Gratuitous Pony Photos

It's been hot and I've been on vacation, so, nothing productive today, friends. Just some photos of the most handsome pony of all time.

(and this bunny)

Aw, shucks you guys!

The other day I got the nicest mail from HorseNet Horse Rescue. It was a letter and a postcard from Chris, their excellent Adoptions Coordinator, saying thanks for adopting Gobie!

I'm not going to lie, you guys, the letter was super sweet and I even had to flick a tear.

On the back of the postcard it says:

"Saving the life of one horse may not change the world but the world will surely change for that one horse."
- Author Unknown

I'm really glad that Gobie and I found a good match in each other, and I was able to adopt him. He lucked out as much as I did: he got a good owner and I got a great pony. I'm also really glad that rescues like HorseNet Horse Rescue exist. After all, they say when you adopt a horse you're saving two lives--the horse you adopted, and the horse that can now take his place at the rescue :)

Of course, not everyone is able to adopt. But you can donate, sponsor, or even volunteer and I have to say, that's pretty rewarding, too!

Diamond in the rough

Everyday is a new opportunity when you're training a horse. You have to assess different factors, not the least of which is how your pony is feeling that day. Sometimes it's frustrating--when they're acting like they're complete bozos and have forgotten EVERYTHING. Other times they're perfect and you're convinced they are a diamond in the rough. Today was one of those days. Gobie was SO GOOD.

He and the gang were out eating in one of the back pastures when I first rolled up. I'm super lucky in that whenever Gobie sees me coming he looks up and is interested in me coming out. There are some horses that are hard to catch, but I'm glad that Gobie isn't one of them. He wants to interact and that's half the battle.

Out in the field with Honey (and the rest).

We've been working on leading and he was extremely well behaved being walked from one paddock to our working area. He only stopped a couple times, and then started right back up after a little prompting. When we were in the work area we walked around the perimeter and he was brilliant. He walked forward, stopped when I stopped, backed up when I asked and the whole deal. It may seem like a little thing, but in the language of horses having a pony follow you and respect your space is a good achievement.

We tried a little tying to begin with and he was very good. From our last, and first go at it, I new that if he pulled back he wouldn't freak out about it so I was pretty confident about it. So I took the opportunity to pick out his feet. The front ones were fine of course. For his back feet I put a little food in his bucket (a mix of black oil sunflower seeds and powdery supplement, both for hoof, skin and hair conditioning). It worked like a charm! I picked up his back feet with no problem. It was also a mental feat for me. I'm kind of a wuss for no reason about the back feet but today I decided that I would forget that, and get as close and cozy as possible to his hind end and wouldn't you know it worked out well.

I also put some hoof oil on his feet. It's been a bit dry and the freshness of his last trim is starting with wear off so he's getting a little frayed around the edges. He was good about having the stuff slathered on, like an old pro.

Lookin' good.

I decided I might as well give him a dose of fly spray while I was at it. I untied him for this since I know we're still working on not running away from the spray. The initial squirt he wanted to get away, but I asked him to stand still and he did. Both sides, all up and down his legs, and it was no problem.

While I was spraying I noticed his chestnuts were gone! Chestnuts are rough spots on the inside of a horse's legs kind of like the rough part on your elbow. Except for some horses chestnuts get quite large and knobby. Gobie had these giant ones because they hadn't been picked off or groomed down. They don't serve any purpose, and they don't hurt anything, but they're kind of cosmetically goofy in my opinion. I had been thinking about trimming but, but I'm glad they took care of themselves. I actually kind of wondered if someone hadn't trimmed them off for me, and maybe the extra attention was why he was being extra good but Bonnie assured me no one had. He's just naturally good!

No chestnuts!

Unfortunately for Gobie it was also time for him to be dewormed this month. A deworming schedule is an important part of making sure that your horse and the pasture where he lives is healthy. Horses can pick up parasites just by eating grass and grain and so on so they have to be dewormed on a regular schedule. Gobie, and most other horses, aren't a big fan of being dewormed probably because the paste used to do it tastes yucky. The last time Gobie was dewormed Ben the Farrier did it.  He wanted to get away from the whole thing, but wasn't mean about it.

