April 2008

April 5:

April started out pretty wet and cold, we have had quite a bit of rain, so Ivan and I didn't do much until today. Looking back at what he has learned in the past month, I am quite pleased with how he is doing. It won't be long before I will be crawling up on his back. And today he walked up to me in the pasture wanting attention and petting and was in no rush to get away from me!! A first!

Ivan and I got some work done this evening. I used a long line hooked to his halter underneath his chin, put it around his
rump and had him turning as he followed the pull of the lead line from the opposite side . He caught onto that pretty quick! We haven't done much in a few days because of rain or cold, but managed to get in about 45 minutes this evening before it started raining again. The only thing I had problems with tonight was getting him over his fear of the red saddle pad he wore in the pix. It has the velcro on it that he is deathly afraid of and he connected the sound with the pad. I didn't do the velcro this evening, but it took a few minutes to get him over thinking the pad was going to get him. I have got to get him over velcro.... ...I am also teaching him to back up by waggling my finger at him. Donnie does this with Daisy and it is an extremely handy signal. He can get her to back up out of the trailer or some tight spot by waggling his finger at her. It has kept her out of trouble several times already.

Kazi and Daisy are into their 4th day on Regumate, and are not in flaming heat anymore. Ivan seems a bit disappointed, but Trinket is still acting the floozy towards him, LOL. At 30 inches tall, she just doesn't quite measure up to Kazi and Daisy for romance, but Ivan was interested enough that I had to put Trinket in a stall to keep her from being hurt, if accidentally.

April 6: Yesterday we did 2 fun things, we went to see "Nim's Island" , starring Jody Foster. That was a cute show. Then we went to the brand new Tractor Supply store in Pulaski, our county seat. They sent us a ten buck coupon, so we HAD to go spend it! Nice store, too. I got a new shedding blade, a red haynet, and Donnie got a book on gaited horses. I worked a little with Ivan afterwards while Donnie trimmed Zippy's feet. Zippy is sound right now, but it really depends upon keeping him trimmed well all the time. I would like to have him in the July 4th parade this year and so far he is doing well enough to do it. Ivan watched all this with interest and did pretty good practicing what he already had learned. He remembered the 'following the pull of the leadline from opposite side of his body' lesson very well! He was very light, no pull at all and he whipped around following the pull. We did find out that making a clucking popping sound scared the socks off of him, so Donnie and I had a nice long conversation with Ivan using lots of clucking popping noises. Got him over that fear! I suspect a sound will be a reason I go splat some day.....probably velcro ripping....

April 7: The sun finally showed up this afternoon. It has been cloudy and dreary for days. I put my bareback pad on Ivan and snugged up the girth enough so it couldn't slip back if he took off bucking. He didn't. He stood there sniffing it, so I made him go off at a trot. He didn't seem to mind the pad and girth at all. I stood on the step stool and leaned over his back pretty hard....no reaction. In his case, no reaction is good reaction! I may drag a saddle down there in a day or two and see if I can get that on him. Zippy's little western saddle is lightweight, old as the hills, and expendable, so I will probably use it first. I hope one of my saddles fits him, I sure don't want to buy another one. I went through 3 saddles before finding one that fit Kazi's back and my behind. Daisy seems to be developing a taste for Regumate....

April 8:

Well it is a good thing I used Zippy's expendable saddle on Ivan today, it hit the dirt pretty quickly. I put the saddle pad on Ivan and he didn't mind. Then I showed him the little western pony saddle. He sniffed it, didn't seem to care much about it, so I after a couple of minutes, I sat it on his back. He stood still for a second or two, then when I moved away from him, he took a step and then jumped out from under it and scared himself silly....sigh....So the rest of the lesson was in de-spooking him to the saddle pad and the saddle. I managed to get him over the pad again, but it will take awhile for him to trust that scary saddle. I think it made a noise when he took a step. Noises are his big fear. So I will take a step back and work on getting him used to the noises, smells and looks of the saddle before plopping it on his back again. I did get him to touch it again and let me touch him on his shoulder with it, but it was getting dark, so I didn't get more done than that.

