Moole School

School is perpetually in session for my horde of mooles. They're all in various stages of growing up and coming along in their training. In terms of general baby goals for their ages, they are all fully on track to becoming solid citizens, with a few quirks here and there and things to always be worked on. 

Uma:

Uma is the same age as Pax, so now approaching 17 months. She is still TINY but filling out in her body. She's got that donkey haybelly which, as far as I can tell, is nearly impossible to get rid of on some of them. She came with it, and it looks much better but it's still there. Clean fecals, regular deworming, you can see her coat is good and shiny... she's just... full of hay. I asked the owner of the mini moole that comes to the driving competitions, because he also has a huge gut, and she said that even though he gets a tiny ration and heavy work literally 6 days a week, he just has it and that's that. Boo. 

She has really started to mentally mature a lot more over the course of her yearling year. She is still weird about a lot of things, like you can't just walk up to her in the pasture, nor can you put your hands on her body unless she is tied up, but I think that will continue to get better as it generally has been (slowly). Baby mooles are kind of like horrible obnoxious teenagers. You think baby horses are bad, try dealing with all of their crap but with a donkey brain in there!

Things she does well: halter, lead, tie, wear a flymask, flyspray, stand for hoofcare, stand more or less still to be brushed off, sort of stand for mane clipping, wearing boots

Things she does not do well: body clipping, trailering (haven't tried!), bathing (she likes water but not being sprayed with the hose yet), and not very fond of general touches from people if she wasn't expecting them - just needs more work on that!

Zu:

This little dude is continuing to impress me. It just goes to show that it is SO IMPORTANT to get your hands on these guys as soon as they are born. It makes ALL the difference. He has no meanness in him whatsoever and he loves people and attention. It is very rare to get that sweet adorable temperament in a zebroid, and it has to be cultivated. He's a testament to his breeder's program. 

He's a million times easier than all of the mules, which is really saying something. It's all because of his early formative training - they were all feral or mishandled, and he was neither. He was handled straight away as a baby, and it makes a difference.

Things he does well: Easy to catch, halters, leads, ties, trailers (although he has not been in my trailer), clipping, grooming, flymask, wears harness, wears bridle (but still learning about the bit), lunges in harness, starting to long line and learn about steering, ponies, wears boots and wraps, stands for hoofcare

Things he does not do well: Not a fan of baths (although he loves water), or flyspray (but he tolerates it), needs to be a little more secure by himself (the world is scary when you're alone without your herd!) 

Lendri:

I long lined Lendri off the property for the first time ever the other day, and nobody died! She actually surprised me with how good she was. She has technically been hitched once, but I feel that she needs to be much steadier in the long lines before we hitch again. There is so much that can go wrong when hitching a greenie so the more I can do on the ground the better. I still am not compeltely convinced that she is going to make a perfect driving moole - she is still so reactive to things sometimes - but I am going to give it the full benefit of my time, because she has come SO far and I'm not ready to give it up just yet. 

Things she does well: Easy to catch (runs over!), halters, leads, ties, trailers, mane and body clipping, grooming, flymask, wears harness and bridle, lunges in harness and sidereins, stands for hoofcare, flyspray, long lines, ponies, wears boots and wraps, has been hitched once without issue

Things she does not do well: Hates baths! Tolerates it but is pretty sure I am spraying her with acid. Still can be quite reactive and flinchy to basically anything that touches her that she is not sure about. 

Sriracha:

I ordered a new bit for Sriracha - it's a little butterfly mullen mouth driving bit that is mini sized. I should be able to use it on Lendri as well, as it is a 3.75" (standard mini size is 3.5"). For comparison, Lendri can go either in the 3.5" or the 4" that I use for Zu, but she does seem to prefer the 4", which is a single jointed sweet iron snaffle. I don't know that Zu will fit into it, but I might try it on him for giggles. I haven't tried the bridle on her since the last time when she stuck her tongue over it and cut it - it was only her second time wearing a bridle and I didn't want to repeat the incident until I switched bits. 

Things she does well: Halters, leads, ties, trailers, mane clipping, grooming, flymask, wears harness, learning to lunge in harness, stands for hoofcare, flyspray, happy to go out alone and do things, wears front boots

Things she does not do well: Not a fan of baths, still sligtly funny about her tail and back legs being handled (although getting better every time), having difficulty accepting the bit and bridle. She's only been not-feral for a few months so it's pretty good, all of it!

