Footsie

Yesterday the farrier came (an hour late), I longed Starbuck a little first and she was a little lame in the right front leg at the trot-- I'm guessing she's been acting up in her paddock and slipped in the mud but if it's not better by the weekend I'll call the vet.  The farrier said he couldn't see any problem and Marina said she was running around like a crazy person this morning, so I'm not too worried.  I've also checked her legs and shoulders for any hotspots or sensitivity and can't find anything... hoping it'll just go away.

Anyhow she behaved way worse than the last time (which was also the first time!) she had her hooves trimmed which I was really surprised and disappointed by, since I'd been really pleased lately with how well she gives me her hooves.  She snatched her hoof out of his hands and even reared once when he was doing her front hooves and kept kicking out when he tried to do her right rear hoof-- luckily my farrier is the most patient and chilled out guy on the planet (even for a Spaniard he's seriously laid back) so he just took his time, picking it up with a rope so she could struggle without hurting anyone and without being able to get her foot away and then trying again with his hand but she wasn't going for it.  

At first she was really nervous and freaked out, but then I could tell it was more of an attitude thing, like what I was talking about the other day.  Anyhow after a while he moved on to the left rear foot which she let him trim with no trouble at all, then moved back to the right one but there was just no way.  In the end after lots of repetition he was able to lift the hoof with his hand several times but nothing else and we agreed to leave it until Friday, when he's coming back to shoe another horse at my stable.  So she's still got one raggedy hoof, but at least she hasn't had a traumatic experience with the farrier.  I'm really stepping up my leadership and trying not to let her get away with stuff but I think in this case we did the right thing.

He says by the way that her hooves are super healthy and textbook shaped which I'm really thrilled about, especially because when I got her they were so overgrown I was worried there might be permanent problems.  Speaking of which, I found an old photo where you can see how ducky they were in August before I started working with her and they started self-exfoliating.  And then the photos from the last hoof-trimming session, tomorrow I'm going to try to remember to take some of those pretty round soles :-) 

Before:

After:

Frustration

It's NOT this warm here right now btw, this is a photo from last summer.

Tried out the new lead rope today.  Starbuck's just starting to go into heat and was a megabrat, and I'm about to start my period and am a megabitch so it was kind of like clash of the clumsy hormonal titans.  At first she did great while we were in the aisles and she was near her buddies but as soon as we got into the parking lot (full of some mildly scary stuff and has good footing so my choice for leading lessons lately) she started acting up. Not just spooking (which there was a fair amount of) and running past me but also lots of dancy prancy stuff, head tossing and bolting in the direction of her friend Coco.  She reminded me of a certain bratty adolescent who used to throw temper tantrums when her parents wouldn't let me... oops, I mean her... go to rock concerts and I realized yet again why I prefer 4 legged children to the 2 legged ones.

I got really pissed off and kept at it until she gave some semblance of being under control, cueing her backward every time she rushed past me-- I think we must have walked half a mile backwards all in all.  And all the time what really bothered me was thinking that if she's going to completely ignore me either way I might as well use a lead rope which is less severe.  But it's the first time I used that rope, it was cold and windy and sunny, she's going into heat, I wasn't in a particularly zen frame of mind... so many reasons for things to go to hell in a handbasket.

So I'll try again tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that.  And bit by bit she'll get better, and if not at least at some point she'll stop being a teenager.  Right, Mom and Dad?

Rainy Day

OK, I know I've been kind of lax on the blog front lately but I've had the flu, that's a good excuse, right?  I actually think that I was a little too productive for a few weeks there and now I have a little writing hangover, so I'm going to keep it short for a few posts.  Anyone who follows me on Twitter will know that for the past few days we've had some really rainy weather-- too muddy and slippery to do much work.  So I've pretty much just been doing some tack cleaning and hanging out in the bar where there's a wood burning stove and they make you thick spanish hot chocolate for a euro.

Both yesterday and today Virginia and I have walked Starbuck and Coco out to a newly cleared field so they could get out of their paddocks and get a little exercise-- yesterday we just set them loose and let them run and graze but today I longed Starbuck a little while Coco was grazing nearby to remind her that it's not always playtime when the two of them are together... at first she was pretty rebellious but a few changes of direction had her licking her lips and dropping her head and at that point I stopped her and let her go play with her friend.

Marina the barn owner has lent me a new lead line, it's the one recommended for young horses by Linda Tellington-Jones-- it's like a chain lead to be used over the nose but with a thin rope instead of a chain.  We'll see how it goes, I think I need to stop worrying about possibly hurting her and more about stepping up and being a confident leader.

Anyhow here are some random photos from today:

Barn kitty napping between my alfalfa and my hay- nice and dry under the plastic sheeting :-)

Another cute shot of bar kitty with Starbuck getting a little wet while she eats her mid-morning snack.

And another one... Cute!

It's kind of hard to tell but that's SNOW on the Tramuntana mountains- first time I've seen snow here in Mallorca!

This is the kind of food we eat at my stable-- lobster stew.  Not bad for 8€, huh?