Driving

Things had been going so well, and then my back gave out again in December. Frustrating. For weeks I couldn't do anything. When I could finally walk again, I wasn't comfortable sitting, and had to keep my back very still even if I moved. Riding was clearly out of the question.

I decided to work with Duchess on driving. I ground drove her a few times, and she was getting used to it. I started thinking that it would be useful if she could drag our fields.

I made a sort of harness, intended only to allow her to drag something on the ground. After several sessions of ground driving, we hooked up "traces" attached to a 5" diameter 48" log.

She was her usual stoic self about the log; I was very proud of her. She did exhibit some confusion, and she appears to be responding to the feel of the drag on her chest by trying to go left or right. But she tried hard, and she was very obedient and sweet.
Some pics.

I think she'd still prefer to be ridden.

(Added on Friday, February 20, 2004 @ 07:39:41 PM)


I Rode!

I've been missing riding so much.

I've been lunging Kat to keep her...well, more fit than she would be if she were a pasture potato. Now, Kat *likes* the be ridden. Usually I lunge her before riding; recently she's been trying to cut lunging sessions short and come right up to me. It's like she's trying to insist that weget on with the actual riding, please.

It had been a whole day since anything set my back off. Stiff, but not painful. I was feeling brave. I grabbed my helmet, hooked the lead rope up as reins (best way to ride!) and climbed on from a sawhorse. I didn't ride for more than a minute, and certainly didn't do any more than a walk. But I think both of us are miles and away happier :) The short walk didn't set off my back either. I am pleased; I think I'll be riding briefly every few days now.

(Added on Monday, March 01, 2004 @ 04:56:50 PM)


Driving

It rained hard for a couple of weeks. The ground was seriously mushy. I wasn't lunging at all, and even that little log was too much weight to drag on the ground.

Today I hooked Duchess up to the log for the second time. She was wonderful. Responding a little more quickly, so I think she's a little less confused; seems much happier about the whole thing. Stil having a little trouble going straight...just going to have to learn that the weight on her chest is not directing her.

(Added on Monday, March 01, 2004 @ 06:05:34 PM)


Lunged & Rode

I have been doing some clipping of the horses this week; it's in the 80's and they're sweating just standing around. I can only do a little at a time, though, thanks to my back.

Today I got Kat a fair amount clipped. I think she appreciates the airflow :) I came out later, and took her down to free lunge her; she just went berserk. Ran and ran and ran. Looked like she was enjoying herself. All I did was make sure she went in both directions.

I walked her for a while to cool her some, then climbed on bareback again. We walked for about half a minute or so. Ah...it feels good to ride.

(Added on Wednesday, March 03, 2004 @ 06:27:02 PM)


Lunged & Ridden, too

While I was walking Kat, John lunged Duchess a bit. She wasn't quite as loony as Kat was.

He rode Duch bareback while I rode Kat. Neither of them exactly got a serious ride in, but hey. As they went by the fence and the neighbor mare charged up and tried to get Duch to play. John says she tensed a little, but then relaxed and was entirely attentive to John. Such a nice girl :)

(Added on Wednesday, March 03, 2004 @ 06:29:35 PM)


Brief Lunge

Lunged briefly today. Had an unusual experience; Kat walked away hen I got close with the halter. I think she's a little sore from yesterday. That's actually why we were lunging, to veeeery lightly work the muscles she used so hard yesterday.

Went around about twice in walk each direction, then about twice in trot each direction.

(Added on Thursday, March 04, 2004 @ 10:20:27 PM)


Lunged

Lunged Duchess today just for a little bit of exercise. It was my intention just to do the same as I did with Kat: a couple times around each direction in walk, a couple times around each direction in trot.

She wasn't interested. She wanted to go. She kept trying to take off in canter. It's been a while since she was regularly worked on a lunge line, and I think her left-sidedness may have gotten some worse; going right, a couple of times she slammed on the brakes and tried to reverse. All in all, not a very sedate lunging session.

Once we had a reasonably calm trot around in each direction, I stopped her and walked her a bit. Then I took her over to the jumps and led her over a couple. I can't wait 'till I can jump again.

(Added on Thursday, March 04, 2004 @ 10:25:11 PM)


Rode--Saddle

Today, for the first time since November (just before my back flared up in December), I got out my saddle & rode. Happy!

It's funny, but I can brace my back--and ride badly, but without moving my back too much--more bareback than I can with my saddle. So I knew I was going to take more of an impact from this ride than I have bareback, but I thought I was up for it. And I am pretty sure that I didn't hurt myself.

Kat snoozed while I groomed her and even while I put the saddle on, but she got really excited when I got out the bridle. She started trying to stick her nose in it while she was still cross-tied in her halter. What a sweetie...she really hasn't approved of being lunged but not ridden.

She was terrific to ride, being very steady. The only time she jigged at all was when I accidentally pointed her at a 2' wall jump--and I turned her away & apologized...

All I really did was what would otherwise be a walk warm up; I could tell as soon as she'd gone about 3 steps that I wouldn't be able to handle any trotting. I just asked her to flex both ways, to leg yield in and out. I'm delighted to see that her break from riding has not let her slip back to excessively left-sided again; she was pretty even.

Then I walked her over the 6" half barrels and got off. I miss jumping.

http://www.galadriel.shaftnet.org/horses/2004-birthday-ride/

(Added on Sunday, March 07, 2004 @ 02:43:46 PM)


Brief Ride

John rode Duchess around while I was riding Kat. He says he didn't do anything much :) I wasn't really looking... I was enjoying the ride.

(Added on Sunday, March 07, 2004 @ 02:45:44 PM)


Nice ride

We had a nice, short ride a few days ago. Nothing since until yesterday. Kat was still being a little standoffish; I think she just really doesn't like being solely lunged.

Yesterday she didn't come up to me as I came into the pasture, and turned away from me when I went to get her. I felt really bad...she should enjoy the time she spends with me.

We brought them up to the barn, got our helmets, and hooked up lines to their halters. Bareback ride. She seemed to relax quite a lot after I got on. I spent a little while testing my strength/tolerance by asking for flexing & yielding back and forth as we moved along. She was soft and cooperative.

After a few minutes I could tell I was reaching the limit, so I figured "one more thing then I'll get off." One of the things I taught Kat when teaching her to yield to the bit was "Tuck." "Tuck" means, essentially, tuck her nose in towards her chest a bit. When I first got her she fought the bit something awful, and I wanted a way to teach her to relax against contact, not brace. So with "tuck" I simply asked her to flex at the poll and relax her jaw, nothing more. I eventually started combining "tuck" with leg aids, asking her to get onto the bit.

Yesterday I asked her to "tuck." What did I get? She lifted her poll, lifted her shoulders and got more active behind! Oh, what a sweetie. All I wanted was to make sure that she remembered a trick... And that was all the riding my back could take, so I dismounted, gave her a "cookie," and took off the halter. Good girl was trying to get on the bit bareback in a halter.

Today, when I came out to the field, she turned and walked up to me. I was touched...she wants to spend time with me again. All the evidence suggests that she really *likes* to be ridden. And she tries so hard.

(Added on Friday, March 12, 2004 @ 07:02:59 PM)


Bareback ride

Duchess got ridden bareback/halter&lead rope today. I rode Kat, John rode Duchess. She was a good girl.

(Added on Friday, March 12, 2004 @ 07:03:57 PM)


Nuts

Duchess is a pushy, bossy brat. With assertiveness (not aggressive, assertive) and gentle insistence we can usually keep this down to a minimum.

Right now I think both horses are on a bit of a sugar high (spring grass) and, while they've been overall all right, they have been acting a little unusual--ignoring us when we show up, a little inattentive when haltered, and so on. My post today where I talked about Kat turning away from me yesterday is a good example, although I think she's also really sick of lunging.

However, if we let her get away with large amounts of brattiness, Duchess can in fact become dangerous to handle. Today she got to that point, and I had to slap her down. I feel really, really awful. It was dinnertime; we went outside to feed. John went up to Duchess to take off her flymask, told her "Hoa." She instead charged past him and off toward the other field (and, not so incidentally, the entrance to the barn where she gets fed.) Mrph. Feeding her at that point would only have reinforced the behavior, if she did whatever she wanted and she still got her dinner.

So I hollered at her and chased her off. My goal became to get her more attentive to me than to the entrance to her stall. If she looked at me, I spoke softly; if she walked towards me, I moved her toward the stall. If she walked to the stall instead of to me, she got a loud shake of my windbreaker (good handy emergency noisemaker) and a "Get!".

We eventually got attentiveness, although respect was still at issue. Something to have another look at tomorrow; we'll review respect when dinner isn't hanging over our heads, and make sure later that dinner isn't enough of a distraction to lose respect.

