11-5-00 Winter is here. We got about four inches of snow today. It was gorgeous yesterday, but of course I didn't have the time to get out to the barn then. Today I was able to get out, but just to check on everybody. Everyone was fine, of course, and it was good to see them. Since there's been a lot of temp fluctuations in the past week or so, Carol's had to pull blankets and put them on a couple times. Spirit let her take her blanket off, and then she let Carol put it back on a couple days later! I think Spirit really needs to get more comfortable with other people handling her, and Carol's a really good first "other" human.
11-8-00 Spirit was _jumpy_ today. I guess that's what comes from not working with her for so long (a week? wow, no, I guess it's been closer to two. Time flies) I brought her into the barn to pull off her blanket and groom her, with the intention of working with her on that right hind. Carol's been rearranging things at the barn, which means that the round pen is down right now and that the runs from the barn out into the pasture are being rebuilt. Spirit was _not_ too happy about all that noise right next to her when I brought her to Springer's stall. After she stepped on my foot <grr> I moved her to the other side and let her chill out a little bit. Once she settled, she was really good. She's doing so much better with the right hind--today we got to the point where she would pick it up and hold it when I just put my hand on her hock. She's getting all four feet trimmed next Tuesday (note to self: call LLAC tomorrow and get more Dormosedan) and I want it to be relatively easy for Tim. I also want her picking up that right hind well enough that we won't end up doing the fronts and the left hind and not get the right hind done. Although I'm sure she's lived unbalanced before, I don't want her like that.
On another note, kind of, she's getting fabulous with her blanket. I can fling it over her back and she'll stand just fine. She also stays much _cleaner_ than Springer or Shaman. Both were coated with big globs of mud. Spirit wasn't totally clean, but there were no huge chunks of dirt. Yay :-)
11-13-00 The round pen is still down, and I feel like I can't work on much without it. (HA! Can we say "crutch"?? I might have to work on that.) I brought all my ponies in today, pulled blankets and groomed. Spirit, once again, is much cleaner than either Shaman or Springer. Makes me wonder if she just won't lie down in her blanket. <shrug> I'm not going to worry about it. She'll figure it out. Today I worked on Spirit's right hind again, and she's doing pretty well. The farrier comes tomorrow at 10...I think that she'll be ready to trim all around. Hopefully. We'll have to do her in a stall instead of outside, which is less than ideal. The lights not good, and she's a bit more edgy inside. But, no round pen and muddy ground leaves no other options :-/ I know I'm probably stressing over this way more than I need to. I have Dormosedan _right here_ in front of me, and that pretty much guarantees a complient Spirit. <sigh> I'll just be happy when it's over.
11-14-00 Wahoo, all four feet! Spirit did alright--not great but not horrible, either. As well as can be expected, I guess. The Dormosedan didn't hit her as hard as last time, and I'm not sure why. It was COLD today, and I guess that might have kept her more awake. <shrug> We trimmed her (well, Tim did, I just watched ;-) in Springer's run. She did great for her fronts (still won't let him put her feet on his knee though, to finish the fronts. Have to work on that) Left hind was pretty easy. Right hind was okay...when Tim first went to pick it up, she sidestepped a bit. That surprised me, because she hasn't tried to evade me in that manner in a _long_ time. She also tried to take her foot back a couple times, but Tim just held on. It took all of 15 minutes, but those were _long_ 15 minutes. |
