monday musings by shyloh #135

I got all geared up in my fly mask, muzzle, and halter. I know what that means. . .

alien pony

Grass! Me and the big horses went to the back pasture to enjoy the cool breeze, the sun, and  grass. On the way out, I did get to enjoy some mulberries from the many mulberry trees that line the driveway back to the pasture. 

First things first when getting released. . .try to get the muzzle off so I can inhale grass at Haflinger speed. But Allie has gotten hip and puts the halter over all the fly mask and muzzle to keep it on. Boo. 

Be off, you food restricting demon!

Once I resigned to eating grass at a super slow pace and bobbing my head up and down to get the blades in the little hole, I was fine. At least I wasn't the only horse that was silly looking. . .

Hee hee

I also got to finally hang out with my big horse friends. I like them most and usually stand at the gate between the pastures longing to be with them (or their round bale). So I was a happy happy horse!

~Shyloh

monday musings by shyloh #91

I went on a sleepover to Ohio this weekend. It was awesome because Ohio has my most favorite grass and I got to much on that the whole night. But then it was not awesome because I had to work harder than I ever worked before, in the sweltering heat! 

While we waited for our chariot to pick me up, Allie got me all ready for the sleepover. She braided my hair and I fell asleep. . .

But I woke up just in time for the trailer to take just me down to the delicious grass. Allie followed us so I gave her a nice little surprise on the way down. I peed in the trailer and it ran out, the wind picked it up, and it splashed all over her windshield. That should teach her not to tailgate!

Once we got there, I saw my team buddy, Art, my show love, Rambo, Moe/Curly who I have met once before, and a new mare. New mare, Leah did not like me. She put on a show running and bucking and calling out. I was all whatever, I am eating tasty grass. 

Then I went in the round pen for the night. I got water and hay, but I didn't need any of that. I was surrounded by grass! Leah kept carrying on all night. . .she was lucky I had no interest in sleeping. I was eating the grass, you know! No time for sleep when I have free access to the best grass in the world!

Morning came too soon and next thing I know, I am working like a draft horse! This wasn't supposed to happen. Allie said sleepovers where supposed to be fun! I worked so hard and sweated so much I was too tired to even eat yummy grass. So I took a snooze. When I woke up, I picked at my hay a bit but it was too hot to eat much. Next thing I knew, I was in a trailer and heading home. 

When I got home I saw my herd. I made a deep sounding grunt (?) and my love Traveller came out to greet me as I ran through puddles to be by him. Then the other geldings surrounded me and I was in heaven, queen of my pasture. We walked around a bit together, then I dispatched them so I could nibble some not quite as good as Ohio grass. 

~Shyloh

a glorious day

After an incredibly long work week with late days that interfered with going to the barn, I got out of work early today to some much needed and overdue pony time.

I am pleased to say that Shyloh did not disappoint. She was amazing today and we had so much fun. I walked out to the pasture to get her and for a second, I thought she was actually happy to see me. She stopped, turned towards me, and had a cute look on her face.

Concentrating on the task at hand. . .

Turns out she was just pooping. You can actually see the poop in mid-drop in the photo. . .nice.

Something needs to be done about that Flock of Seagulls forelock.

But she did let me come right up to her and followed me back out of the pasture without a problem. 

Since it had been what seems like forever since I have been out to the barn, I did not just want to throw her in some work, so we took a walk through the woods. But the woods were not completely dry from the mass amounts of rain we have been having. We came across some large puddles in the path.

Can we cross?

Hecks yeah!!

Water is no biggie!!

Puddles are no issue. They hide potential food items and are fun to play in!

Then we ran back to the barn. We ran until I could not run anymore. It was fun because Shy actually wanted to run and I didn't have to keep her in a trot. I thought I was going to keel over when we got done running, but I survived. 

After resting a while, I put the harness on to get to work. I am determined to get this stop down completely. I did realized something today though. After I put the harness on and get everything ready to go, Shy is ready to go. So when I ask to to stay put right at the beginning, it is worthless. . .because she wants to go go go. I think that is where all the dancing is coming from. After we start moving forward, I can ask her to stop and stand and she does much better. I'll have to remember that.

We went through the other set of woods for the line driving. We did not come across any turkeys this time, but Shy heard some deer and I saw them running away in the woods. Shy was totally fine with them and we continued working our way through the woods. 

