The Progress Continues

Natty is such a smart girl! So long as I move slowly and let her know what I want, she’s really quick to learn. I can now touch her front legs and hooves without her picking them up, and we went back in the arena today. She is still nervous in there, but she is mostly under control and doesn’t hesitate to go in. I continue to be happy with our progress in the 6 weeks she has been with me. That’s really all the update I have today – mostly we’re practicing things she already knows and pushing the boundaries on things – like touching the hooves without lifting the feet, and brushing the face. Oh, I also wiped a sponge with some fly spray on her today. She didn’t mind a bit, and in typically helpful fashion, she had her face right there when I sprayed the sponge so I really don’t believe that she’s afraid of the spray. Silly girl just likes to act up sometimes! I had a leather halter sitting in my tack trunk that I never used because it was too big for my old mare, but I tried it on Natty today and it fit her! I need to oil it up because it’s a little stiff, but I think I’ll start using it, at least in the pasture. I like the design of her other halter if we’re going out and about because it gives me a little more control, but if we’re just standing in the pasture for grooming, the leather one will be nice. In other exciting news, Natty’s dream video will be going on the stable’s website soon! They are re-doing the site, so I sent a link to the video, and they loved it. She’ll be famous in no time, my beautiful girl! She already has many admirers at the stable. Here she is in her new halter:

Breakthrough!

Well, shamelessly using poor old Miss Key paid off in a big way today. Natty let me use the brush, the rubber curry, and the mane comb today! And she topped that off by eating 2 carrots! I think tomorrow I might tie up Key and moisturize her feet just to see what Natty thinks… For today I’m thrilled at the progress we made with the grooming tools. She’s far from clean, but she was very tolerant. And then after she ate her grain and carrots, she got down and rolled right in front of me again. She was a sweet girl today, and I was very happy with her behavior.

On a slightly more disturbing note, the woman who owns the annoying little Arabs that get turned out in the pasture showed up today, and she’s apparently terrified of Natty (and possibly also of Vinny, the other turnout horse). I saw her outside the fence trying to coax her horse to the gate while I was working with Natty in the far end of the pasture, but she wouldn’t actually open the gate and walk into the pasture. Then I went to get Natty’s grain bucket, and on my way back out, she said, “Is that your horse? Isn’t she wild?” I just thought, well, sorta kinda, but not in the way that you should be afraid of her. She’s not nearly as aggressive as those little Arabs under normal circumstances. At any rate, I told the lady she wasn’t really wild, just untrained, and the lady did run into the pasture really quickly and try unsuccessfully to fly-spray her horse while I had Natty distracted with the grain bucket. People are so funny sometimes. Lois told me that lady wants her ponies turned out in that particular pasture, and I guess it’s more important where they are than that she feels comfortable going in to get them. I don’t get it. Anyway, here are today’s pictures: Natty with her big old droopy belly, and her friend Key, the best role model a horse could have! I don’t know why the pictures aren’t showing up in the post today, but you can click on the titles to view them.

New stuff lately

Yesterday Natty and I made our first trek to the indoor arena, which means her first time inside the main barn. She did pretty well – she was really curious about everything. She was sniffing the ground, probably smelling the other horses, and then she looked over the mounting block very carefully. She walked well on the lead until we got about 3/4 of the way around, and then she stopped turning and tried to walk us straight into the wall. I had to make her stop, back up, turn some more and keep walking (twice) and then we got back on track. Getting out and getting the gate shut behind us was a little tricky because she is getting good about walking through open gates, but that means she kept trying to walk back in when I got close enough to reach out and pull the gate closed. Only took 2 tries to get it done, though!

