shy vs fork

In this corner, weighing in at 900 lbs, we have Shyloh, Haflinger Extraordinaire. And in the opposite corner, we have bright green shit fork standing at 3 lbs. 

Ding ding ding!

Shy starts off strong by doing some trail moves. She hopes right up on the bridge, which we haven't seen since last fall. Shit fork stand back and holds his ground.

Shy is showboating on the trail obstacle and shit fork seem intimidated. But as Shy steps off the bridge, shit fork makes his move. He springs up and tackles her hind legs. Shy goes berserk, but shit fork holds his own. His lightening fast moves attack her back legs and Shy fights back with a vengeance. 

In what seems like forever and slow motion the fight continues. But shit fork just cannot hold up to Shy's counter kicks. He falls to the side, broken in half. 

Shy runs out of the barn to do a victory lap. . .She is the supreme champion of the fight versus the shit fork.

So, we had an accident and I should have stuck with the original plan of just giving Shy a bath. 

But I really wanted to make it to my nephew's birthday party in a semi dry and clean fashion, so instead I opted for a grooming and some trail obstacle practice.

In the end, Shy's leg and undercarriage was banged up, but she was not bleeding and she was walking just fine, so I decided that getting her calm and over her new found fear of the barn more important. It didn't take but two attempts to get her back in the barn. I put her in the cross ties so I could take a closer look at her injuries. As soon as I touched her leg, she lurched forward, then backed up, slipped out of her halter, and ran for grass. Obviously she wasn't hurt too bad.

Not deep, but it did make a little flap

Mostly just missing hair chunks

I caught her and put her in the back of the barn in an enclosed area. There was a bunch of scrapes, missing hair, and a little flap of skin. Some areas were a bit puffy, but there was no splinters or deep cuts. Whew.

I took Shy back outside and washed her leg and all the scrapes. Then I used some Betadine to clean the cuts. Shy was really good for all this medical attention. I spent sometime just hosing her leg, because why not? Couldn't hurt. Then I put some silver spray on it to keep the bugs off. Because now it is 80 degrees and the bugs are out in full force.

Silver pony

Shy was still a little hesitant to go in the barn and a little jumpy once in the barn. So we worked on that. It sure didn't help when my grooming bag and tub of treats (with no top on) decided to dump all over the place. Cue a scared Shy again. Ugh. Worked some more on being okay in the barn, cat jumps out of now where. Normally this would be a non issue, today, it was an issue. Ugh. A little more work and I had a pony that didn't try and jump out of her skin at every noise. She will be fine, but I get so mad at the stupid little things that happen to push Shy back and we end up having to start all over again. 

But once in the pasture, Shy was fine and even coming up to me when I called her. So maybe the damage wasn't quite as bad as I thought.

Tomorrow's fight. . .Meatball versus sheath cleaning and a bath! It is going to be a doozy!

the hills are alive . . .

I spent the weekend on the beautiful west coast of Michigan for my friend's wedding. We stayed at a wonderful Bed and Breakfast, it was so cute. Wrap around porch and balcony, dainty little library under the stairs, gorgeous grounds. . .it was a dream! The reception was also at this B&B and the wedding took place on the beach of Lake Michigan. It was quite the mini-vacation for me and Mike.

On to Shyloh. . .Based on previous experiences of me not seeing Shyloh for a number of days in a row, I was under no impression that I would be warmly greeted with nickers and neighs. Shyloh did not disappoint. As I went to get her in the pasture, this was her response as I called for her. . .

I got a bigger greeting from Robbie :(

I brought Shy in so I could groom her and get to work on that rear end. And of course, Shy had somehow managed to get hurt in my absence. 

Somehow, it is on the inside of her left rear. This is after I cleaned it up.

I warmed Shy up in the round pen, with her new saddle pad. She was not impressed. After a few warm up walks and trots each way, I stretched her legs out.

Now she matches her boots!

Then we moved on to the hills! Hills, hills, and more hills! These hills are not alive with the sound of music, though. Just the sound of mini horses and dirt bikes and cows. But, I got some video. 

Does it look like Shy is using that rear end? After that, I hosed her rear end off and started bringing other horses in and feeding them. It is getting dark noticeably earlier now. Sad face. 

We are sticking to the plan of hills and trot poles until I can see some improvement in her rear end. Then we will take it from there. Does anyone know how long it takes for a horse to build muscle?

