Hasn't been a lot to report lately on Gladys and Sienna.  They are both healthy, happy horses right now.  To see them, you would have no idea that they were so starved and emaciated.  :-)  They both willingly come to me in the pasture, are easily haltered and lead well.  I had my trainer come on Sunday to help me get Gladys started with her training.  She worked on getting Glad to give to pressure on the halter, walking and watching body cues as to when to start and halt.  When she tries to barge through me, I am to circle her in a tight circle, or at times make her back.  She was also introduced to the lunging whip.  Just taking in over her body and getting her used to the feel of it rubbing over her body.  Gladys is a very intelligent mare.  You can tell she's constantly thinking about what you are asking her.  She is not going to be an "easy" mare to train and ride.  I'm thinking it will need to be a rider that absolutely is confident in their ability to ask and gain her trust and partnership.  SO, not too sure she's going to be the horse for Jerry.... :-(  But, that's OK...  I'll ride her. 

First work session

Holly came last night and helped me work with Glad & Sienna.  She actually first worked my TB, Buddy, getting him back into some semblance of a work ethic.    Before she left, she put a halter on Glad and just worked on getting her to give her hindquarters and getting her to move in a circle... this is in preparation for starting lounge work.  She did the same with Sienna and Holly was very complimentary about Sienna's intelligence and willingness.  Holly thinks that Sienna could possibly make 16 hands when she is full grown, and that she might be part TB... which is good news to me. 

Now I have some things to work on over the next few weeks with them both.  I hope to attempt to put a blanket and, possibly, a saddle on Glad this weekend.  I have no idea if she's been under saddle yet or not.  I am anxious to give this a try.  :-)

More later.

Wednesday musings

Glad and Sienna continue to gain weight and are looking quite posh.  They are now starting to get their winter woolies in and are quite fuzzy feeling right now.  My instructor will be coming out tonight to give me a riding lesson on my Buddy.  She will help me evaluate the amount of training that Glad may or may not have on her.  I will enlist her help at getting Glad started under saddle. 

Will post more about the evaluation tomorrow!

Friday musings

Glad and Sienna are now out in the big pasture.  They are running and bucking going to and fro from the hay field that they are able to graze in.  It's lovely seeing them so carefree.  They are in good flesh and in good health now.  I will continue to work with them on their ground manners and picking up their feet.  I plan to try to see if Glad has been started under saddle yet, or if we need to move forward with her training in that respect.  Sienna is a bit on the cheeky side, but then she's just a baby and we will also work on that.  There is still no news in regards to when they will be available for adoption.  The court is trying to decide how long to wait as far as trying to locate the man that owns them.  So, patience is in order.  Right now they are safe and well cared for. 

Thanks to all who are following this blog.  I will once again make a plea for donations for the Lawrence Humane Society to help with the monetary needs as far as the care for Glad and Sienna and any other horse that needs to come into foster care.  http://www.lawrencehumane.org/

Working with Sienna

Last night I decided that I really had to start working with Sienna more.  She's feeling better and becoming more of an assertive and pushy little girl.  I got her haltered and started leading her down the drive, doing walk/halt/back every few feet.  She was actually pretty good about it.  A couple of times she decided that she was going to try to barge through and past me.  This was met with a sharp tug on the halter and a firm whoa!  She is very intelligent and picked up quickly that she was not going to be allowed to get away from me. 

We then moved onto working with her picking up her feet.  She's been running through Jerry when he tries to hold her for me while I pick up her feet.  I thought I'd try to put her on one side of the hitching post and Jerry holding her on the other side.  This worked out fairly well.  She quickly learned that she could not shoot forward and through Jerry. We are still trying to get her to hold her feet up for more than a few seconds, but that will come with time.  

Saturday's adventure

Brought Glad and Sienna out today to eat in the yard.  They enjoyed their munching in the yard.  Sienna even came up and inspected my bandage job on Milton's front paw  They are absolutely lovely!

Sienna's first bath.....

Sunday I decided that it would be the day to give Sienna her first bath.  She has numerous "bites" over both sides of her barrel.  Not sure if it's fly bites or what, so I got out the shampoo and iodine for the water.  Caught her up and had Jerry holding her.  While I was fixing the bucket of water, shampoo and iodine, Jerry put the sprayer on the hose.  Now, he is used to my own horses who delight at getting hit with the spray and stand still for it.  I had to shake my head over that, but thought... I'd give it a try. 

