Mustang Dressage

Taking a step back

2012-01-19T19:47:00.000-08:00

So after our unexpected lesson last night, realized we have some holes in our foundation. Sure we can canter laps around the arena, but can we make a nice turn at a specific point? Can we come back to a trot now instead of 8 strides later?

Went out to the barn tonight with more of a plan than I often do. We were going to work on the things we learned last night. I was going to practice turning, stopping, walking in a straight line from point A to point B, and backing softly.

We still had our wiggly moments, but going 'point to point' went fairly well, need to do a LOT more of that. Then we practiced turning--turn with my eyes, shoulders, belly-button, then leg if needed and lastly rein. We had some good turns that barely needed any leg, and some others that needed a 'yoo-hoo, remember me?' lift of the reins.

Backing went really well. He was shifting his weight backwards by the time I'd closed 2-3 fingers on the reins. I was very aware of releasing while he was backing so the backing was the reward, not stopping.

Need to practice stopping. A lot. I was trying to do it like we did last night, but without as much success, so I must've been doing something wrong, will have to figure out what though.

Lol, decided to do something I hadn't done for a long while, ask him to trot on a totally loose rein and not do anything as long as he kept trotting. And my goofy pony just does circle after small circle by the gate. He didn't get to stop and if he walked, he was put right back into a trot. Was interesting.

Then I asked him to trot and stay on the rail, on a totally loose rein. He would try to veer off the rail after turning one of the corners, so I'd push him back to the rail. The comical part was turning the corner by the gate. We'd come into the corner fine, but coming out of it he would do a significant veer to the left, so I'd correct him back to the right, only then he'd try and turn around. Took us a few laps but he finally made it through that corner with a light touch of the leg and touch of the rein.

All in all, I feel good about the ride :)

Hanging out after our ride

Impromptu Lesson

2012-01-18T20:03:00.000-08:00

Cody posing for the camera the other day. I love the camera on my new iPhone!

Lately, it seems like our riding has been going backwards. Downward transitions were taking 10 or more strides to accomplish, if they even happened at all without resorting to a one-rein stop. Bending on a circle? Yeah right. We’ve been working so much on ‘forward’ that we’ve lost a bit in the process.

The last couple of rides, I’ve tried to mix forward trots up with slower, methodical turning, and stopping, and backing. We’ve had a tiny amount of success, but I would still often end up frustrated.

Enter Sam.

When I got out to the barn tonight, a couple gals I know at the barn were already out in the arena, one riding around on her Appendix QH gelding, and the other working with her young horse who has had some issues to work through. Sam is a gentleman from another barn who has been working with that gal and her horse and through slow, consistent work, they’ve made progress. Tonight I saw her riding her horse around bareback!

It wasn’t long after I got out to the arena with Cody that the other two were wrapping up and left. Cody and I were trotting around when I saw Sam come back out to the arena. I stopped to say hi and he asked how things were with Cody. I told him things were alright, but that Cody likes to ignore me. He asked me if I was sure that Cody was ignoring me—which made me pause a bit and try to explain. So I showed him how if we trotted off down the rail and I asked Cody to walk, he ‘ignored’ me for half the width of the arena before finally walking. So we got to talking and an impromptu lesson ensued.

Some of the things he showed me and had me try I’m not quite sure how they would fit into ‘dressage’, but it is giving me a lot to think about. Hopefully I haven’t managed to mangle things too much from arena to keyboard.

First, he lowered the bit. I’ve wanted to have the bit lower in Cody’s mouth, so he learns to ‘pack’ it, but any lower than I’d had it and it would be hitting his canines. Well, by lowering it a hole on either side, if it just hung loose it was below his canines. Cody was mouthing it and mouthing it because it felt funny. Doing his normal bringing it up with his tongue so he could crunch it with his molars. I was having a hard time with this because of where his upper canines are, but Sam made me wait and give Cody a chance. Low and behold, his mouth calmed down. Now it is up to him to hold the bit and keep it in a comfortable place in his mouth.

Speaking of it being up to him. Sam is also of the mind that a horse should be responsible for going in a straight line, at the gait you ask them for, until asked differently. So no riding and pushing and bumping Every. Single. Stride. like some are apt to do. This is something I can very much agree with. That is one thing I have had a hard time accepting when taking more dressage-type lessons, being told to ‘bump bump bump’ or ‘push to keep him going’.

Whoa.

Big, audible sigh, relax into saddle, pick one rein up, bring to hip, turn and look at his hip and disengage into a one-rein stop—if it takes that many steps. It took a few tries, but Cody was doing it most of the time with a sigh into the saddle and pick one rein up kind of against his neck if relaxing into the saddle wasn’t enough. The step of picking one rein up was literally picking it straight up before bringing it back to your hip, if needed. I found, that by just picking it up, it was enough of a reminder ‘oh hey, stop’ that he didn’t end up turning in the stop so much.

Back.

Sam explains this in 9 steps. One, pick up the reins at the buckle in one hand. Two, make a loose loop around the reins with your index finger and thumb of your other hand and slide it down the reins towards his withers. Three, take a rein in each hand, holding it between thumb and hand. Four (through seven), start closing your fingers on the reins, one finger (on each hand) at a time. Eight, tuck your tail bone under. Nine, with your hands closed on the reins, bring your elbows in and back to your sides. At first, he was having me reward even bringing Cody’s nose down as I closed my fingers on the reins. Then, even if he did that, I didn’t release until he’d at least shifted his weight back. Next, hold out until he’d taken a step back. Sam said it was important to have your release timed well. It is better to release in the middle of a step than wait until the step finishes—if he doesn’t take another step backwards, by releasing after he takes a step, you’ve now rewarded him stopping instead of backing… Oh, and sit up tall and light before and while you are tucking your tailbone to give your horse somewhere to lift his back into and back properly.

Turn.

Turn your head and look, turn your shoulders, turn your belly button (which is turning your seat), turn your toes—he literally had me turn my toes in the direction of the turn, and this is the part that I kept messing up, but when I did it like I was told, it actually worked—use your outside leg and take your inside leg off, like you are opening a door. We worked on this at a walk, just doing 90 degree or quarter turns, and it felt like we were getting somewhere. Sometimes I’d forget and use my inside leg in the ole “inside leg to outside rein” idea, but if I remembered to take my inside leg off and use my outside leg to sort of push him into the turn, it seemed to work. This is going to take some thinking, and some experimenting to see how we do, and how it might work into a more ‘dressage’ type of riding.

Straight lines.

Without the rail and on a loose rein, my horse is very wiggly. He veers off one direction, I try to lightly correct him only it ends up overcorrecting and we veer off the other way. So Sam suggested we practice walking straight towards a target. Once there, stop and rest. Then we would turn 180 degrees with a combination of an indirect rein and moving his hindquarters for the first part, and then a direct-rein and move his shoulders over. Stop and rest a moment before heading out in a STRAIGHT line on as loose a rein as you can. He recommended we do a lot of aiming towards targets to work on straight lines.

I would have loved to have done more but I happened to glance at my watch finally and saw it was 9:30! We were supposed to have the arena lights off by 9:00, oops. Hopefully, by writing this down I will remember enough pieces tomorrow when I go ride that we will take some steps in a positive direction.

Where has the time gone?

2011-06-25T12:47:00.000-07:00

The move to the new barn in January was a great decision. Cody has settled right in to life at the barn--he is in his stall with a fan during the hot part of the day, and is out in a field from afternoon until morning.

We've been riding! It was a slow start as I still really needed to build my confidence back up but we've made progress. I found a gal to take some lessons from and that helped a lot--just having someone there to not let me chicken out. We have gone from being nervous to trot all the way around the arena to cantering laps confidently.

Fun stuff lately is that we've gotten to go on a couple trail rides with a nice lady I met at the barn. She has this great QH gelding named "The Town Buzz", aka "Buzz". He's been a great trail buddy for Cody. Although, first time we went on a trail ride Cody decided Buzz was walking too slow and took off in the lead at a nice forward walk. The trail we've been on is just a nice, shaded (important in Florida!) loop around a lake. We've been there twice now and plan to go back again tomorrow. Fun thing about this lake is that there is an area where you can ride (or lead) your horse down into the water.

A view of the lake

Cody and Buzz

Hubby climbed on Cody and went for a pony ride

Cody and Buzz get their feet wet

The week around Memorial Day, my mom came to visit! Hadn't seen her since Thanksgiving. We had a great time :) On the way home from picking her up at the airport, we stopped to see Cody.

Mom says hi to Cody

I found a dressage saddle, not sure I'm totally happy with the fit, but it's hard because it still seems like he has no topline.

Cody was mesmerized by his reflection in the glass

That gives you an idea of what we've been up to :)

Oh! Hubby and I have also been working on losing weight, I've lost almost 40lbs so far! Still have approximately another 40 to go, but hey, it's progress :)

Just for the heck of it, here is a couple pics from riding today.

Trying to get to a spot for a pic

Love that brand!

It's Summer already

2011-06-24T21:54:00.000-07:00

Where has the year gone??? I have been terrible about updating this this year as you can obviously tell. Tomorrow I plan to have a good horsey day so I will take pics (what is a blog post without pics?!?) and write a nice update. Now, however, it is nearly 1am and I am sleepy! So good night and see you tomorrow :)

The New Year

2011-01-30T17:07:00.000-08:00

Okay, so it's a few weeks into the new year, but thought I was overdue for a bit of an update.

Design of blog needs work but the template designer was driving me nuts so I will tackle that another day.

Cody spent about three and a half months at the self care barn. I was able to get some weight on him and he was looking good--just one problem, nowhere to ride unless I just wanted to ride in a big field. Now, if he were further along in his training I suppose that could have worked if I didn't mind riding in the dark all the time. In the 3 and a half months he was there I think I climbed on him twice, maybe three times for all of five minutes.

So the hunt was on for a barn with an arena and lights! (Actual covered arenas seem very rare in south Florida). Looked into one place that had an arena but no lights and was sort of co-op type situation, but it was further away. Looked at another barn that was more than I'd really thought to pay in board but they had an arena and a round pen and best of all, they had lights! So I took a closer look at what I was actually spending on my partial board situation and when I added up the cost of board, feed, and gas (plus the time to go there twice a day) it actually came out to basically the same as the barn that had what I was looking for. So arrangements were made, a trailer ride was found, and on January 1st Cody moved to his new home.

He spends the afternoon and all night turned out (they are working on finding a good fit so he can go out with a buddy in a field with more grass), there is a fan in his stall, he gets fed well (no skinny horses here!) and I can go to the barn after work and ride!!!!

Now for the riding part. In the 4 weeks that he's been at the new barn I have ridden more than I had in the last 6 months. We can walk, trot and canter in the round pen, and I have walked and trotted in the arena (I know, I should just canter out there, but it's a big arena and I'm working up to it). We have been practicing one-rein stops, flexing left and right, backing, going over ground poles and all that fun stuff.

I am trying to find someone I can take some lessons from to help build my confidence and give me some direction with Cody but in the meantime we continue to plug along.

Now if only I could figure out my saddle dilemma! More on that in my next post :)

Cross your fingers

2010-08-11T20:28:00.000-07:00

I am looking into moving Cody about an hour north of where he currently lives. To make that work, we are also looking into moving to an apartment complex closer to that barn. If all goes well (we have at least three apartments to go look at this Saturday) I will live 10 minutes from my horse instead of 30, he will have a stall that is open to a nice sized grassy paddock, and we will have an apartment that has a washer and dryer! I plan to do partial board so I can know just how much he is being fed and adjust as needed. I wrapped a weight tape around him tonight and it came out at about 840 lbs. I think he could easily stand to make it to 900 if not 950. I'll have to keep track to see how he does.

Tonight was the fourth time I have lunged Cody in side reins. I'm working on rigging up some shims so my saddle doesn't sit low in the front so I have just been doing stuff on the ground lately. He is on the thin side but I figure we can work on building some muscle in his topline to help him fill out. He's doing fairly well, just needs to reach down and forward a bit more, but we're getting there.

A couple weeks ago I was trying to hose him off and he was being a dork, something spooked him and he took off into a field that had an open gate. The rope dragging behind him and sometimes wrapping around a leg was totally freaking him out and he was running mad laps around the field. Once I got him to pay enough attention to stop I tossed the rope at his legs (like I've done a zillion times before) and that was no issue, he just didn't like it wrapping around his legs and/or dragging while he was moving. So...tonight I also clipped an old cotton leadrope to the top ring on the surcingle so that it was dragging along the ground as he trotted around. The first lap he freaked a bit but half stepping in front of him and saying whoa got him to stop for a moment and let his brain settle back into place. After that he trotted around and around with the rope dragging alongside him. He was often at a bit of an angle so he could keep an eye on the evil rope but all in all it went well. I think I'm going to do that a few more times.

I have been terribly lax lately in updating this blog about my goofball of a wild pony, but with all the hopeful changes coming I'm going to try and keep it more up to date :)

Wish us luck in the apartment hunt!

Daydreams

2010-07-22T16:14:00.000-07:00

When I was little, my older cousin and I used to draw designs and make plans for a place we were going to have someday that we dubbed "Dream Ranch". We had drawings of barns, trails, a 3-story octagon shaped house, and sheets and sheets of horses we were going to have. I think at the time we had planned to breed Quarter Horses and Trakehners, lol. I'm sure a lot of horse crazy girls have dreams like this.

