Bay Girl vs. Blanket, Round II

One of my January goals for Bay Girl is to get her a little more accustomed to wearing her blanket. Or well, perhaps not wearing it.... wearing it isn't the problem. It's getting it on and off that she minds so much!

Honestly, by "minds so much," I mean that the poor girl has only ever had a blanket put on and taken off once in her life that I know of... when I did it last. Getting it on went well, and getting it off went, well.....
Regardless of that, the weather at some point had to turn, and I therefore made it a priority to start trying to get Bay Girl's blanket on and off regularly. Unfortunately with the trip to Canada, long hours at work, and an excess of study going on at my house, I hadn't been able to work on this goal up until now. And once again, "now" meant exactly that... she needed the blanket on for tonight's extra chilly temperatures. Definitely must make this a bigger priority in life so that we can avoid more "nows" in the future.

The mares were all clumped together in Bay Girl's old pen today, due to the fact that the pastures are still a bit soggy and muddy from our last dump of rain, and I picked out some of the muddy mashed-in poo out there today (ew). The other three girls didn't even bother to give me the time of day while I was out there working, but Bay Girl stood and watched intently the entire time, trying her best to perform the Mare Mind Meld on me and get me to yield copious amounts of tasty goodies that perhaps she was certain I would have:


"Lady you bring me foods?"

Alas for her, I had no tasty goodies to give. Food fail.


Following this, my boss mentioned that the weather was going to turn shortly thereafter, temperatures sinking into the 20's for the evening (not a common occurrance in TX, even in the winter). Would I please blanket all the horses before I leave for the day, says she? Perfect opportunity to work on blanketing Bay Girl, says I!

It went very well for the second time, partly due to the fact that I had three other completely quiet mares also being blanketed in there with her. She got to watch me blanket all three of the others, and wasn't concerned by me throwing blankets up in the air as I tossed them over each mare. After watching countless horses go in and out of our AquaTread, and having trained a dozen or two new ones to get into it, I fully believe that horses to some extent really are visual learners. Newbies come to the pool barn, get parked in a designated set of crossties facing the pool, and then watch two or three "role model" horses who are already experienced get into the pool and work out. When it comes time for them to get in, they are FAR easier to work with if they have seen a few quiet ones go ahead of them and come out intact. If they can't get the hang of how to properly enter the pool by their second time (i.e. instead of walking in they continue leaping, sliding, or otherwise resisting for an extended period of time), we park them in the set of crossties right in front of the entrance to the pool, where they get a front row seat to horses walking calmly in. I have yet to see a lightbulb not go off for these horses, and every one of them has gone on to quietly walk on as well. In reference to Bay Girl, she was allowed to watch how routine blanketing was for the other mares in her herd, and therefore when it came time to put hers on, she was ready and willing to give it a shot.

She was still nervous, don't get me wrong - some eyeball rolling, general tension, and some squiggling when the wind moved her leg straps mid-blanketing - but I had her positioned between her friends, and she bounced back and forth off of two of them, ending up standing quietly again while she waited for my next move. I was able to put on leg straps from both sides this time instead of just the on left - hooray desensitization, you work! - and she stood quietly for a picture of the finished product:



Thankfully, the owner of the foal came and brought the other mare's old turnout blanket for her, so she no longer had to wear the ugly and ill-fitting green canvas one from before.

Like I said before, it will be a priority from now on to keep putting that blanket on and off whenever I have the opportunity. The more I can sack her out to as much stimuli as possible, the better her life will be down the road.



Oh, and one picture of Sophie giving the ultimate goober face:



That is SO a Metro look. He ALWAYS gave me the hurp face!



GOOBERFISH!

The incomparable Sophie.

After a brief and whirlwind weekend trip from Texas up to Calgary, Canada, I am back home again and (mostly) functional despite how exhausted I am. And I very happy to say that Miss Sophie, the entire reason for my northern journey, was everything I could have wanted her to be.