And I'm really sad that I hurt the poor mare's feelings. She's a very willing horse, usually likes to please. But she's also a boss mare, and trying to wiggle out of a submissive position is in her nature. She was just being a horse. And it did hurt her feelings when I corrected her for it. I did what I could; when she was paying attention, not trying to be pushy, I gave praise and encouragement, lots. And I certainly didn't do worse than a stronger boss mare *horse* would have done, or even as much as. I, after all, kept it verbal! No flailing hooves, no darting teeth.

I really hate such conflicts. I try quite hard to work with the horses, not against them. Sometimes, though, if you let something slip, it leads to Bad Things. Knowing it was the right thing to do doesn't make me hate it less.

(Added on Friday, March 12, 2004 @ 08:32:37 PM)


Nice ride

I'm managing to do slightly, slightly more each ride.

The horses looked up as we went through the gate. They were a field and a half away from the barn; I called out, "Kaaaaaaatherine, want to go for a ride?" And they headed our way :) Feeling very relieved; I think we may have gotten over resentment. Don't know if that means it will be safe to lunge again--probably if I ride afterwards, it will.

Today it was gusty when we went out, and one of the neighbors was running...something...that every so often made a huge VROOM (dirtbike, lawnmower, something). Kat was a bit tense and jumpy as a result (but hey, so was I; that thing was LOUD). But she was listening, and I think she was making a big effort not to actually jump. She just tensed up. Sweetie :)

Shortly after we mounted (John was riding Duchess), the mare from next door came galloping our way. She acted like she thought we were leaving her. (!! We were riding in the field right next to hers.) Kat was calm and attentive. Good stuff.

I spent most of today's ride asking for flexion again, one way and the other. A little leg yielding. It's a bit hard to make riding interesting for rider and horse when the rider isn't capable of much. She was a good girl.

(Added on Saturday, March 13, 2004 @ 10:45:38 PM)


Bareback

John rode Duchess today. As I mentioned in today's entry about Kat, the girls came up to the barn when we called them. I had been worried about their recent reluctance to come to us; I think it was a combination of resentment about all this lunging (I didn't ride for several months) and the grass being sooooo green. Green grass is a) yummy and hard to leave, and 2) much higher in sugar--think 6-yr-old kid at Halloween.

They're certainly not over their springtime jollies, because Duchess was a royal wench to Kat today while we're riding. When she's got a passenger, she gets very grouchy at other horses, sort of a "Mine! Mine!" attitude. She doesn't want any other horses near. Usually about 15' is far enough, but today at one point she put her ears back and sort of hopped sideways in Kat's direction, closing up the distance. A little less passively possessive, and a little more aggressively dominant. Very sugar-high kind of behavior. Aside from [apparently] wanting to attack Kat, she was well behaved.

But I'm so glad, after yesterday's disagreement she has not been at all unhappy towards either of us. She was attentive all day, she was polite, and when she came to the barn, she came up to us before she headed to her stall. Much, much better. I went out later this evening to dump some stuff in the compost pile, and she was even a bit affectionate. (She's somewhat defensive about affection; sometimes she is affectionate, sometimes she will start to cuddle and then realize what she's doing and back off. I think she likes to pretend that she's too tough and bossy to be sweet.) I do love this horse, and I think we're going to get along well for quite some time without any more disagreements. I will endeavor to keep it that way.

(Added on Saturday, March 13, 2004 @ 10:56:06 PM)


Massage and Riding

Went for a ride today. Got out the saddle and everything ;) I have been pretty well pain free (without provocation to my back) for several weeks now. I tried a trot. I got a couple of circles in each direction! before I figured that was probably enough. I was getting tired. I think for some time I had better make sure that I don't work to the point of fatigue; if I get fatigued I may well put the wrong kind of pressure on my back.

Kat was a good girl :) She started looking for contact shortly after I got on (while we were standing around waiting for John to mount up on Duchess). She was responsive flexing left & right, & leg yielding. She was quite happy to be asked to trot, I think; she's probably a bit bored with all the walking. She did go into giraffe mode as soon as she trotted; I'm just not strong & secure enough in my back yet to maintain the transition the way I should. I asked her to come back to me and balance up; I got a couple circles one way, then a change of direction & lost the contact again. Asked her to come back to me again--she wanted to take off, but restrained herself--got the contact back, got a couple circles, and walked again. Got her attentiveness back (she really had wanted to GO) and ended on a good note :)

I'm halfway through a course on equine sports massage. I am really impressed. So far it's essentially been a crash course in equine anatomy, accompanied by discussion of what can cause particular tension in various muscles, and how to relieve that tension.

Now, I *know* that Kat has been carrying tension around for as long as I've had her. She doesn't like to be touched; no grooming, no patting, stroking, etc. For three years now I've tried everything I could think to get her to appreciate being handled. But all she does is tense up when I go to touch her.

Don't get me wrong; she's affectionate. She'll take her nose and put it in my chest and lean, or put her muzzle on my shoulder. She's perfectly happy for me to rub her head, and even to stroke her ears. She just doesn't want her body messed with.

I am on a serious high right now, from delight. Last night I went at Kat with some of what I've already learned thus far. Having some idea of what she looks like under the skin has made all the difference, I think--knowing what is where and where each muscle is likely to be tense, and what to do about it. While I was working on her, he stretched her neck all the way out, 'till her nose was on the floor. She was really into it! She was *enjoying* it! Oh, oh, oh, oh oh...I just can't express how happy that makes me. She works so hard, tries so much, for me--now I have something to give back to her.

(Added on Saturday, March 20, 2004 @ 08:29:08 PM)


John rode

I rode Kat, and John rode Duchess. They're both shedding like crazy, incidentally.

He practiced leg aids and worked on her flexion, and did a little trotting. She was a good girl.

(Added on Saturday, March 20, 2004 @ 08:31:33 PM)


Bareback

We were doing a lot of yardwork today. I'd been hoping to have enough energy left over to get out the saddle and do a little "real" riding--no such luck. We did have a quick bareback ride though.

Bareback, halter and lead rope. Rode around, circle right, circle left, a couple of little serpentines...rode under the big old oak where the vegetation changes due to the shadow (no grass, all bushy shade stuff--it's shading a half circle about 25' radius into the field). Apparently this is a very spooky unexplored place, because Kat gave three "wierd!" snorts as we went under. (laugh) Funny mare.

Turned up the field back toward the jumps, did some leg yielding in & out of circles around the jumps. Then I moved back along the fenceline and asked for a little bit of shoulder-in (this is bareback in a halter, remember)! Got it really nicely (for being rusty) to the left; took a fair bit more work to the right, but we got it eventually. What a good girl :) I did a flying dismount (not too hard, from a walk) after she got a few steps of shoulder-in to the right, and gave her a cookie. Such a good girl.

(Added on Sunday, March 28, 2004 @ 08:41:21 PM)


Bareback

John rode Duchess bareback today. We were both pretty tired from planting trees (big trees!) and we were both just out for a bit of fun.

I couldn't really hear most of what he was saying, but it all sounded like "she's such a good girl." ;) He hopped off a little while before I was done, and said he was rewarding her for being exceptionally good. He'd been practicing leg aids, and had gotten some really clear responses, and was really happy with her. He hung around snuggling with her and probably cooing to her until I was done on Kat (not much longer).

When we were both done, we just took off the halters and turned them back out right where we were standing. It's nice to be able to do that, and I think it's a really clear signal to the horse: "you were so good that you are ALL DONE."

(Added on Sunday, March 28, 2004 @ 08:55:26 PM)


Been a while

I skipped an entry a little while ago; shortly after our last ride, rode bareback again. After the previous session, Kat was a little touchy about opening.closing circle to the right; we'd worked on that right shoulder in just before I got off the last time, and she thought that was what I wanted and was having trouble with it. So I didn't ask for any more of that, just got her responding to open/close circle.

After a little ride 'round, I just couldn't stand it anymore: I pointed her at our tiny jump, a 24" diameter barrel sawn in half to make a rolltop--so it's a 12" rolltop. I've been so quiet and slow with my body for a while, and she's been trying pretty hard to match me. I guess she was still stuck in that kind of mode, because she flubbed it big time. She tried not to jump it, and stepped ON it instead--shod hooves slip on smooth rounded plastic. No fall or anything, just no jump, either.

We went around & pointed at it again, me thinking "oh boy, she's gonna catleap and this is bareback..." Nope. She popped over it, giving it just the respect it deserved, and slowed right back down again :)

So, on to today: pretty much exactly the same, except that 1) riding around earlier, I asked her for a little trot (bareback still) and 2) when I pointed her at the jump, she popped over it just right.

