Horsing Around

     Wow....has this ever been a very busy week and weekend.  Courtney bought a horse (a Paso Fino named Zorro) who was delivered on Friday at about 6pm.  Here he is being backed off the trailer.  The two ladies (Linda
                                                     and Shelley) who brought him from

Michigan wanted to be sure Courtney felt comfortable with him and that he was okay after the long drive here. 






 




 



     First we turned him lose in the paddock  to let him stretch his legs and get his bearings.  He seemed to think food was more important than walking around.


     Then Linda got him, walked him around, gave him a chance to meet Onyx, and brought him back around
to the front of the barn.




     Next she and Courtney saddled him up so Courtney could ride.  Linda went first and then Courtney had her fun.
















     It was getting late and getting dark, so there was not a lot of time to ride.

      Anyway, it had gotten so late, they took me up on my offer for dinner and spending the night. We put the pony they had brought along to keep Zorro company, in one stall, Onyx in the other and Zorro shared the paddock with Chuck. 

        Saturday morning, Linda (Zorro’s owner) put one of her extra saddles
on Onyx and gave her a try.  Then she
had me climb aboard. 







 







     Linda lead Onyx around at first
and then turned me loose with my new horse.





     Next Courtney was put aboard Zorro and then we rode around the paddock together.
















     We also decided that the two horses were getting along so well, that we would put them out together.  Onyx is definitely the lead horse, but Zorro is a very willing follower, and actually prefers to be near her.


 










     Chuck just eats grass, stays out of their way, but watches and likes to be fairly near by. 

       Carol arrived a few hours after the two ladies left.  Saturday afternoon and most of the day Sunday we had a good time talking, walking the dogs, and messing around with the horses. I wanted to keep an eye on Zorro, to be sure he was adjusting okay.  We were a little concerned about colic yesterday because he had some rather loose stools earlier in the day, and had laid down twice. We rotated the horses off and on the pasture 2 times but mostly kept them in the paddock. I walked Zorro around when I had seen him lie down the first time. 
The second time he was just rolling in the dirt.  By evening his stools were much better....so I think he will be fine, Carol brought lots of garden produce, so we had a vegetarian dinner Sat. night. Sunday we did a few chores, and continued to mess around with the horses, walk and talk.  It rained several times throughout the day.  It was a nice lazy day.

        Last Monday I had a training session with Onyx at Marge’s that went very well.  However, getting Onyx in the trailer was problematic. She went in fairly well, but I didn't get her hooked up fast enough and Dan did not get the butt bar latched quick enough and Onyx backed out of the trailer.  But I had no rope attached to her halter at that point, cause I was trying to get her hooked in the trailer and she got lose in the yard.  We managed to coral her back into the paddock, re-grouped and tried loading her again.  The second time, she had all 4 feet in the trailer but backed out immediately.  The third time she would only put her front feet in.  (By then I was a half hour late and running a gamut of emotions.)  I tried calling Marge, my instructor, but she didn't answer. (She was on the mower)  So then I decided to walk Onxy around so that we could both calm down.  After about 10 min when she was more relaxed and I got my nerve back up, we tried loading her again. She went in and I got her hooked up and Dan got the butt bar down and we were off for Marge's.  Marge worked with Onyx first. She would show me an "exercise" and explain its purpose and cue me into the body language I should use and what we should see in Onyx.  Then I would do the same exercise. Marge taught me six different exercises that I will work on all this week.  Onyx got the hang of lunging right away so Marge said she has most likely been lunged before.  Marge uses and teaches the Clinton Anderson training methods. It all makes soo much sense to me and we could see Onyx "getting it" with each new exercise.  Marge says Onyx is a horse that wants to please but has troubles staying focused.  She is smart and caught on quickly though.  We worked for 1 1/2 hours, accomplishing a lot.  When it was time to load to go home, it went very well.  Marge believes this was primarily due to the work we had done with her prior to her getting in.  She was a lot more respectful at the end of the lesson than in the beginning.  So, because of that, she went into the trailer better and is understanding who is in charge.......I think she is learning to trust me as well.
       When I tried working Onyx here at home by myself, I was not near as successful.  I e-mailed Marge, decided to go back Friday for another lesson, and she worked with Onyx for an hour.  Again when I brought Onyx home, she would not lunge for me, so Marge came over right away and worked with her 15 more min.  Then when I tried, I had success.  I am still nervous about the whole thing....so need to work through that.  We had planned to continue to let Onyx settle in some more and get some of the groundwork exercises done before riding her. We also need to find some time to try on some different bridles and I need to buy a saddle.
        The first egg laying chicken figured out to lay in the nest box after 4 days.  Then a second one started laying, but the eggs were shell-less.  She was “dropping” them from the roost area and most broke from the 6” fall.  The others I gave to the dog.  Three days ago the eggs started coming out with hard shells and in the nest box....so all is well in the chicken coop.
        Our Bible Study Group is coming at noon today for a picnic and farm tour/visit. I have school work, need to clean house, and am going to do some cooking.