That dream has never left me. My mind often wanders to day dreams of what I would make Dream Ranch today. There are thoughts of mustangs, of having an after school "homework and horses" program, a dressage ring and an "extreme" trail course, well, you probably get the idea.

I haven't given up on my idea, but lately I am torn. Right now I am in Florida, down in Miami. Dream Ranch isn't gonna happen in Miami and we don't plan to stay here more than 3-4 years. The talk after that is to possibly go back to Washington or to go north in Florida up between Ocala and Orlando somewhere.

I miss the mountains and I miss friends and family in Washington. What I worry about, is there any where to build my Dream Ranch in Washington? I don't want to step on anyone's toes and I fear I would be laughed at for such an endeavor.

Ocala is definitely horse country. Rolling hills and horse farms all over. From Thoroughbred farms to Friesian breeders and everything in between. My mother-in-law keeps sending me links to property for sale up that way. They hope to retire up near Orlando in about 5 years and would like their children and families to be nearby.

Could I build my daydreams in Washington?

My first trim

2010-06-29T19:41:00.000-07:00

So...I got it into my head to try trimming Cody's feet. I want to keep him barefoot and so I've been reading about it and I emailed Andrea at Mustang Saga for advice since she trims her horses' feet. So far I have only attempted his front feet. What do you think? I figured if I didn't take too much off I couldn't screw up too badly, right?

Before, left front (he has always had that line you can see on his right front, there is an old injury on his coronet band)

Before, left front

After, left front

Left front done, right front still to go

Perfect Day

2010-05-16T09:59:00.000-07:00

More pics when I get them back from the photographer :) Cody was a star! This was all of the third time I have ridden him outside of the arena or round pen. He went past cars, people, small screaming children, with only a second glance at a flapping table cloth for about 5 seconds. It was a wonderful day, not only did I get to marry a great man and best friend, I have an awesome horse :)

Spring is here

2010-03-27T15:08:00.001-07:00

Cody sporting a hat

The last couple of weekends have been really nice. Cody has been doing well, even if we are still just trotting around the round pen. I wasn't able to go out to the barn at all this past week, so the last time I climbed on him was last Sunday. He did great today! Tomorrow I may go back out to the arena. I also had a chance to talk to one of the other boarders today who goes on trail rides a lot. He is one who tends to go and and likes to GO, so I don't think we'll be tagging along with that group any time soon, but he said Susie, the barn owner, tends to go much slower and she goes on Saturday mornings, so I just may check into tagging along in a couple weekends. Well, first I have to ride him around other horses....just haven't had a chance to do that yet unfortunately.

I got some conchos and buckles to decorate Cody's bridle. You can't see them all that well, but they dress it up nicely :)

I think I need a new name for this blog

2010-03-06T17:37:00.000-08:00

So I've been thinking lately (I know, scary thought) but I don't think Cody is going to have the movement to go very far in dressage. He has nice forward movement, tracks up nicely at the trot, has a nice smooth looking canter, but he just doesn't seem to have that little extra spark of pizazz that makes a good dressage horse. So I've decided that what I'd like to do is get into trail riding. Either competitive trail riding or endurance riding, still trying to see what I can find around here (especially since I don't have a horse trailer). Who knows, if I can get in better shape, maybe in a couple years we'll try an Extreme Cowboy Race....

So to that end, I found a new used saddle. It's in great shape and seems to fit him as well as I am going to find something to fit him right now (he still really needs to fill out).

So here is my western pony, what do you think?

In the arena

2010-02-13T16:33:00.001-08:00

Video from our ride today.

New bridle

2010-02-06T15:45:00.000-08:00

There is a place called Sunset Feed a mile from our apartment. Nice place, nice people, could use a bit more in the horse tack department, but it's not bad.

They had a sale awhile back (okay, it was Thanksgiving weekend) and clearance stuff was half off the already marked down price. How could I pass that up? I found a nice english bridle for a nice price, and a royal blue saddle pad.

Today, I went out to the barn and when we (fiance came with me) got out there it turned out there was a birthday party going on. Barn owner (nice gal) came over to talk when she saw us heading to the barn and she said the round pen was fine to use. So I got Cody all tacked up and off we went to play in the round pen. I have some video that needs to be edited that I hope to upload later.

Cody has been here two weeks today. The first week was just spent trying to brush out a lot of his shedding coat and letting him settle in a bit. Oh, and he has trimmed whiskers and a bridle path now. Never seen clippers before and he just stood there while I trimmed him up a bit. I wonder sometimes if he came in from the wild already trained...

This past week we were back to working by the moonlight. Turns out even though he has had the last 5 months off he hasn't really lost much. I even ground drove him with a bit for the first time this week. The arena was a bit of a lake because there had been a downpour earlier that day so we just went back and forth and did figure eights alongside the barn. Got one other ground driving session in before today, out in the arena and we wove in and out of cones and such. Climbed on bareback for about a minute and a half one night and once with my english saddle on for maybe all of three minutes this past Sunday.

Today we rode for 10-15 minutes, in the round pen, with a bit, with noisy kids and a fire going in a fire pit not far from where we were, with chickens wandering around along one side of the round pen, you get the idea. Cody didn't appear to care. We practiced turning and stopping and backing (I've never ridden him with a bit, just with the rope halter with side rings) and he did awesome.

At this rate, I think he really will be ready for me to ride him in my upcoming wedding (May 15). Lol, I basically have as much time to get him ready for that as trainers do for a Mustang Makeover, think we can do it?

Yes

2010-01-10T19:18:00.000-08:00

Today, we stopped at a store on our way to his parents' house for dinner. This store happened to be a jewelry store. The item that was being picked up was an engagement ring! We had gone to "just look" yesterday (or so I was told) and I spotted a ring I rather liked. Today it is on my finger! When he got back in the car he proposed (totally unromantic I know, but sweet all the same) and of course I said yes :)

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T06:15:00.000-08:00

I can't believe 2009 is done and gone already! I wonder what 2010 will bring?

2009 has been a pretty eventful year for me. I moved to Miami, FL, I got a "real" job, I got a puppy, I climbed on my horse for the first time, I think it's been a pretty good year.

Now for those blue moon pics. The sky was cloudy but when I went out to snap a shot the moon was peeking through an opening.

And I think, for now, I'm going to leave them as dark as they were straight out of my camera.

The moon over our apartment building.

The moon peeking out over a palm tree zoomed in as much as my little camera could go.

Finally found a place

2009-12-13T19:26:00.000-08:00

I finally found a place to board Cody. It's further away than I'd really wanted, but the people seem really nice and there is turnout and places to ride. So this means I am can finally finish making plans to ship Cody. I used uShip to get bids from shippers and was able to find someone to haul my nutty pony from one corner of the country to the opposite corner for $1500. So the plan is to haul him here mid-January.

The barn is about 16 miles away, but it's going to take 20-30 minutes to get there. But I plan to head there after work 2-3 evenings a week and then on weekends. They have a round pen and an outdoor arena (I haven't really seen any covered arenas around here, not quite sure why). I got a really good feeling from the place when we stopped by there on Saturday. We showed up unexpected (were out to drive past a few places and we saw people so thought we'd stop and get out) and they were in the middle of getting ready for a holiday party for their boarders and lesson kids. She let me wander and look around a bit and then showed us around and told us more about the place. And after all of that, she invited us to stay for their party! Sadly, we couldn't stay, but I thought that was really nice. So I am really looking forward to having my horse back!

I've been at my new job for 2 weeks now and it's finally starting to get interesting. I actually have a job now where my job title is "programmer"! It's fixing bugs and doing modifications for a company that has a software program that airlines use for tracking maintenance and engineering for airplanes and parts and such.

Bummer thing about the job is that I have to wake up at 5:30 to get there on time! Since start times are an hour and a half apart and in differing directions, I am riding the bus to work. It's all of a 10 mile commute but you put that in city rush hour traffic (and the fact that I am riding a bus) and it turns into a 50 minute commute. I find the nice thing about riding a bus is that I can totally tune out the traffic and just read or look things up on my phone.

Sadly, I've dropped my poor cell phone twice in the last week and put some significant cracks in the screen. Luckily it seems to still be working. Hopefully it will make it through to summer so I can get an upgrade.

How could we resist?

2009-11-21T20:44:00.000-08:00

We went to Ikea today because I had a coupon for $25 off our purchase and it expired at the end of the month and we could really use desks (2 people and one desk just doesn't work very well). Had a productive day and had lunch there (yum meatballs!). On the way home were gonna stop by a store to grab some soda and it happened to be next to PetSmart. Went in to look at the cats that are always there for adoption. Walk in the door and there are puppies. I haven't had a dog since I was five. Somehow we came home with this....

Isn't he cute? He is 9 weeks old, was born September 15. He is Jack Russell and Shih Tzu so it's going to be interesting to see what he ends up looking like, right now he looks kind of like a solid colored Jack Russell.

He is possibly in need of a name. The name the shelter had given him is Tommy and I'm just not sure if that feels quite right. Some other suggestions have been Pete or Charlie. Any other ideas?

English Saddle

2009-11-15T09:13:00.000-08:00

So while I was in Washington for a few days last week, I tried my old Stubben saddle on him again just to see how it was fitting. It's not perfect, but it fits better than the Wintec I tried on him for comparison. And when I got home to Miami and I've looked at the pics I took a few dozen times, thought I would compare how he looked in it now versus when I first tried it on him back in February. I do believe I can say he has actually grown a little, lol.

February 21, first time I put a saddle on his back

Tuesday morning, November 10 before heading to the airport

Now that I have found a job (I start Thursday) I get to have my pony shipped here in about a month or so! So now I am really looking for somewhere to board him and I have been getting quotes from shippers. Does anyone have any good or bad experiences with any particular shipper?

Cody says Hi!

2009-10-05T20:08:00.000-07:00

Mom took some pics for me. I am still working on finding a place to keep him that doesn't cost as much as rent and isn't a half an hour away. I miss my pony!

Quick Update

2009-09-17T09:12:00.000-07:00

First, gotta have a Cody pic:

Mom has been taking good care of him for me.

I've been here for two weeks now! Starting to feel kinda of settled in, I've been to the local feed/tack store once. They looked busy so I didn't talk to anyone, but I'd really like to start checking into places. The hitch there still being that I need to find a full time job. My part-time job isn't going to cut it if I want to be able to afford Cody's board here. Either that or another part-time job. Will just have to see how things pan out. Right now I am just grateful that I still have my part-time job and I can do it remotely.

Off to Florida!

2009-09-01T01:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I leave in a few hours to go to Florida. Not just for a visit this time, but to stay. Cody will hopefully be following in 2-3 months once I secure a job and a place to board him. He currently is tucked back in in the backyard where he looks up and nickers whenever he sees me come out the back door because he knows I'm a sucker and am likely to give him some sort of munchie (or just breakfast/dinner!). It's going to be hard leaving him behind for that long!

This summer with him was good. I got a good start on him with 30 rides. There would have been a few more but his back was getting sore.

I've had a terrible time finding a saddle to fit and if you look at his back he just really needs to fill out. I hope he does and that his back doesn't look this bad forever. From the side he looks good, but from this angle he is, well, all angles!

Ride 23 - We loped!

2009-07-24T21:45:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to ask Cody to lope for a week or two or three now but was lacking the guts to get it done. My friend Diane (who owns the place where Cody is staying for the summer) was going to come out and be that extra bit of encouragement that I needed this evening, but something came up and she wasn't able to.

I had been riding him around the arena for a bit, he was trotting off nicely and we were turning okay and the thunder and lightning didn't seem to be bothering him. So I argued with myself and decided "you're going to do this!" and we started trotting a circle and I started asking him to canter. I've always kissed for a canter from the ground and he responds well. With me on his back he was just trotting faster and faster so we stopped for a moment so I could talk myself into following through. Off into another circle at a trot and this time I made a longer kissing sound and he figured out what I was asking and off we went! We cantered a few strides, maybe a third of a circle and I asked him to whoa and he did and I told him what a good boy he was. And then off we went to do it again! To top it all off, the few strides I did get tonight felt like it was going to be pretty smooth :)

Doesn't he look good?

2009-07-17T16:06:00.000-07:00

Just a quick shot with my phone after we rode today.

Cody having fun in the arena

2009-07-13T22:18:00.001-07:00

Well, I have ridden my pony 16 times now, he is doing really well :) Don't have any video of that unfortunately, but here is a video of him just kicking up his heels and having fun in the arena (got there too late to really have time to ride). It's a bit dark as it was late, but you can still sorta see, lol.

Proof I Rode My Mustang

2009-06-26T00:23:00.001-07:00

Okay, so here is a short clip of me on Cody the third time I rode him.

I Finally Sat on Cody!

2009-06-15T10:51:00.001-07:00

Okay, really quick, and no pics, but I FINALLY sat on Cody last night! It was to the point where I could lay over him and pet him and jump on him (from the mounting block) and whatever and he just stands there. So there was no one out there last night (in the covered arena) but I just couldn't stand it any longer and I draped a leg over and let it swing back and forth, just stood there so I just shifted my weight over (yay mounting block) and sat on him for a half a sec. No problem. So I did it again for a little longer. He stood there and I gave him a treat and decided I shouldn't push it especially since I was out there by myself. Tonight we'll do it again and most likely have him move, lol, but I will have someone out there with me.

