Well maybe it s about time for an update on Theory.  I have purposely left the new owners alone with her as if they had bought her. Well actually I am still the owner, however if things continue to go well I will give them her papers when I receive them back from the registrar. I wanted them to feel free to build a relationship in the manner that works for them best with no pressure from me.  The Veterinarianwho has been so good as to take Theory under his wings, told me the other day that she has settled in nicely.  At first when they would feed she would run like crazy all around the 2 acre paddock.  After a few days she would only jump a little when they tossed in the hay.  The mare in the group has taken Theory under her wing it seems and it appears the mare is the boss of the small 4 horse herd. This means that Theory gets to eat with the mare and follow her around to eat everyone else’s food as well.  Food was my biggest worry for Theory as being so young and the newest in the herd I was sure she would suffer some in the food department. Apparently that’s not the case.  She has free reign because the mare has become a surrogate mom, or an aunt and assures Theory gets her share.  Anyway the Dr. is very happy with Theory and I could tell he would be disappointed if she were to leave.  He feels her issues are probably not eye related and that she is indeed a sufferer of hypersensitivity to self preservation.  This does not seem to bother the vet. He feels that the mare is helping Theory settle down and not be so alarmed.  We are hoping for learned behavior modification.  That is our theory anyway, while in the meantime she is safe and loved.

Prophecy, the dynamic stallionesque (by-the-way, that is another Susan word… I really like this word a lot too! I should have my own language.) that he thinks he is, has stepped up to the task of being driven and led around the block. He is settling a bit also in his pen when I am in there working with him. He joins up even though he was taught solely through observation of Cora and Kindlewood joining up.  He has never had a real round pen session.  He is just too young for it in my estimation.  But he goes out on command and comes in on command like he’s been doing it all his life.  This usually the routine when he loses his manners and tries to taste the arm.

 I finally sent off both Theory’s and Prophecy’s registration papers.  I don’t know why but that is such a major thing in my life. I always look forward to gettig my foals registered. The 2008 foal crop was the first time that I did  not send in registration paperwork at 6 months of age.  I was feeling really amiss, but now it’s done and I will feel so much better when those papers are in my hands.  The next thing is to get the Akal brand on Theory. I have been waiting as long as possible so she can grow and hopefully not end up with some humongous brand her shoulder come 5 years from now.  There is no more time for her to grow up as I have to get it done before I leave for the SMR 52nd Meeting in Oregon.  I need to return the brand to Simrat and since I’ll be going to the meeting it makes sense to take it with me then.  Once back from the meeting I’ll be permanently moved to Colorado.  So now or never it seems.

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AR Theory went to her new home today.  Loading in the trailer was relatively uneventful. Basically run the lunge line up through the trailer stand at her hip with little contact on her face.  Just enough to keep her head going into the trailer.  I tapped her on the rear few times to no avail, so went up and placed her front foot in the trailer then pushed her from behind and POP up into the trailer she went.  For being a pretty flighty filly she hauled beautifully and used her head.  Showed some real common sense.  Unloading was scarey for her but she managed to jump out.  We took some old fashioned (throw away camera) registration pics and then put her in with Dr. Darger’s horses.  Later in a couple weeks he is going to put her in her own 20 x 20 pen under his shade barn to start working with her. 

We both thought she should bond with his horses first to help her feel like she is part of a herd.  All in all this has been a very rough day for her, but we are confident that she will do fine.  At least she has lots of room to run and is not couped up in a small stall any longer.  Dr. Darger is working with me in terms of if she doesn’t work out he’ll give her back to me or to Simrat so that we can place her in the proper situation.  Also if something comes up that is better than what he can provide she is free to go there.  We’ll figure all of that out come end of June.  In the meantime I’ll get her registration done and other paperwork in order and sometime before I leave for the meeting in June we’ll have her branded with the Akal Ranch brand.  If she fits in at this place then it will be a permanent home.

Here she is not the happiest baby Theory, but she quick, she’ll do fine!