This time I started by taking his weight using a special measuring tape. The deworming medicine dosage is determined by the weight of your horse so I wanted to get an accurate reading. The measuring take goes around the horse's girth, or measuring around his body behind his front leg. When I first pulled the tape out Gobie was scared, so we did a little desensitization. I waved the white tape in the air and when he looked at me I stopped waving and let him sniff it. In no time he was cool with me wrapping it around his body. According to the tape he was about 800lbs so I set the dial on his dewormer syringe to that.

Gobie's no dummy so when he saw the syringe he threw his head up in the air. It took several minutes, but eventually I could put the syringe by his mouth without him trying to avoid it. Speedily I stuck that stuff in the corner of his mouth and squeezed the paste in and it was all over. Whew! He got plenty of treats afterward and (hopefully!) forgot all about it.

In the paddock we did a little more work walking around, backing up, and doing some general yielding exercises. We also tried a little lunging where we're both getting better. But Gobie's favorite part was working on taking treats politely throughout. Since he was being so amazing I was heartened and clipped the lead rope on the side of the halter and tied the rope end to the other side. With this makeshift bridle, I tested his "give" by standing at his shoulder and then pulling on the left rein to turn his nose in to touch his shoulder, and then on the other side the right rein to do the same. He offered no resistance at all! For a moment I thought: "I bet I could jump on his back right now and everything would be fine." But I resisted the urge :)

Ending on a great note, I turned him back out with his friends. Even though I'm pretty sure Gobie enjoys our interaction, he still runs to great his friends.

I went out to relax with the horses in the field. Since it was hot I went down to the tree line and sat under a pine tree. The other horses pretty much ignore me, but Gobie always comes over to say hi. It's pretty cute sitting on the ground and having Gobie curiously amble over and sniff my face and knees and feet. As if to say, "what are you doing out here with us, silly human?"

Under the pines.

Before I left I joined the horses in the sun out in the field and itched Gobie on the shoulder a little. He treated me to a little mutual grooming by using his upper lip to itch behind my ear. His muzzle was right in my face, so I breathed gently into his nostril. I had been drinking orange juice earlier, which must have smelled funny, because he flipped his upper link into the air making that silly face horses do when they smell something they have a strong opinion about. It must not have been too offensive, because he went right back to messing with my hair as I itched his shoulder.

Here he comes to say hi...

He looks like a giant from down here, right?

teehee! what a wrinkly muzzle.

I know not every day will be a productive and warm-n-fuzzy as today, but I'm happy to bask in what a great little pony he is.

A visit from Liora: The other side

If you'd like to know how the visit with little Liora went from her and her parents' perspective, check out Life with Liora!

Punk or Prince?

It was a quick visit to the horses today since 1) we ended up dog-sitting Carmen this weekend 2) it was hot! I don't know why but I always managed to go out to the barn at the hottest point of the day. Okay--I DO know why--leisurely breakfast. ha!

It was a good visit anyway. I wanted to see how his feet were doing since it's been dry and they've been kind of crumby. But I'm happy to report, they're looking great!

Front

...and back.

He and the rest of the gang were out in the back pastures so I just decided to give him a comb and a brush out there. He was good about it as usual, but then there isn't much that's disagreeable when it comes to getting groomed. I've been working on getting him to be polite about treats, since he can be push. I don't mind that--I actually like my horse to be a little bit "handsy" if you will. Equal measures Punk and Prince! The way I've been doing it is, when he starts the shake-down for treats I dissuade him until he waits politely, with the trigger "Be polite". Then he gets the treat. It's a new thing, but he's getting the hang of it.