Today I brought out a bucketful of grooming tools and moisturizers. I set down the bucket to have both hands free for haltering Natty, and right away she and Key went over and took everything out of the bucket in the search for grain. They were pretty disappointed not to find any! I gave Natty a pretty good once-over with the shedding blade, which she is really pretty good about now. I put conditioner all through her mane, and I was hoping to be able to comb it a little since she has a nasty mat in it, but she ran out of patience before I got to that. I also tried to put some Hoofmaker on her front hoof because it’s starting to crack, but that didn’t go so well. Turns out, it’s totally ok for me to ask her for the foot and even to hold it when she lifts it, but it is absolutely NOT OK to touch the front of her hoof while it’s still on the ground. Note to self – work on touching the fronts of her legs starting tomorrow! For now, I’ll just get the Hoofmaker in my hand and then ask for the hoof and smear it on real quick while I’m holding her hoof. Natty was pretty cranky today, so I only moisturized one hoof and then ended our lesson.

While I was feeding her grain, three idiot horses who live in the barn and get turned out in the pasture managed to knock the gate down. Luckily, it just fell straight over, and none of them were brave enough to step over it to get out. Silly horses.

I’ve been shamelessly using Natty’s friend Key… I’ve been giving her carrots in front of Natty. Key loves them and nickers at me when she sees one, and Natty stands there and watches her eat and sniffs her breath while she chews. Today Natty actually mouthed a piece for a minute! Someday soon I think she’ll be brave enough to eat a piece. I also used my curry comb on Key today, and Natty watched with great fascination. She doesn’t put up with anything but the shedding blade so far, so I am hoping she’ll learn from watching Key that there are other, better grooming tools out there. Unfortunately, Key’s lameness turned out to be a tendon injury, so she has to go on stall rest for awhile. Poor Key, and poor Natty, who will miss her dearly! They are so cute – they were licking the salt block nose to nose today, and it was really precious. I wish I had my camera with me. Maybe they’ll do it again tomorrow. I think that’s all my updates for now. I have to take all my finals in the next week, so don’t worry if you don’t get any updates!

Finally seeing some spunk!

Natty’s friend and pasture mate came inside for a hoof trim this afternoon, and boy was Natty fired up about it! This is the most activity I’ve seen from her yet – the first time she’s moved faster than a trot and the first bucking. And she kept calling for Key the whole time she was inside. Poor baby did not want to be separated, and she let us hear about it! It’s so neat to see her kick up her heels. (Un?)Fortunately Key has a lead on new home as a backyard pet, so Natty may have to make new friends. Soon she and the other 2 pregnant mares will be out together so the foals can play together, and I think she’ll enjoy that.

Walking through the barn again

Well, Natty and I have worked past her fear of the barn to the extent that we can walk though it again without any trouble. This is good – it means we’re back where we were a week ago, which is better than this past week. I wasn’t sure what to expect today because I stopped at the main barn to watch somebody get his teeth done (boy, times have changed since I saw this procedure last), and Lois (stable owner) told me Natty was upset this morning, probably because her pasture mate is injured. Plus, it was still a little windy, so I didn’t know how much I’d be able to accomplish. Natty’s a trooper, though. She worked really well today, including lots of practice on the behaviors she already knows plus a walk through the foaling barn. This is the first time we’ve gone back inside since her blow-out last week, and she took it pretty well. We did have to stop on the driveway so she could think about it and snort a little, but then she continued on and went inside. Oh, and she didn’t drag me back to the pasture at warp speed, either, and that’s always good! By the time we got back to the gate, her poor pasture mate had hobbled up from the far end of the pasture. It turns out the poor 26-year-old mare was abandoned last year, and the stable owner just doesn’t have the heart to do anything but keep taking care of her (feeding, worming, hoof trims, etc. all being done, plus the little girl up the hill comes down to play with her and groom her once a week). Yesterday Miss Key was limping but had no visible signs of injury, but today she was limping much worse and was swollen from the knee down on one of her front legs. Poor baby! Hopefully the vets got her patched up today and she’ll be on the mend. She and Natty get along really well – Natty even lets Key stick her nose in the grain bucket and steal mouthfuls. Now that I know she’s abandoned, I probably won’t bother to push her back anymore! And as long as I’m out there, I might as well give her a little attention too! This is the first horse they’ve turned out with Natty that we both like, so I sure hope she’s ok.

