Bad horse/good horse ... you just never know

Yesterday was one of those days where everything had to timed perfectly. Watch the UConn game until 12:30, head to the barn to bring the horses in, leave the barn by 2:00 in order to change for arrival at a jewelry party at 3:00, leave the jewelry party by 4:00 in order to arrive in time for my hockey game at 5:00. Clearly a day where I didn't need horses going through the fence.

Here's what happened. Both Dude and Bestie looked happy outside when I arrived, so I did a quick check of their stalls (done) and water (I cleaned and filled) before preparing to head outside to get them. Jodi was putting Ben back out after a ride, so she offered to help me bring Dude and Bestie in. Perfect.

Since she was walking Ben out, I carried out two flakes of hay for Ben and Jake. Bestie and Dude perked up as soon as they saw me, but seemed fine. Then, as I was dumping Jake's beet pulp into his bin, I don't know if they thought I was taking too darn long coming to get them, or WHAT. But they got agitated. Very agitated. Bestie ran up to where Dude was prancing at his gate and kicked out at him. A real double-barrel with no contact, thank goodness.

She did that at least a couple times and at some point caught the fence. It's just braid with temporary poles so it came down easily. There was a moment when they both sort of got an "Uh oh" expression. Then Dude jumped over the fence on the ground and started running around Bestie's pasture. Jodi and I were both in there at this point, and the horses calmed down pretty quickly and allowed us to get halters on them. No apparent ill effects; I checked the back of Bestie's legs although I didn't think the braid would cut. Everything looked ok.

I think I'm back to putting them out when I get there. The fields are such a mess from the rain that I just can't take the chance of any wild running during the day.

Now for the good horse part. The vet came today; the very patient Dr. Emily who has plied Bestie with treats for years in an attempt to win her over. Bestie is very distrustful of anyone wielding a shot or wormer, and Dude usually puts up a token fight but once backed into a corner is usually ok. But it's a pain when I have to wrestle with them. Emily is great and really takes the time to build trust. It paid off today. She walked right in, gave each of them a treat, then gave them their five-way shot and a wormer without any bad behavior from either horse. After she was done I took each of them out to graze separately, and regardless of who was in and who was out, they were both on their best behavior. Awesome! It was good, no, GREAT, to have an uneventful day after yesterday.

I think I just set a record for slowest entry of a posting ever. I'm on the laptop, on the floor, which seems to be the optimal setting for the teenager still in the house, but certainly not for me.

Summiting (well, almost) the all-day turnout mountain

On Wednesday, Dude and Bestie went out from 7:30 am until 3:35 pm. Wow, amazing. We figured out a field arrangement that I could live with until it's shaken up again when Laura brings a few horses home. Dude, Bestie, Jake and Ben are all in a big four square configuration, with Dude and Ben in the top two squares and Jake and Bestie in the bottom two squares. The walkway to the barn runs right up the middle.

I was still a little worried about putting Dude in that field because it is the furthest from the barn with no "cushion" from the road. And there is a hill. Bestie was getting turned out in that field, and I had just joked to Laura that Bestie would have the best rear end in the barn with all the hill work she was doing. So maybe Dude will get his big ol' Quarter Horse butt back now that he's there. So far he seems to like standing on the knoll at the top of the field and surveying his domain. He watches the old white horse across the road and can also see three horses down the road a bit.

I got to the barn at 3 and at 3:45 he started getting antsy, so I brought them both in and cleaned them up.

When I got to the barn today Laura told me Dude had spotted the cows across the road. She said it was kind of funny but also kind of scary because she was afraid he was going to get everybody off and running, and it was pretty mushy in the fields today due to the rain last night. I guess he did his long considering snort, which means "Hmmn, this doesn't look good but I'm not quite sure what to do yet." Then he did a bunch of snorts and pawed, meaning "Hey whatever you things are across the road, you'd better not come over here because I'm ready for you." She said he trotted around the field trying to get the other horses going ("Guys! Cows!!"), and apparently Bestie obligingly trotted for a bit, but no one else had the slightest bit of interest in the alarming cows. So Dude settled down and parked himself back on his knoll.

Laura jokingly said that she might call the farmer to see when they plan on trimming the cows' feet, because that might cause a bit of excitement. I guess so ... I didn't know this, but apparently they put the cow in some sort of contraption that flips it on its side, and then the farrier trims the hoof. I'm sure there's all sorts of bellowing going on during the process. Dude would probably have a heart attack, and I'm sure Bestie wouldn't be too happy either. Note to self: remind Laura to ask farmer when cow hoof trimming day will be. :)

Lunged Bestie (first time in a week and a half) and brushed her and Dude outside so they could graze. It was a beautiful sunny day. I'm thinking they probably took a nap after I left. After yesterday's first day of extended turnout, they came in positively exhausted. At some point they'll make it until later in the day, but at this point, they seem pretty fried by 3:45/4 p.m.