Such a sweetie. She's really very safe bareback, it's funny. When I first got her she got excited and wanted to RUN any time I got tack out, so I rode her bareback in a halter until I managed to wedge a bit of "riding doesn't always mean racing" into her mindset. She's still "go-go-go" under saddle, but she's remarkably relaxed bareback.

(Added on Friday, April 09, 2004 @ 08:30:48 PM)


Whew.

Again it's been a litle while; I didn't post about a few short bareback rides. Nothing interesting; bareback, halter, walk/trot (a little), maybe hopping over the teeny jump.

Well, yesterday I decided to see just how well I'm doing. I needed a few pics for one of my articles, and figured that I could probably get them. I know from past experience that I can do more with the saddle than bareback, so figure I was good for 20 or 30 minutes of riding. Tacked the horse up, put on the body protector, and off we went.

I used to lunge Kat before riding every time, to allow her to buck. I think she's got tension of some kind in her back; she used to always, always buck the first time (or first couple of times) I asked for canter, any ride. She's been all right with the light work we've been doing, so I thought maybe she had gotten better... I was wrong. Yesterday I eventually had to get off and let her run around and buck. When I got back on, she was much better, but by then I was really tired, so I just asked for a little bit and was done. I didn't get the pics I needed. I'll have to try again--and this time, let her buck herself silly BEFORE I get on.

I really wonder what the problem is...or if it's just exuberance. I don't think so, because she was really trying very hard not to buck me off, but she was really tight throughout the back when asking for anything more than a slow trot. I'm sad...I feel bad, both that she had such a rough ride yesterday, and that it is even a problem at all. She's a good girl and she tries hard for me.

(Added on Friday, April 23, 2004 @ 08:36:11 AM)


Happy day.

I've continued to feel fragile on and off, which restricts my riding.

Still doing lots of playing with the horses when not riding, and have also been "practicing" on the some. I'm working on their muscles (mainly their backs) for practice and also because they need it. I'm also working out methods for measuring for saddle fitting, practicing on them, and they generally come out of these sessions looking a bit confused. "What WAS that?"

Most of those sessions are coming right after dinnertime, because that's when I'm out there & doing stuff. Today we wanted to ride right after dinner (a quiet walk around bareback, so no concerns about working them hard enough to upset their digestions). We finished up in the barn, then went out with halters in hand. Kat gave me a very suspicious look as I came closer ("NOW what??") and looked like she was on the edge of moving away. I said, "Want to ride?" Oh, MAN! Made me happy--she walked right over and stuck her nose in the halter.

Eh, nothing much more than that. Pretty much we just tried to stay out of Duchess's way, because she was being possessive ("MY human! Get away!") No major work on anything...just walked around on my horse :) goofing off.

(Added on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 @ 08:20:50 PM)


The Exciting Adventures of the Courbette Futura

Saddle Innards and my beloved Courbette

To recap our saga so far...

I've taken a saddle fitting & flocking course. Tremendous amount of information. Among other things, I discovered that my beloved Courbette Futura doesn't fit my horse--and shouldn't go on any horse. Like many saddles, the gullet is narrower at the back than at the front, and so the saddle sits almost directly on her spine.

Armed with my new knowledge in the areas of saddle construction, today I took the saddle apart to see if I could make the fit any better. I am delighted to report that I believe I can!

The saddle fits in back like so:



If I run two fingers down her spine, I can feel the panels with those two fingers. Much too close.

But it's not that close in the front. It just narrows as it goes to the back. Looking at the underside of the saddle, it's almost a V. (I've drawn lines to show the sides of the gullet, because black-on-black doesn't show well.)



It comes to a narrow little distance at the back:



Some panels can be widened. Some are constructed in such a way as to make it a major pain in the neck. And some are on a tree that would not support the panels being any wider. (If I were going to try to widen the panels on my Kieffer, I think I might consider seppuku instead.) I didn't know what I was going to find with the Courbette, but I love it dearly and am willing to put in a reasonable effort, possibly even an unreasonable effort.

As it turns out, the panels would be very simple to move outward. Unlike quite a few of the other saddles we examined, this saddle has panels which are not directly attached to each other. When I stitch the saddle back together, I should be able to separate them an additional distance. The seat of the tree is wide enough that the panels should still be underneath it.



The back will require some modification.



I'll have to get another piece of leather and use it across the gullet, and I'll have to make it look nice too.

More importantly, I'll have to be sure that 1) I set the panels on evenly (you wouldn't believe how many saddles have panels that are offset to the left or right) and 2) make sure that I preserve the balance of the saddle. The center of the saddle, and where I sit when I'm in the saddle, should not change drastically, or else it will become uncomfortable.

If I were working with a wool-flocked saddle, the balance could be adjusted as I adjust the separation of the panels. Alas, it's got foam panels. I will be taking another look at those later on to see if it's worth converting it to wool (instructor told us that usually foam panels are glued to the leather, and removing the foam is too much hassle to be worth it).

So I'll have to be very careful and see how things go. I will likely have to tack it together briefly, check it out, take it apart, and start over several times before I get it the way I want it. I am very cheered, though, that it looks like I can make my lovely saddle one which I would be happy to put back on my horse. Encouraging.

(post made to a forum on 5th May 2004)

(Added on Saturday, May 15, 2004 @ 12:17:27 AM)


Exciting Adventures of the Courbette Futura, Continued

Well, my saddle tool and supplies came in today. Without them, I had no way to put the Courbette back together, even without making any modifications. So today I got started on putting it all together.

Now, this saddle was used when I bought it. Courbette doesn't even make a Futura anymore. I'm not very pleased with the foam panels, but when I was comparing them, I noticed that they're not even even.

Well, I don't quite have the experience to entirely remove the foam. I *think* I could take the foam out and replace it with good wool flocking, but I want a little more practice with the flocking itself before I start on a project of that magnitude. In order to remove the foam, I would have to take the panels apart entirely, then put them back together. I need a bit more experience in left-right comparisons before I try to make the panels themselves even.

However! These panels, despite their foam interiors, *have* openings to add wool flocking. I noticed this when I first took the saddle apart. What were they planning to do...use a flocking iron to add or take away little foam granules? Heh.

But wait...the foam panels aren't even. Not only that, with my horse having such a high. narrow wither, I really could use a *touch* more padding up in front. Hmmm. Hmmm.

So I *flocked* it! Over top of the foam. Got a couple of pics, probably will post them with next update. I am pretty happy with the consistency and even-ness of the panels now. I began putting it back together, and after getting about 1/4 done, I noticed it was midnight. I probably should sleep tonight :) I'll get back to this again tomorrow.

I am quite cheerful about this saddle overall. Further updates will include more info about how I plan to separate the panels (and progress in action).

(Added on Saturday, May 15, 2004 @ 12:28:32 AM)


I think I'm done



Flocking over foam:


My main goal, widening the gullet at the back, turned out to be slightly more complicated. I was attemting to use the existing holes for stitching, but to move the panels themselves. This involved some inventiveness on my part in how exactly I stitched it.


I also had to alter the central leather piece--the one that goes over the tree, between the saddles. It was originally folded over and around the panels, covering the center of the edge, where they had some rough areas. When I pulled the panels out, the leather still had to go over the tips of the panels, but it required some manipulation of its shape.


I am delighted with the finished product.


And the change is not visible from above (I had worried that the panels might extend visibly beyond the edge of the seat).


I really hope Kat approves.

(Added on Sunday, May 16, 2004 @ 12:23:12 PM)


Lame!

A few days ago, I noticed that Kat was striding short on her left hind. Today, when her hind shoes were pulled off to be re-shod, she was tender in both hind feet.

The farrier has changed the type pf shoes on her back feet, since she seems to be striding differently than she should (sliding her hoof down, instead of stepping heel-toe). I'll be attending a small seminar on Thursday at which he's speaking, and will have a chance then to discuss any changes in Kat over the next couple of days.

(Added on Tuesday, June 08, 2004 @ 08:05:32 PM)


Fantasy

Fantasy has joined our family. She is a 5-yr-old chestnut Morgan mare.

She's lived on the property next door since before we moved in. When we brought Duchess & Kat home, she broke through the (two-strand hotwire) fence in her eagerness to greet them. The adoration has been mutual, and our mares usually spend a lot of the day hanging out in the back corner, across the fence from Fantasy.

She's even jumped the fence, once, to get into our pasture. Pretty impressive; it's a 4' fence, and there were no sections down, no breaks in the fence.