Happy Memorial Day

2009-05-25T09:06:00.001-07:00

A good day for a picture

2009-04-26T17:41:00.000-07:00

I have been so lax in posting lately. Will try and write more tonight, but I just wanted to share some pics from this afternoon. Cody is darn near shed out and the sun was shining and he was all shiny looking so I had to take a few. Three dozen pictures later, I liked these.

Brand side (what do you think, is there a dressage horse in the making hiding in there?)

Mane side

I just liked the look on his face, "Are you done yet?"

Sunshine

2009-04-15T07:10:00.000-07:00

The sun is actually shining this morning! Nice to see a sunny sunrise.

I have continued to get up at 4am to go walking (am I nuts?) but I should use some of the time I have between 5 and 6 (when it's finally light enough to go out) to be updating my blog but I seem to keep getting side-tracked.

Let's see, last Wednesday Cody got his feet trimmed for the first time! After he decided the farrier wasn't a mustang eating monster (I was rather surprised at this) he stood there like a champ. I would have tried to take pictures, but, well, Cody wasn't exactly behaving when the farrier first approached (he was like 'get me out of here!') and then I forgot.

We've been working on standing out by the road and watching cars go by. He is getting much more relaxed about the cars zipping by in front of him. And yesterday we went for a walk down a quiet side street! First time he's been off the property since he got here in December. It was a nice relaxed first outing with no traffic (but still lots to look at) and he handled it well I thought.

My brother's dog, Isis (a rottweiler-husky mix) is here for a few weeks and during the day she is out in her kennel out by Cody. She sometimes barks at him and he'll step back but then he's right back up by the fence checking her out. The cats however (she sleeps in the house at night) are none too thrilled with there being a strange dog in the house. The first night Bentley refused to purr which is so unlike him. But his motor is back and running again.

This morning didn't have much time so I just put Taffy's old leather halter on him and took him out to snap some pictures. I need to do that again one of these days with my better camera. I thought he looked handsome in that halter (and yes, I need to tighten the noseband up a bit).

I should have taken his blanket off and adjusted the halter better for the pic!

Yum!

A Quick Post Before Work

2009-04-07T07:08:00.000-07:00

So I have been getting up at 4am to go walking with a friend on the east cost. The first morning I got up that early, I fell back asleep when I got home. After that first morning though, I felt guilty since he had to go to work and couldn't go back to sleep. So I have been staying up and once it gets light out I go take care of Cody.

This morning, we went for a short walk to watch cars go by. We will need to do that a few (dozen) more times! The first couple cars he didn't really care for but was able to just stand there and watch by the time we left.

The other success was that I got him to step out onto the road (he wasn't too sure about stepping onto that strange surface)! Definitely a case where slow and steady, rewarding movement in the right direction paid off.

I love being around horses, they have so much to teach about patience and sticking with something.

Here are a couple pictures from yesterday morning.

From Coyote Bay

It's been a week

2009-04-06T05:37:00.001-07:00

Since I last posted, shame on me!

The week had mostly involved finding creative ways to exercise Cody as it had been wet and soggy for a good part of it, rendering my round pen (which I have yet to put footing in) unusable, ground was too wet to trot circles outside of the round pen either, so we practiced trotting in hand and I got exercise out of the deal too! Cody made a lot of progress being able to trot in hand this week too. He will now trot off nicely, instead of tossing his head and looking at me like I've lost mine when I break into a jog. He also stops as soon as I do which is just sort of fun to stop randomly to make sure he is paying attention.

Saturday (my birthday) was an absolutely gorgeous day! So of course I spent some time outside with Cody and what I decided to attempt again was ground driving. I hadn't really worked on it since he seemed a bit confused the last time I'd tried, although, thanks to Life at the Roughstring it sounds like he was getting it better than I was. So we had a moment of follow the pressure of the rope, oh wait, now there is pressure on the other side, and then I was able to get some forward motion and pretty soon he is trotting around with one rope going around his rump to my hand and the other straight from halter to hand (still don't have a surcingle or anything). We had some somewhat tangled moments when figuring out how to stop since he is so used to turning and facing me, but we got that mostly figured out. By the end, I could get him to make a few turns and trot off the other direction, all in all, a fun day!

The swelling has never gotten very bad from being gelded although the wound is still open and raw looking (but shrinking).

Yesterday, the ground was drier so on a bit of a whim (I was supposed to be doing something else outside but just sort of gravitated to Cody....) went to work with Cody for a moment. I had him trotting around the round pen this way and that, but he was just being a little skittish about me reaching out and petting him after I'd asked him to stop, which just seemed silly on his part, so off I'd send him again. This went on for a bit, and since it was actually above 60 degrees outside, he got sweaty! Hmm, my devious mind was plotting, what a perfect excuse to introduce him to the hose.... Luckily my mom was outside and kind of manned the water pressure as Cody tried to convince me he was just fine with being sweaty.

Hose with no water was okay, hose with a soft trickle of water, not so much. Okay then, take a look at it with your inquisitive nose.

"Oh, it's water? Well then, I want a drink!" (I so wish I had a picture of this but my hands were full!!) He was perfectly content to stand there drinking out of the hose for a moment but it took a bit longer to actually get the water on his shoulder, but by the end, success!

Round pen & relationships

2009-03-29T23:53:00.000-07:00

Interesting day. I stayed up way late the night before so overslept a bit. So far I am lucky that Cody has never complained if he gets fed earlier or later than the day before... He got his breakfast a little later than usual, but not bad. Things didn't look all that swollen this morning so I just gave him his breakfast (since it was a bit late) rather than working him in the round pen before feeding him.

I was going to take a nap as I was still tired, but some motivation from a friend got me to go out and take a walk. I'm glad I did, the sun was shining and the headache that had been creeping up faded away. Unfortunately, not long after I got back, it returned and I did end up taking that nap so I didn't get near the things done today that I had wanted. And it finally took some ibuprofen for it to go away.

This evening when I went out to work and then feed Cody it was a nice, calm evening. Cody was feeling good though and was wanting to canter around more so than trot. Since I haven't done anything about footing yet in the round pen (and I plan to move it about 20 feet from its current location) it's betting a bit muddy. He just plows right through though. So around and around he went, enough that at the end, his chest was actually a bit sweaty! The cool thing though, is that he is willing to take a few steps in following me, both forward and back. And if I turn and face backwards like I was going to ask him to back, he tucks his nose and back we go, with no halter or anything on :)

On to the relationship part of the title. Not sure why I am writing this here as it's not related to Cody, but I wanted to write a bit and figured here was as good a place as any. So I have been in a long-distance relationship for the last approximately 4 years. Long story short, it was going nowhere and I said good-bye tonight. In some ways, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I guess I was more ready to move on than I realized. I think I am going to go get some sleep as it is after midnight, and will just have to see what tomorrow brings. (It was either going to be said in a voice mail or an email as he is hard to get a hold of, so I sent him an email saying good-bye tonight and so am a bit leery of his reaction).

Trot work

2009-03-26T22:49:00.000-07:00

I wish I had some pleasant pics to post tonight, but today was kind of rushed and the small camera has dead batteries (going to be getting rechargeable ones!) so no new pics today. He spent the day in the round pen as I figured he'd have more room to move about if he felt like it and he could nibble the grass. He was very cooperative about trotting his laps (not that there is any swelling at this point) and I even got him to eat a couple of treats. The weird thing is that after he's trotted a few times around, he starts sounding squishy where the hole is, it still looks pretty raw. But the vet said it was important to have that movement to keep the swelling at bay, so....movement it is. He doesn't seem sore or anything which is nice. Saturday he may get to learn that the hose is for more than just filling his water bucket so I can wash his back legs off.

I hope everyone had a nice day and at least had time to hug their horse today!

More Gelding Pics

2009-03-25T14:28:00.001-07:00

One down (it's in a garbage can)

Any guys out there cringing?

Meet the new gelding

2009-03-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning to gray skies and rain. The weather report said it was supposed to taper off to intermittent light showers which thankfully it did! Dr. Zaccardi showed up at 1pm to blue skies and a bit of a breeze. He had his assistant and then two vet techs in training. One of the girls in training, she got to give him one of the knockout drugs and insert a catheter in his neck. Seems to be the trick with Mr. Itchy is to be scratching his withers when they are doing stuff like that, seemed to keep his attention off of what they were doing just enough to get it done, he didn't even mind getting his temp taken! (It was 99 by the way).

Dr. Zaccardi looked at his teeth and looked at him and he believes that Cody is a 2006 colt. So...he's a year older than the BLM thought he was and the funny part is that it makes him the age that I had actually been looking for when I went down there to begin with! So it looks like Cody and Steve Holt! are the same age. Instead of one being 4 this year and one being 2, they are both going to be 3. I am going to hold onto the hope that he will keep growing though, as the difference between fetlock and elbow and elbow to withers is about 4 inches.

On to the pictures! I would have taken more but the batteries in my camera went belly up.

Watch out, he's going down!

Vet tech in training

The whole crew

They had a rope from one leg, under his hips to the other to hold them out of the way.

Getting things all clean and ready to go to work.

Quiet time

2009-03-24T22:47:00.000-07:00

This evening after work, I went out like I always do to pick Cody's pen before I fed him his dinner. I was thinking about what Andrea had said, about not always working with him when I go out there. So after I was done cleaning, and before I got him his dinner I took his blanket off and just petted and scratched him all over. Didn't have a brush on me, so I just used my hands. I had hair flying everywhere, but he seemed to enjoy it. Just stood there and at times his neck was so stretched out as he wiggled his lips, it seemed twice as long as normal. And then, with his head over my shoulder, I just pet his face. It was a nice, quiet evening.

Tomorrow he meets the vet for the first time (to be gelded). He hasn't really met a lot of people, I hope it goes okay!

Round pen!

2009-03-23T23:19:00.000-07:00

I got a call on Sunday that my round pen panels were in! And it worked out to go down to Monroe and pick them up today. Got a bit later of a start than we'd planned as we had to get tabs for the trailer, the right size ball for the receiver, find proof of insurance for my brother's truck, get gas, well, you get the picture. Oh, and on top of that, the lights on the trailer didn't want to cooperate.

We made it safely home and it's time to start unloading!

The first few panels up!

Mom trapped in the round pen...(literally, I had to go get wire-cutters to cut the wire holding the gate shut)

My mom and I got it somewhat set up, the space I had decided to put it isn't quite as level as I'd wished it to be so we have some adjusting to do to get the panels level and even. But it was put together enough to use it tonight, although it was a bit dark.

I can walk up to Cody fine, and put his halter on. Sometimes when I clean his pen and haven't fed him yet, he will come up behind me. But most of the time, he won't really approach me. And when I am working with him, if I have him back up from wiggling the lead rope or something, trying to get him to come back forward towards me, more often than not, I have to pull hard until I get one step and release, but it's like I have to do that fore each step. I feel like I've missed something. He loves the attention of being brushed and will just stand there, and wiggle his lips when I hit a good spot. I have a dvd that I got this weekend on groundwork to watch, and I am hoping that will give me some ideas of how to get Cody to want to catch me, instead of me always catching him. Anyone have any thoughts on that?

Finals

2009-03-23T23:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, the pictures are awful. But if you promise not to laugh at their awfulness, here are the top 5 from the ECR in Albany OR this weekend. I also didn't write down names so I apologize for the terrible pictures and lack of decent information. I will try to get the video that I took uploaded tomorrow.

1st place. I don't recall her name, but she has competed before, was riding a chestnut horse.

2nd place. Pony named Ginger.

3rd place. The guy on the mustang that fell off and landed on his head....he slipped off during the bareback free-ride too, but landed on his feet this time.

4th place. The smaller, reddish mule ridden by a lady.

5th place. Rose gray 4 year old arab mare.

Found a place to set my camera

2009-03-19T00:45:00.000-07:00

More words later, just want to see if this works. (Youtube muted my sound)

Confused

2009-03-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

I think I confused my poor sweet pony. He had gotten really good at turning to follow the lead if I wrapped it around his rump and asked him to turn around away from me. So tonight, since I'd picked up another length of 1/2" cotton rope to use as a driving line, I put both ropes on his new halter. At first I just had the outside one draped over his back doing nothing as I longed him one direction and then the other. But when I let the rope drape around his rump, he felt the pressure and tried to turn that way, but then felt the pressure on the other side and tried to turn that way. He bounced back and forth a few times before he just stood there and you could see he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. I felt so bad for confusing him like that! So now I need to rethink my approach to teaching him to ground drive. We ended on an okay note (after I had to go round up my cat who is a house cat who had snuck out) and I put his old halter on with just a lead rope and we practiced stuff we were more solid with. A surcingle would probably be good, so the ropes don't drag so low. We'll get there, just have to find some smaller steps to take.

Balance

2009-03-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

First off, I need batteries! My big camera is too big to stash in my pocket, and my pocket camera has run out of juice. So once again, no pictures :(

Balance is such an important concept, whether it has to do with your horse or your life in general. Working with Cody last night we reached a point where the more I asked of him, the more reactive he got. The evening ended okay, but it got me to thinking. So tonight, while still expecting him to respect me, I tried to ask things in a calmer way, trying to find that balance between getting what I ask for and him reacting instead of thinking.