A milestone for the kids

Ok, so we've been at the new barn for three weeks now, and I am still needing to do deep cleansing breaths over the turnout. Well, really, not over the turnout itself, but over my horses' reactions to the turnout, and their sudden irrational attachment to each other.

I've written before about the scary stuff that is new to them: dogs on the road, cows running in the field across the way, etc. The other issue with turnout has been fear of separation. Hilarious, considering that Bestie has always looked on Dude as the lowest of the low, not even worth a glance from Her Highness.

I developed a plan for Saturday, a gorgeous sunny day in the 40s, a perfect turnout day. All the equines were very happy and dozy, so I decided to try and bring Bestie in without getting Dude. Laura, horse psychologist, suggested bringing one of the really beautiful fresh flakes of hay out to Dude and Ben, who are in adjoining fields and have kind of bonded over the fence. So I placed hay in the corners of their pastures so that they could happily munch in close proximity to each other. The hope was to distract Dude with great hay and his new gelding friend so that he would not miss Bestie as I took her out of the adjoining field.

The plan worked ... to a point.

Bestie came in, unworried about Dude remaining in the field. And Dude did indeed munch on his hay happily, not even looking up as I got her and marched her down the lane to the barn. I peeked to make sure. (I don't know why I always feel that if I don't make eye contact with them, they won't notice what I'm doing.) I got her into the barn and into her stall without a peep from him.

Unfortunately, the peace lasted only as long as his hay did. It was like as soon as he finished chewing the last bite of hay a big alarm went off -- "Bestie's out of her field! We repeat, Bestie's out of her field!" -- and he started running the fence line, pausing only to drop, roll in the mud and jump up with a few "something's clearly NOT RIGHT" snorts. So back out I trudged to fetch him. I'm sure some people would say disapprovingly that I should've just left him, that he would've settled down. But the memories of a year of handwalking from his hip injury are just too fresh. Can't chance it.

But here's some good news. Caroline turned them out today at noon, and they stayed out, happily, until AFTER 4 P.M.! No meltdowns, no appearing stressed, just a "yep, we're ready" look about them when Cory and I went out to get them. So there's some progress. Deep cleansing breath, ahhhhhhh.

Enjoying the sunshine

Wow--we've had a series of days with sun and there are a few more in the forecast ... it's GREAT! Still settling the horses into turnout. I'm just not comfortable putting them out all day, so life is a bit complicated, but at least they're getting out.

Dude and Bestie were initially slotted to go in the front two fields which run right down to the road. I'm a worry wart, so the thought of them being right on the road stressed me out a bit, as did the steep slope given the current condition of the fields ... standard spring sloppiness, especially in the first field. I had visions of pulled shoes or falls. Because I don't want either of them in that first field, there's only the second front field available. Meaning a) both of them stay in their stalls until I get get there to swap another horse out of another field, or b) one of them goes out while the other waits in the barn until I get there to swap.

The second option didn't seem like it would work--neither one would be happy all alone in the barn. So ... both of them are staying in and getting turned out when I get there. On work days, it's a little hectic since about the earliest I can get to the barn is 3:30. On those days they only get one to two hours outside. Yesterday and today worked pretty well since I was off and could spend more time at the barn. They seem to have gotten the drill, so on days when Laura is there earlier than me I think she can swap them ok.

Today they were out about two and a half hours, then I handgrazed each of them for 20 minutes. They both got sleepy-eyed about as soon as they returned to their stalls. No stamina for this spring sunshine and grass!

I think it's all going to work out fine once the fields clear and they get used to their new surroundings.

Blankets off!

First photo op at the new barn. The lovely brown of fields in late winter in VT! Dude felt he needed to have a closer look at what I was doing.

Today was absolutely gorgeous ... sunny and in the high 40s, maybe even the low 50s. In any case, it was warm enough that when I got to the barn, I decided to take off Dude and Bestie's blankets before turnout. After I let them loose, they rolled and rolled, which of course later meant I needed to brush and brush. And brush some more! They were both pretty dirty.

It was an uneventful day until I had to bring them in. I asked for some help just because it is hard to negotiate the gates with two horses in hand. There is a gate for each horse's paddock, and one at the end of the aisle in front of the paddocks. Not sure what happened, but as we got closer to the barn Dude suddenly took off trotting, paying absolutely no attention to my attempts to get him to stop. I finally had to drop the leadline because he ran me a little too close to a tree.