She & her pasture buddy Lucky have been a bit neglected for a while. They never get handled, haven't had their feet done in forever, haven't had any shots, etc. It always gets me down...I've offered to help with their handling and I wished I could just step in and make a difference in their lives.

Today she got tangled in the barbed wire of her own field. She and her pasture buddy Lucky walked down around our front pasture (by a busy county road) and back up toward our gate. They were grazing there when we found them. We caught them, stuffed Kat & Duchess into a pasture by themselves, and led Lucky in through our gate. We had to drag Fantasy--she was hurt by the barbed wire.
This is why barbed wire does not make good, safe horse fencing.

We called a vet; she was so lame I was worried she might have broken or dislocated something. The vet thinks that it's all muscle & nerve damage, no bone damage. There's a lot of inflammation, and she hurts a lot :(

By the time the vet had sedated her (to clean out the wound), the neighbor finally got home. He came over to see what was going on (after getting a look at their own fence). He mentioned that he's given Lucky away; the new owner will be picking him up this weekend. He then started complaining about Fantasy...I offered to take her. Told him we'd even pay the vet bill. We'll keep Lucky until he's picked up, and he doesn't even have to repair his fence.

He went home to discuss with his wife, and came back and told us that we could take her. I'm very relieved--we certainly don't need another mouth to feed, nor the expense of all the care she needs NOW (shots, worming, farrier, Coggins, etc)--but not having to look at her, and know that people could be doing so much better for her, is going to be such a relief.

Tomorrow I get to clean out her wound, hose with cold water, etc all without the benefit of sedation. I also get to start teaching her not to be headshy--or body-shy--or basically that she doesn't have to whip herself away from me every time I get close. She'll get to start learning about the hose, and flyspray, and flymasks, and grooming, and all sorts of wonderful stuff. When she's recovered, she gets to learn more about Ground Manners.

Well, at least there is work I can do with her that will be relatively easy, considering my *&$% fragile back.

(Added on Tuesday, June 08, 2004 @ 08:41:25 PM)


Early days with Fantasy

Fantasy still gets really shocked-looking every time we handle Duch & Kat, and they seem to enjoy it. Poor little girl...she'll learn soon enough.

The lacerations on her leg are looking much better, but the swelling is awful The lacerations are at the top front (meaty area) of her foreleg--the leg is swollen all the way down to the fetlock. She really did a number on it. I wish she'd let me cold-hose it.

I started taking off some of the extra hoof wall today; the farrier will be out soon but not immediately. I'm just taking off what is clearly overgrown (there's a lot of it). I did her front feet today, and will do her hind feet tomorrow--if I'm lucky; it looks like it's harder for her to hold them up than the front feet. She wasn't exactly cooperative about having her feet done, but she wasn't misbehaving, either.

We had a fun encounter with her later tho. We brought Duch & Kat in for a long cuddling session. I feel like they're being a bit neglected Hopefully soon she won't be taking up quite so much time, with her leg healing up. Anyway, she came into the stalls to get a better look at what was going on, and sat and watched as we groomed, flysprayed, picked feet--and gave treats! Then I got out the old dewormer syringe and handed out applesauce Since I'm going to be deworming Fantasy as soon as I feel like she can handle it, I thought that starting with applesauce might be a good idea. She loooooved the applesauce, although she couldn't figure out why I wouldn't let her take the whole syringe.

She's so cute. Such a sweet girl. I'm so, so relieved that we can take care of her now. She needs so much more than she was getting.

Lucky will probably be leaving us tomorrow. The girls will be distressed. Poor little ones...Fantasy's lived with him for four years, and my girls have had him as a neighbor for a little less than a year.

(Added on Friday, June 11, 2004 @ 02:04:58 PM)


Kat

Since our last update, I've been trying to ride daily--either in the early morning, or in the evening. About all I can usually manage is a few minutes; I hate this.

Earlier this week we did tack up and ride up the road (maybe 3 city blocks, if we were in a city) and back.

It's very discouraging that that's the best I can do.

(Added on Saturday, June 19, 2004 @ 10:14:41 PM)


First "real" training session

Since she arrived, I have been working with Fantasy at least twice daily, most days 3 or 4 short sessions. We're working on trust issues mostly: letting me touch her body without flinching, letting me pick up her feet, letting me touch her face; I'm moving closer to the ears each time also.

We've been working on desensitization to me approaching her with something in my hand; this terrifies her, which made treating the injury rather difficult. After twice a day (or more) handling sessions, she will now stand, loose, while I brush her--as long as she can see me pretty well. If I get to an angle where she can't see me well, she spins to face me.

She will also let me walk up to her while she is loose in the pasture, or even walk up to me. I can halter her without having to loop the lead line around her neck first. These are both great progress points, considering that up till today, I was haltering her just to treat the injured leg. Most of my interactions with her have involved the injured leg in one way or another. She doesn't seem to be holding it against me, which is good.

We've also been working on the spray bottle; I have an old bottle that was empty, that I've filled with water. Don't want to waste anything I paid money for ;) So far we have not made any progress; the sound still makes her jump. I'm pulling back. I'm going to start over, standing several feet away from her making spray noises. I'll continue until she accepts the spray noise at that distance, then slowly enlarge her comfort zone: get a little closer, little closer.

Today after lunging the TB's, I worked with Fantasy in a "real" training session. First I held a cookie in front of her nose while softly touching her with the lunge whip. She bounced sideways to evade it briefly, but then accepted the touch. She got the cookie as soon as she was still.

Then we worked on getting more specific with her understanding of her first two voice commands: "whoa" and "walk." I walked her around the field, saying "whoa" and stopping her, then saying "walk" and leading her on (accompanied with cookies as relevant). She's a smart little mare. She was catching on to the voice commands themselves by the end of one cicuit around the (smallest) field.

She also started getting nosey when she identified the point at which she had "earned" a cookie. At that point I stopped giving cookies until she had performed AND she had turned her nose away--she figured that out pretty quickly, too.

I'm very pleased. We're worlds away from where we started.

(Added on Saturday, June 19, 2004 @ 10:27:46 PM)


Trick Training

While I've been unable to ride so much, I developed an unfortunate habit of handing out treats just because horses were there. Kat started getting grabby, which of course is unacceptable--but I didn't want to go cold-turkey on the treats, either.

My solution has been to make her earn the treat. I've been teaching her a few tricks. She knows 3 tricks consistently: a hug (wrap neck around me when I am standing at her shoulder); a kiss (touch the tip of her muzzle to my cheek); and a nod ("Katie wanna cookie?")

For a little while she would cycle through the three tricks when I asked for one; she has reached the point where she can consistently give me the trick I ask for. She's also progressed to the point where she has to figure out that she gets treats when she performs tricks--but ONLY if I ask for the trick. Poor kid! She hasn't quite figured that one out yet. She'll get it eventually.

I like it. I get to keep acting as a treat dispenser ;) without feeling that I'm turning my horse into a mugging machine.

(Added on Saturday, June 19, 2004 @ 10:33:12 PM)


Projected plans

Just a note on what I intend to accomplish with F in the next few months.



Whew! That's a lot to throw at a little mare in such a short time. She's showing a lot of intelligence. I will have to be very careful not to proceed too quickly. An ability to accept an element of training does not indicate that she has digested it and understands it. I must remember to give her time to understand each step before moving to the next one.

(Added on Saturday, June 19, 2004 @ 10:42:04 PM)


Enough with the whining

Okay, I'm getting fed up with not being able to do anything. My back hasn't had any major flareups in...probably about 6 weeks, but it doesn't feel *good*, either. The only times it does feel pretty good is right after riding, when I've been really following the movement with my lower back (mmm, yummy). So I decided to try a little more today, and see how it affects me. Right now I feel pretty good.

After long stretching and some on-the-bit work at walk, we proceeded to trot. Kat, being out of shape, stuck her neck out. Once we got the neck back in, we first did some nice circles, opening and closing a little. Then I asked for a little shoulder in in both directions; got some pretty nice work :) I also got a really nice half-pass to the *right*, her bad direction! I was unable to get her to flex just a bit to the left, while continuing to move forward, in preparation for left halfpass; I think that was my fault, my dominant right being stronger. I didn't fight for it.

I was proud of my Katiemare. She tried very hard, put in some very nice work, and was even able to focus while Fantasy was snuffling around Kat's bridle, trying to figure out what it was. (We are putting in another gate so that we can close off one field to ride in; should keep that from being a problem in the future.) She's such a good girl :)

(Added on Sunday, June 20, 2004 @ 10:04:41 PM)


Dewormed and proud flesh

This morning little bitty got her first dewormer from us. We'll do her again in about 2 weeks when Duch & Kat are due, then put her on a 2 month schedule after that. In preparation for deworming, i've been giving her applesauce from a wormer tube on occasion. I do this with Duch & Kat too :) They're much more cooperative about the wormer tube when *most* of the time, it means applesauce. She didn't like the Strongid, but was sucking applesauce out of the tube again by this evening.

