Grooming Inside a Stall

Well, it's been over week since I've updated. Some interesting things have happened since then. This past Monday, I had another riding lesson. I'm getting better at posting and I was able to post without holding on to saddle for a little bit. At one point, I believe I momentarily cantered. However, that was not intentional. I had been trotting for a while and then I was walking to cool her down. Seren, the horse I was riding, suddenly freaked out and started going really fast. I don't really know what happened, I think she might have been bit by a bug. Whatever caused that freak out, it was scary. But, hey, at least I didn't fall off from the sudden change of pace.

Earlier in the week, Tuesday I think, I took Phoenix for a walk in the big pasture. She did pretty well, but she need to work on getting out of my space. At one point, I stopped walking and sort of walked into me because she did not stop. But for the most part, she did great. I then led her into the arena and walked her around in the for a little bit. There was a cavaletti in the middle of the pasture and I decided to walk her over it. It didn't take much to get her to walk over it and she barely clunked her hooves against it.

Yesterday was an exciting day for me. When I arrived at the barn, Phoenix was having her lunch in her stall. I was allowed to go inside the stall and groom her! Now with a lot of horses, that's normal and not that exciting. However, Phoenix has only been in her stall a few times and only during meal time. She did very well and seemed to enjoy it. When she was done eating, she was put back out in the pasture. We brought her back inside for dinner. This time, I got to lead her in the stall. And when she was finished, I was the one to take her back outside. She has quickly adjusted to going inside for meals. As always, she is improving nicely.

Phoenix Went Inside a Stall

For the first time, Phoenix went inside! She has spent her entire life outside. I let her into the outside arena and caught her on a lead line. It was a little more difficult than usual to catch her because a storm was coming and it was making her a bit jumpy. But I caught her and lead her into another pasture. Through that pasture I tried to walk her into the barn. She hesitated at the doorway. She then pulled away and I had to let go of the rope. Sam, Cynthia, and I followed her into the pasture and caught her again. This time, Cynthia walked her. I'm not very big and a full sized adult can certainly handle a struggling horse better than I can. She told Sam to place Phoenix's food bucket directly in the back of the stall, where Phoenix can see it. Cynthia walked Phoe in and let her get a few bites of food. She then told me to grab the bucket and pour it into the feed bucket on the wall. I'm not very tall, so Sam had to help me. It scared Phoe when we first started pouring the food in, but then she realized what it was and she was happy. She happily ate her food in the stall, away from the rain, flies, and Raven. She loves her sister, but I'm sure she appreciated the fact that she didn't have to worry about Raven stealing her food. She could also paw the ground as much as she wanted, without spilling her food in the dirt. She did very well and seemed quite content with being in a stall. I'm very proud of well she handled the new environment.

When she was finished eating, Cynthia walked her back outside. When Phoenix was only about ten feet away from the doorway, she pooped. Cynthia said, "Aw, Phoenix's first indoor poop!" She then turned to me and said, "Your horse. Grab the shovel." At Trinity we have an unwritten rule. If a horse is yours and/or you were working with a horse when they pooped inside, you are the one that cleans it up. Lucky me.

Yesterday and the previous day, I did some more grooming and groundwork. I'm still getting her used to the friendly game. I've been playing it with the exercise balls and the carrot stick. She hardly reacts to the these things, which is good. I can't wait until I can do more with her!

Phoenix inside a stall

Catch and Release

Today I got very frustrated with myself. Sam and I went into the pasture to work with Raven and Phoenix. I put Phoenix on a lead line and I groomed her. When I was done grooming her, I released her so that I go inside to get the MTG to put on her rain rot. She and Raven are outside horses and we've been getting days and days of rain, which unfortunately has given the girls a bit of rain rot. Anyway, I went inside to get the MTG, a sponge to apply it, and a carrot stick to play the friendly game. I went back into the pasture, expecting her to be easy to catch again. She was not. She would get close to me, but as soon as I would move my hands towards her halter, she would walk away. I was frustrated with myself because I wished that I had asked Sam to hold Phoenix while I went inside. I knew Phoenix didn't want to be caught more than once in a day. I would have liked to have to caught her again, but she didn't allow it. I was very frustrated that I had to wait until feeding time to put the MTG on her back. I never did get to play the friendly game today. But, there's always tomorrow.

