On my way to meet my carpool on Wednesday, I realized that I left something at home. I had to go back and miss my carpool. For some reason, I decided to stop at the horses. I exercised Dolly for just a few minutes, and then I put her in the back and sprinkled just a small amount of hay around the pasture, to give her something to munch on during the day. I made sure that Diamond had water in the front. (It's as close as I can come to putting Dolly on a "diet" at the moment.)
That evening, I came back and opened up the barriers so the horses could access the front & back again. Dolly ate for a little while and then I exercised her for just a few more minutes. Then I went back to shoveling manure. Diamond was in a really playful mood. She wanted to explore everything. I scratched her again and she scratched me back, on my head mostly. This time she used some teeth, like when you see them groom each other. I really need to get her some toys.
Today, my mom and a family friend came out to see the horses. The friend knows how to spin all kinds of animal hair fibers, so I love getting her opinion on my horses' hair. :D My mom was curious about what Diamond knows, so I took Diamond out to the front and did a little bit of groundwork with her. Her indirect-pressure backing is good. From a stand still, I can send her into a clockwise or counterclockwise circle, but she is still uncertain about it. She'll take a few hesitant steps and then stop. After I've asked her a couple of times, then she seems to get the hang of it and will do some complete circles at the walk. Her trot is just a mess because her legs aren't coordinated yet. The ground is frozen right now, and rather lumpy so I didn't ask her for a trot today.
And then tonight, I worked with Dolly for just a little while. She only had an hour or so of hay-free time today. If I am not running late for work tomorrow (I'm usually running late), I'll lock her into the back pasture. On the other hand, tomorrow is so busy I wouldn't be able to get her more hay until past 10 p.m., so maybe I had better just leave her with 24/7 hay tomorrow too. :P Hmm. This horsey-who-gains-weight-easily stuff is tricky business. I am still so surprised that she blimped out like this. The ONLY difference in diet is that a) she's now "lead horse" b) regular vitamins, with a handful of pelleted beet pulp, dry cob, and sometimes about 4 alfalfa pellets. I mean seriously, all of that together is maybe a handful. c) she had her teeth floated (again) several months ago, d) she's probably hit the end of her growing height-wise.
DIAMOND is no longer shivering violently at night. I kept a blanket on her for a couple of nights. But now she has gained weight to the point where she looks much more able to withstand some cold weather. It LOOKS like her winter coat is starting to come in...I hope! SHE eats 2 cups of dry cob, 2 cups of alfalfa pellets, a handful of pelleted beet pulp, and the regular horse amount of vitamins each night. And I was ready to break out the corn oil and such if that didn't do the trick! But it does seem to be helping (in combination with the free-choice hay).
I shovel manure for about an hour every night and sometimes that isn't enough to keep up with it. They really need to chill out on the eating thing. I wouldn't be surprised if partly they are eating out of boredom. I really hope to install some equine toys soon. And I hope to take them on another walk soon. I'd like to go visit the neighbor horses soon, because one of theirs has to be put down soon. He was a rescue horse and came to her with a lot of hoof/leg damage from severe founder. She's had him for a little while now, but recently the vet said that the damage was so severe that although she's been so careful with his diet and supplements and everything she's done for him, it's starting to degenerate and is causing him so much pain that sometimes he just stands there and shakes from it. :(
Last night was very healing for me. I stopped by the horses around 9:30 p.m. to give Diamond her nightly feed (Dolly, as you can imagine, only gets a little bit). It was misting (I can't really call it rain). Diamond takes a long time to eat, which is nice because I don't fear her getting "choke" like Dolly has had twice since I've had her. So while she's eating, I usually either work on removing dead hair from her spiraling mane, or just stand there and watch the two of them, or shovel manure. After she finished eating, I removed the barrier between the two horses (I usually lock Diamond in the stall so she can eat in peace) and I didn't want to leave. Dolly was munching hay and Diamond went out and stood in the front pen. So I decided to shovel manure.
