Long time no see

Well I finally made it back to the farm to check on the boys.  It was kind of a rough weekend.  The new farrier I had found apparently dumped me with no notice what so ever.  He asked to reschedule our second appointment and that was the last I heard of him.  Left him several messages and never heard anything back.  Is it really that hard to text me and say "sorry I don't have time for a new client, or it's too far to travel, or whatever?"  Ug anyways.

So I'm out a farrier.  We hadn't gotten the boys back on grain since moving them back to our place but they did have a round bale and the brother in law put the net on.  Apparently there was enough grass still growing because this 6x6 bale had been out for over 2 weeks and it was less than half gone.  And they had the net open (thus the hay all over the ground) so the slow feed net wasn't slowing anyone down.

But I thought everyone looked too skinny.  And it was crappy weather.  And the water tank was empty.  It all just piled on and I was feeling pretty down to the point I was going to try and find a place to board all three of them some where.

In all reality Haji isn't much different than he has been all year.  Other than putting on more fat I just don't think his body shape is going to change much.  He has muscle wastage on his back and at his age and retirement I just don't see him getting that back especially since we're dealing with a roach back to start.  And who knows what affect the cancer has on his system.  So I think it's just a matter of making sure he's fed and happy.  And boy can that horse eat.  He'll eat a full bucket of grain and knicker for more.  He even pushed me aside so he could get out the gate and graze in the yard.  Thank goodness he's easy to catch with a can of feed.

So since I was out a farrier I was left to my own devices.  I actually know someone that lives near the boys but she was unavailable this past weekend and she doesn't do shoes.  Since we're so far behind in trims, I was ready to pull shoes for the winter anyway.  So I was going to pull Cody's shoes myself and trim and trim everyone as best I could until I could get said friend out to help.  Cody had already pulled a shoe so I only had to work on one.  But I could not get that shoe off no matter what I did.  On top of the fact that Cody's feet are still a little tender I decided to give up on that.  I thought maybe Jeff could help but we ran out of time to even try.  I think I was able to rasp the clinches off so maybe he'll throw that one easily and not do any damage in the process.

So I nipped and rasps very conservatively on Cody and put him back.  I grabbed Haji and tried the same and as I was holding his front foot he went down on his knees.  Ug.  I didn't touch any one's back feet as they all seemed pretty okay.  And I didn't touch Axel's cuz his looked really good (though long). Basically I think I gave up.  Like I said, I was having an awful day.  But it sounds like my next trip out I'll be able to hook up with that friend that can help with the trims.

So I did end up grooming everyone, getting all the burrs out and what not.  Cody had a gash on his knee.  Haji got to graze in the yard while tied to the fence.  I was able to pick up more feed so now I have 300+ lbs of feed.  I don't think I'll run out in the next two weeks at least.  That reminds me to order more weight builder for Haji.

Jeff had been working on the tack room for me.  He cleaned a bunch out (though there's a lot left to go) and put up some lights and a set of lockers and one of my saddle racks.  I got some poison and mouse traps so hopefully we can get it cleaned out and sealed up a little better before I put my tack in there.  I should be able to keep bridles and blankets in the lockers and my saddles have covers.  I might have to add Bounce dryer sheets to my shopping list to put in with the saddles and help keep the mice away.  There's also some metal medicine style cabinets so once Jeff gets those better adhered to the walls I will put all the meds and first aid stuff in there.  He also built a new door so we have to get that up and paint it.

So in the end I was feeling a little better.  If everyone is still happy next trip out and we can get their feet under control I will feel much better about the situation.  One good thing was that Cody and Haji "shared" Haji's extra bucket of feed.  Cody didn't run Haji completely off.  So that was nice to see.

Ground Driving

Ran out to play with Booker a bit this week in the rain. Anyway I grabbed Booker and the rain had made him super soft. His haircoat was awesome, like someone had spray him with show sheen or something. So smooth and soft. Too bad he was caked in mud from the knees down. Heh. So I groomed quick and ignored his feet cuz yuck. Still has two shoes on though.

I brought the training surcingle with and threw that on and took him into the arena. We did a minute or two of some work on the lead just to make sure he was paying attention to me. Then I worked with the umbrella a bit for my "something old." I had a small umbrella that was one of those that pop open from a button so I did that and he backed up a step but was okay with it. Took a lot less time for him to get used to the umbrella. He didn't like it over his head at first but was fine with it on his back even when it fell off on the ground - he tried to eat it then. After it was on his back he was fine with it over his head and was mostly just trying to see it.

So I hooked up the long lines and did a little ground driving. Mostly figure 8s. At first he was confused. I had the lines on the highest loop in case he didn't like the at his sides but on that setting he was holding his head so high and just sort of spinning himself in circles so I moved the lines down to his sides and he went much better. Did well with the turns but he did not do well with the halt at all. Needs a lot more practice in the arena before he's ready for a drive down the road or something like that. Once he gets that pretty well we can attach the pool noodles to the lines to simulate shafts and when he gets that we can start him on pulling something light from the saddle horn. I dunno what yet though. If we can find that race car tire he could try and pull that, I haven't seen it in the pasture in a while though.

