The Good, the Bad and the Dinkies

I have been so excited since Wednesday about the idea of Skye's leg being better and the prospect of getting on her back. I had dreams of actually doing what I've wanted to all along - riding her nicely at all three gaits in the ring, and feeling comfortable on a trail ride of decent length - by the time we had our one year anniversary.

It seemed to be going swimmingly. My vet took a look at her leg, and was as impressed as the rest of us that it looked good. I got her her swanky new boots, which she even got to wear with her evening gown (see below), since the weather Thursday was wet and cold (and we were even teased, though not rewarded with, snow).

Stylin' in boots and blanket.
Just when you thought she couldn't
get better-looking.

So she spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights in the stall, with a half day on Friday in the pasture, with her boots on. Letting her out on Friday was exactly as I expected. She made a big show of moving away from me quickly to voice her displeasure about the stall rest, and even cantered a few steps to the hay feeder. Then she bossed everybody around to reconfigure them to her liking just to show she could. Then she began eating hay, ignoring me in a very obvious way. Fine, I went over to give Reebok a rub. Ginger, that strawberry candy, saw me coming and wanted one too. Mistake! Skye does not allow her Second in Command to approach the Queen's treat machine. Skye swung around from the feeder, and fixed the stink eye on Ginger, who prompted decided that a few pats from me were not worth it.

Skye did not direct the stink eye at Reebok though. I approached him a little, he approached me a little, and we both watched Her Majesty. I swear she nodded! She relaxed and swung back to eating, allowing Reebok and me to bond a little. I don't know whether she sensed I would challenge her on that one (which I would have) or that he is so low on the food chain to not pose a threat to her position, but it was funny either way. I'm going to start watching Downton Abbey, but I'm having a pretty good watching the herd dynamics.

Pony Pasture - a new miniseries
I'll write the first screenplay.

Saturday I also worked with that Sweet Meat, even though it was just a little. He still had his blanket on (which I was too lazy to take off and put back on) and there was a lot of commotion around the barn, but I lunged him a little. He was very distracted and whinnied every now and then to see if anyone could hear his plight of being asked to move his feet around properly then be rewarded with pats and exuberant praise for it. Hard life for him, indeed. Still, I told him to "tell it walking" and he did. I had to work to keep his attention, but that's just more practice for us for future imperfect circumstances. He lunged and listened in both directions! He resisted the counterclockwise direction, but this time not anymore than Skye does when she is in a grumpy mood. I had to be back home sooner than usual, but the short time was good. I was very proud of him.

Reebok looking swanky in his blankie!
The picture is so washed out it doesn't
warrant being any bigger. It doesn't help.

Sunday (yesterday), however, was a huge disappointment. I had said Skye could spend the night out with her pasture, boots off. And damn if that lump didn't pop right back up, almost as big as it was originally. I felt like crying. She still wasn't lame, and she let me mash it a good bit without complaint. I put her boots back on and stuck her in the round pen, with instructions for staying in her stall last night. I am so bummed about it. This whole situation has me really questioning horse ownership in general. I love her, and I love the relationship we are working on, but I certainly couldn't sell it to someone else at this point. I was pretty downtrodden about it by the time I got home. Dave is pretty supportive of it though, and said we'll just fix it and someday this will just be a memory of that long time when I couldn't ride her. I hope so.

Dinkies on the move.
I was trying to get a shot of how they
follow me in a single file line.

But the best part is that I have been back on Dinky Duty. When Munchkin is in the pasture with the miniature donkeys, I can't get close to them, as he is always mugging me for treats and shooing them away. So I have to admit I kind of gave up for a while unless I had someone to distract him or he was out for some reason. But he was taken down to the lower barn for the winter storm Thursday night, so I've been able to get  in there with some spoiling intentions. And in just a couple of days, I've seen a real difference. They come up to me again, though they are still rather shy about getting any closer than absolutely necessary to get their treat. On Sunday though, Bravo, the leader and big daddy of the other two (I thought it was Echo, but I got the names wrong), let me pet him almost all over. He leaned against me and let me rub all over his back and his forehead and even his ears a little. I gestured to Erin to see, and she came over to see how receptive they would be to her. They were a little skittish, but she definitely got her hands on Bravo. Yay! She said someone may be willing to adopt them but that now we would give them a little more time. Apparently lots of people have been visiting them as well, getting them to warm up. I'm so so glad. Erin said she would probably get young ones to replace these if she did adopt them out, so my life would not be dinkiless, but I love these. My first dinkies. I love them so.


I'm leaving now to meet the vet at the barn. X-rays today after all.