Long legs on the shadow photo!

i'm lazy

Really. I really think that is the real issue with me lately. I am just plan lazy. Even though Shyloh's hips and withers were sore, I could have been working her in the round pen or on the lunge line. But I was being lazy. I can come up with a million reasons why: tired from work, tired form working at the barn, tired from thinking of all the housework I have piling up. . .but it just comes down to the fact that I am lazy.

Much easier to do this with Shy than actual work. . .

Today, I pulled myself out of my lazy funk and worked Shy for about 20 minutes in the round pen. Yay us! I am really hoping that next week we can get a consistent ride schedule between Beth and myself. I am hoping Beth can work Shy to put time and miles on her to boost Shy's confidence. And I asked Beth for lunge line lessons so I can work on my position and balance on Shy. And finally get that trot down. 

I warmed Shy up with some walk/trots in both directions, with just her halter on. Then I put on the surcingle, bridle, and side reins and did some more walk/trot work. I worked a lot on transitions. Going left, she was able to transition smoothly into the trot, but going right, Shy often gave her little hop up into the trot. Ugh. But then considering we have not really worked on it, Shy is out of shape. But she did do exceptionally well at reading my body language, so that was a plus.

Eat Shy's dust!

After our little session, I loaded up all the tack on Shy and she became my pack horse back into the barn.

Carrying all the tack!

Tacking her up, I noticed that Shy, yet again, scraped her head. What does this horse do? I swear she gets more surface scrapes than any horse I know!

I promise it is there! Just really hard to see. It is right on the edge of her blaze.

We are on the second clutch of barn swallows. This little guy was not able to fly back up. He was so cute! So me and Kathy put him in a tree by the barn. 

The goal is to work Shy in the round pen Thursday and possibly ride. Possibly. . .

monday musings by shyloh #48

Not much to report on the Haflinger front. Just a little Haflinger mare recovering from her injuries. . . and I might be injured again (hee hee).

See, what happened was. . .me and Robbie are pasture buddies now. And with him being a pony and me being an awesome haffie, we are on restricted pasture. That means no pond pasture with tons of grass and the rest of my herd. But I do get to hang out with Robbie, so it's all good!

We graze this way. . .

Then we graze that way. . .

And we graze this way . . .

Anyway. . .we were out grazing and Robbie was following me all over the pasture like a little lost puppy. I did not mind at all. We were just grazing teeny tiny pieces of grass and before I knew it, Robbie got a little to close to Ryleigh for my liking. I like to keep my geldings separated. . . So I told Robbie to get away and he did not listen. Then I TOLD Robbie to get away, meaning I turned my butt to him and started bucking. Well, Robbie just bucked right back at me. Unfortunately for me (and fortunately for Beth) my aim is awful and I missed every kick. Robbie missed, too, except he did graze my leg and took some skin with one kick. 

I had to circle it, just in case you couldn't see. . .ouchies!

It is not too bad, but I'll probably be down for the count and lame and unrideable for a while. Right? Just because I rather enjoy doing nothing.

~Shyloh

sabotaging the clueless

Oh Shyloh. . . what am I to do with her? Today, she was the first horse brought outside. After she was let loose in her pasture, Kathy realized it was a grass pasture day (not a barely grass pasture day) and went to get Shy's muzzle and put her in the pond pasture. Well, this mare was having none of it. Shy would not let Kathy catch her to put her with the rest of her herd, so she ended up spending the day in a large pasture by herself. She could have cared less. However, she did manage to somehow do this:

What the heck?

. . .all by herself in a pasture with barely anything in it! How? The answer is clear. She somehow knows that we are going to a show on Sunday and she is sabotaging me. Maybe it is my constant clipping of her excess whiskers and one long chest hair. Maybe it is my awful attempts at putting a mane roll in her hair.

By the way, can anyone do a mane roll? I have watched YouTube videos all day trying to get the concept. I even played/paused a video while trying to get this think in Shy's mane! Unsuccessful does not even begin to describe the disaster that came out of Shy's mane.Somewhere between my brain and my fingers a connection has gone awry. Try as I might, I just cannot get it! Luckily she is a mare and does not NEED a mane roll for the show, but I kinda want her to have one. I am sure if she did, it would look very pretty. 

Got the mane to go on one side!

