# The chronicles of Misty and my return to horses



## NeedMoreCoffee (May 27, 2015)

Here is miss misty. We have a lot of work to do to get her in shape but I think she looks pretty darn good for being an occasionally ridden pasture ornament :blush:


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## NeedMoreCoffee (May 27, 2015)

And another :blush:


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## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

'Cherry bay' that's one I've never heard before 

Misty is lovely, and I'm really looking forward to reading about your adventures together <3


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## NeedMoreCoffee (May 27, 2015)

Haha yeah I don't even know how I came up with that. I've tried to write this out for like three weeks (having a toddler is hard especially when they love the power button and decide naps are no longer happening) and I keep thinking she is a bay paint but she is definitely more red than brown or at least looks that way to me, more so in person. Also I'm bad with colors haha. 

But I am really looking forward to working with her! I'm going to post our last four sessions between tonight and tomorrow so I don't forget anything hah


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## NeedMoreCoffee (May 27, 2015)

So the posting on the phone app may be the death of me... Everything deletes if I switch apps.

Day 1:
I got to V's and we walked down to their barn to get Misty. She locked her horses in their stalls (it's an open concept and a home barn so no boarders) Misty initially came up to us but once she realized there were halters and ropes involved she dashed. So I chased her around (kept her running with pressure, not sure if there is a proper name for this) until she stopped (took less then 5 minutes) and I haltered her and we walked to the grooming bay. what was interesting to me was how nicely she took the halter once I caught her, she dropped her head into her halter, after having to chase her around I wasn't sure how or what she would do. She lead fine but definitely had no sense of space. She stood in the cross ties okay, some pawing and a couple attempts to just walk out. She stood well to be groom but you could tell she was tense. All her actions were met with appropriate responses, i.e. Quick quiet corrections and lots of praise, you could tell she was out of her element.

V asked if I wanted to lunge her first or just get on. I decided to just hope on because I assumed that was what she was use to and also I wanted to see how she was off the bat (Just a note here, V had already ridden her a few times and started working with her). She did as well as I expected. Meaning she responded well for the first two minutes haha. She walked to the middle of the arena and then turned and attempted to dart back into the barn. So we stood in front of the barn entry and worked on circling around. Left side went really well, she was tense but responded to the task with the first ask. The right side however was a completely different story. So we stopped and just asked for flexions. Lots of praise and then she started anticipating the ask and would turn her head and then perk her ears and then look back to the barn like yea I got this. V and I had a good chuckle and everytime she attempted to flex right I would ask for left, this was confusing for her and she threw a little fit (pawing, trying to walk forward etc) and we circled and started over. To end the ride I got two well behaved circles in both directions and 4 strides forward away from the barn and called it a day. From catching to dismounting was about an 1 maybe 1h15m. So she was almost exactly where I expected based on initial handling and V's description. I was very happy with how much she soften up by the end of the ride. Next up day two!


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## NeedMoreCoffee (May 27, 2015)

Day 2:
(Now day one was the week before Christmas and preceded a monsoon. So day 2 was actually like two and a half weeks later.)
I met V at her house again and we walked down to the barn. Misty met us and followed us into the barn (well overhang? It's not an enclosed barn. I guess the best way to describe it is comparing it to a run in? But it has nice big stalls with doors and then a big over hang with railing on the far side. There is enough room to do some ground work inside). Once I pick up her halter and walked toward her she ran, maybe 10 strides, and I kept slowly walking toward her. She actually stop and turn the face me, ears perked up and let me catch her without any extra effort. I lead her back into the barn to the cross ties. Now this walk back she was all in my space way more than last time so small corrections. She stood better in the cross ties though. I saddled her up and grab the lunge line. 

