# Lacey, Fabio and Me: The Neverending Story



## Wallaby

This will probably predominantly focus on Lady because she basically knows zero things but Lacey will probably be mentioned so I figured she needed to be part of the title... 


So, Lady is my foster horse from an organization called Sound Equine Options. 
She's a ten year old (approximately, no one's checked her teeth yet) Arabian mare who was rescued about a month ago from pretty serious neglect (she's put on probably 100-150+lbs so far). She was literally living in someone's suburban backyard with her year old filly, a donkey, and a mini.
Her filly was signed over to the rescue as well and I think she's already found a new home, or at least she's being fostered by some people who want to adopt her eventually.

Lady was a bottle baby (orphaned at some point) but so far she's not showing any of the really bad orphan "traits". She doesn't have much of an idea about one's personal space but she's not terrible about it. 
She's supposedly broke to ride but the owner she was removed from said that she (the owner) was the only one who could ride her... We're thinking that maybe a couple rides were snuck on to Miss Lady but that she isn't truly "broke". 


I just got her yesterday so I figured that now would be a good time to start writing about her, start from the beginning, right? 


So, basically my "job" is to get her trained up to actually being ridden. If I wanted to, I'm "allowed" to actually get on her eventually myself but I don't have to. Depending on how she progresses, I may start riding her myself but that really really depends.

Right now, our goals are: getting to know each other, leading well (she's under the impression that leading probably means she takes humans somewhere...), desensitizing to everything, being touched all over - she does not want her belly touched right now, saddling, blanketing, fly mask, I want to teach her to pony so she can come on trail rides with Lacey and I, etc.
Basically, I need to get her up to normal handled horse level.

So far I'm loving her attitude. She's very looky and not spooky - very curious about things that scare her. I've seen her get scared a few times but I have not seen her actually spook. She's also pretty spoiled - what she wants is apparently what she's used to getting. However, oh darn for her, I definitely have lots of experience with horses like that *peers accusingly at Lacey*.
She also loves to be touched so it's super easy to reward her for the right things (Lacey hates touching which always makes rewarding her more difficult).


Summary of today:

Day 1: 
The goal was working on leading, I also tried a few sending exercises - turned out to be a terrible idea to try with a horse that doesn't know what "whoa" means. :lol: 
It got a little scary when she decided to trot super fast around me, on the lead rope, while turning her head and shoulders in towards me -trying to intimidate me. I dumbly ended up backing away from her the first time she did that so she tried it a couple more times. Thankfully I was using my 14ft lead rope so I just started smacking in her the shoulder whenever she turned towards me. She decided that would be a good time to bolt but oh, guess what? I was prepared for that so it totally did not work. After that, she basically stopped and was like "oh, I'm dumb" so we went back to walking 2 steps, backing up one, etc etc. 
Then, we finally got down to the shed - thank Jesus for Lacey, she was basically glued to my shoulder the whole time (except for when Lady was playing up) all like "Hey guys! I'm so kewl! Does not need lead rope=CHAMPION!" so she was being a great role model.
I tied Lacey up to one post and clipped Lady to a leadrope I had "installed" on the wall of the shed in such a way that if she pulled back, the lead would get looser (no one knew if she tied solid) but not set her free. She stood pretty well there and I groomed her shoulder (I haven't touched her all over yet so I wasn't sure how she'd be with more than that).

After both girls were groomed, I took Lady 15 feet away to work on some more leading. She was a little easier this time but still really didn't understand what I was getting at.
Then I "tied" her back up and took Lacey 15 ft away to work with her. And well, Lady decided that she was done being "stuck" so she started testing out how well she was tied. To make a long story short, Lacey was a gem and Lady ended up being tied solid which she still didn't like but she didn't pull back or anything so yay! She even got the lead rope over and behind her ears but didn't panic, just untangled herself. Smart!
After that, I took Lady off for another 5 minutes and touched her all over with the lunge whip. She was scared of the whip at first but then realized that it wasn't hurting her so she settled right down. Then, as we walked back to the shed, I practiced leading correctly with her some more and she showed that she was really catching on. She even backed herself up a step, before I even asked, right before we got to the shed!

Then I fed them and let them both go. I'm really pleased with how far we got in just a couple little sessions.
I gave Lady some raspberry leaves with hers, likeI do with Lacey. Hopefully that'll calm her current heat down a bit (she's super in heat, all squealy and it's probably not helping her be not bratty, lol).


Tomorrow, I think we're going to work more on leading, obviously more on standing tied, I'll probably do a little more with the lunge whip - to get her thinking, and I'm going to hopefully get her brushed all over. I'm a little nervous about picking up her feet but she did just get them done so the trimmer must have survived...probably I will too... :lol: I'll probably also show her about flysheets, just so I can start doing that to her everyday since I figure that'll be CRAZY for her. :lol:



And here's a picture of the girl that I took yesterday. She's come a long way since she was rescued but still has a bit of a way to go.













Thanks for reading!


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## grayshell38

How exciting! A thought occured to me. If she only recently had her filly off of her, that may be why she isn't all too happy about you messing around her belly area. She is probably bagged up and in pain, or she thinks that you are trying to nurse on her (That sounds stranger than it was supposed to...) and she is rejecting you (foal) from nursing.

Give her time, it may be because she is in heat, too. Some mares don't want you messing around back there around then.


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## equiniphile

Good luck with her, she looks like a doll!


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## tinyliny

you're doing just wonderfully! I will be so intrigued to hear how it goes.


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## Cacowgirl

Quite a project there-are the 2 mares pastured together?


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## Wallaby

Grayshell, I had wondered that too. You're probably right. Her poor udders are HUGE since baby hasn't been around for a week+. They probably hurt, poor girl!

Thanks Equiniphile! She's a really sweetie. She actually reminds me A LOT of Lacey back when I first got her, just less mentally "damaged". They're such a good pair, I just love it!

Aw thanks Tiny! I'm intrigued to see how it goes too! :lol: She seems to want to learn so badly. She'll be a great horse once she figures out the "rules".

Pretty much cacowgirl! I'm excited about it. I've never had the chance to work with a horse that knew this little so I'm looking forward to learning the ropes of training a nearly blank slate! 
Lacey and Lady are pastured together. They pretty much immediately hit it off and were basically insta-besties. It's probably the best situation that could have happened!


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## Wallaby

Well, it started POURING rain so....
Day 1, Part 2 needed to happen. :rofl:

So, it starts pouring rain and Lacey, being the old lady that she is, "neeeeeds" her blanket on whenever it rains otherwise she starts shivering etc AND because her last ERU attack was brought on by being chilled - therefore being chilled could cause another attack to occur and "gift" me with $300 more in vet bills. 

Anyway, so I go up there and I see no horses. Panicking just a little since Lacey basically always greets me at the gate and Lady seems to think the gate is awesome, I start heading down into the main pasture.
Well, I get about halfway down, and apparently sweet Miss Lady took Lacey down to the shed to get out of the rain together. They're standing in one stall and, you guys won't even believe this, THREE DEER were in the stall next to them!! It was ridiculously adorable, like something straight out of a fairy tale. 
The deer scattered pretty immediately after they saw me but I would have felt mean for shooing them away so I guess that's better than nothing...

The girls both nickered at me (adorable!) and after I put Lacey's blanket on (which Lady was not interested by at all - weird!) I decided that this was as good a time as any to practice more leading with Lady. I figured that inclement weather conditions was probably a good lil raising the difficulty level thing.
And guess what? _Someone_ acted like they had never had a problem leading and what was I thinking for even going there! :lol: Mares!
Anyway, I guess leading is doing even better than I thought!

I also decided to move them out of the main pasture and into the larger+steeper left pasture. I was kinda waiting until I had caught Lady a few times and until I knew she and Lacey were getting along well (there's better+more grass down there and it would be pretty much impossible to catch a horse that didn't want to be caught down there) and I think she passed those tests. 

Anyway, I kinda herded them up there (Lacey: "Oh! I know what that means! We better run! Yay!" Lady: "What the heck is wrong with you, weird lady? First you try to insult me by acting like I'm dumb about leading, then you try to herd me somewhere like some sorta sheep? Who ARE you??!") and once I got them up and over there, they thought the new field was fantastic.
Lady decided to explore at a trot and poor Lacey was like "Stop, stop! Where did you go best friend!?". Lacey almost fell down once because she got so concerned about where Lady was going. I determined that Lacey really can't see anything farther than about 15ft away from her. Lady would get about that far away and Lacey would start peering around like she had majikally disappeared.
Anyway, once Lady had pretty much looked at everything, she and Lacey came back up the hill, had a little pow-wow with me (she's very very sweet), and took Lacey to graze under a stand of trees she had found because it was still raining and Lady is apparently as much of a hothouse flower as Lacey is. :rofl:

She's really a great little mare.


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## Skyseternalangel

Whoops, didn't think about that when it came to the sending exercise. Usually they stop by themselves, my bad!

I'm glad you figured it out though  Seems like a great first day.


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## Wallaby

Haha Maggie, I didn't even think of it either until I was there and having issues. It's so weird to me that she has no idea what "ah-ah" or clucking/kissing noises mean, she doesn't know "whoa", "good girl" means nothing... All these noises I'm constantly making around horses and she really does not know them at all.

Cute story from last night: since I let them into the big pasture, right in the evening I realized that that pasture is so steep Lady might have taken Lacey somewhere Lacey would have a hard time getting out of (Lacey's pretty smart about what she can and can't do but a new bestie might override that intelligence) so I went up to check. Thankfully, they were just down in the bottom of the pasture but not anywhere Lacey couldn't get out of.
So I clucked at them to see if they'd come to me since I brought them each half a carrot (Lady isn't hard to catch but since she doesn't know me yet, I figure it's better to be prepared than have to run all over the place after an errant pony) and Lady initiated a canter up the hill to me!! It was the sweetest thing. Lacey thought it was pretty cool too, thankfully!

Anyway:
Day 2

We practiced more leading, more tying, picking up feet, grooming all over, and I introduced her to a flymask. We also saw a deer and a coyote in the field - she wasn't scared of either, even though they were running. She has a really good mind, I think!

Leading was basically perfect. She's now stopping when I stop, turning when I turn, and she'll usually back up with relatively light pressure. Her only issue is that she still likes to be awfully close to the person leading her. I'm hoping that that will sort itself out as she figures out real life, but we'll see. 

She's getting much better at tying. She definitely tests to see if she's tied solid or not and if she's not tied solid, well, by-by! But if she's tied solid, she stays. She does move around a lot once she gets bored but that should sort itself out.

I picked out her front feet today. She was pretty ok with me doing her right front but pretty uncomfortable with the left front. She tried pulling each out of my hands at least once (like 7 times with the left) but I kept going and we ended with her just letting me hold her hoof.

I also groomed her all over which she thought was pretty great. She was fine today with her belly/flank area (I didn't try touching her udders - didn't want to risk death) being touched. She seems to be out of heat now, I'm not sure whether that's due to the raspberry leaves I gave her yesterday (that'd be awfully fast for them) or whether she's just out. Either way I'm glad.
I felt so bad for her though once I started examining her back. She had, what appear to be, saddle scars all the way down as well as a month+ healing wound on her withers that looks like it came from either a really tight blanket or a saddle sitting on her withers.  People are yucky.

I put a flymask on her today which the rescue thought was going to be "challenging". Hah, Lady was so not scared that she basically put the flymask on herself. At first she wasn't sure about this purple thing going over her ears but she put her head into it willingly and I rubbed her ears/face with it, then she was ok. She wasn't even worried about the velcro! So anyway, she and Lacey are up there, looking cool with their matching Kensington Plaid (well, Lady's is purple, Lacey's is light green) Bug-Eye flymasks. Very cool. :lol:

I'm also at a place of conundrum. Lady really likes me and Lacey is cool too. Lacey really likes Lady and I'm cool too. Lacey starts getting really worried when she's alone and tied - not that I really blame her being basically blind and all - and I feel terrible for reprimanding her for being nervous... When I'm working with her, I just correct her because she's fine and I have her back (she knows this and behaves pretty well when I'm there) but when she's all alone and knows that she had a friend just a second ago but said friend just disappeared.... I feel bad. 

Anyway, that was today...so far. :lol:


I'm just amazed at how fast this is going! I thought for sure leading was gonna be like 2 weeks, then flymask for another week, etc etc. Who knew that training a horse could be this quick! Geez. 
Lacey took so long...but now, looking back, she had so much more to contend with being basically blind around no one she knew, etc etc.


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## grayshell38

Wallaby said:


> Who knew that training a horse could be this quick!


 That's cause she's reletively young. A lot less stuck in her ways. Unfortunately, she'll learn things you don't want her to know just as quickly. (Speaking from experience with my young boy...:wink

Keep up the good work!


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## Skyseternalangel

Wallaby said:


> Who knew that training a horse could be this quick! Geez.
> Lacey took so long...but now, looking back, she had so much more to contend with being basically blind around no one she knew, etc etc.


You definitely have learned more as well, girly 

But yeah if you are consistent and clear, then the horse can pick it up faster  Also if they are curious and eager to please, versus don't want to be in the same paddock as you.

You're doing great


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## Wallaby

Truuue story Megan! I'm trying not to let her get away with anything that could turn into something worse eventually but it's hard to see what those things are exactly, sometimes! haha
And thanks! 

Maggie, that's also super true. Miss Lady is basically dying to learn as much as she can. Her mind is like a little sponge, wanting to see everything, and she's not real snotty about much. 
Thanks! 


Day 3:

Today, Lacey really needed a bath (she gets really itchy if she goes too long between baths) so I figured that today was probably as good a time as any to walk them both down to my house and get Lady a little out of the pasture exposure, especially given that Lady is leading really well inside the pasture.

First, I groomed them both all up and used my long lunge whip to touch Lady all over. I'm still not totally confident that she really cares as little about being touched all over as she acts like she does (something about the look on her face/her energy, I dunno, switches..). Anyway, I figure that even if she is totally fine, there's really no harm in working with her more on it.
I managed to touch her all over and even got the lunge whip under her tail (not all the way to the dock yet but about 6 inches away) without much incident. I did find out that right before she kicks, she swishes her tail - that could be a helpful tell (she did not like the lunge whip between her back legs, even low down...but now she's ok with it. hahaha) to remember.

Anyway, she stood tied for quite a while while I brushed Lacey out and she did really well with that. She seemed much more relaxed about being tied than she has before. She actually stood there instead of constantly moving around. I also practiced with her about picking her front feet up. She's still pretty uncomfortable with that but at least today she didn't pull them out of my hands at all.

And here, I have to mention that Lacey is being an absolute gem. She's being very responsive to me. Today I even needed her to walk off so I could discombobulate Lady (while I was leading both of them) so I just dropped her lead rope, poked her in the direction I wanted her to go and clucked. She walked about 10ft away, then stopped and turned towards us, just waiting for us to be ready. 
And, no matter how bratty Lady is to her (Lady is kinda trying to take advantage of her dominant over Lacey status), if I'm working with Lacey, her mind is with me. Today while I was leading them together, Lady thought about kicking Lacey but instead of acting out, Lacey just stopped walking and let me correct Lady for her (Lady also isn't allowed to start/participate in tiffs while she's being worked with, no matter the circumstances, but Lady obviously doesn't understand that rule quite yet, haha!). I'm so glad I have my Lacey girl to help me "manage" this Lady horse. If I had two unreliable horses...I'd probably go nuts.

Anyway, so after they were both all groomed, we walked down to my house. Lady was overall really great about walking through the neighborhood. She was scared of the manhole covers in the road but over the next couple of months I think they'll probably cease to be scary. She listened pretty well to my direction too. Not great, but fantastic for a horse that only learned what "stop" meant 2 days ago! :lol:

We get down to my house, Lacey's in her spot "tied" to the RV (I loop her lead rope to the ladder), and I tied Lady to a tree that's in the middle of the driveway so she can watch Lacey not react to getting a bath (lol). I'm pleased to say that Lady did great. She was a little antsy about being tied but I'd be antsy too if I were a horse tied to some weird thing and in a place I had never seen before, she stood there though so I really can't complain.
After I gave Lacey her bath, Lady seemed interested enough that I untied her and brought the hose over to her so she could look at the water. Interestingly, she dunked her face straight in it and started playing around with her lips and the water. Silly pony! I ended up hosing her front end off a little just to see what she did. And while it wasn't her favorite, she wasn't overly scared - just "why is this happening?".

After that we walked back "home" which went even less eventfully than walking to my house. We also ended up stopping at one of my neighbor's houses because they wanted to know all about where this "other" horse had come from. Both girls were a little antsy to get home at that point but they handled themselves well so I'm not complaining. 

We got home and I tied them both up again to braid Lacey's mane and brush out her tail. I did both of those things then decided to brush and braid Lady's mane too because her mane is really thick and I feel bad for her poor overly hot neck under there. She did really really well with that. I was expecting more "Gosh darn it! I wanna be DONE!!" from her but she just put her head down and was very patient (I think she was tired after everything she had seen and experienced).

Then I fed them both and let them go. Lady's a bit of a brat about her food (rushes for it, etc) so I have to be a bit tough on her at feeding time. I'm hoping though that she'll catch on soon and start being a bit more respectful on her own volition. 

Lady really doesn't have any concept of "punishment" which I'm not really sure how to deal with. A slap means nothing, "ah-ah" means nothing, a pop with the crop means nothing...the lunge whip initially got a reaction but now it's not concerning either... Huh. Well, she's very aware of some kinds of pressure and release (like if she steps into my bubble, instead of waving the end of the lead rope at her like I'd do with another horse, poking her repeatedly in the chest until she backs up is more effective). It's all very strange to me. WHAT happened to that horse? lol


And then, I took a picture of her with her cute braids. This is her "Really??" face.










Thanks for reading all that!


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## Skyseternalangel

Those braids suit her!!


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## Wallaby

Thanks Maggie! I think she likes them too, she's been pretty insistent that she needs to shake her head all over the place with them (I think she likes seeing people scatter as they're whipped... haha!). Really though, her neck was much cooler today and she seemed overall less put out by the heat (it's been extremely muggy the last few days so everything feels hotter than it really is).


Day 4 - 

Today she got a "break". Lacey had a lesson, it was gross out, and she's been learning hard. I figured she deserved a little respite.
Anyway, all we did today was: my lesson kid led her down to the shed while I led Lacey (I feel like it's important that Lady knows that proper leading etiquette is for all people, not just the "big" ones that can force her), she actually did really really well. Yay her!! Then she stood tied during Lacey's lesson (1hr) which she did pretty well with. A little fussy after the 45 minute mark but that was a long time for her to be patient. Then I brushed her while my lesson kid brushed out Lacey, worked on picking her feet up (she's doing great with her fronts, haven't gotten brave enough to try her backs yet), and she had to wait extra patiently for her food when it was time for that. She's catching on but I think it'll be even clearer for her once I have a separate stall area to feed her in. Right now, Lacey's fed in a blocked off stall and I hold Lady on a lead rope so she won't go fuss at Lacey for Lacey's food. Hopefully tomorrow/Monday I'll be setting up a stall situation so the whole feeding thing will be simpler.

I think I'm going to start teaching Lady about ponying tomorrow. I need to teach her how to lunge as well but I'm not sure which to do first... Or if I can do both at the same time. I imagine if I can keep her to a walk, both would be ok but if she decides to trot around about lunging, that might be something I should wait on until she's put on a few more pounds.... I think I'll just start with ponying and save lunging.

She is putting on dramatic amounts of weight though which is great! It's only been a week and I can already see improvement. She's still way skinnier than I like but she's coming a long. I'd say that in 3 weeks she'll probably be looking more like a normal horse. 
I wish I could get weight on her even faster but then again, faster is not always better and she is gaining well...I just hate skinny horses! :lol:


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## Skyseternalangel

You're doing so great with her, Emily! 

A word of advice, I've been kicking myself for not filming the sessions with Sky as he was learning. I recommend getting a few of those so you can see the progress and also see what you're doing as well.


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## Wallaby

Aw thanks Maggie! I'm trying! And she really is fun to work with, a goober, but a fun goober. 
You know that feeling you get when you can tell someone/something isn't being entirely real with you/themselves? That's kind of the feeling I get from her. She's so tightly contained that I feel like one day she's just going to go "bizacko" (favorite word ever for "crazy") and I'm just hoping the real her will be nice. I think she's truly a sweetie, just on the defensive right now since she's been tossed around so much, but we'll see!
And GREAT idea about filming. I always wish I had gotten some film of back when Lacey was nuts (see, it's hardly believable anymore = why I need video to prove it. hahaha!) so great idea! Hopefully on Monday it'll be nice and I'll get a video of her first ponying session.

Anyway, 
Day 5 - 

Today we had a bit of a backwards step/eventual breakthrough.
It was way too wet to try ponying like I had planned so I decided to try to start teaching her to lunge. Well, she basically laughed in my face. 
She kept trying to jump into my lap (no concept of personal boundaries) and I was feeling more and more frustrated. We ended up playing the game I like to call "One Step Forward, 5 Steps Back". It's where Lady get's into my personal bubble, I back her up 5 steps, then she takes a step forward - testing my resolve, I make her back up 6 steps, etc, etc until Lady stays where I place her. She actually did pretty well with that today. Not great but with how lap-jump-y she had been being, I consider only getting to 7 steps back a success. :lol: She seems to think that when I face her, I'm fair mauling game. when I stand next to her, she's fine staying out of my bubble. It's weird, she's weird, we'll figure it out, whatever. :rofl:

She's turning out to be a bit tougher than I had anticipated but I think we'll get there. Just one day at a time.


Anyway, with that all in mind, it was suggested to me  to try free lunging Lady with Lacey since Lacey knows all the forward cues and would hopefully teach, through her behaviors, Lady the correct reactions to cues, aka no lap-jumping.
Lacey was absolutely thrilled by this. She had so much fun. Lady was unsure at first but really seemed to catch on by the end of the session. she seemed really kind of surprised and thrilled that I was allowing the two of them to run like that. She really liked it though!

I had a realization while watching them run as well, about Lady. Perhaps, since she's spent 100% of her 10 years of life in a postage stamp-sized suburban backyard with 3 other horses and who knows how many dogs+kids, mayyybe she's never really gotten to seriously move forward... Maybe she doesn't move herself forward in response to requests for forward because there wasn't ever any room for forward!
Huh, what a thought. 
Anyway, later when I led Lady, with Lacey following, through the gate to the upper field (she's figured out that it's absolutely hilarious to, when I start "herding" them up the hill, start trotting circles around the shed - such a jokester+BRAT!) I, without thinking about it, opened the upper gate, held on to near Lady's halter and swung the lead rope at her butt. GUESS WHAT SHE DID!? If you guessed that she moved herself forward, without panicking, and turned around to face me once she got to the end of the space I had given her to turn in, you guessed RIGHT! That's the gentlest I've been able to be and still get a reaction, in the 5 days I've had her! 

This is a really good sign.

My fingers are crossed that maybe with a few more free lunging sessions, things will get even better! I also really can't complain when both my mares really love doing something - free lunging - that also happens to be great for them and fun for me. Cannot complain at all!


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## Wallaby

Day 6 - 

I kinda decided that after the very successful free lunging sesh, maybe the thing to do for now is to forget about Lady 1 on 1 (beyond the basic grooming/picking up feet/etc) and focus on teaching her stuff via Lacey's knowledge. At least with the free lunging, there's been crossover (she yielded her hip to me AGAIN today after I swung the lead rope at it twice!! Longer term results YEAH!) so maybe that's the way to go for now.

Anyway, on that note, my lesson cancelled for this afternoon so I had a not raining afternoon free for horses = PONYING!

So Lady got her first intro to ponying today and I gots a video for you. 

Lacey was extremely helpful, again. 

Sorry for the length, but I wanted to fit the whole session in and this was what was left after editing out all the parts (13 minute session) where we went off camera. I thought the camera was shifted more to the right than it actually was so bummer deal. However, I think most all of the "important" stuff is there.

I realized after getting on, and having Lacey be weird about Lady being on that side of her, that I had stuck Lady on Lacey's right side. From what I can surmise, Lacey is basically 95+% blind on that side (she's a lot spookier on that side and a lot more nervous about ANYTHING being over there) so it makes sense that she'd be uncomfortable with having a whole freaking horse on that side! :lol:
Anyway, so I switched Lady over to the left side (equaling a terrible dismount on my part after we got done, obviously I should work on that) and Lacey was much more relaxed.

Lady seemed very confused at first but by the end, she wasn't dragging me back nearly as hard as she had been - thank goodness! It still definitely needs work (I'm thinking 1-2 more in the pasture sessions, depending on how well Lady picks it up, then off to the trails with us) but she'll get there. She apparently really likes being on the inside of a turn but the outside? No siree!! So that'll get some definite practice.

I'd also like to call your attention to the spot at 7:12+, I was SO proud of Lacey for this. Lady was being kind of a real brat and she was basically trying to pull the "my legs have turned to cement = no hope for walking!!" thing. I asked Lacey to stop, and then, since Lady was right behind her, she couldn't back up to get me to Lady, so I asked her to yield her hindquarters. That's something I've always tried to work with her on but she's one of those "if it doesn't have a purpose, why on earth do I need to do it??!" mares so we never got far without her getting super frustrated with me, etc. Anyway, I asked for one there because that was the only thing I could think of that would solve our predicament, and SHE DID IT!!  Good pony! I was so proud. My girl comes through when she has a job.


Anyway, video!







Feel free to give me tips if you have ideas, I'm all ears and I've never done this before!


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## Roperchick

I like to have my ponyed horses head right there by my riding horses shoulder with about 2 foot of lead. it gives them less leverage to pull back and balk, plus they dont have as much lead to try and pull crap like reading or bucking. if they start acting up i just choke up on the rein, dally it (in western saddle haha) and move my riding horse off and they have to follow because their head is right there.

if i have a stubborn horse that doesnt want to move i just turn my horse into them making them move their shoulder or hip and lead straight off and usually they follow.

if you have a horse that is faster than your riding horse, lead em on the outside of your turn so they have more space to cover and a slower horse i have on the inside.


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## Skyseternalangel

Great job! I think that was a really good first ponying session 

As she gets better and better, the rope can become shorter and shorter and she'll stay right by your thigh from then on. 

Wooo! Well done


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## Wallaby

Thanks Christine! I would have loved to have her closer but she was just having none of it. I decided it was a "pick and choose my battles" sorta time. HOPEFULLY tomorrow (the next time I'm going to be able to work on ponying with them) she'll be more ok with being closer. If she's not, well, we'll work on making her comfortable with that. :lol: 
Hah, I wish I could dally the rope! Darn Aussie saddle! Actually though, I think if I were to dally any rope on a saddle attached to Lacey, the saddle would slide over before anything else would happen (Lacey is basically like riding a barrel, it's ridiculous). :rofl:
I will give turning into Lady to catch her up a try, I didn't even think of that but that's a great idea!


Thanks Maggie! I was proud of them both. I have two good girls on my hands, what to do! 
That's my hope that as she gets more comfy, she'll stay closer to my leg. my fingers are crossed! :lol:


Day 7 - 

Yay, Lady's been here for a week!
Anyway, I was bummed today that I didn't get a chance to really work with either of the mares. I had to start a housesitting job by noon and even though I got up at 7am, packing up my stuff, feeding myself+my cat, packing up my cat's stuff (he's having a "sleepover" at my brother's place, lol!), and feeding the girls took waaaayyyy longer than anticipated.

Anyway, what little work I did do with Lady today was very successful! She yeilded her hindquarters to me again twice AND I was able to shoo her away with just my hands and have her patiently stand on the other side of her "stall" while I set her grain out.
I was impressed and proud. I had been enforcing my respectful=food, pushiness=no food rule by putting her on a lead rope and forcing her to obey but that's not my favorite. I think it's more "powerful" when a horse obeys a rule under their own power and not because of coercion or anything.


Also, I saw Lacey kinda bully Lady today!!    Since Lady was an orphan, I feel like she really needs to not be the boss horse, at least for right now while she's learning how real horses live. Lacey wasn't a jerk, but Lady was drinking water that Lacey wanted to Lacey just walked up, pinned her ears, and basically shoved Lady out of the way. Tooo funny. Lacey's basically like "You can think you're the boss whenever you want but I'm really just using you, thought you should know". Silly girls!
The other funny part is that the only things I've ever seen Lacey be dominant over are the llamas. Lady must not be very invested in her own power! :lol:

I think they're both really coming along. Hopefully by the end of this week I'll have been able to take Lady on a trail ride with Lacey and I. She's really filling in, it's time to turn that fat into muscle (on both girls really, but at least Lacey's fat is toned fat!).


Then a picture of them eating in their "stalls". Lacey is ridiculous. She'd rather visit than actually eat. She had eaten probably half of her food at that point but "needed" loves to continue. :lol: And you can tell, from how much Lacey's "electric tape" is stretched that that's not the first visiting break she's taken. :rofl:


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## Roperchick

Nice! any improvement is great improvement! haha i just Love Lacey and Lady is in very good hands/hooves haha
cant wait to here about yalls first trail together!


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## Wallaby

Me too, Christine!! I'm so so so glad that someone mentioned to me about getting a foster! I hadn't even considered it before that, then I did and BAM! I mean, I don't want to get ahead of myself, or jinx it, but it's kind of eery how this has all worked out so far...

Also, I forgot to mention in today's post that, just for funnsies, I laid my hoodie over Lady's back, after the girls had been fed, while we were walking back up to the upper pasture. That REALLY changed her attitude. She wasn't scared of the hoodie (made sure of that before I put it on her back) but she was SO careful about it being on her back. 
How she was reminded me of Lacey when Lacey has a scared kid on her back and she's trying her hardest to be a "good, not scary, girl". It was VERY interesting....

I think it would be so funny to find out in a few months that Lady is like super broke, or something, and her previous owners just MASSIVELY lied to the rescue. And she's just been messing with us all cuz she's a smarty. 
I could kind of really see it happening because really? A horse that "perfect pony"-ish being left to just sit who majikally discovers how to lead well in one session, "discovers" that my space IS *my* space after 1 free lunging sesh? 
I really kinda feel like Lady is pulling a MASSIVE con on all the humans she's been involved with for the last couple of years...or something. 


But then again, I always feel like Lacey could really just start speaking English at any time and she just hasn't yet... Maybe I'm the insane one.... :rofl:


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## grayshell38

I wouldn't be surprised if she knows a lot more than we think she does. Not that I know anything about her story, but it is rather strange. 

The lady I got Thelma from told me that she couldn't be fly sprayed or bathed. Indeed, when I tried to do so, she put up a big fuss, but it was obvious that she was not "scared! No like!" but more like, "I know this game. I put up a fight and then you get scared/annoyed and then leave me alone". Once I layed down the law and let her know that she didn't scare me and I had LOTS of patience, she quickly settled down and acted like a normal horse in only a session or two. 

She knew what she was supposed to do, but who ever worked with her before me, had allowed her poor behavior. Be a strong leader and she'll come around.


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## Wallaby

So I haven't posted anything in a few days because Lady has been driving me NUTS.

I'm sure it's a case of "the second weeks", where she's over the "first week best behaviors" and on to being a lil tester.

Anyway, yeah, she was doing great with ponying in the field so yesterday I decided "What the heck! We're going on a trail ride!"
Hah, yeah. 

To make a long story short, Lacey loves trotting/cantering on trails and Lady apparently plants her feet and refuses to move when she doesn't want to go. Where did Lady not want to go? Oh yeah, THE TRAILS. 
So Lacey was getting more and more frustrated because I was asking her to be really patient and she hadn't gotten to run in over a week and Lady is just standing behind us like a statue.

Anyway, it was overall really really frustrating for everyone involved. 

So today we kinda addressed that. I thought that perhaps Lady's quick-catch halter would maybe help. It's basically 2 loops of rope that go around her throatlatch and nose that'll tighten up more and more the more she resists coming along. Then it'll loosen up dramatically as soon as she takes a step forward - I felt like since yesterday went SO badly in a normal rope halter, I needed to make the wrong thing REALLY unpleasant and the right thing REALLY rewarding.


So I started out in the field and both girls did well. I even got them both trotting next to each other for a time. Lacey loved it, Lady was like "stoppppp making me work so hard!!" (I think her work ethic is lacking from 10 years of laziness because seriously? Being bested by a 27 year old=pathetic).

Then, I decided that instead of going all the way down to the trials and having to drag Lady along, I'd just work with them both on the gravel road right outside the pasture.
Pretty immediately Lady planted her feet and refused to come along. I tried to stay on Lacey and just haul Lady along but Lacey was wanting to walk so fast and Lady was going 0mph so I ended up getting off and hauling on Lady. She DID NOT like being forced to do anything but after probably 5 minutes of me just solidly pulling her off to the side (I figured pulling her off to the side was a better bet to get her moving) she finally took a step. Handily, the halter loosened up immediately, faster than I could have, so she was immediately rewarded. The next step, she OBVIOUSLY couldn't give in (too easy, right!), she planted her feet again but this time it only took maybe 30 seconds to get her moving. Then she tried it one more time but gave in pretty much immediately. 
Then I hopped on Lacey and Lady came along all the way up the road and back again but once we got to the gate, fight time!
This time I just pulled on her really hard from Lacey's back and she came along after a minute or two so I immediately stopped Lacey and rubbed Lady's face. 
Then I just walked them both up and down the road a few more times. Lady dug her feet in a feeewwww more times but they were all pretty easily solved so hopefully something "clicked" in her mind. 
I think I'll just repeat what we did today, tomorrow and hopefully we'll be able to go on a _good_ trail ride on Friday or Monday. And I think I'll keep using the quick-catch halter on her for ponying until I know she'll come along. 
I feel kinda mean doing that to her (since I'm basically coercing her with pain) but really, she knows she's bigger than me and I cannot let her just not do stuff she doesn't like. I'm refusing to play silly games with her and that's really what she needs so yknow... :/

Hopefully she'll soon figure out that "work" can actually be fun because this lack of work ethic on her part will get old really soon. She's in the midst of a major life change though so I don't really blame her for being a little bleep-y about things.

In other news, she's doing better with personal space. She's doing fantastic with yielding her hindquarters as well. Not as good as Lacey yet, but Lacey pretty much reads my mind about stuff I want her to do so I'm the tiniest bit spoiled. :lol:
I also introduced her to a spray bottle filled with water today. She was nervous at first but after I rubbed her with the bottle, let her sniff the bottle, and the sprayed the air next to her a few times (while sporadically feeding her carrot pieces for exemplary non-reactions) she allowed me to spray her all over with the bottle. She'll still need some work with that, of course, but she did really amazing for a first time.

She's really put on A LOT of weight too. The hollows behind her shoulders are nearly gone, her back bone is only protruding a bit, and her butt is starting to look less like a famine victim's patootie. 

I REALLY think that once she realizes that work feel good (I know she has tons of pent up energy), she'll come around pretty fast. It almost seems to me like something happened to her in the past that left a terrible taste in her mouth about any sort of work. Or, of course, maybe she's just a brat and she doesn't want to so she won't! :lol:
I'm still housesitting but once I'm finished with that (Saturday!) I'm hoping to go free lunge the girls in the evening again. I tried yesterday during the day but I think it was just a little warm for them cuz they really were not happy about running.


And I hope everybody had a great 4th of July!


Also, because Lacey is adorable, here's a picture a neighbor of mine took the other day. The neighbor's granddaughter (3yo) LOVES talking to Lacey through the fence and that day they caught me right as I was walking back from riding Lacey. The little girl was really excited about being close to Lacey but was understandably nervous. I offered that she could help me lead Lacey so "we" decided that I'd hold on to Lacey close to Lacey's face and she'd hold on to the end of Lacey's reins where she felt safe. 
It was adorable. She helped me untack and feed Lacey. She was SO proud of herself. It was the cutest!


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## Skyseternalangel

That is a really cute picture


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## Wallaby

I thought so too!  That little girl was the cutest. I called her a "Champion of Horses" and, according to her grandma, playing "Horse Champion" is her new favorite game. Kids! :lol:


I've lost track of what day it "is"... I think day 11? lol

We'll pretend that's what it is...

Day 11!

Today I decided to just focus on Lacey. Lacey's like my best friend and Lady is like having a third wheel around ALL THE TIME when we hang out. That makes Lacey and I sound super cliquish but it's one of those things where Lady is going to fit in perfectly once we know her better and get used to the whole situation but right now it's kinda awkward.
Anyway, I decided that possibly the best fix for my current Lady frustration (since it's all basically unwarranted, just me hating change, lol!) is to ignore her for a day and focus on my bestie.

So, oh my word, Lacey and I had the best ride. 
Lady was basically freaking out (first real separation since she got here) so she did some serious running around. The little old people who own the pasture got all worried because I forgot to tell them that I was separating the girls for my ride and I felt really bad. :/ I filled them in when I got back but I still felt bad.

Anyway, back to my ride. Lacey was excited to begin with but she soon settled down. I was really proud of her though, she only neighed at Lady when Lady neighed first and once we got out of hearing range, she didn't neigh at all. She neighed once about halfway through our ride but is was extremely halfhearted. :lol: It was like she was neighing out of duty and not so much actually necessity. 

She seemed to enjoy being without "the kid" for a bit. She didn't even try to rush home. She almost seemed to be walking slower going home than away from home. :rofl:
I had even put her in her pelham, with a curb rein and snaffle rein, in anticipation of bolting or other silliness but I didn't engage the curb once! She just went along like "Cool story bro, us "humans" are hangin' out!"

Anyway, maybe I'll try to make that be a "thing"- one ride a week without Lady. 
It'll be good for Lacey and me, and it'll be good for Lady to discover that people+horses leave and also magically return. 

It was really nice. I like my Lacey girl. 


Also, I'm done house-sitting tomorrow! I'm excited. It was cool for the first couple of days but now I miss my house+my cat+seeing the horses multiple times a day.


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## Skyseternalangel

Wallaby said:


> Anyway, maybe I'll try to make that be a "thing"- one ride a week without Lady.
> It'll be good for Lacey and me, and it'll be good for Lady to discover that people+horses leave and also magically return.



That's a great idea! And it sounds like you both really needed that!


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## Wallaby

Day 12!

So, I'm really really proud of Lady today - I think taking a day's break did some good for us both. 
It seems that perhaps the issues with her getting in my space when I tried to teach her to lunge were mostly my fault. Today I really thought about what I was doing with MY body instead of what she was doing. It turns out that I was kinda expecting her to be like Lacey who'll basically lunge herself if she's on a line and there's a person attached to said line. Apparently Lady is much more focused on my body language than Lacey is (which makes TOTAL sense since Lacey really can't see precise body language, just vague shapes that she attempts to make conclusions about) and me trying to drive her away from me wasn't enough. 
Today, when I focused on her hip and drove her out with the end of my rope, she lunged like a dream!! I only had her walk because I don't want to push her too hard yet but she did great! When I'd take a step forward and line up with her shoulder, she'd stop and walk towards me. If I moved back to her hip, she'd circle me, shoulder - walks to me, hip - circle, etc.

It was 100% fascinating! I've never been around a horse that was that absolutely tuned in to my body language (or maybe I have been and I was just totally oblivious...). The second I was doing it "wrong", she'd start doing it "wrong". When I did it "right", she did it "right"!

Anyway, it was cray-cray. She was still mildly nervous about what I was doing but by the end (I was having her do one circle, stop and get praise, then switch directions, one circle, praise, switch directions, etc) she seemed to really be pretty comfortable with walking a circle around me. She was stopping great (just stepping in front of her shoulder gets an immediate stop) and overall it was a really great session.
I'm hoping that she won't need me to be SO precise once she really gets lunging down but for now, I'm satisfied.

Then, I groomed her and we "played" with spray bottles. She was totally fine with flyspray and totally fine with spray detangler on her mane but my smallest size bottle provoked a pretty worried reaction. She was fine with it spraying her everywhere but her neck. That was apparently a "private" spot. :lol: Anyway, I worked with her on that and by the end she was still giving me "OMG eyes" but I think with one more little session, she'll be golden. I need to use a louder spray bottle next time just to get her used to that (the one's I've been using are the more "misty" types that are pretty quite, I have one that's pretty loud = challenge).

I also got a rope around one of her back legs to "practice" picking them up. I'm relatively nervous about them because she has shown a liking for kicking out when she doesn't like something on her belly. That really doesn't mean much but yknow, Nervous Nelly over here is still kinda concerned. :lol: I think I'll just keep working with her on that and bolstering my own confidence as she shows that she'll pick up those back legs fine. I also need to be braver about touching her backend. She hasn't shown any brattiness about it, I'm just concerned for no real reason. 
I think I'm going to try messing with her tail tomorrow. That seems relatively innocuous inside my mind and maybe that'll help me realize that she's not gonna annihilate me. :rofl:
It's one of those fears that I logically KNOW is pretty silly but that logic isn't doing much to sooth my internal fear response. haha Once I see someone else do it I'll be golden but for now, nerves.

On the picking up her front feet front (lol), she's doing great! I'm still picking them up, setting them down, praising her, then picking them back up, praising her, picking them out, and setting them down but she's doing fantastic! Today all I had to do to get her to lift her right foot was show her the pick, pet her shoulder, and start running my hand down her leg. Before I even got to her knee, she was holding her hoof up for me. What a good girl!!


Lacey joined us during this time. She just stood about 10ft away, "supervising". She's pretty cute. 
Also, Lacey has apparently learned to go into her stall when I tell her "stall". usually I say "stall" then guide her in at feeding time but today I decided to just say "stall" to see what happened. Pretty much as soon as I said "stall" she started assessing exactly where she was and she got herself into her stall and into her corner where I make her stand while waiting for her food (I have precise feeding organization that eliminates pushiness for food).
She's cute.

I have two cute girls. Whatever am I going to do! :lol:


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## cakemom

You are going to do what you do best, spoil them, love them and provide us a photographic journey!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

Haha true story cakemom. ....make them FAT, just the usual. :lol:


So nothing really to report for today. Weather-wise it decided to be about a bazillion degrees (90+) so I'm basically hiding in my basement to stay cool.

However, I do have a picture for ya'll.

Last night I went up there just to sit with the girls cuz they're cute and all. Lacey apparently decided that it was time to be fed so she marched her little self over to the shed and just stood there, waving her head in the air, until I gave them each a cookie. That wasn't exactly what they wanted:










I call that one "Disapproval". If Lacey had hands, she'd surely be shaking her finger at me. :rofl:


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## Wallaby

More happened yesterday:
I had a lesson come and since it was so hot, I decided to not have the girl ride and to play games on the ground instead. Her absolute FAVORITE game we pla is one where I have a bag filled with slips of paper that each have a body part written on them, then we figure out where that body part is and duct tape the slip of paper to the horse in that spot. She REALLY wanted to use Lady for that game this time and I figured that it would be good exposure for Lady (the more strange stuff constantly happening, the more she's going to just accept weirdness as a matter of course), so we used Lady. Surprisingly, Lady had exactly zero problems with having slips of paper duct taped ALL over her body. Front legs, back legs, hooves, face, ears, nothing was an issue. 
I was pretty impressed and proud!

Day 14!

It's stinking hot again. Today, so far, has been cooler than yesterday but none of us are really used to the heat (this is the first heat wave of the summer) so the ponies are sweating profusely just standing around the field (and I'm sweating profusely standing there with them but you didn't want to know that). Therefore, they didn't really work at all today either.

This morning I did practice some lunging with Lady and I'm not really 100% sure that she learned much. However, this seems to be how she learns; she makes me think she's learning nothing by behaving like a nutcase, then behaves like a trained champion at life the next time we practice. So I'm hopeful. 
I actually got her trotting on cue at one point which is an improvement! She also "whoa"-d really well when I asked. However, after a couple rounds of trotting, she started getting pretty excited and then bolted off on me. Thankfully she's small enough that her bolts are pretty easily contained so she didn't succeed but it was interesting. I have found that when she starts getting mentally overloaded and about to "check out" she curls her tail over her back - not flagging, just curls it around. So I'm kinda using that as a gauge and the second her tail starts moving weird, I slow down her pace a little.
She also picked up a canter (un-cued) in this session. It was actually a "buck, buck, buck, canter stride, buck, buck, buck, canter stride, trot" so yknow... lol! interestingly, that canter didn't get her excited but trotting really seems to. 

A theory I have is that right now she's so out of shape that the process of getting in shape is thrilling to her. From her general demeanor, I'm willing to hypothesize that once she's in shape, she'll be pretty sedate most of the time.

My goal for tomorrow is to get up really early (7am-ish) and take them out around 8am when it's cooler. I'd really like to work on ponying again but I want to do it when we're all pretty comfortable and not cranky about anything.

They both got new flymasks today (no pictures :sad: ) and they look really cute. Lacey's is Arabian sized and Lady's is yearling sized. Lacey's head is small but Lady's head makes Lacey's head look warmblood sized! :lol:
I also got a new kind of flyspray because the stuff I had been using just wasn't cutting it. It's supposedly "sweat proof" so we'll see. At $25/bottle, it BETTER be sweat proof!  And this spray has sunscreen in it which'll be good for Lady's pink nose. He nose keeps getting sunburned and I feel bad! I really need to get her some sunscreen lotion but the people store is such a frustrating place. lol!


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## Wallaby

Day 15...

Oh yeah, yesterday I forgot to mention that Lady's been here for two whole weeks!! Yay!

Today I had been planning on getting up at 7am but....that didn't happen. :rofl: Thankfully it stayed about 60*ish until noon and I got up to the horses at around 11am, so it was still nice out.

Anyway, I started out just ponying Lady off Lacey around the pasture. It seems as though my little coercion halter thing has had some sort of effect or that our last little "fight" about ponying really taught Lady something because today, from the moment I got on Lacey, Lady had her head next to my knee and was giving Lacey and I about 2ft of "bubble".

I also looped Lady's line through a ring on my saddle and through a carabiner on the other side of my saddle in such a way that if Lady did balk, I wasn't having my arm ripped out trying to get her to come (a problem before, it was either give Lady slack or be pulled out of the saddle - neither of which being ideal when Lady's being bratty) but I could still easily free her if needed. 

I'm using enough line for this that she has about 15ft of play before the carabiner thing adds tension. I hold it so she only has about 5ft of slack most of the time but I have the option of giving her a lot more if it's needed.

This ride went SO well. I can't even describe to you how great it was. Lady was even very willing to trot along next to Lacey when I'd cue Lacey to trot. Lady DID NOT want to canter when I asked Lacey to canter so she just did the longest trot I have EVER seen. Lacey was like "Um, what are you doing?" and did this nice slow canter/lope so Lady could keep up. It was really funny. I figure that probably the next ride, Lady'll understand that cantering alongside is acceptable. 
It seems like she picked up, somewhere, that she's not supposed to run ever. I guess it makes sense considering that she was living in someone's backyard but it's still weird. She adores running when it's obviously acceptable but she's very careful to make sure it is acceptable before she engages in any fast activities.

Overall though, it went really well. Lacey was totally focused on "heading up" this trail expedition and Lady was pretty into it by the end. 

We also came across quite a few people on the trail. It seems as though Lady, now that she's comfortable, is completely 100% a social butterfly. she adores everyone of my lesson kids, wants to basically be in the laps of their parents, she's the one that goes up to the gate when strangers are there (Lacey is captain of the Anti-Stranger-Danger campaign, she won't approach ANYONE unless I'm there), and on the trail today, she kept trying to follow the people we saw - "Being ponied? Psh, I'm going with this guy and his DOG!!!    "
Anyway, it's pretty adorable, especially considering that she's only about 13hh so right at super cute, non threatening, "adorable poneh" height. People adore her! :rofl:


They also each got a bath today after the ride (it had warmed up to about 75* and they were both sweaty after the ride)! 
It was Lady's first "real" bath and she did SO well. I only sudsed up her neck+belly since I wasn't sure how she was going to like the suds, but she did fantastic. She was nervous to start with but by the end she was "tolerating" it. It wasn't her favorite but she was standing still and letting me spray her so it can only get better with more experience! 
I even put conditioner in her mane - it's SOOOOO soft right now!

Lacey was great for her bath too. She was really hot after the ride so the cold water felt super good to her. She was also getting itchy again so she really liked having all her itches soothed.

Then we walked back to their pasture. 

I used spray detangler on Lady's mane and she thought nothing of the spray. She didn't even want to sniff the bottle! Such improvement!
At flyspray time, she was perfect for that too! Apparently now that "we" have realized that sprays don't hurt, we could care less.

I also stuck a saddle pad on her back today. She was like "ehhh, cool story bro." and couldn't have cared less. One of these days I'm going to stick my pony saddle on her. She seems like she's really not going to care so that could be cool. 

She's coming along so well! I just really like her.

And now, I think I'm gonna go read in their pasture cuz...why not!


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## Skyseternalangel

Someone's falling in loooooooove :wink:


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## arrowsaway

I have been wanting to pick up a good book lately, but I'll just stick with this thread.
I am hooked! lol


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## tinyliny

I think Lacey is really enjoying have a "purpose". I need to think about that for Mac and Zulu; some way to give them a "purpose" when we ride. H m m .....


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## Wallaby

Hah, Maggie, I am NOT!!! *pouts* #denial :wink:

Arrowsaway! Yes, read this thread! We have drama, we have intrigue, we have lessons learned, it's a tale of love and growth! :rofl:

Caroline, I totally, 100%, agree with you.
I just love seeing her like this - she knows she has a "job" and she's super invested in getting the job done. People say I have an unbelievable work ethic, I say wait until you see my horse! :lol:
She pretty much showed me that this sort of thing is her forte, I didn't believe it at first but she was consistent and now I can tell as soon as she locks in on something. Maybe Mac+Zulu are showing you something too and you've simply missed it up 'til now? 


Day 16 - 

So today we didn't do much.
I had intended to free lunge them but pretty much as soon as I got them into the field I free lunge in, this old man came out of the fancy house that's there and started screaming at me about how my horses don't belong in "his" (not his, at all, btw) field, how the flies bother him when he swims in his pool, how the horse poop stinks (there are exactly zero piles in that field because the mares only poop by the gate), and how he hates how the horses "watch" him while he swims. He then told me that if I didn't get my horses out, he'd make them get out.
It was all I could do to keep from becoming reallly really mad. That house has only been there for 5 or so years, the pasture has been there for at least the last 20. Hmmm, I _wonder_ who chose where the pool goes. Oh yeah, he did, when he had the house built! Fancy that.
Anyway, I closed the gate to that field for now and I'm going to talk to the little old people, who own all the fields, to see what they've done before. I'm thinking that he's just the nasty one there because all the other people who live in that house have all been very friendly and kind towards me and the horses. 
This guy would never wave at me when I'd wave at him (even when Lacey was in the other field), he never tries to give the horses extra space on the road when he drives past, and he's just -as a general rule- been rude whenever I've seen him.

I can see where he's coming from but at the same time, it's not my fault that the horses like watching him, I'm doing everything possible to keep the flies low (and the flies really are VERY low), it's not his field, and seeing as how the poop pile is a couple acres away and downwind (I think...? whichever one means the wind is blowing any smell away from his house) from him - he's not smelling real poop.
I want to be understanding but the other side of me thinks that if he actually wanted to solve anything, he could have been a whole lot politer about any real issues he's having instead of just blowing up at me.
If he approached me reasonably, I would have been totally happy to talk to him about whatever issues he's having and what we could do to find a solution. As it is, he didn't want a solution, he just wanted to yell at me. 

Anyway, gah! 


I did lunge Lacey a bit, which she enjoyed, and I groomed them both. I worked on picking up Lady's back legs with a rope and she's doing pretty well with that!
Lady, once again, acted like the flyspray and flymask were no big deal so yay for that too!

I also put Lacey's grazing muzzle on her because she's getting obese-r than usual. She was highly displeased but yknow, gotta do what ya gotta do. I'm going to take it off this evening when I go up to take their flymasks off. I'm sure she'll be thrilled! :lol:


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## Wallaby

So this evening the little old lady property owner calls, chuckling, to tell me that the horses have gotten out and that they're in said property owner's orchard...

I'm automatically thinking that AOM (Angry Old Man) decided to just set them free so I also spent some time secretly hoping they went in his front yard to poop (they didn't, lol).

Anyway, I got some rope and carrot pieces and immediately ran up there.
And what do ya know, as soon as the horses see me, Lady takes off to do some last minute reconnaissance and Lacey comes cantering up to me with this look on her face that seemed to say "I went along with that youngster because I needed to keep her out of trouble, not because I wanted to be out!". Lady was thrilled about being out, she was checking out everybody's yards, their cars, their dogs, she was having a grand time. Lacey, not so much. 

Anyway, I decided that instead of trying to catch Lady, I'd just take Lacey back to the pasture because I knew Lady would follow Lacey.
Lacey was THRILLED to be going back "home" and Lady came along slowly, checking out everything.

I got them both in the gate and they each got a few carrot pieces for being easily captured.

I decided to tie the gate shut because, even though, I'm pretty sure this escape happened because the little old man property owner was fixing the wooden fence by the gate today and he probably didn't latch the gate well enough (I've seen him do that before), if Lady has figured out how to get a gate chain unhooked, I don't want to get affirmation of this skill at sometime when I'm not around. Lacey's lips aren't that dexterous due to her lip melanomas so I know there's no way she could be at fault. 
And, if this was the fault of someone and not an accident, having the gate tied shut should deter any further "fun and games".


What a drama filled day!! It's after 9pm here, hopefully nothing more occurs. :shock:


----------



## Roperchick

haha i wish they had gone and took a dump in AOM yard too! but at least they didnt destroy anything!

on a side note.....picture updates are greatly expected. haha


----------



## Wallaby

Oh, you! 
I had been trying to save them for a picture thread but you're really twisting my arm here... I guuuueeeesssssss I'll have to give you a sneak preview...it appears as though I have _no_ other option. :rofl:

Lacey is thrilled to see me. As usual. 










Lady girl!










She has the most awkward croup connection... I do not even know. Not a lot of patootie power in this one.
#1. I think she has the pearl "gene", guyz. She so shineh!
#2. LOOK AT HOW MUCH WEIGHT SHE'S PUT ON!!! Her belly is still huge though, that thing...hopefully with more muscle it'll tuck back up...


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## Skyseternalangel

LOL omg... what funny horses! Glad the AOM didn't come out and give you an earful!


----------



## Roperchick

YaY! pictures! haha lady does have quite the belly goind hehehe


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## Skyseternalangel

She's going to look so amazing when she's fit!


----------



## Wallaby

She really really does have a giant belly! She was never preg checked, that I know of, so I'm a little bit suspicious... BUT I guess the people who had her only had mares??....
Who knows! I guess we'll see. If it gets any bigger I'll email my friend with the rescue and see what she says. I doubt it's a prego belly cuz it seems pretty solid but stranger things HAVE happened...

Right, Maggie!? I'm so excited about this. She's already looking a bazillion times better, I can't wait until she's all muscled up too! 



Days 17+18- 

Yesterday Lacey, Lady, and I all went on a trail ride. 
Lady's starting to figure out that she's a young Arab and therefore LOVES her running so that was "fun" on our ride. She kept trying to leap ahead of Lacey. Thankfully, Lacey would just stop and wait for me to untangle her whenever Lady would involve her in this fiasco.\
By the end she had pretty much stopped. I think part of the problem is that I still had her in the "halter" I was using when she didn't want to come. That thing basically makes the most comfortable spot be right at my leg or in front of it - kinda rewarding Miss Lady for this behavior. It's also not the most effective tool for me to get her back behind my leg. So I think, since she's totally happy to come along now, I'll be putting her in a normal rope halter for these rides from now on. 
I also ordered her her own rope halter and her own 10ft lead rope so they should be here next week-ish. The halter+lead rope the rescue sent with her was just a nylon halter and a dinky 6-7ft lead rope, neither of which are great for any sort of training, imo. 
Right now she's using some of Lacey's halters which work ok but Lacey's head is so much bigger than Lady's, I really need to tighten up some knots to fit her which I don't want to do to Lacey's nice rope halters (and all her crappy ones are too used to be able to do any tightening, lol!).

Anyway, that was frustrating but we worked through it. 
I've figured out that while Lacey is extremely concerned about pleasing me, Lady is more concerned about having a good time and understand what's going on. Lacey will make connections between things because her #1 goal is making me "not mad" but Lady needs everything spelled out because she's not motivated to make connections on her own like Lacey is. Neither one is bad, I'm just used to a horse that'll go above and beyond for no apparent reason. It's just a matter of knowing what I'm working with and adjusting so she can learn the best. 
I had previously been functioning on the assumption that she was dumb and/or trying to be overly dominant but I took a step back and realized that she was just confused and that I was trying to treat my second "child" like she's the "firstborn" reborn. So behavior correction, implemented.

They also both got hosed off again after the ride. Lady did SO well with that! I even left her tied up, she was that not worried. She did try kicking when I sprayed her butt/"undercarriage" but I was standing up by her head and I was fine. They weren't aggressive kicks either, they were like "Gross! Yuck! Get this off of me!!" kicks. 


Then, today. I had a lesson kid come today so the morning was basically "Lady gets to stand tied while Lacey works" time. I think it's really good patience training for Lady to stand tied that long. She really doesn't like it too much after about the 45 minute mark (paws, neighs, throws her head all over, etc) but she calms down as we continue to ignore her and is fine. 
She got sprayed with flyspray and took it like an old pro. Good horse! She also took her flymask like a pro. 

Then, this evening, I decided to try some lunging practice with her again, a la Julie Goodnight:








It actually worked SO well with her! She's not necessarily a bolter, like that horse in the video was, but she does think about it sometimes and she certainly gets too close to me (yay flag!) at times.
I tied a grocery sack to my lunge whip as my flag and basically did exactly what Julie did in the video. Lady basically had a meltdown at one point (trotting as fast as she could, not paying attention to anything but OMG!!!-ing) but I just let her trot as long and as hard as she wanted and she brought herself back. She basically forced herself to "join-up" with me. :rofl:
She's really "great" at lunging to the left but terrible going to the right. Great, as in she makes a large circle and stays out there until I tell her to stop and come in to me, not great as in good transitions or anything. All she really knows on the lunge at this point is "TROT!!!" with her head up in the air like a literal giraffe. 
I'm hoping that as she becomes more comfortable, her head will come down and she'll become more flexible in the gaits she's comfortable with. She's still super out of shape so trotting like that is probably the easiest for her at this point. 
After she basically tired herself out going to the left, I asked her to walk to the right. I stayed by her hip and walked into it to keep her going. For some reason. On this side, she's MUCH more aware of where I am and how I'm driving her or not. The littlest mess up on my part sends the entire thing basically spiraling out of control.
Anyway, we got a few great walking circles to the right, which I consider to be a great success. I liberally praised her each time I had her stop on that side and by the time we were done, her head was low, one ear was glued on me, and she was licking and chewing.
For the record, I had tried having her go to the right after one good circle to the left but she was really argumentative about that and she wanted to walk over the top of me if I didn't stop. Therefore, since I like living, I made it my idea to work REALLY hard to the left, then we worked on going to the right after the wind was out of her sails.

There was SUCH a change in her attitude after that sesh'!! I couldn't hardly believe it. Usually she has this attitude that stinks of "Look at me, I'm so cool! Aw, yeah, I can handle this!" but after that she was really submissive and very "Ok, what would you like me to do now?". It was really good. 
I brushed her down, gave her a treat, and let her go. I figured that after that, there was no point in going further since she had already really come around and since it was such a break through. 

I'm not really sure what I want to work on tomorrow. Maybe more lunging...we shall see.



Also, in cool story news, I found a Golden Eagle feather in the girls's pasture! Apparently, according to Native American folklore, whoever finds a GE feather is super blessed so I guess Lacey and I are doing pretty well for ourselves. :rofl: I mean, she already has a "bloody shoulder" marking that supposedly means she's "favored by God" according to Arabic folklore...SHE WILL NEVER DIE!!! 
I suppose Lady's pretty lucky to be out of her previous situation too! Gah, what will we do? Too darn blessed for our own good. :lol:


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## Roperchick

yall are so spoiled! haha. im glad that lady is getting better in her training! you know shes pretty much your permanent foster now right?? haha


----------



## Wallaby

Hah! I wish! There are a whole lot of factors that have to come together before Lady can become a permanent fixture here but so far things have been creepily perfect so who knows!! *fingers crossed* 

__________________________________________________________


I think I'm going to give up on counting the days in this journal, it's just too much thinking. hahaha Hope no one minds. 

Lady-wise, today went super well! We did more lunging and she basically has it down. The one major missing thing is that she gets totally confused when I ask her to switch directions. She is still gaining the concept that I can "drive" her away without driving her from her hip so asking her to move away from me without being next to her hip is a work in progress.
However, I got her to turn around twice today (she seems totally surprised when it happened but then she was like "Oh! That was cool....") so I pretty much left the turning at that and moved on. 
She's doing great walking and trotting on the line - at the trot, her head flies up though, apparently she's not too comfortable with that concept yet. I've gotten her to canter a few steps but so far cantering is neither her favorite or most controlled gait so I'm kinda leaving that until she builds more muscle. 
each one of these lunging sessions has kinda left me with an ":shock:" face. She picks things up SO quickly. On Friday, she was totally freaked out by lunging and today, just one session after Friday, she's "whoa"-ing perfectly, trotting on command, and doing walk/trot transitions with relative ease. Who IS this horse!!??? :rofl:

On the Lacey-front, I'm having a sad day. She keeps kicking herself, I assume, while getting up and she has SO may bloody cuts on her legs from doing so. They obviously hurt and it's just hard for me. She also appears to have popped a splint in her back right leg - yaaaay. She's not lame but it can't feel good. I gave her 1/4gram of bute today to hopefully help any swelling go away+with the pain.
Then, on top of that, her eyes have been giving her pain as well. 
She hates having her flymask on at night so I try to make a point of taking it off every night. However every morning, I get up there and she's standing in the sun (Go find shade, LaceyLace!!), with her eyes squinted shut because the brightness hurts them. Then, for the next couple of hours, even after her flymask is on, she's just too sedate and I know that she's being like that because she's in pain. 
She's my honey bun and it just hurts me to see her in pain. 
I might just start leaving her flymask on overnight but she just hates that... :/ but she'd feel better... 

I do not know. That horse, she has my heart wrapped around her lil hoof.



Anyway, because I know you guys _need_ pictures (lol), I HAVE A PICTURE FOR YOU!  

Lady's feelin' good!


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## Roperchick

Aaaaaaw poor lacey girl. I would just leave her mask on at night...better her be ****ed than in pain
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## MHFoundation Quarters

Sorry to hear that about Lacey. Give the old girl some big loves from me.


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## Skyseternalangel

Gorgeous photo!!!  

Hugs for Lacey and woohooo for Lady miss!


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## Hailey1203

Im subbing to this. You have to absolutely beautiful horses and i love hearing about them!


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## Wallaby

Thanks for all the well wishes for Miss LaceyLace! She appreciates it.  she also very much enjoyed the hugs, she loves hugs. 

The thing with taking her flymask off at night or not is less that she literally -ears pinned, etc- "hates" it and more that she's SO attached to getting it taken off at night that I wonder whether there's a reason for that, yknow? It's the one time of day she whinnies at me, she's THAT attached to having it taken off.
I know she has very little vision in general and even less when it's dark, then, add a flymask that limits her vision even more (for a normal horse, not a big deal, but if it takes away 2% of the aprox 15% vision she has?)...see what I'm saying? It's kinda a dilemma. I'm going to keep thinking on it. I'm sure something will come to light that points us in one direction or another...at least I hope something does! haha

Thanks Maggie! 
Thanks and welcome, Hailey! 

In any case I called the vet this morning to just talk about what's going on and to get her thoughts and she said that if .25gm of bute/day makes a difference in Lacey's eyeball comfort level when it's sunny, she felt like that was a reasonable risk to take.
Talking to her made me feel a whole lot better. My vet is great. Her personal horse is 21 so we share similar age-related concerns for our dear oldies. It's really nice to be able to just call her up and have her really reassure me that things are gonna be ok. 
She didn't have much to say about the Lacey cutting her legs up but she agreed that bell boots are a really good first step.


Lacey, Lady, and I went on a ride today too which was really really nice. I wasn't going to do it if Lacey wasn't feeling better but this morning she cantered up the hill to me and she just "felt" really optimistic so we went for it. I put Lacey's SMB's on her because I also realized that the feltock/pasterns that are the most beat up are the ones on the side I pony Lady on, so logically, even though I don't think the cuts happen while we're riding, maybe they do. In any case, this was the first time Lacey had worn SMB's on her back legs and it was probably the funniest thing I have EVER seen. Next time, I promise you that I will get a video. She was lifting her legs up and under her belly and walking like she was drunk. She wasn't even sure she could move at first, I think she thought she was stuck to something by her back legs. It was hilarious. At one point, while I prepping Lady for the ride, I look over at Lacey and she's holding one of her back legs up, kicking out every 10 seconds or so. Funniest thing EVER.

Then we went on our ride. Lady was trying her hardest to not come (she's a bit barn-sour) but Lacey was just ignoring her and plowing on ahead. A couple of times I even dropped my reins because Lady required two hands and Lacey just kept going where she was pointed. Lacey was really feeling good today - yaaaaay bute and happy eyeballs!
I put Lady in a normal rope haler today and she responded really well to it, for the most part (aside from a few bratty hiccups). So yay!

Lacey even initiated going on this walking/biking trail we can get to off our usual trails. Lady was actually pretty good about it! She was mildly overwhelmed but she fed off Lacey's curiosity and did really well. we we walked down that trail for probably 10 minutes then I decided it was time to go home. Both girls were covered in sweat and i didn't want them to accidentally overdo it.

Then we had a good trot/canter back and everybody was really happy. Lacey especially. I think that's the happiest I've seen her since it's been summer and therefore sunny.

I hosed them both off at my house and Lacey really really liked that. Lady was like "ehhhhh" about it but she's still pretty unfamiliar with water.

I gave Lacey another .25gm of bute with her "lunch". I've decided that while I dislike the idea of constantly medicating her like that, I dislike the idea of her being in a lot of pain all the time even more. She was just so comfortable today, I can't argue with that! I figure once it's overcast consistently - aka late fall/winter/spring - I'll take her off the bute and she'll be fine. Just for now, comfort wins.

So that was our day today - overall really good.

OH YEAH! I forgot to tell you guys this, funniest thing ever: at one point Lady was being a real brat about being ponied and tried to charge in front of Lacey to "turn us around"... LACEY BIT HER IN THE NOSE!!! It was hilarious. Lacey was just like "Um, NO. Shut dowwwwwwn." and Lady was so shocked! Lady gave up trying to physically force Lacey to do things after that! haha 
The other thing is that Lacey is totally good when Lady bumps into her or otherwise gets in her space, it's just when Lady breaks "the rules" that Lacey pulls out a can of "Pony-Whoop".
I love Lacey when she gets like that. She knows the rules and she "helps" me enforce them.
She's such a sweetie.


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## Roperchick

Yay Lacey! you tell her girl! haha im glad shes doing good with the bute. 
and yes video of her in her SMB boots would be awesome! my horses do the same thing haha!


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## Wallaby

Also, hafta add a couple of pictures for today, right? 

Lacey's been wearing her grazing muzzle during the day for about a week. She was just getting SO fat, my hand was forced. she does not like it but she puts up with it pretty well. 
But, as always, she's rocking the look. :lol:










Then, both of the girls's new flymasks were/are gray mesh with black trim. Personally, I'm more a fan of the bright colors, not to mention that when Lacey's wearing that flymask and her grazing muzzle, she looks like she's in some sort of bad horse jail. So I took the black trim off Lacey's flymask and sewed some brighter stuff on instead. It was actually WAY easier than I thought. A little time consuming but pretty easy.
I'm doing Lady's tomorrow. Hers is the same cloth, in green instead of blue. 










LaceyShmace, omnomnoming after her grazing muzzle came off... haha










Then, I went down to the shed/tack room to put the flymasks (I also re-did the trim on Lacey's purple "BugEye" - blue fleece vs that usual fluffy stuff on flymasks - hate that fluffy stuff) and Lacey's grazing muzzle away. Lady thought she should be allowed to come along too. 
I'm trying to rotate the pastures and currently, the "main" pasture with the shed in it is "off".


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## Roperchick

Lady-"um excuse me but you did this little latchy thingy and i cant get out....."
hahaha


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## Skyseternalangel

Wow way to rock the fly masks!!


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## Wallaby

Hahahaha Ropechick, that's probably exactly what she was thinking! xD

Thanks Maggie! I'm pretty please with how they came out myself! And it was so so easy, I just can't get over how little work there was involved in "fixing" them like that! hahaha


___________________________________________________________

Sooooooo, guess what??! 
Someone got saddled today for the "first" time!!   

I had really only intended on lunging her for a bit (she's lunging like an old pro now, btw - Lacey's still a bit better at it than Lady is but Lacey adores lunging and Lady really doesn't, hahaha), then showing her the saddle+saddlepad and desensitizing her to the pad, if that was needed.
Welp, she was lunging great - super calmly, etc and she even turned around on the line for me, without me having to guide her in how to do so. So I picked up the pad and started throwing it over her back and just generally trying to see if she'd get at all scared. Um, no. Scared was not something that was going to happen. She was interested but really wasn't bothered by the pad at all.
So I decided that I had the saddle there and she was doing so well, why not put it on her? So I let her sniff the saddle and threw it up on her back. That wasn't an issue either. 
She did get a little spooked when I dropped the cinch down and the metal part of it whacked her in the leg but that was only "scary" because it was unexpected. She just took a quick step forward, then stopped again. Cinching up wasn't worrisome either. She actually had the "audacity" to pin her ears at me when I tightened the cinch up. Silly girl! :lol:
The only time she got a little worried was when I had her take her first step forward with the saddle on. She got a little panicked for a second (aka, scooted forward unexpectedly), then I had her stop and I rubbed her face, and she was 100% fine again. That was the only real hiccup the whole time!
I then lunged her for about 10 minutes at a walk/trot with the saddle on and she couldn't have cared less. No dramatics, no bolting, just normal trotting/walking around. She "whoa-d" well and she even backed up when I asked her to.

At camp I've been around horses that were on their 3rd-4th time being saddled and she was not like that at all. She definitely knew what was up. Lacey herself was worse the first few times I saddled her, 4 years ago, than Lady was today! :rofl: 
I am even more under the impression that Lady probably knows more than she's letting on...

SPEAKING OF WHICH, today, Lady responded to "easy" on the lungeline as her cue to go from a trot down to a walk. Now, I have nevvvver used that word with her. I use it with Lacey but she needs a quite a few more "pre-cues" than Lady does. Lady also responds very very quickly to the word "whoa". I don't use "whoa". I use "ho".... 
Anyway, pretty sure Miss Smartie is being a sneaky devil. 
It almost makes me want to try riding her tomorrow. Too bad I don't also want to die. :rofl: But maybe I'll saddle her up again and jump around next to her. Just to see what'll happen... We shall see. Tomorrow is a riding/ponying day so that might take priority.

She also got her own rope halter today! It's purple, she looks stunning in it. She also got her new lead rope (BRIGHT turquoise) today. It's SO nice, very lux feeling. And it was only $10! I'm just a little bit thrilled about that. :wink:


On the Lacey front, she was being really weird today... But then again, bute kinda makes her act like she's on a drug trip. It wasn't bad weird, it was just "not normal" weird. For instance, I took Lady into the main pasture to work with her. I left the gate open so Lacey could follow if she wanted to...but she didn't. I was with Lady for probably 45 minutes and the whole time, Lacey was up by the front gate - which is probably 600+ feet away from where Lady and I were.
It was really good for Lady, to focus on me totally without Lacey being right there, but it was unusual. I guess I have seen them do that on their own - Lacey'll be in one part of the pasture and Lady'll be in another - but it just seems weird. Whatever happened to herd dynamics? lol!

Anyway, after I was done with Lady, I went to get Lacey and she went cantering past me, allll the way down to the shed. What a dork-face. 

Then I lunged Miss Lacey and she loved it. I've been hesitant to lunge her lately because on the hills - even little ones, she picks up so much momentum and just goes careening down (and generally slips at the bottom) them that it really scares me. However, I've been using the word "careful" to denote areas where she needs to place her hooves more carefully than she thinks she does so I tried saying "careful" each time she was about to start going downhill. The difference was dramatic! I could actually see her rock her weight back onto her hocks as soon as she heard "careful". And she didn't go careening down the hill! She kept a steady pace and she just generally seemed a whole lot more comfortable with being lunged. So yay for that! Lunging has always been one of Lacey's most favored activities so it's great that we've kinda maybe figured out a way to safely do that. 
Running+togetherness=LaceyLove. :lol:

And, yknow, telling you about the saddling+ ew halter+new lead rope+Lady's flymask being finished is all basically useless if I don't give you pictures....so I have pictures for ya.  :lol:


"Why yes, I do have a saddle on my back and I don't care, how kind of you to inquire!"










New halter+new lead rope!


----------



## Wallaby

And because the board doesn't want us posting more than 20 images at a time, blah blah blah, double post! 

Talk about a HUGE belly....geez (also, what an awkwardly put together horse...lol!). The rescue hasn't responded to the email I sent them yesterday about her ginomosity, hopefully they will soon. :shock:










"WAT???!! Did i just hear you complain about my voluptuous tummy??!"










Lady's "new" flymask...










Lacey... *in a dapper voice* "Mmmmm, yes, do you have treats? I believe I deserve some, or preferably all, of them..."










And, of course, Lady running again.... :lol:


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## grayshell38

Awesome! Just as a thought for next time ( I know this was a bit improtmptu) I like to pull the pad up into the gullet of the saddle for high withered horses to take some pressure off them.  Yay!! Lady is so cute.


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## Roperchick

ohmygosh! thats so exciting! she looks great! 
That halter looks great on her...but dang that is a big big belly.

im super extra excited for my saddle now cuz i know after seeing the fly masks that its gonna be great! hahahaha


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## Wallaby

Megan, I like to do that too. 
I just wasn't sure if she was about to blow up (she likes to blow up unexpectedly, generally when she feels like her mind is working "too hard") and I felt like, in the event she did blow up, having the saddle totally on was top priority. But, for the future, I 100% plan to do that. 

Hah Christine, you crack me up. 
I hope the saddle comes out great too! It looked great before I put it in the box but it was then sitting in the box for like 3 weeks... :shock: my fingers are crossed that you like it+it still looks as good!! It should be there in ten days! 

______________________________________________________________

I finally got in contact with the rescue and she was never preg checked. SO the vet is coming out next week to do that. Not sure of the exact date yet but they said that a vet would be out within the next week for sure.
Fingers crossed that she's 100% not preggo!


I just got back from messing with her and let me tell you, that is a BRATTY HORSE.
I decided to lunge her again since she still needs work in that area and that gets some of her copious amounts of energy out in a pretty safe way. Well, Miss Brattyface was having none of it. 
We were down in the main pasture and Lacey was behind the gate in the...if it was a house, it'd be the "foyer".... Anyway, Lady was great while I was brushing her - not fussy, focused on me, etc but then when I asked her to lunge, all craziness broke loose.
I'm sure it's partially my fault because I pushed her a little too hard but seriously. At one point, she even slammed on the brakes, turned towards me, and when I motioned her out, she reared all the way up and struck out at me with her hoof, then turned away from me. At that point I just DROVE her out there, kept my eyes boring into her butt, and kept her running until she couldn't practically run anymore. 
She did try to bolt off with me a few times after that but I was always able to pull her out of it before she got farther than just thinking about it.
Thankfully we were able to end on a good note. After I made her run so hard, I switched her back to the direction she had been going before she freaked out and we calmly walk/trotted that way and whoa-d very politely. Then I took her down to the shed, stuck her in her stall, gave her a good brushing, and fed her a pound of rice bran (she seems to be a little stuck in her weight gain, I think she's hit the point where she needs to stop running around so much if she's gonna gain even more but of course, she does not believe in not running...so more fat it is!).
She's such a tester. I've forgotten what it's like to have a horse that isn't quite sure you're the boss yet. Lacey was like that to begin with too but these days, she's pretty content to just believe me when I say it. :lol:
I am EXTREMELY proud of her meal time manners though. She's finally gotten "the hang" of my routine. Basically, what I do is each horse gets a treat right before their food is set down for not mauling me when I appear with the food. Then, the horse has to wait (taking zero steps in the direction of the food, even if I move away) until I say "ok", then they're allowed to eat. I have so many little kids running around the horses, wanting to help feed, and all it takes is one instance of being pushy to really hurt a kid. Anyway, Lady has started putting herself into the farthest corner of her stall as soon as I appear with the treat, then she stays there until I say "ok". It's pretty cute. She really wants to be good, it's just that confusion really really gets to her.

Then, I let her go and she happily ran up to the gate, politely waited for me to open it, and politely waited for me to allow her to go past - didn't even try to rush past me. 

Lacey was SOOOOOO SO mad though. So mad. she nickered at me and then pinned her ears when I went to go pet her, THEN she walked over to Lady and just went AFTER her. She gave Lady one good bite in the patootie and a good glancing kick to the chest, then came back over to me looking for love. I made her back up and do a couple of things before I petted her, not wanting to reward that behavior and all, but yeah, poor girl. I have never seen her be like that to another horse, ever. She knows she can't be like that at all when I'm on her back (thank goodness!) and she knows I don't allow that sort of thing while either horse is being worked with (thank goodness!) but seriously. She's being kinda a meanie and SO bipolar to Lady.
Maybe someone needs to go back to just having llama buddies... :lol: 
I'm sure she's a bit jealous because I have to love on them both, but still.
I'm going to take her, just her, on a ride tomorrow morning which will hopefully make her happy. Just having Emily+LaceyLace time. I'm trying to decide how early is too early for horse screaming at each other on a Saturday morning... You think 10am is late enough?


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## tinyliny

Mares! I swear they are just too complicated. I am too lazy to deal with all that drama.


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## Skyseternalangel

See now that Lady KNOWS the right answer (lunging nicely) she is testing to see what goes well with herd leader Emily and what is going to get her butt corrected. This is a good thing. It's all part of teaching.

Lacey stepped in to tell her off, be careful with this. Good on your for doing a few things before you pet her. I think she just feels on par with you (herd leader.. sharing??) so just make sure you don't let her feel as though you and her are both the big bosses but just when in your presence, she and Lady need to both be respectful and behave.


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## Wallaby

Hahaha tooo true, Caroline! I've worked with plenty of mares 1 on 1 but watching them in a herd situation is something else entirely! :lol:

Maggie, I think you may be tired, my dear!... xD I _think_ I understood that last sentence... :wink: :rofl:
But I totally see that! I actually thought about what we talked about last night while I was making Lady run and it made me laugh. I totally saw the difference. I think she was trying to get me to "play" with her - she had that playful "gleam" in her eye, but still totally unacceptable. On the plus side, Lady is relatively easy to read. She has many many "tells". She just reared and stuck at me because I didn't respond correctly to those tells - I thought I'd just get her moving again by pointing my arm out and snapping the lunge whip (forgot that while that works for Lacey, Lady isn't that trained yet). I should have stepped to the side, lined myself up with her middle (vs the head to head situation we had happening) and focused on her butt like I was predator going to eat it. Ah, the things I learn for next time, right? lol
I think you're 100% right, I think Lacey definitely thinks we're "co-herd bosses". Over the years I've kind of cultivated that from her because she has a tendency to become overly fearful+then blow up, so in an attempt to get her out of that fearful zone and into one of confidence, I tried to get her feeling like we're pretty "bad" when we're together. That worked great for her undersaddle issues and she's very respectful of me on the ground but we've never had an instance before where she was ever like _this_ to another horse. It was always the other horses coming after her, if anything. Perhaps tomorrow we'll do some work (after our ride) where I get Lacey really close to Lady and correct any aggression on either part. 
My feeling was/is that as long as she's following the many rules I have in place, outlining proper behavior etc, she can do whatever she wants. Generally, so far, the basic rules have encouraged good/well thought out "whatever she wants" behaviors but obviously that currently needs a little/a lot of fine tuning. :rofl:
I think probably you've really hit on something, I've encouraged her to think we're big and bad together but we've also never had another horse on "our" turf. Other horses have always been very temporary and our "unit" has never tried to incorporate another. It's always been the two of us against the "others" and that's changing - gotta be confusing for the old girl!


And, in case anyone missed this, here's the SMB video!  
She starts walking at 6:06 if you want to skip ahead...


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## Skyseternalangel

Skyseternalangel said:


> I think she just feels on par with you (herd leader.. sharing??)
> 
> So just make sure you don't let Lacey feel as though you both are herd leaders but just, when in your presence, she and Lady need to both be respectful and behave.


Is that better?

Sorry, I definitely am groggy. Was up all night listening to live updates on the shooting :-| :-(


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## Wallaby

Skyseternalangel said:


> Is that better?
> 
> Sorry, I definitely am groggy. Was up all night listening to live updates on the shooting :-| :-(


haha yes, thanks. 

I wanted to "like" that post but that last part is not likable.  did you know anyone involved? I know you spent some time in CO... *hopes not* *hugs*


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## Skyseternalangel

Wallaby said:


> haha yes, thanks.
> 
> I wanted to "like" that post but that last part is not likable.  did you know anyone involved? I know you spent some time in CO... *hopes not* *hugs*


You're welcome!

So far no, a few friends knew some people who died as a result of the shooting so that's heartbreaking.. even if I didn't know anyone it still hits harder than I can explain. 

But I'm very glad that you're such an effective trainer when it comes to both lady and Lacey. You're really paying attention to the little things and correcting them as they come along!


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## Wallaby

I'm glad you didn't personally know anyone involved! But how terrible for your friends.  and I totally get that. At least for me, when a friend of a friend dies or is seriously injured, there's an element of sympathy grief where it's almost like I knew them too because I see how badly my friend is hurting... Pretty un-explainable but still SUPER tough to go through...  :hug:

Aw shucks.  It's a work in progress! But thanks. 

______________________________________________________________

Today I took Lacey on a ride, just the two of us, and it was so great! She was so happy to be out, she was happy to go home eventually too but it wasn't her usual sort of pushiness about going home, it was more of a wanting to go home because it was her "duty" or something.

Anyway, it was really nice. The weather was gorgeous, she felt good, yknow, the whole thing. We went on Lacey's favorite trail (not sure why she likes that one so much, it's the longest and the steepest but whatever! haha) and had some really nice trot sets and some nice canter sets. 
Both times I've ridden her out alone since Lady got here, I've always stuck two reins on her pelham (usually I just ride with a rein to the snaffle portion because it's her favorite bit ever+she doesn't usually need the curb anymore - she used to bolt off with me so I had used 2 reins during the retraining process, then took the second off once the bolting was fixed) in anticipation of issues. Both times she's basically laughed in my face and been totally soft and responsive on just the snaffle rein. :lol: 
I'm actually thinking that the next time the farrier is out (Friday), I'm going to ask him to cut the shanks off that bit for me with his cool kid tools. I pretty much always use it as a snaffle anymore and if I ever needed something like that bit to re-school her in again, my western curb is basically the same thing and it has a snaffle slot. Not to mention that that pelham has pretty much the longest shanks ever and I often worry about getting shanked (puny, I know) with them if Miss "I'M BLIND!" decides to wave her head around. :lol:
The snaffle portion of that pelham just isn't made (stainless steel, low-port Fulmer Baucher snaffle) by itself and she just adores it. She'll go ok in a mullen mouth snaffle but something about the snaffle part of that pelham just gets her salivating+extremely soft and I love it! The snaffle part is extremely mild since most of the "special" things about it just encourage acceptance - low port=tongue relief without any roof of mouth contact, Fulmer=positives of both a full cheek + a loose ring, and the Baucher=bit stability in the mouth. I wish someone manufactured plain old snaffles with all that! 
And that pelham is also "vintage"=bonus! lol

Anyway, before I was waxing poetically about my favoritest bit in the entire world, I believe I was telling you about the ride. 
The other part that I'm really proud of Lacey for is that even while Lady was having a literal cow about us leaving her, Lacey only neighed back twice and was corrected both times. That's a massive improvement from last time when she neighed at least 6-7 times on the way down to the trails. I wouldn't so much mind if she had a nice neigh (but then again, neighing=focusing on friends, not on working) but Lacey doesn't just neigh, she BELLOWS. Good luck if you're standing in front of her and she neighs, your ears will be ringing. :rofl:
Anyway, I was happy with her about that.
I also put a note on the gate before I left stating that it was ok for Lady to be running around neighing and that Lacey and I'd be back soon. I decided that was probably the best way to keep any nosy/caring neighbors from panicking about Lady panicking. I made it so that it was easy to stick in my saddlebag on our way back in the gate so that it would just be basically attached to the saddle for other times when I'd need it (since the shed is so far away, I just knew that I'd forget it sometime and that would be the one time someone panics, if it wasn't actually attached to something in a way that did not need prior thought. lol!).

I think that is all for now... I really didn't do anything with Lady aside from feeding her. I did brush her off - at least with Lacey, a stiff brushing after times of stress often seems to "even her out", if yknow what I mean, so I figured I'd do that to Lady just for niceness sakes.
I might mess with her tonight but I might also not.

Oh yeah! This is very interesting to me - I've basically been hosing Lacey off after every ride because she just gets so sweaty+I hate the look of sweat marks, and she hasn't really been acting itchy at all! Usually at this point (two weeks post bath) she seems really really uncomfortable and she usually has started damaging her own skin by rubbing on things. Maybe it's her own leftover sweat that causes issues??
I'll probably give her/them both baths on Monday because Lacey has started feeling...the best way I can describe it is "oily", again and that's gross. She's basically like a sweet old dog: she feels weird to touch, she sheds all over you, she slobbers all over you, she loves being close to you - "forcing" you to touch her, and she adores being petted. Sweet ol' girl!

Anyway, yeah. That is all.


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## Skyseternalangel

I'm glad you two had a nice ride!

As for the last thing, yeah dried sweat REALLY itches Sky so it could be the same with Lacey as well.


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## Wallaby

Ah! Realized I haven't updated in a few days! Must do so! sorry guys!

_________________________________________________________________

Lady's been being a real poo-face lately. Sky/Maggie and I talked about it and we decided that she might be a little justified in her bad attitude, seeing as how she's coming off 10 years of no rules, no learning, and no expectations. So I'm trying my hardest to be patient with her. I realized that my expectations are still a little high for where she's at. 
I mean, it's great to have high expectations but I need to have more accessible short term expectations, you know? I realized today that I have definite long term goals for Lady but my short term goals are less clear. Probably a better idea to have really clear short term goals and, if anything has to be murky, it's the long term goals. 
Gotta slow myself down! haha

Anyway, so I'm working on just letting her be and forgetting what we "HAVE TO GET DONE!!" and just focusing on what comes along as it comes along. 

Today I took the girls on a really nice long ride. "Really nice" is open to interpretation (both girls were being a bit sassy but they did have Sunday 100% off and yesterday I only worked with them very minimally so there was a lot of pent up "mind energy") but it was all manageable and we ended on a really great note.

Basically (this is hard to describe, so bear with me if you care about descriptions, haha), the girls and I live on top of a very very extinct volcano group. So, there's a whole lot of elevation changes depending on where you are. For instance, the top of their field is about 1500ft above sea level. My house, a 5 minute walk away, is at about 750ft. The trails we ride go from about 350ft above SL, to about 2000ft above SL. It's pretty much the best.
There are "4" trails (4 is in quotes because the one I come down on is only about .25miles long so it's REALLY 3 trails with any significant riding worth) that I can ride on. All connect neighborhoods together and they all connect in a way that's reminiscent on a 4-way stop:










You can kinda see the trail "straight" ahead that goes up to the top of the next extinct volcano in the chain (L+L's pasture is at the top of the other volcano, we come down into a kind of valley on the trails ^^pictured) you can go all the way up it and down the other side - 5+ miles total, then there's the trail to the right in the picture - that one's pretty flat and relatively short (only about a mile, round trip), and then there's a trail off the left which is Lacey's "favorite" - about 3 miles total (getting to the trails+going home adds another 2 miles to the total), very hilly with about a mile long flat stretch at the bottom. And then there's the one Lacey+I are on in that picture, the one to/from home.

ANYWAY, we went on the trail to the right today and the one that goes up+over the second volcano. The one up and over the volcano is super super steep. It's really hard for Lacey to walk up so I usually have her trot up and it's about a mile+ of nearly straight up. It's the one trail that if you walk up, you=dead. :rofl: I generally get off and hand walk her down because it's so steep, one misstep would be really hard for her to recover from if I got at all off balance.

Anyway, today we went up and came down. It's my favorite ride. That trail has a real "coniferous rainforest" feel to it. Loooove it!
Lacey was mad at first (she knows that trail=hard work) but she got over it surprisingly easily. Lady was like "WAT???! So much hills! So much drop offs to the side! Does not have understandings!!" but she did well. 
I mainly had them walk today, I felt like we were doing tough enough stuff that both girls were gonna be super pooped walking or not so I went easy on them.
I was really impressed with Lacey's attitude about the whole thing. She generally takes some convincing before she agrees to anything - we're both like that, hahaha - and so usually we have to have a little battle before embarking on any kind of epic journey, but not today!! She had a small cow right as she realized where we were going but after that, she calmed right down. 
She was so sweaty when we got back to my house so I hosed off Lady (she was a little sweaty, she was more mentally tired than anything) and gave Lacey a bath. She loved it! Usually she just tolerates baths but today she was trying to mutually groom me the whole time - super cute. 

Lacey is in really great shape right now. I'm really loving it. Even though I hate having to put the grazing muzzle on her, wearing the grazing muzzle for most of the day and being ridden, by me, 3 days a week is really doing good things for her. She's also worked pretty hard in her Friday lesson=bonus!
She's officially 1064lbs, down from 1190lbs in June. Yaaaay her! 

Also, on the "Lacey cutting up her legs constantly on SOMETHING" front, 2 of her bells boots came today (apparently I cleaned out horse.com's supply...lol!) so she wore them during our ride on her fronts (no new overreaching cuts from today!) and I put them on her backs, upside down, before turning her out after the ride. Hopefully they'll help a bit. 
She was trotting so great in them, when they were on her back legs - so much hock action! :rofl:

Annnnyway.....Oh yeah! I put a bridle on Lady today! That was apparently something she has never had contact with before. I left it on her for 30 minutes while I got Lacey all ready to go, pre-ride, and she was still madly chewing the bit when I took it off her. She was flopping her tongue over it, shoving her tongue under it again, the whole deal. She wasn't really panicked about it, just kinda "What the heck??"
I would have left it in her mouth during our ride but the only real snaffle I own is a Fulmer snaffle, which is basically like a full cheek had babies with a loose ring. I didn't want her to stab Lacey accidentally so ehhh. I do have a mullen mouth, that's a half cheek but with less stab-ibility, that I might use on her next time so she can wear it for longer. I used to have a loose ring but I think I left it at camp last summer...or something. Since Lacey can't do broken bits, I never thought I'd need it again! haha

I think that is all....
BUT!! I do have a picture. 
Terrible quality=from my phone, but it's a picture.

Lady's giving me the stink eye! Silly girl, I FEED YOU. 
I love that we're all looking so match-y in this picture. can you guess that my favorite colors are 100% turquoise and purple? Nahhhhhh. 











ETA- Also, I figured out ideal ponying strategies today. If I dally Lady's rope through a carabiner on the side of my saddle opposite to her, like I've been doing, and dally it short enough that she has about 5 feet of freedom, she'll stay placed well BETTER if I don't hold the rope vs if I do hold the rope. So, basically, yay for not constantly having to rearrange her! Since she's on the opposite side from where she's dallied, I can easily reach down and grab the rope if I'm needed. Other bonus- the carabiner doesn't hold it tight, just tight enough that there's opposing pressure if she refuses to come along but it'll loosenloosenloosen if there was ever a serious need for that/she pulls hard enough and I don't step in.


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## horseluver2435

Oh man, lady looks a little ticked at you there. Sounds like you had a great ride though! I'm jealous of the trails you have access to, they look beautiful and sound like a blast to ride on. Around here the closet trails are a 45 minute drive from the barn. Not to mention I broke my collar bone so I can't ride for another month or so... I'm very envious! Good luck with lady & Lacey!


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## Roperchick

one pictuh? one? omg i may die hahahahaha:lol:

no but im glad that lacey isnt such a tubtub. sounds like shes doing really good! and i can just picture lady with a "der" face while she chews on her bit!:rofl::rofl:


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## Wallaby

Horseluver, that really stinks that you broke your collarbone!! Man, I've been riding on a near daily basis for so long I can't even imagine how insane I'd be going not riding for a month! :shock: :shock: My hat is off to you. :hug:
I'm so thankful for the trails! When I first moved Lacey "in" I was really worried about only having the trails (I really don't have access to any sort of arena-like thing, there's the pasture but because of Lacey's sight, anything more than a slow trot can be dangerous) but I really shouldn't have worried. I'm just so thankful for them!
And thanks for the good luck wish! Good luck to you too, with your collarbone and all! 

Haha Christine. You're hilarious. 
I do have two more terrible cell phone pictures from yesterday that I suppose I could share... My parents went on vacation for a week and removed their camera from my possession because "what if they found a picturesque anything??" 
Well, um, guys, I have two picturesque horses that are picturesque on a daily basis, no "maybe"s about it = GIMME YO CAMERA! :lol: But yeah, my camera got basically ruined last winter when I took it riding in the pouring rain and water got in the screen - ruined the screen. It still functions picture-taking-wise but it doesn't have a view finder or anything so taking "good" focused pictures with it is a challenge, to say the least. :lol:
Thank the LORD they'll be back tomorrow evening. Thursday=picture day, ladies! :lol:

For you, so no one perishes:

Lady. I was "forcing" her to play dress up yesterday. I was really, technically, trying to spook her so she'd build some brain matter that way (though, really, Lady is smart enough. With MORE brain matter, she could be the first female president). However, as you can see, she was nonplussed by the whole thing.
For the record, Lacey's blanket does not fit her at all. It's only a 69 and it's HUGE on her!!










Lacey. "I SEE YOU FEED ME. CAN I HELP???!"











It's so funny (maybe you guys can tell this from the pictures), Lacey is definitely an introvert-type and Lady is definitely an extrovert. However, Lady is also the more pessimistic mare, while Lacey is always looking for the joy at the end of the tunnel. So funny how they can be just SO different!


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## Wallaby

So today.

Lacey has a lesson this evening with her least favorite lesson kid. The kid is super sweet but she just doesn't "get" the whole "being clear with cues" thing. However, she is 7 and comes off as a pretty immature 7 so I'm thinking that's probably a lot of the problem. I guess it's just frustrating to me because I've been teaching her for over a year and she's still a beginner beginner, not nearly ready to trot or anything. She does really well when we play games so I try to keep her lessons pretty light on skill-based things and heavy on the "learning but not realizing that learning is happening". 
And poor Lacey wants so badly to be "right" that she kind of just shuts down when this girl is on her back. However, if I can keep the girl focused via games, Lacey has a much better time of it.

I think tonight we're going to play "Mrs. Horse" (a variation on "Mr. Fox", if you've ever played that).
(c+p from another thread):
Basically, you set up some obstacles that the child can maneuver without a whole lot of help. Then, the child, on the horse, is placed on one side of the obstacles and you go to the other side. Then, the child yells to you "Mrs. Horse, Mrs. Horse, what time is it?" and you said "Time to __do an obstacle of two___" ("go three circles around the purple bucket, back up 2 steps, and trot over the log" is an example).
Then, the child completes those and stops by the last thing he/she did. Then, they yell to you again "Mrs. Horse, Mrs. Horse, etc" and you keep telling that it's time to do something. 
The "goal" is for the child to slowly be making their way closer and closer to you (I like to send them back to the beginning a couple of times, just to be mean )
Then, once the child has stopped within 10 or so feet of you, and asks what time it is, you yell "FEEDING TIME!!!" and start "chasing" the child and horse. Since the kids I play this game with are just walking, I walk after them, but your job is to catch and "eat" the horse (aka, tag the horse).

And I think that instead of having her ride, I'm going to have her lead Lacey and I'll lead Lady so we can each take a turn "being in charge". I've never done that with her yet, usually I'm just "ordering" her around, so she'll probably think it's great to order me around for a change! :rofl: She also needs to work on her leading skills so that'll be another bonus!
And it'll be good for Lady to think like that. I would let Kae lead Lady (she LOVES Lady) but Kae just doesn't "get" that horses could really hurt her, or something, and I pretty much know she would not take appropriate precautions while working with Lady. :-|

Anyway, that's what we're doing this evening.
This morning I lunged Lacey just a bit (no new cuts on her legs! Yayyyyy bell boots?!) to get her moving and Lady wore the mullen mouth snaffle for probably an hour. She seemed to accept that one a bit more than the broken snaffle so yay that I have something that works for her! She was still making all sorts of faces about it but she was a bit (lol, puny!) more content. 
She was also easier to bridle than she was yesterday. I think she may have never been bridled before yesterday (or at least, never bridled "the right way") given that she pretty much flipped her lid about me raising the bridle over her face and then refused to open her mouth for the lonnnnngest time. But today she was really pretty quiet about the bridle going over her face and I just held the bit to her front teeth, kept my other hand on her poll, and she opened her mouth within a minute or two. Yay for improvement!

In other news, she was a real brat about her food today. Like I said before, I have a specific feeding behavior regime that ensures no one is pushy about their food.
Well, today when I brought her food over, she briefly pinned her ears a few times at me before I went in the stall so I got my handy halter/whip (it's this crappy halter that could be a halter if need be but it's also a great "spanker"), just in case, right?
She put herself into her corner, got her treat, and promptly left the corner, so I shooed her back in. Then, she kept breaking her "stay" before I said she could so I kept shooing her back. 
After about 5 minutes of this, she was FED UP. She then kinda turned to me in a weird way and started swinging her butt around, preparing to kick me. Thankfully I just hollered at her like she was a small child about to fall over a cliff and she promptly fixed herself and went back to her corner, where she stayed 100% perfectly (and I made her stay there for another couple of minutes so fake kicking was not rewarded), until I let her go. she was SHAKING in the corner too.
I'm just glad I didn't try smacking her with the halter, that WOULD have gotten me kicked. 
She's really weird about confrontation. Lacey will do everything she can to get out of an argument while Lady will stand her ground and fight back if you push her too hard mentally or physically. I'm not sure I like it. It would be one thing if she didn't know she was much bigger than me and could hurt me but she definitely knows that she can hurt you so you better not push her too far... >.<
Yaaaaay for idiots raising an orphan foal! You guys did a FANTASTIC job! NOT.

Thank Jesus she's slated for training in September, before she kills me. I bet/hope that with more training, she'll figure out how to better handle her issues. I think right now it's just a lack of real knowledge and, what feels like to her, a need for self preservation that's "forcing" her to do things that are totally unacceptable.
Lacey used to be like that undersaddle and I fixed it but she was never like that on the ground. I guess I really don't have a whole lot of experience training horses on the ground. I'm pretty handy at solving things from the saddle but groundwork from step 1? I'll just look at you with blank eyes. I can usually start at step 5 (if there were steps, haha) and make out ok but earlier than that is proving to be a challenge.

I hope they're going to send her to a good trainer. Not some NH, Parelli shmuck... She would love Parelli, yay for no rules! Can Buck come over here and train/put the smack down on her?? Plllllease? :lol: 
On the plus side, if I'm going to foster her through the winter, they've said that they would love it if I went out to the trainer's place and worked with Lady and the trainer while she's getting trained. That would be so cool! I'm sure I would learn a ton in general, even if it is some shmuck trainer. :lol: so I'm just a smidge excited for that.


And, I do have threeeeee, ok four, whole pictures for you. No good camera yet - TOMORROW! but they are photographic images so there! :rofl:

Chewing the bit hardcore. Silly horse! Also, look at how great she's looking, weight-wise!! 










"HURRRRRR!"










Lacey!!










Aww, cute girl. All done!











That's all for now, folks! :lol:


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## Roperchick

haha Lacey looks so good for a "old lady" haha i dont think shell ever be old...

haha i cant wait to here what Lady does with the trainer....can you say...Wake up call? haha


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## Wallaby

Well, today and yesterday have been terrible days Lacey-wise. Actually, really, on a scale of 1-North Korea, it could have been much worse.

The cause of this miserable-ness is because Lacey is having ANOTHER freaking ERU attack. I have no idea what caused this one and I'm feeling overall very helpless to make her feel better. 
I was really hoping that she had somehow beaten the odds (I think it's something like the 6 months after a ERU attack are when the likelihood of another attack is the highest) and wasn't going to have another attack for the rest of her life and we were going to live happily forever together and it was going to be THE BEST.
Yeah, and rainbows were going to follow us everywhere and Lacey's poop would turn to gold, and all wildlife was going to be our bestest friend, and we were never going to worry again, I would never have to return to school, sparkles and puppies would fall from her mane, kittens from her tail, etc, etc, etc. Yeah, RIGHT.

But yeah. frustrating. At least, on the total plus side, because of last time and all the ERU research I've done, I had a pretty good idea of what to do and not do.
So yesterday, as soon as I really noticed, I gave her some bute and called the vet. The vet was crazy busy so I gave her more bute in the evening and today Lacey's eyes were/are looking SO much better. 
I finally was able to talk to the vet today and we came up with an action plan that made me feel so much better. Basically, when I see swelling like ERU, give Lacey 2g's of bute the first day and 1g/day for the next 3-5 depending on pain levels. I'm also supposed to give them a call on the first day, just so they know, and then "be sure to call if anything about her eyes makes me nervous". I just love my vet. Even though they can be hard to reach sometimes and I wish I felt like the vet knew more specifics about ERU (she point blank told me that Lacey's the first really bad case she's seen beyond Purdue), they REALLY make me feel empowered to take care of LaceyGirl and the vet and I, I think, have similar personalities so we're able to really get somewhere when we talk. It's just all over a really good thing. And they never make me feel dumb for requesting a call or emailing them with a question. It's just overall really great. 
And, to top it all off, the receptionist knows me by name and knows who Lacey is and what her problems are and I haven't called _alllll_ that often. :lol: :wink:
It's one of those things where, hopefully not happening soon, but when it comes time for Lacey to leave us, I really trust that this vet will have Lacey's best interests at heart and that she'll be as respectful as she possibly can towards Lacey at that time. It's morbid and terrible to think about but Lacey is getting to an age where "Is this a vet I would trust to put Lacey down?" seems like a reasonable question to consider. 


Anyway, the swelling was noticeably down today but her eyes were still obviously very painful (any time I took her flymask off to check her eyes, she'd start trying to worm her head back into the mask, lol) so we've still got a bit. :-| 

I'm really hoping that she'll feel good enough tomorrow to have her flymask off for the new lesson kid. We're getting a new kid (lol) tomorrow at 11am and kids seem to be generally adverse to being unable to see her eyes. Sorta reasonably, I suppose. But hopefully she'll be feeling good enough. If not, we'll make it work. 
Today she felt ok enough to teach her today kid how to lunge so that was good! She wore the flymask the whole time and was very happy. But her today kid has been riding her for about a year so she's not bothered anymore by the flymask.

Then, both girls got their hooves trimmed today. The farrier also cut the shanks off my favorite pelham for me as well so now it's "The Best Snaffle In The World (TM)"!  Lacey's gonna luuuuuv it!
Lacey was great, as always about getting her hooves trimmed. The farrier loves her and she loves him right back, it's pretty great. She even nickered at him today after he was done working on Lady. It was hilarious, especially considering that she's not a huge huge fan of men. He's actually the first guy I've ever seen her actually like. She tolerates them but doesn't usually genuinely like them.

Lady, on the other hand, was NOT a fan of the farrier. She was REALLY scared...and even though we let her sniff everything and he went really slow, she got mad. She tried to kick him about 3 times, however, it wasn't very serious kicking and he just hung on her leg until she gave up so that was good. Then, the other back leg went perfectly fine. I guess she just had to get her anger out with the first leg. :rofl:

In any case, as he was leaving, he turned to me and said "I just love trimming your horses, they are just SO easy to work with!" ................um, were you there when I was? Did you see what I saw??? SHE TRIED TO KICK YOU. That is NOT easy!! 
But I guess if he wants to think my horses are easy, cool story bro. Silly farriers!

But yeah, that's pretty much all for today. Nothing too exciting.
Hopefully Lacey's feeling even better tomorrow!

And, when Hallmark makes a movie about Lacey cuz she's cool, this'll be the cover. Sneak preview time! :lol:
"Equine Recurrent Uvietis: BATTLEDOME"


----------



## Wallaby

Today...is better than yesterday. 

Lacey and I had a new lesson kid this morning and SHE IS GREAT. She's just the kind of kid we love - high energy, focused, respectful, and super into learning EVERYTHING about horses. And she laughed at all my corny jokes. Not bad, right? 

Anyway, that was great. Lacey's eyes still hurt but she was ok with me taking her flymask off for the hour long lesson so yay for improvements!

Hopefully she'll be feeling well enough on Monday/Tuesday to go for a ride. Lady's getting a bit nuts from lack of excersise and since I snuck the horses back into the field I freelunge in (also the field the AOM -Angry Old Man- feels entitled to) I don't really want to be seen in there and get screamed at again... :-|

Lady is doing SUPER well with her feeding time routine now. I guess she just had to test me to see what would happen because since "The Incident" she's been very polite about recieving her food and waiting for it. Horses!


Then, today, [I'm really excited about this, btw] I FINALLY got the stuff together to add a little outside area to each mare's stall. That means that next time Lacey's eyes act up, I can "lock" her into the stall and not worry that she's being silly and standing in the sun somewhere. That also means that in bad weather during the winter, I can stick her down there and not worry about her slipping in deep mud/on ice/slushy snow etc.
The LOM (Little Old Man-aka property owner) was very concerned that I was going to kill myself with the t-post driver he let me borrow from him. Little does he know that at camp, every summer for the last 5 summers - on the second day, it was my "job" to construct the "arena" out of pipe fencing and 16-20 t-posts. In one day. Just 4 t-posts (I used step-ins for the other 4 non-supporting pieces) is NOTHING compared to that! And I have technique! haha
Anyway, it was cute that he cared but funny. I guess I was raised to be as self-sufficent as possible, in every way, so getting help for something I can do myself with a little effort? Seems silly. :lol:
And it's so rewarding to look at something you put up yourself and say "DANG girl! That's some nice work!" :rofl:

Anyhoo, It went much more smoothly than I had really thought it would. I had already measured and planned what I was going to do, out on paper, in a to-scale drawing, so all I really had to do was just place posts and run tape.
I put actual t-posts on all the corners and used step-in posts for the other areas. I may go back and re-do the step-ins with t-posts, just to make it more sturdy, but we'll see. The girls are both super easy on fences and I made each area large enough that they had a little walking/thinking room, no feeling cramped, so I don't anticipate any fence demolishing... 

And I know, you are dying for pictures of this magnificent thing I created. So here! 

Before:










After: 
[the girls went and each stood in their own stall pretty much as soon as I was done banging the t-posts in. They just let it go up around them! And they just stood there, watching me, not messing with things, just watching. Silly cute girls!]

"Captain, I believe a trap has been sprung..."










And Lacey. Of course. In her "face jail". And see? I fixed that flymask too! No more nasty purple fluffy stuff around the edges.


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## Skyseternalangel

Those posts scare me (I'm a paranoid wimp lol!)

But it looks very nice!!


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## Wallaby

Lol Truuuuue story. Shoulda mentioned that: Tomorrow/tonight caps are going on the metal posts and the step-ins (the white ones) are so wobbly that they couldn't stab anyone if you TRIED to use them as impliments of stab-age. :lol:

Neither girl has any sort of inclination towards going over things but it only takes once so safety first! 

Thanks, as well!


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## Wallaby

So I figure I can mope again since this is my journal, so sorry guys. 

Basically, I forgot about this after Lacey's last ERU episode but when she comes down off the bute "high" (she gets 2g/day of bute for the first day or two of an episode since getting the inflammation in her eyes down ASAP is top priority) she gets SUPER depressed. The vet laughs about it and says she's withdrawling but it's really not all that funny to me. It would, of course, be hilarious if it wasn't my dear old lady horse that was going through it. :lol:
So we're right in the withdrawl stage right now and it's pathetic. I actually had to hold her lunch bucket today so she would eat it at all. Ridiculous. 
Then, when she's like this, I feel terrible in my life because she's so special to me and bleck.

Then, to top it all off, I've been reading up on bute and, unlike what I had previously though, small doses of bute can cause reactions that are just as bad as big doses. So, since she needs _something_ to be comfortable on a daily basis, I just spent a ridiculous amount of $$ (FIFTY DOLLARS.) on a bucket of horse asprin and a bucket of this stuff that has yucca, devils claw, willow bark, grape-something, and all these other "natural" painkillers. I'm hoping that I'll be able to dose her with them in small enough doses that they last for quite a while while taking care of her pain. They were both the best deals for the amounts of "stuff" in them (the others I found were half the price but had <1/4th the amounts of ingredients - if I feed at the dose of those cheaper products, the ones I bought should each last for over 5 months being fed daily) but that doesn't make my bank account happier. 
I figured as well that I might as well get two very different things so I can see which works better when, etc.
That's the really poopy thing about ERU, there's no set cause or rhyme or reason to the disease. I just have to play around and figure out what works best. 

I'm going to start a daily journal of weather conditions/what I feed Lacey and what Lacey/Lacey's eyes tells me about those things. I was reading and that seems like the "best" way to figure out what works for that particular horse. I figure that I always have about 10 minutes of waiting while the horses are eating so if I start using that time to jot down some notes, I might get somewhere. 


On the plus side of things, the girls seem to really like their new larger stalls! Yay for that!

Also, on the plus side, I was really bummed becuase I thought I was going to have to get rid of/not use that pretty flymask I had re-done for Lacey because thinking back, her eyes have been "angrier" since I started having her wear that one all the time. I checked the box of it and that one doesn't say anything about UV protection while she always comes out of the Kensington masks she wears with her eyes less puffy/angry than they were when the mask went on, and those masks do have UV protection, according to the box. 
However, I was just trolling around the net looking for anything possible about ERU and I found that someone suggested lining flymasks with a double layer of "shade cloth" to make a cheap version of the Guardian Mask. Sooooo, I'm going to find me some shade cloth and make it happen. Hopefully that'll do the trick and we can still use that adorable mask.


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## horseluver2435

I'm sorry to hear about Lacey's recent 'episode' but I'm very glad that you're keeping an optimistic and are looking out for Lacey! Hope she does better/you can find something that will keep her feeling good. 

Thanks for the well wishes- it's been extremely hard, especially because this fall has made me realize that my new horse & I are not a good match and it's time for him to find a new home. Which is sad, but that's what's best for him & myself. 

Best of luck to you, Lacey & Lady!


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## Wallaby

So not much has been happening lately. Lacey's still slowly recovering but she's been doing well enough to go on a ride on Tuesday and a ride today. She really enjoyed herself both times. I'm really thankful that our trails are pretty shady. we do have to walk through the full sun to get down to them but once we're down there, Lacey's eyes are pretty comfy. 
Yay!
I am mildly frustrated with her, well not with her tchinically, but with circumstances, because she KEEPS cutting up her hind legs with her hooves while getting up/laying down at night. I had had upside-down bellboots on her which had been helping a bit but she somehow ended up cutting herself right below the bells and that cut gets aggravated if I put the bells back on... So, vicious cycle repeats. It's been VERY frustrating. Hopefully we'll get it figured out soon. I think I might try putting just one bell on one leg (the right, the left is the one with the cut), maybe that'll somehow help...Like encourage her to keep her legs farther apart or something... 

Lady is being an enigma. I've basically stopped all real "work" with her besides ponying and our daily respect during bathing/food/fly spray/bridling/grooming/sunscreen time thing. I've decided that I'm not really qualified to deal with her issues so I need to stop _trying_ to push buttons and just let her soak in how real horses behave. So no more lunging/things that REALLY push her boundaries, just little things that help her become a really easy to deal with horse Not to mention, if she is indeed pregnant, a bunch of lunging probably isn't great for her. 
Today I bridled her for, I think, the 4th time. She did GREAT. I've been sticking the bit in her bag of rice bran pellets so it has some "tasty" powder on it when it goes into her mouth. She's not a huge fan of the bridling/unbridling process - her teeth seem to be extremely sensitive and though I really try not to hit them, the lightest touch of the bit to her teeth seems to be super uncomfortable - but she's coming along well. Today she just held the bit in her mouth with very little fussing or anxiety-ish chewing, I was proud.
But, really, Lady is coming along super well. she's figuring out the rules and she pretty much adheres to them. She's definitly a tester though.
On the plus side, speaking of testing, since the near kicking incident, she has been ah-MAY-zing behaviorally at feeding time. she gets in her corner as soon as I appear with food and stays there until I say "ok". Sometimes she'll shift a little but a simple "ah-ah!" sends her right back, or deeper, into the corner. She really wants to be good, I think.

And, guess what. I have like 15 pictures for you wonderful journal readers. I already made one picture thread this week so this journal gets today's pictures. Yaaaay!

1.2.3.GOOOO.

Stylin' with a 'tude.










Lady's looking SO good!










"I'm looking good too, right?"










"RIGHT???!?"










Looking cool...










Eating, like always. I feed her SO much and she's still a little ribby. Well, so much compared to Lacey: her ration balancer, suppliments, and 2lbs of rice bran, daily.










Lacey eating her nighttime snack like a G (I'm transitioning them to an evening feeding schedule so when I start stalling them overnight next week, they'll already be accustomed to going into thier stalls in the evening). she is such a dork with her legs. Apparently it was "too difficult" to go all the way into her stall...










"Hrrrrrmmmmm! Mah' name is LACEY and I have OPINIONS."










Flax seeds.










Concerned. 










Cute face.










Awww. I LOVE her eye in this one.










And because I can't decide which one I like better:

LOVE her "dots". :wink:


----------



## Wallaby

So, nothing really happened today...again. 

My friend Kristin came out to see the horses - she takes lessons during the winter but stops during the summer, so she was missing her "horsey time". She ended up riding Lacey and I was SO impressed with Miss L!!
Kristin, while not overly large, is about my height (5'9") and probably weighs 50ish more pounds than me (I weigh 135 on a skinny day). Lacey sometimes acts like I'm on the too big side of things for her so I was a little concerned about letting K ride, just because I didn't want Lacey acting up/getting "broken". I figure, she's 27, afterall, she has the right to have a weight limit.
But, Lacey didn't seem to mind at all! It was obviously a workout for her to carry that much (got sweaty after only about 10 minutes of walking) but I'm the "heaviest" person to ride her in years so she's really not accustomed to heavier riders. She did really well though. No balking, just plodding along. 
I feel like Kristin's expertise helped a lot, she knows how to sit well on a horse so she wasn't riding like a sack of potatoes. :lol:

Anyway, that was great. Kristin really enjoyed herself. 

Then, later, the lady associated with Lady's rescue org was supposed to come out but she called me when she was supposed arrive to let me know that they were on standby for a large horse seizure (apparently 7 mares, 3 babies, one baby that had to be immediatly put down...  ) so she wasn't able to make it out after all. Laaaaame. She said she was going to make a point of coming out tomorrow, hopefully she does. I like just being on my own with the horses, but since Lady is not mine, I'd really prefer that "her" people were more involved with her...you know?

Tomorrow it's supposed to be like a bazillion degrees. Not looking forward to that. On the forecast, where it usually has a sun with a little cloud, there's a sun+rising heat waves+a cactus. :shock: It's supposed to get up to 97+* [around here, 87* is like murder hot, hahahah]...fuuunnnnnn. Hopefully Lacey drinks enough water. She's usually pretty intelligent about that but her own body is doing the worst job at cooling/heating herself these days... :-| I'm going to put some water down in the shed tomorrow, early in the morning, so they don't have to walk so far to get water... I had been meaning to put water down there anyway so it needs to happen.

Then, this evening, during/after feeding time, it was apparently "artsy" photo time. I'm still using my screen-less camera so I had no idea they came out at these angles until I uploaded them on to my laptop. :rofl:

And of course, I'm not going to tell you about pictures without sharing. do not panic. 



















So this one makes Lacey look dead/in a museum...She is alive and in her pasture, do not panic. :lol:










Lacey looks so cool! Also, her eye, my hair? Ridic.










Cute ear!













I should probably get one of those GIANT coffee table artsy picture books published of Lacey... That'd be ideal. :rofl:


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## tinyliny

How did you get this one? The way it's backlit and all. perfect!!


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## Wallaby

Haha thanks Tiny! I really like that one too. 
I'm not particularly sure how it came out that well. I just saw how the light was hitting Lacey, stuck my head in there, hoped for the best, and took a picture. I was really surprised when I got it uploaded and discovered how exactly perfect the lighting had been!
I did go in with the hope of getting some sort of Lacey+me backlit shot but hoping is one thing, actually getting it is another. :lol:


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## tinyliny

did you have the camera set on something or were you holding it?

btw, any news as to the preggo or lego tummy?


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## Wallaby

I was just holding it! :shock: 

Nothing yet.  However, apparently the vet got their ultrasound back/fixed/new one, whatever, today so we should know soon. I think the lady with the rescue is hoping to come out first (she works for the vet the rescue uses), possibly in case she can definitively say that's a preggo, or lego (good one!) belly and not have to pay $$ to the vet <--I'm not sure if that's her reasoning but I assume. But _hopefully_ we'll know really soon and hopefully it won't be because Lady explodes a baby out of herself. 
*fingers crossed*


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## blue eyed pony

Wallaby said:


> hopefully it won't be because Lady explodes a baby out of herself.
> *fingers crossed*


LOLOLOLOLOL I just LOVE how you put that :lol:


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## Wallaby

Well, the rescue lady came on Saturday and she couldn't definitively say that Lady is or isn't preggo so ehhhhh. :-|
She felt like, if Lady is pregnant, she's probably at 6-7 months...I'm not sure if I agree but the lady tried to get "the baby" to kick her by really poking and prodding Lady's belly but nothing moved...so maybe she's right? I don't know.

It's been about a bazillion degrees here for the last few days so horse-wise things have been going very sedately along.
Saturday+Sunday, the horses had totally off. I fed them and that was pretty much it.
Yesterday, they both got baths/hosing off. Lacey got a crazy thorough bath (I even washed her face! She hates water to the face but she survived and now her face is clean) and Lady got throughly hosed off. Lady's getting to be an old hat at this bathing/water thing - proud of her!

Then, today Lacey and I went on a trail ride together. We had the best time. She only whinnied twice for Lady when we left and both times they were very half-hearted neighs.
I just love how athletic she is. We even galloped up a hill (something we can't do while ponying Lady cuz Lady is still opposed to cantering while being ponied) which was great.
I really like my horse. :wink:


Then, we came back -after Lacey got hosed off- and discovered that Lady had busted through EVERY section of "electric" tape she could find, trying to find Lacey. >.< That horse, I wanted to punch her. She's fine if there's a human there or if Lacey is there but being alone is the work of the devil. I would figure that by this point, where I've taken Lacey on at least 4-5 rides - just us, she should realize that we are coming back soon. Apparently not. 
I'm still super frustrated with her. Running around+calling is one thing but going through fences hurts the fence and could potentially hurt her if she chooses the wrong fence... :sad:

Also, I got the, probably made of gold, super expensive pain/inflammation stuff for Lacey yesterday. She got her first dose of "DC-Y" today because the package says that it shouldn't be used with NSAIDs like Bute and I had already given her a little Bute yesterday. We'll see if that does as good/better job than Bute does! Hopefully it'll be less dangergous...



And then, guess what, I have pictures! 

Last night, greeting me at the gate...










Cute girls...


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## Roperchick

I just gotta say that... "exploding a baby out of her" sounds really really painful haha:rofl::rofl:

aaahh such bright colorses in that last picture!


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## Wallaby

So, today has been THE MOST dramatic day, I do not EVEN know.

It started out really well though I took the girls on a ride and they went nicely. I even got Lady to walk herself down to the trails by attaching her to Lacey liek I do when I pony her. That way, I only had to worry about leading Lacey which was very ideal (Lacey often lags behind, I assume due to her sight issues - she's trying to stay far enough back that she won't mow me down ever, and Lady likes to keep her head RIGHT AT my shoulder/charge ahead. It makes for some frustrating leading times). 
And, since Lady was behind her, Lacey didn't try to bite Lady! She did try once as we were leaving the pasture but I was still holding on to her+I saw it so I was able to really get on her case about it (previously she'd been biting her at times where any correction took place 4-5 seconds later and that's just not effective/a good strategy). After that, we got into a few situations where Lacey could have really easily gone to town on Lady, but she didn't. I know that Lacey is very rule oriented (if a horse could be that way) so maybe she just didn't know that biting is against the rules (has never been an issue before so that's possible) and now that she knows, maybe she'll tone down the tooth talk.... *fingers crossed*

Then, we got home, I stalled them up to feed them, they ate, and Lady decided to free herself by just charging through her "gate" area. >.< Grrrrr. 
I then just calmly went to catch her (she wanted to play keep away but I made it totally unfun by just walking her down+caught her pretty easily after the initial "ahhhahahaha!"), caught her, released Lacey, kept her on a short lead rope while I fixed her gate - made sure she was "paying attention" (no eating, no sniffing the ground, no figiting, etc), then once the gate was fixed, she got to stand in her stall, doing nothing, for 5 minutes. After being made to stand with me while I fixed it, she seemed relieved to just get to be in her stall. :rofl: 
Anyway, she stayed in perfectly for that 5 minutes. Once does not a habit make, of course, but it's a start!
I guess making her painfully bored is the key to stopping unwanted behaviors in her case! :lol:



Then! This afternoon my friend/mentor called me up (this is the lady who has some sketchy ideas about stuff but mostly her ideas are sound+she means well AND she found me my Lacey girl  ) to find out if I know about what's going on up at the camp I used to work for. [was an assistant wrangler at that camp for 3 years, head wrangler for the last 2 - basically, the entire horse program at that camp was "mine" during those years]

APPARENTLY, the current HW (a woman who had a horse in the 80's, hasn't been around horses since, you get the drill) is pretty much starving the horses (who aren't owned by the camp, btw - they're from an "outfitter"). she's under the impression that 5lbs of hay/day/horse is ok and if a horse is getting skinny, well, they OBVIOUSLY don't need more hay, THEY NEED GRAIN!!! 

WAT????! Who ARE you, lady? Anyway, the outfitter is having a MAJOR cow and demanding that the camp "hire" (camp is volunteer-basis only) me back for the remaining 4 weeks of camp or they're going to remove their horses. Well, too bad I'm not going back to camp... :-| I'm flattered though! hahaha

THEN, on top of that, due to what my camp is doing to the outfitter now+what camps have done to the outfitter in the past+the hay economy, the outfitter is selling off ALL their horses. 
I don't know whether to be happy or sad. The horses that don't go to private homes have a one way ticket to the Enumclaw auction, which is notorious for slaughter buyers...  Those horses are my dear friends. I wish I could take all my favorites.
On the plus side, my friend is seriously considering buying up our joint favorite mare. She's this SUPER sassy little brown Quarter Pony mare, has that working QH attitude. All sass and no stop. She's basically the best. She's legitimately my favorite horse ever, after Lacey. At camp, she and Lacey were "my" two. If I wasn't riding one, I was 100% on the other. Her name's Lil Bit (aka, Lil Bit*h, hahahahaha).
So, I'm SO hopeful that my friend will get our/my lil girl and maybe, just maybe, something will work out that way. This friend of mine is into a philosphy where she finds a horse she wants you to have+she likes, she pays expenses on it for a year while you train-etc the horse, then at the end of the year, if you still like the horse, said horse is yours. I do not know at all, but in the face of Lady not really working out great, maybe this is the thing that's meant to be... I have no idea and I'm not getting too excited, but MY LITTLE BIT!!!! :lol: 
While we were talking, I mentioned to her about Lady and my troubles and how Lacey needed a friend and she started murmuring to herself... :rofl: We'll see.


Anyway, we agreed that we'd talk in a week, she'd think about this horse situation, I'd try to get a job, the whole deal. Basically, the real deal is that if I had a job, 2 horses would be nothing. As it is, I've been job seeking for over a year with nothing to show for it. I get called for interviews, and then second interviews, but then don't get a call back or get a call that says they "found someone better". Now that I have my AA, I'm hopeful that maybe education-wise I can look cooler than some of the people applying for the jobs I'm interested in. I'm not looking for anything more than entry level but even that seems impossible here... 



ANYWAY, isn't that exciting??

And, of course, I can't just tell you about "my" Lil Bit without a picture of us, right?
I have even more pictures of Lacey and Lady, as well. 

Lil Bit!!
[do not mind that I sorta look like a midgit -not that there's anything wrong with that, of course!- and that I have a super weird look on my face...to this day I have no clue what I was looking at... hahaha]
But yeah, she's basically a beast - like Lacey! I'm 5ft 9 and she's 14.1hh, on a tall day. She's a BEAST. The two of them can even comfortably share saddles, they're built that similarly.










My real horsies!!










I maaaaaay have discovered the "saturation" feature of my photo editor....Maybe.










This morning. The cutest face in the WOOOORRRRLD, maybe.










HerpDerp










Somebody got a new bridle! "Maui Cowgirl" hahahahaha 










Again with the saturation button...bright colors=wallaby love










This evening. Found some Queen Anne's Lace looking very lacey. hahaha
[That was super hard to write lacey without capitalizing...]










Lookin' like a lace UFO...


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## Wallaby

And once again, the HoFo is hatin' on my love of copious numbers of pictures... Silly HoFo!! :wink:


Chillin' after their "bedtime" snack...










The End.


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## cakemom

I'm so glad to see you posting. Lady is wonderful, but she's def not worth Lacey and your relationship suffering. Loooverly photos!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

Thanks for the support, cakemom! That's basically how I feel too. There's just something about Lady's personality that's just not the right fit for where we are now and, while she's fantastic, I'm sure she'll make someone else a better longterm companion than she'll make for me. 
And thanks! 

_____________________________________________________________

Sooo yesterday we didn't do much. Just hung out together. I did mess with Lacey's hooves a bit and got them looking pretty respectable. 

Then, today, we went on a SUPER long ride! I didn't set out with that intention, it just kinda happened... lol
Basically, I started out with the intention to just do that long ride we did that other time - the middle trail, if you recall.
We got all the way up to the top of the second "volcano" and as we were heading off down the other side, this narrow trail off to the side caught my eye. It's one that I've been wanting to go on but whenever I've been up there it's been overly wet or otherwise gross and since that trail isn't improved like the ones I usually take (no gravel/sand footing, just dirt), I didn't want to get into trouble, you know?

Anyhoo, it's been very dry for weeks so I figured that out of any day for that trail to catch my eye, today was the day to do it.
And, well, I'm afraid I have been bitten by the "explore ALL the trails!" bug. :lol: there are a couple others I've seen while out riding that I've never really had the nerve to try but now I really want to do it! haha

Lady was SOOOO mad about the whole situation. She was basically dragging the whole time. Lacey was so jazzed that she was basically just pulling Lady like nobody's business. It was fantastic.
I SHOULD have taken my camera (next time, I promise!) but this was some kind of gorgeous trail. I think I'm in love with it. We were on it for a good 45+minutes and Lacey was walking probably 9-10mph (when she's into something, she doesn't believe in walking at all slowly, hahaha) so there was a lot of space we covered. It was really great. 
AND! It ended up turning my already favorite trail into a loop! Bonus!! So now, that trail can actually be a loop or even a figure-eight - perfect for riding. 


I also forgot to turn on my pedometer thingy that'll graph where we went and exactly how long it was -bummer deal. Next time. 

Next time my plan is to ride it going the other way. The way we went today made it all be pretty much downhill which is probably the least fun ever when you're riding a super jazzed, basically blind, horse. Lacey doesn't get out of control, persay, but she gets into this "zone" where she is GOING for it and if you don't like it, tough cookies. She's perfectly responsive, just yknow, the typical "hot" Arab who's life calling is to get the job, whatever the "job" is, done. I never let her run in that^ state because that's when she does get out of control ("JOY!!! RUNS LIKE CHAMPION!") but at a walk she's great, just crazy fast. :lol:
Anyway, if we go the opposite way on this new trail, we'll be going mostly uphill which is much more ideal.

But yeah, all of us, except for Lady, had a bunch of fun. There were a few bridges we got to cross, quite a few large logs to step over, a few banks, a few drops, and most of the way it was a single-file sort of "steep drop-off on one side" trail. SUPER FUN.

Any other horse I would be so concerned about what we just did, but with Lacey, she's just so "I got this" that you just can't help but be infected with the same confidence. 

Though Lady was mad, I think was a really good mind-thing for her to engage in. She had to really think about where her feet were, not to mention her first bridge crossings! 

After we got home, I hosed them both off really well, fed them, and sent them on their way. 

It was really amazing, when we got home, the effect that ride had had on Lacey's attitude. Even though she was tired, she was SO happy. The happiest I've seen her since her eyes really started causing her problems. Yay for serotonin! :lol: 
Apparently _someone_ wants me to find them an endurance/LTD ride. :rofl: 


Anyway, it was great. Hopefully we'll be able to do it again this week. However, it's supposed to be 95* tomorrow, 100* on Thursday, and 102* on Friday so our plans may have to wait until next week when it's cooler. :-( Oh well, her health.


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## Roperchick

what? no pictures? ohmygosh. lucky lucky to have trails you can go on!


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## cakemom

Bad bad wallaby, no photos!! I have a horsey photo for YoU! I'll send it in a pm.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

I know, I know, I'm the worst. I just thought it'd be some lame-o ride and why would I need my camera? WRONG. :lol:
Next time!! 

Speaking of pictures, though...Roperchick, did you get pictures of the saddle on a pony?? Perhaps I'm not the only slacker here! :wink:

And yeah, I'm so excited that this is an actual trail! I had no idea what I was missing out on. I just figured they were some kind of deer trail, no idea that they actually go somewhere! 
Sometimes I really wish I had an arena vs the trails but really, Lacey wouldn't work nearly as hard in the arena as she does on the trails. Trails are her thang', super blessed to have a ridiculously bomb trail horse and access to great trails. If she were less of a trail machine, there'd be way fewer options open to us.
Basically, true story, Lacey and I are some kind of uncannily blessed. I don't know how to explain it other than to say that God is making sure that things works out right for Miss L. It's crazy ridiculously cool.


----------



## Cacowgirl

Happy to hear that you & the horses had such a wonderful day.


----------



## Roperchick

Wallaby said:


> Speaking of pictures, though...Roperchick, did you get pictures of the saddle on a pony?? Perhaps I'm not the only slacker here! :wink:


 
haha sorry not yet. it wouldnt fit on the 2 horses ive been riding. but i got a new project horse so if i can get permission from the owner ill get some pics for you this saturday!


----------



## tinyliny

that HAS to be a preggers belly. It just hazta.


----------



## Wallaby

So today was...a day. lol

Initially, in the morning, Lacey was doing fantastic. I was actually quite impressed with her since she wasn't acting at all sore or otherwise overly tired after our ride yesterday. Usually the day after a ride like that, you can tell that it's the day after! But not today. I guess that shows that she's in a good place conditioning-wise! 
I try to keep a certain level of fitness on her but it's definitely nice to see that fitness pan out!  

However, it was 95* today and in the evening I could definitely tell that she had gotten too hot. Basically, while she was still alert, she was "off", yknow? Like instead of heading straight down to the shed with Lady and standing there waiting for me, in her stall, basically tapping her hoof, like she usually does; I fed Lady, prepared Lacey's food, shook her bucket around, called to her (she was only maybe 15ft away), and finally had to go up to her with the bucket and shake it right under her nose for her to even really register that food was available. 
That's pretty typical "too hot" behavior from her so I'm not really overly concerned - her vitals are all fine, she's hydrated, her eyes look great... But I am going to hose her off really good tomorrow before "lunch" to hopefully cool her body down enough that she'll be able to deal with the afternoon heat better (it's supposed to be 100* tomorrow). 
Obviously, of course, I would much prefer if she could actually deal with heat but yknow...

Thinking about it, I might stick them in their stalls for the afternoon as well... There's a nice breeze that goes through there and there's shade. Then LaceyLace wouldn't be standing in the blazing sun (as is her habit) being all "gots to try to eat the grassez through my grazing muzzle!!" and she'd hopefully stay cooler...

Of course, Lady would have a cow about being in but if I stuff the shed with hay (maybe mix some alfalfa in with Lady's - make it more "exciting") I bet she'd stay there.

I'll give it a try. Friday it's supposed to be 103* and that's even more concerning...


Anyhoo, I took some picture today! To maybe, kind of, make up for the lack yesterday. :wink:
Speaking of yesterday, I am SO badly sunburned from that! We were in the shade!! Apparently shade does not matter when you're a pale-y like me. Lame. I wore a tank top thinking that it would be cooler than a T+that I wouldn't get burned since we were in the shade (I never wear tanks as a general rule because my shoulders get SO burned - they're actually permanently scared n' stuff from previous burns... :shock: )..um yeah, NO. 
I guess I should be thankful that I could have been more severely burned (no blistering!) but still, lame.


Pictures! I was posting pictures!!

This morning...after "lunch"










Hard to impress horse is hard to impress.










Ponies n' sunset.
That dog you see is this crazy dog I'm petsitting. Lacey HATES him. He loves Lacey. It's sad but also hilarious. He just doesn't stay out of her space and she's super uncomfortable with him in her space so I've had to save him from being bitten about 4 times already, in as many days. Thankfully today he started catching on that horse+pinned ears=MOVE YOUR BUTT so hopefully he'll survive until his owners pick him back up on Friday. :rofl:











 :happydance:


ETA- Tiny, I most vehemently agree with you. :/ She's acting more and more preggo, AND that belly has not stopped getting bigger and bigger. Also, when I pony Lady off Lacey and I look over+down at Lady's belly, it's massively wide. The widest part of her. There's NO way it could be a hay belly, imho.


----------



## Wallaby

Speaking of a preggers belly, the pictures I got today make it look even huger..but really, like it does irl... Yaaaay. 
At least, I suppose, Lady is turning out to be an attractive horse conformationally. Not great, but with the addition of food, the faults she has seem to be less extreme, at least compared to my initial read on them. Too bad she's weird in the head...hopefully that's due to being an orphan and not genetics... :-| 

Not to bash the rescue at all, I mean they're doing good work and doing their best, BUT instead of finding a haven of horse knowledgeable people (never met one before outside HF! I was excited!), I seem to have stumbled upon another group of the same ol' same ol ignorant people that seem to run the horse world.
I've been really hounding them about getting Lady pregnancy checked and, while I understand that they have horses in more dire need of vet $$ etc etc, they KEEP putting me off because the rescue lady that came to see her thinks she's maybe 6 months along or it's a hay belly, that means she's 6 months along/it's a hay belly and I'm senselessly "panicking". No need to double check, apparently a visual check is all that's needed.

WTHECK PEOPLE!!! WHAT IF SHE DROPS A BABY HERE, ON "MY" PROPERTY??? What am I going to do then???
Not to mention that I have no idea about the fescue content in my grass/hay! I mentioned that to them and they said that "wasn't a concern". Um, when I'm the one unexpectedly traumatized by a red bag delivery/dead baby, you better BELIEVE it's going to be a concern!

Gah, I'm just so frustrated about it. I understand that people who get into rescue are going to, most likely, be in it for some part of the "glory" of rescuing a horse but seriously. All the rescues are not going to be glory-ridden cases. Some of them ARE going to be like Lady - skinny, nutty, small, and probably pregnant. 
They make a huge fuss on their Facebook page when they get in a skinny skinny mare/gelding and one they got adopted the day she came in due to the fuss they made. Lady, on the other hand, isn't even on their Facebook page, there's been no fuss over her, no pictures posted... Give the girl some time in the limelight! Someone is going to fall in love with that lil blaze of hers and her nuttiness, she just needs to be displayed enough that that person will find her!
She can't exactly help that she wasn't born super eyecatching, color/markings-wise, but she has that Arab "it-factor" that _someone_ is dying to have.

Suuuuper frustrated. Doesn't help that Lady spewed her brattiness all over me today... :rofl: I want her to find her person...who isn't me! haha

*rant=over*

Anyway, basically, all today was was cold hosing in the morning (I hosed Lacey for a good 15 minutes this morning), then into their stalls for the rest of the day.

Bonus, we made it through the day without Lacey getting at all mentally "lost"! It got up to 95* in the shed, 102* in the sun, but Lacey's none the worse for wear.  I think we've hit upon a new "it's hot out" routine. 
I also soaked Lacey's flymask in water before putting it on her which she hated having put on, but her face stayed really cool all day which I think helped.

Lady did exit her stall (tool-face horse) sometime in the afternoon/evening but Lacey stayed in like a good girl. I haven't really decided if I even want to stall Lady tomorrow. I might leave her side open and shut Lacey in cuz I don't particularly like constantly reinforcing Lady getting out by allowing her to constantly get out...but at the same time, I don't want Lacey to panic about Lady not being nearby... Decisions, decisions. They both had plenty of hay, Lady's getting out wasn't so much "gotta go eat" as much as "this is stupid, I'm leaving".


Ah, anyway, pictures for you!! 

"haha I got out this way! LOL."










"You seem mad...I can come back in??"
[I think Lady and I don't get along because she does stuff like this^. Lacey and I just don't do things to do them, we have a purpose. Lady just does stuff because she thinks it's fun/will be entertaining. Lacey and I don't get that. We understand doing fun stuff to achieve an end but we don't waste time like My Little Pony over here... :lol:]










Her tail. <3










She's getting a pretty neck...










My wide boat of a horse. She's cute.




























Queen Ann's Lace has to be my favorite flower to photograph... :rofl:


----------



## Roperchick

haha lady is such a character! gotta love her!

and lacey as always is one GOOOORGEOUS chick!


----------



## Wallaby

Lady is ridiculous. :lol: Love her though! haha

_____________________________________________________________

So today was another hot one. 

My lesson kid and I gave Lacey a bath around noon (with QuicSilver shampoo - she's WHITE now! ) but I think Lace had already gotten a bit too hot. She was pretty alert this evening but not 100% there. However, I can live with 95%, better than 60, or 50%, there! 

I also stalled her today. She was much more relaxed about being in today than she was yesterday. I chose to leave Lady's side open so Lady wouldn't get to exit on her own again. 
It was actually QUITE funny when I went down to feed+let Lacey out in the evening. Lady was waaaaay down at the bottom of the middle pasture, behind the shed, grazing, and neither mare was very concerned at all. 
Apparently we only need to panic when Lacey is "forcibly" removed?? :rofl:

Something that I've been finding to be very interesting with Lady is that she pretty much automatically comes when I call her. Lacey has never done that. I always just chalked it up to Lacey not being motivated that way or something, but perhaps she doesn't come to me (she'll walk over if I'm within 15ft or so but not like Lady who will cover great distances when I call at a trot/canter) because of her sight issues! 
I had never thought of that before but it could seriously be true... :shock:

I think I'm going to stall Lacey aggggain tomorrow. It's supposed to be 88* and this whole hosing+stalling thing has been working so great to keep her normal so why stop now! 
Thankfully, the rest of the week is supposed to be 80* at the hottest so yaaaay!! 
Also, you know what cooler weather means? That trail I found+pictures? I think so. :happydance:



Also, in other news, today I got the acceptance letter from a college I applied to, to transfer there+get my BA!
It's not my ultimate top pick but my BFF goes there+I can take public transit all the way there, etc etc. So it should be ok and I'll get to go downtown on a daily basis. I love me some downtown. I'd hate being away from nature, if I lived there, but the old style of buildings is just my favorite. I also love people/style watching and downtown Portland is one of the best places for that...so I can't complain.  Looking forward to being there nearly every day of the week!


----------



## Wallaby

So...today. 

I went up to camp and took the current "Assistant Head Wrangler" (who's like a sister to me, was my Assistant Wrangler one year when I was Head Wrangler up there) on a nice ride, just to give her a break on horses.  
We had a lot of fun. I rode this lovely mare named Eclipse who's a fleabitten gray, 22, a big ol honkin' QH, basically my second favorite style/type of horse, right behind Polish bred Arab mares. :wink:
She was such a sweetie! I'd just point her somewhere and she'd go there - no discussing, no fussing because she didn't like where I wanted to go, just going there. She was GREAT! Can I keep her? :lol:
It was TOTALLY weird to ride a horse that could actually see though! I never really realized how much I worry about the ground in relation to Lacey but I kept finding myself catching my breath as we'd step over a log or whispering "careful" as we went downhill...it was TOOO funny.
It was a nice break to just ride and think about where we were going and focus on talking to my buddy.


Then, I got home (after taking my friend home, getting totally lost and wasting $20 of gas... hahaha Good times. NOT. :rofl and checked on my girls. 

Apparently, Lacey felt like she needed to even out that dark gray line on her butt -where she rubbed herself SO badly last year- because oh guess what? She had rubbed the other side, under her tail, and around the top of the right side of her tail SUPER raw sometime last night. 
I guess she wants more markings? :-| 
So that was great. 
At least, on the plus side, I now have a hose+all the supplies to take care of this^ up at the horses so we're not having to trek to my house constantly to take care of this stuff. That's a bonus.

So I washed it super well with anti-fungal/anti-bacterial shampoo, let it soak in, rinsed it and the rest of her (I am wondering if perhaps the QuicSilver I used on her yesterday is causing her some sort of itchiness reaction since she hasn't rubbed herself raw alll summer, until the day I use that shampoo - suspicious), then put ointment on the owies. Hopefully she won't rub it worse tonight...

Tomorrow I'm going to take her on a ride. She and Lady are going NUTS energy-wise. She hasn't been worked since last Tuesday so she is READY TO GO. Tomorrow, my mom has kindly volunteered to "babysit" Lady and keep her somewhat calm so I can take Lacey on a just me+her ride. Lacey's so energetic right now that she would not stand for all Lady's refusing to move shenanigans and I would be the one dying...so kinda need to take care of that. lol


PICTURES.

Apparently Lacey's stall is the coolest? I keep finding the two of them in Lacey's stall together. I think actually what is happening is that Lady goes in there to check out Lacey's food bucket, Lacey goes in, to just stand, and Lady ends up being held prisoner by Guard Lacey. It's the best. Lacey is turning into such a turd to Lady! haha










Her "injuries"... >.<










Not ashamed.










And of course, the Queen Ann's Lace. It looks like stars from the bottom!! <---justification





















Thanks for reading!


----------



## muumi

As always, I love hearing the adventures of Lady and Lacey...

I must say, I am a member of Team Lady, she's such a character... ah man! Her pictures crack me up, she always seems so taken by surprise. I know she's the underdog right now, but I love me an underdog. Love her.


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## cakemom

that mare is totally pregnant doll face.


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## Wallaby

Aw, I'm glad Muumi! She needs someone -besides me- rooting for her. :wink:

Right, cakemom? I totally agree. If the rescue evvvver gets a vet out here, there will be no debate. She's basically exploding in size every single day. It's cray. 


_____________________________________________________________

In today's news, we worked on Lady's herdboundness based shenanigans. 
I stuck Lacey up in the top paddock thingy (the area right inside the front gate) and, using a method I saw posted by Cherie, safely tied Lady to a large sturdy tree in the farthest, lowest pasture. 

Basically, the idea is that she'll come to her own conclusions about how she should behave when left alone in a way that causes her to deal with her fear vs just running around like a maniac.

I found THE PERFECT tree to use as well. It has a very thick sturdy branch about 15ft off the ground, that's also clear of other branches so it's easy to get a rope over. It also forks off about halfway down it's length so I was able to wrap my line in a way that Lady can't pull the line away from the tree and she can't pull it closer.

I have no idea why I hadn't thought of using a tree. I had heard of the tying out/"patience pole" technique before but was always like "I don't have anywhere sturdy enough to tie to!". Well, DUH, TREES silly! :lol: 

Anyway, she was "forced" to stand there for a good hour thirty, with Lacey out of sight, until she calmed her little patootie down.
I watched her from far enough away that she felt alone but I could come to her rescue if she really needed it.

She tried rearing a couple times - didn't work, she tried getting a running start and just busting things (good thing I was using a rope halter+a lunge line that has a spliced end - nothing to break) - didn't work, then she tried throwing her head around - didn't work, and then she settled. 
She did continue to call sporadically (thank goodness Lacey knows that excessive calling isn't ok and thank goodness Lacey really doesn't care enough to call a bunch, I think Lacey's not panicked attitude helped calm Lady down - if Lacey had been frantically calling back, I bet there would have been more crazy) but she really did pretty well.

I got her after she had been quiet for 5 minutes, put her head down, and started licking and chewing. I figured that while she was still watchful+a little worried, I might as well take what she offered. 

I'm a bit frustrated that the rescue hasn't helped me with this. I know them and their little NH cronies prooobbbbably wouldn't exactly agree with this method BUT, if they're not going to help, I can and WILL bring the big guns. I refuse to basically let my relationship with MY horse suffer because they're a bunch of sillies, you know? 
So there. Take THAT rescue people! :lol:

I'm not sure if tying her out like that is an option while I'm actually gone with Lacey (don't want Lady getting hurt!) but I plan to repeat this a couple times before leaving Lady next time. Hopefully she'll pick up what I'm laying down, smell what I'm stinking up, etc. :lol:

On the Lacey front, yesterday I found some nylon mesh (flymask material) at the fabric store that has 90% (!!!!!!!!!!!!) UV protection!!! That'll be FANTASTIC for Lacey's eyes. Her usual masks only have 73% and for horses with ERU, more is better. 
90% is like "The Guardian Mask" level which is basically the $95 Holy Grail of ERU flymasks. And if I can make a good enough one at home? SIGN ME UP.
So I'm pretty excited about that. I'm still working out the correct dimensions etc so it'll probably be a couple days before you see it, but know, I'm excited! lol

On top of that, if I can make it work, this flymask will have only cost me $9, compared to the $95 Guardian Mask and my $35 Kensington Masks (the ones with 73% UV protection). Say wuuuut? Frugality, yo.


And then, a few pictures, for funnsies...

These are my favoritest "fancy" flowers in the world.
My grandpa planted them in our yard years and years ago and they come back every single year. The deer come eat them after they get to a certain point in their bloom but so far they've been safe.










I discovered this in my "Lacey's Eyes" notebook. Apparently my Sunday lesson kid snuck me a picture when I wasn't particularly looking... She's super cute.










"YoYoYo dawgs! Tomorrow I'm getting ridden, I'm excited!"











:happydance:


----------



## muumi

Looking forward to seeing Lacey's new super-powered flymask! 

Was wondering, sorry if you have mentioned it before, but do you know how bad the extent of Lacey's vision deterioration is? Is it very bad? Or still quite mild? Is there any way of telling for sure?


----------



## Wallaby

From what we can tell, Lacey's vision deterioration is pretty bad at this point.
What the vet can actually see is that she has no straight on vision anymore. Anything she can see is coming through her peripheral vision. :-| So she can't see things right next to her, she pretty much has to turn her head to see whatever she wants to look at.
The vet feels like she can see a bit out of her peripheral vision but that's still nowhere as good as it would be in a horse without ERU. The way she put it is that, to Lacey, everything is dark and very blurry. No definition about _what_ things actually are, she has to figure that out on her own.

From what I can tell, her left eye is her "good" eye. I'd say she's pretty close to totally blind in the right eye with "more" vision in the left. She doesn't want you to lead her from her right side, she trips over things on the right that she'll walk around going left, etc. And, when she turns her head to "get a good look" at something, she always turns her head right - to look at things with her left eye.
And then there's the whole distance thing. From what I can surmise, she can see something around a 20ft radius around her body. Go any further away and she'll act like you've magically disappeared off the planet. If you suddenly come into her "circle of sight" she can't seem to determine what you are exactly until you get about 10ft away from her - that's when she'll recognize you+be happy to see you, if she likes you. haha 

From being around her, I'd say she's pretty vision impaired. It's a bit hard to tell because she's VERY self sufficient so the little things are the ones telling the story. There's definitely a major difference between a sighted horse confidently covering ground and Lacey covering ground. 
However, Lacey is such a fantastic cope-r. She's developed this thing where, going downhill, she drags her back hooves and going uphill, she stabs her front toes into the ground. Maybe it's unintentional, but it has the effect of letting her "feel" her way up or down things before seriously committing to her next step. It's rather genius! haha
And, she totally knows she's near blind and instead of being scared by that, she's just 20 times more careful.

She's so amazing. I do not even know. I can only wish that, if something like ERU happened to me, I would go at the blindness+intense pain with as much grace and dignity as she does. I doubt I could handle it nearly as well though.


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## muumi

I just asked, because from reading all your posts, she just seems so normal!
But like you said, she's a coper, and even without perfect sight, I'm sure she'll be one of those amazing horses who just carry on as normal no matter what...
Just had an idea, maybe it will help... If you have an old flymask that fits, that you don't mind sacrificing, maybe take it apart by opening up all the seams, and you'll have a perfect pattern to base your new mask on...
I'm sure you've prob thought of this already though!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## grayshell38

Glad things have settled a bit. Not that I have all the info or anything, but that rescue is kind of making me wonder. You'd think they'd be all on finding out whether she is or isn't pregnant (not that there's much doubt in my mind. I am nearly certain that there'll be a baby out there in not too long.) to get her the proper shots and prenatal care...:?


----------



## Wallaby

Great idea Muumi! I had thought of something like that but then I was like "But it'd be so much work to get it back together again, wahwah". HOWEVER, I do not have to continue with my previous plan of lining a mask I already have with this new mesh and making a 100% new one. I have enough mesh to make 2 full Lacey-sized masks so I really don't need to reuse the "old" one. I could just use that one as a pattern (since I LOVE it's silhouette) and make 2 brand new ones. Silly me. :lol:

Right, Megan? Meeee too. 
I actually just emailed them today, all righteously indignant, about how they aren't caring for their horse and I feel taken advantage of and how maybe they aren't as reputable as the person who recommended them to me thought, etc etc. And guess what? Not even 15 minutes later, I get an email AND a text apologizing out the wazoo, asking if they can call me tomorrow to set something up, etc etc etc. 
:rofl:
Questioning their repute gets answers FAST! :lol:

Apparently, the girl "in charge" of me+Lady has been out of town so she passed our case to the director of the rescue and another lady. She was under the impression that I had been helped bunches in the time she was gone. Hah! "My" person feels terrible currently so hopefully we'll get somewhere.
I'm getting more and more of the feeling that the director is a little nutty and not in a good way...she's just really sketch.

In other news, it seems that while I've been out of the loop, it has turned up that Lady WAS exposed to a mini jack. So, there's a pretty sure chance that whatever's living in her belly is a pony-sized mule. 
IT'S GOING TO BE SO CUTE. However, also a devil on wheels. Sassy Arab+Donkey? Dear goodness. I pity the trainer.


And, we went on a monster trail ride today. I still have to figure out which pictures I want to share (paring 55 of "the best" down to 15? HARD.) but to tide you over until I hopefully post a picture thread tonight...do I have a video?
YES, I have a video!

 :happydance: :happydance:

This is the hill up to the cool new trail. I used my GPS today and it turns out that this hill goes from 500ft above sea level to 900ft, in about a 3rd of a mile = this hill. 

Also, there were a gross amount of spiders up there. During this video I picked 3 off myself. It was horrifying.

I think Lacey's breathing is my favorite part. She gets to into it. THE BEST. And Lady. Totes refusing to enjoy herself...she's like a sullen teenage girl. :lol:


----------



## Wallaby

Well guys, I have fortunate/unfortunate news.

As of today, it appears that Lady will be leaving us on Monday. She'll be heading to the vet clinic first to get preg checked+ETA of baby, then heading to a home where she'll have her foal safely. 
This will be the best for everyone and I'm sure they'll let me keep tabs on her. I'll for sure update on her when she foals/when she's adopted/other events in her life that I hear about.

I'm pretty bummed about this but at the same time, the plan from the start was not to keep her. I had hoped it could work out for forever but it didn't. 
And really, she was a great foster for me to learn what my limits are. I had not realized how much of myself I was putting into Lacey's care and how little of my attention was left over. I thought a real project would fit in fine and that I'd really be able to get somewhere. It appears now that, with Lacey needing as much as she needs, any other horse I have will need to be a pretty reliable critter. 
In a perfect world, Lady's issues would not be all that challenging. However, with Lacey taking up so much of what I have to give, it's just not fair to give Lady the shortest end of the stick possible and hope for the best.

I guess we can say though that this time with Lady has taught me quite a bit about things I hadn't even realized I needed to know. And she's given me a whole new perspective on what I am and am not comfortable with. AND she's really given me an eye into the kind of personality I like in a horse. 
I claim to like Arabs with an undying passion, and I do, but I really like a "steady with a touch of fire" personality. Not something overly playful, something work(wo)man-like, something that'll get get the job done, something that doesn't look at a problem and see an insurmountable wall, something that instead sees something to be attained, something I can rely on without question, something that appreciates fussing but doesn't need it, etc. 
I've realized that it's not really a breed that I like above others, it's a certain personality. 

But gosh guys, I'm becoming more and more partial to horses older 20. I love youngsters but every horse I've really liked was at least 14 before I started liking them. Then, the older they got, the better I liked them. 
Sooooo weird. :rofl:
I guess old horses need a place too and that place is with me? :lol:
Thank you Lady for showing me what my heart really wants/needs! haha

Anyway, this break is the best for all of us but it is sad. I'll make sure to have a little "Going Away" photoshoot with Lady though so we can commemorate her time with us in the classiest way possible. :lol:


----------



## Wallaby

Guys, guys, guys, GUESS WHO HAS A NEW FLYMASK? 

Um, yeah, that'd be Lacey.
It's not "the best" in the world (one of the eye darts is unevenly bigger (however, bigger darts are better, in her case, I suppose...around the ears is a smidge small) but it'll function just fine and it fits perfectly where fits counts.

So $9 "Guardian Mask" knockoff that's a whole bunch funner than the actual Guardian Mask (http://www.freshstarthorserescue.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Arroyo-Guardian-Mask-side.jpg), if I do say so, 1, 2, 3, GO!



















Go that. 


In other news, Lady is definitely leaving Monday evening. :sad: I'm bummed. But this is the best for everyone. 

She's so funny, it was really windy this evening so both girls were feeling a little fresh. Lady was running all over the place and when I got up there to feed dinner, I found Lacey by herself looking like a powder leg of energy and acting a little lonely. I called for Lady (she comes like a champ to "Ladylade! C'mere Ladylade!") and she can galloping up out of the far field (the one the AOM was trying to bully me about) and went trot/canter/bucking down to the shed. Then whinnied at Lacey and I like we needed to hurry up. 
Such sass. :wink:

I think Lacey will be happy to go back to our usual slower way of doing things. Lady likes things to be done fast, when she likes whatever is happening, and never if she doesn't. It'll be nice to just go our pace again.

Captain Grazing Muzzle:










And the girls being too sassy for their own good. :wink:


----------



## Roperchick

YAAAAY flymask! does she like it better than the last one? i know awhile back you were having issues with whether to keep it on at night because she didnt like having it on.


aaaw gonna miss the round lil' girl haha. but thats exciting that shes preggo. i hope you can see the lady jr. when its born somehow!


----------



## Wallaby

She does seem to really like the new one! I'm sure it doesn't hurt that it's basically like the darkest sunglasses ever (yes, I tested it... :rofl: ) and since her eyes are photosensitive, bam, a match made in heaven! 
On the "wearing flymasks at night" front, basically she's learned to like it. :lol: I don't know whether she's a genius or what but she definitely seems to understand the connection between flymask=comfy eyes, no flymask=ouchie eyes. But somehow she seems to have picked up that a flymask at night is actually not that bad and so now she looks for her flymask before wandering off after her "bedtime" feeding.

I think it's also helped that I've been using her green mask as the night time one because I feel like that gives her more vision in the dark vs the darker colored ones (wearing sunglasses in a dark room, and all). 

I am concerned for the winter time though...will she need to wear a mask then? How will I avoid her getting all kinds of mud in it and mud in her eyes? what about rain+mask? I'm worried. But we'll figure it out. I guess I can be thankful that the initial (well, diagnosed initial, I know she's had episodes before that weren't recognized as such, poor dear!) parts of this "debacle" took place as we went into the spring/summer. Now I know my way around this a bit better.

Maybe I'll make her a mask of clear vinyl+that mesh? Water/mudproof+sunproof? :lol: That could actually work... wahahahahaha!

I'll miss Lady too. She's been a lot of fun. The LOP (Little Old People who own the property) are super super sad. They've really liked having her here with Lacey. They were always worried that Lacey "needed" a horse friend so they thought it was so fantastic that she had a horse friend! haha
And hopefully I will get to meet Lady Jr (love it!) when she/he is born. How great would that be? 


______________________________________________________________

In today's news, I totally trimmed Lacey's front hooves ALL by myself! And she LOVED it! 
I've been having the worst trouble with farriers/trimmers. I just cannot find one that actually does a good job and it's been the most frustrating thing evvver. I'm just like "I'm paying you $$$ and you don't want to do a good job? Who do you think you are? Brad freaking Pitt? Johnny goshdarn Depp? What? Is that a no I hear? THEN DO YOUR JOB!!!"

Anyhoo, I got myself a rasp and have taken the plunge. I've wanted to learn before but at the time, I _thought_ (wrongly) that the hoof care Lacey was receiving was adequate, at worst. Apparently NOT.
Then, I recently switched farrier to someone who was initially better but after 3 trims, his work is steadily going downhill and I don't really want to stick around for the 12th or 20th trim.

So I decided to strike out on my own. I've done two lil raspings here and there but nothing "major". Tonight I went there. I read up, got my hoof parts down, created a game plan, educated myself on WHAT her hooves should look like, and went for it.
I've noticed some white line stretching which has bothered me in the past, but I figured that the trimmer/farrier was on top of it. In my reading, I've determined that that stretching I'm seeing really isn't great. Some horses can deal but over this summer, Lacey has seemed stiffer+stiffer and I'm wondering if that could be because of the things I'm seeing.

Anyway, so I did what felt like a lot to me (ie, nothing to someone who does that everyday) and got her wall backed up to the white line and rounded it off pretty hard. 
I was initially worried I had done too much but literally AS SOON as the first "done" hoof hit the ground, Lacey stretched her back, her neck, licked+chewed, and stretched that leg as forward as it could go, then slowly dragged it back (like I've been teaching her! I've been stretching her everyday to hopefully help with that stiffness I've been seeing)!! I did the other front and got the EXACT same reaction. 
I guess _someone_ had opinions about their previous hoof care and perhaps they like their new hoof care person better? :rofl:

I'm going to do her back ones tomorrow. I can't wait to see her reaction.

The other interesting thing I noticed about trimming is that you can't push/force the rasp. I hadn't really figured it out before and I think I was trying to force the rasp. I discovered today that if I just let the rasp do it's own work, things work out pretty well!

Anyway, that was super rewarding to trim Lacey's hooves myself and see her have such a good reaction to it. It feels great to make her feel better! 

The other thing is that once I had done that, I realized just how misshapen her hooves are! Her heels are actually really pretty contracted, compared to how I thought they were "perfect" and the front to back balance of her hoof is really rather off (contracted frog, contracted heels, toe flare, etc). That means that she's been having some "not great" work for quite some time. Hopefully I can make a difference in that for her+we'll be on the road to beast hooves in no time...


----------



## Roperchick

nice! i would definitely think about keeping her flymask on in winter...especially if yall get alot of snow.



thats awesome that you can trim her hooves yourself! way to be independent haha!


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## Wallaby

Hah, right? :lol:
I'm basically ridiculously introverted so horses were always a way for me to come out of my shell, with the farrier/vet/etc aspect...but I've basically turned horses into a super introvert sport too! :rofl: *chants: Idonotneedotherpeople,Idonotneedotherpeople* 
Obviously, I need a vet still but I've found a vet that doesn't try to talk to me too much, I can email - don't necessarily have to call... 
This is ridiculous. lol


We really don't get much snow here so that's an aspect that won't be too bad (but she'll "get" to wear her mask on snowy days for sure! - also be in her stall but yknow, haha)...but I'm not sure how dark-ish gloomy days are going to affect her. From about November-Feburary, we basically have clouds. Blue sky is basically not something you see. And sometimes white clouds can be bright? We shall see, I suppose!


----------



## arrowsaway

wallaby, you make me smile with your posts.
I wave farewell to miss Lady... I hope motherhood suits her and that she finds herself a wonderful forever home. Hats off to you for your part in molding her into a good horse. Any rescue horse should be so lucky.


----------



## Wallaby

Aww thanks arrowsaway! I aim to please! heehee  
And you're so sweet! Lady deserves the best, I'm glad I got to have help her transition! I really think horses/animals are placed in our lives for a reason - the whole "the animal you need vs the animal you want" idea - and so even though this didn't work out for forever, I love that Lady was able to teach me at least some of what she was supposed to teach me. 
I hope she's going to find a great forever home. She just exudes that kind of personality that someone out there is just going to adore. She's totally going to be that horse that someone talks about for years after she's gone. No doubt. She's just like that.



_____________________________________________________________

TODAY.

Guess what guys. _Someone_ [me] got more mesh to make another flymask....*addicted to sewing for Lacey*
She's just been loving that new one SO much that I feel bad taking it off for the night+switching her to one of her others.
This one is light grey and gonna be super classy. I'm excited!

Also, I did her back hooves today and she LOVED it again. She was moving a lot more confidently too when I was done - perhaps her hooves have been hurting her+causing some trepidation about movement? :shock: Freaking farriers.

Anyhoo, then I lunged her and she was so into it. Of late, she's been a little "realllly? I haaaavvvve to move? Seriously?" so it was great seeing her excited about it. Then I hosed her off (she worked up such a sweat!) and as we were walking back down to the shed, she was pulling a bit on me in a way she only does when she knows where we're headed and she wants to run to wherever it is. 
She hasn't done that in literally months (since we moved to the new field/all summer) but I unclipped her to see what she'd do. And well, she lept away from me, squealed, bucked, and went awkwardly cantering (she does this weird "don't want to commit but WANNA RUN!" canter when she's concerned, but not, about the footing) allll the way down to the shed where she screeched to a halt in front of her stall (before the fence+drop). 
Apppparently someone felt good today. Though I'm not sure who that might be, at all, no clue... :rofl: 

It was really great to see her being so happy!

:happydance:

Lady was being a sassy brat. She tried to kick my mom today. That was cool. Lady thought she was going to die, post kick-attempt, muhahahaha. My mom was ok, just all "I'm glad she's leaving!!" (my parents are anti-horse, haha), of course! So that was all fun... That horse, she needs some serious rule creation. I thought I was tough on the rules but apparently not enough!
:shock:


----------



## Wallaby

Note the title change.  
I felt like it'd be sad to have Lady's name staring us in the face all the time once she's gone...  Lady n' Lacey sounded great together though...bummer.

I'm SO excited to go exploring the new trails with Lacey, sans Lady. Lady was the worst at trails. I suppose I can't blame her -zero trail experience and all- but it'll be nice to only have to coerce one horse into going some direction. And I doubt Lace will need much coercion at this point, she's been chomping at the bit (lawl, puns) to do some running/exploring on a more regular basis.
We're gonna have fuuuunnnnn.

I wonder if Lacey will care much when Lady leaves... It's a toss up. They're probably going to park the trailer down the road (Lacey gets SO excited by trailers, she's like Liz Lemon on 30Rock: "I want to go to there.") so that won't get her too excited. And she's generally pretty non excited about Lady calling all over the place... I guess we'll see! 
My plan is to go back up there about an hour after Lady leaves to feed L her "dinner" etc and make sure she's still doing ok. I'm a little nervous!
I kind of feel like she'll relax pretty immediately. I think the stress of being "the leader/boss" has been getting to her a bit. She's not been her usual carefree self since Lady has been here, really. But she's usually that way around other horses, since her BFF Danni died a couple years ago (Danni was her "bodyguard" and no other horse has connected with L in the way she and Danni were connected...it's a little sad, like an old grandma outliving all her friends).

Anyway, I'm excited and also a bit sad. But mostly looking forward to just being Lacey and I again. I wonder if it'll be lonely, just us...


In OTHER news, I made Lacey another flymask today! This one is grey, but still 90% UV blocking. I did the pattern a little wrong so I have to mess with it a bit more but otherwise, it's great!
This one is basically identical to the grey one she had had, that turned out to have very little UV protection+caused her last episode, except this one has UV protection. I just really liked the grey+medium blue/flowers thing. 
My other "task" for this week is to make her a riding mask that hopefully will attach to her halter/bridle = less bulk (currently she wears a halter, her bridle, and a flymask out on rides. Once Lady leaves, we can go back to just a riding halter most of the time but still...and it'd be useful in her lessons since her kids use the bridle). I already have a plan for it, just need to get measurements, new needles for the machine (the machine was FREAKING OUT on this last mask. The needle broke THREE times. I had three needles, total, in my house. That was cool.).

I haven't decided though if I want to do a black or grey riding mask. Grey would be lower profile, but to the people we come across on the trail, it might make her look like she has no face...not ideal. Black would stand out a bit better+possibly be less scary... But higher profile... Decisions! I suppose though, things could be worse. :lol:


Anyway, I took a few pictures today for you all! 

This morning, at "breakfast". Lady had just whinnied very happily to me (she's taken to doing that, obviously laying the charm on thick). It's so funny. Lacey has a very deep, for a girl horse, nicker+neigh+whinny. Basically any noise she makes is crazy loud and deep. Lady, on the other hand, is very high pitched and always sounds a little panicky. Her noises don't carry very far either. It's very interesting!










This evening. Thrilled, as always, to see me. :lol:










Clouds! They were intense this evening. It's getting to be fall here.










Newest addition to Lacey's mask family!











I hope everybody is having a great day!!


----------



## tinyliny

So Lacey is the "Liz Lemon" of horses, now.


----------



## Wallaby

:rofl: Something like that! :rofl:

________________________________________________________________

So...Lady is still here. This morning I got a text from my friend with the rescue saying that her preferred trailer guy had an emergency conflict for tonight+would it be ok if Lady was picked up tomorrow evening instead of tonight...
Well, I'm a bit of a "too nice" person so I said it was fine. And it really is, actually it might work out better (every night, except for Tuesdays, I make dinner for my parents+myself and I try to have dinner done by 6:30 so having them pick up Lady at 6-6:30 would have made dinner tonight a bit harder)...however, I wish she was gone already - ripping the "band-aid" off quickly and all, you know? I'm probably going to cry tomorrow when she leaves. :-|

However, she's been behaving herself well for the last couple of days (aside from last night when I was having a groundwork lesson with one of my lesson kids+Lady tried to jump on top of me as I trotted her inhand...) so go her! And her being on her good behavior is making it easier to have her here.


In other news, I pressure washed ALL of Lacey's winter blankets (5: 2 sheets, 2 MW, 1 HW) today. They're all SO clean now! It's the best. Then they dried in the sun all day so they're clean AND they smell great. 
I had dragged them up from the shed by wrapping them all up together in one of the sheets (realized halfway through dragging them up the hill that it probably looked like I was dragging a dead body of some kind...) because the hose+pressure washing thingy is all up at the gate, not to mention that the gate is the sturdiest place to hang blankets to spray the living daylights out of them.

I left them on the fence to dry all day so I could take them down when I went back down to feed. 

As I was piling them all into this little red wagon I have up there, Lacey came and stood right next to me...kinda waiting expectantly. There wasn't really enough room in the wagon for all five blankets and she was there so I decided to "let" her help (not sure if that's exactly what she wanted but yknow, haha).
I stuck two blankets on her back and as soon as I released her (her release word is "ok") she started walking with SUCH purpose down to the shed. Every time I'd stop with the wagon, she'd stop too and wait for me to start moving again. 
She walked the blankets all the way down to the shed and didn't move a muscle until I took them off her back. It was almost like she meant to help me, that that had been her purpose all along, even when she initially came over. 
She's the sweetest.

Basically, I really don't feel like I "own" her. It's like she's another human that just doesn't happen to speak English. One of these days she's just gonna start talking like one of those horses from Narnia...oh boy. Lord help us when that happens! :rofl: 


Here she is, helping:










Captain Grazing Muzzle: Helper of blanket washers.










Love that horse!


----------



## tinyliny

you act like it's normal for a horse to help it's master move things . it's not. It's special.


----------



## Wallaby

She spoils me something terrible, that's for sure! She really is probably a unicorn. I have no other explanation. :lol:


----------



## SorrelHorse

I have made Selena carry my stuff...But of course that consisted of me dragging her along the barn aisles...She'd never do it on her own o.o You certainly are spoiled o.o


----------



## muumi

Ah I love Lacey! She is too amazing!


----------



## Wallaby

She's a Unicorn/Narnia horse/Liz Lemon. I'm telling you! :rofl:
:wink: 

Basically she's why Lady didn't work out: she made Lady look badder than is probably even real. Poor Lady.


_____________________________________________________________

In other news, Lady truly left today. 
The LOP cried. It was sad. I did not cry. I stood there like an emotionless brick of a human. I'm the worst. The rescue people gave me a jar of homemade horse cookies for Lacey. It was sweet.

Lacey basically had a cow when Lady left. She was neighing and neighing. However, she calmed down most of the way when she realized that Lady AND me hadn't both been disappeared by a polar bear. Apparently just Lady as a polar bear casualty was marginally acceptable. Obviously not ideal but acceptable.  

Then I left her for dinner and when I came back she was even calmer. She started licking and chewing as soon as she realized that I was me (haha) so that was a good sign! She kept looking down the road like she thought Lady was still out there somewhere so we went on a little handwalk and determined that Lady was definitely no where near by and that we needed to give up on the idea of her possible survival. 

After looking for Lady herself she pretty much totally calmed down. She's still looking for Lady a bit (obviously) but we even went down to the shed, went in "our" stall, and ate "our" dinner thoroughly. When I released her, she went pretty directly back up to the front gate but she did so pretty calmly so I'm pretty ok with that.

Tomorrow we're going on a ride and getting some of that energy out. We haven't been able to really ride all summer so L has some energy pent up. she's one of those ones that NEEDS to run pretty regularly or else she starts going a little "nuts". And she's currently going a little funny. haha

On the companionship front, I'm seriously looking into getting her a pair of goats. She got along with the llamas SO well, more comfortably than she does with horses, that I'd like to get her something that's "her own". And besides that, the LOP won't let the llamas come live in her pasture and her currently pasture is MUCH better for her so... Anyway, I'm going to go look at a pair on Friday. We'll see. I am not going to take them then, at all, but if they're "right", I might go get them next week. However, they have to be "right". I'm not settling for any old goat. :lol: One of the goats I'm going to be looking at is an old lady goat...how cute would that be - old lady horse, old lady goat. Sounds ideal. We'll see though.

In other news, of course I got a lil Lacey video for you. It's not a videographic work of art but yknow... 






And then, some pictures. 

Clouds!










"Um...Lady was eaten by a polar bear ovvvvver there. I'm pretty sure at least."










"Yup, yup, over there. We better go check it out!"










"Um no, what are you saying? I DO NOT look like a Quarter Horse from this angle! How offensive. I'm an AYE-RABE-EE-ANNE. Seriously."










"Um yeah, dawg, the sky behind me is purple. It's cuz I'm fly. Yoyoyo."











:wink: :happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

loved the sound effects in that video. if you took that sound made while she is eating and smacking her lips, and dubbed that into video of some gelatinous mass of a thing moving around, it would be a scary soundtrack for a film on Aliens. 

And the long drawn out fart was just precious!


----------



## Wallaby

hahaha YES! She is the loudest eater in the world. :lol:

The long fart was my favorite too. I was so glad I caught it for you guys. 
She's practically gas powered. :rofl:

______________________________________________________________


Sooooo, today two things in particular:

I got a text from the rescue people saying Lady "is NOT" pregnant, she's just fat. Now I don't know about you, but I'm not going to believe that until it's been 5+ months with no baby.
Apparently they only ultrasounded which is cool if she's, I think I remember, less than 5 months pregnant. From what I've read, post-5 months preggo, the only truly accurate way to diagnose pregnancy is palpation (something about the baby dropping down lower into the belly, etc). Which they didn't get done.
If she were just THAT obese, I would have figured it would have been showing somewhere other than JUST her belly. Her ribs were/are still easily visible, her neck isn't cresty, all her bone structures are easy to find...I've seen obesity *glares at Lacey* and nothing obese that I've ever seen has looked like Lady. Of course, I'm not well-versed in rehabbing emaciated horses but obese is obese, right?

Anyway, I'm just glad I got "out". Even if Lady isn't preggo, she still was not a good match for Lacey+me.
The barn is soooo peaceful just me and Lacey. It's so nice. 


Lacey and I went on a nice long ride today. She was worked up when I got up to her this morning but calmed down pretty immediately. She called a few times as we walked down to the trails (interesting how now that Lady is gone, Lacey is having issues with calling whereas when Lady was here, Lacey was "the quiet one", lol) but as soon as I got on, she pretty much settled down to "work". 
We went on our usual ride, 3 miles, did quite a bit of trotting/cantering, some galloping and some walking. She loved it. We both had a really nice time. I think the MAIN thing with Lady was that she didn't give us the "alone-time" we needed together, yknow? It was like either we come back to some fence being broken down or she comes along. 
When we got back "home" Lacey actually stayed really settled down. I tied her to the fence to while I went to turn the hose on and she gurgle-whinnied (haha) after me but I talked to her and she was fine.

Then we walked down to the shed and she ate her "lunch". The time that her stress level is the most apparent is around feeding time, imo. She has the hardest time eating all her food if she's at all nervous (constantlyyyy around Lady - price of being the big boss, I guess) but this morning (and this evening too, actually) she's been eating like a some kind of starving waif. Licking her bucket totally clean, munching her grass hay like it's going out of style (this time of year I start putting grass hay out in the shed, just in case the grass isn't great enough. Since I do free-choice grass hay all winter, it pays to get in that mindset early), it's funny.
It is nice to see her eating well again. I had been worried about it previously. I guess that's just more confirmation that Lacey doesn't need an equine buddy, something less less would be better.


And, other bonus, showing how relaxed she is, this morning AND this evening, after I left her post-feeding, she happily stayed in her stall munching hay. When she's feeling nervous/there's something she thinks needs "watching" happening in her world, she pretty much stays up by the front gate (where she headed in last night's video). Up there shares a fence with where she used to like to stand in her old pasture and there's only 3 sides that "need" watching so overall, it feels really safe to her.
Anyway, if she were still super nervous about being on her own, she'd be heading straight up for the gate after I left. The fact that she's not doing that shows a certain level of security that I'm really pleased with.


ALSO, gonna go meet "the" goats on Friday. Hopefully these first ones are "the one"'s. Suuuuper excited. I'm sure you can't tell. 
The other bonus of goats is that there are SOOO many blackberry bushes in Lacey's pastures. They're probably taking up a full acre of pasture (if they were all consolidated) so, not that Lacey really needs MORE grass, it _would_ be cool to have access to more of the whole pasture and not just what's currently free. There are quite a few nice spots that one just can't reach cuz of the darn berry bushes. It's duuumb.
Gonna go ask the LOP about goats tomorrow. Wish me luck! They'll probably be like "SURE!!! YOU ARE THE BEST." (they seem to have taken me under their wing like I'm some sort of "old" grandchild...) but sometimes they have interesting ideas. They are reallllly bummed about Lady so we'll see. I'm trying to time it for talking to the lady cuz she's more the "let's do it! *orders husband to agree*" type while the man is more the "well, there's this problem, this problem, and this problem. None will ever cease to exist and we're all probably gonna DIE" type. It's easier to get her ok than his. :rofl: I really am like a grandchild/child. I'm such a manipulator. It is THE WORST. It's not my fault I can see weaknesses, right? I just exploit them for good -OLD LADY GOAT+OLD LADY HORSE- not evil! 
I'm like the animal version of Batman... :rofl:


Anyway, that is all.

Tomorrow is "Tack Room Clean Out" day. I'm scared. SO many mice, giant hairy black spiders, snakes, dead mice, etc live in my tack room. However, hopefully once I'm done, the tack room will be a bit less homey feeling for them... *fingers crossed*


----------



## Roperchick

bahahahaha i love Lacey! that fart....was epic! haha but seriously....you are one spoiled girl...having a horse that will help you carry blankets down....every time i would have Charlie carry his saddle or a blanket, he would take off running, dump the saddle/blanket, spook himelf, fart then go investigate it and look at me like "uuum i didnt do that."


----------



## Wallaby

Hahaha that's so great. That's totally what Lady would have done, had I suggested she do anything help me out. :rofl: Charlie sounds like such a character!  My brother's name is Charlie...=weird. lol

Lacey, on the other hand, is very very careful about everything. I think it's actually mostly due to her sight issues combined with her base personality which is more fearful than brave. She REALLY goes out of her way to make things be "not scary" and "scary" is stuff -anything- falling off her back, bumping things unexpectedly, me seeming mad, tripping, ouchies, etc. :rofl: <----that is actually why I'm really surprised that she's doing so well with her decreasing vision. All the signs pointed towards her becoming this super phobic nutty blind horse but apparently NOT. :lol: Who knew, go Lacey! lol

_____________________________________________________________

Soooo, today I was not nearly as effective in the tack room as I would have liked. I got the final rubber mat OUT of L's stall (she hates them, she drags her feet to assess her surroundings+the rubber mats in her stall would constantly pop up and be...SCARY! haha so I've been moving them out of the stall to in front of the stalls) and that took the wind out of my sails. Rubber mats are stupidly heavy. However, I adore having them in front of the stalls. It looks so clean! and Lacey doesn't mind them out there either. I have them all smashed together so no edges pop up and it's just overall my fav.
I still have to get all the rubber mats out of the other stall though...yaaaay. Hopefully my brother will return from wherever he's been soon+I can coerce him into helping me move them...He's really strong. 

Anyway, I decided that the tack room would be Saturday/next week's deal. :lol: Procrastination? Naaaaah. 

In other news, I was able to switch Lacey's food over today. She had been eating Enrich 32 but I disliked how it had corn (inflammatory) in it and it was just a bit too high protein for the chub monkey. Today we finally finished her bag of Enrich so I went and got this loose mineral sup (Purina's 12:12) to set out for her (discovered that one of those small round rubber feed tubs+a corner feeder=BEST mineral place evvver) and I got her some timothy hay pellets to eat her supplements with. 
She adores the 12:12 (was trying to open it with her teeth, while wearing the grazing muzzle, when I left it with her to take the pellets down first - thinking that the pellets were more likely to be messed with, apparently not!) so hopefully this'll work great for her. Then, for her "dinner" she ate the timothy pellets right up so yay for finding something that's healthy and that she likes!
Other bonus of this^ is that the 12:12 is $25 for a 285 day supply and the Timothy pellets are $12 for a 50 day supply (1lb/day). Compared to the Enrich 32 at $30 for 50 days, I'm saving SO MANY MONIES. I'm excited. At this rate I could become a tycoon...NOT.

Then (I've just been having a successful day today!) I was using FeedXL and, backstory needed: for months, no matter what I add or remove, FeedXL is CONVINCED that Lacey is missing a ton of Vitamin E, B12, and Folic Acid in her diet. Those are pretty important vitamins so I've been mildly concerned.
Today, I happened to be looking on SmartPak for B12 supps (hate SmartPaks but they are a great index of sorts for supplements! haha) and discovered Red Cell. So I stuck that in FeedXL and bam, look who would have correct B12, E, and FA levels? Lacey!
So I ordered her some of that. I found it for $20 for 68+ day dose so I'm pretty happy with that!!
Hopefully it'll do good things for her. FeedXL think it will! haha


Also, MEETING GOATS TOMORROW.    

And 2 pictures since you all are wonderful. 

The sunset this evening...










Lacey, classing it up.
Now that her forelock is basically constantly braided, it's SO long and thick! 










:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

I met the goats today! They're coming home sometime next week, barring catastrophe/Lockwood telling me that these goats are the worst ever.  Probably next Thursday or Friday.
Exciiiited. Lacey would be too, of course, if she knew.

And, I can already tell, they are going to make for some great photos. They're each so different.
One, the older (9 years old, basically equivalent to a 20 year old horse) doe is a breed called an "Angora". As far as I can tell, they're pretty much like sheep in a goat's body - needs shearing, etc.

Google reference picture for funnsies:









aka- the cutest evvver.

Her name is currently "Tony" but I'm feeling like her name with me will be Hazel. Tony is a boy's name, sillies! :lol: And I like the name Hazel, especially for someone as mature seeming and dignified as this girl is.

Then, the wether (fixed boy goat, by the way) is 5 months old. He's a cross of a breed called the "LaMancha" and a breed called the "Alpine". 
There were no good Google pictures of that cross but trust me, he's a cutie and should be pretty photogenic. He's basically, to use horse terms, a mixture of dark liver chestnut, and sorrel with a couple "pinto" spots. :rofl:
And, LaMancha's have tiny little ears, which he happened to inherit from his LaMancha mom. 
His name is currently Atticus. It seems to suit him and Atti is a cute nickname so I think he gets to keep his name. I was going to rename him "Petri" but Atticus and Hazel sound just as good as Petri and Hazel so yknow...sacrifices and all. :rofl:

I think Lacey will love them. They were both super laid back when I met them and I spent a few hours there, getting to know them. Laid back was what I was looking for so yay! And, from what I've been reading on various goat info sites, the breeds they are are some of the best for no0bs like me due to their generally kind dispositions. 
Other bonus, the current owner has agreed to take them back if they don't work out. I think they probably really will work out but it's nice that she's willing to stand behind her goats like that. It makes me feel all that more comfy getting goats from her.



So, this whole goat lady meeting thing. It was one of the most unusual experiences I have evvver had. Basically, I drove way out into the country (but, thankfully also an area I'm super familiar with), then had to take my van up THE SCARIEST, super steep, gravel driveway. I drive a giant van (lol) and this poor thing was seconds away from totally spinning out the whole driveway climb. Thank the Lord I was the only person in there, any more weight and I think we probably would have died. :rofl:
Then, I get to the top of the driveway and there's this super run down double wide trailer sitting there, an equally run down camper -with no wheels- next to it, surrounded by fences containing animals, chickens are running everywhere, there's a livestock dog barking at me, I hear a herd of children screeching inside the trailer, basically it was cray.
So I go knock on the door and 4 little grubby faced kids are all suddenly peering out at me. Now, mind you, at this point, I'm expecting the goat lady to be 30-something, look 60, be a chain smoker, have a creepy vibe, the whole deal. However, next thing I know, this "girl" (she turned out to be 27) in Carhartt overalls is leaping around the kids, apologizing for her children, and introducing herself as the goat lady. 
The next thing we realize is that we both have our hair done the same way (braided pigtails), we have the EXACT same dark red hair color, same skin tone (never met someone with the same skin tone as me - I'm a redhead but one that gets tan/golden looking and freckly, not a pale freckly one), same brown eyes that practically match our hair...It was sooo weird. Like the Twilight Zone.
Like a Twilight episode where I become a hippy, stop shaving, get a bunch of goats, live off the land, have my first kid when I was 17, etc. It was weird.
The similarities didn't just end there. We actually ended up talking goats/horses/art/etc for three full hours. It was the weirdest thing. 
She was actually the first Oregonian I've ever met that wants to do the best by her animals and not just what GranPappy taught her in the '70s. There's something to be said for old knowledge but when you aren't learning new things constantly, that's when the problems start. 

Anyway, I was so relieved and it was refreshing to talk to someone so invested in the health and welfare of her animals. 

Other bonus, she apparently just got a horse last week sometime and didn't have any tack for said horse. Guess who has one horse but the tack for 4? Um, ME. So, I'm trading tack for the goats, she's actually going to buy whatever else she needs+I want to get rid of, horse-stuff-wise, AND she signed two of her daughters up for riding lessons! These goats could turn out to be the best deal of my LIFE! :rofl:
Aw yeah, driving deals and getting goats, like a pro. :lol:

Basically it's the best.



In Lacey news, she seems thrilled about being an only horse again. She's come back "alive" and is running all over the place, bucking, etc. Just basically having a grand time. It's wonderful.  She's fantastic. I may like her...just a bit. haha
I think she'll really like having goat "minions". Something little to boss around? Who could refuse?


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## tinyliny

Cool story. I had this vision it was going to be some old Indian woman, like the goat lady that helped the main character in "Cold Mountain", when he was escaped from the chain gang of prisoners.

By the way, when you change from one feed to a new one, it's good to save that last two or three feedings so that you can mix with the new feed to make the change over less abrupt.

Glad to hear Lacey is doing well and loved your descriptive story.

I like the name Atticus for the goat. you could do "Gem" for the girl. or "Scout" or Calpernia (the maid) characters from "To Kill a Mockingbird", my all time favorite movie in the whole world.


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## equiniphile

For future referance, use a pair of pliars to drag rubber mats. It is SO much easier, I just clamp them over the edge and pull.


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## Wallaby

Thank you Sage!!! You probably just saved my life. I have to do the goats' stall tomorrow, mats-removal-wise, and I was not particularly looking forward to it. :hug: thank you!

Caroline, an Indian lady would have been cool too! I hadn't even considered that. Bummer that she wasn't/isn't! haha
Thanks for the tip! 
I like the name Atticus for him too. It suits him really well. I can't wait to "introduce" them to everybody!
Junior year, IB Engish pretty much killed "To Kill a Mockingbird" for me.  we had to take our IB tests on it so just the thought of it makes me feel unbelievably stressed... IB PTSD! :lol:
In another universe where that didn't happen, I'm sure I would have loved it. :/

______________________________________________________________

Nothing much to report on the Lacey front. She's settling in to being by herself super well. Her deer buddies are back and they're all bumming around the pasture together like old pals. It's really great. I hope the deer and the goats mix well. How cute would that be? A 3 species herd? YES PLEASE. 

I did go to the feed store on Saturday and a couple of interesting things happened: 
1) On the way there, we happened past the vet clinic associated with Lady's rescue group and who did we see in the front pasture? MISS LADY. She looked super bored and she was wearing her flymask I "perfected" for her. Poor dear. Hopefully she gets to do something soon. 
2) I found "Red Cell" at the feed store and bought it (I had mentioned buying it before but I never actually ordered it after I told you guys about it, lol).
3) I also found 5lbs of MSM (99.5% pure) there for cheaper than I can get it online. I got carded for trying to buy it. They had to apparently make sure I was not going to use MSM to make meth. Who does that? Seriously. But anyway, yay for 5lbs of MSM!


So Lacey's been on Red Cell for a couple of days. And man, she must have had some kind of anemia going on or something because Captain Sass is totally back. She's all trotting around her pasture, spooking at everything - then running off bucking, doing the "I'm an Aye-RAB and I can inflate my chest" thing, and her APPETITE! Girl, you do not need to put on any more weight!

Obviously only time will tell but I wonder if her being anemic is why she's been having such a time with her weight... I've read reviews where it talked about anemic hardkeepers going on Red Cell and "becoming" easy keepers...maybe it works the other way?
*fingers crossed* I don't want her to lose tooo much weight but I sure want her to be healthy!

We'll see. She thinks it's the grossest stuff in the world so I've been having to trick her by adding it to her food then sprinkling some "un-tainted" food on top. By the time she's done eating the food on the top, she generally just keeps going. I'll have to take a video or something tomorrow. You can practically see disgust in her eyes. :rofl:
I think it's mostly that it just smells pretty strongly like minerals/blood (high iron content in it) so she just needs to get used it. today was better than yesterday though so bonus! Yesterday she literally threw her bucket across her stall after sniffing it and becoming horrified. :lol:


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## tinyliny

I am chronically anemic. They won't take my blood at donation centers due to that. but, over the counter iron supplements are intolerable to me. I chuck 'em up in a few minutes. So, I can sympathize with the old lady.


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## Hailey1203

It has been 3 days without an update... i demand more! And goat pictures. Please


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## Roperchick

ii cant believe....u havnt taken pics of the stalls with the mats in front.....how dissapointing. haha

i cant WAIT to see goat pictures...and then eventually goat/horse/deer piccies! yay


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## Wallaby

Hahaha I'm sorry guys! I've been so busy prepping for the goats!

Also, last night I got this huge post all typed up, then hit the wrong button and it was gone. So I gave up. :lol:

In any case, we're all still alive. I'm picking the goats up on Friday at 2 so no goaty pictures yet! I'm SOOOOO excited for them to come home. So excited. 
Surprisingly, I'm actually already really prepared for them. The only thing that needs to happen still is for the pen to get finished (I ran out of fencing, it was sad). I got it halfway done this morning so tomorrow will hopefully include finishing it. 
I have goat grain, goat minerals, goat collars (pink for Hazel who's a girl and blue for Atticus who's a boy!), ID tags in the mail, hay racks, it's ridiculous. lol


In Lacey news, she's doing great. She's decided that she actually likes her RedCell so that's a bonus! And I really think it is helping her metabolism, some of the areas where she has fat pads seem distinctly less fatty than they did. Yaaaaay. And her saddle is actually fitting her well right now - usually it's a little narrow cuz of her fattiness.
I think she is a bit bored - whenever I'm working up there, she's right near me dozing - but I'd be a bit bored in her shoes too. I bet the goats will make things a bit more lively! haha
We went on our usual ride yesterday and that was lovely. L got soooo sweaty though. She has quite the winter fur going on so she's pretty much constantly too hot. Poor dear! Good thing I'm able to hose her off after riding. She adores that when she's hot.


I'm trying to hold off on pictures of the shed etc until I get the goat pen fixed up. Then we can have a "big reveal"! :lol: Hopefully I'll be done tomorrow (aka I BETTER be done tomorrow! The goats are coming home on Friday!) and you'll get to see it. 
Trust me though, the shed is looking classier by the day. :rofl:

And, from my post yesterday that vanished, I do have a couple of pictures for you all! 
Not precisely anything you're dying to see (the shed/goats) but pictures!

Running up to greet me at the gate...See? she's feeling great! haha










"Hrrrrbaderrr, I'm LACEY!"










Sooooo furry. :shock:


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## BarrelracingArabian

My friends used to breed lamancha oh and pygmys and boar and nubian and sheep haha yaaa they had a lot of animals i so wish i could get a goat they are so funny.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Roperchick

sooo fuzzy! haha

my friend used to have 2 pygmys that shw would breed....i LOVED going to her house and playing with the babies...we would be sitting on the ground with on in our laps and WHAM! get rammed by 4 more haha. Goats are AWESOME and theyre soooo much fun....but noisy.. ohmygosh they can be very noisy.


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## BarrelracingArabian

Yes! Try 200 goats and another 100-150 sheep oh lord when they moved it was crazy we had to tag and write down every goat and makr sure their papers were in the right stack and not all were very friendly haha. Best part was bottle feeding 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

Hahaha I'm hoping the goats I'm getting are going to be a bit more laid back since they're both breeds/breed mixes that are known for calmness etc. My fingers are crossed! :rofl: noooo sassy pygmy goats! 

Less than 24 hours til the goats are home!!!!!!! 

And, on that note, THE PEN IS DONE. AND I HAVE PICTURES.  <--- there is no chance, at all, that I'm excited...
The pen, I measured it at the end, is officially 20ft by 16 on the outside, with the stall (12x12) added on. So, those goaties get a grand total of 464ft. Lucky ducks!
On Lacey's side, I pulled a dumb maneuver and removed one of her step-in posts. Cool story: when it hasn't rained in weeks and you have soil with a high clay content, good luck stepping-in step-in posts. I decided that I liked where that post had been after all but no luck getting it back into the ground=dumb.
Hopefully if I soak the area with water I'll be able to get it back in tonight...

Anyway, pictures!

Both stalls! (sorry about the glare)










The "front" of the goat pen... I ran the white tape through the fencing because I figure that'll hopefully make it less invisible to Lacey. She seems to have a pretty easy time differentiating between light and dark so hopefully that'll help her.










The goat stall!










Lacey's stall!










The divider...I'm really pleased with how that turned out. This side is the "human door" (I made a small, goat/bent down human-size, door on the other side for when I let the goats out eventually - so Lacey can't get into their stall but they can as they want). The white tape is pretty much the thing holding it up. There are clips on the end of the tape so it's easy to clip to the shed+it's easy to go in and out.










Lacey! She was grummmmpy today. I did, however, neglect to give her her "lunch" for quite a while (she didn't follow me down like she usually does, when I started working and I got so absorbed in what I was doing that it was 3pm before I knew it) and so she didn't get her painkillers/anti-inflammatories for quite some time. I'd be grumpy too.










"Hmmmm, maybe I like you..."










Battle wounds. And SO MUCH DIRT. I had to wash my hands THREE times before they were clean. :shock:










That is all. 

Tomorrow, GOATS. AND GOAT PICTURES. There will be a picture thread. Do not panic. :lol:

:happydance: :happydance:


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## Roperchick

trying....not....to panic!....bahahahaha i wont be able to see them till probably tomorrow night at like midnight my time anyways ;( but ohwellz.

those stalls look so nice!


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## Wallaby

No! Don't panic! Plus side: it's almost midnight now! 
Thanks! I realllly like them. 

_____________________________________________________________


PICTURES:

http://www.horseforum.com/horse-pictures/introducing-hazel-atticus-136995/


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## Hailey1203

They are so freaking cute! Goats are definitely my favorite animals, and Atticus is adorable!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

I really like them too! I didn't think I would like them this much but I TOTALLY do. :lol:

_______________________________________________________________

I don't know what has gotten into Lacey but last night she pretty much went nuts. I'm thinking that perhaps she's going into her final heat of the season which is traditionally a really hard cycle for her. 
Basically, she busted out of her stall twice while I was preparing her food, was climbing the "ledge" side, nearly fell totally down when she took a wrong step and slipped down the ledge, near-missed running me over a couple of times, and when she escaped+when I finally released her, she threw her tail over her back and went galloping up to the gate like a nutso horse. 

Today she was somewhat better but still super nutty. I ended up cancelling her lesson scheduled for today due to her cray behavior. She would never hurt anyone intentionally but I refuse to risk someone's child when I know L isn't being herself. 

She's sooo weird. Tomorrow we're going on a long ride and hopefully she'll work some of that out of her system!

In other news, today Hazel voluntarily let me touch her and actually enjoyed being touched! 
Previously she had been on the "you can touch me is you must but I would really prefer that you didn't" side of things. Yaaay her!










She has so many things that need to happen to her. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. Her hooves are unacceptably long, one of the back ones is actually curling under a bit, but the seller said that she wasn't great about having her hooves done so I was previously hoping to wait to do them until we know each other a bit better - maybe encourage better behavior because she knows I'm not a killer... However, I noticed today that she's not totally bearing weight on that hoof/leg so it might be an immediate need. 
She also needs to be shorn. I just ordered a pair of fancy scissors with a spring in them that are supposed to be "the best" for hand shearing. They should come sometime within the next week. Maaaybe I'll be able to hold off on the hoof side of things until I get the scissors and annoying her 100% all at once... :lol:

Atticus is also warming up to me but for him it's more "Is Hazel not looking? Maybe now I can come creep up!" 
Hazel's pretty jealous of my attentions and generally runs him off whenever she sees him approaching me. Silly girl!
I'm making a point of spending a little sneaky time with Atti on a daily basis though to hopefully build his trust. I still haven't been able to really touch him but he will approach me when Hazel isn't looking, he'll eat out of my hand, and he'll sniff things I hold out to him. If I really grabbed for him, I could touch him but I pretty much want being friends to be his idea. 
I hope to own them both for the rest of their lives and I'd really prefer to start out on the right foot! 

Anyway, that is all for now. My friends think I'm even more nutty than I was before now that I own goats. :rofl: I was already "the character" and now I'm a combo "cat lady/horse girl/goat herd/nerrrrd". Shooting for the stars, that's what I'm doing!
But really, if I had a choice of things to do with my life, my life's dream would be to work the land, hang out with animals, and basically be kind of self-sufficient in that way. So in a way, I'm heading for my dream. 
I don't know what this says for the rest of my life since I'm only almost 22 (in a week+half!) and have a whole lot more life ahead of me....but whatever comes will be ok...hopefully.  
Sometimes, this might be weird, I kind of worry that I'm going to die young. I mean, that wouldn't be bad since I believe that I'm going to heaven+resurrection, but when someone my age is already pretty much living their dream... Whatever, not something I need to worry about. 


Anyway, on that note, I hope you all are having a lovely day! haha


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## horseluver2435

You're my favorite. <3 lots of love for Lacey & the goats.


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## Wallaby

Hahaha thanks HL! <3
They appreciated the love! 

_______________________________________________________________

Well, so my laptop pretty much died=why I haven't been around in what feels like foreverrrrr. I realized that after a post about dying young, I probbbably shouldn't just disappear... :rofl:
Basically, the laptop decided that it's LCD screen wasn't good enough for it anymore so said LCD screen just gave up. That wouldn't be tooo bad (aka too expensive) except for the fact that said laptop had/has a 17inch screen. Replacing the screen would cost THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS. Um, NO.

Soooo now I'm on a 13in screen netbook, uploading photos via my broken camera which is the only camera that has a cord since said netbook doesn't have a card reader... it's great. :lol:
Really though, I'm not complaining. At least I do have a netbook available to me (my mom's) and at least I have a camera to farm girl me up a card reader!
Things could be worse, muchhhh worse.

Anyway, things have been going pretty well animal-wise. The goats are coming around and we're definitely friends now. 
Poor Atticus is doing battle with some pretty bad worms. I dewormed him on Tuesday so he shoulddd be on the uphill side of things (and he is doing better) but the worms were BAD. Like, one more day=he would have been dead bad. :shock:
Hopefully he'll be ok!

On the Lacey side of things, she's just being weird. I wonder if her vision has gone more or something...she keeps stumbling and getting her to eat all her "grain" (aka hay pellets+'medicine') is basically the most impossible challenge everrrrrr. I'm pretty sure it's just something I'm doing that she doesn't like...
Actually, thinking about it, "meals" where she isn't fed Red Cell, she eats it better... However the Red Cell makes her feel sooo much better... Maybe I could syringe it to her like wormer? She wouldn't enjoy that, certainly, but it would get it into her... And next time I buy it, I'm going to buy the pellets for sure and she'll definitely eat the pellets... Hmmm. That might be something to try. Cuz she NEEDS her medicine stuff and that's probably a lot of why she's been acting weird - she hasn't been getting enough painkillers+anti-inflammatories into herself so she feels normal...

Starting tomorrow night I'll be stalling her at night as well. I had intended to start that earlier but first she was being so nutty and then it got crazy windy Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday and Lacey is freaked out by the wind so I figured it would be best to let her choose where she felt the safest vs teach her how to break out of her stall... yknow, seemed legit.


Also, guess what? two videos for you! 

One of poor Lacey getting shunned by the goats and the other one of the goats trotting. Hopefully once I start stalling Lacey overnight and they have to be close to each other for quite a while every night, they'll all warm up...

VIDEOS.

The goats and Lacey...first meeting - YouTube

And Hazel runs hilariously. Pretty sure it's cuz she's an old lady and she has all that hair. It's still probably the best though!
[heads up, if you're feeling queasy/sick today, DO NOT WATCH THIS. It's super vomit-inducing with my horrendous camera skills... I guess if you're feeling sick and want to vomit...want a reason not to go to school tomorrow?]


Trotting goats! - YouTube


That is all...for now! DundunDUNNNN!


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## Wallaby

So...nothing reallllyyy exciting has happened but I suppose I can update... 

Atticus - turned out his worm situation is even more dire than I initially thought it was. I had to go spend FORTY dollars on basically the most intense wormer of all time. The smallest bottle it comes in is 500ml and guess how much I need to dose Atti with? Oh yeah, TEN ml!! WAT. On the plus side, it doesn't really have an expiration so I'm all set for deworming goats over the next gajillion years... :lol:
He seems to be perking up a bit. Unfortunately, I gave him the wrong dose to start (followed instructions on the bottle which was 1ml per 25lbs and it turned out that really, the bottle is worng and needs to be doubled up - 2ml/25lbs) so I reallly underdosed him by giving him only 2ml (he's 86lbs but I wanted to go slightly under to make sure I wasn't going to kill him via mass worm death). So now I have to wait 10 days before I can dose him again. THEN, in 10 more days, I'll give him Quest which should kill off anything this type of dewormer missed (he either has "Barberpole Worms" or "Liver Flukes" - liver flukes are more likely so the stuff I just gave him is for them, the Quest would be for the BP worms).
Gah. On the plus side, I've started giving him a bit of Lacey's Red Cell everyday and that seems to really be improving his outlook on life (both of those^ worms cause anemia and eventually death via anemia, the Red Cell "fixes" anemia so is my BFF right now). He's a bit perkier etc.
On the bummer side, I had planned to start letting the goats out in hour intervals with the hope of being able to leave them out during the day after I start school next week. TOO BAD HORSES CAN GET LIVER FLUKES TOO. So the goats "get" to stay in for quite a bit longer until they're a bit more worm free. :/
Bummmmmer.

Hazel's doing fantastic, by the way. I'm pretty sure it's her greater age+immunity that's helping her out.


Lacey, I started syringing the Red Cell into her and so far that's been a much much more effective way of doing it. She's been eating her food much more thoroughly, acting like she feels good, and since she really can't see the syringe coming, only hates me for a short amount of time on a daily basis.
I put her in her stall last night and she really seemed ok with it. However, this morning I discovered that she pulled one of the "step-in" posts out of the ground while sticking her head through the gate area. Since the ground is way too hard to actually step-in said post, today I "attempted" to dig a hole to put it in more thoroughly. Um yeah, that hole ended up being probably 6 inches deep after 45 minutes of digging... :lol: My current method is that I mixed the dirt up into some sticky mud (we have lots of clay in our dirt here), put the post in the "hole" as best I could, added the mud to said hole, and now it's "curing". So I had to leave Captain Lacey out this evening because currently, that post would not withstand her so much as touching it. 
Hopefully it'll be good for tomorrow night. I REALLY want to get her in the habit of being in her stall prior to next week when school starts... I would ideally just use a post-driver and drive a stake in but my neighbors with the driver are gone currently and they left their tool shed locked. Lame, but reasonable. I'm going to try my keys with their lock tomorrow though. It's just padlock and I have a key for a lock of the same brand...
I'm also going to add at least one more strand of tape to the perimeter of her stall area so it feels a bit more "solid". Right now it's only three strands. 4 or even 5 would probably be better for an area I know is under stress.

Tomorrow we're going on a ride! I'm looking forward to it. The last time I rode was last Wednesday when it was really windy and we came back pretty quickly cuz we got down to the trails and heard branches falling...and didn't really want to die... lol

And, what? Do I have pictures for you??! 

So I think this is pretty funny: I'm basically the palest "ginger" ever so this is the first summer, in my memory, where my legs have actually gotten mildly "tan". And, since I wear Chuck Taylor's as my horse/animal shoes, I definitely have a high-top tan line... :rofl: You can really see it on the left foot between that freckle and that gray circle (from one of the grommets on those shoes).










Lacey!!




























Lacey in her stall...Hazel in the goat pen. Two old ladies.










A Redtail Hawk visited!










BABEH BUNNEH!  :lol:











That is all. I hope you all are doing well!


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## Lockwood

Sorry to hijack, but I can only get these in here-
Hugs for a valiant "Salon de Caprine" try with Hazel. 
I'm gonna send you a "I'm an official Shearer" shirt. :wink:
(And my feet/ankles look just like yours minus the Chuck Taylor marks... I have croc marks.)
Victim number 1- (aka- bobble head)









Victim 2-


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## tinyliny

nice to hear how things are going. I always check in to your thread, it's like going home.

What is this Red Cell stuff? maybe I should eat it. I am anemic. But over the counter iron supplements won't stay down (I upchuck them) .

Isn't this Indian Summer awesome? I went for a ride today wth a friend and the light coming through the trees at that low, autumn angle was jsut exquisitely beautiful. The hroses seemed to feel that fall is coming and they had way more energy than they've had in the last two months. We had some nice canters and even a couple of all out gallops up the hills. WEE!


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## Wallaby

Thanks Leah! You're the best!  That's about what Hazel looks like currently (plus fluffy back legs/patootie/udder area and shorn front legs) so maybe I'm not doing as badly as I thought!

Hah, Caroline, you would NOT like Red Cell. Just the smell makes me queasy. It's disgusting. :lol: But it is pretty cool - it perks Lacey and Atti right up! You might want to stomach tube it in if you want to try it. :wink: Like that wouldn't make it more disgusting...what am I thinking? lol
Yes! I'm loving this summer too. And I love that it's finally getting to be fall-ish. I love the summer but the fall is my absolute favorite. Fall and spring actually..I guess I like the intermediary seasons? haha
The best weather! 

________________________________________________________

On the life front, I've been stalling Lacey at night all week. She's not the biggest fan of it but I think she'll come around once it starts raining. She certainly doesn't hate it so that's good!
I have been having issues with her refusing to pee in the stall. She has a bedded down stall that she could easily+happily pee in but she just refuses. She holds it all night, then when I show up in the morning, is practically dancing at the gate to be let out to pee. I let her out, she pees and comes back down to eat. I've tried reasoning with her (lol) that that can't be good for her blader but something about her stall just makes her not want to pee... Maybe it needs to be more thickly bedded... There's a good 2-3 inches of wood pellet "fluff" inside but maybe she wants more...
Old lady horses, I tell you!
I'm going to buy her a hay net tomorrow because she's been eating like 15lbs of hay/night just to keep herself busy. Hopefully a net will help her eat a bit slower/less...
Even with eating all that hay though, she's looking really good. She's lost her major summer blub and is really at a weight I like to have her at. She's still fluffy by some standards but her ribs are easy to feel and she's muscular where she needs to be muscular - if she were any skinnier, it'd be like "BAM, ribs!" and that would be sad.


On the goat front, I decided that since everyone (Lacey included) is soon to be dewormed for the season (I rarely deworm L but with Lady+the goats this summer, it's likely she's picked up something), I might as well let the goats out and get them acclimatized to the pasture as per my original plan. 
I'm going back to school on Monday and it'd be ideal to have the goats out while I'm gone and then stick them back in once I get home. 
Anyway, today was "unsupervised roaming" day. I was deep cleaning the tack room (which, btw, looks like a miracle occurred inside - it's THAT clean) so I was there but not really "there".
The goats did SO well! They basically joined up with Lacey and just followed her around - it was the cutest. I'm going to put a small bell on each of their collars tomorrow because Lacey got a little nervous when they'd be close to her and I imagine that having "small", quiet, tripping hazards wandering around your legs might be mildly disconcerting for the old girl... Then, after they had been out for a bit, they just put themselves back into their stall and stood there, baahing at me. :lol:

I'm going to let them out tomorrow while I'm gone for a couple of hours so big test day! :shock: haha

I think they should do ok. Lacey's pretty attached to them and she's not afraid to go herding them around - she's such a "jerk", it's the best. haha But we'll see! And there's enough vegetation that they really like in the pastures to keep them pretty busy. 


Also, tomorrow is my 22nd birthday. :shock: Growing up is weird. First you're five and then suddenly you're 22 and you wonder where it all went...


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## Hailey1203

Happy Birthday!


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## arrowsaway

Happy birthday! Sounds like you're enjoying being a goat-mom 
The bells are a good idea... and I'm glad they did well being out with Lacey. We need more pictures tho... Must...have...cute...:shock:


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## Roperchick

Happy B-day oldie! haha (no ur only like 1 1/2 yrs older than me O.O oh god! haha)

but...um....where are pictures? ohmygosh! i guess we can wiat patiently since its ur bday rofl


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## Lockwood

Happy Birthday to you...
Happy Birthday tooo youuuu....
Happy BIRTHday dear WALLLLLAAABY....
Hap-py birth-day to YOU!!!!!
*OOOWWWWW... Ow Ow OOOwwwww....*
(that would be the dogs howling because lockwood is attempting to sing)
(( ..:shock:..:shock:.... ))

:happydance::happydance::happydance::happydance:


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## Wallaby

Thanks for the happy birthday's guys!  I had a great day. It was really foggy+misty+wet this morning so Lacey's eyes were feeling great and therefore, we went for a ride+got pictures of her sans flymask!   

Also, Leah, I adore your use of the dancing smiley. That one's my 100% favorite smiley on this board. :rofl:

I also ended up leaving the goats out allll day. I had only intended to leave them out half the day but at the halfway mark they were doing so well that I figured I might as well let them stay out! They did perfect. I put a little bell on each of their collars so whenever they make fast movements, they jingle. Atticus' bell jingles a bit more than Hazel's but that's probably good since he's the one who likes to get under Lacey's feet.
Actually, it was pretty funny - I let the goats out then went to leave and Hazel chased me, baaaahing, allll the way up the gate and continued to baah until I was out of sight. She's pretty quiet as a general rule so that was pretty funny. I thiiiink I may have made a friend. :wink:

Then I went to the feed store, bought a hay net, a goat halter for Halzel (hopefully that'll help her NOT bite me when I shear her...and then maybe I can get her the rest of the way done...fingers crossed! - ie I can tie her FACE to the wall vs her neck via the collar), and got 4 bales of hay. All for $35. I was proud of myself. lol



Also, I took enough nice-ish pictures today to warrant a picture thread for tomorrow (it's bedtime here!). However, lucky for you guys, the photo limit is 15 pictures and I have 18 pictures to share soooooo who gets to see "limited release: Lacey/Hazel/Atti Extravaganza!!"? Oh yeah, that'd be YOU!  :happydance:

The Lacey girl...










Half-shorn Hazel. She looks too funny. Basically, I laugh in her face on a daily basis.
[I'm keeping her "beard" until I get her feet trimmed+her sheared the rest of the way - since her horns are fragile, if I end up having to lay her down I'll need something to grab... :/]










Yesterday Atticus was deeply invested in "helping" me clean the tack room. Here you can see him helpfully removing that toy (TRASH) from the trash bag I must have _mistakenly_ placed it in. Oh yeah, Atti, "mistakenly". That's EXACTLY the word I would use to describe it as well! Fancy that.
NOT. :lol:


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## Wallaby

Don't you all love it when something you try is working out SUPER well?

That's how I'm feeling today. It's basically great.

The goats and Lacey are REALLY getting along. Hazel finally seems to be getting over her worries about Lacey and they're all really starting to herd together.
So far it seems like Hazel and Lacey are both taking sort of the lead roles. Atticus follows Lacey when she moves away and Hazel doesn't want to be left alone so she tags along then Lacey generally follows Hazel when Hazel leaves. It's very interesting! I wonder who'll turn into the appointed herd guider...
Today they left their stalls as one little group, were down in their stalls - together, around mid-day, and were grazing together again by evening. SUPER CUTE.

And the goats are doing perfect being out. This is terrible but I haven't fixed up the perimeter fence really at all yet. I fortified up by the gate just a bit (there was an area where it was just 4 strands of high tensile wire) but other than that, there's still only a 2 foot fence (plus a strand of barbed wire, between 2 strands of high tensile wire) between the goats+Lacey and the llamas. It's cray.
They are literally the perfect goats. I do not even know. Sooooo weird how meant to be this is!

In other news, the goats are basically super adorable. Everyday, in the morning, they follow me up to the gate and baah pitifully when I leave - mostly Hazel (I should say gurgle, she really doesn't baah) but Atticus joins in a bit because he's a talker. 

Then, this evening, they basically made me feel like a rockstar when I came to shut them all in their respective stalls for the night: Hazel saw me at the gate but she was far enough away that she didn't really recognize me on sight. Then, I started unlocking the gate and I called to her. AS SOON as she heard her name/my voice, her head FLEW up into the air and she started rubbernecking around trying to figure out where I was. I came in the gate and she starting TROTTING in my direction while baahing. Atticus, of course, followed, baahing twice as loud. Then -Lacey was there too- Lacey started nickering up a storm because, obviously, the goats are getting excited so she should be too. 
It was basically adorable. I greeted everyone and we all headed down to the shed for "dinner" and bedtime. 

Really, I could totally get used to this. I had no idea how seemingly attached and demonstrative they'd get in such a short time! I love it.

In Lacey news, she seems to have pulled something in her fetlock/pastern area or some arthritis is acting up. It works itself out over the day but overnight she seems to get a bit sore+swollen on it - less moving around. Hopefully it's just nothing. I'm planning to put a call in to the vet on Monday, just to check in and see what they think. I don't really feel like it's anything major to worry about but yknow, better safe than sorry! 

And, A COUPLE OF PICTURES FOR YOU! :happydance: no need to panic!

This morning, 10 or so minutes after they were let out for the day:










Hazel believes that she should join me at my abode...










She VERY MUCH believes these things.


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## Wallaby

So...no one panic but I'm back in school and that means that there may be a major slack off in the amount of pictures I can take. D: D: Basically, I get to see Lacey+G's from 7-8am, then go to school, and get home around FIVE PM. It's the dumbest ever. I guess like having a "real" job? :rofl:
So yeah, it's sad. But, I'll try to make some pictures a priority, I mean, I do have a 2hr lunch on Mondays/Wednesday, perhaps I will "need" to edit some pictures in that time... 

In other news, I appear to have found a lady who's gonna come out and do Hazel's hooves for me, at least for the first time, so yaaaaaay that!!

Speaking of the goats, they are starting to feel so good! Atticus was doing that whole baby animal run/buck/kick thing today when I got home to put them in for the night. Soooo cute. And Hazel was even kinda flipping her head around like she was playing too! It's the best. Atti has also REALLY grown since I got him wormed and they've been on good feed - he's about as tall as Hazel now! I was reading about the breeds he is and it appears like he could potentially end up around 200lbs. :shock: :shock: And since he was "only" 86lbs when I dewormed him, at only 5 months (from what I've read, that seems to be pretty big for a "baby"), I'd say he might get there. Talk about having a giant goat to scare the coyote away! :lol:

On the Lacey front, tomorrow I really need to work on her front hooves. I've been half putting them off somehow thinking that would make them better. Um, yeah, logic says NO. So tomorrow morning, I'm being a man about it and at least doing something. At the very least I'll take some hoof pictures+post them to get advice on what to do.

Also, other "super fun" life thing for me right now, we're pretty sure I have celiac's. Sooooo no gluten for me, yaaay. I need to call the doctor and have them test me n' all but I've been eating gluten free for the last couple of days and I'm feeling so much more alive! Not to mention that all my symptoms match celiac's perfectly...dumbest in the world.
On the plus side, I made some super super tasty croutons with gluten free bread so I'm going to have that tomorrow on a salad. I've basically been eating salad+meat for lunch everyday since that can be pretty filling and has no gluten but it's getting a little old, yknow? :/
Excited about the croutons though! lol


Anyway, that is all for now. It's 10:30pm and this girl should be asleep...like her cat is. hahaha


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## Lockwood

Oh Yay! Celiac Disease.
We know aaaalll about that! My son was formally diagnosed 6 years ago and I'm gluten intolerant too. 
(I wasn't "formally dignosed" but after what I went through with the kiddo, I didn't need to be, it was obvious and going gluten free was the best thing I ever did for myself.)

It will get easier to deal with, trust me. 
Holler when you are ready for links on everything GF.


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## Wallaby

Haha thanks Leah! 
I haven't had gluten since Monday and man, I feel SO much better. WAY less "dead" on the inside. I feel like I'm thinking more clearly, not having to drag myself through the motions of each day..it's really great. And, traditionally I've been one of those skinny girls with a belly that sticks around no matter how much core work I do (ab shaped belly anyone? lololol!), but it's totes disappearing!!!!! :shock: Yes please, sign me UP!
I'm super tired from the week but I still feel "good", as in, I'm not so exhausted that I feel like I might die at any second. 
:happydance: I don't precisely WANT to be gluten intolerant but if I continue to feel this good, well, I'm REALLY not complaining. 


On the horse/goat front, they're all SUPER meshing as a herd. It's perfect. Today I got home and Lacey had "lost" the goats so she was up in her "safe place" (by the gate) - she was super happy to see me. 
I feel so bad for her this week, she's been feeling a bit neglected since all I really have time for in the morning/evening is mucking her stall, maybe brushing her face, feeding her, and getting her more water. Then I have to leave. 
Basically, I have class from 10am-4pm everyday, about a 2.5hr commute (total - heading out and coming home), and then there's the whole taking care of myself issue. So pretty much I wake up at 6am, am at the pasture by 7am, done by 8am, leaving home by 8:10, school by 9:30, then classclassclass, then the train at 4pm, back with L by about 5:30pm, then home+dinner at 6:30pm, THEN I get to rest. 
Thank the LORD I don't have school tomorrow. 3 day weekend every week, wuuuut! I'm looking forward to 3 days of horsey time. 
Anyway, due to this "neglect", Lacey hadn't been groomed all week and she ended up scratching off more of her butt fur due to gnats biting up her lady parts. (( Today I gave her and her lady parts a good hosing off with the pressure washer and she loved it. Its a true sign that she likes it when she doesn't need to be tied/held at all to be hosed and this evening she let me get her totally wet and really clean without moving a muscle. Then she went trot/cantering all the way from the gate down to the shed. I think that's probably a good sign that that was what she wanted! haha
Then. of course, she stood at the shed tossing her head and neighing at me to move my slow-poke patootie a bit faster. :rofl:

I'm SO glad she has the goats - I would be so much more worried about her and spending so little time with her if she were all alone. So thankful!

Speaking of the goats, they're doing great! 
I need to get Hazel some kind of dog blanket for the winter though - the other day when it as frosty in the morning she was shivering SO badly when I got there at 7am and continued for who knows how long - she was still shivering when I left.  Poor dear!
Atticus is literally growing like a weed. He's now bigger than Hazel and he was shorter than her by a couple inches just a few weeks ago!! He's also really filling out. It's great! He's gonna be a big guy, I think!

Oh yeah! Speaking of the goats, THIS MORNING THEY WERE PLAYING together!!! It was the CUTEST thing ever. They were gently locking horns, hopping around at each other, Hazel even "reared" at Atticus...she also flipped him over her back while "sparring".. hahahaha But yeah, they seemed to be really having fun. Atticus wasn't pitifully baahing or anything and Hazel was prancing around too. Suuuper cute.

And that is, unfortunately all for now. I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow. I'm hoping to spend as much time as humanly possible with the animals tomorrow so yknow.


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## Lockwood

Until the blanket arrives, you could try cutting the arms off an old sweatshirt and squirming her into it. Make little slits in the collar and cut off extra fabric under the belly as needed and hopefully Atti or Lacey won’t chew it off.
I’ve done this with my son’s old sweatshirts and jackets for alpaca babies and kids. (see below)
Even just a vest will help hold in core heat.
Also, my goats like to dig small pits in their bedding or straw to snuggle into when it is cold. Maybe pile extra shavings in the warmest corner or pile up some straw. She will dig a little bed into in and climb in.

I hate to keep posting pics in your journal, but I don't know where else to put them since I haven't figured out how to PM them.
Anyway, below is the fleece blanket I made for the llama that I mentioned before. I draped it over him (easier than measuring him) and marked with a marker where to make the holes. It has one tie (strip of yellow fleece) under the belly and the front I folded over itself like a double breasted suit or horse blanket that flaps over, and cut matching holes in each flap. Yellow fleece again to tie (I found bright colors easier to find if they come off.)

The alpaca babies both have the same toddler/small child's fleece jacket underneath their "alpaca" blanket (just an appropriate sized dog blanket from jeffers pet.) I just turned it inside out so the ***********/pull flap is not against their back and put it on backwards. Works great, as do small vests.
And the kid photo is how you would want to cut up a sweatshirt or old sweater for Hazel.


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## Wallaby

Hijack away, Leah!  I truly do not mind. And you have such a cute animals! :hug: It just gives "my" journal an element of those stories where each chapter is written by a different author! :rofl: :happydance:
I've made each goat a hay-y corner (Hazel is very quick to enforce that each corner HAS an owner and Atti is DEFINITELY NOT allowed in Queen Hazel's corner) but I'm thinking that they perhaps need more hay if they were to burrow...so I added another chunk of hay to each corner - hopefully that'll make it better.
We've been having a bit of a warm spell (70*+ during the day and only down to 65*-ish by "bedtime") so I've been trying to hold off on blanketing/putting clothes on anyone. But winter's definitely coming. Atti and Lacey both have super thick coats right now! At least I haven't seen Hazel shiver since that one morning and she's putting on tons of weight so she's not shivering it off at all... 

In other news, I had a lady come out to trim Hazel's hooves for me. I was super uncomfortable with it being my first time trimming goat hooves, Hazel's on again off again orneriness, and with how overgrown she was. 
Funny story about that, the lady I got the goats from was like "Oh yeah, Hazel has super tough hooves so I haven't done them in a while! hahahaha". Yeah, hoof trimming lady took one look at them and said "This goat hasn't had her hooves trimmed in probably 3 years". :shock: :shock: :shock:

POOR HAZEL. Hah, 3 YEARS, that's some kind of "a while"! Haze was thrilled once they were done though. She immediately went running around and generally acted super happy. The trimmer said she had some hoof rot on ll her hooves so I need to go bone up on treating that but overall that her hooves were not as bad as they could be for having been that neglected. I was also really surprised at how well Hazel did with having her feet done! She threw a bit of a fit at first but she actually stayed really still with very little manhandling - I had her in her halter and was holding her head while the trimmer worked. She did REALLY want to bite me but "LOL, halter".

I also dewormed them both again on Friday, with the full dose of dewormer this time (I had gone half-dose last time in case they were really wormy), so I think we're on the path to recovery! I hate to say it but the more I learn, the more I think these goaties were living a bit of a neglected lifestyle... They must think they're in heaven right now! 

They're each putting on weight as well and Atti is growing SO fast!! Since I wormed him the first/second time, he's grown probably 3 inches in height (I should measure how tall he is! That'd be fun) and put on TEN pounds, in JUST 2 weeks! Wuuuut!? He's already taller than Hazel. Lankier than she is and leggier too. It's great! Her head is way bigger than his is though. I dumbly got a "large" sized goat halter at the store thinking that H's head HAD to be a large...haha NO. I put a knot in the crownpiece and got it small enough for her but dear young Atti is nowhere near being a large, even with a knot. One day, hopefully! Or I'll just buy him a medium sized one...too bad the only medium sized ones at the tack store are pink... Muhahahaha!


In Lacey news, she's doing great. She's still a bit "off" gait-wise but she also hasn't been worked in...forever, and she often gets a bit stiff when she's not working. Hopefully this week I can incorporate some lunging or maybe even a ride into our routine...
She's started figuring our that the syringe means that she's about to get RedCell (fascinating how "good" her vision is when she's avoiding something... hahaha) so I've been clicker training her to target the syringe with her nose. She thinks clicker training is THE FUNNEST so that's working well for her. She's still not a fan on the RedCell but the fact that we play a "game" prior and post RedCell kinda makes up for it. :lol:
I spent some time really thoroughly grooming her yesterday and she really enjoyed that. She stood there and just soaked it in. I'm not looking forward to school and being away from them for so long this week.  At least she has the goats.
She just adores the goats so much. Around other horses, she just has this air of constant stress. Like she's constantly watching for the boogeyman to appear. With the goats, I've found her exploring the pasture more confidently and while she bosses them around a bit (in a "I can't see you well but I know you're in my path - LEAVE" way), she's not anxious about them. And she's not herd bound with them. She likes being with them but being away from them is ok too.
So ideal! 

Speaking of ideal, I have cute pictures:

While we were waiting for the hoof trimmer (that's why Hazel has a halter on), they had group naptime. 










Later in the day...










Hazel's so demure... hahaha










Atticus wanted to say hi but apparently Queen Hazel had thoughts about THAT kind of behavior. :rofl:











That is all for today!


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## Roperchick

aah i thought i lost your thread for awhile lol

dang Atti is getting big! haha poor guy though always getting bossed around by "the ladies" rofl


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## Wallaby

Right?! On both counts. 
Atti is HUGE. He put on another 10lbs this week and he's undeniably bigger than Hazel now. Cray-cray. That boy. I'm scared but also super excited for how big he's gonna get - cart training perhaps? Awwwyeah.  That'll be a few years of course, gotta make sure he's grown-up first!


So...it's been crazy windy for the last few days and wind makes Lacey nuts - I think it hurts her eyes or something plus the fact that things are constantly moving and she can't id that they really 100% are not threats. Poor dear!
Then, on top of that, the first day it was windy -yesterday- she did waayyyy too much running around and her poor pastern that she's been improvingly lame on is super swollen again. I'm calling the vet again tomorrow about it. They weren't too concerned as long as it was improving and it had been but then she had to go tweak it again.  Darn horse!
Then last night she basically paced in her stall all night which I'm SURE that pastern LOVED.  
So I put bell boots on her today and for overnight because I'm wondering if she keeps whacking herself since the first time she was lame like this was right after she tripped on it really badly and smacked herself hard. I'm hoping that's all it is and that she hasn't hardcore pulled something or whatever. :/

I MISS RIDING. COME ON LACEY. :lol:

In any case, inside her mind, she's doing great! She's been being all together too active! haha
Thankfully today she calmed it down a bit since that ankle hurt so at least she didn't do MORE to it.. And the swelling was gone by this evening so yay...?
I'm thinking I'm going to take all three of them on a little neighborhood walk tomorrow/Saturday. 
I know the goats will follow along so I'll have everybody on "leashes" to begin with but then let...whichever one of the goats is behaving best-probably Hazel...off. It'll be fun! Hopefully. hahaha But if it's not, we're going home! haha


PICTURES!!!


So first, Lockwood you'll especially appreciate this I think, one of my best friends found some llama/alpaca rubberstamps at a garage sale and bought them for me. Crias-mas? THE BEST. :rofl:










He's the best. hahahaha


Then, "the mountain" (Mt. Hood) at sunrise! The pasture has a great view of it. 










"Lemme out! Lemme out! Outoutoutoutoutout!"
[Lacey was having a patience problem this morning, hahaha] [also, she is SO butt-high. How does that even HAPPEN??? Her butt is literally 15hh while her front is 14.1h = ridiculous]










Atti...winking? lol










Haze!










"FINALLY!!"










"Aw yeah, I am an attractive beast. RIGHT?!!"










Taking me up to the gate (this is a daily ritual, they're cute)...










"WAIT FOR ME!!! There are monsters down here!!!"











"Ok, you can leave now. LEAVE!"










"Merp."










"Hello Horse! Decided to join us finally, we see!"











The end!


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## Lockwood

Haha! Love the stamps! It is really hard to find cutsie things that aren't aimed at all things horses. The rest of the critter world is only slowly catching up. I'll bet your friend has a ball with the stamps!

Love the pics and am so happy to see and hear that the goats are working out so well. Way to go goatie mum!

And as for this.....
"Hijack away, Leah!  I truly do not mind. And you have such a cute animals! :hug: It just gives "my" journal an element of those stories where each chapter is written by a different author! :rofl: "

Well.... thanks and ummm......   (I try my best :lol: )


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## Wallaby

So today, at 1, Lacey has her appointment with the vet to figure out what on earth is wrong with her leg. 
I'm nervous. 

However, I adore my vet and I love how she is with Lacey and I (very calming and reassuring) so I know she'll do her best for us. 
And she's already doing something really nice - she's stopping by on her way home from a vaccine clinic so she won't have to charge us the emergency call fee and so I won't have to skip class during the week to have L's appt. Love my vet.

And the receptionist knows me by name... :lol: I love that kind o service, where when you call up and say your name, they know exactly who they're talking to before you even have to say anything more. The best!


But anyway, think Miss L good thoughts! 
We're hoping it's something she'll be able to come back from - she's just not ready to retire/be put down yet...I don't think. However, this year has been hard on her physically with the eye stuff and the leg stuff and Lady being here so retirement might have to be in the cards.


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## Wallaby

Back from the vet appt:

The diagnoses is that Miss L tore/partially tore her suspensory. 
Soooo that basically means that she's now officially "retired" from anything more intense than toting a small kid around the pasture at a walk. No forced trotting/cantering and no riding by yours truly or any other "big" people.
Lammmme. <---- lol, literally.

On the plus side, there is a chance that she could recover enough for me to ride but that'd be a year+ from now and even if she did recover that much, she will mostly likely have a perma-gimp. 
Other plus side, the vet feels like her quality of life is pretty good and that she's not in constant pain. The pain is more of a "twist it the wrong way=ouch" thing vs an "ow, ow, ow" thing. So that's really good. 

And with my school schedule, she's basically retired right now anyway, this is just making it official.

Things could be worse. And she's super cute, so hello pasture filled with adorable creatures!
And, now I have a reason to bug everyone I'm related to to get me riding lessons for my birthday/Christmas/being awesome! Cuz, um, I have no horse to ride and I NEED to ride. haha Hopefully that works...

After the vet visit, I finally got around to finishing up shearing Hazel and she looks much less ridiculous now. And I did take a picture. 

And, last night Lacey had her first night sans flymask since mid-July! And she did fine. I'm not taking it off during the day yet but I think we might be heading that direction. *hopeful* I'll take it off and leave it off tonight again, hopefully she'll do as well!

HAZEL! She thought you needed some facial expressions. Actually, she was still REAL mad about the whole shearing thing. I discovered that the trick is to get her halter on her, tie her up really short, and hold up one front leg or the other to get her body, then grab a back leg to trim them+her udder area. She threw herself on the ground at first (which was the worst idea ever due to being tied short) but I think after she realized that she couldn't really breath like that, standing up was probably a good idea. :lol:










Lacey! Sans flymask, goin' to bed.


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## arrowsaway

Oh, Wallaby... I'm so sorry! I know that must be disappointing not be able to ride Lacey. But you make a good point about the quality of life - she is happy, and that's awesome! 
Of course, retirement does not mean she is exempt from photos... so keep those coming! lol


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## Wallaby

So we have not died! Do not worry. I've just been so darn busy with school that the time to write in this journal has been lacking.  But, I come bearing pictures and stories...so don't hate me? 

Aw, arrowsaway, you're sweet.  She is VERY happy so I can't complain! 

Miss Lacey, she is basically bored out of her mind currently. She's basically taken to being a lil' snot ALLLLLLL the time, I assume to make up for no riding. :lol:
However, today I saw her trot 100% sound in the MORNING (so at her stiffest, right out of her stall!! And she had some major extension going on, it was not mincing steps trot, it was like "COVER GROUND NOW" trot) and in the afternoon! So I'm really hopeful that she might, maybe, be able to come back from this. Obviously I won't be on her for months (I've decided that no matter how sound she looks, she's getting until spring off to really heal whatever is wrong), if I do get back on her, but things are really looking up. She was VERY active (galloped a full 2/3rds of a mile, rearing, chasing the goats, etc) last weekend and I was really worried that she would overdo it but she totally didn't and is sounder now than she was.

I'm SO thrilled. And even if I never get back on her, at least she is sound (for now) and she's comfy. That's what counts!

I've been icing her leg everyday which seems to be helping. At least, it's not making it worse! I made her a ghetto polo wrap out of some leftover fleece I had (light blue with rainbow hearts! haha) and the "ice" is a bag of frozen corn. Sooooo classy. :rofl:

I am pretty frustrated with her hooves right now though. They've been growing every which way and at lightening speed (I JUST trimmed them last weekend and bam, they desperately need to be trimmed AGAIN) but I think we're getting somewhere. At least, they looks REALLY good immediately following a trim so...haha

And mentally Lacey is doing really well. I'm pretty happy about it. She's super thrilled to just be here and it's pretty darn cute. She also has invented a new game called "Chase Goats and Bite Them In The Butt". She thinks it's super super funny. The goats, not so much. However, they put up with her really well and it's just lovely. 


Anyhoo, PICTURES.

These first ones are from last Friday - some of you may have seen them in my picture thread:

Leaf fairy!










UNICORN.










New stuff from the last week or so:

Lacey made me a bedding "angel", complete with appropriately placed poop! (her head is the top left corner, body is the lump in the middle, etc)










LLAMA! I was getting hay out of the car and suddenly, Marina and I had returned to BFF status. Hilarious!










Cutie patootie!










This morning, Captain Dorkus, here, apparently decided she would leave her stall. It didn't work out so well for her. She got a bit stuck (try super stuck - getting her out was like a Jenga puzzle with horse legs).
She waited there for me for who knows how long - there were two poop piles out of her usual 7 for the night. She also apparently turned around while stuck since said poop piles were on either side of her here. Silly girl!
Solid fences are going up this weekend.

"This fence attacked ME!!"










Atti! I got to come home early from school today (early by a whole 45 minutes! haha) and he was quite pleased. (also, that rumpled spot on his butt? Lacey slobber, yes. hahaha)










'Erebody.










And, in case anyone likes city views, this is the Willamette River that I cross over to get to school...everyday.
And I really like the railing. hahaha












That's all for now, folks!


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## Wallaby

I got a video for ya' today! 

And look at Lacey trotting sound. Go her!! Usually she picks up a canter around that corner and sprays me with mud. Today she took mercy on me. What a nice girl. :lol:

It was raining pretty darn hard, and as you can see, that offended Hazel's sensibilities (even while wearing a waterproof blanket!). Atticus and Lacey, however, water "dogs"! haha I thought Lacey hated the rain...before I met Hazel. :rofl: 
(and, as you can see, I was in the midst of "Friday cleaning" so the barn was a mess...haha)







"Rain is the devil's work."










"Rain = lawl."










I trained Atticus to give "kisses". :rofl: However, he was feeling camera shy.










And it stopped raining for a little while so Hazel made her way out of the barn. However, she was still unimpressed. Poor old girl!











:happydance:


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## Wallaby

This weeks update!

Basically nothing SUPER exciting has happened all week. 
We did have a ridiculous amount of rain at the beginning of the week and the goats' stall all but flooded. That was fun. However, their beds were still dry and I enclosed Lacey's stall all the way so I could leave the dividing gate open overnight until the water receded, just in case, so there was no chance that they'd end up standing in water.

Lacey's doing super well! Her leg, I think, is recovering really nicely. I'm still icing it daily but if I miss a day it's really not terrible. It might be a little swollen after I forget to ice it but nothing terrible and the swelling goes away as soon as she starts moving around.
Her eyes are also doing FANTASTIC. She's been 100% flymask-less overnight for the last few weeks and we've actually had a few days, in the daytime, where she hasn't worn a mask all day and been fine! Longterm though that's still a bit sketchy since she'll have a 24hr mask-less period and then act like she really NEEDS a mask the next day (signalling that her eyes hurt). But at least she's doing THIS well! I cannot complain.

GUESS WHAT!? I have TWO videos for ya AND some pictures!! 

The first video is everybody getting let out of their pen/stall in the morning. I _wonder _if Lacey is happy about that...I just can't tell!






And then, I was scratching Lacey and she was scratching Atti. CUTEST IN THE WORLD.
(also, as you can see at the beginning - she has no flymask on and it's TOO bright for her poor peepers. Poor dear!)






Then some pictures!

"LET.ME.OUT. I HAZ COLLAR."










Lacey has recently started a new "thing" where she "helps" me fed in the morning. She's hilarious. 
"Maaaaaybe you won't notice if I snag Hazel's grain??"




























Trotting up the hill to the gate...She had been cantering really gorgeously but of course dropped down to a cute trot AS SOON as the camera was ready. Jerk! :lol:










Atticus=CHAIR KING.










I bought Atti a halter yesterday. He HATES it. Muhahaha. 
However, I feel like it's important that he learn to lead via a halter and via his collar so HAH. And really, after wearing it around for 15 minutes then discovering that treats basically ran from the sky if he gives to facial pressure...I think he decided it wasn't so bad after all. :wink:














:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

We're ALIIIIVE, I promise! I don't feel very alive but apparently I am. :lol:
Things have been so hectic. With the time change, I'm feeding in the dark during the week and feeding in the daylight in the morning. Personally, I would prefer feeding in the morning-dark to the night dark since that would mean I could take more time to do things in the evening (since I have to hurry off in the morning) but I guess that's something to know for when I schedule my classes for next term.
I'm going to be scheduling classes next week and hopefully I'll be able to shrink my lunch break (from noon-2) and make it so I can come home earlier...even 30 minutes would be nice. As it is, I'm lucky to be home by 5:30 and with no electricity in the shed = fuuun. 
Anyway, I don't need to complain. It's really not bad. I'm loving being downtown everyday. I feel so at home there. I wish there were more trees but I've worked out a path down to the train (which I take home everyday) that takes me through a park and past some really gorgeous buildings. And I just walk through there and pretend I'm on a trail ride. Hahaha! 

Funny story from a week or so ago: I had been trying my hardest to keep my animal self under wraps just because it's one of those things that just doesn't stop once it appears and I really wanted to be a bit less of "The Animal Girl"...you know? I mean, I love having people call me when they have an animal question or see a bird they think is pretty and assume I know the kind it is (which I generally do...haha) but I wanted to play at normalcy for a while.
Anyway, so this girl in my history class was talking about a wedding she's involved with and she mentioned that there were "hay" bales everywhere. I had seen a picture and they were not hay bales, they were straw. So of course, that just spews out. Then, this girl and my three other history class friends, are like "I've always wondered what the difference between hay and straw is! Do you know?"....and of course, I DO know and I just HAD to share. 
Then, after class, one of my history class buddies ended up walking with me down to the train and on our way there, we passed this really pretty red Doberman. We started talking about it and I mentioned that it was a Doberman, he hadn't realized that, etc etc etc. 

My secret is out. Now I'm the Horse/Goat/Animal Encyclopedia Girl. Always. :lol:
I think the worst part of that "job" is when ya don't know something. I always feel like I let the asker down... hahaha


On the animal front, everyone is doing really well! 
Atticus is being a regular pain in the patootie but he is 7-8ish months old - so right in his "teens" and of course, he can't just let them go without spending some time as a bratty teenager, RIGHT?!
Lacey's still enjoying the mostly retired life. She really likes her lessons and her favorite part of the day is when I let her out of her stall and she gets to run (of course) but all in all, she's doing well. 

And I have pictures! 

LLAMA. You know you've missed her. She has not missed you...apparently..what a jerk! haha










"Good morning!!"










Mr. SassyPants: "PLAY WITH ME, WALL!!!"










Boom! Out of her stall and on to the...racetrack? 










Herd.










Run Atti, run!










Hello, sir.










See? Atticus is going insane. Such a silly boy!




















Run, everyone!!










Gotta follow Lacey-mom!










Hazeeeel. I adore this goat. So much.











That is all! I hope you guys (ladies) are all doing super well!


----------



## tinyliny

So good to hear from you. 
It's so hopeless. You might as well accept that you'll always be that "animal girl". Could be a lot worse.

I am kind of that animal girl, too. Such that my friend called me once to try and save a wild baby bunny that her cat had partially eviscerated. At first , I said no way it can survive, best to kill it painlessly. So, I thought suffocating it would be easiest. I tried to do this, but the darn thing kept coming back to life as soon as it seemed to be dead., Doing this more than twice was more than I could stomach. Thinking that if it wanted to live that badly I would try to fix it, I took it home. I cleaned out the bit of gut that was hanging out of it's tummy, pushed it back in (it was getting dry at this point) and clipped the fur away from the wound so I coudl close it wiht a butterfly bandage. But, it wouldn't hold, so I was trying to stitch it closed, (all this time torturing the poor lil' critter) when hubby came home . he askes me what I am up to and when he saw the state of the baby bunny, he said we needed to euthanize it. 
But I tried, I said. Let me, says he. He takes the bunny out to the garage and in a blink, smacks its'; head against the wall. Instant death. Now , why didn't I think of that? but, I thought I could save the bunny. Nope.
But that's how Animal Girls think.


----------



## Wallaby

Oh Caroline! That's such a sad story! :hug: But I can totally see that happening to me! :lol: We do just think like that, I guess! 
That's so freaky that it kept coming back to life...so freaky. :hug: I'm glad your husband took care of it, I wouldn't have thought of that either!

And yeah, I totally know what you mean about accepting the animal girl side of myself. 
It was mostly that I was basically running an social experiment to see how people reacted to me, at a brand new school where I knew maybe 2 people initially, if I were myself minus animals. I have concluded though that people like seeing what makes you "you" - at least, with the people I've met, they all seemed a little standoffish (in a "sizing the new person up" sort of way) prior to finding out what makes me tick and now that they know where my passion is, they're quite a bit warmer. Verrry interesting.
I'm such a nerd. :rofl:

It's almost Christmas break (for a whole MONTH!) so hopefully I'll be able to update more often for a while. That'd be ideal.


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## Lockwood

tinyliny said:


> So good to hear from you.
> It's so hopeless. You might as well accept that you'll always be that "animal girl". Could be a lot worse.
> 
> I am kind of that animal girl, too. Such that my friend called me once to try and save a wild baby bunny that her cat had partially eviscerated. At first , I said no way it can survive, best to kill it painlessly. So, I thought suffocating it would be easiest. I tried to do this, but the darn thing kept coming back to life as soon as it seemed to be dead., Doing this more than twice was more than I could stomach. Thinking that if it wanted to live that badly I would try to fix it, I took it home. I cleaned out the bit of gut that was hanging out of it's tummy, pushed it back in (it was getting dry at this point) and clipped the fur away from the wound so I coudl close it wiht a butterfly bandage. But, it wouldn't hold, so I was trying to stitch it closed, (all this time torturing the poor lil' critter) when hubby came home . he askes me what I am up to and when he saw the state of the baby bunny, he said we needed to euthanize it.
> But I tried, I said. Let me, says he. He takes the bunny out to the garage and in a blink, smacks its'; head against the wall. Instant death. Now , why didn't I think of that? but, I thought I could save the bunny. Nope.
> But that's how Animal Girls think.


You ain't right!
(FYI, use super glue next time for small suture work, it will only sting for a moment and just make sure not to glue the gut to the wound edges... or your fingers.....not that I would know... or anything.)


----------



## muumi

Yes superglue is good for that! That's what it was originally invented for anyway.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Chevaux

Wallaby, I just love that pic of the three of them galloping across the field. I swear that if I didn't know who Hazel was I would think her a dog running with the group.


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## WTFCas

I absolutely love reading about Lacey and the G's...its something I always looks forward to. I don't have a horse of my own but when my boyfriend(doesn't understand my horse obsession) asks what I'm doing I answer him with this one, "Oh nothing, just checking up on my horse." LOL. I'm pretty sure my favorite boyfriend/Lacey moment was the time I was watching a video of Lacey and my boyfriend couldn't figure out what a noise was on the video. After laughing hysterically for the second time around he finally asked what it was. He looked at me like I was crazy when I told him it was Lacey farting! 

Oh, I also can't believe how big Atticus has gotten since you've had him. I didn't realize how big normal goats can get since I only deal with my friend's pygmy goat. I think the pic of him playing with the wall is beyond cute. Hope you and your's have a spectacular Thanksgiving!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

:rofl: Leah, you are the best. So funny. How bad is it that I can practically picture you (at least, "inside my mind"-you) stuck to some small animal via super-glue surgery gone awry? :lol:

Chevaux, I adore that one too! I just wish it were clearer...but I guess you can't win them all! I know what you mean about Hazel! In that pictures she really reminds me of the "Neverending Story" dog memes:










So good! :lol:

Aww Cas, you're too sweet. :hug: Hahahaha that story is great! 
Lacey is definitely the queen of farts. I always tell my lesson kids that whenever she farts, she's agreeing with whatever I just said. :lol: A few years ago when we were at camp, we would lead trail rides and Miss L would just be farting along (maybe she's fart-powered?) so I would tell the kids behind us to count her farts -to distract them from screaming about how "gross" Lacey is- and they counted over 40 individual farts in under 30 minutes. :rofl: Bonus: I could fart loudly whenever I wanted to while riding her because I could believably pass it off on her. hahahahaha
Right? Atti is getting HUGE! These are the first goats I've ever actually been around as well -aside from a few petting zoo pgymy goats- and dang! haha In the last month he's literally shot up 4 inches and gained 30lbs, it's insane. Who needs another horse? I can just ride Atticus in a couple of years! :lol:
I hope you guys have a wonderful Thanksgiving as well! 

I hope you ALL have lovely Thanksgivings!


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## Lockwood

That's It! 
That's where I know Hazel from!!!










As for the super glue......
 *whistles innocently*
I'm sure I have no idea about that which you speak.


----------



## Wallaby

Hahahaha YES! Hazel TOTALLY makes that face. I had not made the connection between her and the actual dragon but now that you point it out!!

Bahahahahaha:












Also, in relation to our earlier "Animal Girl" discussion, apparently we have a "real" name! Faunist: a person who studies or writes on animal life; a naturalist.
So now we can just say we're faunists and sound REALLY pretentious.  :rofl:





In other news, the world decided to start raining in ridiculous amounts and today when I got home, I found everyone standing in 4+ inches of water, IN THE SHED. :evil: Lacey's blanket was totally soaked through (thank the Lord I am always over prepared and had switched out her previous damp blanket last night so it was dry today and it's the "good" one), she was freaked out - jumping at every little thing, blowing through her nose that way horses do, and it was all around sad. Thankfully once I got her into a dry blanket and fed her some dinner, she calmed down. Still a little nervous but more relaxed than she had been.

So yeah. That's cool. I managed to created "islands" for everyone so they each have a "them-sized" dry spot to lay/stand but yay. Bye-bye $30 of bedding! Adios amigo.

Whoever thought of putting a shed+stalls at the bottom of a steep hill is officially my enemy. :lol:

Plus side: since I moved those rubber mats outside the stalls, mud is not a problem at all. So I guess, at least, it's just water! It could be water hiding mud!
Anyhoo, if you feel so inclined, think some dry suggly thoughts for my kiddos. I suppose it isn't any worse than if they just had a tree to hang out under for shelter but still, I feel bad.


----------



## tinyliny

I went out to the farm today to get Mac so he could be shod. It was raining and raining, only to get worse as the day wore on. We were able to use the cover of the neighbor's barn for the shoeing, so that was nice.

Mac was also really jumpy. There was an absolute river running throught their paddock , eating away at the foundation of the shed. It was running from one side of the property to the other and the area around Mac's feeding shed is knee deep mud. Nasty. all the horses were wet as otters. I could do nothing about htat. they have NO dry place to lay down, unless they find a place dry enough under a big fir tree, but with this rain, nothing is dry. all I could do is throw out some extra hay (and do it surruptitiously because we aren't supposed to ever give extra hay and they get snotty about it.). 

I came home sopped to the skin and cold, and am sitting by the heater, still.

It often rains a lot right around Thanksgiving, so this is nothing unusual. but it is so grim and gray and dark when it does this. Nothing to do but grit out mossy teeth and go on.


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## Wallaby

Hah, our mossy teeth! So true. I love it. I'm "glad" you're dealing with this too. Not glad exactly but...companionable? I don't know - basically, just glad I'm not the only one! 


It's basically still Rainoclypse here. Super lame. It did "dry" up a bit in the middle of the week (aka each footstep did not create a splash noise) so that was nice. Yesterday it was "really" cold (40*) but not rainy so everybody got to go out without blankets...they loved it. 
In the last few years, Miss L has basically been blanketed constantly because I didn't want to have to deal with a mud covered horse when I wanted to ride. THIS YEAR, the lucky girl gets to go "naked" on not rainy days cuz who's riding her? Not me! Our Friday lesson kid adores brushing her and the Sunday one...hates brushing but it's not hard to make sure L has a blanket on on Sunday.
I still blanket her at night, rain or shine, but Lacey's a huge fan of this new management strategy. 

Yesterday most of my family came over for Thanksgiving and, of course, my mom is like "Everyone wants to go see the horse and the goats, RIGHT??!" so we went on a field trip. 
Lacey was SUCH a ham. She greeted each person, forced my uncle to pet her (hilarious - he would stroke her face and stop, she'd toss her head, he'd stroke her again and stop, she'd toss her head, etc etc..this went on for a good 10 minutes while the rest of my family was being charmed by Atticus), and then she threw her tail over her back and went cantering around like "Look at me, guys! I'm so COOL!" She's super funny. They all thought she was gorgeous - she approved. Eventually she trotted off and when I came to catch her, she immediately turned towards me with this look on her face that can only be described as jovial. She was having as much fun as we were watching her. 

AND PICTURES. I took some, just for you guys. :wink:

On my way home from school...










The city on one side of Lacey's pasture:










Look at her. What a cutie. Look at that lil swayback and that belly.
Can you believe the muscle loss though? Like WHAT? I guess that's what they say that older horses lose muscle faster but geez. 
Good thing she's still stinking adorable! 










And always, mid buck.










Mr. Atticus! He finally has leading down...I think. hahaha










This, my friends, is Lake Chumbawamba. In honor of their song "Tub-Thumping" which includes the line "I get knocked down, I get up again". That would be the story of this lake's life. 
I want to permanently knock Lake Chumbawamba down. :rofl:











:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Ahhh, this last week has been insane. Next week is finals (SO EXCITED - I'll be home by about 3 EVERYDAY and I'm done with my last final on Wednesday, then I have an entire month off to actually work with the "kiddos" and sew and bake and oh my word. So excited!) so this week was full of final projects and studying. Bleck!

On the animal front, things are going reasonably well!
I had been struggling to get Miss L to eat all her "grain" (hay pellets+supplements) but I think I got that fixed, for now. She does this thing where there's a certain ratio of waterellet:supplment that she will eat, but it's very precise. Too much water - she won't eat it. Too many pellets - same deal, etc. Basically she'll eat about half, then leave a bunch of glop in the bottom of her bucket. And since her supplements are what keep her eyes under control... :-?
Anyhoo, I figured out that the current magic combination seeems to be putting her feed bucket in the corner feeder in her stall (I think maybe she loses it when it's on the ground? Too much work having to narrow down where it is after putting her head up...?...maybe she gives up??) and doing a 1:1 alfalfa to rice bran pellet ratio. So far she's been cleaning her bucket out completely AND I'm only having to feed her about 1/4th of a pound of each per feeding (2/day) instead of the full pound of pellets I was feeding twice a day!
So yay!
And, luckily, she is always less of an easy keeper in the winter so I'm not too worried about feeding her rice bran right now. We'll have to figure something else out for the spring/summer but for now = yay!

She's also becoming so humorous. She keeps coming up with the silliest things to do to me. For instance, the other day I left the tack room door open while I was cleaning her stall, left to the stall for a second to dump my bucket, I come back to find Lacey IN the tack room, eating hay like she does that everyday. It was hilarious. 
She also has nearly figured out how to get the tack room door open with her mouth (when it's already unlatched) so that's basically her favorite to do while I'm getting her grain prepared. hahaha
I took a video of it today but there was a poop pile (hadn't cleaned her stall yet!) in front of the door so it couldn't open very much.  Next time! 
But here's that video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdGQeZ0gv3I


On the goat front, Atticus is still being a pain in the neck and Hazel is still being super cute. haha Actually thought, Atti is getting a bit better so I have hope. He's, I think, almost 8 months (March baby!) so he's still right in that teenager phase.
And really, for what it's worth, my cat was more annoying in this phase than Atticus has been...just Atticus is a whole lot bigger! haha
Hazel is still skinny but, upon the advice of Lockwood, I've started feeding her rice bran pellets (actually why I bought them in the first place) and she LOVES them. She's been eating them for a few days with no real change yet but I'm sure by next weekend she'll be, hopefully, looking chunkier. 
I also got her a new blanket! I decided to take the plunge and get her a Tough-1 dog blanket that was actually her size so I could do some layering once it got colder. I had wanted to make her a blanket myself but I was struggling with how to make it long enough, waterproof enough, etc so this way is probably good. Now I don't have to worry about either of those things, just fitting her and being warm. It has 100g of fill which will be nice when it gets really cold since her other blanket has 200g - layering, we could go up to 300g! It's also much longer on her than the other one...almost a little tooo long but as long as she likes it! 
I also found this hoof stuff (recommended by Lockwood, of course) for Miss H's hoof issues so hopefully that will clear them up finally. That poor old lady goat, she has had such a hard time of it. I just don't understand how she's still so darn NICE! If I were her age and in constant pain...oh boy...I don't think I would be very nice.


And also, I got lotsa pictures!

"Hot Lava monster!!" 
(who knew that a plank of plywood and a pallet would make the funnest toy ever? Also = the solution of Lake Chumbawamba!)










Hazel and her terrifying yawns. I can't even get over them. How can she be so cute...and so scary??










Go Lacey, go!










Helping me clean Lacey's stall...always.










Thistle flowers in December? Apparently so.










I LOVE her curls. Oh my word.










Perky girl.










The llamas have no time for this.










Lookit that bootie!










Abercrombie and Goat model, right here.










<3










A cool leaf!











:happydance:

I hope everyone is doing superduper!!


----------



## Wallaby

Winter Break! Woohoo! 
Hopefully now I will have time to keep you guys more updated! I've been being SO effective with my time lately...I guess not having any time to spare will do that! haha
I got the stall fences all put back together this morning (everyone seems to have spent the last 3 months trying to take them down so they were jury-rigged back together...UNTIL NOW!) and they look SO GOOD. Almost better than when I first built it. They will look better when I get my final finishing touches done (getting Lacey's gate made of mesh fencing vs polytape) but for now almost is good enough!


However, guys, the most dramatic change currently is that it's looking more and more like instead of having one Falkor...Ima' about to have more than one cuz Miss Haze seems to have some children inside her that I did not know about. Sneaky Haze, sneaky. 
And yes, I plan on working Falkor into at least one name of a new addition. :happydance: 
Girl=Falkora, Boy=Falkor, my other two name options are Scribonia (girl) and Theophilus (boy). 
And don't worry, I have a list of "good names", I didn't just freak out and name all the possible babies randomly..Actually not sure that it's so much better than I have a previously decided names list... hahaha

Somebody definitely kicked my hand this morning and this afternoon.  <3 
Adorbs. 
The very latest they could be due is late January but I'm thinking late December is more likely. Correction: I'm PRAYING late December since I go back to school on January 7th and I'll be on the same "no time, ever" schedule. And, well, that just stinks for babies. Technically it all stinks for babies but it would be good if they were earlier vs later.

Anyhoo, that's the real excitement. 

Lacey's doing great and she's perfectly on track for being "healthy" in May to give riding another try. 
She's now 100% sound and as sassy as ever. Boy, does that girl make trouble when she's not in work! She's into EVERYTHING! haha Love her!


And of course, pictures and a video!!!!
In the video, Miss Lacey had just come galloping up the hill...ut of course I miss the whole thing. But her just being herself is pretty cute too so whatere'. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTZy_wcoAc4

"Look guys! My Galvayne's Groove is gone! I could be over 30 for all anyone knows! Muhahahaha! Too bad I'll be 'only' 28 in a few months!"










"Food??"










This goat. He spends about as much time in the air as he does on the ground. Silly dude! [He REALLY wanted my coat but knew that he would get in trouble if he pulled it down - this was his solution: play NEAR the coat]










"Yo, dawgs. I heard that I'm going to be a grandma? I sure hope I don't have to do anything but spoil these kiddos!"










I hope they inherit her facial expressions... She has the best ones. She and Lacey are the best pair that way!!










[her "how dare you" face]










My girls. 












:happydance:


----------



## SaddleStrings

What!??? Miss Hazel is gonna have babies???


----------



## tinyliny

They had a buck goat where you got Hazel? I thought she was too old. had you any clue at all? I mean, what made you think she was preggers, and has a vet verified?

Details, please.


I love this photo the best. I like shots with clean dark/light, . . "chioscuro", as it's said in Italian and taught in art school.


----------



## Wallaby

Ah yes, probably should clarify that little bit of the story. :wink:
So I was under the impression that she was not pregnant and had no chance of being pregnant because the woman I got her from told me that she was trying to place Hazel in a pet home so she could stop having babies (does can continue to have babies for quite some time - I've read about a 12 year old doe giving birth! - but it starts getting dangerous and by 10+, fatal complications are more likely, etc). However, cuz I'm a huge sucker, I never specifically asked if she had been with a buck.

She's been impossible to keep weight on and she started really dropping weight a few weeks ago so I started doing some research and I kept reading over and over that Angora does need upwards of 16% protein in their diets to hold weight in the later stages of pregnancy...so that made me start wondering. 

I contacted her previous owner to make sure she hadn't been around a buck and was informed that she had, in fact, been housed with a young buck (5 months old - young, but old enough to get "things" done), up until the day I picked her and Atti up. Apparently the owner thought that his age and apparent health issues (her words: "failure to thrive" - the worms my guys came home with could be enough to cause that though!) would cause him to be infertile/not mature enough.

HAH. I'm such a sucker, guys. I will believe anything. Oh dear.

Anyway, those facts, combined with how her lady-parts appear (like a mare, closer to giving birth, things start doing interesting stuff back there), how she hasn't seemed to go into heat in the 90 days she's been here - Angoras breed Aug-Dec, and then the fluttering/kicking movements right where a baby/babies would be kicking (left side of a goat is the rumen which makes weird movements but the right side on a doe is the uterus+where baby movements can be felt low down on the side)...and combined with how her attitude is changing - her life suddenly revolves around ME, being near me, being petted, etc where she formerly was standoffish but quietly sweet...
Yeaaaaah.
I really don't want to believe it but at the same time, too many signs for me to ignore. :/

No vet certification yet. It seems that with goats, you do a blood test if you want to be fancy (draw the blood yourself - yikes!) or you just wait and see. :shock: 
My thinking is that unless something shows itself to be wrong, I'm going to treat her like she's preggo (do all the "special" things you gotta do), get a vet lined up in case, but not worry too much about it. From what I'm reading, it looks like she has about a month left and if that's the case, I thiiink (if what I've read is right) it should become even more obvious in a couple of weeks.
That sounds absolutely terrible written out but apparently that's what you "do" with goats. :shock:

As far as her age, from what I've been reading, it sounds like she's right on the cusp of safe birth vs not safe, but probably on the safer side since she had twin kids in the spring safely (poor thing! pumping them out!!) and she's not over 10. I'm going to try my hardest to be there in case she needs me but she's experienced enough that she probably knows better than I do at all! haha

On the plus side, these maybe babies are going to be registrable purebred Angoras. The plan is that I will probably keep one and if she has more than one, my Friday lesson kid will be taking at least one. They already have goats and her mom adores Hazel. Amusingly, they came out and told me a month or so ago that if Hazel EVER had babies, they would take at least one. Funny how that works! haha


Hopefully that answers the questions? Sorry for being so abrupt earlier!


----------



## Lockwood

I just thought of something too....
The _age_ of the possible baby daddy, or lack there of, would certainly explain her less than oderiferous "funk" we talked about and the lack of effect on cool transportation and clothes.
The young'uns don't usually get their full groove on until closer to one or more.
_Usually._


----------



## Wallaby

That makes total sense Leah! We're gonna get this figured out yet! *pulls out detective hat and mandatory pipe*


Nothing much has happened since the last update but I did get a set of photos (B+W kick, by the way...haha) that I really like soooo they're gonna be shared. 


When I went up there this evening to put everyone away for the night, I found Hazel laying down with Atticus next to her...and Lacey no where to be found. 
Turns out Lacey was one field over, hanging out with her deer buddies! :lol: 

"Erhmmm, don't you see I have GUESTS?"










"Now that you scared them away, I guesss it can be dinner time...if you insist."










"WOW! My mini deer! I forgot them!"










This one CRACKS me up so much. Hazel's deadpan face, Atticus' feet that show he's -once again- leaping around, Lacey's lack of interest in the whole thing... HILARIOUS.










Speaking of leaping around...this boy needs to go out for basketball - he has mad hops.










Cute face.










"I have identified the room where my hay lives. I suggest you open this door and feed me, before I try leaping over the door...Kapeesh?"










"You're slow. We, the ladies of the pasture, disapprove."










And "Ferdinand". He's one of the deer that was hanging out with Lacey - he ran away but had returned by the time I was done feeding.












:happydance:

I hope you're all doing super well!!


----------



## Lockwood

Lockwood luvs contrasty B&Ws!!
They rock!


----------



## Chevaux

Good pics and stories, Wallaby -- I think you could have a writing career!


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Lockwood! I love contrasty B+W too! I finally figured out how to make my photo editing program (I use Picasa which is a little less user friendly than one would hope... haha) do them the way I like so hopefully there are more to come! 

Haha, thanks Chevaux!  
One day a book will probably occur - all my friends want me to write a book about something...we shall see. :wink:




In other news, nothing really exciting has happened at all. Yesterday one of Hazel's internal minions kicked me super hard. There was no mistaking it for anything but a kick! 

I've also created two little blankets for them. I've read that Angora kids can be super fragile so I want to make sure they'll be warm enough, especially since they're likely going to be born in the coldest part of the year.
I made two so hopefully she doesn't have triplets! haha I think I've read that triplets are super rare for Angoras though so my fingers are crossed!

I thought that purple would be a nice touch since it matches one of Hazel's blankets. Also, if there are two, they'll be basically identical (the dad was white so color options = white, white, and white), I made the blanket straps different colors so we'll be able to tell them apart initially! haha

[I'm super excited about these blankets, they're made out of 100% leftover stuff from other projects so dollars spent = $0, they even have some "fill" - maybe 150g = warm babehs!]












That's all for now, folks!


----------



## Wallaby

Nothing really exciting has been happening. 

I did go to the zoo today! With the llama stamps kid, if you remember that. :lol: It was super fun! The weather was not "zoo weather" (kinda rainy and cold) so it was DEAD. No one was there. We got to see the zookeepers feeding an alligator, the baby elephant, we petted some goats...it was great! haha The goats, if you are wondering, appeared to be Nigoras (Angora/Nigerian Dwarf) or Cashmeres/NDs. They were definitely a fiber/ND mix. And I suppose they could have had a few of each. They were all some variation on white (a few looked more ND in their coloring) and were really fluffy. A few even had curls (why I was thinking maybe Angora). They were super adorable and yeah...my friend had to practically drag me away. :rofl:

And then there were these super cute cougars who were cuddling:










Super cute.


Anyway, yeah.



On the "animals I own" front, I think I'm going to try lunging Lacey just a smidge tomorrow. Just at a walk...you know, get her mind thinking. Of course, if it's raining too much...we won't. haha This whole Lacey being retired thing is making me so lazy! hahaha

On the Hazel front, SOMEONE woke up on soooo the wrong side of the bed today. She was being so mean to everybody. But I suppose she has that right since she's carrying around some living beings inside her... Poor thing!


----------



## Wallaby

Hah, so that whole lunging Lacey idea was kinda put on hold because we got a ton of snow the next day. :rofl:

However, I then did it the next day and it went pretty well! She was a little sassy each time I asked her to turn around (her preferred way of turning is to basically do a rollback, complete with front legs off the ground, etc - "exxccccuse me, ma'am but I believe you are 28 and recovering from an injury? How about we don't do airs above ground...?") but we did it. 
I watched an interesting video on YouTube yesterday (kudos to TinyLiny! - great Brent Whats-his-face video!) so I'm going to try some of the ideas I saw in it with Lacey on Monday. I'm not sure if it'll work well with her vision issues but the only way to find out is to try! And she really needs something mental to do.

Yesterday I brought everybody hay and Miss L ESCAPED while I was bringing hay in the gate!! She bolted past me and went running up the road, then came running back, ran into the cul-de-sac to the left of the gate (in front of the angry old man's house, of course), then came running back to the gate and started grazing on the grass that's right there. Silly girl!! 
She let me catch her easily but yeah, someone needs something more to do. :rofl:

On the Hazel front, I know absolutely nothing about goats and goats giving birth (thank the Lord for Lockwood! These goats would not be so happy without all her help!) but to my eye and my gut, I feel like we're getting close. 
*chants* Christmas BABIES! Christmas BABIES!!!!!!

But, of course, she'll probably make it another month. 
In any case, I clipped her patootie+udder today because of just how fast things are moving in "that" direction. She might have a bit left but at least I can rest easy knowing it's done! She reminds me of a poodle with a lion-clip. She does not appreciate my laughter. :lol:


Yesterday I was trying to get some "me n' Haze" pictures...and she licked me fully in the eye right as I took a picture. :lol:










The Sass Captian herself, yesterday! Doing some trotting.










Curly, curly, curly!










Apparently this is how the cool kids go downhill - running and jumping the wholllle way.










Coming back up! 










"HAZEL! YOU'RE IN MY WAY!!!"










Fluff Captain!










Lacey girl. 










Post-clippage. She's super mad. hahaha
Plus side, she seems to be a bit more relaxed now that she's clipped like that. Like she knew it should be done or something. But she is a very routine oriented girl so maybe she did know!












That is all! I hope you guys are all doing super well!

:happydance:


----------



## Lockwood

Didn’t I ever mention that goats love eyeballs? :wink:
Love the red blanket and green tailbag.. Festive girl!

Ok, picture three… someone definitely looks like she has buns in the oven now! 
And her last pic…embarrassing for her I know, but things still look like they are where they should be under the tail. Not puffy or relaxed yet. 
Nice trim job too by the way….. you could always get a second job as a groomer some day. :lol:
Another thing to watch for is that usually 8 to 24 hours before birth time you may notice she doesn’t look nearly as pregnant anymore. That’s because the kid(s) move up towards the birth canal and the lower side bulge gets smaller.


----------



## Wallaby

Hah, dear ole' Hazel. She'll probably wait until the night before school starts just to mess with me. :lol: 
But really, that would be the worst. However, if she could just go before January 6th or after Jan 14, that would be ideal. If I could get just one week into school, I know I could make enough friends in my classes to allow for a few classes to be skipped. 
Wahwahwah. Cry me a river, Emily! :rofl:


In "OH MY WORD, COOLEST THING EVER!!" news, today when I went up to feed, I couldn't see any of my kiddos immediately when I walked into the pasture. That's not super unusual, just generally means Lacey is in the far pasture with "her" deer.

Well, I started looking around more and saw this strange fluffy looking brown lump on the ground basically in the middle of the pasture. a second or two later, a head pops up along with 2 pointy brown ears. Duke, THE COYOTE, was TAKING A NAP IN MY PASTURE.
5 seconds later, Atticus pops off the ground from where he had apparently been laying, right behind the curve in the hill (why I couldn't see him). He had been laying not even 5 feet away from Duke!!!!!
Hazel was maybe 10 feet away grazing on some blackberry bushes seeming all together unconcerned. 
It was literally one of the most amazing things I have EVER seen. 
Neither of the goats were worried about Duke, Duke wasn't really worried about them (Duke, as it turns out, is smaller than both of them!!) they were really acting like Lacey does with her deer. Very content and relaxed, just hanging out.
Duke wandered around (while being followed by a very curious Atti), then caught wind of me and trotted off into the bushes.

Like WHAT???! I just saw a PREDATOR, chilling with my PREY animals and NO ONE WAS WORRIED?? What is this? The freaking Garden of Eden???

Then I went into the lower pasture and discovered Miss Lace with 4 doe deer and the younger buck (Ferdinand) that's been around. 
She was thrilled to see me, whinnied, and went cantering down the shed for her dinner. 


I legitimately feel like I just saw Heaven for a second. I can't even believe it.


And of course, the one time I forgot my phone at home and my camera. I guess some things are not meant to be documented, right?


Merry Christmas!!

or......











LLAMA STAMPS!!!!

:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

1. My family got me a dslr camera for Christmas!!!!!!!!!!! Bottom line: a whole new world of photography has opened for me.  Also, this one has 16.1 megapixels where the one I've been using has only 10 - basically that means that this new camera can zoom better, take bigger, clearer photos, etc etc. SUPER EXCITED. 
I don't have any fancy lenses for it at this point but I imagine that one day I'll find some... :wink:
I don't know all the tricks with it yet but tomorrow morning I plan to take it with me when I feed and mess around a bit. Maybe we'll have some fancy pictures for tomorrow afternoon.
It even has a manual focus!! 
I'm all around super excited about it.

2. Hazel knows her name. It's hilarious. You say "Hazel!" to her and she'll ***** her ears and look at you like "WHAT??!"
It's especially funny because Hazel has only been her name for...3 months since I got her. 
Before her name was "Tone" (said "Tony") which, sorry if anyone is named that but, is ridiculous for a geriatric female goat. It makes her sound like she's part of an '80's hair band...which she does look like pre-shearing but REALLY. Or if she were born in the eighties, I could be understanding. :rofl:
On the "Gosh darn you, Hazel! HAVE YOUR BABIES ALREADY." front, today her udder was a bit fuller than it was. Not a whole bunch but it was different. 

I think tomorrow I'm going to have to double-blanket her. I went up to put everybody away for the night and I found Hazel and Lacey standing together with their patooties to the wind, and Hazel was shivering something awful. I don't know why she didn't go down to the shed, the poor dear was totally cold. Lacey was soaked to the bone (they both had blankets on too!) and she was acting nuts. 
Luckily I had warm dry blankets for both of them which I switched them to, then fed everybody. They both were back to normal pretty fast, thankfully - silly girls!!

Atticus was the only one was was totally fine. He was also soaking wet but apparently boys don't feel it... At least, that's what HE told ME. :lol:


3. Tomorrow I'm going to the zoo again! This time with a dear lady-friend of mine. She's basically my big sister. We've been friends for years, bonded on the first day we met (not unlike llama-stamps kid/my gentleman friend! haha), go to church together every week...she's wonderful.
I'll be taking ze new camera and maybe I'll get some zoo-goat pictures for you all! Or even a picture of the baby elephant..what a thought. :wink: We shall see, I will do my best!


ETA: Also, MERRY CHRISTMAS/HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! I hope you all have had a really wonderful holiday filled with things you love - animals, family, friends, presents, food, whatever makes you feel warm fuzzies. <3 <3 :hug:


----------



## Lockwood

Oooohh... which camera did you get?? Huh? Huh?
Must see zoo pics!!!
Your pictures are soo good already, I can't wait to see them once you figure out all the buttons on the new camera. 

Merry belated Christmas to you too!

(Do you have a name list started yet?)


----------



## Wallaby

Hahaha, good question! No, I have it right here with me so I can actually tell you. It's a Nikon Coolpix P510. I'm more a of a Canon girl but my dad, who was the main instigator into this purchase, LOVES Nikon soooooo.... haha But seriously, I am not complaining!
I need to practice with it more on moving subjects. I have stationary things pretty much down but moving stuff, oh boy. haha I think part of the issue was I had it set wrong for moving things...just need to figure out what "right" is! :lol: Tomorrow!
Oh thanks.  I really enjoy photography a lot and I just love that I have such ready subjects all the time!



OF COURSE I HAVE A NAMES LIST. :rofl: :rofl:
I'm hoping she'll have a single (I really don't want to have to say goodbye to a fluff ball+choose which one to go!) but I have names for all possibilities.

Top picks are: Falkor for a boy, Falkora for a girl, Shalom for a girl (means "peace" + can be loosely translated to something along the lines of "striving towards wholeness" - sounds LOVELY for a female fluff-ball!), Theophilus (who was a super cool guy that a few of the books of the Bible were written to - a really upstanding "fought the good fight" kinda guy) for a boy, then last resorts we have Scribonia (wife of Caesar Augustus and a G if I ever head of one) for a girl and Marius (another G from Roman history - he was a nobody who went on to lead Rome for 7..."terms" which was unheard of but he was just that cool) for a boy.
In all likelihood, a boy will be Theophilus and a girl will be Shalom. Those are my favorites out of that list. 
Of course, another name might pop into my head as soon as I see "it"/them and, in that case, that name is it. 
Nerd goats. Yes, I know. :rofl: :lol:

First, ZOO PICTURES!

[btw, I will probably end up double posting it up here]

The goats turned out to be Pygoras (Pygmy/Angora crosses). There was a sign right there and Apparently I'm just blind. hahaha!

This one was my fave.










This guy, not sure if he's a goat or a shetland sheep...but he's cute!










This guy just wanted snuggles. 










BABEH ELEPHANT! Her name is Lily and she's hilarious.










Another elephant that was outside...










This guy is a Carcal. He's probably my favoritest zoo creature at this time. He's like a kitty...but dangerous! hahaha










African Wild Dogs!










CHEETAHS.










These guys. I can't remember what they are but they're so delicate and elegant!!










Continued...


----------



## Wallaby

Zebra!










Orangutang!










Then, some chimpanzees.











:happydance:


Now, my kiddos!


Lacey and Atti, run, run, run!










Hazel and Atticus decided to have a rearing fight prior to dinner...
























































It looks like Hazel is telling Atti a secret...really she's biting him. HAH!










STRUGGLE.










Continued..


----------



## Wallaby

"Errrhhhm, this youngster is a nutcase. What are YOU going to do about THIS?"










"nanner-nanner-foo-foo!"










"I BITE YOU IN FACE."










Lacey's been so grumpy lately... 










Grumpy face. Smile, Lacey, smile!!










Good thing I love her even if she's grumpy!
I'm not sure if her eyes are hurting or what... But I gave her a little pain stuff this evening to see if she's happier tomorrow. She also hasn't worn a flymask in a while...maybe I'll stick on on her to see tomorrow.
Weird story: she's shedding a bit. She reached her average "peak" (ie, January/Feb) hair growth about a month agoand now little hairs are coming out here and there. Just weird. Usually she doesn't start shedding until March at the earliest... I figured that with her decreased vision her hair would just get longer than usual...
I guess I really should not be too surprised, it seems that Lacey lives to be an enigma to us all. :lol:


Sad day story: I got a video of Atti running and leaping around BUT somehow it got deleted as I was transferring it to my laptop.    Another time.


----------



## Wallaby

Nothing super exciting has occured in the last day or two. But I did get some silly pictures of Atti today that I'll share and I got a video of the little herd yesterday (and figured out how to get it off the camera without deleting it! go me!) so I'll hare that too. 

First the video. They were headed down to the shed for dinner+to be put away for the night but then Lacey, using her apparent "deer-sense", found a deer behind the shed and headed back there to check it out. After the deer left, she was perfectly happy to come in. Silly girl!
And no worries at the beginning when it looks like she's limping a bit at the trot. She wasn't limping, just tripping her way down the hill. :rofl:
[ps, sorry about how small it is! Didn't think that through when I was taking it...now I know. Also, DAAAANG this camera takes good videos!!]







Then pictures!

"Let ME OUT."










This goat! Him and his winking sauve-ness. Thank goodness he's not a buck - no ladies would be able to resist him! :lol:










"Hey baby, let's talk about YOU."










"GrossGrossGrossGrossGrossGROSS!"










"I'M LEAVING."










Highland goat!












:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

I saw, and actually got some photos of, Duke the coyote today!! 

It was very interesting. He/she was headed straight for the shed, then saw me and booked it 15ft away, then watched me, then ran another 15ft, etc. It was almost like she was expecting something. Though I have no idea what she might have been expecting! haha

Booking it away after she initially spotted me:










My camera thought the blackberry bushes were cooler than Duke...but I think it came out kind of cool. This was one of her "stop and assess" moments:











Then, later, after I was done feeding (and when it was almost dark = bad quality) a Red Breasted Sapsucker appeared on my "bird food tree"! (I really like wild birds so I have a suet feeder and a seed feeder in a tree near the shed)
They're one of my most favorite birds ever (I'm a woodpecker nut but these guys get me even more than the average woodpecker) so I was really excited. They're a mid-high elevation bird so where I live is close to the lowest they come (Lacey's at 850ft above sea level) so you don't usually get to see them.













SO CUTE. :happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

It snowed AGAIN today!! Usually we don't get nearly this much snow. I LOVE it! Last year we had one snow , tops, and so far, in the last 4 weeks we've had three. :happydance:
I sure do love me some snow.

Next week I go back to school.     I'm bummed. It's gonna be another term of the 8-5 thing. GROSS. Luckily I've fixed it so I only have school Monday-Thursday but still. GROSS.
My next break starts March 14th so I'm already looking forward to that. :lol:

On the Hazel front, she's being really really confusing. I thought for sure she was prego, I saw udder stuff happening, etc, now I'm not so sure... I thought her belly was getting bigger but now it doesn't seem so much bigger anymore. And I keep reading about people feeling heads and body parts of babies inside the doe prior to them making an appearance into the world and I just can't feel anything like that. SO CONFUSED. I tried doing something called "bouncing" to her yesterday, where you basically pick up her stomach and see what you feel, however, I have no idea what I'm supposed to be feeling. I didn't feel anything that screamed "baby"... She certainly thought I was helping her exercise interesting muscles! :lol: I got licked for my trouble.
Whatever, she can be pregnant if she wants but she doesn't have to be. I still like her anyway. If she is, she'll have them before Feb 10 so I guess we'll see! And if Feb 10 comes and goes, well, we'll know. 
Darn goat. 

Anyhoo, I have a video of Lacey being a dork - she was trying EVERYTHING she could think of to avoid going in. I'm not really sure why since she was cold (it was 28* out and will get down to 19* tonight!) and wet (from the snow) and it was windy...but whatever. It was still funny. I eventually had to get my lead rope around her neck and "force" her in cuz she just wasn't going there on her own! :lol:
But I got her in and she got wrapped in her snuggly heavy blanket, got fed, and got extra hay...so I think she realized that life in her stall is pretty good afterall. hahaha







Then PICTURES.

From yesterday, it's been super frosty the last few days and I adore the texture that leaves on the leaves+grass.










Today.

A white horse in a snow storm. Hardyharhar!



















Happy little guy!










Majesta-goat!










"I whip my hair back and forth, I whip my hair back and forth!"










This bird. Do you see him, near the middle, sitting on the suet? He was cheeping and cheeping. Adorable. I also love that he's sitting inside my ghetto suet feeder. Such a cutie!





















That is all! :happydance:
Also, happy New Year! You all better be being safe! Make good choices! :wink: [my friends call that "Grandma Wallaby"...I'm prepping for being 80]


----------



## tinyliny

I super love this one:











Is it the new camera? if so, I take back what I said earlier. This would make a good photo for cards .
you can send me a copy if you get bored.


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Caroline!  That one's my favorite too. 
It is the new camera! I'm slowlyyyy figuring it out. :lol:


It's SO COLD today! There's a high wind advisory (for gusts of over 35ph) out and it's just basically the worst outside. 32* and sunny but windchill is also super high. Luckily, I suppose, since it's sunny, it's warmer in the sun but still. One of those days that calls you to be outside but then you go outside and are all "Just kidding, guys, just kidding."

