# Little Miss Elsa



## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

I've been meaning to start this thread for a while, but just haven't been able to find the time until now. For those of you who followed my foaling thread, I bred my Arab/Paint cross mare to a Paint stallion. After 359 loooonnnnng days, and showing absolutely no signs of being imminent, Lilly had a beautiful maximum tobiano filly in the middle of a rainy day. 

I have named her Elsa for a barn name (yes, from the movie Frozen) and her registered name will be (if available) Coos' Frosted Lilly. I'm waiting until she sheds her foal coat to register her because I am about 99.9% she will be Seal Brown like her mom.

Elsa is 5 1/2 weeks old now and has been a TON of fun. She leads like a charm, really yielding to pressure, but she actually yields a little TOO well, so we're working on the difference between a pet or scratch and when I actually want her to move off pressure. Other than that, she is wonderful to work with and is growing like a weed. I haven't gotten around to measuring her, but she is looking to be a sturdy girl as she grows. She is starting to shed her foal coat and dark fur is coming through, so she looks like a little raccoon right now. Here are some photos I snapped of her last weekend.


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## ForeverSunRider (Jun 27, 2013)

She's so cute! I love her face!


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## TexasBlaze (Oct 4, 2010)

What are your plans for her?


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## EnduranceLover6 (Jul 4, 2012)

Wow she is so big already!!! Cherish it Glynnis...it goes by fast!


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## BlueSpark (Feb 22, 2012)

Looking good


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## bitinsane (Jun 5, 2013)

Awe she has a heart on her side! So cute


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

My plans for her so far are to first move her closer and board her once she is weaned. I was hoping to show her in halter as a yearling next summer, but my boyfriend had to go and propose so I'll be getting married instead. I will see if there are any late summer or early fall shows I can get her to. My plan for her is to be my all around English horse and hopefully show in lower levels of dressage and possibly do some jumping. I will not be selling her and likely will not breed either. One foal watch was enough for my life time! 

I am honestly thrilled with how she is going so far. She is very willing and catches on very quickly - but still has a little sass to keep me on my toes. 

And I love her little heart too! I hope it doesn't lose its shape when she sheds.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Little miss Elsa is not so little anymore. I measured her and she came out at 12.2 hh - however, she wasn't on level ground, so that is accurate +/- an inch or two. But she is really starting to fill out. I didn't have a chance to go see her last weekend and she was a little fresh when I went to work with her. The little brat didn't want to be caught! We finally settled in and practiced leading, tying and picking up feet and boy does she aim to please! Once she got over her initial skittishness, she was extremely responsive and so far has such a willing attitude. I can't believe she is 6 weeks old already.

Lilly is also holding condition really well, and in fact looks to be getting a little on the pudgy side. I don't mind too much at this point since we are only at 1.5 months for nursing, but will definitely keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't gain too much weight.

























Elsa - 1 "Ferocious" pitbull - nada
















Also, she has an outline around some of her spots where the darker skin pigment is showing through. Anyone know if it will stay like this, or will that eventually fill in with brown fur?


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## Ace80908 (Apr 21, 2011)

It will probably always stay that way - Spidey has the same borders around his spots - he's a bay... love your filly, she is super cute


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Well, I guess we'll see. She is starting to darken like her dam, so if the outline stays, it might not be that noticeable. You can really see the dark fur coming on her face in this photo. 










And just for fun, one of Lilly too.


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## MooAndSproglett (Jun 17, 2014)

Oh she is wonderful! Annoyed that I missed the birth update but glad to see she arrived safely!


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## Cherrij (Jan 30, 2013)

oh my oh my oh my oh my! She has a heart on her left size. That is just too adorable. Can I has her? PLEEEEEEEASE?


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

MooAndSproglett said:


> Oh she is wonderful! Annoyed that I missed the birth update but glad to see she arrived safely!


Lol I wouldn't blame you if you stopped following for a while. Lilly kept her until day 359.



Cherrij said:


> oh my oh my oh my oh my! She has a heart on her left size. That is just too adorable. Can I has her? PLEEEEEEEASE?


Thank you. I also like her heart. I just hope it doesn't change too much when she sheds her foal coat!

Well, Elsa is 2 months old on the 24th. Where did the time go? She is such a smart little thing too. She has figured out that if I come into the pen with a halter, it means work and she doesn't want to be caught! If I hide it on my person or go into the pen with nothing, she's sweet as pie! But she is coming along very nicely. She responds almost instantaneously to "walk on" and "ho." She is ok with picking up her front feet and we're still working on the backs. She's going through a bit of an ugly phase as she's really starting to shed her foal coat, so she's all patchy. But boy is she growing. I have to loosen the halter by a hole every week and soon she'll be into the next size up, because she is on the very last hole of her current halter. :shock:

I absolutely love her willing attitude. I walked her all over the yard today and at one point went out of sight from Lilly. Lilly neighed, Elsa neighed back, but she didn't skip a beat and kept walking right along beside me. Even when we turned around, she didn't try and rush back to Lilly and we did a halt at one point. She was definitely wanting to go back, but did not at any point get ahead of me. I was so proud of her! :mrgreen: We walked right up to Lilly after that so they could touch and Lilly seemed perfectly satisfied with that because as soon as she did so, she walked away. For a mare that was so concerned with her foal's well-being and would panic if Elsa went more than a foot away, she sure couldn't care less now. 

The mosquitoes were just awful last night and so I made them a smudge. Tikki absolutely loves the smoke and gets in there as closely as she can. Elsa was definitely curious to see what was going on. 

Just for fun, Tikki basking in the smoke.
















The lighter "soft points" are starting to make an appearance.
















Heaven help me tame that mane.


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

The "mapping" on the edge of her patches will probably come and go - it will be more visible in summer, less so in winter.


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## Chokolate (Nov 24, 2012)

What a beautiful specimen Lilly has created! I just want to give her a big hug!

Sorry if I missed it, but is Elsa brown or bay? The lightening of her soft points made me think brown but I don't know anything about foal colours.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Thank you! I'm not regretting a single minute with this girl. I can't believe how quickly she catches on. She has definitely exceeded my expectations. 

And she will be brown like Lilly. She's in the midst of a colour change and is losing the reddish hair with the dark coming through. I'm pretty excited to see the end result.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

Smudge pot.. and they dont get lung damage from breathing in the smoke? 
Filly is a cutie pie.


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## PalominoPrincessx (Jun 2, 2014)

OMG! I wants her!! She's too cute!! can I have her? Pweaaase!  only kidding!  lol but don't be surprised if you come to find her missing and me shouting "quick start the car!" lol! She's just too cute! (Looove her name BTW, I'm a big fan of frozen!) !!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## wbwks (Apr 5, 2014)

What is the "recipe" for your smudge pot? Here in Kansas the flies and mosquitoes are absolutely horrible. We have had so much rain (really not complaining) so the bugs are thick as tar.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

I don't suppose the smoke is particularly good for them, but tikki is the only one who gets in that close. We only make a smudge if the mosquitoes are exceptionally bad which amounts to maybe once or twice a month, and only in summer, so I doubt there is any long-term damage. 

My recipe is pretty simple. It's wet straw. I also grabbed the hay around their feeder that was wet and gross and put a layer of dry straw on the bottom with wet on top. The straw underneath burns but is suffocated by the wet straw on top. It will smoldering for hours with relatively
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

You would be in trouble in this state.. lol.. to much smog.. no burn days.. they dont even like the Orchard growers using smudge pots..


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Oops, I'm in a vehicle and hit a bump and accidentally hit submit. I was going to say it takes a pretty small amount of straw. I used about half a bale with some wet stuff on top. 

And thank you for the compliments. Her cuteness is a bonus. I just love her attitude and willingness.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

stevenson said:


> You would be in trouble in this state.. lol.. to much smog.. no burn days.. they dont even like the Orchard growers using smudge pots..


Hmm, I wonder if it has to do with population? You're in California, correct? I've been through various areas there and it's pretty densely populated compared to here, so I would imagine if people were all burning, it would create quite a lot of smog. The population of Alberta is somewhere just under 4 million and the majority of that is in two cities with the rest of the province being pretty sparsely populated. Plus, I think with the intense heat you experience down there, wild fires are more of a problem than they are here. We do get forest fires here, but usually only when it's been exceptionally hot and dry and at that point, we would be under a fire ban. This year has been pretty wet so far. In that picture, it had just rained hours before I made a smudge and everything was drenched.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Elsa will be 3 months old on Thursday. The time seems to be going by so quickly! She has almost completely shed her foal coat with just a little bit left on her face. She's turned a lovely seal brown shade, providing a nice contrast with all of the white. She is really eager and a super quick learner who absolutely loves praise. When we're working on something and she finally gets it, if she gets a "good girl" and scratch on the withers, she'll keep right on doing it. She picks up all four feet, yields in the hindquarters and shoulders in both directions. She's still a little shaky sidepassing and wants to move one or the other instead of both, but gets it after a try or two, and of course praise and scratches. She leads like a charm and has walked through puddles with me and doesn't seem to mind being out of sight of Lilly.

She's also growing like a weed. She's just a smidgen over 12.2 hands at the withers and 12.3 in her hindquarters. Some day her front end will catch up to the back end! She's into her 3rd halter now and it makes me a little sad to see the two previous little ones hanging up in the barn now. :'(

Pretty in purple and annoying mom at the same time. 
















Showing off her long legs.


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## Roanwatch (Apr 1, 2014)

I must say I adore your filly! She is so pretty!


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## EnduranceLover6 (Jul 4, 2012)

She looks great! Totally jealous she is already the same height as Vee...she'll be a good sized girl!


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## danicelia24 (Jul 16, 2013)

she is so pretty Glynnis!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Roanwatch said:


> I must say I adore your filly! She is so pretty!





danicelia24 said:


> she is so pretty Glynnis!


Thanks. I'm happy she isn't too hard on the eyes. 



EnduranceLover6 said:


> She looks great! Totally jealous she is already the same height as Vee...she'll be a good sized girl!


She string tested to 15.3 which I'll be happy with since her dam is only 15hh. 

Found this picture from the other day of her practicing crossing over in the front lol.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

I was able to sneak away and see Elsa this weekend. The little brat escaped their pen and thought it was great fun to run away as soon as I got close enough to put the halter on. I eventually took Lilly into the barn and Elsa followed. As soon as we were inside, she was my best friend and acted as if she couldn't stay away from me. What a stinker. We actually picked out her feet for the first time. I had only been picking them up and holding them prior to yesterday and I finally dug out the hoof pick. Nothing happened. In fact, she seemed to enjoy it. The flies are absolutely awful this year. No amount of fly wipe keeps them away, so I am going to invest in some fly sheets for Lilly and Elsa. In previous years, fly wipe has been enough to keep them at bay, but they drive Lilly absolutely batty and it was difficult to get photos of Elsa because the flies were bothering her so badly. We've ad an exceptionally wet, but hot year and I think that may be contributing to our crazy fly population.


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## New_image (Oct 27, 2007)

What a cutie. How on earth does she say so cleeeaaaan


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

I think it's an optical illusion because she's actually quite dirty! The sun shining on her is just making the white look that much brighter. I also did give her a quick brush to try get the mud off. We've had so much rain and she looooves to roll and lay in the mud. 

I'm starting to run out of ideas for things to do with her. She leads perfectly, picks up all 4 feet with no issue, seems to enjoy having them picked out, loves being groomed, including mane and tail combing, stands quietly while tied and yields to pressure in her hindquarters, sides and shoulders. I think this weekend, for fun, I'll see if she'll walk over a tarp, even if it's just one step on.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Well, this was a big weekend for Elsa. She got a bath, started learning to trot in hand and wore a fly mask for the first time. Don't worry... I didn't do this all in one day . She bathed like a pro. She was a little skittish when we first started, but then settled in like she had been doing this forever, even over the more ticklish spots like her inner hind legs and around her tail. 

