Big day tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day!

I'm going to turn Griffin loose with the herd. Please wish me luck!

For some bonding time, I hung out with him this evening and gave him a good currying. He really has warmed up to me. He still gets antsy when I am near his butt. He'll stand still while I'm brushing, but the second that I stop to clean out the brush, he has to back up and swing his butt away so that I'm at his head. That's where he feels most comfortable. Then he can sniff the curry comb while I clean it out.


His chest is especially itchy. He loves when I scratch there. He also has the most interesting whorl on his chest. I think this is called a "wheat ear". Some people think that whorls in certain places or of certain patterns mean something about the horse...I'm not sure, but I do think it's true that a horse with many many wierd whorls might have some mental developmental difficulties.


LOOK! Proof that spring really IS coming! Griffin is really shedding out! I had a cloud of hair swirling around me as I brushed him tonight.


Then I went over to brush Kachina and try to get some photos of her bites. They don't show up so well in pictures. But basically, each one of these scuffed hair marks is a little bare patch. The worst are right behind her jaw.


These pictures do not do these bites justice. They are huge! But they are also buried in hair.

Big news

Okay, here goes. I didn't want to tell anyone before because things were too early yet, but I just had my first doctor visit and ultrasound and things are going on schedule.

I'm pregnant!

Yes, I'm pregnant, in vet school, about to get married, and I have 5 horses. Life has been quite crazy lately! This is my first baby. Once Todd and I decided we were getting married, we realized we didn't want to wait to have kids. I'm 32 and he is 45. We aren't getting any younger. Vet school can wait a year if it has to, but my body is not getting any younger!

I'm 10 and a half weeks along, which means I'm due September 10th. That is a few weeks after the fall semester starts for my 2nd year of vet school. If everything goes as planned, I'm going to take that year off school, and return as a 2nd year student the following year.

If we had to wait until I was done with school, I'd be pushing 38 by the time I have my first kid! I didn't want to wait that long. Fertility declines and other health problems become more likely then.

I had my first ultrasound this morning. It really made the whole pregnancy so real! Before, I felt like I was getting fat, felt sick all the time, and I was tired, and cranky. No real proof that I'm pregnant (aside from those positive tests and all). But watching the baby in real time on the screen, moving and kicking his/her legs and arms...just plain being so ACTIVE, it has brought a new light to the whole pregnancy. Suddenly, feeling sick doesn't seem so bad, and I'm actually excited again! Being sick and tired, sort of makes it easy to lose excitement.

These are pictures from today :)




And now, maybe you can understand my concern about having 5 horses, two of which need a lot of work...they should both be getting to the riding point this summer. I am planning to work with them on the ground as long as I am able to. I will get them as far as I can. But I can't ride them. Not this year. Maybe next summer...but Kachina will be 5 then, and Griffin will be 4. I know that's not too long to wait, but I feel like the more they are exposed to when they are young, the more solid they will be. What to do? I'll take it one day at a time.

Colorfest in Oregon

Oh, how I wish I could go! And oh, how I wish I had room and time for more horses! Can I just quit vet school and gentle mustangs for the rest of my life?

Trimming Griffin

This past weekend, I was going contemplating attempting to turn Griffin loose in the pasture, even though I think he probably won't let me catch him when he's loose. I was just going to do it with a drag rope, start by leading him around the pasture, and then play it by ear. I'm pretty sure I could get him recaptured easily with grain so I was only really worried about if he'd respect the fence. And I would have all the other horses tied/penned while I took him out.