I bought a bunch of swim noodles at the dollar store and have been making a new "Noodles of Death" obstacle for Ivan to experience. This is basically a curtain of hanging noodles that the horse has to walk through. It will be interesting to see how brave he is with them. Daisy never had a problem with them. It took me a week to lead Kazi thru them and another week to ride thru them. Now she is very casual about them and says she never REALLY had a problem all along.... . Here is a photo of Kazi going through the noodles: I had a lot of help putting the strings thru the noodles today in my living room. My cats, Kumquat, Creampuff and Silkie were all extremely helpful. I noticed one of the 4 foot noodles floating by and discovered Kumquat straddled over it at the other end of it, carrying it away in her teeth. I am sure she had visions of lions and gazelles when she did this. She hopped into the refrigerator yesterday. She has the same motto as Daisy: Wherever you are, there she is, and probably in trouble over it. She's the most imaginative cat we have ever had. Kumquat the Flower Arranger

April 10:

I had the stirrups over the horn, but not tied when I put the saddle on him, and I think they are why Ivan freaked out when they moved. He is back in freaky mode again today....sigh....so I suspect I am going to have to figure out how to get him over these sound phobias he seems to have. Kazi seems to trust me faster about things than he does and he definitely thinks these sounds are going to kill him despite what I try to tell him.
I have my first sunburn of the year! It is 76 degrees, sunny, and way too nice to be indoors, so I was out trying to convince Ivan a flymask would actually not kill him. That didn't work out, but I got my first
installment on my farmer's tan for this year. He needs to be wearing a flymask, one eye looks a little runny and the flies have emerged and are attracted to it....which is probably why it is runny. Vicious circle. He really should be ashamed of himself, even the donkey isn't afraid of velcro or flymasks.....sigh.....

April 11:

I need to find that piece of velcro I have somewhere so I can just rip it and rip it for as long as it takes without wearing out my straps on the saddle pad.
I just watched the Clinton Anderson show where he was training a young filly, parts one and two. He really is an amazing trainer.. and sometimes very funny. The part where he was trying to get on the horse like a shorter, less athletic person would do was so funny . That would be me. I do think this filly he is working with isn't nearly as reactive as Ivan. The description of Ivan as an unsocialized fellow
seems so right. If I ever get the foal I want to raise, it will hear velcro within an hour of birth!!! Sheesh, what a pain this has been. Waiting until a horse is 3 years old to start doing anything with it seems like a major mistake.



I did work him twice today, not something I usually do but it was so nice out. Ivan was a pain, but after finally getting him going where I wanted him to, he acted like he was thinking of biting me. On the second time he did it, I whacked him in the mouth and then walked him on like it didn't happen. He was extremely surprised, but didn't do it again. I sure don't want him to start thinking of biting. It is the one thing he hasn't tried yet.



I think he was a bigger pain this evening because I worked him this morning, though. He is used to only working in the evening and didn't like being caught where he didn't expect it, then this evening he found himself in the same situation and didn't like it. He is going to have to get used to doing things wherever and whenever I want. I have really come to appreciate Kazi's age, I missed all her stupid youth stuff when we were working on her. She was 10 years old before having any work besides ground manners done. I have never had a problem walking up to Kazi or Daisy (or any other of our horses) in the field and putting a halter on them. Ivan has not allowed that to happen, so that has got to be addressed. So far the gelding hype sure hasn't lived up to expectations with him!


April 13:

Today is our 34th wedding anniversary! We spent it hosting a playdate for a couple of ladies in the Parelli sub-group of our horse club. They are going to a mock tournament next week and wanted to practice in our arena. This was a good thing for Ivan to watch, and he must have put a couple of miles on his hooves running around the round pen inside the arena where they were practicing. It was cold and windy, but we never had the rain and snow they predicted for us. After near 80 degree weather for several days, high 40s and wind was quite a shock enough!

Ivan never completely settled down with the two strange horses nearby, but had to behave after awhile because his farrier, Dave, came to work on his feet. Dave is calm and steady while working with a freaky young Arab whose feet had only been officially trimmed once before.

Ivan was not thrilled to see Dave again. Ivan has
really met his match with Dave. Dave worked with Ivan until he stood still and let him pick up all four feet and trim them. Ivan's feet look sooo much better!

Dave and Ivan....


