A Man on a Brown Horse

I discovered a fear of Stella's today. Up until today she has been sensible about almost everything (with the exception of cars starting up right beside her, but I completely understand that one). Today there was a situation that she was not sensible about, and it took Mom and I a moment to figure out why Stella was reacting so strongly.

There was a good amount of activity going on around the stable this evening. There was a lesson going on in the indoor arena. There were two riders on brown horses in the outdoor arena. The fact the horses were brown will be important. 

Mom and I decided to take Stella out to the grass pasture to let her graze and see if either of the two arenas opened up while we were out there. Now, the grass pasture shares a fence line with the outdoor arena. Not a problem, Stella likes the grass on the other side of the pasture best anyway.

Well, walking out to the pasture Stella was pretty antsy. She had to stop and take a good long look at the two riders in the outdoor arena. I understand that, she has only seen one other person riding in there before. In several previous experiences of Stella's there has been a woman riding a white horse around the arena. Stella has watched this woman ride around, but has not shown any great concern, just interest. But these two riders really got Stella's attention and she wanted to hustle past them at a quick walk, keeping an eye on them the whole time.

We got into the grass pasture fine and Stella took a few bites. Then the man on the brown horse in the outdoor arena began to lope. Stella's head shot up, her eyes showed white, and she ran circles around me, spinning to face the riders as quick as she could every time. Stella was scared. Really scared. She didn't try to pull away hard (there was some pulling, just not what I know she is capable of), but she circled me. Once she took a kick in my general direction when I wasn't running with her, as though she was trying to get me to move and run away too. I held my ground and she stopped circling and stood stock still staring at the man on the brown horse as he went around the arena.

It occurred to Mom first. All of Stella's experiences with men on brown horses running are probably bad. There were almost certainly men on brown horses there chasing her and her herd when she was captured. It was probably a man on a brown horse that cut her away from her dam and her herd. It was men on brown horses who cut her out and drove her into the trailer when I adopted her. Men on brown horses are dangerous to her. They do bad things. They destroyed her world and took away everyone and everything she cared about. Men on brown horses have hurt her and chased her and scared her repeatedly for her whole life. After I realized that I understood her fear of men on brown horses.

We spent at least 10 minutes in the grass pasture, and by the end of the time the riders had stopped running around the arena and were standing at the far gate, and Stella settled down to eat grass, but always with an eye or ear monitoring the man on the brown horse.

Stella was still a bit dancy when we led out of the pasture, and Mom and I decided that she'd had enough excitement for the evening. She certainly got her heart rate up (and mine too).

Back in her stall Stella got brushed and groomed and her feet picked. The farrier was out to do the hooves of one of the other boarders and I went down to see if he had an old rasp he would part with (The stable owner said that he might, since he just throws them away when they get worn down). I want to get Stella used to getting her feet worked on more than just getting picked out. The farrier was working and so I went back up to be with Stella again, figuring on going down when he was finished.

Then the owner went into the barn with the farrier from the lesson she had been giving, so I got in the car an we headed home. I am trying to interact as little as possible with the stable owner. Apparently everything I say or do, especially when I ask a question or voice a concern, is a complaint, and she will kick me and Stella out if we complain about anything more, so my current plan is just to keep my head down, my mouth shut, and avoid interacting with her at all costs and the rest of the staff as much as possible.

Stable Issues

Well, I didn't get kicked out of the stable where I'm boarding Stella. Almost, but not quite. Now, the stable owner has decided "we'll give it another month and see." Apparently Mom and I complain too much. So now we just need to keep our heads down and avoid interacting with the owner or anyone else at the stable for any reason whatsoever, and maybe Stella will get to stay.

Right, there was a rant after this, but it's not worth the risk.

So yeah, really shitty day at the stable. Here's a picture of my sweet little Stella eating grass:

Stella's Weekend with Raven

Raven got a full time instructor position at a community college, where he teaches Monday through Thursday and doesn't get home until about 10pm. This has done two things: 1) I have become the primary cook during the week [I have started blogging about my cooking adventures here], and 2) Raven only gets to come out and play with Stella on Friday and the weekend. Since he gets to see Stella so much less, we spent this weekend making his time with her count as much as we could.

