I can't believe it, I'm down to 3!

I'm sorry I haven't posted lately and I didn't even follow up on the nutrient deficiency post.

I can tell you that my hay when fed alone is deficient in Manganese, Copper and Zinc (average hay was only deficient in Zinc).  So my hay is lower in Copper and Manganese than the average hay values I was using previously.  Thankfully, the deficiency in those nutrients were not very great, so even my old mineral was meeting Copper and Manganese and my new mineral covers everything, so I'm happy there.

Calcium:Phosphorus ratio is 2.7:1 with the current hay and mineral supplement.  I think this is okay for my current herd at maintenance.

Interestingly, the protein content is lower than I would have thought (a little lower than the average grass hay values I was using) - adjusted crude protein is 8.99%, though the protein needs for my horses are easily met by their consumption rate currently.  If I was limiting their hay and only feeding the lower hay rate (1% of body weight), that protein content might be an issue.  I don't think it is an issue currently.

Fat was 2.98%, which was higher than the average I was using. 

And sugar content (ESC) was 9.25%.  This seems fairly average.  Not high and not low.

So my assessment is I definitely need a good mineral mix and I shouldn't limit my hay too much during the winter.  I'd like to get my grass analyzed once it grows in well this summer.  I think my pasture is also quite deficient, especially given that in the past, the main pasture has had several inches of quality topsoil removed and sold to a nearby construction project.

Okay, back to current issues.

I haven't wanted to post anything because there has been so much brewing here with trying to decrease my herd size and I haven't wanted to jinx anything!  I felt like in the past, whenever I had someone interested in a horse, then told someone how excited I was getting, that interested person totally lost interest.  So, this time around I've been keeping quiet about developments, but I can now finally divulge!

Both Griffin and Kachina have left my herd!  Kachina left back in the beginning of January, and Griffin just left this last Friday.  I am so excited for Griffin.  His new owner of course knows his whole story (she read my blog too) and she is going to work with a trainer with Griffin.  She has reported to me how he's been doing the last couple days and he is really bonding with her and settling in really well to his new home.  I'm SO SO SO happy.  At first I had a lot of anxiety and was really missing my former herd members but it is such a relief to be down to the ones that I can move forward with, given the limited time that I have to spend with them.  AND to know that Griffin is finally placed where he will be given every chance to become the horse I know he can be really makes me contented.

Here are a couple pictures of Griffin's last weekend with my herd.  We have SO much snow this year!  Griffin enjoyed his last days with us, but I know he's happy where he is at now too.  I've already gotten reports that he's been playing gelding bitey-face games with his new owners other gelding.

He is charging after the cat in this picture.

When he failed to stomp the cat, he bucked, farted, then took off back for the others.

 

 

 

Griffin's summer

I think I owe my blog an update about the summer events around here.  I've been putting it off for so long that I'm afraid my memories are tainted by the future decisions I need to make, but I'll give it a go.

The last time I wrote, I had just left Griffin at Jessie's place for a month of training/riding.  I'd worked with him with saddling, ponying, yielding to the bit, moving off of pressure on his sides, and yielding the hindquarters and fore-quarters separately.  He was lunging well, and responding in a relaxed manner.  A couple weeks before he went to Jessie's, I mounted him for the first time and asked him to just flex to the bit and yield his hindquarters to a leg cue several times.  He was pretty relaxed and did not once over-react, so that lesson was brief but ended on a good note.  I was afraid to continue with him because I felt like I didn't quite have the confidence that he needed to go further. 

I had a little bit of apprehension, mostly because I hadn't been able to work with him as often as I'd like, and I'd not yet been able to do all the crazy things that I had done with Chico to convince myself that he would not buck with me on him.  If you remember, I had ponied him off Cody, lead him through the woods, saddled and unsaddled, and he was unflappable through it all....yet, there was just something that I couldn't quite identify that put me at unease whenever I thought about giving him his first few rides.  I felt like he trusted me and he would let me do anything to him, but I also felt he was holding back a bit with his trust.  I had him lunging well in the round pen at the walk and trot, and he was catching on to voice cues, but I also felt like even though he seemed to go willingly, he wasn't quite as free as I'd like.  I hadn't worked much with him as the canter because my round pen footing was not very good, but I don't think that had anything to do with the apprehension that I had.  The things that I noticed in him were very subtle and I had a hard time explaining to any one else what it was that I felt uneasy about, and no one else that wasn't intimately involved with him like I was could see it at all.  My husband scoffed at my fears, and I chalked a lot of them up to having a lot more fear of what could happen on horses in general now that I was a mother.  I felt more vulnerable.

So given my lack of confidence, I thought the best thing to do for Griffin was send him to someone I respected who I also knew had the confidence to ride a young mustang.  I knew that Jessie would know how to read him, and would feel him out and see where she could get with him.  Jessie spent the first week getting to know Griffin on the ground.  She said the first time she went to catch him in his paddock, he wouldn't let her near him, but she just worked with him in there and in a short time, he gave that up, was facing up and letting her approach and halter him.  This is pretty typical for a mustang that has only been handled by one other person.  After the first lesson he became pretty easy for her to catch. 