The trip was short and tiring, but well worth it. After an exhausting flight north on Saturday (which took me from Dallas to Toronto to Calgary... could it have possibly been more out of the way?), we never made it to the barn due to ice, and had to settle for our trailer out to a local indoor the following day. I was all too happy to crash early that night, seeing as the excessive amount of travel, schoolwork and work that I've been doing lately, not to mention looking for a place for Future Hubs and I to move to, has completely worn me out, and I've been severely lacking on my sleep! I got a solid 10 hours, thank god, and awoke at 6am bright and ready to roll.

The sun was just rising as we reached the barn, early dawn still creeping dark around the edges. A Chinook had rolled in early that morning with the typical howling winds that it brings, and I could hardly believe it when I felt the outdoor temperature.... almost 45F degrees!! It hovered around nearly 50F that entire day, which is UNHEARD of in that part of Canada at this time of year. The weather rolled in and rolled right back out again after I left, so I consider myself VERY lucky. (The weather in Dallas yesterday was FAR worse.... 40 degrees and sleeting all day! Barf!) We hooked up the trailer, grabbed all the tack, and proceeded out to the pasture to catch Sophie. I knew exactly who she was from the moment I set foot in the field... she was the first one to notice us, and the first to break away from her friends and walk towards us. She was beautiful... far prettier than I had expected, and in better shape too. Considering that all she has done lately is stand around eating on a roundbale free-choice (no grain, no blankets, no riding, no grooming, no supplements, no nothing at all), she looked really quite good, and actually had something resembling a topline. Must be all that eating exercise!

We loaded her and another mare into the trailer (other mare was owned and ridden by the woman who was trailering us to the indoor), and headed on our way. Once we unloaded, I had a chance to interact with Sophie, grooming, handling, and tacking her on my own. She ties, trailers, stands for the farrier, goes out solo on trail rides, is independent, quiet, and sensible. Her owner said that she had been bucked off twice by her, and that she could be fresh, but I lunged her beforehand and she didn't do a thing.... she was lazy! Her bad habits include pawing and wiggling when bored (like when mounting or standing around... that will stop immediately!). Once on her, I discovered that someone had put quite a lot of time and effort into her... as soon as I picked up contact, she immediately set herself right on the bit, and off we went. Starting off at the trot, she was a bit stiff to warm up, but once we cantered she was much more fluid and smooth. I can't exactly blame her for that... she's 15 and not on so much as a joint supplement, so I understand!

Was she a bit creaky behind? Yes, a little. Not outwardly lame by any means, and it improved dramatically once she got going, so I can't fault her for it. Will be she a serious competition horse? I doubt it, although once she gets on a good joint care program and has some conditioning, who knows how she'll go? I distinctly remember how much a little Adequan and Cosequin did for her father... he was a new horse on them!

She was lovely. Not an extravagant mover in the slightest, but well trained and 110% willing to give anything I asked. She was an absolute peach. I loved her.



Also, don't mind the neon blue Vetwrap on my boot.... busted zipper. So classy, I know. Eventers are resourceful after all....

The rest of my pictures are being cranky and refusing to upload, so I'll have to keep fighting them... ugh!


At this point, we are pending a prepurchase (she will not pass a sport prepurchase, I just want to see what we are working with here in terms of usability), and then we can move right along with things. There are lots of trucks that make this journey on a month basis, and I have a barn potentially lined up, so there are lots of movements in the right direction... without any finality yet, of course. I can't believe this all worked out the way it did.... what luck! What timing! Karma, don't fail me now!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

End of December Analysis

A few days late, that is! I guess I'm not used to having and maintaining goals any more, seeing as the last set of goals I did for myself was in November of 2010. I didn't set a single goal for the entirety of 2011... helpful in some ways, detrimental in others. On the whole, December was very successful for being a simple feel-out month, one in which I tested out Bay Girl's temperament and reactions to stimuli. I honestly can not believe the transformation in her... she's a different animal already and we've only just begun!

December Goals:

1) Continue desensitization to touch (touch with hands, grooming tools, towels, etc, on legs, body, belly, and face)
Success! I've had great luck with touching Bay Girl all over, especially while in the crossties (she still sucks away a bit when you touch her anywhere but her neck when she is out in the pasture). While in the crossties, she lets me touch her face, belly, legs, and everywhere else... hooray! She has also hesitantly been letting me rub her all over with the towel, something she's not particularly sure about yet. This is particularly important to me because she will eventually need to wear a blanket with regularity.... and maybe someday, she will carry a saddle. She is still hesitant about her body being touched while out in the field, but we will continue to work on this.

