Kachina is doing great in the pasture

I didn't take any pictures because it's been rainy, and now that it dried up, its gotten really cold (high of 15 today). The camera batteries just don't last long in those conditions so I don't even bother with a camera.

Kachina has pretty much been fully integrated into the herd. She is the bottom of the hierarchy, so she yields to everyone. They started out pretty aggressive with chasing her off and out of the space they thought was theirs. My two mares were more aggressive about it than Chico. But she is now able to cautiously approach and eat at the same hay pile (if it's large) with any of the others.

The other day, I was watching out the window. It was raining, and I think the horses were feeling sort of ticked off about the weather. On top of the hill in their pasture, Cody and Chico were running back and forth and rearing up at eachother. Suddenly I saw Kachina up on top of the hill. Then she approached Chico and when he made his mean face at her, she reared up at him. Then he reared up, and they played rearing biting horsey games for a few minutes until he had enough of her, then he bit her on the butt and moved her away.

I'm glad that she's not so afraid of the three tame ones that she won't even dare approach them. I think she's very good at reading their intention and she is also brave enough to try to see what she can ease her way into, even if they've chased her before. So, Kachina can be brave.

In fact I think that it has been great for her to be out with the others. They are so laid back. They are definitely rubbing off on her. And she also knows that I am her friend, and I don't chase her. The first few days she was out with them, she would readily approach me everytime I went in the pasture. She seemed to really want the attention. I can walk up to her anytime in the pasture and handle her and she's okay with it. I even took her halter off (mostly because it had gotten droopy in the rain and was a bit too big on her).

Another illustration of Kachina's bravery: we take slabs of hay out to them on a purple sled. Chico (even though he's brave most other times) doesn't like it and won't come near it, but Catlow will walk up to it and eat the fine pieces of hay out of the bottom of it. Kachina has never really shown much fear of it, and in fact, will FOLLOW it, as I drag it around in the pasture, distributing hay in different piles. She won't eat out it though. She's just curious about it. Funny.

I think she just fits in with the tame horses and their presence has been a great security for her, allowing her to be able to let down and let go of her "flight" nature. She is of course still flighty, but not about everyday things like she was before. She used to run to the back of the pen everytime (EVERYTIME) I threw a pile of hay in there. Now, I can flop a pile of hay down right in front of her face, and she'll immediately start eating it.

Poor Griffin is extremely jealous that the other horses can leave him and walk to the back of the pasture without him. The first day I let Kachina out, he was so mad. He ran around his pen and bucked and squealed as they walked away from him over the hill. He's calmed down now. I think he needs to be alone for a bit for now. When he was with Kachina, I could catch him, but his first response was to try to avoid me by getting her inbetween us. He can't do that now, and has to acknowledge my presence.

I worked him for the first time in a LONG time this past weekend. The first time I asked him to lunge at a walk around me, he threw a little fit and reared up, so I backed him all the way through the barn while making really scary noises. He didn't do that again and was a pretty good boy about lunging after that.

Things have gotten really complicated for me lately (I'm not quite ready to elaborate about it), but I definitely know that I have too many horses to be able to work with them all. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them. Cody, Chico, and Catlow will always have a forever home with me. But I need to think hard about what to do with Griffin and Kachina. I like the both of them, but reality about how much time I'm really able to work with them has definitely set in. And I am really worried about actually being able to find a decent home for them with the current state of our economy and horses in that economy. It doesn't look good at all. Both Griffin and Kachina would need someone who was experienced and able to put a lot of time in with them. Griffin still needs to let go of his distrust, while Kachina needs to let go of her flightiness (and she needs to grow if anyone other than a large child will ever ride her). I'm not saying that they are definitely going down the road, but I really wish I had more time to just enjoy my horses. As is, I'm always feeling guilty because someone needs more time. And I never ride anymore, partly out of the guilt that I shouldn't be spending time with my tame ones when the wild ones need so much more work. The other part of why I don't ride is I just don't have as much time, and it's pretty cold. The roads are icy and the snow is deep and crusty. All in all, I'm thinking about options and considering the future. I'd never send them back to the BLM because I know they'd probably be forgotten somewhere in a holding pen and I think both of them have more potential than that. Right now, we are able to feed them, so that is not a concern, but you never know what might happen in the future. I guess, until I have the perfect situation for them, they will be staying with us, but I just wish I could do more with them.

Griffin gets the rope, Kachina gets hair lotion

I worked with both Kachina and Griffin yesterday. I don't have much time to write up a detailed post, so I'll quickly do my best! I'm leaving in the morning for WY, and will be gone all week.

Griffin:

I've been thinking about the differences between Griffin and Kachina and what I need to do to get him to be a little more willing to work with me, like she is. Kachina will follow me and stand in the middle with me, whereas I have to approach Griffin, and I often feel like I'm pinning him against the panels to be able to touch him. So with Griffin, I spent more time driving him around the pen, and asking him to turn in off the fence to me. I then decided to try the rope with him, and test him out how he would handle if I threw it at him. I started by approaching him with it, and he was very cool about it. He bravely sniffed the coil, so I backed off and tossed it to the ground in front of his feet. He snorted, but did not move, and reached down to sniff it. I did that a few times, and then went ahead and tossed it over his back. I got it on him within 3 tosses! He did run, but he was not super panicked, so I felt okay about tossing it at him. Once the rope stayed on over his back, he stopped running and sniffed at it. He's a brave boy, just not so trusting of me. I eventually got it around his neck, then did more mini-roundpenning with him, asking him to turn into me when I stepped in front and pulled on the rope. I got him to turn in and face me, and not in a corner! Then I spent time approaching and rubbing his neck, then I progressed to his face. He needs to let me rub his face if I am to halter him, and he's not so comfortable yet. He tries to evade my hand to move away. By the end of the lesson, he was pretty good about letting me approach and rub his forehead from the front. A good first step toward haltering! He's not so afraid of the rope either, so I hope this goes well! He is feeling so much better. When I was mini-roundpenning him, he was trotting out really well, and confidently. He has a huge stride! No more catwalking! By the end of our session, he was not snorting anymore when I asked him to trot out. He was snorting every breath when I first started.