A little bewildered…

A hard lesson as one of the geldings establishes his dominance.

This mare spent a lot of time putting herself between the two geldings and Theory.  We think she may take Theory under her wing.  Will keep you posted.  Dr. Darger is now off to learn all he can about Spanish Mustangs, and of course I sent straight to the SMR website.  I feel pretty badly sending her off like this.  Real bad in fact.  I feel like why was she born to me if she wasn’t going to stay with me.  I’m actually a little sick to my stomach.  But I know her  new home is loving and kind one and that it’s best for her to be able to mingle with horses and have room to run and develop.  I know her, it won’t take her long to impose herself on everyone there and make her presence known.

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Here Theory was getting ready to have the second segment of her first tying lesson. She is wearing two halters and the mark on her face in the corral is from having worn the halters earlier. I put the halters on snuggly so she cannot rub herself out of them. It is not a sore, it is just ruffed up hair. Theory never fought being tied, she stood like she had been tying her whole life, a very smart little girl. This video shows some of Theory’s nervous nature. She has come along way from crashing through fences to flee.

Paisano is such a good boy, you can see him re-assuring her that it will be okay. The look on his face is priceless.

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Theory is gonna be a big girl. If she isn’t big enough for her age, she is going up in the butt right now promising to out grow even Pro who is himself, at 1 year and a month, a good sized boy.  I expect them both to be in the 14.3 range when it is all said and done.  

This past week she has really improved in her ability to trust.  She is a very tight little girl with anxiety issues that I believe are a result of her eye sight.  In the past week she has thrown herself into trusting me to keep her safe, yet only after first trying to flee. Yesterday she got her first bath and other than her being up and extremely tense it was really pretty uneventful.  She and her mother and the other horses were showered with water nearly every day during the summer heat last year so once the water touched her she was fine with it.  Yesterday was also the first time she has ever been brushed. Up until now she has been too fright and flight to do much more than just rub her neck and reassure her. 

Oh and I almost forgot! Last summer I fly sprayed the horses pretty much every day and would spray her as she passed by. She always was caked with flies.  Well we can’t have flies on the horse for pictures now can we. So I got out the fly spray and sprayed it into my hand rubbing it on her face, then proceeded to fly spray her from neck to toe.  Again other than being tense, she stood like she had had it done all her life.  She really is starting to come along.

Today we took registration photos of her and although she really wanted to leave BAD, and she didn’t stand still for more than 2 seconds my room mate Rebecca was able to get these shots off of her.  Two days in a row with huge strides toward her becoming a trusting young lady.  Something else that is really cool and I hope to get a video of her this week sometime is her little gait that is right on the edge of locking in. 

She is leading extremely well for a filly who has never really had any formal leading lessons.  Yesterday she followed at about 5 foot distance behind me, today she was right up beside me both times on a loose lead.

It has been much harder for her to feel safe in any situation, but she is beginning to show me signs that she may be able to learn to trust yet. You know what she reminds of is the Paso Fino babies who were handled by the “old time”  South American trainers who”use” to rough them up to intimidate them and to get their feet moving fast.  Those babies would be scatter brained, most all of them living in fear, but put a halter on them and you could do anything with them.  I hope Theory doesn’t live her life like that.  I’m working on a situation for her future now. We’ll see how it pans out. 

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Read about it here at  Thankful Thursday February 26, 2009

Be sure to spend some time thinking about what you have to be thankful for.  It is so healing.   More Thankful Thursday’s may be found at Akal Ranch and Tire Dog Ranch.  There are many Thankful Thursday’s out there and if you google them, you may find something that speaks to your very own intimate heart.

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A situation has come up for Theory and so she is no longer for sale.  Also in light of this new situation I will be keeping Prophecy so he is no longer for sale as well.  Thanks for your interest and inquiries.

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Time spent with my horses today wasn’t all that long for each of them but it seemed as though each effort was productive. 