2) Introduce turnout blanket
Success! Or well, mostly. But just because we got it on once doesn't mean we'll be able to do it again. I intend on making this a regular event in our daily handling, not just on an as-needed basis.

3) Continue working on not just catching, but haltering as well
Again, success! I discovered shortly ago that her aversion to haltering is probably due to the fact that she is quite certain that anything moving towards her head is dewormer. She was probably only ever caught for unpleasanties like that in her former life, and she was reacting accordingly with a "no please don't catch me and shove crap down my throat!" Once I figured that out, haltering her became really quite simple. All I had to do was do it regularly. Eventually, she realized that I was not coming to do something mean and horrible to her. She is still a little hesitant, but this will continue to diminish as time goes on.

4) Work on picking up front and hind feet with no kicking, pulling, or wiggling!
Success! She's actually been better about her hinds than her fronts, very interestingly. She offers up some very small hesitation on occasion with her fronts when first picking them up, but once they are up, she stands quietly for picking and cleaning. She has a bit of thrush on her left front which I am topically treating (would love to give her a good CleanTrax soak but that will NOT be happening anytime soon!!), but it is clearing. I'll have to do a post on her feet.. they are quite interesting!

5) Go on walks around property and desensitize to anything scary we might find!
Success! I didn't focus as much on this as I would have liked, but what walking we did do was successful and pleasant. Her leading needs a bit of work... actually, she needs regular groundwork in general if I am to be honest with myself. I'm not sure how much I wanna do with her being so very pregnant, but this is something that will eventually need to be addressed.



And onto January.....


January Goals:
1) Continue desensitization to touch (touch with hands, grooming tools, towels, etc, on legs, body, belly, and face)
2) Work on blanketing regularly (a few times a week, dangling leg straps, etc)
3) Introduce dosing orally with tasty things (working on deworming phobia)
4) Continue for walks around property
5) Set up a calendar schedule for her (like Gogo's old one)

Basically this is more of the same thing, only on the next level. More handling, more blanketing, more haltering, more leading, more everything! I'll have a calender set up for her soon... but first, I get to go see SOPHIE! T-minus 2 days and I will be sitting on her.... I can't wait!

Snooze

Bay Girl catching some ZZZZZs in the field today... she didn't mind me walking around out there either, she just stayed put and slept!
All of you northern folks are very jealous of our 60 degree weather and sunshine. It will be 70 on Thursday.... don't you wish you were here too! ;)

T-minus four days until I see Sophie.... getting very excited! I am absolutely shocked to say that the weather should be in the high 30's and upper 40's when I am there for the weekend (Calgary, AB).... when I went to Alberta to see Metro it was -50. Yes, you read that right.... NEGATIVE FIFTY. Thank god for better weather this time!!!

Gotta be clean for the New Year!

Poor Bay Girl... the final afternoon of 2011 was filled with HORRIBLE TORTURE for her! And by horrible torture, I mean.... a bath.

Actually, she was completely perfect about it. It was 75 degrees and beautiful outside, so I decided to bite the bullet and clean her up - it will probably be my last chance to do so for awhile! I've given her only one bath before, and it went pretty well, so I expected her to behave for this one as well. And I wasn't disappointed.... I even sprayed her face off with the hose, the poor thing. She was not particularly pleased about that but she allowed it with only a few minutes of facemaking following completion:



And if that is an upset face, I think I'm doing pretty well.


I was also horribly cruel and cut her mane with - o horrors! - a pair of dull scissors! Three months ago, I hacked off her long and scraggly mane with a pair of scissors, and she pitched a right fit about it... it was the first time I had ever worked with her, and I wrote her off as a bit of a nut. This time, she was better behaved, but still tossed her head and fussed a bit when I took scissors to her. Pulling at this point is OUT of the question. We'll get there eventually... but she doesn't even like to have her mane brushed, let alone tidied in any way, so this is a long way off!



I guess it doesn't look too bad.

