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.

I trimmed wild mustang hooves this weekend. I'm so glad to see that they remember their lessons earlier. It amazes me how much they actually retain. Even though I get almost no time with them, when I do finally stop to work with them, after the initial attempt to just avoid me, they fall back into their same old selves, just like back when I worked with them over the summer. And they are so good with their hooves. Trimming them is almost easier than the "tame" ones. These guys still think that they do need to listen to what I ask of them. The "tame" ones have learned what little things they can get away with. :) I wish I had pictures, because it was a GORGEOUS November weekend in Wisconsin (highs in the low 70's!). Maybe next weekend.

Chicken dinner

Well, I should have posted this a couple of weeks ago when we had this event. But hopefully you can still enjoy it now...if enjoy is the correct word. Remember those cute fuzzy little chicks I hatched out in May? Well, they have now become chicken dinner! My mom, dad, roommate Jen, and my grandma all had a fun afternoon catching and butchering about 35 chickens. It was quite fun. It was also my roommate's first time with butchering anything, but she really wanted to learn how to do it (she likes to be self reliant and eco-friendly), so she did it! And she did great and surprised herself.

Chicken dinner

See the facebook album for pictures of the event. They shouldn't gross any of you out, but do be prepared to see plucked chicken (dead of course).

pictures finally!

I finally got around to taking some pictures last weekend! The fall is beautiful here in Wisconsin. Because I feel like I shouldn't take the time to do it, and it takes so much longer to upload a lot of pictures to blogger, I've decided to post my facebook album. All of the following pictures were taken last Sunday. You can see Wisconsin fall colors, and horse updates.

Check out my facebook album.

Together at last

This weekend, I decided that it was time to open the panel separating the two wild ones, and let them be together. This is primarily a decision in preparation for winter...we will need to be able to water them both down in the front of the barn next to the water spigot, since we can't run a hose to them in the frigid WI winters. We use a self draining PVC pipe to get water to the horses in winter and it works great.

The opening of the panel was extremely uneventful. The two have been close to eachother on either side of the panel (even grooming eachother through it) that it was no different for them to be together. It was crazy though, to see Kachina beside Griffin because he makes her look puny! Kachina did try to show Griffin a little bit of puny mare attitude when he was eating hay with her at her pile, but she was extremely half-hearted about laying her ears back and picking up one back foot. Griffin showed no aggression at all toward Kachina.

I laughed out loud as I watch Chico notice the "new" horse in the front pen...the horse that they see and hear, but can't smell. He sauntered over, trying to look kinda tough and really cool (although a roly-poly mustang slipping on the muddy ground had a really hard time looking cool!). Griffin met him at the fence and they sniffed noses down low for a while, then Chico pawed and struck the ground over and over. Griffin stuck his nose through the panel and Chico hit him with his leg and Griffin did a squeal and spin and butted up against the panel, but there was really no kicking. Chico didn't react when Griffin did that...he just stood there trying to look really tough.

I think this will be a good step to get them all used to interacting with one another. My grand plan is to try to turn them out in the pasture over winter break. I'll be able to be around then...plus if I do it in the winter, I don't have to worry about transitioning anyone onto pasture. AND if there is an event where someone goes through the fence, we can bait them with hay if we have to recapture...just a thought. I think Kachina will be easy to approach in the pasture, but I think Griffin is going to become very hard to approach...I say that based on how they act together in the same pen. If I stand in the center, they'll both trot around me (Griffin on the outside, Kachina on the inside), and Kachina will turn and and approach me almost immediately. Griffin keeps himself on the opposite side of Kachina, no matter where I stand. I can't approach him when he is with her. But I shoo'ed her through the barn to his side and shut the gate behind so that he had to deal with me, and then I could approach and pet him. So, I see that we need to work on the trust thing a lot more, but I think he can get to be a horse for the winter...since I have no time to work with them right now.

I've been posting a lot lately! Can you tell that I've been procrastinating studying?

So, I heard an interesting fact today...it was from a study published in the Annals of Diagnostic Pathology. They analyzed the content of 8 brands of fast food hamburgers. This is what they found:

Average water content was 49%
Average meat (skeletal muscle) content was only 12%!!!!

The rest? Well, it varied, but all 8 brands had the following, in order of amount: fibrous connective tissue, blood vessels, and peripheral nervous tissue. Most also had fat tissue. Then the weird stuff? Some had unidentified plant material (could this be stomach contents?), cartilage, and bone fragments.

Yum...that's why I don't eat fast food.

I laughed when Andrea mentioned her clicker and trying to get Anchor to want to work with her...I laughed because I decided something similar with Griffin this weekend. I don't use a clicker, but I do like to use treat rewards. Well, first you have to get the horse to like treats (and take them from your hand). I offered a treat to Griffin, and it took me repeatedly shoving it between his lips before he finally decided to taste in instead of spit it out. He showed me the flehmen response after his first taste...and then chewed very pensively on the next taste. Finally, toward the end of the lesson (where I also trimmed his feet), he finally took it by choice from my hand and ate it! It's a start!

dumped

So, what do you get when you mix riding bareback on a horse that hasn't been ridden in several weeks (much less just not much all summer) and a dummy deer used for bow target practice? Yes! You get dumped in the sand! I had sand from head to toe and in my ears (and other places I won't mention). And, because I wouldn't let go of the reins, I swung down into Chico's legs and now I have a nice bruise on my back from his hoof (he was trying really hard to keep from hitting me, but I was in his way). I'm fine, and once I was on the ground, I could lead him right up to the fake deer and everything was fine, but he just couldn't face it alone.

