Blind Ambition - October 2007

The filly's hernia is getting smaller. I can only get one finger into it now. I called the vet to make sure we are doing all we can. As long as we keep pushing the intestine back up inside we should be ok.

I'm a big girl now.
October 20, 2007
Jim and I have wanted to get Mom and baby out to the bigger paddocks. We think she is ready. She is leading well and trusts us to keep her safe. So after putting a bigger halter and lead rope on her we set out. Jim opened the paddocks and led Mom out. I walked to the fence line where in her mind there still should be a fence and she stopped. She planted her feet and did not want to go forward thinking she would bump the fence. It was pretty interesting to see her stop and refuse to go forward thinking there was suppose to be fence here. So after testing her feet and some gentle convincing she took a step and then another. She felt grass under her feet and wanted to put her head down. I let her feel the ground with her muzzle. We took our time and let her use her senses to get acclimated to this new adventure.

Sometimes I close my eyes and put myself in her situation. I find it quite remarkable that she has such good balance. When I close my eyes and walk around I stumble and will hold my arms and hands out to feel my way. Well she does something similar. When she walks she steps out. She stretches her leg out as far forward as possible and steps. It does not look awkward it looks natural. As the ground changes such as small inclines or lots of crunching leaves she would want to stop for a minute to adjust. We put them in the round pen, which is bigger, than the paddock they were in but not too big. I would like to make the paddock size changes gradual. She did really really well. She just acted like it was just another day. I led her around the round pen tapping the fence as we went. It was a gorgeous fall day and they stayed outside for most of it.

Kids play
Besides the fact that she has learned that she can throw her back feet out and buck, she has also discovered that she can do the same thing with her front feet. Yes she can rear, quite high too. She does it with us and I know that she is looking for someone to play with. It is tempting to play back a little but this could turn into a serious problem. She is also using her natural instincts of kicking out with her front feet. Jim was concerned with having to give her a spanking every time so he said lets use an empty bucket then she will not associate the punishment with people but with a scary noise. So when she rears or throws out her fonts legs at us we throw an empty bucket to the ground. We only have had to do it once so far. She got the hint. Creating a firm form of discipline is hard but using a method that leaves a good impression is important. If people use a less effective way you find yourself using the less effective way over and over with little or no results. It is a waste of time and tends to lead to more problems and never seems to deal with the real issue at hand once and for all. If you use a firm form of discipline it communicates what you want or don’t want loud and clear. I want to make myself clear, we do not use any form of discipline that would harm horses in any way.

A horse of a different color
October 21, 2007
She is growing and changing all the time. Her coat that was once a mousy brown is turning black. Her light brown legs are speckled with black spots because of all her little knicks and scrapes she has gotten over the last two and half months. Once a cut has healed on a horse, often times the hair will grow in a different color. Since her true color will be black, her cuts are growing with black hair. Her battle scars from learning to be a young horse without sight. They are reminders of how far she has come in such a short amount of time. Soon her legs will be all black and the evident reminders of life’s hard lessons will be gone.

My morning cup of poopa loopa
October 22, 2007
Mornings are interesting with this poopa loopa, a funny nickname I call her. We really need to think of a name but we are quite picky when it comes to naming our horses. Anyway, she is full of energy in the morning. Since she now knows her paddock so well she is quite comfortable trotting, bucking, farting and sometimes little canters. Her gaits are very beautiful. She carries herself so well. She looks as though she is on springs. I can tell by watching her, she wants to run. She is just getting primed and I won’t let myself feel bad for her. She’ll gallop without worry one day soon.

Another step forward
October 27-28, 2007
Jim and I decided to bring them out to the bigger paddocks and see how they do. Mom is going stir crazy and needs to move and so does the foal. So we picked our middle paddock, which is about 100 X 150 since it is flat with no hazards and is surrounded with a four rail wooden fence. She leads just like a dog on a leash. She is even getting so confident that she will trot and act silly while she walks out. Once we get them situated in the paddock we watch to see what she would do in this new environment. We are amazed to watch her. Never having been in this paddock before she walks and trots around and knows when the fence is near. Having to compensate for no sight she has developed a natural radar system because she will turn right before she reaches the fence. They had a great time with all this space.

It is also a good opportunity to introduce her to the other horses. We had our other horses in the paddocks on both sides of them so they could get to know each other over the fence. This is a safe way to introduce horses to each other. Mom will be leaving around Dec.1. So we want to buddy her up with one of the other horses. Our mares were both Premerian mares or PMU mares (PMU stands for Pregnant Mares Urine. They were used as broodmares to make the drug Premerian) so they are very maternal and will make a great pal for her to hang out with. When mom leaves we will put the bell that has become her eyes on one of our mares. This month we will begin to put some distance between them. In my experience I have found that a gradual weaning works best so we will see what works for them.


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