And best of all.... she didn't roll afterwards! ;) Just settled in to eat her alfalfa and dinner grain. Good girl.


As for now, it's onto the New Year.... and with that will come some new goals! Stay tuned, be safe tonight, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Bay Girl's Christmas Present

Since Bay Girl's progress has been so excellent over the past month or so (changing from uncatchable to very friendly and willing to be caught), my boss decided that she deserved a little treat. We took a leap of faith and moved her from her small pen (where she was able to be caught when she was uncatchable) to the large pasture with the other pregnant mares. She moved her over to the big field while I was away on vacation for the holidays, and crossed her fingers, hoping that she wasn't making a mistake and that she would be able to catch her again at feedtime. You never know what is going to happen when you give a formerly uncatchable horse a gigantic space to live in and friends to play with... they might never come back!

Lo and behold, she had nothing to worry about. Bay Girl not only came back to be caught, but she approached and waited patiently to be caught and put into her pen for feedtime. All four of the mares in that field live out 24/7, and at feed time we separate them in pens so that they can all eat their individual grain and supplements. In less than two days, Bay Girl figured out which pen was hers, and now stands patiently next to it waiting to be caught for her meals. She even nickered to me softly yesterday at breakfast... the first time she's talked to me directly. THAT felt awesome.

The mares all hanging out together....



The biggest challenge I faced following the move was this: now that Bay Girl had friends, how would she react to being taken away from them? Beforehand, I always just caught her after dinner in her little solo pen, and she'd always be waiting for me, the only member of a herd that she knew. Now, with the company of other horses, I wasn't sure if she'd act the fool or not when I took her away to do whatever it was that was planned for that particular afternoon. I can't stand a herdbound horse, and take steps to ensure that my horses see me as a good leader that they want to be with (and therefore don't stress about the rest of their herd while they are away from them), but I fully expected her to have some sort of anxiety at first.

I expected wiggling, screaming, hesitating, and uncertainty.

What did I get?

Silence, obedience, and the best behavior I've seen from her yet.

Wow is all I can say.

She allowed me to catch and halter her without much issue, and I actually think I have the haltering issue figured out - or at least the cause. When you approach her and take her halter by anything other than the catch rope, she tosses her head, wiggles, and fusses pretty dramatically. When I happened to do this the other day, she reacted just like that, and I went to pat her neck to quiet her. She jumped and skittered away from me, and the lightbulb went off in my head. She thinks I am going to either deworm her or give her a shot. DUH! I am sure that if she was living in a band of surrogate mares, there was just a day when all the surrogates needed their shots and needed their dewormer, so someone just went through, grabbed horse by horse, and shoved it down their throats or stuck it in their necks. No matter if they fuss or wiggle, it has to get done and everyone is on a time schedule. Grab, stick, and repeat on the next horse. Add to my list of things to work on in the future: syringing her in the mouth with something delicious. This will not be an immediate goal, since all I want to do right now is get her to trust me handling her head (and not freak her out with the syringe), but I will make a mental note of this for later.

I put on her halter, took her to the barn, and gave her a nice and thorough grooming. She marched with purpose to the barn away from her mares, didn't even call once to them, stood like a rock in the crossties - the best she's ever been - and even let me curry and brush her face, forelock included. I curried her hard, I moved with less care around her, I touched her legs and belly all over, I rubbed on her face.... she was excellent about ALL of it. I even waved my towel around and rubbed her all over with it without much issue, though she is still unsure about it flapping around. I am confident that it won't take her long to figure it out. This mare is a genius, I swear. Not a day goes by when I don't marvel at how quickly she has picked everything up. And she has not ONCE shown me even the slightest bit of attitude or ever said 'no' to anything I have asked. She is the epitome of sweet and willing. And whenever we have encountered a problem, she has always stopped and figured it out on her own, or waited for me to help her. She wants to work with me, because she wants to do the right thing. And I think that maybe, just maybe, she is starting to figure out that I am not here to do anything but be nice to her. I don't think she's ever had that before in her entire life.

When I turned her back out with her mares, I took a video of her, simply because I expected her to go galloping down the hill to them away from me. Instead, she stood there with me for quite a long while, and it was only when I moved away that she bothered to leave - and she went at a walk.