Normally, I take Stella out and work her in the arena while Raven watches from the side. Not this weekend. This weekend I was the one watching while Raven worked with Stella. He even got her to trot around the arena with him the first day! I can hardly get her to trot more than once and even then not for a whole circuit of the arena.

Raven also took Stella out to the grass pasture for a few minutes of munching and relaxing. This pasture is entirely for enjoyment, not for work. The whole point is to stand around and eat grass.

It only took her one visit to this pasture for it to become her new favorite place. Now, after just two days, when we start to head that direction her ears perk up and she gets a bounce in her step. She really likes this pasture!

Grass! And a New Halter

So, as I understand it, Stella as a Mustang isn't supposed to get anything but grass hay and alfalfa, and whatever they find out at pasture. No oats, no carrots, nothing like that. Her stomach digests differently than a truly domestic horse I guess, more used to all-day foraging instead of scheduled feedings.

I have a hard time not giving my horse something special. So I thought about what I could give her that would be ok. And I decided on fresh grass in a watered pasture. From what I have read online turn out time in a pasture is just fine, as long as the Mustang gets eased into it, since they might not have had any access to fresh grass when they were in the BLM facilities. Besides, Stella loves finding all sorts of weeds along our walking route, so I figured she would like getting grass even more.

The stable has a turn-out pasture that they water every night so it has green grass growing even in August. This isn't manicured grass either, this is wildish clumpy grass that seems to only be mowed down by the horses who go out into the pasture to munch it.

I took Stella out to this pasture for just 5 minutes of munching. I don't want her to make herself sick on fresh grass. She was quite happy to get to eat fresh grass, as you can see. After her 5 minutes she was fine following me back out of the pasture, and she didn't even pull much to get to the weeds that she usually tries to go for along our walk.

Stella's lack of pulling may come from the fact that she pulled me down again (sort of) yesterday, so I put a new halter on her. I say "sort of" because she pulled away and took off and I actually did let go in time, but then I stepped in a hole, rolled my ankle, and fell down. It was stormy, and Stella's feed bin was empty, and she was pissed off. I guess she figured that the first time she pulled away it had worked, so she would try it again.

You may notice that the halter she has on in this picture is blue, while her other one was red(ish). This is a rope halter called a Be Nice. It is designed with knobby bits across the top and the whole thing tightens up if she pulls back hard. It's not enough to cause pain of course, but it is enough to be uncomfortable. As soon as she stops pulling back it loosens up again and is a nice loose halter once more.

Stella did in fact try pulling away from Mom the next time we took her out after she got away from me the second time, but Mom kept a tight hold of her. Stella seemed startled and disappointed by the fact her pull-away trick didn't work. I switched her to the new halter anyway, since my little filly is too smart to think that just because she can't get away from one person means she can't get away from anyone. 

We'd had the Be Nice for decades now, having gotten both a Medium and a Large for our horse Sam, not knowing what size he would need. He took the Large, and Stella fits the Medium. It still had its tags on. We didn't use the Be Nice for the control factor on Sam as he was old and couldn't be bothered to spook or get jumpy anymore, but it is also really easy to take on and off compared to other halters. We just flipped the knobby bits over so they didn't press on his neck. Sam seemed to appreciate not having to fuss about getting his halter on and off for more than a second or two. Stella also seems to appreciate how fast it comes on and off, and hasn't shown any more or less willingness to get this halter put on than the old one.

Damage Report

If you get dragged to the ground by a run-away horse you were leading, its your own fault. You should have let go sooner.

Today, I didn't let go in time. I didn't even try to let go in time. I tried to hang on. I had a sudden, painful meeting with the gravel. My fault. Both of my elbows and knees attest to the fact the falling hard and getting dragged by a horse across gravel sucks. I also managed to tear the left knee of my jeans straight across from seam to seam. I mean, those jeans were feeling a bit big and I was coming to terms with having to get rid of them, but I didn't need Stella's help with the decision.

(I will not be posting pictures of my injuries, because gross. Instead, you get more pictures of my cute filly.)

In my own opinion, gravel around horses sucks and is not a great idea. It gets stuck in their hooves, they don't really like working on it, and it tears the heck out of human clothing and flesh when we are inevitably brought into sharp, sudden contact with it. I can speak from experience, getting dragged by a horse across dirt and grass is far more comfortable than gravel. It causes much less scarring and requires few bandages afterwards.

