A quick update

Much has happened in my little horse world in the past few months.

Earlier, I had made a post about a scare at the vet with Leah, my Arabian mare.  Well, just a little over a month after that, she became horribly injured, tearing a large chunk of her face away.  She spent 10 days at the vet where they first tried to stitch everything back together and then, due to infection and too much blood loss, ended up having to remove everything so that she would heal open.  The entire thing was a horrifying ordeal and very hard to deal with.  I'm so very thankful for my husband, who helped me through all of it and was the one who cleaned out her wound every day since I was having so much trouble even looking at it.  

I'm happy to report that now, nearly 4 months later, she is almost completely healed.  There is only a thin line down the side of her face to show that anything had ever happened.  She also had some nerve damage, which causes her lower lip on that side to droop, but even that has been improving.

Yesterday, we went on a long trail ride with some friends.  I rode Bo, and Jeff rode Leah.  I'm still dealing with some confidence issues when riding her so Jeff decided he would ride her.  He is what I would call a confident beginner.  She needs a rider who is confident and I know that my recent fear only causes a downward spiral when she spooks at things.  She and Jeff did very well on the ride.  She became spooky a couple of times, but quickly got over it and kept on down the trail.  Next time maybe I'll be brave and ride her out.  

Starting Over - Opposite Ends

Bo and Leah are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to horses.

Bo is... "dull" as another trainer put it. He's naturally very lazy, has a stubborn streak, and though he is friendly, he's not terribly respectful on the ground. He doesn't have much concept of personal space and he's not very responsive - at all. All of these things have continued to grow throughout the years and I've come to realie that he's gotten away with it all, because he's such a good horse in so many other ways. He's quiet, he's gentle, anyone can ride him, he'll do (just about) anything you ask - though he may be slow to get there. He's also pretty much unflappable, not much scares him at all. He's probably been coasting along with a comfortable "B-C" grade all these years.

Leah, on the other hand, is highly responsive. Anything you ask her to do, she does it yesterday. In the early years I fell off of her so many times, because I'd ask her to turn, she'd flip a 90 or 180 - and I'd be in the dirt. She's quick, flighty, tense, and afraid of ev-ery-thing. She's been a pretty good girl all these years, pretty easy to handle, scary smart, I'd say overall she wants to do good. She's been allowed to coast too.

Both of them have gaping holes in their training, primarily because their early years pre-dated me knowing much. I started them both under saddle and did all of their early education, but looking back there was SO much I didn't know. (there's STILL so much I don't know...)

I've learned that Bo needs sensitizing. He needs to learn that he can't coast anymore, when I say move, he needs to MOVE. Leah needs DEsensitizing, she needs to learn that she's not going to die at any second and that it's okay to chill out.

I've already gotten started in what is sort of starting over with them both. I've been doing groundwork, making Bo hustle his feet. Then I switch gears and encourage Leah to stand still as plastic bags go whipping past her.

I have to say that I think it is a great deal of fun working with the two of them. If Leah gets all spun up and I feel nervous about being on her, I can go get on Bo and decompress with an easy ride. If I get frustrated with Bo's lack of responsiveness, I can get Leah out and smile at her "snap-to" way of doing things.

I think they balance each other out quite well and between the two of them, I can learn a lot.

Baby Pictures and a Scare

My big project over the past 6 months that my husband was deployed was to go through all of my stuff. Most of the things I own have been boxed up in storage off and on for the past several years. It was like Christmas, going through some boxes that hadn't been opened in 6 years or so.

One of the things I found was a package of old horse pictures, among them were all of Bo's baby pictures. I'm planning to scan them in and put them on my webpage to start a photo gallery of my big handsome boy.

Leah is back and looks fantastic. She gave us a scare though last weekend. I found her in her stall, drooling and unable to swallow. After a trip to the vet, some druges and a stomach tube, they still didn't know what was wrong with her. She was left there for a night of observation and she was finally able to eat with the help of some Bute. (an anti-inflammatory painkiller for those non horse folks who may find their way here)

When we brought her home, I discovered Bo sticking his tounge out and making faces, much the way Leah had been when we first found her drooling. He didn't let it stop him from eating though - not much ever stops Bo from eating.

We finally came to the conclusion that it was a strange type of grass that popped up in a bale of hay they shared. The bale was chock full of some type of fluffy grass seeds that were smooth when felt one way, but like sandpaper when rubbed the wrong way. Bo didn't finish his portion of that bale, whereas Leah did. I think the vet's theory of the mouth or throat being scratched up was right.

All is well now, but it was a tense couple of days wondering why Leah couldn't swallow anything she tried to eat.

Strangeness

"The strangeness of this life cannot be measured." - John Dunbar, Dances With Wolves

That quote pops into my head from time to time and this is one of those times.

