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. 

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday is actually a random collection of pictures with somewhat wordy captions. Sorry, not sorry. 

How is he so stunning all the time? 

Scritchies with his BFF 

Uhmmm... he was getting really hot with all the canter and I did a super quick clip and left him looking very moth eaten. I will clean it up before he goes out in public. 

Turkeys in the woods

Introduction to the dressage whip

Still such a tiny dude 

Being SUCH a GOOD BOY for his second trim. Unsure ears, but trying so hard. 

More Henny adventures

I went to Maine for 8 days. It is an absolutely stunning state. 

I got a lot of satisfaction out of the basalt seams in granite, how cool is this? 

Isle au haut - spent a night camping here; the first day fog rolled in in the evening and it was absolutely magical

Lots of moss, I love moss

Allegedly the reason I went to Maine, a work conference. Image of cat claw into dog eye - corneal perf, picked up a bit of iris and lodged it into the lens, causing a cataract. Also incredibly cool. Not great for the dog though; that cataract will lead to uveitis then glaucoma then blindness. Time for an enuc. 

Back behind the best ears; he spent the time at my friend's place in canter boot camp. First ride back we went for a nice easy hackamore hack to make him love me again. 

There's a fawn that is right at the losing the spots stage in those trees 

Ms. GY's horse lost a shoe in his field overnight. I used pony as a search vehicle after our hack and found it. Then I dismounted and found that Butterball had lost a boot! The boots fit so well that I don't contort myself to check them at all during rides anymore, so I was dreading finding it. Fortunately it was in the field where we'd done a final fun canter towards home (bad training yes, but lots of fun). Expensive shoe recovered, hoorah. 

Perfect Transition vs Perfect Time

I've done the vast majority of Butterball's rehab at large in the eight acre field. It's got the best/firmest footing and a decent amount of shade. The small dressage arena is set up in the field and is on the flattest footing. But we've mostly stayed out of it to try to minimize tight turns.

I rode with a dressage trainer who explicitly said you should aim for the perfect transition/movement/whatever, no matter how long it took to be ready for that. He said that in tests obviously you had to do things when directed, but when you were schooling you should prioritize correct work over timely work. While this makes complete sense and is along the lines of "practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect", I do think there is some benefit to the rider to being forced to execute things at a certain point in space. Maybe this benefit comes mostly for us imperfect adult amateurs who would otherwise let the horse prance along merrily without much active riding until a few steps prior to when the transition is needed. Whereas professionals are constantly evaluating, correcting, asking for more and better. 

Wild pony at large, seeking shade 

For the past three weeks, during our last block of work, Butterball and I have been heading in to the dressage court. And ooooh boy does 40m feel short. And the distance between letters feels even shorter.

We've been working on our transitions within gaits doing one letter to another collected, then allowing forward between the next set, then collecting again. It is useful to start to instill some... promptness. But by only doing this for the last chunk of work, we're hopefully maintaining that relaxed swing that we got very good at when trotting unmeasurable loop-dee-loops in the pasture. When it comes to transitions between gaits, executing at the letter has also been useful. It gives me the cue to actually be relatively in control of where he is placing his feet and body in space. 

The horses love to knock over the letters since clearly they are hiding better grass than is available in the rest of the large pasture

And there is certainly something to be said for having the balance and push from behind to execute figures that are actually 20 meters and those that are smaller. Recalibrating my brain to 20m is also useful in that now I can add some freeform 10 and 20m figures in walk and trot into our warm up to help create more bend and softness than comes from larger figures. 

One of the interesting points of riding in the pasture (that funny enough Emma talked about while this post was in the draft phase, waiting to get published at a time that I had less to chat about re BB anniversary, August wrap up, Charlie's adventures etc) is that it does have some gentle slope to it at points. Gentle enough that I can use it either as an aid or a test - asking for the canter transition uphill obviously helps with the uphill balance, but can we get that same nice feel while travelling downhill too? Since we're in Florida we're really talking very, very mild slope, but it's enough to make a noticeable difference still. 

Also there's no rail to aid the straightness or cover up for unevenness in my body or aids. Frequently I'll pick a tree or other point and ride directly at that point, focusing on getting all of his body parts lined up. He's a bendy, wiggly pony and I have my own unevenness, so some straight lines are a definite must for us. While in some horses straight seems to invite a run away tempo, that really doesn't happen with us LOL. Focusing on correcting crookedness with leg aids and my own body is a great exercise in and of itself. The same dressage trainer who said that every transition should be perfect while schooling also at one point reprimanded his working student for trotting straight down the long side on a four year old "He's a BABY! You CAN'T go STRAIGHT for that long!" I'm still interpreting that comment as it applies to Butterball and I at this moment, but we really do seem to find a benefit from not letting the bend of the arena mask crookedness or overusing an inside rein to keep him round. 

