# Pippa's Secret



## BlindHorseEnthusiast4582 (Apr 11, 2016)

Subbing. She's beautiful.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

_Let the story begin to be told..._


Shes' beautiful as is your barn....together gorgeous!!
Can't wait to follow the adventures of Pippa.... :smile:
:runninghorse2:...


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Chapter Two.

When she came out of the trailer after her 3000 mile trek, Pippa seemed surprisingly calm. The people who hauled her said she had a lot of aplomb and never turned a hair about anything. It was early May then. There hadn't been horses here in a few years. When we moved in, in February, we found that behind the awesome three-stall professionally-built kit barn, there were some neglected pastures fenced with sagging barbed wire and a vague clumsy attempt at a small pen, made with tape and incapable of containing any kind of animal. We had been working hard for months to build runs for the stalls and safely fence the pastures and start clearing out the brush and saplings. Both horses had been on pasture before they had left California so despite everyone warning me about the dangers of spring pastures I transitioned them to grazing fairly quickly without any ill effects I could see. 

Pippa was quite hard to catch in the pasture. She would see the halter and immediately trot off. So she had some bad associations with haltering. At first all I did was bring Brooke into the sacrifice area and Pippa would follow. She would try to evade capture but then suddenly give up and be completely compliant. I would go out into the pasture with pocketfuls of horse cookies every day, I put a halter on Pip and then take it off, give her a cookie and leave. This improved things, but she still struck me as an unusually wary personality. Not in any way aggressive or ill-tempered, in fact I have to this day never observed her to even lay an ear back, but watchful. 

It's been six months, and she is still watchful. She understands much more about the routine, is always polite in hand, but there is a difference between obedience and trust. If I hadn't owned Brooke, I probably would not have felt this so much. But Brooke is *my horse*. She nickers when she sees me, and whinnies to me if I leave. She does things specifically to annoy me so I will pay attention to her, like scraping the blanket bar outside the stall with her teeth. Pippa is too tense around humans to have a sense of humor. It is Brooke she cares about, not me. It is clear to me now that Pippa has never had a real relationship of trust with a person. Because she is a naturally submissive personality, she tries hard to not do anything wrong, but that is not the same thing. 

I live right against a state forest, which is bordered by other uncultivated lands, in conservation trusts, owned by the township, or simply abandoned. It is covered with a network of little-used trails, most of which never cross a paved road. When I rode Brooke out, I started taking Pippa too, loose with just a halter on. She would stick with us just like my dog (who also went with us). The four of us would go out for hours together. If Pippa took a wrong turn I call her and she'd come right back. I don't fool myself though -- it is Brooke she is coming back to. There aren't many horses I would trust to do this, but Pippa is as connected to Brooke as if I was ponying her -- more so, even. This was a brand new thing for me, and really fun for everyone concerned. Pippa much enjoys these adventures, it is clear. 

Early on, it occurred to me how adorable Pippa would look pulling a pony cart. There are many miles of old farm roads through the forests around here, some maintained for cars and others just snowmobile tracks now. Lots of places for driving. I had also always had in the back of my mind teaching Brooke to drive, although where I was in California there was barely anywhere to ride, much less drive. Now though, possibilities beckoned. Naturally I thought, I can learn how to drive with this pony and then teach my horse! Pippa would be improved by some education and I am always looking to learn new things. 

Ah, little did I realize that driving is even more complicated than riding, if that is possible. There's way more equipment, and all of it different than anything I was familiar with. I needed a harness, a training cart, an instructor to teach me to drive, and a trainer to teach Pippa to drive. For starters. I had my work cut out for me.


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

She is a beautiful pony


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

Yea, she is a real pretty pony.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Absolutely beautiful Avna. Looking forward to your driving adventures!


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

I started lunging Pippa on the lawn, being as that was the flattest place I had, while beginning to search for someone who could help me teach Pippa to drive. As with Brooke and riding, I found myself once again with a totally green horse and lacking the skill set I needed to train her. Everything had worked out great with Brooke though, so I figured I could do this again. I just needed instruction. Right?

Pippa seemed to already know how to lunge, but she was always nervous about it. She would only walk a short part of a circle before she felt she had to trot again. With Brooke, I would just let her figure out it was easier to walk. Brooke has a lazy streak and if she is comfortable she will generally choose to do the thing which takes the least effort. Pippa does not have a lazy streak. She's sensitive and energetic and worried. She never got the idea that it was easier to walk, no matter how many times she went around. Also, when I stopped her she invariably would wheel to face me, and I couldn't get her to quit that either. These things should have told me something, but they didn't, because I have not experienced the results of other people's training, only my own. 

I saw a pony harness advertised on a local horse facebook page and went out and bought it. I was too ignorant to understand that just because it was neither a mini harness nor a horse harness didn't mean it would fit. A harness is not a halter. It is a conglomeration of many different pieces of leather buckled together, most of which must fit pretty exactly if they are to not cause problems. What I had bought was more of a shetland pony size, and Pippa is quite a bit bigger than most shetlands. On top of that, Pippa is not built like a typical cold-blooded pony, short-coupled and stubby. She is built more like a very small refined horse. Even pony harness the right size needs extensions due to her length. However, all that may not even be relevant to the rest of Pippa's story.

I did find a trainer. She is semi-retired from managing college riding programs, and before that, competing in Dressage and Combined Driving Events, which I looked up online and was sort of terrified by. It is an FEI sport involving from a one to four horse hitch, usually Warmbloods or a European harness type breed. Part of the competition is a tight twisty obstacle course with hills and water, executed at maximum speed. My fantasy of trotting sweetly down a country road with bells on was a far cry from this!

Under her direction, I sold the shetland pony harness. I found a used training cart, and ordered a harness from a company which required careful measurements. I bought a pony bridle, some different snaffle bits, a surcingle, side reins . . . and of course Pippa needed her own fly sheet, and winter blanket, and well, it appears that my tack collection will expand to fill whatever space I have to store it in. My new tack room is far roomier than my old one. 

My new teacher/trainer started Pippa accepting a bit, and soon she had her driving in long lines. We went up and down my very quiet dead-end road, first with me at her head, and eventually with both of us walking behind and me with the reins. We added side reins as Pippa started developing a habit of rooting, but otherwise all was going quite smoothly, according to my teacher. Sometimes I hauled Brooke and Pippa to the local riding club's grass arena and we worked there. I started adding in some riding lessons on Brooke too, which was very satisfying. I had really missed my lessons; due to the total upheaval of moving across the continent I hadn't had a lesson for maybe nine months. As it turned out, I was fortunate to have something to fall back on, because Pippa's driving education was soon to come to a crashing halt.

Blurry photo of Pippa's last good day with the long lining:


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## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

I love Pippa. This is very suspenseful.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

Subbing to see the happy ending


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## lostastirrup (Jan 6, 2015)

I want to watch this cute little pony turn heads and take names! Oh my gosh she is so so so cute.


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

Subbing!


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

We’d been working with Pippa a few times a week in the long lines for more than a month when she first began to act strange. She had always been somewhat buddy sour, wanting to turn for home, but was easily convinced not to act on it. But gradually she began to get more agitated about it. First, I started not being able to drive her away from the barn, she had to be led. Otherwise she would spin and back up. Once out of the barnyard she was fine. 

That progressed very quickly to her not being able to be driven anywhere except toward the barn, unless someone was at her head. I decided to go backwards, and work just on getting her to walk and to relax while lunging. That was hard for her. I would stop her every time she started trotting and get her walking again. It took many repetitions before she understood that all I wanted was walking. She still wanted to turn and face me when I stopped her. My teacher pointed out that she acted like a horse who had been “round penned” — i.e. made to run inside a round pen until she was exhausted, and “gave two eyes”. A terrible thing to do to a high-strung sensitive horse like Pippa who reacted to the smallest gestures and touches.

One day I was lunging her, and she suddenly panicked. She pulled the line out of my hands and galloped off into the pasture. I couldn’t catch her so I walked her slowly down until she got the line tangled in the trees and I could grab her. She was terrified and panting. I had no idea why after months of lunging without incident she had done this, but I saw I could not do much more with her until I had an enclosed area to work her in. 

The next session with my teacher, every step in long lines was a struggle. She would not go away from the barn and she wouldn’t even go toward it. She could barely be gotten to go forward at all. We wondered what had happened. Had she suddenly decided to be a bad pony? And why now, after all the good sessions? 

I bought a round pen and put it up in the field. She lunged fine in it. 

At that point my new harness had finally arrived, and we tried her out in it for fit. It still needed longer traces as she is so much longer than the average pony her height, but it fit sufficiently to just get her used to harness. She has never been very spooky about stuff being put on her. We led her around in it and she seemed a little anxious but that was only natural. So we decided to cautiously progress to lunging her in her harness in the round pen. 

This turned out to be a bad idea. 

Pippa made one agitated circle and then took off at dead run, bucking all the way. She ripped the line out of my teacher’s hand. I grabbed up the line thinking “that’s my brand new harness!” That was a much worse idea. She yanked the line away and then went right over the top of me. I was bowled over and narrowly escaped getting kicked. I climbed the fence the next time she came around. We watched from outside the pen as Pippa galloped, bucking, around and around and around and around. Finally she stopped. The harness had ended up tangled around her hind legs, the breeching torn and the saddle bent. Sweat was literally dripping off her face and she was breathing like a locomotive. 

