Quick update on Fiona and Megan

This morning I went out to feed and both horses were hanging out by the barn waiting for food. There were no games being played, they just both wanted food.  I chased them both away from the barn separating them, one in the pasture and one in the barnyard.  I was just then able to take a look at Fiona's bumps and bruises and scratches.

All in all everything looks ok, there are no deep abrasions or scratches, there are only places where a layer of skin and hair have been scraped off by Megan's hooves. I checked her out for tenderness around the head and neck then the shoulders, checking her back and hindquarters and still only found nothing to be worried about.  Even yesterday I noticed she was doing good and did not have a limp, so it was pretty superficial and not any significant injuries. 

I did notice that today and yesterday afternoon, Fiona is keeping some distance between herself and Megan.

Kicking out against pressure

Last night after getting settled for the evening I heard what sounded like a car door shutting, then another.  I got up and looked outside only to hear a large bang in the barn, NOT GOOD!

In running to the barn, (Yes Running) I heard another 2 hard hits and loud noises along with loud horse noises. I turned the corner to see both Megan and Fiona look at me like I had interrupted something and asking "What?"   I chased Megan out of the stall and noticed a few hoof prints on Fiona, then started looking closer and noticed a few abrasions and lots of missing hair from hoof scrapes. 

Fiona took a lot of abuse all over her body, including her head/cheek area.  From her head to tail she was covered in hoof prints and two prints directly on each side of her tail along with right on the point of the hip bone and top of the rear.  In looking at Fiona, I noticed she was limping pretty good and favoring her right hind leg/hip that is when I noticed a couple more scrapes.

After inspecting both horses, Megan threw and connected a lot and Fiona had no chance while she was pinned against the wall in the stall with no way out.  No more confined spaces allowed so the stall/barn is off limits for now.  We can not afford large vet bills because of a horse fight and that kind of behavior is not acceptable even though it is partially human fault providing small spaces where horses could have issues.

I looked at the barn wall and door, it was pretty graphic with hair embedded in some of the wood, deep gouges in the plywood and a lot of dirt/mud/horse poop mix strewn about, even on the ceiling.  This was a one sided fight and it could have been much worse so I took action to be sure it does not happen again due to human error.  The horses were separated last night and during feeding this morning, after feeding time Megan had her ears laid back and was chasing/herding Fiona into the larger pasture. 


It was quite an experience and hope to not have a repeat anytime soon.

Wiggle, Wave, Walk, Wack, Wack,Wack, That is the start to the day!

Today started exactly as the title says, Wiggle, Wave, Walk, Wack, Wack, Wack.  That is one of the Clinton Anderson horse backing techniques that I am learning and so is Megan, FINALLY!

I have found that Megan can be very sensitive but is also very disrespectful and can be very lazy.  Today reinforced all of those traits in her and now I get to work through even more of her issues.

I knew she had backing problems but she would not respond to tapping the lead rope "1-2-3-4" tapping the rope harder each set of 4 then actually tapping her lips and nose.  She planted all four feet, leaned back and put her head in the air saying "you can't get me!!!!  I had to change techniques to get her response and respect.

She was not quick to respond to "Wiggle, Wave, Walk, Wack" but she did respond when she ran into the tip of the crop style whip/stick, I had her attention.  Megan actually came back around and gave me 2 eyes and backed away more and more until I could consistently get 4 steps instead of one.

I decided to quit there while I was ahead and went through desensitizing drills by throwing the rope over and around her body and head then laterally flexing for relaxing and thinking. 
It was then time to quit while I was ahead and feed the horses.

Just a couple photos of Fiona from this morning.

 

Rain is here!

It is that time of year where all the kids have gone back to school and it has started raining.  This year the rain is a little early just like the rest of the weather.  Tonight when I went to feed Megan and Fiona I hit it just right between rain storms. The top surface of the ground is soaked, super slick and was just like walking on ice. 

I was able to feed the  horses without mishap but there was no way I would even try to do any training tonight.  This morning I did work with both Megan and Fiona for just over an hour.  Fiona is doing pretty good and now getting accustomed to some of the training techniques I am using now.  She starts and turns perfectly under the halter but does not like to stop when told to do so.  She also does not want to yield her hindquarters and pivot away, she stepped out once and then started running like she was on a lunge line.  We have a lot of work to do with Fiona but I have very high expectations for her in the near future.

Megan,  Well she did not want to be caught today so she ran around in circles while in the paddock/corral area.  When she decided to give me her hooves instead of two eyes, I caught her hind end with the whip and made her trot around even more.  After about 8 trips around the corral I told her to stop and turn into me and she did just that.  I know that she is in the right mind when she stops and gives me both eyes and I can then approach to put her halter on and start working with her right away.  Over the next few days I will be working more on controlling her feet as in yielding hindquarters and forequarters forward and back. 


Wish us luck this week and I will post the outcome of the training sessions soon.

September 1st 2010, Fall is well on its way!

This evening while Tammy was off at a riding lesson/ride share opportunity, I worked with both Megan and Fiona for a while.  I chose to work with Megan first and everything went as planned. 

I had her lunge around the corral first even if she did not need it. I started with desensitizing using the rope and the string from the whip/stick.  We quickly moved on to doing some sending and side pass exercises. One great feat that was accomplished tonight is, I was able to take Megan into the stall entrance without using a whip or stick.  We just walked into the stall and backed out just like there was no problem or issues just a few days ago.  Next I was off to picking up feet, I was ok picking up both front feet and getting rid of buildup in the hoof.  I then went to pick up the hind feet where Megan picked them up without having any problem at all.  We usually go around and around in circles but tonight I was able to pick at both hind feet without problems.  I did notice some black "Yuck" in her left hind foot but all in all it was ok.  I will pick it twice tomorrow and see what I can get out of it.

I turned Megan lose and went to catch Fiona, where without any troubles at all, she comes right to me and stands to put the halter on.  She is a little sweetheart that likes to run, buck, kick and have fun.  My goal tonight with her was to work on lunging and controlling her feet a bit in the corral.  I found out Fiona is a smart little girl, she decided that when she was a little tired of trotting around the corral the best resting place was the stall.  Fiona was almost playing a game where she would go into the stall area, turn around and look at me as if she was saying "You can't get to me in here"  It made me laugh because she was right.

Everything went real well and both horses were sent out to the pasture with a good amount of hay for each.  Tomorrow is a new day and I will have my hands full with both horses again.  I think it is time to take Fiona out of Megan's sight again and take her through the stall out into the yard.