She spend the first week doing groundwork and working him up to saddling.  She reported that he was very respectful and seemed to have a great foundation.  I glowed hearing those reports.  The first time she rode him, she said when she put her legs on him, he just wanted to pivot rather than go forward (probably because that's all I had asked him to do the first time I sat on him).  He eventually went forward, but was very spurty.  She got him going.  I asked her about whether or not she felt like he was a little "sticky" because that was the only word I had been able to come up with the lack of freedom of movement I felt from him.  She thought that rather than being "sticky", he seemed to be "calculated".  Once he was moving forward in the small arena, she said he was extremely smooth to ride, like he knew exactly where he was placing every foot.  She said, often, other horses she rode had a hard time with the uneven footing at first as they learned to carry her weight...but not Griffin.  Then again, he was 5 years old, so mature and balanced.  She progressed with him, moving at the walk and trot, turning, yielding hindquarters, then moved to riding him outdoors in the larger paddock area.

She had been riding him for about 2 weeks when one day, she was asking him to move at a trot, then turned him from going on a circle to the left to a circle to the right, and pushed his hindquarters to the left with her right leg at the same time.  He seemed to panic, pull his head straight and set to bucking.  She said he bucks really hard and he is really strong, so she couldn't pull him up and she came off.  Thankfully, she was okay, so she then took him back to the small indoor arena and was able ride him in there without any issues.  On a ride shortly after that (I'm not sure if it was the next ride or not), the same thing pretty much happened again.  Again Jessie took him to the indoor arena and rode him fine.  And then it happened a third time.

At this point, she decided he had some holes somewhere that needed to be worked through.  He needed to learn to deal with more pressure without over-reacting.  And she wanted to teach him that bucking was not the answer to any problem.  She worked him from the ground using a flank rope that she could immediately loosen and give him relief when he quit bucking.  He was starting to understand that bucking was a lot of work and was reacting less and less to the flank rope.  She also worked with desensitizing him with a feed sack tied to a rope.  Her thought was that he had panicked and bucked the first time because he suddenly saw her out of his right eye - he just seemed a little one sided and she wanted him to get used to seeing things following him out of both eyes.  She used a long rope tied to the feed sack that she could loop over the saddle horn and hold on to, so that she had control of where it dragged as he moved.  She also could toss it toward him and get him used to objects moving quickly.   Jessie reported that with the feed sack, she got to see Griffin's "wild" side.  This was all conveyed over email and she didn't go much into detail, but we decided he'd stay with her another 2 weeks for a total of 45 days to see if she could get him past the bucking.  She didn't have time beyond that because she was starting a new job in August. 

Two more weeks passed, and it was time to go pick Griffin up.  Jessie has warned me that she had not been able to ride him much in those two weeks...there were days when he was so tense she didn't even feel she could mount up.  I wanted her to show me all the work she'd done with him so I knew where to pick up.  When I arrived with the trailer, she was saddling him up in the barn.  She said he had learned to stand ground tied and he always did accept saddling without any concern at all.  She also wondered if his bucking might have had something to do with her saddle not fitting right, and she had added another pad to it.  Griffin is narrower than most of her other horses.  Then she proceeded to show me the ground work she'd been doing the last few weeks.  He was definately reactive with the flank rope still, but really not bad.  He would hump and jump a few strides but then quit and stand and face her.  Then she got out the feed sack.  I could immediately see the tension rise in him.  The feed sack was all tied up in a tiny ball, not even big, loose and floppy.  But still, the meer sight of it got him ramped up.  She tossed it at him...he alternated between strong reactions, and then just flinching as it came at him...but he wasn't accepting it, just barely tolerating it.  Then Jessie looped the rope over the saddle horn to let him drag it.  As soon as it started following him, he started scooting forward, occasionally kicking at the feed sack that was dragging about 10 ft behind him.  At one point, when he kicked at it, his leg got tangled in the rope and the feed sack was sucked up against his leg - then all hell broke loose!!!!!  Griffin went crazy bucking, kicking, striking, all the way around the arena until the rope came loose and the feed sack and rope fell away from his leg.  Then he skidded to a stop, facing Jessie in the center of the arena, blowing hard with a little bit of a confused look on his face.  WOW!!!  He bucks BIG!  He got huge air in those jumps.  Jessie said THAT was the "wild" side she was describing before.  He was super defensive about that feed sack and absolutely did not like it.  He seemed to tolerate it okay during some lessons, but when something unexpected happened, like during this short lesson, he'd come unglued.  Jessie just shook her head at him.  I could see that she was a bit confused by his reactions too.  Why did he seem so calm, but yet so "wild"?  Why was he going so well at first, but then seemed to have this huge setback.

Well, I took Griffin home fully understanding what he was capable of.  To say I was intimidated was an understatement, but I also thought maybe he reacted so strongly to these things because he didn't fully trust Jessie?  Maybe he trusted me more, since I'd worked with him more, and he'd settle down with me?  I'd also never quite pushed him to the extent that Jessie did, and maybe he was pushed too fast?  But then again, maybe I was holding him back by not pushing him along a little harder?  It's difficult to know when you need to actually push a little bit to get the horse able to increase the size of his comfort zone, and when you might actually be pushing too much.