Tried the (sans bit, sans adjustment) blinkered bridle on Zu... as you can see he really cares. He was looking around for a minute though going, uhhh I can't see?

How not to wear your flymask

Best Laid Plans

Do you ever feel like the universe is plotting against you? Or maybe trying to tell you something you don't know? 

The Carriage Class is this weekend - meaning, we need to leave tomorrow if we are going. We are technically entered. But, it feels like everything had been acting against our favor.

First, I was super sick. I had some kind of stomach bug that knocked me flat out for almost 5 days. I was completely useless, and wasn't able to work until Monday. I struggled through a full day of work that day (it was awful, and I was exhausted), and right before I got to the final appointment of the day, my truck shuddered and the check engine light came on. Luckily, my final client's husband is a mechanic, and he was able to hook his computer up to my truck and check it out. Cylinder 4 was misfiring.... great.

Tuesday, I spent 6 grumpy hours at the shop, where they were able to clear the misfire but were not able to make the check engine light go off. They think it is some kind of sensor that isn't reading. It is going to need to go back for more work in order to really make sure that this is what is going on though. My inspection is also due, but it won't pass inspection until the check engine light goes off. Looking at all these things, I am just seeing dollar signs floating around past my eyes over and over. $$$$$$$$.

The truck is currently driving fine, but.... ugh. You know?

So, I have a dilemma. Do I or do I not go to the Carriage Classic?

In favor of going:

1) This is literally the ONLY ADS pleasure show on the calendar this entire year in our area. There is only one. And if we miss it - that's all we get.

2) I've had an awful show season this year - we've missed two shows and had two others cancelled because of the weather. We've only done two shows this year total, and that sucks!

3) I was really looking forward to this show - it sounds super fun!

In favor of not going:

1) Adult me says that I just had to spend a chunk of money on my truck that was unexpected, and will have to spend even more before this is all over - so I should save money and not go.

2) The truck is driving fine, but do I REALLY trust it to pull a horse trailer for several hours? If I break down on the side of the road that is one thing, but having it happen with a horse in the trailer would really be awful. 

3) I haven't driven O in a few weeks - she will be fine, but it's just one of those things. The excessive heat, then I was super sick, then dealing with this truck - nothing to be done about it, but still.

So, I don't know. Responsible me says obviously I should scratch. Fun-loving me says screw it, just go! 

It's super frustrating to feel like I am going to be sidelined from another show yet again this year. I've had no luck at all getting to shows. I really thought this was going to be my year.... but I guess not.

Maybe though, just maybe, *next* year will be my year, when I am out showing Dylan. I can only hope.... right?

Speaking of Dylan, I seem to have flipped a switch in his head. It took him a solid week of being here, but something finally clicked in his brain that said "you live here now, outside, and your fencewalking does nothing for you." He just... stopped doing it. If he is engaging in it at all anymore, I haven't seen it. Instead, he is making up for lost time eating. He is GOBBLING everything in sight - which is good, because he was on the thin side, especially burning all those calories walking the fence.

Hello human are you here to slave over me?

Playing with a giant branch that fell

This is what I was waiting for. I wanted him to arrive, settle in, get used to life outdoors, and eat. He has really chilled out, and I think is starting to view me as a friend instead of a suspicious being. I think that trust is still a bit fragile though - this morning he had a total freakout when I was putting his flymask on. I tried to put on his flymask with ears... I never actually got it on him, I couldn't get the individual ears on because he was so panicked. Instead, I put the regular Supermask back on him, but not until after he had backed rapidly halfway across the pasture with his head in the air, trying to avoid it. Once he decided to give in, he literally throws his head forward into the flymask, and stands there squinching and cringing while you do it up. I hope I didn't offend him too terribly, trying to protect him from flies...

He is a quirky, sensitive guy, but he has really chilled out in the past week. It's time to ride!

And..... she's still here

Well.... Immy is still at the main farm, with no word from the owners about when she is going back at ALL. We have no idea why or what is going on. I thought for sure she would have been sent back to the ET facility and would have become mine a month ago, but apparently not. The only thing we heard from Elvis' owners was that Elvis was going to leave our farm last week and move to a new one. Well that didn't happen either... we heard no more about it after that, and Elvis is still here too.

