Just a Quick Hello

Hello all, 

I apologize for my lack of posting. My laptop was hit with viruses and is kaput for good, so I'm waiting on a new one in the mail still. Which is why I haven't posted in the last two weeks (before that, I have no excuse ;) )

I purchased a cart and have been taking driving lessons with Daisy. We've had three so far, and it's going well! Her first time hooked to the cart, she took a few steps and then did a quick 180 with the cart because the shafts spooked her. At our last lesson on Wednesday, she was great! We went around the field a few times at a walk with people on either side of her, and she settled in. Tomorrow is our next lesson, and we're hoping to eliminate the helpers. 

We've also been jumping with pony club (header pic). We did a 2'7" vertical at our last lesson! We're rating up to our D3 this weekend, which requires jumping a bunch of 2'6" jumps, including a 2'6" oxer.... something we've never done. I'll work on it with her this week. 

Yesterday morning when I came to the barn, Daisy had hives on her neck and belly and was swollen right behind her jaw on her neck (glands?). She's on benedryl now, masked in applesauce. I'm heading out in a few minutes to give her more and check her progress.

Hopefully I'll have my laptop back soon, and then I'll try to post some more pictures of driving and jumping. 

Oh you know, the last... 2 Weeks.

If there was ever a time that school was keeping me busy, it is now. Midterms are this week. The good news is, I don't have school at all on Thursday...and technically not Friday, although my Friday is filled. But Tuesday and Wednesday I have testing. Joy. So here I am. Posting. ;) (I should be studying..... )

I took these pictures last week Monday, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Below are Jayda (right) and Skyler (left), Jenny's horses. I love how the photos turned out. These are just two. The one below is slightly edited....the next ones aren't at all.

Jayda again.

And Daisy-- Her friendly face. ;) She really only comes in one flavor: grouchy. But it's generally just an act ;)

Enjoying her hay.

I took her home soon afterward. My parents went on a week long trip, and even though the barn where Daisy was at is only a mile down the road, we thought it'd be easier to have her home and not have to get rides there daily.

I ended up only taking her harness home, so this week was just harness stuff. 

I was surprised to find that she was a little spooky going out the first time on the driveway in harness. It wasn't extreme in any way...but she's normally very stoic, not looky or alert at all. Under harness however, she was alert and a little hesitant to proceed. Once I talked to her a bit and convinced her it was ok, she went.

I learned something this week: appreciate the length of reins used in riding. Because there's a big difference in ground driving with long reins and trying to discipline a horse, and simply riding and disciplining. Daisy tried every chance she had to turn around and go home; whenever I asked her to move onto the driveway from the side. The frustrating thing was that I had no real control over it; it's hard to figure out how to be demanding in what you ask when you have to legs to use on her sides. I ended up walking to her side each time and shoving her in the right direction. She figured it out.

Thursday I worked with her and a sled. First I just walked her around the sled on the ground, then I walked at her sides, pulling the sled next to me on each side until she was comfortable with the noise and appearance, and then I looped the sled's rope over my arm while I ground drove her. There was a slight initial shock, but she was completely over it in 5 minutes. And don't let the snow kid you; the sled still made a loud scraping noise.

Saturday I had my friend (Lydia) sit in the toboggan and I sat on Daisy's back and pulled her. It was hard to get moving from a stand still; I almost slid off the back. So Lydia would get the sled moving, and then we'd pull it. Daisy did really well with the weight! She wasn't spooked by it at all. We even did a tiny bit of trotting.

At one point this week, I went in the house in the middle of stall cleaning to get something, and got held up. I was gone about 20 minutes, and came back to find this... I think this was her escape / steal dinner plan. It didn't work either way. Haha :)

Today Daisy has a cough. She coughed a couple times yesterday, but I didn't really acknowledge it. Today she's been coughing all day...mostly when she eats hay or finishes eating it. I don't think it's really caused by the hay; it's the same hay she always eats, it's not visibly dusty, and she gets most of the hay that she eats shaken out anyway. The one horse boarding at Jenny's got a bad cold a couple weeks ago, and now two of Jenny's horses are coughing too, so I think Daisy has the same thing. Even though, it's a shame. I'm going to give her a few days off (although I may end up riding her back to Jenny's tomorrow) and see how she is. 

What do you do for a  sick horse?

Talk to you all soon.

Dragging a Groundpole...& All That Other Stuff

I can't remember exactly, either Monday or Tuesday of this week was "drag a ground pole" day. Daisy was just fine with it, and so I declared Wednesday to be "lets drag a barrel day"...and, basically told myself that if she took to the barrel without too much trouble, then I would go on with the training with the end goal being her pulling a cart. You can see how that all went in this video:

I didn't start with leading her and dragging it. I got right up on her back. She was fine with it until it ended up next to her (the "Ahh!" moment) and then she was a little wigged out, so at that point I got off and dragged it while leading her(cropped it out because of time constraints). Then I got back on her and kept going. I know it looks like she's power walking, trying to get away with it...she's not really. While I was riding her, it felt totally normal, like she was focused on the barrel and knew it was there, but wasn't really worried about it all that much, even when it dragged over loud stones. Also, when she trots, it's because I asked her ;) She's a horse with a naturally active walk; that's something I love, because I've always been one who can't stand lazy walking horses. I personally think she did really well with the barrel...she's a horse that doesn't spook and totally lose it. She spooks in stages that you can see coming; it's easy to prevent them, or at least see them coming, and it's easy to talk her off the ledge. She's sensible, and she doesn't get so caught up in spooking that she doesn't listen. I'm so proud of my mare :)

Do any of your horses poop in their water troughs? 

Well. I think Daisy was trying to get back at me for the work I've been making her do. She pooped in her trough. Two days in a row. I got to empty it, scrub it, and refill it, two days in a row. I moved it a foot sideways the second time it happened, and spent the lesson that day getting all her bucks and energy out roundpenning. Not sure if it's connected, but her trough has stayed clean since then xD. 

Friday and Saturday I rode her outside for the first time since I came to Jenny's. We rode out in the snow (about 1/2 a foot) and walked/trotted/cantered...she was having a blast, and so was I. I feel like the ground driving and ground work is forcing her to track up more...because she felt like she was tracking up the whole time we rode outside. She tried to buck out of sheer joy a few times... ;)

So. I'm a little torn, but I've decided I'll ask for a harness for Christmas...and I've been checking out simple EZ entry carts on ebay...you just never know ;)

Until next time,