Ramping Up Into January

I'm pleased with how January is going so far. I've been really trying to make sure I stick to a schedule with all the animals, and get all of their planned things done during the week. At the holidays, I often fall waaaaaaaaaay behind on getting everyone worked and done, and that happened this year as well - everyone has a couple of weeks off while I scrambled around trying to get everything sorted for Christmas. Now that we're back into the thick of things, I'm getting everything I need to get done actually done! This update will cover the non-riding critters, as they were the ones who got worked yesterday and today. 

The old ladies got groomed yesterday - it was the first time in about a week that they've been out from under their blankets. It's been cold and rainy and gross here for ages, and it's supposed to tank again tonight, but for the past two days the mares have been able to be nekkid. Pmare is turning 20 this year, and I think she looks pretty great for still nursing a giant 8.5 month old AND only eating hay. 

Speaking of the 8.5 month old:

Spooking at the neighbor's horses. Cameo by Dylan in the background

I measured her today and she is 13.2 at the wither. She just seems so HUGE all of a sudden. When did she get so huge??

Not scary

Also not scary

Lendri and Uma both got worked with today as well - Lendri gets the gold star for the day. She has been extremely skittish and standoffish, but now is starting to get friendlier. Today I was able to catch her easily, groom her, and even pick up all four feet. The last time I worked with her, she would leap away when you'd go to touch her legs, so this is a huge improvement. I don't know if she knew how to pick her feet up before - seems like maybe she did - but either way she is clearly getting more comfortable with me and is responding well to handling. She also leads well, which is super, because Zuul is *not* leading well at the moment - so at least one of them is. 

I'm really unhappy to report that Zuul seems to have a particularly bad habit - he bolts when leading. If I had to guess, I'd say this is probably the reason he was dumped at the auction barn. He leads fine in his pen, and he ties fine. BUT, going outside of his pen, he leads fine for a little while, and then will randomly fold himself in half and just explode off in the other direction. There is no stopping him. He did it in a regular halter, a rope halter, and a halter with a stud chain - nothing stops him. This is a huge issue because he clearly knows what he is doing, and knows that if he just runs as hard as he can, he'll get away. He doesn't seem to care that he'll then run around with a lead rope and chain still attached, stepping on the lead rope and shanking himself in the face over and over. What a bummer... he was doing so well too. I was admittedly wondering if something was going to come up somewhere - there had to be SOME reason he was dumped - but I was so glad that nothing of the sort had happened so far. Well... now we really do have a major problem. I *may* be able to get him so that he can lead safely, but I don't honestly know that he'll ever be trustworthy again. Apparently, according to my sources, this is a really common thing for zebras and their hybrids to do, and even the tamest ones will try it. Ah well.... we'll do what we can. I have a Be Nice halter ordered, and we have some ideas for training - but if anyone has any other ideas, please feel free to share them. Remember that zonkeys are not horses, and they don't respond to the typical stuff that horses respond to. 

But he's so cute even though he's a little monster

I tried that halter on Pax today too - it's way too big for her but it won't be for much longer. It only just fits Zuul - it's a yearling size halter. Considering the fact that he's only maybe 11 hands, and she's nearly 14 hands, I find that adorably funny. 

Halter Time

Zuul learns to halter:

Sorry you get to look at my giant butt in that video. Apparently I didn't think about the fact that wearing saggy clothes + pointing my camera right at my ass = not terribly flattering. And I don't mean Zuul when I mean my ass.


He did less well yesterday than he did two days ago, but did better again today. Yesterday, I think I just moved a little too fast into the lesson, trying to pick up right where I was the day before... he didn't want to have anything to do with that, and scooted off. I got the cold shoulder for a little while, and then he let me put the halter on - but he wasn't really into it. Today he was better - he approached me and we interacted for awhile, and then I approached him. He stood still and let me walk up to him, though he gave me the strong side-eye, and while he was a little nervous he did stand still and let me put the halter on. Once it was on, we moved around the pen, him following me of his own volition. I definitely feel like today ended on a much better note than yesterday did, though I can't say he was *quite* as amiable as he was two days ago. He is still HIGHLY suspicious of my motives - so I am careful not to give him any reason to be concerned. But the fact that he let me walk up to him today and he stayed where he was - that's a big deal.

This is tedious, where are the snacks

On Zonkeys

To say I know all that much about zebra hybrids is just a laughable joke, but I do know a few things that I'd like to share with you before we get started on this journey.