Luckily he paused to survey the front yard—planning his next move, I guess—and I quickly snagged him again. Poor Cory was trying to hold on to Bestie, who apparently got worried when Dude took off and was twirling like a kite on the end of her lead. In a split second we went from a quiet mosey into the barn to me falling into the mud and everyone running out of the barn to help with Bestie. Crazy. I should know by now never to take a quiet mosey for granted.

Bestie the beaver

Right after we moved the horses Bestie started chewing on her door. Because there are no bars, she can easily lean over and chew on the crosshatching. I felt bad because I kept forgetting to buy something to dissuade her from this destructive habit. Finally I remembered to get a pack of Ivory soap and I've been rubbing it onto the chew areas, which seems to be helping. One day I forgot to put the soap on, and it was clear that she went right back to chewing.

When we moved them out to a small barn in Underhill one summer a few years ago, she did the same thing until she settled in. They were confined in stalls for about a week at that barn, then got slowly settled into turnout, and then her chewing stopped. I guess it's a stress reaction. Or maybe boredom. But I tend to attribute it more to stress because for all the (boring) time they spent indoors in the barn we just moved from, she didn't chew.

She's not cribbing, because she doesn't latch on with that funny air-sucking noise. She just methodically chews on an edge with small little bites. Unfortunately she can reach one of the beautiful large square support beams for the barn; bad idea, as Laura says, to start chewing away on any of those! Her stall door has taken most of the abuse.

I need to get to the tack store and see if there's some other product I can buy. So far I've used up only a half bar of the soap, which surprises me since I rub it in like a crazy woman every time I'm there at the barn.

Horses continuing to settle in

Week two at the new barn comes to an end. It's been fun to see Dude and Bestie settling in more and more each day. The first week there was no turnout for any of the horses due to the amount of ice in the pastures. Then, at the beginning of our second week, after the ice thawed the question became, "Which fields to put Dude and Bestie in?"

There are two adjacent fields with road frontage, which is where we tried them last weekend. They went out fine, walked out together, and everything seemed A-ok until a person came down the road with their dog off the leash. That was cause for much consternation: Bestie trotting around the field with her tail up in the air, and Dude cantering around in a state of great excitement until he slipped on the slope, which is still pretty slick from moisture and the frozen ground underneath the first few inches. Of course that was something I did NOT want to see; flashbacks to his hip injury from three years ago, aaargh. Luckily he got right back up with no ill effects.

Laura and I talked about putting up temporary fencing to cordon off the steepest part of the slope (plan A). Then we talked about swapping all the horses to different fields (plan B). I think we even had a plan C. We decided to think about it overnight. When I came back to the barn on Monday she had come up with plan D: bringing Jake and Ben in early, around 3, and then putting Dude and Bestie out, at least until the grass comes in, the footing in the fields improves, and everyone has settled in and gotten accustomed to all the scary stuff in the new environment.

So that's what we're doing. I'm fine with it. I certainly don't want to risk injury at this point, and at least they are getting out. Since the first day, there have been no high jinks at turnout time, and even the first day was pretty tame: just Dude doing a few lighthearted bucks after he got unclipped from the lead. (Those are the moves where it's clear from his expression that he thinks he is Wild Pony of the West, but really he just looks ridiculous to any onlookers.) Since then, we turn them loose, they wander and look for the hay flake, eat it, and then spend the rest of the time snuffling around for the tiny grass shoots beginning to be uncovered. Their new fields are better because they're set back from the road and closer to the barn, which I think makes them feel more secure. And two of Laura's horses are out in an adjoining field for company.

For the first few days we brought them out to the paddocks and back in to the barn in tandem. On Thursday, they seemed pretty content, so I tried to bring Dude in first and then return to get Bestie. As soon as Bestie figured out that she was being left in the field, she freaked and started running the fence line. So much for that plan; Laura grabbed Dude and I walked back out to get Bestie. On Friday, I tried again. I clipped the lead on Dude and started walking him in, and Bestie just stood there, sort of snoozing in the sun. She watched us go, but not a peep out of her. Progress! I keep reminding myself that it's only been two weeks, and they're adjusting to a new barn, new fields, new people, new horses. I need to be patient.

