Sweet Wild Syringa

[ninnymary]

Your standing on the muck tub, is that fool of poop?

Mary

 

[ninnymary]

Kristi, this is for you!

 

[thistlebloom]

Your standing on the muck tub, is that fool of poop?

Mary

No.
It's upside down.

But I'm a horse girl so standing on top of manure would not be out of the question.

 

[thistlebloom]

Kristi, this is for you!

That's great, haha! So me.

 

[ninnymary]

So which one was it? Did you find a rope or loose Springa?

Mary

 

[ninnymary]

No.
It's upside down.

But I'm a horse girl so standing on top of manure would not be out of the question.

Yeah, that's why I asked. Wanted to be sure.

Mary

 

[Redd Tornado]

@thistlebloom I looks like its been a year since she chose you, how is it going?

Oh, hang on. I am still figuring out how this site works! I will read on.

 

[baymule]

You are making great progress with her. I love that she is comfortable in the trailer. How cool is it that she moved to you and you put pressure on her back! Way to go. How are your ribs now?

 

[thistlebloom]

You are making great progress with her. I love that she is comfortable in the trailer. How cool is it that she moved to you and you put pressure on her back! Way to go. How are your ribs now?

It's really so enjoyable watching her understanding develop. My rib is doing well, thanks for asking, about 99% healed I'd say.

This was a great weekend for more milestones.
Caution! Verbosity ahead!

Since we have been working on loading/unloading and she's comfortable with the idea of jumping in and backing out calmly, I knew it was time to shut the back door and let her stand in the trailer for a period of time. I have sort of been putting this off because of the mental images of a horse meltdown. A large animal in a metal can that becomes panicked can be a little heart stopping.

I had originally planned on teaching her to stand in the trailer unrestrained with the back open until asked to back out. There are several reasons I didn't go that route, opting for letting her figure out that she would not be harmed by being restrained and closed in.

I'll keep it short and say that I overcame my own anxiety and loaded her up, when she backed herself out I made her work a bit so the trailer became her sweet spot. I did this twice, and she made the decision to stand and eat the hay in the feed box, then I shut the back door. She backed up, hit the butt strap, jumped forward, lunged backward and shook the trailer. Then she was quiet. Not happy exactly but wasn't going to fight it. I nervously weeded the garden while I let her acclimate and find her calm. I unloaded her after 30 minutes and she stood tied in the shade for a while to let the lesson steep.

That evening I did the same thing, allowing her one back out of her own decision and giving her some work to do so that eating hay in the trailer was more attractive. Everything remained super calm, I shut the door and she ate hay. I got in the second stall periodically and gave her a good rubbing. When I opened the back door she kept eating and I had to ask her to unload.

I'm going to repeat this lesson several times before we actually haul anywhere. It's not easy sometimes explaining to my horsey friends that I'm taking whatever time it takes and not moving on until I'm sure she's solid on the lesson of the moment. I think you could move a lot faster with many horses and they're good, but I'm convinced she's a horse that inconsistencies or gaps will show up in behavior problems in the future. And I'm part of the equation too, and I have to grow in confidence in myself before I can expect her to put her trust in me.

Another really exciting thing was finally sitting on her all the way.
She was totally bored with it, haha. I did keep a hand and a foot on the fence just in case. And oops, no helmet...

The last first was saddling her with the girth buckled. The little western saddle I have been throwing on her somehow lost the off billet for the cinch so I used my endurance saddle. Didn't get the girth threaded through the billet straps of the pad in my haste, so the pad got a little discombobulated, but it didn't hurt anything.

Up to then I had only been swinging the western saddle on her, jiggling it around so the stirrups flopped, and sliding it off. So actually attaching a saddle to her back was a new experience. She was skeptical, but stood still. Once I had her move off she blew up like a saddle bronc, even squealed like one. I managed to hang on to the line and she calmed down enough to settle into a canter and a trot. Another ongoing lesson.

I'll be looking at a saddle next week that I hope will work for both of us, then we can get moving on to actual riding.

I had 3 days off last week so was able to get a lot of nagging life chores done, and also spend a lot more time with the horses. Old Luke even got hauled out to the park for an evening ride.

 

[flowerbug]

*popcorn*