I think it went pretty well. Had a couple bouncy pony moments, which turned into backing halfway across grandma's big backyard, but we were able to lunge calmly in a little bit bigger circle than the last time when outside his pen. It's not always in a straight line, but when asked to back (and I barely have to touch the halter anymore) his nose is tucked, neck is arched, hind-end is lowered and he just backs and back and backs. I'll have to figure out some way to video it, lol.

So soft and calm but firm when needed seems to be the balance I need to have a positive time on both our parts. I love how there is always more to learn :)

Snow

2009-03-09T22:20:00.001-07:00

Goofy weather. It snowed. Not as bad as some places, probably 2-4 inches, but still.

Cody and I played in the snow in the backyard. It was pristine, untouched snow until we came along. I really need to get batteries for my pocket camera so I can get pictures more often. We made prints all over. Going forward, backward, sideways, getting loose and running out into the field, backward some more, and he even trotted a few steps with me.

We have an appointment for March 25th at 1 pm to see the vet...Cody still needs to be gelded. I had thought about filling out the application for the free gelding but I figured there was probably someone out there that needed it more and I have my $50 voucher from the BLM to help a little.

I hope the snow melts soon, I want Cody to get back to shedding out that winter coat!

Back and back some more

2009-03-08T21:30:00.000-07:00

His new halter that Andrea of Mustang Saga made. Check out her blog, she has a special on rope halters going!

It was still a bit nippy out today, but at least the white stuff all went away!

Sometimes, when I ask him to stop, or try to switch sides, or just whatever, he inches backwards. He doesn't fly backwards, just slowly walks backwards. So! Today, when this would happen, I'd say, okay then, let's back! But we'll do it on my terms, with your head down and soft. He's really gotten that head down and soft part down well. He still stalls out sometimes, but will get going again. He also doesn't do as well when I am on the right (oh, I can lead him from the right side now!) but is improving.

With the extra hour of daylight (yay!) I was able to work with him twice today. The first time we stayed in his pen and he did great (and I got some pictures!). Head up, down, left, right; then back softly with barely a touch on the lead rope. Then we went to investigate the tarp again. He wore it, he walked on it, he backed over it, he lunged over it, and okay, he jumped over it a few times but at least he went forward!

Lol, the tarp matches his boots! Or is it his boots match the tarp...

The second time we went out in the yard and practiced backing and moving his haunches and his shoulder (he can do darn near a 360 moving his forehand, just calmly one foot crossed over the other). Oh, and then we backed some more. I used to back Taffy out of her stall and halfway up to the barn and then we'd turn around and trot the driveway (I was paranoid and had to reassure myself that she wasn't off). We would also back around the arena and her pointy Arab/Thoroughbred butt actually got round! So I think Cody is going to have a lot of backing in his future....

Spring?

2009-03-07T18:00:00.000-08:00

So...no pictures again today, I didn't want to take my camera out in the snow....

Spring technically isn't here yet, but surely it's on its way, right? I was out working with Cody this afternoon in the snow of all the silly things. At least the wind had died down at that point so it was just pretty snowflakes instead of awful sideways stuff you can't see through.

This morning I drove a couple hours down to Buckley to watch the Steve Rother clinic that Jamie Thomas had organized. I just stayed for the morning groundwork portion as I didn't want to get caught in nasty weather and I wanted to come home and play with my pony after watching for almost 4 hours!

Interesting stuff. I think the biggest thing I got out of it was that Cody and I have come far enough that I can expect him to know some stuff by now.

So off I went to play, starting with can I move his head up, down, and to both sides. We've worked on him putting his head down already, so that was pretty easy. So then I held his head up high. I thought he had a good point on doing that. If you had to say, hold your arms up for a few minutes, wouldn't the first thing you'd want to do when released was to put them down and relax them? It's just another way that I can say, put this body part where I ask you to. Then came flexing to the left and to the right. He gives better to the right so we'll have to work on the left more.

The other thing we worked on was backing. He backs pretty well from a wiggle of the rope but I wanted him to back with me at his head facing backwards and to back with his head down and softly. This got some uncooperative results at first, but rather than backing down and trying to calm him down, I just kept asking until he gave and relaxed. It took a number of times but he got it. I think this was the hardest I have pushed him but I think it was good. He might have a teensy more respect for me, that I will follow through on what I ask him to do, but if he gives, I will release.

I'm glad I went because I have a renewed enthusiasm for working with Cody on the ground and I think he has a renewed respect for me.

The Tarp

2009-03-06T23:16:00.000-08:00

No pictures today, forgot to take my camera out with me and then it was getting dark.

We worked on the rope being around his rump, as yesterday he was reacting a bit much to it wrapped around his rump. Took it nice and slow and the word to describe what I am trying to say is escaping me at the moment, lol. Sort of...a flossing motion? around his hindquarters. But watching Kitty Lauman's Ranger video again, saw something that would probably be good to work on, have the rope around his body about where his legs attach and do the same.

But on to the fun stuff. (And I wish I had gotten a couple pictures!) I had taken a "break" to go work on clearing some blackberries. Got maybe a 16x16 patch cleared and hauled to the burn pile and burned. I probably have at least 10 times that left to go unfortunately. Maybe even twice that estimate. But the burn pile was burning (it's maybe 30-40 feet from his pen and the fire doesn't really seem to bother him at that distance at least) and I decided to go grab a tarp. Hadn't introduced him to that blue bit of fun yet. He wasn't too sure about that crinkly horse-eating monster at first. We started with it in a heap on the ground in one corner. I was just lunging him in a small circle, trying to see how close he'd go. Starting with "OMG I can't get anywhere near that thing" we progressed to "Okay, I can walk past it without crowding you but I'm still not going to get very close". So I picked up the blue monster and bunched it up and touched his shoulder with it. Just touch and off and touch and off while he's standing there all bunched up and shaking in his boots. He started to relax a bit and I gave him a bit of a scratch on the withers. Long drawn out tale, but he was able to wear it draped over his back and walk with it on, he was able to step on it and finally walk across a couple of times and probably the funniest thing was when he picked it up in his teeth, and it moved, so he backed up and IT FOLLOWED HIM and he scared himself before he realized to drop it.

I also found a smallish log in the blackberries last night and after peeling the bark off of it (it had stuff growing on it) I drug it out in the yard and we practiced walking over it. Just starting to be able to trot in hand (he thinks I'm crazy) so will trot him over the pole at some point.

I ordered the round pen today! That was a big chunk out of my savings, but it will be worth it. It will probably be a couple weeks before they have it in to be picked up but that's okay.

They sure have some colorful horses on the internet adoption this time around! Funny thing is, one of the ones that catches my eye is an 8 year old mare, listed as a red roan but looks dark bay/seal brown in color. She just seems to have a kind look to her face. I wonder if she'll get adopted?

Photo Tag

2009-03-04T22:22:00.000-08:00

I thought I was finally over my cold! But Tracey over at Mustang Diaries passed her virus along.
Well, I have been tagged. Unfortunately, the 6th photo in the 6th folder in the 6th folder on my computer isn't a very good one. It is a blurry picture of my cat. But here it is anyhow.

I guess it's not quite as blurry as I thought when it is smaller like this, lol. This is my cat Bentley. He has a good motor, hence the name.

It's funny, the things that Cody hasn't minded that I know other horses have hated. Like, I can go give him a dewormer without even putting his halter on. And a spray bottle. Some horses detest them, day before yesterday, I took a bottle of mane and tail detangler to spray on his mane, he just stood there. He let me do his tail too. And I was able to use them again today.

Another profile shot, he's looking rounder! You can sure tell he wears a blanket with the smooth body and furry neck though!

We went out and stood by the road for a few minutes so he could watch the passing cars. A few of them, he tried to spin away, but I just brought him back and stood there petting him and he settled and was able to stand and watch them go by. I'd like to take him for a walk down the quiet street across the street soon.

We started to attempt a side-pass today. It wasn't half bad for a first attempt I think. He's getting pretty good about moving his front end or his back end separately.

Still working on being able to lunge calmly when outside of his pen. We were able to get some calm small circles this evening so I figure we'll keep on with that and try and build from there.

We've also been working on me standing on one side, with the rope on the other side and around his rump and him following the pressure around to face me. After a time or two of him zipping around rather rapidly with that rope around his rump, he now very nicely follows the rope around to face me. So I have talked to Andrea of Mustang Saga (she made my rope halter) and she is going to make me another rope halter but this one will have rings that I can attach driving lines to to work on ground driving! It will be kind of like a side-pull. She found the rope yesterday and now I can't wait to get it and try it on Cody!

On a good note, I found a place to get the round pen I wanted! So we will have a bit bigger enclosed space to work in so he should actually have enough room to canter around instead of just trot. I'm sure he'll appreciate the chance to kick up his heels as well!

I just thought this was a cute pic with him looking back at me taking his picture :)

Time

2009-02-25T00:23:00.001-08:00

Or lack thereof. I think days need to have about 30 hours rather than 24. Can we just redo the amount of time it takes the earth to spin?

Been getting home too late to do anything with Cody, but hopefully next week will be better! So tonight I have been playing with images in Photoshop (okay, I was trying to do something like what Tracey had done with an image of Steve Holt!). Not sure how successful I was, but it was fun playing, although now it has somehow become 12:30am. I think I overdid the sunflare part.

I really like this profile shot of him, his face just looks kind and his ears are up and his mane is somewhat brushed.

It was supposed to rain...

2009-02-22T21:49:00.000-08:00

...but it pretty much held off!

Something to add to my to do list with Cody, get him used to having a rope snug up under his tail. We had worked a bit inside his pen first, and things were going fairly well, so I thought we'd go for a walk outside again. We did lots of stopping and smallish circles but we hit a snag when I wanted him to walk past my uncle's old trailer. So I thought I'd just loop the rope around his rump and not put up with his silliness. Well, that didn't go so well. He zipped forward when he felt the rope around his rump and turned quickly and got the rope snugged up under his tail with a loop around it and when I put a bit of pressure on it he didn't much care for that... So, once again I had a loose horse. I think the whole idea of whoa has been getting through to him because when I said whoa, he stopped and turned toward me and I was able to walk up and step on the end of the rope and then pick it up. It may seem long sometimes but I am really liking my 18' long rope. We continued on and past the trailer and then I thought we'd go for a walk in the field. I'll have to get some pictures next time. The field, once you get past the blackberries is covered in weeds. I have a picture that I will scan soon of grandma's property. It is an aerial shot from 1988. Will have to compare it to the current state of the field. It's awful :( I have a lot of work ahead of me!

Here is video attempt #2. I tried adding sound this time. It cuts off at the end, but I'll figure out how to end it better next time

Process time

2009-02-21T19:42:00.000-08:00

The sun was shining today! Too bad it was while I was at work. Cloudy by the time I got home but it was calm and dry, so I call it a pretty good day.

Just for the heck of it, I wanted to see what my english saddle looked like on Cody. So I brought it out (and brought Mom with to take some pictures). So when I went to set it on his back I showed it to him, touched his shoulder with it and then set it on. He didn't move, he didn't even flinch. So I took it off and back on a couple times before girthing it up, which he also didn't care about. Walked around a bit and then he trotted a few circles before I figured, what the heck, and let the stirrups down so they would bounce against his sides. This also didn't phase him.

What was a bit of an issue today was just plain leading, lol. After having the saddle on, I took it off and we were going to go for a walk around the back yard since we haven't had time to do that for awhile. Started out by making him back out of the gate (which we've done a couple times before) which he does nice and calm, even has to step over a board that keeps the sand from spilling out into the grass too much. Then onto the walk. It started out okay, but then he was being a bit of a pill and wouldn't go forward. Thinking back on it now, I should have just looped the rope around his rump and kept going, ah well, hopefully I'll remember that next time. I still kind of worry that if he gets too bouncy he could get loose again and so I hesitate to do as much outside his pen (hence my desire for a round pen which would give us some more space but still have those walls).

Back in his pen we go and set out to work on just plain leading. There were some not so pretty moments of protest, but I just kept his feet moving and going where I wanted them to go as much as I could. We ended on a decent note so I took his halter off and went inside to eat dinner.

This is where the process time comes in :) There was probably about an hour between the time I took his halter off and then went back out. He was sooo much better! Not perfect, we still had a couple "moments" but not like earlier. And we even did pretty good practicing leading from the off side! So hooray for giving him time to think and hooray that I went back out after dinner instead of just leaving it until morning. Hopefully the "moments" will be even less then :)

Late night

2009-02-18T23:45:00.000-08:00

So I'm back to not having much time again this week. Yesterday when I fed him in the morning, it seemed like the day was going to be decent so I took his blanket off so he could roll and itch if he wanted too while I was off to work. When I got home that evening, I went out with some brushes and his blanket to tuck him in for the night. I brought a halter just in case he didn't want to stand still. I didn't need it. He was in his stall munching dinner and turned around when I walked in. I set his blanket and the brushes down and went to pet him. He just stood there with his head up but relaxed, not eating, while I brushed him all over and then tossed his blanket on. It was just a nice quiet time with my horse :)

Plastic

2009-02-17T19:07:00.000-08:00

Okay, so plastic bags are scary when they are above you. Spent awhile last night after work with a plastic bag on the end of my stick, after we had a nice grooming session where he just stood there and relaxed. He was also really good about his feet.

