I've been SO bad about updating.
Here's what's been going on:
- Boo wears a bridle, but is a complete butthead about lowering his head to be bridled and unbridled, so we spend a lot of time just working on putting the crownpiece over his ears and taking it off again
- He wears a surcingle and pad like it's no big thing
- We got one long-lining session in before the rain was upon us, and it was great... can't wait to do more....
- Feet continue to improve, though of course after a month of mud they look HORRIBLE right now. But they look normal-horrible. Yay! Nice thick strong walls and soles and bouncy frogs.

Probably the best and most fun development is that he's blossomed into an actual Thoroughbred. This is also the most challenging, because he's huge and I'm not; and it translates into him wanting to run, run, run all the time. So now he gets turned out in the arena before we try to do any kind of useful work, and he gallops and slides and bucks for a good 10-15 minutes to get the yeehaws out.

The other wonderful, exciting thing is that he's become sound and surefooted enough that I've begun turning him out on our hill pastures. These are a little scary, since they're steep in spots and full of rocks and ground squirrel holes, but most of the horses have been going out in them for years and no one's ever come in with worse than a scrape. He goes out in boots, and has been learning how to balance on hills while grazing and generally has been having a great time. Of course now that the green grass is coming up, I'll be cutting out even the tiny double handful of complete feed that gets mixed with his rice bran and supplements, because he just doesn't need that much good stuff!

Can't wait to see what I have when the winter fuzz sheds out and spring is here!

Merry Christmas!

I looked at Willy last night, as I was frantically wrapping the last of our daughter's gifts.
"I've figured out why I've been at such a loss this year," I told him. "Why, when you or my mom ask me what I want for Christmas, all I can offer is a blank stare."
"Why?" he replied.
"Because for 30-some years I've wished for the same thing for Christmas. Dear Santa, I want a pony. I stopped asking out loud after I hit 13 or 14, and figured out it wasn't going to happen, but I never stopped wishing. And so now I have no idea what to wish for. Quite frankly? If I get up tomorrow morning and there isn't a single thing under the tree for me - I might feel a little forgotten, sure, but really, I don't think I'll mind much. I'll just head to the barn and give my big Christmas wish come true a big hug and a handful of carrots."

Yeah. My teeth hurt from the sweetness of it all. But really, it's so true. I spent my whole life nearly sick with wanting, and now, what do I want? Just some quiet; and enough time to just go moodle around at the barn every day for the next ten days.

I wish devoutly that all of your Christmas wishes may come true - and remember, sometimes you have to wish long and hard and also, you have to do the work to get there - and that you are surrounded by love and fellowship and peace and joy and, if it's your thing, eggnog. *grin*

Bored Colt

Now that our rainy season has begun, I'm looking for ways to keep Boo entertained while he's cooped up. Our arena stays closed for days at a time once the rains begin, and I'm really grateful that our barn has lots of good space for handwalking, as well as a quiet private road just out the gate that we can adventure on.
But during those in-between hours, a three-year-old Thoroughbred needs something to do with himself!

I've been experimenting with toys - both store-bought and homemade - for the past week or so, trying to find ways to keep the Boo-ster occupied. He's got an Uncle Jimmy's Hangin' Ball (for those unfamiliar, it's a 10" ball of grain stuck together and hung on a rope) which he licks and bumps around, but he's not crazy for it. If it were a bunch of carrots, well, different story!

I've noticed that he's really mouthy- like he needs to chew or gum on things, and I wonder whether it's a stage of tooth development he's in. He's got a corner incisor about to come out and probably lots of other assorted dental changes going on. So I got a thick cotton lead rope that the snap had come off of, and tied it in a big complicated knot around part of his pipe corral, leaving an end for him to chew on.

This was a HUGE hit. Bonus points too - Pie, who is next door, also likes to play with it. They mess with the dangly end (there's about 8" hanging), and work on the knot, and Boo sometimes just squeezes the whole knot mass in his jaws. Definitely some teething happening - he looks just like my daughter did when she was cutting teeth!

The last thing I tried was milk jugs. These, it turns out, are SCARY! And EAT HORSES! So instead of having them around for toys, we'll use them for training and desensitizing, for the time being.

