Not much progress to report (but still TL;DR)

I’m sorry I don’t have much progress to report, just more of the same. Yet somehow I can blather on a great deal about very little. That was a warning: )

It’s going very slowly with my new horse (Mara!). I keep thinking she has to settle down, but she’s resisting that idea.  She’s constantly moving around, and does this high-headed gazing at the horizons. The neighbors had a party and she did not eat a bite of hay the entire night Tuesday (it was a loud party, I had to use earplugs to sleep). She’s learning how I like her to walk behind me when I lead her, but is quite spooky in our neighborhood. The woods are better. I try to spend 2-3 minutes sitting on each bench we come across, for patience training. I got her to put one hoof on a scary (to me) bridge.  I also leave the trail and make her bushwhack with me over fallen trees and through thick branches. I need to be careful not to make it too difficult for her, or else she’ll start to dread going out. I need her to be curious, and I think she is, about our little village. I’m also aware that I failed to make a certain TB ever comfortable going out, despite all my efforts to make it fun.

The other day the fish guy was talking to my husband and me for about 20 minutes, and I made her stand one meter away from me (probably still too close) but she wasn’t allowed to graze or move. That was quite difficult. Bellis was going from person to person getting massages, and the poor horse just had to hold still. I thought it was interesting that my man eventually drifted over and placed himself between the mare and me, and started cuddling her. Then he took the leadrope from me and let her graze. See the good cop bad cop thing? *lol*

I don’t let her graze on the line because that results in the person following, matching the horse’s movements, and reacting to the horse instead of initiating. Maybe someday, but not now.

She respectfully moves clear away whenever I enter the paddock, but thankfully I can still catch her when I need to. I try to be conscious of my body energy. I’ve also adopted a movement that means “get back/go away” which is a small quick upward movement of my head, the opposite of a nod, but noticeable to a horse. Don’t horses flick their noses up to make another horse move away? I also angle my spine away from her when I need to catch her. I imagine my spine extends like an axis out of me, and make sure it’s angled away slightly. Just that image alone helps me maintain the “approach me” language. It’s fun to hone my body language. I read that horses are constantly aware of spatial status and positional status.  We humans cannot be that constant, but we can make an effort to be more aware.

After a week with no treats, I started using treats to teach her to bow, as a logical extension of the head-down cue I’m teaching. She’s finally getting the head-down thing, but it will take more time before she gets really low, and holds it. The bowing I initiate with a quick pointing down toward her hoof, then I drop the treat down to that hoof.

I am also doing some foreleg stretches with her because those are simple, and I hope to find a stretch that feels good.

I got a rope halter and it works but unfortunately it gets too close to her eyes when I lunge her. Maybe I don’t have it adjusted tight enough? I have no experience with rope halters. She is very good at lunging, I’m so glad, she makes a nice big circle naturally, which Baasha never wanted to do. The only thing is she leans a bit on the line at the trot and canter. I wonder how I can get her to not pull/lean, but keep her on that 20 meter circle?

I took them off the big pasture and put them on the grazing strips yesterday. I built a third one so there is lots of grass for them for the summer. Hay is growing now strongly. Bellis knows the routine from last year and took her down to the lower (scary) strip this morning. As I was putting up the third strip, the fish people came and whistled and she ran over to them. She seems to be like my sister’s GSD, a friend to everyone. I only took a week to acclimate her to 12+ hours of grass per day. That’s kind of fast, I know, but that was based on the fact she wasn’t eating the entire time, she was staring at things, sunbathing, and trotting around. My husband says she’s getting a tan, hehe, as her darker Summer coat comes through.

I’m still bringing them in at night to just have the opportunity to practice what needs to be worked on. This morning I needed help getting fly spray on her. My husband tried to hold onto her while I sprayed the brush and wiped it on her. She was very itchy yesterday from insects and I saw her rubbing herself violently on the walnut tree. I may need someone to send me Farnam Equi-Spot, that is the only thing that really works I’ve found. Anyway, I see spray bottle training will be necessary soon. I prefer to wait ‘til she feels at home her before doing something so unpleasant. I wish so much I had a round pen, a stall is too small for some training.

Sacking out is interesting. I can touch her with a large plastic bedding sack all over, and throw a rope all over her, but rubbing her with a towel was a real challenge, and touching her with a broom handle stick is impossible. Also, I brought the hose into her area yesterday to fill a water bucket, and she lost it completely when the hose hit her leg. That Australian guy said that once you can throw a rope all over them you won’t have other issues, but it seems he’s wrong. Why would a saddle blanket be OK, but not a soft old towel? Hm.