I'm not sure if I am missing a piece here, but is there something I could be doing to get him used to things in general, rather than trying to desensitize him to everything I can think of? It seems to be things that make rustling noises that he's not fond of, like plastic or paper. Things like rope or a saddle pad were never really a big deal. Does anyone have any insight on that?

On a good note, he likes his toy! Yay, was hoping it wouldn't be one of those cases where he just completely ignores it.

I was also wondering opinions on making a 5-foot high pen and using my 6-foot high panels (plus a few more) to make a round pen where we could have a bit more room to work. They have some 64" high powder coated Behlen "utility" panels on sale at Del's this week which got me to thinking about doing this.

New toy

2009-02-15T22:44:00.000-08:00

Let's see. Today is Sunday, right? I've kind of lost track of the days. Got home from work in time to work with Cody in the twilight. He seems bored, by himself all day, so I got him one of those Jolly Ball toys. He seemed interested in it, was sniffing at it and pushing it with his nose. Didn't really care for me bouncing it towards his feet though, lol. I also broke down and bought him a pair of blue SMB3 boots. I got a good deal and he looks good in blue.

Have your horses started shedding? I don't know if it's because of the blanket or what, but check out the hair just falling off of him.

I decided I wanted to try and get him to trot in hand. He's not so sure about that just yet. Going from a walk to a trot gets me a halt and a look like, what are you doing?!? So we modified things slightly to where I was trotting with him as he went around in a circle, which I think puzzled him a bit too, as he just went faster at first. We need a bigger enclosed space so we have some straight room to move. Hopefully we'll have that to some degree when I am able to get his paddock extension built.

One thing that just, well, falls into the category of ick, are ticks. As I've brushed him and run my hands over him, I have found them and carefully removed them. And then tonight I brushed his mane over to the wrong side to brush it down to the roots good, and I found a few more of the rotten things all hunkered in the roots of his mane. I've never really run into an issue with ticks before, didn't even really think we had them in western Washington (neither did my mom) but when I started searching online, guess we do have them. I want to give him a bath and scrub him clean and for those rotten little bugs to find themselves someone's dinner, instead of having Cody for dinner. You know how when you find a bug or something, and then keep feeling like something is crawling on you? I've felt twitchy like that all evening now. I wonder if a few chickens would hang around, more than one place I read suggested free range chickens or guinea fowl to snack on them.

I know how I've been stressing about him growing and how old he is and all that, but I was looking at pictures of 2 and 3 year old mustangs on the BLM internet adoption site, and I noticed that if you measure fetlock to elbow and compare to elbow to withers on the 3 year olds, they pretty much match, and on the 2 year olds, elbow to fetlock is longer. So I'm going to go with him being 2 sometime this year until the vet tells me different.

First video

2009-02-14T23:11:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is my first attempt at video. It has no sound, will figure that out next time (I had to mute my talking as I'm laughing at myself while videoing!). We had gone for a walk and discovered a newspaper ad that had blown into the yard. Turns out, newspaper ads are very scary. Like, shaking it's gonna eat me scary. But we worked through it :) His pen isn't really big enough for him to get moving a whole lot, so this will do for now.

Deworming

2009-02-13T21:06:00.001-08:00

I started a 5 day double dose of Panacur last Friday. He was such a good boy about taking it! The last three days of it he stood there very well, took the whole tube, and then just stood there while I pet him for a bit after.

I am hoping to be able to schedule an appointment with the vet for sometime within the next couple of weeks for him to be gelded and have his teeth checked. One thing I am really curious about is how old he truly is! After Tracey at Mustang Diaries found out that Steve Holt! is a year younger than his BLM papers say I am back to wondering if Cody is a coming 2 year old or a coming 3 year old. I'm still hoping for the not quite 2 yet because then he'd have more time to keep growing...

His BLM papers list him as being about a year old at capture and being approximately 15 hands. I'm sure it's hard to get a good idea of height when they are processing them, because with the height/weight tape I have, the last time I measured him, he's about 14.1 hands. I was looking for a horse that would be around 15.2 hands, give or take an inch, when full grown. It could still be possible, because when I measure from fetlock to elbow and then elbow to withers he's got a good 4-6" to go. So I guess, I just need to be patient, lol.

The Horseguard fencing I ordered has also arrived but I've just been so busy I haven't had time to get fence posts or move the burn-pile or any of the other stuff to get this fence installed. Hopefully soon though!

My plan for tomorrow includes working with Cody, maybe I'll even manage to find a couple poles he can walk over or something.

Oh! Tarps. It was windy the other day and a tarp managed to escape and blow up against the fence panels. I happened to glance out the window and saw Cody playing with something in the corner, so I go out to investigate (in my robe with a jacket on, I had been sent home sick from work and had changed into cozy clothes, lol) and find him trying to tug the tarp further into his pen to play with it. So I think we may dig out a tarp to play with tomorrow. Hopefully with pictures!

Slacker

2009-02-09T20:11:00.000-08:00

I feel like such a slacker lately with not having posted for over a week. And during that week, only had time to work with Cody a couple of times. Been crazy busy working too much and it has now landed me with a miserable cold. Hopefully next week will be better!

Loose

2009-01-31T23:51:00.001-08:00

Probably the one thing I have been most afraid of with taking him outside his pen....getting loose.

The backyard is not fenced.

Hadn't really had time to work with him for awhile between having a cold and working until 8ish. So I got off at the civilized hour of 5pm today so decided I would make him work for his supper. So far anyway, he has never gotten cranky about being pulled away from food or having to wait until we are done playing for his dinner.

We did a refresher of moving hips and shoulders and lunging, it was like he hadn't just had the last week off. The thickness I noticed in his back leg yesterday is still there in both back legs a bit, slightly more in his left hind. It almost feels like he's stocked up or something. He doesn't seem sore or off, but it didn't really go away much after working (not that we worked that hard). So anyway, things were going well so I figured, let's go for a walk.

His walk was slower outside his pen than it has been in the past, but that was okay. We got about halfway around the backyard when I thought I'd see how he behaved lunging outside his pen. We hadn't done this for awhile because he tended to get a bit exuberant and I was afraid he'd get away from me....

Started off pretty good but at some point I'm not sure how I managed to let things get tangled, but he got a little bouncy, the rope got between his hind legs and he ended up facing away from me. I had no idea what he'd do if I tried pulling on the rope at that point because it wasn't like he could follow his nose very well and get turned back around. So I think this was my loony-tunes moment as I watched the rope slip out of my hand and saw him going away from me.

Luckily, when he got to where the yard light stopped and it was black beyond, he turned back toward me somewhat. I got to see a rather pretty trot as it looked like he was going to dart back into his pen. He was almost there when he put on the breaks. He took a few steps and I said whoa and he turned around. He was blowing a bit from the excitement but I was able to slowly walk closer and get the end of the rope.

Then I tried to act like it hadn't happened, we went about halfway around the yard again, lunged him in a few more circles, and then went back into his pen and played a little more. At one point I had the rope between his legs so it was bumping his hind leg just above his hock, he did a couple trotting laps before he realized it was nothing and stopped.

I am so very glad he didn't just take off into the dark.

I so want to build a fence. (I ordered the Horseguard fence to make a 100 foot-long extension to his pen).

Just a quickie

2009-01-30T11:04:00.000-08:00

Had a cold the last couple of days and gotten home really late from work so Mom has been nice and feeding him for me. I went out to feed this morning and while he was munching I ran my hands down his legs just for the heck of it. He wiggled around a little but let me run my hand down all four legs. His back left leg felt like it had a bit of swelling above the fetlock. Maybe a tiny bit of heat to it but barely. He's not favoring it at all, had him go out of his stall and trot a circle around for me and it doesn't seem to bother him at all so I guess I'll just keep an eye on it. At least the cough is gone!

Horsey friends

2009-01-26T21:10:00.000-08:00

Here he is looking off toward the neighbors.

Horsey friends are the best! I went over to a friend's house last night to get some info and some pictures to update her farm's website. It's been awhile so we had to talk about horses and training, and more horses and, well, you get the idea. What started out to be a quick visit turned into more like a three hour visit. And in exchange for working on the website she is going to haul Cody to her farm for a week next month! This is a very cool thing because she has a round pen, an outdoor arena, a covered arena, poles, cones, a bridge, all kinds of stuff to play with. And it will also be a week when the farrier is going to be there so Cody can get his feet trimmed for the first time!

Yesterday morning before work we went out to play in the nippy weather. Cody and I went for a walk all over the backyard and nearly out to the road. This time we went around the big fir tree and got somewhere between 15 and 20 feet from the road. We stood there while at least one car went by and he didn't mind a bit. Unfortunately didn't have time to hang out there longer as I needed to get inside and get ready for work. So we turned around to head back and I'm not sure what popped into his head, but he reared up and tried to spin away but the ground was slick with a layer of frost and he slipped and landed flat on his side. Silly boy, hopefully he learned to not try that again! He scrambled right up and shook himself off. He seemed fine so we headed back to his pen.

You can see the road behind him. We went around to the other side of this big fir tree, this was just where we'd stopped to take some pictures.

After my horsey friend visit last night I had some new direction in things to work on.

So tonight we stayed in his pen and worked on moving his shoulders away and I made sure to release the pressure as soon as one leg crossed over the other. Taking it slow so right now am just looking for one good step. He got a few very nice cross over steps in there. He'll be doing a turn on the haunches in no time.

Then we also worked on after disengaging the hindquarters backing up a few steps. I need to get myself more coordinated to get that to flow better. We had one really good disengage and then back 3 or 4 steps and some so-so ones which I think were due to me not being a hundred percent sure what I was doing.

I was able to pick all four feet again and hold them for a bit and I stretched both front legs forward and then back and he took it all in stride.

Spent some time just standing there and petting his face and his muzzle and sticking my fingers in his mouth and rubbing his gums and at one point he just relaxed and rested his head on my shoulder. He's such a good pony :)

Just for the heck of it, when it came time to put his blanket on, I tossed it up on his back and then just pulled the whole thing forward and over and off his head. He raised his head some and took a step or two back, but it was more of a "what in the world are you doing?" than being scared and trying to get away. Even when I was trying to put it on him with the front buckles done up and it got stuck on his nose, all he did was calmly back up until he bumped into the panels and then stopped while I got it unstuck.

One other thing, took the stick, with string attached, and swung it back and forth slapping the ground. Just something else to get used to. I started it a bit away from him, not sure what he'd think and since he was just standing there I got closer and closer with it until if I got any closer I'd risk hitting him with it and he never even flinched. Even when I was swinging it above his head and letting it land between his ears.

The tail end, lol.

A walk on the wild side--contributing to the one-sidedness of a minor

2009-01-25T09:21:00.000-08:00

So I've been lazy the last couple of days and not posted. Friday night I went out and made him work for his supper. He gets all pinned back ears and sort of lunges at the fence (so I just stomp towards him) when I am carrying his food, but if I'm not actually carrying his food, he's fine. A few times, because of time constraints, I have taken him away from his food to work with him a bit and then let him go back to finish. He's been very good about that. He doesn't get cranky about it and still pays attention to me even though he'd probably rather be eating.

Last night, we went for a walk in the dusting of snow that had decided to fall from the sky. About halfway through our lap around the yard, I went to his right side and was going to go for another lap from that side. No go. Tried some circles to get him moving, but he was having none of it. I realized that I had let my habit of leading from the left side contribute to Cody's one-sidedness. How awful of me! So I went back to the "good" side and led him back in his pen and we went back to the beginning on the "bad" side and did circles and finally managed to get a few forward steps when leading on the right. So I know what we will be working on today!

Mustang hoof

2009-01-22T21:37:00.000-08:00

Well, I started working my temp job yesterday. I am helping with the deployment of a new system called NextGen at the Skagit Valley Medical Center. This involves new computers, hardware upgrades, software installs, etc. But in the beginning, it requires an inventory be done of computers and printers. You would have to know my history with inventory, but I find it rather funny in an ironic sort of way.

So working with Cody I am trying to accomplish in the mornings because by the time I get home after working both jobs I am dead tired. This morning I went out to feed him and worth with him a bit before getting ready for work at job #1 (Skagit Valley College IT). He got to eat some of his alfalfa pellets before we got to work and he didn't seem upset to be pulled away, so that was nice. I love that I can just take his blanket on and off like it's no big deal. Haven't really introduced words like "walk" or "trot", just been using clucks, but he's lunging nicely and stopping well. It is taking less and less for him to back up and then come forward to me. Since I was thinking of teaching him to wear hobbles, figured I'd start with the rope around his pastern and see what he thought. Didn't really mind and I was able to pick his feet up with the rope. It hasn't been an issue to run my hands down his legs, he's almost better with the back ones than he is with the front, but picking his feet up has been very brief, pick it up and let it go. But this morning, I was able to pick all four feet up (one at a time of course) and hold them for a few moments while I pet him. I drug Mom out with me tonight to try and take a picture of his hoof to go with this post and I will get them off her camera in the morning and add one to this post.