Well, I didn't get around to it, because I decided that he really needed a hoof trim before I turned him loose. I haven't been keeping myself in very good shape since summer ended, because I sit at a desk all day. I try to go for walks, but it's been COLD. And I only get to do horse stuff and outside work on weekends. So, I'm pretty out of shape. So, trimming Griffin's hooves was quite the feat! I had hardly any strength to squeeze the nippers, plus he's got really hard thick toe walls! I only managed to do the first 3 hooves on Saturday because I had to be someplace and ran out of time. He was pretty good about those three hooves though. But then, Sunday rolled around and I attempted to do the last hoof. He wasn't having any of it. I'm not sure why he was so bad about that hoof. Maybe it was the fact that I went right to the back and I usually start with the fronts? Regardless, he became more and more uncomfortable with me back there, till he got to the point where I could get him to stand still, but as soon as I held his foot off the ground, he'd panic and little and take it away, then squirt away from me and circle as I tried to walk at his hip to get him to stop. Before he got really bad, I had actually nipped one edge, so he had one heel trimmed and the other not. I couldn't leave him like that! But it was beginning to look like I wasn't going to convince him to cooperate. He wasn't just being naughty either. He never pinned his ears or kicked at me or anything, he just was nervous about me back at his hind end (he always has been), and had worked himself up to where it felt better to step away from me, than to relax and let me have his foot.

So, at this point, I realized I needed to somehow turn the situation into the other way around. I wanted him relaxed when I held his foot, and uncomfortable if he circled around me. So, I got another rope and looped it around his hind leg. Then I preceeded to ask him to stand and let me pick up his foot. Everytime he got worried and took his foot back and started circling, I just stayed right with him and pulled on that rope around his foot. He really didn't like fighting to keep his balance with that rope on his foot. As soon as he stopped and relaxed, I took away all tension on the rope. We did this several times until he stopped circling at all. He still was taking his foot back, but he was rapidly getting less and less inclined to commit to completely evading me. So, the time he actually let me hold it up, pull it back and wipe on it, I just gave it back to him and called it a day. I wanted him to sit and think about how that had just ended.

I came back a half a day later to see if I could finish his hoof. I looped the rope around his hoof again, and this time, he didn't circle away from me at all! Having that rope was a good reminder for him. I was able to get him to stand relaxed and allow me to finish trimming the rest of his hoof. Trimmed and filed. He was perfect, like he used to be. I owe it all to that rope around his leg! I like little tricks that change a horse's mind.

After that, I removed all the other horses from the pasture (except Kachina, I figured she could stay in), and then took Griffin for a walk around the fenceline. Kachina followed us like a puppy dog most of the way. The rest of the time, she was tearing around and playing. Griffin was quite the gentlemen throughout the whole time. He really respects the halter and leadrope and I just have to pull a little to get his attention was Kachina was telling him that she really wanted to go run off with him.

So, I decided that when I do get to the point of letting Griffin out, I'm going to pen Kachina back up. I think that she will be a bad influence on him and get him running around a lot. I'd like his intro to the herd to be calm. After a week or two of just Griffin with the herd, I'll turn Kachina back loose with them.

I really hope adding a second gelding into the mix with a gelding and three mares doesn't create friction. Chico has already shown that he will defend his mares against strange geldings. I just hope that Griffin is not considered a strange gelding anymore.

A funny side note: Well, sorta funny. Kachina is the bottom of the pecking order, but she's not necessarily resigned to being lowly and depressed. She doesn't necessarily outright challenge the others with the expect that she'll move up, but she is NOT intimidated by them, and she'll let them know it! She still will get out of their way when they tell her to, but then there are times when she will "play" with them. She mostly plays with Chico, and that's probably because the two mares are just grouchy and interested in making Kachina mind. Chico will play back. It is a regular event to see them rearing and playing. Kachina really gets into it. She's lighter than chubby Chico, so she'll readily get up on her hind legs and paw at him.

And one day this weekend, I was walking through their pasture and the horses were standing on one of their trails through the snow watching me. Cody was closest, then Chico, then Kachina. They don't like to walk off the trails because then they sink in the snow. I called them as I started walking away, and they began to follow me. But Kachina was not happy that she had to be in the back...she wanted to get close to me and Cody and Chico were being way too slow, so she took a lesser traveled trail along the bottom of the hill to bypass the slow pokes. When she got alongside Cody (about 25 feet away), Cody flipped her nose out at her (back off! I'm the leader!), and Kachina immediately flipped her nose back at Cody (yeah? Well, you're slow and fat!)and kept walking. Cody was not about to accept that kind of disrepect, so she flipped her nose at Kachina again, then pinned her ears, and went after her. The whole herd then disappeared up over the hill. It was hilarious to see that subtle communication among them!

