Going to Work

We don't have enough of a barn to make it a full time job, but it keeps us busy enough.

Mainly Carrie. She's the only one in the family who really knows how to ride!

She pops on Magic once a week to exercise him for Ellie.

She works with Eddie to keep him in shape for Heidi.

Heidi's knee prevents her from riding, so her visits have just been to check on her boy, hang out, and have fun rather than exercise herself.

Micayla, Abby's owner, has been showing up every day. Her medical school doesn't start for a while yet, and if you bring a horse you may as well work with the horse! Carrie's joins her on occasion.

Same managed to tweak himself again, so I don't have recent pictures with him. He trots around fine, but Carrie says there's a lack of impulsion when she pushes him to canter. She added a new supplement to his feed and he is NOT a fan.

This is the horse equivalent to choking it down. The big baby knocked his food bowl over twice before we switched him to the bucket.

Not that it stopped him from finishing.

Sam cleaned the bucket and hated every minute of it! He's truly stomach-driven.

Sam's on a week of rest. Alex, Laura, and Carrie all ride him from time to time, so he'll probably enjoy the break.

Huck has adapted really well. He really likes to place bitey-face and has proven dominant over Eddie and Ernie. He doesn't leave Magic be either, but Magic puts him into his place when he's had enough.

Huck's super friendly with people. He's got a great personality. Whoever owns him one day will love the little guy (and that's me saying this...).

He's shown an amazing amount of trust and willingness to work. He came along further than Pippin in just a few sessions. "He's a blank slate," Carrie said.

Carrie was shocked when she put the saddle on him and he acted like it was no big thing. He went up banks and jumped over ditches the first day she introduced them!

She was so excited she had me film the second day she took him out to the obstacles. If he wasn't tiny, Carrie would probably want to keep him!

Huck's owner stopped by to check in on him one day while Carrie was out. She plans on coming by for a training session eventually.

There's all the usual chores and horse care mixed in. It could be something as simple as braiding Maddy's mane....

...or fixing a fly mask! How do they do these things?

Pippin's a character. She farts and laughs.

Really, it was a yawn. Just like the shot where I caught Maddy.

It looks like they're making noise, but the yawns were silent.

We try to do most of the work in the mornings before it gets too hot. We end up sweaty messes regardless. There's no rush, so I work at a more leisurely pace. Some of it's still pretty tough: I weighed the bucket of Sam's poop the other day and it was 72 lbs! It was also the first bucket. If I take a day off he starts to stack his piles....

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.

Working Around

Less work seems to take more time during the summer months. There's no urgency to get the work done, but work is still going on!

Shane built a new cat house. Happy was the first customer.

Blood, sweat, and tears went into it's making.....well, maybe not seat. Shane cut himself with the scissors making it, so I can confirm the blood and tears!

Don't worry. It was barely a nick. 

Carrie's had me tag along in a support/safety role for some of her training projects. She was working with Sam on loading and unloading. I....I stood there. 

My contributions were a photo and being able to laugh when she demonstrated the effectiveness of grain with a hungry horse.

I haven't been helping with Pippin lately. Carrie's made a rig to hang some bags off her saddle to simulate a rider.

It's a trust building and desensitization game. Carrie put out a tarp held down by poles that Pippin is willing to cross more readily than any other pony on property, but wants to turn on the afterburners any time Carrie tries to actually ride her.

If Pippin can learn to walk while it feels like someone is on her back it should transfer to someone actually being on her back.

Should.

No, I've been doing more grunt work cleaning stalls.

It's not the hardest work, but it does take time (and a proximity to smells).

I found a random hole in the yard while taking Loki to pace cars.

Normally, I wouldn't care, but with horses around you want to avoid anything that could cause a trip.

Side quest accepted.

A few minutes later, 'quest complete.'

And think: That was interesting enough I took pictures. Maybe I wanted to prove to Carrie I wasn't lazing about all day?

Everyone pitches in somehow. Sam helped by 'mowing' Maddy's lot (He was happy to do it, too!).