Groundwork and Riding Lessons

Monday, I did some groundwork with Phoenix in our new round pen. I played the friendly game with her again, using the balls and a carrot stick. I put the red ball on her back and she didn't care. She got a little jumpy when I put the yellow ball on her back. But after a few times, she was fine with it being there.

Phoenix was afraid of the carrot stick. She kept walking away from it with a frightened look in her eyes. She didn't mind the carrot stick as much when I held the string. When it was just the stick that was touching her, she didn't seem scared. After awhile, even with the string, she stopped being afraid of the carrot stick. She did really well.

Tuesday, I did groundwork with Sunny, one of our mustangs. She was stubborn at first, but then she did well for me. I'm still learning the Parelli games and so is she. We learned together. She didn't want to back up and she kept walking away from the carrot stick. She did do well with the Circle game. It was pretty easy to get her running in circles, but sometimes she would go the opposite way than where I wanted her to go.

Yesterday, I had my third riding lesson. My first lesson (well, first riding lesson since childhood)  was on Tuesday 6/11/13. I was supposed to have it the Monday before, but it had been raining. I'm supposed to have a riding lesson every Monday, but after my first lesson it was raining so much that I couldn't have another lesson until 7/1/13.

On my first lesson, I learned some groundwork to do to warm up the horse before riding. I rode Rocket, a lazy and sweet horse that did not want to move. I weaved through a few barrels and then trotted while my instructor had Rocket on a lead line. Trotting is bouncy and makes me feel like I'm going to fall off. However, when I get a hang of posting, it shouldn't really be a problem.

In my next two lessons, I rode Seren, a lazy Mustang. When I'm on her, I like that she goes slow, but I'm leading her it would be nice if she would keep up with my pace. So far at my lessons I've only done groundwork, weaving through objects (at a walking pace, of course), and trotting on line as I try to post. However, there was something unexpected occurring during my lesson on Monday. A horse there was desensitized to gunshots. They were shooting off a gun right next to this horse. It was a little scary when I was Seren and the sound of the gun was spooking her. She trembled and moved around, but she didn't buck or rear up. Still, it made me nervous and my trainer kept Seren on a lead line for safety reasons. I was glad when they stopped shooting it.

I like riding, but I'm an impatient person. I've only had three lessons and I'm already wishing I was improving faster.

Here's some pictures:

The Friendly Game

At Trinity, we use the seven Parelli games in our training of the horses. The first of the games is called the Friendly Game. Basically, you touch the horse all over so they realize that you are friendly and not a predator. Today, I played the friendly game with Phoenix using a medium sized, yellow exercise ball. I had done this two days ago with a smaller, red ball. With the red ball, she had no reaction. I even bounced it in front of her face and she didn't care. Of course, this is the desired reaction with new stimuli. At one point, she even kicked the red ball when it was in the way of the grass that she wanted.

Today, I played the friendly game using both balls. When I held up the red ball for her to sniff, she tried to bite it. Other than that, she pretty much ignored it. When I used the yellow ball, she didn't mind it until I put it over her back. She jumped and tried to run. However, as soon as she felt the slightest of pressure of the lead rope on her halter, she stopped running. She sniffed again and I rubbed it against her yet again. She breathed heavily, but stood still. I put the yellow ball on the ground and tried to get her to kick it, but she just kept walking around it. She didn't understand why I was trying to walk her into an object.

I also got her to cross over water. It's been raining miserably every single day, which has created many large puddles. Phoenix doesn't like water and is hesitant to walk through it. I found a large, muddy puddle in the pasture and lead her through it. I did this three times and she became less hesitant each time.

I don't think it will be too long before I can lunge her and do the other six Parelli games with her.

