monday musings by shyloh #11

Hey Ryleigh! Whatcha doing over there? 

I'm eating hay over here! It is so deliciously tasty!

Hey Shyloh! I'm eating, too. 

I see that now!

Wow! You are a messy hay eater. 

I wonder if I can reach that hay you spilled out of your stall.

Oh. . .Wanna hear a joke?

You better not touch my hay!

But, I do love jokes!! It better be a good one. . .

I am telling it, of course it is a good joke!

Ok. . .here goes!

Why did the horse take a flake of hay to bed?

Um. . .let me think. . .

I don't know! 

Why?

To feed his night-mares! Hahahahahaha!! 

Not funny, Shy! Is that all you think about is food? 

Well, you are not getting any of MY food!

Get over here, I'm gonna bite you!

Ouch! Don't bite!

Besides, I can't think of anything more important to think about Ry! 

But I can be your night-mare (wink wink), wanna bring me some hay?

Maybe. .. 

Ugh, she is back to eating, just like that.

What are we going to do with this pony?

Hey!   I may be pony sized, but I am a horse, through and through! I most definitely have a horse-sized appetite!

~Shyloh

weekend update

Yesterday we went to a local equestrian show. It was a good experience and I had a lot of fun, but I couldn't find anything I needed. I specifically wanted a browband. They had a few, but they were English and I need a Western one. We stopped at a western store on the way home ad I did find a stall guard. I also discovered the saddle I think I want!

New stall guard! See how much lower it is than Ryleigh's?

But, that was it for horse goodies. So on to Schneider's Saddlery I went to get a few things I was looking for. Kathy got a really nice bridle for CT, it has lots of bling on it!

Then we stopped at the barn to say hi to the ponies. I walked out to Shyloh's pasture. First I stopped in the front pasture and gave some pony love to Mocha. Then I moved on to Ryleigh and took a few pictures. Finally, I showed Shy some attention. I held out a peppermint and walked right up to her. She didn't run!! I gave her some hugs, then left.

Today, I worked at the barn. Twenty two horses and twenty stalls later, I am sore and exhausted!

My charge. . .clean the barn!

I took horses outside and the weather was beautiful, but a little windy. All 20 stalled horses were perfect. It was fun to watch Shyloh go out, since it is something I never get to see. I put her in the pasture, took off her halter, and she ran right to the back, flinging her neck the whole way! Every once in a while, I would poke my head out to watch Shy in the pasture. Ryleigh follows her around like a long lost puppy! Seriously, he will not leave her side!

Shyloh and Ryleigh got a new pasture friend, Lexi!

Next came cleaning those 20 stalls! Thank goodness Kathy helped or I would probably still be there. Then I had to make sure all the horses had water, plus make sure the two horses that live outside had water. Now it was time to bring all the horses inside. Again, they were great! Even Shy came up to the gate when it was her turn to come inside. Kathy helped me pass out the hay and a little bit later the grain. When I gave all the other horses their grain, Shy had her head sticking out of her stall, like where is mine . . .I'm waiting. . .  She does not get grain and she only gets her supplements in the morning. But, I fed her a granola/banana/apple/blueberry mix that she loves.

I love grain, why don't I get any?

Finally I swept up the aisle way and it was done. It is a lot of work! At long last,  I was able to rest and hang out with my pony. I groomed her in her stall and picked her feet. Shy was a great. She really is a good pony. . .when she is not running from me!

Nom nom nom. . .eating hay together!

peppermint success!

Yes! I cut the time it took to catch Shyloh today in half with a peppermint!  It was beautiful! Once she realized that I had something and that something was edible, she had no problem standing for me to approach her. A butterscotch would halt her, but not stay her. It was the peppermint that was the key. Then we went inside and did our grooming/lunging routine. It went very well! Yesterday, I lunged her over a pole and today we continued with our transitions.

While we were lunging, Beth was bringing the other horses in for the night. I kept hearing this one horse calling and calling and calling. It was non stop. Finally, I asked Kathy which horse was making all that racket? She said it was Ryleigh! It appeared that he was upset because he came inside and Shyloh was no where to be found! After we finished lunging, I walked Shy around the arena a few times to cool her down, then put her in the stall. Ryleigh nickered and immediately stopped calling out. They stood next to each other again the wall of each stall. They are cute.