Anyone else have ideas for entertainment for the kids while they're idle this winter???

Lasting Lessons

I love that Boo is not only a quick learner, he has good retention. You might say to yourself, "well, all horses retain things well." Not so, my friends - I know a mare who reminds me of that Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day, you practically have to start over each day. Three steps forward, two and a half back. But with Boo, it's forward progress, all the way.

Today we only had a teensy window of time (my lunch break from work) so I just stuck his halter on and we went out into the arena to lunge. We started to the left, his good direction. I'm working a lot more seriously on transitions and especially on focusing on what I'm telling him with my body language. I have a tendency to over-cue and to be sloppy with my upper body, so this practice was more for me than for him in ways. Walk, trot, walk, halt. Walk, trot, canter, trot, canter, trot, walk. Halt and switch directions.

About this time the feed truck showed up with the hay delivery. Boo never batted an eye.

We got started to the right without so much as a hitch - none of the backing up, jostling for position, or other confusion we had a bare week ago. Just a nice smooth step-out into a walk circle. (This is where I say thank you to Maraka for breaking our little mental block!) We did some more transitions to the right - our trouble spot now is the downward transition from trot to walk, where he sees an opportunity to instead halt and turn in. So rather than cue him with the line, I'm using my shoulder position and my voice to bring him down to a walk. One I got a smooth set of walk-trot-canter-trot-walk-halt, we quit.

We'll start working on less predictable transition patterns, but for now I'm proud that he's learning voice commands, staying focused on me even when there are interesting things going on (alfalfa delivery, horses cantering downhill in the turnouts, etc), and, best of all, enjoying his reward-scritchies at the end.

I mention the scritchies part because Boo, unlike a lot of horses, has been a hard case with this - he doesn't do the pooky lip or glazed eyes when you scratch him. I've tried just about every spot on his body without luck. But - BUT - it seems that he's suddenly decided to let his guard down, because today I got pooky lip, eyeroll, and head hug all within a minute of each other. We're into breakthrough mode as of last week and I love it!

One last thing - and this is huge, so huge. He had his feet trimmed yesterday. Last trim, he was off for almost two weeks from the loss of hoof wall height and the increased contact of his soles against the ground. Today? Sound as can be. Sound and solid and happy. My farrier is thrilled at what he's seeing - he even called me over to look at one of his soles and show me the changes, the new growth and turnover and parts that are exfoliating. What's happening is that Boo's going from having very VERY flat, thin, weak soles to having thick, normally cupped soles. We're three months in and already his feet look, I'd say, 85-90% normal when you pick them up.

Sooooo happy!

Boo Wears a Bridle!

Today Boo wore a bridle for the first time. I suspect he wore a bit of some sort as a weanling; many of them do at the Keeneland sales, especially the little hot stud colts. But he'd been hanging out on the rescue farm since he was a yearling and was, I assume, minimally handled (though gently and with love!). He's got sweet manners, just no great refinement.

So far, what I've worked with him on has been basic basic stuff, grooming and leading and w-t-c transitions on the longe line on the halter. He's willing, though he tests, out of laziness and a suspicion that he can get out of having to do unpleasant things. But he truly doesn't have - that we have found - a mean bone in his body. Well, unless you're a neighboring horse at feeding time, but that's different.


He took to the bridle really well, no drama and no fuss. Went out and worked like a pro. M. worked him for me, so that I could watch and so that she could work him through a couple things we were stuck on. What I saw was a horse that's starting to blossom like WHOA, from a scraggly unbalanced youngster into a potential athlete.


He showed us a trot today that had serious balance, and a canter that made me want to weep. It's good that my nerve for jumping is pretty much nonexistent, because this horse should (and will) never jump (pasterns and feet) - it's Russian Roulette - but oh, God, to see the potential starting to show through now that he's got good sole on his feet and some muscle and some balance - well, yeah. *drool* The breeding is beginning to be evident.

I love my boy, and I continue to be excited about him.
His Flickr set has been updated with new pics from today as well as from a few weeks ago; but furthermore, I'd like to present for comparison:

July or August:


This was Boo, the second time I met him. You can see that he's footsore and not too sure of where his limbs belong (look at the space between the front foot and the ground - he perpetually stood on 2 feet; I thought he was crippled).

