Today Cal left our barn and embarked on the grand adventure of being possessed by a young girl who is utterly beside herself with the happiness of first time horse-ownership. We said good-bye today as her new owner held her lead-rope and asked about her favorite treats. I, for one, am happy that Cal is off to a place where she will be paid attention to and doted on. She was a good horse for Brian to get his feet wet with.
As far as our two boys go, things went pretty well today. The feed lot crowd is a bit stirred up lately because Doc is now living in a stall, Cal is gone and Stella has moved in. Brian and I decided to do the same thing that worked so well yesterday, except Steen was all riled up because of all the yelling going on about Cal's departure and I caught Sham in a mere ten minutes, so Brian didn't have as much time to kill.
While Robin works on catching and training Sham a bit, we figured it would be great practice for both Steen and I if I got him out of the pasture, groomed him up, and rode him. So today Robin and I each grabbed a halter and walked off to different pastures. She stared at Sham, and I fumbled around putting Steen's halter on. He stood patiently and accepted it. I cannot say the same thing for Sham.
Thankfully Steen remained mostly willing and patient. He let me walk him through the ever-changing indoor arena and barely sniffed at the new piles of stuff. He stood nicely while I got rid of some of his coat. And, as always, he was a dream with his feet.
After I put Robin's pad on him but my saddle, I brought him out to the strip for some ...
Well, the Sham saga continues. On Tuesday I did not go to the barn. I had to work work work. Brian did go to the barn, however, and Sham would not let himself be caught. After an hour of trying, Brian gave up.
On Wednesday I went out to see what sort of luck I would have with our wayward steed. I had a reasonably easy time catching Sham, in the rain, and brought him indoors to do some groundwork. The jury is still out on whether or not this was a good idea. I think the groundwork itself was fine, but indoors seems to be a nervous place for Sham still. I had intended to do the groundwork outside, but was a bit tired of getting rained on so changed my plan.
Sham was pretty antsy indoors, and things escalated to him running around on the rope a few times. But then they would de-escalate and he'd calm down and receive pets and praise. I did a lot of ground-...
Yesterday morning I headed to the barn. My first barn-task was to hold Doc, my friend Gay's horse, for the farrier because Gay took a tumble while dismounting on Sunday and broke her collarbone. Big time bummer.
We got Doc's feet done without incident and I brought Steen indoors. I thought he might need a trim (hopefully by mid-summer we'll have Sham and Steen on the same hoof-care schedule), but Duke said Steen's feet aren't growing much just now, so we can skip one. I did my best to clean the mud off Steen and decided to do some groundwork on the big grassy strip by the cornfield to prepare for the outdoor riding I hope to start doing this week. I thought Steen would be inclined to kick up his heels and frisk on the rope seeing as how the sun was out and shining and he was on genuinely good footing for the first time in a very long time. He was a bit sleepy, though, and d...
Today Brian and I returned to the barn after our spring break hiatus. It was sunny but windy, and we found things at least partially dried out after a week of relatively warm temps and low moisture.
Our primary objective today was simple. Halter Sham. We had a strategy and a whole lot of time and had also promised ourselves we would be very patient.
As usual, Sham approached without hesitation when Brian first entered the pasture and as usual lost interest after a few sniffs and pets and walked off. Then Brian drifted after, not trying to get close but not letting Sham forget he was there, either. Whenever Sham started in Brian's direction, Brian would release the pressure, turn his eyes away and make himself soft and approachable. And after a while, Sham approached.
On Saturday, Dutch and Cathy (Brian's parents) came to town. The primary reason for their trip was to meet Sham and reacquaint themselves with Steen. Brian and I headed to the barn, confident that after our wonderful Thursday everything would go smoothly. Unfortunately, such was not the case. A few things worked against us. First, there was new hay in the pasture and Sham was pretty happy about eating the new hay. Second, the puddle was still by the gate and after hearing some stories about recent misbehavior by the electric fence, we're now pretty certain that Sham's big spook in the puddle on Thursday was from the water actually transmitting him a shock. So, when we arrived on Saturday, he was justifiably not interested in having anything to do with us. We only tried for a few minutes to catch him and then gave up, got Steen and tre...
I got back from the barn today and hung around the house for a bit. Then Brian got home, we piled back in the car and returned to the barn.
The focus of trip two was Sham. Our plan was to at least put the bridle on and see how he responded. Our hope was he'd take it well enough to warrant a ride.
Sham is already definitely less flinchy about his head these days. His pulling back behavior has disappeared and he was easy to catch today. We brought him indoors and Brian did a lot of great groundwork right from the start. Sham was clearly pretty inclined to relax.
Today I took Steen outside. It wasn't perhaps the brightest move. There is still deep snow in some places, ice in others, and mud in still others. Nevertheless, I am bored stiff with riding indoors and today it was sunny and in the 40's. Wasting the opportunity to get some sun seemed ridiculous. So, I tacked Steen up. He's so fat these days I got him a longer girth (we had to get a new one for Sham anyway, and Steen's old one is the size Sham will need, so it seemed like a good way to avoid having extras lying around). The extra weight also definitely has an impact on his lightness of foot. I took him outside and had him walking around in deep snow and he was huffing and puffing within a few minutes. He actually stayed remarkably calm through most of the ride. I didn't have much of a plan. We just wandered in and around the corn-fields and the strip. He did pull his old ...
Another great indoor bareback ride on Steen. I think we've definitely mastered walk and trot in the indoor arena. It would be nice if we could include loping, but with him out of shape and the footing the way it is (with little puddles and ice here and there) it's just not worth the risk. We walked and trotted for about twenty minutes, working on neck-reining and standing. We also spend a fair bit of time on grooming, as he's definitely dropping his winter coat. I put him back outside and went to say hi to Sham. He doesn't seem to have Steen's fear of the camera.
Today I took Brian's new saddle to the barn. It's just like mine, only black, and we think Sham will look pretty sharp showing it off.
I adore mine. Hopefully Brian will like his, too
The saddle was not the only reason I headed out there today. When I arrived I got a stall set up to accommodate the vet and his teeth-floating equipment. Then I went outside to get Sham. I must say, I felt guilty when he came to the gate as soon as he saw me. The alpha mare and another big, dominant gelding wandered over as well, so I just let Sham into the airlock to avoid having to deal with them. He came throug...