Poor Hazel was shivering SO BAD this morning with just her 200g "nighttime" blanket on, even while she was still snuggled in her hay-bed. I put her purple blanket (100g) on her, over the 200g, and she stopped shivering as much. Still a little shiver here and there but not teeth chattering like she had been. Poor thing!
Atticus, of course, "doesn't feel cold" :wink: so he was perfectly happy. I guess that's just the difference in goats! 
Atticus's breeds (LaMancha and Alpine) both come from colder places so he's basically genetically prepared for the cold. Hazel, on the other hand, was invented for more of an arid sort of landcape. Perhaps arid cold, at times, but not humid cold like we get here.

Anyway, I'm just thankful I have two blankets for her!


Lacey was still snug in her HW and was a little bummed when I did not take it off her for the day. However, I think if I had taken it off, she would have quickly decided she wanted it back on. :lol:
It's so cold, her poop was even frozen where she left it! I felt like I was mucking rocks vs actual poop. haha
But yeah, she happily ate her breakfast and went galloping out into the pasture like some sort of queen. Wind makes her frisky! ...friskier than usual...


Everyone's water was frozen again but I had brought a thermos of boiling water with me so I was able to create a drinking hole in the ice layers. haha

*spook*










"HAY!!"










"Hrmmmmm, do you have foodz?"










Hairy chin!










Ice..on a plant.












Then, Atticus thought he would play with his wall "friend"... It did not go so well for him.


----------



## Wallaby

Still stupid cold. 
I spit on the ground prior to feeding and when I came back after feeding, 15 minutes later, said spit was totally frozen. SO NOT OK. [but also super cool]
I would be happy if it were this cold but not windy... The wind makes everything so much worse. Die wind, die! :lol:

Nothing really new to report.

On the Hazel front, she seemed MUCH happier today. I think double blanketing as the trick.
Her back legs are REALLY stiff though, poor dear. I'm sure it's the cold getting to them. 
In terms of "goat years" Hazel is the equivalent to a 63 year old lady while Lacey, in horse years, is about 82. However, out of the two of them, Hazel definitely seems older. Poor thing! I know it's slow going with her and that probaly eventually she'll feel better...but I want her to feel better NOW!
She's basically walking around bending her hocks+stifles as little as possible, like a bow-legged cowboy. 
I ordered her a "real" joint supplement tonight which should arrive in about a week. Hopefully that'll give her some relief when it gets here. I currently have her on MSM, like Lacey, but it's really not cutting it with her.

It doesn't help that Atticus is so desperate for someone to play with that he's started jumping on her patootie, then when she turns around to correct him, he leaps away and starts running around like they're playing. And since she's really not feeling so great, she's certainly not going to go chasing after him to put him in his place! 
Jerk goat! Atticus is basically like a kid who needs Super Nanny to come lay the law down on him. "Amusingly", if he knows I'm watching, he won't even try to do that to her. But as soon as my back is turned... 
The only things I have for pain relief are Devil's Claw+Yucca (which I've heard is bad for preggo animals and since she's possibly preggo...), Bute (which I've heard is the worst for ruminants), and MSM. Maybe I'll give her a bigger dose of MSM tomorrow, perhaps that'll help.

Darn Atticus! Grow up, please! 
He's very respectful to me and Lacey...just no one else. Lil jerk. :wink:

On the Lacey front, I basically made her day today. I've been boiling a pot of water morning+evening which I put in a thermos and carry up to melt the ice in her water tank. It usually only takes about half the thermos of water to melt a reasonable drinking hole and I had just been pouring the rest in the tank...but that seemed like sort of a waste of boiling water.
Today I added that leftover half to Lacey's breakfast grain, turning it into a warm mash, and BOY! She was SO happy. Usually she's a little distracted as she eats but not during breakfast today! She was GLUED to her bucket, with her eyes half closed, slurping away at her alfalfa pellets+rice bran+MSM+mineral supplement. 
Then in the evening I did it again, but also realized that perhaps I should give her some raspberry leaves to help her settle about the all the wind (she was ok yesterday about the wind but today the constant stress seems to be really wearing on her). SO I added raspberry leaves and lo and behold, she got raspberry tea for dinner! She basically could not believe her mouth when she tasted that. Pure joy.
It was adorable, I love that girl.
Anyhoo, someone is going to be getting hot water everyday while it's so cold out. 



Pictures!

yesterday evening.










That time when you feel like you're petting a polar bear..but it's just a VERY FURRY horse.










This morning.
happy happy happy with her warm mash.










My muck bucket got really blown away...I had to walk all the way down to the pasture to get it... EXERCISE! :lol:



















Captain Cool.
She got to wear a flymask today. Her right (already bad) eye was looking a little swollen. I'm going to give her bute tomorrow to hopefully get it back from whatever it's thinking it wants to do.











:happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

you should open an old folks home for critters. you treat them and love them so nice.


----------



## Wallaby

Awww :hug:
I would seriously love that though. Seriously a lot. Like those retirement "centers" for older horses, oh yes.
That's kind of my secret dream for the far future. I'm not sure if I'll ever get there since that's kind of an expensive proposition, BUT I'd sure love it. I used to think it would just be for older horses but Hazel here is showing me that my old creature love does not stop with just horse. :lol:



Today I did SO MUCH STUFF. 
I went and bought 1 bale of alfalfa (140#) and 5 of grass hay (60-80# each), stuffed all that in my van, then got it all moved down to the shed (all by myself, with the help of Mr. Handcart. Thank goodness for handcarts!!!). Then I had to come back to my house, get water all heated for water buckets, drove that back up to the pasture, put it in water buckets, groomed Hazel (she hadn't had her blankets off in a few days so she needed some lovin'), fed everybody, and now I'm taking a little break between that and cooking dinner (my "job" every night for my family).
I'm tired. :lol:
My brother was supposed to help me with the hay today (I usually get less and get it on my own but I wanted to stock up this week because I could) but he somehow, miraculously, "forgot" until right before he had some kind of appointment to go to. Funny how that works!! :rofl: But it was ok, I got it done and now I don't have to move hay again for maybe 2 weeks. And I won't need to get more alfalfa for probably 6 weeks. Yay! 
We generally go through a bale of grass hay every 3-ish days and a bale of alfalfa takes at least 3 weeks to go through. I currently have half a bale of alfalfa out, then this new one, and I had half a bale of grass left that's now down to a single flake post-dinnertime. Woot woot.


I have nothing much more to report except to say that it looks like Hazel maaaaaay be loosing her "mucus plug", if she is preggo. I'm still confused but the "stuff" that's been leaving her lady-parts all day today looks suspiciously like the pictures I've seen of mucus plugs. They can start loosing them anywhere from 6 weeks to one day before delivery...so it doesn't mean a whole lot. 
It could also mean she's in heat but Angora does have their fall cycles from September-November...this would be SUPER late for her to be in heat.
If this is a mucus plug, well, that could line up with an early February due date....
Anyway, color me confused.
And that was probably way more that you wanted to ever hear about the personal areas of my old lady goat. :wink:

To apologize, here are some pictures. 

Queen of the Wind!
[those raspberry leaves were a good choice yesterday, she was so much calmer and more relaxed today]










Mt. Hood - it had clouds blowing over its top and so kinda looked like it was wearing a little hat... :lol:










"WHERE ARE MY BLANKETS."










Lacey snuck into the tack room after I put her in her stall, while I was shutting the "gate", and preemptively ate half her dinner...










She was not sorry. :wink:
She's basically addicted to raspberry "tea" now. This morning she was trying to get her head OVER to the 6ft door to get at her breakfast (she's 14.1, it did not work out so well for her).










Atti!!










Miss Hazel.
I figured out a way to move their hay net into their stall and she LOVES it in there. This morning I found her sleeping under it (usually she sleeps in the right corner of the stall).












That's all for now! :happydance:


----------



## Lockwood

Wallaby said:


>


She's looking at the mountain too. They both have the same hair do.



> I have nothing much more to report except to say that it looks like Hazel maaaaaay be loosing her "mucus plug", if she is preggo. I'm still confused but the "stuff" that's been leaving her lady-parts all day today looks suspiciously like the pictures I've seen of mucus plugs. They can start loosing them anywhere from 6 weeks to one day before delivery...so it doesn't mean a whole lot.
> It could also mean she's in heat but Angora does have their fall cycles from September-November...this would be SUPER late for her to be in heat.
> If this is a mucus plug, well, that could line up with an early February due date....
> Anyway, color me confused.


Welcome to the world of pregnant or maybe pregnant goats. Some of them will keep you guessing right up until you see little furballs nursing. :lol:


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## TheRoundPen

Lockwood said:


> Welcome to the world of pregnant or maybe pregnant goats. Some of them will keep you guessing right up until you see little furballs nursing. :lol:


I've learned quite well that they can hide it. But it's so much fun once they are born! I'm looking to maybe breed my doe this month or next for some little kids. haha


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## Wallaby

Hahaha, Leah, they totally did have the same 'do! I hadn't noticed that! Too funny! :lol:
That certainly seems to be the game she's playing! Gosh darn goat. I think she just likes all the extra attention she's getting from everyone by being the prospective mama-to-be.....correction: I think she likes all the extra food. :rofl:

So I've heard, TRP! I really really want lil babehs to play with now. :lol:

I'm almost starting to get excited about going back to school. At least, I've missed my Monday/Wednesday-class friends and luckily we all managed to get a Monday/Wednesday class together this term...so I'm seeing them on Monday! I'm looking forward to it. 
Not looking forward to school so much, mainly my Sign Language class...I think I've forgotten every bit of ASL I learned over the last term...except for "unicorn"... :rofl:
Otherwise, my classes this term are pretty great so I'm excited about them...just not Sign Language. Plus side, that's one of my Monday/Wednesday classes that I have with a friend. Friends make everything less terrible.
My other class with friends is "Greek History". That one I'm super looking forward to. We were in "Roman History" together last term and we discovered that the same prof is teaching Greek History this coming term, at the same time as Roman last term! So we made that happen (these are the friends I was trying to hide my animal-ness from... hahahaha).
Then on Tuesdays+Thursdays I have "History of Africa: Pre-1800" and "Jazz History". Those should both be pretty great. I really like Jazz and Africa really interests me so I'm totes on board with that.
Yep, I'm a History major...does it show?? :rofl:


Nothing great happened today...again. I'm bored. hahaha 
My Friday lesson kid came for her lesson, we had a great time, then I hung out with Lacey+the G's, then I ran errands with a friend I hadn't seen in a while, it was pretty good. Tonight I'm making French Onion Soup for dinner = my fave.

HOWEVER, I decided to take an "above the belly" picture of Miss Hazel, to compare to one I had taken a few weeks ago, right after I discovered that she miiiight be pregnant and I'm thinkinggg we might have a baby belly happening. Not 100% sure but her right side is definitely bigger than it was... [a goat's rumen -the "fermentation vat" they use to digest things they eat- is on her left side, babies would be on the right] (her head is ^ in both pictures, btw)
Again with the speculation! :rofl:











That's today's "excitement".


I took a few more pictures today...hopefully you aren't tired of seeing Lacey+the G's's faces yet... :wink:

Lacey decided to demonstrate, again, how well she can sniff over the door. I guess she heard about how you "wanted" to see her being addicted to her "tea"! hahaha










"My tea is in here and I can't reach it!! HOW DARE YOU."










This was hilarious. I was trying to get a side shot of Miss Haze and boy, she was none to pleased about that. I know it doesn't show in her face _at all_. HILARIOUS. 
I also love how she parked all out like a TWH or something. Silly girl!










Nap time!










Green grass+goatie goats. Haze was lying down a whole lot today... I figure probably because it finally got up to 40* today and the wind has finally stopped = time to get out of the shed for the first time really all week and sunbathe!










:happydance:


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## tinyliny

Wallaby,
I really think you should look at creating a blog. You could get enough followship that you could actually make money with advertisers buying space on it. Your photos are very appealing, and sometimes gorgeous. But, they are what they are because of your narrations.


*Right, everyone?*


----------



## Lockwood

Das Right!


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## TheRoundPen

I would follow it Wallaby  One thing I would recommend if you do start a blog though is putting a copyright on your pictures


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## tinyliny

And a watermark. You can buy online watermarking programs for about 40$ or less. I had one and when I got my new laptop, I didn't bother to buy a new one. I should, I know.


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## TheRoundPen

tinyliny said:


> And a watermark. You can buy online watermarking programs for about 40$ or less. I had one and when I got my new laptop, I didn't bother to buy a new one. I should, I know.


It may take a little more time, but you can even use GIMP to create and do it. I've tried paid programs and GIMP is my favorite. haha. There are probably some other free graphic programs that will work just the same.


----------



## Wallaby

Maybe I'll try making one this summer.  It seems like I have so little time to update things when I'm in school...and that's sad. Better to be committed to something already THEN go back to school (kinda how this journal is still going! :lol.

Good thinking about the watermark. I need to look into that. I know there's some way that you can change the picture's...something, so that when it's right-clicked (to steal or print without the rest of the blog/webpage) you just can't. I hate the look of watermarked/copyrighted pictures (since if you don't put the mark directly over the subject, usually, if someone was inclined, it would generally be pretty easy for them to just crop the mark right out) so I've been resistant... But I proooobably should figure out a way to do something to them one of these days... haha



So poor Lacey, Hazel, and Atticus. They don't know where I've gone and they aren't too happy.
On Monday, the goats were huddled int their stall and made SUCH A RUCKUS when I got home. Lacey was outside next to the shed, on the right side, and nearly killed me when she came cantering+bucking around the shed to "greet" me. Yeah, that was fun. Having a nearly blind horse canter-bucking down a muddy hill that you're standing at the bottom of...she skidded to a stop about a foot from me... My favorite. 
She was REALLY happy though! hahaha

Then yesterday I got out of class an hour early, since it was the first day, so I was home by 4 instead of 5. 
I basically felt like a mom of little kids as soon as I got into the pasture. Everyone was trying to get my attention in one way or another and the goats were following me EVERYWHERE. Lacey ended up biting Atticus because he wanted in on "her" mom- time and it was just super silly. Hazel acted all superior when it was time for her blanket to be changed "look at me, guys. Mom is paying attention to ME! HAH." It was super funny.
Poor dears. Everybody got hugs and love yesterday but they were pretty sure that was not "enough".

Then, this morning I headed over to feed and discovered that Lacey had gotten stuck in her fence again... I'm not sure HOW she did it but she managed to get her head between the chicken-wire bottom section and the top "electric" tape section, then get the middle "supporting" t-post somehow right in front of her chest...like a buggy or something.
Luckily it was easy to get her out and she was really pretty relaxed about it. She wasn't thrilled (throwing her head around all over the place like "I'M STUCK! YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN HERE FASTER! This is so FRUSTRATING!!") but she knew I was going to save her so she just stood there until I told her "ok". 
She could have easily just gotten herself totally out one way or another, had she tried, but she didn't. She's such a good girl.

I don't know WHY she keeps trying this getting out thing. She's totally fine when she's in for a long long time (ie, during the break, she would be in her stall from 3pm on Sunday to 9:30am on Monday) but last term she did the same thing. My first week of school and she's getting herself super tangled in fencing.
Maybe it's an attention thing? I don't know.
In any case, this weekend I'm going to change that section of fence AGAIN so she can't get her head through it at all. Silly goose-girl!!


In Hazel news, her belly is MONSTROUS. Those babies are seriously doing some exponential growth. It seems like everyday she's bigger. WHAT IS HAPPENING.
She's been being a bit more "meh" lately but I figure that's just late pregnancy stuff. She's still eating happily and seems really happy on a daily level...just uncomfortable!

I had a dream last night that she gave birth to fully grown cats... I hope not. I love cats but I want goat babies!!!! haha

I got a kidding stall (around her favorite "bedtime" snuggle spot so I know she loves it) all set up for her last Saturday so we're set for whenever she decides to have them.
Hopefully soon!! Hopefully on a Thursday/Friday so I can have a whole weekend with them! 
I don't think birth is imminent but we might looking at maybe two weeks... Her udder is changing more and it's just starting to seem to fill a little teensy bit more everyday (before it was a more weekly change-thing).

Then, the saddest, most pathetic thing you have ever seen:

"Please, please come home."










OH MY WORD. HAZEL. JUST STOP. Emotional tortureeeeee!!!!



And that is all for now.  :happydance:


----------



## SaddleStrings

Come on Hazel, give us some little goat babies!


----------



## Wallaby

RIGHT??! Hazel's being SUCH A JERK. :wink:

I don't have much of a true update but I do have a ridiculous amount of pictures!!  It felt so good to hold my camera after a week of no camera time! haha

OH! But, on the Hazel front, I think we're getting closer...a bit. Supposedly sometime before she gives birth, her "lady area" is supposed to start looking "puffy" and redder, color-wise. Well, today we have marked puffier-ness AND some redness! I made a comparison collage that I'll link to, just so no one is forced to experience goat lady-parts.
Still no real udder but it seems to be slowly slowly filling each day...I'm figuring that she'll be one of those "sudden" fillers. I guess we'll see!
Pooch-y link:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/HnEyAEf4_3CCbwTKcjwFz7VxuXZhGEOeMt4T94uHdho?feat=directlink



Anyhoo, pictures!

It snowed again today. Lacey was not very thrilled.










"Lense cap? Can I haz?"










Oh yeah! I got a kidding (still want to call it foaling...hahaha) stall all set up for Haze. 
Any additions anyone can think of? 
There's a deep hay bed for the back...probably 4x4 area, then a wooden pallet with a plank of wood over it for the front bit. 
The concern I have is that the wooden area and the stall front don't exactly meet. There's probably a 6 inch gap between the stall front and the wood area. It's only maybe a 4 inch drop to the ground and would be impossible for anyone to get stuck UNDER but I don't know if there's something else dangerous about that I haven't thought of?
Oh, and the hay in the back. I've just been adding fresh hay on top of soiled hay for quite some time... Should I do a thorough clean out this weekend? Or since it'll be clean hay on top when she goes, does it matter?
That green fencing on the "front" of the gate will close to form a door that'll keep Haze+babies in and Atti out.










Judgmental goat is judgmental.










"LOLz, I have ze legz and ze belly!!"










RUN!










I love the relationship Haze and Lacey have. 
They're so mean yet loving to each other. Not unlike some elderly, human, BFFs I have met! hahaha










Running some more!










Atticus: "WAT.JUST.HAPPENED. PANICKING."










"Wait for me, guys!!"










She was glued to my leg all day. I _think _she _may_ have missed me this week....










Buddies.













That's all folks!

:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

I just realized I missed two pictures!! And one was my favorite from today - can't have THAT!!

Just cuz she's cute... There were deer in the far pasture and I think she had just seen them running or something but couldn't figure out WHAT they were because she went on high alert:










Then, my favorite. 
I guess she decided to show her Arab side! 
And I love how her long mane is making her neck look... I would like to just hug this picture. 











Also, I find it super hilarious that she's SO butt-high that in that picture, she looks built uphill...because her back feet are at least 6 inches lower than her front feet. :rofl:


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## Lockwood

Good call on the collage and good eye grasshopper to notice the differences!
BTW, did that file show up ok?

If there is enough moisture and some manure pellets in that old hay that is stacking up, it might start to compost and generate some heat. Some farmers use this technique to help the animals stay warmer in the winter.
It’s called the Deep Bedding method, and it basically consists of setting a good base for compost and letting the animals do the work, then clean it all out down to the floor come spring. 
Well, ok.... it is a bit more complex than that, but not hard to achieve. A google search should get you pointed in the right direction. 

Just a note, although I'm sure you already know… goat baby births are mess-ey! A *lot* of fluid… so be prepared to dig some of that out afterwards and replace it with fresh. But once dry, deep bedding gives the kids a snuggly place to sleep and hopefully divert them from the space under the platform.
If you do find the area too wet/damp you can pull the old hay back, spread fresh pellet bedding or shavings, then put the dry old hay back on top again. 
Hazel may be one of the “dig a hole to China” moms who like to put their kids in a hidey hole for warmth and security.

Can’t remember if I mentioned it before, but I really like the names from your name list.


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## TheRoundPen

I will agree that they are messy! We once had a goat and her water was so much and it ended up bouncing off of the ground into some of the faces of the people watching. Eww! Haha.

What kind of camera do you use? I really love the pictures, and I'm into photography so it's just me being curious as to what people use to get nice action shots


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## Wallaby

Hah, thanks Leah! The collages have really been helping me see changes...or not. Keeping me sane...depending on your definition of sanity...!! hahahaha
I have heard of that, that kindaaa what I've been going for...without actually committing. haha!
I will Google search it!
Is it sanitary enough though? That's my main concern. I've read about dipping navels+hooves in iodine post-birth but I know that even that isn't necessarily enough to keep them safe. 
I'm beginning to understand how grandmas feel, possibly. No telling when the baby is coming, just waiting nervously and hoping that everything will be fine! haha!

Yes, on the bedding front, luckily my feed store has been having a $1 off bedding sale (usually $5 per #40 bag of wood pellets, during January it's $4/bag! How did they know?!) so I have a few spare bags of that (though I don't usually use wood pellets for the G's since their stall is generally so amp anyway and the wood pellets seem to just suck that dampness up and on to the G's - but for birth clean up=perfect) and I went to the feed store yesterday and got 5 more bales of hay. I hadn't wanted to but for some reason everyone ate more hay last week and since births are messy, like you said, I didn't want to be stingy about bedding them all down.
So now I have 8 #70 bales of grass hay stuffed into in my little 6x5 hay area. Getting hay down to use is currently interesting...but I feel rather prepared so that's ok, I suppose. 
Any case, that should mean that in the event of a REALLY unbelievably messy blessed event, I could even use an entire bale of hay getting things cleaned up...if I wanted. I hope it won't come to that but I could. :lol:

I also have a little birthing kit all made up and up at the barn (towels, iodine, gloves, kiddo blankets, floss for umbilical cords, clean scissors, selenium+VitE should they need that -I did dose Haze myself a few weeks ago+have been giving her Vit E daily, but you never know, etc) so I feel ok on that front. 


One thing that I think I'm most nervous about it that I DID dose her with Valbazen while she was still within the first 45 days of her pregnancy. I had no idea then and no reason to suspect I shouldn't give it to her but I'm a bit worried about the possible effects... I know that generaly it causes abortion so obviously on that front we're "ok" but I have read about other side effects... I'm sure they'll be fine, just I want to make sure!! haha

Great to know about the hole digging! I did know that they did some digging but that's a relief o know that if she starts "digging a hole to China", not a bad sign. 

She hasn't started licking a lot yet. ...or should I say, more than usual. She did sidle up to me today and give my hand a few good licks which was a bit unusual for her, but it wasn't anything really crazy or driven. Just a few "let's be buds" licks. And she does like to lick my face everyday when I take off/put on her blanket. But those are both pretty normal for her. I'm sure I'll know labor driven licking when I see it! hahaha!

:hug: Leah, you're the best. 
I didn't get your message before locking everybody in for the night (Hazel's in the kidding stall, Atti is in the rest of the pen - Hazel seemed THRILLED to be by herself, Atti=not so much, haha) so no side pictures but I'll try to get one tomorrow morning right fter her blanket comes off. 
BUT, I do have a patootie collage! :rofl: 
I don't know if you can see this, but the top of her udder in today's picture is wider vs yesterday's. Not by a whole lot but there's action!
We're not up to risen bread level though.. I think...maybe? :wink: haha!

Link: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/gQcclfByOYT8hHBmh0ieP7VxuXZhGEOeMt4T94uHdho?feat=directlink

Hahaha! That's DISGUSTING, TRP!! I so hope that does not happen to me. GROSS. :rofl: But, with my luck, that will absolutely happen to me. hahaha
Oh thanks for the picture compliments! 
I used to use a Nikon CoolPix P5000 which is a pretty handy all around camera. It doesn't have a great zoom but otherwise it was really ok for what it was.
Then, for Christmas, I was given a Nikon CoolPix P510. I'm still getting the hang of it but so far it's been far more versatile than the other camera (P5000). My favorite thing about it is the optical zoom. I've never used one before and it's basically my favorite! I love having the zoom without sacrificing quality! haha
I would have liked a "real" DSLR but you know, beggars can't be choosy!!





Today's pictures!
I think we're getting closer with Haze but it's not 911 time yet. She is having her first night in the kidding stall, with Atticus locked out! She seemed to really be loving having her own "bedroom" when I put them all in for the night. We'll see how she feels in the morning when I go up to let them all out, but for now, she's a happy girl!

Lacey had a great day. She and the goats went on a little adventure to the bottom of the valley in their pasture. There's a creek down there and it's very steep going down...but I guess Lacey's bored! 
In any case, I went up to feed this evening and couldn't see anyone anywhere. So I started calling and next thing I know, I hear this thundering noise and here Lacey comes, galloping up the hill like she's going to slide backwards if she slowed down. :lol: She was very proud of herself when I met her at the top of the hill and everybody happily headed down to the shed, like they had just done some real work. :rofl:
She also got to go "naked" again today which seems to be one of her really favorite things these days.
Since I'm not riding her, there's really no need for her to be really clean all the time, so on sunny+dry days with no/little wind, she gets to be free of blankets during the day. She definitely gets blanketed at night though!

Atticus is being a general pain in the patootie. He's just such an active little guy and no one wants to play with him. Hopefully these babies will be his playmates, at least for a while! But he is trying to be good so I have hope for him!

PICTURES.

"Guys, don't you like my kidding stall? I am oh so happy with it."










Besties.










Troublemaker! I tried to bring him something to stand on and THAT is what he did to it. Silly guy!



















Marina the llama was very interested in me today...



















Then this was just cool - somehow the dandelion got ice on it! 















That's all! :happydance:


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## Lockwood

Ok, it wasn’t until after I finished I realized this is a book. Sorry to hijack…..again. 

My kids and alpaca babies are born on deep bedding and I’ve never had a problem. I dip navels generously three to four times in the first 24 to 36 hours and I’ve never dipped hooves. 
Be sure yours is a gentle iodine concentration, and if not Nolvasan/surgical/wound scrub solution works well too. 
It is the under layers that generate the heat and so long as the top layer is clean, you’ll be surprised at how tidy and un-smelly it really is.
I’ve been using this for the goats and alps for 5 years now. It is easier to achieve with the goats though because alps have a tendency to pile everything up in one place. Not compost friendly!

Mess- if you are able to figure out when they are coming, you can put down the pellets or shavings just before, then clean back up after. This is way more absorbent than hay anyway and if you don’t clean up the hay really well, it can cause… stink… if you know what I mean.
If you happen to be there, you can use newspaper, clean paper feed sacks, or cheap toweling to wipe and clean kids. Be sure whatever it is, you can throw a way.....as there will be lots of stringy gunk and you will NOT want to wash these in the washing machine after (go ahead… ask me how I know this.:wink
I use generic Puppy Pads. You know, those little pads you put down for a puppy to pee on while you are trying to house train them? (Which defeats the whole purpose of training a puppy *not *to pee in the house… but that‘s rant for another day)
Anyway, those are a little spendy but work great and then I toss them in the trash.

Your kit sounds good, the only thing you might find helpful is one of those little snot suckers bulbs. You can find them in the baby section of the discount or drug store, or perhaps the dollar store. They are a soft squeezable bulb with a small spout on the end. It is to suck boogers and snot from the nose of infants. I know… TMI, but they are really helpful to suck mucus (of which there will be lots) from the mouth and nose of the babies.
They look like this:










Valbazen- Nothing you can do now so don‘t beat yourself up about it. It was the previous owners mistake for not telling you the full story. Chances are slim anyway.
Pic- I see the elongation under the tail, but she is not yet starting the “dough” stage. 
Her udder looks like it still needs more activity too. The good thing is because you are really paying attention to the details, you will see the changes very well because you already know what her “normal” is and is not. This is what I meant by the “signs will read like a story.”
I will say this- for a newbie you are most prepared! 
:clap::thumbsup:
Heck, you make some of the old timers look like noobs! LOL

Oh, one last thing… in the kidding stall… hang up the water bucket so just Hazel can reach it. Many a new kid has drowned in buckets that were on the floor. They are curious, then fall in and aren’t coordinated enough to get back out right away, then they get chilled and can’t get out. Plus with fiber animals they take on so much water they are too heavy to get out.
Don’t worry, they will get plenty of liquid from Hazel and won’t even need a water bucker for several weeks. Then you can put it back down and she will teach them how to drink from it.

Cinder blocks are a goat owners best friend! If you can find some old free ones you can make a mini mountain. Wears the hooves down a little and is great for jumping on and off of. Some people will pick up human kid outdoor play things at garage sales and put them out for goats too, like a big plastic slide or something with a wide base.
Marina is pretty! And as always… lovely pics! 
:happydance:


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## TheRoundPen

It was disgusting! Hahaha. And I will add another thing, my goats were picky about where the kidded. Most of them did not kid in the barn, they choose outside instead. You definitely know what's not normal for her so you should be able to tell. Good luck


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## Wallaby

Thanks you two!  :hug:


Well, of course, Hazel is being wily...again.
Is she pregnant? Is she not pregnant? Only time will tell. I'm about to start tearing my hair out. haha

At the beginning of the week, after I separated Haze from Atti overnight as a precaution, every morning when I let her out, she'd let Atticus mount her and "go at it".
Super confusing because, according to what I've read, Angoras breed September-November ...which I assumed (possibly naively) meant that Hazel should not be going into heat right now...since it's January...
So there's that, but then, I continued to separate them for 4 nights, thinking that, if she was in heat, she should only be in for 3 days... Well, she continued to let him mount her and as soon as I let her out overnight, all mounting ceased....

Maybe it was dominance related? But I thought he was the "underling"? But, I have read that Alpines are generally the dominant ones in the herd (I guess they're sassy?) and he IS half Alpine.... SO CONFUSED.
I'm again watching her lady-parts like a hawk because if they go back to being shrivelly, then I figure we'll know. They still look basically the same right now as they did last weekend...
Gosh darn you, Hazel! haha

If she's going to have babies, it'll be by February 10th (155 days since September 7th, the day I brought them home) so at least there's an outer limit.

The other confusing thing is that I've felt movements on her right side (where babies would be) that I don't feel on her left side and that I don't feel on Atticus...but they aren't feelings that say "THIS IS A KICK!"... Initially I thought for sure they were a kick but then, and maybe I'm over thinking this, I started doubting it...
Her belly is also quite a bit firmer than Atticus'...if that makes any sense. His is soft and sort of "floppy" (for lack of a better word) and hers is harder and "full" feeling...
I wish she could speak!!

I took a little video of her walking around...in case the moving visual would be helpful for any experts out there... To me, she walks a bit...funny. But I'm not sure how much of that is her feet hurting (she's had one foot thing after the other - first it was hoof rot and now she seems to have some fungal thing like mud fever, tea tree oil mud fever ointment is working great to clear it up but for now it seems to hurt her) and how much is anything "real", you know?






Anyway, enough with this worrying stuff, time for pictures!!

Oh! But before we do pictures, Lacey wanted me to show you guys how pro she is at rolling. :wink:






PICTURES!

I just about died of cute when I found everybody like this:










"Cute, GROSS."










"My molehill is NOT cute and it's nice to me. It would NEVER think I'm cute."










I just love her hair!










"Me. PICK. ME."










"HURRRR! I'm a HORSE."



















Look at this cutie. Starting to look like an old lady!
I never realized how much work went into keeping her topline up!!










Awwws.










TROT!











Oh! And from the other day. This one was pretty cute.










Oh! And today it was officially noted that Lacey IS shedding. 1. That means I hopefully won't need to body clip her (that was up for debate since last year, when she lost most of the rest of her sight, she was already mostly shed out so I was concerned that she might not really shed this year), 2. SPRING IS COMING. And 3. It's almost May, almost time to try out the ol' riding thing again! Fingers crossed she's sound enough for that!

I hope you all are doing great!
:happydance:


----------



## Lockwood

So I was curious about Angora breeding cycles. I figured they are “seasonal breeders” which usually means August to Feb. Goats that come from cold climates are seasonal and goats who come from warmer climates like Nigerians, Boars, and Nubians are considered more year ‘round breeders.

Here is what I found-
*“Breeding Angora Goats*
Angoras breed seasonally, usually from August through January. Does are induced into estrus by the presence of a buck and cycle every 19 to 21 days until pregnant. Artificial insemination in Angoras is not common, so most breeding is done by a live buck that runs with the doe herd for the two or three months of breeding season.”

Now it’s not unusual to see elongation and redness in the “lady parts” during heat cycles and even some minor udder changes, but the udder should return to normal between cycles, which it doesn’t seem like she is doing.
False pregnancy is not the most common in goats, but it might be worth poking around to see if maybe this could be what is happening.
I’m not an expert and as such, can’t tell a whole lot from the video beyond how ell cared for and loved she is. 
If she isn’t pregnant, she has developed a very healthy rumen (big square rumen = good thing) so at least you have that. 

Fias Co Farm/Goats- Prenatal Care Preparation for Kidding & Signs Labor
I’m sure you have already seen this page, but scroll to the white goat at the bottom.
It is possible that if Hazel is pregnant she is carrying in a similar fashion as the white (well technically called cream) goat and her udder (Hazel’s) could also be high and tight like the cream colored goat’s. 
(The dark goat at the top of the page is how a dairy goat udder typically looks. Like my goats too.)
It would be easy to mistake the cream doe as a normal doe with lots of healthy “bloom.” 

Didn’t know if this might help too-
*“Later Palpation* 
Movements of the fetuses can often be palpated between 3½ to 4 months. Put the doe on a stanchion. Put the heels of your hands together and spread your fingers wide apart. Place your hands just in front of the udder with your fingers extending into the flanks. Press upward into the belly and hold for a few seconds. You may feel one or more kids moving. The right flank is the most promising area to feel movement, as the rumen takes a lot of room on the left. It is somewhat difficult to palpate kids in fat does than those in appropriate condition. A small single fetus may sometimes avoid detection, especially in the presence of an exceptionally large amount of amniotic fluid. “

If it were yourself, try to equate the area with below and to the right of your belly button, but not as far as your hip bone. What could be considered inside the flank in a human I suppose.
I did read that it can be harder to feel kids in the more experienced does. Just what you wanted hear… right? 

...awaiting on pins and needles here...
Is she? 
Isn't she? 
And how many???


----------



## Wallaby

:hug: You're the best!  You have no idea how comforting it is to have someone who's super goat-smart to help me out with all my little Hazel-panics! :lol:

I forgot to really feel her up today - I KNEW there was something I forgot. However, tomorrow if I get out of school early/Thursday when I am getting out of school early (my second class of the day has been cancelled so I get done at 11:30am! Then I never have class on Friday=Wooooh!) I'll try to give that a try. I wonder if having a stanchion makes it easier..getting her up to my height to feel things.... I'm a rather tall person and she, while not short, is not tall enough to make feeling her belly not super fatiguing. So when I've felt her, I've only been able to do it for a minute or two before I start dying. :lol: <---- 22 year old old lady right here! hahaha

Maybe I can get her up on something. I do have a rubbermaid box that Atticus's stood on without killing and he's heavier than Haze....I'll give it a try. And it's in the tackroom=no Atticus distractions (if I hold Haze still for too long, Atti starts pestering her because she can't retaliate, then I have to fend him off, etc).


Today her hoo-hah was UNBELIEVABLY loose and her back end looked...different. I can't put my finger on exactly what was different but something was definitely different this morning. By the evening she was looking normal again in her back end though so if it was her ligs, they aren't 100% gone.

GAH. Goats.





Anyway, in normal stuff news, Lacey has been doing super well! She's been loving the last week or so because it's been relatively temperate+sunny. So, she's been getting to go "naked" and not wear a blanket! Her favoriteeee.
Yesterday I even found her laying down, taking a nap in the sun - very rare for her to just be laying down happily.

On Friday, her favorite lesson kid came over and we practiced lunging. Lacey loves lunging but since her injury, we haven't been doing a whole lot of it because she thinks lunging is her "trotting time" and it's been important to keep her from over-stressing her joints. BUT, on Friday, the ground was dry enough that slipping wasn't likely and she's 100% sound now (and has been for a while) so I figured we could do some lunging.
I was so proud of both of them. Lacey started out really sassy and really challenging the kid but we kept going and by the time we were done, Lacey was being unbelievably soft and responsive to the little girl.
Before, Lacey would just watch me for cues but this time we actually got her listening to the girl!
Miss L even broke a sweat! The first time she's sweat ALLL winter. hahaha

The lesson kid was super proud of herself and I was proud of both of them. There's something truly special about a 1000lb creature responding to subtle cues from a little 90lb 10 year old! Why I teach lessons, right there. haha



Then, today, a rather large herd of deer came to visit. And I had my camera=PICTURES OF DEER. 











Ferdinand, the buck.










Baby Girl, she's last year's baby who was always getting left with Lacey while her momma went off to do deer-ly things. So, inside my head, I called her Baby Girl and it just stuck. She's super curious and ADORES Lacey, even still.










Ferdie.










Most of the deer. 
There were 7 does and Ferdinand. :shock:










This little lady decided it was nap time.



















"SHE SAID _WHAT_[email protected]!!!$&^Y*!!!"

[she was chewing her cud...hahaha]










Cutie.












That's all! I hope everybody is doing super great!! :happydance:


----------



## Lockwood

Wallaby said:


> :hug: You're the best!  You have no idea how comforting it is to have someone who's super goat-smart to help me out with all my little Hazel-panics! :lol:
> 
> I forgot to really feel her up today - I KNEW there was something I forgot. However, tomorrow if I get out of school early/Thursday when I am getting out of school early (my second class of the day has been cancelled so I get done at 11:30am! Then I never have class on Friday=Wooooh!) I'll try to give that a try. I wonder if having a stanchion makes it easier..getting her up to my height to feel things.... I'm a rather tall person and she, while not short, is not tall enough to make feeling her belly not super fatiguing. So when I've felt her, I've only been able to do it for a minute or two before I start dying. :lol: <---- 22 year old old lady right here! hahaha
> 
> Maybe I can get her up on something. I do have a rubbermaid box that Atticus's stood on without killing and he's heavier than Haze....I'll give it a try. And it's in the tackroom=no Atticus distractions (if I hold Haze still for too long, Atti starts pestering her because she can't retaliate, then I have to fend him off, etc).
> 
> 
> Today her hoo-hah was UNBELIEVABLY loose and her back end looked...different. I can't put my finger on exactly what was different but something was definitely different this morning. By the evening she was looking normal again in her back end though so if it was her ligs, they aren't 100% gone.
> 
> GAH. Goats.


Different is good. 

Stanchion- well I'm short, so if I use one for this then I have to stand on it too. :lol:
I usually stand behind the goat, like I'm going to give her a good back scratching, and run my hands down both the sides towards the flank. Being behind, or off the side towards the back hip/tail while facing the goat's head seems to put your hands in the right position and helpful.

Love the deer pics! 
Between your good eye and the new camera.... wowie!
(No novel this time.... it's a first! )


----------



## Lockwood

Erm....need baby update....
....having withdrawals here...
:lol:


----------



## Wallaby

Hahahahahahaha Leah! I like you.
If she had had babies, oh boy, this whole board would know. There would be NO ESCAPE!!!! :rofl:

Buuuuuut, coy goat is still playing coy:










Yup, no babies No new udder "improvements"...just same old Haze. 
She is laying down A LOT more than she was though... She even let me sit on the ground with her and stroke her today. Usually she gets up as soon as I start getting down to her level when she's laying down...
But she is an old lady so laying down is sort of to be expected.

I tried really feeling her belly today but nothing came of it. I thoughhhhht I felt something in there but I was really pushing so it could have been internal organs, rumen, baby, who knows. HAZEL. :lol:
This goat is going to be the death of me for sure.

I thiiiink I found ligaments today though! I found them on Atticus first then tried on Hazel. Her's were a lot less "there" than his were. His were definitly tight pencils and hers were iffy pencils. BUT, she has a more generous bottom than he does. He's definitely "dairy" (look at who's using the 'lingo'!!) and she's definitely not. She is bonier over her ribs and backbone, chunkier over her butt, and he's exactly the opposite. 
Anyway, I might have been feeling actual soft ligs or I might have been feeling chunk over normal ligs...
And maybe her ligs are just softer after having so many babies...I mean, she's never been able to lift her tail over her back. When she's excited, level is about as high as it gets (unlike Atticus who can curl it over his back if he wants).


So yeaaaaah. Plus side: only about 15 more days before it's been 155 days since I brought them home and we can be reasonably sure that she's "open" (if she doesn't pop a little one out).

Oh, but, Leah, I don't know if you've tried this/do this but I kind of feel like a genius: as a hair "improve-er" for Miss Hazel, human hair conditioner, mixed with lots of water, in a spray bottle. I did 1 tbsp or conditioner for 16oz of water and OH MY GOODNESS. It has curled her hair right back up and she is SO SOFT right now. She's always soft but not like this! And I can brush her without causing her undue pain via hair pulling... and the water re-curls her hair right up so I'm not messing up the curl by brushing it! :happydance:



Funny story:

Yesterday I took my cat to the vet. It was a young vet...like my age (well, a little older to have gone through vet school but he just graduated last spring soooo not too much). 
Uh yeah, he was a cute cute cute vet. I think my cat is probablyyyy mortally ill and needs this guy (who INSISTED that I call him by his first name) to tend him constantly... :rofl:
He came up with all these reasons why I need to bring Booth in on a monthly basis, number one being so he can "weigh Booth to make sure his weight is staying healthy - free of course"........I can't just use my scale...at home? :rofl: :rofl:

So that was great. I don't usually have guys stumbling all over me (correction, my friends say I do...but I'm about as perceptive as a brick wall so....) so that was somewhat of a confidence boost! hahaha


I realized afterwards I should have asked him if he knew about goats... :lol:

The other hilarious part was, I guess I was lookin' hawt yesterday (sweatshirt, jeans, dirty coat, cat...? Um, ok), every woman in that vet's office, except for the very kind receptionist, gave me some sort of major stink eye. 
One of said eyes could have been caused by me parking my van in a compact car space (but they were all compact spaces and I needed to park SOMEWHERE) but really. It was hilarious. 
I just want to go back to that vet every time I'm feeling down about something and be all "thas' right, ya'll." :rofl:




Pictures of the cat in question...I don't know if I've ever introduced you guys to him!!! He's fantastic.
Back when I was working at a summer camp, a group of friends and I found him in the woods, all alone, at about 4 weeks old. His mom+sisters had been dumped with him but they were all eaten by coyotes/bears. SOMEHOW he survived at least one night out there, alone, then we found him.
I was supposed to rehome him after camp butttttt............
Anyway, he's a giant now. Has no idea that he's a cat, wants to wrestle with dogs and snuggle with cats...he's hilarious. He met a Chihuahua once and his method of greeting was to sit on that little dog. hahahahaha!

His name is Booth, after Booth from Bones. 























Then Lacey!!
[It seems that all my animals have some sort of hard-luck story...it adds to their charm, right? haha]










It was warm enough out today for Miss Sassy to wear a light weight sheet to bed!! She was thrilled.
Ending about a week ago, it had been nice for a few weeks so she had gone some time without wearing a blanket during the day. She is NOT the biggest fan of wearing them during the day, now that it's started raining again.
But since I'm not the biggest fan of drying a muddy horse off so I can blanket her at night...tough cookies. :lol:

Spring is almost here!












that's all, I believe!  :happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Nothing super special for today...just a lil (ie, LONG) video of everybody and two pictures.

This video... I don't know where to start. Perhaps with saying that if you have vertigo of any kind, don't watch it. It starts out with me walking downhill, then uphill which is probably the worst part, but then there's more walking downhill and things get a little shaky. 
I tried to have Youtube fix it for me but that really only succeeded at removing some of the shake and making the entire video not as "crisp" as it was.
Darn videos! The shakiness does get better after about the 2 minute point (but you miss everybody's close up/Lacey running) so skipping ahead might be helpful... 

In any case, this video features Lacey cantering, Atticus leaping around in true Atti-style, and Lacey taking everybody down to the shed for dinner.
My favorite part is that you can see, around 2 minutes+30 seconds, Atticus wanting to go past Lacey. However, passing Lacey while we walk down to the shed is NOT allowed (except for me, however Lacey prefers that I take up the rear, she should lead, and the goats should be in the middle) and you can see Atticus choose NOT to pass her cuz she's the boss...without her even "saying" anything.
Inter-species communication!
And, showing how being a benevolent leader (she would nip at him and trot to pass him but wouldn't go much farther than that, if he had passed her and "needed" punishment) can actually work!







Then, this afternoon when I was toting hay down the shed, Miss L seemed to have a bee in her knickers. :lol:
She had galloped up from the shed to the front gate, then galloped back halfway down to the shed, then "spooked" and trotted halfway to the gate again, THEN (once I was down at the shed again moving more hay in) she came galloping+bucking down the hill, sliding to a stop next to the shed.

I thiiink she wants a 6th career in reining... Silly girl. She better not mess up her hocks doing this! haha
This picture was mid-skid, the skid line was AT LEAST a foot and a half long! 
Dork. 
hahaha

[no nice camera for this one - just cell phone]












Then, the other day I did a little drawing I like... 











:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

I just remembered!! I found a few "blast from the near past" pictures of Miss L the other day that I haven't shared! *le gasp* How could I forget to share them!? :lol:

Luckily I still remembered where they were hiding so here they are!

This is the girl, about a month after I first met her - taken 8/19/08. I met her on July 16, 2008. 
Back when she was a 23 year old spring chicken! hahahaha

These pictures are so weird to me. I look at them and intellectually know that that IS Lacey...but her soul just doesn't seem to be there. Like the Lacey in these pictures is not the Lacey of now...
Does anybody else see that? Or is it just me? :lol:

One thing we can be sure of: she has always been a camera ham!










Then, Lacey and her BFF of all time, Dani. Dani had foundered a few months before they came to us and Dani's new owner didn't know how to care for a laminitic horse. Sooo Dani foundered again about a year later and was put down. 
She and Lacey had lived together for 15 years (Dani was "the" riding horse, post-Lacey nearly annihilating her previous owner's son. After that event, Lacey was "retired" and Dani was bought to take L's place.) and, looking back, Dani was definitely Lacey's "guide horse". L mourned her for months and, to this day, adores animals/things that are that shade of brown.
It is probably the saddest thing ever.
Plus side: after Dani passed, that's when Lacey turned to me for support and our relationship started getting really great like it is now.

And if you can't tell, Dani was the "****y mare" of the two of them! haha Dani was THE SWEETEST girl ever...but she had a stink eye like no other.


----------



## oobiedoo

Enjoyed the video so much. Thanks.


----------



## Lockwood

That IS genius about the conditioner on her. I actually do that with my own curly hair to protect it from all the abuse I heap on it, but alas, we are not allowed to goop up an alpacas fleece in any way, shape, or form and show sheen will put you on the “most hated” list for sure.
Disqualifies you from the show ring so I wouldn’t have thought of it.
(Yeah… big bad rule breaker that I am…)

Hmmm, perhaps Mr. Wonderful has been found??
See, you did it the right way though….unlike me. I had to have a crush on one of the local vets, whom of course had no idea I even existed beyond ferrying my sick animal back and fourth to the clinic. Must have been because it was one of the more rare times that I took time to put on clean clothes did not smell like manure. (Not too much anyway)
See… I knew I was doing something wrong.


----------



## Wallaby

Nothing exciting to report.

Only slightly less than 2 weeks until Hazel's "baby cut off" date (Feb 10)! I'm sorta looking forward to it. Dreading it too because, knowing her, if she does have babies inside her, she's GOING to wait until mid-week next week. And you know what that is for me? 
Hah, yes. Midterms! So many papers, speeches, and quizzes. Yup, doe code. :lol:
I'll be sad if/when she has nothing but also sorta really relieved. This has been stressful!



Anyhoo, for your midweek viewing pleasure+entertainment, I got bored...very very bored, in my Jazz History class today:










[and yes, that WOULD be a dragon annihilating a dinosaur. The things that come out of my mind! I do these pictures sort of free-thought where I just draw whatever comes to mind, then add as it seems reasonable. Weird, me, weird. :lol:]


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## SaddleStrings

Ya know Wallaby, your thread has got to be my favorite to read. I love your pictures and hearing all about the adventures of Lacey and the gang. You truly can write about your life very well, it makes my daily life look so boring. Thank you for posting often, it keeps me entertained!


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## Wallaby

Oh shoot, SS! You are so sweet! :hug: 
My friends tease me all the time about being real life Rainbow Bright meets Snow White... :rofl: 
I'm super glad it keeps you entertained!! 


ETA: 
I almost forgot this! 
Today the animals pulled a terrible TERRIBLE trick on me.
It's been raining really hard lately and Lacey has decided to take her cue form the goats and not leave the shed EVER when it's raining. hahaha
So, I've just driven up+parked after a long day at school that I barely survived. I start walking down to the shed and I see Hazel laying down on one side of Lacey, Lacey sort of standing over her in, what appeared to be, "Guard Lacey" mode (she was pinning her ears and just sort of looked mad). So I'm wondering what the heck is going on. 
Hazel was acting really weird this morning so my first thought is "babies? What? Now??"
Then I see this flash of white next to Lacey (it's half dark, mind you) and Lacey looked even more ****y. 
So I'm freaking out.

I get down to the barn and you know what? That flash of white I saw = Atticus' belly spot. THE JERK. 
He's been being really mean to Hazel (he's decided that he's the big boss now and with that comes shoving Haze around all the time) lately but Hazel is Lacey's bestie so Lacey was guarding HAZEL from Atticus, making it so Haze could lay in L's hay pile and have "buddy time" without disturbance.

1. My animals could possibly be the most stupidly cute evvvver.
2. THEY ARE SUCH JERKS TO MY BABY-WANTING HEART.

So that was ridiculous. Really ridiculous.


----------



## Wallaby

Oh man, guys. Today was almost 50* out and it's starting to feel+look all spring-y outside....I am DYING to ride. 
I'm really really trying to wait until May for Miss Lace because, though she's been super sound since October, I REALLY want her to come back totally sound.
Maybe it would be ok to hop on her and walk around? I mean, she is still being ridden once a week by a little 90 pounder and she's even progresed to sound trotting+kid...I'm only about 50 pounds heavier than that kid...
Walking with me, just around the pasture, might be good exercise for her? :lol: #justification

Anyway, on the note of it being warm, tonight the girls are getting to go blanket-less for the first time since mid-October!
Lacey is super thrilled. 
This winter has been her "being a horse" winter and she's realy discovered that she likes not wearing a blanket. I'm sure her opinion would change if I "forced" her to go an entire winter without any blanket, and she does she really appreciate blankets on cold days, but she's really been enjoying being "free" sans blanket on a regular basis.
Anyway, she's happy.

Hazel, on the other hand, was very confused and slightly offended that I didn't put her blanket on her. 
She'll be totally fine, of course, but she's SO habit-oriented that the mere fact I did not blanket her really threw her off. 
I don't think she even really cares about the blanket itself, the issue was that I didn't follow our "protocol". :rofl:
Poor dear was sticking her nose through the fence, doing her soft little baah. It was pathetic. I reminded her that she would be fine. She disagreed. Silly girl!

In other Hazel news, if she's not having babies, I'm super thrilled about the amount of weight she's gained! She was ridiculously skinny for the longest time and now she's finally rounding herself out! Looking less like a refugee. 
If she is having babies...well, that explains the huge belly. But at this point I'm thinking just good weight gain. 
Tuesday is her last possible "due date" so there's only 5-8 days after that to wait until we can be sure.
[it would be SUPER ironic though if she had been bred the day I brought her home... I would laugh. I would not exactly put it past her though! We'll see.]


Anyhoo, two pictures:

One of Lacey, proudly showing off her blanket-less-ness:











And the other, a little drawing I did in my Jazz History class today...
I got bored...again. :rofl:











That's all! :happydance:


----------



## Chevaux

Quote:...Maybe it would be ok to hop on her and walk around? 

Alright - if you have to but for just five minutes and then it's back to your chores:lol:


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## Chevaux

Sorry Wallaby - the screen went all weird and the carrot stuck on my post and not in my basket and now I've lost out on another carrot.


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## Wallaby

Haha! Thanks for the carrot! I love it when that happens - super excited that it happened on MY thread, FINALLY! :rofl: No worries.
And hah, I'll keep that in mind! I think I'm going to wait until Spring Break (only about a month away), to keep me motivated to survive this term! haha And that way she gets some extra time. 


I made a picture thread today:
http://www.horseforum.com/horse-pictures/just-some-lacey-hazel-atticus-pictures-152008/

Check it, yo. :lol:



In otherrrr news....dunno what's going on with Haze but something seems to be up.
Her "hoo-ha" is really puffy again, like it was a few weeks ago, but I calculated and it seems that if that was a heat cycle before, this one is too soon? I dunno. 
Anyway, there's that and she's acting like her udder is sensitive (today she kicked at me when I tried to do my daily feel - it was not much bigger than usual though), and she spent the day trying to be about as far away from Lacey and Atticus as possible. She did not want me to touch her AT ALL and she did not particularly want the others near her...
When I put them in for the night (had to herd Haze in, she did NOT want to go), she disinterestely ate dinner, then went and stood in the far corner of the goat pen, shifting her weight every minute or so.
Sooo I elected to put her in the "kidding stall", just to be safe. She wasn't giving any of the "signs" - no major discharge, no digging, no licking, no talking, no obvious contractions (though she was arching her back as she shifted her weight...), etc...but I dunno. I feel better knowing she's by herself. Better safe than sorry!

It was a very spring-y day today which may have something to do with her unusual behavior but I guess we'll see in the coming days! Only 12 more until we can be 100% sure!

Silly girl is LIVING to give me gray hair.


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## Lockwood

Wallaby said:


> ......
> 
> 
> Anyway, there's that and she's acting like her udder is sensitive (today she kicked at me when I tried to do my daily feel - it was not much bigger than usual though), and she spent the day trying to be about as far away from Lacey and Atticus as possible. She did not want me to touch her AT ALL and she did not particularly want the others near her...
> When I put them in for the night (had to herd Haze in, she did NOT want to go), she disinterestely ate dinner, then went and stood in the far corner of the goat pen, shifting her weight every minute or so.


Hmmmm, sounds like very mommy to be behavior, and possible stage one labor.



> Sooo I elected to put her in the "kidding stall", just to be safe. She wasn't giving any of the "signs" - no major discharge, no digging, no licking, no talking, no obvious contractions (though she was arching her back as she shifted her weight...), etc...but I dunno.


Good call.
Sometimes they don't dig, lick, or are obvious with the outward signs.
The arching of the back could have been contractions as usually the contractions themselves are less obvious, specially with all the hair.
Or, she could have been arching and trying to shift the babies because she's being poked by a hock inside, but combined with the above mentioned behavior....seems very suspicious.


----------



## TheRoundPen

I can't wait to see kids soon


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks for the heads up, Leah!
After I read that, I decided to go check on them, just in case she's suddenly decided to be a fast mover. Conclusion of trip: she has not changed her mind about dragging this out as long as possible. :rofl:
It does seem though that _something_ is going on, you may be very right about stage 1 of labor. 
Lacey and Atticus were thrilled to see me, Hazel was most assuredly not. I had brought a flashlight and while Atti+Lacey were clamoring for attention from their respective areas, Hazel just continued to lay in her hay and turned her head over her back (she was laying in the stall facing out) so she didn't "have to" look at me. :lol:
She did not seem very comfortable, just something about her "aura", but that could just be me feeling what I want to feel! haha
I do feel better that I checked. Now I can rest a bit easier!

We'lllll see! 
Why did I think that she would make labor obvious? She's kept us guessing this long, why stop now? :lol:


----------



## Lockwood

Did she seem kind of "spaced out" or ignoring you in a way that seemed like she didn't really notice that you were there?
In stage one they often "listen to the babies" and pretty much shut everything else out. 
Not sure how close you live to the barn, but a 2:00am/3:00am check might not be a bad idea.
If it is stage one, it can take a while, or it can slip by pretty quickly.
Yeah... you know goats... one size _never_ fits all. :wink:


----------



## tinyliny

I am on pins and needles! ouch.


----------



## Wallaby

Well gang, no babies yet but I'm thinking we'll be getting some later today or tomorrow. 

She's definitely contracting (I felt one along her back, then when I went to let her out and she zoomed around me, I saw her tail curl to the side in a real strange way, like those Fiasco pictures!), ligs are totally gone (I can get my fingers nearly all the way around her tail bone), her hoo-ha DOES look like risen yeasty bread and it's ridiculously loose. AND she's making weird quiet noises that I've never heard before - presumably talking to her babies?
She also ate maybe a 1/2 cup of her breakfast (about 3 total cups which she usually eats like she's starving), then shunned it totally.

I went to let her out for the day -prior to seeing the contraction- and she immediately shot out of the stall and headed straight for the deep woods at the back of the pasture. I followed her, then saw the contraction, "captured" her, and took her right back to the stall. I realized that she may have never kidded inside before and so she's acting mad about being in the stall due to that.
Anyway, I thought about just letting her out but with how comfortable Duke, the coyote, is about hanging around and with how I've read that baby goats love to hide...probably best to lock her in for the day. 
So she's inside still. Inside and SUPER mad. But safe, and that's what matters.


SOMEONE suddenly looks super prego (for non-goat aficionados, goats carry babies on their right sides=the side that looks huge in this picture) :












Anyhoo, I'm going to head back up to check on her in about two hours. 


Leah, she does seem a bit "spacey", like when she was making those weird noises. And she's sort of acting like a middle school girl who's mad at her best friend and is dong the whole "I can't see you!" thing, but it seemed like she goes in and out. Like when I brought her her breakfast, she was "with us" for that! haha
And of course, yesterday I forgot and mentioned to my lesson kid, in Haze's presence, that I had midterms all week this week. Yup. THIS goat. :rofl:


----------



## Chevaux

Oh boy! This is just like waiting for Christmas when I was a young un!!!!


----------



## Wallaby

RIGHT??! You are telling me!

I'm just over here being all "please have a doe, please have a doe, please have a HEALTHY doe...please have a healthy doe TODAY while it's light out..." :lol:

Amusingly, her having babies now means she probably got pregnant between the day I met her and the day I picked her up. IRONY. Combine that with the fact that -she NEVER jumps anywhere- she literally lept 1 foot up, into my van when I picked her up... Maybe she just likes me a whole lot? :rofl:


I sat with her for about 2 hours earlier (after my last post, I'm supposed to be reading a book to write a 3 page paper that's due on Monday...and that's not been super easy currently, for obvious reasons, so I figured I could read up there and have no reason NOT to read) and nothing really is happening. 
She's not interested in food at all (she'll take a bit or two, then stop) and she did do a little pawing, then laid down next to me (ADORABLE). Every couple of minutes she would sort of stiffen+shake gently but that was just while she was laying down. She stayed down for a good hour, then got up again - no stiffening/shaking while she was standing.
She is drinking a lot of water so I figure that's good in terms of an udder - which is still very small, btw.
Her tail is also pretty consistently off to the side - I've read that that is "the sign" that her ligs are officially officially gone. 

I think I'm going to leave them all alone for a bit, just in case that helps speed things up. Lockwood was telling me that she's seem somewhere that Angoras are generally pretty private about giving birth, then add to that that she's locked in where she doesn't really want to be... My presence is probabbbbblyyy not going to help her want to pop some babies out. :lol:
I'll head back up around 4 (it's 1:30 now) to put everybody in for the night, then report back. I'll probably check at least once tonight before going to bed, as well.

Gooooo Hazel!


----------



## SaddleStrings

This is exciting! Can't wait! Go Hazel!


----------



## oobiedoo

Have started following this thread and love it! Now it's 3:30 am on the east coast and I'm like can't hardly wait for the news.
I used to breed pedigeed cats and you're right, it's just like Christmas, the waiting to see what you're going to get.
I may not have read far enough back but do you have any idea who daddy is? She is just beautiful! Waiting with you


----------



## grayshell38

Daddy was a young angora. The lady claimed that he was too young to....get things done. Obviously, she was incorrect.  

Can't wait for goat babies!


----------



## Wallaby

Grayshell is right! Daddy is a purebred Angora that the lady thought was "too young+not thriving enough" to get Hazel pregnant. I'm not sure if he was Hazel's son from last spring or what (most of the Angora's the previous owner had were some kin to Miss Haze) but he may have been. Thankfully, from what I'm read, goats are pretty tolerant of inbreeding so things could be worse..I suppose.
:shock:


No babies yet but the hormones are definitely raging! 
Here she is behaving very unlike herself and basically picking a fight with Mr. Atti - doesn't sound AT ALL like a woman going into labor, right? :rofl:


----------



## Wallaby

Well, ya'll can breath easy for a bit longer - no babies yet! It seems that Miss Hazel decided that kidding on a weekend would be toooo easy. :rofl: It seems that what I saw was perhaps a bit of false labor mixed with being pocked in an awkward spot by a little one.

This is so funny. I'm part of a goat forum where I have a kidding thread for Hazel, over there they're absolutely convinced that she is not pregnant, that she's pulling a grand heist of epic proportions/I'm trolling them/I'm stupid. Over here, we're all "she's pregnant, yaaaay!!"
HI-larious. 

If she is pulling a grand heist though...oh boy. THAT would be frustrating.
However, she was acting so unusually yesterday (acting like she wanted to fight one second, then terrified of me the next, then going WWE on Atticus while loving on me the NEXT second - there is Hazel fluff strewn ALLLL over the pasture from Atticus trying to fight back, etc) that I can't imagine this being a "normal", non-pregnancy induced, event of any kind. 
It smacks of the kind of behavior I've heard pregnant women display! haha

She's still not too interested in food however...not sure what's up with that. She is pooping fine so she must be eating something!... She eats about half her grain, then leaves it all... Same with hay - a few mouthfuls and she's "done"...

Anyway, tomorrow is her last official due date (if she were bred on the day I brought her home) so, from what I've read, that means we should likely have babies by Saturday since they don't generally go more than 5 days past due.


Also, random thought that I had this morning - she's been on MSM for weeks in an attempt to help any joint ills she may have. However, I am overdosing her for her size (a proper dose didn't seem to help - an overdose did. I got her a horse joint supplement to use once the threat of pregnancy is over since it had ingredients that shouldn't be used on young ones...) and MSM is amazing at lessening inflammation so maybe that's somehow hindering things? I have no idea but I took her off it, just in case.



Lacey is really excited about this whole turn of events. She really seems to like that I'm checking on them more often and she ESPECIALLY loved the 9 o'clock checks over the weekend! Silly girl. 
I bet she's going to love babysitting for her bestie, once the babies are big+smart enough to be out and about! She does love babies.
It's almost a shame that she was never bred, mostly for the fact that she adores babies/young things of any and all species.
Conformationally, the world doesn't really need another hyper gray unregistered horse with a butt that's a good 4-5 inches taller than it's front end...but still, bred to the right stallion, things could have been acceptable for that baby. Lacey woulda been a fantastic mom.
Oh well!


----------



## Lockwood

...need info..
...having withdrawls...
...can't breathe.... *gasp*


----------



## MHFoundation Quarters

Tell Hazel we neeeeeeed little goat pictures.......


----------



## Wallaby

Nothing to report, baby-wise! (

Hopefully soon though. 
I'm not sure what is up with Haze, hopefully just this whole baby thing, but she is really off her game. Like it's not anything that is really super concerning, just she seems a little bit out of it and pretty disinterested in everything. She is still getting excited about food...when it appears, though so at least THAT's good.
She is drinking a lot of water (interesting fact, her teats have sort of softened up and it appears that she has a "double orifice"...I think? on one of them! IE, 2 holes for milk to come out on that side vs just one...weird girl! haha) too but no more udder developement. It's very strange. It got "fluffier" over the weekend, then has seemed to shrink down, even from where it was before the weekend. Dear Hazel, your udder is not supposed to get SMALLER the closer you get to babies!!! Her teats are bigger+softer but udder=smaller. SO WEIRD.

For those who don't know (ie, everyone but Lockwood), Haze+Atti have been in yesterday+today, just in case Hazel decides to pop during the day. Hazel's been in her kidding stall and Atti has been in the bigger pen.

Anyway, I let them out for probably 30 minutes today just so they could do a little leg stretching. Hazel basically glued herself to my leg and "magically" ended up wherever I was standing. "Oh, you're grooming Lacey? I'm following you around that horse!" "Oh, you're putting hay out? Let me follow you from pile to pile, eating nothing, inspecting it ALL!"
Sort of like a cat that doesn't particularly want to be petted, just wants to be your buddy...
:rofl:

I'm thinking about just letting the two of them out tomorrow, barring any significant changes with Hazel. I'll be home around 3:30 or 4pm, vs 5:30pm, and it should be rainy tomorrow anyway=Haze will most likely stay in the barn. 
Atticus is going a bit nutty(er) being stuck in all day and perhaps Hazel is acting "off" because she's depressed about being inside so much...
Of course, any major changes overnight tonight=sorry lady. :lol:

I did impress upon her the import of baby goat pictures and how my gentleman "friend" wants to visit them+meet the goats+how that's important to me so she had better pop something out asap...but I don't think that had much effect. She licked me and gave me this look like "patience, young grasshopper". It was ridiculous. :lol:

Currently, name choices (they've been "edited") are: Shalom Felicity for a girl (so hoping for a girl!!!!), Scribonia Falkora for a girl (gentleman friend+his best friend came up with that one, hahah), and Theophilus Cornelius for a boy. 
SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE NAMED THESE THINGS, Hazel!!!!!
:rofl:

I took some pictures, bad pictures, today/yesterday that I figured I would share. This thread has gone too long without pictures - one entire page, I think? Not ok.

Sunrise yesterday!










"It's raining. Where is my blanket?! I will wave my head at you until you blanket me!!!!"

(She had gone 6 WHOLE days without wearing a blanket even once!! SO proud of her! ...then it started raining today=lame. She has a blanket on now! haha)










Absolutely terrible picture of the Sass Captain herself. AKA, "Baby Jail".

She looks super uncomfy to me... Everything about her is a-ok though so here's to hoping it's just babies that are making her "meh".

Speaking of which, she was finally getting "fat" last week...NOW she's skinny again. Ribs, backbone, the whole deal. Gah. Eat lard, woman! :rofl: Justttt kidding.













That's all!


----------



## Lockwood

*gasp*
Blessed air..... ahhhh.
Thank you.

(It was so bad I was checking TGS!)


----------



## Wallaby

Hahaha TGS. Those people. I'm shunning them currently. Gonna show back up when she pops and be like "SEE?! SEEEEEE???!!!" 
I'm such a jerk. :rofl:


But don't worry, I will be "See?"-ing it up over here FIRST!!!  <3


----------



## tinyliny

Bummer! I read ALL THAT and no baby goat??????

I feel cheated. (just trying to get your goat)


----------



## Wallaby

Right? 
I checked on her 5 times a day over the weekend, got nearly zero homework/studying done right before midterms...no babies. I feel cheated too! We can boycott Hazel together. :wink:

[and I seriously lol'd at "trying to get your *goat*" - thank you! ]


----------



## Lockwood

Wallaby said:


> Hahaha TGS. Those people. I'm shunning them currently.


LOL. Talkative helpful bunch eh?
Loved all the one liner totally unhelpful answers! 
Not sure they rightly know what to make of you and the Haze. :lol:


----------



## Wallaby

I don't think ANYONE knows what to make of me at first. [half the time, I don't even know what to make of me! hahaha]
Add "Conundrum Goat" and...well, I don't really blame them. 


BUT STILL. :lol: :lol:


----------



## SaddleStrings

Kids!?? Kids!?? Just wondering if you have babies yet?


----------



## Wallaby

Today = just pictures. No babies yet! ((

Come ON, Hazel!!
:lol:
I'm beginning to wonder if Haze is just messing with us... I really don't want to think that but seriously. This is probably "goat code": make life as exciting as possible for as many people as possible! :rofl:

I find this super funny: it's taken Lacey nearly a year of being in this pasture to be really comfy hanging out in the lower pasture. She hated it initially but now she finally seems to really enjoy it. It appears she even stood under the fir tree in said pasture to get out of the rain for a while, at some point today!!
Perhaps it's because "her" deer love the lower pasture... Who knows. Whatever the reason, she's cute. haha

(I was standing under "her" fir tree to take these pictures)

"Hey you! Whatcha doin' under MY tree??!"










"This grass is pretty tasty...Also, I caked myself in mud, just for you!! Don't you LOVE it??"










"I'm coming under this tree too! Seems hip under here!" 
[note the 2 deer in the background - OF COURSE. This horse and her deer! I never knew she loved them this much. I always knew she wasn't afraid of them like many horses are but I didn't know that she really adored them until she moved into this pasture last June!]


----------



## SaddleStrings

Awww man! Hazel is killing me with suspense! Come on miss Hazel!


----------



## muumi

I dont think Hazel is preggo's, I think she's just messing with you, ha ha!


----------



## Wallaby

Thoughts for today:

1. No babies.
- Gentleman friend is heartbroken. Gentleman friend is adorable when heartbroken...but Emily is sad to be the bearer of heartbreak. Hopefully mutual sadness will obtain Emily a hug when she sees said gentleman friend on Sunday........ 

2. Midterm tests that are literally 4 minutes long AND multiple choice = yes. 4 hours spent on the quiet floor of the library today = yes.

3. Duke, the coyote, visited us today after I got everyone put away for the night. Even in the near darkness, she is absolutely gorgeous.

4a. Gentlemen who hold doors for girls and actually hold them. None of this "throwing the door extra wide in hopes that it'll stay open long enough for the girl to get through in time" junk, actually holding the door until AFTER the girl goes through the door.

4b. Cute young guys with old dogs. Need I say more?
[I was walking to my train stop this afternoon and witnessed this - day MADE]

5. Gluten-free lemon "melt" cookies.

6. WHY ARE ALL MY FRIENDS GETTING MARRIED. While I'm all "Um...never had a boyfriend, cool story, ya'll"? 
I think I just come off as too innocent. Yesterday I didn't know what "DTF" stood for (don't ask, inapro-pro) and the people I was with refused to tell me because it would "ruin my pure mind". Um, I THINK a Google search for "DTF" would do a bit more ruining than just them telling me... Thankfully one of my friends I was with gets my mind and realizes that I am not a delicate flower that will melt with the slightest rain...so he just told me. The other people we were with literally yelled at him...seriously, are they my MOM? :rofl:
I just need to find that guy who wants a really weird girl with a pure, but dirty, mind...shouldn't be hard, right? :rofl:

Anyway, that was my day. haha


OH! 

7. What do you call a sleep-walking nun?
-a Roamin' Catholic.
[courtesy of my cousin who is hilarious]

:happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

blog, sister, blog. Get that money makin' blog out there.

Give Hazel a hug. it'll either cheer her up or pop out the baby.


----------



## jcraig10

I don't think that I have commented on here, but I have been following this story and all I've got to say is that I love this goat! lol she is too funny. I think she is pulling a fast one on you :shock:


----------



## Wallaby

I have another video I'm going to post later but LOOK! Lacey and I had our first ride since September 20!!!    

She's such a reliable girl. Didn't even act rusty! She was moving off my leg like a pro and even neck reining (something she only learned a year or so ago).

LOVE THIS HORSE.


----------



## MHFoundation Quarters

Don't tell Miss Lacey but Atti kinda stole the spotlight from her :lol: Glad you had a good ride!


----------



## jcraig10

such a good girl! literally laughed out loud the last 5 seconds of that video !:rofl:


----------



## Lockwood

LOL
Atti is just dumbfounded for the first 30 seconds or so after you are on Lacey! :lol:
I could just hear him thinking..."What? Mum actually gets on and rides the big furry white thing that tells me what to do?? 
Why for?" 

(and of course young goat attention span being what it is...)
"Oh well, whatever.. Look! A bug.. yippee!" *jumps and leaps*
He's so lovable and Hazel looks so regal in her stately dress coat!

(psst Hazel... you gonna pop or what?:?)

I'm glad you had a spot of sun to ride in too.... Always makes it just that much nicer.


----------



## Chevaux

Nice little video - it sort of makes up for the lack of baby goats but not quite:lol:


----------



## Wallaby

I actually had not watched that video all the way through yet and now I'm pretty much crying from laughing so hard. I had no idea he was doing all that while I was riding!! What a dork.
He really does steal the show, following us around all sneaky like.

He's SO annoying sometimes but then he does stuff like this and totally makes up for it.

I don't think he's ever seen me ride Lacey before (I stopped riding her about 10 days after bringing the goaties home)...SO glad I got that reaction on video! :lol:


Then this video. Atticus was being VERY high energy today!! haha
Atticus: "Hazel, play with me!! Hazel. Hazel. Hazel. HAZEL. HAZEL. HAZELHAZELHAZELHAZELHAZELHAZELHAZELHAZEL!!!!!"
Hazel: "NOOOOOOOO."
A: "HAZELHAZELHAZELHAZEL."
H: "Moooooooooommmmmmm! Make him stopppppppp!!!"
[I love how she goes to me for "protection" and how Atticus actually stops bugging her when she's next to me! Too funny.]


----------



## tinyliny

I love how she comes to you for security. what an honor that is, isn't it?


----------



## MHFoundation Quarters

That's it. I need some ornery goats. I can just picture the trouble that M would help Atti get into at my house - oh my! 

Ahem, Lockwood - when you come to get your truckload of pears in the fall I will be expecting cute little goats as payment...yep, that will do.


----------



## Endiku

Geez, why can't our goats be fun like yours? Ours are actually fainting goat (oops, poor little guys!) and we've had them for 4 months now, but they've never played like Atti. They mostly just scream at you for food and houdini their ways out of everything, only to houdini their way back in at meal time xD


----------



## Wallaby

I'm thinking that perhaps Hazel had a false pregnancy and last weekend was her "giving birth" to it, then perhaps the not eating/depression following was because she was pretty sure she was pregnant as well and she was sad about not having babies? 
Apparently that isn't all that uncommon for older does to go through (and apparently the end can be somewhat similar to actual labor, sans babies). Poor girl!!

:-cry::---x

Laaaaame.


Caroline, I so agree! I felt really honored. She is SUCH a sweet girl. She's really shy with strangers but once she knows you, she adores you. And I just adore her right back!

Mandy, that's for sure!! He gets into so much trouble by himself, I can't even imagine what would happen if he had a kid to help him do things! :lol: He would probably end up ruling the world. He's such a sassypants!

Haha, that's funny, Endiku! I have read that about mytonics - that they're more placid...something to do with the fainting gene. I'm just thankful that Atti isn't much into escaping, He does go visit/chase the llamas upon occasion, but always returns to L's pasture before too long. :lol:






Random life half-question/mostly vent [boy-related, aka, feel free to skip] :

As you know, there is "gentleman friend". Then, there is gentleman-friend's best best friend (he has 2 besties, one is a girl the other -the best best friend- is a guy). In the last few months, things have conspired to "somehow" make it so I guess we could say that I'm friends-friends with gentleman-friend's besties. The guy more than the girl (_somehow_ it seems like I always "end up" sitting next to this guy at church, if I'm not sitting next to gentleman-friend...or I'm sitting between them).
Anyway, this guy (male best friend of gentleman-friend) has started regularly posting memes/funny articles/stuff he finds on pinterest lol on my Facebook wall...
Initially I thought that gentleman-friend was trying to set me up with this guy (something gentleman-friend is famous for doing...and he's actually really good at it too, haha!), but then this guy was mysteriously unable to come with us when I invited them all to the zoo and it ended up being basically being "getting to know the girl best friend" time - which made sense since female bestie and myself are not really closer than "aquaintences"...and depending on "the plan", you know where I'm going. Among other occurrences.

Also, 1. I did not know these people really at all before September/October. 2. According to gentleman-friend, both besties "think [I'm] swell." (hahaha) 3. They -the besties- still introduce me to others as "gentleman-friend's friend, Emily"...

Annnnyway, I'm just not sure how to deal with this guy posting on my wall "all the time" (ie, couple times a month when I only see them all twice a month). I certainly feel loved but confused.

The most confusing thing is that a week or two ago, gentleman friend posted a link on my FB wall saying that this wall-posting-bestie had found the link and thought I would like it...

Gentleman-friend and I have never talked feelings beyond "you're super cool" so really, this could be going anywhere. I figure we both have something going on for the other since we've been pretty close for 2 years, and now he's incorporating me into his "group"...but...you never know until you know! haha

*whacks head against brick wall*

I'm just worried about being toooo friendly...or not friendly enough... I guess that's just life though! I'm really trying to play it cool and I'll continue to do so...just I guess venting. haha


----------



## Lockwood

MHFoundation Quarters said:


> That's it. I need some ornery goats. I can just picture the trouble that M would help Atti get into at my house - oh my!
> 
> Ahem, Lockwood - when you come to get your truckload of pears in the fall I will be expecting cute little goats as payment...yep, that will do.


Hey! You are Not getting out of the long ear trade that easily! Sure I'll bring little orneries... no problem, but ya gotta take 8 big hooves and the mouths attached too! 
Sooo... what color babies would you like? 

*whispers quietly*
Hazel, Hazel, Hazel.... <sigh> 
Ya weren't supposed to throw our good friend Emily right off in the deep end her first go around. 
I told you... little pranks for the newbie were ok, but to take it easy cuz Atti was going to cause some grey hairs anyway!

Sorry Emily. I had begun to think perhaps she had absorbed, but was hopeful she hadn't.
:hug:


----------



## Wallaby

Leah, PICK ME FOR DONKEYS. I WILL TAKE YOUR LONG EARS. :rofl: :rofl:
One day...I WILL get a donkey. They are just so stupid cute!! And with those "bangs" they get in the winter...oh my word. I might die of cute.
Also, Leah, random goat question: do you supplement copper and if so, where+what do you buy? I've been reading that a copper deficiency of some kind might be affecting Hazel's hoof issues...

Speaking of issues, I'm SO EXCITED about this, Hazel's horns have started really growing and they're growing in NORMAL!!!!!!!    
I think one of them, the shorter one, might be "dead" because it's not really growing noticeably at all but the other one has grown a good inch in the last 2 months or so (I maaaaay be measuring them for "science"... hahaha)!! Super exciting.

I guess I'm thankful that we have that pregnancy "issue" "out of the way" and behind us. Now all "we" have to do is get Miss Haze's hooves cleared up (finally got the hoof rot in her front hooves gone, only to have it pop up on her backs - turns out that terrible smell her feet had/have is infection between her toes! Luckily that Absorbine Thrush stuff is doing a great job at clearing it up but really, poor dear!!) and then somehow get Atti through this crazy baby stage. :lol:
I can't wait until the summer!! Only 4 more weeks until my Spring Break, then 12 until "school's out, FOR SUMMER!" hahaha
Then, so much trail riding, Atticus training (I'm hoping to get him+Haze coming on rides with us...Hazel loves getting out and exploring and Atticus NEEDS the exercise - good thing Lacey is pro at ponying, I think ponying the goats will be just her kind of thing), and just all around awesomeness! haha

Nothing much to report for today except that Lacey is shedding like a BEAST. She is in full "4 inch long hair EVERYWHERE" mode. 


Also, your mid-week drawing break:

"The Adventure"

[pygmy giraffes ARE real, didn't you know?]












:happydance:


----------



## MHFoundation Quarters

Lockwood said:


> Hey! You are Not getting out of the long ear trade that easily! Sure I'll bring little orneries... no problem, but ya gotta take 8 big hooves and the mouths attached too!
> Sooo... what color babies would you like?


I'll take long ears and orneries! I get color choices? Woo! What are my options? lol. We had Nubians when I was a kid. We used them to work gpa's cutting stud on at home, cheaper than cattle and enough to keep him fresh. When we had an orphan foal he had one of the nannies, Bobbie Sue (yep, gpa was an Oakridge Boys fan) for a surrogate mom, it was pretty cute seeing him on his knees nursing a goat. He did get some bad habits from her, never bit or kicked but he did head butt a couple of times :? I should see if I can't find some of those pictures.


----------



## amp23

So every now and then I check in on this thread but I'm too lazy to read it all... I just watched the last 2 videos, and my boyfriend stared at me funny when I started cracking up laughing at Atticus jumping around... So thanks for making me laugh today


----------



## tinyliny

bummer. I keep openning your thread with hopes that I can update the title to show that the kid is here!

By "Gentleman friend", I thought you meant the handsome vet you commented on a ways back.

I can't blame you for being uncomfortable with what feels like some kind of triangle or quadrangle there (I failed geometry).

if you've been friends with him for two years, I think it's time to clarify the relationship. Just My opinion.


----------



## Endiku

:think: Quadrilateral maybe?

LOVE the drawing by the way, Wallaby. Made my night. Now I want a pygmy girraffe... :-|


----------



## Wallaby

Hahahahaha I can just imagine this foal/weanling headbutting something it's mad at. Hilarious...but also terrifying. :shock: :lol:

You are so welcome, amp!!  

Aw, man, Caroline! That's sad. Silly Hazel. Pulling allll our legs.  Now I just want to get an actually pregnant doe so we can actually have babies...but then I don't because from what I've heard babies=so much work. :lol:
Oh yes, not handsome vet. Though my cat probablyyyyy needs to get his weight checked...for free, by this vet... :rofl:
But yeah, I think clarification would be good too... I always almost get my guts together to ask but then I get nervous - he's such a dear friend to me, as a friend, that if he doesn't feel the same way and things change...I would be crushed. 
I'd get over it eventually but basically he's one of those people that I never need to feel self conscious around or worry about how he's going to take something I say - he just "gets" what I mean and doesn't have any problem with the stranger things about me... For all that, the stranger I am, the happier he is! :rofl: And I have very few of those people in my life. 
I've been trying to hint and hint and hint (in ways I find to be waaaay out of my comfort zone! haha) at it (though I am aware that, being a guy, he probably has picked up on zero of those hints) and so far nothing has been weird... But we'll see. 
He has been incorporating me more and more into his life in the last few months...maybe he's hinting back and I'm the one not picking it up... :lol: THAT would be funny. 
But then again, maybe I'm just making their group of 3 besties into 4?....

*where's that wall to bash my head on again...?*
:lol:



Thanks, Endiku!  Right!? a pygmy giraffe? Siiiiign me UP too! haha


----------



## Lockwood

MHFoundation Quarters said:


> I'll take long ears and orneries! I get color choices? Woo! What are my options? lol. We had Nubians when I was a kid. We used them to work gpa's cutting stud on at home, cheaper than cattle and enough to keep him fresh. When we had an orphan foal he had one of the nannies, Bobbie Sue (yep, gpa was an Oakridge Boys fan) for a surrogate mom, it was pretty cute seeing him on his knees nursing a goat. He did get some bad habits from her, never bit or kicked but he did head butt a couple of times :? I should see if I can't find some of those pictures.


LOL!
Colors... hmm, been working on something special lately... pinks, greens, lavenders, light blues...



Wallaby said:


> Leah, PICK ME FOR DONKEYS. I WILL TAKE YOUR LONG EARS. :rofl: :rofl:
> One day...I WILL get a donkey. They are just so stupid cute!! And with those "bangs" they get in the winter...oh my word. I might die of cute.
> Also, Leah, random goat question: do you supplement copper and if so, where+what do you buy? I've been reading that a copper deficiency of some kind might be affecting Hazel's hoof issues...
> 
> Speaking of issues, I'm SO EXCITED about this, Hazel's horns have started really growing and they're growing in NORMAL!!!!!!!
> 
> :happydance:


Love the little giraffe pic. Ah-door-ahble!
Copper- I'll PM you tomorrow after I pull the info.
Yes, I do, but like many things goat you have to start with the bovine stuff and reduce the dose. Not hard to get... will send details.

That's wonderful about her horn(s.)
Isn't it amazing what good nutrition can do? 
You are doing such a great job with these two for a newbie, I just may have to load up those long ears and sail past MHQ's and right on home to OR with them. Dig too. He'd love to meet his sista!
Don't worry MHQ... I'll drop of the goats and grab up whatever I'm going to deliver to Fly.
*Ahem* That is_ if_ Mr. Woodstock doesn't open doors on moving trailers!


----------



## amp23

Alright to to keep me from going back however many pages, who exactly is this vet? :wink:


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Leah! That would be great!  :hug:
Aw, thanks. You know I would not be doing nearly as well (actually, probably wouldn't have even brought them home!) without your help, so props to you too!! 
They're such a reward in and of themselves. I was watching videos of them when they first came "home" and Hazel seems like she has so much more life now!! Helping "old" animals age backwards is one of my absolutely most favorite things ever. My lesson horse when I was a kid got me addicted to that! Allll his fault. :rofl:

Hahaha amp, you're funny.
First, there's gentleman-friend and his best friend who are the current "issue" - different than the cute vet (just to get them all straight).
The cute vet is my cat's vet who I met for the first time when I took my cat in for a check-up. 
We had had to switch vets, thanks to Booth's previous vet going down the sketchy road.
This new vet turned out to be not all that much older than me and HIGHLY attractive. Also, my cat "liked" him (ie, did not die of fright/turn feral - 2 of his favorite "in a jam" responses). Anyway, he was stumbling alllll over himself (I don't think he expected to find someone about his age in the exam room, with a cat named "Booth Reginald"...hahaha) and it was pretty much the cutest ever. 
He kept making up reasons why I needed to come back in with Booth very soon and my favorite was "to weigh Booth" since I OBVIOUSLY cannot just use an everyday scale, weigh myself, then hold Booth and weigh us, then subtract my weight...right? :rofl:
:wink:


----------



## cakemom

This all seems like a James Herriot sort of story, as I sit here catching up on my lovelies while drinking hot tea. 
Hazel is a bad girl! Yummy men are just that, yummy. Met my hubby at the vet clinic where I worked. Hunky firefighter plus 128 lb shepherd licking my toes (the dog not the hunk) equaled head over heals still 16 years later. 
I asked him finally after 15 trips with no real reason....is there something you need to ask me, he he he!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## tinyliny

Wallaby,

take the cat into the vet. Go see the handsome vet again. Tell your GF (Gentleman Friend) about the visit to the "handsome" vet, and be sure to say how handsome he was. see what the reaction is.


----------



## MHFoundation Quarters

Lockwood said:


> LOL!
> Colors... hmm, been working on something special lately... pinks, greens, lavenders, light blues...
> 
> 
> Don't worry MHQ... I'll drop of the goats and grab up whatever I'm going to deliver to Fly.
> *Ahem* That is_ if_ Mr. Woodstock doesn't open doors on moving trailers!


M would say one of each color of the rainbow. :lol:

He's rotten enough and houdini enough that's a possibility, especially if there were foodstuffs (like his pears you'll be stealing) in it!


----------



## amp23

Ahh... I see now. Go back to see him!


----------



## Wallaby

Hahaha, you guyssss. 

I don't have time right now to speak to everything above^ so I'll just throw this adorable picture at you.

Lacey was grooming Atticus exactly like a dog who loves cats might groom a cat. Atticus was walking back and forth under her nose and she was rubbing his back with her nose (and his face, hahaha). 
It was SO GOSH DARN CUTE.

Then he tried to head butt her face... THAT was hilarious. I'll post those later. 

But for now:


----------



## SaddleStrings

Haha! I agree, time to take the cat the the vet for a "check up". Don't let the cute vet think you're just another customer, let him know you value your pets health and have a general interest in what he has to say. Good luck!


----------



## Wallaby

Haha, Gentleman-Friend would be jealous. Very jealous. That's actually something that sort of maybe concerned me about him...he's generally literally "the nicest person evvvvver" but then sometimes...like the times I've mentioned other guys to him, he gets sort of mean about it in a weird way. The last time I mentioned another guy in a "being great" context (who he KNEW was just a friend-friend), his response was "if he's so great, you should PROBABLY marry him!"...and the guy in question was a guy that was a close brother-like friend to me, absolutely no romantic interest there (at least from my side).
Of course, I don't really blame him, I would get defensive and probably "mean" if he started telling me about how wonderful some other girl is...but still.
I dunno. He's really a wonderful person in general though! And that's probably the only flaw I've ever found in him even after seeing/being around him every single day for an entire summer when we worked at camp together. Like seriously. 

In any case, next Friday, the cat goes to the vet to be "weighed".  hahahaha



I hope you guys had a great V-Day!
I was sort of bummed out about my day, just kinda felt like couples were being repeatedly thrown in my face alllll day. Then like 3 of my FB friends got engaged today so I have to look at that every time I go on Facebook...the whole thing.
But then, I had an hour+half Skype session with one of my bestest lady friends in the whollllle world and that made things so much better! It was wonderful. And I laughed until I cried. :lol:

And, I have a scad of photos for you!!! Yay!!

First, V-day inspired "cartoon":










Then, critters!

I had carrots in my pocket. The Carrot Detective always knows. ALWAYS.



















ALWAYS.










Cute goat girl.










Goat boy.










Happy Valentine's Day, Hazel!










_Someone_ is shedding quite a lot!! haha This is just from one of her more favored rollng spots. Geeeez.










For whatever reason, after mauling me for carrots that she did not receive yet, she decided to head up to the front gate.
"*bobs head* Feeeeeeeeeed meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"










Valentine's Day dinner! 
This is my thing for her every year. Since I don't know when her birthday is really, I pretend that she's a February 15th baby...so she gets heart-shaped carrots on her dinner every year on the 14th. 
So, as of tomorrow, she's "officially" twenty-eight years old! Keep killing it, girl!!










Fat pony approves of birthday /Valentine's dinner.











CUTE face! Geez, Lacey. Put that away, you're already fat and retired, what MORE do you want?? hahaha











:happydance:


----------



## Chevaux

Excellent pictures, as usual.


----------



## jcraig10

so cute! Lace is one adorable old lady. seriously though, how long did it take you to do that with the carrots??!!!!


----------



## Lockwood

jcraig10 said:


> so cute! Lace is one adorable old lady. seriously though, how long did it take you to do that with the carrots??!!!!


I know, right??

*rolls eyes*
Wallaby, you make the rest of us look like dull owners.

Love the last pic! Needs to be put into one of the contests!
And, I see the *ahem* lady area is not naked anymore. :lol:
I think this last drawing is the best yet!


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Chevaux!! 

And she knows it, jcraig! She really does. She had a lesson today and spent her time dancing around and even crowhopped a few times for the poor kid! "It's my birthday and I do what I WANT!!" :rofl: 

Hahahaha the carrots really did not take that long! Only maybe 10 minutes! Since she gets treats extremely rarely, it's worth spending a little extra time. 
And since she is getting older, my motto (decided last year) is that I'm trying to spend my time with her in a "no regrets" type fashion. For instance, if this were to be her last "birthday" I don't want to look back and wish I had celebrated it more, you know?
So really selfish reasons! :lol:

Thanks, Leah! 
She does grow that hair, that's for sure!! It's only been a little more than a month since I shaved her patootie and she already has quite a bit of hair back there!!
"Luckily" for her, only about a month until I shave her entire self. Muhahahaha! [I'm figuring that if I shave her in mid-March, then we'll be safely out of the coldest part of the year and she'll have a good 5+ months before late July/August, when I plan to shave her again - since it gets hottest in August+September...and then she'll be able to grow quite a bit of hair again before the cold hits in Nov/Dec..at least that's how it's working inside my mind.]
Other "luckily", I'm hoping to practice my mohair cleaning with this shearing so that I might be able to clean+sell the summer shearing (this shear is going to be "less than" since it has hay and mud and weird short bits...a good one to practice on! haha). I can't wait to shave her. She is going to look HILARIOUS. Wit all her saggy skin... Like a giant naked mole rat...with horns. There have been requests to leave her "top knot" for a while, for the sake of hilarity, so I'll probably do that.. I'm really looking forward to it! hahaha! 


I'm going to make a picture thread, I think, for Miss L's b-day...so look for that. 

:happydance:


----------



## SaddleStrings

Just realized Atticus' horns are really starting to come in! Wow! Their getting big!


----------



## Wallaby

Right?! They're getting huge! ...like the rest of him! :shock: :lol:


Just some pictures for today. 

"baah."










Mr./Mrs. Redtail Hawk! Sitting in his/her favorite tree.










Sassypants herself. 










[she was going for "unflattering chic" today, pretty sure.]


----------



## Lockwood

Wallaby said:


> .....Other "luckily", I'm hoping to practice my mohair cleaning with this shearing so that I might be able to clean+sell the summer shearing (this shear is going to be "less than" since it has hay and mud and weird short bits...a good one to practice on! haha). I can't wait to shave her. She is going to look HILARIOUS. Wit all her saggy skin... Like a giant naked mole rat...with horns. There have been requests to leave her "top knot" for a while, for the sake of hilarity, so I'll probably do that.. I'm really looking forward to it! hahaha!


Just FYI, most hand spinners expect the fleeces to have bits of hay, mud and “crud” in them. It even has it’s own fancy name- “VM” ….vegetable matter .  
So don’t think your fleece will somehow be “less” because of it. 
Yes, sure some fiber growers put the fancy jammies on the animal year ‘round, but not everyone. And, the best parts of the fleece will generally be the area that is called “the blanket” anyway, which in Hazel’s case is under where her blanket actually has been.
The chest, arm pits, tail area, belly are usually not as nice as the blanket area and almost always have more rough, coarse, and often shorter guard hairs. Plus, it is normal for an animal to have some sections that grow longer than others. Has to do with how it was sheared the time before, the animal's age, and genetics.
Most people cannot detect it with the naked eye and it takes a long time to train your fingers and sense of touch to be able to feel the nuances of the different areas, but if you rub it on your cheek the feel is a little different. 

Anyway, so long as you shear the fleece with clean long cuts in a shingle like way to keep the length even, that will go just as far into how valuable her fleece is as the micron will (hair shaft diameter…. The smaller the micron the better it feels.)

Fleece can be sold several ways:
Raw- right off the animal with minimal “shaking” out of the VM, or minimal disturbance to the locks/hair structure .
Skirted- gently sorted with most VM and guard hair chunks removed.
Skirted and scoured- Clean sorted and washed, but…..many fleeces will felt if not washed correctly which is why spinners usually prefer to wash themselves. It also helps to set the twist once spun so spinners sometimes wash only after skirting and spinning.
Crafters or doll makers are usually the ones who want washed fiber.

Anywho…. So let me know when you are ready for me to blow up your inbox with shearing and fiber stuff.


----------



## tinyliny

Wallaby,

As sad as this is to contemplate, since you have been documenting life with Lacey, when she does go, you will have a long history of photos, and with your writing skills and cartoons, you really should write a book. I think it could be very successful.

"Sassypants" would be an excellent title.


----------



## Wallaby

Hahaha! Leah, you are the best!! I will be sure to let you know. She still has about a month to have hair (lol) but in a few weeks I'll be asking!

Awww, thanks Caroline! I love that title!! That would be the greatest book ever.
I have had more people in my life tell me that I should write a book! They were telling me that in high school, that's something most people who meet me organically assume I would be great at (even without seeing any drawings/writing/etc!), and now you guys. APPARENTLY I'm the only one who's still not 100% on board with that idea! haha!
I guess I should just suck it up and get on that. :lol:
Cuz I do have a long history of photos and she is what I would write about, if I were to write anything! And it would be "easy" to write about her..dang. No more excuses. :rofl:




A few thoughts from today:

1. Hazel is IN LOVE with my seven year old Sunday Lesson Kid. She adores that kid. And that kid adores her! It is probably the cutest thing. Today, for SLK's lesson, we played "The Leading Game" which is like a combination of Tag and Simon Says, plus animals. She got to lead Hazel and oh my goodness. I thought I would die of cuteness. SLK was just leading Hazel everywhere (and SLK is a TINY kid - maybe 60lbs - Hazel is at least 80-90lbs), then she'd start running, and Hazel would just gallop alongside her. Haze never tried to take her wherever Hazel wanted to go, she just followed this tiny kid along wherever said kid went. 
I LOVE THAT GOAT. Best $0 evvvvvvver.

2. Rant warning: One of my neighbor's was taking their Boston Terrier on a walk, let her run free (she has a historically TERRIBLE recall, btw - one of those "come means PLAY!!!" dogs), and she scooted through the front gate and came tearing through the pasture. 
The stupid dog almost got kicked in the head by Lacey (thankfully, that dear mare "warning kicks" first ALWAYS, then actually kicks if whatever it is doesn't back off - she is a miracle, she knows she's blind and she behaves accordingly...I adore her). Luckily it backed off after Lacey raised her back leg, shifted her rear, and grunted. But that dog would have been toast if it weren't for Lacey's good heart.
Not to mention that Hazel almost mauled the dog while protecting "her" girl (this was in the middle of our game). She didn't but that was only because I came over and got the dog to leave the two of them alone

Anyway, I went to talk to the owners about this issue and impress upon them that their dog was lucky to be alive AND THEY TOLD ME THAT IF LACEY KICKED THE DOG, THAT WAS FINE. Um, no. Your dog is 20lbs, at most. It would DIE if my horse kicked it. I don't care if you hate your dog enough to not care if it dies, I DO care about your dog enough to hope that it stays alive and I'm telling you to get your dumb creature out of my horse's pasture and keep it on a leash until you can figure out how to train it properly.
SO MAD. 
I was polite to them and just said that the dog was lucky to be alive and that going into pastures like that was really really dangerous for it. They laughed it off until I pointed out that a kick from a horse Lacey's size, to a dog that small, would not end in some bruises. It would end in a serious injury or even death. I guess they hadn't thought of that because they sobered right up and apologized profusely. Hopefully that'll do the trick... I hate having to be "mean" but that poor dog. 
I adore dogs and would love to have one of my own so to see someone behaving that frivously with a creature hey are lucky enough to have...seriously gets my goat. :lol:


Anyway, rant of the day=done. :rofl:


----------



## tinyliny

It's good you let them know that if Lacey kills their dog, it's not your fault. or Lacey's.


----------



## Wallaby

That's what I was thinking. I'm pretty shy+introverted in real life (unbelievable, right?) so it was hard for me to go talk to them but righteous indignation fueled my bravery. :lol:

Nothing really new over here, except that Miss L's right eye seems to be sort of "sinking" in...and she seems to be having an ERU attack in that eye right now TOO. 
She doesn't seem to be overly uncomfortable, though she is hyped up on bute, so that's a plus. Buuut I'm thinking that when the vet comes to do her teeth in a month or so, we might need to talk eye removal (as in, right eye gone, left eye still here). I hate the idea of that but her left eye is basically under control while that right eye has been having issues ever since last April when she was first diagnosed with ERU. Combined with the fact that her right eye is currently totally blind anyway... 
The bute is getting it back under control, thank goodness, but it seems like every month or so THAT eye starts freaking out about one thing or another.

So that's not great. Though, having the eye removed would also remove quite a bit of pain from her life soooooo....and if it were to end up being removed before the summer, perhaps the major drainage and such would be gone by the time the flies are really out... :/
We'll see. 

Think her good thoughts!!


----------



## Wallaby

On a more positive note, today, for whatever reason, I took a bajillion cell phone pictures. So now you get to see (be tortured with) a bajillion bad cell phone pictures. 

It was gorgeous out today. I wanted to skip school and go to the Zoo by myself SO bad...but I didn't. Saving that. 

First, this morning. 
Captain Cutie haz cute.










Then, our Tuesday art. Just some cows on a hill. You know.










Coming home on the train... SO PRETTY OUT.










Then, when I got home, Miss Cutie had taken herself sooo far down into the lower pasture. It's really steep down there (don't know if you can tell) and I really don't like it when she goes down there. Usually she stays up higher (why I don't just block off that pasture) but it seems like bute impairs her judgement about these things somewhat since the times she goes down there are when she has bute in her system...
Anyway, so I got a workout going down there to encourage her back up...










And of course, as soon as I got down there, she decides to leave me behind and go cantering, then trotting, up the hill. Thanks Lacey, THANKS.










"Mom, you're SLOW."










Then, sunset. 












:happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

yeah , Portlandia!


----------



## Wallaby

Yeah!! 




I realized I should have probably explained a little more about Lacey's eye thing - basically that with her age, I realize that putting her down is coming but I think she's doing well enough (and to come back as well+as quickly as she has from a suspensory injury? Come ON! haha) at this point that eye removal might just be the best option. If she had a really low quality of life or was otherwise "suffering", putting her down would definitely be on the table, as hard as that is. 
But since she's doing AMAZING with her current disabilities (seriously guys, I wish you could come see her being her, like I do on a daily basis. I can't even describe to you how incredible she is at times. Sometimes I just cannot believe that she's not a bewitched human inside a horse's body! hahaha), at least to me, getting the eye removed could be of benefit. 
Of course, we'll see what the vet says! 
I didn't want you guys to worry that I'm holding on to her for my own sentimentality and nothing else. 

Anyhoo.
Atticus and I have been working on a bit of space "dominating", where he's not allowed to come into space I "own" at all - even if I'm not directly standing in that space (sort of like you would do with a dog...haha!). It seems to be working really pretty well! He had started getting a bit bargy and with how big he is/is going to be = big issues on the horizon! But he's picking it up super well and he's really starting to respect my space for being MY space, no matter what else is inside my space.
He really tries hard, just I've been lax on the rules lately. 
This practice is also translating into other areas - he's being "nicer" to Hazel, less cray-cray, and just all around nicer to be with. 
I think over the break (ONLY 3 weeks!!!! SO EXCITED.) I'm going to try my hand at clicker training him to do some stuff. Or maybe not even clicker training him, just training him to do some stuff. 
I'm also hoping to maybe start taking him on walks, just me and him. I think he would really enjoy that and it would be a nice break for the girls! :lol:


On the Lacey front, that eye is FINALLY back under "control" for now. It took a few days but we got there! Thank goodness.
She is shedding SO MUCH right now. Hair is everywhere. Basically I come to school looking like I own a Great Pyrenees or something...to bad I DON'T own a GP! :rofl:
I can't wait until she gets all shed out! I love the transition from "cute-pony" Lacey to "classy-lady" Lacey. 


Then, 3 random pictures for your day.

Yesterday, while I was walking to the train, I found this! It made my day.










Miss Haze.
"Why didn't you talk about ME in your journal today?! I'm important TOOOOO!"










We were supposed to do a 'quiz' in my Jazz History class. The prof gave us too much time with said quiz - we were "correcting" them in class which turned into a group discussion of Kanye West...that class is a waste of my time. :lol:












:happydance:


I hope you guys are all having a great day!!


----------



## Wallaby

Just some pictures and a crazy short video to round out your experience of today! :lol:


"Human-mom??!"










"HOO-MAN MOM!!!!!!!!"










Miss Lacey... She's such a silly girl, she shot me this look, then turned around and went back into her stall, THEN turned around and shot me another look like "you BETTER have caught that, fool!" :rofl:












Then, video! Just a little clip of Miss Lacey showing off her Quarter Horse-like running skillz. :wink:








:happydance:


----------



## jcraig10

video is private 

hoo man mommmmm hahahaha hazel is hillarious. i totally read their thoughts out loud and they all have different voices when i do it...haha i can't help it!!! lacey's blankey is purdy


----------



## Roperchick

*gasp* I cant watch the video. its set to private lol


----------



## Wallaby

Sorry guys! D:
It's public now. I uploaded it differently than usual so things got confusing. Awkward! :lol:

Fun story from today, riccil0ve from this forum, came out and met Lacey today!  
I think she's going to make a thread about it later, look for it!


----------



## Wallaby

Nothing much to report but we are all alive!

Lacey is shedding SO MUCH. However, since I've been leaving her blanket off quite a bit, she's doing a lot of her shedding into the grass/dirt during her daily multi-rolls (I think she must roll at least 3 times, on average, during the day. Silly girl!!), and therefore she's actually really shed out for her at this time of year. It's so great! I can brush her with minimal lung-ingestion of hair. It is wonderful!
She's still ridiculously hairy...pretty sure her mom was a yak, but she's doing better than I had expected.

Hazel and Atti are doing great too.
I'm finding some serious irony in Atticus' name though. It's kind of bothering me - I'm taking a Greek History class right now and, didn't know this at the time, Atticus basically means "Man of Attica"...and Attica was the term for the island Athens was on.
Athens, back when it was "Attica" etc, was a really pain in everybody's neck and was always at war or trying to go to war with someone...basically. Other "people" were always trying to war with Attica as well but Athens was a real instigator/meany.
Um, yeah. Probably not he best name for our boy. 
I definitely believe that names should evoke something for someone/something to grow into and...yeahhhhh. But it's been so long, I'm not sure I could change Atticus' name to something else without extreme difficulty. Curses! :lol: 
Anyhoo, we can just call him Atti and hope he grows into someone better than his name. I mean, Lacey's name means...lace-y and she's certainly smarter than your average lace. Also more BA. :rofl: She's like leather AND lace. 


Then, in life news, I signed up for Spring term classes yesterday and I AM SO EXCITED. I'm taking a photo class and a class on "Pacific Northwest Pre-History", then Sign Language 103, and a historic writing class that I have to take for my degree. On the days I have photo, I'll be getting out everyday at THREE PM! Instead of 4. So I'll generally be getting home around 4 on Tues/Thurs, instead of 5 like it's been for the last 2 terms and since that's about when I'm going to start trying to get Lace back into work... OMG SO PERFECT. I'm really thrilled.
Monday/Wednesday, it'll be the usual of going to school at 8, getting out at 4, home by 5. But Tuesdays and Thursdays are gonna be great!

Other interesting story, for those of you invested in the story about the gentleman-friend (the one I've known for 2 years, etc), on Sunday I was supposed to see him at church. Every other week he helps with childcare for the church (so sweet!) so I only get to see him on the weeks he's not doing that - would have been this last week.
Usually we kinda trade back and forth asking if the other is going to church that evening (aka, I don't want to be "that girl" who's just always "are you coming to church????!!!!!!" allll the time, you know).
Anyhoo, this was "his week" to ask me if I would be there but he didn't text me. So I eventually texted him and he said that he was going to the later service. I hadn't seen him in forever so this was a huge bummer.

I texted him as such, etc, and eventually told him basically that I had been having a bad day (you know those days when you can just feeeeel that you're coming down with a cold and you don't want to be?) and had been looking forward to seeing him so not seeing him was not the greatest thing.
Anyway, he was really sad that I was sad and I figured we had moved on.

However, on Tuesday, I open up my Facebook and he posted this really sweet message on my FB wall, with a picture of a herd of llamas, saying that he "and his llama friends" hoped that I would have a wonderful day. I happened to be home sick that day (stupid cold!) so that made it even sweeter.
He's such a nice guy. Even as just a friend, such a boon to my life to have him in it!
 
Made my day!





Then, pictures from the week! From my cellphone so nothing special but you know!

"HORSE. IDENTIFIED."










SO MUCH MUD.










Then Hazel today. She somehow managed to detach the belly strap of her blanket, then stick her front leg THROUGH the neckhole...then walk around like that for awhile.
And yes, she DID "hide" the bellystrap in the pasture so it was basically a Belly-StrapPre-Easter-Egg-Hunt out there this afternoon. Soooo helpful. haha! Keeping my life fun!

Self-Sufficient Fashionista Goat says:
"I was hot. So I made this blanket into a necklace! It's dirty now. Don't you know? Trashin' IS fashion!!!"










What a dork. :wink:

And that, I THINK, pretty much sums up this week.

But oh yeah! I've figured out the first chapter of "Sassypants"...thought you'd like to know. Haven't WRITTEN it yet...but I know how it'll go! :rofl: :wink:

:happydance:


----------



## paintsrule

On the "gentleman-friend" issue (I love reading your journal) I have a similar (okay pretty exact) story to yours. Me and my now boyfriend were friends for a year and some months before we got in a relationship, just casual texters, NOT every day until closer when we got into a relationship, only saw each other once a week just like you etc. well why I tell you this story is we NEVER talked about a relationship, if we liked each other, what our feelings were toward each other, etc. it just didn't come up because we were good friends, enjoyed our friendship and we neither of us wanted to "push it" or even consider pushing it, really we were content to stay friends, a relationship would be GREAT we both knew, but because of the friendship this was never shared in conversation. Well anyways I went through a really rough period with my then best friend, my sister and her were ganging up on me, I was losing her etc. and I would talk to him about it, he would say I'm sorry, im sad for you etc (like a friend of course) well to help comfort me, we planned a hug (just as friends, no mention of a relationship budding) when we were going to see each other next at the fair (a couple weeks time away) and so we talked a little about that, moved on, were still friends. I thought that was as far as it was going, but was content to be his friend (because like you said, just having that friend is a blessing). Well casually one night when we were texting, he said something to the effect of "so after our hug, whats next, holding hands, arm around the shoulder?" and just like that BOOM relationship. Not even a "do you like me?" "whats our status" etc no conversation of getting in a relationship, literally in a normal conversation it flowed into what is now a so far year and almost seven month relationship of boyfriend/girlfriend while still being best friends. 
The reason I tell you this is, don't give up hope, you never know, just because you've never talked about it, don't talk or see each other that much, at times it felt like he would never text me or didn't want to, didn't care etc but it was just a busy life and he always did. So even though you're just friends and don't talk about those "things" it does NOT mean it won't happen. Just get in a huge fight with your best friend and WHAM a boyfriend. Just kidding, BAD advice.
Just wanted to share that story and let you know its a big possibility for you, because it happened just like that for me even though I thought it never would and now I'm in love! Good luck! I'll be thinking about you guys (and your precious animals)
Have a great day!


----------



## Wallaby

That is pretty much exactly the same as my story!! :shock: Wow. Almost uncanny! haha I feel so much better after reading that, thanks for sharing. I'm so glad it worked out for you! 


PICTURE OVERLOAD TIME!
Brace yourselves. :wink:

"Out of my way, you SERF!"










"Hmmm, if I sneak up on her, will she try to hurt me?!"










Cutie patootie.










I dunno, I liked this one:










Goat fur!










Lil goatie hoof!










"WE SEE YOU. FEED US."


----------



## Wallaby

Running down to the shed for dinner!










Plant "skeletons"!










"Hazel! Let's take some pictures together!! ..... HAZEL!!!! THOSE ARE NOT WORDS A LADY WOULD USE."










"Hazel, be cute this time!"










"WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO EAT MY FACE?!"










"...because you won't let me EAT YOUR CAMERA."










Pretty flowers! Spring is coming!










"Mergh! Attention! Pony needs it!"










Mr. Atti has almost grown into "his" halter! Just a few weeks ago, the last hole was still a bit too big for him - now it's perfect! Yay! Almost time for the switch to "Hazel's" blue halter (the plan was to switch all along, so this is perfect - Hazel's is a large that's too big for her, this pink one is a medium).










"Goat HATES halter!!"










We went on our first Atti+Wallaby "hike" today! He did fantastic. He got a little fussy towards the end of the time we were gone for (15 minutes) but that was mostly because I was making him stand still for this picture. Hahaha!
Otherwise he did great.










He's getting so tall and gangly! Only a month away from him first birthday!!










:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Also GUESS WHAT.

I just got to ride my pony girl again!!    :happydance:   

I was lunging her and she was behaving so impeccably that I just couldn't help it. So I hopped up there, with just her halter+lunge line to "control" her, and we bummed around the pasture a bit.

I didn't ride her for very long at all - it WAS dinnertime, after all. But she did so well! Just slowly walked around and did everything I asked her to do.

I forgot just how comfy her back is when she's all wooly and slightly under-muscled. She has a bit of a dippy back going on (not really a "swayback" per-say, just she's SO butt-high combined with her rather large withers = built in dressage saddle) and all that hair just grips you...you have to WORK at being unstable on that back! :rofl:

Anyway, it was wonderful. 

Also, she did MUCH better adjusting to my weight this time. Last time she really had difficulty going downhill with the addition of my weight and she tripped/stumbled a few times just from being unprepared. This time she did a whole lot better. Zero trips, 100% steady-edd..."ina"-ness. :wink:

I'm SO HAPPY. YAAAAY LaceyLace!! Way to kick it like a unicorn.


----------



## Roperchick

Wallaby said:


>


 
OHMYGOSH i love this one! shes so adorabible.


----------



## Wallaby

Right?! I love that one too! She was making a cute face, then dove for grass right as I snapped the picture. I almost just deleted it offhandedly but thankfully checked it out before doing so, thank goodness I didn't delete it!  haha

Nothing new, just another "Portlandia" shot for you guys! This is off that same bridge, just the opposite side. Up river...I thinnnk.

And obviously at sunset. 










That is all!


----------



## tinyliny

This:












HAS GOT TO BE YOUR NEW AVATAR PHOTO!!! GOT TO.


----------



## Wallaby

DONE. 


And today a multitude of pictures that Lacey loves because they make her look skinny. :lol:
Do not panic, she is not skinny...AT ALL. Well, she's "perfect"...so a touch "thin", aka not fat per her usual. I would be worried-er if we weren't about to head into spring but since she balloons practically as soon as she smells fresh grass, I'd like her to be thinner rather than fatter. Last spring she was chubby heading into spring and it was such a pain allll summer to be constantly worried about her weight (I watch her weight closely anyway but you know what I mean).

And, to further assuage any fears, her ribs are always the first things to pop out when she isn't "fat". 

We started out this morning very sassily. 
I liked something about the angle/focus of this one...I don't know.










Then, trot Lacey, TROT!









This afternoon I found her alllllll the way down at the bottom of this hill.
She won't come when I call once she's gotten down that far since she follows my voice to find me and this is such a deep valley-thing that my voice just bounces off the other side...so calling to her calls her deeper into the valley. Soooo I had to walk alllll the way down there to get her. 
She's invested in my fitness, that's for sure!










Allll the way down.










We finally made it back up. Silhouette pony!










"Where's mah' dinna', dawg?"










"WAT. You aren't CARRYING my dinner? How dare you."










Then, Lacey is basically the horse version of a pointer. She is hilarious. She "sees"/"senses" things that scare her and watch OUT scary thing. She will TAKE you. :lol:

Here she is, off to kill something "dangerous". ....it turned out to be her [extremely deadly] deer BFF. :wink: Silly Lacey!










"I will scare it so so so badly by looking as much like a total conformational wreck as I possibly can!"










[the dangerous, dangerous deer BFF was SO scared... so, so scared. hahahaha]


Then, the sunset! 












That is all!

:happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

That's all the News from Lake Wallaby.


----------



## Wallaby

Speaking of Lake Wallaby, it started raining HARD again today. The poor old ladies wee both out without blankets so I came home to a couple of shivering drowned rats. Poor dears!

I guess Lacey's trying to "man-up" or something and stay out in the rain past her comfort level, Atti could care less about the rain (obviously, he's a BOY), and with the two of them out, Miss Haze refuses to go down to the shed and keep dry. 

Luckily, I have towels at the barn so I towel dried Haze, and got her all warmed up and blanketed pretty fast. 

Lacey got her blanket too. She was pretty happy about that.

I;ve really been noticing this this winter and I'm not sure if it's a "thing" for all horses or just Lacey...but when she gets sopping wet, she gets REALLY jumpy. Like "climb over the top of you" jumpy. It's when I really have to use my growl-y voice on her.

It's just sort of weird. She's only like that when her whole body is cold and wet. If she gets a dry, warm, blanket on over her wetness, she calms right down and "chills". If only her neck is super wet (like if she's been out wearing a blanket), she's fine too!

Weird horse!
Anyway, so she nearly killed me as I was putting her blanket on. I was fussing with the straps that go under her belly, she spooked at something, and jumped into/over me. Luckily all I got was thrown in a "muddy" [wink wink] puddle so it could have been worse. 
I know she doesn't mean it at all, something just snaps in her poor brain when she gets really wet and cold.

After that, I just kept growling "HO!" at her and she stood there, shaking, with anxiety about the whole thing. Poor thing, I think she was as scared as I was when she realized she had gotten me under herself. After that I could really see her forcing herself to contain the mental energy. She's such a good horse. And she takes such good care of me, I don't even know how I got so lucky.

We got that blanket on eventually and she calmed right down. Silly weird girl!

In other news, today, in Portland, I was walking to my train and this homeless man comes trotting up to me, yelling "Red! RED!!! REDDDDDDDD!" (strangers always call me "Red" when they don't know my name...that hair of mine! haha). So I stop and he asks me if I have magical powers because of my hair (not the first time I've been asked that...hhaha!).
I told him that I didn't know about magical powers but that I did have a unicorn waiting for me at home! I showed him a picture of Lacey and he thought it was the best ever. 
I could hear him telling everyone behind me about how "Red, over there, has a UNICORN!!!!"
It was really fantastic. :rofl:
Oh Portland.



Speaking of unicorns. Here's the dear lady herself. She was super mad that she was was THIS wet and I was taking a picture instead of caring for her poor, probably dying of hypothermia, self. :wink:


----------



## tinyliny

Ok. I would probably have run the other way if some homeless guy came running up to me shouting , "Red! Red!" only in Portland.

I always worry that putting a blanket on over the wet horse will make them colder, and make it hard for them to dry. is that true?


----------



## Roperchick

tinyliny said:


> I always worry that putting a blanket on over the wet horse will make them colder, and make it hard for them to dry. is that true?


im always paranoid about that too. in winter I always towel off my hrose and walk em for a good while after work before ill put the blanket on and take em out to the trailer to go home.


----------



## Wallaby

tinyliny said:


> Ok. I would probably have run the other way if some homeless guy came running up to me shouting , "Red! Red!" only in Portland.
> 
> I always worry that putting a blanket on over the wet horse will make them colder, and make it hard for them to dry. is that true?


hahahaha! Right? Portland!

I used to feel very much the same way about blanketing Lacey when she's wet but she seems to really like it. And I've checked her before, about 15 minutes after putting the blanket on her while she's wet, and she'll still be wet (obviously) but it'll be warm-wet instead of cold-wet. I think it depends on the weight of the blanket, etc. I try to "overblanket" a bit when she's wet. Maybe that's the difference. Even though it's about 40* out, since she was wet, I put her heavy-mid weight on her - if she had been dry, she would have just gotten a sheet. If I put her sheet on her while she's wet, she will definitely get super cold!

I would have probably waited until tomorrow, when she had gotten the chance to dry off in her stall overnight, if she hadn't been acting the way she was. It's really hard to describe in words but it was obvious she wanted her blanket pretty badly. Usually in situations like this, I defer to her - if she's acting like she doesn't care then I don't care too much either (unless I do, then I overrule) but when she's..."talking" to me with her actions and strongly sharing an opinion, I usually try to give her, within reason, what she feels she needs. It's just so hard to explain without sounding like a floofy "my horse is as smart as I is!!" owner! :lol:

Tomorrow morning I'll pull tonight's blanket, curry her out, and put her lightweight (or her lighter MW...depending on the weather, of course) on her, to give tonight's blanket a chance to air out. 


But yeah, Lacey's the only horse I would ever blanket while they're wet. It would be a "tough cookies" situation for anyone else! :lol:


----------



## tinyliny

Well, I can understand doing that. I think she's fine. I mean, horse hair is basically wool, right? wool is warm even if it's wet. As long as the hair isn't plastered down too hard to the skin, so that there is not loft and so that the moisture does not transfer to the skin.


----------



## Wallaby

Miss L was back to her normal self today, thank goodness! 

I don't have really anything animal-related to say but I do have an sorta addition to the "Gentleman-Friend Files"... :lol:

Back in the day, when we had only known each other a month or so (we have one of those friendships where we, from the start, felt like we had known each other for "forever" already - I think we hadn't even known each other for a week before we were both like "Did we really meet a WEEK ago?" :rofl, he found a smiley face pin on the ground somewhere and gave it to me because "it reminded him of me".
Anyway, I pinned it to my shoe and wore it constantly for the rest of the summer. Then, after the summer ended, I sewed it onto one of my "everyday-real world" shoes and it's been on that shoe ever since.

Today, however, the thread holding the pin on finally snapped and the pin fell off! D:
Luckily I noticed immediately and saved the pin from "tragedy."

Obviously, I HAD to text him immediately about this. :lol: So I texted him and he texted me right back saying that, when he got my text, he had actually been in the midst of texting me ABOUT THAT PIN! He's reading a book where the author mocked smiley face buttons and he wanted to tell me about how he lost all respect for the author because of that. 
How uncanny is that?! hahaha

I told him to get out of my head. :rofl:

But I was bummed that I texted him first...he rarely texts me and it makes me sort of sad... haha But he doesn't text much in general and he writes on my facebook a lot, so I really have no reason to be bummed, but you know. :lol:

I thought I was pretty slick in my text back, though. I mentioned that I enjoy getting random texts from him. Living on the willdddd side, I KNOW. :rofl:
He's sometimes not the most confident guy out there and...I don't know...I hope he's not not texting me because he think I don't want to hear from him (that would be something just like him to assume, I don't even get it - he is LITERALLY the most beautiful guy I have ever seen yet he thinks everyone is more likely to hate him than love him. HAH. However...that sort of makes him more beautiful - really humble, you know?)... So anyway, if that's the case, hopefully he gets it now that I like getting texts from him.

I guess we'll see!



Then, I drew a picture yesterday!
I'm on a giraffe drawing kick...I think. hahaha!

I'm not sure how giraffes move exactly but I figure they probably "trot" laterally since, with those long long legs, a diagonal gait just seems prone to leg tangle-age... but who knows. Well, I guess someone obesessed with giraffes/a giraffe-ologist would know.. :lol: 
Best guess. haha












:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

So Mr. Atticus decided to scare me half to death this morning. What a bro.

It was about 30* last night and Atti has been shedding out for some time so his coat is much thinner than it was in the midst of winter.

So I get up there and he is shivering VIOLENTLY. Like entire body tremors sort of shivering. Haze, of course, is totally totally fine. 
All their hay was gone and their water (both of which they had had plenty of last night!) was all gone as well.
So I watched him a bit, he pooped - normal, put Hazel's blanket on him to warm him up a bit, and decided to just carry on as normal with feeding them.

Then, he turned his nose up at his breakfast!! While shivering violently, wearing Hazel's turquoise coat.

And he still hadn't peed, at all.

So at this point, I'm all "OH NO! BLOAT! STONES! HE'S GONNA DIE."

I thought through the logical things I had on hand and figured that if it was bloat, a dose of Probios+water would not hurt the situation at all. So I syringed that into him, which must have scared him because he started peeing.
And peeing.
And peeing.
And peeing. 
He LITERALLY peed for EIGHT minutes. I kid you not.

After that, the shivering stopped! He was still a bit "off" but he had also been acting a bit more spooky than he usually is so maybe something scared him during the night...

In any case, he's totally fine now. He was running around as I left the pasture this morning, did his usual "bounce down the hill to dinner" thing this evening, ate dinner like a boss, etc.

Maybe he forgot how to pee? Maybe he was so cold that he tensed himself up and he was shiverng out of tension which the pee released? I don't know.
In any case, thought he was dying but he's fine. :rofl:

They got a BUNCH of hay tonight and I filled their water all the way to the brim so hopefully tomorrow won't be a repeat...
Fingers crossed!


Anyhoo, pictures!

"What?!!! You mean to tell me that I'm supposed to EAT this hay, not make abstract art with it??! _SURELY_ you jest, ma'am."










After the pony got out for the morning.  It was really pretty out today!










Then, this is what my Jazz History class "created" today. :lol: I had considered skipping but was like "Well, the prof taught us nothing on Tuesday so he MUST be going to teach us something today!!" 
Hah, yeah, NO. A Latin Jazz band came in and played for an hour of the 2 hour class, then, once they were done playing, the prof let us all go. Oh yes, $$ well spent. At least I have an 110% in the class! I could not take the final and still get an A. :rofl: I'm going to take the final but you know. Nice to have an easy "coasting" class sometimes!










I'm thinking though that I need to research the tails of these creatures I'm drawing - I just noticed that that giraffe from yesterday and today's rhino have the exact same tail.....haha can't say I'm not consistent!


And that, my friends, is all. 

:happydance:


----------



## SaddleStrings

Cute drawings, Wallaby! You must be in an African animal mood . What African animal will you draw next? Elephant? Zebra? Or maybe my favorite, an Okapi!


----------



## Wallaby

Haha, thanks!  
I did draw a "baller" (it was balancing a ball on it's nose..sooo punny. hahaha!) elephant the other day for a friend... No picture of that one though! I guess I'll just have to draw another one! 
I love Okapi's toooooo!!!!! They are the best. I'll give it a whirl! Good thinking.
Maybe I'll have to draw a Sassaby next...pretty sure they are the sassy cousins of Wallabys...aka, they are my spirit animal... :rofl:



I rode Miss Lacey again today!! Speakng of Sassabys...pretty sure she morphed into one today. She was VERY...herself. :rofl:

In any case, I think I "won," eventually...I hope I did! haha I think I'm going to postpone taking her out on any sort of trail ride until she's had her teeth done. If today was any indication, we WILL need a bit for our first ride out. haha
Really, she did pretty well overall. The main issue was that she seriously wanted to run and, obviously given her injury, she shouldn't be running for at least a while - until her legs have had a chance to toughen up. I was only barely able to get her mind back in the pasture and I can only imagine how difficult that'll be on the trail.

And right now her teeth need to be done so she's really not comfortable with a bit, due to that. Gah, HORSE! haha but they'll be getting done pretty soon and then we'll be good to go.

She was super responsive to all my cues and seemed really happy about being ridden so that was great! We basically went around and wandered through all her pastures, did a lot of hill climbing, a few steps of trot, climbed over a few logs, you know, had fun. She worked up quite a sweat and everyone (the goats were galloping around after us everywhere - Atti still hasn't figured out WHY I ride that white creature) was pretty pooped by the time we were done. I suppose everyone got a good workout, myself included! haha

Picturessssss!

This morning Lacey seemed to have gained a pair of twins that she forgot to mention to me...
They just came bopping out of the far pasture when I let her out and hung out with her until I let the goats out!










Haze. I'm gonna miss her fur when I shave it off in two weeks! Brace yourselves, naked mole rat-goat is coming.










This afternoon, pre-ride.
"Mom, we're boredddddd...."










Queens of the WORLDDDDDD!










"Ok, you can get off now."










Post-ride. Skeptical horse is skeptical.










"HRRRMRRRGRRRR! So tired! How dare YOU."










"OH. MY. GOSH. HAY."










"See??! I am SO tired, I HAD to lay down. Mercy me!"










"Me too! I'm exhausted!"










Then, I put them all away and discovered this guy behind the shed!










Someone is shedding!











:happydance:


----------



## SaddleStrings

Lol, love the sassaby!!! Kind of looks like Atticus, don't you think? 

Lacey seems to be queen of the deer. So cool you have them on a regular basis. Hopefully they don't eat all your hay!


----------



## Kayella

I was going to ask you, do you use any ammonium chloride for Atti? It's a white powder I and all the other FFA students put in their goat's water to prevent urinary calculi/kidney stones. You only need to give it to wethers so I'm not sure if it would have a negative effect on Hazel but it is a preventative.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Cruiser

We give our wethers (and doe) a cup of apple cider vinegar in their water to prevent our boys from stones. Haven't had a problem yet.


----------



## Roperchick

> Haze. I'm going to miss her fur when I shave it off in two weeks! Brace yourselves, naked mole rat-goat is coming.


wow! cant wait for THOSE pics lol poor hazel is gonna be so traumatized!


----------



## Chevaux

I just had a thought, Wallaby -- I think you should make Hazel's soon to be ex-hair into little packets tied with a ribbon and send it all of us who have grown so fond of Hazel -- green or pink ribbon for me please.


----------



## Lockwood

I hope Atti is fine, but something came to mind...
ruminants will often shiver/shake/tremble when they are in pain or discomfort (or if their calcium : phoshorous ratios are off [not typical in males though.])
It is easy to think they are cold, but that often isn't the case.
Just an FYI to rest your mind about his shedding/OMG do I have to worry about him too??

He could have had a minor blockage causing an overly full bladder... which is _very_ painful!
However, if I remember right, he isn't getting typical "grain" which is a bigger cause of stones than forages (usually) but as the others mention, it might be something to check on with him.
Some grain types have additives, like Goat Chow and Caprine Challenger, to prevent it and thus the additives will not harm the females at all.


----------



## Wallaby

Ah! Guys! Picture me dragging myself along the floor by my fingernails, in exhaustion, from how unweekend-like this "weekend" has been!

I'll try to report back better this afternoon but for now, I thinkkkk we're ok on the possible blockage front. His mineral supp (Manna-Pro, which I add to his feed everyday) has ammonium chloride in it and he pretty much eats his portion of minerals AND Hazel's everyday (Haze prefers Lacey's minerals, haha) so I'm thinking he's probably, hopefully, maybe, getting enough to prevent any real issues... ??
And he's continued acting totally normal, peeing normally and often, galloping around, etc, so I'm thinking that whatever Thursday was, it was just Thursday thing! :lol:

Anyhoo, I'll come back and address everyone's thoughts hopefully later today!  <3


----------



## Wallaby

SS, the Sassaby does kind of look like Atticus! Now we see what he's going for....we see what you did there, Atticus! haha!
Right? Lacey really is queen of deer! She just loves them and they love her. I love them too so extra bonus for that! haha Thankfully they don't seem to have figured out about the food in the shed. Or perhaps they have but don't care. I know they drink out of the water tub by the gate, they probably drink out of the shed-water too. Thankfully there's enough brush and stuff around that I don't think they really have a need to eat dried grass, you know?
But in any case, if they want to eat some hay, I'm happy to share. 

Thanks Kayella! I would like to find some straight ammonium chloride but I'm not sure where to find it. I've tried looking at my local feedstores but it appears that the places I'm used to going cater more towards horse/cattle people (selection for goat/sheep stuff is VERY limited). I probably need to order it online. Thankfully the mineral supplement I give them everyday has ammonium chloride in it so hopefully that's enough.

Cruiser, I had been feeding them ACV too, but then I realized that the vinegar I was buying was "Apple Cider FLAVORED" vinegar and that threw me off...so I stopped. Is AC flavored vinegar "good enough"? So confused. haha

Roperchick, it'll be HILARIOUS! I can't wait. hahahahaha! I expect that she'll probably be less traumatized than we all expect, I mean she's been shorn every 6 months/year for her 9 years of life... And this time I'm going to use clippers like I did when I shaved her patootie and she really did not mind that t all!  She's gonna look funnnyyyyyyy! haha

That's a great idea, Chevaux! I'll see what I can do about that once it's all shaved off+clean. 

Thanks, Lockwood! I had a thought today - the grass is just starting to come in all green+fresh and he's been obsessing about grazing on that tasty tasty grass, perhaps he's just overindulging and giving himself an upset tummy. His poops have been normal but that doesn't mean that his tummy feels fantastic. He was a late March baby last year so he's never experienced that whole young grass-thing..
I've given him probiotics everyday in his food for the last few days and he seems a whole lot happier on them right now. Not that he was specifically "unhappy" for any length of time but there was just something...like he was acting needier or something. Anyway, everyday that I've given him probios, he acts fine but then on the days I don't give them to him, he starts doing weird stuff - happy stuff, but weirder than normal. haha
Fingers crossed, I've been keeping an eye out for him peeing and I've been making sure his tummy doesn't get hard. So hopefully the young grass is all it is...

PICTURES!!!!

First, last Saturday, my mom and I discovered this new 100% gluten free bakery that's super close to us. Sooooo someone (ME!!) definitely got a crazy delicious cinnamon roll!
It was AMAZING. All gooey, soft, and tasty, JUST like a "normal" cinnamon roll would be!! I actually took a bite, then finished a few hours later, just to make sure, because it sort of freaked me out with how wheat-like it was!! hahahaha!
It was $5 so not something I could get allll the time but it was sure a nice treat!










Then, also on Saturday, the hoof trimmer I used to use came out to give me some pointers with Lacey's hooves and to do Hazel's (her back hooves had gotten out of control so I needed someone who knew what they were doing to get them back to "ground zero"). 
The kiddos were not impressed with having to stand tied for a boringgggggg 1.5 hours. They miraculously survived. 










Speaking of green grass, SPRING!!!










"Guys, I see Lacey roll everyday...I think I'm going to try it! My back is just SO itchy from all the shedding I'm going through right now!!"










"Well...that failed!" 
He got his horn stuck in the ground and I had to "save" him. hahaha!
This is an example of the "weirdness" that's been going on - stopped since he's been getting Probios. 










Then, today. I got home a good half hour early so I took that time to work Miss Lacey.
I figured we should start building up her stamina+such because once we hit those trails, she is gonna die on the hills if she's not prepped first.

So I took her in the steep pasture (lower pasture) and lunged her on the hill. One side of our circle had a big log in it so she couldn't do her favorite "OMG! This is a HILL!! I'm going to get out of control and run SO FAST and ignore all your commands!" Instead, she had to focus on her circle and getting herself over the log. It was really good for her. She did super great, I would tell her "step!" right before the log (her word for something she needs to step up and over) and she used that as her gauge for how close she was to the log. It was pretty cute!

Upppp the hill!










Overrr the log!










Then, we went to the other, flatter, pasture to cool her down. Even though she was only walking for about 20 minutes, she was SOAKED in sweat. She is OUT of shape!

Atticus decided to "help" me lunge her.

"Hmmmm...let me see here. How does this work again?"










"I see! I hold the line with my feet and hold this stick...."












That is all for now! 

:happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

I love your drawings. I hope you DONT spend time studying the way the animals look in reality. or, at least that you don't try to make yours real looking. Their charm is in their rustic nature. In a strange way, they kind of remind me of Maurice Sendak art.


----------



## Lockwood

Super jealous about the gooey bun! No gf bakeries here, but I do make a mean (and I mean _mean_ wheat like banana bread.)

That's a thought about the new grass. :think:
He could have had some bloat type issue and all the peeing was just secondary. I know one of my does is very sensitive to forage changes and bloats much easier than the others. 
I keep a bottle of Rolaids chewables in the barn (the one with the anti-gas, anti-bloat super duper stuff in cherry flavor [generic ok]) and if I think someone is trying to get bloat I give them a few tablets and watch closely. Probios is wonderful (and I've never heard of it causing "weirdies" before) but for a quick fix, the Rolaids are helpful. I also keep an actual ruminant bloat medicine, but it's gross according to the goats while the cherry rolaids is a big hit!

So, did you have an ah-hah moment watching the trimmer with Hazel?
How are things going with your work on Lacey's feet?

I agree with Tiny.....don't change the drawings. They are charming, whimsical and perfect the way they are.


----------



## Wallaby

Awwww! CAROLINE!! [I hope it's ok that I call you by your real name...I remember reading somewhere that you don't like being called "Tiny" and "Liny" is just meh as a name... Lemme know if you would like me to not us your real name, I'm ok with whatever ] You are too sweet! Maurice Sendak is one of my all time favorites. :hug: So sweet.
Yeah, no worries about me trying to go too "real". I used to be really self conscious about how not-real my drawings are so I spent my high school years attempting to be "real" (I took every art class my high school offered, hahaha). Too bad my version of "real" was everyone else's version of "you should illustrate children's books!!!! You would be so good at it!!".. :rofl: 
So anyway, I eventually decided that my pictures are MY pictures, life-like or not, and that other people like them so I should too. I'm hoping that eventually I'll settle in more and get a bit more...something...I don't know, there's something missing I think...like the oldest versions of Peanuts. But for now, it's a work in progress. 

Thanks Lockwood! Good thinking. I hadn't even considered Rolaids but he would probably love those! I'll get a box to have up in the tack room.  For now the Probios seems to be doing the trick but Rolaids are probably cheaper for the longerterm! haha
No ah-ha moment with Haze and the trimmer. Miss Haze made watching very hard because she refused to stand still unless I was on the side opposite the trimmer, she was leaning on me 100%, and I was covering her eyes with my hand. WHAT A BABY. [it was _really_ cute...sassy old lady goat needs her owner! Awwwwwwww!] But I wasn't really hoping for one, I was mostly hoping to get her hind hooves back down to "ground zero" so I could continue maintenance on them. They got sort of out of control before (I had not realized that she needs to be trimmed every two weeks, MAX, and let her go for 6 weeks before trying to trim them = too much for pansy me to feel comfy with!) so I'm hoping that now that they're back down to "right", I'll be more able to deal with them. She has really badly twisted toes in the back and she walks on the side of her hooves back there, for whatever reason, so they just grow wacky. It's really intimidating! haha But hopefully I'll be able to get on top of them now. I'm super comfy with Ati's feet (his are EASY!!) but Haze's...oh man, scaryyyy. :lol:

Lacey's feet. Oh boy. We're still reaping the 'rewards' of the last BAD trimmer I had out who let Miss L's angles get all out of wack. So I was being really thrown off by how out of line her toe angle was and then getting confused about her heel angle. Basically, it was a good thing this trimmer came out because she had quite a few ticks for me and she helped me getting L's heel's straightened out. Her toes were great but her heels were getting really underrun. Anyhoo, now I'll hopefully be able to keep up with that and things will be good!
Other great bonus, this trimmer has a short hoof jack that she hates because it's so short (it doesn't go up at all) but she offered to give it to me for Miss L because LaceyLace doesn't really want to have her legs up high for very long so something that doesn't go up at all really wouldn't be a problem for us.    So that was fantastic. I've been puttering along without a hoofjack but a hoofjack would make getting angles right so much easier! 
And free is ALWAYS the best price! 



Then, just a few pictures from today:

Lacey's figured out that if she stands right here, she can look outside at her deer AND be under the overhang of the shed. She's so cute! I call her Queen of Buckets when she stands there. (the big one is my muck-bucket and the little one is our down-spout-watering-system, haha)










Today's drawing. A Sassaby?
I was going to draw another one but it came out funky...so don't mind the head the Sassaby is staring at... :lol:










Thennnnn today I came home to THIS. I think a deer got into the goat pen and freaked out. But it seriously broke down the pen. Thanks deer!
Luckily it only took me 15 minute to get it back up but I'm thinking that, if not over Spring Break, this summer the goat pen is going to see renovation in the form of pallet fencing. Darn.

"Hmmmmm! What happened HERE!!???"










"Let me help you fix it!!   Look at me, I'm so HELPFUL!!"










Then allll back together. More ghetto than before. hahaha










Today was exhausting!! haha

Glad it's over!


----------



## Roperchick

Deer-one
Fence- Zero


----------



## Wallaby

RIGHT. ? They did it again YESTERDAY. And then, they allll stood around and watched me fix it. 4 deer, Lacey, AND the goats. They thought they were HI-larious. :rofl:

Your mid-week picture fix:


----------



## Roperchick

Wallaby....you should make your own comic strip of these^^!!! Dang they are good!


----------



## SaddleStrings

^^^ Ditto with Roperchick! Your drawings are sooo good! The Dino on the ball made me smile! I have a nephew who'd love that picture! He's a dinosaur freak! I know it's been mentioned to you before, but you really should go into illustration. If you only did it part time, it could be quite rewarding.

Keep those pics coming!!!


----------



## Wallaby

Aw shoot, you too! Thanks a bunch!  I do love drawing them! I hop Ill have a good drawing class next term...this term, Jazz History was "drawing class" (lol) but this coming term, I don't know yet. Next week is finals so I'll be finding out in a few weeks. haha
I have the hardest time drawing good stuff when I'm not in class. Like I can draw stuff but it always comes out looking or feeling forced. Maybe a boring book on tape would do the trick... :rofl:

I just thought I'd sneak in a few pictures from today. 
I lunged Lacey over that log again, she got a little too sassy and ended up giving herself a pretty good scrape on her cannon.  She thought she would try jumping it, then bucking...from a walk. I think she learned her lesson. Poor dear! Thankfully it's not deep and it's mostly just a fur-scraped-off sort of situation. There's a really small+shallow, 1cm long/.5cm wide, wound-scape at the top of the fur scraped off area but it didn't bleed hardly at all and she seemed like it stung more than anything. Silly sassypants!

Then, Atti wanted to pretend to be Lacey:










Then, later, they both felt like they were sooooo exhausted that they NEEDED to "help" me in the tack room with getting their dinner ready.
See, Hazel is the anti-troublemaker/tattletale/teacher's pet, Atti is the troublemaker, and Lacey is that girl who wants everyone to like her so she'll "help" the troublemaker get in trouble...but run as soon as the principle shows up. :rofl:

Anyway.

"Hmmmm, I wonder if this door can open more..."










"Psh, ME shove THAT door with MY nose? PSH!! Atticus is pushing it with his head!! Can't you see that? I'm innocent!!"
[she had shoved it hard with her nose, Atti was just finishing opening it. hahahaha]










"Muhahahaha! Our plan is complete! Cute tack room takeover, ENGAGE!"










Lacey is like Atti's grandma. She spoils him rotten!! :lol:


----------



## Roperchick

Lacey is like Atti's grandma. She spoils him rotten!! :lol: 

haha more like. partner in crime


----------



## Wallaby

I don't have a whole lotta time right now for an update but I figure that a mishmash of pictures shouldn't be too hard to throw together quickly! 

First, SPRING!!










Then, Lacey in full Oregon-Unicorn Mode:










She decided to try out looking like a Saddlebred as well... :wink:










Hazel, just making Hazel-faces.










Lacey thinks she can make BETTER faces.










Then, this bird, a Northern Flicker, keeps visiting the suet feeder at my house. Flickers are my favorite. They're really big, super shy, and tons of really pretty colors! And come on, their name is "Flicker", how neat is that? haha










Then he got scared.

I love how you can basically see the full trajectory of his wings in this one! I took the picture the second he took off, magically, and BAM!










THEN! The moment you've all been waiting for. 

_Someone_ got shorn (sheared?) today. 
She looks disgusting. It's hilarious!
I ended up leaving her back legs for Thursday (and probably some "clean up" too) because we were all feeling fussy and my back was (is - took some ibuprofen! I feel OLD! haha) killing me.
But yeah. She looks like the stuff of nightmares or an overgrown Chinese Crested. :lol: :lol:










And really, notice how over at the knee she is in the second picture?! That's her ACTUAL confirmation. She wasn't just standing weird, that's actually as straight as her front legs can get. :shock: Holy bad confirmation, Batman!

"But you still loveeeeee me, right?"

[she's like Dobby, Gollum, AND an alien had a baby together!!!!!]










[we thought we would try out one of those haircuts that's so hip now, with the shaven sides and the long strip of hair down the middle.... I think she can work it! :wink:]


And that is all for now! Gonna go cook dinner, then find a heating pad for my back! Geez Louise!

:happydance:


----------



## Lockwood

:shock: :shock:
Nekkid Alert!!
(She needs a censor banner now :lol 
Way to go! You rock girls... all three of you!
(Ok, Atti too)

Um, did I forget to mention about the extra advil? :wink:


----------



## Roperchick

Those old ladies man. They'll just start stripping and running g around! Watch hazel she might start going crazy!

Haha they all look great as usual!


----------



## Chevaux

Oh no, Hazel isn't Hazel anymore - she's a goat:shock:

Thank you for the spring picture - much appreciated by those of us who are still in the grip of winter.

Special kudos for 'bird in flight' - it's a very striking picture.


----------



## Wallaby

Guess who's officially on Spring Break? Um, yeah, THIS GIRL! 

And in the spirit of Spring Break everywhere (?) I did something potentially stupid: I asked Gentleman Friend if he perhaps wanted to hang out sometime next week. Again, gettin' WILD. :rofl: And of course, I texted him this around 3pm and it's now 5:30pm with no response. I know he has a class somewhere in that time but still, color my stomach in knots. :lol:
He'll probably be all "Well, I'm busy" + a bazillion sad faces but you know. I figure it might be time to take a slightly more forward approach. We shall see how he reacts.
#nervous


Thanks Leah!  She is SO naked! Poor girl! I wish it were warmer for her right now, she seems sorta cold. But next week it's supposed to get up to 70 so she'll feel toasty soon!

That's hilarious, RC! haha I sure hope not! hahahahahaha

Right, Chevaux? So different looking! Those ears of hers. So ugly without fluff covering them! hahahaha
Anytime! I try to do what I can. :wink:
And thanks!


----------



## paintsrule

keep us updated on what he says!


----------



## Roperchick

paintsrule said:


> keep us updated on what he says!




I second that!! ^^^


----------



## Wallaby

I definitely will!!
So far, he has said nothing. He DID get on Facebook and "like" everything I've posted today (usually he "likes" one thing, out of the 2-3 things I post in a day - I'M SUCH A STALKER) which is a bit more than the usual but sometimes he does that so whatever.

GAH. Who knows. I guess it's his besties' birthday today so he might be waiting to text me back until after he talks to the BFF (the one he likes to post on my FB wall quite a bit)...at least, if a guy texted ME about hanging out sometime, I would probably wait to text back until after I had talked to MY BFF! hahaha
Anyhoo. 

I found a funny [I think, at least!] set of pictures for you guys to enjoy from today, to make today less about me and more about the fluffy-ones! Yay!

OH MY GOSH! It's the llamapillar!! *le gasp* 
hahahaha










I'm not even gonna lie, I really miss Hazel's hair! haha She really kind of scares me like this. hahahaha Poor girl!!










Lacey says "Why are you not taking pictures of meeeee?!"
She had been standing behind me, yawning for all she was worth, then as I continued to ignore her and photograph the goats, she marched straight down in between me and them, then continued yawning. This horse! She is TOO smart!










"Yo."










"It's naptime. This sun is the best!"










Then Lacey decided to roll.

"WHOA! WHAT is that horse DOING??!!"










"I better check it out!"










"Oh good. It's getting up!"










"WHEW!"










"Oh, oh, oh, what IS it doing!?"










"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!!!"










"ERMERGERD! Someone call horse-911! I'm panicking!"










"Huh. False alarm."











Miss Lacey, having fully recovered from her roll. 











That is all for today! :happydance:

OH! And because this bothers me so much when others do it - I realized that in the post with nakey Hazel pictures, I misspelled conformation TWICE! I promise you I know that it's conFORmation! hahaha


----------



## tinyliny

Dobby, Gollum and an Alien!! that is quite the hoot!


----------



## Roperchick

tinyliny said:


> Dobby, Gollum and an Alien!! that is quite the hoot!


 
kinda scary honestly lol

haha but shes always adorabible.


----------



## Lockwood

tinyliny said:


> Dobby, Gollum and an Alien!! that is quite the hoot!


I must have NO Imagination.... all I see is a shorn goat. Really.
(And a nicely shorn goat at that.)






Wallaby said:


>


I want to see these as contest choices....very soon.


----------



## Lockwood

Ok girlfriend, here is your "sign."
My kiddo is home from school (getting over a fever) and as I was typing and making the above response he looked to see what I was doing. 
He was immediately hooked on the rolling sequence and made me scroll through it slowly to read and see the pics.

He busted up laughing.:rofl::rofl::rofl:
(Remember he's sick. Ever try to get a sick kid to belly laugh??)

And....

He made me do it again and read the whole thing out loud, laughing and snorting the whole time.
Now as you know, I have goats, and equines, and llamas, and... and...
He does not find our animals funny at all. :?

As I am typing this he is _still _giggling over the text... in a way that only a 9 year old can repeat a joke... and think it hilarious. 

And we are still laughing about it 10 minutes later...
(I'm a slow typer)


----------



## Wallaby

Haha Caroline, I'm glad you liked that!  Honestly I'm having to remind myself every time I see her that she's still my Hazel girl, not some evil creature from the Black Lagoon. :rofl:

I'll tell her you think so, RC! 

Leah, even I'm having a hard time seeing a shaven goat! haha I bet by her next shearing I'll be more used to the transformation but I am not yet there! haha
I'm so glad the kiddo liked those! That's great. I'm imagining him chortling all over the place and it's really wonderful. I'm glad Atti and Lacey got him laughing even when he's sick, that is an accomplishment! 
I'm really please with that set. I really was taking them to get a funny sot of Lacey rolling but when I looked through all of them, I realized that Atti had, once again, stolen the show! :lol:




No animal news yet - having a lazy first day of Spring Break and haven't even gotten out of bed yet at 9am. :shock: But I was awake at 7, that HAS to count for something, right? hahahaha

BUT, Gentleman Friend FINALLY texted me back last night at like 11:30. And oh my word. He needs to stop knowing me so well. He texted me back pretty much everything he knows I need to hear to not make me feel insecure about our friendship. He's such a good guy.
His wife one day, she'll be a lucky duck for sure!

Initially I had asked if he had spring break next week and if he wanted to hang out sometime, then I added "maybe that's weird..." just because, you know, I had to sabotage myself a little bit! But really, I didn't know if it would be weird since outside of basically doing "life" everyday at camp for a summer, then seeing each other at church sometimes, and going to the zoo that one time, we don't really "hang out" so I wasn't sure. ANYWAY.

I'm just going to tell you exactly what he said because it would be hard to paraphrase:
"I do have break next week. And it's not weird at all! Haha. We're friends!  And that would be fun. I have to help my dad with a lot of home improvement stuff, but if I get a break then sure "

Which sounds a lot like a really really nice "no" but at least it was really nice, right?
I then cracked a joke about the home improvement stuff (his parents have been remodeling and he's been having to help a whole lot) and told him to let me know if he gets a break. So the ball is in his court and I'm not going to worry about it. Whatever. I tried, at least!

And, random story, it's SNOWING outside right now. So weird. :rofl:


----------



## Wallaby

And pictures, because you're all so nice. <3

Mr. Flicker was back. Yay!










"Sup, homes?"










"You brought me a shiny present??!"










"You. Did. NOT."










"Yeah, that's right. Get used to the ground, colorful devil-present!"










"Really?! AGAIN!??"










"Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy."










"I HATE MY LIFE."










"Yeah, that's right. Take that circle of disgusting OFF my head!"










"And you HAD to put it back on my head, now didn't you."










"Hmmmm, is it tasty?"










"JACKPOT! Warranty information!"










"Hope you weren't planning on USING that warranty!"










Then, in the name of all things not right. I found a daisy, A DAISY, this morning. What is happening to the seasons??!










And I made my camera strap pretty today. 












That's it for today! I hope you guys all had wonderful todays.


----------



## Wallaby

First day of Spring Break = it's only noon and I've already been unbelievably productive! 

First, when I got up to Lacey and the G's, Lacey and Atticus had already let themselves out. >.<

Last week Lacey broke the plastic step-in post that basically supports her stalls gate. So I bought a new one that same day. THEN, within a day, Atticus broke that new post and, since each post is $6, I really do not have the money to be buying a new one everyday. haha 
SO Lacey's gate had been sort of jury-rigged since then. Yesterday I did the "unthinkable" and was "the worst owner in the world" and *gasp* didn't show up at the barn until TEN THIRTY!!!!!! CALL ANIMAL CONTROL! :rofl: Really, I was making pancakes and the time got away from me, but obviously Lacey does not accept that excuses. Lacey accepts ZERO excuses. 
Anyway, 10am is pretty much the longest she'll stay in her stall. Any later than that and she begins planning an escape. Seriously, it's like she has a watch. So 10:30, I knew she would be out.
But, in her getting out, she broke my jury-rigging and yeah. So last night I try to jury-rig it AGAIN but it was a failure and, given that there was only 1 poop pile in her stall out of her usual 7, she got out pretty fast after I put her in last night.

So this morning I put a wooden post where the step-in post had been and hopefully that'll do some good. I sunk it pretty deeply and it feels really solid. Tomorrows' project will be making a new gate for her out of wire fencing-mesh since I'm just using "electric" tape right now but that seemed like a whole lot for today.

Atticus got out too, yesterday and this morning, mostly because he keeps climbing out of the goat pen and ruining the whole fence on his way out. Basically I'm pretty much leaving it all smooshed down for now because each time I try to fix it, he ruins it nearly immediately. So frustrating. I basically need to get him a dog kennel! hahah But really, I wonder if I could find a big dog kennel and stick in their stall to keep him in when I need him to be in...most of the time I really don't care but when I start riding Lacey more, he's going to end up escaping and tagging along too, if I don't have a better plan in place. Goats!!

I'm also kind of trying to decide when I want to stop stalling Lacey overnight...and probably the goats too. 
Basically, if I stop stalling Lacey, I have to stop stalling the goats because they'll escape anyway if I let her be out and try to keep them in. But then, are the goats going to be in any danger, being out all night? They'll still have access to their pen and everything but it won't be shut like it is right now during the night.
Thankfully, I don't need to really decide for a month or two more but it's a dilemma. 
They whole reason I'm stalling them all right now is safety for the goats - winter=less food for predators=goats might look tasty, and to keep Lacey from stumbling over something/getting stuck somewhere/making sure she's safe from mud for the time of day when she's the blindest/etc. Neither of those issues will really be super valid anymore May forward, and my $$ would appreciate not needing to buy hay BUT safety > $$. You see the dilemma.

THEN, Atti and I went on his second solo hike ever! 
We had a bunch of fun. We basically went exploring in the woods so it was less of a hike and more of a "follow me wherever I go and learn how to navigate the stuff I ask you to navigate" adventure.

He did really well. He's really smart about this sort of thing. There was one fence we had squeeze through that he had had real difficulty with last time. This time he took one look at it, and did exactly what he had learned last time.
This time he also got a whole lot less anxious about going home. Last time we hit a point where he was just fidgeting and fidgeting to go home. This time he was much more relaxed. Something did spook him at one point but he calmed down nearly immediately after leaping forward. haha

We both really enjoyed it!
And, with the pictures, I was reminded of why I hate photographing at noon. So yeah... haha

Captain JailBreak and his partner JailBait.










"Hmmmmm...how does this fence thing work again?"










Hiking goat!










Deer trail!










"Hmmmm, I'm not so sure about this..."










The redtail hawks were flying around in that opening in the trees. Also, that hill you can see through the opening in the trees=where I ride Lacey.










"A little natural forage for ME!"










Home again, Glitter Goat!










The gang.











And Hazel, still looking pathetic. :lol:












:happydance: I hope you all are having a great day too!


----------



## tinyliny

and the pictures are ?


----------



## Wallaby

Are they not showing up? I can see them...hmm, I'll go check my privacy settings...


----------



## blue eyed pony

I can see them, Wallaby.


----------



## Roperchick

Naughty naughty Lacey and Atti! Haha. And poor hazel all nekkid and everything Lol


----------



## Chevaux

Good stuff, as usual. Atticus is getting a lovely set of horns on him. I forgot to mention earlier, I like the little top knot you left on Hazel after the de-clocking.


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks, BEP! 

Right, RC? Those two! They seem to be discovering that they share a mutual love of mischief. :lol: Poor Hazel. She's getting the shortest end of the stick ever right now. Poor thing!

Thanks, Chevaux!  I agree about his horns! I'm beginning to think I need to get some kind of blocks for them or something because I have come so close to losing an eye in the last few weeks! haha They are just so long and he's so tall that if you lean over him at all, you're right in horn-land. He would never use them on me intentionally but one of these days! haha I've seen people use mini-tennis balls on the tips for while they're working with their goats, so I might have to look into that.
Thanks! I actually left that hair because the clippers couldn't fit between her horns but I actually like it too! Gives her some more character. :lol:



I ended up doing Lacey's "new" gate this evening. I decided that the risk of her annihilating this new post was a risk I really didn't want to take.

She's not sure whether she likes it....










...or hates it.











I like it though! Her "way" is to go under a fence - if her head can fit under it, she's gonna try gong under, so this new gate goes all the way to the ground.

TAKE THAT, Horse!! :lol:


----------



## Roperchick

"PSH humun. You REALLY think this gate will hold me?" 

(What I imagine is going through her head roflmao)

Have you heard anything from guy-friend lately. I'm super curious/living vicariously through you lol


----------



## Wallaby

The best part is that it will! I'm not sure if it's her eyesight, or what, but she doesn't just push through obstacles like some horses. She either goes under or through or nothing at all.  She's the best! haha
Watch her be out tomorrow...:rofl:

Gentleman Friend-wise, I don't know. I got a little too clingy/talkative over the weekend (I posted a funny picture to his Facebook on Friday, then texted him on Sunday - both of which he seemed to enjoy but you know), I think (I think it's one thing to talk a whole lot in person - which we do when we see each other, and a whole nother thing to be all "also...also....also" in a text/on Facebook. haha!) so I'm trying to sorta "play it cool" until I hear from him or it's next week, at the earliest.

I'm trying to not let myself get caught up in insecurities about him graduating in May...if this friendship is for real or meant to last, it will be 100% fine. But I'm still sort of nervous = toooo much talking. :lol: Trying not to let logic get lost in the shuffle!
At least, the thing I'm the most thankful for, is that he "gets" the whole being sorta insecure with your favorite people-thing. We had similar middle school/high school experiences where we were sort of everyone's "last pick" for a friend, then we got to college and people suddenly decided we have worthwhile qualities..but we're still not 100% confident that these new people plan on staying. It's nice to know someone who just gets it.


----------



## Wallaby

Today is Atticus's first birthday!!  

And, in true birthday boy fashion, I discovered him in Lacey's stall this morning which he had entered via Lacey's new gate. Guess who now has a really smashed gate....... >.<
Thanks a bunch, dude. 
He could have easily gone through the lengthwise wall without smashing anything but obviously that wouldn't be fun. 
Touche, Atti, touche.

He's SUCH A TROUBLEMAKER.

Then, in other news, Miss Lacey is getting her teeth done on Monday at 4:30pm. 
That's my first day of school too so things are going to be crazy that day!
But, it'll be great to have them done. She really needs it!

And yesterday I found a new use for those coats I made for Hazel's "babies":











CAT TORTURE!!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:


----------



## Roperchick

Happy birthday atti! Aaaw eveybody has to get in a little trouble on their b day lol
That is one tortured cat haha


----------



## Wallaby

Watching him try to walk while wearing that was THE BEST. He tried jumping up onto my bed by himself and it was sort of like watching a fish leap out of the sea. I was dyingggg. :rofl:
Poor Booth, it's a good thing he loves me! haha


Then, today I rode Lacey around bareback and took a little (aka too long) video. This is cut down from 15 minutes but still. SO long. :lol:
We were doing our bareback with a halter and single lead rope thing. I find it seems to be a good responsiveness "drill" since I'm neck reining her on one side and basically direct reining on the other.

In any case, I feel like the 2 really worthwhile areas are the first 30 seconds/minute - Atti decided to "help" me with my cinematography, and the very last minute or so - you get to see what a Lacey "spook" looks like (aka, stop and stare for a lonnnng time), Atti was in the shade with some deer and she could see him moving but couldn't figure out what he was. Then she realized it was Atti and everything was hunkydory. :lol:


----------



## Wallaby

I got Haze's patootie+udder+legs+head all sheared finally today. Like a true mullet, Hazel had a few dead beetles in hers. And they weren't named Ringo. :rofl: But really, I did clip out a few beetles. It was sketchy! haha So now she's fully sheared and, with any luck, I won't need to do any more shearing until July or August. THANK GOODNESS.
I was actually sort of surprised with her today. I expected her to want to avoid the "shearing shed" (we have to go to the llamas pasture and use their shed because that one has electricity, unlike Lacey+G's shed) but she actually got happy to see it! She nearly pulled be down the hill to get to it! Silly girl!!
No pictures of her fully sheared-ness because I forgot to charge my camera's battery and forgot about this until I tried to take pictures. And Miss Haze was not standing still enough for my cellphone. haha

In other news, it's been "hot" (high 60's) this week and Lacey thinks she's dying. Poor girl!
She also started her very classy "I'm SO HOT" shedding where her belly area sheds out so fast that it basically goes bald. Way to make sure you look really classy for the vet on Monday, Lacey!
She pretty much does it every year. It scared me so bad my first year with her, I thought she had mange or something! :lol:
Her shedding patterns are my favorite - she always sheds her left shoulder very first, then her right shoulder, then her butt starts to really lose hair (left side first, always), and on and on until she's nearly completely shed out...except for the front half of her belly. She apparently likes her belly fur and that's always the last to go. :lol:

Summertime Lacey is back: 










Weird shedding...










And cute deer! 











:happydance:


----------



## Roperchick

Haha poor haze lol now she really IS a rat...jk she's too cute for that

And poor poor Lacey stuck in her cruel grazing muzzle again Lol


----------



## Wallaby

OH MY WORD, guys. Today has, literally HAS, to be up at the top of a "most traumatizing days ever" list.

The morning started out pretty well - figured out how to get Hazel to eat her "grain" more expediently, add Apple Cider Vinegar! Then my lesson kid came, had her lesson, Lacey did well, etc.
Then I baked oatmeal/cinnamon gluten-free muffins that are the tastiest ever. So excited about them! I'm a little bit disappointed in them because they are very fluffy+cakey and I was hoping for something more muffin-like, but really. Come on, I got to eat real freaking muffins!! No reason to complain! :lol:
Flavor-wise they are perfect. I'm thinking I might add some applesauce next time for an apple-cake sort of feel but they're tasty this way too.

THEN. Making those pushed into my "Feeding Time" (usually, since it's not too light out after 7pm/when dinner is over yet, I head up to feed at 4 or 4:30pm - today I was feeding at 5:30) so I had to hurry up to Lacey's pasture, forgetting my cellphone, to feed them all before they mutinied/I ran out of time to make human-dinner before humans mutinied.
I got everyone all settled, fed, etc, and was about to leave when I noticed that Lacey was acting a bit strange. She wasn't going over to her hay like she usually does after I put it out and she was acting a bit "not there." So I figured she had a weird itch. 
So I'm petting her and she started getting a bit pushy about it, sort of insistent. Which isn't really "weird" for her but whenever she acts like she was acting, she's usually trying to "tell" me something. So I stopped petting her to watch her for a second. She shoved me with her nose (really weird for her!) so I started kind of looking her over. THEN, she twisted her neck and squealed at me!
She never talks to me when I'm petting her - talking for her is always a message of some kind or another.

Then she started doing weird stuff with her neck and I realized she was CHOKING!
I tried to find a blockage n her neck, couldn't feel anything. Tried massaging her neck to get whatever it was down, THAT didn't work. And on the day I didn't bring my phone with me! 
So I took away all L's food, locked her in her stall, pretty much ran back to my house, grabbed my phone, ran back up to Lacey, THEN called the vet.
At that point (6pm), Lacey was pretty much flailing around her stall, spewing green stuff all over the place, acting like she was about to fall over, pretty much running backwards, really panicking! I really wanted to go in her stall with her to con=mfort her but determined that probably the best thing I could do was stay out since she is mostly blind and panicked+mostly blind=dead Wallaby. So I talked to her and let her know I was there, that seemed to help a bit.

Then, as soon as the vet picked up the phone, Lacey coughed a giant cough and an unbelievably large ball of green gunk came flying out of her mouth.

She was still choking a bit as the vet and I talked but she was definitely calming down, thank the Lord!
Luckily, the vet did not need to come out, she suggested lunging Lacey a little bit to hopefully sort of jostle the blockage out of the way, and syringing water fast into the back of L's throat to break up whatever it was. 
Thankfully, that seemed to do the trick. She coughed a few more times, then perked right back up, and went back to being herself.
Lacey is too amazing, I can't even get over it. She single-handedly notified me that she needed my help, then refused to eat anything until she got the blockage cleared. She's probably the coolest.
Anyway, I soaked her hay for tonight so it should be easier for her to get down, in case her throat is sore. 

And the vet knew exactly who Lacey was and knew all the right facts about her as soon as I said my name and Lacey's. We have a good vet. 


So think good thoughts for Miss L, if you would. I think she'll be fine since she was right back her normal self when I left and I watched her until 7:15 - she claimed she was "healed" at 6:30...but I'm sure she could still use some prayers/good thoughts.
Good thing the vet is coming out on Monday anyway!!

Ironically, the single other time she's choked -while under my care- was after she got her teeth done 2 years ago when I gave her grain too soon after the sedation from her teeth... I guess she likes symmetry? 

So yeah, I'm pretty traumatized right now. Poor Lacey. :shock:


And some pictures, pre-choke:

This morning, waiting for the lesson kid. 










Hazel is too weird. She sits like this all the time. She's such a nut!










Sharpei-goat? Look at those butt-wrinkles!!










"Don't you make fun of me, missy!"










"Ze jokez you tell are heeeelarious!"










Could she LOOK any more beaten??! Oh my goodness, Hazel!!










In all her shaven glory! :rofl:












Then, this lovely article about blind horses showed up in my email this morning and I think it's a worthwhile read for anyone who's interested or is in contact with a blind horse...so I thought I'd share.
You do need thehorse.com membership to read it, but I can genuinely say that the emails I get from them are pertinent to things that matter to me (I have mine set to only send me articles pertaining to old and/or blind horses) and it's a free membership. By far the best thing I've ever given my email address to! haha
The Horse | Caring for the Blind Horse | TheHorse.com



And I think that's all for now!


----------



## Chevaux

:shock:Ohhh - glad it turned out alright. Do you think to be on the safe side, you will water her hay for the next couple of meals???

By the way, you know those goats are happy and content with you, don't you?


----------



## Wallaby

Well, she choked on her "grain" - alfalfa+beet pulp so I'm not too worried about the hay. I did soak it again tonight, just to be sure but I think she'll be fine. I have been extra soaking her BP+A pellets and making them pretty wet (which she hates) though! I think the issue might have been that I added some loose salt to her feed for the first time since last summer (she gets a loose mineral supplement but that doesn't seem to have enough salt in it for warmer weather) and though it was only a tablespoon, maybe the taste made her so happy that she forgot to chew. :wink:
I've been adding salt to her feed at every meal since last night so hopefully her salt levels are getting all caught up and, if that was the issue, it won't happen again...

Aww, thanks.  I like to think they probably like me but sometimes I wonder! haha



Today it was "hot" - 74*F! Miss Lacey got her first bath of the season and she loved it. Well, she loved being hosed off and became less thrilled when she realized that I wasn't just hosing her off, I was actually bathing her...but you can't win them all! :lol:

Her mane and tail got whitened, her udder got cleaned, she was feeling very frisky when we got done!
Her hair is so much silkier now, I'm sure that'll encourage the shedding process along...I HOPE at least! She sort of looks mangy right now. hahaha

Atti was very interested in "helping" me bathe Lacey, Hazel wanted nothing of it. Haze knows what's up. haha!

In terms of Lacey choking last night, she seems all better now. She was a little sedate this morning but as the day progressed, she perked up. I think maybe her throat was just hurting this morning, poor dear!

And, of course, pictures!

"It's HOT!"










Lacey, pre-bath...highly unenthusiastic.










Mid-bath. Still not amused. Atti was helping supervise, of course.










Post-bath. 
Lacey had very strong feelings about how fast she should leave her stall where I had been "forcing" her to stay while I put detangler+leave-in conditioner in her hair.



















And, of course:










"Look at me! I can look like a mustang!!"










"I'm so darn majestic. HOW do I DO IT?!"










This evening. Hairy horse=all dry.










Cuties.










"Dinner??"










Hmmmm, which one of these troublemakers does not belong?
I love how Hazel is as far away from Lacey as possible, looking all "What the HECK? You don't go in here, giant creature!"

[I was cleaning the goat's stall before bringing them all down for dinner+bed and I forgot to put up the rope that keeps Lacey out of the goat's stall. Lacey took full advantage of this slip-up.]










"What?! I can do no wrong."











Happy Easter everybody!!


----------



## Wallaby

So on Monday I started a new term at school...again. Therefore, things are, again, cray-cray.
But we're gonna survive, ok? Just this term until SUMMMMMMMER!!! Only 11 weeks!! I can survive that!

Also, the vet had to cancel for Lacey's teeth floating on Monday (I guess she got double-booked somehow) so Miss L's float was rescheduled for this Friday at 3:30. So that is why you have not been blessed with rugged Lacey pictures yet. :wink:

So I'm taking a photography class this term and the teacher assigned us a "photo a day" project type deal. So today was the first day of that. 
I'm having a tough time choosing what to photograph everyday (I see SO MANY things I like on a daily basis!) and it doesn't have to be the same thing everyday...but I thought it might be interesting to do the same thing everyday, since it is spring and things are constantly growing and changing!
Anyhoo, I'll share my current favorite options for today's photo. 
I'm thinking I'd like to do something with photographing Hazel everyday since she typically gets the short end of the stick in terms of my attention+photos and since she was just shorn, the hair growth process (this photo/day thing will be happening for 60 days) should be interesting. Not to mention the hilarious facial expressions she's constantly making!

Anyway, so here are my favorites of what I took today.



















Then this one is sort of my favorite. Every single day Lacey stands right here and Hazel stands over there, It would be funny to have a daily picture of Hazel, framed by Lacey. According to the assignment, each photo of given subject doesn't have to have the same composition at all but it might be fun. Especially since they pretty much do it everyday. 










Then my other thought is that "Tree Monster" (the tree next to the shed is absoutely terrifying to Lacey...or at least she pretends it is!) is about to bloom+grow leaves, that could be interesting too!












And then, unrelated to the photo a day thing, Atticus just wanted to be majestic.











:happydance:


----------



## Kayella

So glad Lacey is doing better! A choking episode is really terrifying. Henny choked twice in one week. Both times he stopped eating and stood there with his head stretched waaay down. We were able to massage the blockage out of his throat both times, and he coughed them up on me, both times. :lol: It's a scary, scary thing to go through. I've been soaking his feed since then and he hasn't choked once since then.  -knock on wood- Really glad that everything ended up okay.


----------



## Wallaby

Twice in one week? Wow, that would be terrifying! Glad you were able to get it out!!  
That was sort of the scariest thing about this one - I couldn't feel anything anywhere in her neck. I was massaging her neck and massaging it some more, just in hopes of moving what I couldn't feel, and nothing was moving. Things were gurgling but nothing was moving. Super scary.
I soak all her food as a general rule (I think of it as practice for when she's extra ancient and needs "Old Lady Mush" :rofl too. I can't imagine how bad it might have been if it had been dry! :shock:
I'm glad everything ended up ok for both of us too!


----------



## Wallaby

My first week of classes is almost over (one, one hour long, class tomorrow) and I'm freaking exhausted! I feel like I've been run over by a bus. :lol:

In animal news, Atticus is being a huge huge brat. I need to get some sort of covering for his horns because, now that poor Haze doesn't have very much fur to protect herself with, he's "accidentally" cut her pretty deeply a few times with his horns. :evil: She's ok but she has 4 or 5 healing cuts, some deeper than others, from his horns. AND he managed to literally rip her purple blanket off her body today, with his horns. No joke, that poor blanket is in pieces. :evil::evil::evil:
I've read about people attaching mini-tennis balls to the ends of their sassy goats's horns...I've also heard of people using a stick to basically stick both horns together, via duct tape, so they can't hook anything. A stick would be cheaper for now so tomorrow morning=stick installment. Lucky for him, I have turquoise duct tape, purple duct tape, pink duct tape...yes, his double punishment is going to involve girly colors. Muhahahaha!
Remind me why I allowed a goat in the throes of teenager-ness to come home with me?? :rofl: I'm going to be the worst mom ever, I have no tolerance for teenagers. :rofl: hahaha


Anyhoo, Lacey and Hazel are both being their usual angelic selves. hardyharhar. #sarcasm
Really, Lacey has been being her usual sassy self and Hazel, well, she's actually been being very sweet. I feel for her, being bossed around by Mr. BossyPants alll the time. It's sad. Hopefully, once his horns go to horn-jail, his overinflated sense of self-worth will settle done a bit. Hopefully.

Lacey's getting her teeth tomorrow so keep your fingers crossed that that goes well! 

Picture time!

Today+yesterday's prospective pictures "of the day":



















Then this is from yesterday morning as well:










THEN, yesterday the Redtail Hawk cam to visit.
I think I interrupted him/her mid-feeding time because she was hanging around pretty closely. She's leave if she felt like I was watching her too much but then, within 5 minutes, she'd be back!



















Mid-take off











Then, today Miss L got her "beard" trimmed. I was trying to leave it to shed out on its own but it was driving me NUTS! I have never let her beard shed out naturally, not once in the 5 winters we've had together. hahahaha

So much more lady-like now!










"Shedding season, am I right?"










All that hair = 5 minutes with my hands and our Slick n' Easy blade. Ridiculous. 
Plus side, her left shoulder and the left side of her neck are almost totally shed out now! Her right shoulder and the right side of her neck are slowly catching up as well. The rest of her = hairy hairyyyyyyy.



Thanks for looking! I hope you all are doing well!!


----------



## Wallaby

Alrighty, Miss L has "shiny" teeth now! :wink: And Atti's horns are in horn-jail.

Atti did NOT like me putting the stick on his horns but so far it seems to have worked! He was much more laid back with Hazel and he was just all around a little less "full of himself." Yay! I'm a bit concerned with the stick affecting his horn growth by holding his horns to a certain growth "route"...like horn braces or something, but I suppose we'll see. Maybe this won't have to be a long term thing. And if it seems to be a longer term thing, I'll just get his horns some tennis balls so each horn is the master of its own, blunt, destiny. :lol:

Lacey did great with getting her teeth done! She was sedated out of her mindddd so that was pretty hilarious. But even being sedated so much that she was barely standing, she was still fighting her teeth getting done. Not too badly but she certainly got a jaw workout while biting down on that thing that holds their mouths open! I can't imagine effectively doing her teeth with her awake! Sheesh.
She still has all her teeth but one is slightly loose. It's the second molar on her right side. It's not super loose and the vet filed it down a bit more than the other teeth, to hopefully take the pressure off it, if pressure on it is an issue for Lacey. 
Lacey was also being hilariously dramatic while she was sedated. She kept failure nickering (she'd trying to nicker but it just wouldn't come out so she'd try again, and again) and sighing. It was literally the cutest and funniest thing I thing she's even done.

We also elected to not give Miss L any vaccines this year. We figure that after 28 years of vaccines, she probably has pretty has a pretty strong defense built against the common issues and coupled with the fact that shots could trigger an ERU episode = NOTHANKYOU, sir!! So basically I'm supposed to call if she gets any sort of deep wound so she can get a tetanus shot but otherwise, we are good to go!

Stick Atti:










Mid-float










"So many drugs, guyz."










And my vet is not a man, she is a lady. That picture just makes her looks like a man. :rofl:


----------



## Chevaux

I am curious about Atti's horns: How much will they grow? Will they curl or just keep going and eventually he'll look like an impala? Is it possible to have them blunt or round cut (not that I'm advocating such a thing) at the tips to reduce the accidental damage he does? 

Hazel looks very mellow in the last picture!!!!


----------



## Chevaux

Pardon me, Wallaby, I should have said Lacey instead of Hazel - I think I'm going to have to stop making posts after 11 pm as my brain apparently goes to sleep at 10:30 pm.


----------



## Kayella

The horns can actually be tipped, where they take off the pointy ends. I had it done to my one show doe. I don't know if it grows out pointy a again, though.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Wallaby

No worries, Chevaux, I knew who you were talking about! :hug: 

I imagine they'll end up looking something like this:
[random Google image]










eventually...! It seems that most people disbud their dairy breed goat ids so there were not a whole bunch of pictures for me to look through. Thanks, Google! haha

Like Kayella said, I guess you can "tip" their horns and make the ends more round. I think Hazel had that done back in the day because the ends of her horns are basically like rounded sidewalk chalk...but from what I've read it sounds like a job for someone who knows what they are doing = not me! haha Something about using a saw or "bone wire" to "just remove the tip of each horn"... :shock:



This is what Lacey did today:

http://www.horseforum.com/horse-pictures/lacey-does-homework-169913/



:happydance:


----------



## Kayella

Yeah I had mine done by a vet. It gets a little bloody. :? But you can't "debud" the horns after they've started growing in and are visible. They're usually cauterized off when they're a couple weeks old. But that doesn't stop from some horn growing back. Little buds will grow back that are not attached to the skull, so they wiggle. When they get big enough you can just pull them off easy peasy. Maybe you could look into getting Atti's horns tipped by your vet? I don't think it costs much.


----------



## Wallaby

Yeah, no debudding (dehorning!) here!! Especially with the coyote around [saw her yesterday  ] I really like that they have horns - some kind of protection at least! 
That's the awkward thing, the goats don't actually have a vet... :/ It seems as though the closest vet that does goats is about an hour car ride away. :shock: Lacey's vet knows next to nothing about goats and Booth, the cat,'s vet doesn't know goats either. :/ 
Anyhoo, today he got little tennis balls on his horns instead of the stick. I cut a small slit in 2 mini tennis balls, one went over the tip of each horn, then each ball got liberally duct taped on. He looks like he has eye-stalks! hahaha I feel a lot more comfortable with doing them that way vs the "horn braces." Time will tell how long they stay on, but currently they're on those horns pretttty firmly. :lol:


I DO have a somewhat interesting story to add to the "Gentleman Files" for those interested parties... :wink:
1. about a week ago, my brother and his wife basically gave me a patootie whipping about my texting (or lack there of). Basically I had been texting him with a sense of self-depreciation - that I was the one being the "agressor" and that I was probably constantly in danger of being "too much". But then, my bro and SIL made me really think about it and I realized that he "likes" pretty much every status I post on Facebook, he texts me back when I text him, he posts on my fb wall more than I post on his fb wall, etc, and I realized that truthfully all my texting was really my form of "liking" something on FB or whatever. That he has one way of showing our friendship and I have another way and that's ok.
Anyway, so my SIL basically told me to text "like the Honey Badger, like I just don't care." And that is exactly what I've been doing. And it's been working pretty well. He's texting me more (like instead of just "hahaha", it'll be "hahaha" plus a real sentence of words) back and I'm starting to feel better about this whole thing - less awkward and nervous about texting him because I've switched my thinking from "oh geeze, I hope he thinks this is funny" to knowing that he will find it funny because I know for a fact that he likes my sense of humor. Basically just working on being more self confident, not overly confident, but less of a nervous Nelly.
Whew, hopefully that makes sense - it's 10pm and that's my bedtime. :rofl:

2. This story probably needs background:
There's this guy who worked at camp with me and Gentleman Friend. I've known and worked with at camp said guy since I was....16 (met Gentleman Friend at 20). That guy and I basically had a flirtation-ship. Basically we flirted every summer allll summer and he was a "you call me, I'll be there" sort of guy for me, while I was at camp. Gentleman Friend and Camp Guy go/went to the same college (CG graduated last year) and all three of us go to the same church. 
Last summer I was really hopeful that something was finally happening with CG and I..........but nothing did. 
Gentleman Friend started showing more interest/we started becoming better friends and CG started working on Sunday nights so I never saw him at church anymore (none of us work at camp anymore).
Also, if anyone ever watches the show "New Girl", CG is basically the Nick-character...in real life. EXACTLY like that.
Then, after a few months of this^, CG shows back up at church on a Sunday night...and on a night that Gentleman Friend was at church and had gotten very little sleep - GF was being above average flirty with me and just all kinds of..."friends" sort of friends. So CG saw this and then basically ignored me for the next few times he saw me. He'd talk to GF but I was basically dead to him, it seemed. 
I obviously felt terrible but at the same time, I needed to move on from CG because it had been, what, 4-5 years of chances for him? And really, someone who would behave like that^ is not someone I need seriously in my life.

ANyhoo, I saw CG again at church a month or two later (without GF) and his only comment to me was "You're sitting over here? Where's (GF)? I thought you only sat here to be with him." [when he knew full well that I sat in that spot whether GF is there or not] Buuuuuurrrrrrrrn. Yeah, RUDE.

Then, I saw CG at church tonight.
He came over, sat down next to me, and started doing that "inquiring" thing guys do where they act like they don't care about the answer, about where GF was... Anyway so I told him, we talked a bit - apparently he's going to ride a horse tomorrow and thought I needed to know :lol: and then he left.
It was all together very strange. But he didn't seem as downright mad as he had seemed post-"incident"...so I guess that's good. I really do like him as a person and he is a wonderful person, just I need someone who talks about how they're feeling instead of playing silly middle school games....

Gah, guys.
I still really feel bad about CG though. I feel like I accidentally led him on somehow and maybe I did, but come on. We had been flirting for 4 or 5 years, I was pretty sure that if he felt something he would have done something about it, or at least asked for my phone number!
But yeah. feel bad. I'm glad we talked tonight though. I tried to be really neutral and didn't flirt with him or anything, even though he was trying to flirt, because I don't want a repeat.



ANyway, cookies if you read all that! Props to you! No worries if you did not, I don't blame you. haha


And for that, I will reward you with a picture of the train that I ride n a near daily basis. Of course, my phone decided that said train was a solid beam of light...but I like it. 











:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Today's drawing!

Hipster Dinosaur eats history for BREAKFAST. :lol:


----------



## Wallaby

No new news.

Lacey switched over to Triple Crown 30% on Saturday to fulfill her ration balancer needs and so far that's going really well! She really really likes eating it (getting her to want to eat all her supplements is always a struggle and since she NEEDS most of her supplements for her eyes....) and I'm super happy about that!

We had a visitor today...
Guess who....










You guessed it! Duke[ina]!










"Hunting, hunting, hunting. Now where are those wrascally mice!"










"Over there?"










"Or RIGHT THERE!!!"










"OH NO! That human!!!"










"Buh-bye ya'll!"












She was so focused on her hunting that she didn't even realize at all when I spotted her! She only realized after she turned towards me...and then she ran away. I wish she didn't run so soon after spotting me but at the same time, her running signals that she's not at all usd to humans and that's something I want from a coyote that's gonna be hanging around... catch-22.


Isn't she CUTE!?!! :happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

You must have a really good telephoto lense. These photos are really good.


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Caroline!!  This camera has a really good optical zoom. It's not as great as a telephoto lens would be (a little "fuzzy" - some detail is lost, etc) but it's really great from a no-extra-lens standpoint! 



GUESS WHAT LACEY AND I DID TODAY.










TRAIL RIDE!!!!!!




SO exciting!!!

She was pretty barnsour and I'm definitely going to have to put her in her curb/pelham for next time (I'll ride on the snaffle rein but use the curb whenever she tries to bolt - one of her favorite evasions) but otherwise she did really pretty darn well for not having been on the trail since September 20!! No spooks, a nice relaxed canter, she even let some ladies we came across pet her! 

We only went out for about 15 minutes, not even a mile, but my goal was to just get her mind thinking about going out and recreate her world as being bigger than her pasture.
So I think we achieved that. She had calmed down noticeably towards the end and she was A LOT more under control than I really expected her to be (she's, as they say, "fizzy" and has a tendency to get REALLY hot when she's excited which, in turn, leads to her running away with me/bolting/etc). She did bolt once and she got pretty strong when I let her gallop (I didn't really want to but she was super into it and, with her, getting the running _out _is WAY smarter than trying to contain it - she starts fighting the containment=more bolting/etc, etc etc) but both times she seemed to go "Oh! Oops!" and she came right back to me when I asked her. 
Next time I'll have her in the curb/pelham (basically a "western" pelham) and I'll start really shutting her down when she tries that stuff, but today I didn't have enough "oomph" to combat the excitement of the trail so I really didn't want to go down the path of trying and failing to correct her effectively, you know?
SO anyway, SUPER proud of her!! I can't wait for our next ride. Maybe this weekend.... 

I'm also proud of the goats! I was sure that Atticus was going to orchestrate some grand jailbreak, come galloping after us on the trail, create a giant fiasco, etc. 
I had planned to securely lock them up somehow prior to L+my's first ride but this ride was not super planned, it was just sort of a "wow, she's being great with her bit and she keeps trying to drft towards the pasture gate...and it's so nice out...trail ride?" seat-of-the-pants ride so I didn't do anything to contain the little munchkins beyond the normal pasture fences.
ANYway! While he did put up a huge fuss after we left (he went galloping, hopping like a deer actually, across the llamas pasture repeatedly, while screeching at the top of his lungs), when we got back neither goat was anywhere to be seen. I was sort of concerned that they had escaped but that their plan had gone awry and they were stranded somewhere out of sight or something, BUT Lacey and I headed down to the shed and voila, goats! They were snuggled up together in the shed like it was bedtime.  They were perfectly calm greeting us too, not at all concerned anymore about where or why we had gone away. 
So that bodes super well for future rides! 

Basically today has been the best. 



Also, I found this meme and thought it was hilarious. In the interests of hilarity, I will share:












:happydance: :happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Lacey and I went on our SECOND trail ride today!!  

And guess what. _Someone_ was neither barnsour nor herdbound this time. She performed zero bolting maneuvers, zero mutiny attempts, basically I could have ridden her bitless and she would have done great. We had a leisurely stroll through the woods. Literally leisurely. We walked the whole time except for a gallop at the end.
Troll-Lacey.

Luckily *sarcasm* I had her in the western pelham and I was stuck with 2 reins the whole time. THAT was a pain in the neck. But it was such a nice ride, I got over it. 
Miss L's feet do need to adjust to the gravel+concrete again but aside from a few minor "ouch"-type missteps, she was pretty much 100% sound. I'm SO happy!

The goats got over Lacey leaving even faster this time too! They did start freaking out earlier - Atticus took one look at Lacey wearing her saddle (in the cross-ties) and started BAWLING his head off, but otherwise they did well!

Pictures:

Tennis ball horns! The tennis balls are working even better than the stick and Atti can still scratch his head on things effectively = everyone is happy.










HAZELLLLLLL.










Atticus be cray.
He got in trouble for this, actually - noooo leaping that close to humans!










Oh snap. Someone woke up Grandma Lacey and she is MAD. "Break it up, you two!!"










"Selfies with mah hooman."










These two! Sharing meals now. Sillies!!










She looks like she's wearing false teeth! My favorite. hahahaha










Trail ride!!










Cute girl.










"WHY. ARE. WE. STOPPED."










And then, a little Oregon weather for you:

First, to the Southwest:

Sunny, somewhat cloudy.










To the East, RAIN.










I love Oregon. :lol:


I hope you all are doing super super well!!


----------



## Wallaby

Nothing really new to report, just some pictures I forgot to include yesterday and a drawing I did today in my T/Tr history class! 

If llamas were mobsters:










On Sunday, my Sunday Lesson Kid decided that Lacey "needed to LOOK like Spring!" So I did a running braid in her mane and SLK found and added some dandelions. We had a blast!










Then today's drawing:

I was inspired by a tshirt I saw with a whale leaping over the....boat in Moby ****, or something like that. It was a whale leaping=inspired Wallaby.
I forgot to bring a writing utensil to school today (hahaha goooo me. Student success=achieved!) so I was "stuck" borrowing pens from friends. This class's friend likes those really inky pens that create dark thick lines and are impossible to shade in my normal fashion with. So I practiced other methods! 

The plateau in the back needs work and the waves aren't great (I need to work on waves too) but I'm really happy with the rest of it!











:happydance:


----------



## Lockwood

Wallaby said:


> I love Oregon. :lol:


The top one threw me at first. The nostrils are curled up right where her eyes would be... and coupled with the perspective and angle, Ithought.... .:shock: *mythical movie somethingor'nother creature*...*like a big gremblin* :shock: :shock:


The bottom two...
<sigh>
Thanks girl... I needed those.


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## Wallaby

Hahaha Leah, I posted that one of Lacey on Faceook and apparently it made a friend's child cry because they were scared! haha SAD. But hilarious. :wink"


OMG. GUYS. 
I have pictures+lacey/G's update for tomorrow but for tonight: THE GENTLEMAN FRIEND.

So that camp guy I ranted about earlier asked me where Gentleman Friend was AGAIN tonight.
So after church I texted Gentleman Friend about it, saying that I thought this camp guy "missed" him, etc etc.

Anyway, somehow I said that I thought this camp guy wanted to be as cool as Gentleman Friend is and GF said something about how he's not super cool but that I'm great at flattering him. 
I said that he looks pretty super cool from my point of view, but that he's humble too which was the most important factor. 
AND GF TEXTED BACK SAYING "Can we be cool together? Because I think you're seriously cool." 
So I said "YES. PLEASE. Let's be cool together forever #coolbuddiez"
And he said "Deal.  #onlyalwayscool"

etc.

UM. COOL TOGETHER?!
I'm "seriously cool"???!

Trying not to freak out and trying real hard not to read excessive amounts into this but. REALLY. Guys don't just say girls are cool. For sure.

Anyway. Lacey/goat pictures tomorrow!
They're out on their second night out for the "summer" and they seem to be really happy! The goats are a little confused as to the change in routine but they're happily sleeping out in the pasture, on the grass, all curled up in a little white+brown ball.


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## Wallaby

So I don't even know what to think. 
This morning I got on Facebook and discovered a bajillion notifications, all created by Gentleman Friend, as he went around my profile "liking" and commenting on everything in my recent posting past. I really like him. It was really really REALLY cute. But mostly, it was exactly how I'm feeling (all...giddy, lolz) but he actually did something about it. :lol:
I still can't believe that he thinks I'm cooler than him. I mean, really. What planet is he FROM? :lol: But whatever, I guess everyone needs someone who thinks they can do no wrong, right?
Anyhoo, after he graduates in 12 days (WAT???! Since when did I become that much of a gown up that people who are 6 month younger than me are graduating form COLLEGE!?? -I'm not graduating yet because I went to community college first, I still have about half a year left for my BA..but then I hope to get my Masters...haha), we're gonna go to the zoo again together.  I pretty much only invited him this time. I didn't say that his other friends were "not invited" but I didn't expressly invite them/mention them when I was inviting him. Time will tell how he interprets that.
He is waiting until after graduation for a whole lot of things...maybe "us" is one of them? I don't know. Trying not to put the apples before the cart BUT IT'S SO HARD. :rofl:




On the animal front, the goats+Lacey had their second night out for the summer last night! Atti was SUPER thrilled to see me this morning, baahing at the gate, but otherwise, they're doing great!
Hazel seems to have "mud fever" again on her legs...thought I got rid of it already! Arg. But I'm treating it and hopefully it'll clear up pretty fast. 
I really wish I could figure out WHAT she's missing in her diet that's causing her immune function to be so low. At least, I figure that immune function is the issue since it's all stuff that seems to be immune-based... haha 
I wonder if goats can benefit from chewable Vitamin C..... :lol:



PICTURES!!


For my photo class we're supposed to be doing some indoor "still life" photos and this is one of mine. They're supposed to be in color so I have a color copy of this..I just like it better in black and white. 










Yesterday morning, Lacey was prettttttty sure that she had become a wild mustang.



















I think I took this on Friday-ish. I REALLY like it. 










Then, today I was trying to do more still-lifes. Booth, my cat, was intent on "helping."
"Why would you EVER put a fun toy on top of a bottle??!"











That's all for now!


----------



## Chevaux

The "Wild mustang" photo is noteworthy.


----------



## Roperchick

Oooh I'm glad things sound like they're Finally moving somewhere with guy friend!

Loving the "wild 'stang Lacey" pics lol


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## Wallaby

Thanks you two!!  :hug:

ME TOOOO Roperchick! I just hope I'm not like imagining it or something. I don't know HOW I possibly could be but you know!! :lol:
And this whole zoo trip thing, I ended up going to Zoo yesterday with my bestie, just impromptu (we got out of class early, my school is 10 minutes from the Zoo, etc), so I obviously texted the guy being like "You should skip everything you have for the rest of the day and come to the zoo with us RIGHT NOW."
He, also obviously, said "I WISH!!!" (it's finals week for him, haha). I texted him back saying that I wished too and that we only had to wait a few weeks to go together..and he texted me back nearly immediately with "Yeah   "
And he's not a multiple smiley guy...at all. One smiley per text is about the max. Maaaaaybe two, on 2 separate sentences, but never multiples in a row.
Anyhoo, I begin to wonder if this zoo trip is more that JUST a zoo trip, if you see what I'm saying. 
BUT WHATEVER. WE'LL SEE. CALM DOWN EMILY. :rofl: :rofl:


Anyway, Zoooooooo pictures from yesterday!!!

Elephant!










Carcal. She's my favorite.



















These guys. HAH. They're Gentleman Friends' besties favorite. So I took a whole set of them, just for him. hahaha










This little cutie! I can't remember what he was but he looked hot. haha










Flamingo!










Kitty! 










Then, when I got home, Hazel wanted to "help" me in the tack room. I just about died of laughter when I saw the facial expression I had captured here!! hahahaha










And then, just because I had to take lots of pictures of my shoes for my photo class and this one doesn't cut it for what I was "supposed" to be doing...but I like it anyway......... haha














That's all for now!


----------



## Wallaby

A Lacey video!!
I forgot to change my exposure settings (photo class project=stuff with exposure settings) so this ended up being taken slightly underexposed. I tried to fix it with Youtube and while it's better, still super bright. Sorry ya'll! But Lacey does make a ton of funny faces!!
I guess her shoulder was UNBELIEVABLY itchy. 






Then two pictures - I thought I would go sit in the pasture with everyone, prior to feeding them dinner. I thought they would probably leave me alone. WRONG. :lol:
They wanted to be BESTIES! :wink:










And then, when it was time for dinner, they decided to pose for their first cd's cover photo. Hah!

So cool. :wink:











:happydance:

I hope you all are doing super duper well!!


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## paintsrule

Based on what you're saying/my VERY similar experience to yours, I definitely feel like something is happening with you two! I think the "zoo trip" is more than just a trip too, I had a similar thing happen (planning a 'hanging out' as friends, talking about it, looking forward to it etc and then it actually causing our relationship that) and I dunno how to explain but I felt the same way as you, that our talking about it was hiding "more", and it sounds EXACTLY like what you're describing.
Somethings brewing girl! Try not to explode from tension, I had this exact same thing happen to me, I KNOW how it feels, if you need to talk let me know, and you MUST tell us what happens at the zoo/keep us fully updated.
Love your journal and horse/goats.


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## Wallaby

I'm really glad you "get it," paintsrule!! Makes me feel less crazy. haha We'll see, of course, but there's been a definite shift in the tone of our interactions post "cool-together-forever." Of course, it could just be that he's really close to graduating and is feeling more "snuggly" towards all his friends as a result...but who knows. I can hope, right? :lol:
On that front, I tried texting him on Monday to set up a day for our zoo-thing...but, silly me, I forgot it was finals and therefore he was all "I'm too focused on finals to plan anything but I DO want to do it!!".......and then he thanked me for being "proactive." Thanks, dude, for making me feel 80!! :rofl: He meant it in a good way but still.
So I told him the days I'm available and suggested this coming Monday, then told him some jokes, and left it at that. 
We'll see what happens.

I WAS glad that he basically told me "no" though. He's pretty "yes-yes-yes" to everyone, all the time, and it's nice to see that he actually has "I can't do this right now" in his system. :lol:



On the animal front, being out at night has been agreeing with everybody and they all seem to be doing super well!
Lacey's been "upgraded" to the grazing muzzle with a small hole (she has one that has a 2.5"diameter hole and another that has a 1" hole - she's in the 1" hole now!) and she's VERY mad about it. Every evening she practically begs to have it taken off - makes it super easy to get her down to the shed for "dinner" since she refuses to leave my side at that point. :rofl:
But she was getting fat...ter. Can't allow that! That's my goal for this summer - keep her at a healthy weight, or as close to a healthy weight, as possible. Fingers crossed!
Her neck is the only thing that's "obese" about her right now which is GREAT! Usually she gets wither fat pads, shoulder fat pads, and a really cresty neck that WILL NOT come off once the spring grass comes in. So her neck being the only fatty thing right now is a real improvement! Her ribs are even still easily felt. I'm really excited about it! hahaha

PICTURES!!!!!

[and, just for the record, because this is one of my most favorite facts - you know how I take photos of animals? Like the style, hopefully capturing a bit of who they are, on the inside? Gentleman Friend does 100% the same thing, only with people. And he has a hard time photographing animals - just like I couldn't photograph people if my life depended on it! It's great.]

There's this cat that sometimes walks me up to the pasture - I've named her "Maggie" inside my head. She's REALLY friendly. And super tiny - maybe 5lbs. Like 1/3 the size of my personal cat. hahahha










Atticus...and Hannibal. hahaha!










Then, after dinner, I sat in the grass for a while. Atti and Lacey were just grazing but Haze decided to come over and say hi.
I'm always so honored when she seeks me out. She's really not "friendly" in a basic sense.. She's more of an introvert - lots of watching and thinking, not a whole lot of action. Anyway, so her wanting to check me out is always really special.
If you had asked me in September, I would have told you that there was no way on earth that i would ever become so attached to a GOAT. Famous last words, eh? haha



















"Are those deer bothering you?"










"That's right, deer. RUN. This is MY hooman!"










Then, Miss Lace, the other morning. 











:happydance:


----------



## paintsrule

How is everything? Thinking about you guys!


----------



## SaddleStrings

paintsrule said:


> How is everything? Thinking about you guys!


^^^ Same here! Haven't heard from you in a while, hope everything is fine. Would love some more Lacey, Hazel, and Atticus updates!


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## Wallaby

Things have been crazy and not in a great way. My cat got super super sick last week (hellllllllo hot vet) AND it's been midterms so things have been really hectic. That kinda "put out fires as they spring up, only to have more pop up" sort of situation! haha

I'll try to update tonight or tomorrow with pictures and such. 
Booth is doing SO much better, practically healed, and Lacey+the G's are doing well too.

Thanks for checking up on me!! :hug:


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## Wallaby

WE LIIIIIVVVVVE.

Barely. But we're kicking it. 


Basically I'm still pretty super busy so I don't really have the time to share any stories (nothing exciting, mind you. Gentleman Friend is being weird [normal?] again=I've decided to not worry about it - we're friends and if he wants it to be more than that, he can say something about it. I'm done. haha And then there are a few funny life-type stories, I'll try to share those soon!!) but I do have time to share some of my favoritest pictures from the last week+!!

First, Multnomah Falls! For those of you who don't know, it's a waterfall that I guess is pretty famous. I'm not sure WHY specifically...but it is pretty!










Then, a few weeks ago, I had to hose Lacey off before "bed" (it was in the mid-80's and she was not holding up well to the heat...I'm concerned for when it gets hotter... :/ ) and she felt very frisky!
Poor Hazel, always getting caught in Lacey's line of "fire." :lol:










Then, just a rando Lacey shot...










Partners in crime.










"My goat!"










:happydance:

[and of course, as soon as I say I'm "giving up" on Gentleman Friend, he literally just randomly texted me to "talk." WHAT.]


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## grayshell38

Any word on how Lady is doing?


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## Wallaby

Nope! Haven't heard.  All I know is that she got adopted back in December-ish by a man who lives about 30 minutes to the East of me.
I understand why they do it, but that rescue doesn't share much about their "unpopular" rescues. The babies and the REALLY starving horses get a lot of publicity but the average-Joe, older/less cute/in-better-shape rescues get very little, if any, attention.
It makes sense from a publicity standpoint and I'm not sure I would do it any differently if I ran a rescue (we all play favorites, intentionally or unintentionally) but it still frustrates me. :lol:

I hope she's doing well! And I hope she's being loved like she should be.


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## Wallaby

Nooooothing exciting has been happening.
We're been getting a crazy amount of rain (1.5 inches in a day) and the kiddos are PROTESTING. :lol: I don't think they've left the shed in 2 days. hahaha Poor things!

On the Gentleman Friend Front, I am again ridiculously confused. So WHATEVER. 
We still haven't gone to the Zoo again and the last time I asked him about it, he was all "Let me see when ___friend that went last time__ is available, I TOTALLY want to go!!"
I did not specifically exclude her when I invited him and she did go with us last time so logically I guess she was included in the "we" when I invited "us" to the zoo...but still.
So I have no idea. 
We're getting more personal with our texting - twice in the last week we've texted before bed and last night he was all "goodnight  until tomorrow" which was really sweet AND CONFUSING. But I dunno. Whatever. Just no one get too excited.

Anyhoo, PICTURES!! 
School's out in 3 weeks!!! SUMMMMMMMER. 
For my photography final, we have to do a set of 12-15 8x10's...and of course, LACEY!!! 

So here are a few that I have so far for that. My theme is sort of summer+unicorn+magic. 
And I had to do a series of generic-ish "nature" photos to sort of play off Lacey...so she doesn't get boring, you know? SO, that's the meaning behind all the upcoming nature shots.

This first one is MY FAVORITE. I ADORE it. I wasn't going to stick it in because it's not as "sun kissed" as I want but I think pure awesomeness makes up for it! :lol:












































































I thinkkkkk I might redo a few of them some evening this weekend if it gets sunny. I realized after shooting that my lens was dusty and I think that's showing up in a few of these guys. But if I can't re-shoot, whatere'. 


:happydance: Thanks for looking!!


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## Wallaby

1. Saw Gentleman Friend at church tonight, unexpectedly. It's ridiculous how over the moon I am about this. :rofl: I'm such a sap. 
But then again, I hadn't seen him in....4-5 months and he is one of the few people I really feel at home with, no matter where we are, so....
Something was different tonight though. He wasn't acting as comfortable with me as he used to. Maybe I'm being "too-too". I mean, I have been texting him a joke nearly every other/every 3 days for the last...long time. He always responds and stuff but maybe he's getting spooked. I should back off.
But he did kind of lean towards me through the whole service (his brother, on his other side, was getting a LOT more room than I was...hahaha) -our arms were touching nearly the whole time...due to his close-ness- and I did get a full hug when he saw me initially and a side hug when we said goodbye which is mildly unusual for him since I told him once that I'm not a huge hugger and, from then on, he's been really careful about hugging me. Usually I'm lucky to get a single side-hug! haha Of course, I love getting hugs from him and I mostly told him that initially because it was before I liked him..and I'm not too bright sometimes, etc. But now I can't say that I want him to hug me forever and all day! :lol:

ANYWAY, sat with him and his family, met his dad (his mom seems really introverted, lets his dad talk to "strangers" hahaha), and it was really great. 
So I don't know but it was really wonderful to see my friend. Really really wonderful. Pretty sure I chattered his ear completely off. :lol:

2. Lacey is lame, very lame, again. D: And her left pastern/fetlock, the area that was swollen when she initially "broke" herself in September, is swollen again. Not as badly swollen as it was in September and she's not AS lame as she was in September...but she's really lame.
I hate to say it but I'm beginning to wonder if she has something like ringbone. She definitly has a sort of boney "hardness" all the way around her right hoof in the low-mid pastern area. It matches the pictures I've seen of "severe" ringbone........it's definitely visible to the naked eye.
But this whole thing is making me rethink even trying to put her back into any sort of "real" work, ringbone or no. I'm thinking, once she becomes re-sound, we're to a "walking ONLY" sort of state. Maybe trotting/cantering with little kids but no more for me. Her comfort comes first.

3. PICTURES.

Group shot! [is Atti huge, or is he huge?! LAcey's "only" 14.1hh but still! Look at that boy! haha]










Hazel's the cutest!










Is this normal "I've lost my front teeth cuz I'm one" baby goat tooth growth? It looks so...sketchy!
Sorry for the bad picture. Atti was the opposite of pleased with me. :lol:










Lacey!!










:happydance: :happydance: :happydance:


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## Chevaux

I hope Lacey will get better sooner than later. She is in great shape for her age - I think your excellent care has a lot to do with that.


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## Wallaby

Aw :hug: thanks.  

I just recently realized that this July 14th, it'll be my and Lacey's 5th "anniversary"!! I guess what they say is right: forever isn't scary when you're doing it with the right "person" [horse!]. How time flies! It seems like it was just yesterday that I first saw her bathed in golden sunlight, trotting around like a maniac and coughing her little fatty heart out...but at the same time, it also seems like a really distant dream. Apparently that event WAS real and it was just 5 years ago. :rofl:


And, in true Unicorn fashion (probably thanks to Chevaux's good wishes), Miss Lacey was totally sound this morning!
She's such a dork. It was POURING rain this morning and she did not have a blanket on....and guess who was standing, shivering, in the center of her pasture...just eating..and shivering..and being drenched? Um, yeah, that would be Lacey.
She was shivering so hard she couldn't hardly eat her breakfast! It was actually kind of concerning.
Thankfully I still have towels up at the barn, from Hazel's pregnancy scare, so I was able to towel her off and get a warm blanket on her. It took her a while to warm up but she eventually did. 

This horse! She has my heart wrapped around her hoof. Gosh darn her. :wink:


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## jcraig10

Wallaby, you sound like too wonderful of a human being to be led on by this gentlemen friend! He needs to man up and make a move!!!!:lol:


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## Skyseternalangel

jcraig10 said:


> Wallaby, you sound like too wonderful of a human being to be led on by this gentlemen friend! He needs to man up and make a move!!!!:lol:


Agreed... he doesn't really seem like he's chasing you per say. More like peeping out of the corner to say howdy now and then.


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## Wallaby

Haha I agree! Well, about him making a move. Not sure about my own wonderfulness! :lol: :WINK: But thanks.
I think he's just nervous about it. We're both basically stuck in 5th grade, relationships-wise (if you couldn't tell, AT ALL :lol, neither of us has ever had a significant other, of any kind, we're both really logical-non emotional types, and the cherry on top is that we're both really introverted = significant confusion. 
Believe it or not, I truly am super super super introverted. :rofl: 
So I'm trying not to be tooo hard on him. 
We did have a good conversation last night that made me feel a whole lot more secure with "us." So bonus.



Anyway! Enough Gentlemen Friend talk.
I'm supposed to be doing my photo final (think I shared those photos on the last page) and after I went to class yesterday and got them sort of "critiqued" by some classmates, I'm not really sure I like them as much as I did. I kind of want to go in a totally different direction...but I'm not sure what direction that would be. If this weren't a color photography class, I would be allllll over doing this in b+w. But that's a no go. 

Hopefully I'll get something figured out by tomorrow....or this evening. That'd be ideal.
I might just end up going and taking "some" photos. Basically, as terrible as this is, I've found that, if I want to acquire an A in a photo class, all I reallly need to do is jut take some in focus, nicely colored, shots of Lacey. They don't need to be particularly profound or anything, just acceptable. And I'll get an A. I really would like to not do that, as a matter of personal integrity, etc, but if worse comes to worse. :/
I only have one more week of classes before finals = the worst. Ahhhhhh. 
BUT! Summer is soon and I'll get to take care of all the hings I've been putting off. I'm really excited!!

Speaking of Lacey and the G's, they are all doing great. Lacey's lameness seems to have cleared itself right up, which is thrilling.
Hazel has "Mud Fever: Goat Style" on all 4 of her legs/feet AGAIN. So frustrating. It's clearing right up since I've started putting my usual ointment on her legs daily (AGAIN), but it's still frustrating. Mud Fever is my 100% least favorite ever.

Atti is growing, AGAIN. He's now closing in on 40inches at the withers!! :shock: He is literally bigger than an appropriately sized mini horse. He's into PONY heights. I did want big goats (was nervous about the coyote and figured that big goats might be safer) and boy, did I get a big goat! haha Love him though. He's still annoying at times but he's figuring out so many commands! He backs up on cue and, if he enters a space I don't want him in, a low "OUT!" gets him to leave. He also knows "come!" We're working on "stay" but he's figuring it out! 
He's VERY food motivated so a combination of clicker-type (I have terrible hand-eye timing and great vocal timing so I use "Good boy!!" instead of click) training with modest amounts of luring is going really great.
He's definitely a smart one!! haha

Then, some pictures for you! Mostly drawings since I realized hat I've been doing them and sharing them on Facebook...but not sharing them here!!

Couple weeks ago, drew this for the Gentleman Friend. 










I don't know if I showed you guys this but some mounted police officers were wandering around campus one day after I had gotten of of class!
Terrible quality picture, but you know. :lol:










From yesterday. (the pattern on the dragon is the word "bored" written over and over again. hahaha)










:happydance:

Thanks for looking!!


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## Wallaby

I finally figured out my photo final!!

They're printed separately in real life but, since they go together in pairs, seemed important to make sure you got to see them "as they should be viewed." 

Basically, the thing I was going for is kinda a "Lacey and Hazel are the same....but NOT!" thing. :lol:
















































And then this one. I took this this morning during Lacey's lesson. HOW SWEET IS SHE??! haha SLK isn't even holding Lacey, yet Lacey's just hanging out, taking a nap. SO cute.

I took it with my phone and had to crop it a bunch so the quality is not great...but still. 










:happydance:


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## Chevaux

Excellent idea for your final!!


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## Wallaby

Thanks a bunch, Chevaux!!

Also, for today, guess who had their first ponying lesson??!










ATTICUS!!

He actually did pretty well. He freaked out initially but by the end of 15 minutes he was coming along pretty nicely - so we stopped. Lacey LOVED it. The job part, that is. She was most unimpressed with Atticus's dramatics. 

I think this photo sums it up well:

[As you can see, Atticus is doing his best "you are HANGING me!!" impression - silly goat!]










By the end Atti seemed to have figured out what as going on a little bit. We definitely need to have more sessions, but it'll happen.


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## Wallaby

1. it's weird, maybe you guys experience this too, but, the more I've been outside, the less "human" issues seem to bother me. Like Gentleman Friend = not even worried about it. I'm happy that we're friends, of course, but I'm just kind of "meh" about the whole thing. 
It's like being inside and around so many people for so long has freakin' messed with my brainnnnnnn. And now that I'm spending more time outside, "I'm" coming back to life....
Is that weird? I think so.
But whatever. I'm ok with it, who wants to spend a summer pining after some guy who may or may not like me "the way I want him to right now"? Notttttt me.
So that's my new outlook. I'll of course let you know if anything happens but that chapter is stopping for now.

2. Funny story: so there's this guy who was in my "History 300" class and who was in my "African History to 1800" class last term. He seemed like a super serious guy last term and he also bears an uncanny resemblance to Clark Kent...if Clark Kent came to life. AND he's from Iowa, which who knows where "Smallville" is, but it could be Iowa. Also the stereotype of Iowa = "good people"
Anyway, I named him Clark Kent inside my head.
Then, this term, I had a friend in this HST300 class who I told about "Clark." She also saw how serious he was and we started keeping track, making a list, of every single time he laughed in class. We excused our behavior by saying to ourselves that we "needed to make sure he wasn't a sociopath"...but really. :lol:
About mid-way through the term, he started sitting directly in front of us...but we of course did not cease to speak about him. Though we whispered more quietly.
Anyhoo, long story short, today, me and this friend of mine were "whispering" about how we wished we could smile at these people we were paying attention to (he was not the only one, there were other "people of note" that we named and "befriended" inside our heads - this was a SUPER boring class) without seeming weird. Then I had to pass him the attendance sheet and, 100% out of character for him, he turned around to us, SMILED a super broad smile, then turned back to whatever he was doing. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Who knows how much he's heard. I'm really really glad his "name" is Clark Kent. Other names included "Cool Kid", "Molasses" (he moved and talked like he was stuck in molasses...but he was cool), "Sweat Stain", and "Shearing." Soooo Clark Kent was basically the most most flattering. :rofl: :rofl:
Since he was in HST300, it means he's a History major too. Hopefully we'll have a class together next year and it'll be great. :lol: :lol:


3. I drew an octopus yesterday!! I'm really kind of proud of this. I've been trying to draw this octopus alllll term but each time things got scary and I chickened out. This time I followed through and pushed through the scared. And I love the result.
If I were rich, I mightttt want this as a tattoo... :rofl: maybe one day.












I hope you all are doing super super great!!
:happydance:


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## Skyseternalangel

Wallaby said:


> 1. it's weird, maybe you guys experience this too, but, the more I've been outside, the less "human" issues seem to bother me. Like Gentleman Friend = not even worried about it. I'm happy that we're friends, of course, but I'm just kind of "meh" about the whole thing.
> It's like being inside and around so many people for so long has freakin' messed with my brainnnnnnn. And now that I'm spending more time outside, "I'm" coming back to life....
> Is that weird? I think so.
> But whatever. I'm ok with it, who wants to spend a summer pining after some guy who may or may not like me "the way I want him to right now"? Notttttt me.
> So that's my new outlook. I'll of course let you know if anything happens but that chapter is stopping for now.



You and me both. Being inside, especially on the computer, drives me crazy in a negative way. I get so caught up on feeling insecure if I don't hear from someone for a long time, or find myself obsessing over nothing.


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## Wallaby

Wallaby said:


> I'm really really glad his "name" is Clark Kent. Other names included "Cool Kid", "Molasses" (he moved and talked like he was stuck in molasses...but he was cool), "Sweat Stain", and "Shearing." Soooo Clark Kent was basically the most most flattering. :rofl: :rofl:


Also, I jut realized that most of these names sound REALLY mean without context. Each name is truly not making fun of the person it's attached to. They just describe defining characteristics of the person they "belong" to. And we did work hard to keep the names out of the hands of others. Really we did.

Believe me, I would never "name" people in a mean way. And honestly, the people we liked were the ones that got names. :lol:


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## tinyliny

Girl, you live in some kind of wonderland. Both in real life, and in your head. From what I can see of it, it's a pretty nice place. Makes me smile to see and read about it.

But, yes, I wonder about GF. Something's just not clicking. From out here, I have to question how much time you should be having any kind of expectation, or even be wondering about him. Someone will one day fall head over heels for your red hair, and your love of animals, and there'll be no question about how they feel.


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## Wallaby

Haha I'm glad, Caroline! I like my wonderland too. Sometimes people tease me about it and it's often a little jarring when my world collides with the real one - for instance, when I realize that someone said something with the intention of being hurtful....but usually it's pretty nice. Sometimes I do worry that it's my way of "evading" the real world...but you know. haha


On the animal front, everyone is doing SUPER well!!
Lacey blew an abscess on one of her back feet last Saturday and she was ouchie for a few days. It looks like she's nearly fully healed now though since she's back to romping around!

Atticus had his second ponying lesson on Friday and he did even better than he did the first time. He's still stressed about it but he wasn't dragging so hard. Go him!!

Hazel's also doing great. Just being her sweet sweet self. She is the nicest, most precious, creature. I just ADORE her so much. I love that her personality is basically exactly what her looks say she should be like - a giant snuggly teddy bear. 
And it's so funny, initially she was pretty nervous and standoff-ish so I thought that was just who she was going to be. But now, as we near our "1 year anniversary" (in September), I can't hardly fathom her actually being super standoff-ish. I mean, she's never "in your face" or annoyingly underfoot, but she's always up for some loving and, no matter what you need to do to her, if you give her a chest scratch post-trauma, she's allll good.
I just love her. 

On the me-front, I had my first final today and my last one (only other one) is on Wednesday morning. SO CLOSE TO SUMMER.
And I planted my garden today, finalllllly. AND I baked my first gluten-free cake EVER! And it actually came out super well. I was so excited. It was Chocolate Sundae Pudding Cake = one of my favorites. So much chocolate!!

Anyhoo, PICTURES!!

Look at who's not unbelievably obese!! Yay for wearing a grazing muzzle for 12 hours everyday and having it actually work!










Mah gurrrrl.










"Mr. Tail! You look tasty!!"










My favorite deer, "Baby Girl."










Daisy!! I'm pretty sure daisies are one of the most optimistic flowers ever...besides the fact that they smell like dog poop.
I hope to one day get married in a pasture full of daisies with Lacey by my side...and my husband on the other. :lol:










This little hummingbird! He is the sassiest little man. He was scolding me SO harshly while I photographed him! haha










Which one is Atticus and which one is a deer??! Silly boy!










Then, the building by the MAX stop I frequent. This is my favorite building, architecturally, downtown....mostly because I love the color combo. hahaha










:happydance:

I hope you all are doing really really well!!!


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## tinyliny

pretty sure this hummer is a female.

males usually have a little feather that kind of sticks out like "horn", kind of along the bottom of their neck, and if the light strikes their chest/neck right, it will show you their brilliant jewel red Gorgot (the red throat)

But, the females can be just as "scolding". We have lots of them that visit our deck.











male. See the feathers that are kind of like "horns"?


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## Wallaby

Interesting!! I sort of wondered. It was confusing, I got a bad shot of her(his) neck and there was a red spot:

[terrible photo, forgive me!]










BUT it wasn't nearly as big as I expected it to be on a male..however I didn't want to emasculate the poor guy so I decided that it must be a boy. :rofl: You're probably right.
Silly hummers!


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## tinyliny

yeah, the females have some red, while the males have a lot more, even up on top of the head. in poor light, they look much the same.


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## tinyliny

this will really add cheer to your day!


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## Wallaby

Wooooohoooooo! School is DONE for the year. SUMMER IS HERE!!!!! :happydance: :happydance: :happydance: :happydance: :happydance:

Also, fun fact, I saw Booth's vet (the pretty one!!) while I was waiting for my MAX to leave this morning. He was getting off the train that had just pulled into the station (I get on the MAX at the end of the line). He saw me through the window and popped his head into my train to say hi.   It was sweet.
I guess he lives in Portland and generally takes the MAX to get to the clinic since it's maybe a 10 minute walk from that stop. Eco-friendly AND cute? Waaaaaaaaat?

Anyway! Everybody's doing great.

Goals for the summer: 
1. draw something, anything, everyday. I bought a mini sketchbook that should be here on Friday. I figure that a fresh new notebook is an excellent motivator!

2. work on writing my "MAX/Portland book" somehow. I need to look through my Facebook and find, then copy down, allll my statuses about the MAX. It shouldn't be too hard, just time intensive. I'm going to look into publishing it though Amazon which is apparently a reasonable option for getting it out there. But I don't know any details yet.

I have more "would like to do" stuff but these two are my "MUST DO"'s. Keep me honest, ok, guys? :lol:

Maybe I'll make a tumblr or something for my art. I feel like I should post that everyday, to keep me honest, but I dunno how or where. A blog, of course!! :wink:


Anyway, that's really all for today. I hope you guys are doing fantastically!!

[And Caroline, I LOVED that hummingbird video! TOOOOO cute. It made me so happy!]


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## Wallaby

On Thursday Lacey and I went for a ride in the forest! 
I've decided that walking rides in the forest will probably do her more good than just banishing her to her pasture for forever, due to this on again-off again lameness issue. I figure that if she can just walk and we reserve trotting/cantering for the lungeline (as needed), in her pasture, we're hopefully good. 
I did let her throw in a nice canter at the very end of our ride, going up the last hill, but we had walked for 45 minutes and the old girl does love to run! So I had to give her a little of her favorite. :wink:

I was really impressed with the goats too! The last 2 times I've taken Lacey out, Atti basically loses his fruitloops and well, FREAKS OUT. The first time he went galloping through the llama's pasture repeatedly, bawling his head off, for probably 15 minutes, but had settled down by the time we got back. The time after that, he lost it for maybe 5 minutes, then settled down. THIS time, he bawwed as we left and as we walked down the road, but he didn't go into the llama's pasture and he was already laying down, by the gate, by the time we got down to the trail (the pasture to the trail is sort of a "U" shape, so I can see the pasture's gate from the trail head). Yay yay yay!!

Anyhoo, Lacey and I had a really nice time. She was super good and seemed to really enjoy being out. 

And on Thursday I was trying to just use B+W, just to see what'll happen. And this is what happened. haha
Atttttti!










Miss Haze!










Starting off....










The leaves were making really neat patterns!



















Lacey is cute!!










Then, the other day I saw TWO redtail hawks!!










And yesterday's drawing (I am apparently in a massive "poke war" on Facebook with my friend Tara.....haha).













Also, just because someone might know, do any of you guys know what kind of plant this is? It's some kind of vine/tree thing....?










It's my favorite. 


Have a WONDERFUL Saturday! :happydance: :happydance:


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## Wallaby

Fun, random, video I found!

Apparently the bay youngster in this video is 100% blind and the chestnut has her vision. 
I love how the blind guy doesn't even look blind. He reminds me of how Lacey likes to tear around! haha
[of course, not a fan of the dog running around like that WITH a blind horse - accident waiting to happen for the horse or the dog]

I love me some happy blind horses!!


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## amp23

That's awesome. They definitely can still be happy even without sight! I'm also not a fan of the style of fencing the have set up around a blind horse!!


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## Wallaby

Agreeeed about the fencing! It's one thing if the enclosure is huge, imo, but when the horses are constantly right up on the fence.... Yikes. 
Of course, Lacey's pasture fence is a mixture of high tensile wire , "sheep fencing" (2ft tall 4x4 metal mesh stuff) with high tensile in front of it, "livestock fence" (5ft 4x4 metal mesh stuff) with high tensile, blackberry bushes for fence, about 4 ft of board fencing, and, my personal favorite, about 30ft of a single strand of barbed wire between strands of high tensile....so I really shouldn't be judging fencing. :lol:
BUT, Lacey's pasture is 6+ acres and she's never right up on the fence like the horses in that video. I think I've seen her touch the fence maybe....once? haha



ALSO! GUYS. I forgot to tell you about this!! 
So a few weeks ago, my cousin saw a job on Craigslist looking for a horse handler/lesson giver-type person for a children's therapy program. She told me about it, I looked up the organization - seemed pretty legit for Oregon (Oregon, no offense anyone, is pretty much the most ghetto horse place evvvver. There are good people trying to do good things in some areas but mostly everyone is like "OMG, never feed alfalfa, it eats through the stomach of horses and kills them!!" and "Tom Thumbs are THE BEST FOR EVERY HORSE!!" and "Horses don't need to have their hooves trimmed in the winter - the extra hoof gives them TRACTION in mud, and we need that here!" etc etc haha), so I sent them an email.

And guess who's now conversing with these people about schedules and such??!!!! ME. 
We haven't talked interview yet but we are talking scheduling. = trying not to get toooo excited but this is a gosh darn DREAM job for me if it could work. I love love love disabled kids and to add horses to that!!?? HOLD. THE. PHONE. :rofl:

But who knows. I might go for an interview and find Sketch City. Hopefully not. And maybe if I do and if I were to be offered the job, maybe I could make it a better place. I would like to help Oregon be less horse-ghetto, that would be excellent.


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## Wallaby

Lacey got a new flymask today. 

I was super surprised, it only took me maaaaaybe 2 hours [with dance breaks, of course] to complete! The others took me 4 [first time] and 3 [second]. And those were both last summer. I am on a rollll. :wink:


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## tinyliny

You are just the person for such a job. They should be so lucky!


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## Lockwood

Wallaby said:


> Miss Haze!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Also, just because someone might know, do any of you guys know what kind of plant this is? It's some kind of vine/tree thing....?


If you ever have a showing in a gallery, I think I will have to fly out there to see it.
I love the B/W of Hazel! The fiber structures of her beard and under her ears are such a strong focal point for me that I almost want to reach into the screen and see if they are as soft and silky as suri alpaca beards are.

Off the top of my head, the flowers on this vine/shrub look exactly like my Mock Orange bush, so maybe it is in the Mock Orange family? (I think there quite a few different kinds/flower types.)


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## cakemom

We call that a Cherokee rose here.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

Ding-ding-ding! Cakemom is a WINNNNNNNER. [now where's a party emoticon when you need one??]
Thanks cakemom! I've wondered what that was for years. It's my favorite. 

Aww, thanks Caroline! I hope it works out. :hug: The lady said she'd call me soon to "set up an interview"...but that was 3 days ago. However, you know me. My mind is always running waaaaay too far ahead. haha

Haha thanks Leah! That's really sweet. 
Haven't "seen" you around in a while and I missed you! :hug: haha
Speaking of which, I need to message you. The goats, while not "skinny," are not as fat as I think they should be given their diet of lush pasture, 2lbs of alfalfa pellets per day [divided between the two]... Maybe I should just be thankful and move on. haha!
I love that picture of Hazel too! It's so "her" - present and alert, but content to just be...with no need to be in your face constantly *glares at Atticus*. And she is indeed super soft...if you're ever in the area!! 





For the super fun game we like to call "Guess The Random Plant!!", I have another mystery plant!
I got this from my grandma years ago. She called it an "African Violet" but it is most certainly NOT an African Violet! hahaha
It has babies by just creating more plants, I guess from the roots. Some kind of rhizome situation.
It doesn't bloom every year, seems like every 2 years is it's "thing." 
It doesn't demand much, I basically flood it with water whenever the leaves get droopy (every 2 weeks or so) and it's happy. We've never fertilized it, just gave it pretty much the cheapest "indoor plant" soil the store had... :lol: 
I've tried doing searches but Dr. Google is the opposite of helpful. haha

Any guesses?











Yesterday Lacey and I had another nice little trail walk. It was lovely. Next time I'm going to try to get the guts to ask someone to take a picture of us together. We have lots of pictures of the two of us doing stuff (thanks to Gentleman Friend!! When we were at camp he was alllllways taking pictures of Lacey and I for us. Before that I had very few pictures of us and now I have SO MANY! ) but not a whole lot of just us, doing our normal stuff...if that makes sense. It would be nice to have a picture of me and my girl on "our" trails.
One day! haha
About the worst part of yesterday was meeting a young guy who was letting his pitbull run around (I love pitulls, don't get me wrong) and said dog was super "high" in prey-seeking mode. Anyway, the dog saw Lacey and I, fixed in a cold glare - the kind that you doooon't want to mess with, and started over behind Lacey and I. 
It would have been fine (Lacey is great with dogs and usually just stands there) except that the dog's owner saw this happening and FREAKED. 
And basically, instead of just walking away (the dog would have followed him) he came over and started trying to grab the dog...which caused the dog to run away, under Lacey, etc etc.

Thankfully it all worked out fine, Lacey only moved when the dog bumped her legs, and the dog got a satisfactory sniff. But still. It was scary for a moment. 
Really though, I should have just trusted Lacey instead of getting a bit nervous. She's literally the best with dogs and I know I tensed up after that dog glared at me. Everything was fine but she would have done better if I had just stayed cool as a cucumber. 

The owner was satisfactorily apologetic and I was satisfactorily REALLY nice (Emily's Life Rule: be extra genuinely nice to people who make you feel frustrated - it'll make them feel extra bad and you'll feel better because you refuse to take on the frustration you feel) back. Ended up making a friend! 

Picture time!

Hazel got a liiiiittle wet the other night.. hahaha










Ride!










Happy ears!










Home again. I'm just so excited that she's so "thin"!! haha










"Hey guys, doesn't my flymask look great? I love it!"










Waiting for her breakfast this morning.










Ferdinand the deer! 










A drawing from yesterday. I'm not entirely happy with the big dinosaur but I like the little ones and the shadows!











And that's all for now!

But, get excited. Tomorrow Gentleman Friend, his littlest brother, my "little" [he's 21, haha] brother, and I are going to the zoo together. So maybe zoo pictures! We will see. 


Thanks for looking!

:happydance: :happydance:


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## Lockwood

Wallaby said:


> Haha thanks Leah! That's really sweet.
> Haven't "seen" you around in a while and I missed you! :hug: haha
> Speaking of which, I need to message you. The goats, while not "skinny," are not as fat as I think they should be given their diet of lush pasture, 2lbs of alfalfa pellets per day [divided between the two]... Maybe I should just be thankful and move on. haha!
> I love that picture of Hazel too! It's so "her" - present and alert, but content to just be...with no need to be in your face constantly *glares at Atticus*. And she is indeed super soft...if you're ever in the area!!


I'm sorry, it has been cra cra busy lately! I've missed you too. 

*shuffles around in the paper heap on desk for goat worming info...*
Um yeah... abooouuuut that info I've been working on for you....

Hay has a tendency to "bulk" ruminants up, so if they are mainly getting fresh forages, they tend to look more "normal." As long as muscle tone is good and nothing seems amiss...not to worry. I go through the same worry on my critters every year about this time, even thought I know better. I just get used to seeing them look like tanks most of the year and when they don't I "think" something is wrong.

I'm always here if you need something...just haven't had the time to play on the forum as much as usual. "Gotta make hay while the sun shines" is what we say around here about June, before the worst of the summer heat and humidity hits.
(I sooo miss the summers out there!!)


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## Wallaby

GUYS. I just got off the phone with the therapy riding lady and guess who has an interview on Saturday at 10am??!

Also, it turns out that I drive past the facility every single week when I go buy hay = it's not sketchy!! It's a little questionable at times (I've driven past when one of the horses has an ill-fitting blanket on...but that was a one time thing out of 2 years of driving past) but, appearances-wise, pretty darn good for Oregon. Also the lady sounded like a really nice lady. Gut feelings are important to me and she gave of good phone vibes! haha
AND I've only ever seen 2 horses there. Which doesn't sound like a lot, but given Oregon's propensity towards people who have more horses than they know what to do with "because he/she was free!!", only 2 makes me really happy.

AHHHHHHHH. Wish me luck, guys! I like to think I give a good first impression and especially around horses...but who knows. Fingers crossed.
Also, they have a pony. I love ponies. So much. GAH. So excited.



Leah, no worries! I figured that's what was "up."  Everybody needs to hear that they're missed when they are! <3
That's super reassuring!! Cuz you are so right. They aren't skinnier, really, just less bulky. I'm really glad you said it that way, describes EXACTLY what I'm seeing. You're the best!!
And no worries about the worming stuff, we can save that for fall. I'm sure the goats won't mind. :wink: I mean, heck, I haven't wormed Lacey in............over two years? Oh geez. :rofl:


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## Skyseternalangel

It looks like a type of morning glory, judging by the trumpet flower petals. It'd be interesting to find out!


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## Wallaby

Good guess Sky!! 
Somehow that got me thinking about other search terms to use to describe it and I found it!! It's apparently a "Cape Primrose" and it's apparently super closely related to the African Violet, so I suppose that's probably how my Grandma got confused initially. :lol: Anyway, yay for knowing what it is now! 


Oh yeah, so my brother, Gentleman Friend, Gentleman Friend's littlest brother, and I went to the Zoo on Friday. No pictures but it went great! My brother and Gentleman Friend got along super well (not that that realllly matters, but they're both super important to me so it's certainly nice!) and Gentleman Friends little brother seemed to enjoy himself as well.
I made us all brownies. haha They were all suitably impressed. I did not divulge that this GF brownie recipe I found literally takes 15 minutes to throw together AND it's fun. I just basked in the glory of all their compliments. :twisted:
And I felt sort of honored because Gentleman Friend tagged us as all being together in a Facebook post. Again, not that it really matters, but he rarely posts about somewhere he went so it was kind of special to be among the ones he's excited enough about being with that the world needed to know...you know?
It was a liiiiitttttle awkwardly hilarious though - the three of them have pretty similar coloring (dark hair, dark eyes, tall, perpetually tan skin tone, etc)...and then there's me...who is none of those things (besides relatively tall with dark eyes). They decided that I was their token redheaded stepchild. :lol: I felt like I had a harem. It was something, for sure.
Anyway, we had fun and everybody agreed that we should hang out again.




The interview on Saturday....I don't know how that went. I have mixed feelings. I got along well with the people there and I agreed with most of their practices....but in keeping with typical Oregon, the horses all had TERRIBLE feet (it IS next to impossible to find a good farrier here though so I'm not judging them tooo much on that and their hooves weren't terrible as in being neglected, they were just terrible as in the farrier doing them knows very little). And the lady in charge stated repeatedly that she wasn't looking for a "horse snob" or someone who was going to try to make the horses more important than implements for the job = as you can probably imagine, not my favorite concept. Of course, I really hope I'm NOT a "horse snob" but at the same time, if "horse snob" means that I generally know my way around horses and that I want the best for horses, then sign me up. Guilty.
However, if they offer me the job, I'll take it. At least for the next 6 months!
I bet though that they won't though just because of a feeling I got (like they were looking for an older, out of college-type applicant)...but we'll see.
And I realized that if I were to get this job and continue there into Winter Term, I would be stuck for a full school year of waking up at 4:30am, M/W/F, for a full day of 8am-5pm classes...an hour away from home. And I don't know how much I want to do that. I'm stuck doing that already for Fall Term but for all three terms? I might die. 10am-4pm was hard enough, Fall and Winter Term this year....



Anyway, we'll see. What's meant to be will be and what's not won't. I'm unconcerned. Bummed, certainly, but unconcerned.


PICTURES!!

Atti is getting so big!!










Sunday morning. How cute are they!!





















This morning Atti and I went on a hike. He's knows so many words now! This is him demonstrating "stay." He's also GREAT at "back up" and sort of great at "come." I wonder if I could teach him to lay down on command? that could be super handy..... :shock:
He was relaxed enough this time that I'm thinking that perhaps taking him to a real trail somewhere might be a possibility this summer! We'll see, of course, and I probably should start with car training before getting too excited (train him to calmly hop in and out of my van, then short rides around the neighborhood, then trips to the park that's 5 minutes away, etc) but YES!! This'll be awesome. I've always wanted a dog to take places....I guess my "dog" was just a goat named Atticus! :lol:












:happydance:
Thanks for looking! :hug:


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## jcraig10

Atti is so awesome. I wish I would run into someone on a hike with a goat out in the woods...or out playing fetch or something at the park. I would immediately know that that person is the best person ever. You totally make me want to buy a goat!!! He seems to have the most amazing personality (as far as you can tell through the pictures). Is it weird that he reminds me of my 4 year old nephew? Always happy and romping around without a care in the world? And Hazel seems all matronly-like. I could see her with a British accent...sipping on some tea and eating crumpets. 

I definitely have conversations between all of your animals as I'm looking at your pictures. And they all have different voices. :shock:


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## Wallaby

Hahaha that's great jcraig! Makes my day.  Atti definitely has a great personality - LOTS of energy though. If the goats were dogs, Hazel would be that show-bred Lab who's perfectly content to hang out on the couch and eat [which I love, of course]...while Atticus would be the crazy Border Collie who can't sit still for a second. Of course, I'm totally a BC person so we lucked out...but if I wasn't, I can see how goats sometimes have a bad rep. :lol: I'm sure it's his Alpine side, they're apparently known for being one of the more high maintenance/sassy breeds. 
_Someone _{ME! haha} should have done more research into breed traits...I figured goat breed traits would be something like horse breed traits = 65% true, at the best. And oh no. Hazel fits the breed traits of an Angora perfectly and Atti fits his Alpine side to a T. Of course. :rofl:
Glad I got a really laid back breed and a fiery one. I would be DEAD with two Atti's!! hahaha
Romping around and happy is definitely Mr. Atti! And crumpets and tea, plus British accent, is 100% Hazel. Sometimes I think Hazel is the goat version of Judy Dench. :rofl: All sassy, but proper.


Speaking of Atti, I found a picture of him about a week after I brought them home and made a collage of it with a current picture. How grown up is he???!!
Not to mention that he's now 6 inches taller. :rofl:










Sassy Mrs. Hummingbird at my house this morning:










SassyPants herself! She was really thrilled to see me this morning. I think she was hoping we were going to go on a ride. Too bad I really messed up my back yesterday and she needs to have her back hooves done before we go on a ride...so we have to wait until my back is less dead. I HOPE I'll be feeling ok enough to do her hooves tomorrow but we'll have to see. At this point, even walking is mildly ouchy and bending over is totally out of the picture.
[I trimmed Lacey's hooves yesterday, after my back was already sore-ish from doing a little tack room cleaning, and then I must have twisted wrong picking up everyone's dinner from their spots on the tack room floor...etc]










"Goat is snuggle powered. Needs snuggles to survive."










I went out to check on my garden, in my back yard, and discovered that my lettuce, zucchini, peas, and carrots have finally decided to make an appearance! 












And that is all for today. Thanks for looking!

:happydance:


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## Wallaby

Went on our weekly ride today! She did super well, really seemed to enjoy herself.  Have I mentioned that I love this horse? :wink:










And we got our picture! 












:happydance:


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## Wallaby

Nothing really to report but I'm bored sooooo...... :rofl:

I forgot to tell you guys the best story from our Thursday ride!
So remember that pitbull from last week's ride? And how Lacey got antsy about him?
I was a bit worried for this ride about any dogs we might meet because our most recent experience was sort of negative and I was concerned that we might end up with another negative experience on top of that one, you know how that goes. Lacey is generally really great with dogs so I really didn't want to ruin that.
Anyway, first we met a GSP with her family, a nice dog. She trotted up to Lacey, sniffed her, wiggled all around, and kept going. Lacey initially was unsure - she much prefers dogs that ignore her, but it was a split second little "wobble" and she immediately got over it.

THEN, not even 5 minutes later, we came upon a little boy, maybe 9-ish years old, walking a Boxer mix [I bet the other half was Lab or Border Collie, but who knows]. So basically the poor kid was the same size as his dog. This dog saw Lacey and FREAKED. He immediately started baying and jumping around, dragging his little owner all over [kid was walking alone, with no parent around - not something I would ever let happen for a multitude of reasons, haha]. I initially asked Lacey to keep walking since sometimes that's all a dog needs to cam down...but not this one. So I had Lacey stop and the kid started walking past us...until the dog snapped his collar. :shock:
So this dog comes lunging for Lacey [he was super nervous about her and in a "fight mode" = my least favorite situation] but, like the freaking boss she is, she just stood there and didn't move a muscle, like "come at me, bro." Thankfully the kid was smart enough to just start walking away and the dog eventually followed him. 

But really. I can't even get over how great Lacey is. I don't have a dog, no one who sees her regularly has a dog, but she still just has a knack for dealing with them and reading their body language like a book. I'm not sure how she does it since she can barely see, maybe it's their energy... My favorite thing is that she seems to really just love more aggressive dogs. The more confrontational they are with her, the more she's all like "Um, NO SIR."
Personally, I always feel nervous about dogs, loose dogs especially, but she doesn't care. I guess that's why we're so good together. We're both anxious about things but the things we're anxious about are complementary - the things I worry about, she loves, and the things she worries about don't bother me.

She's wonderful.  
And especially considering that I used to be, and still kind of am, a SUPER timid rider. 

Funny story, on a similar note: when I was growing up, my dream horse was a flea-bitten gray Arabian mare. Basically this mare lived inside my mind and it was basically like she was really mine...only inside my head. I often dreamed about riding her and it was just wonderful. 
And now I have a flea-bitten gray Arabian mare who's my perfect soul partner. It's hardly conceivable that that could be a coincidence. 

Also, our 5 year "anniversary" is in 16 days! Tin! :lol: Time flies. 
5 year HF "anniversary" too! :rofl:


We're in the midst of a huge heat wave here (don't laugh guys, it NEVER gets much over 90* here and especially not for days in a row :lol and the kiddos are hating it. However, I'm SO ridiculously proud of Lacey and so thrilled about the goats - Lacey's summer pattern is to stand out in the sun grazing all day, no matter the temperature, and she basically gives herself heatstroke. She gets disoriented and cranky and basically turns into a poo-face, then I have to hose her off everyday and really carefully watch her for signs of heatstroke. Last summer I even ended up locking her in her stall all day on the hottest days to make sure she stayed in the shade.

But guess what??!! 
Yesterday and today I went up there in the heat of the afternoon and discovered that Lacey had chosen to join the goats in the shed, in the shade, for the afternoon. Yesterday they all came out once it had cooled down a bit but they refused to leave the shed while it was still too hot. 
So proud!!
This makes me feel a WHOLE lot better about this summer. Lacey's eyes flare up when she gets too hot as well, so this is a double blessing.

Yaaaaaay goats!!

Speaking of which, I have some rando pictures for you guys. 

Someoneeee was VERY tired this morning. Partied too hard last night, Atti?










The gang.










Tell me how I can say no to this face. HOW CUTE IS SHE???????? 
She's started "helping" me feed in the morning, it's about the cutest thing ever. I open the door to the tack room and she'll come stand in the doorway and watch me feed. I give her little tidbits of everything as I dole out everyone's portion and she seems to really enjoy that. She doesn't even get pushy, she just stands there very patiently the whole time.
She's super super sweet.











:happydance: I hope you guys are all doing well!!


----------



## Chevaux

I forgot to mention earlier - I'm glad Hazel has gone back to curls again as she's just not Hazel without them.


----------



## Wallaby

Meeeeeee too, Chevaux!! I wholeheartedly agree!

The pasture finalllllllly got mowed today! I think this was probably the perfect time for it, some tansy was already starting to bloom and the rest of it was starting to think about blooming. HAH, tansy! Take THAT.
But, bummer side, I basically had to stay up at the pasture all day...in 90* heat [remember, 80* is hot here. hahha] so I might be dead. Plus side: I am WAY tan-er now than I was at this time last week. Of course, being a redhead, I probably should not be excited about that...but it's super nice to not have to be too concerned about blinding people when I wear shorts. 
Anyhoo, the pasture is all classy looking again now and that's pretttty nice.
Lacey seems really excited about it - who can blame her. I think having weeds hit her in the legs constantly is probably disconcerting, since her legs are basically her main resource in finding her way around.

Atticus couldn't hardly believe his eyes when he saw that tractor pulling a pasture mower! It was hilarious. I think his eyes bugged out of his head! :rofl:
Hazel was just scared and Lacey played the part of the "overprotective mare" - she herded the goats into the shed, into "her" stall, and kept them there until he felt that the danger was 'less'. For a mare who's never actually had a foal, MAN. hahaha

Also, Atticus got a real bath yesterday! With shampoo and everything. He did SO well! It was just like bathing a well behaved dog or a similarly well behaved horse. He loooooooved the shampoo part - "so much petting!!" I was really surprised, in a good way. He really is a dog! :lol:


Pictures!!

Dragonfly! 
Fun fact: dragonflies are nasty looking critters this close up and in color! haha










Hazel was sure the mowing man was going to eat her soul = "Emily will protect me!!"
She's also developed a lovely habit of licking necks...so, of course, she was licking my neck. :lol: I'm not a huuuuge fan of it but she's just so cute. How can I say no to that face!!? 
She has loose salt available but I guess neck-salt is better? Silly cute girl!










More hiding.










Mowed pasture! So classy.










"Hmmm, yes, I think I will delicately eat this piece of mowed down thistle. Delicious!"










Proud of herself. 











And that is all for now! I hope you guys are all doing great! :happydance:


----------



## Lockwood

> This morning Atti and I went on a hike. He's knows so many words now! This is him demonstrating "stay." He's also GREAT at "back up" and sort of great at "come." I wonder if I could teach him to lay down on command? That could be super handy..... :shock:
> He was relaxed enough this time that I'm thinking that perhaps taking him to a real trail somewhere might be a possibility this summer! We'll see, of course, and I probably should start with car training before getting too excited (train him to calmly hop in and out of my van, then short rides around the neighborhood, then trips to the park that's 5 minutes away, etc) but YES!! This'll be awesome. I've always wanted a dog to take places....I guess my "dog" was just a goat named Atticus! :lol:


Red......the goat whisperer....


----------



## Wallaby

Haha something like that, Leah! :lol: My friends like to tease me that I could train anything to do anything...I don't think that's precisely true, but when you don't take "can't" for an answer... :rofl: My cat even does tricks.
Did I tell you about how Hazel knows her name now? It's THE BEST. You holler "Hazel!!" and she swivels her head around fast as lightning. I guess she likes Hazel better than "Tone" [pronounced Tony, of course]. :wink:



Someone was excited about dinner last night:










And then he got hosed down. He was not sure how to take this but Lacey seemed pretty ok with being hosed, so water must not be deadly!










Then it was time to play.










[this one is so morose feeling to me...but great cuz he looks like some kind of mountain goat/gazelle]










And Miss FluffyPants wanted to snuggle. She LOVES to come over, basically lean her chest on my shoulder, and just stand there like that. So weird.
Of course, she also likes to hide her eyes on my legs when something "scary" is happening [hoof trimming, shearing, etc]. She's such an adorable dork. 










The gang.










Then, this morning we got up bright and early for an 8am ride+beat the heat.
It went really well! Lacey had a blast. She was definitely tired from all the hot weather [she only wanted to canter once!] but she seemed happy to be out. I think a lot of it was mental though - we passed an intersection with 3 garbage trucks all blaring and moving around, at least 8 walkers and runners, many bright sunny spots [terrifying evil monsters! it's because her world is so dark and the sun spots show up as REALLY bright, you know], 2 excited dogs, 1 friendly dog, it was just a whole lot for a horse that's been standing in a shed all day for a week. It took her a while to calm down completely but, by the end of the ride, she had chilled and relaxed.











Also, the heat wave has finally broken! It only got up to 80* today. THANK GOODNESS. :lol:
To make use of the new coolness, I thought I would make cookies. They came out like balls of pie crust. I'm a bit bummed. However, now I have a pie crust recipe?? hahahahaha

And that, my friends, is all for now. :happydance:


----------



## Chevaux

Atticus on the mount > good photo!


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Chevaux!! 

No pictures for tonight, just one 'funny' story.
Basically, you guys know that ridiculous, from the movies, type bond that people are "always" trying to find? Like "My Friend Flicka" and all that?

So Lacey and I live on top of a big hill. It's the tallest hill for at least 30 miles and we're at the top of it. For a night like 4th of July, there are pretty much big booms and fireworks in EVERY direction. Not very many on the hill itself, since they're "illegal" here in Oregon [with very little enforcement so you know how 'illegal' THAT is! haha].
I thought it might be a great idea to sit on top of the shed to watch fireworks because of the "being surrounded" factor.
However:









Anyway, I fed everybody, let them back out, and hopped up on the roof [aka "without any pretense of grace, clawed and rolled my way up there"]. Lacey was REALLY nervous. Acting all "mare with foal" again, herding the goats, specifically Atti, around and keeping everybody "together." [4-5 deer had also joined the group but they pretty much split when I showed up]

I assumed that Lacey would make everybody head back up to the gate area because that's where she seems to feel the safest. The gate area is only maybe 20x15 so there's less for her to "patrol" and 3 sides are open, with one very enclosed side, so it's also very easy to "guard."

Lacey started heading up to the gate at a brisk walk, but then turned around and brought the goats back down to the shed. She stayed, with the goats, no further than 40ft from me [still on the roof] for the entire 2.5 hours I was on the roof. Through giant "bomb" fireworks and other "really scary" stuff.
As soon as I got down and started heading for the gate myself, she started whinnying and nickering up a storm at me - all while trotting nervously by my side AND herding the goats in front of us. 

She stayed up at the gate after I left too. 

I guess the part I think is really sweet is that she stayed down at the shed, seemingly, predominantly because I was there. She was scared a lot but I was there so she was ok. 

Awww, sheeee-ooooo-t, Lacey! It was really adorable. I felt absolutely terrible leaving her.

WHAT A SWEETIE.


[I think Atticus's mind was bassssically blown by me sitting on the shed. He analyzed the situation from all sides and even tried to get up there with me. He could not even believe my climbing skill "first you climb my mom-horse, then you climb MY HOUSE??! Even I can't do those things!!"]




I hope everyone had an excellent, and safe, 4th of July!! :happydance:






Also, weird question: I thiiiink I saw Atticus trying to "drink" from Lacey............she's never had a foal but her udder has been usually swollen lately. Not crazy swollen, but bigger. And I did pull a crust off a "teat" the other day that had a milky substance under it. How likely would hat be that she's randomly producing a little milk and Atti is going for it? Not likely at all, right? It was half dark and I just saw him put his head under there for a second. Probably nothing.


----------



## Wallaby

I got the pictures off my camera from last night. No good fireworks ones though. Unfortunately we were just too far away. D:

But, here's Atti with his eyes bugged out:

"WHAT THE HECK."










The 'herd' being nearby.










This morning:
And LOOK what Lacey did to herself from the stress. :evil::evil::evil::evil: She basically gets nervous, then starts scratching on things until she bleeds or something distracts her. I think it's some kind of coping mechanism THAT I HATE. It wasn't until she really started going blind that she started doing this so maybe it's some sort of "I can feel this, I control it" thing? I don't know but I hate it.
Poor baby!!










And a bunny!! 












That is all for right now, I think.


Also, in case anyone is really hankering after a Gentleman Friend update, things are going really well. It seems that we're both working to make seeing each other more often a "thing" and I dunno. I'm trying to be more straight with him, but not manipulative. 
I have a tendency to want an answer and I have a knack for knowing what to say to get the answer I want. So I'm really trying to say what I mean without qualifiers and let him meet me at the answer I want to get, if that's the answer he really wants to give. [and, FWIW, he's been doing 'better' than the "right" answer most of the time :wink:]
I realized that basically I've been trying for years to get him specifically, and others...but mostly him, to accept me when I already have his freaking acceptance. I mean, we've been good, comfortable, friends for 2 years. If he didn't accept me, I would NOT be able to manipulate him like I've been trying to and he would NOT be my friend like this. Poor guy. He's gotten himself in with a reallllllllllllly crazy lady. :wink: :lol:
Anyway, so I'm stopping that and just saying what I mean. No more self-depreciating statements. And it's going great. 


But anyway, back to normal programming.


:happydance:


----------



## Chevaux

I don't like Lacey's rubbing thing either - it must be horse equivalent of chewing fingernails down to the quick:shock:.


----------



## Wallaby

Must be, Chevaux!  Lacey, if we hug you for forever...will you stop? haha


Nothing much to report, just a drawing and a picture.

I drew this for Gentleman Friend, who I'm seeing tomorrow. He was SUPPOSED to help me think of things to draw for a few mutual friends who are working at camp, the one we met at, and who I'm sending a care package made of drawings to...but he was the opposite of helpful. :lol: So while I was tryng to think of things to draw, this came out of my mind. And since I haven't posted a drawing in a while, here. 
[Gentleman Friend's job title is "'something' 'something' Clerk" and I think the clerk part is just hilarious.]










And Atti has decided to display a new marking! I thiiiiiink this is called a "Moonspot" ....but I also don't think LaMancha's OR Alpines get those? Correction, Google tells me that LaManchas, Nigerians, and Nubians are the only breeds "allowed" to get moonspots but that it's rare in La Manchas... I wonder if that's really what this is!
Huh. Atti is just the coolest, I guess. :wink:











That's all for today! Thanks for looking!


----------



## Wallaby

So my brother has made off with my van [he's moving and only has little cars] soooo my whole grand idea for working with Atticus+van has been put on hold. Laaaaame. hopefully he'll get done moving soon and bring the van back! I miss her! haha After driving a vehicle that is basically a box impervious to danger, all other cars feel so breakable! :lol: But really. That van. I doubt anything less than a semi could take it down. She's kind of a beast. I've been driving her since I got my license at 18...5 years? Yeah, we're buddies. I like to call her the Herbie of Vans because I can tell after other people drive her. She drives nice for me but other people....LOLOLOLOL 
Then again, the first time I saw her, when I was 4 or 5 and went out to the garage to see the "new but used" car [she's been in my family forevvver - she's a 1991], my first thought was "I am going to drive that when I'm a grown up!!" and I promptly named her "The PrincessMobile." SO, if I were a basically sentient van, I would probably like the person that named me "The PrincessMobile" too. :rofl: Anyway, I miss her.

In other news, Lacey's patootie is healing nicely. Atticus is really happy too.
OH! And Lacey let me wash off her entire face, using the hose, for the first time EVER yesterday! She's let me wash the sides of her face with the hose before, but never the full front! I'm so proud of her. Initially she was throwing her head around and trying to walk away but I persisted, removing the "pressure" whenever she stopped moving, and eventually she just stood there and accepted it. So so proud. Her faces gets super grimy with eye boogers and dirt and other grossness and it's hard to get it really clean with a wash cloth or sponge. Not to mention that she'll slam you with her head, unintentionally, with each swipe of the towel or sponge. 
So the straight hose is ideal. I'm not spraying her in the face, just letting the hose water run down her face. 

Hazel is doing ok as well. She's skinnier than I would like again though. I've started feeding her a bit of alfalfa everyday [while Atti is still tied up for breakfast, he gets a tiny handful so he doesn't get tooo jealous. haha] and hopefully that'll help. 
She's not like scary skinny but, if we were gong to compare her to a horse, I'd say she's about a 3.5 on the Henneke scale. So at a point where she shouldn't lose anymore but not at "PANIC EVERYONE" levels yet. hahaha

Other thing, that weird thing going on with Atticus' teeth a month or so back? Yeah, definitely just an adult tooth coming in. Now his mouth is super hilarious. Alllll his teeth are baby teeth, except for this one "huge" adult tooth that's right in the middle of them all. He looks like a huge dork. :rofl:




Gentleman Friend thoughts time, feel free to skip! 
And, for the record, Gentleman Friend seems to have LOVED the picture. He hung it up next to his monitor at work. :happydance: 
A wise neighbor lady, unbeknownst to her, gave me some very pertinent advice the other day. She said that the guy is the one in a relationship to make the move, but that the girl has to "open the door." Not in a creepy or over attached way but the girl has to make a few moves, of the correct caliber, to let the guy know she's interested.
I had never thought about it that way and I kinda realized that I've done nothing to open the door. I've just been basically assuming that he could, I guess, read my mind since we're "in sync" so much of the time.
Silly me, I forgot that he doesn't know the "deeper meaning" behind the words I'm saying just like I wouldn't probably really see any "deeper meaning" behind the words he's saying. I could guess at it but, if I were the guy and it were up to me, I would not really be confident to "make a move" based on what I've said to Gentleman Friend. I guess if I were a cocky jerk...but no thank you. So, basically I'm a doof. 
Anyway, on the topic of 'opening the door', this whole "going to church way early so we can hang out" thing seems to be going great. 
Last Sunday though...poor guy seemed nervous out of his mind. But I was super nervous too. The first time it was like "Oh, this wasn't really planned, really glad to see you, soul-friend!!" but last week was like "oh geez, this was planned, what is happening? I like it but...what is happening?" and kind of more "weighty" like that.
Next week we decided to meet up even earlier so we'd have more time. And hopefully more time will equal more time to de-nervous. 
I told him that I would like to make it be an "every week kinda thing" and he said that he would "really like that too." :happydance:

I just had to tell someone all these thoughts. Most of my friends are either entirely sick of hearing about this situation [my best friend likes to tease me about being in 7th grade still, relationship-wise. Of course, I can't deny that this is basically like grown-up 7th grade...but really. We're both innocents! :rofl:] or they take it way too seriously and are all "OMG YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO GET MARRIED." And I really just needed to get this all out of my system...without annoying anyone tooooooo much. :wink:



Ok, silly girly gushing over.




And, in case you're still reading, in case I have not managed to bore you away:

Atti!! He's my boy. He really likes it when I sit next to him while he's laying down. <3
[and my phone camera is seriously crack-a-lacking. So it's not your eyes, it's the picture. My phone is nearly 3 years old and it's starting to get fussy about ALLLLL the things. According to my best friend "your phone is so old, it called DINOSAURS." My bestie is sassy. Can you tell? :lol::lol:]













And that is all for now. I hope you all are doing super super great!! :hug: :happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Roperchick

Woooh go you! Much braver than I am going for gentleman friend. if your 7th grade relationship...then im like 6th haha. So dont feel bad

Poor atti and his poor tooth though lol (why we no haz pictures of mr buck tooths buck tooth o_o)


----------



## Wallaby

Hahaha thanks, RC! Me and you both, girl! haha
I will try to get one!! He's not a huge fan on the whole "mouth picture" situation...but, for you, I'll try. :wink:



ALSO. GUYS. GUESS WHAT??????!!!!!!!! 
The lady from that therapy place just called me back and guess who has a Tuesday job!?? 
It's only one day a week but that's just fine for me! That means that it'll be less "the worst" if I have to bow out due to classes. And the class I was supposed to have next fall, that was on Tuesdays, got cancelled so whoooo!
I"M SO EXCITED. THIS WILL BE THE BEST.


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Great job, Ems!


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Maggie! Tomorrow's my first day and I'm really excited...but really nervous! I'm sure it'll go fine...nervousness is just mandatory. haha And really, I'm usually nervous right up until before things, then the nerves disappear and I'm fine. So probably tomorrow morning I'll be all "YEAH, I got this, dawgs!" :rofl:

In animal news, not a wholeeee lot has been happening. I found a guy on Craigslist who's selling pallets for $3 a pallet so I'm gonna go pick quite a few up on Wednesday. I'm planning to redo Lacey's stall fence and the goat pen using pallets. I'm hoping that a wooden fence will hold up better to the deer going over it and Atticus doing his Atti thing. At this point, all the outside portions of the fence that's there now are pretty much demolished. It's kinda a bummer. Lacey's side still looks ok, I guess, but the goat's side looks like a tornado went through. A tornado named Atticus! :lol:

Today is Lacey+my 5 year "anniversary"!!  She's getting carrots in her dinner. 

In other news, on Thursday I got an iPhone. And oh my goodness. There are SO many kinds of "filters" you can put on photos. Just the filter part is mildy addicting. I'm trying to resist, but I can really see why people over-filter their photos SO much...it's just so fun!! :rofl:
Also, I am in love with this phone. It is THE BEST. Might just be the change from a 1st gen smart phone [I got it 3 years ago] to a "fancy" smart phone...but really! I can't even get over how much better this new phone is than my old phone was! Things that used to take 5 minutes take like 30 seconds now. I can't even get over it. :rofl:

Sassy Hazel!! [yes, I gave into to the call of a filter. Just this once! haha]
My favorite part is how she has her head all cocked like she really is being sassy.











And this is the part you want to ignore if you don't want to be bored to DEATH by Gentleman Friend "happenings. :wink:

So we were hanging out before church last night and, this is probably totally nothing, but we were talking and I said something to him about how I hope that we're going to know each other when we're little and old [we're both basically old people in young bodies, at camp I was "Grandma Wallaby" and people called him "Grandpa ___" because we were the ones saying weird little quips that no one understood and telling people to "make good choices" etc]. He immediately just looked at me and, motioning back and forth at us, really emphatically said something along the lines of "this means that's going to happen! We can't NOT know each other when we're old!" Now I figured that he was referring to our clothes because we had managed to basically wear the same outfit [tie-dye T with cut-off shorts]...but when I was like "oh right, because of our mental interconnected-ness?", he got really awkward and really quickly changed the subject.... Anyway, I thought nothing of it, except that it was weird...until now when I went into the "overthinking stage" :rofl: So I should probbbbbably stop with that.
In "happy day" news, he texted me out of the blue today, just to tell me about something funny that had happened in his day. That marks the third week in a row of getting a spontaneous text from him. 
That doesn't sound like much, but before these last few weeks, we were on a "Emily texts him randomly a few times a week and he texts her randomly once every 3 months" level. So this is really excellent, even on just a friend level. No one randomly texts me, ever! Even my bestie! hahaha So just the fact that someone, anyone, is sending me random texts is SUPER exciting. I'm so lame. It's great.

Yes, this is basically turning into a Whitney Houston song. Sorry guys. :rofl:
Anyway, moving on.





Wish me luck with the job tomorrow!
I hope you all are doing super well! Your respective summers [and winter, you Southern Hemishere-ers!] had better be treating you right! Or else they have Grandma Wallaby to deal with. :wink: :hug:
Thanks for reading!

:happydance:
[and sorry for any typos/excessive run-ons/non-nonsensical statements...I didn't get time to proofread. Awkward.]


----------



## tinyliny

OH , to be young again . . . . (stares off wistfully into the distance)


----------



## Roperchick

Wooooh good luck with le' job tomorrow!!!!!!


----------



## cakemom

Kiss that dang boy already woman- 
And not the one with the horns and the cute bad boy hairdo- the shy one that's occupying the part of your brain that makes you feel giddy when a text comes in.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Have fun on the job, girly!


----------



## Wallaby

GUYS! The job went SO well!!!
I LOVE IT. It was so so good. The perfect combination of people AND horses. I can't wait for next week!
The horses. They are not my favorite "type" of horse - they're the kind that are "dead heads" but are constantly just trying junk, just to see what they can get away with. No motive behind their misbehavior, just "I know this is wrong, what will happen if I do it!!  " stuff. I'm sure I'll get used to it. Lacey's just a 'correct her once and watch it never happen again' type [my favorite!] so it's a switch. But I'll be ok. 

Maybe it's a gelding thing. They only have geldings there. I suppose it makes sense, but you know. I'm a mare person! haha

Speaking of mares, Miss Smartie here decided to try to get her grazing muzzle off, I presume, but did not succeed. However, instead of just shaking it off the rest of the way, like a normal horse, she just left it on and let it hang off her ear like a weirdo. She was even still grazing though it, quite happily I might add. She's a HUGE dork. 














One day, cakemom! One day.  I hope. 




Also, at this job today, I got to snuggle a 4 month old Newfoundland puppy!!  




:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## cakemom

Yay, for the job and one day kiss. 
Lacey is a nut!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Skyseternalangel

I'm so happy you got puppy snuggles AND had a great first day on the job 

Not only a gelding thing.. a school horse thing lol!


----------



## Roperchick

What a dork lacey haha

And congrats on the first good day of work!


----------



## Wallaby

Agreed, cakemom! 

ME TOO, Maggie!! The puppy snuggles were such an unexpected bonus! haha Good point about the school horse thing. -.- They were much better with the original horse handler/walker person so hopefully they'll figure it out once they know me more. 

Thanks RC! 

Just a few photos:

This one's from last Saturday - look at her mane!!I'm super excited about how well it's growing in. I'm half excited for the winter, when it'll get to be down all the time! I've been braiding it up because her neck gets SO sweaty under it otherwise!










I got some pallets yesterday for the goat fence and it apparently became naptime while I was working. 
This is maybe the third time I've ever seen Lacey laying down, other than to roll, so it was pretty exciting!
She even let me pet her neck for a second, but that was too much pressure, I guess, because she got up immediately after that 










Last night.










This morning.

Those two LOVE the pallets! They are so weird. :rofl:










:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Roperchick

Haha I love how she's totally using her grazing muzzle to support her head lol.

I'm wondering if the goats and Lacey will want to crib on the pallets?? Something to think about.

But I can't wait to see how they turn out!


----------



## Wallaby

Right, RC?! hahaha 
I'm hoping not, about the cribbing - Lacey's not a cribber, Hazel doesn't eat things besides ALL THE FOODz [she will literally eat first, think later. Hold anything out to her, she'll try to eat it without determining if it's even food! hahaha], and Atticus is the only one that might try to chew on it a bit. Of course, Atticus, as we know, can cause a great deal of damage...but fingers crossed he won't! 


I got 2 pallets up today. I had hoped to get it all done today...well, technically I had hoped to get it all done by Thursday...but I haven't been feeling super well all week and all of it was a little more than I could handle. So I moved everything down one day, got all the other things I would need the next, basically doing it in a step-by-step fashion instead of doing it all at once.
Today it got hot fast and I wasn't dressed right for the weather, basically ended up being better to stop while I wasn't dead. I'm hoping to get 2 more up tomorrow morning while it's still cool, then the goat section should be done and it'll be on to Lacey's section. Lacey's section will be easier because it's just a straight line [I'm redoing the goat's entire 'outside' area because they really don't use the outside area at all, so there's a lot of "if I do this, what will happen here, here, and here?"].





Ok, you guys, Gentleman Friend story time again. So feel free to skip if you don't want to hear about my Whitney Houston meets Amy Grant meets...some other lady singer...'love' life. I will not blame you in the least. There aren't any pictures for today either - sad, I know! So get out while you still can!! Fleeeeeee, my preciouses! :rofl: :lol:

Ok, now that everyone who doesn't want to hear is gone, basically the 3 really 'exciting' highlights from this week are:
1. He texted me TWICE this week to tell me about stuff that happened. TWICE.
2. We've texted/talked everyday this week.
3. On...Tuesday, I think, I went a little nuts [ok, he would say "not nuts, it was perfectly reasonable"...but that's because he's the nicest person ever] and was all "OMG, why haven't you liked my Facebook statuses this week at all?" [I know, I know.] 
And after he gave me a perfectly reasonable explanation [which, seriously, I had no right to. I mean, "liking" stuff on Facebook isn't an explanation necessitating activity!] I felt reasonably embarrassed and apologized. And he told me that I really didn't need to apologize because "if it was bothering you, you deserve to be heard out!" OH. MY. GOSH. Who is this kid. WHO SAYS THAT JUNK. 
That's not even a line, like he seriously is that kind of person and he seriously lives his life in that way. 
Of course, that basically made me cry for the next few days, every time I thought about it, because, really, when do you kind of 'go crazy' and then have the person you went crazy at, just turn to you and say "that's ok, I'm glad you told me. I accept you anyway." COME ON. 
And then, the next morning after that^, he texted me to tell me a story. A story that was kind of reaching in its "this is so good, it's text-worthy!"-ness. Not gonna argue with an unexpected text of any kind, but it really felt like it was more to say "don't worry, we're ok" than anything else. 
And I needed exactly that since I was still feeling like a tool. Heck, I STILL feel like a tool...but without that I would have felt like a triple level tool vs a single level tool. :lol:

Really, whatever 'this' is, I could be the luckiest person in the world to have a friend like this. It's hard for me to accept myself sometimes...ok, a lot of the time, so for someone to just not even mind me being 'nearly my worst'...still having a hard time getting over it! haha
I'm mildly nervous to see him tomorrow but I'm sure it'll be ok. I work so hard to make myself really invulnerable most of the time, defense mechanism...a little vulnerability is good, no matter how darn foolish I feel.
This is certainly not the first time I've been 'ridiculous' and we're much better comrades/companions/friends/whatever now than we were those other times...so it has to be ok. Maybe a little awkward at first but you know.





Annnnnnnyhoo, I hope your weekends are all going superbly! :hug: Thanks for reading!

:happydance: :happydance: :happydance:


ETA: is it weird that when I see that there are "guests" reading this...kinda freaks me out? :rofl: It's the NSA! They found us! Everybody run! :rofl: :rofl:


----------



## Roperchick

> ETA: is it weird that when I see that there are "guests" reading this...kinda freaks me out?**It's the NSA! They found us! Everybody run!**


Uuum I worked for NSA..... lol. 

But yeah. Creeps me out too when I see that. I just go to my happy place and pretend its members that have crappy tablets like mine that log them out randomly lol


On Gentleman friend front...dont you just love those awkward moments after you realize....why did I send that text?! Haha but glad he was chill about it. You definitely have a keeper there!


----------



## cakemom

Don't worry, I accidentally logged out and couldn't remember my password- I'm your guest!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Wallaby

Hahaha sorry about that, RC! That was really truly meant to be a lighthearted NSA joke, really truly. Didn't mean any disrespect! :hug: 

I'm glad you guys are guests sometimes! Makes me feel better! <3
I'm always like "what if Gentleman Friend found this?? What if my MOM found this??! Oh gosh, that would be the worst!! Nooooooo!" but then I can't stop telling you guys about it. :lol: I've even done some serious Googling to see if this is easy to find...but I think you'd have to Google pretty hard and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't do that. My mom might be inclined to Google that hard, but we can hope not. 
For instance, hilarious mom story: the very first weekend home from camp, after I met Gentleman Friend - hadn't even known him for 10 days...but we have one of those friendships where we've always felt like we've known each other forever, that first week we were basically ALWAYS together. I was telling my parents some story that had happened during the week and GF was featured in this story because...well, he was a main character. Couple hours later, I go into my mom's little computer room and she quickly exits off Facebook, inquiring about GF's full name. I was like "Whyyyyyy?" and she pulls Facebook back up, which 'happens' to be open to his profile, and asks "well, is this him? I hope so, otherwise I've been looking through all of some random person's pictures."
My mom. It's obvious that we're related. :rofl: :rofl: 

On the "seeing him tomorrow front," apparently he got put in charge of the whole kids program tomorrow so he can't leave to come give/get a hug. (((( But he did text me to tell me that he was going to be unfortunately busy, so he gets points for that! No "oh, oops, forgot to tell you."
And that'll give the awkward more distance. I accept this idea! haha 

That makes 3 spontaneous texts in one week!! WHAT IS HAPPENING. I love it! :happydance:


----------



## Roperchick

Wallaby said:


> Hahaha sorry about that, RC! That was really truly meant to be a lighthearted NSA joke, really truly. Didn't mean any disrespect! :hug:


Oh I know hahaha no worries we make those jokes all the time too

_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Wallaby

Fun thing:

Lacey's on Google Earth!!
[I'm not sure where the house went that is/was directly 'up' from the shed...but I guarantee it's still there in real life! hahaha Also not sure why everything is so weirdly 3-D but whatever. haha]


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Your ways with Gentleman Friend make me laugh sooo hard.. omg Emily 

Stop being so darn cute!


----------



## Wallaby

Oh shoot, Maggie! hahaha Glad I can help you in the area of LOLz. 


1. I got the goat half of the pen-thing done today!! It's darn sturdy = super excited.

A picture:










[it's a much smaller area than it was previously but they really weren't using the whole thing before...and that would have been A LOT of pallets haha]

2. Lacey laid down again today while I was working!! It seems that about an hour after breakfast is 'naptime'. Hazel was also laying down...I feel like I should probably be given some kind of an award for "Double Old Lady Naps" or something :wink:
This time Lacey even let me pet her without getting up. I knelt down next to her and basically let her sniff me+patted her once or twice on the neck. She seems nervous about letting me touch her on her neck/farther back when she's laying down...it's times like this that I really wonder about her past - she trusts me so much with everything else so for her to be all "Heck NO." about something makes me wonder. 
Anyway, I patted her on the neck a couple of times, then got up before she felt she had to also get up [I'm hoping that I might be able to convince her to let me actually touch her while she's laying down at some point...]. She stayed down and had a nice 15 minute nap, then got up. IT WAS ADORABLE.
And I got a rainbow filter for my iPhone editing thing. So obviously: napping Unicorn=rainbow filter

How cute are they??!











3. Tomorrow I have work!
I'm super looking forward to it. 
I'm going to try and maybe surreptitiously get some photos of the horses for you guys, also that would be good for me since I really don't know their names at all. Ok, correction, one is named Tazzy [bay Paint gelding], one is Skippy [sabino TWH gelding], one is Gus [formerly named Fabio, so I call him Fabs inside my head - he's a chestnut Morab or Quarab...definitely an Arab cross, I think (these people aren't super interested in what breeds their horses are...they all looked at me blankly when I asked last time. haha!)], and the last one is Buddy [Dun, Fjord/QH cross is I think what I remember hearing]. 
I guess I do know all their names...look at me go! Nothing's stopping me now. hahaha



:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Today went great! So so good. 
Out of 4 sessions, I 'observed' 2 and 'took charge' of the other two. The two I observed were with the TWH gelding [Skippy] who is definitely the worst out of the bunch, attitude-wise. I wanted to see what the old handler did to deal with him. I did work with him some: we played 'Session' during lunch, and I did a bit of lunging with him right after I got there. I think the worst thing about him is that he's very similar to Lady [that foster I had last summer], in how she'd bluff and bend towards you while making nasty faces. However, Lady had no issue actually backing up her faces with action, while Skippy will back down pretty much immediately after you correct him. So I worked a lot this morning on correcting him as necessary and not letting him make me nervous. 

In more positive news, the horse [Buddy] that was being a jerk last week = nearly perfect angel this week. He was great! I must have made an impression last week. :wink:
And I got to ground-drive Tazzy today which went FANTASTIC. I'm still really excited about it. I've tried to ground-drive Lacey before and it always fails miserably = I was concerned about ground-driving because I already felt like a failure. BUT, good ol' Tazzy made me look like a pro! The girl who's training me/the old handler was super impressed. :happydance:
I got to drive him for a girl with MS, it was great.


And, of course, that 'guy' I told you about, the "Morab/Quarab"? Yeah. Turns out he's a purebred Arab. And, yeah, you can see where this is going, I got to work with him today and FAVORITE HORSE. So far he's a gelding version of Lacey, plus eyesight and minus some sass. Kinnnnnda love him.
Awk. Sorry, guyz. Hire me, watch me 'steal' your Arab. But really. REALLY. Not gonna get another horse for a long time, but it's nice to know that there are Arabs out there like Miss Lace and I like that there's one at my place of employment!
They don't use him yet in therapy sessions because "he's spooky" but guess who didn't spook at anything while I led him during a 'desensitization session'? Not to toot my own horn BUT, spooky Arabs = an area of expertise.
We'll get there. They couldn't figure out why he was "being SO perfect!" so I let him take the credit. :wink:


The singular real downer about today is that it's becoming more and more clear that the lady in charge, my boss, has a serious case of Parelli-brain. Not that there's anything really wrong with that, but she's using it as a one-size-fits-all and she's using the method instead of changing herself into a good leader, if that makes sense? Like she's using the method as a solution versus a means to personal+equine growth. So basically she has a foursome of seriously confused horses, when she's around...and she thinks that they're totally fine because they'll turn their haunches away from her...even though they get right on top of her, personal-bubble-wise, as soon as she backs off the pressure. Hrrrrm. #frustration

Thankfully, she's not tooooo involved with the horse side of stuff so I can just kind of humor her, accept her advice, and figure out a way that works for me. 


STILL SUPER EXCITED ABOUT THIS.

And here's a picture of Gus/Fabio/Fabs, mah boi.
He's adorable. 
[they have a slight fly issue. haha]












:happydance: :happydance:

I hope you guys are all doing super well!!!!


----------



## Roperchick

Dat faaaaace! Omhygosh hes a cutie for sure lol. Wooooh glad its going so well for you.


----------



## Wallaby

Right, RC??! He's the freaking cutest! 


This morning, in an effort to beat the heat, Miss Lace and I went on an 8am ride. It was, to put it mildly, THE BEST. She was SO good. Like SO good. At first she wasn't super into it, but I don't blame her: today we took the "hard" trail which is about a mile of near straight up-ness. Usually we take the other "easier" trails but the 'hard' one is a bit more exciting, a better workout, AND, double bonus, it ends in a nice loop. So, unlike the other trail options, we don't ever have to just turn around. 
Lacey's not really inclined to use turning around as an evasion, usually, [if she doesn't want to go somewhere, she'll walk forward while turning her head around and if you let up on her, she will turn...but s long as you keep her moving forward/smack her with a crop, she'll snap out of it pretty fast] but having access to a loop is super nice.

Anyway, she protested pretty much the whole way up but started getting into it as we neared the top of the hill [mountain, for all you East-Coast-ers :wink:]. We got to the top and she did super well about not getting really bargy, she stayed pretty relaxed the whole time, even through my dismounting to walk her over a large log [it was about a foot tall and maybe a little less wide, and solid as heck...not something I wanted her to trip over! haha], my remounting, AND an unexpected group of construction workers.
She even did great as we walked down the hill/mountain [I always walk her down on foot because the footing is not super reliable gravel and with how steep it is...]. Sometimes she starts getting a little pushy about that since she knows we're going home - not today!

When we got to the bottom, we took a little detour down one of the "easy" trails so as to make our trip less "up the hill, the HOME!!" and she looooved it. I actualy had to physically cue to her to turn for home. Usually she knows where the 'turn around' is and, as soon as I cue her with my leg, she's all prepared to turn - like a Border Collie waiting for the cue to begin herding. But not today! Today I actually had to use my leg AND cue her with the reins before she caught on.  
And she was perfectly happy to mosey home. I don't think we've EVER walked that slowly going home! She was happy to canter in our "cantering spot" but she settled right down when I asked her to walk again.

Other great thing:
When we got back, I hosed her off as per our usual. I decided to try hosing her face [with the hose's nozzle thing set to a hard mist], and, though she initially panicked, within a minute or two she had her head level and was scrunching her eyes shut - letting me spray wherever I wanted on her face without protest.   GO PONY!!
I figure it probably feels good on her eyes, since they are super itchy from her ERU [itching=low-level pain], and, in true Lacey fashion, she must protest like she's dying...then decide she loves it. Silly girl!!

Picture from our ride:












And just for funnsies, since I know some artistic types/people who would 'get it' read this, I found a hilarious [ok, corny as all get out] joke today.
I'm always cruising for corny jokes because Gentleman Friend loves them...and who am I kidding? I love them too. :rofl:

Here it goes:
What did the artist say to the dentist?
"Matisse hurt!!"

My favorite. hahahaha


I hope you all are doing super well!! :hug:
:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

BAAAaaaaaaadddddd.


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## Wallaby

2 things from today:

1. My cat decided to go borrowing in my clean laundry. and the photo I took came out really blurry, but I'm sharing it anyway because my darn cat is ADORABLE!! :lol: He was so pleased with himself! hahaha










2. The new stalls/pen got finished!! :happydance:
This morning I went up there and decided that it WAS going to get done today. And it did. My hands are covered in blisters and my knees are basically black with bruises [I accidentally whacked myself in the knees with the t-post driver....I don't suggest that!] but it's done and it's sturdy. 










Finallllly. 


And that is all for today/now. 

:happydance:


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## Skyseternalangel

Ahahaha omg he is such a little blanket baby!

And sorry but I laughed and then felt for you when I read you hitting your knees with that tool... girl I do about the same silly things as you do so I feel for ya!


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## Wallaby

Me and you, Maggie! :rofl:


Speaking of silly things. Today I was all "oh hey! I think I'm going to ride Lacey bareback with a neckrope! Sounds awesome. I'm not gong to tie the 2 ends of the rope together because...ain't nobody got time for that!"
And of course, after riding around a bit with this neckrope on Lacey...I accidentally dropped it.

And she refused to stop.

:rofl: :rofl: 

She was turning super great though! Even without the neckrope! Super proud of her for that.

She seemed to really enjoy herself. She was REALLY concentrating on what I was asking her to do too. Usually she is kind of bratty and just cruises when we ride in the pasture but she did great this time. Except for the stopping. But that just shows that I need to work on stopping more with my seat! Obviously I'm doing well with turns and backing up...but not stopping.

My camera, of course, died before I dropped the neckrope but here's the very beginning! 









AND, I tried ground-driving her before this and who acted like they were made to be ground-driven? Of course she did! HAH. Well played, Lacey.
But in any case, super proud of her. 


:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Ok, on the Gentleman Friend front, confused again. 
Last night I told him that I hoped he had a great day today [in text] and he texted me back "thanks friend " 
...Um, what?? 
Half of me is like "Well, just saying 'Thanks ' could be a little dry and he IS my friend...heck, I call him Gentleman FRIEND. And if I were in a similar situation, 'thanks friend' would be an option for response."
But my other half [the less logical half, obviously] is like "Whoa, dude. FRIEND?? Um, what does that mean? Is he trying to tell me something?"
He's not a game-player and he's generally pretty straight with me...so I'm thinking my more logical explanation is the right one. In any case, there is no point in making a civil case over one little word! haha And we ARE friends, friends before anything else.
On the sweet side, yesterday he really didn't have any time to come say hi to me during our normal meeting time, but he came up to give me a hug anyway [and was late to "prayer time" which is kind of a big deal].  And he complimented my clothes..which WERE super on point yesterday, but still. Nice to get compliments! haha




In horse news, Lacey got a new lesson kid today! 
It was a little 8 year old boy, visiting the US from Japan and staying here with his grandparents for the summer.
1. Giving lessons to boys is my ALL TIME FAVORITE.
2. His grandma brought him. Grandmas are my favorite toooo!! 

