# A "Spiritual" journal



## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

Now these are pictures I took of the back of my camera, since I don't have a computer to process them on, so excuse the poor quality!


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## danicelia24 (Jul 16, 2013)

Subbing to follow you and Spirits journey! BTW she is a gorgeous girl and I do love a chestnut with chrome!


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## Greenmeadows (May 8, 2016)

Can't wait to read about your journey! This sounds like it is going to be really interesting!


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## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

So an "update" on how she is now vs how we got her. 

Her back muscles have developed back with no problems. 
She does not stand camped waaay out now that we've done her feet correctly. 
Her trot has improved tenfold. The girl we bought her from said "I never taught her how to trot under saddle so that's why she trots funny." That was my first red flag, and why I told my mother we needed to get her out of there. She was stargazing, short stepping in the front and doing this really weird reaching stepping gait kind of like a walker. She was swishing her tail, grinding her teeth. 
She has been turned inside out by the vet to make sure she has no pain issues. Ultrasounds, scoping, internal palpations, external palpations, you name it. Bloodwork was done to make sure she wasn't off or lacking something. She's completely A-1. 

Other things I've discovered: 
She's very touchy on her right side. If I try to put her blanket on on her right side she will cow kick at me. If you approach on her right side she will make VERY nasty faces and bite at you. If you try to put the saddle on her right side she will climb walls. Left side, everything A okay. This makes me wonder about her eyesight, which is probably the ONLY thing we didn't check. *sigh* 
She's a big tantrum thrower when she doesn't get her way or immediately understand what you want. If you ask her to do something that goes against how she was *badly* trained, she will stomp her feet and mock charge you. 
She's very possessive over hay. This is getting better after I force her to let me scuff around in her hay piles, or grab handfuls out of her net and offer them to her. 
She licks! If you hold your hand out she will lick it. 
She's very sensitive, and requires a trainer that MUST stay calm and quiet. I learned this the hard way. 
Before she goes in at night, she has a ritual of waiting until Trouble is inside, walking to the fence, presenting her head, when you reach for her halter she will slowly move her head and neck the opposite way, walk away, look back at you, make sure you're watching, go for a good run, roll twice and come back to present her head. This time she will let you attach the lead. Every night she does this. 
She won't roll all the way around. She will roll on one side, get up and drop to the other. I figure she might have fallen or flipped and injured her withers long ago and it's become a habit.


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## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

January 11th 2017:

Today was a good day for Spirit. Coming out of the barn, she whoaed when I asked, for a little worked up standing in the doorway under the drip, but stayed out of my space and was quite good about the "scary" drip on her back. 

We did have a little mishap in the pasture while I was throwing hay around. She was trying to snake me around, ears pinned. I waved an empty bucket at her and she presented her heels to me, so she got a whack with the bucket, to which she snorted and flipped that tail up, ran around for awhile and gave me some dark looks. But she retreated so I let her be. 

It was 10*c today and they were loving the weather. Unfortunately about an hour before dark it started to pour rain and the temperature started to drop, so I ran out, put them in, walked out side, and it was sunny. *sigh* the dang weather I swear. at 10pm the temp was -10*c and now at 2am it's 5*c. This is when I wish I had rain sheets for them. 

The two of them have finally started to self regulate on their free choice hay, thank god. They were eating a bale and a half a day. That's 60 pounds of hay into each of them a day!! Now they're down to about a half a bale a day each.


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## Kay Armstrong (Jun 28, 2015)

Sounds like you are off to a good start with her....will look forward to following your progress.


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## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

January 24th 2017:

Not too much has been happening lately, Spirit has been much calmer coming in and out of the barn since we've solidly boarded up the windows. She no longer feels the need to urgently look out the windows. Had a stand off yesterday over a pail of water, but a stern NO and a point had her backing off. 

Our biggest problem in the last few days has been her absolute hatred for her blanket. She only gets blanketed once in a blue moon when the temp is low enough to freeze the water pails solid in the barn. She has suddenly decided that when the blanket comes out, she's a cow kicking demon. I did make her wear the blanket after that episode but now I just don't bother. If she shivers I will put the blanket on, if not, she goes without. 

We're in the middle of an ice storm at the moment, and this mornings feeding was pretty hectic. The horses really wanted to go out, but without shelter and with everything covered in ice, they're going to have to tough it out. 

She was VERY spooky this morning. The water bucket, a horse eating black hole. I carried the fork with me as a precaution, and while she did give me some dirty looks, she kept her distance while I untied her hay net and refilled it.


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## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

Tonight's feeding went well. I took a few videos to help you guys get to know her on her "good" days. 

Disclaimer: I don't usually bug her this much, most of the time I let her be and ignore her. She doesn't seem to react to praise or reward so I think it's best I leave her alone until I can start with her full time. 

In this video, you can see how she gets a bit nasty when I handle her face, and she really gets angry when I touch her flanks. I have two more videos uploading. She also gets quite sour when you "take" her hay away, but we've got it down to just dirty looks instead of biting.


