In two days, it's gone from 24 degrees to 54. A weather change like that has effected the horses before, and even got Cheyenne to colic once when she was about 4 years old. So today when I came home from work and saw Chey facing an end of the pasture she usually ignores with her head down and looking pretty out of it, I was concerned. I went out to check on her, and when she saw me approaching the pasture she walked halfway to me then stopped (which is odd, she usually meets me at the fence). I walked up to her and listened to her belly, and there were normal stomach gurgles, which was a huge relief. She seemed alert, but just a little laggy.. a little out of it. Then, she turned around and walked away. I'm totally confused at this point. She walked over to the corner to go to the bathroom, so I just kind of figured she went away to do her business and come back. When she didn't come back to me, I asked her to come over and scratched her and cleaned her up a bit. She seemed healthy, and since the wind was up today thought maybe she was just trying to put up with it. (However, in Pasco we have high winds quite a bit, and she is used to them and normally doesn't really pay attention to it. So something was still off.) I put the bareback pad and savvy string on her, haltered her and started to walk to the gate. She just didn't seem quite right... to be safe, I transferred all the take to my Gwenasaurus Rex (who was nosing my back pretty much this whole time) and let Chey just take the day off to get over her funk and give her some space. All the way to the gate, however, Cheyenne was trying to come between Gwen and I and chase her off, and when I walked out of the pasture she nickered to me. It was SO cute! I think that's the first time she has nickered for me since she was knee-high to a grasshopper. <3
I was planning on doing another passenger lesson with Gwen, and maybe ask a little more of her today because she now equates passenger lessons with a pasture buffet with a rider on her back. Now, to back up a bit, when I first came out to the pasture and Chey was off in her own little world, the rest of the herd was getting pretty excited about something to the north out in the Bureau of Rec land, but I have no idea what. So Gwen and I are now riding into the pasture to the north, and her life begins to rise. This mare, as I said in the previous blog, is normally pretty dang bombproof in the pasture. Nothing really gets her too excited, and if it does, she is over it pretty quickly. I let her stop and look, and once she put her head down a bit I asked her to walk on.
There is a corner in this pasture that is right next to where I feed the horses, and when the wind picks up it flings some hay into this corner where it gets caught in some wheat grass. Gwen knows its there, but I do my best to keep her away because God only knows if that stuff is even good for her anymore, and up until today it's been covered in snow so I couldn't clean it out. So Gwen of course had to re-visit this contraband corner during our passenger lesson. I've learned I can't just TELL her to turn, I have to do small "pressure and releases" to ask her to turn. She threw a fit when she wasn't getting her way, and with her life up more as it was, she started stomping her front feet and backing up one or two steps. I asked her again, and she turned 180 degrees, took a few steps and ate again. I gave her a scratch and let her eat for a second for listening, but when I asked her to go again she took a step or two and her head shot up and she froze. You know that little hump in a horses back that grows when they're about to buck? Yeaaahhh... she grew one of those. Mind you, this mare is 16hh and half Friesian... she is a LOT of mare. And I am sitting on a bareback pad lol. Not exactly the ideal situation. I let her have her looky-lou time, and tried to keep riding, but her concern about the boogyman in the distance kept growing, so I slid off and decided to re-direct her focus with a few games on the ground. Circle game, jumps, and some OL stick-to-me (stm) and she was completely focused on me again. However, she was now throwing fits about having to jump lol. Oh man. Gweny, I love you. She is so funny. I do believe on her back she was genuinely scared of whatever it was in the distance, but now she was taking that energy and converting it to classic LBI "you can't make me!" energy. When Gwen doesn't feel like doing something, as in jumping or slowing down, she rears, paws, and sometimes throws in a little crow-hop to keep things interesting. I've learned not to make a big deal of this, and just let her have her little episode, stay calm, and just ask her to do the task again. It works pretty well, and by the end of the night she was calmer, carrying her head level with her withers, and more willing.
I'm taking tonight as a "meant to be" OL lesson with Gweny, but I still cannot get over how bizarre today turned out to be. Chey acting off, Gwen all amped up for who knows what reason... haha oh man. Play with the horse that greets you, right?
Today was fun. It was still really weird, but I'm kind of glad in a way it turned out the way it did. I'm going to switch the girl's routines around, and concentrate on more riding with Cheyenne and more ground work with Gwen for a while. I think it's what they both need. But I know one thing for sure, these ladies will keep my day interesting! =p
No comments:
Post a Comment