Anyway, Diamond is just such a lover. She loves people. I suspect that Dolly doesn't always let Diamond as close as she'd like, since Dolly is used to be a loner and seems to keep it that way a lot of the time (I have seen her let Diamond really close, though). But Diamond follows me all around when I'm shoveling manure. If I stop moving, she wants to put lots of things her mouth and explore everything I'm doing. She loves to be pet and scratched. She has an itchy spot near her ears, but if she really gets into it, she'd probably knock me over with her enthusiasm, so I can only scratch for a short time. But she returned the favor this time, nuzzling my ears and head and shoulder. It was really sweet. I scratched her neck, too. I think it was itchy from the rain. Then both horses rested in the front pen, Dolly on lookout about 35 feet away, and Diamond hanging out right next to me. I try to be careful not to let her get too used to being super close because that can turn into a dominance thing, so I also make sure she backs away from me whenever I ask her to. But oh my gosh, it is just so heart melting. It is great. I don't get enough peaceful moments anymore. I am always stressed or always busy or always on the go or always getting ready to be on the go shortly. It turned out to be 11 p.m. by the time I got home.
P.S. It snowed this morning. For me, it was the first snow of the season.
My nieces and nephew came over with their grandparents to meet the horses.
Dolly gave them pony rides. First we just walked around near the pasture. Then we went down the road to the trail again. (There were no helmets involved because I only have one for my own head and it's way too big for their little heads... ugh.)
( 5 more picturesCollapse ) Isn't that amazing?? Dolly let the two youngest girls ride double on the way back. Dolly was awesome. Diamond did well, too.
The horses' water was frozen over yesterday. I'm going to have to break out the tank heater today. Last night, I tried Dolly's winter blanket on Diamond, but it was too big. Diamond has been shivering a lot at night. So I spent several hours unwinding another 750 lb bale of hay so that I could open the front stall door. Now the horses can reach the main water tank in the back pasture, and the hay bales in the front (--which means I'll need to buy more hay...tomorrow ;) ). I think I'll put Dolly out back during the day today, though. I just wanted Diamond to have full access to hay, but the smaller water bucket in the front was frozen solid, so she needed access to the back too. :P
The other day, several of us took the horses down the road and down a trail that I had heard about but hadn't yet explored. I had only recently even noticed it even though I have walked by it many times. A short distance in, the path splits. One way goes to a river, I hear (and have heard that bears have been spotted there during salmon season). The other to an old, unused hay field. We took the path to the hay field. The horses did great. Tim had to excuse himself to go study, so my mom took Dolly the rest of the way, and I had Diamond.
Today, I worked with Diamond on some ground work. She tried hard. I couldn't help but notice how uncoordinated she is with her hind legs. When I asked for a trot, it looked like her hind legs were going at a different pace than her front legs, or trying to anyway. She might clobber herself. I might end up needing to wrap her front legs when I work with her in order to protect them from herself as she develops her coordination.
I'm in a hurry to go to bed right now, but I wanted to post a couple of cute pictures of the horses. I only have time to post 2 of them right now: ( 2 more photosCollapse )
Diamond had her first vet appointment with us this morning. She was AWESOME! She didn't even flinch when she got her shots, and didn't care at all about the nasal vaccine. Wow. She snorted one time and then went back to eating hay. No big deal at all. She didn't get afraid of the vet or anything.
DOLLY heard the vet's voice from a distance and tried to get away. She hates shots SO MUCH. But she was actually better this time than usual. She tried to get away but she didn't clobber me like usual. I was able to hold her in place and the vet was able to administer the shot. Wow!
Good job to both horses!
I learned a lot about Diamond from the vet too. She thinks that she knows Diamond's full-sibling and some issues to watch out for with her development. So Diamond is now back to hay 24/7 and the vet didn't think that Dolly's weight was THAT out of control. She said it would probably be okay to keep them both on 24/7 hay, and that the gorging would go away after a while of being on it (if I can afford that!). But she also said that monitoring Dolly's feed would be okay, but that Diamond is in a critical stage of development, and that for her especially she needs to have all the hay she wants at all times. Also, I am to go and buy Vitamin E capsules (for humans) to put in her daily feed, because she suspects that Diamond wasn't getting enough from grass and stuff this summer (their pasture was pretty torn up from horse hooves and munching). I believe she thought it would be good for Dolly, too.