First Separation

For the very first time, Raven and Phoenix were separated. These two mares have been attached at the hip and we today we put a fence between them. Phoenix was on the grooming schedule for today so I went into the pasture with a grooming kit. I had her on a lead line and I started grooming her when I realized that it was really muddy in the pasture. Raven and Phoenix are kept in the pasture that's right beside our arena and the arena had no mud in it. I remembered that Cynthia had said that at some point I should try separating them. I thought, "Why not now?" and I went inside to ask Nora for help. She opened the gate while I coaxed Phoenix into the arena. She was hesitant to go through the gate, but it only took a few minutes.

Raven and Phoenix didn't even seem to care that there was a fence between them. At one point, I walked a little further with Phoenix. Raven looked up and snorted once and that was the only reaction to the separation. I groomed Phoenix and she did wonderful. Her back legs were splattered with mud, but I didn't groom her legs. I'm still not ready to try that. I don't think she'll get kicky, but you can never be too careful. I did, however, run my hand down one of her front legs just to see what would happen. Her only reaction was to slowly walk away. When I put her back in the pasture with Raven, I took the lead rope off her. Even though I took it off, she followed me when I stepped forward and stopped when I stopped. It was pretty cute.

Later, I went into the pasture with my camera. I wanted to get a full body shot so I could make a comparison photo. That full body shot was a little hard to get because she walked right up to me and wanted some love. She's become so sociable.

 She likes to sniff things before they touch her

 First time they've been separated

 She was very interested in the camera

She's improving everyday. 

Grooming On a Lead Line

Yesterday, I did some more lead work with Phoenix. I was taking one of our mustangs, Rainy, for a walk when I noticed that Sam's dad, Mickey, was in the pasture with Phoenix and Raven with a lead rope in hand. I stopped walking, which lazy Rainy appreciated, and asked Mr. Mickey what he was doing. He said he wanted to catch Raven. I remembered the day that Nora and spent two hours trying to catch her to no prevail and decided to help him. I finished Rainy's walk and turned her back out into the pasture. I grabbed a lead rope and tried to catch my girl, Phoenix. Raven was so worked up that Phoenix was harder to catch than usual. However, as soon as I got her interest with some food, I had her.

I thought if I had Phoenix, then it would be easier to catch Raven. Raven just kept running away. Eventually, I was able to catch Raven on a lead line. I had handed Phoenix to Mickey and I grabbed a food bucket. I sat the bucket down, crouched, and looked away from Raven. When she stuck her head in, I latched the rope to her halter. It certainly took a few tries, but I finally got her. I handed her to Mickey and did some lead work with my girl. Sadly, about ten minutes later, Mickey sneezed. Raven freaked out and escaped from Mickey's grip. For many hours she was running around with a lead rope still hanging from her halter. I caught her again a few times but she pulled me so much that I had to let go. Eventually we stopped chasing her because if she kept running then she would trip herself on the rope. We had to wait until dinner time to unlatch it from her halter.

Phoenix did great with lead work. At first, when Raven would freak out and run past her, Phoenix would freak out and try to run as well. But it only took the slight pressure of me holding the lead line to stop her from running. After a few times of this happening, Phoenix stopped freaking out and just watched Raven as she ran past. Phoenix is certainly calmer than Raven. At one point I sat down in the pasture (not a recommended thing to do) and Phoenix bent her head for a kiss on the nose.

Later I decided to do a little photoshoot. There hadn't been any pictures of me with Phoenix on a lead line and I wanted to fix that. I just walked up to Phoenix and latched the lead rope to her halter without struggle. I walked her around posed for lots of pictures. While I was working with her, Cynthia suggested that I groom her. Usually I groom Phoenix while she's eating, but Cynthia said she wants me to do as much with Phoenix as I can without food. Phoenix did just fine. I groomed her all over and she hardly minded. She's such a good horse.

This is dangerous, but it sure made a cute picture. (I'm above 18 so I get to make the choice not to wear a helmet)