Griffin is healing well. The swelling is almost gone from his sheath, although he still had a little fluid left under his belly (where the overflow from his sheath area emptied). He's feeling good though, and I worked with him on Saturday and trimmed all four of his hooves again, this time with the hoof stand and rasp.

I wanted to play with Kachina too, but there was no time this weekend.

Gelding pictures

My mom sent me the pictures from her camera.

Here is Griffin still recovering from the anesthetic after the "surgery".

These are his small nuts. Too bad the picture is not in focus.

And these are pictures of the swelling from today (4 days later). Do you think it is excessive? I'd say probably not, since he really can't move around much in that small pen, and I am not there to force him to move around. He seems to be walking around just fine though. I figure this pain and little bit of swelling is nothing compared to what it must have felt like when his chest abcessed liquified tissue.

Griffin is a gelding!

Sorry, not much time for posting lately. I don't have any pictures from the big event either...although I know my mom showed up later and took some pictures of me holding the horse nuts.

The whole things was more uneventful that I could have ever hoped for, especially since I have found VERY little time to do anything with any of my horses other than pet them randomly when I am doing their chores on the weekends. It really has been over 3 weeks since I've done anything with Griffin. Yet, I was able to slip a regular web halter on him with no fuss (usually he wears a rope one when I work with him), and brush him down and pick out all his feet. I also spent time pinching his neck where the needle stick would go. He was unresponsive to it.

When the vet arrived with her bucket, she walked into the pen, and Griffin stood with alert ears and was prepared to back away, but she just stood near his shoulder for a bit to let him get used to her. Then she pet him, then went right to sticking the needle in his vessel. After she first stuck it in, he did back up a couple of steps, but she just advanced, pet him, then gave him the first shot that just makes him droopy.

We stood back and let that take effect, which happened very quickly. His lips sagged and he stood with one foot cocked funny. Then she gave him the "sleepytime" shot. A minute later, he was backing up, backed into the barn wall, where he stopped, then just flopped over, rather unremarkably...he didn't lay down nicely, but he didn't really fight it either. He went down well.

Then I was amazed at how fast the actual gelding went. I held his leg for the vet while she did the cut-cut, and it was over in 5 minutes!

We chatted while we waited for Griffin to come out from under the affects of the anesthetic. She dissected the testes and explained all the parts. And she also said that they were smaller than a typical two year olds testicles. She said that he would probably not have been a good breeding stallion because he wouldn't have had the drive to do it. Which I took to mean that if he'd been in the wild, he would have been a permanent member of a bachelor herd. Well, he can be in my "bachelor" herd with 3 mares and another gelding.

Griffin came out easily too. He rolled up, tried to half-heartedly get up a couple times, but decided to wait when it was too much. Then he finally got himself up, and stood for a while.

The vet also confirmed that Griffin is indeed 2.5 years old, and Kachina is 3.5 years old. When I said that I wish she would grow, the vet went off about mustangs, and said that you'll never find a good sized mustang unless they have had a quarter horse stallion put out with the herd (not true - Griffin (from Kachina's herd) is good sized...I think Kachina is a little stunted). I agreed that most herds have had some level of domestic influence, and the vet continued to tell me that "true" mustangs all have long backs, no hip, short legs, big heads and big feet. If they are anything other than that, then they have had a quarter horse stallion put in with them. I pointed out Chico, and she said he has quarter horse in him...which I think is possible, but Chico looks more Andalusian-type to me...but the vet was on a roll. She was using Kachina as her example for this long backed big-headed mustang type...but Kachina has tiny feet (proportioned for her tiny stature), a cute head (with the slight bump above the nose typical of sulphur horses), yes, she has a longish back, but it's actually in proportion with her body. And her hip is not awful...it's just not a quarter horse butt.

She also said that only man makes horses with big butts (which is probably true), but she tried to say that wild horses don't locomote using their back ends to power with. She said only domestic horses do that, which I think is completely false. She said my long back mustang (like all mustangs) use their front ends to pull themselves along and so they won't be able to collect, and I think that's bologna! Wild horses HAVE to collect in the wild on a daily basis as they travel and interact with eachother! Argh...I wish people wouldn't always give their opinions when they weren't asked for. This is the same vet that told me that if you get a mustang as an adult, you'd never truly be able to tame it down. Anything older than a weanling or yearling is too old, she says.

But, she's older, and she does know what she's doing with vetting horses...I can't fault her for not sharing my enthusiasm for mustangs. I just hope she's not spreading that blather around to people who don't know the difference.