I got out the big blanket again today after Natty was safely back in the pasture, and this time I also got out my camera, all set to video the fireworks. (UN?)Fortunately, there were none. She wasn’t exactly calm about it, but she just looked and sniffed a little. I didn’t try to put it on her or anything. Maybe next time.

This picture was taken today. The vet said she sure is looking pregnant, which I took to mean very very fat. Compare this with the picture on Paige’s Page (there’s a link) – I’m hoping my girl will slim down and look as pretty as her sister after this foal!

Trust? Yes, we have that in spades.

Five weeks ago I couldn’t even touch Natty’s shoulder. Today she nickered repeatedly as she came across the pasture to greet me. She walked right up to me, and I noticed she had a huge nasty goober across her right eye. She stood in the middle of the pasture, no halter, no lead rope, no nothing, and let me pry her eyelid open and try to get the goober out. She didn’t even raise her head so that I couldn’t reach her eye, which she can quite easily do. Nor did she back away or hightail it out of there. That sweet, trusting girl allowed me to do this with no qualms. Sometimes it seems like the list of things to work on gets longer every day, but then something like this happens and I realize how far we have come in so short a time. It’s pretty humbling to know she trusts me this much already.

Baby Steps Toward Overcoming the Boogie Blanket

I know that Natty thinks her great big blanket is terrifying, but I also know that she doesn’t mind a saddle on her back at all. So, I started thinking about the differences between the two and how they could help me work through this fear. And I decided I’d take my little foal blanket out and see how she liked that. It’s not much bigger than a saddle, and there isn’t so much fabric to rustle in the wind as the other one, so I thought it might work better. I’ve taken it out twice now – the first day I just held it and let her sniff it. Today I completely unfolded it and let her sniff carefully through the gate. Then, while she was eating, I gently rubbed it on her neck (I usually rub her neck with my hand while she eats her grain anyway, so she’s used to being bothered). After she finished her grain, I rubbed it on her neck and shoulder some more with no response from her, so I put it on her. She didn’t seem to mind (or at least didn’t take off or have a meltdown or anything). I put it on 3 times and tugged it around a little each time. This one is a size 36, so figure we’re almost half-way to a real blanket now!

Sorry the pictures aren’t great – it’s really hard to get far enough away from her to get a decent picture of the whole horse!

Of course, Natty’s still in a mood, so to make up for behaving with the blanket, she had to pull some other stunts. After the blanketing, I set it in her empty feed bucket so it would be out of the way while we worked on other stuff. Naturally, she had to go over and check the bucket again, so she was nosing around the blanket and finally managed to pull it out of the blanket (no fear here!). I picked it up and hung it on the gate so she could play in the bucket without getting the blanket dirty – and all the sudden the thing was terrifying again. Go figure. She did get brave enough to walk up and snuffle it, but only so long as I was standing there with her. Oh, and then she decided she’s afraid of fly spray today. I totally don’t believe this since she’s never minded it before. Silly horse! Is it still the weather or is it hormones kicking into high gear?