As we carefully peeled the mess of harness off her, I noticed that my hands were in different states of agony but there was no time to pay attention to that. My teacher said, “I think that might be the worst reaction to harness I have ever seen.”

We agreed that we could go no further without other help. And maybe, we could go no further at all. 

There was a local trainer I had heard about quite a few times from different folks. He was the go to guy for starting young horses and reclaiming spoiled horses. He trained wild mustangs. Everyone had good things to say about him. I thought I might give him a call.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

anxiously waiting on an update. I have such high hopes for Miss Pippa. reminds me of "A pony known as Satan" on the book of faces.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

carshon said:


> anxiously waiting on an update. I have such high hopes for Miss Pippa. reminds me of "A pony known as Satan" on the book of faces.


I have hopes for Pippa too. I don't think she wants to be a panic-stricken mess.


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Subbing, beautiful pony & I am interested in seeing what happens next. :O


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

Try some of Warwick Schiller's focus and relaxation techniques with Pippa. They made a HUGE difference for my reactive, 'panic-mode-first-think-later' Paso.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

SilverMaple said:


> Try some of Warwick Schiller's focus and relaxation techniques with Pippa. They made a HUGE difference for my reactive, 'panic-mode-first-think-later' Paso.


Ah. That is another journal entry ....


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Any update on miss Pippa?


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Just a little more on Pippa for now. Because there is only a little more at this point.

I did call the mustang trainer. He listened carefully to my description of Pippa's behavior and agreed to try to help us with her. Because winter is near at hand, he suggested that I wait until February before starting work, because otherwise she might come back from training and have to just sit idle for several months due to weather, which might set her back. This seemed like a sound idea. 

The other thing he said was that he would start her under saddle, not driving. Although he liked to begin an untouched horse with long lines, with a horse 'with a past' like Pippa, it was a lot safer for all concerned. He told me that after he got her going under saddle he could probably tell if she would ever be a driving horse. A horse who might unpredictably come unglued is not a candidate to hook up to a cart. 

All this made sense to me. 

While I was digesting all this, I went for a trail ride with a new riding friend, who does Natural Horsemanship. We did several of the big loops accessible from my place, two and half hours. I took Pippa and my Hope dog with us, with her permission, as I normally take them when riding from my own barn. All was polite and calm, except her old TWH gelding occasionally tried to herd Pippa, something I observed with the other gelding I rode with. Something about geldings and this "uncontrolled" mare ... 

Because some people who espouse Natural Horsemanship are, not put too fine a point on it, naive fools, I wasn't sure if I wanted get too deep into exactly what my new riding buddy did, while we had a long trail ahead of us, but because she seemed neither naive nor foolish, I talked a bit about Pippa, her behavior, my observations about her personality and guesses about her possible past. 

She surprised me a little with her response. She said that when people come to her for help with a troubled horse like Pippa, she asks them to take a chair and a magazine or a book and just sit with them every day for awhile. If they come up to you, fine, if they like treats but aren't pushy about them, you can give them out, but don't ask them to do anything for a treat. Don't ask them to do anything at all. Just sit. She said that horses like to hang out with their friends and do nothing, and that is one of the main ways they bond.

If there is one consistent thing about Pippa, it is her lack of trust of people. It is easy to not see it when handling her, as she is normally a very compliant, mannerly little horse. But I always feel that she is watching me. She does not relax. So the next day I went out with a camp chair and a magazine and a handful of horse treats. I closed the gates to the pastures so the horses had to stay sort of near me in the sacrifice area outside the stalls. I sat down and started reading.

Brooke of course came up, nosed me all over, wanted some cookies, and then, seeing as I was not going to provide any more entertainment, walked over to the hay net. But Pippa did a odd thing -- for her. She stood at a distance for awhile, apparently doing nothing. But every time I looked up she was a little closer. Finally she was close enough to offer her a cookie, which she took gingerly. Then she politely ate the rest of them one by one. And then she slowly began to rub her head on my boot (I had a leg crossed over my other knee). I scratched her gently behind the ears, which she liked, and then under her jaw, which she also liked, until she had had enough and slowly moved away. So I got up, picked up my chair, and left. 

Feeling strangely elated. Because Pippa had never come up to me voluntarily for anything but a treat -- after taking it she would always turn away and put a more comfortable distance between us. There was a pony who wanted to be friends, under that wary exterior. I felt quite sure that if I had even gotten to my feet she would have moved off. If I had brought anything with me that looked like it might be put on her, like a halter or rope or blanket, she would never have come up to me. She is not a horse who believes in people. Whether she will become one, is not yet known.


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## lostastirrup (Jan 6, 2015)

I feel like cheering for this pony. That standoffish behaviour reminds me a ton of Nick, my arabxgerman riding pony. What really helped us was well... 3 years consistency of "I'm not going to get you. In fact I will feed you and give you scratches"


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Well, today is Pippa's big day. We were going to move her to the trainer's place on February 1st, but I delayed because we were still deep in the Polar Vortex then. Sub-zero temps at night, low teens during the day. But last night it was 20 above; I didn't even blanket the horses. 

It's been a busy couple of weeks. I had the challenge of figuring out what Brooke was going to do when Pippa left. I thought I had it all sorted out, she was going to board at my trainer's barn, but that stall was filled by another horse, so I had to find another solution for the planned two months of no Pippa. After quite a bit of exploration of local boarding stables and so forth, I have ended up borrowing another pony for the duration; she came last week. Possibly a permanent addition, but for now, Della is a free lease. She is nearly as big as Brooke, being a stout Connemara, but she is all pony, a steady, sensible, middle-aged mare with all the experience and training Pippa lacks. She is a bit sour and spoiled, from being a former children's lesson pony, but otherwise is a lovely animal. 

It has been so amazingly cold, that I've been putting all three horses up in stalls every night, something I had only felt the need to do twice before, this winter. I have found it extremely time-consuming and laborious, cleaning three stalls full of frozen manure, wearing two pair of socks, insulated boots, two layers of long underwear, snow pants, wool sweater, heavy parka, insulated gloves, and two hats and a hood. 

Because we still don't have a four-wheel-drive truck with snow tires, a friend has offered her truck and her company for the haul this morning. Although the larger roads are salted, mine is just icy gravel and with the steep hill, I cannot trust my California-adequate truck. 

I have to say I am looking forward to not having to tiptoe around Pippa for awhile.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

So glad it's all working out and I hope this is what Pippa needs to gain confidence. I can commiserate on the time put into daily routines! Mine have all stayed out throughout all the weather-when I finally pulled blankets off yesterday, I realized they are all actually looking a little tubby around the middle with all the hay they've been getting.


Have you been riding Della?


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

egrogan said:


> So glad it's all working out and I hope this is what Pippa needs to gain confidence. I can commiserate on the time put into daily routines! Mine have all stayed out throughout all the weather-when I finally pulled blankets off yesterday, I realized they are all actually looking a little tubby around the middle with all the hay they've been getting.
> 
> 
> Have you been riding Della?


Only to try her out. She is a fancy-bred pony from a local breeder. Easy to ride, calm, soft and responsive. Feels very safe. Has her lateral aids. She is so round and fat she doesn't have a saddle so I rode her bareback -- hadn't done that since I was 17! Her owner showed me how she could stand on her back ... she is sort of the opposite of Pippa, pretty unflappable. I hope once the dust has settled that I can ride her a lot more. But since I haven't been on Brooke in a month, hard to say when that dust is going to settle.


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## SKB1994 (Sep 28, 2014)

Avna, I once worked with a very similar pony, she did come around to being a very nice kids pony with time and consistency and kindness. She's still nervous around men, but is a peach for women and children.

I live in the central MA area. I also know the mustang trainer you speak of, I rode at his farm as a kid. I have many fond memories of his mother. Haven't been there in over 10 years. But I know they're good people and will try to do right by your mare. The one horse I personally have ridden that was trained by him is very soft mouthed, but has an attitude issue due to his owner not ever doing much with him.

I'm looking forward to hearing more of your adventures with Pippa, I'm sure she'll make a lovely pony some day.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Yesterday was the warmest day in forever, it was above 30 when we loaded up Pippa and drove off with all the horses neighing wildly. I felt somewhat wretched wresting Pippa from her happy home. It is only an hour to the trainer's barn. When we arrived, Pippa was ensconced in a roomy stall, which she instantly hated, and I filled out all the paperwork and unloaded her tubs of tack and feed. Across the aisle, in his indoor arena, the trainer was working a gorgeous warmblood mare at liberty in his big round pen while the owners watched him. 

She was one expensive-looking horse and moved like a dream. My friend and I stared intently as the trainer demonstrated how she was like two different horses on her two different sides. He was doing that "join up" thing, which I had never witnessed in person before. As far as I could tell, in skilled hands, it is an efficient way to teach the horse several basic things. First, that when in a round pen, there is no more important job than to pay close attention to the human. Obedience and attention is comfortable, disobedience and inattention is uncomfortable. Second, just because a human isn't using tack doesn't mean they can't control your feet. Although I have heard and read vastly more negative reports of this method than positive ones, in the hands of someone as skilled as this person, it just looked efficient. It was obvious that it was a means to an end -- a safe, responsive riding horse -- not some eternal half-understood ritual where you never actually progress.