Why did I get dragged across gravel, you may ask. Well, there were a ton of people at the stable when Mom and I showed up, but they were all down in the outdoor arena with their horses. So we decided to take Stella out and just walk around the drive surrounding the barn. While we were doing this, all the people and their horses came up to our side of the barn to a big trailer that was parked there. 

So Stella and I went around to the other side of the barn. We didn't go into the indoor arena because it was still set up with a bunch of stuff from whatever the group had been doing. We didn't go into the outdoor arena because a man brought two horses down and was working one in the round pen and had tied the other up to the hitching post right beside the outdoor arena. I didn't want Stella to spook his horses if she ran around in the arena. So we walked around a bit. I figured that folks would have to unsaddle and load their horses into that big trailer before they came to our side of the barn.

I was wrong. They just left their horses tied up around the trailer, came to our side of the barn, jumped in their cars, and several of them started up at once before I had time to walk Stella out of the way. A bit of frustration here, since we were between them and the way out. Were they planning on driving through us? Anyway, Stella spooked at the multiple cars revving up around her, bolted, and I - like a dummy - held on. I was afraid that she would head for the gate to the stable, which was open, and then who knew where she would go. There's a big road out there, with fast cars.

 I need not have worried. Stella just ran as far as the barn door (which were were beside, so maybe 40 feet) and began nibbling nervously on a bush. She was spooked and she was jittery, but she knew she wasn't supposed to run away. One of the women in the cars turned her car off and got out, asking if I needed help. Lying in the gravel, I replied "I need my horse!" as I picked myself up to go to Stella. My good little filly was nervous and probably afraid she would be in trouble, but fortunately she seems to want to eat when she gets nervous (we have that in common). Stella let the nice woman she had never seen before get her lead rope, which I took (I don't think I thanked her, but in my defense I was in a good amount of pain and still evaluating to see if anything was broken). Stella and I waited in the barn while people drove away, then we walked (she walked, I hobbled) back to her stall. Stubborn as I am, I held Stella while Mom picked her hooves, and I groomed her mane while Mom brushed her. Only then did I submit to the pain in my knees and elbows and go to the car to clean myself up and assess the damage.

It was not pretty. I took a few painkillers on the way home. We came home and I went straight into the shower to scrub at my road rash and cut away a few hanging bits of flesh. Then we put on antibiotics and bandaged everything up. I'm pretty sure nothing is broken, although my left knee is a bit swollen. I will definitely be sore in the morning.

Color Questions

So, Stella looks brown. You can tell that from all the pictures of her that I post. She looks brown. In her BLM listing, she is listed as black. But I find myself wondering if Stella is going to stay a brown horse. She has bits of white coming on, and they seem to be increasing as the weeks go by.

Stella's freeze mark is of course white, because its a freeze mark. I took a picture of it, but I know that it doesn't really count as part of her coloring, since that is just the way freeze marks look.

Her star doesn't really count either, but it does show that she has natural white in her system. Her expression in this picture is not that she is annoyed, or even asleep. It is a look of resting after utter pleasure. Raven is much better at scratching her, as he has more mass to put behind the effort, and Stella will lean into you as much as she can when she is really into getting scratched.

This picture is a close-up of Stella's shoulder. It is a bit hard to see, but all through her coat she is getting a peppering of white. It is most pronounced at her shoulders and along her flanks.

This is the cutest bit of white for me. Yes, for a horse pic this might be racy, but its cute! Stella has these two little patches of white that fan out from the rear middle of her belly. My cat Emily has the same thing, and she has a few flecks of white in her black coat as well.

I just wonder if Stella is going to stay a brown horse. She has black patches too, mainly on her rump, and as you can tell from her shoulder picture her brown is not at all uniform. Stella has some Arabian in her lineage as apparent from her physical look and movement (especially her face and her tail when she runs), so a color change would not be out of the question. Sam was a half Desert Arabian half Saddle-bred, and he started brown with a blaze, but turned solid white as he aged. Mo was a Russian Arabian, and when we got him at 3 years old he was solid black, but turned a light grey with a darker mane by the time he passed.

So, I wonder. What color will my little Stella be when she grows up? I love her no matter what color she is, but it is interesting to think that I might just have a color-changing horse.