The fly mask she was less than fond of and threw a big fuss for the first few minutes she had it on. The flies this year are SO bad. I tried finding her a fly sheet as well, but all of the stores in my area are sold out in foal size, so I settled for at least a fly mask. 

It took a few tries, and she was a little apprehensive and broke into a canter more than once, but by the end of our short session, she had the trot down pretty well. I'm taking her to a show in a few weeks and she's been entered in the foal class. It's nothing huge, just a local B-circuit show, but I want her to have some experience. I'm tagging along with a friend who is showing her yearling at halter, so it will be a nice short day for Elsa's first outing. The foal class is 4th in the day and the yearling class is directly afterwards. My friend is not showing in any other classes that day, so we'll probably be home by lunch. Here are a few photos of this weekend. I haven't measured her, but I think she's sprouted upwards again.

Really was not terribly fond of mom's ill-fitting fly sheet. I know it doesn't fit her well, but she is a very difficult horse to fit in jackets. She has a short Arab back, long slender Arab neck and wide stock-breed chest and full hindquarters. She's also not tall. Next size up was a parachute and hung really low, next size down was too narrow in the chest.








Thought chasing mom in it was more fun. 








Giving me the stink eye.








Which didn't work, now it's time to look pathetic. 








And somehow managed to get dirty immediately after her bath. 








Everyone in their fly protection.


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## darkpony (Nov 20, 2013)

I love her! She is going to make quite the horse  You are doing a wonderful job with her!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Thanks! I'm trying to get her used to as many things as possible. I actually posted a thread in the Training area of the forum asking for advice on things we should work on, so I can't take all of the credit!


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## kristinb (Oct 21, 2013)

Elsa is such a cutie!! Love her colors! I love the ground work stage, it's such an opportunity to bond with your horse.


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## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

My goodness, she is adorable ;-; And it sounds like she's so smart, and coming along so well! 8D


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Honestly, I haven't had much experience with foals, but she is among the easiest horses I've ever had to train or teach. I'm not saying this because she is mine and I love her to bits, but she is legitimately such a willing girl.

Teaching her to trot was a little bit humorous. When I clucked and tried to add a little more pressure and run beside her, she slammed on the brakes and gave me this look like "I don't know what you're asking! I'm just going to stop!" I had someone run behind her a couple of times and now, all it takes is a "trot-on" and she's off! Sometimes she gets excited at the trot and tries to go a little faster but all it takes is a "easy" and a little bit of pressure on her lead rope and she comes down very quickly. We'll see if she is this calm and willing at her first show this coming Sunday!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Well, Elsa had her first show yesterday! And she did amazing. I was carpooling with a friend and so she brought her yearling over and they spent the night so we could leave together the next morning. We also used it as an opportunity to do a practice run in her trailer, so it wouldn't be completely foreign to Elsa. She really doesn't quite understand this trailering business. She loads after a few minutes of coaxing, but she doesn't quite get that all she need do is step on. Instead, she leaps on with all she's got - it's a little unnerving standing in the trailer and seeing her coming straight for you. But once inside, she's cool as a cucumber. We practiced getting on and off, but she still doesn't quite understand that one. We'll keep working on that. 

She has been bathed before, but on Saturday evening, I really scrubbed her down. And she loved it! She stood almost as if she were frozen to the ground and enjoyed every minute of being scrubbed and lathered. Of course, because I so meticulously cleaned her, she had a giant poop stain from her withers to her flank on Sunday morning. I had to wash that area all over again. 

At the show, she behaved so well. I had to spot wash with green spot remover spray and I put a little bit of shine spray on her and she really couldn't have cared less. I also put a little bit of that glow stuff on her nose and around her eyes and she seemed to really enjoy it, which I found odd, but better than freaking out about it. 

Lilly was a disaster. The second Elsa was more than 5 feet away, she was a mess, neighing, pulling at the lead, etc. If Elsa was beside her, she was perfectly calm and sometimes sleeping. I had someone hold her in the holding pen while Elsa and I were in the class. Elsa seemed unphased that her mom was acting like a crazed lunatic and listened very well. We walked and trotted in hand and squared up for the judge. She was a little wiggly when I was trying to square her up, but stood very still once the judge started walking around. We were the only entry in the class, so we got first place!  I did talk to the judge afterwards and asked him how she did overall in comparison to other foal classes and he said she was really good and extremely quiet in comparison to most foals he's judged. My friend showed her yearling in the halter class that immediately followed the foal class and we were home by noon. So it was a nice short day for Elsa's first big outing. I had my hands full with her and Lilly so I didn't have a chance to get a lot of pictures, but here are a few.


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## EnduranceLover6 (Jul 4, 2012)

Omg how awesome!!! What a good babe!


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## FirentheNight (Feb 17, 2014)

Oh my goodness what a little cutie! She seems like a dream and congrats on her!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Thank you. She's been a lot of fun so far. She almost has this innate sense that when we're outside of the pen, it's time to get down to business and she listens completely to me. If I try to do work with her in the pen with her mom there, she doesn't listen to me at all, mom takes precedence. I don't think I have done anything special with her, I think I've just gotten lucky in that regard. I try to do as many pleasant things as possible when we're "working." We'll do a bit of actual work like walking and trotting and moving off of pressure for 5 - 10 minutes, and then she gets a giant grooming, including foot cleaning, which she absolutely loves.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Elsa is just over 4 months old and growing like a weed - she's starting to look a little funny nursing, however, I don't plan on weaning her for a couple more months. We moved them to the "big pasture" about a 1/4 mile down the road from the yard, so she's got about 10 acres of open space to run around - and from what I saw of her yesterday, play in the mud. She also appears to have inherited Lilly's thick mane, which I'm a little excited about, but can't wait until it's just a little longer. 

















I often wonder if she would like mud less if she weren't white.








Starting to look pretty big standing next to mom.
















Nursing is also starting to look difficult.
























And of course, needs that beauty rest.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Saw Elsa for few hours yesterday and did their Fall de-worming. Like with most things I'm discovering (also not her first worming), she was un-phased and took it like a champ. 

Not a ton to report. We worked a bit on moving off pressure and picking up feet, but that's about all and it's just reinforcing. She knows what to do. I measured her and she's now 13HH and still string tests to 15.3. Not that I thought that would change, but I just wanted to measure to make sure. I snapped a few photos when they were coming in for their evening feeding. Please excuse the grey mare - she is 30 years old and had some dental issues in early spring that caused her to lose weight. We've been trying to put weight back on her for Winter, but it has been a struggle this year and she's still underweight.


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## BlueSpark (Feb 22, 2012)

I LOVE her cant wait to see how she grows up.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

That makes two of us. I'm absolutely loving her laid back, I'll do anything, attitude. 

I'm probably not going to start her under saddle until she is 3 and that seems soooo far away. I've thought about starting her earlier, but I can't really see any added benefit, other than you get to ride them sooner. I want to make absolutely sure that she is both physically and mentally ready. I plan on doing oodles of groundwork leading up to that point so that riding is no big deal.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? What do the rest of you do? Do most of you start at 2, or later? How do you determine when you start?


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## BlueSpark (Feb 22, 2012)

I do basic saddle work at 2, a couple brief lunging sessions, get them used to a saddle and bridle. At 3 I refresh that, do a bunch of ground driving, expand on the ground work and put the first few rides on in the fall.

As a four year old I get started in the spring, as soon as I'm comfortable that I have a proper level of control I get out and cover the country. Lots of miles in different situations, but I don't push until 5.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

That makes sense. I was planning on starting lunging as a yearling (light stuff, mostly walk, maybe some trot) and doing things like putting a bareback pad on to get her used to stuff on her back. I won't be doing any of this on my own. Once she is weaned, she is going to move closer to me where I have readily accessible advice from my trainer. And it all depends on her. If she doesn't seem like she's mature enough or ready for something, then we won't do it. If she continues to be so trusting of everything people ask of her she might need the challenge though. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.


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## darkpony (Nov 20, 2013)

I start them the winter after their 2 year old summer. "Starting" to me means getting them used to tack, and light riding. I sit on them bareback in the pasture and expect a walk or maybe trot in the round pen. By the time my youngsters are 3 I usually have some pretty good breaks and steering on them. I will start taking them out of the ring and on trail. I keep it interesting. Depending on the horse I will canter at 3 or 4. I always check to see if their knees are closed. Rook is going to be small so I might sit on her at 2 but not expect anything more until 3.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## darkpony (Nov 20, 2013)

I start them the winter after their 2 year old summer. "Starting" to me means getting them used to tack, and light riding. I sit on them bareback in the pasture and expect a walk or maybe trot in the round pen. By the time my youngsters are 3 I usually have some pretty good breaks and steering on them. I will start taking them out of the ring and on trail. I keep it interesting. Depending on the horse I will canter at 3 or 4. I always check to see if their knees are closed. Rook is going to be small so I might sit on her at 2 but not expect anything more until 3.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

I guess we'll just have to wait and see. If she seems mentally ready earlier, then I might start her a little earlier. It really depends on how she is. And as for height, even though she's string tested to 15.3, with her dam at 15hh and her sire at 16.1hh, it's anyone's guess as to where she'll actually end up - although judging by her current 13hh, I think she'll be close to her string-tested height. I am pretty excited for it though - the next couple of years are going to go by so slowly!!! I'll just make sure we have a very solid ground work and lots of experience with different things.


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## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

She has such a sweet face... I know I"ve said that before xD But I just can't get over it!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Thanks! I also like her face - it's very expressive. You can tell the exact emotion she is feeling all the time because she hides nothing. She got that from mom for sure. I haven't been able to go out to see her the last few weeks, but my mom sent me a picture of them running in for their daily feeding with a rainbow in the background. She looks bigger every time I see her, either in person or photo. I'll get some more pictures next week as I'll be out to bring them to the yard for the farrier.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Well, Elsa is 5 months old and looks bigger every time I see her. She had her second farrier appointment this weekend. At first she was a little bit wiggly and backed into the plastic manure fork that I neglected to put away. It clattered to the ground and made a huge commotion. She didn't spook, but definitely didn't like it and stood like an angel for the rest of her trim (really just a quick rasp). 

Her mane is a nightmare. It hasn't gained much for length, but is continually gaining critical mass and is flopping over all over the place. It's not quite long enough that I could effectively braid it to train it, so I just tried to flatten it a little by combing it down. The result was a terrifically poofy mane. I think once it has enough length, it will weigh itself down and I won't have this issue... but until then, she looks like the horse version of Einstein.

As she is starting to look more horse-like, she is starting to look more like Lilly in her head. It's almost a mini clone of Lilly looking back, especially in her eyes. 

I posted this in another thread as well, but it looks like Lilly is self-weaning. She pins her ears when Elsa tries to nurse and if Elsa is persistent about it, she bites her. Eventually, she will let her nurse, but it's pretty reluctantly and you can tell she's not happy about it. She doesn't bite hard enough to do damage, but hard enough to show that she's not kidding. I asked in the other thread, but I'll ask here too. Should I be separating them now or just let them do their thing? 

Like mother like daughter - both wearing what they're eating.








My attempt to smooth her mane. 








5 minutes later....








Noticed that the gate isn't latched...








But also that she's being watched. 
















And this one only because it's a funny picture of Tikki sticking out her tongue.


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## kristinb (Oct 21, 2013)

What a cutie! I have no idea as far as weaning, but just wanted to say that she's turning into such a pretty girl! And I love that heart still


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## BlueSpark (Feb 22, 2012)

If you were planning on waiting till 6 months, then wait. Your mare obviously is no worse for wear and willing to tell elsa off, so she is doing much of the job for you.