Along with the dewormer this morning, I also did a little massage on her back, and put some garlic oil in her mane and tail (for bug repellent/sweetitch). I took a few more pics this morning, and did some comparison to the first day pics. I am now certain that I already see a little improvement.
Some conformation pics, and a comparison, here.

I went light on her today; she was exposed to a very odd concept, apparently: she was really, really interested when we were riding Duch & Kat. She'd stand and watch for a while, then charge up to one or the other of us and tryto sniff at tack or get a closer look. At one point she about had her head up Kat's nose, sniffing at the bridle & bit. Duch, of course, is very possessive of John when he is riding; Fantasy came close to getting into major trouble.

What with the excitement of watching us ride, and the wound treatment today, I decided she'd had enough--didn't need any structured work. The wound has unfortunately started to develop some proud flesh, and she really didn't enjoy me scrubbing at it. It was painful, poor baby. When I finished with it, and went to stroke her neck to reassure her, she flinched as my hand got close. She hadn't done that for several days. I am sad...not a lot I can do, but make sure that every time I have to hurt her :( I make up for it afterwards. I did spend a while longer stroking her and patting her, until she relaxed again.

(Added on Sunday, June 20, 2004 @ 10:16:11 PM)


My Personal Space

This evening we had a discussion about personal space.

I've been giving her treats to pacify her while treating the leg (incidentally, we have some proud flesh...sigh...and the squirting of the wonderdust makes her anxious). I've also been giving treats in reward in various training measures. She figured out quickly that she got treats when she was good; she has started looking for them. Specifically, she is walking right up to me and nosing my hands, then my pockets. I am a Treat Dispenser. She's also been very clingy since Lucky left; Duch & Kat are a little exasperated with her, so she's looking for more affection.

This is not acceptable, of course. Little Bit needs to respect my personal space just as much as if I were a more dominant horse. At this time, i think she doesn't realize that she can have a relationship with me; among other things, we're still waiting on the "click" that the reward/correction system has meaning behind it--that reward and correction are not random. Until that idea clicks, we're going to have some confusion. HOWever, she doesn't get to invade my personal space until then.

This evening, when doing other stuff around the barn, she kept walking right up and sticking her nose on me. The first few times I took my hand and pushed her head away. This wasn't a good learning experience for her, though, as she's still a little headshy. She became andxious, which made her MORE clingy. I had to stop using my hands, and my arms too.

What I did instead was take a stompy step toward her; if she didn't back off, I walked forward until my hip bumped her shoulder. I bumped repeatedly until she took a step back. Then I praised, petted, and walked back to what I was doing. After a few repetitions of this, she was backing off at the stompy step; after a few more, she was staying out of my space.

She got no cookies tonight. We'll see how tomorrow goes. If I'm a Treat Dispenser again, then there'll be no cookies tomorrow. If she can handle cookies only when offered, we'll do more groundwork of other kinds.

(Added on Monday, June 21, 2004 @ 09:59:05 PM)


Whoo! Soppy grin

I've mentioned that my TB's are socially undeveloped, as horses go. I attribute this to a lot of time on the track, without a chance to interact with other horses. They almost never even touch each other.

Now they've got a "real" horse in with them: Fantasy, who *does* know more "horsey language"; I used to see her and Lucky grooming each other frequently, and wished that mine understood the concept. I think she's been trying to use more physical interactions with them. Poor girl ends up spending a lot of the day ostracized, at least at the moment, as Duch & Kat try to get away from her clingyness. But she does go up to them and try to express herself more physically than they are used to; I think they're learning more.

Tonight, while grooming and also massaging a few muscle issues, Kat stopped me and stuck her nose in my chest. She's done this before: she'll stick her nose in my chest or her muzzle on my shoulder...then look away. Tonight, instead of looking away quickly, she left her nose there for several minutes. We even whuffled at each other a few times--she's never given me whuffles before. It's the sort of moment that leaves me all choked up and happy.

Another first from tonight: when brushing her, she did not tense up. At all. Not a bit. The absence was very startling. Since I got her, she's tensed any time I go to touch her body; the tension has been a lot less energetic since I started using massage on her, but it was never entirely gone. I've never known exactly what the difficulty was (muscular tension? pain somewhere? social tension? after all, she & Duch don't touch)--I wonder if having little Miss Touchy-Feely around has helped with this too.

I also rode after the grooming session; it was another interesting ride with Fantasy staring for a while, then charging up to Duch or Kat to try to figure out what they were doing. We have our new gate in place--next ride, she gets shut in the other field! Aside from the excitement with Fantasy (which Duch & Kat take very well, btw), it was a boring ride...I'm apparently still a bit sore from the last one, and I've been feeling ick all day. No energy to ask for much. Kat was a good girl.

(Added on Wednesday, June 23, 2004 @ 10:31:52 PM)


More soppy grin

We had a happy moment with Duchess too, while grooming. She will sometimes also do the nose-to-chest thing, but much more rarely than Kat. Otherwise she's never very expressive. Tonight, I was brushing her face, and she started playing with the brush! With her upper lip! She was wiggling her lip around, bumping the brush, trying to get ahold of it, nuzzling it. I was floored. She's never done anything REMOTELY like that. (Yes, I know, it's not unusual for *normal* horses.) Is it Fantasy? Is she teaching them how to be horses? I think it must be...

(Added on Wednesday, June 23, 2004 @ 10:32:51 PM)


Sigh--

Today kind of stunk for Fantasy, though. LEt me start with the good stuff :)

She is definitely learning to stay out of my personal space. I don't think she tried to crowd me at all today, except at breakfast--eventually she'll figure that one out too. She gave me all her feet with only one hiccup--I think she forgot I had it, when I was doing her near hind, and (from a standstill) stumbled and yanked the foot out of my hand. Gave it back after a little asking, and we finished up.

She's doing very well with letting me swab SWAT on her face, even around her eyes. I am regularly getting to touch her ears--although only the outside. She's still way touchy about the inside. I would like to put some SWAT in there too, but it'll be a while yet.

She's still doing very badly with sprays, which is unfortunate because she was just being SWARMED this evening. I have got to keep bugs off her if I want to keep the sweet itch (allergy to bug bites) in remission; she needed a LOT of flyspray. She's been watching me do Duch & Kat; I thought maybe if I was firm & authoritative she'd calm down. Sigh--no luck. Rats! In the future, until she gets better about it, we'll be spraying onto a cloth and wiping the flyspray onto her body.

We spent a while after dinner working just on sprays. I held a cookie in one hand, and the spray bottle (with water) in the other. The spray bottle was off to the side at arm's length, pointed away. The distance from the cookie to the spray bottle was juuuust a bit closer than her comfort zone. But if she wanted the cookie, she had to walk closer to the spray. I'd offer the cookie, and spray with the spray bottle. After she took the cookie, I'd offer the spray bottle (no spraying) for her to sniff. She was getting better about it when I ran out of cookies (5 or 6) and took off the halter.

I also discovered another interesting wrinkle. When *I* started making short hissing sounds like the spray bottle, she stopped and thought about it for a long time. If I made hissing sounds at the same time as I used the spray, she was a lot more quick to come take the cookie. I think part of the problem may be that she spray sound is so foreign to her experience--but since *I* can make the same sound, maybe she'll start feeling that the strange sound is more safe.

I swear she was pondering on the whole thing, when I started making the sound; she just stood there with her eyes really big (she's a Morgan, her eyes are always big, but this was REALLY big). She thought about it for a long time, but after that, when I was spraying and making the hissing sound too, she was happier to come close & take the cookie. Interesting.

(Added on Wednesday, June 23, 2004 @ 10:46:08 PM)


Overdue updates

Okay...I've missed a few updates. I'm going to get them all down tonight...they won't have the right dates, but they'll be in the right order :)

In our last episode, Little Bit was learning to keep out of my space and not to beg for treats. A lot of the difficulties we had begun to have were respect issues. And it wasn't so much that she was being disrespectful, as that she didn't realize that she COULD be respectful.

I had a frustrating episode with her, trying to get flyspray on (spraying onto a cloth, then wiping on her) and trying to introduce her to the hose--NOT to spray her with it, but just to get her to look at it and see it. She really just wasn't having any success listening to me; it's not that she wasn't trying, but she was just not hearing me.