It was so good. The goats adored him and Lacey was SOOO good. I'm SO proud of her!! 
I was seriously reminded why I give lessons with her. He was really scared to ride at first but she was so steady, happy to stop when I asked, happy to stand there until he felt safe, she is so so so good at her job!! 
I guess he had only ridden once before and it was "really really scary" but, of course, that's Lacey's forte - making scared people feel safe. 

We figured out that he really enjoyed going backwards and that that wasn't scary, so for the first 10 minutes all we did was just have Lacey take a step forward, then back, then forward, then back, then 2 steps forward and 2 steps back. By the end of the riding time [about 15 minutes total] he had sucessfully walked forward for two full 10 meter circles around me on the lunge line!
We ended while he was smiling and "Lacey is the nicest, softest, horse I've ever met!!"

He didn't want to leave.

:happydance:

Lacey is SO good. What a pro.


:hppydance: :happydance:


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Lol don't read too much into it


----------



## Roperchick

I tell everybody "thanks friend" its like my go to phrase so yeah don't sweat it.


Uuum....why we no haz pictures of lesson or Lacey schmacey?!?!


----------



## Wallaby

Calm down, calm down, RC! I went out and took some just for you, friend!! :wink: But really. I did.

Lacey even put on a yawn show for you!! 

Mrs. Ball of Fluff. She is so cute with all her hair! I plan to shear her next week though so we all should enjoy it while it's still here. 
I wonder if she'll get sunburned? Her skin is pink...? But she doesn't spend a lot of time in the sun when it's precisely hot out.......










"Hrrrgabrrrgh"










This one, I'm STILL laughing so hard! She looks so terrified! :rofl:










"Hey Atticus! I'mma mutually groom you, ok?"










And then I tried to take a group shot = worst idea I've ever had. NO ONE wanted to comply! hahaha













And that is all for now. :hug:


----------



## tinyliny

Ask him , already! the suspense is killing me. 
"Are we 'friends', or are we more than that?"


----------



## Roperchick

Better yet...give him a big old smoocharoo!


----------



## Skyseternalangel

It's not a soap opera, ladies..

I don't agree with the kissy kissy advice, nor am I sure you should just up and ask him either.

You know him best.. think about how you want to approach this. 

 At the end of the day, your happiness with how you handled it is what counts in this scenario!


----------



## Wallaby

OOOOOh! Teh drama! :lol: Fight, fight, fight! 
Just kidding. :rofl:

Ok, I'm going to tell you guys a story that eventually relates to my tactics with Gentleman Friend. It's going to be long...but maybe worth it?

For as long as I can remember, I've had dreams about things to come. I rarely remember my dreams as a general rule, but the ones I do remember always seem to happen or have some sort of "game-changing" truth behind them.
Maybe that happens to everyone, I don't know. I really try to not talk about it just because I want to be taken seriously and because usually the information I gain is private. And really, who wants to be around that person who's all "Yeah, so I had a dream about me and it told me about MY life and made MY life so much better, LOLOLOL how cool is that??! Be impressed by me!!!" You know? 
Not to mention that my faith system is deeply important to me and, while I believe these are probably dreams from God [not to sound too cray-cray], many people that I associate with view all "prophetic" dreams to be somehow "satanic" in nature...which, if the dreams were dark and scary, I might agree with. But my dreams are light, full of color, and always very soothing...not "satanic" in the least, but I'm sure you can see where I'm coming from.

Anyway, I've had these dreams for forever. Not often, maybe 2 a year, but enough that I trust them. I spent my childhood dreaming of Lacey, had a dream about my cat over a year before I got him and 2 years before the dream's event took place, and a number of inconsequential "walking down a hall with people I didn't know at the time of the dream, calling them by name+not knowing why, 6 months later having the exact conversation with a group of new friends who had the same names from my dream"-type dreams.

SO. The first summer I met Gentleman Friend, I was really really torn up at the end of the summer. Wondering if I should tell him, worrying if we'd stay friends [which, for the record, out of my 5 years at camp, I've NEVER been closer friend with someone from camp 2 years after camp ended. NEVER!], worrying that he'd forget me, that sort of thing.
One night, as I was going to bed, I prayed and asked God to give me guidance. Give me a sign, comfort, anything [I strongly believe in God, it's ok if you don't, and I hope that doesn't make you uncomfortable, I just feel like it's an important detail].

I usually have a difficult time sleeping, but that night I was out like a light. And I had a dream.

It was New Years Eve, I was sitting under a table -like one of those long banquet types- leaning my back against a wall, in some kind of hallway/breezeway - indoors, I was in deep conversation with a girl I don't know right now, white Christmas lights were ringed around the window on the wall opposite of the wall I was leaning on, the Christmas lights were the only lights around - just enough to cast long shadows...and I was having a hard time concentrating on what my friend was saying [I had a whole lot of warm feelings towards her in this dream, so I can only surmise that she was one of my most favorite people ever...since I don't warm up like that to just anyone]. There were doors, the wooden type with single narrows windows on the handle side, on either end of this hallway. It was completely calm, peaceful, and mostly quiet- except for the quiet conversation I was having with my friend. But there was a hum of energy in the air, like we were in the midst of a party and had found the only quiet corner.

Gentleman Friend came into this breezeway, through the door to our right [I was on the left, my friend was on the right], saw us, crouched down under the table, gave me a kiss on the cheek [people don't touch or kiss me, as a very strict rule. Gentleman Friend, when I see him on Sundays, is often the only human to touch me in a given week...not really by choice, but I seriously don't like intimate contact -hugs, etc- from anyone besides close-close friends], and whispered in my ear "In time, give it time. Be my friend."
Then he stood up, smiled at me, and left through the door on my left.

And I woke up. 
I woke up feeling more calm and totally relaxed than I had in WEEKS. It was literally like I had had a really good massage in my sleep. I still remember how I felt. So relaxed, no tension. It was all I could do to not tell EVERYONE about this dream! haha It was a feeling I've never felt with any of my other dreams. I can't describe it any other way than to say it felt like God had been there with me all night. 

But that has led me to believe that in time things will work out correctly. Correctly being I "get the boy"? I don't know. But correctly. And that I need to be his friend and give it time. I have a HARD time with that, obviously!! But I'm really trying. My dreams have never led me wrong so far so, fingers crossed, this one will be similar.


Feel free to think I'm completely kooky now!! :rofl: I've never told anyone that story with all the detail that was there, so you guys are getting the real deal. :lol:
I'm not claiming AT ALL to have some kind of connection with anyone or anything weird. I guess they say people have different types of gifts and, I guess, sometimes dreaming is one of mine.
Please don't think I'm cray-cray!! haha!



And, for your trouble, here's a picture of Miss Lace. I think she was channeling Jackie O because classy hottie alert!! :rofl:













:happydance: 

I hope you guys[ladies] are doing great!


----------



## Roperchick

Can't help you on the dream stuff.....all mine are freaky sci-fi. I'm a warrior/fighting hahahahahaha so yeah. But hey I'm all for dreams being truthful. Whether its just your unconscious mind taking its own twist to your thoughts or if its got extra meaning behind it.

And Maggie IM SORRY! White flag of truce! Joking I was joking hahaha



Oh Lacey girl though. She is looking gorgeous as per usual!


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Lol it's all good Christy! *sets numchucks down* lol..



I have very bizarre dreams, Emily. Some of them are like I'm tripping on acid and some are very realistic. 

Follow your gut, just focus on being you, and enjoy the time you spend together!


----------



## cakemom

I was purely being silly when I suggested you kiss him. I mean, what would I know- I'm just an old married woman whose husband follows her around like a puppy dog and has NEVER missed a day of talking to him since the day I met him. Met engaged and married within six months and I'm still living the dream. 

Lacey is too beautiful in that photo!! 

You do things the way that feels right to you. I think it's amazing your faith and feelings.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Wallaby

RC and Maggie, I'm glad you could settle your differences without a fist fight. :wink: I love you both, I wouldn't have known who to bet on!! :rofl:

I know, Cakemom!!  You're adorable. I felt like I should probably just share my real thoughts on the matter, instead of just skirting it...didn't want to get anyone toooooo excited [*points at Caroline* :wink: :lol: :hug:].

On the Lacey front, she taught someone to ground drive like a champ today! This horse. I'm pretty sure she knows everything..I just don't know the right "buttons". She did so great again, no fussing, just went along like nobodies business.
What a dork. But really, what a good good girl.

[my surcingle is so so so professional! HAH!]










And from yesterday, at work. My boy Fabio!
I'm going in tomorrow too. It'll be my first sol day, 100% out of training...doing it all myself... :shock: Nervousssss.
But the horses and me are getting along pretty alright finally so fingers crossed!











And that is really all for now! :happydance:
I love you all! haha


----------



## Skyseternalangel

OMG **** your professional surcingle xD That's so amazing!


----------



## Wallaby

Hahaha, thanks Maggie! It was actually made by a member on here, a few years ago. I think she's since left but for a while evvvveryone had bareback pads from this lady! It was the HoFo styyyyle. :rofl: Mine has turtles with rainbow shells AND stars. Here, "Past-Lacey" will show you a close up. :wink:










:rofl:




In other news, apparently the other lady my job hired at the same time as me isn't working out....soooooo I guess she's not working there any more. And guess who was asked to work Tues/Wed/Thurs for the next month? This girl. 
And guess who agreed?
This girl.

1. The competitive side of me is all "EAT IT, Lady-Who-Didn't-Work-Out!!!!"
2. The compassionate side of me feels sad for her.
3. The side of me that was excited about only working on Tuesdays....feels lazy.
4. The spiteful side of me is all "they love me the best, nanner-nanner-foo-foo!"

I am a terrible person. :lol:
But I'm thinking that if I'm the one working with these horses 3 days a week for the next month or so, I SHOULD hopefully be able to get them through quite a few of their nasty habits without having to deal with a whole lot of other influences on their lives. They were already much better yesterday after working with me the day before as well, so this should ideally speed up the process. 
Woo-wooo! Supes excited.

And I will have zero energy a month from now. Annnnnd I just realized that I was planning on shearing Haze next Wednesday...I guess somebody's gonna get shorn on Monday. Prepare yourselves for the return of Shar-pei+Gollum Goat. :lol:


----------



## Roperchick

Yay bald goat! I'm so essited for you to get to work more with the horses yaaaaay!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Congrats on your "promotion" 

And super cute bareback pad!


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks, you two!! 
I'm excited to be working there more!
In the words of Gentleman Friend, when I told him [he's SO stoked about this job for me..I think he may be even slightly more excited than I am! So I try to keep him updated on job happenings, hahaha] about this new development: "STOP!! THAT IS SOOOOOO COOOOOOL!!! You are perfect for this!!" 
This kid. I really have no idea how he's my cheerleader when I need one, my shrink when I need one, and my straight-up friend when I need one of those...HOW IS HE HUMAN. :rofl:


Anyway, TODAY WENT SO SO SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!! Like SOOOOO good.
I don't even know where to start. 
We only had two riders today, an Autistic boy and a little girl with Down's.
The boy was first, on Buddy. After he got off, he wanted to help me lead the horse, so we led Buddy together. The little boy held the end of the lead rope, grabbed my hand [!!!THE CUTEST], I held on closer to Buddy's face, and we walked Buddy back to his "spot" together. It gave my heart the warm fuzzies.  
Usually Buddy likes to bite me and, previous to this, they've kinda just let him since "the horses need an outlet for frustration." NOT ON ME, they don't!!!! haha Anyway, so this week I've really been cracking down on him and that ride, he only tried to bite me maybe 3 times. He got popped with the halter [I've switched all the horses over to rope halters, haha] each time and stopped after the third try. 

Then the girl. She rode the TWH, Skippy. 
She did super great! Skippy also did better about mouthing on me. Again, they've just been letting it happen...but that ain't gonna fly now. A new sheriff is in town! haha He was still somewhat mouthy/looking for "excuses" to mouth but each time I caught him and didn't even need to correct him because he corrected himself. 
The little girl told me that I should give her my pants [I was wearing these purpley-magenta ones that have those metal studs on the patootie pockets - they're SUPER comfy and what could go wrong with brightly colored pants! haha] because "they're pretty." I got complimented on my cat shirt yesterday as well...it seems that my style is well suited for the tastes of kids with disabilities. I love it!!

THEN!! It only gets better!
I got to work with my boy, Fabio. Basically I'm just supposed to be desensitizing him because, in typical form with Arabs who haven't seen a lot of the world, he's spooky as heck. Most of it comes from not having a bond with someone, I think, since he's "gotten so much better since Emily started working with him!" But there's also a whole lot of mental anxiety going on. He's A LOT like Lacey when I first started with her. Both of their basic personalities are anxious+distrustful to the core, so it's really a matter of teaching them to trust their surroundings and trust the human handling them.

Anyway, he is so great. He was terrified of this basketball hoop we had set up so we fed hm treats while he had his head down through the net - the shaking of the hoop, while he ate, made him nervous but the fact he was getting treats overrode the nervousness. 
We also threw tennis balls over and around him, hitting the wall and a velcro target - he was initially very nervous but we started out with his head in between myself and my helper while we threw the balls, so he felt "protected" but could still see what as happening. By the end of 15 minutes, we were able to line him up parallel to the wall, toss the lead rope over his neck, and have him stand by himself while we threw the balls over and under him - hitting the wall and the target AND having the balls roll back to hit his feet and legs. 
SO PROUD.
My boss was impressed. But really, this horse has a GREAT mind.

And!! My boss gave me permission to ride him whenever I want and to take him on trail rides because she feels that she's never seen him respond to someone like he responds to me. MORE WARM FUZZIES!!

So I'm thinking I might take my saddle over there on Tuesday and see how it fits him. It is a wide, he's definitely wide, and they only have western saddles there. I like western saddles but if I'm going to be trail riding a spooky horse, I would prefer my Aussie! haha
If it fits, I'll probably just ride him around in the arena a bit - get a feel for him from his back. Should be fun!! He has a nice quick walk like Lacey. #favorites

Pictures!

This is Buddy.










This is Skippy. As you can see, he kind of hates me. He mostly doesn't like that I've single-handedly ruined "all his favorite games!!" Really, he's much better than he was. Baby steps!!










And then this is "the Old Man", Tazzy. He's a National Show Horse [Saddlebred+Arabian, I think he's mostly Saddlebred] and he's pretty nice. We ground drive him = super fun.












:happydance: :happydance: :happydance: :happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Ok, pretttttty sure these people want me to bring Fabio home. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: STORY OF MY LIFE.

But yeah. Yesterday my boss texted me, saying that if I have a saddle I enjoy riding in, I should bring it to work tomorrow and try it on the boy. HAH, one step ahead of you, boss lady! :wink: And then she was like "you have permission to ride him whenever and wherever you'd like"! 

I may look and talk like I was born yesterday but guess what. I wasn't. :wink: But anyway, this guy's personality wold actually be a good fit with Lacey's and he's super broke, aside from the spookiness, and he's only 12-ish!...maybe in a year or two. After I graduate college next June would be a probably smarter time to consider adding to my horse family. We'll see. NOT YET, Boss Lady!!



So I kinda have some Gentleman Friend stories...but they're of the "oh my goodness, he's the cutest!" variety - no new 'developments'.
1. I realized last night, after he showed up to give me "my hug" at 5:50 vs 5:20...that he's really making a point of coming to see me. 
They were running super behind with the kids last night and apparently had only 4 people working with them, vs the 6+ people they need for things to run smoothly...but he came up to see me anyway and apologized profusely for being unable to stick around, because he knows time is important to me. 
I don't know if I have another friend that's so.....caring! Even I don't know if I would be that caring. 

2. Before church, in the afternoon, he posted a link to a picture on my Facebook wall [for those of you who are now looking, he's the one on the right in his profile picture - his twin is the other person :wink:]. It was a picture of a car covered in those "my family is___" stickers...only all of the stickers were cats. He wrote "You with cats. Me with dogs."
I've never told him this but, ever since mid-high school, that has literally been a goal of mine to cover my car's back window with those cat stickers and have "me" in the very middle of them all.
He needs to get out of my head!! :rofl: :rofl: But really, makes my day.

Anyway, that's all. 
I hope you all are doing super well!!

Oh! Also. Lacey picture!!
This is from last week...when we forgot what the sun was for a few days and it was kind of the greatest. haha










[I don't really understand why her forelock is literally brown...I'd like to give her a bath this afternoon and maybe I can work that out....hopefully. haha]


:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## cakemom

He is definitely worth the wait that guy of yours!! 
Try some bluing shampoo on that gorgeous girls hair. Don't you know all little old ladies get their hair blued at the salon on Thursdays! ( or at least that's what my 9 year old says - due to the fact that my mother in law goes each Thursday to old lady day at the salon )
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Roperchick

That would be so awesome I'd you brought Fabio home some day!!!! I'm sure Lacey would appreciate another horsey friend to boss around too! Haha

Like cakemom said. GF is definitely a keeper and well worth the wait hahaa


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Yep agreed. Mr. GMan is quite the lovely individual!


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## Wallaby

Haha! She does need a good bluing, doesn't she, cakemom! :lol: I do have some of that blue horse shampoo...Quicsilver, but I've been a little nervous about using shampoo so near to her eyes. I thiiink her forelock might be long enough to pull behind her ears and wash like her mane though. That's something to try! haha
Also, your 9 year old sounds adorable! Too funny.

Haha, RC! I don't know how Lacey would feel about another horse friend...she usually gets super overly attached to geldings and then she's just annoying for forever, but then my life seems to run more by the "it'll work out if it's right" adage so maybe they would be a good match. Personality-wise, they would be perfect together. *sigh* :lol: 

Mr. GMan [I like that, Maggie! Sounds more manly than "Gentleman Friend" haha] is definitely worth the wait. Whoever his lucky lady one day is, she'll definitely be a lucky lady!! And to think that he only has brothers. Somebody's mom raised them right!!
Speaking of him, he texted me today to tell me about how the ladies he works with [he works with a group of 4 middle-aged/older ladies. They LOVE him. It's kind of the greatest. hahaha] made him a card. I love that he's telling me stories from his life! Makes me feel thought about. 

On the horse front, I got off work about an hour ago and I am poooooped. :rofl:
I got to work a bunch with Fabio today AND I RODE HIM. For just a little while. He really did fabulously. 
Lacey's definitely more "broke" than he is, but she was much greener than he is when I started working with her! haha

He does not neckrein, has very very little concept of leg contact/pressure, but is very sensitive to my seat and VERY sensitive to leg pressure. Basically, he hates any kind of leg with an undying passion. He'll pin his ears as soon as you contact him at all with your legs, then start throwing his head [not badly, just "STOPPPPP IIIITTTTT" head throwing] and biting the air in front of him. If you keep pushing him, he'll act like he wants to plant his feet and sort of start humping his back, like he might want to buck....but if you keep pushing him, he'll pretty much give it up. Still pinning his ears...but if he just gave it up completely, that would make it too easy on me, right? :rofl:
Then, of course, the next time you use any leg, Captain AngryFace returns...but rinse and repeat. He seems like he's either had a lot of easily intimidated people ride him [likely], people who just don't know any better ride him [likely], or people who over-punished for the "frowny faces" [also really likely]. Luckily for him, I know this "let's see if I can scare you!!" game AND I know that all the faces don't mean a whole lot so I can just ignore them. Take THAT, Fabs!! :lol:
That seems to be his biggest issue, that I saw. He stops and stands GREAT, backs up fantastic. I have no complaints. Oh! And, after one of his sassypants moments, I must have pushed him out of it a little hard because he began to trot - SMOOOOOTHEST TROT EVER. Yeah, I do not even know. I was like "we're trotting?? But it's so smooth and I don't feel like I'm about to fall off!" 
Lacey is like riding a jackhammer+rabbit - bouncy and erratic in everything she does, love her.

I didn't ride for a super long time because I ran out of time this morning to grab my saddle so I was riding on their bareback pad which was super super thick and Mr. Obesity is already super wide = I could feeeel my hips stretching. :rofl: 

Other thought: SO weird riding a horse that can see!! I really forget how much I babysit Lacey with my body until I ride a horse where I don't need to compensate in those ways. Then I'm like "wait, why am I doing ___?" and really the only explanation is that we're encountering something Lacey would have difficulty with and I'm "helping her" figure it out. But I'm not riding Lacey and the horse I am riding doesn't need my help. hahaha! Awkward.

But yeah, overall I really like that horse. You know how you sometimes just get a "feeling" from a horse when you climb on their back? 
Basically, bottom-line, I felt EXACTLY what I want to feel from a horse I'm really going to feel comfortable riding. Real honesty and a willingness to connect, but no tinge of "I've given up/I'm doing this because I will be made to if I don't".
It's the same feeling I get from Lacey and it's not a feeling I've felt often. Of course, doesn't mean he's gonna be perfect or anything but it does mean that if he acts up, it's more likely to be from fear/pain/past experience than just "I don't wanna." 
I hate "I don't wanna"! :lol: Nothing I like less than a horse that refuses to try because he/she just doesn't want to. haha!


Pictures!!

Buddy.










Fabs! [he's so unphotogenic. Poor dude.]










"Why aren't you petting me!!?"










Riding!!












And that's all for now. 

:happydance:


----------



## Roperchick

Im sorry but I just LOVE buddy's bushy mane! So cute!

Fabs is adorable as well haha. Sounds like Mrs. Sassypants may have met her match lol


----------



## amp23

He's so cute! I miss being around Arabians. 

Under saddle he sounds exactly like a mare I work with! PITA most of the time, no amount of work I've tried has calmed her down. If anyone has suggestions to solve this I think maybe we could both use them lol


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## Wallaby

For real, on both counts, RC!! Buddy's mane is hilarious. I don't think it really gets any longer than that either - all the other horses have VERY long manes [so I don't think anyone is pulling them]...and he just doesn't. It's silly. 
And Fabs would definitely be a good Mr for Lacey's Mrs. They'd be like an old married couple in the best way! hahaha

Haha true story, amp!! Arabs, love them! haha




Well. On the my horse front. Some bummer news. Nothing super terrible bad but Miss Lacey's having an BIG ERU episode again. 
I'm SUPER bummed. Majorly.
1. I hate having my girl be in so much pain. 
2. That freaking right eye of hers!! I'm so mad at it. I think this is probably "it" for it, like she's going to be 100% blind in it after this. SO MAD. 
She's already so blind as it is. I was super hopeful that since it's been a year since her last bad episode and a little over a year since I started really feeding her "for her eyes" that maybe we would get some space between that episode 1.5 years ago and the next "big" one. Yeah, NOT. 

[I'm in the "anger" stage of grief right now, can you tell? Hah. I sat and cried for 20 minutes this morning when I discovered her.]

That right eye is literally swollen shut currently and the left one is a little swollen but not bad at all. The right one has always been her "bad" one though and ERU doesn't always attack both eyes at once. 

Plus side for her, she is higher than a kite, thanks to our good friend Bute. I gave her 1g this morning and I'll give her 1g tonight. I might give her 1.5 tonight just because the vet had me give her 3g the last time she had a bad episode - gotta get that inflammation down in the eye so her pupil stops being "locked open". The being "locked open" is what causes increased blindness so it's super important to get that taken care of asap. The inflammation was less when I check her around 4pm but her pupil was still wide open.
I hate giving her so much bute but it's only temporary. :/


If she's not markedly improved by tomorrow, I'll call the vet. At this point, my vet is pretty comfortable with me treating her myself, especially since I'm not using any kind of steroidal ointment on her eye - it's super important to have the vet out before I use any ointment since, if she has any kind of eye abrasion, steroid ointment will turn the abrasion into an eye ulcer. :shock: HORRIFYING.

I guess she decided I wasn't paying enough attention to her? :lol:

Pooooor baby girl!!

Here she is with her double flymasks [the bug-eye one doesn't have enough UV protection to be used alone but the ones I make her aren't really big enough for her eye to be swollen in. This way looks stupid but she gets room and UV protection! haha]










And here's Fabs from today. He must be reading this journal and saw me say that he was unphotogenic. :wink:












So think Miss Lacey good healing thoughts. She has a lesson tomorrow and Friday which might be a little tough. Friday lesson we can just give her a bath, tomorrow..we'll see.


Gentleman Friend texted me two separate times today - chatty Kathy!!! haha Once was to tell me about how he's gotten one of the ladies he works with to start saying "story of my life" because he apparently says that a lot. And I was the one to get him started on saying that......he's cute.  The other was jut a random story about a magazine I'm letting him borrow.
That's 3 texts in TWO days. What is happening??! haha 

And in Fabs news, that horse. Alllllll he needed was a leader who he can trust. Literally the only thing.
In the two weeks since I've really stared working with him specifically, he's now walking up to me to put his head IN the halter - he had been running away before which was "his favorite trick", I lunged him today with zero grumpy faces showing up - "it's unlikely that you're ever going to see him with happy ears, unless he's scared"....etc etc.
AND he had his first ever actual therapy kid on his back today!!
He did amazing. He was under a lot of stress from even just having a disabled kid on his back but he dealt with it super well - instead of bottling it up then spooking at something, he actually kept sneezing after really stressful maneuvers and even shook once to release all that pent up stress. I was really proud of him for dealing with it, for being a "grown up" about it.
I also lunged him twice today which he apparently LOVES - big surprise, the Arab loves running around vs just sitting and eating in the pasture. Haha NOT. One of Lacey's favorite activities is being lunged as well! Dem' Arabians!
Go Fabs!!


:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Slight positive eyeball update: I had Lace's flymask off for a solid 10 minutes while I was getting her "dinner" ready and the whole time she was comfortably holding the left one [the mostly unaffected one] perfectly open and the right one [nutso one] half open - improvement from this morning of 0% open on the right one and 50% on the left! 
She pretty much put her flymask on herself when I held a fresh one out to her, but that's pretty normal for when her eyes hurt. She knows that flymasks make her feel better! Such a smarty. 
The pupil is still stuck open pretty big but it's less than it was this morning/this afternoon so yay positives!

On the bummer side, that left eye, while still see-through-able, is noticeably more cloudy all over than the left one is. That's not great. However, I've noticed before that during an episode her eyes will sort of "blue-up" and then clear up again as the inflammation subsides. Fingers crossed that happens this time! If it stick around = hi-ho-hi-ho-off-to-the-vet-we-go.

Mentally, she is LOVING the world right now. Bute makes her hilarious and right now is no exception. She's trotting here and trotting there. "Talking" up a storm to me and the goats, etc. She is too funny. 
I guess that's one blessing: her eyes give me major stress, but she gets so silly that it's hard to stay stressed!


----------



## tinyliny

what sort of training work are you doing with the horses?


----------



## Roperchick

Aaaw poor Lacey. Hope she heals up super fast!

That fans. He is a cutey. Sounds like y'all really clicked. He just needed somebody (you) with know how to tell him to stop the shenanigans and behave haha.


----------



## Wallaby

Caroline, that is an excellent question! :lol:
Right now it seems like a little bit of everything. Everyone is super broke, safety-wise, but, except for Fabs, everyone is really really dead to pressure. The girl before me really did A LOT of mindless [I think, she had her reasons, of course!] groundwork with them but she "didn't want them to be sensitive, just respect her." I don't really understand that precisely. I mean, I've been around plenty of horses that are sensitive, respect their handlers, AND are super great, safe horses. 

Anyway, so right now I'm trying to avoid doing too much 'groundwork' with these guys - except for Fabs. I'm doing other things, like feeding them but not allowing them to eat until I give the ok, walking two horses at once without making sure the two I'm walking are "buddies" AND making sure they behave civilly towards each other, that sort of thing. Previously they were allowed to eat as soon as food was put out, sass their 'frienemies' whenever they felt like it without consequences, etc. Basically all the things I personally see as disrespectful. :rofl:

For me personally, I really think it's pretty powerful when you can tell a dominant horse to back off his submissive 'enemy' and he actually does it. Or lead two horses through a doorway and, instead of having them both charge through at once, you guide then through one-by-one and they wait for your "permission" to move. That sort of thing, vs "oh ___ will yield his hips to me! He's so submissive!!" 
Yielding body parts is GREAT too, but I don't think that that by itself demonstrates good leadership technique, you know?

So I guess that's the sort of training I'm doing with Tazzy, Skippy, and Buddy. Also no more biting. 
They all bite, except for Fabs, and it is....not my favorite. Even at camp, I NEVER have had so many horses trying to lay teeth on me!! And those camp horses, some of them were rank lil' jerks. But NEVER this much biting. 
I guess though, you probably get used to it if it's not one of your pet peeves. :wink:

Fabs is totally the opposite on the training spectrum. I'm trying to get him to tone it down. He's really just too high energy for the amount of exercise he's not getting, so my goal is to start working with him on the energy side of things, as well as just general desensitization. 
Side bonus would be having a nice little horse to take on trail rides around the therapy facility when the mood struck.
Lacey, bless her, is getting to a point where just a simple walking ride takes it out of her for a few days. She still LOVES it and begs to go for longer, but I'm trying to think future-soundness on her and since "the plan" is for her to either teach my future kids to ride or live to be 40 [ideally both, but me+kids old enough to learn to ride=less than 12 years? I don't know, with WHO? haha]...I don't want to use her up now and make her later years be bad news bears. She's relatively arthritis free now and I'd like to keep it that way! 

Hahaha long winded answer you got there, Caroline! 


Thanks RC, MEE TOOOO. She's doing a bit better today, not as good as I would like, but better than yesterday for sure. I forgot how slow this whole thing is. Me want faster!! haha

I ended up giving her 1.5g of bute instead of one this evening with her dinner because I'm a little worried about the lack of improvement from this morning to this evening. So that's 2.5g of bute for today. Not tooo bad. Hopefully she'll have improved even more tomorrow and I'll be able to give her 1g in the morning and .75g in the evening, and begin to taper her off bute and back on to yucca+devil's claw. Fingers crossed!!

Hazel got sheared today! Or, mostly sheared. My clippers got sassy right towards the end so her legs will have to be another day. But her body is done and I think she's happy to have less hair!












Then, grumpy Miss Lacey. 
[yesterday was happy-bute-day, today was grumpy-day]










And a pretty False Queen Anne's Lace!!










In other news, Gentleman Friend texted me AGAIN today!  AND it was a "part 2" to a story he had already told me [Tuesday's story, THREEE texts from him in as many days???!!!!] - one of the ladies he works with owns a mini horse and is apparently looking for a trailer for it. So I asked if she was getting one of those mini-horse trailers, he didn't really know, and so he apparently "interrogated" the lady for more answers this morning: turns out she's getting it custom built and covered in flaming hoofprints. HAH!!!!

This is the greatest. 
I love that he seems to be getting so comfortable texting me when he has a story to share. Makes me happy. 
AND it makes me feel better that I didn't just stop even trying with hm because he never used to text me. There were multiple times when I considered just stopping texting him altogether [I used to text him a cheesy joke twice a week or so] because he NEVER texted me and I felt like I was the only one that cared about our friendship...even though he always said things like "believe me when I say our friendship is really important to me. It REALLY is." But really, words without actions.

Anyway, this makes me so happy!! :happydance:


I hope you guys are all doing fantastic! :happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Not a whole lot to report!

Lacey's doing SO much better. I'm so relieved. Her right eye is back to being "normal-clear", though inside her pupil is much more cloudy. That seems to be something "weird" about her ERU - inside her pupil gets cloudier with each episode..not the typical "brown part". Weird. But that's really ok for me, I love love love her eyes and if they started turning blue/white/gray all over...I don't know. I would obviously still love her but I would miss her eyes. Same thing if she ever has to get them removed, but I think it would be easier to "forget" her eyes if she did not have them, you know? 
ANYWAY, I'm pretty sure the vision in that eye is totally gone now though. She's being extra spooky on that side and I saw her run that side fully into a tree branch yesterday, then act completely shocked that it had been there....even though that branch has been there, like that, for the last year she's lived in this pasture. [Thankfully the branch-branch part is higher up than her head - it's a pine tree and the part she ran into was the soft "drape-y" needle part...so it was more like she went through a bead curtain than anything! :lol:]
So that's kind of a bummer. 
But,swelling/goop-wise, that eye is clearing up. Still seems to be painful but not as bad as it was! I lowered her dose of Bute this morning down from 1g morning+night to .65g morning, and hopefully .35g tonight. However, if her eyes seem more ouchy/more swollen, I'll give her .75g tonight. Playing this drug decrease by ear.
I would ideally like to have her off Bute and back on DC-Y, though at a higher dose for now, by Tuesday or even Monday. But that means she'll have to go a full 24 hours without pain meds, Tuesday seems reasonable [I'd just give her bute in the morning, nothing at night, then give her DC-Y the next morning...not as bad as it sounds, haha]. We'll see! 

I also got Remission for her in the mail today!! I'm hoping to give that a try. She's not doing badly, at all, weight-wise but I want to see if any more improvement can be made, For instance, getting rid of her back fat pads and maybe having her saddles fit her well during, gasp, THE SUMMER. WHAT???!
That could be cool. And especially at her age, not being obese is probably ideal. 


In other news, there was an Open House at work today. So I went in to help. 
I didn't do a wholllle lot with the horses because I left early [noon] and there weren't a ton of people showing up. But I did show Fabs the bouncy houses, he touched them with his nose, and he even walked over a tarp! He actually did pretty well. He didn't spook really at all. He did look-look-look and breathe-snort-breathe but he didn't blow up. He seemed more curious than anything. And that's what I want - engage that curiosity and have it override the fear. Learn that new experiences can start out scary AND, upon occasion, turn out ok. :wink:

Here's the boy, doing our "let's start thinking" lunge:
[he claims he hates it = lies]












Then neked Hazel, just for you guys 










And, look out everyone! I think Lacey is starting a new life as a drug dealer............. :shock:











And that, I believe, is all for right now. 

:happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

I bet you are just the person to teach those horses some manners. It sounds like you are just doing a great job there. Can you come teach ME some manners?

I saw a goat like Hazel at the local county fair. She looked JUST like Hazel. the same "doop!?" look . reminded me of you.

your adventures with Gentleman Friend remind me of something out of a 21st century version of "Little House on the Prairie".

ETA I mean "reminded me of Hazel," not YOU.


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## Wallaby

Haha thanks.  I don't think you would like "Miss Manners Emily"!! She can be a little bossy and a little sassy! :wink:
Aww! Hazel-Twin sounds adorable! I need to go to a fair one of these days. I haven't been to one in years and definitely not since I got the goats, it would be so fun to see so many goats!!
Haha, good one! That's pretty much exactly what's going on. :rofl: I love it.



Ok, nothing really new to report since earlier this afternoon except that Lacey's eyes look ok enough to give her that .35g of bute, instead of a greater dose for overnight! That's fantastic news. 

Other thing, "adorable" Gentleman Friend story:
Tonight I went to a concert/benefit for a friend of mine who's going on some kind of world-wide missions trip. We were super close in high school and he was basically the person who kept me sane pre-Lacey...so I wanted to pay it forward a little, instead of doing my usual "oops, sorry, can't make it" deal.
Anyway, it was a dinner/concert/silent auction and the concert was put on by one of Gentleman Friend's closest friends, who's also a mutual friend between us all [we all worked at camp together but concert-giver-guy and I have never been superrrr close for reasons I have never really determined. But we're buddies. ANYWAY.]. Gentleman Friend wasn't able to go to this due to some other stuff in his life but I kinda got the impression that he sort of sent me in his stead. Like he was really pushing for me to go. Or maybe it was just because he knows I wouldn't have gone without some serious encouragement! Either way. He really encouraged me to go and it got me thinking about WHY I wasn't going...didn't have a good reason...so I went.

ANYWAY. After the whole thing was over, I went over to say hi to concert-giving-guy because...that's just what you do and because I'm probably a terrible person and the world is sometimes made of points = points are gained for being friendly with close friends of close friends. Pretty sure I have Aspergers. Haha. But really. 
Anyway. 
Talking to this guy and after the usual pleasantries, he says "how's the new job??!!!!"
I must have looked at him a little weird cuz he immediately followed up with "__Gentleman_Friend__ told me all about it! He says you're loving it."

UM WHAT. 
I'm not that close of friends with concert-giving-guy for that sort of thing to just organically pop up in their conversations, I think. Concert-giving-guy doesn't pop up in the conversations I have with Gentleman Friend! And Mr. GMan isn't just gossipy.......

:happydance: :happydance: :happydance:
Then concert-giving-guy got a weird look on HIS face and basically ran. 
LOLOLOLOLOLOL. 

    
I have a feeeeeeling that's probably a pretty good sign, right? 
:happydance:

Oh boyz.


----------



## tinyliny

you are OH SO complicated!


----------



## Wallaby

I'm glad the title of this journal is rather open-ended [thanks Caroline!! haha] because it's basically just devolving into general stories about my life... :rofl:


On the horse front, Lacey's starting to get cranky about all this Bute in her system. I had forgotten that she gets like this...but NOW I remember! haha After about 5 days on Bute, she starts getting really short-tempered and fussy about everyyyyything. 
I have to wonder if maybe it makes her tummy not feel good or something because she doesn't just get cranky...
Anyway, her eyes looked super good tonight [I've been triple dosing her MSM - double dose is the "eyeball dose" and triple is "A++ eyeball dose"] so I didn't give her any Bute tonight. I'll start her on DC-Y tomorrow for pain, the 'natural' stuff doesn't make her cranky like Bute does. Thank goodness! haha

Poor baby.  
Her eyes are looking really pretty good, on the plus side! Still obviously "recovering" and are therefore a LOT more sensitive to everything but they're looking much better, all things considered.
I don't know what I would do without this horse. She really is one in a million.

And to think that I almost didn't "choose" her, 5 years ago, because I thought we didn't 'click'. HAH!!

Also, I realized the other day that that song from Pocahontas, the one about all the colors of the wind, most people identify with that song half ironically..............and that song is basically my life. :rofl: Awkward. :wink:

In unicorn news, I was watching Project Runway the other day and the most annoying contestant, who got voted off, thank GOODNESS, was pretty convinced that unicorns have cloven hooves. Does this mean I have TWO unicorns? Lacey AND Hazel???! YES PLEASE. :happydance:


Work news - nothing to report. Oh! Except that on the horse hoofcare front, I braved talking to my boss about the horses hooves and she's totally open to trying a new farrier for them. I figured out a non-judgmental way to describe how I felt about their current shoe jobs: "I don't feel like you're getting the work your money is paying for." My boss apparently already had concerns herself about their farriery and I was able to suggest Lacey's previous farrier who really did a pretty good job [I just started doing Lacey's myself because I have overly high standards - better that I don't live p to my own standards than someone else, you know?...that hoof trimmer would be perfectly acceptable, and MUCH better than the current trimmer, for the therapy horses]. Anyway, that's really great. 
I hate seeing such bad farriery and I feel bad for the horses, walking around all day on hooves like they have...you know? It's one thing if they were just sort of bad...but they aren't anywhere near "sort of bad", unfortunately. 

Ugh, I am SUCH a hoof snob! I try to keep it in, I really really do!! That's one of my pet peeves about myself, I really can come off like a huge snob. Or, at least, I think I can come off like a huge snob. 
Certain people, like Gentleman Friend, claim that there is no way on this earth that I could seem snobby.............but I live with myself. He does not. :lol:

Anyway, super excited that we might be able to get these horses into some better hoof management!

Oh, other hilarious story. Well, hilarious. You know. 
So, there's a 17 year old, just turned 18 year old, that I work with every Tuesday. He, from day one, has basically been creeping. He's super nice, in a "haha, he's my brother!"-way but SO 17 and basically the opposite of EVERYTHING I would ever be attracted to. 
But anyway, he just turned 18 and now he's thinking that he has some kind of chance with this action because he's legal. :rofl: :rofl:
[for the record, I'm almost 23]
Anyway, I'm trying to think of it as being really funny because otherwise I'd be really freaked out.
He keeps asking me "what I'm attracted to in a man" and weird junk like that. Luckily, everything that is attractive to me is the opposite of what he is. Of course, that's not deterring him at all.

I think part of the problem is that I'm kind of a flirty person...like I act really familiar with everyone as a defense mechanism, basically. Otherwise I'm super socially awkward. Both ends of the spectrum, no middle ground. haha
Unless I know you super well, then I can be pretty normal. But even normal is "flirty".
AND I'm one of those "say mean things and laugh in a positive way" people which digs me an even deeper hole. Ahhhhhhhhhh!

This poor kid. I keep being all like "yeah, in 2 months I'll basically be your sister!" and stuff but he's just goin' on past that. I've even told him about Gentleman Friend!!!!! And I made Gentleman Friend sound basically like my boyfriend. HAH. Not phasing him in the least. 
MY LIFE. Can't get the boy I want to be in love with me to be in love with me, can't get the creep to stop creeping.

Bleck. 


On a happier note: GENTLEMAN FRIEND. Well, happier. I don't know.
I'm mildly confused again.
1. On Sunday, I had texted him Saturday night around 10:30 and he had apparently already gone to sleep - I wake up to a text from him at 6:30am. Later on Sunday, during our time, he mentions that he work up at 6:30 = texted me as soon as he woke up? Adorable.
2. He was telling me about he was SUPER tired while we were having our time on Sunday so maybe that was just it...because he seemed less jazzed than usual. But really, he told me a bunch of times that he was tired and he did give me THREE hugs in the span of about 15 minutes...AND he did the whole "well, I better leave...go back to the kids" thing...then stuck around for at least 5 more minutes. SO I think I really need to just stop worrying about it.
3. Have I mentioned that he has the most perfect smile I have ever seen? Well, he really does. This has no bearing on anything, but it is true. The most perfect teeth and the most perfect smile. Like movie stars and Ryan Gosling included. 
4. I'm really nervous because in 2 weeks he's going with his female "one of his closest friends" to see their mutual best friend [a guy] who's going to grad school in Virginia. They've been friends for years but still. It freaks me out a litttttle bit. The fact that he has a female "really close friend" freaks me out a little bit but really, if Mr. GMan has feelings towards me, he's not going to get into anything with Lady-Friend. He's the most loyal person evvvvvvvvvvver, AND I don't think he would be increasing our friendship levels if he was just planning to switch her into the girlfriend spot and me into the "closest girl friend" spot..or something.

But. You know me. Captain of Overthinkers Anonymous!! :rofl:
I'm hoping I might be able to ask him about it next Sunday, in an innocuous way. Like he said before "if it's bothering you, you deserve to be heard out". I need to talk to him about this stuff, or deal with it some other way, instead of just letting it fester inside. 
He deserves better than me thinking he's less than he is. He's really one of the best people I've ever known and I need to assume that he's going to function on that level...not suddenly hop way way way down to dirt-bag level in a single leap!!
In any case, I think things are going well. Last night when I texted him and today, both times he offered information about himself within a response to a statement/question I made. He's not a huuuuge fan of texting so the fact that he's "talking" is kinda good, I think! 
And he NEVER talks about other girls [except for the "old ladies"...but that;s different! haha] when we're together. Even the "one of his closest friends" girl. I've read that that's a pretty excellent sign. Especially from a guy who's mostly friends with girls [but who can blame them, he's kinda a hotttttie. Just saying. :wink:]!! haha

I am SUCH a high maintenance girl. OH. MY. GOSH. :rofl:





I am so tired. I should go involve my bed, and sleep, in my life. :lol:
Anyway, that's 'the news'. So fascinating. :lol:

I hope you all are doing fantastically!! <3 :happydance:

[and I'm seriously sorry for the lack of pictures....make it up to you tomorrow or Wednesday?]


----------



## tinyliny

Hi, my name is Wallaby, and I'm an Over-Thinker.


----------



## Wallaby

Exxxxactlllllly. hahaha And it's so much worse when I seriously need sleep^^...can you tell, at all?? :rofl:


Also, I found two pictures for you guys!!

I've been hanging up alfalfa for Atti to play with/eat. He thinks it's the best:



















He's hilarious!!


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Wallaby said:


> I'm glad the title of this journal is rather open-ended [thanks Caroline!! haha] because it's basically just devolving into general stories about my life... :rofl:
> 
> 
> On the horse front, Lacey's starting to get cranky about all this Bute in her system. I had forgotten that she gets like this...but NOW I remember! haha After about 5 days on Bute, she starts getting really short-tempered and fussy about everyyyyything.
> I have to wonder if maybe it makes her tummy not feel good or something because she doesn't just get cranky...
> Anyway, her eyes looked super good tonight [I've been triple dosing her MSM - double dose is the "eyeball dose" and triple is "A++ eyeball dose"] so I didn't give her any Bute tonight. I'll start her on DC-Y tomorrow for pain, the 'natural' stuff doesn't make her cranky like Bute does. Thank goodness! haha
> 
> Poor baby.
> Her eyes are looking really pretty good, on the plus side! Still obviously "recovering" and are therefore a LOT more sensitive to everything but they're looking much better, all things considered.
> I don't know what I would do without this horse. She really is one in a million.
> 
> And to think that I almost didn't "choose" her, 5 years ago, because I thought we didn't 'click'. HAH!!
> 
> Also, I realized the other day that that song from Pocahontas, the one about all the colors of the wind, most people identify with that song half ironically..............and that song is basically my life. :rofl: Awkward. :wink:
> 
> In unicorn news, I was watching Project Runway the other day and the most annoying contestant, who got voted off, thank GOODNESS, was pretty convinced that unicorns have cloven hooves. Does this mean I have TWO unicorns? Lacey AND Hazel???! YES PLEASE. :happydance:
> 
> 
> Work news - nothing to report. Oh! Except that on the horse hoofcare front, I braved talking to my boss about the horses hooves and she's totally open to trying a new farrier for them. I figured out a non-judgmental way to describe how I felt about their current shoe jobs: "I don't feel like you're getting the work your money is paying for." My boss apparently already had concerns herself about their farriery and I was able to suggest Lacey's previous farrier who really did a pretty good job [I just started doing Lacey's myself because I have overly high standards - better that I don't live p to my own standards than someone else, you know?...that hoof trimmer would be perfectly acceptable, and MUCH better than the current trimmer, for the therapy horses]. Anyway, that's really great.
> I hate seeing such bad farriery and I feel bad for the horses, walking around all day on hooves like they have...you know? It's one thing if they were just sort of bad...but they aren't anywhere near "sort of bad", unfortunately.
> 
> Ugh, I am SUCH a hoof snob! I try to keep it in, I really really do!! That's one of my pet peeves about myself, I really can come off like a huge snob. Or, at least, I think I can come off like a huge snob.
> Certain people, like Gentleman Friend, claim that there is no way on this earth that I could seem snobby.............but I live with myself. He does not. :lol:
> 
> Anyway, super excited that we might be able to get these horses into some better hoof management!
> 
> Oh, other hilarious story. Well, hilarious. You know.
> So, there's a 17 year old, just turned 18 year old, that I work with every Tuesday. He, from day one, has basically been creeping. He's super nice, in a "haha, he's my brother!"-way but SO 17 and basically the opposite of EVERYTHING I would ever be attracted to.
> But anyway, he just turned 18 and now he's thinking that he has some kind of chance with this action because he's legal. :rofl: :rofl:
> [for the record, I'm almost 23]
> Anyway, I'm trying to think of it as being really funny because otherwise I'd be really freaked out.
> He keeps asking me "what I'm attracted to in a man" and weird junk like that. Luckily, everything that is attractive to me is the opposite of what he is. Of course, that's not deterring him at all.
> 
> I think part of the problem is that I'm kind of a flirty person...like I act really familiar with everyone as a defense mechanism, basically. Otherwise I'm super socially awkward. Both ends of the spectrum, no middle ground. haha
> Unless I know you super well, then I can be pretty normal. But even normal is "flirty".
> AND I'm one of those "say mean things and laugh in a positive way" people which digs me an even deeper hole. Ahhhhhhhhhh!
> 
> This poor kid. I keep being all like "yeah, in 2 months I'll basically be your sister!" and stuff but he's just goin' on past that. I've even told him about Gentleman Friend!!!!! And I made Gentleman Friend sound basically like my boyfriend. HAH. Not phasing him in the least.
> MY LIFE. Can't get the boy I want to be in love with me to be in love with me, can't get the creep to stop creeping.
> 
> Bleck.
> 
> 
> On a happier note: GENTLEMAN FRIEND. Well, happier. I don't know.
> I'm mildly confused again.
> 1. On Sunday, I had texted him Saturday night around 10:30 and he had apparently already gone to sleep - I wake up to a text from him at 6:30am. Later on Sunday, during our time, he mentions that he work up at 6:30 = texted me as soon as he woke up? Adorable.
> 2. He was telling me about he was SUPER tired while we were having our time on Sunday so maybe that was just it...because he seemed less jazzed than usual. But really, he told me a bunch of times that he was tired and he did give me THREE hugs in the span of about 15 minutes...AND he did the whole "well, I better leave...go back to the kids" thing...then stuck around for at least 5 more minutes. SO I think I really need to just stop worrying about it.
> 3. Have I mentioned that he has the most perfect smile I have ever seen? Well, he really does. This has no bearing on anything, but it is true. The most perfect teeth and the most perfect smile. Like movie stars and Ryan Gosling included.
> 4. I'm really nervous because in 2 weeks he's going with his female "one of his closest friends" to see their mutual best friend [a guy] who's going to grad school in Virginia. They've been friends for years but still. It freaks me out a litttttle bit. The fact that he has a female "really close friend" freaks me out a little bit but really, if Mr. GMan has feelings towards me, he's not going to get into anything with Lady-Friend. He's the most loyal person evvvvvvvvvvver, AND I don't think he would be increasing our friendship levels if he was just planning to switch her into the girlfriend spot and me into the "closest girl friend" spot..or something.
> 
> But. You know me. Captain of Overthinkers Anonymous!! :rofl:
> I'm hoping I might be able to ask him about it next Sunday, in an innocuous way. Like he said before "if it's bothering you, you deserve to be heard out". I need to talk to him about this stuff, or deal with it some other way, instead of just letting it fester inside.
> He deserves better than me thinking he's less than he is. He's really one of the best people I've ever known and I need to assume that he's going to function on that level...not suddenly hop way way way down to dirt-bag level in a single leap!!
> In any case, I think things are going well. Last night when I texted him and today, both times he offered information about himself within a response to a statement/question I made. He's not a huuuuge fan of texting so the fact that he's "talking" is kinda good, I think!
> And he NEVER talks about other girls [except for the "old ladies"...but that;s different! haha] when we're together. Even the "one of his closest friends" girl. I've read that that's a pretty excellent sign. Especially from a guy who's mostly friends with girls [but who can blame them, he's kinda a hotttttie. Just saying. :wink:]!! haha
> 
> I am SUCH a high maintenance girl. OH. MY. GOSH. :rofl:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am so tired. I should go involve my bed, and sleep, in my life. :lol:
> Anyway, that's 'the news'. So fascinating. :lol:
> 
> I hope you all are doing fantastically!! <3 :happydance:
> 
> [and I'm seriously sorry for the lack of pictures....make it up to you tomorrow or Wednesday?]


I had to quote this entire thing because it was so funny Emily.

You're fabulous, darling. Especially the whole "He';s a hotttttttttie" thing.. LOL. I can just imagine you doing something regular such as cleaning stalls and nearly falling over thinking about him. :lol:

Hugs, friend!


----------



## Roperchick

But she's right. I was trying to think of how to describe it.

Basically its like i (and 90%) of the population go about our days with a kindergardeners mind set...where you and like 10% of the rest of the population go about with a professor with 20 degrees. Thinking of every little detail hahahaha




Oh and don't worry. My thread title for mine is horses horses and more horses.....and I hardly ever talk about my horses o.o




So cute. You have a little puppy dog follower.

Just Be careful. When we get these young bucks clinging and they finally figure out they have no chance their worlds get crushed. Like forever haha. So let him down easy...but forcefully if he's to much of a tick


----------



## Wallaby

You've seen pictures of him, Maggie, you know it's true!! :wink: 
But really. I do sort of fall over inside when I think that THAT face is attached to the person I really like the inside of. Like seriously. HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN. hahaha 
Since most of our talking is texting, it's easy to half forget what he looks like...and then I see him and I'm like "Wait. WHAT????! Last time I checked, guys that look like THAT don't talk to ME!" But I suppose that's ok on a "not being dazzled by external things" level. Because good looks don't last forever, a personality does!

Glad I could give you a chuckle.  :hug:


Haha, yep, RC! That's me. Nothing is "just" anything. Evvvvverything is examined. It's a blessing and a curse. :rofl:

I've never had a little follower before, that I knew about. Well, I know guys, I'm not interested in, have had little crushes on me before but never so blatantly! My goodness. #creeeeeeepy

But yeah. I'm trying really really hard to be friendly, since I have to work with him, but send every "NOT INTERESTED!!!!" vibe I can muster.



One of my coworkers found this......Guess I have to stop smack-talking work! :wink: Nah, no smack talk here!! What a small world! haha Hi Mckenzie!! :wink:





Oh yes, Miss Lacey made the switch to DC-Y today and she's doing A LOT better, attitude-wise. We slid back a little with the eyeball swelling, but that's to be expected. I'll probably give her a bigger dose of DC-Y tomorrow since I gave her a sort of small one today...wanted to start small and increase if needed.

Pictures! Just a few. 

Fabs!!










Lacey and her "baby". "Baby" did not want his picture taken. :wink:










Awww. She's so cute. 











I hope you guys are doing great!! :happydance:


----------



## Roperchick

is it weird that I sometimes forget that Lacey is blind?! 

Haha. She's so cute with her "baby". And fabs is wonderful man candy rofl


----------



## Wallaby

You are not alone, in that case!! Haha, I forget ALLLLLLLLL the time that she basically is. She still has a teensy teensy amount of vision, but not a lot. Of course, I did go nearly 4 years without ever guessing! haha
The weirdest thing is riding a "normal" horse....I forget just how much I watch out for her+pick her footing+just don't do things I might with a seeing horse! And then I get on a horse like Fabs and find that I'm actually rather nervous because he doesn't "need" me as much...it's so weird. Lacey and I are like those sets of twins you sometimes hear about who've invented an entire language just for themselves...we don't even need to try to understand each other anymore! <3

But yeah, I forget that she's blind allllll the time. In daily life she doesn't move like a "normal" horse and she doesn't really do anything like a "normal" horse...I'm just used to it, I guess! haha I think that I would probably be able to guess that she was blind if I didn't know her and knew about blind horses, but otherwise... She's high functioning! :wink:





So guys. Tried my saddle on Fabs and guess what?

.......it fits him perfectly. Like it can't fit any better. 
And he is SUCH a dream to work with. The other horses will be screaming up a storm for him to come back and he's perfectly happy just coming with me and totally ignoring them. I'm sosososos impressed. This is a horse that hasn't been asked to leave "the herd" since he arrived in January, literally NO work has been done in the context of herdboundness. If anything, herdboundness is nearly encouraged because the horses are NEVER left by themselves anywhere.

Of course, tie him up and leave him by himself=he doesn't appreciate that. But taking him off alone=absolutely no problem.

I SO wish I had the $$ for two horses. I'll keep working with him and maybe in a year or so.
Because really. He's pretty much exactly the horse I've been looking for to 'replace' Lacey with. Not that she's replaceable, at all, ever, but that I have a very specific personality type that I want to deal with and he's it. One day!
But even if that's not where this is going, I have confirmation that Lacey is not the only horse ever like herself. Not the only horse that wants to go all day and never come home, not the only one that enjoys working and enjoys spending time with "her person" at the expense of spending time with another horse, and not the only horse that I can 'connect' with. <3 Love love love. 

[also, weird story, dunno if I told you guys this: Fabio was the name of the horse Gentleman Friend ALWAYS rode at camp -and he rode alllll the time-. That's where Fabs came from - he shortened Fabio to Fabs and now it's a 'thing'. Gentleman Friend LOVED Fabs. 
How is Fabio such a common name?? Well, I guess I named Fabio#1 Fabio...it just came to me when he arrived at camp in 2007...but Fabio#2?? Looooove it.]

Anyway, so I took my saddle to work today, it fit the boy PERFECTLY. He's so much taller than Lacey and so much narrower! I don't even understand! I had to shorten up my breastcollar TWO full holes, on both sides, before it was right for him. It is a "full" sized breastcollar...but still. He's at least 15hh, probably over, and Lacey is ONLY 14.1hh! :rofl:

My saddle is even a little narrow for Lacey, but Fabs=perfection. And he's the one that's obese! How does that work? hahahahahahaha

Anyway, first I lunged him at all gaits, then rode him a little. He really seems to enjoy lunging and it really seems to 'settle' him so I've been doing about 15 minutes of lunging everyday. We go out in the pasture, kick all the other horses inside, and get our lunge on. He likes the big circles outside - not a fan of indoors, this boy [can't say I blame him, he was MADE for the trails...he exudes "take me on a trail ride!!"].
We started out inside the barn - terrifying, the ceiling feels REALLY low. I worked on using my leg while cueing him with the rein. I figured it out - leg has absolutely zero meaning to him except "go!" So I'm starting from step 1: leg means turn, and, in conjunction with other cues, go. 
Looking at it from that perspective, his attitude about leg makes a lot of sense - if he was ridden a lot by "kick to go" riders and associates leg with pain...heck, I'd pin my ears too!!

We also did a little tiny bit of trotting - still super smooth! 

Anyway, after all that, we walked through the parking lot without me even holding on to him in any way!! He go nervous about a few things but controlled his own pace and stayed with me [I was right there next to him, just trying to get him ok with 'stuff' - he's starting to really rely on me for comfort, which is good...but I won't always be there. The fact that he can deal with "scary" stuff without being coddled along is a good experience.]
He's doing great. I'm so impressed. 

I think my boss thinks I'm some kind of horse whisperer. Nope, just one girl who's come out the other side of anxiety, but still falls down allll the time, and understands how to communicate to another anxiety-ridden being! :lol:


So cute. 










"no!! Why meeeeee???!"











And this morning. Atti doesn't want to be forgotten. 
I'm currently in the midst of teaching him to wave "bye-bye" with a front hoof when you wave and say "bye-bye" to him.  He's figuring it out!










In other news, you guys would be so proud. Maybe.
This morning, Gentleman Friend texted me to tell me about how one of the ladies he works with is "making" him borrow 3 Johnny Depp movies because she has a huge crush on Johnny Depp. I told him that that sounded wonderful and that I "wanted in on that action".
And he said that he would "let me know when he was going to watch them"......
*collective "ooooooooooh" here*

So I feel like that's probably pretty good for a response, considering that he just ignores statements that make him uncomfortable/he doesn't want anything to do with. 

I figured that could be an "in" to doing something together sometime, outside of church. We shall see!! And not super confrontational either. I often forget that he's super introverted. 
We're both super introverted, actually...we both just have the people "knack". We know how to talk to people and we know how to talk to people, even if we're ridiculously uncomfortable inside! haha

Anyway, introverts need space and nonconfrontational meetings = in progress.
And since we've been making a point of seeing each other 1:1 every Sunday for the last....two months = doing pretty great!

We'll see. 


Fingers crossed.


And I'm pretty sure there was more I meant to tell you guys...but I've forgotten. I may be back. 


I hope you all are doing super fantastically great!!
:happydance:


----------



## Roperchick

Well I call my dad Fabio hahaha.


I so hope you get to take that boy home someday!


And ooooooooooh very slick move with GF!


PS.....waving Patti video=a must when he's good at it lol


----------



## Roperchick

*Atti Not patti...I hate my phone.


----------



## tinyliny

i like Johnny Depp, too. Can I come? 

(loved "What's Eating Gilbert Grape". I think it's the debut film of Leonardo Di Caprio)


----------



## Wallaby

RC, I HOPE your dad isn't a horse!! :wink: :rofl: :hug:
Thanks about my 'slick' move! It was a proud moment when I thought of that one! hahaha Poor Gman, he has no idea.
Waving Atti video = 100000000% going to happen once he gets it down!!  He'll do it pretty reliably while he's tied up, just need to transfer that into "normal" life.

Caroline, you may certainly come! We can have a JD party! :wink: 



I worked 9 hours today so this is, again, going to be mostly Fabs and not so much Lacey Girl.

However, I DID hop on Lacey last night and take her for a spin around the pasture. It was a good thing I did too - the increased lack of sight is REALLY obvious turning right, right now. Poor dear! She got over it relatively quickly but she definitely needed a little 'help' getting there. She's SO good though. Man, I love that horse. 
She really liked being ridden. She was NOT happy when I took my saddle yesterday and didn't take her too!


Today I did a lot more work with Mr. Fabs. Two volunteers took him for a ride yesterday and he apparently was "not great" [refusing to move forward, backing up to avoid going somewhere, the usual] so the end goal for today was taking him on a short ride to the area where he had acted up yesterday, and making sure he had a well behaved experience.

First I lunged him for a bit in the morning. That's kind of a daily thing now, it seems to get his head in the "game" and basically takes the edge off. I mean, who can blame him. He's a 9 year old Arab stuck in a pasture full of dead-headed QH's and draft crosses! haha
Not to mention that he REALLY seems to enjoy lunging - Lacey loves it too, I guess it plays to their desire for showing off! :wink:
During said lunge session, he bucked his way into the canter and got a back leg over the lunge line in his antics. Obviously, that was the scariest thing that has EVER happened in his ENTIRE life. 
It was interesting to watch him deal with it - first he started galloping off, with the lunge line still around his leg, then -when the lunge line "didn't let go"- he came back to me and started trotting a circle around me. When I said "HO!" he actually stopped close to me, though he was still extremely worried, and I was able to get him untangled.

Then, of course, we spent probably 15 minutes reviewing our "leading by the legs" [wrapping the lunge line around a front leg, then using pressure+release to "lead" him] and having the rope touch him everywhere on his back legs. 
ALL of that seemed to be news to him. 
He caught on REALLY fast to being led by his legs, however! I was really impressed. And he calmed down fast with the rope on his hind legs as well.

Interesting how things I think of as "basics" - like having a rope touch everywhere, desensitization to whips and 'sticks', yeilding to pressure, etc - don't seem to be the "basics" here. 
Anyway = HUGE holes in this guys training. Fixn' it, oh yeah.

Then, after that, I took him in the backyard where sessions have been taking place lately, and had him stand while I threw frisbees all around him. He did SUPER well with that. 
A few weeks ago that literally caused a meltdown so I'd say we're getting somewhere! Of course, it'll be different when he's moving and is actually doing a session, but he WAS able to stand still and deal with it, when his defense is very solidly in the "flight" category....so I'll take it!
He seems to grow more confident the more I have him stay in one spot, unattached to me, and then I do "crazy" stuff to him. He really relies on me when I'm holding on to him and ideally I'd like for him to grow more confident in his own self and in his surroundings, me or not.

After that, we had 4 more kids sessions [2 hrs] with Buddy and Skippy so I tied Fabs out and braided 2 hula hoops into his mane. He has a few really touchy spots on the crest of his neck so I placed one hoop in that area and one lower down on his neck for "feel". He had hay in front of him, on the ground, so the hoops were moving all over and he HAD to deal with it if he wanted food [plus positive reinforcement FOR dealing with it = food!]. By the end of the sessions, when I went to get him, guess who didn't blink an eye when I pulled the hula hoops back over his head, then put them back, and pulled them off again? 
He thought he was dying when I put them on initially! haha

The hula hoops don't usually end up being "worn" by the horses but this was more of a desensitizing/life skills issue than anything. 



Then we went on a ride. A short ride, but effective. He "doesn't" lead on rides...and as you know, telling me that something "doesn't" or "can't" happen is an EXCELLENT way to make sure that it can and will happen. :rofl:

So he led for a whole lot of the ride. He did a couple "I WILL buck if you don't stop making me do this" back-humps+ear pinning.....but guess who;s used to a much smaller and much cattier horse doing the same thing? Hardyharhar. That'd be me. 
So his rather uncatty maneuvers didn't phase me too much - a little nervous at first, but then I realized that he wasn't actually following through on anything!! [so funny, Lacey is so much wider and chunkier than he is...but she's also a lot faster on her feet. Fabs seems to be one where you can feel it coming for miles, thank GOODNESS.]

And after his first few "I don't wanna"'s he really came around quite quickly and seemed to enjoy himself. Just riding around the pasture was nothing, he seemed rather bored in there [I don't blame him, I'm a trail girl too - arena stuff, just running around.....ehhhhhhhh. Gimme some obstacles or some hills, or something! haha]. He was even fine when I told the girl riding with us that she could go do her thing on Buddy. 

She trotted away from us and Fabs stayed mentally with me the whole time. He was a little "oh, where are you going?" but in a very respectful way. 
There are definitely "issues" of barnsour-ness but he didn't try anything more than just half trotting if I tensed up at all. As long as I stayed pretty relaxed, he generally kept up a fast walk. He really wanted to run and I really wanted to try out his canter, but I could just feel that I don't have enough undersaddle respect yet. Maybe in a few weeks.

He does have a GREAT "whoa"!! Even when he was getting rather excited, I could sit deep and ask him to whoa, AND then get a really solid-solid stop that continued until I said he could move along.

I'd like to try him in a bit. They use a leather sidepull, covered in a fluffy cover, on him which is fine for just around the barn riding, but it's only just barely enough for "mildly excited". I might dig out the rope sidepull I got for Lacey a while ago and never use. It's rope and has a few knots, but is still REALLY gentle.
That might be all he needs. He is very sensitive so I don't want to scare him into behaving! That never works. haha And I don't know when the last time his teeth were done - if it wasn't recently, a bit might cause more issues.

Also, interesting thing, he shakes his body whenever he gets nervous. It's his "tell", I suppose! He shakes his head when he's mildly nervous and progresses up to a full body shake when he's really nervous! Silly boy. 
Though I really like that he's releasing the stress instead of holding it in. And I like that he does have a 'tell'!
We'll have to see if that disappears as he adjusts into his "new" life of work!




Pictures!

Lacey. 










I just started her on Remission and i think I'm already seeing improvement, but this is our "4 days on Remission" picture. 











She is so oddly built. I just love it. Such a butt-high cutie! She is 14.3 in back and 14hh in front....well played, Lacey. 


:happydance:


[and in case anyone couldn't tell, Wallaby LOVES herself a manageable training project!! haha When I was little and taking lessons, my mom used to tell my instructors to give me the "hardest" horse because that was the only way I'd really learn anything. hahahahahahaha!]


----------



## Roperchick

Sounds like Fabs is on his way to being a great therapy horse! would love to have seen the HULA HOOPIN horse rofl

that was always my biggest peeve when i was training for the ranch. i could work all weekend with a horse and get them going great then when others would take them for the week, when they weren't actually knowledgeable about riding they would let them gat away with stuff and back to square one we go haha

Maybe its just me but i DO think that theres some improvement already with miss sassy pants on her Remission. it would be interesting if you got pictures like once a week to show what kind of difference it was making for her.


----------



## Wallaby

^Right??! Thankfully Fabs seemed to be right on track with me when I worked with him, even after his 'adventure' with the ladies. 
Not sure whether to be pleased or worried that he's on track for being a hellion to everyone but me..... :rofl:

I'll try to get weekly pictures! That's a good idea!


In other news, Lacey's eye is having ANOTHER episode. This one is really scaring me - she has pus-like goop coming out, along with tears [tears = normal], and her eye is way more swollen now than it was even the other week.

I am so worried about this. 
I'll be having the vet out tomorrow and I really trust her to figure out what's going on. But getting to tomorrow is nerve-wracking.

Worst case scenario, Lacey needs to get that eye removed or be put down. I'm hopeful that she might be a good candidate for surgery given that she's in really great shape, a good weight, etc. Really the only thing against her in that scenario is her age and my bank account.

On the bank account front, there are always vet hospitals, right? We're a few hours away from OSU, maybe that would be an option. Finding someone to trailer her/us down there shouldn't be too hard [heck, my boss was like "if you ever want to go on a trail ride, you can borrow my truck and trailer!!" just the other day].

But anyway. Not really looking forward to that conversation.


Think her some good thoughts/shoot up a prayer for her, if she crosses your mind. Please.


----------



## Roperchick

Oh no!!! Lots of jingles her way. Hope the vet has good news for you!


----------



## Wallaby

Also, as if today couldn't get worse, I showed up to church early to see Gentleman Friend and, with my luck today i accidentally caught the trsin that's one earlier than the one i usually take - got to church at 5 instead of 5:20. I texted him to let him know that I was there, like I always do, and eventually I got a text back saying that he wasn't actually at church tonight, that he thought he had mentioned it, and that he was sorry.

...................................
Yeah. 
Today hates my guts. Of this, we can be sure.
I said it was ok, even though it's really kinda not..,but I don't want to be "that girl" and really, I knew he had stuff this week, just assumed it started tomorrow. 
And he already knows that today had been the worst - what else is he going to say?

I don't know. At least today is almost tomorrow!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Wallaby said:


> I don't know. At least today is almost tomorrow!!
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Hugs hugs hugs!


----------



## Roperchick

:hug((hugz))) some days are just trainwrecks chicka. don't let it harsh your mellow lol. tomorrow is always a new day so go at it with a positive outlook! 

ill keep my fingers crossed for good news for you and miss lacey tomorrow!


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks ladies :hug: :hug:

I woke up this morning feeling a lot more positive.  Come at me, world! I will TAKE you. :rofl: Ok, maybe hold back a bit, world...but really. No more feeling sorry for myself/feeling sorry for Lacey. That is not an effective life choice. We can handle this!

Miss Lacey has an eye exam at 3:30 this afternoon [it's almost 11am right now]. Fingers crossed all is well!

Plus side, this morning her eyes are looking better. That darn right eye is out of it's spasm, finally, and she's holding it a lot more open. I did wash off her face yesterday and ran the hose on it for longer than she approved of, hoping to remove any irritants+get all that eye goop off. 

She doesn't seem to be suffering any ill-effects from her adventure with getting both DC-Y AND Bute. [I gave her DC-Y yesterday morning before checking her eyes = bad choice] I fed her an entire pound of soaked alfalfa pellets along with it, to hopefully buffer the ulcer causing-ness of bute. Fatty loooooved that alfalfa! haha
I'm SO glad alfalfa is safe for IR horses! haha Life saver.

She's still, obviously, double masking it right now since her right eye is quite swollen still. Poor baby!


Anyhoo, I'll let you know what the vet has to say.


----------



## tinyliny

I really enjoy reading about how you think about the training process. Very much in an encouraging and indirect manner, instead of confrontational, and yet still effective. I think I could learn a lot from watching you work. 

really,. you braided full size hula hoops into the hrose's mane? what if they freaked out? that would be my thought. See ? what a worry wort I am.


----------



## Wallaby

Aw, I'm glad Caroline! And thanks.
I think we could learn a lot from each other! I know you always make me think of things I had never considered! 

Hahaha oh yes, I did! :lol: One important detail that I think I forgot to mention was that they were around his neck, like necklaces, and the braided into his mane part was just to make sure they wouldn't come off if he did decide to lose it. Hanging off the side of his neck would have been too much pressure for where he's at...but soon! haha
He was tied to a sturdy tree branch high above his head, in a rope halter with a tied in lead rope - if he did lose it, there wasn't a whole lot of damage he could do and he couldn't get away from it.  
I guess really the key is feeling how "ready" the horse is for something. For instance, he didn't like having the hula hoops going over his head the first time or two [eyes wide, nostrils flaring], so I kept doing that until he settled. He settled pretty quickly and he settled all the way down, so I moved on to leaving the hoops over his head. 
If he had started moving away from me or continued to not be ok with them going over his head, I would have kept it up until he was more ok [no more moving away or some other "achievable" goal] with it but I wouldn't have left them on his neck like I did.

Mostly it's just steps. Start small, figure out what gets the absolutely smallest reaction, work on that until there's no reaction, then just keep going. "Baby steps, baby steps", to quote "What About Bob". :lol:

And I made sure that he was already sort of tired [can you ever totally tire out an Arabian?? haha] before I asked him to do any 'thinking' - that way his body was less primed to panic and more primed to eat, then sleep. 

If that all makes sense? haha

There's also a junk ton of "Good BOY!!!"s involved. I try save physical praise for REALLY good work or a extremely brave move. I sort of think of touching as more of a bond-experience. Bond=survival for the horse so, in my opinion, that's probably highest level of "good job" possible. Vocal praise isn't, imo, necessarily related to a bond [oh dear, I think I have that philosophy with people too..........awwwwkward.], for me, it's related to "oh the pressure is off now"-reward. 
I'm pretty sure Lacey thinks her name is "Good GIRL!!" :rofl:


----------



## Wallaby

Lacey has been pronounced "ok"!! No scratches in her eye or anything like that. The two episodes so close together must have just been a fluke. I'm so relieved!!
Miss Lacey was SO good for the vet. She's just so good in general when this vet has to check her eyes. 
In the past, I've had other vets check her eyes and Lacey throws fit. This vet checks her eyes and Lacey falls asleep. She was literally seconds away from naptime as the vet pried her eye open, did a dye stick thing, rinsed her eye with water... SO. GREAT. 
It's all the attitude though, I think. Other vets have generally acted sort of cavalierly towards Lacey, then get nervous when Lacey fusses. This vet acts respectful towards Lacey and stays calm if Lacey throws sass at her, AND ignores the sass. Lacey demands respect. :rofl: But really. She truly does. 

My vet. She's the best. 

Lacey even nickered for the vet when she realized who was with me and when we let her go, she followed us, nickering the whole way, up to the gate. Adorable. <3

In other news, turns out my vet is good friends with my boss! And it turns out that she knows Mr. Fabio! Smallllll world. 
Love it!

:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## paintsrule

Yay! I normally just lurk reading your journal (super, super creepy I know) but I was hoping/praying for lacey so I'm so glad shes okay! Yay for good vets!


----------



## Roperchick

Hooah! so glad Lacey got the A-Okay! and glad for you missey that today is going better than yesterday! haha

it always suprises me how small the horse community REALLY is. not small as in numbers of course but I could go 3 states away and in a random conversation find somebody that know a horse or knows another rider.

for instance. one of my friends growing up went to a horse camp in CALIFORNIA...where...wait for it....Josie my mare was born! small world indeed. 


but its always a fun feeling//conversation eh? haha

anyways. when is this JD marathon with Gentleman friend?! hope everything is still going smoothly with him?

fingers crossed that laceys eye continues healing FAST.


----------



## Wallaby

No worries, paintsrule! I love your lurking - I see it with your "liking". And I get really happy when you actually post!! :lol: 
What's reverse lurking, where I'm watching for you to like something?? haha But really, we can be "super, super creepy" to each other! I don't mind. 

RIGHT, RC????? I made a point of not really connecting with horse people around here before this job because the ones I had met were alllll nuts. Of course, the people I've met through this job from the local horse world are still mildly nuts [in a loving way, of course!!] but at least they aren't "my way is the only right way!!!!! And you had BETTER agree!"-nuts. 
Other weird stories [this job has made my world feel REALLY small] - the girl who was doing my training for this job, the one who had it before me, I had multiple classes with her at the community college I went to, we live in the same neighborhood, and we even went to elementary school together. Not to mention that when she was talking about where she boards her horse, I was like "oh! That place!! There's a really pretty sorrel with a white tail there! I see him/her whenever I go past but I haven't seen him in a while..." And she was like ".......that's my horse. Not even kidding! We moved him to a pasture that can't be seen from the road a year or two ago but that's my horse!"
HAH!

Then, another girl that was hired to do the job I'm doing -I trained her for a few days [hah, the newbie training a newbie!]-, she was like "Emily, you look SO familiar!! But I can't figure out where I know you from!"
Turns out I met her on the trails when I was riding Lacey, abut a year ago, and she was walking with her family. I even remember getting caught up in a discussion about horses with her!!

Sooooo weird!!! hahaha But so wonderful!

Gentleman Friend:
1. He's at a week-long camp for foster kids right now, being the photographer. So I doubt I'll have much communication with him this week, unfortunately. I'll probably text him on Thursday or something to be all "weird not talking to you for so many days!" or something...but I might just leave it too. I'm not sure. 
I texted him on Friday and he texted back once, then didn't text back when I texted him again, hen the same thing happened last night. I know he's busy and it's totally fair that he did that, but I feel like I'm riding the "too clingy" line. 
Of course, he did post a picture on Facebook with me in mind, then tagged me in a comment on it and said "this made me think of you and your animals", and he did comment on 2 statuses of mine this last week which is all totally really out of character for him - usually FB comments are like once in a 4 month period! haha

Anyway, giving him some space. He's got other things on his mind right now, more important priorities! Not fair to ask him to juggle giving me attention and his camp responsibilities, you know?

2. JD marathon = dunno. He has this camp thing this week, then he's around next week, but then on August 31-September 5 he's going to Virginia with his female best friend to see their mutual guy best friend who's going to grad school in Virginia [my theory = guy best friend+girl best friend = <3 <3, with GF...there. haha - just the way they always act towards me makes me feel like I'm somehow the fourth of their three]. Did I tell you guys about that? I think I did. 
So basically this is like 3 weeks sans GF. 
There's always next week, but again, he's getting ready to go allllll the way to the other side of the US. Don't think I'm going to be top priority. :rofl: And that's fine. 
I'm ok with it. I guess it's one of those things where for a while I have to just accept that he values what we have and that he values me. I can't be basing it off of texts received, specific words said, likes on Facebook, I just have to 'settle' for what I know to be true. And that's kind of nice. 
I really should be operating with that mindset all the time...it's a work in progress.

So bottom line, I don't like how this time of separation got started...but I think things are ok. He did "like" my Facebook status after we 'talked' last night [the last thing I said was something about how I had been looking forward to seeing him but that it was ok] so he's not shunning me!! haha

And I realized something this morning, again - I keep waiting for him to take my heart and run with it, never to be seen again, like every other person I've ever really "let in". And THAT is why I freak out so bad when he doesn't 'like' something or text me back or show up. However, so far he hasn't gone the way of the dodo and I don't think he's going to. 
Why do I assume he's going to do the worst possible thing? When has he EVER done the worst possible thing? Or when has he ever knowingly hurt me? Absolutely never. He has never been mean, or cruel, or taken advantage of my heart, in the 2+ years I've known him. Sure, he's slipped up...but so have I!! 
I need to start giving him the grace I give everyone else - assume the best until the worst has been proven. 
C'mon Emly!! Wake up! haha

[did I ever tell you guys the story about the shoe pillow or the honey packet or about the daisies? If not, I need to. Three of my most favorite memories ever, in my life. Next to the night I met Lacey, of course!!]


Lacey's eye was looking GREAT this evening!! I'm so happy about it! The vet gave me some ointment to put on it during episodes, non-steroidal so it'll be ok even if she has a scratch on her eye [steroid ointment=eye ulcers=PANIC] and the vet put some in before she left today. I think it really helped!!


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Wallaby said:


> I need to start giving him the grace I give everyone else - assume the best until the worst has been proven.
> C'mon Emly!! Wake up! haha
> 
> [did I ever tell you guys the story about the shoe pillow or the honey packet or about the daisies? If not, I need to. Three of my most favorite memories ever, in my life. Next to the night I met Lacey, of course!!]
> 
> 
> Lacey's eye was looking GREAT this evening!! I'm so happy about it! The vet gave me some ointment to put on it during episodes, non-steroidal so it'll be ok even if she has a scratch on her eye [steroid ointment=eye ulcers=PANIC] and the vet put some in before she left today. I think it really helped!!


1. Yes!!!!

2. Nooo!!! TELL NOW!!!

3. Hooray!!!!!!!


----------



## Wallaby

Lacey's eye = SO MUCH BETTER THIS MORNING!! I can't even get over it. SO thrilled!!


Stories - brace yourselves for adorableness. Totes going to be telling my future grandkids these stories. Regardless if they know anyone in them!! haha
Also, all of these happened during the summer when we were at camp.

Shoe pillow story:
[people have told me this one is "gross" but I think it's super sweet! haha]

Our group, the "Program Staff" -basically the people who did things like camp photography [GF], the cooks, lifeguards, horse people [me], "Program Director", etc, probably 15-16 people total-, decided to have a nighttime outing to a lookout spot on top of a nearby mountain. The goal was watching stars/seeing a shooting star.

We got to the lookout and we all decided that laying down was the best option to watch stars. 
Somehow I ended up near Gentleman Friend's feet, like a foot below them. Not overly close or whatnot.
Anyway, so he saw me there and said something like "you could put your head on my feet, if you wanted to...?" [I think it's important to note that at this point GF is wearing pearly white slip-on Vans - would be super obvious if they were dirty. They were not dirty. Dirty shoes=opposite of Gentleman Friend]
So I did. 
And we all watched the stars for probably an hour, me with my head on his feet. It was actually comfy, much better than the ground! hahahaha




Honey packet:

At camp, someone always had to stay up with the horses during lunch because they were usually saddle+tied up = safety hazard to leave them alone.
Usually the person to stay was me. That way I kind of got my alone-time in [at camp you're basically around people 24/7 which is hard on an introvert!! haha] and I got to take care of any loose ends that might need taking care of.

So that particular day, Gentleman Friend had intended to come up and take photos of that day's "Horse Club". However, he got caught up in other things and couldn't make it for the actual club - he showed up probably 3 minutes before the club was about to end. [time is important to me...him, not as much. hahaha]
Anyway, so after the kids left, me and him started talking and talking and talking. Finally it was probably 10 minutes AFTER the lunch bell had rung and the last of my "Assistant Wranglers" [I was the Head Wrangler] to be in the barn pretty much dragged GF away. He did not want to go - not sure what was so special about that day that he wanted to stay so bad...I still don't know, but he wasn't going to get lunch if he didn't head down.

So they all left. And I had my time.

About an hour later, my assistant wranglers returned. After they had been back for a while, one of them was like "Oh! ___GF___ told me to give this to you!" and pulled a honey packet out of her bag [it was cornbread/chili day]. "He told me to say that he found your name tag" [at camp it was this big joke to give people packets of things and say that they dropped their name tags...implying that the receivers name is "honey" or "sugar" or whatever]
Later on, at dinner, I tried to thank him for "finding my name tag" and he acted really awkward about it. I, because I am thoroughly oblivious, thought he was joking and thanked him for "making me laugh so hard"...yeah, after his reaction I no longer thought he was super joking. :lol:
But really, you can't blame me tooooo much - at camp I was surrounded by girls who knew I liked him but were constantly warning me that he was a heartbreaker and that "no matter how much you think he likes you, 99% chance he doesn't". Mostly it was just because he IS good-looking and very friendly, I think. It's easy to get the wrong impression. Heck a girl that he literally HIDES from thought he actually really liked her. :rofl: But me and him, we're genuine friends now!
Not to mention the fact that the summer I met him, he went from saying that he was absolutely never getting married to saying that he was 100% definitely getting married...and asking me about how long I would have to know someone before I married them. Connection? I don't know. :lol: [don't even ask about what I told him as an answer to that question, we can just know that I am an IDIOT. :rofl: And all this *waves hand around in air* is probably due to what I told him, if something is indeed "happening" here]

I still have that honey packet too. ))) I didn't even know I had saved it until I was looking through an old bag of mine and discovered it!! I freaked out. haha
Keepin' it forevvvvver.


Daisies:

One day I was having a really hard day at camp. It was just all around the worst. I was exhausted, I felt like GF liked his "Photo Helper" more than me [she had a boyfriend who she's now married to...but a jealous heart is in the soul of Wallaby. :/], the horses were being spazzes. you know the deal.
Anyway, so GF and photo helper girl came up to take pictures of cabin rides. I was swamped with rides to lead so I really only got to wave "hi" at them, and ride off.

They were at the barn all afternoon but it was just ride after ride, never got a chance to really connect. The last ride came and I guess they had to leave pretty quickly to go do other pictures = never got to say bye for that afternoon. 

After I got back from the final ride, we got the horses all taken care of, and after all that, one of my assistant wranglers pulled 3 giant daisies out of the tack room. 
She said "____GF___ and __Photo_Helper__ left these here for us, one for each of us!" [there were three wranglers, myself included, that week - usually 4]. "__Photo_Helper__ said __GF__ had the idea!!"
:happydance:

I never asked him about it but daisies are my all time favorite flower, so optimistic and joyful!! And he knows that... In any case, he always gets warm and fuzzy when I mention to him about the daisies. 

And, other adorable thing, those were the first -and, I guess, only- flowers a gentleman has ever been involved in giving me.  He doesn't know that part! haha

Anyhoo, I had a Coca-Cola bottle that made a good vase. I actually dried them with the intention of saving them..but they got lost in the "Last Day of Camp" shuffle. 

Plus side, I got a nice photo of them!!














Ok, are you guys all absolutely SICK from the adorableness? Seriously. I about am!! haha

And some photos. Just Mr Fabs and Mr Skippy. Nothing really special. But I did take my camera today! So quality-wise, we're in business! haha

"Hrgggghhhh! My name is Fabio and I can make faces toooooo!"











Mr. Skip. He's such a jerk. haha But really. He hates me...but not. He just likes to have my arm in his mouth at all times. THE WORST. Too bad he's so cute!











:happydance:
Hopefully you all recover from that sweetness overload!! :wink:


----------



## Roperchick

Ohmygod cavity from all the sweetness! Haha. Love the stories

And glad Lacey is getting better too!


----------



## Skyseternalangel

That shoe pillow story is so adorable, eeeeeee

I had warm fuzzies just reading about it!!


----------



## Wallaby

<3 <3 <3

And for funnsies, for those of you who I don't have on FB, a video of Mr. Atti learning about waving "bye-bye"

This is only his fourth session ever really working on this so he's still really learning. Actually last night was the first time he had ever waved without being tied up! ["waving" started as his "please let me off my leash, I am done with breakfast!! DO YOU SEE ME."-thing so I started training for this with him tied = easier]

He's super scary smart! haha


----------



## Roperchick

yessssssss!!!








I. LOVE. THIS. GOAT.

that is all


----------



## Wallaby

Laughing SO hard, RC!! :rofl:

I love him too! He's a major handful a lot of the time but he's just SO COOL too! I've wanted a dog for yearrrrrrs so I could teach it all manner of tricks...God gave me a goat instead. :rofl:
I'm just so glad that I got him young-ish and started training him from the beginning. Otherwise, with how big and how sassy he is.......I'd be dead. haha



Just a little life thought for right now:
A 'friend' of mine on Facebook [we were friends in middle school so I added her and now....I guess she reminds me of what I'm not missing with the life I have. Make me sound mean, I think...but you guys understand, right?] just posted a picture of her own face with the caption of "No make up on, that's when your the prettiest"
........and she's OBVIOUSLY wearing mascara and eyeliner. EYELINER. Not even pretending to not be wearing makeup. 

I laughed until I cried.

But really, I don't think she realizes at all that she's pretty without other people thinking she's pretty or without the affirmation of some guy she met somewhere. And that makes my heart hurt. 

Still. Funniest thing all night.


----------



## Roperchick

Its so weird to me that some girls kind of "hide" behind their makeup.


I went my whole life WITHOUT it and now I feel awkward with it lol.



Seriously though....I love that goat....

I think when you, Maggie and I have our adventure whatever....Atti may have to come lol


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## Skyseternalangel

Yep.. even without makeup on.. there are still remanants of it on yo' face for days, lol!

Silly.. 

But yeah I'd love to meet Mr. Atticus, and Lacey and everyone in your crew.


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## Wallaby

Right? Makeup is weird stuff. I used to wear cover-up [I have that kind of skin where under my eyes gets REALLY dark if I don't get 9hrs of sleep] and mascara allllll the time. Now, not so much. hahaha
I do wear cover up on Sunday though. Gotta look "nice" 'for' Gentleman Friend!! Even though he's seen me at camp where I made no secret of the fact that I generally showered once during the week.....really, who has TIME to shower when you're constantly doing stuff? :rofl: And I hid it well! Just kept my hair up in a bun and washed my bangs in the sink everyday, not to mention that I usually changed my clothes twice a day - always at least after coming down from the horses! [that was the problem - take a shower in the morning = immediately get horse-dirty, take a shower at night? Who has time? Sleep>shower]

Anyway, this is probably going to be a long installment. I've been having quite the week. Not really terrible, just exhausting. 

Lacey is doing great! Her eyes are all back to normal, that ointment seems to have been just the ticket! Thannnnk goodness. I was really worried.
I think that's part of what's making today hard. A woman I admire, who's actually on this forum, just lost a older mare who's really important to her over colic. And another friend, a former member of the HoFo, lost an older gelding [I think he was 24] about 6 months ago to EPM. Both of those horses were SO important to their owners and they had only gotten to have 3-4 years together. 
Here I am with Lacey [who is older than both of those horses by at least 4 years], after 5 years together, scared to death over her eyes..only to have her pull through so well over and over. 
I'm not complaining, at allllll, but really. What makes me or Lacey so special that we get to recover from the pain, while those sweet women have to learn to live with the holes in their hearts?
I can't imagine life without my dear LaceyLace but why do other have to suffer while we have joy?
I guess that's life though, there's always someone suffering and there's always someone living joy.

Hrmph.

In any case, when the vet came out on Monday, she actually said that she felt like Lacey would be an excellent canidate for eye removal if that ever became necessary and that she "didn't see Lacey leaving us anytime soon". She did mention about Lacey's melanomas [due to Lacey's gray-ness, she has more than her fair share of melanomas. Plus side: gray horses with external melanomas typically have fewer on the inside while gray horses without external melanomas are more likely to have deadly ones on the inside. Lacey has a ton on the outside] and cautioned me that with her coloring, we're more likely to lose her to colic or a similar issue than anything else.
I think Miss Lace might have one in her throat somehow since she does choke upon occasion, never badly + have never needed the vet to get it passed, but I think one might be there. In any case, they aren't causing her any trouble now!
But the vet think she could keep going for quite a while more.  Hello 40 year old Lacey!! I told Lacey, when I first got her, that I would like to her to live to be in my wedding and live until she teaches my kiddos to ride, or live until she's 40. She can go whenever she wants after we hit either or both of those markers. Obviously, I'd love for her to live forever but you know Heaven might need a Unicorn sometime..........

Other funny story: the other day Lacey and Atti were investigating some bags of alfalfa pellets and Triple Crown 30% that I was bringing down to the shed. Atti must have felt that Lacey overstepped her bounds because he headbutted her IN THE FACE!!! Lacey immediately backed off, too! Like Atti's the most dominant one of crew! WHAT. WHEN did this happen!!!?? Me no likey!
[am I grateful those horns have tennis balls attached to them or am I grateful!!]


In Fabio news, he is doing SOOOOOOO wellllll!!!!!!!!!!! Like SO SO *SO *well. He is so smart!
He seems to really be enjoying his daily lunging sessions and he's actually starting to lose weight too.
We used him for one girl on Tuesday, two kids on Wednesday, and one id on Thursday - each day better than the last!
I think I told you guys about his "tell" - the head shaking, which progresses to neck shaking, which progresses to a full body shake? So on Tuesday he did his typical head-neck-body shake thing. Then, on Wednesday, he head-neck shook during the ride but waited until after the kids had gone inside to do a full body shake. THEN, on Thursday, he barely neck shook, just a little head shaking, and didn't EVER body shake!!
The other impressive thing is that during the first Wednesday ride and the Thursday ride, he had moments of nervousness where he could have spooked, but he didn't. He kept it under wraps and didn't do hardly any shaking. I'm just all around really proud of the boy. And they had basically written him off as a therapy horse = HAH. He just needed some confidence!

With him though, I keep finding the most interesting mentality. I'm sure this is what's held him back - he was apparently rather neglected when the therapy place bought him and noooooo one seems to be able to let go of that. Every time I talk about him, I get this whole story about how "when he first came in, he really did not look good and he was so frightened of everything. We nevvvver thought he would turn around!" etc etc etc. 
Drives me a bit nuts - do horses live in the past? NO. Should we train the horse based on it's past or present? Present!!!! Should we baby the horse because it had a hard past life? HECK NO. And on. 
He's no longer bothered by his past and he's certainly not starving so.....

He's really such a great horse. He's really extraordinarily responsive. I just basically have to change how I look at hm to get him to stand still or move off. Don't even really have to move, he's that in tune. I just love it! It makes him so easy to work with. But that also means he needs really careful handling because he is allll over the energy I'm putting out before I even realize what I'm sending. So I can see how he was hard to work with, I don't blame anyone really. 

Lacey forced me to figure out how to send out what I want, instead of sending out what I'm feeling, and Mr. Fabs is helping me figure out out to control that! I have probably a 3rd grade level of understanding on the subject of energy projection and Fabs needs like a High School level. I'll get there! haha 
And not in a froofy way like some of those NH trainers say - in a true, primal, soul way. Sharing my soul with the horse and having him/ her share it back. I like to think of it like a convection current - I send what I want to the horse and a sensitive, open, horse will send it back to me to complete the circle. 
It takes some horses much longer than others, it seems like trust+respect is the first building block, but my theory is that pretty much every horse will eventually do it and that pretty much every horse wants that connection. I could certainly be wrong but it's worked so far.

Anyway, weird Wallaby-Training confusion of the day. We can call that Game 1: The Convection Game. :rofl:

In any case, Fabio is doing great and I'm having so much fun with him. He really wants to please and he's super tuned in to me = THE FUNNEST. And have I mentioned that he's a really pretty horse? :wink:
I'm hoping to try free-lunging him next week = photo timeeee. 


[oh yeah, "Young Buck" kid -good name, RC!!- brought me cookies AND a fruit roll up this week. I had to work with him 2 days last week. I'm super bummed that he's such a kind of creep, he's one of those people that I just get along with super well=bummer, those people are rare and fun. I'm keeping up with the "I am NOT interested" discussion topics and he seems to be getting the picture a little. Still overly "friendly" though. I guess I can be flattered. He offered to move my hay for me this winter and darn it, I had to say no! Stop creeping cuz I don't want to have to move my own hay, kid!!! :rofl:]

And that, I think, is all for now!

And some pictures:

Fabs.










"Hey guys, look at my free-walk! #dressagemaster"
I reallllly like his conformation - uphill build with those "Golden Triangle" booty angles!!










And I found this cute picture of Mr. Atticus and Lacey last winter. Atti was such a baby still!!










:happydance:

I hope you guys are all doing well!! <3


----------



## Roperchick

I have a feeling Miss Lacey is going to be here for a very very very log time. especially with all the A+ care and attention you put into her health and well-being (physical and mental lol):wink:

I wouldn't worry too much about the melanoma issue. yes it is an issue but Im confident that if it does become in issue then you and your vet will be on top if it before it can. my grey arab gelding lived with internal/external melanomas for 17+ years. 
the throat one...maybe a little worrisome but if you go to my journal thread and look at the gray TB mare there (gracey) she has a huge melanoma in her throat which her old owner said has been there for over ten years and doesn't hinder her breathing or eating/swallowing minus a little choke on the rare blue moon. but again its just vigilance

soooo glad Fabs is doing so well with you. and congrats on getting him through his past few experiences with students! that's so awesome. I think that some people (especially rescue volunteers etc who are extra sensitive and emotional?(cant think of a better word)) can just get so wrapped up in how a horse WAS or was treated or how they looked BEFORE rehab that even now when a horse is back to 100% they still have the image of how the horse was before. and they anthropomorphize (sp?) its harder for some (especially non-horsey knowledgable peeps) to remember that horses ARE NOT human. they don't think the way we do. they don't react the way we do. so= Glad you are there to kind of keep it in perspective lol


haha young buck. 
some kids just really need a more clear/blunt wakeup call that you are NOT interested. I had one friend who was like a puppy to me until I bluntly put it o him that im not rolling with this...then we got back to good friends. its a science...men.

so....sorry this post was so long but im like super hyper and yeah. 
to wrap this all up.....

ITS THE WEEKEND! go hang with Gentleman friend and your gang of four legged peeps.


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## Wallaby

Totes agree, RC!! 


OH MY GOSH. GUYS. I went up to feed everybody breakfast this morning and discovered Lacey laying down, taking a little nap. So I went over to her, expecting her to get up, and she didn't!! She let me sit down next to her and pet her for a while. She even rested her head on the ground behind me and sighed. <3 <3 <3 SO CUTE.
I've never gotten to sit next to her and pet her while she's laying down before! She alwayssss gets up/I rarely see her laying down. This makes me so happy!!

Then I got up because the goats were clamoring for breakfast, and Lacey stayed laying down! Then she rolled luxuriously and got up.  But she didn't feel like she had to get up because I did! Such a good morning. 





























HOW CUTE IS SHE. 

:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## grayshell38

Maybe tell your young suitor that you do not at all date at work?


----------



## tinyliny

do you carry your camera with your EVERYWHERE?


----------



## Wallaby

Good idea, Megan! I'm thinking that on Tuesday I might try to find a way to tactfully say that his behavior is making me uncomfortable. He claims to be some kind of gentleman and if he truly is, he'll respect that! I'm not holding my breath but you know.

Haha Caroline! Nah, but I do take my phone with me pretty much wherever I go [especially up to the pasture so I don't have to run all the way home if something is wrong] and it has an acceptable camera on it!  I guess it does kind of look like I constantly have a camera attached to me, doesn't it? haha



GUYS. 
So I saw Mr. GMan tonight. 1. He is SO cute. Really. I like his face.
2. He missed me.  And he said that the 2 weeks we hadn't seen each other "felt like forever" - prior to about 2 months ago, we saw each other maaaaybe once every 6 months!! :rofl: Somebody's getting attached! Somebody's getting attached!!
3. In passing through to another conversation topic, he reminded me of his own "abandonment-anxiety issues" = hate that he has them too, love that we both feel similarly on the subject of getting close to someone and NEVER LETTING THEM LEAVE. :lol: 
I knew this about him, a long time ago when I told him that he could count on me never stopping being his friend and he reiterated it to me..but that was a long time ago.
4. He wanted to know how things were going with "Young Buck"...ok, name change: "Work Creep"..since I had told him about this kid when he first started being toooooooo friendly. 
I told him about Work Creep's latest escapades with the food+offer to move hay and Gentleman Friend's response was "I am going to PUNCH that kid in the face. Tell him that, please." <--Gentleman Friend is about as non-violent as they come. Not to mention that I think I've seen him mad all of once. And he wants to punch Work Creep. teeheehee!!
5. ^THAT was after I awkwardly told Gentleman Friend about how I had made 'us' into kind of a big deal to Creep, since I could "make it seem real and talk about us a lot."
Mr. GMan's response to what the average guy would probably reasonably be freaked out by? "PLEASE do that! Tell him whatever you want about us! I love it." He didn't even skip a beat after I told him! haha
6. I told him about how Creep was trying really hard to get me to hug him on his birthday and about how I refuse since "I don't hug just anyone!!"
When GF had to leave [he really 'shirked' on his duties tonight :wink: - showed up to talk to me at 5:40, didn't leave until 6:00 when he was suppppposed to have been back downstairs at 5:50! haha], we stood up to hug, I gave him a hug, and he basically danced away crowing "I got a hug! I'm not just anyone! I got a hug!!!" And then he reminded me to tell Creep about his face-punch threat. :lol:
He is TOOOO cute. Oh. My. WORD. :rofl:

Conclusion: there really is something here....OR we're like way way closer to being BFFFFFFFFFs than I thought. :rofl:

Anyway, tonight...today was wonderful.


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## Roperchick

hahaha that is awesome!^^^

hey a good relationship should start with an epic friendship right?? (or something like that)

I like work creep much better....young buck was acceptable when he was just....a young buck....sounds like hes officially switched categories into creeper status.


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## Wallaby

Truuue story! We can hope. I think, personally of course, that we could have something really good. Maybe not, maybe we're too the same...but maybe our same-ness is perfect. I mean, it makes us perfect friends! haha And in any case, a wonderful friend is pretty priceless.

Speaking of warm fuzzies, THEY DIDN'T STOP.
I don't know where this kind of kindness came from because usually we're "we know we appreciate each other"-friends and we pretty much never talk about any kind of feelings. Life feelings or otherwise. 
However, I sent him a pretty normal text after church [I usually do, as sort of a "I thought of these things during church+would tell you if you were with me" thing. It seems friendly and right.] and he went all thoughtful on me. WHAT IS HAPPENING.




















Emily=Queen of Awkward Responses. Smoooooth operator over here.
Also, like that joke? I about died from laughing when I heard it! hahaha

But SEE??! This guy. [I had to show you the real texts because almost too much to be real! haha]
Seriously, I don't deserve this level of caring. REALLY. He's the best.


hkjchsvniureghirnvwibvgw Gentleman-Friend-Palooza! We will return to our regularly scheduled, HORSE-RELATED, programming shortly. :wink:

:happydance:


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## paintsrule

It me it seems like that relationship is right around the corner!


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## Wallaby

We'll see! Sommmmething certainly feels like it's happening! *fingers crossed* 
And he is going to see his best friend in all the world next week=who knows what'll happen when he comes back. He seems to depend very heavily on the opinions of his close guy friends prior to making any kind of decision and the fact that he's being like this leading up to going to see that friend? Well, I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch BUT REALLY.
We'll see. 
AND, a few days ago, I mentioned that my birthday was in a month...since it is [September 20, ya'll!]...and he was already aware of this. WAT.  Again, no wanting to count chickens, but he knew already!!!!! :happydance:



On the horse front: I forgot to take Lacey's weekly Remission photo this week...maybe it'll have to be every 2 weeks. 
She and the kiddos all say hi!
Funny+concerning story: so you guys remember how I was telling you about Atti dominating Lacey away from "his" food by headbutting her in the face?
Last night I hung up a haynet for her/them to share since it's been raining every night lately and the grass in the main pasture is starting to look a little thin [it's basically 'burning' off because the sun gets so hot everyday and there's very little shade for it]. They don't really neeeed hay but I figured it was the nice thing to do. ANYWAY.
Atticus saw Lacey start eating from the haynet, lept over to her, and started flailing his horns around in, what looked to be, an attempt to shove her off her HAY. WHY GOAT, WHY.
This makes me sad+mad. He's not supposed to be a jerk to Lacey!!
Thankfully, she was completely unimpressed by his maneuvers and just continued eating her hay. Seriously though. He needs to stop. 
They will DEFINITELY be separated overnight again this winter!! I had thought about just combining the stalls, with the goat area still sort of separated [there's a strip of non-electrified electric tape separating Lacey's stall from the goat area - Lacey doesn't even think of going through it! haha]...but no. That is definitely not going to happen. Goats are going to be on their side, Lacey on her side.
HRRMMPH.
Jerk goat! He needs a kiss with a fist! :wink: No, he needs a sassy horse to show him to the boss is. Fabio, perhaps? :rofl:
"Guys, I think Fabs needs a vacationnnnnn...at my house."


In Fabio news, he did really great today!! A little sassy with today's rider but I don't think I lunged him for nearly long enough. Work Creep was watching me lunge him and that made me nervous since I'm used to doing my own thing and not having people watch me. haha
Anyway, yeah. I don't think he was lunged enough. Or, really, I don't think his brain was engaged enough while I lunged him.
On the bright side, we threw frisbees allllll around him, even accidentally hit him with one, and got very little reaction! I even had Work Creep sit on Fabs and drop 15 frisbees on to Fabs's rear....all at once! Fabs flinched very minimally at that but this is a bolt-y horse so the fact that he didn't bolt? Perfect. We repeated that exercise until he stopped being really flinchy about it. He was still uncomfortable [head up, very tuned in] but it was an improvement!
When we [freaking Work Creep] bonked him with the frisbee IN THE EAR, poor Fabs shot his head up in the air...but didn't move an inch. I was SOOO proud. I could have done a :happydance: right then and there. SO much improvement from just a few weeks ago!! 
The whole time while we did this, I was totally hands off on Fabs too! 
I think I told you guys about that but I've found that for desensitizing, Fabio is better being disconnected from me. He feeds hardcore off my energy so anytime I'm holding him, he'll be acting calm _because_ I'm holding him, not because he's necessarily genuinely ok with the goings on around him. And since the goal is actual desensitization, we achieve it better+more quickly if I ask him to stand somewhere, then leave him there.
Of course, in real therapy, toys are [at most] only really going to be gently thrown by therapists to kids, then thrown off Fabs by kids [rarely, usually they're set on to barrels/playground equipment]. There's very little dropping of the toys and the horse is very very rarely hit. The goal is to not hit the horse! haha But my hope is to get him ok with the "worst case scenario" stuff so that the normal stuff is crazy easy and not scary in the least. 

Anyway, he did great. My boss was practically beside herself when I told her what we had done with Fabs today! haha But really, all it is is a matter of projecting confidence. Where she's "good boy"-ing and "it's ok"-ing all over the place, I'm acting completely unworried - even if I'm terrified out of my skin. Just a matter of projecting confidence. And it's all thanks to Lacey. Without that ol' horse, I'd still have no idea that "faking it til' you make it" actually works on horses, if you have a plan! :lol:


:happydance: :happydance:


Also, a random picture I found on the internet that makes me pretty much cry laughing every time I see it.
It's from a TV show from the 90's called 'Freaks And Geeks' - fun fact, that kid, now grown up, is "Lance Sweets" on 'Bones'.
This is pretttty much the story of my life. But I love new friends! Just hate having to keep up with allllll of them. :lol: First world problems. I like meeting people, I guess that's the way to put it.


----------



## Wallaby

Three pictures and not a whole lot to say.

Today was kind of not the greatest - I had a migraine alllllll day, had to work, and 3 of the 4 horses were being huge jerks. Fabs, of course, was super good...but the other 3. >.< 
The other three have been allowed to get away with sooo much junk for so long without consistent 'laws' that they are just...AH. Makes me want to tear my hair out. 
Fabs, on the other hand, got very little work before I showed up so he doesn't have nearly the ingrained habits the others do.
Not to mention that the previous horse handler basically taught the horses that she had to be carrying a "carrot stick"-type stick for her to be taken seriously. Instead of actually getting on their cases for doing things, like biting while a child is riding, she would "let them run into the stick". Which is all fine and good, except for the part where it doesn't work. I imagine it probably does in the 'real' world but it's ended up that I literally have to slap the horses in the face whenever they bite because a pop with the halter means nothing. Ok, actually, a pop with the halter means "fight back".
Making me SUPER aggravated. One of the horses, Buddy, was actually lunging -open mouthed- to bite my stomach today while I was leading him. SO not ok.
Sosososo frustrating. And of course, I started getting frustrated which didn't help.
They never even THINK of behaving in these ways when there's not a kid on their back, but once the kids go on... And I'm not supposed to really get after them while a child is riding because, well, a kid is riding them! 

I am going to LOSE MY MIND tomorrow. :rofl:
I'm going to try carrying a small crop and popping them on the chest tomorrow - it won't be going for the face like they're used to so it won't be reinforcing that, maybe it won't be disruptive to the kid, and maybe it'll actually work. Fingers crossed.

Plus side: I think we have 6 kids tomorrow and 2 of those kids ride Mr. Fabs. Unlike the 8 kids we had today, with 2 on Fabs. 
Fabs is also having some biting issues but he's not actually trying to make contact - if I just ignore him and remind myself to breathe, he 'magically' starts to behave again. Pretty much whenever I forget to breathe, he starts being a snot. It's a good reminder!! haha

Mr. Fabio:










I think he's losing some weight/getting more muscley!!










Lacey, on the other hand, is being wonderful...as always. I'm hoping to be able to fit in a ride on her tomorrow....I'm not sure how/when but I need one and I think she probably would like an outing.
I LOVE that I can come home to a horse that's trained exactly how I want and who I don't really need to chastise or get after. She really is a wonderful old girl. 












:happydance: :happydance:

I hope you all are doing superbly!!


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## Roperchick

aaaaw migraines suck! im sorry

lesson horses= the least fun to have to retrain every time they're used. I feel your pain!!! hahaha. fabs and lacey are looking gorgeous of course!


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## Skyseternalangel

Ohhh I can feel your frustration from here, Emily.

Nothing worse than spoiled rotten intelligent lesson horses. They KNOW when you can't discipline them and they will use that time to get you!

Best thing to do? Pop a volunteer/worker on them instead of a kid... if they do anything stupid, correct them. The volunteer can handle the reaction of the horse better than a kid. Just make sure that it's OK with the director of the facility 

I'm so happy you have Lacey lou.. she's exactly the calm welcome home you need after a pressing/trivial workday!


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## Wallaby

Thanks you two! :hug:

At least for now it seems like I've found a method of correction that works for the horses and works for me: carrying a little crop, just long enough that I can carry it in my 'active' hand, and I can just smack them on the shoulder or chest as needed. Today it wasn't disruptive at all and after a few pops, both Skippy and Buddy stopped being poo-faces! They continued to try little stuff but they were soundly corrected each time and by the time rides were done for the day, they had totally stopped even trying!!  :happydance:

Of course, in the case of Skippy, this improvement came at the cost of his respect in EVERY OTHER AREA but we'll get there. :rofl: That horse is dumber than a box of rocks [those hay feeder-bags with the single large hole? Turn the hole towards a wall and he'll start having a cow about "not having food"...even if he turned the bag himself.] but he's persistent!! haha

Fabs, on the other hand, came up mildly lame today. ((((( His hooves were pretty thrushy when I checked them and he's in need to a trim [these poor horses, you would be APPALLED at the shoeing jobs they each have. It's horrific.] so I sprayed them with ACV to hopefully get some of that thrush. We've also just made the "Fall Switch" from hot sunny weather EVERYDAY to rain on a near daily basis at some point during the day = perfect conditions for an abscess.
So I'm not toooo worried. His legs didn't show an heat and it was just a very mild little head bob at the trot to the left coupled with a mild distaste for movement. Nothing major at all. I'm betting+hoping he'll be all better by Tuesday. 
*fingers crossed*
Founder is a concern with him, but there was no heat so I don't think that's it.

While assessing the sir's lameness:










And my personal cutie, this morning: 










I'm SO excited about Lacey's weight right now!! She is literally perfect. Not fat, not thin, just ideal. I LOVE IT!!
She such a sweet pony too. Gah, I just love how easy she is to work with. It's such a breath of fresh air after these therapy horses who I have to get after and get after and get after. I think I have to get after Miss Lace like.....once every month?? And even that seems improbable. haha! She's a gem. 



On the Gentleman Friend front, brace yourselves, he was sweet again. 
First, he told me some story on Monday, I had a story to share on Tuesday, and yesterday there was nothing..except 2 "likes" on Facebook. :lol: Today I was all "huh, I hope he's going to text me today" around lunchtime...I pulled out my phone, and I had JUST gotten a text from him! :lol:
And all it was was to make sure he had told me that he wasn't going to be at church on Sunday. Which we had already covered like 40 times last Sunday. 

And eventually we got around to Mr. Gman thinking that Fabio would jump through flaming hoops if I asked him to. :rofl: He seriously overestimates my level of awesome. hahaha

Also, I think I may have narrowed down the change in behavior [to being more openly 'snuggly'] we are witnessing: last Saturday, about the time this started, I posted something on Facebook about my personality type...just for funnsies. He 'liked' it and, since he's an adorable NERD, I can almost guarantee he read it.
And in this thing, it talked all about how my personality type is pretty much the opposite of comfortable with our emotions. And that any kind of effort at showing affection should be taken really seriously. Which is really super true. I feel a lot but does it come out? Pshhhh, NO.

Then, as you know, the next day after that we went all gooshy with the "I'm praying for you" and "the blessing is mutual" and "I think you're super great" stuff which is basically not at all anything like how his normal, average, behavior pattern is. 

Maybe he wasn't sure how I felt and didn't want to impose...but now that he realizes that my baby-small efforts are really kind of a big deal....? haha We'll see!
He's an overthinker too.
I appreciate this. 

You guys should hear this kid, you ask him about his life plan and he's all "Well, in a year I want to do this, in 2 years I'll be doing this, in 10...blah, blah, blah...but! I don't want to do THAT until this happens because I don't want ___ to think ____ and that'd be sketchy, but maybe I should do it now? I'll just tell ___ that ___ isn't true. But what if they don't believe me? What do you think? Wouldn't ___ be so awesome? Should I even care what ___ says about it?" 
He has an entire plan for getting married too: he plans on knowing the girl for a while, being friends, then dating for under a year, then being engaged for under a year...but maybe close to a year.. since "the wedding has to be AWESOME", and then getting married. 
I guess it's this whole mindset, one that I had never heard until I met him, where you should be friends for long enough to know whether the other person is someone you would want to marry, and the short dating/engagement time is to help the relationship stay physically pure [since anything more than kissing really is thought of as "marriage stuff"]. I'm on board with all of that but it's pretty adorable to me. I had never met anyone who felt so strongly about that until I met him! haha I never even knew that^ was an option! But I kind of love it. 
But anyway, so according to that "chart", if this were to become "real"...well...watch out world! :rofl:

This level of overthinking = HILARIOUS. 
We are two peas in a pod. 




ANYHOO. I hope you all are doing absolutely wonderfully!! :happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Paintsrule got an avatar! What is happening!??? :wink:


Gah, today already feels like it's taken forevvver. Mostly because I've been incredibly effective with my time. But now I'm tired! haha

First, they called me into work this morning. Apparently my boss had planned to ask if I could work today...and forgot to ask me. haha She's been super super busy this week [we had a site evaluation for a grant she's hoping to get, she's still trying to find someone to do my job when I go back to school on September 30th, AND she's doing all her therapist duties too! I don't know how she's surviving] so it's not a big deal that she forgot. Anyway, I was free so I went into work. 
I've worked EIGHTY hours this month!! After living on $15, maybe $30, a week for the last 2 years...I don't even know WHAT I'm going to do with these paychecks!! haha Like, I'll 'have to' save some cuz I have absolutely no where to spend it! :rofl: I love the idea of, for the first time in my life, having $$ wiggle-room! I cannot wait. 

Anyway, 80 hours!

So I went to work. 
And guess what? When Mr. Fabs saw me, did he run like he sometimes does or ignore me like he does the other half of the time? NO. HE NICKERED!!!!! AND walked up to me!!!!!!! :happydance: :happydance: I love you toooooo, pony!!
It was so exciting! haha
We had 2 kids come, then we had an hour long break. I decided to lunge Fabio since he seemed like he wanted to be worked with, then we went for a walk in the parking lot, and then I rode him a tad.
I lunged him and he might have been the littlest bit off still, but it wasn't obvious like yesterday... It also went away when I shooed him out into a bigger circle. 
I did notice, however, that he seems really really stiff on his left side. So I'm wondering if that's contributing to the head bob - he tenses up and normal movements look jerky? I don't know. His left side has typically been his "bad" side though so I don't know.










Anyway, I decided to hop on him a little bit and work on him with leg contact. I brought that rope sidepull of Lacey's, but it was in my car. Ooops, guess we had to walk down to my car!! :lol: 
I think it's really good for him to go walking through the parking lot. He doesn't have to usually so it's a 'different' yet safe place for him to look at things.

He got to park with the cars. Poor guy. :wink:










He even backed out. :wink:

Then I hopped on a rode for a couple of minutes. We just did a figure eight in one barn, with the goal being him moving off my leg at all and, in a perfect world, putting his ears up while this is happening. He HATES any and all leg contact. It's so weird, you can touch his sides on the ground without any issues but I can't express how much he hates it undersaddle.
He really seems to be just waiting for me to really goose him or do something else painful with my legs. I don't know how to explain it otherwise.

Anyway, we just did a little figure-eight. I didn't push him for a perfect shape [only using one leg at a time, both together at this point cases a "I AM going to buck!"-style meltdown], I just wanted to get him realizing that my legs are communicating with him...not punishing him. And it only took him about 10 minutes to figure it out! 
He started turning off my leg only, with very minimal rein guidance, but his ears were still pinned to his head. After about 5 more minutes of just going around, switching which side my leg was touching, you know the drill, he actually lifted his ears just slightly. They were still "snarly" ears, but they weren't flat back-snaky ears. So I accepted that and hopped right off.
That seemed to really make an impression on him because for the next hour, he was a lot more *****-eared vs his usual "ears back" thing. He spends a whole lot of time with his ears pretty flat back, even when he's not necessarily mad. 
I'm explaining it as him "having a lot of thoughts and an expressive face" which is probably half of it, but I think the other half might be something in his past that taught him that people are mostly not enjoyable. 
Or maybe it was just the people at this therapy place who've taught him that! I mean, one girl "got him to accept people bumping him with their legs by bumping him constantly and not letting him get mad or run!!" OH. MY. GOSH. NOOO. Maybe you'd survive/not cause damage doing that to the average QH but not to the average Arabian!!! OH MY WORD. Way to try and DIE. :lol: Apparently she survived but REALLY.

Anyway, we had quite the successful ride today!

THEN, we had our last kid, and were done with that for the day. I went home, got some lunch, and manned-up to take Lacey on a ride. Riding two horses in one day is not really where my current level of fitness is! haha I ride maaaaaybe once a week, more probably once every 2 weeks so my riding muscles are sort of dead. I think I'm going to try riding Fabs more though, today was so successful that if we have that kind of success for 3 days in a row, I think he would be over his issue in no time! And then, hello hitting the trails! [cuz really, don't reallllly want to take a horse out who's liable to freak if you use leg. HAH.]

Anyway, hit the trails with Lacey. The goats were HUGE pains in the neck though. They BOTH escaped to wait for us outside the fence. >.< NOT FUNNY. Anyway, next time I think I'm just going to do it and tie Atticus in the shed+lock Hazel in the goat pen. I don't like the idea of tying him up unsupervised but I guarantee he'll escape the goat pen if I just leave him loose in there and this leaving the pasture to 'wait' for me and Lacey thing is getting out of hand. On the flip side, one time I tied him for the evening and apparently forgot to untie him...so he was tied in the morning when I went to feed. :shock:  I felt TERRIBLE but he was 100% fine. 
1 hour<overnight. And really, there's pretty much no way for him to hang himself or anything else. I should probably do a ten-fifteen minute test run before actually going on a ride.

Anyway, Lacey and I had a really nice ride. The woods smell wonderful this time of year and she was REALLY happy to be out. I think we did like 4 canter sets, and one gallop, where usually she's happy to stick with one canter! 










We found a neat caterpillar!! 












And that is all for today! I hope you guys are doing super well!
:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Oh oh! I completely spaced that I had taken a picture of Buddy for you guys today!! haha He's such a big lug. Makes me laugh...when he's not being a jerk. 
Also, apparently he's a Belgian/Fjord cross. What a strange cross! But he's the sturdiest horse I have evvvvver seen.










And, because I can, the sunset tonight was gorrrrgeous!!











:happydance:


----------



## paintsrule

Wallaby said:


> Paintsrule got an avatar! What is happening!??? :wink:


Haha, I figured I might as well! It kinda wierded me out after a while not having one. That's the horse I ride for a family, kinda like my own "Fabs", isn't mine but goodness I like him!


----------



## Roperchick

hermehgerd buddy is ADORABLE. haha *grabby hands*


----------



## Wallaby

I specifically took that photo for you, RC!! I know you have a little crush on him. :wink:
He's a big spoiled baby though. Everybody thinks he's the cutest in the world [which, goshdarnit, he IS SO CUTE] and he therefore gets away with nearly murder. Heck, he tried to murder me last week! haha
He's really good for the kids though, super slow and very chill about everrrrything. 


I'm kind of having an "ehhhh" day today. Probably mostly my fault - there's no "real" food in my house and, instead of cooking anything, I've been eating chips allll day. And you know how that makes a person feel GREAT, right? haha
and then there's the whole Gentleman Friend thing. He + lady BFF left yesterday to go see their gentleman BFF in Virginia [feel lucky Virginians!!] and, since that point, my Facebook feed has been blowing up with pictures of the three of them [they're all awesome so FB think I want to see evvverything they post..which is usually true...but...] and all this fun, interesting stuff they're doing. And I'm super excited for them that they get to see each other but there's a limit. And it's been passed. 
So now I'm into the "Poor baby me, why don't I get to do fun stuff ever?"-lame-o stage. 
Which is ridiculous because I love my life and today has been wonderful and beautiful and I get to see lovely people at church tonight and bottomline, I have absolutely every reason to be thankful.

So maybe I should go eat some real food and stay off Facebook. That sounds pretty reasonable. :lol:

In any case, I gave Lacey a bath yesterday which she LOVED. I decided to really wash her thoroughly this time, usually I sorta skimp and don't really wash her legs...you know the deal. She's already SO furry for winter right now! She's about a week early, furriness-wise. Interesting!
Also, I realized this morning that a year ago today, I met the goats. Touched my first goat ever, today a year ago!! I brought them home on September 7th, exactly a week after meeting them.
How weird is that? It's only been a year but it feels like forever and no time at all...all at the same time.

And Atticus is like twice the size he was. :rofl:

First, here's another picture of that sunset from the other night. Still not over it!! haha










Lacey and Hazel wanted their picture taken together...










But Atticus wanted in too. Both ladies said "RUDE."










And when I got home, Booth had fully DESTROYED his favorite toy. That one was the second one of those I had bought him too! He just loves them and he doesn't do a whole lot of playing on his own...except when he has one of those toys. Since I want to encourage him to play on his own, I bought him a new one after he partially destroyed the old one...think that that destroying episode was a fluke.

Yeah, it wasn't a fluke. hah!










Cats. "This toy! It just...exploded when I got near it!! I don't know what happened."


And that's all for right now.  :happydance:


----------



## Roperchick

I do have a crush on him!

I have a weak spot for big boned guys and fluffy manes! Bahahahahaha

Every bodies allowed to have a pity me day lol. But yes. Eating real food is probably a good idea


----------



## Zexious

Loving the pictures of the other furry friends


----------



## Endiku

This was totally two pages ago and stuff but can I just say that every time I see that weird tree/bush/shrub tall thing by the house I have to look at it a few times because I'm automatically like 'DINOSAURRRRR....No wait. GIRAFFE. Wallaby has a Giraffe? NOWAY' Then I realize its a bunch of leaves. Oh the disappointment...


Lacy is the cutest though, so that makes up for it.


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Wallaby said:


> I'm kind of having an "ehhhh" day today. Probably mostly my fault - there's no "real" food in my house and, instead of cooking anything, I've been eating chips allll day. And you know how that makes a person feel GREAT, right? haha
> and then there's the whole Gentleman Friend thing. He + lady BFF left yesterday to go see their gentleman BFF in Virginia [feel lucky Virginians!!] and, since that point, my Facebook feed has been blowing up with pictures of the three of them [they're all awesome so FB think I want to see evvverything they post..which is usually true...but...] and all this fun, interesting stuff they're doing. And I'm super excited for them that they get to see each other but there's a limit. And it's been passed.
> So now I'm into the "Poor baby me, why don't I get to do fun stuff ever?"-lame-o stage.
> Which is ridiculous because I love my life and today has been wonderful and beautiful and I get to see lovely people at church tonight and bottomline, I have absolutely every reason to be thankful.
> 
> So maybe I should go eat some real food and stay off Facebook. That sounds pretty reasonable. :lol: :happydance:



:-| :-( :hug:  


I know the feeling!! Just breathe and truly look at everything you have, whether it be amazing experiences, your lovable furr family, your awesome friends. 

No one I know aside from you can wake up and go on an awesome trail ride with her equally awesome horse. Heck you could probably go in your jammies!

I've figured out a long time ago.. animal lovers sacrifice other regular teenage stuff in order to be happy. But you could always save up some money and treat yourself to a mini vacation/roadtrip sometime!


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks you guys! :hug:

Hahaha, Endiku!! I think evvvveryone sees that...except me.  It's so funny, people always seems to comment on that tree [it's some kind of weird fir tree/stick/thing] and Ive never thought it was that unusual! But maybe it's becuase I see it everyday...I'm desensitized or something. haha!!

Maggie, I WISH I could go on a vay-cay-cay! However there's absolutely no one who could take care of the kiddos for me... :/ I haven't been on 'vacation'/spent the night+day away from 'them' in....3+ years? haha 
Step one: save up for a little truck+horse trailer. Step two: buy. Step three: vacation with the kiddos! 
I see your point!! And that^ is a good idea anyway. Vacation would be a great side bonus!



Today=better. Church last night was so exactly what I needed. 
It's so funny to me, I kind of go out of my way to be a bit of a loner...as in, I do a lot of thinking on my own and don't really seek other people out. Just being honest, I like a select number of people and beyond that I mostly keep to myself.
Anyway, so I kind of do that at church. I have Gentleman Friend and a close "older sister"-type friend that I see every week and that I'll actively seek out to see. 

I don't know how this happens to me, maybe it's because I have that kind of face...or something, but I'm always making new friends wherever I go. Anyway, so I was sitting there, waiting for my "older sister" to get there, before church, and this girl I've met+talked to a few times came bopping up to me out of no where, super excited to see me. So we talked for a while, then she asked if she could sit with me for the teaching. Of course I say yes.
Then my "older sister" shows up, I introduce my new friend, etc etc. THEN, some girls I met a few weeks ago and they "want me in their group because I'm funnier than them and they like to laugh" [WHY would you tell me that??...I like them but that sort of makes me feel like their 'pet' or something...] came and sat in front of "my" ladies and I.

Then, in the midst of the teaching, the teacher says something about urban farming and getting goats in his neighbor's backyard. And instantly, allll these gals are turning towards me, quietly being like "Goat Lady!! YEAH!" 

OH. DEAR. 
I don't even know how I try so darn hard to fly under the radar and fail SO BADLY alllll the time. :rofl:
Kind of the best. 

But then again, story of my life. 
So I got a good laugh out of that and was reminded about how every one wishes, at one time or another, to be "freer" than they feel they are, and that one person's conclusion of freedom can be SO different than anyone else's. AND that on a scale of 1-10, I'm pretty darn free!! I have a job I love and look forward to do, I have a wonderful horse, I have two goats, I have a CAT!! Really, if you asked middle-school-me what my life dream was, it would probably be 85% my life this second. 
Of course I would also have to be dating Orlando Bloom, to really flesh out middle-school-me's life dream...but yeah. 
Glad this isn't middle-school-me's life dream!! :lol:


Also, I got a real leather jacket today for $12 at Salvation Army. I'm kind of really really excited about it. AND for just $12!!! So SO good. :rofl: I'm gonna go all hardcore on you guys....NOT. hahaha


From last night - crossing over the Willamette [Will-Am-it...for all you out of town-ers ] out of downtown Portland:










This morning Hazel was SO asleep that she actually baah-ed in her sleep! It was THE CUTEST EVER. [lookit those LIPS! So droopy. hahaha]










And Booth. He likes being included. :wink:











:happydance:

I hope you guys are doing great!!
:happydance:


----------



## Roperchick

Wallaby said:


> Maggie, I WISH I could go on a vay-cay-cay! However there's absolutely no one who could take care of the kiddos for me... :/ I haven't been on 'vacation'/spent the night+day away from 'them' in....3+ years? haha
> Step one: save up for a little truck+horse trailer. Step two: buy. Step three: vacation with the kiddos!
> I see your point!! And that^ is a good idea anyway. Vacation would be a great side bonus!


 

I think step four: grab your leather jacket, pick up Maggie and yall go on a road trip to RC's ranch in TX!!!!!!!

hahahahah


haha there could be worse things to be known for than Goat lady lol that picture of Hazel=so stinking cute I think I could die!


----------



## Wallaby

I like your step four!! 
And yay Goat Lady! haha

Today. What happened today? I guess technically not a lot. I woke up at midnight to a thunderstorm and Booth scrabbling his way under the covers of my bed. And he kept shifting around. It was super cute but I kindaaaa wanted to sleep. Then I finally got back to sleep, only to wake up at 5am to him kitten-mewing at my bedroom door and using his paws to slam the door against the doorjamb. >.< :rofl: _Somebody_ thought it was play time+breakfast time because they survived the storm! They _needed_ congratulation. HAH. BAD cat. 

So I made him wait through an episode of Law&Order, then we got up. :lol:
Bonus to getting up ridiculously early: I was SO early to go to work. Lookin' like a great employee over here! I have to be 30ish minutes early anyway but this morning I was like an hour+fifteen minutes early. :lol:

AND I got to spend a lot of time with Lacey+the G's this morning. They approved most heartily. :hug:
Queen Lace.
[and the clouds even look kind of like lace! hardyharhar!]










She's so funny. She stood on the other side of her stall fence and waited until I walked over to her before she headed down into her stall. There's a little slope down to her stall that I think she finds a little intimidating sometimes. She likes to walk down it together. 










Then I got to work. I had all these grand plans for working with Fabs, I was going to lunge him and ride him like I did the other day. 
Too bad he apparently had some kind of conjunctivitis flare-up over the weekend and my boss took him over to her house and hadn't brought him back yet..... Poor Fabs!! I guess he saw the vet, got medicine, and is doing a whole lot better, thank goodness.
So I'm hopingggg she's planning to bring him back tomorrow. Fingers crosssed.

So that hour+15 I was early to work? Um, yeah. Spent it not doing a lot. Of course, being driven to "DO" things, I found little things to do during that time but it was nothing useful for the greater good of anyone. Just busy work-type stuff. :/
So that was sorta lame.
Plus side, I worked with Buddy a little bit! He's really "draggy" in-hand, like he doesn't automatically yield his hindquarters to you when you send him through a gate, that sort of thing. He'd prefer to go through the gate and keep going, dragging his handler behind him. :lol: So I worked on lightening him up. Doing a lot of sending-yielding exercises where I tell him to go somewhere, he goes there, then faces me...instead of going where I tell him to, then standing there facing away from me. Good one, Buddy. Goooooooood one.
Maybe it's a draft horse thing...but me-no-likey! He was getting better towards the end, so maybe no one's ever really taught him that stuff. I wouldn't really be surprised.

And then I got off work early, at 12:30, because we moved the 12:30-1 kid up and the 1-1:30 kid cancelled!  It was kind of lovely.

But I miss Fabs. haha

Mr. Tazzy. He hates everyone.
But not really.










Then BUDDDDDDY.
"why aren't you feeding me any apples! I demand apples and assorted foodz??!"










"OH HEY! AN APPPPPLE FELLLLLL!!! ME EATz it!!"










OH! And my boss is going to call my barefoot trimmer and get the horses all set up for GOOD trims! I'm so excited!!

:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Chevaux

Love Hazel's sleep photo!!


----------



## Roperchick

Some early mornings are good! Especially when they start out with your animals! Haha but Oh no! Poor fabs!


Buddeh! I love that man! Random question-How tall is he?


----------



## Wallaby

Meee too, Chevaux!! She is too cute!

Early mornings with animals are definitely good! I just don't like having things I KNOW I need to do...but instead of being able to do that stuff, I have to stand around, you know? haha
He's not super huge, height-wise. Around-wise, he's a monster! haha Height-wise, I would guess 15.1-2hh? I'm 5ft 8in and his back is maybe shoulder-height+ on me... 


Fabs returned today! 
He was SO good today. He needed quite a bit of lunging but that's pretty average for him. Straight off the trailer from my bosses house, I lunged him for 20 minutes, then re-braided his mane for 10, then he went straight into having a session with a kid, and he took it all like a champ! The kid was even using a small plastic bat to knock objects off of barrels - Fabs didn't bat an eye. 
Such a champ. I've never even worked with him on that sort of thing [heck, I've never even waved the bat around his or even let him smell it before!] so it was a great sign that he's beginning to transfer his "object trust" to unfamiliar objects as well as familiar ones.

Then, we had one more session [kid rode Buddy, Fabs chilled], and then I decided to work with Fabs using a big exercise ball. The exercise ball had been a big issue of his previously! 
And, of course, since I was expecting him to look at it funny, did he look at it at all funny?? Psh, NO. He didn't even care when I was directly bouncing the ball off of him. I basically played "Wall-Ball" with him as the wall. And he just went with it! 

THAT HORSE!!

After that, the volunteer on today-days had asked if we could go on a little ride into the back pasture, just for funnsies. I said sure, of course, and we headed down there. 
Funny thing: the other horse [BUDDY] was being a little jerk about going down there while Fabio couldn't have cared less. He was happy to head down, walked at a nice even walk once down there, and didn't spook at anything, even when an errant chicken went flying out of a bush in the pasture. I even spooked at that but Fabs was like "Oh! Hello chicken!!"

Anyway, it was wonderful. He is SO like Lacey, only even a bit more tolerant. Lacey's darn tolerant but Fabio has the patience of a...cement boulder. Or maybe the stamina. Because really, he had gone from not being worked with all weekend to being on the trailer, then used, used, used for a solid 3 hours after getting off the trailer! I was really impressed. He's a good guy.


And I was going to mention to you guys, on the topic of hoof care, that I'm totally not anti-shoes and I hope it doesn't sound that way. I'm just anti-incompetent farriers/trimmers! I would be just as judgmental if a barefoot trimmer was doing what's being done to them! :hug:

Pictures!!

Fabio feels more manly with my blue saddle pad. :wink:










Ride!!











:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Other proud moment I forgot to mention: as you probably remember, Mr. Fabio HATES leg contact. And last Friday, the last time anyone rode him, I had a really successful session with him using leg contact which I ended as soon as he stopped pressing his ears so flatly to his head whenever I touched him with my legs.

Today, on this ride, I was using my leg like normal [leg is second nature to me so I really couldn't stop if I tried, nor should I tip-toe around Fabs's leg "thing" just because he doesn't like it], and about 85% of the time he didn't flatten his ears AT ALL when I squeezed him forward AND he moved forward off my leg!! Usually that would have elicited an "Excuuuuuuuuse me??! I WAS going to go forward but now that you did _that_, well, I most pointedly REFUSE."-type response [he responds well to "clucks" forward but squeezing+clucks is more effective, imo] so kind of super thrilled! Of course, he does love love love the outdoors more than anything - exploring is his "thing"...but last time we went out, he was very 'sticky' even while "adventuring".

I look forward to riding him in the barn tomorrow and seeing what he does...perhaps that one session was so influential that it'll only be a few more session before he "gets" leg?? I'm not holding my breath, but I'm hopeful!
Of course, he still has absolutely no clue what leg means in terms of turning/etc but we're working in it. I added my weighted reins to the bridle I'm using on him, hoping that the added weight will help him "get" it. He seemed to like them today but we'll see. 
Basically he's all over really "heavy" in the bridle so, after leg, guess what, Fabs? 
I am SO his worst nightmare. :wink:


----------



## Roperchick

that poor horse has NO idea whats in store for him lol 
Boot camp Wallaby style lol


----------



## Wallaby

Today=ehhhhh.

Lacey had a lesson which she did FANTASTICALLY for! I'm so proud of her AND her lesson kid today. The girl who comes today has been riding with Lacey+me for nearly 3 years and she's really a natural. I really don't have a lot to teach her anymore but she+her family don't want to move up to a new instructor...which is super sweet. So now she just gets to ride/work with Lacey and I nitpick. :wink: 
Anyway, today they did really well. 

Then, I went to work.
And things went half downhill. Basically it was all fine but my boss was picking at me so much for the way I do things with the crop/stick [she thinks the horse should see it+"run into" it for a correction - I think it should be more out of sight so the horse doesn't end up only behaving when you have said crop/stick] and, since a lot of the way I do it comes from how my hands function, I had to tell her about it. And I feel like a huge cop-out.

Basically, I have a condition called "Mirror Dystonia" [overview article: Page not found | Stuff You Should Know ] which, luckily for me, only affects my hands and my toes. I move one toe, that same toe on the other foot moves identically. I move a hand in a certain way, my other hand moves the same. You can see it really clearly in the end of Atticus' "Bye-bye" video when I'm scratching his head - my other hand is going nuts! haha
For reference, here it is cued up to the right spot [ETA: just kidding on the cuing, it starts at 59 seconds in]:






Anyway, it influences how I hold the crop/stick since, if I let the horse "run into the stick", I'm also cuing their face with my opposite hand as I shift the stick around = confusing signals.

And I had to tell her about it. And I feel terrible. She seemed really interested in the condition and sort of almost lit up, like I was some kind of new "subject" of study. I really don't think of it as a "disability" or anything like that...it's just another funny little quirk of mine = I hated that I had to literally say "I CAN'T because ____." "Can't" is the opposite of everything I believe. I mean, to me, "can't" means "can" is in disguise and we just need to help "can't" be comfortable enough to de-"'t" itself and become "can".

But in this case, I literally CAN NOT. And I so dearly wish I could. 
I never tell anyone about my Mirror Dystonia because 1. people want me to do "party tricks" with it [I can write with both hands at once, left hand writes perfectly backwards], 2. They feel "bad" for me, 3. Again with the "can't" - if no one knows, I can't blame anything on it/no one else can blame anything I do on it and THAT is how I want it.

Anyway, that was frustrating. I wish she could just accept/trust that we have different ways of doing stuff and both of our ways are ok. Hopefully she will in a few months, after all she really doesn't know me at all at this point! If I were in her shoes, I think I would need few months. 
I do come across as kind of "intense" sometimes, especially with horses. I don't mean to be intense, of course, but I really am sometimes. Basically I'm either babbling on, never shutting up, or I come across as "too intense". Need to find that happy medium!
I just run a tight ship. :wink:



Anyway, happy thoughts of the day:
1. I got new Converse Hi-Tops! They basically last 2 years per pair when I use them as "summer horse shoes" and my last pair were disintegrating into sandals. So now I have spiffing new ones!!  
AND! I used to wear 7.5-8's in Converse, pre-gluten-free, because my feet were "SO wide". Length-wise, my feet are tiny but they were basically little squares with toes attache, so I had to size-up to fit the width.
Post-gluten-free, I haven't gotten new shoes until today. And you know what I discovered??
I knew that my feet were much narrower since going GF but I didn't know how much narrower: these new shoes are SIXES. SIZE freaking 6!! I lost 1 1/2 or even 2 whole shoe sizes all from going gluten free!!! HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN. And these 6's are 100% perfect. Maybe even the tiniest bit big. WAT.

2. Gentleman Friend returned yesterday. He uploaded photos from his adventure this morning onto Facebook and tagged me in two that he and his besties took specifically because "they thought they were really funny and that I would appreciate them" [it was absolutely hilarious - a stuffed llama had been put into a dinosaur exhibit]. I was the only person tagged in the album too! So it wasn't like everybody was getting tagged. 
I thought that was really really sweet. 
And it was right after I had spent some time doubting our friendship and being all "Psh, he says the right words but never DOES anything unless I ask him to. Actions speak louder than words, ya'll."
I am telling you: 1. He has a serious KNACK for doing/saying the right thing at the right time. 2. HOW on earth do I, little doubter me, deserve to be friends with people who, as a group, care about me enough to think of me when they're having time together after not seeing each other for months? I seriously know how Peter felt after denying Jesus in the Bible! :lol: Geez.
Dear Emily, STOP BEING A TOOL.
But I can say that I'm better than I used to be [when I was a teen, I would TELL people about this^ and basically freak out to their face. It was bad. I lost friends and I had no idea that that^ was the issue!] and being conscious of this trait is the first step towards becoming better! I'll get there....one day. :wink: :lol: 
And Gentleman Friend is sure helping me learn about how to trust that someone cares deeply, even if they aren't talking to you daily or "liking" the "correct" number of posts on Facebook or whatever. That someone can care deeply AND be independent. 



Also, tomorrow is the goats' "Gotcha' Day"!!! I'm excited! Lacey's lesson kid today brought Lacey+the G's a big bag of treats as a present.  :lol:

Last night Lacey and Hazel wore blankets for the first time since Spring! It was raining ridiculously a lot last night and the poor girls were shivering. So they got blankies. 











:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

I discovered a whole mess of unshared photos. 

Earlier in the week, Fabio wanted to show off his bowling skill. :wink:
[I love how this horse will stay wherever you put him!! haha]










Same day, Mr. Tazzy. He has some kind of locking-stifle/hock issue. He does ok but he's lame a lot of the time. Poor guy!










Skippy. He hates me still. :lol: I really hope his personality isn't typical of TWH's...I've always thought a gaited horse would be so much fun, but Skippy is kind of the worst horse I have ever met. Actually, honestly, he's not the "worst". His personality would be perfectly suited to someone who enjoys a really nosey horse who wants to be involved with everything. And that kind of person is not me, at all. :lol:
I love his coloring though! And watching him move!!










Kind of maybe this week's "Remission Shot". I haven't seen a whole lot more changes in her, but her crestiness seems noticeably less to me [hard to see in this picture though! Oh Lacey!].











And, for good measure, Hazel and Atti. 












I hope you guys are doing great!! :happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

The lady where you work should be very glad to have you, and should stay out of your way. Results speak louder than method (well, I don't mean that all methods are ok, such as the end justifying any means) . But, if you are bringing this horse into greater usablility, then she should just say, "thanks" and stay out of your way and be happy to have found you.

your training a goat, to respond to verbal commands, is evidence enough of your skill as an animal trainer.


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Caroline  That's what I'm inclined to think too, haha...but she's my boss so I have to humor her and be respectful. A lesson in patience! 



On the funny story side of life: I've forgotten how hilarious teenage boys can be.
I went to church, had a very minimal amount of time with Gentleman Friend [they roped him into TEACHING the kids now...instead of just working with them...so he was really visiting me on borrowed time] - "10 seconds" turned into 10 minutes...haha I eventually had to be like "...I don't want them to fire you, but I do?" :rofl:
Then, later, I saw Mr. Gman's little 14 year old brother, "J" - the one who went to the zoo with us+my brother a few months ago.

I never know how to act with J. Do I go out of my way to greet him? Do I ignore him? Do I only greet him if it would be rude not to? 
He came with Gman to camp a few times, went on a couple horse rides at camp [and, apparently - as Gman tells it, whenever J would tell the story of those rides, I would be prominently featured as "the weird but cool girl"], then we had that zoo trip..basically it's not like he doesn't know who I am! But he's a super quiet kid and I have compassion for my fellow introverts. haha
ANYWAY. 
I used to ignore him, pre-zoo, because I didn't know if he remembered me, etc.

Post-zoo, I tried saying hi to him once when he was with their parents and well..that was like poking a tiger. I got barely a head-nod, no smile, nothing. OH SNAP.

Funny part: tonight I saw him with some friends and wasn't going to say hi...but then we ended up right next to each other in the line to grab communion = would have been rude to say nothing. So I poked him and smiled. :lol:
Then, after church, he was right outside the door with his friends and as I walked past, he touched my arm and was like "It was really nice to see you tonight. It's been a while!"

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: I almost peed my pants I was laughing so hard. [after I got away from him, of course! Didn't laugh in his face, I basically said "oh! It was great to see you too!" haha] 
14 YEAR OLDS THESE DAYS!!
Apparently when you're with your buddies, greeting an older female = good for swag levels. HILARIOUS.

I'm still laughing. 
That whole family. Can I be one???! hahahahaha My awkward would fit in SO WELL. 


And then, tonight Mr. Gman made sure to mention those pictures he tagged me in..that I told you guys about? He wanted to make sure that I liked them. 
After church, I texted him about something else+mentioned them, saying something about their perfectly timed-ness. He said that he was "so so glad  we all [meaning the besties] saw them and thought of you immediately "
Then, I texted him back about how they really brightened my day and I got a text back that said: "" 
hahahaha SO MANY SMILIES. 
I don't think I ever even gotten that kind of smiley concentration from a female friend!!! haha
LOVE IT. 
It would seem that it's kind of a big deal that I actually did like those pictures a lot. :lol:

Tonight=hilarious in the best, cutest, ways.


----------



## Roperchick

daaaaawa. haha teenage boys are cute! (in the awkward trying to be all adolescent and "kewl" way....not some creeper way:lol


----------



## Wallaby

Right??! I SO know what you mean. Hilarious and adorable. Like how you feel when you see a baby bird learning how to fly. :rofl:


I wonder if J told Mr. Gman about seeing me......probably. They're super close. Hahahaha!

Speaking of teenage boys, I think Work Creep has finalllly gotten the message. Or maybe he's just moved on...in either case, I'm allll good. Now he's starting to really behave like a brother of mine which is wonderful, I love having guy friends!!
Anyway, today he was telling me about his "Lady Friend" and he said the SWEETEST thing about her. Apparently they're hanging out tomorrow and she wants to watch anime which "he's totally on board with because he likes her, even though he knows absolutely nothing about+has no 'real' interest in anime...but it's something she likes, so he's totally there."
How sweet is that???!!! 
I was just like "Work Creep, she better be nice to you!" :lol:
[also, good sign that he's telling me about girls!! Guys don't talk girls with girls they're interested in...in my limited experience. And I'm a romantic sap. I do love a good romantic comedy...this can be one in real life!!]

I can only hope that Gentleman Friend feels that way about me. I can only hope.



Work-wise, today the schedule changed - due to school starting for most of the therapy kids. We started at 11:30am [on the hottest day of the summer so far, no less = yaaaaay.] and had our last kid from 5-5:30pm. DEATH. I don't even know if I'll be able to get out my armchair after I'm done writing this!! haha

Fabs was a true true champion of the cause. FOR REAL. He was first with a girl who's never actually had a full hippotherapy session because she starts wailing+crying, can't handle it. He really took it with a REALLY aggravated ADHD+Autism spectrum kid last Friday - the kid literally had a kicking+screaming+hitting TANTRUM on poor Fabio's back and Fabio didn't bat an eyelash [he got a tiny bit "internalized", where I felt him shut off a little from our energy "convection current" but that's to be expected - he had to protect himself! Overall, he took it better than I've ever seen!]. ANYWAY, we figured that after that showing last week, he was likely to succeed this week if this girl lit off.
And you know what? 
He was so relaxed, smooth, and calm for this little girl that she literally fell ASLEEP on his back! My boss was riding with her [the girl was maybe 4=really tiny] and doing some bodywork on her while she rode and it was really incredible.

That horse is a freaking STAR.

He is going to be so absolutely rock steady in a few years with the right experiences! I can't wait!!

In other Fabs news: it would seem that while teaching him about leg pressure, I have also taught him to neckrein......... that was the plan for like 40 steps in the future and he just skipped ALL of them. In no more than four 15 minute sessions. WHO IS THIS HORSE. HOW IS HE SO COOL. He makes me feel like a genius/world class horse trainer. :rofl: and it's allllll him.

Bottom line: he's doing so good with single-leg leg pressure. He's still not real happy about both legs at once but it's only momentary. The other issue I've been running into is a matter of impulsion, I think. If I sit back a little too much or say "good boy!" = BAM, BRAKES. SO MUCH BRAKES. So. FAST. BRAKES. 
Literal butt tucking, hoof sliding, dead stops. 
And of course, everytime it catches me off-guard and then I have to reposition myself and get him going again = not exactly the steps I would like to take for solving the issue. And, if he were any other horse, I would goose him hard in the sides with my heels to be like "OH HECK NO." but he's expecting me to hurt him with my legs at some point and I really don't want to just give him confirmation that I'm going to hurt him. Especially since I LIKE that he's listening to my seat so well...don't really like that "good boy"="stop" but I don't want "good boy" to equal "heel goose" either! 
Luckily, he's so super smooth so his "sliding stops" aren't much more jarring than a single step of Lacey's trot. Ok, probably less jarring. :lol: I'm going to try to work on it a little tomorrow - just keeping him going, start working on leg=devices for speed/support+guidance...not just guidance.
We'll get there. He's trying so hard to please me!

Picturessss!

This morning, the boy saw me with his halter and took off, running flat out, for the area in the pasture where I always lunge him. I followed him, because lunging was indeed my plan, he walked right up to me, and pretty much put his halter on himself!! hahaha
What a sweetie.










Later we rode around.










"What happens, Fabs, if I put my feet up near the crest of your neck?"










"What about if I sit sideways??" [for the record, I have never felt so secure sitting sideways on a horse!! I sat there for probably 5 minutes and he didn't move a muscle. But he really could have - his back is that safe-feeling!]











After I turned him back out:

"I was such a good boy that you want to work with me again??!!"










"OK!! Pick me! Pick me!!!!"

[I was really only going out there to pet him but he thought we should hang out. Too bad I had to go do 'real' work = lame :wink:]












And then when I got home, finally, guess who had decided to go visiting the llamas?
The goats are hilarious. I love how they're basically organized by color, kind of.












And that was today. I hope you all are doing super super well!!!

:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

So frustrating. I just got back from feeding L+the G's. I went up there, fed them, started walking back up to the gate, and discovered the "Angry Old Man" INSIDE the pasture! He had just walked in like he owned it, past the very visibly posted "No Trespassing" sign, and was wandering into the pasture. Then, when he saw me and I explained to him that I wasn't comfortable with people just entering the pasture, due to safety concerns, he YELLED AT ME about how he should be allowed into the pasture because "the horse goes to the bathroom near his house [IN HER PASTURE] and he wasn't calling the health department about it"!! WHO on earth DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, sir??!

OH. MY. Gosh. I was really polite to him and walked him out the pasture, didn't get mad, stayed cordial...but REALLY. 'My' freaking pasture, my horse, MY GOATS, my "no trespassing" sign!! Where in all that does he get "please try to bully me so you can chill in the pasture"??

Anyway, I called the little old people who own the pasture and let them know what had happened, just in case he calls them and has a cow. He's done that before. They, of course, take everything he says with some huge grains of salt because they know he's a little [a lot??] nuts..but they should be in the loop. 

Basically, I'm glad that I was able to get him out without too much of a fuss but I kind of want to cry. HMPH.

It's so weird to me. That guy is the MEANEST person I have ever met. Maybe it's just me, but people are usually pretty nice to me. I guess I kind of exude a "Snow White"-type vibe and people say I'm funny so... But really, people are usually nice but this guy is just the angriest. 
But then, at the same time, there's another old man who lives with the angry guy and he is THE NICEST EVER. He always stops to chat with me, tells me I'm beautiful and that Lacey is beautiful, we talk about how our respective days have gone/are going to go, etc. He's super sweet. His favorite line to use is: me - "Hey, how are you?!" him - "Better now!" 
:lol: So sweet.

Anyway, I hate that the world has angry people. I think that's the worst part. I really want everybody to get along and I would very much like to be friends with everybody...or at least have everybody be civil to each other. And the angry old man just plain refuses. BOO.


Well, I'm just gonna keep being polite and respectful but continue to stand my ground.



In other news, the goats went on a field trip againnnnn this afternoon. The jerks. :wink:
Lacey is not pleased with them.














And, on the Gentleman Friend-front, [this is going to seem really silly but trust me, for him/us this isn't so silly] he commented on my Facebook status today! :happydance: We're both super introverted+prone to overthinking = we rarely comment on anything anywhere on Facebook and if we do comment, it's kind of a 'thing'! haha
AND! He commented on two things 2ish weeks ago, I commented on two things of his, then today he commented on my stuff = picking up some momentum here! haha But now it's my turn to comment...maybe. Or maybe it's still his...we'll see. [we have a lot of unspoken mutual agreements. :rofl:]

Oh, but guys.  Not gonna see him on Sunday because I'm getting pre-birthday cupcakes with a friend before church. Excited about the cupcakes, bummed about not seeing him. But, in terms of being "less available" = good. However, my excessive avaliablity hasn't seemed to harm anything yet...! :lol:
BUT!!! My birthday is a week from this Friday and he's been conscious of my birthday coming up, without me saying anything, for at least a month.
:shock: 
.............................
We'll see.



:happydance: I hope you guy are doing well! :hug:


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Wallaby said:


> And, on the Gentleman Friend-front, [this is going to seem really silly but trust me, for him/us this isn't so silly] he commented on my Facebook status today! :happydance: We're both super introverted+prone to overthinking = we rarely comment on anything anywhere on Facebook and if we do comment, it's kind of a 'thing'! haha
> AND! He commented on two things 2ish weeks ago, I commented on two things of his, then today he commented on my stuff = picking up some momentum here! haha But now it's my turn to comment...maybe. Or maybe it's still his...we'll see. [we have a lot of unspoken mutual agreements. :rofl:]
> 
> Oh, but guys.  Not gonna see him on Sunday because I'm getting pre-birthday cupcakes with a friend before church. Excited about the cupcakes, bummed about not seeing him. But, in terms of being "less available" = good. However, my excessive avaliablity hasn't seemed to harm anything yet...! :lol:
> BUT!!! My birthday is a week from this Friday and he's been conscious of my birthday coming up, without me saying anything, for at least a month.
> :shock:
> .............................
> We'll see.
> 
> 
> 
> :happydance: I hope you guy are doing well! :hug:


I'm so excited that things are going well  Hopefully less of the angry-man scenarios happen.

I hope you do have lots of fun getting pre-birthday cupcakes!!!


----------



## Roperchick

grumpy old guy should get a swift kick in the booty back to his house lol. 

at least you have G-man. I bet hell help you give the boot to grumpy guy!


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Maggie, meeee too.  The cupcakes are gonna be awesome, I hope. We're going to a dedicated gluten-free bakery that's actually really near the school I go to=cupcakes+school???!!! haha I could be on board with this! 
I'm still really scared of eating out at places that aren't dedicated gf because I have such a bad reaction to even the smallest amount of gluten...so I'm glad I found somewhere dedicated gf. haha I'll probbbbably post a picture of what I get. :wink:

Agreeeed, Christy! My little old people were like "if that happens again and you feel unsafe, call 911!!" haha 
But yeah, not gonna tell Gman about it probably. He's a worrier who talks a big game, which is super cute...but I dislike making people worry unnecessarily, you know? And it would be adorable to hear alll about how he would end the guy [which seriously, you guys. Gman is like the least threatening-looking person I have ever seen. Basically, as non-threatening as I look, translate that directly into a male form :rofl: Him talking a big game is like Prince Charming, or whoever, from Cinderella, talking about popping a cap in somebody] but no need to make him worry. It's one thing with Work Creep but another thing with me alone, in the pasture, near dark, with an aggravated old man. :lol:

Speaking of Gentleman Friend, it wasn't even 10am by the time we had discussed two separate stories from today that he thought I would like. :rofl: I had done pretty much all the story-telling this week so far, so that was extra nice.
And he just texted me ANOTHER story! THREE stories in ONE day?? hahahaha THIS GUY. I love it.

Speaking of stories, you guys might appreciate this one: last school year, the zipper on my backpack, that I had had for yearssss - since 6th grade or earlier, finally failed. It started randomly splitting open at the most inopportune times and since I carry my laptop with me = BAD news bears. 
So I've been on the hunt for a new backpack for some time since I have very specific specifications for what I want. 
I found one on Ebay that I liked and it was relatively cheap so I went for it. Here's a link so you can visualize what I saw: Jansport Deadlock 15" Laptop Backpack Teal Block Pattern MSRP $55 New | eBay

I thought those back stripes were part of the design and was like "ok, that's pretty spiffy. I'm on board!"

It came in the mail...turned out that those black stripes are actually straps for "my skateboard"..............I am about the least coordinated person in the worllllld. The last thing I should probably ever do is ride a skateboard. So now I have a skateboard backpack. That I love the colors of but makes me look like a poser/wannabe. Actually, I could pass off as a skater since I guess I dress in kind of a "grungy-hipster-'cool'"-way, probably...just no one ask where my skateboard is. HAH. 

Anyway, this sort of thing happens to me alllll the time. It's great. hahaha Gman about died of laughter. :lol: 
We've been there before - a few years ago, I bought a bright turquoise shirt with pandas on it from Salvation Army = 1. Pandas=awesome 2. Turquoise=favorite color. The first time I wore it [we were at camp], he saw me and got SO excited about my shirt. I was like "yeah...this is pretty cool, but why are you so happy right now?" 
It turned out that the shirt was some really "hip" skate brand that he knew all about because one of his brothers is really into that stuff. And apparently his brother had wanted to buy that same shirt...but it was $45 retail. :shock:
And the poor guy had thought that I had some kind of hidden skater side that I hadn't told him about. HAH, no, just bumbling along, Mr. Magoo-style.

Or the time I bought a "Dungeons and Dragons" [a "nerdy" role-playing game that I've never played but does sound awesome, haha] t-shirt because it had a cartoon of people fighting dragons in a dungeon on the front and I thought that was really funny..but had no idea that it was actually about D+D............


Yeahhhhh. My life, man.


Anyway, work's going pretty well. I'm still confused as to a few things my boss keeps asking me to do. She's not super consistent in her "hopes and dreams" and half the time she makes me feel like I'm not doing a good job...then the other half of the time she acts like I'm doing wonderfully and she's "really impressed". So I'm having a bit of a hard time picking+choosing what to take in and what to ignore. But she keeps asking me to work more and she hasn't told me to specifically stop anything yet...so I'll go with it! haha 
I'm refusing to take it personally because my style is VERY different from hers. She's more into the "is the horse 'happy'???" "Does the horse LIKE me??" etc camp and I'm in the "the horse is happy because he/she has rules and boundaries! The horse likes me because he/she can trust that I'll keep him/her safe" - I'm not so much into asking questions of what the horse's emotional/mental state is. I mean, that plays a big part in how I choose to work with a specific horse...but I don't anthropomorphize while determining emotional state. 
She seems to feel that I behave in a "cold" manner towards the horses..but I really don't. I guess I can see how you might come to that conclusion since I don't do a lot of physical touching with the horses [especially the more confident horses - the more confident a horse is, the more I don't get physical...for instance, Skippy is VERY confident so I RARELY touch him in praise since touch keys him up. Fabs is not confident so I'm really very physically affectionate with him, with the goal of sharing my confidence] - a reward is usually a "good boy!" and release of all pressure, no touching, just time to think about that just happened...no face smooshing/treats/whatever. Not to mention that I rarely touch anyone/anything in my life, even my pets. I'm just not a very physical person. To tocuh someone else, especially a stranger, I have to actually make myself do it. It's the opposite of easy for me.

Anyway, it's very very different. 
In comparison to a lot of the horse trainers I've been around [0% good ones, but still], I'm the outcast "relationship with the pwetty ponehs" one..but at this place I feel like a horse beater or something/hate all horses. haha Which I'm totally not/don't, but it's really the weirdest thing.


Anyway. Yesterday a little Mennonite friend of mine [he's 8 and we hang out on Thursdays when he has his sessions. His family of 8 kid all have sessions on Thursday so they're ALLL at the clinic on the same day+pretty much 'run wild' after/before their sessions] gave me his phone number. :rofl: he was like "call me!!" 
SO CUTE. 
My boss was right there when he did and she was like "Well. Seems as though your little issue of not having a boy in your life has been solved!" :rofl: :rofl: Not sure where she got THAT idea in the first place since Gman seems to be a growing factor, I think...but still hilarious. 
I laughed SO HARD. :rofl:

Picture time!!

Skippy. Mr. Confidence.










Fabs! We're slowlyyyy muscling up, I think!










And then this morning. Dear ol' Lacey got herself SO dirty for her poor Friday Lesson Kid. Sneaky. :wink:

I think she appears sort of proud of herself... hahaha











:happydance:


----------



## Roperchick

*gasp*no buddy picture?!?! haha jkjk
Fabs is definitely looking more trim/muscled at least imo how did the lesson kid feel about miss Sassy pants?? hahahah oh I feel for that kid lol


----------



## Wallaby

Sorry about the no Buddy picture! He's been half hiding when I arrive and I tryyy to not have my phone out toooo much when I'm actually working. Next week! 

Speaking of Fabs looking more trim, I was kind of looking at that picture him with Lacey right next in her picture and BOY! Those two. If she were his color or he were her color, they would be difficult to tell apart! There are definite differences - he's short-backed, she's not really, he has a straighter shoulder+a postier hind leg, she's unbelievably downhill, he's really uphill, she's wide like a brick, he's not quite as wide...but their toplines and the set of their tails! Just STOP, you two!! haha
They have really different ears though = Lacey's ears are the cutest. That's one more reason to love her best! [he has that really straight QH-y type ear, hers sort of "twirl" in at the tips]

hahahaha the lesson kid took one look at her as we crested the hill down to the shed [Lacey seems to know when she's supposed to have lessons and takes herself over to the shed to "get ready" :lol: Smart girl!] and was like "BUT SHE'S RED?! Why is she so dirty?" I just shrugged and was all like "I don't know, but she'll be cleaner when you're done, right?" 
I'm so mean. :wink:
I diiid help FLK get Lacey cleaned up and I did let her ride in the saddle so she wouldn't get dirty. And at the end of the lesson, we got to write our names in Lacey's butt fur dirt [even if the top looks clean, underneath is always dirty when she gets this bad so writing a name brings all kinds of dirt up to the top+it'll stay until you wipe it away. That was always one of Gman's favorite camp activities around Lacey..along with brushing her because "she needed love" :rofl:]. Always a winning activity! haha

Poor FLK. haha


----------



## Wallaby

Guys guys guys. Ok, this is really probably super dumb but it's making me all girly inside:

Gentleman Friends texted me a little bit ago to say "What's your address? I'm in a letter writing mood."

!!!!!!!!!
Ojnvsoivnreiuvnenbv4tiubvn&w!\
xdaiuhvc903q4bgp49womv[n359phvnog4i8bnv ejbg4uienvmclq;!! 

:rofl:
I told him and he was all "Great "

He's one of those really thoughtful letter writers where letters aren't just letters/"oh, how are you? you're so great. I miss you..blah blah blah"-type things. Gman letters are like Pride and Prejudice letters-letters. 
He wrote me an "Encouragement Note" at camp once...because I basically told him to [:rofl:], and it was all "I'm excited to be there as you grow as a person, I can't wait to meet 'outside of camp'-you, let's know each other forever, blah, blah, blah". And THAT was 'under duress'!!
STILL makes me feel awkward and giddy every time I reread it! haha

So I'm kind of incredibly nervous and excited to see what he says.

hcwbr38fp4ibv4vnpu4vb4bv efqihgp3qel!
SO MANY FEELS.

So nervous. So excited.

AND HAVE I MENTIONED? Getting mail is probably #1 on my very extensive list of "favorites".



And, to thank you for reading, here's a picture of a spiderweb on my brother's car. He's left his car in our driveway for weeeeeks. :lol:










I hope your weekends are going SO WELL! :happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

Ooooh! I just LOVE good letters like that. Weekends going well. I am at the coast. May I share a couple of photos?


----------



## Wallaby

Yes yes yes! Coast photos=100% always.


----------



## tinyliny

Stupid ipad doesn't let me know I'm posting upside down.


----------



## tinyliny

Well, when it home I can post from my PC. anyway . . . Very "oceany" here.


----------



## Roperchick

I don't think its just your Ipad TL my computer posted a bunch of pics in my journal that I KNOW are right side up.....and they ended up sideways or upside down on the thread.....HoFo bug maybe??


but OMG Em that is SO awesome hahahaha im not saying you have to share the letter (obviously its private!) but yes. we need to know if it was so totally awesomely amazing as it should be!


----------



## Wallaby

That looks absolutely lovely, Caroline!! Have so much fun. 

RIGHT, Christy [ie or y?? haha]!!!!? SO EXCITED. I will for sure share highlights/"the best parts"/whatever is share-appropriate! 
I don't even understand how this is happening to me. Like really. I feel so SPECIAL! haha

Speaking of which, one thing you should know about me is that I am always early for everything. Absolutely never late. Most of the time I schedule to be "reasonably early" but then, thanks to my bumbling Mr. Magoo self, I end up REALLY early.
That happened to me tonight - I planned with the friend I was meeting to meet outside church at 4:30 [neither of us knew where the place we were going was, all we knew was that it was near church. haha]. However, as luck would have it, I was at church by 4:08. :lol:

Soooo I was like "huh. Gman is here...maybe he's free! The worst he can say is 'no'." 
So I texted him telling him of my blunder [he thinks it's "the greatest" that I'm always so early] and to find out if he was free. 

Turned out he had a full 20 minutes to spend with me. <3 
And, a month+ ago, I had lent him 2 National Geographics from my "collection"...and I had forgotten that while he's superduper careful and responsible about caring for things, he's reallllly not the greatest at returning things. So I had decided that, instead of feeling frustrated, I was going to trust him, since he is so responsible with things, and look at it as the NatGeos were "having a field trip" at his house.
Anyway, I showed up today and guess who had brought the magazines, "on a hunch that he might see me"? I guess he "had a feeling that would be weird to explain" that he'd see me. But I know what he means - sounds weird, but I can sort of feel it when I'm not going to see him or when I am...even if I don't know one way of the other for sure. The feeling starts often the day before and it's been right so far. Pretttty weird.
But we've pretty much always had a weird internal connection that I can't really explain and that we both feel. 

Bottom line: SO SWEET. 

And #2: while we were talking, he started asking me about school [15 more days...] and I was telling him about how I'm going to have to get up at 4:30am to get to my 8am M/W class. He immediately said "You're still going to come to the 6, right?" [meaning the church service I go to: it's called "The Six", he usually goes to the next one - "The Eight"] and I was like "well, if I don't, I won't go to church and I need church..." and he replied "If it's too hard, we'll have to figure something out to make up for this" [meaning our "us time"]

WHAT?! Um, 100% LOVE on the "need" for 'us time'!! 
I've been worried in the past that I'm the one pushing this whatever-it-is along and that he's just going along for the ride because he doesn't want to hurt me. Which a totally "him" thing to do since he really has a hard time just saying "NO."
Of course, he's a great avoider so if he didn't want to, he'd likely have all kinds of reasons why he couldn't meet with me on Sunday evenings...but it was so absolutely wonderful to hear him actually state that talking with me, even for just a few minutes each week, was important enough to "make it happen" if it stopped being so easy.

Anyhooooo...I like him a lot. And I'm really excited about where this seems to be going.



And food with my friend, once she got there :lol:, went GREAT. I got a "Thin Mint Brownie". It was SO SO SO good. SO good.












:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

your saga reminds me of some kind of Jane Austin novel. the thrills, the chills. The slow motion heartwarming saga .... 
It should be told in a proper English accent.


----------



## Roperchick

You got it right! Y not ie lolol. Omgsh I love hearing about you n gman sooooo cute haha


----------



## Wallaby

Somebody got a card today :happydance: somebody got a card today! :happydance:

It wasn't anything super deep but it was really sweet - it was a card made by one of "his old ladies" with a picture of a llama on the front [llamas, for whatever reason, are a hilarious inside joke between us] and he basically told me a few stories from his life. It was really sweet.
And he actually asked me questions in it...so I wrote him back. We'll see what happens because I asked him questions in mine. haha This could be a thing!

And he made it sooooo many colors. Somebody had fun with some crayons. hahahaha But that's fair, I had tooo much fun with markers on the letter I'm sending him!
For instance:










The whole card is like that, style-wise. HI-larious. See, this is where we really differ - as you can see, he's really rather precise and careful while, as you can see in my drawings, I'm a lot more "heyyyyyy, I messed up that line? Psh, gonna scribble around and make it 'right'!" :rofl: He's WAY more of a perfectionist than I am! haha

:happydance:

Nothing more to report in terms of horses/goat what-not. However, tonight is gonna be their first night in stalls since the spring! Hopefully they all re-take to it well. I think they should but you know. 

:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

1. Everybody did really really well with being stalled last night! They seem to have settled right into it without a fuss. 
Of course, watch me go up there tomorrow and find that Lacey's taken down the shed or some such thing. :wink:

2. All the work horses got their hooves trimmed today! I CANNOT believe how much better they all are moving now. I'm SO excited about it. 
All the formerly shod guys [Fabs, Buddy, Skippy] were a little "heyyyy, my feet don't feel great" as the day wore on today but that's sort of to be a bit expected - all 3 of them had at least an 1/2inch+ of extra hoof taken off, on top of the shoe removal! I expect that they'll toughen up fast - all of them are breeds with traditionally "good" feet [Arab, draft, TWH] but I felt sorta bad for them today. And their soles/frogs were untouched so I'm pretty sure it's a matter of circulation - they've been in shoes for over a year with a terrrrible farrier.
Luckily for them, they have an easy day tomorrow!

But yeah, they were all moving SO much more freely and comfortably [except for Tazzy, but all that standing on 3 legs stuff is harrrrrd on the poor guy. He was 3-legged lame after the trimmer got done, just from the exertion (((( he was able to walk it off and I gave him some pain stuff, but POOR GUY!] post-trim! I couldn't hardly believe it. 
I knew I could 'feel' pain/discomfort from them but I really didn't realize how much. It was kind of crazy.
Even Buddy was wanting to walk at a normal pace, vs his normal toe-dragging "can I stop now PLEASE"-pace.  

:happydance:



And, in weird life developments, Work Creep and I seem to be developing a real friendship! Of course...he's still a litttttle creepy about it [one comment today, I have these pants with metal studs across the top of the patootie pockets, was "you're missing a stud!" because one stud is missing...but sir, WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT MY BUTT.] but otherwise we had a really nice discussion today.
I gave him tips about things ladies like [I figured that it's the least I can do to help him find a nice lady HIS OWN AGE by giving him a few tips on being suave] and told him all kinds of Gentleman Friend stories. 
Away, whew! Dodged that bullet.
And I really enjoy having guy friends, especially ones who remind me of my brother, so bonus points!!


And dear ol' Fabs got to wear my coat. 
Preppin' for the winter, ya'll! :rofl:

It was the funniest. I'm pretty sure I snorted. Fabio was trying to lift his ears to listen to stuff but kept getting so mad at the coat= quickly alternating between pricked+fully pinned ears. Hysterical.











[and Gentleman Friend shoulllld get my letter tomorrow, if how fast I got his was any indication - he sent it late on Saturday(4pm postmark), I got it on Monday (9am is when my mail always comes/leaves). I sent mine early this morning and I don't think they ship mail on Sundays so past record=tomorrow, maybe. DundunDUN!]



That's all for now! :happydance:


----------



## Roperchick

omg Fabs face...just priceless! woooh bet they were all super happy with their pedicures!


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Wallaby said:


> And dear ol' Fabs got to wear my coat.
> Preppin' for the winter, ya'll! :rofl:
> 
> It was the funniest. I'm pretty sure I snorted. Fabio was trying to lift his ears to listen to stuff but kept getting so mad at the coat= quickly alternating between pricked+fully pinned ears. Hysterical.


OMG HIS FACE LOL! That is too funny!!!

As for the stud thing.. guys.. *sigh* lol


----------



## Wallaby

Haven't updated in a while! No one panic, I'm still alive...or as alive as can be expected. :wink:

Absolutely nothing exciting has happened. Nothing really disappointing either, but nothing exciting.

For starters, work last week was all "ehhh". Now that we're on "Winter Schedule" there's a whole lot less time for working with/'training' Fabs=disappointment. We've been using him in sessions quite a bit though and he's been doing really well. 
The other horses are kinda making me want to slap myself though. Actually, just mostly Skippy. He doesn't respect me AT ALL when there's a kid on his back. He'll be great before the addition of a kid but as soon as a kid gets on his back everything goes to pieces. He's even good when Work Creep/a volunteer is on his back and I try to lead them around...just not when a kid is on his back.
Basically he "forgets" how to stop and drags me for a few steps every time I have to halt him. I've been trying to work on it a bit with the more capable riders where I have him back up a few steps every time we stop...but he's also really heavy to back up. He only really seems to understand the Parelli version of back up [that lead rope wiggling yadda] so he's all "nose pressure=back up? Say whhaaaaat?"
Correction: don't want to slap myself, want to slap SKIPPY!!
But we're working on it. We'll get there...I hope!


Gentleman Friend:
SO. CONFUSED.
It seemed as though we were heading somewhere...and then suddenly he's gone all standoffish again.
He got my letter on Thursday and it was "the best ever ". 
I'm not sure if he wrote back - he didn't say he did and I don't want to ask if he was going to, for fear of making him feel like he "should" write back. We'll see, I guess!

Anyway, I told him some story around 5:30pm...got no response. He must have remembered he hadn't texted me back when he woke up the next morning at 5:30A-freaking-M, thought he should text me back, and texted me back, ON MY BIRTHDAY, to say "haha ". At 5:30AM. Yeah. Greattttt start to my birthday. [once my phone goes off in the morning, there's no hope for me to go back to sleep] And he didn't even say happy birthday in that text. Hmph.

Then, later, he wrote on my FB wall for my birthday and said "Have a marvelous birthday, Friend " 
1. Is my name now "Friend"? Why is that capitalized?? haha
2. Are smileys punctuation now? What do allll these double and triple smileys MEAN? :lol:

[in interesting news, both his best friends wrote on my FB wall for my birthday too - interesting mostly because I NEVER tell friends of friends "happy birthday"...but we are talking about literally the nicest people in the world so.... in any case, I felt like "one of the team"! haha]

And then, to top it all off, last night he told me he'd come see me for a second before church, like he always does...then never showed up. It turned out that some kid had gotten injured enough to need stitches and things had just gone insane with the kids [and since he's the one 'in charge'...] but him just not showing up was a bit hurtful. It would have been better if he had just shot me a text saying "not gonna make it" and then explained later, or whatever. 

Anyway, he texted me after church and was really apologetic but you know.
I did tell him that it had hurt my feelings but that I understood that he was doing his job and he was all "I didn't mean to hurt you at all" along with some other stuff, and apologized again, so I basically told him that our friendship is important to me and that while I might get hurt, we're not going to stop being friends because I get mad or something...and he texted me back "thanks"......
At least I was honest? Seriously, who says just "thanks" to something like that. Whatever.
I'm sure I'm taking it a bit more seriously than he means it, but that's a just frustrating response! 


Humph. Whatever. 
Maybe he's as confused as I am. That's the only way I can logically explain this whole *waves hands around* thing. 
The other explanation would be that he knows I like him and he doesn't feel the same way. If that were the case though, I don't think we'd be having Sundays and I don't think he'd be texting me ever and he certainly wouldn't have sent me that card. I've seen him around girls that he knows like him and who he doesn't feel the same way for and he's prettttty much the king of avoidance. I have literally seen him RUN from a girl, to get away before she saw him. :rofl:

Who knows WHAT is happening. I'm going to try to leave it alone for a couple of days, give him some space, see what happens. Introverts need space and he's super introverted. 
I forget that while I like contacting people, I don't necessarily like them contacting me 'constantly' AND I know that Gman and I are very similar on this front [this is one area where I'm not sure we could "work"...I mean, we DO understand each other's need for space..but are we compatible "need-for-companionship"-wise??]. 
I've been doing an awful lot of Gman contacting lately...survey says: stop for a few days.


And for your patience, here are some pictures. 

Fabs from last week!










An ADORABLE baby Pygmy Goat at the feedstore.










Miss Lacey.










Captain Breakout.
"But they NEEDED my help clearing these blackberry branches!"











I hope you guys have all been super well!!!


----------



## Roperchick

oh man. so much confusion lolol I have NO advise for you and Gentleman friend. I cant even keep the guys in my life straight! hopefully things clear up soon!


but um yes. Atti definitely needs a pygmy friend maybe then he wont break out so much!


Lacey and Fabs look GORGEOUS! btw


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Wallaby said:


> Captain Breakout.
> "But they NEEDED my help clearing these blackberry branches!"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hope you guys have all been super well!!!


I love his new nickname and his "reason" for busting out! 

As for Gman.. I'm thinking that it's a common case of "guys being oblivious" and he didn't realize not showing up without any heads up would be that hurtful.

I say good on you for telling him, and just let it sink in for awhile. Let him be the one to start the next convo as you are right, space right now is a good thing.


----------



## Wallaby

Christy, me and you. We just have guy issues! haha 
And Atti most emphatically does not need a Pygmy friend!! Especially a young one, then there'd be TWO goats out there roaming my neighborhood. hahaha Everything I've ever heard about Pygmy goats says they're basically like fencing in cats=impossible. But I have wondered if getting a third goat would help him. I don't know though. Threes ARE traditionally unstable..at the same time, adding a third goat might make things even more crazy. If I could find the perfect goat: a wether [or a doe, but a wether seems more likely to fit well] that's young enough to play with Atti but old enough to have some sense, no horns, sweet but not overly social, good feet+good feet handling manners, and big - at least 30 inches tall...well, I could go for that. But that's a pretty long list. haha
Not to mention the whole "Hazel needs to be kept safe" aspect - this goat would have to be submissive to her, or at least not bully her like Atti does. 
And you know, every animal that I'm "supposed" to have always sort of drops into my lap. Animals that I buy, or actively seek out, never work out like animals that just "happen". If there's a perfect goat out there, he/she will eventually get here and nobody will see it coming.  Not to mention that I'm a sucker for a hard luck case.  If somebody ever offers me a goat in need that fits a lot of my qualifiers...well, it'll be hard to say no. haha

Right, Maggie?! So much sass. And that's genuinely why he got out - to go eat those blackberry branches. He had absolutely zero other reasons. hahaha
That's really true about Gman, hadn't thought of it like that! Makes me even gladder that I did tell him that I felt hurt! He tries hard not to hurt my feelings but how can he know what will and won't hurt me, if I don't tell him when I have an issue? Can he read my mind? Last time I checked, NO. haha And it's not great for a friend-lationship to be built on a multitude of past, un-discussed, hurts - that's one way to make sure it doesn't last long! haha



In other news, that I forgot to tell you guys about earlier:
I'm a huge dork but this was kinda a silly "teeheeeheeehee!" thing that happened on Sunday night at church. So I have a couple of lady friends that I sit with [I think I discussed them with you guys before] at church and I happened to mention to one of them, the one I really truly like [I've only known her for a little while but we really "get" each other], about Gman and his unexplained absence. She's met him before when he came up to say hi to me and she was all "he's SO CUTE!" after she met him. :rofl:
Anyway, I told her about how he was late to see me and she was all "....are you guys together, like dating?"
 :shock: :rofl:
Teeheeheeheeheeheehee!
And she was totally serious. She had thought we were. HAH! 
*insert all kinds of girly-ness here*
Obviously that doesn't mean a whollllle lot since she really doesn't know me, but you know...it's nice to hear someone just assume you're dating the hottest+nicest+classiest guy in the worlllllld. Especially since I'm not the prettiest, or the classiest [BY FAR! :rofl:], or the nicest. 
I WISH, Church Lady Friend!!!!


Also, do you guys want to hear a Gentleman Friend story? 
I've had a lonely day, I feel like telling stories. :wink: *insert old lady/witch voice here* Storytime with Grandma Wallaby!

This is basically the story of how we became friends.

First day of camp.
I got there early, typical for me. 
I saw my friend B walking across the field with this "hipster" guy and my automatic reaction, since said hipster was so good-looking and so...not someone I would know, my automatic reaction was to think "THAT GUY. Me and him, we are NOT going to be friends. Probably gonna be enemies." [sidebar: that's pretty much my initial reaction to everyone, ever, that I'm actually going to be good friends with. hahaha] I assumed he was not going to like me.

Then, the initial meeting at camp, the one where the camp director made sure everybody was there and kinda introduced himself/the camp - a friend of mine [my previous crush, yes. yes. haha] opened up the camp laptop to get it set up for "Hipster Guy" [soon to be Gman]. And the first thing we both saw, as this laptop opened, was basically a glamor shot of Gman. My friend [who knew Gman already from school] started cracking up so hard and, believe you me, it is HARD to get that friend to laugh. That was my first clue that Gman might not be so bad.

Anyway, couple hours later, we had meetings with our individual camp areas - I was the Head Wrangler so my area was "Program Staff", Gman was the Photographer so he was also on PS. 
I think this was the first time we really took notice of each other - he was sitting sort of across from me and THE WHOLE meeting I'd look up and see him staring at me, then he'd quickly look away and I'd look away...only to repeat the whole thing moments later.
That was when I was all "ok, who is this creep? He looks like a jerk but he's staring a hole into my head. THAT kind of guy doesn't do that to girls like me. WHY is this happening." and I decided to become friends, to "make sure he wasn't a creep". haha 

Later that day, the program staff had a little bonfire and we had to pull out all these folding chairs. He made a point of setting my chair up specifically for me and said the first words he said to me: "your chair, my lady". I don't know WHERE that came from but boy. hahaha 
And he's nevvvver a huge flirt like that! To this day I don't even understand. But that bonfire was basically a repeat of the previous meeting - eyes kept meeting, awkward fast looking away...ahhh, the easy days.

And luckily, one of my besties was being his photography 'mentor/trainer' since she had done the camp's photography the year before. SO somebody [ME] just, oh I don't know, HAD to sit with the two of them at meals and HAD to invite them on trail rides and HAD to come see them whenever she wasn't busy. :wink: I think he went on probably one ride a day for that entire week of training. hahaha And he loved every second of it. 

By the end of that week, we were being all "dude, did we meet a week ago? Haven't I known you my whole life??" and it was the greatest. And we're still friends. :happydance:

I can literally say that he is one of two camp people I'm still close friends with, years after camp. 
I still talk to other people but we're not close and getting closer. And the other camp person was that bestie who did his photo training at camp. :lol:


And that has been story time with Grandma Wallaby! :happydance: 
I hope you guys liked that story! 
Those events made me feel like a princess and remembering them makes me feel like a princess all over again! Who knew that you could meet someone and one week later feel like you've known them your whole life, and still be close 2.5 years later! Who. Knew.


And here's a picture of Miss Lacey from this evening. She felt like showing off her yawning abilities. :wink:












:happydance:

:happydance:


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Make that three of us... ay yi yi... 



Wallaby said:


> That's really true about Gman, hadn't thought of it like that! Makes me even gladder that I did tell him that I felt hurt! He tries hard not to hurt my feelings but how can he know what will and won't hurt me, if I don't tell him when I have an issue? Can he read my mind? Last time I checked, NO. haha And it's not great for a friend-lationship to be built on a multitude of past, un-discussed, hurts - that's one way to make sure it doesn't last long! haha



It's so easy to forget that people can't read minds and people interpret things differently!

I once made the mistake of telling a past boyfriend "Oh you're such a great friend" and he took offense cause apparently friend is a downgrade than boyfriend. 

Umm... sure... cause I'm totally not friends with my boyfriends or being my friend is such a low shelf item *sarcasm*

Boys can be dumb, lol. 

The other day Lovely Man and I had a bit of a talk via fb of course. Basically he was being Mr. Confusing one too many times so I snapped at him. Apparently he had no idea he was coming across that way. Now he's actually being more clear but still... not sure things will work out due to lack of time. If I had another year, sure. But I got 3 months... so yeah. 

But my point is... communicate! Don't assume, don't forget about lack of mind reading abilities, don't forget some people see things different, and don't forget to give yourself space so you aren't sinking down with the ship, girly.

You're a strong capable woman. You wrangle goats and horses.. and mischievous cats. Don't let something trivial burst your dam!


----------



## Wallaby

Indeed! All excellent points! 
Just in comparison for Former Boyfriend story, I know for me, to be referred to as "friend" by someone I like-like is a little...disconcerting? I don't know, to me at least, it feels kind of like "friend" is a limit set on the relationship. Like the person saying "friend" is saying "you're my friend, but nothing more and there's zero chance for more"...you know? 
For me, it's not a matter of the "friend" title being so "lowly" or a "low shelf item" :wink:, it's just that it makes me feel like the person calling me friend doesn't like me MORE than a friend...if that makes sense? 
For instance, Gman has been calling me "friend" alllll the time and I have to work SO hard to remind myself that he's not saying "you're in the friend-zone, sucker" every time he calls me "friend". 
I, of course, WANT to be his friend and I LOVE that we're friends...just being called "friend" makes me feel 'friend-zoned'. 
For instance, if Work Creep called me "friend", I would feel really relieved and be all "whew! we're friends, nothing more". But Gman, I WANT to be more than friends, so him calling me "friend" is the opposite of what I want to hear, just because of my own preconception of "friend". 
...if that makes sense. haha 


Anyhoo. 
Work went well today! 
Except for Skippy. He was a MONSTER. I do not know WHAT got in to him but he was terrible. I did a whole lot of focusing/calming groundwork with him and he was great...until the kid got on. Then he blew a fuse. With both his kids today. Fine, until they got on. 
Maybe his back is sore...that might be something to mention to my boss.

In Work Creep news...he tried to pick me up today. >.< I was just like "Um, yeah. You will be singing ALL the high notes if you pick me up right nowt." It was really weird and not ok. 
But he didn't get me and I think I impressed upon him the not-ok-ness of his actions. 
So not ok. 
Otherwise, it was a really good day. I enjoy hanging out with Work Creep when he's not being creepy. He really reminds me of my brother. My brother is a 'creep' with girls too, altogether tooooo touchy for me - though not with me since he knows I don't like being touched. 
That makes me feel safer since WC shares enough of the same-ness with my brother that I can accurately project what to say/how to act to get him to shape up! haha



And then, to end, a little quote I saw on my Facebook newsfeed that I really like a lot:

"Give people what they want, but also give them something they never expected."


:happydance: :hug:


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Wallaby said:


> Indeed! All excellent points!
> Just in comparison for Former Boyfriend story, I know for me, to be referred to as "friend" by someone I like-like is a little...disconcerting? I don't know, to me at least, it feels kind of like "friend" is a limit set on the relationship. Like the person saying "friend" is saying "you're my friend, but nothing more and there's zero chance for more"...you know?
> For me, it's not a matter of the "friend" title being so "lowly" or a "low shelf item" :wink:, it's just that it makes me feel like the person calling me friend doesn't like me MORE than a friend...if that makes sense?
> For instance, Gman has been calling me "friend" alllll the time and I have to work SO hard to remind myself that he's not saying "you're in the friend-zone, sucker" every time he calls me "friend".
> I, of course, WANT to be his friend and I LOVE that we're friends...just being called "friend" makes me feel 'friend-zoned'.
> For instance, if Work Creep called me "friend", I would feel really relieved and be all "whew! we're friends, nothing more". But Gman, I WANT to be more than friends, so him calling me "friend" is the opposite of what I want to hear, just because of my own preconception of "friend".
> ...if that makes sense. haha


Yeah it's intent versus perception. To me a friend will be there for you, care for you, etc. Actions like asking how I'm doing or listening to me vent are friend type qualities, even if the person is/was my significant other (boyfriend, fiance, etc.) they're still being great friends by doing the above things.

Maybe I should in future just say great person. Make it more generic as to not upset anyone.

Either or, he knew at the time he was my boyfriend so it was kind of silly for him to ruffle his feathers lol..

But honestly don't over analyze things like that! If he likes you and wants to be with you, then he wouldn't typically confuse you by making it a point to call you friend. I think just focus on how he treats you  That's my advice anyway


----------



## paintsrule

Wallaby said:


> Indeed! All excellent points!
> Just in comparison for Former Boyfriend story, I know for me, to be referred to as "friend" by someone I like-like is a little...disconcerting? I don't know, to me at least, it feels kind of like "friend" is a limit set on the relationship. Like the person saying "friend" is saying "you're my friend, but nothing more and there's zero chance for more"...you know?
> For me, it's not a matter of the "friend" title being so "lowly" or a "low shelf item" :wink:, it's just that it makes me feel like the person calling me friend doesn't like me MORE than a friend...if that makes sense?
> For instance, Gman has been calling me "friend" alllll the time and I have to work SO hard to remind myself that he's not saying "you're in the friend-zone, sucker" every time he calls me "friend".
> I, of course, WANT to be his friend and I LOVE that we're friends...just being called "friend" makes me feel 'friend-zoned'.
> For instance, if Work Creep called me "friend", I would feel really relieved and be all "whew! we're friends, nothing more". But Gman, I WANT to be more than friends, so him calling me "friend" is the opposite of what I want to hear, just because of my own preconception of "friend".
> ...if that makes sense. haha


I wouldn't be worried about him calling you friend, he probably does it sub consciously. For me, I've been dating my boyfriend for over two years and he STILL calls me friend on a regular basis, just last night on the phone he said "you're a nice friend", which sounds like hes friend zoning me but we continue to stay in a serious relationship so that=not happening. It used to disconcert me though (and sometimes still does) just because I am his girlfriend so at that higher level but I know, since hes said it so many times and nothing bad has happened, that its just a name he uses for some reason and I don't need to be bothered.

And he used to call me that when we were "just" friends a lot too (for a year before we started dating), and we still finagled ourselves a relationship, and from what I remember friend was sort of his common go to name. So from my personal experience don't worry about it, although we don't know WHY they use that particular descriptor when they want us to be something more, "Friend" doesn't mean that don't want that.


----------



## Wallaby

Definitely intent vs perception! You are so right, Maggie! 
But yeah, no worries, I'm personally 'over' the whole being called "friend" thing....in a good way. haha Like it bothers me less now because I've realized that he obviously doesn't mean it in the way I think of "friend" meaning. It just took me a while to realize! haha 

Thanks Paintsrule! I really appreciate your insight, always.  That sounds a lot like Gman - under closer observation, it became clear that he always calls me "friend" when my name or a term of endearment would be appropriate. SO I have to assume that being called "friend" isn't bad! haha



On the job front, I'm a little POed right now. Trying hard not to be but I'm reminded hardcore why I have a hard time working for someone else.
Basically my boss just texted me asking me to come in at 2pm, instead of 11am like I was scheduled, because she has a lady coming to "train the horse handlers in how to communicate with the horses" and tomorrow is apparently my day. 
Um, WHAT.
I'm really having a hard time not taking this personally. The other horse handler IS having a hard time, but that's because she literally got 3 training days before she was expected to do full 6hr shifts on her own. And then there's me. I feel like I'm doing ok. 
The horses are all coming around in their respect for me and, sans kid, they generally behave exactly how horses in their jobs should behave, imo. 
With kids on their backs, it is definitely a bit different but there's daily improvement.

I don't know, I guess I can just hope that the lady who works with me sees that I am, in fact, a competent horse handler. The girl who trained me thought I was competent...my boss is the only one who doesn't seem to think I can handle it. 
However, not sure I can really blame her since she reallllly brings out the worst in the horses. No offense to her, but it's one of those "mom's here, I can do whatever I want!" situations. Literally, the horses will dive at her in the midst of a session, to have their faces rubbed...and she rubs their faces. Doesn't shove them away because they're working and need to focus, heck no. Rewards the behavior with a face rub. *facedesk*
And then she's chastised me in the past for jerking the horse away, saying "but he was being a good boy!!" Hah. Um, no. Sessions=work=focus. Post session=love=focus on whatever. 
But she doesn't want to be the issue so she can't see that she IS the issue=Emily must be the issue. 

Anyway, think good thoughts for me tomorrow. Hopefully it'll go well. I love this job, the kids, the horses [even when they're bratty...], but that boss of mine. She makes me feel "not good enough" allll the time and I already struggle with being overly critical of myself. Boooo.


Plus side from today:
1. I finished shearing Hazel's legs! FINALLY. haha

2. I decided to text Gman. 
I hadn't spoken with him since Sunday night [usually we've been talking everyday/almost everyday] and he's.....I guess prone to being unsure about our friendship, but then he doesn't say anything about it. Like he tries to give me space, or something, but then he's silently worrying about if I'm mad or whatever...and he won't say anything, won't break the silence. I know he's had some really bad somethings happen in his life with that sort of thing...but he's never told me about it really, beyond vaguely mentioning it in passing. 
I had hoped he'd send me a text but, going off our past record, whenever he 'hurts' me and knows he's hurt me, he alllways lets me contact him for like a week after. I'm not sure why but I think it has to do with aforementioned past hurts and nervousness about if I'm "mad" or whatever [I've never been mad with him but he's very concerned that I will be....we're two messed up cookies]. 

Bottom line, I texted him a 2 line joke which turned into a really nice, long, conversation. The way he responded to the joke [told me a random story from his childhood that had barely anything to do with the joke - kinda 'big' for him since he's pretty private about personal facts], he was definitely waiting for me to text him! haha

That boy. A conundrum indeed.


And speaking of male conundrums. Atticus is a crazy goat. :wink:











:happydance: I hope you all are doing well!!


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Wallaby said:


> 2. I decided to text Gman.
> I hadn't spoken with him since Sunday night [usually we've been talking everyday/almost everyday] and he's.....I guess prone to being unsure about our friendship, but then he doesn't say anything about it. Like he tries to give me space, or something, but then he's silently worrying about if I'm mad or whatever...and he won't say anything, won't break the silence. I know he's had some really bad somethings happen in his life with that sort of thing...but he's never told me about it really, beyond vaguely mentioning it in passing.
> I had hoped he'd send me a text but, going off our past record, whenever he 'hurts' me and knows he's hurt me, he alllways lets me contact him for like a week after. I'm not sure why but I think it has to do with aforementioned past hurts and nervousness about if I'm "mad" or whatever [I've never been mad with him but he's very concerned that I will be....we're two messed up cookies].
> 
> Bottom line, I texted him a 2 line joke which turned into a really nice, long, conversation. The way he responded to the joke [told me a random story from his childhood that had barely anything to do with the joke - kinda 'big' for him since he's pretty private about personal facts], he was definitely waiting for me to text him! haha
> 
> That boy. A conundrum indeed.


<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

That is so cute and thoughtful of him

Eeee I'd give you a girly hug right now, complete with squeals, if I could!!!


----------



## Wallaby

*girly hugging and squealing here* :wink: 
Right though? He really...I don't know. I used to worry that my standards were too high, that I was going to have to make concessions in important "needs" of my own to find Mr. Right, but Gman is showing me that, in fact, my standards are for sure high but not impossible to reach. Hard to reach - sure, but not impossible! :lol: 
Mr. Right, whoever and wherever he is, IS out there! :wink:


Also, I realized an important fact was missing from my little 'rant' about tomorrow: maybe this trainer lady will actually teach me something. I LOVE learning and if she has a method that actually works, I'm all on board. However, if she's another one of these Parelli-addicted "being the horse's friend is priority numero uno" people... But I would love to learn something new, if something useful is presented!! 
The horses will be my guide. If it works for them, it works for me. 

AND I forgot to throw in a few of the mess of pictures I took this afternoon! 
I've been playing around with black and white again. I think the animals + black and white is just hilarious. B+W just seems to serious to me and the animals are the opposite of serious = makin' me chortle.











"Really? Are you kidding ME?? You want me to not walk down to the shed for DINNER cuz you want to take pictures of me? I should think NOT."










Atti leading the way.










Hazel's face = priceless.

"Did he just FART on me??"


----------



## Chevaux

Excellent last picture and caption, Wallaby!


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Chevaux! 


So. That 'training' today. *insert sarcastic laughter here*
Ha.
Hah.
Haha.
Hahaha.

Yeah.
The lady who was showing me stuff WAS a Parelli nut. 
However, plus side, she actually had a backbone. As a person I liked her. She actually got after the horses when they misbehaved instead of just 'ignoring' whtever it was. Of course, she got after them in a "oh, stop, please??" way vs a "STOP." way but any rules is better than nothing!
AND she got results with her method. That's probably the biggest deal for me - if you're gonna use a method, it had better be effective. I really respected that she was actually effective with it. 

I'm still very unlikely to add those techniques into my own "theory" but it worked for her, it worked for the horses, and I was actually getting results with the horses when I tried some of the things she had shown me with them. Not necessarily results that I cared about...but they were 'the right' results which pleases my perfectionist side. :wink:

Anyway, that was kind of fun. I haven't had a 'lesson' in yearrrs, I love love love learning, AND the lady showing me stuff was 100% willing to answer my questions without getting offended. 
I told her from the get-go that I wasn't a Parelli fan but that I was willing to learn and was willing to try whatever she asked me to try. And she was kind and indulged all my questions, even the questions that made her look silly [I noticed at one point that she was continuing to cue the horse for a move while he was doing the move and, figuring there was a 'reason' for it - trying to understand the WHY of it all, asked about why she was doing that. Turned out that she hadn't even realized she was doing that and that she was actually 'wrong' :lol:]. Anyway, I was really impressed with that.

And, funny story, this lady saw me with Fabs and was immediately like "Oh. This is Emily's next horse."
 :lol:

My boss was still iffy about my "ability to handle it" but, I apparently did it again, trainer-lady was going on and on to my boss about how she had no doubt I could handle it and that she was 'impressed' with my 'ability' and all this stuff.  Awkward guys, I'm REALLY not that great. I could cash+burn at any second. But I was really glad to hear the trainer-lady say I could handle it. 

So we'll see. Hopefully I can indeed handle it and parrot what they want me to parrot! 



And, for your viewing pleasure, a video of Atti doing tricks. He's pro at "bye-bye" now! We're just starting "shake hands" as well.
Lacey and Hazel make this, I think. They are the funniest. So much sass.


----------



## Wallaby

1. Lacey. Oh Lacey. She tweaked that 'bum' leg of hers again, literally a year since whatever she did to it last year, and now she's super super lame again. The injury appears identical happened last fall. That front left pastern is swollen huge and it's warm to the touch. And she is SO so lame.
BOO, Lacey. BOO.
So I'm going to ice it this evening and, fingers crossed, she'll turn it around quicker than last year. I looked up the dates and this is genuinely one year, to the week, since she did whatever she did last year.
I'm 110% sure she messed it up while cantering down a muddy, slick, hill. That's one of her favorite "OMG, it started raining!!" activities. Poo.

2. You guys would be so proud: I texted Gman and he was actually telling me things in his replies so, instead of our usual "here's a story, kthanxbye"-thing, I ASKED HIM HOW HIS DAY WAS GOING.
And he actually told me, in 'long form'! And asked me how my day was! 

Anyway, that's like a whole new 'thing' for me/us. We have always stuck to our storytelling and never asked about how the other person is doing. This is good good good.

Man, at the rate this is going, we could actually make it 5 years of knowing each other before we actually get 'anywhere'. [once he asked me how long I would have to know a guy before I married him - being an idiot, I was like "oh, 5 years of friendship before dating seems reasonable!" (since I was trrrying to hedge my bets since he wants to get married within 2 years of beginning to date 'the right girl'...I'm not bright sometimes. hahahaha) :rofl: :rofl:]


Anyhoo, I was excited about that. :wink:


----------



## muumi

Hahaha! Oh well, you've brought it upon yourself. If Gman wanted to make a move, he won't now because he thinks you want five straight years of friendship! 😉 Just kidding. 

By the way, I love how Atti wags his tail when he knows he's done done something right.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Roperchick

Aaaw poor Lacey. Silly girl hope she heals up quick.

But the Atti video=epic. That goat is awesome hahahaha


----------



## tinyliny

I could have told her that you'd do well with Fabs. I can tell that from 200 miles away.

with Atti, you might have better results if you make the hand signals, (what he is most likely going off of) more clearly differentiated. your hand is in the same basic position for wave byebye as to back up;; up and over his head soemwaht. Waht if one of them was up high, and one was lower?, or one had the hand upward facing (palm up). The clearer the big differences are the better the animal can differenctiate. A dog could see very small differences, but I kind of think a goat might not be quite as smart as a dog.


----------



## Wallaby

RIGHT, Muumi?! But really, how do you say "oh, so in case you're interested and remember what I said, over 3 years ago, about not dating a person until I've known them for 5 years...you'd be a exception, if you wanted to be." Hah! That wouldn't be an awkward discussion! :lol: 
:rofl: and I brought it on myself. :rofl:

Thanks Christy! 


Awww, thanks Caroline.  [love your new avatar, btw!] Good thinking about Atti's training! I'll have to think about some different movements/signals that I could use. I think you're probably super right about that being why he's confused. 
I've tested it by just doing verbal cues a few times and he has a much higher ratio of "rightness" with just the verbal...but his response is a whole lot slower. If that makes sense. :lol:



Well ya'll, had my first day of school today!
It actually went really super well. My first class was at 8am so I was up at 4:30am to get myself/the animals ready for the day. I was on the train to school by 6:30 and at school by 7:30, it was perfect. Though I realllllly don't know why I'm still up right now, at 8pm. I am so tired. So if this doesn't really make sense, that's why.

I have 4 classes on M/W and one on Friday. 2 back to back [with 10 minutes in between], 45 minute break, then 2 more back to back [10 minutes between]. 
And I survived day 1. :lol: Go me. haha

Only 3 more [this 'current' term included] terms to go until graduation!  

Today has been something else. But I survived and that's what counts. 


On the Gentleman Friend front, from last night, = ..........
You guys are going to love this:
So I bought a shirt that says "Alpacalypse" on it cuz alpacas/llamas are one of our eternal inside jokes [he's the one who got me those llama stamps so so long ago]. He finallllly saw it last night and nearly passed out, he was laughing so hard.
He told me that "that is the greatest tshirt ever"
And I, being a smooooth operator, was all "if they ever go on sale, I'll buy you one!!"
He was like "oh geez, you shouldn't"
And I, continuing with my smooth operation, was all "only if they go on sale, [digging a hole] I'd spend money on you...but only on sale money. Not as much as I paid for this. Oh my gosh, what am I saying? I am the meanest. But really, I'd spend money on you! Just not as much as I paid..." and on for a few more sentences until I forced myself to shut the heck up.

WHAT THE HECK IS WROOOOOONG WITH ME. I should just never speak again.
Luckily he's seen me at worst than this so I don't think he was too hurt or whatever...BUT REALLY. On a list of mean+hurtful things to say, way to hit like the top 10, Emily!!

So that wasn't great. At all. I should just not speak. :lol:

Luckily he stuck around for longer than that and I said that in the first couple of minutes we were together, out of probably 10, and I figured out my words better after that. haha

But, in life developments, his job with the old ladies is apparently ending pretty soon and he's planning to move into Downtown Portland...and who goes to school downtown? Oh yeah, that'd be ME!
I was all "that's awesome! We could hang out for reals!!" and he was all "YEAH! We could get lunch all the time!" and I was all "well...I really don't have a lunch break...." and he was all "oh....then, I'll just come over and walk with you to class!"
WHAT!!!?? Awwwwwwwww. 
Adorable. 

Who knows if it would actually happen but, if you recall, this is the same guy who has never actually done anything with me 1:1 and never previously offered to do anything with me 1:1. Besides these church hangouts. The church 'friend-time' is literally the first time I've ever had with just him, us talking without anyone we really know-know super close by, in our entire friendship. 
He's always been VERY careful to wrangle another mutual friend/acquaintance to be with us at all times, except for maybe a few 30 second intervals when said friend stepped away or whatever. 

Which of course makes me feel...sort of special. I mean in any case, regardless of his 'real' goal, he's making sure there's never any question of anything that could be asked and that he's being really respectful of me! Adorable.
It used to be really frustrating, like "what about me is so repulsive that you can't stand to be alone with me??!", but then I realized that guys who don't care don't act like that. And whether it's friend-caring or other-caring, it's really respectful and it doesn't feel bad to be cared about like that. 

Anyway, we talked some more, then we parted ways. And I was proud of myself - on parting I gave him a REAL hug. Not just "arms up by shoulders"-hug but an "arms wrapped around the other person"-hug. Those are hard for me and he's basically a professional at them. He knows they're hard for me, he knows that he's 'special' to be getting one hug, let alone 2, from me! haha But, don't tell anyone, I actually really like hugs from him. They make me feel safe. :wink: 
I think he got the point, on parting he said "I'm really glad we got to see each other, Emily."
And he NEVER says my name. Ok, he does but it's rare. I rarely call him by name too...how weird is that. haha

Also, other "Emily should stop writing, she's too tired" point I noticed, when he said my name:
He used to say my name like the soft E-sound [like "embezzle"] was an soft I-sound [like the i sound in "milk"]. Like 'Immm'-ily. 
And I HATE that so much when people do that to my name. I don't know why but it makes me feel queasy, not even kidding. haha
I never said anything to him about it because I know some people just can't hear the difference and I didn't want to make him feel bad about ever saying my name. And I figured I could probably get used to do if that was ever necessary. 

But now he's saying my name the "right" way, the way I like, with a soft E-sound. Like 'Ehhh'-mily.
This has happened the last 2 times he's said my name. Before that [see, it happens so little I can remember the times. Lame, I know. haha], it was 'Immmm'-ily alllllways.

Weird, right? But I'm ok with that!!


Anyhoo. 'Going-to-bed'-time for me, before I share any more "brilliant" insights with the world. :rofl:

And 2 pictures.

Lacey, at 5am. :rofl: White horse in a blackout! :wink:










Lacey this evening.
"whatever do you mean, 'don't eat that thistle'? I most certainly can and WILL eat this thistle! And I'll LIKE IT."










:happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

"Alpacalips"


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Wallaby said:


> But, in life developments, his job with the old ladies is apparently ending pretty soon and he's planning to move into Downtown Portland...and who goes to school downtown? Oh yeah, that'd be ME!
> I was all "that's awesome! We could hang out for reals!!" and he was all "YEAH! We could get lunch all the time!" and I was all "well...I really don't have a lunch break...." and he was all "oh....then, I'll just come over and walk with you to class!"
> WHAT!!!?? Awwwwwwwww.
> Adorable.
> 
> Who knows if it would actually happen but, if you recall, this is the same guy who has never actually done anything with me 1:1 and never previously offered to do anything with me 1:1. Besides these church hangouts. The church 'friend-time' is literally the first time I've ever had with just him, us talking without anyone we really know-know super close by, in our entire friendship.
> He's always been VERY careful to wrangle another mutual friend/acquaintance to be with us at all times, except for maybe a few 30 second intervals when said friend stepped away or whatever.
> 
> Which of course makes me feel...sort of special. I mean in any case, regardless of his 'real' goal, he's making sure there's never any question of anything that could be asked and that he's being really respectful of me! Adorable.
> It used to be really frustrating, like "what about me is so repulsive that you can't stand to be alone with me??!", but then I realized that guys who don't care don't act like that. And whether it's friend-caring or other-caring, it's really respectful and it doesn't feel bad to be cared about like that.
> 
> Anyway, we talked some more, then we parted ways. And I was proud of myself - on parting I gave him a REAL hug. Not just "arms up by shoulders"-hug but an "arms wrapped around the other person"-hug. Those are hard for me and he's basically a professional at them. He knows they're hard for me, he knows that he's 'special' to be getting one hug, let alone 2, from me! haha But, don't tell anyone, I actually really like hugs from him. They make me feel safe. :wink:
> I think he got the point, on parting he said "I'm really glad we got to see each other, Emily."
> And he NEVER says my name. Ok, he does but it's rare. I rarely call him by name too...how weird is that. haha
> 
> Also, other "Emily should stop writing, she's too tired" point I noticed, when he said my name:
> He used to say my name like the soft E-sound [like "embezzle"] was an soft I-sound [like the i sound in "milk"]. Like 'Immm'-ily.
> And I HATE that so much when people do that to my name. I don't know why but it makes me feel queasy, not even kidding. haha
> I never said anything to him about it because I know some people just can't hear the difference and I didn't want to make him feel bad about ever saying my name. And I figured I could probably get used to do if that was ever necessary.
> 
> But now he's saying my name the "right" way, the way I like, with a soft E-sound. Like 'Ehhh'-mily.
> This has happened the last 2 times he's said my name. Before that [see, it happens so little I can remember the times. Lame, I know. haha], it was 'Immmm'-ily alllllways.
> 
> Weird, right? But I'm ok with that!!
> 
> 
> 
> :happydance:


*More girly squealing commences* Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 

This is so awesome!!!!!!!!! So so so sooo awesome!

Also... a little advice on the whole finding yourself rambling thing.. I do that all the time. With someone I like, I find it best that when I'm in one of those funky moods, just to end it mysteriously like "Maybe someday..." so that I give them things to think about and not dig myself my early grave (per say)

But seriously, how could he not like you?! You're so you, and that's awesome!!! 

Do his hugs make you feel alive/on fire/buzzed too? That's a good sign!


----------



## Wallaby

Good one, Caroline! It has this on the front:










SO FUNNY. :lol:

Maggie: "eeeeeeeeeee!!" :rofl:
I'll have to give that a try. 
Aww, you're sweet. I spent a long time hiding who I really was from the world because I just wasn't comfortable with who I am. But not anymore! And it feel so much better to be real, like I can breath.

As far as his hugs making me feel alive/etc, I don't know. They used to, during my "lust period" [:rofl: not weird like it sounds!], but then I realized that I was indeed lusting after him and that's not respectful of him. SO I tried to stop thinking of him as a body and think him more as a mind. [mind you, he is a fiiiiine physical specimen! hahaha]
BUT, ideally he'd hug me for forever and ever and never leave. Which I don't feel about literally anyone in my entire life. Most people can leave and I'm all "whatevs, dawg." but him.... Basically he's like my human Lacey, if that makes sense. I don't like him as much as I like Lacey, but darnit if he isn't getting close. :lol:
Hugs from him make me feel all sappy and girly..which are not things I generally feel. Ever. I even fake cooing over baby bunnies, to give you an idea of my emotionless internal state. :rofl:


Speaking of Gman, cute story:
Last night I texted him cuz I had read a hilariously terrible pickup line and he loves bad pickup lines as much as I do. Which is A LOT.
I texted him to ask if he wanted to hear it [I've figured out that asking if he wants to hear it, even though I know he will always say yes, seems to encourage more discussion] and he texted back to say that he was falling asleep and that he wouldn't read it until the morning, but that he wanted to hear it [code: "I'm going to text you back at 5:30am if you send it now"]. I figured out a way to silence my phone overnight without having to remember to silence it so I was ok with that.
I texted back the pickup line and said something to the effect of: that I was glad he was falling asleep since that meant he got to laugh when he woke up and start the day off good. 

When I woke up at 7am, I had a text from him that was full of lots of laughter from the pickup line AND a reference to something he knew I would think was quite funny.

Sommmmebody wanted to make sure I woke up smiling too. 


I had more to say about today [Work Creep/Fabs/Lacey] but it's already 8:16pm and I have to be up at 4:30am again tomorrow. I want to be going to sleep at 9 sooo I really should start now. Boo. I'll try to be back tomorrow.  :happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

From yesterday:

Work Creep - we've officially become 'friends'. It's really actually great. He's basically exactly like my brother, when my brother was a teen, and I never see my brother now that he's married...so it's nice to have someone like him around [my brother and I were/are super close - we're only a year apart in age so we pretty much grew up like twins].
AND he was having some difficulty with his lady friend so I gave him the 411 on that. Heeeheeeheeheehee. Emily has powwwwwer. :rofl: But no, I gave him real advice. 
I get to feel like a big sister again!! haha

Fabs - HI-larious story. So, when he gets a bit nervous, he stops focusing on whoever is leading him and more on walking fast to get 'away'. He doesn't break into a trot or anything, just tunes everything out and walks it OUT. 
My boss suggested we fix it by "blocking him with the stick on his nose" [aka, "shove the stick in front of his nose and pray that he slows down"]. Tried that once, it worked a few times but it wasn't a method that actually taught him anything = he's nevver gonna stop since he doesn't know it's not right. And, mind you, they've been using this 'method' on him for months, pre-me, with no change. *headdesk*
Anyway, I didn't have any ideas so I read up on the lovely HoFo and someone mentioned a quick about-face every time he gets ahead of me. So I threw Work Creep up there [Fabs leads PERFECTLY sans rider - weirdo! haha] and expected it to take at least 30 minutes.
And you know how many repetitions it took?
Literally 2. 
He nearly immediately barged ahead, I flew in the opposite direction, and he thought I had gone nuts. 2 minutes later, he did it again on the opposite side. I flew around again, and he though I was nuts again.
Then it took a solid 15 minutes of walking to 'bore' him into doing it again [while I worked with him on stopping as soon as my feet stop], I flew around, he came too, and we walked around for another 5 minutes.

Later in his session, one where he LOVES to barge ahead cuz he gets bored and a little frustrated [the rider for that one is motivated to do her best by the idea that she gets 'reins' -rope reins looped around his neck - neck pressure only- at the end of her session and he's not a huuuge fan of the reins part since she's has MS and is not the most forgiving..but he's trying SO hard, she can actually get him to stop and back up just with her 'reins'. Her riding sessions are the only thing that taught him that!! SO CUTE.]. 
Anyway, he 'magically' didn't barge ahead at all. A few times he sped up a little too much but 'blocking' him with the stick solved it really quickly since he had already learned that barging ahead was a no-no. 
Who'da' thunk' it. You need to teach horses what right and wrong looks like?! WHAT. 
Anyway. I really like that horse. He is so so smart and tries SO hard to learn whatever I might be teaching him. He's a good boy. 
*proud trainer moment*

Lacey - She got her hooves done yesterday by the hoof trimmer. I felt overwhelmed with the idea of moving hay, doing school+homework, work, teaching lessons, taking care of Lacey+the G's, AND trying to trim everyone's hooves as often as they need it.
So I had the trimmer do Lacey and Hazel. Atti is pretty sassy about his hooves but they're easy to trim once you get past the sass [he has super soft hooves too which helps]. Lacey and Hazel's hooves both need a lot more effort [hooves like freaking ROCKS]+thought. 
I feel a lot better better about that. I like doing them all myself but I tend to take on too much and forget to get help until I REALLY need help...so cutting out the stress-induced-meltdown. :lol:

AND her leg is doing super better! Not as swollen by far. She's still SUPER gimpy when trotting but she's happy to trot which says she's in less pain - she really tones down her activity level according to whatever she's feeling internally. She's only gimpy when walking downhill as well, not gimping on turns anymore! So this is all good. Go LaceyShmace!

Speaking of Lacey: 5am Breakfast Lacey!










Today, man. I am WIPED. I don't even know how I made it through my last class. Oh yeah, by drawing this:

Dinosaur training!










Earlier in the day, the Loch Ness Monster visited Mr+Mrs Penguin. :wink:












And sweet Gman story:
First, I was real sappy this morning. The sunrise was really pretty and, for whatever reason, he was the one who NEEDED to see it [I rarely just text people about silly stuff like that but whatever, something got into me this morning] so I texted him about it. And he was appropriately super excited. He loves sunrises/sunsets as much as I do. 

Then, sweet part, I don't know if he remembered that I get out of class at 4 or what, but on the dot of 4, I got a text from him that was an absolutely random story. Nothing that we had EVER talked about before and not even really 'funny' [not that it "needs" to be funny but usually, when he's telling me a story for the sake of the story, the stories are super funny], basically "hey" in story form. 
And we texted my whole train ride home.  Which, I can't remember if I told you guys, is my favorite. The train is boring so it's basically "texting time" [especially since the train limits what you can do by a whole lot, no real reading, no homework, etc, cuz you end up getting in the way of people/people need to get past you...it just turns into a mess]. Gman texts are like Christmas presents every time, you never know what he's going to say = the perfect distraction for a boring train ride!

Annnnyway. I like this a whole lot.

[and, interesting thing which is probably a friend-thing and not a big deal, we were talking and I said that I was bad at Tetris, which he interpreted to mean that I didn't like Tetris -I don't dislike Tetris-, and he texted me back saying "don't say that! I LOVE TETRIS."...now we're apparently liking things solely because the other person does?? Interesting. haha but cute.]



Anyway, I think that was thoroughly everything that occurred today/yesterday. Whew!
And now I'm gonna go to bed. :rofl:

:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Y'all! Long time "no see"! Or at least it feels like that. :lol:

1. Lacey's leg is doing SO SO SO much better. She's not gimping hardly at all! 
It's still not 'normal' on tight turns to that side and whatnot but at least she's on the upside. That's all that matters to me. She can have a perma-gimp if she wants, she can be a gangster. :rofl: Anyway, she's comfortable again without any kind of pain meds [pain stuff for this leg thing makes her go way too hard on it and make it 20 billion times worse].
So THAT's a relief!!

2. Job: I don't know what's happening. My boss texted me last week sometime and was all "oh yeah, so I don't need you to come in on Tuesday [the only day I've been working], we'll talk next week."
Aggravating. I'm doing exactly what she wants me to do, in a happy way, leaving the aggravation at the door, and she still doesn't seem happy. Driving me NUTS.
However, character building time!! I will be a better person for this, just doesn't feel like it right now. :lol:

3. Gentleman Friend: bksvbsvbwihvwbvs! Things are going swimmingly.
That kid is SO sweet.
Last night at church he seriously SKIPPED prayer-time before the kids showed up [technically he started the prayer, since that's his job, then LEFT] to come see me. Boy, do I feel SPECIAL! haha Prayer-time is kinda a huge deal. You don't just skip that.
And, ever since that 'incident' of not showing up to see me and not letting me know he wasn't going to show up, he's been texting me to let me know what he's doing and how long it should take until he comes up to see me, if it's more than about 10 minutes between when I texted him saying I'm there and when he'll be up to see me.
I think his lady-bestie is giving him pointers or something cuz I didn't say anything at all about how him not telling me he wasn't coming was the real 'issue' before. I just said my feelings were hurt somewhat and left it at that. Of course, kudos to him, he might have figured that out on his own...but I don't think guys think like that? Or maybe HE does, after all, he does overthink like I do. :rofl:

In any case, this is what I'm saying. He has a SERIOUS aptitude for negotiating the mine field that is me. It kind of scares me. haha I wonder if I do the same thing to him without knowing it...? Oh geez. haha

And he's moving downtown in about a month - he brought up "hanging out ALL the time" again last night. :lol: Hmmm, Gman, are you excited? I'm excited. haha

4. Hazel: she almost killed herself Saturday night!! 
She got caught up in the fence on her way back from visiting the llamas - one back leg had hooked into one of the metal squares in the fence at such a height that she was STUCK. 
I'm so impressed with her - she would have gotten BADLY injured if she had struggled, but did she struggle?
Not a lick. She waited patiently for me to come remove her, which I did at around 6pm when I found her - who knows how long she had been stuck for!!
Her leg was VERY asleep and she was hardly using it for a bit but she walked it off and she's totally fine now. Possibly a little stiffer in the hindend on that side but there's daily improvement. I've been giving her MSM everyday to ease any inflammation and encourage her to heal well. 

Now Hazel, stay OUT of that fence.



:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Roperchick

poor hazel! oh man those moments of seeing stuck animals are panic inducing eh? my cows have gotten into so many bad situations and come out scott free (with a good deal of stress/sweat/swearing/scratches and blisters on the saviors part lol) its mind boggling. glad shes okay though!

job front- don't worry too much about it. maybe yall just need to have a sit down talk and really hash out what your views/her views and plans are. maybe its just a miscommunication or just lack of communication in general.
but ooh guuuuurl. love your stories with GF. they make my day ;D


----------



## Wallaby

For real, Christy!!
I've tried just talking to my boss about but she starts doing that half-hearted "it's fine" thing..from what I can surmise, the "issue" seems to realllly be that even though I'm doing the actions she wants, I'm not being a "cookie-cutter" human. For instance, using a crop as my "carrot stick" vs the actual giant stick. The horses don't care, I'm using it "correctly", the horses respond how they're supposed to, the lady who trained me in these methods even actually used a "mini-carrot-stick" while training me in these methods...which was literally an orange crop [but the Parelli's sent it to her! *collective 'ooooooh'*], but this is a crop that wasn't sent from the Parellis and it's black. Obviously it can't work. >.<
It's just little stuff like that.
I love this job but this is driving me up a wall. 
Next week I'll try it her way though. I just find the 'real' stick to be much too long and too heavy for real precision. 
I feel like she wants me to handle these horses...but not handle them well. She probably doesn't mean it like that but that's the impression I get. For me, that's probably the worst thing in the world. Horses are my area of expertise and here's someone who seems to be telling me to half-*bleep* something I love to do and am actually possibly mildly skilled in...... 

Maybe I need to find a polite and respectful way to share that^ with her. I don't know. Half the time she acts like she's really open to hearing what I have to say but the other half of the time she comes across as really unwilling to hear what I say, then hears whatever I say however she wants to hear it [like during my interview, I told her that I didn't have much of a groundwork background, which is true in the sense that I don't do a lot of groundwork myself and I've never been 'taught' by anyone about groundwork. I have read a ton about groundwork and the ideas behind it...but that wouldn't have been presenting myself accurately, had I presented myself as skilled at groundwork via book-learning.
However, now, whenever I have any ideas about groundwork, or things to try on the ground, or the body language of the horses, she says "but you don't have experience with groundwork..." and dismisses my idea/thoughts. Since when is body language 'groundwork'...?]. Anyway, I'm just afraid of saying anything that'll add to her apparent impression of my incompetency. 
Everybody else who I've worked with there is in my corner and I'm always hearing things like "the horses really go better for you than the other handlers..." or "____[handler] had a rough day yesterday and ____[horse] is doing the same thing to you, but it's not translating back this time"...that sort of thing. 

Anyway, who knows. It'll be ok though, I'm sure. I adore this job with all my heart and I'm sure it'll be a stepping stone to something greater one day. Trying hard not to worry about it too much!






Only other though: Animal trainer "squee"!!

I've been working with Atti on teaching him to "shake hands" and so far we were still in the "luring" stage where I had to cue him, then pick up his leg, and praise him. 
[oh, Caroline, by the way, your advice about using a lower hand signal was PERFECT. I've kept "back up" as it was, but shifted "bye-bye" to waving from about hip-level (his eye level) and the confusion between cues is 85% gone! He stills waves sometimes after he's done backing up, but that's more to do with the order I used to drill the tricks in, I think...] 

BUT GUESS WHAT HAPPENED TODAY!!!? 
I cued him to shake hands and kept my hand out for a few seconds to give him the option of trying it himself [when you train like that, it's REALLY hard for them the first few times you don't "help"] and, after looking at my hand and sniffing it thoroughly, he put his leg on my hand ALL BY HIMSELF like I wanted!!

I only asked him to shake hands once more with the "hard" leg [he's very "right handed" so I'm trying to make "shake hands" be either leg - left leg is HARD for him] and I had to lure him, but still! I got one correct trick! It seems like as soon as he does it on his own once, then he flies to perfecting the trick. So I'm not worried.

And, on a similar note, we started a new trick today...totally unintentionally! 
I was putting out fresh bedding in Lacey's stall and he was hanging out with me, as per his usual. I usually pile it all in the center of the stall, then spread it, and usually he likes to stand on the pile and sniff the bedding.
Today he actually pawed at the bedding and I caught him right at the second he did it with a "GOOD BOY!" He seriously LIT UP like a Christmas tree [like as soon as I said those words, he made direct eye contact with me and started doing it more emphatically!!], then started pawing and head butting the pile. And he actually spread it around the stall for me, surprisingly thoroughly!
So now that one is called "Can you help?" He LOVES it. It still needs a little work but he thought it was fun AND he was being praised for having fun=the most internally rewarding trick evvvvver! 

They say the first trick is the hardest and after that things start coming fast. Boy, are "they" right!! haha

:happydance:


----------



## Roperchick

no pictures?! ohmygosh. haha i think a video of Attis newest "trick" is a mussssst. lol


----------



## Wallaby

I know, I know. the pictures have been lacking!! I have a number of them for today though! 
A video of him doing it will come soon! I put bedding in her stall every week+half or so though and I don't want to waste bedding to take a video. :rofl: Maybe he'll do it if I pile up all her stall's current bedding...I'll give that a try tonight!!

On the Lacey front: took her for a ride today and OH BOY. 
1. She was hot hot hot! Oh dear, I nearly fell off like 3 times thanks to giant spooks. Luckily she stopped spooking each time right at the point where I lost my balance but MAN. There were bolt-forward-spooks, side-spooks, screeching-on-the-brakes-spooks...she went for it alllll. And, silly me, I expected her to be rather low key = who was riding in a rope halter with a single lead rope rein? Oh yeah, me. 
Luckily she took care of me and I didn't die. AND she calmed down by the end. The beginning was the rough part, then she got into "work-mode" and settled.
Of course, she hasn't been out on the trails since........late August?? So I probably should have expected her to be feeling it. :lol:

2. There was a point where she was just not wanting to walk, so I made her full stop until she stopping sassing me so much. Then I was like "oh! we're about to get to a nice trotting hill/switch-back! I could reward her for standing so well by asking her to trot!"
Um, yeah. She definitely went directly for the canter and my "um, we are going to die if you canter those turns!" cues translated into Arab-speak as "I think you should rate yourself like a barrel horse and switch leads around each corner, like a professional!!"
:rofl:
She is tooo funny. I had absolutely no clue she could even do those things at all! She was cantering so slowly around each turn, it was like a freakin' slo-mo situation!

She came directly back to me after that and walked very quietly until I let her run again...so I guess that works. :lol:
She's 28! Since when can 28 year old, seriously out of shape, horses SWITCH LEADS? How is she so darn athletic!?

Anyway, that was fun. 

And here's a lil video from right before she started sassing me [at the end, when I asked her to stop, that terrible stop was indicative of things to come haha].






Annnd while were were stopped, prior to our grand 'adventure'. haha










And a variety of pictures from other days...



















And some random sunsets!





















Nothing much to report on the Gman front. 
We did talk a whole lot yesterday though! Or, more specifically, I had 2 stories to tell him and each story ended up turning into text conversations that pretty nearly spanned the whole day. AND, silly part, he 'liked' both of my Facebook statuses yesterday which he usually doesn't do when we've talked a lot in a day.. Maybe I was just that much more hilarious than usual yesterday. :lol:

Funny story: he's apparently going to have a cat in the future and it's going to play with his future dogs...which, according to a 2-years-ago-him, "would never ever happen since cats are the worst". And I have a cat which, according to him a few weeks ago, he "wants to have"............hmm. Well, buddy, you aren't getting my cat without me! :rofl:



Anyhoo, that's all for today!
:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

2 more today thoughts.

1. you know how, a while back, I was talking about how adorable it was that Work Creep liked things his lady friend likes, because he likes her? And how I was all "SO CUTE, my life is the opposite of that."
Um. A) Gman literally hated cats and now he "loves" my cat. B) Gman is now all about nature and animals [specifically horses, goats, llamas/alpacas, cats, and dogs] and MacGyvering stuff on hand into other stuff...and when I met him, he was all "I'm such a city boy! I'm the opposite of handy! blahblahblah" [he's still not "handy"...but he tries hard to help and he's a good helper = basically as good. Too many handy people working on one thing=a mess] C) Glitter. Glitter is great. And someone, unnamed :wink:, used to despise glitter but now "loves it". D) Unicorns. 

Conclusion: perhaps I should work on actually SEEING what I have with my eyes, instead of assuming the worst about myself and my friends. And perhaps I am lucky enough to have someone in my life who likes things that I like, just because I like them... 



2. The goatie-goats got new collars! Well, they got new collars and I added ribbon to them. 
[sorry, Christy! I ran out of time to try to see if Atti would do his trick - tomorrow!!]
I've had these collars sitting around for a while and I just hadn't yet gotten to attaching the ribbon. Today I finally did.
Bummer fact though: I think Atti grew since I tested what size he needed cuz this one seems awfully tight [already as big as it'll go]... Maybe it'll stretch. Luckily I have plenty more of that ribbon so I can always get a bigger collar for him and still use that ribbon, if it's needed.


----------



## Wallaby

I tried to take a video of Atti's new bedding kicking trick for Roperchick. He refused. Well, really he wasn't sure what I was asking. You can see him thinking about it but I think I needed to praise him for sniffing the bedding or something, to get him to actually try.

However, I thought you guys might appreciate the extreme levels of sass on display from Lacey and Atti. Such big personalities. hahaha







:happydance:


----------



## Roperchick

I'm just. so honored. that I got a personal video on my FB wall of Mr. Sassypants!:happydance:

hahaha made my day! he's such a turd lol:clap:


----------



## Chevaux

Hi Wallaby - your landscape shots (on Oct 10th post) are perfection!


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## cakemom

That's hilarious. Boy children are that way, never brag on them- they rebel!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Cherrij

I always LOVE your photos! The ones with Lacey with the blanket took my breath away!


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## Cherrij

Excuse me Wallaby, I need a Lacey fix!!!


----------



## Wallaby

You are so welcome, Christy! I'm glad it hit the spot!! <3 Speaking of things specifically for you:
LOOK WHO I RODE ON TUESDAY!!!









Only your boy! haha He was great. I even got to ride hm at a trot a little bit and oh my word. Like riding a COUCH!

Thanks Chevaux!! I love those ones too 

Haha that's too funny, cakemom!  Now if I ever have a son, I know what to do! hahaha

Aw, I'm glad, Cherrij! That one is my favorite too! 




Ok guys, I don't even know where to start. At all.
Especially with work on Tuesday. It was the most horrifying fiasco of ignorance...
I guess maybe I'll start there.

First, turns out Work Creep was asked not to work on that same Tuesday I was told I wasn't working = makes me feel WAY better. Still not totally 100% comfortable with this whole thing but mildly reassured.
WORK CREEP. He was like a Pomeranian who had been sent to the boarding kennel for 3 months. He was so happy to see me and alllll he wanted to do was stand around and talk and talk and talk. It was kinda nice/funny, considering how the rest of the day went. 

The real stuff was that a 'volunteer' showed up and apparently she's "training" the horses. 
I have SO many issues with this. Not the least of which being that she's encouraging the horses to let her "massage inside their lips because that's the sign of a great horse".... Um. What?
And then she spent significant amounts of time 'playing' with the horses where she would sit/lay on the ground and call them to herself and say that they were "joining up with her". 
Basically I don't have a problem with playing around if you want to play around with a horse. I certainly do enough silly stuff to Lacey!! However, 1. don't try to make it "more" than it is and 2. take actual FREE time to do that stuff. She was supposed to be helping me do various activities but she wasn't because the was "training".

Not to mention that she encouraged my boss to get Skippy, the TWH, lunging for a solid 30 minutes-hour per day. That's cool, he needs a lot more exercise than he's getting and if no one is going to ride him...but when my boss asked if that lunging could happen on the lead rope, this girl said that all lunging, at all gaits should happen on a lead rope and that lunge lines where "creations of people not in control of their horses"...
Yeah.
I tried mentioning all those studies and whatnot about the torque lunging in tight circles puts on a horse's joints...but at that point "New Girl" and my boss were basically a clique and I was the outsider, so they both pretty much gave me the stink eye. haha

[as an aside, I figured that out about my boss - she's constantly looking to form a clique and I think that's where we go wrong. I've never fit well into cliques and I just don't "get it"...so I'm always the outsider. Always. But realizing that about her also makes understanding this *waves arms around* much easier.]

Other gems from the day: "stallions are better if they're crossbreeds! Hybrid vigor!!" [of course she had a stallion and spent the 7 hours we worked together telling me about him - Saddlebred/Perch/Belgian/Fresian cross, in case anybody was wondering] "Buddy, because he's a draft, should be grounddriven in a driving bit with shanks...___boss's name___ doesn't like bits so a hackamore with at least 6 inch shanks will work" "a horse should never get to drink as much water as it wants all at once. It will get sick!!" "Tom Thumbs are the nicest bits" "What? You can't neck rein in a snaffle or anything bitless!!"

Etc. 
I was SERIOUSLY about to lose it.
Luckily Work Creep was out moving some piles of bark dust so whenever I just couldn't handle it, and I was on a break, I went out and helped him. The physical activity and Work Creep's constant chatter helped lower my:








- radar

But yeah. 

My 'favorite' horror-moment was probably her yelling "DROP IT!!" at Buddy, like he was a dog, when he grabbed her arm with his teeth. She didn't smack him or anything, just hollered "DROP IT!" 
Cuz that always works.

She did have a few really helpful tips about some stuff that I needed some help with so I really appreciated that! But otherwise it was quite the day.

I guess really the most frustrating part was that this girl was basically doing my job all day [I was a side walker...which is probably more fun that horse handling but you know], having my boss hang off every one of her words, subsequently being completely ignored by my boss and this girl [they even locked me in the barn at the end of the day because they forgot I was still working...I climbed out the window which was genuinely super fun, but yeah], AND the fact that this girl was 'training' the horses not at all in the style they're telling me I need to handle the horses in. 
My boss talked with me extensively about how she felt that consistency between the people handling the horses was more important that anything...and then this. How is that consistent? Grrrr.

ANYWAY. 
I do really really like this job but the lack of consistency [haha] is reallllly getting to me!! 


So that was Tuesday.
Then there was yesterday. Yesterday was...something. I don't know what was going on. 
School was ok, I got called up in front of two of my classes for various reasons and I'm a "freezer". I get nervous being on the spot and I freeze. I could have known the correct answer 2 seconds before, but call on me and watch me instantly forget. 
I don't hate having attention on me if I've initiated the attention but getting called on in class..boy. Yeah, no good.

Then I kinda dug myself a hole with Gentleman Friend. 
I basically just texted him way too much. 3 stories in one day, after he had already texted me first thing in the morning [he needed someone's phone number, haha]. And he wasn't responding "right", you know? Like he was just being all "haha" and that was it...so I obviousssssly had to push it and keep texting him, trying to get a 'better' response. 
Yeah, no better responses came. He's not mad, I don't think, but lots of stuff is going on for him right now and I need to tone it down.
So I'm going to try to not text him until, unless something realllllly great happens tomorrow, Saturday. 

But then again, tomorrow is his last day of work and he's basically been counting down, maybe I should text him tomorrow afternoon/evening being all "hope your last day went well!"... Cuz that's caring, right? 
Maybe I'll do that. [unless he texts me earlier, obviously]

Ah! Not gonna over think it. Gonna do what feels right!

Picture from yesterday:










Then today Lacey and I went on a trail ride. It was the best. I do love that horse!!

First. [I let her out of her stall to get her breakfast ready and let her go to the bathroom if she needed to - she hates going undersaddle and we were heading out right after 'breakfast'! haha]

This is her "you talking to me??", plus farting, face. :lol:










"Breakfast, you say?!"










Then 2 pictures from the ride





















And that is all for now! :happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Wallaby said:


> You are so welcome, Christy! I'm glad it hit the spot!! <3 Speaking of things specifically for you:
> LOOK WHO I RODE ON TUESDAY!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Only your boy! haha He was great. I even got to ride hm at a trot a little bit and oh my word. Like riding a COUCH!
> 
> I was SERIOUSLY about to lose it.
> Luckily Work Creep was out moving some piles of bark dust so whenever I just couldn't handle it, and I was on a break, I went out and helped him. The physical activity and Work Creep's constant chatter helped lower my:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> - radar
> 
> But yeah.
> 
> She did have a few really helpful tips about some stuff that I needed some help with so I really appreciated that! But otherwise it was quite the day.
> 
> 
> So that was Tuesday.
> Then there was yesterday. Yesterday was...something. I don't know what was going on.
> School was ok, I got called up in front of two of my classes for various reasons and I'm a "freezer". I get nervous being on the spot and I freeze. I could have known the correct answer 2 seconds before, but call on me and watch me instantly forget.
> I don't hate having attention on me if I've initiated the attention but getting called on in class..boy. Yeah, no good.
> 
> Then I kinda dug myself a hole with Gentleman Friend.
> I basically just texted him way too much. 3 stories in one day, after he had already texted me first thing in the morning [he needed someone's phone number, haha]. And he wasn't responding "right", you know? Like he was just being all "haha" and that was it...so I obviousssssly had to push it and keep texting him, trying to get a 'better' response.
> Yeah, no better responses came. He's not mad, I don't think, but lots of stuff is going on for him right now and I need to tone it down.
> So I'm going to try to not text him until, unless something realllllly great happens tomorrow, Saturday.
> 
> But then again, tomorrow is his last day of work and he's basically been counting down, maybe I should text him tomorrow afternoon/evening being all "hope your last day went well!"... Cuz that's caring, right?
> Maybe I'll do that. [unless he texts me earlier, obviously]
> 
> Ah! Not gonna over think it. Gonna do what feels right!
> 
> Picture from yesterday:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then today Lacey and I went on a trail ride. It was the best. I do love that horse!!
> 
> First. [I let her out of her stall to get her breakfast ready and let her go to the bathroom if she needed to - she hates going undersaddle and we were heading out right after 'breakfast'! haha]
> 
> This is her "you talking to me??", plus farting, face. :lol:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> "Breakfast, you say?!"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then 2 pictures from the ride
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And that is all for now! :happydance: :happydance:


I cut out all of the crappy stuff because you don't need to have all THAT requoted.

Your radar.... TROOOOOLL IN THE DUNGEON. I burst out laughing, oh my goodness. Emily.... that made my morning!!!

1. You are overthinking and also blaming yourself about Gentleman Friend/GMan. Calm yo'self! Give yourself, and him, some space. Do things that make you happy. Yes, do text him that you hope he had a good last day or w/e. That's a good move. After that, see what happens!

2. YAY for riding!!! How is Mr. Fabs doing?

3. You and me both about the freezing up.. anxiety sucks! That's why when I know the answer, I raise my hand. Better that than to be randomly called out in class! Then you have some form of control about the situation. Right? Logic rocks 

4. Hugs hugs hugs hugs and more hugs! I'm happy that your status had a playful feel to it about being locked in, and now that I know the whole story I am glad you didn't let you get it down cause what they did was down right dirty. Keep thinking positively!

Hugs <3


----------



## Wallaby

I'm so glad you got a good laugh! That's basically one of my favorite parts of HP...and what I think of whenever someone's trolling or behaving in a troll-ish manner. Such a nerd. :lol:

1] Thank you for your thoughts on the Gman situation! I thought about it more [hahaha] and you are so right. 
It's so funny+weird, I have SUCH different 'rules' for the various people in my life. Most people I'd just be like "oh, ok, whatever" but Gman, I'm all "OMG HE HATES MY GUTS!!"
Geez Louise. He has me around his finger. :rofl: [also fitting since my middle name is actually Louise... :lol:]

2] Fabs: unknown. He wasn't at work on Tuesday. ((( Apparently my boss had him at her house over the weekend and didn't want to bring him back on Tuesday.  BOO. I miss my boy!

3] Exactly! That's what I try to do when it's a situation where being called on is inevitable - like an in-class speech or something. But these were like "lecture...lecture..lecture...oh hey Emily! Why don't you come up here and tell us your thoughts on this!" me: "um...how about I not??!" :lol: Both times I got the class laughing, even though I really didn't have the right answer [due to flash forgetting! haha]...so I'd count that as a success. I love making people laugh and I find that if I can get a laugh in a situation like that, I walk away feeling a whole lot smarter and more confident about it! Even if I didn't have the right answer and even if I was terrified into forgetting. :lol:

4] Yeah! I try to keep it light on FB as a general rule and really, it wasn't that bad. *hugs back* Throughout my life, I've had waaay worse happen to me by people I cared a lot about, so the actions of relative strangers don't get me too bummed anymore. And I'm trying to be optimistic. I don't think they intended to forget me out there, or I would like to think that. 
Not to mention that the joke's on them [if they intended to lock me in] since I had a TON of fun figuring out how to get out! I felt like Amy Pond from Dr. Who, or something! Some kind of epic heroine! :rofl: 
But still: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: back 



Also! I forgot another sort of fun thing from yesterday. 
I have a friend who's basically one of the most influential people in my life. She really inspires me to be better as a person and to love myself for who I am, instead of hating myself for failing to conform to my vision of what I 'should' be. And she's always there for me, no matter what. We don't get to hang out a ton but if I'm having a hard day, I shoot her a text/email/message and she'll send me text after text of encouragement, then continue to text/whatever me for however long I need to talk. She's really the greatest. 

Anyway, she knows Gman [she worked at camp too, but as a Counselor] and she knows about how I feel about Gman. She's been kind of my relationship 'consultant' [haha! also along with you guys, of course!!], helping me stay on track and keep it 'real'...as well as notifying me when she thinks something is a bigger deal than I bumblingly think it is [like the hanging out before church...I had no idea that that was kinda a big deal. Apparently for Jesus-people, that's kinda a courting-ish step...and who knew!!? hahahaha].
[other detail here: she's a matchmaker. She's AMAZING at narrowing people down to just the important stuff, she sees stuff even you don't see about yourself. If she knows someone you should be with, she'll let you know and try to make it happen however she can.]
But she's never been like "I approve" with Gman. And I've wondered about why. Since she is so important to me, her approval would mean a LOT.

Where this all is going: yesterday she and Gman teamed up to find a really good foster home for a little baby [they both have connections in the foster care system] who's the child of a friend of that close friend. 
After they did that, she texted me to say "He [Gman] is great. Go be married one day"

And though it's kinda silly, that means a whole lot to me. :happydance:



And, for your viewing pleasure, 2 cat pictures!

1. My cat. He's adorable 










2. There's a little female cat who has decided that she basically wants to be my barn cat. She looks exactly like my cat, it's the weirdest. Only differences: she's about 1/3 my cat's size and she's all black while my cat has a white chest spot and a white paw. Otherwise they are basically twins!! She is SO sweet.  
I love me some cats! haha











And that is all! 2 'novels' in one day! Whew. haha :happydance:


----------



## Cherrij

YEEEY!
I got my fix... not too much on Lacey, but ye... 
I loved the radar  I started laughing again and was happy noone is in the house. 

Oh my god.. I am so glad I do not have to work for such people who do not know what they want. I train 2 horses at the moment, the owner is satisfied, we have no problems. he does not mess with my work and thats it. I think I would have asked 20 thousand questions to that girl, just to get her on her toes... but probably, the BO would have fired me then


----------



## Roperchick

Buddeh!!!!!!


Aaaaaw that's no bueno that Fabs was gone though! Never fun when your favorite work horse isn't there to cheer you up!

Also....totally feel you on the whole volunteer thinks she's gods gift to horses thing....I've experienced that ALOT with some of the volunteers. Only advice is just keep doing you and just get the job done. TRUE horsemwn/women. Appreciate those that can just keep their heads down and do what needs to be done. Trolls and attention seekers will eventually be seen for what they ate and when they are booted off the island those that flocked to Hoer will look around and see

"Oh while troll girl was running her mouth, Emily was over here getting it done and doing what's right"


----------



## Zexious

I just started actually following this journal; I feel like I have so much to catch up on ;-;

Adorable pics! Keep us updated with Gman (seems like you do a good job of that, though! xD)


----------



## Wallaby

Well guys, prepare to get POed:

I got a letter this morning from work. 
Yes. My 'boss' sent me a LETTER to 'let me go'. She claims I "made the horses crazy" in late August/early September [oh yeah, right around the time they were eating pounds of apples per day??].

And it's postdated on Tuesday. So she sent it WHILE I WAS AT WORK. 

However, I tried to be the bigger person. I sent her a text saying that I wished we had been able to discuss her concerns, that I was sorry she felt she had to let me go, and then I thanked her for the experience and wished her well. 

Anyway. I could just go punch a freaking wall right now.
I'm hanging out with my cousin after I get out of class and I really just want to call it off. But I know that seeing her will help me feel better. In any case, I really just want to go home, hug my cat, watch Dr. Who, and eat stuff that's full of calories. [plus side: my cousin and I are going to a gluten free bakery=at least I can eat 'bad' stuff! hah.]


----------



## Cherrij

Dang girl, thats not good  But I am sure you will find a better place to work at!


----------



## Roperchick

You have got to be kidding. That woman deserves a swift kick in the arose. Good lord. Sorry all that happened ((hugz))

Her loss!!!


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Her loss to the max.... what a silly way to end things especially since you saw her in person a few times...


----------



## Roperchick

Obviously that was supposed to be ***** not arose lol.

And that is probably the most EPIC failure of leadership I've ever heard of. This is one thing about volunteer organizations I've dealt with and hate!


Go find someone that appreciates you ;P


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Cherrij, Christy and Maggie! :hug: 

I'm just really in shock still. I can't believe that she didn't talk to me about what the problem was. Maybe I'm weird, but that's my first line of 'defense' with people I have to be around. If they do something I don't like and can't get over, I TALK TO THEM about it!!
And what happened to all the work I did with Fabio? I mean, I helped make her 'wild' 'spooky' horse, who was doing literally nothing, INTO A THERAPY HORSE. 
But somehow I made all the 'normal' horses crazy, completely out of the blue? Did I use voodoo to transfer Fabs' crazy into Buddy and Skippy?? Explain to me how that worked. :rofl:










I hope Fabs can keep it up without me there. I'm gonna miss him. 



Ehhhh. Anyway. I hung out with my cousin, it was wonderful.  Then I came home and snuggled Lacey for a bit. She's the best comforter there is!
It was pretty funny getting Lacey+the goats into their stalls. They were chilling allll the way down at the bottom of the pasture - it's windy and Lacey likes down there when it's windy... I think she maybe feels safer somehow.
Anyway, the goat were over in the llamas pasture, of course! I collected Lacey first, then started calling the goats and they came along quite happily. However, Atti hopped the fence...then Hazel tried and failed [she went to hop over the fence, misjudged the distance and brought her front legs down too soon]. She seemed to remember her stuck-in-fence-fiasco so, instead of retrying at that same place, she went trotting off to find a place where she could squeeze under the fence, instead of jumping. I thought that was quite creative of her, given that she had to walk about 20 feet away from Atti and Lacey, then find a spot in the fence, and weasel her way through. Problem solving goat!! haha
[I wish it wasn't so expensive to install a taller, more goat proof fence between the llamas and the goats! However, it'd be like $500+ to do it and well...yeahhhhh]

On the Atti front, guess who's learned a new trick?  1. He's now pro at "shake hands" which is hiiiiilarious. 2. He's learning "up!" which is basically rearing on command. Not sure how bright of an idea that one was to teach...but so far he's realized that he only gets praised when he does it on command and that he's not allowed to do it within 'range' of humans. So basically he backs up 4+ steps, THEN rears. :lol:

:happydance:


----------



## amp23

That's crazy. I would just keep looking around for another stable, you know what you're doing with the horses and anyone would be lucky to have your help. I don't think I could handle working for that crazy lady anyway, you obviously improved things there for her but for some reason she didn't accept you. *hugs* At least you still have Lacey!

P.S. More pictures?!


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks for the vote of confidence, amp!  I'm sure something better is coming along, hopefully soon! haha
And really, this is probably for the best. This is my senior year of college and having the classes I need to take coincide with the days I had available was already hard for this term. What would it be like next term and the following term? 
Now I'm just bummed that I'm stuck with the awful school schedule I have!! haha

Interesting, very random, fact: Gman had had a temp job and it ended yesterday. MY job 'ended' yesterday. PARALLEL LIVES, I tell you!! :rofl:


And here we have a ton of pictures, to get our minds happy. 

First, from a few days ago.










From that trail ride. 



















Today.

"Hey friend!!"










"Huh. Well I'm not superrrr thrilled that you don't seem to have treats..."










"You actually don't have treats? For real? NO PHOTOS FOR YOU!"












And then, the mysterious, magical, one eared Lacey!! :wink:











Hope you enjoyed!! :happydance:


----------



## Cherrij

Lacey's treat pictures remind me how today, we stopped at our friends place with Teddy after our forest workout, and she gave him a sugar cube. He kept checking her sleeves, gloves, face, neck, chest, sides, trousers, everything for more sugar. whenever I opened the zipper of my pocket, he immediately checked if I have anything. Then he got told off, to back up and get out of our space. He actually almost bit her a bit later.. he is very emotional when it comes to food or cuddles


----------



## Wallaby

Haha that's hilarious...but also terrifying, Cherrij! :lol: Luckily Lacey isn't super food oriented so she's happy if you have treats but if you don't have anything she'll just be kind of "oh. RUDE." and then get over it. haha

More pictures:

[Lacey decided to be all photogenic -really, when is she NOT photogenic??- and well, have to share...right? haha]










"oh no! Where are the goats!!"

[This is basically her QH impression..she does a good job! haha]










"Well, they seeeeem ok...I don't hear baahing!"










"But I better check anyway."


----------



## Endiku

I still can't believe she's almost 30...and blind. I would NEVER guess either of those. You're doing so fantastic with her Wallaby!


----------



## Roperchick

Ohnygosh I love her QH pose!!!!!!


----------



## Cherrij

Wallaby, Teddy is not really dangerous, he might be in your space and check you over with his lips, but thats about it. He got a good whack for opening his mouth on our friends hand, and he backed off and never tried again. He just likes to explore things.. he was also pushing my helmet around on my head  muzzling it ;D


Lacey definitely does not look anywhere near 30 and blind...


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Endiku! :hug: She's a gem. It's my hope that she'll make it to 40 or teach my future kids to ride...or at the very least, be in my wedding one day. She can be my "something old" :rofl:
In any case, I think part of her longevity is that she was retired from about the time she was 10 [she nearly killed a guy who was riding her stupidly...muhaha] until I got her when she was 23. So her body isn't nearly as 'used' as it would have been if she had lived 20-some years of normal work. 
And love. Love helps things live, imo. :lol: And I more than love her..she's a part of my soul.

ME TOO, Christy! That one is 200% my favorite!

So friendly, Cherrij! haha 


Since we last 'talked', I don't even know what to start with. 
Nothing really horse related happened. Lacey's doing great. It's been quite windy so she's doing her typical "must hide from wind!" thing. Interestingly, it's WARM wind. Usually it starts getting colder+oh so rainy around here, about now...but this year is being very strange. We had a week or two of cold+rain-rain-rain in mid-September...and it's been sunny and warmer since then. The grass is growing again and flowers [!!] are popping up, but leaves are still changing. I think Nature is SERIOUSLY confused.

In any case, all this dry weather has created some absolutely gorgeous leaves [something we don't usually get here!] so I am lovvvving it.


1. I got another letter today from my former boss, thanking me for the "gracious text" I sent her on Friday after getting the initial letter. HAH. I thought that was mildly amusing since a) can;t text me back to say that...? b) I am not the one people think of when they think of 'grace'. c) I did not send that text with the feeling of grace behind it! If we're honest, I sent it while I was mad and it was more "here, look how nice I can be! Feel bad about firing me!"-motivated than anything else. 
But ok, being remembered as a gracious person is ideal.

In response to my comment about how I wished that we could have talked about her concerns, she said that "that's why that trainer came out!" ....having a trainer come out is not the same as TALKING about concerns. 
I am seriously oblivious to everything, alllll the time [look no further than Gman! haha], and there is no way I would ever put together trainer+"training everyone to be on the same page"=EMILY IS ABOUT TO BE FIRED. And the trainer said I did a really good job..and I tried my hardest to implement what she taught me...

Bleck. Whatever.

On the plus side, I had lent a few people things at the therapy place and, since I had no warning, I wasn't able to grab them...and I was kinda really bummed about it because one of the things was Lacey's first rope halter with me that I made her [we were using it on Fabs] and another thing was a vintage board game that I bought with my bestie when I was in high school and that has a whole lot of memories attached to it. I realized, after telling Gman about that stuff, that the stuff was the important really sad-making part. I'm sad about losing the job, of course, but losing my sentimental stuff is nearly as bad/worse. 

And you know what? Realized that I have a neighbor who actually works at this place [didn't know each other prior to that job but turns out we live seconds from each other!] and I asked her if she'd be willing to grab my stuff for me. And she is 100% on board with it. So she's gonna get my stuff, then I'll just pop by her house and grab them. :happydance:




Gman: you guys are going to practically cry with laughter over this. So we were talking on Sunday about how we're both epically free on Tuesdays and Thursdays and that we should hang out on one of those days.
Gman says to me something about how he doesn't have money for gas or anything+he couldn't pay since he doesn't have a job anymore [his temp job finished up on Friday]. Me, being a not very bright individual, replied something about how I am similarly penniless but I still want to do something! Then I said something about how we could go to the zoo...AGAIN cuz that'd be free and he was all "yeah! We could go in the morning, we'd be the only ones there!"


Yeah. Ok. It's only taken me two days but really, I need to spend less time talking. Not kidding. He wants to pay for stuff? Um....ok? I accept most heartily?
He doesn't get it that him being there is a big enough prize. Heck, I would pay for HIM if that meant we could do something together!
I wish I understood what is happening here. He does enough reciprocating+caring to make me think something is going on but then... We seriously need to have a "Define The Relationship", *insert documentary narrator voice* or DTR, conversation. Ladies, don't grow up to be like me. :rofl:


Other interesting fact: I texted him a bit ago to just ask if he was bored yet without working and if we could "unite Team Cool on Thursday" ["Team Cool" is 'our' name. It's ridiculous but came about when, after I told him that I thought he had the market on coolness, he told me that he thought I was "seriously cool" and asked if we could "be cool together" = "Team Cool"]. And blah blah blah, he's not sure if he's free but he'll let me know, blah blah. Keep cho' fingers crossed! 
BUT! The interesting part is that whenever I call us "Team Cool", he always tells me more of his present life plan than when I say just "we" or anything like that. 
Not sure how that works but "Team Cool" is a magic, information obtaining, bullet. :rofl:




Anyway. 

Just a picture of a colorful tree:










My school at 7am...












And a video of Mr. Atti doing some tricks! 
I realized after someone mentioned it that "Back UP" and "up" are basically identical in terms of word choice. DUH. I cannot believe I missed that!! I made sure the hand signals were super different but the words! Silly me!
So "back up" is going to change to "back" to eliminate that confusion. 








:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

Hey wallaby. I'm just catching up on your journal. Sorry to hear about what you went through with the job and all, but I think that job just wasn't meant for you. I don't know how you could put up with what they were doing there, day in and day out. It would make me absolutely crazy. Like you, I think there's something better waiting for you in the wings. It was meant to be that you should leave that job because something else is about to happen.


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Caroline. :hug: Yeah, it's really for the best. I adored the horses+kids+liked working with Work Creep but I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Since losing it, I feel so much less stressed about everything! I didn't realize what that job was doing to me!

Speaking of Work Creep, he texted me yesterday to say that work was super boring without me. And that none of the people he "had" to work with now were "as cool" as I am. A whole lot of people have very mistaken impressions of my cool-levels. I am really just an awkward horse-nerd. But how sweet is that? Poor guy.

Other thing, apparently Gman and I are indeed hanging out tomorrow. And it'll be the first time we've ever hung out 1:1 outside of church. :shock: :shock: #nervous
First thing: he has plans after noon, I guess, and wanted to know if hanging out before noon was "enough time".  Well, sir, ANY time is better than nothing! haha In any case, I told him that it was up to him but that a little time was better than nothing.
Shoulda' said forever wouldn't be long enough. :rofl:
Second thing: then, he was all "Perfect, what should we do?" ....what SHOULD we do, Gman?
Anyway, I texted him a couple of ideas [admittedly bad ideas, so I also asked if he had any ideas] and he hasn't responded yet. 

BUT OMG. Hanging out, me and him, by ourselves. WHAT IS HAPPENING.


:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Cherrij

Sometimes when I read this, I wish I had more of a life. Or had something else to share. But my journal is more like.. work work work with them **** horses. Oh, I had school, oh I have homework.. darn. Ok, work work work, OH, this was funny  watch this video 
And then I sit here all like.. "Well, I am studying communication, why cannot I make my journal interesting to others? Where am I wrong?" But I guess others just have less free time than me.


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Hope you have fun hanging out


----------



## paintsrule

YAY! Glad you guys are hanging out...let us know how it goes!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Roperchick

Omg don't say the f word (forever)! Hahaha jk.

Yaaay for finally really hanging g out together! let us know how it goes ;P


----------



## Wallaby

Well, ok. 

Nobody get too excited. We ended up postponing until next Tuesday because he wanted to have more time. So 1. postponing=bummer 2. He said "let's do it on Tuesday"+"to have more time"=adorable

However, he "forgot to text me back".... someone needs to learn the art of selective sharing. :lol: Girls don't like to be "forgotten", as a general rule. :rofl:

But when I said that Tuesday would be great, he texted back to say "I can't even wait!" = mildly redeeming. :lol:

Anyway, so everybody can sleep tonight. :rofl: Nothing exciting will occur tomorrow. 


But I for sure will let you guys know how it goes on Tuesday!! 
Apparently I have his whole day, until 4pm at least, 'reserved'..so sweet deal!

[and Christy, too late! We're already going to be friends forever/know each other for forever/be little old people friends. :rofl: :rofl: We're basicallllly a pair of 2nd grade girls...only 100% not. hahahaha]

And here's a drawing from today. I was trying a different "all dots, no lines, approach" for funnsies. No lines=no plan for what this was going to be=why it looks like a really scary bird/bee/dinosaur/thing. haha


----------



## Wallaby

Also, Cherrij, believe me, my life is really boring as heck. I just have a flair for the dramatic and weird stuff happens to me. AND I leave out the 'unexciting' parts of my life like where I'm watching Netflix for 5 hours in a row, or whatever. Cuz trust me, that happens. 

And I never do homework. Ever. 
It's a serious flaw. I'll write papers when necessary but homework? Pshaw. I have the hardest time focusing on homework and then I'm all "well, this is onlyyyyy 10% of my final grade! Psh."
Yeah, so color me jealous of people who can actually sit down and get homework done! :lol:


----------



## Cherrij

Wallaby said:


> Also, Cherrij, believe me, my life is really boring as heck. I just have a flair for the dramatic and weird stuff happens to me. AND I leave out the 'unexciting' parts of my life like where I'm watching Netflix for 5 hours in a row, or whatever. Cuz trust me, that happens.
> 
> And I never do homework. Ever.
> It's a serious flaw. I'll write papers when necessary but homework? Pshaw. I have the hardest time focusing on homework and then I'm all "well, this is onlyyyyy 10% of my final grade! Psh."
> Yeah, so color me jealous of people who can actually sit down and get homework done! :lol:


Hehe.. Well, Actually, I can relate to your Gman not texting back... I don't have anyone so special, but we have, or rather had a great friend relationship with Teddy's owner. We used to text a lot, chat, hang out etc. Just for the fun of it, it was a summer after all. Then he got a GF and basically has no time for me... at all. Not even to text or message on FB. AND, the worst is. He tells me on lets say Wednesday, that he will come to see us (me and both horses) on Friday. Friday afternoon I text him and say I will not wait forever, as I have school. He texts back. "Oh, they made me work"... 
I was SO mad that time.. he always forgets to text if plans change. Makes me feel ****, cuz I am sitting home, doing stuff, and waiting... 

I Am not good with my homework either... I do them like on the last night.. They are also just like 10% of the grade, but if you do them all, you know the subject better. We have lots of small papers to do, which are supposed to make us smarter for writing our master's dissertation.. 
But I get sidetracked, I went to lunge Grand and ride Teddy yesterday instead of working on my papers


----------



## Wallaby

nievnidfbnievnievb! Gman and I went to the zoo. It was the best. I don't think I've stopped smiling since. 

We seriously spent 2.5 hours there...which might not seem like a whole lot but the zoo is easily seen in an hour, when it's full. And it was totalllllly empty. :lol:

AND ISN'T HE CUUUUTE?!!!












However, no new 'developments' came to light...except that we are seriously an unbelievable team. Like I can't even tell you. We pretty much perfectly match up in strengths/weaknesses. We killlled it at the zoo. hahaha And we both had a whole lot of fun. 
He also really opened up about himself which was super nice, especially considering that he's generally pretty quiet about himself.

:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Roperchick

Y'all are entirely too cute together! Yaaaaay :happydance:


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Wallaby said:


> However, no new 'developments' came to light...except that we are seriously an unbelievable team. Like I can't even tell you. We pretty much perfectly match up in strengths/weaknesses. We killlled it at the zoo. hahaha And we both had a whole lot of fun.
> He also really opened up about himself which was super nice, especially considering that he's generally pretty quiet about himself.
> 
> :happydance: :happydance:


Explain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But seriously, so happy for you


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Christy  :happydance:

What do you mean, Maggie? haha In terms of no new "developments", I just meant that it was a pretty platonic trip...there was nothing that was like "OMG, he loves me!" :rofl:
But it was also not entirely friend-y, you know? Like there was definitlyyyy flirting. :lol:
And he made sure to mention at least twice about how we've been friends for "yearssss". hahaha

He told me I should send my videos of Atti's training to Oprah, then go on Oprah, and become famous. hahahaha

In terms of us being a great team [super important quality for me since I love working towards a goal, any goal, with/for people I care about!], basically there was never a moment where one of us was all "ummmm...". If there was indecision, one of us stepped in and made a choice... I don't know how to really describe it, like how sometimes you have one friend that you're always kind of 'tripping' over..like nobody can make a choice and when someone tries to, your gut instinct was for the opposite choice and vice versa? This was like the opposite of that: we each naturally chose the choice the other would have chosen, because it was our gut-choice TOO.
It was like we were perfectly in-sync the whollllle time, without even trying at all. 
Whenever we wanted to know something, he would ask someone who did know - I hate talking to strangers and he really doesn't mind. Or he'd start wandering off on some path that he thought was a path but wasn't, I'd let him know before he looked too silly. :lol: 
That sort of thing. And it wasn't a product of effort at all. It was all really natural for both of us.


And he kept complimenting me on evvvverything. It was the sweetest. 

For a first time hanging out 1 on 1, it really could NOT have gone better. I'm STILL smiling like a foooool. 

:happydance:


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Wallaby said:


> What do you mean, Maggie?


Just to elaborate, which you did and now I'm smiling like a fool with you!!


----------



## amp23

You two are adorable together!!


----------



## Cherrij

Awesome. You do look really cute together


----------



## Zexious

You two look great together ;D

I don't suppose you watch the show "Awkward" *ahem* DTR... xD


----------



## Wallaby

:hug: :hug: Thanks you guys!! You know I love hearing that we look good together! :wink: 

I don't even know what is happening on my Facebook but that photo [which is my profile picture now!! haha] has OVER 55 'likes'. The most likes I think I've ever gotten from annnnnything was maybe 40-ish. BUT 55+?! People who have never liked anything, ever, that I've posted on Facebook+who I'm honestly just friends with cuz we used to work together or something..have liked it. 
Last night my phone was blowingggg up with friends being all "YOUR FACEBOOK PICTURE!!? what is this?! IT'S THE CUTEST."

I don't know whether to feel really uncomfortable or be all "BOOM, world! BOOM. I hang out with a cute guy. Whattttt now."

:rofl:

I can't imagine what's happening to poor Gman. Some of the people who have liked that picture, I just know they texted him weird stuff like "MARRY HER." or something equally squirm-worthy. 
One guy [the guy I liked before Gman, actually...awwwkward.] is good friends with Gman and 'knows' what's going on [as in, he's great at correctly "guessing" things] and he looooves to freak me/Gman out about it. Whenever I see that guy at church [he goes to our church too] he asks me where "my boyfriend" is, referring to Gman. Even though he knows 100% that that is NOT the case. People squirming uncomfortably is hilarious to that guy. :lol: 
Anyway, I hate to think what that guy -specifically- texted to dear Gman.

Oh well. haha 


And yeah, Zexious, a DTR defffffinitely needs to happen. I don't watch 'Awkward' but that was a term we used all the time at camp for two 'friends' having a lil' talk about their 'friendship'! :lol:
However, I really want him to initiate it since I can tend towards being bossy [which he would emphatically deny...but it's really true] and I don't want him to feel coerced or something. 
Not to mention that I don't think I'm really "ready" yet and I realllly don't want to be all "yeah, I like you but I'm not ready but I wanted us to have a DTR so we could....feel more awkward about each other!". :rofl:
Just standing there for a few minutes to take that picture, having my arm touching him for that long started making me really nervous. I have a junk ton of walls up to prevent "being hurt" and I know he does too. And then there's the whole factor of neither of us ever having been "in a relationship" before [ =neither of us has annnnny idea what we're doing]...we'll get there. 

And then we'll have a fantastic love story to tell our grandkids. :rofl: :rofl: :wink: :wink:


----------



## Wallaby

Also, this is super cheesy and holla at Emily overthinking again, but look at Gman's body language in that picture! It's adorable. He's totally like leaning into my space while I'm just all "sup, dawg". 
That might not seeem like much, but in every picture of him with people [and he's one of those people that has pictures with various people all the time...so I have a pretty good base for his 'usual' picture tricks] that I've seen, he always is leaning one way or the other. USUALLY he's mildly leaning away from the person, or his head is at least noticeably tipped away from the other person.

That he's not pointing all kinds of away from me makes me feel fuzzy. :lol:

And just for the funnies, here's an 'outtake' from our camera debut. The lady who took our picture had a nutty kid with her. He was crazy in the best way, all darting everywhere and being really active. Obviously I was distracted. Gman, however, was laughing at the kid but ready for that picture! haha
It cracks me up sooo much how he's so ready for his GQ cover and I'm all "um. what is happening right now?" :rofl: Best pair evvvver.












On the Lacey/goat side of things, they are all wonderful! 
I've changed Atti's back-up command from "back up" to just "back" and he's completely stopped with the whole back up then jump in the air thing he was doing. I guess he was just jumping ahead to strings of commands! That's some pretty advanced action, I'm impressed with him! 
He's so smart and tries so hard, he really makes up for A LOT of my shortcoming as a trainer.

Hazel's actually staying at a good weight right now, which was a major concern of mine now that it's getting colder. Last year she was IMPOSSIBLE to keep weight on! This year she's doing much better. She's probably thinner than I would realllly like, but thinner is probably better given her age+arthritic-ness.

Lacey is also doing great! But really, when is she not doing great?? She's actually not fat and she's not thin. I'm looooving it. She's usually so obese all the time. 
And she's so furrrry. I love my winter pony. 

And here's a little Fall landscape action for you, from Saturday. 











:happydance:


----------



## Cherrij

You are just nuts. 


I like it.


----------



## Kayella

Y'all are so super cute! But body language speaks VOLUMES about how you feel about a person. You're naturally gravitated towards the person you like. Facing them/leaning your body towards them shows that you're trying to pay attention to them, and have them pay attention to you. You're "opening" up yourself to them. His relaxed stance with loose relaxed shoulders also shows that he is comfortable around you. Your body language says so much about how you feel about someone and most people don't even know it. That's why guys go into "power stances(feet shoulder length apart and chest puffed out)" without even realizing it when they find someone attractive and are trying to impress them. It's neat stuff.


----------



## Cherrij

Can you resist those eyes?


----------



## Wallaby

Haha, I'm glad, Cherrij!  I am nuts though, people like to say I'm "refreshing"...but we all know what thatttt means.  For instance, way back when, Gman introduced me to his brothers as "one of the strangest, but coolest, people he's ever met". :rofl: 
I grow on you, I guess! hahaha
And I love that cat! SO GORGEOUS!

Right, Kayella? The coolest! I took a class once on nonverbal communication and it was my FAVORITE! It helped me understand people so much better! I still have a hard time, don't we all, but it really helped! 
Annnnd I love how he's all relaxed and I look so not. I really do like him a lot, I promissssse. :lol:

So I was talking to one of my close friends [who knows about me+Gman, known him longer than I have, worked at camp with us, and always basically told me that anything to do with him was a pipe-dream...and was floored by that picture since she hasn't been "in the loop" lately ...heeheehee] and apparently her first thought on seeing that picture was that we were secretly holding hands+hiding it/ it's a "surprise! we're a couple!" picture....and now I feel incredibly awkward about it. :rofl:  I thought of neither of those things. 
Plus side, Gman, if anything, is being more 'there' than he was pre-zoo trip so at least he's not freaked out! 
I thought about saying something to him about it [like asking if it made him uncomfortable] but decided that that was something that would be mentioned if it was a big deal, but that not mentioning it was probably better.

Also, a couple of things [we've gotten into the 'realization period' where I suddenly start realizing all the things I did not take note of and really probably should have] - 
1. while were were watching the otters, he made a point of saying that he thought they mated for life...and how sweet that was. Then he was all "they sleep holding hands!....*looooong pause*..... You're so cute."...insert awkward pause here and me saying "oh my goodness! I think it just peed!"...and him saying "........*awkward pause*...........Gosh Otter. I tell you you're cute and you do something like that?"
He could have honestly been talking to the otter. Probably was. Of course.

2. He remembers meeting my parents, not even 2 days after meeting me...and rehashed the entire sequence of events surrounding him meeting them [they don't remember meeting him at all. haha SAD.]. Then I said something about the lunch that day [see, I'm the smoothest operator. How do I not have 40 boyfriends??!] and he honestly had no idea what I was talking about. 

3. At one point I was saying I felt like I talked about myself too much and he replied "if it makes you feel better to know this, in the years I've known you and all the times I've thought about our conversations, that has never crossed my mind." *collective awwwwww* [AND I TOLD YOU HE OVERTHINKS TOOOO!!!]
And that is probably really great since I mostly feel like I talk about myself too much around him! haha

Pretty sure there was something else...but maybe that was it. 
And see, now that you guys have seen his face, you can SEE why I can't even believe it. I know his face shouldn't matter [and I would like him without that face!] but, really. Hot diggity, boy!!




ANYWAY.


Lacey was really bad in her lesson today.  Well, ok, she wasn't bad-bad but she was mad about the whole thing. She did tolerate doing the lesson but that's all. She was almost acting like she was sore or something.
However, as soon as we let her out after her lesson, she went off and peed like a waterfall. She refuses to pee [well, she dislikes all bodily functions while being ridden but will poop if it's really necessary] while a rider is on her back so maybe that was all it is. Hopefully!!
She's 4 months away from being 29!! I can't even believe it. Yay!

When I went up to feed this evening, Atti had his head down grazing near Lacey's front feet and Lacey had her neck over him, grazing. It was absolutely adorable. And, of course, I didn't have my phone/camera with me. Boooo. haha Maybe it'll happen again. They looked so peaceful and happy!!

Picture time!!

Daisies!! In November! 










Lacey in her lesson today..










Sooo I ordered 10lbs of MSM from horse.com just to see what it looks like. Lacey goes through MSM like crazzzzy for her eyes [she gets double the joint dose, so about 2tbsp/day..1lb lasts a little more than 2 weeks] so I usually buy it in 5lb amounts since that lasts for 2-ish months. I thought 5lbs was hilariously large so I was like "what does TEN pounds of it look like!?" and I've been dying to get the 10lb amount for months.

Yeah. Ordered 10lbs of it and it came in a 5 GALLON BUCKET. Ridiculously huge! 
But, in the spirit of horse ladies everywhere, I cannot wait to get my hands on that bucket once it's empty! It's one of those 'good' buckets with a strong snap-on lid and a sturdy handle...I can't even wait. I am buying 10lbs at a time from here on out!!
How many horses would a 'normal' horse-person have to have to even need 10lbs of MSM at one time? It's killlling me. :rofl:

[and Hazel got a new glucosamine supplement! She seems to really like this one which is great cuz she hatedddd her last one!]










A sunrise downtown from Wednesday:










Lacey last Saturday. This made me think of "The Hidden Garden" or something of that vein.










Atti, last Saturday!











Apparently I've been holding out on pictures.  Sorrrrry!! Now you're caught up on the good ones. 

:happydance: :happydance:

I hope you're all doing well!!


----------



## Wallaby

Hazel was adorable this morning. She was asleep AND smiling. 










Then a little frog came to visit me outside my house! 

It's a "Northern Red-Legged Frog"










"Anybody home?"


----------



## Wallaby

The poor frog ended up being unable to get himself out of that windowsill-thing [it's below ground by a foot or 2 and he had been in there all day, bumping against the window+trying to climb the window, then falling down...]

Anyway, I fashioned a little scoop+scooped him out! 










:happydance:


----------



## Endiku

geeeez. Even your frogs are cooler than ours! Adopt me and my fence-jumping-wonder-pony pretty please? *bats eyelashes* I'll clean up everyones poop and keep your barn immaculate!!!


----------



## Wallaby

Haha somehow I doubt that our frogs are really super cooler!! My mom grew up in OK and you guys have turtles/tortoises??! And "Horny Toads"..she tells me stories about those! I'm jealous of THAT! Haha  we only usually have slugs and whatnot around here! :lol:


Nothing much to report..except that tonight at church, Gman's entire family greeted me and asked how I was..and 1. He has a huge family 2. They've never ever done that before. They've greeted me when I'm with Gman but never when I was on my own+didn't greet them first. I am SO making progress. :wink: 
I felt loved!
His mom was the only one who didn't say hi to me..but I think she's super introverted/shy cuz she's the only one who isn't really really warm to me. In any case, I try to smile at her but not be overly "let's be BFFs now cuz I like your son!!" since that would annoy me if I were her! Haha one of my friends suggested that she's sizing me up..but who knows.

Other fact: Gman was so inundated with work that he literally RAN up to give me a hug, and RAN away post-hug. He actually made people frustrated with him for taking the time to come see me. 
Feelin' special over here. 


It's rainy here again so Hazel's been having foot issues again..that seems to be a recurring theme with her. Makes me sad. In any case, I know how to treat it and I'll be starting treatment tomorrow. Poor baby, she's lame on all 4 ( Basically she gets the goat version of mud fever. 

Oh!! In other news, my former boss texted me last night to ask if "I would be interested in taking Fabio if a new home seemed to be in his best interest"!!!! Right now I wouldn't be able to commit to another horse but things that are "meant to be" will be meant to be and it'll work out if it's right. She's not selling him yet so hopefully she waits until I have another job+have graduated (this summer)+etc. 
Fingers crossed.
I told her that I would be interested, didn't commit, but asked her to notify me. 
He's 8 and with Lacey about to turn 29..it would be nice to have "the next generation" locked+loaded. 

We'll see!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Cherrij

Awesome, I hope you can get Fabs  
I was eager to get new updates, it's not much but I love your writing style


----------



## Roperchick

man oh man I hope you can get fabs! That would be so awesome for you and he would fit RIGHT in with your gang!


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Cherrij! [is your name Cherri? Can I call you Cherri? haha] I hope I can get him too!!
Aw, I'm glad you like how I write! I just pretend like you guys are friends that I'm talking to in person. Which you are friends...that I'm talking to in type!  :hug:

RIGHT, Christy??!! I so hope too!!

It would be mildly freaky though if Fabs were to become mine. Not in a "I don't want him to be my horse" way cuz I LOVE that horse, he's one I'll remember always no matter what...but in a "this is a whole lot of redundant redundancy!"-way, since I named a camp horse Fabio back in the day, Gman+I called said camp horse "Fabs", camp-Fabs was "Gman's horse"...fast forward 2.5 years, I work at this place that was basically like camp with fewer horses+cooler kids, meet this wonderful male-Lacey named Fabio, call him Fabs, get fired, then buy/take Fabs? 
:shock: 
Mind blown. 
That would be crazzzzzy. In the best possible way...but still a little nuts However, that's basically my life in a nutshell: "just a little nutty". HA. PUN.

Also, I think I'm on the brink of coming down with the flu...so if this gets really weird and nonsensical, I'm sorry. haha


Today was kind of a bummer:
- due to non-Daylight-Savings Time, I fed in the dark both AM+PM. So I've petted my animals but have not really seen them at all today.   Plus side: a Great Horned Owl serenaded me and the kiddos during their breakfast today! 
- Lacey got chilled during the day so she was being Leader of Team Nutty. >.< She gets really spooky and dangerous when she's chilled. It's my least favorite. However, I guess at least I know this about her and know to be really careful when it's rainy and cold. Got her all warmed back up with a fluffy dry blanket and she was fine. 
- the whole "feeling like the flu" thing
- literally came about a foot away from breaking both my legs today. I was walking down to the train, was walking in a crosswalk, had a driver not see me [not sure WHAT they were doing] until they were RIGHT there, they screeched on the brakes, and I survived. But my goodness.

Plus side to all that: I AM HOME. I AM IN BED. I AM ALIVE. It's wonderful. Things could be MUCH worse!! 

Gman sent me this meme today and I practically cried I was laughing so hard. I'm going to show you guys since you'll probably laugh too. It hits on all my favorites: grammar [admittedly something I am terrible at...but grammar jokes=hiiiilarious], cats, llamas/alpacas, hipsters, puns...basically everything I love about the world. 
That kid gets me. :rofl:










Yesterday presented me with a nice leaf.










Today, a drawing of a lion. With balloons. 











:happydance: :happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Cherrij

" A Panda comes in a pub, orders a sandwich, eats it and then gets up from it's seat, shoots the people in the bar and walks out, with the bartender staring in disbelief. When Panda is at the door, the bartender asks: "Why did you do that?" Panda replies: "Did you not know? Panda eats, shoots and leaves..."


You can call me whatever is easier for you.. this was a nickname for one place, that went wrong (spelling wise) but stayed unique.


----------



## Wallaby

Haha! That was a good one, Cherri!!
I do loooove the name Cherri so Cherri you shall be! haha 


Luckily, I did not get the flu. 
However, I've been feeling really "meh". Just all over doubting myself, doubting my life...you know the drill. So that's not particularly fun. I WISH I could go ride but I forgot to schedule with the hoof trimmer in a timely manner so poor Lace's hooves are SUPER long [for her! haha aka 'normal' for the average horse] and she's obviously feeling it. She's been so grumpy for the last few weeks.  The trimmer is coming on Tuesday so yay for that!
I would just trim them myself, but I'm exhausted+I only have a rasp [they're to the point where they need nippers] and with how grumpy she's feeling, I'm not sure how long she would put up with me for. Boooo.

How do non-horse people deal with being bummed, without riding??! Those poor saps. haha

Anyway, I'm pulling myself up by my bootstraps. haha Tomorrow afternoon I plan to go spend some quality time with Miss Lacey. Even though it won't be riding, I haven't brushed her myself or groomed her mane/tail in forevvvver. I'm sure she would like that attention. She's such a sweetheart, the ideal horse for a wreck of a human being like me. hahaha
I'm sure she thinks she mom's me. And she really basically does. haha

I don't even understand how she never got bred...she would be the besssst mom ever. Of course, conformationally, I'm glad she was never bred...but that doesn't stop her from mom-ing EVERYTHING she touches. :lol:

Enough with my moping and TO THE PICTURE-MOBILE!!

Yesterday, a snail decided to be in Lacey's water trough... Strange. haha










A break in the storm last night. 










My deer friend, Baby Girl, came back last night! I saw her maybe once or twice over the summer...but she's back now [she was in the pasture this evening too!]! And SO grown up.










Today.

"Hey, I taught Hazel a trick!!"










"Hazel! MOVE OVER THERE."










"He taught me nothing."










"Heh."










Lacey: "NO. It is DINNER TIME."










"Hey Hazel! Wanna play?"










"No??! But I think you do!"










"SEE? You LOVE this."










"Goats, man. I LIVE with these things. And you wonder why I'm grumpy? Come. On."










*grumpy mare face* 
[you can see Hazel's fluff down in the very bottom on the picture...this is as bossy as Lacey gets. hahaha]











And a drawing from today! 
Balloons grow on trees. And deer love balloons. 











That's all! I hope you guys are doing GREAT!


----------



## Wallaby

Double post.


----------



## Roperchick

Attu better watch out. Hazels a sassy old lady and she may just turn and whoop his butt when he lesast suspects it.

aaaw man those dry runs of no horse time are THE WORST huh. keep your chin up itll come soon enough!

(ps Lacey looks quite fuzzy lol)


----------



## Wallaby

Right, Christy? Atti better watch himself!! I don't think Hazel would try to whoop him though...he weighs at least 60lbs more than her and she's very protective of her horns so she rarely butts...HOWEVER, she is sneaky as all get out so she'll outsmart/sneak him about something one of these days! :wink:
Agreeed, no horse time is definitely the worst. :hug: we'll make it..maybe! 
Lacey IS quite fuzzy!  She's convinced we live in the Arctic Circle. I have never met a horse that grows as much fluff as she does...and she's only about half-way compared to what she'll be by January!! I looove my fluffy pony. Fluff-pony hugs = best hugs. She's like a white, impatient, teddy bear. haha
[my theory is that it has something to do with her sight since hours of light has a lot to do with how much hair they grow, or not]


So. What has occurred since Friday?

