Belle Meets Brotchen

Belle the border collie has been feeling a bit under the weather. Probably a sign of becoming an old lady, she gets pretty stiff and sore when the weather changes. She doesn't like to complain and would rather be out working, but this morning I told her she had to come in the house to warm up and rest. She had to have a bath as well since she was covered in hay and would have killed Owen because of his grass allergies. After her bath she had some breakfast and then discovered Brotchen the guinea pig. Since finding her, Belle has not moved from the spot, giving Brotchen the Border Collie Stare. Brotchen has a lot of chutzpah.  When I first got her, when she met Nase the house dog and he tried to nuzzle her out of the way to eat her piece of lettuce, she chomped him on the nose.  Brotchen is not afraid of dogs and she bosses Nase around all the time, so she and Belle are touching noses through the bars. I told Belle she would dry faster if she'd go sit in the living room near the wood stove, but she explained to me with an air of making the obvious clear to someone who is a bit slow, "there is no GUINEA PIG in the living room....."  This pair will not be left unsupervised, since I know exactly what Belle is capable of, whether she is hunting solo or with her team of dogs and barn cats.

Grace's First Horse Show

This morning Grace and I packed up and went over to campus for a schooling jumping show put on by the English Riding Club at Colorado State University.  I felt very grateful that the parking lots had been plowed and I didn't have to worry about getting the rig stuck in the snow!  We got there fairly early, we were the second trailer to arrive.  I wanted to have plenty of time to work around the jumps with Grace before the bedlam of a jumping warm-up arena began.

I unloaded Grace from the trailer (she loads, hauls, and stands waiting for me like a champion).  We then walked over to the arena to discover the doors were still shut and locked.  On the way there, however, we passed a sculpture.  Grace thought it was terrifying, but I felt grateful it wasn't the evil blue one at the airport.

We walked past it with a lot of honking and snorting, but as long as I was between her and the scary thing she was ok.  Once the main arena was open we went in and walked around a bit.  I would have been pleased if the only thing accomplished this morning was sniffing the decorative plastic flowers, but it turns out Grace is kind of an over-achiever.  I led her up to one of the cross rails and she sniffed the flowers in their box, then once Grace had snurffled the poles she just lifted her feet and walked over them.  I was left standing at the flowers, staring at her incredulously.  She looked over her shoulder at me saying, "Well, isn't that why we're here?"  I told her she was brilliant and asked if she could come back over, and so she sedately turned around and then hopped over the fence going the other way to get back to my side.  After that there was no hesitation anywhere, she just marched over everything at which we aimed, and if she thought it merited something more dramatic she would hop over instead of just stepping.  There was plenty of support from other trainers and spectators, everyone thought she was simply adorable in how she carefully reasoned through everything and then performed flawlessly.

I decided not to ride her today, since she had PLENTY of new stimuli to process this morning.  Just being in an indoor arena of that size, with radio and loudspeakers, other horses cantering/bucking/jumping around her, and the many voices coaching riders from the ground was quite a bit of new stuff.  As the morning went on Grace got to watch a group do their walk/trot rail class and the walk/trot over ground poles, listen to the announcer, as well as experience applause.  We also had a good group show up from Bit of Honey Training to support Grace, which meant meeting more strangers and being patted by people she didn't know.  While she definitely paid attention to everything and more than once had a "Kim, SAVE me!" look on her face, overall she was quite brave.  If something was concerning, her first reaction was to look to me for direction, and if I told her it was ok, she just would carry on. 

Nevermind Grace's winter woolies and my four layers of pants...

Kim and Grace

This might be my favorite shot of the day, it really was a time to spotlight the brave girl.

Grace's cheering section, L to R:  Connie, Kelsey, Kim H., Kim Leonard, Grace

Field Trip and First Bitting

Today I was feeling ambitious and decided to haul Grace over to my neighbor's indoor arena to do some riding there.  Grace loaded into my trailer, a three horse warmblood size slant load with a ramp, with some snorting and nervousness but followed me right in.  She stood quietly when I was closing dividers and fastening appropriate things, though she was too nervous to eat from her hay bag.

The roads are all still snow packed, but with four wheel drive I was able to get out of my place and into my neighbor's driveway and parking area.  I unloaded Grace and she was very alert, looking for other horses and staring towards home.  We went into the indoor arena first, so that she could walk around and look at things and check out human oddities such as mirrors, windows, and tarps.  One of our funnier moments was when we walked past the window that faces into the barn's tack room.  There was a large long haired grey cat with a dramatic white mustache inside the tack room poised on the windowsill.  When I talked to him he meowed and walked back and forth.  When Grace talked to him and put her nose up to the window he hissed and swatted the glass.  She wasn't distressed by it, just wondered what he was up to. 