One of the horses visiting was Thunder, the Belgium, who is about 17 hands tall and 23 years old. We had to have a photo of him standing next to our mini-mare, Trinket, who is 7.2 hands tall.

Trinket and Thunder

For such a cold windy day, it was pretty fun and productive!



April 15:

Tomorrow I give the mares the shot to kick start them into going into
heat.  Today was the last day for Regumate.  I am glad about that! It

has been a LONG two weeks  of giving both mares ickky tasting stuff.

The Va Tech vet is coming out on Sunday to check both mares and if they

are ready, the semen will be collected on Monday and should be here

Tuesday.  Keep all appendages crossed that everything works out the

first time!!!  If Kazi is pregnant, her embryo will be collected a week

later and implanted in Daisy.  Lots of iffy stuff going on...





 Ivan is still pretty sure everything is out to kill him.  He had his

feet trimmed really well on Sunday and looks much better.  I finally got

the bareback pad on him again today for the first time in a couple of

weeks.  He has been in freaky mode that long.  He was fairly cooperative

today. He is much harder to de-spook than any of our other horses have

been.  I suspect a wild mustang wouldn't be much different than he has

been.

April 16:

I had to give the shots to Kazi and Daisy all by my
lonesome, not something I felt comfortable doing with Daisy since I had never given her a shot before. I had no idea if she'd kick me into next week, or simply not notice. So I haltered her, bribed her with feed in her bucket, brushed her hiney with the shedding blade and stuck that needle in....She didn't notice. Then I needed to lead her to the arena where Kazi was and I was still a bit nervous from just having done this when Daisy let out a HUGE BELLOWING NEIGH right in my ear!... I nearly had to change my pants.... She was looking for Kazi, though, not in mortal pain. In her case, my anticipation of the shots was worse than her reaction.

I gave the shot to Kazi in the same way and she never noticed either. She also didn't scream in my ear. I stayed down at the barn for a couple of hours waiting on terrible things to happen, but other than some really cow plopping poops, neither one sweated or acted worse than a little uncomfortable for a little while. This shot is called Estrumate and must not be as hard on them as the Ludilace (sp?). I was happy not to see any agony going on....

So anyway, the shots have been given and we are still on track! I talked to the stallion's collecting vet and she has the heads up for early next week. The Va Tech vet will be here on Sunday to check the mares.

While goofing around down at the barn, Ivan made the mistake of going into the barn enclosure to say hi to the ponies, so I had him in a confined area. I got the halter and leadrope on him with only minor objections, then we went for a walk-about around the pasture. He did pretty good! He could see the mares in the arena and never acted up from missing them. We crossed logs several times and did little exercises all over the field. I walked him back into the barn enclosure, took off his halter and gave him peppermints, something he is just learning to appreciate.






April 17:

This morning I haltered Ivan in the arena and took him out for a walk in the pasture before turning him loose to graze. He needs to know that training happens in places besides the arena. He actually walked along quietly and did the exercises I asked him to do with no complaints.

Then Ivan did really well this evening! He has become a bit more cooperative lately, thank goodness. He actually walked toward me in the arena to put on his halter. Today I had him standing still while I jumped up and down beside him,
on either side, while brushing up against him. This is in anticipation of actually getting on him. I am sure any neighbor watching wondered why I was jumping around like an idiot . Cheap entertainment....

April 19:

What Ivan did on Saturday: Daisy was coming into heat
and trying to be enticing in her fumbly way. Ivan was very interested and excited and uncooperative about being led. I got his halter on and was leading him past Daisy when she decided that she didn't love Ivan after all and spun around and tried to double barrel him...with me attached to his leadline. Ivan dodged, yanked the leadline hard and I was thrown about 10 feet thru the air and landed on my knees.... Daisy and Ivan ran off across the field, probably laughing, and after I decided I wasn't totally lame, I spent about 10 minutes chasing Ivan who was dragging his leadline and doing a good job not getting tangled in it. I finally cornered him and led him back to the arena. Good ol' Daisy.