My friend whispered to me that the mare looked uncomfortable in her back -- and once she pointed this out I saw it too. Apparently her owner, a young woman, had been thrown and hurt badly by this horse. She was now afraid of her. I wondered if that team would come back from this event. Many don't. 

When the session was over and the trainer was talking to the owner, a boarder took over the pen, and I saw the difference between the trainer, who had systematic objectives and gave the horse unambiguous directions, and someone who didn't really know how to communicate clearly with her horse, who ran rather randomly around in high spirits not paying much attention. 

Next it was Pippa's turn. Pippa was already sweating with nervousness under her turnout blanket. I turned her loose in the round pen and she immediately rolled in the dirt and then pressed against the fence whinnying to the horse being led out of the arena.The trainer came in with a coiled roping rope. Pippa just gave him a glance and went back to whinnying. This is a big part of Pippa's fundamental challenge, which is that she thinks of horses, and horses alone, as safety and comfort. People range from temporary feed dispensers at best to tormentors at worst. Never friends, never even of interest, always to be mistrusted. That was the crux of what needed to change.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

When the trainer asked Pippa to move, she tore around the ring at a run, and then dropped to a high trot. She never slowed from this harness-paced trot the whole session. When the trainer moved in front of her shoulder (he was still in the center of the arena) she slammed on the brakes and spun to face him. Someone in her past had taught her both these behaviors, she had them down and was unwilling to let them go. 

So the first thing the trainer worked on was getting her to turn away from him -- essentially do a roll-back on the fence to reverse. As he explained, it was not nearly so important _what_ you were teaching as how, and why. The how part was to make it unprofitable to do anything else, and when it was done correctly, to give her a big release of pressure. The why part was simply to get her to pay attention to what was asked instead of producing a rote behavior. It took about fifteen minutes to get her to consistently do rollbacks when asked. Once he got that, he started mixing it up, asking her for inward and outward turns. She was, like the warmblood mare (and most horses), more comfortable on one side than the other, but the next exercise demonstrated that it wasn't so much that she was unbalanced, but that she was more afraid on one side, her off side. 

The next piece was the "join up" part. He stopped her and asked her to come in. She probably had been taught this too. She readily walked up, let herself be gently stroked, and followed the trainer around, stopping when he stopped, like a well-trained dog. But only on one side. She made sure he was always on her near side. Over and over she spun away, and the trainer pushed her around the arena at her high trot again a few times before he tried again. Then there was a breakthrough. He walked up to her and moved slowly to her off side, and she stood, tense. When he reached out a hand she jolted -- and stood. He said, "see that? That's when her mind said 'run!' and her body said, 'nope, too tired, not doing it.' 

That ended up being the last part of the session. The trainer told me he goes only to the point that the horse still has the juice to keep learning, and then quits for the day. "It's not fair to the horse to push past that point. Tomorrow she'll need a refresher to get to where we stopped today, but it will be shorter, and she'll have some energy left to learn the next thing."

Forty-five minutes. She was very tired, emotionally and physically. The trainer said that the first lesson always was the hardest the horse would ever have to work, with him. At the end we did a bit of leading with a halter and rope, and he showed me how, when I stopped, Pippa inevitably swung her hindquarters away before halting. "She's making sure that if she has to run, she can spin and go," he said. We worked on getting some consistent parallel stops, then I put a cooler on her (she was sopping wet in her winter coat), and let her back into her stall. She would get blanketed and put out in her turn out pen once she was cooled down. 

On the drive home, my friend and I discussed what we'd seen. She was no fan of Natural Horsemanship herself, but she admitted that for a fearful horse it could be a lifesaver. Pippa was learning other ways to manage her fear besides running away. The trainer had said, "I never ask a horse to not be afraid. That's unfair. I ask a horse to stand with their fear, so they can discover that they can."


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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

I am loving this journal and learning a lot too. I wish I could be there seeing it, but @Avna, you describe it quite vividly. I wish everyone would read this journal.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

Absolutely mesmerizing how you wrote this. I have high hopes for Miss Pippa and I hope she learns to over come her fear.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Today was work-day seven for Pippa; there had been a day off for a clinic at the trainer's barn. I drove out to watch her work today, ahead of the snow storm scheduled to hit tomorrow. I took a slightly back route through small New England villages and across spectacular rivers and reflected once again on how very lucky I am to live in this gorgeous place. Of course a major reason it is still lovely and unspoiled by "progress" is because it is so frickin cold in winter. I was well bundled up as I knew from experience that there are few things colder than sitting in an unheated arena as the sun sets in February in New England. 15 degrees is perfectly fine if you keep moving, but eventually it will penetrate any amount of clothing if you are sitting in a metal folding chair. 

The horse before Pippa's turn was a little sorrel Mustang filly off the range, not a lot bigger than Pippa, and more or less in the same place, training-level-wise. What a different personality, though. Her idea of a perfect workout was standing in a doze being scratched behind the ears; she was already quite clever about doing the very minimum asked. She demonstrated that she was capable of undoing rope knots with her lips, too. She was the kind of horse who will slyly take advantage of any inattentive or unauthoritative rider. The kind of horse who could make all kinds of mischief but would never lose her head and hurt herself. The trainer mostly had to correct her for little acts of willful disobedience. She had a saddle put on her back for the first time; she made nothing of it. She trotted around the round pen like she wasn't wearing it. Saddles, eh, big deal.

Next Pippa was brought in and turned loose in the pen. Her head was high, nostrils flared. The trainer remarked that she had improved in that when she immediately took off, she did so at a fast trot, not the dead run of her initial outings. She felt the need to burn off some nervous energy, which the trainer used to move her in big figure eight loops, something she could not do before. When he asked her to stop she was able to. She seemed poised to dash away for the first half of the session, but didn't actually do so. Sometimes she faded out, not following him, and when she did that he sent her around another few times. He said that for her, running had always been her safe place, and she needed to learn that in fact it wasn't. The safe place was with him. She was noticeably more relaxed this session, but that was a relative thing. She was getting a lot better at knowing what to expect, and that in itself was calming her down, but she was never going to be that sorrel Mustang, dogging along with floppy ears and mischief behind her eyes. 

The trainer walked her over the the fence where the tack was, and put a saddle blanket on her. She winced but stood. Remember, she had no halter on; following and standing there is completely up to her. He took it off and put it on a few times on both sides. The off side made her very tense, and after a couple of those, she left. Around she went, losing the blanket, spooking at it on the ground as she tore around and around. Then she asked to stop and come in, but the trainer pushed her around another time. "I love that she asked to come in, but I can't let her pick when to do it." Then he started all over. This time she was able to stand for it on both sides, and follow him around wearing it. Then he tried the saddle. She stood for this too. He had taken the cinch off. He said, "I never want to have to make a decision between saving my saddle and saving my training. So I don't use my expensive saddles for this part." However, he didn't lose his bet, the saddle was okay with her. At least standing still with it.

He talked about what he called "compounded anxieties". For example, for a green horse, each increment of new tack is another anxiety to manage. A saddle blanket, and a saddle, and a cinch, and then walking with all this, and trotting -- each of these is a separate new experience for a horse. We see it as one whole thing, but they do not. If calm is zero, a blanket is say, a three, and the saddle is another three, and the cinch is another three, if you smoosh it all together you're already up to level nine. Then a leaf blows across their path or dog barks and your horse loses it. He drew my attention to how Pippa twitched when someone closed the barn door, and stared when a horse was walked past the opening into the arena, things she did not react to before. "This is all she can take now," he said. "She's doing what I ask but it's getting harder and harder for her. She's still succeeding and I want that to be what she thinks about tonight." He took the saddle off. The lesson was over.


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## lostastirrup (Jan 6, 2015)

This is super interesting to read. I've been reading a lot on behaviour in animals and lately on trigger stacking and behavioural extinction. The former explains a little why spooky horses don't get better from "flooding" (or really nothing does if we're honest). Behavioural extinction and "behavioural extinction bursts are super interesting since it's how the brain removes a course of action from it's responses. It can be slow, by simply removing or changing the stimulus until it is no longer familiar to the animal, or it can involve applying the stimulus and creating a situation where the animal offers a different response. Nick is like your Pippa, he thinks running is safe. He takes a lot to get through to. Fortunately he's pretty well chilled after 3 years but occasionally I see his predispositions at work. Behavioural extinction bursts have to do with the second method of "rewiring the brain" when the animal realizes the familiar course of action doesn't work, and even if they now understand what the desired response is- they will 'up the ante' and do what was familiar, but like 100x harder and longer. I saw this with my pony in trailer loading, where one day after a week of working on it with steady progress, it took me five hours and the next day, after the dust had settled, 2 minutes. 


What kind of natural horsemanship does this trainer practice. From reading- I am very impressed with his methods.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

@lostastirrup, to answer your question, I don't know what kind of natural horsemanship he practices. My guess is, he's like other good trainers, in that he has picked up techniques that make sense and work for him, and made them his own. He's been riding all his life and training professionally for a few decades now. His mother was a horse trainer and he started out learning from her. You won't find the term natural horsemanship on his website, and I didn't see any 'special equipment' in his tack room. He's not a fancy hat with a big ego.

