We're Still Alive!

Yup, we sure are! This semester has been obscenely busy between my senior internship for school, writing/editing/defending/publishing my thesis, & planning a wedding. I have, however, managed to squeeze in some much needed pony time.

What can I say... have we made much new progress? No. I still have a mild tempered, very stubborn, sometimes spooky solid walk/sometimes trot horse. I'm hoping once my internship is over in December I can get her back into training with April & we can really progress. For now, we've just spent a lot of quality time "hanging out." Lots of bareback rides, relaxing trips out on the trail... low stress, high fun kind of stuff. :) Although I am sometimes jealous of those skilled riders who have been practicing for many years, a good afternoon of riding around the pasture bareback makes me grateful I spend my money caring for an awesomely adorable pony instead of a high priced trainer. Granted, I'd love to do both - but it's not financially in the cards. I figure - as long as she's enjoying herself, and I'm enjoying myself, we're both allowed to suck, right? :)

For some reason I seem to have these great equine revelations, that make so much sense to me... but can never be adequately expressed in writing. Regardless, this past Saturday I had this great revelation about trust. Even though monster pony can be spooky at times, I really REALLY trust her. Why? Because she trusts me. I'm in charge. This IS a huge revelation coming from where we started nearly two years ago - when she was the alpha mare in our relationship. In fact, for the first year or more she ran the show & I had NO idea just how badly I was being played. Walking all over me? "Awww how sweet, she wants to be next to me." Not listening? "She's just scared." I had a million rationalizations for all of her bad behaviors.

We are finally getting (I can't say we're 100% there yet) to a place where we've established who is in control. It makes a WORLD of difference in our riding. Before, whenever I would take her somewhere new, SHE was in charge. If she didn't like it, she'd turn around and go back. If it scared her, she'd run the other way. Now she's learning to trust me; she's figuring out that I won't steer her wrong & that regardless of how startling a man running down the trail is or how terrifying a herd of deer rustling the bushes may be... they're not out to eat her.

I think a certain degree of caution is necessary for good horsemanship. Even that good ol' been-there-done-that-dead-broke-20-something-year-old-ex-show-pony is capable of an unexpected freak-out. This is one lesson I learned the hard way when I made the decision to wear flip flops to the barn & ended up with a foot-full of black toes. Have I been "wreckless" with monster pony? To a certain degree. Do I line drive her over 5 foot fences with only a prayer? Certainly not. Do I walk behind her without staying close or touching her butt? I sure do. I think, in a twisted way, that's part of the beauty of horse-ownership. Making that transition between someone else's rules for how to care for their horse, to setting your own. We've established a set of "rules", Cheyenne & I. And although they may not be up to everyone's "standards", they work for us.

What a ramble that was... I'm not convinced any of it made sense... in short.
Monster Pony + Becky = Trust ... usually.
Caution + A Certain Degree of Cautiouslessness = Horse Ownership
Becky + 1:28 am = This Hot Mess Right Here.

& on that note, something I can't botch up too horrible... PICTURES!

Cheyenne & I demonstrating that whole "trust with wreckless abandon" thing. Yeeeeah.

Monster & her new boyfriend Aspen. They're such lovebirds!

Monster pony & friends, or as Lori likes to call this "synchronized horsemanship."

Trail Pony

An impromptu trail ride yesterday evening turned out to be one of the best decisions I've made it a while. :) Since I don't know the trails yet & yesterday was only monster pony's second trail ride, I am the mercy of tagging along when one of the trail veterans goes out for a ride. Yesterday we went out around 6:30 & the weather was just beautiful. Still a bit warm, but as the sun started to set a cool breeze settled in and it made me SO excited for the fall weather to finally get here. At any rate, pony did an amazing job. SO amazing. My poor little girl always tags so far behind since her legs are a good 6 inches shorter then everyone else's, so we caboosed it the whole way & trotted to catch up when we fell too far back. We passed two herds of deer - one herd ran across the trail, and a man jogging. One of the front horses spooked and Cheyenne just stopped behind them, but no spook. That's my girl! Although, I'm pretty sure she was so far back she barely saw any of the things, she still didn't react to the other horses spooking, which is awesome in itself. :) She also maintained her composure behind a fussy horse the whole way home. We went to a new area of trails, with lots of roots and uneven ground and she didn't think twice about going over any of it or hesitate one bit. It took a LOT longer than expected to get home & we were riding in the dark. There was just enough light to make out the horse in front and Cheyenne rode home like a CHAMP! She was amazing, not one single teeny tiny issue the whole ride. It was like she'd done it a million times before.