I recognized the overall attitude. It's similar to the way Duch & Kat acted, for a little while after I got them. When I separated them, they would panic; they felt alone and abandoned. They weren't alone; I was there, but they were not SEEing me. It was like I was a moving element of the environment. They were looking *Through* me. I worked with them until they began to look *at* me.

Fantasy had some of the same problem. She wasn't seeing me; she wasn't hearing me. She was treating me as an unpredictable, moving object, but not as a creature with whom she could have a relationship. So. Time to establish a relationship.

I closed Duch & Kat off in the other field, and got out my lunge whip. I proceeded to ask Little Bit to move. Any time she was distracted or not paying attention to me, I made her move her feet. (I was never closer to her than about 30 feet or so during this whole process.) Any time she was looking at me I eased off.

After less than ten minutes, she was looking exclusively at me, but unsure how to respond to me. I dropped the lunge whip to encourage her to relax somewhat. I positioned myself in a way that was nonthreatening, and waited for her to make a movement. (Had her movement been to graze or to wander off, I'd have begun again.) This was the part that took the longest.

I was not facing her, but I could see her shadow. She stayed in the same pose for some time, looking at me. After some time, she began to lower her head, then lift it again. After a few repetitions of that, she lowered her head and left it down; after only a moment or two, she began to approach me. I waited for her to be right next to me, and turned to praise her.

The rest of that session was mostly walking around to cool her off (she's very out of shape, and that little bit of exercise was more than she's used to). However, throughout the walking, she clearly had begun to re-think her opinion of me. She'd start to try to mug me, then pull back. She'd start to come a little too close, then move out again. She was confused, but beginning to see.

As we went by the water buckets, I'd grab my cloth and dip it in one of the buckets, and squeeze it off on her. Doing this before the loose schooling session, she'd flinched and pulled back each time. After the session, she didn't pull back--she wasn't happy, she didn't rust it, but she allowed me to do it without fighting.

When I opened the gate to let her & the others back together, I expected her to shoot off to go get back with them. Instead, she followed me to the gate, followed me while I chained it open, and followed me as I headed back to the barn. I think she has begun to understand that we can have a relationship; I'm certainly not a horse, but I'm not a moving piece of the landscape anymore.

(Added on Saturday, July 03, 2004 @ 09:51:53 PM)


2nd Catchup Update

So, the next day, I planned to allow her some time to think. All I needed to do was to get the fly repellent on her--this is a must, due to the sweet itch. So far what I'd been doing was to walk about 5' away, spray flyspray onto a rag, walk back, and rub her with the rag.

By the end of today's flyspraying, I had gotten her lower legs sprayed, and also was able to spray onto the cloth without walking away. Minor victories, but victories nonetheless. I think we've finally started real work on the foundation.

Later on, Little Bit walked up to me, stopped with her feet just outside "my space," and reached over with her nose. I thought she was trying to mug me, but no--she was just sniffing me. This was something new :) She started at about my hipbone, snuffled all the way down to my foot, and back up again. It reminded me a lot of the way horses, when they meet, will sniff each other at the elbow and the stifle. I wonder if she was looking for my elbow & stifle ;) In any case, that's all she did, then just sort of stood there with her nose hanging toward me.

I know these sound like very small pieces of progress, but it's progress in an entirely different direction; she's looking AT me. She SEES me, and she's trying to learn to relate to me. She's starting to understand that what I do is not entirely random, and that what I do is not entirely unpredictable.

(Added on Saturday, July 03, 2004 @ 09:58:21 PM)


Catchup to Today

So our relationship has been improving. This is good. She is standing back when I walk out to dump her food; she's staying out of my space, she's not mugging me, she's walking *almost* right up to me, but asking for an invitation before coming quite close.

Two days ago we rode the TB's, and afterwards I brought F into the barn to do a small bit of grooming. The vet & farrier are coming to do her feet & teeth on Monday, and I'd like her to be a little comfortable inside on the flat/clean concrete floor, so they can work in there. She was anxious to be in there alone, but dealt well enough with a little verbal soothing (and a few cookies). While in the barn, I flipped the end of the lead rope over her back to keep it out of the way. I noticed that she was (comparatively) remarkably calm about having soemthing touching her back.

Yesterday I brought her in again, same deal. This time, I also set my Courbette on her. [I know someone thinking about getting a Lemetex-tree saddle (as in my Futura), and she has a Morgan with a rather broad back. I know that my Courbette will "flex" to fit Kat just fine, but she is relatively narrow. I thought I'd see how it looked on Little Bit. I was interesting, incidentally, it *did* look like it was the right angle on her. I'll have to look at this in more depth soemtimes when Little Bit is more comfortable with the saddle.] I took it right off again, and she was very good about the whole thing; a little wide-eyed when I brought it near, but otherwise all right. Then I did my spray-onto-cloth-wipe-cloth-on-horse routine with her--not so good as the last time, but she was already somewhat anxious about being inside. More exposure to being inside will help her to learn that thee's nothing to be afraid of.

Today, after lunging the TB's (who were very lethargic; even at 8:30 it was too hot), I went to bring Li'l Bit in and do some more barn-desensitization with her. Before doing so, I did a little more voice training--we'd been doing "walk" and "whoa," and she's starting to get those. Today I added "trot," asking for it 3 times. I think that may have been the trigger; I think she's starting to get the different voice commands now. We'll see tomorrow. ( Discussion of voice commands here.)

Also, several times she started to mug me, had second thoughts, and pulled back before her nose got to me. Good.

Brought her in, and started working with her on "stand" in the cross tie area. (No, I'm not remotely asking her to tie yet, just positioning her in there.) She is having a little trouble with stand; I got a few good moments and will do more on another day. She did, however, give me each of her feet with only a gentle touch on the leg. Definite progress :) Good stuff.

I wanted to rub her back a little, but unfortunately she was getting to the end of her attention span, so I decided to stop there for today. Got a few good moments, I think we're getting soemwhere with voice commands, and we definitely are having a better relationship-y kind of thing.

(Added on Saturday, July 03, 2004 @ 10:18:57 PM)


Bad, bad, BAD me

Ooooh. I, of all people, should not have had this problem. I feel SO guilty.

On Sunday, we rode. Got out the saddles and everything. Kat was *awful*. Boingy, bolty, resisting...I thought she was a bit sore from being silly on the lunge line the day before (she had been Most Energetic, though all I asked for was a trot...)

Got off, pulled off the saddle--PATCHY DRY SPOTS! PATCHY DRY SPOTS ON MY HORSE!

I only just flocked the saddle out to fit her exactly, about 6 weeks ago. She has changed that much in just six weeks. Wow. And oh, do I feel bad for not realizing why she was so anxious.

I did a full template of her back, and learned: the angles (side to side) are all still exactly perfect. However, as her constricted muscles around the wither relax and build up, the curve of her back (front to back) has increased a lot. The saddle sits higher at the wither, and must curve lower to get down to her back. Since the saddle is now inadequately curved, it bridged over that area, and put pressure points on the sides of the wither. I feel so guilty...but now I *know* to check her against her templates before I put the saddle back on, at least as long as she is changing so rapidly.

I've been having a rough week with my wrists, so I haven't been able to work on the saddle any. I've hopped on bareback a couple of times, but I will have that saddle fixed before it sits on her again. In the meantime, I think I managed to fix any damage I may have done with that one ride, and have actually seen a bit more noticeable change as I continue regular massage. (I'll take her templates out and do a quicky comparison before I alter the flocking.)

The change in her templates is amazing, incidentally. I think she's a half inch wider on each side of her wither.

(Added on Saturday, July 03, 2004 @ 10:31:56 PM)


Courbette--Test Ride

I'll add more on this later, but I've worked on the Courbette some more. After Kat's back changed so much in just six weeks, I decided that trying to futz around manipulating those foam panels was just too awkward. Since she's changing so fast, I really need something I can tweak on a regular basis.

So I opened up the panels, pulled out all the foam, and stitched it up again; then I flocked it. The panels are shaped for foam, though, so tweaking is a little more difficult than it might otherwise be (the foam was narrow and flat, whereas the flocking is thick and rounded). Too, Kat's last ride in this saddle was uncomfortable, so she anticipates discomfort--and hollows her back. A saddle which fits perfectly will bridge when the horse is dramatically hollow.

So I need to over-emphasize the contour of her back, and make it extra rounded, to fit when her back is *hollow*. Then, as she relaxes, I can gradually shape it back to her more normal curves.

Two rides so far; the first showed me that I need to exaggerate the contour--and it felt stranger than rider her ever has--her back was so tight, that the saddle was really unstable.