I didn't even turn the spray ON her and she bolted....  just like I thought she would.  So, I turned off the water, took the sprayer off and turned the water on to a slow, small, stream of water.  I took the brush, dipped it into the water in the bucket and quietly talked to her while I applied the soapy water to her sides and chest.  She took it all in stride and was more than a little concerned when I place the hose near her side.  I decided to try placing it up there while I was using the brush on her and she accepted that with good grace.  Got her all bathed and rinsed off.  Did not try to do her belly or the insides of her legs... figure we can do that another time.

I am very happy with her.  She exhibits a lot of calm, intelligence and trust in her handlers.  :-))

picking up feet

Decided that I really needed to work with Glad and Sienna last night with picking up their feet and allowing them to be handled before the farrier comes back out at the end of the month.  Started with Sienna first and she was an absolute star.  Minimal fuss, not terribly sure she liked having her legs stretched out in front of her, but she will get used to that eventually....  Of course knowing she gets an apple treat after each leg has been handled helps a lot.  :-) 

Glad really does not want to pick up her feet.  She really leans on the leg you're trying to lift, but she will eventually lift it.  She's much better with her front legs than she is her hind.  I managed, after a bit of her lifting and pulling her leg away, to get her to hold her foot up for me on both hind legs.  I was so relieved that we just did it the one time, patted her a lot, gave the treats and let her go.  She really is a good girl and wants to please.  :-)

Sunday love fest

Yesterday we had friends and family come out to visit with the horses.  We got Glad and Sienna out to enjoy pets and treats and tons of brushing.

Sienna checking for treats.

Sienna has discovered that she tends to get treats whenever anyone comes in the barn if she pokes her head through the window and starts "talking" to you.

Glad checking PJ out for apple treats.

Glad was all too willing to mug Linda's grandson PJ for apple treats.  Doesn't she look sooooo much better now?  No ribs showing and so shiny ... :-)

Doesn't she have a lovely head?

Look at what a lovely yearling Sienna has turned out to be!

Sienna is certainly looking like a lovely young filly now.  She is going to be a lovely mare when she grows up!

The girls are well, blooming and loving attention.  Now the work will start to get them accustomed to being handled more.  :-)  Still not legally ours, we're still fostering, but enjoying every minute of them and am glad that we could be the ones to help them recover.

Good news

Gladys is not in foal.  Bad news is the legal proceedings aren't complete.  But Gladys and Sienna are being cared for and getting very spoiled.  :-) 

Court Date

The date for the court hearing concerning Glad & Sienna is coming up this Thursday.  The humane society is going to push to have them signed over so that they can release them for adoption.  We still have yet to determine if Glad is pregnant or not.  They are doing well.  Putting on more weight and getting more acclimated to human interaction.  I will try to get updated photos posted this week.

Rainy Friday

I'm sure that the horses are all enjoying this gentle rain.  I noticed that Gladys and Sienna had some salt areas on them when I fed them this morning.  This should certainly help rinse their coats out.  Just went to Tractor Supply and picked up wormers for all the horses.  They will get wormed with their evening feeds.

Glad and Sienna are really pushing into my space when I go into feed them each day.  It's tough to try to maintain my space while trying to open the gate and squeeze through with two horses shoving on the other side and while hanging onto two feed buckets.  Anyone have any thoughts as to how to change this?

Monday update

Glad and Sienna are due for a forelock brushing tonight.  They have a ton of those little green stick tights in their forelocks.  I also need to pick up more feed for the entire crew.  It's been interesting trying to feed five horses each morning and evening for me.  Not bad, but I just don't seem to have the time to do quite as much as I would like with them.  Of course, once the heat calms down, that will make things easier.

Vet was out and saw them for the first time on Friday.   She looked at their teeth and put Glad at about 4 1/2 years old and Sienna around 7 months, so they're not quite as old as originally thought.  She also thought that Glad might be pregnant.  SO... we are going to have to try to figure out how far along she might be and what "test" to do to confirm her suspicions.

Another weekend is upon us....

Not much new going on with Glad and Sienna.  They are looking more filled out and much shiner and blacker every day.  They are spending these miserably hot days deep in the trees eating the grass and leaves in their pasture and are drinking out of the pond that is theirs.

Tonight Jeanie Hauser, DVM will be out to attend my TB, Barons Bond (Buddy) for lameness issues he is having.  She will do a cursory exam of Glad and Sienna.  I am just so proud that they have come so far in such a short time.  I am very blessed that God has seen fit to put these two in my care.  I shall be eternally grateful for this.  I plan on brushing out all the green sticktights out of their lovely long forelocks and manes tonight as well.