Yesterday and Today

2009-01-19T19:57:00.000-08:00

So, the pictures are from yesterday, forgot to bring the camera out today. Yesterday we had a bit of wild pony when I asked for a few lunging circles outside his pen. Luckily, he didn't get away from me. I think I scared my mom a little (she was the one taking pictures, but didn't get any of his rambunctiousness). I don't really blame him though, he's been stuck in a 24x24 square for the last month and a half, wouldn't you want to kick your heels up if you didn't feel confined anymore? But not wanting him to think that was acceptable, we backed, we did more circles, and he settled down. I am working on clearing out space to give him sort of an extension on his pen, so he'd have something like 26x100 to stretch his legs until I can get the field cleared.

This was after he backed up and was standing there paying attention. I think he hadn't quite finished that last backward step, hence the crooked looking leg.

Can you put your head down?

Bend to the left...

...and bend to the right.

So today, when Mom and I got home from seeing the movie "Defiance", and I looked out the kitchen window, he was just standing there in a bit of sunshine either taking a nap or just totally bored. Before I actually made it out, he had laid down. I figured he'd hop up as soon as I opened the back door-nope, still laying down. Okay, so he'll hop up when I get to the gate-nope, still laying down. When I slide through the panel, surely that will get him to stand up? I slowly walked closer, talking to him, and he laid there and let me pet him for a moment before standing up. How cool was that? Too bad I didn't get a picture!

We started off with the "usual"-take off the blanket, quick brush, a few circles each way, some backing and coming forward and then I figured, let's go outside again, the day is just too nice!

I opened the gate and out we went. He was walking right with me, head about at my shoulder, not trying to rush or crowd or stop or anything. We practiced "whoa", I would say it as I turned toward him slightly and he'd stop. After a couple of pets, with a cluck we were off again. We made a lap of the whole backyard, past the tree, past my uncle's old trailer (that needs to disappear) and back to the gate. A little hesitation at the gate, so I stepped back, pointed with my rope hand, gestured with my stick hand, and in he went, nice as can be. That went so well that we went out for another lap in the opposite direction. We almost made it as far as the road, but I didn't want to push it, so stopped maybe 40 feet back. Stood there while a couple cars went by and then headed back to his pen which he walked back in the gate like a champ. Oh, and the whole time he was wearing his bareback pad again (not that he cared). I wanted it to be a good and calm experience, so we didn't attempt any lunging so he wouldn't be as likely to feel rowdy and he did great, very attentive and well-behaved. Such a good boy!

Lunging

2009-01-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

We didn't have much time this evening, but it was just enough to practice a few things. We continue to make small steps in picking up feet and leading. Probably the biggest step today though, was in lunging. I was able to point the direction I wanted him to go, gesture slightly (kind of just waving it behind his tail) with my stick and off he went at a nice trot. And then say whoa, point towards his hip and a touch on the rope and he swings his rump away and faces me and stops. And then point in the new direction and away we go. I think he figured it out :) Sometimes things just click :)

Two days in one

2009-01-16T22:44:00.000-08:00

I feel guilty, I missed posting yesterday after working with Cody! So here is for today and yesterday.

For starters, gtyup at Life at the Rough String passed along this little lemonade award for bloggers who show Great Attitude/Gratitude. So, I am following the instructions.

Post the picture (isn't it cute?)
Nominate at least 10 blogs which show Great Attitude and/or Gratitude.
Link to your nominees within your post.
Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
Share the love and link this post to the person from who you received your award.

Okay, now to pick 10 blogs to nominate.

Reddunappy of There Is a Horse in My Bubblebath
Stormyranch of gentling a mustang
Pip of Me, Myself and Horses
Tracey of Mustang Diaries
Macaroni Manatee of Phiber Photos
Andrea of Mustang Saga
Jessie of Two Appaloosas and a Mustang
Leah of The Dutton Family
PalyReiner at Spinnin & Slidin, Lopin & Dreamin, Mustang Style!
Linda at Beautiful Mustang

As for Cody, we've been working the last couple days on leading, lunging, and feet. Oh yeah, and yesterday I decided I wanted to see how he looked with a bridle on.

The leading is getting there. Circles are good, straight lines we're still working on, it really helps when I can take him out of his pen to give us more room to actually walk in a straight line. And yesterday, it was heading past dusk when we went out so harder to see, he was a bit upset that I wouldn't let him stop and eat grass, and he bounced to the end of the rope a few times bucking and kicking up his heels (thankfully he stopped when he hit the end of the rope!) so we didn't spend much time outside the pen partly because it was dark and partly because it was kind of slick. So today, things were going pretty well, he was good about lunging in both directions at a walk and a trot and even stopping and changing directions. There were a couple times that his butt popped up in defiance of me asking him to move forward so he just had to work harder... This time, when we went for a walk outside he didn't try to eat grass even once, the only difficulty we had was walking back into his pen...but flip the rope around his hiney and in he went.

This morning I drove up to watch Tracey and Steve Holt! and that was fun! They are doing great and SH! moves out really nice.

All in all a pretty good day!

Goofy Boy

2009-01-14T23:09:00.000-08:00

He was such a good boy today! I could walk up to him out in his pen. I took his blanket off no problem. We practiced leading. We practiced picking up feet. We practiced a little lunging.

For the leading practice today, I worked on getting him to follow me around in circles on a loose lead. I'd walk behind him and he'd turn and I'd keep going and he'd follow a bit and then I'd turn some more and it was working! The circles would get bigger and go into straight lines, but he was paying attention to where I was going and I barely had to touch the lead rope.

Then I decided to dig out my old bareback pad and see what he thought. He sniffed it, I touched his shoulder with it and then I just tossed it up on his back no problem. He stood there with it on his neck, his rump, his head, not a problem. Now I really want to see how he looks with my saddle on, lol.

One step at a time

2009-01-13T21:04:00.001-08:00

I actually managed to work with him in two shorter (about a half hour) sessions today, so I left his blanket off in between. Speaking of blankets, the front straps are much much better to undo, the only thing he doesn't like is the sound of the Velcro, yet when I do and undo Velcro when it's not at his chest, he doesn't care. Guess I'll have to try and Velcro and unvelcro this pair of gloves I have under his neck so he gets used to the sound there.

We practiced leading today and actually had some success at it! We got some straight lines going and he walked with me in and out of his stall a few times. Still not a 100%, but a definite step forward.

In our second session (in between I went and worked on digging ditches to try and convince the water to go away) we went for a walk outside again. Walking out through the gate was okay. Unfortunately it's gotten really mushy right outside the gate. We weren't having as much success walking alongside me when we were outside, he was getting a bit...opinionated. There, it works better if I hold the lead with my outside hand and am angled slightly towards him, and my inside hand has the stick that can tap his rump, he'll walk forward this way sometimes when leading him "normally" isn't working very well.

I let him nibble some grass and then had an awful time getting his head back up, lol. The only time I had to loop the rope around his rump was to go back in his pen. He was being a bit uncooperative about going through the gate but it's so mushy there now because of the rain I didn't want him making it any worse so I just looped the rope around and said let's go and he hopped inside.

Probably one of the best things about today though was that I was able to walk up to him in his pen and pet him without him moving away and going in his stall! I did it once when I picked his pen clean before working with him, and then with the halter in hand, I walked up and was able to halter him without him walking away--both times I worked with him.

It's kind of fuzzy, camera was too close, but here is a silly picture of his front teeth. His two middle teeth look kind of odd, but you can't really see them very well. I'll try and get a better picture tomorrow. One nice thing though, top and bottom teeth appear to match up, no over- or under-bites :)

Smile for the camera!

A venture out

2009-01-12T20:58:00.000-08:00

Hooray it wasn't raining when I got home from work! And look, he doesn't look quite as skinny :)

I still find it funny that I can catch him no problem if he's in his shelter, but if he's out in his pen, I can't get close enough to touch him, and he just wants to go inside his shelter.

Blanket came off much better today, so that was nice. Just kept my hand on his chest under the blanket until he stopped moving, and then he stood still to let me unbuckle the blanket.

Plan today was to go for a walk outside his pen. So we just did a quick refresher of moving from pressure, tap on the hip does work better than just steady pressure, he was back to moving from barely a tap. To get him to move his shoulders though, a bit of a poke with my stick got him to move, but he wasn't thrilled with it, he kept turning his head towards the stick like he wanted it to stop doing that and then he'd step away with his shoulders, a wave or maybe a tap of the stick on his rump, and he was moving, yay. He may be starting to get the idea of lunging. He moves away from a sort of poke of my stick on his shoulder, but he doesn't care for it. Will have to see if I can get him to move from a tap on the shoulder.

Now if we could just get plain ole leading down.

No real problem having to walk through the moat outside the gate, once we made it through the gate. He just wanted to stop and play in the water with his muzzle. The best luck I had with leading was if I looped my rope around his rump and used some pressure there and he walked forward with energy. I also tried tapping him with the stick while facing forward, that just made him tense and jumpy. So leading is still a work in progress.

My brother stopped by to say hi and to take a look at the moat. We were just finishing up, so we walked over to say hi and Cody streeeetched his neck out to sniff my brother's hand, I wish I'd gotten a picture!

A slight issue with getting his blanket back close enough to him to put it on, but once I flipped the rope over his back a couple times, I just tossed the blanket up and he behaved about letting me do up the buckles :)

It's so hard to not do too much in one session! I often find I've spent an hour out there with him when all I meant to spend was maybe 20 min and then go back. I'll have to actually take a watch out with me next time, lol.

At the end, it was so nice. He was all buckled back into his blanket and I was just standing there petting his face. I rubbed all over, had my arms wrapped around his face, I rubbed his gums and his nostrils and he just stood there.

Cough is still there, but I think he was feeling better today, definitely more spunky! Now if the cough would just go away :(

A good brushing

2009-01-11T20:50:00.000-08:00

Finally done house-sitting and so back to the routine of going out in the evening by the light of the yard light to work with Cody and then feed him dinner. Still working on being able to approach him outside of his stall. Once he's in his stall I can walk up and put a hand on him no problem. He was good about letting me put his halter on tonight, I just put my arm over his neck, had the halter in each hand under his neck and just slipped it up over his nose and ta-da, we were done. I just pet him for a bit and then we started working on being able to take his blanket off. He is still not liking me to do and undo the front buckles, so I just put my hand on his chest and left it there until he stopped moving around. Then this time he was pretty good about letting me finish unbuckling the blanket. Once the straps are all undone, I can just pull it off like it's no big deal.

Then the gloves came off (literally) and I just rubbed him all over with my hands, just spending time with him since it had been a few days. The cough is still there, but I think it's getting better. We practiced giving softly to pressure from the lead to turn his head and he does that pretty well. Then we worked on him putting his head down. I would put some pressure on the lead, and I had my hand up on his poll and he'd drop his head a little and I'd rub his poll. He nearly had his nose on the ground.

Then we worked on moving his shoulders away from a touch. I had one hand on his shoulder and one hand near the middle of his neck and it didn't take much pressure for him to move and cross one leg over the other. We also worked on backing up and then walking toward me and he didn't do too bad.

All in all a pretty good evening, it is so good to be home!

A question though, what do you find to be more effective, steady pressure that increases in intensity, or tapping that increases in intensity?

Cough

2009-01-09T22:07:00.001-08:00

Not quite how I wanted to capture it, but the moon was coming up from behind a cloud and it just looked cool (cooler in person than this picture is conveying).

Thankfully, the rain has let up (for now) and the lake has receded to just soggy grass with a few puddles yet. Mom and I were working on digging trenches for some french drains today, but we'll have to wait until it dries out a bit more before we can really do much more.

Pea gravel for the french drains!

Drain pipe. So much easier than writing everything down, I just took pictures of it!

So his nose seems a little less snotty, but he still coughs some. But he's still alert, was watching Mom and I while we were digging and stuff. Chows down on his food and cleans it up. When is it time to call the vet? Would someone at the vet's office answer questions if I described his symptoms? I suppose, one thing they would ask is "what's his temp?". I had a thermometer in a horsey first aid kit but I'm not sure where it is. Might have to pick up a new one tomorrow and attempt to take his temp.

I am tempted to get him one of those Jolly Ball toys because I think he might actually play with it. He plays with the chains that hold the panels together, I'd set my halter and lead down on the salt block the other day while I cleaned his pen and I stood there and got the rope in his mouth and just stood there sorta playing with it. I feel bad for him, being all by himself.

I think he has a cold

2009-01-07T17:07:00.001-08:00

And hopefully that is all that it is. A bit of a snotty nose and the occasional cough. I hesitate to try and take his temp as I'm not sure how he'll react. Well, that and I have no idea where my horse thermometer has wound up. It is just yucky enough out and he probably doesn't feel the greatest so I think a day off is in order. Here are some pictures of the lake that has surrounded his stall and pen on three sides.

Lake

2009-01-06T15:55:00.001-08:00

Well, not the best of days. There is a lake to walk through to get to Cody's pen, luckily, at this point, not a lake in his pen. And it turns out the old shed where I am storing hay has a leak or two so I am going to have to figure something else out. I'm glad I hadn't gotten one of those Costco tarp garage thingies because where I likely would have put it is also a lake at the moment. Grandma's back yard does not drain well enough for snow to melt and it to rain and rain on top of that, the ground is pretty saturated.