Today:



We've come a looooooong way! (I credit EasyGait with much of this improvement; but a lot of it, too, is miscellaneous tiny changes and practices, everything from consistent in-hand work to teach him where all four limbs are and how to use his right side as well as his left, to walks on varied surfaces like pea gravel and asphalt and hills, to little dietary tweaks that are starting to show in the new growth in his feet....)

...comments and constructive criticism are welcome both here and on the flickr album.

Uncle Boo

Boo tried out as a babysitter for not-so-little Pie today. M. brought Pie home from the breeding farm yesterday, and wants to find a horse to stall with her (it's a double-size paddock) so that Pie isn't lonely and doesn't develop too many of the goofy behaviors that a horse gets when reared solo. We had Red in with her but Red takes the job a little TOO seriously, herding Pie away not only from dangers but also from us!

So she turned Boo and Pie out together in the arena.












They did really well together... Boo followed Pie around, didn't push her around, was gentle and not too bossy. We started getting excited, having visions of him becoming our "babysitter" gelding in the days and years ahead when we have young horses that go out to pasture and need an older, steady presence....

And then Boo decided, hey, I have a new buddy! Time to play! And cued Pie to run, and started chasing her... and even that might have been OK, except that being a colt, his idea of playing also involves play-kicking at the other horse while galloping. So we ran in there and grabbed our horses and that was that. *sigh*

I still think they would be fine together in a small area, but Pie is just a baby, and I'd feel terrible if Boo accidentally injured her. Maybe once she's a yearling. So our quest for the answer continues.... and in the meantime she and Boo are next-door neighbors, and can fool around over the fence and be silly youngsters all they want. It reminds me that though he's 17hh, he's just a wee baby in the mind. One more reason I'm not hopping on anytime soon. Right now my target is April 2010.

Help! It's chasing me!

Yesterday was one of those brisk windy days that makes horses unbearably hyper. I won't, as a rule, ride - or do much of anything serious - on a day like yesterday. So I'm not sure why I thought it was a good idea to get Boo out into the arena and do some work with him, except maybe that he'd been in longer than I like and had that "I need to move" twinkle in his eye.

We've got a long way to go on lunging, and have mostly been free-lunging (despite not having a round pen - he's pretty solid about staying in a circle around me, for whatever reason) rather than working on a line. But he has his voice commands pretty well down and tends to be more of a horse that has to be coaxed into upward transitions than one that has to be controlled downward, so I didn't really think anything of putting a lunge line on him and heading into the arena even though it was cool and blustery.

Our session started out as usual - Boo doing his half-dead draggy walk and giving me pouty looks - "mom, do I have to do this? Can't you just pet me?" and after a bit I asked for trot. He trotted a circle and then without much warning (a fellow TB owner said, on hearing this story, "must have heard a bird fart"), he jumped 15 feet sideways and bolted for the far end of the arena.

Needless to say I lost my grip on the lunge line (lunging without gloves? ANOTHER bad idea)... and watched, heart in my mouth, as he made a high speed lap of the arena with it dragging behind him. He kept one eye on it and I could see him thinking "OMG! It's chasing me!" but - as with the one time he attempted to pull back during our tying training - I called out, calmly, "Ho. Ho. " and after the one lap he halted. He stepped on the line once then and jerked his head up, and looked at it, and realized that it was a rope and not something trying to chase him... and then, with a truly embarrassed expression, he walked back to me and asked me for help.

And so, I gathered the line back up in my hands, and we returned to our circle and had another five minutes of good, useful, controlled work. Then I set him loose - off the line - and whistled at him, and he had a good free gallop, which he NEVER does. Apparently wind affects him just like it does other horses - good to know, since he is such a solid, almost dull horse so much of the time!!

Tonight, the arena was otherwise occupied, so we went for a walk out on the road (it's a tiny private road that the barn is on). He's not used to the road yet, but does well - the speedbumps are a source of fascination to him, but the cars are no big deal. The grass across the road has grown from the rains and we spent five or ten minutes with him just grazing, enjoying the sunset and the last week of having daylight after work.