All the same, here's an amusing photo:

I don't know if you can see it, but on my forearm there is a dirt spot kind of in the shape of a crescent. If you look extra careful you might be able to make out two outer lines and an inner line. It's important to note that it's not a bruise, it's just dirt and, well, slobber...because it was made by Gobies teeth! That's right. During our treat tomfoolery he put his teeth on me. I've always been impressed with how dexterous he is with his muzzle while searching someone for a treat and this is just proof to me at how deliberate he is with NOT hurting someone when he's looking for treats. Is he a bit of a Punk when he's trying to get his tastey snack? Sure. But he really is a Prince--he's not being mean about it, or else he'd bite you. All the same, I think our treat training will make everyone--especially guests who don't appreciate a Punk--happier.

Anyway, I spent some of the time walking about the paddock under the pine trees where it was cooler. There's quite a lot of woods around the property and, I noticed, what appeared to be some kind of trail.

I remember taking some of the yearlings on walks down the trails in Washington. It was always a bit of a trial. You never knew what they would spook at, or how many times they'd want to stop and eat grass and not budge, or conversely, want to take off. This trail looks like a perfect candidate for doing a little bit of a walkabout.

While I was wandering around Gobie and Honey came down to check things out, too. It's nice being sought out for company. I gave him a little itch on the shoulder and he gave me a little reciprocal grooming behind the ear. And then they tromped off!

As far as company goes, I'm still no match for Honey. It's pretty funny to watch them walking around together since Gobie's much shrimpier than her.

She likes them short and Punky, I bet.

But they don't seem to mind when I'm around, and Gobie still likes me enough to seek me out of his own. I haven't quite figured out Honey yet--in contrast to Gobie she's pretty reserved--and I haven't tried doing anything close to round penning with Gobie since I determined the work area was too big for it. It was such a big part of my routine in the past that it feels weird to do with out. Even so, I think we're doing okay.

I'm looking forward to the end of the month. I've got a week's work of vacation and while we are planning on going out of town for a day or two I'm hoping to get a lot of barn time in besides.

More work!

As you can tell I've been pretty slacky about doing actual WORK with this pony. But I had several good reminders that it's time to get back to training.

First, Gobie had his feet trimmed again on Friday. His feet are actually looking pretty good! They're still kind of dry and cracky, but they're definitely benefiting from some consistent farrier work. That's the good news. The not so good news is that he was a bit of a jerk for Ben, the poor farrier. He handled the naughty pony extremely well, mind you. And Gobie wasn't dangerous or anything. But I felt bad about him trying to grab his feet away, trying to run away, etc. We didn't use nearly the amount of feed as we did the first time so it was certainly evident that Gobie wasn't so good the first time because he wanted to be--it was because he was distracted by all those delicious noms.

Before Gobie got trimmed he was positively dramatic about being separated from Honey, who was first to have her feet trimmed. Honey's feet are pretty terrible and she needed the farrier most of all. Her feet are super dry and cracky and she even lost a shoe which took a good chunk of her hoof with her. She was being antsy about having her feet done, which isn't characteristic. And Gobie was very passionately calling to her, and running along the fence. He was less nutty when I joined him at the fenceline.

Second, apparently the horses engaged in some stupidity that ended in knocking over Bonnie and her hitting her head! She is fine but has a good lump on the back of her head. Poor Bonnie! I don't know the specifics, but she was out with the horses and Gobie and Cinder had some kind of an altercation (probably about Honey?) and someone knocked Bonnie over. Rude!

So today I went out with the firm intentions of doing some ground work. Sam and Locksley accompanied, to get out of the house. We got right down to business, and Gobie willingly left a little mound of hay he had been munching on.

As I led him from one paddock to our working area, he stopped. I had been trying to get him to move by moving off to a 45 degree angle and starting again, but he was getting wise to that and walking only a couple more steps. So I tried an apparently much better tactic: wiggling the lead rope and bumping him under the chin annoyingly until he took a step forward. This got him moving in no time, and each time he stopped, we repeated the exercise. He definitely got it, and tried my resolve a couple times but as a way to keep him moving (and keep me moving not so much) it worked like a champ.

The first thing we did was the usual backing up, and turning on the forehand yielding exercises. He's quite good at these so I feel like it's always a good place to start and judge how he's feeling. As usual he was very accommodating.