It was raining last night, so I tied up two of the doggy door flaps and tried to shoo Diamond out of the stall after deworming and feeding her last night. I needed to make sure she could go in and out of it (she's gone through with the flaps open just a couple of hesitant times). She WANTED to come out -- she was thirsty and the water was outside. I stopped trying to shoo her and just observed from afar. She would start to come out and then suddenly stop and step back. She'd try again, and then stop. She really wanted to come out, but was also afraid (her back legs were ready, but her front legs said no ;) ). Then Dolly pushed her way into the stall past Diamond, and saw that Diamond hadn't eaten a lot of her hay. So Dolly said, "Scrammola!" and Diamond trotted out of the stall and straight to the water trough. I decided to chance it and leave the stall open with two flaps tied up overnight. It's been below freezing already, and since it was raining pretty hard still and I didn't know how cold it would get during the night, I wanted them to have shelter available just in case.
The cute moment was this morning. On my way to work I stopped and gave them breakfast hay piles. Dolly was, as usual, hanging out in the rain. I couldn't see Diamond, though. As I got closer, I could see Diamond's head poking out of the stall, watching me intently. :) She was nice and dry.
First of all, I didn't hear from "the hay company" and I wasn't going to drive out there with my parents-in-law's truck in the rain, so I went to a local feed store and bought 3 uncompressed rectangular bales. At 6 p.m. as I'm eating dinner with my parents, planning on using them for a homework assignment after dinner, I receive a phone call from "the hay company" that they're going to deliver 4 bales to me in an hour. Yikes! I scarfed my food and then drove back to the horses.
I got there in time to see Tim really mad at Diamond because she wouldn't go back through the doggy door. I wish I could figure out how to explain that human goals don't work with horses. Also, when you're in an ucky mood, or feeling stressed, or can tell that you're getting angry, it is time to STOP for the day. It is not worth ruining your relationship with a horse just to accomplish a human-set so-called "goal". How did I learn it? I can't remember any more. Did I read it in books, or from instructors, or from trial & error experience?
The angriest I can remember ever being with a horse was on a trail ride when Contessa wouldn't stop eating grass and nothing I did made any difference. [I digress: (Contessa was an abuse case, though, where she was starved as a baby, and found frozen to the ground as a yearling, starving. When she was rescued, they had to chip her out of the ice. They tied her inside of a trailer and fed her slowly, using the sides of the trailer to keep her upright on her feet. No trainer could get her to stop going for food whenever she spotted it. There was no point in me being angry about it -- afterward, I tried other things to curb it, practicing walking by hay bales, and trying out overchecks, and really nothing ended up working, but I didn't mind anymore. In fact, I thought it was hilarious when Contessa ate part of the obstacle course we had to walk through at a horse show. She never slowed or anything -- we walked straight through the hedge, and she happened to come out with a giant mouthful. :) I probably should have bought a muzzle for trail rides, in hindsight. I was always afraid she would crash straight through the barbed wire on the side of the trail in order to get a bite of grass...) ] I suppose that also, I tend not to have expectations of horses in the first place -- I just wanted to spend time with them. It isn't about the doggy door -- the obstacle is irrelevant. The point is teaching the horse a concept -- the concept of "sending" and following direct pressure and indirect pressure cues. Diamond has experienced those for the whole of 1 day. It isn't magic; she needs time and patience. She should never look at the doggy door again until she is taught to send over poles, or through trees, or through the other side of the stall w/o a doggy door, a minimum of 100 times! Maybe even 500 times! And maybe then she'll start to understand it deep down. Anyway. So she did eventually go through the doggy door one time, using direct pressure (pressure on the lead, one step forward, release pressure). So the hay arrived.
After three hours of unwrapping hay from a 750 lb bale, it was about 9:45 p.m., raining and dark. I was unwrapping the hay from one of the bales because it didn't fit under the shelter roof, and I didn't want the whole thing rained on. I was putting the unwound (and now rather wet) hay into the middle stall to hopefully dry out / at least not get more wet. As I was PILING this hay into the middle stall, I couldn't BELIEVE how much hay 750 lbs really is. HOW THE HECK DID TWO HORSES EAT AN ENTIRE BALE IN 6-7 DAYS??? :o Holy smokes.
Diamond was locked in a stall and Dolly was in the back pasture. I noticed that Diamond kept trying to scratch her butt on things while I was working. Because earlier I had looked up proper deworming schedules, and then went to a pet store and bought the dewormer for this month, I decided it was time to deworm right then and there. I had no clue how Diamond would react, but she was blissfully ignorant of what was to come! She was sweet as can be, and let me stick the syringe into the back of her mouth and squirt in the dewormer. UCK!! OH MAN she did not like that taste! She tried so hard to spit it out. And she wouldn't look at me any more. She faced into a corner and wouldn't look at me. Awww. So after a couple of minutes I brought out her dry cob etc. At first she thought it tasted ucky, too, but she kept trying to eat it and finally it seemed to taste normal again. Mmmm.