I've heard "behavioral extinction bursts" compared to how you bang on a vending machine that has eaten your money, before you give up and walk away. "This is supposed to work! Why isn't it?!" 

Pippa looked good with a saddle on her! She would make a very fine, forward, sensitive riding pony for a skilled child or small adult. She will never be a safe beginner pony though. 

I don't care if she ever becomes a driving pony. I have two goals for her. One, that she learn to trust people. Two, that she acquire a useful skill. I have a very strong belief that the best thing you can do for a horse's future is make them marketable, whether you ever need to sell them or not. I'd like to keep Pippa happy on my farm for the rest of her life, but no one knows what the future holds. If something happened to me, such that I had to disperse my animals, there is going to be a huge difference between "fancy show and pleasure pony" and "fearful untrainable pony" in terms of where Pippa would end up. 

It was much the same for my Brooke. "Unstarted short brown grade Morgan mare" is a lot different than "experienced elegant small trail horse with first-level dressage skills". For a grade horse, especially, often the only thing standing between them and the slaughterhouse is training.


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## GMA100 (Apr 8, 2016)

Subbing! I love this journal and your style of writing! You make it seem like I’m right there instead of just reading.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

@Avna your writing is so descriptive and I love how insightful your trainer is. I am going to take away from your post about the increment levels of each step. Once I read it - it made total sense! I am happy she is progressing and even happier that you are spending the money to make Pippa a better horse. Because you are right - Forever does not always mean FOREVER - unimaginable things happen and we have to prepare our horses just in case.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Today I went out to see Pippa again after a ten day hiatus. The trainer had sent me a photo of him sitting on her, his feet practically dragging on the ground. He's thin, but pony-rider size he is not.
He told me as his intern brought Pippa into the indoor arena and turned her into the round pen, that the day before, he hadn't needed to do any 'roundpenning', she was ready to work from the start. 

Today, though, not so much. There was a guy loading fence panels on to a flat bed trailer right outside, and two horses were being ridden in the adjacent space. She needed to be sent around several times before she was ready to settle down. Then, he brushed her, picked her feet, put a saddle blanket on her, walked her around, put the saddle on, walked her around, cinched it up, walked her around .... she had nothing on her head. "I want her to be able to choose to leave if she feels she has to." She didn't leave. She didn't even move her feet unless invited for a walk. 

At this point he turned the session over to an intern, a girl who was probably a bit older than she looked, and taller than me, but I could have picked her up and carried her under my arm she was so skinny. The intern put her foot in the stirrup, took it out, gave Pippa a little withers scritch, did that about five times on each side, then put weight in the stirrup, repeat both sides a few times ... slowly with many repetitions and scritches she got into the saddle. Pippa did not move, and it seemed to me she was feeling kind of contemplative about the whole thing. She wasn't relaxed, but she was not a coiled spring either. 

Her halter was put on her and reins were snapped to the cheek pieces. The intern got her to move by simply turning her head with the rein and encouraging her a bit. The trainer said, "all we want at this point is movement, don't much care where she goes." At first Pippa went in unsteady jerky circles, but gradually and gently the intern got her straightened out and walking sort of in a straight line. Pippa began to get a rhythm up, and had a bit of trouble stopping. "They all do that," the trainer remarked. "She just doesn't understand the cue yet."

He told me that it was quite clear that Pippa had been ridden before. "She had some not-so-good training at some point ... let's put it this way, she has learned to be afraid of people through experience. She is not a blank slate." But he was quite optimistic. "She's an honest horse, she tries her best, and she lets you know what she's feeling. She's coming along real well."

I thought so too.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

@Avna - I am smiling reading this. Isn't that what we all want? A good honest relationship- whether human or horse? What a great trainer for Pippa- it makes me so sad to know that some horses just were never given a chance.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

carshon said:


> @Avna - I am smiling reading this. Isn't that what we all want? A good honest relationship- whether human or horse? What a great trainer for Pippa- it makes me so sad to know that some horses just were never given a chance.


Yes. Pippa was one of those horses somebody ruined and then gave up on. The family that gave her to my trainer said "oh, she's unrideable." Truth is, somebody made her that way. 

Pippa looks adorable under saddle. I will take pictures next time.


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## GMA100 (Apr 8, 2016)

How amazing that she’s turning around! It sounds like her trainer is one awesome horseman!! 

I’m looking forwards to more updates and, pictures of course!


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## lostastirrup (Jan 6, 2015)

I second the desire for pictures!


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## Walkamile (Dec 29, 2008)

I am thoroughly enjoying the story of Pippa! Can't wait for the next post!


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Today I watched Pippa get ridden again. This was the first day she had a bit in her mouth, and perhaps the fourth ride. She started out galloping around, keyed up, but in a few minutes she was ready to come in and be tacked up. Accepted the bit easily. I had worked on this with her, but it was months ago. She did do a lot of mouthing and chewing, as she had done the first times she'd been bitted up. It seemed all new again to her. A different intern rode her, as her regular rider had the flu. This one was a bit firmer with her. I was surprised at how much progress Pippa had made since her first ride. She walked out easily, turned easily in any direction. Still struggled with stopping. She fought a little each time she was asked. She will always be a horse who wants to go, so this part is going to need attention. 

I asked the intern what it was like to ride Pippa. She said that Pippa was extremely sensitive, that she only needed the very lightest cues. The trainer, who was supervising the whole time, said that Pippa wasn't ready for even a little leg pressure yet. But she looked really good! I was happy to see how far she had already come.

As promised, I took a few rather blurry pictures.


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## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

She looks so cute under saddle!


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

I have so much hope for Pippa! Her headset actually looks more relaxed than I thought it would. So happy to read of her progression


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

She is so adorable!! Nice to see her saddled up!


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Well, Pippa has had some setbacks. She had been making good progress and then suddenly she wasn't. She bucked off her rider, raced around in a panic, tried to buck her saddle off. She stopped eating her hay, and began to drop weight. 

The trainer palpated her flanks and girth area and she was very reactive, so he put her on omeprazole. Slowly she started coming around. I was there at about day four of treatment. She was still quite nervous but accepted a (different) saddle and after about half an hour, a rider, who just walked her around a little and got off. She never relaxed though. I went home wondering if I shouldn't have left well enough alone from the beginning. She was happy being Brooke's little buddy and nothing else. I knew in my heart that she would never be truly healthy living alone without her big best friend, in a busy training barn, confined to a stall at night and a muddy icy small run during the day. I wanted, in fact, to bring her home right then, and if I'd had a trailer with me I might have.

However, the following week she was doing much better. Yesterday, she was trotting under saddle, if a bit jerkily, her stops and turns were improving. She had begun to eat again. She still needed way more ground work before being saddled than any normally-constituted green horse. But of course, she isn't green. She is, not to put too fine a point on it, damaged. There are only a couple weeks to go on the two months of training time I had planned on. I think I will bring her home no matter how far she has or hasn't gotten, and work with her a little every day at home, doing liberty training and fun stuff, with perhaps a little riding thrown in. I realize now that I should be thinking in terms of years, not weeks or even months. If she goes back into training I will trailer her there a couple days a week. 

Meanwhile back at the farm, Dellah the substitute pony is continuing to be crabby and fat. She also chews on my fences and trees, and has gotten Brooke doing it too. The trails continue to be covered in ice and snow, although the snow is melting fast. I am very anxious to get trail riding with Brooke, especially because I have the goal of doing a 25 mile Limited Distance endurance ride in June. I have decided against keeping Dellah as my third horse, in fact I have decided against a third horse at all; almost any third horse would bully Pippa and I have promised her a peaceful home with me. I have a pair of nice mature lady goats coming to live here instead, Swiss Oberhaslis named Birgit and Margit. Hopefully they will comfort Pippa when I can't take her with me on trails.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Ten days until the big Pony Swaparoo, when Dellah goes back to her home and Pippa comes back to hers. Hoping my road continues to dry out. 

I have been trying to find a saddle for Pippa; saddle fitting is always one of those joyful experiences one can't get enough of. Joke, it's almost always agony. In this case, the challenge is that Pippa has a pony-sized back and I have a grown-up sized rear end. We can meet in the middle, so to speak, but there is not a big selection of saddles short enough for her and long enough for me. Plus she surprisingly has a rather wide back, shrinking the choices even more. The up side is, I'm in no hurry. Far more than being ridden more, she needs to trust more. She has come quite a ways at the trainer, but she has a long way yet to go before she is the kind of horse she would have been if brought up properly. 

She is now able to be tacked up in cross ties without agitation, a big step for her. She can be ridden at a trot with good stops and turns. She was ridden outside the round pen in the larger indoor arena successfully. She's doing well, really, considering what she started from. 

But I feel so strongly that it has taken me far too long to understand Pippa's heart. I wanted her to be a straightforward training experience, and didn't hear what she was saying. As Mark Rashid says, you always have two choices, listening to the horse, or wishing that you had. 

Pippa has a hurting heart, where people are concerned. At the trainer's she has learned how to behave to stay more or less comfortable; it's a place where directions are fair, and consequences are clear. But that is still not the same as being trusting. I learned with Brooke that trust builds upon itself, upon many tiny repetitions of reassurance, many small moments of connection, many small acts of grace. 

