CHARLES!!!

Charlie thought that since kicking the dog worked so well to make it go away, he might try the same tactic on me. Ouch. Learning curve for both of us. This meltdown was about trying to exist farther away from Bubby and the barn than he had been before. Once again, he led the way there, but then got panicky and then mad when I wouldn't let him run home. On my part, I was not nearly aware enough of keeping the KICKING end away from me when navigating NOT letting him run home. Welp, lesson learned. 

He had a mini version of this on Wednesday when we were moseying about prior to the farrier arriving. He didn't get me, but he did a mini bolt towards the barn and swung his butt at me at the same time. I corrected before it turned into a kick, and I think he maybe remembered that kicking me wasn't a good idea. 

This was his first time getting trimmed by his new farrier. He DEFINITELY had some stranger danger and just barely held it together at times, but it was a positive experience overall. The farrier complimented his feet too, yay! 

Once again, I know how human parents feel. Is this not the tiniest, most perfect hoof?? 

Friday we regrouped on leading lessons/exploration and took a more structured approach to things. We walked in wide circles, first with his brave eye (right eye, in case you were wondering) towards the outside. After each successfully completed circle he got to graze while I walked with him. He loves a specific type of weed and seeks it out, so that was his reward. 

Also loves oak leaves

Once we were doing the wide circles at a reasonable pace and without needing to make tiny circles to enforce not walking ahead of me, we switched directions. This got us out to the scene of the crime with no drama. It also got us pretty close to the horse trailer. Success! 

Then we did a baby intro to the hose. 

Unsure ears 

Hrmmm

Success! Wet front tootsies 

Next was a "tying" lesson while he got groomed. Lead rope wrapped around solid post. Enough friction to teach him to yield to pressure, but not actually immovable. 

Then I unsuccessfully tried to find a substance to help introduce the idea of oral meds. He didn't love molasses or applesauce. 

Bubby did though!

I fetched their ball from the back of the pasture after that and Bubby was please. Charlie is no longer afraid of it and seems to think it is kinda fun too, so that's progress. 

A few random shots to round out the post

Loves chewing on fly mask and it isn't even ON someone's face. That's not a good sign LOL 

Hmmm... 

A few days after kicking me, Charlie got his grain before his hay and bolted it and choked. My friend called me to have me drive down to help her tube him. Fortunately he cleared it himself before I got there. It was a few days of really loving my life choices re horses though. 

But now we're back to cuddly ponies and rainbows and sunshine! 

One Year Ago

The trip of a lifetime with the pony of a lifetime 

Best picture we got with our completion ribbon. LOL. Pony tried his heart out for me the whole week and was DONE. 

All riding photos by xpressfoto

You Said Woah...

Butterball and I had jump lesson number two on Saturday. I don't know if pony is just excited to jump again or if all the soft leg means go flatwork is paying off. However, the forward tends to be a bit downhill, which JV would say is better than no reaction, but still not what we're going for. Anyways, most of this lesson was about woah meaning woah. 

Per my request that we do either hunter or equitation classes at a show at the end of the month, we did a loopy inside-outside-inside-outside course for the whole lesson. After a few embarrassingly bad crossrails, PW put the jumps up to something that made the pony at least vaguely pay attention. 

Dissecting course by course: 

First course, 0:00-1:10, we started to get a little quick and long coming into the outside five stride line. It is a five stride line when the jumps are 1.10m plus, so getting down it in 5.5 showed how long strided we'd gotten. It wasn't really a problem until the diagonal skinny where he left long. If the fences were bigger, that might've been a time where he didn't leave because he didn't feel like he had the power to get off the ground carefully. 

He's SO CUTE 

Second course, 1:10-1:57, we did a better job down the outside line, doing it in a pleasant six. But then I didn't ask him to come back until about four strides before the skinny on the diagonal and so we had a bit of a pop chip because I didn't "get my work done early". 

Those ears as he locks onto the fence! 

Third course, 1:57-2:44, this one went pretty well. 

Fourth course, 2:44-4:00 we started out okay on this one, but then it kinda fell apart. I softened the reins at him to the diagonal skinny again (problem child solo vertical it seems) and he lengthened into the pop chip. Then down the outside line I kept my hands a bit high as I tried to woah and pony objected to the feel on his mouth and did a hideous leap out. This discombobulation continued through cross cantering through the turn. He's much more apt to miss the R -> L change, I think it is just a strength issue. 

Final lines, 4:02-end, we improved upon the previous oops on the diagonal skinny and got the five done much smoother, hoorah! He also got a nice right to left change after the skinny because of the better canter. 

