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.

Stella Day 6

Stella is doing awesome! I love my little filly!

So, the morning started off with more than a small dose of frustration. Not with Stella. With the stable owner. As I wrote last night, when I was there last evening the water in the paddock Stella was going to move into was both inaccessible to her and covered by algae and thick with slime. So I put Stella back in the paddock she has been staying in since arrival since the owner told me to just put her in the new place anyway and the water would get cleaned out later. Nope, I wasn't leaving my horse in a new place with no water. The last thing I wanted was for her first experience in a new stall to be negative. I would move her in the morning if the water trough had been cleaned.

Well, this morning I got to the stable and Stella wasn't where I had left her. Her paddock was empty. But the doors were closed. So I went up to the place I was supposed to move her up to this morning and she was already there. She also had a new raw and bare patch on her nose, and a cut on her front right foot just above her hoof. Her water was relatively clean, although the trough still had green slime around the rim and the inner seal. Went to talk to the owner about it, and she had no idea how Stella managed to hurt herself, since apparently Stella was an angel for the walk up to the new place (for which she didn't even use Stella's own halter and lead rope, which are both in my assigned container in the tack room). I'm sure that there was just a misunderstanding and the owner must have thought I forgot where she told me to put Stella. And Stella is an awesome horse, so of course she led fine. But still, Stella is a young mustang who has only had positive - or any, really - interactions with people since Thursday afternoon. I am a bit upset about someone who hadn't even seen my horse until yesterday, and who I never introduced to Stella, using her own tack to halter and move my horse without even asking me if  it was ok or if I minded. A good many mustangs would not be trustworthy for a stranger to pick up and lead around at this early point in their training.

I believe that Stella walked well even with a stranger because she is a truly amazing filly, but I am frustrated that she picked up two mystery injuries between the time I left her last night and when I got there this morning, when she hadn't hurt herself at all before that since I have had her. And the owner is a nice, no-nonsense woman who teaches lessons with many of the clients and horses at the stable, so I am sure she knows what she is doing.

Oh well, Stella is none the worse for it as far as I can tell, except for a few scrapes and balking going into this new paddock. Whether that means the first introduction was stressful of not, I'm not sure. I had led her up there twice before, and she never balked going in before. She was also not eager to get out of that space before, and today she wanted to get out the gate before I could even get her halter on both in the morning and in the evening. Maybe she just doesn't like the gravel in the outdoor section of her area. And she is much closer to the other horses than she has been before, and they are all older than her by at least a year.

GAH! OK, rant over. I'm just a bit possessive and defensive of my new horse. I have known of too many good horses that got screwed up by stable owners or trainers who thought they knew more than the horse's owner about how to handle their horse so did whatever they wanted with the horse without consulting or following the wishes of the owner.

No, there is not a missing rail in the fence behind Stella. I know it looks like it. There are some new boards in the fence, so they are not weathered and dark yet.

Today we went again to the outdoor arena. I led Stella around the arena for a few laps, then I decided it was time to let her play. She is such a smart, affectionate little filly that I was pretty sure I would be able to catch her again if I let her off lead.

So, I unclipped her lead rope and walked away. Stella followed me. I changed directions. Stella followed me. I sped up. Stella followed me. We ended up going all the way across the arena and back, wandering around the whole place, with her right by me the whole way. When we got back to a shady spot I could sit and watch from inside the arena, I sat down and gently shooed Stella away. Now, the shooing didn't do a thing, but she did look out at the arena and I could see her thinking about it. Then she walked into the middle of the arena and looked about.

Then Stella exploded.

She ran, she bounced, she ran more. Stella ran from end to end of the arena and back again over and over. Each time she went to the end nearest the other horses she would whinny once (they never answered). Seeing her in full stride, Stella is beautiful. I mean, she has been absolutely adorable and I have loved her from the moment I first saw her. But this was different. Today I saw a glimpse of the mare Stella is going to be when she grows up. And she is beautiful.

No, I didn't get any pictures. I was too distracted being awed by the magnificence of my horse to remember to use my camera. I promise to do better about getting pictures of Stella in full stride next time.

In the evening Mom took a turn leading Stella around the arena, then back to her paddock. Stella was perfectly behaved the whole time, except for a minor balk at her stall door going back in, but that was quickly overcome when she was reminded that her stall was where her hay was. Then she walked right in. This little filly is highly food motivated.

Stella and Mom (and a little it of me)

Once inside Raven took a turn brushing and grooming Stella. It makes me happy that both my Mom and my husband come out to share this filly with me. Stella is our filly, not just mine. And that is an extremely pleasing thought. I think Stella might even like it a little better when Raven uses the knobby currier on her than when I do. Raven can apply more pressure, and this little filly greatly loves her scratches and rubs. It is the rare spot on her that doesn't get her to get her lips working if scratched vigorously.

Stella Day 5

My little filly Stella continues to make good progress. I have decided that for now all I really need her to do is lead, let me touch her all over, let me pick up and work on her feet, and follow basic commands to do things like go, stop, back up, and such. With that in mind, the days for the near future will consist of repetition and work on these areas of her behavior.

