Awesome Immy

Phew! It has been a crazy, crazy month. I am tying up the last loose ends of my schoolwork, my practicum in Wisconsin has come and gone (yes, it was really, really snowy and freezing cold), and things are slowly making the move back to a normal pace. I should be fully complete with my schoolwork by the end of the weekend (I hope)... it has been a very long 2 years but I am finally at the end!
The mares had most of the past two weeks off - I was simply too busy with my practicum and schoolwork and a million clients to do. I lunged Immy here and there, and sat on P once or twice, but it was all I had time for. Thankfully, I flew back from WI on Sunday night, and the girls were put back to the grindstone on Monday. 

Immy is definitely starting to get the idea of the sidereins:

She is stronger going to the left than to the right, but she is gradually releasing on the right side. It just takes time and muscle memory! 

And she's starting to look pretty sexy if I do say so myself!

Spring is finally showing up in our neck of the woods (sheesh it took long enough), but we still are having a few nights here and there that are way, way cold. Most of the time the girls have been naked, but there have been some nights that were outrageously cold. I was complaining to S that all of my blankets are a smidge too big for her, but that I hadn't gone out to get new ones because I was having a hard time justifying buying a whole new set of blankets when they were only just a little too big. She and her hubs own a mobile tack store, so she pawed through her used blankets and found a 76 (all of mine are 78s). The problem? It was a closed front blanket. How in the hell was I going to get THAT on?

As it turned out, it wasn't hard at all.

She put her head up and backed into P at first, but stopped and let me toss it on. Once it was on, she just looked at me like, "oh... well, okay." It has been on and off a few times since then, and there was no more muss or fuss about it. 

She says, "lady give me more cookies!!" The closed front blanket isn't waterproof, so I tossed a sheet on over it, just in case. Also, it was in the 20's that night... in March, in Texas. I know.

Tuesday night was date night with Mo, seeing as I've hardly seen him in the past two weeks (and we needed to install our new washer and dryer, how romantic!), so the mares had it off again. On Wednesday, I got a text from S saying that her auntie and uncle were in town, and that her auntie wanted to go with us on a trail ride. She asked if she could ride P, and then her auntie could ride Rue and I could ride Immy. Immy has only been out on the trails once before, and that was when S ponied the two of us off of Rue.... it didn't go very well, seeing as Immy was way too hyped up to mentally deal with it.
I wasn't sure that it would go well, but S is a good/bad influence on me, and gave me her usual "just do it! She's a different horse now, she'll be fine!" So, we went for it. I had S pony us off of P to start, but once we had to go through out first gate, I had her let us go for a minute to see what would happen. To my great surprise, Immy marched right to the lead, and off we went. She never spooked, never faltered, never hesitated  and never gave any indication that she hadn't done this a million times before.

Look at her leading!!!

I look kind of like a goose with my leg sticking out in front of me (being defensive, and also partly crippled), but as you can tell I was pretty damn pleased with her. She even crossed a little stream! 

To top it all off, back at the barn she solidly walk-trot-cantered for me... what a champ!!!!!!

She was understandably tired yesterday, so we settled for a nice lunge in sidereins. She actually stopped outright and braced outwards against the sidereins at one point, likely because she was tired, but a little encouragement sent her back forward again. We kept it short and sweet - no need to push. A little bit of stretching and forward movement did her some good, and we ended with a nice full-body rub down and a whole lot of cookies. It's funny, I'm not normally a cookie-giver, but I am pretty liberal with the snacks when it comes to Immy. When treated too much, P turns into a giant butthead, so I don't give her more than the occasional cookie, but with Immy it helps to relax her and get her thinking positive thoughts about everything that is happening to and around her. When she's not in the mood to play with me, she clamps her mouth shut and won't take anything I offer her, so any time she readily takes a cookie from me is a good day in my book.

Today was swim day! I wanted to ride, but I figured that it would be good for her to loosen up her body in the pool.

She's really putting on some muscle, is she not? She is looking awesome!!!


I am exhausted, and there is more to write about... but not tonight. Tomorrow I have a huge announcement to make.... stay tuned for that!!!

Bucking Broncs, Craniosacral Capers, and more Immy Swimmy

I finally have a few seconds to sit down and write! Unfortunately, I had to be half-crippled in order to do this... my left hip, sciatic nerve, knee, and shin are all screaming with sciatica, bursitis, splint pain, and general crappiness at the moment. I opted to rest and blog versus ride for the evening... not the choice I wanted to make, but I really didn't have an option. I need to remember that on days when I have to ride other horses, I should just forget about working my own - sitting in western saddles that don't fit me well and jar me around horribly just KILLS me. I hurt so bad right now that I just want to die! (Sitting in my own saddle doesn't hurt at all, for comparison.)

