spiritjournal14

10-19-00 Just another cold day at the barn. The round pen's still not back up yet <sigh> Carol said it would be up tomorrow. I really hope so. Didn't do a whole lot today. I did pull Spirit out of the pasture to grain her. I was too cold to pull of her blanket and groom her, but I did pick out all four feet--she gave me that right hind the first time I asked :-) AND i just had her out in front of the barn, not in Springer's stall or run. She was a good girl.

Once the round pen's back up, I really need to focus on getting some under-saddle miles on Shaman. I _have_ to sell Sham next summer, and I need to get at least $4K for her. Which means she's got to be pretty solid under saddle and reasonable well started over fences. I had been planning on getting twice that, but she grew and isn't a pony anymore. <sigh> Just an inch makes SUCH a difference. Anyway, this means my work with Spirit may slide a bit, especially with the days so short. Hopefully, I'll be able to have enough time to make some daily progress, even if it's just little stuff.

Oh, one more thing...geocities has been acting a bit weird lately. I've found some broken links and missing counters that weren't broken or missing just a few weeks ago. So you if notice anything that's not right, let me know. Thanks :-)

11-29-00 Well, the round pen is FINALLY back up (although it's not quite round ;-) and I've been getting some work done with Shaman. Spirit's doing well...I grained her today and pulled off her blanket. She's starting to get a little pushy with her grain, which bothers me. Fortunatly it seems to be a "Oh boy, grain!" kind of pushy instead of a "Wow, I can make the human move!" kind of pushy. I've started asking her to back up before I put down the feed pan and that seems to help. She was decent with her feet today, especially considering I haven't done anything with her for a long time. I've been leaving her Weatherbeeta sheet on her, but I pulled that off today--it's starting to rub her withers. <sigh> She's still _really_ slicked out for winter time though. Odd. The pony has so much hair, I think I'm going to have to clip her, and she's been blanketed in the same manner Ms. Mare has. Very strange. Could be that Spirit is one of those horses that doesn't grow a real heavy winter coat, like Springer, but I _swear_ she had a few inches of hair when I got her in February....

12-15-00 Haven't been doing a whole lot with Spirit. I've been riding Shaman, and she's just doing so well. Spirit gets her blanket pulled, brushed and her feet picked out everytime I'm out, but that's about it. She's getting better and better about her feet, and stands like a rock for her blanket. She's a good girl. She's expressed a fair amount of interest in me working Shaman. If this less-than-horrible weather holds, maybe I'll get some time in to work Spirit. She could use some time in the round pen under some tack.

12-27-00 Well, hope everyone had happy holidays. I had relatives here, so not much time to go out and see ponies. Yesterday, they all went out to meet my horses, though, and it went pretty well. The little kids fed Springer cookies, got to pet and brush Shaman...I think it went over well. I forget, but Springer's a pretty big pony at 16 hands, and pretty intimidating. Even Shaman, at 14.2ish, is pretty big when you're three feet high ;-)

I also introduced Spirit to my Mom. My Mom isn't a horse person, and big horses intimidate her, so this was kinda a big deal. I'm also fairly selective about people I introduce to Spirit, as I want her experiences to be positive. My Mom is the first non-horse person Spirit has met. All went REALLY well. I expected Spirit to be a little snorty (she usually is when I do something different with her) but she was _really_ relaxed. My Mom got to pet Spirit, and Spirit was nice and quiet. In all, a good experience :-)

Course, one of my cousins brought a cold with her, which I managed to catch. We'll see how well Advil Cold and Sinus will do against it. :-P

1-8-01 Wow. A whole new year. Where did the last one go??

Spirit got her feet trimmed today. She did all right. She was nice and drugged with the cc of Dormosedan, but I think she's beginning to test the farrier a bit--she tried to sit on him twice, once on each side. After he made it clear she wasn't allowed to do that, she didn't try it again. Kinda weird.

Since I hadn't worked Ms Mare in SO long, I headed out to the barn a couple hours before the farrier was due so I could spend some time with her. She was WONDERFUL. I tacked her up in a western saddle, put the full cheek french snaffle in her mouth and longed her. She did fabulously to the left, taking cues for walk and trot effortlessly. She's pretty out of shape, so cantering a 20m circle was hard for her. She's always sticky to the right, but she did well today. After longing, I worked on asking her to give to the bit in both directions. Again, sticky on the right side, but did well. Then, just to see if I could, I practiced putting weight in the saddle. I didn't sit on her back, but I *did* lay across her back :-) I "mounted" from both sides and just lay there for a few moments. I decided we were done when she was relaxed enough with me on her back to play with her bit and move her feet to shift her weight--both firsts for this girl. I want her to be confident that I'm not going to ask her to _do_ anything when I'm on her back before I graduate to sitting up there, and then have her comfortable with me sitting up there before I _ever_ ask her to move off. It'll be awhile.

She's so dark right now, she looks almost black. Pics when I get the time. Lots going on here :-P

1-12-01 Not much new. I just went out today to drop off grain and put all the horses' blankets on--it's supposed to SNOW tonight. Ick. Spirit was a little weirded out by my windbreaker--it's that slick nylon fabric that makes a lot of noise. I spent some time with her just walking up to her, telling her she was a good girl, petting her face and walking away. It took maybe 5 minutes to get her comforable with the jacket. Then it was no big deal. I did take some pictures, and I'll get those developed soon. Hopefully there will be some good ones of the pony and Springer, too.

1-30-01 Ugh. Not a horribly good day. I haven't been to the barn in WEEKS because of bronchitis and a few other things taking up my time at home. Spirit was actually really good--she let me walk right up to her, pet her, catch her, lead her into the barn, and without the skittish stuff I've seen from her before when I've been gone for awhile. She stood stock still when I pulled her blanket, and then I gave her her grain. It was BITTER cold at the barn, so all I was planning on doing was graining the girls and trying my new saddle out on the pony and Spirit. The saddle fits Shaman really well, and I went to try it on Spirit. She was loose in Springer's stall, and didn't care when I put the saddle on her back. I went to her off side to fasten the girth, and she just nailed me. I *think* she felt the girth brush her right front leg, and just reached up with her right hind. She caught me a few inches below my knee on my left leg. There's a lovely bloody hole about the size of a marble, and an abraded line down my shin. I didn't realize she'd broke the skin till I saw some blood on my boot :-P Anyway, we worked on having the girth hit her front legs (didn't get any response), and then I tacked her up again. She was fine. However, when I went to pick out her right front, she stepped up with her right hind again. I was far away, so there was no threat to me--it was just weird. I asked for all four feet multiple times after that, trying to figure out *what* stimulus exactly was causing her weird behavior, and couldn't get that response again. Strange. I'll definitely have to keep an eye on that. I really don't think she was kicking *at* me--but you never know. It was weird.