A horse in the hand

Sun, sun, sun!
LOVE it.

The sunshine makes the cooler than normal temps seem warmer and you can FEEL the sun's warmth.

Someone is shedding like a hot whore in a steambath

It's never ending...but I can't wait until his sleek summer coat

We worked on lunging over two ground poles, trotting in both directions for 10 minutes

Ground tied angel.

He did great, much MUCH better about picking his feet.

After the 10 minutes, he was steamy, nostrils flared red, and we stopped before he got too tired from picking up his feet to stumble. 

He did great

Instead of our road trail walk, I walked him around the property area.

We haven't done this alone yet.

He leaped forward when he heard the dogs rustling in the woods. 

I know, he knew it was the dogs but I think his anxiety just got the best of him.  He quickly started licking and lowered his head like "oops, sorry...just kidding."

Looking back at the other horses for reassurance

It's hard to tell in this picture, but it's like a major cliff. The other side of the dirt, is a drop off.

Eeeks.
I'm not a fan of walking by...I HATE heights.

Little white rimmed eye peeking through, not entirely sure

The dogs race down this hill..it's a steep hill regardless of how tiny and inviting it looks in the photo.

If you were to sled down it, you would FLY

Laz got a little amped up when walking..WALKING..down it.

I had to remind him "WAAAALK" otherwise I had visions of me getting yanked down, right into the hot fencing.  But..we didn't

My goal is to have Laz comfortable with our trail walks in hand, and splash in rides in between to gain confidence for us both.

Visiting Stormy, his Polish Arab buddy.  Stormy nickered to Laz the sweetest girliest nicker

Fatty gets his beet pulp and Carly likes to eat the slob's leftovers

And after Laz, it was Wicked's turn.

We did lunging over the poles and major grooming.

This boy sheds

He finally allowed me to pick all four hooves without yanking his little goat legs away. It's amazing what a carrot nibs will teach a pony.

"I nots a hunder jumpers poneee, I dontz wannaz workz in there...NO more!!!"

Sunshine babes

March 25th-My bday

I turned 34 and played hookie for part of the day to go and see my Laz Star 

(and though not legally mine, but mine through pony luv-Little Chief)

Even though Spring is trying to come, it's still in the 30's but in the sun, it feels like 50's.

It's bright and warm.

I got to the barn shortly after their breakfast, and during nap time part I of I'm sure IIII

Spoiled babies, and rightfully so

 Even wicked ponies are cuddly cute when laying down

 Laz was filthy...always. I swear he's only clean the few hours I'm with him.

He was a sleeeepy man and thoroughly enjoyed his grooming session.

He's been a bit off lately with his RR and showing signs of 'ouch' so I rode him only at the walk.

We did some arena work, and then trail rode around the farm property and out on the road for a few house's length and back.  I wanted a nice bday hack and he gave it to me.

 When I dismounted, he was much more alert so I decided to hand walk him some more.

I figured he could handle it, the road was soft and squishy footing and I wasn't on his back.

Mason: "anyone need a tire?"

 Glamor shot.

This was as clean as I could get him.
He's dusty...DUSTY. Needs a bath so badly.

 After our 1 mile walk, he came back and decided he wasn't going to miss out on nap time. The whole barn was quiet and it was peaceful.

He quickly went into a REM state, where his chin dropped on the ground and he started quivering.

Awww

 And then playful Sawyer went up to sniff and I think wanted to lay down next to him (b/c he plopped down one second later) but Laz didn't 100% trust him or his request and whipped himself up.

 And this...have you ever had a Valomilk?
They are from the early 1900's and I heard about it NPR and thus the craving and needing to find one to eat began...

 They are oooozing with marshmellowy liquidness of deliciousness.
SLURP!

Does not disappoint!

Messy and sticky and everything a good candy bar should be.

Eat.in.private.

Don't look at calories or fat...just eat and love it.

 ***

Saturday.  

Deja vu!

Obviously Laz has a fave napping area.

 Awww my humpless camel babe

 He is so comfortable with me walking up to him when laying down, it's awesome. It makes me feel I generate a trusting vibe to him.  He allowed me to rub rub rub his belly and laid flat out and stretched and moaned.