Let’s start with Theory.   Earlier this morning while feeding I finally removed her halter.  She has worn it way longer than I had wanted and way longer than any horse I have ever had.  She just was too  shaky and it was too risky putting it on and off.  My fencing is such I didn’t want to be pushing her into going through or over it.  She is very immature about some things and tends run first and deal later.   A learned behavior from her mother, whom I feel probably had good reason for her choices in life.  Theory on the otherhand doesn’t have any reason to be silly other than being a baby that doesn’t know better.  I had to move her corral again because in her silliness she would jump the fence into my roommate’s horse’s pen.  So baby Theory now has a stall sized pen next to Paisano who is becoming quite the babysitter.

Okay I’m drifting here,  This morning I took her halter off.  She came up to me  for her lovins so I took it off and put it on a few times then left it off.  Later when I went out to play with the horses I began by putting Theory’s halter on her then attaching the lunge line to bring her out to try her hand at lunging again.  She was a little more confident but wanted to stop next to Pai as she passed by him.  The lunging area travels directly past the pens where Pai is waiting with his head out to get a few whiffs and nuzzles as she went by.  At one point she made a get away move and I caught her up in such away that she reared up slightly trying her trick of throwing herself to the ground.  Well when she landed she slid between the panels of Pai’s stall.  I didnt let her go through so she was stuck. I mean she was really STUCK.  So we both waited there a bit me keeping tension on the lead not letting her move while we figured out the best way to get her unSTUCK. In the meantime Pai has himself a captive toy to nibble on, as her head, shoulders and front legs were inside his pen. She was just too big to fit through and was on her knees with her legs bent back around the bottom panel.  All I had to do is tell Pai to back off and  he did.  What a good boy he is such a trooper.  It was apparent that the only way to get her out was to push her through to the other side, so I let lose of the tension on the lunge line and she began to struggle.  I chose to stay out of her way and let her figure it out on  her own.  Very carefully she twisted and turned until she had her head outside the pen again and then lurched backward to unstick (is that a word?) her shoulders and out came her legs and feet totally unscathed.  This little episode seemed to have had an affect on her too, as she walked up to me for reassurance and we spent quite a bit of time going over her, hugging and kissing on her. I wanted her to feel I was the safe place to be.  She learned about being scratched between the udder which at first was a bit too personal for her, but after a wee bit of scratching and letting her sniff my hand she relaxed into it.  Then we picked up her front feet going over them very carefully looking for any possible injury, then picked up her hind feet for the first time.  Her demeanor while lunging was much more thoughtful and careful while completing  turns.  Once she started to do her silly move, but caught herself and quickly walked up to me for a hug instead.  I led her around a wee bit then put her away figuring we had a good lesson on behavior today.  I took the halter on and off of her several times before leaving her with a kiss and much wiser.  I will say I was impressed with her thoughtful way of unsticking (there is that word again!) herself,  a mare maybe, but a baby to keep her cool like that was pretty impressive.

Next I take Pai out for his turn at some exercise and to work on balancing his feet some more.  Thing is I also wanted to ride.  So I slipped up after he lunged a bit.  He was so funny he wanted to take right off and go play.  He wanted to go back over to where I rode him last time and play the ‘I take you for a ride to the hay stack’  game.  lol I didn’t let him go.  I made him turn back and rode a few laps on the lung circle.  Then we took off through the desert to the hay stack. This is getting to be a lot of fun!  That’s it that’s all the riding I did, lunge ring to hay stack albeit weaving through the desert because next came leveling off his feet. Then off to his favorite rolling spot for  a few good rolls before going back to his pen while I worked with Pro.

