Having Trouble

I am so exhausted lately.  The horses are taking everything out of me.  I don't know what's been up with them lately, but Artemis and Jimmy have been horrible to be around.  It's really discouraging, just when it finally felt we were getting somewhere with them, it now seems like we're back to square one.  To make everything worse, my mom has been injured by both of them.  Jimmy managed to rip the skin off one of her fingers with his lead rope (which is exactly why it's important to wear gloves around horses) and Artemis, not on purpose, managed to kick her in the thumb.  Artemis decided she wanted to nurse while we were walking back to her pen, and when my mom didn't let her she start kicking up her heels.  By total fluke she managed to get my mom's thumb, on the hand furthest away from her.  And today Artemis bit me.  I just happened to be moving my arm when she did, so her she didn't manage to actually get a good grip on me so it didn't really hurt but honestly it made me angry.  I'm sure she had a reason for it but I can't see what it was.  I was leading her out of the pen when she did it.  It was the first time she's bitten anyone and hopeful when I disciplined her, she got the message not to do it again.

She hasn't been that great with leading latey either.  She walks as slowly as she can, and then if you tug enough, she leaps forward and tries to run past you.  If you don't let her then she starts prancing beside you until she walks slow again.  As she gets worse about that, she's gotten better about standing while tied and to have her hooves picked out.  And as much as she's been a headache lately, she's been nothing compared to Jimmy.  He lost his mind today when I dewormed him.  I've done it many times before with any problems, but today he freaked.  I managed to get most of it into his mouth but it wasn't easy and I ended up with some on my face, which was kind of gross. 

I don't know what I'm going to do...

Foals

Today was the first day of sunshine we've had in weeks.  We took advantage of it and after picking up my brother, we went out to see the horses.  Jimmy was ridden for the first time in weeks and was perfect.  Artemis kept running around, bucking and begging the adults to race her.  She cuts corners and seems to rub it in the adults faces by neighing at the top of her lungs when she passes them.  She was also tied up for the first time today.  It wasn't an issue.  I wasn't comfortable tying her up until she understood pressure and release, and it's working out well so far.  

There was a new foal born at the stable early this morning.  He's a cute little black colt with a big star and one sock.  He'll probably turn grey, like his father.  Our BO and her daughter came down just as we were looking at him so we talked to them for awhile.  I will try to be as non-judgemental as I can, I don't know the owner of the mare and foal, so I have nothing against her.  It's just this general attitude that confuses me.

She is planning on breeding the mare again for next year and keeping the colt that was born this year.  She doesn't come out very often because she doesn't have time and isn't planning on/isn't capable of halter-breaking the foals.  The mare is in the back pasture and once the foal is a little older, the two of them are going back out there with the old mares.  I don't know anything about this woman or her life, so I'm not judging her.  They're her horses and she can do what she wishes with them.

Mostly, it got me thinking about people who pay a stud fee, wait eleven long months for a foal, and then don't have a plan for it.  It's very strange to me.  I don't think that I've said this before, but Artemis wasn't planned.  She was definitly an oops baby.  My dad went to the Maritimes to visit his family, and while he was gone, our landlords put their young, ungelded colt in with our mares.  We had no idea.  Neither Sadie nor Socks really showed signs.  I didn't see Sadie much, but Socks gained some weight.  We thought it was just a hay belly since she was on better hay.  Nobody thought she was pregnant.  And well, obviously she was and that's how Artemis came to be.  I'm still not happy it happened.  I love Artemis, but I'm still mad that they would do something like that.  Our BO's joke around all the time about Socks not looking pregnant.  And especially when it was Artemis that came out, none of us can figure out how that monster baby was inside of Socks' tiny belly.

However, back to my point, even though she was an oops baby, I still have a plan for Artemis.  Just like my dad and sister have a plan for Hades, the other oops baby.  They won't be spending their lives in the same field.  It's very strange to me to think of people putting the time and money into getting a foal, and then not wanting to do anything with it.  I am a strong believer that every foal should be born with a purpose.  I've seen plenty of grade weanlings at the auction going for meat (we bought two of them, Sev and Jimmy) and I don't think people should contribute to that. 

On another note, Artemis is beginning to lose her baby coat now.  She's shedding out on the nose and around her eyes.  And her legs are beginning to get black now.  She's going to look like her mom I think.

More Rain

I know this post has nothing to do with Cas, but I feel she needs more picture time in this blog.  She is Artemis' big sister after all, and my first baby pony.  Cas is in her silver/bay roan stage right now.  I expect in a few weeks she'll be gray again, like last summer. 