1. I took my sewing machine to the sewing machine place to be FINALLY FIXED!! I'm so excited. I've been using my mom's machine for all my projects cuz mine was angry..and MINE IS BEING FIXED! I'm so excited. It's kind of my baby. 
I got it at Salvation Army for $20, on a half-off day. It's 'vintage' 1968, Kenmore, and the most top of the line one they were selling at the time!! And you know me, I loooove vintage anything. It'll monogram, embroider little designs, AND sew normally! And it still even has the manual, all the feet, and basically the entire kit+kaboodle it was sold with! FOR $20!!!!!!!
But it REALLY needed to be professionally cleaned and therefore wasn't much good for sewing. But now it's getting cleaned [the shop had to call in their elderly, retired, 'consultant' to clean it because none of the young people at the shop knew what to do with it!!] and I'm so stoked.

Brace yourselves for SO MANY sewing projects. :lol:

2. I saw Gman last night at church and that was great. 
I realized something interesting, post-that^, today: the power of knowing someone believes in and supports you 100%, no matter what you chose to do, and has every bit of faith that you'll always make the right choice in any given situation. AND is pretty darn sure you'll be amazing at whatever you do. I've never had anyone who's supported me that fully before and just the truth of knowing I have that kind of support is SO empowering! 
Even just on a friend-level, that's really kind of the greatest. 
And I love that he's in my life, giving me that kind of support...cuz BOY do I need it! haha

And he told me last night that "he appreciates my intentional-ness". Not sure what that means but OK! You know me, good ol' intentional Emily! :lol: I thiiiink being intentional is a pretty big compliment? haha

And today I got my haircut significantly [it was real long, now it's a short lil' bob!], posted about it on Facebook, he 'liked' that status, then later -on that same status- I posted a picture of said new hair and he 'liked' that nearly as soon as I posted it! 
That made me pretty happy since I was a littttle nervous about what he would think - he's never known me when I had anything shorter than shoulder-length hair and I know he likes my hair [he has a 'thing' for redheads...not that he would ever TELL me that, but he's not at all covert about it. haha].. Of course, not like it realllly matters but I was still a little "I'm going to do this...but I hope it doesn't make him sad!"
And he nevvvvvver 'likes' comments, so the fact he did: me = :happydance:

I can't wait to hear what he has to say when he actually sees it! haha He's quite complimentary, we might get something juicy.

Saw his dad at church last night too, talked to him briefly. Makinnnnnn' tracks.

Other fun fact: I applied to start being a greeter at church before the service. I'm so excited about that! So nervous too, but excited. I'm really introverted but I love meeting people so I'm going for it. SEE? This is the kind of life change 100% support creates, I would NEVER had even considered this a few months ago...WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO ME?! I'm suddenly on a "becoming a better person" kick, which I love, but whoa. Slow down, turbo. And I got my hair all cut off? I haven't had short hair in over 6 years...
WHAT IS HAPPENING. WHO IS INHABITING MY BODY.

3. Lacey and Hazel are getting their hooves trimmed tomorrow! I can't wait. They're gonna be happy to have them done!
And then, once Lacey's hooves are done, maybe we'll go for a ride on Thursday! That would be ideal.


Picture time!!

Oh yes, the buck deer are in rut so brace yourselves for the next few months of buck deer pictures evvvvverywhere. AND I just love photographing deer sooooo...good luck guys. :wink:

Saturday night.
"Paparazzi! RUN!"










Queen of Fluff herself.










LOVE this picture of Hazel. LOVE. IT.










Mr. Deer again, in better light on Sunday morning.










"OMG HUMAN. TERROR. DEVILBRINGER"












And that is all! :happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Oh, and I guess I can't tell you guys that I got my hair cut a lot and not post a picture, right?

Crazy face=me, normal person=my cousin!


----------



## paintsrule

I love your hair!


----------



## tinyliny

Emily,

when you get bummed enough, maybe you'll start writing and illustrating (with your photos and drawings) the book I've been telling you to write;

The Adventures of Miss Sassypants and Company.

or, just

Miss Sassypants


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks a bunch, paintsrule!  I'm still getting used to it - every time I look in a mirror, I'm all "WAIT. Who IS that??!" :lol: But I really like it a lot! It's super fun.

Haha, for sure, Caroline! One of these days I just need to start. Bummed or not! haha  The bookstores of the world need "Sassypants" on their shelves!!


Today:
It was another day of doing AM/PM feedings in the dark. It's SUPER weird to not see-see Lacey/the G's but be around them. I have little battery-powered lamps I use but the shed doesn't have electricity so illumination beyond "oh there's a goat-shape, there's Lacey's shape" doesn't really happen. 
I try to think about it being good 'feel' practice since I'm intensely visual and often end up relying on my eyes a litttttle tooooo much.

I've also noticed that the deer are REALLY 'tame' when it's dark out. This evening I was able to walk through [ok, ok, bumble through - I didn't see them until I was in the middle] a 'herd' of 5 deer...and the deer could have cared less. They were grazing all around me, as I walked through the middle of them with poor Hazel glued to my hip ["SAVE ME, MOM!!"]. It was really neat. 
I love those deer. They know me. When I bring guests, they are 'suddenly' oh so wild again and will run at the slightest provocation...but they're, for the most part [there are a few skittish individuals, mostly the older ladies], really relaxed when it's just me. Maybe they're influenced by how they see the goats+Lacey react to me on a daily basis... 

So that was cool. 
And no one worry, I have no plans of petting a deer or doing anything "dumb". :lol: I'm perrrrfectly happy giving them their space. It's just nice that they are so relaxed even when I do my accident-ridden bumbling thing - I hate it when an animal is afraid or hurt by something I was involved in.


Oh! Yesterday the ladies, Lacey and Hazel, got their hooves done. They're both feeling a lot better now!

Last night I also decided to work a little with Lacey on her groundwork skilllllz. We just did a little yielding back and forth, her shoulders then her rear. I absolutely never do anything like that with her, so she was looking at me like I had grown a new head. 
She really did pretty well though, actually WAY better than any of those horses at that therapy barn ever did...and they were asked to do those things regularly! I was really quite impressed with her. 
I can genuinely say that, in the 5 years I've had her, I've never asked her to yield her shoulders to me...until last night. And who immediately gave her shoulders as soon as I asked? LACEY! 
She is too good. 

Her right, mostly-if not 100% blind, side was understandably MUCH harder to move around than her left side. She was quite willing on her left side which is the side she can see more out on. I need to come up with a method for her right side...on her left side, it was pretty obvious that she was using visual cues to move [I was touching her shoulder with one hand and had the other hand up by her eye, while clucking]. 
In terms of motivation, she is first movement/visually oriented, then sound, and THEN touch. Touch, aside from grooming, is not her favorite. Touch in the context of training seems to mean, to her, quite negative things. So a touch-cue is not something she's immediately comfy with. I do use some touch cues with her but everything is vocal first, then touch as a back up. 
Hilariously, she is SO word-oriented, I discovered that she has associated "excuse me" with yeilding her hindquarters. Why? Becuase every morning, as I clean her stall, she eats with her head in the corner feeder and I move her butt back and forth while I clean, each time saying "excuse me" and touching her with a finger in the direction I want her to go. :rofl: She is too good.

Anyway, maybe tomorrow we'll work on sticking that forehand yielding to a word. Cuz while it's not necessary, it WOULD be nice to have. A horse can never be trained toooo well, right? haha


PICTURES!

Random. Yesterday I pulled out this old board game I used to play with my grandma [it is literally the funnest..and the most unfortunately named! haha] and Booth, my kitty, "wanted" to play. He actually ended up being pretty good! The goal is to pull out as many pegs as possible without making the spring move and once he figured out that those pegs would come out if he pulled on them with his teeth..oh boy, there was no stopping him. :lol: 
All my animals are crazy. 










Sunset this evening.










Today's drawing!
Harry Potter-inspired, the snake's patronus is a pig. :lol:











:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

I am oh so confused right now. I just posted this big long post+HoFo says I'm the last poster..but my post has disappeared for me. Can you guys see it??

:think::think:

And look at me go, I'm making SURE to double-post. :lol:

Edit: HAH. Something called a next page. Emily is a geniusssss tonight. :rofl: :rofl: This is why you guys love me, right? HA.


----------



## amp23

No you're not crazy, I was wondering about that earlier! It wouldn't let me go to this last page to see the post, so I couldn't see it till your second post  don't feel bad lol


----------



## Wallaby

So glad to hear I'm not nuts, amp! I was seriously questioning evvverything for a minute or two. :lol:


1. random life 'event': I always have these weird things happen to me while I ride the train to/from school/church and I like to share the best stories with my Facebook friends. ANYWAY, they've all been absolutely clamoring for me to start a blog pertaining to these stories, become famous, and write a book about them [Gman thinks I was invented to write books. haha]. Basically I finally broke down and started a blog. 
I'm not sure if I can post a link here but if you go to tumblr.com and search "thejoyoftrimet", and see a blog with 3 posts [right now] that are the way I write...you found me! haha
I have SO MANY stories [over 30 from 2011 to January 2013 - I've been methodically plowing through my FB posts to find them allll and have only just made it into this year! haha] to add to it but I think I'm going to stick with 1 a day for a while. Get people interested and all that. 
Anyway, if you want to laugh, go find that action.
According to Gman: "The next big thing is here"

2. Gman's first words upon seeing my hair: "YOUR HAIR! It's so short! I love it! Do YOU love it??"
:rofl: :rofl:

3. Lacey+her Saturday Lesson Kid played "Horse Broom-Ball"/"Horse Hockey" on Saturday! Lacey is a gem. 
This kid literally cannnnnot focus unless I'm directly her every single second and, after teaching her for 3 years, I've finally figured out that she does A LOT better if every 'lesson' is a game. Otherwise Lacey gets frustrated, I get frustrated, SLK gets frustrated...it's just not good. So I've been trying to come up with games that encourage her to ride 'correctly'/effectively, but give her something to 'do'.
And this week was the introduction of Horse Broom-Ball! It was pretty "hard" at first, but she was catching on by the end.
And Lacey, of course, was an absolute gem. She wasn't phased by the broom, at all. SLK even accidentally whacked her in a variety of areas -including her rump- with the broom and Lacey was just like "oh, ok." I've never done more than simply sweep Lacey's stall with that broom so she had nooooo context for it, but she still was a champ. 
I LOVE THAT HORSE!!











:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

I loved that game! And "Stratego"' , Clue, Game of Life, Monopoly and. .?


----------



## Wallaby

That's so awesome, Caroline!! It's one of my all time favorites too. My grandma, who was probably one of the most special people ever to me, used to play it with me alllll the time as a kid. I'd go over to her house and, as we planned out our activities for my visit, we ALWAYS planned some time for Booby Trap.  [she always let me cheat SO BAD...haha]
I love older games - I have one of the older versions of Monopoly [the one without "job/house cards" and with 1950's style cars] too! I can't wait to, one day, introduce kids of mine to these games 



Lacey was being such a huge jerk today... BOO. 
I think at some point she determined that she has the 'upper hand' when it's dark out and she definitellllllly acted that one out this evening. She was being all pushy as I tried to take her down to her stall [I guess I need to start having a little string or something with me all the time because sometimes she's great about coming along sans coercion...and sometimes she's all "Naw, girl. Naw."], I corrected her, we got almost all the way down to the shed, I let go of her mane thinking she'd just walk into her stall. HAH. 
Heck no. She turned tail and went bucking allllll the way back up to the front gate. 

Good one, Lacey. >.<
So I grabbed her halter+lead rope from the shed, went and grabbed her, then proceeded to lunge her just a bit [just some fast directions chnges to get her 'back'], until she was being a litttttle bit more "yes, ma'am" about things. I don't mind her being sassy but when she's straight 'insubordinate' [not that horses can really be that way, but she KNEW it was stall-time and she KNEW she was supposed to go into her stall...not go bucking all over kingdom come...she kneeew what she was doing. :lol:]...not my favorite.
Anyhoo, she was rather shocked that she could get in trouble in the dark! :rofl:

But she calmed herself right down and much politer asap.
Anyway, that was a huge pain in the neck. That horse. She's so good most of the time and picks the most inconvenient times to act up! haha


Also, I went to the zoo yesterday! I actually went with someone I met on here, "Riccil0ve" is/was her username. She lives in Washington and came down to visit some friends, and asked me if we could go to the zoo together! So we did. 
She also visited Lacey+the Goats. She actually visited us once last spring as well and met Lacey+etc then for the first time. 

Anyway, zoo pictures!

Lizard...thing. hah










Lady lion!










The unhappiest hippo I have ever seen. It was hysterically sad. He was literally resting his head on the ground like that. All depressed looking. Poor thing!










A cute little gazelle...thing. haha










Polar bear!










One of the leopards. It was nap time. These leopard pictures are my favoriteeee.










This one is my absolute favorite. 










And a disenfranchised Mountain Goat. His face never lost that expression ever. Made me laugh SO HARD.











And here's Riccil0ve [Leigha] with the Queen of Sass herself! haha
Lacey was muccccch more interested in smelling Leigha's boots than she was in accepting cuddles. Silly girl. "But she's wearing other horses ON HER FEET!!? How can I ignore that!???"











:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

In continuation of Lacey being an overly sassy monster, today, while I was moving hay, the wind blew the pasture gate open and Miss Lace was out of there like a shot. Coulda' been a day at the races for how fast she took off.
She thought she was being soooooooo tricky. :wink:

"But MOM! The gate was open! I was let out! I have permission!!"











It was crazy cold today - didn't get above 40*F, it's been reliably 45-50*F for the last forever. Lacey's water trough didn't thaw out all day. :shock: The ice isn't thick or anything but still! That doesn't usually happen until December/January! Good thing all of us [except poor Hazel] here loooooove the cold. 
Hazel's wearing 2 blankets tonight [she was shivering this morning with just her heavier blanket, poor girl! So she has a cuddly fleece dog blanket on under her heavy blanket] and Lacey got her heavyweight on for the first time since last winter. 


The other thing that happened today was I dewormed Lacey. I haven't dewormed her in........3-ish years. :shock: She isn't showing any signs of worm issues and I've wanted to get a fecal done on her instead of just deworming...but then I decided that since I've been literally waiting for 2 of those three years "to get a fecal done", I should probably just skip the plan and do it. 
Because she has some 'sweet-itch'-type issues in the summer, I want to double-dose her with ivermectin just in case worms are what's causing the itchiness [not to mention that there's a certain kind of worm, combatted with double-dose of ivermectin, that can cause/worsen ERU!!]...but I didn't want to double-dose right off, after not worming her in so long. 
Anyway, I plan to double-dose her in about 3 weeks. Should be interesting to see if that helps with her eyes or the itchiness next summer!


And that concludes today's "news". :lol:

:happydance:

OH! ETA:


----------



## Cherrij

OMG she is so fluffy... even here, where we are further North than you, we haven't got such coats. Either both horses are dummies, or they will be in for a shock!
They say it will soon freeze over and start to snow


----------



## Cacowgirl

Lacey looks so great for her age-& I think she would do anything for you. You certainly have a way w/animals. Love reading your posts & seeing the pictures-both camera ones & the ones you draw. Hear anything further about Fabs?


----------



## Zexious

She is so sweet looking! Darn that weather!


----------



## Wallaby

I knowwww, Cherri! She grows SO MUCH hair! She's like a long haired cat in the winter time!! :lol: I hope it snows so much here! Usually we don't get a whole lot of snow here...but I LOOVE snow so fingers crossed! I love being snowed in even more..I hope that happens at least once this winter!!

However, think she's fluffy now? Just wait a month or two. For example, here she is last February-ish. Talk about fluff! 
She makes the best subject of hugs.   :happydance:












Aww, Cacowgirl! That is really sweet. Thanks. :hug: I sure adore that horse, she's something special indeed and I'm just thrilled that she chose me to be her girl.
Her previous -lifelong- owner was really careful about who she went to and told me, before I even met Lacey, that Lacey wasn't going to go to someone the previous owner didn't see her 'click' with. Then, pretty much the second that owner saw Lace+me together, she said "yep, this is Lacey's girl. I have no doubt. When do you want to pick her up?"...without a word from me, the deal was done. Of course, I was smitten the second I saw Lacey....haha

I haven't heard anything more from Fabs. Last I heard, from the hoof trimmer, the therapy place is looking for another therapy horse to -I assume- replace Fabs with. However they're still in the process of looking. I figure they'll probably wait until spring to sell just cuz spring is a better time to get buyers..but who knows. 
We'll see.
I REALLY hope something with him works out. Really really. Actually, I hope that whatever would be in his best interest is what works out. ...I just hope that his best interest is with me!! :wink:

Lacey says thank you, Zexious!  She really is that sweet too! She has her moments, of course, though. She's basically like that sweet grandma that you don't cross cuz she has a titanium inner core..but is otherwise baking you cookies constantly and doling out wise advice. :rofl:



And here's a picture that Leigha took of Miss Lacey and me when she visited. Yep, looks like I hate Lacey's guts. :wink:

Also, notice how short that pudge-monster is??! hahaha She's so little and cuuuuuuute. 












:happydance: :happydance:

I hope you guys are all having a WONDERFUL weekend!!


----------



## Wallaby

This is silly but I'm DYING to tell someone and you guys are here: I'm on the train heading to church and I'm sitting behind a little old couple that might as well be Gman and I in 50 years. The little old man has Gman's hairstyle and is the "uptight" one about being in the MAX - he's looking around, figuring out their stop, counting down the stops to their stop...and his wife is sitting there being all "I know, I looked it up before we left home!"
And the little old man has Gman's nose and the little old lady has my nose. I have a thing for noses. :rofl:

I'm dying from adorable. 
And I obviously can't tell Gman!! Haha

:happydance:
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Wallaby

Nothing really occurred today...I fed in the dark in the morning+evening so haven't really seen the kiddos all day :/

However, in other news, apparently Gman is a dedicated reader of my blog thing! Haha
Also, we did A LOT of texting yesterday and today. Like a lot. It was good.  basically it never really stopped yesterday, he texted me after I went to sleep last night and I texted him back before he woke up...#besties :rofl:

AND a weird thing happened. 
Basically, we were and have always been meant to know each other. At least, that's the only way I can logically explain it. People, mutual friends, were telling me of him before we even met. I still remember one guy telling me a story about Gman literally a year before we met for the first time. 
Anyway, I happened to look up what school I took the SAT's at, back in high school..weirdly enough, turns out I took them at HIS HIGH SCHOOL. Over an hour away from my house. Certainly not the most logical place to take them at.

How weird is that??!! Kinda freaky how weirdly intertwined our lives are/have been...
I appreciated his reaction when I told him so I attached a picture of our conversation to this. :lol: (but what is that "..." about, after "we could have been friends way back then"?? ....who knows.)

Anyway, that's the real 'info' from today... :happydance: I hope you guys are doing well!!


----------



## Wallaby

Just an assortment of random photos for you guys! 

I hope you all are having/have had a wonderful Thanksgiving [for you US-people, I suppose] and a lovely day in general!!

Sunrise yesterday.










Yesterday I also discovered a TOOTH of Hazel's in her food dish! It's a molar!
HUH. Weird. In any case, I think it's been bothering her for a while because she is perkier than I've seen her in some time. She's actually annoying Atticus trying to be his bestie, I found him literally hiding from her this morning. And that NEVER happens. I've never seen Atticus not be the annoyance! :lol:
I'm really excited that she seems to be feeling better. 

AND, double bonus, it looks just like a super tiny elephant tooth or a tiny horse tooth! SO NEAT. And the chewing surface side is so smooth. It's like a sooth river rock or something. Completely amazing.










This is the bridge I go over, in downtown Portland, nearly everyday. That hill in the middle-ish of this photo [you might have to click on it to make it bigger so you can see) is "my" hill, on the side of Lacey+the G's pasture! It's about 25 miles from my hill to this bridge and this bridge is right in the first/last 10-15 minutes of my homeward/school-or-church-ward journey. It's fun for me to know that my kiddos are 'right' there even though they're so far away. 
Also, it's fun being able to pick my hill out!!










Yesterday at school this happened. I was having a REALLY hard time focusing yesterday. :lol:










Finally got home.  [I maaaaay have skipped my first+last class on the basis of continued mental health...:lol:]










Last night. 
I MAY have gotten my cat a hat yesterday while buying him cat food and he may have been forced to wear it..
He loved it. :wink: :rofl:










Then, today I went over to my aunts house with my family and we had a big family get-together in honor of the holiday.
I LOVE my aunts chandelier. haha It's just so retro but classic. I want to just steal it!!










:happydance:


----------



## SaddleStrings

Wallaby, your Snowman and vampire joke made me giggle! Thank you, I needed it


----------



## Wallaby

Yay! I'm so glad, SS!!  Well, perhaps not that you "needed it" but that it made you laugh! :hug:

1. I found some really legit saddlebags at Salvation Army yesterday for guess how much?? $8!! EIGHT. EIGGGGGHT. They aren't insulated or any of that fancy junk but they're made of heavy duty cordura, adjustable clips instead of velcro, and they're big! Plus they have numerous attachment points so you can really make sure they're secure. I'm all around really excited about them. 
They're a little dirty, but nothing a good pressure-washing can't help. 
And, of course, Lacey probably won't get much use out of them due to her almost-semi-retired status...but in the future! I contemplated not buying them based on the fact that I probably won't get much use out of them now, but then I decided that $8 saddlebags basically never happen. :lol: 
I could always come up with some game to play with Saturday Lesson Kid involving them!


2. Gentleman Friend. [begin to ignore if my over-thinking annoys you :lol:]
We're probably a perfect pair - sometimes I feel like I'm half bi-polar...sometimes I feel like he's half bi-polar. It works. We're satisfactorily both officially human. :lol:
Explanation: basically 'this' started two weeks ago. I half saw him at church - he came up to see me...but he was with some guy who wouldn't leave. That guy finallllly got the hint [it was hilarious, Gman and I were both doing that unspoken "ok, leave nowww" thing to the poor guy]..but then ANOTHER guy came up to talk to Gman. Same thing happened to him, he finalllly left. Then we had like 15 seconds and that first guy came back [I got the impression that that guy was there to make sure Gman went back down to the kids on time..haha That guy works with the kids too] and basically dragged Gman away. 
THEN. Last Sunday Gman had some kind of meeting that ran into the time we would have seen each other [long story short, I've started being a "host" at church to greet+talk to people, make them feel comfortable, etc..but that means I'm busy when we usually 'used to' see each other. The hosts and kid's people have a 15 minute meeting all together before we start working with the kids/greeting, so Gman and I theoretically should get to see each other during that..but we'll see] and I didn't get to see him at all. Except through a window in the middle of his meeting. He claims I should have knocked on it...but awwwwkward. And distracting!

Then, like I think I told you, we basically were texting constantly on Monday. Then Tuesday I texted him, and Wednesday we had a solid 2 hours of text-time. It was A LOT. haha Basically with all this texting, I have a hard time knowing if he's just texting back because he's nice [which he is REALLY nice] or if he really likes talking to me. I know he doesn't like texting and prefers to just talk [which I really do too]...but when we really don't get time to talk-talk ever, well, that's hard for me=me texting. I guess for me texting is less about talking and more about..I guess connecting.

ANYWAY, so that happened. [this is silly, but..] Along with the unsureness about his feelings towards all that texting, he stopped liking everything I ever post on Facebook. For the last few months, I post something, he likes it. Doesn't matter what it is, if it's posted, he's liked it. And now *collective overly dramatic gasp* he's changed back to only liking one thing per day. OH NO. :rofl:
As you can probably tell, I immediatly went to the "Um. Wait. What is going on?"-place..logically. :rofl:

I didn't text him at all Thursday or Friday, it just felt right. And, after texting so much, it's good to back off sometimes.

BUT THEN. Yesterday and today happened. 
Yesterday, I made a random FB status and he actually liked+commented on it [comments=rare]. Then I liked+commented a status of his, he liked my comment, etc. 
THEN, this morning I get up and find an FB message from him, sent at midnight. All it was was a gif of a cat-unicorn [basically a cartoon cat with a flowing, rainbow, mane+tail and a unicorn horn] and "Here. This is for you."
I replied back, sent him a meme, he replied to that, AND replied to the comment I had made on his status yesterday -on the actual status/photo- [double notifications, both from him to me. :lol:]. 
THEN.
Few hours later, his mom had commented on that same FB status of his. Apparently her gender had accidentally been set to male on FB so FB notified me that "his dad" had commented. haha Anyway, I thought that was funny so I took a screenshot with my phone and texted it to him. After hitting send, I noticed I had more Facebook notifications, so I went to check them. He had messaged me AGAIN [at the same minute I was texting him! haha] on FB to share an article he thought I would find funny. And it was funny - goats living on a dam somewhere! haha


Bottom line: my last FB messages are from Gman, my last texts are from Gman, and my last FB notifications are from Gman/his family. 

:happydance: :happydance:
Color me a huge dork but I like that a lot.



I hope you guys are all doing super well!! :hug:


----------



## cakemom

You know what, I just adore you you big dork.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## tinyliny

I suppose I can say I think it is odd , the FB "liking" thing and all, but then, I'd be lying to say that I don't like being "liked" here. I don't know about you, but a I get a kick out of logging on and see the number of "notifications" I have. So, in a way , I guess I can understand somewhat why that pleases you. 

On the other hand, if he liked EVERYTHING you always said on FB, wouldn't that make him into a brainless minion of a sycophantic?


----------



## Wallaby

Aww, cakemom! :hug: :hug: I adore you too!

That's very true, Caroline! I hadn't thought of it that way. 
For me, I guess, it's less like he's agreeing with everything I say and more just being there willingly...you know? A...quirk, I guess? Of mine is that, to feel like a friendship is "ok", I really like a lot of contact. Not necessarily contact that necessitates a response, but contact that says "I see you and I'm here too". 
Like if you were doing a tough project, your friend sees you working, comes over, sees something they can do, and starts quietly working together next to you...not asking if it's ok to help or what you need help with, just willingly stepping in and being supportive-ly present. 
Haha, weirdest analogy evvvvver. :lol:
And his "likes", for me, say "I see you and I'm here too". :lol:


----------



## tinyliny

Like the Navee of Avatar, who say , in greeting, "I see you".

but , does one have to say that constantly to still be "seeing " you?


----------



## Wallaby

Hmmm, good question, Caroline! 
Huh. I really don't have a good response to that. I mean, personality-wise, I'm one of those kinds of people that prefers to have 1 or 2 close friends, plus a large group of "friend-friends" which probably plays into it. But I don't know. 
I guess, without sounding cold, I don't mind if my friend-friends don't "see" me for who I really am..I mean, they have their own close friends to worry about and that's totally fine! 
Basically, I guess, the real issue with Gman and I is that I don't know where I stand with him. I'm treating him like a close friend of mine and he...based on miscellaneous information, seems to treat me like a close friend of his. BUT he's a person with a large group of "close friends" which is, therefore, hard for me to wrap my brain around since I can't even fathom having any kind of an 'equal' level of caring for more than 2 people..someone is always going to be "winning" for my affection. So, I guess, being "seen" goes back to "winning" and -on some level- makes me feel like I was number one for two seconds. Huh. Absolutely never thought about that. 
You gave me a brain-twister!! 




On the life front, I may be dying of exhaustion. 
This week is "Dead Week" [week before Finals Week] for me at school and OH MY GOSH. 
I have one 6pg paper due on Friday and a 10pg paper due at the same time. Have I started either? Oh no, I've been practicing ASL final expressives, writing other papers, [both due today] and generally trying to stay afloat. 
Tomorrow is going to be beautiful. Ha. Try "the epitome of madness"!!

But I'm hopeful. Somehow I'll do it, I have to. Once they're done, it'll be pretty much smooth sailing. I'll have 2 more papers to write before next Wednesday but they're both simpler and more straightforward. I also have tests on Tuesday morning and Wednesday, but again, simpler+easier.
Trrrrrying to stay optimistic!!

On the bright side, today I had the last classes of my Russian/Chinese Revolutions class, my Historical Thinking/Philosophy class, AND my Sign Language class. [those first two are the Friday's papers] So that's a plus for sure!


Anyway, I have a mess of photos from yesterday to share and a headshot of Mr. Atti from last week that I think I forgot to share!










Last night.



















FAVORITE.










Miss Lace. <3










Awkward pony.










Pony refuses to make nice faces for the camera. She was quite indignant last night! :lol:


----------



## Wallaby

Forgot about these two!










[I think you're going to have to click on this one to really see it]
This is how Lacey orchestrates my photos for me:

"Hazel! GET OUT. No one likes you." [Lacey pretends to hate Hazel]
"Atticus! Look alive! The camera is n front! Stop goofing off!"
"Ok, my job here is done. Take our picture already, darnit!"










:rofl:


----------



## Cherrij

I love them all, and I love you photos!! 

School wise - Last week I had a group project on 25 pages to hand in and a 15 min presentation, plus exam on the same subject at the end of the day. It was horrible, as for 1, we did not have all the materials by Friday, I had to work on Friday and could not get to a computer and do anything for that paper, the materials we needed came just before the Lecture on Friday, they last till 9pm, by the time I get home its after 11pm, I also had to feed the horses and find them, as they decided to scare me and not be there. Then come inside and write that darn paper, whilst talking on skype to the group members to try and figure all that out. 2 am decide its time to quit. Go to sleep, get up at 6:30 to drink a cuppa tea, get in the train, go to uni. We got picked up by our group member in the center (the uni is off city center) so we can try to work on the project a little more.. we arrived in the uni around 8:40, managed to quickly write the last paragraphs, invent some random numbers and ideas, print the project and the presentation with out OWN printer (the guy who picked us up brought his own) and headed to class. We were a few minutes late, but who cares  The Lecturer laughed at us with the whole class, as we had a printer 
Then it was a lecture actually, 45 min later presentation started, for 8 groups, ours was 5th I think  So we got bored  After our presentation we played chess, and then just like 20 minutes before class is suposed to end, she says "lets take 5 and then exam". We were like WHAT???? but ok, it was short questions. 
That is how I earn a burger on that Saturday, and surviving a stressful weekend like that... well, is good. I never took a nap in the afternoon, continued to have fun 

So I know the amazing feeling of relief when all the annoying papers are handed in, and you actually don't even know what you are suppossed to be doing anymore, it feels so freeeeeeee


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Cherri! :hug: 
I'm super glad it all worked out for you!! That's awesome! I hope the burger was good :wink:

1. It snowed today [not a whole lot - only a couple of inches]!! And I got to drive in the snow for the very first time ever. I had to get those final papers to school and they had to be turned in by hand...no emailing. :shock:
Driving was mildly terrifying since the van I drive [:rofl:] doesn't have snow tires/4-wheel-drive and I live on top of a very tall hill that has one steep, twisty, guardrail-less, road going down...but it worked out ok.
In my favor, it was below freezing all day so things never really got slick. I only started fishtailing twice [I accelerated too fast ] and each time it wasn't a big deal at all. I was proud of myself! 

So that was my big adventure for today. 
Atticus was SO happy about the snow...Lacey and Hazel were not. :lol:












2. Cute lil' Gman story for you:
As we allll know, I have a mild tendency towards jealousy. :lol: And there's this girl who I knew in high school [they went to college together] who keeeeeps posting on Gman's wall and commenting on his pictures, you know the type. All innocuous enough stuff, of course, but me being me = "!!!!!!!!"
So I sent him a text saying that I went to high school with this girl and asking how he knew her [I already knew, of course, but in the interests of gaining intel..]. He texted me back just "I went to college with her." And since that's kind of the way he texts when he doesn't want to talk about something/is annoyed with a question, I felt sort of bad for being all..'like that'. 
So I said something about how this girl and I were never really friends and that that was indicative of my "sad teenage life" and he texted back saying that he had a similar teenage life, that that is what makes us so great now, and that this girl "only likes his dogs". 

Basically, I really appreciate how he always, somehow, seems to know what to say to stop my "omg, some other girl luuuuuuvs him and he might luuuuuuv her back"-train of thought.

I saw this quote yesterday that fits: "If you flatter somebody, it will go to their heads. If you love them, it will go to their hearts."

I just really admire how much he, as a friend [at least, haha], loves me. It's really something. 
I can only wish that he feels as loved in return.



Also, ok, random question: I wasn't plannning on giving him any kind of Christmas present [and I doubt he's planning to give me one either] but I was going through some stuff I had and I found a little notebook that would be perfect for him [he LOVES notebooks and it's just the kind he especially loves] that I got quite a while ago for something like 50 cents and am never going to use. 
I was thinking I might re-cover it and draw a picture of a deer or something on the front, then maybe just give it to him? No wrapping/or to-do...just giving it to him.
Good idea/bad idea?
There's no doubt that he would adore it. But I don't want to..be 'that' girl who's doing 'too much'. 
On the other hand, he's always going out of his way to encourage me and whatnot and I'm realllly not great on the spot when he says/does those sorts of things...

However, his birthday is also in April so I could save it until then....?
Huh. haha


Anyway, I hope you guys are doing great!! :happydance:


----------



## amp23

I don't think it'd be too much to give it to him for Christmas! I mean seriously, it's small and something you know he will like. No harm in that


----------



## Skyseternalangel

I think it's a sincere gift


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks you two!! You guys are so right. And, really, probably more depends on how I am when I give it to him. If I were to make a big deal, that might be too much. But if it's just a "hey, thought you'd like this" = not an issue.
I ended up making it last night and it came out REALLY well. I'm stoked. I decided to put a little pocket in the back as well, since I'm kind of 'known' for my notebook pockets [:lol:] and he's always thought they were neat.
Hopefully I'll be able to give it to him tomorrow! And I'll report back, of course. haha

Then some pictures to share:

Duke[ina] the coyote visited last night! I hadn't seen her in a little while so I was kind of worried about how she's doing...but her footprints went to her her "hunting pasture" and then back to her "den pasture" so I think she's ok. 










Miss Haze.










Queen FurBall










"High alert". Ha. Nice try, Lacey!





















And then I liked how the sun coming through the trees looked so:












:happydance: I hope you guys are all doing super well!!!


----------



## Wallaby

1. Turns out I'm not going to see Gman tomorrow - I guess his grandpa had a heart attack and, as a result of that, no church for Gman tomorrow. But, if you're inclined to, I'm sure some prayer, or good thoughts, or whatever you do, for Gman's grandpa couldn't hurt. 

2. I had sent him a text earlier in the day asking a question about something, then one later sharing a hilarious movie I found at Target...and he hadn't responded to either. But he had sent me a Facebook message. 
So, I obviously haaaad to ask if he had gotten them. Turned out he left his phone somewhere this morning, etc etc. This is what he said, after explaining that he left his phone: "But I promise that when you send me texts, the only reason I don't respond is because I haven't seen it." 
*collective "awwwwwwwwww"*

'Dat boy. Those feels. :rofl:


----------



## tinyliny

Well, you know you just drive me bugsy with the texting and the worrying and all. You know you're pretty crazy about him. I swear, I just want to grab the two of you by the collar, knock your two heads together and say, "now go kiss each other!"

but, I promise to swallow that impulse and be a loyal reader, not a head knocker.

this is a good photo. the brown, muted colors, and then three small places of blue, teal and red:


----------



## Wallaby

Guys.

I have NO idea WHAT I am doing.

I was just on Craigslist - which I never do, searched "free horse" - which I never do, and ad half-way down the page caught my eye for "special needs mini"....

Clicked on it, expecting to find a dwarf, or something like that, that I have no knowledge base to care for...
.
..
...
The mini DEFINITELY has ERU - LIKE LACEY. And that's why they're giving him away. They don't feel equipped to handle ERU and they want him to go somewhere that can handle that. Here's the ad, for funnsies. FREE SPECIAL NEEDS MINI HORSE 39"


And I MIGHT, just might, have emailed them about him. 
I just got that gut feeling, like I "should" email. 

We'll see. I have a HUGE list of qualifiers for any kind of new animal...but from that ad......we'll see!

Atticus needs a male friend, right?
Mini's aren't THAT expensive to feed since they're air ferns...right? :wink:
Lacey already wears a grazing muzzle, wouldn't be too hard to do that for two horses, right? 
Lacey already does the flymask thing, and the MSM thing, and the ERU thing...wouldn't be too hard to do that twice, right?
Mini-amounts of ERU medication would be mini-sized, right?


WHAT AM I DOING. HOARDER ALERT. HOARDER ALERT. SOMEONE STOP ME. :rofl: :rofl:




And haha, Caroline! :hug:
I am definitely a worrier! haha I try not to let it come out in "real life," so I let it out here...and you guys get to read it alllll. Lucky you. haha :lol: 
Feel free to track down Gman and smack him though. But not really. He's already awkwardly nervous enough. Poor guy. He's a worrier too. :rofl:
You know I appreciate your loyal reading and sassy commentary!! 
And thanks! I didn't even notice that with the colors, but you are so right!


----------



## Endiku

I'm going to be quiet because I might possible just be a TEEEEENSY bit of an enabler.

But good grief, gigantic saddle on him much? Poor guy. Might want to watch for signs of arthritis in his back if he has been toting that much stuff around on his back for a long time. I'm in the 'don't ride minis' boat so seeing big old westerns saddles on little guys like that makes me a teensy bit mad. The mini saddle is a little better but 60lb kid + full sized western saddle that probably weights 20+lbs? No. He sure is cute though and looks like he is loved and has quite the personality!


----------



## paintsrule

Oh my gosh! That mini is just awesome. (Get him!)
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Wallaby

Hahahaha! Everyone needs a mini, right? :wink:

And RIGHT? Oregon horse people, I tell you! 
I have to completely agree with the no riding idea. That would basically be like riding Atticus because he's 'big enough' [coincidentally, Atti is also 39 inches right now! haha]...um. NO. Joking about riding him=yes. Riding him=absolutely not.


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## Endiku

Yes, everyone! Seriously, they are so much fun as long as you don't get a crabby-pants like my Sour was  and he looks like he is anything but crabby.

Its totally not just Oregon people though xD you ought to see the mini stallions in spade bits with big boys (like 10 years old) on them trying to get them to rear...as the pictures on pony party advertisements! O_O 

Gotta say though...as much as the curb bit on "Mojo" in that first picture made me cringe...the sparkliness and unicorn horn.are.freaking.adorable.


----------



## tinyliny

he looks like he has had good care. the big saddle was likely a joke. it was the bay's saddle , put on for a gag photo.

with your foray into trick training, this guy could be perfect. maybe, just maybe, you are destined to start a dog and pony show. I means a goat and pony show. and travel the country amusing children and doing benefits, and ending up on the Oprah Winfry show. oh , wait, maybe a different show, seeing as how she isn't on TV anymore.


----------



## Endiku

^ good point. That makes things better...either way he's a total cutie patootie and looks like he's done just about everything there is to do!


----------



## amp23

I love him. I say get him!


----------



## tinyliny

i don't normally support impulse buys, but I have to say, this one seems "right"!


----------



## Wallaby

That's horrifying, Allyson! :shock: Poor minis!
I liked that one too. TOO CUTE. 

Haha, Caroline! [ETA: thanks for the "impulse buy" support! haha we'll see!] You and Gman. He told me basically that same thing, about Oprah, when we went to the zoo! haha That would be great though. So much fun. I adore meeting people and sharing stories and whatnot. One of my friends, who likes to give people "titles", gave me the title of "Keeper of Life and Tale Weaver" based, apparently, on my ability to care for living things and my storytelling. :lol:

I'm getting a little antsy, I haven't heard back yet about him.  But some people don't check their email everyday, or maybe he's not "right" for here and I won't hear back...who knows. 
We'll see, I guess. 



Also. 
I realized something mildly distressing this morning. 
It might be a good thing...but it's still distressing.
[another 'annoying' Gman story, incoming. :lol:]
Point one: I'm an 'overly' empathetic feeler. Literally anything in distress - plant, animal, human, slug, snail, worm, doesn't matter...except spiders, no compassion for spiders - twists my heart around and makes me hurt [why I could never be a vet!! haha].

I was talking to Gman yesterday about his grandpa and everything [yesterday he was up to 5 heart attacks in 4 days.... ((] and just through Gman's texts [haha, Caroline! :wink:] I could feel his stress/sadness readings being offf the charts.
Long story short, my heart was breaking. And it was/is still breaking today.

Then, this morning, after I woke up at 3am and couldn't sleep anymore because I felt so sad, I realized that the last/other time my heart broke THIS badly for another being was when Lacey had her first, diagnosed, ERU attack and lost a lot of the sight she still had back then.

And that is distressing me. 
Gman is so important to me that, somewhere along the line, he's achieved Lacey-levels of attachment? I don't even think I'm [or ever have been, for that matter] that attached to my PARENTS.
So I'm kind of freaked out about that now.
Lace is like my soul was born on 4 legs...and yeah, somehow Gman has always felt like the other half of who I/we were 'meant' to be...but he's not like LACEY........right?

Plus side: feeling freaked out = lessening of empathy pain. 

Anyway, I don't know what to do about it and it needed to come out, so I'm just ranting about it here. :lol:
Rantver. 


Thanks for listening. :hug:


----------



## Wallaby

1. Guess who just got Lacey an equine sports massage "package" for Christmas?
Ohhhh yeah.

Double bonus? It's free! 
Apparently the lady is a certified canine masseuse who's taking classes to become a equine masseuse and is to the point in her classes where she needs to practice on an "actual" horse. She needed a calm horse that would be pretty well behaved for everything...and guess who has an angel of a horse?
Chaaaa-ching. 
She has references that I'm certainly going to look into prior to letting her work on Lacey, but otherwise this looks good!
Lacey loves new people [ok, ok, I do too - she taught me too! It's all her fault! :lol:] and she loved the massage I bought her a few years ago...she's gonna go nuts for multiple massages!

Yaaaaay! :happydance:



2. In case any of you are interested in the "Gman's Grandpa" saga, I guess it's looking like his grandpa will be ok!
And guess how many heart attacks the poor guy had since last Friday?
Eight.
EIGHT. 
E I G H T. 
HOW DO YOU SURVIVE THAT??!!
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE. 
:lol:
But really. That's insanely crazy. And I'm glad it looks like he's doing better. 

And, on the "cute" side of things, I told Gman on...Sunday that if he needed to talk to someone who would just listen, I would be happy to do that. AND HE TOTALLY DID THAT TODAY.   
Didn't blatantly label it as such, obviously, but we were texting back and forth for 3 hours [like a text every 10-ish minutes] before he was done talking [as in, the last text he sent me read "hahaha" after every other text had given information of one sort or another...other than information that said "I'm laughing uproariously now" :lol:]. And that has NEVER happened. Ever. 
And by the time we stopped talking, he was texting in a significantly more cheerful manner. I love helping people cheer up! Or trying to help cheer people up. haha



3. I had my last final today! So it is officially Christmas Break for Emily!! Yaaaaaaaay! 
AND, I got into one of the classes I really wanted today too! For whatever reason, the waitlist on that class hadn't been opened and all 30 seats were already taken. I REALLY needed to take that class so I had been checking on it everyday, hoping someone would drop it and I could jump on it before anyone else. And today it happened! Woohoo!


Today has been a really good day.  :happydance: I hope you guys are all having similarly great days!!


----------



## grayshell38

But what about Mojo?


----------



## Wallaby

grayshell38 said:


> But what about Mojo?


I haven't heard anything back from them. Maybe he found another home...  Hopefully it's a good one, if that's the case. Not one with crazy people.

BOO.


----------



## grayshell38

Wallaby said:


> I haven't heard anything back from them. Maybe he found another home...  Hopefully it's a good one, if that's the case. Not one with crazy people.
> 
> BOO.


Aw. Sad day. :-( He's adorable. Tiny ponies are lots of fun.


----------



## Wallaby

I agreeeee! One day I WILL have a tiny pony! 
At the first barn I ever took lessons at, way back in the day, there was a olllllld bay Shetland named Lilly and she was just the most adorable thing. Her owners rarely came out to see her, so I'd always try to arrive 30 minutes early for my lesson so I could groom her and feed her. We were real buddies.
Then one day she foundered and was put down. 
I found out when I showed up the next day for my lesson. It was really really sad.  
But anyway, in her memory plus cuz ponies are the best, I will one day have a tiny pony. Or two. Or three. Also POAs. I adore POAs. :lol:



Lacey's getting her first massage on Saturday at 1pm!!  Still haven't told her. :wink: She's gonna be so excited!

Other exciting this from today: when it's cold, "Scary Tree" [Lacey's arch-nemesis-tree..it's gonna try to eat her one day, apparently] turns into "Bird Tree" because it has low branches and it's easy to access - I put suet out, bird feeders, the whole deal. And the birds FLOCK to it. 
Today I had a little Downy Woodpecker get within 5 feet of me as I filled her suet feeder! It was wonderful. Woodpeckers are so great. I've never been that close to one in the wild either! It was a really awesome experience. I could see the definition between her feathers!!
It makes me feel really good to be able to care for them in a way they love. 


And Atti had his first "carrying things" experience today! I'm hoping to, one day, have him pull a cart or be a pack goat and the first step is wearing stuff. I had previously avoided putting anything on him due to growing bones and whatnot, but he's gonna be 2 in March so he's getting closer to when it's "ok". It's still not a great idea for him to pull weight or carry heavy things before he's 3, but carrying light things and getting used to wearing stuff is ok!
I need to get him some kind of surcingle though...I just did this with baling twine, which worked ok...but there's 1000% room for improvement! 
I figure that if I start out with 'scary' stuff, like rattly-shifty buckets, then later on, when I introduce "the real" stuff he'll be carrying, it'll be easier since he's used to "scary" stuff. We'll see if that theory works! haha












And again, I'm feeling grateful for Gman today. 
I realized that I've been feeling a little irritated with him lately due to how, now that I'm greeting at church, I just don't seem to see him anymore. It's definitely not his fault, it's just life, but it was something that needed to be shared. 
And I just really truly appreciate how I feel [and KNOW] that he hears and cares about what I'm saying, even when I'm sharing a problem.
Maybe this is saying something about my family/most of my friends, but most of them just don't want to hear about issues when I bring them up. It's not like I bring up problems all the time or anything, either. I'll share something, politely, along the lines of "this is happening and I'm having a hard time dealing with it", and most of the time I end up getting "instructed" about how wrong I am to be feeling that way. Or I get blown off.

But with Gman, I share something with him, he listens, says that what I have to say is valid+he agrees or understands, and then TRIES TO FIX IT if he can. Doesn't tell me I'm wrong, doesn't just placate me, doesn't ignore it altogether, doesn't make me feel dumb/high-maintenance/crazy for having shared. If anything, I always feel better/empowered after sharing my feelings with him. 

Guys, his one day wife is going to possibly be the luckiest human on the earth. I hope she appreciates what she gets.
And I hope that if I ever have sons, that they grow up to be THAT kind of guy. I had no idea guys..or even humans, really..could even be like this before I met him. And that a HOT++++ guy could be like this too! Since when is the most attractive person you've ever met ALSO the most quality person you've ever met?

And with that, Emily turned into a soggy-sappy ball of mush. I am a fool for this kid. A regular fool. :lol:






Anyway, I hope you guys are doing well! :hug: :happydance: 
I need to take some pictures tomorrow! This thread is getting rather scant in the photo department....


----------



## Wallaby

Lacey got her first massage today!

She looooooved it. Loved it SO MUCH.

I am still absolutely blown away by how much better she's walking, even, after it. I didn't think she was walking stiffly at all or anything before, but apparently she SO was.
And the masseuse-lady didn't even do an "intense" massage yet. She just did what she called "level 1+ barely 2 pressure" with her massage, so basically the lightest touches possible.

It was evident how much tension Lacey lost, even as soon as she stepped off the cross-ties after it was all over. Her entire posture had changed - her back came up, she was walking more confidently and a whole bunch more "swinging-ly". I'm really impressed.

Here's Lacey falling asleep during her massage. 

[and, of course, Atticus was supervising. :lol:]

She has her next massage on Monday at 3! I can't even wait.












:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Chevaux

Good for Lacey. This may seem the most oddest of questions, Wallaby, but it just occurred to me. Does the masseuse-lady have big, powerful arms and shoulders because of the nature of her work????


----------



## Wallaby

Huh! That's an interesting question! I don't know, it has not been warm here [haha] so she was pretty bundled up yesterday. But that was just the first of many massages so perhaps we'll find out one of these times. You're making me curious! haha


----------



## Chevaux

Wallaby said:


> Huh! That's an interesting question! I don't know, it has not been warm here [haha] so she was pretty bundled up yesterday. But that was just the first of many massages so perhaps we'll find out one of these times. You're making me curious! haha


 Excellent - will be expecting further reports then!


----------



## Wallaby

Will do, Chevaux!! 





Have I mentioned lately that Gman really does good things for my heart? 
I had some really bad things happen today, one being where my dad told me that my feelings "don't matter" and basically that "to be an adult, I need to grow up and stop hoping anyone cares about things I care about because no one does."
[ha, anyone still wondering why I have weird guy issues? ha.]
Anyway, I'm not sharing that in a "feel sorry for me"-way, by the way. Meant in an "this is an example" way. 
I wrongly expected my dad to care about something that mattered to me and, after 23 years, I reallllly should have known better.

ANYWAY.

Thanks to Mr. Gman and his past-smartness, instead of believing that^ like I always have before, I was able to say to myself "you deserve to be heard, your feelings matter, you're feeling it - it therefore has worth." Prior to this summer, I had never had anyone say anything like that to me and I really believed that my feelings were not worth any paper I could write them on.

It was quite an interesting and wonderful life departure to be able to tell myself THAT instead of just believing the lie. Cuz, you know how it goes: if you don't have something to respond to a mental-lie with, it's way hard to combat it.


Then I went to church, I debated about going but it was a good thing [for my heart] I went. The teaching was exactly what I needed to think about and I really just love my church. It obviously has its bad parts like any large group of people, but, for the most part, it's really like a *good* family. One where people don't even have to know you to care, and one where nearly everyone is committed to a common goal of bringing true "shalom" [the sense deep well-being, peace, and the polar opposite of injustice] to our world now. 
It's just really a wonderful place. I've never been a part of anything where so many people are so inspiring and straight-up good!

Also, saw Gman. That guy is such a sweetie. 
Gave him his "non-Christmas present" [that notebook] and he absolutely loved it. He especially liked the pocket I put in the back of it, like I hoped he would! 
There was one thing that was a little weird. I don't know, we hadn't seen each other in about a month and during that time, we kept up with our usual texting nearly everyday. BUT we also -somehow, somewhere along the line- added "sending a Facebook message nearly everyday" to the list too. 
It wasn't intentional, obviously...but I don't know. Thanks to FB messaging, we've been sharing a lot more information-information. Texting has always been mostly a way of exchanging funny stories or jokes. But with messaging, we've been talking about our lives, our childhoods, things we should do... 
I think we both were maybe feeling a little awkward about whatever *this* is. Ah, youth. :rofl:
That's another thing, in the wake of all this messaging, "I should"/"you should" statements have made an obvious turn to "WE should"/"WE could" statements. Any time something could be stated as a "we", it is. 




Other funny story: Gman's best guy friend seems to have made a tumblr specifically to follow my MAX blog. :lol: Gman has THE NICEST friends. It's so interesting to know someone well, then become friends with their friends! I'm definitely "Gman's friend" to them, yet they still go out of their way to make me feel welcomed into their group. 
I doubt my closest me-specific [most of my friends worked with us at camp, so he knows most of them by his own merit already] friends would be so...like THAT to him.


ANYHOO.

Lacey gets her second massage tomorrow at 3pm!
I'll report back with how much she loves that one!

:happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

_It wasn't intentional, obviously...but I don't know. Thanks to FB messaging, we've been sharing a lot more information-information. Texting has always been mostly a way of exchanging funny stories or jokes. But with messaging, we've been talking about our lives, our childhoods, things we should do... 
I think we both were maybe feeling a little awkward about whatever *this* is. Ah, youth. :rofl:
That's another thing, in the wake of all this messaging, "I should"/"you should" statements have made an obvious turn to "WE should"/"WE could" statements. Any time something could be stated as a "we", it _is. 

Is that a good thing, or a bad thing? 

I wish you'd tell him how you feel.


----------



## Wallaby

I _think_ it's a good thing, Caroline! At least, according to a variety of credible and non-credible sources... :lol: I guess the thinking is that you don't naturally turn yourself and another person into a "we" unless you feel pretty comfortable with them - "we" implies a continuing/future relationship. The thing is the "naturally" bit though - obviously, if you're working together with someone on something or otherwise HAVING to work with someone, you're going to generally say "we" about the situation. 
I don't know though. I'm no expert on humanity! :lol:




Lacey is looooooving her massages still! She's getting another one tomorrow at 10am - it'll be her third! I think I might hop on her on Friday and ride around the pasture a little, just to see if I can 'feel' it.. :lol:
But in any case, she's feeling SO much better! I'm really absolutely impressed. 
For instance, since she messed up her leg/pastern in the Fall of 2012 and then re-injured herself this last Fall, she's pretty much always "pointed" that leg/toe just a little bit when she's standing around or eating. It ws never all that dramatic, but she definitely hasn't been bearing even pressure on both legs. 
Since the second massage on Monday, I haven't seen her point that toe once. She's been evenly standing on BOTH front legs. 
She's even resting her hinds less! She usually always stands with a hind leg cocked, but with these massages, she's been standing really square MUCH more often.

I'm all around really really impressed. And really thankful I was able to get these massages for her! She's been so much happier, and she just LOVES getting massaged. The lady who's doing it told me last time that she's never a horse that was "so sweetly grateful". Awwwwwww! 

Maybe, if she continues on this trajectory of comfort, we'll be able to go for a trail ride one of these days! I don't want to be toooo optimistic, but maybe part of her discomfort after a longer ride has been due to long-term bodily tension?

In any case, I'm thrilled that this can happen for her.
And see, guys? I have no way to explain it but I'm pretty sure God loves Lacey a lot a lot and makes it really easy for me to care for her "right". I mean, I've never had to pay to board her somewhere in 5 years of ownership, she loves kids and is perfect for lessons = paying for all her food/supplement needs, free massages, 'free' goats, she's never been really sick or really injured - chronic illnesses and her leg thing, sure, but nothing really bad...the list goes on. I just can't explain it any other way.
I'm SO eternally grateful because she really deserves a certain level of care and if I were to try to pay out of pocket for all those things she just "magically" gets...well, lets just be quite assured that there would be absolutely no way. And I would feel terrible cuz she's my baby and, at her age, deserves the very best.



On the goat-front, guess who's learning to bow? Atticus! He's picking it up pretty well too!
I started on it yesterday and he's already beginning to look for treat between his front legs [I'm training this one with the "luring" technique since it's not something he would naturally do - I hold a treat between his front legs and give it to him when he stretches his front legs+head down] when I say "prize"! 
I'm using the word "prize" for it because it would be hilarious to eventually be able to say "what do you do when you get a prize?" and have him bow. :lol:
Anyway, it'll probably be a few more days before that one is "good enough" for a video but I'll get one! Then you guys will see how much better he is at his other ones too! We've also been working on "stay". "Stay" is a little hard with goat, I find, because, for instance, with a dog, you would have them lay down, then stay. Or sit, then stay. That way it's more immediately obvious when they're thinking about leaving and there's just a titch of extra effort they have to put into leaving. However, for Atti, since goats don't lay down often or sit, it's been hard for him to understand really what I want when I say "stay" since he's just standing - and it's been hard for me to catch him before he moves. Anyway, so far he's staying for longer when I tell him "stay", but it's hard to know WHY he's staying. I'm not sure if he's really put the action together with the word yet. 
Basically, we've been working on it when I feed him. I tell him "stay", back off, have him stand for 10, or so, seconds, then say "ok", and let him eat. He definitely knows that "ok" is his release word though!! :rofl:



Picture time!!

Llamas make me laugh.










Lacey was SO happy to be let out of her stall on Monday morning! haha










Fog pony.
We've been basically living in a cloud for the last week. I can barely remember what the sky looks like. :lol:










Besties.










Last night.










This morning. 
Atti REALLY wanted Hazel to play with him.
Hazel REALLY did not want to play.






























:happydance: 

I hope you guy are doing superbly!!


----------



## Cherrij

Hazel and Atti are like my 2 dogs. Roverandom, the male, wants to play with old Tara, the female. However, Tara is almost 12, and Rover is just 3.5, Tara is totally not into games with him anymore. She loves to play with me, so does he, but Tara refuses to play those dog brutal games 

I am so happy with how the massages are going. They did mirracles for Teddy too, and I am thinking about asking the girl to massage Grand too - I did see him fall down once, and he was lame due a foreleg and a hindleg this year, so it might be helpful.


----------



## Wallaby

Haha that's too funny, Cherri!  That's exactly how Atti and Hazel are!


Nothing much to report, just checking in.

Lacey was SO naughty for her massage today though. BOO. BAD PONY. :lol:
But really. So so naughty. We actually had to end early because she was not cooperating. 
She wouldn't stand still, was throwing her head all around, and was just generally being a pill.
It turned out later that she probably needed to pee [she refuses to pee when humans are near her and she went to pee within 3 minutes of being let go] but I would really wish she would have behaved, despite whatever her need was. In any case, the massage-lady wasn't frustrated or anything but it frustrated me!

I made her stand until she relaxed before I let her go, so we ended on a "good note"..but still.

She's getting her next massage on Monday, later in the day. Today's was at 10am and we decided that maybe she just needs more time to "settle" after being stalled all night. The other massages have been in the afternoon and she was a gem for all of them so...fingers crossed!

On the other hand, Lacey and Miss Hazel got their hooves trimmed today by the hoof trimmer. Lacey, mysteriously, behaved perfectly for that. :wink: 
Actually though, she was a little energetic for that too. Like a Border Collie who's been told "stay" but desperately wants to to checking evvvverything out.
Maybe she DOES need to go for a trail ride...get some of that energy out of her system. I wish there was a way to exercise her *enough* in a low-key enough manner that there was no risk to her leg. Boo. 

Huh. Anyway, that was our day!

:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Random Emily blah-blah time:

1. I had a nice thing happen on Thursday! I went out to buy hay, thinking I only had a bale and a half left [about 4, maybe 5, days of hay]. I spent my last $50 buying hay and, though I'm never one to worry about money really, it was mildly worrisome. One of my lesson kids decided to cancel her lessons during the holidays so we only have $20/week coming in...which is ok since I'm really not driving anywhere=don't need gas=$20 can work..but it's less than ideal.
Anyway, spent my last $50 buying 5 bales of local grass hay and a bale of alfalfa. 5 bales of local will last 15-20 days and the alfalfa will last a solid 2-3 months. Add that to what I had at home and I was thinking I might make it 3 weeks before needing to buy hay which is how I like to keep it - I try to keep a week's stockpile of hay around, just in case something happens and I'm not able to get to the feedstore "on schedule".
Anyway, got home, was unloading all the hay and stacking in in the shed when I discovered that I had ANOTHER BALE OF LOCAL hiding under some of Lacey's blankets! 
So I have a solid month of hay right now. Talk about a blessing! 
I do my best to make hay stretch and not waste it, but they have to eat what they have to eat!

So that was really great. I have 8 bales of hay in my hay storage area=literally stuffed full, and it's wonderful. 

2. I'm kind of doing hat you guys have been telling me to do with Gman. Kiiiind of.
Basically, I'm not telling him "that I like him" but I'm also trying to not censor my liking of him out of what I say. Previously I've tried really hard to be "cool" and not really give it away...but I'm going for it right now.
I decided that he's going along with me enough that either something is happening, he's REALLY dumb/oblivious, or he's a huge jerk and knows all of this and is leading me on because he thinks it's funny. HOWEVER, he probably couldn't be more intelligent, he's the most sensitive guy I've ever met [in a GOOD way!], AND, I know for a 10000% fact, he would absolutely never lead me on if he knew but didn't feel the same way. 
That basically leaves us with 2 options: him feeling the same way and being unsure of how I feel, or him just being oblivious.
But how oblivious could he possibly be? I mean, the guy is "liking" practically every status I ever post on Facebook [and yes, I maaaay "observe" his close lady friends on Facebook and exactly 0% of them have as much Gman action on evvverything like I do - even his BEST lady friend. #creepin'], FB messaging me allll the time+responding to my texts for as long as I keep responding to him, making time to see me practically every Sunday if he can, and basically seems to believe that I could practically fly if I tried...I don't know what could possibly be going on, if he's just an oblivious bystander... 
Of course, he could just think that we've suddenly become BFFs over the last year..but really?

Anyhoo, I'm "doing it." I've been being really, what I feel like, "over the top" with evvvverything. For instance, last night after he posted a picture of him with his guy+girl besties after they picked guy bestie up at the airport, I commented on it about how I felt weird that I couldn't help but smile "back" at them and that the photo made me smile. It was just sickeningly sappy. Something I would have thought and not said, ever. But I said it. And he liked it. :lol:
Then I posted a video on his FB wall today of a frolicking baby elk and he loved that even more [he assumed I took the video. AHAHA. Yeah, while I was in my cabin in...Colorado..a million miles from here. Ha. I worry that he has way too high of an impression of me. haha].
And I'm taking him a cupcake at church tomorrow.

Basically, I don't know HOW I could be more obvious..without saying it. I really want him to say it first, I feel like I..I don't know, I guess kind of "run" our relationship and he's so good-natured that he'll just go along with whatever I say. I just have that kind of "take charge"-type personality where, if I want something, very little will stop me in my "quest"....and I feel like that could sometimes steamroll his opinion since he'll nearly go along with whatever. 
Basically, I don't want to tell him I like him and have him feel at all obligated to like me back. 
This is way mellow-dramatic of me, but, as a girl, my mind has gone there: if we got married one day, I don't think I would ever be satisfied if there was any element of feeling like *I* had coerced him into being with me. 
Obviously completely silly - I DOUBT I would be worried about that, at that point! But at the same time..
And he did half-tease me once, a long long time ago, telling me that I should take my "favorite guy" out to Starbucks...maybe he WANTS me to do something. He IS allllllll about "female empowerment". Oh geez. 
Nonononononono.

NO.

N O . 
We'll give this more time. But I AM going to commit to being less "oh no! You think he knows I like him?? PANICCC." and more "Holla' ya'll. This guy."
Saying what I think and not overthinking that "someone might figure it out". I WANT someone to figure it out. 
...then they can tell him and he can ask me out. :rofl: 


*big thoughts from today*

:happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

that reminded me of my first boyfriend, and how frustrating it was wishing HE'd make the first move. Gosh, I'd forgotten all about that. 
I think this social expectation of the guy taking the initiative is just a big myth. almost every relationship I know (mine and friends and sibs), it's the GIRL who takes the initiative. the guy will just go along, and go along, and go along, if you let him.


----------



## thesilverspear

I know I haven't commented on this thread, but I enjoy reading it.  My horse is 20 and I hope she is doing as well as Lacey when she is in her late 20s (and you and I have the same first name  )

My advice re boys: (1) Facebook and text messaging are probably the worst thing to have ever happened to relationships. I can't say that the experience of psychoanalysing Facebook posts (or likes) and texts when trying to figure out whether someone is or isn't that into you has ever been a positive one. 

(2) Be even more straightforward with him. Don't dance around or hope that he will one day be able to psychoanalyse your texts and Facebook messages. Even the ones that you think are bleedingly obvious. Meet up with him over a drink or a coffee or whatever it is you do and say, "I have such a great time when we hang out together and I think we make a fantastic team, but to be honest, I need to know, is this going anywhere? Where would you like it to go?" Give him a prod, telling him (tactfully) that he needs to man up and figure it out. 

It's a bit more of a high stakes game, as it runs the risk of making your friendship really awkward should his reaction be, "Oh, I thought we were just good friends." But I think it's needed because the status quo (from what I read here) is driving you a little bonkers.

(3) Buy yourself a copy of "He's Not That Into You." I'm normally quite cynical about self-help type books, but this one is very funny and gives you a great perspective on relationships and what your expectations should be.


----------



## Zexious

So, I've started following this little bloggie-journaley thing more closely... 

I want to make sure I'm clear. Gman is a crush, you two aren't in a relationship?

Personally, I don't think texting/messaging is /so/ bad... It gives more time for communication and stuff. Just be careful not to read too much into anything.


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## Skyseternalangel

Agreed on the texting/FBing is the worst thing to happen to relationships.. honestly agree all the way. It's so easy to psychoanalyze, which you have definitely been doing regarding him not liking something one day, and then consistently liking things other days. A like is what it is described as.. he liked what he read (or if it's pics, he likes what he sees)

I adore someone on my FB but I don't like EVERYTHING of theirs all the time.. just the things I like lol. If I don't like something, then I don't like it.. and I hope that person doesn't think I suddenly hate them or am upset with them haha!

Texting.. good grief the tone is absent and life continues so responses aren't always immediate. That same person I adore would get irritated with me when I wouldn't text him back  Truth is I never really had my phone with me 24/7 and explained that to him lol. People get so wrapped up in it

Here is my advice, you may take it only if you wish:

Be direct, but not intense, with him. Tell him you enjoy the times you talk together and spend together and that he is very dear to you. I honestly wouldn't ask him if it's going anywhere, per say.. that sounds like you're being impatient or putting pressure on him. He may have no clue that you want a different type of relationship with him. You can be clear without adding pressure.


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## Wallaby

Well, everyone, get ready to laugh SO SO SO HARD.

Gman. Yes, Gman. Just told me that he is not interested in women. He's not gay and he's not going to come out as gay, he's just not "defined by his sexuality" or interested in women. 

Yeppppp. 

A++++++ for Emily. 
However, plus side, this makes our friendship WAY more awesome. So holla at that. 


I'm really bummed though...but at the same time, he's the one guy I've ever been close to 'in love' with and, on a scale of "How to be let down easy", this is probably the least hurtful thing that could have occurred. So I'm grateful for that.
And in all honesty, the main emotion I'm feeling is relief. Solid, pure, relief.


Anyway, I don't know what else to say. But that's over.


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## thesilverspear

I admit, I did laugh. At least you now know and can have a normal friendship with the guy and not worry about what his Facebook "likes" mean. 

It is a bummer, but clarity is good and there will be other fish in the sea.


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## Wallaby

Haha, right though? I was like "of courrrrrse you are" when he told me. And I definitely laughed at myself. :lol:
But for sure, now we can be simply friends and it'll be the greatest.


Also, to all the people who "know" who he is in real life - ie Facebook friends, I'm sure you would be adults about this new information..but I'm just sayin. I shared it here because I pretty much tell you guys everything but it is semi-classified information. :hug:
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## tinyliny

I didn't laugh. That has got to hurt, hurt, hurt. for someone like you, who finds it hard to put herself out there, you must be feeling really hurt. Yes, this clarifies your relationship, but to say it's laughable. h m m . . . 

I have to say, that I had a small , wee voice wondering the very thing you are now finding out. Emily, I am sorry this worked out differently than you envisioned, but you DO still have a good friend, who is no less a great person, and it will eventually be the source of real laughs, not just the ones we do to cover our hurt or embarassment.


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## Wallaby

It does hurt and I am definitely finding that I seem to be "grieving" over the loss, as silly as that is... 
But at the same time, I saw him tonight and seeing him reminded me just why we are friends. He's truly a really wonderful person and, romantically interested or not, someone I definitely need to have in my life. 
And the best part was, seeing him wasn't awkward at all. It was actually probably LESS awkward than it usually is. So that really couldn't be better. 
Honestly, I had always wondered about "that" from the time I met him, but assumed that he was just maybe one of those guys who wasn't..but seemed that way [alternatively, I hoped I could ignore it into not being true. hah]. So it wasn't completely out of the blue. And honestly, I REALLY admire him for just telling me.

It was funny how it came about - I half-freaked out last night on him with all my fears about stuff, mentioned that I was worried he would get married and our friendship would end -among other things-, he replied saying that he was never going to be married and that he was sure of that, I asked how he could be so sure, and he told me. 

Basically I feel like I'm walking in a creek with an unsteady bottom. Yesterday I thought I knew a whole lot of stuff and today I'm sitting on my butt in the creek, wondering how I got there. :lol:

Or like I built a sandcastle, was sitting admiring it, then a cute little kid came and accidentally trampled it. I knew my castle was going to wash away in the ocean eventually, but I still feel the loss deeply.


Thank you, you guys, for being here. I needed to talk to someone who I could tell allll the details to. Obviously, since this is semi-classified, I can't/shouldn't tell any of my close friends exactly what happened...and I needed to talk to someone. <3


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## Wallaby

Took some holiday photos with Lacey.  [also, decided that, in the interests of my heart and moving on, I needed to get Gman out of my Facebook profile picture=needed a new picture!!]

LaceyLace!



















Our awkward picture. 
I love how Lacey is so anti-photo in this one. Like "guys, my person is reallly weirddddd."










Then we got our act together.
And Atti refused to not be included so.... Silly goat!
I love how the rain created perfect little spots in this photo, and somehow missed most of Lacey+my faces. It's perfect. 










Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays, to you all! <3 Thanks for being here. I REALLY appreciate each one of you, even the ones of you who don't post much [or at all! :wink:]. :hug:


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## CLaPorte432

^^^ Those pictures are great! 

Lacey really looks fantastic. Truely, Fantastic.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Chevaux

Great pictures, as usual, Wallaby. 

It's very unfortunate about relationship developments but you've kept a good friend and you've gained some experience and insight that can be applied for the next 'romantic' adventure that will, without a doubt, present itself to you.

Merry Christmas to you and your herd.


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## tinyliny

Great [email protected]! good color and great personality. thank you for sharing , and of course, for what it's worth, I would never share anything regardning Gman. like as if I even know his name!

Write the book! 
"Sassypants". the time is right.


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## paintsrule

I love those pictures! Such a perfect little family!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

Thanks CLaPorte!  I love that horse dearly!  I'm finding that these massages she's been getting have not only been improving her physical comfort, but her mental comfort too. She's so much more just plain happy lately. I love it!

Thanks Chevaux. <3 Merry Christmas to you and yours as well! 

Haha, thanks Caroline! Yes, "Sassypants" needs to happen. I'm glad I've kept this journal for so long, it'll be really helpful for that!!

Thanks paintsrule! :hug: 



So guys, I basically had a HUGE existential crisis yesterday. :lol: But really. It was terrible.
However, it was also good. 
Poor Gman, I texted him SO MANY times yesterday. But he's such a great guy, he told me the honest truth and what I needed to hear = a lot of comfort. 
I think that's one of my favorite things about him. He's just such a stable, comforting guy. He'll always tell me the truth and he, even though I'm what most people would probably call "unbearably high maintenance", thinks nothing of just listening to what I need to say and responding appropriately in a way that makes me feel oh so sane, cared about, and in a way that NEVER confirms my own fears about my over-much-ness. 

And that's a lot of what caused me to lose it yesterday. I realized that since it has been confirmed that he has absolutely no romantic interest in me, all those things he's ever said to me, that were so wonderful, are THINGS HE GENUINELY THINKS of me. He's not one to tell anyone anything if he's not saying it genuinely. He won't just tell you something to make you feel better, or whatever. He'll speak truth to you and you'll feel better, but he'll never just say "stuff" to cheer you up.

And now that I know he has absolutely no agenda, the truth hit me like a ton of bricks and broke me to the core - in a good way. Half the day was spent trying to figure out some way that every truth could be a lie...and that didn't work out. Then the second half of the day was spent trying to understand how the truth could possibly be the truth.
Still not sure how the truth, the real truth, of who I am coincides with my perception of the truth of who I am...but we'll see.

I also spent yesterday trying to figure out how Gman fits into my life as a non-love interest...and I think he might be my best friend?? I'm not sure yet precisely, but he definitely fits into the "real life heroes" category and the "brother" category...but there's something more. And I think that might be the "best friend" category. Weird, but great. 
Maybe it's weird to categorize people but it's how I keep track of everything..so everybody has a category. 

[also, my poor friends. They are all SO PO-ED at poor Gman. I can't tell them everything since they know him too, other than it'll never work out, and they are so mad. I prefaced everything with him being wonderful and absolutely not at fault but, to quote one of my closest lady friends, "he played with your heart, I saw it, and he shouldn't have done that." OH SNAP. Poor Gman, I feel terrible. Luckily, I can trust them all to keep it to themselves, but dude. Never knew I had so many very feisty lady-friends. haha The poor guy had no idea what he was doing. He was just being himself and since he's just like that=not his fault I took it the wrong way. But my lady-friends most emphatically do not see it that way. Awwwwkward.]


On the Lacey front, she had her fourth massage yesterday! She behaved MUCH better this time. She's getting her fifth tomorrow at 3pm. Yay Lacey! 
I'm thinking I might try, depending on how much this lady plans to charge, see if I can get Lacey on a monthly/bi-monthly massage schedule after the masseuse is done with her class. I've seen such great results with the massages Lacey's getting now, it just doesn't seem right to let her go back to feeling how she used to be feeling... 
Fingers crossed it ends up being feasible.
Hopefully she would give us some kind of discount since Lacey is so easy and she likes us..but we'll see. Either way, the old girl deserves+will be getting a massage hopefully regularly. 


Merry Christmas Eve everybody!! :happydance:


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## Wallaby

GUESS WHO GOT TO RIDE THEIR HORSE TODAY!!!!!??!!!!??!?!?!?!

MEEEEEE.

[and, to take a page from Brighteyes' journal, it's gif time!!]










It was so great. So so great. 
Lacey and I had a blast. 

It was just the "reset" button I needed after the past week.
[which, speaking of which, I spent time analyzing WHY riding is such reset button for me. I can be worried sick about something, go out for a ride, and come back wondering why I was ever worried. I realized that it's because, when riding, the entire world fades away in a way it never does at any other time. Everything, but Lacey and I, ceases to exist.]

Anyway, have I mentioned that we had SUCH a great ride? :rofl:

Lacey was feeling so so good. I haven't felt her feel this good in quite a while. She was so...free. 
I don't know how to describe it accurately but, post her eyesight changes, there's always been an air of trepidation on her part prior to doing things. She'll do what I ask her to do, but she'll do it with extreme care and caution.

This ride though. All that nervous caution was GONE. 
She was popping up into a canter every chance I gave her and her canter was SO adjustable today. In the past it's generally all or nothing, either a full head-long..but lacking "energy", canter or no canter. However, today she repeatedly gave me this beautiful uphill, slow, with contact[!!!], canter. No head-long about it, just a smooth-as-silk wonderful canter. 
And she was happy to canter from a walk each time! Previously, she had started just running into the canter each time I asked - tough on both of us.

THEN. To end our ride, we got to our galloping spot and she galloped.
Dudes, I knew that horse was fast and I thought I had had her at top speed before = most emphatically NOT the case. Pretty sure we went into warp speed or were flying. Could have, quite honestly, been either one. I know her feet touched down at least twice...but more than that? Good question. 
And then, she was so fired up after that gallop! Ha, she was allll about doing it again. I did not let her do it again though and boy, was she mad. The poooor abused 29 year old pony, not being allowed to gallop until her legs fall off. What a poor dear.

I actually ended up having to make her stop and stand, backing a step each time she tried to break the standing by taking a step forward, for a solid 4 minutes before she had calmed herself enough to simply walk. Silly girl! She was flagging her tail and doing that breath-snort thing Arabs so love to do. :lol:

Anyway, it was really really great. 
I'm looking forward to tomorrow, when Lacey gets her 6th massage. She got a massage yesterday and the masseuse+I were thinking it'd be an interesting experiment for me to ride her today, then, tomorrow in her massage, see if the ride created any areas of tension. 
..not to mention that a certain horse has been starting to feel REALLY REALLY good and said horse has been sharing these feelings with us during her massages. :lol: Less energy=ideal. She tries so hard to contain her energy during the massages, but it's about as effective as someone cooking bacon in a house with a dog and hoping the dog won't notice. :lol:

Here's a picture from the beginning of our ride! 












:happydance: :happydance:


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## tinyliny

oh, Emily, that is so wonderful to hear. Guess what? I had an awesome ride, too! in the fog and the sunshine. and Z also offered me a couple of trots and canters where he carried the contact softly and evenly, and kept the same trot rythm, such that it made me look like one fine rider! we even jumped a 2 foot log! (after which he kind of bolted at an all out gallop up the hill a ways, and it took me a bit to slow him.) pretty hard on the bit, but I was being a bit easy since the trail was muddy. a barge like Z needs like a runway distance to come to a stop. We trotted all over the place and I just would kind of leave the rein loose, and "roll" him over from a walk into a trot and see how long he'd stay nice and easy/slow (not long), but I really tried to give him no contact when I could, and I think he really appreciated that. in any case, I just so know what you feel. having a great ride makes me a better person!


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## Wallaby

That sounds like you had such a lovely time, Caroline! I also find it really interesting that, though we're separated by a few thousand miles, we seem to share A LOT of weather. It was foggy, frosty, cold, AND sunny here today too! Your photo, with the sun coming through the fog, is just like things I saw today on my ride. I love it.
And I always love pictures of the trails you ride - it looks like you get to ride through such an deciduous rainforest-y area. The trails, at the camp I worked at during the summer a few years ago, looked just like that - that sort of terrain holds a lot of sweet memories for me. 
Thanks for sharing!!


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## Wallaby

Lacey was so happy today, didn't show any obvious -to me- signs of soreness from her ride yesterday. :happydance:
The masseuse, in L's massage, found that one muscle, in her left stifle area, was unusually tight and her rear-end was tighter than usual, but otherwise Lace shows no adverse signs of being ridden.  
She also behaved AMAZING for her massage. It was the best! 


Also, random fun fact, I finally brushed Lacey's mane out for the first time since...October-ish. And guess what!!? Her mane, brushed out, hangs a solid 5 inches longer than her neck!!  If you recall, I used to roach her mane off all the time and the last time was about 2 years ago...look at the old girl go! haha
I feel like sweet old horses, the kind kids ride+love, should always have long drape-y manes. I don't know, that's just a weird opinion I've always had. :lol: SO, since Miss L is at that point in her life, she gets to have a long drape-y mane. 

Also, on Christmas, I maaaaaay have splurged on a new set of clippers. Does it help that they were 30% off and therefore under $100? 
However, they were needed - Hazel needs shearing twice a year and my current clippers aren't meant for that kind of intensity. Plus, the clippers I have aren't "normal" = new blades for them are next to impossible to find. And the blade they have in them currently is dulldulldull. 
Anyway, I'm really excited for them to get here and for it to be March+shearing time for Haze. I'm probably not going to play with them before then because you know me - I LOVE clipping things and if I started playing with them, Lacey would likely end up with an unplanned body clip. :rofl:
I should get a poodle. Too bad poodles are on my list of "never never never" dogs. All shaved dogs really...not a fan of petting that action.

In other news, on Christmas my parents gave me THE FANCIEST sewing machine EVVVVVVVER. It has buttons instead of knobs. It's electronic. I don't even know how to thread it. Nor could I figure out how to thread it. It seriously comes with a free CLASS to teach me how to use it that I have to take before using it. It's THAT fancy.
I'm a little terrified. I mean, honestly, I don't even understand the INTERNET. I can't figure out how to "poke" people back on Facebook. My Iphone has me stymied. I'm basically a 23 year old person who has missed the entire technology train. :lol:

Anyway, I'm really excited to take that class and get sewing. I have a pair of pajama pants that I've been wanting to make and, since I've made pajama pants multiple times, I feel like that'll be good first project - better to do a project I understand on a machine I don't get, than a project I don't understand on a machine I don't get!!

Here's a picture of the new beast. 

Fannnnnnncy.












Also, Atticus:

Sometimes yawning is hard work...










...sometimes it makes you fall of your stump.












And Lacey enjoying her massage. 












:happydance: :happydance:

[and Caroline, I LOVE your new avatar.  ]


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## Wallaby

Thoughts needed: would it be "bad" to try riding Lacey more...just to see if she can handle a heavier workload?
She IS going to be 29 in February...but we both just enjoyed that ride on Thursday so much... Of course, I'm thinking mostly walking, maybe a little cantering [her preferred gait], 45 minute rides at the most. Nothing really intense-intense, no goal other than having fun, and obviously not pushing her to ride more often than she seems comfy.
That front leg of hers DOES have arthritis in it and I really want her to be sound in her later years...but I'm just not over how much joy she had during our ride on Thursday. She was practically radiating joy.
Maybe it would be good to try one ride a week, see where that takes us. They do say that regular exercise is good for arthritis!

Gah, old horse problems. haha

Also, in other news, I found a saddle pad while thrifting today! A nearly new Weaver "Tacky-Tack" pad []Weaver Leather, LLCTacky-Tack All Purpose Contoured Saddle Pad
AND IT WAS $9!!! Just about 10% of it's original cost. WHAT??! 
It's a little dirty but nothing a solid pressure washing won't fix. 
First those saddlebags, now this pad..who decided to get out of horses? haha 
I feel so blessed! Lacey's going to love it. I've wanted a pad like that for years but never felt comfortable spending THAT MUCH money "just to see if something works better than the cheap option".

I've seriously never found horse stuff while thrifting ever before - I don't live in a horsey town/area...but oh my gosh, OK.



In other news, Gman and I had anotherrrr big talk today. It was really good. This time he initiated it and I'm really glad he did. 
Basically it was about how he was worried that "I'm beating myself up too much trying to be his perfect friend and that he wants me to to be me and not worry so much about saying the right thing all the time." And that he was worried that the amount of texting/facebooking we're doing is unhealthy when it isn't combined with a solid amount of in-person time. 
He's so right, AND him bringing that up brought up quite a few other things that needed to be said.
Basically it was all around really good. Painful to hear but good. I had been thinking similar things, honestly, but I didn't know how to bring it up without seeming like it might have something to do with the stuff he told me about himself last week. 
I'm of the "love people no matter what orientation/gender/religion because everyone has DEEP worth" school-of-thought..but we had never talked about "that" stuff, anything about that stuff, before "this" and I really didn't want it to seem like I was maybe pulling away due to what I had learned about him. 
I was, as many "Christians" are today [I prefer "Christ-follower" for myself - I disagree with a lot of what current "Christian" thinking tends toward. I believe in the teachings of Christ and try to follow his true example...most of which involves peacefully loving the hard to love], raised in a household that believes that, if you're gay/whatever, you must have "chosen" to be that way and that you can somehow be "fixed" through logic. And I disagree with that. Well, I mentally knew I disagreed with that but wasn't sure of precisely why...until Gman told me. And I KNOW, 100%, that he would not have, if he had any kind of "choice" in the matter, chosen the hardest route possible. I know him, he adores kids more than anything in the world and that's realllly what seals it for me - there's absolutely no way he would have chosen to never have blood-related kids of his own, if he had any kind of choice. 
Therefore, for me, there's no longer any kind of possibility that it's a choice.

Anywhooo, got a bit sidetracked over here! haha

Basically, I'm glad HE brought it up. 

Man, that kid. Our friendship just makes me half want to barf. In a good way. In a "wait, HOW did this happen and why am I so 'special' that I get to be part of it??"-way.
I've never had someone really truly care about me, like this, before. Sure, my family has always cared for my physical needs...but emotionally it was a wasteland growing up. I love my family, for sure, but emotions are kindddd of important too.

HOW DID I GET SO LUCKY?
I reallllllly don't think I deserve half of the wonderful-ness I receive.


:happydance: :happydance:


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## tinyliny

why in heavens not? putting yourself below others is a form of pride, not humility.

edit:

that sounds so very harsh, but what I meant is why would you ever question why someone would care about you, and share their "wonderfulness". you gotta know they get a lot out of it, too, and that's due to YOUR wonderfulness.


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## amp23

Regarding riding, I think it wouldn't hurt to try!! I ride my older, arthritic guy probably 1-3 times a week, mainly at a walk. Just the movement and trail riding keeps the body and mind engaged. I'm sure Lacey would really enjoy it. You know how much you can push her and when she can't handle it anymore.


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## Wallaby

Happy New Year, y'all! :happydance: May this year be better than the last.

That's a good point, Caroline. I know that is definitely an area I struggle in - I have a hard time believing people WOULD want to be around me "just for my own wonderfulness...and I'm not sure how to get out of that cycle of thinking, you know?

Good points Amp! We went for a lower key ride yesterday and she LOVED it again so I think you're right! 



In interesting life developments, a guy I recently met just invited me to go with him and "a group of church people" to the zoo tonight...
We've barely talked in person at all, certainly not to "invite level"-friendship... But OK...

In any case though, I told him I have plans tonight, thanked him for considering me, and asked him to "keep me updated on future hangouts". 
It's one of those things that if I knew this guy really or knew who else would be there, I mighttt go..but since I know neither of those facts = yeah, no. 

But OMG, Emily might have just gotten asked out....? That's literally never happened in my life. Actually, being personally invited by a gentleman to do anything, for any reason, has never happened. :lol:
He IS cute+funny+shy...but...yeah. 
Also, curses of curses, he looks a lot like Gman. Not the same as Gman, less GQ model-ready...but a lot like Gman. Awwwkward. Plus side, I DO like gman's face. Even just on a purely aesthetic level. Oh dear. Poor new guy.


And have some photos. 





































Poor Atti was NOT thrilled. 

This goat is the best. 










:happydance: :happydance:


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## Chevaux

As I predicted - potential romance has presented itself. Nonetheless, you were wise to take the action you did as it is far better to be cautious until you know what you are getting into and you're no dummy that's for sure.

P.S. Does Hazel not do dress up:??


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## Wallaby

Hah, potential romance. We'll see. Hopefully he'll actually talk to me on Sunday at church. We're both greeters so we definitely see each other every week! haha He seems really shy about talking to me in person...every week he's all "Hi Emily!!", I say hi back, and he basically runs away..but then starts cracking jokes to other people and looking at me to make sure I'm laughing. haha It's sweet.

Hazel doesn't like to dress up.  I put stuff on her and she RUNS away. Therefore, I avoid making her dress up because scaring her makes me sad.
However, she did wear a hat the other day!!










I thought it made her look like some kind of Christmas gangster. :rofl:


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## Wallaby

OH! [haha 3 journal posts in one day! Oh dear.]

But, in my rush to tell you guys about this whatever with "New Guy", I forgot to tell to you about Lacey's and my ride yesterday!

Basically we had a WONDERFUL time again. This time Lacey was even more excited about getting out - calm excited, but perfectly happy to leave the goats behind and head out of the pasture.
By the by, I've discovered that a way to keep the goats contained, while we ride, is to leave Atti clipped to his breakfast tie [he's tied up to eat in the morning, the rope is long enough that he can eat comfortably and lay down but not long enough that he could get into trouble], give Hazel and Atti some alfalfa, leave their pen shut -with them inside- like I do overnight, and just leave. 
Last Fall, they had started regularly escaping the pasture to come after Lacey and I when we went for rides which was 1. dangerous, and 2. VERY stressful for me=hard to enjoy the ride.

Anyway, so far everyone seems to really be functioning well with this new system and it's SO much less stressful than it was. It's even less stressful for the goats - before they would see Lacey's saddle come out and start making panicky baahs, then chase us up to the gate bawling and bawling. This way, there's maybe one little "baah?" and that's it. 
I would like to one day be able to leave Atti untied in there when we leave..but he really could easily jump the fence if he wanted to, I think, and I would prefer that he not learn he can do that.

Anyway, we had a nice ride, I do need to discover where my crop went and reattach it to my saddle though..Lacey tends to get "sticky" when she doesn't want to go somewhere, then, if she's not quickly swatted with the crop, that stickiness turns into backing up which turns into rearing, etc. My leg just isn't generally enough to "convince" her when she's feeling sticky [well, right now it is because she thinks the next step is a crop tap...however, if I don't have the crop and she decides to test me..] so I have a crop on my saddle that I just kind of wave around to "motivate" her out of that behavior. :lol:

Over all, we had a nice little ride. 
I asked her to canter again and, again, she gave me SUCH a nice little steady canter! We cantered for probably 5 minutes and she was rock steady with her speed+rhythm the wholeeee time. It was so so fun. 
Cantering makes me nervous but with Lacey... Man, that horse is a gem. I was actually able to relax into the canter and just "be" with her while we flew.

It was so perfect!
I was sore when I hopped into the saddle and I'm sore now! I've ridden regularly for so long -until recently- that I haven't been sore in yearsss. But boy, can I fee my seat bones or can I feel my seat bones!! haha

I love that horse. 
Unlike myself, she wasn't sore, or even really tired, after our ride! We got home, I untacked her, turned her out, she rolled, lept up squealing, and went buck-cantering off to graze. :rofl:


To think her 29th birthday is in 46 days. Hot diggity, woman!
She's going to be 30 SO SOON. I'm really looking forward to 30. I'm not sure why 30 is so important to me..I guess it seems like a huge milestone. I don't know, I might actually have a birthday party for her. She would love that - so much attention, ALL for her! :lol:


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## Wallaby

1. Lacey got another massage today! We've finally discovered that she prefers to be out of her stall for massages - she stays calm for the wholeee thing instead of just most of it 

2. I went to the concert of one of my friends and Gman+I sat together. It was great. And the real basis for this story is how I told him about this whole "prospective new guy" thing and he FREAKED out, in a good way. It was so hilarious. He was so excited. He was all "someoneee has a crushhhh on Emilyyyy! They're gonna get marriedddd and have church greeting babiesss!!!!" He's so excited. Apparently he's gonna go "check up" on this guy on Sunday, and "make sure he's worth it". Haha this new version of our friendship is actually better than it ever was before. So much less stressful for me and now it's FUN! 


And I have some photos..but I can't figure out how to upload them from my phone... I guess you guys'll have to wait until tomorrow. 
Until then: :hug: :happydance: :happydance:
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## amp23

If you go to full screen on your phone, it'll have the manage attachments tab like normal and will go into your pictures to upload  took me a while to figure it out!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

Haha see, that's probably most of the issue - I don't usually add photos as attachments, I just copy+paste them from flickr... :lol: Techno-special!! :lol:
Also though, I go to "full site" on my phone and each time I go to a new page, it goes back to the not-full-site, press full site again, etc etc. The one time I "went advanced" and tried to add photos as attachments that way, it did that as soon as the photo uploaded+lost the photo... :/ My phone hates meeee. :lol:



Anyhoo, I am home now and PICTURES.

The sunset yesterday! How incredible is that? The only editing I did to this picture was increasing the contrast just a tad, so the black areas would be really black - absolutely no color manipulation. :shock: :shock:











This morning.
"Poor" Atti just couldn't work up the energy to walk around the fence to see if I had treats for him.

"This fence is in my way."










"Hellllllllllpppppppp meeeeeeeeeeeee."


----------



## Roperchick

Omg theresa new prospective guy?! This is why I cantkeep losing track of your journal. Haha

Bur really. I freaking love Attis pics roflmbo


----------



## Wallaby

"New Prospective Guy" might be jumping the gun just a littttle bit but I dunno.
In any case, speaking of that guy, we actually talked for more than 1 second on Sunday. Not for like 5 minutes or anything, but longer than just "Hi"s. I made sure to thank him for inviting me to the zoo and told him that I would have liked to go. He said we should plan to go next year [the event he invited me to is a yearly holiday-zoo-thing]... :rofl:

Step 1: become friends. [Status: in progress]


I started school again today. It was so stresssssfulllll. I only had one class but I feel like I fell off a bridge.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
I have to go ride Lacey tomorrow morning, or at least that's my goal, and hopefully it'll work out fine time-wise. She was bonkers with energy during her massage today and tomorrow morning will be my only chance to work her before her next massage on Thursday morning.
My first class tomorrow doesn't start until noon so, if Lacey and I are heading out by 8am, we should be good to go. That way we'd be back by 8:45, and I'd be home to get ready for school by, hopefully, 9am. Then, I'll leave for school at 10am and have school until 5pm, get back to Lacey+etc around 6:30, feed, and be home by 7. 

I may die. But you know me, basically tenacity central over here. So I'll die trying!

In other news, Queen of Mud went for it today. Aren't you glad you didn't have to deal with this? :rofl:


----------



## Wallaby

It's official. I survived my first week of school. Party time! ...but not. More like time to sleeeeep.

I'm taking the second term of my second year of Sign Language...it should be interesting. My teacher is one that's completely new to the school so that's a wild card. 
However, the first year of ASL is the hardest and it gets "easier" with each term - the first terms are focused on a TON of vocab while the second year is more focused on "non-manual markers" [facial expressions, body movements, etc] which, though "hard", are more automatic/"what feels right is right"-ish. 
So, this is totally crazy for me to say since I've never been even "ok" at a language before, I know I'll do ok in ASL. 
Yay only this term and next to go before completely the language requirement for my degree! 
:happydance:
ASL is on Monday+Wednesday, 10am-11:50.

THEN.
Tuesday and Thursday, 12-1:50, I have a class on the freaking AMAZON RAINFOREST. I've had two classes so far and OH MY WORD. I am SO into it. It is so so so good. 
I am fascinated. 
The teacher really helps though. He's a storyteller-type and, you know me, I LOVE telling/hearing stories. 
Plus, the class, work/grading-wise, is not going to be difficult. I really like classes like that - where the subject is utterly fascinating and I don't have to worry too much about working for a grade. I find that, somehow, working hard to achieve a certain grade often seems to prevent me from actually long-term-retaining any information..maybe that happens to everyone. 
In any case, I'm loving that I will actually be able to learn and remember from this class!! It's SO GOOD.

Not to mention that I managed to snag a seat right by a huge picture window so I can sit there and scan for Redtail Hawks, in downtown Portland, bathed in natural light, while learning about the rainforest. That's a nearly impossible to beat combo!!

Then, on Tuesdays after the rainforest class, from 2pm-5, I have what's called a "Reading Colloquium" = basically a class where History Majors prepare to start writing their final papers. 
Luckily for me, MY reading colloquium is on the American West so I'll be writing my final paper on THE AMERICAN WEST!! And learning about THE AMERICAN WEST allll this term. The Oregon Trail, and all that, is probably one of my most favorite time periods so I'm happy about it!
Not to mention that one of my funniest evvvver friends is in that class with me AND our mutual [we didn't know it was mutual until this term! hahahaha] "crush from afar" is in there too. [that makes me sound seriously boy-crazy...but don't tell me you guys never had that one guy or gal that you never talked to, just stared at. Come on. :wink: ]
Anyway, a girl needs her SMART+NERDY eye candy. :lol: 
We have no plans to actually befriend this guy...though it might happen since everyone else in the 15 person class is kinda.............I don't even know how to say it. There are groups of people, which sounds really rude but you know what I mean? Not in a mean way, just in a true way. And my friend, "Crush from Afar", and myself are the only ones in the same "group" [kinda hipstery..but not preppy hipstery, mostly nerdy, etc]. Therefore, the laws of humanity suggest that we may become friends over the course of the next 6 months [the span of these classes - the reading one is the first of a 2 part "thing"].

Anyway.
Then, on Wednesday evenings I have a class from 5:30pm-9:10. At least it's only 1 day a week.............
It's a super dumb history class. More like the philosophy behind history than anything and I am, most emphatically, NOT that kind of thinker. I like dealing in facts and absolutes, with projection about the future based on facts. Not "so and so said this which mighhhht influence our opinions about that because maybe ____". 
Icky. 
Not to mention that, due to the night class-ness of it, I have to go home, take care of the kiddos, then go BACK to school for this second class=5 full hours on public transit on Wednesdays. Ewwww.
However, I survived last night. 1 down, 9 to go.




On the animal front, Hazel [who had started loosing a TON of weight again and I was worried] has gained a "significant" amount since last week!!  I started a new feeding strategy with her and it seems to really be working. Instead of feeding her a small amount of soaked pellets [beet pulp/Alfalfa pellets/rice bran] and acting like hay is her main diet, I've switched it - now I'm treating the soaked pellets like they are most of her diet. She does have missing teeth and I think that maybe that was impacting her ability to eat+digest enough. I've been feeding her about 5lbs of soaked pellets everyday [over two feedings] and it's going well.
She had gotten to where her spine was very easily felt through her coat...for a horse it might be a 2 or a low 3 on the Henneke scale, and now, though her bones are still easily felt, it's not as "oh my gosh, what is wrong with my goat??!!"-ish. 
Hopefully this feeding plan will continue to put weight on her!!


It's been really wet and cold here and dear ol' Lacey is feeling it.  She's actually wearing her heavy weight blanket right now because it's 35*F, pouring rain, and there's a "wind advisory" out. And she was only just warm under her blanket when I checked her around 4pm. 
Basically it's just a mess outside.


And Atticus is pleased as punch with everything. :rofl: He's worry free.

Sunrise from Monday!










During Lacey's massage this morning.
"Maybe I can get a massage too if I line up exactly like Lacey??"












Then, from my Amazon Rainforest class.
The Amazon River "Basin".

My mom pointed our that the faucet looks like a face, I totally didn't see that at allll until she pointed it out but now I can't NOT see it! And the face makes it so much better! 
I just wish I had seen the face while I was drawing...I could have really played with it.











Hope you guys are all staying warm/safe/happy!!

:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Lacey's still not feeling great.  
I'm not sure what's wrong.
It's not anything really ..."real" -the vet would be hard-pressed to find something wrong- but the massage lady and I both see it. I wish Lacey could talk and tell us what's wrong.

Basically, she's just been stiff and kind of uncomfortable seeming. Plus realllly low-key which is generally her reaction to pain.
In her massage today, she actually pinned her ears FOUR times. For her, ear pinning is a really big deal. She neverrrr pins her ears.  
It appeared like the massage did help those areas, but still.

This sort of thing isn't exactly a-typical for Lacey, but you guys know - we never want our "babies" to be feeling bad!!

Annnd I was just thinking about things I could give her and maybe I should give her a smidge of her Devil's Claw+Yucca painkiller stuff. Too bad I have literally NO idea where that stuff is. I know it's in the tackroom, it has to be, but other than that...good luck. Tomorrow morning I'll go looking for it. I hope I can find it and it's safe...that stuff is seriously $40 for 2lbs. Basically pelleted GOLD. A little goes a super long way, but still.


Anyway, think good thoughts for Lacey and good thoughts for me to find that stuff!!


----------



## Roperchick

aaaaw mayun. Hope she feels better soon. I know how you feel. I cringe every time I watch Josie run (well gimp) around.


Is it more muscle or joint related??? 

If its joint, don't know what your budget is or if this would work for her, but we used to give Josie this-
Next Level Equine Joint Fluid Farnam (Supplements - Joint - Liquid Paste)

And it worked a 180 on her. It was a huge difference.

Just a thought.

I'll jeep my fingers crossed foe you to find her good stuff!!!


----------



## Chevaux

Whereabouts were the spots that caused ear pinning? Same location? Is it weather related do you think (I notice my knees have been really bothering me this winter on the cold days (which seems like it is pretty much every day))?


----------



## Brighteyes

Have you tried essential oils? I'm a huge fan. I use peppermint and lemon oil on myself for my Tourettes, and I also use lavender, tea tree, and arnica (among others) for my mares. Depending on what you think is up with Lacey, I can look in my reference book to see what oils (and other homeopathic stuff) may help her?


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Christy.  I've been tentatively thinking that maybe I should get her on some kind of joint something..she gets a TON of MSM everyday but maybe she just needs something more these days. After all, she IS about to be twenty-freaking-nine! 
In this case though, it seems to be more muscular than anything. She's a ton more comfy after her massages! 

Chevaux, interestingly, all the spots were on her right side - a little behind her girth/armpit area was really sensitive, along with her hind gaskin/stifle area. Her belly/ribs/back weren't sensitive at all and her entire left side was normal. 
Makes me almost wonder if she fell or did something else that would only impact that one side... I'm not sure what she _could_ have even done to do that, but who knows. She doesn't have any cuts or scrapes that would indicate a traumatic event...

I do wonder if it's weather related - it recently changed from dry+cold to wet+cold and the rain seems to coincide with the start of these troubles. I'm almost wondering if there's something about the mud that she's finding harder to walk on right now. She's always walked "funny" on mud [legs more "spread out"] but it seems like she's been walking even funnier this year...

Thanks Brighteyes! Where would someone even buy essential oils? I've always thought that might be neat to try...but I have no idea where that sort of thing comes from! :lol:



I so wish she could talk and just tell me what's wrong!!


----------



## Brighteyes

I'll PM you a link to the site I order oils from. :wink: There are also homeopathic "sugar pills" that my friend uses for her old gelding who has arthritis. I can ask her where she orders those from as well if you wish.


----------



## Wallaby

Please do, Brighteyes!  "Sugar pills"? Explain. haha



1. Today MORE of the back wall on Lacey's stall decided to start blowing off... I'm really frustrated with it. I'm praying that it'll just hold on until the summer. It will get fixed this summer, I just hope it makes it that long. I'm seriously considering stapling a tarp, or something, to the area to make it more sturdy...but I just can't decide if that would actually help or cause more stress on the wood.

2. I'm almost sick now. I'm refusing to say I'm sick-sick...but I have a sore throat and I feel like death. But I'm eating a lot of vitamin C, and I took Dayquil+going to take Nyquil tonight. Hopefully I'll be feeling better by tomorrow evening. I would hate to miss church!!

3. I found the "pellets of gold" and gave Lacey a little. It was hard to tell, but she seemed perkier this afternoon.
I also gave her a dose of probiotics with her breakfast, just to be safe.
Maybe she has an abcess brewing... I'm just really stymied as to what might be wrong with her.
She's eating really well, has a great appetite, her legs don't feel warm, her peeing/pooing is normal, her eyes are fine, I did notice a little thrush in her hooves so I've started treating for that...
I did notice, when I took her blanket off this afternoon, that she seems thinner that she was. Not really ribby, yet, but more sunken-in/smaller. I've been adding salt to her meals and she is drinking+her appetite is good, but I dunno.
Hrmph.
She always seems to do this - the first week of a new term is when she alwaysss "implodes". Maybe she's just checking to make sure I still love her?

Poor pony.
I'm sure she'll be fine in a week or two, but the waiting stinks.

That pony.










Hazel looks like a wild man.



















"hey look, I have a beard! I'm a true Oregonian!"


----------



## Wallaby

Lacey's feeling better.











I, on the other hand, may be dying. 
:wink:
But really. I can't not go to school since it would be hard to catch up, especially this early in the term. Boohoohoo.
I feel better but also worse than I did yesterday, so I'm hoping that tomorrow will show more improvement and maybe I'll be over this by the weekend. Fingers crossed!!
At least my first class tomorrow is at noon = getting a solid night's sleep tonight+waking up when it feels right...as long as that's before 8am = healing.

I had to miss church yesterday due to being sick... I felt ridiculous, but I actually teared up over not being able to go. And, as you all can probably surmise, I'm not a crier. haha




ALSO. On the "Who is Lacey and how is she so loved by the world??"-eternal question, the masseuse lady mentioned that we should start going over "home-care" techniques that I can use on Lacey to stretch the massages out longer. Then, as we talked, she mentioned that she was planning to donate massages to Lacey and I once she was done with the class and that she needed to see how MANY PER MONTH were feasible.

WHAT. STOP. 

bvbveivnekvburvbdjbvwuhewiu87ytevnkfhgiek.

I can't even handle this. 
That poor woman, I am going to bake her so much stuff. She's gonna get chubby. :wink:

Also, Chevaux, I saw her without a coat today and it was hard to tell if she was more buff in her upper body than the average lady. She has a more top-heavy build as it is -wide shoulders, etc, typical Germanic-type build- so any extra buffness is basically camouflaged. 
Oh well.


----------



## Cherrij

lol  Average ladies do not work with horses, so we are all more buff, than the average... 
our masseuse who does masterson method, does not look overly buff. 

But congrats, and please refrain yourself from making the lovely lady chubby, as then she won't be able to help any horses.


----------



## Wallaby

haha astute observation, Cherri! 


Ok, so I woke up this morning to a text from my former boss-lady, the one from the therapy place, asking if I wanted to take Fabs.

1. I am MAD that she's doing that to me. Of course I want him, however, there's no responsible way for me to take on another full-sized horse right now. I'm burning through my bank account right now, taking care of Lacey with only one lesson kid a week. Two horses would be impossible.

That's really it. I'm just mad. He's a special horse. he deserves a home that won't subject him to Parelli and will see his potential...and I know she'll look for a Parelli home for him. In a Parelli home, he's just going to become that stereotypical "crazy" Arab but he has SO MUCH to offer. It kills me that, unless he seriously beats allll the odds, he's going to go to waste.

And there's nothing I can do about it. I guess all I can do is have faith that he'll be taken care of and that maybe I'll know him again in a while. I can hope.

That being said, do I text her back saying "no" or do I just not text at all? I want to be polite but I don't want to play doormat.

Great way to wake up. BOO.

ANYWAY. 
Have some pictures of the ones that I love. 



















Dirt: apply liberally for an enchanting daytime look. 
Fashion tips courtesy of Lacey, the Fashion-Forward Horse.


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## Chevaux

Is there anyway you can take Fabs and put him in a lease situation until you are better placed to keep him with you?


----------



## Wallaby

I wish! Unfortunately, I don't know many horse people in my area and the ones I would trust to care for a horse like him are the ones that already have more horses than they really know what to do with. The other people either board at expensive places, or would get walked all over by him - he's one of those "putty in our hands if you seem confident, but will walk allllll over you if you seem at all unsure"-types. OR they're the people who used to keep Lacey for me - well-intentioned people who need horses that will put up with their special brand of "ignorance" [no knowledge of saddle fit, don't "do" run-in shelters because the hoses are "animals", horses act up to "get back" at humans...you know the type]. Those last people would definitely say sure if I asked them to take him for a while for me...but Lacey doesn't live with them anymore for a reason.....


I inquired more and it turns out she's asking $2500 for him. $2500!!!!!! There is NO WAY. That horse, though I adore him, needs SO much training. $2500 for a major training project, oh heck no.
He's unregistered and his breed is "obviously mostly Arabian, but his previous owners, who neglected him, said he was a Quarab", aged at "maybe" 7, with a myriad of "quirks"...for $2500? Oh heck no.
He's better than Lacey when I got her...but not by $2500 more. Heck, I was basically PAID to take Lacey [she was free and she came with tack, a full years worth of grass hay, plus they brought her to me for free]. At most he's worth $1000. Maaaaaybe. More like $500-$800 would be "fair", since he is young and he doesn't have any really major undersaddle vices.


Anyway, now I'm texting her about it. She told me that he didn't need to leave immediately+she just wants him to find a good home, I told her that I wished I could take him but I can't, she asked if it was a money issue or a horse issue, I responded saying that it's mostly a "making good money decisions issue" and that I would love to take him but I couldn't responsibly commit without being graduated from college and having a "real" job. I said that knowing I could reliably pay the costs of two horses is important to me and I wouldn't feel right having to choose between horses, if I took on two before I was ready for two.

Anyway, we'll see.
I'm a firm believer in honesty being the best policy and that things that are meant to be will work out. So I'm being completely honest and if Fabs is meant to be mine, it'll happen one way or another. 
Maybe he's meant to be in someone else's life, who knows what his spirit "job" is.


----------



## Wallaby

Also, for sheer cute factor, Saturday Lesson Kid and Lacey playing "The Leading Game" 

"Back up FOUR steps!"










"RUN to the bucket, then make her do a circle around it."


----------



## Wallaby

Wallaby said:


> don't "do" run-in shelters because the hoses are "animals"


HORSES! Not hoses! hahaha That would definitely be a _special_ brand of ignorance. :rofl:

[my "r" key has been liberally expressing its right to choose when it works and when it does not work]


----------



## Wallaby

Oh man, so many posts from today. 

However, Lacey and I went on a ride this afternoon/evening and I got some pictures to share. 

First, our ride was pretty great. 
I just love her canter SO MUCH. I don't even know. It's just so..present. And she has so much "try"... Riding her is a joy.
She was a little stiff on the outset but she warmed up nicely and was happy to go along.

It was so beautiful and sunny out today too, just all around perfect conditions for riding. 

First, when I showed up, "Captain Adventure" had led a small team of thrill seekers [aka Hazel and himself] on a trek into the llama's pasture. 
Hazel was napping nearby while Atti investigated the tree. :lol:










Out of focus, but how cute is she? She was obviously stoked about going for a ride. :wink:










Post-ride.

"Taste the rainbow"










This one just makes me laugh.










And I REALLY like this one.











:happydance:
I hope you guys all had a lovely Saturday!!


----------



## Wallaby

Nothing much to report from today. 

Except I got a cute video of Lacey that "must" be shared. 

My favorite part is her little baby-bucks at the end!! She's so adorable. <3 These massages she's been getting have really been bringing the life back into her, makes me so happy. 
Today the Massage Lady even noticed that some areas where Lacey had previously had muscle atrophy ARE FILLING IN. The Massage Lady genuinely gasped and then said "You could seriously have this horse for another 10 years!! Not even kidding."

I can hardly believe that she'll be 29 in less than a month! When did that happen? WHERE did the years go! To think that this July marks our 6th year together...aw man, the warm fuzzies.


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## tinyliny

those photos are really [email protected] that last one says, 'Photo contest entry".


----------



## gunslinger

I spent a few hours on Saturday reading and catching up on your blog.

I hope she gets another 10 good years....


----------



## Zexious

Lacey looks absolutely fantastic for her age. It obvious that she is very loved, and that's why she has lived so long, and is doing so well. 
The bucks at the end were adorable xD <3

I hope Gator lives to be that old :')


----------



## Amba1027

So, I haven't been around here in awhile, but I've been keeping an eye on your stuff on facebook and I just have to say a few things. One, your photography is amazing. Seriously, I am wowed by your photos (and this is from someone who went to art school and wanted to be a photographer for awhile). Two, your doodles are awesome. Three, I think you are a very good writer. I really like your style of story telling. I think you could combine your story telling and doodles and be a very successful children's book author. That's just a thought I have sometimes. I'm sure you will be very successful in whatever you choose to do with your life!


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Caroline!! I just might have to enter that one. I sure love it!! 

Haha, it IS long, gunslinger! I can't believe there are almost 1000 posts. Crazy! :lol: 
Thanks, meee too. 

Zexious, I hope Gator does too!! 

Awww, Amba. <3 Thank you bunches, I really appreciate that.  
I think being a children's book author could be so fun! I'm just not sure how one would "break into" a scene such as that. I took a cartooning class once which ended up being a bit disillusioning on that front - the teacher was absolutely convinced that there's no longer room for non-digitally-created art in children's books/illustrated books in general. And since I really couldn't be further from a digital artist...
But then again, I really shouldn't stand in my own way like that. I should at least try!!
Seriously though, do you know how one would go about getting into that? 



[also, shameless "other blog" plug, I added a link to my "Stories of Public Transit" blog to my signature... if you guys feel so inclined, go check it out. More funny stories, generally updated daily just in case this horse/life stuff one "isn't enough" :wink:]


On the animal front, I seriously cannot describe to you how wonderful the feeling is to have whether _I _want to/have time to ride or not be the deciding factor between riding or no riding. For "so long"...1.5 years, Lacey and whether she's "up to" a ride has been the deciding factor. I so love that she's now game to ride pretty much whenever!!
I can't even wait to ride this summer. We found some sweet new trails back right before she went lame, 1.5 years ago, and never got the chance to really ride them. ONE OF THEM HAS A BRIDGE.
I'm looking forward to increasing her fitness levels and being able to have some nice rides this summer. It's hard to believe how much her fitness is just coming back with the little bit of riding we have been doing [one ride - mostly walk, very little trot (she really prefers canter...and I do too since she has an AWFUL, jackhammer++++, trot), a little canter/gallop- a week for the last month]. She's already starting to get all muscle-y, I sure do love ripped-Lacey. 
Which is weird, since muscles are generally not my favorite...but on Lacey!!!!

Anyhoo.

Hazel has kept putting on weight. I'm SO happy about this. She's not chunky or anything, but she's MUCH more well covered than she was. Yay!! Maybe next winter I'll have finally gotten the "system" down and she won't lose anything. That would be wonderful.
Did I tell you guys about how I shaved the hair around her hooves? She gets a lot of hoof issues and I decided to see if shaving her "pasterns", to about 2 inches above the hoof, would help with things.
1. It totes gives me an outlet for my love of clipping [I used scissors on the longer hair and a pair of handheld, battery operated, clippers to get it really short] and it was so fun.
2. She really accepted it - didn't put up much of a fuss at all!
3. IT TOTALLY SEEMS TO BE HELPING!! Her hooves were a lot "drier" today and less..icky. She gets a lot of thrush/hoof rot and mud fever - all pretty typical for Angoras but STILL. Anyway, I Tea Tree oiled her feet up [the "best" remedy for her mud fever/other skin issues] and doused her hooves with Thrushbuster for the hoof rot. I think she should be all good by the weekend, if I repeat twice a day. [I try to only treat her when she really needs it since she tends to get stressy if I treat her everyday as a precaution = bummer]
4. She's getting her hooves trimmed on Saturday - maybe the trimmer will have an easier time! 

Atti...is just being Atti. I trimmed one of his back hooves today - my longstanding method of trimming his front feet at one time and his backs one at a time, on separate days, seems to be "working". 
He never had his hooves handled until he was 9+ months old [I could barely touch him before then!] and over 100lbs AND he doesn't get over stress really quickly/easily [food doesn't work, he becomes disinterested in food when he's scared..] so my method has been to just do one hoof at a time to not "overload" his mind and hopefully teach him that he's gonna be ok. 
So far, he's become great about his front hooves and I can easily do both of them at once. However, that's been helped along by his "front leg tricks" - "bye-bye" and "shake hands", since they encourage him to let me handle his front legs/give me his front legs freely.

However, his back feet are a totalllllllly different story. Since he does stress easily and he just doesn't get over it, it's been a challenge.
Last time I figured out that a more "sneak-attack" approach worked better - if I showed him the clippers first, them tried to gently grab his leg, he would stress more than if I hid the clippers, grabbed his leg out of nowhere, and started trimming.
THIS time, I followed "Sneak Attack Protocol" and he hardly stressed at all! He did a little bit, but not so much that he was trying to scoot away if I tried to pet his patootie after trimming. That's super major improvement! Go Atti-Boy!!
I'll try trimming his other hind tomorrow evening, hopefully that one will go as well.

Doing his hooves is intimidating - he's basically the size of a large mini horse WITH HORNS. I'm sure glad he's good natured!!

:happydance:
I hope you guys are all doing well. <3


----------



## Amba1027

I know what you mean. I love computers and you can do some really cool things with them, but I hate that people are letting them 100% replace classic art forms. I would love to see Disney come out with movies done in hand drawn animation again (I love Disney everything so that's my example lol). Also, my favorite thing in photography is black and white film. But I can't find a dark room to use for the life of me! 

I'm not really sure how you could get into the children's book business. I think the way people typically do it is to just put together a book and send it off to publishing companies to see if they want it. Or you could go the route of doing a blog and when it gets popular you make up a few books and sell them in an online store connected to your blog. I know there's probably better ways to go about it. Those are just off the top of my head ideas. BUT if you do decide to try out some sort of children's book thing let me know! I'll totally read your blog to/by your book for my stepson!

Animal related note: You are so good to them. Lacey and Atti and Hazel are probably the luckiest animals on earth. You do so much for them and it's so wonderful to see/read about


----------



## Roperchick

Believe me Amba we've been telling her this for EVER.

Haha haha




soooo glad Lacey feels so super sassy and yall get to ride so much! Awesoooooooome


(My mom was actually thinking of doing a kids book a LONG time ago and have me do the drawings lol....anyways she may know some stuff so I'll ask her)


----------



## Wallaby

So I had this long, hilarious, reply all typed up, then I pressed some button on my keyboard and my computer apparently thought I meant "back"...so my whole reply was lost. BOO. In any case.

Oh you guys. <3
You know me though, Christy, I have to be told something like 50gajillion times before it sinks in that I really should do it. I mean, I was told to make a blog about my transit stories THREE years ago...and I just started it 3 months ago. :lol: And that's not even writing a book.
Keep bugging me, it'll happen. 

1. totally ACED my Amazon Rainforest test. Yay!! 

2. It was, unfortunately, too windy to ride today. I'll ride in anything, but the wind. If I had an indoor, I would so be riding, but as it is... Lacey doesn't really work out her energy if I ride in the pasture and the trails are too tree-y to be safe to ride on when it's this windy [50mph gusts, 20-30mph constant]. Not to mention that Lacey is SO spooky about wind. She's really not spooky as a general rule...except for in the wind.

Anyway, I chose to lunge her since she had a lot of energy going on in that little body of hers. The ground is pretty dry right now so it was about as ideal for lunging as we could get. I try not to lunge her too often anymore, though she loves it, because I kind feel like that's a lot of torque and whatnot on her legs.

Anyway, she loved it. And she got to run, run, and run which is her favorite. 

And I, obviously, took pictures! 



















Meanwhile, Atti is obviously "helping" me lunge. I mean, why not?
That GOAT!!! haha



















"Hey look! I wrangled that horse into stopping! I'm the COOLEST IN THE WORLD!!!!"



















Cuz I thought this one was funny - look at Atti right behind Lacey. That's what he was doing pretty much the whole time. He is too funny! :rofl:










Some sunset action:










And then, from the other day, it's so funny+cute how "into it" Hazel gets with scratching her itchy spots!! <3











:happydance:


----------



## Cherrij

A three legged Hazel 

They are amazing


----------



## Wallaby

Miss Lacey and Miss Hazel got their hoofers trimmed today. 

Hazel did AMAZING for her trim. :happydance:
She's not very comfortable with strangers so has a hard time being ok with a "stranger" trimming her hooves. However, her hooves are so hard that it's nearly impossible to trim them without nippers ND she grow so fast, it's much easier to just keep her on Lacey's 5 week schedule. 
Anyway, she did pretty well this time.
I brought some of Haze's favorite treats up for the trimmer to feed Hazel before+after the trim and that seemed to really help. Hazel was still unsure of the trimmer but she wasn't so "NOOOO, I'm meltingggg!" about it.

Lacey did great, as usual, for her trim. It was hilarious - she sniffed the trimmer as the trimmer came in the gate, sniffed the trimmers tools, then walked HERSELF - by herself- over to the area she's always trimmed in, AND HELD UP HER HOOF. We were CRYING with laughter. 
It was so funny. That horse contains so much sass in her little body!!

Later I ended up trimming that last hoof of Atti's. That did not go so well. I didn't grab his leg fast enough = we had a little chase before I actually got his leg picked up.  Poor lil guy. But I did get his leg and, after the initial fiasco, it went rather smoothly. 
Once you get past the initial panic, he's pretty easy to trim - he's tall enough that I don't have to crouch at all to trim his back hooves and he stays pretty still.
Anyway, I made sure to touch his booty and that leg a lot after trimming him to, hopefully, end on a good note. 

The other thing - I go new goat trimmers today, or, as they say, "perfect for trimming hooves, flowers, and shrubs" :lol:
Anyway, cutting that hoof was like trimming butter. So great. 

After everybody was trimmed [well, after Lacey+Hazel were trimmed, I trimmed Atti later], I thought I would hop on Lacey for a few minutes since she was giving off a "ride me!!" vibe.

Well, I hopped on the girl and, the second I was secure on her back and let her head off, she started marching up to the gate. And every time I kinda pulled her away, she rooted her head and pulled back to the gate :lol:
So I figured why not see where she wanted to go. 
We got up to the gate and she stopped right in front of it, then started kinda pawing at the ground - she RARELY paws. At this point I was laughing so hard, but I figured that today was as safe a day as any to wander the neighborhood with the goats in tow - sleepy Saturday afternoon and all.
Lacey seemed to want to hit the trails, but I was not about to do that with the goats AND bareback. Noooo thank you.

Anyway, we walked up our little street to the landowner's driveway, walked to their front door, sniffed it [good job, Lacey], then walked back down tot he pasture, didn't realllly want to go in, walked farther down the road, then cut through the landowner's backyard where ATTICUS SAMPLED ALL THEIR FANCY PLANTS. Oh dear. Thank goodness they were not home!!

Then I basically forced Lacey back into the pasture [she was NOT happy], and we closed the gate together! I didn't even have to dismount.  [she was not happy about that either but I made it happen]

Then as we rode in the pasture a little, she is so funny, she continued to try to "convince" me to go back up to the gate and go on a trail ride. :rofl:
Huh, I don't know, but something tells me _someone_ wants to go on a ride...??

We'll have to go on Monday. 

From the other day. It made me laugh cuz she kinda looks like she's overly dramatically swooning. :lol:










The goats were unimpressed.










Angry "why aren't we RUNNING" ears











:happydance:


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## Roperchick

Omg I love the rolling pic lol


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## Wallaby

Haha, thanks Christy! I love that one too. 



Oh man. Guys, I have had THE MOST frustrating day. 
Boo-hooing first:
My first class today could NOT have been more boring. It's my Amazon Rainforest class and usually it's super neat. NOT TODAY.
Then, my second class was more ok [unexpected] just boringgg. However, I obviously survived. 

The thing that's REALLY REALLLLLY chapping my hide though: I forgot that today is Tuesday -for whatever reason I was thinking tomorrow was Tuesday- and it turns out I had a paper due at 5:00 TODAY, not tomorrow, for my evening class tomorrow. 
The evening class that this is my third time trying to pass because there's just so much boring busy-work and I kept just failing to do the work. The class that I've been trying to really dedicate myself to passing this term since I'm going to be taking it for the rest of my life if I don't. THE CLASS WHERE THE TEACHER DOESN'T ACCEPT ANY LATE WORK, even 3-hour-late late work. 

And did I finish that paper? NO. I was going to write it tonight since "it's due tomorrow, on Tuesday!"
BOOOOO. I am so mad at myself. So freaking mad.

At least it's only worth 10% of my grade, but still. 
DARN IT.

Anyway, boo.
Hopefully I don't get called out about it in class tomorrow. This teacher is big into public humiliation being a "motivator". Ha, watch how absolutely TERRIBLY that will work on me, sir. I will cry. No, not really. But I'll feel like crying.


On to better news:

I needed more lesson kids because I'm down to 1 kid and $20/week, when they don't cancel, is not enough to feed Lacey/goats/my cat/put gas in my van.
SO I put an ad in the classifieds at my parents church, fishing for one or 2 kids. Usually I'm lucky to get one call when I put an ad in so I was thinking it'd be perfect. I would like to have more kids coming but with my school schedule, 1 or 2 is the most that can happen right now. I'll have more time in the summer.

Definitely got FOUR phone calls today and 3 emails over the last few days.
WHAT IS HAPPENING.

So for now I've selected the first two people to contact me [one referral from the parent of my current student] and another older girl AND I HAVE A WAITING LIST OF 3 KIDS!!!! With prospectively 2 kids beyond that 3 for the wait list, if their mom emails me back.
So I've told the waiting list people that they are in in June and made an event on my phone to annoy the living heck out of me in June until I do call them back.

I've never had a waiting list before! This is exciting! 
Hopefully it'll all work out. 
One of the waiting list kids is even a BOY. I LOVE teaching boys. Love teaching girls too, but little boys are the funniest.


And here's a video of Atti from Sunday. He was climbing around on the wall - "feeeeeed meeeeee" - and got a leg over his rope. I like to let him work these things out, as long as he doesn't panic [predominantly to teach him not to panic and that he can get himself out of situations], so I took a video of him solving it. Hilarious!!


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## tinyliny

Z is just the opposite; he keeps asking me , as we go up the driveway toward the park, "are you SURE you want to go out? wouldn't it be better to go back?"


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## Wallaby

Caroline, I'm familiar with that one too :lol: For Lacey, she usually does that when she's hurting somewhere [not to suggest Z is uncomfortable, of course!!] - I used to think that her attitude towards riding was just weirdly bi-polar [excited to go out one day, couldn't be less motivated the next] but these massages she's been getting are showing me a whole NEW Lacey! It's so interesting. I thought I knew her..but I only kind of did.


Guys, I seem to be still somewhat alive. Things have been SO hectic and stressful. It's just been one of those weeks where everything was going along swimmingly, the BOOM, EVERYTHING BREAKS.
But it'll be ok, it always is. Just taking it one day at a time.

Lacey's doing pretty well. It got rainy again and she just really has a hard time with the mud, even the itty-bitty amounts the pasture has. The pasture is really barely muddy, but something about the mud and wet weather just really takes it out of her. 
That's one of those interesting things I've been noticing since she's been getting massages - I never before noticed her having a hard time with mud, I just knew she slipped often and would avoid any+all mud at any cost. 
However, since she's been getting the massages, I've found out that she gets edema in her hind end [her hamstring area, to be precise] like clockwork when the weather is wet and that she struggles to really "use" her hind end when it's damp. Her "mud-walk" and her "dry-walk" are COMPLETELY different to me now...but they used to look the same.

I do know that she was in a "bad" trailering accident when she was young and she did rear, then fall over on a rider when she was young as well - I don't know what the extent of her injuries were from those things, but her hind pasterns are pretty nicked up. She could have broken her pelvis, for all I know. I do know that the rearing/falling with her rider thing was why she had been a pasture puff for 10+ years when I got her...who knows. Anyway, the massages have really been helping me really _see_ her and it's really kinda great!!

Speaking of the massages, on Friday I had to leave Massage-Lady alone with Lacey for a few minutes to finish up a chore I had started [Massage-Lady was way early]. Usually Lacey absolutely LOSES it when I leave her with a "stranger" [tries to follow me, gets worked up, is bargey with the "stranger" - even longterm lesson kids that she loves when we're all together seem to fit this "strangers" category] so I was mildly hesitant, but at the same time Lacey REALLY likes Massage-Lady. I didn't really mention this to Massage-Lady, asked her if she was comfortable if I left for a second or two, then went for it - no need to make her nervous!!

Anyway, I left them for a couple of minutes, had to leave the pasture entirely, came back...to discover that Massage-Lady had been able to start Lacey's massage [with Lacey completely loose in her stall], and Massage-Lady was standing there with Lacey's head happily draped over one shoulder - petting her neck, AND petting Hazel with her other hand. 
Hazel is another incredibly "hard to win over" critter.
They were all so happy together. It was adorable. 

Anyway, it really makes me happy to see both my girls feel so comfortable with someone. 



In other news, I got *THE* book on Angora goats today!! It's the one that allllways seems to get recommended for Angora goat owners, like it's some kind of Angora goat "bible". I've been wanting to get it pretty much every since I got Hazel, since Angora goats do have some specialized needs that I may or may not be meeting sufficiently, but it's like $35 new and I am so not that rich. But I happened to be looking on Amazon the other day and a private seller was selling a gently used copy for $8!!!
So I bought it and it just got here today. 
I haven't started really reading yet but I was pleased with what I saw when I flipped through the pages! Maybe it'll have some tricks for solving Hazel's weight issues. Wouldn't that be lovely!!

Pictures!!












"Hazel! Wake up, wake up, WAKE UP"










America's first equine MasterChef.










From today. 
We went for a little ride. 
Lacey was NOT in the mood for post-ride photos. :wink:



















And finally, the hawk that lives behind the pasture: Colonel Hawksworthy.













I hope you guys are all doing really well!! :hug:


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## jcraig10

I love the video of Atti...he is so funny. I laughed at the part where he stops to look at you like...."seriously? you're really not going to help me?!"


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## Wallaby

I'm so glad, jcraig!  That's my favorite part too. He is such a ham!!

So today was a stinky day. It's just midterms this week/next week and it's all kicking my patoooooootie.

But it's ok, can't have good weeks without bad weeks.

A lot of it is that I feel like I'm doing so badly in all my classes, which -honestly- is actually not the case. I'm just _trying_ in all my classes for the first time in a while and, since I actually CARE, I'm pretty sure I'm just being overly hard on myself.
I know I have at least a b, maybe even an A, in ASL. An A in my Rainforests class, an A or B in my Reading Colloquium, and a B in that class I'm taking for the 3rd time. Those are all REALLY good grades for me, especially since those are my grades on my own merit. To be honest, sometimes I can tend to take the easy route and, without really meaning to, befriend "the smart kid" in class, then ride their coattails to a good grade. However, I'm totally not doing that now...and it's kinda showing in how stressed I am. :lol:

In GOOD news, I learned today that I LITERALLY have FOUR classes left until I can graduate!! I was sure I had more or something but NOPE. Only 4. So I'll be able to easily get them done next term and bam, lookin' at a girl with her BA.

Also, in an attempt to cheer myself up, I will now tell you guys a story from the weekend filled with awkwardness and hilarity and, since I am telling this story, overthinking.
Feel free to ignore. :lol:

So.
Sunday.
I went to church - church does not stop for Superbowl. :wink:

First "important" pre-story details: remember "New Guy" - that guy who invited me to the zoo with him? But who I didn't go with cuz I didn't really know him and the idea of going somewhere, however innocuous, with a "stranger" made me uncomfortable?
That kid. He's been working hard to make us be friends.  I haven't figured out exactly how I feel yet..I like the attention and he makes me laugh and I feel comfortable with him, but he's obviously nervous around me and kind of "acting". We're both hosts at church and his section is right next to mine, so I KNOW how he acts when he's comfortable and that's not how he acts when we're interacting.
Anyway, he's working hard to make us be friends. So we're being friends.

First, I was talking to Gman and NG was there, like 15 feet away. He was obviously dying to come over -kept trying to make eye contact with me, was figeting around in circles in our direction, doing the whole "I feel uncomfortable but I realllly want to check out this situation"-dance [one that I myself have perfected]- but he never did. I would have really liked to introduce him to Gman, but at the same time not. Gman is not any kind of covert so you know he'd say something like "IS THIS ZOO-GUY?????!" and that would so not help. 
Gman'll meet him if he becomes important enough. 

And oh man. Guys. The most adorable thing: sometimes, if New Guy sees that he's doing something that makes me laugh [he's a bumble-y human, so that sort of thing happens alll the time and it kills me because I would do the same things and it would end just as badly for me], he'll get himself into more of a mess, then catch my eye, and we'll have a little laugh together...even if we're far apart.

Anyway, on Sunday, since it was the Superbowl, NO ONE was at church. 

And New Guy and I, since our sections are right next to each other AND EMPTY AS ALL GET OUT, ended up spending pretty much the whole time we were supposed to be "working" just hanging out and chatting. This was the first time we've ever talked more than a few seconds. Which is good - for a while he could barely make one word without running away, then we got into "awkward paragraphs"-range, and now we're actually talking.

Anyhoo.
We were talking. And, this kid is the funniest - he'll just out of the blue ask a completely random+unexpected question, out of no where he was all "Are you still in school?"
I was like "....yes? At PSU." "REALLY? I go there too, but I'm post-Bac..how long do you have left?" "This term and next term...I think?" "REALLLY?? But that means you're like...23? I thought you were 20 or something. That's cool, I'm 24. 23 is better than 20." "Why on earth would think I was 20??" ".....I don't know??"
etc. HILARIOUS. 

That guy makes me laugh SO MUCH. He is so awkward in an great way. It is my favorite.

Then, after hosting-time was over, I said something about how "oh, now I'm gonna go sit alone..." [didn't really want to "invite" him since sitting with someone in church is kinda....intimate? I don't know how to explain it but it's kinda personal, especially if it's just 2 people together].
Anyway, without any second of hesitation, he immediately said "I'LL SIT WITH YOU!!!" all excitedly. :happydance:

So that was cool. I liked sitting with him. 

Of course, as my/our luck would have it, the sermon was on marriage. Specifically the whys and wherefores of marriage.

Talk about the second to most awkward sermon [first being anything to do with sex] to be sitting alone with someone you kinda like, who you've never sat with before!! 

I texted Gman and told him about how awkward the sermon was but that we sat together [he's super all about this kid. I told him about the zoo thing and he about lost it, he was so excited. Then this]. His response: "Hahahaha That is AWESOME!!! That would happen to you and I love it!"


In any case, maybe that [sitting together in relative silence for a while, without any pressure to talk or anything] was just what New Guy needed. He seemed a lot more relaxed after the service.

His words upon getting up, prior to walking out together: "Sitting together was great!" 
me: "I agree."
him: "We should sit together again, for sure!!!"
me: "definitely!"

[see, I'm playing it cool with this one - seeming all reserved. HA. But I figure that the best way to make a possibly nervous/shy person comfy is to not overwhelm them with perkiness]

Then we walked out together. 

Sunday is definitely my favorite day of the week. :rofl: :wink:

I hope you all are doing super! :happydance:


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## Wallaby

And suddenly it's winter again.

In the last 12 hours, we've distinctly gotten 5 inches of snow, 30mph+ winds...and it's barely 19*F. WHAT IS HAPPENING.

But that's ok. Snow is literally my absolute favorite weather evvvvvver, bar none, so I am loving this. 

I wish it weren't windy though...the wind is making everything real nasty.

Lacey was wearing just her 350g heavyweight blanket and she was actually shivering super hard in it, poor thing! I have never seen her shiver in that blanket before=crazy. Under the blanket was actually COLD.  
I put one of her mediumweights on her, a 150g, then piled the HW on top of that. Then I fed her her dinner -soaked in boiling water+still warm- of 1lb alfalfa pellets, 1.5lbs beet pulp, .5lb ration balancer, and .5lb rice bran. Usually she just gets .5lbs alfalfa pellets in the evening! haha 

Thankfully, after a little bit she stopped shivering. And by the time I left to go home [about an hour later] she was actually warm under the blankets.

I also rigged up one of her blankets to be sort of a wind block for her stall - the wind is blowing from a sort of north-east direction and the shed is situated to block the east wind=all kinds of snow+cold wind blowing into the poor dear's stall. It's SUUUUUUPER ghetto and probably not at all "safe", but she's smart and, most importantly, it's actually working and helping her be warmer=safer than just crossing my fingers that she'll be fine.
It's not very big - I'll take a picture tomorrow [I would have today but my phone died from the cold], but I was surprised at how much it actually helped.

Atti was super shivering too. Poor little man. 
A similar thing was happening in the goat's stall - wind was blowing in and bringing all kinds of snow and cold with it. They also got a rigged up wind break.  Theirs ended up with a kinda "blanket-fort"-y feel. :rofl:
But it's working so I'm not judging! haha

Interestingly, the only kiddo that WASN'T cold was Hazel...aka Miss "I'm cold allllllllll the timeeee". I doubled blanketed her this morning and she was as toasty as can be, though covered in snow.

I gave them all a LOT of hay, hot soaked pellets, and everybody was happy(er) by the time I left. At least, no one was shivering!! 

I can't wait to get out there tomorrow, take my real camera, and get some pictures!! 

Hopefully it stops being so windy. I would love to go for a ride in the snow but I'm not gonna go if it's this windy!


Here's a picture from yesterday. Poor Atti was cold, I guess, and had somehow managed to pull one of Lacey's blankets down, then burrow under it. What a cutie. 










Then today [before my phone died]










Snow beard!!











:happydance: :happydance:


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## tinyliny

you must be making this up, I mean the part about what NG says.

"it was fun sitting together"?????? who says that?

it must be you practicing your "writer" skills. ................... right?


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## Wallaby

What do you mean?? haha 
I guess it seems really normal to me but, at church, that's just kind of "normal" talk/behavior. 
I've grown up around the "culture" of church [maybe? or maybe it's just the culture of the churches I've always gone to...] so I guess it's not unusual at all for me...but thinking about it, it does sound weird from another person's perspective!! :lol:
But yeah, pretty much whenever you sit with someone you haven't sat with before, at the end of the service, the "polite" thing to say [if you liked sitting with them - if you hate the person/don't plan to talk to them again/or whatever, you don't _have_ to say anything] is "I enjoyed sitting with you"/"thanks for letting me sit with you"/"worshiping with you was great"/or some variation. 
It can also be avoided with a "see you next week!" if you're going to see the person and like them, but don't like them enough to want them to invite you to sit with them again. Or if you're really close/regular church "buddies" and sitting with them is a given.
It's just a way of thanking the other person for opening their intimate "worship bubble" to you. 

I guess it's just like saying "thanks for inviting me!" at the end of a party thrown by a friend, or whatever. Or "thanks for dinner!" if someone treats you to dinner.

I'm not sure why exactly...I guess it's one for "Junk Church People Say". :rofl:

Huh. I literally never thought about that. But I do it alll the time. 

That's SO funny. It seems just so normal for me to say, to hear, and to talk about! hahaha


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## tinyliny

i was jus teezin ya.


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## Endiku

Can I please just live with you? I swear you make pretty much every aspect of your life interesting and I'm just sitting here like "yep guys, I do school, work, and occasionally sleep. Its the bomb." 

I'm totally understanding the church talk though...we're a strange group aren't we? LOL. Everyone is so incredibly awkward around each other that it's hilarious, and I love watching them. I'm known as, literally, "Allyson, She who Does Not Date" so no one is EVER awkward around me (except me...I'm definitely awkward and make even little things weird) so its funny to watch everyone else, especially the ones who kind of like each other, interact. Sitting with them is a RITUAL I tell you!

Except with me. I just sit right up front with no one else 'cause otherwise I won't pay attention and fall asleep. I think I'm pretty much the only under-60 year old up there, but hey. It works for me!


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## Zexious

Brrr! I can't get over those pictures! Everyone looks so frio!
It's been a minute (long minute...) since I've been to Oregon, but here in Colorado we've had temps reaching -30 with the windchill, so I know those feels!

That's pretty exciting about NG. Even if he does say silly church things ;D


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## Wallaby

Of course you were, Caroline. :wink: :lol:

Haha Allyson! It's all a matter of perspective. Pretty sure my life is suuuuper boring too..I just make it sound way more fun? haha 
But really, basically my entire life is sleep, animals, train, school, train, animals, cook, maybe homework, sleep. I really like it for the most part but sometimes I feel so stuck. I mean, I can never just decide to stay out later or spend the night at a friend's house. I _have _to be home by a certain time due to the animals and I _have _to be there for the animals. And I love it. But sometimes it really stinks. 
Sometimes I want to go nuts and act 23 [but not toooo nuts, nuts within reason]...but I can't.
Anyway, I try to be really optimistic about it because I could be really depressed about it otherwise...
I just have to remind myself that I am literally living my childhood dream with my childhood dream horse. What 23 year old can say that??
But you're welcome to come live with me! <3

Zexious, -30 sounds TERRIBLE. Brrr!! We got down to -1, due to windchill, the other day and Lacey and I thought we were dyinggg. haha


The "Snowpocalypse_" _continues! 
I prefer "Snowventure"...but hey, Oregonians sure like their snow-drama and Snowventure is waaaayyyyy too optimistic. haha

In any case, we had a huge ice storm last night which dropped a solid 1/2 inch of ice on top of ll the snow=my fave.
Plus side: it's starting to melt! 
I adore snow but I miss "real" ground. haha And all this ice...I could handle snow for a few more days, but the ice turned this morning's 5 minute walk up to Lacey+etc into an hour and a half slog. THE WORST.


And church was cancelled for tonight. I'm glad I don't even have to think about trying to get there...but after last week, I was kinda looking forward to seeing NG.... haha 
And, of course, I like talking to Gman too since he "gets it" and I only see him at church. Oh well, next week.

In any case, here are some pictures!!

Yesterday:

Trudging out. There's no staying in for the day for this girl!










LOVE this one. I lovelovelove snowy horse pictures. I'm so happy to have gotten some of my own!!!!




























"Hey sorry, no time to stop and talk!"










Their super cool ghetto-rigged windbreaks.
As you can see, Atticus has been SUPER disillusioned by the weather - he hasn't taken them down yet!! haha










This morning.
Ice. Ice evvvvvverywhere.










Lacey spotted me slowly picking my way down to the shed. She was THRILLED. 

"HURRY UP."










Then I let her out.

It was a real dilemma, deciding to let her out or not. Things are so icy...but at the same time, she is 29, has weathered ice storms before, REALLY wanted to go out, and movement is good for her at her age.

I decided to let her out, then stick around for 15 minutes to watch her and make sure she was handling the ground well.

She really did well! I am so impressed with her. SO impressed.
She carefully picked her way up her "favorite" spot in the pasture...










Analyzed the situation.










And pawed right through the ice and began grazing like it's no big deal.

She is the greatest. 
I'm so glad I have an old wise horse!!










Then she hung out there and grazed.
What a good girl!










Poor Atti, on the other hand, did not fare so well.
This was his first experience with ice so he went bopping right out of the shed, and immediately regretted that decision when he fell on his face. Then he had to figure out how to get back to the shed. POOR little man!







Hazel also didn't enjoy her experience. She walked in Lacey's steps up the hill a ways, then decided to come back...but chose not to use L's footsteps. She regretted that decision when she went FLYING down the hill, her little hooves acting like skates.
I had to go rescue her. Boy, was she glad to be rescued!
Poor baby. Anyway, I got her back to the shed and there was no convincing her to come out again=good. Poor goat girl.

Of course, I was busting a gut laughing at the goats...but it was just so hysterically funny. And they were all ok, so I figure laughing is alright as long as no one is getting hurt. haha

:happydance:


ETA: I tried to post this a few hours ago and the second I sent it, a tree fell down and took out the power. I WAS SO FRUSTRATED. Thank goodness the power came back on a few minutes ago and somehow internet-magic saved this!! Yay!


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## Roperchick

That last b&w snowy pic of miss Lacey is AWESOME. HAHA I've watched the video of poor atti like 3 times and I'm still laughing (such a bad person lol)


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## Wallaby

I knowwww. It KILLS me.

I can just hear him screeching "Abort mission! Abort! ABORT!!!!" :rofl:


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## jcraig10

oh Atti! He is such a character.

Loveeee what you captured with Lacey in the snow. Beauuuuuutiful!


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## tinyliny

you guys get some nasty ice storms, don't ya? we had like 3 inches of fairy snow, and now it's conveniently gone.

so, you McGyvered a wind break!? ( I just wanted to sound cool by using that expression. hope you don't mind)


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks jcraig!!  I love them too!!! That has genuinely been one of my dreams with her and it exceeded my highest hopes, completely unexpectedly. I'm still so thrilled. 

We really do, Caroline! When we ice, we ice nasty. haha
:lol: I did! That is probably one of my all-time most favorite turns of phrase so I am 100% on board with your use of it. 
[also, I love that Roperchick liked your comment twice. haha]

Just some pictures.

[I'm going nuts. I haven't been on my hill since Thursday. CABIN FEVERRRR. But my van doesn't have snow tires and my parents barely made it down today in their little, snow-tire-d, car=my van would die. Hopefully tomorrow will be ok and I'll be able to go to school!]










My road today.










This afternoon. The goats are venturing out!










A little Lacey video from this morning. It's so funny how can see her wanting to roll, but giving up because of the ice. Poor baby.






And Atti being Atti and being a pain in the neck. :lol:
[he's feeling better about the ice now that it's not as solid]







:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Roperchick

How is it even possible???
It says "you, wallaby and [ARG:4 UNDEFINED] liked this


----------



## Roperchick

(Double post sorry lil) but I'm almost tempted to hit unlike just to see which one disappears but my luck tiny would get like 30,000 like notifications lol.

PS. Hazel. Is. So. Dang. Cute.
That is all


----------



## Wallaby

Christy, I don't even knowwwwww. So funny:










I guess HoFo just lovessssss you?? 




In other news, it must be spring: Lacey's eyes are freaking THE HECK OUT. 

I'm pretty sure it's my fault too which is a huge bummer on top of an already stressful week.
I didn't even stop to consider that the bright snow might irritate her eyes and that maybe I should flymask that baby up. Apparently I should have. 
BOO.

And her 29th birthday is on Saturday too=not my favorite that she's gonna be in eyeball pain on her birthday. Not like it really probably matters to her, but it matters to ME.

On the plus side, I caught it just a few hours after her eyes started freaking out so I got her buted up asap. They were still spasming by last night but they had snapped out of it by this morning, THANK GOODNESS. 
She's still buted out of her ever loving mind but the worst is over...hopefully.

Poor baby. :hug:

Anyway, I hope you guys are all doing SUPER GREAT. :happydance:


----------



## Roperchick

Haha that's so weeeeeeiiiiird. 

Well she gets to be high on her bday. That can be fun too! Lol


----------



## Wallaby

haha truuuue story. :lol:



Guys, I'm kindaaaa freaking out. Just a little bit.
Tonight when I took Lacey's flymask off to put her to bed, I noticed a little, itty-bitty, dimple-ish thing on her bad eye.
My first thought "ULCER!!!! NOOOOOOOOO"
I'm dearly hoping that this is just me being overly dramatic but......... 

In terms of the ERU episode, her eye is looking better..but then there's this.

Anyway, I immediately called the vet and left a message asking for advice [don't want to go into the weekend wondering, then have it actually be an ulcer - ulcers can get out of hand SO fast].

So I'm kind of freaking out a lot. I'm already SO stressed about school...then this. 
Actually, interesting theory I developed today: all the recent times Lacey's had an episode have all been when I was really over the top stressed already. I wonder if my stress level, even though I "hide" it well, is effecting her in this sort of way?? Like making her more prone somehow to eyeball-based freak outs? We are so in-tune to each other...I guess it's not surprising.

And, of course, if the vet does need to come out, I have $50 in my bank account currently. Luckily our vet is really cool about coming out even though she knows it'll take me a while to pay...but I just hate not being able to pay immediately. Makes me feel like such a slimy jerk. The vet is really chill about it and, I think, probably her thinking is that not many college kids are 'nursing' a "special" "really old" horse along while dong school...but still. I hate feeling like I'm making excuses for myself/others are making excuses for me.
Lacey really has the best vet, we are SO immensely blessed.
That's one of my life goals though: paying everything in my life immediately. Having the $$ available to pay for almost any eventuality. Or at least being able to pay for most any eventuality.



Anyway, hopefully whatever that is is gone by tomorrow and I can call the vet back and be all "JUST KIDDING, guys. We got this." 


And on a more optimistic note, here's a video of Mr. Atti with the "zoomies".
[it was multiple videos and I joined them together with an app and it made it all weird....oh well]


----------



## Roperchick

Oh man! Lackeys hurting. Maggie's guy is hurting....I'm not gonna call home lol.


Hahahahaha Atti. Love that giat


----------



## Wallaby

1. Lacey's eyes are doing SO much better!!! :happydance: I'm so happy!!!
She was actually able to have a relatively pain-free 29th birthday yesterday too which was fabulous!!
No ulcer, the next day that eye looked completely normal. Not sure what was up with it that particular evening but I'm glad it wasn't anything serious!!

2. Atti is hilarious. He's all "get me out of this retirement home! These old ladies don't understand how stinking AWESOME I am!!!!"







3. I'm kind of freaking out a little about this whole thing with "New Guy"...and clearly overthinking so I'm going to write it all here and clear my head [and, of course, your opinions are always welcome].
We didn't have church last week due to the snow+ice [Portland actually put out a city-wide advisory requesting that everyone stay indoors if at all possible]. So the last time we conversed was two weeks ago, on SuperBowl Sunday, when we sat together and all that.

This week: he showed up 20 minutes earlier than he ever does, immediately came over to me and started chatting. We talked for 10 minutes or so, then we had to go to a little short 3 minute meeting. THEN, we had 15, or so, minutes before our "real" meeting...and he/we spent the whole time talking.
Actually though, talking to him is more like answering questions, receiving "oh" or "awesome", etc,-type answers, then answering more questions. It's kinda frustrating but I'm hoping that maybe that'll tone down once we're friends-friends.

THEN we had our meeting-meeting, and it was time to go host. It took a bit for people to show up in our sections...anyone want to guess WHO walked over to my section to talk while we waited? ....yeah.

Then people showed up and we actually had to "work." haha

THEN, once the teaching was about to start, I went to sit down...guess who just naturally came with me? He must have realized that he really hadn't asked if he could sit with me cuz, as he was about to sit down, he asked if he could sit there. :lol:

And we sat together again. This time he was wayyyyy more comfortable than last time. However, as our luck would have it, the teaching was on "Godly Sexual Identity". Talk about THE MOST awkward sermon to sit through, sitting in a packed pew next to a guy you kinda like but don't really know. It was hilariously horribly awkward. MY LIFE.

All evening he was asking me all about the classes I'm taking, what I'm doing this week, Lacey [someone was looking at my Facebook?? haha], etc.

I'm so confused. I'm just so thrown for a loop by all this attention!
The worst part, I think, is that I truly do not want to lead him on in any way...but I have no idea what MY feelings are, really. I'm enjoying the attention, but do I like him...or the idea that I could be "winning" someone's affection?


Then, on top of that, weird stuff: a random girl sent me a friend request on Facebook. 
We had two friends in common - New Guy and another lady from church. This girl looked familiar-ish and I figured that maybe I knew her from church since we had mutual church friends. So I gave her the benefit of the doubt, and accepted her request.
2 hours later, she had deleted ME as her friend.
.......................um, what?
This whole thing. I don't even.


Gah. This is all so out of character and new for me. Before Gman came into my life, I had had more guy friends than girl friends...but the girl friends were the close friends and no guys were ever interested in being "real" friends.
Then Gman came along and we became instant "real-real" friends. Realer than a lot of my girl friends and I. No questions asked, insta-mutual-soul connection.
Still no interest from guys other than Gman, but I was ok with that cuz Gman seemed like a real option [ha].
THEN, the poo hit the fan with Gman, discovered that he was never going to be an option, stayed super close friends but in a different way, and within 2 weeks, BOOM, there's New Guy.

I'm reallllly not that girl who all the guys like. I'm like one of those girls who gets described as "has a great personality" or "is THE FUNNIEST"...and if someone is going to describe my physical attributes, "cute" is always the term. I'm certainly ok with being the "funny girl." Making peope laugh is one of my most favorite things in life. It's just this is so...different from everything I've ever known.
I mean, I like this, I guess...but I just don't know what to do with it. And I wish I knew how I felt, for real. 

I guess on the plus side, the insecure nerdy part of me can be relatively sure that New Guy isn't just messing with me cuz [no offense to him] he's not THAT good looking. He's not ugly at alllll, but not like intimidatingly good looking.



Anyway, that's my big novel of the day. But I do feel a whole lot better after getting that all out!! Thanks for listening. :hug:

:happydance:


----------



## Roperchick

Wow....Lacey* not lackey. How I hate autocorrect.

Haha guy problems...lol hopefully it gets a little less confusing for you!


----------



## Wallaby

I knew what you meant! <3
Meeee too.

On the plus side for New Guy, it turns out that one of our mutual friends has known him his whole life and says "he's one of the best guys around." [yes, yes. I went snooping. haha no shame] 
A lot of my hesitation stems from the fact that I know nothing about him and he, so far, has not been real forthcoming with information about himself=don't want to become attached to a jerk!!
Anyway I'm glad to hear that he's a good person. Makes me feels better.


In other news, I'm not sure if I told you about how the back wall of the shed -in Lacey's stall- has been wanting to falling down/off. In any case, last night it finally fell off.
And this afternoon I "fixed" it by putting a tarp up. I tied up the top two corners, then staple-gunned the sides, bottom, and top to the shed. Hopefully it'll hold up.

1. Hilariously, I did all this while Lacey was eating her dinner. She could have cared less about a tarp swinging around. She's the best. 

2. Atti's reaction was amusing:








Also, someoneeeee made their escape this afternoon. The grass IS greener on the other side. :wink:
Luckily he wasn't making any trouble, just happily grazing.












:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## jcraig10

ok, so to be honest I didn't exactly read the past few posts because my eyeballs hurt. 8+ hours on the computer at work and then I come home and get on the computer some more. Great idea! hahaha not. I will get around to reading them though, maybe tomorrow.

BUT, I did however watch all videos. love.love.love. Atti is fracking hillarious. and poor Lacey in the vid where she wanted to roll. dawwww. 

P.S. HAPPY *BELATED* BIRTHDAY LACEY! do I remember last year you gave her heart shaped carrots in her feed on her birthday? or was that Valentine's day? was that even you? also, i did read a blurb about her eyes...and then another blurb that they are better. YAY  

and i was pretty much cracking up about Roperchick double liking Tiny's post. how does that even happen? And when you called it HoFo ...omg, dying. (ok maybe I read a little bit more than I thought) We have a gas station in MD/DE called Royal Farms and we call it RoFo. Not sure why its not RoFa but its not...its RoFo. So when you said HoFo I lost it.

ANYWHOOOOOOO ...I'm house/horse sitting for the week and am alone and bored...can you tell???????????!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL.


----------



## tinyliny

HoFo is a nickname for HorseForum.


----------



## Wallaby

jcraig, Lacey says thank you for the birthday wishes! :lol: 
Yep, the heart-shaped carrots was me! haha It might have been Valentines...it might have been her birthday. Her birthday is on the 15th so they're basically the same anyway. :lol: Her birthday this year was a little too crazy and I forgot.  Boo. Oh well. Next year!! 
Haha, I guess the "HoFo" thing is showing my forum "age." Back in the day, like in 2009, evvvveryone called it "HoFo"...now, not so much. haha Glad it gave you a chuckle! 



Nothing super exciting is happening. Lacey and Atti are shedding like CRAZY. I'm so excited for spring!!
We did get a ridiculous huge amount of rain in the last few weeks, plus all that snow, and everything is SOAKING wet. It's so wet that you can feel the ground move -like it's mud- even when you step on grass. Everything feels muddy. And muddy areas. Oh my word. There is standing water everywhere where you'd expect mud.

Plus side: it's supposed to dry up this weekend and maybe we'll really start seeing some grass growth! 

Hazel's about 20 days out from being sheared. I'm so excited about shearing her!! Less excited about how terrifying she looks after being sheared...but so excited about shearing!
I bought new clippers to shear her with and I haven't gotten to use them yet=CANNOT WAIT. It's gonna be awesomeeee.

Also, in other Hazel news, I started her on Triple Crown Senior today. She's been doing "ok" with soaked alfalfa pellets/beet pulp/rice bran but I'm wondering if a senior feed would be "cheaper" - alfalfa pellets are $19 for a 40lb bag, beet pulp is $12 for 40lbs, rice bran is $22 for 50lbs. She eats half a pound of each per day...and it holds an "ok" amount of weight on her but she's still skinny. 
Not to mention that she often doesn't eat all of it=wastage=$$ out the window.
I'm hoping that maybe something more complete, like senior feed, will be more palatable or something.

Man, it's so weird and sad to me: Hazel is only turning 11 in April [goat lifespan is like 16-20] but she seems ANCIENT. She's like 55 in goat years but she acts 100. While Lacey, on the other hand, just turned 90-ish in horse years...but she acts like she's 20.
I guess that's the product of living two different kinds of lives: Lacey's never had babies and has had a relatively easy life [pasture puff from age 10-23!]. The most neglect she's ever faced was being allowed to become horrifically overweight.
Hazel, on the other hand, pumped out babies from the time she was a year old until she was 10...sometimes twice a year, appears to have suffered severe longterm malnutrition [her horns]... 
It blows my mind. 
Dear ol' Haze.

In any case, this will be an experiment. If it works great, yay! If it doesn't, I'll go back to the pellet mixture.


Plus, yesterday's sunrise!!











I hope you guys are all doing well! :hug:

:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Roperchick

Aaaaw poor old hazel lol. I'll cross my fingers that senior feed will work for her!
Side note: super excited to see alien Hazel!!!


----------



## jcraig10

Hazel reminds me of an wise old lady. Hope she likes her new feed 
And I agree, not a fan of sheared Hazel lol
I can't wait for Spring time...I feel like it will bring out more Atti shenanigans for you to capture!

I feel your pain on the mud factor. Squishy ground, mud everyyyyywhere. Grey horse (has blanket on) is now grey horse with brown legs. Haha, I know you know all about that! The place that I am horse sitting has a gradual hill in the pasture and at the bottom there is basically a pond right now. I'm pretty sure the geese flying over last night were definitely thinking about landing there.


----------



## Endiku

Poor, poor Hazel. She's so lucky to have found you though. She couldn't get a better retirement anywhere else. 

I find it interesting what the differences in feed costs is for us! Triple Crown feeds are impossible to find here and when you do find them, they're $30ish a bag, but it balances out because while you pay $19 a bag for 40 lbs of alfalfa, I was paying $13 and complaining xD but then our rice bran is more expensive. $32-35 (the 35 is for pellets) for 40 lbs. BP is the same price though. I guess its just a difference is resources. 

I really hope the triple crown works for her <3 she's my favorit-est (new word) goat ever.


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## Zexious

Poor Hazel! That doesn't sound like any life I want to have D; I bet she (and the rest of the gang) is(are... xD) happy she's (they're...) with you now. <3

What a beautiful sunrise! Usually sunsets get all the attention xD


----------



## Wallaby

Of course, Hazel is already having opinions on her new food: she loves it...but only if I don't soak it. Clearly soaking turns it into devil-food. :wink:
She's such a dork. On the plus side, she DID eat nearly a pound of it today...once I gave it to her dry. So I'll try that again tomorrow. What a spoiled lady. <3
She's the best. I'm so blessed with her presence here! She fits in so well. She's super laid-back and low key, which fits perfectly with Atti's HIGH-HIGH-key-ness, and Lacey's sass+opinions. 
And she's so sweet.
Too bad she hates having her face touched, otherwise I'd be smooshing her face all the time due to how darn cute she is! :lol:



Anyhoo, here's a video from today:







:happydance:


----------



## jcraig10

yes! perfect video.


----------



## Wallaby

Guys, THIS:












I do not even know WHERE to start. No clue.

I guess with things I'm bad-freaking out about:
a) SO STRESSED about school. There are so many things I need to do, write, talk about...I'm dyingggggg.
b) Tomorrow I have my first session with a "counselor". Not looking forward to hearing about how crazy I am. But I figure that I'm trying to become the best possible me and I obviously have a lot of mental "stuff" going on and maybe it'd be good to try getting some outside help for once since I'm clearly not solving it alone. 
But I'm really nervous. I'm afraid I'm going to get diagnosed with some "crazy person" disease. That sounds way harsher than I meant it, but you know?
Anyway, that's from 3:15-4:15. Nervousssss.


Things I'm REAL excited about:

1. YESTERDAY GMAN CAME OVER TO MY *HOUSE*!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He's never come over before. It lived up to every one of my hopes. I KNEW he would love it and I've been trying to get him to go over for agess because he _would_ love it so muchbut he's generally been hard to motivate into coming over.
This time though, a mutual friend had a concert about 10 minutes from my house so I offered him dinner before the concert, and boom, he was there.
He LOVED it. :happydance:
The sunset was beautiful, we saw deer, ATTICUS LOVED HIM!!!! Gman was just awestruck at the whole thing. And it made me so happy. 
I don't really know how to describe it but...I dunno, sometimes I feel "magic" in places and Gman is the only person I know that feels the magic too. Lacey's pasture has the magic and he got to feel it. It kind of feels like the earth is singing, or something...but not in a weird way. It's not disconcerting at all, but you feel like the land is "alive" more there than it is other places. 
Anyway, he felt it and that brought me so much joy!!

2. I rode Lacey today! I was so freaking out about everything and the usual thing that calms me right down is a ride. So I took Lacey out and we had a grand time. I love her. 
I'm SO glad I get to ride her for realies now!! She's [we're both, let's be honest] super out of shape, but we'll get some of that back. It'll be nice once we can get out more and really work on building ourselves back up.

3. I THINK NEW GUY ASKED ME OUT...AGAIN...???!! Last week he had mentioned that he's at my[our] college on Tuesdays and Thursdays, pretty much all day. So this week I, half-seriously/half-jokingly, told him that I kept an eye out for him last week on Tuesday/Thursday. He said "oh really?" Then said, really hesitatingly [like nervous hesitation], "we should....hang out one of those days..??" 
This time, since I know him kinda, I was all "sure! I'm out at 2 on Thursday cuz I only have one class! We should do something after 2!"
To which he said "ok, Thursday after 2..."
Then he, out of nowhere, said "Seeya!" and booked it away.

...he doesn't have my number or any way of contacting me besides Facebook...
He'll figure it out. :lol: Poor guy. I'm really impressed with him though.

Does that sound like something friend-y or what is happening? Am I reading it correctly?

Also, I'm starting to feel incredibly nervous around him... Emily has a lil' crush, maybe. Oh geez.
He's growing on me.

Also^2, one of my neighbors came with me to church tonight and, as soon as I introduced her to NG, he asked "do you keep your horse at her house??" [haha, not the right neighbor. Nice try though, NG] I very vaguely remember telling him that Lacey was at my neighbor's house, while we talked last Sunday. But it wasn't any kind of big discussion point. He won serious points for remembering that! haha What a sweetie. 

[and, if it wasn't obvious from these stories, he sat with me in church again. 3rd week in a row. BOOM.]


Anyway. That was the "quick" breakdown of the last 3 days.











:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## jcraig10

Wallaby said:


> 1. The sunset was beautiful, we saw deer, ATTICUS LOVED HIM!!!! Gman was just awestruck at the whole thing. And it made me so happy.
> I don't really know how to describe it but...I dunno, sometimes I feel "magic" in places and Gman is the only person I know that feels the magic too. Lacey's pasture has the magic and he got to feel it. It kind of feels like the earth is singing, or something...but not in a weird way. It's not disconcerting at all, but you feel like the land is "alive" more there than it is other places.
> Anyway, he felt it and that brought me so much joy!!


 
ok, you just gave me goosebumps!:lol:


----------



## Wallaby

Ok, well, counselor thing went "great". As in, no one gave me the address of it so I looked it up online only to find 2 conflicting addresses. Went to the first one, not the right place. Went to find the second one..and discovered that [according to my gps] no such address existed.

So I went home. And called them to say "lol, I tried, guys". Then they gave me the REAL address and I had to reschedule for April. Yaaaay. Ha. Ha. Ha.

Today is the worssssst.

And, on top of that, I got only about 6 hours of sleep last night because I was so wound up about aforementioned NG "stuff"... And sleep makes me optimistic. Therefore, all optimism about everything is gone and I just feel like a failure.

Booo today. 
I'm going to try to be in bed, winding down for sleep, by 8pm tonight and hopefully that means I'll actually be asleep by 9:30 or 10.


In other news, have a picture of Hazel.


----------



## tinyliny

i can totally relate to a place being magical and the land singing. I can SO relate to that. it's just so wonderful.

if you aren't diagnosed with terminal , wonderful , craziness , I'll really be dissapointed.


----------



## jcraig10

Hazel's all like....'BAH'


----------



## Wallaby

Haha thanks Caroline. :hug:

Jcraig! I love that you're posting so much. You're so funny and it makes me smile! 


Nothing much to report..
I finallllly figured out how to get Hazel to eat "best" [she's really loving this new food...but only if it's dry] - I'm still soaking a tiny bit of alfalfa pellets/BP pellets/rice bran pellets for her because she seems to really like it when it's hot with boiling water. Anyway, if I give her about 1/2cup of the soaked mixture in one side of her pan and 3/4lb of the senior feed, she eats nearly all of it. 
She's so weird. I can give her a full pound of dry senior feed alone, and she'll maybe eat half. Or give her a pound of the soaked stuff and she'll eat about half. Put them together, but don't mix them [mixing them is a huuuuuge no-no], and boom, she'll eat all of it.
What a sweet weirdo.  But at least it's not too hard to deal with.

And she's actually putting on some weight!! Her backbone doesn't feel nearly as prominent. 
We'll get you fat one of these days, Miss Hazel!

Annnnd time for lots of pictures!

Tuesday morning. Someoneeeee "stole" Lacey's blanket again and couldn't have been happier. <3










Tuesday's post-sunset sunset!










Yesterday's sunrise! 

[I don't know if this happens everywhere but these sorts of cloud "things" are pretty typical and AWESOME in the PNW around this tine of year  ]










Miss Hazel <3










Last night's drawing










This morning.

I'm not sure what Atti was thinking but, instead of sleeping 'inside' like he usually does, he was sleeping outside.










So I sat down next to him.










And he put his head on my lap.










And he was SO happy about it.

Then he fell fully asleep like this.

Cutest goat evvvvvver. 
He's never done this before. It made my day!!!!!











:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## jcraig10

So strange that Hazel doesn't like her feed soaked. Isn't it normally the other way around? Atleast with my dog it is. I guess dogs and goats aren't the same. LOL. My dog (Chloe) absolutely has to have her food soaked with water. I don't know if its because she thinks the water is a special treat or if the food really does hurt her mouth without being softened. The world will never know. I'll put her food down (dry) and she will look at me like wth is this? Then I put just a sprinkle of water and she eats it. Like magic.

You can call me Julia btw...I think we've made it to that level now. lol. I think jcraig makes me sound like a man. and i'm not a man.

p.s. no YOU'RE Funny!


----------



## amp23

Atti is so darn cute! He makes me want one....


----------



## Roperchick

Atti! Luv that goat.

Hazels such a picky old lady lol but glad she's finally putting on weight


----------



## Zexious

I LOVE all the pictures. <3 All of your animals look so happy, and like they really love you (':

I am excited to hear how things with NG went


----------



## Wallaby

Haha, ok Julia!  That's so cute about your dog!!
I think, for Hazel, it's probably not something she's really "used" to - most goat people seem to feed dry feed only so the idea of wet pellets is "weird." 
My other theory is that perhaps goats are not so great at generalizing, like a dog or horse might be. Like a horse/dog can usually look at food in a different form that they're used to and be all "ok, whatever, I've eaten this before and it tasted good, so I'll eat it again even though it looks weird this time!"
But, for instance, Atti has no reason to be a picky eater..but he is. He hates soaked feed, loves hard pellets...but only alfalfa pellets. For a while he wasn't eating hardly any hard food - I'd give it to him and he'd immediately turn his nose up at it. Then I started adding in a little ACV to his feed because it helps him not get urinary tract stones when he's eating high protein diet [all the spring grass that's coming in]..and he immediately started eating his hard feed like he couldn't get enough of it. That was the only thing that changed, but suddenly his food is "the best ever" while it was "terrrrrible" before.
He'll eat his flax seeds from my hand...but put them in his food? PSH NO.

They aren't spoiled!!! :lol:

Amp23, you NEED a goat. :wink: Actually, I'm pretty sure Atti realizes that he can't be as annoying as he is sometimes, without being equally as cute. :lol:

Haha Zexious. :wink:

Actually though, nothing happened with NG.  I didn't hear from him at all. Maybe he meant "any given Thursday"? We only really talked about it awkwardly in-passing...like right as we were walking out of church, and he seems like kind of a planner-type. 
I don't even know. Either way, I'm not too worried about it. Just a little bummed, of course.
It's almost Finals and he's a graduate student=I'm swamped as an undergraduate, he might be dyinggg. 
Anyway, I figure I'll see him on Sunday, we'll probably sit together, and I can probably bring it up all joke-y. 
Playing it cooool, like freaking ICE, over here. :wink: :rofl:

In other news, Lacey had a new lesson kid today! She's a 4.5 year old girl with special needs [I made an exception to my "only over 5" rule - today was her trial and she did GREAT]. 
It was the cutest. Lacey was so extra careful with this little girl. I think she could tell that she was "extra special". Even the goats were more accommodating than usual.
At one point I looked away from the new lesson kid to see what lesson-kid's-sister and their mom were doing. 
Lesson-kid's-sister [3 years old, also special needs - they were adopted together by these people about 4 months ago!!] had Hazel by the collar and they were walking around together. Hazel DWARFED this little child, but she was going with it anyway. <3 
The mom, of course, was running after the both of them while telling the little girl to let Hazel "have some alone time". :rofl: It was adorableeee.

Anyway, they all had a blast. They'll be back next Friday.

Have some pictures from yesterday!

He's SO grown up now!! His 2nd birthday is in about 26 days...how time flies. Not that 6 month old, scared+sick, baby I brought home!










Miss "I WILL be opinionated for no reason, thankyouverymuch"










"Look at me! Aren't I CUTE?"










"No, Lacey, I am the CUTE ONE!"












:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

i thought jcraig sounded pretty much like a guy, too.

I dunno, now I am kind of disappointed. ok, well, you can be a woman.


----------



## Zexious

Lacey is looking so stylish in that lovely plaid jacket 

That's too bad about NG... I look forward to updates about him 8D


----------



## jcraig10

lol at your captions for lacey & hazel. Wow, Atti looks so big in that picture compared to others. and how terrible that he gets urinary tract stones! is that the same as kidney stones in people? 


zexious ...i agree, i was just thinking how great lacey looks in that plaid and then read your comment. 


tiny, thanks for letting me be a woman LOL :-D


----------



## Endiku

Disabled kids are the best. Enough said. Hazel and Lacy need their own therapy business. SO cute that Hazel was so sweet to the little girl!


----------



## Wallaby

Haha that plaid blanket is the first one I ever bought her!! <3 <3 She's had it for......almost 5 years??! :shock: It's a little [a lot] worn around the edges but we like it. 

Julia, no worries about Atti getting stones! He actually hasn't gotten any yet - I'm just taking preventative measures. Wethers [fixed male goats] are superrrrrr prone to them but the acid in ACV helps dissolve them, before they cause a problem. I think they're somewhat similar to kidney stones, only, if I remember correctly, they actually block the urethra. :shock: They're terrible!

Allyson, that was my favorite too!! I can't wait for them to come back tomorrow and for more adorable hijinks to occur! 



Clearly, I'm aliveeeee.
Barely. 
But I'm alive. 

SO many things have occurred.
1. Sunday: saw NG. Things were awkward. I chickened out bout asking him why I hadn't seen him. He was being weird. 
Well, ok, not weird...just asking me questions about my "real" life. 
Basically I've so far done ok at keeping my "real" life - the animals, etc, pretty darn separate from my church life. Not in an "I'm ashamed"-way, but in a "I am more than 'just' a farm girl"-way. People know I have a horse and goats, but I try to avoid just discussing them to fill the silence, or whatever...you know?

Anyway, NG found out a few weeks ago that I have Lacey. Then I told him that I have goats too. THEN last week he found out I had a cat..
[quick story: that was super smooth - I had posted a picture of Booth on Facebook on Saturday, (this kid doesn't like/comment things on FB, for whatever reason) it got a ton of "likes" so I guess it showed up in his news feed, then on Sunday he said to me "did you post a picture of a cat?" (no "on FB" or anything, haha), I said "yes", he told me that he reallly liked it and that the cat looked real ferocious, then he starts telling me about how he loves cats and asking about what Booth's name is, etc]
...anyway, he started asking me about my cat's name, how I got him, then: am I "really good" with horses? Have I ever been to the Kentucky Derby? How did I get my horse? Has she ever raced? Etc.

After that we progressed to asking if I'm sure I'm ok with sitting with him each week, and, after I told him that I actually intentionally saved him a spot this week, did I REALLY save him a spot? Is it REALLY ok?

OH MY GOSH. Just STOP. 

It was so awkward tooooo. I'm so confused about what's happening here.


In any case, on Saturday, the hosts (which we both are part of) are having some kind of "party" which we are both attending. 
There may be a helicopter ride involved. I WANT A HELICOPTER RIDE!! 
Anyway, I'll see him on Saturday and on Sunday. :shock:

On the other hand, this thing on Saturday is basically built around eating food....and I'm going to have to bring all my own food due to the whole gluten-death situation. 
Around here, there's a hugeee stigma attached to GF [a lot of people seem to do it to be cool, or something, then they're real jerks about it] so I'm really nervous for this group of people to find that out about me. 
It's one thing to, you know, tell someone when they ask...but a whole 'nother thing to be going to someone's house, see all the food they beautifully prepared for the group to share...then pull out your box of separate "safe" food.
And THEN, your hosts sees you and starts trying to make all kinds of accommodations for you when you'd be perfectly happy and safe-feeling just eating out of your box, with no special attention.
It makes me feel so embarrassed and bad. 
I guess I'm just mostly nervous about what people will say. I've had people say things to my face like "OH. You're one of _those_. Seems like *everyone* is gluten free these days. Don't you love food??!"
And that's the worst. Especially when those words are coming out of the mouth of someone you looked up to.
Because yes, I LOVE food. I would give practically anything, within reason, to be able to eat out, to buy whatever food looks good, to not feel nervous whenever I try something new, to not worry about the plates or silverware I use at a friends house...but that's not the life I have. 
And I like this life. I've never felt so healthy in my life. I'm glad I'm GF now instead of continuing to eat something I'm extremely allergic to...it's just hard.

In any case, at least NG and my other couple of friends on the hosting team already know and at least THEY won't make it a big deal.

And plus side, I'm taking GF Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with cream cheese frosting = one of my best recipes AND the one my friends always want me to make for them. 
I may not be able to eat wheat, but I can still eat tasty stuff!!

2. Oh man, after that gluten "rant", I lost my train of everything...
One thing I was going to say was that I discovered Hazel's getting pressure sores on one of her back legs from all that fur she has D:
So I shaved that leg and have started medicating it=it already looks better. 
I'm beginning to wonder if maybe, for this coming year, I should try shearing her once every 3 months instead of 6. The 6 is really for people who are going to use the mohair and since I'm not using hers...why should she suffer? Pressure sores can't be comfortable!!
So maybe I'll try it for the summer [shear her next week, then in June, then in August] then play it by ear. With that plan, she'd end up being shorn in Nov/Dec which I don't really like...but we'll see.

ANYWAY, here are lots of pictures.

Lacey on Monday=naptime!!















Then, Atticus saw pine shavings for the first time ever!
I thought I'd try a new Lacey-bedding thing [pine pellets under pine shavings]..it takes forever to clean which I don't really like, but Lacey sees to enjoy it!






Atti looooves pine shavings, as it turns out!
Here he is, napping, during Lacey's Monday massage.










Yesterday. 
Again with the shavings. :lol:

And Lacey's food bucket. I don't think there's any commentary there, right? hahaha










This morning Hazel ate breakfast in bed.
It was her favorite. 










Lacey was _convinced_ that the pasture was under attack this morning.
Clearly she needed to engage her biggest, baddest, scariest, trot to scare the danger off!!
[the danger was a lawn chair that had blow down the hill. Obviously. hahahaha]






Then I lunged her this evening [get out some of that energy before the girls tomorrow!!].

She's SO muddddddy. haha



















And, lastly, supervising me while I made her dinner. 










:happydance:

I hope you guys are well!!


----------



## paintsrule

Lacy is so incredibly adorable! :hug:


----------



## Roperchick

So. Totally saw GFs post on your time line and laughed so hard. Y'all are like a dynamic duo of awesomeness and entertainment haha. 

NG wise, in the ever-lasting wisdom of my mother. Guys. Just yeah. Haha (not helpful at all I know hahaha)

I obviously haven't dealt with something similar to your gluten free deal but I would just say, keep your head up, be confident and happy and lean on your friends for support if you need it. Don't make problems where there are none yet 


Atti=love that goat. Can't say it enough.

What if you did like 4 month rotations for Miss Hazel. If you did like March , June/July, and October you'd hit the hot months and she's still have some fluff for the colder months (nov-dec). Then again
...I don't live in Oregon so I don't really know the seasons there hahahahaha


Aaaaand Lacey. I hope I have half as much sass and awesomeness as she does when I'M an old lady lol


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## jcraig10

So, I know that what I am about to say is nothing at all like your gluten-free thing you have to deal with but it is kind of like it even though I say its not because some people think I'm just crazy and can't believe that I.just.don't.like.anything.

I am an extremeeeeeely picky eater. Like okay, a palate of a 3 year old. Vegetables? no thanks. Condiments? no thanks. Fish? no thanks. you mean you don't like potatoes or ketchup? NO I DON'T. and although I know that its not as extreme as your gluten free because of course if i did just so happen to eat a vegetable I wouldn't get sick, its embarassing like you said...when you go to someones house and they have prepared this phenomenal meal that looks and smells fantastic...but yet...I don't eat ANY of it. And oh, you want to try a new restaurant? ok well let me look at their menu first. Nope, can't go there...I won't like anything. I eat everything P L A I N. People look at me like what? you want a chicken sandwich with just chicken...and the bread? 

so although maybe I don't TOTALLY get it...I do kinda sorta get it. Even if it does seem silly that I'm 25 years old and probably need to get over the fact that I don't like anything. Just eat it, right? UGH. **hugs**


----------



## gunslinger

Guys agonize over NG's too.....don't think for a minute they don't...

Back in the dinosaur days....I'd sit by the phone for hours trying to get the courage up to call a certain young lady.....

That fear of rejection goes both ways....just be yourself....if it's meant to be....it will....if it's not, there's nothing you can do to make it happen.

Your wonderful....so don't worry, some fellow's going to figure that out real soon and you won't be able to run him off with a baseball bat.... Will it be NG? Only time will tell.


----------



## Wallaby

She says thank you, paintsrule!! :hug: She's really the best. I'm so blessed she's in my life!!

4 month rotations is a great idea, Christy! I was also thinking maybe trying to do three shearings...somehow, and see if that's better than 2 but easier than 4. Each shearing is basically a day long fiasco and "ain't nobody got time for 'dat!!!!!" :lol:
Also, I told Gman what you said about us being a dynamic duo and his response was "Are we the Stacey and Clinton [from "What Not to Wear"] of real LIFE?! Yes please."
I think he really liked that. :rofl:

That is so what it's like, Julia! The worssssst. I'm glad you "get it" even though it's not the same. Yours might actually be more frustrating for you though...I don't know! That would be tough. At least I can avoid what'll make me sick, I guess? Huh.
I hate feeling like a burden on people, but maybe this is a big ol' sign pointing to an area I need to grow in? Hmmm. 

Thanks Gunslinger.  You are so right [or, at least, I hope you're right? haha]. But really, thanks. 



Haha, you guys, I wasn't going to post today since I was all "Boo! I don't have pictures to share!"...then I looked into it more and I have 5 pictures to share. :rofl:

First: Saturday went really great, actually!!
It was the sweetest thing - a few people actually brought gluten free food with me in mind! One girl even brought her intended dessert and made an entire DIFFERENT dessert just for me. 
Talk about the sweetest thing EVER.

I, of course, brought safe food/dessert for myself so it was all good, but it was incredibly sweet of them to think of me.


Other news: the people whose house we went to were all super into guns...so we ended up shooting guns?
I had never shot a gun before. I STILL don't know what to think. 
Everybody else shot these things that were flying up in the air but, cuz I was scared, I got to shoot at a box in a gravel pile. :lol:
BUT GUESS WHO SHOT THEIR GRAVEL-BOX???!
Never shot a gun before and I POUNDED that box.










Anyhoo, still pretty proud of myself for that one. haha

NG was hilarious about it - first he tried convincing me with words, then he tried pushing me over to the gun [clearly we are in middle school, instead of 23/24 years old], then he tried pleading. hahahahaha 
HYSTERICAL.
Then he pretty much just ignored the whole situation. 
After I was brave, he kept being all "great job" "wasn't it cool?" "Are you proud of yourself? You should be", etc. 
Hilarious. 

He was pretty good at shooting guns, just in case you were wondering. He knew stuff about them...not sure how I feel about that. haha Not that it's a bad thing to know about guns, but just...you know...sometimes guys who are into guns are also the kind who are all "shoot every deer/coyote/wild animal cuz it's FUN!" [I understand hunting on a REAL food basis, but not on a just-because basis]
And you know me, I'm all about my wild animals.

However, he didn't say anything like that at all and usually someone like that^ would. So I'm not tooo worried.

And here I am holding a gun. #annieoakley











Then, later, I was standing around and NG comes up to me with the opening line of "so I really like all your Facebook posts about kids and animals..."
Oh my gosh. This kid is literally the funniest. He's so awkward, but it's an awkwardness I totally understand. I'm exactly the same way pretty much all the time so it's just so funny. It's one of those things that I try to somewhat disguise in my life...but he just goes for it. 
Watching NG operate is like watching Atticus try to walk on ice - bopping right out there...then realizing he's kind of stuck, and flailing his way back to "safety."

So that was real funny.

Things went mildly downhill on Sunday. But maybe not.

I went to church and, on the way to church, got a ticket for "not having a valid MAX fare." I forgot, like a dummy, my bus/MAX pass at home in one of my coats! THE FREAKING WORST. 
So needless to say, by the time I got to church, I was a messss. 

NG was right there when I walked in and asked how I was. I told him that things weren't so great but everything would be fine. Then another one of my friends came over and started asking how I was, told her "not great" and she starts probing to find out what the issue was.
At that point, I was working real hard not to cry. 
NG realized that. 
And he fled. 
Absolutely fled. 
He was right next to me one minute and as farrrrr away as possible the next.

But that was just what I needed to get those tears out of my eyes. It was THE FUNNIEST. He was so horrified. 

He's clearly no Gman. :rofl:
But it was so hysterical. 
NG looked like a cat that someone was trying to bathe. 
Oh my word, I'm laughing so hard just remembering.

He didn't sit with me this week which was ok. He sat with me in the host-meeting before church anyway.

Then, after church, he was clearly looking for me which was real sweet. 
Then he found me and said "I hope your week is amazing!"

Thennnn it got awkward.
I made those cupcakes for the party-thing...but didn't end up taking them because of other stuff.
So I brought some to church: one for that friend I mentioned earlier, one for a friend who's like my sister, and another for Gman. I didn't end up seeing Gman [technically he came up to give me a hug, but it was a hug+run situation] so I didn't give him his cupcake. 
And I hate leaving church with cupcakes when I bring them because what's a batch of cupcakes if they haven't been shared?!!

Clearly, I said to NG, when I saw him after church, "want a cupcake? I brought one for a friend who I never saw..."
He said "No, you should eat it! You need it."
I said "I literally have 15 more at home. *gave him cupcake*"
He looked at it...
...and, in that moment, I realized that I should have probably bought more cupcake wrappers instead of using Valentine's Day themed, heart covered, wrappers...

Because we all know how smooth I am, I recovered with "I only had Valentines Day themed cupcake wrappers...it's nothing weird!!"

*headdesk*

HA. A+ for me.

Then I ran. So fast. Away.

Yesterday was a great day. hahahahaha

Poor NG. Hopefully he loves the cupcake and that makes up for my levels of awkward. 
Or maybe he's doing the same thing with me that I'm doing with him - thinking I'm really funny and nice to be around because of how awkward I am... We can hope.



Anyway, in other news:

My coyote friend, Duke[ina], was hurt during that ice/snow storm we had a few weeks ago. She seemed to have broken a front leg or something since she's not weight bearing at alll on it.
I was really worried for her about that because not "having" a front leg really limits her hunting abilities. That was about a month ago and I've been really hoping she'll make it, but not keeping my hopes up too much.

Then this morning, when I went up to feed, she went hobbling through the pasture in front of me! Then she stopped to wait and a second coyote went loping through, joined up with her to watch me, then they ran off together!

This make me so happy!!!! Duke[ina] was looking really good too - hopefully this hubby of hers is helping her. I've never seen her in the company of another coyote so I'm hopeful that this new friend is there to help her. 
What an absolutely heartwarmingly wonderful world.

To go with Duke[ina], I'm naming this guy "Dutch"...cuz every Duke needs a Dutchess...but "Duke" turned out to be a girl. And Duke[ina] and Duke is just confusing. 
So Duke[ina] and Dutch it is. 


Time for pictures!!

Mr. Atti










Hazel yawning.










"Look, I TOLD you not to take my picture. RUDE."










Then today.

"You seem to love this horse more than me..maybe I'll get more attention if I disguise myself as her??"










And a DOUBLE RAINBOW TONIGHT!!

What a wonderful thing.












:happydance:
I hope you guys are doing great!!


----------



## Zexious

Haha, I just love your posts so much :')

Firstly, NG sounds just hilarious. Awkward guys can be the best kind ;D 

I must have missed Duke[ina] in previous posts... But I feel oddly attached already. You should try to get some photos of her and the lover boy. I really like coyotes.

And, of course, your beasties look just lovely, as usual! 8D


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## Roperchick

Those things they were shooting in the air were probably clay pigeons. We call it skeet shooting haha. Its super fun right?

Hahaha NG. So awkward its cute! 

And Atti...just si cute I have no words roflmao


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## jcraig10

Wallaby said:


> Then, later, I was standing around and NG comes up to me with the opening line of "so I really like all your Facebook posts about kids and animals..."


 
BEST THING I'VE EVER READ. love this 'relationship'.

P.S. check you out and your badassness (is that a word? no) shooting a gun! on my list of things to do...just haven't gotten that far yet...which I'm surprised since my Dad has hunted and had guns in the house my whole life.


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## Wallaby

GUYS!!! LOOK what Lacey and I defeated today!!!!?

Namely, we CANTERED BAREBACK. 

And bridle-less.....?? 
I've ridden her bridle-less once before and NEVER cantered bareback. But she was nailing everything I asked her to do today while we were walking around bridle-less, then I asked her to trot, and a canter step just kind of popped out.

Then we intentionally cantered. And it was the best!! SO comfy!

This is especially important because, thanks to the lesson horse I rode as a kid, I have been traditionally very scared to canter. It was only with Lacey that I became comfortable cantering at all [still would be uncomfy getting on a strange horse and cantering but...].
Then to do THIS??!

O. M. G.

I can't even hardly believe myself! Or us!

This horse is a GEM. A literal gem.

Here's a short clip:
[and yeah, I'm sure she's on the wrong lead or something but, at this point, I don't really care what she wants to do as long as we're upright. At 29, she can pick up whatever lead she feels like...plus I have no idea how to cue her for the right one - it's some kind of weird opposite of "normal" and I can never remember "correctly, so I just kiss and she does her thing. :lol:]






And here's the whole, long+boring, ride [made p-13/R rated by the fact that Hazel is in heat and Atti "needed to dominate her"...he's just mounting her..but don't watch this with kiddos around. haha]







:happydance: :happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Cherrij

Awesome! I can't wait to ride, and i hope i get the courage to ride bareback and bridleless one day....


----------



## Roperchick

No feeling like it cherrij. Its an adrenaline rush.

So awesome Emily!!!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Cherrij

Roperchick said:


> No feeling like it cherrij. Its an adrenaline rush.
> 
> So awesome Emily!!!!
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I believe you, but but but..... 

I need a saddle for the first time i mount a horse, as i don't know how he will react... And ye, wont get to canter with my horse for a while, as i usually ride for months at trot and walk before try canter with a young horse.

I did canter bareback a few times, once with a bridle on a lunge. And recently with teddy in the round pen and a rope halter on. Was fun, but not too much as it was too muddy..... 

I am still thrilled with Emily's happiness!!


----------



## Endiku

Ha! I'm not the only one who is afraid of cantering but who can do pretty much evvvverything else with horses. Ground work with snotty babies? Check. Bareback w/t? Got it. Roping a cow? No biggie. Canter a strange horse? Heck no.

I adore you xD and now I need a 29 year old mostly blind arabian. I CAN canter with/without a saddle thanks to an oh-so-cruel trainer who put me on our grey arabian mare who was NOTHING like Lacey and so-so-so lazy, and taught me to ride bareback by chasing her in a circle. She of course, felt obligated to give me her roughest, cruddiest speed-trot and by the time we hit a canter I fell off. And then I fell off again. And again....until I finally learned to sit it (she had a terrible trot and canter) for fear of my life. Now I'm not a big fan of cantering. Can? Yes. Want to? Not really!

Go Lacey and Emily!!!


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## jcraig10

yayy i'm not the only one half-afraid to canter!

Looks like so much fun! You go girl.


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## Zexious

Awesome! You look great on her! You two make such a pair <3 Congratulations on overcoming that little hurdle <3


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## Wallaby

You will, Cherri!  That was one of those things I always told myself was "for other people" and that I would never feel safe enough on horseback to even consider trying. Even with Lacey.
I mean, heck, I've been riding her for 5 and a half years and that was the first time!! And only our second time bridleless, ever. Probably her second time bridleless in her whole life too, since she had no idea about neck reining or leg aids [besides "go faster" when I got her...
In any case, you'll get there. <3 

I agree, Christy!! SO awesome. I wanna go do it 50 more times. :lol:

Haha Allyson, I SO get that!! That sounds so scary! 
I rode this old QH gelding who was THE BEST...except for one little thing: he would always buck when he was cantering. Looking back, I'm sure it was a pain issue, but I knew nothing about saddle fit or anything like that back then! 
My instructor always told me to "ride through it" and I always tried, but I ended up on the ground more often than not. Or smashed into the arena wall, or thrown into a jump....thank goodness I wore a helmet during those lessons!
But that old guy really started my love of old horses, He was ancient and was always really depressed, so I started grooming him after my lessons - trying to cheer him up. Somehow the attention kind of made him "come alive" again... My instructor was kind of floored because, I guess, she had never seen him engage with anyone in all the years he had been boarded there. 
Then I asked if I could start riding him in my lessons and I think I rode him in lessons for..4-ish years, plus I had permission to come out and mess around with him whenever I wanted. 

But anyway, he was generally a sweetie excepppppt for cantering. I'm 100% sure it was a pain issue which makes me sadder that it scared me so much since it probably hurt him a lot too. BOO.
I don't know what happened to him..he's probably gone now. That barn is gone now and he was really old+his owners had abandoned him there years before I met him... Ah man, hopefully he had a kind end.
In any case, he was the best and was part of what prepared me for Lacey so I'm extremely grateful for him. 
For that matter, I'm pretty sure HE is pretty much 100% why I stuck with horses through my teen years. 
And he's definitely why I love underdog horses so much! haha

Thanks Julia!  Lacey makes me brave. I really can't describe it in words, but she just has a "vibe" of safety. She's like that line from one of the Narnia books, referencing Aslan [Lacey is Aslan in this scenario] - "'Safe?' said Mrs. Beaver...'Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good.'"
She's not "safe" and she makes sure to remind me of that often, but she's 100% good. 

Aw, thanks Zexious!! Would you believe that I'm 5ft 8in and she's only 14.1??! hahahaha She's such a roly-poly little thing!




Onto the news side of things:

1. The term is OVER!! YAY!!!!!! You guys have NO idea how much I needed this term to be done.
Now I just hope I passed everything...Yikes.

2. Gman, a friend of ours, and I are going to the zoo next Thursday!  Said friend lives a few hours away and she's coming up for her spring break. Gman and I both wanted to hang out with her, plus it's been a while since Gman and I had hung out together = Emily coming up the genius idea that the 3 of us go to the zoo together. YAY!

Gman told me that I should invite NG. HA! NO.
Gman can be so intimidating, poor NG would be scared off.
Plus NG hasn't even met-met Gman yet - NG will see me talking to Gman, then sneak by real covertly, sneak back again, etc etc. He acts like he wants to talk, but he never stays close for long enough for me to invite him into the conversation. 
In any case, Gman reallly wants poor NG to come. haha

3. Hazel got sheared last Saturday! She is nekkkked.




























4. Lacey is shedding SO much! I took my cat's Furminator up to the barn and WOW. That thing works SO well!! It's a miracle. It's a "longhaired" one which I think helps - Lacey has a really thick coat and a lot of shedding tools don't really get in there "enough."
Her shoulders are close to being "done" - I'm so excited!!










In other news, I clipped off her winter "beard" on Monday so hellllo cute Lacey face!
As you can see, clipping her face is a major production. 










5. In Atticus news, he's turning into quite the "lap-goat".... I sat down next to him while he was laying down, again, and "plunk" - his head was on my thighs. Hahaha! What a cutie. 










In other Atti news, He's finally got "bow" figured out and now we're working on "circle". He figured out the concept of "circle" pretty quickly last night so hopefully that one will be fast!
I'm always impressed with how fast he picks new things up.
He's also recently started figuring out that "shake hands" can be done with either front hoof = he's started offering one or the other! I only trained the trick using his brown front leg - this "both legs" concept is completely him. I'm proud!

OH! ALSO. The other day I trimmed one of his back hooves and, immediately post-trimming, he showed absolutely no shyness about he touching hi rear or his leg! Usually he's nervous about that, right after a trim. But this time he was just nervous during the trim, nd not at all after. Yay!!!

Cute face.











6. In other animal-related news, remember how the pasture owners have those really wild llamas over in the other pasture?
And how the brown one is tentatively my friend?

Tenatively, HA!!






I'm pretty sure she thought I had food, but still! She's never, ever, been that "friendly" with me before! YAY! So exciting!

7. NG news.
On Sunday it was weird. Real, real, weird.
He lurked around while I talked to Gman, but didn't come over [I wish he had! I really want them to meet]. Maybe this Sunday that'll happen somehow.
He didn't sit with me, again.
But he did go out of his way to tease me unnecessarily about a few things and do that little "hey"+head-nod thing guys do when they want to say hi but aren't sure about things.

Internally I'm wanting to freak out and be all "why aren't we friends anymoreeeee???"
[to which he would probably say something about how we aren't friends - did I tell you about that? a few weeks ago I said to him that something was ok because "we're friends" and he quickly retorted "nope, we're not friends."]
BUT, I'm playing it cool and being all "whatever" about the whole thing. Cool like the iceberg that sank the Titanic.

ALSO. 
So I told you guys about how he's always talking to me in-person about my Facebook posts but never likes/comments on anything?
Yesterday I posted that llama video with the caption of "why hello there, Llama BFF"
This morning I get on FB and he's liked that video AND commented about how my "captions are always hilarious."
:rofl:

WHAT IS HAPPENING. Best thing ever. 


Anyway, that is basically what has occurred in my life since last Fridayish.

OH! I think someone mentioned something about not knowing about Duke[ina]?
She's this coyote who lives in the pasture and who is friends with Atticus. She's really sweet and shy and wonderful.

Here are some pictures from last spring:




















I hope you guys are all doing great!!


----------



## Cherrij

:wink::grin::razz::hug::clap::wave::happydance:

Epic, awesome and fantastic...


----------



## tinyliny

watching that llama video brings to mind:

"Tina! come and get some ham!"


----------



## jcraig10

The llama! :lol:


----------



## Wallaby

Oh my gosh!! CAROLINE!! That's hilarious! I can't believe I didn't think of that!!! I'm laughing so hard! GOOD ONE. :rofl:



GUYYYYYYSSSSSSSS. So MANY things.

1. Lacey went all lame again. That was a bummer situation UNTIL I realized that what was bothering her was a slight flare in her hoof that was adding undue pressure to the inside of her left front pastern = where that old injury of hers was/is.
I guess the hoof trimmer must have just missed it last trim/didn't back it up enough..
In any case, I was able to really back up her toe on that side and take off the flare [with my rasp] and she was noticeably sounder within minutes. And she was sounder today than she was yesterday so I think I'm on the right track.

I'm so glad I spent that year trimming her! Even though I don't usually trim her anymore, I love that I have that insider knowledge of what kind of trim Miss L needs and I know how to perform said trim myself. 
Anyway, hopefully, now that she's back on the road to soundness, we'll be able to go for a ride this week. It's supposed to be really nice tomorrow..hopefully that works out.

2. OH MY GOSH GUYS.

Stuff, a lot of stuff, went down with NG tonight.
So you know how last week was weird?
First, HE REMEMBERED THE NAMES OF THE CLASSES I WAS TAKING and asked about them by name. SO CUTE.

This week, all my usual pew-buddies were MIA. So I said to NG "Can I sit with you, or you sit with me? Otherwise I'm gonna be all alone.." And he immediately, like he was relieved or something, said sure and asked where I was sitting.

Then once we were sitting down and chatting, he told me that he was trying to get a group together to watch the Kentucky Derby at the local racetrack and that I should come. HA. I appreciate planning ahead. 2 months ahead though, really? :rofl: This guy, he makes me laugh so much.
But he told me that he remembered how I hadn't ever been to the races and he feels like it should, as a horse person, be on my bucket list. hahaha

Accidentally I think I came across as less stoked about it than I meant to come across as - you know, the whole "oh cooool....." disparaging thing and he seemed a little put out. So I said something about how I was bummed we never did anything this term and he told me basically that he was in class when I had told him I was available, but that next term his schedule was better and we'd "have to do something." [why didn't he TELL me this?? But whatever, he's a dude. And I'm not taking it personally.]

Then, later, as we were walking out of church, I asked him what he was doing this week. He told me that he wasn't really doing anything and that he found that super frustrating. 
....annnnnnd I invited him to go to the zoo with Gman and that other friend on Thursday. :rofl:

And from his reaction, he might actually come! 
Gman is thrillllled: "GOOD! That'll save you from going alone with him. We'll check him out and approve/deny him "
And my other friend is real stoked too.

I hope NG comes...It's hard to really figure someone out when you only see them for an hour, or two, once a week and talk to them for maybe 15 minutes each time. I mean, I like who he is in that short amount of time...but even super annoying people aren't so bad if you only talk to them for 15 minutes...
So hopefully he comes. 
And I REALLY want Gman to meet this guy and tell me his opinion. So it could be good all around. 

AND! Inviting NG to the zoo with us GOT HIM TO ASK ME FOR MY PHONE NUMBER!! _Finally_. 
So hopefully that means he might really like to come. I'll text him on Tuesday or Wednesday to find out for sure. Unless he texts me first? haha We'll see.

:happydance: :happydance: :happydance:

I hope you guys are well!!!


----------



## jcraig10

awww I hope the zoo trip goes well! When reading your posts where it says NG I always read it as "NatGeo" as in...National Geographic lol I can't keep myself from doing it.


----------



## Wallaby

haha that's great, Julia! I loveeee National Geographic! And you know that's what I'm going to think of now too. hahaha I have an entire 3 bookshelves devoted to NatGeo's...my great-grandma collected them, then my grandparents collected them, and now I kinda collect them. I have them going back to 1912-ish! It's crazy. Some of those old ones...it was such a different time!
I will be sure to report back after the zoo. I haven't heard from NG yet so I'll probably text him tomorrow something like "Do you think you'll come to the zoo tomorrow? You should come!" [he always say "you should come!" to me when he's invited me to stuff=a little mirroring never hurt] 
I hope, but I don't hope that he comes..it makes me nervous that he might, but I'm starting to care about him and I want to know what Gman thinks of him...just to be sure NG is actually the good person I think he is.
NG is so awkward. 
Funny story: on Sunday, midst of the service, he turned to me not wearing his glasses anymore. He said "I lost my glasses...?" and we started looking for them. Once we found them, he demonstrated how he lost them - somehow he basically karate-chopped himself IN THE FACE=flinging his glasses into the pew in front of us. HYSTERICAL. I'm still laughing about it. haha



Also, I realized I forgot to share with you guys about how I went to this horse expo-thing on Saturday!
It was pretty great, I went a few years ago and I liked this year better. There was still an unfortunate amount of handsy riders in strong curb bits, but 75% of the riders were pretty darn kind-handed. I loved it.

There was this one guy who we saw the other year who has a "Friesan Dance Troupe" aka Friesans and Friesan-cross stallions who are that whole Mexican-dancing-horse stuff. It was infuriating last time and it was just as bad this time.
The horses are all clearly terrified and riddled with behavior issues [this year one of his horses reared over backwards, narrowly missing him, after "dancing" for 5 minutes straight]...IT'S THE WORST.
In any case, I did not take pictures of that.


But! PICTURES!

Um, so someone should buy this one for me??



This guy was teaching a class on some kind of Cowboy Dressage.
This horse was giving him alllll kinds of sass.
But look at it! 
I'd be fine with that in my pasture, thank you!



A mule I would like to own.
This was probably THE MOST well behaved equine there. He/she was amazzzzing. Such a good mule.



Then there was the "Stallion Showcase"

Some reining stallions...









A Gypsy Vanner stallion.
[my mom looked at him inquisitively for a while, then said "That's a pregnant girl, right? There's no way it's just _that_ fat..right??" hahahaha That's a stallion. haha]



And a young Rhinelander stallion.



Then there were Icelandics EVERYWHERE





SO CUTE.



Then this lady did a dressage routine with her Haflinger, Star Wars. STAR WARS.
They were AMAZING. I was so impressed.





And Miss Lacey this morning:










Plus a flower last night.


----------



## glacierbay

Good luck so sweet!


----------



## Roperchick

Hahahaha Star Wars. So epic


----------



## Endiku

That mule is probably the most horse looking mule I've ever seen. I guess because of the chrome? I don't know...its like it has a super-horsey face and body, then BAM. Giant ears. I love it so much.


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## Wallaby

Thanks glacierbay!

RIGHT, Christy??!! THE BEST. He was THE BEST tooo. She started off ponying her younger Haflinger off him and the younger horse was giving them both all kinds of sass [first show]. The rider ended up basically dropped her reins fully on Star Wars, to deal with the young horse, and just off her leg/magic, he stayed under control+did every figure she asked him to do+was just so well behaved even though her attention was totally on the other horse!
I can't say Lacey would have been even that good and she's the queeeen of ponying. :lol:

I agree, Allyson! I wish I knew "what" he was - like what breeds. Maybe we're just used to seeing backyard mules and he's like a legitly well bred mule? But yeah, he[she?] was some kind of classy animal. And that chrome! I do love lots of chrome. haha

1. Funny NG [NatGeo? haha] story: I texted him this morning, at about 11am, to find out if he was coming tomorrow. 
He finallllly texted me back, at 2, saying that he would "come if _ come to the Kentucky Derby" [pretty sure he's referencing his Kentucky Derby thing that I didn't seem thrilled about]
HAH. 
Negotiation! 
So I get that text and, as I'm trying to think of something to respond with, I get another text that's just "haha". He must have decided that that sounded harsh or something..
He is literally the most awkward person. 
I love it.

In any case, I texted him back saying that was very sneaky, but that I would come to the Kentucky Derby...and that I had been planning to anyway. :lol:

Let's see you respond to THAT, funny guy. :rofl:

In any case, this is good.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow! 
DunDunDUN. We're gonna have a blast.
Well, we would have had a tn of fun anyway but this adds more intrigue. Like a Spanish telenovella, or something. :rofl:

Also, I described Gman to NG as my brother/best friend....90% sure NG thinks Gman is my literal brother. hahahahaha YES.

BUT I'M SO NERVOUS. 


Anyway.
2. It's Atticus' second birthday today!!

He's such a grownup! So weird to think I could still have him in 14 years...I hope that'll happen! 

My little man. <3











:happydance: :happydance:

And, of course, I will report back after the zoo tomorrow and hopefully have lots of zoo pictures to share!

:happydance:_


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## Roperchick

Dunno why but that mule just screams Paint horse to me. Idk maybe I'm actually right and he has a gorgeous paint mama? Hahaha


OH yes. NG/gman updates are a must tomorrow Lol

P.S. happy birthday Atti you silly goat!!!!


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## jcraig10

I was just thinking that I love that mule - gorgeous creature that it is. I guess I've never really seen a mule all spiffed up...just hanging out in Amish pastures....and at the Christmas tree farm that I go to. lol.

Attttttttttti happy birthday! He is so photogenic, love him and his whole demeanor. 

Good luck with NatGeo & Gman!!! All of your zoo trips make me feel the need to go to the zoo...I haven't been in a loooooong time.


----------



## Wallaby

I bet you're right, Christy! I could definitely see that. 
Atti says thanks! haha :lol:

Julia, Atti says thanks! :lol: He's sure something. I'm glad he's mine. He may be crazzzy, but I love the little booger. 
You should go! Actually, maybe not. I guess "my" zoo is one of the best in the US or something...if you have sad zoos near you, you should avoid them. haha But yeah, I love that there's a zoo so "close" to me! And it works out pretty well as a "hanging out" spot cuz it's easy for me to get to and Gman/most of my other friends don't have to go tooo far to get there. [I live about an hour away from most of my friends/the zoo which makes hanging out hard, but the train goes straight to the zoo=ideal].


Ok, UPDATES.

Gman and my other friend LOVE NG. Like a lot. They think he's the greatest. :happydance:

Their comments were that:
1. He seems super genuine, like he's not trying to be anybody but himself.
2. [from my female friend] "he's a hottie! You did not say he was so good looking!! He is ADORABLE."
3. From Gman, after NG left and we were 'playing' in the giftshop+looking at the jewelry+he found a ring that I "needed" but it only fit on my ring finger, "Sorry NG! Looks like she's marrying to the Zoo and not you! Darn." :rofl: Awkward.
4. When I told them about the "Kentucky Derby Agreement", after NG left: a chorus of "oooooohhhhhh"s went up and they both screeched "DTR, DTR!" ["Define The Relationship"]

And a bunch of other stuff.
But it went super super well. 
Really could not have gone better.

My female friend who went, unprompted-ly, said that she could tell NG likes me, but he's just shy... Who knows. But he did actually come soo...we can draw our own conclusions.


ANYWAY.

In any case, about an hour ago, NG texted me saying "Thanks again for inviting me. I had fun...too much fun." 
:rofl: Not sure what that means...but how cute is that? He's sweet.

1. The most hysterical video of all time. It's probably not as funny to you guys as it is to me but I'm still laughing so much.
That laughter in the background? Definitely NG. He has THE BEST laugh. Oh my goodness. His laugh just makes me laugh. :rofl:






Our group picture.
We were somehow, accidentally, the most color-coordinated people in the zoo. haha YES PLEASE.

NG is on...our left? Then Gman's little brother [can you believe that kid is TWELVE?? Yes, 1-2. :shock:], then Gman, then Gman/my friend from camp, then me!



AND! The baby LIONS!!!

So sleepy. 




:happydance: :happydance: :happydance:


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## Endiku

HOW does a 12 year old look almost 18 and I look 12?! Oh the cruelties of this world!

Anyways, sounds like a great trip. I wish I could talk my friends into going to the zoo...and some how not have me drive. We have a really nice one in Houston, about an hour away, but it is SCARY...SCARY SCARY SCARY to drive down there. Houston drivers = heartless speed demons who run you over if you go any less than 10 mph over the speed limit. Your zoo though, sounds way better than ours, and the animals actually come OUT. There are always so many people at ours that the animals hide pretty much 24/7. 

Those lion cubs...cutest little babies ever.


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## Roperchick

Wow. I thought he was NG (awkwardly feel like a Pedo now hahahahahaha)

Those babeh lions. Ohmylord.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

Guys, Lacey's colicking pretty badly...
I'm scared.

Jingles/prayers PLEASE.

<3 thank you. 

The vet's on her way, I'll update when we know.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Roperchick

Oh no! Jingles and prayers and crossed fingers and toes! O_O
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Endiku

Lots of prayers headed your way from me for Lacey and you <3 hope she recovers quickly and its not anything hugely serious.


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## CLaPorte432

Wallaby said:


> Guys, Lacey's colicking pretty badly...
> I'm scared.
> 
> Jingles/prayers PLEASE.
> 
> <3 thank you.
> 
> The vet's on her way, I'll update when we know.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I saw this on FB. I am thinking of you girls. :-(
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

So I'm hoping for the best, preparing for the worst. 
I saw the ultrasound and her small intestines looked like 2 little sausages. Plus her colon[?] was overly big too. 
Her belly is SUPER big from the blockage, but, very surprisingly, overall she seems comfortable.

The vet was really impressed with her. She said that she's never seen a horse with such a bad ultrasound be so laid-back and calm. [I'm not sure how I feel about this - I would not be surprised if Lacey is hiding her pain for me..she's like that and it worries me a little?]

Unfortunately, our favorite vet wasn't able to come out so we had to use someone from a different practice [my least favorite practice]. 

In any case, the vet advised me to wait until the morning to make any decisions.
The ultrasound looked really bad, but Lacey doesn't have a fever, her heart rate was 44[??], and her gum color was great = the vet wanted to give her a chance before letting her go.

Personally, I just don't want her to be in pain. I don't want her to "go" in pain. 
But if the vet feels strongly enough that she should be given a chance, CLEARLY I am all for that!!

So we'll see. Maybe that Unicorn magic will help...I mean, the vet -after trying to tube her- looked at Lacey, stroked her forehead, and said "you ARE a Unicorn, aren't you?" 
Of course, we all know this already BUT this vet had never seen Lacey before. She had never heard that Lacey's alter-ego is a Unicorn=who knows.

But, most of all, I want her to be comfortable and happy. 


Plus side: this night has been full of blessings - 
1. Lacey's massage lady came right out when I called her [I figured that Lacey knows her well enough+she has years of horse experience=first person I thought to call] and she was just THERE. Being real helpful and just all around a gem. She's even coming back in the morning, at 7:30am, to be here for Lacey and I.
2. The vet isn't charging me for ultrasounding in the morning. 
3. If Lacey is comfortable at midnight, I get to sleep until 5am. The vet gave me sedation for Lacey, in case she's not doing well at midnight.

And oh my gosh, guys. Lacey is the sweetest. Even before she had had any pain medication or anything, she was a whinnying/nickering machine. She was talking and talkingggg to me. 
That horse.

Anyway, that's basically the low-down+everything I know.

Hopefully the morning will bring new hope.

Funny how a day can go from SO GOOD to SO BAD in a matter of seconds. 
But at least there is a glimmer of hope and so many blessings.


----------



## Roperchick

:hug::hug: I'll be thinking bout y'all tonight and watching FB and HoFo closely for updates.

Unicorn magic and sass. Shell be okay.


----------



## Cherrij

Crossed my fingers and sending lots of jingles!


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## Wallaby

Thanks you guys, I really appreciate it. I hope she pulls through! That would be really incredible. I'm SO not ready for my 4-legged soul mate to leave.

I checked on her at midnight and she was doing...ok?
As in, she was down, heard me coming, got up to greet me, stood there for a minute or two -yawning-, then laid down again. Stayed down for ten minutes or so, then got up, and was up when I left a few minutes later.

No poop yet, but her tummy was making more noise. Though her belly is still HUGE...

I'm feeling slightly more cautiously optimistic. Though she is insanely stoic, so I don't want to get my hopes up too much.

Plus side: SHE'S NOT WORSE!!

I'll be checking on her at 5am. Hopefully I see lotsa poop!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Wallaby

Lacey's gone.

She went peacefully. The vet said that it was one of the most peaceful, "ready" passings she had seen.
We were all sobbing, the vet -who had never met Lacey before last night- was even sobbing.

Afterwards she said she felt like she had just witnessed the passing of a member of the "Equine Council."

So she passed with dignity and grace. No better end to an amazing life.


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## tinyliny

OH, Emily! I am sobbing, too. I am so very sorry, dear. I simply wish I could be there to give you a big hug. Though I've never met her, you have made Lacey as real as real can get, and her loss is painful.

please know that we are mourning with you.

Hugs,

Caroline


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## Kayella

I saw this on FB and I am crying for you. Lacey was my favorite horse from HF, and it is so sad to see her go. But she lived a beautiful life with you and you took the best care for her. She'll be waiting for you at the Rainbow Bridge. -HUGS-


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## Roperchick

Oh hun. I am so sorry. Just no words. She was an amazing girl
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## paintsrule

I'm so sorry. She was my favorite horse..even out of those I know in real life. So, so sorry.


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## Drifting

I'm so sorry to hear this! I'm a closet stalker on this thread, I love your pictures and your stories and feel like I know your animals almost as well as my own. I wish I had words to comfort you, Lacey touched a lot of hearts and I will miss seeing updates on her. She had the best of care and was a lucky girl to have you as an owner.


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## Amba1027

Thank you for giving us the chance to know her. I'm sorry she is gone.


----------



## gunslinger

Oh my.....have you ever seen a grown old man cry? Yea, well, I am....

I've read you blog for awhile now. I've enjoyed it so much because I've taken notice of the youthful passion you've had for all your animals. I've known Lacy was old but you don't know how much I wanted her to be around awhile longer, nor how much I loathed thinking about when this time would come for you two.

I know how much you loved her, and no doubt she loved you too.

I know how much I love my Miss Lacy....and sense how bad it must hurt.

For the hurt you feel, I'm hurting with you.....I'm so sorry.

Job, lost so much, but was restored to beyond his former glory. 

Because I don't know what to say to help, I offer you this, knowing that because we love, we also must endure the pain that always comes afterward:

*1*If I speak in the tonguesa of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

*2*If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

*3*If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,b but do not have love, I gain nothing.

*4*Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 

*5*It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 

*6*Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 

*7*It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

*8*Love never fails. *But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. *

*9*For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 

*10*but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 

*11*When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 

*12*For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

*13**And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.*

If you need anything...ask.


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## Cherrij

Emily, You and Lacey have really touched a lot of lives. This unicorn will live on in lush green pastures.. and in our hearts. 
We are all with you! 
I had a shock when I read the FB update in class.. I became speechless for a moment and totally lost track of what is going on.. 

She has brought a lot of joy and undescribable feeling to many... memories of her are precious... but as said... time heals all wounds, and I am sure that one day you will find another precious soulmate. 

Hold on!


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## PumpkinzMyBaby22

Emily, I am so terribly sorry that things turned out this way. Reading this brought many tears to my eyes. I have been closely following your threads silently for a long time and you both touched so many lives with your incredible energy and passion. I am sure the years that Lacey spent with you were by far the best years she encountered, and that really is a testament to the wonderful care and love that you provided her. What ever you did, you did in the best interest of Lacey, and there is nothing more a horse could ask for. 

She was such an incredible girl who's character and energy made people all around the world fall in love with her, and I have no doubt that we are all hurting with you and for you. Time may heal the wound but she will never be able to be replaced or forgotten. 

Rest in peace Lacey.


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## Wallaby

Thank you, you guys. 
I'm just overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and care I've been getting from everyone, everywhere. It's astounding. 
Lacey touched so many lives and shared that with me. Like I said a few weeks ago, when she took me on my first bareback canter, Lacey made me brave. 
When I met her, I was struggling with a deep depression and had been for years. She gave me a purpose.
Then, a few years ago, I fell into a depression again that was worse than the last - going to see her twice a day was the thing that kept me sane.
She taught me that kids are great and that everything has a bright side. She introduced me to goats, taught me about trail riding, and taught me that riding alone can be wonderful.

She, quite literally, changed the entire course of my life.

I miss her terribly. I'll be ok, but it's so hard right now. Thankfully, the goats need care and grieving with them has been helpful.
I can't believe it's just been a day.
I feel a little like her life was a beautiful dream that I just woke up from..and now I'm surrounded by cold, hard, senseless, reality.

I know that isn't true, but it sure feels like it.

On the brighter side, there has been a lot of "Lacey-comfort" today and yesterday.
God's been reminding me that, though she's gone, she's forever in my heart and the hearts of others - first through all the love I've been receiving AND through other things.

For instance, yesterday the sky felt like it was literally sobbing - big, giant, crocodile-tears-type raindrops.
Then in the evening there was a perfect double rainbow:

[that first comment is Gman...haha  ]



Then, this afternoon [after I sequestered myself allll day] I came out of my room and saw this:



THEN, that girl-friend who I was at the zoo with sent me this text:




THEN, I went to put the goats in for the night - it was the first time I had been in the pasture alone since Lacey's death. As I was finishing up with them, and feeling a little useless since tending to the goats takes about 5 minutes and I "used to" spend 20ish minutes just chilling with Lacey every night, ANOTHER rainbow appeared in the sky overhead.

She may be gone, but her "her-ness" is not.
And she's up there having a grand ol' time sassing God with the Rainbow Machine. :lol:



In other, completely unrelated news, I was just on Facebook looking at "friendships" - you know how FB will show you a basic synopsis of things you've done with someone/times you've posted on their wall, etc? 
Gman and NG are ALREADY Facebook friends. :rofl: 
Of course they are.
I love it.
Whoever sent the request, it doesn't even matter. It's my favorite.

But did the zoo really happen 2 days ago? It feels like years. I barely remember it...and I hate that. I know I had a ton of fun but why, exactly?
And I'm dreading church tomorrow. 
The first time you see someone after hanging out with them outside the "normal" bounds of your friendship is always awkward enough. Then add Lacey's passing to that, and add NG's natural [adorable] extreme awkwardness.......church might be terrible. 
Or it could be really great.
I'm gonna pray that it'll be great and jump in with both feet. After all, there is literally nothing that can happen that will be worse than the last 2 days. NOTHING.



I can't decide if I want to keep this journal going. I probably will. I like telling you guys about NG and I like telling you about the goats. Talking to you is very cathartic.
We will see though.
Updates might be less frequent....we'll see. If they are, it's not anything personal, at all. I love you all dearly, even if I don't "really" know you. Truly, you guys are all like real-life friends to me and I appreciate that.


----------



## Roperchick

I hope you do keep this up.

I know it won't be the sane without or resident unicorn but I think this could help you as well. The goats are still there and Gman and NG 

Plus....maybe down the road you'll have another four legged equine companion? I don't think Lacey would appreciate all the training she gave you to go to waste 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Cherrij

That is the most magical passing of them all.. so many rainbows. And you do have amazing and supportive friends. They are all there for you! 

Don't close the journal... you never know when another equine companion will need your help!


----------



## egrogan

Just reading this after reading your other thread about Lacey. I hadn't read this journal for a few pages, but wanted to see some of the pictures of her I'd missed. What a beautiful girl- and I love that the goats are still there for you to swap Lacey stories with. The rainbows are a beautiful reminder of your girl. It's great that you have such good friends nearby, I'm sure they'll be a nice support system.


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## jcraig10

I am so sad to hear the news about Lacey's passing. We all know how much you loved her and how well you took care of her. She was such a special part of your life. The rainbows are perfect. No other way for a unicorn to go out. Clearly she is a rockstar! 

That being said, I too really hope that you keep up with your journal! I love the way that you write (and the pictures of the goats I don't hate either  ) I think that it is a great tool for you as well to get all of your thoughts and emotions out and being able to talk about Gman & NatGeo that you might not be able to talk out loud to anyone in your "real life". (even though we are all very real lol) 

Stay strong!


----------



## Wallaby

Thank you, you guys <3 <3

I agree, I think Lacey wouldn't want the training she gave me to go to waste either...
I'm not going to seek out a new horse though. Lacey fell into my life out of the blue, as did the rest of my animal-friends, so I figure that the right horse will just kind of show up.

But on that front, I alreadyyy got my first "hey, there's this horse...do you want it??" offer.
From a parent of one of my lesson kids. His parents have horses and they're selling a mare who's 22 and supposedly great with kids. The horse would be for my lesson kid and in my lesson kid's name, but I'd care for her, use her in lessons, and she'd live in the pasture...I guess kind of a free-lease thing? For 3 years until the lesson kid is old enough to have her own horse.

On one hand, you know I want to say yes. On the other hand, it's too soon and I would like a younger horse next and I really just want Lacey. Plus there's the whole issue of different standards. I have one standard that I think is right, but this family has a veryyyy different standard for animal care.

I told him I would think about it and let them know.

It's sweet of them to offer but.........

Now if that lady with the therapy riding place offers me Fabio, I will 100% say yes immediately. Lacey would be behind that decision all the way. He reminded me of her so much. She would have had a HUGE crush on him.
But that's unlikely. And I'm ok with that. He's just the only horse I would say yes to for the next while, I think.


And I think I might like to take lessons for a while from somewhere, improve my game, do something big [or as big as possible]. Maybe foster a horse this summer for that rescue, in a month or two.
Lacey would appreciate that.


And that's kind of a thing - I don't really want to get any kind of new horse and move it to the pasture unless I know for sure it's something I click with and can handle. The pasture just isn't set up for a questionable horse.
Lacey was my sidekick with Lady [that horse we fostered] and she helped keep me alive. However, doing it all on my own with a brand new horse, alone in the pasture, doesn't seem like the smartest idea.


This morning I fixed up Lacey's stall so the goats could have access to it at night. 
That way it'll seem less empty in the morning. That's been hard - showing up in the morning, looking for Lacey in her stall...and seeing her stall empty. 
So so hard.


----------



## tinyliny

There is still more to the journey. That time with Lacey is , was, a preparation for ?


----------



## Endiku

You are amazing Emily. I know I constantly say that but its _true_. And you are so right. Lacey would not want you to sit and mourn her (though there are times for that too, it isn't bad), and give up horses. She wants you to open your heart to whatever might come next, and to remember her by continuing to love horses. After all, the best memorials are the living ones. 

*hugs* still praying for you, Atti, and Hazel and I agree...that,if you want to keep this journal that is, you should! Things that happen from here on out are just a part of Lacey's legacy. She isn't really gone because she is part of who you are, part of what that pasture is.


----------



## Chevaux

QUOTE: That way it'll seem less empty in the morning. That's been hard - showing up in the morning, looking for Lacey in her stall...and seeing her stall empty. 
So so hard. 

I know Wallaby - those first few times going through the usual routines like that can almost be more than a person can bear but you will work through it in your own good time.:hug:


----------



## gunslinger

I know that leaves a huge void....as far as the blog, I'd be disappointed if you didn't keep it going....as I love the continuing saga of Gman and Nman...


----------



## swimminchikin

I was interested in learning more of Lacey's story so i spent a portion of this weekend reading through almost all 94 pages. (Promise I'm not a stalker!) You are a fantastic writer and truly have an intriguing way of sharing your day to day life in a way that makes mine sound very boring. 

After getting completely drawn in and caught up on recent events I wish I could leave something truly meaningful here to let you know what it takes a long, long, long time, but eventually it gets easier and the memories no longer bring tears. It sounds like Lacey is leaving a great legacy behind and wonderful memories to all the kids that she worked with and her followers on the forum. 

Please do keep writing and taking pictures!


----------



## Wallaby

Thank you, you guys! I really can't say it enough. All the support I've been getting means so so much. To know that there are hundreds of people, most of whom I've never been lucky enough to meet, mourning her loss with me and missing her alongside me...I don't even know. It really means a lot. I could easily find myself feeling super alone and just hide from the world for a while, but there are so many people just loving me through this.......guys, I do not even know. 

Today has been really hard. I keep feeling real happy one second, and then find myself sobbing the next. 

I'm nearly certain that it's like Chevaux was saying - my routine has returned [school, etc] and I have to stick to my routine...but Lacey isn't in my routine.
And then going back to school and having everyone gush about how great their break was...oh my word. All I wanted to do was just to scream "SHUT UP!!! I HATE YOU." and probably punch them all in the face.
Clearly, I did not. 
It's ok for others to be happy, even if I'm epically heartbroken. Everyone's in a different place.

But that was hard. 

I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I have a class in the morning from 10-11:50, then a break from 11:50-2, then class from 2-5. 
I'm going to go sit on a silent floor of the library and it should be pretty nice. I loooove the library and I haven't gotten to be in it at all this year with the way my classes turned out.
And being at school, on a silent floor, is kind of extra nice: I'm not home so I can't play the "I should be doing ____"-game and I kind of have to take that time to just chill. So that should be ok.

I hate the 2-5 class though...but it's with a great friend which might make it better. And this term, in that class, we're writing our giannnntttt "Senior Papers" [I'm doing mine on "Wild Horse Annie" and how she helped people begin to change their opinions of Mustangs] so at least half the class should turn out to be "writing time" = could be good...?
My fingers are crossed.

Oh, I remembered something I was going to tell you guys. You know how people are always talking about my photography?
Well I had kind of completely forgotten about this, but Lacey was the impetus for me to start taking pictures at all. I had barely even picked up a camera before her, then I got her, an old-lady-friend gifted me a camera to document Lacey, and my/"our" photography began.

Lacey has hoofprints in pretty much every part of my life. She changed so much of who I was into who I am... It's the most beautiful thing.
So we can 100% thank her on the photography front.
AND the writing front! I never had any interest in writing until I started this journal due to Lady, who was due to Lacey cuz I didn't want her to be lonely. Like photography, it's gotten better with time.

THAT HORSE. 



Ok, enough about that.

I suppose I should cover what happened last night at church because 1. it was adorbs 2. I had said it promised to go real bad or real great.

a) Gman spent so long talking to me and hearing about Lacey last night. I really value that kid and his friendship. He's almost like a horse person in how much he understands the intricacies of that relationship and how she was closer to a human than a pet. 
Maybe it's cuz he spent an entire summer where he saw us together on a daily basis? 
In any case, I really value that.
Many of my less BFF-level non-horsey friends have been a little less understanding of the depth of what I'm going through. But Gman totally gets it [or at least pretends he does] and that's real great.

b) Gman and I always have people coming up and interrupting our conversations at church. He's really "cool" and in charge of a lot at church so they're mostly important interruptions...but still. 
In any case, after NG left the zoo, we had joked about how NG was going to be a 100% permanent fixture/"interruption" in our discussions from now on and were we prepared for that?
Last night NG saw us talking, joined our little group, and just stood there listening+laughing appropriately at jokes. Not interrupting, just listening and being there. 
It was very sweet. Gman texted me later saying "Props to __[NG]__ for being the most unobtrusive 'interruption' evvvver. He's a good one." :lol:

c) Later, when it was just NG and I, he was all "I'm sorry about your horse.." and said something about how he wished that Thursday had been the best ever alll day. And he made sure to tell me that the reason he left the zoo early was to go see his male mentor-person. And he made very sure I knew that the mentor-person was maleeeee. hahaha

Then he came and sat with me during church, saying "Can I come join your support system here?"
He sat next to me and let our shoulders gently touch for basically the whole service. This is kind of important since there was plenty of room for him to not touch me, the first time he did it - he looked over at me to gauge my reaction+smiled sweetly, AND in previous services -even when there was very little room- this was not a "thing" before. 

It was so so sweet.
Later he told me something about how he wanted to cheer me up but didn't want to be insensitive, then told me a story about ho his family had had some rabbits that they didn't really like so they were a little sad, but mostly ok when they died, and that he can't imagine how hard it must be to lose something you really love.

He's trying so much. I like it.

THEN, last night, after church, I texted him a joke I thought he'd like [I'm not great with showing/saying my emotions face to face so I figured a joke promptly after church might send the right "thank you" message without being too gooshy].

Then this morning, he texted me the first part of a two part joke, so I had to text him back [clevvvver], I texted him another joke which became his "new favorite pirate joke", etc. 
I think he got the hint. Or he just liked my jokes. 
Either way, this is good.


HAH. And to think that 2-3 months ago I was wailing to you guys about this new weird guyyyyy. :lol: 

In any case, I think I kind of maybe like him a lot. 

And even when I was taking to Gman and he was there, he was still important-there. He wasn't go-away-there, or something. He was I'm-glad-you're-part-of-this-there.
And that's good cuz I have been a little worried about NG vs. Gman = am I "over" Gman all the way/enough for NG? Will Gman always seem better than NG? etc. 
But if how I felt while they were both there is any indication, NG is doing pretty darn well for just 3 months into the friendship.


And that, I think, is your Today-Update.


----------



## tinyliny

Sometimes , the things you write are so darn cute, and sweet, and , well, . . . . like an episode out of the Waltons!

'Night Johnboy!


----------



## Wallaby

Haha Caroline, I mayyy have had to look the Waltons up...  But thanks. :hug:


Lacey got another card [from the vet who put her down+signed by everyone at the office] and flowers from one of her lesson kids today...
I feel like this doesn't happen to most horses. But I love that it's happening to her.
It really suits who she is/was. 

Also, let's just talk about WHAT KIND OF HORSE GETS _this many _FLOWERS AFTER THEY PASS???!
Pretty sure this is more flowers than my family got after any of my grandparents died.
Was she the elderly, Arabian-version of Barbaro?? What is HAPPENING.

Anyway, they are lovely and I really appreciate them.


----------



## Wallaby

I don't know, I woke up this morning madder than a wet hen that Lacey is STILL gone...but now I'm starting to be able to be really really thankful for her life.

Man, grieving is weird stuff. Emotions are weird.

In any case, I was thinking about this today:

1. Our "last accomplishment" was cantering bareback. That had always been sort of a lifelong dream of mine, but I was always too scared to try.
Then Lacey finally said "enough of that!" and magically it was a day I decided to video our ride. 
That's such a special video for me now. It means so much.






2. After riding horses where I all I did was fall off, Lacey is the first horse I've ridden A LOT and never fallen off.
In terms of hours, I spent days on her back...and never once fell off. 
There were many times I should have fallen off, but she never let me. 
There were many times she had me at her mercy and one extra little buck would have sent me flying, but she would always stop her antics until I had re-centered myself. She would do that - she's mess around just enough that I knew I could come of at any second...then she'd stop completely until I "fixed" myself.

3. She would "hug" me - she was just short/tall enough that she could barely rest her chin on top of my head, and she enjoyed doing that very much. 

4. Our walks down to the shed each day where she would walk most of the way with me, then let the goats head in first, and wait for me to actually call her because her dinner was finalllly ready. [the goats always got fed first]

5. How she learned "back up" and "Come'ere" from watching Atticus do his tricks and get rewarded....... I had tried to teach her to come when I called her for yearsssss, but she finally got it after watching Atti appropriately respond.

6. How she'd get all happy when I freelunged her...

7. Those times when she woke up with her ArabianPants on and would flag her tail all over...

8. How she would let me muck her stall around her with shifting a beat, and decided that "excuse me" was her cue to yield her hind quarters...

9. How she loved it when I trimmed her hooves myself...

..............I really could go on for days.

THAT HORSE.


----------



## muumi

Condolences with your loss, Emily...
This 'blog' was literally the only reason I would visit horseforum every morning. To read about you and Gman and NG and Lacey.
I felt like I sort of knew all of you, and I'm really emotional myself about Lacey. She is a wonderful, special, completely unique horse amongst horses.
Please carry on writing, so I can keep on reading your wonderful future adventures. Your writing is delightful.
xxxxxxxxxx


----------



## jcraig10

This story with NatGeo is realllly starting to unfold :-D 
sooo...what was the pirate joke? 

Love that everyone is sending you flowers for Lacey. Adorbs.


----------



## autumnheart

Oh dear, I am so very sorry to hear this. This must be so hard for you. I can't imagine losing a friend like that. Think about all the good times you had with her. She'll always be with you, just in a different way. You'll be stronger because of this.


----------



## Wallaby

Guys, I'm freaking out justttt a little: my CAT is now super sick.    
He was barfing allllll night and hasn't pooped since the day before yesterday [the pooping, or lack thereof, is somewhat normal for him - he seems to use his food efficiently..?]

NOOOO. 

On the plus side, he's behaving really normally. Maybe a little more laid back than usual, but not sick.
We're going to the vet this afternoon. He has an appointment at 3:30.

Worst week of my LIFE.

Can I just go to bed and wake up next month, pleasssseeeee?

So pray/think good thoughts/jingle for my little guy.
He had a similar-type thing happen about a year ago where he was just ridiculously constipated and it pretty much resolved once we took care of the constipation. 
"Hopefully" this is similar?


AHHHHHH. NoNoNoNO.



On a brighter note, Julia, the joke was one that I mighttt have made up. I'm not sure but I don't think I've heard it before?

Q: What did the pirate say when he fell in the toilet?
A: "Arrrr!!! Me booty!!"

:rofl:


----------



## gunslinger

Ah..Wallaby....I wish I could carry the load for you for a day or so....

How quickly things in our lives can change....one minute you're cantering and the next.....well....sigh...one door closes...and another will open.

You have some wonderful memories and a life time ahead to enjoy them.

Unfortunately, nothing of this world lasts, and even the mountains will eventually reach the sea. We're all just passing through.....and none of us gets to stay.

Hang in there young lady.....everybody gets the blues.....


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks gunslinger :hug:

1. It looks like my cat will be ok. Disney-Prince-Veterinarian couldn't find anything physically wrong with Mr. Booth. His best guess is that perhaps my stress is getting to Booth or maybe Booth ate an icky bug.
In any case, Disney-Prince-Vet gave Booth an anti-nausea shot and sub-q fluids and sent us on our way with instructions to feed him a bland diet for the next few days. 
They'll call in the morning to make sure he's still doing ok. From how much he perked up after that anti-nausea shot, I feel good about it.

Homeward bound:










2. I mayyyy have bought myself a new pair of shoes.
I determined that, in this hard week, it was ok to engage in a little retail therapy. Especially since it turns out that the goats basically cost $0 [they haven't gone through one bale of hay yet...my wallet could love this. I see why people have like 50 million goats and think nothing of it...].
In any case, I figured that it would be nice to do something nice for myself for once.

AND these Converse, that I've been wanting, finally went on sale for $20. Plus $5 of shipping, YES PLEASE.

I can't wait to get them - they're like an abstract American flag...but not.
And I love having "different" Converse.
I used to wear loudly colored Converse alllll the time, but then I lost so much weight after going gluten-free that none of my old colored Converse fit. And, since then, I've never had the money to just "frivolously" spend on myself, you know? 

Anyway, it should be fun to have colored Converse again. I LOVE my black ones, but it's nice to change up your shoes sometimes...

Converse - Chuck Taylor Polka Dots - Hi - Varsity Red/Athletic Navy

3. Clearly Atticus has recruited the llamas into being his body guards. 
WHAT A BRAT!! 

"Stand down, ladies. I will accept the human peasant."












And, I'm SO happy about this: I don't have any classes tomorrow! After this insanely stressful week, I have a day where I have literally zero things planned. I am STOKED.





Oh, guys, any ideas for training Atti to lead better? One of my "new" projects [plus he's clearly lacking in mental stimulation=time to train] is to get him leading better.
I know I must be doing something wrong since he's picked up tricks sooo fast...

I think really the thing is that he doesn't really "give" to pressure - he feels any contact on that leash/lead and he is pulling back - not hard, just "resisting". However, when a 250lb goat resists you...well, you notice.
I've heard that that's a typical goat thing. 
Hazel leads just fine though, so they must be able to get over it?

He leads great up until there's pressure, accidental or not. I think I probably need to train him to use my legs as a guide, vs "am I attached to the leash? Oh, I better go with the leash." ...problem is, I don't know how to train that.
Alternatively, he does pretty well when his leash is clipped to my belt. Maybe I can play off that somehow...

Anyway, any ideas?


----------



## jcraig10

Hahaha i love that joke...I might use it now  pirate jokes are the best.

I totally forgot about your hot vet LOL. cute kitty! mrrrow. AND you definitely deserved those shoes! Shopping is my favorite part of grieving. (not that there really is a favorite part)


----------



## gunslinger

I noticed the converse you wore on the video....you know that's pretty old school don't you?

See.....I was cool too, once....a long time ago...


----------



## Wallaby

Dooooo itttttttt, Julia!  I agree! Pirate jokes are fab. 

haha, oh yes, gunslinger! I've been wearing Converse since I was in middle school. Basically my grandma used to always wear them and she bought me my first pair. Then I started buying my own...then my grandma died and I got all her Converse [we were the same shoe size!], and etc, etc. I love my Converse!
They're super "in" now, around here, but I was wearing before they were cool. :wink:
I especially like them because I'm kind of tall for a female and I don't realllllly like towering over everybody, more than I already do... :lol:

But yeah, in general, my style is kind of sixties-modernism/chic meets "hipster" meets outdoorsy/comfortable/practical-ness... :rofl: 



GUYS.

I got home this morning after shopping with my mom and discovered a package, addressed to me, next to the door.

THIS was inside:
[bad picture quality, it's truly amazing in person]











I don't know who all exactlllly was involved with this [I heard that "Whyahorseofcourse" drew it!!], but OH MY GOSH. YOU GUYS.

The paper was flipped so Lacey was facing the cardboard backing and, as soon as I flipped it over and saw her, I was immediately in tears.

It is SO her. Her essence is exactly captured. 
And I can be picky about my art. 
So that's really saying something.

But it is exactly her. 
I am going to get this framed and hang it up. It is beautiful.

And actually, Lacey's Saturday Lesson Kid's mom sent me $60 in the mail "just to thank [me] for [my] time over the years" and I haven't been sure how to spend it. Using it to get this framed is perfect.

I LOVE IT.

It got a little bit bent in the mail, but that's ok - like Lacey and I, it's a product of a journey.

LOVE IT.


----------



## Chevaux

That's a lovely gift to receive, Wallaby. If it was Whyahorseofcourse that drew it - then thank you for your thoughtfulness.


----------



## egrogan

Awwwww...I love this forum! What a thoughtful thing for folks to do 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Endiku

What a beautiful drawing of Lacey!!!


----------



## Wallaby

I agree!! I'm just so overwhelmed by all the caring and love people have shown me in this time. 
Seriously: flowers, drawings, cards..so many cards. It all means so much. I wish I could go hug every person who's sent me something or said something kind...maybe not hug, I'm not really a hugger...but do something kind for each one of you! 
These last few weeks have been the hardest of my LIFE and I don't think I've ever cried more, but all the love I've been getting has reallly encouraged me that my life isn't over - even though it feels pretty over at times.

I found the example picture that drawing was done from. I'm still STUNNED. Especially once I found that picture - the picture is one that never felt especially Lacey-like to me, but SOMEHOW Whyahorseofcourse was able to reinsert Lacey's _soul _into that drawing. 
To me, the drawing has more of Lacey in it than the photo does. Talk about AMAZING.










Life news:

1. My photo editor "broke"..as in, I have to do something called "rebuild"ing Picasa on my laptop and a) I am terrified to try since it seems scary and b) I am literally the least handy person with computers that the world has everrrr seen. I may have been born in the '90s but computers mystify me.
So I need to coerce my brother into coming over and fixing it for me.

Therefore, I have no photo editing-ness until I get my bravery up = there might be a shortage of goat pictures for a while... 

I found an online photo editing thing that seems ok, but it's not as simple to edit things quickly. But that's what I used to edit tonight's pictures! 

2. Life.
I've been just feeling really "blah" about everything right now. I don't know, losing Lacey has been so so hard. She was really a lot of my motivation for things and, in kind of a weird way, she gave me a lot of confidence in my daily, non-horse, life. 
Now I'm finding myself in situations where I need confidence and just floundering around, completely unsure of myself. 

And, of course, I know that she's not my version of Samson's hair, or something...but I just don't know what's happening. 
Then I'm also finding myself being all nervous about not being "in control" of things, which has always been an issue for me, but I "got over it" my first summer with Lacey. And, of course, it's back again.
I know how to "fix it" - just identify the times when I'm behaving in that way and consciously let go of the issue, while deciding to trust the other person.

I don't know, I guess I'm just being greeted by a lot of things I thought I was "over" but are rearing their ugly heads again.

Ahhhhhh.

I just want to go ride Laceyyyyy. I want to hop on and just walk around the pasture, do some haunch turns, and call it a day. 

3. I have to go to the Japanese Gardens for one of my classes this week and no oneee could go with me, until I asked Gman. 
Gman can go! 
It was his birthday on Monday and I kind offffff went crazy. But I think he liked it. Cuz I asked him about the gardens _on_ his birthday, after going "happy birthday"-nuts, and, from the way he texted me back, it was pretttty clear that being asked to go made his day.

Anyway, we're going on Thursday when I get out of class. 
I'm really looking forward to it. It'll be good for my generally sad insides.

4. NG. Ohhhhh NG.
Guys, that boy-man is realllly putting my insides in a tizzy.
I didn't think he was all that cute before, but now I'm starting to think otherwise. :wink:

So, I told you guys that story about how he karate-chopped his glasses off is face+flung them into a pew in front of us, right?
On Sunday he came in...

Oh, gotta backtrack somewhat - 
First details: we were having our hosts meeting and during the prayer time, I happened to look over at him. And he was definitely just sitting there, eyes open, watching me. He saw me looking and, LIKE A BRAZEN MANIAC, SMILED AT ME. Of course, this had me melting all over the place like an ice cream cone.
THEN, a few minutes later into the prayer, a little kid started running down the halls of the church screeching "helllp meee! ALIENS." and, of course, I looked over at NG and he was making a face at me and I clearly lost my junk laughing.
It was THE MOST unprofessional prayer time ever. However, 100% sure God was laughing at "Helllllp meeee! ALIENS." too. :lol:

So that was fab.

Ok, now on to what I was going to tell you.
So remember that story about his glasses/karate chopping/fiasco?
Post the hosts meeting, NG came over to me and we did the whole usual "how was your week" blah blah thing, then he says [totally deadpan] "I broke my glasses today."
I say "what?! How!"
He says "someone stepped on them..."
"How?!"
"I put them on the ground, next to my desk, and I forgot they were there. And they got stepped on."

Translation: HE stepped on HIS OWN glasses and broke them.

I'm still laughing.

He's the weirdest combination of grown up and REALLY smart, yet fumbly and bumbly and adorable. 

Then he sat with me in church, met more of my friends [on one hand I feel real awkward that he knows like allll my friends now, but on the other, that hopefully shows him that he's important vs a transient weirdo]...ok, so my favorite thing that he's started doing is that whenever he has something to say to me, he'll lean over and let our shoulders press together in kind of a strong way. I've never met anyone else who does that and it's kind of adorable.

Ok, let's be honest: at this point, I'm pretty sure there's nothing he could do that _would't_ be totally adorable to me. 
I'm such a suckerrrrr. :lol:

Also, he found out that I've never been on a plane. His thoughts:
"My mom works for Alaska Airlines, I'll get her to hook you up!"
"You're gonna be sooo scared, right? I might have to go with you..."
"I'm gonna get you on an airplane if it's the last thing I do!"
:rofl:

A couple of things have happened to make me "worry" that I'm in the "friend zone" [ie, initially he was always asking me to hang out with him and now he's not so much any more, but that could be due to a serious multitude of things]...BUT I'm choosing to not worry about that. If something's supposed to happen, it will. But, if NG+I are just meant to be friends, that's ok too.



Anyway, pictures!

Last night's sunset



"What? We don't live in the llamas pasture 24/7 now?"





This is probably one of my most favorite pictures of Hazel ever. It's so "her" - a little lost, a lot dopey, and mostly awkward. 
HILARIOUS.




I hope you guys are doing well!!


----------



## tinyliny

I thought I was the worlds most neanderthol computer user!

Lacey knew that you were ready to fly on your own. she helped you grow wings, but you have to exersize them on your own.


----------



## Roperchick

I think I take the cake. I'm on laptop number....9? I think?

Phone #18+ (lost count hahaha)
Tablet #3
Xbox #2
And TV #2 hahaha

Hazels face.

Oh my lord haha so cute
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## cakemom

That nanny is killing me!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Wallaby

I love that, Caroline! Such a good way to think of it. Thank you. 

RIGHT, cakemom?! ME tooo.  She's the funniestttt.


This week was crazyyyy.

On Monday I shopping with my cousin, it was great.
I found quite a few things that were on sale and SO me. So that was exciting - usually shopping is a huge trial for me...I like shopping with my cousin!  I guess she's kind of like a sister to me, or something.

Anyway, I got a pair of [hypoallergenic!!] "origami" elephant stud earrings for $10 which is probably my favorite steal of the day - stud earrings are my favorite but I'm pretty particular about them. They have to be flat, they have to be small - but not too small, they have to be unique/funny, AND they have to be hypoallergenic.
Therefore, I rarely find earrings that I like. :lol:

Origami elephants that fit the bill = GEEKING OUT.

I also found a turquoise and white sweater that, according to my cousin, "might as well have been made for me."
We found it in the clearance section [30% off lowest price], marked down to $15 from $35. I figured it would be marked down more to $12, or something, and I liked it so much that I was willing to pay that.

I got it up to the register to pay, the lady rang it up...AND IT WAS $4!!!!!!!!! FOUR DOLLARS. 
I guess it had been marked down more than the lowest price we saw on the label!

THE BEST.

I also bought a dress. It's SO "me", I'm excited to wear it. 
It was a little short initially, but, thankfully, the makers gave it a large hem allowance so I was able to let out the original hem and hem it longer. Now it hits just above the knee on me, instead of quite a bit above the knee.

I might wear it to church tomorrow...it's supposed to be warm...we'll see. I might not be feeling quite that brave. 
NG might lose his mind seeing me in a dress - so far he's only see me wearing a variety of jeans. :lol:
However, on the topic of exercising wings Lacey helped me grow.....we'll see. 

I also bought a pair of jeans that are nice. They're "just" a pair of jeans though.



Then Tuesday was lame.

Wednesday, I had lunch with a good friend from high school...
And when I got home from that, I thought I'd take Mr. Sass [aka, Atticus] on a short walk to work on his leading and, hopefully, tire him out some.
Well, I got his leash on, we headed down to the forest behind the pasture [it's easy to slip through the fence there and the forest is great at providing obstacles for Atti to learn about leading with/around]....annnnd, of course, Hazel decided to come too.
We started walking, Atti was doing well, Hazel was loving it, and, next thing you know, we had walked for 30 minutes.
At that point, I knew we would find the trails I used to ride on at soon-ish, and the goats were still loving it, so I figured we could keep walking.

Then we found a stream which Atticus awkwardly lept over and I carried Hazel across, etc etc, we found another stream that Atti lept over more gracefully and Hazel actually lept...
By the time we reached the trail, we had walked for about 2 hours. :lol:

But it was really fun! The goats both really enjoyed it. Even Hazel. I was so surprised that she liked it - she's Miss "Everyone Leave Me Alone!!" but she couldn't have been more thrilled about adventuring.
I think it also helps Hazel that she's been on MSM for a few weeks and it's actually helping!! She's moving SO well! I hadn't given her MSM before because I figured that if her glucosamine supp didn't do enough, more MSM wouldn't help = WRONG. 
She's moving so well. She's actually willingly trotting on a regular basis and I've seen her break into a "canter" on a "just because" basis. Not to mention that she JUMPED A STREAM!!!

I think I'll be taking them on that walk more often. It's good for me, good for them...no one loses!

Here's Atti and Haze on their walk.



And Hazel dominated a Chihuahua on our walk back. 
1. LOOK at how good she's walking!!
2. That poor dog. He was sure he had made a new canine friend, until he realized she was not a canine.
And she was just "um, what'd I do???!"








Thursday was crazyyyy. I had two classes, got out at 1:50, rode the train to the zoo where Gman picked me up, then Gman and I went to the Portland Japanese Garden. 

We had a whole lot of fun. The weather was gorgeous and, though the garden was really small, Gman and I had a great time. Basically we have one of those friendships were everything is fun if we're doing it together. We had a lot of good laughs. 

ALSO! He got me a mug!



He said to me "I tried to find one that said 'Booth's Mom'...but I only saw this one. And I figured it'd work" :rofl:
He's the BEST.


Then yesterday:



And today: 

Atticus thought he'd just casually climb this tree... Whatevs.













Also, I bought a lilac bush for Lacey's grave today. 
It's a white lilac bush/tree which is one of my favorite things evvvver.

I think she would approve.


----------



## Chevaux

QUOTE: ...Also, I bought a lilac bush for Lacey's grave today. 
It's a white lilac bush/tree which is one of my favorite things evvvver.

I think she would approve.  

I believe she would approve as well and that's a great monument for a life well lived.


----------



## jcraig10

I love how GREEN everything is there right now! Especially in that first picture on your last post....AH! We have grass now (finally) after like 3 days of rain and a beautiful sunny weekend but the trees are all still BLAH and sad and no leaves ...and the pastures at that farm are just sad too. SOON!


also...I hope someday I encounter someone walking their goats on a trail. That would be the best day ever.


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Chevaux.  I haven't decided how I want to place it by her grave, but it's down there, looking pretty! 

ME TOOOO, Julia! Everything finally decided to start growing! It's reallllly late this year though - usually this stage happens in February or March...but not this year. It'll happen soon for you too 
I hope you do too! And you'll HAVE TO post pictures! 


2 announcements: [well, announcement is a dramatic word for stories...BUT STILL]

1. [Lacey] and Hazel's hoof trimmer is coming today to trim Miss Hazel.
1a. SAD. Lacey loved that woman. She had been trimming Lacey for nearly 5 years. It's gonna be weird to still have her around without Lacey...
1b. I'm going to ask her about fostering for someone. She knows most of the horse people in our area so it's likely she could pass the word on to the right person.
I thought long and hard about going through the rescue organization that sent Lacey+I Lady, but there were a LOT of issues with that organization [they had very little respect for me - seemed to be due to my age (they were always saying things like "it's wonderful your parents are letting you have a horse! and whatnot, even when they KNEW I was 20, paying for both horses 100% on my own, AND that horses were "my" thing), when things went south with Lady it was extremely difficult to get into contact with them, they left Lady with us for over a month after I told them she needed to leave, etc] so I don't really want to go that route. Not to mention that I just want to help a horse that needs a spot for a while - not retrain a problem child or clean up someone else's mess. One day that urge will return, but for now I'm not looking for that.
ANYWAY. 

If anybody knows someone who needs a spot for their horse, Katy'll know.

Alternatively, she does work for a DONKEY RESCUE. Maybe they need a foster mom. 

We'll see.


2. OH MY GOSH GUYS. OH MY GOSH.

Our good 'ol buddy, NG.

I don't know how to describe it, but the last few times I've seen him, he's been a lot more smiley and trying to make me laugh. He was doing that before, but in a...different way. I don't know, it just feels different.

So he came into church and one of the first things he says to me is "you should meet my friend...he's kind of my best friend...?"
To which I awkwardly replied "sure!...I love meeting friends. Um, I mean, friends of my friends..." then I realized how lame I was being and forced myself to shut up.

Insert a period of time here when I had a meeting/then was greeting people.

THEN, I got done greeting people and, on my way to where I sit, NG kinda pulled me aside and we were standing there talking about stuff for a while, then he was all "OH! I'm gonna call my friend up here!" 

So dear NG CALLS his friend, on the phone, tells him to come up to the balcony, friend gets up there and he's all "oh. I've met her before."
And because I'm real awkward, I say "oh...really? I don't remember!"
Then this friend leaves.
Leaving me feeling like I've just mortally offended NG's bestie. :lol:

Then, of course, I started to remember that I did meet that guy once. He was tailing Gman, OF ALL PEOPLE, around church. And it turns out that this friend-guy works with Gman with the kids! HA. 

I was still feeling bad about probably offending his friend, so, after we all sat down [NG decided to sit with some other people, but not before prefacing it with "I've been sitting with you a lot...but that's really awesome! I like it."] I texted him "sorry for probably offending ___. haha"
And, just because I figured I had nothing to lose, I added "we should hang out sometime!" [being intentionally vague to give him an out if he wanted one - ie, he could just say "yeah" or something and not commit to anything]

After church, I got a text from him saying "Emily! No! You didn't offend ___! I told him about you and he didn't think he had met you, that's why he said that. And he had to go get ready for the kids. Also, let's hang out this week!"

"..._told him about you..._"???????!!!!!!

WHAT. 

On the hanging out front, I told him my schedule and he said:



So I'm still over here "awwwwww"-ing over all those exclamation points. 
Reaaaaaaal, real, cute.

SO WE'RE HAVING LUNCH TOMORROW!!!
Only downside is that I literally cannot eat Chipotle gracefully so my food is gonna be everywhere. Luckily, that's totally the kind of thing he'll find hilarious...but still, not reallllly ideal. Oh well.

I'm so nervous but excited. AHHHH.
It's not really a big deal, but it kind of is?

Also, I have a class with one of my favorite lady-friends right after this lunch [the class is at 2] so at least I'll have someone to screech about everything with. :lol:

:happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

your church must be pretty large for you to not know everyone. most churches around here are small enough that you know everyone who comes. but, your's must be very "healthy", unlike the anemic ones here.

enjoy your lunch!


----------



## grayshell38

what happened to Fabs? Didn't they offer him to you at one point? It's pretty coincidental that a horse that seemed cohesive with you like that would wander into your life so close to Lacey's passing... Just a thought. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## jcraig10

Wallaby said:


> "..._told him about you..._"???????!!!!!!
> 
> WHAT.
> 
> 
> Also, I have a class with one of my favorite lady-friends right after this lunch [the class is at 2] so at least I'll have someone to screech about everything with. :lol:
> 
> :happydance:


 
I'm totally screeching with you right now.  I'm pretty sure you're going on a date!!!!


----------



## Wallaby

Caroline, it is pretty big! There are probably at least 500 people at each service, closer to 700 for "The Eight" [the 8pm service that most of the college kids go to]. So it's easy to see someone every week and/or have mutual friends, but not actually know the person.
I grew up going to a church that's actually bigger than this one so this one feels "homey" and small to me! :rofl: I really like this church a lot! It's the best of both worlds, I think - none of the politics that most small churches seem to have with a "small church" feel [everyone's really friendly and not mean], and less of the lost feeling that comes with a big big church. 

Grayshell, they did! I think they've sold him by now...I'm not sure. The owner/my former boss wanted $2500 for him though and I just don't have that kind of money to spend on a project horse. Even $1000 is out of the question.
I'm hoping that maybe he'll come back into my life later on cuz you are so right - his appearance+losing Lacey almost seems too coincidental. 
We'll see.
Or maybe he showed up to simply show me that there ARE other horses that are the cat's pajamas like Lacey, but in a different way that her special brand of special....
But he is the singular horse I would love to own right now. I'm nervous about jumping in with another horse...except Fabs. 
We'll see. 



LUNCH TODAY!!! GUYS. Lunch TODAY!!!!

It wasn't a date..._Julia_. :lol:
But really. 

I'm really confused.
One of my lady-friends is similarly confused while another one [the one who was at the zoo with us] says "he likes you! I have absolutely no doubt of that. He really likes you!!"

I guess I'll just give you guys kind of a play-by-play of what happened, because I have no conclusions.

But before we dive into that, have a video of Hazel playing.  







Ok.
So he texted me at 11am to say "meeting at noon" to which I said sure.

I got there first and began waiting for him outside Chipotle. 
Next thing I know, I see him ducking behind some people walking across the street towards me.
He saw me see him and started laughing, then bounced over to me saying "I wanted to sneak up on you, but you're too good at seeing! I know this, I shouldn't have tried." :rofl:

Then, we walk over to the door and GUESS WHO'S COMING OUT OF CHIPOTLE???

MY BROTHER.

So, of course, by the time we've hung out twice outside of church, he's met my best friends AND my most valuable family member. 
OF COURSE. 
MY LIFE, GUYS.

In any case, the two of them basically instantly bonded which I love. So that was good.
We stood there talking to my brother for a solid 5 minutes. :lol:

Then we went inside and started waiting in line, etc etc. Talking. Blah, Blah.

We got our food and found a place to sit and he immediately is all "do you want napkins? Water? I will get you water!"
"Nah."
"Are you sure?! I'll get you some!"
"No...I brought my own. Thanks though!"

Let's just talk about how cute it is that he's trying to take care of me/help like that. 
I very much appreciate that. 
I'm realllly independent, as a general rule, and people treat me like that. They know I can handle myself and they usually leave me to my own devices to handle things. But sometimes it's just nice to be "coddled" a little, you know?
And not to jump the gun [however, wait for it. This story, man.], but that's the kind of quality I would be definitely looking for in a gentleman life-partner. Someone who refuses to acknowledge my ridiculous [external] streak of independence and instead cares for my softer side that I try to hide.


Anyway, so that was cute. 

So we're sitting there, eating, and he says to me "you know, your posts on Facebook are REALLY funny. It just seems like you aren't even trying to be funny and it's SO funny..."
[this is like an eternal topic for him, I guess he REALLY likes my FB posts...even though he rarely "likes" them?]
"...you should write a book! It would be hilarious."

Then he started telling me about how he's so not time-oriented and telling me funny stories of how his un-time-oriented-ness has hindered his life. [insert him tellig me a story about how he loves talking to people and could talk for 3 hours straight when he's hanging out with "adult people"]
I tell him that I'm incredibly time-oriented, but that it's not all it's cracked up to be.

Then a brief pause, where I'm thinking that the combination of characteristics like that could make a good marriage, the combining of two "extreme" faults to ideally create a better solution....

AND HE SAYS IT. 
HE SAID, OUT LOUD, "I think marriages should be like that. Like everyone should marry a person who is strong in the areas where they aren't great."

_What_???!!!!!!

Um, someone is literally reading my mind.

So I, of course, agree with this and say "YES! It's like you're building a team! You need to have teammates to pick up where you fall down!"
His entire face LIT UP when I said that. Like literally lit up.

More talking, etc...

He invited me to like 40 billion other things - "Have you been ___? We should check it out." "___ and ____ invited me to ___ coffee one time...it was funny, I'm going to invite you next time!" "There's this food truck near my house that has super good food. We should go there sometime."
And so on.

Then I asked him about this whole Kentucky Derby thing and we're just talking about it and, again, I'm thinking about how I'm going to get there cuz the train doesn't reallllllly take you close to it, 
AND HE SAYS "....I could pick you up? Maybe not from your house, but from a MAX station somewhere?"

OH MY GOSH. He is IN MY HEAD.

And I say "YES! That would be wonderful. I would love that!"

Then he says "Not that I don't want to come to your house. I want to come to your house sometime! I want to meet your goats! And your cat. And see how you live!"

He told me some stories about his family, for some reason we talked a lot about names ["..I think Emily has always been popular. It's a good old lady name, it's a good young person name, and it's good for every age in between."] and determined that we both have an appreciation for older names.
That led into a discussion of how he likes it when couples who don't seem like they belong together are together, and how he thinks girls in the South are nice but prefers "girls that always wear pants". 

Then, out of the blue, he asked me if I was going to wear a big hat to the Kentucky Derby thing and I told him that I don't look good in hats. He then said that he bet I looked good in baseball hats [which is actually an accurate observation - out of all hats, I look cute in baseball hats!]...

This guy. He's SO WEIRD but it's a weird that I totally, 10000%, understand. 

Then he complimented my watch.

And thanked me AGAIN for inviting him to the zoo and mentioned a very precise event - where I said "we should go this way, the bears and eagles are over here. It's basically AMERICA." - and repeated that sentence, verbatim...that I had already forgotten that I had even ever said?

[also, it should be noted that whenever I'd look away from him, I'd look back and him to find him watching me...but then glancing away the second I looked at him...
HOWEVER, he was leaned back - legs or arms folded nearly the whole time=defensive body language???]

As we left, he told me that we should definitely do that again and was all "we can check out ___ restaurant!" I said "YES! Absolutely."

The I kind of ran.

I sent him a text later saying "I'm glad we got to hang out! I had fun " to which he replied "I had fun too!"

I don't know, guys.

1. I'm real confused because he compared our hanging out to how he likes talking to people and likes getting to know people, BUT all the compliments and weird marriage talk??

2. My cheeks hurt from laughing so hard. If I was trying to avoid really developing feelings...tooooo lateeeee.

3. He kept bringing up other girls, but he would always immediately couch them in "old family friend" or "they're married"-type terms.....or, my personal favorite, "our parents are friends so I kind of know her but she's basically my family's friend...that type of relationship."


So I don't know. It was all really weird and wonderful but SO MUCH. I can't even begin to try to understand. I need days to process this. :lol:

I got to class afterwards and felt like I had stepped out of a whirlpool. 

I don't know. 

He's SO CUTE. And SO SWEET. And dorky. But the cutest kind of dorky you can be.

AHHHH. WHAT IS HAPPENING.

So that's your lunch update. It was wonderful. 
I've never met a funnier human, a smart funny human. OH MY GOSH.

:happydance: :happydance: :happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

you just exhaust yourself with all that over thinking. too bad there's no way to harness that waste of energy. could power a small city.


----------



## paintsrule

From my perspective, I think he likes you! Marriage, complements and TONS of invites seem that way!


----------



## Cherrij

I agree that he likes you.. But we girls always overthink. 

Your life is so full of adventures that I am almost jealous (or probs I am, just don't want to admit it xD)


----------



## Wallaby

Caroline, I knowwwwww! I feel better telling you guys though! Now, at least, it's more out of my head and more on "paper." Thank goodness for this journal. haha
I could/would be mentally underwater otherwise.
You know, actually, having this journal has helped me so much in gaining perspective on many many things. It really helps to have somewhere I can just dump thoughts and have people care! :hug:

Cherri, don't be jealous! :lol: My life is mostly overwhelming. I love it...but it's overwhelming a lot of the time. 


Small continuation from yesterday: while NG and I were hanging out, he showed me this picture of himself holding a cat in a really funny way. Cats are his #1 favorite which, by itself, is very very funny to me.
The story behind it was that he had been playing football with friends [ha. Sports are so not my thing, I never thought I would evvvvvver be friends with, let alone care about, someone who liked sports! hahahaha] and this cat was chasing them around and generally trying to play.

So he picked the cat up and someone took a picture of him holding it.
It's a hilariously funny, yet super adorable, picture so, once I was done crying with laughter, I told him that it should be his profile picture EVERYWHERE for the rest of time.

I was completely joking, even though it was a really great picture, and I assumed he was joking around too.


....last night, around 11pm, I got on Facebook and saw that he had changed his profile picture to this picture of him+cat.
I got on Instagram and saw the exact same thing, his profile picture is now him+cat. 

THE BEST. 
I can't even, guys. THE BEST. 
I'm over here just laughing my fool head off cuz that picture is still so funny and "what?! He actually changed it?" :rofl: 




The goats are doing so well! I don't know if I told you guys, but I actually had to CUT BACK how much food Hazel's been getting cuz she's been turning into a fatty!! :happydance:
I didn't cut it back drastically or anything, but it seems that the thing that really packed the pounds on was finishing up Lacey's ration balancer. Which I guess makes sense since it's 30% protein and she was getting about half a pound/day, plus beet pulp and rice bran. So I'll have to remember that for next winter! It would be great if just a horse RB "fixes" the weight issue!!!

She's also started PLAYING!! That video from yesterday? How she's RUNNING??! What?! So exciting.
She's like an adorable baby goat. 

Atti is turning into quiet the mama's boy. If I don't give him enough attention before I leave, he'll immediately escape the pasture and follow me home. Thankfully he just wants to be recognized and stroked for a few minutes, nothing realllly over the top. But it is rather cute.
I'm working on getting him to "shake hands" with either front hoof. He hasn't quite figured it out yet, but he's gotten to the stage where he understands that he CAN shake hands with both front hooves, so that's something!

And that is basically today!


----------



## Wallaby

The goats and I went on another hike today! 

I splurged and decided to order Atticus dog hiking-backpack to wear - I figure he might as well do something to HELP when we got for walks! :lol: It's hard to drag my camera and clippers along, and it'd be nice to have a separate leash for Hazel "just in case", and, as it gets warmer, WATER!
That should be here on Monday. Hopefully it fits!

Anyway, I dragged my camera along this time so here you go.

Actually, first, a picture of last night's sunset! It had been pouring rain all day, then, right at sunset, the clouds kind of burst open and everything went nuts.



Hiking!



Atti jumping a stream.



Hazel saying "I'm stuckkkk on the other side of the stream! Save me!"



Atti learning about high-lining while I "saved" Hazel.



There were a TON of native plants out there. It was great! "Salmonberries", TONS of kinds of fern, "Candy Flowers", and so many more that I can't recall the names of.

Here's a neato fern!



Looking back. We had just climbed up that HUGE hill.



Turns out Hazel loves leading the way?



"Tired?? What's 'tired'???"




:happydance:


----------



## Endiku

He is going to be the best pack goat EVER.


----------



## Roperchick

Who needs a dog when you have Atti?! Haha trail goats=epic
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## SueC

Hey Wallaby, fostering can help. I adopted a 20-year-old, tiny Caspian mare last week who would otherwise have probably been put down because of space issues and not being able to find the right person for her. She's in no way a replacement for my mare, but all the same it's good to see her enjoying our terrain and getting to know her herd mates. The donkeys just love her and are so teddy-bear persistent that they want to hang out really close to her (donkeys live in each others' pockets), and Romeo and Sunsmart are perplexed that something can be the size of a little donkey but smell like a horse. They had taken the loss of the alpha mare very hard and it's given them something else to think about.

Hope the sun shines especially warm on your life.


----------



## tinyliny

A real Caspian? they are very rare, aren't they?


----------



## Endiku

It seems to depend on the area, Tinyliny. The barn I used to volunteer at had a caspian mare. I have no idea how they got her but she was papered. Talk about high energy! To be honest that mare is the only one I've ever seen or heard of in my area.


----------



## SueC

There's a Caspian stud up the road from us with quite a herd. This mare was not from that stud but had two foals by their stallions, and was a show pony / harness mare for her owner and her children. The feet are quite extraordinary, with some donkey characteristics - angles, hardness, frog characteristics. Caspians are classified as true horses, and have horse proportions, but are tiny. They are Persian and adapted to desert conditions, so will need to limit pasture access especially in spring, like I did for my Arabian mare.

Caspian horse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


----------



## jcraig10

Wow, I have missed a lot. Love the new pics of the goats in the forest - ahhh still so in love with the green-ness!

The amount of people that attend your church is so insane to me! I'm not sure that I've ever even seen one that big in person? That is more people than what went to my high school (lol). My town is small but I didn't think it was _that_ small! 

And...I think he totally likes you.


----------



## Wallaby

RIGHT, Endiku??! I'm really excited. Now that Hazel's feeling better, she's so calm about everything that she's really being a great example for Atti in new situations which is _totally_ what he needs since he is superrrr spooky. That's one of my main, real, concerns about him being a pack goat of any kind - he is SO spooky. And since he's probably 200lbs at this point...that ends up great. haha
But I figure that the more he gets out, the more things he sees, the better he'll be. I mean, even after just a couple months of Lacey's massage lady coming a couple times a week, he's hardly afraid of strangers anymore! He's still cautious, but he'll come up to people, sniff them, then decide if he wants to stick close to me or befriend them - no more panicking.
So I have hope. A little bit, at least! haha

YES, Christy!! He basically is my dog. <3 <3 My giant, adorable, horned, dog.  He's really different than a dog too, it's super fun.

Thanks SueC!  I got an offer today to do some petsitting for a little old couple who have 2 horses and some chickens. If that works out, tht might be a nice first horseyness.
I don't know, I'm having a really hard time with the whole do I/don't I horse-thing. 
On one hand, I want to foster...but on the other, I get attached to people/animals/things REALLY easily [part of why I don't drink, I have an addictive personality that could really get me into trouble] and I have "hoarding" tendencies which I've really been dealing with since Lacey left. The hoarding-ish-ness is 100% due to trying to "fill the void" so I'm working really hard to fill the void with goats and the outdoors and physical activities....and NOT saving every little bit of blah. 

So, since my gut instinct is "fill the hurt with another horse! Another goat! A friend! Cook food! Eat all the time! Get a dog!!!", I'm thinking I should hold off for a while.
But in a while! I definitely want to figure out something that helps a/some needy horses. 

YEAH YOU HAVE, Julia! [I feel like our friendship is getting real sassy and I love it, so just fyi. haha :hug: :lol: ] 
Haha! That's hilarious! I went to middle school with about that many, but my high school was closer to 1500. THAT was a transition! haha
But, you know, after going for so long, you start to "know" people. You might not know what their names are, but you know their faces. And that makes it feel smaller. 



Ok. Which to start with, goats or NG?

We're gonna start with NG cuz it's rather a lot depressing. (((

So the last time I talked to NG was on Thursday. I texted him some joke and he was all "haha!!" so it seemed like we were good.
Tuesday went great, we all know that. 
I figured Sunday/last night would be fab too, RIGHT??

WRONG.
First thing, he's really late to church and when I say hi, he's just like "hi." [he's usually a lot more "HI Emily!!! How was your week?!" etc]

Then, I was done greeting all the people in my section and he was kinda just standing there in his, so I went over there to talk cuz that's what we've been doing for the last few weeks.
He acts nice enough, laughs at a joke I made...but not really like he's happy to see me.
So I left.

THEN he went and sat by himself, so I texted him saying "hey, you could come sit with us if you wanted...or not. haha" - no response.
So I'm just like ok, whatever to myself.

Church happens...

Then, I realized something I was going to tell him, so I went to go tell him...and he was in the middle of something so I abandoned the mission and texted him instead. 
He responded back with a couple of words, so I'm all "ok, maybe things are fine" to myself.

And, since I was going to ask him if he wanted to have lunch again tomorrow [he invited me to all kinds of lunch last Tuesday and I think I unintentionally seemed unexcited], I texted him asking if he was busy on Tuesday and if he'd like to have lunch.

To which he didn't reply at all, ever.




SO whatever.
I don't need that kind of bleeeeeeep in my life. So I'll see him on Sunday but, until then, he's of no interest to me. Not in a mean way, but in a self-health way. 
if I try to hold on to whatever this is, I'm just going to worry and fret until Sunday...or until I text him something dumb. 
And I don't need to do that. I'm worth more than being ignored for...some unexplainable reason.

We still have the Kentucky Derby thing in a few weeks so he can run, but he can't hide. Muhahaha. 

Hopefully everything is ok in his life and hopefully we're all good.
I'm just gonna rein in the mind-horses for the time being.

Gman wants to "beat hm up" which is extra hilarious since Gman is basically the prettiest, gangliest boy y'all have ever seen. There is no way that Gman could take anyone.
But I appreciate the support. haha 





On to better news:

Atti's backpack arrived today!!!
I'm going to try it on him tonight. Pictures will be forthcoming.  It's pretty classy. I realllly like the bag so far! The chest straps might be a little short, we'll have to see.


AND, someoneeeeee escaped their pen this morning. What a little monster.
Escaped over the gate and tried to put themselves back in through the gate.
[going through the gate didn't work so well for him. hahaha]

What loveable trouble.


----------



## Endiku

NG could just be having a bad week. I know I'm a lot shorter with people than I mean to be with people when I'm down, and I tend to seclude myself if I'm down because otherwise I'll probably just cry or something- as opposed to a lot of my friends who immediately turn to someone else if they're having a bad time. Maybe NG is that way? Well, not the crying part, but you know xD 'lets be a hermit until my life is bueno again' way. 


Baaaaad Atti! By the way, how big do La Mancha/Alpines usually get? He is gigantic! The farm I used to volunteer at had some kind of giant goat, maybe a Boer- except I've never seen a meat goat that huge- and he HAD to have been over 300 lbs. He was bigger than the shetland ponies, and was easily 6' tall on his hind legs. I never knew goats could be so HUUUGE until I met him, and then there is Atti who is giant too! Wow wow wow. That monster goat (Montana) was a stinker too...he could escape ANYTHING and jump the moon, so we put him in a stud-panel (8') pen. Then he learned to open the gate. So we tied it. He WATCHED me tie the gate, waited until I left, and untied it. I tied it more complicated while he watched, (to the point where I wasn't sure I could even get him out...) and he got out again. I ended up using my jacket to blind fold him (I am so mean), tie the gate in three spots + add another latch, unblindfolded him, and scooted under the fence. Unfortunately he watched that too and followed me when he got the chance, and we sort of gave up and let him wander through whatever pens he wanted.

Goats. Can't live with them, can't live without them!


----------



## tinyliny

Sometimes a missed text message is just a missed text message.


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## Wallaby

True, Allyson! We'll see, I guess.
Atti IS huge! I had no idea goats got that big! :lol: But then I got him and he just started growing and didn't really stop?? :lol:
Since he's half LaMancha and half Alpine, it makes things a little confusing as to when he'll be done growing - LaManchas generally mature fast and are considered "grown" at 2, while Alpines tend to not mature until they're 4. 
My personal theory is that he's taken after his LaMancha-side physically and mentally took after his Alpine dad. He's not growing up so much any more [or, at least, it's slow growth], he seems to be mostly filling out nowadays.
However, mentally, he's a hugeeeee baby. HUGE. 
I think he's about 36 inches tall. That fence he has his head through is/was 4.5 feet tall, but Lacey smooshed down the top so it's only about 4ft tall anymore. And he weighs probably about 180-200lbs. 
He'll probably get chunkier as he fills out, but probably not a whole lot more. He'll always be lanky.  Not a brick on legs, like a Boer. haha


Good point, Caroline!

He did end up texting me back at like 6pm tonight, to say that he was busy tomorrow. So at least he texted back. 



Anyway, the moment you've been waiting for! Mr. Atti in his backpack!

He was SO not fan of it. But it's rare that he's immeditly a fan of anything, so I figure that at least he didn't hardcore panic.
We'll get there. 
I'm going to break out the treats next time and I'll just keep working with him+it until it's not a big deal. I figure that he'll probably love it once he puts it and hiking together. He LOVES hiking!











:happydance:

It fit perfectly! [I need to adjust the straps better but that'll come once he realizes that it's not planning his murder]


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## tinyliny

He's probably still getting over having due-colored tennis balls on his horns. cut him some slack!


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## jcraig10

Atti, enough with the cute faces! Get bigger ...as in big like a horse...so I can ride you. We would have so much fun.

I was driving down the road the other day and there was a horse, a goat & a sheep...I was like awwwwww Atti & Hazel! ....even though I know Hazel isn't a sheep. She could disguise herself as one if she wanted to. ....before you sheared her. 

Anywho - I am agreeing with everyone else and saying that NG probably just had an off/bad day...and cuteness will resume. Let us know. Let us know. Let us know. The suspense.......


Wait - did I just say "isn't a sheep"? Is that even correct? Is one sheep still sheep? Omg.


----------



## Wallaby

You're probably right, Caroline!  I can't wait to put new ones on him this summer! He's gonna LOVE that. Hahahaha 

Julia- Hahaha! I've seen pictures of parents putting their little kids on the backs of their large goats! I kinda feel like that's very similar to riding a mini though so I'm not superrrr on board... :lol:

I think a sheep is just a sheep...WEIRD. I guess like moose and moose?? :shock:



Ok, so the property owners of Lacey/the goats' pasture offered to buy Lacey a grave marker.
And they're asking me to tell them what I'd like written on it as soon as possible.

And I don't know what to have written on it?
I want it to be unique but appropriately "us"...

So far I'm thinking:
Lacey
1985-March 28, 2014

.....then I get stuck.

So many things I could write:
Sassypants,
A soulmate never dies,
Unicorn among horses,
Beloved by all,
You made me brave,
........
Maybe "Sassypants: forever a unicorn among horses"??
That sounds pretty good and sums her up, kinda?
They didn't give me any kind of letter/word limit but I figure it should be short?

If any of you have brilliant suggestions, PLEASE TELL ME!


----------



## Kayella

One of my favorite horsey quotes is 

"Bread may feed my body, but my horse feeds my soul." 

It has a way of saying that you were merely only sustaining before you met Lacey, and that she helped you flourish mentally and spiritually. 

Orrrr:

"To the world, you may be just another horse. But to me, you are the world." 

Spinoff of some Brad Paisley lyrics, yeeeaaa.


----------



## Endiku

If it needs to be really short, I think "You made me brave" is really sweet. Or maybe, "Thank you for making me brave, my Sassy Unicorn." After all, it really does seem like she was what gave you the confidence to be YOU, and that is such a huge thing.

How absolutely sweet of the pasture owners.


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## jcraig10

How thoughtful of them! I'm not so good with words, but I do know that something will come to you and it will just feel right.


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## Roperchick

go with whatever the first one is that popped into your head.

as soon as they said you could have a grave marker there what was the first words you thought of....usually the right ones


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## Wallaby

I love those Kayella!! Thanks!

Thanks Allyson! I like that!

Right, Julia? I'm ok with strings of words, but give me a 5 word limit and I'm at a loss. :lol:

Maybe "Together we became brave"... 
I don't know, when I first met her, she was spooky as all get-out. It always seemed like the longer we were together, the more comfortable we both became in our own skins. I always talk about how she changed me, but looking back over videos we took over the years, she was clearly more anxious in year 1 than she was in February.

Hm, I like that a lot.
I think I'll go with that one. It sums up our relationship but doesn't end it, you know?

1. I've started having dreams everynight where I'm hugging Lacey.
Where she's hugging me like she always loved to - she'd stick her head over my shoulder and rest her throatlatch on my shoulder, and I'd wrap my arms around her neck and bury my head in her neck.
In my dreams, she's all furry like she is in the winter, and we just hug and hug and hug.

They're those really real dreams and I've been waking up not sure if the thing I've woken into is the real [bad] dream or real life.

On one hand, I'm so glad she's made it back into my dreams...but on the other, it makes me really miss her.
She lived in my dreams before I knew her, lived in my life while she was here, and now she's returned to my dreams.

2. I did something really crazy, guys.
Really, really crazy.

Last night I was on Craigslist and I saw an ad looking for a summer trail ride guide, for beach rides.
And I applied.
And they called me.
And I have an interview next Friday at 2:30pm [May 2nd].

WHAT???!!

If I get it, that means I would have to move to the beach for the summer [it's about 2 hours from y house now to this place] and do all kinds of other crazy things. 
But I figure that a] this is the summer after I get out of college=time to do something i won't be able to do again once I'm more tied down, b] can't get it if I don't apply, c] it's something Lacey would have approved of and I would have never been even able to consider that kind of move/anything while she was still here, and d] I've spent the last 23 years of my life being safe and predictable, maybe it's time to do something unexpected.

So anyway.

I'm kinda really excited. I mean, I only submitted the application last night at like 9pm and I already have an INTERVIEW??
And I get to ride in the interview.
I'm really glad that's part of the interview, but I'm also a little nervous - I haven't ridden in.....over a month?? That's probably the longest I've gone without riding in many many years - longer than I had Lacey.

Anyway, wish me luck.
I'm not sure if I really want it [who'll look after the goats, etc] but it should be fun either way!


3. This video of Hazel and Atti.

LOOK AT HAZEL RUN!! MSM seriously has to be magic, or something.






4. This drawing.
Earth Day was yesterday - Happy Earth Day!











5. NG liked a post of mine on Facebook. So apparently we're still that much of friends?? 
Whatever. 
I'm happy about it though! At the very least, he's a really fun friend and you can never have too many of those.

BUT I'm not over-analyzing it. :wink:




TODAY AS BEEN CRAZY!!

:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Endiku

oooooh, summer trail guide on a BEACH? Yes. Good luck with your interview- I know they'll love you! I mean come on. 

Don't worry about logistics yet- if this is meant to be, God will work it out and someone will step up to take care of your trouble makers...er...I mean, perfect citizens.


----------



## tinyliny

I would so take that job if I was you. you'll be challenged, though, dealing with so many people who either know nothing about horses , or think they do, but don't.


----------



## SueC

Great drawing! Fingers crossed for that job, sounds just the thing.


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## tinyliny

don't you just LOVE Emily's drawings? I keep hastling her to put them in the book that I keep hastling her to write. by the time she writes it, she will have to put me in the [email protected]!


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## gunslinger

One the stone marker, how about "much loved horse of Wallaby" ?

Also, if you take the job, who'll care for your goats?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Endiku

I'll live in her friendly neighbor's field in a tent for the summer and take care of them o.o


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## jcraig10

Endiku said:


> oooooh, summer trail guide on a BEACH? Yes. Good luck with your interview- I know they'll love you! I mean come on.
> 
> Don't worry about logistics yet- if this is meant to be, God will work it out and someone will step up to take care of your trouble makers...er...I mean, perfect citizens.


what she said!

I wish that I would have done something for *me* like this after college...instead I went straight to work and now I'm 4 years into the "real world" with a full time office job and a house and it just really isn't fun! :shock: So I'd say if you get the chance to do something great & exciting then DO IT!


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## Wallaby

Ah! Thanks you guys!

