ants in the pony pants

I am so glad that I woke up early and decided to go to the barn. The weather report stated rain rain rain, but a break between 10am and 2pm. I got home from the barn at 11:30 and it was raining. But it was rain free while I was at the barn!

I took Shyloh's tail out of the wrap, brushed it, braided it, then wrapped it back up in pink vet wrap. Too many people thought she was a boy. . .

pretty tail

Then we got to work. Sometimes I wish I did not have a horse who thought for herself so much. It makes everything much more challenging. For example, if we are in an arena coming up on a corner. She sees the wall and knows she doesn't want to walk into it, so she makes the decision to turn. I might want to to get closer to the wall before I ask for the turn and then we have an argument on our hands. Or when she decides it is time for her to be done working. Or she wants to go back to the herd and I have to fight her. Or today, when I got the shafts out. Shy was completely fine with them, but didn't want to be touch. There was no scary eyes or anything, just stepping away. But after her harness was on and I put the shafts in the tugs, she had no problem with it. 

And Shy tends to use her brain when she gets more comfortable with what we are doing. Like now. . .she is quite comfortable with pretty much any type of line driving I throw at her. Lately, she has been having ants in her pony pants! She won't stand! When we were dragging things, she would turn. Now that I added the shafts, she fans left and right. Shy wants to go go go!

Is she that excited to be working. . .probably not. . .What is her deal?

Shy used to stop and stand like a champ. I could stop and talk to people for 10-15 minutes and she would stand perfectly, which a leg cocked. What happened to that? And how do I fix it? I am open to suggestions!

We finally got a short stand, but if I have a cart hooked to her, I need to to stop and stand until I tell her to go, not when she wants to go. 

And, sassy pony knows exactly what she is doing. When I line drove her back to the outside tack area, told her to whoa and stand, she didn't move a muscle. Argh! We have more work to do. . .Oh, and I used the crop today! Works like a charm!

got shafts?

I went to the barn in order to get everything ready for our big debut tomorrow. I can't leave work as early as I would like, so I don't want to be in a time crunch. Eh. . .I am having anxiety, but Shyloh proves every time I get all worked up about stuff that it is no big deal to her. 

I got everything ready and I still had some daylight left. What to do. . .what to do. . . Work on line driving, of course! I decided to be brave because Shy has been extra awesome lately and got the shafts out. I was going to put them on her before a practice line drive. 

Shy got her harness and blinders on and I showed her the shafts. I got the usual white eyes, but I am starting to think that is all for show. . .like a few of Shy's behaviors. She set herself up to not move an inch as I touched her sides with the shafts and let her know what I was doing. She did not care at all. I put the shafts in the tugs (which is a bit difficult by myself) and Shy stood there like a champ. Then I realized I forgot the bungee cords to hold the shafts up in the back. Crap. . . I improvised with the lead rope. It worked just fine. 

I grabbed the lines and off we went! The shafts were a little too far up and way more bouncy than they will ever be with a cart attached, but Shy just kept trucking along. She was unfazed. I proceeded to do a happy dance in my head. Shyloh is coming along so well! As we were walking along, people at the barn kept saying when are you getting a cart? and you need a cart for that horse! All in due time. . .plus they have never seen her step off with a cart attached! Yikes!

As we were coming from alongside one of the barns, a feeding bowl came flying over the fence where the pasture boarded horses live. Shy spooked! Her scare spooked some horses being ridden in the outdoor arena. It scared me! I thought one of the horses kicked it over or something. But someone had threw it over. Shy's spook could not have been more perfect, as far as spooks go. She jumped about two feet sideways then froze. She didn't bolt or even try to, my lines never tightened! 

After that we kept going. Shy must have known it was close to feeding time because she kept trying to point herself back in the direction of her pasture gate. When I tried to move her away, she went into statue mode. So I backed her up and tried again. And backed her up and tried again. And backed her up and tried again. I told her she better give up because she was not about to win this fight. And she did. We set off in the opposite direction from the gate she wanted. 

Once more, I decided to be brave again. I asked for a trot. This was the first time I asked for a trot with the shafts on. And once more to my surprise, Shy trotted without a problem. She didn't keep the trot at first, but once I got her into a nice trot I asked her to walk then whoa. Perfect!

