Hide n Seek

Friday, March 13, 2009

The girls are hiding again. It's too dark to see the entire pasture, so I have to walk it. No one's talking, no one's moving. And then, out of nowhere, I see ears. Knee height. Huh? Hold the phone, the girls are laying down sleeping. I walk over, say good morning, and both just lay there while I pet them. OK, pleasekthx, need to go to work now. Let's get up and get some breakfast! Nope, Anni goes flat out. Sigh. I wait a bit, and they get up, stretch, and finally decide to come eat. Guess they are relaxed and content.

B is working on the second paddock when I get there after work, so even tho the girls don't care about all the noise and the tractor, I decide not to push things and just spend time with them in the pasture.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

K has agreed to help me mess with Adiva's ear then fix the stall lights (for some reason, the light switch isn't working) in the afternoon. I get all the supplies together then grab Adiva. She's such a love. I've messed with the ear a lot, but here we are with clippers. And she's not used to two people at once. She is ok with the clippers – not a fan of them turning on and the vibration seemed to tickle her, but she handled it well. Until, of course, I got near her ear. OK, this ain't happening. By then, of course, she's on hyper alert and isn't paying any attention to either of us. So, I spend the next 15 minutes or so getting her to be aware of us. It's not fun, but she has to work this out. I'm just trying to get her to stand still. She isn't stressed, but she doesn't want to stand still. Too bad, so sad – I am boss mare.

She finally relaxes and sighs, so I praise her and give her some cookies. I take her for a walk then, to change things up. Well, she is amped! But, she wants to investigate so I let her lead me around so long as she's not crowding me. She leads me to the front of the property, so I decide to work her a bit. Just keeping her attention, turning left, right, stopping, starting. She's interested. We've walked around before, but somehow, she know this is a lesson. She's marching forward, letting me lead her, waiting to see when we're going to do something else. Are we turning? Stopping? I can tell she's having fun, that she thinks we're playing, but she's very intent and relaxed. She's not getting all worked up or anxious. She is still paying attention to other noises, but when she spooks, she doesn't jump into me. I'm so proud of her. All she does is jump then stop. I like that kind of spook! I decide to call it a day – she's done enough and I'm too happy with her to push things.

It was all a game to her, and that's fine – it should be a game at this point. But...she still wants to play. I can see it in her eyes. K agrees, and so I head into the pasture and both girls know what's coming. It's so cute! I clap my hands and away they go! LMAO, they are so adorable! I 'chase' them for a while – hell, they run without me doing much for most of the time – until I figure they've had enough. I stand still until they walk up to me (which takes them all of 10 seconds!) and they follow me calmly back to the gate. I really am lucky to have them.

I get Anni out so I can work with her a bit. She's so laid back. She just wants to graze, and is miffed I'm taking her away from grass. She lets me lead her around, working on all the same things that I did with Adiva. She is so bored. At least I know her training will go easily. I don't spend a lot of time leading her – she's either done all this before, or is the quickest study. I can handle that. Besides, she is enjoying the quiet grazing time. It's what she needs right now. Plus, Adiva is finally not as stressed about Anni being gone. Two birds, one stone. What an awesome day!

I think I figured it out...Anni is my problem child. She's too much of a thinker – she's going to wait til I drop my guard to test me. Constantly. Adiva is going to be rock solid once she settles in. She's my slow learner tho, so who knows when that'll be! Doesn't that sound like fun?!?!