My boy Dublin is in the same boat as Elsa. I figure even if he gains very little in the way of nutrition from her at this point, she is teaching him manners and respect. By the time next month rolls around and he is 6 months, he will be virtually weaned and it should be a fairly easy transition.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

I was planning on waiting until she's somewhere between 6 - 8 months. And yes, Lilly is holding condition plenty fine with her 500 lb parasite, so no worries on that front. I'm pretty impressed with how she's turned out as a mom. She runs a tight ship and doesn't let Elsa get away with anything. 
much to update from last week, other than I think Elsa has plateaued for a minute in her growing. Her shoulders have caught up to her hind end and she looks like she's putting on a little bit of weight. It's getting colder outside, so a bit of insulation won't hurt and once she starts growing again, I'm sure it will melt away.

I've noticed that she's a little bit nippy right now, wanting to chew and bite everything from sticks to lead ropes. I know around 6 months they get their last set of incisors, so I think she might be going through that because she's typically not the mouthy type. 

















View attachment 528241


























One day, I'll be able to tame that mane.


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## EquineBovine (Sep 6, 2012)

Subbing! What a lovely girl!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Thank you. I am very happy with her. So far, everything with training has been really easy. Almost too easy.


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## EquineBovine (Sep 6, 2012)

It's always the quiet ones hehe nah I'm sure she will be wonderful! Can't wait to see her as a big girl


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

*An Exciting Thanksgiving - **Graphic Photos***

**WARNING GRAPHIC PHOTOS**

So, yesterday, Elsa took a spill. Lilly has mud fever in one of her legs, so I brought them home yesterday from the far pasture to treat her. It is also Canadian Thanksgiving, so after treating Lilly and taking a few photos of Elsa, who was in quite the mood, I went in for dinner. 

About an hour and a half later, I came out to take them back to their other pasture and was met by Elsa at the gate, which a huge rip in her face, bones exposed. Of course, this had to happen when we sent our trailer in for painting and maintenance, so I called the vet to come out. 

We have no idea how she managed this, but she hit her face with such velocity, that she fractured the bone on the front of her face, displacing a part of it to the side. The vet had to remove several bone fragments and she currently has 15 stitches. Luckily though, she didn't rupture any of her sinus or nasal cavities and should walk away from this with a small scar and lump where the bone has been displaced. It shouldn't affect her ability to breathe, nor be in an area where any tack might fall. I'm just happy she didn't do any really bad damage. What damage there is, will be cosmetic, and likely not very noticeable once it heals. She will be on bute and have to have her stitches washed daily for the next two weeks, but today, doesn't even act like she's injured. 

So first, some nice pictures I took before dinner and then we'll move on to the uglies. If you have a weak stomach, I don't suggest you scroll down any further. 









































Say hello to my little friend.


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## Falcor74 (May 28, 2013)

Awww... poor baby!


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## OoLaurenoO (Sep 23, 2014)

Poor baby, I've been following this thread and im so relieved she is going to be ok!  You could keep them in a padded cell and they would still find a way to injure themselves! I've never known another animal to be more accident prone then a foal.


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## VLBUltraHot (Oct 26, 2013)

Oh no! I'm so glad she didn't do more damage. Head trauma can be nasty! Prayers for a fast recovery! 

On a side note, she is huge and beautiful! She is turning into quite the looker.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Thanks for the kind words. She's a lucky duck, because she narrowly missed her nasal cavities and doesn't have any other damage, other than the fracture and laceration. We walked all over the pen today and couldn't find anything obviously hazardous that she would have done this on, nor could we find any evidence like hair, skin or blood on anything. She did have a dark grass stain up one leg yesterday evening, so I think she lost her footing and collided with a fence post or a tree. 

She's looking a little better today, but her face is very swollen. She normally has a fairly flat profile that is slightly concave and today she has a roman nose, so we gave her some more banamine to bring down the inflammation. I felt bad because even though her halter was nowhere near the wound, it left an indent in her face, it is so swollen.

I cleaned around her stitches with a saline/iodine mixture that the vet gave me and gave her a tetanus shot. She stood like an angel for everything and I'm glad for all of the handling she's received over the last few months, because that is certainly making things much easier now. Injury aside, she's eating like a pig and acting like her normal, good-natured self. The cut itself looks better and I think she'll heal well. I take some comfort in the fact that she is being fed a foal ration that is designed for bone and muscle growth, so I'm sure that will help with bone and muscle regeneration in her face.

While I had her on concrete, I decided to measure her again. Her withers are at 13.1 and her hindquarters are higher up again, so I think she'll sprout a few inches in the next few weeks. 

I only took one picture of her today and it's not quite as ugly as it was yesterday, which is a relief.


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## BlueSpark (Feb 22, 2012)

youch! I have seen two thoroughbreds do something similar oddly enough, and we always say they wanted to be unicorns, growing bumps on their faces:shock:

The prognosis sounds very good though, so here's wishes for fast healing.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Yeah, it's not the first time I've seen this either. When I was a teenager, my friend's gelding ran through a steel gate and had a sizable gash similar to this on his face as well. 

The only thing to do now is watch her closely and wait. Because she was so close to rupturing her nasal cavities, we are watching to make sure that there is no blood from her nostrils and of course, watching for infection. Aside from the swelling, she's looking pretty good. The vet also mentioned, that because she's so young, they tend to heal a bit better and faster than their adult counterparts, so she may not even have anything noticeable once this has fully healed. Or at least not noticeable to anyone who doesn't know where to look.


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## BlueSpark (Feb 22, 2012)

babies heal well, and the face is a really good spot when it comes to avoiding infection, much easier to keep clean than a leg. I'm sure she'll be good as new in no time 

Not sure if its the same in horses as it is in humans, but humans don't end up with calcified tissue until they are past puberty, usually around 17. Before that the tissue heals correctly with very few lumps. After that there are a lot of issues with tissue surrounding an injury site calcifying.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

I'm not too worried about infection, unless she decides to lie down with her head in the dirt. It's actually the perfect time of year for this to happen. It's cool, so there's no flies, but not freezing. 

The only reason there might be a bump is because she actually displaced a portion of bone off the the side. You can feel the edge of it sticking out a little.


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## EquineBovine (Sep 6, 2012)

She is still beautiful x
Thank God she has you!


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## EnduranceLover6 (Jul 4, 2012)

Ugh so glad she's okay! Babies, I tell ya!!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

I hope she knows how lucky she is! My fiancÃƒÂ© said to tell her the vet bill was really high so she'll be more careful! 

My mom called and said that she is doing really well. There's almost no swelling now and very little "crusties" as the vet called them around her stitches. She thinks if there is a scar, it will be hardly visible unless you're looking for it.she's still getting banamine and having her face cleaned daily with saline-iodine solution. 

I honestly couldn't care less about her looks. I'm just glad that this won't affect her breathing or cause any difficulty later on with tack. The vet had to shave her face. I'll be glad when that grows back!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Elsa's face is healing well. Her profile has gone from flat/slightly concave to slightly convex. Is it terrible that I am secretly hoping a little, that as she heals and continues to grow, her face will return close to what it was before? This hope derives from pure vanity and I know I should be thankful that all she's walked away with is a slight Roman nose, but I did like her face before!  If it doesn't though, she will be no less cherished. 

Now with this injury, I will for sure be leaving her with Lilly for at least another month. I had thought that I might between 6 and 7 mos (she'll be 6 mos on the 24th), but I am afraid now that if I do it before she's fully healed, she'll start running around and re-injure herself. I know she could do that anyway, but I want to keep my odds low. Lilly is fat as ever, so she won't suffer any. 

She's still 13.1 hh at the withers, but her butt has sprung up to just under 13.3 hh. We continue to work on the same types of things, picking up feet, moving off pressure, going for walks, etc. We've added taking medication through a syringe and standing still for face cleaning. She actually takes this all really well and I think she likes having her stitches cleaned. 

Took a few pictures while I was out, and just for fun, a side by side comparison of her face.

What I walked outside to
















Getting a tad large for nursing I think.


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## EquineBovine (Sep 6, 2012)

She's still beautiful x I'm sure it'll heal up nicely


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## OoLaurenoO (Sep 23, 2014)

She's only young and scar tissue can take aggges to go down but I'd be surprised if it doesn't go back to normal. Either way she's a stunner! I could hardly tell there was a bump until you pointed it out.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Thanks for the encouragement! My sister is a nurse and she said the same thing. It's hard to remember that this happened only 2 weeks ago. 

I am pretty happy with how she's turned out. Is she perfect? No. But she's perfect for me. Her total willingness to do what is asked of her was a blessing throughout this, she took everything so well. I will admit, she was not impressed to see the banamine syringe after the first few days of having it, but she still didn't really fight. Her stitches come out tomorrow!


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## BlueSpark (Feb 22, 2012)

> Her stitches come out tomorrow!


 Yay!!!! she sounds lovely to work with. My boy is an opinionated fireball that is just like his mother but, like her, doesn't have a mean bone in his body. 

I'm sure she will be virtually scar free in just a few months.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

*Stitch Free!*

Elsa is 6 months old today. And what better way to celebrate than removing her face stitches. I ended up having my sister, who is a nurse, help me instead of driving the 40 minutes to the vet. Don't worry, I did run it by the vet first and she said it would be fine to take them out on our own. 

It was really a non ordeal. I gave her a bit of bute to dull any pain there might be. We would remove a few, then take a break for scratches and treats. Then take out a few more and then more pets. She was such a doll and stood mostly still. If she started to fidget, we'd take a break. It only took about 15-20 minutes and I think she was glad to have them gone. She got lots of pets and scratches afterwards and a final face cleaning. There's no sign of infection and she doesn't look to be in any pain, so now we just wait and watch to see how things go. 

I gave the area a good cleaning, both before and after stitch removal to get rid of any excess "crusties" and soften the tissue a little so the area is actually wet in this photo, which makes the stitches area look a little worse than it is.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

The stitches have been out for 2 weeks and Elsa seems to be healing up just fine. There appears to be a little bit of proud flesh on the one side, but it's nothing excessive and from what I've read is a normal part of the healing process, so I'm not too worried about it. I did put some ointment on it because the skin is very dry and the humidity is practically 0% here. There is still a teeny weeny little bump on the side where the bone displaced to, but that aside, her face is returning to normal.

The farrier was out and she stood like a complete angel, barely moving. The only thing she isn't fond of is the rasping and still wiggled a little when he started doing that. Wiggling aside, the farrier said she is one of the best foals he's ever trimmed. 

She's going through a weird, gawky kind of phase again and her butt has sprung up. I measured her and she's still only 13.1 hh at the withers, but is 13.3 at the bum, so she's headed into another spurt. I can't believe that she'll be 14 hh soon. She still looks so little to me!

Elsa seems to have inherited Lilly's thick coat as well and it's a good thing because it snowed about 5 cm on Saturday. Elsa wasn't bothered was having a great time frolicking in the snow. Even 30 year old Tikki was having fun. Lilly couldn't be bothered and immediately went searching for food. Go figure.

This is the best close-up I could get of her face. She kept moving.


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## EquineBovine (Sep 6, 2012)

So cute!


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## EnduranceLover6 (Jul 4, 2012)

Haha that butt! She is already bigger than 13 month old Vee! She looks wonderful Glynnis, you should be one proud Momma!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Thanks! She's turned out well so far. I often wonder if it feels as awkward as it looks to have her butt that much higher than her withers.


