burrs everywhere! Mane, forelock, legs, belly, armpits, chest, barrel, face, neck. Like I said, everywhere. And since they were so small and my hair so fuzzy, I knew it would be a pain to get them out. This was a master plan and was sure to work, right?

 But instead of Allie turning back into the wild, she picked them off of me. I was really good for her though, I even let her get the ones off my ears. I was not successful. . .she had to do work.

The next step in the no work plan was to hide from Allie in the deep woods. I saw her looking everywhere for me, but I was super quiet and still.

Hide n Seek

And I had a guard horse to warn me if Allie was coming, just in case I dozed off. 

Jessie, the new Paint keeping watch

But eventually, I was found and made to do work. . .with a horse eating sled!  What's a girl gotta do to be wild and free?

Oh and meet Marshall.

He is an Amish pony. He has a stall, but most of the horses don't like him, so I was asked to spend some time with him. I like him! And he likes me. And we are the same size. 

~Shyloh

pokey pony

Shyloh was soooo pokey today! 

When I got to her, she looked like this. . .

Hard to see, but there are little burrs all in that forelock!

She had big burrs in her tail (I forgot to braid her tail last time) and little burrs on her armpit area, feathers, neck, mane, forelock, everywhere!

We did some line driving (more on that later) and she walks like she is going on a Sunday stroll. Even her trot is pokey. I have no problem keeping up with her when she is trotting on the lines.  I need to get her to pick up her walk, because that is when the problem of me losing contact occurs. I walk to fast!

After our line driving, it was time to eat. Shy missed her dinner with the herd, but I asked the feeding lady to put Shy's hay to the side so I could give it to her. I stuck Shy in the paddock next to her herd so she could eat. . .over an hour later, I was still waiting for her to finish! 

Nom nom!

It was dark and cold, but nice to be able to spend some time just loving on Shy. I think she enjoyed it, too. I spent this time to feel all over her for any thing amiss and pick out all these teeny tiny burrs she picked up from living outside. 

Taking her time. Perhaps she just liked spending time with me?

Pokey, pokey, pokey!

padded cells and restraints

Shyloh needs a padded cell stall and restraints a muzzle to live her daily horsey life. She is such a special pony. . .in many ways.

I am trying to keep Shyloh in a nice condition for the clinic we are going to on Sunday. She is not in agreement with this, of course. Not only does she still have the scrape above her eye, she poked herself on something right above the scrape. This horse needs a padded stall. I have went and put duct tape over every surface that could be causing these scrapes. 

Ouch!

Now, she comes in from the pasture with what appears to be a hoof mark on her back. Shy seems to be doing everything in her power to embarrass me at the clinic. We will be going and she is going to look like a neglected horse! I can't even imagine how she will act. . .but she has been known to surprise me at times.

Mare, you looks good, won't you back that a$$ up

I am pretty positive that she asked one of the taller horses to rear up and land on her. I am also pretty sure she was trying to get said horse to mark her in an area that the saddle is supposed to go. Thankfully, it landed a little further back. Shy was not sore, but I put some Vetricyn on it and my customary silver spray bandage. The next time she was outside, I brought her in with little burrs all in her forelock. Why, Shy, why? At least she is leaving her braid in her tail. . . 

Help me!

But on to good pony news. . .Shy spent two days in the pond pasture with her herd on grass and kept her grazing muzzle on! She does spend a few minutes at the beginning trying to get it off, but once she realizes it is not going anywhere, she puts up with it and walks the whole pasture trying to get grass. The other horses barely moved ten feet from the gate when they got in the pasture. They put their heads down and kept them there until it was time to come in. 

Call the authorities, I am being held against my will.