With the show coming up, so is the anxiety. I have zero idea what I am doing. Basically, we will be winging it and hope we wing it well. We are going to attempt four events and none of them involve me riding Shy. Ha! Maybe one day, but we need a lot more practice for that! I just hope we don't make a total fool of ourselves. . . You know, because when I try to use a stick to move Shy's legs to square her up, she waves. . .

The good thing is that we are doing the draft class and it seems to be more laid back than other shows. Win or lose, as long as we both are having fun, I plan to keep doing the shows. It is a great experience for us. 

We did practice our line driving a bit today. Of course, Shy, true to her inner-Halfinger, gave me a hard time to start. Why is it when I ask her to whoa, she does, then moves to the left, the whoas, then moves to the left, and by the time she is done, she is 90 degrees from the spot where she was supposed to stop? Then, she refuses to move forward. 

But after a obligatory hard time, Shy did great. We did cones, figure eights, circles, back ups, and more whoas. Robin even took a turn line driving her! Then we went outside to practice. Awesome again! Even with Beth's dad moving the lawn!

Tomorrow is going to be clean Shy up as best as we can day! I hope the weather is nice enough for a bath. . .

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.

more muzzle misery

Shyloh has accepted the grazing muzzle! Since I was working at the barn today, I decided to put it on her and turn her out in a pasture with more grass than her current pasture. That way I could keep an eye on her to too if  she gets the thing off. 

Shy's initial reaction today was not as severe as it was with the first two muzzle attempts. She still tried to get it off, but it seemed half-hearted. Almost like she would not be a true horse if she did not at least try to remove the muzzle. But, before long. . .Success! It stayed on and she discovered that she could get some grass through the little hole. 

While Shy was experiencing continued torment from the muzzle, Cooper refused to leave my car! I brought Cooper to the barn and this silly dog wanted to sit in the car the whole time! So strange. . .he loved going to the barn with me in the fall. 

Making sure he doesn't get left behind?

Before I even got Shy outside, I noticed another gash on her head. Shy keeps hitting her head on something in her stall and I cannot figure out what it is! It is the same spot right above her eye, every time.

Ouch!

I looked everywhere and the only thing I can figure is the bars that hold her water bucket in on the door part of her stall. But those are so low to the ground, so I don't know. . .Anyway, I put some duct tape on the edges and hopefully that helps. As for Shy, I sprayed her cut silver to keep the dirt and bugs out.

All better! And shiny!

After I mucked all the stalls, I tacked Shy up and did some in hand dressage work outside. We worked on bending and backing up. She is getting pretty good, in my mind! 

Three more days to Equine Affaire!! 

the day after

I'm still sore. And sore in places that I didn't think hit the ground that hard. I am starting to get a magnificent rainbow bruise on my butt. Shyloh was a little cautious around me today, as if she did not know how to react because she was not sure how I would react. 

I took her outside and she spend some time grazing with Ryleigh and some time grazing with Casi. She just loves to be outside! I caught her a few times using her hoof to clear any snow or ice that was covering the grass she wanted to eat.

grass finder!

After a few hours outside, I brought Shy in and groomed her. I took my time and spent extra time on all the spots she loves to be brushed. We need to spend some quality bonding time together. 

Next, I wanted to clean out Shy's cut on her head. I am not sure how she got this cut, but she keeps doing it, on the same spot. It is from some place in her stall. My best guess is that she is laying down at night and smacking it on the metal piece that holds one of her water buckets up. 

I have been putting Corona Ointment on it each day I go to the barn, but every time I come back, it has bedding in it and does not appear to be healing. Plus, Shy does not like me to touch it or put medicine on it.

Shy's boo boo

So, I warmed some water to clean it out and clean the old ointment from the surround hair. She surprised me by letting me do this without a problem! Next, I wanted to put something over the wound that would stay on, keep the sawdust out, and protect it. I had just the thing, some Alushield spray. I knew this would be a problem for two reasons; the cut is just above her eye, and she hates spray things.

Kathy helped me hold Shy's head and cover her eye. Once again, I was surprised with Shy! She didn't even flinch. Now she has a silver mark right above her eye. I hope it promotes the cut to heal.

Silver bling on the boo boo!

Before I left, I spent some time with Shy in the arena, just hanging out. She is still not sure about us, but we will get there again. One step forward, two steps back, right?

