She's Herdbound ... But Only to Me!

Rosie is attached to me much more intensely than the average horse. That is wonderful in many ways.   When I do work with her on her driving or lead her away from the other horses, she never even looks back.  She is so happy to be doing something with me and has an "Nah Nah--mom loves me best!" attitude about her.

But, I'm noticing that Rosie's attachment to me is detrimental in some ways.  Obviously I can't be with her all the time.  Don't get me wrong--She's not a nut case--she can stay by herself in the pasture and barn alone or with Jerry and she is fine.  But, when she leaves home, she has to ride in a horse trailer--and I have to drive the truck.  She can't fit in the back of my SUV like my dog (although, maybe if she hunches over, lol).  She is perfectly happy to walk in the trailer and will stand quietly--as long as I am in there with her.  The second I leave, she is pawing, anxious, pooping, peeing,  sweating, whinnying.

I had surgery on my knee two years ago.  I couldn't go out to the barn for a couple of days and had my trusty teenager friend, Michaela, care for the horses.  Rosie was OK for the first 24 hours, but after that she paced the fence line looking at the house all the time.  I went out on the porch and talked to her, but that wasn't good enough.  The second day, I asked Michaela to set up some lawn chairs on the path to the barn.  I figured I could walk out with my cane, stop and sit along the way, but eventually make it there.  And I admit, I was having horse withdrawal too--you know how it is when you are used to touching horses every day and suddenly ... don't.

I hobbled out to the barn and thought that Rosie would be happy to see me.  She met me at the gate as always, but she behaved as if it wasn't any big deal.  Hey, I hobbled all the way out to see you, you ungrateful little runt!  But I know she was happy to see me because she stopped pacing the fence.  I still only walked out once a day for the next few days, but she was fine as long as she saw me that much.

May of 2017 I went on my first vacation since I've owned Rosie.  I'm generally a home body but I had an opportunity to go out to Colorado and Wyoming and had a great time.  I called Michaela to check on things after the first couple of days.  "Rosie won't warm up to me.  She walks away when I try to pet her."  Sigh ... I hadn't thought she would do that because she knew Michaela and previously had been comfortable with her caring for her after my many surgeries and when Michaela helped me around the farm.  But, it was different this time--I was no where in the picture ... not even talking to her from the back porch or hobbling out and visiting her once a day.  When I returned, she was depressed and kind of "out of it" acting.  It took her 24 hours to get back to herself.  The difference was dramatic.

So, that attachment is great because she lets me do anything to her, trusts me when I do training with her, and is just plain fun to be around because it's so clear she loves me and wants to be with me.  That is so special that I can hardly put into words how great that feels as a horse person.  Where it is difficult is when I need to trailer her, leave for vacation, leave her tied to a trailer or in an unfamiliar stall at clinics or events.  When she is in unfamiliar territory she wants ME.

I'm going to do more things with her to increase her confidence and show her she can handle the unfamiliar even if I'm not right there--I'll tie her somewhere safe and walk a short distance away and come back--approach and retreat in reverse.  I did that with her in the trailer last evening and that didn't go well.  She never seemed to get much better.  So maybe it's best to stay away from the trailer because she already has a bad association with being left inside the trailer.  Maybe neutral turf is a better idea.

Rosie is doing great with her cart training.  I hitched her to the cart by myself the second time and led her around without any problem whatsoever.  I'm waiting for my new adjustable cart footmans loops to arrive from Patty's Pony Place in Canada.  I can't hook up the breeching correctly until I get them.  The footmans loops on my cart are placed too far back for the breeching to work properly.  Once I have them I can start ground driving her without worrying about controlling the cart when I have her hitched--I've been worried about the cart running up on her without the breeching so I have to be right beside it to grab on when we stop.  Should be soon.  I'll post a pic of her hitched.  She looks absolutely adorable!!!

Babe is doing well but she has her usual wet-weather scratches problem on her white hind pastern.  I have a lime-sulfur dip solution that I mix up and apply 3 x week and it helps, but really nothing will make them go away until the weather dries up.  She is just prone to them and all I can do is keep it from getting worse.  At least the dip keeps them from spreading.  She's had them so bad before that she had to take antibiotic tablets and I had skin scrapings done and consulted with the dermatologist at Cornell vet school just to make sure we were treating her appropriately.  It loves her and hangs on for dear life.  She's healthy, not immuno-compromised ... she is just prone to picking it up, probably from the soil when she gets a cut or scrape.

Jerry ... oh Jerry ... he is such a peach.  That little guy's goal in life is to always be a good boy and never rock the boat.  He's so easy.  He just looks cute, behaves like a prince, and puts up with Rosie all day.  He's in his 20's and I'm glad I can give him a good home in his senior years.