But, Kachina has some major bite marks and bare patches because of her insolence. The poor girl has thin skin and it abrades easily, but that doesn't stop her from fighting back. Most of her bare patches are on her upper neck, and I'm pretty sure she got those while she was fighting/playing. Because when the mares get after her, they usually end up biting her butt. Her butt only has a few marks on it.

Pasture dynamics

I took all these pictures last weekend, but I chose to post about poor neglected Griffin instead. Now I've got a dap of time, so I'll post these pics. These pictures are a great illustration of the dynamics in the pasture.


I had been out for a walk in the woods, and so entered the pasture from a different side than usual. I came up over the hill and spotted the horses grazing on their hay and milling about.


Then they spotted me. Catlow is on the left, Chico in the middle, and Kachina on the right. Cody is farther to the left out of the frame of the picture.


Kachina immediately comes over to see what I'm doing and to get a little attention.


She comes up really close and I pet her, then back off to get a picture of her cute face. She looks at me curiously because I don't often have a camera along.


The other three are curious why Kachina came over to see me so fast, so they mosy over and spy through the trees. I bent down to look at the salt block half buried in the snow, and was picking at it with a stick. Meanwhile Kachina stands over me.


They are very curious about what I'm doing, so they all follow the leader up the hill.


I back up to get a good picture of them all together.


I love this picture because of how symmetrical it is! Two dark horses licking the salt block in the center, and two blaze faces watching me on the outside!


Kachina is often gazing into the distance, like a true wild horse, listening for...other horses, predators, the wind...


But she snaps out of it quickly and comes to see me again. This picture is hilarious to me, because I have one almost just like it from the BLM. It was one of her adoption photos. I don't have that photo on my computer right now (it's stashed away at home on a harddrive and right now I'm at school), but you can see a similar one from their adoption photos here. I think she's more filled out now and looks happier for sure.


She comes right up close...


So I run backwards again so I can get something other than her nose in a picture. My momentary run backwards, stops her in her tracks for a second (isn't her shadow cool?)...


But then she comes right after me again.


Well, Kachina is now too close, so I take some pictures of the others. All the horses are a little roly poly right now, but we've had some pretty cold days so I think that is good. This is definitely not all fluff on Chico!


It is still kinda chilly today (high of 15 degrees!), but it is sunny without much breeze, so in the sun it feels nice and warm. Catlow soaks up the sun and takes a little snoozer.


Cody is looking nice and rotund as well. She now has left her salt block and wants to see what I'm up to. She comes up behind Kachina. Kachina yields to her without any fight at all. Cody doesn't feel the need to be mean to Kachina now.


Kachina has moved off around me and now stands in the brush, looking back at me rather dejectedly.


It this point, I decide to leave the 4 on the hill and go work with Griffin.


Kachina is fitting in very nicely. She's definitely at the bottom, though. When I was up there spending time with them, I didn't see a single horse pin their ears at her or make to chase her. I'm sure by the end of this summer, the whole herd will be one collective unit that will actually whinny after any horse that I take out. Right now, Cody, Chico, and Catlow are all so dependent on one another that if I take one out, all the other fret about that horse until they are returned. They are quite pathetic about it. The horse that I have out is generally fine being with me, maybe a little barn sour, but I can take them off and do stuff and they don't call back for the others, meanwhile the others are pacing the fenceline, looking for the lost horse, whinnying pathetically. Even when I take Catlow out, Cody gets all upset. I find that funny, because before Kachina, Catlow was the bottom and the outsider. Cody and Chico have this very tight pair bond and seem to really exclude Catlow. But, if you take Catlow away, the herd is just not complete, so lead mare, Cody, frets about her being gone. Horses are funny critters.

Griffin gets a little attention

Kachina is settling in nicely. The 4 pasture horses are truly becoming a unit. I'm glad. I'd like to try to turn Griffin out with them before the snow all melts so that he can transition onto pasture in the spring with the rest of them. Because he needs so much work though, I've been making it a priority to work with him.


Poor Griffin is lonely in his pen.


Standing on top of the hill in the pasture here, this is the place where Kachina went through the fence that first day. You can see how she would have difficulty seeing it without the yellow and teal tape as she was galloping over hill looking for Griffin.