Kachina:

Kachina had a good lesson, except that I had to throw the rope at her again in order for her to let me halter her today. I think that was because my parents were watching, so she was nervous. Plus she obviously just needed to move. In addition, my halter also had a leadrope attached this time, so she was leery of that new thing. Once I had the rope on her, it didn't take too long, and then she was haltered, with a long lead rope! I spend time mini-roundpenning and asking her to stop and face me with a step in front and a pull on the halter. She did freak out a few times with the new feeling, but she got it. I also "led" her around in circles and she follows the feel of the rope really well. I also gave a steady pull from the front, and it took a while, but she eventually figured out that she should take a few steps foward when she feels that pressure. I didn't do too much of that because she wasn't quite ready for that. Then, I decided to see how she's take fly spray from a spray bottle. She was very nervous at first, but let be get her good side (even her belly and down her back legs!). Her bad side took her a little longer to settle down, but I solved the problem by adjusting the nozzle so I could stand back farther and spray her. It was the noise of the spray bottle that bothered her the most. So, I sprayed my wild mustang with fly spray!

I've been dying to get the tangles out of her mane for a long time. Yesterday, I accomplished it! I had to cut them out with scissors, but it didn't shorten it too much. Her mane is very brittle, so then, I put hair lotion on it (called Pink - get it in the African American hair section at the store - it works great at moisturizing!), and brushed it out with a brush. I was even able to brush her forelock, AND trim her a short bridle path for her halter! I'd say she's a tame horse! I just need to get her more comfortable with letting me halter her, and then get this leading thing down, then I'm ready to begin some more hard core stuff...possibly taking her out of her pen for a walk soon!

Kachina has figured out this pole thing!

Kachina is doing so well! Now she's better than Griffin! All along, she's been pretty comfortable with me, but really scared of the pole. The next session after I got her to stop running around when I was touching her with the pole, I started off by approaching her without the pole (I had planned to use it) and she allowed me to touch her face! I had to do a lot of movement over her face with my hand, and she wanted to move away at first, but she did let me rub her!

Then I progressed to rubbing her neck under her mane (she's very itchy there) and her chest. She was quite relaxed with me, and she let me touch her for real for the first time!

The next day, I started by rubbing her face and neck with just my hand, then I introduced her to the halter. I rubbed her face, neck and chest with it. She became pretty comfortable with the strings swinging all over. I didn't try to put it on her because she's done so well with this new thing and I didn't want to end on a bad note.




Instead, I introduced her to the curry comb. She kind of liked it, but it makes a funny noise when you brush her with it, so that made her nervous. I only brushed her a little bit before I called it good for that session! Awesome!


Today, I had a larger audience. My sister, mom, dad, great aunt and great uncle all watched and I think it made both Kachina and I nervous. Plus the flies were really bad today, so after she kept trying to evade me when I was rubbing her face (she was stomping her feet and really irritated by the flies), I decided it wasn't going to work this way, so I decided to try to apply fly spray to her. Previously she had not let me touch her anywhere other than her topline with the pole. This time, the pole was also wrapped in a smelly dripping rag.

She was nervous at first, and not so happy that the pole was back, but she did stand, and I slowly worked down her legs. Then, she seemed to almost understand that the pole was keeping flies away (or maybe I somehow communicated effectively to her that the pole wasn't going to break her legs off), because she stood perfectly still and let me wipe every inch of her body!!! No kicking this time either! She thought about it on one side, but I just stopped moving the pole and waited for her to put her foot back on the ground before I continued. She did so great!

Then I left her to work with Griffin. When I came back, my audience was gone, and I was able to rub her with my hand all over her neck, face, chest, and a little under her belly and behind her elbows.

Now, she wants to be with me. I can "mini-roundpen" her and it is a punishment for not wanting to stay with me when I am touching her. She definitely wants to come in to me and if I keep her out moving around, she does try to stay with me a little better.

Poor Griffin

Unfortunately Griffin's chest looks even puffier today with a larger swelling between his front legs. It's so large at this point, that it almost looks like his chest was supposed to be that way, and it's really not as jiggly. I suppose that means it might start draining soon. The vets have not called me back yet about it. Kachina is looking pretty good. She's definitely gained weight since we've had her, but unfortunately, now she looks a little flea-bitten. She so sensitive to the flies, and I think she has rather thin skin, so the itching that she does wears the hair off her hide. I've been doing mini-roundpenning with her daily, and she's getting pretty good at reading me, not over-reacting, and even on both sides. I can ask her to go out, come in and face me, and change directions. She'll also stand still as I walk around her, although she sometimes gets confused about this, and makes to move off when I just want her to stand still and chill out. I can also walk around toward her hip and she will pivot and continue facing me. I'd like her to relax a little more though, and make more of a move to sniff my hand when offered, but she is really standoffish. It takes many offers, and then she will sort of sniff in the general direction of my hand, but no closer than 6inches to a foot. She used to sniff me closer, and I'm not sure if it's worse now just because she feels better, or maybe it's because I "poled" her, or perhaps it's just because I'm working with her in general. It might help if I did the round penning for longer. I need to step up what I'm doing if I want to be able to touch her. I really really wish I had a rope on her right now, and next, I may try work her with a rope. I'm just worried about freaking her out more and losing that little bit of trust.