First Anniversary for me and my girl!

One year ago today (well, almost) I made a childhood and young adulthood and middle age adulthood dream come true when I bought Skye on February 29. I didn't get to bring her to the Greenway, where I first pasture-boarded her until 10 days later, as we had to wait for her Coggins test to come back. So I couldn't really believe it until the day we moved her to her new digs in the quarantine lot. That day I was just beside myself with happiness, convinced that I had bought the horse of my dreams. You can see why I would think that. Just look at her.

She had me at "hello."

Unfortunately, things didn't go as smoothly in those first months as I had hoped. My schedule didn't match that of my pasture mates, so I was usually dealing with her alone. She needed some work on her gas pedal, so I didn't feel comfortable riding alone, so I rarely rode. When I did, she was usually great on the trail. Until she wasn't. One day I cantered her for about 20 feet, and she never wanted to stop moving for the rest of the ride. Though she never tried to get rid of me, she felt out of control and it scared me. It was unsafe for me and for the people riding with me.

I then called on a local trainer who had been recommended to me, who told me Skye had no decent training at all. This seemed very wrong to me, but in the state of mind I was in, I went along since I had no confidence at that point. So my sweet girl spent a month at the trainer's. When she came back, she was the same for me under saddle as before the training, she and I had no relationship left and what had been a slight pull-back problem was now a full-blown paranoia. She pulled back and got loose at the Greenway once. Though she was easily caught, it rattled me. Weeks later she did it again (from someone going against my wishes in saddling her), and pulled the hitching post out of the ground.  Although she was never ever aggressive, I was beginning to wonder if she was too dangerous for me to keep. Finally, I trusted my instincts and stopped using that trainer.

During this time, she was deeply attached to a big gelding in her pasture. She always let me catch her, but she rarely took even one step toward me in the pasture. Then she would balk two or three times as I tried to lead her in, planting her feet and not moving. I'd have to snap the lead line, raise my arm or actually lunge her in place to get her to listen to me just to get her feet moving. By the time we'd get to the gate, I'd be so disappointed and frustrated that I would clean her feet, check her for cuts, spray her with fly spray and put her back. It occurred to me that I was actually relieved to be driving away from her. The pasture was beautiful, my pasture mates were all nice people, with nice horses that I liked, but I was getting nowhere fast with my girl. Finally, I made the decision to move to a barn with a round pen, an arena and a steady stream of people. That was our last chance. If I couldn't make it work with all the other factors in place, I'd give up and sell her. Maybe later I would get a quiet gelding more suited to a middle-aged woman instead of a gorgeous smart and spirited mare. I would have to  face the fact that I needed to get the horse I could handle, not the horse of my dreams.

Skye and the love of her life, Magic.  She loved him so much
she had no room in her heart for me. 

I made the move to Blue Wave Stable in September, and we settled in so quickly. From the very beginning, things went unbelievably well. People were always around so I felt more comfortable; I felt comfortable so I spent more time with her. Everyone loved Skye, and I had found my tribe of people whose idea of a good time was an evening at the barn after work. So I started this blog to write about it.

We've had a few more ups and downs, mostly with getting her feet evened out and her leg bump cleared up, but she now listens to me on the ground (making me look like I know what I'm going) and walks like a dream in the ring for me (which she wouldn't do at the Greenway. Ever.) Best of all, we have a real relationship. Here is the proof:

Six months ago, I couldn't get in her from the pasture. Now she is usually waiting at the gate when she sees my van. Tonight she had her back to me and was eating hay with her subjects when I called her, and in she came. Sometimes she trots and once she even cantered, but she's coming. And that's more than enough.

Weekly Horse Fix

Despite the fact that it has been a week since I posted, I did get out to the barn Sunday and Wednesday. Although we had snow last Saturday, which now seems like years ago, the roads were totally clear by late Sunday morning, so I hustled on down to the barn to see my girl.

Skye and all the other horses were in their stalls, as there was still snow and ice in the pasture, and no one wanted snow packed into their hooves. I  know in colder climates horses don't get babied like this, but these horses are my friends and I say "baby away!" The real danger was probably the real possibility in slipping in all the mud if they decide to kick their heels up after being in the stalls all night.