From the online reviews, it looks like the place is just walk/trot which is so nice! At lest there shouldn't be cantering fools! haha

That's kinda my perspective too, Allyson. If this job is the plan, doors will open. If it's not the plan, doors won't! 
It'd be one thing if Lacey were here and needed her usual high-level of summertime care, but the goats are really low-maintenance and could probably do ok with a single daily check, or a check every few days...and it wouldn't necessarily have to be be me doing it since their needs, unlike Lacey's needs, require very little special experience.
Also, PLEASE come live in the pasture.  You'd love it. The goats would love you! 
Actually, you can come live in my house. We have an extra bedroom! And my family knows alllll about the whole food/life-allergies everything. 

Haha, thanks Caroline and SueC. 

Gunslinger, I'm not going to worry about that just yet. If I go there and it's the best place ever and I get the job, then I'll think about that. But, for now, it's just an adventure.
But I knoww! The idea of even considering this is nerve-wracking. However, I ALWAYS get in my own way by assuming I can't do something/won't be able to manage/won't be good enough/etc or I find problems [like "who'll take care fo the goats! I can't leave them!"] and let "maybe"'s hold me back. 
This time, whatever the outcome, I'm going to have a "crazy" dream and I'm going to follow through...no matter how much I want to say "no! This is scary and new! I want to be safe and comfortable!" 
I'll be able to at least say I tried and I didn't give up.

If it doesn't work out, at least I'll have gained a trip to the beach with one of my oldest friends+her dog AND gotten to horseback ride on the beach. It's a win-win! 

Julia, YOU HAVE A HOUSE!!?? Well that's just awesome! I'm impressed. Most of the people I know, in their 20's, either still live at home or have 40 billion roommates. It's probably cuz 1. it's Portland and 2. those kinds of jobs just don't exist here for young people...but still!! YOU HAVE A HOUSE!!?! Well PLAYED.

There is not a whole lot to report. I guess I'm kind bored. haha

Oh! But look at US! We're on to the 100th page of this journal and 7 posts away from 1000 posts?? WHAT?! Hollllla. Look at us go!


Yesterday I had my first appointment with a "counselor" to deal with my *stuff*. Just talking to someone was good. It wasn't really due to any one thing, but a lot of things happened when I was growing up that I've been unable to let go of and I _know_ they're affecting me now - in how I relate to people, how I deal wit the world, how I view myself...and I want to be more than the things that happened. 
The counselor pronounced me fixable and "a delightful young lady"...so I guess that's good? haha 
Hopefully we'll get some stuff figured out!

In other news, I put Atti's "backpack" on him again and he did MUCH better this time. We did a little desensitization last time before I took it off [strap touching his belly, he stands still, treat, repeat, no treat if he moves, etc], and it really seemed to help this time! This time he got way less excited about it! 
I did more strap desensitization with him tis time before actually putting it on so I'm sure that helped. Before buckling anything, I made sure to "pretend" buckle it, and gave him treats for standing still, at least 4 times with each strap. 
He still didn't *love* it, but he didn't panic!

I DID take the bag part off so the only "new" thing was really the straps under his belly. I decided that added, though very light, weight on his back AND the new-concept of belly straps might be too much. Luckily, the compartments on this pack are velcroed on=removable.
So I'm gonna work at getting him totally chill with the backpack base, THEN add the pack part.

He was *clearly* thrilled. 
But, his pupils are way less dilated=less aroused/worried so yay!

He wore it eating breakfast. I figure that eating with it on is a good exercise - the straps will pull "funny" on his body, but he's doing something relaxing and rewarding and, at least in his case, he can't eat AND worry.



And some deer that were in the pasture this morning:


----------



## SueC

Wallaby said:


>


:rofl:

This is priceless, Emily. Never seen anything like it before. We had goats when I was a kid. Thanks for the great photo!


----------



## Endiku

This reminds me of those pictures people post of their kids, 'first day of school!' haha. Atti is going to pack-goat school! <3 so cute. And I'm sure it is great for his mind to always be stimulated. Seems like the less people do with their goats, the more trouble they find.


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## Wallaby

:lol: anytime, SueC!! I'm glad it gave you a laugh. Atti and his backpack always makes me chuckle too. 

So true, Allyson!! That's actually half of why I started training him to do things - he was always getting into trouble and I really wanted to teach him what wrong behaviors were and what acceptable ones were...and that kind of morphed into this! haha I never anticipated him being much more than _just_ Lacey's friend...but it's actually turned out that he's MY friend too. 
I love the "first day of school" analogy, he'd probably agree. haha


Speaking of Atticus, THIS:

[my camera was definitely metering off Atticus so my shoes/Hazel look like they're made of light...love it. haha]







AH! He's a genius!

I'm thinking I need to work on my talking to him ["good boy" really doesn't need to be said 50 times after things he knows well, but hey - learning process!] but otherwise I think I'm pleased with how he's coming along.

:happydance:


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## tinyliny

i love how his little tail goes waggedy-wag when he knows he DID IT!


----------



## Wallaby

Right, Caroline?! He's such a sweetheart. And he tries so hard! I just love how much he tries.
And his tail is a really nice "get-it"-meter. When he understand a cue, he wags when he does it right...but if he doesn't understand the cue yet and isn't really sure what I'm looking for, he doesn't wag his tail really at all. He's cute. 
He really makes me wonder what other goats could be, if more goats were trained...you know?

I mean, he had a rough start that definitely colors his perception of the world - what if he had had a perfect start AND got this kind of training? 
Also, why aren't there Guide Goats?! I feel like a goat could, perhaps, make a better guide animal than the guide horses people have..? Why horses but not goats? 
After all, there are goats that are naturally small enough [no dwarfism issues] and Angora goats, like Hazel, are about the size of a Lab and incredibly laidback...of course, it'd have to be an Angora mix to avoid the shearing thing but that's not hard!

Haha Guide Goats...my new calling in life. :wink:


SO, I put Atti's backpack on him again yesterday and it went really well! He's totally chill about the straps now - YAY! 
He gets a little panicky when I remove it and have to pull the chest piece over his head, but I'm sure that'll fade with repetition. 

Hazel's doing SO WELL! Guys, she is chubby, she is playing, she is GALLOPING, she is JUMPING stuff that's in her way...I do not even know. Go Hazel!
I'm really happy for her!
Her hooves are looking fab [at least her front ones, her back hooves are never going to be "normal"] too - Lacey's hoof trimmer has been doing them every 5 weeks since November-ish and this is the first time in Haze's life that she's actually getting regular "correct" hoof care. So that's cool and I'm sure it's not hurting anything! Her front hooves are actually starting to be really upright, like goat hooves should be. It's wonderful!



So.

Onto the part half of you have probably been waiting for: NG.

I am currently conflicted.

Last night he was a little stand-offish, but friendlier than the week before. So that was good.
He reminded me more than once that our Kentucky Derby thing is next Saturday and, when I told him we needed to discuss that [I needed more info, etc], he actually sought me out after church and made sure we talked about it.

HOWEVER.
I think I found the reason for his behavior last week: I told you guys that he's going to Tennessee for the summer, right? He got some job and everything kind of worked out perfectly for him to go there [he did his undergraduate at some college there].
Turns out that, after we had lunch, he found out he would be moving to Tennessee for a YEAR. That the job had been extended from just the summer to a YEAR. And he's leaving on June 15th.

So I guess I can see that. 
I mean, I'd probably do the same thing if I were in his shoes. If he were to, hypothetically, have feelings for me and something happened where we became a thing, it would basically automatically be a long-distance thing. And that'd put a lot of stress on everything. After all, we only met 4 months ago! 
The "logical" thing would be to throw some distance between us now, here, so it's easier to leave.

So that really makes a lot of sense.
I would do the same thing.
And it also makes sense that he couldn't just _tell_ me that. I wish he _had_ just told me. But I can understand.

HOWEVER. 
Things got interesting again.
Yesterday I texted him a question about the KDerby and he didn't respond. So I was kinda "ok, whatever."

Then, today, he posted on my Facebook status "write a book." [which is what he posted on a different status last week..Caroline, he's a gentleman after your heart? :wink: ]

And not even 10 minutes after THAT, I got a text from him saying that his friend who was gonna come with us to the KD had accidentally made other plans and that it sounded like I was pretty busy too [at church I told him about the interview and how those two things back-to-back were gonna be stresssfullll], then stated that he was gonna be busy on Saturday morning too, and asked me if I wanted to get lunch tomorrow. :rofl: :rofl:
Then, 15 minutes later he texted me again to say that the Preakness is in a few weeks and maybe we could plan on going to that instead.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

WHAT IS HAPPENINGGGG??

So I lost the Kentucky Derby thing, gained lunch tomorrow, and gained the Preakness??

OH MY GOSH. Why can't I like normal people??
Well, ok, I wouldn't like NG if he was "normal" - let's be real. I like him cuz he makes no sense and makes me laugh and makes my mind feel funny.
But REALLY?

To quote Gman: "oh geez. So much confusion that man is causing..." 
Gman doesn't even know the HALF of it.

So I really don't know. But I guess I'm having lunch with NG tomorrow? It was great before, I'm really looking forward to it.


Let's see how many times he brings up marriage. :wink: :lol: :lol:


[ETA: 999th post!! Whoever posts next gets 1000! This is so exciting! I never thought this journal would last this long! LOVE. IT.]


----------



## Roperchick

Boom 1000! 

Haha I love Atti videos. He's gonna be the most well trained goat EVER.


But NG....so confusing. Lol
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## tinyliny

shoot! she beat me to it! what was the prize, Roper?

Wallaby, don't get distracted with NG. I know that sounds blunt, but if he is far away, a relationship like that will be too "cosy" for you. you'd love nothing more than a relationship with the safety of being carried on via texting/letters; the distant security of text, as opposed to the reality of flesh.

with Lacey's passing, you have a great opportunity to take the time and energy to focus on yourself. it's a kind of momentum that can be lost in comfortable familiarity. move outward, with gusto.


----------



## Wallaby

Christy! Yay! 
He might be..though I know they clicker train the goats at the zoo here so maybe not? But the zoo-goats tricks are things like pushing a button/standing on their hind legs - that sort of thing. 
I'm certainly training him differently than I've ever seen a goat be trained! 1 point for me! haha

I agree, Caroline! So so much! 
Like you said, a long distance relationship could be really comfortable for me BUT it wouldn't be all that good for me. I'm aware of that..as much as I want to be blissfully unaware. 
Who knows what a year from now will hold, but right now I'm finding me. 
Change is scary, but don't worry, I'm falling headlong into change. I'm choosing everything that isn't the easy way...or _trying_ to choose _almost_ every choice that isn't precisely comfortable. :lol:


----------



## tinyliny

who's worried? not me.


----------



## Endiku

Oh geez, typical guy. I don't know why they can't just come out and say important things, but they can't! Or at least, some of them can't. I had the same general thing happen with me last year. My best friend in the world (who happened to be awkward and kind of geeky but the best) found out that his family was moving to LONDON of all places before the end of the school year, for two years- or possibly forever. He was super excited because he aspires to be a musician and got accepted into a prestigious music academy there, but he didn't know how to break the news to me apparently. He literally told everyone except me, and I had nooo idea until one of our teachers asking me why he wasn't in class, and another friend who he wasn't as close to mentioned him packing. So I called him, practically pried the information from him, and found out he was leaving in 3 weeks and he 'meant to tell me but didn't know how because its awful'. So I can kind of relate. And honestly, we'd both liked each other for a while but after I realized how bad he was at just TELLING me things, and then that he was moving for a long time...or forever, I realized it just wouldn't have worked. We're still friends, but it sort of put things in perspective for me, you know? It helped me realize what I'm really looking for if that makes sense, and I've had a lot more time to focus on growing me than on working on a relationship of sorts.

That doesn't totally apply to you, but whatever xD you're a super strong person and I definitely respect your ability to make choices with your eyes open and to see the good in every outcome. That is such a great way to be. I was so upset about my friend leaving for a while, but it is really neat to see the WHY in things that happen, down the road. Makes you go 'oh, that makes so much sense!'

By the way, you seriously do need to train seeing eye goats. It would be so perfect. They're way more agile than horses!


----------



## Wallaby

Oh good, Caroline. :wink:

HA! Allyson! I totally get that story. 
It really reminded me of my brother - we've always been super close but, I don't know, I guess he really doesn't want me to ever be disappointed in him? Anyway, he was dating this girl named Emily and knew I didn't really like her, but that I liked her cuz he liked her [not to mention the whole "Emily" debacle..]. He never told me how serious things were so I just kind of assumed she was a passing thing.

Then he asked her to marry him and she said yes.
He didn't know how to tell me that he had gotten engaged so, even though he was still living at home with our parents and I, HE DIDN'T TELL ME FOR FOUR MONTHS!!
I actually found out from MUTUAL FRIENDS that my own brother was ENGAGED. 

At the time, man, it hurt. A lot. But, looking back, I can see why he didn't tell me. I'm sure he was worried I'd freak out and he didn't want to have to chose between his sister or his future-wife [which, for the record, would not have happened]...but dang.
Oh men. haha


Speaking of "oh men"...

Poor NG. He's done. I'm not even gonna use any more energy on that one. I'm still gonna be his friend...for the next month, but yeahhh.

I mean, I am in no way perfect and I can accept a multitude of faults, but dear ol' NG was already skating on thin ice post-church-ignoring-debacle and lunch yesterday was bad.

I don't know, I feel terrrible saying that, but I think I need to draw the line somewhere. Otherwise, I'm just gonna chase every Tom, ****, and Harry that might be nice to me because "they could turn around" or whatever. I can make excuses for other people's behavior for days, but sometimes it's probably important to stop making excuses for others and say "this isn't right."

And that's what I'm doing here.

He's a SUPER nice guy...just super immature.

He was late to lunch because "a cool band was playing in the park and he got distracted", and he tried to rectify that by RUNNING to meet me [which, granted, was really adorable].

Then he kept making those...you know half-compliments that people say? Where they're thinking something and it comes out really bad but they commit to trying to tell you that it's realllly a good thing? 
I mean, I do that alll the time too...but two people who do that probably aren't the best mix.

For instance, he said to me "this is gonna sound terrible...but I really don't mean it like that: you're really funny in person, but you're TEN TIMES funnier in writing. I really want you to write a book so I can read it."
[which was, granted, really funny to me..and it's really accurate. Buuuuut still not really something someone wants to hear: "you're kind of a letdown in person..."]

Then, I was asking him about what people, in his experience, wore to the racetrack for a race and he said to me "well, some people wear gowns and fancy stuff. Other people look like they've just been rolling around in mud. I know you would _never_ dress up though! You're probablyyy gonna wear those Converse, jeans, and some really cool t-shirt that has something really funny on it"


Which, ok, after typing all these things out, they really don't sound thattt bad. BUT he has me in such a box. Maybe that's just what people do, but I'm always getting shoved into the "funny girl who never dresses up" box and I just don't feel like I fit there! 

I don't know, I guess it really goes back to the fact that I want people to see that I love nature, that animals make me happy, that being funny is just a front for who I really am, that I love a good pun more than anything, that I love colors, that I don't dress up cuz I hate dressing up...I LOVE dresses..I don't dress up because I can see all the things I dislike about myself when I do/I end up feeling like I tried, and failed, to be pretty.

Anyway, that went really sideways of where I _had_ been going..but it's still accurate. 
I feel like NG has me situated in a tidy little box inside his head and I'm not gonna get out of that box without a LOT more effort than it's probably worth.

Then, a little after 1pm, he checked his phone and was all "DARN. I was supposed to meet someone at 1! Gotta go!" and he pretty much ran off.

I guess it made me feel like that was a pity-lunch, instead of something he actually wanted to do. 

And you know me, nothing I hate more than being a passing entertainment/subject of pity. :lol: 
But really. 

The thing is that, at church, he acts SO mature and grown up....but every time I've seen him completely removed from all church business, it's like this big switch flips and he turns into a 15 year old boy. I DON'T GET IT.

For the record - I was talking like a huge ditz yesterday too and I probably said some things I shouldn't have, but still. At least I'm "hilarious in writing and wear cool tshirts" :wink: :lol:

Oh well.



On the plus side of all this:
1. At least he IS going away in a month. That means I can be friendly until he leaves and no hard feelings if we never speak again. That would certainly be sad, I like him as a person, but it is convenient.

2. This all has helped get me thoroughly over Gman. I love Gman like a brother now, but that's really it. No more co-dependency there, I'm over it.


So I dunno, this whole thing with NG really bums me out but it's for the best. 

On the plus side, the next couple of days are supposed to be BEAUTIFUL weather and I baked brownies to take to the beach on Friday! haha :happydance:


----------



## SueC

Hey Emily, I didn't meet the right guy till my mid-30s. Knowing that would have freaked me out in my early 20s, when I used to think life ended at 30. :rofl: Looking back, I had to figure out who I was and learn to live with myself before I could be in the kind of relationship I was aspiring to. I lived in my head too much when I was young, and went round in circles and second-guessed myself and over-analysed things and didn't trust my observations or gut reactions (which were actually in hindsight usually correct), and it made me vulnerable to putting up with quite a bit of BS in my personal sphere. You've got lots of time, and you'll probably be a lot happier still in your 40s than in your 20s!  And you'll still be you essentially, not a boring person, as teenagers like to think all people over 30 must necessarily be (because they don't think Justin Bieber can sing, or some such equally convincing reason! ;-)).​


----------



## jcraig10

Wallaby said:


> Then, I was asking him about what people, in his experience, wore to the racetrack for a race and he said to me "well, some people wear gowns and fancy stuff. Other people look like they've just been rolling around in mud. I know you would _never_ dress up though! You're probablyyy gonna wear those Converse, jeans, and some really cool t-shirt that has something really funny on it"


EW. WHO SAYS THAT?! time to have some YOU time...the beach sounds like a perfect place for it...and brownies. Brownies solve everything.


----------



## gunslinger

I think the problem is you're putting all your eggs in one basket.

I suggest having 3 or 4 interesting young fellows instead of one. That way you won't have time to worry about the mannerism's of an individual suitor......it's called playing the field.....


----------



## Endiku

Wowwwww o.o I'm pretty sure my Dad's brother did something similar to your brother- decided to get married, got married, said nothing about it for months...haha. I'm starting to think there is a trend here.

Guys. Who needs 'em? Not us!
Well ok maybe. You know, for squashing roaches and loading hay...stuff like that! 

If it makes you feel any better I'm again practically your twin- I don't not dress up because I hate it, I don't dress up because I feel weird/gangly in anything but my t-shirts. Oh, and I'm definitely more interesting to talk to via computer than in real life, because I always think of funny things AFTER the conversation has passed otherwise...hahaha.


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Sue [can I just call you Sue, is Sue your name? haha  ] !! That helps me have some perspective. I appreciate it. 

RIGHT, Julia??!!! I know he was probably "just" trying to be funny, BUT STILL. Not respectful and NOT OK. Definitely time for some me-time!!

Ha, gunslinger, if onlyyyy it were that easy. I'm sure you're right though, I'm sure that would help.
However, I'm not the type of girl that has multiple guys interested in her at any given time. I've never had a boyfriend, and good ol' NG here is about as close to real "dating" as I've ever gotten.
I've had a couple of guys hit me up to see how "easy" I'd be, but that was years ago and they, clearly, got shut downnnn.
It seems like guys are traditionally more interested in me before they know me. And I really don't know why that is. I don't thinkkkk I have any major personality flaws that would cause that to be the case - at least, my friends who I've known for years and would tell it like it is, claim that the guy is "never good enough" or some such thing and the guy knew it=why he backed off.

I've been told that I'm "intimidating"...but I really don't mean to be? I'm simply nice, polite, tell jokes, and bake people stuff. I've also heard that I'm "too perfect" but I'm reallllly not?
And I guess I don't really have that "vibe" that some girls have...that vibe that the girls/women who attract men have...... 

ANYWAY. Having more than one interested party is a great idea..but I don't think that'll ever happen to me. haha But great idea. :wink: I'll think more on it. Maybe I'm accidentally shutting down interest because I'm focused in one area too much...


HA!!!! ALLYSON!!! How are we so similar??!!!! THE BEST.
I'm exactly the same way on the computer. The only reason I can be really funny in writing is that I've spent 15 minutes revising everything into the "perfect" thing! :lol:
:hug:



GUYS. 
The pasture owners gave me Lacey's finished grave marker today.

I LOVE IT.
It couldn't be more perfect.

They did the embellishments up at the top as a surprise and they're perfect. Intertwined horseshoes, intertwined like our hearts, pointing up to "hold" our luck? 

PERFECT. 
I can't even.


----------



## jcraig10

loveloveloveeee. That was so sweet of them.


----------



## gunslinger

The headstone is really beautiful....I hope I have one as nice....not that it'll matter....and not to soon, of course.

As far as guys go....I think you're trying to hard.....quit looking, have fun, and things will happen. Frankly, I'd slow down a bit and just enjoy doing your own thing......get significant others involved and life becomes a compromise.....

So, after 30 years I can tell you......to keep something like this going...you have to care more about the other person than you do yourself. Dangerous isn't it? I gave blood the other day...the lady asked me what size tee shirt I wanted.....so I told her...well, the DW wears a medium so I guess I'll have one of those.....small stuff matters too....

Life for most young people is all about them.....so it's hard to have a relationship when it's all about me......get two people, each all about themselves and it makes it darn near impossible....

Unto everything there is a time and a place.

Your time is now, but for other things....first....does that make sense?


----------



## Chevaux

Lovely marker, Wallaby. If it is not inappropriate, please thank the owners on my behalf for recognizing the importance you and Lacey played in each others' lives and being thoughtful enough to give the marker in remembrance of it.


----------



## Endiku

So.

How about that interview?!


----------



## Wallaby

Julia, I knowwwww. The kindest thing ever! 

If an opportunity arises, I will sure thank them on your behalf, Chevaux!

They're such kind people. Definitely "interesting" at times, but always well-intentioned and well-meaning. 
Lacey really made sure I got to meet a lot of really wonderful people - the pasture owners, ALL of you guys...DANG. That horse. 



THE INTERVIEW. Guys, the interviewwwww.

I could so go either way on this. I really have no idea.

And I'm still so tired [7 hours of traveling yesterday, 3 hours of riding...5 hours of sleep] so this might be all kinds of non-nonsensical. But I'm gonna try.

First, the drive to the beach was GORGEOUS. So so pretty!

We were late getting started and we took a number of solid breaks going there [my friend who came too brought her dog and he isn't the world's best traveler - this was his first "longer than an hour" car trip] so we ended up pulling in to the place/stable right at 2pm.

My interview wasn't until 2:30 but I went in anyway and they were a-ok with me being there early.

First they had me read the employee manual and asked me to write down any/all questions I could think of. Which, for me, wasn't hard! haha I can alwaysssss come up with more questions!

I made sure to ask about their training philosophies and such. Wonderful thing - they believe in "wet saddle blanket"-type training. No "beating" the horses into submission, just lots of work.
The guy was very eager to outline their whole training program for me and I really liked what I heard.
He told me that they wanted me to feel free to ask any questions that I could think of and that they were always open to entertaining suggestions [something that's good! Cuz I have questions AND suggestions, always. hahaha].

While I was there, they had a group of little girls there for Pony Club and I was able to spend a lot of time talking with them. I tried to ask them a lot of questions about what they're learning, etc, because kids will give you the straight info [just to make sure the guy^ wasn't just reading off the "right" answers or something].
And the kids pretty much backed up everything that the guy said. 
So that was excellent!


Then, I was sent with another guy to make sure I could catch, saddle, and bridle a horse. HA. Of course.
So I did that!

THEN, I guess the office messed up and miscalculated the number of riders for the ride I went on so there was a sudden flurry of preparation to get 5-6 more horses ready to go. I got to help saddle quite a few of those horses and I got to watch how the worker-people all interacted together.

I made a new little friend:





Then I got to watch as people were mounted onto horses.

I got to ride a little brown Arab named Woody. hahaha
He was real adorable.

We rode down a little trail, across the highway, then through a park, across the dunes, and onto the beach.







We got to walk and trot on the beach, no cantering. [GOOD.]
One of the girls who worked there told me to do some trotting, that she wanted to see me ride, so good ol' Woody and I obliged. 
1. That horse had a real rough trot.
2. I haven't done that much posting in MONTHS.
3. I'm really sore now.
4. HE TRIED TO RUN AWAY WITH ME. However, I shut him down and it was alll good. 
But, GUYS, I CANTERED A STRANGE HORSE [for 2 steps, butttt stillllll]. And I wasn't even scared! :happydance:

So that all went pretty well.

Then we got to the turn around spot and people got to have their pictures taken. I chilled on mah' horse.



Then we went back to the barn.

I got my own pair of guests to look after. hahaha





So I really don't know what I'd choose if they offered the job to me.
I loved it [it was just like that camp I used to work at! Minus horomonal/screaming children] but there were also aspects I disliked.

Cons:
There's the whole moving thing.
There's the goat thing.
There's needing to get a "new" car cuz my van would probably die 15 miles into the journey.
There's the fact that pretty much all the horses had Tom Thumb bits and most didn't neckrein [I can half understand this because, for non-riders in an unconfined area, stopping power is probably good...buuuuut still.]
The whole place smelled like stale cigarettes.
There were parts of the job that didn't look all that great [helping the horses cross the highway, walking on foot]..but even the best job has those!
SO MANY of the horses were stopping and eating during the ride.
1 out of 4 the 4 people I'd be working with might be the worst. She was one of those show-off-y type girls [she's the owner's granddaughter]=disliked her. But she wasn't as bad as she could have been! Just more of a "I'm going to make this horse misbehave so I can look like SUCH A COOL RIDER"-type rider.

Pros:
3 out of 4 people I'd really be working with seemed really cool. 
The horses all had really decent hoofcare.
They were all in really good condition - weight and fitness level. Not too fat, not too skinny.
The horses had TONS of room for turnout.
There were plenty of horses so no one horse got overused.
Saddle fit was super emphasized.
The horses all clearly had had a lot of time devoted to their training - they all stood for mounting, stood [unhaltered] for bridling.
All the employees I talked to seemed to really enjoy working there - they were into the job and not burned out or sullen.

The guy said I would probably hear from them within 48 hours. AH! So stressful!!

Anyway, I almost hope they don't offer me a job because how am I going to choooooose??
Would it be bad, f they offer it to me, to ask them if I can have a week to decide?
Cuz I kinda feel like, if it's right, those thing^ [where to live, what to do with the goats, a car, etc] should kinda fall into place. And, if it's not right, they won't. 
I don't know, I would feel bad accepting and then being all "just kidding" if things didn't work out...?

I guess we'll see.

I WOULD enjoy the riding though!!


----------



## Cherrij

I would think it is a good job for you!
Of course it is hard to move away from home, but it can be worth it (I spent 4 years in a different country from my family and friends, came back sane, but also full of experiences and all kinds of treasures).
You would get to ride in a nice place, and you can always leave if you think it is getting too much for you. 
Is there anyone who can take care of yours goats? I mean for summer they don't need much right? Can your parents keep and eye on them? or your neighbor?


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## Roperchick

I bet you gould teach NG to look after them *wink* haha

it sounds FANTASTIC and I personally think you should jump on it if you get the chance....all those things, (housing transportation etc) are going to happen eventually and if you can do it with support from your family and friends etc then itll all work out!


----------



## gunslinger

It sounds like a fun summer job......I've chased coins all over the globe... I've had some great adventures for sure...I made a lot of money doing it, but I've also had my share of heart ache over it as well. 

Here's a couple of things to keep in mind. 

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

There's no place like home. (Just ask Dorothy).

It's the devil you know, versus, the devil you don't know.....and the devil is always in the details.

Follow your heart and let it be your guide. You'll never go wrong that way...


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## jcraig10

Anxious to hear what you decide.


----------



## gunslinger

jcraig10 said:


> Anxious to hear what you decide.


Me too....I'm pretty sure, that what ever you decide....it'll be the right decision.....

One more thing....

Nothing ventured....nothing gained.....

One question you might ask....Can I bring my goats? That would solve one issue anyway.....and give you some comfort too...


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## egrogan

gunslinger said:


> One question you might ask....Can I bring my goats? That would solve one issue anyway.....and give you some comfort too...


I was wondering this too- I'm sure it's a busy facility, so it may not be something they are open to, but seems like it would be good to ask. I would definitely play up the training they have since some people might automatically think goats=nuisance.


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## Amba1027

Oh yes! Ask if you can bring the goats!


----------



## Endiku

You can give "Atti trick shows"! haha. I'm not sure if that would be too stressful for Hazel though?


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## Wallaby

I think I'd have to agree with Allyson/Endiku on the "bringing the goats" idea - Atti would probably be fine, but I think it might be too much stress for Hazel. The only time I've ever seen her hold weight well or be really happy has been now, after Lacey's gone. I have to guess that something about Lacey [Haze had never been around a horse, ever, until I brought them home] or something about the constant stream of people in and out didn't inspire her to feel safe.
And Lacey was the gentlest horse evvvver. She was dominant over Hazel, but she wasn't mean and Hazel could easily get away. A different horse=potentially not so much.

There's also the fact that Atti tends to get aggressive if he gets overly stressed. I can avoid incidents with him cuz I know him, but I wouldn't feel safe leaving him around other people who don't know him or think he'll "get over it," you know?
And he really doesn't have to be cornered to get mean, he just has to feel cornered - ie, someone repeatedly trying to touch him after he tried to get away once, etc. He's not vicious-mean, it's just "I'm really scared and you aren't listening when I ask you to give me space so maybe you'll get the message if I use my horns."

Anyway, I don't really think either one of them would do super well in a busy scenario unless there was a reliable pattern and they were surrounded by "safe" people.

I hope that Atti will get better as he sees more of life and meets more people...but, right now, he could end up being really dangerous if the wrong things happened.

It's mostly due to his "upbringing" - before I got him at 6 months old, he was basically unhandled except for when he was wethered/neutered. Goats and dogs have a similar "young life trajectory" - there's various socialization periods they go through and after about 3 or 4 months, it becomes much more difficult to have well-adjusted animal. 

It's not impossible, of course, it's just way harder.

Many people will bottlefeed their baby goats just to ensure proper socialization and friendliness...if that gives you any idea. haha

So Atti is doing incredibly, given where he started....but he IS "special." :lol:

But that is a great idea! 

ANYWAY.



I haven't heard from the people at all. So I'm thinking I probably didn't get the job.

AND THAT'S OK!!

I'm going to start my Lacey-book this summer, go to more counseling, maybe paint, maybe sew, find somewhere to ride, paint my parent's basement [I'm great at that - they ASKED ME TO! Dream come trueeee!] work with the goats - go on some hikes? 

I realized that I might have been trying to run away with that job. 
With Lacey passing 3 days before a new term at school, I have spent very little time processing that like I need to. I really haven't just let myself stop and deal with things...cuz I can't! I need to finish school, pass my classes...so far there's no room for feeling the feels.

And if I had gotten/taken that job, I would have gone straight from an intense term at school to an intense job and I would have just hidden from my feelings more.

So it's probably a good thing.

I tend to avoid my feelings whenever possible and throw myself into whatever I can find to avoid thinking about the things that hurt, so it would be good for me to stop a little and deal with stuff more effectively.

And the Lacey-book! That has got to happen and what better way to deal with sadness than to relive every good moment? 

So, really, either way will work out ok.

But I doubt that job will call me. They told me I'd hear from them in 48 hours and it's been wayyyy longer than that=I'm not holding my breath.

Oh well.
I wanted the answer to be clear and maybe this is clearly the answer! I can't make the wrong choice if I don't get a choice!!


In other news, I found out yesterday that my Sign Language prof's name is Rusty Wales. Not even kidding. Rusty Wales.
[in ASL, when you're pretty terrible at it like I am...well, ok, I might not be 100% terrible anymore - I can successfully figure out how to say pretty much whatever I need to say but it's way harder to understand what someone else is saying...anyway, when understanding what someone's saying is hard, you pretty much never figure out what anyone's name is. Ever. haha]

Anyway, with a name like that, a picture HAD to happen.


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## Roperchick

OHMYGOD! a lacey book?! best news ever and probably gonna be my fav book to read when you're done lolol

kinda bummer news about the job, sounds like it would've been an incredible experience, but hey everything happens for a reason. maybe this means something even BETTER is on the way (fabs?! lol)

and I saw that picture on FB earlier and I was just thinking to myself, "if this girl lets THAT kind of talent go to waste I will hunt her down in Oregon and make her see the error of her ways!" roflmao. you got some serious juice in the artistic department girl!


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## jcraig10

I wish I had a cool name like that.


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## egrogan

Wallaby, I don't know what kind of program you're in at school, but I'm curious about the ASL class. I'm an instructor-in-training at a therapeutic riding facility, and we're always lamenting the fact that our equine-related signing abilities are pretty limited, and we have riders who would really benefit. If you have to do a project for your class, you should totally do a horse-vocabularly project that you can the record and post online, so people like us could learn from you!! I have searched and searched for an online short course in horse ASL vocabulary, and it just doesn't exist.


----------



## jcraig10

I wish I would have taken some sign language classes. I mean, I guess I still could. I'll need to add it to my list of things to do. There is a deaf lady that works at our post office and I can't even tell her thank you without writing it down...I could probably just google that though, huh? That's what I'll do now...


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## tinyliny

Is it gonna be "Sassypants"?


----------



## Wallaby

Guys.

I had this big long post for you a few days ago, then I accidentally clicked a button on my browser and went elsewhere=adios post.

But today is the worst: my singular remaining grandparent, my grandma, passed away, completely out of the blue, this morning.

There was no warning, she was just gone.

Thankfully I got to see her a few weeks ago, at Easter, and we had a nice time......but still. 

I'm having a such a hard time. First Lacey, then this.

I had just started to feel like I had successfully navigated compartmentalizing my feelings about Lacey [cuz, with school, I just can't take the time yet], but my grandma going too is just bringing everything back up again.

Not to make light of Job, but I kindaaaa feel like Job.
There's a time for everything and maybe this is just time for me to be tested. And that's ok. I'm not gonna give up.

But my heart hurts.


----------



## Roperchick

I wish there was a dislike button but let's just pretend the like is a big??? ((((((((Huuuuuugz))))))))

You'll get thru it Chica. and you have all of us here if you need to vent!


Plus I'm always on fb


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## egrogan

I know we don't know each other in real life, but sending you tons of good thoughts. So sorry about the passing of your grandmother.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Endiku

I am so sorry Emily  what a rotten Spring this has been for you. Prayers and good thoughts for you and your family.


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## tinyliny

sorry to hear about your sad times. so sorry. I could say all kinds of wise words that old people always say to young people, but you should just stick with the real feelings. they are what they are.


----------



## jcraig10

Death is such a tough part of life to go through. I have lost too many people way before it was their time to go. Sending positive feelings your way. One day at a time, my friend. 

In times such as this, I like to let out a big SCREAM. And then just keep on keepin' on.


----------



## gunslinger

Sorry Emily....

We know not the day nor the hour.

It pains me to see your heart hurt so much.....you mentioned the book of job so you know that Job was restored to 10 times his former glory.

With this pain the seed is planted for much joy....for every flower wilts...yet in the winter time when the top appears dead and wilted, the roots grow, and with spring comes a new flower.

You're going to have better days ahead.....as with each sunrise comes a new dawn.

Hang in there girl friend....


----------



## SueC

Oh, I'm sorry Emily, what rotten timing... I was really close to my grandmother and lost her back in 1997... thoughts and hugs to you.


----------



## SueC

I loved the Rusty Whales pictures. Warning: What follows are some funny names and if you don't feel like a laugh right now, skip it till later...

When I did my B.Sc., one of my zoology tutors, who happened to specialise in fish, was called Howard Gill.

When I had to have surgery after crushing my nose in a fall off a horse, my surgeon's name was Dr.Gilette (like the razors).

When I lived in Sydney I went past a dentist's surgery every day on my way to work where the plate out the front said, "Dr Fang, Dentist."

One of our state treasurers in the past was called Eric Ripper. (Australians called him Eric Rip-off.)

This particular phenomenon has a name: Nominative determinism. Googling that can give you more examples.

So your Sign Language prof would have been even funnier if he was lecturing in Corrosion Chemistry or Marine Biology.


----------



## Cherrij

I am so sorry Emily.. that I don't even have words.. but you know, I am just here.. 
*hugs*


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks for the laugh, Sue. I needed that! 

Thanks guys. Your support has meant and means a lot to me. 
You guys are wonderful! 
You probably have no idea what simply knowing you all care, even though we've never met in real life, means. Our hearts have met and that's really what matters, I think.

Two things from today:
1. the horse place finally called.

They offered me the job.

But the idea of taking it, right now, is causing me no end of distress. I want to take it so badly, but I think the better option _for me_ is to pass for right now.
I'm going to fill them in on what's happened [my grandma dying] and ask them to please consider me if a position opens up in a few months. 

I hate having to pass, but the idea of taking it is just giving me a heart attack. And I'm so stressed from everything, I already feel like I'm underwater without trying to find a car for the summer, housing at the beach, a place for the goats, etc etc.

Hopefully something will open up in August, or something, and I can jump in then! Or maybe I'll have found something better. 


2. My aunt was looking through my grandma's stuff today and she found this.

It's the last painting my grandma, the artistic matriarch of my family, was working on.

The horse is still a chalk outline, but that seems really really perfect.

I am going to cherish this for forever.

A piece of my dear sweet horse and a piece of my dear sweet grandma.
Perfection.











:hug:


----------



## SueC

Wow, that's fabulous. You certainly seem to have inherited some of her artistic genes! How nice for both of you. You will always carry that with you. And quite a bit of her DNA!


----------



## Chevaux

My condolences, Wallaby, on the passing of your grandmother.

The painting is perfect as is - it's a glorious keepsake and reminder of your grandmother's life.

You're quite right about the job - if you've gotten out of balance and you don't absolutely need it at this time then you're better off to spend some time regrouping.


----------



## tinyliny

how amazing is that? it's Lacey!


----------



## Wallaby

GUYS. 

OH MY GOSH. 

I am literally hysterically laugh-crying right now.

GUESS WHAT?!

Fabio, MY BOY FABIO, is coming home TO ME on FREAKING MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH MY GOSH. I can't even. You guys have no idea. Ok, maybe you do.

BUT FABIO. My BOY!

FABIO. FFFF AAAAA BBBB IIII OOOO.

AH. WHAT is even HAPPENING??

As Gman says "the life you LIVE!!"




























The lady, my former crazy boss lady, just texted me to tell me that he was in a care-lease and it's not working out. She's picking him up tomorrow and would I be able to take him? She's not asking for any money, just a good home. 

AH.


----------



## Roperchick

Ohmygosh! Yaaaaaaaay
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Wallaby

Like this is almost really too good to be true...but it's NOT too good to be true! 
Cuz it's real!

However, I'm not telling anyone besides you guys, my parents, and Gman until Fabs is actually in my pasture. Just in case. 

BUT AHHHHHHHH.


----------



## Roperchick

Best news I have heard in months! I'm so excited foe you! I knew he'd end up back in your life!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Kayella

Ahhhhh! That is amazing news!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## cakemom

I am checking on you for the first time in a few days and I'm so sorry about your grandmother. You come from amazing stock my girl- it keeps being proven again and again. The painting is perfect as it stands. Preserve it and hold it near. 
Fabio is just what you need to help that heart feel a little less like you are being tossed at sea, and I can't wait to see how Atti and he spar- cause I bet they will be a pair!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## tinyliny

doors and windows!


----------



## Chevaux

Great news indeed

(Not to be a downer to your well deserved buzz but be sure to get a bill of sale for Fabio, a dollar will do if the lady doesn't want money)


----------



## gunslinger

One minute your down and the next minute your up. See, every day does have a new dawn. 

I'm thrilled for you! Good news indeed!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Cacowgirl

Emily-sorry to hear of the passing of your grandmother, at least you did see her recently. Love the picture w/the horse outline-so much can be read into it. Is Fabio a horse from your past? Will you be able to ride him? So much going on in your life right now! Wishing you bright days ahead.


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## SueC

Sorry, can someone explain who Fabio is exactly? This is a horse you've had before, Emily?


----------



## Wallaby

RIGHT, Kayella and Christy?! AH! SO EXCITED. I cannot wait to see his lil' face in the pasture!

That's really sweet, cakemom. :hug: Thank you. I agree, that painting is absolutely perfect just as it is. "Unfinished," or not, it's perfect and finished in my eyes.
Ha! Fabs and Atti! I hadn't even thought of that but I bet they'll be besties! :happydance:

SO TRUE, Caroline! I just cannot get over how I turned down that job around 1pm yesterday and got the offer of Fabs around 8pm. I really feel like this is meant to be!!

You are SO RIGHT, Chevaux! I'm actually going to ask you guys about that momentarily. 
She was so sneaky with letting me go...anybody else, I'd probably be more "ok, whatever" but I don't trust her farther than I can throw her. So she's gonna be paperwork-ed UPPPP. 

So true, gunslinger! This is totally a God-thing, and I love that. 

Right, cacowgirl??! So many metaphors in one single painting. IT KILLS ME. That was not the kind of artist she was at all - we're similar in our art like that. Our art is pretty literal and there's less that can be be read into it...but this painting!!!

Sorry Sue+cacowgirl! I forgot that some people might not remember him. No worries. 
In case you want to read the long version about Fabio/Fabs, he's featured on pages 49-66 of this journal. 

However, the short version is:

Last summer I worked at a therapy barn for a time. They had a few horses and one of the was a gelding named Gus [formerly named Fabio]. He's a liver chestnut, youngish Arab [he's either 7 or 12..I can't remember], moderate white markings...basically a super gorgeous horse.

He was "in training" to be a therapy horse, but it was basically a case where the kind of training they were doing [Parelli-based] was not helping him at all. 

He was very very spooky and really just needed a strong+calm leader to show him that there was nothing scary anywhere [they tried to treat his spookiness as a groundwork issue and, for the most part, treated him like =he was made of eggshells], plus SO MUCH MORE exercise. 
So I started exercising him a LOT more [they were trying to just do groundwork with him, plus 24/7 pasture, then expecting him to deal with all kind of stimuli...and the Arab said NO], he started coming down, I started desensitizing him, and I was actually able to get him to the point where he was being used in therapy sessions with disabled kids! With me handling him, of course.
I got him to the point where he was ok with frisbees being thrown over and at him, giant bouncy balls being bounced off his sides...all that.

Anyway, then they let me go [which, in hindsight, was a-ok] and, of course, Fabs kinda didn't really like that. He was getting unreliably exercised, etc.
Not to mention that he has some "tics" that come out when he's nervous - he'll shake his head and progress to a full body shake if he's nervous, he'll start having diarrhea, etc.
However, if he's exercised enough and has had sufficient "warm-up", he doesn't have any issues. He might shake his head a little, but even that was disappearing as he became confident in his job...but then I left. 

Once I left, word has it that he went straight back to his shaky, spooky, safety-zone. And that's not a good therapy horse. I _can_ agree with that!

The thing I love most about him is something that I loved dearly about Lacey - they both have INCREDIBLE "try." Like, that's something you can't teach. They're born with it, or they aren't.
As long as they understand what's happening, they will do ANYTHING to help their person reach a goal.

For instance, I very vividly remember this one session with Fabs when a girl with cerebral palsy was riding and got the chance to "learn about reins." 
Due to her disability, she was unable to really "correctly" do rein cues, so she was using them in a very strange and obtuse way. After a few times of her cuing as best she could and me "secretly" guiding Fabs so she'd feel like she had accomplished the movement, FABS BEGAN TURNING HIMSELF IN RESPONSE TO HER CUES!! 
I would move in to guide him, only to realize that he was already doing what she had asked him to do.

He legitimately taught HIMSELF how to cater to his precious rider. 

And it's that sort of thing that gives me great hope with him. He, initially, seems like a bit of a nutcase and he has a LOT of baggage from the past [and I'm sure he's no better now - the lady told me last night that "they've been trying different bits and he's running away"] but he holds so much promise.
He hasn't given up. And that's HUGE.

My goal would be to eventually get him into a snaffle, but he, like Lacey, is a panick-er so it's best to start out with something he's relatively comfortable with and then move "up" as his training increases.

As it is right now, at least the last time I saw him, he acted like a horse that had had rides "snuck" on him. 
Like he was cool with kiddos riding him, but terrified of adults + leg pressure, terrified of the bit, and completely stiff - no bend in his neck/body whatsoever. Plus, his level of comfort with simple things like being touched all over, or a saddle banging around, couldn't even hold gravel. 

He's kind of a huge project, but that's what I need and he's a reliable project. 
Like Lacey, the absolute last thing he wants to do, in the worlddddd, is hurt someone.

He just needs the right kind of help and he's gonna be a real gem. A genuine diamond in the rough.


PLUS, he's an Arabian, his hair is the same color a mine, AND Lacey's tack all fits him. The saddle is right, even the lesson saddle is right! The halters are right, the bridles are right. AH.

And Lacey would have loved him. He's the one horse I could have ever seen her loving being around after she lost her vision.

Needless to say, I'm stokeddddd.

And so so many Fabs pictures:
[see, I've kept these pictures on my phone for so many months. What does THAT tell you? HA.]









Oh. No. He is soooooo sooo dangerous. Everyone panic.




:happydance: I haven't felt this hopeful and happy since before I found Lacey sick!!

1. I was just texting a trusted friend, who happens to still work for the therapy place, and she said that this is 100% genuine. That my former boss genuinely just wants a good home for him!

2. Any ideas for how to write up something about this?
I was talking to her more and she mentioned doing a care-lease-to-own, where I care+pay for all his costs for a certain period of time, then own him.
I'm ok with that since it gives me an out in the very unlikely scenario where he doesn't work out, etc.

However, I'm not sure what's reasonable?
3 months, then reassess, and own him outright or give him back?
How do I write that in a way that doesn't give her the option to do anything sneaky?
Or maybe the only way to make sure nothing like that happens is to just simply commit...

I mean, I honestly don't reallllly think she would try anything sneaky since she's been trying to make me own him since probably the second day I worked there...but still.



AH SO EXCITED. :happydance: :happydance:
I can see Lacey's lil' hoofprints allll over this. <3


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## Roperchick

I would do a straight up own/commitment. Write up a bos for $1.

Even if it doesn't work out, you can put some time in him (hopefully) and send him on if that's what needs to happen.

But I remember the stories you told about how flaky and non reliable this lady could be
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## egrogan

I'm on my phone so will be brief for now, but just want to say that my lovely mare Isabel is also a therapy horse "dropout." When I'm back on my computer, I'll write more about how I came to own her (nothing dramatic, just slowly evolved from a free lease to outright ownership over time). Anyway, I didn't remember the Fabio story either, but sounds like a perfect next horse! Can't wait to hear more.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## SueC

Beautiful horse! Very nice coincidence that he's Arabian too... after my Arabian mare died I sorely miss having an Arabian around, and one day I aim to have another one - just the "house is full" and that won't be until Sunsmart retires...

There's something very special about Arabians...


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## tinyliny

Wallaby, 

that quality of having a lot of "try" is the most important quality of all. 
I love that in a horse. Z has that too.


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## grayshell38

Don't ask me how but I had a feeling Fabs would be back in your life. I second the others that you should "buy" him out-right. The best way to keep people honest and avoid hurt feelings (or worse) is to simply not give them extra opportunities to do so. Yay,Fabs!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## gunslinger

Yea, I think I'd either own him or not. To do other wise is to set yourself up for disappointment. 

I can see you spending a lot of time with Fabio, getting him fixed, and then the former owner maybe wanting him back.

I'd try to make it a done deal and like Roper Chick said, you can always sell him or give him away if it doesn't work out. If you own him then you're in control.


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## egrogan

egrogan said:


> I'm on my phone so will be brief for now, but just want to say that my lovely mare Isabel is also a therapy horse "dropout." When I'm back on my computer, I'll write more about how I came to own her (nothing dramatic, just slowly evolved from a free lease to outright ownership over time). Anyway, I didn't remember the Fabio story either, but sounds like a perfect next horse! Can't wait to hear more.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


OK, just jumping back on here to tell my quick story about Isabel. When I moved to NH back in 2010, I was looking to get back into volunteering with therapeutic riding, and also riding myself (adult re-rider). I found a great facility and dove into volunteering at lessons. Maybe a year later, a couple of flighty Morgan mares, and two mini-donkeys, were donated to the barn. I'm still not quite sure why the then-program director accepted the mares, as they were pretty high strung and nervous. They had been living as backyard pets for a family with 8 kids (!) so they did have a lot of kid experience, but they just didn't really like the hustle and bustle of a busy lesson program, the arena freaked them out, they didn't like all the games and props, etc. They were also both very narrow and forward in their stride, so not ideal physically for therapeutic riding either.

One of the mares found a new riding home soon after, but the director thought Isabel might come around. However, no one had the time to really put into her training/desensitization, so just sitting around with nothing to do, she was turning into a high strung barrel of energy. That's about the same time I really started taking lessons more seriously myself, and she was the perfect size and challenge for me. I started riding her in weekly lessons, and eventually the director asked me if I'd be her volunteer exercise rider. Pretty soon I was riding her 3-4 times a week, and while she still wasn't really doing well in therapy lessons, at least she wasn't difficult to handle around the barn since she was getting plenty of exercise. The exercise rides essentially evolved into a free lease.

Fast forward another year or so, and there is new barn and program management. They made the (smart) decision to move on a few horses that had just been hanging around the barn, not really earning their keep since they just weren't suitable for therapy lessons. One day I got an email that told me that while they were sorry, Isabel was going to have to be listed for sale because she couldn't be used in the program and wasn't "earning her keep." It was only when I received that email that I realized just how attached I'd become to her. Still, I wanted to try to be rationale about it. I had been thinking about buying a horse for awhile, but really wanted a big stocky trail horse (for some reason in my mind, "my horse" was a goofy paint gelding :wink. Isabel was none of those things. But, when I spent about a week test riding some other horses for sale near me, I was surprised to realize how "comfortable" I had grown to be on Isabel. Given where I am in life and in riding, that comfort and familiarity was actually much more important to me than I thought. After thinking about it for a week, I went ahead and paid her asking price (a TERRIBLE deal that no one else would have ever dreamed of paying for her :shock and she was mine.

She's actually remained at the therapy barn as a boarder, so she's still with all her buddies. And, I do occasionally use her for pony rides for little kids. I think now that she knows she's not a lesson horse, she admits that she actually likes kids!!

Here are a couple of pictures of the horse that I guess was destined to be mine:


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## Wallaby

Goooood thinking, everybody with the owning him outright. I want to be so optimistic about everyone that I have a realllly hard time when I'm faced with someone who may or may not honor that. Most of the time, I can tell and I avoid doing business with those sorts of people, but in this case she has something I want! Darn her. haha [but not...cuz she's giving a fabu horse...]

I agree, Sue. I'm a diehard Arabian person. I guess it might be because I learned to ride on them, but I've always loved Arabians and I've always somehow ended up with them! 

I agree, Caroline! Such an important quality. I think that's probably the main thing I think about when I "like" or "dislike" a particular horse. I never really thought about it until just now, but now that I think about it, I can't honestly think of one horse that I liked a lot that _didn't_ have "try"...
Interesting!
I guess I'd like Z too. Heck, I don't even "know" him and I like him. 

ME TOO, Megan!! So weird, but I definitely had a feeling about him. :happydance:

Good thinking, Gunslinger.

AH! Egrogan! I love that story. I'm glad you guys are together now! That makes me so happy 
And SHE'S SO CUTE!! :happydance:
Your story reminds me actually a lot of Fabs! Maybe they're secret soulmates across the states. 
He was neglected and, apparently, starved half to death in a stall when he was found and donated/fostered by the therapy place, then they bought him, etc etc.
Funny how that is.
Word on the street is that he "doesn't like being in a stall" but I've seen him both in an arena and contained in a stall-like setting inside and he was 'totally' fine... Of course, he's much more comfortable outside and much grumpier inside but he wasn't panicking..
Anyway, lucky I don't do really anything inside and my "stall" is more like a pen+cover. Nailed itttt. haha 


Anyway, my friend who still works at the therapy place saw Fabs [for the uninitiated, you say Fabs like "fobs"] today and was sending me so many pictures.

So, I clearly have to share them with you RIGHT?



And look, Christy! There's BUDDY. haha 

You can kind of see it in this one - Fabs isn't realllllllll trusting. Like he trying to trust, but his face says "I'm a little worried now..."





SUCH A CUTIE. 
And I'm glad to see he looks so good!  MY BOY.

Also, more details: turns out Mr. Fabio is 10, and he was sold to the therapy place as a Quarab [half Arab, half QH]... I personally don't see a whole lot of QH, just some old school Polish/Crabbet Arabian breeding, but who am I to say. He's not registered so it's not like it reallllly matters. In any case, I think saying he's an ArabianX is probably 10% legitimate, if we want to get into details.
I just love how much bone he has! 
He and Lacey both. They were sturdy "could go on forever" Arabs...unlike those darn spindly Arabs that are all over. Ha, I'm gonna have this horse when he's 40. Fingers crossed!!


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## Roperchick

Buddeh!!!!!!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Amba1027

I'm so excited for you! He is GORGEOUS!!! I can't wait to see all the beautiful pictures you'll take of him. Such a wonderful gift at such a hard time in your life


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## Wallaby

1. Guys. I'm getting to that stage where I'm hardcore second guessing this - is it _real_?? Is Fabs realllllly coming home to me on Monday? 
I'm basically gaslighting [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting] myself. haha

Oh man. I'm SO EXCITED. And I'm trying so hard not to be.
I almost bought him a new halter+Remission [cuz I'm prettttty sure he's IR like Lacey was...he had the fat pads last summer, and Remission can't hurt!]+ new grazing muzzle today. I also kept myself from going out and buying him his own grain bucket.

But I decided that it's better to wait until he's actually here. What's the harm in him waiting 2 more days for Remission, or having to wear the halter I used on him all last summer for a few days, or eating his ration balancer out of a rubber grain pan for a day or two, or 'borrowing' Lacey's grazing muzzle until his comes?
Psh, he won't die. 
He's probably gonna step into that pasture and think he's died and gone to heaven. He won't mind about his bucket/grazing muzzle/halter/supplements, I'm prettttty sure.

2. I JUST remembered this: like a nerd, I was looking through my pictures of him, and I remembered something.
You know Lacey's cute lil' 'tippy' ears? How they tip in at the top?




I've ridden/worked with lotttttts of horses through the camp Lacey+I worked at for a few summers/various other jobs and I had never met one with ears like hers. Her ears are one of my most favorite things. They are just so darn cute!

And guess WHO I suddenly remembered has "the right" kind of tippy ears??!

ACK.
I love that. That's one reason why I was never nervous around him. He may _act_ like an angry nutcase but his ears say otherwise. 
Ha, if that's a ridiculous reason to trust a horse, I do not even know. :rofl:

What if he and Lacey are related and no one will ever know since neither of them was/is registered?? 
Their personalities are so similar and perfect. And they have the same ears? Ha. I might be serious if their bodies weren't so completely opposite.


YOU GUYS. IS THIS A DREAM?! 
Someone pinch me, stat. I'm gonna hardcore cry if this is fake.


I'm trying to write up the contact tonight. I asked the lady if she had something or if she wanted me to write something and she was all "you do it, we can edit it as necessary!" so that makes me kinda nervous... I'm terrible at bartering. But I will. For Fabs, I will suck it up and barter like...a bartering machine.
I'm gonna shoot for the high end of "bad deal for her-great deal for me", then we can 'edit' from there. 
But I'm gonna play hardball. And paper her into a walllllllll.

In it to win itttttttt.


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## ligoleth

When you finish it, you could post it on here and we can critique it for holes and strengthen it so she can't take advantage of the situation if it comes down to that.


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## SueC

Another fabulous photo of Lacey there. That ear shape is typical of the Crabbet / Polish lines from which my own mare was also bred. You can just see it here:










I don't have a front-on photo handy. It's crazy but I even miss the shape of her ears.

The Polish bred a lot of really beautiful Arabians, you can see a lot of the ancestral horses on the Allbreeds Pedigree database.

I can't see the QH in Fabio either. Either there isn't very much, or the Arabian side is very dominant.

Here's one of my father's horses, a breed where the Arabians are way back in the pedigree but you can still see the genes come out many generations later. This isn't the best photograph to demonstrate it, as this is Chip quite old and upside-down from lack of work, but he had a swan neck during his working life and a look-at-me presence, and was often mistaken for an Anglo-Arabian on riding outings.










I really love how Fabio looks, a proper riding Arabian, not something designed to prance around on a lead and be otherwise useless. If a horse like that were offered to me I'd take it too!  I am going to keep my fingers crossed for you until everything is legal and proper.


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## Cacowgirl

What a shine on that pretty red horse!


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## Endiku

YAAAAYY!!!!!! You have no idea how excited I am for you!!!

I agree that buying him outright is the best. I know how it is to dealwith flaky people and it is no good.


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## jcraig10

Great news, I hope everything ends up working out. He is such a cutie. 

P.S. I have a cousin named Fabio and we also call him Fabs!


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## SueC

Cacowgirl said:


> What a shine on that pretty red horse!


We think it's the canola meal. It makes horses very shiny. Any kind of crushed oilseed, like crushed linseed etc, would probably act similarly.

Our remaining old horse is 28 in this photo and getting 1-2L of canola daily in two hard feeds with cubes, chaff etc, and you can see he's shiny too:










Hey Emily, you're getting your horse today aren't you, can't wait to see your "photo essay"!


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## Endiku

Yes, I can't wait to see the most famous Fabs!!!


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## Wallaby

He should be here in about an hour!! AH!! SO EXCITED.

I will report back+pictures [SO MANY PICTURES] once everything is said and done! 

:happydance: :happydance: :happydance: :happydance:


[ETA: after posting this, I realized how this was kind of a cruel thing to do - you guys are all gonna be "EMILY'S GETTING A HORSE TODAY AND SHE JUST POSTED....oh. He's not here yet. RUDE." haha sorry!!  ]


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## Chevaux

My plan is to stay logged on as long as possible for the "big unveiling" (so to speak) -- don't keep me waiting, darlin'

My best wishes that all goes well.


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## jcraig10

So evil!


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## Roperchick

Eviiiiiilllll!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## swimminchikin

Hurry hurry!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Roperchick

I saw him on FB!!! Where is he?!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

AH! I'm making an introduction-photo thread so photo-bomb in T-minus 15 minutes.

But here's one to tide you all over.

*read this in an overly heavy Italian accent*
"Hello, I am Fabio. It is nice to meet you!"


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## Roperchick

He looks so good! I can see him already getting fat on that green grass lolol
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

OH YES, Christy!! Someone is getting a grazing muzzle STAT. As soon as he settles in more though, I don't want to throw toooo many new things at the guy all at once! :lol:


Photo threaddddd:

http://www.horseforum.com/horse-pictures/everyone-meet-fabio-416546/#post5424498


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## Endiku

What a fatty! A gorgeousssss fatty. You two are going to be awesome together...and maybe atticus will finally have his partner in crime? *dundundun!!!!!*


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## gunslinger

Wow, just wow.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## SueC

Emily, I'm a relative newbie here, but if you could give me a little summary of how you got Lacey, how long you had her etc it would fill in the missing end of the story for me. Or maybe hyperlink me to where you wrote about it, if you did!  Have fun with Fabio, he looks the perfect type to cheer you up - he's got imp written all over him!


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## jcraig10

GORGE. His name is so fitting with that bad *** mane.


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## egrogan

Wallaby, I couldn't help but post this adorable picture that was on Horse Illustrated's Facebook page- since we can't post FB links, I thought I'd just paste the picture in here but want to give due credit to the owners:










The photo credit said: _"Thanks to Debbie Jewell Dee for sharing this wonderful photo of her horse, Patches. "It suddenly started hailing and all three goats ran underneath Patches," says Debbie. "Rather than running for cover, he stayed there to protect his little friends."_


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## jcraig10

egrogan - SQUEEEEEEL! adorbs.


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## Cherrij

I know I am a bit late, but Congrats Emily  I knew it will work out


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## Wallaby

Thanks you guys!!

I still feel so "wait...he's HERE??" I feel like it might take a while for it to sink in that he's actually here and he's actually mine! 

Haha, Fabs is so fat right now. I'm such a sucker for hm though - I haven't even _tried_ the grazing muzzle I have on him yet. Bad mom over here!! :wink: 
But I have started him on a ration blancer, he's on flax seed now, and I ordered him Remission yesterday so I'm kind, maybe, on track?? hahaha

SueC, I'll do that next post - on Saturday.  Right now I'm slightly pressed for time/mental energy but I wanted to update you guys. Lacey has a nice story too!! 

I agree, Julia!! Can you believe they called him Gus at the therapy place? Ugh. The worsttttt. No wonder he 'failed'. [really though, I think he coulda' been a fab therapy horse if someone had bothered to exercise him nd actually train him, instead of just being all "this horse is sweet! CLEARLY he's set for being a therapy horse, without any other prep"].
But yeah, no Gus. haha

Egrogan!! That's SO CUTE! AH, I'm dyinnnng. So so sweet. I love it. Thanks for sharing. 

Thanks Cherri 



Update:

My life has been crazzzzzy. I do not even know. Things are NUTS right now.
I haven't gotten to work with Fabs hardly at all which I'm kinda bummed about, but he's not minding too much.

The goats aren't sure what to think. They got pretty scared initially when Fabs was running around [hindsight - I should have put them in their pen, then let him go...but I didn't think he would run as much as he did!!] so they're still mostly recovering from that.
Basically, Fabs speaks WAY different "horse-language" than Lacey did and, since Lacey is the only horse Atti/Hazel have ever know = confusion.
Lacey would only put her head down while running to bite an "ill-behaved" goat and she'd only ever pin her ears when "someone" had shown the worst possible behavior and was 100% going to be bitten.

Fabs, on the other hand, loves to do that tail-flagging+head down trot that Arabs love which TERRIFIES the goats because they think he's gonna eat their soul. He's also a lot more communicative about his emotions: mild disappointment=ears FLAT back, distaste for something he has to do and is going to do anyway=ears FLAT back, and so on. There's a 1% chance he'd bite following any of those ear-pinnings, but the goats don't quite believe it yet.

So that's been interesting. They are meshing together better though and I have hope that they'll be friends in a few weeks. 
Hazel seems to actually not mind him too much which is incredible since she was real scared of Lacey!
Atti really a lot wants to be friends but his scaredy-cat nature is preventing him from being totally comfortable. 
Both goats have progressed to casully walking right in front of Fabs' head while he tries to sniff them so that's HUGE imprivement! They still aren't thrilled when he moves, but they're 85% ok with walking Fabs. Trotting Fabs is a whole different story...but we'll get there.


Fabs is MUCH more active in the pasture than Lacey was! I thought she was active but, boy, I see this youngster trotting or cantering on a multi-daily basis!

He also just seems like such a baby mentally. It's very interesting. Lacey was more "oh, that. I've seen THAT before!" while Fabs is like "oh my gosh! Something new! I better look at it! What IS that??!"
So so funny!

He's also SO just "there." He really has that "in the tent" personality. Doesn't matter how quietly I enter the pasture, he'll be THERE within a minute or two. He's not in your face or anything like that. He'll give you your space very politely...he just wants to be there, nearby. 

I lunged him on Tuesday and I'm hoping to lunge him again tonight. I groomed him and cut his bridlepath yesterday.
I don't want to overdo it with him or go too fast...we'll get there, I guess. 
I'm hopinggggg to, maybe, ride him by next weekend. Or maybe even Monday. Just in the pasture, nothing intense. 
We'll see.

I saw few issues when I lunged him last that I'd like to work on, prior to getting on him [reportedly, he had developed a bolting issue while being leased and I'm not sure if that was just in response to some outside human behavior or if it's more ingrained...].

We'll see.
I was thinking this morning about why I'm not more "let's do this!!" and I think I'm truly nervous about it.
I feel like there's a lot of pressure surrounding him. I mean, he was somewhat retrained at the therapy place, he was somewhat untrained there too, then I came and we got somewhere, then he was pushed too hard at the therapy place, then he went to this lease where he developed a bolting issue.

I mean, he's really good natured and everything so I'm sure he has at least one more try in him....but he's not like Lacey where she had been messed up ONCE years before. 
He's been "messed up" 3 times in the last 2 years. How many more times can he take before it's too much?

And maybe I'm not thinking of it right. I probably need to just press the backspace key on allll the knowledge I have of him and just start with him like I would with any horse.
He's a really goodhearted guy and probably the most helpful approach is to think of him as a horse I have no training history on.

After all, it's realllllly not going to help him if I approach this like it's his last chance. Cuz maybe it is his last chance undersaddle but, even if it is, I'm gonna keep him - rideable or not. So it truly does not matter one iota.

And I truly doubt it's his last chance. Lacey wouldn't have stood for nearly half of what he's gone through...but he's still hopeful.

I feel silly saying this, but I think he already loves my guts. 
He remembered me the second I pulled him off the trailer [he buried his head in my chest/stomach, sniffed me thoroughly, and visibly relaxed] and he behaves as though we have a history.
He'll still throw out a few tests here and there, but overall he's pretty much "ok boss" about everything.
I remember when I met him for the first time - EVERYTHING was a test. 
And this time everything is so not!


He's been nickering for me each morning too. 

I'm so smitten. :hug:

Pictures:





Those bangs!! Hahaha I'm hoping to fix them tomorrow!










Sometimes you just have to itch!!











:happydance: :happydance:


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## MaximasMommy

Running the risk of sounding like a broken record, he is STUNNING.


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## gunslinger

One of the things I love about horses is they teach patience. 

He'll be fine, just give him a little time to adjust. 

I'm thrilled for ya girl.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Roperchick

I'm still just super excited for you both. 

Don't think of this as his LAST chance. Think of it as a whole new opportunity for you both. You have a history with each other and I truly believe that once you really get down to the work hell remember the time spent and get right back to it.

My advice. Go at it the same way you did the first time you worked with him. Don't think about any behavior you heard about from the last owners. Fresh slate for you both.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Endiku

Horses are remarkable creatures. Give him your confidence (while still being safe of course! Not saying to hop on him bareback and enter the next show you hear about obviously) and expect him to be well behaved. He will rise to the occasion quickly, and the more confidence you have that he can be rideable, the better. Try not to think about the things that have happened to him before, or that you've heard about him- just go one step at a time like you are his very first rider, and go from there. 

Kenzie went through hell and back more than once, all at the hands of human beings. Heck, she even had someone try to chop off her ear...yet she was the sweetest, most loyal little horse I've ever met or probably ever will meet. She had her problems with nerves, yes, but she, like many other horses, was one of those that didn't hold grudges. If you looked like a good leader that wasn't going to get her killed, well heck she was going to want you to lead her! It was only when a person started questioning her temperment, acting like she was going to do something stupid, etc that she would ever do something bad. The second I questioned whether or not she was spooky, she spooked with me 3 times in a row! Fabs is probably the same way. He NEEDS a good strong leader like the one that a certain grey unicorn trained up herself. You can do it! 

At the same time though, don't be afraid to go at your own pace. He's not going anywhere and you have all of the time in the world.


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## Wallaby

Thanks you guys <3 <3 Good thinking.

I tried to think about that this evening and things went better!

He _does_ do this thing when I'm lunging him where he'll suddenly, for whatever reason, turn in towards me and kinda puff out his chest+toss his head around like he's majestic...like stallions fighting on the range or something.
Last time I lunged him I got a little intimidated by that, but this time I remembered that he did that before too - it's just his way of saying "this is WAY too much work on not my terms...we should stop!" and he's fine if I push him through it. I also remembered that, as he got used to work, that behavior disappeared. It seems to be mostly an "I'm out of shape" maneuver.

I just have to stay strong and not get intimidated by him!!
I _did _get a video of him doing it so you guys could see if there's anything I'm doing to exacerbate the issue...but it's over 1gb so Youtube is mad and cutting it down is not going as quickly as I'd like. In any case, I DID get it on film!! haha

Also, I measured him for blankets today.
Guess what he is?

A 72. Guess who else was a 72???!?!

LACEY.

WHATTTTT??

So that's cool on a multitude of levels.

I also measured him, heightwise.

And figured out why he might seem so large to me. HA.

Lacey was 14.1hh, right?

And Fabs is definitelyyyy 15.3hh. 

So that could _possibly_ explain why he seems so HUGE. hahahahaha


----------



## Roperchick

Lucky! All 4 of mine are 82's haha. He must seem like a monster truck compared to Lacey hqhq
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## SueC

Beautiful photos - magical light in three of them, wonderfully framed! Ever thought of doing photography as a paying sideline? But maybe you already do!


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## SueC

Wallaby said:


> Also, I measured him for blankets today.
> Guess what he is?
> 
> A 72. Guess who else was a 72???!?!
> 
> LACEY.
> 
> WHATTTTT??
> 
> So that's cool on a multitude of levels.
> 
> I also measured him, heightwise.
> 
> And figured out why he might seem so large to me. HA.
> 
> Lacey was 14.1hh, right?
> 
> And Fabs is definitelyyyy 15.3hh.
> 
> So that could _possibly_ explain why he seems so HUGE. hahahahaha



So he has way longer legs then! That's actually an interesting thing about mares versus stallion versus geldings: Side-on, if you draw a box around the body not including neck/head, stallions tend to be square, mares long-rectangular, and (early gelded) geldings upright-rectangular. So mares can surprise you with how much girth they have for their height.

My mare was the smallest horse I ever rode regularly, at 14.2 hands, but her chest width, length of rein, and width across the thorax were greater than many horses of 15-16hh. Yours had similar genetics.

Nice height on your new Arab. Maybe more Crabbet blood? It always was rumoured that Lady Wentworth substituted the odd TB stallion for an Arab in her breeding programme to get taller horses, but she denied it. Love the long mane; great general build - strong but elegant. A horse you can really do something with!


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## gunslinger

I know how much you loved Lacy, and I'm glad you've got Fabio as I think he's just what you needed...


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## Wallaby

Christy, he reallllly does! I'm so used to really short horses that an "average" sized one is a wuuuuut situation. Fabs was middle of the pack height-wise at the therapy place so I guess I never really thought of it! haha

Sue, I've never herd that before!! But it certainly fits with Lacey and Fabs. Lacey was definitely longer in the body than she was tall, while Fabio is shorter through his body but taller.
And I totally agree about Lacey having the measurements of a larger horse. She looked short, of course, but she never felt short when you were riding! I'm 5ft 7in and she took up my leg in a way you would not expect from a 14.1hh mare! Of course, a lot of my height comes from my torso...but even still.
I definitely think Fabio is more Crabbet. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a little Polish, but my hunch is that he's mostly Crabbet. He's just a bit narrower than Lacey was [she was the typical wider that wide Polish-bred Arab], higher withers, everything just kinda screams Crabbet. AND he has that, imo, "Crabbet neck" where it's just kind of perfect. haha He also hs big "honking" ears hat I, for some reason, associate with Crabbets. :lol:
I bet that's why people thought he wasn't full Arab - he doesn't look like a stereotypical Arab. He just looks like one of the "good" ones. :wink:

Thanks gunslinger.  I think so too. He's enough like Lacey that it's very comforting, but he's still totally his own guy+his own personality. It's lovely!




Ok, Sue! Here's your Lacey story. 

I worked at a summer camp for a few years, a couple of years ago - 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011. I worked with the horses there each year. The first two years I was an Assistant Wrangler [one of 4], the second 2 years I was the Head Wrangler.

In 2007, the Head Wrangler was a local, middle aged, lady who had a lot of connections in the community. We worked really well together and she basically kinda looked on me like I was another of her daughters.
2008, she was the Head Wrangler again.
In 2008, she had known me for a little over a year and she knew that I'd like to own a horse one day. She, out of the blue, one day said "hey, I'd love to find you a horse. I'll find one for you and, if you like him/her, I'll keep it at my house with my horses for a year. You come out and work with it at least a few times a week and, after a year, you can adopt the horse from me and own it yourself."

Of course, being a 17 year old girl, I about lost my mind and of course I said yes.

So she starting hunting for a horse for me.
She found a few but none that really stuck out to her so I never met any of those horses.

Then, one afternoon, she pulled me aside and said "I found a horse you'll like. We'll go see her this evening. Her owner is getting a divorce and the horse needs to go somewhere asap."

So that evening, after all our work was done, we drove about 15 minutes away from the camp to see this horse.

And she was perfect.
Lacey loved to show off for strangers and that day was no difference. My first memory of her is it being Golden Hour, she's trotting in front of the sun, long pasture grass flowing all around her, she's so obese that she can hardly trot 5 steps without stopping to cough...and my first thought "UNICORN! I KNEW IT, unicorns ARE real!"

Not even kidding, my first reaction to her was "UNICORN!!"

After that, it's mostly a blur. I remember my friend catching her, the other Assistant Wranglers and I grooming her, and her previous owner whispering to my friend "this girl is it. She's Lacey's. I wasn't going to let Lacey go to just anyone, but this is the girl."

I didn't even ride Lacey that day. We just knew.

She was later delivered to camp where I started getting her more fit. She was SO fat! 

Her owner's final words to me, after dropping Lacey off, were "be careful. This one has always been kind of 'up'"

I was terrified to ride her at first. In her previous home, before she was "retired," she had learned that people would get off if she was scary enough. So, you'd get on, Lacey wouldn't want you there, and she'd stat bucking and rearing all over. Not enough to make you fall off, but enough to make you seriously reconsider riding her.

Only later did I find out hat Lacey had been retired 13 years before I got her because she had reared over backwards on a guy. I also found out that she was slated for euthanasia the next week because her owner, rightly, didn't want her falling into the wrong hands and really injuring someone.

I just wish I could tell that lady that Lacey spent the last years of her life teaching children to ride. I think she would really get a kick out of that!

Anyway, long story short, with plenty more riding, and NEVER getting off when Lacey would act up, she came around. It took a few years, but we really made it.

Heck, our second to last ride was bareback and bridleless!! I was and am so so proud of her. 
She really came around and became everything no one expected her to be. She was the one I felt comfortable putting tiny kids on - I knew she'd keep them safe no matter what. 

"She's always been kind of 'up" = :lol:

Of course, she definitely had her moments. But, in the nearly 6 years we were together, I never fell off once. I came close to falling a number of times but she always refused to let me fall.
And that made me feel safe. I knew she might act like a loon sometimes, but that the chances of me getting hurt were very very slim.
I spent more hours on that horse's back than probably anyone yet I never fell. I love that so much.

She was truly one in a million.


----------



## gunslinger

Well now you have two in a million....


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## egrogan

I don't think I ever knew about Lacey's background. Makes the story that much more special 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## SueC

Wonderful story! 

Funny thing that: My mare was a firecracker, but when there were really young kids, say 8 and under, she was so protective of them. I could slide them on her bareback and lead her around and she'd always take it easy while they were around, and get all crinkle-eyed with them. 

I like the manner in which you obtained both your horses. Kind of providential!


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## Wallaby

haha true, gunslinger! 

I agree, egrogan!  

Haha Lacey was SO the same way, Sue! She loved me, but she _loved_ children. That's actually most of the reason I got into teaching lessons with her - we had been at camp together all summer in 2010 and she was coming home to my neighbor's house after camp so I knew there weren't gonna be many kids around. I figured we could start teaching lessons to get her "kid time" and voila! 



Two things:
1. I rode Fabio yesterday! It went ok though he definitely selectively chooses when he wants to listen to cues, turning cues especially. So that'll be a work in progress. 

2. Today one of my friends and I took some "graduation" photos and we chose to include Fabs in a few.
My friend really wanted me to hop on Fabs for a few minutes and I figured that, since yesterday went 'ok', today should be ok too - especially if we just stood there.

I had to mess with the bridle [I thought I'd put Lacey's bit on it - her hanging, mullen-mouth, fulmer snaffle that we got a farrier to make for us...just to see if he likes it since she LOVED it] so I looped his lead rope around his neck, and asked him to stand next to me while I messed with the bridle.

He was good for a few minutes, then got bored and tried to walk off. I instinctively grabbed for the lead rope, caught one end and kept tension on it - the rope ended up on the back of his neck [below his ears], still clipped to his halter. He could have easily fixed it if he had put his head down.

Instead he threw his head up, and began backing up. When I didn't give to that [I thought he'd put his head down. Plus, I wanted him to work that out for himself] he....

REARED STRAIGHT UP IN THE AIR.

Not even kidding, rearing straight up. He was completely calm about it. I "ah-ah-ah"-ed him, then brought him back to where we had been standing and he stood quietly for 10 more minutes [longer than I had asked him to stand before].


HOWEVER. HOUSTON, we have a PROBLEM!!

Rearing?? And so calmly????

Lacey was a rearer when I got her, but she was a "I'm panicking and so so scared"-rearer. That was easily fixed by teaching her that she wasn't gonna get hurt and by teaching her other ways of dealing with panic.

But completely calm rearing? 
He was worried, then confusion crossed his face and he reared, but that was it. Simply worry, then confusion. Not panicking, not pushed too far, just worried.
After rearing, he wasn't more worked up, he was dead calm.

And I reallllllly don't think I like that?

Cuz that means he could rear again, equally unexpectedly..........

Hmmmm. One day at a time, I guess.

From the way he acted right before he reared -looking super confused- and the way he reared -very controlled and precise- the first thing I wondered was if some genius had taught him to rear in response to poll pressure? But that also seems quite farfetched...

On the plus side, he seemed like he really liked Lacey's bit! I felt like I had more control, but he was more relaxed and prompt in his responses. We only had to walk a step or two, but he was much snappier.

So I dunno.... I'm glad I'm gonna be out of school in a few weeks. Fabs is not a project that's gonna take a few days, that's FOR SURE.


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## Roperchick

And of course you'll share said photos  haha
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Endiku

Chances are, he has learned that rearing is scary to people and is using it as a 'look I'm scary! Make this better NOW" type thing. Hopefully if you react calmly the way you did today and never let him think things are getting changed because of it, he'll stop. Maybe try moving his feet fast and hard too, when he pulls a stunt like that on the ground. Obviously this isn't a fear induced rear so he needs to quickly learn that it is a bad move that makes things that much tougher in the end!


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## Wallaby

Christy, OF COURSE!!! 

Hopefully, Allyson! So true! It just really threw me off guard. I thought about making him move this time, but my friend's fancy camera was _right_ there and you know... But I didn't back off or give him what he wanted so hopefully this is a one time thing. And, I guess, at least now I know what he might be inclined to do! 
And I found out in a relatively manageable scenario - not on our first trail ride, or something. :shock:

And I guess that this rear does underline something that was mentioned in a thread I made about him yesterday [I posted a thread about the turning issues, to get a feel for what my options are/how to teach that best] - someone brought up that it sounded like he didn't understand how to "follow his nose." If he had followed his nose today, he would have taken all the pressure off himself...but he didn't. He reared up instead.

I think that might be my first goal - figure out how, somehow, to teach him to follow his nose.
And I was just talking yesterday about how I could just _feel_ that he has some huge hole in his training -based on his general behavior- but that I felt like he was "hiding" it from me and saying "problem? Hole in my training?? What hole in my training??!"
I knew/know he has a lot of little things, but all the little things didn't seem to add up to the 'symptoms' I've been seeing.
Maybe we found the huge hole today.

Ha, not bad for less than a week in! :rofl:

#optimism


In brighter news, I bought him his own, official, feed bucket today!
It's kelly/fern green and goes well with his coat.
Yay!
Like I told you guys, I didn't want to get him his own until he was here and it was sure...but he's staying, no doubt.
Next on the agenda: fancy rope halter from my favorite rope halter online store. One of these days!!  I'm thinking navy or purple. Both colors would look good on him. I'll probably end up going with navy, but we'll see. 
Lacey's is bright kelly green which would look lovely on him...but it just doesn't seem right to "give" alll her stuff to Fabio. Something needs to be Lacey's for forever.


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## Endiku

Sunset halterrrrrrs! I totally vote purple ...no wait, navy....no...darn, guess you need to get two? 

Seriously though, best halters ever. I was seriously deveatated when I didn't get Kenzies back even though I don't even have a horse to wear it now. Lol. Hatch rope is the best.


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## Wallaby

YES!! Sunset Halterssss!  I LOVE THEM. 
I totally understand! Even though you don't have a horse right now, still nice to have quality horse accoutrama! 

Pictures!!

Oh, actually, first: I'm proud of Fabs today! Last night he was a HUGE jerk in his stall waiting for dinner [the tack/feed room door is part of one of the stall walls so I have to be _in _the stall to get dinner ready = a big rule that all animals need to be OUT of the stall when I come out of the tack/feed room with food]. 
He went into the stall to hang out while I prepared food [ok] but then he went over to his food-corner, with his butt to me, and started lightly pinning his ears and shifting weight back and forth. Now, I don't care if he pins his ears or not, but he had best be behaving otherwise. I told him to "get" and waved him out of the stall, but he just stood there. 
So I went back into the tack room, grabbed my lunge whip, hit the ground with it, then walloped him one across the butt when hitting the ground did nothing.

And boy. Did he leave the stall, or did he leave the stall!! haha

This morning he saw me coming out of the tack room with his food+the goats food [whoever is following the rules best gets food first - usually this is Hazel, then Atti, then Fabs], he left the stall and STOOD THERE LOOKING AT ME WITH HIS EARS PRICKED!! 
So he got breakfast first.  What a good boy!


Pictures!!

[my friend looked up lots of ideas on pinterest so....hahaha]

I liked this one cuz the confetti looks so coooool!



Just liked this one



Speaking of pinterest ideas! haha



Look at us being so cute!



"Where is my horse going right now??"



"Bad horse!!"



Awww



Fabs did not want to be a gangster with me. Booooo Fabs! haha





I wish his ears were forward!!



"The model life is a hard life."



Our hair is LITERALLY the same color. The bestttt.



He looks weirdly bay in this one. But he's so chestnut!! Weird. haha


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## tinyliny

I love this one:


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## Endiku

wow xD *devestated. Oh the typos!

By the way, you do know that your hair and Fab's coat match perfectly right? It was meant to be.


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## Wallaby

I like that one too, Caroline! 

RIGHT, Allyson?? Like there's not even a slight difference in shade! Ridiculousss. 

1. Poor Atti has "scours," aka diarrhea evvvvverywhere.
I'm not sure what's up with that. It looks like some yard debris containing rhododendrons might've gotten thrown into the pasture which can cause that [rhodies are _extremely_ poisonous so he wouldn't have to eat much to get the runs], or maybe he has worms.

I completely forgot about this but, in goats, they get weird worm "blooms" during times of stress. They can be totally fine, then get stressed, and BOOM. SO MANY WORMS. 

So I used an intense dewormer and dewormed both goats - Fabs probably caused enough stress to cause a worm bloom!!

Hopefully time/worming will help.
He seemed to be feeling better when I showed up to worm him - he helped me prepare his dewormer and everything. haha

He doesn't have a fever, he's not really lethargic...hopefully it's nothing. He probably needed to be wormed anyway. His coat hasn't been looking great and I completely forgot about worms possibly being a cause. Good job, me.

2. In Fabs news, I was feeling kinda bummed about him yesterday but a friend of mine gave me some great perspective: Lacey was about as great as a horse could get. She knew all the rules _and_ followed them. She was like a dog that I had for years. 
And now I'm potty training a new puppy. :lol:
It made me feel WAY better! haha

Today we did A LOT of things!

First, he got a thorough grooming and I braided his mane back up. Then I did a few "giving to his nose on the ground" exercises with him that I 'made up' - I had him on the lunge line and I'd walk behind him, then pull the line to ask him to face me. We progressed to where I had come all the way back around in front of him - he did pretty well! He found it stressful, but he did well. I was doing it around his hindquarters but that wasn't challenging him too much after a few repetitions, so I started putting the line on his neck and asking him to follow his head around to _that_ pressure [basically replicating when he reared on Saturday].

THAT was wayyyy more stressful for him. But he figured it out eventually, He realllly wanted to run backwards but, since he was on the lungeline, he could do that without releasing pressure=perfect.
We ended on a good, successful, note going both directions. 
I really liked his attitude after we worked on that!! Very "what next, boss?" He clearly had to think and he clearly felt like he had learned something. 
It was great!

Then I lunged him. He had the saddle on and I have a crop attached to one side and a little bag attached to the other side - he REALLY doesn't like that stuff+stirrups bouncing around on his sides so it's a great experience for him to learn about that.
He doesn't do anything really "bad" about it - just makes lots of angry faces. :lol:

Then I rode him for 15 minutes or so.
I had been having some issues with the saddle being a little too wide in front [he has a lot of muscle to develop!!] so I threw a english "baby pad," folded in half, in on top of the regular pad on his withers. And it actually worked! The saddle didn't sink hardly at all and his sweat pattern, post-ride/lunge, was super even.

I put him in Lacey's old bit and I'm not sure how I like it.... Today was only his second time ever wearing it so I guess I shouldn't be worried. 
He was turning+stopping really well, but he spent the whole ride jus gnawing at the bit. Once he even tripped cuz he was SO distracted by the bit. 
I'll give him a bit more time to feel it out but I'm not 100% that that;s the right bit for him. 
However, if he's that goober-y with a 100% solid bit, what would he be like in a french-link?? Either he needs something to move, or he'll be unbelievably distracted with a french-link.

Here he is.
Clearly his favorite colors are pink, purple, and hearts. :wink:


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## tinyliny

He's got a lot of "life" in him, so it'll take more to work with him. but you'll HAVE more, too!

good work today. I did only ground work today, too. too windy today, and the little voice in my head said, "dont' ride today, too windy and Z too worried" , so , I listened.

just wondering if you would like to split off and start a new thread, without the Lacey title?

look into subscribing to "Eclectic Horseman" magazine. it comes bi-monthly. you'll like it.


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## muumi

Sorry Caroline, but I must interject! Emily please don't start a new thread! This is basically the only thing I come on horseforum to read. Maybe you can change the title? But this thread read like a 'book', a personal memoir, and I don't want it to end. Everrrrrr
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Cherrij

I object, This is the Journey, it still follows what Lacey was and gave and is and everything else. This is the further Journey, so I do not agree on a new thread or change of title. Everyone knows the journal by it's name anyway... 


On the other hand, Emily, you reminded me how my friend complained that they got a bit that fits finally for the mare, and she won't stop chewing, they cannot turn with her etc. So they put her back on a very thin 2 piece bit that is TOO long. instead of nice 3 piece (french link?) bit that fits her mouth nicely. 
Just cuz they cannot let the horse get used to it. 
Grand was a mess the first few times I managed to get the bit in his mouth.. he was chewing at it like mad, but then he stopped. Still can't put it on, but he doesn't chew it that much 


GO FABS!


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## gunslinger

I too think I'd like you to go forward with this thread.

Have you seen G'man lately?


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## egrogan

Wallaby, I don't mean to keep hijacking your thread with cute goat-equine stuff, but have you seen the "Mr. G and Jellybean" video? I am NOT a crier, but I was crying like a baby at this one: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv2OGph5Kec&feature=kp

Here's the full news story: Mr. G and Jellybean: A Burro And Goat Love Story Taking The Internet By Storm Â« CBS Sacramento


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## Wallaby

Thanks Caroline  I'll look into that magazine! 
I've wondered about this thread/the title myself, but each time I've come to the conclusion that this is kinda still Lacey's journey...even if "she" is continuing it from inside another horse. Not that I'm trying to make Fabs be her, or anything, but she taught me so much and she changed so much of who I am...pretty much everything about who I am today and how I work with horses is due to Miss Lacey.
Therefore, I think "Lacey and me, the journey" still stands.
Maybe, could you add something like "[*costarring Fabio!!*]" on the end of the current title? That way it describes the current state of things while keeping the title I, at least, have grown attached to. 

Don't worry, Muumi!! This will _never endddddddd._  It's the _Neverending Story_!!!!!! :happydance: And I'm so flattered that this is what you come here to read!! <3 <3 So flattered. I'm so glad you love it!!

Thank you for your thoughts, Cherri!! I feel the same way about the journey and Lacey.  
Thanks for the encouragement about his bit! Things went better today!!

Yes, Gunslinger! I see him almost every Sunday at church. Unfortunately, due to the jobs we have at church [I'm a host, he's in charge of the kid's program] we don't get to go to the same service ever. SO we pretty much end up having 10 minutes, if we're lucky, to talk each Sunday.
But we're all the time sending each other funny links and whatnot, so we pretty much "communicate" at some level on a daily basis. 
I would definitely count him as one of my best friends in the world. He's definitely one of the people I can count on to support me however he might be able to. 
I really like how our friendship has changed since last Christmas when I thought it was all going down the drain - it hasn't gone down the drain AND we're better, healthier, friends than ever. Instead of me driving myself crazy chasing him all over kingdom-come, it's more equal and right. He's like my other brother. Which kinda fits since we were bonded since basically the second we met. 
It's really good. 

Egrogan, I LOVE THAT VIDEO!! SO sweeeeet!! Adorable. :hug:

I watched some Stacey Westfall training videos [a series where she's training an unhandled 2year old stud] today and I feel like I learned a lot! It's interesting to watch a trainer work and I like how she explains why she does any particular thing. So that was good.

Mr. Fabs was Mr. SASSY this morning [I didn't work him at all yesterday so he had a lot of energy pent up]. So I determined I would work with him this evening.

Overall he really did well. I'm finding that, unlike Lacey, he does best if each session has a bunch of different parts - like, instead of just lunging, I worked with him on being wrapped up in the lungeline and untangling himself, then we did a little lunging, then we did some "stand where I place you and don't move while I set things up"-ing, and then we practiced walking over one raised pole [something that was initially "terrifying"]...all while wearing the bridle and getting used to that bit.

He actually did really well and he was mentally softer for a bit afterwards. He kinda "retreats" into his grumpy shell when he's not working, but he is SO HAPPY to be using his mind while he works. It's very interesting. He immediately kind of brightens up when he figures out we're gonna work.

I did notice something interesting today: the ground was slippery, just a little, from all the rain we've been getting. I was lunging him [before I changed the plan into pole-walking-over] and I asked him to canter. He cantered once nicely and I let him slow down, then I asked again and he kind of hesitated going into the canter, he was practically audibly asking "are you sure? The ground's kinda slippery.."
I pushed him, and the poor dude fell over. 
He was fine, picked himself right up, and stared at me. It was especially interesting because, after standing up, all that bravado he likes to totes around was just gone. He looked at me to find out what we were doing net, and carried on..a little less full of himself. After that I had him do one stride of canter in a different spot, then we did minimal trotting, and then switched to other things. The ground was just too wet.

OH! We're progressing in that "Lungeline Game" I made up - today we made it to where I was standing back by his rear asking him to turn and he had to turn to face me THEN turn completely around another whole time. He's doing well when the rope is placed down by his hocks/butt. He has a much harder time understanding when it's near his neck [I'm still just standing by his rear, asking him to do a half-body-turn with it on his neck]. But we're making progress!

I also had him do figure-eights over a raised pole. He was very unsure of that, but figured it out. It also got him lowering his head nicely and raising his back=yay!!

From yesterday at my grandma's memorial service - this is a basket [this is just the lid] she made out of PINE NEEDLES.
She also made the tablecloth it's sitting on!
CRAZY.
She was super talented with handicraft stuff.










This morning.
I saw Hazel in the llamas' shed so I went down there to collect her. I couldn't see Atti so I called for him....next thing you know, he's poking his sleepy head out of the llamas' hay-room like a teenager coming out of their bedroom.

HYSTERICAL.
That goat!!!










All that work Fabs did today! 
Being an adult is tough stuff.











:happydance: :happydance:


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## tinyliny

As per the author's request, the title has been slightly modified to incorporate the ongoing nature of this "Neverending Story".

onward!


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## SueC

Emily, how _do_ you continuously manage to click your camera at exactly the right time and from the right place? Do you have a camera grafted to your body? ;-) Great yawn, like that super "scratching" picture when you first got Fabio.

By the way, is that an Australian stock saddle you are riding in?


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## SueC

And Caroline, is your new avatar by any chance a photo from your childhood? I've been wondering!


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks for your help, Caroline!!

Haha, Sue, almost... I have my phone with me pretty much all the time [especially with Fabio - since he's still a little...interesting, in the interests of safety, I make sure to take my cell phone] and my phone has a pretty ok camera [it's an iPhone with a "special" camera app that improves the built-n camera]. So I pretty much always have that with me to snap a photo of whatever might happen.
Then I also have my nicer camera that I take with me upon occasion [pretty much all my photos with sunspotting have been taken with my "real" camera :wink:]. 
However, I'd say that 88% of my photography comes from my phone and the other 12% is my camera - I have the phone all the time=easier to take pictures on a whim. 

And yes! That is a stock saddle!!  I love it! I got it..almost 3 years ago now, I guess, and it's been my go-to ever since. I prefer riding in an english saddle but, with the trails we have here and such, an english saddle just isn't secure enough. And an aussie ended up being the perfect combo of secure and english-y! 


Mr. Fabs and I had some mild, but not life-ending, setbacks yesterday.
Nothing huge, but it felt like he had gone significantly backwards in his understanding of "giving" to pressure. 
That's ok though, plateaus are part of training and he did really well in other areas.

For one thing, I remembered that he groundties like a GEM and tht that ability has helped him in the past - I have him groundtie, then I introduce/"do crazy things" to him and, somehow, the fact that he could leave, but chooses not to, seems to reallllly help him get over fears. I think just the idea that he has a choice to leave [even though I'm not actually gonna let him leave] really helps hi mind process.
So, last night, I had him groundtie facing the tack room and I brushed him+tacked him up that way. 
That was helpful because I noticed that he REALLY reacts to the saddle pad and girth.

When he was tied, I guess he had less room to communicate with me. Anyway, we did a little sacking out with the pad - just throwing it over his back repeatedly until he wasn't throwing his head up each time it moved.

I find it very interesting that he was reactive to the saddle pad -one of the things that, as a riding horse, I think he should probably be the most used to-. I guess that just goes to show how darn MANY steps were skipped in his training.

Then we headed out to "the arena" -the part of the pasture where we work- and I asked him to lunge a bit. Interestingly, it seems that I may have finally worked him for enough days that his energy level is staying lower. Instead of just bombing off like usual, he was happy to listen and just walk/trot. Yay!!

Then we worked with tangling him up in the lunge line and getting him untangled. This is where he did less well. He didn't panic, but he did "forget" how to do it at allllll. So I made it really easy for him and we just worked on the easy stuff.

Then I thought I would ask him to flex his neck to the side a little...that went pretty terribly. He didn't want to flex at alllll and, when I continued to ask him to try just a little, he freaked the heck out and ended up stomping the heck out of my foot [my foot is basically a bruise at this moment]. So we went back and I asked for even less flexing - he finally "gave in" and gave me just a smidge of flexion.

Then I rode him just a little.
His turning has vastly improved! He's still mostly clueless about what legs mean, but he's getting there. As far as rein cues for turns, he's doing really pretty well!

It's very strange - I've been having him wearing the bit whenever I work with him so he get's comfy with it. He's totalllllly fine with it just chilling in his mouth, but the MOMENT I'm on his back, he's chewing the bit, turning his head to the side and knawing the bit, doing all manner of weird stuff with the bit.
And that's what's making me nervous about taking him out on a trail ride. I think, at this point, he might do well...but all these bit shenanigans!!

Very strange.
The other strange thing I've noticed the last two rides:
_Someone_ doesn't "get" bit pressure to stop....but they stop on a dime when I drop my weight into my seat and rock my seat back? What does that even MEAN??
But ok. I like that, a lot. I was never able to figure out how to teach Lacey to do that and that's something I always wished she knew [one reason why we could never go 100% bridleless]...so I like that Fabs has that pre-installed!
But I'm just a little confused as to how a horse that acts like he does about simply being ridden knows _that_?? That seems a little advanced to me??

OH! Also! Yesterday was the first ride that he _hasn't_ tried walking off the second I go to mount up! And he stayed still until I cued him to go!
Yay! Go Fabs!!












In other news, I hung out with Lacey's massage lady today [she needed someone to handle a horse for her while she massaged it..I made $20! haha] and [since my van decided this morning that it did not want to go anywhere today] she picked me up/took me home. On our way back to my house, we stopped at the pasture so she could see the goats and see Fabs [she met him a few times at the therapy place - she does massages on horses there too].
1. The goats were so happy to see her! It was adorable! Atti literally ran straight to her when she called him, from across the llamas pasture. I've never seen him react that way to anyone except me! How cute is THAT?
2. She offered to start massaging Fabs for me which I might take her up on. He's pretty darn tight through his loin area and his neck - massage might help him a lot. We'll see what happens. 


So I guess that was pretty all around successful.
I'm gonna help her massage another horse next Friday and make another $20. Hollllla. 

Speaking of $20, I ordered Mr. Fabs his fancy halter!!
I ordered navy blue - it'll "match" with his bridle nd it should look pretty good with his coat. Plus it's a manly color. He has to wear so much pink/purple anyway...might as well give him something a littttle masculine.

ALSO! His Remission finally arrived! So I'll start him on that tonight.


----------



## Wallaby

Also, almost forgot: 

I have perhaps developed a new theory about his origins - I was thinking about this and realized that, logically, I'm AT LEAST his 5 placement in his ten years. And that's just including wherever he was born, then supposing he went straight to the people who neglected him, then to the therapy place, then that lease, then me.
I would bet that there's at least another home or two in there somewhere. Therefore, it stands to reason he could have had papers at one point and lost them. I just can't believe that a horse with as good of conformation as he has, as athletic, and with as good of a mind _isn't_ registered at allll. I mean, he does have faults, but he's better than 90% of the stallions around here. So why wasn't he registered? Very strange.
In any case, I'm still pinching myself that I somehow ended up with such a nice horse!


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## Endiku

Neglect could be why, plain and simple. Do Arabians have the breed registration thing where they get a temporary registration, then at a certain age it can be renewed and finalized. That's how it is for miniatures, and I think for tbs too. Kenzie had phenomenal cpobfo minus too little bone, and she was baby registered. But now she isn't because she's over a year old and her previous owner refused to give me the papers with the stallion signature so I couldn't pay to register her.lucky for us, her new momma couldn't care less about papers!


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## SueC

Wallaby said:


> Then I thought I would ask him to flex his neck to the side a little...that went pretty terribly. He didn't want to flex at alllll and, when I continued to ask him to try just a little, he freaked the heck out and ended up stomping the heck out of my foot [my foot is basically a bruise at this moment]. So we went back and I asked for even less flexing - he finally "gave in" and gave me just a smidge of flexion.


And it may _not_ be that he doesn't like being asked to flex, it may be that he's freaking out over not knowing what you want. Most likely in his murky history with other handlers, there was someone who assumed he knew what they wanted, and immediately punished him when he didn't, which makes horses super nervous when being taught new things, and of course calm is the best state of mind for a horse to learn. So take things quietly with him, give him think time in your lessons, go back to something familiar you can praise him for, then try again. He's going to love you even more when learning is no longer scary, and you're going to show him it's not.

When we're teaching horses new things, they have to guess: Is _this_ what my monkey wants? Is it _that_? So they have to often go through a repertoire of incorrect guesses before hitting what we want, and a great attitude is like, "Thanks for trying but not that, try again" and then praise, praise, praise and end-of-lesson when they get it right. This makes them happy to learn. End-of-lesson is not necessarily stopping what you're doing for the day, it may be returning to something familiar, something fun.




> It's very strange - I've been having him wearing the bit whenever I work with him so he get's comfy with it. He's totalllllly fine with it just chilling in his mouth, but the MOMENT I'm on his back, he's chewing the bit, turning his head to the side and knawing the bit, doing all manner of weird stuff with the bit.


It could be he's a little nervous, and therefore playing with the bit as "displacement behaviour" - or that he's keen to go, or a bit of both. One of my father's stallions, who was great in a snaffle, was always "on the bit" and chewing it when working.




> And that's what's making me nervous about taking him out on a trail ride. I think, at this point, he might do well...but all these bit shenanigans!!


You're spot on to get your communication sorted and secure with each other in the arena. Gradually your radius can increase: The furthest extent of his familiar environment, then unfamiliar environment, where it doesn't hurt to lead a horse first to see how he reacts, just like you lead a dog. It's the safest way to proceed with any horse, and also the least likely to result in negative experiences for either of you.




> The other strange thing I've noticed the last two rides:
> _Someone_ doesn't "get" bit pressure to stop....but they stop on a dime when I drop my weight into my seat and rock my seat back? What does that even MEAN??
> But ok. I like that, a lot. I was never able to figure out how to teach Lacey to do that and that's something I always wished she knew [one reason why we could never go 100% bridleless]...so I like that Fabs has that pre-installed!
> But I'm just a little confused as to how a horse that acts like he does about simply being ridden knows _that_?? That seems a little advanced to me??


My mare worked on weight cues and half-halts alone pretty quickly once trained. Some horses are very responsive to weight cues. But here's another observation: I've also spent a lot of time in the past 30 years riding my father's harness racing horses, which is the occupational hazard of growing up on a trotting stud. Harness horses are never taught to stop on bit pressure. Contact to them means "let's go" and when the driver wants the horse to stop, he voice cues and actually _eases off_ the reins. So when riding horses with that training, I only ever used (increasing) half-halts and weight cues to get them to stop when riding - never pressure that wasn't on-off-on-off. And the one thing that tricked them all into stopping really fast, especially from a walk, is pretending I was going to dismount by lifting my weight out of the stirrups and going through the usual weight changes that go with that. You just make like you're going to dismount for a second, but stop the motion. If they stop, praise and give them a small end-of-lesson pause, then gradually over the next few sessions keep decreasing the cues until minimal ones only are needed... ;-)


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## Endiku

He could also be mouthing from memories of rider equals face being jerked. With all of the bits they tried and his new habits, there is a huge chance he is expecting the worst.


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## tinyliny

If he does not know how to give to the bit, does he also have issues with giving to the rope, when lead or tied.?

it's not safe to ride a horse out on the trails who may have problems giving to pressure, and knowing how to release himself from the pressure of the leadline or rein. this is very , very important, and although you might be able to sneak around this gap, it will come back to bite you.

for example, if you are holding the line, or if he is tied, and something spooks him so much that he tries to run, and he hits the end of the line, does he put MORE pressure into the line, or bounce off his own pressure and find his own release? does he panic and sit back, or try to blast through it?

before you go into a bunch of complicated "untie yourself " kind of exersizes, investigate how well he can release himself from a simple hitting of the end of the rope.

and yes, that is a photo of me at age 8, riding Peanut.


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## SueC

Endiku said:


> He could also be mouthing from memories of rider equals face being jerked. With all of the bits they tried and his new habits, there is a huge chance he is expecting the worst.


Totally! When you get a horse that's been passed along from home to home, it's almost a 100% certainty that someone has been rough with the horse along the way - people often assume horses know what they want, and play "I'll show you" with them, which is so counter-productive, just aggressive ignorance really. We're (supposedly) the ones with the big thinking brains, so it's our job to think about this stuff and figure it out, which Emily most clearly does.

Bit jerking is so common - people think, "I've pulled his mouth, he hasn't stopped, I'll pull harder, still doesn't work, I'll jerk the ******, that'll show him." They don't understand _why_ a horse stops - it's not because their mouth is hurting (that, in fact, will give them a dead mouth or drive them frantic depending on temperament, and Fabio is sensitive so I'd say he'd go frantic with rough treatment, and maybe that explains his rearing - a horse like him isn't going to just stoically accept repulsive handling), but because they have been taught by a trainer that rein cues / rein discomfort _stops immediately_ they slow down - "If I do X when the monkey does Y, the monkey stops bothering me and gets all happy."

Once Fabio works out he now has a sensitive, trustworthy monkey whose brain is in excellent working order and who won't ever do horrible things to him, he's going to repay that re-training effort in spades. Horses like that love to learn with the right handler. I'm sure he's going to be a marvellous horse and friend for Emily. I'm looking forward to reading about it! 

Emily, does your horse have a brand, tattoo or microchip? If yes, finding his pedigree should be straightforward.


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## SueC

tinyliny said:


> ...and yes, that is a photo of me at age 8, riding Peanut.


Very cute, Caroline! 

How's your horse situation travelling? Looking at anything?


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## tinyliny

SueC said:


> Very cute, Caroline!
> 
> How's your horse situation travelling? Looking at anything?




Not now, I mean nothing new, but I don't want to hijack Wallabys thread


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## Wallaby

Allyson, I don't thiiiink so? But I should find out.
Of course, it doesn't super matter if he's registered or not -I'll love him all the same!!
At the same time though, I'd love to find out if he has an identity! I liked knowing who Lacey's dad was, it'd be nice to have something similar for Fabs. But either way. 
And you definitely could be right about him being jerked on. That could definitely have happened, unfortunately. 

Sue, I think you're completely right about flexing. The other thing with him is that he's clearly VERY stiff in his neck so flexing very much might be uncomfortable. Confusion+discomfort=a horse that says "um, NO." SO I'm gonna work on his neck a little myself, doing the massages Lacey's Massage Lady taught me, and hopefully the massage lady can come out next week to give him a good going over.
I'm sure that'll help him in any case!
Haha, I like that - I have to become a trusted monkey! 
Also, unfortunately, it's really rare to tattoo/brand/mircochip horses in the US. Range-captured mustangs and raced Thoroughbreds will have a tattoo or brand, but other than that it's not common. It used to be very common to brand Arabians but not anymore. 

Caroline, I _think _he does know how to release to the line...or at least he's getting better. I mean, he ties really really well. He can get scared while tied and, instead of spooking [which is his normal reaction to scary things] he turns his body to watch whatever scared him. 
It's a little confusing for me - he'll spook big when he's untied/on the lunge line/free/whatever, but he just doesn't spook while tied. He might, at the very most, flinch or jump...but I've never seen him move any more than that. I expected him to be a puller initially [last summer when I met him] because of how spooky/nutty he seems to be...but he's not. I even saw him get stung by a bee while tied and he just danced around a little. 
On the line, untied, he does eventually release himself from the pressure but he first goes through a second of BIG panic, then "oh! I know how to solve this!", then he solves it.
Like when he reared - he went up, realized that the pressure wasn't releasing, so he came down and took a step forward. He stepped on the lunge line the other day and he threw his head up, calmed down, and took a step back to release himself.
And so on. 

So I really don't know how to answer that. Cuz on one hand, I would say he does basically understand the concept of releasing himself from pressure...but it takes him a few steps more than it took, say, Lacey.
I have worked with horses that had no concept of giving to pressure [the kind where they'd pullback while tied until they fell over or something broke] and I think he's a step ahead of them...but maybe just a small step.


I got some books out of the library today that should help me a bit - "The Modern Horseman's Countdown to Broke" [I heard this one was good for breaking down allll the things into more manageable steps], "Horsemanship Though Feel" [I think??] - it's the one by that famous Dorrance guy, and Cherry Hill's book about things every horse should know.
At least I'll have some ideas of what to look for. Fabs just know so much of nothing, I feel a little out of my depth for where to start. I feel like it's manageable and like we'll get there...but I don't want to overface Fabs on the journey!
I know with Lacey there were a few things that I tried to teach and, because it went badly the first time [since I had no idea what I was doing, even less than I do now :wink:], she was forever unable/unwilling to learn the concept. It was no fault of hers, at all!! She had just been so stressed/overwhelmed the first time that each successive try sent her back to Captain Panic-Land.
So I'm hoping to avoid a repeat of that with Mr. Fabio.


Speaking of avoiding repeats, Fabs and I had a GREAT ride this morning!

I have noticed that he gets really worried looking and tries to leave whenever he sees the saddle coming out. He was like this on day 1 so I'm hoping it'll go away in time. I try to be sensitive of that while saddling him, but I also don't coddle him about it. "There's nothing to fear here, Fabs! It's just a silly ol' saddle!!"

I didn't lunge him at all today. I had him do a few walking circles around me before I mounted, but that was it. I figure that I don't want either of us to become dependent on lunging!

He stood still for me to mount AGAIN! And he stayed statuesque until I asked him to walk off. So that's really great, imo. It's showing me that he starting to not feel the need to avoid being ridden. Yay Fabs!!

I slightly increased the size of our riding area in the pasture so that was "exciting" for him. He did pretty well with it - he was walking with a little more pep but he did well!
It's interesting the differences between his stride and Lacey's - her walking stride was longer and had a lot of "rock" to it, his stride is MUCH shorter and faster without a lot of rock. They probably, actually, walk about the same speed [fast! haha] but it's interesting how they each reach that speed! Lacey could spook/spin/whatever straight out of -what seemed to be- nowhere, while you can feel Fabs' shenanigans from a mileeee away. 
It's very interesting! I bet it has a lot to do with how Lacey had shorter legs so she could really get down...while Fabio, captain of Team Giraffe-Legs, is like a mile off the ground and it's allll in his legs. :lol:

I also set up a little tarp in the middle of our riding space. I figure that it could help play into our "I am a good monkey!" game. A lot of what I'm trying to do with him right now is less about teaching him a specific skill and more about teaching him that I'm trustworthy.

I rode around for a bit, did a lot of turning and whatnot [his turning, by the way, is really coming along! He's doing MUCH better+starting to listen to me even when he definitly wants to go somewhere else], then I asked him to walk over the tarp [I had introduced it in our initial few lunge circles so he was still nervous about it, but he knew he's survive]. 
He balked, of course, but I started asking him to just place a single foot on it, the another foot...etc, until he was finally standing on it with all feet, and we stood there for a bit. Then we walked around the big area, came back to the tarp, walked over it again like that^, stopped, and I got off while he was still on the tarp [I figured that was probably a pretty good reward - being done!].

Clearly, it ate his soul:












In other news, I just ordered him a bit. I was looking at the one he's wearing now, and I think it might be just a littttle harsher than I want. I was noticing that the curb chain does engage if I pull much on the reins and that seems just a little advanced for where we are. It might be good for our first trail ride since he really respects it, but, for now, I'm thinking that something a bit more "baby" would be better.

So I chose him this one:

Western SS Mullen Copper Roller D-Ring Bit - Horse.com

Looks like the copper should encourage him to accept it and he's been loving the solid-ness of the bit he's in now so this one, since it doesn't look like it'll have a whole lot of bend, should be ok. Perhaps the roller will give him something to take his bit-frustration out on...
Plus, I like that it's the kind of d-ring that it is - should help him continue to understand the whole turning thing, while not look ugly as heck. :lol:


:happydance:

We're getting there! One day.


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## SueC

Hey Emily, if you liked my monkey explanation and are buying books at present, I really have to recommend a training book by Tom Roberts called "Horse Control - the Young Horse" - it's the best horse book in my library on training horses; it's succinct, funny, had a range of solutions for every training problem I ever had, and explains the _why_ of everything horse related, and how the horse sees things (which is not how we see it at all). Out of print but still available in places, can search online; I personally never read anything better on the subject of horsemanship. Reading that when I was a teenager training my mare was a godsend. The guy who wrote it passed away years ago but he was originally a horse trainer for the army and later the mounted police in Australia, and competed high level in all sorts of different disciplines, including dressage, showjumping and polo, as well as instructing pony club instructors. I still go back to this volume if I encounter a curly problem.


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## Zexious

Oh my goodness, so much has changed since the last time I posted! 8D Fabs is beautiful, and it sounds like you are really making some positive progress with him.


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## Wallaby

Thanks Sue! I'm just getting them out of my local library though...and I guess the library doesn't have that one  I'll have to look it up on Amazon, or something, and finger's crossed they'll have it for a reasonable price!! 

I knowwww Zexious! I'm glad you're back  And thanks! 

SO MANY THINGS. 
I came here being all "huh, I don't have much to say!" but as I started thinking...um, yeah, i have a lot to say. haha

This is basically finals week for me=I'm dyyyyyinggg of school. I just need to make it through this week, then I'll be cruisin'.
It's technically the week before finals week, but [I think I've told you about this before] the profs all like to "make finals week easier" by having all their finals the week before....HOWEVER, when ALL the teachers do it, it makes it 50 million times harder. Since you're trying to finish up last projects, go to regularly scheduled classes, STUDY... AH.
Especially since I'm taking 18 credits right now=TOO MUCH stuff.

Plus side: a cute guy asked me to study with him tomorrow?? haha He's just a friend I made this term but that's one bonus of pretend-Finals-Week! :lol:

I'm kind of a lot sad though...I have a few friends that I've made over the last 2 years at this school and we've made sure to take a class together each terms for the last forever... Like my Sign Language class buddy - we met on the very first day of our very first ASL class, bonded immediately, and have been ASL buddies ever since. 2 years: through Lacey's death, her dad's death, barely passing the class a few times, her getting so sick she was hospitalized and we studied in a hospital...
But we have really different lifestyles and I'm not sure if we're gonna be able to keep our friendship up.
However, we have a ton in common so I reallly hope we can. Heck, we even have the same birthday!!!
So that's kind bittersweet.
There are other friends like that too. Ugh.
However: time and space is no barrier for souls who are meant to know each other, so I'm trying not to be tooooo much of a pessimist!! 


In other news: BEST SURPRISE LAST NIGHT. BEST.
Ok, I'm 100% sure I've told you about this kid - Gman's bestie? [who's straight..haha Or, at least, "his future wife" has been joked about multiple times when I've been around...UNLIKE Gman. Anyway.]
Pretty sure Gman has been trying to set me up with this kid for yearsssss. 
Back before this guy and I were friends in our own right, the two of them and their girl bestie would come to church and guess who I would always "magically" end up sitting next to?
Gman would always make 100% sure that this guy and I were sitting next to each other, always. And I'd always be all "whyyyyyy. I wanna sit by youuuu." And Gman would be all like "but you never get to see ___ and you should be friendssss."
Plus, whenever I say anything about this guy, Gman makes sure to talk and talk about him...which, of course, they're besties. But I dunno, it's more like "you and___ have THIS is common! And THIS! And THISSSS!!!"
And I was always like "um, that's cool." cuz I had a huge crush on Gman...not his adorable bestie..._right?_ And so I always felt super weird when Gman was talking like that cuz...yeah, no.

ANYWAY. 

Gbestie [get it? Gman's Bestie?] went away to graduate school last summer. He "abandoned" us in Oregon for a school in Virginia. 
So he came home at Christmas -didn't see him- and that was it.
He'll post random stuff to my FB wall about once a month and I'll post stuff on his, and Gman will tell us about what the other's been up to, and that's about the extent of our communication.

At Christmas when this guy came home, I would have liked to have seen him, told him that later [he said he was "so flattered!!" by that], but he lives in a different part of Oregon so yeah no.

Then, yesterday morning, I saw a picture on FB of GBestie, Gman, and their lady BFF [they had gone to a college friend's wedding]. And my first thought was "I wish I could see GBestie tooo!! But oh well."

Yesterday evening I got to church, texted Gman to tell him I was there, and he told me that he had gotten the night off but he was coming to the service I always go to and I could sit with him if I wanted.

Of course I started losing my junk from excitement: haven't sat with Gman at church in AGES. And it's the best cuz he gets allll my jokes about the sermon and whatnot...unlike other people [*glares at NG* hahaha].
PLUS, it had been a long time since I saw Gman for longer than 5 minutes=missed him!!

So I, mid-losing my junk with happiness, wander around church doing my job: greeting people.


THEN.

THEN.
THEN.
*THEN*, Gman walks in the door by my section. 

AND GBESTIE IS WITH HIM. 
[GBestie is staying at Gman's house while he's here right now so it wasn't a hard jump, BUT STILL]

So, at this point, my junk is lost. I'm freaking out and it's great.

Then we all sat together. I got to sit between them and it was the greatest thing IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.

After the service, GBestie and I talked for seriously an hour. Gman left us together to go do something and yeah, we just kept talking. About everything and nothing.
I was SO late coming home. haha It was great. 

Unfortunately GBestie's going back to Virginia next Sunday, but it was the best to be able to see him. 
I think I managed to be sufficiently blatant with that. haha
So maybe I'll get to see him the next time he comes back. We'll see. 


AHHHHH. Literally the best surprise of ALL TIME.

:happydance:

And here are a number of animal pictures:

I left the tarp out for Fabs to think about.
I had just gotten a new box of treats and I was carrying them down to the shed - Atti was just sureeeee he needed a treat, but none of his "usual" tricks were getting him a treat, so he decided to make one up. He went over to a tarp-contemplating Fabio, stuck his horns in dear Fab's face until Fabs had had enough, THEN bounced back to me - clearly expecting a treat. 
WHAT A BRAT. 










He got new tennis balls on his horns yesterday...










And a little late afternoon naptime!

[Atticus is, of course, sleeping on the tarp in this. WHAT A BRAT. He loves that tarp. haha]











:happydance:


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## jcraig10

Your Gman/NG/GBestie/HotVet posts crack me up. Especially when they have this guy :happydance: at the end 

I hope that you and your college friends stay friends. My best college friend/roommate moved to NC 6 hours away and we really don't keep in touch like we should. It is hard because you get so caught up in doing your own thing.


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## Endiku

18 credits?!?!?! GIRL. How are you NOT dead?!


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## ligoleth

That's what I was thinking, Endiku. That's insane!


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## Wallaby

Hahaha Julia, I'm glad!!  He describes perfectly how I feeeeeel! :lol: 
I'm just hoping that, even if we don't stay in touch right now, maybe we'll end up being neighbors someday or old lady friends. You never know, I guess!

Allyson and Deschutes, I KNOW. It's really not "too" bad since I've been taking 16/term for the last two years and I'm just doing my Capstone this term which is a 6 credit class instead of my normal four 4 credit classes [so I'm in three 4 credit classes and one 6 credit class].
I realllllly didn't want to take 6 years to get through college and this is the way it worked out...I guess. Could be worse! 

I will say though - not a great idea to take your senior paper/thesis class AND your Capstone in the same term. :lol:


Speaking of school, as of this morning, I have officially passed the 2 year language requirement to graduate!! 
YAY. 
I stink at languages [snuck by with D's in high school to fulfill the requirement to graduate] so the fact that I made it through 2 years, 6 terms, of a language without getting lower than a C = BASICALLY A MIRACLE. 
So I'm pretty excited and proud of myself for that. 

Yay ASL!!
And my ASL buddy and I have already determined that we are going to the zoo together this summer so hopefully we'll stay buddies. 


In other news, I haven't worked Fabio since Sunday so he's feeling a little fresh. 
And he and Hazel have apparently invented a new game to play together...
This initially worried me, but I realized that he doesn't keep after her once she stops running AND she was baahing her head off for him before he ran up. She could have cared less about Lacey [she was scared of her], so her behavior says that she's not too worried. 
"oh mom, calm down." :lol:






I'm also proud of the lead change he appears to do right before he gets to Hazel! DANG. Maybe that's totally normal, but I'm just really impressed that he's so athletic and whatnot!

And also, someone, the property owners I assume, decided to put this big pile of moss/compost in the pasture right where the ground was basically getting washed away all summer...so it was basically a good thing.
It pretty much appeared out of nowhere one day so I was a little freaked out by it.

Of course, Mr "I flunked out as a therapy horse because I'm a scaredy-cat" was thoroughly unphased. And promptly tromped through it like nobodies business.

THAT HORSE.

Hazel wanted nothing to do with the pile and Atti made it his new toy.











What weirdos.


----------



## tinyliny

fabio looks SOOOO happy there. he must think he died and went to heaven!

I love this remark:

"However: time and space is no barrier for souls who are meant to know each other"

that is so true. All people are special, but some are more special, and knowing them is just a blessing that is meant to be.

and Atti got new balls? good for him. bet that made his day.


----------



## Cherrij

> And Atti got new balls? Good for him. Bet that made his day.


In more ways than one I guess.. 

Sorry, but this comment made my day  
What would be do without these adventures?


----------



## Wallaby

hahahaha you guys! _TENNIS _balls. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

I think Fabio really is happy here. I really cannot describe how well he just "fits"... Lacey fit in one way and everything was "right" when she was here, then she left and left a big gaping hole in sort of the _fabric_ of the pasture. I don't know how else to describe it.

And Fabs just kind of fits there. He's not taking her place, but it feels like he's taking bits of her and bits of himself and weaving them together to "fix" the hole.

But yeah, I think he really likes it here and we love having him here!! I feel less "cast adrift" than I've felt in months and I'm feeling way more optimistic about things!

Due to this being my finals week-thing, Mr Fabs has kinda had the week off - lucky guy!!

I AM discovering something interesting about him though - Lacey LIVED for movement. The faster she could go, the more she loved it. 

Fabs, on the otherrrr hand, has a facade up of "1000000 miles an hour PLEASE!" and "I'm SO GRUMPY ALL THE TIME"...but reallly all he wants to do is go 0mph and be petted.
So that's interesting. 
It seems as though he really doesn't _like_ being "up" and he'd much prefer a slow, steady, pace.

On one hand, this makes me wonder about my ideal plans for him [endurance horse, maybe??] but it also gives me so much hope that, one day, he'll be the steadiest eddy of them all. And I LOVE STEADY EDDIES. :lol:
I like steady eddies with attitude and we already have the attitude bit down pat. :wink:

But anyway, I'm really quite happy about this new development. 
I'm sure many many more hiccups will appear, but it's nice to know that he _wants_ to stop. [though that makes me even more irritated that he started bolting while being leased by those people - WHAT were they doing??! GAH.]

I miss Lacey a lot, I wish she were here to help me with Fabs. But oh well, she's letting me learn how to do this on my own. 
I'm sure she laughed when I got stepped on and I'm sure she'll get many more laughs as time progresses! 



He's kind of a HUGE dork. 
It's interesting - for how spooky he can be, he spends a whole lot of time with his eyes closed. The dork!! haha



so pretty.



Mr Atti-boy



Hazel says "nope, nope, nope."



Classic Fabs.


----------



## jcraig10

Love his white. 

In the 1st pic he looks all chunky and then the 2nd he looks like just a little guy!


----------



## egrogan

jcraig10 said:


> Love his white.
> 
> In the 1st pic he looks all chunky and then the 2nd he looks like just a little guy!


That was exactly my thought, how funny!

Are you ready for my cute horse/goat pic of the day (I _swear _I do NOT have a Google alert set for this stuff, I just seem to run into it constantly ):
Breeder's Cup champion racehorse retires with his goat pals, Google and Yahoo


----------



## SueC

Is that first photo by any chance taken with a telephoto lens? This can make our horses look like blobs too!


----------



## Wallaby

hahaha he's realllly just a blob, for reals. I think it's mostly because he is taller than he's long BUT he has a very solid-wide body. So, depending on the camera angle, he can look all kind of goofy.
Plus he's so obese right now! :lol:
And those EARS. He has huge ears. He's basically so so goofy looking when you get past how pretty he is. hahhaha


So much happened yesterday!!

First, that bit arrived for Mr. Fabs! It reminds me a lot of a Myler snaffle - just minus so much tongue relief.
It was also pretty warm yesterday [today too] so I determined that I'd work him real hard, then give him a bath [he's not too sure about water yet so I'm making bathtime be the best cuz it's a break and it feels good after being sweaty].

Anyway, first the kid got the bridle/saddle on, then I lunged him - he was being really hot yesterday so I almostttt didn't ride but I was brave, then [once he was "soooooo" tired] I hopped on to cool him off. 

AND HE LOVES THE BIT!
He did SO well. He's really "remembering" turning and whatnot and I'm starting to get the hang of his cues. There are some things he knows -like I decided to ask him for a counterbend yesterday and he really didn't fuss at all about giving me that- but other things that he really doesn't understand -like leg cues-.
It's quite interesting.

But anyway, he really likes that bit.
I also asked him for a little trot yesterday and he did really well with that! It was interesting though - we trotted up to the barrel I have set up as a marker, I asked him to walk so he walked around it, then, as soon as we hit the end of our turn around it, he picked that trot right back up again! Ha. Silly boy.
So I brought him back down to a walk and he was happy to walk, but that was interesting!

He did so much better with turning yesterday as well. 
I'm noticing interesting things with him - Lacey, I could just kinda "set" into cruising speed and she'd keep going and make whatever decision needed to be made at any given time if I didn't give her specific feedback. Fabs, on the other hand, needs me to be "there" the whole time. He needs constant guidance and communication about what to do when+where. 

I guess that's the difference between a broke-broke horse and a pretty green one!!

I am really noticing interesting things though - Lacey was a lot more...set, I guess, in her ways than Fabs is. Fabs just really wants to be right, but he's more like "ok, I'm trying to do this but I can't quiteeee figure it out. Help??" Lacey wanted to be right and if she wasn't right, well, she didn't care to be right. :lol: She, of course, learned things...but you had to sneak it up on her, - you can't present like she's wrong. Fabs though, he's like "I was WRONG!!?? NOOOOOOO. PLEASE LET ME FIX IT." 

Verrrry interesting.
I guess you could say that Lacey was, perhaps, less sensitive than Fabs/less prone to drama. She was stoic through and through. 
And that's especially interesting to me because Lacey was MUCH hotter than Fabio is. He has a lot of energy, but he's perfectly content to just chill. Lacey had less energy, but she wanted to know where we were going and how fast we were getting there - faster was ALWAYS better.

Verrrrry interesting.

Anyway, our ride went GREAT.

I'm trying to end each ride on really good, confident notes since he does tend to be more nervous undersaddle. So far that seems to be going well!

And, with the new bit, he was a lot less mouthy/chewy with it. He was still playing with it a little, but no where near as bad as he was with the other one.
There was even a little happy-slobber on him lips by the end of the ride so that's good!!

Then he got his bath. 
He really wasn't tooo bad. The only time he freaked out was when the spray hit his manly bits [hahahaha].
Otherwise, he really did well. 
I even sprayed him lightly in the face, with the hose set to 'mist', and -though he was most unimpressed with that- he put up with it. He did think about rearing for a second but, instead of going up, he actually chose to put his head down and accept the water. 

YAY!!!!! 
Of course, I immediately stopped spraying him in the face for that!! Go Fabs!!

And now, pictures:



His legs and his body!! hahaha He looks like a potato that someone added a pretty head and toothpicks to! hahahaha



Lacey's baby-deer [Baby Girl] is so skinny.    I'm worried for her.



If Hazel had a band in the 90's, this woulda' been the cover.



"Don't forget me!!!"
Look as his worried eyes! Ha! What a silly goose.



Horse GQ?



Classy.



THEN!!
This morning I found Fabs and the goats all cuddly together! AHHH. SO CUTE. AHHHHH.
THEY ARE BEST FRIENDS!!



Look at that sleepy face. <3




The bestttt.



OH!!! ALSO. Last night when I was flyspraying him, I discovered he has a bellyspot?? Like it's just the size of a quarter/$.50 piece, but a white bellyspot! He gets more intriguing everyday.......


----------



## Chevaux

I love the group cuddle picture.

I'm concerned about the deer also. How old is she?


----------



## Wallaby

Chevaux, she can't be more than 3 this year.  She wasn't more than a yearling during Lacey's first summer in the pasture and this June would have been 3 years.
I think her mom may have passed away this winter - the two of them used to be in the pasture together alllll the time [they're both kinda the pariahs of the deer herd...though Baby Girl's twin brother is the second-dominant buck] and BG was quite attached to Lacey [back when she was a baby, her mom would leave her with Lacey and Lacey lovedddd her].
Poor baby's been having a hard time.
She might also have babies hidden somewhere that are dragging her down, I'm unsure. I haven't seen her with any and I see her nearly everyday, but that doesn't mean she isn't hiding some!
I think this year has been bad for the deer in general. The year before last, there were deer EVERYWHERE - all the time, but, this year, the big herd has been coming around quite a bit less and they've all been sorta skinny. Not as bad as BG, but skinny.

Ugh. I wish there was something I could do! But such is the way of nature, I guess. 
"Thankfully" she doesn't seem sick-sick so I don't think that's something to worry about.


In other news, I rode Fabs again tonight! I lunged him a little [with his bridle on - that seems to help him accept the bit better] then, he was so good, I decided to hop on bareback and tie the lunge line around into reins.

I decided that it was about time that I did something "stupid" to show him I trust him/show myself that I _can_ trust him. I always found that to be beneficial with Lacey - taking a calculated risk where my brain says "um, are you kidding??" and then finding that those fears were unfounded...

Anyway, he did pretty well. He has a nice back for bareback - his back is flat like Lacey's, but he has bigger withers so you're a little less apt to slide around.

We just did a few circles, backed up, herded the goats, he tried to start trotting - I shut him down, it was pretty good!
We're getting closer to a trail ride, I think. He responds quite well to this new bit and, since that very first ride, I haven't had any issues with him 100% objecting to rein cues. He does still tryyyy to "ignore" them, but it's not an invitation to fight anymore, it's more like a "hey! You still paying attention up there? Oh, ok, you are. Darnit!!"


----------



## jcraig10

Ok yes from the 2nd set of pictures I can tell that he is chunky :-D camera angles are great for hiding a little extra fluff sometimes haha! He still looks great though...looks very happy. Great picture of them all lounging around together. And Hazel's album cover...omg stop. :-D

Awesome job hopping on bareback! He looks like he would be pretty comfy.


----------



## Roperchick

:think: I wonder what genre Hazel would sing??? Hmmmm opera? no. Southern Rock. Totally has the 'do for it lol


----------



## Wallaby

Haha, right, Julia? Everyday I'm like "oh! he looks a tad slimmer today! yay!!"....then I actually look at him and realize that he's still a fatty. :lol:

Haha love it, Christy!! 


SO. MANY. THINGS.

I don't even know where to begin...

1. I'm done with school!! Had my last final yesterday and, hopefully, did ok on all my tests/papers. Unless I really bombed something, I'm doneeeeee. :happydance:
This week has been terrible-stressful. I'm so glad it's over!
On Saturday my van basically exploded...well, ok, not really. The starter decided to 100% give up on life so I didn't get it back from the mechanic until yesterday=a week of bumming rides off people in the afternoon and getting a ride with my parents in the morning=getting up at 5:30am=my favoriteeeee. 
It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't finals week. I actually really like getting up early...but not so much when I'm already stressing.

2. Sunday, church:
It was NG's last time there before heading off to Tennessee for a year =probably the last time I'm gonna see him until he comes back. 
So that was kind of a huge bummer. He's a cool guy and a nice friend. It's hard to see friends leave, even if you know they're coming back!!

Anyway, it was suitably awkward as heck:
He caught me right as I was leaving church and gave me a hug...like a real hug. [Thanks to Gman, I kind of no longer hate hugs. Gmn is ALLLL about hugs.]
Then it got all weird. Like, let's be real for a second, it was like in the movies when people are about to kiss and they just stare at each other weird, you know???
And, of course, that hardcore freaked me out so I _clearly_ had to break that up :lol: then, being smooth like I am, I said "I don't like this" - in reference to friends leaving..NOT ANYTHING MORE.
To which he replied "I know, me either. I'll be home for Thanksgiving, we'll see each other then! Just know _this_ isn't over."

....then I patted him on the shoulder and RAN, literally ran, out of the church. 

So that went real well.
I texted him a joke later....? haha

So on one hand, I feel kinda bad that he maybe doesn't realize that I'm not really interested anymore? But, at the same time, maybe he'll come back way more mature and maybe I'll like him then..../maybe he'll meet some girl or I'll meet some guy and it'll become an entirely moot point. So I dunno, we'll see.

So that was really weird. And I am still unsure about how I feel.

3. Fabio is doing well! He got his hooves trimmed on Wednesday and he did quite well. The trimmer, who trimmed him before he came to me [I got her the therapy-place job cuz she's the bestttt], even said that he seemed a lot more "settled" with me than he ever had seemed. So that was nice to hear.

She also said he won the "best horse-mom lottery"....  :lol:

And he got his new halter, that's just his, on Monday!!

I'm so glad I chose navy - he looks so classy in it!!










And that's prettttty much sums up everything. I haven't done a lot with Fabs this week due to school...I'm hoping I'll be able to start doing more this week!
He is getting a massage on Monday so it'll be interesting to see how much that helps him. I've been doing some simple massages on his neck and he lovessss them. I can't wait to see how he'll react to a full-body massage from someone ho knows what they're doing!


----------



## Roperchick

Congrats on school! Haha I am absolutely terrified of going to college when I get out lol.

Haha omg that church scenario sounds soooo awkward. At least there's Facebook to kind of smooth things over hahaha

And fabs looks gawgeous as always. That's a really nice color for him
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## tinyliny

Happy Summer!


----------



## Cherrij

I will join your happiness today, Last class is on today. So no more waking up early on saturdays while others sleep. However, still got 2 homeworks.


----------



## gunslinger

Roperchick said:


> Congrats on school! Haha I am absolutely terrified of going to college when I get out lol.
> 
> Haha omg that church scenario sounds soooo awkward. At least there's Facebook to kind of smooth things over hahaha
> 
> And fabs looks gawgeous as always. That's a really nice color for him
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


You're going to do great in College.....you'll be the smartest young lady there....no need to be scared of the future.....college is going to be easy after the Army.....so don't worry.


----------



## Endiku

Ha, how ironic. My car died too, this week...but it isn't fixable unfortunately! Or rather, it is, but it would cost over $1,000 and on a 211k mile car with a huge oil leak, weird transmission fluid, and bad shocks so I said 'heck no' and it is currently waiting for me to do something with it at my house...lol.

Is your car fixed now, though? I hope so!!!

LOVE Fab's new halter. Looks like it barely fits though! Or maybe I'm just used to how ridiculously huge Kenzie's was on her....eh. But the navy is PERFECT for him!


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Christy!!  I'm sure you'll do fine in college  It's really not that hard. I majorly slacked through my 5 years of college...and look at me graduating! haha So I'm 1000% sure you'll do justttt fine. <3

Thanks Caroline!

Yayyyy Cherri!!!  *high five*

I saw your thread about that, Allyson!! Sad day! And it made me laugh cuz our lives are so darn similar. :lol: [but I'm super glad you survived...that sounded really scary!]
Supposedly it's fixed. The mechanics couldn't find anything precisely wrong with the starter [the part that was freaking out - it would turn the car on, then just keep going...even after you turned the car completely off+pulled the key out. It'd keep going until the battery died=terrifying] but they replaced it anyway [3rd time it had been replaced in 6 months]. However, the times it was replaced, my dad did it and then I did it=my dad pretends like he knows what's up with cars...but I'm pretty sure he's faking 99% of the time. And I know nothing about cars. So we could have definitely put it in wrong.
They also gave it new brake-somethings and fixed the radiator. 
Hopefulllllly it should be good for short trips for a while [it has a bent axle, poor baby, so its days of long trips are overrrrrr]!!

Mr. Fabio has a weird face to fit. I'm a little confused about the fit too. :lol: On one hand, horse-size would have been too big in the nose+too long on the sides of his face..but he has huge jowls! This halter is cob/yearling size. It's weirddddd.
His cob/yearling grazing muzzle fits perfectly and cob bridles fit him perfectly too...except in the throatlatch area. Even the bridle I'm using now [horse size] is on the biggest throatlatch hole. 
I think I need to mess with the knots a bit and "customize" it for Mr. SpecialPants. :lol:


1. On Saturday I got a behind the scenes tour at the Zoo!! I got to pet rhino and a hippo, fed them both, AND FED A GIRAFFE.
Unfortunately, due to privacy stuff, I can't post the photos online. But I want toooooooo. 
Bummer deal. 
But it was the bestttt.
The zookeeper told us all about the [kind] training methods they use on the animals which was super awesome to hear about.

2. Mr. Fabs got his first massage today! And boy, the massage-lady couldn't hardy believe how much tension he was holding in. She said that most all of it was emotional tension - kinda what I guessed it would be since he's a VERY emotional guy.
And dang, watching him work through the tension was crazy!
Every time I've ridden him, he's done a strange head-down+tilted-tooth-grinding thing which I just assume was due to the bit: NOT. 
Or, at least, not so much.
He spent most of the massage with his head down as far as it could go, completely twisting his neck to the right, and grinding his teeth on the right side.

So that was really interesting. Maybe what he's doing undersaddle is less bit-hatred/playing around and more "emotional stress" [like you guys had suggested].
He also did a lot of head shaking/bobbing, which I'm familiar with as his stress-markers.

He was incredibly tight, the massage lady could hardly believe it. But he was much more relaxed, physically, by the end of the massage. Emotionally, he was still a nutcase...but that'll take some time.

The massage lady did give me some hope though! She may be, in the nicest way possible, totally bonkers...but she can read horses. She told me that she's pretty sure that Mr. Fabs will be dead-broke Quarter Horse-level "whatever" in about 6 months. 
I'm really hopeful about that cuz, like I told you guys, he reallllly seems like that's who he wants to be.
Anyway, I hadn't even mentioned that to her and she came up with that guesstimation all on her own...so I'm hoping!! That would be awesome.

Of course, I love goofball him. I'm hopeful that he'll still be a goofball with energy...but less intense nervous energy. He is genuinely a ball of nerves a lot of the time, even my mom -who isn't a horse person at allll- can feel it near him, and I would reallllllly like to see that disappear.



So I'm hopeful!
The massage lady wants to give him a month of massages and she thinks that'll really help speed along his healing. 
He's getting another massage on Wednesday this week, then Thursday, then the weekend off cuz I'm going to the beach! First day+night away from home in years!! 
I'm gonna miss them and worry about them though. haha


----------



## jcraig10

YOU FED A GIRAFFE!!!? i want your life. :lol:

your church run-in with NatGeo - totally awkward. I am picturing you literally running down the aisle, in and out of pews, and out these huge double church doors....stopped in the parking lot with your hands on your knees, slightly bent over trying to catch your breath...searching for your van - THERE IT IS! sprint to the van, and squeal your wheels getting the heck out of there! lol...:shock:


----------



## SueC

JC10, do you know what bad breath giraffes have? Or is it just Australian zoos that have giraffes with halitosis? Emily, notice any funny smells? I nearly passed out when I once breathed softly near a giraffe's nostrils herbivore greeting style and it breathed back at me. I tried another giraffe to see if it was just a one-off. The I stopped my research! ;-)

Gorgeous animals though. This is a famous photo from the West Australian zoo:


----------



## Wallaby

:rofl: Julia, that's about what it was like! However I ride the train to church so it was more like: run to the train stop, hide behind whatever was available, and wish the train would hurry. :lol:
Dear NG. He's not terrible or anything, at all...just truly clueless while being the nicest ever. Actually, we're probably a lot alike in that respect. I never have any idea what's going on and people always claim that I'm sooooo nice [they have no idea what's going on inside my head! haha], and I'm 100% sure I sometimes accidentally say things to people that really freak them out too.
Maybe that's why I like-hate him... :rofl:

And the giraffe feeding was great! It was somewhat disillusioning cuz we were just feeding them through a chainlink fence - wasn't like I got to touch one or anything...but they had to keep us safe! 
We did get to see giraffe herd dynamics though - one was really dominant over the other two and, instead of biting/kicking like a horse might, the dominant one just lowered his shoulder into the shoulders of his compatriots and body-slammed them away! It was really interesting!! And I could really see why they didn't let us get real close. :lol: 

Haha, gross, Sue!! :lol: We didn't get that close.....unfortunately?? hahaha the fence between us and the giraffes was probably 20ft tall so no giraffe-breath for us.
And SUCH A CUTE PICTURE!!! AHHH.

Things are going pretty well with Mr. Fabio!

He's really settling in pretty well. We have had one very minor setback - he started getting massages on Monday and the massage-lady pronounced his neck to be "a huge mess." So, in the interests of healing his neck, we have been commanded to avoid small circles and doing much work above the trot for about a month.
It's basically because he holds pretty much alllll his body's tension in his neck so he 1. needs to relearn how to stay loose [and since walking is his only "relaxed" gait] 2. until they're healed, needs to avoid stressing those muscles [via tight turns] unless they're fully warmed up. 

SO, since I really want to help his body heal, I'm sticking to this plan like a fly stuck to flypaper. He'll be getting regular massages for the next few weeks, until he's figured out how to relax himself more effectively, and I'll be doing mini-massages on days he doesn't get a "real" massage.
It's actually kind of cool - I learned how to do a number of the techniques on Lacey and now I can put them to good use on a horse that really really needs them! I'm, of course, nowhere near as good as the massage-lady, but the massage-lady is always impressed with the results of my work so...I guess I'm not bad??!

Anyway, no tight circles and trying to stick to a walk kinda puts the damper on somethings..but it also means I have to be more creative with what we do! So that's probably good.

We've been working a lot with the tarp, stepping over small things, and hills. I figure that hills will build up his muscle, make him think, AND not add too much tension to his body. 
Today we took it over to the far pasture where it hasn't been grazed much so the grass it REALLY long - that was great for him because all that grass brushing his belly was, apparently, super intense. I hadn't even thought of the grass being a factor, but he was mentally _exhausted_ in about 15 minutes. He was physically tired too, but it was more mental than anything.
I tried adding in the tarp, but that was just toooo much. He's really funny - I can see it so clearly when his limit has been reached. I'm kinda glad that he's so open about his limits. It was more of a guessing game with Lacey, but he's just like "oh, hey, guys? I don't think I can handle this anymore...help plz??"
I'm hoping that his limit will stretch as life becomes more natural for him, but, for now, I'm glad he shares his limit.
I'm going to start stretching what I expect of him, as well, once he becomes less "fragile" [in the sense that he'll do things over his limit if I ask, but he'll get more and more tense with each over-the-limit repetition = exactly what we _don't_ want right now], but, for now, we go one repitition past his limit to say "hey look, the human listened. She asked you to do it once, then you got to not worry about it anymore".

We're getting there!!

The GoatFather



Hazel: "you left me here with these clowns and literally ALL they do ALL. DAY. Is SLEEP??!"



"But iz teh comfiest!"



Gerald, one of the buck deer, last night. [he's Baby Girl's -the skinny doe from earlier- twin]



"'da tall grasez make me sooooooo tired."



"tired...but BEYOOOOOTIFUL!"











:happydance:


----------



## Amba1027

One of the zoos here in MD lets you feed the giraffes. They have a platform that you get up on and the giraffes reach their heads over and take the food from you. I kind of feel like that's not such a great idea since your place had you feed them through the fence lol. Although I think they've been doing it for a while, so I guess no problems so far.

Also, I've just recently gotten into using tumblr and I just noticed you do you MAX blog on there, so I am now following you


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## Zexious

Haha, I love the silly story about NG. Remember, a LOT can happen in a year... But at least you'll still be friends ;D

I also love the photo of the gang. They make me feel so warm and fuzzy <3


----------



## jcraig10

Amba, what zoo!!! I"m in MD also. 

I looooove when horses sleep laying flat out like that haha they look so comfy! Fabs loves his little goat friends doesn't he? Aww.

*the dominant one just lowered his shoulder into the shoulders of his compatriots and body-slammed them away!*
imagine if this is what humans walked around doing! LOL it is actually pretty hillarious to picture.

Agh that must be hard to have to ride Fabs at mostly a walk, but I agree - it will give you a chance to be creative and work on new things. and earn more trust and gain more confidence with him!


----------



## Amba1027

jcraig- It's the one in Baltimore. Here's the page from their website: Feed a Giraffe | The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore


----------



## Endiku

Fabs' hair reminds me of dreadlocks, then added with the goofy captions? I have the best mental image of his personality everrr.


----------



## SueC

jcraig10 said:


> *the dominant one just lowered his shoulder into the shoulders of his compatriots and body-slammed them away!*
> imagine if this is what humans walked around doing! LOL it is actually pretty hillarious to picture.


Have you ever been to London? Trying to walk in the London CBD during peak pedestrian traffic, people would literally elbow you into the road. I took to carrying a very pointy umbrella facing forwards and never got pushed out again. :rofl:


----------



## Wallaby

Amba, I wonder if that's cuz they're used to it? Like the ones here never do that so they'd be all up in our space?? Hmm. Funny!

Right Zexious? I completely agree! Like I could be married, or something, in a year. :rofl: I won't be, of course, cuz that's not what I want, but it could happen! haha

Julia, he really does love them! It's the greatest. Makes me so happy.  I was so worried for the first few weeks, but then he settled in and now the goats feel mutual affection for him...I think. At least, they don't go over to the llama's pasture hardly at all anymore! 
And I agree. It's super hard. But good at the same time cuz it forces me to not push anything. I forget how much of a baby he is compared to Lacey and I find myself wanting him to respond in certain ways that I haven't trained yet...this way I can make sure I focus on training the horse I have to do the things I want. [and avoid becoming frustrated because he's "not responding like he 'should'" or something silly]

Allyson, he really does have the best personality! I just know I'm gonna be head over heels for him in a few months. Heck, I'm already head over heels...but I'll be more deeply so. :lol:

A few new revelations:

1. on Thursday the masage lady tried to handle Fabs and it was hilariously terrible. Like, no offense to her, but she's not the world's best handler. It's totally ok cuz that's not where her skill set lies, but man.
I definitely see one side of Fabs where he's trying to be a sweet good boy...and she gets the "hey, let's see just how far I can test you. Can I do this? Yes?! What about THIS!? Ha! What about _THIS_?!!! HAHAHA SUCKER."-response.
So I guess that was, on one hand, frustrating since I want him to be good for everyone [but he's not there yet in his training and that's ok], but, on the other hand, funny cuz I got to see just how much HE chose me as much as I chose him. He is, genuinely, way easier for me to deal with than he ever even considered being for her. And he was that way with Crazy Boss Lady too - but I assumed that was just cuz Crazy Boss Lady was....crazy.

Anyway, that was kinda cute. I was all "aw, mah poneh luvs me!!" :rofl:

2. I decided that perhaps the gentleman might have ulcers.
He fits allll the symptoms and all his ear pinning/teeth grinding/intermittent loose poo/general physical sensitivity/general grumpiness just seems to point straight to ulcers.
Plus, I mean, he was locked in a stall with very little food for who knows how many years, then went to the therapy place where he was under training/confusion-stress and didn't have access to constant grazing or a consistent feed schedule, then went out on lease to this place where he was so confused and stressed that he began bolting...add to that that his already stress-y/tense personality....and the dramatic mood improvement since he's been here with 24/7 grazing and lower stress...I would be really surprised if he didn't have ulcers.

Anyway, I ordered him 2 days worth of omeprazole to hopefully knock any baddies out right off and then a junk load of anti-ulcer natural supplements - slippery elm powder, licorice powder, aloe vera juice, dried cabbage, and SmartGut Ultra.

Due to his attitude improvement since he's been home-here, I'm thinking they're probably on the mend [and, I mean, they should be - his entire lifestyle here is decidedly anti-ulcer] so that's why I'm going lighter-duty than a full 10 days of omeprazole. [plus a full 10 days is freaking EXPENSIVE for just a hunch]

I plan to keep him on the slippery elm if it helps for a while/forever since it's something that can be used longterm without a negative effect...but we'll see.

Anyway, I'm really hoping that might help him out. I don't know how to describe it but he just feels like there's something more wrong than just emotional/mental scars. Like not terrible-wrong, but like he hurts in a way that you can't just see. It's just a gut feeling I have, you know? Like he goes around so "I'm big, bad, and angry"...but then melts into attention - as long as no one touches him. Plus, he just seems so internally focused. 
So I'm really hopeful that ulcers might be it and I might be able to fix them right off.

We'll see!
The first of the ulcer stuff should be arriving on Tuesday so I'll get him started on that and maybe we'll see a rapid improvement! That would be awesome. 
Perhaps, if he does have ulcers, that could attribute to his spookiness. It seems like half the time he's just napping weirdly [holding his eyes half shut like a dog, or something, when they just don't want to acknowledge the world] and the other half of the time he's panicking. 
I dunno, but the more I think about it, the more his behavior seems to fit an animal in pain. But I don't know. Maybe I'm trying to make it fit...

We'll see!!


----------



## tinyliny

SueC said:


> Have you ever been to London? Trying to walk in the London CBD during peak pedestrian traffic, people would literally elbow you into the road. I took to carrying a very pointy umbrella facing forwards and never got pushed out again. :rofl:



try Tokyo. you'll go crazy.


----------



## SueC

Serious? I thought Japanese were meant to be oh-so-polite!


----------



## Wallaby

I wonder if the difference has to do with the amount of western[?] influence Tokyo gets? I've heard from friends that the "more traditional" areas of Japan tend to be more polite/nicer. However, I've never been there and second-hand is not always the best hand...haha
Hopefully Caroline will explain!! 

Ugh. You guys. I'm so frustratedddddd.

First, the "bad" stuff - 
I went out to the beach late on Friday, stayed the day on Saturday, and got home late yesterday. I asked the massage lady if she could come check on the kiddos on _Saturday_, just to make sure they were all ok. 
I chose her primarily because she's the only stranger than the goats seem to trust and, if there was an issue, I wanted catching them to go smoothly - you know how that goes.

We talked at length about what I wanted her to do - pop in, say hi to them, leave. 
No feeding, no catching, no brushing, just simply checking on them would be fine. 
One day without extra food is NOT going to kill them. 
I left the tack room unlocked so she could get halters and such, in the dire event that they were needed.

I left home, thinking all was good. 
On Saturday I got 2 phone calls and 2 HOURS worth of texts about how she thought the goats were locked in their stall and all sorts of assorted nonsense. [they were in their stall cuz that's their shade area and it was hot out! They are 15ft from water in their stall and it's just fine for them to be there...but she didn't think so.] I got her all calmed down from that, told it was all fine.

Then, the next day, I get a text from her saying that she checked on them on _Sunday_ too. 


At that point, I was starting to worry about what else she had done because if she wasn't following my instructions about visiting once, what else was she doing?

I don't necessarily mind that she visited more than once, but she's all the time referring to other people's horses as her own and just generally crossing the ownership boundary. 
For me, that's a big deal - my horse is MY horse. I pay the bills, it's MY horse. If she wants to haul the hay, haul the water, do the training, pay the bills, then sure she can own the horse. Otherwise, it's not her horse.
Same with the goats. She's referred to them as "her" goats before and I'm just like "um, no."

Maybe that's stingy of me, but ownership is a huge deal for me. I don't mind if other people enjoy my horse and my goats - in fact, I love it when they do! But they need to recognize that I'm the owner and follow my rules with my animals.

So, I guess, hindsight says that I probably should have stayed home and not let her watch them - since she refuses to follow my rules with Fabio and likes to call my goats her own, then refuses to recognize the issue when I mention it.

Anyway, I got home yesterday and saw that she had posted a picture on Facebook of Fabio in a halter. No caption or anything, just this photo.
So, I mean, hindsight says I should have texted to ask if she had put Fabio in a halter, but she had already disregarded my instructions AND I was running on very little sleep=I texted her and said "why did you put Fabio in a halter? I asked you not to."

So she FLEW of the handle saying that that was an old picture, she never even went in the tack room [but she changed the positioning of the lock on the tack room...], and telling me that I was sooooo uptight for not allowing her to catch Fabs, blah blah blah, that I was so uptight about my animals in general, that she "had" to come back on Sunday because they were "so lonely on Saturday" and how could I have left them, etc. 
Come ON. I haven't gone out of town in years. I missed them the whole stinking time. I would have brought them if I could have.

And I'm "uptight" about them because that's how I am, AND do they seem unhappy or neglected? Clearly my uptightness is doing them some good since they're all happy, well trained/getting there, and they each arrived with issues that I was able to help and free them from.
I don't deny that I am uptight, but what if she had caught Fabio and he reared on her? That would be a huge legal mess, she wouldn't be found for quite some time since I'm the only person who enters the pasture, etc. 

Anyway, on one hand, I want to believe her that she did what I asked and didn't catch Fabio/etc...but she flew off the handle so immediately that I have to wonder. Innocent people don't usually need to angrily defend themselves. Innocent people usually say "wait, what? What makes you think that? Sorry about the picture, it was old. I never caught him, don't worry"
But she turned it on me and acted like I was at fault for daring to ask. I completely agree that I didn't ask in the most laid back way, but I'm not perfect. Especially with very little sleep and already being worried about what happened while I was gone, then seeing this picture.

To top it all off, she's still acting allll mad that I "dared" to question her. COME ON. If she were in my shoes, she would've done exactly the same thing, I think.

The thing that gets me is if she had _just _put a caption on that photo saying "old photo" or something, everything would have been more fine. She clearly didn't think through what I might think, as an "uptight ****y *****", if I saw that photo.

I'm thinking I just need to her to be really out of my life. No more massages, except for the ones I can do myself, and just be done with it.

And I was soooo happy when I met her. I wanted a non-crazy 'in' with the horse community around here and I thought I found it.
Ughhhh. No more Oregon horse people for me, that's for sure. Or, at least, my screening process is going to be MUCH more rigid.

So that pretty much ruined the weekend for me.

I shouldn't have texted her when I was too tired to think straight and I should have worded it better, but hot-diggity.



Ok, good stuff!! 

I had a great time at the beach. I went to the cheese factory and bought a shirt with the Tillamook Cheese label on it.  It's bright sunny yellow=the bestttt.
My cousin found me a pair of diagrams that have the equine skeletal/musculature systems written out in German! So that's pretty neato.
My cousin and I went to a petting zoo where they had an Angora goat [like Hazel] but theirs was much younger and its horns were how Hazel's horns should look. So that was pretty cool! I had never seen another Angora in real life before so that was pretty cool 

Then, today, I took Mr. Fabio for his first walk on the trails!!!! :happydance: :happydance:
He actually did like a MILLION times better than I thought he would. He was very very interested in everything, but didn't spook at all.
He did eye the road's water-drain-grates with suspicion, but didn't hardly flinch at them on our way back.

He wanted to lick everything, it was sooo funny.

He didn't even call for the goats once! We just easily left the pasture without a fuss.

I'm so proud of him! It makes me really hopeful for his trail-horse-abilities. Maybe we will be able to ride the trails before August after all! 

We did go out early in the morning so the neighborhood was pretty quiet...but even Lacey spooked more on her first time through the neighborhood = woohoo!

The other thing I loved was that he never grew roots and got stuck. He was focused on me and was moving out well - not hesitating or balking. Yay pony!

Of course, he tends to be way different undersaddle than he is on the ground [he's a lot more comfortable with me being on the ground vs on his back, but that might, if he has ulcers, be a product of ulcers - since being on his back would put pressure on sensitive areas. Speaking of ulcers, his medicine just got here! So we should start to see results in a few days, if that's the issue], but I like this initial impression. 

Pictures!

The after-effect of Friday's sunset..



The Hazel-goat! Look at those horns!!



Saturday's sunset










Once I got home...

"Hey you! Can I lick your face?! I'm just so happpppppy."



On our trail walk! He reallllllly wanted to explore more.



I hosed him off when we got back and he decided that it was time to roll. <3

[I made sure to spray his manly bits when I hosed him off - he was real skittery about the water on them last time, but he did MUCH better this time]


----------



## Roperchick

Ya. He looks totally sad and neglected *scoff*

Finding perfectly normal sane horse people is hard lol everybody ends up with their quirks. I would agree with you on this girl. She just sounds shady and I would be asking her to remove the pic if it's not there with your permission

Glad the beach went good!


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## Wallaby

That's true, Christy! I'm prettty sure I have some crazy horse-related quirks too. I could try and justify it by saying that I try to keep them inside...but that might be a lie. haha
Ok, that sounds terrible, but you know what I mean?? haha
Thankfully she took the photo down on her own. A singular prop to her. :lol:



In great/FABulous news, I dosed Fabs with slippery elm bark and licorice tonight - the first two to arrive of his natural ulcer cure, and he LOVED THEM.

I was a little concerned about getting them into him since he seems to be kind of a picky eater and the amounts to feed are kind of large [1tbs of SEB twice a day, a teaspoon of licorice twice a day, mixed into .5lbs of Triple Crown 30 twice a day] but oh no. The boy vacuumed up his evening feed like nobodies business [usually it takes him two "visits" to his bucket before he kinda finishes everything off=not tonight!].

So that was a HUGE relief. 
Yay Fabs!

Now he's a hippy horse. :lol:


----------



## Wallaby

I rode the boy today! 

I determined that I'm a little nervous about riding him right now [he's just so big, wobbly feeling, and _different_ than Lacey..] and he's a little nervous about being ridden.

However, how is that going to be solved? Is it going to fix itself if I just don't ride?? Probably NOT.
Especially the feeling wobbly/out of control thing - he's never going to figure out how to balance with a rider if I don't ride him!!

So I decided that our goal for today was to get him moving off my leg. He understands "go" from leg cues...but that's about it. So the goal was to get some turn off leg cues as well.

I set up a circle of objects, we just went around the circle, and I'd have him turn in at this or that object, go across to the opposite object, then turn the other direction, and begin the same thing going the other way, etc. He thought that was pretttttty boring, but [after riding around for a few minutes] I realized that he was mostly unengaged in the activity because he had just decided that he wasn't gonna do it.
So we walked through the pasture, found some tree stumps that were outside his comfort zone, and did a similar activity. Once he did it acceptably -for being concerned- over there, we "got to" return to the "easy" circle [in his comfort zone]. 

And, _magically_, the initial circle was a lot more fascinating. :lol:

I think I'll continue to use that technique - don't want to pay attention? Well, we can make this more challenging, take your pick! :rofl:


One thing I have noticed is that he seems to just kind of "fall" downhill. Like he kinda lets any downhill slope just drag him down, instead of carrying himself downhill.
I tried placing a ground pole right in the middle of the downhill sides of our riding area [the riding area is the flattest part of the pasture, but it's still strongly sloped] and he'll briefly pick himself up to not trip over it, but otherwise he just charges downhill and drags himself uphill.
I tried half-halting, I was probably doing it wrong though, but that worked for all of 2 seconds...just like the pole.

I also tried just kind of being "all up in his face" and _holding_ him up with the reins. That worked great. However, 99.9% sure that's not gonna help him learn to carry himself...

Maybe he just needs more riding and time to get over that. On the plus side, our first time down the hill today, he started trotting. By the last time downhill, he just opened up his stride a lot but didn't break into a trot. 


And, on the front of our goal, by the last turn into the circle, I only had to open the rein up a bit and push him over with my leg to get to turn. So we stopped right there and ended. 
We're getting there!

In other news, it's SO FUN to have a horse that stops on a dime when I lean back and throw my legs forward! Ha. Makes me feel so fancy-shmancy. :lol:

And it's also cool how good he is a ground-tying. I can leave him anywhere and just walk off if something attached to his face his touching the ground, and he WILL NOT move. It's the greatest!


:happydance:

In other news, Alpaca-face-Hazel! :lol:


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## Wallaby

The picture disappeared, I think??

Here it is again..


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## Roperchick

Well don't follow my lead in teaching horses to go down hill.

The way I was taught (when teaching Charlie horse) was "let's find the steepest hill possible and make him go down. Either he goes nice and soft....or we die" lolol it was interesting. But it works. I've done it with lots of babies since then.


But it sounds to me like Fabs just needs more experience. He's already ahead if my guys in the ground tying dept. Lucky!!!! Haha
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Cherrij

Holy cow, Fabs.  

Reminds me of the only two trail rides we did with this one horse I rode in one stable. He was a great horse. I mean I loved my dressage training with him, we rode every day almost, and it was going great. We even jumped in a few lessons, but before we had jumping lessons together my trainer decided that I should jump in the competition too (club comps), which was first time jump with him, everything went fine, battled our 50-60 cm, and got 3rd out of 13. 

Anyway, the story was about trail. We had to go down this one very very very steep bit. And mind you, my dear pony was about 16.3 or 17 h. One big fluffy thing. And we walked down. and didn't die!!!!!! 
Also that time on trail I first felt proper gallop from him (suprisingly a pony kept up with us in the back, but her face was full of sand). And he showed me the first extended trot in the forest - barely stayed in the saddle at all. He was quite amazing 

I think Fabs just needs a little more work on the lunge, working on the slope, up and down, up and down, adding in some poles (can start with one, end with 4, like a clock) and just work work work. Eventually he will carry himself with you better, because he will not want to fall on his face with you on top of it 

Fabs is great. Makes me want to have such progress too, but I guess I don't know why I am not doing those things.


----------



## Chevaux

Sorry, Wallaby but your picture isn't working for me -- all I get is little box with an 'x' in it and when I click on 'show picture' from my menu window, the little box just disappears. This has happened before, not just with you -- I hate when that happens!! And I also hate missing out on Hazel pictures!!


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## Wallaby

Haha Christy, I think I will avoid that!! Actually though, once we start going on the trails, that might end up being what happens since it's so steep out there. But it might be good - Fabs sometimes seems like he needs a clear goal, or to be able to see the point of something, before he'll give it much try. So maybe a steep hill is what he needs!

Great story and tips, Cherri!  
And no worries about your guy!! Fabs is ten and it's basically time - past time, for him to be a "grown up". Grand is still a baby/teenager, I think you're taking it at just the right speed for Grand. 

Noooo, Chevaux! Well, I took one tonight just for you. Hopefully it shows up!!

Tonight a few things happened. 
I decided to ride again cuz I determined that, if I tell myself to ride everyday, I will be unable to make any variety of excuses for why I shouldn't ride. AND the more I ride him means the sooner we'll get on the trails AND the sooner I'll, hopefully, be able to start teaching lessons with him and recoup some of this $$ I've been hemorrhaging.

So I decided to hop on and practicing having him bend the opposite way of the way he did so well with yesterday.

First, let's be real, he hated that. 

Then he decided that he was going to start trotting and hopefully avoid the task at hand. 
Since this breaking into a trot thing has been a recurring theme in our rides, I decided to take a different tact. Instead of stopping him hard like I've been doing, I pushed him.
And boy. He did nottttt like that. I took him out of the circle and started trotting him towards the gate - away from his 'safety zone', away from the goats... basically it was the worst ever for him.

So he's trotting along, ears pinned flat back like a dork, AND HE THREW IN A BUCK!! 
It was, I will give him this, the funniest ever. I definitely would have come off, had I not been in my Aussie saddle...but, thanks to those poleys on that saddle, I stuck it. 
He was clearly expecting me to come off so, when I didn't eat dirt and booted him in the gut instead, well, someone was veryyyy surprised. 
I had him trot a few more steps, then we trotted back to our "safe" circle and he got to trot circles until he was begging to stop.

Thennn I asked him to trot back up the path, towards the gate, and he, again, disliked it BUT didn't try anything funny. We did that one more time, with a good result, then we went back to our turning practice - which had miraculously become more interesting againnnn.

Ugh. This HORSE.

I will hand it to him for some solid trotting. He has a very steady trot. Even right before he bucked, and while he was totally unhappy, he kept the tempo of his gait. Lacey used to do this silly thing where, the more she didn't want to do something, the slower she'd go. You would literally have to squeeze/kick her each step to get her to even consider honoring your request to trot away from where she wanted to be.
Of course, she would have nevvvvver evvvvver dreamt of bucking..win some, lose some? haha

So that was kinda so-so. But, at least, instead of wondering if he _might_ buck, I know he will..but he'll likely back down just as fast.
I had figured he might be a bucker [all that ear pinning...] but I was half-worried he might be a committed bucker: that he'd start bucking and keep going until his rider gives up. I'm glad to know that that looks like a less likely scenario!!

Pictures!!

Someone got a new bridle. The throatlatch on his nylon one would ride up and "choke" him so I had been really looking for a bridle where the throatlatch was a genuine _part_ of the bridle instead of removable.

And I think this bridle makes him look quite dashing. 



"ME?! BUCK????!!"



"I saw it, man. Big Brother definitely tried to buck Food-Girl off."



"LOLOLOLOLOL :rofl:"


----------



## Cherrij

amazing


----------



## tinyliny

good for you! you passed his first test.

the other day, when riding my possible next lease (andalusian horse named X ) he was sucking back MAJOR in the arena, just chucking his head, sidestepping, and would NOT go forward. I tried a loose rein, a lot of life in my seat, flipping the reins on his shoulder, and then, I popped him! twice on the haunch with my dressage whip, real fast, real hard not messing around. I knew he'd buck, but I thought it would be just one as he gave in and went forward. Well, the little sucker had a tantrum! he bucked like 4 in a row, and I disengaged him but I gotta say, for a sec I was off to one side just a bit much. But, I survived the mini CTJM, and he went more forward after that. 
however, I know it's not the last one we will have.


----------



## SueC

An Andalusian, Caroline? Now that's another beautiful breed!


----------



## jcraig10

I will have to read your posts later, but am loving the pictures  Hazel is so photogenic.


----------



## Wallaby

You'll get there, Caroline!! I'm so glad you're working with "X" now. You're gonna get him going really well, I bet. He's lucky to have you. 
I'm glad we both survived our bucking boys..though your guys sounds like he was a little more invested than Fabs is!! haha


A few things happened today.

I've started doing a little side work, riding a horse for a lady who has neither the skill [not that he really needs skill...] nor the time to deal with him. He's a TWH who she's trying to sell into a trail home...but his gaits have been allowed to dissolve into nothingness, plus he was never "set" in his gaits to begin with.
So he's supppper pacey.
And, while gaited horses are not nearly my forte, Lacey _was_ gaited enough that I know what a real gait [vs a pace] should feel like and I can feel the difference between different gaits.
I honestly though I wouldn't be able to, but then I hopped on this guy, asked him to flat walk, he started pacing, and I was able to instantly identify it as incorrect and get him into a proper flatwalk. 
So things could be worse!!
And that should be fun, I like gaited horses.

I also met the girl who was leasing Fabs just prior to him coming to me - the one he started bolting with.
She actually seemed really nice! Just inexperienced. 
I could really see how Fabs would have taken advantage of her. I met her in the presence of other horses and, when one of them moved into her bubble, she pushed him with her arm, he resisted, and she turned her back to him, placed her feet against the wall, and tried to bodily force him away from her.............which did not work.
She had the right idea -get him out of her bubble- but she was clearly unfamiliar with how to get there.

And, of course, everyone starts somewhere. I definitely remember doing that maneuver myself 10, or so, years ago - but Fabs is most emphatically not _that_ kind of horse. 
So I can see how they might not have meshed well.

She asked me how he was doing, asked what I thought of riding him, so I told her that he was really green but that things were going pretty well! She said that he "fought her every single step of the way"....

I feel bad for them both - she clearly cared about him, but he was just too much for her and they both suffered for it.
At least she admitted 'defeat' before something really bad happened.



In massage-lady news, I feel like I was mean to her today. In reality, I don't think I was actually mean. But inside my head, the part of me that's basically a doormat, feels like a jerk.

She texted me, after being out of communication all week and blowing off our appointment on Wednesday without informing me [which was a-ok by me, really, but unprofessional!!], saying "I think I'll be ok for tomorrow, I'll let you know if anything changes".

Now, last _Thursday_ we had talked tentatively about me helping her handle a horse at her barn tomorrow, but we hadn't firmed up our plans or anything like that. So I kinda figured that she was probably referring to that. 
Yesterday I had an appointment with my therapist-lady and I was given the goal, for the next few weeks, of asking people to clarify their statements instead of just accepting. We realized that that's how I tend to let myself down/let myself get into these situations where I'm frustrated but feel stuck - people tell me vague things, I assume I know what they're talking about so I agree/I assume they have my best interests and theirs at heart, then I usually don't stand up for myself if/when the deal goes south for me.

SO I figured that this was a perfect time to clarify what massage lady was thinking. I didn't want to just agree since my goal is to have no relationship at all with her anymore, OR have a relationship that's all professional. No more blurring lines between WORK and friendship.
So I said "Ok for what? Did we have plans? I hope I didn't forget something! :/ "
And she texted back "Nope all good."
To which I said "oh, ok. Let me know! "
And she said "Ok, I think its all good."

Soooo A+ for standing up for myself. I feel bad about it though, but I'm telling myself that I NEED to stand up for myself and I NEED to be an adult about this. She can try to manipulate me by playing the victim, since she knows it totally works - I HATE feeling like I might have victimized someone and I'm super easy to convince that I _did _victimize someone - but I'm not going to take the bait.

I feel like a big meanie though. 
I told my therapist alllll about this whole thing when I saw her yesterday and she confirmed that I made the right choice, in breaking off this "friendship." So that helped me feel a lot better about it.
Still hard though. 



Then I was on Youtube and found this adorable video of Lacey from years ago. 
1. LOOK AT HER CUTE FACE.
2. I miss her, so so much.
3. That sticking-her-face-in-my-face thing was so "typical Lacey." I'm really thankful I have it on video.
4. I never noticed it before, probably because I was so used to her vision issues, but I think you can realllly see how much sight she's missing in this video. And this was _before_ she was diagnosed with ERU!!
5. LOOK AT HER CUTENESS.








This evening I took a video of me riding Fabs. Feel free to mention anything you see.
I basically HATE how I look in this video. Am I smashing down on his back heavily enough?! Oh my gosh. EMILY. STOP.
He was MUCH more accepting of everything this ride. I guess he had to make sure I was gonna talk the talk and walk the walk with his antics yesterday, cuz he was MUCH better today. Minimal ear pinning - though, after seeing my riding here, I wonder if half of it is that I'm sitting down on him so hard and asking for a trot - with how underdeveloped his back is, perhaps a 2-point or something would be more suitable. I tried posting but that feels nearly impossible. His trot is SO smooth - there's hardly any "up" to it at all. I felt like I was over-posting, but then I'd smack down too soon when I tried to post "less"...ugh.

In other news, his turning off my legs is getting SO much better!! Right before I end the ride, he actually did about a 90-degree turn -WITH his neck bent into the turn- just off my leg and me opening [but not pulling] the inside rein. :happydance:

In other, other, news, I was interested to find out that his walk -according to this video, isn't as fast as I though! It's just very jostle-y so it feeeels like he's really going somewhere wild...but he's totally not. Oh Fabs.

But feel free to watch, give tips, whatever. I'm allll ears.
We are steadily improving, but I feel like he's better than what I know - like I need to increase my knowledge to help him be everything he can be. And what better way to improve than get feedback? 

[this video should really be called "Listen to Atti baah and watch him play on a tarp while a horse is ridden in the background" THAT GOAT. I like him. He can stay.  ]


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## Cherrij

I didn't have the energy to watch it all, but, as a novice dressage rider with more knowledge than abilities, I could add a few things.
1) Loved that Atti moved in the scene  Checking out the tarp and your riding  You have the best trainer  lol
2) You looked like you have a chair seat - around 7:30 in the video. (first trot I caught)
3) You need to work on relaxing your hands, arms. 
4) I was riding that drafty mare yesterday - she also has very flat trot, but I can still post, in the universal saddle she has - then again I have always been taught to post, later learn sitting trot, and usually we don't sit until the horse is first developed enough, second, warmed up real good and giving to you. Posting takes a lot of time to get perfect. So it starts with raising too much, but later you learn to post just a little, to release pressure, and sit back down smooth - works great if the horse has a nice rhythm and balance - I hate how sometimes on Grand I sit back too heavy, but that is cuz I am still learning his trot, and he is adjusting to me, and our trot circle is not even. 

Ok, watched more of your hands - I can see what you are doing, but to me such outstretched hands look abnormal. Then again, I don't know how I look when I am doing the same thing  You aren't bad, there are just things that are adjustable for different disciplines and goals. 
I want Grand to turn like he does - last time it was more like, ok, I will put my weight like it has to, but you are still not turning? Ok, lets add some hand? NO? ok, more hand.. NO? Holy batman - added all my abilities to turn his neck, while turning his body with my body - barely turned. Dang. I need help with turning  we need more groundwork exercises.


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## Malice

To me you look like you are in a chair seat consistently through the video. When riding do you feel like you are reaching for your stirrups? I struggled with this problem when I got back into riding. Tried everything, bareback riding to get balance and never had the problem there. Was SO frustrating, one day I put my stirrups up a hole and two and problem instantly gone. You can have the same problem if you're stirrups are to short too. You're balance will get SO much better and back your seat lighter and smooth.


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## Cherrij

P.S. Agreed with Malice, I wasn't looking at your walk, but ye, raising stirrups can help, or dropping them, finding out what is more comfortable, as you do have a chair seat.


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## quinn

I've been off for awhile and just saw you got a new horse! Congrats!!

I scanned some pics and plan to read posts later...but have to ask:

Is fabs short for fabulous or Fabio?? 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## quinn

I meant a smilie not a creeper wink...i fat fingered. Lol
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

Thanks you guys!!!! I really appreciate the time you took to write!! 

First, welcome back, Quinn!  I think Fabs is short for both. :rofl: And no worries about the creeper wink, I totally knew what you meant.
Weird story about creeper winks: my sister-in-law [who is also named Emily...] absolutely NEVER does just smileys. She ALWAYS creeper winks. She even creeper ;D 's ...
I tried mentioning it to her once [in a really nice way, of course], about how it was kinda awkward to understand those smileys and she told me she does them that way "to be unique"........
Love her, but I still have to double-take all texts from her. :lol:


I should have probably mentioned about the chair seat - I'm riding an Aussie saddle where it basically forces you into a chair seat. That's kinda what Aussie saddles do, I guess. I should really work on fighting it a bit more than I do though... haha
I know it feels like I have my legs ore under me if I have the stirrups up hole - maybe I should do that when we're working in the pasture, then drop them for the trail when I want to feel more secure. Great thinking!

The thing with my hands was kinda strange. I think I was locking my elbows on him? I totally agree though that it was incorrect!
it's actually kind of strange - he felt to me like he was REALLY pulling down on the reins...but he doesn't look like he was doing that at all in the video.
But I was trying to stop that downward pull by bracing my arms, and I don't think that actually helped at all. Maybe I should have gone with him and given him a little more freedom to put his head down [since it really isn't ever low in the video - I thought he was getting it *too* low = clearly not].

I guess, if we're real about it, half of it is that he doesn't respond to my leg all that well yet so I feel like I need to keep a hold of him with the reins "in case". I always feel, when I'm riding him, that he's "about to take off" or something silly like that because [based on this video] he has a way bigger stride than I'm used to. At no point in this video was he about to take off, or anything like that, but I kinda felt like he was. 
I guess that's what I get going from a 14.1h pony to a nearly 16h "monster".. :rofl: I need to adjust to horse strides! haha

Ha, guys, I'm such a timid rider! hahahahaha

Anyway, tonight, if I get to ride, I will work on giving him more rein-freedom, taking those stirrups up a notch and getting my legs under me. I probably am not going to trot since it's been wet the last few days and the footing is pretty ugly right now.
But I'm hoping this week to get some temporary posts and some fencing tape to make a small "round pen" next to the riding area. If I could just set Mr. Fabs to trotting around that and work on feeling his rhythm, I think that might help my posting. Right now I'm thinking about so many things when I ask him to trot that finding his rhythm is unfortunately low on the scale...


THANK YOU!!!


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## tinyliny

Wallaby,

I haven't read all the feedback, so forgive me if I double up on someone.

having your hands forward is ok, but is that becuase you don't have enough rein? it looks like you are holding them forward because you don't have enough rein to bring them back enough to have a ibt more bend in your elbow.

I can see that you are trying to help and support him in the turns, which you have said he is not always so good at., and you do this by signally him to turn well out in front. I can see that as supportive.

however, you keep your hands there, all the time. better to go back to a more nuetral position when you are not asking for a turn, so there's more ON and OFF, then ON, then OFF. 

So, keep hands closer to you , when you want to help him into the turn, hold both sides of the rein with your left hand, slide your right down the rein (the vibration of your hand sliding down the rein gives a presignal) and bring your hand toward your turn direction, but also, bring it more upwards. that lift will encourage him to soften more in the poll. do not pull the rein back toward your hip so much .

when you have some space, don't even worry about the turn . just use the rein as I described to get a softening in his jaw and poll , and reward that. consider it like picking up the telephone and saying, "are you there? are you with me?" his answer is that softening of the poll and slight give to the direction you are asking. THEN, after he as answered your question and he is THERE, then ask for a turn. 

this "asking are you there" can be very slight, but there will be some noticeable change. when your horse is THERE, you can move him much easier.

your chair seat is mostly irrelevant right now.


also, start getting him to back up a bit. and even to stop half way down the hill. eventually asking him to back up the hill, though don't do it so much initially as to kill his forward and make him ****y about it.


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## swimminchikin

Wallaby said:


> [this video should really be called "Listen to Atti baah and watch him play on a tarp while a horse is ridden in the background" THAT GOAT. I like him. He can stay.  ]


With my luck Atti would have grabbed the tarp and bolted under the horse, waving the blue death instrument and causing my sudden death... At least that's how it would go in my head... 

More pictures!!! It's been like 2 whole days! I need a Fabio fix! :lol:


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## Amba1027

I love that video. No riding crit from me, just wanted to say that Hazel and Atti are the cutest. I wish I could have goats.


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## Wallaby

Thanks Caroline! Your advice is much appreciated!
I'm not entirely sure why I have my hands that far forward...maybe it's just nerves? I have a nice loop of rein - not too big, not too small, behind my hands... I noticed today that I tended to gravitate towards having my hands more forward the second I got any kind of nervous. So I've been working on keeping my elbows back with my body and giving him slightly more rein to compensate - keeping the spring unsprung, as it were. 

GREAT advice about backing up. 2 rides ago [the one right after backing up was mentioned] I thought to start having him back up a step the second he starts "falling" down the hill and guess who, in one session, finally figured out how to walk down hills? :rofl:
He still does it every once in a while, but he's started correcting himself before I do. :lol:

Hahaha right, swimminchikin? Luckily I think Atti is enough of a fraidy-cat himself that walking on the tarp and laying on it is enough "big man" stuff for him. :lol: But woe is me the day he gets over that and tries chewing on it.. haha

Things have been kinda all over the place recently. It's one of those "hurry up and wait" type weeks with lots of things, but they're all awkwardly spread out in the day...you know how that goes!

Saturday morning it started raining and I guess Fabs wanted to pretend he was the romantic lead in The Notebook, or something? Either way, he "braved" pouring rain to greet me at the gate. It was cute.





And Atti is looking so grown up!!



Then, later on Saturday, someone got a new grazing muzzle. Which they hate. But one that they shouldn't be able to basically tear apart.



On Sunday Hazel was having difficulty choosing a pillow:










Then, on Monday, Fabs and I played with the tarp some..

And he wanted some glamour shots.

He was pretty nervous about the tarp itself, but I'm proud of him that he trusted me enough to not lose it!!










Then, this morning, I found his snuggled in his stall waiting for breakfast. 











And I was looking at a picture I took of Fabs about a week after he showed up:



And this one from a few days ago:



HIS BACK LOOKS SO MUCH BETTER!!!  :happydance:




Also, in other news, WE CANTERED TODAY!!!!!
I had been waiting until he was softer and more comfortable undersaddle [I figured that since he does bolt when he's scared, I had better get him a lot more relaxed before asking for speed = the first time has the potential to color our experiences for the next forever so it's best to make sure the first time happens right] and he finally seemed to be going pretty well.
I also decided to utilize the heat of the day to my advantage - he's not gonna want to run off or do anything too silly when it's 85*F out. Of course, I didn't really want to ride when it was 85* out either, but sacrifices.

Anyway, he did really well! He picked up the wrong lead both times, but didn't try anything silly. He did wanted to keep going, but he stopped as soon as I asked him to. So that was great!! We're breezing through my "pre-first trail ride checklist" - my goal is to get him 100% responsive to rein aids and at least understanding of leg aids, have his ORS down pat, plus knowledge that he IS controllable at the walk, trot, and canter before hitting the trail for reals. 

Yay!! July 30th goal, here we comeeee!!

Go pony go!
:happydance:

We DID have a few pretty big spooks today, but one was basically just him smashing himself as low to the ground as he could [not a big deal] and the other way a "run to the side"-type deal. The run to the side thing was a little unnerving, but he came back mentally pretty quickly. 

Woohoo Fabs!


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## Chevaux

The first pic of Fabs in the field is picture perfect, Wallaby!

P.S. I tried to like your post but the computer wouldn't let me.


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## tinyliny

I love this one. It is like an impressionistic oil painting. the repitition of the color of his horn and his tag, his other hrose and the greenery, and the speckling of the grass. lovely!


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## Kayella

_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

Thanks Chevaux!!  I like that one too. 

Thanks Caroline! 



Guys, this week has been so so hard. It's really been hitting me hard today especially. 
I met Lacey right around 4th of July [maybe on the 10th?], she became mine on July 16th, we were in a parade together our second summer together on July 4th...etc.
Then the pasture got mowed yesterday [finally] and her grave is all grown in - covered in grass. The grass had only barely started growing in when she passed. There weren't even leaves on the trees yet.

And that all has just been so hard to deal with. I mean, I was dreaming about our summer together, and our 6 year "anniversary," the day before she got sick. And now it's been 6 years since I met her...but she's not physically here with me anymore.

Anyway, that's been giving me a whole lot of grief. I miss her so much. 
I love that Fabs is here now, but I just wish they could both be here together. 

It's just that feeling where your heart hurts and it feels like it's being pulled apart. THE WORST.

In lighter news, the pasture finally got mowed yesterday!
On one hand, I love it cuz it was getting pretty wild...but I miss the daisies. But I'm mostly happy that it got mowed. It feels so much more open now!!

Fabs was so funny about the mower - he wanted to investigate, but it was "terrifying" so he was Arab-snorting all over, then spooking away, then coming back up to the tractor, spooking, etc. It was pretty funny. 
I'm not sure what his final conclusion was though... haha

The goats on the other hand just FLED. They saw the mower coming and, like Lacey taught them last year, they went and hid in the shed until he was gone. 

Atti got a new collar yesterday too! His other one [the black one] was just a little too small [let out as far as it could go] and he was getting a rub on his neck. Plus his tag was nearly worn off. Basically, it was time for him to get new swag.
So he got a new collar. It's 5/8 inches wide which is nice. his neck is too slender, or something, for a 1 inch collar to look good. His last collar was something like 5/6ths, or something, and that looked ok. But I like how this one looks even better!
It was only $3 on Ebay as well, can you believe it?!
His tag should arrive this week - it's black this time.

Hazel's fur protects her collar and her neck is tiny so she doesn't need a new one. 





And Hazel. <3 <3



Fat Mr. Fabs enjoying the shorter grass...



And look! His interesting leg roaning..



And his cute lil' belly spot!



Maybeee someone is Arab/Paint...


I hope you guys all have happy and safe 4th of July's!!


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## grayshell38

He seems pretty sabino-y though. Could the belly spot be from that? 

Fabs just reminds me so much of Mana and Treasure's babysitter, Whiskey, build wise.

Albeit Whiskey is getting up in years, but he's pretty solid like Fabs. I vote Fabs being purebred.


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## gunslinger

Wallaby said:


> Thanks Chevaux!!  I like that one too.
> 
> Thanks Caroline!
> 
> 
> 
> Guys, this week has been so so hard. It's really been hitting me hard today especially.
> I met Lacey right around 4th of July [maybe on the 10th?], she became mine on July 16th, we were in a parade together our second summer together on July 4th...etc.
> Then the pasture got mowed yesterday [finally] and her grave is all grown in - covered in grass. The grass had only barely started growing in when she passed. There weren't even leaves on the trees yet.
> 
> And that all has just been so hard to deal with. I mean, I was dreaming about our summer together, and our 6 year "anniversary," the day before she got sick. And now it's been 6 years since I met her...but she's not physically here with me anymore.
> 
> Anyway, that's been giving me a whole lot of grief. I miss her so much.
> I love that Fabs is here now, but I just wish they could both be here together.
> 
> It's just that feeling where your heart hurts and it feels like it's being pulled apart. THE WORST.
> 
> Don't worry, Lacy will be waiting for you when you're called home....just think of the many joyful reunions we'll have to look forward to.
> 
> That doesn't make things easier here on earth.....as nothing of the world lasts.....and as we're molded from the dust of the ground....our physical self is bound to worldly things....find joy in the memories you have.....as nothing really dies when someone remembers.....
> 
> Sorry you're blue sister.....chin up now....


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## SueC

Hang in there, Wallaby. I know pretty much exactly how you feel. I met a good friend at the stockfeeds place yesterday and she lost her magnificent TB Rikki-Tikki late last year, and we were comparing notes and saying life would never be the same, and riding would never feel the same. We have other horses to love but that doesn't fill the gap that's the specific shape of the horses we lost. It's been three months now since I lost my mare and it still feels horrible. But like Gunslinger said, they live in our memories.

:hug:


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## gunslinger

You can be restored....Job was...to 10 times his former glory....

Good things come to those who are faithful......and seldom is something taken away without something else given to replace it.....

Trust in your heart.


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## Wallaby

Megan! Whiskey is 1. SO CUTE and 2. Reminds me so much of Fabs!! For curiosity's sake, do you know what his breeding is like?
Fabs is reallllly sabino-y so I guess it really could be that too. Maybe that's what tripped up his previous-previous owners who sold him as a Quarab...ugh. I wish they had horse DNA tests! haha He even has white scelera on one of his eyes...definitely a lot of white genes trying to work!

Thanks gunslinger.  I'm starting to feel a lot better. You know how they say anniversaries are hardest when the person isn't around anymore = it kinda hit me like a ton of bricks.
But it'll be ok. One day I'll see her again. And she'll snuffle my face and be realllly annoying and it'll be the best. 

Thanks Sue. We'll get through this. :hug: I bet our girls miss us too...



I don't have a whole lot to report other than for the next week, starting tomorrow, I'm going to be -somehow- petsitting at 3 DIFFERENT houses on 3 different sides of town. Ha, I might die of exhaustion.
So I'm gonna likely be all kinds of busy and Fabs is gonna get all kinds of vacation, the lucky boy.

On the plus side, my aunt is letting me drive her Prius so that should be neat/nervewracking.


Oh! And interesting story: so you guys know how NG is gone - in Tennessee now, right? So the section at church that he'd host in has been unhosted for a few weeks and I had been trying to pick up the slack but it hasn't been working so great [too many people].

We finally got a new guy and he is doing that section.......
.....and he's basically NG in a different body. hahaha They dress exactly alike, talk alike...it's the greatest.
Anyway, so I have a new friend while I'm hosting! Those two sections are usually pretty slow up until 5-10 minutes before the service starts so it's nice to have someone to talk to while we wait.

And ok, he's not ugly. And he wanted to hear allll about the goats and Fabio. So, of course, he now knows everything about them...poor guy. :rofl:


Speaking of Fabio, he's doing really well!
He really seems like he simply needed consistency.
Now that things are consistent, he's coming along with leaps and bounds. 
For instance, he wasn't great at picking out his hooves so I've been working with him a lot on that - in just a few weeks, he's now lifting his hooves up for me BEFORE I even touch his legs. I just have to show him the hoof pick and he's there doing all he can to "help." It is a little unnerving when he does that with his back feet...but I figure he's trying to help. haha He's certainly not threatening to kick or anything.

He's also started doing that sort of thing in the saddle - I can completely drop the reins and just turn to look at wherever I want to go...and he'll take us there. He'll turn circles into forever if I keep turning backwards.
Of course, I can see how THAT^ might not be so helpful in the super long run -we'll need to differentiate between "turning to look" and "turning to turn"- but I just love how he's picking up on every little thing I do and trying his hardest to be "right" for me.
it shows a good spirit, I think. 

He's also picking up leg cues really well.

Anyway, I'm really pleased with how he's progressing!!





A "baby" birdie!



These two are good buddies. 



This kiddo...



"Atticus, you are LITERALLY the reason we don't have nice things"



And the sunset last night.


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## Cherrij

OMG, we never get such colorful birds


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## jcraig10

Where have I been? 

Great before/after shots of Fabs - he is looking really great!

Keep your head up...I miss Lacey too ;-(

p.s. we must nickname new NG.


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## Roman

Wallaby, my horse did that a few times when I'd go to pick his hooves. It was so neat and my dad thought it was cool. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

Aw, Cherri.  I'm sure you probably have cool birds too though!! Most of the pretty birds we get here are the annoying kind [the kind that steals food from other birds/are super noisy/etc] so don't be too jealous. :wink:

Where _have_ you been, Julia?! GOSH. :wink: Glad you're back.
We do need to come up with a name for new NG... I'd say NNG but "New New Guy"?? Lameeee. Maybe if we talk more on Sunday, a good name will appear...the only interesting facts I know so far is that he's a nurse and, like me, he watched Perry Mason as a kid when he was home sick from school.
Perry Mason Kid? PMK?

Nice, Roman! I'm always a littler nervous about picking up hooves [kinda silly, but oh well] and it makes me feel so much better when they're so willing that they're giving you their hooves... :lol:




Not a whole lot to report except that _SOMEONE_ [italics and capitals to express just how flabbergasted and "whattttt?!" I feel], SOMEONE broke into the goats' stall and got themselves stuck for who knows how long.

And by someone, I mean Fabio.










That area is basically 2 pallets with a thin board over the top, plus a winter's worth of hay-bedding. And the pallets aren't flush to the fence/gate - there's a 6 inch, or so, gap over there that filled with a modest amount of hay [enough to almost support my weight or the goats]...but, for a horse, it's really just a 6+inch drop between a pallet and a metal fence. :shock:
There's a reason it's blocked off!!!
Needless to say, I was real nervous about getting him out.

It's just narrow enough that he couldn't turn around and walk out - he had to back out. He must have gotten in, realized his mistake, and decided to wait for me cuz he was notttt moving without encouragement.

I'm actually REALLY proud of him. He was so calm about the whole thing. He was clearly really really nervous, but instead of going nuts with nerves, he slowed down and let me help him out. It took him probably 20 minutes to back out [we had to do it one step at a time - whenever I tried to push for more, he start getting bite-y which is his "I'm overwhelmed and feeling trapped!"-response] but he made it out ok without any scrapes or cuts.

He must have been in there like that for _quite_ a while. He was really stiff and his legs were all mildly stocked up.
Poor baby. 

I gave him a massage to help him let go of the stress, fed him his breakfast, and turned him out like normal.

Then I "double-strengthed" the divider between his stall and the goats' stall.
I'm not sure why he went over there, but I bet he was looking for food since [cuz I'm petsittng/housesitting] I didn't do their evening feed yesterday.

Ugh. On one hand, I'm really proud of him and glad he got to learn about being confined and waiting for help [and that I got to see him being so good under a lot of stress]...but on the other, I'm frustrated that it happened at all.
Plus side: Lacey did a similar thing once [though she was tiny enough that she didn't get stuck] and after that one time, she nevvvver tried it again. 
So I'm kinda hopeful that this experience was enough to show him that the goats' side is the least fun place evvvvvvvver.

And I love that Hazel is in there, in "her spot," like he's not even there. They're good friends so it really doesn't surprise me, but it is cute!

Horses, man!

And a hummingbird from a few days ago. A female Rufous Hummingbird, I believe:



















Those little, itty-bitty, feet!!


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## Roman

I had to laugh about the part where Fabio broke into the goat stall. That look on his face in the picture is like "'bout time you got here!"

Oh, those pictures of the birds are amazing. Are you a professional photographer?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Cherrij

We got some birds, they make fun sounds, but they are mostly plain colored and usually become catfood 










I see this one almost every day, this is one of the most colorful bird that can be seen... but they are nasty - they eat all my cherries, make a lot of noise and ye.. also steal food 


Fabs might be planning to become an escape artist? he just hasn't got the escape part figured out


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## jcraig10

I was thinking NNG too lol! Wonder what church had in store for you yesterday in terms of nicknames :-D


Ohhhh Fabs, getting into trouble! He loves his goat friends...maybe he wanted to see how it felt to live like a goat for a day. Glad you found him in time and he got out unscathed! Hooray for being an awesome horse/goat mom...aka food woman.


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## Wallaby

Roman, I knowww! It was the funniest. haha
And no, I'm so not a professional photographer! haha Thanks for the compliment though!
I simply enjoy photography, and I've taken a number of photography classes, so my photography has steadily improved over the years. If I had a better camera, I mght want to do something with it...but there are more important things in my life right now than a $1000 camera. Win some, lose some, I guess. 

Ah! That IS a pretty bird, Cherri!! But I totally know here you're coming from - most of our pretty birds are annoying like that too. 
hahaha yes, escape artist minus the escaping..I think that pretty well describes Mr. Fabs. :rofl:

Oh Julia, look at us go. We're BASICALLY mind-twins.  Unfortunately whatever his name is WASN'T THERE ON SUNDAY. RUDE.
So we'll just have to wait, I guess... :/
Right? I'm still amazed that he just stood there. From the marks on the ground, he didn't even try to turn himself around. He went in, realized with his brain that he was "stuck" and just waited. Lacey, bless her, would have LOST IT. She had no such patience. Well, maybe that's not true - after all, she did clip herself -with a clip on her winter blanket- to the fence once and waited for me to rescue her..but even in that case, it was clear she had tried to free herself and only decided to wait after she exhausted every other option.
I'm interested to see how Fabs will play out as I get to know him more. Lacey was very much a problem-solver - I could get us into whatever trouble i wanted and she would "clean up" the mess and get us out. 
Fabs seems to rely more heavily on me for guidance in any given situation. On one hand, that means he tests me less and is less "my way or the highway"...but, on the other hand, I wonder if that will mean that I need to be more careful of what I let him do because he's relying on me to not let us get hurt?? [not that I would intentionally ever get us into a sketchy situation, but these things happen, you know?]
Ha, Lacey was so the perfect first horse. 

First, in case you missed it, here's a picture thread of Mr. Fabs:
http://www.horseforum.com/horse-pictures/just-some-pictures-mr-fabio-447074/

I guess a few things have occurred:
I'M DONE HOUSESITTING! YAY. Of course, I'm starting again for a different aunt in a few weeks, but hey. I made it this time!

I've noticed that the less work Fabio does, the "grumpier" he is [ear pinning, etc]. It's very interesting! But I guess it makes sense - I'm not the nicest if I'm bored out of my minddd, so why should he?
I'm still not loving the whole earpinning thing though. You guys should see him. He pins his ears about evvvvvverything. Literally everything. I motion him out of my way = he pins his ears like he's dyyyyying...while doing what I asked. I walk up while he's eating his feed = SO MUCH EARPINNING..until he realizes I'm not leaving. The goats/me move to fast = earpinning alert!! Until he realizes he's not dying...
It's kind of ridiculous. 
I'm hoping that he'll eventually get to a place where he's not like that. It seems super defensive - like he's waiting for the other shoe to drop and he's ready to fight about it. He doesn't really back the earpinning up with anything, but still. It's like he's a big teddy bear, but he's afraid of being hurt so he's pretending to be "soooo dangerous."

Ugh. He's such a big softie too, I just cannot imagine what must have happened in his life before to make him like this.

And so MUCH tooth grinding. Oh. My. Goodness. 

I'm looking forward to who he is in a few months. The tooth grinding is already better so I'm hopeful.

I'm so thankful he's here though. 
I really literally cannot get over that he's here and mine and everything. I still can hardly believe it. But at the same time, it feels just like when Lacey was here - totally perfect.

Anyway.

Last night we went for another walk through the neighborhood - a different walk than we went on before, and he did SO well. 
He was really interested in everything and engaged, but it wasn't worried-interested. He was more "this is cool!!"-interested.
And again, I'm still so impressed with his level-headedness. For how nervous he can be about things, we had a car drive past us SO FAST and he didn't even blink, saw someone washing a car - couldn't have cared less, saw a garage door open - "whatever, dudes", etc. And he kept a very steady walk. No barging ahead or trying to trot - just a nice steady walk both heading away from home AND heading home.
And this walk was literally only his second time out of the pasture, at all, since he came home. 

AND no nervous poops!! He's a nervous pooper [hahaha] so if he doesn't poop, you know he's chill. 

Such a good boy. 

I'm thiiiiinking tonight might be the night that we go on our very first trail ride......
I'm thinking I'll hand walk him down through the trail, then ride him back up. That seems easiest/safest. Especially since he's much more relaxed when I'm walking him = if he sees all the new things for the first time while he can see me, things maybe will go better.

But I don't know. I'm going to lunge him first, see how he goes, and decide. I'm sure he'll be fine, but you know me..haha I'm kinda timid rider. :rofl:
And, really, it's probably important to make sure his first ridden experience on the trails goes pretty well to build his confidence and whatnot. 

But I'm sure he'll do ok! I'll report back.


----------



## Roman

Sounds like you're making awesome progress! Hope the official trail ride goes well, preparation can help sooo much, like walking him first like you said you were going to do

One of our Aussies is a nervous pooper too, does it only in car rides. We took him to go to the vet like the first time and he went THREE times before we got to the end of the road. Now we put him in a portable cage and he does fine. >_>

By the way, do you know what Fabio means?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Wallaby

According to Google, it seems to mean "bean farmer" in Italian. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: Which is LITERALLY the best thing I have ever heard.
But I was going for Fabio as in the model Fabio - both ironically and literally. :lol: But being a bean farmer explains his derpy-ness... haha
A good looking, model, bean farmer.....??



Anyway, just got back from our trail ride. 

AND FABS DID SO WELL!!!!! We saw some strangers who, interestingly, really seemed to worry Fabs until they petted him. As soon as they touched him, he just relaxed and was a-ok with them. Silly boy!
But yeah, I asked them to pet him cuz I know he loves people and I want him to be ok with random people on the trail. The people were SO excited to pet him too. It was great! 

I walked him down to the end of the trail and rode back. He was hard to get back on and my pants, awkwardly, completely deconstructed [luckily in a way that, if I kept my butt to him while on the ground, it was ok] themselves while trying to get on him.....but aside from being the most awkward person on the trails [which is probably always accurate anyway, if we're real], it went great!

He didn't spook at anything and, even though he wanted to trot at some points, he listened to me and kept a steady walk. He even managed to not kill us going downhill! We had to go down a really steep hill and he was clearly thinking hard about where to put his feet, but he made it down slowly and correctly! Yay!!












:happydance: :happydance: :happydance:

15 days before our goal of July 31st!!! Woohoo!!

:happydance:


----------



## Cherrij

AMAZING! Fabs is the best  

I love how amazing you two are!


----------



## egrogan

Congrats! I'm sure you've got miles more trail experience than me, but given that my first successful solo trail ride is still a pretty recent memory, I know how awesome it feels


----------



## jcraig10

Wooohoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Wallaby

Haha thanks Cherri!  Fabs is an amazing horse! He makes up for me. :lol:

Thanks, egrogan! The first solo ride is always nervewracking, I think. No matter how many miles you've traveled! 
I mean, back in the day - at camp, I used to take one horse or the other out by themselves [Lacey didn't like going out alone at camp for whatever reason, so I rarely took her out alone there] and some of those horses LOST THEIR MINDS at the idea of going out alone. Not every horse can do it and that's ok - we're lucky ours can!!  :happydance:

RIGHT, Julia!??  :happydance: :happydance: :happydance:


On the bummer side of things, Mr. Fabs seems really sore this morning. 

It might be just the fact that he's just starting back into work and this was the most intense, longest workout he's had...
I'm hoping that's what it is.

I'm also wondering about the way the saddle fits him. I padded it up in the middle, a few weeks ago, for his back since it was bridging pretty badly and I knew his back was going to improve [which it has]. I didn't think to check it without the shim before our ride yesterday - maybe his back has improved enough that he doesn't need it.

...or maybe he needs a different saddle.
Interesting, his loin area isn't sore at all - he's sore in front, right behind his shoulders [where his shoulders would hit in the middle of his stride], on both sides.
I thiiiiink that might have been about where the shim-pad would have hit him on the front edge of it.

In any case, I guess I'll take some saddle fit photos this evening and post them. 

I _do_ know the saddle could certainly fit him better [it's as wide as can be and, in his currently unmuscled state, it's a little tooo wide] but I hesitate to start scrambling to get him a new one when he's certainly going to change shape so much in the coming months. But I don't want to cause him pain!! Maybe I should use a thicker all over pad for a bit. I do have a wool western pad that's not as thin as the dressage pads I've been using, but still thick enough to use with an Aussie saddle...
Ha, I feel for the owners of 4 year olds. I guess I technically kind of have a 4 year old in terms of body conditioning?? :lol:

Anyway, I gave him some MSM to hopefully help ease any inflammation.



And then Mr. Atti plotted a grand escape this morning - 










LOOK at that face. No shame! What a little jerk.


----------



## Roman

Atti has to wear tennis balls, of course he's going to act like a brat. :rofl:


----------



## Wallaby

Haha of courseeee. He has to wear tennis balls because he's such a jerk. :lol: But really. The tennis balls were implemented because I kept discovering these deep gashes on Hazel's belly from where he jabbed her while "playing." :shock: Plus, as he's aged, he's discovered that he can boss horses around by jabbing his horns at their faces = NO THANK YOU. 
So tennis balls he gets. haha



So in bravery news, I told Gman about how I used to like him. It came up pretty organically in a conversation and it wasn't really a huge deal, but I feel way better now that he knows!! He was, of course, really sweet about it. 
He's the best.  haha I'm basically like a kid who has a big brother that thy are allll about....only my "big brother" is 6 months younger than me?? :rofl: :rofl:

I'm really impressed with Fabs! He's really started to "tune in" to me for direction. Before, he'd focus on me because he knew that was what he was supposed to do, but now he's actually focusing on me cuz he _wants_ to. And that makes me so happy!!
Yesterday I gave him a good massage in the morning [and managed to get those knots out of his shoulders from our trail ride], then he tried on "the lesson saddle" for the first time. 

Going on a trail ride and behaving safely was one of the last "checkpoints" before I felt comfortable thinking about asking any lesson kids if they wanted to come out and help me test him out. 

Since he did exceptionally on the trail, I figure it's time. 

I know he LOVES kids and he was so so careful with those disabled kids at the therapy place, so I'm not toooo terribly worried about how he'll be around kids. I just needed to get him thoroughly checked and more "ok" before exposing someone's kid to the potential risk that is Fabio. At this point, though he's still monumentally inexperienced, I feel like he's safe enough for a kid who's been riding for a while. 

Anyway, the next big hurdle was/is the lesson saddle. It's a western saddle AND it has a backcinch.
From the way he behaved getting saddled up, that clearly needs some work [he "froze" and mentally went somewhere else, then, once the saddle was on, he was totallllly in my bubble and we had a discussion about how my bubble is MY bubble, but those are typical "Fabio is scared" moves]. So we'll work on that before any kids come out.
I was surprised at how unimpressed he was about the backcinch. From his nervous reaction -holding his belly up, etc- it was quite clear that he had probably never had one on before.
BUT! Instead of running from it or bucking, or any other negative behavior, he relaxed into it pretty quickly.
He did buck a few times while cantering on the lunge [unusual for him] but it was only for the first few steps of the first canter. After that, he settled right down and cantered well.

And I got to see why he didn't really unseat me when he bucked with me that time - his most effort-full bucks only got him mayyyyybe a foot off the ground. The boy's got no hops! :lol:

So I think I'll probably saddle him up again tonight and lunge him again, to give him double the good experiences to think about tomorrow as he gets the day off.

I wish that saddle were big enough for me to ride in, but it's not. It has a 13 inch seat which I thinkkkk would be a squeeze even for me. :lol:

But LOOK at how GOOD he look in a western saddle!! I'm in danger of wanting to snag him a western saddle for ME to ride in somehow, any how. :rofl:




And yesterday I found, then rescued, a chickadee caught in a bird feeder! :shock: 
Who knew they could do that!?


----------



## Wallaby

A couple things have happened - horse stuff or PMK stuff first? :rofl:

I choose horse stuff first. :twisted:

A couple of things have been going on with Fabs. 
For one, on....Saturday morning, as I asked him to move out of his stall so I could place his food out [he tends to be territorial-ish about his food -which I assume stems from going without/with very little for who knows how many years- so I ask him to back way way off before feeding him]. And he left his stall, but the second I asked him for another step out [since he left with a "grimace" on his face AND turned his butt to me in a threatening manner while turning], he charged at me intending to bite and strike. Thankfully he hadn't realllly committed so he finished his bite/strike about 10 feet from me, but it was still SO NOT OK.
So I hopped into the tack room, grabbed the lunge whip, and shooed him back out of the stall [which he had entered right after I went into the tack room]. I just smacked the ground and waved the whip at him, but the poor guy was shaking. 

In any case, he's back to being much more respectful of me at feeding time. 
I realized that this was mostly my bad: he tried something like this on one of his first days home [though not nearly as aggressively], I chased him out of the stall, he got more respectful, I figured we were over that. 
And, for the last few weeks I've been allowing him to be in the stall as I place his food out, but I was still been making him wait until he makes a "nice" face [ears forward] before he's released to eat.
For the last few days, he hasn't been making a "nice" face, but it had been seeming like ears-listening-backwards were probably ok...

HA. WRONG. 
So from, from now on, his only option for feeding time is OUTSIDE the stall and he MUST give me nice ears. No halfway about it.
I was figuring that, like Lacey, once was enough and he understood that feeding time was nice time. Ha. Oh geldings. :lol:
Which that's ok, at least I know that about him now. 

Feeding is one of those areas I was talking about before, I think. Like where he gets all weird and not the cuddly teddy bear I know... 
Of course, I'm certainly not giving him leeway because he's had hard life...but the things he's seen really seem to affect him in some ways. 
Hopefully he'll be better one day.  We have 30 years, or some such thing, to get it figured out!!

I rode him today and I think he REALLY liked that trail ride. He was sooooo distracted in the direction of the front gate. I'm not sure exactly what to do about that. Maybe more trail rides will help...so he realizes that inside the pasture is pretttty easy compared to outside...

In fantastic news, at the very end of our ride, I actually got him neckreining a bit! He, obviously, had no idea what we were doing, but he went in a full zig-zag AND STOP just off my legs and seat. That _literally_ took Lacey years. They are such different horses..it's so interesting!
He didn't "get it" yet, at allll, but the foundation is there. Neckreining is SUCH a handy thing for the trail, imo. 
I do a lot of going back and forth - especially when we might be going faster, I like to neckrein the trot especially because I don't think my hands are good enough to have contact AND post the trot. 
Not to mention how handy neckreining just intrinsically is! :lol:



Ok, PMK time.
[or "New NG" haha...I think I like PMK better though - makes him his own person and whatnot]

We are DEFINITELY friends now. :lol:
I was talking with Gman and PMK walked past, saw me, broke into this huge grin, and kept walking. Gman, being Gman, immediately was like "OH EMILY! Look at YOU! Who was THAT?!!" :lol:
So that was hilarious. 
Then it was time for our little host-meeting and one of my other friends [who is the greatest - he's married to his KINDERGARTEN sweetheart, he's a Celiac like me, AND you say his last name like "lol-er"] sat between PMK and I. 
Then he was like "so, you and ___ [Gman], what's going on there? Is there something romantic happening? You guys have been _talking_ an awful lot." To which I immediately was all "oh no no, just good friends, etc etc" After all this, I happened to glance at PMK, and he immediately looked away like he had been listening in but didn't want us to know. hahaha So who knows.

And since when has "talking a lot" meant something was happening? If that were the case, I should have had like a bajillion boyfriends by now. :rofl:

Anyway, so after this meeting, me and PMK headed upstairs...where we did a lot less hosting and a lot more standing together talking.  hahaha

Turns out he is a nurse for the intestinal wing, or whatnot, at a hospital nearby so basically he does prep and aftercare on people who've had their insides messed with. Whaaaaat?

He told me some story about how he was driving yesterday, saw a field full of baby horses, and came to the conclusion that "it must be horse birthing season" :rofl: 
Horse birthing season? WHO SAYS THAT. hahahaha

Then, after all that, we started talking about how it's hard to remember people's name sometimes and how it's awkward when you remember them and they don't remember you. I made some comment about how I thought I was mildly forgettable sometimes and he was all "....I'm not sure how true that is. I've never met anyone less forgettable."










But yeah. Who knows. 
In any case, he's nice and he likes talking to me. So we can be friends. 


:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Roman

Good job with the semi-neck reining! I'm trying to teach mine but never actually do :/ but he does it sometimes which is nice.  And I think that making Fabio go outside when you feed would help a lot. Roman isn't aggressive whenever I give him grain, which isn't an everyday deal, but he might get pushy.


----------



## jcraig10

Walllllllllllllllaby! Where are youuuuuuuuuuuuuu??? Dreaming about PMK?


----------



## Zexious

Gah, 'dat Fabio overstepping his boundaries D<

Sooooo I want scoop  How is Fabs doing? More respectful? I know it was just one slip-up, but it was a pretty legit slip-up xD

And I DEF wanna hear about PMK 8D


----------



## Wallaby

AHHHH! You guysssssss. <3 
I am still alive!
But barely. haha
I started house/petsitting for my aunt on Sunday and she lives 30 minutes from my house by car/hour away on public transit. 
And since my van gets 12mpg, public transit it is!! 

Soooo things have been out of hand. Plus, it's been 90*+ everyday [which, for most places is nothing, but here literally NO ONE has air conditioning since 70-80* is "normal." Literally sitting inside, just sweating from EVERYWHERE right now. It's 90* inside...at 8pm. It's disgusting. :lol:] which means that I'm pretty much dying of heat stroke on a daily basis. 
But really. Gingers melt in the heat, not even kidding. haha

So things have been pretty hectic. I want to try going on a trail ride with Fabs tomorrow, but we'll see. It really depends on if I can make it home by 8:30am/9am.
The poor boy REALLY wants to go out though. He got his hooves trimmed yesterday [FINALLY!! They were getting SO chippy - I felt bad making him go on asphalt trails with how they were looking] and, as the trimmer came in the gate [he was tied next to the gate], he jut walked right out the open gate and looked at us like "well?" :rofl: 
He's addicted to dem' trails!

I'm not sure if I should though - he hasn't done anything, in terms of exercise, since Saturday...so I might end up dead. 
BUT I should probably just go with it. How will I gain knowledge of his reactions to things if I don't test him thoroughly? Plus, he's never thrown anything bad at me - except for that one singular buck that one singular time. 
We'll see!

I'm also worried cuz I saw the world's BIGGEST wasp go hide under the saddle, while it was sitting on its rack, on Saturday [where I subsequently sprayed it, from a safe distance, with SO MUCH flyspray...] WHAT IF IT TRIES TO EAT ME?!
But, again, gonna have to move that saddle sometime!

Also, due to to the heat, Atti and Hazel have been getting hosed off everyday. And they're actually loving it!  That makes things so much easier!

And Fabs figured out that the hose is actually a really fun toy:







In PMK news, haven't seen the kid.  Maybe I forgot to tell you guys, it turns out he has to work every other Sunday...and last Sunday was one of those days.
Ha, that's a funny story - the last time I saw him, I was all like "whoa, you weren't here last week! And it was _only_ your second week! Are you committed enough for this job?" etc etc, heckling him for not being committed. 
Then he was all "Ha, right. I had to work. I have to work every other Sunday. I don't even get off until 8:15pm those Sundays."

And I'm just like.... "oh. ........*crickets*....."

:rofl:

But then we talked more and it was ok.
But A+, as usual, for Emily sticking her foot in her mouth.

On the other hand, I went creeping on his FB and discovered that he's 2 years older than me! Which is something I want so yay!

But, plus side, on Friday all the hosts are having a "Quarterly Party" so he _should_ be there AND he should be at church this Sunday. 
So there's the possibility of a whole lot of friendliness. :happydance:
I will, of course, report back. 












Send SO MANY icy thoughts in the direction of Portland Oregon!! haha


----------



## Zexious

Glad to hear things are going well! I'm stoked for continued updates about PMK ;D /DatGossipDo


----------



## SueC

Cute film, Emily!  My father has a horse who does that; when he gets washed, which he likes, he literally grabs the hose to play with it, and doesn't want the water turned off! And makes the goofiest faces and blows bubbles... looks like your horse is that way inclined too.


----------



## jcraig10

Ooooh I forgot about house sitting! Thats so crazy about your weather there...it has been so cool here in the Mid-Atlantic! I mean like mid 80s. Normally its 100 degree at the end of July and HOT HOT HUMID AHH YOU THINK YOU'RE DEAD THATS HOW HUMID IT IS...and just today I went outside on my lunch break and it was breezy and just phenomenal. so anyway you can KEEP THE HEAT GIRLFRIEND! I hate it!!!!!!!!

Anyway...going to finish reading your post now...just wanted to brag for a minute  Sowwwwie 

****, i love the memes that you have been posting lately. 

You can always take Fabs out on the trail and if you don't feel comfortable, just hop off and walk it. No big deal. As for the wasp.............you're on your own there! Better wear your armour next time you head out to the tack room.


----------



## SueC

Re heat: Just sitting with your feet in a bucket of cold water as you have a "sofa break" can be very good. Also, do you have a portable pedestal fan? Those are ridiculously inexpensive to buy, and very effective. We hate heat, particularly humid heat, so we've moved pretty much as close to the poles as our state allows. Stay cool!


----------



## Roperchick

go what i do. big dish cleaning glove things and a bottle of wasp spray in each hand lolol

i love love love the video of Fabs loving the water haha if i could like more than once i would haha. my guys are such divas they dont want running water NEAR their faces so funny


----------



## Wallaby

Uggggh. I had sooo much written, then it all disappeared. Booooooo.
Anyway, I replied to you each. haha so just know that happened and blame the internet. <3

But:

1. PMK wasn't there tonight. Boooo. I'll have to heckle him on Sunday. :rofl:

2. A mutual friend who knows both Gman and I [but not well enough to know really about our lives] were talking. Gman happened to come up - she complimented me for something I said that was really Gman's idea, so I gave him credit...

...and she immediately said "OH MY GOSH. I've been meaning to tell you two, YOU ARE THE CUTEST COUPLE EVER."

Noooooooo. 










That makes me sad.

How can the PB to your J NOT BE INTERESTED IN YOUR GENDER. AHH. WHY.

So I dunno.

But, on the other hand, I'm super flattered!! I mean, Gman is seriously GQ model levels of good looking, on the outside AND the inside, so to think that little old me was genuinely with *waves hands around* THAT..well, I'm flattered.

But ugh.

Who knows what the future holds, I guess....just gotta hold on and hope for the bigger and better things that are yet to come.


----------



## Zexious

^ Dx Nooooo that's the worst! That horrible moment when you have to say "Nah, we're just friendsssss" /cringe xD

I know that I've seen pictures of Gman before, but you should post another. My memory fails me, and now I'm all curious 8D


----------



## Roperchick

gman AND pmk^^^^^ lolol


----------



## tinyliny

can you refresh my memory . . "pmk"?


----------



## Roman

I stumbled in when this thread was already in the 100 things. So I'd like to know what Gman and PMK stands for too. lol


----------



## Wallaby

Exactlyyyy, Zexious! The worst!  The other thing that makes it hard is that, even out here, people aren't all that accepting of guys who aren't interested in women. I mean, Gman has chosen to live a life sans romantic relationships because he feels it's right for him, BUT since he works with the kids at church, etc and sometimes parents are crazy, no one can know _why_ he isn't ever getting married. It's one of those dumb things that the majority of people would be totally ok with, but there would be a few who'd want to totally ban him from everything. 
So when people ask me and I say "ha, no, we're just besties. He's never getting married." They reallllly don't believe me. You know? They think that Gman is just "in a phase" and that we're something... :/

Here's me and Gman last fall sometime when we went to the zoo and I still had long hair...haha
Of course, now his glasses have black-frames so just imagine this Gman+even _more_ hipstery. :rofl:



Christy!!! :rofl: No PMK until I have a picture of me and him together. It's just creeeeepy to go on someone's FB, pick a picture at random, and post it here. :rofl: I would be SO mortified if I found out that someone did that to me! haha

Caroline, he's "New NG", or the new guy who hosts in NG's old section who isn't hard on the eyes and is my friend. :lol:
[PMK stands for "Perry Mason Kid" because Perry Mason was one of the first things we ever talked about. haha]

Roman, Gman is a guy I had a crush on for yearssssss before I found out that he's un-romatically-interested in women. We were pretty good friends before I found out, but now we're basically besties and the whole "I used to like him alot"-thing is not a big deal at all.  Now he's kind of like my big brother who happens to be 6 months younger than me. :rofl:
Oh, and Gman is the shortened version of "Gentleman Friend" 

Fabs actually did some stuff today!

This morning I lunged him a bit, then we went for a walk in the neighborhood. My parents were home at our house so I decided to take Fabs up to the door and he LOVED IT. Like he seriously wanted to just march right in the door. I had to hold him back! hahaha
Of course, my parents then fed him 3 carrots - underlining that outside the pasture is the best place EVER and causing Fabs to eye ever single front door we passed on the way back to the pasture. :rofl:



And _someone_ discovered they could use their feed bucket to be a huge goofball this afternoon: 







On one hand, all these funny mouth-things he's doing make me laugh really hard and are adorable, but they concern me just a little too.

I mean, when he gets nervous/stressed, he grinds his teeth A LOT, he chews wood/chewable surfaces, he throws his head, he does this thing where -if he were in a stall/there was wood in front of him- he'd be running is teeth on a wall...and now this. 
He was holding his eyes totally closed while doing this, like he was just loving it - the same thing he does with all those other behaviors.

And I dunno, I'm not sure how I feel about all these nervous tics. Do I laugh about them and take videos and think they're cute...or do I wonder about what's stressing him and why he's doing it?
I don't want to ignore warning signs, or something, of a bigger issue...but I don't want to make nothing into a bigger issue.


Huh. But anyway, how funny is he?


----------



## Zexious

That's the pic I was remembering, in my little pea of brains! You both look lovely to me ;D
I think you have to get on a pic of you and PMK :>


That's so funny about Fabs wanting to strut right into the house! I know a woman who let her QH into her home... I would be way too paranoid for something like that. xD What if something went wrong? What if they pottied?? Dx

I think there are a couple of potential causes for the behavior you're describing. Given what I know about the A+ care that you give your horses, my first instinct is to say that some horses are just "mouthy". Making silly faces, chewing on things, etcetera, is just what they do.
On the other hand, those can be pretty solid symptoms of either boredom or agitation--just something to keep in mind, if the behavior worsens/changes/whatever :>


----------



## Roperchick

Unless more signs start appearing about something amiss I wouldn't worry too much..
My not charlie is the same way he's just super super mouthy. Loves licking EVERYTHING. Including his brother lol


----------



## Roman

Fabio totally wanted food! He was offering the bucket...how sweet. lol He is so cute!!!

And thanks for enlightening me on Gman and PMK!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## jcraig10

FOOD WOMAN! YOU'RE FINALLY HERE! I already ate the goats...sowwie


----------



## Wallaby

OH MY GOSH. It happened again. Somehow I wrote out this whole post, then somehow my keyboard decided that pressing "backspace" is the same as pressing the back button. 

AHHH NO.

And I had nice replies to you all AGAIN. 











But basically, in much longer form, I told you how I ordered Fabs an apple-scented Jolly Ball to hopefully ease his boredom [if that's the issue] and how I hope he likes it - it should arrive on Thursday.

I told you a story about PMK and how I fear I am distracting him from his 'job' cuz he did zero hosting on Sunday and talked to me the whole time [until I was like "oh, I should probably go greet that girl..." and left...but then he bailed from the whole thing]. 
And then I came up with the grand idea to invite him to greet people with me because last time was only his third week greeting - maybe he's nervous. Like, instead of saying "I better go greet that girl!" say "Let's go greet that girl!"

And I told you about how I'm hoping to shear Miss Hazel on Saturday which means the gang is going on a field trip! How exciting for them all. :lol:


----------



## Endiku

Control Z, my dear! If your laptop is anything like mine, and eats posts the way mine does- Ctrl + Z will make it vomit it back up!!!


----------



## SueC

Great film of Fabio and bucket. You have a brainy horse, and that sort think up all manner of entertainment for themselves. You could try tiring him out with long trail rides in the future...of course, he's Arabian and you'll end up more tired than him. ;-) But I'm sure he will enjoy any attempts you make to tire him out.

That dog trainer, I looked her up. Very cool!  Thanks for the recommendation.


----------



## Zexious

Sheering! :O That sounds like fun! How much wool do you expect to get? And what do you plan to do with it ? :>


----------



## jcraig10

The jolly ball sounds like a great idea. You have got to get video of that if he decides that he likes it! I have a feeling though that Atti will quickly make it his toy instead! 

OOOOH FIELD TRIP!!! I love field trips. Where do we get to go to get sheared? I love sheared Hazel pics.


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Allyson!! I used to do edit-undo...then Firefox updated and it doesn't have/I can't find "edit" anymore... :lol: and I couldn't remember what the keyboard shortcut was.  You're a lifesaver!!! <3

I agree, Sue! The poor boy SO DESPERATELY wants to go out on adventures with me...and I just haven't had the time.   I'm hoping that next week we'll be able to go for number of rides, then, after I'm done housesitting [August 25] I'd really like to do 30 days of trail rides. I think that sort of work would be really good for him and his training...I just need timeee. 
I'm so glad you liked the dog trainer!! She's so great!  

Zexious, it's a mixture of fun/the worst. :rofl: Hazel thinks I take way too long so she turns into a goat-piranha. Put your body anywhere her head can reach you and you are DONE. Hello SO MANY bites. And she usually has lice [they're goat-specific lice and basically impossible to get rid of when it comes to Angoras] so that makes it icky too.
But it is fun using the clippers and just going for it!  And watching a goat appear through the fluff...
Usually she produces probably 6lbs of mohair [I've never weighed it] and I usually just throw it away. I saved some to send to TinyLiny last time but then things happened [I sheared her the weekend before Lacey passed] and I mostly forgot. But usually it just gets thrown away. Between cleaning it [which is intense...easy, but time intensive] and it not being the best quality [given Hazel's age - she's 12 and they produce the best. softest, mohair from about 6 months-2 years], there's really not much you could do with it...maybe make a Hazel-rug. haha

Oh Julia, you better believe I will take a video of them investigating it!!  Ha, they are SO going to have a Jolly Ball war. I kind of can't wait.  I'm terrible. I believe it should arrive tomorrow!!! 
Oh, I just shear Haze at my house, in my driveway. But that means that everyone else gets to come down, stand tied to trees in the driveway, and get fussed over by my mom/dad while being periodically frightened by cars driving past. hahaha The best. 


I took another comparison picture of Fabs today [better than last time] and HOLY COW.

The top picture is two weeks after he came home, the bottom one is today.

Who IS that horse?
Aside from looking all manner of irritated, he looks so much less....tight!

[maybe it's a little hard to see due to the glare, but his back is WAY higher too!]



Whoohoo!!


----------



## SueC

Haha, our neighbours have alpacas! They're great fun to shear too: Kind of like sheep crossed with giraffes... ;-) Our neighbours turn the alpaca wool into nice quilts / duvets / whatever you call them in America - you know, quilted fabric blankets with fill sandwiched between. They use the wool as fill for these. Also Robyn knits things with the wool. At the Albany Show knitwear exhibition we even found a cardigan made from one knitter's dog hair. Her Fido is one of those who has lots of undercoat that brushes out in spring... 

Lack of time for doing all the riding you want: Am totally there. Beware of building houses. :rofl:


----------



## egrogan

SueC said:


> At the Albany Show knitwear exhibition we even found a cardigan made from one knitter's dog hair. Her Fido is one of those who has lots of undercoat that brushes out in spring...


I so want to do this! We have a collie/St. Bernard mix who has a crazy undercoat, and I really think we pull enough hair off her to do this. It's so soft and fluffy...
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## tinyliny

the thing I found with alaca wool is that it does not needle felt like sheep wool. I think it is microscopically different. lacks the same sort of "corkscrew" hair shape, so it doesn't felt into other hairs, won't matt down, either.

Mohair from a goat, I don't know whether it will felt or not. gotta just try. but, it has to be clean. and I am not up for cleaning liced up goat hair. 
sorry, I don't love you that much!


----------



## SueC

egrogan said:


> I so want to do this! We have a collie/St. Bernard mix who has a crazy undercoat...


Now I really want to see a photo. That's a cross I've never come across! Scottish Collie (Lassie) or Border Collie?

I have a whole feed bag of shed horse hair with sentimental value (from my mare's second last moult) and if any of you crafty people can think of a good use for that, please let me know. (I didn't cut off any of her mane/tail hair after she died, that was a kind of desecrating thought, but I also have a finger's thickness strand of tail hair from when she stepped on her tail once which I suppose could be strung on a violin bow).


----------



## egrogan

SueC said:


> Now I really want to see a photo. That's a cross I've never come across! Scottish Collie (Lassie) or Border Collie?


Here is our scruffy girl, Delia:









We adopted her from the shelter when she was about a year old, so we're just guessing on her parents, but people seem to guess Scottish Collie and St. Bernard. The groomer seemed fairly confident based on her having a "triple coat," but I admit I don't know much about dog breeds so could be wrong. 

We were totally won over by the freckles when we saw her at a pet adoption day- we had not been planning on getting another dog (in fact, my husband was adamant that he didn't want a second dog)- but he took one look at her and made the only impulsive decision I've ever seen him make since I've known him. We've had her about 7 years now.


----------



## Roman

egrogan said:


> Here is our scruffy girl, Delia:


She is TOO adorable! If you ever want to get rid of her, I call first dibs. :rofl:


----------



## egrogan

Roman said:


> She is TOO adorable! If you ever want to get rid of her, I call first dibs. :rofl:


Ha, thanks. We are so lucky in that she has the personality to match her cuteness- she really is one of the happiest, friendliest dogs I've ever met. She's a keeper.


----------



## Wallaby

Well, it happened again. 
The fan-warning thing on my laptop came on, I had to hit enter repeatedly to get it to stop...and whatever happened happened and deleted my post. I tried control+Z and it didn't work.  I'm gonna start writing these in Word. This is getting out of hand. My dumb laptop. Ugh.
I'm hoping to get it fixed next week...but I dunno. It might not be something that can be fixed...

Egrogan, I love that story! She’s so cute! It reminds me of how I got the goats. The best! 

Haha, Caroline! I would never send you lice!! It’s all clean and soft and purdy.  
I’d only send you lice hair if you were my enemy…I need an enemy. But not you!!!

Today Fabs and I went for another walk in the neighborhood. I hadn’t really planned on it, but the Jolly Ball arrived while I was with him and I thought he might like to go get it with me. :lol: 
There was a lot going on in my neighborhood this morning so it was highly educational. Or something, for him! He actually really did pretty well. He so weird to me – Lacey was more afraid of people plus things while he’s totally chill with people plus things. It’s the things without people, or the things where he can’t see a person, that cause him to lose it. He REALLY loves people. <3
The only thing that really caused him to panic was a bright yellow box-van. He was so worried about it that he *gasp* stepped on a manhole cover and didn’t even care. [up to now, the manholes have been basically devil-portals]
We ended with it on an ok note though – the driver of the van was careful and stopped when he saw Fabs losing it, I was able to turn Fabs around so he could really see the van, and, while he was still wary, he was mostly ok with it. We saw a truck after that that was a hugggge snore so at least he’s selective about what types of vehicles plan to murder him?? :lol: :lol:

I’m not sure how he feels about the Jolly Ball. He sniffed it, licked it, mouthed it, and then pretty much left it alone. I guess we’ll see!

A butterfly!



After I let him go. “freeeeedom!”



“hiya ball-thing!”



“uh, yeah. Not feeling that brave…”


----------



## Endiku

aww D: I was hoping it would work. Fabs is looking as handsome/chubchub as ever!


----------



## grayshell38

Maybe try buying a cheap exercise ball? Mana usually pops them within an hour, so I only buy him one or two a year, but they are like $10-15 so it is a nice treat. He plays extremely rough with them though so Fabs' would last a while.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Roperchick

ohmygosh. i know hazel didnt eat yall when you cut off her hair because you posted on FB today......how do we not have pictures?! haha


----------



## Wallaby

Haha thanks Allyson.  

Megan, that's a good idea! And even if he doesn't play with it, it's another desensitization thing to "play" with! 

Hahaha Christy! I ended up not shearing her until this morning. But it's done!

Unfortunately, my laptop is majorly on the fritz and for whatever reason pictures won't upload to the HoFo from my phone. 
My laptop is hopefully getting fixed (it was overheating like I told you guys about, then I took it in and the guy was all "sooo your hard drive is failing..." and, being poor, that's really not something I want to fix. So I'm basically gonna hope that my laptop, once it's cleaned, will hold on for a bit more.  and that maybe I'll get a laptop for my birthday in a month, or money for a new one...ugh.)
Anyway, phone it is!

1. Took Fabs for his second trail ride and it ended up being AMAZING and super long - you can read the whole story in my "how if you know when they're ready? First trail ride.." thread over in Trail Riding. I'd link, but the phone might blow up... :lol:

2. Sheared Hazel today and it went great! All the animals did really well walking through the neighborhood, etc.

3. While shearing Hazel, I found a lump..that wasn't there before. And is big.
So that could be bad or it could be whatever. I'm gonna be keeping an eye on it. It's right over where her internal lady parts are so I dunno...
But, on the other hand, she has so few teeth and so much arthritis that, no matter what "gets" her, it's really just a matter of time before she leaves.
Like I don't want to be all dramatic or heartless about it, but it's pretty much a given that she's in her last home. 
Maybe it'll be in 6 years, or maybe in a month: either way, everyday is special.

_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## gunslinger

Yes, everyday is special, as like Hazel, we'll all soon be called home. Enjoy the day.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Roperchick

Saw it on Facebook! Love the pics haha. Hopefully the bump is nbd for her!!!


----------



## Wallaby

Exactly, Gunslinger! I was thinking about that while trying not to worry. I realized, as I thought "but she could be DYING!", who ISN'T dying? Literally everyone is in the process of dying sooner or later. So I'm not gonna let it worry me too much.  All that really matters is that she's happy and comfortable.


[I got my laptop back - so far no more overheating warnings. Yay!]

Fabio and I went for another super long ride today - "only 10 miles." Aand he NAILED it. 

I am falling more and more head over heels for that horse with each ride. He's SUCH a good-natured guy. Literally the only time he gives me annnnny trouble is when we're headed home. 
He HATES going home. He'll dive off the trail repeatedly and make all kinds of nasty faces about the going-home trail...but he'll do it.

Today we went exploring a little and found a drop. It was a pretty high drop [the trails are set up mainly for runners/hikers so it's kinda biped oriented] and I was like "oh, just kidding, guess we're going home!" but someone had other ideas. 
He just hopped down that bank and kept trucking like it wasn't a big deal.
We crossed that bridge again and this time he had no hesitation. I don't think I probably could have gotten him to stop on it, but hey. For his second bridge crossing, on a NOISY bridge + after losing his junk the first time, I figure just getting across it calmly is something. haha

So that was way fun. 

I noticed that he seems to get calmer the more difficult he finds the trail. Like he'll speed walk, dive off the trail, etc, if he's not being challenged. But the second he's stepping over things, scooting down a steep hill, pulling himself up a steep hill, etc, he gets _SO_ calm and just really buckles down to work.

It's really interesting! For a horse that's never, to any one's knowledge, really done anything, his work ethic is admirable!


We did some cantering today. He has a crazy feeling canter. There's just a LOT of...I guess sort of lift/impulsion behind it. The "valleys and mountains" are really well defined. haha Lacey was a lot more like a rocking chair...his, you really feel like you're going somewhere!
I'm practicing relaxing into it. 

And, so far, he hasn't shown any inclination towards bolting. He gets a little hot at times, but he's very responsive to downward transitions. 
Today we had our longest canter yet - a solid half mile of cantering, and he came out of it really easily. 
He really wanted to canter again...but hey, he didn't bolt and he walked calmly when I demanded it. :lol:

I also tried SMBs on him for the first time - not that I'm gonna make him wear them, but I'm throwing all kinds of things at him that might worry him so he learns about it allll.
And weird story: he behaved completely normally in them. He walked right off with them on like he wasn't even wearing them. And that made me wonder even MORE about his history!!
He's definitely not the kind of horse that would be ok with SMBs totally out of the blue - he's barely ok with the SADDLE PAD! So for hm to not even care about SMBs??
Weird!!

But, in any case, since I was expecting a hilarious reaction, I took a video. And, though he did not give us anything to laugh at, I got to compare a lunging video from May 22nd [only a few days after he came home] to today.

And LOOK AT HIM GO!!
Oh my word. That trot! Look at his nice head carriage! I couldn't love the change more. 






From our ride today:











And Hazel!!


----------



## Chevaux

Ohh, hugs and a nice cotton blend t-shirt to Hazel!


----------



## Wallaby

I gave her a hug for you, Chevaux! 
Luckily the weather has taken a turn for cool [highs of 75*] and cloudy so she's been SO HAPPY. [and not sunburned]

I genuinely think the last time I saw her this happy and eating this well was right after Lacey passed. [silly goat! They did not get along - Lacey was never mean, but Hazel had Atti AND Lacey kinda teaming up to "dominate" her]

In any case, I'm really glad she's feeling better. I need to research how Poodle owners keep their dogs' hair short, but not too short. I really want to find a middle ground and shear her more regularly, but leave her hair an inch or two long. That seems to be the "sweet spot" in terms of hair for protection, but not too much hair that it gets matted or icky.
However, research!


Fabs has discovered that the blackberry bushes in the pasture are covered in ripe berries...and he's becoming quite the berry connoisseur.
That horse LOVES fruit. He'll literally chase a thrown apple, he likes plums, he loves blackberries...no wonder he looks like he has metabolic issues!! :rofl:












And this morning he got to learn about wearing a crupper.
I hadn't thought he needed one, but after our last ride the saddle alternated between 2 inches behind his shoulderblades, to literally ON his neck. The trails we ride are insanely steep so it's no wonder that he needs a crupper and a breastcollar, even with a well-fitted saddle. I had been testing to see if he truly needed the "help" since Lacey needed both, but she was witherless and flat-backed. he has a lot more back "definition" so I wasn't sure he'd actually have slipping issues.

Anyway, he did!
So I pulled out the crupper to get him used to it.

And boy. He was all "what goes WHERE??!"
But he actually settled into it quite well. After the first 10 minutes of butt-tucking and trying to run in towards me for "saving," he calmed right down. He still wasn't totally "asleep" about it, but he was more intrigued than horrified.

I made sure to lunge him down a few hills, all gaits, and got it to engage a few times = "whatever."
We'll see how he feels about it when we're tiptoeing down a mountain, but his reaction was really good - imo.

Before he realized he wasn't dying:




That's one of the things I LOVE about this horse. Yeah, he's 'up' and he thinks A LOT, but if you don't push him past what he can handle, he really starts thinking scary things through instead of losing his junk. He will absolutely lose it if you push him too hard -and it's easy to want to overface him because he comes across as this goofy lug of a horse- but if you just slow down and take things easy, he'll do anything you ask.

I'm so proud of him.

And, in lunging him today, I'm already seeing how he's been really learning while out on the trail. He's started engaging his hindend while going downhill, _thinking_ about where his feet are going, he's really starting to use himself a lot better and in a more relaxed way. He already starting to just naturally carry his head lower [unless he's worried] too!
And that's literally no thanks to me. I just sit there, give him a little guidance/reassurance when he needs it, but I've been just mostly hanging on and letting him do his thing. Maybe that's the best way for horses to learn, I'm not sure. But, in any case, it's REALLY working!


I can't wait to see how he'll be in a few months!! He's gonna be a STAR.
:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Also, randomness:

I'm still getting used to Fabs' trot so it might just be his version of a strung out trot, but the other day I was riding him along a flat straight area of the trail, we were "trotting" and I was posting...but then I suddenly realized that even though I was posting, I really wasn't...?
Like we were flying along, but no matter how hard I tried to post, there was nothing to post to...


But it's really probably just how smooth he naturally is. 
On the other hand though, we went from a definite posting trot up to this _thing_ that I couldn't post. Logic appears to say that the only thing above a posting trot, besides canter/gallop, is more posting trot...


I dunno. It was weird.
Maybe next ride I'll have to set my camera up in that section and get him to do it again while we pass in front of the camera. That should be pretty easy to do and then I guess we'd know!


----------



## Endiku

The fact that he likes it better when things are challenging, and he doesn't like going home...added to him arabian-ness = ENDURANCE HORSE HELLOOOOOO.


----------



## egrogan

I love his blackberry stained nose 

I give Isabel raspberry leaves in her feed because of her mare-itude, and one day we were riding along and she passed trough some raspberry brambles along the trail, and I swear if a horse could do a double-take, she did! It was like the most surprising food to pop up in an unexpected place-she grabbed a big mouthful, prickers and all, and seemed quite pleased with herself.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## tinyliny

if he was trotting really fast, you cant find the down beat to sit to, and it's best to just stand in the stirrups. X is a bit like that, though he's all foot action and no forward movement, just a lot of sewing machine up and down .


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## Wallaby

I KNOW ALLYSON!!!!  :happydance: :happydance: I would LOVE to start that with him. I figure I give him a year to tone up/down [especially since he's never been 'in work" before = gotta give those tendons and such time to get buff], then holla' at dat' endurance, SON.
We have miles of trails nearby, luckily, so at least that part should be easy.
I just need to get a trailer, a vehicle to pull said trailer, and a fitter horse. I think all that could be accomplished in a year if I work at it! 
Finding a job would also be included in that...probably the hardest part of that goal. I have no idea where to even look for a job. Most cashier/store-type jobs around here are looking for someone with previous store experience, with my food allergies I can't work in food...i'm kind of at a loss. I'm sure the right thing will come along though...

But really, no joke, endurance has always been something I wanted to do but I was never in the presence of a horse that could keep up with anything like that. Lacey would try, she wanted to be like that, but it just wasn't where her heart was.
Fabs, however. Man. The kiddo just exudes "athlete."


Haha, that's adorable, egrogan!!  I can just imagine. "wait. Mom comes out here EVERYDAY to pick these for me?!!" :lol:

That's exactly it, Caroline! Like he was going so fast that there wasn't a "down."
And that's also a PERFECT description of his gaits - lots of foot action with not so much movement. It's interesting - that seems to be part of his "this isn't challenging, blah, blah, blah" stuff. The second he starts feeling challenged is also the second he starts moving in a more energy-conserving manner. Is X more square than rectangular? Fabs is very much a square and I sometimes wonder if that body shape is why he moves like he does at times...
Hah, I was about to say "dang, this horse thinks too much"....and then I realized who owns him. The Queen of Overthinking herself. What a perfect match. :rofl:


Fabs is such a chow-hound, this is him running after I rattled the handle of his _empty_ food bucket. There were no food noises, just bucket rattling. :rofl:








:happydance: :happydance:


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## Roperchick

Hahaha I love it so much. NO BRAKES!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Endiku

Hahaha. You can practically see his thought process in that video. "Food? Food?! FOOD I'M COMING LOOK AT HOW MAJESTIC I AM MAMAAAAAA... OH CRAP STOP STOP STOP SLOW DOWN LEGS YOU WILL RUN PAST THE FOOD BLAST IT NO. Uh, no worries ma I meant to circle you! Free lunging right? I'm practically pro here..."

I don't understand how a horse can be so goofy yet 'cool' at the same time. That doesn't HAPPEN with people. Your horse is my idol! LOL


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## Wallaby

He's such a dork!!  I don't understand how he does it either. He's kinda like "that person" who always has a perfect comeback for everything...ok, that's no one. Like an actor on a sitcom where the perfect comeback has been seriously thought out. :rofl:
Teach us your ways, Fabio!!

Speaking of being so Fabio-like that it's ridiculous, today I thought I'd take Mr. Fabs over to the far pasture and take pictures. 
I didn't realize that the white lowers over there would end up overexposing so that was kind of a bust [I'm still learning how to photograph the kid. Turns out gray is super easy compared to other colors] but I got some ok ones.

I walked him over there using a neck rope - in doing everything to him as weirdly as possible, learning how to be led along with just a rope on his neck is a good skill.

Then we got over to the far pasture and he was super thrilled:



Then I realized that my camera was being lame, so I walked back over to the other pasture. Not even really thinking about it [well, I wanted him to run] I happened to walk behind a tree, then call for Fabs.
Fabs came running over to the other pasture, and LOST IT when he realized he couldn't see me. 
The look of shock was absolutely priceless. 

I mean, look at that tense lip!! :rofl:
[I popped out from behind my tree pretty fast and he took one look at me, stopped dead, and started grazing/ignoring me - like he actually hadn't cared one bit. :rofl: :rofl:]




That pony. I think I'll keep him. :lol:


OH! And I ordered him a new bit today. He goes "fine" in the one he has currently [http://www.horse.com/item/western-ss-mullen-copper-roller-d-ring-bit/E008425/] but he really doesn't want to "give" to it. Even the lightest pressure on it causes him to gape his mouth all over the place. My theory is that, perhaps, there isn't enough tongue room in there for him since he seems to have quite a large tongue and that bit is pretttty straight and unyielding = maybe he needs something a little different.
So I got him this: http://www.horse.com/item/westen-ss-dogbone-copper-roller-o-ring-bit/E008340/
He really seems to enjoy the roller in the one he has now [he used to be very "busy-mouthed" but it seems to be less with the roller] so I tried to stick with that theme. Otherwise it's going to be quite different that what he has now. We'll see if he likes it!
Fingers crossed. If not, now we know.


----------



## Cherrij

Can I take Grand and my kitties and doggies and move to live with you? I think they would love being together...


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## Wallaby

PLEASE DO, Cherri!!! 

Not a whole lot to report today.

Well, I guess there's something - I did some work with Fabs today on "leading with his feet." It's basically the first steps towards hobbling - he has to follow the pressure on his legs ["leading"] instead of resisting. 
I really have no plans to ever hobble him, but the training is worthwhile - especially with a horse that's not necessarily comfortable with ropes, etc, near his legs.
Anyway, so we worked on that a bit.
He did really well going one way and I got a little too sure of ourselves, so I switched to the other leg without preparing him as much as I had with the first leg. And that did not fly.

I was proud of him in that he didn't lose his junk toooo much, he was so close - like a baby who's about to start crying and is whimpering all over. He managed to give me a small rope burn on one of my hands when he tried to bolt, but he didn't actually bolt more than a single step and that's HUGE!! 

After that I watched him a lot closer and realized that I had been asking for too many steps without enough praise. So I went back and asked for less while giving him more. He came around pretty well to that approach. 
I worked with him a bit more after we finished that exercise, just doing normal groundwork stuff. 

I think I managed to overload him a bit emotionally, but I didn't want to stop too close to his blow up. And really, being pushed a little is good. Anyway, he got a treat afterwards for his good work. :lol:

Win some lose some, I guess!
And we did end on a good note with both legs - he figured out what I wanted with the leg he blew up on, and we stopped. So it was salvageable. 

When I showed up, Atti was laying on the tarp. It's literally my favorite thing - he knows Fabs doesn't love the tarp, so he lays on the tarp because Fabs won't make him get off. :rofl: :rofl:



And later I saw a hilarious squirrel:



"Wazz up!!!"







OH!! And I think I finally found something to have made with some of Lacey's tail hair.
I think I'm going to have a fancier bracelet made later on, but I'd love to have something I can just wear regularly.

So I think I'm gonna get this, with turquoise [blue] inner leather and her tail hair. 
You think I should get lighter or darker leather?
I'm kinda leaning towards the lighter leather, like the sample piece...

https://www.etsy.com/listing/199107731/custom-handmade-leather-horsehair?ref=favs_view_1


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## Roperchick

I love Atti hahahahaha


I vote for the lighter leather
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Chevaux

Good squirrel photos! 

I think the bracelet is an excellent idea (I like the leather colour as shown btw) -- do you send the hair to them and they put it in or will you be able to do that yourself?


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## gunslinger

I love the bracelet idea.....


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## SoldOnGaited

LOL I love that photo of Atti on the tarp. He looks like he's trying to compete with Fabs for most *fabulous* beast haha.

I vote lighter leather too. That's a really nice looking bracelet!


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## Wallaby

I sent Lacey's hair off for the bracelet today. I really didn't think I would feel so nervous about it but man, oh man. It BETTER not get lost! I put an excessive number of stamps on it so it should make it there ok. 
I also didn't send all the hair I have, just probably half of it.

The girl-lady, who owns the shop and makes things, builds each bracelet around sent-in hair.
I suppose she also has a collection of miscellaneous hair for people who just want the bracelet, but yeah.

She seems really nice. I had to ask her a number of questions about things [which color is which, etc] and she was super helpful which made me extra happy - when you have to spend money, it's nice to know your money is going towards a lovely human being. 
Plus, it puts my mind kind of at ease since she'll be working on something precious to me.

And I chose "dark brown" leather which is the color that's shown.  Dark brown with brown stitching, and blue/turquoise padding.
She said it'll take about a week, after she receives the hair, for it to be done - I sent the hair today so hopefully it'll arrive on Saturday/Monday...I'm not really sure how long it takes a letter to go from Oregon to West Virginia...probably not all that long, right?

Fingers crossed!

I showed the picture to Gman and he is SO excited about it. haha He's such a nice human. 


AH! I feel so nervous about having sent that hair. It feels like such a silly thing to be nervous about, but I guess it is basically _her_ that I'm sending so I guess it's reasonable.


Speaking of Lacey, on Monday I finally got my guts up to place her grave marker. I hadn't yet because it just felt so final. But I finally did it. And I feel somehow better. It was hard to do, but it feels right.


----------



## tinyliny

that bracelet will be beautiful. maybe, with the rest, you can make a browband for Fabs. same colors, will match your wrist.


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## egrogan

tinyliny said:


> that bracelet will be beautiful. maybe, with the rest, you can make a browband for Fabs. same colors, will match your wrist.


LOVE this idea!


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## gunslinger

I think I know how you feel....my neighbors horse Red died a year or so ago and he want's something made from his tail hair buts afraid to send it off.

I'm really interested on how this turns out.


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## Roperchick

I've been hoarding Hawkeye's hair for what 7? Years....lol completely understandable
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## jcraig10

love that squirrel...so funny!

sidenote: when I was younger a squirrel ran up to my mom while she was outside and practically up her leg. It was a baby. She brought it home and we kept it in a cage and fed it a bottle. We probably had it for a few weeks until it get stronger and then let him go. We named him Rocky. 

hope you love your bracelet


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## amp23

I love that bracelet! I can't wait to see your finished product, I may want to order one of my own!


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## Wallaby

Ok, well we can all breathe a small sigh of relief - Lacey's hair arrived arrived in the bracelet-lady's mailbox today!  
She said she'd get started on the bracelet today - fingers crossed. She's going to clean Lacey's hair and all for me so that might add some time...I dunno. We'll see!
I'm so excited for it!

That's a great idea about the browband, Caroline!! We'll see. My other plan for the hair is to have a more delicate bracelet made, with silver and turquoise beads, to wear with an heirloom silver+turquoise cuff I inherited from my grandma [not the one who died recently, the one who died when I was in 8th-ish grade and who I was super close to] - the thought would be to wear them together at my wedding if I end up married...but who knows. 
But I do have a chunk of Lacey's mane that could probably be made into a browband...hmm, good thinking!

Haha, I love that story, Julia!! I want a baby squirrel! haha However, I would have the hardest time letting it go again...I don't think I'd cut it as a wildlife rehabilitator. :lol:

Amp, yes!! I will be sure to share all my thoughts. The lady making it doesn't have many reviews so I wonder how many she's selling... It's such a great idea [what horse person seriously wants to wear delicate jewelry?? :lol: I guess some people, but it can't be many], I feel like she should sell more!! :lol:


No really big news for today. 
I finalllly got done housesitting yesterday, then I went to the zoo with a school friend = not a lot got done-done.
Today I decided that I was going to give Fabs a bath. His mane was getting all icky-ish and I've given him literally 1 bath this entire summer. :lol: He's been rinsed off after nearly every ride, but not bathed.
So he got a bath! Previously I hadn't been tying him while doing these water things to him since he was jumpy enough about the water that I didn't want anything[one] to die. 

Today, however, I decided that I was going to "tie" him. I didn't realllly tie him solid [I tied a piece of baling twine to the fence tightly, then squeezed the lead rope between the twine and fence] but he thought he was tied solid! [even though I was pretty sure he'd be fine, we realllly don't need him taking out a fence or something to show that he's not... :rofl:] And he did fabulously. He did spook a few times [he still thinks the hose dragging on the ground is going to eat him] but he showed no indication of pulling back.
Of course, I untied him to spray his face and he actually seems to be getting the hang out that! I don't spray him hard in the face - I turn the hose to "mist" and use that, but before we started working on that he would lose his junkkkk over it. As it was, he didn't "love it" but he did start flapping his lips around at the water - like he wanted to play. 

And man, that mane of his takes a LOT to get clean. It is so thick, I don't even understanddddd. I missed a few spots getting conditioner out, but conditioner can't really hurt, right?? :lol:
I really wanted to leave his mane down and enjoy it for a day, but it's 95* out right now and was already 80* by the time we were finishing up so big no on that.  I'm a little looking forward for it to be cool so he can have his mane down all the time! [I put it up because he seems prone to fungal-y stuff and, when I met him last summer, he had a terrrrrible fungal thing going on under that mane from sweat+heat = let's just avoid that whole scenario and put that mane up]

He seemed really mentally exhausted by the end of the whole bathing scenario so I would say that that's probably great. Hopefully it means that he was learning all kinds of stuff. 


ALSO! His new bit came today! I might ride him for a few minutes this evening to see how he likes it. 
It's a bit thicker than I anticipated but oh well. It's probably thinner than his current bit though so I shouldn't complain too much. :lol: And it does have the double-joint that I wanted to try...hopefully he likes it!

Speaking of getting ready for SO MANY long rides, I pulled my favorite breast collar out and am in the process of cleaning it currently. It had gotten a little moldy [leather tack molds 100% of the time out here. It's awfullll] so I had to de-mold it with ACV, then I oiled it, and now I'm waiting for the oil to dry/etc. The next/final step [hopefully this evening] is cleaning it. I love that thing. I can't wait to start using it again!!

Look at this chubby monster after his bath. Adorable.



And last night! How does he manage to pull off DUST?! That seems 100% impossible, aside from mustangs on the range or something..




Also, a friend of mine suggested that he might be Aladdin-bred [just for funnsies for anyone who cares about Arabian bloodlines...haha] and OH MY GOSH. The faces on those horses, the facial expressions, the body type, the eyes..it's all SO Fabs! There was one that, for a split second, I was actually pretty sure was Fabs..until I realized that it was a mare. :lol: :lol:

:happydance:


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## SueC

You already know this anyway, but I just have to say what a beautiful horse you have there!


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## Wallaby

Aw, thanks Sue! 

He's also kind of a huge dork... haha Like this - he still hasn't reallly mastered running downhill so he just kind of crosses his fingers and "falls" down the hill :rofl:
"guys, I'm concentrating SO HARD"










:rofl: :rofl:


Also, I rode him a tad this evening in the new bit and I LOVE IT!! He did SO well. So responsive and..."in my hands" I guess? Like instead of being heavy in my hands like usual, he was there for me. It was great!

It was really interesting, actually. I threw the saddle on and figured we could have our second crupper experience/first ride with a crupper [I decided that if I take it off every time we don't really need it -ie, in the pasture- he won't learn as quickly that it's not a big deal. He'll figure it out faster if the crupper just becomes "part" of the saddle] and his face/neck felt SO free while his back/rear felt tight.

Usually, in the past, it's the exact opposite of that - he's tight in his neck and loose in his body...or else, just tight everywhere.
So I guess I like that shift?
I mean, we can figure that, as he becomes accustomed to the crupper, he'll relax again. I think probably our first trail ride in it will help - so far we've only done pasture stuff with it on and he tends to over-focus on little things in the pasture [he finds it boring, I think]. On the trail, his mind is more engaged so he should, hopefully, stop thinking about the weird thing under his tail so much. :lol:

He's still reacting to the crupper quite well though. I'm overall quite impressed with the general calmness he has towards it. He did tuck his butt twice today while I was putting it on, and the stiffness through his back, but otherwise he didn't react nearly as much to it as he had last time.


ANYWAY. The bit was a major success! :happydance:


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## Wallaby

We went for a ride today!!

Ugh, the first half was terrrrrrible. Like *terrible*. 
But the second half was really great!!

First half, I don't know what got into him - he was acting all herdbound and snorty when we left home, then we came across a little mini Aussie dog who basically annoyed the living snot out of Fabs [at the therapy place, Former-Boss-Lady has a little terrier-thing that likes to hang off the horses tails. "Fabio is the ONLY one who doesn't like it!"...anyway, he has good reason to dislike little dogs] and whose owner just thought it was the funnnniest so she didn't do anything - he took it really well so I figured that it was good experience for him [if he had been losing his junk, I would have said something to the owner].
THEN there were a bunch of teenaged workers on the trail who decided that staying on the trail instead of moving off was ideal. So Fabs and I walked through this tiny little space full of teenagers and their "scary' equipment. Again though, he took it pretty well.

I think the thing that broke the camel's back, so to speak, was the people hidden in the forest tromping around and breaking sticks. He could hear them but couldn't see them, and he losttttt it. He was trot-walking all the way, throwing his head, stopping wasn't a thing...UGH. I ended up pretty much giving up fighting with him, his brain was gone and he was mored deep in "I'M IN DANGER! SO MUCH DANGER."-land. 
So I just sat there and tried to be calm myself and keep him at a trot-walk.
To his benefit, he did not ever actually bolt through anything. He desperately wanted to, but he did not.

Finally we got to the end of that trail and we got to one that is REALLY steep uphill. 
There, depending on your interpretation, he did end up bolting. I let him trot and two seconds later he was cantering. He wasn't really keen on listening to me at that point and, I mean, of all the fortuitous things to do - bolting UP a really steep hill.. :rofl:
So I just went with it, we cantered all the way up that hill at a breakneck pace and he was beggggggng to stop by the time we reached nearly the top. So I kept him going a stride or two more than he wanted, had him walk a few steps, had him pick up a canter the rest of the way up, then let him walk.

My theory [haha I have lots of theories, alllll the time] is that, in keeping with his non-understanding of leg cues, he only understands verbal gait commands. SO, when I squeeze him to trot and he's already worked up, he goes directly to canter because that's what sounds good. He doesn't understand that trot has one cue and canter has another.
This all goes back to some of the "training" he received as a therapy horse - he was really touchy on his sides [BECAUSE HE HAD ULCERS!!!] and would bite/kick/bolt from any/all leg pressure. So Former-Boss-Lady would have one teenage volunteer or the other hop on his back and basically goose him in the sides until he stopped reacting negatively. It was just a matter of someone doing something they didn't rally understand the implications of. He needed to learn that leg contact isn't bad, sometimes it communicates things, but it overall isn't bad...and they just taught him to ignore it completely.

Anyway, I don't blame him for misunderstanding and I'm glad I got the chance to work through a bolt with him!

I really wish I had access to a real arena/a flat place so I could really school his trot/canter transitions...one day!

After said canter-bolt, HE DID SO WELL. He took the logs/drops like an old pro, didn't even flinch at the bridge, nailed it all. And walked so calmly. 

I guess win some, lose some. No big deal.



When we got home, he was soaked in sweat so, of course, I hosed him off. I forgot to put the fancy sprayer on the hose though so I had to stick my thumb in the hose and spray his face that way [he had sweat lines from his EYES]...he WAS NOT AMUSED.

And it was SO. SO. FUNNY.



Even after I had let him go and walked away, he stayed standing there all SO MAD about the whole thing.
Look at how braced those front legs are!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Someone call the drama police!



He is such a funny, sassy, horse. The bestttt.

:happydance: :happydance:


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## Roperchick

That face. Just. Ha. Gotta be the most expressive gelding EVER.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## gunslinger

Well Wallaby.....experience is what you get.....right after you need it.....:wink:

Wet saddle blankets and lots of them....and Fabs....will....be....fabulous. 

Have fun, and enjoy the moment....


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## Chevaux

There's something about you Wallaby, in the very best way, that lets all of your animals develop and express their characters to the max :lol:


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## SueC

Wallaby said:


> ....Finally we got to the end of that trail and we got to one that is REALLY steep uphill. There, depending on your interpretation, he did end up bolting. I let him trot and two seconds later he was cantering. He wasn't really keen on listening to me at that point and, I mean, of all the fortuitous things to do - bolting UP a really steep hill.. :rofl:
> So I just went with it, we cantered all the way up that hill at a breakneck pace and he was beggggggng to stop by the time we reached nearly the top. So I kept him going a stride or two more than he wanted, had him walk a few steps, had him pick up a canter the rest of the way up, then let him walk.


:rofl:

Very good! 

From a biomechanical perspective, the horse will naturally want to change from a trot into a canter going up really steep hills, because it is the most efficient gait for that purpose.

My mare always threw herself up steep hills in endurance training and riding, and on general trails. When she was old and I wanted her to take it easy, I got off her and walked next to her to convince her to amble up in a relaxed manner - not what an Arabian longing for a good leg stretch wants to do without persuasive techniques such as singing lullabies! ;-)

But Arabian or not, all horses I have ridden have preferred to canter up steep hills, rather than trot, as biomechanics would predict!

Was it a bolt or not a bolt? Well, if it's OK with you that he runs fast up a hill, then it's not! ;-)

:rofl:

Something else: That is seriously beautiful country you were riding through. Love the vegetation!


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## Wallaby

Right, Christy?!! I was talking to the hoof trimmer yesterday, telling her about his dramatics, and she was all "well, you're a mare person, right?" and I really had nothing to say to that because it's all kinds of true. Guess I found the one mareish gelding! Yes please!! :rofl:

Isn't that the truth, Gunslinger!!

Hahaha thanks Chevaux! :lol: :hug: I love that!

True, Sue! I used to let Lacey run up hills too.  However, Fabs is young and strong and [I'm not sure if this is really true-true, but it seems maybe accurate] I've heard that -in terms of building muscle- walking up hills is better than going faster...so the boy in fitness camp gets to do it the hard way. :lol:
One day though, when he's a bit more experienced/"broke", we'll do it the easy way. 
Plus, his canter is nutssssss. I'm still trying to get used to it. It's extremely "uphill" as a gait, then add an actual steep hill...you spend half the ride feeling like you're seconds away from popping out the back of the saddle! :rofl: I need to remember to relax into it - I think that'll be the biggest help.

And thanks about the scenery! We're really lucky up here in the PNW - we have something called "coniferous rainforest" [which is what that is]. It's basically because we get enough rain that layers of forest develop, etc etc. It's one of my favorite things ever!1 


So many things!!
First, I've ridden Fabs each day this week. My goal is to ride everyday for the entirety of September - except Sundays since I'm always crazy busy on Sunday. We started off the beginning of the week with two rides in the pasture based on Friday's "bad" ride - I wanted to work on getting him bending well again [there's not a lot of bending out on the trail...some, but not a huge amount] and I wanted to remind him that stop does mean stop, etc.
So we did that.
I noticed on Monday that he seems to have lost quite a bit of weight [YAY!] so the saddle was back to really not fitting - way too wide. Luckily, it fits ok if I use a thicker western pad with it. Of course, using a western pad isn't "right" with an Aussie saddle..but whatever, it works and he's comfortable.
Yesterday I threw the bareback pad on him and rode him around a bit. He did GREAT. On Monday he was really stiff and resistant to everything [not sure if that was due to the saddle - I noticed the issues while riding] but we kind of worked through it then. And then he did really a lot better yesterday.

THEN, today we went on a trail ride!
He did GREAT this time.
Still a little tooooo excited about being out, but hey, better than fighting to go home!!
He did decide to go charging off the trail into a ravine when I asked him to turn and he _happened_ to misinterpret that to mean "please go off-roading!!' but we survived.

From today:






And then SO MANY PICTURES:

On Sunday my extended family came over. They're all "city people" so they loveeee visiting the animals when they're over. And, of course, they wanted to talk to the goats...and the goats wanted to talk to me:



"GUYS!! I'm cominggggg!"



"uh oh, where am I going?"



*TA-DA*



"Hurp-derp..."





And Hazel, since she has been underrepresented lately...



"wait, you not _only_ taking pictures of me??! RUDE."






AND THE BRACELET IS ARRIVING TOMORROW!!! Get stoked, everybody. I've seen a bad picture of it and it looks great despite the picture - I can't wait to really see it!!

:happydance:


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## egrogan

Wallaby said:


> [I'm not sure if this is really true-true, but it seems maybe accurate] I've heard that -in terms of building muscle- walking up hills is better than going faster...so the boy in fitness camp gets to do it the hard way. :lol:


Yep, I've always heard this too. I've noticed that as Izzy has gotten more fit this summer, she is now willing to walk up the big hill from the pasture back to the barn, rather than tippy-toe-trot up it, which I take as a good sign.

That hill is terrifying when it's covered in packed down snow-ice in the winter, but in the summer, I appreciate it a lot more!

Love the pictures- the last one of him is very flattering to his figure :wink:


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## Roperchick

so many pictures. all the pictures. ha

love it

(super stoked to see the bracelet!!!!!)


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## Wallaby

IT'S HERE!!!



I love it!

So far my only "complaint" is that the size I got ["small" - for 6 1/2 inch wrists and under, since I have tiny wrists] is tighttt. My wrists, when I measured, were only about 6 inches around so dunno where that half inch went...I'm figuring though that, since it's real leather, it might stretch out a bit with wear. I guess we'll see!
The other thing is that the hair braid isn't really secured to the bracelet except for at the ends of the bracelet. It being wrapped around your wrist holds the braid down well and it isn't an issue, but I thought it was going to be secured more than that.
I might super-glue the braid down in a spot or two, if it becomes an issue in the future...

Otherwise I like it a lot! The leather is soft and high quality, the workmanship is amazing. I'm really pleased!


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## Roperchick

This new mobile site is very confusing lol

Any who. It looks awesome! I'm sure it'll stretch out some as you wear it.


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## jcraig10

Very pretty  and I was going to same the same thing Roper...it will stretch out with more wear.


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## gunslinger

Quite a nice bracelet....very pretty...


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## Wallaby

Thanks you guys!! I'm super happy with it. I've worn it everyday [4 days] and so far it's held up well to everything - getting wet, sweaty, trail rides, etc.  
I did have to put a bit of clear nail polish on the metal snap that touches my arm because I'm really sensitive to metal and whatever the metal is was making my arm burn...now, plus nail polish, it's totally fine - no more burning.

I guess I'll start with updating about Saturday and move on from there. This weekend was crazy and great!!

So, on Saturday, the hosts at church had a quarterly "meeting" - if you recall that time I shot a gun for the first time: Host Quarterly "Meeting."
This time, in keeping with the theme, I guess, WE WENT IN A HELICOPTER.

IT WAS THE BEST THING. Oh my word, you guys. Can I live in a helicopter?? I don't even know.
But it was really the best.
I had never been in a helicopter or an airplane or any other flying object before, so it was kinda a toss up as to whether I'd like it. It was one of those things I felt like I would probably like since I don't know...but I've always dreamt that it would be great to fly.
AND IT SO WAS.



Then, Sunday happened.
I was still super stoked from RIDING IN A HELICOPTER so the day was looking super up. 

Of course, Fabs gave himself a weird zit-thing on his lip/nose, then totally overreacted to it and ripped it off, leaving a big ol' bloody spot..and, of course, this all made his nose all swollen. THIS HORSE.

[I'll leave out the bloody spot picture cuz that's just gross]



So I'm hot compressing it and putting ointment on it, it should be ok I think...we'll see!

THEN I went to church. Happily greeting people, etc, and guess who should walk in the door?! 
Ok, back up, Gman got a new job so he isn't working with the kids at church anymore and, therefore, isn't there when I'm there = no time to talk = much sadness on all fronts = BOOO. So I haven't seen him in a few weeks and it's really weird+sad since we've seen each other once a week for the last year and we talk everyday [ie, send each other funny links - so not really talking-talking, but you know].

Anyway, back to the story:
Who should come walking up the stairs? GMAN.  I had no idea he was going to show up, he totally surprised me! 
So we got to talk for probably 15 minutes and it still totally wasn't long enough, but it was really great. 
He was doing some kind of acting in a video for the church so he wasn't staying through the service, but he wanted to make sure we got to talk some. 

And he gave me a really good coupon to my favorite fabric store as "Part 1 of [my] birthday present".... :shock: 
Part 1?? I ACCEPT. 
It doesn't even really matter what the rest of it even is, thoughtful gifts are my favorite. And he's a really thoughtful guy so I know I'm going to love it. 
So that was kind of the greatest!

THEN, -oh, gotta back track again,- on Saturday a friend asked if she could trailer her gelding up to my house/the pasture and go riding with Fabs and I. Of course I said sure, but Saturday was so busy for me that we decided on today as a better option.
SO. Today they came and rode with Fabs and I!
Her horse is kind of a big time dressage horse around here [I think she was doing 3rd level last summer??] but she does a lot of cross training with him, so he's a really solid trail horse as well. And, for the sake of information, he's a chestnut Paint. 

1. Fabs was AMAZING. He was so so happy about having a horsey companion, but he wasn't distracted at all. He stayed focused on me, even though the other horse was there. He wasn't grumpy with the other horse [Mike, hahaha] at all, even when Mike got close to him, but he also wasn't obsessed. 
We took my friend on quite the ride and poor Mike was pooooped by the end of the ride. 
And, of course, Fabs had about as much energy coming home as he did heading out. :rofl: ARABS. He was peppily walking along, head held high, while Mike was walking slowlyyy with his head down...it was hysterical.

2. The other thing I was so stoked about was that, after the ride, I kinda let Fabs sniff Mike [I hadn't before the ride just because I wasn't sure how he'd react and I figured there was no need to make Mr. Fabs more excited] and he was sooo happy. At one point they started licking each other which was hilariously weird. Anyway, so they decided they were good good friends...and then it was time to separate them.

And did either of them make a peep complaining about being separated? No! They parted ways sadly, but politely. 

SUCH A GOOD HORSE!

Anyway, so this friend and I are gonna make a point of trying to ride together more when she's home from school [she's my age - we actually went to grade school together, but she worked instead of college initially] since our boys were so good together!
We already get along super well - she's someone who I can generally 100% agree with her horse training ideas/horse philosophy. Plus, she actually did a lot of Fabs' initial re-training a year or two ago, after he was rescued, so there's a lot of common bond "stuff" there. 

So I'm really excited about that! It might have to wait until next summer, but it'll still be good!

And here's Fabs loving..or torturing...his new BFF Michael:

"Um, so, he's licking my chest right now?? Um, get him off? Plz?"



Awww, look at those soft happy faces. <3



:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Small update: so all that "swelling" near Fabio's owie? 
It's all pus under the skin. Yay. NOT.
I tried squeezing it cuz I thought I saw a little pus, and pus went everywhere. Then, each time I squeezed the swelling, MORE pus came out.

So I put a call into the vet and I should be hearing from them tomorrow.

Joy.

But poor Fabs!!!! That can't feel fabulous. And I had wanted to get him on the books at the vets office anyway...I guess he did too?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## egrogan

Does this mean you need to think about a pasture buddy for Fabs? 

They were really cute together!


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## tinyliny

I love popping zits! isn't that awful? but it's true.


----------



## SueC

I am not generally squeamish, but the worst thing I ever saw was a rabbit abscess. Someone's pet rabbit, and a vet squeezed it out. It was the colour and consistency of toothpaste and there was so much of it, little curls of solid pus in a neverending stream. And it stank. I never looked at toothpaste the same way again, and had to buy red or blue gels for a while after that episode! Haha...


----------



## jcraig10

Very nice that you got to ride with someone! It does get boring riding alone after awhile. Looks like Fabs and Mikey got along very well


----------



## gunslinger

I guess I'm a little partial to bald face horses as my Miss Lacy is a bald face....

Glad fabs and Mike got along well. Is Mike by himself too?


----------



## tinyliny

SueC said:


> I am not generally squeamish, but the worst thing I ever saw was a rabbit abscess. Someone's pet rabbit, and a vet squeezed it out. It was the colour and consistency of toothpaste and there was so much of it, little curls of solid pus in a neverending stream. And it stank. I never looked at toothpaste the same way again, and had to buy red or blue gels for a while after that episode! Haha...



thanks for that precious and long-lasting image.


----------



## Wallaby

Egrogan, haha NO. I wish though...but no. I barely have the facilities for one horse and his stall is seconds from literally falling down. So no pasture buddies, even though it would be nice. :wink:
It was really funny - Mike is a honest to goodness stock horse [Paint] but Fabs, in all his fancy Arab-ness, was all kind of stockier than Mike. He made Mike look delicate... :rofl: My chunky monkey! haha

Caroline: EW. But I still like you. :wink: :hug:

Sue, that is HORRIFYING. And such a vivid description, good thing I'm not eating lunch! hahaha

Agreed, Julia! And I think it was good for Fabs too, mixing up his routine and all.

Gunslinger, nah, Mike lives at a boarding barn my friend[his owner]'s family runs. 



Numerous things. I will start from last night for, hopefully, clarity:

Last night, right before the evening feeding, a very exciting [for me] thing happened!
So, I caught Fabio with a rope around his neck and 'dragged' him to a corner of the pasture where I knew he'd run when I called for him. My goal was to get a running shot because, let's be real, those are kind of my favorite. 

He didn't run like I wanted the first time, so I dragged him back and called him again.

Then again.

Then he decided he didn't want to be caught anymore and, since he already has a tendency to be hard to catch [I've never had any _real_ issue, but I've seen it with others], I sent him off and kept driving him off.

THEN. Instead of just hightailing it away [since we were in the big pasture - plenty of room for him to disengage with me], he instead started freelunging around me. 
He kept a perfect circle and after a bit [I was like "ok, hello pictures!" and kept urging him on a bit], actually started putting his head down and licking and chewing, like he wanted to "join up."
That was totally out of left field for me, but I love it! He actually wanted to be with me, instead of just disengaging from the world! One of his main tricks is to just tune everything out ["they can't bother me if I ignore them"] so this was kind of hugeeee. AH!
Still excited. 

Of course, I always knew from nearly the second I met him that he had chosen me..but it's nice to hear it again. :lol: It makes me feel like I'm on the right track, especially since he did it so spontaneously..

So, of course, pictures.
The lighting was kind of weirdly bad, but I still kind of like these. They feel like magic, like the blur mirrors the surreal-ness of it...





And, of course, gotta love Giraffe-Horse...







I especially wish this one was more in focus...



And, of course, though you don't see him in most of these photos, Atti was hard at work - "helping"..... :lol:



Oh my gosh, Fabs, DON'T DO THAT TO YOUR BACK.





In other news, the vet came out today and "fixed" Fabs' abscess. She got all the gunk out of it and poked around, trying to find any foreign matter [ultimately didn't find anything].

Luckily she didn't think it was bad enough to need antibiotics, so we went antibiotic-less for now. So I'm hot compressing it twice a day and putting Vetericyn on it twice a day, and it should be looking a lot better by Saturday. If it isn't or if I see more pus, I'm supposed to call.

Hopefully that took care of it - if it hasn't, there's talk of actually knocking him out and laying him down to look at it because he [justifiably so] wasn't thrilled with having his face messed with like that. And, since it is on his face, she felt that half-sedating him would likely just lead to a mad "drunk" horse, vs one she could actually work on.
Honestly though, he did his best and the vet was impressed with his good behavior. It was just hard for him, which made it hard on the vet and I.

Poor baby!

He's such a sweetie, he even still wanted to be friends with the vet after she was done. <3 <3


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## SueC

tinyliny said:


> thanks for that precious and long-lasting image.


*bows low* 

Always a pleasure! ;-)

PS: At least you guys only had the verbal description. I'll not get rid of the vivid multisensory memory till my dying day, I'm sure!


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## gunslinger

SueC said:


> *bows low*
> 
> Always a pleasure! ;-)
> 
> PS: At least you guys only had the verbal description. I'll not get rid of the vivid multisensory memory till my dying day, I'm sure!


Wow, that kind of reminds me of some of the Chinese food they served while working in the oil fields......


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## Wallaby

Oh my gosh, you guysss! haha "vivid multisensory memory" = noooo! :rofl: This description just gets better and better, Sue! 



So many little things, guys!
Some good, some not so good...

The not so good was yesterday evening: during the evening cleaning of the abscess, Fabs lostttt it. He reared up repeatedly and it was actually really scary.
Mostly, he ended up feeling cornered by me, and he couldn't handle the pressure. It wasn't malicious "I'm GOING to hurt you intentionally" rearing, it was "I'm so so scared, I might accidentally hurt you" rearing.
He was throwing his head up while I was trying to lay a wet+warm rag over the spot on his nose [it's right between his right nostril and the right corner of his mouth], so I brightly thought I would put one of my feet on the lead rope [since he ground ties well, the lead rope generally stays on the ground when we're just doing stuff] to limit how much his head could go up, then wrap my arm around his nose to keep it down.

And, of course, that backfired a lot. The second he put his head up and realized that the lead rope was holding his down, he LOST IT. And went up, then went up again, and again. By that point I had gotten out of the way and had grabbed the lead rope, the I sent him off in a little circle around me to "get his head back" and let him stand for a second before starting back in with the rag on his nose.
This time though I used a different approach, instead of just heading for the "owie" with the rag, I started with it closer to his eye and wiped down to the spot, then stuck with the spot. That seemed to be much easier and less scary for him.

Ugh. I hate it when that sort of thing happens, In daily life, he absolutely never thinks about rearing. I could tie him all day, I think, and he'd be fine.
Just there are these moments when I get going a little too fast and don't realize until it's a million seconds too late. 

I hope that these times will become farther and farther away as he understands the world better...
I mean, he reared that "first" time at the beginning of the summer when the lead rope got behind his head and now, without any specific work on that, he doesn't even care when/if that happens.
I get the impression that, at some point in his life, that rearing probably helped him avoid some scary things.. Poor baby. 

Anyway, I felt a lot like a failure yesterday. I, of course, didn't really fail in the grand scheme of things..but still. It's no fun to accidentally cause animals, especially ones you love, so much fear that they just can't even handle it. 


Today, however, was brighter!
I wanted to go ride in the woods, but it was so windy today that we'd probably have died from a falling branch...so we were "stuck" in the pasture.

I lunged him a little prior to getting on because he had been spooking at every little thing earlier in the day. It was really interesting, actually: he had been acting like a spooky nutcase, right up to when I brought the saddle out. He saw the saddle and, instead of shying away like he usually does, he immediately just relaxed.

Then -he's still getting used to the crupper so he usually clamps his tail about it- he DIDN'T clamp his tail about the crupper and he didn't try to bite the girth as I girthed him up.

I lunged him a little bit before getting on, just to be sure, and he was great.

Then I got on and HE WAS WONDERFUL. It was like something finally clicked and he "gets it" now. I felt the very beginnings of "broke" AND I'M SO EXCITED!
Of course, he's still all kinds of green in a lot a lot of ways [still working on those leg cues and such, etc] but he felt so much more finished than he did just last Saturday in the pasture.

AH! I'm so excited! I knew it would come eventually, but it's been 4 months of gently pushing him and trying to find the sweet spot where he's still learning, before he gets overwhelmed! And it was starting to feel a little "will it EVER happen?" 
Maybe it'll happen after all! :happydance::wink:

And cleaning his nose off was highly uneventful today. Nowhere NEAR the dramatics of yesterday. He still doesn't like it right at first, but he settles in and I think the warm towel probably feels nice after a bit.


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## tinyliny

you have a wonderful natural sense of observation and imagination that leads you to intuitively approach your horse in creative ,and effective ways. you could be a really good trainer.


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## SueC

Curious: What do you mean, _could_ be? She's already training animals. Do you mean _paid_ trainer? I mean, I agree with you, but people don't need to be paid to do it to be trainers. Or maybe you mean trainer of people around horses? Maybe your US terminology is different. Here, _trainers_ work with horses / elephants / giraffes / guinea pigs / stick insects / slime moulds / whatever, and _riding instructors_ work with monkeys learning to ride. ;-)

*Gunslinger*: Do you have any particulars of that food? I am now highly curious...

*Emily*: Haha!  Lovely photos as usual, and nice to hear your progress. Who do you think is learning more from your relationship - Fabio or yourself?


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## gunslinger

SueC said:


> *Gunslinger*: Do you have any particulars of that food? I am now highly curious...


Oh my.....Sea slugs for one....jelly fish is another.....honestly there were things there we couldn't identify.....

Imagine nine foreigners....ausies, brits, indians, and us.....sitting around a table, making every animal sound they could think of.....and the Chinese cook saying......"no, I don't know how to say in english"......

As an ex patriot, living on the Chinese economy, while, at times, the food was very good, most of the time, the food was quite bad....and us foreigners often complained about it.....to the surprise of the locals....as we were eating far better food than they were.....so they didn't understand what we were complaining about....

Frankly, they ate anything that didn't eat them first....and for anyone who hasn't traveled in asia....the aroma's encountered on the streets are often putrid.


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## SueC

Hmmm Gunslinger, I'm a bit partial to Asian food myself, but what we get here is based on lamb, beef, pork, seafood, vegetarian. A good Thai Beef Salad can almost waken the dead, ditto the lovely coconut-based soups... And where would we be without delicious stir fries, and Lamb Korma, etc etc..

I shall now have to remind everybody of what some of our familiar beloved Western food items really are: E.g. apples, pears, cherries are matured plant ovaries. Wheat flour is made from finely ground wheat embryos and their endosperm (food supply). Honey is regurgitated, evaporated flower nectar. Cheese is a bacterially fermented product made from mammary gland secretions. Alcohol is the metabolic waste product of yeast and other anaerobic organisms. Other than the alcohol, they're all yummy!


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## gunslinger

SueC said:


> Hmmm Gunslinger, I'm a bit partial to Asian food myself, but what we get here is based on lamb, beef, pork, seafood, vegetarian. A good Thai Beef Salad can almost waken the dead, ditto the lovely coconut-based soups... And where would we be without delicious stir fries, and Lamb Korma, etc etc..


Well Sue, I ate some of the best Chinese meals there as well....the problem was what we ate every day was somewhat different than what we'd get in a US Chinese food restaurant.


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## SueC

Did you know that scientists think that jellyfish will one day become a staple food for the whole world because of continued human population growth requiring the adoption of such ubiquitous animals after the sea has been fished out of our currently acceptable seafood etc? I think it's prawns that used to be considered bait instead of food, a while back, too. And back in the 1990s our local Department of Agriculture published several treatises on raising earthworms for culinary use - helpful recipes included... never did try, the "Wormy Spaghetti" episode in Roald Dahl's _The Twits_ was close enough for me! 

I heard cricket eating is becoming serious business in some places now, and people are even making high-energy cricket bars, like the nut bars.