Next I did Dolly. She knows what to expect from dewormers so she didn't hold it against me. She just waited for the good stuff afterwards. I pet both horses afterwards and Diamond seemed to have forgiven me.
Tonight, Tim and I went back to visit the horses. I wanted to exercise Dolly a little bit, because we hadn't had time earlier. Tim practiced a few of today's lessons with Diamond. I think it went very well.
Dolly got a workout -- nothing too strenuous, because I want to bring her into better shape gradually. But I think it was a good cardio workout (reference to movie "Zombieland").
Then we switched horses and Tim worked with Dolly for a little while, and I played with Diamond. And wow, she is already more respectful of our personal space. She backed really easily with indirect pressure. She gave her head side to side really easily. She came forward when asked (but I'm still worried about her tendency to plant her hooves and pull back--I got to see that a few days ago when I applied pressure to her lead rope and she didn't want to go in the direction of the doggy door, and we got to see it a lot when the instructor first started to work with her today). I wonder if that habit will go away quickly or slowly.
Tim tied up some of the doggy door flaps and worked with her on it. I admit that I had reservations -- I thought that for sure we shouldn't focus on that, but should just practice different leading things. But I also believe that people should be allowed respect and freedom, so I went back to working with Dolly and made sure not to watch or even listen. -Just live and let live (I can be micromanaging if I'm not careful, when it comes to things that I've studied for a long time). And sure enough, after several long minutes passed, Diamond went partway through the doggy door, and then farther through, and then all the way through. She went back and forth several times, perfectly calmly. (But she is still uncertain about it, so it'll take some more practice before we can trust the horses to have the stall available unsupervised).
Before I talk about the lesson today (which went well), I want to vent some hay frustration. I found a great hay company that is located pretty far away. I don't have a truck so I am rather dependent on having the hay brought to me.
Well, the horses were supposed to take at least a half month on the 750 lb hay bale, but instead they ate through it in *ONE WEEK*. Actually, it might have been just six days. 750 pounds of hay. Nobody can afford that. And Dolly's weight is out of control. She's been on 24/7 hay bale access her whole life with multiple horses around, and stayed thin -- what the heck is going on all of a sudden??
The only changes in her diet are: * Different hay company (but same type of hay-- Timothy) * 1 scoop of Vitamins daily (whereas before it was weekly) * Small scoop of beet pulp (not soaked) daily (whereas before it was weekly) * One small SPOONFUL of dry cob daily (whereas before she never got any)
And she's always had 24/7 access to mineral salt blocks and water, so that hasn't changed.
She's a blimp! What the heck? We used to have SO much trouble keeping weight on her. I used to give her: * vitamins (infrequently) * corn oil (infrequently) * black sunflower seeds (infrequently) * at the same time, she was getting hay (not enough), grain (too much), and beet pulp (not soaked, daily)
And with that diet, she continuously went underweight. (AND CRAZY HYPER. See video)
What's changed???
So anyway, back to the hay topic. We're out of hay. OUT of hay. Two days ago, this company told me they'd deliver two bales of hay. Just enough to get me through until the ground freezes, and then they'll deliver all of my pre-purchased hay to me. (If they bring it to me right now, it'll get rained on and maybe go bad before they've eaten it all.)
They said they'd deliver it today. But today, the guy seemed frustrated and was attending a birthday party and said he couldn't do it today, and that he might be able to tomorrow. He also pointed out that it wouldn't be worth his time to deliver just two bales to me. Well, *I* know that -- that's why I went with that hay company! Because they were, for whatever inexplicable reason, willing to transport small amounts of hay to me! I KNOW it isn't actually worth his time to bring me pindly amounts of hay - it's quite ridiculous. But how can I pick up the hay myself? The bales are 750 lbs each and I have no truck. :: sigh ::
And from now on, I have to put the hay in the smaller pen, and let Diamond have 24/7 access, whereas Dolly will only get access to it about twice a day for short periods of time from now on. Ugh. Who knew I'd actually *like* having a less-than-easy-keeper horse. Oh well, I'll get used to the new patterns.