Pro was and is pretty much a repeat each time I take him out. He plays stallion colt games on the lunge line and tries to intimidate me which gets him in trouble.  Pretty much status quo.  Then we  explore the desert over to the hay stack.  but before we went to the haystack this time I let him sniff noses with Pasiano.  This time Paisano is free in his corral and Prophecy is on the lead.  Did I say Paisano is a trooper? He is so on top of what is going on and has all the answers too!  He only squealed once with Pro giving him the appropriate ‘I’m a foal’ mouthing sign which won favor with  Paisano.  Pai started licking on Pro, nibbling on him being all buddy buddy.  I do declare… Pai is going to let Pro live with him.  After a bit of time it was clear they both wanted to play!  This is a huge relief for me!  Enough is enough so I took Pro on his stroll to the haystack then leveled his feet before putting him away.

All in all another enjoyable, educational and successful horse day…

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Well that is my life… horses. I had to come to the realization that I will always have horses in my life. Today was no exception. My day off. Some folks go to the movies, or get together friends, shop, dine, museum and gallery stroll. Hit the gym. Me, I hit the horses, well not literally, but figuratively. I spend my days off making sure they get their share of my time.

Today was a simple horse day, Trimmed my room mates horses feet. This is a long process as Sophie has been over due and wearing shoes for too long. So I am taking only a wee bit off each time letting her adjust and slowly bringing her feet back into balance. They are looking good after only three minor trims about two days apart. I also took the opportunity today to re-balance Paisano’s front feet. He tends to roll off the outside heel and grow too much toe on the inside thus causing him to rotate a wee bit. So I took some inside toe off and balanced the foot while standing him up slightly just in the front today. My rasp is getting dull so next time I trim I’ll need a new one and will do all four feet.

After trimming I let Pai roll and lunged him some and let him nibble at our short sweet Arizona grass shoots. He did not think it was enough time as he bulked going into his pen. I felt badly for him as he glared at me. He wants some freedom so badly. It will come we just have to get through the next few months.

Paisano has really become quite the gelding. When I put him away Theory was in his pen checking it out. I left the gate open obviously. I thought well I have her trapped. Having let her out all day to run and play and wanting to put her away and having her trapped made things appear pretty easy. But then I had Pai who may try to over power her being all stallion like and all. But no, he just nibbled on her some and acted like a typical ol’ gelding. He’s becoming a lazy ol’ man.

Let me back track, before I had taken Pai out to trim his feet, I had Pro out excersizing and while on the end of a lunge line, followed him around through the bushes as he played with Theory. Pro was a very good boy today and we had fun just weaving in and out of places while he sniffed out tiny morsels of new growth. Of course I lunged Pro a bit and Theory was right there keeping an eye on things.

It is funny about Theory, she walked up to me several times today while I was playing with Sophie, Pro and Pai and followed us around a couple times stopping for pets here and there. So when I went up to her in Pai’s pen she was fine with it. Telling Pai to stand back while I put on her lead, they both were troopers and worked well together and with me. I love working them together this way. They all learn how to put their personal horse differences aside and work as a team. Taking Theory out of Pai’s pen, she followed like she had been leading her whole life. If you have been following along you know that she has only led twice now and has no formal leading training. I thought to myself could she be ready to try to lunge. I thought no Susan, hold on a bit. But something in her gaze told me she wanted to do something like the big boys had done on the lead. So I just kind of positioned my self once we reached the lunging area, and she moved out in a semi circle around me, stopped and we petted and hugged and assured her she was big girl. We did this a few times and low and behold she took off at the trot around me like she had been doing it her whole life. One complete circle on a loose line totally relaxed with me praising her and exclaiming how grown up she was. I hugged and loved on her a bunch then asked her to follow me and off we went leading her to her pen.

Theory is growing up!

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Well since today was horse play day, Theory got to spend most of it out running around the property.  This time by herself since the last time I let her run with Pro he was leading her down the driveway towards the road.  He earned himself a moratorium on running free I’m afraid.  So Theory tore around the place cutting up and making mayhem all by herself, staying very close to corrals for security.   Since she is just a baby I am not really training her anything, I just mess around with her and love on her a lot.  She is still flighty though and not real quick to come up close enough to be caught.