Anyway... we had quite a week! It didn't go entirely the way that I wanted it to, but that is the way life works, and the weather as well. After another productive lunge session on Saturday, I opted to hop on relatively early in the morning. It was very chilly, and everyone had a bit of a wild hair that day, but I lunged her down in sidereins for quite a long time, and decided to go for it. She, of course, was still feeling extra spunky despite it all (you really can't tire this mare out... she can go FOREVER and never get tired!), and the moment I got on and asked her to walk off, she exploded into a series of bucks which took us halfway across the pen. She then followed this up with lots of jigging and a high powered bolt when she didn't steer away from the railing and my stirrup clanged into the metal pipe. FINALLY, she settled down, and we got a little bit of decent walk/trot/steering/whoa in, but that was all I decided to work on for the day. I figuree that not dying was a pretty good goal for that day, considering what I had to work with. Hotheaded mares...

Sunday I had planned on another ride, since the weather was so glorious, but she had other ideas, and didn't want to play that day. At this point in our relationship, if she doesn't want to come to me andintereact, I leave her alone for the day. There is no point in chasing her around until I corner and catch her - she will only be totally wired for sound and frightened when I finally get ahold of her, and no productive work will come of that. Instead, we worked off of my number one rule: if you don't want to come to me and be caught, that is fine, but you don't get to eat dinner. (They have loads of hay, don't worry... they just don't get fed their grainfoods!) She wanted to be near me when I was fussing around in their pen, but didn't want to actually be caught. I left it at that, and pampered P for a bit instead. (P of course promptly rolled and got filthy as soon as I put her back out...)

Monday ended up being a complete wash-out, seeing as by the time I got to the barn in the afternoon, it was 30 degrees and sleeting sideways. It had been in the upper 50's in the morning when I left, so I had left the girls naked for the day... poor things were frozen when I got there! I bundled them up, fed them, and had some drinks and dinner with S instead. Winter, just GO AWAY already, will you?

On Tuesday, the craniosacral therapist came! I hadn't ever seen a cranio therapist at work, and it was very interesting. (A bit more on craniosacral therapy here, if you aren't familiar with it.) The first thing Immy did was practically fall asleep the moment she started to work on her... she wasn't relaxed enough to actually zonk out, and kept forcing herself back awake, but she was very relaxed. She didn't like when the therapist reached up to work on the top of her head, of course, but once she was up there she didn't object. She had a horrible TMJ issue and was biting her tongue, had compression issues on her right side that were causing her some issues with vision (which resolved once she was worked on.... her right side is her spookier side, and that makes total sense!), and was in general completely locked up and tense throughout her entire body, right side especially. The therapist even noted that the way she moved the right side of her body was stiffer than the way she moved the left side. 

(Time for a trim too... those toes are way too long!)

Look at the difference in her posture! That is just wild. I'm going to try the recommended magnesium therapy on her and do the stretches and massages that she showed me, and we'll see how she is doing in three or four weeks. If all is going well, and this is helping, we'll schedule another appointment then.

On Wednesday, it was pool day! She completely surprised me by walking on the trailer with no hesitations or issues whatsoever, all by herself! This was leaving home AND leaving her screaming maniac sister, who is in heat and absolutely losing it down in her paddock. YAY! Progress, thy name is Immy!

Once at the pool barn, in her paddock, she was a total whackadoo. She trotted around screaming her head off for three hours before I finally got tired of it, and when another horse went into our Eurociser,  I put her in there too. If you have that much energy mare, you need to get it out!

That was of her at a slow trot. The program we usually do is a varied one, and they go both ways at a walk, jog, walk, trot, canter, and walk again for a 20 minute cooldown. The entire thing takes about 50 minutes. While I am not usually one for putting them on circles for long periods of time, she is strong enough, flexible enough and fit enough that the benefits outweigh the negatives. She didn't so much as break a sweat, and kept up with the front panel the ENTIRE time. Thankfully, back in her pen, she had just enough fizzle taken out of her that she was finally able to just stand still and eat her hay for awhile.

