monday musings by shyloh #104

Goings On At The Barn

Lots of things have been going on at Hidden Creek Draft Horses lately, from itty bitty every day goings on to big huge awesome things!

But I am going to start with the little things. I am back in with the minions. Ugh. This time though, it is not for diet pasture, but for slut pasture. I am in heat and Isaac just can't keep his hooves off of me. . .or maybe I can't get enough of the blue roan. Either way, I am stuck with minions. 

We just all want to be close to each other!

But when I come in at night, I am stalled right next to Isaac. I steal his hay and somehow (I'll never tell) manage to get his water bucket and grain bucket into my stall. And if you ever saw our stall, this is quite the feat. We are in standing stalls because we are only in them for a short time overnight and sometimes we don't even come in at night. It is the best. 

I have also managed to unclip myself from the tie at the front of the stall. Hee hee. I could walk around an visit all the other horses if I wanted to and then go right back to my stall like nothing happened. 

Notice, no clip under my halter. Call me Houdini.

We managed to break back into the barn one day and have a party with the hay that didn't get put up yet. I won't say whose grand idea it was to break in or who started the whole thing, but it was fun! And that was before I got put on slut pasture. . . 

Allie has been almost completely ignoring me and taking the minions out on fun outings. So while we were left back, me and Gunny conspired to start a riot. When Allie got back and was bringing Meatball and Dexter into the pasture, Gunny ran out, quick as can be. And since Gunny is a little scared of two leggers, he is a bear to catch. He ran round and round while I cheered him on from the pasture. Then he took off through the bushes and down the road. Allie was chasing him, scared out of her mind! It was dark and the cars go down the street so fast. But Gunny stopped, realized he was not near home, turned around, and hinny galloped back to the property. I was still running up and down the fence, cheering him on and happy to see he made it back safe on the property. He was running all over, but made it into the barn. Allie closed the doors and he was trapped. Then he got let out with the big guys and Isaac chased him around because he though Gunny was a toy. Then Gunny finally made it back in minion pasture. Thank goodness. He is my main grooming equine.

We are plotters of chaos!

And finally. . .

Terry is the proud new owner of Reba! We are glad that she is not leaving, at least I am, because we are pretty good friends. And if she left, I'd be the only mare. Everyone is super happy about this. Those two get along great. And before Jaime brought Reba to the barn, she had been doing nothing for so long. With Terry, she will have so much fun. 

Yay!!

Whew. Living at the barn makes for a busy Haflinger. I am the only in between horse, in between the big drafts and the little minis, so I have to keep up on both sides of the fence. It can be exhausting at times, but I love it!

~Shyloh

marsh time

I feel that I have been neglecting poor Shyloh all weekend. But I suppose if she was not so adverse to doing fun things (or if I was able to ride or drive her) then we could do fun things together. But, we are not there yet. . .so I will have to have my fun with the minions. 

Me, Jaime, and Terry took Meatball, Dexter, and Reba to Crosswinds Marsh for a fun day with ponies! It was Reba's first time being ridden off the property since Jaime got her and Terry was more than happy to be the test dummy. Actually, Reba was very good for Terry and Terry has been riding for so long that any of Reba's mini temper tantrums (like thinking turning around would get her back when in fact we were doing a giant loop) did not bother her at all. 

Terry tricked her to go into the water by backing her in.

These two love each other!

I started out with Meatball and he was such a great little pony. We walked and trotted and had a great time. But I think the gravel road made his little pony feet sore and we spent as much time as we could on the grass. A little over halfway through, Meatball ran out of gas and didn't want to go any further. 

The trees were so pretty as they are turning colors.

Meatball and me!

Meatball's turn with Jaime on the lines.

Then I switched to Dexter. Turns out, Meatball was just playing me because Jaime got him to go. Grrrr. . .why is that ponies can always get one over on me? But Dexter is a ton of fun to drive, too! And I love the four wheel cart he uses. For being such a young pony, Dexter was great on the trails!

Dexter's turn!

Nothing seemed to bother him. 

We all had a super fun day riding around the marsh. The horses were all so good. Meatball was the official greeter of all the other horses we passed on our way around, he nickered to everyone. Each of the horses took turns in the lead and following. They were all just so good. Can't wait to do this again soon! I even got some video of our ride and drive.

trees

At our last show, Shyloh had decided for herself that trees may be the home to horse eating monsters. When I reached up to grab at a leaf, she had herself a little hissy fit and threw a temper tantrum, pony style. 

And because I am going through and extreme tired/lazy spell (or perhaps I just do not want to put her harness on her and feel more disappointment), I decided to walk Shy around, under, and through the trees on the property. I feel that I should be harnessing her up and working her, but we are having fun being lazy right now. 

I got a lot of wide eyes from Shy. It was as if she thought the tree was going to fall on her, crush her, then the horse eating monster would come and devour her. Totally irrational. 