Deer hunting today

The weather was so nice that when I took Shy's harness off, she had a teeny tiny bit of sweat in her girth area. I knew she would like a good roll in the sand and I was right!

Best. . .

. . .feeling. . .

. . .ever!!

I opened the gate so she could go out to her pasture and Shy cantered off! I walked out there and she let me love on her a bit longer before I left. She was actually being quite sweet, which is not the norm. Shy must have really known that I needed some pony love. I felt so much better! Horses are good for the soul!

This little bit of grass has expanded Shy's waistline. . .

monday musings by shyloh #85

We went turkey hunting!!

But first. . .Allie had to come and pull me off of my grass. Yup, that's right. We got the big pasture opened to us now!

I was quite surprised to see her. . .

Don't just be jumping around corners at me!

And I didn't want to go with her. . .

Nooooo!

But I did. Sigh. And I got put to work.

Work outfit

First, I tried to tell Allie that I didn't want to work by dancing gee and dancing haw once she had me all hooked up. That didn't work and Allie made me trot circles in the arena. I find that incredibly boring. 

But after a little bit, into the woods we went! Allie walked me right up to the gate. I am getting so much better at walking up to the gates, even if I don't want to stay there once I get up there. Once we got past the gate and into the woods, something caught my eye. . .

What is that over there?

Turkeys! About fifteen, Allie guesses. The turkeys didn't scare me at all, I wanted to get closer. So off we went in a nice forward walk after the turkeys. They were running through the woods and hopping logs to get away from us, but we kept following. Once the turkeys got into the open, they tried to fly away. It was a good thing, because I don't think we were the only ones hunting turkeys. . .

I spotted some turkeys and a guy over there.

 It was so much fun, even if we didn't catch those winged curiosities. 

Back to work

After that, we walked around a lot more. I was so good. I only scooted once and that was because Allie got her feet tangled in a fallen branch and almost face planted on my butt. What a klutz!

Turkey hunting is some serious business so when we were all done, I had to rest for a bit.

This post was comfy and scratched my itchies

Then, I got to go back to my delicious grass!

See. . .I had to run so fast to get there!

Vrooom! I am speedy.

And make sure it wasn't all gone. 

Me and Dancer

It wasn't. . . but a horse can never be sure!

~Shyloh

open bridle experiment

With the advice from fellow bloggers, I have decided to try an all open bridle sled dragging session. We  have done open bridle stuff with the sled and line driving before, but always moved into the driving bridle. . .maybe too quickly.

And a bonus. . .I got to use Shyloh's new western bridle! I tacked her up and got right to dragging the sled. This went on without a hitch.I figured as much, since we have done this before. So, I thought, let's do some other things with the sled to show just how not scary it can be.

I present: Sled torture!

Sled on my head

Sled on Shy's back

Sled on this side

Sled on that side

Sled  underneath. . .by the way, see how fuzzy she is?

Shy was amazing and tolerated sled torture very well. She didn't run off, or spook, or anything really. I could tell she was not the most comfortable and she kept her ears on the sled, but she let me do everything to her. 

Then the best part of the day happened. . .I got a volunteer to head Shy! Brenda, who owned big Buddy the Belgian offered to help. I was so happy and grateful to have a helper. Brenda walked at Shy's head with the lead rope, and I walked behind, line driving Shy and dragging the sled. Shy was a great! There was only an instance where Shy was noticeably uncomfortable, but she recovered quickly. We did a short walk and I called it quits.  Short successful sessions are best. And the open bridle experiment was a success. We just need to transfer this success to blinders.

Afterwards, I let Shy graze some. She grazed like she had never had grass in her life! And she knew where the good grass was.

The best grass is under the trailer

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

(trying to) stay cool

It's too hot to work! Shyloh and me have been on a horse vacation this week.

What does a horse vacation consist of? Mostly trying to beat the heat! But we did some other things like. . .

Putting up an Uncle Jimmy's Hanging Ball. . . sugar free of course!

Running through the arena sprinkler!

Spotty wet pony!

Clicker training not to eat grass. I am tired of having my shoulder yanked out of my socket!

Eating grass! And doing Shy's mane in braids to keep her cool.

So yummy!

Hanging out in the pasture, fully decked out in her gear!

Alien Shy, she comes in peace.