I gave her a ton of praise, then let her go eat with her herd. I am so happy with how good Shy is doing! I have been doing the happy dance in my head all the way home from the barn and will probably continue into tomorrow! I didn't get any photos today, but here is Shy with her troll hair.

jingle bell rock

I finally arrived to the barn to a dry horse! It has been rainy and muddy and just plain drab for what seems like eternity. Shyloh had been wet so I just didn't work her. And with the whole working late thing last week, I also didn't have the chance. So I was rather happy that when I got to the barn and Shy was dry. Time to work!

I want to get her used to noises behind her, so I bought some jingle bells. Cute ones.

Rockin' around the barn!

The first day I had them, I just attached them to Shy's cooler (I was trying to dry her to work her, but that didn't really work out). She was fine with them. 

Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring

The first day I had them, I just attached them to Shy's cooler (I was trying to dry her to work her, but that didn't really work out). She was fine with them. Today, I attached the jingle bells to her harness. Again, Shy could have cared less about the bells. Well, that idea was shot down. I still worked on our line driving with the jingle bells until it started to rain. 

Giddy up jingle horse, pick up your feet

Then it started to rain and we were forced in the indoor arena to continue our work. I don't care to work in there if it can be avoided. It is small and dark and I do not care for the footing. Another horse was in the arena today, so I took the jingle bells off. I didn't want to scare a horse with a rider on! We stuck to half of the arena and worked on turns, figure eights, stopping, and backing. Shy was a rock star! My only issue with her was walking up to the wall. She knows it is there so she won't let me run her into it. Not that I would, but I was trying to get as close as we could so we could practice sharp turns. Sometimes, my horse thinks to much for herself. 

But, Shy was amazing and we had more foamy mouth!

Dancing and prancing in jingle bell square

After the other horse finished her lesson, I got out the shafts. Again, no point in scaring another horse with weird contraptions. As I walked Shy back in the arena door, the side of her harness hit the door and Shy spooked. So, I walked her back out the door and the fight began. She refused to walk through the door again. Once I got her through, out we went again. And again. And again. Until she walked through the door without a problem. 

I got Shy reacquainted with the shafts by having her touch them and rubbing them on each of her sides. No problem. I had someone hold Shy and I put the shafts in her tugs. No problem. I rigged the back end up. No problem. I jiggled the shafts and had them move on her while I had someone holding her. No problem. Then off we went. Shy was doing well, then problem. A scoot. But a weird scoot. She tucked her butt and scooted it in, but her front end did not seem to shoot forward. There was no tightening of the lines. 

Now the jingle hop has begun!

After a couple of the same scoots, Shy was great. I am pretty sure the scoots were like the riding scoots. . . she was just trying to get out of work. I worked on trying to get her to cross over her legs for turns. I am not sure of that command, but I used over. I would call ourselves moderately successful on that. 

Overall I was really pleased with how we did today, especially since it had been a week since we did  any work. 

monday musings by shyloh #65

More torture evidence. . . please save it for your records. 

What is this new contraption that Allie has forced on me? It is so embarrassing! I just hope my new boyfriend will never see me in this. 

And then, more torture the next day. . .

Not only was I stuck in the woods in the rain thanks to Shay, Allie made me play with the shafts. She was doing all kind of crazy things with them and touching me all over. Where does she keep coming up with these ideas?

How was I stuck? Well. . .a tree knocked a fence down, so I went exploring. Problem was, there was another fence, so I could not get too far. But between the fences was a whole area of trees and untouched grasses. I went as far as I could. Then Shay came in after me. Silly Shay got all tangled in the branches and vines and couldn't get out. And I didn't have enough room to get around her. So I stood and waited. She kept banging at the fence, but I waited patiently. Eventually, Allie came to our rescue, so I guess she is good for something. She squeezed through all that tree growth and freed Shay's legs. Shay left then Allie got me. I did have one back leg a bit tangled, but before Allie could figure that out, Shay came back to make sure we were okay. Once we were, Shay took off and ran back to the herd. Glad no horse was hurt, but word is that my new exploring area is going to be off limits because the fence is getting fixed. Boo. 

Meet Jessie. My new boyfriend.  We like to share our meals together. We are cute like that.

~Shyloh