Holy cow. She had no idea what was going on. I pushed her out and she started trotting she tensed up and her eyes were on me and you could see the confusion. After two circles she sort of caught on and had a real nice trot going and I was able to use voice command to slow her to a walk and she actually made it through two more complete circles then I asked her to trot and she kind of fell apart again. So imagine you're looking at a clock: from 12 (so when I asked for the trot) until about 6 she had a nice bend and nice movement. Then once she hit 5 she threw her haunches out and was going sideways until about 1 and then she straighten back out. Now she barely pulled on the line at all, but she was a hot mess. So I brought her back down to a walk , got a nice circle and ended that work. I got on her after that and we actually had a nice short ride. She responded well to everything I asked. She walked away from the barn nicely and was fairly calm. We even made it around the arena twice! All at a walk of course. We did have some issues after the second trip around the arena so we did some light work in the middle before ending. Then after untacking and brushing her down I lead her around while I put everything away and just chatted with her. Then I walked her out and let her loose. She started to walk off and then turned around and walked back up to me and we chatted and I scratched her for a few more minutes before I shooed her off.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

I can only envision my trail horse being put through these steps. Hot Mess would not even begin to describe it. I certainly can attest to making a "arena" horse out of a trail horse. Very very different expectations. I would say kudos to her for standing in cross ties. This is not something every horse can do.

But I love her color and her markings! She would be my dream horse! Keep us posted on your progress.


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## NeedMoreCoffee (May 27, 2015)

Thanks! I love her color too! And I can completely understand what you are saying! I don't really have big plans for her outside of getting her responsive and getting her ground manners up to par. I would love to do some for fun schooling shows but that will depend on her. You would be even more impressived with her standing in the cross ties if you saw the set up (well you kind of can from the last picture hah). After today I am pretty sure she is trained to ground tie, so I am going to explore that further when I go back next.

Every day is an improvement. I am new to all the more intensive ground work and I tend to over write haha so it probably sounds way more annoying than it actually is. Either way she is picking everything up quickly and is getting more and more relaxed! 

Yesterday, I went to see her and just spent some time brushing her and talking to her. She ran a few strides from me when I came out with the halter but it was less fat than the day before and she turned to face me quicker as well. 

Today was another quick day. V and I chatted for a while and then we wormed the horses. She had a ton of energy in the cross ties so I decided to lunge her and see if I could focus any of that energy. She actually did fairly well, walked out fine and adjusted her speed through voice commands. But then she stopped and turned to face me and started to walk in to me. It took some work to get her going again. When she is done working she just wants to stand right in your bubble, like a dog. Don't flame me! I know horses are not dogs but that is the best way I can think of to describe this behavior. Anywho. I got her going back around at a walk and then ended our session. When I walked her back in she responded so well! She yielded beautifully around the gate (I don't think I'm wording that properly). After I closed the gate I draped the lead over her neck and she followed me into the grooming bay and followed me through turning around without me using the lead rope to lead her (this is so huge to me as just walking into the grooming bay was an issue on day one). Then I brushed her down and put on her blanket and she stood so quietly! This was all with the lead rope draped over her neck, not hooked to the cross ties. 

I am looking forward to getting back in this saddle this week. She is taking the ground work in stride but I think we will progress with a quick routine before mounting up. I don't see her as a type to enjoy the full fledge nh route. I'm also looking forward to getting a longer ride out of her haha she has got to be tired of circles I know I am:joy:


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I confess to not having read all the entries I your thread, but just wanted to say that I know and remember how it feels to get ANYTHING done when you e got a human toddler in tow.


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## NeedMoreCoffee (May 27, 2015)

It's a daily struggle. He is so lucky he is so darn cute. We just transitioned into the toddler bed (which I have been dreading since he was born) and I am fairly certain that we are in one of the inner circles of hell. He forced our hand when he discovered he could climb out of his crib. So misty has come along at just the perfect time. I get some positive result/interaction every day wether it's from her or my son haha. 

You aren't missing much with the journal at this point. The tl;dr is normal relationship building with a new horse. I'm still working on getting a normal voice with my writing instead of the squealy teen I hear when i read over it.