I sat in Shy's stall and watched her do her favorite pastime. . . eat hay. I just hung out with her for a little bit. Then I walked to the other side of the barn to give CT some attention and talk to Kathy. CT is the softest horse ever! When I walked back down to Shy, I caught her playing with the Jolly ball I hung up for her! She spotted me and stopped. . . she stared at me like I caught her doing something she was not supposed to do! I was happy to see her play with it because I have never seen it unless I put sugar on it.

Robin keeps asking me to ride Ryleigh. I really do want to ride him, but it has been so long since I have been on a horse, I am just a wee bit apprehensive. And it doesn't help that by the time I am leaving the barn, Robin is just arriving! But I will get on Ryleigh. . .hopefully this weekend!

Now I have a date with Harry. . .Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two!

the talk

After I went through this to catch Shyloh again. . . 

I decided that we needed to have a "talk." I was getting frustrated, it was cold out, it started to snow (!!!) and I may or may not have threatened to give Shy away from free or leave her outside with no dinner. Beth was able to bring her in, since she was the last horse left outside. But Shy was perfectly fine with being outside alone, running around the pasture just a-galloping and a-bucking away! I have never seen her act like that!

Anyway. . .this is how our talk went.

Listen Shyloh, I really need you to stop running from me when I come to get you. It is getting cold outside and it is getting dark early, so I can't be spending 20 minutes chasing you.

I know you want to stay outside!

Yes, I know the grass is good.

But sometimes, we need to do some work. You know, you need to get into shape. We have to lunge and long line so I can get ready to ride you.

It IS hard work, but we are in this together! 

So, do you think you can work on this?

Well, once you are inside, you are a dream! Very cute and you listen so well! You don't run from me inside. In fact, you ground tie in the arena and let me walk up to you over and over again.

You are not trapped! And you are not exactly being forced to work. You do awesome when we work!

So tomorrow when I get you from outside, will I have a problem?

. . . .?

I'll keep you posted about our progress. I am not convinced that me and Shy are on the same page quite yet. . .

sweet and sour

I had some grand plans today! The weather was a perfect 60 degrees and we won't be getting too many more days like today. So I rushed to the barn from work so I could take Shyloh on a walk through the fields before it got dark. I grabbed her bridle and headed out to the pasture to get her. 

Chilling with her homie

Once again, Shyloh was not in on my plan. She messes with me. . .she would not let me catch her! And I know she is messing with me because she does not take off to the back of the pasture. She will stay up front and just scoot herself right out of my reach. Then, at some random point, she will decide that she will let me come up to her. No problem. Ugh!

Using Ryleigh as a shield from me

During this time that I was trying to catch her and she was skillfully avoiding me, Ryleigh was busy protecting his girl from Forseti. Forseti kept coming to the fence of the pasture and Ryleigh put those ears straight back and ran him off. If Shy approached the fence while Forseti was near, Ryleigh would nip her and move her away!

True love!

I finally put her bridle on and we went on our walk. What a mistake. Because Shy took so long to catch, it was time to bring the other horses in and Shy did not want to go on her walk. She knows what happens when everyone goes inside. . .hay. And on top of that, she got all of the horses riled up. The fields are on the other side of Forseti's pasture, so he was walking next to us. Ryleigh could see from his pasture and was not pleased. He was galloping up and down  his fence line, which got other horses running as well. We gave up and went inside. That is sour Shyloh.

Gotta grab that grass!

But, I did not let her eat. We were going to lunge. Actually, the lunging went very well considering the start of our day. We worked on walk/trot transitions. I had Shy trot a lot and she worked up a sweat. I think we are both improving with our lunging and we were able to make our circles bigger. 

Lunging is boring

After she cooled down, I put Shy in her stall to eat her much anticipated dinner. I worked on getting her comfortable with me in her stall while she is eating. I touched her and back off. Then repeated. I would move closer to her, but if she looked like she wanted to move in the corner, I backed off. Eventually, Shy let me come up to her. She does let me approach her in the stall, but she usually backs into a corner. I scratched her in her favorite place and held her head. Then I rubbed her head and she relaxed. I was literally holding her heavy head up. I let go and Shy nuzzled next to me, wanted more head scratched. This is sweet Shyloh.

Like a Sour Patch Kid!

Like I said. . .she can be so sweet, yet so sour!