Now I have to share this little side story...it embarrasses me to no end to share it, but it illustrates Griffin's steadfast nature...the rock solidness of him that makes me question how he can be so worried of certain things and so sticky and...well, let me get on with this story.  So, on my way back, it was about a 3 hour drive.  I checked the gas guage on the way down and estimated that I should be able to make it home without filling up.  Well, I underestimated how much extra fuel it takes to pull a trailer and I wasn't paying close attention to the gas guage, so I ran out of gas...ON THE INTERSTATE!!!!  Yes, I was going along when the power suddenly started to stall out.  I immediately realized the stupid thing I had done and started searching for where to stop.  Luckily, I saw a road crossing the wide, treed median (I was in the left lane), and was able to pull into that between the two lanes as the truck died.  I felt this was a better option than alongside the road on the right side because I could be farther away from the traffic, and there were a few trees.  So another awful fact that made this such a stupid thing was that it was 99 degrees F!  Griffin was just fine going down the interstate at 65 mph with tons of airflow through the trailer, but he was going to cook in there while we waited for my husband to bring a tank of gas (we were now only 30 minutes from home).  I had no choice but to take him out of the trailer and stand under the trees.  I had awful visions of the terrible things that could happen to a loose panicking horse on the interstate as I opened the trailer doors.  But Griffin just stood calmly, a little confused about trailering in general.  He was totally unconcerned as I lead him out of the trailer into the bright, hot sun with 4 lanes of heavy traffic (including semi's!) whizzing all around us.  We walked into a little pocket between some trees where the state trooper usually likes to hide and got to know eachother a little better.  I rubbed him, and let him graze the drought ridden grass.  A state trooper did pull in to see if we were alright, and then my husband showed up.  Griffin loaded right back up into the trailer no problems at all, and we were on our way home with no further happenings.

Once home, he was ecstatic to be back with his herd.  Right away, I started working him again.  He had become so reactive simply to ropes touching his legs while he was moving (he had never been reactive before the feed sack), so my first goal was that he had to get over that.  We spent several lessons dragging a long rope tied to the saddle horn that touched his legs that he occasionally stepped on.  When stepped on, the rope pulled at the saddle horse.  The first lesson, he did buck some and kick at it repeatedly, but he did get over it.  I pushed him to keep moving at a trot while the rope touched him.  I wanted him to just ignore it completely.  The second lesson, I started with a shorter rope, then progressed to a longer rope and he really did well, only bucking the first time the rope touched him going in one direction and not at all after that...just a little scooty at times.  After several lessons like that and also working with a rope draped around his rump without negative reactions, I decided to start with long-lines.  I had not done this with him before, but thought it would be the best way to make him deal with things touching him on the sides, legs, and also dealing with bit pressure at the same time.  When I use long-lines in the round pen, I stand in the middle and have the lines looped through the stirrups (tied together under his belly) to the bit.  He has to deal with the outside rein either over the saddle, over his rump or around below his rump above his hocks.  He has to follow bit pressure and turn to the outside to change directions when asked.  This is a lot to deal with and he was absolutely awesome the very first time. 

We did this several lessons.  He was so awesome that at times, if he chose to turn the wrong way and started to get all wound up in the ropes, he would stop, think and then turn back the other direction and unwind himself, all without getting reactive.  I decided at that point that he should be able to deal with a rider, especially since he'd been ridden successfully for a few weeks before he every started bucking.  As I got ready to mount, up I did the same pre-mounting things I did every lesson, flexing to the bit, slapping the stirrups against the saddle.  Then I stood in one stirrup and laid across the saddle.  I asked him to flex to the left, no problem.  When I asked him to flex to the right, he would turn, but then immediately pull his head straight again.  As I did this repeatedly, standing in both sides of the stirrups (but not mounting fully), I could see his head coming up higher and higher, and he was getting more tense.  And still, when I asked him to flex to the right, he seemed to not want to see me out of that eye at all.  At that point, I chickened out and decided I was not going to mount up and try to ride.  And then my husband pulled up to check on me, as I had told him I was going to ride Griffin and I needed someone to be there, just in case.  I showed him the tenseness and one-sidedness I was seeing and he didn't seem as concerned as I was.  So I asked him if he wanted to get on, and I'd just lead Griffin a couple steps.  He made friends with Griffin, petting and rubbing him and mounting slowly, then continuing to pet and rub while he was up there.  Griffin knew he was up there, and was hesitant, but seemed okay.  I asked him to take one step forward and then stop.  When he stopped, he swayed a bit with uneasiness, but I petted him and talked to him and he steadied.  Then I asked for another single step...that's when all hell broke loose, again.  I had told my husband to just bail if Griffin started bucking, so he was already half ready with his feet out of the stirrups, but that didn't help him any.  I felt totally helpless watching as Griffin went crazy bronc bucking, with the one I love stuck in the saddle.  He finally cleared himself and landed in the sand, and Griffin stopped bucking immediately.  My poor honey was mostly unhurt, just a few bruises, a cut on his eyebrow and a black eye (from the saddlehorn).

Needless to say, I was mortified.  I could have gotten my husband seriously hurt.  And I felt that there was really no reason for Griffin to have reacted as strongly as he did.  Sure, my honey is heavier than I am, but he is also fairly familiar to Griffin too.  I felt that bucking episode was uncalled for and illustrated to me that he had learned that it was okay to buck to unload what was making him uneasy.  He'd done it 4 times now. After the bucking, I lunged him aggressively to make him work hard, but neither of us was about to mount him again.