Went out and worked with him even though it was miserable and raining. The only part of taking his blanket off and putting it back on that he doesn't like is me buckling and unbuckling the front straps. Going to have to work on that. The rain didn't help things any because I ended up putting a blanket back on a wet horse. I had a plan for today, we were going to work on moving his hip and moving his shoulder (separately). We were so-so successful. It was like he forgot what it meant to move his hip over from a tap. But we did get a few steps so hopefully it will be better next time. I guess it was just all around less pleasant and harder to concentrate for the both of us in that miserable rain. We did manage to get a couple steps of moving shoulders away in each direction.

At least with all this rain I can see where water tends to accumulate and try and figure out ways to redirect it. Now if only my brother will be willing to build a little addition onto Cody's stall to store hay in a dry place when he comes up this weekend or next.... (Key word there little, as it can only be about 4 feet wide by the 12 feet deep of his stall to fit within the 200 sq ft limit to not need a permit).

How many of you out there find yourself typing with a cat on your lap?

Cody/Cote/Coty/You get the idea

2009-01-05T20:02:00.000-08:00

Here he is showing off his nice dirty blanket. It wasn't really that dark out, was only about 4:30 or so, but the dark sky and the glowing eyes are courtesy of the good ole flash.

I think, for a barn name, I am going to call him Cody. Not sure if that's how I'm going to spell it, but it's basically just taking the first and last three letters of Coyote => CoyOTE, lol. I just wasn't having any success calling him CB, just didn't quite roll off the tongue.

So, I didn't get to work with him all weekend, mom has been feeding him for me while I am house-sitting for someone. (I am all for making a few extra dollars!) So I went out after I got off work today. One minor issue with taking his blanket off, he really doesn't like the sound of the velcro coming undone! So he wasn't even wanting me to unbuckle the front buckles, so I finally just started fwapping the front of the blanket with my rope in a loop and then he let me finish unbuckling. And after it was off, he stood there and listened to me do and undo the velcro a whole bunch.

We worked on picking up his front feet. At first, he'd jerk his leg up and try to walk away, but we kept working on it and he got to where I'd sort of tickle the back of his knee (to encourage it to bend) and he'd pick his foot up softly and then put it down. So we'll keep working on that.

I walked around behind him a couple times after I stood leaning against his hip and had my arm wrapped around behind his tail and was petting him to see how he felt about that. The first time I stepped from left to right he wasn't too sure what to think and turned around, but then when I stepped from right to left he was fine, so we'll keep working on that too.

Oh! A good thing, was no problem to walk up to him, pet his neck, put the rope over and put the halter right on :)

I think I tried to muddle too much into today though, after working on leading and a little on backing, got the silly idea to try working on lunging. But I think I confused us both. Here I was trying to get him to step forward and he's looking at me like "what are you doing?" because I've been working to get him used to things touching, tapping, swinging at him etc, that none of it was really meaning anything, lol. But I've gotten some advice and I think I am going to work on getting leading to be more solid before we try lunging again.

Luckily, I just work mornings all week so I can go play after work :) (Not that the dark would really stop me, lol).

Sunshine!

2009-01-02T21:15:00.001-08:00

If you notice in this picture, there are no bars in sight! The sun was peeking out from behind the clouds and he seemed to really be getting the hang of leading so after I brushed him I decided we should go for a walk.

He wasn't too sure about this whole stepping outside his nice safe pen so we took it nice and slow.

Here we've made it as far as his head out the gate. And yes I know he still looks thin, we're working on it!

Halfway out, we can do this!

We made it and the sun peeked out again!

We then went for a walk around the backyard. He was moving forward pretty well, but didn't try to pull away or anything. We'd stop and I'd snap a few more pics and then we'd move on again. I am house-sitting right now so this weekend Mom is going to be feeding him for me so probably won't have time to play again until Monday. But I think we ended the week on a pretty good note!

Posing for the camera!

Leading practice

2009-01-01T18:34:00.000-08:00

Got the halter back on! Well, I wouldn't have left it off yet if I really thought I wouldn't be able to get it back on. But it's still nice to have that confirmed :)

Took his blanket off and then worked on tossing it on him from the right side. He wasn't too sure about that, but finally stood still and let me do that. That done, it hung on the fence while I brushed him. He was very good and stood still to be brushed. Stood still when I took the blanket off too, just moved around when I was trying to toss it on him from the right.

Getting his belly brushed.

He's starting to get the idea of leading. We went around and around his pen in medium-sized circles with not a lot of pressure (most of the time) to get him moving forward again. Then, when we were all done, we walked up to where his blanket was hanging on the fence, I pulled it off and put it on and he didn't take a step :) Hopefully, by next week we'll have the leading down well enough to go for a walk outside.

Doesn't he look good in his new halter?

And his head really isn't as long as it looks in these photos! I will have to try and get a better shot.

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T20:40:00.000-08:00

Well, inventory is finally done and I got home at a halfway decent hour (even if it was dark). Had thought about just going out to feed and then coming in to take a nap so I could be awake to say happy new year at midnight, but the halter I ordered from mustangsaga had come in the mail!! So that was enough to revive me and I had to go try it on him.

I'll have to get a picture of it tomorrow as it was too dark tonight. It fits pretty good, just need to make the nose a lil smaller. I think he looks better in black than he does in royal blue. I haven't had time this past week to do much more than just pet him a little when I feed him, but even just that he's gotten better about me approaching him. So tonight I got the lead snapped on pretty easy and just tossed the rope over him a few times to make noise on the blanket which doesn't seem to concern him much. Switched halters and took his blanket off and then we worked on leading which at this point is still just a few steps, but we'll get there. When I went to put the blanket back on, I pulled it off the rail where I'd hung it and he wasn't too sure about that, but only went maybe half a circle around me. And then maybe another half a circle before he stopped and I could touch him with it. Then he just stood there while I started tossing it on him all unfolded. Will have to do that from the other side tomorrow. But I was then able to just toss his blanket up on his back like it was no big deal and get him all buckled in.

I'll have to get pictures tomorrow of him both in his new halter and out of it as I decided to leave the halter off tonight. Slipped it off and just stood there rubbing his face and his neck and then walked away before it was too much and I had to figure out how to get a hold of him again, lol. Fed him dinner and pet him some more before I wished him a happy new year :)

Inventory

2008-12-27T22:21:00.000-08:00

Every year I dread the last week, that week between Christmas and New Years. At the store where I work we do our yearly inventory that week. There is so much stuff crammed into our small store, and we do the kind of inventory where you have to count each item against a list. It is long and tedious. It takes us nearly all 6 days to get it done. (Yes I know I am whining, but trust me, it's bad). And I still have to work at my other job. So what I am basically saying is I haven't and won't really have any time to work with CB until the new year :( But on the positive side, hopefully things will finish melting and I won't have to worry about him slipping on the icy snow/slush mess in his corral.

And it's not like I don't at least pet him when I feed him morning and night. It works best if I reach out and touch his hip first and then step forward to his shoulder and I can stand there and pet him while he munches.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T16:44:00.001-08:00

Well, I don't have any cute Christmasy pics of CB, but I doubt he would have cared if I'd draped ribbons all over him. But here are a few pictures from today. Was out there for probably an hour, but as long as we kept doing different things, he didn't seem to get fed up and bored and cranky.

We were going to go outside his pen for the first time today, but we need to get the leading thing down better, we are getting there, but not quite far enough just yet. But I took his blanket off today which he was fine with and I brushed him all over, he seemed to enjoy it. Then we switched halters to my rope halter which unfortunately has a rope attached that I can't get off and it's not as long as my cotton rope so I ended up just tying that around his neck and using the cotton rope. We practiced backing up and coming forward, and disengaging the hindquarters. He was very attentive and cooperative today. Did a couple easy laps when I went to put the blanket back on but then stopped and I was able to touch him with it and he stood still while I set it on his back and slid it around some and then put it on. I think he's figured out he stays a lot dryer with it on!

Thank you Dad for my Christmas pony!!

Here he is in his Christmas blanket.

Here is a close-up of the little white "freckle" on his nose.

Here is his brand, the clipped hair is growing back and the scabs are coming loose.

It was dark enough in the stall that I had to use the flash otherwise the pics were coming out black. He didn't even flinch. Makes you kinda wonder about his vision and if you poke your finger straight towards his eye he doesn't blink, but he seems to be able to see to read body language and stuff so I'm just not really sure. Will just have to see how it goes.

No more drag line

2008-12-22T22:19:00.000-08:00

As I sit here sipping my hot cocoa (with whipped cream!) I am reminded again how truly wonderful horses are. I'd been talking to a good friend of mine before heading out to feed CB and our goodnights were not said in their normal warm tone so I was a bit upset about that (okay, so I cried a little, but I come from a family of teary-eyed women). But before he said goodnight, he said "Say hi to horsey for me".

So when I got out to CB's pen I started telling him about it as I worked my way close enough to clip the lead on--oh yeah, when I'd been out dragging him his salt block this early afternoon I untied the short dragline that had been attached to his halter--and I told him my friend had said hi. The tension started to ease and I was able to relax into working with him.

We continued on working with disengaging his hindquarters from a tap on the hip and turn to face me. Which he does really well on the right side, and we got one good one on the left. Then we worked on backing up from a wiggle of the lead rope (which I think will work better once I get my rope halter on him) which he managed to take a few steps back. So then, the real test, getting him to take a step forward. Since our previous attempts at straight forward had not gone well, I asked for forward and slightly to the side. He did it! I got a step forward a few times which is a huge improvement from me pulling and him just standing there braced against the web halter. So more noise and fuss of the stick and string against the blanket (didn't feel quite up to trying to take it off tonight). And then I started playing with his muzzle.

I can't go straight for the muzzle (yet), but he loves his face rubbed so I can rub my way down to his nostrils. Even wiggled my finger into his mouth a couple times. I rubbed his nose with the end of the rope and then started slipping it on and off like a halter. He just stood there. So I figured, why not and looped the rope around his neck and unbuckled the halter. I took it off and rubbed his halterless-face a bit and then slipped it over his nose a few times before buckling it back on (not quite ready to just leave it off).

So all in all, a pretty good end to the night :)

Toasty warm!

2008-12-21T22:12:00.000-08:00

We seem to do most of our work in the dark since it gets dark so early.

Today I was finally able to pick up a blanket. I ended up getting one with just a bit of insulation to keep some heat in so he doesn't have to burn calories staying warm and can put them to putting some meat on his ribs. It will be interesting to see what size blanket he wears when he's all grown up. Right now, the blanket I got was a size 68.

With the snow that is falling feeling wetter than the past snows, and with the nasty winds we had last night, I really wanted to get this blanket on him. So we started off with some review of moving his hindquarters over from a tap on the hip. After we did it a couple times tonight, he'd step over when I tapped the air above his hip. He steps across with his hind leg better when I am on his right than on his left. On his right side, he'll step across in the back and turn to face me, on the left, he sort of steps over and goes in a few circles and then stops. But he's getting there.

So that went pretty well, and I didn't want to overdo it, so I went and got the blanket out of the bag it was in. I wish the snow wasn't getting packed so slick in his pen! We did many more laps of the pen than we have previously....

I almost had it on him, it was opened up over his back until he turned his head to the right and looked at it, then he decided it was going to eat him and he trotted off, of course the blanket fell off. Dumb me for trying to put it on without showing it to him on both sides just because he was standing still. Took awhile for me to be able to touch him with it again, but he finally stood still and let me gently touch him with it, just kept touching him with it and taking it off and inching it closer to the top of his back. Let it get bigger and just kept up the sorta rhythmical brushing it against him until I could sort of set/toss it on the top of his back. And ta-da, we got in on, straps all done up, even the leg straps, he didn't mind at all when I touched his back legs to do the straps.

Hard to see in the picture because it was dark, but he's wearing his new blanket! I took the picture from the gate and he didn't even lift his head when the flash went off. The alfalfa was much more interesting.

I think the real test is going to be when I take it off and try and put it back on again....

11 degrees and falling

2008-12-19T21:51:00.000-08:00

When I went out to work with CB tonight (okay, yeah, it was kinda late) and then feed him dinner, it was about 15 degrees out. By the time I came back in, it was down to 11 degrees. Brr!!

We had a good session tonight. He started off with that step of his rump towards me so off I sent him, around and around a few times, and then asked him to stop. Still kinda more rump than face so off he went again. It didn't really take him long to get it figured out and his rump stayed further back than his front end. So after he got a good rub, we started working on moving his hindquarters from a tap of the stick on the hip. It went MUCH better than it did yesterday. Yesterday it was a case of tap-tap-tap-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP!-TAP!-TAP!-TAP!!-TAP!!-well, you get the idea. Today he got it by the TAP and that at probably the first one of those.

It was getting cold, he'd done well, so after some more pets and rubs and arms around his neck and over his back, I went to get his dinner. I set it down, he came in and started eating, I made a quiet move toward him to pet his neck before heading out and the rump came back towards me. So...off he went a couple laps and I asked him to stop and he turned and looked right at me. I was able to walk up to him and rub his forehead with the end of the stick.

I can wiggle his halter all around, but he's not too sure about me taking a piece of the rope and trying to slip that over his nose like putting on a halter. So we'll be working on that before we get to the point of trying to take it off and put it on again.

Pretty as a picture

2008-12-18T23:54:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately the snow did not melt overnight. No, it had to keep snowing and we now have over a foot of the darn stuff. At this point I am just dreading the mess it will make when it finally decides to melt.