The second ride was to test to see if I'd gotten the exaggeration enough; I haven't, but she was more relaxed, and I felt less like I was perched on an unstable hilltop. I think if she continues to relax, and I do a little more adjusting, we'll meet in the middle :)

(Added on Saturday, July 24, 2004 @ 01:18:16 AM)


Happy news

Today after dinner, Fantasy came 'round, Kat left her stall and hung around a bit. We hosed Duch off, so Fantasy (who had been going into Kat's stall) paused and gave us a loooong look. (She wasn't sure she should come in, since we were Wielding the Hose.)

While she was standing there, Kat came over and very lightly rested her nose at the base of Fantasy's neck. Oh oh oh oh oh! She TOUCHED another horse! And it was all her idea! I went and gave Fantasy a few hugs and told her that I'll forgive her for all the trouble she's put me though :) Having a real horse around has been so good for Kat. (OTTB's can be so socially stunted.)

We've had an interesting development, with Fantasy. Wednesday night, as I was putting fly repellent on her (still pouring onto a cloth and rubbing her with it), she was getting antsy and acting generally freaky. I went around and stood in front of her, looked her in the eye, and scolded her at length ("We've been doing this for long enough, and I *know* you've realized that it won't hurt you [...]") She gave me a very pitiful look and lowered her head; about stuck her poll into my chest. She's such a child...baby child.

When I went to hug Fantasy and tell her what a good girl she was, she did it again; not quite as extreme, but put her head down and leaned it toward me. I think perhaps she noticed the previous night that it makes my heart melt ;)

Tonight, after dinner, I was doing a little massaging and getting quality time with the girls. When I was working on Kat, a couple of times Little Bit came in close to sniff me and was chased off by flat-back ears and a glare. Went to do some work on Little Bit, who up 'till now has always been suspicious of me messing with the tight muscles. I think she decided that, since I'm doing it to Kat, it must be okay; she was very calm about it.

Then she started trying to groom me back. Very cute and sweet. She's clearly getting so much more comfortable with us. We do need to work on "lips are acceptable, teeth are not"...

She stayed with me up toward the barn, even after the other two had wandered way off into the front field. And when John and I went to leave the field, she stood there looking contented up 'till John put out a hand to open the gate--then trotted straight up to us looking worried; "Don't leave me!"

It's so different having a horse with very expressive body language and a lot of unsuppressed personality.

(Added on Saturday, July 24, 2004 @ 01:28:09 AM)


Kat

Massaging tonight, I observed that Kat's getting so much looser in her hind end; at the walk I'm noticing some more of her super-flashy hock movement coming back. It's so disgustingly hot out that she's not doing a lot of trot while wandering around, but I'll probably lunge her or scoot her on sometime in the next couple of days to look at her trot. This is delightful.

And I really am quite excited about her interaction with Fantasy last night. Kat's always been SO repressed; she's been touchy about her body, she's uncertain about things like mutual grooming. She seems to be learning a lot from Fantasy. The last time I gave her a thorough grooming (yesterday morning) she looked like she was trying to figure out how to groom me back. She put her nose on me while I was brushing, and wiggled her upper lip just the tiniest bit.

Then, last night, she reached out and rested her nose lightly on Fantasy's back. So terrific. So wonderful. My girl is learning how to be a horse :)

(Added on Saturday, July 24, 2004 @ 01:34:06 AM)


Bravery

Today Little Bit was very very brave. I squirted the (water-filled) spray bottle right next to her as she was eating, and even in the direction of her feet. She also walked up and took a sniff of the end of the hose (off) when she was invited to take a look at it--started to get tense, but I managed to take it away before she decided to pull back on her own. Gradually pushing the comfort zone, slowly slowly.

As much as Kat is learning from Little Bit, I think it may go both ways: Fantasy is also watching me handle Kat and Duchess. Last night Fantasy stayed within about 5' of the TB's while I was flyspraying; up till then she had jumped & run any time we started spraying.

We have progress, we do we do.

(Added on Saturday, July 24, 2004 @ 01:38:25 AM)


Mama Mare

Yesterday we rode up the road for the first time since Fantasy came over & Lucky left. Fantasy started panicking the moment we left the field (long before we were out of sight). Now, she used to watch them go up the road, and come back again, quite regularly last fall--this time, though, she was on the other side of the fence, and she didn't have Lucky around.

As with everything, I figure that repeated short exposure will help her get accustomed to it; we were prepared for her to be worried when we left--but neither of us was prepared for Duchess's reaction! Duchess, the calm, reliable, bombproof babysitter was spinning around trying to bolt back to Fantasy. How completely unexpected.

At the very beginning, she would panic when separated from Kat. But for a long, long time now she's been all right; a little hesitant the first time she does something new without Kat; hesitant, but agreeable. Duchess, of course, is the dominant mare in the group. She really seems to feel quite maternal about the other two. And on yesterday's ride, she was like a mother being forcefully separated from a weanling. Any time Fantasy called, Duchess tried to spin.

With insistence and some loud exclamations, John did finally manage to get her to pay attention. He also maintained the upper hand while turning around to head for home. I think we got out of that whole ride better off than we started, and next time will be easier. But really, we were so startled by the apparent depth of her emotions. She's usually very distant toward F, and sometimes even won't be near her (F is rather clingy). But when Fantasy was so distressed, she was protective, she was vehement, she wanted to GO take care of the Little Bit.

(Added on Saturday, July 24, 2004 @ 01:52:21 AM)


Widening another gullet

Here we have a nice wide Thorowgood. At least, it's nice and wide in the front. In the back, it was much too narrow between the panels.

It's a pretty small saddle, and the rider is fairly light, but it would still be overall better to get some more spine clearance.

I'll give you the "before" and "after" shots, then I'll go into a little more detail about how I went about it.



Before After


The outer edges of the panels were stapled to the inside edge of the tree (yellow). I first removed the staples and attached the panel to the outside edge of the tree (green).
This did not provide enough width, in part because it wasn't enough extra width and in part because the panels were held together at the center.
To get the width I needed, I had to attach the outer seam of the panels to the outside edge of the skirt.
I also had to separate the panels at the center,
and add an insert.
Once I had the insert put in, I stitched the outside seam of the panel to the outside seam of the skirt.
The end product is a gullet that maintains its width from front to back.


(Added on Wednesday, August 04, 2004 @ 12:44:55 PM)


Puncture, needing Surgery, and Trailering Lessons

Well, no recent updates on Fantasy. I was about to start her into regular ground training and getting her used to wearing tack, about a month ago. I came home one day and she had a nasty-looking puncture behind her right ear. Called vet out, got it treated & directions to dal with it. A month later, it was still draining and wouldn't heal.

Called vet back out after 2 1/2 weeks--had to wait, though, because she wanted to take X-rays and Hurricane Frances left us without power. We finally got power back, and vet came out. Vet looked at it and said that the puncture is affecting the bone. She likely needs surgery. She called the surgeon that she recommends, and discussed F-mare with him; he agreed that it sounded like a necessary surgery. So since they'll need to take Xrays right at the time of surgery, the vet ended up not taking any when she was out.

Well, to get F-mare to surgery, I'll need to be able to trailer her. So we spent today working on trailer loading. As far as I know she hasn't been in one for 5 years, and I have no idea if she loaded well then--or if she even travelled in a trailer to get there.

I don't yet have an apptmt with the surgeon, so I have a little time. So we went out today to spend as long as necessary to get her introduced to my trailer. This is an especially interesting task, by the way, as due to the location of the puncture I can no longer put a halter on her. She's started violently objecting to crownpieces. I've been using a neck rope to handle her for about two weeks.

I walked in, and stood there encouraging her to "Walk, baby." I held a cookie juuuuust out of reach in front of her, and gave her one every time I got a step forward. Every so often, I would use a gentle pull-release to help her figure out what to do. When we were really in sync, I managed to give the light pull just as she was stretched out to the max treaching for the cookie. When I got the timing right, that almost always led to a step forward.

She did really well. She needed a little encouragement to figure out how to get her front feet onto the ramp, and then again onto the trailer itself. She had some serious questions about her hind feet on the ramp, and we had a few rushed exits as she got panicky about putting her hind feet on the slanted surface.

After about the second of those rushed exits, I decided that she might be a little more comfortable if she had someone to keep her company. So I grabbed Kat, put on a head bumper, and loaded her on in (good girl, Kat!) Fantasy was a little more comfortable after that, and paused every so often to swing her head over toward Kat's rump looking for encouragement.

We eventually got to the point where she was ALMOST loaded, with both front legs well inside and the hind legs at the very top of the ramp. At that point I asked her to reverse out of the trailer, to end on a good note.

Very proud of the little girl. From a horse who wouldn't be caught, wouldn't be led, and hid her rump away from her handler any time she was confused, she's made so much progress We got her almost all the way loaded with only a neck rope [and lots of cookies]. What a good little girl.