I better knock on some wood when I say this but I haven't had a body part break in over a year--this is a record for me since this all started in 2011-ish.  I'm thinking of trying to ride again.  I LOVE the mini's and they will always be in my life, but I really do miss riding.  Especially trail riding.  I've never been one to want to ride for hours and hours or ride fast, so I'm thinking I might be able to work myself up to easy 1-2 hour trail rides, which will be perfect.  I'm really hoping my body can handle it.  Hmmm ... What do you think??

Unfortunately, while my body was falling apart and I kept hoping to ride ... eventually, Babe's knees were becoming arthritic.  Now when I think I can try riding again, *she* is the disabled one and is retired to the pasture.  She does fine out there where she can decide how much she wants to walk, but I think it would be pushing it to ask her to carry a rider and go on my terms.  She definitely couldn't do the hilly trails around here safely and comfortably.

So, my attempt at returning to ride will take some planning sans my trusty steed Babe.  My first plan of action is to get in better physical shape, lose weight, and get stronger.  Riding when my body is weak and out of shape is likely asking for an injury, or at least for it to be painful and then I'll get discouraged and disappointed.  After I feel I'm stronger, I'm going to hunt down a place to take casual riding lessons or find someone with a beginner-type horse to start out with.  I want a very safe horse and someone to guide me along when I start out.  Things aren't what they used to be in my riding world, so I have to be smart and thoughtful about this if I want success.  If riding lessons work out ... then it's time to go horse shopping.

I'm excited about the possibilities.  Life should be pretty interesting the next few months!  Stay tuned!!

Putting the Cart Behind the Pony

I have been neglectful about Rosie's driving training all summer.  I lost one of my dogs to hemangiosarcoma a couple of months ago and that knocked the wind out of my sails, and my motivation to do anything other than go to work and do the basic household and  barnhold chores went down to almost nothing for quite a while.  Lucy was a special dog--but really, aren't they all?  Here's a picture of my Lucy (on the left) and Heidi, still with me and was a star in my last blog post.

Lucy was a dog that was what we would call "a piece of work."   A "Calgon, take me away!" kind of dog.  She was very intense and felt a huge sense of responsibility to keep order in her home.  There were a lot of  "But Mom, you aren't doing it right and the world is going to end!"complaints.  My cats do things now that they would NEVER have dared to do when Lucy was ruling the roost.  Scratch the furniture??  Not on Lucy's watch!  Control freak!!!  Lucy loved people--she never met a stranger.  She would practically turn herself inside out to go greet people everywhere we went.  My front door has holes in the screen where she would plaster herself against it jumping up to say Hi to someone on the other side of the door--"Mom, let them in!!  They must pet me or I will die!"  That was her motto.

When Lucy got sick, she got sick fast.  One day she was normal ... the next she was near death.  I rushed her to Cornell Vet School Hospital early in the morning.  She was diagnosed within an hour and was euthanized.  She was full of tumors, a large one (or more) had burst, and she was bleeding out into her abdomen causing her a lot of pain.  I couldn't believe it was happening.  My precious Lucy, lover of all, keeper of all ... was gone.  It was the most heart wrenching time I've experienced in a long time.  So, it took me a while to grieve and gain back energy to do productive things.

Back to Rosie.  Rosie and I are working with a wonderful driving trainer--Melody.  I come from the riding world--I know nothing about driving other than what I read or get by pumping someone's brain until I'm sure they want to escape to the nearest bar for a drink.

Melody has been here twice.  The first time was back in the late winter after I bought Rosie's Comfy Fit harness and I needed some help with how to put that thing on.  All those straps.  Egads--a simple saddle and bridle never looked so good.  I thought I would never learn to do it.  We introduced it to Rosie gently and adjusted all those crazy straps.  She handled everything so well.  Rosie trusts me and she figures that anything that's attached to me is OK, even if it is the weirdest thing she has ever seen.

Melody also got me started with ground driving that day.  Rosie picked up on it very quickly.  Within just a few short sessions after that lesson we were ground driving all over the paddock, she was stopping straight, standing still after stopping, walking with no turning around--all big accomplishments for a young driving pony in training.

After that handful of sessions, combined with Lucy's death, I kind of fizzled out.  For the first time in over 2, maybe even 3, months, one day last week I put the harness on Rosie and ground drove her again.  She was great!  She remembered everything.  Next I got the cart out--this is something Rosie has only seen a couple of times.  Again, introducing things gradually, we worked up to her between the shafts, walking with the cart in position while I held the shaft on my side and pulled it along.  She took to that so quickly.