I drug my mom out in the snow today so she could snap some pictures for me, I ran out of room in my pockets to bring my camera out with me.

He has a tendency to swing his rump towards me when I try and approach him before I have a hold of his dragline. I am thinking to send him forward (need to get that gate up so he doesn't just go inside the shelter) for a couple laps and then step back, ask him to stop, and see if I can get him to face me instead of his tail facing me. He doesn't seem to do it in a threatening way, more an insecure I'm not sure if I really want you to catch me way. At least, that is how it has seemed so far.

So was trying to get him to move his hindquarters away from me by rhythmically tapping his hip with the end of the stick. Got him to step over a couple times, figure we'll keep working on this. Still working on the whole leading idea, thought if I could get his feet moving we could turn that into leading.

The brush I stuffed in my pocket today was the mane & tail brush again. The snow had his coat too damp to brush so I brushed his mane and forelock and then mom snapped some pictures :)

Okay, the snow can all melt and be gone now

2008-12-17T21:28:00.000-08:00

Oddball day with nearly a foot of snow (as measured on the railing on my grandma's deck).

The college where I work part time was closed today because of the snow so I didn't have to go to work. So I cleaned CB's pen and tried to scoop some of the snow out, but it just snowed more and made it look like I hadn't done anything. I think he is starting to connect the back door opening with food, he comes out of his stall and looks all perked up and interested. With all the snow I didn't really work with him today, but each time I went out to feed him or do anything out there, I pet him. One time was able to just walk up (slowly) and the other two times I reached out and scratched him with my pitchfork first. Hopefully it won't snow any more any time soon and I can scrape most of the snow out so we can actually do something.

My cat, Bentley, has decided to help me post my blog tonight. I would take a picture but he has my arm trapped. He is an indoor cat who is very snuggly but also likes to bounce off the walls and often skids into things as he's doing laps.

I am tempted (if it warms up) to go out and sit on the top rail of his pen so he can get used to someone/thing being above him. Not that he's going to be ridden any time soon, but I figure the more I get him used to now the better :)

The good ole plastic bag...

2008-12-16T22:18:00.000-08:00

...is a little scary. Well, scary when it's in the air above his head, not so bad when it is touching him, even on his head. So we'll keep working with the plastic bag and I am determined to find some sort of blanket that has some heft to it without being too awkward to swing all over him (an old Navajo blanket would be good but alas I don't have one).

On a good note I was able to touch him and get a hold of the short rope without needing to touch him with a stick first so that was nice. He also let me pick up each front foot a couple of times. Found a scratch on the inside of his right leg but it's not very big and looks like just the skin so I'm not too worried.

I stuffed a mane and tail brush in my pocket tonight so his mane got all the tangles brushed out. He was a very good boy and stood still the whole time.

Ran out of momentum to make it out a second time this evening though. Hopefully I will have some daylight Thursday and Friday so I can take some pictures!

It's funny, I have a bunch of horse books, but going through them, I don't really have any on starting a yearling. So what all should a coming two year old know? I mean, he should lead, stand tied, be able to groom, pick up his feet, ideally load into a trailer but I don't have one to practice with, and what else? Once we get to that point, could set up some sort of like in-hand trail courses I guess. As long as we go in reasonable steps, he could learn to turn on the forehand and on the haunches and sidepass from the ground, right? I am a list kind of person, I want a list of things that I can check off, lol.

I finally remembered to bring a brush!

2008-12-15T21:50:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day!

Found an inexpensive stick with a string so it was easier to just get that than try and rig up my own. It is bright red so it should be easy to keep track of, lol. Touched him all over with it, flipped the string all over, really the only place he doesn't like me touching is around his ears but he's getting better.

The really good part though was that he let me get on his right side! Worked my way around to stand in front of him and he just looked at me, ears all perked. I rubbed his forehead with the end of the stick and then reached the stick out to rub his right shoulder. That went okay so I just kept stepping around while I rubbed him with the stick. I was able to reach out and touch him and started rubbing him with my hand. Yay! It's taken me a week to get around to that side but when I went back out tonight was no problem to pet his right side.

And I finally remembered to bring a brush with me! It's a nice medium boar bristle brush I got for a present when I had Taffy (I love that brush). I let him sniff it and then started brushing him all over with it--his face, his neck, his body, his legs, I think he liked it.

He seems to like to have his cheekbones rubbed. I had my hands all over his face, one on each side and his head just sunk down, but didn't really seem like he was trying to get away from it. He even allowed me to rub his poll some.

All in all a pretty good day :)

Snow!

2008-12-13T21:55:00.000-08:00

I know it is rather objectionable stuff, but it sure is pretty :)

Good thing CB doesn't demand a precise schedule! He's been rather cooperative about me going out to work with him in the daylight, or at 9:30 at night and with the snow tonight, I think it was more fun in the dark.

I know, I know, he's a (former) wild horse and can handle the weather and all, but I don't know if I can! He's thin, and it's even more obvious with snow frozen on his back and sides. I want to get him a blanket. Something cheap cuz he's just going to grow out of it, but just something that can keep him dry and keep that darn white stuff off! I mean, it'd help him put/keep weight on if he didn't have to spend calories staying warm, right? And it'd be a good training step to wear a blanket, right? So I can justify wanting to wrap him up all toasty warm?

On a good note, I stood on his right side while he looked at me for a moment before moving to put me back on the side where I belong, so I think we'll get there.

It seems that once I get that initial touch of the work session, he's pretty good about me touching him wherever with hand or rope (so far, gotta bring a blanket out or something, was too cold to use my coat!). I was able to rub all the way down front and back legs on his good side. He even sort of picked up his front foot when I kinda tickled his pastern the first time.

On a different note, I have this sweatshirt with a mare on it with her ears pinned back that says "Bad Mare Day". It felt like a day for a sweatshirt so I wore it to work. I got multiple comments on it today, both at the tack store where you'd expect to find horse people, and at Costco where two gals at the deli got a kick out of it.

I hope, over the course of working with CB and keeping this blog I will learn to be a somewhat better writer! Some of my posts sound more like lists than anything else.

Left side, right side

2008-12-11T21:36:00.000-08:00

Was going to get pictures today, if I hadn't come down with a stomach bug and ended up sleeping the daylight away (totally was not in my plans!). But I feel better this evening so I went out to work by the light of the yard-light.

Got close to him much quicker tonight. Managed to rub his front leg down to his pastern, and back leg to his hock-note to self: bring a brush next time! He really seems to like his face rubbed under and around the halter.

Tossed the rope all over, he wasn't too sure about it dragging on the ground behind him as he moved away, but he settled down. Got it around his barrel and sorta rubbed him back and forth with the rope, didn't seem to mind.

What he does mind though, is me trying to get on his right side! I try to step to that side, he turns his head and follows me with his left eye until he can't bend any further and then swings around to face me. The closest I got was when I fed him, I stood on his right side while he munched his hay after we were done.

Any suggestions for getting to his right side? I can reach over or under his neck and pet him on that side, I had the rope swinging back and forth on that side, he just really would rather I stayed on his left.

Shorter is definitely better

2008-12-10T17:44:00.000-08:00

Okay, so had a not so great job interview down in Seattle at 2pm today. Doesn't really bother that it was not so great because I don't really want the job, it's too far away-down in Tukwilla. So by the time I got home it was dark, but I figured with the yard light from the house I should have enough light to work him for a bit. Too dark for pictures though, sorry Dad, tomorrow for sure!

I got the long rope snapped on fairly easily tonight which was nice. Rubbed him all over with the pole (I think I'm going to try and jury-rig one of those carrot stick type deals with a rope on the end) and he was fine with it all over, even under his chin. So...I was trying to get close enough to pet him, but he kept pinning his ears back and looking cranky and then he tried to nip me. Just what I was waiting for, so I got after him like all get out and back and around and around he went, and then into smaller circles with the pole resting on top of his withers, and then he stood still and let me pet all over his shoulder, neck, back and his face around his halter. Yes! I took my hand away, then pet him a little more, scratched under his jaw (I think he liked that) and sort of lightly pat along his shoulder and neck some. I unclipped the long rope, gave him one last pet, and went back into the house. We are both learning :)

One nice thing about getting after him, it got him moving around the pen and it reconfirmed what had caught my eye about him :)

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Went out to work with him again a couple hours later and I was able to pet him much sooner. Easy to get a hold of the rope too :) Pet down to his knee on his front leg, and on his face. Figured we'd sorta reconfirm the note we'd ended on earlier and then try a step forward tomorrow (in the daylight). I know it won't always go as nice as this, but good days keep you going :)

What if I screw up?

2008-12-09T17:12:00.000-08:00

Okay, I was out there longer than I'd planned today, and I think it was too long for the little guy's attention span. I hope I didn't screw things up too bad :(

Started off rubbing him with the long pole again, only place it seems to bother him is by his ears so we'll work on that. He's feeling more confident now I think, much more mobile today. Wasn't so much into letting me pet him, only managed to touch him briefly a couple of times with my hand.

I was able to get the long rope clipped onto the ring at the end of the short rope and started working on giving to pressure. Gives great to the left, we went in a lot of circles that way. He will barely let me onto his right side to work on that at all, but managed it a couple of times.

Never really was able to touch him much, towards the end, when it was getting rather dark, his ears were starting to go back instead of ears perked looking at me so...we stopped at a point where he did turn and look at me with his ears up and I unclipped the long rope for some reason, hope I can get it on again! Gave him his dinner and there was no hesitation about taking a couple bites of hay from my hand.

It wasn't until I came inside that I realized I'd been out there for two hours. No wonder he was fed up! So I hope I haven't messed up too badly and that I do better tomorrow.

Meet Coyote Bay

2008-12-08T15:16:00.001-08:00

Meet Coyote Bay. So far he likes to spend his time standing inside his shelter. My grandma kept glancing out the back kitchen window and only twice spotted him outside. I think he has decided that since that is where the food is, that is his safe place!

After work today it was time to start getting to know my little guy. In an attempt to keep him outside in the square pen I tried roping off the opening to his shelter. He didn't really go for that and quickly convinced me it was pointless to close that off. So off we went with our long green garden stake (lightest and longest thing I could find). First time I touched him with it he scurried forward and then just stopped in his shelter. So....rather than pushing the issue on day 1-1/2 with a pole that could stand to be a bit longer, we just hung out inside. I just started rubbing him all over with it, top and bottom of his neck, back, belly, rump, hind legs, front legs, he even sniffed at it and tried to chew on the end. I inched my way close enough that I could reach out and touch his shoulder with my hand. He seemed okay with that so I just started rubbing and petting as much of him as I could reach. When he thought he'd had enough, he would walk away a few steps, but I just kept the pole resting on him and we'd start over.

It's fun to watch his very expressive face. You can definitely see a worried look when he isn't sure about something, and can then watch his face relax and he realizes things are okay.

Definitely going to have to work on getting to both sides of him though! He would much rather I stay on his left. I could touch him with the pole on the right but he would never face me on that side, always kept me on his left. Might bring the longer rope out with me tomorrow and see if we can start working on leading a little bit. The rope he has on right now has been just the right length for him to step on, he has definitely figured out the giving to pressure thing in that regard!

I am very tempted to get a gate so I can close off the shelter when we are working so I can end up using his pen more as a small "square" pen.

He's home!

2008-12-07T20:46:00.001-08:00

Had thought about waiting until tomorrow to post, so that I could include some pictures, but I figured words would work too. Help myself get into a habit of this :)

After deciphering my poor directions, Tracey dropped him off this forenoon. Once she backed up to the gate across my grandma's somewhat soggy backyard (oh for the dryness in Burns!) and we got the doors opened he stood in the trailer, calmly munching some alfalfa and showing no interest in getting out. Tracey was able to talk him out of the trailer from outside and after he stepped on his rope a couple of times and checked out where the ground was he stepped out of the trailer and into his new home like it was no big deal. Unfortunately, at this point, after watching him for a moment and thanking Tracey (Thank you!!) I had to race off to work.

This evening when I fed him his dinner I hung out inside the shelter leaning against the wall while he ate. I inched a little too close for his comfort so he decided to relocate himself outside, but it didn't take long for him to decide that food was more interesting than I was scary so he came back inside to munch some more.

I can't wait to get a better look at him in the daylight tomorrow!

And so it begins...

2008-12-05T21:12:00.000-08:00

I have wanted a wild horse ever since I read an article in an old Horse and Horsemen magazine. It has been quite some time since that magazine article, but that desire for a wild horse hasn't faded. In the meantime I became interested in dressage and ran across another magazine article in Flying Changes about mustangs and their movement as the float across the land. So now my dream was more defined, I wanted to find a wild horse and train it to be a dressage horse and when I find myself at a dressage show and someone asks me "what kind of horse is that?" I could proudly say, "a Mustang!"

So, the "little" guy I picked out this weekend probably doesn't look like much at first glance, I didn't really notice him until the last minute when I was able to get this pen of will-be-geldings to move from one end of the pen to the other that I was really able to watch how they moved. This one just floated across the ground with his little dun buddy while the others that had caught my eye as they were just standing there tended to lumber over the ground. He is about a year and a half old and is listed as being about 15 hands and he still has a lot of growing to do!