So basically.... I still have no idea when she is going to be mine. She still will be.... I just have no idea when.

Does she not have THE most beautiful face ever? Maybe I'm biased, but that gorgeous eye makes me melt every time I look at her.

By the way, how about that vanishing belly and improving topline? She isn't in work yet, since she is still at the work farm, but she is now turned out in a pasture that has a roundbale at the bottom of a hill, and a water trough at the top. She has to walk back and forth up and down the 4 acre hill all day in order to get food and water. It is definitely helping!!

The plan for her (if she doesn't go back anytime in the immediate future) is this: start playing in the roundpen this week, doing bits of groundwork and leading as well as introducing the idea of lunging. She has a few basics under her belt, but not many. When I first started to work with her, she didn't know (or couldn't deal with) anything at all, not even being haltered. While she was pregnant, we managed to add all these things to the master list of stuff she knows:

Stuff Imogen Knows How To Do:

- Halter

- Lead 

- "Tie" (not hard tie)

- Crosstie

- Pick up all four feet & stand on the hoof stand for trims

- Shots & deworming (with only minimal fuss)

- Stand for sprays

- Stand for grooming & touching of all parts, ears & legs & belly included

- Blanketing (mostly)

- Flymask

- Baths (including water on her face)

- Catch in the field

Stuff Imogen Doesn't Know How To Do:

- Everything else

Considering that the majority of stuff that we worked on was done in the three months I worked with her before she had the Red Pest, I think that's a pretty good start. From here, we continue working on general handling and leading, and introduce the idea of lunging and moving away (and yielding to) pressure. Despite her timidness, she is a very quick study, so care needs to be taken that things get introduced properly the first time around. She is definitely one of the smartest little mares I've ever met in my life. 

And, of course, one of the cutest...

Elvis is getting so BIG!

Holy moley. Elvis is 4.5 months old now (approaching 5 months), and he is getting BIG! His hugeness has been recently magnified by the temporary addition of another mare and foal to the field. The filly, named Emmy-Lou, is a little over a month old and is TINY. She was a complete surprise: her mother was purchased as a 3 year-old project, who surprised her new owner by one day laying down and popping out a surprise tiny foal! Even the old owner had no idea she was pregnant... apparently the stallion got out one night. Emmy is so small that she can practically walk underneath Elvis, but she has the gumption of a much bigger baby. Elvis can still push her around at the creep feeder, but Emmy stands her ground with her ears pinned.



She's also a lot smarter than Elvis is - to make sure that she gets her fair share in the creep feeder, she goes in there by herself and waits for me to bring their shared bucket of creep feed. Elvis still eats out of Bay Girl's bucket before going over to the creep feeder - Emmy is one step ahead of him!





Bay Girl's flymask is offline for repairs (fixing some tears), something which she is quite pleased about. She's tolerant but not particularly thrilled with its daily application, so she is not complaining about a break from it!

How Fragile It All Is

It has been quite a long while since I have been able to work with Bay Girl, and I've been a bit worried about her returning to a semi-wild state because of it. The Red Pest makes it literally impossible to do anything with her - he is constantly on top of me whenever I'm around her, and anytime I make an aggressive move towards him to chase him off, it scares her to death. Unfortunately, not working with her is doing about the same level of damage as working with her with a Red Pest floating around had been - she no longer waits for me at the gate at the end of the day, and on Monday even had a moment of regression into uncatchable-ness.

Every day at breakfast, I put on Bay Girl's flymask before she gets her flake of alfalfa (the broodies live out with a roundbale and get supplemental alfalfa, according to the feeding standards at the place where I work). Up until now, this had never been a problem, but on Monday I unfortunately had the mask on inside-out when I went to first put it on. I also, very unfortunately, poked her in the eye with it as I went to put it on. Most horses react with a short of "ahh, ouch" whenever something like this happens, but they quickly get over it and move on with their lives. Bay Girl, suspicious as she is, react with more of an "AHH, DEAR GOD HELP ME!" and threw her head into the air in a panic. I managed to get the mask back off, and back on again... only to realize that, once again, it was still inside out. I took it off for a second time, and Bay Girl decided that she had had enough. She turned tail and left, and didn't want to be caught again. Instead of worrying her further, I simply turned around and left as well, leaving her to wait at the gate for her alfalfa and a second attempt at trying to rectify what was quickly turning into a flymask fiasco. After about 10 minutes, I came back for another try, and managed to catch her and put her flymask on with quite a lot less fuss, but when I tried to offer a handful of her alfalfa to her afterwards as a peace offering, she refused to take it. Historically, when she refuses any sort of food that I know she normally likes and will eat, it means she is sending me a clear message: "I don't trust you right now."