I remember getting a one-off lesson early on from a great teacher -- I was a pretty horrible rider at that point, and Brooke was barely steerable. I am sure we looked quite the mess. That teacher told me, "your horse is looking for you. She needs you to be her person." I never forgot that. I am Brooke's person now, but it was not from merely wishing it to be so. It took a lot of time, years in fact. And Brooke was looking for me! She hadn't ever had any trauma around people. 

It feels like my journey with Pippa is just barely started.


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## MajorSealstheDeal (Jan 4, 2011)

Beautifully written!


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

As some of you know, Pippa had a disaster three days ago. She slipped and fell in the roundpen and fractured her hock. It's been a rough few days, especially for Pippa of course. She was taken to Tufts, which is not far away, where she had a five hour operation to repair the break. A plate was inserted, and now she is in a whole-leg cast for the next two weeks, in the equine hospital there. 

I will leave out all the drama, crying, despair, fear, phone calls, rearranging of all my plans, etc.etc. 

The surgeons have a lot of hope for an excellent outcome. The fracture was below her hock which means it can be fused without loss of function (horses don't actually bend there). 

I visited her today. She is pretty calm. Is clearly is in much less pain. Is eating well. Putting her hoof on the ground, although not putting weight on it. 

Alas for my Pippa. She never deserved all this.


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## avjudge (Feb 1, 2011)

I saw your post on the over-50 thread and was hoping that the break would prove to be amenable to repair and healing. I'm so glad to hear it was, and that you were able to get her treated at Tufts. You're lucky to have a facility of that caliber so available to you!

Best wishes for Pippa's recovery!


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Pippa is continuing to do well. She's bearing weight on her casted leg now, and walking around her stall. Pooping and eating as she should, with some help of a nasal/gastric tube of electrolytes and water last night. Today she was able to stand on her casted leg to allow a cushion to be installed on the other one so she stands evenly, and so her good leg doesn't get sore. 

When I visit her tomorrow I will bring something of Brooke's for her. I was terribly touched when I was grooming Brooke a few days ago with a brush I had last brushed Pippa with at the trainer's. I have a habit of letting horses take a look at whatever grooming tool I am using before I attack them with it, and Brooke usually gives a cursory sniff. But with the Pippa brush she smelled long and deep, and didn't want to stop. She hasn't seen Pippa for seven weeks. I don't know that horses miss their loved ones exactly like people do -- time runs differently for them -- but I know she loves Pippa dearly and finds Dellah the borrowed Connemara a deeply inferior substitute.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

Oh no, I'm so, so sorry to hear that. It's heartwarming that you are able to do all of this for her, though. I hope she feels better soon.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

I went out to visit again today. Reviewed the radiographs with one of the surgeons. Turns out she didn't actually fracture any bones, she just dislocated the crap out of the bottom end of her hock joint. I mean it wasn't even speaking to the top end. I will never as long as I live forget that sight. 

She is putting weight on the casted leg now, she can walk on it, slowly. It's weird, but Pippa seems calmer, and happier even, than I can remember her being -- certainly nothing like her fearful agitated mood at the trainers. She has a giant, warm, brightly lit immaculate stall facing an aisle which is full of constant professional activity. In three days she has learned how to beg for cookies -- those vet students apparently dote on her; she had a bag of alfalfa crunchies hooked on the outside of her stall door. She liked being loved on and rubbed, something she was always a bit dubious about before. When I sat down she shuffled over and contemplatively chewed on my wool watch cap. Another thing quite out of character for her. 

She could have her cast off within two weeks, another week or so of observation, and then home for rehab, which will be very long. She'll be on stall rest and controlled exercise for months to come. 

I have this strong feeling that I will have a quite different pony at the end of all this.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

I'm sure she will heal just fine. Laela's hock was a complete mess and she healed just fine, the vet didn't think that she would. I wish that I had taken pics of it. It took a long time but worth the wait.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Pippa is getting sore around the top of her cast. This is very common in a full leg cast, they tell me. Tomorrow they are probably going to take the cast off, do another set of radiographs, and make a decision about whether to recast the leg or just splint it. They wanted to get two weeks out of the cast and it would be more like eleven days. I will know more tomorrow afternoon. 

I sure am wishing for her to be home.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Aww, sorry to hear she's getting uncomfortable but also glad to hear this stage of her healing is almost done. Hope you get good news tomorrow!


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

Fingers crossed today brings good news on the x-rays


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Pippa's Progress!

She got her cast off, and they are waiting to see how she does with just bandaging, or whether she will need a splint for a bit. She did have some cast sores so she is going to be on IV antibiotics again for a few days. Her x-rays were good, no shifting of the plate, all is holding together as it should. She's eating and seems comfortable (according to the vet -- I can't get over there for another day). He said if things keep looking good she could go home next week! 

I miss Pippa.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Wonderful update :grin:


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

fingers crossed she gets to come home and continue healing!


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Pippa has a lovely violet-blue bandage on instead of a cast. She is doing well with it. She will get it off in three days, and if all looks good she can come home the next day. 

She is shedding enormously in the heated vet stable. They have a fan on her because the parts that still aren't shedded out -- mostly her belly and neck -- are sweaty now that the weather is warming up. Today I combed big handfuls of fur off her. 

Pippa has had a journey. She is not the same horse as the one left my barn at the beginning of February. She used to be a standoffish, nervous pony, reaching out only warily for a treat, ready in an instant to evade the halter, not liking to be touched. My photos were generally of her rear end, moving away, putting a safer distance between us. She doesn't seem to be that pony any more. Today, most of my photos were of her nose. After the grooming was over, and the carrots were gone, she wanted to stand with her nose on my head, whiffling my hair, or nibbling my hands. When I left she went with me to the stall door and looked regretfully after me. She has never been that kind of pony before. 

I wonder very much what she will be like coming home.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Pippa is Home!

She and Brooke were very excited to see each other. Pippa is on stall rest for six weeks, with gradually increasing hand walking. Then she will get new x-rays to see if she can be cleared for turn-out. 

I am so very happy she is home. A bit weepy.

She has lost a huge amount of condition and a fair bit of weight. We still have a long road ahead.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Today was enormously exhausting for me. Having both horses in stalls (with runs) means completely stripping both stalls twice a day, stuffing four hay bags (one inside one outside for each horse) twice a day ... instead of just feeding them their mash and having them walk out into the pasture for the rest of the day, the way it used to be. So I did all that first. 

Then, today is the day Pippa got her hospital bandage off, including the rubber pads duct-taped to the bottoms of both hind hooves since the surgery almost a month ago. It took me over an hour, bit by bit, to get it all off by myself, with no one to hold her still. I also managed to slice my finger with the disposable scalpel out of the first aid kit that was the only thing that would work on the five layers of bandaging. Really would not stop bleeding, those itty bitty scalpels are way sharp. Unbandage Pippa and then bandage me.

Pippa immediately found walking much, much more painful without her pads. She broke out in a sweat and started fence-walking on three legs. I couldn't let her do that of course, so I shut her in her stall, which agitated her more. But there was no time to hang out with her, I had to drive ninety minutes away to pick up the pair of goats which have long been intended to be her stable buddies. 

I eventually found the goat dairy, eventually loaded up the two goats, Oberhasli Alpines named Meg and Birgit. They were both very overweight, as they ate the same rich feed the milking does were getting, but being dry, it all went to their bellies. It took three people to hoist them into my pickup. Somewhere along the road home I realized it was past three pm and I had last eaten at dawn. 

When I got home with the goats, it was raining. I got out and looked at Pippa and was horrified -- she had undone her small bandage I'd left on her and torn the scab off her incision. Her whole leg was dripping blood. I left the goats in the truck, sluiced Pippa's leg down with a warm betadine solution, dried it, sprayed the last of my Aluspray on it, and put on a standing wrap. Only then did I realize I had totally forgotten the technique of putting on a standing wrap. My last experience of them was too long ago.

I left poor Pippa with the world's most inept standing wrap, and got the goats settled as best I could. They had never been off their farm before, had never met horses before, and were utterly appalled at everything, poor things. They had also been renamed on their journey, and were now Margalo and Zelda, although I hadn't broken that news to them yet. The horses, who had lived with goats previously, thought they were quite interesting but what they really liked was the better quality bales of hay the dairy owner had sent with them. Brooke had no qualms about reaching over the wall and snagging it, ignoring their terrified stares. 

I was falling-down tired and hungry so I went into the house, ate whatever I could find, drank a restorative cup of tea, watched a youtube video about standing wraps, fed the dogs, fed and watered the chickens in the basement, went back out and cleaned the stalls again and stuffed the hay nets again, tossed down another dozen bales from the loft and stacked them, swept the aisle, filled the water tubs, and then, gathering my courage .... rewrapped Pippa's leg, my last challenge of the day. This time it looked more like what they are supposed to. 

And now I am going to take a shower and go to bed. I hope tomorrow will be just a little easier.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

What? No pictures of the goats? :hide: Joke

I hope that they help settle Pippa down.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

LoriF said:


> What? No pictures of the goats? :hide: Joke
> 
> I hope that they help settle Pippa down.