A zebra is a wild animal. They can be mean, they can be aggressive, and they can jump out of any fence you put them behind. You can tame them down with a lot of work - if you take them from their mothers and bottle feed them is your best shot, as I understand it - but basically it boils down to the fact that this is a wild thing who, unlike horses, has not had countless generations of domestication behind it. Yes, a feral horse will act just as wild and crazy as anything.... but it would be similar to trying to tame a feral dog versus trying to tame a feral wolf. They're just not the same. People own them, and ride them, and do stuff with them, but I think it all boils down to this: these are NOT pets. And I don't know why anyone would want to keep them as pets. I think it's nuts.

A zebra hybrid is obviously half a zebra, so it has half a wild thing in it. If you cross it out with a horse or a donkey, it will take on some of the traits of the thing you crossed it with, so you will get a bit of both behaviors. Just because you crossed it out with something domestic doesn't mean that now you'll have a sweet and cuddly tame beginner-friendly creature. So if you're ever thinking "aww, it's so cute! Those stripes!," I totally agree with you, but I can't say I'd suggest going out and getting yourself one. Unless of course, you're a crazy person and a horrible bleeding heart like I am who decided to give it a shot for some reason. This zonk was pulled out of pen and gifted to me by a client - and that's why I have him. Not because I thought he was cute or adorable or interesting or whatnot, not because I went out and looked for a zebroid, but because I was presented with the opportunity, I considered it, I understood what kind of challenges I was up against, and I was willing to give it a shot anyway. 

These guys are super hard to work with. And I fully expect this to be a serious challenge. A fun, rewarding, exciting challenge, but a challenge nonetheless. And I may not be successful in making him into anything useful, or it may take me AGES to do it. But I'm going to give it my best shot. 

So far, in the four days that I have had him, I've gotten my zonk to tie, lead a little bit, be petted on both sides of his neck, take hay out of my hand, and then actually approach me to take cookies. (Caveat: I am not a regular treat-giver. I think it makes horses annoying and spoiled. But, I think with my zonk not having any positive associaton with humans whatsoever, associating human interaction with delicious snacks will change his attitude about it.) He is extremely smart, like I figured he would be - he thrashed for a minute when first tied, and then quit and stood still. I've found for these more-or-less feral longears that it seems to work better if you teach them to tie *before* you teach them to lead - then they figure out the idea of yielding to pressure of their own accord, and unlike a horse they won't thrash until they break their necks. They don't panic - they stop and figure it out. But they are quick as lightning and sometimes they will do something that surprises you, so you still need to use caution. I got jumped on by a standard jack this spring and he really hurt me - out of nowhere he just launched himself right onto me, landing in the middle of my back, He gave no warning, other than the fact that we knew we were taking on a potential risk by restraining him to work on his (extremely long and needing hacksawing) feet. I have a healthy respect for these guys and the things they can do if they feel cornered. 

I got him to eat some hay out of my hand yesterday for the first time, and today I upped the ante and introduced cookies, which he took from my hand. I also left a few carrots in a bucket for him the other night, hoping he would try them and decide they are tasty after all. Now that I have found something he likes to eat, I think I will make decent progress with him. I'm not all that big on handfeeding, but I think it will help create a positive association with me. He does seem to already recognize that I am the food lady (he is just eating hay), and is getting increasingly pleased to see me when I am going about filling his haybag. 

But he is sloooooooooow about things. Like, take a wild donkey and double the time that takes kind of slow. I stood there on Thursday morning holding a big bite of hay out to him before I gave him his breakfast hay, and it literally took him at least 10 minutes of just standing with his nose about an inch away from the hay to actually take it from me. 

He is now letting me walk around him without losing his mind and tearing off, which is a huge improvement. I can step in and pet him too, although he doesn't like it much. Today all I did was just feed him cookies, which definitely improved his attitude. With the help of the cookies, he actually came up to me of his own accord for the first time. Like I said before, I'm not a treat-er, but I think that he will have an easier time linking positive feelings to me if there is something he likes involved. Longears like to know what's in it for them - they want to know why they should bother doing something. If there's something pleasant involved, they're more willing to try it. They don't do so well with the pressure on/pressure off system that works well with most horses . Or at least, that has been my observation with them. With longears, you kind of have to throw away the Horse Training 101 manual. It's just a whole different thing!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmcookies. This felt like a victory - having him actually turn and look at me like I was interesting, and actually coming towards me of his own accord to take the cookies. 