Miss America herself, Leo, and sticking out at the end is
that strawberry girl, Ginger. Skye is doing her dignified pose here.

Skye was in her own stall with her evening gown on, and of course, was a very good girl. She let me know, after she frisked me for cookies, that she would prefer to be out, but she is so well-behaved in a stall. I went in there and hung out with her for a while. She actually quit mugging me for treats and just stood for a while with me.

Beside her is a new horse at the barn, and - prepare to be shocked - I love him. His name is Leo, and he is a 20 year old Thoroughbred who was rescued by Healing Horses and then adopted by none other than the wonderful Tammy, who is a fellow dinky lover. He had been at a co-op barn, and apparently there was some sort of drama going on, so she brought him over.  Here he is.

This is Leo. I love his kind eye and intelligent face.
Plus, he's a horse, which pretty much gets him into
my good graces immediately. I'm a pretty tough customer.

See what I mean? A big bay sweetheart. I told Skye I wish she could marry him. In reality, the last thing she needs is to get attached to another gelding, so I'm very happy that he is in the stall beside her, but in the mellow gelding pasture. Tammy and I hung out with him in his stall for a while too, and he was just a big lump of sugar. I had really liked the little buckskin who had been there before, but I have to say this boy has totally stolen my heart.

Speaking of heart stealing, here is a resident lover boy Bon Jovi, that dashing devil, with snow on his face.  Even snow can't diminish the dignity of that boy. He is very dearly loved by one of the barn girls who also happens to be a very good rider And he's a Steady Eddy on the trail. Not just a pretty face.

Bon Jovi doing his imitation of a snow man.

Speaking of pretty faces . . . .

Pretty, and apparently very thoughtful.

You knew that was coming.

And I was proud of Reebok, that sweet potato boy. He was being a good boy in his stall when I got there, so apparently he is getting better all the time. I told him that when the time changes and I can be out there in the evenings, we will get him back on track. As you can see, he is enthused about it.

If not enthused about training, then at least quite interested in the peppermint
I gave Taylor to hold out to get his ears up. Which is a kind of training.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at work were exhausting because I had a lot to do, and had a wicked cold. The kind of cold that makes you swear you will never take breathing through your nose for granted again. Nevertheless, I hustled down to the barn Wednesday evening because I needed my horse fix. Skye had just been fed, so I brought her in for some groomin' and grazin'.  The best part was just hanging around talking to everybody. Valerie was there riding around on Wren bareback. She has been taking some private lessons with a local trainer and says they are doing so well. Apparently Wren doesn't like the ring that much. That's always interesting to me since  all the horses I knew when I was growing up were used to ring work, but not to trails. It makes me remind myself that I need to remember to keep Skye good at both. I'm hoping I'll be able to take her on the trails around the barn soon.

I just hope I can ride her a little tomorrow, but I'll have to access the mud. It has rained so much this week that our backyard puddle makes it look like we have waterfront property.

The time changes March 10! Woot!

Snow Day!

I finally got to go see my girl today. This week was so busy, and then when I could go to the barn, the weather was crappy. I even got up early this morning to make sure I could get there, since the weather folks were calling for possible snow. This has happened a couple of times this year, so I didn't believe it. It was kind of sleeting when I left, but I figured I would bring her into the barn and at least spend some time with her. I didn't care if I got cold and wet.

Sure enough, on the way down there, it started snowing so I got to see my girl in the snow.  Of course, it was too warm for anything to stick but since the weather called for more snow in the afternoon and cold temperature, we brought all the horses in. I brought my beautiful girl in first, and she was wet and slightly pitiful, but not feeling sorry for herself. As I was putting her halter on her, I breathed into her nose and when I breathed in I got a good whiff of her horsey smell. Eau de Skye! It struck me how much I missed being with her, and it had only been five days. Pitiful.