Genius. Mare.

Genius.




I am still contemplating names but the two that are sticking with me most are Portia and Jolene. Jolene just sort of popped into my head the other day and I am really liking how it feels.... sort of soft and gentle and graceful and easy. Portia implies sexiness and spunk, which I think doesn't suit her gracious personality quite as well. Time will tell on this one, I suppose.

On Halters

Excuse me for being a bit remiss on my blogging as of late - between work, prepping for the holidays, a quick getaway to California, and an untimely head cold which became a bronchitis, I've not had much time for anything! I'm actually sitting in the Atlanta airport right now as we speak.... finally, a moment to sit down!

I've not been able to do much with Bay Girl over the past week (see above), but what I have done has been very successful. She continues to be easy to catch, and approaches the gate every time I come up. Yes! My boss reported to me that she also walked right up to her when it was time to catch her and bring her in for a rainy night. Double success!

Aside from picking up all four feet with success, I've also reintroduced the halter and have had very good results. If you remember from before, when I attempted to show her the halter and place it near her nose, she shot backwards as though I had shocked her face with a cattle prod. This time, I began in a confined area (a stall) instead of out in her pen, which worked well in my favor. When putting a halter on Bay Girl, it's first a matter of touching her face. She has been increasingly good about this, and is letting me rub all over her face with my hands as well as brush it with a brush. I even detangled her forelock a bit without too much fuss! Anyway, haltering.... so it begins with touching her face. This then progresses to getting a hand over her nose, which is where her objection begins. She tosses her head upwards against that pressure hard, and backs up away from the contact. In a stall, she can only back up for a moment before she gets herself wedged into a corner, and then she stops and allows me to continue. Note that she is not exhibiting fear while I am doing any of this, just objection... if she were afraid, backing her into a corner would be the LAST thing I would want to do because it would be a good way to cause panic on her part (and injury on mine). Once I have her stopped and have a hand over her nose, the rest of the process is easy. Slip the halter on over her nose, carefully place the crownpiece over her head, and buckle. Voila! This is FAR easier now than it has been, and she improves every time I do it. This is the first time I've been able to get the leather halter on her - I think she wasn't sure about the thickness (oh no large and scary!) of it versus her regular rope halter. She does not, however, respond as well to pressure in it... which makes sense. We'll be working on leading manners in the future.

Since the one setting back incident, I've been crosstying her in the pool barn (where there are concrete and enclosed wash stalls, and therefore no way to set back), and I've not had another incident of her going backwards since. We'll get back to regular crossties when I feel confident that she isn't going to shrink back away from anything that I do. Gogo was a habitual halter breaker in the crossties and while tied, so apparently I'm not the best at teaching horses to tie without fuss. But we'll see how I manage this time around.

The last thing to report is that I am SO PLEASED that she is letting me pick up all four feet! She is surprisingly much better about picking up her hinds than her fronts, and stands with one ready and cocked when she knows you are going it for it. I never lift them high, and I never crank on them, but I've never had her so much as resist having them picked up. This is the mare who used to cow kick so badly that she is permanently on the drugged list for the farrier when he comes to do her feet. I've not yet done anything with her feet except pick them and put on a little topical thrush medication for her fronts (caudal heel is decent but frogs are thrushy and therefore she lands somewhat toe first), but I've not had any problems with them. She does, however, hesitate and stand like a statue for the first minute or so when picking up the left front for whatever reason. She lets me rub all over her legs, poke her, tickle her, pull her chestnuts, and lean on her in attempts to get her to pick up the foot without any sort of objection at all... she's just slow right now to do it for whatever reason. We'll get there.

Overall, the progress has been fantastic and I'm really very pleased with her. Her "owner" (the man who owns the foal) came by last night to drop off a blanket... I wanted to pick his brain and ask him a million questions about her but my evening chores called me and by the time I could stop to ask he was gone. D'oh! I may have a lead on where she came from though... no guarantees but stay tuned for that!




Wearing the Big Girl halter AND crosstied properly (instead of on the lower ring due to her headshyness.... baby steps!)