The Arena!

Today was hot hot hot – about 100 degrees. In my mind, this was the perfect day for Chance’s first bath! The washrack is up in the big barn, so I thought I would take Natty and Chance up there and turn Natty out in the arena. That way she would be close by and able to see everything but safely out of the way. I’ve only taken her into the arena twice before – both times we used the gate straight into the arena from outside the barn, walked once around, and went right back out. Both times, she got a little nervous about three quarters of the way around and tried to walk on top of me. I had forgotten all that, apparently, and thought my plan would work out fine. I took them up to the big barn and we walked in through the front door today. Chance didn’t come inside – he was running around the parking lot screaming, so Natty and I went back out and got him, and the second time he followed us in. We walked down the aisle and used the gate from the aisle into the arena with no trouble whatsoever. Natty’s leading has improved by leaps and bounds since Chance was born – it’s really amazing. Anyway, I turned them loose and went to fill up my shampoo bucket. Chance started whinnying, and a whole bunch of horses whinnied back to him – it was neat. Everybody was inside today because it’s cooler in the barn than outside, so the place was packed. Of course, all the whinnying got Natty very excited, and I quickly realized she wasn’t going to calm down enough to let me take Chance out of the arena and give him a bath. Oh well, at least they both got a little more exposure to the arena. I got some short videos at the beginning, and after Natty got in trouble for reaching over the wall and grabbing a whole bale of alfalfa off the Gator, I worked with them a little. Somebody had left out some poles, so I led Natty over the poles a bunch of times. She doesn’t mind at all – one sniff at the first one, and she was fine. Chance wouldn’t cross them, so he did a lot of bucking and darting around them. Silly boy. At least he saw something new today. I’m going to try to expose him to as many things as possible before he’s weaned because Natty is so calm about everything.

And a grooming update for those who have helped with some advice: Natty got a sponge bath today (third time), and she fights less for this, so maybe she does just have really sensitive skin. I’ll keep working on her and find something that works. Soft sponge is ok, tomorrow maybe I’ll try a grooming mitt.

Chance’s second hoof trim

Chance got his second hoof trim this morning. His corners are still rolling under a bit, but I think they just started to do it in the last 3 days. If I see this again before his next trim, I’ll rasp them myself. He was pretty good for the trim, although not excellent. It was easier when he was smaller. The farrier was doing other horses, too, some in each barn, and they thought they would just do Chance while they were in the little barn – Chance had other ideas. They couldn’t catch him. I was very surprised to hear this since he never gives me the least bit of trouble catching him anywhere, and he was in the stall this morning. He was fine for me when I got there – no hesitation whatsoever. I guess I’ll have to start getting other people to come in and work with him, too. If there is an emergency or I can’t be there, he needs to behave for other people. I think I’ll start having a few people he already knows come in and halter him and maybe handle his feet or something. What a little rascal. He’s so cute, though! They tell me Natty was good, too – they said she didn’t do anything while they were in the stall trying to catch Chance. This was good to hear – she gets easier to handle all the time. She only threatened to kick the farrier once after I got there, so really not bad at all! We’ll try it all again in another 3 1/2 weeks, so we’ll see how it goes that time – Chance should be about 80 pounds heavier by then, ack. I’m thinking about having Natty sedated so I can get her trimmed again too. What fun. She’s volunteering her feet now, which really isn’t safe, so I need to work with her on letting me do other things with all her feet on the ground. She thinks I only ever want her feet when I work with her now, so she was lifting them both while I was trying to weight-tape her yesterday because I had one hand on her shoulder while I was reaching under her belly for the tape. Those are big feet to be flying around all over the place! Gotta make sure she knows she needs to wait for me to ask for them before she lifts them. One more thing on my training to-do list.

My friendly girl is back!