Then I brought in the rest of the horses in her pasture, with Reebok bringing up the end. He was so sweet, and I gave him some extra attention. He was a little pushy being brought in, but considering the rest of his herd was in already and he wanted to be fed, he was actually pretty good. He wanted to go faster than I did, but he didn't crowd me and he did slow down when I said "easy." He didn't like being in the stall for long worth a damn though. He whinnied a few times, and when I just looked him he stopped. (Most likely because he wanted to, but I'm pretending it was because he was embarrassed to be whinnying for his herd, when I, an honorary herd member, was right there.)

Then we filled the hay bags so the evening feeders could just replace the bags. I love hay. I love the rectangular bales and the way it smells like Spring. We got them all filled, and had everybody all set, and I even had time to just hang out with Skye in her stall. After she had thoroughly checked out that I had no more treats, she just stood there with me, looking pretty.

She can't hardly believe it. This wasn't taken
today, as my case for my new iPhone hasn't arrived
yet, and I'm paranoid that  I will drop it and break it.
 It's still a funny, if untimely, picture.

After I got home, I did some housework and took a nap, planning to go the store for the makings for lasagne when I got up. So I got up, put some laundry in, and looked outside. Snow! For real. So then I had to go drive to the store before it got bad, because that's what Southerners do when it snows. When I got back, it was in full swing. Yay!

The house with snow. An unusual sight.

Of course tomorrow at the barn will be all about scooping poop out of the stalls since the horses will be in all night. Still, I feel better knowing Skye is in a warm stall tonight.

The only damper on the day was that Erin told me she has decided to re-home the dinkies. They are not free to keep, and she needs ones that will be friendly to everyone, not just me. I know she will find them a good safe home, but it breaks my heart. I love them so.

How will I live without them? They look
misleadingly large here, as I took this sitting down.
Unfortunately, they won't do this with anyone else.

Riding again!

Holy Guacamole, I can't believe it has been so long since I last wrote on here. I did get to the barn both days of last weekend, but you wouldn't know it from this blog. Last Saturday Erin told me she had spoken to the vet, who said if Skye's leg was in good shape after being in the pasture 24 hours without a wrap, I'd be good to start riding again. Still the walking only conditioning rides, but good gracious, it's a start. So Saturday I groomed her and grazed her, and left with instructions to let her spend one more night in the stall, unwrapped.

Sunday her bump looked stable, meaning it had remained the same smaller, bonier lump. I groomed her and  did some "listening" work in the round pen which didn't involve lunging her (on vet's orders, I'm to keep away from small circles for a while). Then after putting her up, I got out Reebok for a little while. He did okay, meaning not as well as he had been, but still lunging in both directions, backing up nicely when asked and respecting my personal space.  I had hoped to make some real improvements, but I settled for getting him listening to me for short periods.

I did make some good progress with the dinkies (miniature donkeys) though. Since moving into the bigger pasture behind the round pen, they have gotten the idea that they are Wild Dinkies of the American West or something and have not been as friendly (or perhaps they always thought they were Wild Dinkies of the American West but did not have the wherewithall to prove it in the paddock/mini pasture they were in). In any case, they had been staring at me from a distance, then walking a roundabout way to see me, then turning away from the apple and carrot cookies like high society snobs. But Sunday I brought carrots, and after a much shorter period of staring at me suspiciously, they came over and each took one. I snapped a carrot in half and the sound made them trot away on their precious little donkey hooves, but when I didn't chase after them they came back. All three took a carrot, and Bravo did his thing where he puts his little black mouth close to my face so I will breathe in his nose. (I know this from watching them, and the horses, with each other.)

Proof that Zulu is warming up. He would like
for me to point out that the halter is faded red, not pink.

But this week was Hell. I started my new job, requiring me to be gone all day (and away from the barn!) every day, and I had to teach the paralegal class 2 evenings this week. When Thursday rolled around, the only day giving me a chance to go down there in the early evening, it was raining.  So in addition to the stress of the work week and the second job, I couldn't even access my de-stressing mechanism. The whole working for a living thing so interferes with my favorite activities. There really needs to be some way around it.