Just two months ago I reduced my small herd of horses to just one. I've been enjoying only having one horse to fuss over - one horse to care for and worry about and make plans with. At the same time there has been times where it feels strange to be at the barn. Once I'm done with Bo, I'm... done. Several times I've stood at the gate to his pen after putting him away and finishing chores and I've thought,

"Now what? ... Well, now I guess I go... home."

I think I've gotten used to it and have been enjoying having just the one.

Tonight I came home from a get together at a friend's house and checked my e-mail. I found a reply from one of the ladies who had given a home to two of my horses, an Arabian mare and her weanling filly. We've been e-mailing back and forth about the "girls".

I was surprised to see that her message was asking if I'd be interested in taking the mare back. She said she's just not working out for what they wanted her for. Without hesitation, I knew my answer would be yes. This was the arrangement I had made with them, for both horses. I gave both of the horses to them, under the condition that they be given back to me if things didn't work out. I wrote back and we've arranged that they'll bring her back tomorrow afternoon.

I'm not really sure what to do. This mare means so much to me and it was gut wrenching to see her go. I had decided at one point to keep her and Bo. That way my husband and I could each have a horse to ride and I'd have my two extremes again - Bo is the calm, quiet, lazy, "safe" horse (even though he's a stallion) and Leah, the mare, is the one with more get-up-and-go. She is a sportscar to his luxury sedan. When I had thought of keeping both of them, I had considered gelding Bo so that they could stay together. She has always been "his" girl. She was the first mare he bred and all through these years, he notices her more than any other mare.

When I decided to let her go, my husband confessed that the idea of gelding Bo had made him sad. He had been hoping that we would have a couple of Bo babies to raise up later on when we have property and when Bo is older.

Now everything is up in the air again. All I know is that pretty little Leah is coming home to me again. Beyond that we'll just have to figure it out...

Daring to Dream Again

After being spread so thin all these years with all the horses, it's been a slow, sputtering start to making plans again. I think, after toying around with the idea for years, I'd like to try and start training Bo for Reining. I've had an interest in that event for many years and I have always thought Bo might have the makings of a good Reining horse. He has the build for it and is a nice mover. He's willing and has a good disposition.

We have a LONG way to go to get there. Most of the required movements are things I've never done before and have never trained a horse to do. Things like flying lead changes, spins, and sliding stops... Then there's the fact that Bo is not very soft at all. He's got a good, soft mouth, but he's kinda lunk headed and doesn't have much finesse as of yet. A lot of that is my fault; back when I first started him I didn't know much more than how to get a horse rideable at a very basic level. He is very willing to please though and has a great mind. I foresee a bit of starting over in some areas.

Compound all of that by both Bo and I being pretty out of shape right now. Yeah, it's gonna be a bit of an uphill battle from the start.

I would like to put him in some local open shows this summer in whatever classes we can get ready for. I had planned to start with stuff like Walk/Trot classes and maybe... maybe Novice Reining - if we can get anywhere close to being ready for that. We both need a lot of conditioning and need to learn a lot more together.

I think it will be fun and if we can go to some shows and not make fools of ourselves, having done most of the work on our own, it'll be great.

The End of an Era

First off, I have to be the world's worst blogger... Once again it's been almost a YEAR since my last post. *sigh*

For anyone who doesn't know and might come across this blog and the possible cliffhanger of my last post... I'll give a super fast update. I decided to name the mustang Calen. His training went well, but we did not go to the competition in Fort Collins. It was right around the time of the EHV-1 scare and it turned out that a man where I keep my horses had taken a real liking to Calen and wanted to adopt him. So I was allowed to swap from the Makeover into their Trainer's program and let the man adopt Calen straight from the BLM and me, without going to the competition. I was sad to have missed out on going, but overall I think it was a great outcome. Calen got to stay right here where he was comfortable. This man is good with his horses and takes excellent care of them. Best of all I still get to see Calen every day!

On to my post of current events...

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Ok, so my title might be a bit dramatic but, for the first time in almost 12 years I only have one horse. (and I almost had none)

A few months ago as a result of health problems, escalating hay costs, and I'm sad to say some general burnout on a lot of fronts, I decided to find homes for my horses, Hay has been twice what it normally costs all year - when I can find it. With winter coming I didn't want to get into a situation where I couldn't feed my horses. I felt financially, physically, and emotionally exhausted. At one point I had decided that they were all going to go, I just couldn't do it anymore. The horses, the trailer, the truck, the tack, anything that said horse was going to go. Luckily my husband talked me out of such drastic measures and he wanted me to keep Bo.

