I'm usually so good at leaving it behind when I go out to see my girl! But Nick called today to remind me that she needs her tootsies trimmed, so I dragged myself out the door rather reluctantly. (Me? Reluctant to go to the barn? I know, I know... but I had a REALLY long day, and my feet already hurt!)
So anyways. I go, because I know she needs her feet done, and I know I'll feel better for going.
He meets me out there with his farrier-y stuff, and I go to catch my girl. I'm already feeling a little rushed 'cause I can feel his impatience (he may think he's good at hiding it, but it's all lies!!), so I didn't snuggle as long as I usually do. I can feel her feeling rushed, and she gets sticky again. She's also been moved to a new, greener pasture, so that may be a part of her stickiness - we're in new territory! But still. I can feel her being all "Mom, I feel rushed. Why? This makes me nervous."
Anyways, we make it to the concrete outside the barn with little to no incidents... just a few times where she'd just stop walking. I hate it when she does that. She's so stubborn!! Good thing I am, too. She came unstuck when I clicked her for movement, so it ended up all right. She stood really well for Nick, way better than before (yay progress!), and I clicked her periodically for being a good girl.
We talked about her feet. He's surprised she's held up so well; he says she has super tough feet for a Thoroughbred. Yay! He also said that it looks like they really haven't been trimmed much, and she's just about on her sole all the time, and is very flat and shallow. He says he can fix that, though, so I'm not worried, and she hasn't been lame at all since the first-trimming-abscess-awfulness. She doesn't even get footsore on the hard dirt roads! Am a proud momma. :)
My poor baby, though! He said her feet look like they've been neglected for a long time, and like they've never been shod or messed with much at all. Which is good - shoes make feet weaker! - but also bad, since he said neglected in the full sense of the word. She's in good hands now, though, so I'm not worried!
We didn't get to do much after her trim. I have this thing where I don't want to ride right after they get their feet done... it seems like I should let them get used to their balance before riding. I don't want to make her sore! That's the opposite of my job, yup. So I groomed my hair monster of a horse (oh, shedding season!) and we played!
The playing started out with her not wanting to go into a stall. Nick thought he was helping and kinda "encouraged" her from behind so she wouldn't pull back. I wish he didn't. We went sooooooo backwards because of that. I'm pretty annoyed, actually. I gave her a peppermint when she stepped inside to help assuage the fear he instilled, but it didn't work. She was not happy. Sigh.
So I spent a lot of time getting her to go in and out of the stall. So to make her work when she wouldn't go in the stall, she learned to trot next to me when I jog! She'll now pick up a trot shortly after I start jogging. Sometimes, just a step or two after, when I've got her really paying attention. It takes a little longer other times, but she's doing really well! It's helping her feet-stuck-in-cement issue, to know that at any time I might be like "OH HEY let's trot!" and I'll drag her along for the ride, lol!
She's so cute, though! She got so good at it! Have I mentioned lately that my horse is a genius? Because she is. I got to where she'd trot within a few steps of me asking (on a slack lead, I was never pulling on her!), and would stop short from a trot when I stopped. Again, no pulling! Oh! It was glorious! And I actually got her to trot again with barely a walking stride from a halt. It was so cute!! I felt so loved, knowing that she preferred to follow me around than eat grass or ignore me.
But... that was about all we did today. At the end, some noise scared her, and she refused to go back into the stall afterwards. It was getting dark, and I had physics homework to finish (again with the rushing.. sigh). I tried for probably 5-10 minutes, but she just wasn't doing it - it was too dark and she was too skittish. So finally, I cheated... I backed her into her stall. I felt so bad, betraying her! But I had to finish up her other side for grooming, and she was being stubborn. She backed right in, though! She's so good to me! She got lots of treats for it, and I think she was surprised to find that the stall didn't swallow her whole when she stepped inside. Silly mare.
Oh... and she's beginning to back up when I walk towards her and act like she's in my space. Often, I don't even have to touch her. Slack lead. She just backs. It's glorious! She's so light! I love it!! And if I go to give her a treat and she's being impolite, I just tap her chest twice with my hand and she'll back up a step or two and calm down to take her treat.
Best. Horse. Ever! We're really starting to communicate, so I don't have to ask loudly anymore. It's starting to become whispers and turns and looks instead of pressure and sound and intensity.
Hopefully tomorrow I'll get to ride. And I'll have more pictures for you guys! It was too dark tonight. Also, I was having too much fun running around with Rei. :D
But I DID remember to get pictures of the baby bunnies! So here you go. Enjoy:
They're like the size of my hand. Squee!
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