After an hour or two of resting following her first unintentional workout, it was pool time! She delighted me by walking right in like a big girl (last time she fussed quite a bit... it was only her second time, and that is pretty standard. By the third time, they almost always 'get it'.) She worked out VERY well, and is starting to go MUCH straighter! (For comparison, look at how crooked she was last time.)

Go girl!!

She STILL was wired for sound when I first tied her out to dry....

.... but FINALLY, she started to yawn and relax. She yawned a LOT during her cranio work... she yawned a lot after her swim.... she yawned after she ate dinner yesterday.... and I realized that up until she had the cranio work done, I had NEVER seen her yawn before.

(She wasn't really tired... she went back in her pen and trotted around screaming some more!)

Thursday I was way, WAY too crippled to do anything with them, so I used it as a rest day. We'll see how badly I am feeling today, but since we are in a new month, I'll at least be assessing our goals and looking to see what is in store for March... so glad to leave February behind!!

Swimmy Immy

One of my February goals has been to start taking Immy to the AquaTread once a week. It is great conditioning, helps counter work we do on the dirt, and it super for desensitization. Plus, we get to practice trailer loading as well as leaving Big Sister behind (which is very traumatic). I picked Wednesday for this, so I could ride on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and have a break in the middle.

Tuesday's ride did not happen due to a well-needed date night, so Immy spent the day galloping like a maniac out in the big field instead. 

Wednesday morning came bright and early, and I fed the girls, hooked up my trailer, and recruited S to come help get her on. Immy wasn't particularly keen, and ignored both of us for a moment while she called for P, who was making a right fool of herself with her mad galloping and screaming. (How old are you again, mare?) Finally, S got tired of it, and gave her a decent whap on the hiney with a dressage whip. Immy walked straight on after that - sometimes, you just have to law down a little law.

At the other facility, I unloaded her and settled her into a paddock with her hay net. She did some trotting around and calling for all of her old friends, then quieted and ate her hay for awhile. When I went to go catch her, she took one look at me like "forget it, lady" and walked off. She didn't go far, but I was not particularly amused.

She redeemed herself in the pool barn by standing like a sweet little angel, totally immobile and silent. Atta girl! 

Getting into the pool itself? She was not particularly amused with the idea. Last time - which was her first time - she went plowing right in, completely surprised at how she had ended up there. I've seen loads of them do exactly the same thing, and banked on her doing exactly what those kinds of horses all do the second time they get in - BALK. She spent about 5 minutes going "no, no way, oh hell no, nope, no..." until she finally told us to go screw ourselves and went backwards. We train all our horses to go into the AquaTread in the same way: stop and let them think, ask for one step at a time, reward each attempt at forward movement lavishly, and sharply correct backwards movement. All the horses learn that there is only one way to go (forwards), but they are never beaten, dragged in with ropes, or drugged. I've seen literally hundreds go in, and trained god knows how many of them, and this method really works. I don't have one horse that I see that doesn't just walk right in, once they learn how. When Immy went backwards, she got a swift spank in the butt from M, and she promptly changed her mind. Much like with the trailer that morning, she just walked her little self right in, carefully and methodically. 

If you notice, she's trying REALLY hard to turn her head all the way around to look at the other horses in the barn - hence why she is tied to the other side. P did the same thing at first, and I had to tie her over there to straighten her out just the same. She'll figure it out shortly, they all do!

We took a stab at breed guessing while she was working out, and settled at a probable Quarab. I mean, have you SEEN that butt lately? 

BOOM!

She rounded out the day by completely 100% surprising me - she walked on the trailer with no hesitations whatsoever. She just followed me right in! That was the first time I have solo-loaded her with absolutely no issues at all. Granted, we WERE going home instead of leaving home, but still. I was super impressed with her, and can't wait to see what she does next time!

As for Thursday, well... that was more or less a bit failure. She's been teetering on the edge of hard to catch again, probably because life is hard when you are hopelessly attached to your pasture mate, and your person like to take you away from your best friend and your food. It was all peachy keen when we were just hanging out in the pasture eating snacks together and being friends, but it is a very different situation with her now being in training. More than anything, I want to remain her friend, but there are certain lines I have to draw, and certain rules to follow. Thursday was pedicure day for the girls, and I pulled both of them out, starting work on Immy first. Having seen the hoof stand about a million times, she spooked at it hard for whatever reason, and basically went leaping forward away from it when I brought it over. She was tied, and half ran me over in the process. Instinctively, to get her off of me, I raised a hand and popped her in the chest. I didn't strike her in anger, I didn't beat her senseless, and I didn't hurt her in any way, but in her mind I may as well have, because she shot backwards to the end of her rope and acted like I was the scariest person on earth. She wanted absolutely nothing to do with me after that, though she tolerated her trim - I had proved to her that I was a terrifying monster, and she wanted no part in my company. 