Progress!

Stella finally trotted with me! I have been trying and trying to get her to do someone other than walk (or dance and try to bolt), but no matter how fast I have gone, she always just walks. Sometimes she walks really fast, but she hasn't trotted with me before.

The speed at which Stella normally leads. Yes, I know, I'm waddling, but the dirt in the arena is REALLY thick and loose! If I take her to the beach we should both be fine on the soft sand.

We did not get any video of her trotting, but I am sure we will get it again before long. True, I only got her to do it once so far, and since then we have been back to me trotting and her walking, but it should be easier to get her to do it the second time now that she knows that trotting is what I want her to do.

Normal leading, nice and relaxed, but slow and steady.

This week Stella has also been learning "Gee" and "Haw" for "turn right" and "turn left." She is already pretty good at it, and if she is in a good mood she responds to the voice command without me having to pull or push on her at all.

Stella in search of a good place to roll.

I have also learned that if there is not hay in Stella's bin when I take her out, she is going to be distracted by weeds and a bit of a brat. She is not at all bad, but if she is hungry (meaning she was not actively eating within the past half hour or so) she gets stubborn and tries to insist on going to the nearest patch of weeds to eat. She has gotten more insistent this week about trying to get her own way. This is not working for her, but I fear my little filly is beginning to enter her teenage you-can't-tell-me-what-to-do phase. If this is as bad as it gets, I'm fine with that, because even when she is being a brat she is not aggressive or purposefully mean.

"You called? Whatcha want?"

The look she gives in this picture is the most I have gotten from her in responding to me whistling. If she is not trying to eat weeds through the arena fence she might stop and look at me. I haven't gotten her to come to me yet. In a normal horse I would be tempted to have a treat in my pocket to reward (and bribe) her for coming to me. I have read that Mustangs shouldn't get treats because their digestive systems aren't set up to handle it, so her reward for good behavior has been getting scratched and pet. Not that she complains, since she stretches her neck out and makes happy faces when she gets scratched most anywhere at all. Besides, it is good that Stella views contact with and love from her people as her reward, not treats and bribes.

Silly Filly

This morning Stella greeted us with a rather unpleasant surprise: She had skinned up both of her front feet just above her hooves. Plus, she had rubbed off a small fistful of her mane. This was the second day in a row to find her with a fistful of mane that she has rubbed off. From what Mom and I can tell, Stella has rubbed her mane off by reaching for weeds outside of her paddock fence (it is a round metal fence, so she has to have been working pretty hard). She has pushed so hard on that section of fence that it now needs the ground below its middle legs built back up because she has loosened them. The fence is still fine and structurally sound, it just moves a few inches now if you push on it.

Tasty weeds, almost out of reach.

The skinned bit on her feet we can only figure comes from Stella being so exploratory with her front feet. Mom and I scoured her paddock and found nothing at all she could scrape her feet on, unless she was stepping into her hay trough with both front feet. It is about as tall as my leg, but her legs are longer than mine, so I guess she can get a foot in it. She just had some difficulty getting her feet back out. At least, that is the only way we could figure for her to hurt herself.

See? A Nice corner feed bin. Not sure why she apparently needs to stand in it.

On her walk-abouts today we went into the indoor arena and worked on leading, stopping, backing up, and other such basic groundwork. Both morning and evening Stella and I ended in the outdoor arena. She gets antsier in this arena, and I suppose for good reason, although I still make her behave and walk with me before I let her run around. But this arena is where she gets let off lead to run around, and now to roll, so I can understand where she wants to go play once she gets out into this space. Stella rolled yesterday morning, and both morning and evening today. She is quite comfortable now and at ease in the space.

Honest, that dust cloud is Stella having a grand time rolling about in the dirt.

After a good roll Stella takes at least one good run around the arena, happily squealing and kicking, bouncing and farting. She is good about coming down from her enthusiasm quickly and easily, and has never given me any problems hooking her back up once she is done bouncing about. I am working on getting her to come to me when I whistle. She has progressed to looking at me and maybe sauntering my way. Eventually this response will get more prompt. 

A good run about after a roll.

