A word on being the entertainment for the whole barn

This is really to funny not to share, happened about 3 weeks ago, of course in front of a barn full of boarders, the vet, and all the staff.

Felix lives with the broodmares at the farm. Which means he's in the paddock for horses that don't get out much - except for him.  The gate is at the bottom of a hill, and we have had a super wet spring here in our part of Ontario. 

Untill he was turned out, I did not own a pair of rubber boots. I'd been lucky enough over the last 4 years or so to have the dryest paddock on the farm bestowed upon my old mare - so didn't really ever go anywhere that my paddock boots couldn't handle.  So, I find an older pair that has been floating around the house for a while.  They must be a size 9 or 10, and I normally wear a 7.

Anyways, so the paddock where Felix is turned out is pretty deep in mud right next to the gate. This must be walked through to go catch him.  It's spring shots day for the barn, and I go out to get him.  On the way out to get him, boots get stuck several times and threaten to come off, but I unstick them and carry on.  Felix gets caught, and fortunately is having a good day as far as being led goes.  Then, about 2 steps into the mud puddle I sink nearly to the knee, take one more step with my back foot and then the momentum of normal walking catches up with me, and I fall over into the mud puddle.  I try to unstick the boots with very little luck.

At this point I abandon the boots, put my socks in my already mud-filled pocket, and lead Felix up to the barn.  He gets handed over to one of the barn workers, as at this point I am covered to the hip in mud, and leading an unruly still-thinks-he's-a-stallion pony, so the safest thing to do was just to get someone else to take over.  Not that he was being bad, it was 100% my own clumsy fault in fact!

I probably explain what happened to half a dozen people before my boots are retrieved from the paddock, Felix is back out and the vet is paid.  Everyone gets a good laugh at my expence, including me!  I remove jeans before driving home barefoot in my underwear.  Fortunately do not get pulled over by the cops and have to explain to them why I am driving in no pants.


In conclusion - any time you're having a slightly embarassing day at the barn, at least this didn't happen to you.  Also, properly fitted muck boots are worth their weight in gold.

The baby is all grown up!

Felix had his very first ride today.  Devon just hopped on, Felix stood there like a total champ - didn't even flinch.  It was totally uneventful, just as it should be.  Pictures to come once Heather uploads them to facebook!

This is why we long line.  So that any battles can be fought from the safety of the ground, and some stop and steer is also installed ahead of time.  And it's not just for young horses. I've seen high level dressage done one long lines. In fact, here's a video of a very cute little mini doing dressage on long lines!

If you don't know how - I am willing to bet that there is someone at your farm that does.  If not, there are several books on the subject, and likely clinicans who would be pleased to teach you. It's a skill that I feel that every horse person should have in their bag of tricks, and I'm always surprised to learn that most people have no idea what it is or how to do it. 

For today's trick - bathing.

It was 90 degrees out today, and super humid.  This resulted in one sweaty pony when we were done working today.  So, I hand the lead over to Heather, and she procedes to hose him down.  After a lovely display of "airs above the ground" he finally realizes that the water is probably not going to kill him.  He's still a little concerned - but we have a hot summer ahead - so he needs to get used to it!

I also picked up all his feet today.  He still fusses with the backs, but there is no badness such as kicking or leaning - so I am hopeful I can get him to stand for his hoof trimming sometime this week.  His front feet need trimming again anyways, so we'll have to try for all 4 this time.

I was talking to Devon today - he is the guy who will be doing Felix's first 30 or so rides - and he told me he'd happily try to ride Felix right now, so I'm going to have him sceduled to be started under saddle starting July 1st.  I am tempted to try to do it myself, but I'm a very rusty rider so this is a bad idea.

On another note, I rode for the first time in around a year today. It was 5 minutes on Heather's new horse Orio, and it was great!  Orio is a fantastic horse, made all the more fantastic because she's only 4!

The progress continues

The long lining has continued all this time, with it only getting better and better.  The first few days Heather worked with him, he was doing a lot of fighting, and did manage to pull so much he scuffed the hair off his nose with the noseband.  She handed it over to me a couple of days before I went away for work - and he's been better and better every day.  Today Shauna even worked with him a little - and he was good for her too.

Last week I was working 12 hour days, so he only got work once every 2-3 days. The first day on the week I worked was at night, and he was not thrilled about being off-scedule, but by the 2nd 9:30pm work he was just fine.

I figured out why his back feet did not get done - he picks them up, but then yanks them away. We're going to have to work on this more. 

Today after our work was over Shauna was with us so we broke out  the clippers to try and give him a bridle path.  At first he was bouncing up and down, trying to get away, but Shauna held his head and I clipped. After the first pass he calmed right down, and happily had his head rubbed and ate treats while I hogged the WHOLE MANE!!  There was an impressive pile of hair when I was done.  He now looks like a potential show pony, except he needs to put on about 50 lbs now. He was in good weight when he came, but running the fence line and acting crazy has caused his weight to drop a bit.  For the moment, he's out on green pasture so I'm not all that worried - we might have to add some fat-n-fiber to his diet soon if the weight does not come back up though.

I realize I probably have not told you WHO Shauna is. She's my 19 year old sister, and half-owner of Felix.  She's an incredible calming influence on him, so I think I'll keep her!

Groundwork 101

Heather came to my rescue today, and now Felix wears tack, has started long lining, and leads reasonably well.  There was little reaction to the saddle - with only a little confusion about the girth being tightened.  Bridle was also not a big problem. He's not thrilled, but not bad either.  He got pretty mad with the long lining but by the end he was starting to submit - but we were kicked out of the arena for a lesson, so we just worked on leading and stopping for another half hour or so.