I was petting on Natty today when Chance tried to weasel his way in between us, and Natty smacked him down! She turned around, bumped him with her butt, and stamped her foot like she was threatening to kick him. He moved out of the way and she came back to me for more rubbing. I’m glad to see my girl enjoy her attentio

I borrowed a horse for a quick ride again today and took a trail that runs along the pasture fence. When we got to the mares’ pasture, I started talking to Natty, and she whinnied and came right over and walked with us along the fence line. I’m not sure whether she was excited to see me or the mare she used to live with, but I figure the more she sees other horses being ridden, the more natural it will seem for her to be ridden when the time comes. She seemed very interested, if nothing else.

New Pictures

Not much new on the horse front. My babies are the sweetest things ever and both are behaving very well at the moment. Natty is finally acting affectionate again and now lets me hug on her and pet her like she used to before Chance was born. Chance is a little angel. The more I hear about the other foals, the more I realize how lucky I am to have such a good boy. He’s incredibly friendly and stands perfectly still for anything – grooming, loves, foot cleaning, whatever – so long as he’s getting attention, he’ll stick around. He doesn’t do the obnoxious baby things like trying to kick or nip or rear up on me. He’s a good one – I think I’ll keep him 😉 I wanted to take pictures of his little hooves yesterday, so I washed them up with a bucket of water and a sponge, but then the grass was too tall to get a decent shot, so I knelt down, asked for his foot, and propped it on my leg to snap the pictures. He was totally fine with all this – didn’t pull his foot away or run me over or anything. What a good boy! Natty is also doing a little better about her feet. And, in a total breakthrough, she ate her first apple yesterday! Woohoo! Here are the pictures from yesterday, including the hoof shots:

Doesn’t he look like a big fellow to still be nursing? He was 11.2 and 285 pounds on Friday.

Here we come, we want attention!

The little foot – sorry it’s kinda blurry

He’s getting his big-boy hair around his muzzle and eyes, and it looks like he’ll have his mama’s beautiful face

These two I took myself – Chance wanted to help hold the camera

Chance’s feet (above)

Natty’s feet (below)

Natty’s feet

Natty never ceases to amaze me. I finally started working on lifting her feet again after a long break since Chance was born, and she has been surprisingly good about it. Yesterday I was going to ask for her foot, so I had my hand on her shoulder and said “foot” before I ran my hand down her leg. Well, she knows the word for sure – she lifted the foot immediately and held it in the proper position for cleaning for a few seconds, then swung it forward and rested it on the edge of her feeder, watching me and waiting for her release signal all the time. She kept her foot on the edge of the feeder until I gave the release (took me a minute because I was so surprised to see what she had done), although she did stamp it a couple of times. Now why won’t she hold still when the farrier tries to get her to put her foot on that stand thingy for trimming? I wish I had one of those so we could practice with it, because I think she’d learn pretty quickly. I went around to the other side (her bad side) and asked for that foot. She picked it up like she’d been doing it all her life, and after I released it she stamp-stamp-stamped that foot! She picked it up with no hesitation, but she was darn sure going to let me know she wasn’t happy about it! I think she has been watching me carefully every day when I clean Chance’s feet and is slowly learning it isn’t painful or scary. Now if only she would figure that out about brushes (she even pins her ears at the brush when I use it on Chance and actually bit it once too). Natty is such a good girl. She wasn’t even haltered for any of this – she could just as easily have walked away and back to the food in her feeder, but she stayed with me and did what I asked even though she hates to have her feet handled. I’m glad she’s getting more and more cooperative again.

Update on Chance: the stable is replacing some of the old fencing on the turn-put where the mares usually go, so they were way out in the back 40 yesterday, and we walked through a different couple of turn-outs to get back to the barn. One of those turn-outs has a stream with no grass growing in it – just running water. Silly baby Chance was afraid to cross it! He has only seen the little creeks that are full of grass. Natty and I were already through the gate and out of the turn-out, and we had to go back and get him. Once we did, he crossed ok, but we’re definitely going to have to work on that. I think I’ll walk him over to the bigger stream today if there aren’t any horses in that turn-out. It is supposed to be warm, so a trip to the creek might be fun.

