monday musings by shyloh #45

Why is Allie intent on scaring the living daylights out of me? I had to show her (again) why she should not do that!

Ima scared!

Allie brought out the tire again. Didn't I tell her last time (in a not so subtle way) that I did not like that tire at all? I guess she does not care about my poor Haflinger feelings. I made my thinking noise at the tire to show my disgust with it. It is kinda like a grunting sound. But then I realized that this tire is not going away. Also, it was not moving, so it might be okay. . .I bent down to sniff it, grunting at it the whole time. I had to show it I was boss!

Please don't hurt me tire!

Then. . .Allie moved it! Whoa! Maybe I am NOT the boss! Tire on gravel sounds suspiciously like mountain lions. . .I think. I have never met a mountain lion in real life, I am just hard wired to be afraid of them!  I took off running and found my herd. 

Help!! There is safely in numbers.

They all came up to the gate to protect me. Once I realized I was safe, I did my acrobatic moves to graze, 'cause my overcheck was on.

I'm the most flexible Haflinger there is! 

Allie got me back and took me through the barn, but I was on to her game. So I refused to walk out the barn doors. Ha! That will get her! But then she got my "best friend," aka the whip. After a few taps of that and some tugs, I burst through the door. I guess that was not acceptable and we did it again. And again, I refused to walk through the door. I just knew that tire was out there, getting ready to eat me! Or creep towards me, mountain lion-style.

We did this a few times and I just kept getting more nervous and tense. I was jumpy. I tried to run back into the barn and almost ran Maryann (Dulce's mom) over. Oops, sorry! But I was scared! I have heard that Haflingers are quite meaty and tasty treats to those mountain lions!

Allie then made me walk through the door until I stopped pushing into her (hey, I was trying to save her from the tire! It might like people as much as it likes Haflingers!) and walked nicely. Then I was done. Back to the safety and security of my stall.

Or so I thought. . .A short while later, Allie brought the big guns out. . .Beth! I knew this was serious now. Beth made me keep going out the barn door until I stopped refusing. I realized my stopping was futile and I think Beth is way more stubborn than me, so eventually I stopped stopping. At least I got to stop something, right?

Going out the door

Beth made me go by the tire and around the tire. Each way and lots of times.  I tried to tell her how scary it was and run away from it, but she would not let me. We did this a ton and I realized that maybe the tire is not so scary. I still don't want it chasing me, but right now I am okay with just going around it.

Had to do lots of circles around and around the tire!

Then Beth made me walk in the barn. Yeah! This is what I was all excited about, so I hurried up. Well, this was a mistake and I had to walk right back out again. This time Beth walked too close to the tire, so I tried to push her out of the way. I guess Beth thinks she can take the tire in a fight and made me do it all over again and again until I stopped pushing her. 

Being pushy, but really  I am trying to protect Beth! I promise!

After my turn with Beth, I had to do it all over again with Allie! But I was real good and it did not take long. 

I'm perdy

Whew. What a stressful day! I grunted a whole lot with my disapproval at this exercise. But we all made it through and no one was eaten by the tire, so maybe it is not so bad. . . maybe.

Finally done!

~Shyloh

ooh la la

Shyloh sure has these geldings under her love spell! Except for Caesar . . .she does not like him and he does not really like her. They continue to stand in separate parts of the shelter and every time I put her back in the paddock, he bites her!  On the plus side, he is going inside very soon, although that leaves Shy without a buddy. And she likes to have a buddy.

Shy got a new halter! 

It is really odd that her and Caesar do not get along, she gets along with every other horse that she has met so far. Ryleigh has been bitten by the love bug with her and he has been bitten hard! Today Ryleigh and Sandy's horse, Forseti were in the arena together. It has been raining so much lately that the horses have not been going outside. And since Shy lives outside, I wanted to bring her in to clean her up and get her out of the mud for a bit. I asked if it would be okay for Shy to join Ryleigh and Forseti and it was. We already know that Shyloh and Ryleigh get along, so Shyloh and Forseti were introduced. All was well. . .

But then Ryleigh began to act like a stallion! He was strutting his stuff and he did not want Forseti anywhere near Shyloh! All I will say is that Ryleigh has a fantastic spin on his hind quarters. . .whoa. . .Shy did not seem to mind all the male attention. She just laid down and rolled in the middle of it all. She is so comfortable with other horses. 

Ryleigh was put back in his stall and Shy and Forseti got to hang out for a bit. Shy just followed him around the arena. She did get a kick when she sniffed Forseti's butt and he did not like it. But besides that they were great!  Shy did yawn a few times. . .it must be boring when there is only one gelding in the arena and no other geldings to fight over her. I swear she loves the attention!

There was a saddle fitter at the barn tonight. A few horses were getting fitted and Baby Bob was one of them. He is still gaga for Shy, too! Every time he would walk by her, he would slow down and just stare at her! I do not know why she has this effect on the boys!

After she was done being fawned over, we worked on poles again, but added the tarp. We went over on the lead at the walk and trot. We were going to try jumping again, but I could not put the splint boots on because her legs were too muddy. I did wash them, but then they were wet and I still did not want to put the boots on. Anyway, she did awesome! Shy did not even second guess walking on the tarp! We also worked on getting a bigger walk out of her and it was pretty successful. To wrap up our night, we worked on the mounting block. Shyloh is doing so good! 

The pole setup

Now I need some ideas about more ground work exercises to do. Any suggestions?