July 2008

July 2:
I worked with Ivan this evening. He was really in the mood to work! He still won't jump those barrels, but he climbed over them first time I asked him to cross them, so he knows I want him on the other side, at least . You could really see he was trying to please me. We reviewed his earlier lessons and he remembered everything, then I had him stand next to the mounting stool while I flopped over his back, from both sides, and hung on him like a sack of potatoes. He didn't move a muscle, but once. Then he stepped back one step, realized I wasn't coming off, so
he stood still until I slid off of him. He was soooo good!

Donnie trimmed up Zippy's feet. We think he is going to be okay to put in the parade on Friday in Dublin. Zippy gets a major bath tomorrow in the hopes he will mostly be clean on Friday. And I have to decorate his cart. Going to be a busy day tomorrow.
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July 3:

Today's jobs
White Pony washed: check
Cartwheels inflated: check
Harness cleaned: check
Hoofboots located: check
Cart decorations ready to be installed: check

Tomorrow morning's jobs
Pony re-washed
Cart decorated
Cart loaded in truck
Find clothes for reluctant parade partner hubby
Pony spot cleaned
Horsetrailer hitched
Pony loaded

After arrival at parade line-up jobs
Pony's new dirty spots covered by decorations
Pony hitched
Jerk a comb thru my hair
And we are off!

After parade jobs
Haul pony home
Rinse off pony
Collapse!

Won't this be fun?
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July 4:

July 4th Parade in Dublin


We're back from the parade! I could barely believe my eyes when I looked
at Zippy this morning and he was still CLEAN after his bath yesterday!!! I
think this is a first. I usually end up at least spot cleaning him a few
minutes before we leave for a parade.


I wanted to pad his feet for less road concussion and found a sale on
men's flipflops the other day, so Donnie cut out little rubber shoes and
we duct taped them to Zippy's feet using red duct tape. And what was the
one thing we heard most during the parade? "Wow, look at his red feet!" If
you want attention, use red duct tape on your horse's feet. We were
dressed in red shirts, white hats and blue jeans and Zippy and his cart
were covered in star spangled decorations.

I love the little kids during parades. Besides the red feet comment, I
heard one little boy point out Zippy's blinders on his bridle...."That
horse has sunglasses!"

We were the only horse in Dublin's parade this year. Not sure where all
the rest of the horses went, so we got all the horsey attention. They
stuck us in the middle of the line of antique cars, behind a 1930s
restored Dodge. This was kind of nice, the fire engines were way behind
this year, so we didn't have to listen to them the entire time. They
usually stick horses behind the fire engines with their horns, sirens, and
general mayhem, so that no one has to walk in horsey doo. I guess they
didn't worry about Zippy 'going'....

The most often comment heard from men was: "How many miles/gallon do you
get?" Donnie would tell them 100 miles to the gallon, what a deal!

Zippy was very good for a pony who hasn't seen his cart in a year. He
knows he only works 2 days a year and this is one of them, so he didn't
mind working today. Our biggest problem with him is that when he is
working, he wants to hurry and get there fast! Parades are too slow in his
opinion. So I would have him wait a little for space in front of us and
then let him trot out. The crowds like that, he jingle, jangles more when
he trots from his harness bells. He did really well.

Unless by some miracle, someone sends us a photo, I don't have any to
share. We were so intent on getting there, hitched up, then found a tire
almost flat and Donnie had to work on that, then switching car and truck
around so one of us wouldn't have a long hike back to the trailer,...we
forgot to take photos. Lots of other folks took them, though.

We are off to see a movie this afternoon, then fireworks tonight. Hope
everyone is enjoying their Fourth!!

Happy Independence Day!


July 5th:

Someone called Donnie this morning on his radio and told him that there
was a photo of us and Zippy on the Everything NRV website! Sure enough,
though we aren't identified, there is a picture of us there from the July
4th Dublin parade.



It had been raining off and on all day, Ivan is covered in a layer of mud, so we didn't do anything. Maybe tomorrow I will try Clinton Anderson's 'human currycomb lesson with Ivan....

July 7:

I think Ivan has decided velcro won't kill him after all!! Tonight he was so easy to deal with when I removed his flymask. Of course, he expects snacks for not being freaked out over it. He has killed 2 flymasks this week, both Daisy's. He ripped the velcro off her new Wrangler mask the day before yesterday when she rolled and got it off, then today she rolled in her old Crusader mask, got it off, and he ripped the nose piece off of it. El Destructo strikes again. Velcro won't kill him, but he will kill velcro whenever possible.


July 8:

I did work with Ivan today, it cleared up about 7 p.m. I did Clinton Anderson's 'human currycomb' with him! That is laying completely on his back with my feet sticking out past his tail, but with my ankles together, not straddling him. Ivan did great! He stood very still and waited for me to get off and I was on him for about a minute on two occasions. As short as he is, I have to leap up on him to get on from the mounting stool, which was the part that concerned me the most, how he would react to that leap and then weight on him. I also had him in a bridle with snaffle bit and a bareback pad. I didn't use the bit, just had it in his mouth and held him with the lead rope attached to the halter part of the bridle/halter. I finished up covered in sweat....and it wasn't from the muggy weather, I was waiting on the big explosion that didn't happen. Clinton said it wouldn't, but I didn't believe him...I am such a horse training chicken!