Working with an abused, reactive horse is very, very hard. They are very big, very strong animals who could potentially hurt you very seriously, if either a) you frighten them with your disciplines, or b) you cater too much to their pasts, don't lay down enough rules, and let them run all over you because you are too worried about scaring them with disciplines. It's a seriously fine line. What do you let slide, and what isn't acceptable, at the risk of scaring them? There isn't really a proper answer, especially with a horse like Imogen. Honestly, I did what I needed to do in the situation - I don't allow my horses to trample me, just because something they've seen a million times is scary today for whatever reason - but now I have the task of proving to her that I am not scary, she can still trust me, and that there are still some rules that need to be followed, even if things are scary... and if you don't follow the rules, there is a consequence to it.

Easier said than done, of course. Yesterday, I had a mare who took off in the other direction away from me at breakfast time. Her desire to eat grainfoods overcame her concerns, and she let me walk up to her and catch her. Undaunted, I came back at lunchtime to just hang out with the ladies, and spent a good long while sitting next to their shed, basking in the sun. P-mare came over and hung out with me for a long time, while Immy stood peering out at me from behind the shed, not brave enough to come over.

I got up on P for a little bareback ride in our new hackamore, which was wonderful. It really is nice to get on an old steady-Eddie type horse when you've been working with a greenie. She looks lovely in this getup, don't you think?

After our lunchtime ride, Immy still didn't want to be caught, so I let P out with the boys into the big field for a few hours while I went back to the main farm to feed. Immy was NOT happy about this arrangement, but she wouldn't be caught, so... sorry mare! I can't help you if you won't come to me!

We went for another bareback jaunt around the big field that evening, which was just as nice, and at this point Immy was ready for some attention. She came right to the gate for catching, and let me rub on her without jumping or scooting away from me. She was the same today - she was easy to catch, and more than happy to be petted and loved on for the most part. It was crappy and misty out, so I left them alone, wanting to leave Immy on a positive note.

We've done this several times before. Sometimes, something is just a little too much for Immy, and we need to back off for a few days or a week before continuing on. It just takes time... lots and lots of time. Looking at my list of yearly goals, I think they may be too lofty for what is realistically achievable this year. I don't see any need to push her or go faster than I feel like she is capable of mentally handling, so everything comes one day at a time. She should be further along in her saddle training than she is, but honestly I am not getting on this mare unless she is relaxed and trusting me. It's a recipe for disaster, and a good way to sour her off saddle work quickly. We'll continue training when we re-establish some relaxation and trust on her part, but not until then.

The most important thing is to keep being consistent and quiet with her, showing her that I am not going to surprise her out of nowhere by doing something seriously unexpected or mean. And, if she DOES do something completely unacceptable (like run me over), that the counter-response on my part will be a quick correction and not a full-out abusive assault. 

Time, time, patience, and more time is what this mare needs. Did I mention time?

Eventful Every Day!

There is truly never a dull moment in the life of owning two kooky mares.

This weekend was the scheduled move for the girls - basically they were going from one side of town to the other, to a new and extremely gorgeous private facility. My plan was this: load the girls on Saturday, take them both to work, swim P, and then after work pony Imogen off of P and take them both out on the trails for Immy's first outdoor work experience. We have 6000 acres behind my workplace to ride on, so we have plenty of trails to choose from! I was very excited for the opportunity - I knew in my heart she'd be excellent out there.

Unfortunately, we had to GET there first. Part of that included loading the mares and trailering them to the property. With handy-dandy second lunge line in place, I started to load Imogen in the same way that I have been - lunge line running from her up to the side door and out back to me - and once again, it *almost* worked the first time. Remember how the first lunge line broke not once, not twice, but THREE times? The second lunge line must have had a talk with it, because it ALSO broke clean in HALF partway through the loading process. It isn't exactly like she was pulling back super hard or anything... the lunge line just straight up failed. Of course, we all know what happened then - cue Imogen galloping away back to her pen with a long piece of lunge line trailing, AGAIN. Now, of course, we have a full blown issue on our hands. Imogen now thinks that if she backs rapidly out of the trailer, the lunge line will break and she can run away. It isn't her fault - I don't blame her, I'd do the same - and it honestly isn't my fault either... I fully blame my stupid equipment for creating this problem!! Luckily, she was caught easily again, and with lunge line safely knotted several times for maximum security, I managed to once again get her safely loaded and on our way (this time thankfully on time). 