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## horseluvr2524 (Sep 17, 2013)

Poor girl, she is VERY touchy and probably has good reason for it! Too bad she can't tell us why.

Some of her behaviors you described remind me of something @gottatrot 's Valhalla would do. I've got a feeling she is going to be a real looker when she is in shape and in her summer coat!




*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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## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

This is video 2/3. She's not actually head shy. She will let you halter or bridle her, brush her eyes, face, etc. However, if you've raise your hand in a threatening manner she's very reactive. As you can see, she gets worked up very easily. 

This is what we deal with every day, and this is a good day. On her bad days, opening the barn door will cause her to climb the wall in a blind panic, sit back on her heels and snort and blow. She's definitely special. I wish I knew her past, and how she was treated. It would really help me out.


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## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

January 26th 2017

Everything can change in the blink of an eye. Spirit is having a bad day today. A very bad one. 

I also realized that changing routine, even minutely, can set her off like a rocket. 

Maybe I'm just having an awful day. 

I open the barn door this morning to find the interior torn apart. Trouble is standing in the middle of a hay mound he's built for himself rather proudly. He somehow managed to work his tie loose, somehow tore three boards off the walls, knocked a set of cabinets down, tore his bucket + bucket hook out of the wall, there was a window frame lying in the middle of the floor (????) I don't even know where he could have found a window frame. I checked him over for injuries (he's fine) and turned him out. I snapped Spirit onto the lead and made the huge mistake of walking on the wrong side. 

I usually am on her right, so she comes out the barn door, pivots away from me and into the pasture. Today I was on her left, between her and the pasture. She jumped out of the barn, spooked and put a snowbank between her and I, with the open gate behind me. I kept calm, told her to back up and turn, to walk back around the snowbank and into the pasture. She wouldn't have it. She was doing this funny thing with her lips, striking the ground, and in the last moment, I realized what she was thinking. 

She jumped over me. In the last moment I dropped the lead and hit the snow. She cleared the snowbank and her hind feet flew by maybe a foot above my face. I still can't believe it. It's a view of a horse I never want to see again. 


So now, I'm sitting on a bucket letting her figure out pressure release with the lead attached to her halter. She doesn't want to let me take it off, so I'll supervise her until she understands pressure~release. 

This is a major setback. She's been behaving beautifully the past week or more, minus little episodes, and I was thrilled. It's back to square one with safety first. I really can't wait for spring so I can put her into work and work that hiney off! She has so much energy it's incredible. She's almost buzzing with the amount of energy she has.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

Sorry you had a bad day. To be honest I am not sure how working her hard will fix any of the trust issues she already has. She jumped over you to get away from the pressure she felt - and to be with Trouble where she feels safe.

Working her can lead to more distrust. The key here is getting her to trust you and look to you for guidance. (IMO)


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Aw sorry to hear you didn't have such a good day.  It happens sometimes to all of us. Just keep a steady pace with her for now, until you are both comfortable with doing a lot more.


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## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

carshon said:


> Sorry you had a bad day. To be honest I am not sure how working her hard will fix any of the trust issues she already has. She jumped over you to get away from the pressure she felt - and to be with Trouble where she feels safe.
> 
> Working her can lead to more distrust. The key here is getting her to trust you and look to you for guidance. (IMO)


Working her will her will get rid of all that excessive energy that's making it extremely hard for her to concentrate on anything. 

In her old home, she was worked 5-7 days a week. Albeit, with a sore back so she was sour, but she didn't have the excessive energy she has now. This winter she's had pretty much zero exercise, due to the snow and the ice. She can't even go on a good run in the pasture. Last winter she was being ridden in an indoor arena 5-7 days a week to keep her fitness up. She seems like a horse that needs constant work or a job to be a decent citizen. Her ground work will come with this, as when we can find a way to positively direct her energy we can work on fine tuning. 

Trouble could care less wether he gets to run around or not. Spirit, on the other hand, is a ball of energy. I was thinking about putting her on a calming supplement until the snow melts enough that she can get GOOD turnout.


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## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

January 31st 2017 

We've made a breakthrough. Finally! I took the day to do some groundwork since we finally have room to work and she was a star. An absolute star. We worked on yielding her quarters, backing in hand and did a bit of lunging. She didn't power around like a lunatic, she walked and trotted nicely, so I threw the saddle on and put some side reins on, and she was bending beautifully. I took the plunge and decided to hop on. She was saddled and bridled so why not? 

She did have some trouble at the mounting block. She decided it was easier to walk around me on the mounting block so we took the time to re learn that. 

Under saddle she was a saint. We plodded around the yard and worked in circles and did some figure eights. We also worked on slowing down her power walk. I'm so happy with her! 

She still needs to be reminded of personal space sometimes, but she no longer wildly barges around, looking around like something is going to eat her. Woo hoo!


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## Fimargue (Jun 19, 2015)

Yay, so happy for you! Must be a great feeling 

I have to ask, is she on hard feed?