Greetings from the land of the Witchetty Grub - highly prized raw and lightly grilled by our native Australians. Bon appetit! ;-)











Perhaps slightly more appetising, a honey pot ant, which is now also on the dessert list in several fine dining restaurants featuring traditional Australian foods, where I've seen them presented on ice cream or mascarpone:


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## gunslinger

Well we ate bumble bees, scorpions, and a lot of grasshoppers. Jelly fish had a heavy, oily fishy taste. Sea slugs to. Never could learn to eat them without spitting them out.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

WELL. Now that we've learned the ins and outs of edible insects, etc :wink:. back to our regular scheduled programming!

But just to add on my own two cents, Asian food is my favoriteeeeeeee. Unfortunately, because I'm allergic to gluten/wheat [not sure which, I might have Celiacs...it doesn't really matter, all I know is I feel better if I avoid that stuff! haha] most of it is off limits to me.
I used to love Japanese tempura, and SOY SAUCE. Luckily there's a GF form of soy sauce that I can eat...but not a lot of food to eat it on. :lol: I do make my own kind of teriyaki that's pretty good, but I wish I could have other things...
Eel is one of my favorites! 

Thanks Caroline.  I appreciate that!

Sue, I don't even know who's learning more!! We're both learning a ton, just in different ways. I'm learning a lot about his limits. 
Lacey, I think due to her age and life experience, had a really high limit. There were a few things she just *didn't* do and they were things that never really mattered and it wasn't a huge deal. But, for the most part, I could drill her and drill her and she was generally ok with it [or maybe she wasn't, but she didn't fuss too much]. She let you KNOW when something wasn't going to work for her and communication like that was easy.

Fabio, on the other hand - being younger and having SO MUCH less experience than Lacey did [with a good part of the experience he does have being negative], has really clear and low limits. But he's not vocal about his limits like Lacey was. He'll let his limit come and go, then LOSE HIS JUNK and leave you wondering what just happened. So with him seeing a stopping point where he's still engaged, and right before that limit is hit, is key. There's no "oh that was so good! Let's try just oneeee more time..." it's all "oh! That one was perfect! Let's stop here so we can be sure to end on a good note!"
He doesn't mean to lose it, of course, he just gets overwhelmed and that seems to be an emotion he's, as yet, unaware of how to deal with.

Meanwhile, he's learning all the things a horse should know. How to be reliable undersaddle, that I'm generally pretty nice to him, that being ridden isn't scary, that I see his limits and respect them while encouraging him to stretch those limits, that things that initially appear scary are actually not, that I won't arbitrarily "punish" him - my rules and expectations are very clear, and so forth.

Each ride is different good/bad, but each ride we're making a little progress. 


Speaking of making progress, we've been working a lot on lateral-type work. He's still having issues with leg cues and I think he may be misinterpreting them as "go faster" cues. The second I lightly put my leg on, giving a directional cue, is the second he starts pinning his ears like a maniac and half-trotting - exactly his reaction to a 2-legged squeeze for trot. 
On one hand, I'm thrilled that he's no longer ignoring leg cues...but I kind of dislike that they make him so irritated.

In any case, I've found that leg cues from a standstill don't bother him at all. He can, and does, respond in a quiet, thoughtful, manner with very little fuss.
So I figure that, in conjunction with continuing to use my legs while actively riding, using my leg in a scenario he doesn't have a "block" to may help him make the leap between "I hate this" and "this isn't so bad! We're communicating!"
Cuz he LOVES it so so much when he realizes that we're in the midst of a dialogue...just I don't think he realizes that 90% of the time. There are times, out on the trail, where we kind of become one "thing" and there have been a couple of times in the pasture where our minds have sort of "touched" [in the least weird way possible] and he just lights up! 

But then something happens and he shuts down.

I can already see it though, once he figures out that we're talking, oh my gosh you guys. I really feel like we'll be able to do something incredible. It kind of gives me goosebumps, but really. He's just so smart and so athletic and so single-mindedly focused on me, it's kind of ridiculous. 
He's gonna be a really great horse one day. 


ANYWAY. So we've been working on "lateral-type" stuff lately. For the last few days I've been mostly working on simply moving his forehand around. Interestingly, he really seems to love it. He takes very careful methodical steps after pausing to consider the cue I'm giving him, and he step-step-steps until I have him stop. So far we''e only gotten to maybe 2 steps in a row. Tonight we got 3 but he kind of fell apart at the end which is ok. I asked him to try again, jut one step, and he did it perfectly.
Both directions are good on the forehand. It's funny - he seems very confident about going to the left so he does it too fast and gets all messy. To the right, he seems less confident but his steps are more "correct" because he's not as sure of himself. 

Tonight we walked around a little [SOMEONE had an attitude problem tonight, oh my goodness. But I just ignored it and whatever. He just goes around pinning his ears and trying to trot, basically trying to intimidate me - I think...but I just ignore it cuz I figure he was comfortable with his old way of scaring people into leaving him alone, and now I'm asking him to work outside that box he built and OH MY GOSH GONNA DIE... :lol:], did some yeilding of the forehand like I was describing, did some more walking around, and then I introduced yielding his hindquarters.

Interestingly, that basically immediately gave him all kinds of anxiety. He didn't immediately understand what I wanted so he _immediately_ tuned me out and started grinding his teeth on the bit in a veryy *fingers in his ears* "I can't hearrrr youuuuu"-fashion.
So I just kept asking, raising the leg pressure, and eventually I had to kick him kind of hard to "snap him back" but then he came back, actually tried what I was asking, scooted his rear over just a tad, and got to stand there and be praised and petted.
The next try went better. :lol:
I gave him 3 tries to begin with, then we walked around, did 3 tries in the other direction, walked around some more, 1 try in each direction, then some "easy" forehand moving.

After that first time, though he still wasn't entirely sure of what I wanted, he didn't tune me out again.

After we practiced the easy forehand stuff, I dropped the reins on his neck and thought we would go for one small loop around a weed in the pasture. He doesn't really "neckrein" yet [especially with his current objections to leg cues] but sometimes the way to an animal's brain is to just let go, stop any kind of micromanaging that you might not even know you're doing.

AND IT WAS HILARIOUS. I squeezed him forward and he took one hesitant step, then stopped. Like "Wait. You're not holding the reins? But how am I supposed to know here to go??! We won't survive! This is no way to ride!!"
So I squeezed him forward again and he walked off, making the tiniest, slowest, least-sure steps I've ever felt him take.

We got to the plant and I turned my head and my upper body in the direction I wanted to go, and SUDDENLY I was speaking a language he understood! He pretty nearly twirled around that weed and took some nice confident steps. Then I leaned back, said whoa, he stopped, and I hopped off.

He _gets_ my body movement...it's like my therapist/counselor tells me "you have really excellent intuition, just trust what you know. If your insides say it's right, it probably is!"
That's just what he seems like. He intuitively knows what I want, he just gets soooo inside his own head about what I _might_ want that he starts freaking himself out.

Ha. They say you get the horse you need!! :lol: :lol:

That mane, y'all.



Right before our ride tonight. LOOK AT HIM. He looks like some QH reining stallion in a magazine. :rofl:
Too bad he's an Arab gelding. Nice try, Fabs, nice try.


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## egrogan

Great progress! In love breakthroughs like that! I teach therapeutic riding lessons for younger kids, and was working on steeing with one I my little guys yesterday. He was riding this fabulous QH gelding who was a pretty successful show horse-anyway, I asked him to figure out how he might get his horse going in the other direction from the halt, and out of nowhere, he (or his horse??) executed a perfect turn on the forehand-it was really cute!

As always, love the pics of Fabs-he looks gorgeous.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## tinyliny

that isn't all that strange, although I bet it was really cute to watch.

the horse moves his feet over. all we have to do is get him thinking about that, and he'll do the work. if he could read, we could write it down on a card and show it to him. but, we have to use our own minds and bodies to transmit that request. if he gets it, and he's a willing sort, he'll do it.
that's why there are multiple ways to transmit the request.
just some tend to work better, but with time, you could theoretically use any signal.


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## Chevaux

Love that mane!


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## Wallaby

Ha! That's so great, egrogan!! I love that kind of moment so much... You're making me miss teaching so so much more than I already do!! :lol:

Haha, Caroline, how great wold that be if we could just tell our horses stuff...oh man. Life would be a kajillion times easier! haha

Thanks Chevaux! I love it too. Though the upkeep on that thing! My oh my. I'm just glad he isn't gray. haha


YOU GUYS.
So many things happened today and I am RIDICULOUSLY proud of Fabs.
Like major emphasis on "ridiculously."

Fabs' abscess started pus-ing again late Saturday/yesterday morning so I kinda knew things weren't going the way we wanted with that. Boooo.

So I called the vet's office this morning around 8am, talked to the vet later, and we decided that she should probably come out. The only "soon" time she could fit us in was today at noon so I, obviously, took it!
She sedated the junk out of poor Fabs and went to work.

Her theory is that perhaps some kind of encysted worm is in there because she found a weird lump that seems to be "part" of Fabs at the end of the abscess-track-thing. But it could totally not be. It could also be some kind of inflamed nerve or a weird tissue thing. She wasn't sure exactly what it was at all.

In any case, she flushed the hole out [horrifyingly, she was able to insert her syringe-tip an INCH INTO HIS FACE] and filed it up with antibiotics.
She charged me with doing that twice a day for the next 5 days, along with giving him oral antibiotics - 24 pills/day, 12 in the AM + 12 in the PM.

Of course, that was about the point when I was like "um, he's super sedated right now, I don'ttttt think I'm going to be able to stick a plastic needle-thing into his face when he's awake....."
And she was like "yeah, that's what the oral antibiotics are for!"

So I went up there this evening all prepared to 'torture' this poor horse by stuffing him full of pills and then sticking plastic junk into his poor nose.
First I figured I'd get the pills out of the way first and I jokingly offered him a pill, straight from the bottle.

LO' AND BEHOLD, he ate the darn thing immediately!! Chewed it up quite thoroughly and swallowed it happily.

Of course I'm thinking that was a huge fluke, so I ran to get a treat, fed it to him, then I offered him another pill.

AND HE ATE THAT ONE!!

He ate all 12 of his pills like they were super tasty treats. I didn't have to disguise them at all, he was all about them. 
And after they were gone, he definitely started hunting around to see if he could find more. 

What a huge, loveable, dork!
He won't eat his ration balancer unless it's the "right amount" of soupy and it had better not have more than a tablespoon of salt, yet he'll eat antibiotics like they're candy.
What a horse.

So that's kind of a huge relief. 
I was all kinds of unsure about how I'd disguise 12 pills into half a pound of feed...

Anyway, at that point I was thinking things were looking up, but I still had to stick a plastic stick up a, probably sore, bloody wound on a horse's face. 
My experience with horses said that there was a 1% chance that that would ever happen on a horse that wasn't sedated/a million years old/dead.

BUT.
I soaked the scab off.
Then I grabbed my syringe, filled it with tepid water, and went for it. He got "that look" in his eye at first, but I let him smell the syringe and held it to his face until he put his head down.

THEN HE LET ME STICK IT IN THERE NO PROBLEM!! He didn't even shift away at all. He stood like a rock and let me rinse it out.

It was exactly the same with the antibiotic - worried at first but he calmed right down, and then it was smooth sailing.

Of course, this is only the first of 5 days, but talk about a good first time!!

Could he have still been a little sedated??! :rofl: I don't even know. He seemed awake! It had been 5 hours since his sedation.... :lol: :lol:

And, of course, "drunk" Fabio pictures:






:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:


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## Roman

He's really bracing himself to keep from falling over in the last pictures! :lol:

I hope that nasty thingy goes away. The thing on his face, abcess?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

Roman said:


> The thing on his face, abcess?
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


You mean his "zit" from that other thread? Then yes, that's what it is/was. :shock: SO ICKY!


No real updates of any kind here, just a small life "ahhhh!" catastrophe-moment.

Ok, not really a catastrophe, but HELP.

Somehow, I don't even know how, I submitted my resume for a "Childcare Assistant" job figuring that I've done work with kids and no one died, plus I need a job super badly.... 
Anyway. I emailed my resume at 2pm and now, somehow, I have an interview tomorrow at 5:30pm.

1. SO MUCH ANXIETY ABOUT ALL THE THINGS and 2. what do you even wear to that kind of interview? The advice I've always heard is wear a slightly fancier version of what you would wear to do the job. Problem: what do you wear to take care of kids?? Luckily it's in the kind of hipster-ish part of town so I have that style going for me already...but I'm like a rainbow-grungy-hipster in what I wear, vs a preppy-classy hipster........
I'm thinking maybe a well fitted pair of blue jeans, tshirt, nice cardigan??

Hellllllppppp meeeeeee, guys! :hug:


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## egrogan

OK, putting on my former elementary school teacher hat-when I was hiring college students for an after school program, #1 I care about you showing up on time, 5 min early is preferable. Generally speaking, college students are unreliable for schools-they start off enthusiastically and then let you down by starting to not show up. So help them see you're not going to be that person!!

In terms of what to wear, I think what you described is ok, but maybe not jeans? Black pants or khakis instead? No flip flops or strapping sandals. Nothing low cut 

Definitely play up your instructional experience. Do you have any coursework in child development or psychology? CPR and/or first aid certification? References from your lesson kids parents? All that helps.

Think about how you'd respond in certain scenarios-kids are fighting, what do you do? Kid has a meltdown when mom or dad drop him off, how do you get him back on track? But most of all, what examples can you give of how you follow through and live up to commitments, including always showing up to work reliably and on time?

Hope some of this helps, and GOOD LUCK!! 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Amba1027

I've always been told (mostly by my parents) to dress very nicely for interviews regardless of the job. Obviously, it always depends on the person who is interviewing you (as to how much your outfit choice matters to them), but I've always gone the "better safe than sorry" route and dress in dress pants, nice shoes, and a button down shirt (tucked in). When I worked in retail the managers gave weight to who dressed nicely for the interviews, even thought we wore jeans and t-shirts at work. In short, if it were me I would wear a dressy outfit.

And don't be nervous! Just be yourself. I think you would be great at childcare


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## Wallaby

Thanks you guys!!

I asked Gman too and he gave me some good ideas. He basically knows everything I have in my closest which helped a lot. Ok, that sounds weird but it's really true, He's my style icon. hahahaha
He was a nanny for the last 5 months so he kinda knows that "scene" I suppose..I hope...haha
The main issue is that I don't own khakis or black pants. :lol: I have jeans and I have jeans in basically every colors ever...but no khakis. Which is really silly when I think about it... Maybe I should invest in some, or some black pants, at a soonish point...

The plus side is that I looked up the address, actually this is a double plus side, and it's a genuine house -not some fancy place- AND it's right off a road I am super familiar with. Getting there should be super easy!

I plan on using a lesson kid's parent as a reference [my lesson kid that LOVES me and her mom is great too], then a friend I've known for years and who supervised me back when we worked at camp, and then the person in charge of the hosts at church. I figure that rounds it out pretty well since that's kind of my whole life... haha

Fingers crossed! The lady seems nice in her emails... :shock:


In other news, it was a friend of mine's birthday today so I baked her a cake [it's my birthday on Saturday so we try to get together around our birthdays to celebrate] and she came over.
She brought her dog and he got to meet the goats and Fabio. He was sooooo confused. :rofl:

Atti wanted to play with him a lot, but he really wasn't too sure about that. It was pretty funny - they both wanted to play but they were both nervous so they both stayed glued to their respective "mom"'s leg. :rofl:

Hazel was interested but standoffish which the dog was a lot more comfortable with. She got lots of kisses on her ears.  She's such a sweetheart! Even after the dog got nervous and barked at her, she just carefully left, then came back about 5 minutes later to "try again." She's such a good girl. I love that goat.

Fabio, who is usually standoffish with strangers, LOVED my friend. He was ok with the dog, but he realllly wanted to be my friend's BFF. It was so sweet!

They all did really well, I was proud. 

Well, except for Atti...but he tried. He just hasn't had enough experience with dogs to know what to do with them, while the other animals totally know what dogs are. He'll get there!


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## Wallaby

So I had the interview. It went ok but I don't think I was exactly what she was looking for. That's ok though, I'm sure something better will come along. She said she'd contact people for the job by yesterday, so I'm assuming that means I didn't get it. Oh well! 
I'm about to start Fabio in with a single weekly lesson kid so hopefully he'll do well with that and that can be a source of income. 
Of course, I want/need a more reliable and bigger source of income...but at least it won't be negative $$ as much...

On the plus side, on the whole "what to wear thing" - totes nailed it. The lady was definitely a hippy/"mother earth"-type so my cardigan, jeans, and tshirt even seemed even a little fancy for the dealio. haha



In other news, today is my birthday! I'm a million...or just 24, depending on how you look at it. :wink:
My brother and sister-in-law came over last night and we all [parents included] had dinner and dessert together.  It was lovely.
My most favorite thing I got [just based on the element of NEED] is a new winter coat! This one has laminate waterproofing so I should be able to wash it as-needed and still have a waterproof coat. Waterproofing is SO important for trail riding and teaching lessons and it's been a yearly problem - I get a winter coat, wash it regularly enough that I don't just smell like horse all the time [not that there's anything wrong with that, but I wear said coat to church and those are all city-people = don't want to Pigpen it up :lol:], and the coat isn't waterproof asap. Then I get cold standing out in the rain giving a lesson..and it's just bad all around.

So I'm SUPER EXCITED to have a nice coat that'll keep me dry. 

Otherwise today has been really laid back and nice. 

Fabs had his last dose of antibiotics this morning and his last face cleaning. Woohoo!
He's gotten so good at it. The change has been amazing from last week where he was rearing about it, to this week where he's calmly standing with his head down letting me stick a syringe into the hole and flush it out. 

He really has an amazing mind, I'm just constantly shocked at how _good_ he is.
There are horses, like Lacey, where you can kind of see how they ended up with the issues they had. Just something about their personalities - where they need one specific type of handling to be ok and any other kind of handling just brings out the absolute worst in them. And then they don't get the right kind of handling, they get worse, some genius tries to "fix" it, and things just get out of control.

But there are other horses, like Fabio, where all they want to do is hear "good boy!" and they'll give their all to be "good"..and you just have to wonder what happened between the day he was born and now that turned him into a spooky, prone to rearing, creature. All he wants to be is good, he wants to please his human, he desperately wants to be in a positive relationship with me...
It's just hard for me to see how someone could mess that up. I mean, I know how someone could...but WHY? I seriously do not understand. A baby like that sounds like any horseperson's dream.

ANYWAY. 
I'm just so many kinds of proud of him. 
Of course, it has been frustrating - he quickly figured out that I can't put the syringe in the hole if he moves his lip around, so he spends probably 5 minutes wiggling his lip around before he finally lets me get the syringe in. But he also knows that the second I get the syringe in and squirt water, he gets a treat...and Mr. Chubby, of course, wants a treat!! :lol: 
And I like that he wiggles his lip around -"play"- vs running backwards out of fear, or any other possible reaction. So I've been working on taking a big breath, telling myself that I have all day, and just continuing to hold the syringe to his lip until he stops wiggling [taking it away would reward the behavior, imo, so I've been keeping it in nearly the correct location so he knows he can't avoid it].

Patience, patience, patience!!



Speaking of patience, yesterday -after a summer of working up to it- Fabio and I FINALLY went on the "big deal" trail. It's not so much a trail as it is a multi-use path. 
It runs out below the hill we live on and there are multiple connecting paths to and from the hill. The trail/path itself is 20-something miles long [I think?? https://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/finder/index.cfm?action=ViewFile&PolPdfsID=425&/Springwater%20Corridor%20Map.pdf ] and connects with A LOT of stuff.

But it is a multi-use path so it's REALLY a lot for a horse to take in. It crosses busy streets, goes next to factories, has bridges, bikes, people on every manner of transportation imaginable, kids, evvvverything.
Needless to say, Lacey could barely handle it [she tried her best, of course, but she'd get so worked up that I'd spend half the ride trying to get her to walk]. It's really a challenge.

Anyway, I wasn't sure how Fabs would handle it but he's been getting bored with the normal trails so I figured that yesterday was as good a day as any.

AND OH MY GOSH GUYS. 
He was AMAZING. 
We got out on the trail and nearly immediately we were surrounded by people wanting to talk to me, bikes flying up behind him and whizzing past his face, it was A LOT.
He didn't spook at them or anything, but the mental load was immediately obvious,

But then, half a mile or so down the trail, some kids started screaming. And I don't know if I've mentioned this, but Fabio LOVES kids more than anything. He gets mad being taken away from children. He'd be happy to do nothing but love little children for the rest of his life. The louder the kids are, the more he seems to adore them [which is interesting considering that he's so aloof most of the time].

So he heard those kids and LOCKED in And I mean locked in. There was no turning his head away, he was beelining straight for those kiddos. Thankfully they were really excited about him and loved petting him. 

After that, the trail was a good good place.  
The mental overload was significantly reduced.

We continued on for about 2 more miles, to about where he had slowed his walk to a relaxed walk vs a "worked up" walk. Then we turned around and went home. 

There were times where he started getting really race-y but 85-90% of the time, it was my fault. I'd start trying to hold him back with the reins, or I'd stiffen my body up, and he would react to that by speeding up. The second I relaxed and started breathing again, and gave him more rein [he _needs_ a loose rein for confidence! How funny.], he'd slow right down and relax. :lol:

Interestingly, out of everything, he was the most concerned about the white lines on the cross walk as we crossed the street. He crossed it just fine...but he carefully avoided stepping on the lines. :lol:
That was another great thing - he had no issues stopping and waiting for traffic to stop so we could cross the street. Lacey would start losing more of her junk the longer we had to wait for the light, but Fabio seemed to just understand it. He had never crossed a street like that until yesterday, but he did it like an old pro! 

For Lacey, the trail/path was harder for her, I think, because she had an independent streak as wide as the Mississippi. And that was ok, her energy was used up in the short trails we have easy access to and she had no desire to go further and explore. Exploration made her nervous and that too was ok!

Fabio, on the other hand, wants me to say he's good more than anythingggg and will try his hardest to be "good" no matter what. He also loves exploring and his energy isn't even touched on the trails close to home, so it makes sense that he would enjoy greater success on this trail.

Dear Fabs was SO pooped by the time we got home. We had only gone maybe 5 miles over flat land [our usual trail is closer to 12 over basically a mountain] but he was so much more tired than he is after the hill. So much mental energy got released! 
So that's all kinds of good. I can't wait to get him out there more! It's going to be SO GOOD for him in terms of gaining experience and confidence.


And now some pictures:

The trail/path - after we got to a calmer section..



And then from a few days ago, Horse-Fabio and Human-Fabio basically became the same person [though Human-Fabio gives me the creeps...glad Horse-Fabio isn't creepy...]



Last night:

Sassing at Atti



Giving up...and Atti not caring one lick...



Horse-Ryan-Gosling



He has all the weirdest, worst, facial expressions. It's the bestttt. Oh Fabs. <3



And Hazel!! I just love it when her hair is this length and the sun catches it...
[also, she's recently discovered that "Hazel" means "treats" 90% of the time so this is the second after I called her name, before she realized that I didn't have treats]




:happydance::happydance:


----------



## gunslinger

Happy birthday!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Roperchick

Happy birthday! (Again haha). 

Sooooo Fabs=your endurance horse ya??? Hahahaha sounds like he's making up your mind for you lol


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## tinyliny

Hppi Burpday!

was the whole trail paved?

(off topic, but just had to share. I rode bikes with friends down the John Wayne trail from Snoqualmie pass to North Bend; 21 miles downhill on a gravel road, crossing tressels and through a 2 mile dark tunnel. it was AWESOME!!!! the funnest day I've had in years. man, to ride that on horses would be amazing)


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## SueC

Many happy returns!











I hope you get at least this old-











- then you'll need a fire extinguisher!


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## egrogan

Happy birthday!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## jcraig10

Happy belated birthday!


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## Wallaby

Thank you all for the birthday wishes! <3 <3

Christy, haha, he's really trying!! I'd love to make it happen. 

Caroline, the whole thing is paved. There are a few short, unpaved, sections that run alongside the trail..but they aren't long at all. The bridges are woods - railroad ties. I'm excited about getting him out there again [maybe Friday?] and crossing some of those bridges. He doesn't even think about the short one we cross on our familiar trails, but that one is barely long enough for two strides. The bridges on this trail are "real" endeavors [though not as loud as the bridge he's comfortable with] and they have sides.
I'm sure he'll do ok, but it's a question mark for now!


Otherwise, there is not a whole lot to report.

OH! Well, funny story - so Saturday was my birthday and NG actually wrote on my Facebook wall!
We haven't really spoken at all since he left and he never gets on Facebook so I kinda figured I wouldn't hear from him and that was ok. 

BUT. I got on Facebook at like 9pm and discovered that he had just written on my wall [he's in Tennessee so it must have been a bajillion o'clock?].
What did he write?
Oh, just "happy birthday, master of horses and words"
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

What a typical NG thing to say. I laughed SO MUCH.


Otherwise life has been uneventful.
Fabs and I went out this morning for a short ride in the rain and OH MY WORD, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed!! SO MUCH ear pinning about evvvverything. Then he got really ride about coming home [diving towards the turn for home, etc] so we got to hang out there, between the trails, and go in figure-eights until he calmed his sassy rear down. It took him quite a while, but finally he stayed at a walk for the whole figure and didn't dive for home...so we went home.

Half way up the hill to our neighborhood, I figured I'd ask him to canter [he wasn't rushing up the hill like he does sometimes so I figured it was a good time] and oh my word, SO MUCH more ear pinning. But he got the canter and it was all on a loose rein - totally slow and relaxed, and he came right out of it when I said "easy," on a loose rein! And, of course, once we were cantering, he was lil' Miss Sunshine and all "ME?! Pin MY ears?? Nooooo." :rofl:
From all the ear pinning, I half expected him to buck, but he didn't.

So I figured that was a pretty good end.

I also made him do some simple ground work when we got home, just to underline the whole "be polite about coming home cuz home doesn't have to be so easy" thing.


And a lotta' pictures!

Soon after we got home from a ride on Monday - Hazel was apparently where he wanted to roll... What a drama llama!



"You have NO IDEA how itchy I was! The situation was DIRE."



Later, I was in the other pasture contemplating climbing a tree and he was VERY unhappy that there was a fence separating us:



So he came galloping around...



Then, after a few minutes, I left that pasture and of course, the whole thing *had* to repeat:

"Guys, I think I want to try Saddleseat! This is how they have their heads, amirite?"



"Or maybe my mane should fly around more..."



"But OH NO! I forgot how to stop again! What do I doooooo?!!! SOS"


----------



## Wallaby

First, an addendum to my last post: I received some thoughtful concern directed towards the mesh fencing you an see in some of the pictures^ up there and I wanted to address it here too. 
That is wire mesh and it is not a great fencing material. I checked it out and found that the mesh at the top is 3 inches tall, 4 wide - but the bottom 2 feet have much narrower rectangles, small enough that the goats couldn't even get caught.
Allllll the fencing at "my" place is the world's biggest hot mess. Unfortunately, I don't own the place so there's not a ton I really can do. That mesh in particular is primarily to keep rabbits/deer/coyotes/etc out of the backyards there...I wish I could get it all fenced in nicely. I hope, maybe, one day, that I might be able to buy the pasture and then it'll get a masssssive overhaul. But that'd be all kind of years in the future.

Anyway, I appreciate the concern and, as such, wanted to address it here because I don't want it to come across like I'm condoning that type of fencing or unconcerned about it. 


Anyway.

Guys, today is 6 months since Lacey passed away.......it's really hard not to want to fade into the past and relive it all.
But envying Past Me isn't going to do anyone any good, certainly not my heart or Lacey's memory.

Anyway, I'm kind of having a hard time. But it'll be ok, this is just a day.

On top of that, Fabio was really all around difficult this week so I'm kind of feeling like a failure in that respect. 
There's just a lot of things. haha

It did turn out that his angry-ness that I talked about last time was largely in part due to the fact one of my stirrups had nearly come off my saddle! :shock: On Friday, when I went to get on, it actually just fell off. :shock:
As soon as I fixed that, he was back to his normal opinionated self. :lol:


Other bad things subsequently happened, but it was simply areas of undertraining showing up.
It did rain, finally, a few days ago so I think maybe we'll do the majority of out riding in the pasture this week. I had been avoiding really riding in the pasture because the short dead grass with "sand" under it was getting sooo slippery. And with how unlevel the pasture is, each time we'd go downhill, Fabio was slipping all over the place. Now that it rained a bit, the grass is starting grow a little and there's a bit more traction. 
I think the lack of "arena work" is starting to show, so hopefully a week of it should help. I'm going to get out my various "arena exercises" books to see if I can come up with something interesting to do while we work on stuff....

It's really interesting - Lacey, you could just hop on and go and it didn't matter how little work she was getting. Fabs, on the other hand, definitely needs equal amounts of energy-reducing rides [trail rides] and brain-work rides [pasture rides]. Maybe it's their differing levels of training....

Handstand goat!




And then this one. I really enjoy the colors, and so forth, in this one...


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## SueC

Hey Emily, an economical and quick way of improving the safety of ringlock, mesh and barbed wire fences is to run two visible electric wires (e.g. turbo-braid) on long (over a foot) outriggers along the substandard fence. It reduces the risk of horses messing with that fence.


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## egrogan

He's looking quite shapely in that last picture! All the exercise must be paying off.


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## Wallaby

Thanks for the idea, Sue!  I wish I could do that! That'd make everything so many kinds of less worrisome. Unfortunately, there's no electricity in the pasture so anything electric is out of luck.  
Those houses you see in the background of my pictures used to be part of the pasture about twenty years ago, then the pasture was split into lots and those lots sold. Those houses tied into the already present underground electricity/water line but, as a result, electricity and water ended up being cut off to the pasture.
The only way I even have water is that someone thought to run a pipe and a hose under the road out in front to a tub up by the gate. Even then, the whole thing isn't winter-poof so from about Dec-Feb, I don't have running water. I haul water up from my house in 5 gallon buckets when things are frozen or we haven't gotten recent rain, and they drink shed-roof run-off water when things aren't frozen. This year should be better - instead of the 70g tub and a 15g tub I had last year, I now have the 70g, the 15g, AND a 40g [plus a 2g and 5g for the goats]. Hopefully I won't be hauling as much water!!
Anyway, I've managed to amass about 400ft of hose to get water down to the shed in the summer...but electricity isn't that easy. 
I so wish it was though. It'd make shearing Hazel a gajillion times easier, plus like EVERYTHING ELSE. :lol:

I think so too, egrogan! I'm excited you noticed!  He's definitely starting to look more toned. I still haven't been able to feel his ribs [seriously, HOW much fat is on those babies??! :lol:] but he's not as flabby as he was!!


Ugh. Yesterday was so good and terrible.
My friend, the one I met on this forum who lives up in Washington and has visited twice, lost her mare out of the blue last night. I never met the mare in person, but this friend and I shared a bond over our girls because they were both older [her mare was 22-23, I think, Lacey was obviously older] and so forth. So I think we both felt like we had/have a lot in common through that.
Anyway, her mare fell over sometime last week, got a bad gash in her leg, saw the vet, got fixed up, and everything seemed to be going ok.
Until last night. 
I guess my friend took her out on a handwalk, the mare stumbled a bit and didn't seem "right" afterwards, so the vet had to come out again.

And it turned out that, in that stumble, she had completely broken her femur. The way I heard it was that perhaps the initial fall [since the leg broke near the cut, I presume] did damage to the bone, then the stumble did the rest. 

Anyway, it was kind of like Lacey all over again for me. On the 6 month anniversary of Lacey's passing.
So I most definitely spent a lot of time crying over both mares.

I guess though that maybe both those mares WERE bonded in a way this friend and I only felt. I mean, to already feel that way towards someone and their horse, then the symmetry of both passings...I don't know. But it feels weird.

And I hugged Fabs a lot this morning when I saw him and he was safe.

Maybe Fabs felt bad for me, BUT HE WAS SO GOOD TODAY!!

I think maybe some of our "problem" is that I speak 'too loudly' to him undersaddle. I instinctively want to feel my leg on his side or feel him in the reins, where he wants my leg to be like a butterfly on his side or my rein contact to be just a tickle.
I need to completely revamp my sensitivity meter. :lol: BUT REALLY.

Today we had such a nice ride. I've been riding him on the trail in weighted reins because he seems to like them and I like them because I can give him nice loopy rein contact [which is what he does best with on the trail]. But, in the pasture, they're too much. I hold the rein out and put my leg on a little to say "turn" and those reins, with the weight, _yell_ "TURN." 
Plus, if I get out of balance at all during this, or he stumbles [yay for riding on the side of a hill! haha], and I accidentally catch myself with the reins, that action just echoes through the reins in a way that even I can feel - how does that feel in his MOUTH??!!!

So I, luckily, have a pair of nearly identical reins that aren't weighted - they're both 10ft nylon reins. The weighted ones I won in a contest [from Sunset Halters!!].
So I threw the lighter reins on and we actually had a really good ride. Earpinning was minimal and he seemed to "get it." 

He had a number of bobbles here and there, but it was pretty good overall. 
I really needed just a nice easy ride, I was starting to feel really disappointed in myself that we're still struggling with a lot of the things we were struggling with 4 months ago. And yeah, we're still struggling with a lot of those thing, but there has indeed been improvement.

The thing I'm REALLY excited about is his forehand/haunch turns. He's NAILING them. He's also started incorporating forehand turns into our rides - I can cue him for a tight turn in a situation where it doesn't matter how he does it and, instead of moving his whole body wherever like he used to, he'll do a tight little forehand turn! 

It's just one of those "hey, _I_ taught that!!!" things.

He did do better today with leg contact - when I worked on "whispering," that is. Anytime I got too heavy, he'd suck back and get all miffed, but as soon as I lightened up he did better.


Ha, sometimes I feel like this horse is "wasted" on me. How many riders out there wish their horse responded to a feather-swish of leg contact and here I am being all "I wish I could use more...." I'm such a snob!!
:lol:
I'm sure I'll get used to it and soon it'll be really wonderful. Plus, what better way to become a more sensitive rider that to basically be riding a sense-o-meter.



In other news, I figured out how to make a kind of "creep feed" for Hazel! So now [hopefully, unless Atticus figures out how to get in - I think I made it too hard for him to get in....] I'll hopefully be able to have soaked hay pellets out for her all the time/more of the time.
That's a lot of the "problem" I have getting her up to a good weight - 3 pounds of soaked feed/day is just not enough to cover all her needs [since she really doesn't graze much at all] and, with 3 molars, she's not physically able to eat enough hay. But she just can't consume more than about 3 pounds of soaked stuff in a sitting. She needs to go digest for a bit, then come back.....
And, unfortunately, I can't spend every day just feeding Hazel.

So I'm super excited about the creep feed! Thank goodness Atti is 8 inches taller than her!!

And I think those are all my thoughts for the day. But I had a lot of them!! :rofl:


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## SueC

No electricity - no problem! You can buy little portable electric fence units with built-in solar panels for not that much money, if you only need a "horse" pulse rather than the meaner stuff needed to deter cattle. Endurance riders sometimes use these to create temporary yarding for stallions etc.


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## egrogan

SueC said:


> No electricity - no problem! You can buy little portable electric fence units with built-in solar panels for not that much money, if you only need a "horse" pulse rather than the meaner stuff needed to deter cattle. Endurance riders sometimes use these to create temporary yarding for stallions etc.


Yep, Sue beat me to it. All the fencing where I board is electric tape or rope run from solar chargers. It works even during the dreary New England winters, though our horses are all very respectful of it and there aren't any that will seriously challenge it to see just how powerful it is
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

HA!! Solar power!!! YES. That could definitely work. I had one expierence with a solar powered fence charger a few years ago and it was a piece of junk, but that was years ago and I'm 100% sure solar technology has come a lonnnng way since then.



GUESS WHAT GUYS!!!!???

The lady from the childcare place where I interviewed a bit ago emailed me this evening asking if I was interested in a job!!! YES PLEASE. I would LOVE to be less poor.

So I'm going in tomorrow morning to "acclimate," from 9-11am. I'm so thrilled!!!
I need a job so badly and jobs around here have been so scarce. Oh my gosh you guys.

STOKED.




In animal news, by the time I went back up in the evening yesterday, Atti had figured out how to literally belly crawl to get under Hazel's creep feed. 
That goat. He's sure got some brain cells. 

So, on one hand, I'm really impressed and proud of his problem solving...but disappointed that that's not gonna work for Hazel.

I did get her a new feed addition, Calf Manna, today which is supposed to be great for weight gain. Hopefully it's the ticket! She loves it!



And I worked with Fabs some. I wanted to ride, but it got too late, so I settled for throwing the little western lesson saddle on him and lunging him a little.

I've been really realizing that he allows me to put saddles and pads and whatever on him, but he's actually really scared the whole time it's happening. So we did a lot of throwing the pad on his back, asking him to lower his head, taking the pad off, etc, until he wasn't as 'worried but holding it in'.

Then we did a little lunging with the saddle on and I clipped a long rein to on of the stirrups and kinda wiggled it around as he moved, then repeated for the other side. 
Needless to say, HE LOST HIS JUNK over that. But really, on a scale of terrible to Ebola, He didn't do all that bad. He did bolt the first time on each side and going to the right [his bad side] he started crowhopping, BUT he quickly stopped losing it and started watching me like a hawk to get a gauge of how I felt about it. He was still very scared, but he chose to stay with me instead of leaving. 
And, when I asked him to stop moving, he did so promptly and immediately wanted to sniff the stirrup and rein - instead of just 'ignoring' it [a classic Fabs fear-response where he's not really ignoring it, he's tuning it out and not learning from it].

So I'm proud of that.

And, by the end, he was just mildly horrified - not "THE WORLD IS ENDING STARTING WITH ME"-terrified.

That was probably also one of the first times that he's gone all the way to level 10, panic-wise, and still calmed right back down really quickly. Typically once he panics like that, there's no going back. But this time he "got it."


I figure that an important thing for him is learning that things WILL be scary, but that he can handle it because I'm going to take care of him. He's too much of a thinker, I think, to not get scared but things will be better if he learns how to work through his fear without killing anyone. :lol:

So I figure that's probably a success.....

Wish me luck tomorrow!! 

:happydance:


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## tinyliny

I love that, only "mildly horrified"~!

good work and cool idea bout the stirrup 'twitch"


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## Amba1027

AHH that's so great about the job!! I wanted to say something when you said you figured you didn't get it because the woman said they would call by X date and you hadn't heard from her. Employers do that ALL THE TIME. They tell you they want to have someone hired by, or will let you know by X date, and they almost never stick to that schedule. So I had hope for you still on the job front. Yay!


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## gunslinger

Congratulation on the new job! That's great news and I can't wait to hear how your first day went.....


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## Zexious

Congratulations :d


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## jcraig10

I guess I never even noticed the wire mesh fences in the background because I was too focused on Fabs and his drop dead gorgeous self.

Yeah, I'm a little behind on your posts


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## jcraig10

"on a scale from 1 to Ebloa" lolololololol you're funny!

Congrats on the job!


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## Zexious

* That was supposed to be a ! Not a :d Dx


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## Wallaby

Thanks Caroline! I actually got the idea for the stirrup thing from a colt-starting series Stacy Westfall did on Youtube. I watched a whole series by her a few months ago when I was just getting started with Fabs and a lot of her ideas realllly seem to work for him. I'm not much for trainer-following, but if they help the horse get it, I'm certainly not going to complain! haha

Haha, I appreciate that, Allison! <3 

Thanks Gunslinger! 

Thanks Zex! 

It's ok Julia, I still like you. We can still be friends. :hug: :wink: and thanks! 



1. THE JOB WENT SO GREAT!!!!!!! They have two locations and I guess I'm going to be going back and forth between both, at least at first, so I'll be "acclimating" to the other location on Friday morning.
I made 2 little buddies who were SO BUMMED when I left [those two were clearly the more social "greeters" for the group, haha] and I successfully made a baby cry. The baby crying was actually sad, but it wasn't personal - the person who was holding her, who she knew, had to run off to the bathroom so she got chucked at me [THE PROBABLY DANGEROUS STRANGER!!!] unexpectedly = so. much. sadness.

But it went really well. They take care of infants-4 year olds and there are tons of structured activities, but also a lot of time for the kids to just choose their own thing to do. 
It was really laid back feeling which is really kind of great. I think/hope it'll be a really good fit!

I honestly have nothing to complain about, it was alllll kinds of great.

2. I got to hang out with "the kids" [as in, my animal friends] for a few hours today! I haven't gotten to see them a whole lot [it feels like] this week so they were all kind of wanting some time.
First I played with Fabs and Atti where I go to some random place in the pasture with treats, and call for them. They LOVE it. And it gets them running around which is kind of good since they both have so muchhhh energy.

Then I threw the saddle on Fabs and lunged him a little. 
He's still goosey about the saddle/saddle pad being put on so I've been playing a "game" with him where I throw the pad on his back, lower his head and pull the pad off in the same motion, then repeat. 
Today he actually kept his head down and stayed relaxed for the pad to go on!!! TWICE!! So that's some serious improvement.

He's getting there. 
I figure that, perhaps, [maybe I've mentioned this before] that his issues undersaddle all interconnect. That maybe him being uncomfortable with the mere idea of the saddle going on is indicative of bigger things - like, if he's uncomfortable with step 1, how is he truly going to be comfortable with step 16/how can I expect him to be comfortable with step 16 or whatever?

Anyway, I figure that maybe working on that issue, in conjunction with the others, might benefit us in the long run.

Same with lunging before riding. I had stopped doing that altogether and that's when things stated not going as well.
So now I've been getting him into all gaits, doing a lot of figure-eights and such [they really seem to focus him], on the lunge line before I even think about riding.
And so far we've had some of our nicest rides!

Ha, today while I was lunging Fabs, Atti decided to lay just outside the circle and he basically ended up becoming a trot pole........:shock: :shock:

He's ok, thank godness. Poor Fabs got so flustered going into the canter that he headed straight for Atti, Atti just stayed there like a doof, Fabs tried to trot over him but caught a hoof on Att's horns so Atti got thrown flat, then Atti got grazed by a hind hoof in the neck.

Thankfully Atti is totally ok, it could have been really bad. 
Atti also kind of acted like that had happened before...he hopped up bawling to himself/me, came over to me for a hug, I made him and Fabs sniff noses, and he was back to trying to goad Fabs into killing him in a jiffy.
Usually, if that had never happened before, I'd assume that [since Atti is kind of a panicky goat] Atti would need a day or two to get over it. But he did not. :lol:

But talk about horrifying things to see and be unable to stop!! My goodness!

At least it wasn't Hazel.
But Hazel is smarter than that so..... hahaha 

BOYS. hahaha

And some pictures:



His maneeeeee



Atti [pre-smooshing]...





"_so_ over it."



And more opinions...

He had lots of opinions to share today. hahaha That horse!


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## Roperchick

dah poor atti haha

but holy good god. this horse-



Wallaby said:


>


my guys should hide in shame for beingso shabby compared to him lol


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## Wallaby

Christy, I totally know. Half the time I think _I_ should probably dress up, or something, to be in the pasture! :lol:
He's like the horse version of Gman [they're actually really a lot similar in their personalities...it's weird+great] - I have to make sure I remember that there are emotions and people behind those faces! :rofl:


Nothing too much to report - job wise, second day of "acclimating" today and it was greattttt. I still loved every second. 



And then this video. 
The kiddo was feeling a lot of things again this morning. He was having a fit before he came running over like this and then he basically ran tiny laps around the shed while I prepared breakfast for everybody. :lol:
My only guess is that the wind that had sprung up overnight made him super excited.

In any case, he settled right down after he ate. :lol:


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## Sharpie

I'm catching up with your thread, only to about a month ago, but I have to say that Fabs sounds SO MUCH like Mr. Jayne when I got him. Super wanting to please but a bit of an emotional wreck with who-knows-what previous experience and training. Reading your posts is like going back in time. That wobbly, not sure how to carry himself plus rider? Check. Needing you to be his confidence and save him from the scary/overwhelming? Check. Much better and more relaxed when he's doing something, some sort of task where he understands what he's supposed to do (ie, don't kill us both going down this hill. plzkthxbai) Check! I can hardly get over it!

Jayne and I now are an 'endurance team' (We finished one 50 miler before I had to deploy over here, but it counts!), and so far, it sounds like you two have everything you need to get there too.


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## Wallaby

Ha! 1. Welcome, Sharpie! :lol: 2. I love that!! That gives me more hope that we'll get there. 



Two, just kidding, four things:

1. Fabio had his very first "real" lesson today!! Now that I have a real job :lol: the riding lesson thing is less imperative, but I still think it's good brain-stretching exercise for Mr. Fabs. 
Plus he LOVES children so it's always good to encourage that!

He did SO well. He was a little confused about why he was being ridden AND on the lunge line ["wait, am I listening to YOU...or this kid??"], and then, when I let them ride free, he was extra confused about why I was standing right there but yelling commands at the little monkey on his back :rofl:

They were both really nervous at first, but I kept them on the lunge line for a bit -until they both relaxed- and it went super well! Fabio even seemed to like it. 

2. I just got my schedule for next week and color me working A LOT - every single day! But it'll be fun. I'm looking forward to it. 
And hellooooo $$$$!
Not, of course, that I'm in it for the money BUT I would like to buy my own car/move out/whatever and $$$$ is kind of a big part of that. 

3. On the note of working a lot, I took Fabs out this night for a reallllly short ride. We just did one itty-bitty trail, nothing challenging, but it was nice. 
We actually did a note-worthy amount of cantering too! 
I've been noticing that he tends to get really worked up cantering, even just in the pasture on his own. And the same thing happens undersaddle - we cantering once and suddenly the whole ride is like a day at the races, forget cantering again because stopping _will_ be a one-rein-stop [luckily, he is getting great at them...??? what a talent. HA.]. Anyway, so this evening, in order to make our ride productive and since he was already a little more laidback than usual, I decided to we'd do a little canter work.
Just a little bit, but enough to where he was saying "ok, I'm cantering because you're telling me too, not because I necessarily want to."

And it actually went really well! At one point he even gave me a nice, really relaxed, canter - not rushy like it normally is!
So I'm happy with that. 

I'm not sure how soon I'll get to ride again [I'm working until 4:30 every day this week, home at 5-ish, sun goes down around 6...] but this was a goo stopping point. 
Plus, on the not riding front, he needs his hooves done DESPERATELY [right before I got him, his hooves hadn't been done in 4+months so they were all horrifying - the flares are finally almost grown out, but the ones that are left are HUGE!] so I feel a little bad riding him on hard surfaces right now. He's getting them done on Friday, but taking this week easy is probably ok.

4. SUPER CUTE story.
So I think I've probably told you about Gman's best friend. 
And I totally have a lil' baby crush on him. He's the sweetest and has just welcomed me into their circle of friends for who-knows-why reasons. Gman has other friends that are also friends with his best friends, but those friends have stayed "Gman's friends" in terms of Gman's guy bestie. But me and Gman's guy bestie, we seem to have developed our own sort of friendship, or something

ANYWAY. So yeah, I definitely have a little crush on him. But he's in Virginia right now for graduate school so it realllly doesn't matter. 
He's like my public transit blog's BIGGEST fan. :lol:

He's kind of a lot like Chris Traeger from Parks&Rec - ie, impossible to read.

A N Y W A Y .

Today he and Gman's other bestie [who is a girl, who I'm sure he's going to marry but I dunno...they aren't dating or anything and they've been friends since they were freshmen in college so maybe not...in any case, I'm pretty sure he's straight :lol: his future wife is this big topic of conversation amongst the three - it alwayssss comes up at least once when I see any of them so I'd imagine it comes up a lot more...?], who moved to South Carolina for a job, went to some state fair.

Long story short, I got on FB this afternoon and found that he had tagged me [and Gman] in a BUNCH of pictures from this state fair outing. 
FB was all "____ says you were together at the Virginia State Fair!" :rofl:

They were all pictures of sheep and goats wearing those slinkies show animals wear to stay clean. I guess he thought they were super funny and thought I'd enjoy them too.

Which I did. hahaha

It was nice to be thought of.  Especially by someone who mostly knows you through someone else.

Gman has THE NICEST best friends.


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## Sharpie

Jayne was rushy about cantering too. Well, rushy about everything. Everything was "OMGiamgettingnervouswhatshouldIdo?Iknow!FASTER!" His go-to move for everything new was to be a very fast giraffe. Lots of long canters helped us, much like I read you wound up doing when Fabs was being a dork with trotting. Long canters, like a mile down the trail, and then another mile, and then back, and then he decided that since I might make him canter for *forever* it was no longer exciting and he ought to start off easy and relaxed from the beginning. Now we can even race other horses without his brain exiting the area. I finally caught up to today. I love your writing! Thank you for keeping up on everything so much!


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## Wallaby

Thanks Sharpie! 
I wish we had longer stretches to canter in. The stretches we have were long enough to give Lacey that impression...but just long enough to get Mr. Fabs real wound up. :lol: We do have one huge hill I generally let/make him trot+canter up but I wish we had more. There's one flatter stretch, but the footing is pretty hard [tiny packed gravel over asphalt] and I worry about his tendons and things. It was one thing with Lacey where she had been in consistent work/turned out 24/7 prior to working on those surfaces...but another for Fabs, imo, who's coming out of a 100% stalled life, to a pasture puff life, to now. 
Who knows, he might be able to stand up to it more than I think...but I'm being extra cautious. haha


Oh man. It's only almost Wednesday and I'm so tiredddddd. It's 8:30pm and I've been in bed since 7:30 - ie, 30 minutes after I got home. haha

But the job is going GREAT. I am loving every second. The kids are starting to warm up to me more and I still feel super comfortable there. I'm really excited about it. I'm so thankful I got it!!

The animals are missing me, I think. Fabs is being really clingy. I think he reallllly wants me to ride - I rode him 6 days a week all through September so getting 3 days off is weird!

I might hop on tomorrow for a few minutes, or maybe I'll just lunge him a bit...we'll see. I'll try to get him some kind of attention! haha

On the Fabs front, this evening he had another little freak out. >.<
It's been in the mid-80's all week and he has a significant winter coat going on, so he was super sweaty [dried sweat mostly]. I was already filling up water troughs so I figured I'd grab him and hose him off.

For whatever reason, even though he's been getting hosed off at least every other day all summer, he saw the hose+water and LOST HIS COOKIES.
He flew backwards, realized he was on a line [I just had a neck rope on him cuz I figured he would be fine like he *always* is] gave a little hop, then started rearing all over. I dropped the rope, he spooked at it, and just stopped so I could grab him again.

Then we marched over to the water and he got hosed down without as much as 1 more dramatic peep. He even accepted, and seemed to enjoy, having his face hosed off [a huge first]. Usually he thinks about rearing when I go for his face, but not this time!

I wish I had some kind of warning that these little rearing blow-ups were about to occur, but they always seem to come completely out of the blue.
Actually, I guess they really don't - they always happen in reaction to unexpected poll [or near poll] pressure. And it's not every kind of poll pressure - poll pressure from the halter is a-ok, it's just singular rope-type poll pressure. Rearing doesn't happen every single time he feels that kind of pressure, it just tends to happen when he feels that kind of pressure in a scenario where he's already unsure.

On one hand, I want to say that that theory^ says that maybe I should limit the possibility of those scenarios....but, on the other hand, I do really want him to learn that he's gonna be ok no matter what the situation is and I kinda feel like avoiding one scenario based on a potential reaction flies in the face of that goal....
Maybe I should just be more careful with how I present those sorts of situations...

Interestingly, Lacey's go-to [when she was feel especially naughty] bad behavior under saddle was rearing..but she never once reared when I was with her on the ground.

Fabs has never offered to rear undersaddle, but he's reared numerous times on the ground....

I _almost_ wonder if he was trained to rear like that. Each time it's very straight up and down, both front legs tucked neatly in, ears pricked forwards, and you can totally see it coming before he does it - like he thinks for a second, then does it.
But I've never been around a horse that just rears to rear and one that's trained to rear...so I really don't know the difference. I just almost wonder because, when he's reacting negatively to something, he tends to get wayyyy more reactivity worked up than he ever seems to get when these rears have occured. And in the case of "real" reactivity, he usually isn't 100% chill immediately afterwards, like he is post-rearing.

But who knows.

Anyway, he loved being hosed off after that fiasco. What a dorkkk. 

And here's a video of him shaking into the sunset. :lol:


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## Wallaby

Weird double post...


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## grayshell38

Though you know the situation best, I too think more cantering might be helpful. Mana is and always has been "let's go the fastest walk/trot/canter that I can get away with!". Endurance training has done him wonders. He's realizing that he needs to start conserving his energy since we might be gone forever. haha. 

He is still very forward, but he is learning to prioritize. 

If I remember, you did something similar for Lacey at one point as well?


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## SueC

Wallaby said:


> He did SO well. He was a little confused about why he was being ridden AND on the lunge line ["wait, am I listening to YOU...or this kid??"], and then, when I let them ride free, he was extra confused about why I was standing right there but yelling commands at the little monkey on his back :rofl:
> 
> They were both really nervous at first, but I kept them on the lunge line for a bit -until they both relaxed- and it went super well! Fabio even seemed to like it.


...maybe that's because he worked out that little monkeys weigh less than big monkeys! ;-)


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## Wallaby

I completely agree, Megan!  It's just that we don't have anywhere to run that's long enough, with ok footing, to tire him out. The sections that made Lacey think she was going to die/run forever are only long enough to get Fabs really fired up. The longest stretch is barely a mile and a half...and he's still raring to go after canter-galloping the whole thing. He's more tired, of course, but he's still open to the suggestion of running.
:lol: Young Arabs! 
He'd probably get the idea very strongly after 2/2.5 miles...but we don't have that.
My number one[ish] goal with this job is to get a truck and a single/double horse trailer - maybe by next summer. THEN we'll go find some running space. 


Haha very true, Sue! 

Speaking of his lesson, he did WAY better today. There was one point where he got really nervous when the saddle was going on [the backcinch was funny so the kid quickly fixed it then raced around to his other side and immediately started messing with that side of the saddle - too much too fast] but I told her to stop for a second, we gave him a second to breathe and think, then he was totally fine the rest of the time. 

I was really proud of him for that! Instead of just melting down and being "done" like he formerly would have, he recovered pretty quickly and was good to go.

I'll try to think more to say and I'll probably be back later. I started writing this and I suddenly have to go so.... haha oops.


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## tinyliny

there isn't ANYWHERE in my neighbohrhood where you can canter a mile even! the best we get is like a shy quarter mile at best.


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## Roperchick

Yay fabs and learning stuffs lol


That^^ whole dilemma of space to run is why I LOVE my desert haha. plenty of space
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## gunslinger

Roperchick said:


> Yay fabs and learning stuffs lol
> 
> 
> That^^ whole dilemma of space to run is why I LOVE my desert haha. plenty of space
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Yep....same here....we're blessed with great places to ride........but I do have to load and trailer to get to them.....


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## Wallaby

G UUUU Y S SSSSSSS. 

I thought I should peek in and let you all know that we are all still alive! 

I've been working 8:30-5 every day for the last three weeks...things are crazzzzzy. And last Saturday I had my "Child/Infant CPR/First Aid" class all day too.

It's a little bit frustrating - I've gotten to do so little with Fabs recently. It really stinks. BUT, on the plus side, thanks to riding him 6 days a week in September, he's WAY more broke now and it's easier to just hop on in the pasture and not run in to any "real" issues. Of course, there are still plenty of things that need to be ironed out, of course, but, instead of being unable to go 6 minutes without something major needing to be addressed, we can choose one thing to work a little on and not have to think too much about random+unpredicted issues...

So that's kind of nice and I'm so glad I chose to do that in September. It's made having this job, and basically letting Fabs sit, feel way less slackerly.
I hope to get him out on the trail maybe this coming Saturday if the weather is ok..we'll see! I hopped on for 5 minutes today and did the same last Saturday...

Ugh, I had lots of photos to share but they just don't seem to be uploading [I use Flickr and on mobile, for whatever reason, you can't see the photos uploading...like there's not progress bar, so sometimes they just kind of choose not to, or something, and there's no telling why... ] SO I'll try again sometime and fingers crossed it works....

But work is going well! I'm really enjoying it a lot. The kids have finally all warmed up to me which is super fun! And I'm getting to be pretty good at changing diapers. :lol:
I'm basically working everyday, except on Tuesday/Thursday before 12:30 cuz I have class. But after class I've been working until 5. 

It's nice to have a job where I feel super "wanted"! I kinda like working every available moment. I wish I had extra animal-time, of course...but ti's nice to feel useful and like I'm bettering my life and the animal's lives. 

I DO, however, have this video from last week of Atti being creative:


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## gunslinger

Wallaby said:


> G UUUU Y S SSSSSSS.
> 
> I thought I should peek in and let you all know that we are all still alive!
> 
> I've been working 8:30-5 every day for the last three weeks...things are crazzzzzy.
> 
> It's nice to have a job where I feel super "wanted"! I kinda like working every available moment. I wish I had extra animal-time, of course...but ti's nice to feel useful and like I'm bettering my life and the animal's lives.


Sorry girlfriend....but that's the way all but the 47% do it.......8 to 5 for a forty hour week....but then again....many work a lot more hours than that.....

The good thing is it makes this horse hobby much more affordable.....and I so look forward to the long weekend rides which makes the work week doable......

Ain't no free rides.....not for the 53%......now....off to work you go.....


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## egrogan

gunslinger said:


> Sorry girlfriend....but that's the way all but the 47% do it.......8 to 5 for a forty hour week....but then again....many work a lot more hours than that.....
> 
> The good thing is it makes this horse hobby much more affordable.....and I so look forward to the long weekend rides which makes the work week doable......
> 
> Ain't no free rides.....not for the 53%......now....off to work you go.....


Ha Gun! Love the way you put it. My job is a 50-hr week minimum, it's worth it on a lot of levels, but I miss those grad school days when I complained about how "busy" I was.


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## BlueSpark

yep, I work 8-4:30 Monday to Friday as a minimum, I often take on longer shifts(up to 14 hours) and I have construction related side jobs I do several times a year, plus I do special event gluten free cupcakes and wedding cakes, I make wine, garden, paint, cross stitch, sew my own clothes, do all my own cooking and baking. 

in the summer I can ride later. Right now I'm riding 3-4 times a week, and usually 4-5 days a week in the summer. 1 or maybe 2 days a week in the winter, if the weather holds.

I wonder why I'm tired all the time, but then I actually think about my schedule and it makes sense:lol:


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## jcraig10

It sucks being a grown up! I always say that whoever invented the 40 hour work week clearly hated their wife. LOL. I actually enjoy spending time with my SO, but it seems that our time spent together just keeps getting shorter and shorter with my 40 hour week and his 60-70 hour weeks! Time for a vacation 

I wish I could hang out with Atti for a day...hes the coolest.


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## Roperchick

80hr work week anybody???? Ya. No bueno lol

Hahaha. I. Love. Atti.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

I could wax poetically about the bad things in my life right now and how I miss having any kind of life outside work, but I won't.

Instead I'll just post this video. 






HOW CUTE is he?! I just love it when he starts running around, I'm all "oh yeah, that's my horse."

And here's Fabs confronting a "life threatening" shingle that had blown off the roof:






Good thing he saved us, those shingles were gonna end it all.... :rofl: :rofl:


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## jcraig10

He is so gosh darn handsome.


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## gunslinger

The way I figure it.....payday can't be far off......

Don't spend it all at one time!


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## Wallaby

RIGHT, Julia?!! I'm just like "um, who are you again??!" :Lol:

Agreed, Gunslinger! Speaking of payday, I got paid today! And I am not complaining. A month of working 4 days a week at $9.50/hr does not look too shabby on paper. :lol:

Mostly what I'm stopping in to say is that I may not update for a month or so. 
My laptop officially imploded on Saturday and I don't yet have the money for the new laptop I want. But I'm getting my inheritance from my grandma by the end of the month so I should be able to get a new laptop then.
Anyway, I didn't want you guys to worry or think I don't love you anymore. :lol:
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

And cuz I seem to only be able to add 1 photo per message with my phone...

Hazel got a new blanket!


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## Wallaby

I suppose I can probably add a photo every once in a while:


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## cakemom

Yippee he says!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## jcraig10

Look mom I'm a bunny rabbit...bouncy bouncy bouncy


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## Wallaby

That's exactly it!! :lol:

In recent news, Fabs got a new blanket that is all his own.
Hazel got a few new blankets too, a couple weeks ago.

And, somehow, I "accidentally" managed to get them the very same blanket in each of their sizes.

Oops.

:rofl:


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## Roman

"Mom, we are NOT twins here! No matching stuff" XD


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## egrogan

Awww...so cute!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## jcraig10

rain...ew!


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## Wallaby

They "loved" it! Haha I think Roman hit the nail on the head there!! Haha


IN OTHER NEWS!!
Ugh, I wish I had my laptop so I could tell this story better but I neeeed to talk about it so I'm gonna jumble along and hopefully it makes sense:
Gman's Bestie, remember him? I've told you guys about him before, they surprised me at church together a few months ago. And I kinda maybe have a little thing for this bestie. 
Can we call him GBFF?
Anyway he's really really sweet and really tall and just all kinds of great. We get along super. But he's in Virginia going to graduate school.

So he's been my public transit blog's BIGGEST fan for months now (actually he literally signed up for Tumblr to be the blog's first follower back when it first started..now that it's on Facebook too he likes basically every story I ever post).
So that's kinda sweet and has kept him on my mind.

On Sunday I weirdly got confused by some guy at church and started teasing him like I eould have teased GBFF.
So I wrote GBFF a FB message later telling him the weird awkward tale cuz I knew he'd laugh (first FB message between us).
We talked and joked a little, then I didn't write back (I didn't have anything really worthwhile to say so figured it'd be better to stop while we were ahead BUT after we decided we needed to hang out when he's out here in December, if at all possible).
Today I got on and found that he had "liked" SO MANY of my personal statuses - like he had gone through my page just laughing to himself.

So tonight I posted something and tagged him in it, to continue whatever is happening.

I don't even know.
I really like this kid, he's better than...oh man, brain-fart, the guy who moved to Tenennesse...
But I feel weird that he's Gman's BFF.
Maybe nothing is going on, but I don't see why this guy has been basically seeking me out [this is the guy that tags me in photo albums when there are sassy animals] for years when I'm *just* a friend of Gman's. Gman's other besties have not done that...

In any case, Gman and I have not talked about it.
He used to bring up this guy allllll the time, way more than nessicary, and when we all went to church together he always made sure I "somehow" sat next to this guy.
BUT. 
When I've brought GBFF up in conversation recently, Gman gets weird and silent. Almost like he might be jealous??
But what does he have to be jealous of? It's literally not like HE's interested in me romantically... Maybe it's just the attention switch. Maybe he can tell, even though I'm trying to hide it, and maybe he's worried I'll stop being his friend if I "move on" to GBFF. For the record, there's only one Gman. I'm certainly not about to drop him or anything for any silly reason! I'm in THAT friendship for the longhaul and I thought Gman knew it..but I guess you can know something and not know-know it (I'm good at that one!!)
I just thought he would be so happy about this...

I guess we'll see.
Meanwhile I'll just bask in the glow of having a funny cute guy doing all he can to make me smile 

AH. I feel better now that that's all out. Thanks for listening. 
And hopefully there aren't too many typos. My iPhone's keyboard was not meant for blogging! :lol:

And a picture of Fabs being an after-dark apple thief Hahaha
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

Ack! Double post.


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## Wallaby

GUYS!!!!

$1800 later, I just bought my new laptop 

And it should be here next Wednesday!

We are soooo close to returning to our regularly scheduled programming, I'm so excited!!! I've missed you guys and writing to you guys! I never realized how attached I am/was to you all until I couldn't write to you anymore <3 <3
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Chevaux

Very good news indeed. 

Is this a fancy pants laptop (at that price)? We got our most recent one for something like $300 or so but I know it's not top of the line with regard to processing speed, video card, etc.


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## gunslinger

Sounds like a pretty nice laptop. What kind is it?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

Oh, it's gonna be niceeeee 

It's a 13.3 inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display (so basically as much screen resolution as your eye can see - great for photo editing), 16GB memory, basically just a snick below the absolute nicest Mac laptop one can get. 
Oh! AND three years of insurance where Apple will replace/fix it for free if it breaks. 
I hope to have it for a while! I'm excited. I've never had something this nice!

:happydance: :happydance:

In animal news, I decided to get the kids a new kind of hay today. Usually I feed local grass hay with a tiny helping of alfalfa to make it a bit more palatable. 
Fabs, however, does not like local in a slow-feed net so he wastes SOOO much of it. I decided to try this bluegrass/alfalfa mix my feed store carries, just to see if he might eat it more and waste less.

HE LOST HIS JUNK.
Hazel thought it was absolutely delightful and spent her afternoon trailing hay out of her mouth at all times, but poor Fabs!
He was doing that "that's so scary" nose-snort-y noise at every turn. Sniff his hay net, SNORT, take a tiny bite, SNORT, retreat to a safe distance, SNORT, creep back, SNORT, etc.

Poor baby!
I gave him some of his hated grass hay too so hopefully I'll show up tomorrow and he's realized that the new hay isn't plotting to kill him...I guess we'll see.

Oh that horse! :rofl:
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Sharpie

What a hilarious goober. Horses! It is your FOOD! At least when they spook at a big round bale or a stack of squares or something you can maybe see that they're imagining cougars hiding behind it or something, but when they're scared of it in their feeder it's hard to do anything but laugh at them.


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## Wallaby

Right?! hahaha what a dorky horse. 

Ok, so I've had my new laptop for a few days now and I reallllly wanted to write to you guys before the weekend was out!

First, I'm basically dying. But not. But I've been sick for the last forever, it's awful. I've gone to the doctor once and gotten antibiotics, but I'm still sick. I think I probably need to go back. 
Half my problem, I think, is that I've gotten "gluten-ed" three times in the last week. With my Celiacs, since it's an auto-immune disease, my immune system is already low during an episode, then add all those kids at work = sick Emily.
Anyway so that's a huge bummer. I'm actually not going to church tonight based on my sickness - trying to take a day and recoup. I fed the kiddos this morning and gave them enough to last to tomorrow so I'm also forgoing the evening check on them. I hate doing that, but resting will help me heal more than traipsing around in the cold. 

But, in other news, the job is going great! I love it a lot!

Fabs and the goats are also doing well. I wish I got to see/hang out with them more [this time of year, I've been doing a lot of feeding in the dark...should start getting lighter soon!!] but they're doing ok.

I took Fabs out for a short trail ride last Sunday and he really enjoyed it. He did start bolting[?] twice -where he suddenly shot forward and would have kept going had I not one-rein-stopped him- but I got him stopped each time.
I hope I get more time to work with him this summer. He's such a good horse, but he's a big project. Hopefully once the daylight hours increase...

Speaking on him being a project, I finally figured out a "key" of sorts with him - putting his head down."
He, for whatever reason, has no concept of putting his head down within himself [maybe it's the Arab thing??] but I've been finding that, if I introduce something "scary" and apply downward pressure to his head and take the scary thing away the second he puts his head down, he figures out really really fast that 1. the scary thing isn't scary and 2. panicking isn't the right option. 
Of course, I have to be really careful to introduce the scary thing out where it's still scary but not horrifying.
So far, using that method, he is now totally chill about the saddle pad being put on his back and with ropes being flung around. The ropes thing is still kind of a work in progress, but he's so much calmer about ropes than he had been.

And he's also, after nearly 6 months of working on this, finally started putting his ears forward pretty quickly at meal times. I don't let him come in and eat until he puts both ears forward in the my direction and it used to take forevvvvvvvver [he just stands there flinging his head around, making all kinds of "mean" faces], but he finally seems to be getting it.

Anyway, things are going pretty well.

And Hazel is actually mildly chubby. Not truly chubby, but practically obese for her! You can still feel her bones, but she has a layer of fat over them which is GREAT! 
She's this constant dilemma for me about whether she enjoys life and other various "end of life" questions. So her finally carrying an acceptable amount of weight is helpful. 
With her arthritis and hoof issues and weight issues and teeth issues and age...but, at this point, I bet she has at least 2 years left.  I hope she has more, many more, but at least 2. 


Pictures!







And a sunrise...


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## tinyliny

yesterday I went on a mounted Christmas caroling outing. we had like a dozen or more riders, all decked in ribbons and bells and antler hats and stuff. we went through the neighborhoods and went all through the local strip mall's parking lot! kids, cars, shopping carts. the horse did so well, it was amazing.

but, the reason I brought that up is that at one point, I could feel X getting worried, and you just feel his neck stiffen and head start to come up. it's like his neck ind of fill out and gets stiff. as soon as I felt that happening, I transmitted through my hands the "idea" of ' lower your head'. and just by lowering his head an inch, the whole tension dissolved. he didn't have to lower it a lot, but just him thinking about lowering it made him relase that feeling of hardness and resistance.


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## Wallaby

Haha, great story Caroline! 

Well, we're all alive here! I may be less alive than usual, but I'm alive. I am currently dealing with "some" pneumonia and an ear infection, but I'm starting to feel better. 
However, the poor kiddos have hardly seen me in forever. Since I got really sick on Wednesday, I've only been feeding them once a day, then going back to bed. Poor kiddos.

Fabs is being really sweet about it. Each time I've dragged myself out, he's been trying to lick my hands, nuzzle my legs, etc. Just basically checking in and making sure I'm ok...I guess. 
He's such a sweetheart!


In other news, TOMORROW is the winter equinox! That means the days are _finally_ gonna start getting longer, shedding season and summer here we come! I'm looking forward to it!


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## egrogan

I am so excited about the longer days coming. My poor chickens are going to roost at 4:30 right now. It's like the day is over before it's even started.

Feel better!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## gunslinger

It must be catching over the internet....

I've got a terrible runny nose.....dry cough....and sneezing....started on Wed.....doesn't seem to be getting much better as of yet......

One thing for sure, a couple of shots of Jack Daniels taste a whole lot better than nyquil.......

First time I've had a cold in several years....


----------



## Wallaby

Ughhh no internet sickness!! That stinks. 


"Exciting" news: NG and Gman's BFF were at church tonight.
I will attempt to update when I get home and to my computer.

Basically I got a perfect comparison of why GBFF is a good person to have in my life...and why NG is sweet but not for me.
But I'll report back in detail. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Wallaby

So I knew GBff was coming into town this weekend. We had been talking about trying to go to the zoo yesterday, but that didn't work out for a number of reasons [one of which being my sicky-sickness]. He was heading out again tomorrow so that left us with a really tiny window to see each other in. 

I've come to the conclusion though that he's somebody I really like and, to quote Gman, is "the most laid-back person in the world." So I figured that a little pushing to see him wasn't going to hurt anything since he's besties with Gman [who is about as anxious and neurotic as I am] and he probably wouldn't feel too pushed on cuz he is so laid-back.

So I had kind of been messaging him on Facebook being like "the zoo!" "just kidding, church on Sunday night!" etc. And he was like "yes please!!" each time.

Then this morning came and I texted Gman [who was basically transportation for this whole thing cuz GBff was at his house, haha] and he was like "I dunno if it's gonna work cuz I have work, but we'lll see."

Well, they totally made it happen. 

Anyway, long story short, I got to see them both and had time to talk to GBff. 
He saw me walk in the balcony [they had gotten there adorably early], his whole face just lit up. He had clearly been watching for me. 
Each time I talk to him, I kind of like him more. UGH. haha And he's just tall enough - my head fits right under his chin when we hug, it's perfect. :lol: [which is kind of funny since he's SUPER tall compared to "normal" people but I'm kind of tall for a girl so I guess it works? haha]
He asked if I was feeling better and so forth.
I like that, someone who cares about how I'm doing enough to ask pertinent questions.
Other stuff happened, etc etc, but it was all good.

Gman just sent me this text after I texted him, thanking him for going to the earlier service even though it was harder for his life: "of course! [GBff] wanted to see you too "

AWWWW.
[also, I had been planning my outfit for tonight for a bit just cuz it's one I was really felt good about how it looked -before I even knew that I'd be seeing anyone more than normal church people- and I got so many compliments about how "ridiculously cute" I looked so I felt EXTRA good about seeing GBff tonight!!]


Anyway. NG. Ohhhhh NG.

So as church was getting out, right as GBff was walking around Gman to come talk to me, NG appears and totally cuts him off. NG has been in Tennessee for the last forever. He has my phone number, he could have been all "hey! I'm in town! Are you gonna be at church?"
But no. 
I saw him and I was all "hey NG!" thinking it would be a quick conversation since I haven't heard from him in months and you don't just move away, not talk to someone at all for months, then reappear and try talking like you're besties [or at least not in my book, you stay in contact with those you want to talk to, no matter the distance]. 
Ohhhh no. I literally had to shoo him away cuz he was just talking and talking and talking. He could have gone on for forever. He asked how Fabio was, etc. I told him about my job, he assumed I was working at a doggy daycare [hahaha], and on.
That kid. I don't like that. He was acting like he had never left. 

And taking away from my precious time with GBff. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: Emily's not being a spoiled baby at alllllllllll.

Finally I just had to be like "ok, you're gonna be here next week, right? Text me! We'll sit together then and talk." and he left. 

The thing that really bothered me is just that he has made absolutely no effort with our friendship since he left, yet he comes back and acts like we're still good friends/something? I know some people just are that way with friendship and that's ok for them...I just can't handle that. Either we aren't good friends and you leave and we don't talk, or we are good friends/you're trying to build something even though you're gone and we talk.

Like GBff. Even though he's gone a lot, he makes a conscious effort to show he's thinking of me even when he's far away. And he responds when I reach out to him. And he reaches out to me. He doesn't just let me reach out to him, ignore me, then act like we're besties when he appears out of no where.

UGH.

But oh well, this is definitely teaching me what I like and don't like in gentlemen-friends.
So I can't complain about that. A year ago you could have asked if that was important to me and I'd be like "....um, maybe?? I don't know?" so I guess I can thank NG for that.

And it WAS nice to see NG. I've missed his quirky sense of...him. :lol:

Overall, it was a good night.


----------



## Wallaby

And then yesterday I got home from work, got on Facebook....and found 8 notifications, all in a row, from GBff.   
Of course I love getting that many notifications from anyone, as long as they aren't creepy or something, but it's extra sweet coming from him. I just like that I've literally never been anything fake around him and I've probably mostly just been a terrible, mean, person around him*...yet he's still all about getting to know me.

*literally terrible and mean: the first night I ever met him/the first time he ever learned of my existence in the world, I was in a blunt-mean phase and totally started ranting [who even knows why] about rich people. Turns out he's...totally not poor. At all. And that was just one time. There have been plentyyy more times. 
Like the first time we sat together in church, years ago, I literally told him that I "wasn't going to talk to [him] cuz I don't really talk to people I don't know" and he was all "that's ok, me neither." BUT STILL. I don't deserve nice people in my life anymore. :lol: 
Or like on Sunday night, this last Sunday night. Gman and GBff's female bestie [who I have asked Gman about and he says that there is exactly zero things going on between her and GBff] was there and I wasn't expecting her so I was thrown a little off...more off than usual.
She's SO nice so she saw me and we were greeting each other, and she gave me a hug and said [in right front of GBff, before I said hi to him, so I was extra flustered] "OH MY GOSH. You always look really cute, but you look SO cute tonight. I just love everything you're wearing and YOUR HAIR! I mean, you always look cute, but tonight!!!"
And I was like "oh thanks! That's really nice! I was feeling pretty on-point tonight so I'm glad you think so too!"
W O W. 
Let's just discuss the top ten snottiest things to say to someone who is complimenting you: any form of "yeah, I know" is probably #1. 
WHO do I think I am? How do I have ANY friends?! :rofl:


Anyway.

I'm finally on "Christmas Break" now! 
We get the rest of this week, and next week off from work - like my work is entirely closed. How nice is that?! It's not paid, of course, but I'm down for a break! 
I see lots of riding in my future, I'm looking SO forward to it!!

And Christmas in the daycare industry is NICE. This week I got a number of Christmas cards, two $25 gift cards - one to Fred Meyer [basically Kroger...I think? It's a "one stop shop"-type grocery store] and the other to Target, and a little plant! 
I feel so spoiled! <3


And pictures:






OH! And I was let off work early yesterday so I went and got hay. Now I'm done with getting hay until a week from Friday!  And that'll be like "I don't really neeed hay, but better to stay ahead"-type hay getting, not "oh my gosh, I need hay NOW"-type hay getting. 
Yes PLEASE.


:happydance:


----------



## gunslinger

I wish I were rich. I'd love to be hated for that. 

Don't you want to be rich too?


Personally, it's the private school attitude that bugs me.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Wallaby

I don't think I'd mind being rich...but money is really not any kind of motivation for me. It's really not that important.
I'd be perfectly happy with just enough money to make do and nothing more. ...but I wouldn't refuse being rich AND there's no reason to berate those who are rich! Just like there's no reason to berate someone for being poor. :lol:

And I completely agree about the private school attitude. I dearly hope to never send any kids I may have to private school mostly because of that. I honestly don't understand how Gman and GBff did it, but neither of them have that attitude and they ARE private school kids.
Actually though, I have seen it very occasionally from Gman in rare situations where he's feeling anxious and doesn't want to make friends with anyone....but I've never gotten the brunt of it. 
And GBff...well, he's like a tall, bearded, ray of sunshine and joy. I don't think he has a mean or cruel bone in his body. :rofl:


Fabs and I went on a ride today. I used to always take a Christmas ride with Lacey so I figured Fabs should get in on it too.
And he was terrible.
In hindsight, probably not the best idea to take a relatively green+hot horse who hasn't been ridden in a month straight out on the trail.
But hey, we survived, right??

But yeah, he bolted numerous times and I had to one-rein-stop him at least 4 times and we probably never really achieved a walk-walk...it was more like a speed walk.
Every trot was a "OH! You meant CANTER?!!" and every request to go back to a trot was translated into "Look at how much I can shorten up my canter without trotting!!" Which, to be honest, it actually is really impressive how short he can make his canter. He can tighten it up so much that it's slower than any trot I've ever gotten out of him...like a slow motion canter.

On the more positive side, he DID stick to a fast walk once I started really focusing on giving him a lot of rein and sitting deep in the saddle. He stopped trying to launch into a trot at the slightest provocation.
And our last trot was a "nice" sitting trot. He would have started cantering if I gave him the option [by posting] but I sat really deep and he did an ok trot. I think something about the way I post might end up with my legs brushing his sides in a way that he misinterprets as the canter cue. Cuz we consistently have this problem - I say trot, I start posting, and he takes off. Or maybe it's just cuz he's green and I've let him canter occasionally in a situation like that [he has such a big canter and it's generally pretty hard to stay balanced slowing him down as soon as he hops into a canter...I'm still figuring his canter out]...
Either way, there's a miscommunication happening. Especially since he isn't typically "bad" like that - like he'll test, but in general he only really escalates to bolting or being "bad" when he's feeling completely confused and scared. And I don't think this is a case where he's scared, but it might definitely be a case where he's confused.
I also know that my saddle really doesn't fit him like it should [too wide] which may be causing some issues. I have it really padded up with a 1 inch pad and a 1/2 inch pad so it's off his withers and such, but the angle of the tree still isn't right. He hasn't come up back-sore since I started using both pads together, but that doesn't mean it never pinches or something. I'm hoping to get a new Aussie saddle of the same kind I have, just with a medium tree, soon...but it might be more like mid-spring before that happens. I could get my current saddle adjusted to be medium vs wide, but I kinda feel like it might be good to have a variety of widths around if it's possible...

I honestly wish I could get a nice western saddle [I've decided that Hereford TexTans are a kind I realllly like] but I prefer the security of an Aussie saddle and with how much riding in the rain I do, a synthetic is imperative.


Also, in other news, Fabs met an umbrella today. And he HATED it.
It was too funny, it wasn't being opened and closed or anything like that. It was just being calmly held and he was running around like a maniac. [my brother came up to "help" me feed and he's an umbrella kind of guy]
But it was really neat to see him running around like that. I just LOVE his trot when he gets excited. 

I eventually just left it on the ground, so he could look at it without feeling pressure from it being held, and he slowly trotted up to it...and ended up licking it quite thoroughly. 
What a dork. 












ALSO. Merry Christmas!! I hope today was wonderful for you all. <3 <3


----------



## egrogan

He's such a cute guy. Love the videos. 

I had one of those "hop on after not riding for weeks and go" trail rides right before the holidays. Isabel is definitely not young or green, but she still went a little nuts and bolted on me in a very inconvenient spot (through a small stand of trees). Not fun at all!

That said, I've been off this whole week and ridden every day- it feels great to have that kind of time. Hope you get some good riding in over the holidays while you're off from work too! Merry Christmas to you and Fabs. By the way, I love that you're continuing Lacey's Christmas ride tradition, very sweet way to remember her.


----------



## Wallaby

Right? These horses of ours! haha I think I'm gonna try taking the kiddo out tomorrow again, but I've been working with him more this week [sine I have this week off] so I'm thinking it should, hopefully, go better.
Hopefully it doesn't get too windy. We're right in the midst of a sudden cold snap and whenever those happen the wind usually springs up and, because there are so many trees around, it's not a great idea to go riding in the woods with 30mph winds tearing about. :rofl:
So we'll see...I hope I get to ride! 
At the very least I suppose I could ride in the pasture. I have a really hard time getting motivated in the pasture and I think it shows up in our rides. There are so many things I would like to work on, but the pasture is so steep that it's hard to ask for any kind of precision or do anything more than walk around. it's frustratingggg. 
But it's not as bad as it could be. And walking-work can be good!


Anyway.

1. GBff and I are talking more, kind of. It's pretty good. Nothing major, but it's good. We've slowly been starting to talk more anyway, over the last year or so, so this is just an increase in that. 
And more in messages on FB. Before it was like he'd post on my FB wall or I'd post on his and we'd have some funny banter about it, then not talk at all for a month, then repeat. Who knows. But I figure that's good! Especially since there are only a few months left until, hopefully, he's back here cuz he'll be done with graduate school....


2. I'm working more with Fabs. 
I realized this morning that we haven't had a "big" issue over feeding time in MONTHS. And that's so so great! 
When he showed up here, he was SO food aggressive. I guess maybe not truly aggressive, but he definitely spent a lot of time trying to scare me away from his food and, I think, it could have really escalated had I ever backed down when he "warned" me. 
He did charge me twice, in attempts to get me away from his food but, luckily, both times I was able to grab the lunge whip and go after him before I got hurt. 
I never hit him, of course, but I was able to underline that it was MY food until I told him it was his food.

I still make him stand outside the stall before he's fed, twice a day, and we wait for however long it takes for him to make "nice ears", but he's SO much better with that than he used to be. It used to take forever and he would be making the grumpiestttt faces when he wasn't half-heartedly trying to make nice faces. Now he just mostly alternates between "thinking about other things"-faces and "food getting"-faces. It's a major improvement!

It's really the same with all over ear-pinning. He still pins his ears regularly, but not nearly as much as he did. I'm so glad he's finally coming out of that, ear-pinning is probably one of my least favorite habits.


I've also been finding that he does really, really, well if I groom him while he's loose in his stall. I used to just groundtie him which he's great at, but he always seemed tense and he would never "get into" the grooming. 

Grooming him while he's loose seems to give him a lot more confidence about the whole process, for whatever reason. Maybe he felt trapped? Even though he was groundtied so he literally could not have been less trapped??
In any case, I can now pop out of the tack room with some brushes, say "you wanna be brushed?!" to him, and have him amble right over and line himself up so I can brush him. It's really adorable and all kinds of heartwarming!

Maybe giving him so much time "off" due to this job of mine and all has actually been good for his mind. Maybe he needed some "let down" time, like race horses do??
I guess that could make sense - he was SO stressed when he showed up here, I'd need a break too!

It's weird to think that we're about 3 months away from a year since Lacey passed away and about 5 months away from a year with Fabs.
So weird.
Fabs just reminds me of her so much in different ways [though they are totally different, but some of their "things" - like not being tied while being groomed and the bolting-when-happy - are SO similar] that it feels a lot like she's still here.
He's a harder keeper than she was though! :lol: And he's way taller...I miss my short pony. haha 

Anyway.

I come bearing pictures. LOTS of pictures.

At a family party last week, I found this awesome pictures of my late-grandpa on a carriage horse in the 1920s! The story behind this has been lost, but he was NOT horsey at allllll so I'm really excited about this!!!



I was grooming the kid and found this monster dread in his mane. What even. haha
I got it out, but I am SO roaching his mane this summer. The hair is so damaged [someone loved ShowSheen and used it a lottttt on the bulk of his mane] that it's just a hot mess all the time. It'd be better to lose it all for a few months and start over healthy.



Messy boy, still classy. 



Today, after I lunged him. He was realllly hoping I had a treat for him. Too bad I don't give treats all that often and certainly not that close to working [his work ethic is already low enough, don't need him thinking that if he stops work he gets a treat...haha]



And from last night.
The lighting was pretty so I figured I get the umbrella out and make him run around a bit [I know, bad me...but pretty poneh! haha]

"WHAT the fresh heck is that in your hand??!!!"



Ok, this one is my ALL TIME favorite. I didn't edit it until this morning but now I did and I am IN LOVE.



Look at that hock action, what the what?
Someone missed their calling in saddleseat... [but not, he would be the worst saddleseat horse of all time]



Because trotting down the hill seemed like a good idea at the time... [speaking of his hocks, how did he not dislocate it with this kind of extension?? haha]



And some cantering...





HAPPPPPY




:happydance:


----------



## Chevaux

/QUOTE...but I am SO roaching his mane this summer...QUOTE/

Ohh no -- not that mane:shock:


----------



## egrogan

Gorgeous pictures!


----------



## Sharpie

The best advice I have ever been given regarding a horse's mane is this: "If you've cut it all off, what do you grab when things go pear-shaped?" 

LOVE the pictures! I think it's good for ALL horses to get some down time to just chill and relax from time to time.


----------



## Roperchick

DEFINITELY need picture proof if you cut his poor mane off lol


----------



## jcraig10

I have a lot of catching up to do but did skim through the past couple of pages that I've missed.....and I have 2 things to say:

1) I love smitten Emily! You're too cute.
2) Fabs looks great! 

Are you anywhere near all that flooding going on over that way?


----------



## Wallaby

Chevaux, I KNOW! It's gonna be sad. But I'm only gonna do it once - take it all off, then let it grow-grow-grow!! And it'll be even prettier after it grows back in and gets the proper nutrition/care. His mane has grown over 6 inches in 6 months so I think we won't have long to wait. 
And I might be able to save it, or at least I'm trying my hardest - I got a new type of detangler/conditioner that's supposed to help "heal" it. We'll see if it actually works, but I slathered his mane in it last Saturday and it was looking "fluffier" and healthier today. We'll see!
In any case, I'm shortening it up this summer. It's WAY too long right now [just him shaking his head knots up the bottom 4 inches..it's terrible]. But I might be able to keep some length. 

Thanks, egrogan! 

Haha, good advice Sharpie.  I'm a firm believer in leaving an "'Oh SHOOT!' handle" so he'll definitely have a handle left for those sideways moments. 

Oh, you WILL, Christy!! He has such a nice neck, it will be nice to _see_ it for once! 

Jcraig!!! I missed you! haha  Glad you're back.
1. haha, great!? :lol: I like talking with you guys about that stuff, it really helps me too. I love that it's making you smile. 
2. Thanks! He's feeling great too!
3. No, luckily we are not flooded or anywhere close to being flooded.  It's actually been quite dry here, the last few days. Dry and warm, which is super weird since it was 100% frozen last week - the water tank had FOUR INCHES of ice on it! [and one lil' thinner patch that I kept from thickening up by pouring boiling water into it twice a day, every day :shock: ]



Unfortunately I don't have a lot of time to write, but I have so many things to talk about!

One, I keep coming up to feed in the morning [6am] to find that Fabs has yet to get up for the day. So I keep finding him in varying positions of repose and it's my favorite!
Each morning he GROANS, pulls himself to his feet like it's this big task, then wanders around like a half-asleep kid. It's so wonderful. <3


In GBff news, I'm trying SO HARD to play it cool. And I'm doing a terrible job, but hey. :lol: 
I sent him some kind of communication on Facebook everyday last week so I'm trying to take it down a notch. He was, _of course_, so nice about it and didn't seem to mind in the least...but a girl has to keep some kind of mystery, right?
But he did find and follow me on EVERY SINGLE type of social media I'm on [except for here..is this social media?? We're social??!] so that was cute. 

Except for where HE FOUND MY PERSONAL TUMBLR THAT HAS POSTS ABOUT HIM.
They don't mention him by name so I think we're safe, maybe I wish we weren't. :lol:
In any case, I made some crack about us being social media besties and he was like "I KNOW!! It's fantastic!"
:rofl: :rofl:

He was already my friend on Facebook and he follows my public transit blog, but it was just those two. Now it's both Tumblr blogs, FB, the blog's FB page, AND my Instagram. :rofl:


Also, this makes me chuckle so much.
I was looking at my "friendship"'s according to FB and it shows your profile picture side by side with the person you're looking at. I looked at it for me and GBff and our pictures are my FAVORITE.
We look like we're laughing at the same joke, or we have the same smile, or something...it just makes me laugh so much.
And I feel a little creepy sharing the screenshot I took of it, but I already showed it to him and he thought it was "the greatest!" so maybe that makes it less weird?
But I can't just tell you about it without proof..right? :rofl:




And that is all I have time for right now. Well, ok, more than what I have time for right now...but hey. No one's judging, right? :lol:

:happydance:


----------



## jcraig10

Ohhhhh he's a cutie!

Let us know about your new detangler! What brand did you buy? A couple of the horses that I work with have crazy long manes right now that we really don't keep up on, and making them look purrrrty is on my to-do list


----------



## Roperchick

Yalls photos together like that look super neat.

Haha I look forward to bald Fabs pics! (Sad thing is I should probably roach my mares mane too but she was horrible about rubbing it out when I was showing her that now it is super long. Which it hasn't been in ten plus years. So I probably won't haha)

Yay bald Fabs!


----------



## Wallaby

Julia, it's this stuff: Eqyss Premier Spray Marigold Scent Rehydrant Spray - Horse.com

Surprisingly, considering that I am SO OVERLY PICKY about the hair products my horses wear, I'm really liking this stuff. 
It was super windy this week and he barely had any wind knots when I brushed out his mane today - a week since I put that stuff on! He ALWAYS has wind knots after a week, a day even, of windy weather.
His hair also felt "cleaner" and significantly less dry today when I brushed it and reapplied the spray...

It did make his mane feel kind of icky and "gummy" for the first day [a feeling I LOATHE] but the feeling was gone a few days later, unlike some detanglers that leave the hair feel like that for weeks...and trust me, I tried a gajillion detanglers with Lacey. :lol:

In any case, I'm going to keep using it and see what happens. Maybe it can really rehydrate his mane....we'll see!!
Plus it smells super good. 

A couple of things:

1. Today I was going to ride, but noticed that Fabs was being so jumpy that it might be better to just spend time with him - brushing him, massaging him, etc.
[interestingly, I've noticed that he has a violent reaction to black things, any black things, in his face. He nearly reared today when I was petting his cheeks, while wearing black gloves, then reached around in front of his nose. I repeated the maneuver without gloves = absolutely no problem. The same thing happened with a black face brush - totally fine with the tan one, freaks out about the black one..... :/ I think I'm gonna get him a cheap black nylon web halter to "practice" with - he loves his halter so, potentially, that might help him get over his fear???]

So I gave him his first massage in months and gave him a really thorough grooming - the poor kiddo was practically asleep on his feet by the time I was done!! <3

I'm hoping to ride tomorrow....just a little bit and in the pasture, but I think it'll be good for us both. No need to go out on the trail and have a fight, it'd be better to succeed in the pasture.

2. HAZEL!!
Maybe she wanted a massage too..????











Is she not the cutest thing?!! I can't even handle it. 
I literally sat down to hang out with Fabs while he ate some hay [ever since it was really cold and he got static-y and I accidentally shocked him a few times -poor guy- he's been acting a little worried about me = trying to do lots of non-threatening things] and BOOM. Haze was there and smooshing [??] my face.

3. LOOK. 
I took the first photo last summer, about a week after he came home. The second one is from today.

In spite of his winter woolies [he and Lacey both - is this SIBERIA?? I thought you guys were Arabians?!] and pudgy belly, look at how much his back has risen! 
Just from 8 months on those hills in his pasture. 
CRAZY.

[I did flip the picture so he'd be facing the same way..he didn't want to look normal while facing the original way... hahaha]




4. New favorite thing about feeding at 6am in the morning [maybe I've shared this before] - how much of a morning person Fabs is NOT. 
It's tooo cute. He's usually laying down when I get there, then he groans himself to his feet, and stands around mumbling as I prepare his breakfast. It's too cute!!

5. I kind of got the shed put back together today! I drove A LOT of nails into that baby and I think she's gonna hold together for a bit longer. I used a board I removed from the tack room to half-cover the gaping tarp-hole in the back of Fabs' stall, hammered than in, then reattached the mesh fencing that's keeping Atti from going through the tarp.
I also put a number of nails [a lot of nails, actually] in the outside of the shed. The two pieces of siding adjacent to the tarp-hole where trying to pop off too so I gave them the what-for and reattached them with A LOT of nails. Probably an excessive number, but I don't even know when that thing is finally going to get re-sided like it needs and I'm tired of helplessly waiting for it to fall apart.

PLUS, all that hammering was great fun! 


:happydance:


----------



## Cherrij

oooopss.. I have missed a lot. I don't even know where my time went.. 
I wouldn't dare to chop off Grand's mane, so I think you are very brave.. keep the mane and make lots of bracelets or smth? 

Fabs looks actually a lot better - the back has risen, neck has lowered, and his hindquarters have lost weight and he looks more muscled, than before.. even under that fluff. I guess his hindlegs have hard daily exercise with that hill pasture of yours.. 

I wish I had a pasture like that... I have to think very hard to get my horse to build hind muscles... 

Hammering is great for anger management  But you sure are handy with tools, and hope that shed lasts..


----------



## Cherrij

by the way, since when did he swap mane side?


----------



## Wallaby

I totally know, Austra! Time flies and then you're like "wait, what happened??" :lol: I need to check in on your journal, I keep missing it!
But welcome back! 


I'm glad you see the changes in Fabs too. I'm really thankful for this pasture. It's a pain to ride in, but boy, is it good for muscle-y horses!! 
Even at 29, Lacey never really had issues with her topline, mostly thanks to the hills. And she was really long coupled so it would have made sense for her to get really droopy..but she never did.

Haha, that mane confused Tinyliny too! I rotated/"flipped"/"mirrored" the recent photo with a photo editor so he'd be facing the same direction in both photos - that's his left side in the recent photo and his right side in the older one. So his mane is still, and has always been, on the left side. 


Speaking of riding, today I rode!!
I decided to keep things manageable and just ride around in the pasture, but it was SO GOOD.
I didn't even put Fabs' halter on to tack him up, just left him loose in his stall and told him to "whoa" - that seems to keep him calmer about things. Lacey was like that too: she greatly preferred to be loose and told to stand, vs loose and tied or ground tied. Anyway, that was a good start. He was super relaxed about the whole thing and didn't fuss at all when I brought the saddle out [MAJOR improvement].

I also switched the reins on the bridle back to the leather reins that came with the bridle because, back when he was the most receptive to being ridden, he seemed to really like those reins. 
Then I switched to cotton rope reins and everything "fell apart" - not really fell apart, but he got grumpier about being ridden.
So I switched back to the light leather reins.
[my theory is that he is just SO sensitive to the lightest of contact that he starts feeling trapped with heavier reins and the way I ride. I try my hardest to be soft/gentle like a butterfly with my legs, seat, and hands..but it's SO easy to slip back into those habits I formed with Lacey]

I lunged him a bit before hopping on and he was really pretty relaxed with that, so I hopped on.
He got nervous right as I was about to get on, so I waited and encouraged him to relax, then got on once he was looking less like a powder-keg.

And our ride was AMAZING.

He was so connected all the way through his body, and he just felt REALLY good. We mostly stuck with just walking around and doing lots of turns - he's working GREAT off my leg now! I was so so surprised at that, but he acted like he had been turning off my leg for yearssss. :lol:
We also had one really nice trot - he put his head DOWN: reaching for the bit, then started trotting! It was incredible. He used to/usually he greatly prefers trotting like a giraffe with his head way up in the air, even around the pasture! So to feel him really come through like that, it was a proud moment...and I did nothing to "make" him try it that way. 
Guys, I could just gush about that trot for days - it was forward AND so smooth I could sit it with ease.

Anyway, after that trot, we just walked around some more and I worked on getting him walking actively - not plodding along, not about to trot, not so fast that he couldn't respond quickly to me, but fast enough that we were moving with a purpose. And lots and lots of circles/figure-eights/etc.
He did really well.

He did have a few "moments" where he didn't want to go were he was being pointed, so he went all noodle-y and ear-pin-y [when we'd get to the top of the pasture and he felt he was "too far" from the goats, I assume]...but I kept him going and he quickly gave up.

Interestingly, he had a hard time with "lateral" work today - forehand turns, haunch turns [we're not to sidepassing yet, at all]. 
The last time I rode him in the pasture, "forward" was his big issue - it was either nothing, or EVERYTHING. And it used to be that those turns were what he was really ok with trying.
Today, "forward" was hardly an issue..but those turns were barely acceptable. I didn't spend a long time trying to "fix" the turns because I wanted to focus on this good, new, forward-ing.

...but next time!!


:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## jcraig10

Wallaby said:


> Julia, it's this stuff: Eqyss Premier Spray Marigold Scent Rehydrant Spray - Horse.com


Oooh thank you! I have their flyspray --- LOOOOVE the marigold scent 

ok, back to reading...


----------



## jcraig10

HAZEL! Aren't you a darling? 

Fabs looks freaking fantastic...what a change!



Oh Atttttttttttttti, where are you?


----------



## Wallaby

Julia, they make flyspray too?! I might have to get on that action this summer, we'll see! I'm still struggling to find the right flyspray for Fabs...

Here's some Atti...and Hazel, and Fabs The Star. They were all SO happy I got home half an hour early. <3 <3 <3







Unfortunately, Atti has been getting kind of the shortest end of the stick lately.  With how busy I've been, I've been mostly focused on "putting out fires"...and Atti is so low-maintenance that he's about 0% fire and 100% cute. So he's not getting a lot of my attention. 

I do pat him twice a day, at least, when I tie him up for breakfast/dinner and he's doing just fine.  
It's kind of nice how easy he is, especially after the crazy that was his teenage months/years. 
But I do miss having the time to just chill with him. 
He gets SO stoked when I get the time to ask him to do a trick or two, I think he would really like to learn more...poor little man.

He was getting REALLY fat for a bit but he's, thankfully, slimmed off a bit in the last month or so. That's great cuz I really worry about him getting those urinary tract stones [being a wether and all]. Wethering and obesity are basically the two biggest factors in getting those stones and, if he were to get a stone, I have no clue how we'd solve it. He's so wild about strangers handling him that having a vet doing anything about it seems remote...
In any case, I have his diet basically focused on stone-prevention and I try to keep him at a healthy weight so, ideally, he should be a-ok.


----------



## Roman

<3 Fabs grand entrance. Forgot the brakes though. :rofl:


----------



## jcraig10

Thanks for the Atti update  He seems like one cool goat!

And yes, the flyspray! I don't know what kind of stores you have out there, but I get mine from Tractor Supply.

Amazon.com : Eqyss Premier Spray Marigold Scent Rehydrant Spray : Eqyss : Horse Fly Control : Pet Supplies 

ok well I guess it is called Rehydrant spray -- but we use it for fly spray!

ETA: that first buck! :-O hope you never have to sit that one.


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## Wallaby

Hahaha Roman, when does he ever _remember_ the brakes? :rofl: He reminds me of one of the kids at work - this kid is always running in the house and falling into things, people tell him "that's why we don't run in the house! You need to save running for outside so you don't fall over."...but he keeps running in the house. After a while of that, we all realized/decided that he runs in the house so he WILL fall over cuz he LIKES those out-of-control/falling moments = basically Fabs. :lol:

You are welcome, Julia! I made sure to get a picture of him this week, just for you. 
Interesting about the spray, I guess I'll have to try it this summer!!
And I KNOW about that buck! Geez Louise! Thankfully he hasn't shown an inclination [so far] to really mess around undersaddle. He'll bolt, but bucking hasn't been "on the menu". He has bucked with me once, I guess, on our third/fourth ride and it felt pretty big..but it more more of a "trying to scare me"/expressing distaste for the activity at hand-buck and not actually trying to get me off..



Anyway, definitely sick againnnn. UGH. 
I've heard [from everyone I know who works with kids, haha] that the first year of working with kids is the worst for being sick, so I'm hopeful that it'll get better. I guess, in one sense, I'm lucky that I started this job right at the start of cold season. Maybe it'll turn out that I got it out of the way first! We'll see, I guess...

And at least this time I made it a whole 2 weeks before getting sick. That's something, right? And I haven't gotten the flu!


Due to being sick and feeling like death, I moved hay this morning [terrible idea, but I brought it on Thursday and hadn't moved it yet, thinking I'd do it today...then it started raining last night and the roof of my van leaks=the hay was getting wet=I couldn't put it off another day] and what should have taken an hour ended up taking 3. So I'm pretty pooped.

BUT the hay is moved!

When I got up there, to the pasture, poor Fabs had -for whatever reason- decided to just stay out in the rain. He was out without a blanket and the silly boy let himself get 100% soaking wet, to the point that he was violently shivering. 
So I got him somewhat dried off with the towel I keep up at the shed, then threw his heavy weight blanket on him [way too heavy for the temperature today, but that meant it'd be good for getting his temperature up and ok to let get soaking wet from his body].
He stopped shaking after wearing the blanket for probably 30 minutes, then I fed him and the goats, then switched Fabs' blanket for his medium weight one which was more appropriate for the weather.
The poor guy immediately started shivering again once the first blanket was off, before I got the second blanket on.

It was all kinds of sad!!

But I think he's ok now. He stopped shivering pretty quickly after I got his blanket back on and he was all warm under it by the time I left.

It's so weird, I've never seen a horse shiver in the wintertime like that, just from rain. Lacey used to shiver if it rained in the summer and she got wet, and I found her shivering once last winter when it went from 43*F to a snowy/windy 12*F in one day...but never just from the rain in the winter. It was a HEAVY rain, but stilllll. Poor baby!

Anyway, he's all blanketed up now and he has SO MUCH hay. 2 full slow-feed hay nets AND hay on the ground. 
He isn't spoiled, at allll.

I was really hoping to get a lot done this weekend but this cold has kinda gone "screeeech" to all my plans so I'm not sure if I'll get to ride tomorrow/Monday..we'll see, I guess...

Anyway, pictures!!

To start, Wednesday:

The sunrise!



_Someone_ was feeling very silly. Very very very silly. He was bucking so much, he might have morphed into a bunny...I don't even know.









And then some trotting around...



[I think it's so funny how "smooshed in" he's made himself in this one - ready to spring anywhere, I guess!]



"Didja catch all that?!"




I SO wish I had had my real camera, not just my phone, to capture that stuff! I'm sure he'll do it again one day, we can hope that he does it on a day I have my real camera. 

From a couple of days ago:



Running buddies!!



And then from today.

Shivering Fabio is also pouty Fabio. :lol:
He was very very sad that his favorite standing spot was so wet. He stood there looking at it like that for at least 5 minutes.


----------



## egrogan

I can't even tell you how many times I had pinkeye my first year of teaching! I fortunately never really caught colds/flu from the kids, but oy, my eyes!


----------



## Wallaby

Ewww, pink eye!! Thankfully I haven't had that one yet. It's made the rounds a few times at work, but thankfully it hasn't caught me. It's just crazy how sick you can get, even with washing your hands plenty! In my daily life, I used to always have dirt under my nails because of life-in-general and washing my hands 3 times a day, or so...and I never got sick. 
Now I NEVER have dirt under my nails cuz I'm washing my hands constantly, but I'm always sick. Yay airborne germs. haha

Today I feel a little better.
I didn't go to church tonight [though I wanted to so much!] cuz I figured it's better to keep resting+getting well, vs pushing myself and potentially staying sick. I do have tomorrow off so I'm telling myself I'll do more things tomorrow. 


Really the only thing that I'm here updating is that I bushed out Fabio's mane again/groomed him/dosed him and Hazel with Vitamin A.

Interestingly, on the Fabio-grooming front, I noticed that he's actually really headshy about ANYTHING in front of his face, unless he's at all "captured."
Like, if he's loose and you throw a hand up on his nose or try to brush his face off or whatever, he tries to do everything he can to avoid contact with you.
If you push it, he'll start getting really panicky and "trapped"-acting, even if he can fully get away.

BUT. Plot twist: put a halter on him, or even a rope around his neck that's looped around his neck -even if you aren't holding it, and he tolerates [30% enjoys??] it. 
WEIRDO.

I guess I never noticed it before because, before I knew him "enough," I tried not to handle/touch him too much when he wasn't wearing a halter, just for my own safety. 
Not that I think he'd do anything "bad" intentionally, but he's reactive and very quick and has shown, at times, a lack of respect for human-space-bubble = didn't want to put myself in danger unnecessarily. 
Now he knows the rules better, respects my space more, and I feel a lot more comfortable handling him when he's loose = finding these things out, I guess!

So we'll see how that develops. Perhaps once shedding season gets here and he has all that itchy face hair coming off, maybe I can persuade him that face itches are wonderful...


The other thing "of note" that happened today was I dosed Hazel and Fabio with their personalized amounts of Vitamin A+D. 
I'm just guessing at it with Hazel since she nearly constantly has mud fever/runny eyes/all kinds of dandruff-y-ness/etc...but I can't really find anything particularly on goats and Vit A deficiency... But I asked a goat-y friend and she said 1cc of Vit A+D, orally, couldn't really hurt if I suspected, so I gave it a try.

Fabs pretty clearly has a Vit A deficiency happening - runny eyes all the time, dandruff-y-ness, he's working on a tiny bit of rain rot, these weird flaky patches on his elbows, etc.

So we'll see! Fabio gobbled his right up, Hazel had to be "persuaded" and she did not love it [ie, she sneezed directly into my face] but they both got dosed eventually.
I'm hoping that that'll help them both head into spring feeling really good.

"You don't really think you're gonna brush my face with that, right??"


----------



## Wallaby

So many things!!!!

1. I rode last Sunday and Fabs was kind of ok... I dunno. I mean, he wasn't overly mad, and he responded ok..it just wasn't his day.
But we did have some nice moments of soft relaxation from him so that was good!!

A screenshot from a video I took of the ride:



And Hazel being cute...



2. Random picture of Fabs running on Thursday morning:



I love how you can totally tell he's an Arab, but he's not one that just screams "I'M AN ARAB!!!" [unless he's running, or whatever]

3. Friday, I got the afternoon off unexpectedly and it was BEAUTIFUL out, so I was actually able to get Fabs and the goats out and take them on a little trail ride.
The goats loved it. We didn't go very far because I didn't want Hazel to over do it, but everybody seemed to have a good time. Hazel 'talked' to everyone we passed on the trail and everybody went nutssss for that. I don't blame them! 

Fabio also did AMAZING. 
Interestingly [I CANNOT get this horse figured out], he really wanted, and did really well with, a lot of contact the whole ride. He wasn't 'leaning' on me or anything, he just wanted [what I felt like was] strong contact. 
Before, when we were trail riding more, he seemed to do better with less/no contact. Of course, for those previous rides I was using weighted roping reins and I was using leather reins for this ride...but still weird.

I tried a few times to "let him go", but each time he started getting all jiggy and worked up...so I picked him back up each time and he kept a nice even walk. It was strange!
So I don't really know what to think about that. I feel like I'd know immediately if I were some kind of better trainer, but I guess this is how trainers get better..right?

I wonder if he's just more sensitive that I ever imagined. Like the weight of the weighted reins gave him the illusion of this contact he wants? He's so dull sometimes that it feels like he's totally fine with stronger communication, but half of me begins to wonder if he's "dull" sometimes because he's SO sensitive that "reasonable" levels of communications are incredibly over the top for him and he shuts down to avoid being overwhelmed...

It's definitely something to think about, I guess!



4. MOST EXCITING NEWS!!!!

Yesterday I bought a truck. I BOUGHT A TRUCK.

:happydance: :happydance:

I had hoped to wait a few more months and save up a bit, but "my" van broke beyond repair about 2 weeks ago so getting something else was kind of my only option.

And I found the perfect thing. I'm SO so happy with it. It's perfect.

It's a 2003 4x4 Toyota Tundra, etc. It's gonna be big enough to haul a small trailer when I get there, but for now I'll be using it to move hay and for my commute. I'm stokedddd.

Look at how cute it is!
I knew it was the one from the moment I saw it, I'm just really happy with it. 




:happydance: :happydance: :happydance:


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## Chevaux

Truck looks good. You can't go wrong with white (that's what I've got) - it'll be much easier to 'accessorize' with a trailer:lol:


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## jcraig10

Lovin' the truck! 

I would totally love to run in to someone taking their goats out on the trail...I don't see anything fun like that around here! Hazel is so photogenic, but in a mysterious sort of way! Every photo of her could totally be her album cover haha.


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## jcraig10

Emily, are you on Instagram? If so, you should look up the account goatsofanarchy...they are Nigerian dwarfs and the pictures are so silly/cute!


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## Wallaby

I like that, Chevaux!  I hadn't even thought of that, but you are so right. White will be easy to match to a trailer. 

Julia, she really is! Totally photogenic alll the time. It's unfair, really. haha 
I do have an instagram, I'll have to look that up!

I could tell you guys stories, but it's late and I'm really tired [started this hours ago, got called away...and now it's bedtime  ] so I'll just post a bunch of pictures:

Earlier in the week, Hazel being darn photogenic again 



And the same day...it must have been a very photogenic day for both Hazel and Fabs! :lol:



And then today.

We kind of went on a serious adventure today - I took the truck to get hay, got SO MUCH hay which was awesome, then drove the truck into the pasture to take it down to the shed.
Going down the hill to the shed with the hay was actually pretty easy, coming back was way harder/scarier for me since I've never driven in mud before etc etc. But I made it!

The truck only got 'stuck' once but it got unstuck after 30 minutes of maneuvering and trying not to slide into every fence ever. hahaha But this happened:



...so the entrance to the pasture is looking real classy right about now. :rofl:
But I think the truck had fun getting muddy!



And before that^ all happened, Atti had a BLAST 'tease-torturing' Fabio :lol: -

"Get outtttt of there! BAD GOAT."



"What??! I'm being SO innocent right now. I'm not in a truck, standing on so much hay, teasing you, I PROMISE."



"Um, yeah right! Mom, do you SEE what he's doing right now? And you're ok with it?"




Boys.


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## egrogan

Love those pictures, especially the first one of Atti in the truck


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## Wallaby

Sorry for the long absence without an update!!

I keep being sick and today is no different, but at least today I have the time to share some pictures with you guys!!

Due to being sick [I don't even know what happened to my immune system...it disappeared???], I haven't ridden in probably a month.  But Fabs and the kiddos are doing well!!

Fabs started getting REALLY grumpy again, like he was when he first came home. He was also biting at his stomach a lot so I was a bit worried about colic. But he was still pooping just fine so I gave him some probiotics and crossed my fingers - the probiotics worked!!
Turns out that the silly boy was just reacting to the fresh spring grass that's barely growing in. :lol:
So now I've been giving him probiotics in his feed everyday and he's 1000% happy. 

OF COURSE he'd be that sensitive. Oh Fabio. hahaha

We've also been doing a lot of freelunging and he's growing to adore it just like Lacey did.  He's really good at it too - I can tell him "whoa!" and he stops immediately, even if he's out of his mind excited [Lacey never stopped...hahaha].
Freelunging seems to have really brought out his communicative side [like it did with Lacey] and I really like that. He's gone from being worried and reacting, to being worried, showing that he's worried/"talking about it", THEN reacting. 
For a horse that used to just go catatonic when he got the least bit worried, I really like this new development.

Oh! And I sheared Hazel last weekend. Everybody came for a "field trip" down to my house while I sheared her. Fabio's lead rope broke at random and he knew it, but he was totally fine being caught! For a horse that used to be "impossible to catch," I'm happy with that progress!!


I really miss riding...hopefully I'll get a break from the colds as the weather warms up.... 


Atti and Fabio are shedding!



"Family" photo before shearing Hazel..





Freelunging..





"Um, Atti? Don't you know THAT THING JUST TRIED TO KILL US???!!!"



Yesterday..

Cheezin'





The moon last night!!!




And a video...







:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

And just a few more pictures:

Yesterday I happened to go through some old pictures, and I found one of Lacey with the goats that's basically the reflection of that "family photo" I posted up there. 
How weird! 
But great. 



Today I got home early enough, and it was light enough out, that I got to ride for a minute! 
Fabio was AWESOME.

I used a timer on my phone-camera to take the forthcoming photo, and, to do so, I had to lean off his back, put my foot on a barrel to support myself, position my phone on the barrel, then lean off his back further to turn the camera-timer on, etc.

And he stood like a rock. Even while my foot made the barrel wobble all around right next to him, he didn't even sidestep.

The barrel hadn't even been sitting out - it had blown to a corner of the pasture in the wind and I had left it there. So it wasn't like he was 1000% familiar with that barrel's location.

I tried to do a similar exercise last summer and he was so not ready. I couldn't even get him close to the barrel, let alone rest my foot on it!

I didn't ride for more than 5 minutes, but it was a good experience for both of us and I think that's probably the most important thing.



:happydance:


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## tinyliny

Wallaby,

we have goats at our barn! 7 of them! I don't know what type they are, but some lady is boarding them there for a few months. the poor things only have a small paddock, like 60 by 100 feet. it's dry, though, and they have plenty of food. they are so smart and I am making friends with one of them, who loves it when I scratch her under her chin. 6 are females and one is a wether. they are pretty big, red and white, and some have horns.

look like these goats. I think they are a 'meat' goat. (eeew!)










I google researched. they are "Boers", and one of them is the spotted variety.


----------



## Sharpie

Aww. Boer goats! <3 They're awesome! I have bought freezer goats (boers) for meat myself, and they are also tasty. Goats are (IMO) the hands-down #1 animal I would pick if it was zombie time. Food (meat and milk), fiber (some breeds), and fantastic personalities all in one tough little animal that can thrive on mixed browse. I would love to have some, and while I have no issue eating an animal I have met, I don't know if I could eat ones that I raised. They're way too personable.

YAY success with Fabs. It's amazing how much progress you make without even realizing it so much of the time. It's easy to be frustrated when you're not seeing it, so a nice "before" and "after" is a real boost!


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## Wallaby

AWW! Caroline! Boers! I love it.  Boers are one of my favorites. I just love their look, and those ears! I'd love to get an Angora/Boer cross one day - I adore Angoras but all that shearing is toooo much. And if Atti is any indication of what the dairy breeds are like...love him, but I don't think dairy goats are for me. :lol:

That keeping arrangement seems pretty typical, unfortunately... The woman I got my goats from kept hers in a very similar situation - about 60x100 with 10 or 12 goats inside, surrounded by ta 6ft electric fence. 
I guess different strokes for different folks!

I agree, Sharpie!!
The last few weeks/months I've really been marveling at how much more in-tune we are on the ground. Like I used to just think that his ear pinning was all "talk" and no communication, I've come to realize that there's actually a LOT more behind what he's "saying" with his ears than I ever ever thought. 
The other day he was all kinds of grumpy and it turned out that he needed probiotics added to his feed - his belly hurt and he was "telling" me.
This morning he was, again, uncharacteristically grumpy and I went into diagnosis-mode, trying to discover the issue. I found a tight spot in his back [it's been raining and he's 'plump', plus it's been quite warm out so I haven't been blanketing, but he always seems to get a spasm of sorts in his back when he gets rained on...] so I massaged it for a few minutes until it felt looser and VOILA. Suddenly he wasn't pinning his ears anymore and he was all kinds of friendly again.

I guess we're getting closer to that thing I had with Lacey - where communication actually worked because we had learned to "speak" the same language.

That's pretty exciting. 

On the Emily-is-sick-front, things are not going so well.
I went to the doctor on Tuesday, got diagnosed with bronchitis [to quote the doctor "and you've been WORKING with this???"], got an inhaler and antibiotics, had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics on Wednesday, got new antibiotics yesterday...and now we're here. I've been trying to work all week and it was just bad, so I stayed home today. 
Even staying home was hard, breathing is hard. 
UGH.
With every breath, there's a 'pull' in my lungs and it's just awfulllll. 

Hopefully I'll be feeling better by the end of the weekend if I keep resting. I did practically nothing today so fingers crossed!!

On a more positive note, I have pictures!

The other day [last week], while freelunging with Fabs, the front gate blew open in the wind and SOMEONE took advantage of that and bounced themselves right out the gate.
Surprisingly, he was super easy to catch.
He used to be _impossible_ to catch -the entire time I've known him..even before I owned him- but he just stood there, let me walk up, grab his halter, and walked back into the pasture with me.

Perhaps it's because I rarely actually catch him? Like, if I want to do something with him, I usually feed him his breakfast, close his stall gate, and halter him while he's in his stall...or something similar, but he's always in his stall first?
So he no longer associates being caught with whatever he used to associate it with?
In any case, it was super nice not having to chase him all over the neighborhood. :lol:



Then this came up the other day in my TimeHop app, one of my senior photos with Lacey! 6 years ago!



Selfies with Fabs, earlier in the week:



"QUICK! Act normal!!.....oh hi, Food Girl!!"
Fabio and Atti, troublemakers forever. <3



Today:



He kept getting windknots and the forecast was calling for wind this week, so I braided his mane all up. 
I like it better when it's down, but I like the lack of dread-ing! hahaha



Hazellllll



I had no idea llamas rolled like horses do! But apparently they do and it's hilarious:



And a cute picture of Mr Fabio eating from his hay net and eyeing me suspiciously as I stare at him over the stall divider between the goats stall and his stall..



:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Annnd some more pictures from today:

The painting I painted for my mom, and gave to her for Christmas, came back from being framed yesterday!



Then a fun sequence from this afternoon when I felt energetic enough to go see the kiddos again:









Blast off!!







And my favorite one:



Then everybody ran around a little bit..



Fabs has the cutestttt trot <3 <3



And then we stood around looking majestic. :wink:




:happydance: :happydance:


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## Chevaux

Very good painting!!!


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks, I'm quite pleased with it myself  It came out exactly like my mom wanted!


SCARY stuff happened today - this morning, while I was feeding, the goats weren't in the shed but Fabio was. I figured they were in the llama's pasture and I'd go find them when Fabio was done eating.

After he got done, I started walking up and I started hearing weird noises. It was windy and the wind was going the wrong way, so it was hard to hear, but it sounded like -let's be honest- a distraught yelling man or someone blasting Nickleback.

Fabio heard it too and immediately went on alert, he went galloping up at top speed, and raced down to the lowest part of the upper pasture. And, of course, I'm here thinking "lol, Fabio loves Nickleback! I'm gonna post that on Facebook and everyone will laugh soooo hard!"

But I got up there, to where I could see where Fabs went, and I could see Atti and Hazel down at the bottom of the llama's pasture, and Fabio pacing and bucking next to the fence - which was really weird. Hazel was moving way faster than usual and Atti was kind of weirdly-hesitantly-yet-insistently "chasing" her, but it was barely 6:30am and the sun was hardly up = super hard to make out details.

I started down the hill to them and finally saw that a COYOTE WAS HANGING OFF HAZEL'S NECK.

So I ran down there, hollering, the coyote ran off, Haze and Atti came running to me, etc. It was excitingg. 

Then we trekked home so I could clip the fur off Hazel's neck, I assessed the damage - not as bad as it could be, but still A LOT of bites and one big gash.

Thankfully my horse vet was able to refer us to a mobile goat vet and he came out tonight.
She got a shot of Banamine, a tetanus shot, some kind of vitamin shot to perk her up, and a shot of antibiotics. Plus he irrigated the wounds, cleaned them better, and filled them up with an ointment he left with me.

He showed me how he could squirt cleanser through one puncture and have it come out at a different spot :shock:

But he thinks she'll be ok. Her temperature was good too. Basically all the things you want to be good with a goat -rumen, heart, temperature, etc- were great. 

So I'm hot compressing her neck twice a day, cleaning them up, and filling them with ointment twice a day until they heal from the inside. 

She shouldn't have any lasting damage.

And she is SO being locked in tonight and for the rest of forever!!


----------



## Roman

O.O Poor Hazel! I'm so glad nothing worse happens and everything heals up nicely!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Chevaux

Whoa - that's totally shocked me. The poor darling. I think Atti needs to have the balls taken off his horns so he can go on the offensive if necessary as there is a possibility the villain may return.


----------



## cakemom

Omg poor Haze! I'm so glad you showed up when you did.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## gunslinger

Oh my....that's traumatic.....horrible to watch I'm sure....

IMO, the coyotes will have to go.....so it might be time to think about inviting a coyote hunter....or taking on a donkey or sheep dog.....


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## egrogan

Wow, truly terrifying. I am so happy the outcome was positive but my heart dropped.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

It was SO scary. I ran at them, screaming at the top of my lungs, and I'm just glad the coyote let her go. I don't know what I would have done if it had tried to 'keep' her!!

I agree about the coyote, I'm going to call AC/Fish&Game about it on Monday. 
We live in a relatively rural area so there's no getting completely rid of the coyotes, but we should be at least able to take care of this aggressive guy. No "large animal" owner has ever had an issue with coyotes before this. Roaming dogs, yes. Coyotes, no. 
People have lost cats and such, but that's to be pretty expected when you live in the woods and you have outdoor cats [ie, why my cat is indoor-only]!

Atti was the least help. >.< Poor dude had no idea what was happening. He was just circling around Hazel and the coyote, hackles raised, like a big dork. Of course, he's never seen an attack like that before so he probably thought they were playing some big game.
On our walk home, post-attack, a Chihuahua that tried to bother us was sure sorry he tried! Atti was like "I have had it up to HERE with your kind today!!" :rofl:
So hopefully he'll be more aggressive if there's ever [hopefully not!!!!] a next time.

I might look into a donkey though...there's a donkey rescue nearby, maybe they need a foster home? And I could try one out, at the very least - since I've never even touched a donkey, I honestly have no idea if I could get along with one. Maybe I could find a sassy little old lady donkey. 


Hazel was doing pretty well today. She, weirdly, LOVES having her neck massaged and cleaned. So that makes caring for it super easy.
She didn't leave the shed at all today [it's very rainy and she rarely goes out in the rain anyway], but that's ok.
I made a sort of polo wrap for her neck, for when I hot compress it. That way I can place a warm, wet, towel on her neck, wrap it up, prepare breakfast for all of them, let them eat, not have to worry about the rag falling off, and _then_, when she's ready, clean her up and everything has be pre-softened.

She also got bitten [lightly?? No gashes, just 8 ****** where a canine tooth barely went through] on her "good" back leg which is kind of a HUGE blessing in disguise.
She always sleeps on her "bad" back leg, so wounds on that one would be very difficult to keep sanitary. Since she never sleeps on her good leg [probably why that's the one that got attacked], it gets a lot more air circulation and it's, hopefully, less likely to get infected.

I am a bit worried about that back leg though - the wounds are totally crusted over and they're shallow enough that the scab totally doesn't want to come off, But the leg is mildly swollen. I'm spraying the skin+those wounds liberally with antibacterial/medicinal spray after I do my best to clean them, so hopefully that'll help the process... She's not limping on that leg at all though, and the bites are well above the joint, so I'm hoping it'll be ok.

Her neck though, it's so gross but cool. I can syringe water into the big gash and have it come out two of the other neck holes. :shock: Totally gross, but neat to see how her skin works.

And here's the girl, wearing her compress and eating breakfast this morning <3 <3

Scarves seem to suit her!! haha


----------



## Chevaux

Do I see a scuff above her eye caused by that heinous attack?

I had a thought. If this happened down in the llama pasture, where were the llamas? Are they not supposed to be good for running off coyotes?


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## Wallaby

No, thankfully no scruff about her eye. Her hair is very fine there and her skin is very pink on her face 

AND I KNOW. They are supposed to be awesome protection animals, supposedly, BUT. Out of all the animals, the llamas were absolutely the least help. I thinkkkk I heard a llama alarm call [it was so windy, and the wind was blowing everything away from me], but both llamas were staring at the scene from their shed on the opposite side of the pasture. >.<
I can't really blame them too much though, the younger llama is at least 15 [the older llama is her mother] and 15 is pretty ancient for a llama. Geriatric things trying to save other geriatric things from a young thing doesn't seem like an equation that works too well, unfortunately. 
On the flip side, they were never very good at livestock guarding in their heyday. They used to "guard" a large flock of sheep, but the property owners finally had to give that up because neighborhood dogs kept getting in and killing sheep. The only reason the llamas stayed and the sheep left is that no one could catch the llamas. 
Those llamas, so crafty. :lol:
In any case, I don't have too much faith in llamas/these particular llamas being solid protection animals. I never really did, but now I know they won't do much.


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## Chevaux

OK - I see a possible donkey in your future (standard size or thereabouts as I've heard that the mini ones aren't up to the task simply because of their lack of size). On the plus side, donkeys are adorable and are easy keepers.


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## SueC

Hi Wallaby! Long time no see. Happy Newish Year.

I'm going to put in a good word for donkeys. They are adooooorable...










This is our Irish Long-Hair called Mary Lou, and English breed Don Quixote, who along with another little donkey came to us as a group three years ago. We've never regretted it. Their antics just make us smile. Plus, they're good company for horses.

Relevant thread here:

http://www.horseforum.com/other-equines/mule-guard-animal-484346/

Mules and donkeys discussed.


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## gunslinger

When was her last rabies shot?


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## egrogan

Hope the patient is still healing well!


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## Wallaby

I'll look into donkeys.  
Unfortunately I looked up that donkey rescue near me and they don't adopt out/foster to people who don't own their own property. I can totally understand why, but ugh. 
I'm sure, if it's meant to be, something will present itself!!

Gunslinger, I believe that's one of the shots she got one Friday.  I need to double check with the sheets the vet gave me, but she got A LOT of shots!! 

The patient is doing well 
I'm really glad Fabio's vet is coming out to do his sheath cleaning/teeth float/spring shots tomorrow though. As good as Hazel is looking, tomorrow [day 5, the day the antibiotics will begin to really wear off] is a crucial day in her healing so it'll be good to have more experience behind my "oh, they look ok!"-ing. haha

But yeah, they're looking a bunch better. Her back leg is basically totally fine at this point - still some scabs, but no heat/swelling/anything to worry about, imo.
The only one I'm really having any doubts about is the big gash on her neck. I'm still able to stick my needle-less cleaning syringe in it basically as far as I was able to on Saturday. Water no longer comes out the tooth marks below the gash, but the gash itself is still very raised, warm, and somewhat painful. It's draining well [ie, water-y-ness has always come out by each cleaning] but I can still see her muscles inside.....

BUT she's a lot more mobile with her neck than she was [I got her all raised-feeders a month or so ago because she seems to eat better from a raised feeder, and BOY am I even more thankful for them now!!], and that gash included part of a neck muscle, so maybe it's doing just fine. The muscle probably has to knit before the skin tissue really can too much...

Hazel herself is doing AWESOME. 
She's letting me take her temperature everyday, syringe applesauce laced with probiotics [thank you so MUCH egrogan!! PERFECT TIMING <3 <3] and aspirin into her mouth everyday, put her halter put on twice a day, hot compress/scrub/wash out her neck twice a day, AND she's not making a fuss about being separated from Atti overnight [Lockwood, from here - she's my go-to goat-lady, and I decided that separating them overnight would probably help Haze rest better=better healing].

Of course, she's getting plentyyy of treats for putting up with these procedures, but it's like 45+minutes of intense/uncomfortable-painful handling everyday...I wouldn't probably put up with it nearly as well!
She really is so awesome. <3

I'm completely wiped out though, so this report could be longer...but I just don't have the oomph for it.
I'll try to update again tomorrow/soon. 

But don't worry, Hazel is hanging in there like a champ.


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## egrogan

You'll have to let us know how the vet visit goes- Hazel's fans are all pulling for her


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## Wallaby

Unfortunately the vet wasn't able to make it out today. She had an emergency call [a horse was down with a suspected broken leg   ] so she had to cancel on me. 

Booooo all the way around.

Hopefully she'll be able to come out on Saturday!

But Hazel is doing GREAT!
She was running and even playing a little today which is totally out of character for her. She occasionally runs and plays, but absolutely only when she feels super awesome. 
Of course, she is SUPER drugged up on aspirin [NINE tablets a day! Which is the typical dose for a goat of her size, but stilllll]...but it's nice to see her feeling good!

She did manage to give me a little scare though. Atti headbutted her in the neck and she started bleeding sooo much :shock: :shock:
It was ok, just so much sudden blood on such a white goat! haha

Her temperature was 102.2 today [getting to be SO GOOD at taking her temp!!] which is the highest it's been since the initial injury, but normal is 99*-104*, so it's not really something to be super worried about.
I am checking her temperature everyday though, just to hopefully catch any infection before it starts.

I've been separating Haze and Atti at night because Atti is so rough on Hazel and she needs good rest/food, vs worrying about him coming over to bother her whenever she moves.
Atti is still confused by their nighttime separation, but Hazel LOVES it. At first she was really worried that he was gonna somehow break in, but then she realized he couldn't...and now she's thoroughly enjoying her vacation every night. 
I think I might keep this up after she's healed because I think letting her have a break is ideal, with her age/food needs/etc.

Princess Shaved Neck



Here you can see all the blood that came out earlier in the day - scary! The gash it came out is closer to the top of her neck.



Hot compressing her neck - I put a wet, hot, towel on her neck, then wrap the whole thing up in a fleece "polo wrap" [I made a wrap that was the right width for her neck, but it's the polo wrap idea with the velcro-y stretchy fleece, etc]. The wrap holds it on/holds heat in, and I can go off and get their breakfast/dinner ready in a timely manner.
Plus she looks darn cute in a "scarf"!!!

[also, I wonder if this little stall she has reminds her of fairs she went to when she was young....she's awfully friendly about the gate and sides.. She's so cute  ]



And Fabio has been helping supervise the whole cleaning process.
Hazel supervised when Fabio had his abscess, now I guess the tables have turned?
ADORABLE.


----------



## Wallaby

Good news!
I think we finally turned a corner with Hazel's gash.

This morning the swelling was down by at least 50% and the skin was looking SO much healthier - the wound was actually stretching naturally with her muscles instead of gaping open each time she moves her neck. 

It had also drained WAY better last night and dead, loose, tissue/muscle came out when I flushed it.

So yay!! I'm hoping it's a downhill battle from here.

I did get a new ointment for her yesterday [http://www.puremedy.com/firstaid.html] and I applied it around the gash and on all the other wounds, in conjunction with the vet-prescribed ointment. I wonder if it helped?
In any case, I'm sure gonna keep using it! haha


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## Lockwood

Nice looking ointment!
I actually made up a similar based cream, minus the evergreen ingredients, for my leg last year when I was burned badly. 
The calendula base is also what's in one of the only creams I can use on my super sensitive skinned face. It's good stuff!!

Never thought about using something like this internally (introducing it into a hole/gash) and am happy to hear it's making a difference that fast!
Think I will add it to my medicine cabinet, next to the Medihoney.


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## Wallaby

Leah, I haven't actually "introduced" it into the gash yet.  I'm just putting it around the gash's edges...like a moat. haha but I have been putting it on top of some of the tooth marks that still need flushing, and they've been reacting well. I've managed to make to the medicated ointment stretch better so I'm still using that in the gash, for now. 

I tried giving Hazel less aspirin today and that was a baddddd idea. She didn't eat at all this morning and just seemed "blah" again. 
She seemed perkier by this evening, but, while cleaning her neck, I could see that she was still in a lot of pain from her injuries.
Soooo I gave her her "normal" 9 aspirin dose this evening.
I'm still needing to flush the gash everyday, maybe the aspirin and flushing need to go hand in hand - when shes healed enough to not need such intense flushing, she's healed enough to not need aspirin...?

I'm kinda worried about her stomach and whatnot, with that much aspirin in her system longterm though!
I've been giving her slippery elm powder and probiotics everyday with her aspirin, in hopes that they'll both support her stomach. *fingers crossed*


In other news, the younger brother of a close friend committed suicide yesterday. My friend is much older than me, this brother of hers was my age and was always like my little brother. 
Every year, without fail, he'd text me something really sweet and thoughtful on my birthday. We'd always talk about how we were both gonna work back at camp one day - he was gonna be the camp director and I was gonna have a barn full of little old horses for kids to pet.

He was just a really good guy and this makes me so sad that he thought taking his own life was the only way out.

I really hope Lacey met him at the gate and added him to her herd of "gone-too-soons." 
The anniversary of her death is a week from tomorrow and this all feels like too much.

Anyway, I'm kind of having a hard time dealing with it. I mean, we never really talked often, but it was always a bright spot when we did.
He was just one of those people that, I guess, I never saw "growing up"...but, at the same time, I can't possibly imagine life without him in it somewhere.




This week has been the worsttt.
I'm hoping that things will be better, starting tomorrow.

And prepare yourselves, Fabio's vet is finally [barring unforeseen circumstances] coming out tomorrow. 
BRACE FOR SEDATED FABIO PICTURES.


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## tinyliny

oh, Wallaby, that is so very very sad. Suicide is just so baffling and painful.

today was the one year anniversary of the death by suicide of the son of a barn friend. I left flowers and a card. I hope it gets easier for them , year by year, but it must be so awful right now.


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## egrogan

So sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. I've never experienced something like that, so I can't imagine how difficult it is. Really sorry.


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## Lockwood

Wallaby said:


> Soooo I gave her her "normal" 9 aspirin dose this evening.
> I'm still needing to flush the gash everyday, maybe the aspirin and flushing need to go hand in hand - when shes healed enough to not need such intense flushing, she's healed enough to not need aspirin...?
> 
> I'm kinda worried about her stomach and whatnot, with that much aspirin in her system longterm though!


Yes, the aspirin and flushing need to go together. Pretty much until there's nothing left to flush because the under lying muscles and tissues will still be "cementing" together (and sore) even though it may visually look healed. Torn muscles can be stubborn healers, unlike skin (usually.)

If it helps to know, this episode of aspirin giving would not be considered longterm (clinically anyway.) This would be considered short term. Long term would be like my Rosie and why for that reason is I went with the aspirin alternative. In alpacas there might be some worry as they are quasi-ruminants and super sensitive over all about anything and everything, but 2 or 3 weeks of aspirin in 4 stomached critter is probably nothing to lose sleep over. The rumen is a rather hostile place. 
Single stomach? Different story.

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss. :hug:
http://www.horseforum.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/


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## Wallaby

He was too good for this world, I guess..
I feel kind of guilty, like I should have "seen it" the last time I saw him [2 weeks ago]...or at least said goodbye instead of leaving without a goodbye.

BUT, I know it's not my fault. It's not anyone's fault. No one saw it coming, everyone is totally stunned. And I'm not magic, nor should I expect myself to be.

It's still way hard though.
I feel so much for his family - he had pulled away from them over the last few years in the name of work [he was working 2 part/nearly full-time jobs - a day job and a graveyard shift]. I can't imagine what they must be going through - the torment.
It makes me really need to see my brother more and hug him tight...and probably never let him go.




In brighter news, the vet finally came to see Fabio today.

His teeth were floated [they weren't bad at all...which was lucky cuz the vet's power-float stopped working so she had to manually float him], and, while he was "under", I also had the vet clean his his sheath and give him his spring shots.

HE HAD A HUGE BEAN!! It was at least an inch in diameter, maybe bigger.
In any case, I wonder if that'll help his tendency towards back-soreness.
Poor guy! Good thing I made sure that got done.

We also checked him for a lip tattoo, just in case, and he doesn't have one...so that's not helpful. But at least I know now. I didn't think he'd have one, but you never know until you check!

I wonder if he'll be less grumpy tomorrow, with that bean gone? I guess we'll find out!


Oh, and on the Hazel front, we ran out of time to really look at her, but the vet peered at the wound and thought it looked good for what it was. And I'm feeling pretty good about it too, so yay!


----------



## Wallaby

Poor Fabs is soreeeee today 
His lil' pee-pee is all swollen and all the pink skin on it is reddd.  
He's always been quite sensitive and he was REALLY dirty, hopefully it'll be fine tomorrow!

I called the vet about it because he has been known to have vaccine reactions and he did get vaccinated = I was mildly concerned that he might be having a bad reaction of some kind to the vaccines.
She thought he sounded fine though. She advised me to give him a little bute for swelling/pain and check in with her in a day or two.

I think maybe the vaccines and sedation and sheath cleaning was maybe too much all at once. Maybe next year I'll schedule the vaccines for a different day than the other two.

In any case, he is moving SO MUCH freer in his hind end now - I assume due to the removal of that bean. And he seems just so much more willing and less fussy. AH! I'm really looking forward to riding him, hopefully sometime this week.


In Hazel news, today, for the first time, I only flushed the wounds once. Technically I ran out of time [Sundays are hard cuz I go to church at 2 and don't get back until 8:30 = letting the animals out at 8am and doing morning feeding then...and putting them back in at 1:30??], slash I didn't want to over clean the wounds [twice in barely 5 hours seems like A LOT], so I reapplied her external ointments and gave her her aspirin.
The gash has been staying pretty clean so I feel pretty confident that it should be fine.
So we'll see how they respond to that. Hopefully all is well!
I'm sure it is...

In other news, Fabs and Haze got their hooves trimmed today.
Haze has always been pretty "kick-y"/uncomfortable with having her hooves, specifically her back hooves, trimmed. My theory has always been that standing on three legs is super hard on her arthritis and she's just "sharing" that by making it super hard for the trimmer :lol:
Since she's still hopped up on aspirin for her injuries, today was a great test of that theory.

AND I WAS RIGHT.

Her hooves got done SO quickly today, and with a minimum of kicking. The trimmer actually said something about it, without me even prompting her.

So, in any case, I'm going to try to start giving Hazel aspirin before her trims since it helps so much! Who needs a stressed, pained, goat and a stressed trimmer when a little aspirin solves the whole thing?!


----------



## Sharpie

Sounds like a good plan, a lot of older horses get bute on Farrier day for the same reason. Watch her closely when you taper off the asprin. With her age she may be near the point where the benefits of chronic pain meds outweigh the risks. Or maybe she'll be fine until cold weather makes her stiff. They're lucky critters to have you looking after them. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

Well, today is my friend's memorial AND the one year anniversary of Lacey passing away... 

Hard to believe that "just" a year ago I was saying goodbye to my best friend. It feels like so much has happened...but not.

In any case, I'm doing better than I thought I'd be with all of it. I'm feeling pretty emotional today, already cried over something silly, but hey. I'm up and I'm functioning!!


And, in honor of Lacey, I decided it was time to try Fabs out bridleless. I really feel like some horses need that kind of "impetus" to really take things to heart [they rely on the reins, or whatever, to tell them what to do instead of actually practicing knowledge that they know] and Fabio is that kind of horse. He's like a lazy middle schooler - you can tell him "learn this! It's gonna be important!" but he won't even believe you until "Test Day." :lol:

Plus, Lacey loveddd being ridden bridleless/in a halter. For some reason that just made her light up all over the place. So I figured that this would be a good way to honor her. <3

Anyway, today was "Test Day," and Fabio passed. <3

I kept a neck rope on him because he does have a history of bolting and, given his phoning-it-in style, I wasn't sure how much he had actually retained of leg cues [plus this was his first ride in 2-3 weeks...haha] BUT he did well!!
There were a few times where he realized that he could take control if he wanted to, but each time I was able to get him refocused before he tried anything dumb.

This was the entire ride, so only 5 minutes, but I've found that he seems to respond really well to super short lessons.
As you can see, he was prettttty confused. But he tried his best and it'll only get better form here!!

https://youtu.be/_JayW0Yyw9s


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## Wallaby

The memorial was "great," as far as those things go. It was great remembering my friend and seeing all my other friends, who knew this guy too, that I rarely get to see...but it was hard not having him be there. He would have probably been the first person at any of our memorials, so having it be his memorial....it was just so weird and wrong. 
But it was really nice to remember him with friends and to support his family in this time.
His mom and his sister, the one that was closest to him in age [not the one I'm close to], seem to be having an especially hard time.  So so rough.


In other news, I posted that video of me riding Fabs on Facebook and someone who knew him/worked with him at the therapy place watched it and commented about how different-better he is now! Yay!!
I can see it, but I love that people who knew him can see it too. <3

ALSO.
So, do you guys remember that friend of Gman's? Gman's best friend? I believe he was previously referred to as "GBestie"..or something like that?

So he came home, ie to Oregon, in December or some such thing, then we were talking a lot, etc, and things seemed like they were going "pretty well."
Thennnn I said some stupid stuff [basically I told him I missed him, then backtracked and was all "but it's like how I miss Gman!" = pretty sure he took it wrong] and he didn't talk to me/'like' anything I posted anywhere for a few months [he had been "liking" everyyyyyything -not even kidding, one day I came home from work and found FOURTEEN new 'likes' from this guy- and tagging me in SO MUCH stuff]. So I figured that the only thing to fix whatever had happened was to just back off and not talk to him for a bit.

And it totalllllly workeddddd.
About a month ago he tagged me in something on Facebook, then I posted something on his FB wall, then he tagged me in something on Instagram [and referenced a conversation we had THREE years ago???], then I sent him an FB message and he got a lil' sassy...so I backed off. 

THEN it was his birthday on Thursday - he and Atticus share a birthday [THAT was something to mention here - Atti is three now!!]. So I told him happy birthday on his Facebook wall and, on my wall, posted a picture of Atticus and wished Atti happy birthday.
THEN GBestie commented on that photo of Atti, something about them being birthday buddies, and I commented back saying that we'd have to get a "birthday buddies" picture of the two of them together one day. He said that he "could not wait for that day" and I said I felt the same.

Then, later, I found a cute, but dumb, video of a chipmunk and messaged it to him on FB...just to kind of cement whatever good feelings we had built over the day - since he had initiated the comment, I figured I should initiate something nice too.

Then today I posted that video of me riding Fabio and GBestie 'liked' AND commented on Hazel's appearance in it = he watched the whole thing.
GBestie has NEVER commented on anything of mine at random. The 'birthday buddies' comment happened last year on their birthdays as well, but NEVVVVER random comments.

Then I got on Instagram and he liked a picture of Fabs and I there too.

Bottom line: I'm stoked cuz I was worried I had totally ruined this friendship/whatever with my comments about Gman, since GBestie hadn't talked to me at alllll since them = so glad we're at least still buddies!!

Today was a hard day, but the re-formation of that friendship really helped me get through it.


----------



## tinyliny

Wow! Courting in the digital age is simply exhausting! Why don't you just go out fir coffee it something?


----------



## Wallaby

Because he lives in Virginia.... :wink: 
Otherwise yes. We are planning a trip to the zoo [haha] when he comes back here next though!!


----------



## Wallaby

I don't know why the forum has been loading soooo painfully slowlllllly for me lately, but here are some photos of various stuff!

Hazellllll



And Fabs... I don't know what he was thinking, but yesterday he was being allll kinds of mutual-grooming-y with me. 
He knows that that's not really allowed, since he tends to be really gentle then "CHOMP" but yesterday I was having a rough time and he was being really careful [no chomping] so I let him.

Of course, I put a stop to it when he started opening his mouth on my head...but he was being surprisingly careful with that too. His teeth were on my head but he wasn't moving them at all, just holding them there. 
Weirdo!!
Anyway, so I took a picture and told him to stop. haha



Then, this morning, I found Fabs all cuddled into his stall in the shed. 
Lacey NEVER laid down as much as he does.
I kind of love that he lays down so much, and allows me be near him while he's laying down.



And, while Fabs was laying in his stall, Atti was laying out in the sunny sunny pasture.



And Hazel was still locked in her stall, all kinds of unimpressed.
I've started letting Atti out at night and just keeping Hazel in. Atti kept escaping and I think he's less "at risk" from the coyote, especially since -if Hazel is in- he's more likely to stick around Fabs.
But it kinda stinks for Hazel.  

On the plus side, she's gained SO MUCH weight from the spring grass and being in all night with unlimited access to mash/soft hay! I'm so happy about that!


----------



## egrogan

Sounds like you had a really emotional weekend. I'm glad you have this great little group of animals as an outlet. Loved all the pictures!


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## jcraig10

WOW I HAVE MISSED A LOT!

OMG HAZEL!!!!!! I am so glad that she is okay. Emily, that must have been so terrifying to see the coyote hanging on her neck! I can't even imagine. 

Happy Birthday Atti  
p.s. my fiance's brother just got a puppy (pug) and named it Atticus and when they told me I sort of giggled like "thats a goats name"

Also, sorry to hear about your friend that passed.


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## Wallaby

Me tooooo, egrogan! 

It so so was, Julia!! 
And that's so funny! A pug named Atticus. You know you're gonna have to keep yourself from calling him Atti! :rofl:


Things are going ok!
Hazel is healing really really well. I had to move down to my smallest syringe to flush her neck! The hole is now too small for the larger syringe I had been using [to start with, the hole was more than big enough for the big syringe].
And she is feeling SO GOOD. She literally ran up the hill with Atti this morning, for the sheer pleasure of running. I have NEVER seen her run uphill for fun. Maybe downhill, if she's trying to catch up to her friends, but never for fun.

I feel so much better about life when Hazel is doing well. This makes me so so happy. Maybe she does have a few more years left with us after all. I had, pre-coyote incident, been thinking that maybe I'd have to have her put down at the end of the summer for her own comfort..but maybe she has another year. That would be awesome.
I'm definitely gonna keep her on aspirin, but a lower dose. Maybe that's all she needs.
I've also discovered that she LOVES agave syrup and will eat SO MUCH food if a little syrup is added [maybe that's why she's running so much... - sugar high!! haha] so maybe that'll help her keep weight on this winter.





Atti is doing super great. He's finally totally adjusted to being separated from Hazel at night and it's no longer a big deal. Yay!!

Fabs is also doing well. He's shedding out SO DARK! Practically liver chestnut. :shock:



And our cute tootsies



Every morning Fabio loves to come check on Hazel. He marches into the shed area and right over to the gate on the front of Hazel's pen. Hazel will come over from wherever she is, and they'll sniff noses, then go about their own business.

It's my favoriteeeee.



That faceee



I dropped some food off in the pasture the other day with my truck and the boys are obsesssssed with the truckkkkk.
Fabs just stood there, draping his head in, all happy to have a truck. And Atti ran around inspecting it thoroughly. :lol:




The, today, I had thought about riding but Fabs had soooo much energy and wanted to run around sooo badly that I figured our time would be more enjoyably spent free lunging.
I started out lunging him on the line and he was having the hardestttt time walking and kept trying to engage me in play... UGH THIS HORSE. haha

So, in any case, I had him run around and it was a much better solution. Plus I got pretty pictures! 



Arabian magazine pose? 
He kept stopping, parking himself out like this, and looking at me over his shoulder like he expected me to do something. hahaha



Dopey, sleepy, post-running boy <3






And that's all, folks! Thanks for reading! :happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

I don't have a lot to say, BUT I rode Fabio this evening after work -for the fist time since the end of March- and DANG.

Each time I ride that horse I am honestly amazed at what he's figured out on his own and the connections he's made, based on the little I've taught him.
The extent of my knowledge is so small, yet somehow Fabs has gone from a nervous bolty-wreck and turned into a horse that I really really like riding.

It took Lacey YEARS to get where he is right now, and she really never got as tuned up as he is. 
Of course, he was just green to start with and has a lot more ground-work-related fears while Lacey's fears were mostly undersaddle...but still!

Fabs does still get a bit amped when we accelerate above a walk, but my focus has been getting him totally comfortable at a walk before progressing. We started incorporating a little bit of trotting today [not even a minute of trotting, let's be honest], and he did really pretty well.
We even did a trot-circle which was hard for me [Emily is out of riding-shape!!] and, therefore, no doubt hard for Fabs. But he stuck with it and didn't drop out/buck. So I'm counting it as a success! :lol:

I'm just so glad it's working out so well. I was really worried when he first came home that I wouldn't be able to do him justice - I still might not be able to do him as much justice as he deserves, but at least I know I'm not failing him.



In more unfortunate news, he has grown a wart-y growth on his sheath. It fell off [weird] before the vet came out to do his teeth and the vet said we should do a biopsy to make sure it's harmless if it comes back.
Well, it grew back.
Fast too - the vet was out on the 23rd of March and the growth is nearly back to full size right now.

So that's a bit worrisome. Fabs has his biopsy next Wednesday morning so hopefully the lump doesn't fall off again before that, and hopefully it's totally benign!


Hazel is doing GREAT. 
We had a bit of a scare at the beginning of the week - I tried switching her to animal aspirin and she was not having it. And then it seems like she had some kind of reaction to a base ingredient or something, because she spent the whole next day not eating and groaning at me. 
But, luckily, I gave her human aspirin the next night and she was fine by the next day.
What a scare!!
Of course now she's prettttty sure all her formerly favorite foods are 'infected' with evil aspirin so re-introducing them is a pain. She's already warming back up to beet pulp though so I'm hopeful!


----------



## Wallaby

All the kiddos are doing super well. 
Hazel's gash/neck is healing up SO well! Now I'm doing her daily flushes with a tiny syringe cuz that's the only one that'll fit in the hole - it used to be plenty big enough for a big 50cc syringe!
I am a littttle concerned about it because each day it has pushed out a bit of very white "gunk"... But maybe that's a normal part of the healing process...I hope so! It cleans up just fine and doesn't smell, so I'm not tooo concerned.

Fabio is getting fattttt off spring grass so that's a bit of a good/bad. I wish I had more time to work him! His weight is under control for now, but ugh. I'm thinking about starting to put his grazing muzzle on him, but he hates it so much.... :/

I did get him a new flymask for the summer and we both love it! It just slips over his head - no velcro, and it seems quite comfortable.



I thought he wouldn't like having it pulled over his head since he can be a little funny about his head, but I was wrong! He was totally fine.

And Atti...well, Atti has just been going around being crazy and typically Atticus. 


On the me-side of things, I recently discovered that I'm allergic to soy.  So Now I'm on a soy/gluten-free diet and it stinkssss. Soy is in so many things and I'm right at that point where my body has really realized that it was eating something bad for it, so my body is overreacting to everyyythinggg and I keep accidentally "soy-ing" myself.... 
To say the least, it isn't fun.
But I'm hoping that I'll start feeling more energetic as the soy leaves my system..fingers crossed!

And here are a few more pictures 

Hazel <3



Some deer taking a nap! 



Everybody together <3


----------



## Wallaby

Fabs' biopsy went great today!! 
He only almost kicked the vet in the head 4ish times. :lol:

But she feels like she was able to get a really good clean margin [ie, remove the entire thing].
Her guess is that it's a sarcoid, but she thinks that -due to the good margin- it should be gone-gone. We should know for sure in a week or so. 

He got one stitch! What a lil' trooper.
I gave him bute this evening because he's obviously sore, and the vet told me to keep it up for a day or two - until the swelling is down and he seems comfortable.

She's going to come back out in 10 days to remove the stitch. I could have done it myself, but I would need a helper and all the helpers I'd be able to find are not horse savvy and they would have a hard time holding up his front leg [so he doesn't kick while the stitch is coming out]...etc.
It just seemed easier to pay her $30 and have her remove it. haha

Fabs, of course, isn't a "kicker" normally...but you never know.

Anyway, I feel pretty good about that!


On the Hazel front, I decided to have the vet take a look at her neck because it's so close to being healed and it had been looking "puffier" than I thought it possibly should at this stage. 
My gut said something was up.
So the vet took a look, started squeezing it, a little pus came out. Then she squeezed it harder and A GIANT GLOB OF PUS CAME SHOOTING OUT. An abscess had clearly been forming in there and we caught it just in time!!

So she cleaned out the gash for me and gave me some more [different] antibiotic ointment for Hazel, as well as a special solution to use when I flush it out.
Hazel was pretty sore this afternoon from that, but I'm glad we caught it now, vs in a few months when it had grown and decided to explode everywhere/make her sick.

Of course, to Hazel's credit, I hadn't even thought of having the vet check her out when I was down at the shed so i didn't grab her halter = during all this, I was literally holding onto her beard-fur as a method of capture. No halter, no collar, just beard fur for popping a baby abscess.
And she just stood there like "ok, this is my life now I guess..."

THAT GOAT IS SO METAL. She is so hardcore.

And the vet had a ton of fun. She showed up expecting to just work on Fabs, and she got to work on him AND a goat [she's not a goat vet, at all. haha But she lovessss goats] AND I showed her all of Atti's tricks. She could not hardly believe that he does tricks like that! haha She was laughing so hard, it made her so so happy. 


Anyway, today was a good day! :happydance:


----------



## egrogan

Ewww...exploding pus does not sound pleasant! But glad the fuzzy little lady is still on the road to recovery!

Hope you get good news on Fabs. Isabel had a nodular sarcoid when I first got her that I treated pretty aggressively. It was fairly "angry" right when I bought her, but never flared up again after that. It never completely went away, but it's not in a place that bothers her so we just ignore it.


----------



## Wallaby

AH! It's been so long! And I left you guys hanging at such a major "plot point"!! :lol:

Good news about Fabio's lump-thing - it was just a wart! A weird, angry, wart, but just a wart!
The biopsy came back 100% clean - no malignant cells, clean margins, basically the perfect outcome.

I'm supposed to call immediately if it comes back, but it really shouldn't. 


When the vet came out to remove Fabs' stitches, she also looked at Hazel's neck and gave me the ok to stop flushing it! Yay! It seems to have healed really nicely. I'm kind of concerned that an abcess might be brewing under the skin because her skin is a little firmer when the wound used to be, but it isn't "hard" and there's no sign of an abscess.
Her muscle there _was_ injured so it could be scar tissue/etc. I guess we'll find out in a few months...

Hazel is also much skinnier right now than I would like her to be. She's just not eating well at all. Usually she eats well in the spring/summer, but she just isn't. She's interested in food, just not interested in enough food to keep herself going. 
 
I'm going to shear her tomorrow/next weekend, sometimes she stops eating enough when she has too much hair - weird but true. Hopefully she just needs shearing..


The little old people who own the pasture have been letting Fabio have full access to the llama's pasture too. He cannot believe his good luck - his 5 acre pasture just became a 7 acre pasture? WHAT?! haha

He's also back in his grazing muzzle for the summer. The kid was getting SO FAT.
Luckily, he very quickly learned how to eat the tall grass in the llama's pasture with his grazing muzzle on, so he's not too unhappy. I'm also happy because long grass is less sugary than the short grass in his pasture = his new "trick" is actually kinda healthy for him [don't tell him that though! haha].

And look at him all shed out - shiniest horse EVER.
I am honestly not sure how/why he is that shiny. I brush him like once every 2 weeks, he never gets ridden...
Ugh, his life is so hard. :rofl:




:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Hopefully I'll get some time this weekend to truly update! But the basics are:

1. I sheared Hazel...2? weeks ago and she is doing MUCH better. Eating better, acting perkier, the works. I'm so relieved!!
This last weekend I got her a new collar as well. Her previous one got kind of beat up/bloody during the coyote attack and I figured that she deserved a new, nice, one. 

2. It looks like, as on June 1st, Fabio is finally going to be mine-mine. Not to go into all the details, but his [previous] owner is a crazyyyy person and switched up all the things she had promised me, then refused to give me his bill of sale. 
BUT, as of the week of June 1st, I should be getting it all squared away and FINALLY getting his bill of sale.

THANK GOODNESS.

3. Today, 5/19, is Fabs' one year "Gotcha Day"! :happydance:
YAY!


----------



## tinyliny

time flies when you're having fun.


(time flies like an arrow. fruit flies like a banana)


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## SueC

That's a joke with a beard! ;-) (Not that I have anything against beards, metaphorical or otherwise. https://www.google.com.au/search?q=...GTIIqF8gW2zoHYAQ&ved=0CDEQsAQ&biw=981&bih=455)


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## SueC

Wallaby, I want to send you some moral support for putting a grazing muzzle on Fabio. He'll hate laminitis or arthritis or other consequences of obesity far more than a muzzle, especially once it's routine.

We have two donkeys in muzzles. They were obese when we got them in 2012 and it's made a big difference to them. They hated it too at first. We found that they minded it less when it became a case of "when you leave your diet paddock, it's _always_ in a muzzle." Now they honk when they see their muzzles, and literally put their faces in them. Muzzles = adventures, free ranging on the whole farm, not in a small paddock! And the amounts they eat through it roughly approximate the calories they'd get grazing in their natural environments (donkeys and Arabian horses share originating from arid, unproductive environments). We're in prime beef country. We also give our long-ears very rough, stalky hay, and the odd acacia trimmings, for better roughage when they're confined in their diet paddock at night.

He may give you looks aimed at convincing you otherwise, but you're totally doing the right thing!


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## Wallaby

SueC said:


> Wallaby, I want to send you some moral support for putting a grazing muzzle on Fabio. He'll hate laminitis or arthritis or other consequences of obesity far more than a muzzle, especially once it's routine.
> 
> We have two donkeys in muzzles. They were obese when we got them in 2012 and it's made a big difference to them. They hated it too at first. We found that they minded it less when it became a case of "when you leave your diet paddock, it's _always_ in a muzzle." Now they honk when they see their muzzles, and literally put their faces in them. Muzzles = adventures, free ranging on the whole farm, not in a small paddock! And the amounts they eat through it roughly approximate the calories they'd get grazing in their natural environments (donkeys and Arabian horses share originating from arid, unproductive environments). We're in prime beef country. We also give our long-ears very rough, stalky hay, and the odd acacia trimmings, for better roughage when they're confined in their diet paddock at night.
> 
> He may give you looks aimed at convincing you otherwise, but you're totally doing the right thing!


Thanks Sue  I appreciate that!
I think your positive words influenced Mr Fabio, even before I read your post! I've been working on having him put his head down for muzzling - I slip the muzzle-basket over his nose, then remove the muzzle [to reward] the second he shifts his head down, and so forth. 
That method worked REALLY well with him for saddling so I realized that I could potentially get it working for muzzling as well.

It's taken him quite a while [we've been practicing each morning before his muzzle goes on for the day] but I've stayed consistent, and this morning was the first morning EVER that I didn't have to stand on my tippy-toes to do the straps on his muzzle. He kept his head low the whole time and stayed pretty "whatever" about the whole thing.
He could have cared less as I "practiced" putting the basket over his nose, and the only thing that worried him even a little was the "sudden" appearance of the muzzle's straps. But even that worry was very fleeting.

Of course, I'm totally sure that he would not be so ok if I tried to put it on him without a rope draped over his neck, or if I walked up to him in the pasture with the muzzle and expected that I could put it on. But that'll come in time.
For a horse that used to bolt at the sight of his grazing muzzle, I'm pretty happy.

Now that this is nearly a non-issue, maybe we can move on to other "scary" face-things...like flymasks! Flymasks don't create the same amount of fear that the muzzle did, but he's certainly not comfortable with them.


That's a funny thing about him, that I have yet to experience with a horse that's not him - he can act 100% fine with something when I have a rope draped around his neck or he has a halter on [I don't necessarily have to be touching him either], BUT show him the 'formerly' scary thing when he's totally "free" and he loses it. 
Last Sunday we had quite a rodeo because I thought I'd drape Hazel's blanket over his booty for a second before putting it away - he kicked out, bolted, and took off racing around the pasture for 15 minutes, snorting and blowing the whole time. 
He's normally[used to be] absolutely fine with that blanket, and I've draped it over him before without an issue.

That time I ended up leaving the blanket, catching him with his halter, then sacking him out with the blanket.
He, of course, thought about running me over a few times while I sacked him out too! Luckily he didn't run me over, but that's how "not-there"-fearful he gets sometimes.

Not to anthropomorphize too much about this, but it's almost like he goes back to some kind of PTSD-type space.
I really wish I had some kind of knowledge about what he experienced earlier in his life.
I mean, I know he was handled very roughly and, based on the defense behaviors he reverts very quickly to, I can guess that he got the "bad man" to go away by scaring his pants off.
And he has a line on his face where, it appears, like a halter grew into his face. 
Plus what I actually know for sure where he had been starved and left in a stall 100% of the time, and he was "dangerous to ride" because of his bad bolting problem.
Not to mention the whole poll-area thing - my friend who did a lot of his training when crazy-lady first got him, said that she couldn't lay hands on his neck for weeks after he came in. That he would rear and strike when she went for his poll-area. He's still funny about his poll-area and that is NOT where you want to touch him first, but he doesn't loose it anymore...luckily!

BUT he lets me clip his ears, with buzzing clippers, no matter the situation and he's not the least bit worried. 
And he knows Clinton Anderson-type training like it's his language. 
Now THAT is an interesting development - I was watching CA videos on Youtube a month or so ago, just for the purposes of knowing as much as possible. I had no intention of actually using any of his stuff!
BUT. 
I tried some out on Fabs, just to see, and you should have seen that horse light up.
He KNEW what I was saying. It was so weird. He hasn't acted that way about anything else. EVERYTHING has seemed new, except that.

He gets nervous about it for sure, all that "pointing to send"-stuff particularly, but he understands it nonetheless.

Very weird.

I wish he could talk.
Or maybe I don't. Maybe it would make me cry....

Anyway! Today was so good with our grazing muzzle success! So proud! <3


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## waresbear

Hazel is so mythical looking, I am intrigued by her.


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## SueC

Well, I'm impressed with your perseverance! 

The running away when free thing and reacting less when tied up, I think is probably mostly them realising there is not much they can do about it when they are already "caught" . My riding horse is like that with worming. Saw me worming the others in the paddock and immediately took a wide berth and looked suspicious. Then when I came closer to him with the worming syringe, actually on my way to another horse, he just turned and bolted away. But, I know what he's like and had no intention of worming him in the paddock. I waited until I'd tacked him up for a ride, took the wormer out of my pocket when he wasn't looking, and then quickly squirted it in his mouth. He gave me a look that clearly said, "So unfair!" I consoled him a little - from their perspective, what does this whole thing look like... told him he was a good boy, and then we went riding. I think he's forgiven me for my rotten and sneaky behaviour! ;-)


----------



## Wallaby

In exciting news, Fabio is finally MINE. Mine mine mine. ALLLL mine. :happydance:

In strange news, during the signing of his sale papers, his story changed againnn. And I'm so confused.
Now the story is that his previous-previous owner was a young girl [about my age?] from Lebanon, OR who had owned him for 7, or so, years [basically his whole life]. "She got him when he was very young."
Fabs' previous owner is now saying that she believes he only had one other owner prior to this girl.

Apparently, previous-previous owner used him extensively as a play-date horse until she got something "hotter and faster" [Fabs is pretttty fast, I'm not sure lil-wuss-me would want anything faster!! haha]. She was apparently very broken up about giving Fabs up, but couldn't keep up with both horses - thus, Fabs was "100-125 pounds underweight" when previous-owner looked at him. Previous-previous owner and Fabs had "a very strong bond."
Previous-owner [Crazy-Former-Boss-Lady] also said that when she initally rode him, he "moved off her leg well and knew how to collect up, and seemed very well trained."

The horse _I_ know barely understands leg cues at the current time, so I'm not sure how much I believe that he knew them well. And "collect up"???? What? Please tell me you're kidding on so many levels....
HOWEVER. 
I do know that when he was first introduced into the therapy barn situation, he was "too" responsive to leg so a bunch of the teeny-boppers hanging around the barn [God's gift to horses-types] would hop on him and goose him with their legs until he stopped responding. Who knows how much of his previous training was lost with that...

Anyway, that kind of explains the impression I get that once upon a time he had a girl who he ADORED. 


But I'm also really confused by this story. 
Apparently the whole "not being able to be in a stall" thing originated from his first night at the therapy place when he, apparently, lost it and tried to jump out of the stall...and successfully accomplished it, except for the fact that he tore his back wide open.

Anyway, this whole new story makes more sense than the original...but it also doesn't.
I mean, I guess if his previous owner was a classic bad barrel racer, or something...some of the stuff makes sense..

At the very least, he certainly has never acted as broke undersaddle as I'd expect a seasoned play-date horse to act.........who knows. I guess we'll never know, and that's gonna have to be ok.

PICTURES.

I took a new "transformation" picture:


----------



## Chevaux

Most agreeable news, Wallaby. 

It is unfortunate that we can't get the story straight from the horse's mouth -- Fabs could set us straight if we only had the ability to understand him.


----------



## Roman

His transformation is awesome! Glad Hazel is doing well too. Atti looks great too! 

Yay for Fabio finally being ALL yours! Congrats! 

I too have put my horse on a grazing muzzle. He didn't like it and would get frustrated, but I think he's gotten the hang of it now. He's managed to get it off twice now, somehow. >.>


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## Zexious

Love the transformation pics <3

In regards to his "backstory," I feel like it really doesn't matter :> He's got a great home now, and is obviously fat and happy, so his past really isn't too relevant, even if it would be fun to know for sure.


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## tinyliny

Emily,

you might not like me saying this, but, while I see improvement in his topline, I also see more obvious signs of being overweight, and possibly insulin resistant . this is the same thing X is dealing with. he has "cellulite' on his but, that dip in front of his withers, a burgeoning crest, and a very "round" butt. I know that you are doing a lot to combat this, so I hesitate to say anything. but, I also know that what I see is what I see.

X is not on a grazing muzzle, though I think he probably should be. 

right now he is lame. if that matters.


----------



## SueC

Wallaby said:


> In exciting news, Fabio is finally MINE. Mine mine mine. ALLLL mine. :happydance:


Very good!  That means all the progress from the hard work you've put into this horse will be yours to enjoy and build upon for what I hope will be at least two decades to come.

Very happy for you!


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## egrogan

Yes, congrats on getting all the paperwork finalized. I too wish they could just talk to us and explain where they've been and what they've seen!

On a lighthearted note, I had to share with you my recent dose of cute goats- as in, baby goats playing in pajamas (credit to "storyful" on FB)


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## jcraig10

I haven't been around in awhile...my work started blocking websites and HoFo is one of them! Ahh! 

So glad to hear that Fabs is all yours now! You've put a lot of work into him...you definitely deserve him!


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## Wallaby

Man guys, I am having a TERRIBLE time with keeping up with this, but I promise I still love you all! <3 Thank you for taking the time to comment and read. It means a lot <3

But I will do a kind of response/update right now:

I agree with those of you that said Fabs is a lil' on the chubby side - I totally agree. He's one of those horses that needs to be ridden 8 miles a day to be "in shape," if I wanted to not have a grazing muzzle on him. As it is, he wears his grazing muzzle and I'm not sure how much it helps and he doesn't get much work. It's bad news.
I'm looking to change my schedule around at work so that I have more time to ride. Hopefully that can all work out!

He loves being played with and, with the limited riding I've been able to do, he's really coming along. I'm really impressed.

Atti and Hazel are also both doing well. Hazel is skinny again which I pretty much hate, but it's mostly because she's going through another phase of love-hating food. She eats a little and eats it excitedly, but she doesn't eat nearly enough to keep herself up.
On the plus side, she isn't as thing as she could be - her ribs are somewhat covered and I suppose she's just like a typical "thin old lady". I wish she were chubbier, but maybe extra chub would be harder on her joints...maybe this is better...?


In MY LIFE news, I've told you about Gman's guy BFF before, right? The one who lives in Virginia and is super nice and Gman has been "innocently" trying to set me up with for the last forever? And who you all think I should just take out to coffee and get it over with, except he lives in Virginia? :lol:

Lately me and G-BFF have been talking A LOT.
Like everyday.
And all of this had been online talking until yesterday when he gave me his phone number. And I texted him and he was all "I'm so glad you can text me now!"

Annnnnywayyyy. I'm really happy about this. We have all these plans of things we're gonna do when he comes back home [here]...so we'll see. But I'm so happy about it and I'm trying to keep it on the DL...as if that's ever possible for me. But I'm trying so hard to play it cool. hahaha

ALSO. I finally mentioned it to Gman [I had been putting off saying anything because I was worried since he always used to get kind of...funny whenever I mentioned G-BFF] all "so me and ___ have been talking and he gave me his phone number so I guess that's good..." and dear Gman's face LIT UP. He was so happy. 
So that's kind of a relief.


In other news, I found a weird link from this journal in my moderator-options and I found this webpage that told me all kinds of statistics about it.
And the funnest one, I thought, was the post statistics.
Some of you guys have posted A LOT and I love it! :loveshower::loveshower::loveshower:
And even the people who haven't posted so much, I still love it!! :loveshower::happydance:


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## tinyliny

and that's just YOUR journal!


----------



## Zexious

Now I have a new incentive to post more ;D

I'm excited to hear about this new guy  That's one of my favorite parts of journals~


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## Wallaby

Zexious said:


> I'm excited to hear about this new guy  That's one of my favorite parts of journals~



Well, here's some more for you :loveshower: - 

We've been texting kind of a lot all week, just little things, and today I was bored so I started asking him questions. 
I asked about his family [he has 3 much older siblings! Did NOT see that one coming] and I made some joke about my brother.

Long story short, I, completely on accident, realized that I had potentially insinuated something about the two of us getting married. Basically I said that my sister-in-law has a hard time getting the sense of humor my brother and I have together, but I felt like G-BFF would totally get that sense of humor.
Maybe he didn't pick up on it, but I feel like it was pretty hard to miss. 
Emily's Foot, meet Emily's mouth. Emily's Mouth, meet Emily's Foot!

BUT THEN.
He replied "haha possibly!  " :shock:

So um, yeah.

I texted him something somewhat related, but different, later to kind of bury my statement...maybe he didn't even pick up on that. I hope not. But whatever, I do have a crush on him, just there's no need to come off as a crazy person like that. 
Hopefully he has a good enough feel for who I am that he knows I'm not writing-my-name-with-his-last-name, or something, kind of weird-crazy [which we all know, I guess, that I really am...but I try to be private about that? hahaha].

And then, of course, I saw Gman after church and blurted out to him all about this...then realized that I was talking about his best friend WHO HE IS SEEING THIS WEEK and boys are such gossips... UGH. MY LIFE.
Gman is pretty careful of people's feelings most of the time so I hope it's ok...but me and his best friend? I don't know, that might be harder for him... Ugh. Maybe it'll work out in my favor. I'm just gonna own it and it'll be ok. 

So that's my embarrassing story of the evening. *takes a bow*

I was gonna write more about horse-stuff-etc but I have to be up at 5:30am tomorrow so I really need to be going to sleep right now. 
But I want to tell you thingsssss. :loveshower::loveshower::loveshower::loveshower:


----------



## Zexious

^I really wouldn't worry about it :> Guys aren't usually perceptive to things like that, particularly not over text!
Of course, that's not to say Gman won't say something... but don't sweat it. We all say silly things when we're a bit smitten! 

Looking forward to hearing more updates ^^~


----------



## gunslinger

Yes, well, the good news is you might have a new husband.....

The bad news is you might have a new husband......

LOL....Really....I don't see the harm so just make lite of the situation.....if it were me....I'd be flattered....by your proposal.....:loveshower:


----------



## Wallaby

We're in the midst of this huge heat wave and it's making outside basically unbearable. We haven't had a daytime temp under 90*F in.....a lot of days. Typically we might have a couple 90* days in a given summer, and maybe one 100*+ one, with most days staying in the low 80s.

NOT THIS YEAR.
In any case, it's not my favorite. On the plus side, the animals [Hazel, in particular] have finallllly adjusted to the temperatures and I'm not getting home to heat-stroke-y animals every evening. I'm still hosing them off nearly every night, but it's nice to worry less about it!!
They have plenty of water and shade and everything, but it's still hot-hot-hot in the shade and poor Hazel was not ready for that.

Anyway, now they are doing better.

I haven't ridden much at all lately, and it's a huge bummer. My saddle just no longer fits Fabio any way you look at it. Last summer it *kinda* fit, enough that he could wear it happily...but not this summer.
I have been riding a little bit in the pasture, bareback, and he is going SO WELL. He's moving off my leg nicely, better everyday, and we've even progressed to doing a little trotting without having "our" ears pinned fully back.
One thing I really really love about Fabio is that he can go for a month without being ridden and be like he was ridden the day before. Of course, try not putting a saddle on him for a month then throwing one on...- expect fireworks. But just plain bareback riding? He's an old hat.


On the G-BFF front, things are going well, I'd say! He's still talking to me and he always texts me right back. He told me about his favorite childrens book from when he was a kid so I got it for the kids at work [and so I could read it...but mostly for the kids at work, OK??! :lol: ] and it is the most precious, G-BFF-like, book. I like it a lot.
He was so so excited that I loved it, that was almost as precious as the book. 
I've never met someone I feel so.....I don't know. Like he literally wants to live on a farm and take care of sassy old farm-type animals. I don't know if it's just me, but I have never before met a guy who gets joy from caring for elderly farm animals and prefers the ancient ones to the young ones. Maybe that's just me. In any case, I am more smitten the more we talk. HA.

Gman is being...I can't tell if he's being weird, or if he's just teasing me, about this whole thing.
He keeps working G-BFF into whatever texts he's sending. Like yesterday I sent him a picture of a baby from work and jokingly said "who dresses their kid like thisss?" [7 month old baby wearing a Ralph Lauren polo and plaid shorts]. Gman replied "haha _G-BFF_ would"
Then today. I sent him a link to a funny animal gif and he replied "I find that terrifying. But _G-BFF_ thinks those things are hilarious."

And so forth. 

So I don't really know if that's him trying to give me permission or something, or what.
MEN.

But, in any case, I'm not too worried about Gman. I think, if anything, he's all about G-BFF and I talking. Gman is basically my brother so, obviously, he has to tease me about it. :lol:

And, starting today, I have a TEN day break from work! We go back on the 13th, but I'm freeeeeee until then! I am EXCITED. :happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

It's finally not 1,000 degrees ALL THE TIME. 

I've been trying to ride a bit more and do more things with Fabs. It's been a bit hard for me though, I'm just at a general bad spot in life. My anxiety has gotten so so bad over the last few months and I really don't know particularly why. My therapist lady is sending me for bloodwork and she thinks, if that turns up normal, that I should get on some kind of anxiety medication.
I reallllllllly, cannot stress that enough, really don't want to medicate myself out of it...but it might be better than my life right now.
My therapist thinks that I shouldn't force myself to "live in hell for no reason" and I agree...but medication seems so extreme? Hopefully my bloodwork will show something and it won't just be me going crazy[crazier?? haha].

In any case, I've been riding Fabs a bit and he is AMAZING. We've progressed to actually doing a bit of trotting undersaddle and he's been taking to that SO WELL. [for him.]
He used to get really balky while trotting and the one time he's ever bucked while I was riding was due to said balk-y-ness. He's still relatively ear-pin-y about trotting, but he used to be sooo much worse. And now, at least, he pins his ears but keeps trotting at a consistent pace. haha He used to fall out or start racing around like he was somehow going to run away from the trot.

We still haven't progressed to cantering in the pasture, but I think we're headed that direction. Traditionally he is SO out of control at the canter, so I want to make sure he's super under control at the trot before attempting canter. I think we're getting there. I'm still having to do a bit of "calming down" work mid-trot session [for him, he calms down and stops rushing if I have him stop and yield his forehand/hindquarters. Sometimes backing up or stopping is enough, but yielding is 100% guaranteed to work] so not needing to do calming stuff is a goal to meet before cantering again.

And I honestly have no idea how I'm teaching him this stuff. Maybe he's tuning back in to whatever he learned earlier in life? But I have no idea what I'm doing, yet he's making me look like I know a thing or two. :lol:

That hill in my riding area? That's not a trick of the camera. That's literally how hilly my riding area is. :lol:

https://youtu.be/7QgCAGXDT2Y

And let's just talk about how much of a better rider I am!! I took that video yesterday and I barely recognized my own riding. Of course, there are still TONS of areas I could and should work on, but I'm so much more confident looking nowadays.

Here's a still from that video. LOOK at Fabio's neck. What? Yum.




The goats are doing well too. Atticus is being his usual bad self and Hazel is being traditionally adorable, everyday.
Atti did get new tennis balls for his horns the other day - turquoise duct tape and neon yellow tennis balls! He looks like he's ready for a rave 24/7. haha

Here's a disgustingly cute video of the two of them. Look at Hazel gallop! I almost cried a little after taking this. She is too precious and sweet.

https://youtu.be/RBWtak9Ie9I


----------



## Chevaux

Are Hazel's horns starting to look better or is it just my imagination?


----------



## Wallaby

Nope! It's not just your imagination. Her horns ARE looking better! I'm not sure precisely why and I doubt they'll ever look perfect, but they are looking much better than they did  And she's started [as you can see in that video] playing "headbutt" with Atti on a daily basis, so maybe they feel better too! 


OH MAN GUYS. So you know how yesterday I was all "I think we aren't gonna canter for a while"???
Today I was riding Fabs and he was doing so well, I kind of went all "what the heck" and asked him to canter!

Of course, I asked him all kinds of wrong the first time and he was SO MAD, but then I asked differently and he popped right into a nice, tidy, little canter! 100% under control and everything. He didn't hardly get hyped and he stopped fully the first time I asked. 
He didn't even _think_ about running away or causing trouble.

I am SO proud of him right now!! :loveshower:


----------



## SueC

Wallaby, have you looked at the relationship between magnesium and anxiety? Magnesium supplementation helps many racehorses, and people! Seems we are getting less of it than we should because of modern agricultural practices. A friend of ours has anxiety and got very good results from magnesium supplementation.

It's not a one-stop cure-all by any means, but it can be one helpful thing in your kit bag.


----------



## Wallaby

That's a very good idea! I'll look into that. I give Fabio magnesium [in the form of the supplement "Remission"] and it's really helped him. 
Thanks, Sue. 

I got a video of Fabs and I cantering!
And I got a video of alllllllllll his resistant-bluffing beforehand. 
LOOK at him. 
LOOK at how hard he is trying to scare me into not cantering! 
WHAT a dork.

Good thing for him that I am tenacious like some kind of wolverine.
He cracks me up, this is exactly how he used to be about trotting too. I don't know if he'd escalate if I showed some fear or what, but dang. WHAT happened where he learned that this behavior was ok??

But I love how he's judging his behavior to what I can handle, just giving me enough to tell me that he does _not_ like what I'm asking.
I've seen him buck, he's bucked once before with me too, and that baby buck he threw in wasn't even 20% of what he _could_ do.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE this horse??

https://youtu.be/cqwL2_RZr6g

Here's the cantering bit, if you just want to see that. But the full video is hilarious, and precious, so if you're bored... haha 

https://youtu.be/84SJzv1Qbsc


----------



## egrogan

Your field looks like a movie set in that video- the colors are gorgeous!


----------



## Sharpie

I think that is the definition of "fat and sassy." He has OPINIONS! about doing things, doesn't he! You're right though, at least he doesn't escalate it to something dangerous for you. I love Atticus just randomly running into view. It definitely made me giggle. Like "Hey! Guys! Whatcha doing?"


----------



## Chevaux

Sharpie said:


> I think that is the definition of "fat and sassy." ..."


 
I feel we need to coin a new word -- "Fassy" -- and subsequently rename Fabs accordingly.


----------



## tinyliny

Fassy!!!! I love that. Fassypants.


----------



## Wallaby

It is a beautiful place, Egrogan!  And it was perfect out on Monday. I'm glad I got to share it with you guys!
I dread the day that I have to move the animals to a genuine barn!

Haha Sharpie, Atti running through was my favorite part too. He's such a silly guy!
And I think you're right, that IS fat and sassy! haha Fabs sure does have opinions about things and he likes to keep my up to date on his feelings. :lol:

I wonder if, perhaps, that kind of behavior has something to do with his past life as a "playday" horse? Because he's happy to run out on the trail, but the attitude comes OUT when we're doing more arena-ish work. Word on the street is that the owner that used him in playdays "moved up from him to a hotter horse" and that's why he got sold...but part of me wonders if he got burnt out on the sport, but she didn't want to say it?? 
You should SEE how he turns around a barrel. haha [I have one barrel that I usually use as a camera tripod, but occasionally use in our rides, and boy, don't ask him to trot around that barrel unless you want him to come flying out the other side! haha]

Chevaux, FASSY! :rofl: :rofl: I love it!! That can be his alter ego name, the one we use when he's trying to be soooo tough. :lol:

Haha Caroline, that's great! Lacey was Sassypants, Fabs can be Fassypants. haha


Speaking of Lacey and Fabs, today is the 7 year anniversary of when Lacey became mine, and it's also the 2 year anniversary of the day I met Fabs back at the therapy place! 

It's Facey Day! Happy Facey Day to you guys! haha


----------



## Wallaby

OH!!

I meant to also say that my friend Maggie [Skyseternalangel here] suggested that I try coconut oil for Hazel. And I was kinda like "Ha, but ok."

That was maybe a month ago.

I've been giving Hazel about a tablespoon of coconut oil each day [I mix it into her syringe of aspirin so I can be sure she eats it] and the results have, thus far, been so so good!

She's not as interested in the food I give her, but she actually grazing on her own! Like going out into the pasture and wandering around, looking for things. She rarely, if ever, used to graze on her own so this is a huge deal. And it actually seems like she's been putting on some weight.

I used to measure her weight off her backbone, but I've since decided that her ribs might be a more accurate way of determining her chub-level. She's old enough that I'm beginning to think that her topline is just permanently gone, like the topline on an old horse.

At the very least, she has SO much more energy now and I've caught her playing with Atticus nearly daily.

I'm thrilled about this. She might have one more winter left in her! I'm planning to built her a kind of insulated "house," in her portion of the shed, before it gets cold again, and hopefully that'll make this winter be more comfortable for her. Cold is really the thing that gets to her in the winter, I think. She doesn't struggle too badly with other aspects of the winter, just those days when it's 20*F for 3 weeks straight.

Yay!


----------



## Chevaux

So, perhaps coconut oil helped improve the horn situation???


----------



## tinyliny

I am still waiting for your book, Emily.


----------



## Wallaby

Potentially, Chevaux! That's definitely an interesting possibility. I think it is helping her coat feel softer, so I guess it's not outside the realm of possibility that it's helping other parts of her that grow!

Haha, one day Caroline.  




Fabs and I had a GREAT day yesterday!
A friend [who's come to ride with us before, with her horse Micheal] picked Fabs and I up, then we all trailered over to a nearby park-thing. 

Her horse has a lot of life experience and is superrrr laid back, so he's a perfect match to Fabs' "WOW WHAT IS THAT?! LET'S RUN! I LOVE RUNNING. BUT OMG THERE'S A LOG!"-ness
It's actually funny, all the things Fabs had a hard time doing, Micheal totally nailed. All the things Micheal wasn't sure about, Fabio was totally about. 
PLUS both our boys are pretty selective about who they like [not mean-selective, but discerning-selective and they aren't afraid to share their feelings], and they both LOVE each other. They've only met twice, but both times they went together like peanut butter and jelly.


Anyway, I hadn't ridden Fabs outside the pasture in monthsss so I wasn't 100% sure how well it'd go. Especially after Fabs LOST IT when he saw the trailer. He got all looky and snorty and just generally began spazzing over the place.
He barely made it into the trailer without a fuss, then pulled back when we had to close the trailer window by his face. So I was kinda a lot like "and I'm going to RIDE this horse???"

He trailered great though! Especially since he was in there, in a "tiny" two horse slant, next to a relatively unfamiliar horse! 

We got to the park and he flew out of the trailer like he was some kind of magical beast, all snorty-excited, and I was still like "me?? ride this horse???"
Interestingly, I realized this yesterday, I've never seen Fabs back out of a trailer. He always turns around. Luckily he's not very long so he could turn around in the trailer, even though it was small! I tried backing him out and he was notttt budging that way.
It's something to remember when I get my own trailer one day!

Luckily, as I started putting his tack on, he transformed from a fire-breathing monster into a relatively relaxed horse. He was still excited, but I guess he figured out what exactly was going on.

He even immediately remembered his "saddle pad is on, head down" - trick. [he used to get so nervous about the saddle pad going on, so I taught him that I'd take the pad right off if he puts his head down. So I usually repeat that a few times, then leave the pad on for good]

My friend held him for me while I got on because he gave me some trouble about that [plus, I have really short legs and he is 15+ hh so mounting from the -flat- ground is already harddd for me], but he settled down pretty quickly after that. We had a few tiny initial spook-scoots in the parking lot, but those were the only ones he tried!

He was pretty amped for the first 10-20 minutes, but very much under control. Like, he was _ready_ and absolutely waiting for the cue to trot/canter [and, let's be honest, I probably would have had difficulty getting him back if I had asked him to trot or canter], but he respected that I was asking him to just walk. 
We chose to just walk for the whole ride [thankfully this friend and I have a similar trail ride philosophy - better safe that sorry, stick with a walk if you aren't sure!!] and I think that was really good for Fabio. He really has that "we're out and about and it's time to RUN!"-mindset and I want him to grow into a mindset that's more "walking is our primary gait, we might run if Emily decides we can..but that decision isn't up to me"-ish.

There were a few really steep, rocky/sandy, embankments heading down to the river and I was a little nervous about asking Fabs to go down them because they were SO steep and the footing wasn't the sturdiest, but I asked him to try and he climbed down them like a literal goat. 
My friend's horse stumbled a bit [he went down the embankments first both times] and that made me extra nervous, but guess who didn't even misstep once? Um, yeah, FABIO.

You should have SEEN him after that first steep hill - he went from nervous-excited straight to proud-excited. He practically puffed up with pride and his own ability. :lol:

Then we got to the river.

Micheal, my friend's horse, went straight in without a fuss but Fabs was NOT sure about that. We had to do a number of approach and retreats, but guess who loved the water so so much? 
FABIO.

He got in and immediately loved it. He was putting his face in, pawing, it was hilarious and precious. He even started thinking about laying down to roll. :icon_rolleyes:
So, after the near-rolling incident, I pulled him out, then we walked back in and walked in the river a little, then headed for the bank. He didn't rush for the bank at all, just calmly walked.

Here's a video of Fabio splashing: [just listen to him talking about it, how PRECIOUS is he??!!!]
https://youtu.be/FtYRlNmzO00

And a picture of us in the water!



We walked along some more, went down another, steeper, bank - which, again, Fabs went down like a champ and was SO proud of himself about - and found a sandy beach area. Fabs was completely flabbergasted by the sandy beach and kind of horrified that his feet kept sinking in, but he figured it out.

Then we went back to the water and Fabio headed straight back in like an old pro. I actually had to force him out this time, he wanted to walk in deeper and deeper. :rofl:
Again he reallllly wanted to roll in it, but I told him that that was not in the agenda. :lol:


Overall we had such a great ride! The more I get Fabio into things like this, the more I see what he's made of, and the more I love him. With time and experience, he is going to be SUCH a great horse. Maybe it's because our personalities really just click, but I honestly cannot imagine why someone would ever give him up. He is A LOT of horse when he wants to be, but it's all bluff! Maybe that's why he's mine - cuz I never will give him up!!
We were out riding for 2-ish hours and it was wonderful.

My friend is heading back to school in about a month, but we're gonna try to plan at least one more ride before she heads back. 
ACK, I can't wait!!


In other news, IT'S RAINING!!!!! ALL DAY! It's been POURING rain. I'm wearing long pants AND a sweatshirt. It is literal heaven. We needed rain so so badly, I am so thankful it's here.

Rain and a wonderful trail ride, this has been THE BEST weekend. :loveshower::loveshower::loveshower::loveshower:


----------



## Wallaby

Oh AND! I had been thinking that my saddle super doesn't fit Fabs anymore and I was mostly wrong about that. I still need to get a different saddle with a different tree angle, but it fit ok for yesterday and he's not sore today = success! 

So that's good. I had been feeling really bad about making him wear a saddle that didn't really fit, but I realllly didn't want to miss out on the ride. So I did everything I could to make sure he'd be comfy and it worked! Yay!


----------



## Wallaby

I have today off and OF COURSE the cold I'm been fighting off would strike with a vengeance. >.>
On the plus side, at least I didn't have to call in to work and lose pay???

On the work front, things are..interesting right now. 3 coworkers, out of 5, gave their 2 weeks notice a few weeks ago. One already left for a new job, one is leaving tomorrow, and another is leaving next week.
So things there have been hecticcccc.

They really wouldn't have an issue if they paid us more, but we get paid barely enough to make it through the month [my coworkers and I all average $1100/month, working 36-38 hours/week], once a month, and it's just not enough to make you want to stay. You simply cannot get, and keep, well qualified individuals on that kind of salary. The going rate for the industry is $14/hour, $9.75/hr is impossibly low.

I can stay, for now, because I still live with my parents...but boy, if I didn't?? I absolutely adore the kids and look forward to spending time with them which makes the concept of leaving really really hard...but I need to better myself as well.
It hasn't alll been a waste of time, of course, because I own Fabio now and I have a truck of my very own = definite signs of life improvement...but I'm gonna be 25 in September and being out on my own would be a good good thing.

My _hope_ is to hang in there over the winter, save absolutely whatever I can, and see where that gets me. At my current income, I usually end up with $300 left over at the end of the month [not right now, since buying Fabs put me in an unexpectedly deep hole..but in a normal month]...we'll see.
I'd like to buy a trailer before setting out on my own, so I have my own mobility and whatnot - I feel like, since my parents are happy to have me, I might as well set myself up as perfectly as possible while I have the time...but that may not be possible.

We'll see.



ANYWAY.

Last night I rode Fabs and it went really well!
He tends to get really sour about trotting/cantering [he started out sour, what am I saying? haha] so that's something we've really been working on.
I walk him around A LOT, asking for different figures and other "easy" things, then I ask him to trot a little and we stop the second he stops pinning his ears/resisting. I've found that trotting a serpentine is usually the best method to get those ears up - he resists for the first couple of bends, then decides it isn't so bad towards the end. :lol:
He's finally started reaching into my hands a little while we trot which is kind of a HUGE deal. He used to only trot around with his head way up in the air, champing the bit [well, you saw that video, he used to be that FASSY 100% of the time while we were trotting].

He did really well with trotting, so I threw in one tiny canter.
It only took him two crazy trots up the hill before he decided to stop resisting - unlike last time where there was a solid 10 minutes of resisting!! I would say definite progress is being made.

Then we went back to a little trotting for a couple of minutes to remind him that leg cues don't all mean "RUN!!" and that all trotting does not lead to cantering, and he did really well with that!

I was so proud of him during that last trot, he got a little spooked by something and he stopped dead in his tracks. 
That is unprecedented. MY horse? Stopping when something scares him instead of running from it??! What?
So that was really really good. 
For a horse that has so many "things," I'm always kind of confused about how "pure" he is. Like he just soaks everything up like a sponge.
Lacey had a lot of bad experiences too, and she turned that into fighting every new idea. She'd eventually try it, after days of baby steps, and it'd be ok, but she was a lot less willing to just try things.

Fabio, it takes one experience and he's like "well! How about that!! I guess I CAN try a little bit harder next time!"

Personalities are so weird!!

I wish Lacey and Fabio could talk to me with human words and explain themselves. haha

The other thing that's weird-great is that Fabio is "more horse" than Lacey ever was...but he's also somehow easier. Maybe he's dumber than Lacey ever was? Haha that would not surprise me all that much. 
Fabs is kind of a dope, but a loveable, well-meaning, dope. And Lacey was sharp as a tack, all the time. She knew what she wanted, why she wanted it, and she always had a plan to make it happen.



On the goat-front, Atti is doing his usual *amazing*. haha He finally shed out his winter coat and he's all kinds of slick and gorgeous. <3

Hazel is doing ok too. I found some massage techniques that she lovessss, so I've been giving her a little mini-massage each morning after she gets up. They're mostly just "connection"-type movements to get the blood flowing and remind her brain where everything is. 
She loves it, so I guess I'll keep it up!

:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Well, it was 110* and 103* yesterday and today - SOMEHOW all the animals are doing just fine. Even Hazel! She's been up, walking around and grazing, every evening when I show up to feed! It's a huge relief. In years past, she lays down at 90-ish, has a harder time breathing, and has a really hard time recovering without lotsss of cold-hosing.
So the fact that she's doing almost just fine right now is incredible. She has been getting a little dehydrated by the evening but, as it turns out, she loves drinking cold water from the hose = super great solution to that dehydration problem!


On the me-front, I went to the doctor today, the real doctor, to talk about my anxiety...and guess what.
My therapist had suggested that she wondered if I had ADD and she wondered if the ADD was making my anxiety as bad as it's been, so she wanted me to follow up on that with the doctor. 

I did and the doctor thinks I absolutely have ADD. So I'm starting on medication for that tomorrow.
1. I guess we'll know if the medication helps!
2. THAT would have been good to know, oh I don't know, MAYBE THE 16 YEARS I SUFFERED THROUGH SCHOOL??
Maybe I'm actually good at math, who even knows.

But anyway, we may be on the cusp of a "really good thing" in Emily's life.


----------



## Wallaby

I took my dose of medication this morning [I'm supposed to take half a pill every day, the doctor said it was fine to start with 1/4 pill if I was nervous, so I took 1/4 pill] and OH MY GOSH GUYS.

My anxiety is basically gone. *I* am still here, but I can feel myself thinking! And I can remember things! Important things aren't getting lost in the shuffle of my brain anymore.
Feeding the animals and watering them, a task that usually takes 40-ish minutes, took me 20 minutes this morning because I stayed so on task.

My brain is so so quiet, it's so wonderful! Necessary thoughts are there, but all the other _stuff_ is gone and I can truly say "no" to the thoughts I don't want. I'm not stuck thinking and thinking and thinking about something I saw, but didn't investigate. Ack, I feel liberated! I want to tell everybody about it. haha


----------



## Chevaux

Wallaby;7814698... but all the other [I said:


> stuff[/I] is gone ...


 That's deep -- maybe too deep for me as I can't picture my life without my stuff rattling around inside me, getting in the way.


----------



## Wallaby

Chevaux said:


> That's deep -- maybe too deep for me as I can't picture my life without my stuff rattling around inside me, getting in the way.


I thought about it more and probably a better description of it is a constant hum. Like the kind you hear when you're in a large room full of people who are all talking - you can't pick out specific conversations, so you eventually ignore the hum...but you sure notice that the hum is gone when you leave the building!

So now my hum is gone and I can feel silence. I suddenly understand why the silence out the outdoors is so nice for so many people! I have always liked being outside because I feel the free-est outside..but I never really noticed the calm silence.
It's wonderful!!


Last night was rough though. My body is still, obviously, adjusting to the medication and coming off it last night was hard. It was like I hit this wall of tired-ness and I barely could keep my eyes open [though that was nice going to sleep - usually I have a rough time falling asleep]. I had to keep myself from being really irritable...it wasn't great.
Mostly I think it's because technically you're supposed to take it twice a day, but my doctor is only having me take it once a day while we work the kinks out. I'm going back to see her in a month [less than a month, on the 28th] and I imagine we'll switch it to twice a day then.
Hopefully today goes better!

Yay for stimulants. :icon_rolleyes:


----------



## Wallaby

I called the doctor and let her kno about the issues I was having and apparently I had heard her wrong! I was supposed to be taking them twice a day! So I've been taking my medicine twice a day and it's the best.
The evening [when it's wearing off] and the early morning before I take it [none in my system] have been have been rough in terms of anxiety/sleepiness, but it's getting better each day. It's interesting how previously "normal" [high] levels of anxiety now feel UNBEARABLE - I guess cuz I'm not used to them anymore!! But that anxiety only happens in the evening if I'm not careful about overdoing the intensity of an activity, so I'm working on being more careful.

But I have to tell you, I feel SO LIBERATED. 
Yesterday I went shopping at THREE stores AFTER WORK, made bread in my new breadmaker, and still had energy to be alive. That would have been 50 thousand times too much last week.
Today I had work, then went to hang out with a friend at her barn [the friend I went riding with a few weeks ago], and, again, I wasn't overwhelmed at all.
In other news, I was kindddd of checking out this friend's barn to see if I might want to move there...but I don't. haha Maybe I'm never ever gonna find something like I have now, but it was so small [ie, 12 acres, haha] and had so many horses [ie, 20]. They each had stalls at night and so-forth, but it made me extra thankful for what I have!

In any case, it's crazy how much I can, and want to, do now! I feel free!

And Fabs is feeling frisky. :loveshower: but you can see his stifle catch for a second in this  Right as he transitions from a canter to a trot. Poor guy! At least he doesn't seem bothered!

https://youtu.be/--6IYdF2n6Y

Riding is really different-interesting now too, somehow I feel like there's more space, or something, there.
Like that feeling you get looking through a freshly cleaned window for the first time.

I think I'm gonna try shearing Hazel tomorrow, she needs it and I have yet to have time. Poor lady. She's not as bad as she could be, but she's getting long.


----------



## tinyliny

when my son took stimulants for a few years, (he was like 10 to 12?) he was more focussed, but the let down was rough, and he had trouble sleeping. they have slow release ADD drugs, and he used that, but eventually, he changed to SSRI medication for anxiety and obsessive compulsive thoughts. He did about 2 years off all meds, but now he realizes that he is happier on medication than not, though it's the lowest dose possible.

best of luck with this, and it's good that you are not feeling stigmatzed by it.


----------



## Wallaby

tinyliny said:


> best of luck with this, and it's good that you are not feeling stigmatzed by it.


Thanks 

And I'm glad too! I wonder if it's just because all the people I'm generally around are pretty understanding and all have their own issues, or if I'm just not picking up on any stigma that might be there?
I get a lot of stigma/judgement/whatever about my food allergies [even though I try to talk about them as little as possible, only when necessary or someone asks] so maybe I'm just "over it"??
I don't know, either way, things are still going well and I'm happy. 


Numerous good things have been happening!
Work has been going really well. Many of the integral people at work left right around the time I started taking my medication, and, because I'm really getting the ADD under control, I was able to step up and start leading at work.
My bosses are SO proud [they are so stoked about the new me that they labelled me a "sub" now which means that I can legally be left in charge of all the kids and other employees, if the boss has to leave/is sick] and I was thinking that I'd potentially ask for a raise in a month, once they see that this new improvement isn't a fluke.
But, on Monday, I opened up my email after work and discovered an email from my boss-boss. They gave me a $.50 raise based on how much better I've been doing/etc!!
:loveshower::loveshower:
I only got a $.25 raise in my yearly review, so $.50 is a big deal. Also, I'm similarly excited because I've worked there for 10 months, less than a year, and my wage has increased by $.75. I'd say that's probably not too bad in the scheme of things!

The medication definitely isn't allll good [my mirror dystonia disorder -basically I move one hand, my other hand moves too- is definitely worse and my spelling. What HAPPENED to my ability to spell?? haha] but all the bads are definitely outweighed by the benefits.
It's also taken away a lot of my interest in eating, but I tend to overeat anyway so being a little less interested is ok. I'm trying to stick to an eating schedule every day so I get enough regular food, but I'm not eating as much which is definitely ok.


And riding has been SO GOOD. I don't get bored as easily schooling things, and therefore Fabs doesn't get as bored, and so forth. It's been good good good.

Actually, speaking of good rides!
Fabs has been getting pretttty bad about "sucking back" or ignoring my leg cues.
A few rides ago, Fabs was REALLY bad while I was riding. I was asking him to canter and each time I'd give the cue, he'd duck his head and try biting at the ground/my leg while slowing to a stop. We had just cantered the other direction flawlessly, so I knew it wasn't anything really more than him just saying "I don't wanna."

So I slapped him hard in the neck while he was mid-protest, he shot into the air like a cannon ball, then lept forward, bucking [have I mentioned that I was, of course, bareback?], I smacked him again and yanked him around in a ORS [none too gently because that kind of behavior is not ok and I didn't want to leave him with any question that I'd be ok with him trying it again], then sent him into some yielding stuff because that always gets his mind back.

Then we trotted a few tight figure-eights, and tried cantering again.

Guess who hopped right into a polite little canter like it ain't no thing? :icon_rolleyes::icon_rolleyes:

Interestingly, during this ride as part of his antics, he cruised in just a hair too close to the plastic chair that I use to mount. He brushed it and it fell over as he walked past it.
BUT HE DIDN'T SPOOK!! This is a horse that was formerly incapable of having something scary happen while he was moving. A year ago he would have lost his ever loving mind over something like that. 
This time he just flicked an ear back at the chair, took a slightly faster walking step, and basically didn't even care. 

Anyway, the next ride, we just cruised around and did a little walking/trotting. My theory is that, from whatever happened in his past, Fabs is just wary of trotting/cantering with a rider on his back. So I've been, for now, trying to somewhat limit the faster work so he learns that going faster isn't absolutely going to happen, and nothing bad will happen is he goes faster. He's now pretty comfortable trotting, thanks to that approach, but cantering is the "new" elephant in the room.

Our most recent ride, I decided to ride with a crop. 
I was finding that I started using my leg more and more strongly on him due to the sucking back, and, if the end goal is responses to light contact, how am I creating that light response if I'm being heavy in my request??
So I figured that selective use of a crop, to back up my light leg cue, might be in order.

And guess what?

I first made sure he wasn't jumpy about the crop [he wasn't], then I hopped on.
In true Fabio fashion, he walked a few steps and decided it was a good time to stop. So I squeezed him [he ignored it], then I SMACKED him with that crop [it's one with a "popper" on the end so it doesn't really hurt, just makes a big popping noise!]. He LEPT forward...and did not balk again for the entirety of the ride. :lol:

He was going along pretty well, so I sent down the crop pre-canter.

Guess who hopped straight into a canter, the first time I asked, for the first time ever??!! :happydance:
No running around with his head in the air for 10 minutes trying to convince me that we shouldn't canter, no attitude beyond some classic earpinning!

So proud. :loveshower:

youtu.be/C1BfXVTPFbI

[what happened to videos auto-embedding? I'm so confused with Youtube. haha]

So I think I might ride with a crop, just in case, for the next few rides...but maybe he got the message.
That horse. He likes to play dumb, but I'm prettttty sure he's smarter than he wants me to think. 



Yesterday:
I was putting Fabio's flymask on, and these two deer [Lacey's 'baby' deer Baby Girl and Baby Girl's baby from last year] came wandering past.

https://youtu.be/E4G4pVQn55s

And today.
I love it how he comes when I call. <3

http://youtu.be/O-etGIqM7hU



Then today I bought 10 more pallets to "perfect" Fabio and the goats' stalls for the winter. I'm planning on stalling them all overnight this year.
Last year I didn't because I was under the impression Fabio couldn't be stalled. Now I know that that is just an exaggeration on how his previous owner stalled him on his first night home and a long trailer ride, he was freaked out, tried to escape the stall, got all cut up, etc. 
Everything I've seen says that he would do wonderfully stalled overnight - especially the fact that he sleeps in his stall every night on his own accord. haha


THEN I sheared Hazel too. I had today off and she had been getting so hairy again, it was time. 

I've been very productive today!

I hope to work on the stall-thing this weekend, when it's a little bit cooler.


----------



## egrogan

So many good updates, I enjoyed hearing how things are going. To get an unsolicited, performance-based raise in this current climate is indeed a very good thing. Congrats!

As far as the YouTube embeds, I can't remember who it was on the Forum that helped me (Jaydee or Blue Eyed Pony maybe) but they said you have to delete the "s" out of the http:// part of the link. I think because that makes it a secure video, it prevents it from being embedded in the post. Kind of annoying but it does seem to work for me.


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks, Egrogan! I'll give that a try next time 


Today Fabs and I went on his first solo trail ride in months!
It was both really good and also a nightmare.

He was really into being out at first, but then, I think, he got tired which made him anxious = lots of rushing and ignoring my aids, etc. 
We did A LOT of ORS-ing and yielding. It was a pain in the neck. 

But I think he did somewhat enjoy himself. At first.

I'm not sure how to proceed - even this evening [a solid 12 hours later], he was still doing all his "I am stressed beyond belief" behaviors [yawning, grinding his teeth A LOT, pinning his ears, etc].
So I don't know. Maybe he prefers riding in the pasture?

I know he does, with a lot of work and consistent trail rides, settle into trail riding...but if it's causing him distress, I don't really want to do it!

In any case, going on a trail ride was very "out of the norm" for him currently so I guess a little stress is to be expected. Especially since he is SUCH a routine oriented horse.
Have I told you guys about how he's at the gate, waiting for me, every single night at 6pm because I usually feed around then? It varies by about an hour either direction, but he is always there waiting by 6 o'clock. :lol:


In any case, we did end the ride on a pretty good note - I took off his bridle and just rode him in a halter+lead rope [FOR THE FIRST TIME] and, even though he was confused, he tried really hard. I want to work on that in the pasture, I think he would really bloom with less "containment" than the bridle. He is very sure that he cannot possibly function that way, that he neeeeeds to be contained via the bit so I think it'd be good for his confidence to learn that he'll survive being less contained.

I even asked him to trot, while riding in a halter, and he stopped when I asked! His response time was a little slow, but he listened! 
Yay pony!

:happydance:


----------



## Chevaux

QUOTE: ...In any case, going on a trail ride was very "out of the norm" for him currently so I guess a little stress is to be expected. Especially since he is SUCH a routine oriented horse....QUOTE

I do believe you nailed it Wallaby - the sign of a good analyst:wink:.


----------



## Roperchick

like the halter will be good for him to change it up so will going on trails!

Or even just like a 10 min trail after your usual work in the pasture. change it up for him a bit. Itll probably stress him a little at first but then hopefully he'll start looking forwards to different work and he'll HABE to listen to you.


PS. That video this morning...sooooo funny lol)


----------



## Wallaby

That's part of the problem, RC - the trails are a solid 15 minutes from his pasture through the neighborhood [so I have to get off and walk him there], plus I have to saddle him, etc. It turns into a whole 2 hour charade veryyy quickly. >.> 
Most of the time I'm lucky if I can fit in a 30 minute ride after work once a week...it bums me out. 
But! It is better than the winter time when I have zero chance of riding except on the weekend!!


On the plus side, Fabs actually didn't spook at all while we were out. He just got worked up/freaked out. He was just "up", not spooky. What a weird horse!
I also think that half of it is that he's moving "beyond" his bit [dogbone snaffle with a roller in the middle, sweet iron+copper, the whole thing]. At first the roller gave him something to dissipate his anxiety on to, but now he's starting to use the roller as a way of "tuning out" the world. And I think that was half the problem on our ride - he was using it to tune out, so when he came "back" and realized what he was doing, he kind of went "AH! Where ARE we??!" and freaked out more.
The moment I took the bit out of his mouth [when I switched to riding in the halter] he came "back" to me and stayed with me permanently. He was still being silly and frustrating, but he was listening to what I was asking and attempting to do my requests.

SO, I think I'm going to try incorporating riding in the halter into our pasture rides. 
And I'm going to look into getting him a different bit. 
I have Lacey's old bit in the tack room that I might try him in. It's 100% solid so there's absolutely nothing for him to chew on, but he might be ready for that. It has a nice little tongue port and all kinds of horse-friendly features. Lacey always liked it quite a bit, so I'll give it a try. It might be too much for him right now [it has a minuscule amount of leverage] though. We'll see. 
I've ridden him in it before, right when he first came home, and he never seemed to be too bothered. But his mouth is a lot different now than it was, so who knows.
If it is too much, I can always get him some kind of snaffle, like this: Weaver SS Sweet Iron Smooth Snaffle O-Ring Bit - Horse.com

Anywayyyyy.



Here's that video RC mentioned 
Fabs was SO into being out, before he got tired. haha






And some other funny videos: 

Fabs being embarrassed to be seen with us - 






And I played Fabs a video of me calling him and look at his poor dear face.
This is the second time I played it for him. The first time I played it, we were walking down to the shed and he TOOK OFF after hearing me call. Then I yelled "Fabs!" in real life and he screeeeched to a halt, and looked at me like I was crazy. 
Then I played it again, once we made it to the shed, and this is what he did.






He's ridiculous! :happydance:


And Hazel.
"You think I eat this sort of thing? You fool! Your attempts at feeding me are laughable. HA!"



Edit: it worked, egrogan! Your tip worked for the videos! Yay! LIFESAVER. <3


----------



## Wallaby

1. Me: I've started taking my medication 3 times a day to avoid the "fallout" [where it suddenly disappears midday and you have to try and make it for another half hour so you can take your next dose at an appropriate time and not "run out" before the end of the work day] and, so far, I'm liking it a lot! 
It's so so nice to feel awake and alert all day, instead of just in the morning!

I also got a number of ADHD books out of the library and MAN. It's awesome to love reading again AND it's awesome to feel like all the things I've gone through in my life, all the trials and whatnot, were actually due to something and not just because I'm dumb or broken or whatever.

2. I rode Fabs in his halter around the pasture last night and he did FANTASTIC. He was a little confused because his neck reining isn't super perfect just yet, but he gave me his all.

I truly wish you guys could come watch him learn. I can't really put into words how impressed I am with his brain, but he puts so so much energy into communicating with me and trying to figure out what I want. He absolutely has "I don't wanna, so I'm not gonna" moments [and a lot of them], but he gives his absolute all when he does try.

For instance, yesterday, even though we haven't expressly worked on neck reining in months and he was a little [a lot?] confused, he spent so much time simply "guessing" at what I wanted him to do. 
Each time he gave me the correct answer, I gave him a little break, and he tried that answer sooner the next time.

Part of the "issue" that I'm seeing is that he, strangely enough, pays A LOT of attention to where my arms are while I'm riding. I could take his bridle off, take the halter off, forget leg cues, just mimic pulling the reins, and he'd respond exactly like I'm cuing him with non-existent reins.
So, when I keep my outside arm at my side and ask him to neck rein, without miming a pull on the outside rein, he gets really confused and tries to turn toward the hand that is moving [my inside hand]. 
I'm always very conscious to "push" him through the turn with my inside leg and back-up the rein cue, but, if my hands are moving, he wants to turn towards the moving hand 99% of the time.

However, if I keep my hands still, he tunes into my legs and works off them pretty well [though that makes him anxious so it only lasts for a few minutes before he gets frustrated - we're working on it by gradually increasing the time I spend with my hands motionless].

I think it's so so funny [and kind of sad?]. 
What could have trained him to be like that? He's always done that, it's just more pronounced now that he's almost ready to "graduate" into more of a hands-off sort of riding experience.
I wonder if maybe his previous owner [or whoever used to really riff on his mouth, cuz, if we recall, he used to be realllly goosey about his mouth - like someone was rough] was very handsy, so he learned to anticipate, and avoid, that by watching her[?] hands..? 

Anyway, he's trying really hard. 
And he ABSOLUTELY, without a doubt, worked so much better in a halter yesterday than he did a year ago when I tried riding him in my riding halter [with runs for normal reins, etc] for a our first few rides.
I figure that's really the goal - as long as there's noticeable improvement, I must be doing something right. Even if it is painfully slow!

I was also really pleased at how "light" he was in the halter. 
I remember one of my first rides on him after he came home -I was riding him in Lacey's riding halter cuz I didn't have a bit I thought he would like and he had always been bitless at the therapy place-, he was SO hard on the halter. I remember feeling like I had to pull so so hard to just get him to stop from a walk. He basically walked right through the halter.
I also remember that ride being very short. :lol:

Yesterday he was so soft that I never had to touch his face to get a solid "whoa." Even from a trot, he practically shot me off his back because he stopped so hard! haha That horse!!

I'm so many shades of pleased with how he's coming along. I complain about him a lot, but really, he's coming along so nicely. And yeah, it's a little slow, but given that we both basically have no idea what we're doing, slower is probably better.

3. This morning the wind was crazy! It was basically one of our usual 50mph wind winter storms, but super early in the year.
So poor Fabs was really unsure. He was super happy when I showed up and was talking SO MUCH to me (he loves to chat, especially when he's a little nervous).

My mom came with me too, mostly to check out the windy world.
Fabs likes my mom ok. He's not too sure about new people, but he's finally gotten comfortable enough with my mom that he'll go up to her and stand politely for petting.
[Usually, with new people, he just avoids them and/or gets all nippy and bargy if he can't avoid them] 

Anyway, he was worried about the wind, so my mom gave him a little pep talk about how the noises were worrisome, but he was gonna be ok.
And I just love this picture. It gives me the feels. <3




:happydance:


----------



## SueC

I'm glad you're feeling better, Wallaby, and I hope things continue to improve. It's not always easy navigating the modern world and the intricacies of personal biochemistry. Best wishes! 

And just for fun, and because generationally you might not have stumbled across it, here's a tongue-in-cheek video by Thomas Dolby of "She Blinded Me With Science" fame, doing "Hyperactive":

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xclltw_thomas-dolby-hyperactive-1984-by-za_music

The sound quality is a bit off there, but it's one of the few places I could find the original video. The music, without video, is good quality here:






That site also has live and extended versions (but not the original).

Some trivia: Mr Dolby, who's very nerdy, also composed complex ringtones for mobile phones, including "that" famous Nokia 90s one, standard for so long. He's still making music, but has a bit less hair nowadays! ;-)

I hope this hits the spot for a laugh.


----------



## Wallaby

Haha that's great, Sue! So funny!
And thanks, it's definitely something else!

I guess [well, I don't know for sure, I've never lived in anyone else's body...] maybe the intuitive-ness that "comes with" ADHD is kind of a boom when figuring out medication. Or, at least, I struggled with it for two days and then a solution came to me, I tried that solution, and voila, "perfect" medication. :lol:
In any case, pre-3-a-day, I was taking half a pill twice a day [5mg each time]. Then I started taking 3, and I tried to stick with half a pill, three times a day. I found that I was SUPER anxious in the morning, until I took the second half-pill, and then things leveled out. 
I wondered if, perhaps, I need more in the morning to "jump start" my mind into a good place. 
So I started taking a whole pill in the morning[10mg], and then taking half pills for the rest of the day [5mg each].

And that's actually been working quite well. It was rough the first few days [the increase in medication made my anxiety spike way way up], but now it's evened out and things are pretty good.

I went to the state fair with some friends on Thursday [as evidence of how much better I'm doing - I drove us all, in my truck, to the fair, 100 miles away on an unfamiliar FREEWAY while my buddies were chattering and I was chattering, and I was absolutely able to handle it. 3 months ago I would have turned into a quivering blob of "I need to go home NOW"-mush] and it was so fun!
Luckily one of the friends I went with is super into animals too, so we spent most of our time at the horse show and seeing all the goats/cows/pigs/llamas/etc. I got to actually pet a llama! Llamas are SO soft! 

It was such a good time. 

It's interesting - pre-ADD diagnosis, I wanted to be with people, but my ADD, and the anxiety that came with it, wouldn't let me be with people outside my "safe zone" [ie, wherever the animals are]. Now I am so much freer, and I feel so much better, because I can connect with people like I want to without the panic about being too far away from where I'm "safe."

Surprisingly, that's very typical for ADD people - there's a safe zone where everything is in the "proper" order and they feel like they NEED to return to their safe place to regain balance, whenever things get too overstimulating or overwhelming. And, if they are kept from returning to their "safe" place, they are liable to freak out.

Anyway, now I don't feel that intense need to return to my safe place. I still love my safe place, but the pull isn't quite as strong or necessary for me to function as a human.

It's very freeing!


ANYWAY.

I haven't ridden much this week. It's been raining [which I'm stoked about, but it isn't great for bareback riding], Fabs is being a weirdo, I'm just not feeling it. But I have been working with him a lot on the ground.

I started grounddriving him on Monday and I'm kind of super into that right now. He seems to really enjoy it, and that's definitely a bonus. I feel like it's kind of like I'm riding, without the fuss from him about whatever he's feeling fussy about.

Plus, poor Fabs got a big bite, or something, on his face and it's clearly painful. I'm not sure what it is, but it doesn't seem to be changing much day-to-day. I'm a little concerned that it's an abscess, but I'm crossing my fingers that it's not. 
In any case, I'll be calling the vet's office on Tuesday to check in about it!



He's been being prettttty sensitive and fussy about that thing. Poor little man!

Anyway, he's been enjoying being groundriven.
This is from our first walk up the road. He was stoked!






And this morning I got him a surcingle, which, apparently, totally paralyzed him:






He's too funny!


I'd like to use grounddriving as a confidence builder for him. He's pretty good in the spooking department these days, but he's still quite anxious and worried in his general life. I'm hoping that maybe some grounddriving will help his anxiety a bit.

And some pictures:

A sunset from a few days ago - 



Fabio with a rainbow over him [I was instantly reminded of Lacey and it was good, good, good]



Haze gazing at a sunrise - 



And my mom and Hazel, from yesterday. Hazel ADORES my mom.  - 



:happydance:


----------



## Chevaux

I like the Mom and Hazel picture


----------



## Wallaby

Me too, Chevaux!! 

Earlier in the week was the goats and my three year "anniversary"! Crazy how time flies.

Top two pictures are "then," bottom two are "now." 



Atticus is so grown up now!


I figured out a kind of new solution to feeding Fabs! Instead of giving his flake of hay in his hay net, I've been lightly sprinkling it all over the pasture. I kind of like that better because at least he's moving while he eats, you know? He's happy to just stand in one place, in his stall, and eat...maybe that's why he's so fat. >.> haha
Plus it gets him out of the shed to eat, so he stips thinking about the tastier hay Hazel has in her area. He keeps leaning on/breaking the divider between him and the goats because of Hazel's hay. Then he gets like 3lbs of fancy bluegrass hay which cannot be good for his "diet." :lol:
But, feeding him outside the shed seems to be a good distraction technique. He hasn't broken into Hazel's area in a few weeks!




And Hazel is learning about my truck! I'm hoping to take her to work, on a day that I have off, so the kids can experience a goat/etc. Plus she lovessss kids, so I think she might love it!
Anyway, I built her a ramp today so she can get into my truck easily, and she loves it! I just used a long board, hot glued/nailed some carpet to it, and added a clip and no-slip stuff to the back so I can attach it to the truck and it won't slip.
I thought it would take more work to get her to even try it, but she was pretty game.  
She got a little worried when I started the engine, but I did one of those off-on-off maneuvers, just so she got the full experience. Then I let her get out, and asked her to get back in again. She was happy to go back in, and then I asked her to get out again.
She got lots of carrots for all her successes and she is very willing to try again next time. 

I was impressed! She took to that ramp like she has always been using it. Crazy! But I'm glad she likes it. 




:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

1. Today is my birthday!  :happydance: :happydance:
I'm 25 now... :shock: 
But that's good, I'm, thus far, liking being older rather than younger. [ie, being out of school, working...I like it.]

I made a cheesecake yesterday, to have today, and it looks so so good! I found a brand of store-bought cookie, that SOMEHOW [probably magic] doesn't have anything I'm allergic to in it, and used those for the crust. It's just a vanilla-lemon cheesecake with a sweet sour cream glaze, but it looks perfect. Absolutely perfect. I'm excited.

That's another thing I've really been enjoying about *now* - somehow, I've really started coming into my own cooking-wise [maybe it's because I'm less distracted due to my medication??] and that's pretty thrilling. I've invented a lovely pancake recipe that makes restaurant quality pancakes, while being gluten/soy/corn free. I have a biscuit recipe that's perfect, my muffin recipe is on point..it's a good time!

I still haven't quite figured out my bread machine, but that'll happen.


Work is still going INCREDIBLY. I have a lot more responsibility now, but I find it invigorating. There are perks to being more in charge! Ha.
I am finding that it's hard for me to delegate tasks to other people. Like, I can do it if it's an "unimportant" task, but if it's anything that has any importance to it, I get all grabby about doing it myself. So I'm really working hard to delegate those tasks and use mistakes as a learning experiences for my co-workers...as long as harm isn't going to come to a kid if they mess up.


But things are going well! I'm very satisfied. And super glad I stuck with my job, instead of bailing like a number of my other coworkers did. Makes me feels all crafty. :lol:

2. Part of this good stuff with my job thing is that I'm now allowed to bring Hazel for visits occasionally!!
She visited for the first time last Wednesday and we were all just a little apprehensive.

I need to do a little more work on the ramp before next time [as she got comfortable using the ramp, she started moving faster, and her hooves didn't grip the carpet as well at speed]. I'm going to add evenly spaced strips of carpeting to give the ramp modest "steps."
But, overall, she took to the ramp really well and didn't have any issues using it.

I was meeting the group at the park, where they are midway through demolishing the high school that was next door = it was very loud. Plus there were tons of kids, lots of dogs, new environment, the whole thing. 

BUT.
In absolutely classic Hazel style, she nailed it. She wasn't put out by the noise, she wasn't scared by the dogs, kids, nothing. Zero things phased her.

She actually loved it.

She stuck close to me while we were there [I had her on a leash, of course] and I think she would have gotten worried if I had handed her over to someone she didn't know, but she accepted pats, rubs, kisses, full body touching, tail tickling, even a few slaps as kids tested the boundaries. 
She took it all in very patiently and gently, like some kind of perfectly trained service dog.
Even our littlest baby, a 6 month old, got to pet her. The baby's eyes got SO big, and she got so smiley, after that first touch! 

And she loved it.
She was so so happy for the rest of the day after we got home. 

She was happy to go back to the truck afterwards, but we stayed for an hour and she never got fussy.

I cannot love her more. She is truly one of a kind. A little angel on earth.



Fabs "helped" make sure she got in ok, she was super perky after all that attention, and then she took a nap on our way home. <3



That was so good.
I look forward to having her visit again!
I'm not going to have a day off for a few weeks though so her next visit won't be for a bit.

3. Fabsss. Fabs is so special. haha
But he is doing well!
He's really got the whole idea of free lunging down pretty well now!








:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## gunslinger

Happy Birthday!


----------



## Chevaux

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Wallaby, happy birthday to you.

(You have no idea how lucky your ears are that I cyber sang and not real sang to you just now)


----------



## egrogan

Happy birthday!

I have a good friend with serious gluten intolerance. He's part of a monthly supper club with a group of friends, so it's really pushed me to get more creative about baking with "alternative" flours. I'm not sure if you can buy King Arthur brand flour out there, but I'd highly recommend their gluten free flour if you can find it. Here's a good blog of theirs with more gluten free baking tips and recipes: Gluten-Free Baking Tips - Flourish - King Arthur Flour
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## tinyliny

I only use King Arthur flour! it's the best of the commercailly available brands.


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## Wallaby

Thanks all! <3 

Egrogan, I LOVE King Arthur GF flour! It's the cornerstone of most of my recipes - my favorite GF mix is 4 parts King Arthur GF flour, 2 parts almond flour, 1 part sorghum flour, and 1 part tapioca flour. I change it up a bit depending on what I'm making [I like to add potato starch to some recipes], but usually that's my mix! 
I just wish it came in larger amounts! I can only find those little 4 cup boxes and that's great...but it doesn't last for very long. Thankfully $6 for 4ish cups of flour isn't as bad as it _could_ be, but ugh.

I got another picture from Hazel's visit:



:loveshower::loveshower:

My brother came over on my birthday and he came with me to feed the kiddos.
Usually Fabio is pretty cautious around strangers [it took him months to be comfortable with my mom petting him, and he sees her semi-regularly], but, for whatever reason, he glommed on to my brother and it was absolutely precious.
He sees my brother maybeeee twice a year [they saw each other for the last time last Christmas] so Fabio's reaction was extra precious to me.
It makes me feel like maybe, potentially, he's getting over his "stranger danger" preoccupation! 

Getting distracted, but I'm not sure why Fabs is like that - so nervous about strangers. _Supposedly_ his previous-previous owner took him to playdays and the like, only selling him because he wasn't "hot enough" about it, and I'd imagine that he would have been plenty hot if he was worried about all the strangers around...
My guess is that his therapy horse "job" gave him this fear - they'd have a familiar person walking at his head, two [usually] unfamiliar sidewalkers on either side of him, a [usually unfamiliar] person riding, and THEN they'd start throwing balls and frisbees at/off him to "spook him so he learned that he would be ok."
I think that, instead of making it ok, they effectively made him afraid of large groups of people and strangers... :icon_rolleyes:

He's not abjectly horrified about people he doesn't know, but he definitely doesn't invite attention and, if he finds himself "cornered" in his stall, he'll put his head in the corner and stay motionless until the "intruders" leave. Poor dude!

Anyway, he closed in on my brother and stopped with his withers right next to my brother. My brother started scratching him, Fabs' lip started going, it was downright precious.
Fabs definitely worked through a lot of stress too! After a few minutes, Fabs started yawning and grinding his teeth which is his typical stress-release behavior. So I had my brother stop petting him, and Fabs did a full body shake...then stood there waiting to be petted more.
I had my brother move away at that point because I didn't want Fabs to get over-stimulated. Better to stop while he was still wanting more!

Anyway, it was precious.

My brother thought "yawning" when Fabs did was really funny. :icon_rolleyes: :lol:



And look at how precious this one is. OH MY GOSH.





I've been grounddriving Fabs more and he's really been loving it! He is so so good at it. And, therefore, it's enjoyable for me as well! 

As of a few days ago, I started hooking Atti up to the surcingle [something I have never asked Fabs to do before - ponying or have anything attached to the surcingle...especially not a resistant party like Atticus! haha] because Atti needs exercise too and his leash skills are not ideal for me to walk him - I didn't understand how important is was to train him to walk on a leash perfectly when he was little [mostly cuz I had no idea how big he was going to get!] and now he's a little terror to walk. He's bigger than me, weight-wise, and we don't go if he doesn't want to go....he never wants to go. haha
Anyway, Fabs is the perfect "trainer" for Atti!

Fabio was a little shocked the first time Atticus resisted coming, but I urged Fabs on, he leaned into it, and off they went.
Atti still isn't too keen on the idea of coming along, but he's definitely learning that resistant is futile.

I took this video last night.
Don't worry though, I am absolutely going to be shortening Atticus's lead before doing this again. Yesterday he showed me that he thought walking in front of Fabio, while Fabs was moving, ON THE ROAD was a great idea.
Fabs, being the wonderful guy he is, stopped immediately and looked for help...but what if he had gotten spooked?
Anyway, someone coughcoughATTICUScoughcough will be getting a very very short lead next time - just long enough so he has slack when he's right up next to Fabs, but short enough that he can't go in front/behind/under Fabs.






:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Bondre

Gosh, that ground-driving would definitely have been a sight to see. A goat harnessed to a horse.  I'll have to try that with some of mine! But sadly, none of my goats are used to walking on a lead.

I have only just realised that Atticus is one of those goats with minute ears. Somehow his long horns disguised his relative earlessness. We have one goat like that too - I'll see if I can take a picture of her tomorrow - when she was young I thought she looked like a picture-book dragon, with those little horns and stubby ears. 

When you say Atticus is an Alpine x La Mancha, can you explain a bit more about his La Mancha part? I'm curious because we keep dairy goats, and live in the part of Spain referred to as La Mancha, but there is no local breed of goats by that name. There are Murcianas to the south (black or brown), Guadarramas to the north (large and very hairy), Retintas to the west (red-brown), etc... But the only rumiant animal going by the name of Manchega (= from La Mancha) is a large, ugly breed of sheep. So I don't think Atticus is crossed with them.... Or maybe his La Mancha genes are from a different area that goes by the same name? 

re: gluten intolerance. What effect does eating gluten have on you? I recently (two months ago) decided that I am gluten intolerant, (no thanks to doctors), although I can cope with eating small quantities. The problem is, there are no commonly available gluten free flours here, so it´s very hard to keep it out of my diet. I got shingles over the summer, which was an acute immune reaction to a chronic problem, and was what made me aware of my intolerance.


----------



## Wallaby

I loved your post, Bondre!

I guess the correct term [thanks to Wikipedia] is that he's half _American_ LaMancha. haha 
One of the breed traits of American LaMancha's is the ear-less-ness. He has what are called "elf ears" which is the bigger type of LaMancha ears. Some are born without any ear cartilage at all ["gopher ears"], others are born with some cartilage [like Atti], and some have "a lot" [up to 2 inches of ear length is register-able].
Luckily for me, and Atti, only one of his ears is truly LaMancha-ish. The ear shape sometimes, apparently, can effect the ear canal itself and make the goat extra prone to wax build up and infections. Thankfully only one of his ears is like that so I only have to "express" one on a regular basis. The other self cleans well and I don't worry about it too much [I still express it twice a year, or so, but it doesn't need weekly cleanings like the other].

Anyway, Wikipedia [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Lamancha_goat ] seems to imply that LaManchas are vaguely related to Murcianas!  
I bet some American thought it would be really exotic to name the breed after the region, and voila. :lol:

Physically he seems to take after the LM side, except for his coloring, but mentally he's all Alpine. 
I wish it were the other way around!! :lol: LM's are said to be lovely companions...and Alpines "run their herd mates ragged." Joy. haha
On the plus side though, not to beat on his Alpine side too hard, Alpines are supposed to be highly intelligent and highly trainable. And Atti is sure intelligent and trainable!

I haven't made a new video since this one [taken nearly 2 years ago] and all his tricks that he does here are "hand/voice cue only" now [no luring], but THIS is how smart he is. He's incredible.






[as an aside, look at how little he was! I hadn't realized how much he's grown! He was only 2 years old in that video. He's going to be 4 in March. Crazy!]


As for gluten, my reaction is pretty severe now because I've been very carefully GF for about 3 years. 
Before I went GF, I'd eat things and, exactly 1 and a half hours later, I'd start getting intense stomach/intestinal cramps. Half an hour after that, I had better be in the bathroom because my insides would do a massive evacuation of their contents.
But it wasn't every time I ate wheat. It seemed to be random, I could eat something one day and be fine, then eat it the next and have an issue.

That went on for years.

Then, eventually, I started having stomach pain whenever I ate certain high-wheat percentage products. I wouldn't have any bathroom issues, but the stomach pain was enough to make me really question what I was eating.

I cut it out and, voila. Issue solved. I started feeling better nearly immediately and no longer had that stomach/intestinal pain/cramping.

HOWEVER. For me [though I didn't know it at the time], my feeling better after giving up wheat also was impacted by the fact that wheat was exacerbating my ADHD.
So, the moment wheat left my system, my ADHD [that I didn't know about yet] got better and I felt less stressed/anxious/overstimulated. 

Now, after being gluten free for 3 years, if I ingest gluten [I was actually "gluten-ed" by an aerosol window cleaner a month-ish ago... >.>] I start getting intense cramps about an hour+, then rushing to the bathroom 20-45 minutes later. After that, depending on how much gluten I got, I'll need to revisit the bathroom 1-3 more times over the next 30 minutes before it's all out of my system.
Then I feel utterly exhausted for the next day+, I may get hives that appear and reappear over the next couple of days, and my mind will feel very scattered and "lost" for up to a week. 
Usually it takes a week for my digestive system to get back to normal after a bad episode [or, as I like to call them, "Three Alarm Fire" - the number changes with how many times I had to race to the bathroom. haha].


Do you have almond flour available? What about brown rice flour? Any starches, like potato or tapioca starch? If you can find them separately, they can be combined into a workable baking mix. 
That's so rough! I'm very fortunate to have so many flour option available to me.


----------



## Bondre

Thanks for sharing all that information on LaMancha goats. The Wikipedia link was fascinating! It really does seem like they were bred from Murciana goats. 

Here's a picture of our "mica" (meaning short-eared) Murciana: 



Together with a normal Murciana for comparison (the mica can't wear the plastic ear tags):



The video of Atticus was amazing. That is one smart boy you've got! The backing up was particularly notable, as goats find this very difficult mentally. The only time they do this of their own accord is when they're fighting and they back up to get a run-up before clashing horns. But if you're trying to manoeuvre a goat and you want it to go backwards, you can always guarantee that it will charge forwards rather than backing up (obviously only applies to non-tame animals).

Some of our goats are quite bright for things that interest them - like food. They eat while we milk them - otherwise there wouldn't be anything in the miking business for them, and it would be impossible to get them voluntarily into the milking parlor. When they're pregnant we don't milk them, and we separate them into milkers and non -milkers every day before milking. Not as labour-intensive as it sounds, as mostly they separate themselves. They know if they're allowed in to the milking parlor for food or not (although some of them play stupid and try to sneak into the wrong group for an extra meal  Some of them take weeks to get the hang of whether they are going for milking or not, but others learn their place very quickly. And a few goats know that the very day they kid, they can join the group for milking instead of staying outside. Clever girls!

I appreciate you sharing all your trials and tribulations over your gluten intolerance too. It sounds as if you have been through some rough patches. Interesting that you get hives if you ingest gluten now - a typical response of a stressed immune system. 

If I eat wheat I have odd feelings in my stomach and a bad taste in my mouth, but no big problem as long as I keep gluten to low levels. Bread is the big no-go (though unleavened bread isn't so bad). But before I cut out the bread, I was getting an awful burning pain in my back rib cage in the small hours of the morning, which was the prelude to the shingles attack. Such a relief I figured out what was wrong - interestingly enough I had a hunch it was gluten before reading anything online about the connexion between shingles and gluten intolerance. It just goes to show that sometimes we know what's going wrong with our bodies better than any doctor.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

Your Muriciana's are so lovely, Bondre! Their faces remind me of Atti! Perhaps because of the shorter ears, but I feel like I can definitely see a resemblance. 

Atticus is so fun. I remember thinking how fun it would be to teach him tricks when I got him, but I had no idea how much we would both enjoy it! You can clearly see, from all his tail wagging and such, that he thinks we are playing a grand game and I think that's my favorite thing. He's doing it because he thinks his tricks are fun, not because he's scared or anything like that.

Speaking of which, after my last post and realizing that I hadn't video-d Atti in a while, I made a new currently video of his current level. As you can see, we've mostly phased out treats [unless he does something especially well] and he's mostly "performing" for pats and my "GOOD!" which is his marker word.

I tried a clicker for a while, but my timing was totally off with it. I have a slight movement disorder called "Mirror Distonia" that means my hands move in tandem [it's clear in the videos if you watch my left hand], and I think trying to cue the trick, then clicking+treating was just tooo much separate hand movement. Much easier for me to have a vocal marker! :lol:

Anyway, here's the newest video. 
My _absolute_ favorite part is when I give him the "wait" cue. We haven't practiced that one much, and absolutely haven't practiced it for months, so I was astounded that he actually showed recognition of the cue and gave the correct response.







Also, on the Atticus-front, I FINALLY figured out how to get his back hooves trimmed.
They have been a forever struggle.
He came to me at 6 month old, basically wild, and, as such, he's very cautious about hoof handling. He's ok with his front hooves because we do so many front-hoof-tricks...but the back hooves are 100% a different story. 
He wouldn't even let me touch the base of his tail until about a year ago! :shock: His whole back end is, in his mind, a veryyyy personal area.

Anyway, I realized that I hadn't taught him any new tricks recently, so, for whatever reason, I thought of his back legs and wondered if I could turn lifting/touching them into a "trick."
Last Sunday I tied him in "his spot" so he was somewhat comfortable/contained, and started with a handful of pellets. I touched his hip while saying "leg." He didn't flinch too much, so he got a "good!" and a treat. Next I touched a little lower, while saying "leg," no flinching = treat+"Good!"
And so on.
By Thursday night, he lifted his back leg FOR ME and let me hold it for as long as I wanted when I said "leg," so we ended the session and he won all the treats I had left.

We're practicing a little every day [just as much practice as we can get out of a single handful of pellets - 2 five minute session a day are perfect since this is such a delicate thing for Atti] and each day I'm seeing marked improvement.

He's still a little wary, but he has years of forced hoof trimmings and sneaky foot-grabbing to "overcome." He's trying sooo hard though and I have no doubt that he will be happily giving me his leg in a month or so.

The next hurdles, after he's reliably comfortable with me handling both back legs, are doing it while he isn't tied up [I think that will be a major confidence booster] and doing it while I'm holding the hoof trimmers. He _knows_ what the hoof trimmers mean when they are in my hand and he does not like them.

We'll get there!!


On the Hazel front, she's getting skinny again. >.> There was one "cold" night that I missed out on blanketing her enough and BAM. Ughhh.
But I think I've found it - she needs one blanket 50-60 degrees at night, 2 from 40-50, etc. 
Which, I mean, isn't exactly ideal...but at least I know what to do versus just watching helplessly as weight falls off.
And she's real happy. So I figure things could be much worse.


Fabs is chugging along. Doing his thing, being lazy...haha
I haven't ridden in a bit which is a bummer - maybe I'll have some time this evening, but Fabio is ok with that. He's having a pretty happy chill life right now.


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## Wallaby

I rode Fabs a little on Sunday and again today! Just for a little bit, but it's been nice.
Squirrels are really out gathering food right now though and the poor dude is TERRIFIED of squirrels. It's the weirdest phobia. Squirrels are the one thing he is consistently afraid of.
On the plus side, today he spooked during our ride and it was totally fine. I was riding bareback and, thus far, really haven't had to sit out one of his spooks bareback. So I've been a little apprehensive about that "first" spook. He's a "dropper" and a "scooter" so I wasn't too sure I'd survive him dropping a few feet and scuttling forward.
But I did it! And we were both totally fine. 


In other news, I'm beginning to wonder if some genius in his past taught him to rear on command.
He reared, on the ground, with me yesterday after he dove for a patch of grass [a bigggg no-no, and he knows it] which is probably the 7th or 8th time he's reared while I've had him. I started thinking about it, and all the rears originated from the same "place" - he'd be doing something that needs a correction, I'm standing in front of him, so I jerk the lead rope to catch his attention [towards me usually] and wave my hands in the air to send him off, and he rears up.

Every. Single. Time.

I don't want to create a scenario to "test" it..but I kind of do.

He's never worked up when he rears, and he's always very compliant after a rear. In all the other horses that I've ever worked with that had some sort of rearing issue, I've never seen one so absolutely calm during/after a rear. The main thread in those other horses is frustration on their part, or worry - both of which don't go away after rearing.

But Fabs just hops up, never very high, holds it for a second, comes down, and acts like nothing happened. No extra energy, no sass. Just up, down, over it.

Of course, I always get right after him for doing that..but he, thus far, never acts like he thinks he's done anything "bad" - and he's one of those "I'm sorry, I really really am" type horses.


....hmmmmm....

He has a lot of poll issues too, which, I suppose, could stem from someone trying to get him to stop rearing by beating him over the head or something?
Who knows. 

Either way, I wish I could ask him!


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## egrogan

That last sentence says it all-there is SOOO much I wish I could ask all the animals in my life.

Sorry I'm no help at all on the rearing thing
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

I tested it out and he didn't rear. He thought about it, but he didn't. And the more I "tested" it, the less inclined to rear he got. So that gives me "hope" that it's some kind of hole in his understanding about giving to pressure.

Basically I had him stop, then gave a strong towards-me yank on the lead rope while throwing my hands up [the things that have always precipitated a rear]. I don't blame him for not liking it! I felt bad but I figured it was something I should know. And at least he got calmer about it with each repetition! So perhaps just that "practice" will make him less likely to go up the next time it happens.


Today one of my little kiddos from work came out to meet Fabs and the goats.  I've known her since she was 3 months and she's now about 18 months, so basically she feels pretty safe, etc, with me. 
Her parents came too, of course.
It was *the best* thing - I met them at their car and my little friend stared at me for a second, clearly recognizing me but a little unsure since our surroundings were sooo different. Then her face lit up and she said "EMILY!!" 
And after that, while her poor dad was struggling to get her coat on her wiggly self, she continued saying "Emily! Emily! Emily!!" while trying her hardest to squirm over to me. 
Finally her coat was on and she walked right over to me and raised her arms for me to pick her up. <3 It was the best thing.

After that, even though her mom and dad were there, she really just mostly wanted to hold my hand and be carried by me. 
It was out of control cute!

She was a little unsure about all the animals, but they were respectful of her and she eventually decided that she felt comfortable enough to get down and walk near them. By the end of her visit, she had happily petted Fabs and Hazel. 

I didn't let Atti off his leash just because he doesn't quite "get it" that little kids aren't actually things for him to headbutt. Plus, he's so big that he's intimidating just based on his size.
Of course, he was my little buddy's favorite. :rofl:


it was a really good day.




I'm going to try making a Hazel another blanket this afternoon. I'm going to use one I bought as a template and I'm going to try to form another one out of fleece and batting, etc. 
I think I told you guys about how there seems to be a direct correlation between blankets and keeping weight on Hazel. I think I've been chronically underblanketing her, so I want to try blanketing her more heavily overnight to see if that helps. Right now, despite the fact that it's only getting down to 40*F at night, she's wearing two 200g fill blankets at night [and gaining weight]. So I'm figuring that I should have at least one blanket available for her for every 10* drop. It, usually, doesn't get much colder than 15*F here but we do get some solid wind.
I have 5 blankets total for her, so I think I'm going to attempt a really warm fleece-based blanket and a kind of belly wrap/guard which will be a separate piece that just adds a layer of blanket to her midsection - the goal being that even her underbelly won't be exposed to any extreme cold.
I'm also hoping to make some kind of high neck attachment. I'm not quite sure how yet, but her neck is another area I can see being important to keep warm.

In other news, this week I got more hay [I've been feeding hay for so long already, ughhh], and I managed to get *the nicest* 3rd cutting alfalfa for Hazel!!
It has very few stems, lotsss of flowers/leaves/soft things, and Hazel loves it. She is eating at least a pound or two of it every night! That's HUGE for her! I can already see some weight gain, it's wonderful.

I need to start thinking about shearing her soon, but I'm dreading it. It suddenly got cool [which I like] and that means that I need to get this whole new blanket thing worked out before I can shear her. She always gets so shivery after shearing so I want to make sure I have enough to keep her somewhat warm.
I'm only going to do my "modified winter clip" [a close shear on her legs/backside/underline, scissor clip and leave about an inch of fur on her head, neck, body] but she still gets cold.


Fingers crossed it works!


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## Wallaby

More pictures!

From a week or so ago:



From yesterday. Hazel's new coat! Hazel LOVES it.
I'm especially proud of the neck on it. I absolutely guesstimated the length/cut and it is perfect.



And more from my little friend's visit:

Thinking about Fabs..



Loving Hazel!



No one wanted her to leave. 



:happydance:


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## egrogan

As someone who doesn't know anything about goats, why does Hazel have to get shorn right as it's getting cold? 

I have a bunch of chickens who just decided to lose ALL their feathers and go through a bare-naked molt just as it's getting down below freezing at night, which makes NO sense to me! For some reason, nature tells them now is the time and they just look cold and pathetic between now and December. 

Maybe goats have a similar confusing relationship with nature?!


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## Wallaby

egrogan said:


> As someone who doesn't know anything about goats, why does Hazel have to get shorn right as it's getting cold?


In her case, it's mostly an age thing [I think]. 
Technically Angoras are supposed to be shorn twice a year - traditionally, in late summer and early spring. 

Howeverrr. 
If I try that with Hazel, I end up finding allll kinds of nasty fungal infections that have been living in her hair during the wet months of winter. I guess moisture gets under the coat and can't escape well...
Also, she seems to get really effected by the weight of her hair. It gets to a certain length and she pretty much goes off all her food [an extra big issue because she never eats enough as it is] - my guess is that it's a pain response to the mats that inevitably form.

In the summer there's not really a reason to shear her more often except that I feel like she's more comfortable. 

Since I don't use her hair for anything, there's not really a reason to stick with a twice-yearly shearing schedule especially since she's definitely healthier/more comfortable when she's sheared more often.

I do try to be conservative with her winter clips and only shear down to her skin in areas that really need it for health reasons [her rear end, her legs, her underline]. Otherwise I try to leave a 1-2inch coat everywhere. My winter goal is to shear her whenever the closely sheared areas have totally grown in - about every 2 months.

It's not fun for about a week after I shear her [cuz she's cold and bundled up sooo much], but I feel like the benefits outweigh the unfortunate-ness. 

I know it's "time" right now because the fur on her bottom is starting to be icky = her fur is too long. And unfortunately "time" hit right along with cooler weather. 


Good question!!


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## Wallaby

I was pretty sure I posted something here recently...but I guess not! >.>

Things have been going ok for me/everybody!

I still haven't gotten Hazel sheared, but the new clipper blades for my clippers just came in [finalllly]. Maybe that can be a next-weekend-thing.
That, and everything else! haha I have Friday off next week, soI'll have a three day weekend. I'm already thinking about how I plan to get hay Friday morning [and, obviously, move it all], then I have other plans, and then to shear Hazel on top of that too? But maybe!
Or I could always shear her the next weekend. She's still eating extremely well which says to me that she's not quite to her hair-limit, ie another two weeks isn't going to be too-much-too-much.


I haven't ridden in foreverrrr....so weird! But, with the end of Daylight Savings, I'm taking care of the animals in the dark in the morning and in the evening. Fabs would probably be pretty unphased if I tried to ride in the dark, but I don't know how I feel about it...maybe I'll try it one day if the mood strikes me. Or maybe I won't. :lol:



Hmmmm, what has been happening? Not a lot. haha I've been working a lot, cooking, things are ok.

Now that it's dark out when I feed, Fabs has been being pretty sweet about it. He likes to meet me at the gate and walk me down to the shed. He's probably doing it because he's excited about me feeding him, but I like to think he's escorting me. haha


anywayyy.

From a week-ish ago, the Redtail Hawk that lives nearby:



This evening, so cute!



And another from this evening. Something about his face reminds me of Lacey soooo much in this one!


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## Roman

Why are you shearing Hazel? Wouldn't she need her wool for winter?


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## Wallaby

Roman said:


> Why are you shearing Hazel? Wouldn't she need her wool for winter?


My response to Egrogan who asked the same question 2 posts ago: 


> In her case, it's mostly an age thing [I think].
> Technically Angoras are supposed to be shorn twice a year - traditionally, in late summer and early spring.
> 
> Howeverrr.
> If I try that with Hazel, I end up finding allll kinds of nasty fungal infections that have been living in her hair during the wet months of winter. I guess moisture gets under the coat and can't escape well...
> Also, she seems to get really effected by the weight of her hair. It gets to a certain length and she pretty much goes off all her food [an extra big issue because she never eats enough as it is] - my guess is that it's a pain response to the mats that inevitably form.
> 
> In the summer there's not really a reason to shear her more often except that I feel like she's more comfortable.
> 
> Since I don't use her hair for anything, there's not really a reason to stick with a twice-yearly shearing schedule especially since she's definitely healthier/more comfortable when she's sheared more often.
> 
> I do try to be conservative with her winter clips and only shear down to her skin in areas that really need it for health reasons [her rear end, her legs, her underline]. Otherwise I try to leave a 1-2inch coat everywhere. My winter goal is to shear her whenever the closely sheared areas have totally grown in - about every 2 months.
> 
> It's not fun for about a week after I shear her [cuz she's cold and bundled up sooo much], but I feel like the benefits outweigh the unfortunate-ness.
> 
> I know it's "time" right now because the fur on her bottom is starting to be icky = her fur is too long. And unfortunately "time" hit right along with cooler weather.
> 
> 
> Good question!!



It seems counter intuitive, but she stays warmer+healthier if I replace the mohair she loses being sheared, with warm+waterproof blankets.


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## Roman

Ahh okay. I hadn't read that post :3


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## Wallaby

No worries, Roman! 

Nothing really has been happening........ I rode today for the first time in forever, and I still haven't sheared Hazel. :lol: So yay productivity! :lol:

But I do have two pictures:



I'm super glad he doesn't choose to do this undersaddle!!


----------



## Wallaby

OH! In potentially exciting news, Gman [if you guys remember him] 's best friend [if you guys remember that whole thing] is coming to visit for a _FEW_ days in early January. Not just one day [like it's been for the last few years], but a few days. And we've already discussed how we *really* want to see each other, so I'm excited about that.

It remains to be seen how much time we'll actually get, but it looks like he'll be here for a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - I will definitely get to see him that Sunday...I'm gonna see if I can wheel and deal myself into Saturday too. :rofl:


Anyway, that should be good. We've been talking regularly and we absolutely have our own friendship, separate from Gman, now which is nice! 
Gbff is so into animals, farm animals, too...ugh, I could be so obsessed with him. :rofl: But I'm keeping an eye out for that and doing my best to keep it chill. haha
But it's good, I like him a lot. 
He always randomly sending me links to things and recommending I check out various Instagram accounts, it's nice to be in a friendship where both parties instigate conversation equal-ish-ly.


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## Wallaby

Also these! I forgot to share these!

It's been really cold and sunny here recently so the air is really clear and the lighting is really really good = hello perfect photos! haha









Also, I rode Fabs this morning and he was WONDERFUL. He was moving perfectly off my leg [something we had really been working prior to our "break," but also something that he seemed to have a mental block about - ie, he just was nottt getting it. He moves off my leg nicely when I'm in a saddle, but seemed to forget it all the moment I try bareback..], legitimately neck-reining...
That horse is a conundrum, but I love him!

I also forget that Lacey was utterly dependable on the ground, but more of a wild card undersaddle. Fabio is a little bit of a wild card on the ground, but pretty darn reliable undersaddle. 
I always forget that with Fabs. I convince myself into not riding because I see him being a little "crazy" on the ground and I figure that will translate into craziness undersaddle - because Lacey was never nutty on the ground and if she was, you had better NOT ride because that meant 70 different things were going wrong in her world.
I need to retrain myself that he might act nutty when I'm just walking around him, but he'll calm down and be a total deadhead the moment I sit on his back.


----------



## Wallaby

Plot twist: I freaked Gbff out and I'm checking out a potential boarding barn for the kiddos on Saturday. :shock:

So, I guess, send good thoughts for all of that! It's a mess. haha


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## tinyliny

huh??? what???

boarding your kiddos? don't leave us in suspense.


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## gunslinger

tinyliny said:


> huh??? what???
> 
> boarding your kiddos? don't leave us in suspense.


Yea, really....what's up?


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## Wallaby

tinyliny said:


> huh??? what???
> 
> boarding your kiddos? don't leave us in suspense.


Hey, I had to haul you all back in somehow! :tongue: 
But ok, details: 

I know, it's such a weird idea and part of me hates it, but all the hay moving [moving 90lb bales down a half mile stretch of muddy, uneven, very hilly terrain], the water hauling [my water gets turned off from November to March and the animals rely on water I haul from home, or collected rain water], the no riding because it's dark or I'm moving hay/hauling water, feeding twice a day in the dark - not *seeing* the animals until it's my day off or the weekend...it gets really hard to deal with. 
I feel like I don't enjoy the animals, at all, in the wintertime. It becomes a "oh, I better go feed now, darn" thing and I _hate_ feeling that way about the kiddos.
Their current location is *the* best in the summer, but pretty dreadful in the winter.

Plus, I'm trying to work my way steadily towards moving out of my parent's home [not that they want me out, or anything, but it's a "being a grown-up" thing] and finding somewhere to board the kiddos seems integral to that, unfortunately! 
The other option would be finding an apartment/room/something to rent that has pasture, but first I'm trying to scope out the boarding barn situation.


Anyway, I worked it out and I'm paying close to $400/month for hay. For that same amount, around here, they could live at a pretty ritzy barn.


Nothing is for sure, I'm just feeling it out. I found one place pretty nearby [11 minutes from my house!! 25 from work AND directly on the way home!!] so I'm gonna check it out on Saturday.
I don't know what the BO's take on the goats will be, however, so that could be a deal-breaker. 

Long term, I've been vacillating about rehoming Atticus so that might be a thing. But hopefully not! 
Our personalities are just so different and he could do SO much if he had an owner that actually spent time with him... I feel badly that he is almost 4 and, besides his tricks, his biggest skill is standing tied and staying out of my way. He wants so badly to be someone's best buddy, their pack goat, and I just can't give that to him with my schedule.

At the same time, boarding Fabs and keeping the goats at home could also work - then everybody could get more of my attention, etc. And, if hay is included with board, it could still be cheaper since the goats don't eat a lot of hay...


Anywayyyyyyy. 
Nothing is in stone, nothing is for sure, I'm just looking. An indoor arena, running water [cold AND hot], and electricity are looking prettttty good right now.

Big things that I don't know are: turnout schedule/if the turnout areas have shelter, if hay is included/what the feeding schedule is like, if they will feed Fabs supplements that I provide, if I will hate it because it's crazy busy, if it gives me a terrible vibe, etc. 
All the things I don't know are all pretty high on the "needs" list, so we will definitely have to see.

I DO like that it's a smaller barn and most of the people who board there appear to be sane and middle-aged [I get along with middle-aged+ women, not that I don't get a long with younger women...but I'm an old soul and I don't always "get it" with people my age] - I mayyyy have done some Facebook investigating......

We'll see!

My hoof trimmer hasn't heard of it which I can't decide is good or bad.... She usually knows everybody, so that's kinda weird.

Anyway, in case you guys want to look at the website and tell me what you think: Buren Farms - Arabian Horse Training, Boarding, Riding Lessons, Horse Care in Boring, OR


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## gunslinger

If it's not costing you more money, and if you're able to spend more time with your animals, then I understand why you'd consider it.

There's also the social element as well, new people to make friends and ride with just being one.

It sounds like to me it would make your life easier.....my question to you is, would it make you, and those around you, happier? You've grown up there....Lacy's buried there as well. 

If it doesn't work out at the new barn....can you go back?


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## grayshell38

That's one thing I would consider strongly. Will you be able to come back if it doesn't work out? Or will you then be stuck hopping from barn to barn and possibly ending up in an even less desirable situation? 

Maybe keep the goats there to secure a spot for yourself if things go sideways with the new place? I don't know if that is possible or reasonable. 

Either way, take picutres of the new place!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

That's the nice part - the owners of the property I currently keep the kiddos at [my neighbors] will absolutely save the land for me.  

I totally agree that it would be super hard to leave.

I might ask about doing some kind of boarding in the winter, bringing them all "home" for the summer [since the animals cost 75% less in the summer due to hay costs being $0], and moving back in the fall. I don't know.

And who knows, Fabs may absolutely lose his junk in a boarding situation!! He's pretty shy and easily overwhelmed - the activity of a boarding barn may be too much for him... If he [or the goats, if they come] hates it, we'll absolutely move back. 

I really don't know how I feel about the social aspect of a barn. I'm not the most social person, and animal-time tends to be my alone time, but it would be nice to have people to ride with occasionally....we would have to see for sure!


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## gottatrot

If you don't like that boarding facility for some reason, here's another one close by:

https://lareighstables.wordpress.com/boarding/

I can't say anything about the people because I boarded at the facility about ten years ago. It was an Arabian barn back then, now it looks like it is a natural horsemanship place. What I liked about it was the facility had a peaceful atmosphere and you could ride in the field and on some nearby trails as well as in the large indoor and outdoor arenas. These new owners don't turn out as often as I would want for my horse, so if I were you I'd only do it if I could afford a stall with a runout field.


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## egrogan

Wallaby said:


> And who knows, Fabs may absolutely lose his junk in a boarding situation!! He's pretty shy and easily overwhelmed - the activity of a boarding barn may be too much for him... If he [or the goats, if they come] hates it, we'll absolutely move back.


That was my question, I thought you had mentioned before that in his previous life, he was always stalled and that made him worried. Might not be remembering that correctly...

I guess the grass is always greener on the other side, but I currently board and while there are nice aspects to it, I so want to be able to have my horse at home. This week for example, has been extraordinarily stressful and busy at work, and I haven't been able to carve out the time to get to the barn at all, which is a rare occurrence. Really wishing she was in my backyard so I could see her out the window and feed, etc.


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## gunslinger

Have you thought about putting out a round roll of hay?


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## knightrider

That looks like a very fancy show barn. Look at all the awards and points they have won! It could be great fun and a real learning experience, or it could be people that just don't fit with you. I hope it is the good one and if you chose to go there, it is the best.


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## Wallaby

Interesting, GottaTrot! Fabs needs as much turnout as he can get, so it sounds like that one might not be a great fit for us. But I'll keep it in mind if the one I'm seeing tomorrow is a bust! Thanks! 
Given the amount of open space we have around here, turnout is in amazingly short supply! No, I actually do not want my horse turned out *only* in the summer time.... :icon_rolleyes: :lol:


egrogan, Fabs' potential stalling issues are definitely a concern of mine with this "plan"! 
He was stalled basically 24/7/365 with his owner before the owner I bought him from, and the owner I bought him from always said that he "couldn't be stalled" - come to find out, as I'm paying for him, that the real story is that the first night she brought him home, she put him in one of her rinky-dink stalls and he basically climbed/slithered out. He lost some fur along his back in the escapade and the owner decided that that meant he should not _ever_ be stalled.
So far I have seen nothing from him that would indicate that he can never be stalled. Heck, he chooses to sleep in his stall every single night. :lol:

My ideal place would have him out all day and only in at night with a full hay net. He would likely be perfectly happy with a set up like that. He will absolutely not be going into any situation where he's stalled for significantly longer than he's out. 

And, of course, if it's perfect and we move there, and Fabs hates it, I'll be sad...but totally ok moving back home for his sanity. 

I hear you about keeping your animals at home!! It's absolutely something I love and I hate the idea of giving it up. 
But, at the same time, so far this Fall/Winter, and last Fall/Winter, I get a these colds and just cannot get over them. If I do nothing all weekend, and drive, instead of walk, to take care of the animals, I can start to feel better...but when you spend every weekend laying in bed to "heal" because your body can't handle the pressure you're putting on it..........
And then there's the hay-moving thing, last winter and this winter, on order to avoid overdoing it too completely a lot, I've ended up roping my dear mom into helping me move hay. I just cannot do it alone any more, but now it's impacting my mom's ability to have a nice weekend... She doesn't mind, of course, but something has to give.
My "barn"/shed has terrible hay storage [can only hold 5-ish bales at a time, we used 1.5 bales a week], so hay moving happens basically on a monthly basis. And we aren't talking about a simple "throw hay off the truck, have it land basically where it's supposed to, stack hay"-thing. We're talking a "put two bales on a metal handcart, push/drag handcart downhill for half a mile, reach the shed, move hay to tack room, stack. Drag handcart back uphill for half mile hill, repeat."-thing.

And then there's the whole "I'm 25, I need to move out one day, but I need to take care of the animals twice a day...how do I find housing in my price range that is close enough?"-thing. 
I have no plans to move out immediately, or whatever, but it seems easier to start the search for somewhere for the kiddos a bit prematurely. Then I can, if I find somewhere good, have that taken care of before I begin worrying about housing myself. 



Gunslinger, no. A round bale wouldn't work at all here, unfortunately. My pasture is literally the side of a hill. Even lawn chairs end up at the bottom of the hill if they're out when the wind comes up. Plus, I'd have to figure out some kind of shelter for the bale because of all the rain we get here, and so forth. 
Plus I'd still have to move Hazel's alfalfa hay bales which are much heavier and more terrible than Fabio's local grass bales. haha

Most of the need to do two daily checks is because of Hazel. To protect her from Senor Coyote, she goes in her pen at night where she is safe from danger. But I can't leave her in all day! So I let her out in the morning and put her back in at night.



Knightrider, I know what you mean!! We'll have to see what the vibe is when I go. It might be great, it might be stressed! 



I will report back after I visit tomorrow.


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## Wallaby

IT WAS SO GOOD. I'll report back later (I have to go move hay, ironically) but it was great.

I brought my non-horsey mom along so she could help me spot sketchiness, but we really saw nothing to complain about.

My mom actually said, as we were leaving, "she reminds me of how you keep your horses! I felt like that's exactly what you would do!"


The only thing is that it's $410/month and the goats would have to stay home. So I need to work out a budget, figure out if it's all worth it. 

But it was NICE. 20-odd horses, only 10 boarders, a HUGE really NICE indoor arena, good relaxing vibes, and Fabs could be in a small 3 stall barn, in the stall next to a big open door (that shuts at night/in icky weather) that faces the activity in the main barn. So he could watch from a "safe" distance when he isn't turned out. And, if he ended up wanting to be more involved with the action, moving him to the main barn would definitely be an option.

She also said that she was absolutely happy to turn him out as much as he needs, as long as the weather isn't terrible. Plus she's more than happy to accommodate his hay net and supplements, at no extra charge. 

The BO/trainer (the lady I was talking with) was great - very calm, knowledgable, and relaxed. Exactly the kind of person Fabio does well with. 
She spent a full hour with us, absolutely no rush, and made sure all our questions were fully answered.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

Hmmm, I ran my budget and I ended up with, after all my normal monthly expenses [plus things like car insurance that come up every 6 months - I divided the total into what I'm basically paying monthly], $671. 
If you take out $410 for board, I'm left with $261...

On the other hand, in a given month, I tend to end up with about that much leftover anyway...

It's a little nerve-wracking to think about giving up that much of my [small] paycheck. 
But it felt similarly nerve-wracking to give up $170 of my check a year ago when I bought my truck, and that has worked out just fine.

I should email her and ask about options to work off board, if there are any. She didn't mention that, but I also did not ask.

PLUS, I am in the process of getting certified as a higher level of childcare teacher so I anticipate that I will get a raise once that's complete...but I don't want to rely on the *possibility* of a raise...


Hmmmmm.....decisions, decisions.

I'm gonna sleep on it tonight and go with my gut. My plan is to make a decision by Monday. 
I'm currently leaning towards going with it - this is a really good opportunity and the biggest thing that is holding me back is the "what-ifs" of the goats/needing to check on them twice a day. Hazel isn't going to be around _that_ much longer, maybe a year or two - certainly not 4 or 5, and we already discussed Atti. 
Waiting until Hazel passes before I start looking for something for Fabs is not really thinking ahead like I should be.


I'm conflicted.

At this barn, I could get more out of my time with Fabs, but I would still have to head home to care for the goats. 
I could get there by 5, spend an hour if I want, leave at 6, take care of the goats, and potentially be home before seven. But is that going to make me feel too rushed? Would the enjoyment of actually doing things with Fabs balance that potential crunch?

For those of you that have boarded, when you just grooming and tacking up, how long does that usually take? I know my time ends up stretching into an hour when I ride, but that included feeding, etc. If I'm not feeding, maybe I could fit a real ride into an hour??


I think it could be really nice, I have a full day off each week and it would be really cool to head out to see Fabs for a chunk or the day...instead of basically spending the whole day moving hay or doing other miscellaneous upkeep.

I'd still have to move some hay for the goats, but they go through one bale of alfalfa every 3+ months. They go through grass hay about a bale/month, so the storage in my tack room [8 bales, tops] could potentially store a winter's worth of hay for them.

I just can't get over how comfortable I felt there. I could see Fabs really blossoming there.

I'm gonna sleep on it, we'll see.


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## tinyliny

Could you bring the goats there, too? There is a lady that keeps 6 goats in a paddock at our barn. The goats are a hit with visitors.


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## Wallaby

tinyliny said:


> Could you bring the goats there, too? There is a lady that keeps 6 goats in a paddock at our barn. The goats are a hit with visitors.


I don't think so. I didn't precisely ask, but they have a "no dogs" policy and they don't even have barn cats - I got the impression that they just want to focus on horses. The no dogs/cats thing is a HUGE plus for me (dogs are so distracting they're just running everywhere and cats, well I want to take them all home...haha)....

Plus they don't have shelters in the paddocks (and Hazel should not be in the rain ever) and any stall the goats could have would not be in Fabs' barn.... :/
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

I decided! It's official, we're moving!

I figure that there's little harm in trying it out - moving in doesn't mean we're committing for a year [or even 3 months], but not trying at all means we'll never know how it could have gone.

We're not moving until the 18th, so we have a little time still. But, I have the 18th off, then a weekend, then 3 days of work, half day on the 24th, then "Winter Break" until the 4th! So lots and lots of time to settle in. 
Exciting, exciting!! :happydance:


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## Wallaby

Whoowee, getting all Fabs' stuff collected for the move is big business! I got his blankets in order today and organized his food.

For his ration balancer and supplments, I got a bunch of 2 cup plastic to-go containers on Amazon [$12 for 36!] and two 7 gallon rubbermaids to put them in. I filled 32 containers with a day's worth of his ration balancer/supplements, then put half in each Rubbermaid bin. 
I'm thinking that I can leave one bin at the barn for them to use, keep the other [full]one in my truck, and switch them out/refill every 15-16 days. That way there's enough time that I'm not "always" doing it, but he gets what he needs. 

ALSO.

I got a saddle yesterday! I found a ridiculously cheap, older, Simco on Ebay [$150!! $20 for shipping!] and JUMPED on it.
Turns out that the seller set it for "Buy It Now" when she meant to set the ad for bids. Either way, I still won!
I'm hoping that it'll fit Fabs pretty well. It appears to have SQHB or an Arab tree and either of those would probably fit him fine - my saddle right now is too wide and not curvy enough for him.











I'm excitedddd!

It should be here "by Tuesday, December 22nd." :lol: So hopefully Ebay is right! I probably won't ride Fabs before then anyway, unless he's superduper relaxed, just because he's so funny about adjusting to new things. But maybe he'll be just fine!

It's been raining so much, poor Fabs has pretty much just been staying in his stall. I'm looking forward to working him again!! And for him to have a cozy stall that rain doesn't just blow into... haha


I wonder how the goats will adjust? They might have the hardest time...


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## Chevaux

I confess, Wallaby, that I'm feeling a bit down about your move. I absolutely get you've given it your customary thoughtful analysis and it's what is best for you now but I can't help but feel its the end of an era or something like that. I always enjoy tuning into to see what's happening with Fabs (formerly Lacey as well) and the gang out in their pasture -- I'm going to miss those antics and adventures.


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## Skyseternalangel

I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!! You're going to have so many more places to ride, connect with people, and develop your relationship with Fabio 

I'm jealous, if there's anything negative about this scenario. I want an indoor again.


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## Wallaby

I understand, Chevaux!! 
It's bittersweet for me too. I love having my little "family" all together like they are and it'll definitely be weird not to have that! I am hoping that the separation will end up meaning that I will be able to spend more devoted time with each of the kiddos. We'll see, but that would be nice! More hikes with the goats this spring, more riding with Fabs, there are things to look forward to. 
I think, hope, that this is the beginning of a good new chapter too! Good, but different, than the last one. 


I am so excited too, Maggie!! Did I tell you that the BO gives lessons and I'm totally in on it?! I have been DYING to get some lessons on Fabs. Lessons in general would be good since I haven't had a lesson in years, but especially with Fabs because I just don't quite understand where we're going wrong. Something about us together, we get to a place and it's like there's a wall holding us back from accomplishing more. I feel like a pair of experienced eyes on the ground should be able to immediately see the problem! 
I'm pretty sure I'm doing something, but I don't know what. My guess is that my timing is off somehow - Fabs gives me an effort, and I don't recognize it, so he backs off and gets fussy...?

Ack, I'm so stoked. Also a little scared because CHANGES ARE COMING and I have a hard time with transitions...but it should be good!


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## egrogan

Chevaux said:


> I confess, Wallaby, that I'm feeling a bit down about your move. I absolutely get you've given it your customary thoughtful analysis and it's what is best for you now but I can't help but feel its the end of an era or something like that. I always enjoy tuning into to see what's happening with Fabs (formerly Lacey as well) and the gang out in their pasture -- I'm going to miss those antics and adventures.


Funny, I feel exactly the same way 

It's amazing how attached you get to these Forum horses. 

I hope you'll still keep us updated on the goats AND Mr. Fabs.


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## grayshell38

I third that sentiment, but with a little bit of me projecting myself into the situation. "Move to where other people are responsible for something that is sooo important to me?? Don't you know that people are crazy?!!!" And then I remember that you're probably not a happy hermit like me and it seems reasonable again. LOL But I'm super nosey, so even though you're going to be super busy and emotional, you should still maybe take tons of pictures?


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## tinyliny

Chevaux said:


> I confess, Wallaby, that I'm feeling a bit down about your move. I absolutely get you've given it your customary thoughtful analysis and it's what is best for you now but I can't help but feel its the end of an era or something like that. I always enjoy tuning into to see what's happening with Fabs (formerly Lacey as well) and the gang out in their pasture -- I'm going to miss those antics and adventures.



not me. I am very much interested in hearing about the new adventures.


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## Wallaby

egrogan said:


> I hope you'll still keep us updated on the goats AND Mr. Fabs.


I so will!  We're taking a step up, but we won't forget you guys! Another bonus of this is more pictures! Hopefully... Right now, since I only see the animals in the dark during the week, I haven't been taking many pictures. Now I'll get to see at least Fabs when it's light out!

And of course I'll update you on the goats.  I just realized that, without Fabs, I can't take Hazel to work this spring because that'd leave Atti all alone at home.  I'm pretty bummed about that.  



grayshell38 said:


> I third that sentiment, but with a little bit of me projecting myself into the situation. "Move to where other people are responsible for something that is sooo important to me?? Don't you know that people are crazy?!!!" And then I remember that you're probably not a happy hermit like me and it seems reasonable again. LOL But I'm super nosey, so even though you're going to be super busy and emotional, you should still maybe take tons of pictures?


No, I knowwww. It's gonna be so weird. But the BO has a super good reputation among people who know her in the community, and I really grilled her when I visited. I feel pretty confident that she's gonna do things exactly how I would want them to be done. But I still feel a little anxious about it! I am a hugeeee control freak when it comes to my animals!

And, also, I will absolutely take at least four thousand pictures!  And, hopefully, one of Fabs in his stall with his head out the...the place he can hang his head out... haha The stall grates have little openings in them, just enough for the horses to comfortably stick their heads out, that can be closed at night - I'm not sure what the name is for them...but all the stalls have them and they're open everyday! haha



I'm conflicted about what to do with him on Friday. He's moving at noon on Friday, and I plan to follow the trailer in my truck. But once he gets off the trailer, I'm thinking I should maybe walk him around, maybe let him go in the arena to check it out if the arena is open....maybe the BO has a plan. I'll ask. haha
I'm thinking I probably won't ride for a few days, just to make sure he's settled and everything! I haven't ridden him in a while and I don't want to pile on too much. He's usually pretty great after a break, but a break and a move might be pushing it...



Should I make him some kind of sign for his stall? I was thinking about making some kind of wooden one once we're more settled in, but what about when we just show up? I figure, if I were somebody who heard there was a new horse, I'd want to know his name and whatnot....


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## tinyliny

a sign with your phone number, and additional emergency contact, his vet name and number, what he is fed, any allergies or special needs (if applicable) and a photo of him is what we have at the barn on each stall (of the few we have). if the horse is pasture boarded, the sign is on the tack locker.


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## Skyseternalangel

When I've moved Sky, I typically either handwalk him everywhere then let him settle in his quarantine space, or I let him settle right away.

It depends on the BO. But I'd walk him around personally.


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## Wallaby

We're moved! Fabs has NEVER been so calm anywhere, in his life.
He settled right into his stall with no complaints. I even got him out to lunge a little and he was super "whatever guys" about that too.

I genuinely considered hopping on, he was THAT good. But I didn't, gotta save some stuff for tomorrow! Haha

In any case, I am SO PROUD of him!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

The BO really likes him a lot too! I figure that's kind of a big compliment coming from somebody who's done as much showing as she has!

I'm so relieved that Fabs is happy. I feel so good about moving him!

The goats are a little confused. I put them in before moving Fabs [so they wouldn't try to follow] and decided to leave them in for the rest of the day - it's late enough and that seems like it might be the least confusing for them..?

But Atticus is definitely looking around for Fabs. I put some hay out in Fabs' old stall for Atti to eat and he carefully crept over to it, constantly with an eye out for Fabs [Fabs let Hazel in his stall sometimes, NEVER Atti].
Too funny!

I'm planning to [once I know for sure that it's gonna work out for Fabs] change the shed around so Hazel "owns" Fabs' old stall, and Atti "owns" the other one. Hazel prefers Fabs' stall and Atti prefers the goat side, so it makes sense to give them what they like!
I have some extra pallets laying around that I'll use to make a "wall" across the front of Fabs' old stall, then add Hazel's current gate for the gate.  It should work out pretty well! Then they both will have more space!

Cute picture [I didn't take a lot today, but I will!]




Also, it looks like my saddle is supposed to arrive tomorrow! I'm excited!


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## Wallaby

ALSO, here's a video of him trotting around the arena.

This is like 45 minutes after arriving, HE IS SO CHILL.

A funny thing that I realized while lunging him was that I have never seen him actually move out like this, ever. At the therapy place, the "indoor" was wayyy too cramped for him stride so I never saw it there. Outside at the therapy place, the ground was super uneven and he always braced himself a bit about it.
At "home," our whole lunging area was on a steep [uneven] slope where he had to be constantly compensating for the terrain.

But this TROT! I like it so much. Look at those hocks! He was so smooth in the pasture, despite the uneven ground. I can't even wait for how nice he's gonna be in the arena!

Also, I was a little nervous about the arena thing because the only time I had even seen him inside-inside was at the therapy place and he HATED that "arena" [I don't blame him, it was terrible and not my favorite either]. So I was worried that I'd get him into an arena and he'd get hella mad - he could not have cared less.

I feel like I have a whole new horse and I am so excited about it. He's just so calm and unworried, a total change from who he has always been during the 3 years I've known him...

SO STOKED.


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## gottatrot

He's moving out very nicely. I think you'll have a lot of fun at a facility where you can focus on just enjoying your horse and not worrying about getting feed in and what the weather is doing. Especially with all the rain we've been getting lately!


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## Saranda

I'm really happy for you both and hope it will work out well for the goats! I know the great feeling of moving to a better barn, so fingers crossed it stays that way. Fabs DOES look very relaxed!


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## Wallaby

EXACTLY, gottatrot! 

Thanks, Saranda!


I went out today and he was definitely looking pretty overwhelmed/lost - he had his "I'm a lost puppy"-face on! haha 
Luckily for him, he got to be out for quite a while today and he clearly enjoyed that - he was pretty covered in mud and busy watching cows on an adjoining lot when I got there. 

But as soon as I got there, he started neighing and carrying on. I brought him in to groom him a little and do some more lunging in the arena [Lacey would get more hyped the more lunging you did, Fabs reminds me of myself in that we both need to MOVE to process things - he always does better after constructive exercise.]

He was definitely way more "hyped" today than yesterday, but I outlined the rules [no calling to your buddies, stay where I put you, don't push me with your shoulder, etc] and he fell in line pretty fast. 

Then I lunged him a bit with lots of figure-eights/direction changes/stops, and he was SO relaxed after 15 minutes of that!


My mom went with me and she was so impressed with him. She met him the day he came home to the pasture, two years ago, and how nervous/scattered he was really impressed itself on her brain. She was super impressed at how quickly he calmed down today - a year and a half ago, there was no calming him! 


Anyway, I'm still pretty happy.

The BO told me again about what a good boy he is, and told me that he was so so excited to go out this morning! I'm a little concerned by what that means - especially given that the hole he uses, on his brand-new halter, is frayed in a way it wasn't yesterday.....but she didn't seem concerned. She mostly laughed about it.
Maybe he reared?
Or maybe he pulled back...she talked about tying him while cleaning his stall and I'm not 100% sure he ties solid. I told her as much and she felt like he'd be ok since he tied perfectly in the trailer - I just think there's a difference between tying well in a tiny enclosed box, and tying well in a more open location. 
I've never seen him pull back, but I have seen him hit the end of his lead rope while tied and get nervous...

He did rear yesterday when she tried to back him off the trailer [the trailer had a ramp and he wasn't too sure about it, she tried to have him back off, he backed well until he would have taken a step on to the ramp, then he said "NO!!" and reared...], so that's fun.... 
On the plus side, at least he showed her that he's willing to rear - it won't surprise her at some point, like it surprised me.


But the BO, who has been doing most [if not all] of his handling, is super experienced and I'm not concerned. I like her style of handling, that I've seen so far, so I'm not overly worried about how she'll deal with his antics. haha
I overheard her telling a barn helper that she would deal with "the new horses" [haha] so at least she's making sure everybody stays safe!


And I figure that she'll let me know if he's really being terrible....right?


Here's to hoping that my kid isn't the naughty one at school... 


Anyway, from my end he's doing really well. I was happy to see him out, and happy, this afternoon!


The goats are also doing really well. 
Hazel is totally stoked that that "dangerous horse" has finally vanished. She has taken over Fabs' stall and could not be happier, or sassier, about it.
Atticus is still looking for Fabs, but he was happily cuddled into the shed when I showed up to feed this evening, so I figure that means he isn't too worried.

So far everything seems to be working out pretty well!


And my saddle hasn't arrived yet.


----------



## Wallaby

No saddle YET! >.> According to the tracker, it finally made it to my town and it thinks it'll be delivered tomorrow. I hope so! 

I visited Fabs today! He was in his stall and I could see what the BO meant when she said he was "so ready to go out" yesterday - he was basically hovering at his stall door with unwavering attention. 
He whinnied when I drove up, then basically proceeded to be like "hey, here's the door. By the way, did you know there's a door here? The door, it's right here. Were you looking for the door by any chance? I found it! It's right here!! Oh, in case you forgot, the DOOR! It's right here!...."
:rofl:
It was hysterical.

But today I decided that, instead of getting him out right away, I'd brush him in his stall to kind of underline that his stall is a good and nice place where nice things happen.

So I gave him a thorough brushing which he LOVED. It is so so cute how he calms down so fast once I start doing anything with him. He totally forgot about the door and started focusing on the grooming, etc.

I brushed his mane and tail as well. He got the full treatment! And he loved it. 

Then I lunged him a bit.

We did more canter work this time, including some things we had been learning in late September-ish [the last time I truly worked with him], and he did not skip a beat.

Halfway through, another horse came into the arena for a very nutso lunging session - he was totallllly distracted by Fabs and was getting absolutely amped by the fact that Fabs was cantering/alive.

But Fabs? Did Fabs bat an eyelash? NO. He stayed totally focused on me.

