June 28, 2008

Things have been going so very well with my mustang, that I got the wild idea to take her on an outing. I was thinking I would take her with me out to the farm over July 4th. We've got a round pen out there that we can move under some shade, and she'll be just fine for an overnight. To this end, I've been really working on the leading and working up to taking this little girl out of her pen. Mark told me I should be sure that I'm really leading her, not just her following me, so I've been working on turning into her and making her come round. In the pen it seems to be working great.

This afternoon I decided that while I was still sweaty from riding, I should try taking Billie out of her pen and see how that goes. She's been really wonderful so far, right?

I put the halter and long lead rope on her as usual. I opened the gate and stoood at the opening with her--not usual. She wanted OUT! I made her wait. I think that I led the way out the gate. Billie kind of took over from there. She was keyed up right away. My thought was "do not let that lead rope get too long!" I kept it short and kept her head my way. This was too exciting for me. We'd made it about 20 feet from the gate, and all I wanted was to get her back inside the pen. She let me lead her back to the gate, even keyed up as she was, and we got back inside. I kept her head by me, keeping her hind end away. I unsnapped the lead and made a bee-line for the gate. I got it closed before she could make it out again. SHE WAS MAD ABOUT THAT, I think.

She came up to me at the gate and I was able to get the halter off, no problem. Then she started snorting, shaking her head around, bucking, kicking, and more for what seemed 5 minutes. She made direct hits to the pen panels a couple of times. She's not happy about this, or maybe she just got keyed up getting out of the pen and not sure what to expect.

My heart was pounding in my head.

I stayed out there till she seemed her quiet self again. I definitely need some more help/guidance next attempt.

June 25, 2008

Pretty cool today. This morning I decided to try again to lead Billie around. No problem. She led just fine! I tried it again this evening, and still no problem. I can lead her from either side. She still wants to crowd my space some when we halt, but we'll work on that. I read an interesting description: I need to imagine a hula-hoop around my middle, and Billie needs to stay out of the hula-hoop. I think that will be a good visual for me.

Now that she leads in the pen, I need to get brave and lead her out of the pen and into the yard! Yikes! Guess I'll comb the ground again and just be certain there are no bad obstacles for horsey feet!

June 23, 2008

Wow! How did a week get by without any posts?!?

This week I've started trying to lead Billie around. She still comes pretty well when I kiss to her, but need her to follow on the lead rope. This is harder. I think I must be inadvertently blocking her movement. I AM praising when I get those feet moving, so maybe she just is not sure what the game is.

I keep brushing her and picking up those feet. As always, she does not mind much when she's eating, but she's also doing a really good job standing still when I brush her--I think she especially enjoys that.

June 16, 2008

Today was terrific! This morning, I decided it was time to take the halter off of Billie. I've practiced a handful of times putting one on and taking it off on top of the one she's wearing, and today I tried it a couple more times while she was eating breakfast. No problems. So I took a deep breath and unfastened the halter Billie has been wearing since we picked her up at Stallion Station in Elgin. I slid it off her face. She put her head up, chew chew chew. When she put her head back down for more, I slid it back on and re-fastened it. No biggie. So I took another deep breath and took it off again. Wow! She's so very pretty, especially without that halter! And I feel tons better knowing she's less likely to get caught on something.

We were on a roll! On a whim I decided to see if I could pick up her feet, too! I've had no trouble brushing down her legs, and one of those times she even offered her foot--how does she know these things? I made may way around to all four feet in turn and had no problem picking each one up. No big deal!

Now we'll start playing with leading.

June 15, 2008

Brushed Billie out again this morning while she was eating. I sure do like this filly. I'm able to brush down each leg, under her tummy, brush her tail, whatever. Today I started walking behind her, keeping my hand on her rump as I made my way around, just as I do with any other horse. Wow. As of today, I'm not the only one who is able to touch all over Billie. I'm thrilled.

June 14, 2008

I'm really enjoying this experience of taming my mustang. Yesterday, I was talking over with Lucy my dilemma regarding wanting to put a holder for hay and Billie still wearing a halter. I really want to be able to take that thing off, but am worried about getting one back on. Lucy offered up the perfect solution: Practice putting on and taking off a larger halter over the one Billie is wearing...duh! Now, why didn't I think of that? Double duh!

This morning, after Billie had eaten, I tried out the larger halter idea. It worked pretty well. I offered her the halter, which she sniffed, and then offered it again by holding some grain in my left hand so that Billie had to reach through the nose-opening of the halter to get at the grain. Before long, I was able to pull the whole thing up her face, even tossing/slapping the end that goes over her poll across. I did this a few times and held it in place. Then worked on taking it off her face so that there was no head toss involved. I never actually buckled the halter, thinking that was something to save for another day. I'll repeat this a few more days and try buckling the new halter when I'm confident Billie is not going to freak out and run off and get a hoof caught in the larger halter! Honestly, I probably could have done it today, but why rush?