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## NeedMoreCoffee (May 27, 2015)

Yesterday was interesting with Misty. All 5 horses were out in the front field hanging out, grazing, napping, being ponies. I trudged through the mud (because apparently winter is monsoon season now) and called out to Misty and low and behold she perked her ears up and walked up to me! She lead well for the first half of our trip back to the barn, and then the realization that it was work time hit her and she started crowding my space and getting a little huffy. So our pleasant stroll turned into a bit of work. I got her all cleaned up and gathered the lunge line and lunge whip. She backed and responded quickly and smoothly to moving around the gate. I was hopeful that the rest of our work would go as nicely. Not so much. We had a rough lunge session, I really had to get after her to get her going. So I am putting that one in my back pocket for a later date. I don't think it is a useful tool at the moment, she is tense the whole time (we never go longer than 5-10 minutes) and she just seems confused. She does much better with our yielding exercises. I think if we had a round pen where I could free lunge her it would be a different experience, but we do not. The good things yesterday were: working on ground tying (she is so much more relaxed), staying out of my space unless invited, and walking from her left side to her right side around her frontend.

My currently plan of thought is to start riding again (with eyes on the ground) at the start of our session and then to do a little ground work or just take her for a walk afterwards. The biggest issue right now is her being barn sour and not use to working. I don't want to nag or unnecessarily annoy her so I am trying to figure out the best way to work with her but there are things we HAVE to fix.

In other news, I found a barn right down the road where I am going to start taking lessons! I have several wonderful riders/instructors/trainers in my pocket but I want a neutral eye and a school master type horse where I can focus on me. There are two instructors there and I am hopefully going to take lessons with both. One is super sweet and she and I have the same goal and similar mindset about things and the other is a drill Sargent. 

in other other new my toddler is screaming "mommy! smell it! hurry!" from his room. I'm scared.:hide::winetime:


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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

I am really enjoying your journal. I have two toddler grandsons and can identify with you 100%. I ride in the mornings when the little guys are sleeping (my daughter is there for them) when they spend the night. They are lucky THEY are so darn cute! The older one climbed out of his crib the other day. I growled at him, and he thought I was really mad (Scary when Nani gets MAD), so he went back in. But it's only a matter of time before he won't stay in there any more. I love watching them, but I love seeing them go home too.


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## NeedMoreCoffee (May 27, 2015)

Thank you! Man, we could have used you when J climbed out of his crib! haha we were so flabbergasted that we way too nice haha. 

I haven't seen Misty since Saturday. I've basically been going every other day to at least say "hi". I am going to try and make it out tomorrow. 

On Saturday, I stopped by on my way out of town to visit a friend for the day/evening and brought a pocket full of baby carrots for Misty. I am going to describe this the best I can but I'm sure it won't come close to how funny and endearing it was. I drive down to the barn and she sees me and walks over to the gate from her "hidey hole" (a nice and shady corner pocket just inside the pasture section of fencing, where she has easy access to run away but is still close enough to the hay she can get a snack). Once I walked into the paddock she turns and runs back to her spot with the other mare (honest to god can never remember her name, I'm blaming it on the fact that she is an almost identical version of my mare from my grandparent's farm) so I walk over to them and she starts to walk off then stops and turns toward me and perks her ears and lets me walk straight up to her. I give her a good scratch and then offer her a carrot. She had no idea what was going on. It was the most awkward horse action I have ever seen and it was beautiful. She was running her muzzle over the carrot, smelling it and trying to figure out what was happening. It was at this point that (we are going to call her dancer) Dancer saw what was going on and she edged over and I offered her one of the carrots, she was quite happy so I gave her another. Misty was just watching her eat these weird orange sticks. She then stretched her neck out and sniffed Dancer's muzzle and looked back down at my hand and then back at dancer and then back at my hand. She kind of huffed and got uppity so I did a quick shoulder yield and she did it!! No physical pressure applied and it was done in one easy motion! To be fair she was wanting to move away but she made the movement in the way I asked and at my pace. After praising her, we walked a few steps forward and I tried the carrot one more time before I left and she finally figured out that it was food! She ate a couple and then I happily headed out for my trip. 