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## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

Fimargue said:


> Yay, so happy for you! Must be a great feeling
> 
> I have to ask, is she on hard feed?


She's on 24/7 free choice hay, give or take if she runs out overnight. She used to get three pounds of oats twice a day, but it made her very very hot. She seems to keep a decent weight with just hay, but I need to make sure she gets enough at night or she gets a bit too ribby for my liking. It's hard, because Trouble gets fat off free choice, and she gets thin not on free choice. 

They are back in the same pasture as well. After she had calmed down while being separated I started slowly reintroducing them, and that seemed to cure her hatred for him. She also started losing weight while separated, so reintroducing was for the better. She still chases him off the hay but I can now put two large piles instead of having to put ten small piles throughout the pasture.


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## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

So a little update on the journal. 

Didn't get any riding in at all this week as I've been disgustingly sick, but she's been good with her daily turn out. Today she was a bit frisky while being led out of the barn, and she needed a reminder of personal space, but nothing too major. 

Something I noticed, she has zero regard for a humans bubble. When she gets lookie she will ram into you, hit you with her head, etc. I'll have to start carrying a crop and get down to business on what is MY space. Another thing I noticed is that when you correct her, instead of jumping away, she jumps toward or into you. Hmmm. I'll have to get that in check. 

I truly don't think she's ever been taught proper ground manners. Or, as could have been the case when she belonged to a kids camp, got into the habit of ignoring children, which turned into the habit of ignoring everyone. When you do correct her, she gets almost (hate to anthropomorphize, but it's the best way to describe) insulted and pushes back. For example, when I snapped the lead and backed her away, she had a very obvious thought of jumping on top of me, which I shut down very quickly. I had noticed that when I first lunged her as well, as instead of backing away and retreating from my space, she would try to crowd me, start stomping her feet and hop around. That however, has stopped and she lunged very well now, and she knows basic verbal commands like walk, trot, and whoa- although she's a bit rusty on whoa and needs a physical boundary before she stops. 

She was quite sour with Trouble today, and angrily chased him around for about ten minutes, which he seems to enjoy, thinking of it as a game. He will push her a bit now, getting in her space and retreating when she turns to bite him, throwing a little buck her way and taking off around the pasture.


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## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

They were quite happy out in the storm today! A thick layer of snow and they were toasty warm.


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## Fimargue (Jun 19, 2015)

WhattaTroublemaker said:


> She's on 24/7 free choice hay, give or take if she runs out overnight. She used to get three pounds of oats twice a day, but it made her very very hot. She seems to keep a decent weight with just hay, but I need to make sure she gets enough at night or she gets a bit too ribby for my liking. It's hard, because Trouble gets fat off free choice, and she gets thin not on free choice.
> 
> They are back in the same pasture as well. After she had calmed down while being separated I started slowly reintroducing them, and that seemed to cure her hatred for him. She also started losing weight while separated, so reintroducing was for the better. She still chases him off the hay but I can now put two large piles instead of having to put ten small piles throughout the pasture.


Good thing. I was just wondering because of her 'buzzing' with energy. I rarely see that unless a horse is on hard feed. 

It's hard when you have two horses with completely different feeding needs.


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## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

LOTS to catch up on! 

I've been steadily doing groundwork with Spirit and we're doing much better. 

She now lunges at a walk/trot with absolutely zero issues, her whoa is still a tad rusty though. She yields her quarters, backs away from you when you ask, respects your personal space. Her contact problem was fixed with one session with the stud shank on. Talk about a surprised horse- she jerked herself once and stood like "ouch!" Looking at me with wide eyes. She's very light in the halter now and no more stud shank. 

Coming in and out of the barn is a breeze. She still gets a little high headed, but quit running through you to go out/in. She stands to be saddled with zero biting or kicking, will now stand at the mounting block without running in circles around you. She's very laid back and not hot anymore. Even when trotting on the lunge, she will jog instead of prancing around like an idiot. 

Under saddle she is doing much better too. She's not speedy anymore, carries her head lower. I switched her from her Tom Thumb bit to a simple copper D snaffle and she doesn't chew or grind her teeth anymore. She is not sore through her back anymore, will step out nicely when asked to trot, has quit pinning her ears, grinding her teeth and swishing her tail under saddle. 

She's getting better with her leg aids, and has realized that leg on either side does not mean "bolt forward". She takes up contact nicely and rounds out, instead of giraffe necking. 

Her sweating problem has stopped as well, and her herd bound issues have decreased dramatically after being tied to a tree to work her issues out. 

My mother and I went on a ride a few days ago and she was very impressed with the difference in Spirit. She was absolutely amazed when Spirit let her re-mount on the trail after a pee break. We worked on Spirit slowing down behind Trouble, and Trouble maintaining a faster walk when behind Spirit. 

Our only issue is her breathing. Her cough has gotten worse and we noticed her nostrils were flared after a two hour walk under saddle. The vet will be coming out to see what she can find. Until then I'm wetting her hay and keeping them outside as long as possible every day. Right now they're out at 8AM, in at 9PM.


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