I wonder if I can teach Stella to shake off the dust after a good roll. She has only gotten in a good shake once so far, and her running doesn't take off nearly enough of the dust before I have to brush her and thus transfer all that dust from her to me. The dogs both shake on command, surely you can train a horse to do that too. Of course, then she might shake like that after a bath, helping me get just as wet as her. Hmm . . . well, maybe I'll need to weigh the pros and cons of teaching her that trick a bit more.

Stella is Getting Comfortable

Stella is finally comfortable enough in her surroundings at the stable to lay down and roll. And boy did she roll! Yesterday she rolled 14 times (and two halves)! Stella lay down as a darkish bay, when she stood back up she was a dun! Fortunately after she got up Stella ran around the outside arena for a bit and had a good shake, which brought her back closer to her normal color. That was yesterday, and we gave her a good brushing when we brought her in, but she is still turning dusty colors when we rub on her after another brushing this morning.

Stella makes funny faces when she gets scratched and pet.

Today was almost 100 degrees, so we went into the indoor arena to work. there is a long lead rope in the arena for folks to use, so I switched her to that and we started working on her coming when I whistle. This of course only works if she doesn't start following me when I go away from her anyway, but we got it a few times where she was distracted by her reflection or something outside.

Stella is learning to come to a whistle

Stella is generally leading really well now. There was a brief incident yesterday when a horse decided to suddenly chase a cat, and Stella danced around me a few times, but that was not her fault and she wasn't bad about it, and she settled back down and walked with me again right away.

I am so pleased with this little filly. She is so smart, and picks up on things so fast. Her only real sticking point is food. If there is food in her bin she gets a bit testy if she is not allowed to eat it at will. We are working on that. 

When I decided to adopt a Mustang, and when I was looking for a stable and transport for her, I got a whole lot of dire warnings about Mustangs. "They're dangerous," "they're unpredictable," "you can never trust them," "they don't like to be touched and handled," "they're not like normal horses," "they're wild, you'll never really get it tamed," and other such ideas and sentiments regarding mustangs. Well, so far, if Stella is indicative of what Mustangs are like, they are incredible, wonderful animals. 

The freezemark of a Mustang

I have heard the same sorts of things about Arabians, and I grew up with Arabians. I love Arabians, and if you are good to them they will love you back with all their heart. Maybe Mustangs, like Arabians, just don't take well to being ignored, neglected, or treated like a tool instead of a living creature. They demand respect and love, and if they get that, they will be a wonderful companion to person and a happy member of their human herd.

Stella's First Mail!

Today in the mail I got a wonderful card from my talented Aunt Suzie. She hand makes cards, and they are always a joy to receive. Each one is unique. This particular one is I think rather unique even in the world of unique handmade cards.

Stella got an adoption card! (how many horses get an adoption card? So neat!)

Personalized just for her!

I admit, I did not take the card with me to show to Stella when I went to the stable. Odds are, she would try to eat it.

Stella and I went for a walk-about this morning, checking out areas she does not always visit. I am trying to go to different places in a different order every day, so she does not get into the habit of going anywhere in particular, and instead just walks nicely with me wherever we go. Stella is getting the idea that she does not get to dictate where we go or when we stop. I can tell that this still frustrates her sometimes, and she flipped her ears back and planted her feet for a few seconds a couple of times today when I wouldn't let her stop to eat a weed as we passed. But she always gave up and walked on with only a slight resistance, and I'm hoping that soon she will walk with me without trying to stop at all. Most of the time anymore she leads right at my shoulder, and is fairly responsive to when I change directions without my having to pull on the lead rope.

The stable was getting in a large load of hay during our evening session, and Stella was rather distracted by all the noise and moving of trucks and such. We wandered down into the indoor arena for a little and she checked out her reflection again. She has checked it out both times we have gone in, it is rather cute. She watches herself approach and walks right up to nose the glass. After a few seconds she seems to figure out that the horse she is seeing is herself (or at least that she can't actually touch it) and loses interest, ready to continue walking around the arena.

We cut our evening excursion short since there was so much distracting activity around and it was making her a bit antsy. I did try to turn her out to bounce around the outdoor arena, but once again she only wanted pet, or else to go back to her stall. I think perhaps she came to me as a safe person to be with during all the noise and activity of the trucks. Once in her stall she was fairly relaxed, and let me pick up all four feet without any issues on the front legs and only a little jerking on the back legs. (Back legs are harder for a horse to pick up, so it takes a horse a bit longer to figure out how to stand and not fall over when you have ahold of their back foot. Thus, when they are first learning, the back feet are always a bit harder.)

