Walk #2

It's been so stormy that several Karneval (Mardi Gras) parades were cancelled. Not ours though, we could hear Karneval all day yesterday.

I haven't been able to sleep for a few days because the winds are so gusty I thought our barn would blow away. A huge tree is lying on out next door neighbors' outbuilding.

Finally today the wind settled down so I planned to take Mag for walk # 2! And it began to pour rain. The drenching kind. But I was determined, so off we went. After I washed his tail again. Anyone wanna guess how many times I've washed his tail in the 15 days he's lived here? Still not white, but I'm working on it. His mane and body was dripping brown water in the rain.

We walked down the street and he snorted softly at things but had his head low, sniffing the ground. He stayed behind me very well. Cars passed and he stepped off the street and held still. He touches me with his nostril, "Can we go again?" Impatient!

We got down to the trail and I started to enjoy myself. He's really gonna be OK, he's gonna be fun to take for walks because he's not a basket case. He noticed the large tarp covering a gravel pile and I said, "Yup, you noticed it!" but he wasn't scared. He touched it with his nose when I let him.

We went through puddles and over culverts with rushing water 3 times. We took a little trail bypass to avoid deep mud and the little bushes brushed against his sides, no problem.

Every time I stopped, he stopped, but would start to nibble at the ground because stopping is stupid.

Finally we made it to the bench where we could see the horses (Standardbred and Arabian) and those two started prancing circles in the distance when they saw him. There's no sneaking around with a white horse.

He was overwhelmed but I had him in a very safe place, my back against a large tree, and a dropoff in front of him that he was free to slide down if he wanted to, but he stood instead with his feet braced digging into the hillside mud, and he stared like a statue for a long time.

I eventually sat down on the wet bench and looked at my watch. "Just 5 minutes Mag, you can stand here with me that long." He didn't think so but complied because there wasn't much else to do but trim the trees, which he did, and pick up sticks. Wow it's gonna be a task to get him to hold still, but I'm up for it.

There was a creek I decided to stand in to see what he thought of that. I didn't ask him to join me, and when I sank in up to one ankle I really didn't want him to join me and sink too. I stood on a plank of wood that moved in the current and said, "Look at me, I'm a surfer!" Then he dropped his head and snorted and actually considered joining me. I said "Just kidding!" and jumped out of the creek, now wet to the knees.

I was wary, again, about the way home (barn sour) but again walked much more slowly and he respected that and for the most part stayed behind me. If he started to creep forward, all I had to do was vibrate the rope in warning and he'd stop. Or I'd stop and wiggle the rope and he'd back up. It really doesn't take much, I can keep the volume really low on my requests.

He stopped a few times on the way home on his own to graze on moss along the trail, and I let him because choosing to hold still is better than hurrying home stressed.

He didn't like the neighbor's plastic roof on their hay trailer and pranced a few strides, but  no running me over and no whirling around me in a circle, woo!

Almost home, I let him eat grass and we were both soaking wet after being out for over and hour. A gust of wind came up and he swerved his hip into me! Again!? How can that be. I scolded him and waved my hands and walked into his hip and he whipped it out of my way, crossing over his legs. Then I peered at his other hip and walked toward it and he swung it away from me that way too. A few more times and he stood there thinking about it. Since nothing had startled him, I am guessing that it was the rain and wind that made him do that. Hm. The entire time I never touched him with the rope, he is so good at responding to my body language.

When we got home I disengaged his hips again and praised him and he wanted to stare at our windows again but I took him to the paddock and put a cooler on him to dry him and ran inside,  completely soaked, except for my back, which my raincoat kept dry.

I figured I'd let him stand in the cooler for an hour to dry him, but when I went out there, I was shocked to see him shivering! Bad owner! Usually that works. Did he need 2 or 3? I've got 3! I'll go get them! I apologized to him and put the Winter blanket on him and he stopped shivering. I swear, the only thing worse than a horse shivering from cold is an underweight horse shivering from cold.

I went out to the pasture, saw we had no fallen trees, and let them out there. Oh, in case I forgot to mention, they are going to and from the pasture completely without my presence lately. I needn't have worried.

I'm hoping and praying he's as good as he seems. So far nothing seems to upset him. I can take a bucket of soapy water and dump it on the ground next to him and he doesn't flinch. Clippers, spray bottles, vehicles, storm drains, flooding creeks, no problem. He just snorts at things but doesn't lose his mind.

I look forward to getting to the point where our neighborhood walks are relaxing and pleasurable, when I know him better and he knows me. Could it be possible that he trusts me already? It's so soon, but I suspect it. It would be nice if he nickered at me, but he hasn't yet. The donkey though, he calls by name.