Chance is 6 weeks old today!

My little boy is growing up so fast! He goes outside every day with the other horses and even grazes some now. He still won’t lie down outside, so by the end of the day he is plum tuckered out. Today he was out for 9 hours, so he was really tired and not looking his best. I tried to get some good 6-week pictures today, but it didn’t work so well. First, I brushed him off really well so he’d look pretty for his pictures, and then I tried to step away to take them. He takes after his mama, because he followed me each time I tried to step away:

My constant companion Sophie the Border Collie thought I was trying to move him and stepped in to help. If only I could teach her to hold him still!

He is the sweetest little thing on 4 legs. He is very easy to halter and lifts his feet like a little champ. He absolutely loves to be brushed, petted, scratched, hugged, etc. and will stand all day for attention. If I stop loving on him, he will ever so gently move a little closer and lean into me to remind me that I’m supposed to be cuddling him (but not in a pushy way at all). He is just a love. He’s also a pretty big boy these days – 261 pounds, 11.1 hands today. I gave him his first dose of wormer – I just waited until he plopped down for a nap, and he took it with no problems. Waiting for him to lie down is key! He gave me fits about trying to give him some yogurt the other day, and we struggled so much Natty got tired of it and took Chance and all the other horses to the very far end of the pasture. Oh well, his diarrhea is better so I guess he got enough yogurt! He are some more of his pictures – keep in mind he was very tired after his long day outside. Mama was also a little tired, apparently.

Hard to catch!?!

Well, Natty must have bonded with her new herd, because she sure doesn’t want to be separated from them. I tried to get her halter on her in the pasture today so I could work on getting her to lift her feet (she’s overdue for a trim and I still can’t lift the back ones at all and didn’t lift the front ones for the first 5 weeks of Chance’s life), but she wouldn’t let me catch her. And yes, I took a treat out with me – didn’t matter at all. And when I tried to give the treat to Bella, Natty must have thought I was going to catch her and take her inside instead. You better believe Natty wasn’t about to let that happen! She promptly herded up both other mares and all the foals and drove the herd straight to the far corner of the pasture. She told me plain that nobody but nobody was going inside tonight! I hadn’t planned on taking her inside at all, but after this I sure was going to make her go in but make the stay brief and pleasant. I had to get out the magic grain bucket, walk to the far end of the pasture outside the fence, lead her back up to the gate by shaking the bucket (yes, the whole herd came too) and then get her to run off the other mares before I could catch her. I did finally catch her and take her inside just long enough to eat her grain and lift her front feet, then I took her right back out again. I hope I don’t keep having this problem – I’d prefer to be able to work with her in the pasture because she’s so much more comfortable out there, but I need to be able to catch her easily no matter who else is out there with her. The good news is my little pipsqueak comes right to me and stands still for everything. We do a daily brushing/ bottom-washing/hoof-cleaning routine with lots of hugs and scratches, and he stands perfectly still for everything. That little guy is so rewarding! I hope he weathers his first night outside ok and gets some rest!

Herd Instinct

Yesterday I opened up the gate between the pastures where Natty and the other mare/foal pairs go outside and let them socialize for awhile. Then, when it was time to go home, I brought Natty and Chance back into their stall and left the other mares outside for the night. Apparently Natty didn’t like being separated from her herd. I put her back out there today – they were both in “her” side, so I turned her loose in “their” side and she immediately went to the gate and into the other side to be with the other horses. This afternoon there was a big windstorm going on – dust blowing everywhere, tree limbs coming down and spooking the horses, the whole nine yards. So when it was time to go, I went out to get Natty and Chance as usual, but Natty wouldn’t have it! I couldn’t catch her, and she turned her butt on me when I went to put Chance’s halter on. Not only that, but she herded the other horses right up to the gate and wouldn’t let them back down into the rest of the pasture. So I gave up on Natty temporarily and took Bella and her filly inside. These two live in the next stall over, and Natty seems to like them quite well, so I figured she would come in if Bella were in. No. I still couldn’t catch her, and she had Estee herded even closer to the gate. I took her inside with her filly. All this time Bella was calling from inside the barn, and Natty and Estee were answering from the pasture, and the wind was blowing like crazy. So then there was just Natty to deal with. I went back out, and there she was waiting at the gate like a perfect angel. She let me halter her no problem, and walked back inside without any trouble. She just didn’t want to be inside without the others tonight, I guess. Silly girl.

