10-6-00 Wow, I actually _worked_ Spirit today! LOL... I brought her into Springer's stall to pull her blanket and groom her. She's usually a little edgy in his stall (I think because she can't _see_ where noises are coming from) but she was okay today. When I went to go pick her feet though, she threw a tantrum. I tried to work it out quietly in the stall, but she just wasn't willing. So we went out to the round pen, and worked on it out there. Something interesting--her canter to the left is more balanced than the right. Good thing to remember when I start her under saddle. Anyway, I spent an hour working on her feet. I ended the session when she picked up her right hind a couple inches for me and held it--it's the first time she's picked up her right hind! Yay! That foot has just been _so_ hard. I'm sure I've put 10 times as much energy and time into teaching her to pick up that foot as I did teaching her to pick up the left hind. She's really needed the process broken down into far more steps. Odd. But at least we're on our way :-) She _will_ get all four feet trimmed mid-Novemeber, so she has to be ready for that. I don't want my farrier to have to fight with her. That would be bad for him, bad for me and bad for Spirit.
10-13-00 Today I wormed all my horses, including Ms. Mare. She's the EASIEST horse to worm. She just doesn't fight at all. She acts like there's nothing in her mouth when I put the syringe in, and then when I depress the plunger. When I take the syringe out, she swallows the paste without even thinking about spitting it out. I think it's weird, but it sure is nice. Fighting with 1400 lbs of pissed off, "I don't wanna be wormed" mare would really suck. I also worked with her a little more on her feet. She's getting more comfortable with me handling that right hind, although I stall can't pick it up high enough to pick it out. We'll get there though. At least now she's not just sidestepping when I get to that leg. She'll pick it up about two-three inches off the ground for me. Progress :-) This mare really makes me _talk_ to her. If I'm not praising her when she does something good, she gets confused. It's a good reminder for me to always let her know where she stands with me, and to provide instant feedback for her. It's a important for working with my other horses, too...and something that's easy for me to forget.
10-15-00 I picked out ALL FOUR of Spirit's feet today! She was pretty good about her right hind--I worked with her, just asking her to take weight off of it, and asking for short periods with it off the ground before I held it up and picked it out. She has a much more difficult time balancing with that particular foot off the ground. I still need to work with her _a lot_ on her hind feet though...she's still not very comfortable with them being handled. It'll just take practice though :-)
Now, besides getting her comfortable with weight in the saddle, I've accomplished all my goals I set for myself way back when. So I guess I need some new ones. I don't think I'll get on her again until I have helpers to assist me--it's just too dangerous. She would never hurt me on purpose, but bucking is the only thing she's ever been taught. So I'll leave that for a little while. So, new goals. Just today (how convenient), I "found" this post at my barn. It's been there forever, but I just noticed it today. (I guess I'm not very observant :-/) It's a railroad tie that was used as a corner post for a fence. I think it's sunk about 3-4 feet deep, and it's about 5 1/2 feet tall. I _think_ I can teach Spirit to tie on this post. I'll just need to get a heavy-duty truck innertube and learn to tie a bowline. (See Tom Stovall's article on tying) The other thing I'd really like to do is get her broke to clippers and other odd-sounding items. I'd like to get her working on the longe and in side reins, responding to verbal walk/trot/canter commands. I'd like to get her ground driving.
I would _really_ like to get her accustomed to people other than me catching her and handling her, but I think that'll have to wait till I have more volunteers available. <sigh> Oh well.
I really need to get some more pics of Spirit. Right now, she looks all raggedy since she's shedding her summer coat, and her mane is about four inches long, standing straight up. I should do a "before" pic, and an "after" pic, trimming her mane and grooming her well in between ;-)
10-16-00 Today I taught Spirit (and the pony) about clippers! Spirit was pretty good about the whole thing. I brought her into Springer's stall/run and clipped her out in the run (thank god for long extension cords!). She had a few moments where she just had to leave, but overall, it was a pretty easy experience. I roached her mane and clipped her whiskers. She was even great about putting her head down while I was doing her mane :-) The only problem was that my blades got really dull before I finished <sigh> so I had to do the last four inches with scissors. Oh well. I did manage to get some pictures of her today, so those will be up soon :-)
10-18-00 Today I stuck boots on Spirit to see what she'd do. I figured it was something she needed to learn about anyway, and I was really curious what her reaction would be. First I put Sports Medicine Boots on her front legs. She was fine with it--didn't care that I was fastening something to her legs. When I asked her to walk, she really picked up each front foot, and even picked up her hinds higher than normal. I walked out of the round pen and watched her for awhile--she would pick up a front foot and kinda wave it around. She also bent down and checked out the boots with her nose! It was pretty funny :-) When she was walking around the round pen normally in the SMB's, I put shipping boots on top of them. She didn't care about them at all, even though they went all the way to her knees. She wasn't too sure what to think of the hind ones. I put on the left one first and then asked her to walk. She kicked out _once_ and didn't try it again. She didn't kick out with the right one at all. I left her in the boots while she ate her grain, and then pulled them all off. She was a good girl :-) No big blow-ups, no problems getting them on or off. In all, a pretty dull day ;-) I did get some more pics of her. Hopefully I'll be able to get the film developed tomorrow
10-22-00 Gawd, it's _cold_! We have that cold and windy rain again today, after a few weeks of really nice weather. I wasn't able to get out to the barn before it started to blanket my horses. When I was able to get out there, Spirit was shivering :-( Poor pony. She's been shedding handfuls of hair this past week or so and hasn't really started to get in her winter coat. I brought her into Springer's stall, put her blanket on and gave her some grain. She stood _perfectly_ still for her blanket. Good girl :-) Ed, who lives across the street, came over to throw some hay down from the loft. I wasn't to sure how Spirit would react--I had her locked in Springer's stall. If she was going to freak out, she didn't have the option of going out into the run. She looked up when the first hay bale hit the ground, and ignored all the others.