I eased Shy into the first tree. I reached up, let her rest. Reached back up, shook a branch, let her rest. Reached up, shook a branch, lowered a branch, let her rest. Reached up, took off a leaf, let her rest. And repeat in different locations. 

Eventually Shy realized that she could eat the tree leaves, instead of the tree eating her. Progress. While she wasn't totally at ease, she was trusting me and that meant a lot. 

After we exhausted the deciduous trees in the side yard, we tackled the big conifer. This tree had branches that hang down and we could go under. Fun, right? I thought so. . .

I walked Shy up to the tree and went under. Shy refused to come under. I have experienced this before with her. I walked out, positioned myself next to Shy, told her we would walk under together, she came with me, no questions asked. I think that this is often part of our issues. Shy relies on me so much at her side that when I am behind her or on her, she feels lost. Maybe? Just a thought. . .

Anyway, we walked all under the tree and I had the branches hang all over Shy. We will probably have to do a few more sessions like this and then repeat with the harness and driving bridle on, but I think we will get there. 

The main point of this exercise was to desensitize Shy to branches or leaves touching or rubbing on her and sound of branches rustling and twigs snapping so when we ride or drive it is a non issue. Sometimes in a drive we might come close or swipe bushes, low or wide hanging branches, or drive over twigs. So, I guess we are doing some sort of work towards the goal. Just livin' the motto: slowly but surely. 

monday musings by shyloh #103

Way up high in the apple tree are all the delicious apples. When the two pastures were one, the big horses ate the apples within their reach. Now the remaining apples are so high the the two leggers cannot even reach. 

They have applied two methods to get apples for us. One is using the muck rake to shake the branches and rain a storm of apples on everyone. It can be quite painful if the apples hit you on the head!

The other method has Allie climbing the tree to pick the apples and throw them down.

At first, I was all. . .whoa! Two leggers do not belong in trees! Scary! What is going on? When the branches shook, me and the minions would all run around the tree, but not too close to it. Then we would zoom in, grab an apples, and zoom back to the appropriate safe distance, that we determined by scientific measurements. 

But after a while, me and the minions all realized that Allie in the apple tree was a good thing. We hung around waiting for our prized apples to be precisely dropped right in front of us! Much less work than all that running around. 

What service! 

Allie makes sure everyone gets their fair share of an apple or two or three. Even when Gunny is sometimes a jerk and tries chasing the other minions off the apples. He knows better than to try that with me me, though!

Lucky ponies are we to have our own treat tree and personal apple treat servant.

~Shyloh

fall drive

A few weekends ago, the Northwest Ohio Drafters and Drivers Club held their annual fall drive. Me, Jaime, and Kyle took two minis and Clutch down for the fun. 

Little horses are much easier than big horses

Dexter and Meatball are so much fun to drive. I drove Meatball first and even took him through the covered bridge. I didn't take him far and stayed mostly on the fairgrounds because it has been a while since he did some serious work. Plus, his little legs probably couldn't keep up with the bigger horses. We did some laps around the track on the fairgrounds and kept Flo and her mini Nicky company. 

Meatball wanted to go fast. . . I wasn't ready for that.

Nicky and Flo

Jaime and Kyle went a bit further with Jaime driving Dexter and Kyle riding Clutch. After a bit, they came back and joined us around the track. 

How cute!

Later, Beth with Art and Curly joined us. Beth didn't take her boys too far either, mostly she wanted to get Curly over the covered bridge a few times. Whatever issues he had when he was hooked up last time were gone now. They did great!

Covered bridge

Bethany from our show, with Millie the mule was there as well. And so was Haley with her Belgian Carry. We had a blast. 

Haley and Carry, all four off the floor!

Katie the mule

Millie the mule and Bethany

After the drive, we had mini pony races. First up was Jaime and Meatball vs Haley and Dexter. Then Jaime and Meatball vs Bethany and Dexter. Those little ponies can move so fast and they had them cantering down the track. I think Dexter won both races. . .he is a bit bigger than Meatball. I opted out this time. . .I just didn't feel skilled enough to handle ponies at high speeds.

Go ponies!!!

Laughing all the way!

Next up was draft barrel racing, Kyle and Clutch vs Haley and Carry. Haley won because Clutch just quit right before the end and crossing the line. 

Carry is a thick Belgian!

Clutch can be pretty speedy!

Bethany even had a go on Clutch!

And, I rode Clutch for a very short time! It is so high up there!

woot woot!

I actually got no photos, so all these photos were taken by Karen B. She took a ton of great photos! Fun times down in Ohio and even though I got heckled for my University of Michigan hat (hey,we pulled a comeback from the game the day before), I can't wait to do it again. I love this group of people, we always have the best time. Hopefully, I can get Shyloh to come one time!

Neal's mares taking people for a ride

This guy was a Dexter look alike

Haley's glamour shot

Me and Meatball!

I really like this Haflinger, pretty movement.

Curly, Art, and Beth