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## EnduranceLover6 (Jul 4, 2012)

Oh I know! They looks so funny! This was Vee this morning...I swear she was even yesterday :shock:


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Lol, I would love Elsa to look half as graceful as V!!! I measured her again this weekend. I had to measure twice, because I couldn't believe my eyes. She is just 14hh at the rump - just. And still only 13.1 at the withers. She is so awkward looking. Her face is healing nicely though. Some hair is starting to grow over it and I think in a few months we'll never know it happened.

Winter is in full force here and Elsa loves it. It was wet snowing outside so I brought them in to dry off. When I let them out of the barn, she reminded me of a new puppy seeing snow for the first time. She ran around, stuck her face in it and then rolled, continuing to rub her face in it. So much for keeping clean...

































I detangled her mane with cowboy magic shine spray. She wasn't too sure what to think about that.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Close up of her face. Hair is starting to grow over her scar.


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## EnduranceLover6 (Jul 4, 2012)

Love the pictures of her playing in the snow! Her face IS healing nicely isn't it!? Awesome. Keep posting pics, Miss Elsa is one of my favs! 

P.S. Just wanted to mention that her feet look great. (Pet peave... Trimmed & balanced makes me smile)


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

She seems to really love racing around in the snow - which is good because there is a heavy snowfall warning for the next few days. 

And we've really lucked out with this farrier. He doesn't try and do anything fancy, just keeps her hooves nice and level so she has a flat walking surface.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Elsa is ugly. Her butt has grown up to 14.1 hh. Her withers are at 13.2. She looks extremely disproportionate and somehow is perpetually covered in filth. She is pretty chunky right now too and her winter woolies just add to that appearance.

She is 7.5 months old now and I finally decided it was time to wean. I'm going the gradual route, so Lilly is just on the other side of the fence. Neither one is terribly impressed with this arrangement. Elsa will be moving to a new home at the beginning of January and so I want there to be some degree of separation between the two before she leaves. I am pretty excited that she will be closer to me and I will have access to an indoor arena to do all kinds of fun ground work. 

We had an increase in humidity, so everyone was pretty frosty.
















It's like a ski hill.








Frolicking.








Nearly lost our footing there...


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## Playin After Dark (Dec 5, 2014)

This is my first post and I just wanted to say that she is gorgeous and seems to have such an amazing nature!
I weaned my Paintbred filly (she's now 5 but is still my baby) when she was 7 months and it was the mare that had the problems, Tehya could not care less!! Best kinds of horses to have!!
Plus I just want to add that I'm in Australia and snow is just sooooo foreign to me!!!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

You're lucky snow is foreign to you! It's been pretty chilly these past few weeks. Elsa and her mom barely notice it. The other day, it was -35 and sunny outside and they both were sprawled out in the straw, soaking up sunshine. 

Weaning has gone well so far. As expected, it's Lilly who is taking it harder. She is such a protective mom, it took months for her to be ok with me just bringing Elsa into the aisle of the barn without her. Elsa seems not to notice that she's no longer with mom. She's in with 30 year old Tikki and is ok with that.

I'm looking forward to Elsa having a pecking order. Right now it's just her and the two horses. Lilly is a dominant mare and Elsa has certainly learned some of those traits. Old Tikki doesn't have the motivation to really put Elsa in her place with some of the antics she pulls, although that may in part be because she fears the wrath of Lilly.

Lately, Elsa has developed a bit of an apprehension towards people who aren't me, so I think it will be good for her to see and get exposure to different people aside from me in her new home.


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## EnduranceLover6 (Jul 4, 2012)

She is looking great Glynnis! I know I say this every time but she is huge! Love the last set of pictures.


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## darkpony (Nov 20, 2013)

I understand how you feel! Rook is so fuzzy and filthy... and she is not even white. I cant wait until summer when she is all shiney. Elsa is looking great! I agree^^ she does look huge... but then again maybe shes average because Rook is a shrimp


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Lol I don't know if she's big for her age or not. It stands to reason she could be since her sire is quite large, but who knows. I just can't believe how quickly she's reached this height. The horse I rode growing up was only 14.2. It just seems so odd that Elsa is already so close to that height and is nowhere near adulthood.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Well, Elsa was 8 months old on the 24th. She is super shaggy and super DIRTY. It's not like she doesn't have a clean place to sleep, but it would seem she chooses manure to lay in. She still looks terribly disproportionate although her withers are finally catching up a little to her hindquarters. She is just under 14.2 at the hindquarters and just over 14hh at the withers. She has also moved into a yearling sized halter. 

We went for a walk through the field yesterday since the weather was actually nice for a change. She's become very attached to old Tikki since being weaned and she was a little skittish to leave them behind. Overall, she behaved reasonably well and with all of that pent up nervousness, she had a pretty good time racing around when we got back. Tikki pretty much just tries to avoid the whole business, but isn't entirely successful. 

First halter that isn't foal sized.








Tikki is just a smidgen under 15 hh and you can see Elsa is slowly but surely getting up to that height.








Walk through the field. Best Picture I could get without her moving!








Frolicking!
























Blowing
















Pretty tight corners for someone so gangly and awkward.


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## EquineBovine (Sep 6, 2012)

Haha love the flying photo


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Well, this was supposed to be the weekend we moved Elsa, but mother nature had other ideas. We're under a heavy snow fall warning and the temperature has plummeted to the -30's (Celsius ). Tomorrow night it's supposed to be -40 and with the added stress of moving plus being under quarantine until her Coggins results come back, she won't have any pals to snuggle up with. The barn owners said they could put her inside, but with the added driving risk and/or breakdown risk, I would rather delay it a week. It's supposed to warm up to about -15 next week.

Just for fun, a photo from last week with her crazy mane.


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## EnduranceLover6 (Jul 4, 2012)

omg i just love her!!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Thank you .  That makes 2 of us. Hopefully the weather will cooperate next week. I'm really looking forward to being able to do more work with her.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Well, Elsa made her big move this weekend. She was really calm, loading easily and had no issue when I put her in her new pen. I got a call from the stable owner yesterday that she was super nervous and hadn't stopped running. I went to check on her and there was a very defined path in the snow where she had been pacing for hours. And she was drenched in sweat, which in -25, is not a good thing. I walked her around the arena and after about an hour she seemed to calm down. She spent the night indoors to fully dry off. I talked to the barn owner today and she said that Elsa is still anxious, but not as much today. I am not sure where my calm, docile Elsa went, but she's not taking this move as well as I thought she would. I'll be going back out to see her this afternoon and hope her anxiety starts to go down. We did a bit of endo - tapping yesterday and did seem to calm her a bit, so I'll keep doing that with her and see if I can get her to settle down. 

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this? Was there anything you did that helped alleviate some of the stress?


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

I use received a call from the barn. Apparently, we have a little jumper on our hands. They moved Elsa to a different pen. The farm is on a fairly busy highway and so they thought the road noise might be contributing to her stress. They put her in a pen further from the road that has a 4 ft fence. She jumped and easily cleared the fence. Luckily, their yard is fenced and she couldn't get to the road. *head shake* I wonder what other surprises she has for me.


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## EquineBovine (Sep 6, 2012)

Eek! Hope she settles for you soon! Give her a few days. Good luck


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Well, Elsa is finally settling in to her new digs. I decided to pay her a visit on Monday after she jumped the fence. I'm still not sure how she did that. The snow was pretty deep and the fence wasn't tiny, but I could see her footprints where she planted and her landing on the other side. 

They've kept her in the barn for a few nights and she really seemed to calm down. She loves to roll in the snow and between that and all of her activity, she was sopping wet. It's warmed considerably here, (around -10 C), but once the sun goes down, it gets pretty chilly. They only have outdoor board there but have a small (insulated but not heated) barn reserved for exceptional circumstances like this one. It is a lot warmer in there, but still quite cool, so we found an old blanket to put on her for a few hours to help her keep warm until she dried. And it was MILES too big. She is a size 62 and I had the darndest time trying to find that size; almost every place I called started at size 68. I tried an extra large foal jacket, but that was too small. After calling around, I finally found a size 64 and will be bringing that out when I see her again on Friday. 

I can tell her stress level is going down because some of her normal (and annoying) behaviours are coming back. When I was hanging up her water bucket, she had her nose poking in, "helping" me secure it. I knew she wasn't thirsty because she had just taken a big drink before I hung it. Some lesson kids came in and she poked her head out of the stall to greet them and graciously accepted pets and treats. I tried to take pictures, but could only get a few because she kept walking towards me. She's eating and drinking normally, so I think it will just take her some time to adjust.

This whole experience has shown me that Elsa would do well to learn some de-stressing techniques. My riding instructor has a fairly sensitive QH mare and she does endo-tapping and it's crazy how it causes her mare to relax almost immediately. We did it with Elsa for a few minutes on Sunday with some positive results, so I'm going to keep working on it.

In her enormous jacket








Almost was a good picture - then she decided to come investigate


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## darkpony (Nov 20, 2013)

Is she all by herself in her new pen? I know Rook acts the exact same way if she is alone. I think if they are used to relying on the herd (however small it is) for protection being alone is enough to set them off. I am glad she seems to be more relaxed!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Unfortunately, yes, she was under mandatory quarantine and so was by herself, however, within sight and sound of the other horses. There is a mare and foal across the aisle from her in the barn and so she likes to visit from afar. She has passed her quarantine period now and they are going to slowly introduce her into the herd. Her first pasture buddy is to be a gypsy vanner gelding. 

She is starting to really settle and enjoy the different people coming and going - she's realized that they all want to pet her and give her treats and that's quite all right by her. The barn owner has said she's a bit of a princess - she won't eat her oats if the dish is on the ground, however, if he holds it for her highness, she gobbles them right up!

I am hoping to take her to a show in late May and so am going to brush up on our halter class basics. It's been a while since we practiced squaring up and trotting in hand.

I took a few photos in the arena and barn, but the lighting isn't the greatest, so only a few sort of turned out.


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## darkpony (Nov 20, 2013)

looks like you found a really nice place. You are going to love that indoor!! I'm glad you get to be closer to her now!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Yes, I am definitely enjoying the indoor arena. Especially when we get these cold temperatures. 

It was a melancholy day at the barn today. A very beloved mare of theirs colicked last night and had to be put to sleep this morning. As a result of having to deal with this and the riding lessons that still continued on this morning, Elsa didn't get turned out until I arrived at around 1:00 this afternoon. I let her eat and walk around her pen for about 1/2 an hour and hoped that was enough exercise before taking her into the arena. 

Boy, was I wrong. There were 2 other horses being exercised in the arena when I walked in - one under saddle and one on the longe line. Any time one of the horses picked up speed into a trot or canter, Elsa would full-out fury buck and rear while I had her on the halter. Of course, I let her fully know this was not acceptable behaviour and she would start to settle and then would have a burst of energy again. Finally, one of the riders asked me if I just wanted to let her go. They would stand in the middle of the arena with a couple of longe whips in case she tried to come in, but otherwise just let her run for a few minutes. I thought, "what have I got to lose?" 

I let her go and she went for a tear. Bucking, rearing, and doing all sorts of acrobatics while full out running. I wish I could have gotten a photo, but was holding a longe whip - not like she needed any encouragement. This went on for about 3 minutes and she showed signs of slowing so I put my longe whip down. As soon as I did, she came trotting straight for me and stopped right in front of me. I clipped on the lead rope and we had quite a pleasant little session and the other two continued what they were doing. 

She is in with a Gypsy Vanner gelding right now. He sustained a pretty serious eye injury a few weeks ago, hence the fly mask in the middle of winter. They get along - as long as Elsa is allowed to be boss. It is absolutely hilarious to see this full-grown gelding cowering away from a 9 month old. Although in his defense, they are the same height.

Backing her "friend" away from some hay.


