Naughty Mare makes an appearance

I had a full hour lesson on Sunday (more on that in a separate post) so Bestie and I took Monday off. I just swung by the barn for a fairly quick grooming session and an offering of carrots.

I really wanted to ride tonight, Tuesday, because I have book/wine group on Wednesday and yoga on Thursday, so I don't expect to go to the barn those nights. I hate to miss riding too many days in a row because I feel like we've made such great progress. It seems like we're in a good routine.

When I got to the barn tonight, a horse was already on the crossties in front of Bestie's stall, so I decided to tack her up in her stall while she continued to eat her hay. Normally that's fine. But tonight, she kept circling away from me. Finally, I left the stall to give her some space to see if she needed to poop. She likes her privacy. After a bit she did poop.  Then she let me tack her up, but she kept pinning her ears in a sort of irritated way. But not a totally angry, I-don't-agree-with-this way.

We went on down to the lower, bigger indoor with Katie and Rocky. We rode around at the walk chatting for a bit, and then started doing our own thing. We remarked that both horses seemed a little sluggish. The weather has been so up and down, I can't blame them for feeling a bit blah.

Bestie and I jogged the long sides of the arena and walked the ends. I guess we did about 4 rounds, then I asked her to reverse. We made it about half way around after reversing direction, and she suddenly sped up for no apparent reason. I started to post, which usually slows her right down. But she kept speeding up with her head up high and pulling on the reins, and she broke into a canter  just as I was trying to circle her, which threw me a bit off balance.  I was trying to sit deep and relax my hands, but being off balance kept me from sitting deep and I know that lack of balance led me to have a tight grip on the reins - that reaction of hanging on for dear life. She gets really angry when you grip on the reins, so we were kind of stuck in this no-win escalating situation. I got her back to the trot, still speedy, and rode her right at the end wall, so she stopped and started sidestepping. But at least at this point we were back to a walk. She huffed and puffed around the ring for a lap, clearly still worked up.

I walked her around at least three more laps, and then asked her for a jog at the front end of the arena. She did a loop of about a third of the arena at a nice jog, and then I asked for a walk again. You gotta pick your battles, and I felt ending on that good  note was best. Self preservation.

I haven't seen a tantrum on this level for several years. The last time was when we had been out in the field, and coming back to the barn, we had to pass the hay baler in action and she suddenly freaked out, jigging and bouncing around. I got off - it seemed the best thing to do in the wide open field. After that incident she refused to go down that way for the next couple of summers. It took forever to work through.

I don't know what this was all about tonight. Just a bad night? Maybe. We'll see how the next ride goes on Friday.

What to do with your horse when the temps hit subzero?

That's the question I ask myself when the temperatures drop.

See above - that was the temp heading home from the barn this afternoon.

It has continued to drop. And the wind has picked up.

So the windchill is ... well, I don't even want to think about it.

The horses stayed in today because of the temperatures. No problem with that, they tend to get silly outdoors on days like this when it's super cold. Plus, I certainly sympathize with the barn folks, who I'm sure don't want to do the back-and-forth, back-and-forth of turnout in this weather.

So what DO I do when the temps drop?

1. Have a heckuva grooming session. When it's really cold Bestie tends to get the spa treatment with three rounds of currying (mitt, gelly scrubber, and rubber massager), brushing, and then some argan oil leave-in conditioner in her mane and tail.

2. Hand walk. I find hand walking kind of boring, but necessary to give her some movement and a change of scenery from her stall when there's no turnout. Sometimes we'll do serpentines or smaller and smaller circles just to mix it up a bit. About 15 minutes is my limit. If no one else is in the indoor, I'll let her off the lead to wander around and roll. When it's super cold like today, we hand walk in the barn aisle. Typically not too many people are out in weather like this, so the aisle is free. This afternoon they had just fed hay, and she got a lucky score of some of the 2nd cut "salad" that had fallen in the aisle. Bestie the vacuum.

3. Add warm water to her bucket. Whenever it's chilly, I'll clean out her water bucket and then fill it half way with warm water before filling it the rest of the way with the usual tap water. It ends up somewhat lukewarm, and I have to say that when I do this, she *always* takes a drink as soon as I'm done filling it. So I think she likes it. And it's good to encourage her to drink since they get extra hay when they're stuck indoors. Keeps her system moving.

4. Make a bran mash. I haven't done this yet this winter. One winter I made Dude and Bestie bran mashes every Sunday. I bought her a special bran mix for Christmas, but Christmas Day was so warm I never made it. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow (which is supposed to be even colder than today).

5. Hang out in her stall. Our barn is an old dairy barn with a low ceiling, and when the doors are shut it tends to stay pretty warm inside - typically around 40 degrees. It's plenty warm to just sit in the stall and watch her eat hay. I love being in the barn when it's quiet and you can hear all the horses munching. It's very peaceful.

6. Cancel my lesson. Regretfully, because I missed last week being out of town. But my personal comfort zone for riding is about 20 degrees and warmer. Plus, it doesn't seem very kind to her to ride when it's colder than that.

The good news is that we've only got one more day of this, and then Monday is in the 20s, and Tuesday is in the 40s. Those will be riding days, for sure.