I think we'll do this a couple more times. I'd like to get to the point where she loads and unloads a few times in a session. The next session after that I'll take her for a short drive and come back home.

(Added on Saturday, September 18, 2004 @ 03:59:24 PM)


Teeth and riding

August was a rough month; I started a new fulltime job and my riding time has been restricted. I've still been playing around with Kat's Courbette, trying to get it just right. For a while, I was having some difficulty; she was having absolute fits when asked to flex to the right.

Her teeth were due to be done, so had the vet out. Vet showed me that Kat has a bit of "slant mouth": she grinds her teeth down such that her front teeth end up slanted. So when she chews or otherwise tries to move her lower jaw, the jaw moves a little up and down as well as left and right. Vet says that this will definitely affect ability to flex--and considering the direction of Kat's slant, would make right flexion a real difficulty. Vet straightened her out; hopefully this will make a difference.

She's also trying out being barefoot. Our new farrier is shaping her feet differently, and my goodness--they're GROWing! Last time she was done, he said that her hooves looked like they were growing healthily enough that she might be able to go barefoot. It's been about a month now, and she still seems fairly cheerful with it.

She had her teeth done and her feet done this week, so I gave her a couple of days to get accustomed to it. I'm hoping I'll get a chance to ride this evening and see how she's feeling now. I'm still waiting for the new flocking in her saddle to really bed down, but so far she seems to be responding quite well to it.

Cheerful day so far.

(Added on Saturday, September 18, 2004 @ 04:10:52 PM)


Duchess, abcess

Duchess's bad hoof has an abcess, sadly. Not a whole lot going on with her recently. I was hoping that her most recent trim would get us past the abcess, but it's not quiiiiite grown out yet. She's a bit grumpy about it.

The One AC really seems to be helping with her sweating. She had stopped sweating completely by the beginning of July. July, in Florida, is NOT a good time to be unable to sweat. We put in auto-waterers in the stalls, so she can have fresh water as long as she's in there (she has free access, and hides in there during the worst of the day). We also started her on One AC. She is now sweating again, at least some. It's not as much as it ought to be, but hey, it's something.

The vet recommended beer, too. She says that she gives beer to her own anhydrotic horse. I've seen that in a few different places; I guess it's worth trying :)

(Added on Saturday, September 18, 2004 @ 04:15:15 PM)


Fantasy and the Trailer, Episode II

In our last episode, Fantasy would go alllllmost all the way into the trailer fairly willingly, taking about an hour and a half or so to get in there. No shoving, no shouting, just waiting and encouraging.

Progress since then has been such that she'll load all the way within about 5 minutes. She'll back calmly out when asked. She still pauses for a little while before getting her hind feet onto the ramp, but she's not being naughty, just thinking hard.

Over the course of multiple sessions, we progressed to the point of closing the doors briefly. Her surgery was rescheduled (could drive in the weather from Hurricane Jeanne, then the surgeons lost power until yesterday); we'll be driving her down tomorrow.

Today I put her into the trailer, closed, and locked the doors. She didn't like the sound; she tried to back out. Unfortunately, she panicked :( and scrabbled until she gave up (I have a very solid and quite safe trailer, which is good). It wasn't a long time, but it was certainly unpleasant for both of us. When she gave up, she stood there wild eyed and blowing and whickered pitifully.

When I stepped out of the trailer for a moment, then came back in, she started to panic, got ahold of herself, and whickered pitifully again.

I am sure that she recognizes trailers, and that she keeps expecting me to take her away. I was pretty sure that opening up the trailer and letting her out at that point would be a bad idea; I wanted her to come out of the trailer feeling relieved and in a more positive mood. So I drove aroooound the yard--slowly, 'cause it's bumpy, but never left sight of the pastures.

*Then* I parked, right where the trailer had been, opened it up, and went to her head to invite her to back out. It took a lot of coaxing, since she was now sure that the back of the trailer was a solid wall, but eventually she backed out (relatively calmly, in fact, which was my next concern).

A few minutes of grazing and telling her what a brave strong girl she was, five more minutes of coaxing, and she was all the way back in; another five of coaxing, and she backed out again. Good enough for today.

(Added on Wednesday, September 29, 2004 @ 06:27:07 PM)


Fantasy updates

Well, since our last updates, the Little One has been down to the surgeon, come back, and been in recovery. She did really well in the trailer, was absolutely distraught when we got there and she couldn't find our TB's, and eventually was quite eager to get on the trailer & come home.

The surgeon tells us that she had some bone chips floating around under the puncture wound. Whatever caused the puncture also apparently caused enough impact trauma to break off part of the wing of her atlas. [The atlas is the first vertebra in the neck, at the poll.] They removed the chips, rounded off the bone, and sewed her back up.

They told us that they *thought* they got all of the bone chips, but they couldn't be sure. They said that if it didn't close over entirely within about 3 weeks, that they'd probably need to open her back up and go digging some more. It's been more than three weeks; it's still draining. I'm going to have the vet out this week, I think, to take another look at it.

In the meantime, it's ALMOST completely better, and the overall sensitivity is gone. Fantasy will again allow herself to be haltered, and is being quite good about leading and responding to whoa/walk/trot voice commands. She's VERY clingy, though, and is having a little trouble with "stand." (just wants to stay at my shoulder all of the time)

We've also been working on lunging, 2 sessions now. Will make that into a separate log entry.

(Added on Monday, November 15, 2004 @ 10:56:20 PM)


Fantasy, Lunging (or not, as the case may be)

Fantasy has always had a lot of trouble with me getting behind her shoulder. She hides her hindquarters when she is afraid; clearly she is worried about being whapped. This is leading to a lot of trouble when it comes to lunging.

First session: I verified that she remembers walk, trot, and whoa all from voice. Then I moved out & back a little, and ask for a walk. She panicked and froze up. Most horses would respond to a person in the driving position (behind the driving line) by moving forward; Fantasy has a mental block, and simply freezes. If I can get her to move at all, she pivots and faces me.

She's perfectly happy to do whatever I want her to do, as long as I stay forward of her shoulder. So that's what we've been working on. I ask her to walk or trot, and gradually move inwards on the circle--but not back. She's now managed to complete several circuits at trot with me between 5 and 10 feet to the inside.

We also had quite a long discussion about whether I was allowed to be on her right :) When I positiond myself to the right of her head, so that we could walk in large clockwise "lunge" circles, she dove back to the usual position (with her nose at my right shoulder). After a lot of coaxing, we managed to walk around for quite some time with me on the right.

Everything fell apart again when I asked for trot, but that wasn't too unexpected. She dove back for the right again. I corrected her; only had to do it the once. The next time I asked for trot and indicated that she should be on my left, she halfway managed it.

We finished off the day with her starting to be able to move away from me going counterclockwise, and starting to accept that she CAN be on my right when going clockwise. That was enough for today.

(Added on Monday, November 15, 2004 @ 11:03:49 PM)


Fantasy wore a Bridle and a Bit and a Saddle!

Fantasy has been carrying around a bareback pad nicely, ignored it after the first "what on EARTH is THAT thing?" (previously I was setting various things on her back, and then she wore a surcingle) She's been doing all of her recent in-hand sessions wearing the bareback pad.

Today I added the halter-bridle, which is so convenient for a million different things. In this instance, the halter part was sitting securely on her head while I dealt with the bit. I used my french link, having noted that her palate is a lot lower than the TBs'.

(Boy was she cute. Little daaark chestnut flaxen pony in a purple bareback pad and a burgundy halter bridle.)

She really didn't know what to make of the bit, and she chomped at it. She opened her mouth, stuck her tongue out, mouthed at it. We walked around until she was fairly calm (and had attempted to take a few cookies, although she couldn't figure out how to make it work).

She spent much of the time reverting to her old habits...trying to walk leaning on me. I think she was feeling a bit insecure. She's such a needy baby. (No, of course I didn't let her lean on me. She just made the attempt.)

We had our first spook, too; while we were over by the fence, one of the idiots with ATV's went zooming down the road. Noisy. She leapt straight up in the air, pawing as she went. I think it ordinarily wouldn't've bothered her so much, but she was feeling a bit hassled...

Anyway, she eventually was doing better, so I stripped her naked and turned her loose. She was much happier to take cookies once the bit was gone. Entertainingly enough, she tried to bite the bareback pad! I think she'd've gone for the bit, except that I had already hung it inside the barn. So despite calmly ignoring the bareback pad for so long, she evidently decided it needed Fantasy teeth marks today.

(Added on Wednesday, November 24, 2004 @ 01:28:21 AM)