On the way home from the morning session, Raven, Mom, and I went by the feed store to get them both sets of gloves (I bought a set before I even won the bit on 4590). Both sessions (and yesterday too!) Raven came into Stella's paddock with me to groom and pet on her. He is getting more and more comfortable with her, and she seems to quite like him. I am so glad that they get along, and that his first horse to learn to handle is such an exceptional and friendly little filly.

Home Again

We are back! Raven and I took a quick trip to Oregon to see folks back home. While we were there they had a Music Party, which is a wonderful event where people get together and bring their instruments (if they want to) and sing songs (or just listen, and maybe clap along) late into the night. There is food, there is wine, beer, and sundry other beverages (including of course Scotch). There is above all good company and a wonderful time to be had by all. I hadn't known what a music party was before I met Raven, and now I am addicted to the whole experience (although I very rarely subject others to my "singing" voice, in which songs are generally somewhere in the key of Q). It was good to go and see people, and now it is good to be home.

"Hi there"

We got in late last night, so the stable was closed (and I was exhausted). Mom, Raven, and I all went this morning to see Stella. She was not even mad at me for being gone, and we fell back into rhythm as though I hadn't been away from her for almost as long as I have been with her (both being about a week). Mom has been working with her every day while Raven and I were away, and she was quite well behaved both this morning and tonight.

"Look Mom, no lead rope! I'm still gonna just walk with you, ok?"

Both sessions Stella and I wandered all over the stable. I led her through the barn a few times (which was new to her). I think she likes it on the concrete floor, since her pace and foot pickup changed when she was inside and her ears perked up. If she was a Paso Fino I would suspect that she liked the sound of her hooves on the concrete. I worked at a Paso Fino stable for two years, and one of the babies who came while I worked there particularly liked going down to trot across the sounding board. If she was a human child she would have loved a drum set for Christmas (given by a relative who lived far, far away).

(As the scuffs on her face from before we got her heal, they are showing up more on the camera. But they are also regrowing hair, so I don't think she is going to have any scars from her pre-adopted life.)

Stella also apparently likes the taste of the floor, since once we stopped inside and she began to lick the floor. But then again, Stella seems to like the taste of everything. She explores the world with her mouth. Whenever she can reach something new, it must be tasted. Two horses were getting bathed when I had Stella out this evening, and we stopped to watch. She was not entirely sure about the spraying water, but that didn't keep her from approaching close enough to taste the water on the concrete wash pad. When I let her off lead in the arena this evening she began to happily munch on the dirt in the arena. So I hooked her back up and we had more leading time instead of free time.

"Yeah, I could run around the arena, but I' gonna just stand right here. Pet me?"

And all weeds must be eaten. ALL OF THEM. She leads fairly well now, but a particularly tall or tasty-looking weed still makes her pause and try to grab a bite in passing. We're working on that. She always has hay and water available in her stall, and she has a mineral block that she is working on sculpting, so I don't think that she is short on anything in her diet. She just wants to consume the entire world, one lick and nibble at a time.

Boarding Tribulations

As I am not home, I can only report what Mom has told me about what Stella has done. And today, she did not do much. It was already in the mid-70s when mom went to the stable this morning, and Stella didn't feel like running around at all in the arena. So they walked around a bit, then headed back to the stall for some grooming time. No complaints from Stella over getting pet and rubbed on without having to do much work first.

Stella didn't feel like playing with her ball.

This evening the woman who runs the stable told Mom that they had found Stella standing with both feet in the automatic waterer, so they are going to put a barricade up to keep her from putting her feet in her water again. I texted to make sure that they let us know when they want to do this so we can come and take Stella out while they are working. I don't need to come home to my filly having more mystery injuries after strangers have been in handling her again. I also want to have Mom there to make sure that Stella can still access her water once the barricade is up. When the barricade was there in the beginning it was set up for a mature gelding and was too tall to let little Stella her get her head over the barricade to get a drink. Allowing Stella constant comfortable access to clean water is more important to me than having to clean the water container more often than the apparent current schedule of once a week.