Today however I was out working with Paisano, and she came right up for her share of lovins and hugs.  I was very proud of her bravery.  It was a lot of  interacting with her while I worked the two boys.  Yep the Pro Man got his turn to run on the lung line too, and when we went for our walk around the property Theory found herself in tow.  She’d take off running ahead and stop to snif around and I’d call out Theory common were going this way, and off like shot she’d com barreling back.  Pro and I made several trips back and forth playing this game with her and teaching her to come when called. It was such a fun way to teach her.  After putting Pro away. she wanted to keep following me so I’d call her and she follow like  a little ducky following its mom.  When I was all done with the boys I left her out for another hour whereby when I returned to feed I couldn’t find her.  Lol   So it was ” Where is little miss Theory?”  hehe lickity split here she comes barreling around the horse trailer right on past me  to stand near her pen.  I have always told my horses to go into their “house” at dinner time.  So I said to her.”go in your house” and pointed at the pen, she hopped and skipped right in without me moving a muscle. 

I love my life with my horses!  The relationship with Theory and the training style is much different than I have done with any of my horses.  Pro has entered into the hell on fire raging hormone adolescent boy stage, and as such need much more direction.  Well actually he was born that way and is just expressing it with even more vigor.  Theory on the other hand is more like teaching a kid. Lots of explaining and showing.  Not so much direct contact.  More of a sharing.

Theory kept us all very entertained today and we all learned a great deal and cemented our herd into an even stronger bond.

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I can’t stand to see my horses locked up. I really can’t stand to play when my horses cannot.  It just doesn’t sit right with me.  I just cannot enjoy myself during festivities when my horses are locked up in muddy stalls.  So with some help from some cancellations at work I devoted my day to horse play. I mean play for them as best as I could provide.

I didn’t groom them. I devoted 100% of three hours to their play. Paisano I’m afraid did not get the best end of the deal, but he did get out and he did get to express himself and munch on tiny bits of grass for quite some time.

The first plan of action was to let the babies out to run. Then bring Paisano out on the lunge line to interact with them while learning some manners in hand in this type of situation.  The babies running up to him and causing all kind of commotion.  That all went quite well.  The babies are well versed in my body language and verbal language to know how far they could push things and when it is time to book it. That was great because it kept Paisano out of trouble.

He may be muddy but that boy is down right gorgeous! Just breathtaking!

Prophecy shows off some of what is to come and his own version of Breathtaking as well! Then off he went with baby sister to see what kind of mischief they could drum up.

I tell you he is good at drumming up mischief too.  He had this huge halter on (I know, I know better!)  But I wanted something on him incase things got out of hand. These babies are running free with no real boundries to keep them on the property and it’s the only other halter I had. Luckily they are staying close to the other horses and HOME! At one point Pro caught his halter on Sophie’s (my roommates mare) feed bucket, you know the kind that hangs on the fence. I hate those things and was reminded why when he caught that huge halter on it and lifted the entire gate off her pen letting her out to add to what was now nothing less than mahem.

Here you can see the feeder, his halter and the proximity to the truck.

Now I have Pro with a fence gate and a feeder hanging off his nose, and a filly acting like he was being eaten, Paisano rearing and striking because it was a great opportunity to voice his opnion. He was on the other end of the lunge line I had in my hand as I approached Pro in hopes to free him of the horse eating gate, and of course Sophie running back and forth from her pen not sure what else she should do. I look at this gate and I see nice hoof size field fence wire strung to it and think he is going to break his neck or his leg if he steps into that. Sure enough I no more than think it and Pro  puts both front feet into the wire, but when he tries to back out of it that frees up his nose from the feeder and off he went every foot right through that wire not catching one. It was really pretty foot work. In the end he did hit my truck (my poor truck), with the gate in his attempts to free himself.

Pro has another notch on his coup belt in the ever on going battle with the truck.

Later he and Paisano had a rolling competion. I think Paisano has had more practice and definately won first place.

Of course pretty Theory just being herself… very pretty Theory

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