Stella's First Day's Progress

Today was Stella's first full day at home, and she is going to be a great horse. She is curious and intelligent and eager to please. She cleans up really nice, too!

and yes, she had plenty of hay in a perfectly nice hay tub, but the little bits scattered around the ground were apparently tastier.

I hadn't brushed her mane yet when I took this headshot, but look at that sweet face!

We had left Stella in the round pen over night, but I was hopeful that we could get her to lead over to a space across from the round pen that is a sort of outdoor paddock that is shaded all day by trees. Well, within an hour of working with her this morning I had brushed her all over and loved on her, then we set about learning to lead around the round pen.

I brought along a halter and lead rope that used to belong to my sweet Thoroughbred filly V when she was a baby. It fit Stella much better than the rope halter I tried on her yesterday.

Stella was rather resistant at first, and we just went around in tight circles as I leaned into her enough to get her feet to move. I had tried leading her forward, and she was having none of it. She planted her feet and refused to move. She didn't fight or try to back away, but she wasn't going forward either. After just a few circles of me leaning into her, she got easier to move. After a few more circles in the other direction, she took a few steps forward.

Once Stella got praised for her forward movement, she got leading figured out pretty quickly. The fact that her reward for success was hay waiting for her after each circuit or two seemed to encourage her greatly.

After Stella was relatively comfortable leading we decided to try to cross from the round pen to the paddock, since it was getting late into the morning and was heating up quickly. Mom used a spare fence panel as a barrier so Stella couldn't get out of our little area, and we opened both the paddock and the round pen doors.

Stella was unsure about being led out of the round pen, and we took a few more circuits leading around the pen, trying the door each time. On the third try, after thoroughly examining the doorway, Stella calmly walked through and into the larger yard.

Stella got a little dancy between the round pen and the paddock, and did not want to get close enough to mom and the spare fence panel to go into the gate we had opened in the paddock. Fortunately, there are two gates into the paddock and she wasn't dancing around so much that I couldn't hold her lead with one hand and open the gate with the other. Once the gate was open Stella followed me into the paddock with no hesitation. We closed the gates and I took off her halter to let her explore her new space.

We soon discovered that Stella likes water. Her water bucket (a low, wide, really hard to tip over sort) was empty when we got to the stable this morning, and I thought that maybe she had gotten bouncy overnight and tipped it somehow. I was wrong. Once Stella found the tub of water in her new space, she quickly began pawing and splashing in it. When she went around the paddock at a walk, exploring her space, she seemed to quite intentionally and purposefully splash down into that tub and went on as if nothing had happened. Oh well, we left her to play in her water and munch hay and settle into her new space.

We went back in the evening as the temperatures dropped a bit and worked with Stella for another hour or so. This time both mom and Raven came with me. Stella doesn't really seem to care who is coming to say hello outside her fence, she will stick her nose out to greet everyone.

This time I decided to see how far she would let me go in playing with her. The answer was really far! I pet Stella all over and never found anywhere from her ears to her tail that she even twitched about being touched. She let me drape myself over her back and scratch on both sides of her at once. She let me comb her mane and forelock, and even her tail.

Then I decided to really push my luck and try picking up her feet. With just a little jerking of her legs, Stella let me pick up both of her front feet and tap all over them with the hoof pick. She jerked her back feet a bit more, and I had to take a rather severe tone with her before she would stop (fairly gently) kicking a bit with her back right leg and let me hold her foot up. But in the end she let me pick up all four feet, and this was just her first day!

She also led up and down the paddock without issue, and even backed up for me repeatedly and for at least five steps each time.

All in all today was an outstanding success! Stella is going to be a wonderful mare and riding partner. She is an astoundingly willing and intelligent little filly.