Goodbye, Kahlua

Sad news, everyone. Kahlua passed away on Saturday.

She started colicing on Friday and Bonnie stayed up all night with her. The vet was called out and after assessing their options with Kahlua's owner it was clear that she was in her final moments.

Kahlua had lived at Bonnies her entire life, ever since she was a foal. She was one of those rare, lucky horses, to have lived with consistent care in a happy and familiar place her entire life. Kahlua was 30 when she died--a long life for a horse.

She is buried in one of the back pastures, by the pine treeline where in life she could find shelter and the company of her pal Honey.

Rest in peace, Kahlua. You will be missed!

You can tell by the smell of the wind

It's cooling off, finally, and you can tell that autumn is in the air! And you know if the people notice it than the animals definitely notice it and that was certainly the case today when I came out to visit Gobie.

Bonnie is on vacation so one of the long-time boarders is looking after all the horses. I said hey to her when I arrived, but she left to run some errands which left me to the horses. With the cooler weather I was excited to do some actual work! The stuff I had ordered from online had finally arrived, too which meant I had exactly zero excuses for dragging my feet on doing some novel training with Gobie.

Gobie and the rest of the gang were down in the far pasture hanging out under all of the pine trees. When he saw me coming he started heading over, so it was an easy job of putting the halter and lead rope on. Walking back to the work area took a little time, since he wanted to stop and challenge being lead a little bit. I think that was the first clue that his change in routine--that is having someone other than Bonnie around feeding and telling them all what to do--had him out of his regular mood. But we made it up to the work area and I left him off the rope.

As soon as I did I could tell he was feeling a little wiggy. Usually when it gets cooler the horses start feeling a bit silly and energetic. I don't know if it's the more comfortable temperatures, or just the change of seasons or what. But he was definitely on high alert, his brain preoccupied with the crisp air and rustling leaves. I decided that today wouldn't be the first time to try out the new equipment: a surcingle and bitless bridle. Instead, I thought it'd be better to channel some of that energy into lunging instead.

First, though, we started out with the usual yielding exercises. It's no good trying to anything without establishing the "you have to listen to me" rules. He went through the motions well--backing up and turning on the forehand quite well.

Then it was on to some despooking. I thought we might as well since it was a little full-of-it as it was. He ran around a little bit, more than in our couple of last sessions, so it was a good refresher. Soon he was mindful enough to do a little lunging.

For the first time I remembered to actually bring the proper lunge line so he had enough length to really get going. And it helped that he had a bit of run in him anyway. We worked through going clockwise and counterclockwise pretty well, and stopping. I didn't work too much on his "gears" per se--that is telling him to walk, trot, etc. Since I've always been horrible at lunging it was more of a refresher for me on "can I get this horse to move in a circle." And I did, if somewhat ungracefully. Hopefully kinks we can work out as we practice!

We ended the session with a good grooming, and then I let him out with his pals. We socialized a little over the fence, too.

All in all a good visit! It somehow lasted almost two hours but don't ask me how that happened. I hope the weather stays nice and we're able to get some consistent sessions in.

Changing Seasons

I'm posting this retroactively because I forgot to post last weekend. I did go out to visit Gobie, but it was short and sweet. Now that I've started school again in the Fall my time is at a premium. But here are some pictures:

Bed head?

Some visitors to the paddock. Deer!

The leaves starting to change.

Our shadows.

Hurricane and Family

Recently Hurricane Irene came up the coast scaring everyone silly. Fortunately we're far enough in-land that it wasn't much of a problem. Bonnie said the horses handled it no sweat, and that it was just a bit of wind and rain as far as they were concerned.

This weekend my family was in town and my sister came up to meet Gobie. It looked like Bonnie was out for a ride with Honey, and Gobie was in a little bit of a tizzy. He saw us and came right over to the fence. I let him in to the work area and had Jan and Sam each give him a treat.

A kiss for a treat? Something tells me Jan's not in to it.