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!

Stella Day 4

Today was amazing! I am so proud of my little filly!

This morning I took Stella into the round pen and we worked on leading. I'm working on getting her to give me a bit of distance and lead off to my side rather than behind me. She will lead fairly well with me in front of her a ways, but I don't much like that style of leading. I want to have my horse beside me, not behind me. She does tend to stop if she thinks I'm too far ahead. Then I go back to her and pet a little then cluck her up and off we go again.

I didn't do much more than lead with her in the morning, trying to get her to lead more reliably and not stop so often. When we headed back to the paddock she sent just fine with only a little hesitation at the gate. Once back in her paddock I spent a good amount of time petting and loving on her. I am hopeful that if her experience when she comes back in the paddock are positive and she doesn't feel like I'm just leading her back in and abandoning her.

Stella is fairly food motivated. That has become apparent over the past few days. She also loves to be pet and have physical contact. From what I have read online this is not normal behavior for a mustang, but she is happiest when she is munching on her hay and I am petting her or laying over her back.

This evening I decided that I would give her a new challenge. She doesn't really like the round pen. Stella doesn't understand why I want her to go around in circles inside there. Mom suggested that maybe she would do better if she was going in a straight line. So I decided to try leading her in the outdoor arena. It is just past the round pen, but farther than she has ever been before.

Stella was alert, and I gave her time to take in the new view as we headed to the arena. Mom had the ate open for us, and Stella had no trouble at all going in. Fortunately I'd had Raven give me my gloves before I took Stella in the arena, anticipating that the added space would make her a bit frisky.

At first Stella was content to lead right at my shoulder, looking around at this new space. We walked slowly and stopped whenever she wanted to investigate something. We were almost 3/4 of the way around the arena when Stella decided to see if maybe she could get away from me. She bounced around and tried darting from one end of her lead rope to the other. She tried circling wide around me, then coming in close past me (although not too close, actually. She was at a fairly respectful distance considering that her goal seemed to be to get me to drop the lead rope). I didn't try to hold her still, but just to keep ahold of the lead rope. We went across the width of the arena with her bouncing about. Only once did she get bad enough to have me really scold her and yell at her for being naughty.

Soon after that scolding she settled down and wanted pet and reassured that I wasn't mad at her. I wasn't. After all, she is a mustang who is used to having space to run, and she has been in either her paddock or the round pen for the past several days. Plus she is on good hay now, so she is feeling good. Once I am sure she will come to me in the arena I will turn her out in there to bounce around and roll in the dirt. I'm sure she's jealous of the other horses who get to turn out in there and play around already.

Not that I think it will take too long for her to get there. She already comes up to me when I come into her paddock and stands stock still so I can put her halter on. She also has "Ho!" down and responded well to it today on a repeated basis, which is the command I use on her to say "stop" or "halt."

After we made several more circuits of the arena, going from corner to corner, or wandering around the middle, I decided to see just how far I could lead Stella. We headed out of the arena and I found a patch of dry grass for her to munch, since she seems to appreciate a food reward. Then I took her on a circuit around the barn and paddocks. There is a loop that goes around the property, so we didn't have to double back at all. She called once to the new horses in this section of the stable, and even got one to call back to her. This pleased her, since Stella has been trying to talk to her nearest neighbors since she arrived, but she only had one of them respond to her, and then only once.

She was perfectly behaved the whole walk, staying at a respectful distance at my should the whole way. She only startled a bit once when we came to the other side of the barn and the horses ran up to their fences to see her. By startle, I mean she took a few nervous steps. Stella really isn't the spooky sort. I thought she might try to pull and go say hi to the new horses, but she showed no interest in them after that first called greeting, staying right by my side and not even hesitating as we walked past the other horses. The fact she is so well behaved after 4 days of human contact and interaction is astounding.

I decided that was quite enough excitement for Stella for one day, so I found another patch of grass she could munch as a reward for being good, then I took her into the round pen for a little off-lead time before I took her back to her paddock. She was only interested in finding more things to eat, so Mom went and got Stella some hay and we headed into the paddock. Stella once again balked at the gate to the paddock, but once Mom showed Stella that there was hay in her feed tub, Stella came right in.

One of the barn cats has befriended Stella, coming down to hang out in or near her paddock. Stella follows the cat around when she is in the paddock. The cat seems to enjoy hanging out with my filly.

I rubbed Stella down with a knobby groomer, then brushed her, then Mom held her head and I picked up all four feet, picking out both front feet. Interestingly both front feet have always been packed with dirt and rocks, but both back feet were clean and didn't need picked. Finally I combed out her mane and tail. Once her tail was completely combed it looked much fuller and more like an adult tail than a baby's brush. It looks like her grown-up tail hair is going to be wavy.

All in all she had an awesome day and was exceptionally well behaved. She is making progress at a far faster rate than seems normal for a regular yearling, let alone a Mustang, from what I have been able to find reading about handling a mustang yearling online. She is going to be - already is - a stellar mare.