Today went well, with one exception. In the evening I tried to lead Stella into the round pen and she adamantly refused. I didn't really need her to go in there, but she isn't allowed to say no when I tell her to do something. So, we pushed and pulled at each other for several minutes before she finally caved in and walked in with me. I walked her to the other side of the pen, turned around, and we walked back out again. For all her refusing to go into the pen, she waled back out of it like a pro. Stella has no issues going through doors or gates a polite and calm pace.
"What are you holding? Can I see it? Can I play with it?"
Both morning and evening we took several turns around the stable, wandering over to look at the indoor arena, the manure pile, and all the other horses. We went up to have a look at what is going to be her new stall. It is a space of basically equal size to where she is now, but it has a covered and somewhat enclosed area with a rubber matted floor, as well as an outdoor space. I actually don't like the new space as well as the old one, but it will be nicer for her in the winter when the rain and snow arrives. Where she is now only has trees above it, and while they are great for shade in the summer when they have all their leaves, in the winter bare trees don't do much for rain and snow.
I also worry that she will develop similar issues to this stall as she did to the round pen. They both have gravel as their base, whereas the area she is in now is dirt. I don't think she will have a balking issue, since the gate to the new stall leads into the covered and rubber floored area (and the food), but I will keep an eye on how much she is going outside and hanging out in the outdoor section. That is also where her water is, so I need to know she is comfortable with the footing and drinking well.
The water is the main reason she did not move up to this new space today. All the stables in Pocatello seem to use automatic watering systems, which I am no a fan of, but in this town there is no other choice apparently. The horse who had been in this stall apparently was bent on destroying the automatic waterer, so there is a low panel of fencing between the waterer and the horse space. This was fine for a large gelding, but my little filly is too short to get her head over the fence panel to drink. Also, the water was disgusting. The previous tenant moved out last week, and since the water in the automatic system is always full, it had time to get a top to bottom coating of algae and scum. The stable owner told me to just go ahead and move Stella up there and she would clean the water when she got back later tonight. There is no way I am going to put my horse into a space where she doesn't have access to good clean water. I know she plays in it and has dumped her water out several times so she has been without water until we came to refill it in the morning or evening (depending on when the dumped it and when someone was next there to notice) but at least that was her own fault.
notice the wet ground? That water used to be in her water bucket to drink, but Stella decided she liked it better outside the bucket to make mud.
If the water is cleaned out in the morning I will move Stella up to her new space. If she doesn't like the footing on the outside section up there, I will see if there are other stalls or spaces she can be that have dirt flooring rather than gravel. For now, I think she will be ok. She didn't seem to notice the ground at all when she has been up in that space so far, so maybe it won't be an issue.
Mom and Raven both took turns leading Stella today, and she went with both of them just fine. Which is awesome! I have been her primary person to interact with, so we are also going to work on having her work with and take commands from other people. So far, there seems to be no fall-off in her behavior for others. Her respect elves may be lower for Raven, as she tended to crowd him a bit, and we will need to work on that, but she did everything he told her to just fine.
I love this little filly!
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