Now, OK--my next session with Melody--it was Wednesday of this week.  Melody brought a friend, Karen, who has a couple of mini horses and wanted to meet mine.  Cool!!  I put the harness on Rosie, showed Melody how she ground drove, and then Melody asked Karen to pull the cart all around Rosie while I was ground driving her.  At first Rosie needed to just stop and stand to watch it whizzing around her (Karen is very well trained to pull a cart, lol), but she was fine with it after the first couple of minutes and then we were back to ground driving with the cart still going.

Next we put Rosie between the shafts like I did last week and I walked her around with it tagging along behind her.  Everything we did got Melody's blessing.  It was time to kick things up a notch.  After another 15 minutes or so of working her up to it--Rosie was in the shafts, hitched to the cart, and pulling it around the paddock!  I was SO proud of her.  She handled it like a champ.  It just amazes me what that pony will do for me.  I feel so blessed that I about explode with happiness when I'm working with her.

I know I favor Rosie--I admit it.  My other mini, Jerry, is a real sweetie.  He's the kind of horse whose goal in life is to be kind and cooperative--all the time.  Rosie thinks he's rather stupid.  Jerry is quiet and unassuming, and always a favorite with visitors.  He has this way about him that attracts people like a magnet.  He spent much of the time we were working with Rosie getting brushed and pampered by Karen and Melody, watching with great interest, and sometimes following the cart around--now that was really cute to watch--me leading Rosie, cart in back, Melody in back of the cart keeping it from running up on Rose (need to make a cart modification to put the breeching straps in a better place), and then Jerry as the caboose.  He loves to watch what we are doing, and it's good for him because he can be a little shy and nervous.  He's an older guy who I suspect hasn't had the easiest life.  After living here for over 2 years, he is finally learning to trust that bad things generally don't happen here and he can relax a bit.  I was told he was trained to drive.  I need to make time to test that out and see what Jerry can do.  Dear Jerry ...

After we were done and were given our homework assignment, it was time to play.  I have a few toys I've used for desensitizing when Rosie was younger.  I got a couple of them out, OK--I admit, to show off how solid and trusting she is.  First, I shook hula hoops with rattles in them all over her, tossed them on her butt, and flopped them over her head.  Second--the one that really amazes people--the beach-ball sized rubber inflatable ball that I bounce around her, over her, throw at her from  a distance, and bounce off her body from every direction.  We even played a little "catch" game by throwing it back and forth over her back.  (Melody thinks Rosie would make a great volleyball net.)  All this while she stood in front of the barn without a halter or lead.  Didn't blink an eye.  What makes this even more amazing is that she hadn't seen that ball in at least a year.  They were just blown away by how Rosie deals with things I do to her that would send most horses running away in fear.

But, although I think Rosie is perfect <smile>, she does have her challenges.  Rosie was accepting about the scary things we did that evening--the cart, hula hoops, ball bouncing--she does have things that scare or overwhelm her.  She is a HORSE, after all.  Because she is very sensitive to changes in her world, she gets overwhelmed maybe more than some horses.  She doesn't like change in her environment.  She's gotten upset because I moved the fencing around and changed the size of her paddock.  When I say upset, it's a look of "OMG--what has happened to my home!" when she sees the changed paddock fencing and running around for a few minutes with a look of "I don't know if I like this!"  Then she settles down and forgets about it.   As I wrote in my blog a couple of posts ago, she HATES being in the trailer after I tie and leave her.  Just to name a couple of things we need to work on.  She just needs more exposure to the big world outside her home.

Rosie is different from a lot of horses I've worked with and there is a very fine line between gently pushing her along and over loading her and setting her back a ways--which I try very hard not to do.  Since she is so calm about most things I do, it is very easy to want to push ahead too fast.  I have to be mindful of this even more than when working with the average horse, I think.  A big part of the reason she is so easy to train is that she and I have a tight bond.  She trusts me and looks to me for direction.  I owe it to her never to make her question that trust.  I strive to keep it that way.  Some people think I baby her, coddle her too much, and cut her too much slack with her pony-tude, but the proof is in the pudding:  She will do almost anything I ask her to do--willingly and the first time I ask, tries SO hard to learn new things, and truly wants to work for me.  Isn't that what we all want in our horse/handler partnership?

Melody asked me after the lesson if I was now motivated to really get going on working with Rosie regularly with her driving training.  Well, yes, but really, I love doing anything with Rosie.  She is truly my pony of a lifetime.

Walking the Dog!