I thought about it. Tomorrow perhaps. They are pretty comic. I too hope they will have a good effect but first they're going to have to get used to horses!


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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

What an awful, discouraging, tiring day. I got tired just reading about it. I hope tomorrow is better.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

knightrider said:


> What an awful, discouraging, tiring day. I got tired just reading about it. I hope tomorrow is better.


Well on the plus side, I have the goats now, and I have remembered how to do standing wraps. And Pippa and I are beginning to have an understanding about handling her leg. I watched the vet wrap her leg at Tufts, and there were three students holding her plus the vet, and she was still hopping around. She stood completely still for me to do her second wrap. She is a horse who really wants to trust somebody, but she's been frightened so many times, by people who aren't cruel, but just want her to behave; they don't see that she needs more time. Just breathing with her for awhile gives her courage.

Pippa is a heart-opening horse.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

Awwww...… I am so sorry @Avna what a trying day. I think if it were me I may well have sat down and had a good cry. Glad you got the goats and the standing wrap taken care of. Hopefully tomorrow is a better day.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Just saw your update, and like everyone else, sorry to hear it was so challenging. I just had some good luck finding a wonderful high school student who is a 4-H club member and super eager to come help with chores- including picking fields!- for $10/hour for a few hours a week. I wonder if you could find some of that kind of help so you could focus on the stuff you really NEED to do- like the bandage changes- and have someone else helping out with the more time consuming chores?


Continued healing wishes for Pippa! Did other pony go home? Assuming that's why Brooke is also up in the stalls?


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

egrogan said:


> Just saw your update, and like everyone else, sorry to hear it was so challenging. I just had some good luck finding a wonderful high school student who is a 4-H club member and super eager to come help with chores- including picking fields!- for $10/hour for a few hours a week. I wonder if you could find some of that kind of help so you could focus on the stuff you really NEED to do- like the bandage changes- and have someone else helping out with the more time consuming chores?
> 
> 
> Continued healing wishes for Pippa! Did other pony go home? Assuming that's why Brooke is also up in the stalls?


Yes, Dellah went home. My friend who boards at Dellah's barn drove her trailer up here and parked it, then went with me to Tufts in my rig to pick up Pippa. When we got home we put Dellah in my friend's trailer before we even unloaded Pippa. Made everything smooth. 

Today Pippa's "five minute walk twice a day" regimen started, which is supposed to be for two solid weeks. I think she already gets too much exercise as it is, but I am treading a tightrope between shutting her in the stall and having her freak out, and letting her out into the 20 x 30' run and then she overworks her leg. 

I had to let Brooke out to race around and roll in the grass for a few minutes, but that got Pippa so over-amped just watching it took me twenty minutes of grooming her and singing to her to get her to chill out again. 

Meanwhile the goats remain terrified. Margalo is worse than Velma-Zelda-Vera (can't decide). She trembled and hides and won't eat or drink. That's bad for any animal but particularly a ruminant. I got her to eat a handful of alfalfa pellets finally. I never owned goats as protectively brought up as these -- they lived in a herd of about forty, in an immaculate indoor-outdoor goat palace with a couple feet of clean straw to lounge in. The goats I raised were routinely herded down the road to various pastures to graze during the day, encountering many things on their way. I didn't realize how that inoculated them to strange sights and sounds. I hope these guys adjust. 

I'm going to try some soaked alfalfa cubes next. I got them as a lunch for Pippa, who needs all the calories she can get.


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## WildestDandelion (Apr 4, 2019)

Just got done reading all the posts in this thread and man, I think I held my breath through most of it. What a journey you are on.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Right now the next drama is that the goats remain terrified, are neither eating nor drinking properly. My California goat mentor told me over the phone that I should take them back and get a pair of kids. Her experience (50 years of it) is that middle aged goats don't change their attitudes easily. They may slowly learn to tolerate the horses but they won't ever cosy up to them. Sigh.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Well, the goat return did not go well. They were returned to their owner, and I believe they are okay, but I am completely shattered by the experience. Some very bad things happened, I don't think I understand it or can talk about it as yet. I'd probably throw up. 

Meanwhile Pippa's vet comes to take a look at her tomorrow. I'm not happy with things there either.


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

I am so sorry something traumatic happened with the goats. I hope the vet visit goes better than you expect!


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Yes, good thoughts for the vet visit.


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## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

Glad to hear Pippa was able to come home. 

Sorry about the goats. I've also found goats to be a bit fragile at times and inflexible about changes, although many people believe goats are an easy animal. I trim a couple goats at my boarding barn, and they remain wary about being handled (and bite!), even though I have trimmed them monthly for a couple of years. Their hooves also grow out deformed and need a lot of care, due to having been neglected for a few years. A kid tossed them some rhododendron leaves last year and they had serious neurological issues for awhile, weakness, and were unable to walk straight or balance. They seem much better now, finally.

My friends took in an older goat and she was always nervous after the move and had to be kept separated from the other goats. They thought they would be able to just put all the goats together.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

The goat debacle, in brief, was that the goats were not adjusting to the move the way one would expect. One hid under the goat bench for 36 hours and as far as I could tell did not drink during that time. The other was a little better but refused to come out of their stall. My goat mentor (50 years of experience in every possible facet of goat keeping) told me I should take them back, that older goats could be very set in their ways, and these might come around and act normally but they would never make friends with the horses. I was truly getting concerned about the one who wasn't eating or drinking, too. So I took them back, very disappointed. That was just a setback, but the original owner, for some unknown reason, was so furious with me she was barely coherent with rage. She took the goats off the truck and told me I would be responsible for any vet bills and that I had to leave her property immediately. But not so politely as that. 

My husband had come with me, as I was exhausted and sick to start with. That was the one good thing. He was shocked, I was shattered. He insisted we stop at our bank on the way home and stop payment on the check, which I would have been too dazed to do. 

Came home and found that the owner had already started ranting on Facebook about me ... I couldn't read whatever it was she was saying, I just erased it, blocked her, quit that discussion group, and this morning -- a morning as beautiful as an Easter egg -- I feel like moving on and never thinking about the whole thing ever again. 

I still don't have a clue as to what I did wrong. Perhaps she felt that in wanting to return them I was criticizing her beloved, perfect, goats, and her care of them? The only time I've ever gone off on someone like that was when a hippie kindergarten teacher let my daughter wander off the property (across a busy road), and didn't care to even help me look for her. Still not sorry about that ...


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

I know I don’t have to tell you how crazy and easily offended people are at any perceived slight of their animals :icon_rolleyes: It’s still incredibly awful to be on the receiving end. Sorry that happened.

That story about your daughter’s teacher is nuts! When I was in college, I was a one-in-one aide for a middle school boy who had several learning disabilities and behavioral challenges. Part of his behavior plan was that he had a “time out room” he could go to when he needed to get himself under control, and he could go there without me. One day he stormed off to his room, and I gave him the typical 10ish minutes to cool down and then knocked on the door. Nothing. Knocked again, then opened the door. Room was empty and he was nowhere to be found!!!  He had left the building in a rage, and as this was a city school, had disappeared down the block. In a complete panic, I was able to get the principal and a few teachers immediately out the door looking. We found him just a few minutes later in a park, perfectly fine. But even 20+ years later, I remember that feeling of panic and utterly failed responsibility. I can’t imagine being a teacher who lost a kid and telling a parent to go find her!! mg: (Needless to say, my student’s “cool out room privileges” changed after that incident!!)

Enjoy this beautiful day!


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

Apparently goat people are as crazy as horse people, as that woman should have been thanking you for looking out for the best interests of the goats!! Smart to cut off all contact, as there is no reasoning with people like that.


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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

What a horrible experience. I would have been devastated. That goat owner was totally unreasonable. Unfortunately, I know a bunch of people who are equally unreasonable like that. You are not alone. (((hugs))))


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

Also sending cyber well wishes. It is so sad to hear that not only did she not appreciate the effort it took to bring the goats to your home and then bring them back but to bash you on social media. That is horrible.

As for Pippa - I hope the vet brings good news.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

My vet said her leg looked pretty good to him. He took some pics and was going to call the head surgeon at Tufts and consult and get back to me. I feel reassured. He told me of a lady who had mini donkeys which she probably would not mind loaning me. Since Pippa is dry-lotted there isn't a worry about the spring grass. 

I am trying hard not to go crazy that I cannot ride Brooke in this gorgeous weather because I can't leave Pip alone.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

I love your writing Avna. Soon you will be riding and Pippa will be fine.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

Wow, sorry about the incident with the goat lady, geesh. Some people are like that, they make up a story in their head and take it as the truth. She didn't even hear what you said because her truth was already written in stone. Good decision to just ignore her and let yourself get over it. 

Glad to hear that the vet is liking the way Pippa looks.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Pippa continues ... okay. On her five minute walk twice a day she steps out well but she still has a lot of swelling on that leg and hobbles about carefully in her little run. She had an open sore on her incision line when the bandage came off which is healing too slowly because she chews at it. But it is only an oval about an inch long and I have stopped fretting about it. After her walk I hand graze her on the lawn while Brooke gets a little pasture time so she can graze, roll, and gallop. 