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## Mercy98 (Jul 25, 2013)

Any updates on adorable Elsa?!?! Subbing


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

I do! I had my trainer help me teach her to longe on Monday. She picked it up so quickly that my trainer thought we had been working on it already. We just did the walk and I had her switching directions by switching my whip and line hands, saying the word "switch". I'm thankful for teaching her verbal commands from the beginning because I think that's what helped make this so easy. I wasn't able to get any photos on the longe line, but snapped a few out in the pasture. They aren't the best. 

She's out with the main herd now and seems to be doing just fine. She's definitely been put in her place a few times, but I've watched her persistently pushing her way in to eat with some of the more dominant horses, so she isn't suffering to badly from their wrath. All of the hay is netted, and she is still getting the hang of that and it's a little humorous to watch her eat. One of her favorite buddies, along with her Gypsy boyfriend, is a mini named "Pony" and it's pretty cute to see them together.

Her friend "Pony"








Still getting the hang of the hay nets.


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## EnduranceLover6 (Jul 4, 2012)

She looks great Glynnis! How old is she now?


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

She'll be 10 months on the 24th. I can't believe how fast the time has gone.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Elsa is coming along nicely in her training. I've taught her basic longeing and we only do walk and a little bit of trot for 3 - 5 minutes a couple times a week - it's more about the concept than getting super technical at this point. I had a friend take a video , but because we had done it about 10 min earlier, Elsa was not too happy that we were doing it again and it definitely shows in her reluctance to go anywhere and in the little buck she threw.

I was thinking of taking her in a larger show at the end of May, but I'm not sure if she's mentally ready. She is extremely high energy really picks up on other horses energy around her and that manifests itself in an upward direction. Yesterday, I attempted to longe her and there was another rider cantering her horse. All Elsa would do was buck, rear and bolt on the longe line. I finally just let her rip through the arena and she ran full speed in circles for about 5 minutes. After that, she was very amiable, focused and a joy to work with. I just know that I won't have the luxury of being able to let her burn off steam if need be and I don't want to cause an unsafe situation for either her or anyone else. There is a very small schooling show at the beginning of May and I might take her as a trial just to see how she does. At any rate, I'm not all that worried about it. She'll progress how she progresses and if I have to wait for her to learn how to better contain her energy and excitement, then I wait.

Took a short video - excuse my tangled longe line. I dropped it right before my friend hit the record button, so I gathered it up really quickly. It was also a bit chilly, so I'm bundled in none to attractive clothing.


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## EnduranceLover6 (Jul 4, 2012)

What a good baby! :clap:

I totally feel you on the sensitive, high strung baby thing. For a while, all Vee wanted to do was run laps. Now that she's a little bit older that wildness is slowly decreasing. Maturing is the word. Give it time, you may find she is ready to go to a small show this summer instead. As you know, they are always changing, physically & mentally. She looks fabulous though!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Yeah, I honestly am in no rush. I'm getting married this summer, so most of Spring and all of July are kind of write-offs. She's kind of off and on. One day she's really good, the next she can't contain herself. I enjoy the challenge she brings and don't mind the little spurts of energy at all. I'm very lucky that most of the boarders are really sympathetic to high energy baby. When she's acting up, someone will usually pipe up "just let her run for a few minutes, we'll wait" so it's nice to be able to have that option. I've only had to let her do that twice in the past 2 months, and I really just shrug it off. No sense getting frustrated or mad about it because it won't make her have any less energy.


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## LuvHorscents (Jan 13, 2014)

I love that heart on her side!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Thanks. It's definitely a nice touch. 

It's starting to thaw here and Elsa is a mess. I haven't had the opportunity to measure her lately, but she looks like she's heading into another growth spurt.

For a change of pace, I decided we'd try walking over a tarp. Elsa strongly disagreed with this notion. After trying to coax her over it for a few minutes, I could see she was getting really worked up over it. So I decided to just take the pressure off, unclipped her lead and stood/crouched on the tarp. It was fascinating to watch her. She walked away really quickly, stopped, sniffed some things in the corner, then came marching straight back. She would circle the tarp, then walk off again. This went on for about 20 minutes. It was almost like there was an inner struggle between being afraid but wanting to do what I asked. She finally stopped pacing, I clipped the lead on and with gentle coaxing, she came over the tarp in less than a minute and even dared to stop on it more than once. She didn't rush off when she stepped on, but placed her feet very carefully. I was so proud of her, even if it took her a little while to sort through it. She's a lot like her mom in that she's very sensitive and I felt like if I tried to rush this, she would dig in her heels (literally) and I'd have a battle I couldn't win. I can't believe she's already 10.5 months old.

My little Pig Pen.








Investigating the horse-eating tarp.








Success!


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## darkpony (Nov 20, 2013)

good job with the tarp!!  Im so glad I didnt get as much white as I was hoping for!! Its a mess here too. All our snow is completely melted! Thankfully Rooks coat hides the mud pretty well


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Lol my family and I joke around that because we were all hoping for a little bit of white, everyone's wishes combined to give her a LOT of white. We still have tons of snow here, but it's melting everyday. I know we'll get that last ditch effort for Winter with at least one more blizzard though. 

And with the tarp, we were the only ones in the arena and I had nowhere to be. When she started getting wound up, I decided it would be wise to just relax and make it enjoyable for both of us.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Last weekend, I brought out the tarp again and this time, Elsa was a lot more calm about it. There was no balking and she was even ok standing on it while I took a picture. Other than that, we've been working on walking & trotting in hand, little bit of longeing and standing still, which on some days is the biggest challenge of all. 









It finally started to warm up, hitting about 19 degrees Celsius outside and I guess she was feeling pretty good about that, because my riding instructor sent me this photo. 









The following day, we got about 7" of snow with gale force winds. Elsa has really become attached to this old appaloosa mare named Zip. They are together every time I go out there. Well, with the "snow showers" and heavy winds we were getting, the barn owners took Zip inside. She's in her mid to late 20's and I guess can sometimes have a tough time in inclement weather. Well, Elsa was not happy about that and wouldn't leave Zip's side when they were trying to bring her in. So she too got to go into a nice warm stall for the day, out of the wind and sleet. She's lucky she's still cute because I don't think she would have gotten to come inside otherwise!


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## trainerunlimited (Jan 26, 2012)

OMG! I haven't had the time to check out everyone's posts in AGES and just cant believe how wonderful miss Elsa looks! She's a sassy girl! That's how I like them, lol. You've done a wonderful job raising that gorgeous baby, Glynnis! Congrats on the upcoming marriage as well!! Sounds like a lot of excitement this summer


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Thank you! I've been enjoying her, sass and all! We haven't been doing too much lately, just focusing on the basics. It's finally started to warm up and dry up so Elsa isn't quite as dirty as she has been for the last few weeks. 

I find it a little humorous, but she's really become attached to this geriatric Appy mare named Zip who's 27 or 28 years old. The two are practically inseparable. There are plenty of other younger horses, but she seems to prefer Zip and occasionally, this other really old mare named in her mid 30s. I guess old and calm isn't the worst influence for her. 

I went to the barn on Saturday and it was a beautiful sunny day. There was a clinic going on in the arena, so I took Elsa just outside of the pen and was just grooming while we soaked up some sunshine. There were clouds off in the distance but they didn't look too threatening. I heard it before I felt it, but all of a sudden, gale-force winds came rushing in and spooked the herd of 40+ horses in the pasture right beside us. Elsa also got excited by this and having no control over the wind (it was cold!), I decided that was the end of our session for the day. I'd been brushing her for about 30 minutes, so we were near the end anyway. Despite being extremely excited with all of the horses running, she listened to me and there was no fidgeting or moving until her halter was off - she even waited for me to walk away before making a run for it. I managed to snap a few photos of their little adventure in the wind.

Running from the wind with her friend Zip.








Antagonizing her other geriatric buddy.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Elsa was officially a yearling on Friday, so I bought her a birthday headband... because, you know, desensitization. Not much to report, she's shedding like crazy and looks to be going through another growth spurt as she's a tad butt high. She's her same old spunky self, but is doing really well with leading, longeing, and pretty much everything I throw at her. She was not terribly impressed with my idea to dress her up on her birthday, but tolerated it really well.

The scar on her face has healed really well. There are just a few stray white hairs along the side and her strip is a little crooked. Otherwise, I don't think if you knew to look for it, you would be able to see it.


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## Mercy98 (Jul 25, 2013)

Happy Birthday Elsa!! She is gorgeous Glynnis!! You should be so proud!! Congrats on your engagement!!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Thank you! It's less than 2 months to the wedding now. 

Took a few photos of Elsa this weekend. She's still shedding out what seems to be endless Winter fluff, but is getting nice and smooth on her chest and neck. Next to tackle is that impossible mane. She's really started to mellow out. Less wiggly baby and a little more reasonable. Not that she wasn't reasonable before, but she's just less baby-ish and more horse like. As much as it saddens me that she's leaving the baby stage behind, I do like that her attention span is slowly but surely getting longer. 

Last Friday, I came to the barn for lessons. I thought I would grab her and my lesson horse at the same time and just bring her in and do some brushing. Caught Elsa and went to get my lesson horse and that butt head mare refused to be caught. So, Elsa and I did a little in-hand trail instead and trudged through the enormous pasture, through some bog, and over logs in the trees after this horse. She seemed to take it all in stride, and I think enjoyed the break in routine. It took me 40 minutes to catch that dumb lesson mare, so that's all Elsa and I did - I let her go after about 25 minutes. But I think it was time well spent since it was still a pretty stimulating activity for her and she seemed to really enjoy our little adventure.

In the looks department, she's full-on gawky yearling. Somehow her neck got really skinny and she just doesn't seem to match. Her mane is also parted down the middle now, so in the next few weeks I think I will attempt to train it to one side. 









Perfect middle part.
























Her expressions are exactly like her dam's. They look so alike, it's almost like handling the same horse.


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## MsCuriosity (Apr 20, 2015)

What a sweet lil horse!


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

oh she has a double mane!!! i bet you could get one heck of a reining horse mane on her XD!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

I've been working with Elsa about 2 - 3 times a week - pretty low key stuff like longeing, in-hand work, and just general desensitization. She spends most of her time in an 80 acre pasture with horses ranging from 6 mos to 30+ years, so she's definitely getting exposure to all different horses. 

I brought her in to do some work yesterday. I didn't really have a plan for her, so I was just doing some halter/showmanship type stuff - walking, trotting in hand, squaring up etc. She was doing really well, so I unclipped the lead to give her a break. I started walking and she walked along beside me. I stopped. She stopped. So I thought, she must still think she's on the lead so I took her halter off too. Same thing. I even asked for a trot and she stayed right beside me at the trot around the arena and halted when I asked her to. So I thought, "I wonder if she would free-longe?" So I picked up a longe whip and I have to say, I was really surprised. We didn't go for very long and it was by no means perfect, but I think for her first go at it (aside from being a little poky), she did pretty well! I took a short video, but please forgive my shaky cameraman skills. I can barely do one thing at a time, let alone try and longe while filming. I thought for sure she would realize she was free to go where she wanted and peace out on me, but she was all business. 

https://youtu.be/SxatGyYLG30


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

Wow! That was great.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Elsa had about a month off. Between getting married, followed closely by our honeymoon I wasn't able to get to the barn. Lucky for me, she didn't seem to have forgotten too much and was pretty good for me. 

It's so much fun to see her personality developing. She is very much a one person horse and is focused on me. She's a little timid of other people petting her, but is ok with it as long as I am there. 