After the cuddly bit, we showed off some of the training that we've been working on. I noticed that he had a scrape on his left foreleg so a little grooming and big of doctoring was in order. I sprayed a bit of fly spray on him which he tolerated pretty well. And then we showed off his other de-spooking talents with the plastic bag on the end of the dressage whip. We also did some leading around, and yielding exercises. The lunging he didn't do so hot with, but to be fair it was short lead line and it was hot out. Sam I think was pretty impressed, since he knows how far Gobie has come since we got him in April.

After all of that, it was time for some food! So I went in the tack room to mix his black oil sunflower seeds, supplements, and a smidge of grain.

Being nosey!

I had him stand politely before I gave him the bucket of food but he still oinked it right up.

Om nom nom.

It was pretty hot out so after he finished his food I turned him back out with the rest of the gang. He seemed much more settled than when we got there though I'm sure he was super excited to see Honey all the same when she got back. We weren't there for the reunion, though because we had to get Jan back to the airport!

Feet and an Earthquake

Last weekend Gobie had his feet trimmed, again. The farrier was due out on a Friday, but he got tied up so we ended up taking at Saturday morning to do it. We were going to try having Gobie trimmed on the driveway, where the rest of the horses are trimmed and shoed but he ended up being too nervy for that. So we moved him closer to the fence, and he was much better. Instead of giving him a bucket of feed to occupy himself with, I gave him treats. That worked pretty well, except to make them last long I was being a bit of a tease with them--holding them in my hand and making him work to get them out. At one point he grabbed a bit of my finger along with the treat! I got a little blood blister from it, but as soon as I let him know THAT WAS MY FINGER THANK YOU he let go. Oops!

Otherwise the feet trimming went great and they look beautiful!

It was also a good note that I should be walking him around the place to get him exposed to different areas. He's leading quite nicely now, so that's the next logical step. This way he will learn that following me and listening to my cues not only goes for in our usual work areas, but all around the place and in "foreign" territory as well.

That weekend I also made some exciting internet purchases (still waiting to arrive in the mail): a surcingle and a mustang nylon bitless bridle.

The surcingle I've used before and loved. It goes around the horse, where a girth on a saddle would go, and it can be used to train horses to drive (like a cart), and generally listen to left, right, back, and "go" cues without having a person in your eyesight.

I haven't used this particular bitless bridle before, but I thought I would give it a try because it was cheap! Cinder, my first horse, was broke using a Happy Horse Bosal which doesn't use a bit and instead relies on a horse yielding to pressure around the nose. But I don't think they're available anymore. I've never used a bit to train a horse, and I've only ridden other people's horses in a bit so I figured I'd better stick with what I know instead of trying to train us both on something new! We'll see how it goes.

The big excitement this week was the earthquake that hit the DC metro area. Normally I make it out to the barn on the weekend but I was sick on Tuesday, and then when the earthquake struck I figured I'd better check on Gobie. It wasn't a devastating earthquake by any means, but I wanted to make sure Gobie wasn't worried after the fact or anything like that.

I came around feeding time and was glad to see everything was where it should be, and the horses all seemed calm and happy.

 Doing what he does best: eating!

 Cinder, the old, crippled horses.

 I could just grab some mane and hop on, right? Riiiiight.

 Having a twilight nibble along the fence line.

 Silly lip! "Where my treat?"

 The 6-year-old girl in me thinks he's saying, "Follow me through the gate to a magical land!" here.

Bye!

This weekend is looking like it will be a rainy one as Hurricane Irene makes it up the coast. I don't know about you, but I'm sick of this crazy weather!

Thunderstorm and a little work

It was a quick visit to Gobie today, thanks to the weather. The forecast was a 50% chance for thunderstorms all day, but Sunday was a 90% chance so I figured I'd give today a shot!

When I got up to the barn I headed straight to the tack room. I wanted today to be a work day since the weather was cool, it was nice and overcast and I had been pretty lazy the last couple of visits. I had the halter and lead rope all ready to go out in the field and get Gobie, but he was way ahead of me. He must have seen my car pull up, because he walked from waaaay down the far right paddock, to right where I was at the tack room and was waiting at the gate to be let in!