I first saw Bo when he was a month old; he'll be 11 next year. Over the years he has been my faithful compantion, my steady mount, the one I can "put away" for months and then go for a ride like we were never apart. Over the years this has caused him to be put on the back burner while I worked with a string of youngsters and training projects - both mine and other people's. As of last week when my last other horse left, it's just Bo and I. It never really has been just Bo and I. From the time I first had him, I had at least one other horse and at most, 6 other horses. All of the other ones needed more work, more training, more attention.

Through it all, Bo just watched and waited. Now he will be my focus.

I've had a lot of dreams with horses flicker and die out over the years as life and a string of bad luck after bad luck interfered. I've been trying to stoke the fires for the plans I once had with Bo, before getting sidetracked by all of the youngsters who came along and all of life's inevitable interruptions. I think maybe next year he and I will finally do more together. I'd like to show him and spend a lot more time riding in the mountains.

This is the first time I've ever had just one horse, but what a horse he is!

Week Two update

First off, I think I've finally decided on a name... Even though Jasper has been in my head for a little while, it just doesn't seem to fit him. So I've decided to name him Calen. Although I'm still trying to decide on a pronunciation. I like "Ka-lon" - like Talon, with a C. However I think the actual name is pronounced "Kay-Lynn" - but that just souns feminine to me. We'll see, but at least I have something to refer to him as here, instead of just "him" or "the horse" or "the mustang". Calen it is!

There hasn't been a whole to report for the last several days. I gave him a few days off over last weekend. He did get to meet my other boys and they got along fairly well - although he is really not impressed with my colt, who thinks he's big and bad and rules the roost.

On Wednesday he got to meet a friend of mine. She was about to get up to him in the arena while he was loose and get ahold of his halter. She patted and poked and rubben him all over. The worst he tried to do was walk around her i a circle a couple of times, but he already knows "Whoa" and he stopped and stood for her. It was good to see him react favorably with a new person. A big part of my training with him is going to be having many different people handle and ride him. I want him to be at ease with other people, in case he does go to a new home in June. Mustangs have a tendancy sometimes to bond with one person and be distrustful of others, so it's always a priority with me to try and have other people work with them too.

Yesterday, Thursday, he wore a saddle pad and saddle for the first time. It was the second time I had tried to get a saddle pad on him - the first time he'd danced around and bolted away several times. He was starting off on the same foot and the friend who'd met him on Wednesday happened to call me in the middle of it. I told her what was going on and she said "Just put it on him, he's fine" I told her I didn't want to rush him, but she said her impression was that he was smart enough to handle a direct approach. Her advice was to be matter-of-fact and just do it. So I threw the pad up on his back and he walked around a bit, kinda unsure, but after a few more tosses of the pad, he was fine. I went around to the off side and threw it on and he didn't even react.

One thing I've noticed with this horse is that it doesn't seem to be as imprtant to expose him to things on both sides. General horse training knowledge says that when you are training a horse, it is like you are trainging two horses - the right side and the left side. Whatever you do on one side, you need to do on the other. I've found that to be true, but with this horse things are different. After he is exposed to something on one side, reacts to it, and then accepts it - I can go around to the other side and he is almost always immediately accepting. It is interesting for sure.

I told my friend that I had hoped to saddle him, but I thought that might be too much. Again she told me to just do it, he would be fine. So, I took her advice and gave it a whirl. She was right. I showed him the saddle and then put it on his back. He circled around a bit and wasn't sure what to do, but then he calmed down. I didn't cinch the saddle as I ran out of time, but I put it on him and took it off three times.

I had taken the camera out with me, but had left it outside of the arena. So I snapped a (crummy) pic with my cell phone:

After I took the saddle and pad off, I led him back through the arena, down through the barn and into his stall. I noticed a dramatic improvement in his leading, he was finally walking alongside me, instead of drifting along behind like he's done all along. Also, when it came time to go into his stall, he walked right in with me instead if hesitating. I think my friend was right and I've been kind of babying him all along. He needs a more direct matter-of-fact approach. I've been moving along at the pace I normally would, but it seems like that's just too slow for him. I think he's been bored with me!

I did some "relationship" work with him last night as well. When he first saw the saddle, I'd put it up on the roundpen fence. He was unsure about it and I had him loose in the round pen. I was talking to him and petting him and then walking away. A few times he actually came over to me. When I was talking to my friend, she said she'd noticed that he always faces me, always watches me and seemed totally relaxed around me. She saw that when I went to catch him in the arena, he was standing with his head down and hind leg cocked. I think even though I haven't been sure about it, he and I are building up a good relationship.

I'm excited about our next session and I'm planning to do more work with the saddle, hopefully I'll get it cinched up in the next day or two. I'm curious as to what his reaction will be. So far, even though he's been unsure about many things and has spooked now and then, he hasn't really blown up about anything. I'm curious if he will buck like a madman with the saddle for the first time or if he'll just accept it like he has everything else so far.