When I brought P into the pool barn for her AquaTread session, I made a very unpleasant discovery.... these two are HOPELESSLY attached to one another. Like, really badly. No, really. See for yourself.

The other horse in the video is a QH racehorse stallion that we have in for rehab right now. He obviously didn't care about the shrieking women in his presence, thank god.

Seriously though. I think these two need some remedial time apart. This is ridiculous.

It was around this time that I had the brilliant idea to also put Imogen in the pool. I had extra hands around the farm, so I decided, why not? Why not today? But would it go well? Both my other horses have walked right in the first time, which is NOT a common thing for them to do. The pool is a scary, gurgling, sloshy monster to most horses... so what would Imogen do?

Will you believe me if I told you that she WALKED IN BY HERSELF? Yeah, I wouldn't either... but it is 100% true! 

Now, it isn't go completely smoothly. Once the water was a little over her knees, she stopped, and the wheels started visibly turning in her head. "Hm, this water is getting deep," she seemed to think aloud. "I think I am going to need to swim. Well, I need some propulsion to get myself underway, right?" And that's exactly what she decided to do - launch. I of course got soaked in the process, and she rammed into the chestrope and started thrashing. I see a lot of them do that, so I knew she'd be fine once she put her feet down, but she spent a minute or two trying to swim instead of realizing she could just put her feet down and walk. Smart girl that she is, it didn't take her long to figure out!

She was very tired by the end of it. Can't blame her there... she's not exactly in shape yet! Although I do have to say, she is looking much less pendulous in the belly area already, don't you think?

With both girls dried and finished, I put them back in their pen and let them rest until I clocked out just before the sun went down. Once the workday was complete, I tacked up P, put on my helmet, and quickly picked their feet before setting out. It was at this time that, with Imogen's feet cleaner than ever, I noticed a spot in her lateral quarter on her LF that has a touch of WLD. It had only looked like a chip before that simply needed to grow out, but with the foot super clean, it was clear that there was more to it than I had originally thought. At this point, I did the dumbest thing I could have possibly done - I poked at it with my hoofpick to see how extensive it was. 

Yeah. That tissue is sensitive, you know? She immediately freaked, slammed her foot down right on top of my foot, set back, and broke her lead rope. I can't exactly blame her for that one... clearly it hurt. Unfortunately for me, the force with which she stuck me was enough to break my foot. Yes, break it. First metatarsal on my left foot. It is broken. 

Don't be to worried about me though... despite the fact that I knew right away that it was broken, I decided that it wasn't bad enough to forgo my ride. Maybe I am an idiot, but those trails were calling my name!

I wasn't disappointed either - both girls were AMAZING out there. We even trotted a long stretch with nary a problem. We weaved around trees, bushwhacked through cockle burrs, and even walked over a very large log - her very first obstacle! She didn't bat an eye, all thanks to Pangea's devil-may-care attitude about life. P isn't exactly a quiet horse - in fact she can be quite hot - but she is very confident and truthfully doesn't care about ANYTHING we come across on the trail. Because she didn't care, Imogen didn't care. She just took it all in stride.

My foot is very unhappy, but I will live. I still have to work, so all I can really do is try and elevate it and ice it whenever I have the chance. Such is the life of a horse person, I suppose... we work our butts off in a dangerous profession, but don't get paid enough for quality health insurance or workman's comp should something happen to us. So, we continue to work even when we are injured, because what else can we do?

Today, my beautiful ladies both had very thorough baths, and both were very well behaved for it - Immy even let me wash her long and scraggly forelock for the first time ever! She gave me some horrible trouble loading on the trailer, but we got it done without any more lead ropes breaking, thank god! There was an awful lot of her jumping onto the ramp on one side and jumping off the other, back and forth in order to avoid actually going in. Finally, she tired of that, and jumped right in. We'll get there eventually...

More pics of the new facility tomorrow! The girls are in outside stalls for the night, and will be out with the pasture horses for the first time in the morning. Once they acclimate to their new surroundings, they'll be turned out 24/7, and I can't wait. The facility is gorgeous and the people are lovely.... what more can you ask for?