Now I want to clarify that I'd checked Griffin's back when he came home from the trainer and he wasn't tender in any areas.  He seemed equally flexible in both directions.  He moved readily at all gaits in the pasture.  I'm pretty sure his one-sidedness is in his brain.  And Griffin is definitely still leary of people.  Even with me.  When I have him caught in the round pen or on the lead line somewhere, he is really obedient, willing, and calm.  When he is loose in the pasture, I can approach him readily, but it doesn't take much to make him move away and take off.  If I'm walking near him in the pasture, he almost always takes a few steps away from me, then turns around to face me.  I generally stop moving and wait till he stops and faces up, then I can walk right up to him.  I always have to let him sniff my hand, then I can move to rub his neck and halter him, or just rub him  or pick up his feet if I don't have a halter with me.  Another interesting note: Jessie said she was catching him pretty easily right up until she started working with him on more desensitizing after his bucking episodes - then he decided getting caught wasn't fun and she had to work to catch him every day.  And the first time I tried to catch him in the pasture at home after bringing him back, he couldn't let me near him.  I decided to bribe them all into the mustang pen with grain so I could close him in there and then catch him, but all I really had to do was start calling all the horses.  Then he walked right up to me, almost like "oh!  It's you!  I remember your voice!"  Then I never had another problem catching him.  Of course, I use treats, and Jessie doesn't. 

So, I think that Griffin needs a LOT more work.  His little bit of distrust and stickiness has turned into a HUGE problem.  I don't have the experience, nor the time to work him through that.  I'm just not sure what else I need to do to earn his trust, other than to push him harder to deal with scary things.  I feel like I've already been working very slowly at it and it hasn't gotten us very far.  Maybe he does just need more slow work.  I don't think that Griffin is beyond help, but I also know that I can't get him to where he needs to be.  To put it simply, I am not going to risk my safety to do it.  It really sucks, especially considering that I have a lot invested in him, emotionally and financially.  Even if I was able to justify spending the money to send him to another trainer for several months, I could never guarantee that I could keep him going when he came back.  I wish I had known what life would have thrown at me later before I adopted him, but I didn't know.  I think if he'd have been as easy as Chico or Catlow, the time wouldn't have been an issue really.  But the point is, I can't do it.  And I also can't justify him living out the rest of his life here as a pasture ornament.  He is only 5.  I want him to go to someone who wants to work him through his issues, but I have contacted several trainers, and Jessie has also asked around in the mustang world, and no one is willing to take on another horse.  I've been looking for several months now.  Part of the problem I think is that this has been such a bad year for hay.  Very few people want to feed another mouth this winter.

I just recently listed him for sale on craigslist.  It's sort of my last hope.  I really want to be sure that he goes to an experienced home, because he is going to need it.  And I fear what might happen to him if things don't work out, or where he might ultimately end up if I lose track of him.  I would feel better letting him go knowing he was with an experienced mustang trainer, but no luck there.  I have few other options.  I've been hesitating describing Griffin's story because I'm still not sure how it is going to end.  And I go back and forth constantly on the decisions that I make regarding his future.  It doesn't help that sometimes he is really sweet.  For example, today was in the 40's but sunny, so I hauled my trimming equipement into the pasture to work on Catlow and Cody.  Griffin hung out with me the whole time, standing nearby, sniffing my hair, overturning my bucket of rasps and nippers, and then when I turned to him to pick up a hoof, he was ready and willing to stand without a halter.  He loved me brushing the burdocks out of his mane.  Sometimes he can be very appreciative of me, but often he is a little reserved until his curiosity gets the better of him.

Feels a little lonely with only 4 in my pasture

It's not what you think.  Some of you may know that I listed Kachina for sale, with one very interested party, that soon after fell through.  Since then, I have not had a single call about her.  So, she is still in my pasture.

It is Griffin who is not in my pasture, but it is only temporary!  He is with a talented young mustang trainer, Jessie of If Wishes Were Horses.  For those of you who don't know, Jessie placed 8th in the Extreme Mustang Makeover in Madison, WI this April!  This was her second time competing.  I've watched her since she trained her first mustang for the EMM a few years ago and I respect her methods and like her results.  So I asked if she'd be interested in taking on a little summer project.  She said she was excited to work with another mustang.  I think she'll have fun with him.  I think he's pretty close to being ready to ride, and I am relieved to have him at a place where I know he'll get consistent work and a good foundation. 

I've been working a little with him since school got out, but primarily walks on the trail and ponying on the trail.  I've also really been getting him used to the trailer.  After his first trailer loading experience back in February, I've not tried since.  He was so uncomfortable with it then, didn't want to load, and was having difficulty listening to me when I was asking him to load.  So I wanted him to have some more time with me working him on the ground.  I think it paid off.  I first lunged him at the opening (something I didn't do in February because the ground was so squishy), and then asked him to send in.  When he was making a good effort sending in and coming out, then I lead him in, and he followed me right in.  He was still a little nervous about it, but I just tried to make it fun and never made him stand in there too long.  I wanted to be able to close the divider on him by the time I drove him to Jessie's but he wasn't comfortable enough for me to feel safe tying him and closing the divider.  He was just a little claustrophobic about it.  So I never tried, and just let him ride loose.  For me, it was a big success because he loaded up with very little insistence from me.  Time will come when I can close the divider too.

