Wednesday 1/9/2011

I have forgotten to blog about Wednesday - it was a barn day for me, Lisa, and Troy.

I arrived out there shortly after 3:45 pm, and about 10 minutes before Lisa and Troy got there. So, I brought the horses in and gave them all a little bit of hay. Troy and Lisa arrived and we decided to rid the round pen of all the frozen poop. What was supposed to take just ten minutes ended up taking half an hour or forty five minutes, unfortunately. But,  since some of the poop just wouldn't move for our pitchforks, Troy said he'd drag the arena while we worked with the horses in the cross ties.

So, Lisa got Chief and I got Lucy, and we put them in cross ties / grooming stalls and got to work. I brushed Lucy and then decided to put her back in the stall. I took a hoof pick and picked every single one of her feet. Without her moving an inch or acting bratty whatsoever. How amazing is that?!? We go from her fussing like crazy when I even touch her back feet to her standing perfectly fine. She was a perfect lady! It amazed me. I put her back in the cross ties and started untangling her mane and forelock. She had burrs! Sigh. Why, oh why, do the horses always stick their heads over or under the fences and into the woods?

While trying to untangle her mane, I discovered something kind of strange. With every stroke of the brush, a big chunk of hair came out, most of the time without burrs. I had to hand-remove the burrs, as they refused to come out with the bush, but big chunks of her mane kept falling out. I must've emptied the brush 30 thousand times. Is there something wrong with her? Is this normal? She does have new mane growth at the base of her mane, so I know it's still growing. Could it just be because of rubbing or something?

Next, I took Lucy into the arena (once Troy was done) and worked on our groundwork routine. She seemed slightly unfocused, so we didn't work on very much new stuff, but it was still nice to work with her. Lucy's limp is still slowly disappearing; do you have any idea how happy that makes me?!? I am so, so proud of her perseverance and how far she's come in just a few short months. I am amazed at how emotionally and physically strong she has become.

After that, I got Missy and Lisa got Grinder. We put them in the cross ties, as well, and I brushed through Missy's (thankfully) burr-free mane and forelock. I'm glad Missy is smart enough to not stick her head over the fence! :) Lisa spent fifteen minutes standing on a chair trying to untangle Chief's VERY knotted mane and forelock. He's so tall; that's why she had to stand on the chair! Then, she  worked with Chief a little in the round pen. I went and got Misty. I put the long, 15 foot lead on her and got a lunge whip.

I put the whip on the ground and, using the lunge as lead, went through some basic stop/go, turn, respect-my-bubble work. After she was behaving - and not trying to bite me, as she tried to do when I clipped the lead on her halter - I asked her to lunge. She tucked her head, hopped a step, and promptly started forward. She carried her head low and tucked enough to look like either a western pleasure horse or an English pleasure horse. When I asked her for a change of direction, all I had to do was point the whip a few feet in front of her, and she'd stop, turn on the hind end, and continue the other direction. She was a perfect lady! Once she was licking and chewing and her ears were perked like a happy little horse, I dropped the whip and the line to the ground and turned my back to her. She came up to me and stood a respectful distance from my right shoulder and waited patiently until I walked forward. I stopped. She stopped. I backed. She backed. The most rewarding words Lisa has ever said to me, she said right then,

"Looks like you've found a friend. For life. What you did right there, no one else could've done. That was truly amazing horsemanship."

That made me feel really, really good. I fed Misty a treat and turned her back outside after a few more pats on the neck and a kiss on the nose.

Then, we tacked up Missy and both Lisa and I had a short ride on her. We only did walk/trot work, since Missy was a bit tender in her back legs (she has arthritis). But we did do a lot of stretching with her neck and body. She really, really needed it and I'm glad we got some sort of ride on her.

Wednesday was a very, very, very rewarding day. What's your idea of a rewarding day? What has your instructor, or friend, said to you that made you feel like the proudest person in the world?