I'll be so glad when I know that I'll be able to take off her halter. Her little face is starting to lose hair in places where the halter must be chaffing. Either that or she's developed a fungus. Bound to be the halter, though.

Today I also introduced the grain I have my trail horses on. I've been feeding sweet feed and oats along with her hay up till now. But I think she's ready for Platform Pleasure. I'm real pleased with how my farm horses look on Platform and I'm hoping the change will fatten this little girl up. I also got a brush for her and was able to use that this evening. She seemed to enjoy it. I guess it really didn't feel much different from my hand--it's a soft brush. Tomorrow I'm going to try out the mane and tail brush, at least on her mane.

The final purchase today was a tub for the hay. I expect she's ingesting pooped on hay from time to time with it on the ground, and this tub is supposed to keep that from happening. Fat chance! She immediately tipped the tub over and pulled the hay out with her hoof, as if to let me know that it is normal for a horse to play in her hay! Oh well. I'll keep trying to put get her to leave it in there, at least till she starts pooping in it, too!

Charles took some pictures of me brushing Billie. I'll get those posted asap!

June 12, 2008

Today I picked up a 6 foot lead rope at the Tack Shop. When I went out to feed this evening, I clipped it onto Billie's halter while I stood outside the pen. Good plan. She was not thrilled about having a lead rope attached. She worked a bit trying to get at it with her mouth--I was afraid she would actually swallow part of the lead. Then she tried to get at the clip--it has kind of a long shank. Finally, she tried to get away from the dragging rope, but it kept following her. She stepped on it a few times. The first time or so she was upset, shaking her head. But she quickly figured out to stop and low and behold magically she was free. She also seemed to figure out where the lead was and would walk to the side of it as it dragged. Not sure I understand what that was about. After a few minutes, I unclipped the lead when she came over to see me at the pen side.

I clipped it on again (again staying outside the pen) when I fed her the grain. She didn't find it right away since she was busy eating, so I pulled the feed outside of the pen, which didn't please her. She paced around, and had to step on the lead a few times. She again figured out to stop and not fight, and then she was magically free yet again. After a few more minutes of this, I rewarded her good work by placing the feed back inside the pen and removing the lead when she was eating.

June 11, 2008

Did I mention that Billie is a little imp? This morning there seemed to be a lot of mess to clean up in her pen. Mostly, I was getting a lot of hay picked up with the poop, so the muck bucket filled up pretty fast. When it was rounded up on top, Billie got very interested. She pulled a few wisps of hay out--yuck. Then, before I knew it, she put her left hoof on the pile and pulled the whole thing over! Ugh! What a stinker she is!

I worked the rope on her some more today. Again, while she's eating grain I seem to be able to do anything. I can toss the rope all over her back and get no reaction. She's not as crazy about me tugging on her when I have the rope looped on her neck, but I'm working on that. I tug and let go, tug and let go, till I get a step from her. I tried a bit of the rope work when she wasn't eating, and she was more accepting than she had been the last time, so I think I'm making progress.

I really want to try a lead rope clipped to her halter soon. I can't wait to lead her around her pen--should be exciting!

June 10, 2008

I'm finding that I can try just about anything out on Billie while she is eating her grain. Today, I brought the rope back into the pen and rubbed her all over with it. This evening, I added tossing it over her back and neck. She didn't mind one bit! It's a little different story when she is not eating, but I think we will keep making progress.

I made a huge boo-boo today. I was tossing the bigger rocks from her pen because they seem to make her stumble and I know my other horses do not care for them. At one point, I was squatting down and Billie came up to sniff me. I thought this was a good thing since I was holding the rope and I was hoping that this was her real interest. Before I knew it, that little filly had snuffled my sleeve and then took a bite! It didn't break the skin (or tear the sleeve), but it is going to bruise. Of course I slapped her and then growled at her twice--I think she got the message.

June 9, 2008

What a nice day today with the mustang. I spent a bit of the morning, after horsey chores, putting more decomposed granite in Billie's pen. She was really freaked when I would approached with the wheel barrow, but then would settle down. She minded not one bit when I would push the wheel barrow into her pen and dump the contents. She even offered to help spread the granite!

I can definitely stroke her all along her back and some down her front legs. It's really easy while she's eating, but I can do this when I'm just hanging out with her, too.

I think I will start bringing the rope into the pen with me again and rub her all over with that. Then I'll start some desensitizing with it and then try pulling her with the rope. She already lets me shove her off balance to move her around while I'm working in the pen, so I don't think this will be a big shock.