I don't know if he's a better horse than I ever thought, or if I'm a better trainer than I thought, or if it's a little of both, but DANG. 
This horse of mine is astounding me with every day. 
I don't love that it seems like he's pretty nervous when I'm not around, but I do love that he is being so "trained" when I am around! :lol:


I'm not sure if he's eating very well because his hay net keeps being full when I get there [I like that it's full, but he's only being fed twice a day and it's his "favorite hay in ALL the world" so why is it SO full all the time?], and he starts munching away when I'm standing there with him...but then immediately abandons his hay the moment I start to walk away...and he looks like he may have lost some weight.

On the other hand, he was a little chubby and now he's more "perfect." Plus, his hay net is in the back of his stall and I'm sure that he doesn't love being unable to watch outside while he eats - I'm 90% sure that that is a huge factor. As he settles in, I imagine that he will get used to everything going on and watching outside will become less of a priority.

On the good side, I did notice that he had pine shavings all over himself when I showed up, so at least he's comfortable enough to lay down to sleep!!
Also, I told them that he likes to mark his "territory" with poops piles so they've been letting him "keep" a pile in the corner of his stall as he settles in.  Kind of gross, but he's weird like that - the more poop piles he has, the more confident he seems to feel.

Silly goose! :lol:


----------



## Wallaby

Things are going well!! The goats have totally settled in to their new Fabio-less routine, and Fabio has settled into his new routine as well. 

Fabio's reintroduction to riding is not going quite as smoothly as I would like, but it's coming along.
He's trying super hard, just something about being ridden in an indoor seems to be reallly tapping into some "stuff" for him. He's utterly fine while I lunge him in the indoor, prior to hopping on, but starts getting really worked up basically the moment I get into the saddle.

So far I've noticed that he gets worse if I spend any time trying to figure out what is scaring him, so my game plan involves studiously ignoring his behavior and just asking him to walk in a serpentine around the arena [it has dressage letters, so each letter=a turn], giving him some contact because he likes that, but also encouraging him to stretch down into the bit by allowing him to stretch when he wants and keeping solid leg contact. Then, once he starts walking normally, I get off - mostly because it takes him 20-30 minutes to calm down, and also because I want the reward to be really obvious for him.

During this, I've been focusing on directing him using primarily my legs and I've been practicing how lightly I can use my legs and still get a response - half of our undersaddle problem [I think] stems from the fact that I tend to automatically use a *solid* amount of leg pressure and he only really needs a light little *glimmer* of a touch. I use too much pressure, and he interprets it as a correction, gets fussy when he can't figure out why he's being corrected, etc.
Anyway, so I'm using these rides to practice with how light I can be.


He seems to really be enjoying his time at the new barn. The BO says that he "helps" her put his halter on in the morning to go out to his paddock, and, after a few hours, he meets her at the gate [and, again, "helps" with his halter] when he wants to come in.
She gleefully told me about how she loves that she doesn't have to get into the muck at the gate of his paddock! :lol: Apparently all the other horses aren't as easy on her. :lol:

He is a HUGE barn favorite now!
The BO is totally enamored with him and practically every day someone new comes up to me and says "are you Fabio's owner? He is SUCH a sweet/nice/awesome/smart boy!"
:rofl:

I don't disagree with them, he is the best "buddy" horse. He just wants to be nearby, not causing trouble, hopefully "helping" or supervising.

It's funny though - back when he was a therapy horse, no one liked him [except me]. I thought he was the greatest thing and everyone was like "ew, you like Fabio[Gus, at the time]???!? Isn't he kind of crazy? __x___ is SO much better."

I love that he's finally somewhere where everyone loves him. He is the type of horse that blossoms with love, so I'm really thankful that he is getting so much love. 

AND I really like getting that confirmation from other horse people that I am not crazy, he really is an awesome horse! I'm seeing something that is actually there!

The other thing I like about this, based on the experiences I had running the barn at camp - it is SO much easier to give good care to a horse you like. You'll do your best to give good care to all the horses you look after, but you'll tend to go above and beyond for horses that you connect with. 
The fact that he is so liked makes me even more comfortable that he is getting great care there, that he is going to get what he needs and I don't need to worry about if he is going to be taken care of sufficiently.
Not, of course, that there was any _real _worry about the level of care he might receive! 

It's a really nice feeling!!


The saddle came and it is PERFECT. It fits me wonderfully and seems to fit Fabs about as perfectly as anything. It's a tiny bit wide for him, but the angle is just right. I ordered him a Back On Track western pad to go under our normal pad - he tends to be tight through the back and I found the BOT pad for a steal. It should widen his back out just enough. 

I have a Diamond Wool pad I could use that would probably do fine for adding width, but he tends to get really agitated whenever I put a wool pad on him. I have no idea why, but maybe he just prefers synthetic fabrics [his current pad is lined with neoprene].

The BOT pad should be here on Tuesday, I'm excited to try it!!

From the end of our first ride:



Peekaboo!



Just LOOK at that cute lil cow pony!!



And he's already made a friend.  His friend is a sweet, but very energetic, Arabian gelding named Leggs. :lol:




:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## gunslinger

So, in a former life Fab's got a lot of attention and didn't seem to like it. Then, he was by himself, with the goats. Now, he's back getting attention and loves it....

I can understand this....as sometimes you never really know what you've had until it's gone......


----------



## Wallaby

And the attention is "good" attention now - instead of being the "crazy" horse with no clear handler or boundaries where every interaction might be scary and/or confusing, now he has just a few people that touch him, one main handler/owner [me], and lots of people fawning over him with no expectations. 
It's a good life!

Today we had _THE BEST_ ride. The best ride literally ever, over our entire relationship.

I pulled him out of his stall when I got there, and he was so excited to see me. I LOVE how he starts whinnying when I show up! It's so sweet and I feel so loved. 

Then I groomed him thoroughly and tacked him up. There was a horse in the arena while his/her stall was being cleaned, so we had to wait for a minute as the BO finished the stall and pulled the horse out - I think that was good for Fabs because he got to "settle" with the saddle on.
He's always been kind of funny about the saddle being put on [better, now that I spent some time training him through that particular quirk], so I think standing for a minute helped him settle.

Then I lunged him in the arena for longer than I have in the past - movement always helps "settle" him, so maybe that was a key...

Anyway, I got on and immediately focused on those dressage letters - seemed to help a lot.
We did our usual serpentine for a bit, then I asked him to trot.

LO AND BEHOLD, that horse's head went _DOWN _and he stepped right into the lightest, smoothest, trot I have ever been party to from his back. I rode a few steps of it and managed to have him "whoa" [reward] before that trot broke up.
Then we walked around some more, then I asked for him to trot again. This time the trot was more "typical," but he stayed in it and ACTUALLY TRIED PUTTING HIS HEAD DOWN with "focus-y" ears instead of pin-y ones!!! He gave me two steps of that before I asked him to walk.
I asked him to trot again, after we walked around a bit, and the same thing happened! He was a little fussy to start, but then tried giving me a nice trot, and I had him walk after a few steps of that nice trot.

I AM SO EXCITED!!! This is how his "nice walk" started!! He gave me a little, I gave him a big reward, he tried again, etc. Now he has no problem giving me a nice, forward and not fussy, walk all the time. 

We are gonna get this nice trot, then we're gonna get a nice canter, I am STOKED. 
He could be such a nice horse to ride if he can get past all his hang-ups about being forward. I mean, he's not a "not nice" horse to ride by any means...but you can tell that he would prefer not being ridden at more than a walk. I would love it if he could relearn that speed isn't all bad. He loves doling out speed on the ground [once he's warmed up], it would be nice if he felt that way undersaddle. I have no intentions of making him run a lot or anything, but [in my opinion] part of a horse being really broke is that they have a nice handle at all speeds...not just the speeds they like best.

I want him to enjoy being ridden, and that, for me, would make him a really really nice horse to ride.

Of course, after all this, I had him turn around so we were going around the arena the other way, and of course, there was a birds' nest that we had gone past 1000 times already, but OMG WE WERE GOING THE OTHER WAY!!

He basically did a roll-back away from that nest, of course after I had given him a lot of rein to relax into. 
My favorite part of it was that the move he pulled out, he was _obviously_ expecting me to grab him and not let him do that. I have never seen a horse spook so slowly, he was basically moving in increments like "are you gonna catch me here? No? What about here?" - meanwhile I was scrambling with the loose reins TRYING to catch him! :rofl: :rofl: 
I finally got them shortened up and caught him and it was practically like he sighed a breath of relief, like "FINALLY, you got me!" and then we walked past the nest a few times. It was still scary, but better. 

When I got home, the BOT pad had arrived! I'll try it on him tomorrow. I'm excited!!


----------



## Bondre

Sounds like you're having a ball together at the new place  . I'm so glad that it's working out well. Now you have time to spend WITH Fabs instead of doing chores, I bet he'll make amazing progress. You seem to know just how best to work with him to help him get over his previous hangups. He knows now that the least try on his part will be rewarded, and has discovered that*riding with you is actually fun. Well done!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Bondre

Wallaby said:


> Of course, after all this, I had him turn around so we were going around the arena the other way, and of course, there was a birds' nest that we had gone past 1000 times already, but OMG WE WERE GOING THE OTHER WAY!]


So funny!! A classic example of the dreaded CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE :shock: :rofl:

I wrote about just this in my journal the other day:



Bondre said:


> I had an interesting reminder on our arrival back of their incapacity to generalize about life. We recently had some new white plastic-wrapped alfalfa silage delivered for the goats. Macarena checked them out three days ago and gave them the OK. Yesterday on the way out she hardly bothered to look at them: "oh, it's those stupid white balls that don't do anything, no worries". But on the way home, approaching the giant eggs from a different direction, she was more like "WTH?!" No reason to suppose that the weird round white things might be the very same inoffensive round white things we had passed one hour previously with not a sideways glance.



_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Wallaby

Thanks Bondre! I agree! I think we both are having a ton of fun, and we're rediscovering how enjoyable our relationship can be!


I tried the BOT pad on him today and he LOVES it. I didn't see any major changes in his way of going, but he was definitely less cinchy and his back was super loose [relaxed] after our ride. I put it on 20 minutes before the saddle [like the packaging told me] and, once it warmed up, he fell asleep so fast! It was pretty clear that whatever it was doing felt goooood. 

We had another AMAZING ride. 
He had a few more "jumpy" moments, but overall he was pretty relaxed. And, instead of constantly being on high alert but not spooking, he went from relaxed, to a little spook, then right back to relaxed. I don't love the spooks [who does?], but at least it wasn't like riding a powder keg!

Interestingly, once I got him working, he didn't spook at all. The spooks only happened while I was warming him up and cooling out. 

We did a little more trotting [actually, a lot] and he was SO _there_ with me. We were working really well together, he was super focused, and he was trying so hard to "get it right."
I think we probably ended up having at least an hour long ride [in the pasture we both always topped out at 15 minutes], and Fabs was still so into the ride even as I was cooling him out. He tends to be the epitome of "are we done yet????" so he must have been feeling REALLY successful.

And he should have been feeling really successful - we did more trotting than we literally ever have, and 95% of his transitions were SO GOOD [no giraffe-ing, no ear pinning, etc]. 
He got a little rush-y at times, a little panicky about "I know I know the right answer, but what is the right answer? I need to tell her the right thing! But oh no, we're turning, what's the answer? What do I dooooo?!" but a little half-halt usually reminded him of what he should be trying. He even tried stretching down into my hands, while trotting, a few times! He doesn't even do that when I lunge him, so it felt like kind of a big deal!

He was moving off my leg SO well too!

Ack! I'm so proud of him! I feel like we really figured something out yesterday.


And, on top of all that, he whinnied as I left. After all that work I made him do, he still didn't want me to leave.  Be still my beating heart!!


----------



## Wallaby

2 things that I was going to mention:

1. The BO and I started talking about my game plan with him, training-wise, and she REALLY likes the plan I'm using with him [rewarding him for little tries, not pushing him too much]. That makes me feel pretty good because she's a pretty accomplished trainer, and I'm basically self-taught. I mean, I know that what I'm doing _works_ because I see the results...but it's nice to get confirmation from someone about it.
And I also really like that she didn't discount my plan because it's one that I invented. I've run into that quite a bit [out here, maybe in the world??], but it seems that I tend to get a lot of push-back about my theories because I'm young and because my theories are based on intuition. I like that she was just like "YES! That's really smart." and then watched me ride my theory out, instead of dismissing my theory because it isn't a general practice.

I like that she doesn't look down on him as a nearly 12 year old horse who is where a 3 or 4 year old [or even 2, I suppose] would be, if that 3 or 4 year old was in any kind of good program. 

I really like this BO. She's pretty quiet, doesn't say a whole lot unless it's important, AND her practices are all [thus far] stuff I can get on board with. She definitely runs a tight ship, but it's all stuff that makes sense to me. And she always has a legitimate reason, that she's willing to share if you ask. 

I also like that she seems like she has a pretty intuitive sense for the horses too.


2. All this riding I've been doing has been having some interesting impacts on my ADHD! 
I get in my truck to come home, and I find that I am just WIPED. 
I realized today that, in these rides, I'm focusing really deeply for an hour each time - something I rarely do. It's extremely rare for me to find something, anything, that I can focus on for that long.

Also interestingly, the last two years-ish are when my ADHD got bad enough to get diagnosed - coincidentally around the same time Lacey died/I got Fabio and started riding less frequently/in shorter spurts.

Maybe that's how I was able to manage for so long - all through high school I was taking riding lessons that were an hour+ each. I was practicing that focus on a weekly basis.
Or, when I was at summer camp, I was leading trail rides for 4 hours [at least] every afternoon, practicing that focus.

I definitely still had ADHD during those times, but I was able to focus better. Maybe my focus-muscle has atrophied with disuse?

Anyway, I love that I'm somewhere where I can start practicing that focus again. It feels really good! I'm excited to go to the barn tomorrow. 


[I was supposed to work tomorrow - my work is putting on a 2 day camp for kids whose parents had a hard time finding mid-week childcare for them (we have "Winter Break" from December 24-Januay 4th) and I was supposed to come in tomorrow, but one of the kids cancelled so I'm freeeeee]


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## gunslinger

We all have our happy places.....when I go to mine, it's on a mountain trail running along river....

You focus, I think, because you've found your "happy place"....

Enjoy the moment!

Oh yea....I'm sure the knickers must just melt your heart.....I know it does mine....


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## Wallaby

Today we cantered!!

Just two little canters, maybe 3 strides each.

He's going to have tomorrow off [I might lunge, but no riding] so I figured that, since we've been having such successful walk/trot rides, it was a good time.

He did REALLY well with trotting again today! I'm finding that as he becomes comfortable with a gait, he becomes easier to "settle" within that gait - like, today there was a girl hand walking her horse who is recovering from surgery. The horse bit her in the shoulder right as Fabs and I were trotting up next to them, and, of course, the girl smacked her horse. Her horse flew backwards and Fabs lept away.
BUT, instead of being discombobulated for the next 5 minutes, he settled right back into his nice trot with barely any guidance from me.
Then, after we cantered, he was totally all over the place and, in the pasture, he would have needed to walk for a while to settle down. This time, I just put him into a figure-eight and we trotted around until he calmed down. It took him not even 5 minutes to calm down from that canter, AND he was trotting during his "calming period."

I'm also noticing that Fabs lets me know when he's ready to begin trying "the next step." Last ride, after we had been trotting around for a bit, he started shoving his nose in the air and flinging his tongue around - I interpreted it as boredom, and pushed him up a little bit with my legs.
The same thing happened today, and I chose to interpret it as an "I'm ready to canter, please!" 
Then I asked him to canter and, while he definitely gave me some attitude about it, he did canter. 


Another thing I'm noticing is the the more comfortable _I _am, the more comfortable he is. Like with cantering - I'm nervous about it, so I tend to fall apart = he falls apart.

Trotting - I used to be nervous about trotting him [what if he bolts? What if he slips?!] and he was little nuts when we did any trotting. Now I feel really comfortable with his trot, and guess who else is super comfortable trotting? Ding, ding, ding, FABS!


Of course, that's not really surprising, but it does make a lot of sense - I'm really confident on the ground, he's really confident on the ground. I'm more nervous riding right now, he's more nervous being ridden, my nervousness about riding is diminishing, his nervousness about being ridden is diminishing.

Classic. We'll get there!


In other news, today the BO described Fabs as "extremely laid-back." :rofl: Which I love, but is hilarious considering how he used to be.
And it's really true.
His soul wants to be slow, and chill, and more than bombproof..but his mind/background say that danger is out there and he better be ready to leave if needed.
I love that he's getting to tune in to his "real" self and be that slow, chill, horse. It's really good!


I'm so stoked about how fast this is all happening. It's so great!


He hadn't gotten turned out in three days due to the weather, but he got to go out today. Did he run, buck, and carry on?
NO.
He slowly walked to the center of his pasture, and started watching the cows that live nearby. :lol:

This horse!




The goats are doing really well too! I went and got them all kinds of nice new bedding to refresh the shed with, and they are so happy.  It's good!


----------



## Wallaby

Hazel is not doing very well.  It's been very cold here [constant strong wind, constant freezing temperatures, etc] and she is just not doing great. She seems to be warm enough - she is literally wearing 5 blankets and she isn't shivering. She's eating, pooping, peeing...but her gums were light purple this morning, she had a pretty hard time getting up, and [before I helped/forced her up] she kept falling asleep while she ate her grain. 
She'd munch, munch, munch, then slowly stop, her head would tilt down, and all movement would stop. Then I'd call "Hazel!" and she'd "wake up" and start eating again. This happened 5 or 6 times before the last one where she got pretty unresponsive - she didn't even "wake up" to me jostling her head with my hand. I got her back by standing up and shaking her back...

She got up, I noticed her gums, immediately took off all her blankets [my goal was to shock her system a little with the cold], and fed her some RedCell [to boost her iron/etc levels and, at least, perk her up]. Her gum color started getting better nearly immediately, and she started shivering from the cold, so I piled her blankets back on.

She then started looking around for hay, ate quite a bit, then walked with me and Atti all the way up to the llamas pasture where she made her way to her favorite spot, and eventually laid down. She stayed down, in the same spot, from 11am-3:30pm, but did get up on her own when I showed up. 

Getting up and down seems to be getting really hard for her.  It's always been harder, but it's really seemed to get _hard_ in the last 2-3 months.

Her gum color was great [bright pink] when I showed up at 3:30, so I fed her/them as usual, gave Haze a little more RedCell, and bedded her area really deeply with hay in case the issue is cold [I tend to give her a little less bedding because I figure it might be easier for her to get up if the bedding is less...].
I have the front of the goat's stall all blocked off with horse blankets and tarp so they do have a pretty significant wind break in there. Some wind still makes it in, and it's not "warm"...but it's protected.


On one front, I'm really sad that she's not doing super well...but, on the other front, it really looks like her body is simply failing. She is quite old for her breed [almost 14, when most Angoras don't make it to 10 for to production reasons], and "body failing" is way better than cancer or any other old-age disease...

Either way, it's rough.

Hopefully she'll be back to her usual sass tomorrow! Fingers crossed!!!


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## tinyliny

you remind me a bit of my younger brother. he would always be taking on old cats and nurseing them through long protracted declines, then eventually call me to borrow my shovel (he lives in the city, and I in the suburbs) so he could take the old dear up to the local woods and bury her. he just loved the old ones, and did everything he could to make their end sweet. but, the grieving was just as heavy, and now he says he does not want any more pets. can't go through with the pain again.

well, you know all that . . . .


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## Skyseternalangel

Have you talked to your vet to see if they know what's going on... or other goat experts?


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## Wallaby

That is so me, Caroline! :/ haha As it is, not to be morbid, but I'm thinking that, late summer, before next winter, might be her time. If this is any indication [and she gets through whatever this is - it should warm up after tomorrow and I think that'll be a huge help], another winter is likely not in her best interest. 
I hate to think about it, but better a little too soon than a day too late.

Maggie, I have. She really doesn't have any symptoms of 'disease,' besides just not seeming totally normal, so there's not a lot to see/treat. I called my goat vet, the one that treated her after the coyote episode, and he told me that he could come out..but that there wasn't much he could do to "fix" her, besides give her the vitamins I already gave or put her down. 
I don't think she's quite ready to be "helped" to the Bridge [she's here enough to give me kisses, follow Atti and I up to the llamas -a REALLY long walk-, eat, drink, etc], so there's not a whole lot to do for her. 
She's comfortable, relaxed, happily following her normal routine...just a little more spacey than usual.

He told me that, at her age, making it through that coyote attack was something. He called her a "tough ol' bird" and told me not to worry too much. :lol:

I'm trying not to worry about it too much. She's very tuned in to me, she kind of took over at that after Lacey died, so if I get too worried over her, she'll get clingy and start focusing on me. I don't want her worrying about me, so I'm trying to be pretty zen about it. 

But I really want my white teddy bear to live forever.


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## elle1959

It's so hard to watch our beloved companions as they age. That they live such short lives seems so unfair. I hope that Hazel will get past this difficult period soon and rally enough to have another good season with you.


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## egrogan

I don't have much to add to the others, just hoping Hazel gets to feeling better. It's know it's really hard when there's nothing specific that's wrong and can be treated. Sounds like you're giving her everything she needs and know what to watch for.


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## gunslinger

elle1959 said:


> It's so hard to watch our beloved companions as they age. That they live such short lives seems so unfair. I hope that Hazel will get past this difficult period soon and rally enough to have another good season with you.


True enough.....but things of this world don't last. That never makes things easier, but that's the way god's plan works.

We're blessed to have the good fortune of enjoying them for the short time they're with us, but they belong to god and eventually he'll want them, and us too, back. Don't dread the day, but rather, enjoy the moment.


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## Wallaby

Good news! Haze is much perkier today! Her color is great, and she got up pretty easily (for her) after I coaxed her to try.
She even had enough sass to really voice her opinion about water being syringed into her mouth  she seems to be drinking "enough" on her own, but I worry about her getting enough water before it freezes over again (I bring up hot water twice a day). She's very strongly invested in doing things "in her own time" and that time doesn't nessecarily align with how fast water freezes when it's 15*. Haha

Anyway, thank goodness, she looks like she's gonna get through this. :happydance:


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## gunslinger

Do you have any electricity? Maybe try a heated water bucket?


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## Wallaby

gunslinger said:


> Do you have any electricity? Maybe try a heated water bucket?


The shed doesn't have electricity, or access to electricity. Otherwise I'd have ten heated buckets! :lol:

I am doing the "fill a big bucket with hay, then nest a small warm-water-filled bucket inside"-thing for Hazel and the bucket/water stays unfrozen WAY longer than it does in an un-insulated bucket...but it does freeze after a few hours. :neutral: 
It doesn't get as frozen as the other buckets do, but goats don't seen to be inclined to break ice - Hazel doesn't even try, Atti doesn't try, etc. 

Atti is GREAT at drinking so much when I present him with water. He's getting so 'spoiled' though - he doesn't want to drink de-iced cold water when I have hot water that I'm not "sharing." :lol:

Monday it's supposed to be 40*, cross your fingers for that!! haha


----------



## Chevaux

gunslinger said:


> Do you have any electricity? Maybe try a heated water bucket?


 I wonder if a small solar system would work without breaking the bank?


----------



## gunslinger

Chevaux said:


> I wonder if a small solar system would work without breaking the bank?


There's always propane....(do I sound like Hank Hill)?


----------



## Chevaux

gunslinger said:


> ....(do I sound like Hank Hill)?


 Ha...I had to look that name up (apparently I spend more time riding than watching tv:wink.


----------



## Wallaby

I tried solar lights once, Atticus ate them within 15 minutes. :lol:

I'll look into other things. I guess that "sun box" thing-idea actually works, but Im not sure if the effort is really worth it. I'd have to shrink it down significantly for the goats, then probably make two since the goats are separated at night...
It's one of those things where it doesn't get below 30*F often here, and it doesn't stay that way for long [usually not longer than 2 weeks or so]...but when those two weeks are here, you begin to realllly wish you had prepared more fully!! :lol:

Propane? One word: Atticus. :rofl: He would find a way to eat it/get a burn/tip it over/burn the shed down/something. :lol:
But I'll look into it.


In other news, I'm starting to notice grass growing! It's probably just the effect of Fabs not nibbling on it constantly, but it makes me feel hopeful that spring is around the corner!


Fabs was a bit fussy this evening. He didn't get out today, his blanket is static-y, and I got there right before feeding time...so he was just a bit grumpy. haha

I think I fixed the blanket static though [hopefully]. I mixed some liquid fabric softener and water together, then sprayed that inside his blanket/on his brushes. I made sure to find the fanciest "natural and hypo-allergenic" fabric softener too, no worries.
I got it with a lavender scent too, which I thought he might like - lavender is supposed to be soothing and our boy needs all the soothing he can get!

It seemed to help - or, at least he liked the smell. He immediately started licking and chewing after I put the blanket on, which is different because he tends to be more goosey about it.

Yesterday the BO commented to me that he seemed worked up when he came in from outside and she was a little concerned - turned out that "all" it was was that his blanket had gotten REALLY static-y and was shocking him every time he moved.  
So hopefully my spray will make it better!!

I got a video of us riding!
It was much longer, obviously, but I edited it down to this. You get to see some sass, a really good trot transition, and him decide to start giving to the bit.

I'm not sure I like my hands in the entire video - I don't seem to "give" with my arms all that much. I notice that I shifted back and forth [in the full-length video] between what I thought was ok rein-contact [looking at the video, he looks kind of braced against my hands at times and I'm not sure if that's just him evading, or if it's a symptom of the contact/my hands...], and basically just throwing the contact away - reins loose enough that I essentially catch him in the mouth with every stride. 






So I'm happier than I could be with how we _ look, but also not thrilled. :lol: Fabs is clearly trying, so I appreciate that!!

And that TROT of his?! How much cuter, or western, could that thing be? He's just motoring at the speed that's comfy/natural for him, and I love that it's this speed. He is too funny.
And yes, it is SUPER comfy. :lol:

And some pictures from last night:

I turned him out so he could roll, if he wanted, after our ride. He did NOT want to roll. He thought that was the most ridiculous idea I've had. He stood there, staring at me, for 10 minutes before I took pity on him. :rofl:



More disparaging looks...



And from today: 
The barn cat [she's 20 and very deaf, but so sweet and very friendly] really likes me and decided to "help" me get Fabs all cleaned up.
Fabs definitely thought she was going to eat him alive.

But, despite being worried about her, he was extremely careful of her and didn;t move a muscle as she rubbed on all his legs and repeatedly walked under his belly! <3




He is the sweetest pony. _


----------



## knightrider

What a funny expression on Fabio's face with the cat. He's looking at you saying, "Do I HAVE to be doing this?"


----------



## Wallaby

knightrider said:


> What a funny expression on Fabio's face with the cat. He's looking at you saying, "Do I HAVE to be doing this?"


Right?! He is so funny. That's his "concentration-gotta be a good boy" face - when his desires [making the cat go away] conflict with what he _knows_ is "good boy behavior." :rofl: Plus he was a litttle jealous of the cat because I was petting it and not giving him my full attention... 
But he was a really good boy, and stopped glaring at the cat so much once I started ignoring it. :lol:



Ugh! This is so hard! I haven't seen Fabs in TWO days. I've never gone a day without seeing him in two years, so two days in a row is not enjoyable. But, after all my optimism about it warming up, we got 4 inches of snow and one ice of ice dumped on us yesterday/this morning! Classic.
Since I live on a steep hill [with, conveniently, no guard rail, steep drop-off on the "down"-side..] I am pretty stuck up here until it all melts enough. And, unfortunately, the forecast said it was gonna get up to 41*F today - it never broke 33*F. So very little has melted.

I'm scheduled to work tomorrow [two hour late start, thankfully, but I still have to leave home at 9:30am] so HOPEFULLY things will have melted enough by then. 
I need to get my December paycheck, I'd like to work - I haven't seen my kiddos in 3 weeks due to Winter Break, I need to pay Fabs' board, AND I NEED TO SEE FABS!!

The goats are surprisingly happy. Hazel saw that ice and practically came bounding out on to it. She has never looked so coordinated! She put everyone to shame with her ice maneuverability!!
Atticus was, justifiably, horrified. But he also survived - much, much, less gracefully than Hazel...but he made it happen.




And the very beginning of my ride video from Saturday. Since I haven't had a lot of other things to do, I dealt with this. haha
I was telling Fabs to stay there, but there was something flapping behind him and it was sooo scary. He is too funny! I love how hard you can see him trying at the end. He is such a good boy. <3


----------



## gunslinger

Thank goodness the 12 inches of rain we got in December didn't come down as snow..or ice....

We got 7 inches over two days....how much snow would that be?

Pay checks are good aren't they?


----------



## Wallaby

Work got cancelled again today and I was so glad. Today the ice was SO much worse than it was yesterday!! It was wetter because it was misting a bit, but, since the temperature was hovering at 32*, the ice itself wasn't actually melting. It just had a bunch of water on top that made it SUPER slick. >.>


Anyway, by 3:30pm, the road had cleared up enough that my mom and I decided to attempt a break for it and visit Fabs.
We made it!

Fabs was pretty darn happy I was there. Not overly happy, not "are they torturing you here, do you hate it?"-happy, but pretty happy. 
We didn't want to drive back in too much darkness, so we couldn't stay for very long but the BO said he really needed to get out, so I put him in the arena.

I was hoping that he'd run around and be cute, but he just looked at me like I had ten eyeballs.

Every time I moved, he'd move off - like he thought I was free-lunging him. So I ended up free lunging him. :lol:

He did SO well at that!! His circles around me were consistent, he listened well to all my cues, we both had a good time. 

I think he thought I should have ridden him. After we were done free lunging, he walked over to the mounting block and started nudging it. Then he started snuffling his own back, then he went back to the mounting block, etc. It was VERY interesting!

I didn't ride. No time. 

But I'll go see him tomorrow and hopefully we'll get a ride in!





And we stopped to see his buddy on the way back to his stall. He just loves this horse!!
I don't know why. He saw this guy for the first time like 5 minutes into being at the barn and started neighing his head off [Fabs doesn't _ever_ whinny at other horses], then they're pastured next to each other and they both spend practically all their outside time up against their shared fence. 

And then there's this.
Fabs lovessss to say "good night" to this guy after we work and before I put him away in his stall.


----------



## tinyliny

That ice looks horrible! You guys in the Portland are get some mean ice storms. We rarel get that.

Posted from Honolulu , where its a cool 78F.


----------



## Wallaby

Jealous!!
The ice WAS _horrible_. But today was the first day I took the screw-traction-strap [ :lol: ] off my boots! The ice is finally almost gone!
It snowed a lot on Sunday and I was totally stoked because I LOVE snow. But then the ice showed up. I wish we could have a couple of inches of snow for a few days, that would be fun!!



Fabs was so cute this evening. 
I had wanted to ride, but my commute took too long so I barely had time to do anything with him. I ended up free lunging him and I didn't home until 7. My goal is to be home by 6:30 max, up feeding the goats by 6, etc. But tonight I had barely gotten to the goats by 6:45. 
But it worked out jut fine! 

Anyway, Fabs was so cute. I showed up and he was munching away at his dinner. He ate a few more bites of his loose hay [they've been giving him half a flake of alfalfa loose, then essentially unlimited Bluegrass in his slow feed net], licked his feed bucket, swiped a strand of hay from his hay net, and went over to his stall door like "ok! I'm ready!" 
He's pretty precious!!

Then we just did a little bit of groundwork and some free lunging. He really enjoys free lunging a lot, Lacey did too. 

And here's a cute video of his free lunging. I hate that I'm kind of "pestering" him with cues, but it's something to work on!


----------



## Wallaby

1. Frustrated: the saddle I got Fabs, the one where the angles are perfect, is starting to look too wide. The angles are still good, but the widthhhh. AHHHH. I'll set it up perfectly, then it slides back behind his shoulder blade and the front starts angling down. THEN, when I'm in the saddle, there's only maybe half an inch of wither clearance.

Fabs seems to like it [???] and his back hasn't been sore at all, even being ridden every day, but I feel like that sort of thing is a ticking time bomb of sorts...

I have a 1 inch Diamond Wool pad that I think I'm gonna try with the saddle tomorrow. The pad we're using right now is supposedly 1 inch thick, but the Diamond Wool is much thicker - _someone_ is fibbing just a little here! haha
In the past, Fabs has gotten really fussy with wool pads so I'm a little apprehensive. The Back On Track pad is going to be under the wool one, hopefully that way the wool will bother him less!

2. We had a pretty good ride today! Fabs had a hard time figuring out what I wanted [I was experimenting with giving him a looser rein vs holding him in constantly] so the ride was a bit stressful for him, I think. He was stressed because I had him in his sidepull and was giving him a loose rein - I've been rewarding him for reaching for the bit, so finding the bit was the "right answer" EXCEPT there was no bit to reach for = PANIC. "What's the right answer? I have to find the right answer!!"
But I let him work through it and he discovered that the "right answer" was listening to my cues, responding to them properly, and relaxing a bit. 
He tried really hard and got rewarded, so I think he was ok with it. By the end of the ride, he was going really nicely. 




And Hazellll.


----------



## gunslinger

IMO, it's better to be to wide than to narrow......as my Miss Lacy gets older her back has changed. The Tennessean I've rode for the last 5 years got to narrow and I started having some back issues.

As DW seldom rides anymore, I started using her Tucker with a 1" five star wool pad and a bridging pad.

TUCKER BRIDGE PAD (3/4" or 1") 40

I have both the 41, and the 42.....I use the 42, which is a tacky pad, and it's made a world of difference.


----------



## Wallaby

I tried my Diamond Wool pad this evening and I liked how it sat under the saddle better, but it still slid back. I think I'm gonna take some pictures and post a saddle fitting thread one of these days - I, personally, REALLY like the saddle, Fabs seems to really like it too....but this slipping thinggggg.

I slapped some SMBs on his fronts today and he was definitely more willing to take wider steps/move out better/etc. Even when we were working on his forehand/haunch turns - he OFFERED a full half-circle the first time I asked him to turn on his haunches. This is a horse that never, ever, offers anything unless you're asking him to supply panic. :rofl:

I think I'll keep putting them on him, I liked how he went. He felt a lot more "free" with his movement than he tends to be..

In other news, he also almost killed me: 






Why? Who knows. 
But I feel ok about staying on! I have no idea how I did - I was so far over his side, the saddle was coming too...but somehow I stayed on. I think it was probably the fact that I got him turned back towards me - maybe the motion sorta threw me back up??

In any case, how fun is that?! >.>

To his credit, he didn't commit to bolting, he stopped really fast, and he DID NOT try any funny business after that. :lol: I think it scared him too!


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## tinyliny

oh, now come on. all you'd have done is get some grit in your face if you'd come off that way. you'd have been fine, but even so, you did good. I would def have been face planted.

If you could have, I might have asked him to trot on as soon as possible, so he does not get a rest/reward for such silliness. 

is the saddle slipping backward, or side to side?


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## Wallaby

tinyliny said:


> oh, now come on. all you'd have done is get some grit in your face if you'd come off that way. you'd have been fine, but even so, you did good. I would def have been face planted.
> 
> If you could have, I might have asked him to trot on as soon as possible, so he does not get a rest/reward for such silliness.
> 
> is the saddle slipping backward, or side to side?


haha 

I totally agree. I let him walk off two steps, then had him start trotting.  
I don't like that he did get such a "break," but I needed to re-balance myself which took a second. :/ I did trot him back around there pretty immediately though, prepared for something funny, and he only gave me some sassy faces - no crazy moves. :lol: 

The saddle is slipping back [when he spooked, it went to the side, but I've been keeping the cinch pretty loose - slipping to the side isn't too surprising] while I lunge him before riding. It doesn't slide side-to-side while I'm in the saddle, and it doesn't slide back if I'm in the saddle, but it slides back if he's just wearing it around. 
And, I mean, it's not sliding back crazy far - it just wants the tree to rest fully on his back, right behind his shoulders, and not at all on his shoulders. BUT, when it does that, the front starts dipping down and the cantle seems to end up "too" over his loin area.

If it were an English saddle, where it wants to be would be perfect. 
Angle-wise, I can see why it does that and the angles do seem perfect when it's back there....but I'm not so sure that it fits "right" for a western saddle...


----------



## Sharpie

If he was habitually spooking to get out of work, I'd worry more about him getting to "rest" for spooking while you re-adjusted yourself, as a one-off event? I can't say I'd be too worried about it. Good job staying rider-side-up!


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## tinyliny

I wonder if that description , of the way it slips back, is not what a tree that is too wide does? I wish you could ask Unclearthur, or Southern Trails. I don't know a lot about western saddles. 

no, you did well to ride out that spook. I bet it was powerful.


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## Skyseternalangel

I thought I'd feel the same (omg going to die) after Sky bucked me off.... nope I was laughing uncontrollably instead. It really isn't too far to the ground, but I am getting older... yet so he is.

I think you handled it well. You have a great seat you just need more confidence, lady!! And guidance, like we all do

I'm glad he's getting better though


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## egrogan

Yep, nice work staying on. I did like that he had his moment but then you carried on. Good job!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## gottatrot

Nice riding!! You deserve some kudos for that.


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## Wallaby

Thanks guys!!  I tend to get so caught up in my thinking that I forget that I _am_ a pretty ok rider. It's a self-confidence thing, I guess. That is one thing Fabs is especially good at - somehow he has a knack for seeming [to me] like wayyy more than I am capable of handling, but then I can and do handle him just fine. He's a confidence builder, in a weird way!!

He definitely thought about trying something like that during the ride after that, at a similar time - a minute or so after we started trotting, after our lunging warm-up/a few minutes of walking around. 
BUT this time I was ready for him and saw the signs - him intentionally bending away from where I was telling him to go, pinned ears, etc, SO I quickly reverted back to direct reining and made it less of suggestion and more of a command.

However, I haven't ridden since. 
He was mad as a wet cat during our whole ride^ and it was very uncharacteristic, considering how well he had been going...

Since then, he's been EXTRA grumpy, and something about his movement doesn't seem quite right [not lame exactly, but somehow stiffer a little bit]. His hooves are a bit thrushy, so I'm really buckling down to treat that and hoping that's the issue. They definitely aren't as bad as they had been when he arrived, nor are they as bad as I have ever seen on him, but who knows.

He tends to be really sensitive to pain, and his grumpiness tends to directly correlate to pain, so I'm trying to cover all my bases. 

I recognize that some of my not riding is related to worry about him spooking again, but I'm also concerned about riding him if he is in pain. Since I can _see_ that something isn't quite right, I think it's ok to wait to ride until he seems more normal.

I am starting to wonder if he may have PSSM though. 
I was realizing that, if he is half Quarter Horse [like the BO is utterly convinced he is], he should probably be tested for QH "issues." And so, of course, I started looking through that whole 5-panel test thing, to cross off things I _know_ he does not have [like HERDA and GBED] and potentially save myself some expense because there's no need to test for those.

But then I started looking at PSSM and saw lists like [I bolded the things I see in Fabs] this one I pulled from Nutrena's website-


Clinical signs may include:
*atrophy in the shoulders and hindquarters (muscle wasting)*
*painful stiff muscles*
*reluctance to move or exercise intolerance*
*gait abnormality*
weakness
*trembling after exercise*
sweating
*a camped-out stance and hind limb stiffness*
difficulty rising
*a reluctance to pick up feet*
lifting or stomping hind limbs
*cranky or sour attitude*
episodes of mild colic after exercise
 
Symptoms typically begin around 2 to 3 years of age.
*Many PSSM horses are obese or described as “easy keepers.”*

Anyway, I'm going to pull hair for the PSSM1 test tomorrow and get it sent off asap. If it comes back negative, I may talk to the vet about it and see how she feels about doing a muscle biopsy [the test for PSSM2].
I want to test for HYPP too, just to be sure, but $$-wise it makes sense to do one at a time.

I HOPE he doesn't have something like that, but at the same time, I almost do. If that's the problem, it's "relatively" easy to deal with [vs this constant unknown "he seems sore, I don't know why, why is he so grumpy? Is he ok? Why doesn't he have energy?? What's wrong??"-thing] and he could potentially have a happier/more comfortable life. 


Anyway, I've started ground-driving him again and it's been a really good alternative to riding. I can get him into all the "scary" corners in the arena, and whatnot, wayyy more effectively than I can in the saddle and he seems to end up really thinking about what I'm asking...instead of just resisting. haha
I've been working on encouraging him to bend his body more as we drive, and that's been nice! He's really trying to figure that one out and it's fun to get his mind working like that. 
He really likes ground-driving [probably cuz he knows we're only gonna walk!! haha] and I do too.

If he's not up to riding, driving is a good alternative for us! 

I made him help me sweep up our mess and he was NOT enthusiastic. haha



Him and his best friend are THE CUTEST THINGS.


----------



## gottatrot

I think it's great you're checking your horse for PSSM. It was something I tested for as well, before learning my horse had vitamin E deficiency and that it was causing all those symptoms.

It's a relatively inexpensive test considering how important the diagnosis could be. There's a huge range of how symptomatic horses are, from barely noticeable and well controlled with diet changes to very severe.
If he does turn up positive, I'd suggest joining the PSSM group on Facebook, the people on there are very knowledgeable about the special diet and symptoms. Also, if he turns up negative and you decide to do the biopsy, you could still try doing the diet changes to see if it helps him. For horses that can't take the extra fat calories because they're super easy keepers, there is the alternative suggestion of giving the Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALCar) supplement.


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## gunslinger

As far as the saddle slipping back.....what kind of rigging are you using? I think some of this might be solved by using a shorter cinch......can you post a few pictures?


----------



## Wallaby

gottatrot said:


> I think it's great you're checking your horse for PSSM. It was something I tested for as well, before learning my horse had vitamin E deficiency and that it was causing all those symptoms.
> 
> It's a relatively inexpensive test considering how important the diagnosis could be. There's a huge range of how symptomatic horses are, from barely noticeable and well controlled with diet changes to very severe.
> If he does turn up positive, I'd suggest joining the PSSM group on Facebook, the people on there are very knowledgeable about the special diet and symptoms. Also, if he turns up negative and you decide to do the biopsy, you could still try doing the diet changes to see if it helps him. For horses that can't take the extra fat calories because they're super easy keepers, there is the alternative suggestion of giving the Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALCar) supplement.


Thanks! I appreciate the support for sure. 
How did you decide/diagnose/whatever that your horse had a vitamin E deficiency? 

Thank you for the tips! I'll look up that supplement. 
It can't hurt to change his diet a bit and see if it helps.  If he comes back negative for PSSM1, a diet change is probably a faster way to find out about PSSM2 because my vet is notoriously slow with that sort of test. Bless her, she's wonderful, but she's very busy and doesn't have help/assistants, so tests/biopsies end up on the back burner.




gunslinger said:


> As far as the saddle slipping back.....what kind of rigging are you using? I think some of this might be solved by using a shorter cinch......can you post a few pictures?


It could _absolutely_ be a cinch issue. I hadn't even thought of that, but you could be so right. Right now I'm using a cinch I used with Lacey, and she was MUCH bigger around than he is. It's a 34 or 36, I think, and it's on the highest hole on the billet strap. Even so, it comes up really high on the near-side too.

The saddle is rigged very forward, but I kind of like that. My Aussie saddle I rode him in for a while was rigged more centrally and the girth always ended up in his armpits. So far this saddle has not had that issue. 




___________________________




I tried a PSSM "type" workout with him today where I just lunged him at a walk for 20 minutes - doing various figures to keep things interesting, then let him go and freelunged him at the walk a bit more, before doing maybe a total of 5 minutes of trotting. 
I don't know if it's me seeing what I want to see, but he was significantly happier and more limber by the end of the session - vs how he has recently been acting like he could fall asleep at any second after a workout and like even walking to his stall is "too much."

Unfortunately it's POURING rain today so I couldn't leave him outside even he reallly wanted to stay out. That was a bummer.
On the other hand, I took that as a good sign cuz usually he wants to be so so done by the time I put him back in his stall. Not a 'mean' "so so done" but an exhausted "so so done." 

I'll look that supplement up! I just changed his supplement stuff anyway, I'm really hoping that what I changed it to will end up being ok if he has PSSM...
We switched from Triple Crown 30, 2 tbsp Slippery Elm Bark, 1 tbsp MSM, 1 tbsp Remission, to 2oz Equerry's Economy Supplement, Mirra Coat, 1 tbsp Slippery Elm Bark [I'm trying to phase him off this because I'm guessing it's pretty sugary, due to being bark], 1 tbsp MSM, and 1 tbsp Remission.

My initial reasoning was that, since he's eating a much higher protein diet now, I don't think he needs the 30% protein TC30 provides. He also always seems to lack Vitamin A in the winter, and Equerry's has more Vitamin A than TC30. Plus TC30 has iron which we really don't need to supplement here, and Equerry's does not have extra iron - in the past I've wondered if he has Insulin Resistance-type issues and excess iron has been implicated in the development of IR.
The Mirra Coat was added just because he is very dandruff-y and it has Biotin - something TC30 has but Equerry's doesn't.

Looking at that change now [from the very little I've read about feeding a PSSM horse] it looks like this might be a good change - the Mirra Coat has a lot more oils/fats, Equerry's has WAY more selenium which is good for muscle repair and something I've seen people advise increasing for a PSSM horse, etc, I feel ok with it.
Hopefully he does too!!

I also got some mane/tail hairs pulled for the test , filled out the paperwork, and it's all ready to go. I'm going to take it down to the mailbox this evening. Eek!


Speaking of the cute little guy!



His tail has been up in a tail bag for so long, he kept spooking at it as he walked along! It was pretty funny. He's sweet. <3


----------



## tinyliny

with such forward rigging, you should probably use a rear cinch. be careful , at first, be sure to lunge him in it before you ride in it , since he may buck, and of course, use a cinch hobble.


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## gottatrot

Wallaby said:


> How did you decide/diagnose/whatever that your horse had a vitamin E deficiency?


Your guy _is_ so cute. 
In the process of reading about all the possible neuromuscular type disorders in horses, I came across info on Vitamin E deficiency and how it is difficult to get enough in horse feed, especially in the winter. Nothing else I'd tried had helped my horse, so I added a good daily dose and she dramatically began turning around within a week. I had the vet out soon after and she confirmed that although we had not done a blood test before I started giving the E, the results seemed so obvious that it had to have been her issue. That was last spring, and she's fully recovered and had no issues this winter with weakness or keeping weight and muscle on. Before that I'd considered EPM, PSSM, and Shivers.


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## Skyseternalangel

Agreed on using a back/rear cinch.


----------



## gunslinger

Can you borrow a cinch about 4" shorter and see how that works for you?


----------



## Wallaby

tinyliny said:


> with such forward rigging, you should probably use a rear cinch. be careful , at first, be sure to lunge him in it before you ride in it , since he may buck, and of course, use a cinch hobble.


Hmm! That's a good point. I have a nylon one on my tiny "lesson saddle," so I could just switch it over and look _really_ put together until I can get a leather one. :lol:

Luckily, back cinches are included in Fabs' list of things I assume he'll care about, only to find that he mysteriously couldn't care less about whatever the thing is [alongside SMBs and getting his ears/face clipped with clippers]. 
I totally expected a rodeo the first time I put one on him [he gave me a rodeo after I put a crupper on him for the first time, I assumed back cinches would be similar] but nopeeee.
He is so funny!

I'll still lunge him first though, just to be safe. I tend to lunge before riding anyway because he's 1000% more settled undersaddle if he's a bit warmed up before I get on.



gottatrot said:


> Your guy _is_ so cute.
> In the process of reading about all the possible neuromuscular type disorders in horses, I came across info on Vitamin E deficiency and how it is difficult to get enough in horse feed, especially in the winter. Nothing else I'd tried had helped my horse, so I added a good daily dose and she dramatically began turning around within a week. I had the vet out soon after and she confirmed that although we had not done a blood test before I started giving the E, the results seemed so obvious that it had to have been her issue. That was last spring, and she's fully recovered and had no issues this winter with weakness or keeping weight and muscle on. Before that I'd considered EPM, PSSM, and Shivers.


I'm glad your girl is doing better!!
What did you use to get her levels up? I've been reading that part of a PSSM diet is more Vitamin E, and that there's some kind of controversy over how to get it to be soluble in the body... I want to increase Fabs' intake as part of my "let's see if it helps" approach, but I'm not 100% sure _how_...



Skyseternalangel said:


> Agreed on using a back/rear cinch.


 <3



gunslinger said:


> Can you borrow a cinch about 4" shorter and see how that works for you?


I'll see! Good thinking, I forget that I might be able to borrow things now. I'm so used to having to buy before I can try! haha



______________________________________



Back to my current "favorite" topic, the PSSM thing, the more I read, the more convinced I am.

It's super bittersweet. I'm really sad that my "perfect and healthy" Fabio isn't so healthy, but I'm also really glad that we're figuring this out now.

The more I read, the more I realize that my "training scheme" with him is literally what you do to re-introduce a PSSM horse to work - walking for months, then some trotting, then more trotting for months, and canter once the coordination is there.

I don't know whether to feel REALLY dumb, or not. I'm trying not to beat myself up too much.

And probably why it took this long to figure it out is because he has never been in "real" work when I've known him. 
I mean, looking back, I absolutely saw signs at the therapy place [after I started working him more, he kept coming up "I can't put my finger on it"-sore after a 15-20 minute walk/trot/canter lunging session], but his hooves were 70 kinds of messed up and he had super bad thrush so I assumed they were to blame.

And he's always occasionally had a "hitch" in his stifle-area that I always laughed off as him not being fit. Plus his hind end stiffness - both CLASSIC signs.

This is literally a replay of Lacey. I had her for two and a half years before discovering she had ERU, and our lives got nuts. Wonderful, and we bonded so much, but nuts.

Fabs and my 3 year "knowing you" anniversary is in July, and our two year "he's home"/1 year "genuine ownership" anniversaries are in June.


I adore Lacey and I wouldn't give up our time for anything, but having a non-special horse for a bit sounded nice. Oh well!! :lol: 

However, now I understand how/why I got Fabs sooo much better. I always end up with special animals and I've always kind of questioned Fabio's normal-ness.
Plus how he's so pretty and not registered, and gelded [not that I think he should be a stud, but that the average yahoo around here would not even question it if he were a stud]... SOMEONE, somewhere, knows he has this and tried real hard to cover their booty. I would bet money on it.



Anywayyyy, I worked with him this morning and he is doing SO much better than he was last week. 
I'm a little worried cuz, with my work schedule this week, I'm not going to be able to see him twice and, according to what I've been reading, that could have negative consequences. I may be able to switch schedules with someone and get off work earlier on one of the days, hopefully that's possible!

But yeah, we did more walk, walking, and walking, this morning, a tinyyy bit of trotting [which he was SO much more relaxed for - usually he gets so tense while trotting, but today had some really nice unexpectedly not-tense trots], then some ground-driving.
The trotting part was really really crazy - instead of throwing his head up in the air and holding his back crazy tight, he had his head LEVEL 70% of the time and his back was more swing-y. It was nuts, he didn't look like himself! But I'm happy for him!

I think I'm going to wait to ride him until we get some of this ironed out. I really want to ride soon soon soon, but I also don't want to make him backtrack. 
Plus, per the "guidelines" I'm following, any riding at this point should be just walking...and he's been being super spooky about walking [which, apparently, is another "symptom" of PSSM - so it should, supposedly, get better as we figure out how to manage him properly] = I'm inclined to work on his groundwork stuff [which he likes best anyway] until more things are figured out.


I ordered some ALCAR for him [the supplement gottatrot suggested - it helps the muscles digest the "right stuff" better apparently] and it should be here tomorrow. Unfortunately, there's no way for me to see him on Wednesday [staff meeting at work starting at 5pm and going until at least 6 - I have to be home by 7pm to get enough sleep to get up at 5am the next day] so trying it out will have to wait for Thursday. Word on the street is that I should see improvement by the next day if ALCAR will work for him!

Also, we should potentially know the results of the DNA test by Friday...Of course, if he comes back negative for PSSM1, I feel pretty sure that he's positive for PSSM2...but we'll see!
Apparently PSSM1 in Quarter Horses traces back to _"the_ premier" foundation QH sire, Joe Hancock, so I guess we can all be excited that he has foundation blood if he's positive for PSSM1?? :rofl:


This is stressful, but at least I had ADHD to help! Hyperfocus comes in superrr handy in these situations. :rofl:


Here's another "fun" list, not written on by me - it's from a PSSM Facebook group I joined, that I feel like is telling:



Most specifically the "breaking out into a gallop while ridden, for no apparent reason" and the "sudden spooking/shying at 'invisible objects'..." bit. 
WHO do we know that spooks at "nothing" and has an extensive bolting history??

But really, that whole list [minus 1 or 2 things] is Fabio. WHAT IS HAPPENING. WHO IS THIS HORSE???!? Poor guy!


----------



## gottatrot

Wallaby said:


> What did you use to get her levels up? I've been reading that part of a PSSM diet is more Vitamin E, and that there's some kind of controversy over how to get it to be soluble in the body... I want to increase Fabs' intake as part of my "let's see if it helps" approach, but I'm not 100% sure _how_...


It sounds like you could be on the right track looking into PSSM. I knew it didn't quite fit my mare because she didn't improve with daily walks and switching her diet to low NSC and high fat didn't help at all. She also never warmed up into exercise or anything like that.

Some people say you have to feed vitamin E with fat to get it to absorb. I've read the horse just has to have a small amount of fat in the diet for the digestive tract to absorb the vitamin. In my case, the complete feed I give with it has some fat in it. 

In addition, if you feed the dl-alpha tocopherol (synthetic vitamin E) vs d-alpha tocopherol (natural vitamin E), you have to feed twice as much because it is not absorbed as well. Big box stores like Costco have natural vitamin E capsules that you can feed a good amount of for less than $.50 a day. I know lots of people who just throw the capsules in the horse's feed bin and the horse eats them.


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## tinyliny

well, the blood tests will be important to verify or not . how soon can you get them?


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## Wallaby

gottatrot said:


> It sounds like you could be on the right track looking into PSSM. I knew it didn't quite fit my mare because she didn't improve with daily walks and switching her diet to low NSC and high fat didn't help at all. She also never warmed up into exercise or anything like that.
> 
> Some people say you have to feed vitamin E with fat to get it to absorb. I've read the horse just has to have a small amount of fat in the diet for the digestive tract to absorb the vitamin. In my case, the complete feed I give with it has some fat in it.
> 
> In addition, if you feed the dl-alpha tocopherol (synthetic vitamin E) vs d-alpha tocopherol (natural vitamin E), you have to feed twice as much because it is not absorbed as well. Big box stores like Costco have natural vitamin E capsules that you can feed a good amount of for less than $.50 a day. I know lots of people who just throw the capsules in the horse's feed bin and the horse eats them.


Ha, Fabs would totally eat those capsules if I hyped them like they were a treat! He's eaten 20 SMZ's out of my hands before [when he had that lip abscess a year ago] and didn't even question it. He's a special one! :lol:

I JUST went to Costco too. What a bummer. I'll look online and see what I can find to tide us over until I get to Costco again. 

The OTHER interesting thing that I'm finding is that apparently vaccine reactions are par for the course with PSSM - last year his entire underline swelled up like a balloon after he got shots and had his sheath/teeth done [with anesthesia] on the same day. He was in so much pain the next day -very grumpy, slow moving, stretched out like he had to pee, stiff as a board, and I was really worried. The vet told me to give bute and call her if it lasted more than one day. He wasn't swollen the next day, just stiff and owie, the next day so the vet didn't come out. I wonder if that was actually him tying up???
The year before that, I was told that he had a "severe" reaction to the Rhino shot [and he didn't get Rhino last year].

AHHHHH. This is so interesting, and things are _finally _making so much sense, and I hate it, but I love it. haha




tinyliny said:


> well, the blood tests will be important to verify or not . how soon can you get them?


I sent the hair samples for the DNA test out today, but that only tests for type 1. The lab is in Florida, and they say that results are usually available in 2-3 days, so I imagine we'll know about PSSM1 by...next Saturday??

The other type [PSSM2] is "officially" diagnosed with a relatively invasive muscle biopsy. 
The vet will be out next month to do his teeth/shots/sheath cleaning and I will definitely mention this to her. If the DNA test comes back negative, and she feels a biopsy is necessary, we'll pursue it then. 
The biopsy itself is pretty invasive [it involves taking a relatively large chunk of his hind-end muscle] so it's something I would really rather avoid.

Unfortunately, right now, there are only those two tests - DNA for type 1 and biopsy for type 2. 
I guess they're developing a DNA test for type 2 that should be ready soon-ish, but it isn't ready yet.


My current plan is to just move forward as if he has it, by feeding him a PSSM diet and exercising him like a PSSM horse. 
If he doesn't have it, there won't be much/any improvement and we'll be able to go back to "normal." If he does have it, he should begin to improve/feel better and life will be better for him!

:loveshower:


----------



## tinyliny

well, you sure are learning a lot about horses. I've never even heard of the disease!


----------



## Wallaby

In other news, I feel like I might have just found Fabio's dad. Or his literal doppelganger:

Sage Bar Supreme, Red Dun AQHA Quarter Horse Stallion, Beautiful Red Dun AQHA ABRA NFQHA with a amazing disposition in Oregon - DreamHorse.com Horse ID: 1753655

That first picture? I have one of Fabs that is basically the same:




I mean, there are a million chances that they are in no way related...but there's also a chance that they are.
In any case, I emailed the owners for funnsies. :lol: YAY IMPULSIVE ME!! :lol:


----------



## tinyliny




----------



## Wallaby

RIGHT, Caroline?!! And look at their leg joints! So similarly chunky!

The owner emailed me back and she was all "he does have a lot of half-Arab babies on the ground! What color is your gelding?" so I replied, and haven't heard back yet. I'm not sure what difference his color makes, but whatever. haha


Today has been a rough day. Fabs was not happy when I went to see him - well, correction, HE was happy...his body was not cooperating so much. I'm trying not to get too worked up over it, but he's my perfect boy, my other Lacey, and I can't stand the idea of something happening to him.
PLUS I have a dumb all-staff work meeting tomorrow evening so I won't be able to go see him. MAYBE, if we get done early enough, I'll be able to swing by and give him a pat on the nose. I would feel a lot better if I got to see that he's fine!!

In any case, I talked to the BO and explained to her what I think is going on, so she's aware and keeping an extra close eye on him. He demonstrated some "weirdness" for her by falling asleep in the aisle, in the midst of stalls being cleaned and horses being lunged and rain clattering on the roof - her words "THAT is weird."
There's a certain comfort in knowing that there's someone, with a lot of experience, keeping an eye on your horse when you aren't there!!!


I'm gonna call the vet tomorrow too and fill her in. She should be involved with this, whether it's PSSM or not. Either way, it's a medical situation.


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## Wallaby

Started him on ALCAR this evening! If he has PSSM, ALCAR should help his body access energy stored in his muscles. With PSSM, the issue is basically that they store energy that they can't access later when they need it.
ALCAR doesn't work for every horse, but we'll see!

He'll get another dose in the morning, then one in the evening - if it's gonna help, I should see a difference tomorrow evening when I show up after work.


In interesting news, it turns out that, if he has PSSM, the Remission supplement I've been feeding him is actually reallly bad for him since it has Chromium in it and I guess chromium encourages energy storage? Or something like that.

In any case, I'm learning so much and I'm gonna have to get him a different source of magnesium! haha


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## Rain Shadow

Wallaby I want to say thank you. Reading this I've started researching PSSM and I'm going to get Harley tested. The problems you describe sound so much like him and he has about 80% of the symptoms. He also is very high foundation bred so that is another worry. I've always blamed his legs, we recently went through a period thinking he had navicular because of unexplained lameness, but PSSM is sounding more right.


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## Skyseternalangel

Wallaby said:


> In interesting news, it turns out that, if he has PSSM, the Remission supplement I've been feeding him is actually reallly bad for him since it has Chromium in it and I guess chromium encourages energy storage? Or something like that.
> 
> In any case, I'm learning so much and I'm gonna have to get him a different source of magnesium! haha


Try MagRestore, evilamc turned me onto that (I didn't buy it but instead have a custom supplement instead with it in there)

I may have a coupon as well


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## tinyliny

[email protected]! my head hurts reading all this. I just want to ride, not worry about this sort of stuff. anyone know what I mean?


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## gottatrot

tinyliny said:


> [email protected]! my head hurts reading all this. I just want to ride, not worry about this sort of stuff. anyone know what I mean?


I know! But horses seem to come with all this stuff. One of mine has Cushing's, the other had the Vitamin E issue, and both are super hard to fit saddles to! I've decided there's always something, just hope for the easier problems rather than the harder and more heartbreaking ones.

I'd forgotten about the Chromium issue with PSSM. Good catch.


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## Wallaby

Rain Shadow said:


> Wallaby I want to say thank you. Reading this I've started researching PSSM and I'm going to get Harley tested. The problems you describe sound so much like him and he has about 80% of the symptoms. He also is very high foundation bred so that is another worry. I've always blamed his legs, we recently went through a period thinking he had navicular because of unexplained lameness, but PSSM is sounding more right.


You are so welcome! I had NO idea about how widely, and randomly, it could present until I started researching! I always thought Fabs just had a locking stifle, a weird amount of arthritis, and strangely sensitive hooves. It's amazing what we can convince ourselves is "normal"!! 
There are a number of other neuro-muscular diseases that present similarly, but since Harley is high % foundation, PSSM1 is probably the most likely place to start. 

I hope you get some answers. :hug:



Skyseternalangel said:


> Try MagRestore, evilamc turned me onto that (I didn't buy it but instead have a custom supplement instead with it in there)
> 
> I may have a coupon as well


Yes!! I was just looking at that stuff last night! That one was recommended to me by people on a PSSM forum! 
I haven't ordered it yet because my bank account says "no" but a coupon might make it say "yes"?? :lol: :loveshower:



tinyliny said:


> [email protected]! my head hurts reading all this. I just want to ride, not worry about this sort of stuff. anyone know what I mean?


I SO KNOW!!!
When I got Fabs, I was kind of like "yes! An easy, normal, horse that I can RIDE!!" 
Bless Lacey's heart, but her eye issues did not facilitate riding. I love her dearly, but the eye issues made it hard to do much riding.

And now this, with Fabs. On the flip side, now that we've gotten this figured out/as we continue to figure this out, he just needs a bit more "coddling" pre/post ride, but there's no reason why he can't be normal undersaddle. Once his diet is ironed out and he's physically brought up to speed, I should be back in the saddle in no time. 

However, Fabs having this is SO "classic Emily" - somehow I have a knack for picking animals that need the most fussing! haha



gottatrot said:


> I know! But horses seem to come with all this stuff. One of mine has Cushing's, the other had the Vitamin E issue, and both are super hard to fit saddles to! I've decided there's always something, just hope for the easier problems rather than the harder and more heartbreaking ones.
> 
> I'd forgotten about the Chromium issue with PSSM. Good catch.



Agreed! I'm just thankful that this isn't fatal by definition, it isn't progressive, and enough research has gone into it that I'm not in uncharted territory. AND I'm catching it now, before some kind of mega-breakdown!

Thanks! That forum you recommended to me kind of lost it when I told them I was feeding him Remission! haha But yeah, catching that was _all_ them. 


____________________________



GOOD NEWS, guys!!! SUCH GOOD NEWS!!!

Fabs started on ALCAR last night - so he got a dose last night, a dose this morning, and a dose this evening. This evening when I saw him, he was doing SO much better. 
He was like a different horse!!
His head was out his "window" when I showed up [he's NEVER doing that - he's always either in the back of his stall eating from his hay net, or hovering by the stall door] and he pricked his ears when he saw me! 
I have never seen his ears spend SO MUCH time being forward! He didn't pin his ears once in the hour I was with him - a literal first.

I was pretty thrown off by how different he was being, but I was less freaked out after I realized that he was responding to everything I asked him to do and he wasn't literally a different horse. But it was freaky! I kind of felt like I was walking into a body-swapping situation!

He was being pretty funny with his legs, almost like his balance was a bit off, but I had heard that that's not uncommon. One of the effects of PSSM is hindend/shoulder muscle atrophy, so the extreme rigidity of a PSSM horse's muscles [I guess] helps them hold themselves up a bit. When the muscles relax, it seems like the horse has to re-figure out how to hold themselves up on, basically, atrophied/weak muscles.

But I was very careful as I picked out his hooves [he almost fell when I picked up his first hoof, he clearly was not expecting it to be so hard! haha] and we made it through just fine.

Then I walked him around for 20 minutes and had him trot a bit at the end. I wish I had a comparison video from Tuesday, but LOOK at how relaxed he is.
There's definitely stiffness there, but he looks a lot more "float-y" and he isn't holding himself as tensely as he tends to. 







The impression I have is that if the horse responds this strongly to ALCAR, PSSM1 is a pretty certain deal. It's not supposed to make any difference at all in a normal horse, from what I understand.

In any case, the DNA test to confirm PSSM1 should be arriving at the lab tomorrow, I hope! That'll be 4 days since I mailed it. Oregon to Florida, 4 days seems reasonable, right?


I am just so incredibly glad he's feeling better. I hope this holds.


----------



## Wallaby

Fabs is getting better and better! I am SO stoked that this is helping. 
He's been "I can't put my finger on it"-weird for soooo long and no one could give me any answers because he wasn't getting worse/better/displaying obvious symptoms. It was a very helpless feeling. I _knew_ that his usually friendly demeanor didn't match his angry/resistant undersaddle attitude, but I couldn't have told you why or how.

He was SO sassy with me today, but it was NORMAL HORSE sassy. He was trying crazy stuff and being a little nuts because he felt good and wanted to find where the boundaries are, and he gave me a good fuss when I told him "NO!" 
Weird to be excited about that, but he used to have an opinion, state it, then give up immediately when I said "no" - because he had no energy left! He might have continued to restate his opinion about whatever it was each time we went past, but he'd never work too hard over it.
Today he stated his opinion, held on to it pretty hard until he realized I wasn't gonna fold, THEN he totally folded and didn't give me any fuss about it again...just found something new to fuss about. :lol:

At one point I was lunging him, at a walk, and we got to an area he had already passed 10+ times...but SUDDENLY he was cantering and doing a full 180* rollback-spook! :rofl: I had to laugh, he's feeling so good! 
The BO saw this move too and she was all "guess that diet change is helping?" :lol:

He was also moving SO well today. His hindend really was not stiff at all - a literal first. I ALWAYS notice how stiff his hindend is, especially when I ground-drive him, and today I noticed nothing.

I also incorporated two very short canters today [one each direction]. We'll have to see how he is tomorrow because cantering, for whatever reason, seems to really mess with his body.
On the plus side, his canter was much more relaxed than it has been. He gave me some fuss about going into it, basically charged into it with his ears flat back, but he settled into a regular rhythm after just one stride! 

Another interesting thing that I've noticed is that now, when he walks on the barn's concrete, his hoof-falls are much more even. All "clip, clop, clip, clop..." instead of "clip, CLOP, CLIP, clop, CLIP, clop..."

I started him on Vitamin E last night [natural E, in capsules - he'll eat them pretty happily if they're hidden in other food], but not a full dose - just 1000mg, the minimum for a PSSM horse is supposed to be 2000mg. He seems to accepted that really well, so now he's getting 2000mg/day. I may increase that later, but for now it's ok.

He was also better with his hooves/balance today. There were definitely a few moments of 'weirdness' while I was lunging him, in particular, but he was much better while I cleaned his hooves. He was still weirder than he used to be about them [and his hooves have never been a walk in the park - he leans hard/jerks away/etc and he never got better about it no matter how much I worked with him on holding his hooves up. TURNS OUT that's an extremely extremely common issue for PSSM horses], but in a different way than he used to be. 
He acts like his feet aren't quite behaving like he expects. He's hysterical!

He's getting his hooves trimmed a week from Wednesday so I hope he'll get this whole hoof-thing figured out by then. My trimmer is great. Even when we didn't know anything about the PSSM-thing, she was above-average understanding with his leaning. 
She corrected him at first, but realized that it made no difference and just made him nervous, so she started instructing me in how to position him so the majority of his weight would be off the limb she was trimming. 
I feel pretty lucky that she trims for me! She doesn't create perfect hooves, but she does the best job I've seen in real life AND she's smart about her horse handling. 

Fabs always gets stoked when he sees her truck! Lacey did too. 


Tonight I added a ration balancer back into Fabs' feed. Hopefully that goes over ok! 
The feed store was out of what I wanted [Triple Crown Lite] and only had Enrich 32. I really should have left and gone looking for the Lite, but I was stressed and making bad decisions. So I went with the Enrich.
I'm sure he'll be fine. Enrich is just not what I wanted him to be on [it has molasses, etc], but he will be just fine.
I'll just switch feed in 45 days when we run out of this! :lol:

I'm ordering MagRestore tonight, we should have our full line-up of "the right stuff" pretty soon!

I still haven't heard ANYTHING about the DNA test yet, which is a little frustrating. But it is the beginning of the year, maybe they're busy? Supposedly I'll have results 2-3 days after they receive the sample. I assume they MUST have gotten it on Friday - I sent it on Tuesday [MLK Day was Monday and mail didn't get picked up], it probably took 4 days to get to Florida which is...ok, this coming Monday. Gross.
Either way, I'm hoping to hear something soon! It's not really superduper important anymore since Fabs is reacting so positively to the PSSM stuff, but it'd be good for his vet records and such.

In any case, I'm so excited to have a HORSE again! He was kind of like a half-asleep zombie before, a loveable and sweet, semi-grumpy, half-asleep-zombie.

:happydance:


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## Alhefner

Fantastic that Fabs is getting better! I'm happy for both of ya!


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## evilamc

Thats so exciting you found out something was actually wrong with him! So now you can get it fixed up and have a happy healthy horse!!! Happy for you!


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## Wallaby

Thanks, both of you! :loveshower::loveshower:

I'm so happy about it too! It was so depressing to try and keep working a horse that seemed to get more angry the more I worked him.

Today was SO GREAT. Fabs was feeling even BETTER today. 

Since all we can really do right now is lunge/ground-drive, I'm experimenting a bit with different patterns and such that we can create while he's on the line. Today we started out with a normal circle until he was moving out. Then we did a BUNCH of serpentines, down+back the full length of the arena - twice in both directions, and that was pretty cool.

He was confused at first, but quickly settled in. It's fun doing things like that with him because he REALLY pays attention to me. Unlike some horses that get pretty sure of what the activity is and zone out into the activity, he locks in and looks for a change in the rhythm. It may take ten minutes before that change happens, but he is READY whenever it does!
Maybe that is what makes him a bit reactive sometimes - he's always prepared to quickly switch it up...

Anyway, that was fun! And he seemed to really enjoy himself. He even got a little full of himself and decided that they should be trot serpentines. After two of those, he concluded that maybe canter serpentines would be more fun - he did a flying lead change all on his own! 
At that point, I made him go back to a walk because I didn't want him to overdo it, but it was nice to see him feeling that good!

I took a video of him trotting again. I figure that regular videos would potentially be good for others to see, AND I can use them to gauge his progress.
This was near the beginning of our time [20 minutes in - ish] so he's not totally warmed up, but compare this to the other trotting video from just a few days ago! The difference is crazy!
I wasn't pushing him at all here, this is just the speed/etc he chose to have.

I love how relaxed his tail is. You can really see it flopping all over - what a change from how stiff his tail used to be!

[I see a little head-bob here...the arena just got tilled so I think the footing was throwing him off - while I was taking this video was literally the only time I saw him doing that during the hour we were walk/trot-ing around]






And at the end of our time, he went all majestic on me :icon_rolleyes: :lol:




And Atti was being nuts today! I haven't shared anything about the goats recently [they are doing fine, by the way!] so here's a video to make up fo it.


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## tinyliny

What is ration balancer for? Does he not get good hay? I've never really understood what they are for, though the horses do love their grain


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## egrogan

tinyliny said:


> What is ration balancer for? Does he not get good hay? I've never really understood what they are for, though the horses do love their grain


My understanding is yes. In my personal example, the hay at our barn is of variable quality throughout the year (has been tested) and the facility is too small for the pasture to fully support horses nutritionally- it mostly gives them something to nibble and encourage movement. In the warm months, of course. In the winter, there's nothing green to be found. 

After spending some time with the "Feed XL" program, I settled on a ration balancer because of my horse's age (older), activity/exercise level (low), and body condition (bordering on too chubby). So the ration balancer is more supplement than "grain," but there are grain products in it. I use this one (Poulin Equine MVP) but it's only available regionally.

I am the first to admit I don't know nearly enough about nutrition, but this is my approach and vet says she's healthy, so I keep going.


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## Wallaby

tinyliny said:


> What is ration balancer for? Does he not get good hay? I've never really understood what they are for, though the horses do love their grain


A ration balancer essentially makes sure that the horse it's being fed to is getting the bare minimum of most of the vitamins/minerals that horse would need, in a small package.
Quality grain does the same thing, but in a much larger package. Oftentimes you'd need to feed 5-6lbs of grain to get the same amount of nutrients found in a ration balancer. For a hard keeper, the extra calories in those 5-6lbs would be _great. _For an easy keeper, those 5-6lbs could spell f-o-u-n-d-e-r. :lol: Ration balancers are typically fed at 1-2lb/day servings which makes them ideal for easy keepers. 
I've actually found, with Lacey and Fabs [both very easy keepers], that sometimes an obese horse will lose weight when a ration balancer is added to a diet that was previously just hay and water. My uneducated guess is that they eat more trying to fulfill certain vitamin/mineral requirements on grass/hay alone. An RB comes along, gives them a boost up to those requirement levels, and the horse is no longer as driven to correct some deficiency.

As for how they work, pretend your hay was deficient in Vitamin A [very common as Vitamin A doesn't weather the hay-drying process well]. A ration balancer would help get _some _Vitamin A into your horse's system, maybe enough that your horse won't show signs of a deficiency. 
Depending on how deficient the hay is, the RB may not be able to completely fix the deficiency but it'll make it better.



As for why FABS gets a ration balancer, it's mostly because the BO gives all the horses a little "something" grain/pellet-wise everyday and everyone is calmer when everybody gets something.
The other reason is because all his supplements are powders/pills and he won't eat them by themselves [not that I blame him]. He'll eat most of it with hay pellets, but not the vitamin E capsules. He will, however, eat the capsules without a fuss if they're surrounded by something "extremely tasty" like a ration balancer!

Another factor is that, to the BO, a "small amount of hay pellets" equals about 2 pounds of hay pellets. He already gets that in the morning with his morning dose of ALCAR, he really does not need 4lbs of hay pellets everyday! :lol: 
So, if I package up a ration balancer, I can ensure that he only gets a pound of that per day with his more "distasteful" supplements.


I do plan to take him off of a ration balancer once this bag finishes up. I want to switch him to Triple Crown Lite which is technically not a RB, but the ingredients are better for a PSSM horse - no molasses, hay based, probiotics, no iron, and the NSC values are a bit lower+balanced a bit better for a PSSM horse.
The serving minimum is 2lbs per day, so I may ask the BO feed that one twice a day, instead of alfalfa pellets...


----------



## Sharpie

I almost wonder if that head nod is in response to a small muscle spasm or the like. It's on the 'wrong' leg from what you would expect with a horse on the circle (his head is coming down harder when the inside leg is bearing weight), and with suspected PSSM and you saying it went away in just a little bit, it makes some bit of sense. I'd expect his muscles will have a fair bit of stretching and readjusting to do and might not always take to it perfectly smoothly. He looks much looser than in the previous trotting video from when you first moved him, not so short-strided overall, but I bet he can do even better as things progress. I'd like to see him really moving out in a few weeks! 

Any update on that test? (I am guessing "no" or you probably would have already told us...)


----------



## Wallaby

Sharpie said:


> I almost wonder if that head nod is in response to a small muscle spasm or the like. It's on the 'wrong' leg from what you would expect with a horse on the circle (his head is coming down harder when the inside leg is bearing weight), and with suspected PSSM and you saying it went away in just a little bit, it makes some bit of sense. I'd expect his muscles will have a fair bit of stretching and readjusting to do and might not always take to it perfectly smoothly. He looks much looser than in the previous trotting video from when you first moved him, not so short-strided overall, but I bet he can do even better as things progress. I'd like to see him really moving out in a few weeks!
> 
> Any update on that test? (I am guessing "no" or you probably would have already told us...)



THAT is an excellent point! I hadn't even thought of that, but I bet you are right on the money with that one!
I've definitely noticed how, sometimes when I'm working him, he'll seem to get some kind of cramp that eventually works out.

I'm excited to see how he's moving once we really get his diet all figured out! I talked to the BO about switching him to an all alfalfa diet to lessen his sugar intake [PSSM horses are EXTREMELY sugar sensitive and alfalfa is lower in sugars than the orchard grass he's currently on], plus I need to increase his vitamin E and get him started on MagRestore. Those are just the basics though - knowing me, I'll probably find ten other things he "needs." haha


No word on the test yet! :neutral: I think I'll email the lab tonight, just to check in. I feel fussy about needing to know! haha


He was not moving super great tonight  I mean, he warmed up well and was totally happy to hang out, but he was definitely stiffer than he's been. And, not even ten minutes after we were done walking around, he was already so so stiff again.  
I'm guessing that maybe it's sugar - it's really started being spring-ish here over the last week or so and I know he was out for most of today. I'm really hoping fresh grass is not the culprit, but I'm thinking it might be.

He's been out on that grass before, of course, but not for an extended period [like today] since starting his PSSM diet. Plus it's been much cooler up until the last 3-ish days.
On the PLUS SIDE, the grass in his paddock is relatively long and unstressed, so it's not as sugary as it could be.

I have to work late tomorrow, but hopefully I'll get to at least swing by!

Seeing him not feeling so good was a real bummer, but I know there are going to be bad days. Hopefully this is just a tiny hiccup in the midst of a string of REALLY good days!


In other news, I may, or may not, have gotten him a FANTASTIC new halter. That blue one, that I got for him right before we moved, already looks _terrible_ even though it's only a month old. I really cheaped out on it though. 
This new halter is from Weaver and I spent some quality $$, so I'm hoping it holds up! It feels like it will!


----------



## Wallaby

Well, I got the test results today! And he is n/n for PSSM1.

_However._

A muscular-ly normal horse shouldn't have/wouldn't have reacted like he is to the PSSM diet he's on.

So, on one hand this is good...and it's bad on the other.

I'm gonna keep him on the diet, continue my current plan, and get the vet out soon.

Sleuthing ENGAGE.

UGH. :lol:


----------



## gottatrot

Other things that can affect muscles:
Selenium, Vitamin E, or Magnesium deficiency. If the Alcar was helping improve the muscle function, perhaps one of these other deficiencies is the issue? Most Oregon soils are selenium deficient and our hay tested with no appreciable selenium, so I do supplement my horses.


----------



## Wallaby

I think a blood panel is something I'll have the vet run when she's out [testing for elevated enzymes - like would potentially appear with a muscle disorder, as well as vitamin deficiencies]. 

The ration balancers I use do have supplemented selenium. But I also don't know if it's "enough" selenium. I'm sure they ere on the side of caution because selenium has such a fine line between "good" and "toxic"...


On the plus side, the diet I have him on includes PSSM-levels [high] of vitamin E and magnesium, so, if the issue just one of those things, it should be sorted out soon. 


Due to his breeding [being half Arabian], he _is _at 'risk' of PSSM2 and PSSM2 can/does [apparently] respond to a PSSM1 diet with slightly less "perfect" results. 
Thanks to the whole Arab/QH thing, he's got a chance in a whole lottery of muscle issues. :lol:


Anyway, tomorrow the BO is switching his hay from [high-sugar] Eastern Oregon Orchard Grass to [low-sugar] alfalfa.

That'd be the step to take for a number of different issues - if his hooves hurt due to a higher sugar diet [seems unlikely, based on what I'm seeing..but not impossible], or if it's ulcers, or if it's PSSM2, or a selection of other random muscle diseases.

We'll see what happens! He's gonna be happy, he LOVES alfalfa sooo muchhhh.


----------



## Wallaby

On the subject of gait changes, here's one of him cantering around late-December and him cantering this evening.

I think my favorite part might be his neck? He's not so "locked in" with its position...
Whatever might be happening inside his lil body, things are looking better on the outside!
I might try riding tomorrow evening...just at a walk, but still!


----------



## gunslinger

So, I assume the vet has done a general health check?


----------



## Wallaby

gunslinger said:


> So, I assume the vet has done a general health check?


Yep! 
He has a clean bill of health from the vet. There's nothing that *should* be wrong with him from her standpoint. 



In other news, I RODE TONIGHT!

I didn't ride for long and we really didn't do anything, but we walked around, backed up, and did a few forehand/haunch turns.

He feels SO different. So so different. Totally different, like a very expensive and highly trained horse.

There were so many things that I'm still stoked about - for the first time ever, he was responding QUICKLY to my leg cues! He didn't pin his ears even once [100% unheard of for him], and he felt so loose/wiggly. I could tell which one of his legs were moving at any given time - usually it feels like just kind of a mish-mash of leg-flailing from him.
He was right there for me whenever I asked him to do anything and, while we were doing forehand/haunch turns, he even OFFERED extra correct steps which is also unheard of.

After I got off, his facial expression can only be described as "pride." He knew he had been such a good boy and he felt really good about it. That was probably my favorite part - that he was happy with how our ride went too.

There were definitely spasm-y spots on his back after our ride, so I was glad that I didn't ride for longer than 5 minutes! I could feel the muscle going "ping-ping-ping-ping" - so weird. But then I gave him a back massage and he was SO happy. He didn't want me to ever stop massaging him.

:loveshower::loveshower::loveshower:


----------



## Candy123Kisses

What a journey!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Wallaby

Speaking of pride, I think it all went to his head today!! :rofl:

I had a half-day at work [I worked 45 hours this week - crazy!!] so I headed to the barn directly after I got off at 1:30. I got to the barn at about 2 and it was SO busy! The busiest I've ever seen - the BO and three other boarders were riding, two were just visiting their horses, and me. Plus hay was getting delivered.
Usually I'm all alone in the barn in the evening, so it was quite different!

I really like the people at my barn. For the most part, everybody is there for their own quiet-personal-horse time so you don't get your ear talked off, but everybody is also pretty willing to talk and be friendly if you seem like you want to chat. I don't know anybody's names [I'm terrible with names] but I know faces and horses! haha

Anyway, there were a bunch of people in the arena and I wanted to lunge Fabs. The BO allowed us to come in because "Fabio is really quiet on the line."

HA.

Today, I do not know WHAT got into him, but he chose today as the day that he was gonna glue his chin to his chest, explode into a gallop, and buck 3 full circles around me. 
Hilariously, he wasn't pulling on me at all or veering in towards, it was mostly like "bucking" was just one of the gaits he was going through. :rofl: :rofl:

Uh, yeah, so he basically gave a whole herd of middle-aged re-riders mini heart attacks with his silliness!
Luckily all the other horses in the arena were kind of like "oh, an idiot horse" and didn't care too much. Also luckily, everybody knows and loves Fabs and they're all pretty familiar with his dead-head self, so nobody was mad or anything. 
But I still felt slightly bad/embarrassed!


The BO was wryly all "Ha! He sure has more energy now! Are you sure this is what you wanted?" :lol:

In any case, he was moving really really well and settled down nicely. 

This is one thing I can say for sure about this new diet - he calms MUCH more easily now. He's a bit more "free" with his excitement [from my point of view, mostly because I've never seen him happy-excitable before!!], but he settles down into work pretty quickly after the excitement goes away.
It seems, to me, like a much more "normal" type of horse behavior. 

I've never seen him so plain ol' happy! It was nice to see. 

The troublemaker himself, in his new halter!
I didn't think the halter was quite this pink when I ordered it, but he's making it work.
Also, I trimmed his jowl-"beard" on Wednesday and I think he looks much more domesticated. 



:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Unfortunately, today was not as great.

Fabs was grumpy in a way I hadn't seen from him since starting ALCAR. He also seemed really stiff. 
I chalked it up to his antics yesterday because he was really a nut yesterday, then he didn't get any turnout today [the weather was bad for most of the day], I figured he was just feeling it.

Luckily, I got to the barn really early and I was able to spend two hours with him which was really nice!
I let his tail out, and brushed and conditioned it.
I gave him a really thorough grooming which he seemed to like, then we did some walk-lunging exercises for 20-ish minutes before doing any trot/cantering.

I've really been liking this one serpentine lunging exercise. It encourages Fabs to bend, I can get him into all the "scary spots" in the arena, and he has to keep pretty close attention on me because he never really knows when I'm going to have him turn.
Adorably, he's figured out that I get a bit fussed with him when he doesn't go fully wall to wall - when he cuts in. SO, he's started touching each wall with his nose and glancing over at me like "hey! I did it!" :rofl: He's too funny.

Then we did a little free-lunging for our trot/canter portion of exercise - I have decided I like free-lunging him for faster speeds because I think it helps him figure out his balance more. PLUS he has to pay more attention to me instead of just bombing around. :lol:

Afterwards, I put his tail back up and gave him a pretty full massage. He was REALLY into the mini-massage I gave him on Thursday, so I thought maybe he'd enjoy a full one today. I figure that he's probably working out a lot of long-term muscle stiffness, and what better to help with that than a massage?!

After the massage, I put him away and went to say bye to the BO.

THEN, she remembered that Fabs had run out of ALCAR YESTERDAY and she had meant to tell me!! He had missed two doses by the time I saw him today.

On one hand, I'm bummed that he had to feel bad for a bit, but I'm also really happy to have confirmation that ALCAR is actually, objectively, helping him. I'm not just seeing what I want to see, or something! 
There's a noticeable difference in willingness and happiness when he's off ALCAR vs when he's on it.

Obviously I then raced home to get him some ALCAR for the next week! 

What a good pony. <3

And three videos because I moved all the photos off my phone and now I have tonsss of spaceeee for videos!






Pretty stiff! But trying hard. I love how far he reaches under himself at the canter now!






And Mr. I Love Massages Forever


----------



## Wallaby

Fabs is doing better! It took him a day or two to get back into it, but he's back! 

I rode a little bit last night [just for 5 minutes, during our "cool down" time] and Fabs was pretty darn great! Not as life changingly amazing as he was during the first ride, but he was rather stiff yesterday [he had been inside all day due to weather] and I don't think I spent long enough warming him up before getting on - I've found that he needs 20+ minutes of walking to be warmed up enough to trot. Expecting him to be warmed up enough to ride in 20 minutes mighttt have been pushing it.

But, again, he was very willing and he was totally on top of all my cues. 
I am just shocked at how quickly he responds to cues now! I always thought he was just a little dead-sided or something because he'd maybe respond _slowly_ to a light cue if he was in the right mood, more likely to respond to a harder cue..but in a slow fashion, etc. "Fast response" was never a phrase in his vocabulary.

But NOW! Yesterday, towards the end of our ride, I asked him for some haunch turns and some forehand turns and I actually ended up getting "left behind" a few times during the haunch turns because he was so on top of it and offering so many steps. 
I cued him for what used to get me [maybe] one single step, but I got this instead:






:happydance:
I used to usually always have to escalate to a sharp kick in the side to get him "motivated" enough to try one single step of a haunch-turn at all. THIS is crazy.

Also, interestingly, after our ride, I offered him a massage. He immediately began licking and chewing as I worked on his back, but had no response to work on his neck. So I stopped massaging his neck, and just focused on his back.
I thought that was really interesting because he was essentially communicating to me where the tight areas were and letting me know where he needed "help" releasing tension.


In today's news, he's been gradually realizing that he can stretch his head down while trotting. Sometimes he takes it a bit far and basically has his nose in the dirt while trotting, but 99% of the time he's just been stretching his head down to his knees.

I know some people don't like to allow that, but, for him, since half of his tenseness/pain comes from his back [because he goes around giraffe-ing his head in the air all the time!] I've been rewarding those stretches by occasionally letting him stop mid-stretch. I don't let him stop during every stretch, but just often enough that he knows that I like stretching and that it's a reward-able behavior!

I'm SUPER excited about it because he's always vacillated between occasionally having his head level and thinking about engaging his back, and having his head fully up in the air with his back as tight [and unengaged] as it can be.

Today, after maybe a week of "practice" while trotting, he offered some tiny baby stretches while cantering! 
THAT was crazy. He typically, at all gaits, braces his head in one place and does not deviate from that braced "setting" unless something spooks him/etc. I have never seen him willingly alter his head/neck placement during a lunging session unless he's thinking about kicking/bucking...until now.

I love love love it because it makes me think that his topline is getting stronger and that his back/neck is loosening up. 
Heck, I can feel that his neck is loosening up! His neck used to be, by far, the tightest area of his whole body and now it essentially feels like jello. Yesterday, while massaging his back, I saw the vibrations from my touches "echo" over his back. I saw his skin and muscle stretch in a way that they have never done under my fingers!
His back is loosening too, just more slowly [I think that's one reason why he's currently super obsessed with stretching].

I literally feel like he's been trapped in a body of ice that is slowly melting. 
It's NUTS.

He's coming to life!

Here are some pictures of Captain Stretchy:







And, just for comparison's sake, January 12:




:happydance: Go Fabs, go!

He's getting his hooves trimmed tomorrow evening. They got a bit long this time so I'm extra excited to see how he moves afterwards! They aren't crazy long, but things are definitely happening! haha
I'm also nervous/excited to see how he does holding his hooves up and stuff. I'm sure it'll be good.


----------



## tinyliny

i remember in my dressage lessons, ages ago, we did trotting with the horse stretching WAY down, like that. it felt odd to be up there in the saddle, with the horse's head nearly on the ground, trotting in circles. felt like I'd flip over his neck if he stopped.

Fabs looks good. why is his tail in a bag?


----------



## Wallaby

I bet! I haven't asked for a trot undersaddle yet, I'm interested to see if he tries while I'm riding! I think it might freak me out a little!

His tail is in a bag because his turnout is a bit muddy, it's thick/long enough that he gets poop in it [I'm not sure how, since his poop is pretty solid...but there always ends up being poop-dreads in it if I leave it done - always has], and, now that we're around other people, I mayyy be getting kind of vain about his tail. :lol:
I'm gonna let it out for the summer, once the mud dries up and the flies come out. 

It's also less maintenance with it up - my ADHD has a bit of an OCD component [I have an anxious variety of ADHD, and OCD is anxiety based] so, if I see that his tail is messy, I feel seriously compelled to fully deal with it - even if "dealing with it" leads to negative consequences in my life [getting home too late/missing out on family time/not having enough time to wind down before bed and then not getting enough sleep/etc].
So, keeping it up has the added bonus of making sure I focus on important things - like making sure Fabs gets enough walking around and making sure I get enough sleep. 





OH MY GOSH. Guys.
Fabs got his hooves trimmed and MAN. The kiddo has never felt better. He walked into the arena [after his trim] loose as can be [no stiffness, even though he had just been standing/weirdly stretching for the last half hour]. 

He pretty clearly felt a lot better, freer, after his trim! 
He did pretty well during the trim too - only yanked one hind hoof back once [that used to happen numerous times during a trim - I'm guessing that, based on what I now know, stretching his back leg out like that can cause a muscle spasm]. I had given the trimmer a full heads-up that he might need to do that, and why, so she was really accommodating towards him.
She also brought her hoof stand to use for the whole trim [usually she only uses one when she's rolling his fronts], and I think that helped him balance and her not have to "fight" him. Especially for his hinds, the stand made it go 1000% more smoothly for everybody.

After his trim, I was all "ok, let's go do your walking!"
And he had about 1,000 other ideas.

I have NEVER seen him so playful!

We got about 5 minutes of walking in, then he decided that everything was sooo "scary" and he needed to run soooo much, so, after he tried bolting away from me on the lunge line, I decided to free lunge him and let him be nuts. 
I figured that was better than him learning he could bolt on the lunge line! He tried that last week too, then again tonight - NOT my favorite habit, no matter _how_ good he feels.

And, of course, here are like seventy videos of him being nuts:

When he first bolted off:






Unfortunately, I turned the camera off too soon on the next video! At the very end, after I say "whoa," he stops, and then he starts bolting, that bolt ended in the BIGGEST buck! I wish I had caught it on camera! It was something!











After that last video, he was pretty ready to walk around which was good! But I really like seeing him feeling so good! That makes me feel really good that we're on the right track. 


In other news, today my boss told me that the boss-boss told my boss that she's noticed that I'm my bosses' most reliable and consistent employee! That makes me feel pretty good. It's a good feeling to be pretty good at your job, and enjoy it, and THEN get noticed for your dedication!


----------



## Wallaby

Surprisingly, even after all that running yesterday, Fabio was only just a tiny bit stiff. 
It wasn't so much stiffness in his movement as much as it was stiffness in his muscles - his muscles have started feeling really soft/squishy [they used to always felt ROCK hard, everywhere] and today they were just a bit less soft. 

But, otherwise, he was in a super good mood. And moving really well. I noticed, in watching the videos from last night, he appeared to be crossfiring quite a bit in back. Tonight I warmed him up really slowly [last night he went nuts before he had gotten much of a warm-up] and I didn't see any crossfiring. So my guess is that it was probably a warming-up-based "issue.

Yay pony!


----------



## Bondre

Fabs looks so good in those videos! Hard to believe he is the same horse as in the videos you posted in your critique thread. He's looking like an Arab now, instead of the wooden horse of Troy lol. Tons of kudos to you for figuring out his problem. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## tinyliny

this has got me thinking . . . about Xerxes. his muscles always feel rock hard. I thought it was from the hard, IR-type fat that he's been putting on . but now I'm wondering. 

he only eats grazed grass, and alfalfa. that's it.

what did you add to Fabs's diet?


----------



## Sharpie

Fabs movement is So Much Better now! So much more relaxed and flowing (and extending). I don't know if you've decided to do additional testing, but I would definitely continue to treat him as a PSSM horse, as you have been. The change is his movement is remarkable, even on video, and I'm sure it's even more impressive in person.


----------



## Wallaby

Bondre said:


> Fabs looks so good in those videos! Hard to believe he is the same horse as in the videos you posted in your critique thread. He's looking like an Arab now, instead of the wooden horse of Troy lol. Tons of kudos to you for figuring out his problem. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Thanks! And right?! It is so so crazy. I feel like I've known "him" for three years, but I'm only just starting to get to know _him_. 

And man, talk about playing a hunch! What a random thing to just discover! But I'm so so glad it's helping him so much. I worry about him a lot less now - he always seemed a little "off" and it always worried me a bit. Now I feel MUCH better.




tinyliny said:


> this has got me thinking . . . about Xerxes. his muscles always feel rock hard. I thought it was from the hard, IR-type fat that he's been putting on . but now I'm wondering.
> 
> he only eats grazed grass, and alfalfa. that's it.
> 
> what did you add to Fabs's diet?


What breed is Xerxes again? There are a few breeds that are more predisposed. Here is a chart that's sort of helpful [saved off a PSSM group I'm part of] - 



The first thing I added was Acetyl L-Carnitine [ALCAR], 1tbsp twice a day. Thus far, that has made the biggest difference. From what I understand, if Xerxes were to have PSSM, he should respond very positively within 48 hours. If he doesn't have PSSM, ALCAR won't harm him in the least. 

I have since added other things to Fabs diet - increased vitamin E, and increased magnesium are the two big ones, but they're there to enhance/help the ALCAR.

You can find 20-ish days of ALCAR on Amazon for about $15. It's enough to find out if it'll help, without breaking the bank. 
Robot Check

I thought Fabs was IR for the longest time, and that that was the cause of his issues! I was wrong. Since starting this diet, all his fat pads have been melting away and it's a little nuts.

That's not to say that PSSM is the answer to all issues, but I'm beginning to wonder if it's more prevalent than we have any idea of..




Sharpie said:


> Fabs movement is So Much Better now! So much more relaxed and flowing (and extending). I don't know if you've decided to do additional testing, but I would definitely continue to treat him as a PSSM horse, as you have been. The change is his movement is remarkable, even on video, and I'm sure it's even more impressive in person.


RIGHT?!!! He's like a different horse now! It's crazy! I had no idea he could move like that!
Ha, yeah, he is NOT coming off this diet!! No way, no how. :lol: 

Everything about him, practically, has changed - his movement, his engagement with life, his friendliness, it's weird and great! I feel kind of like we're living in a twilight zone or something! haha


__________________________________________


In today's news, I rode! 
And I also think I worked Fabs too hard...we'll see. But he was prettty wobbly when I picked out his hooves after our ride. Happy, but wobbly.

It really was not intentional - he was all kinds of all over the place, totally distracted, so he ended up working a bit harder than necessary. Not way harder, but harder. It was mostly that he kepppt breaking into a trot [crazy that that is now a "problem" - getting him out of a walk/whoa used to be the problem!] and so, instead of walking back and forth across the arena, he got pulled into a circle until walking seemed like a better idea. Then he'd walk, start trotting again, circle, etc. He *gets* the idea, but trotting is sooooo much fun. :lol:

He got pretttty sweaty. I had planned on riding him around during our cooling out period, so I did that - just a walk mostly. He really wanted to try trotting, so I asked for a very short little trot. 
And MAN, that trot was nice. He DID try stretching and that WAS weird! But I liked that he didn't get tense!
His trot is so much smoother and free-flowing now! It's so so weird. I wish you guys could come ride him too. He's SO different to ride now. He even feels taller, it's so so strange.

But I like it. I think I'll keep him. :lol:


----------



## tinyliny

Xerxes is Andalusian


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## Wallaby

tinyliny said:


> Xerxes is Andalusian


It looks likes PSSM is found in Andalusian's too [according to Google]. 
Here's a link to some of the symptoms:
Nutrena: Common Conditions - Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy

If he matches some/all of them, I'd definitely try ALCAR for a few days and see if it helps! You should see a pretty vast improvement pretty quickly if it's gonna help. 



____________________________________


In today's news, Fabs was not sore today!
He was actually raring to go, a lottt.

We did about 15 minutes of walking, then headed into our trotting "segment" [haha], and he did one of his, now patented, spook-gallop-"oh I was attached to the lunge line??"-things.

It's very hard to tell if these antics are because he feels good, or because he's testing me. I don't want to "punish" him if it's just that he's feeling great...but I don't want to be all "oh, ok, whatever" if he's testing me.

In any case, I got after him a bit for that and really pushed him to go faster than he wanted to [on the lunge line], then, when I had really gotten his attention, I let him go and he got to run the sillies out.

I then had him walk around a bit while off the line, then had him trot a smidge, then walk, a bit on the line.

I don't want him to learn that he can get out of trotting on the lunge line if he behaves like a maniac.

Granted, things were happening that were a weird - the water troughs were being cleaned and filled outside, right on the outside wall of the arena, and he really was not appreciative of that.
Butttt I really don't like it when he just bolts off mid-lunging session. He goes along like everything is great, pretty chill, and he appears to be paying great attention, then BAM! He's flying sideways or forwards or has turned completely around and is galloping the opposite direction...

It is cute though.  I'm so glad he's feeling that much better!! Two session of "crazy" in one week! That's unprecedented.

However, I'm hopeful that, as feeling good becomes normal, he'll settle in to a behavior routine that's more manageable...


In any case, more Fabio running around like a maniac:






Also, he barely even looks like himself, physically, anymore! I recognize that horse, but he's so much thinner [in a good way] and his booty muscles are filling in...so weird.


----------



## Wallaby

Also, two things:

1. I got Fabs a new blanket! This one:
StormShield® V-Free® Tekno-Fleece® Turnout Blanket in Fitted V-Free at Schneider Saddlery

I've read, and noticed with Fabs, that being kept extra warm helps keeps a PSSM horse's muscles from "freezing" up. And I've definitely noticed that with Fabs - the muscles that are covered by his blanket seem to stay much more pliable/soft than his exposed neck muscles do. 
His neck muscles "catch up" once he's warmed up via exercise, but the difference is clear.

He's been happily wearing his 200g midweight blanket all this time [no sweating, even when it's 50*F out! - apparently that is typical for PSSM horses], but today it was close to 60*F when I got to the barn and he was mildly damp-sweaty under his blanket.
I left his blanket off after I worked him [and asked the BO to put it back on when she brought him in for the night], but I don't think it's quite warm enough to do that consistently yet.

A sheet with a layer of fleece in the middle seems like it'll fit the bill - not as cool as his rainsheet, but a bit cooler than his midweight blanket. Cool enough that he'll stay comfortable in variably warm spring weather.

We're figuring out all kinds of management strategies over here! haha

Interestingly, Fabs used to hate wearing his blanket and would always try taking it off - especially when he was "too hot."
Since changing his diet and getting the PSSM under control, he has been happy to wear a blanket. No more spooking as I throw it over his back, no more biting at it, no more "I am sooo hot! You don't understand, I'm DYING!"-ing...
Maybe, somehow, the extra weight of it caused pain?

Anyway, it's all very fascinating!


2. He's getting his teeth done, sheath cleaned, and his vaccines on Friday!
Last year all that caused him to tie up, I'm hoping that we can avoid that this year. 

I'm going to see if we can avoid doing the tetanus shot [he got that one last year and, apparently, it's one of the more reaction-causing ones so maybe we can eliminate it for this year..]. I'm also going to ask the vet to give him banamine beforehand since, apparently, that can minimize the negative reaction. 
I'm also going to see if she'll give each vaccine individually [no 3-way/etc], and use various injection sites. Apparently that should also minimize the reaction.

I'm sure the vaccines were the problem last year. He's been sedated numerous times before without any kind of adverse reaction, and I don't see why sheath cleaning would have caused him to tie up.


Fingers crossed! I'm a little nervous about it, but I already checked with the BO and she's totally on board with keeping an eagle eye on him for/with me. His appointment is at 11am so that gives us plenty of time to notice an issue before midnight, or something.

I'm hoping that, because he's doing so well right now, he's at like 75% and the vaccines will knock him down to 25%, vs being at 30% [old "normal"] and being knocked down to -whatever% by the vaccines and tying up. 
I'm HOPING that's how it might play out. We'll see!


----------



## Sharpie

If you only choose to do one vaccine on a horse, please do tetanus. They might not ever be exposed to eastern, western, rabies, west nile, flu or the others, but almost without a doubt, will be exposed to tetanus. Now, just like people, in most cases, on most horses, a tetanus is good for more than one year, but sometimes it's not. And you're not going to know if for your horse, it is not, until it's too late and it's death or thousands of dollars of vet bills.

Banamine before vaccines is like giving kids tylenol or ibuprofen before their shots. It does make them feel better. But the reason it makes them feel better is that it reduces the amount their immune system reacts. Which means that the vaccines are both less effective and that the immunity from them will not last as long. So you're not getting the full effect of bothering to vaccinate in the first place. They've linked some of the whooping cough outbreaks to the trend about 10 years ago of pre-medicating kids and babies with NSAIDs. The vaccines they got then that were supposed to last to adulthood don't actually if they were pre-medicated and their immune system not allowed to react and learn fully from the vaccines. 

Rather than not vaccinate for tetanus or give Banamine, if I had a client with your horse and concerns, I would recommend spacing them out (not in different places on the horse, but in time). Do a tetanus and rabies today. Then in 3-4 weeks do E/W and flu/rhino (or whatever your vet recommends based on the combos she has), then later do WN if it's recommended in your area. That way, if he does react and feel cruddy, you also actually have a better idea which one is actually making him feel systemically ill.


----------



## Tazzie

If you space them out, I'd actually talk to your vet and even do the rabies vaccine on a different day altogether. My best friend's mare just had a BAD reaction yesterday to her Friday vaccines. Temp of 104.7, breathing hard, and seriously uncomfortable. They got her out of it, but this mare has NEVER reacted to vaccines before. Someone else commented on her status that the rabies vaccine has a warning to not give it with other vaccines, and to actually space it out by a few weeks. Just a bit of food for thought there... I never would have thought of that since my girl has never reacted, but now I'm super paranoid.

And I'm fascinated reading this as I just became a lurker here! I'm glad he's doing so much better, and I'll continue reading (most likely lurking) throughout your journey!


----------



## Wallaby

Sharpie said:


> If you only choose to do one vaccine on a horse, please do tetanus. They might not ever be exposed to eastern, western, rabies, west nile, flu or the others, but almost without a doubt, will be exposed to tetanus. Now, just like people, in most cases, on most horses, a tetanus is good for more than one year, but sometimes it's not. And you're not going to know if for your horse, it is not, until it's too late and it's death or thousands of dollars of vet bills.
> 
> Banamine before vaccines is like giving kids tylenol or ibuprofen before their shots. It does make them feel better. But the reason it makes them feel better is that it reduces the amount their immune system reacts. Which means that the vaccines are both less effective and that the immunity from them will not last as long. So you're not getting the full effect of bothering to vaccinate in the first place. They've linked some of the whooping cough outbreaks to the trend about 10 years ago of pre-medicating kids and babies with NSAIDs. The vaccines they got then that were supposed to last to adulthood don't actually if they were pre-medicated and their immune system not allowed to react and learn fully from the vaccines.
> 
> Rather than not vaccinate for tetanus or give Banamine, if I had a client with your horse and concerns, I would recommend spacing them out (not in different places on the horse, but in time). Do a tetanus and rabies today. Then in 3-4 weeks do E/W and flu/rhino (or whatever your vet recommends based on the combos she has), then later do WN if it's recommended in your area. That way, if he does react and feel cruddy, you also actually have a better idea which one is actually making him feel systemically ill.





Tazzie said:


> If you space them out, I'd actually talk to your vet and even do the rabies vaccine on a different day altogether. My best friend's mare just had a BAD reaction yesterday to her Friday vaccines. Temp of 104.7, breathing hard, and seriously uncomfortable. They got her out of it, but this mare has NEVER reacted to vaccines before. Someone else commented on her status that the rabies vaccine has a warning to not give it with other vaccines, and to actually space it out by a few weeks. Just a bit of food for thought there... I never would have thought of that since my girl has never reacted, but now I'm super paranoid.
> 
> And I'm fascinated reading this as I just became a lurker here! I'm glad he's doing so much better, and I'll continue reading (most likely lurking) throughout your journey!



Hmm!! Well, you guys have succeeded in making me _more_ anxious than I already am about Friday! :lol: :lol:

I'll definitely talk to the vet and see what she says. 
I'd love to space the vaccines out, that would be my most preferred method...but my vet charges a $60 farm call fee. She's really reasonably priced otherwise [any given visit rarely tops $200], but her farm call fee is crazy.

But maybe we could figure something out. If she thinks doing them individually is the safest option, she won't make it financially impossible to do that.
She knows he's had a bad reaction for two years in a row, so eliminating that reaction will likely be something she's invested in [especially now that we know WHY he's reacting badly - PSSM].



_________________

Fabs was pretty silly again today! Less so than the last few days, but I didn't work him for very long at all.
I think he might be saying that he's ready to get back to work.

I'm gonna try riding him tomorrow and at least one other day this week - that's my goal. 
I think he's getting bored with all this groundwork!

Personally, I think he should give his body more time to regroup, but making sure his mind stays busy is probably also a good goal. He's probably more likely to overdo it by running around like a loon than he is walk/trotting undersaddle..

We can hope!

"me? cover myself in mud? NO!!"


----------



## Tazzie

Making you more anxious wasn't my goal, trust me! It just so happened my best friend's mare reacted, and I felt a need to share on what I learned to someone who has a horse that has had reactions  It's the first time the mare ever reacted, and she's had the mare for well over 5 years. Mare is a show horse, so not like anything is skipped ever. But freaky. Wise to talk to your vet, and maybe make a mention that you know of at least one perfectly normal horse that had a bad reaction to it. With the new USEF rules a lot of us have to go through this twice a year now if we want to keep competing. Not fun.

And yay for starting back up with work! I'm sure he'll enjoy that


----------



## Rain Shadow

Would you mind posting exactly what Fabio's is eating?

I'm trying to give Harley the PSSM diet since he has so many symptoms that match. 

I'm going to be using Timothy pellets, the Alcar, with his joint med and a low sugar round bale, with daily ponying off of Kenzie. But I'd like to see what you are doing.


----------



## Wallaby

Tazzie said:


> Making you more anxious wasn't my goal, trust me! It just so happened my best friend's mare reacted, and I felt a need to share on what I learned to someone who has a horse that has had reactions  It's the first time the mare ever reacted, and she's had the mare for well over 5 years. Mare is a show horse, so not like anything is skipped ever. But freaky. Wise to talk to your vet, and maybe make a mention that you know of at least one perfectly normal horse that had a bad reaction to it. With the new USEF rules a lot of us have to go through this twice a year now if we want to keep competing. Not fun.
> 
> And yay for starting back up with work! I'm sure he'll enjoy that


Haha, no worries!  I appreciate the warning! How's your friend's mare now? I hope she's back to feeling 100%!



Rain Shadow said:


> Would you mind posting exactly what Fabio's is eating?


No problem!

He's getting:



15-ish pounds of alfalfa [in a slow feed net with 1" holes]


1lb alfalfa pellets [twice a day]


1lb Purina Enrich [not ideal, the NSC is a bit high so I'm hoping to switch to Triple Crown Lite after this bag is done. For now, Enrich is doing the trick]


1tbsp MagRestore [magnesium oxide]


1 "packet" of UltaCruz Natural Vitamin E [vitamin E is superrr important for PSSM horses because it facilitates muscle healing - but it has to be natural vitamin E. Ultra Cruz is the best deal out there, even though it's spendy, the price per IU is unbeatable] 1 packet is just 4000IU which is on the low side of "recommended." Since it is sooo expensive, I'm trying to lowball it and increase if necessary.


1tbsp MSM


1tbsp Slippery Elm Bark [not sure if he really needs this anymore, but PSSM horses are prone to tummy trouble and Fabs is no exception. The SEB helps to sooth that stuff.  ]


Plus whatever grazing he gets during the day.




Initially I was skeptical about going 100% alfalfa [alfalfa is the lowest NSC hay that's easily available here] with him and the BO was also super skeptical, BUT I think it's actually paying off! His fat pads are receding, his neck looks more like a neck, he's actually losing weight in a good way!


And it actually hasn't made him any "hotter" than I think he'd be right now anyway.
I've been impressed.


Supposedly, for PSSM2 horses [like I assume Fabs is], protein is the super important component. For PSSM1 horses, sugar is the main enemy [from what I understand. Sugar is a big negative for PSSM2 horses as well, but they tend to be less sensitive when compared to PSSM1 horses.
Anyway, for Fabs, my goal is to get the sugar as low as possible and punch the protein up.


A lot of PSSM2 owners just incorporate *some* alfalfa into their horse's normal diet, but Fabs kept being stiff while we tried that. He's been much freer-moving since going all alfalfa.


Is that helpful? 






_________________________________


Our ride went really great!!!


He was seventy kinds of rowdy when I brought him into the barn, it's windy, and the arena doors were open [they've been closed since a few days after we moved in] so I was pretttttty sure riding was a super dumb thing to try.


But I persevered and guess what?! 



Fabs got calmer and calmer as I brought his tack out. He went from being all over the place to totally "task at hand"-oriented.
Then we had a really great ride! No nutty spooks, calm behavior, it was great!


After our ride, I untacked him and let him out in the arena to check out the open doors/etc and guess what?


Captain Rowdy was BACK. He was spooking and bolting all over the place, gave me a super hard time when I tried to catch him [apparently he wants to live in the arena now], it was like night and day!


What a weirdo. :icon_rolleyes::icon_rolleyes:


But I'm very glad he's choosing to be calm undersaddle! I appreciate that greatly.

My camera conveniently ran out of battery as I turned it on to take a video, so I used my phone for this video. And my phone decided to sit at a weird angle. Yay. haha But at least you can get the gist of the ride!


----------



## Wallaby

I rode again tonight and, like last night, it went super well!!

I didn't ask Fabs for a whole lot because the arena had just gotten tilled[?? I think that's what it's called?] and it was superrrr deep. Very cushiony, but way way deep. 
Fabs clearly had a tough time trotting on it. He tried, but he had to put in a lot of effort!


It's really interesting how, now that he feels better, Fabs WANTS to be ridden. he doesn't want to just go out and bomb around the arena, he wants me to ride. He was so excited when I showed up [whinnied at me!], but calmed down so fast once he realized that we were gonna ride.
After our ride, he got a bit nervous again but he settled down pretty quickly. I think he might have been worried that I was gonna turn him out in the arena and leave him there for a few minutes - he did NOT like that last night!

Anyway, we had a great ride. I'm noticing that now, unlike before, when he starts getting looky, I can really put my leg on him and push him forward like "hey! Listen up! It's not time to be silly!"
Before, he'd get sooo mad when I'd try that and it was rough because I felt like I had to choose between allowing him to space off and spook, or making him frustrated/uncomfortable.

He did really well. He was bending GREAT this evening. I'm so proud. 

I think I might just freelunge him tomorrow to give him a break - he'd probably prefer to be ridden, but I think 2 days in a row is probably enough for now. One easy, no riding, day, then we can ride on Thursday and probably skip Friday [because of his vet appointment]. I'll walk him for a bit before the appointment on Friday, but I don't want to stress his muscles too much.

Anyway, I am so proud of him! He's really doing well and being ridden was definitely what he was saying he needed. <3


----------



## Tazzie

Wallaby said:


> Haha, no worries!  I appreciate the warning! How's your friend's mare now? I hope she's back to feeling 100%!


She's doing much better! They will just be watching her feet very carefully to make sure no damage was caused from it!

I'm glad Fabs is enjoying working now! I'll have to watch the videos when I'm not at work :lol:


----------



## Rain Shadow

Wallaby said:


> No problem!
> 
> He's getting:
> 
> 
> 
> 15-ish pounds of alfalfa [in a slow feed net with 1" holes]
> 
> 
> 1lb alfalfa pellets [twice a day]
> 
> 
> 1lb Purina Enrich [not ideal, the NSC is a bit high so I'm hoping to switch to Triple Crown Lite after this bag is done. For now, Enrich is doing the trick]
> 
> 
> 1tbsp MagRestore [magnesium oxide]
> 
> 
> 1 "packet" of UltaCruz Natural Vitamin E [vitamin E is superrr important for PSSM horses because it facilitates muscle healing - but it has to be natural vitamin E. Ultra Cruz is the best deal out there, even though it's spendy, the price per IU is unbeatable] 1 packet is just 4000IU which is on the low side of "recommended." Since it is sooo expensive, I'm trying to lowball it and increase if necessary.
> 
> 
> 1tbsp MSM
> 
> 
> 1tbsp Slippery Elm Bark [not sure if he really needs this anymore, but PSSM horses are prone to tummy trouble and Fabs is no exception. The SEB helps to sooth that stuff.  ]
> 
> 
> Plus whatever grazing he gets during the day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Initially I was skeptical about going 100% alfalfa [alfalfa is the lowest NSC hay that's easily available here] with him and the BO was also super skeptical, BUT I think it's actually paying off! His fat pads are receding, his neck looks more like a neck, he's actually losing weight in a good way!
> 
> 
> And it actually hasn't made him any "hotter" than I think he'd be right now anyway.
> I've been impressed.
> 
> 
> Supposedly, for PSSM2 horses [like I assume Fabs is], protein is the super important component. For PSSM1 horses, sugar is the main enemy [from what I understand. Sugar is a big negative for PSSM2 horses as well, but they tend to be less sensitive when compared to PSSM1 horses.
> Anyway, for Fabs, my goal is to get the sugar as low as possible and punch the protein up.
> 
> 
> A lot of PSSM2 owners just incorporate *some* alfalfa into their horse's normal diet, but Fabs kept being stiff while we tried that. He's been much freer-moving since going all alfalfa.
> 
> 
> Is that helpful?



That's super helpful thanks! 

On the alfalfa, Harley breaks out in hives on alfalfa hay. I've never tried the hay pellets, but I wary because of that. 

The Alcar came in today so we are starting him on it tomorrow. I hope the Timothy pellets are okay. 

Diet right now:

24/7 access to a round bale of Tifton 44.

1lb of Timothy hay pellets. *Morning food for his supplements*

1lb Nutrena Empower Balance ration balancer. 

2 Tablespoon of Salt. He sweats a ton but doesn't drink well and is prone to impaction colic because of it. 

1 Tablespoon of Slippery Elm bark. Like Fabio he's very prone to ulcers. We've owned him for 7 years, and he's scoped for them 3 times, and this is a trail horse that's always had constant access to hay and is turned out in a herd of 3 or 4 other horses on 4 acres, only stalled for bad weather and for feeding. 

1000 IUs of Vitamin E, the natural kind. I've been feeding this for a bit, but I need to up apparently! 

1 cup of Aloe Vera Juice again for his belly. 

1 scoop of Dumor Joint, he's got mild fetlock arthritis. 


Adding the Alcar to his food tomorrow. Are you feeding one or two tablespoons? I've seen both recommended. 


I plan on dragging his butt along on an easy trail ride tomorrow, ponying him off of Kenzie. He is the laziest horse I've ever met, he basically stands in front of his round bale, sleeps there, and only leaves to walk to his stall for his grain or to water. The rest of the horses wander around, they run and play, he just stands there. 

There is so much to learn! I'm hoping the light work will help. Its going to be 28 degrees in the morning, so he's not going to be a happy boy getting dragged along, but I have work until after dark so its the best I can do. 

My vet is a bit skeptical about all of this. Harley has never tied up, but he agrees something is wrong. We just can't seem to pinpoint it. But says it can't hurt to try the diet change. 

Not to hijack the thread but these are his issues. 



Our symptoms are:

Grumpiness. He is constantly ****y, lots of dirty looks. He just seems grumpy. 

Lazy. He is nearly impossible to get to move. Dead to leg, tail swishing, ear pinning if you ask him to trot out or even move faster. My friend is a trainer and she struggles with him. He also doesn't move in the pasture. 

Unexplained gimpyness. Not fully lame, but a few times a month he's just off. Usually on his right front, but it often change legs. The vet can't explain it. X-rays, injections, hoof test, everything comes back good. Yesterday was a gimpy day. He was fine all morning, about 2 PM grandpa went out and said he was off. This morning at feeding he was fine. 

Tripping. This horse is a klutz. 

Stomping at 'flies' even though I don't see anything. 

The skin ripples like a fly has landed on him, but again I don't see anything. 

Tail swishing. He's always swishing his tail. 

He HATES his back legs handled. Yanking his backs away, ears pinned and nipping, tail swishing, he gets worse the longer they are held up. No amount of training has fixed this. Yet he'll hold his fronts up all day. 

Very prone to ulcers. 

Also not sure if this is common in PSSM, thrush. He's awful about trush no matter what is done. I get rid of it and a few rainy days, even though we don't have mud, and its back. I should own stock in Thrush Buster.

So quite a few things match. I'm so happy you brought up PSSM. The vet has always dismissed it because he doesn't tie up. But seeing as Fabio doesn't seem prone to tying up is... I don't want to say encouraging, but you know what I mean.


----------



## Wallaby

Tazzie, I'm glad!! 


Rain Shadow, unfortunately I can't find the page that lists all the necessities in a PSSM horse's diet, so I'll do my best off memory/knowledge.  I'll comment in blue on you reply! 

Here's one like the one I found: Resources - Managing Horses Prone to Muscle Problems - Uckele Health & Nutrition
Since you're going ALCAR, ignore all the notes about oil feeding.



Rain Shadow said:


> That's super helpful thanks!
> 
> On the alfalfa, Harley breaks out in hives on alfalfa hay. I've never tried the hay pellets, but I wary because of that.
> 
> The Alcar came in today so we are starting him on it tomorrow. I hope the Timothy pellets are okay.
> 
> Diet right now:
> 
> 24/7 access to a round bale of Tifton 44.
> 
> 1lb of Timothy hay pellets. *Morning food for his supplements*
> 
> 1lb Nutrena Empower Balance ration balancer. *This is one of the good ones! 14% NSC.  The goal is to get 14% NSC or lower, so Enrich [at 12% NSC] or Triple Crown 30/Lite [11% and 9% NSC respectively] might be better options over the long term, if they're available. If not, Empower is just fine.*
> 
> 2 Tablespoon of Salt. He sweats a ton but doesn't drink well and is prone to impaction colic because of it. *Salt is a super good addition! PSSM horses typically sweat a lot and are prone to colic, so extra -loose- salt is recommended. Fabs, unfortunately, refuses his food if I add salt. *
> 
> 1 Tablespoon of Slippery Elm bark. Like Fabio he's very prone to ulcers. We've owned him for 7 years, and he's scoped for them 3 times, and this is a trail horse that's always had constant access to hay and is turned out in a herd of 3 or 4 other horses on 4 acres, only stalled for bad weather and for feeding. *PSSM horses are prone to tummy trouble - constant stress from pain, muscle spasms in the digestive tract, all the things. *
> 
> 1000 IUs of Vitamin E, the natural kind. I've been feeding this for a bit, but I need to up apparently! *Yes! I'd up it to at least 4000IU, but 1000 is a good start!*
> 
> 1 cup of Aloe Vera Juice again for his belly.
> 
> 1 scoop of Dumor Joint, he's got mild fetlock arthritis. *In looking this up, I noticed that alfalfa is a main ingredient, as is corn, molasses, and "distillers grains" [wheat/corn/etc]. The alfalfa is not great if he reacts badly to alfalfa, and the other stuff is superrrr high in NSC and could be exacerbating things. Basically corn, wheat, and molasses are all things you want to avoid - if at all possible.
> I, personally, would stop feeding this and choose something like MSM for joint pain. There isn't a whole lot of proof that glucosamine actually helps horses [ie, can impact the joints before getting turned into a waste product by the digestive system] and I've recently been reading about how hyaluronic acid can tend to pep horses up and make them appear to be feeling better...without doing anything to actually help "heal" the horse.
> MSM alone, on the other hand, is much cheaper per day and has been proven to help sooth arthritis pain in horses. You can always double the recommended dose for an even stronger effect.
> *
> *Anyway, it's your money, but I think this particular supplement might be hurting you guys more than it's helping.*
> 
> Adding the Alcar to his food tomorrow. Are you feeding one or two tablespoons? I've seen both recommended. *I'm doing two - one in the morning, one in the evening. I went down to 4 teaspoons/day [2tsp X 2] for a bit and it was ok..but Fabs definitely does better on two tablespoons.
> The recommended dose is 1 gram per 100lbs of body weight, per day, so 10 grams for a 1000lb horse = 1tbsp/day.
> 
> But it won't hurt him and some people have experienced a "loading dose" type situation, so starting with 2 tbsp/day and then lowering the dose as needed is a safe bet.
> 
> And it seems like Fabio's pain stays more consistently gone if ALCAR is fed twice a day, other people have seen similar things.
> *
> I plan on dragging his butt along on an easy trail ride tomorrow, ponying him off of Kenzie. He is the laziest horse I've ever met, he basically stands in front of his round bale, sleeps there, and only leaves to walk to his stall for his grain or to water. The rest of the horses wander around, they run and play, he just stands there.
> 
> There is so much to learn! I'm hoping the light work will help. Its going to be 28 degrees in the morning, so he's not going to be a happy boy getting dragged along, but I have work until after dark so its the best I can do.
> 
> My vet is a bit skeptical about all of this. Harley has never tied up, but he agrees something is wrong. We just can't seem to pinpoint it. But says it can't hurt to try the diet change.
> 
> Not to hijack the thread but these are his issues.
> 
> 
> 
> Our symptoms are:
> 
> Grumpiness. He is constantly ****y, lots of dirty looks. He just seems grumpy.
> 
> Lazy. He is nearly impossible to get to move. Dead to leg, tail swishing, ear pinning if you ask him to trot out or even move faster. My friend is a trainer and she struggles with him. He also doesn't move in the pasture.
> 
> Unexplained gimpyness. Not fully lame, but a few times a month he's just off. Usually on his right front, but it often change legs. The vet can't explain it. X-rays, injections, hoof test, everything comes back good. Yesterday was a gimpy day. He was fine all morning, about 2 PM grandpa went out and said he was off. This morning at feeding he was fine.
> 
> Tripping. This horse is a klutz.
> 
> Stomping at 'flies' even though I don't see anything.
> 
> The skin ripples like a fly has landed on him, but again I don't see anything.
> 
> Tail swishing. He's always swishing his tail.
> 
> He HATES his back legs handled. Yanking his backs away, ears pinned and nipping, tail swishing, he gets worse the longer they are held up. No amount of training has fixed this. Yet he'll hold his fronts up all day.
> 
> Very prone to ulcers.
> 
> Also not sure if this is common in PSSM, thrush. He's awful about trush no matter what is done. I get rid of it and a few rainy days, even though we don't have mud, and its back. I should own stock in Thrush Buster. *Fabs is EXACTLY like this too! I haven't seen that thrush is a "symptom" but I feel like it should be! haha Maybe it's the lack of movement? Because PSSM horses reallllly don't self-exercise at all....and hoof health relies a lot on movement...*
> 
> So quite a few things match. I'm so happy you brought up PSSM. The vet has always dismissed it because he doesn't tie up. But seeing as Fabio doesn't seem prone to tying up is... I don't want to say encouraging, but you know what I mean.* I totally get it. *


Sounds like he meets a lot of the "criteria"/symptoms of PSSM! I hope ALCAR helps. That would be so exciting! And sad, but exciting because life could get better/more hopeful. 
It's been suchhh a relief to have Fabs feel so much better! I never realized how stressful it was for me to feel like something is wrong, but have absolutely nothing to go off of in terms of finding answers! It's still stressful because each day is new and who knows if Fabs is gonna be feeling ok that day, but having a "why" is such a relief.



__________________________________




Well, on the Fabs front, today was not a good day.  Poor kid was sooo sore. I'm not totally sure why.
But the arena had just been tilled last night and the footing was really deep, maybe that pushed him a bit much.

Poor guy!

He was moving pretty well, but just didn't seem comfortable and his muscles were pretty tight.

We ended up just walking around, doing some bending, and then I gave him a 20 minute massage. He didn't even seem to enjoy his massage! :sad: His left side [usually his looser side] was really tight, tighter than the right side. It made me wonder if maybe he had fallen somehow.....

But he seemed happier after we spent time together, so that was a plus. 

We'll see how he is tomorrow!

I think, if he's not closer to 100% tomorrow, I'm gonna call off doing any vaccinations on Friday and just schedule them for a different time - still gonna get his teeth/sheath cleaned on Friday, but maybe no vaccines if he still seems uncomfortable.

Poor baby. <3


But, as always, he did his best to be cute and photogenic:


----------



## Wallaby

Rain Shadow, any news on your boy? How's he doing?



________________________________

Last night Fabs was doing much better.  I chose to ground-drive him around for about 15 minutes, then quit.

Since discovering the PSSM component, I've noticed that Fabs is only spooky when he's bored. If I make things extra challenging [tighter figures, turns, etc] the second he starts thinking "too much" [stiffening his body, ears up, head up, etc], he comes right back to me and doesn't spook. 
If I don't challenge him more or if I just ask for more speed, he is GOING to spook.

I also noticed this morning that, while lunging, he won't spook if my eyes are locked on his hindend. I don't even have to make things more challenging for him if I watch his hindend. If I'm watching his head, he'll find a way to spook at stuff.


People always tell me that he's "such a thinker" and that's typically one of the words horse people immediately use to describe him. I know this, but never really thought about it.
I'm beginning to realize what it means though - if his mind isn't occupied, he starts thinking about things..things that aren't our activity. If he doesn't understand a component of what he's thinking about, if something doesn't line up in his mind, that's when he starts getting worried and that's when he's inclined to get nutty/spooky.

SO, if I am riding along and not addressing this thinking about things that aren't our activity, I'm basically giving him room to spook.
If I address the distraction and say "no, you need to focus on what WE are doing" by giving him more to do, he doesn't try anything funny.


VERY interesting.


Yesterday we grounddrove [I'm also finding that he does best with a combination of activities - riding, lunging, and driving all need to be in weekly rotation with him, I think] and he did pretty well! I focused on asking him to really bend his body and step under himself around turns, and he actually did a really great job! 
He had a harder time going to the left, but that's traditionally his hard side. He did try, however, and we got some pretty acceptable steps in.


Today he was in GREAT form. 

I wish I had taken a video, but I didn't think of it.

I lunged him and he was a bit stiff at the walk, but we did about 10-15 minutes of figure-eights on the lunge line and that seemed to help [figure-eights and serpentines are HUGE for this horse!].
Then I asked him to trot and, both directions, he immediately dropped his head and went straight into trotting around like that. He was holding his head a bit low [my training has worked a little too well, potentially, and he thinks head-to-the-floor is the "right answer"..I'm gonna start rewarding only head-mid-level-stretch now! haha] but he held it for an entire revolution around me! That was crazy.

We did a few of those, stopping when his head was mid-level, then switched directions and did the same thing.

Thennn I asked for a canter, which I haven't asked for in probably a week, and his canter! 

The canter is mostly what I wish I had a video of. It was so balanced, in a way I have never seen from him, and he was using his back, really chugging along.

He did try the bolting trick [haha] but I saw it coming and caught him in the face with the line and a "AH-AH!" to which he replied with a buck...but he stopped bolting. He tried it again the next time we got to that spot, but self-corrected almost immediately.

It was really awesome to see him moving so well! He looked truly comfortable in his own body, and he was so balanced! It was crazy and great.

Then the vet came and he got his teeth done/sheath cleaned.

His teeth were pretty good so she didn't have to do a lot [he has one weird, misaligned, tooth that "lives" under his tongue so it's important that he gets them done every year], but his sheath cleaning discovered that he did have a pretty big bean!

It'll be interesting to see if he feels better without that bean! 

He didn't get any shots today because the vet didn't have any individual shots on hand. She's gonna order the ones we need and give them to him on varying days/weeks when she's in the area, and she's waiving the trip fee. 


I'm about to go check on him. It's been a little over two hours. I'm sure he's doing fine since the BO hasn't called, but you know! Gotta get my peace of mind. 



Sleepy pony [he was leaning his butt on the wall, it was pretty cute]


----------



## Wallaby

He's doing just fine.  
He's pretttty grumpy, but he felt better after I took him on a walk and put his blanket back on. 

His new blanket arrived today and I like it! The drop length is a little short, but not horribly so. Length-wise, it's a little big...not sure what kind of horse it was engineered for! haha 
But I like the warmth factor. It's just warm enough for this time of year, without being tooo warm or bulky.

Fabs seems to like it quite a bit too.


----------



## Rain Shadow

Thansk for checking in Wallaby. I've been busy and haven't been stalking the forum as much! Ahh life. 

Harley is doing decent. We started the Alcar on Thursday and I swear I've already started seeing a difference. He seems less grumpy. 

Now that I'm researching PSSM I'm amazed at how much I've never noticed, or just dismissed. I lunged him 15 minutes at a walk on Thursday and when I brought him in, he was doing the fly twitching, but there were no bugs on him. Today I gave him a good rub down and then hopped on bareback. I noticed at the start of my ride how his muscles felt and he was happy and willing to move out. About ten minutes in is when he gets stiff and gimpy, and today when it started I noticed I could feel that his muscles around his shoulders and butt felt harder, and he became really ****y about leg. When I got off, there was a ton of twiching and tail swishing, and he looked so grumpy. 

Thank you soooooo much for turning me onto this. 

For Fabio getting bored have you tried doing ground poles with him? Or setting up cones or something and making up your own little dressage show? I HATE arena work. I'm a trail rider and I fall asleep doing arena work, so I have to find ways to entertain myself. 

A favorite thing I do is set up my Iphone with music on shuffle and I work on one specific thing for the duration of the song. Circles for song one. Song Two we might work on backing up. Song Three transitions. This also helps keep me from nagging them to much, a bad habit of mine, because we stop and do something else before they or I can get to bored. 

How are the goats?


----------



## Wallaby

Rain Shadow said:


> Thansk for checking in Wallaby. I've been busy and haven't been stalking the forum as much! Ahh life.
> 
> Harley is doing decent. We started the Alcar on Thursday and I swear I've already started seeing a difference. He seems less grumpy. Yay!!!
> 
> Now that I'm researching PSSM I'm amazed at how much I've never noticed, or just dismissed. Right?! I feel exactly the same way about Fabio. I look back on videos and I think "I thought he was going WELL?!!?" or his various weird behaviors, now I'm just kind of like "ohhhh." :lol:
> 
> I lunged him 15 minutes at a walk on Thursday and when I brought him in, he was doing the fly twitching, but there were no bugs on him. Today I gave him a good rub down and then hopped on bareback. I noticed at the start of my ride how his muscles felt and he was happy and willing to move out. About ten minutes in is when he gets stiff and gimpy, and today when it started I noticed I could feel that his muscles around his shoulders and butt felt harder, and he became really ****y about leg. When I got off, there was a ton of twiching and tail swishing, and he looked so grumpy. Ah! That sounds so so classic PSSM1. 10-15 minutes into "work" is typically when signs of tying up will begin to appear [muscles getting harder, that sort of thing]. If that's happening so quickly, I might step it down to 5 minute hand walks [or whatever he can tolerate without sirens going off, haha] and stick with that until he's leveled out a bit more and can handle a higher intensity. To me, the fact that he's getting symptomatic as you work with him makes me think that the intensity [however low it is] is too high - the goal is to avoid causing symptoms because every time symptoms appear, you take a few steps back in the recovery process. The lost steps are all recoverable, but going super slow is your friend.
> People on the PSSM forum on Facebook are all "sure, you can do the warm up from the saddle or from the ground! It's not like it makes a huge difference!" but I'm skeptical. A rider impacts soooo many more muscles than simply walking around riderless...but I'm also not a PSSM specialist. haha
> 
> Thank you soooooo much for turning me onto this. You are so welcome! I'm glad Harley seems to be responding! Keep us updated!
> 
> For Fabio getting bored have you tried doing ground poles with him? Or setting up cones or something and making up your own little dressage show? I HATE arena work. I'm a trail rider and I fall asleep doing arena work, so I have to find ways to entertain myself. I haven't found any ground poles yet, but I did find some cones that I've been making use of! It's so much easier to plan things out if you have visual markers.
> I agree with you about arena work. I love the all the things you can do on manicured ground, but I get overwhelmed and retreat into the same old basics if I don't plan ahead!
> 
> A favorite thing I do is set up my Iphone with music on shuffle and I work on one specific thing for the duration of the song. Circles for song one. Song Two we might work on backing up. Song Three transitions. This also helps keep me from nagging them to much, a bad habit of mine, because we stop and do something else before they or I can get to bored. Interesting! I'll give that a try!
> 
> How are the goats? The goats are good.  I never sheared Hazel so she is a hot mess, but a happy hot mess! :lol: They've started coming really well when I call for them at night [in the dark, after I see Fabs] so that's been really handy. I used to have to go hunt them down and bring them "home" which was always kind of a pain. Coming on their own is muchhh nicer.



___________________________


I woke up this morning with some kind of stomach flu, so today has basically been terrible. My mom fed the goats for me and I've just stayed in bed.  Lots of throwing up and it is so not fun! 
Hopefully I'll be well enough to see Fabs tomorrow! I'm bummed that I'm not well enough to see him today, but I'm also really glad he's somewhere with people who'll take good care of him and I don't need to worry about him.


----------



## Wallaby

Also, I ordered Fabs a 1/2" hole hay net last night! He's been eating his hay extra fast [through his 1" hole hay net] since going on all alfalfa. Usually 10-ish pounds doesn't even last him 2 hours.  

As a result, he's taken to chewing the wall of his stall next to the door [chewing his way out? haha]. I'm hoping that smaller holes will help him eat more slowly and give him more to do when he's stalled overnight.

I do need to check and make sure he hasn't somehow bitten through his current hay net [I don't think he has], but clearly I did not see him today! haha


----------



## Wallaby

I made it out to the barn today! Slowly, veryyy slowly, wearing pajamas, and my mom drove me, but I made it!

Fabs was SO happy to see me. The stall cleaner, who is super nice and my friend, was right by his stall and told me that he started whinnying the moment he heard my truck. <3 <3 

Fabs has to be one of the MOST affectionate horses I've ever met. I mean, I've met affectionate, but pushy, horses who are "affectionate" but mostly searching for treats. 
Fabs, on the other hand, knows I'll basically never feed him treats and usually always make him work...but he still gets stoked to see me. He is truly like a big dog.


I checked his hay net - no holes, not even any wear. He's just somehow very dexterous with his lips! haha


Then I took his blanket off [which he looks soo good in, I forgot to take a picture this time though!] and took him to the arena.
He clearly wanted outttt of his stall!

I was not, am not, up for doing anything "real" with him today, so I was really hopeful that he'd take it upon himself to run around.

AND GUESS WHAT?! Surprise of surprises, he actually did run around a little bit!

I have never, ever, seen him self-exercise like this so I'm pretty happy that he actually is. That says to me he's feeling a lot better, maybe more like a normal horse.







Then, cuz the stall cleaner lady is my friend, she offered to bring him back in for me if I wanted to turn him out outside. So I said "sure!"
The weather isn't good enough today for everyone to be out, but Fabs really wanted to go out.

That's a huge bonus of Fabs being totally ok about being outside while the other horses are in - I can throw him out if someone is willing to bring him in and it doesn't turn into a huge production with bringing an extra horse out/in, etc.


Anyway, yay! Happy Valentines Day. :loveshower::loveshower::loveshower:


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## DanteDressageNerd

Arabians IMO are pretty in your pocket, in your face, demanding of love and attention from all corners lol. I think they're very people oriented 

I really enjoyed the video. Fabio looks like he had a really great time! I always love watching horses who look like they're having ball with themselves lol.

I understand if I don't have to go anywhere I spend my day in my Pjs too. 

I'm also glad you had such a lovely ride on him and he was so balanced, particularly in canter. Canter can be hard to organize but he looks pretty far gone from the vets work with him lol. I always take advantage of when they're sedated. Time to clip and do all the grooming chores lol.


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## evilamc

He looks so cute and happy in that video!!!! He also looks like hes losing a little weight? New diet going well and he feels good to exercise now? yay!


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## Wallaby

DanteDressageNerd said:


> Arabians IMO are pretty in your pocket, in your face, demanding of love and attention from all corners lol. I think they're very people oriented
> 
> I really enjoyed the video. Fabio looks like he had a really great time! I always love watching horses who look like they're having ball with themselves lol.


Haha true! My last horse, Lacey, was an Arab and she loved people..but she mostly loved people because they admired her. haha She lived to be the center of attention! If there were people, she was showing off and everybody was loving her! :lol:

Fabs mostly just wants to be the center of _my_ attention. He could care less if other people pay attention to him, he just wants to me to pay attention to him and only him. haha But maybe that'll change as he's around more nice people - he used to be very..nervous? worried? awkward? About strangers, and never seemed all that attached to me. [he used to go into the shed and put his head in the corner if strangers stayed for too long]
Since moving to the new barn, he's starting showing more genuine attachment towards me, and he has become more accepting of people that aren't me touching/handling him.

But I guess it makes sense, that whole "in your tent" personality thing! I wouldn't want some aloof, overly independent, horse trying to live in a tent with me! :rofl:

Plus, now that the whole PSSM2 thing is figured out, it makes sense why he would have been nervous about strangers - who knows if they might pet him in a way that activated a sore spot, or something like that... It's one thing if someone you trust accidentally touches you in a painful way, it's another if a stranger does the same thing.


I totally agree! I love watching horses play! So much fun. :happydance:
For me, it's especially great to see Fabio play because "play" is really not a word I've ever associated with him. Or even "joy," he always seemed like he was just here because he had to be, or something. How alive he's becoming makes me feel so many good feelings!



evilamc said:


> He looks so cute and happy in that video!!!! He also looks like hes losing a little weight? New diet going well and he feels good to exercise now? yay!



I'm not sure if he's "losing weight" as much as redistributing what he already had.
I know what you mean though! His body is definitely changing. From what I've read/understand, with PSSM, the body can't process glycogen so it stores it inappropriately and doesn't build muscle. Once the body gets help processing, via ALCAR in Fabio's case, those stores of glycogen start being processed and genuine muscle starts being built.
Word on the street is that those changes start being really apparent about a month in, and, right on schedule, he's been on the new diet for nearly a month! 

His topline has been coming up, his neck has been thinning out and getting less cresty, he's looking less like a 45 year old couch potato man who you can tell used to be good looking but then something happened.... :lol: I'm SO EXCITED to find out how good he's gonna look once that winter hair comes off!

But yeah, the new diet is going so well! He is so ALIVE now! It's crazy and great!


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## Rain Shadow

I'm so happy to see how awesome Fabio is doing! It gives me a lot of hope for Harley. 

I seriously can't believe the change in Fabs. He looks so much more alive! 

Are you going to have the muscle biopsy done to see if he's PSSM2? Or a blood test to check his levels? 

I'm trying to decide how much I want to spend on bloodwork with Harley, when its obvious its some form of PSSM going on, and I'd love your opinion.


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## Wallaby

Rain Shadow said:


> I'm so happy to see how awesome Fabio is doing! It gives me a lot of hope for Harley.
> 
> I seriously can't believe the change in Fabs. He looks so much more alive!
> 
> Are you going to have the muscle biopsy done to see if he's PSSM2? Or a blood test to check his levels?
> 
> I'm trying to decide how much I want to spend on bloodwork with Harley, when its obvious its some form of PSSM going on, and I'd love your opinion.



I can't hardly believe our luck! Fabs is so much more alive now. He's acting his age, instead of 35 [not that there's anything wrong with 35...but he's 12. haha]. 
And man, in terms of quality, he is pretty out of my league. I always figured that him hating everything was kind of the price I had to pay for a horse that's as sweet and kind and athletic as he is. I'm still kind of stunned and a bit frozen from the sheer potential I feel like we have now. 
He _wants_ to work, he wants me to ride, he wants to do stuff, he LIKES doing stuff with me. Where do you even start with that? Do you back up and carefully go forward, making sure everything is still "intact," or do you charge blindly ahead like your horse wants to?

I'm still formulating a plan. haha


I bet you'll see something similar with Harley! He's doing so much better after just a few days! I'm so excited for you guys!
Fabio was very similar - the first week or so were shockingly great, and he's just continued to get better and better. I thought the first few weeks were so good that they couldn't possibly be improved on, and I was not right!  :lol:
2-3 weeks in, Fabs got pretty "wild" so watch for that. Fabs was just feeling really great and I was not expecting him to be so full of life, so it was a bit of a shock. Now I'm more prepared for it and he knows what his new rules are, so he's settled down quite a bit.


In terms of biopsy/bloodwork, I'm holding off on it. After he came back n/n for PSSM1, and the PSSM diet was working so well, I decided to just treat him like he has PSSM2 [essentially just increase protein in his diet - switch from grass hay to all alfalfa, continue the PSSM diet he had been getting] and forget testing for right now.
There's word that a DNA [hair] test for the Quarter Horse variant of PSSM2 should be available within a few months, and that DNA tests for the other variants of PSSM2 will be following that shortly. I plan on doing those tests as they become available and, hopefully, less expensive [the QH one is going to be available for $125/test initially].

Biopsy-wise, it basically measures the amount of damage in the muscle cells and diagnoses a disorder off of that. So, since Fabio has been on the diet and healing for a bit [plus the fact that he was never really badly off], his muscles might not even show identifiable signs of PSSM2. 
The biopsy rates muscle in terms of the severity of damage and, based on the type of damage, diagnoses the type of muscle disorder.
Again, since he's on the diet and doing well, bloodwork isn't going to be super conclusive. If he were still in a bad way and I was trying to determine if a muscle disorder was in play, bloodwork could be beneficial since it would be able to tell me that he is processing things incorrectly and something is wrong - but it also couldn't tell me _what_ is wrong.

Does that make sense?
The vet and I discussed it and we both decided that, since he is responding so well, we might as well leaving the testing for another day. My vet told me that if he stops responding well, or something else that isn't explained by a PSSM2 diagnoses occurs, we should absolutely do more testing. But, currently, based on what we're seeing right now, she thinks calling him PSSM2 is probably 100% accurate.


In your case, if bloodwork is feasible, it might be good to get it on record so you can use it as a gauge of sorts. Like a "this is how he used to be when he was really symptomatic, this is how he is now"-type thing. You'll be able to have proof beyond "he looks so much better!" and that might be nice, especially if you ever have to switch vets or he gets sold, or any manner of things.
If doing bloodwork doesn't put you in the hole too much, I'd strongly support it. 



_________________________________



I went out to see Fabs briefly today! He reallly wanted to do some stuff, but I am still so not up for it.

Man, I cannot tell you guys, this "new" Fabio reminds me of Lacey so much. A younger, less arthritic, Lacey, but Lacey. It makes me miss her even more as we head into the 2 anniversary of her death, but it also makes me so happy. 
Fabs is turning into such a SassyPants brat, and I love it. I used to always call Lacey SassyPants and Fabs was GrumpyPants, now they're both SassyPants. :loveshower::loveshower:

I chose to groom him today and turn him back out. He was pretty happy to be groomed! He's shedding so much, I'm so stoked to meet the "new" Fabio that's under all that fur. 

I feel like I always am so superficial about Fabs, but he _is_ a gorgeous creature! :lol:
I like _him_ quite a bit too though. He could be the ugliest nag in the world, but add his personality, and I'd think he was wonderful. And I guess it's ok to be a little smitten by your own horse, right? :rofl:


Anyway, he's shedding sooo muchhhhh. He really enjoyed having all his itchy spots scratched. 
You can start seeing his dark summer coat, poking through the light winter coat, under his eyes! It's not super dramatic yet, but it's coming!

And his new blanket. 
The BO saw me and was all "well, I saw that he was wearing a fancy new blanket and I HOPE you meant for it to be an outdoor blanket because it's pretty outdoorsy now! I was a little worried the first day when I brought him in, that thing is fancy!"

:rofl:

Good thing I meant it for outdoor/indoor use:



:rofl: :rofl:


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

I didn't think about that but that is the perfect way to describe the arabian personality "in your tent" and in your space and in your life. I can't possibly be closer to you. I think it's in the DNA at this point lol.

Fabs is a very pretty boy


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## Rain Shadow

Fabio just looks amazing. Its like you can see the life in his eyes now. Like he's figured out just how fun everything can be. Its so amazing to see! 

I'm in an odd situation with Harley. He is technically my grandmother's horse, but she rides/brushes him maybe once or twice a year, and I'm in charge of all of his care in return for free board for my two mares. I don't mind spending money on his supplements, but testing is a bit hard, especially since I can't legally have the vet do anything without her permission, which can be hard to get. I honestly can't really afford a ton of bloodwork for him right now. I need to get Kenzie tested for IR, and her and Misty need their teeth done and spring shots. So if I do the test it won't be for a bit. So like you said with Fabio there might now be a point. 

I'm going to see if I can talk my grandmother into doing the test. But I'm glad they aren't something that's urgent. 

There is just so much to learn. I spent an unhealthily long amount of time staring at magnesium supplements at the feed store today! 

On the Fabio front, don't you know blankets are only broken in after the horse has put every body fluid/type of gunk on it imaginable? Besides how are you to know how well it holds up if Fabio doesn't put it through existential testing? He's doing you a favor!


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## Wallaby

DanteDressageNerd said:


> I didn't think about that but that is the perfect way to describe the arabian personality "in your tent" and in your space and in your life. I can't possibly be closer to you. I think it's in the DNA at this point lol.
> 
> Fabs is a very pretty boy


:loveshower::loveshower:
Haha that's true! I've been kind of obsessed with Arabians my whole life and that's always what Arabian people seem say about them. "he/she has that 'in your tent' personality!" said every Arabian breeder ever. :lol:

And thanks. 




Rain Shadow said:


> Fabio just looks amazing. Its like you can see the life in his eyes now. Like he's figured out just how fun everything can be. Its so amazing to see!
> 
> I'm in an odd situation with Harley. He is technically my grandmother's horse, but she rides/brushes him maybe once or twice a year, and I'm in charge of all of his care in return for free board for my two mares. I don't mind spending money on his supplements, but testing is a bit hard, especially since I can't legally have the vet do anything without her permission, which can be hard to get. I honestly can't really afford a ton of bloodwork for him right now. I need to get Kenzie tested for IR, and her and Misty need their teeth done and spring shots. So if I do the test it won't be for a bit. So like you said with Fabio there might now be a point.
> 
> I'm going to see if I can talk my grandmother into doing the test. But I'm glad they aren't something that's urgent.
> 
> There is just so much to learn. I spent an unhealthily long amount of time staring at magnesium supplements at the feed store today!
> 
> On the Fabio front, don't you know blankets are only broken in after the horse has put every body fluid/type of gunk on it imaginable? Besides how are you to know how well it holds up if Fabio doesn't put it through existential testing? He's doing you a favor!



I was just looking at some old videos of Fabs and boy, you are so right. There's a light in them now!
Like this one from late last summer. If you look beyond how fat he is, he just doesn't look happy. He looks like he's behaving because he knows that's what he should be doing, but he's not having any fun. 

I'm glad we've gotten it figured out!!







Ah, yes, that makes sense! I'd skip the bloodwork then too. 



As far as magnesium goes, if you were wanting suggestions, right now Fabio is on MagRestore:

https://shop.performanceequinenutrition.com/magrestore-p45.aspx

I'm liking it quite a bit! 


I had him on this initially and it was ok:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...xide powder&qid=1455667426&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Fabs seems calmed on MagRestore and I'm not sure if that's due to this particular product, or the other changes that were going on at the same time. Either way, a lot of people have their horses on Magnesium Oxide without issues. 


And true. Fabio HAD to make sure that blanket is up to par!! 


____________________________

Didn't get to see Fabs today.  I had to stay home from work because of being sick, so I decided that I'd be better off saving my energy for tomorrow and work instead of using it all up chasing Captain HappyPants around. :lol:

He was FULL of energy yesterday, I think we may be in for another bucking show tomorrow! I can't wait. haha


In other news, I ordered him a Zilco Little S hackamore to try out. He's not having any issues in his rope halter, but, as we head into summer, I imagine there'll be offers for trail riding and I don'tttt really want to be the girl on the horse that bolts off because she's riding in a halter and her horse was feeling silly and she couldn't get him stopped. :rofl:
Fabs _knows_ that that halter doesn't have much to it and he's happy acquiescing when there aren't any distractions...but somebody starts feeling pretty cool when he's in a new place and there are other horses around. 

Anyway, a Little S seems like a pretty reasonable thing to try.

I haven't tried him back in his bit since the diet change, but he tends to be so tense about the bit anyway, I wonder if a bit is really the right choice for him.

We'll find out, I guess, when it arrives in a few weeks!

But, for now, I kinda miss my pony.


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## Sharpie

Just speculation, but I wonder if being tense about the bit comes from everything else. Bit = work = bending, being ridden, being asked to do things that are uncomfortable or even hurt. I wonder if you'll see him 'loosen up' about a carrying a bit too once he realizes that even with all the bad associations the bit might have for him, it doesn't hurt anymore?


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## Wallaby

Sharpie said:


> Just speculation, but I wonder if being tense about the bit comes from everything else. Bit = work = bending, being ridden, being asked to do things that are uncomfortable or even hurt. I wonder if you'll see him 'loosen up' about a carrying a bit too once he realizes that even with all the bad associations the bit might have for him, it doesn't hurt anymore?



That's a good question! If I'm up for it, I'll try riding him in a bit this week. I could see him suddenly being really comfortable in the bit, or being REALLY distracted by it...he's gotten a bit ADHD since 'The Change'! [like owner, like horse! haha]
He used to just zone "into" the bit and essentially use it to tune me out - maybe he was using it to tune pain out...

It'll be an interesting experiment for sure!


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## evilamc

DanteDressageNerd said:


> I didn't think about that but that is the perfect way to describe the arabian personality "in your tent" and in your space and in your life. I can't possibly be closer to you. I think it's in the DNA at this point lol.
> 
> Fabs is a very pretty boy


LOL I wonder if that goes for TWH too? Thats totallllly Jax. I was trying to muck stalls this morning and he could not stop "helping". I finally had to shoo him out and put up a barrier lol! He wants to be involved in everything I do.


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## Rain Shadow

Wallaby said:


> :loveshower::loveshower:
> Haha that's true! I've been kind of obsessed with Arabians my whole life and that's always what Arabian people seem say about them. "he/she has that 'in your tent' personality!" said every Arabian breeder ever. :lol:
> 
> And thanks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was just looking at some old videos of Fabs and boy, you are so right. There's a light in them now!
> Like this one from late last summer. If you look beyond how fat he is, he just doesn't look happy. He looks like he's behaving because he knows that's what he should be doing, but he's not having any fun.
> 
> I'm glad we've gotten it figured out!!
> 
> http://youtu.be/ejgstMER7jM
> 
> 
> Ah, yes, that makes sense! I'd skip the bloodwork then too.
> 
> 
> 
> As far as magnesium goes, if you were wanting suggestions, right now Fabio is on MagRestore:
> 
> https://shop.performanceequinenutrition.com/magrestore-p45.aspx
> 
> I'm liking it quite a bit!
> 
> 
> I had him on this initially and it was ok:
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...xide powder&qid=1455667426&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1
> 
> Fabs seems calmed on MagRestore and I'm not sure if that's due to this particular product, or the other changes that were going on at the same time. Either way, a lot of people have their horses on Magnesium Oxide without issues.
> 
> 
> And true. Fabio HAD to make sure that blanket is up to par!!
> 
> 
> ____________________________
> 
> Didn't get to see Fabs today.  I had to stay home from work because of being sick, so I decided that I'd be better off saving my energy for tomorrow and work instead of using it all up chasing Captain HappyPants around. :lol:
> 
> He was FULL of energy yesterday, I think we may be in for another bucking show tomorrow! I can't wait. haha
> 
> 
> In other news, I ordered him a Zilco Little S hackamore to try out. He's not having any issues in his rope halter, but, as we head into summer, I imagine there'll be offers for trail riding and I don'tttt really want to be the girl on the horse that bolts off because she's riding in a halter and her horse was feeling silly and she couldn't get him stopped. :rofl:
> Fabs _knows_ that that halter doesn't have much to it and he's happy acquiescing when there aren't any distractions...but somebody starts feeling pretty cool when he's in a new place and there are other horses around.
> 
> Anyway, a Little S seems like a pretty reasonable thing to try.
> 
> I haven't tried him back in his bit since the diet change, but he tends to be so tense about the bit anyway, I wonder if a bit is really the right choice for him.
> 
> We'll find out, I guess, when it arrives in a few weeks!
> 
> But, for now, I kinda miss my pony.



Thanks just ordered the MagRestore. My local feed stores suck! I'd die out here without online shopping!


I think you will really love the Little S. I broke Star in using a bosal and then switched her to the Little S. She can wear a bit, but much prefers her hackamore. Kenzie was ridden in a snaffle and she was fine to bit, but after I used the Little S on her a few times, she went from just standing there, to shoving her head into it. I also love how easy it is to fit a halter over. Harley adores it too. 

I find the curb strap really helps them. I just pick up the reins now and my horses stop, where it took a touch of pressure when I rode in a snaffle. And it has plenty of whoah and you can neck rein or direct rein in a pinch.


----------



## Wallaby

haha I wonder, evilamc! 

Anytime, Rain Shadow! I feel you. My local feed stores have like zero percent of the things I need, or they do...but it's $5+ more expensive than online. Not fun. Thank goodness for the internet!!



_______________



Today was nottt such a great day in Fabio-Land.

My temper was short because I was/am exhausted [finally well enough for work today, which was good...but extra super exhausting cuz we have 1000 babies on Wednesdays and I am not totally "back" from the sickness] and Fabs was being kinda crazy. :lol:

He mostly just wanted to do stuff together and I just was not up to it. He would have been so happy to have been ridden or do some actual lunging or some ground driving...poor guy!
SO he was a bit of a jerk because I wasn't engaging him like he thought I should. :lol:

He refused to even move in the arena until I stood in the middle, like I do when I freelunge him. Then he was totally into playing around and being silly, I was just not allowed to sit down or not be in the middle of his circle. :rofl:

I work with toddlers all day and somehow I've ended up with a horse that's basically a big toddler. haha

Plus his feet hurt - they hadn't been picked out since Friday and his 24/7/wintertime thrush took advantage.  So he was a bit shortstrided/sore from that. I took care of them and he should be feeling better tomorrow!

And it was POURING rain. He does not like rain on the metal roof of the barn. He tries really hard to be brave about it, but he really hates it.  Hopefully he'll get used to it eventually!

Anyway, here's a video of him running everywhere.

I love it when he accelerates like that!
And note his almost-running-into-the-wall-ness. That cracked me up. What a dork!


----------



## Wallaby

This horse of mineeee! haha

Today, weather-wise, was similar to yesterday. But it rained alll day so Fabs didn't get to go outside.

So I was kind of expecting him to a full on nutcase.

From how he essentially drop-to-the-floor-spooked when I took his blanket off, I figured I was probably gonna die taking him into the arena. :lol:

BUT!

He tricked me!

I put his BoT pad on his back, put the surcingle on him, and put his bridle on, and he was happy as a clam!
I put a few cones out in the arena to give him something to think about for his feet, which also seemed to help.

He spooked a few times, but mostly he was super focused and nobody died. 

Interestingly, while I was lunging him [I had planned on ground-driving him, but that seemed like too much to ask for - given how much he was concentrating on just the things he was wearing/working around], the BoT flapped on his shoulder a few times while he was cantering. He was utterly horrified, but he didn't bolt!
He did try to stop, I assume to get a better look at what was flapping on his back, but I didn't let him - since we know thinking leads to spooking, better not give him a chance to think toooo hard about it.

I was pretty proud that that happened, he was worried and wanted to stop, but chose listen to me instead and continue on - despite his concern.

He also seemed a bit freaked out about stretching down while being lunged, and having a bit in his mouth. So I rewarded him a few times for little baby-stretches, and maybe I'll have him carry the bit tomorrow again.

I even gave him a massage before putting him away, he was that relaxed.

Overall, I think we had a really successful session. It was a very good day, after such a bad one yesterday.


It cracks me up how much his work ethic has shifted - he used to be all "don't make me move, I will melt and die if I sweattttt" and now he's all "make me sweat! I'm pretty sure I'll explode if I don't work! PLEASE make me work!"

Such a switch. :rofl:


----------



## Wallaby

Kind of a disillusioning day today. 

Fabs was just kind of "off."

I'm pretty sure he was in all day yesterday and today [it's been torrentially raining nearly constantly] and I think he's feeling it.
Plus I'm prettttty sure the BO is sick and having someone else feed for her. I'm guessing they may not be feeding Fabs right. It's just a hunch, but whoever is feeding isn't as clean about it as the BO usually is. Maybe the BO just decided to get sloppy this week...I kind of doubt it :lol:

Ugh, this PSSM thing. It was one thing when he was like this and I didn't know what was wrong so I was kinda like "oh, whatever, he's having a bad day." But now I know that a "bad day" means his muscles are hurting like crazy, and that makes me hurt.

He did try SO hard though! We did some good walking around, then I hopped on for a few minutes. 
It was a not great ride - Fabs was grumpy, and the rain on the roof was too loud, and it wasn't great. But Fabs, to his credit, tried his hardest and didn't grump as much as he could have.
I only rode for, maybe, 5 minutes because it was pretty clear that more was not gonna be better.



I guess the thing that I'm the most disillusioned about is his spooking. It's apparently super typical PSSM-horse behavior, those crazy spooks undersaddle totally out of nowhere, and it may lessen as he heals...but he'll likely always spook like that when he's symptomatic. And, since he really hasn't left the realm of symptomatic yet... >.>
I had been really hopeful that those spooks would disappear once the PSSM got under control, and it's sounding mostly like they won't.

And then that kind of touches on stuff that I wanted to do with him one day - I had started dreaming a bit about how, once he's super trained and everything and old, maybe I can use him to teach lessons. But everything I've read, from people with PSSM horses that spook like this, essentially says that the spooks are an PSSM 'attack' which could easily turn into a collapse [like, they're 'spooks' in the sense that the horse is avoiding collapsing like his/her body is trying to], and that that means that the horse really can never be "beginner safe."


Of course, I really shouldn't try to put Fabs in a box like that because he basically lives to spite those boxes, but the news was not my favorite.

I'm gonna try getting him on an amino acid supplement. I've heard that can be a key thing with PSSM2 horses.

Apparently PSSM2 is the "toughest" kind of PSSM to manage. Lucky, lucky me. 


Anyway, Fabs is wonderful and he tries so hard. Despite his genetic faults, I love him dearly.

I tried introducing him to the wash stall this evening because I'd like to wash his tail tomorrow [not sure how well that'll go since he's been oddly kick-y the last few days. I'm staying optimistic] and he was HORRIFIED.
BUT, he did not want to leave when I gave him the ok. So I'm kinda thinking he may have been playing up the drama a bit... :rofl:


----------



## Wallaby

Tonight was good! I was less stressed and that probably plays a part in Fabs' excellent behavior.
Fabs also got to go out today which, I'm sure, helped him feel a bunch better about things!


Washing his tail went better than expected. He was pretty "OMG WHAT. IS. THAT??!!!!" about the whole thing, but he stood well and didn't make too much of a fuss. He was clearly fighting pretty hard with himself over it - all snorty and "do I bolt away like I want to, or do I stay here like she's telling me to?"
But he stayed, only tried inching away a few times, and we got through it.

I think he decided it wasn't so bad once he realized that the water was warm and I wasn't actually getting his body wet. 
He did, however, try rearing when I asked him to pick up his hoof while I held the hose [I wanted to try rinsing out his hooves] but he rethought that pretty quickly - I didn't even get after him for it, he knew that that was not the right answer. I asked him to lift his hoof again and he reluctantly gave it to me, so I immediately put the water away and let him be done. 
A little "win" is the gateway to continued success, pushing for "perfection" is asking for trouble - especially after he showed me that he was super uncomfortable with the idea of water+hoof.

After I put the water away, I had him lift all 4 hooves in the wash stall [which he did very willingly], and left him there for a minute while I put the shampoo in the tack room.

Mind you, he was not tied during any of this. :lol: This poor horse is being forced to learn so much self-control! But that's good, self-control is one of his weakest areas, I think. I mean, he has a lot that I've trained in, but it doesn't come naturally to him so much.

Anyway, I came back from putting the shampoo away and he immediately took some steps towards me..so I put him back and had him stay there until he licked and chewed [ie, stopped looking at everything/thinking about pawing/etc]. Then I led him out. He came out quietly, not rushing, so I think it was a good learning experience overall.


Then I lunged him a bit.

I figured that the whole tail-washing thing had been enough mental exercise, he just needed some physical exercise. And I was right - he was superrr quiet and relaxed during the whole lunging session.

I gave him his bridle to wear, to give him something 'extra' to think about, but that was it.


I think getting turnout today really benefited him. His gaits were super loose and he was doing his 'new' canter.

I haven't quite figured out what is different about the canter, but maybe it's impulsion? He can keep it up for some time with minimal 'nagging' from me, and it just looks really effortless. 

Here's his canter from Day 7 of the new diet:






And today:







And his trot! He wasn't trying really hard with this one, but I love his walk at the end. That's just how his walk _is_ now, when he's feeling good. Goodbye Zero-Miles-Per-Hour-Walk! Crazy!


----------



## Wallaby

We had a good day today! I probably could have/should have ridden, but I didn't. I might try tomorrow, if Fabs is in a good place.

Fabs is looking SO GOOD though. He's lost weight being on all alfalfa, or maybe it's just that all his fat-pads have disappeared. Either way, he is looking like quality.

It's funny though - when he's moving, I don't really find myself thinking "his neck! Why is his neck so HUGE??" but then I take pictures of his when he's not moving and his neck looks so incongruous with the rest of his body! haha

[from last night - look at that stinky face :lol: ]



From how excited he was over my arrival, I assumed he might want to run around in the arena. He absolutely did not want to do that.
He thought just standing here and looking out this window was a good plan:




So I caught him and lunged him. I could have/should have ridden, but I don't have a whole lot of time on Sundays so I didn't want to cut things too close.

Anyway, he was SUPER all about trotting today and he was trotting really nicely, so I made another comparison video - using the video I took on the day he moved in and was "moving really well" and a video I took today.
It kind of cracks me up, but also makes me a little sad, that I thought the trot on that first day was so amazing. It's not that it's "bad" in any way, but he has since shown that he has so much more to offer. 
And I had no idea.

Oh well, the past is the past for a reason.









I have the day off tomorrow so my plan is to shear Hazel. If that doesn't tire me out too much, I might try riding tomorrow afternoon.


----------



## Tihannah

Well, goodness, I didn't realize you had a journal too! Lol. I have so much to catch up on! What a handsome boy! He looks great!


----------



## Wallaby

Tihannah said:


> Well, goodness, I didn't realize you had a journal too! Lol. I have so much to catch up on! What a handsome boy! He looks great!


Haha I so have a journal! And now you have 171 pages to read. :rofl: :rofl: Nah, like half, or more, has no bearing on current events. This poor thing has been around for...A LOT of years. haha

And thanks! I'm really pleased with how he's looking too!


1. I sheared Hazel today! FINALLY. And surprisingly, her skin isn't in the bad shape I thought it'd be in! It's not great, but for getting through the wet winter with too much hair, it looks really good. Usually she has some kind of icky fungal thing happening in at least one area - not this year!
I'm crediting it to the fact that she's penned by herself at night and how I clean her pen once a week [vs "never" haha], and put down wood pellets [to soak up moisture] and more hay [barrier between damp wood pellets and Hazel].

She's feeling pretty good about it!
Physically, her body is showing more age right now - her joints are bigger/harder than they used to be and her topline is worse, but otherwise she looks good!

She already took off "loping" once - I think she's gonna be prancing around in no time!




2. I rode Fabs this afternoon!

He did pretty well. One giant spook because "OMG THERE ARE BIRDS IN THIS ARENA BUT WHAT IF THEY ARE BATS WITH RABIES IN DISGUISE" but otherwise he was very business-like and professional.
He kept kind of tripping/misstepping over his own feet which was kind of weird, but there was nothing major.
The soles of his hooves are shedding big time and he's getting trimmed next week, so, potentially, there's some confusing things happening..? His hooves aren't overly long [or even "really" long - they're just average "he's getting trimmed soon"-long], but I am gonna mention it to the trimmer.

I felt like I had to cut the ride a bit short because the BO showed up and started bringing horses in. All the horses that come in are in paddocks on the far, non-barn, side of the arena and Fabs LOSES it when he hears unexpected things from "beyond the wall." He's fine when horses are out and he's in the arena, but somehow humans, and human noises, back there freak him out.
Anyway, I really didn't want to end our great session on a "oh look, Fabio freaked out" note so I had his do a couple last things and got off.

I probably could have/should have stayed on, but I'm still a bit shaken about these spooks he does inside and it's hard enough to convince myself to ride as in frequently as I do.
I really don't know what it is about the spooks. It's not that I think I'll fall off because my track record says I won't, I think it's the surprise/unpredictability of it. Like that spook with the birds at the beginning of the video - NOTHING about his body language says he's gonna spook, there are no signs, and then suddenly he's practically thrown himself to the ground.
I guess it's pretty typical for PSSM2 horses to be that sort of "calm, but intensely nervous" but it's not my favorite.

I keep telling myself that the more I ride, the more the spooks will become normal, and the less worried I'll be. But it's hard to be that kind of brave!!


Also, his new 1/2" hole slow-feed net came today! I told the BO to feed half his hay in the net and half on the floor, just so we can be sure he figures it out and doesn't starve. I'm sure he'll get it quickly, but those holes are SO tiny! 
...which is what I initally thought about the 1" net that now doesn't slow him down an iota... :rofl:


Two videos:

The ride:







And this fun exercise I've been doing with him before riding. I think the long straight lines help him to move out, and he gets to experience the whole arena [which cuts down on all the "NO! I will NOT go over there!"-fights] before I'm on board.
It took him a few weeks to get it down, but now he does it like an old hat. I have him circle me whenever he breaks into a trot - he understands that it's a walking exercise, but sometimes he gets a bit stoked about where he's going [that feels so weird to me to say - Fabio is breaking into a trot on his own, WHAT??].

He much prefers this exercise to doing serpentines up and down the short side of the arena! He's a long-side kind of guy, I guess. haha







:happydance:


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

I didn't realize he was a stockhorse x arab too, I thought he was full arab :lol: it's neat to see the various types of quarabs out there but I'm glad he's becoming more enthusiastic about work and is more willing to trot, maybe he's becoming more fit?

But I love the goat, I love goats. The ones that used to be at my job always used to crack me up and were so sweet.


----------



## Skyseternalangel

That ride is so much more fluid than your first one!!!! You look more relaxed too!


----------



## gunslinger

I think the spooks are just lack of experience and Fabs just needs more exposure to unfamiliar things.....

Some of it might be the feed/supliments.....


----------



## Wallaby

DanteDressageNerd said:


> I didn't realize he was a stockhorse x arab too, I thought he was full arab :lol: it's neat to see the various types of quarabs out there but I'm glad he's becoming more enthusiastic about work and is more willing to trot, maybe he's becoming more fit?
> 
> But I love the goat, I love goats. The ones that used to be at my job always used to crack me up and were so sweet.


Haha, right? I always wanted to think that he was just pure Arab [not that there's anything wrong with stock horses], but, up against the 100% Arabian Arabians at my barn, he is CLEARLY a cross. :lol: Attitude-wise, conformation, everything. 
He's also totally different than Lacey was, and she was definitely all Polish Arab. 

He might be half Paint, he might be half QH, who knows. He has a belly spot, about the size of a quarter, which, combined with his facial markings and extensive leg white, makes me wonder a bit if his stock horse parents was a Paint... 
I wish I could find his papers!! I'd be shocked if he never, ever, had papers. I guess it's possible, but I feel like he's awfully nice to be naturally paperless...

ANYWAY. haha

I think he is becoming more fit! I think he's also discovering that work can be fun. Before, with the way PSSM works, he would have started being in increasing pain the longer a session went on. So, now that the pain is lessened/gone and it doesn't increase like it did before, he's starting to find out how fun it can be to work! 

Goats are so fun, I love them too. 



Skyseternalangel said:


> That ride is so much more fluid than your first one!!!! You look more relaxed too!


Right??! And thanks! I'm working on it! Setting the cones up and stuff really helps me - instead of thinking "oh no, what are we gonna do next?" I kind of already have a back-up plan in mind - circle around the cones a bunch until I think up a better plan! :rofl:



gunslinger said:


> I think the spooks are just lack of experience and Fabs just needs more exposure to unfamiliar things.....
> 
> Some of it might be the feed/supliments.....


I think inexperience is definitely a part of it.

I was thinking about that today.
I was remembering back to when I first met him and how much I heard about how he, after arriving there, could not even stand to be inside their little barn without losing his mind. He was much much better inside when I met him [after he had lived there for 6+ months], and a similar thing happened when he was living in the pasture - he was panicky about every little thing for the first few months, and then suddenly everything was totally fine.

He's largely fine with unfamiliar things, it's mostly things that change unexpectedly/move unpredictably or explainable noises. I could stick 8 different things he's never seen before in that arena and he'd be fine about all of them, then bolt off because an owl hooted outside. :lol:
I wonder about his eyesight a bit, to be honest. One of these days, maybe when the vet comes back out for his shots, I'll have her check his eyes just to be sure.
I'm sure they're fine, but sometimes I just wonder.


__________________

This evening went well! I just lunged Fabs a bit. Nothing too fun. :lol: 
Tomorrow I think we're gonna ground-drive a bit.

I have found that Fabs gets spookier the more he thinks I'm "mad" or if I scold him with an "ah-ah-ah!" for something. He gets faster and faster, more and more rushed, more looky, until I tell him "good boy" for something he did. Then he starts slowing down, thinking, and he stops being so worried/spooky.

I had been scolding him a little for spooking [just an "ah!"] but I think that may be backfiring by making him extra worked up and so worried about doing something wrong that he starts making "mistakes" that he knows are mistakes, and then he gets more freaked out, etc. When I just ignore the spooks, he recovers really quickly and usually does not spook again.

He is SO weird. He's such a perfectionist, so worried about being "wrong" - where did that come from? He's been that way as long as I've known him, is it his personality??


Anyway, it was so funny when I showed up this evening - he was SO ready to leave his stall. He was hovering by his stall door, but I went over to check on his haynet and asked if he wanted to show me how he uses it. He looked at me, sighed, and shoved his stall door super hard with his head, then put his head way down - like he does when I put his halter on.
Please, Fabio, tell me MORE about how much you want to leave your stall?

:rofl: :rofl:


----------



## Tazzie

He is such a character! The sad part is, I could totally see him doing that and waiting for you to put his halter on :lol: he is too cute!

And who knows! May be some of the Arab in him. I know if you get after Izzie, she gets worried too. So "punishment" (and I use that term SO lightly) has to be minimal or we will spend the entire ride calming back down.

I wish you could find his papers  I do think it'd be odd he was just an oops since he is a nice looking horse!


----------



## Rain Shadow

He looks so awesome! 

LOL that's gotta be the Arab in him. Ty would do that too when he was stalled for a bit. His stall had an area I could just duck under the boards, so I'd often do that to just feed or check on him, and Ty would nudge me with his head, walk over to the stall door, push it with his nose, repeat until dumb human gets the message. 

Kenzie is now in that stall and when she sees me turning the others out, she hangs her head out and starts nosing the hook her halter is on, and when I get it for her, she all but halters herself!


----------



## Wallaby

Tazzie said:


> And who knows! May be some of the Arab in him. I know if you get after Izzie, she gets worried too. So "punishment" (and I use that term SO lightly) has to be minimal or we will spend the entire ride calming back down.


EXACTLY. Interestingly, Fabio seems to take verbal corrections so much more seriously than physical ones. He's been known to actually spook from a verbal correction - lie he tries too hard to rectify the situation and ends up scaring himself. :rofl:
But yeah, about the worst he's ever seen from me is a growl+"quit!" And that's really all he usually needs. 

He wants to be a good boy SO badly! He'll work SO hard for just a "good boy!" :loveshower::loveshower:

Maybe it's the sensitive Arab meets PSSM Quarter Horse: sensitive to pressure, but would prefer to not have to move = "did you say move? OK! Faster we get this over with, the sooner I'll get a break!"




Rain Shadow said:


> He looks so awesome!
> 
> LOL that's gotta be the Arab in him. Ty would do that too when he was stalled for a bit. His stall had an area I could just duck under the boards, so I'd often do that to just feed or check on him, and Ty would nudge me with his head, walk over to the stall door, push it with his nose, repeat until dumb human gets the message.
> 
> Kenzie is now in that stall and when she sees me turning the others out, she hangs her head out and starts nosing the hook her halter is on, and when I get it for her, she all but halters herself!



Thanks!

Aww, that's so sweet! <3


___________________________


We had a good day today! I didn't get to ride or anything but we had fun.
I had planned to ride, but it was too late by the time I was ready to tack up and Fabs didn't seem like he was in the right mood for it - he had gotten rained on while he was turned out and his neck muscles were SUPER tight. 

My Little S hackamore arrived yesterday! I tried it on Fabs today - it looks good! Interestingly, his first reaction to pressure on it is to lower his head [which makes sense since it has poll pressure]. I only tried from the ground, but it'll be interesting to see what he does undersaddle.
I need to take my leather punch tomorrow - his bridle can't go up quite high enough for it. It's probably placed ok, but I'd feel better if it were slightly higher up.

Tonight I did a little experiment - he came out of his stall eyeing everything, spooky as all get-out. So I decided to try a slightly different approach and praise him [with a "good boy!"] every time he was brave or tried extra hard. 
And you know what? He spooked at nothing. He even started looking to me when something seemed scary - listening for that "good boy!"
I wonder if he's spookier undersaddle because I don't give him as much positive feedback about his good behavior... 
If riding happens tomorrow, I'll try giving him more feedback. We'll see!

I _did _accidentally shape a "climb on the mounting block" behavior by telling him "good boy!" when he, for whatever reason, tried putting a hoof on top of the mounting block. Now, whenever I take him near the mounting block, he first tries climbing it - after ONE instance of praise. :rofl:

This horse!


Speaking of shaping behaviors, I'm trying to shape a more forward, but still stretchy, trot. He "got it" both ways today, so we'll see what he offers tomorrow!

I think it'd be really fun to teach him to lay down, but I have no idea how to shape that effectively. Gotta watch some Youtube videos! haha
I think some kind of trick training might be fun for those days that he's not up to much. He LOVES interacting with me and he's constantly offering behaviors in hopes of getting a "reward" [verbal praise and/or a 30 second break from whatever the current work is]. Trick training would be fun. But there are like 2 safe "trick" behaviors you can teach horses. Ugh. haha


OH!! And I felt his ribs today FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!! He has ribs! WHAT??! :lol: He's getting fit!

Anyway, here's the cute mounting-block-climber himself:


----------



## Wallaby

We rode in the Little S today!

Fabs was in a reallly good place today. The arena was kind of crazy [the BO was showing a horse and it was kind of a nightmare] so I didn't ride as for long as Fabs probably would have been ok with, but we had a really good ride.

Fabs was feeling pretty forward today and he was pretty looky, BUT, surprisingly, he didn't spook at _anything_.
This seems to be a theme that I'm remembering now - the more he thinks he's been a good boy, the more praise I've been giving him, the safer he feels about _us_, and he gets less spooky. 
I don't want to count my chickens before they've hatched, but he's feeling pretty great about our bond right now - he's ridiculous when he gets into this "this is my owner and I WUV her"-mode. 
When he's feeling good about us, he likes to stand as close to me as possible and rest his chin on me - in the crook of my hand, on my head, on my shoulder, and just breathe on me. It's ridiculous. But precious. 

When I've been, in his mind, "too angry" with him, he stays totally hands off. 

He is utterly ridiculous. :rofl:

There's a fine line to play with this behavior though because he tends to get better undersaddle, but worse on the ground - pushier when I'm leading him, not paying quite a much attention when I'm lunging him [ie, breaking gait before I ask for it], that sort of thing.
But, really, as I'm learning from boarding him, even Naughty Fabio is better/more respectful that 85% of the other horses there. Which is alternately reassuring and horrifying... :lol:
My theory though is that a lot of the horses there grew up out of a herd environment so they didn't get that boss-mare-runaround that all baby horses need. I'm pretty sure Fabs grew up in a herd, and/but any way you look at it he understands the whole "I'mma' get kicked in the face if I don't straighten myself out!"-thing.


Anyway, he liked the hackamore pretty well. He understood direct-reining in it, and his very green neck-reining abilities were passable as well. Surprisingly, I didn't find any areas where I was like "uh, yeah, this needs some work!" It was just like I was still riding him in that rope halter, except that I had a lot more "feel" for his face. It felt a lot like I was riding him in a bit! It was pretty nice.

He did revert back to headshaking for a bit, a habit he used to do nearly constantly undersaddle, but after about 15 minutes he quit shaking his head.

Someone mentioned to me that that his headshaking might come back - the Little S has poll pressure and, based on how much headshaking he used to do, this person felt confident saying that he had some kind of nerve damage to his poll area, potentially caused by a gag bit or tie down in his past [given that he was used for barrel racing and was a bolter, I feel pretty confident that he wore some intense bits to get him stopped]. Long story short, that kind of nerve damage can heal to a point, and that's why the headshaking disappeared, but it may get reactivated by poll pressure.


Anyway, I think he was a bit worried that I might start cranking on him and/or worried about the poll pressure - I have never _heard_ him blow his nose so much! [a "self-soothing" behavior for him]
But after about 15 minutes he stopped shaking his head and he stopped blowing his nose.

After 20 minutes, I felt him completely relax, so we walked around for a minute more, then I hopped off.

Overall it was a good experience!


----------



## Wallaby

Oh! In similar but different news, Fabs and I have our first lesson with the BO next Saturday at 10am! 

That should be interesting. I'm hoping that getting a lesson will help me feel a bit braver about riding Fabs. I know that, right now, most of his problem is me. I get scared, or anxious, and try to work through it but my brain just goes into flight mode and I find it really hard to refocus on simply riding on, and not "where is the next spook gonna come from??"

I think just having someone talk me through it will help a lot. Even if Fabs is a perfect angel, we'll get a great ride under our belts and that would also really help.
He's such a good boy and I feel like we could have such good communication, but I get scared that he's gonna do something and end our ride [or whatever] early. That idea that he's gonna do something is, I think, probably the one thing that's holding us back from working really well together.

I think it goes back to the ADHD - I tend to obsess over things and this is my current obsession-fear. It's 5% based in truth because those spooks can be huge and scary, but have I ever fallen off him? No. Has he ever taken off bucking because he's felt me get off balance? No, he's always stopped.

Logically I can talk myself through it, but I need an external kick in the pants, as it were. :lol:

Anyway, having a lesson should be fun! Hopefully, if it goes well, we can start twice-monthly lessons. Yay!


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## Tazzie

Yay for a lesson!! They are so beneficial!

I know you can get over your fear! It takes a lot of patience and determination to work through it. Trust me, I know. And still struggle with it. Whenever Izzie starts getting looky at something, I bend her away from it and leg yield toward it. Little trick I learned at a clinic when Izzie insisted on spooking at the arena letters :lol:


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## Rain Shadow

Wallaby said:


> But there are like 2 safe "trick" behaviors you can teach horses. Ugh. haha


There are tons of tricks you can teach that are safe! Watch the beginning of this tribute video of Ty and you can see me doing some tricks with him. Ignore the background noise, I just had my camera propped up and my family was having a barbecue in the background. 

https://vimeo.com/116833727


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## Wallaby

Tazzie said:


> Yay for a lesson!! They are so beneficial!
> 
> I know you can get over your fear! It takes a lot of patience and determination to work through it. Trust me, I know. And still struggle with it. Whenever Izzie starts getting looky at something, I bend her away from it and leg yield toward it. Little trick I learned at a clinic when Izzie insisted on spooking at the arena letters


Haha for sure! 
It was so funny, when the BO and I were talking, we discussed what I needed help with and she was all "usually when horses are spooking like that, it means they need more to do!" and I was like "yep, I agree!"

Then, later, I was riding and doing my usual circle here, circle there, leg yield, trot, serpentine, thing and Fabs was still being looky. After I got off [the BO had kind of been watching cuz she was showing a horse to potential buyers], the BO said "yeah, I guess you really couldn't have been doing more, could you?" :rofl: 

We'll see what she has to say when we have her full attention. It might be hilarious. :lol:
I'm sure it'll be beneficial though!



Rain Shadow said:


> There are tons of tricks you can teach that are safe! Watch the beginning of this tribute video of Ty and you can see me doing some tricks with him. Ignore the background noise, I just had my camera propped up and my family was having a barbecue in the background.


Ty is/was so cute!!! :loveshower: His little old man face! I can't even handle it. What a precious guy. 

I'm not a hugeee fan of the "kissing" trick, but we'll see! Fabs tends to be a little "free" with his mouth anyway so I'm hesitant to encourage him to throw his face in my face like that. But we'll see!

What all were you asking Ty to do there? I saw the kiss one, "yes," "no"...were there other ones? 

________________________________



We had a so-so day today. Fabs has been pretty stiff the last couple of days so he wasn't totally feeling it. I think I forgot to add MSM to a few of his bags of feed - I ran out of MSM and the new shipment of it arrived the day after I brought a month's worth of feed to the barn. I added MSM to as many bags as I could without making a huge mess, but some might have missed out.

I'll try to check that tomorrow evening.

Fabs tried SO hard though!
We're starting to get some crazy spring weather here, complete with unexpected torrential downpours and high winds, so the sensory experience in the barn was rather intense at times.

I lunged him a bit and, granted, he was pretty nuts on the line BUT he did a really great job at trying to calm himself down. He wasn't 100% successful, but I liked seeing him stop himself mid-bolt and reassess the situation - "is this _really_ that scary? Is Emily gonna say 'good boy' if I do this? No, she's gonna say 'good boy' if I get myself walking again. Ok, deep breath, lets try walking again."
He really tried hard.
It wasn't like some of the other times this sort of scenario has played out and he's just lost it 100%. He honestly tried to not be as worried as he was.

What a good boy. 


We also tried the laying down thing a bit. I'm trying a technique I saw in a Youtube video where the girl reward her horse for looking at the ground, then pawing the ground, etc. Eventually her horse laid down, which she rewarded for, etc.
I'm a bit worried about the behavior being on the horse's terms, but I'm gonna try to get it on cue asap. I'm concerned that he may get the idea that he can lay down whenever he feels like it if we stay in the "rewarding for feeling like rolling"-stage for too long. But, given how quickly he picked it up today, I'm thinking there may not be an issue.

Surprisingly, or maybe not, Fabs was SUPER into this.

I had him on the lunge line at first, had a bag of finely chopped carrots in my pocket, and asked him to lower his head. He did, and he got one carrot piece.
I stopped the video in the wrong place, unfortunately, but I did get some of the interesting part.

Essentially, he didn't "get" the whole "put your head down, get a carrot" thing until 5+ minutes in, but then he so got it. 
He spontaneously lowered his head once, got rewarded, then tried again immediately after, got rewarded again, thought for 30 seconds, then turned away from me and started looking for a place to roll. Every so often, he'd stop and look to me - looking for confirmation that he was doing the right thing.

Then, he seemed distracted, so I presumed that he was done with this activity and turned the camera off.
It was HILARIOUS when I returned back to the middle of the arena. He was giving me the most reproachful "hey! Why did you leave? we were doing something here!" glare. :rofl:
Within 2 minutes of my return to the middle of the arena, Fabs laid down, rolled a little bit, sat for a second, I rushed in with a carrot piece [haha], he ate the carrot while laying down, then slowly got himself back up and shook off.
Then he walked off to look out his favorite arena door/window - clearly of the opinion that he had completed the task. :lol:

So I feel pretty successful about that! Interestingly, even though I NEVER give him treats and he used to be a living horror over accepting treats [all chomping teeth and no carefulness], he was unexpectedly very polite about it. Like he understood that the treats were because he was showing the correct behavior and not just random "have a treat"-treats...

He is out of control smart. UGH. :loveshower:
Long and potentially boring video. He "gets it" at 5:10-ish, if you want to skip ahead. 







Oh, and, in slightly other news, the stall cleaner was near his stall when I showed up this morning. She told me "he loses it every time he hears your truck! He gets so excited! I've never heard a horse make half the noises he makes! He loves you so much."

AWWWWW. :loveshower::loveshower: This horse! I don't quite understand what I'm doing to deserve this love. I mean, I show up, I make him work hard and I don't feed him treats like ever and I have nothing to do with feeding him...but I love that he gets excited about my arrival! It makes me feel like our bond is more than just food-based. When he was at home, he always nickered for me and I was always like "well, yeah, he's hungry!"
It makes me happy that maybe he likes me more than just the food I give him. 


Speaking of food, he's gotten that 1/2" hay net on lock now! :rofl: He has no trouble with that action, the crazy kid! 5lbs of alfalfa twice a day, one strand at a time, and he is happy as can be. haha No more trying to chew his way out of his stall, thank goodness!


ETA, almost forgot these:

From yesterday - 







Today - 

Helping me clean up and hating every second


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## DraftyAiresMum

The head-resting-on-you thing is TOTAL arab. My friend's gelding (who Fabs reminds me of A LOT) does the same thing. My old gelding (who was Arab/NSH) did it to me, too.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Rain Shadow

Ty did quite a few tricks. He was trained that when I said "Are you a good boy?" He'd shake his head yes. If I said "Are you a bad boy?" He'd shake his head no. That video was earlier on when I taught those so we still had more cues, like me tapping the center of his chest for yes. 

He'd beg. The cue was me raising my hand in a fist and turning it, and he'd turn his head to the side and give the cutest face. 

Kissing was me tapping my lips and saying "Give me a kiss" and he'd put his muzzle against my lips so I could kiss him. 

He also 'bowed' when I tapped his shoulder and said "Bow" he had issues with his hocks so I only had him lift his leg and bring his head down. I attached a side view. Ignore my ten year old self running around in PJs with my pony. 

He also counted by me touching his leg. He'd paw however many times I tapped his leg. 3 taps, 3 paws, 

He'd also 'heel' like a dog, I'd heel him and we'd walk and jog through obstacles with him off leash and not leaving my side. 

Fabio seems like he's getting it! Great start. Once they 'get it' they get it. I taught Harley a few tricks and it was amazing how fast he figured it out. The hard part is getting it to a cue. 

In the video you see Ty shaking his head 'no' before I cued it. So I made him do it again, after the cue and he didn't get rewarded for the first one. 

Personally I'd probably start with an easier trick then lie down. Maybe something simple like counting or saying yes or no. That way you see how hard he will be to pick up the actual cue. 

There is an adjustment period where they do the trick constantly trying to get treats for it, and you have to basically ignore it until they do it when you say. 

The goats are sooo cute. How are they doing?


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## Rain Shadow

Forgot the pic!


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## Wallaby

DraftyAiresMum said:


> The head-resting-on-you thing is TOTAL arab. My friend's gelding (who Fabs reminds me of A LOT) does the same thing. My old gelding (who was Arab/NSH) did it to me, too.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Aww! Cute! I like that!  Lacey really didn't do a lot of head-resting-on-me. She liked to sniff me..and, I guess, she did like to put her head on top of my head... I guess that's similar! :lol:




Rain Shadow said:


> Ty did quite a few tricks. He was trained that when I said "Are you a good boy?" He'd shake his head yes. If I said "Are you a bad boy?" He'd shake his head no. That video was earlier on when I taught those so we still had more cues, like me tapping the center of his chest for yes.
> 
> He'd beg. The cue was me raising my hand in a fist and turning it, and he'd turn his head to the side and give the cutest face.
> 
> Kissing was me tapping my lips and saying "Give me a kiss" and he'd put his muzzle against my lips so I could kiss him.
> 
> He also 'bowed' when I tapped his shoulder and said "Bow" he had issues with his hocks so I only had him lift his leg and bring his head down. I attached a side view. Ignore my ten year old self running around in PJs with my pony.
> 
> He also counted by me touching his leg. He'd paw however many times I tapped his leg. 3 taps, 3 paws,
> 
> He'd also 'heel' like a dog, I'd heel him and we'd walk and jog through obstacles with him off leash and not leaving my side.
> 
> Fabio seems like he's getting it! Great start. Once they 'get it' they get it. I taught Harley a few tricks and it was amazing how fast he figured it out. The hard part is getting it to a cue.
> 
> In the video you see Ty shaking his head 'no' before I cued it. So I made him do it again, after the cue and he didn't get rewarded for the first one.
> 
> Personally I'd probably start with an easier trick then lie down. Maybe something simple like counting or saying yes or no. That way you see how hard he will be to pick up the actual cue.
> 
> There is an adjustment period where they do the trick constantly trying to get treats for it, and you have to basically ignore it until they do it when you say.
> 
> The goats are sooo cute. How are they doing?



Aww! Ty was so great. 

Hmm, good point. I feel like he'll be pretty fast to pick up the actual cue as he's SO concerned with being a "good boy" but who knows! I guess he does back up on cue - I can stand anywhere and point a pointer finger, while rotating my wrist up and down, and say "back" and he'll start backing up.  He figured that one out asap and, luckily, has a very firm grasp of cue=behavior and don't do the behavior without the cue!

But we'll see!


The goats are doing well.  They have figured out their Fabio-less routine and generally make their way to their shed [not the llamas shed - that was a big problem after Lacey died, they were practically impossible to get out of the llama's pasture] at dusk.
I think it's mostly Hazel leading the charge - she LOVES her special Hazel-only area and knows she needs to be in it at night. So she starts wandering down to the shed and Atticus really has no other choice but to follow. :lol:
Atticus is way more dominant than Haze, and he's definitely the leader discipline-wise, but it cracks me up how much power she really has. It was like that when Fabs was at home too - Hazel was always the main impetus for movement. If she was in, everybody stayed near the shed. If she was moving, everybody followed her. If she doesn't want to leave the shed during the day, no one leaves the shed. :lol:

__________________________

In Fabio news, I rode for a little bit tonight! 

I really want to get a video of how he rides in the Little S, his head/neck feels really different with him wearing it. 

BUT, I think he might really like it! He "helped" me put the reins over his head tonight and he NEVER does that! I haven't quite figured out how to have it placed correctly and have a rope halter underneath [it gets tight going on], but he's a good sport about it.

No headshaking tonight at all, just lots of responsiveness! I'm really really pleased. Maybe it's just because it's still new to him, but he's stayed really focused both times I've ridden and used it.

With the snaffle and the rope halter, he went well in both but there was always an element of "I'm listening to this as a FAVOR to you, human, and I want you to know that I could really do whatever I want if I decide not to listen." 
With this, I don't feel that way at all. He's tuned in, listening, responding, but also not afraid of it at all. Like he's listening because it makes sense to him and seems reasonable, not because he's afraid of what might happen or something...
And, thus far, I have seen ZERO pinned ears. Even when I asked him to trot last ride. NO pinned ears. What?!


In other news, there were some ground poles in the arena [stoked about that! I seem to have started a trend at the barn - I started using the cones with Fabs and now the BO is leaving the cones out alll the time. And now she brought in poles! Stoked about that!] and Fabs was convinced that they were gonna murder him. But he eventually got over it and decided that he might survive.
They really helped keep his attention on work, he does exceptionally well when he has to really think about where he places his feet.

After I rode, I lunged him a bit, and he thought about bolting at one point. He got two steps in, then SURPRISE! Ground pole! And guess who immediately stopped bolting? Fabio. 
HA. Take that, mister!!

A video from his first time over the poles: 
"MOM! WHY?! These things are gonna KILL me."


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## Wallaby

We had a good day!!

The weather today was TERRIBLE - super high winds, hail, rain, sun, all of it. And Fabs was in all day [luckily, his 1/2" hay net in working great so now he has hay most of the day again].
Fabs practically haltered himself when I went to grab him - when I didn't halter him 'fast enough', he started trying to grab the halter in his lips/shaking his head in true "HURRY UP MOM!!" fashion. :rofl:

He was being superduper spooky in his stall. There was hay on the ground that rustled and blew across the ground right as I started opening his stall door and he went all frozen and alert - not typical. 
I was pretty much already thinking we were gonna have a GREAT workout...not. I was pretty sure I was gonna be dragged around the arena by a nutso bolting creature.

I got his blanket off with minimal panicking on his part [it was static-y which he hates...and I just realized I forgot to spray him with anti-static spray...oops], and took him into the main barn.

He was still being a little high powered when we got in there, but chilled out once we got to the grooming stall and I started grooming him.
He was still on the lookout for something scary, but besides the howling wind outside, there wasn't a whole lot to worry about.

Luckily I still had a few sliced carrots from our last trick training session [carrots are really too sugary for PSSM, but I figure they might be ok if I cut them into reallly tiny bits and only reward with one piece at a time - so far he has not shown any adverse signs] in my grooming tote. So I figured we could work on that a little today - since I rode yesterday, today was a lunging/groundwork day.

By the end of our session, he was lowering his head in response to my cue of tapping him mid "forearm." 

It was interesting, he was motivated by the treats, but he tried extra hard after I gave him a treat and really sold the "good boy!" by getting really excited and giving him some pats. 
Funny horse!

He was totally chill through all that - even though the roof was whistling and the insulation was rattling and the doors were banging [all former spook-worthy situations].

He REALLY likes these training sessions. He got a bit sassy with me when I showed him that the carrots were all done and asked him to move off! He threw his head in the air and pinned his ears at me before moving away.
Pre-ear pinning, he gave me this look like "hey! I'm not done!" and slowly, emphatically, lowered his head like we had been practicing. 
He is hilarious! So much drama! So many feelings.

Then I lunged him a bit - mostly walking, a little bit of trotting. And, again, zero nervousness/spooking.

He did get nervous as we were leaving the arena - I had gone on ahead of him and he goes back to being really scared when he's by himself in there. But it was ok!

I'm mystified by this/him. But, currently, the key seems to be praising him for every. little. thing. and not commenting about any spooks.


He seems to be feeling a lot more comfortable with me/the routine and that's translating into me being more comfortable. I hope this bodes well for our lesson on Saturday!
He hasn't been ridden for the amount of time I'm sure I'm gonna ride for in a month+, since the diet change. I'm a little nervous about that - what if it makes him super sore/tie up?
But I'm sure it'll be fine and we won't know unless we try. The BO knows he's a bit "fragile" so I'm absolutely sure she's not gonna overwork him/us.

I also got that MSM added to his feed tonight. I double dosed it because it is one thing that really seems to make a difference for him and perhaps a double-dose will help even more. 
I never realized how much of an impact it does make - he is SO stiff right now, not moving freely at all...and I've never tried him on a double-dose. I guess we'll find out tomorrow!


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## Wallaby

Bit of an "eeeee!!!!" ride today! He was actually moving off my legs! Zero rein, just weaving back and forth, one step one direction, one step in a different direction, all off my legs!

Since getting the Zilco, and seeing Fabio's very good reaction to it [and how I feel like I have a lot of control with it, in a good way], I've set a 'goal' of riding every other day when possible [his pain level is a major deciding factor]. They don't need to be long rides, but I need to at least be on that horse's back at some point during our time together!

So today was a riding day. He was _definitely_ less stiff today - I assume in part/wholly due to that MSM last night!

The barn was busy and Fabs was spooky [his blanket fell on his back leg as I took it off and he kicked it clear into the air, while bolting forward... >.> ] so I was a bit nervous about riding, but I told myself that I didn't have to ride for long if I felt unsafe but I needed to ride.


The BO is so cute. She's trying to understand Fabio's story and she seems mystified that I don't know more than what I know. I think she's so used to her show horses and home-bred horses that she forgets that some horses are mysteries! haha
She was like "have you tried cross-tying him?" and I tried to explain that I hadn't because 1. he ground ties so well and 2. apparently a common PSSM trait is LOSING IT on the cross ties - something about how the side-to-side containment puts pressure on their facial nerves in a way that can cause a painful spasm. And she was like "oh, has he cross-tied before?" "no, I haven't tried, I don't think it's worth the risk.."
"Do you know who trained him to ground-tie?" "no, a friend of mine likes to ground-tie and she did some of his initial training when he was a therapy horse - I assume it came from her."
"hmm, when was that?" "2-ish years ago"
"So she broke him?" "no, he was broke before. Supposedly he was used for gaming with his previous owner.." 
"why's he so spooky then?? For how long? He's not fast!" "Great question! I have no idea. I kinda wonder if that part isn't exactly true..."
"Where was that? Did you get him around here?"

Etc etc etc She's mystified. haha

Speaking of his past, as he wears a halter numerous times a day, I'm noticing that the halter mark on his nose is becoming more and more obvious.  He's always had it, but since he wore a halter like 3 times a month, it was never really obvious.

It's pretty clear that SOMEONE left a way too small halter on the kiddo for way too long. You can feel it in the bone of his nose, as well as his jaw bone. His jaw bone has little flat spots, just where the throatlatch of a too-small halter would sit. 

I always wanted to think it wasn't a halter mark, but now there's not a lot else that it could be...he has a few incongruous white hairs there too but nothing too major. Maybe they got the halter off before it really bit into his skin... 

ANYWAY. Weird.




*STOP EVERYTHING! I got distracted from posting and LOOK WHO I FOUND!!!*
[ETA - realized the link I included has a forum = not ok for HF, I'll attach screenshots]

FABIO! At an auction! Everything makes so much more sense now. But also, everything we thought we knew about his past, FORGET IT.

AH! I _KNEW_ someone was lying! AH!! This is so much sadder than I thought, but also so much better. Who IS he?!!


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## Wallaby

ACK! I'm learning so many things!!

Apparently, according to the Facebook page, Fabs arrived at the auction with this horse:


Maybe his brother??? They look very very similar. This horse was labelled a 12 year old QH, but has no papers. I could see him being half Arab about as much as I can see Fabs being half QH - a lot.

This horse, the one Fabio arrived with, "got" the card of information which said that he [the poster that described the card did not mention Fabs - maybe it was implied? Maybe not..?] was saved out of a bad situation when he was 6, backed by an elderly man and the two horses were trail horses for the man and his wife. They were taken to the auction because the little old people got really sick and could no longer afford them.

Anyway, I messaged the woman who bought that horse. We'll see what happens!


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## Wallaby

I found his ad on the Auction Horse's FB page and two things:

1. His ad had 90 shares! More than any of the other horses.

2. The auction he ran through had very few horses in it, so the kill buyer bought a LOT of them and shipped them straight off from the auction. Fabs was one of just 7 leftover horses that month that "got lucky" and had a second, second chance.

CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY.

It's stuff like this, literally THIS, that repeatedly make me so so sure that me and Fabio were somehow created for each other. 
Not just luck of the draw "maybe they'll meet" sort of thing, but like one of those important intersections in time, like in Back To The Future, where people start getting erased if the meeting doesn't happen.

So many things have happened, even before I knew about his KP experience - meeting him, his name, Lacey's weirdly timed passing [sad and painful as it was! I'm sure she had some kind of hand in this whole thing], just all of it.

CRAZY.

Anyway, according to the auction stuff, it looks like he might be a year older than I thought - 13 this year, instead of 12. But that's ok!


I'm not particularly anti-slaughter in any way [I mean, it's not my favorite thing and I certainly would never put a horse of mine through an auction...but it's a better/easier passing than some other options, imo], but it feels a bit different when your beloved horse is the one that was in danger!!

Also funny, I guess I kind of assumed that Fabs would somehow look less "Fabs" if I ever saw pictures of him in his past life. 
And I was so wrong. He looked exactly, 100%, like himself. It's kind of messing with my mind! :lol:

I only got to visit him a little tiny bit yesterday [we had a late staff meeting yesterday and tonight I'm babysitting - no Fabs today, only 10 minutes yesterday  ] but I saw the BO as I was putting him away.
I told her about this new development and she paused, silent, then said "THAT Fabio? [pointing to his stall] The sweetest, kindest horse in the world, Fabio? The most relaxed horse in this whole barn, FABIO?! Someone SAVED him! Bless them! THAT Fabio??! Who would do that to HIM?!!!"

She doesn't usually say a whole lot, a whole "paragraph" is pretty crazy coming from her! haha
She was so stunned. I wish I had videotaped her reaction. It was hilarious and pretty much exactly how I feel. haha


Someone mentioned on the FB page that, based on his photo, they wondered if he might be part/full Morgan. Is that possible? I know nothing about Morgans... I mean, I feel like I see Arab...but I also kind of _want_ to see Arab. 
Would it be possible for a Morgan to be as western as he is??



Anyway, we have our lesson tomorrow! Here's hoping that he is in a SUPER good mood!
On the plus side, I think this KP discovery business will help the BO understand his "level" - I've been having a hard hard time explaining it to her. He knows some things, but totally doesn't know a lot of other things. It's not like we can just throw him into a lesson and expect him to know stuff, and I was having a hard time explaining that to her. I think this helped her kind of "get it."

I think, potentially, she has overestimated my level and has kind of has assumed that I know stuff and therefore Fabs knows stuff. Except that in reality, I'm making stuff up, praying it works and I don't die, and feeling pretty cool if/when it works out according to my plan. :lol:

"where are your cookies? FEED ME your cookies!"


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## DanteDressageNerd

That's crazy to find such an extended history on him through an auction webpage. It's cool that you can maybe find a lot of holes in his story and know/find out more about his history but that's crazy. 

I'm also with you I'm not "anti slaughter" only because when you've gone through the country side and seen starving horses it's like no I don't like slaughter but I'd rather a horse be put down than starve to death and suffering. I don't think I'd ever send a horse to auction either. But I can imagine the distress thinking how close Fabs came to being sent to slaughter. 

I don't know much about morgans, I've ridden a few morgans. I've also ridden a morab and I boarded at a morgan barn a long time ago but to me he looks arabian. He doesn't really look like a morgan to me. His face is pretty arab imo and hind end.


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## Wallaby

DanteDressageNerd said:


> That's crazy to find such an extended history on him through an auction webpage. It's cool that you can maybe find a lot of holes in his story and know/find out more about his history but that's crazy.
> 
> I don't know much about morgans, I've ridden a few morgans. I've also ridden a morab and I boarded at a morgan barn a long time ago but to me he looks arabian. He doesn't really look like a morgan to me. His face is pretty arab imo and hind end.


Right?? Totally crazy. And it totally fits what I sense/know about him. All his little quirks and funny things, training-wise, that were never sufficiently explained by the "owned him for 8 years, he's not hot enough for gymkhana, but he bolts really bad"-story are pretty well explained by the "bad situation, trained by old man/wife, trail riding, auction"-story.

I can't tell you how much a relief it is to have a story that fits him!! Before I felt like maybe he is just nuts and totally bipolar with humans, or something, and I get to see this good side of him but maybe a bolting demon is just biding his time, waiting to strike. 
Knowing more of his real story makes me feel a lot 'safer' that he was just misunderstood, and that the bolting was in response to being scared and not getting feedback on the correct answer. 
He NEEDS feedback and, as we have firsthand experience with [from the 2 month long spookfest we just dealt with, caused by me forgetting to reward him and doing too much of what he interpreted as punishment], he's quick to go "bad" if he doesn't get feedback. :lol:

Ok, that's how I feel about Morgans and Fabs too. Compared to the Morgans on this forum, he is so not Morgan-anything. I worked with one Morgan cross years ago and he was nothing like Fabs. He was a Kiger/Morgan cross, who I actually named Fabio [Fabio the First? haha], and he was something. He had lovely movement! He was quite tall, very slender build, a good guy. He was really scared of humans though. He clearly thought humans were dangerous and pretty much behaved himself because he was afraid of the consequences.  Not at all "dog-like" like Fabs - I feel like that's more of an Arab thing...personality-wise, I feel like Fabs is very Arab.
Breed-wise, I feel pretty confident about Quarab for Fabio!


__________________________


We had our lesson today!!

Fabs was in an EXCEPTIONAL mood today. He whinnied for my truck, and then me, he practically haltered himself, he was so so happy.

It was literally like picking a Golden Retriever up from the petsitter's house, or something. He was out of his mind with joy! :loveshower::loveshower:

He did so well in our lesson! I think we both learned A LOT.

The BO gave us a bunch of things to work on.

At first she just had me do my normal routine with him, then she started giving us tips. The hour flew by so fast! It was crazy.


Mainly she walked me through getting him to actively move his hind end around when I asked. He tends to be really "mobile" with his front end and his hind end just kind of trails along behind. haha

So she walked me through 'elementary' two-tracking [he's barely taking one step of it, so it's probably more like preschool two-tracking...haha], where I pick up the outside rein a little bit and push him over with my inside leg - the goal is that he'll move more sideways in response to the cue, vs turning or continuing straight.
THAT was funny. He was trying but was really unsure about what I wanted, I was having to work really really hard to get him to move his butt over at all. He was perfectly willing to do it with his front end, but got utterly stymied that I wanted his hind end to move too.
The BO suggested that I line him up, nose to the wall and try moving him back and forth [sidepassing, I guess] to see if that helped him understand what we were asking. HILARIOUSLY, [I've NEVER tried this with him before] I asked him to step over and he sidepassed out of nowhere, easy as pie. Then I asked him to go the other direction and voila, he did it again!

The BO essentially started crowing "he knows this! He knows this! He did it both ways!! Someone trained this!"

I had no idea he knew that! We were all pretty excited about it!

Suddenly, after that, two-tracking [or, at least, taking a single step over while walking] made a lot more sense to him. He "got it" and correctly answered my request to step over a couple of times, both directions, after that. 
It's definitely still new to him, but BOY, you should have seen how hard he was listening to me while we worked on that!! He wanted to badly to understand what I was asking and he gave it so much concentration!

It's crazy the change in him when his hindend comes into play - I can feel it immediately and it's not something someone needs to tell me is happening. There's no way to mistake it! Usually I've felt like I have a bad feel for these things ["which leg is he moving now?" "....all of them? I don't know???" :lol: ] but I felt pretty good about my feel today.

Then we worked on circling and getting his hindend engaged in that - THAT was much harder for him. But he tried, gave some solid attempts, and he earned a little break.

She also had us try some counterbending - pushing his hindend about in a circle while poking his nose to the outside. THAT was really really hard. He had a hard time, I had a hard time, but we got one and then we moved on. It's something to practice for sure. 
He was mostly just confused about what I was asking and I was having a hard time getting my body together. As we work on the other things and we both learn how to move to get the desired response, I'm sure counterbending will come.

Then we did a little trotting. His trot was HUGE today. It felt so so bouncy! But I haven't done a lot of trotting on him since the PSSM treatment so maybe this is just how he is. I liked it, it didn't feel dead, but man!

The BO was laughing so hard watching him try to trot the trot poles the had been set up in the arena! She was like "he doesn't like lifting his feet very high so he's lifting his whole body over them. He is too funny!"

But he did a good job. And the BO told me that the poles are a really good addition for him [something I already felt]. She said that, though it's low, his movement is really consistent in a way that surprises her, given it's lowness. So I guess that's a compliment and I guess I'll take it! haha

Then we started working on some serpentines while trotting and that threw the BO for another loop! 
His "nasty" side came OUTTTT.

He did NOT like me putting my leg on around the corners and he totally made his opinion known. I told her how he was always like that about leg when we first start trotting and how I'm pretty sure he's misinterpreting the leg as a request to canter [since that's 100% how he used to be at the walk if he thought I was going to ask him to trot]. 
He settled down after a few repetitions, then the BO noticed he was falling in on the corners, so asked me to try putting my inside leg on as we turned.

And OH MY GOSH. That unleashed a whole new level of ****y. Ears pinned, mouth grimacing, he was so so mad. He even tried rearing straight out of a trot stride - THAT was hysterical. It didn't work quite as well as he had planned...he had a little too much forward momentum for it to be more than a "jump" forward. :lol:
He was trying everything he could think of to get me to stop.

But we just kept going and, a minute after that rear, he put his head down, ears forward, and accepted contact from both my legs as he went around the turn. So I stopped him right there and we ended the ride.

The BO thinks that anger may go away as he learns more leg cues [so he learns that most leg cues are probably not canter cues, vs his current idea that most leg cues are probably canter cues], or he might always be a little cranky. Either way, she's not too worried about it. She was surprised to see that level of "mad" come out of him, but she really liked his willingness to play his cards, then give up the fight.

That's one thing I love about him - no matter how angry he is, he doesn't escalate to the point of _trying_ to get me off. He tries to scare me into backing off, but he doesn't try to hurt me.
He gets all mad but he's still like "you're my human and you may be an idiot, but you're my idiot and I don't want you to die."

Then I handwalked him for a minute, untacked him, gave him a massage, took him for a walk outside, then turned him out. He was all kinds of perky after the lesson too - something about his diet/life is going VERY right right now! Usually he would have been wiped after that!


The BO was really happy with us. She repeatedly called it a "really really good ride." I felt that way too. 
I feel like, with a little training, Fabs and I could be a really great team. And I think these lessons might be just the ticket. 

He was SO focused during the lesson! I could feel him waiting for my next cue - instead of just going around and maybe getting 'interrupted' by a cue from me. It was a really different, and really nice, feeling. I'm really looking forward to our next ride, I feel like I have some things to work on with him that are manageable, but also catch his attention like crazy.


He only spooked once, at literally nothing, mid-lesson, but it was just a tiny jump and he was totally focused the rest of the time - even with horses getting turned out in the pastures behind the barn, barn doors opening, birds flying everywhere, lots of distractions and he nailed it.

I feel much more confident now!!

The magnificent creature himself:




The BO did say "boy, you've got your hands full with this one. He's really intelligent, maybe a lot too intelligent..." :rofl: YEP. But that's probably why I like him so much. 
Brains for days!


----------



## Wallaby

I had intended to give Fabs the day off and maybe just groom him, not do anything else. 

But he was so perky, I ended up lunging a bit too.

LUCKILY, he didn't seem too sore from yesterday. I think being turned out right after the lesson yesterday really helped his muscles not freeze up.
I had been a bit concerned that an hour of walk/trot undersaddle might make him really sore - in reality, his muscles were EXTREMELY loose this morning! It was great. 

Anyway, he wasn't quite as awake as he was yesterday [PSSM horses tend to get "sleepy" looking when they're symptomatic - their muscles are out of energy so they feel exhausted/sleepy], but he was pretty awake!

He did really well while I lunged him. We mostly walked, with a little trotting and some cantering because he offered it and I accepted. :lol:
I've been trying to teach him to really move out when he trots, in conjunction with stretching his head down. He was starting to consistently stretch down, but also shorten his stride up until he was hardly working at all - NOT the point, Fabio!!
So now I'm trying to teach him to lengthen lengthen his stride, THEN stretch into it, while keeping the same pace. He's doing pretty well! 
It seems like trotting with a longer stride feels better to him, but it's also harder because he's using more muscles. So he can keep it up for a bit, but then he needs a break.

I only lunged him for 15-20 minutes, just long enough to get his body really moving.

Another "gasp" moment during our lunging session was that a couple times, as he was bending, I _saw_ a flash of rib! He's only just starting to have feel-able ribs, and now see-able ribs??! Ah! I love it!
He doesn't seem to be losing weight, I think it's mostly just that he's toning up and some of that belly fat is being turned into muscle, PLUS, thanks to his new diet, he's metabolizing better, etc.

Look at how cute!




I added two new things to his diet this month: extra Lysine [apparently that can be beneficial for Type 2's] and Cough Free because I'm a little bit wondering if he may have allergies or if his PSSM is being triggered by an allergen [sometimes his eyes get a little running or puffy for a day in a way that's unexplainable, plus, he's been consistently more sore on "high allergen" days..]. Both of them are mostly just to try for the month. If they don't seem to do anything, no harm done.
Next month I'm going to add some Cool Calories - a lot of type 2s do best with some fat and ALCAR [vs just one or the other like type 1s]. 

He's still symptomatic enough that I feel like something is missing. I'd like to get that figured out!

Anyway, yay! Go Fabs!


----------



## Wallaby

Rough, rough, day today. I don't know if you guys remember the llamas that my neighbors own [the neighbors that own "my" pasture], but I take care of the llamas when the neighbors go out of town.

The white llama has been in a sort of downward spiral over the last few years [she was 25-30 years old at last count, crazy old for a llama] but she's pretty wild, so there wasn't a whole lot anyone could do.

Anyway, this morning I found her cast in the pasture, having fallen/rolled down the hillside during the night and ended up with her back legs above her body.

Long story short, I ended up having to make the decision to have her put down. 
I found her at about 7am, the vet made it out by 8:20, and there really wasn't a question. 
Her temperature was so low that the digital thermometer registered nothing [she was out in the rain and it's been 40*F all week], her pulse was so weak that it took her heart 15 minutes to stop, after the injection. 

Luckily she was pretty calm. I mean, given her condition, it's no wonder she was calm...but still. 
I'm just thankful I found her before she passed naturally [since that would have taken at least a few more hours and been entirely inhumane] and I'm glad the coyote left her alone. 

THEN I worked a full day. Ha. I was supposed to be in at 7:30, but luckily my boss is super understanding about this sort of thing and it was ok that I didn't make it in until 9:30. They were short staffed, but it was ok.

March is my LEAST favorite month. 
Lacey died on March 28th 2 years ago, a friend [one of my closest friend's little brother - he was my age] took his own life last year on March 23rd, and Hazel was attacked by the coyote on March 30th last year.

UGH.



On the Fabs front, he had a roughhhh last two days. 
His PSSM went nuts on Monday and he was superduper sore and grumpy, and I could not figure out why. He was better yesterday, but not really "ok" and I was still totally stumped. 

Later in the evening, as I gave Hazel an extra blanket because she was shivering, I realized that the temperature dropped over the weekend, from highs around 60*F down to highs of maybe 50*F, BUT Fabs was still wearing his mid-lightweight blanket that he was most happy in when it was 55-60+. 
Being cold can absolutely cause a PSSM flare up and the timing fit, so I raced back to the barn and put his midweight blanket on him.

GUESS who was right as rain today??? Mr. Fabs. He's ridiculous - 220g fill in 50*F weather, come on now! 
But hey, if it works!

Anyway, it's a huge relief that he's doing better. I was a bit worried that he was super going off the rails!

Based on how well he was doing today, I probably could have ridden but I really wasn't up for it so I lunged him instead.

He got his hooves trimmed yesterday and the trimmer did a few things differently to see if it helps him at all - he's been getting sore towards the end of his 5 week cycle so we're trying to figure it out.

Anyway, she watched him moved a bit and she suggested that I try a "bodywrap" with him while lunging - 2 polowraps linked together [or something similarly wide-ish but stretchy] and wrapped around his body in a figure-eight like this:

http://www.ttouch.com/photos/photo1.jpg

Supposedly it should help him be more aware of his body and encourage him to move properly, without "forcing" him into it. Anyway, I'm gonna try it out. I didn't do that tonight, but I think it's an interesting idea. He is trying SO hard to teach himself how to move properly, it'll be interesting to see if a bodywrap does anything!
He definitely benefits from things that help him "connect" his body all together.

Actually, I've been really interested at how productive our lunging session have become recently [when he isn't sore, that is - forget productivity if he's sore!!]. 
With very little encouragement from me [I mean, I push him up until he's at an active trot, but I'm not using a whip or any other 'artificial' aids - not that there's anything wrong with the proper use of artificial aids!], he seems to be actively seeking 'engagement' within his own body.
It's crazy.
Every session he gives a bit more and he's working SO hard to engage his core. I mean, I couldn't get it undersaddle if I tried, but somehow he's dressage-ing out on me on the lunge line!

I do NOT understand this horse! But I love him!!

Like here - LOOK at his hind end! Maybe it's just me, but his forehand really looks like it's 'floating' here.
Compare that to the good photo from my last post, he was working hard there...but it looks to me like he's working 50 times harder in tonight's photo!

I'll try to remember to take my camera tomorrow!!


----------



## gunslinger

"Beware the ides of March"

I'm hoping this March is going to be much better than the last couple....


----------



## egrogan

Sorry to hear about the llama, that's so tough-particularly when it's someone else's animal in distress. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Tazzie

March is just a terrible month all the way around :sad: I'm sorry about the llama, and I'm glad your bosses were understanding!

I'm glad Fabs feels better with a heavier blanket! Whatever works!

And his lunging picture looks awesome! He looks so happy and wanting to work!


----------



## Wallaby

gunslinger said:


> "Beware the ides of March"
> 
> I'm hoping this March is going to be much better than the last couple....


Me tooo. I'm hoping that it'll only get better from here...



egrogan said:


> Sorry to hear about the llama, that's so tough-particularly when it's someone else's animal in distress.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


For sure.  I'm just glad that they had asked me to look after the llamas and that they trust me enough to make a decision like that for them - I can live with yesterday and myself much better knowing that I did everything I could and that I _could_ do something! You know?

Still super rough though. I think it's really gonna hit me this weekend and I don't see her in the pasture - right now I feed in the dark in the morning [it's a little dusky in the morning nowadays, but still pretty dark - I only found the llama yesterday because her coloring didn't look right for how she was sitting and I only realized why when I got up to her] and evening, so I can't really do my normal animal headcount.

She wasn't mine, but I cared about her a lot.

She got buried today, which is a relief. I'm glad she's out of the rain now.




Tazzie said:


> March is just a terrible month all the way around :sad: I'm sorry about the llama, and I'm glad your bosses were understanding!
> 
> I'm glad Fabs feels better with a heavier blanket! Whatever works!
> 
> And his lunging picture looks awesome! He looks so happy and wanting to work!


Me too! She is amazing. This morning I came in and she was like "I wanted to talk to you about yesterday. I'm really sorry that I didn't check in about how you were doing! You had just been through this super traumatic event and I was just like 'thank goodness you're here, here's a kid.' I'm sorry about that! You're a trooper!"

Right? My delicate little flower. haha <3

I'm so excited about it!! He's really trying! I used to think his work ethic was really lacking, but I think it was mostly just PSSM pain holding him back! With the pain less/gone, he's so willing and seems to actually enjoy work. Crazy!


______________________________


I rode this evening! 

It was just a short ride, but Fabs worked hard. I mostly focused on the "two-tracking" thing and getting him to move his butt over [he'll get his forehand over no problem, but the movement stops there].

Again, initially lining him up with the wall and having him sidepass was a good first step.

He tried hard and he gave me a few steps going both ways. He's pretty consistently nailing it going to the left, but going to the right is much harder. That's a little interesting to me because his left side tends to be much stiffer than his right side...but hey, whatever works!

Going to the right was super rough. I only got 2-3 _maybe_ steps. We didn't try it that way in the lesson more than one though, and we did it a bunch going to the left, so maybe it's a matter of that side catching up.

I also need to be careful with how forcefully I'm cuing him - I tend to "speak louder" when he doesn't respond properly [I do that in my daily life too... >.>] which has the tendency to make him feel "wrong," which tends to make him confused-scared/unwilling. 
I need to practice staying soft and relaxed, facilitating him into the movement I want.

I think me speaking too loud was part of the problem today - we did the good side first and he did so well, I kind of forgot that his other side really doesn't understand it yet.

But anyway, he only got fussy [tossing his head: "I'm confused and you're being too heavy handed!"] going to the right and we stopped on a good note.
He DID stay really focused again! I really like having a goal to work towards, it helps me focus too. :loveshower:


----------



## Wallaby

I was thinking yesterday/today about how much I love the "language" that Fabs and I are developing - being at the barn has REALLY been great for that.

Lacey and I had a 'language' that we communicated in and that was one of the most rewarding things about our relationship, for me at least. She'd tell me about what she wanted, or didn't want, and I always kind of assumed that that ability to "talk" to horses died with her.

Somehow I always felt like I knew what she needed, and she wouldn't waste time about getting sassy with me if I got it wrong!


I'm starting to feel that way with Fabs too. 

I feel like I understand better where he's coming from - maybe it's because I know about the PSSM now, but he seems to be speaking more "clearly." Like i can tell what he wants now, instead of him just being miscellaneously fussy.
PERHAPS, he used to be unreadabley fussy because the constant PSSM pain situation, and now he's more clear because the pain isn't muddling things up? 
Who knows. Either way, we are communicating SO MUCH BETTER theses days. It's great!


Anyway, I tried the bodywrap on Mr. Fabs today and he threw some SERIOUS shade about it. He was not thrilled.
I think I had it too loose though, which probably didn't help. Tomorrow/Sunday I'm gonna do it much tighter.

He tripped a bunch today too which was weird... But most of the tripping seemed to occur when he was focusing too much on hating the bodywrap and not enough on where he was going. :lol:

He was licking and chewing a lot too so I think he liked it, despite being also confused and concerned by it...

Hilariously, he thought a little about bucking when I asked him to canter, but he didn't try too hard with that one. Just one little crowhop and then mostly "well, it is worrisome, but do I want to work THAT hard??"
:rofl:

Also, he came right up to me when I arrived and opened the gate to his pasture. I felt pretty loved! 

I love that I rarely get to feed him, never give him treats, only groom him and make him work...but he's still thrilled to see me. It's a good feeling. 

Anyway, pictures!

Skeptical about the bodywrap, but trying:




And that ridiculously adorable face:


----------



## knightrider

I've been told that ESP is a skill that people can develop. Just like with any talent, some people are more skilled than others and develop the talent much faster than other people. If this is true, then horse communication should be the same--the more you practice, the better you get.


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

I'm sorry to hear about the llama as well but it sounds like she lived a good long life. I'm not sure how long is usual but 25-30 sounds like a good one!

The body wrap is interesting. Can't say that is something I have tried. Did it help? The lower lunging picture looks really good.

But I'm glad to hear your partnership is improving and you're getting each other. It's always good to grow together and get each other more and more. 

I love his halter! That is festive and fun!! And he does. He has a very cute face.


----------



## Wallaby

knightrider said:


> I've been told that ESP is a skill that people can develop. Just like with any talent, some people are more skilled than others and develop the talent much faster than other people. If this is true, then horse communication should be the same--the more you practice, the better you get.


That makes sense!
I'm pretty intuitive as far as humans go [I blame working with animals all my life :lol: ] so that probably makes it easier for me to develop a feel for what means what, and so forth...


Fabs and I had a bit of a crazy day today!

I thought about riding, but didn't. 
I'm super tired cuz I've been sick and not sleeping well - the cold transitioned into a wonderful cough, and now that cough has transitioned into a weird asthma-y thing. 
I've been using my inhaler every couple of hours to try and give my lungs a break so they can heal, but I'm not sure how well it's going. 
Using the inhaler at all is kind of a last resort sort of deal. I have it, but I never need to use it! ...except for right now. haha


Anyway, it was a pretty good thing I didn't ride! It started hailing like CRAZY right as I was getting Fabs ready to come out into the area and he lost it.
I don't really blame him, it was painfully loud for me, I can't imagine how loud it was for him!

But he bolted out of the grooming stall, I grabbed his lead rope, he bolted towards me, I backed him up, and he stood there, lower lip quivering, horrified, until the hail stopped.
It would have been 1000 times harder to get him under control, had I been riding!!

Anyway, he tried really hard and was REALLY surprised and REALLY proud of us when we both survived the Hail-pocalypse. :lol:

I put the bodywrap on his again, much tighter this time, and I think he really liked it! The antics were much less this time and he actually wasn't crossfiring when we cantered to the left! He tends to crossfire going that way MOST of the time.
I also noticed that he was cantering differently with it on. More upright, I think, maybe? Somehow he wasn't getting as low as I feel like he usually does.

He was having A LOT of feelings about cantering [demonstrated by how much he's moving his head around around in the video - "this is so hard, why are we doing this? I don't hate it, but it's so hard!"] but he did it and he did it well.

Trot-wise, that's pretty much where he is right now - I'm REALLY happy with it. He pops right back into a pretty good trot without much fussing, even after a complete stop, and [to my uneducated eye] it seems like he's really testing out using his muscles more productively.


I'm pretty happy with him and his progress!!

We're only barely 2 months out from discovering PSSM/starting the new diet/etc and, _supposedly_, it takes PSSM horses 6 months to a year to "recover", as much as they can, from whatever damage the disease has caused.
I don't want to be too optimistic, but I feel really optimistic if this is just 2 months out...who's he gonna be by the end of the summer?! 

And dang, I really like how he moves. Kinda a lot 'in like' with this horse! :lol:


----------



## Wallaby

DanteDressageNerd said:


> I'm sorry to hear about the llama as well but it sounds like she lived a good long life. I'm not sure how long is usual but 25-30 sounds like a good one!
> 
> The body wrap is interesting. Can't say that is something I have tried. Did it help? The lower lunging picture looks really good.
> 
> But I'm glad to hear your partnership is improving and you're getting each other. It's always good to grow together and get each other more and more.
> 
> I love his halter! That is festive and fun!! And he does. He has a very cute face.


Haha we posted at the same time!

According to Google [I have no idea either] 20-30 years is the average lifespan with good care, so for a wild llama eating COB and alfalfa [both big "no's" for llamas], she did really really well!
And she was happy, which is the main thing. 

Yesterday the bodywrap just kind of freaked him out, today I think it really helped. He didn't crossfire at the canter today [he usually does, guess it's a typical PSSM 'symptom'] and he spent a lot more time trying to engage his hind end! Usually he tries, but it's pretty hit and miss - 5 seconds here, 10 here, 2 minutes of complete forehand dumping, etc. haha
Today he actually got it, and held it, for nearly one full circle! I was pretty proud of him for that!

Supposedly bodywraps like that are great for horses with neurological stuff [maybe Dante would benefit as he recovers from EPM? I guess you can use polo wraps to create one!] and horses with muscular "problems" because it encourage "body awareness" which, apparently, is typically lacking in horses with neuro/muscle issues... I don't know how much of that is actually a thing, but I know Fabs has major body awareness issues and it does seem to be waking him up even more to his whole body, vs just the easy muscles.

We'll see! I'm gonna keep using it during most of our lunging sessions, I think, and we'll all get to see what happens! 


And thanks! I love his halter too. I wanted something that would stay bright even as it got dusty from the barn, and this one is doing the trick! Somehow I thought it'd be a little less bright when I bought it online and I wasn't totally sold on all that pink on a red horse [somehow it looked more purple-y in the stock photo]...but Fabs pulls it off pretty well. It suits his dramatic "I like to have nice things" attitude, while also being sort of comical and cute. :lol:


----------



## Wallaby

I don't have a lot of time for a longer report, but I rode this evening!

Fabs was in a GREAT mood so he was in full puffed up, "I'm so athletic and on top of it!"-mode. My favorite. haha
Actually though, interestingly I used to hate that "mode" but I'm coming to really like it - I used to think that that was when he was the most likely to be crazy/spooky, BUT, since learning about PSSM, I've come to realize that these "athletic" days are actually when he's not symptomatic and he's feeling good. AND when he's feeling good, he's not likely to spook. 
He's way way more crazy-unpredictable-spooky on days when he's very symptomatic and "dead"-seeming.

Anyway, so he was feeling great today.

I showed up maybe 10 minutes after he had been fed so he was happily munching on his hay net, but he whinnied the moment he saw me and practically flung himself at his stall door.
He then scurried over to his grain feeder, licked it totally clean, then went straight to the stall door and put his head down - looking for his halter. :lol:

It was prettttty clear that he was ready to come out! haha

I got him all groomed up [poor guy is terrified of his blanket again because it shocked him super badly yesterday. I smothered it in anti-static spray before putting it back on him, but static is number 1 on his top ten list of "be wary forever of objects that _____ you" list] and then we tacked up.

I only got to ride for 20ish minutes. It was SO funny, I was trying to work with him on that two-tracking thing and, because he was getting so head-toss-y about how I was asking [contact with inside rein, slight increased contact with outside rein, pressure from inside leg], I decided to try all of the above, but open my outside rein a bit [vs just pressure]. 

He stopped tossing his head, but he just did not get it. He'd move his front end over, but not the whole shooting match.
I got one kind of half step going his "good" direction, so I had him change directions and I tried the other way - he said "NO."
Then I attempted to ask the original way [light inside rein, heavier outside rein, inside leg pressure], and what do you know, that horse stepped right over perfectly! 

It was HYSTERICAL. Like "Oh, do you mean THIS?" after I had been struggling for half an hour to get him to take that step. hahahaha he is such a jerk. :lol: :lol:

Anyway, as soon as he did that, I stopped him and got right off. I wanted to really underline that that was the RIGHT thing to do.
He started licking and chewing the moment I stepped off, so I think he understood the reward, at least.

So so funny. 
He is so particular. "There are certain ways we, as civilized people, do things, DUH EMILY."

The more I know him, the more I realize that he is my literally personality-twin. We both benefit from a lot of positive reassurance/feedback, we're both very particular, we're both a bit jumpy, the list could get so long...it's ridiculous how similar we are.
REDHEADS. :lol:

Post-ride, feeling pretty good about himself:


----------



## tinyliny

Don't overdo the clicking sound, or it will soon be white noise.


----------



## Tazzie

Isn't it funny how they just go "Oh, you wanted this?? Ok!" after you've been struggling? Goofy horses!

I'm glad you had a great ride!


----------



## Skyseternalangel

tinyliny said:


> Don't overdo the clicking sound, or it will soon be white noise.


Agreed... try and use more body language and if needed pointing the whip.

I don't cluck as much anymore and I find Sky is MUCH better.


----------



## Wallaby

tinyliny said:


> Don't overdo the clicking sound, or it will soon be white noise.





Skyseternalangel said:


> Agreed... try and use more body language and if needed pointing the whip.
> 
> I don't cluck as much anymore and I find Sky is MUCH better.


Good thinking. 
He used to get panicky whenever I asked for 'more' using body language or a whip [I don't usually use a whip because Fabs locks in on the whip and stops paying attention to me - he's not afraid of it {as in, I can touch him all over with it and he's pretty chill about it} but it really distracts him during work] BUT I tried it today and it worked pretty well - using stronger body language when he didn't respond immediately to a cluck. 
He got a little worked up, but I think the fact that he finally understands what I want him to do during a lunging session [ie, focus, get that back/hind end into it, and give me more than just plodding around] really helped him calm down from his worry/"meh, meh, meh, I don't wanna"-ness. :lol:




Tazzie said:


> Isn't it funny how they just go "Oh, you wanted this?? Ok!" after you've been struggling? Goofy horses!
> 
> I'm glad you had a great ride!


So funny! A little aggravating, but mostly hilarious! haha



__________________________




Today was another good day for Mr Fabs!

He was turned out when I got there, but walked right up and essentially caught himself [he put his head right into the halter I was holding :lol:].

I groomed him pretty well [his shoulders, chest, and face are almost completely shed out! His neck is halfway there, the rest of him has a ways to go] and I decided to lunge him, sans wraps, today.

I thought about riding, but our grooming session turned up a few mildly sore spots on his back and, traditionally, he doesn't do well with two riding days in a row, so I figure I can ride tomorrow if he's still on top of it. 

I was grooming him today and realized that I can _easily_ feel his ribs for the first time EVER. He is fit! 
I've been able to find them for a few weeks, but today was the first day that I didn't have to go trawling through at to find them. :lol:
I'm going to let the BO know if he keeps losing, but he's in a good place right now. He's not fat, he's not thin, he's perfect.


I am LOVING how into lunging he has been getting. It's how he gets undersaddle with the two-tracking - something lights up in his brain and he focuses SO HARD! He's just going around in a circle, but he is so focused on rounding his back, trotting at a good pace, putting his head down...it's crazy! 
And great.

He loses the focus at the canter, but I think it's coming. I saw a little focus today while he cantered, I'm hopeful.

It is really rewarding for me to see Fabs, who traditionally has been very anti-work [largely due to the PSSM, I'm sure], blossom into a horse that genuinely really enjoys moving around.


He had one minor freakout today when I asked him to canter going to the left. I got after him too quickly for his delayed departure [I assume it's the PSSM-related hind end muscle atrophy, but he always needs a second to figure his legs out before he can pick up a canter] and he jumped into cantering on the wrong lead.
He knew it was wrong and I said "ah-ah" and he kind of freaked out. Tried bolting away from me once or twice, switched directions without permission [I moved my hands and he tends to overreact to that sort of movement in this 'state' - ie, interprets it as a 'switch directions' cue], bucked a few times - all with "dead panic-eyes." 
I can't really explain it, but his eyes sort of glaze over and he goes into blind-self-preservation mode sometimes...it's not like other times when I chastise him and he gives me silly-grumpy-attitude, it's like he's screaming "I'm not here, I'm not here, what am I doing wrong? I don't know, I give up, I give up, AHHHHH" - like a kid who's been hurt-traumatized and gives up without even trying because they know they don't know the "right answer" and they are so terrified of the consequences for being "wrong."
He literally ran into the arena wall once when he was in this mode...

Anyway, I just let him work through it, then, when he came back mentally [a minute later], I had him turn around and had him trot until he relaxed [lowered his head, started listening more vs simply reacting]. THAT was _some_ trot - his hind legs were clearly overreaching his fronts, it was something!
Once he relaxed, I had him stop for a second, then asked him to pick up a trot, then had him canter again.

That canter went ok. He had a hard time relaxing into it and he was clearly nervous [and hella' fast], but he finally managed to relax slightly so I had him stop and we cooled out.

The one thing I did really like about this panic-moment that he had was that, as soon as he was "back," he immediately started 'asking' what the answer I wanted was. It didn't even take him a minute before he was lowering his head and flicking his ears at me.
In the past, he would have been "gone" for the next 10-15 minutes and even then, it would have effected the rest of our time together. He would have stayed wary and nervous for whatever reason, generally until I left.

I really like that he feels confident that he knows what I want! It makes me feel like we're finally getting somewhere, like we're building confidence in each other.


After I turned him back out, he trotted over to his grass.  I love seeing him trot in his own time! It's something he never/rarely did before. I love that he's feeling that good!

Pictures!


Shedding season does NOT amuse Sir Fabs:



His neck! :loveshower: And look at him raising his back and lifting his belly! :loveshower:




:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

We had a good, but short, ride this evening!

Fabs was in an amazing mood [he had Thursday off and I just gave him a massage, he had yesterday off too and we just went for a walk = today he was so ready to work] this evening which is always a really nice treat. 
He was a little sassy and pinned his ears at me a few times, but it was mostly playful, I think. Alternatively, they were short muscle spasms.

I think he may have been experiencing some kind of short muscle spasm things, potentially from his excitement over my arrival. He was really happy, then he'd get quiet and grumpy seeming, then he'd be right back to happy and bouncy.

Either way, we had a lovely short ride. He had a hard time focusing on work [I think he was a little TOO excited..haha], but no spooks.
He stepped right over the moment I asked him to two-track and he successfully did it both directions, not every time I asked [I need to work on how I ask though, I tend not to be very consistent with my two-tracking rein cues] but he was consistent. 
And the "hard way" is no longer the hard way! 

I rode for maybe 10 minutes - got it a bunch of times going to the right ["the hard way"] then switched directions, asked him to two-track, and hopped off the second he gave me a good one.

He seems to really benefit the most from short, positive, rides. I do try to vary the ride length - I don't want him to shut down on rides over 15 minutes! haha

Anyway, I got a picture that interests me.

The bottom one is from about 2 weeks ago, the top one is from today. I'm very interested in how much more relaxed his body looks. I remember that the day I took the first picture was not a "good day" for him, and it's interesting to see that day compared to a really good day.
His neck and belly both look especially tight in the before picture - both of which are the areas that tend to tighten up first when he's not feeling 100%.

Very interesting!



I do think his muscles [neck, hindquarters] are looking more filled in in the current photo. I was just starting him on Lysine when I took that first photo and now it's been in his system long enough to do things. Lysine is supposed to help him access the protein in his feed better/more easily, and therefore build muscle more easily. Maybe it's actually working!
It was recommended to me by owners of other PSSM2 horses so I'm glad it's maybe helping him.


Other interesting things I've noticed since he started the PSSM diet is that he's started occasionally resting a hind leg when he's relaxed and he's started dropping his "5th leg" occasionally when he's super relaxed - he NEVERRR used to do either of those things.
Similarly, he's way less into massages now. 

I guess maybe he's truly feeling better! :happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Today was another good day!! Fabs was in such a good mood and feeling so well. He was being SO social!

He used to hate everybody except me, basically. I kinda liked being his one love, but I also like that he's more comfortable with strangers now.
He still loves me best though! :lol:

Today I showed up and I could hear him nickering in his stall before I even got out of my truck! :lol: He was in there throwing his head up and down [a new habit/way of saying "hurry up! hurry up!" - not my favorite thing..], nickering his head off. 
He saw me, whinnied, and started kicking/pawing at his stall door! :lol: :lol:

I love that he's finding such fulfillment in the work we're doing. I mean, it's mostly just grooming, then lunging with a few walks/massages thrown in and riding once/twice a week. 
He loves it! 

Back when we first moved, I thought he'd for sure start hating my arrival because it meant he was gonna work. I love that that has not been the case.
I mean, it probably helps that work feels good to him now..but still!


Also, I noticed this and found it to be a little funny/sad:

Today- 



December 24th [this used to be his 100% normal way of going at the trot] - 



CRAZY.
I would be horrified if I saw him moving like that now! That's not even him anymore!


----------



## Wallaby

Today = meh.

I had plans of things to do with Fabs, but it started thundering/hailing and Fabs was LOSING HIS JUNK.

Thankfully I got him all groomed before the thunder started, but I was going to lunge him on the lunge line and use the wraps. He kept trying to bolt with each thunderclap [it wasn't that loud, not sure why he was so freaked out...I'm guessing he wanted to be outside and "free"] so I decided that, rather than get on his case about this whole bolting thing, I'd take him to the arena, free lunge him, and give him something to focus on [me] while the "scary" things were happening.

I grabbed a lunge whip because I wanted to make sure he'd pay attention to me [one of his "classic" behaviors is listening until he gets scared, then totally tuning me out - the lunge whip helped motivate him a bittt better on the listening-front] which ended up being a really good move. I had 80% of his attention nearly 100% of the time, and I didn't have to nag him at all.

He ran SO hard. I'm a bit worried that he overdid it, but he was calm by the time we finished up and that was my goal. I wanted to give him something to focus on other than the scary stuff - the last few times weather-related scary things have happened, I could have dealt with them better [by giving him other things to think about] and I think our previous experiences contributed to today's "outburst." 
By not actively doing anything with him in the previous situations, I told him that I had no clue what to do and that he'd better take matters into his own hands [ie, bolt].
This time, I gave him something to do that involved what he wanted to do [run away] but also required that he pay attention to me.

By mid-session, he was actually trotting around me and putting his head down as hail and thunder happened outside.

THEN the hail got super loud and he freaked out again, which was kind of a bummer..but he tried REALLY hard to listen to me through the hail. It was interesting actually - the hail got so loud that I couldn't even hear my own voice and it was clear that that was the biggest thing freaking Fabs out. He couldn't hear me and that was so so so wrong in his world! haha

He is SO sound-oriented though, so much more sound-oriented than he is sight-oriented. It's crazy. 

By the time that hail was done, I was starting to get really worried about him overdoing it. He was starting to drag his toes as he ran and was begging to stop, all sweaty. So I had him stop and we walked around for a bit.
HOPEFULLY he won't tie up or anything. I think he's probably fine [he would have started seriously tying up in 10-15 minutes if he was going to and I stayed for 20 extra, just to be sure], but he might be sore tomorrow.

Anyway, running running running!

Check out that trot! DANG. 
I also love how he can't seem to decide between high steps and long flat ones. Too funny.

He's getting so fluid! He hardly looks stiff here, to my eye.


----------



## Wallaby

The kiddo was not too sore today!  

He was a little sore/stiff, BUT he worked through it and was moving really really well.
He was a bit spooky, but that's typical for him when he's in a more symptomatic phase..unfortunately!

I trimmed his feathers off so now his legs are looking classy as heck! 

And later, after he worked, I tried letting him walk himself back to his stall.
At first he was confused:






Then he got distracted by his best friend:






And then he decided it was time to go on an unscheduled adventure. :lol: :rofl: :lol:






THIS HORSE.


----------



## tinyliny

did you ever see that video on the horse that was left unattended in the aisle for a sec, got his halter caught on a door knob, pulled back and pulled the whole door off its' hinges, and then was backing away with a DOOR hanging off his halter, backing down the aisleway into other horses, crosstied to block his path? it was a disastrous thing that could have ended in a tragedy but happily ended in laughter and a good facebook posting. 

could that happen with what you are doing? not likely . .. . .but, . . . it could.


(I'm such a "mother". ! I can't friggin' help it)


----------



## Wallaby

tinyliny said:


> did you ever see that video on the horse that was left unattended in the aisle for a sec, got his halter caught on a door knob, pulled back and pulled the whole door off its' hinges, and then was backing away with a DOOR hanging off his halter, backing down the aisleway into other horses, crosstied to block his path? it was a disastrous thing that could have ended in a tragedy but happily ended in laughter and a good facebook posting.
> 
> could that happen with what you are doing? not likely . .. . .but, . . . it could.
> 
> 
> (I'm such a "mother". ! I can't friggin' help it)


I guess I don't totally follow. Are you concerned that Fabs might get caught on something, letting him walk with me to his stall like that? 

That's reasonable. Luckily this barn is super safe in terms of things like that. It was just built a few years ago and has all rounded knobs, latches, etc. But I do keep an eye out for "grabby" things!  
I certainly don't want him getting caught on something. I'm pretty sure he would not react calmly and it would not end well. Or maybe he would be calm..either way, I don't want to find out! 

I appreciate your "mothering"  <3


_________________________________


Yesterday I asked on the PSSM forum that I'm a part of about Fabs' head 'nodding' behavior that he's picked up and, interestingly, a huge number of the PSSM2 owners said that their horses do the same thing. Very weird!
Someone mentioned that head nodding can be a sign that his poll is really tight/sore and told me to look up the Masterson Method and try some of the poll releases.
Fabio has always been really touchy about his poll, so I thought that seemed like a reasonable suggestion. 
Anyway, yesterday I tried the "Head Down Technique" where I ask him to lower his head and softly massage his poll as he does. He loved it on his right side and I was able to get that side all softened up. His left side though, DANG.
He has a HUGE knot over his poll on the left side. I couldn't even massage it without him losing his mind, but he allowed me to "sweat" it [hold my hand on it] until he licked and chewed. The knot is still there, but I think it's gonna take a few days of work to 'remove.'

On the plus side, as soon as I touched that knot, he started nodding his head all over the place - it was like I found the "nod now, please" button! :lol:

After I was done, he was chewing and yawning, clearly something great happened! He also didn't throw his head around half as much today which tells me that maybe tension in his poll WAS causing that nod! I massaged him a bit more today and he actually loved it this time. 
I'm excited about how he'll feel once that whole knot is out! Cuz that thing is HUGE.


We had a really good day today! I'm not quite up to riding and I don't think Fabs was either, so we just did some lunging and he did great.

I chose to have hm walk around initially on the lunge line, to get warmed up, then I let him go and grabbed a lunge whip [a whip seems to be a very good aid for free-lunging].

He looks, and moves, so differently now. I used to think that tracking up was, physically, out of the cards for him because no matter what he/I did, he NEVER tracked up. It was the same with his giraffe-head-ness, I figure that was just how he is.

But NOW tracking up is happening consistently and he doesn't carry his head nearly as high, plus he actually moves his neck while moving around. 
It's crazy to me how different he's becoming now that the PSSM is being managed. 
And it's crazy that he dealt with it for so long. He is such a good-natured horse!

Is this even my horse? This skinny, svelte, athletic-looking creature?







Even his walk [when he's warmed up] is covering ground now!







And I got a video of him trotting today too! 
But, first, I think we should flashback to Day 4 of the PSSM diet [2 months ago, to the day], when we were super excited [rightly so] about how much better he was moving:






And today. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!







Word on the street is that he'll continue to improve for 4-10 more months [barring any major tying up incidences] beyond this. 
Are we gonna look back on today's video and chuckle about the improvement we have yet to see?

I can tell right now, this horse is going to push me to be a much much better rider. I'm so looking forward to when he's well enough to get there undersaddle!


----------



## Wallaby

It was Atti's 4th birthday yesterday!
He spent the day being very lazy, having a great time, and being too cool for school:



"ugh, laying here, being gorgeous, is exhausting!"




In other news, I wanted to ride today, then the forecast was like "everyone duck and cover, huge thunderstorm!!" so I decided to nix riding and just lunge instead BUT IT DIDN'T STORM AT ALL. Ugh.

On the plus side, it started hailing a tiny bit while I was grooming Fabs and he spooked a little [just kind of jolt forward, then standing there, very alert, head wayyyy up, trying to decide if he should run or stay], but I just kept on grooming him and he ended up being fine. Then it hailed a little bit more later [not loud] and he didn't spook at all, I repeated not caring, and it worked out great.

I think he's figuring it out!

Anyway, I freelunged him again and he really seemed to enjoy it.
He actually ignored a few of my "whoa" cues which, for him, is CRAZY. "Whoa" is literally his favorite word ever and the one 'command] I figure he's gonna listen to every time.
Not today! haha

On one hand, that's a little frustrating because I don't really want him ignoring cues...but, on the other, it's really exciting that he's feeling well enough to say "heck no, I'm not stopping now, lady!"

He switched to Triple Crown Lite early last week which is molasses free, with a NSC of 9.3%. He had previously been on Enrich 32 which does have molasses and has a NSC of 11%.

I'm not sure what the real difference is for him [TC Lite has a bunch of probiotics/other vitamins and minerals that Enrich doesn't?], but whatever it is seems to be working!

Yesterday I got him a little dry-erase board for his stall so I could attach an information sheet about PSSM and write things like "single treats only" and "please do not cross-tie". haha
The lady who manages the barn when the BO is away asked a few days ago if it was ok to give him treats and I was like "sure," assuming that treats meant one or two. Oh no, she went into the tack room and got 15+ cookie-type treats and proceeded to feed them ALL to Fabs. 
And then she started telling me how she likes to give the horses treats when she cleans their stalls a few days a week - figured it was time to put up a sign! haha Fabs does not need a cup, or more, of sugary treats every other day or whatever. Noooo thank you.
Then, this same woman, was telling me about how she had cross-tied Fabs "just to see if he cross-ties" because there wasn't a stall to put him in and she needed to clean his stall [ok, how about you put him in his paddock? His paddock is literally 20 steps from his stall. Or the arena??]. 
The BO had told her that she [the BO] wasn't sure if he cross-tied, but this woman is so sure that Fabs is the sweetest quietest thing [true, right? haha] and there's probably nothing he doesn't know.
UGH.
So what was she gonna do if Fabs lost his junk and MY horse was seriously injured?

Maybe he cross-ties fine, but he is very unpredictable on days when he doesn't feel good AND it's extremely typical for PSSM horses to be unable to cross-tie [something about the way cross-tying puts pressure on the halter/face] and I don't really want to deal with the aftermath of my horse going over backwards [or whatever] because some genius decided that cross-tying once means he is 100% on board with cross-tying.

He straight-ties great, he ground-ties well, you don't even have to _tie_ to straight-tie him - just wrap the lead rope once around something wrappable, and Fabs will stand there forever. 
There's no need, except laziness [in this particular situation], to cross-tie him.

I'd like to train him to cross-tie one day, but I think waiting until his PSSM is under control and he is less great day/terrible day-y is probably not gonna hurt anybody.

UGH. Rant over. haha

Anyway, so I got him a board for his stall that says those things - no cross-tying, straight-tie only, single treats only, etc.
And, of course, I didn't get a picture. My bad. haha


So I free lunged him a bit today and GUESS WHO TRIED STRETCHING DOWN WHILE CANTERING?!!!

Canter is his most difficult/off balance gait so he's usually pretty "locked" and tight when he canters. Today, last canter of the session, he tried stretching down! It was crazy. 
He's tried before, but he's never actually gotten it, and been able to hold himself/it for more than maybe a stride. 
So so good.






Oh, and here's a video of him greeting me when I showed up. If you turn the volume up you can hear his cute lil' nicker. 






Vroom o'clock!




Then, after lunging him, he was still in such a good mood and I had time, it felt wrong to leave so soon.


I recently discovered a sort of "track" around the barn - it goes up behind the parked cars, up a hill to the "upper paddocks," down again parallel to the barn, then down into a bit of water [some kind of stream/groundwater], then along behind the barn [the outside arena wall], past Fabs paddock, then through more water, then up and around behind Fabs' barn, and through a narrow 'alley' between Fabs' barn and "the old barn," then back to Fabs' stall or the main barn.

I've handwalked Fabs through there a few times and thought about how it's kind of perfect for grounddriving. 
Today we had time to try grounddriving it! And it was super perfect. 
Fabs was totally into it and loving every second. 
He really didn't like the water portions and the narrow alley at the end is not his favorite, but those are my favorite bits - I like that he's genuinely challenged by it. It's a great addition to our low-key days, or to cooling out. 
AND grounddriving, as always, is great for confidence. 

The other thing I like is that, since it goes around all the barns, there are tons of ending spots. We could loop back around and go into the arena [from either side], we could enter the barn aisle from the opposite end of our "usual" entry point, we could go straight to his stall, and so forth.
I also like that there are a ton of footing/elevation changes happening. He really has to think about where his feet are going, vs just plodding around the level, dirt, arena.

He seemed to enjoy it! 

I had been searching for a way to incorporate grounddriving [he doesn't do so well grounddriving in the arena for whatever reason, he gets really focused on avoiding what I'm asking - I think something about it is boring to/for him when we grounddrive inside] and I love that I found something!




Overall, a good day! :happydance:


----------



## egrogan

Happy birthday handsome Atti! Fabs is looking great!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Wallaby

Atti says "thank you!" egrogan! <3 :lol:


___________________________________

In other news [not sure where this idea came from, it sort of appeared in my head], what if Fabs is a draft cross?

Like Belgian or Percheron, crossed with Arab?

People always comment on how much bone he has and his huge feet [literally huge feet - they're proportional with his bone, but way bigger than 'average'] and 15.2hh is kind of tall for an Arab/QH cross, right? 

Who even knows. 

But, in any case, here's a Morgan/Percheron cross that I found on Google. Fabs is clearly not Morgan, but this horse reminds me of him - especially in the hind end department. And something about that neck...



And here's a Belgian/Morgan [from Google] - 



Both^ have "that" butt that Fabs has and I've never been able to figure out...
Anyway, I kind of looked it up and it seems like the average for those crosses is 15.2hh-ish.

It would also explain his giant head because QHs and Arabs [around here] don't _tend_ to have monster heads like his. It's not huge like a draft head, but it's wide circumference-wise - in a weird way for a light horse, which is something I've always thought.


Who even knows. And I love him either way. But it's interesting!
I honestly am not a huge fan of draft crosses, but him being a draft cross could explain his chunk-ness better than "he _looks_ like he's pretty well-bred if he's a QH/Arab cross but somehow his papers got lost? Who even knows." 

Whooo knows. The things we would all like to know...


----------



## egrogan

Oh man, I am a Morgan girl for life, but never saw such nice Morgan/draft crosses! I love that grey. 

No help on your question about Fabio, but now you've got the wheels in my head turning and thinking about a big solid trail buddy...


----------



## karliejaye

Re: Fabs being part draft, you should send some hair to Texas A&M. They do genetic testing and it is only around $30 I believe.


----------



## Wallaby

egrogan said:


> Oh man, I am a Morgan girl for life, but never saw such nice Morgan/draft crosses! I love that grey.
> 
> No help on your question about Fabio, but now you've got the wheels in my head turning and thinking about a big solid trail buddy...


Do itttt.  That grey is gorgeous! 
There's one draft cross I rode at camp for a while, I think he was QH/Shire, who was wonderful as a trail horse. A little too tall to be truly effective [he was 17ish hands] but personality-wise he was wonderful. Enough get up and go, but also enough chill to do whatever.
It always bummed me out that he was part of trail string. But then one year he fell out of the trailer as his owners were loading him and ended up braking a leg. He was put down.  

But he was the best, I liked him a lot.



karliejaye said:


> Re: Fabs being part draft, you should send some hair to Texas A&M. They do genetic testing and it is only around $30 I believe.


Good thinking! I want to get his PSSM1 test redone [just to be sure it wasn't a false negative - more than one PSSM-expierenced person has questioned that test result. PSSM2 is fine if that's what he has, but I'd like to double check], maybe they can do that too.

Anyway, I sent an email inquiry. 



ALSO. I was feeling pretty terrible this morning [still am, haven't left my bed all day except to let the goats out] and I decided to take my temperature - 102.1. :lol:
So that explains it. 

But it also means that I probably shouldn't go see Fabs today. 
I feel like I'm ALWAYS sick. UGH.


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

Jeeze why is everyone getting sick all of a sudden? Just season change and spring. Yikes! Hope you feel better soon!

You can always have the test to know. A horse can be anything but I'd be surprised if he turned out to be a draft cross. I've worked with a few and a 3/4's cross but they all had a distinct draft quality to where you knew they had draft in them. Some crosses are more refined and may be nice movers but you almost always can tell whether it's how they move, or their shoulder angle or their feet or personality. I think drafts are like arabs where you can usually tell because they're a distinct "type." 

To me quarab makes sense with his PSSM, arab and quarter horse qualities. Plus he's a little sassy right? But good luck figuring it out! Should be an interesting mystery to solve.


----------



## Wallaby

DanteDressageNerd said:


> Jeeze why is everyone getting sick all of a sudden? Just season change and spring. Yikes! Hope you feel better soon!
> 
> You can always have the test to know. A horse can be anything but I'd be surprised if he turned out to be a draft cross. I've worked with a few and a 3/4's cross but they all had a distinct draft quality to where you knew they had draft in them. Some crosses are more refined and may be nice movers but you almost always can tell whether it's how they move, or their shoulder angle or their feet or personality. I think drafts are like arabs where you can usually tell because they're a distinct "type."
> 
> To me quarab makes sense with his PSSM, arab and quarter horse qualities. Plus he's a little sassy right? But good luck figuring it out! Should be an interesting mystery to solve.


I knowww! I was talking to my little old lady neighbor [the one who owns the llamas - she texted me to check in that the remaining llama is doing ok without her mom] and I mentioned that I was sick and she was all "you work with kids, and they are VECTORS for disease."
:lol: :rofl: :lol:

This time, aside from this fever, I think it's mostly just allergies irritating my asthma, causing me to cough, causing me to get tired, causing my immune system to be weaker, causing me to get sick, etc.
I barely even have asthma [my mom has it bad and I've always had a bit of exercise-induced wheezing, so i have an inhaler] but, this year, I've broken out the inhaler 4 times a day for nearly 2 weeks total. 
It's CRAZY.

I'm thinking about scheduling a doctor's visit if my lungs don't calm themselves...

And since I don't have a lot of other things to do except cough and write stuff, voila: :lol:

That's really true, about the differences between drafts and light horses. Most of the half-drafts I've met have, at the very least, had very coarse/scrubby manes and tails. Fabs sooo does not have that. I mean, his mane/tail is much coarser that Lacey's ever was..but she essentially had human hair for a mane/tail. haha

His hair is in line with a lot of the more foundation-bred Quarter Horses I've met - which makes sense, since a number of leading foundation QH sires had ties back to draft horses! But those drafts are wayyyy back there.
Actually, conveniently, those draft horses wayyyy back in a number of QH pedigrees are where Quarter Horse PSSM is suspected to have originated from.
Drafts are something like the most common carriers of PSSM. A lot of them also have a gene that "turns the PSSM off" [they haven't quite figured it out yet, but a number of even double positive drafts are asymptomatic and well into their teens] but no one has quite been able to figure out the hows and whys. 
It's suspected that light horses can also have that "shut off" gene, but there's less documentation of that - there is suspicion that PSSM is much more prevalent in the light horse world than anybody knows, in the form of a lot of low-symptom/asymptomatic horses.

PSSM2 is a bit more of a wild card as they just recently discovered that it is genetic. Plus "PSSM2" is somewhat of an umbrella term for a bunch of similar muscle disorders. Basically PSSM2 means "this horse tested negative for PSSM1 and [if they had a muscle biopsy] their muscle biopsy showed muscle damage consistent with a muscle disorder." 
I think I read somewhere though that they're wondering if some PSSM2 originated with Arabians because one particular type has more to do with slow-twitch muscle fibers [endurance] and that sort of thing...


Anyway, Fabs is definitely is sassy!  He's essentially a mare that got stuck in a gelding's body. He's a bit less sassy now that the PSSM is more under control, but he definitely talks to me!
You can actually see it in the most recent video I posted, the one where he canters. About halfway through, I click a few times and he thinks I'm prepping to ask for a canter, so he sort of leaps forward and nods his head up and down a few times like "fine, I'll canter if you make me! But we're gonna chat afterwards."
I think a lot of his attitude is Arab-y, but I could be wrong. He wants to talk about stuff, he's not one that you can just say "do this ____" to. He has to have an opinion and he's probably willing to try, but he needs to let you know how he feels first! :lol:

He's probably so mad at me for not visiting him tonight! I bet I'm gonna get whinnied at tomorrow! :loveshower:



In interesting news [haven't heard back from the A&M guy yet], I was looking up stuff again [what else am I supposed to do? I'm essentially confined to a chair..] and I discovered that, in August 2012, a draft[Percherons and Belgians]/Arabian breeding farm was shut down just about 100 miles from me because they were crazy neglecting the horses.
But, prior to the neglect coming to light, they had been breeding some nice crosses.

The story on Fabs was that he was "taken from a bad situation" when he was 3 [who knows where that place was - 3 fits with the halter marks on his face], trained by the old man [again, no location], trail ridden, then sat around for 4 years before going to auction in 2012.

He was born in 2003 [if he was actually 9 in 2012 at the auction - I don't have a reason to question that], so we could say the old man got him in 2006, maybe training took 6 months, got 6 months of riding in, old people got sick in 2008, he sat for 4 years, hellllo auction in 2012.


Who knows, but logically it could have happened. There's no way to really know for sure or not, I suppose. 
Places don't just "go bad" in 6 months, or whatever. That place would have been heading downhill for years before the authorities caught on, I expect.

Though, supposing the person who put that halter on him was breeding draft/Arabs, you'd think they would have known better than to put a cob-sized halter on a growing draft-cross. The lines all over his face clearly match a cob-sized halter. 

Who knows. I'm sick, it's fun to engage in supposition when you're sick! haha

If the DNA test thing works out, I suppose we might find out more! haha


----------



## Tazzie

Sorry you're sick! As a mother of two, I agree with the fact that they are vectors for diseases :lol: and as soon as they get over it, they catch something else.

It is an intriguing thought about Fabs though. I never do the guessing game with breeds unless there isn't many options it can be. I don't know how accurate the DNA test is though...


----------



## Wallaby

Tazzie said:


> It is an intriguing thought about Fabs though. I never do the guessing game with breeds unless there isn't many options it can be. I don't know how accurate the DNA test is though...


I agree! I did a little research and I have two differing opinions :lol: one: they ask for "suspected breeds" on the testing form and, from what I've read, the test results usually come back with results similar[with occasional small wild cards] to what the owner said was "suspected" - do owners just usually know and the test is usually just a confirmation?
two: on the flip side, the tests I've seen seem relatively accurate. They seem confused [rightly so] by modern breeding practices, and occasionally go too far back - labeling a QH as having a high percentage of TB blood, saying a Paint has Criollo horse in it [both semi-likely given that those breeds went into developing the Paint/QH], but otherwise it seems like they are relatively accurate.
But I haven't seen any really unknown horses tested [in my reading]. 
I kind of want to be a jerk and not give them anything for "suspected breeds" on Fabs, just to see what they come up with. 
We know he definitely has Arab, it might be a fun test of these people's abilities... haha



_____________________________


I was finally up to visiting Fabs for a second yesterday and boy, he was MAD AT ME. He walked right up to me in his pasture, ears pinned flat back, while nickering, and stuck his head straight into his halter like "I am SO MAD you weren't here yesterday, but I'm also SO HAPPY you're here now. UGH."

It was hysterical. He is SUCH a mare. :rofl: :rofl:

And Hazel, from yesterday:




On the today front, Fabs got into an experimental blood test for the Quarter Horse variant of PSSM2!
It's not really experimental at this point as Fabs is one of the last 16 horses in the study [few hundred horses have already 'proven' the test] before the test goes public, but since he's in the study, the test will be free! 
The test is gonna go on the market in a few weeks/a month for $100+, so this is kind of a deal. haha
I just have to cover the vet cost and shipping. That part might end up being $100ish, but it'll still be cheaper than paying for the test PLUS that stuff.

Who knows, our vet is SUPER excited about this so she might just do it for the sake of science. Either way, it'll be great. And, either way, she's not gonna charge a trip fee and the trip fees are about the most expensive part of a vet visit.

So that whole thing is pretty exciting!

I'm hoping he tests positive. Just P2/n though, P2/P2 would be really bad. I think the chances of P2/P2 are very unlikely though, I think he'd be much more symptomatic if he were P2/P2.
He still might not test positive, there are other muscle disorders that present how he does...but those ones tend to be more progressive/involve the heart and are NOT things I want Fabs to have.

Not that I want Fabs to have PSSM at all, but if he's gonna have one, I'd prefer P1 over P2, and P2 over all the remaining options.



Today I had thought about riding, but it was really hot and Fabs was being pretty nutty [it was 70*+] and Fabs had had his blanket on all day - I think he was too hot and therefore pretty scattered. And I didn't end up having as much time as I wanted. 

SO, because it was absolutely GORGEOUS out, Fabs and I said "forget the arena! Let's go outside!" and we had a really great ground-driving session. Fabs did NOT want to come in and finish up.

In good news, we left the barn and returned inside via the "this side of the arena is SO SCARY"-side, and I think that helped him think it through a bit. He recognized that it's a gate and he was able to 'map it' in his head.

I'm also noticed something interesting - Fabio is very concerned with the 'profiles'/periphery lines of things. Like, take a fence - he is ok with the fence because it somehow fits what he thinks a fence should look like. But add a bird sitting on that fence and he's all "OMG THE FENCE HAS CHANGED PANIC"
Or the muck heap - the muck heap itself is ok, but a bird sitting on top of it surely means death for us all. Who cares about the bird in the middle of the muck heap, if it doesn't mess up the periphery line of the pile, he does not care.

It's very weird, but it also makes sense. But it's also SUCH a Fabio thing to be worried about. So out of left field, but also reasonable.

THIS HORSE. haha


Anyway, here are two videos of Fabs going on a grounddriving adventure.

My favorite part, perhaps, is how swing-y his hindquarters are. He used to be so stiff back there but now he's so loose! I love it!






His main objective, always, is figuring out how he might sneak into pastures that are not his. He wants to explore EVERYTHING. He'd grounddrive allll day if I let him choose where to go and let him go wherever! haha


----------



## tinyliny

I gotta try that someday!


----------



## Wallaby

tinyliny said:


> I gotta try that someday!


Grounddriving? You should! I think you'd love it. 
If you ever come visit Fabs and me, I'll let you take him for a spin. 


______________________



In Fabio news, I tried riding him in a bit tonight - first time with a bit since he's been "fixed" [haha].

And it was terrible. 

He felt like a baby during their first rides - pretty confused about what the bit is saying and not unwilling, but utterly stumped about human-kind.

It was SO WEIRD.

I've been grounddriving him in the bit and he's done great, and I used to ride him in that same bit all the time...and he was fine. 
He's always preferred bitless and he's always been a bit fussy about the bit, but today wasn't even fussy, today was utter confusion/lack of knowledge. It was like "you're pulling on my face this way and I don't understand, but your legs are saying this way too, and I understand what your legs are saying..." 

I literally could have been riding him bridleless because that's essentially what was happening anyway. It was totally, totally weird.

He wasn't mad/stubborn, at all, just super "?????I'm trying, but????" 
I've never had that kind of reaction from him before about anything, I am so stumped and weirded out by it...

Maybe something about his new bodily awareness+the bit created a strange situation for him...


Anyway, it's ok if he doesn't want to be ridden in a bit...it's just weird. He's going fine in the Zilco, I only rode him in the bit today because: 
1. I have one bridle that fits him and it's SUPER hard to switch bits out on. It had the bit on it already - I didn't want to spend 15 minutes switching to the Zilco for a 5 minute ride.
2. I wanted to see if two-tracking was impacted at all by the bit [I had wondered if maybe the cues would remind him of some training from his past, if he had a bit in]. HA.

Luckily, I found a new-used bridle that should fit and ordered it on Tuesday, so the one bridle situation will soon be fixed. 
Something about his jowl line makes bridles with separate throatlatch pieces ride up and 'choke' him during a ride. And finding western bridles with an attached throatlatch is like finding a unicorn - right now I ride him in an Aussie bridle with an attatched throatlatch.

LUCKILY, I found a bridle [just like one I used, and loved, at camp] that's a one-ear bridle WITH an attached throatlatch. 
I LOVE one-ear bridles. They look so polished and somehow so romantic, or something, to me. They fit with my idea of what a western horse _should_ look like. :lol: And to find one WITH an attached throatlatch, scoreeee.

I feel like Fabio is really gonna look good in a one-ear, I'm excited!


Weird day today.


But Fabs was gorgeous, as usual.


----------



## Wallaby

My MANIAC horse. Ugh.

Yesterday he totally, absolutely, lost his ever-loving mind.

It's been hot out so I was all "hey! I'm gonna give Fabs a bath! Yay!"

HA. 

He was totally fine when I pulled him out of his stall and got him all groomed up, fine walking into the wash stall, but then the water turned on and I lost him [mentally].

He's been in there before, I washed his tail in there mid-winter, and he was largely totally fine for that.

Yesterday he was trying to bolt, rearing, jumping around, generally being nuts.

I managed to keep a hold on him enough that he only got away once, but ugh. 

I did, despite his antics, manage to give him a thorough bath. HA. 

Then I tied him in the wash stall and let him think it out - I didn't want him to leave the area while he was still in panic-mode/rushing to leave.
He threw a humongous tantrum - pawing, doing cute lil' baby rears, throwing his head, etc.

Then, after 5 minutes of protesting, he took two steps towards the wall he was tied to, put his head down, and looked at me like "I'm ready now."
It was hilarious.

THEN, by this point the BO had parked her car just outside the barn to unload some bags of grain and, as I led Fabs through the opening [he could clearly see the whole situation, nothing crazy was happening], he shoved past me and bolted out that door - kicking me in the calf in the process.

That was crazy out of character for him. 
Anyway, I directed him back and forth through the opening a few times, and let him be done once he walked calmly through.

I posted on the PSSM forum about this and a lot of people related very similar things with their horses. Where their usually calm and relatively reliable, trained, horse just loses his/her mind in a stressful situation and loses all sense of self-preservation/human-preservation.
I'm interested that that sort of thing is so common among PSSM horses. 

I did a bit of research and my current theory is that it has to do something with a build-up of adrenaline that the PSSM horse's body can't deal with "normally." An except from an article I found []Equine Metabolism | TheHorse.com -
"At the onset of exercise, the hormone epinephrine (adrenaline) increases. Epinephrine acts to mobilize free fatty acids from the adipose tissue, so that skeletal muscle can use them as fuel. Epinephrine also acts to break down skeletal muscle glycogen to free glucose for catabolism and energy (ATP) production."

From the Wikipedia page on PSSM:

"Horses with PSSM have elevated levels of muscle glycogen at rest. During exercise, glycogen levels are depleted faster than is seen in unaffected horses, and are reduced down to levels considered normal for a resting non-PSSM horse. This demonstrates that glycogen metabolism is actually normal in these animals.[11] However, PSSM horses synthesize muscle glycogen at double the rate of a normal horse once exercise has ceased, which leads to elevated muscle glycogen.[2] The exact mechanism of abnormal glucose metabolism has not yet been established, but it may have similarities to phosphofructokinase deficiency in humans.[2]"


So, essentially, I have a theory that Fabs has such a low threshold for adrenaline on days when he hasn't worked a lot BECAUSE he has too much stored glycogen, and a little adrenaline wakes all that stuff up and sends his body into kind of a "shock" of energy that he literally needs to move off.
To cause the adrenaline response to become lower over time, he needs to stay in the area...but physiologically his body needs to move so it can use up that glycogen.

From my perspective as a non-science-y individual, it sounds like that would make a lot of sense.


Anyway, we made it through yesterday, barely. Haha

Today he was super adorable when I showed up. He's never been this willing to come in when I arrive! <3






Today I just lunged him and boy. We've had a low-key week this week [I lunged him at the trot on Thursday, but that's it in terms of non-walking exercise this week] and I think, even though he was turned out all week, he needed more intense exercise to burn off the glycogen.

His reaction to being let loose in the arena today agrees with me. haha






Then, after 15+ minutes of running, he settled down and did great:







He had worked up quite a sweat with all that running so I was able to take advantage of that and have us revisit the wash stall. I only hosed off his front end, but he started out nervous and definitely calmed down as I hosed him. It was a good "bookend" to yesterday, very positive experience.

Then I grounddrove him around to cool out and he was so happy! 
Today was a good day.


----------



## Wallaby

Fabs is getting so sassy!

Today, probably to make up for walking right up to me yesterday, Fabs saw me with his halter and ran away! :lol: :lol:

I had to to walk him down and get him stuck in a corner before he let me catch him. :rofl:

I guess he's feeling pretty good!


I had planned to ride today but a new horse was arriving and the arena water was getting fixed. I have a short time frame on Sunday as it is and waiting for things to settle down isn't an option. 
So I'm gonna try to ride tomorrow!

On the plus side, since I only lunged Fabio and ended up with time afterwards, I discovered that his poll and back were both pretty tight. So I spent the extra time giving him a massage and loosening those muscles up.

It's SO funny - Fabs used to love lighter massages. But now he essentially demands that I give him full pressure, super deep, massages. If I'm massaging too lightly, he'll throw his head around and glare at me until I use deeper pressure. Once I use deeper pressure, he gets really into it and starts doing all of his "this is great" faces.
He has SO MANY opinions. Thank God he's not a mare, we all would be in trouble.

I'm hoping that we may have a really good ride tomorrow since he's feeling good and I massaged him today. Fingers crossed!

I put his new bridle on him [it came yesterday] and, of course, the ear hole is a smidge too small for his donkey ears. >.> 
I'm hoping that it may break-in and loosen up...fingers crossed. It's a used, full-size, bridle, but it's not super used..and it clearly has not met with any donkey-eared horses. 
For a horse that's half Arab, his ears are ridiculously OUT OF CONTROL. :lol: 

Anyway, I lunged him and he did well! He did not want to stop, but he did ok.

His trot-canter transitions are really getting pretty good. It used to take him quite a while to pop into it, now it just takes him a lot of effort the first time. He usually pops right back into it each successive time.

Today, speaking of cantering, he was so cute. I didn't have him canter going to the left until he was really warmed up, as he has an incredibly hard time not cross-firing going that direction. 
So the first time I asked, he popped right into it and actually got the correct lead through his whole body! No cross-firing!
The second time he picked it up, he cross-fired, but then [my favorite part] he thought really hard, fell into a trot for a second, then picked up that canter again - all on the correct lead.

I love/hate how much of a perfectionist he is. He expects me to be as perfect which is a bit frustrating since I'm learning as much as he is, but it's nice that he naturally pushes himself to do it "right." 
He's not the type of horse to choose an evasion over harder work, he'll only evade if he's confused. And I really value that about him. I like knowing that, if I've got his attention, he's gonna give me 100% every time - as long as I have my act together and he's not confused/in pain. 
I think it makes riding him a bit easier, in a way - if something isn't working, it's because I'm not asking right or he's confused or the thing I'm asking for is painful.


Anyway, today was a nice day.

And a picture. I don't even know what he was doing here, but the intensity level is 99/100! :lol:

Look at that hock! :lol:




Oh, in other news, thanks to having his tail up all winter, it looks SO GOOD now that it can be down again! It's this crazy plume of one-length-ness. His dock has a few shorter hairs, but the majority of it is long. It's crazy!


----------



## Wallaby

I actually got to ride today!!

Fabs was TOTALLY in a mood today. It was a fussy "come ON, let's DO STUFF!" type mood. He didn't want to stand still, he wanted to "accidentally" think I was telling him to come with me every time I barely brushed against his shoulder/head, it was pretty funny.

But that mood translated into a horse that was SUPER ready to be ridden. I was bummed that I only ended up being able to ride for 20-ish minutes, he would have loved to go for longer.

We did some weaving through cones, did a little two-tracking, and actually got to do some relatively "real" trotting [we haven't done ANY trotting in forever]. He was totally on board for all of it.

Zero spooks, mild head-throwing [he doesn't like/understand the poll pressure of the Zilco and states his opinion quite clearly when we practice two-tracking - he was doing it less as we continued, I'm hopeful that it's a passing "this is hard and a little frustrating" type thing], no ear-pinning, it was good.

He was a little balky, but not too bad. And he was perfectly happy to move off, I think he was just messing with me a little.

I was really excited because, while trotting, he actually tried stretching a few times! While I was riding!
That was pretty exciting because it makes me feel like he was feeling pretty comfortable with me on his back AND he wasn't freaked out/tense about what we were doing.

He did a really good job. 

I want to attempt to ride again on Wednesday. Maybe we'll just grounddrive tomorrow as prep...or maybe do a little lunging, and grounddriving. I don't want to wear him out too much, but I also don't want to underestimate his needs and lose out on riding Wednesday because he needs to work harder.
Walk/trot lunging tomorrow, plus grounddriving, might be a good compromise...


Anyway, I softened up the leather ear-hole on the new bridle and Fabs doesn't seem to mind it. He shook his head a bit about it, but nothing while I was actually riding. 
So that's good! I was worried that it was really going to bother him.

Cutie-patootie:



And, according to newly collected data, the barn cat _may not_ be the worst thing that has ever happened to Fabs.
I've spent a lot of time petting them together and letting him sniff her, he's gotten over his worry and I think he might kinda like her now.


----------



## Wallaby

I GOT TO RIDE AGAIN TODAY!!! !!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!! 
And Fabio got sweaty, that's HOW MUCH WE RODE.

So so stoked. I don't feel super well [I've ended up making a doctor's appt for Friday, I'm guessing I might need antibiotics - not thrilled about that, but looking forward to feeling better. I've been off my game for at least a month], but riding Fabio definitely made today better.

It's SO funny. He's starting to get so so sassy when he thinks I should ride! All nippy and antsy, refusing to stay still while I'm getting him ready...I think he'd throw me up on his back himself, if he could!

It's a little bit frustrating how excited he's been getting [I mean, I don't love having his lips alllll over me while I try to get him ready], but I'm loving how excited he is and he's very careful to keep his teeth way way off me. 

Anyway, we had another really good, productive, ride. He was a bit sassy this time [kicked out and squealed about _something_ mid-trot, I don't think it had anything to do with me because he did it, then spooked a little - thinking he was gonna get in trouble like "oh no! She's on my back! I forgot for a second and that wasn't ok! Eeek! Maybe she didn't notice??"] and was a little ear-pin-y, but nothing bad and we ended on a good note, with him trotting around and dropping his head to stretch.

One thing I was working on today was putting both my legs on to cue for turns. I tend to do one or the other, but I know that, in order to advance his training, he's gonna need double-leg action. And guess who HATES it when I put both my legs on? 
If you guessed Fabio, you guessed right.
So today we practiced _acceptable_ responses to both legs. And he actually did pretty well. 
He had a few stronger opinions at the trot, and a few strong opinions to start with at the walk, but he calmed down once he realized that I wasn't asking for more speed.

We also worked a bit on the head-tossing when I asked him to two-track. The head-tossing now seems a bit trained - like he thinks tossing his head is part of the move. >.> :lol: So today I worked on only giving him big rewards [pats and stopping] when he wasn't violently throwing his head while two-tracking.
He didn't superduper get it, but he tried.
And the two-tracking is coming along well! Now he doesn't even really question what those cues mean. Of course, it's not 100% consistent yet, but there's an 80% chance he'll do it if I cue correctly..vs a 10-15% chance. :lol:


ALSO I think I've figured out his saddling "thing"! 
He has, for forever, been real worried about being saddled - cinchy to the max [no matter how loose or tight the cinch is, or how slowly I do it], tries to move away before I set the saddle on him, spooky about the pad, totally frozen/ready to bolt once the saddle is on his back, etc.
I did some research and was reminded that PSSM horses tend to be coldbacked.
I had always figured that he couldn't be coldbacked since he doesn't get crazy if you hop on without warming him up first.