April 20:

We have had a very busy weekend. The farrier was here all afternoon yesterday and today we had the Va Tech vet here ultrasounding Kazi and Daisy. The good news is: We are on track!!! Both are at the same spot on their cycle, I am calling the stallion owner tonight to have him collected tomorrow, then if it shows up on time Tuesday, we are breeding Kazi.....Whew!!...Then 6 1/2 days later, we haul the mares to Va Tech for the embryo transfer to Daisy. I have to give the mares a shot tomorrow after I hear that the semen is in the mail . Giving shots is not my favorite thing to do, but I am getting used to the idea.

Ivan has learned which armpit to look under. We came home after a late lunch and watched a little more action going on with Ivan and Daisy than we wanted to see....followed by horsey cigarettes. Daisy is about 6 inches taller than Ivan, but that doesn't stop some extreme efforts....Ivan is now locked in the arena and the mares are in the barn enclosure until after the embryo transfer.


April 21:

Today I decided to wear my riding helmet after I had Ivan in hand....for obvious reasons. Ivan took one look at me in the helmet and gasped. I was not the same person he saw two seconds earlier. It took awhile, but he finally agreed that maybe I was me and acted okay. I put the bareback pad on him, girthed it up snug and left him in it for about three hours. He lived thru it. He didn't get to have any grass time with the mares today. He was not a happy camper.

I have been busy today watching the phone the same way one would watch a pot of water getting ready to boil. FINALLY, it rang and I got news that Kazi's stallion has been collected and his half of the foal is winging its' way from Ocala as I type!! Can you tell I am excited?

I just gave Kazi and Daisy their shots to induce ovulation within 36 hours and the vet will be here tomorrow around 3 p.m. to inseminate Kazi....

The glitch in the system, so far, was that the Equitainer that is the transporter for the cooled semen came home from its' last trip without the vials inside. So they had to scramble around and find some to borrow. Like a wedding, there has to be a glitch, but this one got solved and we are back on track!


April 22:

The deed is done. Kazi and Daisy had ultrasounds done, were determined to be as ready as they would ever be, and Kazi was inseminated with the Andalusian stallion's semen. We have worked hard to make sure all our ducks were in a row to do this breeding. I sure hope our efforts are rewarded. We will know in a week if Kazi is pregnant and then the attempt to transfer the embryo to Daisy will be done. In another week we will find out if the embryo has taken root in Daisy's uterus. Technology can be wonderful. Kazi's feet make it too risky to let her carry a foal to term, but she will be such a wonderful cross with the Andalusian. Strangely, I never tried hard to get myself pregnant when it didn't occur naturally. I guess I saved all those urges for Kazi.


April 23:

Well this has been one of those hurry up and wait days. The vet was an hour late, and Kazi didn't kill me when I gave her the shot. She has ovulated her second egg, so we now have two possibilities hatching. She and Daisy go to Va Tech next Wednesday for the transfer.

While waiting on the vet, my hay guy showed up and is going to spread fertilizer on our lower field. Hopefully we will get more hay than last year, which with the drought and needing fertilizer, was way down in numbers of hay bales.
So I have a big tractor sitting in my field getting ready to spread the fertilizer.

The vet gave Ivan the two shots he hadn't had yet today. Ivan got his other shots while he was unconscious and just been castrated. Today he was a little more reactive about it.... The vet is pretty good, though, he got the job done.



April 24:

Ivan and I are getting along better today. I worked a little with him and while he didn't appreciate the rope I was throwing on top of his head, he didn't freak out. Then when we practiced the moves for putting on a bridle, he did them easily. I wasn't actually putting a bit in his mouth, just my fingers, but he seems to be catching onto the moves pretty well and even opened his mouth up for me nicely. He was pretty sweet during it all and is getting more casual around me. He may appreciate that I am not a vet with a syringe in my hand. He sure didn't like that much!

I've kept Ivan separate from the mares since he displayed his new found skills with Daisy the other day. He can look now, but he can't do much more than that. It has been fun rearranging horses and locations a couple of times a day....




April 25:

The mares no longer find Ivan irresistible, so he was turned out with them today. He is so much happier! Kazi and Zippy are now using their grazing muzzles and I am getting one for Trinket at Tractor Supply tomorrow. Their prices are half what the catalogs are for grazing muzzles made exactly alike. Kazi and Zippy
will get to stay out longer wearing them.

Only 5 more days until Christmas! That's when we unwrap the package and see what is inside...then re-wrap it in a different package!