Group Turn-Out!

My babies finally got some company today! Bella and her little filly Felicity have been in the stall next door off and on since Chance was born, and they have been in for the last several days. Chance and Bella are now just barely tall enough that they can touch noses over the stall divider, which is the most precious thing I’ve ever seen! When I put Natty and Chance out today, Natty hung out at the gate and wouldn’t go down the hill to graze and play. I figured she was probably lonely because Bella and Estee and foals have always been in the next turn-out over, so I brought them out too. Natty immediately went down the hill and started grazing happily. Then the other group moved to the far end of their pasture, out of sight, and Natty got all fired up. She ran and ran! I got a little bit of video. After she settled back down, I opened the gate between their two turn-outs, and Natty came right down the hill, calling to Bella, and went through to the other side looking for her. Bella came immediately, and Natty let her through the gate onto her side, but when Estee tried to follow, Natty wouldn’t allow it. She tried twice and was denied both times. I guess Bella is allowed because she’s less assertive and Natty is now used to having her close by. The moms grazed, and although the babies didn’t play, they did approach each other a bunch of times. They also both come to me when I go out into the pasture, which is fun. I hope they’ll start playing together tomorrow, because the little filly is quite a runner and that would be good for Chance. Here are today’s pictures and videos:

These horses are getting harder to handle!

The other day I was going to write a post because Natty spooked for the first time while I was leading her. I was happy because it wasn’t so bad – she didn’t even get loose – and now I didn’t have to dread that first incident anymore. Well, today was different. I took both Natty and Chance out of their stall with lead ropes on today since  Chance’s climbing experience freaked me out yesterday. Chance was poking along a step or two at a time, and Natty  was grazing alongside the run as we headed for the pasture. Did I ever mention that the runs are fenced with hotwire? No? I apparently never told Natty either… Natty hit the hotwire somewhere (probably with her nose), and it scared the bejeezus out of her. I am pretty sure she’s never encountered any before. Anyway, she bolted back as best she could straight to the end of the lead rope, and I still had the end and thought for a second I could hold onto her this time, too, but apparently that sneaky monster that bit her was just too scary. She pulled the rope right out of my hand and hightailed it around the far side of the barn and up the driveway. Thank goodness I had Chance on a lead rope today too and didn’t let go of him, because Natty finally realized he wasn’t following and stopped to wait for him, so I was able to get hold of her again, too. If he had been following like a good boy there’s no telling where they would have stopped running! Once I got her rope again and started back toward the pasture, Chance was only too happy to stick close to her and keep up, so we got to the pasture without incident. Then she hung out by the gate and wouldn’t go down the hill to graze at all. She was trying to graze on the grass just outside the pasture, so naturally she scraped her face – probably on the gate when she stuck her nose through it. It’s not bad and stopped bleeding quickly. She did let me put some ointment on it, so hopefully it will heal without any trouble. And fortunately, it’s on her old scar, so she won’t end up with a new one. Chance is also losing quite a bit of hair on the front of his nose – not really sure why. I’ll ask the vet next time she comes, which should be tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ve got my skittish girl who doesn’t want to graze because a monster might bite her again and my adventurous boy with the terrible diarrhea to worry about. Not so fun!