Fraidy Horse

Well, I tried to be nice and take Natty a blanket tonight, but big girl tells me she’s terrified of the things! She almost wouldn’t come get her grain because she’d have to walk past the blanket where I draped it over the gate. She was trotting around all spooked for awhile, and it was absolutely gorgeous! This is the first time I’ve really seen her trot around, since she’s pretty fat and lazy, and it was lovely. She is a really high-stepping girl with with the most amazing strong, arched neck. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera then, and she had calmed down some by the time I ran to the car and got it, but you can see in this video the circuitous route she’s taking to approach me (and the grain bucket). To finally get past the scary blanket, she waited until the 26-year-old mare wearing a blanket got up even with the blanket draped on the gate, then Natty bolted past on the far side of the other mare. Pretty funny, but the video on that one didn’t come out so well. Also included is a still shot of her eying me warily as I carried the blanket back to the car. You ‘ll be glad to know she did get brave enough to come up and snuffle it in my arms a few times, and she ate 2 pocketfuls of alfalfa cubes from my hand while I was holding it. Although she was still very hesitant- she bolted back and circled around me a few times and did the locked-front-legs leaning and ready to jump backward move several times, too. Maybe by tomorrow she’ll be cold enough and mellow enough to let me put it on her. Oh, and it wasn’t just the blanket tonight – I think the wind had her spooked and she was just reacting to anything – first she was all spooked by somebody trail-riding outside the pasture, and it wasn’t until that horse and rider were out of site that she decided she was scared of the blanket. Silly girl, but at least I know she’ll be spooky in the wind.

Winter’s Coming Back Tonight

Now that Natty has been shedding for a couple of weeks, the weather is turning – we’re expecting a huge, powerful arctic air front, temperatures near freezing, a rain/snow/hail mix, and it’s already windy. Oh, and we’re expecting record low high temperatures again, maybe through Tuesday. I’m seriously considering getting Natty a blanket, and least a waterproof one. I just don’t know if I’d be able to get it on her. Probably I would. But we’re still recovering from the stall fiasco. Yesterday she threw her head up when I tried to halter her again, but she didn’t move away from me so I was able to get the halter on first try. I was going to lead her through the foaling barn again without stopping, but we got about halfway across the pasture, heading for the gate closest to the foaling barn, and she decided she wasn’t going. She just stopped and wouldn’t walk anymore. As long as she was standing still, I started working on lifting her back feet. I ran my hand over her rump and partway down her leg and gave the verbal command “foot” and gently touched her lower leg with my toe (toe rather than hand because I didn’t really want to give her the opportunity to kick me right in the head). At first, I rewarded her if she just cocked her hoof, but after several tries, she was lifting it quickly. We did both sides. The goal now is to slowly get her to hold it longer, then I’ll try running my hand all the way down her leg. I’m pleased with our progress so far, though! Anyway, after practicing the feet for awhile, we turned toward the upper pasture gate, which is closest to the main barn. Natty walked to that one without any hesitation, but it took some prodding on my part to get her out the gate. Of course, just after I shut it again and started to lead her down the side of the pasture toward the foaling barn, somebody in the  main barn decided to kick. Natty pretended to spook (I didn’t buy it) but only went about one stride before stopping, so i didn’t even lose the lead rope. After that, she settled down enough that we were able to walk down the outside of the  pasture to the gate closest to the foaling barn and then back into the pasture. I won’t try to do anything with her this weekend because of the wind, but maybe next week we’ll try walking through the barn again. In the meantime, we’ll just try to keep warm!

Three steps back today

Well, Natty still wasn’t quite over her hissy fit today. She didn’t walk up to me when I got to the pasture. Instead, she made me wade through ankle-deep flooded part of the pasture to get to her. She let me walk up to her, but she didn’t follow me when I turned around to head out of the marsh (she usually follows me everywhere). I had to go a step at a time, treating every step, to get her to come out. The first 2 times I tried to put her halter on, she jerked her head up and moved away from me, which she hasn’t done since the very beginning. Third time was the charm, though. Once out of the marsh, she followed a little better. She did bolt off a couple of times to run off one of the other mares, but she came back each time. Once she came back with her ears still pinned, which made me a little nervous, but she was perfectly gentle – I think the other mare was just still too close for comfort. We only worked on the very basics today to try to rebuild Natty’s trust. We did back, get over, foot, come here, and ho. I also groomed her with the shedding blade, which she doesn’t mind. We stayed in the pasture and didn’t try anything stressful. By the end of our training session, she was much better.  She seemed calm and very responsive. We’ll keep plugging away and hopefully we won’t have many fiascos that set us back like this. Poor baby was so upset yesterday!