All the other goin' ons

 As I wind my way back to health, slowly increasing what I can do each day, I am thankful for all the well wishes I have received, and work on making my plans for the winter. Mostly, I have everything all set up to be simple when it comes to chores; all hay stored indoors and small square bales instead of the big rounds that I usually buy that require the use of the tractor to move as well as pitchforking the hay into a sled or wheelbarrow to put in the desired feeding area- this year, I can just toss the required amount out into the shelter or the barn. Also- the automatic waterer is the only one needed this winter, as I won't be using the big barn where Beamer was which needed water to be pumped from the stand pipe into my insulated tank that Ted built for me. I often had to take a heat gun to the stand pipe handle to free it up when the weather got really nasty. 

It's coming...

Having only two horses definitely makes the work load lighter, but it sure seems odd to me. 

We are ok with just us two

I did find a farrier that Velvet ok'd , a young lady just starting out with barefoot trimming. Velvet loved her. Gussie tolerated her.  So that is something I can check off my list- I don't have to attempt to trim the mares!

The mares got covered in deer tick bites, nasty lumps that have a yellow crust to them similar to rain rot. Vet said they are deer tick bites and to deworm with ivermectin and spray the mares with Virkon. Done. I did some research on those ticks- they aren't the kind that latch on and suck blood like the wood ticks. Apparently they like pasture with long cover as they are not fond of sunlight and don't we just have pasture with a lot of long grass and tall weeds. We are looking into getting a rough cut mower in to fix that, although it may have to wait until next spring. We are hoping that the recent numerous heavy frosts will have knocked off the ticks, which usually make their first appearance in September, so that gives us some time. 

We got an update on Boe via facebook-  he is doing really well and they love him. They renamed him Willy. 

If you care to check out her page, she posted videos of him trailing cattle on his 12th ride.

Also I have been getting Theo updates, he is thriving and growing. As with all the Beamer babies (like Willy) he has an exceptional mind and they have been working on getting him soft to lead- their 4 yr old daughter can lead him and it's the cutest thing- if he hits the end of the lead rope she scolds him and he softens right up to her. 

I am looking to breed Gussie next year, I have a couple of choices which I will be deciding on within a couple of weeks. I will keep you updated on that!

Gemma's Journey

 When Gemma and Shiner arrived here for halter training, they were both pretty much untouched. Of course with weaning and travelling an hour to get here, they were rather looky and flighty. I gave them a day to settle a bit and get used to their new pen- basically my foaling pen, with access to the little barn. 

I was curious to see if they would go in the barn on their own, but within minutes, they were both hanging around in there. That, of course, made things easy for me as that is where I was planning on working with them.  

Another thing I did was to park my horse trailer where they could go in and out of it on their own- which they did right away, and were often to be found in there, just chillin'.

The first session, and for a couple days following, I worked them together. First using my flag to touch their backs as they scooted past me. Then when they stopped and faced, just resting the flag on the ground. After a bit, I was able to touch them with the flag while they stood still.

The next day we moved on to introducing a rope. As they scooted past, I would toss the rope on their backs (when my aim was accurate!) and let the rope lay on them as they went around. Surprisingly they weren't too worried about that.  

I found that Shiner was way more flighty than Gemma, and since my focus was on her due to her impending trip to the Yukon with her new owner, I separated them when it was time to work them, which I was doing twice a day. Shiner soon figured out that he didn't need to go in the barn when Gemma did, and was easy to cut back while she went in. 

The first few sessions with Gemma were interesting. Well, all of them were! I learned a bunch with her. First, she absolutely would not let me on her left side. I roped her around her neck, let her go around then took the slack out of the rope. She would turn her butt to me and try to pull away, so I would have to quickly step to the side and get her to face. When I walked up to her to touch her, she would turn so that I could only approach on her right side. I pondered that for a bit, and decided not to make an issue of it at first. So the next couple days were all about getting her to accept touch and rubs on her right side. Another interesting thing about her was that when she was thinking things over she would drop her head right down to her feet. Then I could rub all her neck and between her ears. Still from the right side. I managed to get a halter on her then, but it was rather awkward trying to tie it as it ties on the left side. So next day, I turned the halter inside out and put it on and tied it from the right. Well, I decided that was an inconvenience to me, so the next session I was going to inconvenience her and get her to accept me on her left. Enough already!