Next week promises to be a bit cooler.  So plans are being made to work more on lifting feet and holding them up so that the next time the farrier comes it will be a bit easier for him to work with them.  I also want to do some more leading work with them both.   They do adore their apple treats..... :-)

First farrier visit

Last night Jonathan came to trim Glad & Sienna.  We started with Sienna first.  I must admit I have NOT been working with them to lift feet as much as I should have, but bless Jonathan, he is the quietest, most gentle farrier I believe I have ever used.  He showed so much patience with Sienna.  She wasn't sure about balancing on three legs, but with patience and perseverance, we got her trimmed and feet filed.

Gladys, did just great on her front feet, but her backs are a whole 'nother story.  She kicks out when you try to pick up her back feet.  I've no idea why she's doing this, but this is going to give me something to work on.  I ran a whip over her rump and both legs... she kicked a bit and then stood still letting me run the whip up and down her legs.

Guess I have some work to do before Jonathan comes back to trim again.  Their feet sure look better now.

We are also progressing with getting them to accept being sprayed with fly spray.  Started off putting in on the brush and am now at the point where I brush them and just spray a bit right behind the brush stroke.  They're getting more accepting of hearing the spray bottle.  Soon we will introduce them to getting hosed off with cool water in this heat.

Not much to report today

Gladys and Sienna continue to settle in to their new home.  I went out this morning to feed before going into work.  They hadn't come up yet, so I just left their feed buckets out with grain in them to await them.  I looked for them as I was driving out the drive.  I did see them eating near the edge of the pond ....  I do believe that they are enjoying themselves.

Houdini - maybe - and Horse leading part 2

We turned Glad and Sienna out onto the side pasture yesterday due to the promise of extreme heat yesterday.  There is grass, trees and a small pond there, so we felt it would be better for them to be out there as opposed to staying in the barn lot.  

Got home last night and went to get them in from the pasture so they could have their evening grain.  They were nowhere in sight!  I had brought some treats in a coffee can with me, so I started calling and shaking the treats to encourage them to come.  My neighbor, Sandy, was with me and so we were splitting up to see if we couldn't find them.  Sandy noticed them in the pasture ACROSS the fence from our pasture.  I couldn't figure out where they got over, but had to crawl over the fence to get them haltered to bring them home.  It was a bit like a Laurel and Hardy adventure trying to lead Glad and have Sienna follow.  Weanlings do not ALWAYS follow their Mother, especially when it involves going down the back of a pond dam and they have tall grass on top of the pond dam to eat.  

Jerry and Don were trying to open the gate between the pastures, but were unable to open it, so I had no choice but to turn the horses around (did I mention I was leading Gladys and she was an absolute STAR the entire time?).  I headed to the top part of the pasture thinking there was a gate there that we could get through and just lead them a short distance down the road to our driveway, but our neighbor had taken that gate out.  Meanwhile, Jerry and Don pulled up in the truck.  I told Jerry to put the halter on Sienna and lead her as I was NOT going to lead Glad and have Sienna follow for the distance we were now going to have to travel on the gravel road.  We made it to the only gate we could find, which is at the back of the neighbor's house.  Headed down the dirt track to the back of the shed and house and OH BOY... saw a herd of  GOATS that were loose.  Wouldn't you know that really made Gladys sit up and take notice.  <sigh>

This is where leading Part 2 comes in.  <g>  She actually didn't misbehave at all.  She wasn't happy about going past the goats, but I managed to turn her around each time she tried to walk away from the road.  Got her to stop, turn, and at one point, even back up.  Jerry was leading Sienna and, bless her, she couldn't be fussed by the goats.  

We made it to the  end of the driveway and onto the road just fine.  Headed home and man, can Gladys walk out!  At the corner where we needed to head north to get to our driveway, we met a tractor pulling a hay rake and neither horse batted an eye at it.  It was a very uneventful walk once we got past the goats.  They gladly went back into the paddock, took a long drink and anxiously awaited their dinner.

Gladys did have a cut on her front leg.  I'm hoping that they will be ok today as it is going to be hotter today than yesterday.  But, we won't be able to turn them back out to pasture until we can go over that fence and get it fixed.