I decided to do some work walking over a tarp which we haven't done in a few months. Once we had mastered that again, I decided to put some ground poles on the tarp. Feeling a bit lazy and not wanting to tie her, I just threw the rope over Elsa's neck to see what would happen. She followed me back and forth as I picked up the ground poles and then stood and watched as I placed them on the tarp. Once one was down, she'd follow me back to get another and then follow me back to the tarp. There was another person riding in the arena - a few months ago, she would have gone over to bug the other horse, so I was pretty impressed when she just stuck by me, seemingly not noticing them, while they did trot and canter work. 

I asked the other rider to take some photos after we'd gone over a few times and got some videos instead! Of course when it's on video, she decides to challenge me and see if I'll let her go around the poles.

https://youtu.be/E0EEIfZ6ZJ8

Round 2
https://youtu.be/z-4OCXfPB6Q

And of course, because I complained about her ultra-thick mane, someone has started chewing it and she's getting a little bald spot.


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

I love the title of the first video: "Nope." ROFL! It perfectly describes how she reacted.


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## darkpony (Nov 20, 2013)

Congrats on your wedding!! I feel your pain. I am knee deep in our guest list as we speak. Where did you go for your honey moon? Elsa looks great. I never would have noticed her mane if you didnt point it out. Isnt that just the greatest feeling when they actually seem like the WANT to be with you?


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

We went to St. Lucia for our honeymoon. It was nice and relaxing, but I'll admit, I was starting to miss my horse time near the end! 

And she is definitely a character. I went there Friday evening and as we were walking through the pasture, all of a sudden, her ears pricked and then she took off in the opposite direction - at least until she reached the end of the lead rope. The "monster" was a (mostly deflated) tin foil balloon that had gotten wrapped around the electric wire. It was flapping and crinkling in the breeze and every time it hit the electric fence, it would make a loud SNAP that reverberated down the fence line. It took me a good 10 minutes to convince her that this was not the horse-eating variety of balloon so we could at least walk by it. I told the owner about it and he went and took it off the fence and gave it to me as a souvenir. Naturally, I tied it to the front of her tie stall and left it there while I groomed her. :twisted: She was still a little wary of it, but I think realized that she would survive in its presence.


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## darkpony (Nov 20, 2013)

She is so big! How tall is she now?


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

I'm not sure. I meant to measure her last weekend and forgot. She was standing next to a gelding who is around 15.1 and she was just a tad shorter than him, so I'm guessing she's around the 15hh mark - which seems weird because she still looks like such a shrimp to me. 

I brought out a soccer ball on Sunday. Maybe it's that stereotypical aloof Arabian personality coming out, but she really didn't seem nor want to understand the point of it. She'd sniff it then come stand beside me as if to say "ok, is there supposed to be something special with this?" Another horse even went and started playing with it and she really couldn't have cared less.


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## BlueSpark (Feb 22, 2012)

Her response to the ball is similar to dublin's. Sort of "what is this and why should I care?"
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

She's adorable!! As always~


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## WSArabians (Apr 14, 2008)

Boy she looks good!
I really want one of those big balls for my yearlings. But I have a feeling Striker and Kheeper would jump on it and fall off and probably land upside down in the creek or something. :x LOL


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

WSArabians said:


> Boy she looks good!
> I really want one of those big balls for my yearlings. But I have a feeling Striker and Kheeper would jump on it and fall off and probably land upside down in the creek or something. :x LOL


Thank you! 

And it's funny, there are some horses at the barn that just love that soccer ball. My riding instructor sent me a video of her gelding pony and he looks to be trying to lie down on it - and he's only about 13 hh! I did take a video of her with it, I'll have to upload it and post it later.

I am truly enjoying spending time with her. It's really neat to watch her think when I ask something new and she works so hard to try figure out what she should be doing.

And for as pleasant as she is, she always brings a challenge. I went out to get her from the pasture the other day and she wouldn't move. Just stood there with this look of triumph on her face like "I'm heavier than you. I don't have to move if I don't want to." Being very sensitive though, the persistent pressure and clucking wasn't worth being obstinate and she eventually came with me with a very mare-ish glare.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

I finally measured Elsa and she is just over 15 hh at the bum and just under at the withers. I think the tape I was using previously was not quite accurate and perhaps overestimated her height a bit - I thought it seemed a bit tall, but I'm using a stick measure now, so I think it might be a little more accurate. She is also not growing at nearly the rapid rate she was and is now going up a little more steadily.

My dad died very suddenly about a week and a half ago, so I haven't had very much time to go out and work with her, but I do have this photo from a couple of weeks ago. She wasn't terribly impressed by the bareback pad. It also couldn't go tight enough to even come close to fitting around her barrel, so I left it on long enough for a photo and then took it off. 

I was also rummaging around through some old photos and found a few funny ones my dad had sent me when he first discovered Elsa and photos he sent the night before she was born putting all sorts of items on Lilly's head. Hard to believe how small she was a year and a half ago!


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## MyBayQHFilly (May 13, 2014)

My condolences on the loss of your dad.


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## OoLaurenoO (Sep 23, 2014)

So sorry to hear about your dad.  Glad Elsa is going well.


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## darkpony (Nov 20, 2013)

Glynnis, my heart breaks for you! I am so sorry to hear about your loss. I hope you can find healing and happiness in the memories you have of him. And if you need a listening ear, horses make the best listeners!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Thank you everyone. It was definitely a shock and unexpected. He did enjoy the updates of all the weird and wonderful things I was doing with her. And yes, horses do make excellent listeners - I've had many a chat with my lovely ladies these last few weeks.  

I didn't get a chance to do much with Elsa this weekend, but when I was out to bring in my lesson horse on Friday, I saw her laying on the ground. At first I thought "oh isn't that cute?!" and took a picture but then she didn't want to get up and I started to worry. So I threw a halter on her and finally got her up and she was groaning and really didn't like when I touched her belly and she seemed really bloated. They have started to slowly transition the horses onto hay as it's been getting colder so I thought "great, the change in diet has caused her to colic." She had sort of a dull demeanour and wasn't her normal bright cheery self, so I brought her in. She wasn't in the tie stall for more than 5 minutes when she started passing gas, took a poop and livened right up! I took her to the water trough in her pen and she had a good long drink and went galloping off when took off her halter. In hindsight, she probably had a mild stomach ache, was slightly dehydrated and annoyed at me that I disturbed her slumber and started touching her everywhere. I followed up with the barn owner on Saturday and she is doing just fine. *shakes head* It's time like these that they make you feel like you're crazy, but I'd rather be safe than sorry!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

*Confidence*

So, I have a question about confidence. I know it's normal for younger horses to lack confidence, but to what extent?

Elsa has always been a little more timid in nature, but I've noticed that she doesn't want to explore anything possibly new or different unless I do it with her. Now, don't get me wrong, I think it's a good thing that she is constantly looking to me for direction, but is there a possibility that she's maybe too reliant on me or is it likely this will pass as she matures? 

I took this video after tossing the giant soccer ball into the arena. She spooked when it bounced a few times, but then sort of came over to investigate and then decided against it and came to find me. I wasn't in the arena with her, just standing on the other side of the fence. Even though she was clearly curious about it, she wouldn't go investigate until I walked in with her. 

https://youtu.be/oIhvPXSMgE0 

Side note - she hates the soccer ball. This is the second time I brought it in and every time it touched her, she pinned her ears, bit at it and then turned her butt to it. She was fine if I asked her to stand still and let it rest against her, but as soon as I left, she told that ball where to go. I think I am giving up on this as a "fun" activity for her.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Well, Elsa certainly likes to keep me guessing. On Friday evening, my riding lessons were cancelled, so my sister and I went and paid her a visit. I took off her lead rope and she decided to go for a little trip around the arena with no encouragement from me. I caught the tail end on video. She was full of energy. Her little hay belly makes her look so roley poley right now. I'm thinking she is going to be on the easy-keeper side of things when she's fully grown.

https://youtu.be/ZUNkcJIPfRo

When I went on Saturday afternoon, it was all I could do to get her to react to anything. They dressed up one of the ponies as a reindeer and I asked if I could borrow some garland and bells to put on Elsa. Instead of being nervous and afraid like I thought she might be, she actually pinned her ears and glared at the bells when they made noise, and then just kind of accepted them. I rubbed the piece of garland all over her body and she couldn't have cared less. 

I then moved onto some longeing. Usually longeing is something she doesn't mind, but when I asked her to walk on, she just stood there, unmoving. There were a bunch of horses standing on the other side of the arena and she was more focused on them and what they were doing instead of paying attention to me. I practically had to chase her just to get a few walk steps. We finished off walking and trotting in hand, which she also had no interest in doing.


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## EquineBovine (Sep 6, 2012)

Oooo she's sooo cute!
As for the timidness, just keep working with her. Long reining is really good, going out for walks, always end on a good note though


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

She'll follow me to do anything, and if she's unsure, she's like glue. Like with the soccer ball - she thought about going to look at it, but then decided to come get me first and she approached it with no issue when I was beside her. 

I'm meeting with my trainer next week to do an assessment of her - what she knows, what she doesn't know but should, and what new things we can start to work on, so I'll be asking her about the timidness. It will probably just take age and experience and I'm sure as she is exposed to more, she'll come out of it slowly. I just wasn't sure if it's a good or bad thing that she's so reliant on me to approach anything new. I must say, it is a little flattering that she has so much trust though, but I want to make sure that the ego boost isn't going to be detrimental in the long run.


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## darkpony (Nov 20, 2013)

I personally think its a good thing to have your horse look to you when they are unsure. As long as she is respectful about it and doesnt lean on you, I wouldnt be worried about it. She is your partner after all. She *should *see you as the lead mare! All of that trust she has in you will be valuable when you finally do start her under saddle.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Well, of course, just as soon as I ask about timidness, my little meek and mild filly has started to test her boundaries. She's always been a bit on the stubborn side, but about 2 weeks ago, she was eating her end of session oats and decided she was finished and started to walk away. I asked her to halt and she just kept walking right through me. Of course, this was not acceptable to me and I made her back up to where she had been and halt until I was ready to go. She conceded and there wasn't much fight, but it was definitely the first time she'd ever shown blatant disrespect for space or for what I was asking. I figured it was an isolated incident. 

I had an appointment with my trainer last week, just to go over what we've been doing, if I was cuing correctly, if she was in fact doing what I was looking for correctly, etc. and to see what else we could start working on. She was sweet as pie while we were going over things she already knew. We decided to work on cuing specific feet to step up onto a box, which she's never done before. She picked up pretty quickly when my trainer tapped gently on her leg with an endo-tapper (basically a whip with a stress-foam ball on the end), and she'd pick up whichever foot we were asking for. But she absolutely _refused_ to put one foot on the box. Once my trainer started putting some pressure on, she lost any semblance of manners, trying to run through, blocking by looking away and basically doing whatever she could to not have to step on the box. It took my trainer almost an hour of asking, even having someone bring her own horse over the box 2" in front of Elsa's face before she finally heaved a giant sigh and put both of her front feet on the box and stood there with this look like "THERE! HAPPY?!" And yes we were and ended it there. My trainer looked at me and said "Wow. That is a stubborn horse." I really like her approach to things though. She never gets angry or harsh, but is also very firm. She always allowed Elsa the opportunity to "give the right answer" first and only corrected where necessary and always rewarded when she made movement towards what we were asking. It was funny, at one point, Elsa just kept moving her hind legs forward, which was ok since she was moving in the direction we wanted, but at some points, she was close to standing in a dime because she was so unwilling to move her front feet any further forward. My trainer used the endo-tapper as a tool to establish boundaries and Elsa learned very quickly that if she moved into it and continued moving into it, the tapping got harder. I like using it because the ball at the end is very soft and is really more of an annoyance than something that could potentially hurt her. I was glad I was able to observe Elsa at one of her most stubborn moments and how my trainer handled it, so that I have more confidence that I know I'm doing the right thing if she puts up some resistance with me. 