It was hard to keep weight on Brooke this winter but now, confined and in warmer weather, she is rapidly laying on the fat. Meanwhile I am feeding Pippa everything I can think of but she is still too thin. Both get free choice grass hay, and a little ration balancer, but Pippa also gets soaked beet pulp, alfalfa pellets, and forage extender pellets. She eats everything with alacrity. Not quite sure what else I should do. My feeling is that while she is still in some pain, she is not going to gain much. Her coat, too, lacks the shine it ought to have. And I long to get her hoofs trimmed, it's been months, but I can't even pick them out, as she can't balance. I'm sure her frogs are all rotted and nasty. But there is nothing I can do. 

On the goat front, more delays. I was offered a mini donkey, unweaned kids, even a lamb. But what I decided on was this nice adolescent wether goat named Spark who lives just ten miles from here; I have come to the conclusion that a single goat who lives with Pippa night and day is going to have the highest probability of bonding. The two mature does who failed were always going to lean entirely on each other. 

This goat herd is a side project at a cow dairy. That turned out to be a problem, as the day before I was to take him home some cows came down with bacterial pneumonia. This is an opportunistic infection caused by some other thing, just like in people. Stress, viral pneumonia, another chronic disease, will bring it on. The vet advised waiting until the cows were well before moving him. So, more waiting.


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

Could you add rice bran or flax to Pippa's feed to help with weight gain? I get whole flax in bulk from the local feed store and grind it myself, as that is much cheaper than the pre-ground, stabilized version.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Not to hijack Avna's thread but how much in advance can you grind it up phantomhorse13 ? Looking to save some coin....


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

waresbear said:


> Not to hijack Avna's thread but how much in advance can you grind it up phantomhorse13 ? Looking to save some coin....


I believe I read its ok for 24 hours at room temp as long as it's dry and 48 if in the fridge. I feed it just once a day, so I grind it right before I use it (using a cheap coffee grinder).


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Yep the stabilized rice bran is $$$. But she's a very small horse ... I was thinking of something for her coat too, maybe sunflower seeds. Poor Brooke, she is very bored and jealous these days.


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## rambo99 (Nov 29, 2016)

For getting pippas coat shinny get omega horseshine not cheap but works. Being pippa is on the smaller side 25 pounds will last a long time. 

Poor Brooke give her some extra grooming time.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Vet here again this morning. Her "small wound" on her incision line has become a nasty granulated suppurating sore that weeps blood and pus down her leg. Because she chews on it. I am not going to post a picture, but it is shockingly ugly. I do not have enough technique nor the right materials to get a bandage on her that will neither stick to the wound nor slide off it. My vet sent photos off to Tufts and will get back to me. He left me with a tube of sedative so when he comes back it might be possible to work on her. 

Pippa is not like most horses. Getting firm with her does not make her compliant, it absolutely terrifies her. I can tell Brooke to knock it off in a "don't make me come out there" tone of voice and she quits. This would make Pippa literally start shaking. I can wash her sore and dry it and bandage it -- but it takes a half hour of complete patience and constant reassurance for a one-minute job. There is no rushing Pippa. I think that Pippa's basic problem is simply that her whole life she's been treated like an ordinary regular horse. Get over it! Hold still! Quit that! But she _can't_. 

Pippa is my angel of compassion mirror. She demands sensitivity, gentleness, and awareness like no other animal I've ever owned. And she repays it. She leans her head on me for comfort and sighs, and my heart melts. I see how terribly hard it is for her to trust people, when they have hurt and frightened her over and over, though no harm was meant. But she wants to believe in me.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

Awwww poor Pippa! I had a mare like that. A shout of too much energy would literally have her trying to climb the fence to get away from you. Senorita had some abuse in her back ground and she just needed a kind patient person to be with. My mare was a great riding horse and brave on the trail - as long as you were brave with her.

Sending well wishes for Miss Pippa.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

The vet gave me the right bandaging supplies and some antibiotic plus steroid ointment for the sore, that should help the pain and the swelling. Pippa let me clean and bandage her nasty spot. She is so good, she makes me cry. The vet also suggested just feeding her a lot of forage extender pellets, as much as she wants, basically, along with her 24/7 hay. I decide to add some alfalfa pellets and some sunflower seeds, because I have them already. He thought she wouldn't gain weight until she stopped hurting so much.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Still struggling with the wound. She has begun chewing her bandage off. I borrowed one of those dowel neck cradles but it is far too large for her. On the advice of a rancher friend, I wrapped the vetwrap with duct tape. We will see. 

Meanwhile the Companion Animal search has been rather exhausting. Found a goat and the day I was to pick him up the cows at the dairy he was living at came down with bacterial pneumonia; the dairy vet said the goat should not be moved until it was all resolved. It will be weeks. So, poked around some more and found goat #3. Not counting all the back and forth with other goat people. This goat had most of the things I was looking for: young but not a baby, wether, disbudded, medium-sized, clean bill of health, leash-trained and very tame. He lived with sheep, poultry, and donkeys at a childrens' farm camp, so had seen a lot in his short life. I liked him on meeting him, so I took him home. His name is probably Stewart. 

Pippa and Brooke were mildly, gently, interested in him, as expected. Stewart was alarmed and lonely at finding himself the only goat in a strange place but was only skittish about the horses, not terrified. He acted like a goat --nibbling everything, jumping on the highest point available, curious. The first day he stayed on top of the goat shelf I had my husband install in Pippa's stall (she only goes in her stall to pee and eat her mash, so it is mainly a pony-free zone), but today he was out in the pen with Pippa. 

I have taken him on a couple of graze-walks in the pasture with the horses. He hides behind me if the horses get too close, but otherwise chows down eagerly. So this may -- _*may*_ -- actually work out. 

I could really use a lucky break.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

Fingers crossed!


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

more fingers crossed for Stewart and Pippa


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

sounds very promising - welcome Stewart!


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Stewart is already proving to be an endearing and comic character. By this afternoon he was letting both horses deeply snuffle his fur without bothering to move. He has attached himself to me, however, and wishes to follow me everywhere. I had missed have goat personalities in my life!


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Well, even if Pippa doesn't fancy him as a campanion, he wormed his way into your heart, sweet! Welcome Stewart!


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

I wrote a whole post with pictures that disappeared, but I will try again.

With help from the Horse Forum I have rigged Pippa up in an Anti Leg Chewing Device. Now it is possible to get her self-inflicted wound healing up. The vet came over and we got Pippa sedated (the worst part of the event, she is terrified of injections), and he cut away all the proud flesh on her self-inflicted wound. Very messy bloody job. It's now dressed with manuka honey and bandaged. Looks much better. The next day an equine bodyworker came and gave Pippa a massage. Pippa only could handle the non-broken-leg side being touched. Bodyworker will be back. 

Pippa is walking better, finally. It isn't every single step but it is noticeable. Glory be to God. It's been seven weeks since the accident.

Stewart gets more confident and obstreperous every day. He has a lot of personality even for a goat. He is very comfortable with Pippa now. This morning she bit him to get him out of her feed bucket. Gently. 

And someday, I will get to ride my horse again.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Love!!!!


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Awww welcome Stewart!  That is so cute he is attached to you! Love it! Goats are so cute. Such adorable personalities.
Glad Pippa is improving as well. Even if it's just a little bit, it's something. Hoping she continues to improve!


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

More drama. Unceasing drama really. 

Good news: Stewart is working out really really well. Couldn't be happier with him. He's joyful, silly, curious, and constantly in trouble. 

Other good news: my farrier came to trim Brooke and see what he could do for Pippa. With patience, he managed to work on every single hoof! Her frogs were almost completely rotted, and he wasn't able to quite get rid of the splay in the fronts but I was so happy to see the improvement. Her last trim was before she left here the first week of February so it has been four months.

Best good news: I was grazing Pippa on a rope in the pasture, with Stewart and Brooke loose, as I do every day, and Pippa came across the bare dirt old burn pile site where the horses liked to roll last summer (we removed the ashes as it made such a mess of the horses). She decided she could roll there again. She rolled and rolled, and then, in the warm evening sunlight, just lay flat and dozed. I did the same. I was just as sleepy as she was. Stewart lay down with his back against me like a dog and chewed his cud. Pippa had not laid down once since her accident, and probably not since she left home. 

She had a hard time getting up, but it was totally worth it. 

Bad news: this morning I found her with her halter in pieces in the dirt and her self-mutilation sore a bloody mess again. Her whole leg and her muzzle were red with blood. 

My wonderful husband had been working on cutting down the wooden cradle my vet had left with me. He had to cut and round off every dowel, and drill new holes for the rope and restring it. I washed her off and put the cradle on. Hope it works.


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

Here's hoping this works.


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Oh my, poor girly. :sad: I hope it works & she gets some relief. I know that's not what you wanted to wake up to!


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

The cradle is working. YES. Finally there is a scab over the wound she made. An icky scab leaking pus, but a scab. 

Over the past three days Pippa's walking has truly improved. The swelling may even be going down. I saw the bare hint of the delineation of the tendon in her cannon. Maybe I was imagining it. But I am not imagining how much better she is moving. She is supposed to be hand walked for 20 minutes daily now. 