He rode in the trailer very well.  I could feel it when he turned around in the trailer twice to change the direction he was facing.  He prefers to face backwards.  This is a picture of Griffin checking out the scenery at a rest stop along the way. 

The drive was about 2.5 hours.  When we got to Jessie's he unloaded easily looked around with interest, then started grazing.  He was so relaxed about being in a new location.  I was really pleased to see that.  And he settled right into his pen.

I'm looking forward to hearing updates on his progress!

Ponying Griffin...and our first ride!

The Midwest Horse Fair is going on in Madison this weekend.  I had planned to go, but then decided that I'd rather spend the time with my own horses than watching other peoples horses.

Today Cody and I ponied Griffin on a long trail ride.  I hadn't gotten him out and saddled him up in almost a month and a half.  That month and a half ago, I had put the bridle on him, but not for that long.  He never quit mouthing the bit the whole time.

Today I saddled him up and put the bridle on again.  Once again, he mouthed the bit the whole time we were out on our ride. He would quit at times, especially when he was listening to the dogs crashing in the woods, or when I was giving him a treat for being such a good boy.  But then he'd start back up mouthing it again.  I think it will take him a while to get over that, as he is such a mouthy horse.  He likes to mouth things.

I tied the reins up with the leather strings from my saddle so that he would get used to the feel of them as we walked along.  We also trotted a few times.  He was keeping up pretty well toward the end, having sorted out where it was comfortable to walk without being pulled on constantly.   I think at first he was so distracted with the bit that he wasn't paying attention to Cody when she would pick up the pace. 

He was sweaty when we got back, and Cody wasn't.  He must be more out of shape than she is!  After I got Cody untacked, I worked a lot more on the ground with Griffin, showing him that he can flex to the bit, and reminding him how to step over with his hinds when I push his side with the stirrup.  Then I flapped the stirrups and started putting weight on the saddle.  He was pretty much planted to the ground by that time, so I stood up in the stirrups and leaned over the saddle from both sides.  I rubbed him a lot, and he was completely unconcerned.  Remember that he was mouthing the bit this whole time too.  He got pretty good as responding to the rein pull asking him to flex even while mouthing.

I was pretty happy with how he was responding, so I took him to the round pen, did the whole routine again, then just mounted up.  I continued to rub him on his neck, his sides, his rump, and asked him to flex back and forth.  When he got really good with that, I started asking him to step his hindquarters over with a leg cue and clucking.  He stepped right over!  So we did that several times, both directions, until I felt like it was pretty automatic for him and he was comfortable with it.  All this was over course intersperse with lots of scratches and a even his first treat from him back!  He was great!  Then I dismounted.  I still have some more groundwork that I'd like him to be solid with before I really ride him around the round pen, but this was a great start.  I definitely feel less confident about starting Griffin, even though I know he has a good mind and is doing well.  It's just that I haven't been able to work with him as consistently as I'd like, and because of that, there are definitely some things I haven't gotten to, like I did with the other two mustangs.  Basically, I like to do all kinds of things that desensitize them to everything they might encounter with me, but more importantly I like to show myself that they really will react well with any thing I do with them.  Some things I do are ground driving, tying full 2-liter soda bottles to the saddle to simulate flopping legs, moving with the breeching (or even a loaded pack saddle).  I like them to know their gaits with word cues, but we haven't quite got there yet with Griffin.  I know not all this is absolutely necessary for a successful start, but it is necessary to give me the confidence that everything will go smoothly, even if something goes wrong...if they know all the basics really well, even in a big spook or something else, they will fall back on the training they've had rather than panic and buck me off!  That's my hope anyway, and it's worked really well for the previous two mustangs.

And the picture below is Griffin's "after" the ride picture.  I had my husband watching while I did all this in the round pen just in case something went bad, but he didn't want to get off his lawn mower to take any pictures for me.  Maybe tomorrow!

Griffin was so happy to get the bit off.

More trimming

It's been a busy last couple of weeks.  Several exams, including one yesterday and one today, which means that I was pretty busy studying this weekend.  I really dislike studying on the weekends since that is my only time at home with family and animals, but sometimes it has to be done!  Even so, I did trim a couple horses and worked with Griffin a bit.  And I realized that I have not posted many pictures recently so I took some as I walked through the pasture...not super exciting, but better than nothing!  The first picture is Cody, my oldest mare and most dominant horse in my herd.  The picture below is her hooves which are at 6 weeks of growth, meaning she was due for a trim (and got trimmed on Sunday).

Cody is one of those horses that I think have feet that are too small for the size of her body, given that she weighs about 200-400 lbs more than any of my other horses and their feet are the same size as hers.  In fact, Catlow's feet are BIGGER than Cody's and Catlow is definitely about 300lb less than Cody.  She also has chronic thrush that I've never been able to get rid of (but not too sore from it), and has thin soles and has always been ouchy on hard gravel.

I caught Catlow snoozing at one point as I walked through the pasture.  She was so cute.  Her eyes were closed and everything.  She woke up when I walked past, but lay still as I patted her on the head.

Catlow's feet are only a couple weeks out from having been trimmed, so she still looks nice and tight.  Chico's feet are last and he was trimmed at the same time as Catlow.  I love horse feet.