I led her around the arena from both of her sides, and we went both directions.  Once she had calmed down I let her loose and she hurried about, sniffing everything as quickly as possible, trotting from one side of the arena to the other, and staring at the horse in the mirror.  She would venture away from me to something she wanted to investigate, then hurry back to me and stand quietly for a few moments.  She would leave again momentarily to look at something else, then hurry back to me.   Interestingly, when she would whinny and call to the other horses on the property who she couldn't see, I would quietly say something to her, and more often than not she would hustle back to my side.  This is a great sign that she trusts me and considers me to be her "safe place", since whenever she got nervous about the surroundings she would come right back to me for support.

Grace trotting back to me after a brave look at the far corner

Creeping towards the tarp in the other corner

 After she had checked things out and was feeling a little warm from the excitement, she relaxed enough to have a good roll in the soft footing!

Snurffling around for a place to roll

Ahhhh  just the right spot

After we were done playing in the arena we went back out to the trailer to get tacked up.  I somehow had forgotten my girth at home, so we opted to introduce the snaffle bit instead.  We grabbed the lunge line and bridle, and went back inside the indoor.  It was much less scary after a short break outside.  I put the snaffle in her mouth and bridled her, and the dear thing basically declared to me, "Kim, in all my years I have NEVER had anyone put something like THIS in my mouth!"  She mouthed it and worked her tongue around it and sucked on it working on the cookies that were pasted to the inside of her cheeks.  Once everything was fastened I put her halter on over the bridle, and I led her around the arena again, just like before, except now with a bridle.  After a lap or two and taking a moment to examine the contraption in the mirror she settled down.  I began lunging her both directions at the walk and trot, and after a few minutes she quieted down and relaxed about the bit.  Once her mouth was still and she seemed to have decided the bit wasn't as awful as she had initially supposed, I took it off of her, LAVISHED praise on her, and we walked back to the trailer.

Grace was very happy to climb right back in and head home.  Unfortunately the snow had started to melt a bit, causing my rig to get stuck not once, not twice, but three times in the process of getting out of the parking lot, back to my facility, and turned around.  Grace gave me a LOOK out of her window in the trailer as I locked the wheels into four wheel drive low.  She seemed to be questioning  the fortitude of our human conveniences.  I can't say I blame her.

Once I had the rig parked back at home I unloaded her and returned her to her paddock.  She seemed relieved, but also watched me very closely and with a pleasant expression as I bustled about putting things away.

Bitter Cold

This has been a cold cold winter.  When I went out to feed horses this morning it was -20 deg, and the forecast for the high today is 2 deg.  We have quite a bit of snow on the ground which is great for the pastures, but makes barn chores much more challenging.  Does 2 hours of barn chores daily, including heavy lifting and carrying of warm water buckets across the property, moving and feeding 110# hay bales, and constant walking in sub zero temps constitute being physically active? Because I feel like a slug only working for 2 hours, but I'm exhausted.

Grace looking out of her stall at the winter wonderland.  Samson is the darker horse in the background

 

Nitro is the black and white paint

Rain is our other black and white paint

Highboy

The plan is for Grace to be sold and go to a forever home after the horse expo in March, and she will have a weatherbeeta blanket that goes with her as well as a leather halter.  Her engraved nameplate arrived this week and it looks quite nice on her black halter with maroon padding.

This is what I look like just before I step outside to do barn chores in -20 deg snowy weather.

Riding Grace

Grace had been following me around all weekend, asking what we're going to do next, saying she has had enough time to process and let's get down to business!  While the footing is still gross, it was cold enough today that it was more frozen than slimy.  I took Grace out and tied her to the hitch rail, no worries from her this time and she only tried to untie herself once.  I got her all tacked up in her loaner saddle, a breastplate to try and minimize shifting of tack, and her cute hackamore/noseband bridle.  We went to the round pen so she could do a little trotting and warmup, then practiced mounting with the stirrups from the mounting block, rather than just a leg over her back like with the bareback pad.  It was a weird sensation for her to have weight on one side of the saddle, so she did a little scooting forwards and backwards when I stood in the stirrup.  No big deal, mostly I ignore that kind of thing and just try again.  Finally she decided it wasn't a big deal to just stand while I weighted each stirrup, leaned over her back, and then swung my leg over.  She needed a minute to collect her thoughts once I was up, but regained her focus really quickly.