I'm getting my confidence back, which is good.  Felix was bought right around 1 year after I sold my last horse, Dottie. She and I were not a good match really, so I've been more or less out of the tack for close to 1 1/2 years.

Also, the barn owner had a chance to take a crack at his feet being trimmed.  Only his fronts are done, and they are a little long, but it is progress none the less.  He was bad with the backs, I'll have to work on this.

As it turns out, I have a week or so at home to work with him, not just the 2 days I had planned.  With Heather's help we'll have him going well in no time.

Shauna was out today, and so there are finally another batch of pictures. They are somewhat blurry, but you get the idea! (that's Heather on the long lines, me in the purple sweater).

Back to work

I'm back in Canada again, and glad to have my barn time even if Felix is still a rude little sucker.  I'm taking him out of his stall to tie in the isle now for grooming  -  mostly because a huge acomplishment has been made: the barn owners were able to get him turned out with a herd last week!  We finally have a happy arrangement. It's the broodmares, who look to have been teaching him manners. He's a bit scraped up, but I knew that would happen. 

According to the barn workers he is insisting on "playing stallion" with his new herd, fortunately they own the broodmares, and are not worried about it.  This should stop once his hormones calm down (he's been infertile since 3 days after the surgery, so no worres of unexpected fugly part-fjord's).  The girls are quite funny. They are very excited to get him back after he's come in for his grooming session.

I've decided that he needs to have the traditional fjord mane trim.  His mane is over 2" wide at the base, and will be next to impossible to pull - so step one is going to be clipping it right off.  He's pretty sure the clippers are going to eat him though, so we're going to have to work on some desensitization.

Definitely might have made a mistake...

Not much to report this last week, partially because I've been out of town working.  I got back today only to find that the barn had attemped to turn Felix out with my friend Heather's fairly dominant horse.  It did not go well, Felix chewed up Monty pretty badly. Probably not the best idea on their part, as this horse was supposed to go to a new home, now he stays untill the damage heals (just superficial fortunately).

I did try to lead him over to the arena for a run around yesterday, it did NOT go well. He ran around me in circles like a mad idiot.  Needs some work on his ground manners quite badly, but to be honest he scares me when he's like this. 

He's doing fairly well with being moved from stall to stall, and I am going in for grooming regularly.  Working on picking up his 9 months overdue for a trim feet so the farrier (also the barn owner) is willing to work on them.  First time I tried he bit me, so now I am sporting a nice pony-teeth shaped bruise just below my bra strap. Now I know not to trust investigating pony lips!  The front feet are pretty good to pick up though - will get to trying the backs another day once he starts calming down.

His incisions from surgery are healing normally, although his sheath is pretty swollen.  This looks normal according to the vet and the farm workers, and it shrinks every day.  I'll be going away again for 10 days or so for work again, so Felix will just get a bunch of settle-in time without any harassment from me.

The day after

The barn staff decided to turn Felix out with the youngsters that were gelded on the same day yesterday evening - but he's now back inside.  He was not trying to kill them, thankfully but they were worried he would fight through or over the fence, so now he's back in. The staff are giving him time in the arena to run around and keep the swelling off of his incision and sheath though.

A very good friend of mine who taught me nearly everything I know about training young horses met him the other day.  She is pretty impressed with him actually, she says he moves quite nicely - she wants to turn him into an FEI dressage pony and thinks he could be worth big bucks with training - so I guess I did OK for only a couple hundred dollars.  I don't really intend to sell him, but I guess everything is for sale at the right price.  I do like my horses to have some value just in case my curcumstances change and I can't keep them for some reason.  Gives them a better chance of a good home where they will be spoiled if I absolutely have to sell.

All aboard the Gelding Bus!

Gelding procedure went off without a hitch today.  The vet was a little concerned as one of the drugs they use to put the horse out can sometimes result in rearing first, and he's seen it do this more with ponies - but he just laid down without a problem.  He was up after the surgery very fast, within 10 minutes of the procedure finishing, which is also not uncommon with ponies - apperently they have a faster metabolisim.

I have to say, after all the "bad stallion" behavior I am quite gleeful that the surgery is over. 

I didn't take a bunch of graphic pictures of the surgery - If you want to see that there are plenty of step-by steps on google.  I am personally quite facinated by surgery, but I know not everyone is.  I did however take one picture post surgery:

A quick soapbox post from me here:
I absolutely cannot believe how many offers I've had to breed him to various mares in the 3 days I had him while he was intact!  He's lovely, but you would only get a "cute" heinz 57 pony/hony out of it. Not very marketable.  He already has 2 offspring ( a yearling filly, and another as yet unborn - they belong to his old owner).  If you're going to breed - you need to have a plan for the youngster's future.  Foals are expencive, and time consuming.  You might loose the mare in foaling.  Think before you breed guys!

What have I gotten myself into?

After a night in a stall, Felix is still acting like the worst little stud horse imaginable.  the younger barn staff are forbidden from handlig him as he's very pushy and a little wild.  He'll be stalled untill he's gelded anyways - as the last thing we need is an escapee breeding every mare in the place.

I went in his stall today to do some grooming, which was OK untill he squashed me up against the wall with his bum - it was definitely intentional. Probably my own fault for being in there with him loose.   Waiting to hear when the vet is coming out for his surgery. I'll probably hear something on Monday.

A begining

Welcome to our blog! My name is Renee, This blog is here to chronicle the progress of my newest project pony,  Felix.

Felix is a 13.3 hand, 4 year old Thoroughbred/Fjord,  soon-to-be gelding.  Felix has been only lightly handled in the past, this will record our journey through his training, plus anything else he or I would like to talk about!

Here is the sale picture from his ad, now you know who we're talking about!