I was thinking I should make him his own Facebook page to post daily little updates in blippets, seeing as there probably won't be any huge exciting updates ever beyond "day X... petted him." I quite imagine he'll take a long time. What do you think?

In Which B2 Drives O

Since O has been driving, no one but me has handled the reins for the most part. G did drive her a little bit during the lesson I took with him, but it wasn't much, and I was in the vehicle too. That all changed this past weekend when I let someone new handle the reins!

B2 (since there is already a B, who was my navigator at Sunrise Ridge - so now we have a B1 and a B2!), is a local and longtime blog reader (since way back during the Gogo epoch). We've only just synched up recently after years of back and forth saying that we would, and she's been over twice now to play with the beasts. The first time, I took her driving up the road, and let her handle the reins a bit while we were under way. Driving O up the road is pretty easy though, you just sit there and do nothing while she powers along for as long as you want. You could almost take a nap when driving her up the road, she does it all by herself.
The second time she came to drive was this past weekend. It was a scheduled cones/obstacles day on my calendar, so we headed into the front pasture to work. We have lots of trees and terrain, so it's a good area for practicing obstacle work. We drove together for a little while, weaving around trees and discussing the work. Then I hopped out of the cart and told her to go off and do it on her own!

Up the hill and through the cones!

B2 had that look on her face like, "I've heard the stories about this mare.... am I going to die today?" but it soon dissolved into a grin. The grin kept growing and growing as she took O around and around, weaving between trees and going back and forth through the cones I had set for her. O is a bit like drivjng Gumby to the left, and like driving a 2x4 to the right, so I had B2 work primarily on that, aided with the help of the cones and trees. 

By the end of it she was raving about how easy O is to drive. And she's right - she really is easy, and FUN! She's just *good* at driving, she understands it and she always goes right to work. (Well, except for the times when she doesn't.... but there's always a reason for it.) She has a buttermouth, takes a very nice and light contact, and just goes along nice as you please. She's ready to have some real impulsion added to her work now, seeing as she likes to spend most of her time plodding along nice and easy - I'll have to be very careful how I add that in though!

Both B1 and B2 came off their rides in the box seat going, "now WE want to drive!" Muhahah... slowly conquoring the world....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's been absolutely blazing hot these past few days, so O had a couple days off while I alternated between working and hiding indoors in the AC. Yesterday morning, I got up very early to make I could have everyone worked before it got too hot - this included a leading lesson with Pax, lunging O in the Fauxssoa, and lunging P. Approvals are in early September, and P is looking mighty saggy these days. She's relatively sound right now, and her gut is hanging down to the floor, so I decided I needed to do a little something about it. She can't do much, but maybe we can at least pretend to put a little topline on her and shave some of the sagginess down. To top it off, she likes to stand right out in the blazing sun all day and sweat. Sweat + Texas sun = sunbleaching. I fight it the best I can, but there's not a lot I can do about it aside from wash the crust off her and encourage her to go roll in the dirt to put a protective layer on. Ugh!

Pax was a holy terror yesterday leading, for no particular reason. She just felt like bolting and dragging the human was a fun option, and when she got stopped it made her mad, so she reared and reared to show her annoyance. Rearing is her go-to for pretty much everything. She's not afraid of anything (except maybe the lawnmower, she's not sure about that thing), and whenever confronted with something in her way, she rears at it. For instance, when lunging her mother, she likes to charge at the lunge line and rear at it. Or, when she stops in the middle and I swing the line up over her head, she rears at it then too. Not that I'm recommending lunging your horses with a loose baby around, I'm not going to say it's terribly safe, but when you gotta lunge mommy then baby's gonna come along for the ride. 

She wore herself out within short order, and then she led like a little sweaty puppydog. I took her out of the pasture for the first time ever, by herself, and gave her a nice bath. She's gotten really quite good about her baths, maybe even to the point of liking them somewhat - she at least thinks that playing with the water is very fun. 

After that, I lunged O in the Fauxssoa, and she was lovely as usual. Following this, I bathed and turned her back out, then grabbed P and a lunge whip. I never need a whip for O, but I think I wouldn't be able to physically keep P going without a whip - especially with how saggy she is right now. 

Two for one special deal

And, Pax got a new halter! She needs to grow into it still, but what do you think about the color? It's kind of an orchid color, not really your typical purple... I love it.

Two purples, one filly

Bit of a boring update really, but that's how horses are most of the time - steady on, steady on!