We began walking around in the round pen to the right and to the left, bumping my stirrup on the fence of the pen (no big deal after a couple times).  We practiced turning in large and small circles, and did a few pivots each direction.  We practiced walking and halting and then walking again.  Then I hopped off, and Grace looked at me, surprised that I turned up on the right side instead of the left where I mounted.

Then we went to the arena and did it all again.  She was a little concerned about the wobbly-ness of my black mounting block in the snow (so was I!) so we did some ground mounting instead.  Grace did well, again we walked around the arena and practiced starts, stops, and turns.  The footing wasn't suitable for trot work, so we've saved that for another day.  She definitely wanted to be in her favorite corner of the arena, where she is closest to her paddock/"safe place".  But she tried so hard to understand what I'm asking of her, and was a good sport about walking away from the favorite corner and then halting on her way back to the favorite corner.

Next on the agenda with the snow and impending sub zero temperatures will probably be to get started on some bit work, and some ground driving with a snaffle.  Once we get out of the deep freeze (hopefully before March!) I'll head over to my neighbor's to use her indoor arena.  That will give Grace some experience hauling places to work, and give us good footing for some trotting and canter work under saddle. 

Grace's Day of Review

Today I gave Grace a review day, to practice things she has learned and is good at.  This builds confidence and lets her think about the information without adding new material to process.  Plus everything at the facility is buried in six inches of snow and it's kind of wet underneath, so we're a little limited on athletic endeavors due to sloppy footing. 

Looking sharp in a leather halter

She seems very comfortable with the saddle, stirrups, and working on the lunge line.  I love how she's beginning to get more balanced and is using her haunches much better, just from a bit of practice working in circles.

Routine dictates that we inspect the mounting block before working from it.

Practice standing and mounting from the right.  Grace stands like a champ.

Practice standing and mounting from the left, also waiting like a solid citizen.

the views from up top!

Cookie Elimination, Grooming Grace, Superbowl Prep

For a few days now Grace has been telling me that the new apple flavored treats I've been using are somewhat less than satisfactory.  She'll sometimes take them, but often looks at me with an expression of endless patience and then keeps her lips shut tight when I offer them.  I had no idea just how offensive they really were until I gave a few to Rain, our cookie-a-holic here around the stable.  She's been at Bit of Honey for a few years and understands that I often don't know things unless she tells me.  This is what SHE thought of them.

"These are TERRIBLE"

Point taken, Rain.  I get it that those are gross, and we will be switching back to our regular horse candy immediately.  Grace is grateful that you explained it in terms clear enough for a slow-thinking human. 

In other news, I was able to borrow a gorgeous jumping saddle from Jen with The Happy Horse Tack Shop in Fort Collins.  It was specifically made for a horse built like Grace, and I tried it on her this evening and it looks like it will work.  She was pretty wound up when I took her out to groom and do some tack fitting.  She was also pretty nervous about one of my clients who was here as well.  Looks like we'll be recruiting all of our friends and family to come meet Grace and give her goodies so she can overcome her nerves regarding meeting new people.    She also seems to be nervous about being tied.  If she's in her "safe place", her paddock, she is ok with the rope being draped over the post.  If she is out of the pen and I tie her, she stiffens and her head goes up.  She has pulled back a couple times, but I use a tying apparatus that lets the rope slowly slide through which prevents her from truly panicking when hitting something solid.  I have a setup to address just this type of issue, so we adjourned to the round pen.  She wouldn't stand still while tied, so I had her trot around in the pen, and when she stopped we would return to the hitching post I have set up in the round pen.  Eventually she realized she had two options.  She could trot, or she could stand and be groomed and eat goodies.  Being the logical and sensible mare that she is, she chose to stand quietly.   We used all the grooming tools and then tried on the saddle.  We did a little more walking and trotting while wearing the saddle, then did some mounting block practice.  By then the sun was going down and we were running out of daylight so I led her back to the hitch rail by the tack room, and we groomed yet again.  This time she was quieter.  My neon yellow grooming bucket concerns her some, too.  Horses see black, white, and shades of green and yellow (so they can identify plants when grazing).  Sometimes when a rattling grooming bucket full of tools is a really bright color yellow it concerns the horses.  Once Grace figures it out she'll be fine, just something to notice.  

Fergie is sporting the latest in equine fashion - a Broncos stencil on her haunches that expresses her support for the white horse team!