Since I took so long to write this recap that we've actually had another jump lesson in the interim, let's go ahead and launch into that. It is completely without media, sorry, but it was the same vertical and two poles, so just imagine that. 

PW asked if I wanted to work on anything. I told him our left hand turns kinda sucked and I wanted to strengthen those. We started with a bit of a dressage lesson with instructions NOT to soften the reins at the horse at any point. You're not being soft, you're letting him fall on his face and have inconsistent contact. Heard. PW would go "BOP" every time he bopped up off the contact. Eventually he had me try lifting my hands a bit since having them closer to the mane led to pony face burying behind the contact a bit. To start in the canter he had me going pretty slowly then only allowing forward once his back was moving and accessible. 

Then we took a short break and started jumping. We did a pole - 54 feet (show 4 stride) - vertical - 54 feet - pole. Over and over again. We were to do the waiting 5 strides. We were inclined to lengthen to the 4 after the fence, so I had to do a good bit of WOAHing with body, hands, and voice. Once Butterball got what we were going for he was landing much softer and smoother. The part where I struggled was NOT pushing him after the first pole. If the canter was decent then the five strides should just flow and I should trust the canter. The funny part was that when I FINALLY managed to start doing that, Butterball got much straighter over the vertical without me having to kick or pull him straight (not that pulling him straight ever works, but that's my inclination). Not pushing him gave him a bit more space to the fence and a much better jump. I could FEEL when I had little moments of "not trusting the canter" and tried to do too much. 

I was given homework of setting up that line with a cavaletti. The goal is to eventually do 4 to a 5 or even 6. They should be THAT adjustable. It also really helped me to feel what canter we landed in on the backside. The pony is clever so once he knows what we're going for he just kinda does it. But I could feel the difference between the easy 5 and what was going to be a fight to squeeze in 5. Now to bring that assessment to every part of the course...

One tired pony post-lesson

First clip. I waited too long, but man was it satisfying

What's Up with The Main Character

Butterball had his first (undocumented) jump lesson back a week and a half ago. It was fantastic! He was very happy to be there and then also very exhausted by the approximately twenty jumps that we did. He did do some calling to Ms. GY's horse while he waited on the trailer during her lesson. SIR! In his defense he hasn't gone anywhere other than splish splash since May. 

This was after a flat ride at home. Sub in some jump tack though and this is how he felt post lesson. 

We focused on the little details. The SAME contact and SAME pace to each fence because somehow I missed to a 2'3" vertical a few times LOL. It was very fun to be back out there. 

Then a week ago I pulled a muscle in my back, and it was very unpleasant and limiting. I've had aches and pains before, but this felt like I was physically incapable of rolling over in bed because the pain made my body so guarded. So that was fun. Fortunately with DH's help (shameless plug here), I'm back to my normal self a week later. He also helped identify what asymmetry in my squatting led to this. Turns out it all stems from left ankle sprain --> right knee pain --> asymmetrical squat --> pulling my QL while setting a 30 pound weight down on the ground.  

I made Butterball do some "equine assisted therapy" and walk around the ring with me on him bareback one day, but otherwise he had time off until Wednesday because my own back being that stiff and uneven seemed like a recipe for screwing his up. 

His own PT

I don't recall if I shared, but at his last tendon recheck his vet recommended upping PT for his stifles (raised poles, backing, the usual stuff) and maybe doing another round of esterone like we did last fall if that didn't fix the stickiness he was seeing in trot-walk transitions in hand. He asked if the course of esterone last fall helped. I told him I had no idea because I also got diligent about doing PT. Soooo cue just the PT to see if that helps. 

Wednesday we caught a break in the rain and my back felt good enough to try a saddle so we went for a walk around the neighborhood. 

Hmmmm.... not where you're supposed to be. Ms. GY said he and his BFF had been peaceful in the barnyard all morning. She'd left to get hay maybe ten minutes before I arrived. I think he waited until her truck pulled out then went under the chain and into the hay room. I dropped the chain and went to lead him out. He tried to tell me he didn't fit between the wall and the golf cart. LOL sir, nice one. 

Processing the less familiar cows 

He thought the trailer trash lane was pretty spooky on this day. Unknown if there is some animal in there or if that's just the product of a week off work. 

Loves mud puddles 

Weather pending, we'll have another jump lesson tomorrow. But I'M NOT COMPLAINING ABOUT RAIN, WE LOVE AND NEED RAIN!! 

Feeling at Home

Charlie has settled in quite well at my friend's farm. Three days after their arrival they got let out into the big field. DH and I helped put up the cross fencing for the field and it definitely sold me on the electric tape. In about two hours we'd put in 180' of fencing. And if you put the lowest strand low enough it keeps dogs/coyotes out too. That will be the plan for our property. 