Horse leading 101

Just had to share this with you all.  Hope you find it as amusing as I did (much later after it happened, of course).  Last night I decided to work on Gladys and Sienna's leading abilities as well as taking them into the acre pasture that we have for them.  So I found halters to fit.  I had planned on taking Gladys as she would be the more difficult to handle and Sienna isn't that bad.  But no, Jerry (bless him) had to take the mare.  <SIGH>

1.  Tell Jerry to shorten up on lead rope as Glad isn't used to being led.  Look over in time to see Glad lead Jerry about.  <sigh>

2. Tell him once again to get at her head and not give her so much lead rope.  Again Glad is leading Jerry.  <bigger sigh>

3. Come to bit of a wash that Jerry had put old carpet in to prevent it from eroding even further.  Tell Jerry to SHORTEN UP on the lead and take her over the carpeting.  See Glad vault over carpet with Jerry dragging behind holding onto the END of the lead.  <HUGE sigh>

4.  Get to good grassy spot and decide to let horses graze for a bit.  Once again mention that he really should be at her head and show ONCE again how I'm walking Sienna.... stood chatting and watch in absolute shock as Jerry pats Glad rather soundly on rump.  Watch Glad politely kick Jerry in the side of his knee.  Yes, he was once again standing BEHIND her holding the END of the lead rope.  So, I just stood there, asked if he was OK and reminded him that Glad is NOT DUSTY and cannot be treated as such.  <yet another HUGE sigh>

5. Head back and tell him NOT to give her four feet of lead rope....  rest of the walk I'm keeping Sienna ahead as I do NOT want to grind my teeth any further. 

Gotta love him for helping, but why couldn't he listen?  <sigh>

Humane Society visited the farm today and approved our paddock/grazing area for Gladys and Serene.  We will not be allowed to turn them out with our own horses unless we adopt them.  :-)  I do believe that is a forgone conclusion in our household, but I digress.  Ricki stated that there have been a lot of people inquiring about adopting horses.  :-)  At least Gladys and Sienna's plight has raised some awareness in people. 

Went back out to Stepping Stone Ranch last night to brush and play with Gladys and Sienna.  They were, of course, VERY interested in the apple treats that I brought.  I had a friend with me and we went into the paddock where the two of them are living. 

We put a lead rope on Sienna and I slowly started brushing her.  She didn't see the least bit stressed by it and seemed to really enjoy it.  I managed to get some baby fuzz off her and ran my hands down all of her legs and under her belly.  She stood rock still for all of it.  But what she REALLY loves is to have her butt scratched.  She kept backing into me to have me continue to scratch.  I'm creating a monster here, I do believe.  :-)

I tried to brush Glad, but she bolted off when I placed the rubber brush on her.  I'll put a lead on her next time and we will give her a go.  I did manage to hold her by her halter and rub all over her face, down her neck and scratch her withers... talking softly to her the entire time.  She let me blow gently into her nostrils and that seemed to be ok. 

I think that they are both going to be very sweet additions to the equine herd at Chez Tiemann.  I plan on going back out a couple of time next week to "play" with them again. 

I also found THIS in the barn.....  I hated to leave without him.  <sigh>

Beethoven has a huge piece of my heart now. 

I managed to take three photos with my phone when I was there on Saturday.  Not the best photography in the world, but here they are about three weeks post rescue.

Gladys with a side view of Sienna.  They are in the process of possibly getting enough feed to now shed their winter coats.

Not a great shot, but this is Gladys from the side/back.  Still every rib showing, but starting to look a bit better.

I'll be headed back in a couple of days with some brushes and a shedding blade and see if I can't make a difference in at least the amount of hair they are carrying.  :-)

Met Momma and baby tonight.  They are soooooooooooo SWEET!  Fed them treats and managed to pet and rub them while I was in with them.  They weren't touchy, so I am thinking this may not be as stressful as I originally thought. Mare is small, so am not sure she is something I will want to ride, but I will rehab her and see where it takes us.  They are both black. Momma has a white"star" on her forehead and baby has a white sock, a white snip and a bit of a white blaze. Baby is mega friendly and LOVES her butt scratched as well as her withers.  Can't wait to get back next week and take a separate set of brushes out.  Heck... might even do it Monday.  :-)

I will be going out to meet Gladys and Sienna in a few short hours.  I will be taking new photos of them and am now off to fill out paperwork with the Humane Society!  I'll update this on Tuesday.

The journey begins

I first became aware of the plight of a mare and her yearling filly on May 17th when I read an article in our local paper.  I took one look at the picture of these extremely emaciated babies and my heart went out to them.  I had to help!  I called the local humane society and offered to foster/adopt them.  They had already been taken in to a nearby farm for fostering and care.  I contacted the people involved and got an update and we have made arrangements to have them moved to my farm as soon as they are strong enough not to be stressed by a second move.  I have decided to name the mare Gladys or Glad and the filly Sienna. 

This is Gladys....

She was in a very emaciated state when discovered.

This is Sienna...  just a baby. 

I will continue with this journey as they are rehabilitated.  Please consider making a donation to the Lawrence Humane Society to help with their continued care and for the other 12 abandoned horses that they are now caring for.  http://www.lawrencehumane.org/