But I decided to start putting his BOT pad+saddle pad on his back before I picked out his hooves, then put the saddle on very last [after his hooves, bridle, and boots] - giving the pads 10-15 minutes to warm his back up.

And you know what??

Today, and Tuesday, Fabio has not minded one bit about the saddle. He was a little worried on Tuesday, but settled in, and totally unworried today. Not cinchy at ALL [today he didn't even flick an ear at me as I tightened the cinch!] and he was ready to MOVE once we hit the arena. 
He went from being totally worried about everything the saddle might do, to totally unconcerned, just because I let his back warm up a bit before placing the saddle on!

So, I guess he is a bit coldbacked...haha
Thank goodness for Back On Track!

Speaking of BOT, I got BOT poll covers for his halter and bridle! I'm interested to see if they help how tight his poll gets...

This guy <3


----------



## Tazzie

That sounds like a super awesome day!! I've been tempted to get a BOT pad, but I just haven't been able to stomach the cost of them. Sounds like I may have something to ask for for Christmas though...

And he is just so adorable!


----------



## Wallaby

Tazzie said:


> That sounds like a super awesome day!! I've been tempted to get a BOT pad, but I just haven't been able to stomach the cost of them. Sounds like I may have something to ask for for Christmas though...
> 
> And he is just so adorable!


They really are expensive! So worth it with Fabs and his muscle issues, but so spendy. I really feel like, without that pad, he'd be a lot less rideable.
Ask for one for Christmas!! :loveshower:


____________________________


Well, unfortunately, today we paid for those good rides.
Fabs was sooooo sore. 
My plan was to give him a rest/massage day today anyway and it's a good thing I did. He was so sleepy, and his muscles were so tight...poor baby! His back was tighter than I've felt in weeks. 
Interestingly, he wasn't grumpy like he usually is when he's that tight, but he clearly was not feeling great.

Poor little man! I gave him a really thorough massage and spent a lot of time on his back, and he seemed to feel better by the end [he was "suddenly" perkier] which was a relief!

Hopefully he feels better tomorrow. I think I'm gonna give him the weekend off from riding, even if he seems ok. Next I think I will try giving him two lower key days between rides - maybe a single day in the middle is just not enough recovery time, given where his body is in its own larger-scale recovery...

On the plus side, I tried the Back On Track poll cover on him and he LOVED it. He started licking and chewing pretty much the moment it went on him. They get 5 stars from Mr Fabio! 
Now I'm extra glad I bought two!


----------



## Tazzie

Poor Fabs feeling not so great :sad: but I'm glad he felt better at the end! Rest days are always important!

That's awesome about the poll cover! Hopefully it'll help him out! And yeah, I think the pad will go on my Christmas wish list haha!


----------



## Wallaby

I'm glad he felt better too! This PSSM stuff is such an unpredictable disease. Ugh.

On the Fabs personal front, today he seemed like he felt better. He walked right up to the gate when I started coughing [haha he knows my cough better than he knows his own name! :lol: ] ! I felt loved. 
We had a pretty good lunging session. His hooves need to be done in a pretty bad way so he was clearly a bit sore. 
He's only 5 weeks out from his last trim, but he's long again. Plus he has a "tiny" horizontal crack that the trimmer found 2 trims ago, she removed and addressed it, the crack was basically gone after the last trim so she let it be, and this time it got BAD. The crack is probably 1 1/2 inches long now, I am not happy. But he's not more sore than he usually is this close to a trim [I think the extra hoof wall puts extra stress on his muscles/body] and the trimmer is coming on Wednesday. 
I can't fault the trimmer at all because the crack was 100% gone when she trimmed last time and I don't think there's any way she could have known it would come back.
I think he's moving more on his own and perhaps previously unseen faults are coming to light. He has a thin horizontal divot the full height [ground to coronet band] of that hoof's surface, exactly where this crack keeps popping up, and I wonder if it's some kind of old injury-type thing that wasn't bothered when he was hardly moving...who knows.

Anyway, he's getting trimmed on Wednesday and I'm sure he's gonna tear around like a maniac after that trim!

So he was a bit sore today, but he wanted to go!

While I was lunging him, something spooked and his instant reaction was to do a 180* spook...but mid-turnaround, he stopped the spook, straightened himself out, put his head back down, and went from a panicked trot back to a relaxed one.
It all happened so fast, I didn't even have a chance to correct him verbally or anything, he totally self-corrected!

I LOVE that he's starting to self-correct like that. He's also been spooking less. It makes me feel like I'm on the right path with him, spookiness-wise [praising him when he's worried but doesn't spook, lots of praise for good work, doing my best to ignore the spooks].

In not-so-great news, today the stall-cleaning lady was all excited asking about if I had changed Fabio's diet because "his pee doesn't smell terrible anymore" [apparently they were actually leaving the door to his barn cracked at night because it smelled so bad].
So while it's great that it doesn't smell anymore, the smell is essentially because his kidneys were going nuts and digesting muscle protein - ie, really really bad PSSM stuff. Talk about kidney damage AND muscle damage...
I had no idea this was going on! It's probably been happening for a while/forever and I just never knew because he was always peeing outside, but UGH.

Then the BO, when I said that the smell was probably due to this PSSM thing^, she mentioned that she's noticed that the whites of his eyes are very yellow - "the yellowest in the barn" and, after hearing that about the kidney stuff, she's wondering about his liver.

And, uh, I looked up liver disease and PSSM is a direct cause of liver disease... :/ And he has a number of the symptoms, BUT the symptoms he has are also attributed to PSSM. I don't know if it's a chicken/egg situation here, but I'm hoping he's fine and he's just showing good ol' PSSM stuff.


FORTUNATELY, the blood test for PSSM2 came a few days ago and the vet happens to be available tomorrow to do the blood draw and give him one of his spring shots. So I'm going to discuss this with her and maybe-probably have her pull more blood so she can check his liver function. If his liver is in a bad way, it'll show up in his blood.

THIS HORSE OF MINE LOVES MY MONEY!! 
I am so so thankful that I have a job that I can rely on and pays me well enough that at least the money part of this whole thing isn't stressful.

I'm just so terrified that I'm gonna lose him too soon, too close to losing Lacey. I just need him to be ok, to be safe, for a few years. I need us to settle into a rhythm, and I mostly need him to be ok.

THIS HORSE. Guess he just likes checking in to make sure I still care! :lol:

In exciting news, I had to braid his mane up today because it's finally long enough to essentially make him overheat on 80* days!
Hilariously, it's SO THICK that, even after dividing it into at least 13 braids, I had to replace 5+ of the braids before I even left cuz the thickness of his hair kept snapping the rubberbands! :rofl:
I'm probably gonna have to redo it tomorrow, I'll make the braids much smaller then! 


Anyway, think us good thoughts tomorrow! Hopefully the liver function thing is fine and hopefully he doesn't have a reaction to the vaccine he gets!!


Baby got back:


----------



## Tazzie

Lots of happy thoughts for Fabs!! Please keep us updated!!


----------



## Wallaby

Good news!
The vet felt like his sclera just looks really 'different' because he only has one white one, on the dark side of his face = it looks a bit shocking. She doesn't think it's abnormally yellow for his chestnut coloration.  She checked his gums and they weren't yellowish at all, which helped confirm her theory.

Yay!

We weren't able to do the blood draw today as, after reading the "how-to" letter which had specific shipping instructions, the blood is not supposed to be frozen and it would end up sitting in a warehouse all tomorrow since tomorrow is Sunday = should draw it on a weekday.
SO the vet is coming back on Tuesday and is gonna pull the blood while I'm at work, then ship the whole thing. 

Yay!


In vaccine updates, I'm gonna go check on the Fabster soon but, I assume, since I haven't gotten a call saying he's doing terrible, he's doing fine.
We just did West Nile today - I felt like that was probably the top most important one for him to get, so doing it first is probably a good idea in case he were to have a reaction and we decided to nix the rest of the vaccines.

Interestingly, in the past, he's always been terribleeeee about getting shots - all bolty and freaked out. 
Even the last time the vet saw him, after he had started on the PSSM stuff, he wasn't easy about the shots.

Today he was SO EASY for his shot! He got all frozen when he knew the shot was coming, but didn't even flinch as the needle went in/out. I think he was honestly shocked at how little it hurt - he waited for a second after the shot, then swung his head back tot he vet like "wait, it's over??"
I think shots probably hurt before, due to his muscles being SO TIGHT, and, now that his muscles have loosened up, the shot was "nothing."

That's pretty exciting. I like seeing that he's actually healing and that it's making a major difference in how he reacts to so many things!

I think I might give the BO a gram of bute to add to Fabs' food tonight, just to ease an inflammation. That'll give him a good 5+ hours without an anti-inflamatories, so I assume it should be enough time for his immune system to get a jolt of the new bugs...


In interesting news, I finally got a chance to ask the vet about the weird "swelling" right behind Fabio's girth, the divots in his neck, and the lumps on his butt - the vet determined them all to be overly-"ripped" muscles! Crazy.
She doesn't have any guesses as to why, but she assumes it's due somehow to the PSSM.
But it makes me feel better that they're all muscle in her guesstimation, and not some kind of growth or whatever.

So yay!


----------



## Wallaby

1. I redid Fabio's braids this morning, tinier, and 90% of them were GONE by this afternoon. That horse!! haha
I guess we'll have to wait until his hair is a bit longer before I try braiding again. What little rebels! :lol:


2. I forgot to mention earlier that today is Hazel's 14th birthday! 14 is crazy for an Angora goat! Yay Hazel!

Proud girl:




3. Checked in on Fabs a little bit ago and the poor guy is feeling it.  Not too too bad, but he's clearly uncomfortable.
Luckily, he was in a GREAT place this morning, so he has "oomph" to bounce back easily with [I hope].
In any case, the vet said to give him 2 grams of bute if he tied up, so, since he's not tying up-tying up, I gave him 1 gram to help ease the inflammation/soreness.

He was being so sweet, he really wanted me to sit down and stay in the pasture with him for the rest of the afternoon. He did _not_ want me to leave. 
Poor little baby pony!

Anyway, the bute should help him feel better. <3 I'm thankful he's not worse though! He's definitely better than he was last year after shots!

[I feel like I can see it in his eyes in this picture - maybe they look a little puffy? Something about them doesn't look "normal" and it's how they look when he doesn't feel good...weird the things you start noticing once you start paying attention!]


----------



## egrogan

Happy birthday Hazel!


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

Happy Birthday Hazel! I love all the goats. How many goats do you have or care for? I like goats :lol: on a farm I used to work on there were 3 and all had pretty good sense of humor.

I'm glad Fabio is getting better about his shots. Always appreciate the small changes, I'm glad that his muscles are loosening up so he can be more comfortable.

I hope whatever is going on with him ceases, so he can feel better. Poor Fabio :-( hope he feels better soon!


----------



## Chevaux

Birthday greetings to Hazel!


----------



## Wallaby

egrogan said:


> Happy birthday Hazel!


She says thank you!  She had a really nice birthday, I think. It was sunny nearly all day, not too hot, her favorite conditions. 



DanteDressageNerd said:


> Happy Birthday Hazel! I love all the goats. How many goats do you have or care for? I like goats :lol: on a farm I used to work on there were 3 and all had pretty good sense of humor.
> 
> I'm glad Fabio is getting better about his shots. Always appreciate the small changes, I'm glad that his muscles are loosening up so he can be more comfortable.
> 
> I hope whatever is going on with him ceases, so he can feel better. Poor Fabio :-( hope he feels better soon!


I just have two goats, Atticus and Hazel.  I like goats too! I got them to be Lacey's companions, then they turned into Fabio's companions...and now they're just hanging out. haha
I definitely prefer the more sedate breeds though. Atticus is half LaMancha and half Alpine, and Alpines are known for being active, sassy, and just a little bit crazy. :rofl: Personality-wise, he absolutely took after the Alpine side.
I love him to bits and he's a wonderful guy, but he's a bit like owning a Border Collie with horns - a wonderful creature, but has SO MUCH energy and needs constant mental stimulation or he's gonna be a little hellion. Unfortunately, I don't really have the time to give him the attention he needs and wants, so he's a bit of a pain all the time.
But, when he's getting enough attention, he's FANTASTIC. He knows a ton of tricks, loves to hike with me, wears a backpack, he's great.

Hazel is much more laid back [Angoras typically are] and she is fantastic. Very uncomplicated, nice to just hang out with, the whole thing.

If goats were my only thing, I'd love having like 5 Attis...but they aren't and I wish I had 5 Hazels. haha But, together, they're a really funny combo!!

I love them both. 



Chevaux said:


> Birthday greetings to Hazel!


She says "thank you!"  She had a really great birthday!

____________________________

Fabs is doing like a million percent better today!

I figure it's probably half in part to the bute he got yesterday, but hey. He's doing really great.

I'm really relieved about that! I was worried that he was gonna be the same as yesterday, or worse, and ugh.
So I'm stoked that he's a-ok. 

Today we just did some lunging. I thought about riding, but given that his body is still working through the vaccine, I chose to leave riding for tomorrow.

However, BOY, was he into lunging! haha
Despite his hooves being long and being a bit stiff from that, he was ZOOMING around. He eventually settled right down, but it was fun to see him feeling so good!





And my favorite one, his Saddlebred impression:



:lol:


I've been trying some different 'massage' techniques on him recently - prior to lunging him, we did some shoulder "releases" which he really really seems to enjoy [and benefit from].

Here's the video that explains it best, I think.






We did his left front leg first, then his right front..and he was holding up his right front for me even before I had gotten to that side of him! haha Like "hey! Here's my leg! Please do this one!!"
He's too funny. 

Recently he's really started communicating when/where he needs to be released/massaged. It's funny, and also pretty cool for me that I can do something that helps him in a recognizable way and makes him think [on some level] "when ____ hurts, I need to tell Emily because she'll fix it!"

I love that he's not shutting down, away from me, anymore. He's communicating! And it's pretty rewarding. It's a good feeling for me.


----------



## Wallaby

Fabs finally got his hooves trimmed today!!
His muscles were almost instantly softer after the trim, it was kinda nuts.

Actually though, Fabs getting the trim was _hysterical_ - the trimmer kept moving his legs in ways that he, apparently, found to be super comfortable so he kept making all his "I'm getting a massage and it feels SO GOOD" faces. Yawning, chewing, the whole thing. It was really cute.
I think see him like that was really rewarding for the trimmer too - she was laughing so much, it was a good time.

It ALSO turns out that one of the trimmer's other clients is certified in horse massage - The Masterson Method, to be specific. That's the type of massage that seems to be working really really well for Fabs right now, so I'm gonna see about getting into contact with her.
It'd be nice for him to get a really full massage from someone who knows what they are doing, and hopefully I'll be able to pick up a thing or two!

I'm pretty excited about that.

Speaking of Fabio's hooves, they look really weird right now but we're kind of experimenting with what works best for him.
Essentially she took his toes, on all four, all the way back to the white line, as close as she could get them. Then she left the outside edge of both fronts a bit longer as, for whatever reason, Fabio starts buckling at the knee if she doesn't - it's something he never did prior to treating the PSSM so I kind of think they are somehow interrelated. Maybe he was always prone to that, but his tight muscles held him up?? Who knows.
In back, she just did an even, normal, trim.

Anyway, so his hooves look a bit funny cuz all 4 toes are 'dubbed' wayyy back, but MAN OH MAN. He is moving GREAT.
We took him out to the arena after the trim, to watch him move and make sure all was well, and, despite not warming up really at all, he picked up both canter leads with zero cross-firing.
He was immediately doing his fancy lil' trot, totally even all the way around and super forward. It was great.

The trimmer even said "whoa, I know a few people who would love it if their huntseat or dressage horse moved like that!" :lol:

Anyway, I really should go to bed, but I'm really happy that Fabs is feeling better.

The vet is coming to do his blooddraw tomorrow for the PSSM2 study! She had to reschedule from Tuesday, but tomorrow is a go. Exciting stuff. I wish I could be there, but I have work. Ugh, work, keeping me from cool science stuff. haha
Anyway, it's gonna be coool.
Hopefully Fabs behaves! I'm sure he'll be fine, he LOVES the vet. 

:happydance:


----------



## Tazzie

That does sound like an interesting trim, but whatever works!! I'm so glad Fabs feels better!


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Video evidence, missy!!!!


----------



## grayshell38

Way back in the day I used to have Thelma's front toes squared off to ease break over when her arthritis got noticeable. Helped tons.

I think that's maybe what your farrier did?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Wallaby

Tazzie said:


> That does sound like an interesting trim, but whatever works!! I'm so glad Fabs feels better!


It is, but exactly. Whatever works!
I'm glad he feels way better too! Such a relief.



Skyseternalangel said:


> Video evidence, missy!!!!


Coming! <3



grayshell38 said:


> Way back in the day I used to have Thelma's front toes squared off to ease break over when her arthritis got noticeable. Helped tons.
> 
> I think that's maybe what your farrier did?
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I think that's probably a good description! I meant to get a picture this evening, but forgot. 

We decided to trim him that way after she did his hinds that way last time and, instead of being really stiff behind like usual, he was still super fluid behind and really stiff up front. So we're testing it out, to see if doing all four that way helps at all - so far, I say it does. 
The other benefit is that, on his hinds last time, he was able to self-wear WAY more that usual. I kind of assume that that means the trim was well-suited to his way of going.
I'm hoping he may be able to self-trim a little bit in front AND back this time. Fingers crossed! It's ok if he's not, but it'd be a good sign that we found something that works for him.

I think the hope is to ease him back into a more normal trim as his hooves recover from everything [they're going crazy, changing, from all the new movement he's doing], but who knows. We're trying to do what he says he needs, and right now he says he needs a weirdo trim! :lol:



1. Fabs got his blood drawn today! I wasn't able to be there cuz I had work, but the vet sent me a hilarious text "from Fabio" afterwards! 
It was extra funny cuz she totally captured his personality. If he could speak English, this is absolutely what he would have said.

Apparently he did really really well. This horse of mine! When did I get so lucky?

[Renee is the BO]




2. While picking out his hooves, he started walking forward [an occasional "fun" game he likes to play - "oh! I need to readjust before picking up my hooves! Oh! Actually, hahaha, I'm walking away! LOLOLOL I'M HILARIOUS" haha] and I quickly said "ah-ah-ah" and, instead of simply stopping like he usually does, he THREW himself in reverse so hard, ran INTO the wall, had all the bridles on the wall fall on his butt, jumped into the air as the bridles hit him..but stayed pressed against the wall, totally worried about the bridles but 100% more worried that he was in big trouble for moving.
It was hilarious. 
He self-corrects wayyy more intensely than I'd ever correct him. I always just have him back himself back up to where he was originally. 
He's such a perfectionist! :lol:

It was so funny. He just stood there, looking at me like "was that ok? I'm not in trouble? What just happened?!" :lol:


3. Photo/video time!

This one is artsy - 



THIS. I LOVE his leg/shoulder line here. He's going for it!



Videos!

Trotting - 






And some cantering. This one was funny cuz I didn't know why he picked up the canter again, I thought he was just weirdly doing it for fun [totally out of character for hm though!].
THEN I realized that he was cross-firing to start [I didn't even notice!] and he must have interpreted my "easy" as "you're cross-firing, fix it."
We've been working on that a bit and he's self-corrected before, but I've never caught it on tape before!
He is trying SO hard.

Could he literally be ANY cuter??!


----------



## Tazzie

I admit to laughing at the text from the vet :lol: I thought it was cute!

And Fabs really can't be any cuter!! He is pretty adorable!

As for that trot, he trots better than a lot of my competitors in Sport Horse classes, so I'll agree with your vet there :lol:


----------



## Wallaby

Tazzie said:


> I admit to laughing at the text from the vet :lol: I thought it was cute!
> 
> And Fabs really can't be any cuter!! He is pretty adorable!
> 
> As for that trot, he trots better than a lot of my competitors in Sport Horse classes, so I'll agree with your vet there :lol:


:loveshower::loveshower::loveshower:



__________________________________

On today's note: UGH.

Dear Fabs was clearly not feeling it when I showed up - tired looking, but violently spooking at little things/nothing [we barely made it down the barn aisle without him running me over], totally discombobulated.

I had hoped it was an energy thing, so I tacked him up [I had hoped to ride] while he had an EXCEPTIONALLY hard time standing still, and took him to the arena. 
I lunged him for a bit - he managed to focus pretty well, but continued to do big dramatic spooks at nothing.

When I stopped him with the intention of getting on, I noticed that his whole shoulder was spasming really badly. 
It looked like he was twitching at flies, but there aren't any flies around yet and he was clearly worried about the twitching. He kept trying to back up, away from it. :sad:






So I untacked him, got him some bute to hopefully help, and put him away - he nearly spooked over me a few more times walking out of the barn. UGH.

Poor baby!!

I hope he feels better tomorrow! It's so hard when he doesn't feel ok.

Plus we have a lesson scheduled for tomorrow afternoon..but I'll cancel it for sure if he's not up for it!


----------



## Tazzie

Poor Fabs :sad: is it normal to regress like that? I feel he's been doing so well, so kind of shocking for him to suddenly have the spasm. I don't know much about it though. I sure hope he feels better tomorrow!


----------



## Tihannah

:-( Poor baby. Sending healing vibes and positive thoughts! Hopefully, this will pass and tomorrow will be a good day!


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

I'm sorry to see/hear Fabio isn't doing so well. PSSM seems like it can be hard to manage. I found out we have a horse at the barn that has PSSM and they have him on a pretty special diet with a special grain, etc. But it seems like it can be really hard on them. I hope he feels better soon. Prayers and good vibes!

And I agree that text from the vet is hilarious!! He is cute. I like that he listened to you and decided cross firing was not the way to go. Darn arabs. Cross firing is second nature but they're good at counter canter lol.


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks for the well wishes guys! We/I appreciate them.  
This is a rough disease. I'm glad to have figured out what's wrong with Fabs and thankful that there are options and [limited] information...but it doesn't make it any more fun. 




Tazzie said:


> Poor Fabs :sad: is it normal to regress like that? I feel he's been doing so well, so kind of shocking for him to suddenly have the spasm. I don't know much about it though. I sure hope he feels better tomorrow!


Unfortunately, it is pretty normal - especially for PSSM2.  
As a whole, PSSM is a pretty erratic disease and can be triggered by a LOT of random and different things. It's not something that you can 'fix' with diet/exercise. You can make the daily symptoms a bit better, but catastrophic "badness" is basically always on the table. 
PSSM1 is pretty well figured out so PSSM1 owners know to keep their horses away from as much sugar as possible [for some of them, even a mouthful of grass/grass hay can trigger laying-down-extensive-kidney-damage-levels of tying up], have them in daily, relatively hard, work to burn off the glycogen, etc.

PSSM2, on the other hand, is barely understood at this time. In the last few months, researchers have discovered that it IS genetically passed on and that it is NOT a glycogen storage disease like PSSM1 is [for years it's been thought to not be DNA-based and it's been thought to be exactly the same disease as PSSM1, on a different gene].
However, despite knowing that it's NOT a glycogen storage disease, nobody quite knows yet _what_ it is. 
We know that most PSSM2 horses aren't _as_ sugar sensitive as PSSM1 horses, but that's about it and who knows why they aren't so sugar sensitive.
PSSM2 is widely known to be the significantly more erratic and harder to manage of the two - why? Who knows.
PSSM2 horses also tend to be hotter/more energetic than PSSM1 horses, they MUCH more prone to extreme "blow-ups" and dangerous behavior...who knows why.
In both types, environmental stress seems to be a factor. Some people have suggested that that's why P2s are so hard to manage - they stress easily [tend to have worried personalities] and therefore become symptomatic easily. Why knows, but it seems viable to me.
PSSM2 horses are also known to not tie-up as easily as PSSM1 horses. P2s tend to be more physically sore/reluctant to move, while P1s tend to tie up more.

The diet for PSSM2 [the biggest way to manage PSSM1 is by following the diet] is also a big question mark. A lot of it comes from knowledge about PSSM1 that may, or may not, be applicable.
It's known that PSSM2 horses do best on a high protein diet with a small amount of daily fat [from oil or something like Cool Calories]. A lot of them respond really well to acetyl-l-carnitine [like Fabio], A LOT of natural Vitamin E, magnesium, and, generally, an amino acid supplement like lysine.
A PSSM1 horse would probably keel over from that much protein! haha

And the idea of giving fat, amino acids, _and_ ALCAR to PSSM2 horses literally just became a recommendation a few weeks ago.

It's CRAZY.

On the plus side, I have a lot of hope that within a year, or two, PSSM2 will be an old hat for us to manage [through new scientific research or my own experimenting]...but, for now, it's daunting.
It's a little like when HYPP was first discovered - all these horses were having MAJOR issues and nobody knew why. Now treating/feeding HYPP is pretty well understood and straightforward. People can ride their treated HYPP horses without fear of the horse falling out from under them, which is something no one thought would ever be possible 5-10 years ago. 

I'm trying to stay hopeful about it. 


And, on the Fabio side of things, since he's only 3 months out from when he first started the diet, his muscles/body/whole system is SUPER delicate. Something that his body may be able to take in stride next year could be something that his body totally loses it over right now.

I'm about to package up his food for the next month and I'm changing it a bit in hopes that it'll help his body even more. I haven't tried him on fat yet, his vitamin E dose is low [for PSSM], and his MSM dose is also low [MSM is a "new idea" in the PSSM world].
So I'm adding Cool Calories, doubling his Vitamin E dose, doubling his MSM, keeping lysine, keeping Cough Free, halving his amount of TC Lite [he's doing well on it, but getting chubby..not sure he needs two whole pounds], keeping slippery elm bark, and keeping the all alfalfa.

I'm looking forward to the day when each month's diet is predictable! haha


ANYWAY. haha bet you weren't looking for such a long-winded answer! :lol:


On the today front, I ended up canceling the lesson.  The BO was super understanding about it, thankfully! 
She had her vet catch her up on PSSM the last time he was out and she's been way more understanding about it since - not that she was ever not-understanding, but she understands the disease better and it's less like something I just made up, or whatever. :lol: I couldn't explain the "well, he's not tying up, but he's sore" part of the disease very well, but I think the vet did. She understands now that he doesn't have to be literally tying up for bad things to be happening!

Funnily, Katie/Tazzie, that comment you made about your Sport Horse competitors - I showed the BO a picture I had taken of Fabs a few days ago [that most recent trotting picture, I think] and she was like "too bad he isn't registered! He'd clean UP in the Sport Horse ring!" :rofl:

Anyway, today Fabs was doing ok, no more twitching, but he was clearly really jumpy and worried [classic in-pain-from-PSSM Fabs]. 
I started getting him all tacked up for the lesson, but then picked out his feet [I do that after the saddle pads are on, so his back has more time to warm up] and noticed that all four of his legs were relatively stocked up. That told me that he hadn't moved much today, even though he was outside, and that's super unusual for New Fabio. The only real reason for him to not move around much is if he's super sore, or still really symptomatic.
SO I decided that it was probably in our best interests to reschedule the lesson for next week.

No sense in pushing him on a day he doesn't feel good! Better to save the lesson for a day when we're both on top of it and ready to learn.


So I lunged him a bit since he clearly had a bunch of pent up energy, and he was pretty happy with that! He was being his typical silly-workaholic self.  A little more looky than usual, but he seems to enjoy the repetition/predictability of lunging so he was happy to really focus in.
He had a really hard time cantering in a balanced way [cantering in a balanced way is hard for him, like many PSSM horses] but he eventually figured it out after I gave him a bit more warming up time. 

I've noticed before that, sometimes, while working, Fabs' flank muscles will get tight [that line you associate with heaves, basically]. I've read about other PSSM owners saying that that's a precursor to an episode, but I've never seen Fabio have an issue after a workout where those muscles showed up [ie, every workout].
Today I experimented a bit and gave Fabs a walking break each time I saw those muscles appear - asked him to continue once those muscles stopped looking tight.
And guess what?
He was significantly more relaxed-tired at the end of the session, and significantly more relaxed throughout the whole session.

INTERESTING. 
I've been reading about how PSSM horses have the hardest time with extended, "fat-burning," exercise and a much easier time with short, super intense, exercise [trotting for 30 minutes, vs galloping for 2].
I wonder if those muscles get tight when he starts running out of muscle fuel, and a walking break gives his body the moments it needs to prepare the next cache of energy for digestion during exercise [or whatever].
Who knows why, but it worked out pretty well and Fabs really enjoyed the session.

It worked out SO well that, after we had done 15ish minutes of trotting [typically he's about "done" after 15 minutes] and I let Fabs go so I could freelunge him for cantering [he has a easier time finding his balance at the canter when he's not on the lunge line], he took it upon himself to keep up the lunging activity while I put the lunge line away:






:rofl: :lol: :rofl:

I kept clucking at him because he was being so cute and I didn't want him to stop, but I'm 90% sure he would have kept going without my input.
He eventually even switched directions [turning to the inside of his circle, hilariously enough], but then started walking which wasn't quite as precious. :lol:

He is HYSTERICAL. A real gem.


----------



## Tazzie

That is pretty interesting! Frustrating to have to go through it though. I do hope you can figure out a consistent diet though to keep him happy!

And see? He would totally have Sport Horse potential :lol: a lot of my competitors have no lift and no overstep in their trot. None. Fabio sure does! I do agree he'd clean up :lol:

Interesting about the line appearing and such! That was a good idea to let him rest when it appeared too! And his lunging video is too cute :lol: he wasn't done!


----------



## Wallaby

Tazzie said:


> That is pretty interesting! Frustrating to have to go through it though. I do hope you can figure out a consistent diet though to keep him happy!
> 
> And see? He would totally have Sport Horse potential :lol: a lot of my competitors have no lift and no overstep in their trot. None. Fabio sure does! I do agree he'd clean up :lol:
> 
> Interesting about the line appearing and such! That was a good idea to let him rest when it appeared too! And his lunging video is too cute :lol: he wasn't done!



So true! I'm really hopeful that one day, maybe soon, we'll get the diet thing figured out. I feel like it's a lot to ask to have his diet in flux AND not be sure what the best exercise routine for him is - lots of stressful [for both of us] variables.



____________________________


Today it's windy and Fabs was, again, acting like a loon. He was honestly pretty good for me, but I could tell that he was just holding the crazy down because I'm his safety net [or whatever]. 
He was pretty happy to see me and worked well, but he was worried about everything and nothing. :/

He would have really benefited from some freelunging in the arena, but EVERYONE and their cousin was at the barn today so we had to settle for on-line lunging. 
Interestingly, I put his body wraps on him and they would NOT stay in place! Something about his summer coat and/or muscle gain made them repeatedly slide up his butt. I eventually took them off because poor Fabs was trying so hard to work through the distraction, but you could just see him saying "MOM! I'm trying so hard to WORK here and your dumb wraps are NOT HELPING." :lol:

So we ditched the wraps.

I was also interested that, by the end of the session [I followed the "line guide" again], he had just a little white foam on his lips - like he had had a bit he likes in...but he was just wearing his normal rope halter.
What a weirdo! A cute cute weirdo.

Cantering was really hard again today, but he tried and actually tried stretching down a few times in each direction so that was good!

Then I decided to grounddrive him around to cool out. That may, or may not, have been the best idea as I put his BOT pad on him and the pad kept blowing up in the wind, causing him to spook...but it was ok. At least he cooled out! And it was more interesting than walking circles in the arena.

Some of the other horses were super impressed:




In other news, I discovered that our saddle, though it fits well, may be poking Fabs back in a way that makes him sore [the tree is basically exactly the same as his back, but the underside fleece isn't superduper fluffy and the pads I've been using are thin-ish - potentially he needs more back protection].
So I got some recommendations from riders on the PSSM forum I'm a part of, and may have gotten [what feels like] a ridiculously expensive, fancy pad.

https://www.toklat.com/Products/BP/43-5751

HOWEVER. I decided if $200 [I found it listed more cheaply elsewhere] is all it takes to make Fabio really comfortable undersaddle and I get to ride more than once in a blue moon, this pad will be so worth it. And, if it doesn't help, it seems like it should have decent resale since I couldn't find ANY used ones on the market. I got the one with shims because, while I don't think Fabs needs shimming, resale value! The prices were the same for shimmable and non-shimmable, so I went for it.
Yay/good bye tax return! haha

Also, this video freaked me out about the felt pad I'm using now! haha






The new pad will be here on Tuesday, so I'll probably try it on him for the first time on Wednesday. 
Cross your fingers!


But I'm really hopeful about it. Everyone who's used one of these says their horses have LOVED it, it was the most recommended pad. It would be so so nice to actually get to ride regularly and I think Fabio would agree!


----------



## Skyseternalangel

I hope this pad does the trick! He's such a cutie in his ground driving gear


----------



## Wallaby

Skyseternalangel said:


> I hope this pad does the trick! He's such a cutie in his ground driving gear


Thanks! Me too. It'd be so awesome if the trick was just a comfy pad. Fingers crossed!



______________________

On the PSSM front, I just read an explanation of the types that actually makes sense:
"P1, the GYS1 gene causes a horse to over store and improperly store glycogen. P2, the newly found variant, causes a horse's muscles to break down and they require a high protein diet to try to rebuild their muscles."

That explanation still doesn't explain everything for me, but it makes more sense than what I've heard recently! haha


----------



## Tazzie

Yay for a new pad! I also hope he likes it and is much happier with it! I definitely hope you guys get to ride more too!

And that is a pretty simple way to explain it. Would help at least a little bit when explaining to others!


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

Nope I didn't mind reading the lengthy post about PSSM. I learned a lot reading it but I'm a geek too. I understand the need to nerd out and go into details about things a lot of people have no interest in. I learned a lot more about it and didn't know it was so experimental or unknown. I know very little about it. But I hope you're right and the ability to treat it effectively will come around soon.

That makes sense about the muscle. I'm sure the answer isnt complete in the difference but I know the horse at the barn with PSSM doesn't have anywhere near the muscle development you would think but he's in full work.

I was going to say he was very cute to watch lunging himself. I can honestly say I don't think I've seen that but he looks quite pleased with himself. It made me smile.

But I hope the pad does the trick and he feels more comfortable in it!


----------



## Wallaby

Tazzie said:


> Yay for a new pad! I also hope he likes it and is much happier with it! I definitely hope you guys get to ride more too!
> 
> And that is a pretty simple way to explain it. Would help at least a little bit when explaining to others!


For real! Instead of being all "well, he has this crazy genetic disease and I'm not a scientist so I really can't explain it, but he's so much better now that he's on the right diet!" :lol: 



DanteDressageNerd said:


> Nope I didn't mind reading the lengthy post about PSSM. I learned a lot reading it but I'm a geek too. I understand the need to nerd out and go into details about things a lot of people have no interest in. I learned a lot more about it and didn't know it was so experimental or unknown. I know very little about it. But I hope you're right and the ability to treat it effectively will come around soon.
> 
> That makes sense about the muscle. I'm sure the answer isnt complete in the difference but I know the horse at the barn with PSSM doesn't have anywhere near the muscle development you would think but he's in full work.
> 
> I was going to say he was very cute to watch lunging himself. I can honestly say I don't think I've seen that but he looks quite pleased with himself. It made me smile.
> 
> But I hope the pad does the trick and he feels more comfortable in it!


Haha oh good! I guess it's one bonus about ADHD - I get to have that hyper-focus thing! And, since mine is mostly focused around horses, it makes researching PSSM not as painful as it could have been. Yay!
With Lacey, when she got diagnosed with ERU [Moon Blindness], I spent a few weeks reading EVERYTHING I could find and it was crazy for a bit...but I found a lot of good stuff and she had some rally good years! 

Right? He did look SO pleased with himself! That was half of what cracked me up so much about it - him coming around his circle, pricking his ears at me like "look what I'm doing! Aren't I smart?!"
He has such a sense of humor.
He's like that serious type of person who has a lot of opinion and doesn't seem to be very funny..until they bust a joke and you realize that they are incredibly hilarious. He saves his humor, I guess. :lol:





The pad should be here tomorrow! I'm not gonna be able to try it on Fabs until Wednesday, but I'm excited to feel it myself! haha

______________________________


On the Fabs front, thank goodness, MY horse was back today! He was totally back in his right mind. None of this bolting/spooky/spasm-y/whatever business! Yay!

I freelunged him [he probably would have liked me to have ridden him, but I'm trying to save "riding equity" for the new pad. Also, I don't want to accidentally sore his back and have that impact his reaction to the new pad] for quite a while and he was HAPPY.
He was ready to stop when I asked, but he would have been happy to continue as well.

I was pretty impressed because it was 85* today and he started out in "ugh, do we have to?" mode, but, as he warmed up, he got more and more dedicated to the task at hand.

He has hyper-focus too! Horse ADHD? haha


Anyway, then we tried cantering and he only cross-fired once AND HE SPENT SO MUCH TIME WITH HIS HEAD LEVEL!!
It was crazy. It was like a switch flipped and he suddenly has the muscle to balance at the canter!

I'm pretty excited about that in particular because I've felt like cantering undersaddle should stay out of the question, until he can canter alone with some kind of good balance [not racing along, holding his own self up, etc]. The next step, once he's more confident with this balanced canter in a freelunging situation, is to get that canter on the lunge line.
Once he's reliably balanced on the lunge line, I feel like he'll probably be ready to do it undersaddle.

That'll probably take a while and that's totally ok, we have PLENTY to work on undersaddle without cantering! But I have increased hope that we'll get there one day. He won't just be a walk/trot horse forever. 

Ta-da!


----------



## Wallaby

The other thing I forgot to mention was that Fabs was super sweaty after all that work, so I decided today was a good day to rinse him off. 

I had thought about rinsing him on Saturday after he had a pretty good workout, but we got to the wash stall and everything about his eyes/body language said "oh gosh, no" - I could just see that things were gonna end badly if I pushed it. 
I realized that he had been really good during our workout because he was pulling himself together and trying really hard - not because he was doing that ok.

Anyway, unlike Saturday, he marched right into the wash stall, was a little "this is new and a little strange"-jumpy but nothing bad, and even let me tie him while I rinsed him!
He even tried drinking the water. 
At the end, I had him back up a few steps, then asked him to leave with me. He didn't rush at all, just took slow, careful steps on his way out.

I feel pretty proud of him for that!


----------



## Wallaby

So. 
I got the new pad yesterday and it is SICK. I'm really excited about it. If I were a horse, I'd want THAT pad on my back!! haha

BUT. After spending today super stoked about riding this evening, suddenly the weather went from clear, sunny, and 85* to dark, cloudy, and 70* with a "severe thunderstorm and hail" warning from the Weather Service.  

So I barely got to see Fabs, let alone ride!
I got to the barn just as it started really thundering and I was pretty worried about getting the goats in [the goat pasture is pretty open, and on the highest hill around, so I felt kind of at risk lightning-wise], so I had to hi-bye Fabio. 

BOO. He was pretty happy to see me too. The door to his barn was shut to help seal him off from the weather a bit, but, somehow, he heard my truck pull in and I could hear him bellow-neighing for me through the door even before I opened it! haha

I felt bad about leaving him. But, luckily, I was there in time to give him his dinner so I feel like I did something with him and the food distracted him from hovering at his stall door/making me feel terrible for not getting him out.

Soooo now we have to wait until TOMORROW to know how he likes this new pad. THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME.

In good news, I got a session scheduled for Fabs with an equine bodyworker - recommended by our hoof trimmer after I told her about how much Fabs hs been loving the Masterson Method. This lady is certified in MM. 
His session is Saturday, April 30, at 1pm. It's kind of crazy expensive [but maybe not, I did just spend $200 on a saddle pad...eek], but she's gonna show me things I can do myself and, apparently, each session is 2-3 hours!! So I feel a lot better about it. Definitely sounds like we'll be getting our money's worth.
I'm excited to see how Fabs does after getting a really thorough massage. I can see the effect after I do a few tiny releases, I'm so looking forward to seeing him after he gets his _whole body_ done. He's gonna feel so good and be so happy!!


I'm a littttle worried about how much energy he's gonna have tomorrow. I didn't work him hard yesterday as prep for riding today, and then we didn't do anything today...maybe he'll just be really "ready"-energetic instead of crazy-energetic? I sure hope....
On the plus side, Thursdays are pretty easy at work so the day should go by fast!

Dinner:




Oh! Also, in case any one wants to read about PSSM "from the horse's mouth," as it were, here's info from the research lab that's basically at the forefront of current PSSM research. 
It's the one that's running Fabs' PSSM2 test as well. 

Lotsa science-y words, but it's interesting stuff I think. 

Learning Center - Health | EquiSeq


----------



## Tazzie

Boo about the weather :sad: that's never any fun! I'm glad the pad came! Hopefully you can use it soon!!

Also, yay about the bodywork! I'm sure he'll love it and you'll pick up all sorts of awesome tips!

And I'll read that in my down time this afternoon! I like sciencey things (*nerd*)


----------



## Wallaby

Tazzie said:


> Boo about the weather :sad: that's never any fun! I'm glad the pad came! Hopefully you can use it soon!!
> 
> Also, yay about the bodywork! I'm sure he'll love it and you'll pick up all sorts of awesome tips!
> 
> And I'll read that in my down time this afternoon! I like sciencey things (*nerd*)


*like* 




______________________

I got to ride yesterday! 
I don't super have a lot of time to update you all right now [though, knowing me, this'll probably get long...haha] but he seemed to love it!
I didn't use any of the included shims, but I think I'm gonna try using the wither shim tomorrow in our lesson - it really started sitting down in his shoulder "pocket" and I don't think it really bothered him, but that's not gonna help him be super comfy either. 

I also think the Back on Track pad AND the new pad are too much together. So I'm gonna try warming his back up with the BOT pad, then switching to the Toklat right before I put the saddle on him.
His back was SO sweaty after the ride and he didn't seem bothered, but I don't want him to overheat on a longer ride! 

We'll have to see if he reacts the felt backing of the new pad though...he tends to be strongly anti-felt [I think it tickles/itches him], but he might be ok with it this time since he loves the pad...
Fingers crossed!

Anyway, I could definitely see the difference. 

He's been a little stiff since that thunderstorm [I wonder if he paced a lot in his stall, or something, seems like it's his left hind...but just very very barely] so he wasn't 100%, but even on the lunge line he was moving WAY better.

He immediately started stretching, no giraffing at all! Usually he's allll giraffe when I lunge him+saddle!

The ride was different for me too - I could feel the extra padding [not sure how much I loved that], but his movements were all less jolt-y and I was able to ride through them better without getting off-balance! That was nice.

We have our lesson tomorrow and I look forward to how he does in it when he's really, actually, warmed up instead of just barely warmed up.

He was also much more forward undersaddle with the new pad. He was looking for me to ask him to trot. It was a nice change!

Anyway, I feel ok about it so far! 

We just did some freelunging today. He was pretty stoked about it.

Anyway, videos!

Grooming, today - I apparently discovered the itchiest spot everrrrrr






Lunging yesterday before our ride. He was totally not warmed up and, therefore, moving a little stiffly, but that is above and away the best/most comfortable trot I've ever seen from him on the lunge line while wearing a saddle.
Not super forward, and on the forehand, but relaxed!! And he's rarely relaxed on the line with a saddle. 







And today. 

He was flipping his head a lot and being kind of silly! Sassy Mr SassyPants.







Oh yes, and when I pulled him out of his stall, this:
Not sure if he had any fun today or what...




And THIS. Everyday I get sort of awestruck that he's actually mine and MY horse looks like this! haha
I mean, I'd love him no matter what he looks like, but I never imagained I'd own a horse that looks as fancy as he does sometimes!




:happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

sure got a good whoa on him! I like how he canters around you at liberty. most horses I work with would be all over the arena. shows you what a long term one/one relationship can build.


----------



## Wallaby

tinyliny said:


> sure got a good whoa on him! I like how he canters around you at liberty. most horses I work with would be all over the arena. shows you what a long term one/one relationship can build.


He really does! Haha Whoa is probably his favorite word ever. 

He's so funny about it! Today I tried to let him out in the arena to roll a bit, or do whatever he wanted, and he just stood there looking at me - clearly expecting that we were going to have a freelunging session! haha

People at the barn are always impressed. I've never thought of it as being particularly impressive, but I suppose it kind of is! 
It's fun because there's this whole element of discussion that you can have, that you can't have on the lunge line. I suppose you could have it in a round pen, maybe, but I, personally, like that he gets to chose to stay 'with' me - there are other options available, but he chooses me. 

And thanks.  

__________________________


Well.

The kid and I had our second lesson today!


On one hand, it went pretty terribly.
On the other hand, it was productive!


First, I tried just placing the new pad directly on his back. He's reacted badly to wool-felt in the past [gets all itchy-acting, etc] but I hadn't tried this pad directly on his back, so I wanted to find out if this felt bothered him as much as the other felt I've put on him.

And yeah.

He as wringing his tail pretty much the second we got in the arena. Then I lunged him a bit and he did just fine. Towards the end of lunging, he kept trying to scratch his lips on his leg, or something.
And, of course, he was being a little twitchy [not too bad though].

Anyway, long story short, he pretty much lost his mind when I got into the saddle. His knees buckled a little, then he started dramatically pawing at the air and flinging his head all around.

So I immediately hopped back off, and went to grab his BOT pad to layer under the felt [while the BO/trainer held on to him].

He was 100% better with the BOT pad under the new pad. Still a little twitchy since the BOT is slightly smaller than the new pad, but better.

I think I'm gonna look into buying some thin neoprene/non-slip material to sew on to the bottom of the new pad and cover the felt with. 
He loves the pad, it's just that darn felt!!

He does the best with neoprene-based materials, so I'm just gonna head that direction.

UGH. This horse. haha


Anyway, I got on and he was still grumpy. Grumpy grumpy.

I think he may be reacting to the Cool Calories we started him on on Wednesday. He's been a little grumpy and not quite as forward as he had been getting - not quite as energetic.

The BO is gonna stop feeding the CC tomorrow and we'll see what happens. Hopefully he returns to his normal self!


Anyway, he was having all kinds of feelings about being ridden. Mostly to the tune of "my name is 'No,' my sign is 'no,' my number is 'no,' you need to let it go..."
:lol:

But it wasn't like he _couldn't_, it was mostly like he just really didn't want to.
I think that he's just afraid of being wrong, for some reason, and he knows he might be wrong when he's learning new things, so he resists learning anything new for fear of being wrong.

Anyway, he was giving me a really hard time - balking, head tossing, trying to trot when I didn't ask, throwing his head more, and so forth.
BO/trainer was telling me to just push him a little more and it was realllly not working.
He was getting madder and madder.

All we were doing was asking him to give us a slight counter-bend at the walk. One single step, nothing too outlandish. He two-tracks [halfpasses, I guess] at the walk well now, he yields his forehand and hind end well - in terms of new things, a slight counter-bend is not very wild. :lol:

So, since I wasn't sure if I was asking wrong and he was resisting/both of us were having a hard time/he was the only one having a hard time, I asked BO/trainer to hop on Fabs so I could watch her ask him.

She got on and oh my word.

He was SOOOOO mad. He did all the same things he was doing for me [plus some extra fun hopping] for her!

After about 5-10 minutes of BO/trainer trying to figure out ways to discuss this maneuver with him, without turning it into a fight, she finally got a step of it out of him and he settled down with her a bit.
I really really like how she rides well, and trains well, but doesn't beat her horses around or anything. It's the kind of thing Fabs needs - little attention being paid to his attitude, lots of focus on praise when he tries and gets it right.
He was looking for a fight and I loved how she recognized that and refused to get into it with him.

It makes me really feel like Fabs and I found the right place to be.

Anyway, she walked him around for a minute after he got it, then hopped off.
Then she turned to me and said "I underestimated your riding ability. He is DIFFICULT and he only looks a little difficult with you!" :rofl: 
Later on, she quipped "someone wanted to make him into a barrel horse? That would be SCARY!!"

:rofl: :rofl: :lol:

Anyway, I got back on, he gave me more attitude [though less than he had been giving], but finally he tried offering a tiny counter-bend. So we stopped, praised him, and I rode him around for a minute more doing things he's comfortable with - yielding, sidepassing, and a little two-tracking!

The BO/trainer was totally amazed at his two-tracking. She was really impressed that he knows it so well now - she figured that, given his difficulty with counter-bending, he was 40% ok with two-tracking...not 90% great at two-tracking! haha

He's like that though. He fights new ideas SO HARD, but then 'gives up' the fight so quickly once he feels like the idea is no longer "new."

So that was nice, to impress her with our practicing! ...even though "practicing" is riding like 6 times since our last lesson...but hey.

She said she feels like he has a bunch of potential, but that getting to that potential is like mining diamonds. :rofl:

But that was nice to hear! He horses are pretty high-level, so I feel like she knows what lots of potential feels like! haha

I also really liked that she got to see him on a bad day. I've told her that he gets like this sometimes and I don't think she quite understood the whole thing. 
Like, she saw the good -quiet- horse in front of her and couldn't match it up with the grumpy/angry one I was telling her exists! Ha.

Now, I feel like, she has a better idea of how to help us because she has a better idea of what I'm working with on a daily basis - not just on good days.


I also kind of loved that Fabs gave her a super hard time too.
Sometimes I've wondered/worried that he behaves like he sometimes does because our personalities don't mesh well or because I'm not a good enough rider for him. It was nice to see that it's not necessarily me. 
He'll fight anybody who tries to teach him something new, however good/gentle they are. :lol:

It was good.

I'm not sure if Fabs actually learned anything from 45 minutes of resisting to counter-bend, but hey. I learned some stuff! And now I'll practice with him and, maybe, we'll be great at it for our next lesson. :lol:


He is too funny. What a horse.


----------



## Wallaby

Today Fabs was a little better.

I realized that a lot of his behavior [including the slight hind-end "lameness"] I had been seeing were basically all behaviors he had prior to getting on ALCAR for his PSSM. Then I realized that this most recent "set" of his supplements had sat in my truck on an 85* day - maybe the heat degraded the ALCAR and he was essentially "off" ALCAR right now??

Anyway, so I added a bit of fresh ALCAR to each of his little feed baggies [enough that he'll be getting about 1tbsp of fresh stuff every day - he usually needs 2tbsp, but 1 should be enough to see improvement with]. If ALCAR is the issue, he should be feeling a lot better tomorrow.
I gave him a dose of it about 30 minutes prior to working him today and he seemed a little better during our lunging session. Not 'new-normal'-good but ok. Better than yesterday!

After a ridiculous amount of searching, I found a material that should work to add to the bottom of the new pad to improve it's non-slip-ness and make it so Fabs doesn't react to the felt. 
It's a GOOD thing I didn't buy the first thing I found though! The stuff I ended up getting was [on sale] $12 for a 48x36inch. The stuff I originally found and seriously considered buying was $36 for a 36x52 sheet. :shock: :shock:
The stuff I just found, and bought, looks exactly like the stuff that's on the bottom of a TackyToo pad. And the $36 stuff was gonna be way more of a gamble. Ha!

The pad is 31x30, so I think that means I'll have some leftover? Cha-chinggg.


In other news, this whole thing with Fabs is getting me pretty emotionally exhausted. I need a break from crazy stuff! haha the last few weeks have been rough. I had to skip my last session with my therapist too, which I'm sure is not helping.
But I have an appointment with her on Wednesday [AND I have the day off - having Wednesdays off is the best] so that'll be good!
Bless Lacey's soul, but the chronic disease element was a nice thing to have gone when she passed. I missed/miss her terribly, but I do _not_ miss her ERU!! 
That sort of thing really takes a toll on a person, especially when the animal isn't feeling 100%. You have to play vet, while simultaneously playing the emotionally invested horse owner, and each role is not a joke.

I love Fabs dearly and I hope he lives to be 1000, but I don't love the PSSM.



On the Fabio-riding front, the BO/trainer wants me to try riding Fabs in a bit. Or, at least, she wants to try that in our next lesson. I think I'm gonna try a Waterford on him next. 
I tried a single-jointed snaffle on him and it was awful - he was immediately leaning/obsessing on it. He loves his dogbone snaffle with a roller, but it's a little too small [it's a 5in and his lips always touch the rings] and I think that the sizing issue hinders some of his acceptance of it. 
He seems to like bits with lots of pieces/movement best, so I'm gonna try a 5 1/2inch Waterford snaffle and see what he says. 
Plus, potentially he won't be able to lean/tune me out in it...cuz that's what he does in a bit - he listens until he doesn't want to, then he starts leaning and gnawing on the bit until I increase the speed or he spooks/trips over his face. I can get after him, beat on him, all I want and he just tunes it out. I kind of think of it as him going to his "safe place" inside his head...except that it's not the appropriate time for going to a safe place and I'm not asking him to do anything he's incapable of.

I was thinking about it and I think that's why I like riding him bitless so much. He stays present without a bit. He might fuss and get mad, but he's present and getting mad. In a bit, he might not get as mad...but he's much less present, more distracted.


Anywayyyy.

Pictures!

This came up in my Timehop from last year. It's CRAZY how much better he looks now. 




And from today. Just him running around. I love his pouty little "concentration lips" haha


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

> Haha oh good! I guess it's one bonus about ADHD - I get to have that hyper-focus thing! And, since mine is mostly focused around horses, it makes researching PSSM not as painful as it could have been. Yay!
> With Lacey, when she got diagnosed with ERU [Moon Blindness], I spent a few weeks reading EVERYTHING I could find and it was crazy for a bit...but I found a lot of good stuff and she had some rally good years!
> 
> Right? He did look SO pleased with himself! That was half of what cracked me up so much about it - him coming around his circle, pricking his ears at me like "look what I'm doing! Aren't I smart?!"
> He has such a sense of humor.
> He's like that serious type of person who has a lot of opinion and doesn't seem to be very funny..until they bust a joke and you realize that they are incredibly hilarious. He saves his humor, I guess.



No I definitely don't mind learning something new. I tend to be overly descriptive too. It's not a bad thing to want to be thorough and understand everything you can about something important. It's good to have an "obsessive" quality sometimes :lol: I'm the same way. And yes he was really pleased with himself. I think he takes a fancy to himself and has a good desire to please. Smart boy!

And he's definitely improved since last year, he looks a lot more fit and over all healthier. 

As for attitude, I think some of them just have a distinct personality and are more opinionated or vocal about it than others. Not something to always take personally, just well this is how it is. But getting the right equipment and figuring out what works for them or what doesn't is always a great challenge. Definitely not easy. Best of luck with making him happy! But I think that itching session did the trick 

I'm also sorry about Lacey :-( never easy to go through struggles with a horse we love so dearly. But I'm glad you have Fabio and it looks/sounds like you guys have a pretty tight bond. Best of luck! I hope everything pulls through and work out for the best for you both!

I'm also not sure, what is ALCAR?


----------



## Wallaby

DanteDressageNerd said:


> No I definitely don't mind learning something new. I tend to be overly descriptive too. It's not a bad thing to want to be thorough and understand everything you can about something important. It's good to have an "obsessive" quality sometimes :lol: I'm the same way. And yes he was really pleased with himself. I think he takes a fancy to himself and has a good desire to please. Smart boy!
> 
> And he's definitely improved since last year, he looks a lot more fit and over all healthier.
> 
> As for attitude, I think some of them just have a distinct personality and are more opinionated or vocal about it than others. Not something to always take personally, just well this is how it is. But getting the right equipment and figuring out what works for them or what doesn't is always a great challenge. Definitely not easy. Best of luck with making him happy! But I think that itching session did the trick
> 
> I'm also sorry about Lacey :-( never easy to go through struggles with a horse we love so dearly. But I'm glad you have Fabio and it looks/sounds like you guys have a pretty tight bond. Best of luck! I hope everything pulls through and work out for the best for you both!
> 
> I'm also not sure, what is ALCAR?


I agree with all of that! haha 


ALCAR stands for Acetyl-L-Carnitine [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetylcarnitine]. It's a human muscle supplement that a lot of PSSM horses are on because it makes muscles function much more efficently. I'm not 100% sure how exactly it works in horses, but it's the alternative to the classic PSSM "oil diet."

The oil diet teaches the muscle to digest fat [oil] for fuel and, as a result, helps the horse "normalize."
The ALCAR diet facilitates the body to digest normal nutrients [glycogen, etc] more efficiently so the muscle isn't overburdened by glycogen [in type 1]/doesn't start digesting itself [type 2].

Not all type 2s need/do better on ALCAR, but Fabs is one of the ones that needs it bad. The other things about his diet definitely help, but he's clearly in pain without ALCAR.
He also runs on a higher dose than "average" - the 'normal' dose is 1tbsp per day, Fabs needs 2tbsp per day. 


_______________________________________


I still haven't heard back from the PSSM 2 DNA test yet. Ahhhh!!! 
I mean, they gotta take their time to do a good job and I guess now they're including a test for PSSM3 [aka Myofibrillar Myopathy or MFM], so I can't begrudge them that..but I want to knowwwww.


Anyway, that frustration aside, Fabs was doing MUCH better today. 
He was out in his pasture when I showed up and, unlike the last few days/weeks that he hasn't been feeling well, he walked right up and stuck his head in his halter.
The ALCAR getting too hot was absolutely the issue. Glad I know that now though! Cool temperatures only for that action.

It's so interesting that he walks up to be haltered now. I mean, back when he was a therapy horse, he'd literally run away EVERY time anyone appeared with a halter in hand. He'd run away until he was out of sight of the human, then try to scoot himself behind whatever he could find so maybe he wouldn't get caught.

I mean, it makes perfect sense, work only, always, made him hurt back then. 
Nowadays, work makes him feel great and why _wouldn't_ he want to be a part of that?!


I love love love that he likes working now! 


On the work front, he did really well today! We did a lot of walking, a lot of stretchy trotting, then some cantering.
I am SO impressed with how his canter is progressing. Today I had to keep him on the lunge line since someone was riding in the arena and I was concerned about cantering him since he doesn't prefer to canter on the line since something about it has historically made him unbalanced. And, when he [New Fabio - Old Fabio just hated it all and didn't care] gets unbalanced, he gets bolt-y. 
Bolt-y + lunge line + other rider = uh oh.

But I tried anyway and he probably had his best canter to date, ever, today!

He picked up the correct lead each time [no cross-firing!] AND he worked soooo hard to get his body together!
Going to the left, he managed to get one full revolution around me with his back lifted and head level!!!

He started trying this trick, for the first time ever, barely a month ago. And, somehow, despite having a bad few weeks, he seems to be pulling it off wayyyy faster than I ever anticipated. So proud. 


It's so cute, when he does that, he looks like some kind of adorably goofy reining horse. I love it!


OH! And I got the new saddle pad all fixed up with its non-slip underside.
I'm hoping to try it out tomorrow! Fingers crossed that the stars align! haha


----------



## Wallaby

1. I rode on Thursday!

It did not go superduper great and Fabs was kind of nuts, but it was effective! 
He tried that same spook he did before, the one that I caught on video - that "oh, we were going this direction, but LOOK! Now we're going the opposite way!"-thing. BUT, this time, I caught him mid-spook, got him turned back around, and started making him half-pass back and forth until he was paying more attention. 
Then I got off. 
I was a little frustrated that we didn't get to work on counter-bending, but I think what we did was maybe more effective in the long run. "No, you are not going to spook cuz you're bored, you are going to pay attention to watch I'm asking and you won't be so bored!"

He also liked the saddle pad better, with its non-slip underside. The saddle felt wayyy more secure on his slippery summer coat! It was nice. 


2. Yesterday we did not do a whole lot. Just grooming and free-lunging. I didn't want to get too crazy just before his massage today. PLUS, yesterday was the first day since the ALCAR flub-up that he seemed to genuinely enjoy being lunged again. So that was nice to see! 


3. Today he had his massage!
I lunged him this morning a bit, then he got turned out for a while - he wasn't supposed to work-work for 2 hours before the bodywork.


Oh my gosh, he LOVED the bodywork. The bodyworker was only scheduled to stay from 1-3, but she ended up staying until 4:30 because he was so so into it. The only place she found really deep tension was in his hind-end/pelvic area. 
She found tons of releases and whatnot, but not a whole ton of tension which is pretty good!

She was really impressed with his behavior and totally impressed with him. He was really good and really enjoyed himself!

It was funny, she said she could tell that I work on him because he totally knew the drill. She said that usually horses give her a bit of a hard time on her first visit because they don't know what to expect [reasonably so], but Fabs just stood there and accepted it all. He totally knew the drill. haha 

He love love loved it. And he was moving so much more freely afterwards, really swinging along. I only hand walked him around a bit so I don't know the full extent, but he was walking REALLY well.

And personality-wise, after the work, he was being just like he is on a really really good day - totally chipper and friendly and happy. He definitly got A LOT of good out of the session.


I scheduled to have her come back out in two weeks. She said that she thought what I can do myself for him is really beneficial for him, so she felt like 2 weeks would be fine [usually she comes out once a week for three weeks on new clients]. That was really nice to hear - that she thinks I'm helping him a lot even though I have very little clue what I'm doing! haha


I'm really glad it went so well! He was so friendly with her, made me really happy. He used to be so timid with strangers, it's nice to see him being brave and friendly!

It was a really good experience. And I'm really excited to see how he moves tomorrow! 
I'm hoping to ride on Monday, maybe that'll be awesome too!

Anyway, picture from his massage:




Lunging yesterday -







And Atti being crazy yesterday! Who knows why. haha [and don't worry about his cough - it's residual damage from the lungworms he had as a baby  ]


----------



## Wallaby

Oh! And the other interesting thing we found during his bodywork session is that he has a funny divot in the underside of his left pectoral muscle. The bodyworker thought it was a scar. I have no idea, but it feels like an old scar.  Poor dude!

It's on the same side as the white hairs across his hock - the hairs I can't decide if they are a marking or if they're some kind of scar.

It might kind of make sense - he's beyond terrified of getting his feet tangled in things. Like, he won't even think about it and try - he just says "no, no, no, and NO."

Who knows. If only he could tell us what happened to him over the first 10 years of his life. I'm sure it would be really interesting and potentially sad, but mostly interesting.


Also, the bodyworker is totally in love with him. 

Ack, it's just really nice when people like your horse! I spent so long being the only one who liked him when he was a therapy horse and so forth, it's been really weird and great to have all these people suddenly just adore his guts.

It makes me feel a little emotional how he is just so wonderful, given everything that has happened in his life. Not like his life has necessarily been the worst possible, but it has been hard and, somehow, he's managed to persevere through all that and hold on to hope that life will get better.
Now, finally, life is better and he is totally blossoming in it.

The bodyworker kept telling me how special he is, and I so know. He is a blessing on this earth. Even on the days that he scares the junk out of me, he's still so special and unique.

I hope that one day, maybe soon, we'll figure out his 'purpose.' Not that his purpose can't be just being my buddy, but I feel like he has a bigger thing going than just being my buddy. I feel like he's meant to be my buddy and ________. But who knows what that _______ is.
And who knows, maybe his purpose is just being my buddy. Time will tell.


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

Oh my gosh. I LOVE goats. He's priceless. That video had me cracking up. I love goats. I don't really like sheep but goats are awesome, they have the best sense of humor and are just cheeky smart in their way. Someday I'd love to have a small farm with a few goats, they're just such cool animals.

Fabio looks very happy from the body worker. I'm really glad he was able to see someone. I hope it helps with the PSSM!

I also think horses and animals in general that come from rough situations are sometimes a lot more grateful and thankful than the ones who've always had it pleasant and nice. Just like people. They're grateful in a way they wouldn't be otherwise because they know it can be a lot worse. But I'm glad he's doing better and you guys have such a good bond


----------



## Chevaux

Atticus is such a character. Has he graduated to big boy status (that is - no horn balls)?


----------



## Wallaby

DanteDressageNerd said:


> Oh my gosh. I LOVE goats. He's priceless. That video had me cracking up. I love goats. I don't really like sheep but goats are awesome, they have the best sense of humor and are just cheeky smart in their way. Someday I'd love to have a small farm with a few goats, they're just such cool animals.
> 
> Fabio looks very happy from the body worker. I'm really glad he was able to see someone. I hope it helps with the PSSM!
> 
> I also think horses and animals in general that come from rough situations are sometimes a lot more grateful and thankful than the ones who've always had it pleasant and nice. Just like people. They're grateful in a way they wouldn't be otherwise because they know it can be a lot worse. But I'm glad he's doing better and you guys have such a good bond


Super true! You have good thoughts!

Goats are SO funny. Hazel isn't really cheeky, but Atti makes up for it in spades. haha He's nuts and so crazy and loveable. :lol:




Chevaux said:


> Atticus is such a character. Has he graduated to big boy status (that is - no horn balls)?


He really is! haha

Kind of! No horn balls, at least! He's managed to mature past throwing Hazel around so much, and, without a horse around, there's no worry about him getting a horn up a horse nostril or something.
Plus, now that there isn't a horse around, he's kind of _it_ in terms of his/Hazel's protection during the day/night [though Hazel is safely locked in at night] and I felt like it might be time to let him have his weaponry, should he need it.

He's much more careful with those horns now that he's 'mature,' thank goodness! haha


___________________________

On the Fabs front, he has been SO relaxed yesterday and today. Both days we've had a little bolting incident [while lunging, so not a big deal] but today's was smaller than yesterday. And otherwise he has been crazy chill - basically back to the old, mostly reliable/dependable horse I used to have before moving him to the barn.

It's been so so nice!

I'm really looking forward to his next session and however it might cause him to improve even more...

In terms of movement, OH MY GOSH.

Tonight I threw the saddle on him [I had hoped to ride, that plan didn't work out, so I decided to just use the saddle in a "you're wearing a saddle but it doesn't mean a thing"-way] and he was moving like he wasn't wearing a saddle at all. 
It was crazy and phenomenal.

LOOK AT THIS GUY!






:shock::shock::shock: :happydance:


----------



## Tazzie

Yup, I wish he had papers. That horse needs to be in sport horse under saddle! I've always loved Fabs (though I used to be a quiet appreciator haha!), but I really like how he's looking now! He is a totally different horse, even if he still has flair ups. I'm really glad he's feeling so good!!


----------



## Wallaby

Tazzie said:


> Yup, I wish he had papers. That horse needs to be in sport horse under saddle! I've always loved Fabs (though I used to be a quiet appreciator haha!), but I really like how he's looking now! He is a totally different horse, even if he still has flair ups. I'm really glad he's feeling so good!!


Same!! I wish it were possible to find out where he came from. The more I see of him as he heals, the less I can believe that he simply isn't registered at all. I mean, I guess it's possible...but he realllly seems purpose-bred. Or somebody got super lucky...

I'm still flabbergasted at the change in him. Sometimes I catch myself just staring at him because my mind gets so "OMG look at the pretty perfect pony!" haha
He's still him, but he looks SO much better! Moving him to this barn was the best choice ever - without the move, we might have never figured out the PSSM thing and he might still be hella grumpy!


_________________________


1. Yesterday was a CRAZY day. 
The barn's neighbors were outside in their yard and Fabs lost his ever-loving mind over it.

It's hard when he gets like that cuz the stress makes him get all tense and tight but, unlike a normal horse, his PSSM won't let his muscles relax at all quickly. So he stays tense over little things for way longer than is warranted and that tension increases his total anxiety, and his overall anxiety makes him more tense...etc.

So the normal solutions like "make him work harder until he focuses" tend to backfire really bad - the harder he works in a tense state, the more painful his muscles get, the pain means he can't relax, and so forth.

Anyway, so it was rough. 

I ended up stopping him mid-work [ie, mid-panic] when he put his head down, then [because we were freelunging] I left the arena to regroup how I'd catch him - he was frozen over the activity outside so I technically could have caught him...but when he's frozen, the risk of being spooked onto/bolted over is high and I didn't want to get into that with him.

I ended up grabbing a carrot from the tack room and calling him over to the gate, then giving him the carrot piece when he came. The carrot was enough of an attention-getter that I was able to get him out the gate with very little trouble.

Then I did our usual after-work grooming routine, and took him to the door of the barn [which faces where the outside people were and presented another 'crazy-time' risk]. I left him there, ground-tied, for a few minutes while I cleaned up the grooming area.

Then I returned, gave him another bit of carrot [because his focus was back on me and he had stayed put], and we walked across to his stall with out any trouble.

I felt pretty ok about that because a) I didn't bribe him with the food, it was a reward for good, not-distracted, behavior each time and b) we made it through the evening without any extra scary [for either of us] incidences.


2. This evening the same people were outside AGAIN. Ugh. 
I mean, they have a right to be there but it's so frustrating because they're just enough out of sight that Fabs can't figure out what they are, and they keep moving/climbing ladders/whatever so that it's nearly impossible to know what they might be doing next.

On the other hand, Fabs needs to learn that things he can't quite see are probably not gonna kill him and that he needs to focus anyway...but I *moans* don't want to be dealing with him while he learns! :lol: 



BUT.

To his immense credit, he really pulled it together this evening. 
He was spooked by the people, but made the choice to focus on me. He had a few big bolt-y moments, but, this evening, he followed each of those bolts up by putting his head down the next time and trotting through those scary sections 100% focused on work.
I gave him a few big rewards after those times [getting to stop for a minute] and he seemed to really figure it out, for now.


He went so well on the lunge-line that I actually chose to ride for a minute!

I had tacked him up in case he was in a good state to ride and I'm trying a new 'method' with the whole saddle-thing - his anxiety goes up a whole ten notches over just the sight of the saddle and, I think, it's because he finds undersaddle work to be confusing sometimes. If I can get him so that the saddle itself is nothing, slowly he'll start being more calm undersaddle..I assume.

I mean, I'm expecting/hoping for him to be totally calm/focused when I'm in the saddle, but he's nervous from the second he sees the saddle?? He's not just gonna be all "oh, ok, Emily is sitting on the scary thing, I guess I'll be ok now."

So I'm trying to tack him up for just normal, everyday, stuff. I tack him up super slowly, throw the pad all over his back [he's gone back to being a bit nervous about the pad after the whole wool-underside incident...not like I blame him! I'd be nervous after that too!], put the saddle on, wait til' he's calm, then lunge like normal.

I did it on Monday and this evening and he seems calmer about the saddle pad already, at least - not trying so hard to shake/twitch it off immediately.
We'll see if this process helps in the long run, but I'm semi-hopeful.


He wore his new back-cinch for the first time tonight too! The color superrrr does not match the saddle [pretty bummed about that, it's way too light] but he seemed to really like it. Maybe it makes him feel more contained and secure? Not sure, but he behaved like he does about wearing boots/legwear - a little more confident, a little more "I got this!"


Anyway, I rode for a second too!

This is another part of this 'new' process - I think he gets worried undersaddle because he's not sure how to communicate his feelings to me when he can't see me. 
So I'm trying to focus on getting his attention, doing things that make him feel confident, and getting off while he's feeling brave.

For us, right now, that means short rides. He reallly feeds off how I'm feeling and I have a really hard time holding it together when he gets nutty. So, for the purposes of this experiment, I feel like it's more beneficial to end while we're both feeling like "wait, we should do more!" vs once we're both over it/trying to rectify the session after something crazy happened...

ANYWAY.

Tonight, since Fabs was already having hard time focusing, I just had him flex his neck, sidepass both directions, yield his front/back end all the way around, and walk two tiny circles. He got noticeably less focused/confident on the circles, so we went back to some yielding and then I fed him a carrot piece and hopped off.

It was only maybe 2-3 minutes, max, that I was on his back but we both felt pretty good about what we had done and that's the goal - for us to feel confident and good about our work together.


I'd like to tack him up again tomorrow and repeat this whole thing. It might be beneficial to start incorporating short daily rides. I can lunge him thoroughly first, then hop on for a few minutes to end. 
The more I'm in the saddle, the better I'll feel about it and ditto for him! The more I'm on his back, the less worrisome/unpredictable it'll be for him.


I'm excited for this new plan!

And I'm INCREDIBLY proud of Fabs for shutting out the neighbors this evening and actually _trying_ to focus on me and his work. 
We're getting somewhere!
:happydance:


----------



## Tazzie

Well, I do know people can get super lucky. Izzie's old owner did. She had an "eh" stallion and an "eh" mare. The stallion was nicer than the mare. Izzie is quite a bit better than both parents. Basically, old owner just wanted foals, and thought they would be profitable (ha!) Shame they only just now demanded Half Arabians be DNA tested after they found out purebred QHs were showing in the reining division using false papers.

I think this new routine will help a lot! Make the saddle a total nonissue, and things should start lining up. Getting over something they can't see though is A LOT harder than getting them over something they can see. I'm glad he put his thinking cap on though! He's a good boy


----------



## Wallaby

Tazzie said:


> Well, I do know people can get super lucky. Izzie's old owner did. She had an "eh" stallion and an "eh" mare. The stallion was nicer than the mare. Izzie is quite a bit better than both parents. Basically, old owner just wanted foals, and thought they would be profitable (ha!) Shame they only just now demanded Half Arabians be DNA tested after they found out purebred QHs were showing in the reining division using false papers.
> 
> I think this new routine will help a lot! Make the saddle a total nonissue, and things should start lining up. Getting over something they can't see though is A LOT harder than getting them over something they can see. I'm glad he put his thinking cap on though! He's a good boy


TRUE! I saw the part of Izzy's journal when you talked about her parents. Her dad is pretty nice, but Izzy is definitely better than them both. 

Agreed! Today we had a bit of a setback saddling up - the BOs husband was mowing outside and somehow that was triggering Fabs, but it didn't show up until seconds before I got the saddle on Fabs back. I tried to continue on and ignore Fabs' worry, but he ended up scooting forward when I put the saddle on his back. I pulled the saddle right off and chose to go a different direction with today's plan, so nothing too negative happened...but we're gonna have to do it "right" tomorrow for sure!

________________________________


We're getting a little close to when Fabs needs a trimmed [he's getting trimmed on Wednesday] so he's just a little 'off' behind right now. He's sound at the walk and canter, but is sporadically dropping his right hip just a little at the trot. 

So, with that in mind, I lightly lunged him [tacked up] on Thursday - which is when I first noticed the 'lameness.'
Yesterday I lunged him [no saddle] in his bridle and new Waterford snaffle. He seems to like the new bit. It's hard to tell, of course, because I didn't ride, but he was very willing to stretch down with the bit in. He's quite reluctant about stretching, during a lunging session, when he wears his 3-piece snaffle. I'm not sure why, but why does Fabs ever do anything? haha
So I'm taking his willingness to stretch towards the Waterford as a good sign.

Today I had planned to saddle him, lunge him, and potentially have a short ride, but he was getting way too triggered by that lawnmower/tractor. So we just did some free-lunging and it worked out ok.

He was still pretty worried during our lunging time, but he worked SO hard to focus on me. I'm REALLY proud of him about that!
He was worried, but he chose to focus on me instead of just bombing around like a maniac, or whatever.

Then I rinsed him off and he kind of panicked over that [still too worried from the tractor mowing, adding the still semi-scary wash stall into the mix made it extra intense] BUT he held it together REALLY well. 
He didn't try to bolt away, he let me rinse him, he tried to drink the water [letting him put his mouth on/chew on the scary thing has been proving to be an excellent tactic to get him calmer over object-stuff], he did really well.


The things I'm learning are:
If I ignore whatever he's worried about and continue on like it, and his reaction, are invisible to me, he'll get over it asap.

During lunging, the more forward impulsion he has, the less likely he is to spook. If he's dragging along, at any gait, he's likely to spook. If he's stopped, or actively moving in any gait, he's not likely to spook.

If his mouth is moving, he calms down - letting him chew on the scary stuff, giving him a carrot piece, that sort of thing REALLY calms him down...maybe that's part of his bit 'thing'? A bit that doesn't have a lot of movement might make him more nervous because it limits his mouth's range of motion?

He's less anxious when he 'feels' his body - back cinch, boots, etc.




ANYWAY.


I also had a kind of epiphany. 

WHAT if he was used for heeling/roping/etc? 
That could explain his comfort with boots and back cinches, why he ground ties so well, why his go-to move on any kind of line is backing up, his really solid stop, his love of cows, and why he's totally fine with crazy stuff happening as long as it originates from his rider - he's fine stuff getting thrown around all over if he has a rider, but will lose his mind if you start throwing the same stuff around when he is riderless. 
It also fits how hard he watches his rider while being ridden - he ALWAYS has one eye on me and I never understood why, BUT, if he's expecting me to suddenly throw a rope and throw myself off him, it makes complete sense that he'd want to watch for that since it's basically another form of a 'whoa' cue and we alllll know how much he loves whoa cues!
And how great he is at sidepassing, while simultaneously being 'horrible' at most other lateral movements - sidepassing is apparently a big deal for getting a rope horse positioned in the box, prior to actually roping a cow [I've done some research..haha].

He also totally fits the body type of the 'average' roping/heeling horse. And those spooks of his! He digs SO deep and gets down so low, it's just the kind of thing you'd want if you were chasing a cow...not so great for just riding around though. haha

I really wish I had access to that sort of activity around here. I'd love to get him around some cows and see what he does. I have a feeling that he has a LOT of cow sense. 
I mean, his pasture faces a large pasture of cows and all he does all day, every single day, is face those cows and keep an eye on them. He adores them.

I have no clue how to research this though. I tried using the "Wayback Machine" thing that Google has, to search through archived 'horse for sale' ads, but apparently that service doesn't work that way and no ads appear to be saved.

Since I know his name used to be Diamond, I was hoping that I might be able to find something looking for roping horses named Diamond in Oregon 2006-2012. I assume somebody posted him for sale prior to taking him to an auction, since his feet were well trimmed and he was well groomed/in good weight in the kill pen photos, so I figure something was probably posted in the summer of 2012...but I don't know how to find that info.


Anyway, him being a roping horse fits a lot of things. Especially for a male roper, having a super broke horse might not be as necessary as having one that's quick and knows his job. 
Fabs sure takes whatever his job is seriously and he's not one for funny business [no buck, ever], so I could easily see someone not worrying about training him much more than necessary.


Anywayyyyy.
That fits pretty well and, coming from that perspective, it's been giving me some tips about how to get through to him in a way he's comfy with. A lot of our problems stem from miscommunications, so figuring out a language he might 'know' might be helpful.



Lots of interesting thoughts are happening over here. haha


And here's a video of the goats from Friday morning!


----------



## Wallaby

Ugh, lil pony is not doing so great.

His blanket got left off last night [it was 85* yesterday so I can understand why it was], and he's definitely 50 kinds of stiff today. PLUS the fact that he's already stiff from needing a hoof trim [happening on Wednesday] = he's not feeling great.

I wonder if something like a stable sheet would be enough to keep his muscles warm enough on warm-ish nights, while not letting him overheat... 

The other hard thing is that it's hard to explain WHEN he needs his blanket to the BO. She recognizes the after-effect, him getting grumpy and tight, like I do, but even I don't know the exact temperature he's ok blanket-less at.
All I know is that he's ok when he's blanketed overnight and tends to not be ok if the blanket is off overnight. Like, he can go 12 hours without a blanket, but 24 is too much.

The BO just wants to make sure he doesn't get sweaty or overheated, which I totally appreciate..

Maybe a way to describe it would be to say that it's better for Fabs to be a little hot in his blanket, vs getting too cold?


Ugh. 

Anyway, as a result, he was pretty consistently off on his right hind today. He had a hard time cantering on it [kept cross-firing that direction which is a problem we really haven't had lately] but did eventually warm up past that.


UGHHHHH. 


This is exhausting. I love him to pieces, but the whole emotional investment thing is so tiring. His highs are my highs, his lows are my lows.

Luckily he's getting his hooves done on Wednesday and having his second massage on Saturday - he should be feeling GREAT by next Sunday!


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

The deer/goat video is really cute.

I'm sorry about the weather and trying to figure out the temperature that works best for Fabio. Is it something to do with his PSSM or just a Fabio thing? 

I think we all get pretty heavily emotionally invested in our babies, they're our kids. It's hard not to. We feel it when we're concerned about them, especially when we don't have all the answers and just want something to work and make sense. The only thing I know with any certainty is there is no certainty and a whole lot of guess work of trying to find what works best for them. Good luck! I hope Fabio feels better soon and you can work out what temperature he's alright without a blanket at.


----------



## Wallaby

Also, in positive news, people with horses in that experimental PSSM2-DNA-test study are starting to get results back! Currently they're "still getting results out to people from the last batch of tests" and Fabio was in that last batch!

Hopefully we'll know soon!!
I'm a litttttle worried he has P3 [Myofibrillar Myopathy] since his symptoms match a lottttt of the things a friend with a MFM mare deals with - down to looking chubbier during 'episodes' and consistently freaking out over wind. But I'm trying to stay positive and think n/P2!!
We reallllllly don't want him to be P2/P2, so, whatever you do, don't think that!! 

If he's n/n for P2, the same company [EquiSeq] is going to begin testing for P3 in a month or two and they're going to start with the samples they already have [FABIO]. 


Anyway, so we might have disease NAME by like tomorrow! How crazy would that be! I'd love some certainty with this. 
I think that's part of what makes this extra difficult emotionally/etc - I just know Fabs has some kind of muscle 'thing' but no answers about what it is, besides a subtype of PSSM. It'd be nice to say that he tested positive for XYZ, instead of "I'm 99.9% sure he has _____, but we're waiting on test results"/or whatever.



Oh, and then there's this:


----------



## Wallaby

DanteDressageNerd said:


> The deer/goat video is really cute.
> 
> I'm sorry about the weather and trying to figure out the temperature that works best for Fabio. Is it something to do with his PSSM or just a Fabio thing?
> 
> I think we all get pretty heavily emotionally invested in our babies, they're our kids. It's hard not to. We feel it when we're concerned about them, especially when we don't have all the answers and just want something to work and make sense. The only thing I know with any certainty is there is no certainty and a whole lot of guess work of trying to find what works best for them. Good luck! I hope Fabio feels better soon and you can work out what temperature he's alright without a blanket at.


Haha thanks! I thought so too. :lol:

I'm not totally sure. I've read things from other PSSM-people that essentially say that their horses "do better" in warm weather [definitely true for Fabs], and nearly everyone blankets....but I haven't read about others seeing such a strong correlation.
However, I'm pretty tuned in to Fabs and 40ish% of the other PSSM owners I 'know' are all "oh, they're fine! PSSM isn't that big of a deal, horse is just a pansy" when the horse is clearly uncomfortable. 
I don't know if it's denial, a desire to not do allll the maintenance involved [not that I blame them!! It's A LOT]...

And I definitely know that Fabs used to hateeee having his blanket on. It's only since treating the PSSM, finding what works, has he started being ok with the blanket and had it help him. But he's a pretty linear thinker, I guess - he usually dislikes something until he feels the benefit of it [ie, less painful muscles after wearing the blanket = likes the blanket]. 

There's also the factor of different environments. Where we are, things are pretty moist and there can be a range of 40* between daytime temperatures and nighttime temps. Moist 45* is wayyyy different than bone dry 45*.
Most PSSMers I know live out where things are drier, less humid, so maybe their horses aren't as affected?


And Fabs is kind of a princess. He's really sensitive to everything and is pretty dramatic about how he feels - not that there's anything wrong with that, I prefer knowing exactly how he feels on a given day vs just trying to guess...
His muscles were firmer to the touch and that's not really something he can fake, but he might be extra sensitive to cold because that's just who he is as a person. :lol:


And thanks for your words of support! I appreciate them.  :loveshower:


----------



## Tazzie

Wallaby said:


> TRUE! I saw the part of Izzy's journal when you talked about her parents. Her dad is pretty nice, but Izzy is definitely better than them both.
> 
> Agreed! Today we had a bit of a setback saddling up - the BOs husband was mowing outside and somehow that was triggering Fabs, but it didn't show up until seconds before I got the saddle on Fabs back. I tried to continue on and ignore Fabs' worry, but he ended up scooting forward when I put the saddle on his back. I pulled the saddle right off and chose to go a different direction with today's plan, so nothing too negative happened...but we're gonna have to do it "right" tomorrow for sure!


So it can happen :wink:

Sorry he had a few rough days :sad: poor Fabs. I could see the correlation. Cooler weather, things get stiff. Warmer weather, things are looser. Blankets would mimic warmer weather and thus, keep muscles looser.

I do hope that test comes back soon!! Thoughts for n/P2!!


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

I can't even tell you how much I love Atticus. I love goats but he just seems like such a character but I bet he's a lot of trouble too. Goats are just incredible. They really impress me by how smart they can be.

And you're welcome. I think we all know what's it's like to be in that boat of not knowing what's wrong and we're so wrapped up in them and love them so much, it makes things hard because we love them and just want answers so we can help.

lol the princess quarab syndrome. Ridiculously sensitive and sometimes unreasonable but at least they tell us. 

I hope you get the results for the PSSM test soon *crossed fingers and prayers* for you guys. And you can figure out the blanket thing, to me it makes sense because the muscles can tense to try to keep warm or temperature can have an affect on them. I know there are a few horse at my barn that have heating pad on their back before they're ridden to warm up the muscles or they go lame. High maintenance ponies :lol:


----------



## Wallaby

Tazzie said:


> So it can happen :wink:
> 
> Sorry he had a few rough days :sad: poor Fabs. I could see the correlation. Cooler weather, things get stiff. Warmer weather, things are looser. Blankets would mimic warmer weather and thus, keep muscles looser.
> 
> I do hope that test comes back soon!! Thoughts for n/P2!!


It totally can!! 

Thanks! 



DanteDressageNerd said:


> I can't even tell you how much I love Atticus. I love goats but he just seems like such a character but I bet he's a lot of trouble too. Goats are just incredible. They really impress me by how smart they can be.
> 
> And you're welcome. I think we all know what's it's like to be in that boat of not knowing what's wrong and we're so wrapped up in them and love them so much, it makes things hard because we love them and just want answers so we can help.
> 
> lol the princess quarab syndrome. Ridiculously sensitive and sometimes unreasonable but at least they tell us.
> 
> I hope you get the results for the PSSM test soon *crossed fingers and prayers* for you guys. And you can figure out the blanket thing, to me it makes sense because the muscles can tense to try to keep warm or temperature can have an affect on them. I know there are a few horse at my barn that have heating pad on their back before they're ridden to warm up the muscles or they go lame. High maintenance ponies :lol:


Atticus is SUCH a character. He's so difficult, but so fun. I really wish I had more time for him. He's so fun to be around and always wants to engage for a much longer time that I ever have time for. 
Goats are really really fun. I love having them around!! 

And thanks for the crossed fingers and prayers! 

_________________________

No word yet on the PSSM2 test, but I heard today that the very last test results are being sent out over the next day or two. So we should know by Friday, I'm guessing/hoping! I'm kind of checking my email obsessively at this point. haha

I have other things I could talk about here, but not enough time. So I'll just share this picture and hopefully update more tomorrow!


----------



## Zexious

Fingers crossed for Friday!
He is such a hunk <3


----------



## Wallaby

Well, bad news/good news...

I got the test results back today!

BUT he tested n/n for the QH variant of PSSM2.

So now we're headed in the direction of Myofibrillar Myopathy [MFM], Recurrent Exertional Rhabdomyolysis [RER], or Vacuolar Myopathy.

Vacuolar Myopathy is incredibly rare, so it seems very highly unlikely.

MFM, given his symptoms, seems about the most likely.

RER is basically where the muscle gets locked up with calcium 'deposits' that the body can't, for some reason, digest. Given that Fabio's on all-alfalfa hay-wise and doing well, I'm skeptical that he has RER.


But we'll see. :/

I'm thinking about getting a muscle biopsy done, just to cut down on all this questioning. MFM, RER, and VM are all easily identifiable in biopsy so a biopsy would get us faster answers.
However, a biopsy, and getting it viewed by the right people, won't come cheap.

I'm talking to my vet about how much it would run and we might give it a try mid-summer.

For now, I'm gonna switch up his diet slightly and follow what works for the MFM horses I know of. 

MFM is super degenerative and tends to effect breathing to a debilitating degree over the long run [like he might only have 10-15 years left of comfort, with MFM - which is essentially 25-28ish so a long life...but I want him to live to 40! haha]...so I don't know if I even want to entertain that!


Anyway, I'm a little thrown off by all of this, a little depressed about it, but also hopeful. He's come so far already and he has so much hope for the future, I'm just gonna hang on for the ride and let him be who he is. Maybe he'll make it to 40 via sheer tenacity. :lol:


He got his hooves trimmed this evening and it didn't go super great [he had a hardddd time with his hind end - I wasn't able to work him yesterday and you could super tell. He was very tense and spasm-y back there] but he felt better afterwards!

Look at this adorable canter!
He was so proud of himself that he could do this! I had to cut his session short because the hoof trim went long and he was all kinds of bummed that we didn't do more work. He had a LOT of available work-energy and we didn't even tap most of it. He's gonna be so so so ready to work tomorrow!





http://equiseq.com/learning_center/health/recurrent-exertional-rhabdomyolysis-rer


----------



## egrogan

I so understand how you're feeling. I had the same reaction to Isabel's Negative Cushings result. I just keep looking at her and thinking, "how can that be true?"


----------



## evilamc

Has he been tested for lyme? If he were to have chronic lyme it could show a lot of the symptoms hes having...and since his past is so unknown it could be possible maybe?


----------



## Tazzie

I already told you I was bummed about it, but he's lucky to have you. I know you won't give up until you have answers. And I know he's getting the best possible care!


----------



## gunslinger

So, what are the symptoms? He looks fine to me.....


----------



## Wallaby

egrogan said:


> I so understand how you're feeling. I had the same reaction to Isabel's Negative Cushings result. I just keep looking at her and thinking, "how can that be true?"


*hugs* It's really the worst when you feel/know something is wrong, but have no idea exactly what the wrong thing is and no idea how best to help. It's a huge, stressful, guessing game!

*hugs* to you both. <3



evilamc said:


> Has he been tested for lyme? If he were to have chronic lyme it could show a lot of the symptoms hes having...and since his past is so unknown it could be possible maybe?


I've researched the symptoms of Lymes and they cover some of his 'stuff' [maybe 50% ish] but don't explain all of it. I'll definitely ask our vet about it though! 
EPM is another one that has semi-similar symptoms, but doesn't quite match. I need to ask the vet about both. 

The biggest missing piece, for me, is the lumpiness of his muscle. He has huge bulges that look like weirdly placed fat pads...but they aren't fat. They're injured muscles.
Lyme/EPM both don't display like that, while something like MFM does.



Tazzie said:


> I already told you I was bummed about it, but he's lucky to have you. I know you won't give up until you have answers. And I know he's getting the best possible care!


I appreciate the support!  I'm thankful that I have the time and funds[kind of haha] to support him like he needs!



gunslinger said:


> So, what are the symptoms? He looks fine to me.....


I'll repost something I sent to someone else who asked about his symptoms:

It's hard to describe exactly what his symptoms are, as I'm still finding out who he is vs. who is he when he's symptomatic.
But, basically, he used to be very work intolerant [to the point of charging at me on the lunge line if he had worked for more than 5-10 minutes at a gait higher than a walk], he was VERY grumpy [ears pinned nearly all the time], unusually sleepy or uncontrollably alert and jumpy - no in-between, VERY unpredictably headshy [one day you could gently touch his face, the next day he'd fly backwards in response to the same touch], had a strange hind-end lameness that only showed up when he wasn't in work and wasn't consistent, seemed sore all the time - he'd creak around like a 25 year old horse...but he's 13!
And then, with all that, you'd get him doing an activity he enjoyed [having his tail brushed, primarily] and he'd melt. He'd turn into this really calm, willing, friendly, horse that you'd never have guessed lived in the body of that angry horse.

Something just seemed 'off', someone mentioned PSSM, I starting researching, and voila.
I stated him on a diet geared towards PSSM and the change was incredible.
He rarely pins his ears these days [it's shocking when he does!], he LOVES to work and I have to keep him from working himself too hard! He's no longer headshy, the hind-end lameness is essentially gone [his hind end is weak from the disease, but he doesn't have the hitch he used to], he doesn't move so sorely anymore, and he's SO happy and friendly. He wants to be in everybody's business and be everybody's friend - and he used to avoid strangers like the plague before.

He's basically a fully different horse. It's totally weird. If I didn't know him then and now, I honestly wouldn't believe it.

----

Basically, his symptoms are all really easy to overlook if he's a pasture pet because they're all pretty vague.
But it becomes pretty clear that *something* is wrong when you start putting him into work or handling him everyday.

Even the BO at our barn, she was skeptical at first because he seemed so normal to her - at first. Now that we're been at the barn for almost 6 months, she has started recognizing that something just isn't right. He's just not 'normal' or predictable. Predictability is probably the biggest thing.
You can do the same thing, the same way, everyday and he might freak out on the 5th day, after being normal for the first 5. And be totally back to normal on the 6th day.

Most horses show some kind of "oh, that scared me yesterday, I'm extra worried today"-memory after a scary thing happens.
Fabs will spaz -blindly bolt over/around whatever is in front of him- over a "scary" thing [a bird flying, a polo wrap blowing, a strange noise, whatever] and spend the next 15-30 minutes panicking until he 'comes down.' 
You can get him into that same scary scenario the next day and he won't blink at whatever made him lose his mind. He might be fine for the next few days under the same conditions, but then, a few days later, he'll suddenly be back to "IT TRIED TO KILL ME FIVE DAYS AGO! I'm gonna dieeee!" 
And there's no rhyme or reason - except that those days where he backtracks tend to be days that he's sore/the wind is blowing. 
But even then - some days he's sore, the wind is blowing, and he's a rock.


It's gotten 1000 times better in the last few months [due to the PSSM supplements], but he definitely isn't normal and I don't think he ever will be. I'm ok with that, but I just want him to be comfortable. And getting him comfortable seems, in my brain, tied to getting a name for what is wrong and understanding the mechanics of whatever is at work in his body.


----------



## Wallaby

Today was kind of an "ugh" day. We've had a few GREAT days, so an "ugh" day was to be anticipated.


First, he didn't feel great on Thursday, so I lunged him lightly and that was that. Yesterday he was ready to GO so go he went! He enjoyed being lunged for literally 45+ minutes. I don't usually lunge for that long, nor do I like to, but he kept asking to do more and I'm not gonna say "no, you may not work" to Fabio!
We took a number of 5+ minute walking breaks, but he was so into moving yesterday!
Crazily enough, it was 89* out. I was sweaty my life out, and he was loving every minute.

This other lady was in the arena with her horse [she talks to her horse a lot and her horse doesn't listen, but Fabs gets a little stressed by it because she sounds mad telling her horse "no" and whatever - he takes it personally/gets nervous for whatever reason] and she/her horse was being REALLY distracting, but Fabs held it together incredibly well. He was 100% focused on work. I was so impressed with him!

Since halving the alfalfa he gets, he's been calmer/less spooky [instead of all-alfalfa, he's on 1/2 alfalfa, 1/2 timothy] which is a major plus. His muscles have also been tighter, which is a worry.

I'm hoping the tightness will go away as he gets used to the new diet cuz, attitude-wise, he is in a much better place now!


THEN, after all that work yesterday, he was semi-sweaty, so I took him in the wash stall to wash him off - he actually let me rinse his face!!!! That's huge, considering how freaked out he was by the wash stall at first!

I was very proud of him.

Weirdly enough, while I was rinsing him off, ANOTHER person asked if he was half-Morgan. Sooo weird.
I have the hairs all pulled for the breed DNA test, I just need to wait until next month and next month's paycheck. Money kind of got away from me this month [I usually have about $400 of "free/gas/hoof trimming" money after normal monthly expenses, but I paid $265 for Fabio to have 3 sessions of bodywork, which is a good deal, and I kind of forgot about that when I planned my month...] so now I have to be REALLY cheap for the next 15 days.


I got an email from the genetic testing people this morning saying that given Fabio's breed [Arab cross], he's going to be in the first group tested for MFM. Along with developing a DNA test for PSSM2, they're working on one for MFM/"PSSM3." 
They are going to start testing individual horses over the next month, so we should know about that pretty soon. I'm very concerned that that's the one he has, and I realllly don't want him to have it, so it'll be nice to have that result relatively soon!
It's nice that I was able to get him into that study and have all these tests done for relatively inexpensively. The blood draw/shipping ended up being $155, but the individual tests [once they're on the market] are going to be $125ish each. And a biopsy runs $300+, with muscle analysis priced at $180.
SO $155 is pretty cheap!


On the today-front, it was super hot yesterday and the BO felt bad putting his blanket on [even his new day sheet >.<], so she didn't get it on him.
And, of course, he was too cold today.
He was cold, but ok, this morning when I worked him but then I put his blanket on him [knowing that he had gotten too cold]. Then, he was TERRIBLE later for his bodywork session because his blanket had to come off again and he was cold again. >.<

The bodyworker got a little frustrated with him - though she did a really good job at being patient. He was kind of being a huge brat - throwing his head around, nipping at her/me, chewing the floor, chewing the lead rope, pawing, just basically being a jerk. 
He did great for the first hour, but then it got cooler and started raining and he was notttt about that life.

He was being VERY frustrating.

We ended up calling it a day a little early, and he calmed down the INSTANT his blanket was back on. He turned right back into a sweet lil' guy.

That horse!!!

Anyway, so she's coming back out this Friday to do his third session. Hopefully things will go more smoothly for that session!

I think I'll probably end up scheduling more since they seem to be really beneficial for him, but we'll see.


----------



## Wallaby

Fabs was in a weird space today.

He was his calm, sweet, self outside the arena and TOTALLY freaked out in the arena. I was really proud of him though - despite clearly being worried and having a hard time staying "present," he worked soooo hard to think things through and not be too crazy. I was very proud of him.

His right front was a little swollen in the pastern area and he kept standing with his hind right foot a little forward - I think he was a little sore. I did a little massage on him and he really enjoyed that.


I got him out in the arena, intending to do a long warm up because of that soreness that I perceived, but Fabs had verrrry different ideas.

I set up cones [they tend to be really grounding for him when he needs that] and sent him off. 
He made one full circle around the cones at a walk, then bolted forward for a second [for no reason I could see], quickly dropped into a rhythmic canter, then proceeded to jump one of the cones AND the mounting block.

He is ridiculous and hilarious. He refuses to jump anything unless he's in one of these "moods," then he'll jump everything.


After that, he was all canter for the next 15 minutes. He'd respond to my cues to slow by slowing his canter, but he pretty much refused to stop running. It was rhythmic, nice, cantering [not bolting or anything crazy] so maybe he just really needed to run.

I had him switch directions a few times [he'd trot the turn, then pick a canter right back up] then, when he was "done," I asked him to canter a few more times just so I had had a say in something! haha

Then we did a bit of trotting [which he was notttt relaxed for - he kept looking for a reason to canter], and I tried having him walk. He was not feeling like walking, so I groundtied him while I put the cones away, then I handwalked him in the barn aisle for a bit.
It was a choice between him way overworking himself [by me trying to get him to walk on the lunge line and him continuously bolting], or just calling it.

I was really proud of us though! Even though he was still worried while I groomed him to put him away, he was able to really calm down because I was calm.
And I was SO proud of myself that I was able to keep my calm even though he was losing his mind!
I think I really made the situation a lot better by managing to stay calm. I think he was expecting me to get worried, and getting himself extra worked up over that idea, so I'm really glad I managed to keep it together!




Anyway, here's his cute lil canter. As you can see, he's a little worked up, but look at how hard he's trying. Bless his little soul!
Also, I think that bodywork yesterday helped again - he was pretty loose with his movement this morning! I love how far he's stepping under himself in this video.

Yay Fabio!


----------



## Wallaby

In case you needed a laugh today:






APPARENTLY Fabio has never encountered hind boots. :rofl:



I'm wondering if sometimes his random, undersaddle, spooks are because he's accidentally clipped himself with a hind hoof - since most of his current spooking undersaddle seems to originate from his hind end.
So I'm gonna try booting him up all the way around to see if that helps - his spooking was cut down maybe 50% when I started throwing boots on him in front, so it seems like a possibility. He clips/steps on himself A LOT for a straight-legged horse!

Plus, he's always been pretty nervous about "stuff" near/touching his hind legs, so wearing hind boots will be good desensitization!

:lol: :lol: :rofl:


----------



## tinyliny

laughing! that's the best reaction to hind boots I've seen.


----------



## egrogan

Oh god, the foot in the air..."mom, I've been attacked...mom, it hurts so bad"  silly boy


----------



## Wallaby

I was laughing SO hard! He _never_ skimps on drama! hahaha


He wore the boots again yesterday and had a similar, but quicker, reaction. He was still stomping his legs whenever I'd stop him [while lunging], but he was better.

TODAY he was great. Absolutely great. He walked funny for a second, right after I put the back boots on, but there was very little kicking, no stomping, it was good!


He was super super full of energy today and, luckily, I had a bunch of time. So I lunged him for a longggg time, then rode for a few minutes, and gave him a bath.

He was great for all of it. 
He was a little unfocused for the lunging part, but I got his attention.
I realized yesterday, while watching some Clinton Anderson videos on Youtube [I don't really love his style, I think he's too rough/doesn't pay enough attention to the emotional health of his horses - are they responding quickly because they're fully terrified of the consequences for not being quick enough, or are they actually focused?], that half my problem with Fabio is that he's not paying attention to me/I'm not making paying attention to me compelling enough.
If I teach him that life is easy when he's focused on me and hard when he's not focused, he's gonna progress faster. If I say [essentially] "well, ok, I don't have your attention right now and that's ok, I know I'm boring...but maybe you'd like to choose to pay attention to me?" - he's rarely gonna choose the answer I want him to [giving me his full attention].
There's no need to chase him around CA style, but I need to pay attention to where his attention is and get him focused on me and what I'm asking him to do.

He can't be focused on me AND spooking at everything.

He's still gonna have bad days where his attention is far far away, and that's ok..but, even on bad days, it's fine for him to learn that he needs to give me his available [a tiny bit, or a lot] attention anyway.


I think that's the bottom-line goal of most training ideologies - it's a way for the "common man" to teach their horse to give them their full attention.

And THAT is why it works so well to put random gear on Fabs before lunging him - he's nervous about the gear, so spends more time trying to figure out what I want and less time messing around. The gear is basically making it easier for me to get his attention and that's why it helps. The gear isn't a "magical" fix for him, it just tunes his brain a little more clearly to Emily-Wallaby FM.

Anyway, kind of excited about figuring that out!


So we had a REALLY good lunging session. He was totally overwhelmed by the saddle, 4 boots, bridle, reins, all of it, but it was really good. All the other stuff helped him work through the boots better [I think] because he was less focused on the BOOTS and more focused on the whole experience.

We even had a little stepping-over-the-lunge-line incident [I didn't switch my rope and whip hands fast enough, compared to the speed he was going] and, despite realizing it mid-trot-stride and getting a little freaked out, he stopped immediately and I got it fixed.
A few months ago, that same thing would have [did] sent him bolting around the arena/pasture. Progress!!

I hopped on his back for 5 ish minutes to cool him out. I probably could have stayed on longer, but I wanted to get off before I lost his attention. He REALLY doesn't like giving me his attention when I'm on his back, so I wanted to stop while I was ahead.
We had a good, positive, time and it was nice!


Then he got a bath and HE GROUND-TIED IN THE WASH STALL WHILE I WASHED HIM!!!!! He didn't move a literal muscle. The warm water probably felt good since he was sweaty and the air was a little nippy, but he was SO GOOD. 
We hadn't even gotten to ground-tied baths at home last summer! So, for his 5th or 6th time in the wash stall, that's extra AMAZING.

So proud. 


On the lunging-front, now that he's comfy with the hind boots, he's found a whole new level of trotting. Maybe he's half Standardbred? :rofl:


----------



## Wallaby

One of the biggest things that I love about that video is his tail - he's moving it around and telling me stuff! 
He's doing what I asked AND he's pushing himself to a level that's clearly pretty intense for him and challenging [displayed by the tail 'swishing']. 
I love that he's willing to work that hard, and pretty happy to do it - as we all know, if he wasn't happy to do it, he'd be dramatically refusing. haha


Also, WHAT a difference from this video - almost 4 months ago:


----------



## Wallaby

Well, we paid for Fabio feeling good!

The next day he had muscle spasms basically everywhere [groin area, shoulders, belly] and he was sooo uncomfortable. 






Poor buddy!

The weather had also gotten cooler, and he stood outside in a rainstorm that was a few hours long - his whole blanket was damp when I showed up that evening. I think he got chilled which, when combined with the 'stress' from the day before = spasm city.

Luckily I had his medium weight blanket on hand and got him bundled right up! Being really bundled up seems to help a lot in these sorts of situations.


Yesterday he kept that blanket on basically all day and got his 3rd, out of 3, bodywork session! We just undid all the clips and rolled it back enough so the bodyworker could do her work, without Fabs getting chilled.
And you know what? 
It worked CRAZY well. Fabs was essentially a model bodywork 'patient.' So, I guess, now we know!

I decided to schedule more sessions for him in a few weeks because he seems to improve with every session. His ability to focus is 1000% better since getting this bodywork and even just that is a huge improvement. 


The bodyworker also noticed that his lymph nodes were a little swollen this last time [he gets super swollen from being chilled anyway, so not sure how much those things might be connected] and mentioned that she wondered if an allergy to something might be making his symptoms worse.

I had never considered that BUT I started thinking about how much better he got after switching him from Triple Crown 30% to Triple Crown Lite.
I looked up the ingredients and Triple Crown 30%'s first ingredient is "soy middlings." TC Lite's first ingredient is "wheat middlings" with "soy hulls" second.

So, basically, the Lite has less [maybe a lot less] soy in it and that's one of the biggest differences between the two feeds.

Bottom line: I'm gonna make him some baggies of just his supplements [soy free] and have the barn add those to plain ol' alfalfa pellets. MAYBE he's allergic to soy and it's making his reactions to everything 100 times worse???

It'll be interesting to find out for sure! I'm gonna give it a week to see. It's no big deal if not, but it might be nice if eliminating an ingredient could make him easier to manage and more comfortable! Of course, finding a soy-free, muscle myopathy safe, ration balancer is nearly impossible...but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

Well Fabio was a little dramatic about those dang hind boots :lol: that cracked me up. Mom my legs are lead, you don't understand how these things prevent me from moving.

Have you figured out what's going on with him that causes the muscle spasms? And what causes it? I hope he feels better soon! Did you learn a lot from the body worker?


----------



## evilamc

Jax doesn't do well with soy, I actually feed him just hay pellets soaked with a soy free vitamin mineral supplement from horsetech...

High Point-Grass/Mixed Hay

Check it out, very good stuff! Csimkunas loves how Rodeo is doing on it since moving him to my farm and my horses do great with it.


----------



## Wallaby

DanteDressageNerd said:


> Well Fabio was a little dramatic about those dang hind boots :lol: that cracked me up. Mom my legs are lead, you don't understand how these things prevent me from moving.
> 
> Have you figured out what's going on with him that causes the muscle spasms? And what causes it? I hope he feels better soon! Did you learn a lot from the body worker?


Haha right?! hahaha that video is still making me laugh whenever I watch it! haha

Currently, the guess is RER [or MFM, but MFM is a subtype of RER]. His symptoms match pretty exactly with what I've heard from owners of confirmed RER horses - down to the weird stuff like his inability to gracefully walk downhill, how -when asked to stand still for an extended period- he wants/needs to back up until his hind heels are slightly elevated on a rubber mat/poop pile/etc, the need to be overly blanketed, the "freak outs" when his mind disappears and he totally overreacts to everything....

From the Merk Veterinary Manual website: 



> *Recurrent exertional rhabdomyolysis* is seen frequently in Thoroughbreds, Standardbreds, and Arabian horses. It is due to abnormal regulation of intracellular calcium in skeletal muscles. It appears there is intermittent disruption of muscle contraction, particularly when horses susceptible to the condition are fit and have a nervous temperament.


WHICH explains completely why hes gotten "worse" [in terms of levels of 'crazy'] as he's gotten more fit. But, at the same time, exercise is very important so it's kind of a darned if you do, darned if you don't situation.

Basically, in an RER scenario, the episodes are brought on essentially by stress. 
For him, stress is being saddled, me not showing up at 5pm, hail, thunder, unexpected noises, his cows leaving, seeing a horse trailer, things moving in the distance, being left out in the rain, etc and, unfortunately, I can pick out a time that he's had episodes/muscle spasms directly after becoming really stressed. 

BOO.

In any case, that study we were a part of for the PSSM2 test is also creating a test for RER/MFM and, because Mr. Fabs is an Arab cross who is showing signs of exercise intolerance, he gets to be in the first group tested for RER/MFM. At no extra charge to me, thank goodness!

So, according to what I've been told, his DNA will be tested for RER/MFM over the next month or so and then we'll have a yes or no on that.

If he's a no for that, I'm going to have a muscle biopsy done before the end of the summer. 


I have learned some from the bodyworker! I've definitely learned more moves and which areas he really needs help with. I had kind of an inaccurate idea of what he needed before [I was on the right track, but my inexperience as a bodyworker tricked me haha], so now I have a much more accurate idea of what he needs. 





evilamc said:


> Jax doesn't do well with soy, I actually feed him just hay pellets soaked with a soy free vitamin mineral supplement from horsetech...
> 
> High Point-Grass/Mixed Hay
> 
> Check it out, very good stuff! Csimkunas loves how Rodeo is doing on it since moving him to my farm and my horses do great with it.


I actually already have that stuff bookmarked to try first if Fabs does better sans soy! haha I'm so glad you recommended it too! It looks like good stuff for sure. I like that it has pre and probiotics in it. That's a major plus for us!


_______________________________


Fabs was doing GREAT today. 
He didn't work much on Friday [thanks to all the spasms] and he didn't work at all yesterday, so he was a bit energetic BUT he was manageable. That's huge for us. That's probably the biggest benefit since taking him off all-alfalfa and just doing half alfalfa - he's much more manageable. 
He's a little less willing to move now, but he's more consistently inside his own brain.

He got kineseo tape on his right hind hip-ish area yesterday and OH MY GOSH. He usually stands with his hind legs super close together, essentially supporting his hind end with just his left hind. 
Not today! He was putting so much more weight on his right hind, I was very excited about it.
His standing posture was totally better than I've seen it or a while. Very exciting!

Here's an example:

A few months ago, in his typical stance - 



Today -




The tape is supposed to stay on for as long as it can and it was still sticking really well this evening, so I'm hopeful that we'll get a few more days out of it!
The idea, I guess, is that the tape draws the subconscious to an area which increases circulation and mental awareness of the area, all that stuff. More awareness = more using it.
THEN, the longer it's on, the more muscle memory is changed and so forth. So longer is better.


I'm pretty excited about it!

Funny thing happened today - I was lunging Fabs, he was in his 4 boots, I SAW him accidentally knock himself in back, he started bolting forward, then got this "Oh!" look on his face and calmed right down.

I had created a theory that, perhaps, something about his disease, whatever it is, limits his proprioception or awareness of exactly where his entire body is in space. Other RER owners have mentioned similar theories.. :neutral:
Like, he knows it's all there somewhere, but isn't 100% sure of exactly where he completely is, then he accidentally interferes with himself and gets freaked out because he had no idea it was coming.

SO, by booting him up, he has a constant reminder of where each of his legs are, plus protection when/if he does strike himself.

And today I saw it actually work! Yay!!

I think that the more I boot him up, the more he'll stop freaking out when he does interfere with himself and the less spooky he'll become [undersaddle and lunging]. My theory continues that a good portion of his unexpected undersaddle spooks are precipitated by him hitting himself with a hoof and panicking a little.

Anyway, we'll see!

Here's the cutie in his boots with his bootie tape. So precious.. <3


----------



## evilamc

Also, the amazing thing with horsetech is you can customize the supplement. If you'd like to add a little more of something....or take out. They are so easy to work with! Call them and they'll even send you a 3 lb bag free trial!


----------



## Wallaby

evilamc said:


> Also, the amazing thing with horsetech is you can customize the supplement. If you'd like to add a little more of something....or take out. They are so easy to work with! Call them and they'll even send you a 3 lb bag free trial!


Really?! That's completely awesome! I'll definitely give them a call.


__________________________


Well guys, Fabio is doing great today!!



But, of course, the goats felt the need to up the overall drama of my life.

And guess what?

Atticus decided that today would be a great day to throw Hazel into a wall [because I told him to get out of the tack room and he was redirecting his aggression] AND MAKE ONE OF HER HORNS BREAK HALF OFF.

I am SO MAD at him. 

So basically, her longer horn is cracked halfway across the width of it, about 3-4 inches away from her skull. It was a little twisted and hanging off, gushing blood, at first, but then she swung her head a little in a weird way and the horn popped "back on" so the blood was able to clot the horn pieces together.

SO MUCH BLOOD.


My goat vet is gonna come out tomorrow and take a look at her.
I'm hoping that we'll be able to save the horn, but we'll see. I kind of think the vet is gonna have to crack it the rest of the way off.

I REALLLLY need the horn not to have to come fully off though. Goat horns, in mature goats, basically lead directly to their brain so complete removal of a mature goat's horns is pretty intense surgery - they have to be completely knocked out, the whole nine yards. And then recovery is really intense with making sure they don't get an infection in their BRAIN and so forth.

If it comes down to 100% removing that horn [not just from where it cracked], I might have to let her go instead. 
She's to a point in life where my goal is just to make her last months/maybeee year or two comfy, and, at 14 with other physical problems [bad arthritis, tumors, constantly too thin], an intense surgery like that does not have odds in her favor.

I'm hopeful that maybe the vet think it could heal on it's own, or maybe just the top part needs to come off. The horn seems securely attached to her head still, so nothing points to it needing to come off all the way.

I guess we'll see. The vet is coming out at 5pm tomorrow, after work.

PLUS, I had a plan about having her put down [whenever she needs it] and I was gonna have Fabio's vet do it. She has a quiet, gentle way about her that seems soothing in that sort of situation. 
My goat vet is a little rougher, seems less aware of pain [he's more of a country vet], and, therefore, not really who I want to put down my precious girl whenever the time comes.



Anyway, Haze was the best patient [as usual] and withstood my doctoring efforts like a champ. I had to cover a gauze pad in Neosporin, then stick it to the crack, then wrap it in cloth for more padding/absorbency, then wrap that in self-adhesive Ace bandage, THEN duct tape it all up.
It clearly didn't feel great for her, but she just stood there and let me do what I needed to do.
She's the best ever.

There was SO MUCH BLOOD.
I saw a few drops on the ground after Atticus rammed her [she ran FAR away] and I was like "that's weird, is she bleeding?" cuz I was around the corner and didn't see it happen. Then I walked after her and the closer I got, the more blood I saw. Then she turned towards me and her entire face was just covered in blood. 
It was a little horrifying!!

But here she is after getting somewhat cleaned up and getting her horn all wrapped up.



I'm gonna give her some aspirin in a bit [I want to give it enough time to clot well, plus give it late enough that she has a little in her system for the vet visit tomorrow], but she doesn't seem too overly bothered.
She's eating well and being pretty normal. Yay Hazel!

The only thing she's really avoiding it scratching herself with that horn - I wonder why? haha


Anyway, think good thoughts for us tomorrow!


----------



## egrogan

Oh Hazel...noooo  Sending so many good vibes her way


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

Poor Hazel, I've never known a goat to do something so mean. Not that I'm a goat expert or been around a ton of different types of goats. That was just vicious. I hope you get news tomorrow from the vet. I hope it goes well.


----------



## Wallaby

egrogan said:


> Oh Hazel...noooo  Sending so many good vibes her way


Thanks! We felt them. 



DanteDressageNerd said:


> Poor Hazel, I've never known a goat to do something so mean. Not that I'm a goat expert or been around a ton of different types of goats. That was just vicious. I hope you get news tomorrow from the vet. I hope it goes well.


I know.  Atticus is basically just a jerk.

BUT, in his defense, what he did was pretty instinctual and it was just a coincidence that her horn decided to break at that instant. He wasn't overtly trying to be mean, he was redirecting his irritation at me and _usually_ Haze manages to get out of his way. This time she was just a little too slow. 
If her horns weren't already brittle and if he were her size [or vice versa] the whole thing would have worked out without injuries.

Also in his defense, he IS half Alpine and Alpines are like the Border Collies of goats. They have SO much energy and are SO smart, they really don't do well without a job. They have a huge amount of drive and go a little nuts without ways to channel that drive.
I've been so focused on Fabs that I haven't been given Atti as much stimulation as he needs.
Ughhhh.

But still. I'm still mad at him. :lol:


_________________________


Hazel!

She's doing pretty well! 
The vet came, he determined we needed to remove the broken section of horn - blood flow to the broken part of the horn had been cut off, but the broken part wasn't gonna come off nicely without help.

I had the option of just getting her nerve-blocked for the removal or knocking her completely out. 
The vet said she was in good enough health to come through being knocked out, so I chose that option. It seemed more humane - compared to expecting her to stand around while her head got numbed, then snipping off part of her horn and trying to bandage it well/stop the bleeding.

She was SO mad while the vet removed the old bandage. She literally reared up in the air twice, YELLING, as he tried to remove it. Finally we got it off, but that was the most intense reaction I've ever seen from her! It must have hurt a lotttt.


Anyway, long story short [it's been a LONG day and I need to go to bed], she got the dead part of the horn nipped off and the 'nub' [it's about 3 inches long now] is all bandaged up.

She woke up well, stayed down for a few hours, then got up around 8pm with some coaxing [3 hours after the surgery - the vet got her up before he left, but that was more like he picked her up and propped her up on her legs, haha] and was ready to eat some hay.

She's pretty out of it and isn't super loving life, but she's alert and aware. I'm not concerned too much about her. 

I'm not sure how to manage her and Atticus right now [they can't be together for now since any kind of headbutting her head could really mess things up], but something will present itself.

Tomorrow I think I'm gonna try stopping by on my way to Fabs, tying Atti up, letting Hazel out, going to see Fabs, then returning to untie Atti and put Hazel away/feed them. 
That'll get Hazel an hour of outside time per day, and that might just be what she needs.

I have next Monday off as well so maybe I can spend this weekend MacGyvering some kind of something for her so she doesn't have to just be in-in-in for the next month...


Anyway, she's doing pretty well right now but she's not 100% out of the woods yet. Keep her in your thoughts!



In any case, the vet was VERY impressed with her! He said she was really spunky for a 14 year old goat, doesn't have a heart murmer or anything [kinda crazy, given her age], and has great circulation. 
He thinks her chances are really good!


:happydance: :happydance:


Just waking up:


----------



## egrogan

Glad she got some good news  Hope her healing goes quickly!


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

I'm really glad to hear Hazel is alright and you had what sounds like a really good outcome with her but I can definitely imagine how painful her horn must have been for her. I'm glad you were able to sedate her, rather than simply numb her through that process. That'd be scary as a goat and not understand why/what's going on. I hope you can manage keeping them separated.

That's a shame about Atticus but that does make sense if he's basically a "border collie" breed of goat. I can imagine how rambunctious and stir crazy/impulsive he must be without a job. And definitely goats can be way too freaking smart and from the videos you've posted he definitely seems really intelligent. Shame he's a jerk though :-/


----------



## Wallaby

egrogan said:


> Glad she got some good news  Hope her healing goes quickly!


Thanks! 
And ME TOO!! 



DanteDressageNerd said:


> I'm really glad to hear Hazel is alright and you had what sounds like a really good outcome with her but I can definitely imagine how painful her horn must have been for her. I'm glad you were able to sedate her, rather than simply numb her through that process. That'd be scary as a goat and not understand why/what's going on. I hope you can manage keeping them separated.
> 
> That's a shame about Atticus but that does make sense if he's basically a "border collie" breed of goat. I can imagine how rambunctious and stir crazy/impulsive he must be without a job. And definitely goats can be way too freaking smart and from the videos you've posted he definitely seems really intelligent. Shame he's a jerk though :-/


Me too!  It really could not have worked out better, I think!

It really is. On the plus side though, since he and Hazel can't be out together right now, he's basically having to stay leashed to me while she goes out, and that's having a REALLY positive impact on his behavior.
He's getting reminded about manners in a positive way, and getting a lot of one on one time with me [not necessarily where I'm paying attention to him, but he's in my close proximity and I can easily "remind" him of the rules if necessary/praise him for good reactions]. 
It also seems to be rebuilding their relationship a bit - Hazel knows I'm "protecting" her, Atti doesn't get to engage in "rude" behavior, and all their interactions are pretty positive right now.

Atti is also learning about high-lining [where I clip a rope to a high tree branch and clip the other end of the rope to his collar] which is a great skill, and a good learning experience for him.


I think a month+ of this will be really good for all of us!


____________________

On the Hazel front, she's doing well! Tomorrow is our first bandage change so I'm a little anxious for that, but I think it'll go fine. My mom is gonna be there to help if needed.
I ALSO have neon pink Vet Wrap to wrap her horn in afterwards! It's gonna be great. haha

I think she's getting a little bored with being in a lot of the time, but that means she's feeling well! If she weren't getting bored, I might get worried.
And I'm gonna expand her area this weekend so hopefully that'll sooth her a bit. I'm really hoping to make it so she can access her favorite "watching spot" - not sure if that'll work, but I'm gonna try really hard. She'll be REALLY happy if she can use that area!



On the Fabio-front, we've had a bit of a rocky week. I couldn't see him on Monday due to Hazel, so he was totally crazy on Tuesday and got himself worked up into a near tie-up. Thankfully I caught it and enough of our focus-training has stuck that he did not tie-up. He was really stiff and I couldn't get him cooled out enough [he kept getting "up" during our cool-out time - he hadn't run enough during our workout so he had a lot of energy still...but given the lack of work the day before, it was inadvisable for him to really run like he wanted], but he came through ok.

Then, Wednesday, I had quite a bit of time with him so we did a reasonable amount of work and got through a lot of that pent up energy.

Yesterday I got a trot pole out, put all 4 boots on him, AND added his surcingle+BOT pad [basically I threw a lot of -too much- stimulation at him, because that seems to help him stay "present" with me on days when he's pretty scattered]. It was A LOT and he totally didn't love it, BUT he couldn't choose which thing he hated more SO his mind stayed in the workout instead of getting obsessed with whatever little thing his mind wanted to find. 
He did get totally freaked out at the canter because the pad on his back kept blowing up and he couldn't figure out how to canter over the pole. BUT he had a couple of really good tries, got rewarded, and calmed down really quickly.
Thanks to all the stuff, he warmed up and cooled out really well. No complaints!

Tonight we had a pretty good time.  I just got out the pole again, warmed him up over it, then transitioned into some freelunging.
Interestingly, 90% of the time, he chose to go over the pole instead of avoiding it! It was very interesting.
I had assumed, given last nights performance, he would canter around the pole. Ohhhh no. Not Mr. Perfection!
He tried, and tried, and tried to canter over that pole and he finally got it! 
He was SO PROUD of himself after he got it - he outright refused to stop and/or go over the pole again until he had gotten a chance to gallop around the arena a few gajillion times. 
Then, after his gallop, I asked him to go back down to a canter, and he cantered over that pole perfectly AGAIN!

His mind is the funniest thing. I love it so so much.
Here's a video of him figuring it out for the first time - and no, he did not respond, at all, to my "whoa" at the end. hahaha







I think that's all for now! :happydance:


----------



## tinyliny

you've learned so much about animals. you are half way to becoming a vet. h m m . . . . ..


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

I'm glad the leash is making Atticus behave better. I guess he just needs individual, one on one with his mommy?

Fabio looks like he's having a lot of fun over the poll and is just happy to get outa nd do something. He looks like he's having a blast!

Do you notice a big difference with the BOT saddle pads?


----------



## Wallaby

tinyliny said:


> you've learned so much about animals. you are half way to becoming a vet. h m m . . . . ..


Haha Caroline, haha. :lol:  

But I know what you mean. First Lacey with her eye stuff, now Fabs with his muscle stuff, I'm kinda like "um, where is this going?" 

But I'm excited to see wherever it takes me! In a perfect world, I'd love to work with "cast off" horses one day - not necessarily rescues, but ones like Lacey/Fabs where they had/have issues that made them not work out well in their original homes, but, with rehab and intense management, can become "useful" in some way - sweet pasture pet/trail horse/whatever they're up for. I really get a lot of satisfaction out of that sort of thing.
And maybe this is just prep for that!





DanteDressageNerd said:


> I'm glad the leash is making Atticus behave better. I guess he just needs individual, one on one with his mommy?
> 
> Fabio looks like he's having a lot of fun over the poll and is just happy to get outa nd do something. He looks like he's having a blast!
> 
> Do you notice a big difference with the BOT saddle pads?


Fabs really was! He gets SO thrilled with himself when he realizes he can do something, or come close to doing something, and I think it becomes a little addictive for him. 
I mean, I don't blame him - when your life is spent being sabotaged by your own body, it's an amazing feeling when you actually get your body to work for you!


I used to think that, to keep him from getting bored, we needed to do entirely different activities everyday. I'm finding that, in reality, just the switch of boots one day, surcingle with pad another day, ground pole another, etc, and combinations of those, is all that it takes to keep him from getting bored. 
I've found that stress is a major trigger for his myopathy [I'm guessing he has RER at this point because stress is his major trigger and RER/MFM is the disease that perfectly matches all his symptoms and the diet he does best on - low sugar for P1, high protein for P2, fat+mid-protein for P3/RER/MFM] and that the stress of doing something totally different each day actually stresses him and CAUSES symptoms!!! :icon_rolleyes:
But it explains why he was so much more "wobbly" symptom-wise a few months ago.

Anywayyyyy, he's learning to love the pole because it boosts his confidence like crazy each time he nails it and, guess what, he can't be confident AND nervous at the same time! Ha! Take that, Fabio's Myopathy! :lol:


On the topic of BOT pads, I noticed a huge difference during the winter. During the summer, it doesn't seem to matter all that much. But that makes sense since, for Fabio, being too cold is a huge deal so the winter time is gonna be harder/more painful.
But, for Fabio, most of his "ouch points" are outside where a pad would lay so it's hard to know from that perspective. I'd like to get him a BOT blanket one day, but those are expensive!! I think, however, that a BOT blanket might really hit a lot of his ouchy spots and really helps him out. Who knows though.

He does really like his BOT poll covers though! Those definitely help. He tends to get really tight in the poll [indicating hind-end tension, which he has plenty of] and his poll has been better since having the poll covers - even though his hind-end is as tight as ever.



_______________________




1. I got Hazel's horn bandage changed yesterday for the first time! It was quite the ordeal - nearly two hours for the whole thing WITH help from my mom [who, granted, is not a "farm person" but tries hard]. 
I got the horn bandage half cut off, but then Hazel was having none of it and kept throwing her head around/panicking.

We ended up tying a wet rag to her head/horn, in an attempt at soaking it off. I'm not sure if that really helped, but it gave us quite a laugh and we all got a short break.

After that, I started trying to cut it off again, but Hazel was not on board...again.

Long story short, I realized that the bandage was off enough that it might pop right off if I held on to the bandage and didn't let go when she jerked.
It took a couple tries as my natural instinct was to let go, but I finally managed to hold on and the bandage popped right off!

The horn is looking pretty good! No bad smell, it bled just a little bit [not even enough to drip! Crazy since it was literally spurting blood after the broken piece was cut off] but all in all it's looking very non-dramatic. It's still really sensitive, but that's understandable.

Getting a fresh dressing on it was a whole new fight, but we figured it out ok. And now she has a neon pink cast-looking thing on her horn! :lol:


2. Yesterday I went out to see Fabs super late [well, for me, usually I go at 5pm and it was 8pm when I showed up] and he was clearly not doing well.
It turned out that he had run out of his morning medicine and has been boycotting his evening medicine on the grounds that I added too much salt to his mix :icon_rolleyes:
So, basically, he got none of the necessary things for his body yesterday and he was feeling it.

His muscles were basically spasming everywhere. I saw numerous places where his skin was essentially crawling  It was like that video I took of the twitch on his shoulder, only on his shoulder and all over the rest of his body. 

Anyway, so I gave him some bute, blanketed him up, and called it a day. And I got his medicine all set up for the next 22 days this morning!



TODAY was totally different and better!
It was probably helped in part by the bute, but still. haha
Mr. Fabs was pretty jumpy [standard for the day after issues] but that was it, he was jumpy. He wasn't bolt-y, just jumpy. I totally prefer jumpy Fabs over bolt-y Fabs!


I threw his boots on him [to give him something to think about so he'd be, hopefully, less worried] and got out the ground pole in the arena. I placed the pole on the "scary side" of the arena so that he, again, had things to think about over there, versus just looking for things to worry over.

He did really well! He did not want to walk, but that was ok since he just came in from turnout and was going straight back out - for him, he was enough warmed up.

We did quite a bit of trotting, then tried cantering.

And guess what?!

Despite being on the lungeline and not being in full control of his own balance, he NAILED cantering over that pole each time. I think he dropped down to a trot once, then tried it again at the canter. He didn't get overly nervous or worried about the pole this time either. He definitely had a "I've got this" vibe going.
He's still jumping the pole like it's a major jump [haha] but he's figured out how to adjust his body and jump the pole without needing to trot over it - that's HUGE!

I'm incredibly thrilled about this. He couldn't canter without cross-firing just a few months ago and now he rarely picks up a cross-fire. He couldn't canter with his head lower than giraffe-height, and now he consistently tries lowering his head while cantering. 
And now he's adjusting his canter to canter over poles! This is huge! For all the seeming lack of progress, it seems like some progress might be being made after all. Yay!!

Given his jumpiness, I didn't get a video but maybe I'll be able to tomorrow!

The best part about this was that he was proud of himself too. It was a challenge to get him to even trot again! He just wanted to keep cantering around and keep cantering over that pole!
I love seeing these moments where his body lives up to his expectation. He just gets SO proud. It's heartwarming.

My heart has felt so happy for the rest of the day!

:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

1. I talked to the BO and Fabs is moving stalls a week from tomorrow - next Tuesday! I've been wondering for a bit if he should move stalls because, in his current stall, he can see the parking lot and see what's going on there, but he really can't see other horses at all. I'm wondering if being able to see other horses will ease his stress level when he's stalled because he'll be able to see the other horses being calm and he'll be able to gauge his reactions off that...
It's not that he's not calm in his current stall, but he reacts so quickly and strongly to little things and then he can't see any other horses not caring, so he kind of loses it. Like, the other day the electric fence was shorting on something and he was a HUGE bundle of nerves about it. Once he realized none of the other horses cared, he stopped caring...but when I took him back to his stall, he started super caring again. 

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the move.
His new stall has grates [bars?] separating him from the horses on either side of him, so he'll be able to see down nearly the length of the barn AND have the potential to touch noses with the horses next to him. He'll be one stall down from the barn doors and with a bird's eye view into the feed room. 
One of his new neighbors is an older Arab gelding who has basically seen it all and is super relaxed, and his other new neighbor is a Paint mare who is basically unflappable AND his best friend will be directly across the aisle from him - it seems like a really group of horses/location for him to feel safe and get good horsey guidance on how much/little he should be reacting to things!

The only downside is that the BO doesn't super want to have hay nets in the main barn so we're gonna have to see how it goes without one. maybe strewing his hay all over his stall will have the same "busy" effect... And maybe he'll eat more slowly with the distraction of other horses...we'll see!

He gets to keep his same paddock for turnout and everything, the only thing that's changing is the location of his stall. 

The other bonus of this move is that if we get an ice storm next winter, he'll be able to be turned out in the arena. Last winter he got iced into his barn and didn't get turned out at all for 3 days - YIKES. It was before we knew anything was wrong with his muscles, but that's also basically when I started questioning what was going on with him. He was so so stiff, yet energetic, it was weird and not right.
Anyway, no worries about that with this new stall!


2. Fabs was feeling GREAT tonight. Jumpy, again, but that's to be expected since he basically went off ALCAR for 24 hours and he always gets jumpy/spooky after an ALCAR "blip."
BUT, despite being jumpy, he was present with me! He was locked in, for the most part, on what I was asking of him and very responsive.

He did need/want to do QUITE a bit of galloping today so I hope that doesn't bite us tomorrow...but he felt better afterwards! He didn't stiffen up after working and I gave him a nice rinse with the hose because he was super sweaty - he's becoming an old pro at the wash stall! He's not 100% "fine" with the wash stall yet, but he's not a notch away from panicking anymore. Now he's like 3 notches away from panicking - on a 10 notch scale.


Here's a video. Just LOOK at him! That canter! He locks in on those poles so much. Maybe he wants to be a jumper. hahaha 
Now that he's consistently nailing these poles, I wonder what he'd do if I raised it just a bit...that might be interesting... He seems to really really enjoy jumping!
It cracked me up that he chose such a long spot. He's super confident about the pole now so he's testing his limits.
I LOVE that though. As I've mentioned before, he gets really nervous about learning/trying a new concept so I like seeing him confidently "inventing" new concepts for himself. The more confident he gets, the better - I think [at this point].







:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

You should be really excited. I don't think I've seen Fabio so motivated like I got his. I love it. lol maybe he does want to be a jumper? He looks like he's having a blast! Smart horses like something to think about. He looks so confident and enthusiastic! It's good to see him so happy, especially after what sounds like a concerning day.

I'm sorry he was having muscle spasms though :-( that's never fun to see, it makes you worry about them because you know it can't be comfortable. But I'm glad what you did helped. I bought Dante some ALCAR and see if it helps, it sounds like you notice a HUGE difference with Fabio when he's on vs off. 

I'm glad Hazel is doing better, even though she was not impressed with bandaging and making your guys lives so difficult. But you gotta love them, even when it's like why are you making this difficult? We're trying to help.


----------



## Wallaby

DanteDressageNerd said:


> You should be really excited. I don't think I've seen Fabio so motivated like I got his. I love it. lol maybe he does want to be a jumper? He looks like he's having a blast! Smart horses like something to think about. He looks so confident and enthusiastic! It's good to see him so happy, especially after what sounds like a concerning day.
> 
> I'm sorry he was having muscle spasms though :-( that's never fun to see, it makes you worry about them because you know it can't be comfortable. But I'm glad what you did helped. I bought Dante some ALCAR and see if it helps, it sounds like you notice a HUGE difference with Fabio when he's on vs off.
> 
> I'm glad Hazel is doing better, even though she was not impressed with bandaging and making your guys lives so difficult. But you gotta love them, even when it's like why are you making this difficult? We're trying to help.



I agree! Seeing him enjoy life is new and wonderful. He never seemed happy before. He'd tolerate life and put up with things...but never seemed to really be enjoying himself. I love watching him find joy!

How's Dante doing? Did the ALCAR do anything for him? I'm really interested to hear how that worked out! 


_________________________


On the Hazel front, we changed her horn-bandage for the second time on Thursday. It's looking really really good! There's a little 'wet' scab on the tip on the horn, but it didn't bleed and the whole process was 10000% less painful for her this time. 
It was kind of amusing, in a sad way, actually - she got worried a few times when we got to areas that hurt last time, but then they must not have hurt nearly as bad because she'd protest once, then get this kind of "huh, this isn't hurting..I thought it was supposed to hurt?" look on her face and settle right down. That happened a few times and, each time, the pain she was expecting didn't show up.
She looked totally shocked when we were done - all "wait, that's IT?! Are you sure? I'm not complaining, but are you sure?"
It felt really good to have such a positive bandage change this time!

We only have one or two more change left. This next one might be the last one, if we get lucky and she's practically healed up..but we'll see. 

Both goats are doing pretty well, even being separated and such. Hazel is happy with her larger daytime area, and Atti is getting used to being separated from her.
Hazel is still wayyy afraid of Atti which is kind of problem, but hopefully that'll resolve in time.

I'm not gonna reintroduce them until Hazel's horn is totally healed, at the very least. I'll probably start with letting them out to graze together in the morning with supervision, then separating them again after whatever amount of time seems reasonable. If that goes well, I'll just continue that until they're out together for their normal amount of together-time.


On the Fabio front, I'm looking forward to his stall change on Tuesday!
On Thursday he had rubbed his tail a bit. I've been developing a theory that he rubs his tail when his hind end is stiff/he has a spasm in his hind end...ie, one of his symptoms is a rubbed tail.
SO I asked the BO if he had had his blanket on overnight - it was relatively warm the day before so it seemed likely that he would have been naked overnight.
And, lo and behold, she said that he hadn't worn his blanket the night before!

It basically confirmed that one of his symptoms is tail rubbing. He was moving really well otherwise so there definitely wasn't a lasting effect or anything, but it's an interesting "clue."

Other than that, he's been doing really well! He's stiff/short-strided because he's due for a hoof trim [a week from this coming Wednesday], but he seems to feel pretty good!
Yay!


Here's a video from yesterday. He totally understands cantering over one pole, so now I'm stepping up the difficulty. Two poles is, apparently, WAY harder but he thought really hard about it and eventually had success. Silly guy!


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

Fabio looks great! He's looking so much more free at the trot, a lot more swing through his shoulders. That's a good sign! He wants to be a jumping pony lol. I'm glad to see him so happy. I think he likes a challenge or a situation where he needs to think. He has a really nice trot!

I'm glad the goats are doing a lot better too! I was wondering about Hazel, I figured Atticus would be doing well but I can imagine Hazel is scared of Atticus after all the pain he's caused her. That must have been scary.

I'm starting to understand what you mean about them being trapped in a body that makes them uncomfortable. When Dante hasnt been worked it's painful for me to look at him because he looks uncomfortable in his body. So now I get what you mean about how frustrated these horses must be having a spirit and desire to work and being trapped in a body that betrays them. I'm not 100% sure what Dante has is PSSM (PSSM1 and HyPP, MH and that stuff tested negative) but I do know diet control has made a big difference and when he isn't outside or isnt worked he gets very body sore and looks uncomfortable in his body. I think the ALCAR is helping but I can't say for sure as he has developed as abscess, it's hard to get a true assessment but he's more lively. I'm also realizing, as I'm sure you know because you've been dealing with this much longer than I have but it's hard to juggle between getting them to work enough so they don't get body sore but not aggravate as injury or abscess. 

Muscle myopathy is a tricky thing, I feel sorry for the horses with it.


----------



## Wallaby

I don't have time to reply right now, but I have a bunch of videos to share!

Fabs moves stalls tomorrow so think good thoughts for that! Hopefully it won't be too stressful and he'll settle in great in his new location. I think he's gonna love it, but who really knows until he's there...



In other news, over the weekend Fabs met his first fan. 
He was initially horrified, but now he's in love. He thinks I should buy him ten. :lol: He wants to stand in front of it alllll day. :rofl:

Minutes after seeing it for the first time:






Today:








Drinking out of the hose today....








And Atti and Hazel had their first supervised "together time" this evening! Atti was very very excited, but gave Haze her space. Hazel was thrilled to be grazing. :lol:

Atti was SO incredibly happy to be together with Hazel. It was really precious.


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

Fabio looks very amused by the fan! He looks quite happy drinking from the hose 

I'm glad to see the goats looking so happy. Atticus is such a ham. Always seems to need to be the center of attention!


----------



## Wallaby

DanteDressageNerd said:


> Fabio looks very amused by the fan! He looks quite happy drinking from the hose
> 
> I'm glad to see the goats looking so happy. Atticus is such a ham. Always seems to need to be the center of attention!


He really was! He thought the fan was fantastic! haha
He LOVES drinking from the hose. It always reminds me of how mouthy you say Dante is! 
It cracks me up - letting him drink from the hose is literally his reward for letting me wash his face, he likes it THAT much. :rofl:

For sure! Atti alwaysssss _needs_ to be the center of attention. He's something else! 


____________________


1. Fabs is superrrr sore today. It's mostly due to his hooves - our trimmer is at the fair this week [which was 4 weeks out from his last trim, and the trim schedule he's been ok with] so our next appointment is next week. So his hooves are long and he's feeling it.

Then, last night, he clomped on a trot pole pretty hard with his left hind leg [his "good" one] and made himself sore in that hip. So he's sore in his right hind [typical] AND his left hind, plus the added tension from too-long-hooves...
Poor baby!

Ugh. 

But he has a pretty good attitude despite it all.

I did a little bodywork on his this evening and that seemed to help quite a bit.


2. He moved stalls tonight!
It's not quite the stall I thought he'd be in, but it's still in a good place. He's still near his best friend, and next to that super chill gelding. The only change really is that he's next to the "top dog" mare [the horses don't go out in groups so he's never met her, but she's one of those "gentle, lays down the rules, no silly business"-types], but that might be even better. Since she's "in charge," it may increase his confidence even more when she doesn't care about what's going on...

In any case, he was super relaxed when I left. Hopefully that bodes well!


----------



## Wallaby

1. Fabs was still superduper sore today.  The weather changed again [went from upper 90s on Sunday/Monday to mid-50s today]and that certainly did not improve the state he's already been in due to the whole hoof/pole clomping situation.
UGH.
Luckily he's just uncomfortable and very stiff, no muscle spasms!

I gave him some bute this evening in hopes that it'd give him a chance to "reset" and feel better tomorrow. I guess we'll have to see if it works!

2. Fabs is LOVING his new stall. He's so so much more relaxed in there and he's not stall walking like he was in the other stall - he doesn't stall walk badly, but there was always a circular "path" in the shavings in his other stall. 
AND he's chosen a poop corner! He used to poop everywhere in the other stall. In this new stall, there were two piles on top of each other when I showed up [that I picked out] and, as I was leaving, he added another pile to that spot! When he was living at home, he always had a couple of places that he chose to poop in which makes me think that that's naturally comfortable for him - seeing him do that in the new stall makes me feel pretty confident that he's happy and feeling safe. 

I even saw him make a nasty mare face at the gelding to his left. hahaha He's not usually dominant at all so that was hilarious, AND I love that he is claiming ownership of his stall.
Hopefully he doesn't get any nastier though! I don't think he will, as he's usually pretty submissive. I think he's just not feeling great and he tends to share his feelings more intensely when he's not 100%.

3. I got an email from the people who are doing Fabio's tests, the study he's part of, and they said that they're getting really interested in him and want to sequence his entire genome!! They think there's another unknown myopathy which causes the spasms he gets, and he's one of the only ones with documented spasms who is an Arab cross and hasn't been positive for P1 or P2.

On one hand, that's a little frustrating because the implication there is kind of that his myopathy/combination of myopathies is truly nuts and potentially something that's "new" = who knows what the treatment and so forth is.
BUT, on the other hand, he might hold the answers for so so many other people and horses...it might be a big deal! I love the idea that the suffering he's going through [and I'm going through, by extension] might be to the benefit of other horses out there. It makes it feel a lot less "all for naught," thinking about it that way.

Plus, sequencing his whole genome means the chances of getting a "real" answer are way higher. They potentially may not be able to tell me what his defect does, but they'll be able to locate the defect and potentially use that knowledge to find the defect in other horses. And, at least, they'll be able to tell me where his defect is.

But, anyway, that's kind of exciting! 

Of course, the RER test results still haven't come back and I'm guessing he'll be positive for that...but I've guessed he'd be positive for everything else and he hasn't been positive yet. So I guess we'll have to wait and see. I'm guessing I may get those results back soon, we'll see!


----------



## Wallaby

Fabs is doing better today!!
He's clearly still sore behind [and for good reason, his hooves are AWFUL right now - major major white line separation in both hinds], but mentally he's here! So that's huge - it says that his body hurts in a "normal" way and it isn't a flare up of his myopathy anymore. I think the bute was a good move, maybe I'll try turning to it sooner in the future. I really try to avoid bute, but I also don't want him to suffer for days...

I lunged him today and it was supposed to be a light session. FABIO had other plans.
First, he spooked and thought about running me over [it was a balk-spook, turned rollback-bolt] so I got after him, then he proceeded to run like a mad man until he determined that nothing was going to eat him.

In his defense, he DID attempt to self-calm pretty much immediately after that spook-bolt incident by lowering his head and slowing his trot. I gave him a couple of stopping breaks each time he tried to calm himself and he came back to me pretty quickly!
He still had a lot of mental energy going on, so I waited until got spooked by something and held himself back, then I stopped him, ground-tied him, and put the trot pole we were working over away.

All that mental energy told me that he needed to gallop around a bit [it's hard to describe, but he kind of gets "buzzy" when he needs to gallop...like he's trying really hard to pay attention, but his mind is wibbly-wobbly-ing all over the place] so I unclipped the lunge line and sent him off.
And BOY. 
Did he need to gallop!

He galloped for quite a while and seemed to feel much better when he was done!

I was really glad I had chosen to let him gallop. I thought about not letting him, because he is sore, but I knew that he was gonna be 1000% times worse tomorrow if he didn't run today. And he'd be even worse on Monday, and so forth.

That's probably the worst part of this disease - his mind/body have these needs [like regular gallops] that only get worse the more you ignore them, but physically he just can't keep up sometimes.
Making the choice between him maybe injuring himself while overdoing it, vs my safety because he has so much pent up "stuff" that he literally cannot listen/be relied on to behave in a safe manner, is not my favorite thing.

THIS HORSE.

:lol:


Anyway, he's pretty cute!


----------



## Wallaby

We had a really rough few days, with Mr. Fabs being basically a nutcase - he was in pain from his hooves and in pain from his muscles because he was refusing to eating his supplements.

However, tonight was better! I lunged him this morning, since I didn't make it out to the barn yesterday and I knew that he'd be too stiff to trim this evening if he didn't work first.
So I lunged him and he was so so stiff and sore [hoof related, mostly], and completely spooky [meds/supplements related]. But he warmed up a bit and we got the job done - ie, get him moving enough to work off the stress of yesterday and limber everything up.

This evening he got his hooves trimmed.

The fronts were pretty normal, but the backs had HUGE amounts of false sole that could finally come out. It turns out that there were actually clusters of abscesses within the false sole on BOTH his hinds - created by dirt and whatnot that had worked through the cracks in the sole. No WONDER he was incredibly sore!!
The abscesses weren't touching much live sole, but it would have at least created uncomfortable pressure.

Anyway, so now, luckily, all that sole is gone on his hinds. He still has a bunch of sole build up in front, but I'm hoping that I can maybe soak his feet before his next trim, or something, so we can get that sole out. Mostly it's that the dead sole is SO locked into his hoof and his hooves are so so hard, it's nearly impossible to get sole out if it doesn't want to come out. 

He had a really hard time with the trim though. His stifle area seemed to keep locking up and it was rough for him. He kept having to put his right hind down while the trimmer worked, so he could raise his left hind off the ground, and vice versa.
I think that was the lack of his meds talking. 
Since we don't know exactly what he has, I can't tell you exactly what his meds do, but the idea is that they help his muscles process more efficiently. And something about that makes his muscles less crampy. Who knows why or how, but it works.

He felt 1000 times better when he was done! He had a hard time waiting for the trimmer to finish his last hoof - he was ready to run around!


We also, FINALLY, got him to eat his meds tonight! Still not sure what the deal was/is, but the BO bought rice bran specifically for him, and he really approved of that addition!
So I'm pretttty thrilled about that! He's gonna be raring to go tomorrow! YAY.

:happydance:


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

I think it's really cool that the study is SO fascinated by Fabio and wants to work on his entire genome to figure out what is going on with him! That is REALLY cool! Who knows how Fabio will advance veterinary science and equine medicine! That is really cool to be apart of that! It'll be really cool to see what they find and hopefully can find something that makes Fabio feel better consistently. I hope the studies/trials with him will help someone else down the line no how to treat their mystery illness with their horse. I'm really excited to learn more through you and Fabio's journey! It's really neat stuff!

But I'm really happy he feels so much better and got his feet done! And he finished his meds! Very wonderful!

He looks very suspicious peeking around that corner in his stall. Cheeky pony.


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## karliejaye

I'm sorry Fabio has to be a guinea pig, but that could be amazing to be part of more answers. 


And I am kind of in love with the video of him with the fan. What a funny boy!


----------



## Wallaby

DanteDressageNerd said:


> I think it's really cool that the study is SO fascinated by Fabio and wants to work on his entire genome to figure out what is going on with him! That is REALLY cool! Who knows how Fabio will advance veterinary science and equine medicine! That is really cool to be apart of that! It'll be really cool to see what they find and hopefully can find something that makes Fabio feel better consistently. I hope the studies/trials with him will help someone else down the line no how to treat their mystery illness with their horse. I'm really excited to learn more through you and Fabio's journey! It's really neat stuff!
> 
> But I'm really happy he feels so much better and got his feet done! And he finished his meds! Very wonderful!
> 
> He looks very suspicious peeking around that corner in his stall. Cheeky pony.


Right?! That's pretty much exactly how I feel. Like he could hold the key to something that might make a huge change in the world, or maybe not...but it could be him.
It's scary, but exciting! I hate what this disease does to him, but I love that we get to help with emerging science!! That is SO COOL.

He really did look suspicious! He is so funny. He has such a good sense of humor. He's a pretty serious guy most of the time, but then sometimes he breaks out this unexpected sense of humor that is hysterical. He's great. 




karliejaye said:


> I'm sorry Fabio has to be a guinea pig, but that could be amazing to be part of more answers.
> 
> 
> And I am kind of in love with the video of him with the fan. What a funny boy!


Agreed! It could be amazing to be a player in helping other people get quicker answers for their horses. I'd love it if we could save even just a few people from this whole "months of not knowing"-thing.

I love that video too! It makes me smile so much. He reminds me of a greyhound, you know how greyhounds tend to be basically obsessed with soft/cozy things? Or those videos of puppies touching grass for the first time...
He reminds me of that because he's so so nervous about new things at first, and then, 85% of the time, he realizes that he actually LOVES the thing he was afraid of and then he wants to spend the next like year and a half obsessing over that new thing and how great it is. 

It's like he constantly can't believe his great luck that 1. nothing has eaten him yet, 2. it feels good, and 3. it keeps showing up and it keeps feeling good!
:lol:



_____________________


Don't have much time for a longer update, but he ate his meds AGAIN tonight [yay!!] and this happened:







He is so so proud of himself!! Yay buddy!

Also, crazily enough, yesterday morning [before getting his hooves trimmed], he couldn't/wouldn't stretch down at alllll at any gait. And he was dropping both hips with each trot stride.
Now, with his hooves trimmed, check out that stretching!
It's _crazy_ how much his hooves effect him.


----------



## Wallaby

Not a lot of time, AGAIN, for an update, but he ate his meds again this evening [yay!] and he's feeling great.

A friend suggested I raise one of the poles for him, so I did today!
He's still nervous going to the left [after clomping on a pole and chipping his hoof going to the left, I don't blame him for being nervous!] so I kept the poles on the ground for that direction and out him on the lunge line so he essentially had to go over the poles. I prefer letting him figure out his own balance by free lunging him over the poles, but he's just been avoiding them going to the left and that doesn't help him get over his nerves. :/

Anyway, we did that [w/t/c over two ground poles], then I raised both poles and had him go to the right [his confident direction]. He walked and trotted over both raised poles, very happily, then I lowered the first pole and had him canter. 
He LOVED it. Loved, loved, loved.

It's fun to have found something that he likes so much!!






My favorite part is the time when he comes in to the poles crossfiring and works so hard to figure out his legs as he goes over. It cracks me up because he's just so excited to be jumping that he kinda forgets that his legs have to be doing certain things...until he suddenly realizes that he's in trouble if he can't get his legs in order. haha 

He's so funny!


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## DanteDressageNerd

lol that last video is hilarious! Fabio loves jumping and poll work! Oh I bet he'd be good at it! Especially since he's able to figure out his own distance and work through some things. I think these stock horse x arabs need a job that keeps their brain busy! Too smart for their own good. 

And I hope he does help vetrinary medicine!! Advance I am so thankful for all the knowledge on this forum and from the vets to help my horse's diet, so he can perform well and feel good in his body. I hope Fabio can provide that to other horse owners and to you too!


----------



## Rainaisabelle

Omg that was cute !!


----------



## Wallaby

DanteDressageNerd said:


> lol that last video is hilarious! Fabio loves jumping and poll work! Oh I bet he'd be good at it! Especially since he's able to figure out his own distance and work through some things. I think these stock horse x arabs need a job that keeps their brain busy! Too smart for their own good.
> 
> And I hope he does help vetrinary medicine!! Advance I am so thankful for all the knowledge on this forum and from the vets to help my horse's diet, so he can perform well and feel good in his body. I hope Fabio can provide that to other horse owners and to you too!


I agree!! He's ridiculous and wonderful! He loves it! It works his brain so much, and he gets to feel so proud when he understands it. There's something about it...like he understands that getting over the pole is the goal, not some random, seemingly arbitrary, human-set goal that he doesn't quite understand. The goal is pretty clear and he knows immediately when he does, or doesn't, meet the goal. I think that's empowering for him!



Rainaisabelle said:


> Omg that was cute !!


 I knowwww. He's outrageously precious. Sometimes I just can't deal with it. haha


___________________________


We're like 5 days into him eating his meds well again and he's been SO clear headed and awake lately, not quite as anxious, more methodical.

I realized today that, with the addition of the rice bran, he's technically on a high fat diet AND the ALCAR diet. 
The two are supposed to be mutually exclusive for PSSM1 horses, and I've never heard them recommended together to anybody, but it's working great for Fabs!

It's a little weird since ALCAR is supposed to help with muscle-storage-issue conditions [like P1, RER is not a storage condition, as far as anybody knows] so technically it shouldn't help Fabs....but it helps him A LOT.
High fat is technically supposed to help him [if he has RER] since RER horses are supposed to get a lot of their calories from fat because it calms them down.


Weird that they're both helping!

But I am soooo ok with that. I feel like we're finally getting somewhere!


Like today. We had A LOT of breakthroughs today.

First, I had him start out going over poles to the left. I had gotten out three poles [more than we've ever used before] and he was a bit overwhelmed about it. I only asked him to trot over them.
At some point, I asked him to canter over one pole and asked him to go around the other poles [one pole was on the wall, the other two were in the middle of the arena]. 
He did that, after I convinced him a little - he wasn't trusting me that I wasn't gonna ask him to canter over all 3 of them, so he started out by said no to all of the poles while cantering.

After he cantered just one a few times, he cut in and tried cantering over all the poles! [completely crazy and out of character]
He broke into a trot at the second pole, and trotted over the last poles, but I stopped him at the end and SURPRISE, fed him a baby carrot.

He had no idea that I had carrots [well, technically, he probably knew I had carrots but he never knows when I'm gonna dole them out so it doesn't really matter if I have them or not] so he was completely surprised that he got a carrot AND a stopping break for that attempt.

After a minute, I sent him out and had him trot all the poles a few times. 

THEN, all on his own, he broke into a canter after the first pole and fully cantered the last two!!!

So, of course, I stopped him after the last pole and he magically got another carrot. During that break, he was thinking SO hard about that carrot and what he had done to earn that carrot. He definitely understood that he got the carrot because he tried something new.

After that, we switched directions. 

He was a bit all over the place going that way cuz another horse had come into the arena and we had had to move our entire production over from where we started. That set him a bit on edge.
Plus, I had gotten the striding all worked out in our original set up, but then we had to move and things just weren't set up so well anymore. Boo.


Anyway, at some point, one of the poles got turned over. The white paint-side ended facing down, and the worn used-to-be-white brown side was up. We've never worked with brown poles before, so he was a bit horrified.

He worked really hard at it and was really brave, but he got a bit worked up and clearly needed to gallop. So, once the other horse left the arena, I let Fabs loose and had him do his galloping thing.

At the very, very, end, I had him stop before asking him to come to me.
He ended up stopping between that scary brown pole and another pole.

When I called him to me, instead of coming directly to me like I expected, he turned to the brown pole, sniffed it, and walked over. Then turned back around, sniffed the brown pole, walked back over it, and came to me.

It was VERY interesting. He definitely had a major thought process happening.


I think we might have had a breakthrough day, actually. He has never been so confident while leaving the arena. He walked out like he owned the world! :icon_rolleyes: :lol: :happydance:


I guess we'll find out tomorrow!


Yesterday I found him with his head sticking out of his stall for the first time! I've encouraged him to stick his head out before, but I've never shown up and found him already choosing to do that because he can!
Mr. Social!




Yesterday. Some funny groundwork - we were doing figure-eights around the cones. 
He was doing great, then I started using one hand to film and he got real confused [usually I use both hands to direct him]. But he tried really hard!

My favorite part is the end when I kept stepping back too soon and he was trying so hard to understand - "turn? Turn here? No? Here? NO?? Here?!"








And today, during his galloping break...










In other news, someone asked today if he's half/part PRE..... Add that to the ever lengthening list of breed options for Mr. Fabs! haha I really need to get that breed DNA test sent off!


----------



## Tazzie

I'm so glad he's feeling so much better! He looks so good!

PS, one of my coworkers walked by as I was watching his galloping video. He said "beautiful horse!" I said it was a friends horse, and his name was Fabio. Said I felt it fit him well. He was like "oh yeah, he is definitely a Fabio." :lol: so he has fans not even on here haha!


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## Wallaby

Tazzie said:


> I'm so glad he's feeling so much better! He looks so good!
> 
> PS, one of my coworkers walked by as I was watching his galloping video. He said "beautiful horse!" I said it was a friends horse, and his name was Fabio. Said I felt it fit him well. He was like "oh yeah, he is definitely a Fabio." :lol: so he has fans not even on here haha!


Haha that's great! :lol: He definitely is a Fabio!!


____________________________


Man, long time no see, guys!

Things with Fabs have been pretty up and down lately. He's great for a few days, then boom, things are bad, and so forth.

It's a tinyyyyy bit frustrating. :wink:

I think it's mostly because he hasn't had any "real" bodywork done in a bit and the weather keeps going hot, then cold, then hot - it's been hard to figure out what blanket to put on him at night!

On the plus side, despite the extreme variability of each day, we've made some HUGE improvements in a couple of areas! 

For instance, he's now pretty ok getting a bath in the wash stall! He's not 100%, but I can groundtie him and have him stay while I scrape extra water off him! He's also standing really well while I spray him with water, but he's not comfortable enough to groundtie while I do that yet.
He's also started putting his head down slightly to have his face sprayed off - no more pulling against the halter, the lead rope is usually loose for that these days! That's a huge one. Even at home, we never got past him nearly rearing and straining to get his face away from the water. 

As you may recall, a few months ago the wash stall was the scene of one of his biggest freakouts to date. He bolted out, kicked me in the leg, and would not calm down at all.

So this is a huge improvement!


I've also realized that, while leading him, a lot of the bolting/spooking right next to me business was because I was letting him mosey along and not asking him to pay attention to me when we were going places. Not requiring his attention in a dictator way, but in a "this is OUR time, not your time, and we are walking somewhere as a team so keep up!" sort of way.
Anyway, so I've started paying a lot more attention to that while leading him and he's catching on well. So far there haven't been any new crazy situations while I've been leading him, which is great!

A big thing with that [for me] is that I'm not asking him to keep up by holding on to the lead rope closer to his face, I'm leaving the lead rope loose like he is trailing behind me...but I'm raising my hand and walking faster whenever he slows down. I'm not putting physical-touch pressure on him to catch up, I'm putting mental pressure on him.
He's one that'll use physical pressure as a "crutch" and kind of rely on those physical signals, instead of actually putting two and two together. It's better when he doesn't get physical-touch cues because he actually has to think!!

I got this whole idea from this video:






I found it to be very interesting for a few reasons but mostly because I always thought that, due to his freakouts and how he needs to run to work through the freakouts, Fabio needed to calm down - get more lazy/chill. But I had the epiphany from this video that he's actually LAZY! 
The massive blow-ups are a product of him tuning out and his disease is why he needs to run the panic off. He doesn't need to calm down, he needs to speed up and tune in.
I have to be careful about it because he gets scared and anxious when he doesn't understand what the right answer is, especially when he thinks "move" is part of the right answer, but the key is getting him moving and paying attention.


Anyway, so that's been interesting!

And Fabs is still loving his poles! I've recently started setting up three poles [stepping it up! we had only been working with two for the last forever] and he's loving it. He really seems to get a lot out of having three of them close together so he has to carefully step through them...BUT he's also decided that it's fun to canter them that way. It scares me a bit because they are definitely not meant to be cantered, but he loves it! He looks at them set like that and his ears get all focus-y and he does it! 

He's hilarious.
I can't imagine how athletic he would have been if he didn't have this muscle issue! He's already crazy athletic!

The other day - it was 90*F out and Fabs was feeling fancyyyy:



Ground-tying in the wash stall:



The other day I spent "too long" in the bathroom and Fabs sort of panicked. He whinnied directly into my face when I exited the bathroom, then started yawning like a maniac - releasing built up tension. haha




Last night. Check out how far that hind leg is coming up!! I'm super impressed. He recently started really tracking up well and I'm pretty proud of him!



Lookin' svelte!




Galloping the other day...I love watching him run!!







Last night, cantering his trot poles... haha And he nailed it! Crazy kid!








:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Random free-lunging video from yesterday


----------



## egrogan

Wallaby said:


>


He looks so good here!!


----------



## Wallaby

egrogan said:


> He looks so good here!!


Thanks! I agree!! He looked FANCY! He was mid-spook at a bird feather than had fallen from the roof [omg], but it was a gorgeous spook! haha I was pretty happy to have gotten that picture!


____________________________


Here's a video from tonight.
He was not feeling well today because he ended up being inside all day [his pasture was getting mowed, which is good and he'll probably be happy about it tomorrow!], and routine changes are HUGE triggers for his myopathy.

So essentially his body was super tired [exhausted from the stress of a routine change], but his mind hadn't gotten a workout at all so he was in fullll crazypants mode - looking sleepy, but just waiting for a puma to come leaping out of the shavings in his stall and eat him alive. :icon_rolleyes:

These kind of days are the hardest with him - his mind needs to work, but his body isn't up to doing the kind of work he needs.
He's also the most dangerous on these kinds of days because he'll bolt over you in a second if something startles him...and since his body is half-asleep, he's super easy to startle. 

The only solution I've found so far is to really challenge him with something...make him wear things that worry him, do lots of pole work, that sort of thing - anything to get him focused and mentally challenged.

Today I had the idea to make a jump for him that's higher than anything he's tried before, put a ground pole on the jump - something he's never seen before, and put another pole a few strides back - something that's pretty typical.

Freelunging is about the only "safe" activity for these kinds of days, so I freelunged him.

Anyway, I let him run around a bit at first to work off some steam, then, when he started wanting to stop, I started offering a stopping place near the set up I had created [which he had only eyeballed at that point, but not tried].
Eventually he accepted the stopping place and we began working on the jumps.

He could look at them and get to stop, or he could avoid them and have to move another lap around the arena. 

Eventually he started trying it, but he was still very concerned about doing both poles at once.

I got an AWESOME video of almost the whole thing! The perspective changes mid-way through because I had been filming with my phone, then ran and grabbed my camera when I realized that something really neat was happening.







My FAVORITE thing is that, for a lot of this, I'm not even cuing him for the behavior he's showing. 
He does a lot of things that are just him making stuff up, trying to see what I want him to do.

For a horse that used to be/tends to be petrified of making mistakes, experimenting to find the right answer is HUGE.

I especially love how, around the 4 minute mark, he starts experimenting with backing up through the poles. He is HYSTERICAL.

I also love how, at the very end, he trots through finally and we get to see him do a bunch of stress-releases. He shakes his neck, then comes to me to be petted, and sighs afterwards - he KNEW he found the right answer!

I am so so proud of him!


----------



## Sharpie

Isn't that fun?! I think I talked about that a bit in this thread http://www.horseforum.com/horse-training/try-re-teaching-horse-heart-495697/ it was SO COOL when my guy started getting that *trying things* was a good option. It's like a whole new world opens up! I can see Fabio's brain working- "What about trotting around this in a little circle? She seems to want me to trot. I think maybe this is the thing. Hmm... maybe this other thing is the thing. Are you sure this isn't the thing? What about this thing?"


----------



## Wallaby

Sharpie said:


> Isn't that fun?! I think I talked about that a bit in this thread http://www.horseforum.com/horse-training/try-re-teaching-horse-heart-495697/ it was SO COOL when my guy started getting that *trying things* was a good option. It's like a whole new world opens up! I can see Fabio's brain working- "What about trotting around this in a little circle? She seems to want me to trot. I think maybe this is the thing. Hmm... maybe this other thing is the thing. Are you sure this isn't the thing? What about this thing?"



It is SO fun! And it is like a whole new world is opening up!! He's getting so much more confident about things, starting to really think "is this a situation where I need to panic, or am I ok?" instead of panicking first, then soothing himself because he knows not spooking is always the right answer.
He's learning to think, it seems. He's always been a thinker, but a lot of times his thoughts weren't appropriate for the situation. He's learning to censor his thoughts and focus!

It's totally awesome. And I can see the benefits in our everyday stuff as well. He's thinking WITH me these days, instead of thinking twenty steps ahead of us.


Yesterday the barn doors were closed and, for the first time, I took his halter off and we walked together to his stall to get stuff, then BACK TO THE TACK ROOM where he stood in the aisle and waited - no lead rope/halter - while I put his stuff away, then walked back to his stall, where I sent him into his stall.
I had my hands off of him the whole time, he was responding to my vocal and physical cues, thinking WITH me.

It was really cool!

The best part is that, with each little "breakthrough," each time that he figures something out on his own, each time we communicate together, his confidence visibly grows. 
It's really neat!!


I'm also learning from this!
I'm starting to realize that sometimes I "save" him from being afraid, or coach him through the fear too much. At the same time, maybe that sort of thing was beneficial in the past..but in any case, it no longer really has a place in our life.
I'm learning how to be hands off and let him try things, giving him space to figure it out his way. Sometimes he definitely needs a little help, but he doesn't need me to baby him!! His myopathy makes his muscles fragile, but it doesn't mean he needs to be babied. I wouldn't say that I particularly baby him, but sometimes I don't have high enough expectations...

In any case, we're doing well!
Still no word from the people sequencing his genome, but I have found that there seems to be a potassium component [similar to HYPP, in terms of potassium sensitivity...but I had him tested for HYPP just to be safe and he came back n/n, thankfully!]. His muscles are much more twitchy and sensitive on a diet that contains anything more than the bare minimum of potassium.
So that's great to have figured out!!

I'm also starting a new experiment with him. I started reading about amino acids, and I realized that most of his symptoms align with something an amino acid is supposed to help the function of.
SO I'm starting a "new" diet with him where various self-limiting amino acids are supplemented, just to see what happens.
This month's addition is histidine which: 


Maintains plasma, hematocrit and serum albumin
Releases histamine
Controls pain
Anti-arthritic
Stimulates stomach acid secretion, improves appetite
He'll be getting his first dose tonight, should be interesting!!


He's already on lysine which made a HUGE difference in him. Lysine stimulates gastric juices and is a limiting essential amino acid - if he isn't getting enough of it, he won't be able to use any other amino acids, even if they're plentiful.


ALCAR, which has made the biggest difference in Fabio, is another amino acid - it's not an essential one, but it naturally occurs when the body synthesizes lysine and methionine [two limiting essential amino acids].


Again, he does best with high doses of MSM and guess what? MSM is converted in the body into methionine [an essential amino acid] and a bunch of other non-essential amino acids.





Basically, I'm wondering if whatever he has is simply exacerbated by an amino acid deficiency. Or maybe the myopathy itself is some kind of glitch in how he processes amino acids in the first place....


Anyway, I'm pretty excited to see the results of this experiment! Hopefully it'll be something good. 





On the topic of things that we've been doing, we just started working on "moving circles" while lunging. It's still lunging, but I move around and he gets to move for straight stretches, wind into smaller circles, really pay attention to me. I've incorporated the poles so he also has to watch out for those!


It's pretty cool [and fun] because it gets him really calmed down AND he has started rating his own speed. He'll start out all chargey in one direction, then eventually he finds his balance and he starts really working. That's pretty cool to see! 

In the past, he went from ok to anxious-hyped so fast and was so hard to calm - he's still hard to calm, but getting him anxious-hyped is starting to get a little harder. 



Yesterday, while taking this video, I actually got to see him lick and chew WHILE cantering!! That was a huge first - he was working through stuff, instead of just being 100% focused on keeping his body upright. It was huge!


I think a major part of this whole thing is that he's finally figured out how to balance his body. Going faster [trotting/cantering/galloping] is no longer blowing his mind up because he's mostly figured out how to balance at those gaits. He can think about what's going on because he's in balance, finally.


So cool.
Anyway, here's the video. Two months ago, this would have blown his mind up sooo fast - not anymore!


Yay Fabio!!








For my part, I wish he was doing more trotting right now. But cantering is currently his favorite gait and I'm kind of letting him choose that. There's more for him to work on, balance-wise, at the canter so I figure something is happening.





:happydance: :happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

GUYS I'M SO EXCITED!!!

This is a repost of what I said n a different thread about the amino acid experiment, but, essentially, it's going so so well!

So far, it seems like adding that histidine is really helping Fabio!

His mind is back - instead of being hyper-focused on every potential "monster" in the arena, he's actually watching me for direction...instead of trying to use me as a "shield."

This is totally new, I've never seen him so bright-eyed and comfortable!

He seems to be "detoxing" a bit - his eyes were SUPER runny the first day, now he's just seeming extra itchy [gonna give him a bath with oatmeal shampoo tonight], but I ind of expected that. Histidine is supposed to improve the body's immune response and his immune response is patently terrible...so I kind of expected that his body would need to adjust.

BUT his symptoms of itchiness and runny eyes usually go hand in hand with super tight muscles and his muscles are NOT tight!! He's standing square [which he never does] and he seems to have lost a lot of his classic tightness.

We'll see though, his bodyworker is coming out on Saturday so we'll see if she sees a big improvement too.

I'm pretty excited about this!


Here are two videos to compare, just because I am so excited:

This is from Decemeber/January, before I knew anything was wrong with him besides him just being a bit crazypants. You can see him being on high alert for "something" and trying to use me as a shield/security blanket - he's paying attention to whatever is scaring him and really not paying any attention to me. 






This one is from yesterday. He has an ear on me practically all the time, is looking at stuff going on but I have the majority of his attention [the only thing I had in my hands was my phone, for reference]. You can also see it in his body language - he's feeling MUCH more secure and not quite as ready to bail...
You can also see how square he's naturally standing. Hind legs have space between them, fronts do too - each leg looks like it has an even amount of weight on it.





 
​
SO EXCITED.


----------



## Tazzie

He looks like an entirely different horse! I'm glad the diet tweaking is showing some results!


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

He looks like he's doing really well!!

I'm glad you found something else to the diet that helps him. It'll be interesting to see what comes out on his genome.


----------



## Wallaby

Tazzie said:


> He looks like an entirely different horse! I'm glad the diet tweaking is showing some results!


Right?! It's crazy. Watching that video, I was reminded of who he used to be, and I like him a lot better now!! He may still be a little nuts, but at least his nuttiness makes sense nowadays!



DanteDressageNerd said:


> He looks like he's doing really well!!
> 
> I'm glad you found something else to the diet that helps him. It'll be interesting to see what comes out on his genome.


He is doing pretty well!!

I'm very excited to hear back about his genome. I haven't heard anything which is a little frustrating, but I did receive another questionnaire from the study people - sending it back out tomorrow. So at least _something_ is happening!


_______________

Nothing super exciting to report.

Mr. Fabs had a bodywork session yesterday and it went really well! He enjoyed it very much and his muscles are much more relaxed now too!
I'm pretty happy about that. 


In other news, I think I should have his eyes checked soon. I've noticed a few times recently, when he's backlit in the arena, that his eyes each reflect a different color. His left eye reflects reddish, while his right eye reflects a distinctly blue-ish color.
1. his left eye is his preferred eye to look out of.
2. most of his major spooks/bolting tend to look like him reeling away to the left - away from the right.
3. Right before I stopped working at the therapy place, in the days when he was ok with being ridden, he got a pretty bad eye infection that mostly affected his right eye. A vet never saw him for it, just prescribed antibiotics over the phone.
I don't think his vision was checked before/after that, but I wonder if something happened...
4. he's very left-sided - prefers to keep everyone/everything on his left side, even though I definitely work each side evenly and theoretically, that should mean that he'd be fine with things on both sides...


I think he can definitely see out of his right eye, but I wonder if it's normal vision. I have a suspicion that it might not be normal vision.


Anyway, that's an interesting idea...


And here's a picture of him right after he came home 2 years ago, compared to one from today!

So many changes!


----------



## Wallaby

Also, in negative news, Hazel's been having a really hard time standing on her front hooves. It happened for the first time last winter, she recovered from whatever *it* was, and now it's back.

I was doing some reading, to see what might help, and founder came up as an option. I tried out the suggested treatments and, unfortunately, they REALLY helped.

So I'm 90% sure she's foundering. Apparently goats can founder off stress and it can show up weeks after the stress - she started going downhill after the whole horn fiasco, so I'm guessing that's what did it.

On the plus side, today was the first day her hooves were really genuinely HOT and today was the first day that she couldn't handle standing up for longer than 5 minutes. Hopefully maybe I caught it in time.

I iced her hooves today [which she loved], gave her aspirin, and gave her baking soda to fight off any rumen acidosis. She was feeling a lot better [choosing to stand up without coaxing, staying up, walking around] after all that, so I plan to ice her hooves in the morning and evening tomorrow, plus more aspirin in the evening and baking soda.

On the plus side, I have Tuesday off this week, normal work Monday-Wednesday-Thursday, then a short day on Friday [8:30am-2:30] because it's an in-service day [cleaning the house-daycare]. THEN I have the next week [the 23rd-31st] off!
So I'll hopefully have plenty of time to devote to getting Miss Haze through this.

If anybody can get through it, she can - I hope!!

I'm also gonna figure out how to pad her feet, like you do for a foundering horse. I tried that on one hoof today and she loved it, but the pad kept falling off. I need a better system!
I don't think they make hoof boots for goats.


----------



## stargirl90

I found some! Maybe they might work?
Hope Hazel feels better soon!


----------



## Wallaby

stargirl90 said:


> I found some! Maybe they might work?
> Hope Hazel feels better soon!


Unfortunately, that kind of boot in mostly just for soaking and stuff [I researched it!  ] and not for general wear, but great idea! Thank you for looking! I really appreciate it. 



___________________________

Good news on the Hazel front!!

She's doing MUCH better today. The heat is out of her front hooves and she's much much more willing to move. She's also perkier and interested in food again!

Yay! 

I'm giving her nine 325mg aspirin twice a day [the founder dose] and icing her hooves once a day. She lovesss having her hooves iced!!

I'm so glad I caught this when I did! I'm really hoping I caught it in time. It looks like I did, but time will tell.

I'm gonna try putting some pads on her hooves tomorrow, we'll have to see how she feels about that!! haha


----------



## Wallaby

It's been a while!

Hazel is doing well! She's walking more, standing up more willingly, etc. She's not 100% yet, but she's doing well I think! She's down to a single evening dose of 9 aspirin and seems to be doing fine with that. 
Atticus DID slice her pretty well with his horn yesterday though  It's a 4-5 inch straight cut down her side, tiny little flap of skin. It's not really bloody and it doesn't seem to hurt much which is a huge blessing! He just got the skin layer - no muscle involvement, thank goodness!!
It "glued" itself back together overnight last night and looked pretty good this morning. I put BlueKote on it this morning and SWAT to keep the flies out. Last night I put some other kind of antiseptic wound spray on it, then bandaged it overnight to give it a break from being licked by Hazel.

Atticus definitely got his horn-tennis-balls back on this morning though! Hazel does not need cuts like that in her life! I'm somewhat surprised he got her that badly - he's never gotten her so badly before. But the tips of his horns are pretty sharp so it's "understandable." 


On the Fabio front, I still haven't heard back about the results from his tests. I know they're working on it though. The lab they have is just really small so I imagine it take a longgg time to go through hundreds of horses, then compile all the results and notify owners. I just wish I had answers! I'm sure I'll have some eventually. 

But otherwise he's doing REALLY well. We've had a few crazy days, a few really energetic days, and a few fatigued days, but a common thread on all of those days is that he stayed respectful of me! I never felt endangered, even on the crazy days! That's HUGE for Fabio.

There was even a moment a few days ago where, after we got done working, I led him back into his stall and he caught a hind foot on this stall mat in his stall that insists on occasionally popping up. 
The mat flipped up with his leg and, as some of you may know, he is INCREDIBLY spooky about his back legs. 
There are some things you just do not do to his back legs and confinement/catching them is super included in that list. Making him feel caught by a hind hoof is about the only foolproof way to make sure he bolts the heck over you and runs into a year from now.
I was barely to the left of his head, right in the way of his body/the door, if he chose to leave.

I saw it happening and panicked internally a little because there was nothing I could do to prevent getting hurt, and I haven't been doing ANY work with him at all about things on his legs. I was pretty sure I was gonna die.

But you know what he did?
He felt that his leg was caught, thought about kicking, his head went up - worried, but then he stopped, looked at his foot, and slowlllly lifted his leg up and over so the mat could "unhook" from his leg. He immediately sighed and relaxed.

I was totally flabbergasted. He THOUGHT THROUGH a really scary, for him, situation and chose not to panic! He used his brain, without me prompting him at all, and ended up being a-ok!

I was so thrilled with that.
It makes me have real hope that 1. what I'm doing with him right now is WORKING and 2. maybe I will get to ride him again one day! I'm not pressing for the riding, and he's definitely not there yet, but maybe he will be in a few months!
His brain is changing, his way of processing things is changing, and I love it!

He's also moving really well.
There have been two times this week where I didn't put boots on him to work, and he didn't step-on-himself-spook! I don't know if that means he plain didn't step on himself, or if he did and he just didn't care, but he's moving a lot "wider" - doesn't seem to be brushing as much.

And then there's this. He used to drag up a dust cloud with each step, he was barely doing that here and the arena was DRY/super dusty. He's really improving in a lot of ways.






you can see the dust-dragging here, in this video from May:


----------



## Tazzie

He is looking so good!! I am SO glad he used his head and thought through that scary event too! Huge improvement!


----------



## Wallaby

Tazzie said:


> He is looking so good!! I am SO glad he used his head and thought through that scary event too! Huge improvement!


ME TOO!!

And I agree! He's looking very athletic right now! I love it!

_______________________


I finalllly sent in Fab's breed DNA test this morning so hopefully the results will be back in 2-3 weeks! I'm excited!

Someone asked me if he might be Welsh/TB [or, really, a Welsh cross] and I had never considered that, but it might be a possibility. I could see it a tiny little bit. Anyway, I guess we'll know in a few weeks! 


In other news, he was having a REALLY good day today. I unclipped him in the barn, thinking that we could do a little "liberty walking" to the arena, but Fabs had other ideas:






TROUBLEMAKER. :lol:
He was having such a good time, even though he was being verrrry naughty. haha 
That tail of his! You can just see how sneaky he thought he was being! 

[and actually, I just realized this, I guess we DID do a little "liberty walking" to the arena...just he was leading me and the "arena" was outside.....SO SNEAKY FABIO. SNEAKY SNEAK SNEAK!!]

Anyway, he clearly wanted to be outside, even though it was 95* out there, so I decided to do his lunging outside. And I realized that there's this nice hill on one side of the barn that, at least this time of year, can totally be used for hillwork.
Fabs did his classic weird-downhill stuff [I think going downhill is where his muscle issues are the most obvious], but he seemed to enjoy himself.

He was paying SO much attention to me and had such a good time, I couldn't ask for anything more! He never spooked at anything, got a little looky a few times but thought about things instead of panicking, it was a really good time!






Also, yesterday he "graduated" to FOUR trot poles! Yay! Such a big kid. haha

He kept seeming a little surprised by the fourth pole [definitely did a few straight-into-the-air leaps over it at first], but he settled down really well. Four poles was hard work, but he nailed them.


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

I know I already said I was sorry about Atti going after Hazel again. He's such a butt sometimes but I'm glad Hazel is doing well.

Also Fabio looks great!! I'm SO happy he's doing so well!! He's looking really-really good! I'd be surprised if he was part welsh because he's a bit big for a welsh cross. Anything is possible. He could be a big mix of things but to me he looks 50% qh and 50% arabian lol. Cant wait to see what the results say on the breed test!

I love the video of him trotting over the polls. He looks so happy, alert and focused!


----------



## Wallaby

DanteDressageNerd said:


> I know I already said I was sorry about Atti going after Hazel again. He's such a butt sometimes but I'm glad Hazel is doing well.
> 
> Also Fabio looks great!! I'm SO happy he's doing so well!! He's looking really-really good! I'd be surprised if he was part welsh because he's a bit big for a welsh cross. Anything is possible. He could be a big mix of things but to me he looks 50% qh and 50% arabian lol. Cant wait to see what the results say on the breed test!
> 
> I love the video of him trotting over the polls. He looks so happy, alert and focused!



I thought the same thing about the Welsh part, BUT I started looking into it and I guess a section C or D Welsh, crossed with TB, would tend to average 15.1 hands-ish. 
And Fabs is 15.2ish. 

Also, this lady I was talking to had a 15.2 Welsh/TB cross who looked EXACTLY like Fabs. It was freaky. Her horse definitely had lighter bone than Fabio, but the head-shape was there and his head-shape is the biggest thing that throws me off the QH/Arab idea.
His nose is so big, there's not a lot of "taper" to his head like you see in most QHs or Arabs. It's hard to get a picture of, but here's one that kind of demonstrates what I'm talking about:



But who knows!! He might be 50% QH and 50% Arab after all! 

I think it would be really funny though, if he came back as something we completely hadn't thought of!

Either way, it's fun to guess. haha 


I'm so happy with how he's looking too! He definitely, to me, looks like the kind of horse I would NEVER be rich enough to afford...except that I already own him! :lol:
I also love that his mind is really starting to follow his body and come around too. It makes him way more fun to play with!

And the best part is that he's enjoying himself too. It'd be one thing if he was hating this new training direction and totally dreading it everyday, but I love that he's truly enjoying it AND it's fixing some major holes.

Yesterday I was able to hand walk him around outside [after catching him] with his full attention on me and no worry that he was about to throw himself over me, or something. That was amazingly liberating.
I've been avoiding taking him outside because he can get so distracted and jumpy out there - it was amazing to be able to say "maybe we can come out here now! Maybe he's ready."
It's another one of those things where we haven't been working on it specifically at all, but by filling in the holes we've been filling in, we've essentially fixed another whole area of issues.

The last few weeks have been so freeing for me/us. 
Fabs has gone from "can't do this, that, or the other thing cuz we gotta keep him calm" to "we CAN do this, that, and the other thing because Fabio will be able to think through it and not get too over-excited."

I mean, I'm sure we're still gonna have bad days and whatnot, but at least the foundation of "thinking" is securely laid AND I have a game plan that really actually works, that we both understand, that I can use the next time he's less than under control. 

I'm really excited about where this is going. It's so nice to have a present, problem-solving, horse!!



Also, I found some treats where the only ingredient is dehydrated apples! Yay! 
I've been wanting some little training-size treats that I could carry in my pocket, but making them at home didn't end well, and most storebought treats seems to have soy, or too much sugar, or corn, or wheat, etc.

So I'm pretty excited about those treats!


----------



## Wallaby

Well, we tried long-lining this evening!

There was a little panic about the surcingle, but we worked through it and he decided he might survive.

Then I lunged him [I wanted to get his mind thinking, and his body warmed up before we did something potentially scary, like long-lining] which was a little fiery, but not a huge deal.

THEN the long-lining.

He was initially quite horrified and it brought out SO MANY of his "bad" undersaddle behaviors, all the anxiety and balkiness...so I kind of loved that since it's way easier to deal with that sort of thing from the ground, imo!
He spent the first 5-10 minutes giraffing around with his head in the air, gaping his mouth, taking the tiniest steps ever, the whole deal.

But, finally, I realized that maybe I should try driving him forward, so I did! And that was totally the key. He trotted in slow motion with his head in the air for a second, so I drove him up more, still had his head in the air, still anxious. Usually the key to those sorts of nerves is a good canter, so I asked him to canter.
He raced around like a maniac, the outside rope got under his tail [he then clamped his tail on it and I thought he might start bucking, but he thought it through and, after a few circuits around me, unclamped his tail!], but eventually he lowed his head and I asked him to trot.

Pretty much at that moment he realized he wasn't stuck like he thought he was, and that he could put his head down!

After that, he was basically fine. He stretched into it going both ways, no more gaping at the bit, no more giraffing, it was very pleasant!


THEN, of course, I didn't think about throwing the ropes over his back to end so I just dropped them and, of course, they touched his legs below the hocks and OF COURSE HE LOST HIS MIND.

So we spent the next 15-20 minutes bolting around, totally panicked. Eventually his thinking brain showed back up and he tried really hard to calm himself down. I held one rope and let him drag the other behind him - still scary, but survivable. Then I let him take a break while I put the trot poles away and had him stand with the ropes touching his back legs. He was very worried about that, but didn't bolt. I left him for a minute, waiting for his ears to look less helicopter-panicky, while I put the poles away, then took the "scary"outside rope off once he stopped obsessing about it.

I hope that whole thing with the rope on his back legs doesn't set us too far back tomorrow... He gets so freaked out by that sort of thing. He was better, less bolty, than he he has been in the past...but it was still a SUPER excessive reaction. He acts almost like he has some kind of PTSD about being caught by a hind leg, or something. Any kind of unexpected, loopy rope by his hind legs makes him freak the heck out. He's fine with hands, farrier stuff, boots, brushes, ropes when they aren't unexpected....

Ughhhhh.

Anyway, I was mostly pleased with our work today! Definitely some hiccups, but definite improvements as well. I'd call it a successful day. 

Long-lining





And a FB friend tagged me me in this picture of Fabs from 2013! 
He does not look like the same horse, at all. Crazy!


----------



## egrogan

Wow, what a difference in that 2013 picture. He looks so uncomfortable, and sort of "lumpy?" It's so great he found his way back to you


----------



## Wallaby

egrogan said:


> Wow, what a difference in that 2013 picture. He looks so uncomfortable, and sort of "lumpy?" It's so great he found his way back to you


I agree! In that picture he looks, to me, like humans with chronic diseases do sometimes - upright, functional, but incredibly uncomfortable. Poor guy!

The lumpiness is definitely there. It's a classic sign of MFM. I haven't heard back from his P3/MFM test yet, but the symptoms are all there. I have a friend who's mare has it and she is basically Fabs' twin in so many ways. She does ok on high-protein where he's been doing better on low-protein, but that's basically the only difference.
Anyway, lumpy is very accurate!

_________________


Short update for tonight:

we did more long-lining today! All the steps went way faster, I was/am so proud of Fabs!

It only took an hour today, vs an hour and a half, at least, yesterday! 

He was definitely nervous about the long-lining ropes maybe touching his lower legs, but I was more careful today and made sure the lines DID touch his legs, but not in ways that were gonna be too scary for him. He reacted well and had a few "omg it's touching me" moments, but he calmed down very quickly - it took maybe 5 minutes for him to settle, vs the 15-20 AT LEAST yesterday!

We had a really good day! Tomorrow is gonna just be free-lunging, I think - to give his mind some freedom, and he's getting Tuesday off.

:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Oh! One other thing - I've started working on some walk-canter transitions with Fabs, just for fun, and he was a little confused at first [yesterday] but he completely got it today! And he got soooo proud - he nailed it three times, then zoomed into one of his "gallop for 5 minutes" things that he does when he's done something he is very proud of. 
It was such a good moment! I love seeing him feel so much pride in what his body can do!


----------



## Wallaby

Just a cute video of Mr Fabs!

We were playing around yesterday and I decided trying to see if he would climb the mounting block - he's shown interest in trying to before, so I figure it was something fun, and very brave, for him to actually do!

We had worked on it for 10+ minutes and he was trying really hard, but not really getting it. I figured his tries were so cute, I might as well take a video of him trying!
And, luckily, the moment after I started taking the video, Fabs decided to actually climb it for the first time!

I didn't let him go all the way up [he probably would have!] because I was slightly concerned about him panicking and falling off, or something. But he didn't panic at all!
Even coming down, he reallly wanted to stay up there, but calmly stepped down when I asked him and didn't get at all scared! Usually he does a cool new thing, then immediately accidentally scares himself and makes himself really nervous about trying again.
Not this time!

He was so brave and proud of himself 







:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

Fabs was very, very, out of sorts today   

He was in a good place mentally [thank goodness!!], but physically he was a HOT mess. I didn't get to see him yesterday due to my doctor's appointment, so I don't know if it started yesterday, or if today was just a random incident.

Sometimes he's really triggered by me not being there, so that could be a factor too... UGH.

I groomed him, did a little bodywork on him, and then we just walked around on that hill outside for a bit. I figured that all that hill walking would stretch his muscles, and he prefers being outside, so it seemed like a good deal.

Luckily, I did not stand on a nest of rabbits this time!!

He seemed to enjoy himself and we headed in about the time that he started deciding he could trot - he tends to have a hair trigger the day after a "no work" day and, with his body feeling the way it was, the last thing he needed to do was tear around!!

Whatever he has [I think it's MFM/P3, but the results of his test aren't in yet], makes him swollen/puffy on bad days. For instance, today, during the body work, I had my hand on his loin-area and, when I pulled my hand away, THERE WAS AN IMPRINT OF MY HAND OVER HIS LOIN!! I hadn't even been pressing, just laid my hand there for a minute or two, it was crazy. And horrifying. haha

Anyway, he was happy, despite clearly being very tired/fatigued and stiff.

The other thing is that he's getting his hooves trimmed next Wednesday and the 7ish days leading up to a trim tend to be "not great" days.  Poor buddy! On the plus side, he's getting trimmed next week AND he's getting his monthly bodywork session, with the bodyworker, the following Saturday. So he should recover just fine. 


Also, I'm teaching him how to smile on command.  He doesn't quite understand it yet, but he knows that "smile" means something! He starts trying to wrinkle his lips into a smile the moment I say "smile" - he's just not quite adept at getting the right lip move asap yet! haha It's coming though! 

Even though the long-lining was going so well, unless he's feeling great tomorrow, I'm gonna hold off working on it more until after he gets trimmed and that bodywork - I don't want him to associate long-lining with pain, or to learn any bad habits trying to avoid pain. 
It's a bummer, but maybe we can spend the next week-ish working on his leg-rope phobia!

Silly goose boy!


----------



## Tazzie

Poor Fabio  I hope he feels better today!! I really hope that test comes in soon! I'm curious to know what it is (though I know you are even more curious!)

Hopefully you'll be able to continue working him, but it's a good call to wait until he feels better!


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

Fabio is really cute in the picture but I hope he feels better soon :-( poor guy. I'm so sorry about the puffiness. I really hope they figure out what's going on with him and there can be a positive solution for him. I know regular work makes a difference and no work can set thing off but I don't know. 

I hope you are successful in the "smile" trick. I know a few horses who do that! It's so cute!


----------



## Wallaby

I'll report more later/reply to you guys, but GUESS WHAT?!

The Fabster is n/n for MFM/P3. He's clear for that and that was one of the worst possible in terms of long term "recovery" or anything.


The study people are gonna test him for more things as they come along and hopefully we'll get it figured out. I'm pretty happy that he's n/n for MFM, but it brings up 1,000 more questions about WHAT ON EARTH he does have!

He clearly has something going on, silly me thinking it was gonna let itself be found easily. Ha. >.<

Worst case scenario, I'll have a muscle biopsy done and then we'll know...


----------



## Wallaby

Tazzie said:


> Poor Fabio  I hope he feels better today!! I really hope that test comes in soon! I'm curious to know what it is (though I know you are even more curious!)
> 
> Hopefully you'll be able to continue working him, but it's a good call to wait until he feels better!


Thanks!  It's hard when I want to do so much, but I know it's not in his best interest! Super frustrating. But we've made some really good strides this month, between bad weeks, so I feel pretty ok about that!! 



DanteDressageNerd said:


> Fabio is really cute in the picture but I hope he feels better soon :-( poor guy. I'm so sorry about the puffiness. I really hope they figure out what's going on with him and there can be a positive solution for him. I know regular work makes a difference and no work can set thing off but I don't know.
> 
> I hope you are successful in the "smile" trick. I know a few horses who do that! It's so cute!


Thanks, me too.  It's so sad when he doesn't feel well! He gets pathetic!

He's definitely getting pretty good at the smiling trick! It's not perfect, but it's really coming along. It's pretty cute! 
It seems like it's a nice one to do when he's stressed because it distracts him a bit AND it moves his mouth - somehow, he calms down much faster if his mouth is moving. I guess it makes sense, but it's an interesting connection!

____________________


Alright so I gave you guys the big update yesterday. I'm still pretty excited about that! 
That means that he probably has RER which is not great, but it isn't progressive and can be helped with the kind of training/work we've been doing lately. Unfortunately, there isn't currently a cure or a way to manage it outside of careful handling, consistent schedules, and positive training...but it isn't progressive in the sense that it'll just get worse and worse. He can experience some sense of recovery in his muscles - it'll be lifelong "recovery" where any letdown period could result in damage, but he should be able to live out a normal lifespan.

The scientist guy told me that his DNA looks like RER, but they can't confirm it yet. So I don't have 100% confirmation, but "it looks like it."

Once it's confirmed, I'm going to contact the vet and look into getting him some of the drugs for RER horses - ace, dantroline, etc. I'm hoping to avoid using it when at all possible, but going into winter where he's gonna be inside more and the potential of ice/snowstorms that will end up with him locked in his stall for 23 hours a day [since I won't be able to get to him unless the roads are clear and we don't have a great snow-system in the PNW], I don't want him to get in a really bad way. It'd be good to have something on hand for the BO to give him, just in case.

Ace is used to keep them calmer in stressful situations, since stress is the culprit here. Dantroline is used to lower how much calcium the body releases into the muscles in times of stress - RER is basically where the body releases wayyy too much calcium into the cells under stress and the calcium sort of builds up.


Anyway, should be interesting.

It might also be good to be able to "buzz" him with ace on those days when I've had to miss a day of working him out and he is completely spazzing out... Apparently the real danger, with RER, is the first workout after missing a workout - I guess their blood CK levels [calmcium] tend to be 4 times higher than they should be after a workout when they've missed work the previous day. And that much of an elevated level is damaging/dangerous for muscles, as well as being painful.  
Those are the days that he's most likely to loose his mind, and those are the days he realllly needs to not lose his mind.
Essentially, he NEEDS to be worked daily.


Anyway, interesting stuff.

I'm also talking with the hoof trimmer about getting glue-on shoes on his hind feet this upcoming trim [Thursday]. He keeps slipping on them on the concrete barn floor, because he's trying to rock back on to them but he doesn't quite have the muscle yet to hold himself.
I wonder if hind shoes might give him the traction and support he needs, as his body figures itself out. I'm thinking maybe only use shoes for one or two trim cycles, but we'll see what the trimmer says.

I don't think he needs them in front, but we'll see. 
He's really trying to use his body and I want to facilitate that!

The trimmer and I are going to talk about it. She might not think they're necessary, but we'll see. So far we've been pretty experimental with his trims and they've been helping a lot. She'll trim him one way for a bit, then he'll say he needs to be done differently, so we switch it up, and so forth. 
I like that he's telling us what he needs in terms of trims! 


In other news, the Fabster had a really nervous day yesterday - typical for the day after a really tired day. But he tried REALLY hard.

I brought out the mounting block for him to try again and he wasn't feeling brave enough to actually climb it, but he did get curious about it and put one foot up on it! I didn't have him on a rope or anything, he just chose to.

It was pretty cool to see his nerves go away and his curiosity come out when I invited him to try climbing the block!

Then some noise happened and he switched right back to being very anxious, but he didn't spook or bolt. He just thought about it and "left" me, mentally. 
After that, I had him smile once, then we left the arena before he could get anxious again.

Of course, he slipped on his own poop and one hind leg went out from under him as we exited the arena, but hey. :lol:


I did LOVE seeing his anxious side switch off though! That was awesome. It made me feel like I really found a key to his brain and maybe, if I can get him thinking more that way, maybe it's another soothing strategy.

You can never have too many soothing strategies with Fabio!! haha


Hopefully today will be even better!


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

I wish you so much luck in figuring out how to manage Fabio's condition, even though there are no answers and still a mystery but it seems bit by bit you guys are figuring something out and working on a program that works through trial and error. I know with you care he'll continue to prosper. I hope Fabio knows how lucky he is!

I also hope you continue to find positive ways to manage Fabio's anxiety or help him with it. It sounds like he's improved a lot. Brick by brick I guess.


----------



## Wallaby

DanteDressageNerd said:


> I wish you so much luck in figuring out how to manage Fabio's condition, even though there are no answers and still a mystery but it seems bit by bit you guys are figuring something out and working on a program that works through trial and error. I know with you care he'll continue to prosper. I hope Fabio knows how lucky he is!
> 
> I also hope you continue to find positive ways to manage Fabio's anxiety or help him with it. It sounds like he's improved a lot. Brick by brick I guess.


Thanks Cassie! <3 
It does seem like things are working better, little by little. Brick by brick is a really good way of describing it! haha


___________________

I'm personally having a rough week, so I haven't been quite as dedicated to Fabs as I "should" be and he's kinda feeling the effects.

I'm doing an elimination diet for myself since I continue to have unexplained allergic-type reactions to things that I'm eating.  I'm guessing that it might be corn, since I have a very strong negative bodily reaction when I eat corn on the cob/corn kernels/popcorn/etc, but I've never cut corn out entirely. Corn is in SO MANY things, it was easier to avoid the big stuff without cutting out the little stuff.

Anyway, now it's come down to the point where I NEED to eliminate all those little sources of corn and corn is definitely in practically everything, so an elimination diet seemed easiest.

The big issue is that my ADHD medication has 2-3 separate corn products in it, but I have to keep taking it = kind of a problem.
On the plus side, I'm scheduled to see the doctor on Wednesday anyway, so I'm gonna talk to her about getting on a different medication, or getting my current medication compounded [ie, made specifically for me, without corn products].

Anyway, so right now there are just a few foods I'm "allowed" to eat, because they are for sure safe - fresh turkey, carrots, apples, almonds, potatoes, rice, bananas, strawberries, sea salt, 100% coconut oil, and tomatoes. [almonds and tomatoes are new today]
So that's been fun.

I can't say if I'm feeling better yet, persay, as I've been having a hard time eating enough protein and that's making me migraine-y. BUT I roasted a bunch of almonds this evening and will have them tomorrow - that should help the protein situation!


Anyway, I was super lightheaded yesterday so I basically groomed Fabs and that was it. LUCKILY somehow he managed ok with that and wasn't overly sore today.
His body was weirdly swollen today, like it gets when it's trying to freakout, but I got his heavier blanket on him and gave him some bute - hopefully that'll do the trick! He got caught out in a rainstorm right before I showed up and his muscles were already starting to spasm from the chill when I arrived.
Luckily, he was still able to work happily and that got him warmed up/less stressed. He wasn't spasming anymore by the time we got done working!


I was very impressed with our work session today! He started out pretty nervous and worried, but it actually ended up being one of our best session yet. He tuned into me pretty quickly [which is especially difficult for him when he's having muscle spasms, plus I was there much earlier than usual, AND there were still horses in the paddocks behind the arena - all things that usually get him worked up] and stayed REALLY focused for the majority of the time. 

He even focused through two of our barn friends watching over the gate! Usually having an audience throws him completely for a loop - he just gets distracted and can't recover his focus.

Our barn friends were super impressed, which is always a really nice feeling! Like, I may not be able to ride him [right now??], but we can have this really cool groundwork relationship...and I like that. I mean, I wish we could have both - the groundwork and the ridden work, but I'm happy with just groundwork too. 
The best part, really, is that Fabs loves the groundwork. It's not just something he's doing for me, it's something we're doing, and enjoying, together. And that's the best part!

Also, when we got done, I was able to cue him to come right up to me [something he has a hard time doing if he's nervous] and when I came back after putting the poles and stuff we used [Fabs groundties during this time], Fabs was actually in a curious "let's play!" sort of mood - not nervous or anxious at all. He can get pretty nervous after we're done working, so that was really cool to see!

I thought it was funny/cool that we both weren't having "great" days on our own, but we had one of our greatest days together.


Here's his smile! He's getting pretty good at it!




And here's from today. He saw me coming and chose to roll before coming in. :lol:


----------



## Wallaby

Fabs got his bodywork done today! Yay!

The bodyworker was super impressed with his muscle tone and said that, for the first time, he actually had the majority of his responses in "normal" horse areas - areas consistent with a "right-handed" horse! Instead of being sore/tense due to disease, he was sore/tense due to regular life stuff! NORMAL stuff!

So that's pretty exciting. I feel like we're definitely turning a corner here!


Also, I got his breed DNA test back!




Arabian, Turkoman, and Lipizzaner! No QH whatsoever. And, based on these results, his chances of having *any* QH blood is basically zero. Crazy!!

Lipizzaner 100% fits with who he is. He _looks_ like a Lipizzaner -it explains all the questions I've had about his body not fitting with what Quarabs tend to look like- and his personality is definitely, from what I've heard/read about Lippis, 100% Lipizzaner. 
I would not be surprised if he was a straight Lipizzaner/Arab cross - the Turkoman could come from Lipizzaners or Arabians, both breeds crossbred with Turkomans, before Turkomans went extinct...

The numbers are just how the person looking at his results felt about the likelihood of his parentage, based on his DNA. It isn't 100%. The info that came with the test described how occasionally draft horses will end up with a heavy pony breed as their number 1 and their real breed as number two or 3 - apparently heavy pony and draft horses are closely related and hard to differentiate between in the test.

All three of Fabio's results are close together on the "breed relationships" chart-thing, so that means the numbers could be off. It also means that he could have zero Turkoman, or zero Arab, or zero Lippizaner...but I definitely see the Arab and I see the Lippizan so... 

He tricked us all! I never, ever, would have guessed Lippizan! <3


----------



## Wallaby

I do NOT know WHAT is happening! My life seems to have a charm on it right now!

Yesterday I accidentally notified the people at one of the Lipizzaner registries that I was looking into receiving a "horse look-up" [I was clicking random stuff, and apparently one of my clicks was the right/wrong one!].
So they emailed me to ask about my supposed inquiry [which I had no idea I had made, of course...haha].

I filled them in on Fabio's story, mentioning the breed DNA test.

AND GUESS WHAT THEY TOLD ME?!!

Since the DNA test had already been run and I had a copy of the DNA portion of his results, I just needed to email them a scanned copy of that DNA report and they would run it FOR FREE.

So, basically, they are definitely going to be able to tell me if he's at least 50% Lipizzan, and _maybe_ they'll be able to tell me what his Lipizzaner relative's name is!
Who knows, best possible scenario, MAYBE he'll already be registered with them and they can tell me who he is.

So fingers crossed that he's 50% Lip! 
I feel like he could be, given that his personality is SO Lipizzan...but who knows. 

I was telling someone at the barn [the owner of the horse who lives to Fabs' left] about these exciting new developments and she thought for a second, then said "well, that certainly explains his personality!"
And that's basicalllly what everyone has said. :rofl:

He's such a serious guy!


The other funny thing is that, through Googling pictures of Lipizzaners, I've noticed that SO many of them do those awful-hilarious mare-faces Fabio does! It cracks me up so bad! 

Here are a few of my favorites:








































They all have that air of "what are we doing here? I need to understand. You seem to be telling me to do things so I'm doing them, but actually I hate it and let's stop because I have ten better ideas. Let me tell you my better ideas: first,......."

:rofl: :rofl:


:happydance:


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

I remember reading about the Lipizzaner as Fabio's relative and that's really interesting. I hope they're able to give you some more information, so you can possibly figure out who he is! That'd be awesome!! Really weird, I never would have thought lipizan but *shrugs* that's interesting.


----------



## Wallaby

DanteDressageNerd said:


> I remember reading about the Lipizzaner as Fabio's relative and that's really interesting. I hope they're able to give you some more information, so you can possibly figure out who he is! That'd be awesome!! Really weird, I never would have thought lipizan but *shrugs* that's interesting.


I agree! On all counts!

I absolutely never thought Lipizzan either! But, for me, it's more like a "that's such a random breed"-sort of 'never come to mind'-thing, vs I considered it and moved on...you know?

Now that I know though, it fits SO incredibly well. It's hard to describe without physically knowing him, but he kind of exudes an air of being "better."
Like how shy introverts can sometimes come across as being really conceited, or whatever, because they keep to themselves and might not seem super warm? That's kind of how he is.
He just comes off as being strong, stoic, and a little bit better than everybody else - not really in a bad way, but he just has an air about him.

He's not into everybody's business, unless it's my business. Which makes sense, since Arabs and Lipizzans both tend to be "one person horses" and Lipi's, in particular - from what I've heard, tend to be extremely reserved with "strangers" or people outside their sphere of good graces.

Someone described them as "serious horses" and that is really really true for Fabs. He never plays, I can turn him out in the arena to run after being stalled for a bit, he'll clearly be full of energy, but he'll go straight to the center of the arena and begin watching everything. 
He'll start running around if I leave, but he won't play or run for the fun of it. 

He's very serious!! Even teaching him tricks - he's getting pretty good at "smiling" and he doesn't hate it so much now - because he understands what I want and it makes sense to him, but, at first, it _completely_ went against his Fabio-code. He hated it!

How much he hated it was hysterical for me, but he was 100% serious.

Anyway, I've decided that we can call his breed the Fabizzaner. :rofl:
It has a ring to it!


I'm really hoping that maybe, by some stroke of luck, the DNA look-up thing will be really easy and quick and maybe we'll have the results tomorrow. But I really have no idea! It might take a few days...

I'm really excited!!


----------



## Tazzie

It is really exciting!! All of this is just so neat to me :lol: hopefully you get answers on who Fabio REALLY is! How cool would that be!


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

Fabizanner :lol: that's cute and kinda suiting in an endearing way. But hey keep us updated. This is really interesting. Definitely wouldn't have been my guess either but hey genetics are funny that way.


----------



## Wallaby

Tazzie said:


> It is really exciting!! All of this is just so neat to me :lol: hopefully you get answers on who Fabio REALLY is! How cool would that be!





DanteDressageNerd said:


> Fabizanner :lol: that's cute and kinda suiting in an endearing way. But hey keep us updated. This is really interesting. Definitely wouldn't have been my guess either but hey genetics are funny that way.


Agreed!! I'm excited about this! It's so so nice to just know "more" about him, even if it isn't a lot. Just a breed, for sure, is super nice to have!


_________________________

Super delayed update guys! Sorry!

I'm on jury duty right now, so hopefully I'll be able to get a solid update in! haha Unless they choose me to do jury stuff... Fingers crossed they won't!


Anyway, I heard back from the registry people.  

They were able to confirm that he's very likely a 50-50 cross [unless both his parents were 50-50 crosses] because his DNA has a "high percentage of Lipizzan alleles."

Unfortunately, they don't have him, or his parents registered with them. That doesn't mean that he/his parents aren't registered, as there are a number of North American Lipizzan registries, but this particular registry can't narrow it down to names.


[I learned that "Lipizzaner" is the European term, "Lipizzan" is the American term]

BUT.
He does have two genes that can potentially help track things down.

One gene is sex-linked and very rare [.3% within the Lipizzan population] so, based on it being sex-linked, he inherited it from his mom. That suggests that his mom was an Arabian and his dad was Lipizzan. Interesting!

The other gene is one that he inherited from BOTH his mom and dad [I'm asking some scientists I know about it as, from Google, it appears like that gene might have something to do with how his body uses amino acids and maybe???? his issues??]. It's also pretty rare in Lipizzans [3.6% of the population] so it may help narrow down who his dad is...

But nothing yet.


We do have maybe a lead on his breeder, but I haven't been able to do the research yet.

It was this lady that suddenly passed away in 2005, who bred Arab/Lipizzaners for years. Her horses got a bit neglected after she passed, which could fit Fabio's story - the halter grew into his face when he was 2 or 3 [around 2005] and the note that was with his "brother" at auction said that their owner had gotten them out of a "bad situation" when Fabio was 3-ish [2005-ish].

Anyway, who knows at this point. So far I haven't been able to get any good leads on this lady - she doesn't have a lot on the internet and it was so many years ago!
But I'm hoping that maybe she has some horses registered on the Arabian Horse Database, and maybe we can find some things out that way. But so far I haven't been able to look that up.



Anywayyyyyyyy, things are going ok! Fabs is not having the absolute best month, but he's not having the worst month either. We've had a few super hot days [which he loves] and some random cooler ones [which make things hard for him]. The random HOT to colddddd switches are not the best.

But we have done more longlining and that's going pretty well! He's trying really hard. Sweet boy. 


Anyway, that's basically all. I might not get home until 6pm tonight which is gonna be a problemmmmmm, fingers crossed I get out of jury duty early! :/


----------



## Tazzie

If you need help with the AHA database, let me know! You have to pay for a subscription to it to look up people and horses, but I'd been meaning to anyway (want to check Izzie's points tally so far...)

So let me know if I can help you by looking up her name maybe (I'm guessing you have it!) You know how to get a hold of me easiest


----------



## tinyliny

are you wanting to know his exact breeding for figuring out his disease source? or . . . ? just for fun?


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks Tazzie for the offer! <3 <3




tinyliny said:


> are you wanting to know his exact breeding for figuring out his disease source? or . . . ? just for fun?


Good question!
I have a couple of reasons - 
1. once he's officially-officially diagnosed [he's hasn't been "officially" diagnosed with RER yet], knowing his bloodlines could help the search to figure out what bloodlines to watch for RER. Like we know that HYPP came from Impressive - knowing Fabio's bloodlines might help with the search for where RER started. There's only one other Arab that I know that has also been tentatively diagnosed with RER, and she's heavily Babson bred - we could see if that mare and Fabio share any common ancestors, and so forth.

2. also essentially "for fun." I don't mind if he isn't registered, or if there isn't a record of his breeding, but I feel like I should search until I hit a dead-dead end, you know?
Someone clearly put effort into creating him, and I want to honor that effort by doing my best to connect Fabio, the end product, with it. If that makes sense...
I can't really describe my "why" very effectively with words, it's more of an emotion. In my heart, I simply cannot imagine doing whatever I can to exhaust every effort to find out who Fabio is. Not because it would make Fabio more important, or valuable, or whatever, it really feels like a matter of "doing the right thing," to me.
I think it's just who I am though - I want to know every little detail possible about _everything_ that's important to me.

Maybe it has some element of wanting to know, wanting to confirm, that he was loved. I know it really doesn't matter since he's loved within an inch of his life nowadays, but I guess maybe I want to confirm?
I had a very satisfactory story that went along with Lacey. A story about how she got her name as a foal, I knew where she grew up, I knew she was loved on some level...
And I really don't have that for Fabio. I have a question mark, then the whole "halter left on, acquired by the old man, trained, etc" story. I want the question mark to be replaced by a state, or name, or something. I don't like question marks around things I love! :lol:


----------



## Wallaby

Long time no see, guys!!!

Things have been crazy and I'll try to update more later, but guess what?!!

We've been RIDING!

Yesterday was our third "ride" which is more like "a couple of steps, then get off and do it again" but it's RIDING and Fabio seems to be tolerating it really well!

I'll try to go more in detail later, but here's the video from yesterday:


----------



## DanteDressageNerd

Yay!! I'm so happy to see you riding Fabio and getting back on him!! That's really wonderful and to see him relaxed and okay with it!! Just awesome!!


----------



## Wallaby

DanteDressageNerd said:


> Yay!! I'm so happy to see you riding Fabio and getting back on him!! That's really wonderful and to see him relaxed and okay with it!! Just awesome!!


Thanks, I feel the same way!!  I love how it's so clear that Fabs is CHOOSING to participate, instead of just doing it because "he has to" or whatever. It's nice! I'm looking forward to continuing. 

Maybe it's because Fabs is choosing it, bu I feel so much safer on his back now! He's not as "ready to leave" as he was before. 



________________________________


Anyway, backstory:


First, over the summer I started Fabs on a higher fat diet. About a month ago, he switched to true high-fat, not just higher-fat.
The change in him was INCREDIBLE. He's so so much calmer, much more relaxed, and his muscles are pretty loose most of the time.

The last two times his bodyworker was out, she mentioned that his muscles feel "normal"-er and that he's displaying normal soreness patterns - vs the all-over randomized soreness he always had before.
She kind of gave me the push that I needed. She mentioned that, when she first met us, she did not feel like he was rideable in the condition he was in at the time [and that, at the time, she had doubts about him ever being rideable], but now, she feels like he's muscularly healthy enough to be ridden....and she never thought that would be possible for him. :happydance:

Anyway, so since this last bodywork session was the second time she had told me she felt I could get on him, I decided to start working on that a bit more.

I decided to skip the whole saddle/bridle thing since he has SO MUCH mental/emotional baggage about riding/tack that less is probably more. I decided to try to get him over the basic "person on my back" stuff before approaching the "stuff on my back AND a person" stuff.


Hilariously for me, I decided one day to stand up on the mounting block - assuming that he'd be fine and I might get on him that day. 

HAHAHAHA no.

He lost his MIND. The moment I got up on that block, he flew backwards, wouldn't approach me, all wild-eyed and snorty. 

So then I was all "well, that's an issue." And we started working on that.

I figured that the first step was getting him to recognize that I could direct him from above/next to him, just liek I can when I'm standing next to him on the ground. So we worked on that. 
Lots of sending exercises, we practiced the pawing trick he apparently knows, as well as the sidepassing trick he shared with me recently [the boy knows how to sidepass on cue when I'm standing in front of him AND when I'm next to him!], and once he was comfortable, I asked him to smile - interestingly, all these "tricks" [specifically the pawing one and the smiling one] bring his anxiety down SO fast!
Then, after all that work, he got to come up to me, still on the mounting block, and get scratches and rest time while I patted him everywhere I could reach - at first I only asked him to have his head within range of me. He could move away if he wanted, but rest time would be over and he'd have to move around again.
We basically just kept working on that, each day, until suddenly he was happily lining himself up with the mounting block - on either side of his body.
Occasionally, when he did something that was clearly really hard for him, I gave him a treat and a break, just to make sure he really got rewarded for going above and beyond. The hardest thing, for him, was getting his right front hoof around the mounting block in front. He was VERY concerned about that, and just that took a couple of days of work before he was comfortably maneuvering that situation. :shock:


Anyway, eventually [it took 5 or 6 sessions for him to be totally ok] he was able to comfortably sidle himself up next to the mounting block, while I stood on the block.

Once he was totally ok, I started leaning on him and swinging my leg over a bit. That was a new level which made him nervous, but he realized pretty quickly that I was just being goofy again and I wasn't actually gonna get on [that was half the battle with the mounting block - he was SO sure I was gonna get on and kept conveniently swinging his backend far enough away that I couldn't get on. Once he realized that I wasn't getting on, he was fine and he got over that issue real fast].
Then, last week, ON MY BIRTHDAY, I got on him for reals!

He was a bit shocked, but I gave him a treat and got right back off, so he basically decided it wasn't too bad. We repeated that on-off a few more times, then called it quits for the day.

Then, last Thursday, we repeated all the previous babysteps, but that time we added forward movement. :shock: Just a few steps, but steps nonetheless.

Yesterday we basically did the same thing - all the other stuff, and some steps. I'm very pleased with how he did last night - he was resistant on Thursday in mostly an anticipatory "you're gonna get scary, I know you are, so here, I'm gonna try to bite you! HA!" sort of way. I didn't engage with him at all about that, just ignored it, and he was so so much less angry last night. 
He didn't try to bite me at all last night! 

He worked through some REAL stuff on Thursday though, despite his grumpiness [or maybe because of his grumpiness...]. He was yawning and licking and chewing before I even got him back into his stall - releasing so much tension and anxiety.

Last night he released that stuff a lot quicker - you can see him sighing and licking/chewing in the video.

Each "ride" has completed exhausted him. He's going through a LOT internally. I think he's enjoying it because he reaches a new level of calm-paying-attention while we're working on this stuff, but he is completely zonked by the time I put him away.
It reminds me of an introvert who needs some "alone time" to recharge.


I'm so proud of him! He's doing so well and trying so hard. 


I'm just really impressed that he never tried to kill me in the past. 
I always used to ride him with the assumption that he was "broke" and he just had some issues. 

But NO. He was the opposite - he had issues because he wasn't "broke" at all! 

I'm also glad that I'm restarting him now, vs in 5 years after he broke every bone in my body, or something.

Poor guy! He is literally the best thing. I am really hoping this keeps going great. He is so so fun when he's enjoying himself!


----------



## egrogan

If ever there was a horse that was extraordinarily lucky to find "his person," surely Fabs is that horse! It's amazing to watch the subtle body language between you two. Often I watch groundwork videos and think "blegh," I don't get it...but this one was mesmerizing. I was holding my breath the first time you sat on him and whispering "good boy." Great job with him-can't wait to see what you do next


----------



## tinyliny

amen to that, egrogan.!

I often tell Wallaby that she has a gift. she could become a trainer of animals of any kind. I bet she could train elephants!


----------



## Wallaby

egrogan said:


> If ever there was a horse that was extraordinarily lucky to find "his person," surely Fabs is that horse! It's amazing to watch the subtle body language between you two. Often I watch groundwork videos and think "blegh," I don't get it...but this one was mesmerizing. I was holding my breath the first time you sat on him and whispering "good boy." Great job with him-can't wait to see what you do next


That's so sweet! I love hearing that.  Thank you! <3
I'm so lucky to have found Fabio too. We're extraordinarily lucky to have found each other, for sure. I truly feel spoiled! 



tinyliny said:


> amen to that, egrogan.!
> 
> I often tell Wallaby that she has a gift. she could become a trainer of animals of any kind. I bet she could train elephants!


Aww <3 <3 Thank you! 
Fabio is definitely the biggest challenge I've ever worked with, maybe elephants are next! :lol: :lol:



______________________________________


1. The study, the one Fabio is in, ran 5-panels on all the study-horses, just to be sure, and, as expected, Fabio came back clear for all of them.
So that's good, I suppose! Those results are expected, given his breeds, but I had been slightly worried about MH given the sweating he does when he gets nervous [MH is basically as issue with the body overheating, and can cause spontaneous death]. But no MH for this boy! Yay!


They're going to proceed with Fabio being "assumed RER" and will test him in November using the RER test they have been developing. He's "on the short list" for the RER [Px] test so he'll be among the first tested.
HOPEFULLY he'll be positive. He's been responding incredibly well [the absolute best out of all the diets/protocols he's gone through] to the RER diet/exercise protocols, so it'll be a real bummer if RER isn't it - I mean, it might be good...but it would also mean that his diet should be different and it would be hard to know where to go with that.

2. I have two videos!

The first is from Wednesday. I didn't end up getting on because he kept repeatedly "freezing" and was very distracted. The freezing is basically him saying that he's mentally overloaded just by life, and the distraction, well, that's just him being him sometimes. But distraction+mental overload meant that riding him then might have ended up being a bad experience for us both - what we don't need.

ON THE PLUS SIDE! After finishing our session, I realized that he hadn't worked the day before because I had to work late, then I had a doctors appointment. I went out to see him to get his blanket on him, but he didn't work.
So it's _CRAZY_ impressive that he was as focused as he was!! 
Days after he doesn't work are typically days that he is totally all over the place, very bolty, not mentally present, etc.
With RER, a day without work means that his intra-cellular calcium levels are way higher than they are "normally." Which means that any exertion basically floods his muscles with wayyyy too much calcium, which, if he gets nervous, causes pain and gets him extra "charged up."
When he's in daily hard work, the calcium regulates somewhat [though it's still higher than normal, typically, for RER horses] and it's not quite so "no calcium, then a TON of calcium."

So, basically, he was under a ton of stress in this first video and he did really, really, well for where he was at!







This second video is from last night.
This is just the second half because the whole thing was 20 minutes and Youtube didn't love that idea. haha
He was under some pressure in this one too - the power company was sawing on trees behind the barn [behind and to the right of us in the video...the left side of the screen] and, while Fabio couldn't see it, he could hear it. He's very noise-triggered so he probably would have been less worried if he could have seen it while we worked, but there was no way to make that happen. The work was happening right next to his paddock so he watched it all day, which probably helped him be as calm as he was in the video!

Also, the woman who is feeding this week had just shown up to feed and Fabs knew it, so he was also a little distracted by that.

BUT. I think the two of these videos really show the difference between internally-distracted Fabio and externally-distracted Fabio. It's a big-little difference!

Anyway, he tried really hard yesterday too. I thought about quitting early, but I decided that he was clearly game to try and one day I was gonna end up riding him when life was distracting. Might as well give him a positive start right off the bat! 

At the start of me "getting on," when I'm first swinging my leg over, I started out trying to "shape" him away from biting my right foot. He was, basically, trying to warn me that he was distracted and that he didn't think I should get on/he thought I was going too fast, which I appreciated.
So I took it a little slower and rewarded him by taking my leg off his back each time he turned his head back forward/didn't bite me. I gave him a treat the first time he didn't even look at my foot, to underline that THAT was ok and good.

Then, of course, he tried to bite my left foot after I got on, but he effectively punished himself :lol: each time. Poor/silly guy!


I love how he's really found his "forward" button since the last ride I shared with you guys! I really didn't do anything except get off a few times while he was moving and give him a treat while moving. 


My biggest critique of myself in this video is that I pulled him around pretty sharp on the second "trip" which I really don't want to be doing yet. I was nervous that he was gonna go somewhere and get spooked, but I should have let it happen [OR NOT HAPPEN] instead of trying to control the situation. I should have let him go where ever, then hopped off if I felt him getting stiff. 
My intended goal for these rides is that I'm doing very little steering and he's mostly getting to go around and realize that I'm not manhandling him. But I let myself get a bit nervous yesterday.

The other thing is that I wish I hadn't "whoa'd" him. I really feel like I should be getting off while he's moving right now, just so he doesn't start anticipating the stop for me to get off. If I get off [remove pressure] while he's moving [what I want to reward], I reward the movement. If I get off while he's stopped, I reward the stop. He's GREAT at stopping and not so good at moving, I need to be rewarding the movement.

I'll work on those things today. I'm gonna try going this evening when it's a bit quieter at the barn so we'll both, hopefully, be able to focus better.

Live and learn, I guess!








:happydance:


----------



## Wallaby

We had our seventh ride today!!

Fabio is doing INCREDIBLY well. Like _INCREDIBLY_ well. Riding is our "cool down" from lunging and stuff and he's started clearly asking to do the riding portion - turning his head in towards me, trying to walk up to me whenever I ask him to stop, etc, he really seems to be enjoying what we're doing!

Today we graduated to "reins" [ie, the lead rope tied into reins - I didn't want to potentially break our momentum by introducing a bridle/bit/whatever just yet. I want to transition to a bridle soon, but, because he's always had issues with the bit, I want him to be pretty confident and focused before adding something that is potentially distracting].
AND we graduated to trotting!

I'm still not doing a ton of steering but this was the first ride where I "imposed" my will on him. Previously it's mostly been him going wherever and me getting off at random points.
Today I used a little bit of inside rein, but mostly let him go wherever and I just added speed "motivation" as needed. I've noticed that his go-to move when he is confused is, basically, anger. If he's pinning his ears and being all rage-y, he's confused.

He was pretttty sticky by the "window" today [I let him look out it yesterday during our ride] so I, after trying to guide him away with the reins and encountering massive resistance, tried a different tactic that I learned from Warwick Schiller - don't make it a huge issue, just increase the "go towards it" pressure! So I tried that - whenever Fabio darted towards the window, I asked him to trot [just clucking, in his case, as he's still real nervous about leg cues]. When he was moving away from the window, I stopped pushing him and let him walk.

It _seemed _to work. At the very end of the session, he willingly took a few steps away from the window so I immediately hopped off and he got to be done for the day.

Hopefully that approach continues to work! I really liked how Fabio didn't get more mad [you can see him winding up - ears pinned, sucking back/getting stiff, right before I started having him trot by the window and those ears are back to "normal" while I'm asking him to trot by the window] and we didn't end up fighting over the window. I was able to say "ok, we can be by the window...but I hope you're ok with working harder over here!"
And that felt good. Essentially, we both got what we wanted!


And THAT TROT. It was so forward! Honestly, it was a little scary! We were going somewhere! I've never ridden a trot like that from him before - he wasn't thinking about stopping, at all. In the past, he was always thinking about stopping and "forward" was totally not his "thing"...but today! Dang!

I'm really, really, pleased with how things are going.

And this is our third ride in three days! That's HUGE. He used to be so so sour on riding by the third day of it! So proud of him! So proud of us!


----------



## Tazzie

You should be proud! He's doing SO well! He's VERY lucky to have you in his life!

And the forward trot is fun :wink: you'll come to love it I think! Like, REALLY love it :lol:


----------



## Wallaby

Back again!

Sooo we had a bit of a bad visit with the bodyworker a few weeks ago. Nothing absolutely terrible, but his hind end/right side of his pelvis was literally locked up. And he was also most sore on his left side - the side I get on on. We got that solved for the most part, but it made me want to back off the riding for a little bit. 
I know he's probably gonna be sore a little from the new activity, but I don't want to be knowingly making him sore, you know? Plus, he had started getting the tiniest bit fussy about being ridden and that's definitely not what I want - I want riding to be something he looks forward to!
THEN there's also the factor that the weather is getting worse, he's being stalled more, and he always gets more anxious when he doesn't get daily, all-day, turnout. I wanted to work on something that'll help cut that anxiety, instead of just accepting it. Anxiety is the problem, for both of us, so I want to find strategies that help us both cope.


Anywayyyy, with that in mind, I somehow ended up going down a clicker-training hole on the internet. :lol:

It was pretty frustrating at first as I joined a CT group on Facebook and they acted all excited to have me, got me all connected with a person who was supposed to be really experienced with horses like Fabio...but then it turned out that they really wanted me to pay them tons of money! HA. AS IF. 
I love Fabio but 1. I can read and all the CT "gurus" have written thorough books, 2. Fabio is already insanely expensive, I don't need another expense!

Hilariously, after I told the lady that I would absolutely not pay her and that it's not ok to "offer" help and subsequently expect payment, she read me the riot act about how she's a professional and I'm an amateur and if I want to do an amateur job, have fun. :lol:

So now, of course, I'm really dedicated to do the most non-amateur job of CT-ing Fabio! haha Doubters are fuel for ADHD people! :rofl:

Anyway, we've been working on that and Fabio seems to LOVE it. 

His anxiety is way, way, way down too, especially around me. He's still prone to becoming very anxious by himself, but he's trying really hard! I'm very proud of him. 

The thing I've been the most impressed with is how quickly he goes from being a nervous wreck, to being still nervous but trying when we start CT-ing. It helps him "unlock" those feet of his and move, despite his worry!


Interestingly, his ground-tying abilities have diminished since starting CT. I wonder if maybe part of his ground-tying was that he was actually "frozen" in place, and now he's gaining confidence to move so he's not as frozen?? Not sure, but it's been interesting! He's still happy to ground-tie, I just have to make sure he knows he's ground tying or he'll leave! haha

I'm still doing normal lunging with him and stuff because he needs the lunging for his muscles, but I'd eventually like to get him lunging in a clicker-training type way so that it's less stressful for him.
I know that lunging is for sure stressful for him, but it reduces more stress than it produces - how much happier/better off could he be if the lunging didn't produce any stress and only worked off stress??



Anyway, we've had an interesting few weeks!

Here are a few videos.

My goal is to teach him to walk around the cones and to use them as guidelines for where he should be. The idea right now that we're doing is that I click him and reward whenever his shoulder lines up with the cone. 

The idea is based off this one: 





Currently he's veryyyy distracted by the cones and likes to play with them when he's feeling "done"! haha

This is our second time doing this idea - 







This one is from our third session. This video is way longer, but I like the body language Fabio is showing! You can see how he's genuinely interacting with me and seems to be having a good time. 

The thing we're doing for the first minute or so is basically where I click and reward whenever his head is facing forward. It's reminding him that *I* don't give him treats, his behavior does. The goal is to eliminate any nippiness or pushiness about the treats - he doesn't get rewards when he's mugging me for food!

We also did a bit of targeting in this video [where he's touching a ball on the end of the stick]. Targeting is kind of a fun game for him that he seems to like pretty well, and it helps him work though situations that he might be really worried about. Like, in this video, he was having a reallly hard time in the far right corner of the square and the target helped give him confidence/more of a visual of what he was supposed to do so the corner was less scary, which, in turn, helped him be willing to try going around that corner at all!

Even though this video is long, I'm really excited about it! It's my favorite so far. 

https://youtu.be/CkXnAB1HbhE?t=39s


----------



## Wallaby

I didn't get a video today, but Fabio got it! He figured out the idea of lunging! Though he, of course, does not like/understand the idea of using cones as his marker. He has emphatically decided that we are using ground poles to mark the edges of the square. But whatever, if it works for him, it works for me! haha silly horse!!

Hopefully I can get a video tomorrow. 

We also worked on backing up today, using the target stick as a marker. That was confusing for him, but he eventually got it!

It's so funny to me - I've tried clicker training before [with Lacey, my cat, the goats, etc] and it never stuck for them. They didn't really get it and it wasn't fun for anyone.

But FABIO. He is taking to this like a duck to water. He is loving, loving, loving it.

Today I even got him "unstuck" when he did his freezing thing [he freezes when he sees something that he can't explain, and he tends to stay frozen for foreverrrrrrrr which tend to lead to him spooking -if anything else has change while he was frozen- or getting worked up/anxious -if he continues to be unable to explain what he's seeing-]!
He froze, looking out the arena "window," and I was able to 'unstick' him using the target stick and asking him to "touch" it! 
I am so so excited about this. Being able to unstick him is HUGE. I used to have be able to unstick him by 'forcing' him through it, but that would lead to him continuing to focus on whatever the thing was. Today, he essentially chose to unstick himself and that led to a pattern of him choosing to ignore what was going on outside - that is key! 


I'm so excited about this! I don't think it's right for every horse and I'm probably not gonna switch him over to 100% CT any time soon, but I'm loving the results I'm getting! Fabio is enjoying himself, he's more focused on me [when I have treats, and when I don't], and Fabio is less stressed! 

Yay!!!


----------



## Wallaby

We couldn't get the ground poles out this afternoon so we didn't work on the idea of lunging.

BUT, Fabio did start a new amino acid last night - threonine [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threonine], which is one of the 3 most essential amino acids for horses. He seems to improve each time a new amino acid is added, and he did pretty well today! Today might have just been a good day though, so we'll see. The dose he started on isn't all that high, so it remains to be seen.

Anyway, we did a bit of normal lunging and he did really well. He's getting his hooves trimmed tomorrow and he was moving prettty freely for someone who needs their hooves trimmed! haha


Then we did a little clicker training. We mostly worked on backing up today, with a little moving forward to mix it up. 

The thing I'm really realizing about this clicker training is that I'm teaching Fabio how to do things himself. 
I can liken it to my job with babies - it's like when a baby is about to walk and you want to hold their hands and "help" them walk. Sure, they're 'walking,' but they aren't doing it on their own and walking by holding a grown ups hands is completely different than walking alone. It's not really going to harm them in the long run, but it might slow down the learning-to-walk-alone process.
Humans do the same thing with horses - we move their bodies around, tug halters to get them to back up, etc, and none of it is really bad...but the horse never learns how to do those things without the knowledge that a tug or touch is coming if they don't comply. And that's not necessarily bad since it's kept humans safe around horses for eonssss, but the horses, for the most part, never learn to do those behaviors for themselves.

And, I guess, right now I'm taking my hands away and letting Fabio learn to walk on his own, as it were. He's learning how to move his own body, without my "coaching."


It feels incredibly foreign to me. 
As a person, I hate to see people [and animals] struggle and I want to help however I can, but sometimes my help prohibits growth. Sometimes it's important to let that struggle occur so that things can be learned and processed more fully, so confidence can grow!

And that's what I'm really learning right now.
How to step back and watch Fabio struggle, and be ok with that. It's ok for him to struggle because struggling means he's trying. 


There are a few times in this video where I had to change my plan because Fabio said "nope!" And that's ok. Part of this clicker training, part of CT-O'Clock is that he gets to say "no" when he doesn't want to try something and I shouldn't try to force him past where he's comfortable.

That's been really hard for me, I see where he stops and says "I can't" and everything in me says "you CAN!! You should try! You'll be ok!" But this isn't about me and what I *think* he can do. It's not about whether he physically can, it's about where he mentally can. Maybe he's giving me absolutely as much mental-try as he can muster. 

Anyway, so that's been interesting and growing. 
And Fabio is still trying so, so hard. What a good boy.


----------



## paintsrule

Just out of curiosity, what do you give him for treats when clicker training that doesn't negatively effect his diet?


----------



## Wallaby

paintsrule said:


> Just out of curiosity, what do you give him for treats when clicker training that doesn't negatively effect his diet?


Luckily, his main [and safest] "add-in" is beet pulp shreds which work out GREAT as clicker training treats too!  I also have a small amount of thinly sliced carrots in my treat pouch, to increase the "value" of the reward. 
The beet pulp is very "low value" [as in, it's like getting paid in pennies] so the carrot bits [getting paid in $100s] help level it out a bit. 

The ratio is such that he gets BP with each reward, and gets a carrot piece once maybe every 2ish rewards.


----------



## Wallaby

Just so you guys can start preparing emotionally [is that ever possible, really??], Hazel is scheduled to be put down on November 4th.  

As you guys know, she foundered over the summer - after getting that portion of her horn removed. She's never really bounced back from that, though she's been really trying. 

THEN, last Sunday, I discovered that she's developed large hematomas [blood-filled lumps under the skin] in both her ears. One is large enough that it's obscuring the ear canal completely. 

The hematomas are fixable, but they'd need to be opened and drained and possibly have tubes inserted to keep them draining for a few weeks - super painful stuff.


It seems like the only truly humane option is to let her go. I think she's saying she's ready. I had been already questioning if it was right to let her go through this winter, and the hematomas confirm what I already kind of knew in my heart - it's time to let her go.

She's still getting around, slowly, and she spends a lot of time resting in the pasture, looking down the hill. She's still eating and seems pretty happy [on high doses of aspirin].

This is an incredibly hard, and painful, decision, but I think it's the right one. 

The horse vet, Fabio's vet, is the one who is going to help us out. She says she would be honored to help. Hazel is much more comfortable with women, and she love love loves moms - the horse vet is a woman AND a mom.  So hopefully Hazel will feel pretty safe and loved.

I plan to have her buried in the pasture, next to Lacey.


What to do with Atticus is a next question, I do have a few possible options. My long term plan is probably to find him a new home, but who knows. I love him, but I want the best for him. 


So that's my sad news.

But, on the plus side, Fabio is fine, and Atticus is fine. Hazel is happy, but tired.


----------



## Rain Shadow

I'm so sorry. I know how much you love Hazel. You made her golden years amazing and probably the best years of her life. 

You can let her go knowing she was loved and happy her last years.


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## Tazzie

I'm so sorry to hear this  she lived a very happy, full rest of her life with you. It's hard now, and will be when the day arrives, but you'll find peace in knowing she went happy. Not struggling and you wishing you had done it sooner. The "a day too soon rather than a minute too late" thought.


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## gunslinger

That's a hard decision....

I've read about the goats for some time now....they've been a huge part of your life....

I'm sorry Wallaby....


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## Rainaisabelle

So sorry  atleast she was happy with you for the time given to her <3


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## tinyliny

she will go out happy. that's how you'll remember her. 
I wish I"d put my cat down sooner. when they are very old, and struggling, and not likely to really get better, there is no point in adding a week, or a month. not really.

so sad, but also so sweet how you took her in and had so many sweet moments with her.


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## egrogan

Oh Hazel, how sad. I am very sorry you have to make such a difficult decision. But you know her best, and if she's tired and life is getting hard for her, you know it's the right decision. I have loved getting to "know" her through your journal and will be keeping you in my thoughts.


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## DanteDressageNerd

I'm so sorry about Hazel :-( that's really heartbreaking but it sounds like you're doing the best thing for her by letting her go. 

I'm also really glad she'll be with someone she feels comfortable with. I know when I've put dogs down, I always stayed with them until they were gone, so they felt safe and loved. Even though it's a hard decisions, I think you're doing the best thing for her, quality of life over quantity.


----------



## Wallaby

Thanks for the condolences guys :/ Hazel has been having her best week in months which is making it a bit harder for me to think about Friday. But I know that I want her to go feeling well and feeling good - going at the end of a really good week seems fitting/right. She's so independent and feisty, it would be really wrong to wait until she was down-down, or had some kind of emergency.
But it's hard. 

Also, on the Atticus front, I had kind of expected that it was gonna take a while to find him the perfect new home.
HA. I WAS WRONG.
I posted an ad on Craigslist Saturday evening and not even an hour later a guy had emailed me, looking for a goat he could train into a pack goat. He and his wife had a pack string in the past and are working on rebuilding their herd. They came out Sunday morning, Atti fell totally in love with them and they fell totally in love with Atti, and he should be going home with them on Friday afternoon.
Atticus literally tried leaving with them when they visited!
I'm hopeful that it'll be a really good fit. They genuinely really liked Atti and Atti genuinely really liked them.
I'm definitely gonna let them know that I'm happy to take him back if he ever stops working out for them, but I'm hopeful that it looks like a good placement!


This is a really bittersweet time. I'm excited for Atti's new life [it's totally something he's gonna love!], but Hazel.  Dear sweet Hazel. Ugh. At least the two of them are getting a wonderful week together and at least Hazel is feeling really well this week.


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## gunslinger

I understand how hard this must be for you.
I haven't posted the wisdom of Solomon in some time now.
From the third chapter of Ecclesiastes:

3To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.


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## Wallaby

Hazel is gone  
She went super easily, it wasn't stressful at all for her, which is a comfort!
I took her over to the area we had prepared, then we all sat with her for a bit and I fed her raspberries - it was a nice time, as far as that sort of thing goes. Then she buried her head in my armpit [which is what she always used to do for the hoof trimmer, when she was saying "ok, I'm a little nervous, but do what you need to do"] and laid down the rest of the way.
Then the vet gave her a local anesthetic in her neck, so the needles wouldn't hurt [nice touch, I thought], and she sedated Hazel all the way. Then she got the actual "stuff."
Hazel passed very quickly, her head on my lap, raspberries still in her teeth!

My brother helped me lower her into her grave, using a folded sheet, then we filled the hole in. It was hard work, but that was kind of nice to process what had happened.

It was really really hard, but I realized that instead of being some kind of traumatic unexpected passing - like when you hear that someone you care about has died without warning, it was more like when my grandma with cancer passed away. I miss my grandma incredibly a lot, but her passing was expected and, in a way, good because she wanted to go and I knew she was no longer in pain. Almost a sense of relief, sadness and wishing to be together, mixed with relief.
Hazel was like that. She was ready, I had been watching her decline for months, and now she isn't in pain. I miss her, but I'm more glad she isn't in pain.


Atti went home with his new family on Sunday. He got right in their van and, last I heard, has been settling in wonderfully! His new people adore him and that is exactly what he needs.




On the Fabio front, he's been having a weird time. His eyes keep swelling/tearing and I'm a littttle worried about ERU with him. I hope to goodness that I'm wrong, but it's just weird.
UGH.

On the plus side, clicker training has been going well and Mr. Fabs seems to be really enjoying it! He's getting more confident and starting to be a bit more of a handful [I'm REALLY finding all the holes in the his training! haha], but it's nothing bad. It's all stuff that he clearly has no clue about and has just never tried because he was too anxious to experiment! But now he's experimenting and kind of becoming a troublemaker. A very cute, well-intentioned troublemaker. :lol:


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## tinyliny

I am so glad you are experiencing the relief from the weight of concern for Hazel, and she the relief from pain. it's a good thing. life is good, even with death.

I feel somewhat that way toward my father's death, almost a year ago.


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## egrogan

Glad that Hazel's passing was quiet and peaceful, but so sorry for your loss.

This will probably sound weird, but whenever I see funny goat videos on Facebook, I always think of Hazel and Atti. They are the only goats I really "know" and they were so endearing


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## Tazzie

I'm very glad Hazel's passing was peaceful. It sounds like she knew you were doing the right thing. I'm sure she thanks you for it too.

Also glad Atti is happy. That probably helps a little bit.

And oh Fabio. He's such a goof :lol:


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## carshon

So glad that her passing was peaceful. It is such a hard decision but the ultimate show of love for our animals.


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## DanteDressageNerd

I'm sorry you are now without goats but I'm glad Hazel passed quickly and peacefully. I know it wasn't easy but you knew it was time and did right by her, that's true kindness.

I'm glad Atticus found a home, I hope they're ready for his cheeky antics!

Well Im glad Fabio is coming out of his shell and gaining confidence, even if he's becoming cheeky about it. At least you're enjoying each other but I hope his eyes clear up but glad he's enjoying life!


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## Wallaby

Thank you for your kind words, guys! <3 <3 Atti being happy and safe really helped the emotional transition for me, I think. I don't feel like I need to worry over him and that's a really nice feeling!

egrogan, that's not weird at all to me!  And there are SO MANY cute goat videos out there, I feel honored!  Also, I found that book that you recommended to me about the Lipizzans and Arabians in WW2 - The Perfect Horse? It was SO GOOD. And after you recommended it, literally 3 other people recommended it out of the blue! :lol:



On the Fabio front, his eyes are looking ok for now. But the real thing is if they'll stay that way!! It's almost time for the vet to come out and do his teeth and all that, so I'll absolutely have her check his eyes while she's at it.

I started him on some ranitidine for ulcers. We had a few hay changes at the barn, Fabs went off his hay for a day, then was colicky a day or so later. He's also been near impossible to get weight on recently.
RER horses are predisposed to ulcers due to their "underlying nervous temperaments" so I figured I'd bite the bullet and if it helps, it helps!
Ranitidine is just an stomach acid reducer/pH raiser so the idea is that you reduce the acid and raise it's pH for a time period, you give the body time to heal. It's also relatively inexpensive - 9.5 days of doses for $27-ish dollars is not bad!
Anyway, he pretty clearly started feeling better within a day or so, so I'm gonna do 20 days of it, then see how he does off it. 20 days should be plenty to get him all fixed up.

So, right now, Fabs is learning about trotting after the target stick. My longerterm goal is to teach him to exercise like he needs to, but without me putting any whip 'pressure' on him. I think, for him, the amount of pressure needed to get him moving is counterproductive on a stress-level. Sure, I can *get* him to go faster for a longer period by chasing him around, but I also run the risk of triggering him into a more severe RER episode. 
It seems 100 times more productive to teach him to run around without adding pressure/stress into the equation. But we'll see.

Anyway, so he's learning to follow the target stick. He's been walking after it pretty well so I introduced trotting after it. He was pretty frustrated at first because I don't think he understood that he didn't need to TOUCH the stick, he just needed to follow it. But I got lucky with a few well-timed clicks and he was much less frustrated/confused by the end.
Plus, he definitely knows he can leave and not work with me if he wants to, so the fact that he stuck with me, despite being mad, was a nice sight!

He seems to enjoy the idea of "chasing" the target stick. He really liked chasing the goats when he lived with them, so I suppose this isn't much of a surprise! haha







One of these days I'm gonna try getting back on him, but who knows when that'll be. He's getting a lot more confident, but he's still wary if I get up above him or anything like that. I'm gonna start trying to teach him to line up with the mounting block on his own, but we'll see.


ALSO! He used to be TERRIFIED of the arena and now, since we've been doing clicker training in there, he actually happily chooses to go in there! It's pretty cool how his entire perception of the arena seems to have changed. Very neat.


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## egrogan

Glad you liked that book. I sent it to my dad to read, as he's a career military guy and his dad flew in the air force over Britain during WWII. Even he loved it, and he is not a horse person at all. It's written in a really engaging style.


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## gunslinger

I take Ranitidine myself. What dosage are you giving Fabs?


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## Wallaby

gunslinger said:


> I take Ranitidine myself. What dosage are you giving Fabs?


3,000mg!  It's a little low as that's the 1,000lb horse dose and Fabs is more like 1,200lbs, but it's close enough. 





___________________________________


Well, guys, think us good thoughts! Fabs is getting his eyes checked on Friday at 8am. Hopefully there will be nothing to report! 
He almost ran me over last night while I was standing literally right next to him, directly next to and in front of his left eye - the eye I'm the most concerned about.
He's so...timid isn't really the right word, very careful might be better...but he's careful because he's afraid of being punished...is that timid or careful? around humans and running anyone, me especially, over due to anything is absolutely not who he is as a person.
This is the horse that won't throw his hay net around in his stall if someone's in there with him, for fear of hitting the person on accident. Nearly running me over is totally not him.

Anyway, the boy is getting checked.

Hopefully it'll be nothing, but, if something is found, at least we'll have an answer and we'll figure out how to make it work from there.


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## Wallaby

I haven't been here in a long long time!!

First, Fabs had his eyes checked way back^ and they are a-ok. He has "mild retinal scarring" in both eyes, but that's very common and won't effect his vision at all. The vet didn't see anything untoward at all. Yay!


I don't have time for a long post, and I don't really know where to start, but we're still sticking with the clicking training thing and it's basically changing my life...and Fabio's life. I view horses in SUCH a different way now. There's a whole level to their communication that I was completely missing before and that has been totally mind-blowing for me. I had been completely misinterpreting SO MANY things. Horses make so so so much more sense now, and they're so much more like us!!

Like, pay attention the next time you see a unpredictable driver on the road or start feeling anxious before speaking in front of a group. Chances are, you will lick your lips sometime during, before, or after, the adrenaline producing event. You aren't processing the event, necessarily. You are licking your lips because your sympathetic nervous system switched on and, while gearing your body up for flight, switched off your natural salivation and your mouth got dry.
It's literally the exact same thing for horses. Licking and chewing doesn't mean anything other than that the horse is "coming down" out of a situation where they felt anxiety.
WHO KNEW.

The Science Behind 'Licking and Chewing' in Horses | TheHorse.com

And so forth and so on. So much new knowledge.


I've also learned that Fabio's issues go so so so much further back than I had any idea of. Starting with the fact that he is uncomfortable being touched by humans, on the ground, ever. He allows it because previous history says he better allow it, but that doesn't mean he's comfortable.

We've had a bit of a hard time lately because the weather has been TERRIBLE out here and I've only gotten to see him maybeeeee 5 times through the entirety of January due to impassable roads and whatnot, compared to my usual of seeing him every single day. 

So that's been making things a little hard. Since he hasn't seen me much, he's started getting incredibly excited when I show up [which is adorable, but not the behavior I want to reward] so I have to focus only on activities that have a calming effect. He's learned to pick up his hooves when I say "hoof" and he's learned to touch my hand with his neck when I hold up a hand and say "blanket."
The "blanket" one is REALLY good for him [and basically his favorite activity] because it gives him a way to say "yes" or "no" to being touched. In addition, each time he says "yes" to being touched, he gets rewarded which means that it builds a "Conditioned Emotional Response" [in other words, his body starts feeling like the touch is a reward in and of itself, due to longterm pairing of touch+rewards]. Eventually, he will hopefully come to associate touch with good things!!

Anyway, here are two videos. The first one is us practicing his "blanket" cue -







And here's him running after his ball from a month-ish ago! He's recently started getting reallllly into his ball [it goes back to the "Conditioned Emotional Response" thing - his body has started seeing playing with the ball as a reward, due to the ball's history of "touch the ball and get rewards!"]. We haven't gotten to play with it since this, but I'm really looking forward to the next time we do! The ball is one of my favorite activities to do with Fabs 







We also got a huge compliment from somebody at the barn a few weeks ago. She told me that she thought Fabs really enjoyed the clicker training we're doing and that it was nice to see him so happy!
That made me feel so good, Fabs is not, as I think we all know, really one for "happiness." His general demeanor has always been pessimism and serious-ness. But he is really starting to seem happy, and that is so so awesome to see! It really makes me feel like I made the right choice to go this direction with him, even if sometimes I feel like things are getting pretty crunchy granola over here!! haha


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## PoptartShop

Welcome back!  
I hear you, the weather has definitely put a damper on going to the barn/riding. Ugh. It sucks.
He is sooooo cute! Glad to see he's doing well. 
Looks extra happy!


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## egrogan

So glad to read your post. I have been wondering how you two are doing! Great update, glad Fabs is doing pretty well.


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## Tazzie

I love following your journey on Facebook! You all have come such a long way, and it is nice seeing him so happy! Who cares if it's "crunchy granola" if it's working for you all  you guys make a fantastic team!


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## DanteDressageNerd

Glad Fabio is improving. I always enjoy reading your perspective on educating horses and your journey/experience with Fabio. It's really interesting because it's from a unique perspective.


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## Wallaby

PoptartShop said:


> Welcome back!
> I hear you, the weather has definitely put a damper on going to the barn/riding. Ugh. It sucks.
> He is sooooo cute! Glad to see he's doing well.
> Looks extra happy!


Thanks! 
The weather really has been bad. I love snow, but the PNW gets so little snow that we basically become completely crippled when more than an inch falls. On the other hand, I probably would have been 100% fine driving around in the 7 inches of dry snow we got, if I had gotten snow tires on my truck this year!! I chose not to, thinking that they haven't been necessary for the last 3+ years and did I really want to spend $900 getting my truck decked out with snows? The answer was no, should have been yes!! haha 



egrogan said:


> So glad to read your post. I have been wondering how you two are doing! Great update, glad Fabs is doing pretty well.


<3 <3 I've missed chatting with you guys!!



Tazzie said:


> I love following your journey on Facebook! You all have come such a long way, and it is nice seeing him so happy! Who cares if it's "crunchy granola" if it's working for you all  you guys make a fantastic team!


True! I'm so proud of him. He's really been a star here, I can't imagine giving anyone as many chances as he's given me!! I'm so so thrilled we finally found something that is working. He trusts me SO much more these days and I trust him so much more, it's really wonderful!



DanteDressageNerd said:


> Glad Fabio is improving. I always enjoy reading your perspective on educating horses and your journey/experience with Fabio. It's really interesting because it's from a unique perspective.


Aw, thanks! <3 I've been enjoying hearing about Frankie!
It's so funny, if you had asked me a year or so ago if I would ever be clicker training a horse, I would have laughed my butt off. It's funny how time changes things! I'm incredibly glad it's working for Fabs though, he's coming around in a way I never thought he would be able to. Definitely doing a lot of emotional healing!


___________________________________________


I had a chance to stop in again, so I figured I would!!

I got Fabs a used Back On Track blanket last week and we're currently in the "getting used to it" stage. He wore it for about 30 minutes last night and wore it again for 30-ish minutes this afternoon. He seems to really like it! Usually there's an edge of defensiveness to him at all times [if I move too quickly or somehow make him feel like I'm "coming at him," he'll usually pin his ears and/or bite the air near me - not aggressively at all, just "I'm scared so I'm gonna get you FIRST!" sorta stuff. It's getting worlds better since starting R+, but it's still there], and that defensiveness seems to really dissipate when the BOT blanket is on. 
Given the amount of pain we know he's in daily, it makes sense for him to be extra self-protective and defensive. The BOT blanket probably helps lessen some of that pain, so it kind of makes sense that he'd be less defensive while wearing the BOT blanket!

On the downside, I got the BOT blanket for a screaming deal [$113, shipping included!!] as it's used and had a few small holes that I patched. But it's a 69 and Fabs is a chunky lil' guy. If he were a skinny minny, a 69 would be perfect...but he's not. Soooo his lil belly kind of hangs out and a tiny little bit of his bottom hangs out. :rofl: The shoulder/neck area fits perfect though, and that can be a rough one for Fabs.
My favorite part is his lil' belly sticking out. It's so cute!! haha


Anyway, some videos:

From the weekend. I think this was from Saturday. Fabs was sooo mystified about where his grass went!! :rofl: He's probably only seen this much snow once or twice in his life, so it's still really confusing business! hahaha







And from tonight. He's really starting to get into his ball! He doesn't tend to be really active, so the ball is great because it encourages him to move out more. 







For reference, this is from one of the first or second times we ever played with the ball - in the beginning of November. It's weird, a little, to me that I trained my horse to chase a ball but I love love love how well it worked out! I never really guessed it would end up going so well. :happydance:


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## Wallaby

Fabio's been wearing his BOT blanket overnight+all day for about a week now and it's REALLY helping him quite a bit. The first time he wore it overnight, he seemed like he felt like a totally new man the next day! haha He barely walked a step that day, his main speed seemed to be a trot! Silly guy!

Here's a video from that day:







On the other side of things, the weather finally got good enough that he could be turned out again andddd his body started going a bit downhill again.  I'm not sure if it's the stress of being outside or the grass, either way it's a bummer. 
We had probably the longest string of "good days" that he's had, during the time he was confined to his stall due to weather. :/ 

He's still doing ok, just more jumpy and "itchy" than he was. But you know...so goes life!

At least he has the BOT blanket! I'm sure that's helping quite a bit!

In other news, I have the flu right now so I haven't seen that horse-kid of mine in a number of days [since Tuesday]. I miss him!!
Hopefully I'll be recovered enough to go visit tomorrow, even if it's just a short visit. I'm sure he'll be happy to see me. <3


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## phantomhorse13

Hope both you and the pony are feeling better asap!


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## Wallaby

phantomhorse13 said:


> Hope both you and the pony are feeling better asap!


Thank you! <3 <3 

__________________________________________



In exciting news, I just got word that I should hear back about Fabio's latest genetic test -from the study he's in- "by the end of next week."
They said it in a bit of a confusing way - they had just received some of the very first test results and that the "first group of samples are in the hands of the test facility." When I inquired, I was told that Fabio is "in this first batch of hair tests" which I initially assumed to mean the he's in the results they just got back, but then I realized that that could actually mean he's in the test they're expecting results from soon.........

Either way, we should hear soon!

This particular test is for Px - a gene that can cause RER.

I've also contacted my vet about getting a muscle biopsy done on Fabs. I'm realizing, I think everyone is realizing, that there are SO many genes that can cause various kinds of myopathy diseases. He could have a different genetic form of MFM or RER, or something like that. It would mean that, right now, he'd come up as n/n in the gene test but still have a form of the disease.
Anyway, I contacted her a bit ago and she's still researching the hows and whys to get it all done. So we'll see.
I think, even if he does come back positive for something, I'd still kind of like to have a biopsy done so we can see what is actually going on in his muscles.

I don't know, I'm at a crossroads with that one. On one hand, I don't love the idea of causing an "injury" to an area where he already has a hard time [his hind end], but answers are good and it would be good to know exactly what's going on and maybe even find a name for it even if we don't yet have genetic answers...

Anyway, we'll see! Hopefully she'll get back to me soon. I definitely want to do it, if we do it, pretty early in the year so we don't have to deal with flies and whatnot...


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## phantomhorse13

While I can understand your not wanting to poke holes in Fabio any more than necessary, I think having the results could give you a lot of information - not to mention all the research potentially helping other horses in the future. 

Reading about everything you both have gone through is astounding, so just think what may change (hopefully for the better) in future with more time and knowledge!


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## DanteDressageNerd

Fabio seems to be enjoying the clicker training and loving playing with his ball! He looks happy to chase it down! 

I hope you're feeling better and can get some good genetics results or at least some answers. It's very unusual that he has something so unusual nobody seems able to put their finger on what it is but hopefully once you know, it'll be easier to manage!


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## Wallaby

Heyyyyyy!

So, for now, the whole muscle biopsy is off the table again, I think  It's gonna be close to $500 for the whole thing and I just do not have that kind of money sitting around, which is a huge bummer! But I hope to get it done one day in the future, just maybe not as soon as I had been hoping  

In additional, semi-annoying, news, I finalllly got Fabio's Px test results back [Px is one of the genes associated with RER symptoms - the most common form of RER] and, in true Fabio fashion, he's n/n for Px.
AHHHH!


But, in very very positive news, I added some new supplements recently and they seem to be helping SO much. Like, he is feeling so so much better and, so far, he's been consistently feeling better - none of this "one good day followed by 3 terrible ones" business. His muscles have felt soft for numerous days in a row AND he hasn't needed to be blanketed quite as heavily. He's had a lot more energy and seems to be a lot less anxious, I feel very hopeful about it! 
These particular supplements are supposed to help in the case of a mitochondrial myopathy - mito myopathies are really under-researched in horses, but they're basically equivalent to MS or ALS in humans. So, since the treatments are the same, I did some research about treating MMs in humans and am introducing the recommended supplements into his diet [at horse doses, of course].

He's only up to 3 of the MM supplements, out of 6 total, and he's doing SO well.
I'm beginning to phase out a lot of the fat that he's eating because, if he doesn't have RER, he doesn't need all that fat! That's also great because Cool Calories are SO expensiveeee.

I'm really very pleased, he's been feeling so much better, he's finally acting 13! I have high hopes that maybe the remaining 3 supplements on my list will help him feel even better and maybe, just maybe, he'll have a chance to be "normal." That would be incredible. I'm trying not to get too hopeful, but it's hard not to want to hope!

Here's a video from Thursday - this was the first time I've ever seem him choose to canter for fun. I was just standing there, with my treat bag and clicker, and he was going for it! 
He went on like this for probably 5-10 more minutes, he used to occasionally get silly and run around maybe once, but never for an extended period! And usually any running was directly precipitated by spooking or getting scared, there was none of that here! He was just being a goof because he felt great!
And it's been like that for the last few days - he just feels great!


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## Tazzie

We really need a love button on this forum :lol: just saying. I'm SO happy he's doing so well!!


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## knightrider

Great news--he is looking so good!

Also, any news about your goats? We haven't heard about them for a while.


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## Wallaby

Tazzie said:


> We really need a love button on this forum :lol: just saying. I'm SO happy he's doing so well!!


<3 <3 <3 I'm glad he's doing well too! 



knightrider said:


> Great news--he is looking so good!
> 
> Also, any news about your goats? We haven't heard about them for a while.


You heard that I had to put Hazel down in November? She developed large hematomas in both ears that weren't painful, but needed to be dealt with and dealing with them would have caused her a lot of pain. In addition to that, the pain from the bought of laminitis she had over the summer never really resolved. With the worst of winter still ahead, I couldn't justify making her go through another winter given the condition she was in.
So we let her go on one of the last warm days of fall after a week of 60+ degree temperatures when she felt pretty good. She ate raspberries and died in my arms, perfectly content.

Atti went to live with a local family who is training him to be in their pack goat string - they love him to pieces and are thrilled to have him around.  I plan to go visit later this spring!
He took the loss of Hazel much much better than I anticipated - I let him sniff her body and he was present for the entire burial process. I'm not sure if he fully understood what was going on, but he didn't panic about suddenly being alone. He seemed sad, but not overly stressed.

I miss the goats for sure, but this has been one of the worst winters we've had in a number of years so I'm very very grateful that I let Hazel go when I did. It would not have been kind to keep her through a mild winter, let alone a very challenging winter like the one we're wrapping up. 
She let me know when it was time, and I'm glad I heeded her word.





_______________________________

In Fabio news, he's been having a rough few days. There have been a lot of changes at the barn [horses coming and going] so he's been pretty stressed from that. And it's been sporadically raining SUPER hard which is very loud on the barn roof, so he's been getting a lot of sensory stimulation/overload. Nothing toooo bad, but he's not feeling his best. 


BUT!

I'm giving our notice today and we are going to be moving to a different barn around the end of the month.
I love love love his current barn, but with prospects of riding him very low, it made sense to look for a "more options" sort of barn for him. Our current barn doesn't have access to trails or anything like that, basically the arena is the place for doing anything with your horse. 
The big issue with that is that the ideal situation for R+ training is that he is loose while we do it [so he has the option to say no and I don't accidentally exert pressure on him for saying no, etc]. SO if there's anyone at the barn who needs the arena at the same time we do, I have to cut our session short or we have to skip working on "movement skills" for that day. If it happens a few days in a row, we miss out on a lot of training time. We certainly work on other things when we can't use the arena, but movement is very important for Fabs and it's important that he gets time to work through that stuff on a daily basis.
And, I mean, I choose to take him out of the arena when someone needs to use it, I'm not forced to leave or anything, but it's still not really an option for me to stay in the arena with him loose while another horse is in there!

The other big thing is that I've been noticing that he's much more stressed after being turned out outside. I realize-remembered that when he was at home, he used to head to his stall whenever he got nervous - at his current place, his paddock doesn't have a shelter and he can't access his stall. He's pretty much out there, standing at the gate, until it's time to come in. That led me to start looking for a place where he could have a stall with an attached run, so he could be outside if he wanted but come back in if outside was too overwhelming...

So I started looking around at listings and I found a barn that's a bit further out than his current barn, but not too far [same distance from my work, 10 minutes farther from home]. They charge the same as the barn he's currently at and it's definitely not as new/fancy, but there's a lot more options as far as things to do, arenas, and so forth.
Hay is basically unlimited [maximum is 40 pounds of hay per day! and it's exactly the same hay as what he's eating now] and they're happy to use his hay net [a big struggle I've had at his current barn].
He'll have a 12x12 stall with a 24x60 attached run, with the option of turnout if he seems like he would do ok with it. Depending on what he does best with, he'll be able to have access to the run 24/7 or have his run door shut overnight. They're happy to feed all his supplements twice a day, happy to do whatever needs to be done with his blankets, all that stuff.

As far as "stuff" goes, there's an indoor arena [it has a pretty low ceiling and is pretty dark - I don't love it..], there's a round pen, and an outdoor arena. Plus there's 15 fenced acres behind the barn where people ride and/or take their horses for walks. Apparently that's an area where I could let him be loose too!
Basically there are a bunch more options and it ticks a lot of the unchecked boxes about our current barn.

On the downside, the runs/turnouts are pretty muddy right now BUT it's early March and mud is going to happen. The new BO says she's planning to add better drainage to the runs this summer [gravel with sand on top] so we'll see how that goes!
I'm happy to give up our current mud-free existence for mud and more options.

Anyway, we'll see how it goes.
His current barn is still great and it would be an fine option to come back to if the new barn is mysteriously terrible. But I have a good feeling about the new place. I was the only person there, aside from the BO, on Thursday when I visited and that's pretty much hope I hoped it would be!
I'm going back out today to visit on the weekend, because the BO said Saturday/Sunday are the busy days and I want to see what "busy" looks like, but I feel ok about it so far.

It's also GORGEOUS out there. Definitely a place to take some photos!


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## Wallaby

I gave our 30 day notice at our current barn on Saturday!
It's really bittersweet for me because I love the barn we're at now, but I think Fabio will have a more relaxed life at the new barn. Everybody at our current barn is pretty bummed  It's hard to see them sad, but I really think this is the right choice. 
On the plus side, new people just moved into the current barn who used to board at the new barn a year or so ago - the lady that manages the new barn used to board there, before becoming the manager. Anyway, so they know the new BM and they say that the new barn is really great. They only ended up moving barns because they wanted to step up their riding game, otherwise they have nothing but wonderful things to say about the new barn.
That makes me feel a lot better!!

My biggest current stress, I suppose, is the trailering situation. The new BM has offered to trailer Fabs for me, for free, which I'm totally on board with BUT Fabs has never been able to back off trailers. He alwayssss has to turn around [I think it's because of his hind end weakness], and I don't know if the new BM has a straight load or a slant. He should be fine to turn around if it's a slant, but it might be a straight load. I've inquired but haven't heard back.
The current BO has a slant and she'd probably be willing to trailer Fabs if I asked, but she'll have a fee and she might not want to [she's a littttle miffed at me about leaving, she understands finally, I think, but I think she's hurt - which is perfectly reasonable and I don't want to leave, but it's in Fabs' best interest so...].
Anyway, something will work out.
I'm gonna wait until this coming weekend before I really start trying to get it all figured out.
I'd like to move him on the 1st because that seems easiest for board fees and whatnot and because the 1st is conveniently a Saturday, but it might not work depending on schedules and stuff.

I should start packing my stuff up at Fabs' barn. That'll be rough in 70 different ways - what do I do with all my riding stuff? How do I store all that for the next 20 years? Plus the whole leaving the barn thing. Ughhhhhhhh.
BUT I'm still excited for the new barn and Fabs' attached run, and that forest to explore together...


In other news, March 28th is the 3 year anniversary of Lacey's passing.  Hard to believe it's been that long!! It feels like forever and also no time at all.


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## Tazzie

I really hope this new barn is the key for Fabs! I get how it'll be sad, but it does sound like a better idea overall. Fingers crossed the move goes smoothly! And aww, Lacey :sad:


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## PoptartShop

Oooh exciting, I hope the new barn works out perfectly!  It is definitely bittersweet changing barns, but in the long run it will be worth it & better.
I hope trailering him goes well too. You have plenty of time to figure it out, moving on the 1st does sound like a good idea since it falls on a Saturday.

Awww, sorry about Lacey.


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## DanteDressageNerd

I hope the new barn works out for you. It can be hard to move but I hope all is for the best and ends up being a better place for you to work with Fabio. I understand. When I lived in Oregon and Washington, I always looked for barns with trails to board. It's such a nice thing and I agree it'll probably be a better situation for Fabio.

Good luck finding someone to help you guys move, Im sure it'll work out when the time comes!


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## Wallaby

Massive update time!


So many things have happened and I've put off writing about it because it doesn't all feel "finished" yet, but you guys are all already so far behind, it would be even harder to catch up later!

Nearly 2 weeks ago [March 9th], I went to see Fabs after work. He was walking a little funny [walking like someone was lifting his legs with strings and snapping them back down, kind of flicking his front hooves with each step] and not really responding to treats/R+ rewards like I expected him to. 
I walked him around [the arena was being used so I couldn't take him in there], then groomed him. He was unusually quiet for grooming [he usually throws his head around and is generally a goof when I groom him], and laid down immediately when I put him back in his stall.
He NEVER lays down -except at night- so it was very unusual to see him go down like that.
He stayed down for 10ish minutes while I cleaned his stall around him [crazy], then I got him up to put his blanket on him and pick up his pee spot.
I had noticed earlier that his blanket was damp on the outside, like he had been laying in his pee spot before I arrived. He also hadn't totally cleaned up his breakfast hay, which was a little unusual for him.

He laid down again after that, and I went to get the BO.
She said that she hadn't seen him really acting off, and told me to feed him and see if he ate.
He completely ignored his hay. He nickered for it, but didn't even walk over to sniff it, and then he laid down again.

At that point, we decided we had better take his temperature. 102.5. YIKES.

I called the vet and she told me to keep to keep an eye on his water intake/poop/pee, give him banamine every 12 hours if his fever is 102.5 or above, let her know if he gets agitated and/or quits drinking water and/or runs the fever for longer than 3 days, and check back in with her in 24 hours.

The next morning, his fever was 104.0 with little evidence of water intake. So the BO gave more banamine, and I took a half-day from work. He was still eating very minimal amounts of hay - maybe 5 lbs in a day. His temp was 103.7 that evening, so we gave more banamine.

I called the vet again and she told me to keep an eye on his water intake/output, told me to try wetting his hay and give him a mash, and that we would tube him the next day if he hadn't drunk. 

The next day, he could barely stand. He alternated between sitting up and laying all the way over. He could stand up for 20 minutes at a time, but would begin collapsing if he was asked to stay up beyond on that.
His temperature was sitting sitting between 103 and 104, so we continued banamine every 12 hours.
Saturday morning, he got tubed for the first time.

He was GREAT for tubing. He didn't like it the first time, but he had to be tubed again that evening and he barely made a fuss - each subsequent tubing adventure went more and more smoothly.

He pooped and peed after being tubed the first time which was a HUGE relief. 
He was tubed again Saturday evening, then Sunday evening, and Monday morning. 

He continued to basically collapse when asked to stand up for periods longer than 20 minutes on Saturday. He actually fell on me once - I had taken his blanket off and he was incapable of staying up for me to re-blanket him.
By Sunday, he was able to stay up for an hour, but had to take long laying down "naps" afterwards.

Per the vet, on Saturday I began walking him every 2 hours. They weren't long walks - they were supposed to be 15-20 minutes, but I shortened them to however long he could tolerate before he started needing to collapse. Since I basically lived at the barn on Saturday and Sunday, I walked him more often than every 2 hours, but I kept the walks shorter.

His fever dropped on Sunday. It finally stayed between 100 and 101, and he didn't get any banamine that day.

BUT he also developed a partial obstruction impaction colic. He was eating and not drinking any water, and his body was having a really hard time with that.
He was being tubed 2-3 gallons of water every day [his normal is about 8 gallons] so it wasn't really enough for his body.

I continued walking him, he started standing up more, but he was still really uncomfortable. 

He FINALLY drank water on his own on Tuesday, but he went down in the morning very colicky, so we gave half a dose of banamine. He perked up and seemed ok, though uncomfortable. He went down again that evening, in a lot of pain again. Banamine perked him up again.

He passed the blockage Tuesday night [thank goodness!!] and was feeling better, albeit not quite himself, on Wednesday.

On Thursday, he went horribly lame.
[this video is from Friday, but he was like this Thursday-Saturday]






APPARENTLY the scurffiness that he's always has on his elbows is an indicator that he is prone to "shoe boils" [despite being barefoot!] or "capped elbows" and all that laying down he did REALLY messed his elbows up.

I started researching like a crazy person and went on a massive hunt for "shoe boil boots" [rings the horse can wear around their fetlocks to prevent the hooves from touching the elbows when the horse lays down]. Of course, no tack store in my town carries them.
Luckily, Google told me that bell boots, sized a little too big, can also work in a pinch. So I picked up some bell boots and threw them on him overnight.

And what do you know? He was barely lame literally the next day. He wasn't noticeably lame at the walk [wouldn't lift the opposite hoof for me to pick it out, so I knew he wasn't totally happy weight bearing, but at least he was weight bearing!!] and he was only a bit lame at the trot.






The leg he was lame on is still VERY swollen - mostly the tendon area, concerningly enough. But it doesn't seem to bother him and the entire leg was very swollen originally. I'm hoping that the swelling just needs to absorb and that it'll be fine once it does.

The sores on his elbows are still pretty nasty [I'm going to try to clip them today], and he has a sore on one hock. He also has some sores that are popping out on his fetlocks on both feet.  

But he's feeling quite a bit better which is a HUGE relief!


He's still not eating quite normally, but it's getting better every day. He's drinking water really well again, which is another major relief!


Howeverrrrrr more horses have come down with this stuff at the barn [he was the second "victim"] and the 4th horse to get sick ended up being tested. He tested positive for Coronavirus.
Since Fabio's symptoms match Corona really solidly, it's basically 100% sure that he also had Corona. The virus sheds for 14-21 days after the fever drops, via saliva and poop. So Fabio is very very infectious right now 

The entire barn is quarantined, every horse is having its temperature taken every day [Fabio is SO good at getting his temperature taken! haha], and it's kind of a mess.

Fabs is only allowed in certain areas, isn't realllly allowed in the arena off-line [I can do it if he really needs to run and if I spray bleach on whatever he touches], and it's basically a huge pain.
We've had to majorly postpone our move [it's basically illegal to move him anywhere while the barn is under quarantine] until who knows when [14 days after the last horse's fever drops - 7 out of 25 horses have gotten the virus, so we have a ways to go potentially], and Fabs hoof trimmer has cancelled on him until April 5th when it's been 23 days since his fever dropped. That'll be about 8 weeks since his last trim [he is on a 4 week trim cycle] so his hooves are LONG and it's awful. 

Life. BOOOO.

BUT at least I still have my horse! Definitely could have lost him a few times there, I'm so thankful we seem to be on the downhill side of this. Hopefully his sores and swollen leg, etc, will all heal up fast, hopefully no other horses contract it, and hopefully we'll get into the new barn by May!
Luckily the new BO is holding his stall for him so that's one less thing to worry about!


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## Wallaby

Today is the 14th day! Finally! We still have until next Sunday to wait until the 21st day, when Fabs will truly no longer be infectious, but we're finally almost there!

More horses have come down with the virus since I last posted - one new one every other day, or so, so that really stinks. Fabs is no longer allowed to be turned loose anywhere except his stall, no exceptions, and I can't use any of the clicker training stuff [his ball/targets] for fear of infecting those items. Luckily he's been doing pretty well for hand-walks, but let me tell you, NO ONE is having fun! We both are so looking forward to next Sunday!!!

I don't think Fabio is the one that infected any of those other horses, but 1. who knows 2. better safe than sorry.

So Fabio is essentially on stall rest right now for pretty much no reason - except keeping the other horses safe. We're having a bunch of fun, NOT. His inner Arab is having none of this "stay in your stall" junk and is making me question whether I own a horse or a kite, and his inner Lipizzan is ready to get real mad at any second.
He's taken to bolting out of his stall whenever the door is open and no one is in the way, and he actually LIKES being in the arena now - totally nutso.

On the plus side, he is completely sound, the sores on his elbows are slowly healing [they're still sensitive and he goes quite lame if they crack, but so far, with the bell boots on 24/7 unless I have him out, he's been very sound]. The swelling in his right front tendon/leg has almost returned to normal, which is a relief! I think it will return to 100% normal once he's moving around more!


Basically we're both a bit bored, but we're trying to make the best of it. I take him for walks in the arena everyday [10-15 minutes] and we occasionally add some in-hand trotting when he's feeling really fresh.

He's trying really hard to be good, but this has been really hard on him. I can tell that he is just gonna explode like a maniac when I set him loose in the arena next weekend! I'm kind of looking forward to it! It'll be a huge release for us both.



I don't know if I said this before, but since Fabs' barn is under quarantine, our move to the new barn has been postponed basically indefinitely. We have to wait to move until the QT is lifted, which should happen about 3 weeks after the last horse's fever drops to normal. But who knows who/when the last horse will be. There are still 15 horses in the barn that haven't gotten this disease, so it could be a while. I SO hope it won't be long, but you never know.
My hope is to have Fabs moved in around May 1st, but it might be more like June 1st...

On the plus side, the new BO is holding our stall for us and she's happy to hold it until whenever we are free to move. THANK GOODNESS!


Here's a fun video from a week ago, the last time Fabs was loose in the arena -


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## egrogan

That's great the new BO is willing to be so accommodating. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be to just wait. 

I've never dealt with a situation like this before, so what is the longer term plan? Will all horses have to be stalled now through end of QT? I can't imagine a barn full of horses standing in stalls for 3 straight months!


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## phantomhorse13

What a nightmare, but very glad Fabs is on the mend. 

It seems mean to hope the other horses in your current barn hurry up and get sick already.. but at least then you would have a timeframe. Have the other horses also been recovering without too many complications?


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## DanteDressageNerd

I hope Fabio fully recovers soon and can stay healthy for a while. Poor guy :-(


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## Wallaby

egrogan said:


> That's great the new BO is willing to be so accommodating. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be to just wait.
> 
> I've never dealt with a situation like this before, so what is the longer term plan? Will all horses have to be stalled now through end of QT? I can't imagine a barn full of horses standing in stalls for 3 straight months!


I agree! On both counts! The new BO is great and it is SO frustrating to be waiting with basically no end in sight!

Basically, right now, healthy horses [those who aren't sick/haven't been sick] are turned out outside [individual paddocks] during the day on their normal schedule [weather dependent]. Otherwise, there are no loose+unsupervised horses in the arena - sick, contagious, or healthy. Horses used to get cycled through the arena while their stalls were being cleaned [the horses that don't get turnout], but not right now. All the horses are being tied in their individual stalls at stall cleaning time and the stalls are being cleaned around them.

The barn is a "training barn" so the majority of the horses are being ridden or lunged by the BO over the course of the day, and most of the horses stay stalled otherwise. So it's not that big of a change for most of them. Fabs probably is having the biggest change because he's used to being turned out everyday and being free in the arena every night, and he's gone from that to no turnout and no arena time.
Lunging really doesn't fit with the R+ philosophy that I'm going for with Fabs [and I don't really like what it does to his muscles] so that's basically why he's been relegated to handwalking only. I _could_ lunge him, but I think that, for him, it would do more harm that good.



phantomhorse13 said:


> What a nightmare, but very glad Fabs is on the mend.
> 
> It seems mean to hope the other horses in your current barn hurry up and get sick already.. but at least then you would have a timeframe. Have the other horses also been recovering without too many complications?


I totally get what you're saying! I've wanted to make some joke about having a "chicken pox party" by exposing all the horses to poop from a contagious horse, but I've kept it to myself because I do not think it would be well-recieved. haha 
I think a lot of it is that this is a FANCY Arabian show barn. Fabio is, by far, the "cheapest" horse there [initial purchase price-wise]. One of the other boarders just bought her 3rd horse and spent $20,000 on her. Totally NUTS. Basically everybody is trying to protect their "investments" and, since it's a biggish barn, that attitude is just prolonging the situation.

So far Fabio has been the only one that got sick-sick-sick. Everybody else has had one day, maybe a day and a half, of fever and maybe "depression"/going off feed. One horse had to be tubed once due to inadequate water consumption, but otherwise the vet really hasn't had to come out at all. No colics, repeated tubings, nothing [yet].
Fabio got, above and beyond, the absolute sickest [so far]. That doesn't really surprise me because it's "typical" for horses with muscle issues to get much sicker than normal horses, when faced with this sort of virus [they're slower to heal overall, and their systems are much more effected by stress]. But it still isn't fun.
I'm just really glad Fabs got sick at the beginning and we sort of got it over with. I would be a WRECK right now if he hadn't gotten sick. I'd feel like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, or something. At least this way I can kind of relax and know that he survived and it was bad, but not as bad as it could have been!




DanteDressageNerd said:


> I hope Fabio fully recovers soon and can stay healthy for a while. Poor guy :-(


Thanks, me too!  His elbow sores are still working their way through, and he has so many hairless spots where the hair came off from him laying on it when he was so sick.  His skin was not up to the task!
But he's recovering ok, and he feels great! He doesn't look so good, but he feels wonderful! haha 



________________

In other news, tomorrow is the 3 year anniversary of Lacey's passing...


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## Cherrij

I miss Lacey too... 
Lots of hugs for you! 

Well, I hope that soon it is all resolved, everyone gets healthy and you can resume normal schedules!


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## gunslinger

Three years....my how time fly's.....seems like just a short time ago....

Miss Lacy still lives in your heart though.....and I think Fabs has found a place there too.....

I know it's been a scary couple of weeks for you....

Hopefully you're past the worst of it!

God be with you.....




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