The other horse that was trimmed this weekend was Griffin.  He was long overdue.  My neighbor was kind enough to sharpen my tools for me and then hold Griffin while I trimmed him up over at their place.  He was pretty good, except for not really being excited about standing still to let me trim his hinds.  It took some consistent following him and asking for his hoof back before he stood and relaxed.  It also took some time to get used to letting my neighbor handle him.  Griffin's feet tend to spread out when they get long like platters, and not in a good way...they get too shallow in the sole and he gets significant separation of the white line with the leverage produced by the long hoof wall.  So when I trim them the right length, his soles have very little concavity.  I've made a promise to him and myself that I am going to keep up with him and trim him every 6 weeks or less with the goal of tightening up his white line and building some better sole concavity.  He has thin soles too, although they are not as ouchy as Cody's.

Balance

I'm trying to have more balance in my life this semester.  Last semester I realized at the end of the year that I hadn't done hardly anything with my horses or my friends...it was all school and family.  Both of those things are definitely priorities, but life does need more balance, so I'm trying to find it this semester.  Plus, I have a goal this year.  I want Griffin to be ridden on the trail this summer.  I've been trying to do something with my horses every weekend, at least once.  Griffin is a priority right now, and if I have additional time, I'm riding the "old" ones.  Kachina is going to have to wait a bit (maybe she'll grow more if I give her more time off :)  Not likely...) 

Last weekend and the next couple of weeks, I'm trying to get the hooves of all 6 trimmed up.  I got Cody at the end of January, Chico and Catlow last weekend.  Next weekend is Pumpkin, then Griffin, then Kachina.  Then start all over again with Cody.  Trimming is frustratingly never ending, but I do like doing it.  I like that part of my relationship with my horses.  I like knowing them inside and out and since their feet are such a big part of them, I get great satisfaction in maintaining them.  I got even more excited about trimming after discussing it with the farrier that works on horses at the vet school.  I really like our farrier.  He is a really friendly guy, likes to explain what he's doing and how the feet and whole horse work together, and he is not "stuck in a rut" as far as farrier work goes.  He learns new techniques, and works closely with the veterinarians in the clinic, analyzing radiographs of hooves to best determine how to help lame horses.  I'm hoping to hang out and learn from him more often.

On Sunday I got Griffin out and saddled him up for the 3rd time.  I saddled him next to the horse trailer rather than in the round pen because to get to the roundpen means carrying my saddle all the way up there (it's a ways and uphill).  I figured that my horse should be carrying my saddle up there for me, so we worked at standing next to the trailer and accepting saddling calmly.  He stands really well for the saddle pad (I toss it on and off repeatedly from both sides), but he generally wants to back up when I approach his side with the saddle.  I just pull him back forward and swing the saddle up and down at his side several times and back away.  Then I do it again, and he stands very well once I start swinging it.  Then I swing it up on his back.  He stands, but I feel that he wants to step away when I swing it up there.  He'll get better.  It's only his 3rd time wearing it!  Once his saddle is on, he stands extremely patiently while I I fiddle with getting the breast collar on and all the buckled just right.  And cinching is smooth. 

After tacking up, I dug out my breeching for him to wear.  For those who don't know, a breeching is a harness that goes around the horse's rump and attaches to the back of the saddle and to the rings on the cinch.  It is worn in mountain riding to prevent the saddle from sliding forward.  I used it with Chico when we packed into the Cascades in Washington, and I like to use it as a training tool to get horses used to things touching them all over when they are moving.  In the round pen, I swung it around Griffin's rump to get him used to it, then tossed it up on top, attached it to the ring on the back of the saddle, and slid the strap around his rump.  He stood calmly, completely unconcerned.  It was cold out, and I had to fiddle with the buckles for quite a while to loosen them enough to enlarge the breeching.  I think the last horse that wore it was Catlow as a 4 year old, and I couldn't believe how much larger I had to make it.  When Chico wore it as a 3 year old, it was even smaller yet!  If Chico wore it now, I'd have to make it even larger than I did for Griffin...he has really matured into a big stout horse.  Anyway, Griffin was great, although on his right side, I had to follow him for a few steps while he circled away from me (that's his most uncomfortable side), but he stopped and then just stood for several minutes while I got the breeching adjusted just right.  When I asked him to move out around me, he did so calmly, paying the breeching no mind, so we did some basic exercises (flexing, yeilding fores and hinds, backing, responding to cues where my leg will be), and then we got out of the round pen (still deep and crusty with snow) and went for a walk.

Back at the trailer after our nice walk, I looped the leadrope through the tie ring and had him practice standing tied while I unsaddled him.  He did well.  I don't want to tie him fast to a trailer that is not attached to a vehicle, when he is not used to being restrained so near one just in case he were to freak out.