But I still can't get him in that little tarp pond.....there's always something to work on!


July 13:

My computer blew up...sigh...We have been busy with Kazi's knee. She injured the same knee last Thursday. I didn't see her do it, but suspect she went diving
after Daisy, slipped in the very slick mud, and thrashed around trying to get her footing. She was covered in mud and I had to give her a bath just to see how she had hurt herself. She has abrasions on her side and three of her ankles, and scraped the scar off her formerly injured knee. So we are back to bandaging her knee again, but it looks to be doing okay. Silly horse. With any luck, the knee may end up looking better without that thick scar she had.

Ivan has been doing very well. I got up on him a few days ago while Donnie took pix. Until the computer is fixed, I can't post anything, though. Ivan stood still while I wriggled and jiggled and tickled him all over . Not very glamorous pix with me laying on his back with my feet sticking out over his rump. If we can ever get an afternoon without a storm, I think I will sit up on him and see if he sends me over the arena fence.



July 14:
Today was an Ivan Red Letter Day! I took my synthetic English saddle down to the arena and tacked Ivan up...waiting all the time for the big explosion since he had done that
when I put Zippy's little saddle on him a couple of months ago. No explosion this time! He was patient and never freaked out over anything flapping or squeezing him. I put it on him and then stood back, figuring he might go zinging off and hoping not to get run over. He followed me expecting a snack . I flapped the stirrups, left them dangling, with no reaction. So I stood on the mounting stool over him and leaned on him. Just expected snacks for his good behavior. So I put my foot in the stirrup and bounced up and down a few times, then stood in the stirrup over him. No adverse reaction!! He was such a good horsey....and I lived!

I'll be in that saddle soon. My dad wants me to wait until after I visit in case Ivan decides to do something breakable to me.....but I am not sure I will wait that long....(Isn't it nice when folks have confidence in you? )





July 15:
I just got in from barn duties and Ivan 'helped' me hang the haynets . He was right at my elbow, nuzzling me and nibbling the hay as I tried to hang the daily soaked hay up. He can be so cute sometimes and seems
to have decided I am his person. That's a nice feeling.....
I haven't ground driven Ivan yet, but have been putting the bridle and bit on him and having him 'give' to the bit to either side...working towards that one rein stop. I have an old surcingle from when Arkady was being trained to use for ground driving and have put that on him just to girth him up before I put that saddle on him. He doesn't seem to mind it and that may be part of why he didn't mind yesterday's saddling adventure. (I can't tell you how relieved I was he didn't explode over that! ) He is now so casual about velcro that it is funny. He says "What do you mean you think I was afraid of velcro?" I think his mastery over velcro has helped with other things he was afraid of. Eventually I think he is going to be a wonderful riding horse!



The wait is over! I officially had my first ride on Ivan this evening and it was a success! (Meaning of course, that I didn't die ). It lasted about 30 seconds, but he got lots of praise and snacks and hugs and kisses for it. Kazi and Daisy watched from the barn enclosure and Kazi told Ivan:"If you kill her, the snacks will stop."...Daisy said, "Snacks? Where?"


Ivan's First Ride !



July 16:

I was out with Ivan this evening. He did really well, didn't offer to do anything silly. I am not really too worried about
bucks, it is the spins and bolts that concern me. Both Kazi and Arkady have done that with me on them at one point or another.... ....Ivan didn't offer to do that, thankfully. I was on him for several minutes at a time this evening, but didn't ask him to move much. We worked on one-rein stop moves mostly. It is nice to be on a horse again! He is definitely shorter than Kazi, and shorter bodied, too. Feels nice, though!



Ivan's Second Ride!!

Donnie was working on Daisy's feet this evening while I was playing around with Ivan. After I was done, Ivan cruised over to check out Donnie's tools and managed to walk off with practically every one of them. Donnie would chase him down and retrieve the nippers or hoofpick, then Ivan would go back and pick something else up and walk off. The boy is getting casual.

I discovered our long-haired solid black barncat, Wizard, completely wet from his neck to his tail. His hair was spikey from being so wet. I worried about him having some kind of skin condition...until I found out that Daisy has a new hobby. She licks Wizard, who seems to enjoy it. I have seen her do it several times this week.


July 17:

Well Dave the farrier was very impressed with Ivan this
evening! Ivan behaved himself really well! They tangled their legs up
together once and threw them both off balance, and Dave into the fence,
but Ivan was just trying to get his balance, not trying to get away or
anything. Poor Dave banged his back on the fence, but Ivan just stood
there and watched him. Dave is okay, thank goodness. Ivan got his feet
trimmed in record time and never got too upset. I was very happy with
him.