Day no. 4 at new barn

I think I've figured out the back way to the barn from work. The first time I drove that way, which was Sunday, I realized I'd forgotten to doublecheck the map and therefore pretty much drove with my fingers crossed the whole way, not sure if I was going in the right direction or not. Rather than going across the bridge in Cambridge to head to Fairfax, I make a right and go through Fletcher, which I'm not familiar with at all. The wilds of Fletcher. It takes about 20 minutes, not bad, and I think that's shorter than the Cambridge route.

I got to the barn a little after 3:30 and all the horses were quiet, munching away on hay. Everyone except Bestie, that is. She of course had already finished her pile of hay and was pulling the "pathetic me" routine trying to get more. I'm trying to be firm and to not keep feeding her endlessly since she's gotten a little chubby, but it's HARD!

I lunged her in the indoor and she was really good today. She's been getting better each day. On Saturday, the first day, I didn't take her up to the indoor because she had been so worked up over the trailer ride. To get to the indoor you walk down the barn aisle, between big piles of hay and bagged shavings (perhaps with a cat on top), past another three stalls, past a covered cart, past an ATV and up a short incline to slide back the door to the indoor. Lots of potentially scary stuff. And then, there's the indoor itself, with mirrors on three sides, and one funny little mirror at the front end that almost looks like it belongs on someone's closet door. I'm not quite sure what its purpose is, but Dude likes to stare at himself since it pretty much shows him full length. I keep waiting for him to start flexing in front of it :).

The mirrors were very scary for Bestie the first two days. We were the only ones in the indoor and it was like she kept seeing this black mare in all the different mirrors and couldn't figure it out. Like, ohmygod, how many black mares are in this arena??! After I lunged her yesterday (tail straight up in the air the ENTIRE time), we took a tour of the mirrors and she snuffled them and seemed to puzzle it out. Today she was fine, kind of prancy, but well-behaved, more like, "Hey, that is ME in those mirrors and I am HOT!"

Dude and Jake like having their stall guards up and they stretch across the aisle to touch noses. Today they got a little rougher with some resulting squeals, so Dude's door got shut. He can still hang his head out into the aisle from the side and be nosy, but can't reach Jake from that position. It's like everyone's trying to figure out who's who and what's what.

Moved with no mishaps

Wow. The whole move was a whirlwind because I was busy at work last weekend and felt pulled in many different directions. The long and the short of the whole event was that it went just fine. I got to the barn mid-morning last Saturday and was pleased to find that the horses were turned out; it had been a crazy weather day on Friday so I wasn't anticipating turnout. It definitely made my life easier since they were both happy to have been outside.

I got everything except the four bales of hay left upstairs into my car and then Jodie arrived with the trailer. I basically dressed Dude and Bestie in their trailer boots and off we went. They both loaded really well. Dude is always a pro at it, so he went first, and then Bestie, who seemed a little unsure of the goings-on, followed him on. I headed back into the barn to grab a couple of leftover items, then ran and jumped in the car to catch up with the trailer. It was kind of a crazy departure and I was glad that I'd said goodbye to a few people the day before and earlier in the day.

After confering with Jodie I'd left both horses unblanketed and it was good that I did. Bestie was steaming when we got to the new barn. I think she was a little nervous. Dude was fine. Once we got them into the barn I threw a cooler on her and she dried pretty quickly. Laura, the owner of the new barn, had their stalls all ready with big piles of hay, so they got focused on that pretty quickly. Nothing better at taking the edge off than a big pile of hay!

Bestie's stall is right in the middle of the barn and is huge; probably a third bigger than her old stall. There are no bars over the stall door, so she can hang her head out and check out what's going on in the aisle and in the other stalls.

Dude is to the left of her against an outside wall. His stall is pretty much the same size as his old one and has a window that looks out on the side paddocks. It also has a cutout so he can hang his head in the aisle. It didn't take him long to realize that he could reach Bestie's blanket rack and pull her stuff down. Repeatedly.

There is a lot of ice currently at the new barn so the horses haven't gotten turned out. It is really treacherous on the path to the fields. This week has been cold and it hasn't thawed at all, plus we got more snow and single digits last night. Temps are supposed to warm as the week goes on, so hopefully this weekend they'll get back out.

On Sunday I grazed Bestie and the sun felt really nice. There's a huge grassy area in front of the barn that will be nice for handgrazing. Dude was a little full of it so I walked him in the indoor but didn't take him outside ... self preservation!

All in all they settled in pretty well and I've seen them getting more and more accommodated to their new surroundings as the days go on. Dude has been able to hang his head out and visit with Jake across the aisle when they both have their stall guards up. Both Dude and Bestie greet me when I arrive, but not as frantically as they did the day after the move. They're getting the new routine.