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.