My arm is a great source of frustration. It's going on four months since I broke it and I'm not any closer to being normal. My doctor won't even discuss the possibility of me riding anytime soon, and while I understand, it's insanely frustrating at the same time. I can't even clean my horse's feet yet so I know riding anytime soon is unthinkable. It would just be nice to have some timeline in place instead of feeling like I'll never be able to again.
Jimmy is doing good. He's going great in the bitless bridle. He's mostly had time off due to other issues I'll get. He's always happy to see us, he keeps coming to the gate for some attention.
Socks is great. She keeps reminding me over and over why she is the greatest horse in the world. She's so dependable, when I go out and I'm stressed, she's more than happy to just take a walk with me and let me calm down. It's such a relief to have her to turn to, knowing that she'll be calm and quiet. She's adapted really well to the few things I have to do with her. When I pick out her left hooves (I can sort of do them, but her right side is too much for me still, since I have to lift them with my right arm, which is the broken one) she doesn't put any weight on me. She's leading great from my left side and has learned to walk nice and slow. Seriously, I love my horse, I don't say it enough here but she definitly is my heart horse.
Artemis. Well, Artemis is...kind of being a major brat right now, to put it lightly. We've been having a horrible time with her. It started off with her not wanting to come in from the field. She fought every step, to the point where she reared up and smacked my mom in the face with her leg, though thankfully her hoof missed my mom's face. I can't tell you how thankful I am that it wasn't worse. She was leading and then she suddenly jumped up, whirled to the side and reared.
After we brought her in that day, we spent a good deal of time in the round pen. What she did was completely unacceptable and she learned it. My mom is fine by the way, thankfully.
The next time she was perfect. But then, in part because of some people doing something they really, really should not have (I'm trying to keep as much drama out of this blog as I can) she was so freaked it, it was just becoming a very bad situation. To avoid further harm to my mother or Artemis, we let her off the lead rope and she went to the gate by herself.
That was two very bad experiences though and today she was awful to try and lead. It look over an hour to bring her in from the pasture. However, we didn't give up and by the end she was leading better. Then when we were setting her free, we made her walk a good ways into the pasture, reinforcing control by getting her to stop and turn and basically just pay attention. We took her off the halter and she stayed put, which she usually does. When we turned to leave, she followed us.
I hope we made some progress. We have a plan in place so we'll see if it works. I really hope it does. I do think I get more frustrated than I need to, it's something I'm trying to work on. I really wish I knew other people working with yearlings, or who had more experience working with yearlings, so I could see what is normal and what isn't.
Hopfully the weather gets better and with it my mood. My sister and I did go to the mountains a few weeks back, that was a nice change of scenery from my house and the hospital. She even found me some bears like I asked.
4 comments:
First, you may be suffering with a bit of depression because you have SAD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_affective_disorder) and are feeling the affects of the change in daylight. I have suffered with it for years and have actually used a special blue light to help offset the symptoms. Now, because I am outside more because of Gem, all I have to do is make sure I take Vitamin D during the winter months.
Second, be patient with your arm. My husband has had an elbow injury since March that has been causing quite a bit of discomfort. Arm injuries take a long time to heal. It will get better. :-)
Three, we have a baby at my barn. He was weaned in August. He has been led around on a lead since day one practically - so cute to watch him resist. :-) He now stays in his own stall at night. During the day he is turned out in a paddock with a couple of retired horses who continue to teach him how to be polite in a herd. Obviously, catching him is easy because he's in a paddock. :-) He is handled a lot by the staff, but none of the boarders are allowed to touch him - there is a big sign at his stall. My BO doesn't want him to pick up any bad habits or become frightened if someone mishandles him. I am not sure if this is an option for you, but would you be able to keep Armetis in a paddock to make it easier to catch her? Or put her in a stall at night? Glad your mom is OK.
Good grief. Completely messed up the spelling of Artemis' name - sorry!! :-)
Glad your mum wasn't hurt.
Sorry to hear about your arm. I hope you will be able to use it soon.
Thanks Wolfie. I am feeling much better now than when I wrote this post. I think you were right, I've been spending more time outside and it's been much brighter out and I've been feeling much better.
Keeping her closer to the barn isn't really an option right now. There's no stalls left in the barn and the paddocks are currently full. If it continues to be bad I should be able to keep her in the round pen for a few nights, but that's obviously not a permanent solution.
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