Yesterday, we had a farrier appointment. Elsa is generally pretty good for the farrier, but yesterday, she walked through me, not once but twice. Both times, I very sternly forced her to back up right to where she had been and after the second time, she put her head down, licked her lips and stood quietly for the rest of it. 

She is covered in bite and kick marks right now - nothing serious, just hair missing and a scrape here and there. The barn owner has told me that she's seen Elsa a couple of times in the last couple of weeks bossing around the other horses and chasing others away from "her" hay. I am wondering if, now that she's starting to fill out a little and is a bit stronger, if she's starting to assert her dominant personality a little more in the herd, which includes me. I never let her get away with this behaviour and she seems to realize it right away, it's just an interesting phenomenon that has developed over the last couple of weeks and is a bit of a contrast to her timidness a month ago! I'm lucky that I do have the advice and help from an experienced trainer that if Elsa did happen to overwhelm my level of skill, I can ask for help. I will say, I do like a challenge and always find it really rewarding if I've had to work really hard in solving a particular "problem" and finally get that positive result.

I snapped a few photos of the struggle to get her on the box.

Getting rewarded. 








Being allowed to sniff








Saying "NO."


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

*Achievement Unlocked*

Between studying for finals, moving and of course working full-time, I haven't had a chance to work with Elsa very much over the last month. I've brought her in a few times before my weekly lessons and done a bit of grooming and ground work, but otherwise, she's had some time off. 

The barn had a little Christmas get-together on Saturday. There were quite a few people there, Boney M Christmas music playing over the speakers and a lot of activity. Elsa took it quite well for the most part, but did expend some energy on the longe line, throwing a few bucks and leaps in, before she settled down. I also decorated her with some antlers and garland and she was was really not very impressed, but didn't shy away or try to get any of it off. She is also getting really tall. When I went to the pasture to grab her, I was surprised at how big she is getting. Her current yearling sized halter is too small. My sister has told me my nephews wanted to get me something for Christmas for her, so I've asked for a cob sized halter.

I decided to try standing her on the box again. The last time we did this was November 11 and she fought with my trainer for almost an hour before putting her two front feet up. With a bit of mild protest at the start, she hopped right on, not only with her two fronts, but with all four feet when I asked. She did this several times and stood long enough for my trainer to snap some photos and then backed off like a pro. My trainer said that despite her obvious stubborn streak, this is a good sign, that she retained what she had learned over a month ago. So there is hope yet for my stubborn little princess. 

Not hiding her disapproval of this activity.








I've also given up on trying to keep her clean.








Success.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Elsa is really starting to make leaps and bounds in her training and she's developing a really agreeable, but sassy personality. Not sure what it is, but something has just clicked with her. She actually comes to me in the pasture when I go to get her now - she never ran away before, but usually just stood there and looked at me until I reached her.

She's known how to move off pressure from my hand for a while now, but every time I tried to use something like a whip/endotapper, she'd just stand there and look at me. My trainer helped me show her that _any_ pressure means move and it only took her about 5 minutes to pick up. I went out the next week to work on this same thing and noticed she was getting really worked up over the endo-tapper, so I just dropped it in the dirt and tried to cue using only body language and she moved over right away! We've done it a few more times and if I want her to yield her hindquarters or sidepass, I just look and cluck and she moves right over. We're still working on perfecting this for turning on the haunches, but she seems to understand the basic gist. I took a quick video of her sidepassing - realized after that it would have been a bit better from the other side, but I'm not using anything other than body language and clucking to ask her to move over. The only time I touched her is when she started to leave her hip behind, so I just asked her to scoot that over and she did right away. She's still a work in progress, but I'm happy that she seems to be picking up so quickly.

https://youtu.be/DaYC7iD5pTA 

I've also occasionally started longeing her with a bareback pad on. Her belly is finally big enough that I can get one to barely fit. I took a video of her longeing with it for the first time and she definitely was aware of it, but didn't seem to mind it too much. I'm not very good at holding a phone and longeing and Elsa knew it. Usually her circles are much nicer and she stays out on the "rail" until I ask her to come in.

https://youtu.be/p8-5CfdbtFY

She's also started to learn the canter. I only ask for a few strides, just so she understands the command, but I won't do much more than that until she's a little older. 

So far, I'm pretty impressed with how she's coming along. This weekend, my trainer and I may teach her the draw.


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## darkpony (Nov 20, 2013)

She's looking really good. Hmm.. Side passing! I've been looking for something new to work on with Rook! I might just have to try that. Has Elsa started to shed yet? Rook is losing hair like crazy!!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Elsa has known how to yield her hindquarters, sidepass and pivot for a while, but she only knew how to do it if I used my hand. I started using an endo tapper (dressage whip with a stress ball at the end of it) to teach her that _any_ pressure means she should move. She dislikes whips/whip-like things and that's what prompted her to move by paying attention to my body language. She's gotten pretty good at moving if I just stand and cluck and look at the area I want her to move. I think lateral movement is really good for them to learn young because it gets them used to moving in ways they wouldn't normally. 

I had my instructor help teach her the draw last weekend and she caught on really quickly. My instructor used the box to teach her because it has a pretty wide base that allows some movement. It was kind of comical at first. Elsa saw the box (which we had previously asked her to stand on) and not understanding what was being asked of her, she climbed up beside my instructor! It only took her a few minutes to understand that in this case, she was being asked to move towards my instructor, instead of away which she would normally do for a sidepass or other lateral movement. She did so well, that on Monday, we decided to just try it out with the mounting block and she remembered right away what she was supposed to do. This is basically getting her prepared for riding. Even though I don't plan on starting her under saddle until the summer of her 3 year old year, it gets her used to having a person above her and is just another "tool" in the kit that can be used later. I had my instructor take a video and also guide me through cuing her correctly so I didn't confuse her. 

She's starting to shed a little bit, but not too much. We still have at least another month of Winter, but there is a "halo" of white hair that floats off of her when I groom her. 

Video of her doing the draw.
https://youtu.be/bG4TWGJDRG8


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Well, it's been a while since I shared any updates on Elsa. She turned 2 on April 24th. We have our first show on May 8, so I've been doing a lot of work to prepare her for that. I've entered her in Halter and Showmanship. It's just a fun show, so I thought that would be a good introduction for her before we try anything more serious. She is going through a terribly awkward phase right now. Her butt is a couple inches higher than her withers and her body has lengthened making her legs look very short. She looks a bit like a wiener horse right now with a pencil thin neck. Sigh. 

I gave her a quick bath yesterday to prepare for next weekend where she will be getting a full on scrub. She'll be getting washed on Friday after which time I will be blanketing her and then again on Saturday so hopefully by Sunday I'll just have spot cleaning to do with the green spot remover. She wasn't too happy at first, but eventually just resigned herself to standing and waiting for it to be over. She seems to have inherited her dam's large barrel that would put a pregnant mare to shame. I can feel rib and she's on a regular worming program, so I know she's not overweight or wormy.

So butt high... 








And so wide... 
















New halter for show


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## OoLaurenoO (Sep 23, 2014)

She's beautiful and you're doing such a great job with her!  look forward to updates on how she goes at her first show!


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

She's growing so fast and so sweet


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

OoLaurenoO said:


> She's beautiful and you're doing such a great job with her!  look forward to updates on how she goes at her first show!


Thank you! She is really starting to come along - she is such a joy to work with.

This technically wasn't Elsa's first show - I took her in a foal class when she was 4 months old, but she was still with her mom and that was almost 2 years ago.

She was _sooo_ good. I was (and still am!) so proud of her. Because she's so incredibly sensitive, I wasn't sure how she would take the noise and action and strange horses. I also completely forgot about practicing wearing wraps or boots before Sunday (doh!) and so her first time wearing shipping boots was Sunday morning. She did the robot walk for a few steps and then gave up and walked normally. She loaded like a charm and when we hopped off the trailer at the show, she was very alert and looking around, but didn't react or spook at anything. It was also extremely windy, with 30 - 40 km/h gusts and she wasn't bothered by it at all. I took her in halter and halter showmanship. In both classes, there were horses spooking at the speakers when the announcer spoke and others that were really unsettled by the wind, spinning circles the entire class, but she just took everything in stride. She is very attuned to how I react and so I took great pains to make sure I was calm and relaxed and I think that helped her too.

We didn't place in our classes, but I wasn't that concerned about it. There were 20+ people in both halter and showmanship, including my riding instructor who is a professional trainer and other seasoned show veterans, so it was some pretty stiff competition for us two newbies. I too haven't shown since I was in high school (excluding the foal class 2 years ago), so this was also a good learning and brushing up experience for me. The only time she misbehaved was when we were doing our pattern in showmanship for the judge. We were the 3rd to go and midway through the pattern, she realized she had left all of her friends behind and balked a little coming out of our 360 pivot. I just worked through it and continued on after her moment and she was good as gold after that. She was a tad fidgety as we waited for the other 20 or so people to go, but nothing major and it was easy to correct her on it.

Later in the day, I walked her through the trail class which included a rope gate, fabric collapsible barrels, a bridge and ground poles and she went through everything like a pro. We walked all over the grounds, by vehicles, other horses, tables, etc. and she was really chill.

I'm learning the time and effort it takes to keep a white horse clean. I took the day off on Friday and gave her a real good scrub down and blanketed her. On Saturday, I spot washed her and scrubbed out what I missed on Friday or any new stains that had appeared, of course, blanketing her again. Sunday morning, I had dry shampoo that I used for any new dirt spots and then I put a slinky and her blanket on for the trailer ride, along with shipping boots - she looked pretty comical, but I wasn't about to let all of my hard work go to waste in the trailer ride there! 

And now, a few photos. My husband came to cheer us on and also took some photos with his fancy camera. I still can't upload photos, so I did what another user did and made an album in the gallery and pasted the links... hoping this works.


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

Glynnis said:


> Thank you! She is really starting to come along - she is such a joy to work with.
> 
> This technically wasn't Elsa's first show - I took her in a foal class when she was 4 months old, but she was still with her mom and that was almost 2 years ago.
> 
> ...


We need a LOVE button!!!!! :loveshower:


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## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

She is such a fabulous little lady!
I love the photos and it really warms my heart to hear that she is doing (and has done!) so well!
I'm really looking forward to hearing how she does at her upcoming show!!


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

LOL you have her bubble wrapped. She looks great for the show. Let us know how she did


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Well, we didn't win any ribbons, but the classes were pretty large and there were some pretty experienced trainers and horses, so I wasn't really expecting to win anything. From a conformational standpoint, she is also at a terribly awkward stage and the halter class wasn't divided by the age of the horse, only by the age of the handler, so we were against everything from 2 year olds, to fully-grown and developed adult horses. But she was so well behaved and took all of the noise and activity so well, I consider that win.  Our next show is on May 29th, so we'll see if her good behaviour continues...


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Elsa had her second show yesterday and it was yet again a new experience for her. It has been torrential raining here for the last couple of weeks and so the show was moved to its rain-out location. They had stalls and a wash bay on site, so my friend and I decided to stay overnight to help get them nice and clean and stay clean. So, Elsa rode with my friend's horse in the trailer who she'd never met before, experienced a wash bay for the first time and stayed overnight in a strange stall. She is in a large pasture 24/7, but has been stalled several times, so it wasn't completely new.

I wasn't sure what I would have on my hands the next day, but she was fantastic. She's started to realize that after we do our patterns for halter and showmanship, that we don't do much after except for stand. In her first show she was a bit fidgety and yesterday, she put her head down, closed her eyes and took a nap. There was music playing in the arena and of course all the noise and hubbub that shows have and she could not have cared less. I kept having to perk her up but was also kind of impressed that with all I threw at her in that short period of time, she was able to be so relaxed.