Griffin (and Kachina too when she was with him) are so neat about their poop. Neither of them would poop in the front pen where I feed them hay.


Instead, they poop in a big pile in the back pen. Silly ponies. It's kind of nice, but it means that their poo pile is a frozen mound at least a foot thick at this point in the winter.


I want Griffin to face up to me when I enter his pen. What he does now is sidle himself up against the fence and keep his head straight. He will look at me if I don't put too much pressure on him, but if I do anything that he feels makes him uncomfortable, he will straighten out, look at me with only one eye, and sometimes even move off while snorting. If I catch him and halter him, he's actually pretty good about facing up and leading, but when left to his own devices, it's still his first instinct to sort of distrust me. If I'm deliberate about approaching him, he will stand and wait for me and let me do pretty much anything to him, but he's still so unsure if I move too fast, especially if I jump up and down.


Today, I worked with him on basics. I did tons of desensitizing. He is completely fine with me throwing a rope and stick and string at him, but if I jump up and down, he'll snort and move away. So I worked with him on that, and toward the end, he wasn't flinching hardly at all when I would randomly jump. I also did some refresher work on moving his hindquarters away when I asked and moving his shoulders away when I asked. I haven't done any of this in a while so it took some coaxing. Griffin is so unafraid of objects, that he is not worried when I tap him with the stick. This does create problems getting him to move when I want him to. I try to really make sure my body language is asking him to move, but he's not tuned into that yet. I also use clucking to signal I want him to move and that helps him get it quicker.


I ended our session with putting a fleece blanket on him just for fun. He's never worn anything before (accept for my shirt last summer), and he took this very well. He was a bit snorty about it at first, but quickly got over it. He is so unspooky that when I lead him around and the wind caught the blanket making it flutter all over, he didn't worry about it at all! I do have high hopes for this horse. I think he will be a fabulous trail horse, but he needs to like me more.

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.

Kachina is a certified domestic horse! Well, sort of....

So, today we turned Kachina loose in the pasture! This isn't the first time we tried (the previous time failed miserably, but everyone was okay). This facebook album has pictures from one of Kachina's walks, Christmas, and then the recent 2 attempts to turn her out into the pasture.

*Update* She is letting me approach her in the pasture and I can easily catch and touch her so I took her drag rope off.

I apologize for not posting much lately, but life has been full! I completed my first semester in vet school and passed all my courses with flying colors! I also met a fanastic man this summer, and on Christmas Eve, he asked me to marry him! I said yes, of course. He is my next door neighbor, and we are so well-suited for eachother...it's crazy to think that I had to move home to meet the man that would complete me. I've lived all over the US, including spending the last 5 years in Idaho, and I meet this man while I am living at home with my parents while preparing for vet school. Life is crazy and unpredictable!

More pasture leading

On Sunday, we took Griffin out of his pen for the very first time EVER! I was quite leary about what to expect with him, since he is sort of stand-offish and aloof and still gets snorty when people do weird things. But, I worked with him first in the pen, and he's leading very well, much better than the last time (well, leading as best as you can try to get in a 24X24 ft pen). So, we attached a second leadrope to him, and lead him out! Of course, there was a huge hold up when he stalled at his gate. It took lots of backing up, trying over, and then finally, I backed him through his gate, since he was not gonna come forward. Then once he was through, we just stood there in the opening, and took it all in. Then, we set off on our walk. The first 100ft, I felt like I had to pull him quite a bit, but after that, he really loosened up and followed. He was quite alert, but was very calm for this being his first time out. And, he was more than happy to just follow along behind me. He never once spooked or tried to bolt away from me. I never would have expected that. Next time I take him out, I want to try to be more abrupt with him and make him uncomfortable on purpose...just to get a spook out of him. I like it when they at least try a spook, and see that they are attached to me and can't get away. It seems like if they try it right away, then they really don't realize that they could possible get away, so they respect the rope more.

After our walk, he was very calm with me. I almost feel like it gave him a new perspective of me. I plan to make this a regular thing and soon I will take him for long walks outside of the pasture even! I think it will really make him trust me. Griffin has a very sensible nature. He was very calm and seems to think through things before he reacts. His first reaction to something he's uncomfortable with seems to be to stop and think about it, where as Kachina's is, LET'S BOLT NOW!!!! WE CAN LOOK AT IT LATER!!