As I walked home through the pasture, Kachina asked to be haltered so she could have a treat, so I did halter her.  I lead her through the pasture and on top of the hill.  She was so calm until I tapped her on the withers with the gloves in my hand.  If the gloves has been on my hand, I dont' think she would have reacted, but as it was, the gloves were now foreign and she jumped back and got all huffy and upset.  So I of course had to work with rubbing her and tapping her with my gloves to desensitize her.  She relaxed a tad after a bit, so then I led her down and out the gate into my yard and lunged her in a circle for a bit just to practice changing directions and listening to my body language outside the pasture.  We still have about 4-5 inches of crusty snow, so she had to pick her feet up high as she trotted around me with energy.  Lunging Kachina is an exercise in directing her high energy - she moves easily, I don't have to nag at her, and she doesn't pull on the halter.  She is fun to lunge because of that.  I couldnt' have picked two more opposite horses to work with out of the Sulphur Springs HMA.  She is sensitive, energetic, thin skinned, a flighty.  Griffin is more secure, much less reactive, not flighty at all, and he tends to be a little dull at times with cues.  Lunging him is a nagging feat if I want him to go faster than a trot.  That is something that I have not been working on yet since my round pen footing is not good enough for it yet (with the snow and all, and then the deep sand underneath).  I plan to work on that more before I ever get on his back.  I want him to move more freely.  That stickiness scares me a bit...I find it easier to control a horse that will respond to my cues even if they are fast and flying around, than one that might freeze up and stop responding.  I'd rather they go forward than freeze up!  But I am not that worried about Griffin.  I think things will go quite smoothly when we get there.  I think I could ride him at a walk/trot in the round pen tomorrow without it being a wreck, but I want to be a little more convinced that Griffin knows how to respond to me under any circumstances...I'm not in a hurry.  I have a baby to think about.  :)

First Saddling

I saddled Griffin for the first time today!  He has worn a surcingle maybe 4 or 5 times before over the course of the last 7 months, and the last 2 times were with a blanket under the surcingle.  He has always accepted the surcingle without any concern and the saddle was the same way.  He acted like he wasn't even wearing it, that's how unconcerned he was.  I know he knew it was up there though because he did bite the right stirrup once.  And the first time I swung it up on his back, he moved a step away as I swung it at him, but it landed on his back and he did not react further.  The next couple of times I swung it up on his back, he was unconcerned.  And he stood nicely while I fiddled with all the straps, got the cinch attached (I always store my saddles with the cinch removed), tightened the cinch, then attached the breast collar.  I lunged him at a walk and briefly at a trot with it on (my roundpen is drifted deep with snow in spots, so I could only use 1/4 of it while I saddled him), then we left the pen for a walk down the road.  The snow is too deep right now to walk through the woods.  The road is a little snowy too, but he walks carefully and isn't spooky, so I figured we'd be okay.  And there are bare spots in places, where I led him at a trot.  He really paid the saddle no mind!  He is so laid back.  I am pretty sure that my difficulty with him will be getting good forward movement from him when ridden.  He's not balky, but I think he'll see no need to go fast.  Let's hope anyway!  I like a nice laid back horse on the trail, but I also don't want to fight with him over increasing speed.  I don't think that will be the case though...all the other horses I've trained are pretty good at responding to cues, so I think I might do an okay job at teaching it.

Doesn't he look handsome in a saddle?

My difficulty today was trying to get a nice picture of him from the side to show off his saddle.  He really just wants to follow me when I back away from him.  I tried lunging him at a walk but my rope was too short to get his whole body in the shot.

This was his prefered position...nose to me.

I finally did get a whole body shot once we got back to the shed.  I had to tie him to do it!

Griffin needs to have his teeth checked.  He has some lumps on the inside of his cheeks that I can feel and I think they are causing him to get food caught up alongside his teeth when he chews...at least that's what happens when I feed him treats.  I think he has ulcers probably from sharp points on his molars.  He may also still have some caps on his molars to shed.  I couldn't feel any wolf teeth, but I was also trying to keep my fingers from accidently getting crunched in his molars, so I might have missed some.  I am planning to try to get him in at the vet school in March so that I can have a teaching session on him.  Floating teeth is definitely something I want to incorporate into my future work.  Griffin will be fine until then.  His teeth aren't causing him enough trouble to prevent him from getting "fluffy" this winter.  :)

And onto 2012

Well, I survived my last semester at school, but I blogged less than I ever have since starting my blog a few years ago!  The semester went well, but my time was pretty focused on school, then Wren (when I came home and she was awake), then school in the evening after she was asleep.  And weekends were focused on family when I could, but studying when I had tests looming early the next week, which thankfully were not often.

While I did visit them in the pasture (Wren really likes the horses), my horses have mostly been ignored.

I did make time for some hoof trims and did ride once or twice over the course of the semester.  Now that I'm on winter break (for a whole month!!!), and the holidays are over with, I finally feel rested and recovered.  And I have now ridden three times since Christmas!  I know!  That's a lot!  And I have the sore butt to prove it! 

Sadly, I've put the young horses on the backburner and really have not done any work with them, even though I had Griffin ready to work with me before school got busy.  I've really decided that I need to downsize my herd, but that is so hard to think about.  I worry about where they will go and what may ultimately happen to them.  So making that decision is really hard, but I know I will not have the time to work with them.  My original three are never for sale (Cody, Chico, Catlow), but the others are all being considered up for sale.  I'll work on that more this spring, since I doubt anyone is looking to add to their herd in the middle of winter.

And my nice snowy horse picture that I added to my header is sort of deceiving.  That picture was taken last winter in February.  We had a lot of snow.  This year, we have NO snow so far (the pics in this post were taken about a week ago and reflect what we truly have, with the exception of the dusting from a couple days ago which will be gone when it hits melting temps tomorrow).  It's been a crazy mild winter.  A blessing in some respect (it sure makes it easier to feed our 150 cows and horses and I've been able to ride anywhere I want), but I do miss the snow.  I guess I won't be cross-country skiing anytime soon!

