Magee

What a difference in this little guy in the last few months! He is the cruisiest, loveliest natured horse! Sure he has his moments when he is afraid of what is about to happen, like "what ARE you going to do with that sack?" where he moves away to evade it, but then stands still. Eventually he allowed it to sit on his back. Then allowed it to move up and down, over to the side, then it got bigger (I unfolded it!) and over a period of about 8 weeks he was finally able to accept a full sized cover laying on him!

I was getting so impatient and thinking it was never going to happen before the cold nights set in, but was very determined not to rush him or push him over the edge. "Take the time it takes so it will take less time" is a phrase I learned a long time ago, and I beleived in. So eventually it will be no problem for him because I've respected his reservations ...



Now he wears his cover, allows it to be removed with only a little concern at the tickly feeling, and will stand it have it put back on, though watches me carefully! :-) Slowly and with patience is the key with him, whereas with Camdin it's more "lets just play with it" lol. It's interesting adapting my strategies to their personalities - and challenging for me too. If I go too fast with Magee, or put too much pressure on, he sucks his top lip into a tight ball and prepares to "disappear" on me, so I need to watch him all the time. As a consequence I'm getting really good at reading him!



With Camdin I can approach directly and catch her by the halter; with Magee you have to take it slow and offer to scratch him and prove you don't want to do anything to him. The other thing I've found with him is he is so good on his nearside and awful on the offside. I think he must have had all his initial handling done on one side! So I'm re-doing a lot, and more, in his right eye in an effort to balance that out. He does need more time than I have, but then he needs it all to happen slowly too, so perhaps it's not a bad thing that I don't have much time. He has certainly been much better too being grazed in with Bailey. Bailey looks after him and teaches him as he is so very relaxed and cilled out about life - great help for me! :-)

Lovely! I can visualise this look in the dressage arena and show ring! :-)

Camdin

These pictures were taken in March this year just after a big handling session where Camdin learned about holding her feet up and having them filed! She was so very good - a little resistant initally until she realised that when she relaxed she got her foot back! :-) Not rocket science at all!!!


She is also very good at being touched, rubbed, and scratched all over - legs, head, inside ears, under belly, between hind legs, under chest, under tail, and learned how to ask politely for a scratch too! It doesn't work to just stand in the humans face - you actually have to move the itchy part of your body to the outstretched hand and it automatically starts scratching! lol
She really is a delight to do everything with ... some days she has tried a little dominance game and turned her back on me as if to kick but found that the human can bite just like another horse, so we haven't tried that again... lol ... she can be bossy at food time but I don't make an issue of it and she seems to have forgotten why she was doing that.

She is curious about everything, and super confident to be alone and away from Maggie for longer periods, but if she finds herself too far away she starts calling out - as does Maggie! I'm not weaning them before the Winter - I figure in the wild they would be together so why not now? I don't actually need them seperated right now, in fact it's quite convenient, and I have noticed the drink times are much shorter anyway, so perhaps Maggie is slowly doing it herself. I must find out where that report is that was done on their behaviour in the wild to see how the mares did it.
I've been playing with a chaff sack over Camdins back to prepare her for wearing a cover, though I'm not sure yet if she will have one on this year or not. I'll wait and see how the weather is and if she appears cold. Meanwhile it can't hurt to prepare her while I can - she will certainly have one in the future!

This is a typical view of her ... relaxed, curious about what I'm up to so better come check me out, really cruisy and laid-back. She is very similar to Medina in nature so I'm using similar strategies - she will try something and I come down hard so she knows that is definitely not acceptable to me, and she accepts the rule willingly without an argument. I like that! :-) She will be a special little horse and I really hope she grows taller than her mother!!!

Bailey

So ... another new addition. My plan was to get an odler "been there, done that" kind of horse to get me that precious riding confidence back, so that I'm better able to handle Medina once she is started and then Magee and the others as they fall ready.

The day came when I took the float to collect bailey and we couldn't find him where he was meant to be! The owner came with me and we drove around and around a plantation looking, until finally we located him across the road at neighbours place with badly injured legs. He had been caught in wire, bandaged, then when the property owners were going away for their Xmas holiday they took the bandages off and left him.

Of course the wounds produced massive amounts of proud flesh, flies laid their lovely eggs in the wounds, and the legs were a mess! We put him carefully on the float and took him back to his owners grazing area for assessment and treatment.

They chose to treat him, and I chose to still take him. He was the same horse; just a little damaged for a while. I felt he would be perfect for my needs, and I was happy to look after him for as long as it took.

So I finally took delivery of him 3 weeks after we found him - near the end of January - and have been treating one leg in particular since then. It was really bad, and the wound is now gradually shrinking. I've been riding him a little, just gently, and he seems to enjoy it - I know I sure did!!!

Now we have Winter approaching and shorter daylight hours, so there isn't time to ride after work, but I'm so looking forward to having the chance to really spend some time in the saddle and get out and about again. It feels so good to be back up there!

This photo was taken on 15 May. It's still being bandaged daily and I'm sure some days Bailey is as "over it" as I am, but we're getting there gradually, and the wait will be worthwhile. At best it's giving us some great bonding time!!! :-)

How time flies!

I seriously can't beleive it is December since I posted in here... to my followers I humbly apologise! No real excuse other than time limitations ...

The September Earthquake and after effects sent our world reeling ... I found myself working full time hours again - not what I really wanted but just love the work itself! Then the devastation of the February Earthquake had its affects as well on life as we knew it, and life became busier than ever. Working at the SPCA is so rewarding in so many ways, but during these crisis months it was moreso. Just being involved in helping people find their pets and assist those that needed rescuing has given all of us a real sense of purpose there.

But it has meant less paddock time for me, and less time spent with my horses which I regret. Now we are in May, almost June, I am reassessing my time and will try to reduce the hours I spend there so that I can regain some balance between work and play.

Having said that, I have booked Medina in to get started in August/Sept; retired Foxy as nursemaid to my youngsters; started riding again on Bailey a new addition (see other Post); handled Camdin so that she picks up feet and leads well (see her Post); and worked patiently (mostly!) with Magee so that he now wears a cover to keep him warm and hopefully "shaggy free" for Spring showing!

So I guess I have been busy! I'm up at 5.30am, check and feed the horses before work, spend the day at work, back to horses to muck out and check hay supply, then home about 5.30-6.30pm! No wonder I'm feeling tired!

Ah well, the rewards are rich! :-)

This is a pic of my first ride on Bailey! Lovely lovely boy, and the first time I've felt so safe on a horse for many years! I'm looking forward to his leg healing, and spending more time "in the saddle"!!