Then we took Kachina for her second walk along the fenceline. She was very good this time...no spooking at all. I like that she's getting more comfortable. If it hadn't been Sunday afternoon when I finally got around to working with her, I would have turned her loose with Cody, and then played it by ear...but Sunday only a couple hours from darkness...I figured that was a potential recipe for disaster.

But here are some pictures of the furry puny princess (whom I think has grown a little bit!). I didn't take any pictures of Griffin this time because I was too busy watching him. I wasn't sure what to expect with him.

Leading Kachina through the pasture

It is getting closer and closer to the time when we will release the wild ones with the rest of the herd. I am getting more and more apprehensive the closer that time comes! When you've been around horses long enough, you really start to get good at predicting all the possible horrible things that could go wrong on that first introduction to the herd. I see kicking, chasing (not so worried about that), but I'm also worried that they'll get chased through a fence and get hurt or loose!

And to make it worse, I haven't been working with them much, but I did spend and afternoon with Kachina over Thanksgiving break. We did basics (leading in her little pen, desensitizing (with a fleece blanket, wow was that a bit of a rodeo), and brushing and picking up feet. After she was thoroughly wore out with the blanket activities, I had my sig. other come and work her with me. She needs to get used to more strangers and just being comfortable with people. She did very well. He just led her around and petted her on her face and neck. Our ultimate goal was with the two of us, to take her outside her pen and lead her around the entire fenceline. This was to be only her second time outside of her pen since she arrived with us back in May. The first time was during a time when I was working with her quite a bit toward the end of summer. And we never left the sight of her pen.

I just wasn't quite sure what to expect from her, but I thought she might get anxious being out of sight of her pen and other horses. So, to ensure that I could still control her if that happened, we used two leadropes. I was the primary leader, but Todd walked alongside me holding onto the second leadrope just in case we needed it. I REALLY didn't want to take the chance that she might pull away from me.

So, first I removed the 3 tame ones from the pasture and tied them to the hitching post. Then we readied Kachina, opened her pen up (leaving the opening so that if she did get loose, she might have a safe place to retreat to), and then we got started leading her out. She hesitated just a bit with coming through her gate after us, but then she stepped up right behind me, and we began our walk around the fenceline. She was VERY GOOD! For the most part, she was calm, but alert and only breathing slightly faster as she took in the new perspectives. She never once called out for the others, and when they called for her, she didn't hardly notice. She lead extremely well.

We did have two instances where I was glad to have the extra leading helper. The first time, I was leading her diagnally down a rather steep hill, and she thought she take the chance to get ahead of me (I think it was motivated by being lazy and not realizing she needed to slow herself down the hill), but Todd and I were able to pull her around. She did get worried and kept backing up for a bit after we got her facing us, and she might have backed into the fence if she had kept going, but she did stop and all was fine. So then we went back up the hill and came down again. This time she checked herself and was perfect.

The other time, we had gotten to the fence near the road, and Todd's dog was following us along the fenceline. Kachina was worried about him because she hasn't seen him much, and he's a big hairy looking black thing. At that same instance, a motorcycle came down the road. Todd and I got ready to hold her because I knew she was going to spook at it. She did, but settled down quickly after the motorcycle had passed.

So, she was good! For the most part, she was extremely sensible and I think she'll be fine as long as she realizes what a fence is. I see her being turned out with the others very soon. But first I want to let her touch the hotwire while Todd and I are holding onto her so that we can control what happens afterward. Then, I plan to turn her loose with Cody (lead mare) first. Once Cody puts her in her place, I'll let Catlow in with her. Once Catlow is okay with her, then Chico. I anticipate Chico as being the antagonist, but as long as the others are okay with her, he'll chill after he's sure she knows where her place is.

I want more time to work with Griffin before I turn him out with the others because I anticipate him being very difficult to catch when he's loose with them. Plus, I think that it will be a war between him and Chico at first. I might keep Chico out of the herd for a bit until they are established with the more reasonable horses first.