There is a single strand of electric wire on the top board of their paddocks. Both boys had discovered the strand the first day. We felt pretty bad, but it was going to happen at some point. And after Charlie's mom taught him fences were optional by knocking out bottom boards to get to grass, he did need to learn that fences are not removable by ponies. 

Prior to getting let loose in the pasture, they got led as a pair around the whole field. Neither of us saw the boys hit the electric tape out in the pasture though. They may have because Charlie opted to stay a solid three feet away when I came to look at them through the tape. 

At this point, Charlie and I resumed adventures too. Just little forays into the front field and away from Bubby. On the first such journey, Charlie met my friend's dog. He was pretty worried about her bounciness and she pretty much thought he was trying to play with her (do you see where this is going?). A few minutes of this with brief intermissions when I asked her to sit or lay down and eventually he spun his butt around and nailed her with a hind foot. She then realized that he was not in fact trying to play with her and exited. Fortunately she was just fine although her feelings and side definitely stung a little. Charlie had a bit of a look like "mission accomplished" though. Apparently dogs are not his favorite. 

I brought down the ball that Butterball and co had declined to play with. Bubby thought it was pretty fun. Charlie and her other horse were not so sure. 

"You can't give away my toys!" 

Charlie is also learning about things like fly spray (pretty okay on the legs, WTF was that on the top of his back and butt) and barn utensils. We've also worked on halter getting pulled on/off over the ears (still not his fave, but he's learning while short that the option of flailing his head about isn't a good one). 

Sampling the oak tree, not sure it is good 

That well shed was the cause of a bit of anxiety

But he can always eat 

Looking all kinds of cute and set up

His stifles went through a phase of being very locked up about a month prior to weaning (to which my friend responded "sounds like a pony!") but they seem quite happy now. I'm sure his next growth spurt will trigger a bit of that again, but I think he's moving around a lot more at the new farm AND there's a hill in the field - miracles in Florida LOL. 

We'll continue adventures farther and farther away and start to add in a (re) introduction to the trailer for our next tricks. We also need to do some work on standing STILL, I'm not sure how to go about that one TBH. 

Inspected

Spoiler alert, I'm not the only one who thinks Charlie is pretty special. He earned his premium title with sBs on Tuesday.

I'd never seen an inspection before, so it was an interesting process. My friend and I braided Bubby and Charlie that morning and then one by one mare and foal pairs were brought out to a medium sized field. First they were assessed in hand and then walked away from and towards the inspector. Then they were turned loose and encouraged to show off their gaits. Some pairs (cough Neville and Vee cough) were really not motivated, while others got a little wild. Afterwards they were caught and returned to their stall. It warmed my heart that Charlie still let me catch him right after being mildly chased around. Good baby boy. 

I am struggling to embed the instagram video, but go here if you want to see higher quality video of all the babies. 

Moving Into Uncharted Territory

Like what I did there? Long Charlie post incoming, be warned. 

Uncharted WTW had his inspection/weaning/move to new farm all-in-one day on Tuesday. 

Leading up to it, we continued as much prep work as we could. He got his first halter of his own last week. It's from the Horse Education Company and actually is the second attempt. I ordered him the weanling horse/pony halter to begin with, but it was still too big. I was a bit worried it might be, but figured he could always have it as a second halter. I backtracked then and ordered the mini horse size, which fits perfectly. When I tried on the weanling halter I completely forgot he's never had anything slipped over his ears. He was offended, and I felt dumb. Add that to skills to work on. 

Trying to model the halter, but is very close

We continued to take adventures farther and farther from mom. I did some "matching steps" with him and let him dictate the journey some times. 

Checking out weird stuff on the ground; ft my finger

NOMS

We had a few adventures where things went really well, with just a few small spooks that led to prancing a couple of circles around me - kiddo doesn't like getting his face pulled on, interesting this is a learned behavior to pull on the lead it seems. 

Then we had an adventure where things distinctly DID NOT go well. 

That is one unhappy Charlie

He marched on across the lime rock road to near some spookier items in search of good noms. But then realized he was FAR AWAY FROM MOM AND BY SCARY STUFF and wanted to cavort on home. I figured this wasn't necessarily a good plan and stood my ground. Used a bit of Warwick's stuff to bring his attention back to me before he would hit the end of what I was giving him of the lead or, more commonly than pulling, see above, shove his butt into me. 