Oh, and Shyloh has a few interesting, new, and cool things coming up! Can't wait!!

nap time

I went out to the barn to make sure Shyloh did not tear it down in a desperate attempt to go back outside. All was good. Shy was happily munching her morning hay. After a close inspection of her, I noticed a new gash over her eye. How does a horse get hurt in a stall all by herself? 

Nom nom nom. . .and barely visible gash over her eye

Geez. . .It was the feeding bin, or lack of feeding bin. When Notch had the stall, he knocked the feeding bin down, ripping most of it from the wall. All that was left was the part help on by the bolts. It appeared that Shy banged her head on that at some point. So I attempted to take it down. I got most of the bolts out, but Robin and Rob came to the barn with the right tools and saved the day! Ta da! No more left over feeding bin. 

Fuzzy wuzzy

It was raining out, so the horses stayed inside. I had planned on working with Shy then going home to do my house work, but I felt bad that the horses had to stay in. The lady that was cleaning stalls was letting the horses out, a couple at a time, into the arena so they could run around and stretch their legs. I did not want to take that away from them!

I pulled up a stool, put it in Shy's stall and just sat with her. I put my feet up, rested my back on the wall and just sat there, with my eyes half closed. Shy did the same thing! We took a little nap together. Shy used the wall her hold her head up. It was very peaceful.  I hope to one day see her lay down, since I have not gotten to see that yet.

Snooze

Shyloh is so cute in her high traffic zone! As horses were being lead to and from the arena, she nickered at the horses that she knew and liked! They nickered back. She is quite the popular pony at the barn!

After everyone got their turn, I groomed Shy, tacked her up, and led her into the arena. We did the same routine: lunging and long lining. As we were lunging, Shy kept stopping out of the blue. I was not asking her to stop and this was not her usual behavior. Something was not right. I looked at her reins that I tied up, and they were pulling on one side of her bit. I just took them off, they were a pain anyway and we did not need them. After that, the lunging was much better. Long lining was better, too! The way Shy's bridle fit, it could work between either of two holes in the headstall. I loosened it and Shy was much better! She was less over-responsive to my cues and I was able to concentrate on my hands more. It is still difficult, but getting better every time.

I attempted free jumping with Shy, but she did not seem into it today, so I stopped. I have learned that I need to listen to her (as above with the reins). She can tell me things that I don't pick up on as quickly. Since free jumping was a no go today, I turned Ryleigh out into the arena with Shy for a bit. I opened the doors for them and they ate some grass together. 

Love

Let's trot!

Yum yum

View from the inside looking out

Now that I am back home, with some house work complete. I think a nap with the dogs in in order! 

the interrogation

So, last night I got a message from Beth. this is what the message said:

     Shyloh is the new escape artist! I came out to feed and she was behind the barn eating grass. . .She broke a small board by the stock tank n squeezed through under the fence. LOL! Put an extra board back up just in case she tries it again. . . It should hold her :-)

I told Beth that it was good that they were able to catch her, considering her catching difficulty! She replied:

     It's all good. . .She's ok n didn't run from us. Poor Caesar was still in the pasture cuz he couldn't fit under the board that was still up. . . He was looking at me n calling to shy, like wth. . . I wanna go too!

Shortly after, I got another message from Sandy:

     Your little girl got out tonite. She broke through the fence somehow. We found her in the back eating grass. She saw us coming and went into the fenced pasture that Bob uses. I caught her with some grain.

Remember the other day when I mentioned that Shyloh was getting comfortable in her new home? Yup, she is comfortable alright! I later learned that she went to graze near Chick. She must miss him!

When I got the barn, I had a little conversation with her when I brought her inside about her behaviors. I put her in the cross ties and interrogated her. . .It went like this:

So, how was your day yesterday?

Just fine? Hmmm. . .do anything fun? New? Exciting?

No? Cause I got a message from Beth and Sandy. . .so, you didn't escape?

Oh, it wasn't an escape? Tell me about the fence then. . .why is it reinforced now?

Oh, really? So you think breaking stuff is the way to go about getting things you want, like grass?

Wow, okay. . .explain this gash on your side?

You hit a nail as you were ducking through the fence? This is what happens when you do things you are not supposed to do!

I know! So, are you going to do it again?

Needless to say. . .I did not get the answers I was looking for from Shyloh. . .