April 26:

It is over 80 degrees and sunny here today. Sweat City! So I decided to
improve my shoulder tan while working with Ivan after lunch and I think I have burnt myself...

We ran over to the new Tractor Supply in Pulaski, Va to get Trinket a grazing muzzle. We had breakfast at Bojangles first, they make grits! When we got to T.S., we discovered they were having their Grand Opening with pony rides, old tractor show, freebie T.S. hats, and lots of other stuff. Good day to go there! We watched little girls ride those ponies who were about the size of Zippy and dream they were on wild stallions racing across the desert....rather than little ponies walking in a circle in a parking lot . They would get off and go back to the end of the line again. I remember those days. I think that is why I love my ponies now, they make the child within me happy.

So we got a new electric weedeater, parts for the poor broken lawn tractor, sugar-free horsey snacks, and a new haynet. What didn't we get? Trinket's grazing muzzle . They didn't have her size.

Ivan was convinced I was the wrong person when I showed up in a T.S. ball cap. Every time I change my hat, he has to check my I.D., fingerprints, and gullibility.

Ivan let me halter him, put on the bareback pad after having it rubbed all over him, girth it up, and then stood still while I leaned hard on him while standing on the step-stool. I jumped up and down on the step-stool, put as much weight on him as possible while maintaining one toe contact with the stool. If I were braver, I would have released that toe contact . I wore my helmet....He checked my I.D., of course...

April 27: I just got thru working with Ivan. He is more casual about putting the bareback pad on, so today I tried to get him to stand still while I leaned over him and put as much weight as possible on his back. I did this about a hundred times because he kept moving back a step or two and I would slide off. I finally tried it on his off side and he did it perfect. (figures, right?) So after tremendous praises and treats for doing it on the off side, I went back to the left side and he did do it correctly. So after he let me put as much weight on him as I could, stood still until I got off of him, THEN he got praised and treated for that side. He did it right three times and I let him go for the session. Whew! This horse wears me out. And my sunburn is screaming. It is 75 and sunny here today. Now we get to go change a flat tire on the horse trailer....We need it in good working order to take Kazi and Daisy to Va Tech on Wednesday to do the embryo transfer IF Kazi is pregnant. It has been sort of like waiting on Christmas or your birthday when you were a kid, waiting on news as to whether Kazi is pregnant or not. I sooo hope she is. Besides the tremendous expense if we have to repeat everything we have done again, it would be so wonderful to just be in the stage where we are waiting on a foal to be born, not conceived. I originally bought Kazi based on a couple of things: one, I wanted an older mare that wasn't trained so that I could learn to do that, and two, I wanted a pretty Arabian mare to breed to raise a foal. It took us two years to get her foal, Kazimir, and then Kazimir died after just six weeks. That was four years ago. Getting a sibling of Kazimir would go a long way towards helping us to get over her loss, although no one could ever replace that precious little being.

April 28:

The trailer's flat is fixed and tomorrow if the weather
permits, I am going to give it a little bath. After sitting out in the weather all winter, it needs a scrub. So do two dirty mares, but that will have to wait until Wednesday morning. The first thing they would do would be to roll in the mud...which we have an abundance of after over 2 inches of rain since yesterday. I spent a fair amount of time this evening scraping dried mud off of three dirty horses.

Kazi is making me feel VERY guilty! I let her eat grass for about an hour this morning, then put her grazing muzzle on her. She stomped back to the barn and kept looking at me with those big eyes until I took it off and gave her hay instead of leaving her in the pasture. This evening I put it on her and she stared a hole into me, but I didn't take it off. I worry over her grass intake all the time. One more good foundering episode could do her in. Zippy is the same, he gets his grazing muzzle on at the same time, but he doesn't bother making me feel guilty. He either rolls until he gets it off, or goes over to Cactus and has him pull it off. With Zippy's short little ears, not much is there to hold the muzzle on. So he gets put up earlier than he would like.

Ivan was SOOOOOO sweet today! He nickered at me 3 times today! He came up to me in the pasture and wanted attention and petting. I keep waiting for the other horse shoe to drop and the former Ivan to show up. I didn't work with him today, but did brush him good while he was unhaltered and he stood and let me do it. Not bad for a wild thing.