Things were ever so slowly de-escalating until a DOG appeared. This dog lives on the farm. He knows this dog. But this was a dog out of context (ie Charlie was not cozy in his field with mom and friends when the dog appeared). And the dog appearance prompted him to go straight up then fall over sideways then stand back up before I even knew what happened. My heart was beating roughly a million miles an hour. He appeared fine and was immediately back on quest to run back to friends, so I took a few deep breaths then continued what we had been doing- me standing like an immovable pillar while waiting for him to come to terms with existence in our current space. Eventually he was snagging bites to eat again, still with a lot of tension, but it seemed like a reasonable place to stop (and or my stress level couldn't take anymore for the day...). 

He also got a bit bratty about eating for the first time on a different adventure. I *knew* what he wanted, but he had been stuffing his face, so I felt it was time to do a few seconds of "work". His temper tantrum was basically bouncing up and down with a sulky look on his face which was pretty cute in the way of very young kittens hissing with flat ears. I made him walk a few steps more with me and then let him eat. I also added in the "okay" cue that day to let him know he is allowed to eat. 

We also played with a practice gate DH made. 

DH built us a practice gate

The practice gate was initially because Charlie thought the space in the gate to leave the home field was soooo tiny he couldn't possibly fit. However like any good food motivated pony, he got over that one pretty darn quick with the realization that the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence. 

Thinking... thinking... thinking... I realize that taking pictures while baby training probably isn't the best idea. But it has the benefit of giving him at least a full three seconds to process my request. Then once processing is finished, he's almost always like "GOT IT, GO THROUGH GATE".

Hillary pointed out the ability to practice sending him through things with the gate, a skill that will eventually translate to trailer loading. Good point and definitely in need of work because his current understanding of leading is mostly "follow my person". The first time I tried to send him he just did a turn on the forehand to hang with me. Alright, baby steps and clarify communication. 

Not sent, just eating

And occasionally we ventured closer to OTHER adult horses. 

IMMA BABY! 

He liked to keep me between him and the horse once we started walking again; fair point dude, safety is important

These adventures and skills were all leading up to his big day - inspection, weaning, and move to new farm. We had discussed whether staging this into inspection and weaning in one day and then move a few days later would help. The verdict was that babies were gonna be upset, might as well make them upset for a few days rather than upset for a few days, recover, upset for a few days. And now that we're on the other side of the big day, I definitely agree. Also there's a lot to be said for moving far away and there not being a there there to go back to. It was all new and no amount of screaming made mom scream back somewhere in the distance. TBH they really didn't do much screaming. Again, I think not getting a response meant it pretty quickly petered out. 

After the inspection was over (separate post incoming), we game planned getting the two foals onto the trailer. The plan ended up working out really well too. Bubby and his dam were loaded onto the trailer and walked forward into the +1 of my friends 2+1. Mom was turned around and pointed out and they stood in there. Then Charlie was taken away from his mom because we weren't sure she would be helpful. We had pulled the trailer right in front of their stalls so she was still quite close. Then we tried to lead Charlie into the trailer. I made one attempt at him going forward but that was a pretty distinct no, at least not in the time frame where we had Bubby and dam still relatively quiet on the trailer, so backwards it was. I backed him up while he had two people on either side to apply a bit of chest pressure and keep him straight. He tried half rearing once, but he's small enough he was essentially just floated in the air, then once he put his feet down he was gently pushed backwards into the stall. Bubby's dam was quickly led out and then the front divider was closed. Then we were off! 

Once we got to my friend's farm, we closed the front gate of her place and then went in to unload the kids. Bubby was the first to step off, I think he's naturally more bold. But once he led the way, Charlie followed. 

What on earth has happened to us?? 

Bubby definitely knew what spanish moss was and that it is delicious

Looking at the donkeys, turns out he doesn't mind them, hooray 

Good ponies! 

Bubby was being a bit bossy to Charlie, but after an initial offense, Charlie didn't seem to mind too much. We did end up putting them each in their own stall because that will be the eventual arrangement and why not do all the dramatic things in one go? 

"My world has been turned upside down" - Charlie

They conquered lots of firsts that day. First trailer ride for Charlie (Bubby had been on one twice before to go to a clinic for cellulitis), first time walking on mats (Bubby led the way), first time meeting donkeys, first time moving somewhere new. Overall it was WAY less dramatic than it could have been. 

I visited Charlie yesterday and he definitely seemed a bit out of sorts still. Like he had no friend left in the world. He also wasn't super eager for me to catch him, but did come to hang out with us while DH hung a feed bucket at a Charlie height. He was pretty unsure about letting me within touching range. However, he did let DH give him some good scritches. Makes sense he didn't want to be caught, every time I caught him on moving/inspection day something not great happened, so I get it, and I'm sure we'll get back to happy to see me soon. We'll take it one day at a time though. Baby steps.