I walked back inside to grab his halter/lead and found the littlest inside rubbing his itchy spots on a water bucket holder

"ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yes!!!!!"

 "What? I itz"

 So..I grabbed the mini first (who we now think has Shetland in him) and groomed the bejesus out of him.

And worked his fat little self.

I lunged him flat, and over a raised cavaletti and one on the ground.

He did great and is very careful about his little feet

 Future H/J poneeee

 He also had a mini-melt down and started rearing and decided he was DONE working and then went to galloping around like a mini maniac and trying to rip my arm out of socket.  I let him carry on and made him trot 3 circles in each direction nicely before we quit for the day. I hand walked him around the arena (b/c he needs manners when leading too) and re-groomed him again.  He ended it as a nice pony.

We want to train him to be child safe. 

Right now...he's a child killer, lol!

***

Next up...my sore??? limping all week, Laz?

Just when I'm about to pick up the phone in a panic and call Cliff  "He's SO sore!" Laz goes to a beautiful trot and wanting to play and looking amazing.

wtf?

Whatever, I'll take it.

Maybe he was muscle sore? Who knows but on Saturday he was moving beautifully.

We did ground work only b/c I didn't want to push it, but I had him trotting over ground poles to help with back/belly and stifle muscling.

He did great but he's not so graceful and likes to hit the poles with EVERY foot.

Come on...lazy! ;)

He had fun free lunging and would race around and then coming flying up to me, stop and nuzzle for a carrot. 

HA! 

Ok...he got it.

 The BO and I took the horses (Sawyer and Laz) down the road again (my new favorite b/c I get to exercise both Laz and myself) for a mile walk.

Mason doing is best mud otter impression.

Really?

He stinks...now I have 2 babies that are in need of a serious bath.

 Laz nibbling the spring grass.

Only a teeeeny tiny bit.

It's CHOCK full of sugars now so I can't allow it.....sigh

Only one major freak out when one of the neighbors was raking up by his garage.
Laz swore it was Freddy Krueger and wanted NOTHING to do with him.

We walked the horses up so they could meet the man and Laz horn snorted the entire time and grew to be 19h's tall.  He ended up calming down but not entirely.

My goal is to continue ride/hand walk him down the road so it's as comfortable to him as the arena is.

Overall, they did great though.

Back home-lunch time

 The two besties eat together

 Laz was soooo sleepy, he kept yawning, and eating.

His eyes are so expressive...I can basically tell his mood just from his eyes.

I'm sure he had a great nap after I left.

Easy day

Pulling up and seeing your horse happy, turned out and grazing on strewn hay with his buddies?

Worth every penny paid

Worth every mile driven

Up close on Laz's fur as I arrived

 His sores are getting MUCH better, with today being his 3rd treatment on the Animax

 That stuff seems to work pretty fast and little goes a long way

We did ground work today, with a solid 15 minutes of trot work.

He looked better from Sunday, but still not as great as he's been.

I did notice after about a minute of trotting, he did loosen up and start stretching his neck down, lifting his tail, and his trot improved some.

I've been doing his ground work at liberty lately to test out how it goes.

Pretty darn good...but it also shows where we need to work, which is nice to gage.

Teaching Laz the command for "Come" is something I'm doing.

I wave my hand at him (like curling my fingers towards me, as a come motion) to give him a physical cue along with the word "come" and when he arrives, he gets a treat.  

Yes, a carrot nib.  

I know a lot of people poo poo the idea of treat training. 

I don't. 

I like treats.  

Laz likes treats and why not have a little fun and reward during training?

 Worked for my dogs. 

Working for my pony.

So.....Come!

"Gimmez thiss stix"

 "Now I tetch youz some Puralleeeez Mom"

 After our 1/2 hour workings at liberty, he had been asking during the whole time to roll again
It's cute...the head dragging down, while he's 'working' and a quick paw, like "Oh herez lookz goooods to roullll"
So, at the end, I allowed it
That sounds so controlling.
At the end, he just asked and I didn't give him a working command so I guess he decided it was ok.