I was riding my friend's gelding English in the afternoon and then my friend was riding in the Western classes and so Elsa had to wait at the trailer. She of course had food and water, but she was so well behaved and waited very patiently all day long. I'm feeling a little more confident for upcoming shows and also a little more comfortable taking her into strange situations. She is turning out to have such a reasonable nature. We have a bit of a hiatus from shows for the month of June, so she's going to get some unwind time to just be a horse and for us to do the regular groundwork sessions.

It was such a busy day, that I didn't have much time for pictures, but managed to snap one photo of her at the end of the day, standing at the trailer. Her level of cleanliness won't last, so best keep a record of it.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Elsa took some big steps in her training this past weekend. I had my trainer help us with her canter transitions and they're already getting so much cleaner. We also decided to give bridling a go. I've been working on getting her to lower her head when I put my hand on her poll and open her mouth with pressure from my thumb - basically mimicking what I would do bridling a trained horse. My trainer started by just using the rope and getting her to put that in her mouth and she was so laid back about it, we thought we'd give a real live bridle a try. She definitely wasn't a fan, but calmly walked beside me around the arena, chomping the entire time. I managed to snap a quick video of her making faces at me.


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

Our baby is all growing up!!


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## SummerAwaits (May 18, 2013)

Wow, you have done such an amazing job with documenting your experiences! Longest lasting thread I've seen! That's awesome


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Thank you. I like documenting it because it's fun to look back and see where we started and just how far she's come. This is the first time I've started with a horse from birth and I've enjoyed it so much. Every little milestone she makes, I get so excited. I'm sure some of the people on here just roll their eyes as she does normal things that every horse her age does, but it's all new for me and I'm very proud of her. My little nervous, timid and high energy foal is really turning into a laid back and reasonable girl.

I don't plan on starting her until next Summer sometime, but I want her to be as prepared as possible so that riding is an almost seamless and stress-free transition.


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## daystar88 (Jan 17, 2013)

I just read this whole thing and man it's awesome! I just read 2 years in one day! Haha! I have a 2014 baby as well. He was born May 30, 2014 and is currently about 14 hands. I'm guessing he'll be around 14.2 when he's done. 

Here's a photo of him as a month old and about a year and a half old.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

She is so funny with the bit, she just can't figure out how to get rid of it. 

You've done such a great job with your filly and it's been really neat to see her growing up and maturing into a beautiful horse.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

@daystar88, he's beautiful! I love myself some tobianos. 

And thank you for the compliment @LoriF. She has definitely come a long way and I cant wait to start riding her next year!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Well, life has been quite busy and it's been quite a while since I've posted. Elsa is lame and has been for about 8 weeks now. :-( It was kind of intermittent and seemed to go away for a short period of time but came back in full force. She has seen 2 different vets now who both deal specifically with horses only and they are both stumped. The second vet said it looks like some sort of "intermedial lameness" but neither one were able to offer anything conclusive. So, for now, she is on stall/small paddock rest for 4 - 6 weeks. 

As a result of being confined, she is a complete _basket case_ and is driving me crazy. I go to brush her and she is moving back and forth and pawing and rubbing her face and is just generally wiggly. I've given up on trying to make her stand still and instead only give her a scolding if she moves into my space, which was rare before, but is happening more often than usual since she can hardly keep herself together. What is encouraging is the stall rest seems to be helping. She had been confined for about 1.5 weeks when the second vet saw her. When I trotted her on the straightaway, she didn't show any lameness at all where she was very obviously lame at her first vet visit. She only showed very slight lameness on the longe line and it was significantly lessened than before. And the vet complimented me on how well behaved she is, so stall rest evidently can bring out a lot worse behaviour in youngsters than what she was showing. It was very easy to get her to pick up to a faster gait and she even did a wonderful canter pickup even though I didn't ask for it. But, it does appear that the rest is helping and so I just need to be patient, which I am horrible at. So, for the time being, we are just doing some low key stuff. I've been having her wear a surcingle for a while now, so I may try my hand at ground driving to keep her brain stimulated.

I've documented more detail on her lameness a thread in the horse health section.

http://www.horseforum.com/horse-health/mystery-lameness-ideas-733522/

Here she is in her little pen


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Awwww poor Elsa, I hope she feels better & they figure out what is causing her lameness.  She's probably sick of being cooped up. She looks like such a sweetheart.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

Being laid up is really hard for any horse let alone a baby. My mare was laid up for 18 months and she drove me crazy. The hardest part is when I fully turned her loose, holding my breath as she charged off across the pasture. I had to increase her space gradually so there was (hopefully) less chance of her re-injuring herself. 

I sure hope Elsa recovers from her lameness quickly, she's such a cutie.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Thanks guys. She has been cooped up for 3.5 weeks now and it is making us both crazy. I brought her into the arena yesterday and the first thing she did was roll. She doesn't normally roll in the arena, but her little pen probably doesn't have a great area for that, so I wasn't surprised. As she came up out of the roll, she shot up, bucking and rearing and kicking out. All it took was a stern "woah" from me and a tug on the lead rope and she walked right up and stopped in front of me, but I could tell she was a ticking time bomb. I thought that maybe having something mentally stimulating would help. I haven't had her stand on the box in almost a year, so thought that might be a good challenge to get her brain going and we could do some work on controlling where her feet go. She hopped right on with no hesitation and decided that this would make a perfect launch pad for her acrobatics and there was nothing I could do to convince her otherwise. She always stopped when I asked and was more or less respectful but she just couldn't contain herself. We left off with me asking her to put her two fronts on it and then back off and I gave up on that endeavour. I bridled her and the bit actually seemed to calm her. Her head lowered and her pace slowed, probably because it was a distraction and so I ended it off there. She has horses she can visit over the fence, but I threw a jolly ball in her pen to see if that will help give her some more mental stimulation and something to focus on; she does like chewing on things. 

She has a farrier appointment tomorrow and I am not looking forward to it. I've already given the farrier the head's up that we might have to make it a short trim, or just worry about her fronts for this time around. I plan on getting there early and am going to set up some pylons to do patterns and hopefully take some of the edge off, but I'm not too optimistic. Who knows, maybe she'll surprise me.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

This weekend marked 5 weeks of confinement for Elsa. I got the go-ahead from the vet to try a 'light longe' with her. Elsa is naturally just a higher energy horse, partially due to her age, but she is also 1/4 Arabian. She's usually pretty calm, but always alert. This experience has been very eye-opening in that I have been able to realize how much of a positive impact endless acres of pasture has on her. It would be an understatement if I said that being cooped up for 5 weeks had made her a handful; she has been bonkers. Every time I've brought her into the arena, I've had to make sure we're well clear of any other horses because she would get a spurt of energy and it would manifest itself in an upward trajectory. If I told her a stern "WOAH", she'd come down (literally and figuratively) and would remain quiet for a minute or two, but she just couldn't help herself and I had a jumping, bucking charging bronco on my hands. This is where I'm glad that we've worked so much on space and respect, because despite her misbehaving, she never once thought about getting in my space or running through me. 

Needless to say, she thought a light longe was a novel concept. I attempted to longe several times and it resulted in her galloping and bucking in mad circles around me and it was hard to get a sense if she was sore and it was also a bit nerve wracking for me. I finally decided that she was going to run whether I liked it or not and large circles are easier on her body than small ones, so I just let her loose. She tore around for a few laps and then broke into the most beautiful floating trot and maintained it for a few minutes. There was no sign of lameness or stiffness at all and she looked more or less her normal self. It's been so long since I've seen her like that, I almost forgot what it looked like. I would have taken a video, but in one of her crazy bouts last week, my phone fell out of my pocket and she stepped on it, damaging the camera. :-(

I decided to put her back with the main herd. It's gone down into the low -30's and so no one is moving around much. I brought her back in on Sunday to see if 24 hrs of free movement had any effect on her. I have to say, the difference in behaviour was like night and day. My calm and collected Elsa was back. We did a few laps of an easy trot in both directions and she showed no signs of lameness. I'm still going to take it easy on her for the next little while, but it's looking like she had a soft tissue injury that she just wasn't resting enough to allow it to heal. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she stays sound for now.


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## daystar88 (Jan 17, 2013)

FrostedLilly said:


> This weekend marked 5 weeks of confinement for Elsa. I got the go-ahead from the vet to try a 'light longe' with her. Elsa is naturally just a higher energy horse, partially due to her age, but she is also 1/4 Arabian. She's usually pretty calm, but always alert. This experience has been very eye-opening in that I have been able to realize how much of a positive impact endless acres of pasture has on her. It would be an understatement if I said that being cooped up for 5 weeks had made her a handful; she has been bonkers. Every time I've brought her into the arena, I've had to make sure we're well clear of any other horses because she would get a spurt of energy and it would manifest itself in an upward trajectory. If I told her a stern "WOAH", she'd come down (literally and figuratively) and would remain quiet for a minute or two, but she just couldn't help herself and I had a jumping, bucking charging bronco on my hands. This is where I'm glad that we've worked so much on space and respect, because despite her misbehaving, she never once thought about getting in my space or running through me.
> 
> Needless to say, she thought a light longe was a novel concept. I attempted to longe several times and it resulted in her galloping and bucking in mad circles around me and it was hard to get a sense if she was sore and it was also a bit nerve wracking for me. I finally decided that she was going to run whether I liked it or not and large circles are easier on her body than small ones, so I just let her loose. She tore around for a few laps and then broke into the most beautiful floating trot and maintained it for a few minutes. There was no sign of lameness or stiffness at all and she looked more or less her normal self. It's been so long since I've seen her like that, I almost forgot what it looked like. I would have taken a video, but in one of her crazy bouts last week, my phone fell out of my pocket and she stepped on it, damaging the camera. :-(
> 
> I decided to put her back with the main herd. It's gone down into the low -30's and so no one is moving around much. I brought her back in on Sunday to see if 24 hrs of free movement had any effect on her. I have to say, the difference in behaviour was like night and day. My calm and collected Elsa was back. We did a few laps of an easy trot in both directions and she showed no signs of lameness. I'm still going to take it easy on her for the next little while, but it's looking like she had a soft tissue injury that she just wasn't resting enough to allow it to heal. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she stays sound for now.


I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a sound horse as well from this point on. Sounds like she's a handfull when cooped up. It definitely is a good thing you taught her not to invade your space when you did. 
Hopefully you can fix your camera so we can all see those beautiful movements!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Thanks. And you know, I never really realized how much of an impact being confined would have on her. I've stalled her for a night or two with no problems. While I wouldn't describe her as sleepy calm, under normal circumstances, she's got a really good head on her shoulders and as she's aged, usually thinks before she reacts. If she's unsure, her first impulse is to stop and wait for direction from me on what she should do. Being confined, she seemed to regress to her weanling days where she had no control over her energy levels or understanding of proper behaviour. Hopefully she continues to be on the mend because I would like to keep progressing her training. The last 5 weeks it was very evident that trying to teach anything would be futile. She couldn't maintain focus for long enough.


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## daystar88 (Jan 17, 2013)

FrostedLilly said:


> Thanks. And you know, I never really realized how much of an impact being confined would have on her. I've stalled her for a night or two with no problems. While I wouldn't describe her as sleepy calm, under normal circumstances, she's got a really good head on her shoulders and as she's aged, usually thinks before she reacts. If she's unsure, her first impulse is to stop and wait for direction from me on what she should do. Being confined, she seemed to regress to her weanling days where she had no control over her energy levels or understanding of proper behaviour. Hopefully she continues to be on the mend because I would like to keep progressing her training. The last 5 weeks it was very evident that trying to teach anything would be futile. She couldn't maintain focus for long enough.


Wow, well I wish you the best of luck!


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