Having a barn is like having kids. There's always a new mess to clean up somewhere! It helps to look at both as a labor of love.

Therapy Riding

Heidi came by for a therapy session where she worked on mounting and dismounting. Eddy was a good boy standing still for her.

Carrie has thrown herself into her new therapy role. She demonstrated exercises while Micha filmed.

Heidi and Eddy were both worn out after an hour!

Unfortunately, Heidi's knee has been causing her pain and she's temporarily stopped riding. She's visits us for fun therapy now. Micha and Heidi brought their dog on the last trip!

Loki was thrilled.

There were butts to sniff.

Micha went for a walk with his boy and Loki tagged along! They were halfway across the property before I noticed Loki was gone.

Heidi's not the only one who's in therapy right now. Ernie's been getting regular vet appointments.

He's had ongoing degenerative lameness. A temporary nerve block had him moving like a different animal altogether.

"That's my horse!" Laura said.

One potential procedure would be de-nerving. The vets snip the nerve that goes into the hoof. It's permanent.

The upside is the horse feels no pain anymore.

The downside is the horse feels no pain anymore.

We would need to be checking Ernie's feet daily to make sure he didn't step on something that could cause lasting damage.

Laura didn't decide to do the de-nerving, but Carrie thinks it may need to happen one day. For now, Ernie needed shots to help with some of his issues and the vets recommended bar shoes for more support.

Ernie's an older horse, so none of these issues are going away. It's more about how to make him the most comfortable for the most time and get him to where he can be ridden safely. 

Laura came to us in time to reduce her boarding and hay costs and to replace them with vet costs. Carrie lets her ride Sam since Ernie is still out of commission as a perk of being here, but Laura is hoping to get back to riding Ernie again.

Pippin Update

Carrie's been doing a lot of work with this girl!

My photos are up close, because I've been helping!

My job really hasn't been a glamorous won, though. I basically stand around and act calm. Occasionally I take a picture over Carrie's shoulder, but those are few!

Carrie thinks that Pippin developed trust issues with riders at some point.

When Carrie began to lunge Pippin, she wanted Pippin to walk and relax. Pippin kept trying to trot away instead.

With time, Carrie was able to get Pippin to relax more in the lunge. "She's a brave girl in her own way," Carrie said. Pippin was willing to walk over obstacles Carrie laid out faster than some of our other horses!

It got to the point Carrie was willing to try riding Pippin, but the nervousness continued. Pippin was licking her lips, head held high, tensing, and ready to run. I could see Carrie steadily pulling back on the reigns trying to keep her at a walk!

That's where I came in. Pippin seems to trust people on the ground more than riders. I've been walking alongside her while Carrie rides and then fading support. Eventually, I'm left standing in the middle of the arena so that Pippin can see me as Carrie tries to make her relax and walk along.

Pippin's improved some, but it's been slow going. Carrie tried riding Pip while the other ladies were in the arena to see if she'd relax with more horses around.

It went.

Pippin was still nervous and trying to shift from a walk to a run, but Carrie wouldn't allow her to. There weren't any big issues, so we hoped it was one more step into building trust between Pippin and us.

Carrie popped off and I went inside.

I had to run back outside a few minutes later when Pippin ran out of the arena! I caught her at the second jump along the north end of the property!

Thankfully, Pippin does trust us. As she came running up the hill I stood behind a jump just in case Pippin tried to barrel past me.

She didn't.

She stopped to look at me and let me take the reigns. There were no crazy acrobatics and I'm not strong enough to halt a horse as it gallops by!

For the record - This is why we have fence lines around the property and a front gate. Pippin traced the bridle path with Carrie behind her and ran right up to me as I came the other way. Barbara rode up on Maddie ready to block the path if Pippin got passed me.

So Pippin has made progress and had an adventure, but she's still got a lot of room to grow. Carrie says it's tiring trying to ride Pippin, because she had to sit as completely neutral as possible. Any sign she gives is misconstrued as a command to run and that's not the most safe thing even for experienced riders.

We do have someone who wants to lease Pippin, but it's going to be a while before Carrie deems her safe enough for others!