Here's a picture to show how dark it was by the time we made it back to the barn, and that's with the barn light on! :)

I am SO proud of her. She never ceases to amaze me with what she is capable of. :)

Best. Pony. EVER!

Seriously, she is. She has blossomed at our new barn. Since our first bad ride, she has really gotten her act together. SO much so that we went out on our first trail ride last weekend! I was so impressed with her I could have cried. She led almost the entire time, didn't do any real spooking... only thing that made her nervous were a few logs and trees that had fallen, she hesitated a bit when we saw them but walked on anyway. I love her. I love her SO much!

April has been working with her weekly and she is really coming full circle with the respect issue. She is rarely ever pushy now, and respects people's space. That was one of the biggest mistakes I made as a green horse owner, allowing her to become pushy. I of course thought it was cute that she wanted to be right up on top of me all the time "She loves me... we're bonding" Um, no... she's being dominant & pushy. Lesson learned, and corrected. Thank God for a wonderful trainer and support system to set me straight!

My favorite thing Cheyenne has learned is to walk through water. We have a pond out in her pasture so I have started riding & lungeing her through it and she LOVED it! She'll dunk her whole head under water to blow bubbles, it's so cute! :) Here she is playing in the water



& here is April, riding her bareback with just a halter and leadrope!!! She wasn't perfect, but the fact that it was done at all impressed the heck out of me. :)

72 Hours

Really pony... really? 72 hours into your residency you've got to get into something? Goober hit her eye on something & scraped it up. Last night it was so swollen she could barely open it, she kept it closed most of the time I was out there yesterday. Luckily when I went out today it looked much better. Scrape is still there but the swelling has gone down significantly.

I rode monster for the first time in almost a month. It could have gone better... I mean it could have gone worse, but it DEFINITELY could have gone better. Learned what her buck felt like for the first time today, something I DEFINITELY could have lived without knowing. Not too bad though, for a fourteen hand pony. She was a booger, no doubt. Would NOT stand to be mounted, everything was spooky, NO breaks, & would not tolerate being circled. Blaaaaargh. I know it will get better, but it's so hard not to feel like we're back at square one. A month ago my trainer had her starting to canter... today I wouldn't get her to successfully walk & stop without issues. This, too, shall pass.

On the bright side, I am so incredibly at peace at the new barn. I just love being out there, even with a heat index of 106. Everyone is so nice & everyone really cares about all of the horses. People go way out of there way on their day to feed, doing extra chores above the 3 hours worth of work, just to make the property nice for the horses. My only concern is that monster will be morbidly obese by this time next week between all the grass & hay... but I suppose that's better then not being fed at all. Yay new barn!

Big Changes...

WOW! It's been a whole month since my last update... lots of big changes have taken place.

First, we've moved... AGAIN! :/ I'm VERY happy with out new barn. I'm VERY angry with the old barn. I don't want to reveal too much, in the off chance this gets back to them. But long story short the person the owners hired to feed the horses was working out of the area for part of the week & hadn't been feeding/watering/checking on the horses. If that wasn't enough the owners 5 horses (including the stud colt) were turned out lose around the barn, with only a 3 foot, 2 board fence separating the stud & Cheyenne. This apparently went on the entire week I was on vacation. The final straw was when the owners horses got into the feed room (because they were let out lose to run around the barn), ate ALL of mine & the other boarders feed & supplements... and the property owners couldn't be bothered to respond to the emergency, given their horses had eaten SIXTY POUNDS of grain, plus the weight of two brand new containers of supplements. It's even worse than that... much worse... but I don't feel comfortable airing out any more dirty laundry.

ANYWAY, after all of that happened, we were on the next trailer out of there. Which Cheyenne subsequently decided to exit using the emergency exit... seriously. The trailer couldn't fit down the narrow driveway at the new barn, so we decided to unload her on the dirt road. Well, I opened the escape door to back her out, and she stuck her head out & jumped right through! You horse people know what a feat that is! When she makes up her mind to do something there is just NO stopping her. The lady who trailered her was freaking out! I assured her Cheyenne was fine (& she was - not a scrape on her!)... she's just a little hard headed sometimes!

The new barn is definitely a bit more money, but in my opinion entirely worth it. She's has TONS of grassy pasture, her own stall to go in & out of as she pleases throughout the day (the horses are only locked in for feedings, which I LOVE!), there are trails literally RIGHT out the back gate (it opens to a HUGE nature preserve) & a wonderful group of boarders who really keep a close eye on the horses. The barn runs on a co-op system where everyone feeds one feeding per week. I think it's great because that way everyone gets to know each of the horses, and there are at least 14 different sets of eyes on my horse each week. If one person misses something, certainly another will catch it. Granted it's a lot of work, but I don't mind, considering all the great points the barn has. I've definitely learned my lesson on "you get what you pay for". If it sounds too good to be true, it is. You may not realize it at first, but it will eventually bite you in the butt.