The original plan was to go Sunday to work with her some; however, I got in a car accident. Luckily, my son was not in the car as I was hit on his side. Very scary, it was my first real accident. I am so happy it was a low speed area (35mph and narrow streets lined with big beautiful tree so I rarely even hit that speed when driving through this particular section). And also luckily (well "luckily") it is an easy open and shut incident and there shouldn't be any hullabaloo with the insurance companies. My car is in the shop now and we are just waiting to hear if it is totaled or not. It's a 2007 so it could go either way. If I do have to get a new car it will mess up my riding timeline and possibly my Misty timeline.

But on a positive note, I offically got a "real" job! Which is perfect timing if I do have to get a new car. We were planning on using the extra income to knock out our debt over this next year or two and then start having lots of fun, both as a family and with our own personal hobbies. We are the type of people that prefer to live below our means and fairly minimal and go to Disney every other year (or every year haha) and host fun gatherings with our friends. Baby J has already been three times and asks to go back constantly to ride the "woller coastders" :joy::joy:


That's all for now. Hopefully I will get some time with Misty this week before snowpocolypse hits haha


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## NeedMoreCoffee (May 27, 2015)

This week has been the pits. I didn't get my rental car until late Thursday afternoon which means I missed my last week of work at the barn. And on top of the Thursday was beautiful and I couldn't get out to see Misty. My rental car is nice though unfortunately since Jonas hit, I only got to drive it home from enterprise and it has sat in our parking lot since then. 

I am dying to ride. Do you all every get that quake in your legs, like a loaded spring? I've been reading posts and watching videos of others riding and working with their horses. I've come up with several things I want to do with Misty to lower the stress when trying something new and I want to try out the english saddle on her. I 'm wondering if the western saddle V has is a little big for her and maybe its pinching or limiting movement in any way (more than likely she is just annoyed at having to work haha).

In other non-horsey news, Today is my buddy's surprise bday celebration but J woke up puking this morning so it looks like I will be missing out. That sounds selfish I know, but its been a really rough couple of years for him, we almost lost him about a year and a half ago and this is the big 3-0 for him. My husband told me to go, but I don't know if I can. we will just have to see how J is holding up.


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## NeedMoreCoffee (May 27, 2015)

I had a pretty great day with Misty yesterday. I have been feeding the horses for V while they are out of town so I've gotten to see misty 2x a day for 5 days. Ive done little things with her every day. Lots of scratches and hanging out, as well as quick ground work sessions. Yesterday I met my parents for breakfast before work and ended up having a lot more time left before work started than I anticipated so I headed back to V's to get a good work out in with Misty. She came straight to me when I called (even with halter in hand!) and stood beautifully in the crossties. I saddled her up and we worked on standing still at the mounting block (she walkes perfectly up to it but once your foot is in the stirrup she backs.) After I mounted she actually moved forward and into the arena decently and I started getting some more forward steps from her when suddenly the other horses started acting up and running toward the gate. The neighbors had decided to drive their Clydesdale around the area (he was so handsome in his get up haha so there is my positive). Misty started panicking as well so I hopped off, with no one else on property I did not want to risk anything. I brought her in and we got the lunge line and we headed back out. She actually lunged almost properly! I kept her at a walk but did ask her to trot twice, which she did. But I was so happy with the difference between this time and last time! She didn't look nervous and wasn't pulling or doing any weird foot work and she had her attention on me. 

I think next time I work her I am going to take her to this nice flat area in the pasture that is away from the barn and see how it goes. V and I are going to ride together soon and I think that may help Misty with her barn sourness, plus having an extra set of eyes never hurts.


