Our Blustery Morning

Now that winter has shown his frosty face, brrrr, our daily chores have taken on a new dimension.  We need to break ice so our critters can get a drink. 

 This morning wasn't terribly bitter so we donned our winter duds and hopped on the golf cart and rode over to the north side of the farm to see what we could see.

After breaking ice on the water troughs it was time to work with Stanley on his manners and groundwork.  He's been pretty stubborn since arriving here so Stephanie and Dan were so kind to come out and help me learn some tricks of the trade. Stanley has made a lot of progress since Wednesday, and so have I!  I feel a lot more confident working with this big boy and he probably feels a lot better working with me now that I have a better idea.  Well, maybe he feels a lot better up to the point when I kicked him in the ankle to get him to back up when I asked him to.  Some things that we are practicing is flexing, which he does so beautifully.  Just the most gentle pressure on his withers and a gentle movement on the lead and around his head comes to meet me.  We do this on both sides!  Giving me his head is another. It took quite a while for Steph and Dan to get him to comply.  He's only done it for me once since arriving.  After our session Wednesday, he's been such a good boy and his given me his head each time I barely touch his head.  Hmmm, I wonder if it has anything to do with kicking him in the ankle?  Nah....

Picking up his feet is another task we are working on.  I watched Stephanie do it.  I tried it yesterday and got his foot up for just a quick second.  Today, I got it all the way up and held it for about 15 seconds.  I was a little more intimidated with this task.  You have to get down there and use your hips to knock him off balance.  Once the weight shifts, you pull up the foot.  I felt good about how we both did with foot lifting today, but I'm really wondering what Stanley is thinking while I'm down there grabbing at his foot.....

We are also working on desensitization.  Grocery bags are one of the common spookers for a horse.  Is spooker a word?  Here we have tied a plastic grocery bag on the end of a whip.  Prior to this we've rubbed the bag all over him and he really liked that.  Today he did well and rather than flinching like he did yesterday, he seemed more annoyed to have the bag flapping in his face.  We let it flap on other parts of the body so he can hear and feel what the bag is like as it touches different parts of his body.  Tomorrow I think I will try passing it under his belly and over the whithers.

Treat for the good horse!



I wonder what Juliet is thinking in this picture.....

On our way back home to warm up and get back to our school work, we snapped a few pictures of the interesting winter treasures that hang in the sleeping plants.