In addition to my horse activities, I also love to hike with my dog Heidi.  Heidi is a 9-year-old Australian Shepherd--with a tail!  I love her tail.  I wish the U.S. dog breeders would quit chopping off body parts.  Heidi is a product of a backyard breeder--I know, sometimes a bad thing, but she's been a great dog--and they didn't dock tails.

I can't do strenuous hikes because of my various ortho problems, but I do what I can within my ability.  We go until I start to get tired or sore and then we either turn around or take a side trail to go back to our starting point.  Today we were at a new trail that was once a railroad line in Dryden, NY--The Jim Schug Trail.  I don't know who Jim is, but Hey Jim--thank you for being you so we have this great trail named after you.  The trail is very well maintained--just gorgeous.  Very easy walking so I can look around and not worry about my foot catching on a tree root or rock and tripping me up.  I loved being in the woods, yet having such easy terrain.  The trail is about a 15 minute drive from my home and today I was saying to myself "Why haven't you checked out this trail before??  It's great!"

Part of the trail runs along side of a lake and there is an overlook where Heidi posed for her picture.



This trail is a little busier than I prefer, but it's still very nice and I will definitely go back.  Dogs are technically supposed to be on leash.  Nice thing about a rail trail is that it is so straight and flat that it's easy to see people coming from either direction quite a ways off.  I'm able to put Heidi on a leash in plenty of time for them to pass and not feel intimidated by a loose dog, although she is not a problem.

Something that impressed me about Heidi today is how quickly she picked up on needing to slow down and wait for me as we approached a road crossing.  She would see the road up ahead, look back at me, slow down, and then I would tell her to wait until I checked for cars ... then "OK" ... and she would cross and resume her normal pace.  Smart dog!!!

It was cool for a summer day but it was very humid.  I had sweat dripping off my forehead in no time at all.  I don't handle humidity well.  Yuck!  But all in all it was a great walk/hike and I will definitely go back again.

Back home to the horses--refreshed waters, made sure fans were working, applied fly repellent, and, of course, had to cuddle Rosie!

It's a good day!

Mom is a monster and Rosie update

It rained and rained today.  I had to go out to the horses and put a coat up over my head like this in an attempt to stay dry.  They were all afraid of me--big surprise when I look like this, right?  lol  Actually, I was surprised that Rosie was afraid because she is very trusting of everything I do to and with her. 

Unfortunately, Rosie didn't trust my voice only.  She kept trotting away from me in fear.  I didn't want to get wet, but I wanted to get her over this, so I finally removed the coat from my head.  She instantly calmed down.  "Mom is back!"  I went over to talk with her, showed her the coat ... no big deal.  I put the coat back up over my head after that and she was still fine with it.   Once she realized it really was me, everything was better.  I even bent down to her face and extended the coat over her head too.  No problem.  I've always thought animals relied mainly on voice and not visual for recognition, but I guess the visual is more important than I thought. 

Rosie is learning to drive/pull a cart.  Training has been hit or miss because of time issues and weather issues.  It's been SO hot and humid this summer.  Once I get home from work, I'm not wanting to battle with heat and flies.  I'm trying very hard to get back on track and do justice for Rosie.  She loves doing things with me and learning new skills.  It makes her happy.  She's a real worker. 

I've taken Rosie for a few trailer rides to go hiking with me and my dog.  I thought it would be good to get her out and away from home and exposed to new things.  She loads without any problem but she HATES it when I leave her in the trailer.  She whinnies, paws, sweats, poops, and pees.  I stick my head in the side door to let her know I'm still in the picture.  It still doesn't matter.  I'm sure she would like it if I could ride in there with her.  Unfortunately, I can't drive the truck and ride in the trailer with her at the same time.  It's also technically illegal to ride in a trailer, I think. 

It kills me to see how upset she gets.  When we arrive at the trail system, she is happy on our hike.  But she starts getting nervous the closer we get back to the horse trailer.  She walks right in the trailer to go home--I know she doesn't want to, but I asked her to do it so she does.  And then the craziness starts all over again.  I have decided to take a break from trailering her--she is stressed and I am stressed.  We will try again in a month or so.  I may have someone else drive the truck and I will ride in back with her for a couple of short rides.  Maybe that will help her calm down and see that things really are OK in the trailer. 

Rosie is my absolute little pumpkin!  I have never loved a horse like I love her.  She is truly a one-of-a-kind horse.  We are very closely bonded.  She will do pretty much anything I ask her to do even if it makes her scared or uncomfortable.  It's the kind of relationship all horse owners strive for.  I feel very blessed.

Here is a picture of Rosie on one of our hikes.