Some Pax videos!

I am seriously, seriously sick of the rain. The barn property is literally underwater today - like, a 6" river is where the driveway used to be. I am therefore at home relaxing instead of with my beasts. We've been having severe weather EVER SINGLE DAY, and have had more rain this spring than I can ever remember at one time since I moved here. Thanks El Nino!

I know I was bragging on what a good baby Pax has turned out to be, but don't be fooled - that doesn't mean she is a perfectly compliant baby. As you can see, she likes to throw tantrums about stuff she doesn't want to do, such as learning how to lead in little circles around mom instead of follow right behind her. 

IT'S HARD DON'T WANNA

She threw several big tantrums about it (even though she has done it before, several times, without fuss), but once she tired herself out a little, she was a good baby who walked right along. 

Once the rearing game didn't free her from her predicament, she went, "oh well ok I guess we're walking now," and walked along nicely. Lesson finished for the day! She is a funny kid, when you take her halter off and let her go, she stays with you as long as you are still in the stall, but once you leave she goes right to mom. Instead of nursing and thinking it over like most babies, she rears up and pummels mom on the back with her front feet, or turns around and kicks mom repeatedly in the guts - like mom is her personal punching bag, and she has to take it out on her while she thinks things over. I can't believe that P of all horses is putting up with this. She just lets Pax kick her in the guts over and over, without care. I have a feeling that as Pax gets over, P is going to get *really* tired of this nonsense though. She'll only be little for so long!

Obviously this is why we start them early with kindergarden lessons. 5-10 minutes of this stuff a day helps cement the fact that "this is just what we do, this is part of life" into their malleable little brains. Keep it short and sweet, end on a good note, and you have a good citizen on your hands when they get a little bigger. Since Pax has made it pretty clear that she is a tough little booger, it is that much more important to me to start work on this right now. If I were to wait, she would not only be impossibly hard, but impossibly hard and huge. And that would just suck.

Speaking of videos, I have two more! These are from when she was 9 days old and in turnout. You'll hear her screaming for O, and O screaming right back. (O was back in the barn repeatedly ramming herself into the wall. Mares...) They'll all go out together at the new house. 

Pardon my witch cackling - but there are few funnier things than to watch baby horses running. Legs everywhere!

She really is a good baby. She is friendly and interactive, and while she is a huge fit-pitcher and drama queen, she is going to be a really nice youngster. 

Feisty Redheads!

Oh my. I think I have a wild one on my hands. At 1 day old, my little rodeo bronc already bucks, rears, strikes, kicks, and throws herself on the ground when she doesn't want to be handled! 

But, that's what babies do. And redheads, especially. And redheaded fillies especially especially! She will learn soon enough.

More up in her pasterns today, they'll be good and strong soon!

No touchey my face!

She had the walleyed Mare Glare down pat and she's only a day old!

Special naughty filly trick - don't like your butt scratched? Just sit down!

Not sure what had P's attention, but she had it in full!

I can't believe she didn't inherit the family jughead!

She did, however, inherit the giant family ears!

O wants to steal this baby! She must think that it's hers, it looks like it should be hers anyway!

Already in the puddles! We've been totally flooded for days!

Cut her head off, but she definitely has found her sea legs!

She is CUTE CUTE CUTE though, despite her extreme redheadedness. We're still brooding on a name, any suggestions? Has to start with a D and can't be something generic/stupid/cliched/boring!

She and P both got an A+ from the vet today. Baby's IgG was well over 800 - not surprising given how late P got her milk in and how quickly baby latched (and promptly started sucking the life out of momma!). P has a minor bit of tearing but it's pretty minimal, and not surprising give how giant this filly was. 

Now if it would only stop raining...! The first Games Day of the year is on Sunday. Given the fact that the horses have been heavily stalled as of late due to all the weather, and O hasn't been worked in about 2 weeks... ehhhh what could go wrong!

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...

A Very Big Day

Can you spot what is missing in this picture?



Look closer!




That's right, Bay Girl's catch halter is OFF! (Hopefully for good!)

This is a very big step for both of us. The catch halter is my security blanket, and I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about doing things without it. If it goes poorly, it will of course go back on for a little while, but hopefully we won't need it anymore. It wasn't all that long ago that I couldn't even catch and halter her while she was in a stall, after all! She has been great about being haltered and having her face handled, so hopefully the progression continues!

This is a HUGE DAY for both of us!!

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.