June 8, 2008

I figured out a sneaky way to have Billie let me pet her with the bamboo pole. I place her feed bucket at the side of the pen so that I can stand beside her outside the pen and rub her with the pole! She really didn't like it at first, but she was hungry and kept coming back to the feed. After a few minutes, she didn't mind the pole any more! Over the past few days I've been able to rub her with the pole from the withers up to her ear, back down to her tail head, down each leg, under her neck, under her belly, down the sides...well all over. I tried to use the pole while standing inside the pen again, and although she wasn't "wild pony" like the first time, she was clearly not too thrilled with it. I think this will change and she'll be used to it in a few more days. Now when I walk past her, I can stroke all the way from her ears down to her rump. I can even stroke down her legs as far as her knee (front) with no reaction. I'm just letting her get used to me touching touching touching.

June 5, 2008

She's finally learning some manners. It helps that I enter her pen with the stock whip when carrying food, especially grain. She stays back yet does not seem terribly perturbed. Nor does she rush the grain when I set it down. Good little girl.

Charles unloaded the round bale and it sure makes it easier to peel hay off it. Billie eats a lot of hay! I can understand why it is so expensive these days to keep a horse if the horse is not on pasture and you have to buy hay. Billie ate through 3 square bales (or almost) the first week home. Depending on what you pay per bale ($5.00 - $7.50 is what I've paid the last few weeks), you could spend upwards of $100 per month on just the hay! The grain runs $15-30 per month. Thank goodness my trail horses are on pasture! I can't wait for Billie to join them out at the farm.

June 4, 2008

Billie has opinions. This was evident this morning. I pulled hay from the round bale we brought in from the farm for her (square bales are WAY easier, I think, but the round bale is what I have) and she was impatient to eat. But I think she was impatient for the grain I had brought out to her pen, not the hay! I was cramped for time, so did not do the usual pen cleaning while Billie ate her hay; I started to bring the grain in and she SO ambushed me! I could not get the critter to back off so I could safely enter the pen! I finally tossed the grain outside the pen and closed the gate. Billie had a little fit then, tossing her head and making a slight horsey sound. I then had to play "get away from me/the gate" till she went to the other side of the pen. When she did that (and stayed) I brought the grain in and she got to eat that.

Later today, Bev brought me a beautiful bamboo pole! We headed over to the barn and she got Cola out so that we could rub the pole on him and get it all horsey smelling. That took a bit of time getting Cola to know that the pole was supposed to be massaging him! He's a good boy, though, and was licking his lips and then standing so nice and quiet.

I then took the pole over to Billie's stall, thinking I would just walk around and let her see it while I held it upright (like a flag pole). She was real interested in it! Yippee! I let her mouth and lick on it, then decided to try touching her wither area...oops! Did I mention she's a wild mustang?!?!

Sorry, but I just don't have the stand still or walk calmly thing down just yet. I had to scoot around her seemingly shrinking pen to stay out of harms way! Yikes!

Funny horsey, she would settle down almost right away and come back over to mouth the pole that I was holding either upright or parallel to the ground, sniff, mouth, sniff, mouth, chew, yada yada yada. But when I touched her, a switch was thrown and she was wild horsey again! I decided to leave the pole in the pen on the ground and just let her play with it for awhile.

I was over at the fence chatting and a couple of times looked up to see her picking up the pole with her mouth, step on it, or whatever, and then she would be wild horsey again! She was wild horsey a couple of times--glad I was OUTSIDE the pen!

I later scooped a bit of poop and brought her more hay and grain. She was her usual playful pet-me self. Did I mention that she lets me pet/stroke her neck and mane? Why am I using that pole?!?! Oh, right...I need to get to her whole body! Sometimes it seems that she would not mind if I clipped a lead rope to her halter and led her outside the pen. She just doesn't seem to mind me messing with her halter. That doesn't mean I've taken the halter off yet. No sir. But maybe we can get there in another week or two.

June 3, 2008

Wow! I just feel so lucky to have won the lotto and ended up with this little filly! I am so very pleased with our progress to date. Now I can pet her on each side of her neck. This started by taking advantage of her eating out of the feed bucket while I hold it. She really didn't like it at first and would waggle her head, but she is non-plussed about it now. I still have to work on her manners so that I do not get ambushed entering her pen with feed or hay, but all I really have to do is wave her away.

I've been watching bits of the two mustange videos that came in the mail. Each has really good info even though at times the information is contradictory (of the other video, that is). I am really anxious to try a bamboo pole and hope for good results. I've tried to do a little bit with the lunge whip I have on hand, but the end that hangs down is a problem and worries the filly. And it is not really a lunge whip but rather a stock whip, so it is shorter and the hanging end is too short to be able to hold in check. I know, I could put a rubber band on it or something, but that might catch her hair.

It's interesting spending time with Billie. She seems content to have me in her pen scooping poop and talking to her. When I sit outside her pen, she often stands nearby, seeming to be waiting for me to do something. I can't wait to get more training under our belts so that we can do more together.