Yesterday i saddled up Brooke and rode for ten minutes, just up the road and back, as a test. I had hoped Stewart would prove a consoling presence but what happened was BOTH Stewie and Pippa hollered for Brooke and I. Oh well. I need to ride so badly. Today I went out for fifteen minutes. They were calmer. Tomorrow I will go out longer. 

My husband likes to feed the animals treats -- it's about his only interaction with them (although he is absolutely invaluable at building them things). He's always been disappointed in Pippa because she can barely bring herself to take a piece of apple from him. She'll stretch her neck way out so she can stand as far away as possible, and as soon as she's taken it she turns away. She was just like that with me as well. But now she comes right up to me, even though I often enough am about to halter her and do something scary to her leg. Today I watched as Stewart and Brooke waited with very poor patience for the peanut distribution, and Pippa, though with me she is right up with the others, wouldn't even come into the barn. Even when I offered it myself, she wouldn't come in until he left. 

Pippa is like a delicate child who has well learned that adults hurt you. She will never unlearn that. My husband has never done anything with her beside offer her treats, but she won't warm to him. For that, she needs someone as sensitive to tiny nuance as she is. You don't have to be a gifted trainer for that (luckily, because I am definitely not a gifted trainer. In fact I don't even like "training" that much.). You just have to feel her feelings with her. More than any animal I have ever had, she cannot be taken for granted or treated casually. Ever. You have to love her every second you are with her, or you'll lose her. Crazy horse.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

Awww, can I admit I teared up a little reading this last post?

I'm so glad... I hope this is it, and she really starts to get better and better now.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Finally, progress! And again, you captivate me with your writing.


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

So glad she is making progress & the cradle is working. Finally. A scab is a good sign!
I think Pippa will teach you and him a lot, being the way she is. That is a very good way to put it, that she needs you to feel her feelings with her.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

I am feeling moderately optimistic these days. I've been riding Brooke out for a short trail ride every day. Pippa is being kept off her self-inflicted sore. It is healing only slowly. She is stronger on her leg every day now. She is even getting a little stubborn about leading off the pasture, just a hint of being obstreperous. She's feeling good enough to have a bit of spirit now. Her hand walks include some mild hills now -- which is good because that's about all I have here. 

Today the body worker came for the second time. The first time, Pippa was not able to accept being massaged much. Her whole right side was off limits. Two weeks later, she was far more open and comfortable. The body worker was able to work on both sides and even her broken leg, at least to the stifle. At that point Pippa called it quits.

With Brooke supervising, Stewart wandering around checking all the latches of the doors and getting into every last thing, the swallows flying in and out, and the flock of pullets going through the stalls and pens making comments, the barn felt extremely inhabited. 

Although that day is a long way off, it now seems imaginable that Pippa could be a happy pasture pony again. She gets her x-rays at the end of next week, to tell us how she is healing inside.


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

Good, I'm glad for you.


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Very good to hear. I'm glad Pippa is leaving the sore alone & it's healing. Slowly is better than nothing at all, and I'm glad she's getting stronger too. As long as she's in good spirits.  Sounds like she is getting used to being massaged as well, hopefully now she associates it with her feeling better.

Looking forward to hearing about the X-rays. Keep us posted!


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

Good, I'm glad for you.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Last week my vet came by with his portable x-ray machine, and together, very slowly and carefully, we managed to get radiographs of her leg. She REALLY doesn't like vets, and needed all my soothing skills to get her to stay still. But we did it. He sent them off to the Tufts equine surgery department to evaluate. It has been almost 10 weeks since she broke it and it seems like a lifetime.

Today he called. "The head of surgery told me, 'those films made my day'. He was very very happy." Everything is fused that's supposed to be fused. Nothing is out of place. She has been approved for controlled turn-out (no big pastures, but a grazing paddock is okay. 

My vet advised me that in a mature horse, a break like this typically will take about six months to completely repair. Young horses can heal much faster, but Pippa is fifteen. She won't be free to roam until late fall, probably. Still, wonderful news. 

She is still wearing her neck cradle. Her self-inflicted wound is very gradually closing. Infinitesimally slowly, in my opinion. Now that she can lay down and roll, she often tears the fragile scab again. There will end up being some granulation, I feel sure. I discovered a few days ago that she will not only allow me to handle her hock, she absolutely loves me to massage it where it is still swollen. I do this every day now. I wonder how much her desire to chew on her incision can be eased by this. 

Meanwhile I have been riding Brooke, who has become direly fat with idleness, almost every day. I have gradually increased our trail rides to over an hour, but I have not dared much longer yet.

What with Pippa's now half-hour hand walks, and daily hour-long hand grazes, riding Brooke, and the ordinary cleaning/feeding chores, I am spending much of my day with the herbivores. I don't mind ...


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

What great news! As horrible as this has been I really feel that it is helping Pippa turn a corner. She was doing well at the trainers before the accident and now the daily handling and interactions with the vets with have been successful. So many good things have happened as a result of that accident.

You are an awesome owner! She is so lucky to have you in her life.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

So glad to read this @Avna. What a relief for you and Pippa.


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Such good news about Pippa. What a relief. Exactly, there is no rush. The fall will be here before we know it anyway!  That is such good news. I'm glad it went well with the x-rays & everything is going the way it's supposed to.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

I can't believe this, but when I went out today to feed Pippa her lunch (soaked alfalfa cubes), she was standing there letting CHICKENS pick at her sore. Well, no fricken wonder it isn't scabbing over. I bandaged it. Really this takes the cake.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

OMG I'm so sorry. Also, just wow. That is one ... creative ... pony.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

You almost have to laugh so you don't cry.

I used to massage Laela's hock when she injured it and she liked it. I think that it helped her.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

I let her free graze for the first time today, with her chicken-proof bandage (chickens are not attracted to green vet wrap), in the round pen which is full of grass -- I've been saving it for her. I took a camp chair out there to watch her. She did think about picking at the bandage three times in the hour we were out there. Each time I clapped my hands sharply which startled her enough to distract her and she started grazing again. The first time Brooke, grazing on the outside of the pen, was so startled she shied sideways and galloped away! One clap! I think she was faking it. 

But Pippa has become the sweetest pony. When she saw me pick up the halter to take her back to the barn, she came across the pen and put her nose in it. A pony who used to run when she saw me coming. When I rub her hock she nuzzles my neck to say, thank you. I know she knows I am trying my very best to heal her. 

She is to the point, or nearly so, where I can pony her while I ride on Brooke. If any of the three of us knew how to pony that would help, I daresay.


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Oh my gosh Pippa!!! She is slick! :lol: Glad they don't seem to like the vet wrap, that's one less thing to worry about. Good for you for not letting her pick at the bandage. Hopefully she learns! Like it has to heal, stop trying to pick at it!

What a sweet girl. That is so sweet. She really does trust you. They do know when you are trying your best & she knows she's loved!


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

I apologize but I had to laugh about the chickens! that was just too funny. And ponying won't be too hard to learn. When you ride Brooke start taking a lead rope and holding it in your hand - let it rub her shoulder and over her rump until she learns to not be afraid of it. The practice leading Pippa with the lead rope above her head so she gets used to it. And then try short runs around the property.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

The Summer Solstice Update 

Pippa is loose in the pastures now. I having been pushing the limits of her doctors' orders if my instincts lead me there. She was having no problems with her half-hour hand walks up and down hills, so I said, I am going for it. Hand grazing and hand walking and stall cleaning was a half day job for more than two months. Everyone is ready for a little more breathing room. The horses graze all night and into the morning now, only coming into to the stalls in the heat of the day when the flies are out. Makes stall cleaning 100% easier. So much relief there. 

She is still wearing her cradle, though the scab is the size of a large thumb print now, and flat and dry. I won't trust her without the cradle until the scab is gone. We haven't gotten this far to go backward now. The RapLast spray that was supposed to be so evil no living thing would bother whatever it was on ... I got a whole night out of the first bandage painted with it. The next, six hours. The next, in under an hour she was ripping away at it. This is no ordinary pony. What Lola wants, Lola gets. 

I love seeing her stride out into the grass; if she's going on the flat or downhill, she's just barely stiff on that leg. Her hock is still somewhat swollen but the filling all the way down her cannon is gone. Perhaps that hock will always be larger than its mate. 

I feed her as much extra calories as she'll eat three times a day -- she is still ribby, and a poor eater. I've tried three or four things but what she eats the best is soaked alfalfa cubes, so I am transitioning over to those. She has been shedding continuously since March, and only now, long long after Brooke is slick as a whistle, she has finally shed out. I think all the trauma and confinement did some strange number on her coat as it did everything else. 

With her new freedom, some of Pippa's wariness came back. I have to remember to not take anything for granted with her. I went out today into the pasture with a pocket full of peanuts and a halter looped over my shoulder and wandered around occasionally coming over to feed her a peanut, give her some scritches, and leave. After about ten minutes she was okay with me putting a halter on her. She'll never be an easy one. But this evening, I went out when it was nearly dark to close up the hens for the night, and put Stewart the goat in his predator-proof stall. Stewart is only too happy to go in there. Goats sleep at night, unlike horses, and he was waiting for me to tuck him into bed. While I was doing this Pippa came walking up from the pasture to see what I was up to. She accepted a peanut and let me rub her ears where they get itchy. Then we said goodnight.


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