I gave him a treat and put his halter on and we took a walk around the paddock. Remember when it was a struggle to get him to follow anyone anywhere on a lead rope? No more, friends!

In fact, his skills as a halter horse and pretty impressive if I do say so myself. We walked around in circles, backed up, did some figure eights all will ease! I even tried some trickier things. Usually when you back a horse you face them and apply a little pressure to their chest and ask them to back up. But Gobie is smart and you don't even have to touch him, just start walking toward him. Even better than that, though? You can be leading him around and then start walking backwards and he responds in kind! That's actually pretty fancy.

The other advanced thing we did? While walking around the paddock I started jogging and he picked up the pace right behind me. Sometimes a horse will stop or keep the same snaily pace as before or barge ahead of you or worse run you over, but Gobie matched the pace perfectly. Even better? When I stopped quickly he also put on the breaks. He got a treat for that!

Leading a horse was one of the "tests" we'd do at Summit Stables. You could pretty quickly gauge what a horse thought of you just by leading him around and stopping. If the horse stopped way behind you, it was a pretty good guess that he was little apprehensive. A little petting and he'd come up closer. If the horse stopped ahead of you, he though he was the leader of the team. Giving him a poke in the chest would scoot him back. And if he stopped with his nose right at your shoulder it was safe to say that he respected you as the leader. Gobie had been the first, but now his nose is always at my shoulder.

After our leading exercises I tied him to one of the posts and got ready for some grooming. He loved it! He let me very gently clean the scuzz around his eyes, brush his face with a soft bristle brush, comb his tangley mane, and brush down the rest of him. He was so relaxed he lifted his back hoof a little in repose.

By this time the sky was getting cloudy and darker, but we still had one more thing to do in our grooming routine and that was the feet. He picked up his front two feet up like a champ and they looked great. I treated him after each successful time I could pick up, pick-out, and put down his hoof. The left back hoof was pretty good, too. He kind of wiggled it around a little but I think that's more an issue with the way I'm holding it or supporting it than him giving me trouble. The right hind hoof was not as good. I was able to pick it up and pick it out, but he took it away from me and then didn't want me to pick it back up. Three out of four hooves isn't too bad, and by that time it was starting to drizzle.

I wasn't sure if it would start pouring or just be a little mist, so I headed back in the tack room and got Gobie his special concoction of black oil sunflower seeds and supplements. As he ate it the rain got more steady and there was a rumble of thunder in the distance.  He finished his food and I let him back out with his pals to huddle under the shelter of the pine trees.

As soon as I got back to my car it started POURING. Just in time!

Barn visit!

Gobie got a barn visit today from the volunteer coordinator at HorseNet Horse Rescue! Every horse that is adopted into a new home from the rescue gets several periodic visits, just to make sure everyone's happy and doing great.

It was HOT out. Not just hot, but humid. Like a sauna, really. So I had already committed to not doing too much work with him, aside from the usual groom and once-over.

Chris and her helper Debby showed up around 10am. Gobie and the gang were hanging out in the side paddock right along the drive way. The Corgis came out as the welcoming committee and I got to introduce Bonnie. First thing was first and that was a tour of the place. We checked out the tack room, the places where they are fed, the different shelter areas and of course all the paddocks and fence lines. Everything looked lovely, of course! Bonnie's place is the greatest.

The fun part was hanging out with the horses, though.

Gobie came right up to us in the field.

He looks a little grouchy here, but he wasn't actually.

And then there was just a bunch of scratching and loving going on.

He's such a pocket pony, which is why I love him of course. He was licking my hands, and searching for treats, and showing how well he backed up when asked.

It was a nice little visit! You should check out Chris' Facebook where I snagged these great photos. My favorite comment on the album comes from Debby: "Beautiful horse // awesome adopter.. It seemed he would do anything for her, and vice versa:}"

Aw shucks! And it's true.