Kazi had her rubber pads taken off the bottom of the
clogs she is wearing and is walking better. Her feet have grown fast
enough that the angles had changed and she didn't need the pads
anymore. Her coronet bands are evening out to where they should be
since the scarring was removed 6 weeks ago. She is still wearing the
clogs, though, in place of shoes. She will wear them for at least 6
more weeks.

Trinket didn't have any signs of white line disease
in her feet this time!! She got trimmed, too, but is still wearing her
epoxy shoes on her front feet. So, all and all, we had a pretty good
experience with trimming this evening!


July 18:
I didn't do a great deal with Ivan today, just tried to get him across the tarp pond. Since it is half dried up, I thought he might cross it easier. Nope. It may be a dirty tarp, but it is a trap to him. I did finally get him to get on the dried part of the tarp and he actually stuck a foot into the moist area...but probably didn't realize it. I'll keep working on it. We ended up with all 4 feet on the tarp, one on moistness, and darkness called the game over. It took over 2 months to get over velcro. The tarp pond may take as long.....Crossing a creek may take years.

One day there will be a puddle across our path and I may never get any further down the path!

Arkady used to hate puddles, too, but loved getting in streams and rivers. She jumped a lot of puddles. Kazi will cross the tarp pond with no problems, but it took her awhile to get comfortable with creeks. Now she likes creeks and will splash and play in them. I haven't tried her with a river yet. So far, Ivan just hates water in general. I am surprised he drinks water at all.... ...He has GOT to get over this. I want to take him to the ocean one of these days. (Bet that will cause a little Arabian heart attack.)


July 20:

There is some little animal sneering at me from the peacock and chicken's dome at night. It has been stealing the random laid eggs in the dome (mostly guineas' since they seem to plop them down where they are standing at the moment). I find the egg shells in the barnlot, inside nicely cleaned out. I saw a footprint one day after a rain and thought it looked like a dog track, smaller than my dog's. One day last year I saw a fox for an instant in my barnlot, so thought this might be what has been stealing the eggs. Anyway, I have been setting a live trap every night for weeks and putting a concrete block in front of the little poultry house where I lock up the birds at night to make sure nothing springs the door and gets in and has a nicer dinner than eggs. Nothing has gotten into the trap despite 5 eggs in it. This morning, something left a smelly 'calling card' on top of the concrete block.... ...Cheeky fellow.

The tarp pond dried up in the hot weather. So I got Ivan to cross the dry tarp after he discovered there was no water in it. Lots of praise. Then I threw a bucket of water on the tarp, just dampening the sand on it a little. Oh no! Ivan was sure he was going to drown! But finally he crossed the damp tarp...so I threw another bucket of water on the tarp. There were actually tiny little footprint sized puddles on it, Ivan would surely drown, he thought. But he finally crossed it. So on came another bucket of water. This went on until there were more little puddles than dry spots....and it got dark. BUT Ivan didn't drown and his feet actually touched water!! More buckets of water coming tomorrow......

While Ivan was eating his after work snack and I was standing nearby with a little cup in my hand, a pair of robins suddenly burst out of the walnut tree nearby, shrieking and yelling, and scared him half to death. Daphne the cat was after their baby robin who apparently fell out of the tree or tried to fly prematurely. Ivan went back to his snack while I freaked out over Daphne about to jump on the baby bird, yelling and shrieking and catching it with the cup in my hand. I tried to put it back up in the tree, it flopped out of the cup and landed right in front of Daphne again! Oh, joy! thought Daphne. More shrieking and yelling on my part while I chased Daphne off and caught the stupid little bird in the cup again. I tied to put it back in the tree again and it fluttered to the other side of the fence away from Daphne into the bushes. The parents weren't thrilled with me or the cat. I hope the little bird lives....Daphne doesn't....She thinks the bird in the hand was worth more than the two in the bush.


July 21:

Ivan has really turned a corner in his interactions with me and other people lately. He is still suspicious, but not nearly as fearful of people as he was when he arrived. He is getting nearly casual around me and will come up to me and say hi fairly often. He is sure a horse you can't rush thru anything. He has to have things proven to him that they won't hurt him and then he will get back with you later about actually doing them . Lucky for him, I am the slowest horse trainer on the planet, which works out well for him. I do like that he has figured out the herd rules and now doesn't think I am after him when it is time for the horses to come in. He trots right in with the rest and waits for me to put on his flymask every morning now with no complaints. I am getting to really like him a lot!

One thing I have decided, the Kazi/Daisy foal will be imprinted within an inch of its life with everything I can think of! Having to get over 3 year old fears and phobias hasn't been the most fun thing to do with Ivan.


The tarp pond is being conquered! This evening I left Ivan standing in the middle of the tarp pond with all 4 feet in about a half inch of water!! It had dried up again today, so we once again walked across it dry, then started adding buckets of water to it. Strangely, Ivan's bad side that he didn't want to do it at all has turned into the side that he will go into the deeper part of the water. He was VERY happy to get lots of treats for that! After I ran out of water from his trough, I turned on the hose to fill the tarp pond with and Ivan wasn't thrilled with that, but didn't freak out. More water tomorrow.....Then the dreaded creek!

July 22:

Ivan crossed the tarp pond!