Anyways, how's that for a Monday morning ramble. 

Sneak peak of where Charlie will be moving post inspection. Complete with fence that my husband and I helped install.

Charlie's Big Adventures

I recently recruited my husband to help me take Charlie on an adventure - meaning out of the field where he has been for the past four months. There are the two pony mares, their babies, and then one baby who has joined them in the past few weeks. I figured there was absolutely no way I could get Charlie through the gate on my own without letting the mares out as well. The mares are well aware that outside of the gate is heaven, aka a LOT of grass. So DH was armed with treats to distract them while I got Charlie through the gate. Turns out yielding to pressure in the field is distinctly different from yielding to pressure out in the big open world and when asked to step through a gate (where he was SO SURE he wasn't going to fit LOL). Fortunately DH was able to provide a little pressure on his rear end to aid. 

Takes his cue from the mares and picks on new "friend"

Once through the gate Charlie looked pretty shell shocked. But he just stood still while taking it in, contemplating what exactly had just occurred. I shoved a few blades of grass into his mouth a couple of times until he realized that he had just crossed over into the land of plenty. He happily ate for a bit, but did stay QUITE close to me. The personal space bubble we've been working on got massively smaller, but given that this was a new and stressful situation, I let him get away with it. 

Absolutely the most derpy, picture from safely within the field. No hands were on phones the first go round.  

We then practiced a teeny tiny circle away from the field before walking parallel to the fence line, working on still listening and being a good pony while everyone else was on the other side of the fence. He was pretty good about that, so we called it a success and went to put him back in. Again though he was uncertain about going through the gate until his dam nickered at him. Once she did that, he went on through and let me lead him a few steps forward so I could close the gate after us. As soon as I took the halter off, he went straight to mom to have a good nurse. Poor baby boy! 

Since then I've actually managed two more trips out on our own. The next time I visited him, I started with moving the poles that have been in his field the whole time. This prompted a bit of a pause and look and consider. 

I'm trying SO hard not to pull on him and instead to have him step forward from behind, but I might've screwed up a bit this go round

But then I gave him a minute and he thought

And thought

And did it like such a GOOD BOY. It's like he remembers the ask. I stayed in the same spot once he stopped to consider and didn't step forward again or pull again and he thought and thought and then stepped up. It's super interesting to see. 

After a few circles over the poles, we headed out the gate. I had to put my hand on his bum to encourage him through, but it was definitely less pressure than trip one. 

Quick study to learn about the goodness that lies on the other side of the fence

Mom was a bit concerned still, Charlie was not concerned at all this time

NOMS

We went farther away this time with a few circles and walking along the fence line parallel, about ten feet away. I always want to quit while I'm ahead though, and I think succeeded since he seemed to not be at all stressed by the distance this time. 

A few days later, we took another trip out of the field. He was quicker still with the gate. 

And immediately went to eating

I'd let him eat for a few bites then we'd walk a bit. We found something concerning though. 

Big 'ole color change of the ground at the limerock road

This must be a pony piglet thing. He was concerned about the road still, but very content to eat right by it. Butterball does the same thing. My TBs distinctly did not. 

So I gave him time and didn't actually even ask again, like the pole, but he volunteered to march over it after a minute. N of 1 working with foals, but I'm super impressed with his temperament so far. 

Hose triggered no cares

We looped a bit in the other direction where there's some plywood and a few other things on the ground. When he started staring at it, I tried Warwick Schiller's method of also looking to acknowledge that there was indeed something and I wasn't oblivious to his concern but continuing to take slow deep breaths to communicate to him that I wasn't anxious about the thing. He felt very baby and was dipping from side to side of me to peek at it and hiding behind my back. He wasn't standing on me or in my space, so I just let him do that while I kept breathing. Once he relaxed a little bit and seemed still, we turned away from it and he grazed a bit more before I put him back in. 

Back with BFF 

But still wanted to hang out and cuddle, he's so sweet

Herro! 

My equine vet BFF was telling me that many folks think that the stress of weaning may lead to developing anxiety behaviors. Essentially by separating mare and foal cold turkey we're teaching forced helplessness. Keep the baby and mare safe but apart until they give up on getting back together. I'm hoping with these little adventures I'll make that process just a tiny bit easier on both Charlie and mom.