It was still raining last night but we went out to the stable anyway.  We caught Socks and Artemis pretty quickly and brought them into the barn.  Kali's owner and the evil June mare's (I don't know her name but she looks like June and is a horribly mean mare) owner were there to ride.  While they rode we took a long time grooming and saddling up Socks.  When I was lifting one of Artemis' front feet, she put one of her back feet in the tack box, and spooked when it flung up and hit her leg.  She jumped forward, which flung the tack box and it's contents back, right into Socks, who hadn't been paying attention so it scared her half to death.  She tried to jump away, but slipped on the floor and couldn't get a grip.  Luckily my horse is pretty calm and stopped as soon as I called her name.  Once everyone was calmed down and we made sure there were no injuries, it was actually kind of funny.  It was my fault, I had Artemis too close to the tack box, and when I picked up her front leg, she swung away from me and that's how she stepped into it.  Luckily no one was hurt and none of our things broke. 

When they finished riding we took Socks and Artemis in.  I rode while my mom watched.  The two girls came over to watch Artemis runs.  Everyone does and I don't mind, but lately it makes me feel very self-conscious of my riding, even though I know nobody watches me.  I'm very out of practice and Socks and I are out of synch lately, it's frustrating.  Artemis had fun though, she has to be in front of her mother or else she bucks and neighs at us.  She always cuts corners to get ahead.

On an off note, my mom and I saw Super 8 tonight.  It has been a very long time since I've enjoyed a movie as much as I enjoyed that one.  There is nothing major I can fault it for.  It is definitly a movie you should see in theatres though, if you want the full experience.  I liked it most for it's suspense, you don't know anymore than what the kids know.  All in all, I really enjoyed it.

Rain Rain Go Away



It has been raining nonstop for going on two weeks now.  It is really affecting what we can do with the horses.  Artemis loves to come into the barn away from the rain, but she gets really cranky when you take her out.  Their pens are just mud for as far as you can see.  Jimmy and Eli think that standing at the very end of their muddy pen (which is ten times worse than Socks and Artemis') and watching their owners attempt to get to them without being sucked into the ground is the best thing ever.  On the few minutes we get where it's not pouring, Jimmy has been going his desensitization training and Socks is starting to be ridden again.  First though, I want to give an update on the horses up at my dads. 

There is Fonda and his son and Artemis' halfbrother, Hades.  Hades is just a little bigger than Artemis, and he's much darker than his sister.  He's more friendly, but he doesn't lead or pick up his feet.  He's had more people just hang out with him while Artemis has had more trianing.  We did lead him for the first time, and he did pretty well.  Lifting his feet was another story, he is not a fan of that.  My dad's favourite horse of the month is Fonda, so Fonda has been ridden a lot.  His respect issues are slowly getting better, but he's still not my favourite horse.  We had to bathe Pawnee and take out his stitches.  The stitches holding his skin together ripped out, but none of us were surprised.  The vet didn't think she would be able to stitch that closed in the first place.  However, the stitches holding his muscle together held and I had to take those out.  I never want to do it again.  Pawnee was amazing for it, but it was pretty gross.  I never want to be a vet.

On Friday night my dad and I went for a ride, I was on Thor and my dad was on Fonda.  It was raining all around except for where we lived.  We went over to the neighbour's fields.  Just as we turned around to go home it started to rain on us.  We were riding in the trees right beside a meadow when suddenly we couldn't see anything.  Lightning had streaked right above us and everything went white.  The light wasn't gone before the thunder boomed and terrified me and the horses.  Thor tried to run but quickly realized he didn't have anywhere to run to.  It was terrifying and that was as close as I ever want to be.

Saturday as a really late birthday present, my dad bought me a new saddle!  It actually fits Socks, which is not an easy task, so there was no way we were going to pass it up.  It's much lighter than the other saddle I was using, I can actually lift it.  That night I tried it out on Sev.  The ride was fine until three dogs at a campsite came barking and snarling at us.  Fonda and Sev spooked badly but did eventually calm down. 

Here is a picture of Cas, Maggie and Molly, our landlord's two mares.  Molly, the mare on the right, is pregnant and is huge.  Maggie sadly had a stillborn foal.  We had to try to do Maggie's feet.  Our landlord's bought the two mares from a man who didn't believe in doing horse's feet, so not only where her feet horrible but she's not good with them, at all.  We can't find a farrier willing to do them.  It was...an adventure, let's just say that.


On Sunday my dad finally came to meet Artemis for the first time.  He was impressed with her, he thought she was adorable when she was racing Socks in the arena.  However, since then it's been raining steady so we've only been out once so far to brush them and work with Jimmy in the roundpen briefly.  I really hope it stops raining soon, I am dying to be able to ride outside.