Next was the fly spray. It's a training exercise all by itself, but it also makes other things easier if your pony isn't swishing his tail and stomping his feet to get rid of flies and other nasty winged biters. I'm happy to report that Gobie was pretty perfect when it came to the fly spray. He was a little flighty at first, but I ask him to stop and he did. I was able to spray up and down on both sides and he stood still like a champ. If he did start moving, he would stop when I told him. He's practically an old pro now.

Heartened by his fly spray expertise, we moved on to some desensitization. I have a white plastic bag tied to the end of a dressage whip which I shake like a crazy person all over the place. He was really good about this, too! He wanted to move away at first, but I ask him to stand still and he did. And I was really shaking it--loud, and furiously! And he stood there, a bit unsure, but very well. Now we'll have to start using other things and see if he remembers who to look to when scarey or novel things happen.

We then tried a little lunging. To be fair, I'm not that great at lunging in general. But he was doing a pretty good job at figuring it all out. I got him moving around in a circle pretty effectively, though he would decide to stop on his own and then no get moving again. But he did have good brakes when I asked him to stop. He would even turn in and come up to me when I asked. It was the getting him moving and staying moving in a particular direction which was tricky. I even got him to go from a walk to trot (though I don't know if you could technically call it a trot). So as soon as I can figure out if I'm doing everything correctly, I expect the actual lunging lessons to go pretty well.

After lunging a bit, we tried being tied. As far as I know, Gobie's never been tied for any length of time. So I thought now would be a good time to start as any. Step one was wrapping his lead rope once around a round fence post, taller than his withers. He's a pretty mellow dude, and barely even noticed for the first couple of minutes. Because I was standing right there, with the end of the lead rope in my hands, I gave him enough room to put his head down and get grass. Eventually, though, he pulled back and realized he couldn't go anywhere. No big deal, though. He just moved forward like he was supposed to when he calmly realized pulling back wasn't getting him anywhere. If he freak out, I could give him extra rope so he could back up, and then take up the slack again when he was relaxed. But he was pretty good about the whole thing. He was dancing around a bit, going parallel to the fence this way and that. And he also neighed to his friends. But for the most part it was an uneventful first go at being tied. Next time we'll do it again, only for a longer period of time.

It was super hot out so Gobie got a break for some water and a wander around the paddock. I should probably mention that the whole time Locksley was barking his head off. He's not a farm dog by any means, and is pretty observant of anxious animals and humans. So whenever he see me working with Gobie, he's very concerned about it. The more he sees it, though, the more he's bound to get use to it.

The last thing we did was picking up feet. I had Sam stand on the other side of the fence with Gobie's lead rope, while I picked up his feet. He was very good with his front feet. But, as I kind of expected, he wasn't good at all with his back feet. It's partly my fault. I'm a giant wuss, for no practical reason, when it comes to back feet. I'm pretty sure I don't stand close enough, and I'm pretty sure I don't hold the foot securely/reassuringly enough. That's because I want to jet out of there quickly in case he wants to kick. Academically that makes sense, but I've never been kicked before so there's no practical knowledge for that. Because of these failing on my part, I think he wiggles his foot around which reinforces my "better stand away!" behavior. Instead of going for picking up the foot I think I need to scale back and be happy with being able to touch the leg, stand close to the leg, and work my way up to picking it up and picking it out. And I probably need to psych myself up for getting cow-kicked a little and just get over it.

So actually the last thing I actually did was the yielding exercises. To end on a good note. I was getting a little frustrated about the feet thing, so I didn't want to end negatively for me or the horse. He was of course, great with backing up and everything. So I let him join his pals in the shade.

The whole thing took maybe an hour and I felt like we cover a lot of stuff, most of it kept short and sweet and positive. I wish I was able to come out more frequently since the lots-of-short-sessions method seems to work really well for me (who gets tired/frustrated/lazy) and the horse. I am also coming to grips with the fact that it's been a zillion years since I've trained a horse, and I've forgotten in muscle memory and actual memory some of the stuff. I need a refresher, and maybe a buddy! And patience and sustained motivation! Wish me luck, friends :)