 There is something SO damn cute about rolling horses

 I would like to tickle or rub his belly but I think the four hooves flaying around will keep me away
;)

 So, the spoiled pony, after a good roll in the cool sand, promptly walked back to the mounting block where I keep my grooming brushes and stood.
"Ok, getz me cleanz again"
LOL!

Oh, and Laz is WORM free according to vet and the latest fecal test : 

"fecal results were negative. the test using sugar solution does test for tapeworms.  

Small strongyles that are adults producing eggs are tested for there is not a test for encysted larva."

Relief for now that I don't have to worry about wormer and what type to use since his laminitis.
I like time with my options as I research some more.

Weekend play

Little Chief watching over Laz and Sawyer during nap time, sent via BO

These three continue to get along, play, sometimes bully and fight each other, but it's great for all of them to be in their little herd.

Sat, I clearly came during nap time.

Can you blame me? 

Horse Frogger?

 So, the next second, Sawyer came up to Laz and Laz decided "Allley oooop" and up I went with him.

Fun fun fun.

He just stood up within one second, and walked away with me on his back. 

Thankfully, we were just in his paddock and the pasture wasn't open other wise I'd be gone on a bit of a ride Indian style.

 Sweet boy

 A view from above on my naked horse

 The remaining of the day was great. 

Rode in the arena, had some minor spooking, and bratty head snaking shoulder bucking (more like his humping up his shoulder while arching his neck and totally pushing into bridle and being a brat) but we rode through it.  I can compare the feeling to riding a dolphin (or what I imagine it would be)..the hump action on their backs and the up and down, while forward. 

He was bothered by the wind, shaking pine trees (I think) and kept reacting to it.  Or who knows...but something made him annoyed.

 I kept him trotting in figure 8's and then brought him back down to a walk. I wanted to 'reset' his mind.  When he gets frustrated or fearful, he AMPS its up, so I always want to attempt to bring him down.  Sometimes the trotting works, other times, if we cool it and walk through it, he is able to absorb things better mentally.

Re-set

We picked up our work again, did some pole trot work, and then walked around the property a little.

He calmed down.

We joined up with another boarder and her senior horse, for a hand walk down the dirt road.

It was so great, I wanted to come back Sunday and do it again.

Sunday-Laz was a bit sore.  

(I don't think it's connected to his ointment..I think it's weather related and possibly he hurt himself a bit, during his bucking episode?)

His trot was awful, totally off and I couldn't bear asking him to do it.

I decided no riding, just work on some Parelli mental games, keep it at the walk and see where it took us.

He was great.  He enjoys his little Parelli-ish stuff.

I say Parelli-ish, because that's how I roll...it's always 'ish. I can't following anything exactly or to a "t" and I like to have it be somewhat our own thing with a backbone of some structure.

We walked off line, together around the arena, over the cavaletti's, worked on circles, backing up, follow the leader (moi) and just played. 

He was calm and happy to walk around and follow and listen freely.

He kept hesitating at this spot and pawed, so I stopped to offer up a roll for him.

I know rolling is a great release for their muscles and mind.

And, below I took a picture from our road walk...

My calm ottb going for a nice hand walk down our dirt road off our barn.

We've walked it before but not in at least a year, up until this weekend.

So, we walked it both Saturday and Sunday. 

I clocked it with my car, and it is .8 mile round trip.

So, next time, I'm going to have us go a little further so it's at least a mile walk.

Great for us both.

Mason joined us, and we walked with other boarders and their horses.

It's a beautiful walk. Quiet, dirt road, not many cars but enough to keep him exposed and learn to not panic, which he's been great.  We even walked by a neighbor on his lawn mower/tractor thing raking up his lawn with NO reaction. 

Awesomeness!

Laz seems to enjoy it and it has to help build his confidence and exposure to different things daily. 

It's fun to find something different to do, when the original plan needs to be altered.

He got his beet pulp slurpee today, and I put some of his holistic medicine in it for anti-swelling for his soreness.  

I treated his hock spots and that ointment seems to be working pretty fast...so far so good.

Spring is coming....the chirping birds don't lie!