So then I free lunged him a bit since I figured they've been standing still for a while in the pasture and mud. He was pretty amped up, lots of head tossing but didn't seem too sore or anything. Snatched some hay from the pile in the arena ;) I decided to clean off his leg quick, I didn't scrub down past the scab though. I figured any protection against the mud would be good at this point. It could be healed under that more than we think though. We'll see if it falls off next cleaning. He had his usual treats and went back out to the paddock.

Future Flag Horse?

Today's lesson was about "flappy" things on our back.  We did start with firing some blanks in the arena, a little louder than outside and Booker was a little surprised by it.  Gonna do a few more sessions of that from the ground before we get on his back since he did react more than we expected this time around.

We worked a bit with a lasso as well.  Swung that around from the ground and from his back to get him used to different flappy things.  He did pretty well with that so we moved onto the flag.  Worked with the flag on the ground on all sides before we mounted up.  He was actually really good with the flag on his back. Even did some trotting with no issues.

After he trotted for a while and was used to the flag we hiked it up higher to make sure it was flapping as much as possible.  Then we moved to dragging the flag down by his rear legs.  That concerned him more than anything so we worked on that for a while until he settled in.

Sometime in the future we'll work on more dragging items and ground driving.

What next?

Pretty sure every time we go out to the barn, Booker thinks, "okay what next?" Which is actually our plan.  We think if he's always expecting the unexpected he'll be that better of a horse because of it.  He'll always be ready for something crazy and will know that none of these crazy things will hurt him.  Well that's the theory at least ;)

So we popped out to the barn on Friday to do some more crazy things.  Our .22 blanks have arrived so we want to work as much as possible with Booker and our revolvers and keep getting him used to that both on the ground and under saddle.  Eventually we'll work up to the 45 and also figure out a way to work on the muzzle flare issue (we're thinking roman candles - stay tuned).

So we split up, one with a revolver one of us with the horse.  Walked Booker and shot and he did well.  Switched to walking next to him while fire, again did really well.  Finally ended up one person shooting while leading and again no issues.  We were going to end on shooting from the ground over his back to simulate being on his back but he was not thrilled about us even waving an arm up over his back before even firing.  So we guess Booker needs a little sacking out in addition to the shooting training.

Part of our sacking out we decided should be umbrellas.  What's more scary than a big umbrella?  So we worked on that in the arena for a while just from the ground.  He was a little hesitant about the umbrella and it seems like things on his left side are more scary (if I'm recalling correctly).  I was holding the lead and N was manning the umbrella. At one point when she opened the umbrella, Booker looked very concerned and walked around behind me to hide like a little kid hiding behind his mom.  It was pretty funny.  But in the end he did just fine with the umbrella and got lots of praise and treats when we finished.

What's next?  I have a marching band practice flag in my car right now, stay tuned ...

More Experiments with Booker

So we took a chance and put the dressage saddle and snaffle bit on Booker and took off for our run down the road last week (or the week before, I can't recall).  He did really well.  His brakes aren't great but actually they don't seem a whole lot different with the snaffle than they did with his usual bit.  And the dressage saddle seems to fit him well so that's always a plus.  He looked really nice trotting down the road, very "english."  Guess this cow pony missed his calling as a dressage horse ;)

I was a bachelorette over the weekend so we met up on Sunday for some horse fun.  We decided we need to go further than our usual 2 mile run.  But neither of us wanted to run longer.  So I suggested we use a bike.  Which was definitely easier than running.  First we had to introduce Booker to the bike.  If you've ever ridden your horse near a bike trail you are probably aware that bikes are the #1 silent killer of all horses.  Not really but since they are so quiet they sneak up on ya and before you know it you are standing next to your horse instead of sitting on his back.

So we took a few passes in the driveway to get him used to it and then set off for a roughly 6 mile ride.  We swapped at the halfway point.  Had a little "moment" near some pastured horses but other than that and some real jerk-offs in their "my-penis-is-really-small" pick up truck (hello search engine hits) we had a really calm ride.  Lots of posting, holy cats, I haven't posted 3 miles in probably forever.  Surprisingly I didn't hurt the next day.

So this week I made it out alone on Tuesday for a little ride.  I didn't have a lot of time so I just tacked up (dressage saddle and snaffle) and we went down the driveway and back and forth in front of the property.  Just working on our downward transitions mostly.  No cantering, just trot/walk/halt.  We also watched some big farm implements drive by.  It's that time of year again.

Booker is well on his way to be a nice versatile and steady mount.  We are either going to introduce him to umbrellas tomorrow or shoot some blanks in the .22, depends on if it's raining or not.