Meet Abby

Carrie had a busy week while we were at the beach. Monday the 22nd a new boarder arrived.

This is Abby. Her mom, Micayla, was beginning medical school at UVA.

Abby had a rough start.

She was anxious and showed signs of separation anxiety and wanted to invade Pippin's space, but Pippin wasn't about to have it. Carrie spent Monday night sitting in front of their stalls with a hose. Whenever Pippin tried to charge the wall, she got sprayed.

It was a long night.

Carrie kept Maddy in the 'overflow lot' while the girls got acquainted. Pippin can be protective of Maddy and Carrie didn't want to add in any extra variables as the girls got to know each other.

Pippin eventually accepted Abby.

And then Abby's heat cycle started. Talk about bad timing...she was a super horny horse. 

She was still in the thick of it when I got home. 

"Hey Love! Is this the new...Wow, she's in heat!"

She was showing all sorts of anxious, too.

I got a video of her in the stall next to Maddy. Abby looked like she was ready to wear a hole through the ground so she could crawl into Maddy's stall. 

Carrie brought Pippin into the far stall to see if more friends would calm her down. It certainly changed her focus, but that was it!

Carrie and Micayla were both there. Carrie threw some hay up for Pippin so that she'd eat right next to the stall wall. Then she threw down some hay for Abby on the floor to eat next to her heart's desire.

There were some slow, drawn out stamps of pent-up pent-upped-ness, but the bobbing and weaving stopped!

Carrie said it was a tiring and exhausting week without me there to support her. The good news is that Abby has integrated into the herd. She was a mess the first time I saw Micayla work her in hand, but she made steady progress and looked like she felt at home within a week. Micayla was riding her and she didn't look like she was about to jump out of her skin or bolt.

Back to the beach posts tomorrow.