And even though I haven't blogged at all, I have still kept up with most blogs I've always followed, just reading them whenever I needed a mental break while studying...which is often!  I hope you all had wonderful holidays!

Fall

I have been pretty busy with school.  I've been able to do a few things with my horses (primarily maintenance stuff and riding the old steady-eddies), but Griffin has really been put on the backburner.  Today, the weather was so nice.  I had to get out and do something with him.  We went for a walk in the late fall woods.  He is such a good boy.

Stopped to try to get a nice shot of him with the yellow leaves in the background, but he wouldn't stay back and kept following me when I tried to back away to get a pic.

The bright maples have pretty much lost all their leaves, but the brownish red oaks and yellow aspens are still holding on.

Griffin has very soft eyes.  They were not always like this.

You can see the faint whitish scar on his cornea that is currently remodelling - it used to be much more opaque.  I think it will eventually go away completely.

My mom watched my daughter while I played with Griffin and she took this picture of me working with him in my neighbor's arena.  It was the first time I'd taken him over there, but he was pretty relaxed about it.  In fact, as I was talking with my neighbor about the fact that Griffin can still occasionally be reactive when I move too fast toward him, and I tried to demonstrate by jumping at him and startling him, he didn't hardly react at all!   He just backed away from me, but there was no overreaction.  I think his overreacting primarily happens when he's loose in the pasture and hasn't been around me for a while.

The horses got a new round bale today and they are quite happy.  They are not so happy that I haven't let them out in the pasture for a month and a half now, and the grass is still green.  I wanted the pastures to get a bit of a break before winter.  They've been heavily grazed for several years now, and are showing signs of damage in the favorite grazing spots (the lawns).  There is still a lot of taller grass (the roughs), but they prefer to go over and over the same short spots and the poor grass there is starting to thin out and it doesn't recover even after it's had a break.  It needs a whole year off, but I'm not sure how to give it that.  That would require fencing in the field around the pond, and I don't really want to do that.  It's too nice to have to ride in.

More Griffin time

I worked with Griffin again this weekend. He was awesome once again. This time we added the blanket under the surcingle. He is completely non-reactive to it, even when I push him really hard. We began learning voice cues today for "trot" and "canter". I don't like to drill it into him...I just use the works as I ask him to canter with the stick and string. I don't expect it will take him long to connect it, since today I noticed that he knows the word "back". Imagine my surprise when he took a step back when I was just talking to him and my sentence happened to include the work "back". I have never tried to enforce just the word cue since I usually give a leadrope cue as well, but it seems he has figured it out!

We took a walk to the pond and he drank from the pond, and then followed me in.

But the duck that my dogs scared out of the cattails gave him a bit of a start.

The apple tree we came across was heavenly!

Back to school

Today, Griffin learned some new things in the round pen.  First, we lunged, did desensitizing, yielding the hind quarters, yielding the forequarters, lateral flexing and backing.  He's done all that before, although it has been a long time since I've consistently asked him to do any of it.  But we worked on perfecting his response to all those cues. We also learned to back up with a wiggle of the rope today rather than just the lead signal.   Then, I used a small lightweight saddle blanket to desensitize him and get him used to wearing it on his back.  He did great with this.  I expected that since I've put a fleece cooler on him before without any problems.  Then I got out the surcingle.  I wasn't quite sure what he'd do with it, since the rings on it were very jingly, and there were strings hanging off it, but after the blanket, apparently the surcingle was absolutely no big deal.  I practiced pulling it tight without buckling it first (no reaction, he got a treat reward for standing), then buckled it up snugly, but not tight.  He paid no attention to it, even through flexing and lunging.  And he's now becoming more comfortable with lunging.  He's finally starting to understand that I'm not just chasing him around (he responds by snorting at first, whenever I begin asking him to lunge).

Griffin says "What do we do now?".

Friday was my first day of classes.  Silly, I know, since then we got a 3 day weekend.  But both Wren and I made it through, although not without tears on my end!  I'm really dreading the next 3 years.  It's going to be so hard to sacrifice my time with Wren to school.  But I'm focusing on the end.  We'll make it...I hope.

In the meantime, I really love blogging (posting what I'm doing and reading other's posts), but it takes a lot of time.  Now my schedule is even more packed and to keep up with all the things I want to do, I think I'm going to have to let the blogging slide.  I will still check in once in a while (probably once or twice a week), and I think I'll still post, when I actually get to do things with my horses (which I plan to try to do every weekend), but my posts might be more brief...and I might let the photos do the talking more than me.  We'll see.  I am just letting you know that I'm not going to dissappear forever, just become a lot less present. 

In the meantime, you can see more of my horses in the pasture, since that is the view that I will miss the most while I'm down in Madison during the week in school.  Well, that view and my daughter's beautiful face, but at least she is coming with me to Madison so I get to see her every evening and we'll be together all night long.  Daddy is the one who will be missing out the most.  He only gets to see us on weekends now.  And now, I must go and enjoy my long weekend home.

The herd heads back toward the barn...probably for water.

Griffin lags behind.

But the herd is lolly-gagging so he easily catches up.  He shows Kachina he's her boss by pushing her forward in front of him.