Things got even worse when I went to catch and halter her to bring her in for the farrier in the late afternoon. Once again, she turned and walked away from me like she didn't want to be caught. This only lasted for a few seconds, and she stopped and let me catch no problem afterwards, but it made my heart sink nonetheless. It felt like a very enormous step backwards... it is hard to explain to a formerly abused horse that poking her with a flymask was an accident and that you still love her. Someday, she'll understand that if any accidents happen, they aren't deliberate... but for now, still in her fragile state, she can't separate the two.

I seem to have regained her trust with many cookies, pets, and scratches over the past two days. She is once again following me around like a little puppy dog, but I feel strongly that she really needs to be worked with on a very consistent basis if I want to really keep her from going backwards while the colt is still at foot. I just don't know quite how I am going to do that without needing to scold him and scaring her in the process. Perhaps I can find a way to lock him up inside his creep feeder....




God, she just looks like CRAP. My boss and I were discussing the other day how she still had an enormous potbelly and no topline and ribs showing... she shouldn't still be looking like this four months postpartum. I am definitely a bit worried about it, and not sure of what to do - or what I can do when she isn't mine.

Bay Girl. vs. Flymask...

...... flymask wins!!






Poor Bay Girl. I introduced her today to the torturous flymask, something I'm 100% she has never had to deal with before. Now that summer is in full swing (no, really...), the flies have become unbearable, and I wanted to give the poor girl a little bit of relief from the neverending swarm. She is pretty sensitive to bug bites, and has a number of little welts all over her. A good spritz with the flyspray was no cause for concern, but the flymask? Would she let me get it on?

Barely, but we did it. I rubbed her casually all over with the mask, letting her sniff and get accustomed to the idea of the weird meshy thing before attempting to rub it on her face. She didn't seem to mind much, pulling away a little when it touched her forehead, but she soon relaxed into it. When it got onto her forehead, she pulled back, alarmed and unsure of what was about to happen. I couldn't reach out to her while she was scooting around at the end of her lead rope with the flymask half on, so I had to just talk quietly to her and let her think it out. This has worked well for her in the past, and this time was no exception. Bay Girl's consistent response to anything she is unsure about is to skitter around at the end of her rope until she realizes that whatever she is concerned about is not going to eat her, and then she stops and thinks about it. This time was no exception, and after a moment, she stopped and waited for me to help. When she stopped snorting and flailing, I was able to talk gently to her and pull the flymask up onto her ears and attach the velcro. After that, she was fine.

Following her dinner, I was watching her mill around for awhile, and I became a little concerned when she started doing the flehmen response repeatedly (AKA the stinky smile). Since horses tend to do that when they are a bit colicky, I was pretty worried, but decided instead to try taking off her new-smelling flymask and see if that was the problem. Sure enough, she stopped when the flymask came off... maybe it really did just smell weird. She was not amused with the removal of the flymask either (oh god, it's touching my ears!), so we will see how she does tomorrow with the mask.

I was also able to do a better hack job on her mane than the previous hack job that I had done. Poor thing was sporting a horrible bowl cut... I had to do something!




It's not great, but it is better than it was! She's looking rough right now... no topline, saggy mom belly, somewhat empty demeanor. I'm not sure she really enjoys her mom job all that much... it's taking a lot out of her to keep that colt fat and well-fed.

After me walking in repeatedly to check on her after I took off the flymask, I think she was a bit tired of me at the end of the day! On my final check, she moved away a few steps like, "please just let me take a nap! I'm fine!" All was forgiven with a good scratch and a facerub though. Sweet girl.

Donations have now reached up to $468.20!!!!!! That is almost halfway there!!!!! :D