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## NeedMoreCoffee (May 27, 2015)

Had a break through day with Misty Thursday. Good and "bad". I had not planned on lunging her for a while as it seemed counterproductive. Of course as of last post I lunged her because of this mishap with the carriage coming down the drive, she got way too excited and I felt I would have better control on the ground than in the saddle. 

Well Thursday I had planned on riding but the arena was a mess (they are in the middle of fixing everything up) so I caught her (so easy now, she will walk right up and drop her head into the halter) and got her groomed. I took her out with the lunge line and we walked out to an open spot in the arena. And guys, she walked out beautifully and kept a nice even circle and even moved into a really pretty trot with just a few clucks. 

This is where the "bad" comes in. I was super confident and pushed her too much without enough follow through. I decided to try lunging her in the other direction. Massive fail. Well not massive, massive, I did get one super small forward moving circle. But over all it was a struggle and she figure out quickly that I wasn't going to have a real CTJ talk with her. She just stood there looking at me. So then I shifted to working on yielding exercises, i.e. things she needs to work on but is getting better at, that way I was able to get her attention back on me and her feet moving and things that I knew I could correct precisely. After a few good yields on each side we went for a walk and then I brushed her back down, blanketed her, and sent her on her way.

So the big things I learned with her from Thursday is she is willing but since I can't work with her every day I need to go slow. She learns quickly and remembers. I think she is sensitive but instead of over reacting she just shuts down. She has a big personality and is opinionated but seems to need time to process, every time we do something no matter what the outcome, the next time I work with her its better and she is more willing and confident. Which is exactly how I am.

Next week is suppose to start warming up, so I am hoping that I will be able to go see her a couple of times.


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## NeedMoreCoffee (May 27, 2015)

Things have been going well with Ms Sass! A substantial amount of improvement in her attitude and manners. I found a stellar deal on a Thorowgood in great condition and have it out on trial this week and I got the saddle pad I have been drooling over every time I look online (its the bright blue roma pad with the circle indentions). I also picked up a few odds and ends (including a really nice quality rope halter) at a charity tack sale at one of the therapeutic riding centers we have here. 

I also purchased some landscaping timbers this week to use as ground poles. Two of them I painted a nice bright blue/teal and then ran out of paint so I am deciding now what color I should pick for the other two. I will definitely be buying more timbers as well for patterns. Misty perked right up with the patterns we did on Friday! After a few rounds of patterns, I did some in hand walk/trot transitions and she was perfect. 

This week starts our Mon-Wed, Fri, and Sunday morning work schedule. So excited to see how she progresses with a regular schedule. She is really out of shape so I'm working on gradually upping the trot time and movement in general. A lot of the work we have been doing has mainly been focused on space and manners but now since she has got that down relatively well I am working on keeping her movement and maintaining her manners throughout her workout. 

Here is a list of things we have improved upon:

*Catching* (she will either walk up or stand while you approach her, depending on how close to feeding time it is:rofl

*Haltering*: she drops her head into the halter without having to loop the rope around her neck first. you can even fumble around which intentionally do and she stands and waits 

*Leading*: she is more consistently keeping the proper space and pacing, still a little iffy when other horses are close by (she is bottom of the herd and has trust issues) but substantially better than a month ago.

*Tying* stands well while grooming and I can walk away and grab items from the tack room and she will wait until i get back (its an enclosed area but going into the tack room puts me out of sight)

*In hand work* she is yielding to the fore and hind better and with very little pressure. We are doing concentric circles instead of lunging and she is great with that. she keeps a nice distances without trying to push her way to the center and transitions with vocal cues. She is backing like a champ with little pressure


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

This journal has been closed due to prolonged lack of participation by the author. Journals that have no active participation by the author for a period of time greater than 18 months will be considered abandoned and will be closed until the author asks for them to be reopened.


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