& now that Cheyenne has a stall, I of course had to buy her a stall plate! If there's one thing I've learned about horse stuff, it's that it is WAY over priced. I looked for a stall plate online & the cheapest I could find was $10. WHAT? It's a name tag with screws. Well I found one that wasn't advertised as a "stall plate", but will do the trick just fine. & the price? $3.95 including shipping. WIN! I haven't received it yet so I can't attest to the quality, but I just wanted to whore out this place since it's certainly the most reasonably priced I've found. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230439975833&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123 They created a 3 line stall plate for monster pony with her name, my name & my phone number. I'll let everyone know what it looks like when it comes in.

In other news, Graham & I got a puppy! She's a pit-weenie (pitbull/dachshund mix), a year old & she is as darling as darling can be. She's got a few issues... still working on house breaking & whines/barks when we leave or she's in the crate, but she's getting better at both. Doesn't seem to bark when left alone if she's not crated... but then she pees if she's out, so it's a catch 22. Anyway, she really is a doll & we love her! Here's a picture of her sleeping in the passenger's seat of the car.

Love. Love. LOVE! My monster pony.

Seriously. I don't know if I've ever loved monster pony more. Every day she gets better & better. Ugh, she is just SO AWESOME. Really, she is!

She has a nasty scrape down her back, a good 2 inches by 4 inches, RIGHT where her saddle goes. Needless to say we didn't get any riding in today, but it was a good opportunity to do some ground work with her. First of all, she's usually a PITA when we enter to round pen, because as I'm fidgeting trying to lock the gate, she's trying to run off and eat grass. Well, not today. Today I walked her in, threw her lead line over the fence (didn't tie her or anything) and she stood completely still while I locked the gate. WOW! Then I pulled off her halter and the minute I picked up the lunge whip, she took off right to the rail and started moving. Again, WOW! She usually shoves her head into the ground to root for grass and it takes me running after her with the whip to get her to take a step. Proud moment #2.

Yesterday April worked with her on reversing to the inside. Today she pulled a couple of her "What'll happen if I turn my butt to you" moves, and QUICKLY realized "BAD idea, she'll make me keep moving, and even FASTER!" So after about three failed attempts to reverse butt first, she started turning in and doing perfect reversals (Is that a word? It is now.)

Then I decided to play a little game with her I like to call "Stand over the delicious patch of green grass but DON'T eat it. Don't even THINK about eating it." I walked her to it, threw the lead rope around her neck, and just let her stand. And guess what? SHE STOOD! She didn't move. So I decided to walk further away. She's such an in your pocket pony & has little comprehension of personal space. So of course, she tried to follow me. I took her lead rope, backed her up, and had her stand again. THIS time when I moved away, she stayed put! I walked all over the roundpen and she stood still as a board. Then when I wanted her to move I called her over, and wouldn't you know it? She didn't move. LOL! Go figure. So I grabbed the leadline, called her name, and waved her to me with my hand. It took a few times of doing it with the leadline, but I eventually got her to understand it without using the leadline. In the end she was standing still, and WAITING to be called.

This may not seem like much to some horse owners, but considering three weeks ago I had an ultra disrespectful horse with no regards for personal space, this is an AMAZING feat. She is such a good girl, always aiming to please. I am so happy I could burst! lol

PLUS I oiled my saddle today & completely reorganized my tack locker. What a great feeling! :) There's nothing that makes me happier in the world then a great day at the barn.

Note to Self

I realize this is a blog, the intention of which is to be public. But it's late, I'm beyond exhausted, and my capacity for generating entertaining prose has all but burned itself alive... so mostly this is an entry to collect my thoughts and record how monster pony has progressed with training.

This week went okay, not as well as I would have liked but we really made progress toward the end. It had nothing to do with my trainer (Who is AMAZING if I haven't mentioned that already/enough) but monster pony's 'tude. She was being a snot and refusing to turn in to reverse. By the end however she was responding well and not turning her butt toward us. That being said as much as April has whacked her hiney, you'd think she'd have learned she can NOT not NOT not NOT NoOoOoOoTtTtT eat grass while lungeing... but nope. She continues to try. *sigh* I told April today she must be really stupid or really stubborn. I know she's not stupid... stubborn it is!

& that's all my weary brain can muster for this evening. Over & out.