When to get Concerned



Today's blog isn't about Artemis but about Jimmy and an issue we were faced with recently.  Jimmy is kind of our problem child, he's currently undergoing some major desensitization training.  He's a very sensitive horse and any little thing sets him back.  The issue I wanted to talk about is paddock buddies and when is enough, enough?

I fully believe that horses should not be isolated.  They are herd animals and we should respect that.  When we first moved down to the stable, Socks and Jimmy were put in a paddock together (it's two horses to a paddock to avoid overcrowding).  With the surprise birth of Artemis, Socks and Artemis were seperated just to be safe, to reduce chances of her being stepped on.  Initially Jimmy remained in their original paddock, with Socks and Artemis in the paddock right next to him.  But more horses have come so they needed that paddock.  That meant that Jimmy had to be moved in with somebody new.  We told our barn owners that Jimmy is always the low man in the herd and they chose a horse they thought would be a good fit.  Devon, the horse they chose, was, like Jimmy, always on the bottom of the pecking order.  We hoped they would work out.

It was the first day that they were together that we noticed the bite marks on Jimmy.  He had about five or six, none were bad but hair was missing.  Over the next few days we noticed more bites.  Our problem was this, how long should we give the horses to work things out before we requested that Jimmy be moved in with another horse?  None of the scrapes were bad but we didn't want it to continue and escalate.  Another issue was that Devon would eat all the food.  Usually you can take one horse out and the horse that stays doesn't eat all the food, but if we took Jimmy out, there would be absolutly no hay when we put him back.  So we started pushing a bunch of the hay out when we took him, and pushing it back in when we put him back.

For us, the food was the final straw.  Jimmy needs to lose a few pounds but that's not how we want him too.  Luckily, we didn't even have to approach our barn owners about it.  Right before we were going to, Devon's owners moved him to another stable.  Jimmy's in with another gelding, Eli now and things couldn't be better.  No new scrapes on either of them, they share their food and they get along really well.  The only issue is that they get into trouble together, like pulling down one strand of the electric tape.  Other than that, there is no problems.

But it was a little difficult.  We didn't want to be the overprotective horse owners, horses get scrapes, it happens, but we also didn't want to let Jimmy get beat up.  I asked for advice from several people, and some said at the first scrape they would have requested, other said they give up to a week to see if the horses sort it out.  It was interesting to see the different opinions though.

On another note, Blogger still isn't letting me post comments...

The Day We Survived the Farrier

A lot has been happening for Artemis lately.  She had her first bath, which went surprisingly well.  We have to work on standing still but she now realizes that she will in fact not die if the water touches her.  It takes a lot to get her wet though, she's so fluffy the water runs right off her hair.  And then yesterday the farrier was out.  He wasn't there to see her, but she was convinced that he was going to kill her.

The barn was full so at first we had the three of them tied up outside.  Then two horses went back out to their field so we brought them in.  Everyone at the barn adores Artemis so all of them had to come over to see her and she loved the attention.  Until the farrier started shaping horseshoes and the noise and smells terrified her.  She couldn't figure out where they were coming from.  She did pretty good though, we just walked her around a little bit and she calmed down.  After we finished saddling (which is very difficult when you're holding a filly who wants to eat your saddle) we took them in the arena and let Artemis run around while we road.  She was so full of energy.  I'm disappointed I didn't get it on film.  She was running laps around us, squealing and bucking.  She also would not let Jimmy be in front.  She likes to cut him off, running in front of him and slamming on her breaks when she's right in front of him.  Everyone who was still left in the barn had to come over to see her playing around. 

After our ride and after the farrier was gone, we were talking to DR and she thought Artemis was older, because she's so big.  She was also telling us how she brought her husband over to see Artemis, and both Socks and Artemis came over to the fence for attention.  Honestly, I was surprised.  At my dad's, everyone was afraid of Socks (long story but she has a bad reputation she only half deserves) so she was never really social with other people besides my family.  She doesn't really have time for people who cringe and jump everytime she moves, she avoids them.  But here nobody has an idea of what she should be like, so they don't treat her like a ticking time-bomb and she is much more friendly.  DR said even Artemis came over to say hello, which is a big improvement.  The BO's daughter was telling me earlier that Artemis will come over to the fence for attention.  And after we put Socks and Artemis back out, Artemis tried to follow us out of the pen.  She wasn't pushy, but when Socks went to her food, Artemis followed us instead of going after Socks, and stood at the gate literally until we drove away.  I think she's starting to really enjoy the attention.  Life is good at the stable, Artemis is coming along well, Socks is putting on weight and the issue with Jimmy is solved, although that's a blog for another day.

Also, it will not let me post comments at all.  This is really annoying and I hope it gets sorted out soon.