Most importantly, a horse vacation constitutes no riding or line driving. . .just the way Shy likes it. But since the weather shows no sign of cooling off, we might have to do some short sessions and suffer through the heat. Maybe the threatening thunderstorms will cool the air, doubt it though, it's most likely to make it more muggy. Then me and Shy's hair will look like we stuck out fingers/hooves in an electric socket! 

tire tracks

For as sensitive Shyloh can be sometime, there are times when she is able to block everything out. Every urge to move forward, every, tap of the lunge whip, every scream, every, curse word, every push, and every smack (I don't like to hit, but as a last resort it is sometimes necessary). Shy is able to be a statue, but just when she wants to do so. It is very frustrating.

I don't wanna work, Allie!

I rigged up a tire for Shy to pull. Luckily for me, Beth's dad has an abundance of tires in all sizes. I picked a smallish one to start with.

Checking out the tire

I went through our "getting Shy more comfortable with me being behind her " exercise and then did some line driving. So far, so good. I even did the dreaded trail obstacle and it only took Shy one refusal before she just went over the tarp and board. Yay!

I really could not have asked for a better Shy when I attached the tire. It was probably not the safest way to do this, but it worked for us and no one was hurt. Shy was moving forward, not backwards! She did not balk at the weight of the tire and we did a lap each way around the arena and a serpentine each way. . .with no stopping! This is so much improvement for us. 

But then I made a mistake. I asked for a whoa near the arena door. It was a perfect whoa. But when I asked Shy to walk on, she walked backwards. And backwards. And backwards. No matter what I did, she moved backwards. And eventually ended up like this. . .

What is wrong with this picture?

This horse, who practically has each hoof lifted in turn for me to pick them absolutely refused to pick her feet up. I pulled. I prodded. I tapped. I tugged. Nothing. I had to unhook my tire contraption and fix it before we attempted again. I was all set and I asked Shy to walk on. Statue Shy. I told Shy to walk on. Statue Shy. I pushed her. I taped with the whip. I yelled. I swore. I smacked. Nothing! I finally had to turn her at her head to get her to move. Then I made her trot the arena three times before stopped. I figured make her work harder when she does not listen, but I was the one sweating!

Aside from that little hiccup, I am really happy with Shy's progress! I figure we will pull this size tire a few more times and increase the length of time, then move to a bigger tire. And work on a safer tire set up!

I took Shy to do what she loves best for a few minutes. It is so funny to watch her leave the barn when she knows she gets to graze. As we approach the barn door, Shy stretches her head and lowers it, then stretches her lips out as far as they go moving them up and down in anticipation of the grass she will get to eat. She does not even get all of her legs outside of the barn before she starts grazing! It is quite a site!

Pretty girl 

So good!

Whachu lookin at?

monday musings by shyloh #29

Let's go for a ride outside!

I am such a pretty girl!

Look how good I am!

I am the outdoor horse extraordinaire!

Look how cute I am! Don't hate on my luscious tail. . .

I like big butts and I cannot lie. . .you other Haffies can't deny. . .

 Job well done! 

These amazing photos are from Robin, Ryleigh's mom. She is a good picture taker.

The two leggers finally wised up and just took me outside to ride, where I belong. I did not disappoint. They also got a good bit in my mouth so I could better understand what they wanted of me. It is much more comfortable.

I guess for being such a great outdoor horse, I got pampered over the weekend. I got a good brushing, so good and relaxing that I was falling asleep! I also got my bridle path clipped and it didn't bother me at all. Then I got my mane and tail conditioned and worked through. My tail got a real pretty braid in it, too. I got some hoof conditioner for my hooves. I sure am the prettiest mare in the barn! Maybe the world!

Look how shiny I am! Good bye winter woolies!

It was so nice outside, I thought for a minute that I was going to get a bath. I was watching the other horses go in the wash stall and get baths all weekend, but not me! Whew. What we did instead was go outside to eat yummy green green grass! So good! But I only got to eat for a little bit. Gotta get into swim suit shape. 

So so tasty! I could live off this stuff!

I also got to watch Kathy and Beth ride Casi! Boy does he want to go fast!! He doesn't like to be by himself, so I went and stood around while he was riding. Casi did do a no-no when Beth asked him to canter. . .he bucked! But no one fell off and then he got better. But he still wants to be fast. I think before he came to the barn he was the top runner in the Underground Appaloosa Race World.

While watching Casi, I ate a little grass. Allie kept making me take breaks from eating, so  I took myself a nap under the late afternoon sun. 

What were your horsey weekends like? Any other horses out there get pampered this weekend?

~Shyloh