Finally, Saturday arrived and I allowed myself to spend a long time at the barn. I got my girl and had just finished grooming her when Erin asked me if I would ride Bon Jovi to straighten him out a little. He was acting up a little by tossing his head with a beginner on him, and needed to ridden by someone who could make him do what he is supposed to, and but her back was hurting too badly for her to do it. So I got to ride that big beautiful boy a little. He did the head toss with me for a bit, but I essentially ignored it and pushed him around the ring with my legs.  He gave up his antics and was ready for riding again. Triumph. I would like to ride him again, as ever since my adventures with Goliath at the Greenway, I have a weakness for big black horses.

My good friend Goliath, who occupies a big Tennessee Walker-shaped place in my heart.
He later picked up that bag and threw it away from him
after discovering it held no carrots for him. It was worthless to him
apparently.

Then I rode Skye! Yes, that's right, I actually rode my own horse. She was perfect about being tacked up, and then was perfect in the ring. I stopped her a couple of times to back her (perfect) and to get her to give to the bit a little (okay) but overall I wanted a relaxing time in the ring that's what  I got. Such a good girl.

When we were finished with our short ride, I put her in her stall and then worked with Reebok.

Oh, that was a bit disappointing. He totally crowded me while being led, and while I was working him in the round pen. I swished the dressage whip at him, and he didn't care one bit; he'd barrel right into it. He seemed very confused, like he had forgotten all we had gone over. He was very distracted, and once again back to whinnying several times in a ten minute period. Sigh. So he is feeling herd-bound again. I had hoped having Skye right there watching would help, and maybe it did. In any case, I did get him going around me each way for a short period and got him to back a few steps. Then I just loved on him in the round pen for a while so he would at least have a positive feeling about being with me and feel safe being away from his herd. So no great progress, but maybe it helped him from backsliding more. Patience will be the name of the game.

Zulu again, since he usually
gets so little mention in the press.

Dinky Duty went swimmingly though! I called to them as I went out to their pasture. I called "Dinky Doodles!" and they looked at me with their big liquid eyes then started walking toward me with some degree of purpose. That's victory. (When I mentioned this to Dave later, he said no self-respecting animals would answer to "Dinky Doodles." This from someone who has been called and somewhat answered to "Sugar Plum Fairy". It was an ironic term, used by an au pair but still. Yet another reason why Dave should refrain from comment about the animals.) They came up and took their carrots with great solemnity, as eating carrots is a serious business for them. Then I touched all three of them. As usual, I traded a carrot for a pet with Echo, gave Bravo a long rub on his back and butt, and even stroked Zulu on the nose. This was the big victory as I have never touched him before. As with Reebok, I hadn't realized how far I had come with them until they regressed a little. But I still think I will win them over.

Today, Skye was lying down when I went to get her. While I know this is normal, my heart always sinks into my belly when I see it. As I came up and called her name, she stretched her head back to look at me upside down. Then she waited until I was about 10 feet from her to get up.  But she did get up gracefully and strolled over to me, and stuck her nose right in the halter. I tacked up without incident, and she was perfect under saddle. Once again, we could only walk, but I used my legs to steer her around some obstacles in the arena, so I feel like we did some work on our communication anyway.  Right about the 25 minute mark, I could feel her getting bored, so I got off, untacked her and put her in a stall while I put her tack away. After an apple and some apple cookies, I put her back in her pasture, and for the first time in a little while, she hung out with me at the gate. I know she was hoping for treats, but considering when she was on the combination stall/round pen rest she couldn't wait to get away from me, I'm taking it as progress.

It's enough to make me nervous. She was just napping though.
She's even lovely when she naps. Not that I'm susceptible
to that sort of thing.

Dave was gone all day today, so I didn't get Reebok out, but I did a few minutes of Dinky Duty. This time they were waiting for me by the gate by the time I got there, and did a little dinky swarm wanting their carrots. Once the carrots were all gone, they hung with me for a while, sniffing me and staring at me in that thoughtful way. I think they have decided to trust me again. Closer and closer.

A swarm of dinkies. Be not afraid.

I'm dreading a week away again, but I'm hoping I can get down there at least once in the evening this week. I'm counting the days until daylight savings time so I'll have hours of light after work.