It's also troubling that the horse who has been put into the paddock next to Stella since I have been gone is apparently a bully. Mom says that when she brought Stella back to her paddock this morning and they went out to get a drink, the neighbor horse ran out and tried to chase Stella away from the water. Need to make sure he can't successfully deter Stella from drinking when someone isn't in the stall with Stella to block him and keep him away from biting at Stella when she tries to get a drink.

Those were the problems of the morning. The evening got worse.

I guess the stable owner lectured Mom this evening on how she was leading Stella. Mom had been leading Stella around the barn instead of going to the arena, since that was where Stella had headed for as soon as she came out of her paddock rather than listening to Mom who was leading her. We don't want to get her into the habit of always heading to the arena when she comes out of her paddock. She needs to follow us, not try to dictate where she gets to go.

There were other people around, and dogs, and cats, and other horses being led about, so Mom had Stella on a shorter lead than she gets when she is leading without distractions. The stable owner apparently decided that Mom was holding Stella's lead too close and not giving enough distance on the lead rope and needed corrected. Now, Mom has spent her entire life around horses. I don't care how much experience the stable owner has, and I don't care that she gives lessons. I don't think the fact that we are boarding our horse with her gives her the right to lecture us on how we are walking our horse, how it is wrong, and how we should be doing it. Mom hadn't asked for help and hadn't been in need of assistance. The owner may have only meant to be helpful, but she ended up being insulting and belittling by lecturing someone who wasn't having any trouble with her horse, and hadn't asked for an opinion or assistance.

We shall see how tomorrow goes with the water issue. Then we will see how the rest of the weekend and the following week goes. While there are certainly things I like about this stable, there are also things that are problematic for me. Unfortunately, there are not many other stables near Pocatello that fit the BLM requirements for stabling and stall space. Hopefully interpersonal relations at the stable will settle down and things will go smoothly again. To be honest, everything was fine when we first brought Stella home and the owner was away on a trail ride. It has only been since she got back that there has been friction. Somehow it has felt like because we pay to board our horse at this stable, the owner feels like she has the right to do with our horse whatever she wants and tell us how to handle her. That is not part of the boarding agreement.

Such a pretty girl.

Sorry for the rant, but I am away from my new horse and getting reports that the situation I left her in - which I thought was at least decent, though not perfect, and which I just wrote the check for to pay for August's boarding (although the check has not yet been deposited) - is turning out to be problematic. Mom says it feels like this owner is trying to find a reason to kick us out, and maybe if she gives us enough problems and messes with Stella enough we might give up and leave on our own instead. I hope this is not the case. We shall see how things go, and how things continue once I get home. Here's hoping this has just been a hiccup and things will settle back down and begin to be comfortable and pleasant.

Visiting Back Home

Hello all!

Raven and I have gone back to Oregon for the weekend to visit his parents, sister and brother-in-law and their son, and his grandma. I visited Stella Wednesday morning, then we came home, packed the car and hit the road.

Mom is taking care of Stella while we are away. Since Stella is our horse, not just my horse, it is good that Mom and Stella get bonding time. I told Mom that she was not allowed to take Stella out and about if there was no one else at the stable. There were people around for the morning session, so Mom took Stella out to the arena for some leading and then some free play time.

Yesterday Stella didn't leave the side of whoever was in the arena with her. With or without the lead rope, she stayed glued right beside whoever was there with her, no matter where in the arena we went.

Today, she decided that she could have a good run about again. She is so pretty when she runs. And she tracks nice and straight, and doesn't seem to clip herself with her hooves or anything.

Since there was no one else at the stable this evening, Mom spent about 20 minutes in the paddock with Stella grooming and brushing her. And they even got a selfie!

The new thing for this week was Stella getting introduced to fly spray. We didn't start with a spray bottle with water in it, although I thought about it. Mom just sprayed her down on both sides with the fly spray. Just a few spritzes, but hopefully enough to provide Stella with a bit of relief from the flies. She wasn't too sure about the citronella smell of the spray and backed away a bit at first, but only a few side steps, then she decided that it wasn't worth the effort and stood still just fine.

Hi! Can I have the camera?

This whole week will just be spent on reinforcing the lessons that Stella has already learned.