Anyway, once the halter was on, I slid the neck rope off and had her learn to give to pressure with just the halter. Basically, let her go round and round, then take the slack out and hold until she stopped and faced, then slack the lead rope. Within a couple sessions she was learning to lead. I really took my time with her and when we made even a small advancement I would turn her loose and let her consider it until the next session. That incremental building worked well for her, she's a horse that needs time to think things through. 

So- the left side. Starting with the rope work, I would rub her from the right and then step around in front of her so I would be on her left- she would immediately swing her head to the left and her hip to the right to try to keep me in her right eye. I did a lot of head rubbing and neck rubbing until she relaxed and dropped her head down to the ground again.  Funny thing is, I had to take the lead rope off the halter, rub the halter on her neck and between her ears, let the nose piece drop down onto her nostrils, then take it off and get her to raise her head a bit and halter her properly. Then just stand there and rub and pet her all over on her left side, then turned her loose. A couple days of that, and getting her to lead a couple steps each time and the light was starting to come on in her baby brain. She finally figured it out that both sides were safe for me  to be there. I never did get to the point of being able to just walk up to her and catch her, still had to either use my neck rope or throw the halter lead rope over her back first. I think with a bit more time I would have had that done too. 

By the time she was ready to leave, Gemma was catchable, led well, loaded in and out of the trailer both at liberty and by being led in and out and had become a real nosy parker- she had to come and investigate whatever I was doing, would eat hay out of my hand, would pull on my jacket and be very helpful with tools when I was working on the fence. In short, well on the way to being a pocket pony!

I actually really enjoyed working with her - she gave me challenges and made me think outside the box, and it was a delight to see her go from a fearful flighty filly to a friendly and curious little miss who is someday going to go on and do great things for her owner. Who, by the way, was really pleased with her when she picked her up. 

In case you were wondering

 I didn't mean to get y'all worried with my prolonged absence here, but things just piled up in a hurry. 

I will do a separate post on Gemma's journey from being an untouchable to being a darn near pocket pony, as it will be a fairly lengthy one.

Suffice to say, I am well pleased with the progress she made. 

Meanwhile, I went from having a cold to having full blown pneumonia and needing hospitalization.

My first ambulance ride since I broke my wrist 20 years ago

 It's amazing how quickly pneumonia can take you down., I will spare you all the details, except that it will be a fairly slow recovery with weekly check ups. So no major projects for me for the next couple of months. I just got released from a 4 day stay, most of which was spent in the emergency ward; I got an actual room at 11:45 pm last night and got released today around 2:30 pm. Oh how welcome it was to breathe fresh air and feel the sun on my face!

Catching up

 I have been busy- that's my story and I'm sticking to it. 

The weanlings are slowly progressing from wild eyed range colts to allowing as how I might maybe touch them. At first they were in full flight mode, however I am utilizing my small barn to contain them when I work them. It has a small divider I can stand behind if I need to get out of the way, and the set up is that they can go in a circle around it. I have hay stored in the extra stalls in there so it is effectively like a mini round pen. 

It has been a week today; I have been working with them twice a day. 

They took to the barn right away, which is good because I feed them in there. 

I started with flag work, just touching them with it and using it to direct traffic, so to speak. 

After a few days of that I progressed to tossing a rope around and over them. They actually weren't too bad about that and on the second session I was able to get the rope around the necks and get them started on giving to pressure. We are still a long way from being able to get a halter on them though. 

Getting the rope off was more difficult than getting it on though! But we got it done. 

There came a point when I wasn't making any progress so I changed things up. I am all about changing things when one method gets stale. 

Once they discovered that I was the purveryor of oats, Gemma did a complete turn around. She let me touch her more often, and started approaching me in a friendly manner.

She is still reserved and cautious but really is starting to allow me into her space. Shiner, on the other hand, has become more reactive. Can you say, double swirl? He was the first to let me rub his quarters and his back but not much past that so far. That's ok though- I am on a time schedule with Gemma as she leaves for her new home on the 13th, and Shiner can stay longer. He might actually be easier when Gemma leaves. 

I would have posted more photos and videos too, but my computer refuses to download the photos from my phone, so I have to email them to myself. The support for windows 10 is ending so that might have something to do with it. I will post more if I get things figured out! 

I leave you with a spectacular sunset