We still have to do the gates and take down the old fence but Tom is going to work on that tomorrow and I can rest easier knowing that there is no way Alex can push down the new rails! I think she realized it too, she was giving me (and the fence) dirty looks tonight.

With the way the new fence is run, the front of the pasture is now square and the girls got a little patch of nice, lush grass to munch on. By running the fence the way they did we lost a strip that is about 3′ wide by 80′ long, not big enough to affect their grazing, especially since it was all dirt there anyway, and aesthetically the pasture looks much better. The gate is also a little closer to the barn now which will make hauling hay a little easier. My only concern is that the water spigot is now inside the fence-line instead of right outside it. That in itself isn’t a problem but during the winter when I have heat tape and a tank heater plugged in I may have to figure out a way to cover it so Alex doesn’t chew on the cords!

I’ll post pictures once the old fence is removed, right now it’s blocking the view of the new fence.

On a fencing note, I just talked to mom and they have the new fenceline all marked off and all of the new posts and rails are picked up and ready to be put up tomorrow.

The front section of the fence is old wood and not in the best of shape, but it was strong enough to hold the girls until spring so we hadn’t worried about it too much. Especially since Alex hadn’t escaped since we got Sally. But the ground has finally thawed and plans have been to start working on the last remaining weak section of fence this week. Alex must have sensed something because last week she knocked a rail off and got out. Mom and Tom caught her and put her back with no fuss and fixed the downed rail. The day after our saddle training Alex knocked another rail off and this time she didn’t want to be caught. They called me but by the time I got there they had caught her and had the fence fixed again. We made sure any loose rails were not coming off again and figured it would hold for the 4 days until we got the new fence supplies.

It did… We have always kept the gate to the pasture tied shut because it’s made in a way that enough wiggling will cause it to open. Alex is too smart for her own good and figure out that if she couldn’t knock a rail off she’d just open the gate. She somehow managed to untie the rope and work the latch out so the gate just swung open.

Mom had tossed them each an apple late last night and was sitting at her computer. About 20 or 30 minutes later she turned to see if there were any deer outside and to her surprise Alex was standing right outside the window. Mom went out, grabbed a halter, and tried to use grain to coax Alex but Alex had her freedom and wanted no part of being caught. Mom rushed back in and called me. Henry and I hurriedly got dressed (it was 11:45 pm and pitch black), grabbed some flashlights, and rushed to moms.

By the time we got there Alex was clear out towards the end of the pasture but OUTSIDE the fence. I grabbed a bowl of grain and the halter and we started working our way towards her. She took off! Right through the trees and out into the wildlife refuge where we all knew there was no chance of catching her in the pitch black due to heavy brush, wild animals, and quite often vagrants. But we had to try. Just as I was stepping into the heavy brush I heard a crashing nose and Alex came thundering back out towards the house. We followed her back that way and she turned and headed towards the brush again but luckily she stopped about 10′ from the edge of the trees. I very, very slowly walked towards her, talking softly and very lightly shaking the grain because by then she was spooked enough even the sound of a loud shake of the grain caused her to run. I got to within about 5′ and just stopped and talked to her and finally held out a handful of grain. It took her a minute but she finally took it but each time I tried to work my way closer she would back up. After about 6 handfuls of grain I was able to get close enough to rub her neck so I carefully slid the rope around her neck. I still didn’t have her secure and knew if she bolted and got loose I’d never catch her again but it was better than her being completely loose.

Of course by this time my entire body was shaking like a leaf and I was doing all of this blind. There was no moon, I had dropped my flashlight when I got close to her, Henry couldn’t point his at us because it spooked her (it’s super bright!), and mom was back ready to open the pasture gate so was too far away for hers to be effective. I knew I couldn’t set the grain down to halter her because without it she would have been gone. I finally managed to keep hold of the grain and work the halter over her nose and tie it without letting go of the neck rope. Only then did I relax a little bit. 

During all of this Sally was right next to us inside the pasture and she wasn’t the least bit happy about not having her big sis in there with her. As I started leading Alex back towards the gate Sally started running and screaming and that got Alex worked up a little but Sally listened when I told her to shut up and Alex only tried to jump on me a couple of times. We got Alex back into the pasture where she happily started munching on hay just like nothing had happened. Henry tied the gate so well that I’m not sure I’ll ever get it untied but at least the horse can’t untie it either!

We’re picking up the fencing supplies today and will start putting it up tomorrow. It’s not a long stretch of fence so we should be able to finish it all tomorrow but the old fence will be left up until the new one is finished so we won’t have to move them to do it.

The sun is shining, the mud has dried up, the hooves are trimmed, and the nasty winter coats are shedding out so I figured it was time to work with the girls. Especially Alex since my goal is to have her saddle and bridle trained by the end of summer. Not rider trained but fully willing to accept a cinched saddle and a bit.

I had Cam come with me, I don’t like to work with an untrained horse by myself and if nothing else he could keep Sally occupied while I worked with Alex. When we got there I drug out the saddle and bridle figuring I might get as far as getting the saddle sitting loosely and putting the headstall on with the bit hanging on one side.  Since this is the first time I’ve worked with her this year I didn’t want to push too far and cause a setback.

I tossed the saddle up onto the fence and both girls were right there investigating. I haltered Alex, picked up the saddle pad, and rubbed her side with it. She closed her eyes. So I tossed it up on her back. She looked at me as if to say “So?”. I led her around a little with the pad on and she really didn’t care. Back we went and I grabbed the saddle (complete with flopping cinch and stirrups) and set it up on her. She didn’t even bat an eye. I led her about 20 feet and didn’t notice the saddle slipping. Flop! Right down to the ground at her feet! She jumped but barely and then sniffed it and you could almost see her shrug. I tossed it up on her again, not quite as gently this time, and she stood there just like before. We just wandered around the pasture for about 10 minutes with periodic stops for me to shake and rattle the saddle and other than walking a bit slower than normal there was no reaction.

I had Cam halter Sally so she’d quit pestering Alex (what the HECK is on your back?!) and ran the cinch under Alex’s belly. I left it loose, just tight enough that she could feel it and repeated the walking.  Since she was doing so well and not showing even the slightest bit of nervousness I went ahead and pulled it snug. Not fully tight but definitely snug enough that the saddle wasn’t going to slide around at all. Back we went to the walking and still not a thing. I finally got up enough nerve to pull the cinch fully tight, I could have climbed on without the saddle slipping, and the only reaction was an audible “whoosh” as she puffed up her belly. Must be instinctual! But she let the air right back out and around the pasture we went.

After about 40 minutes of saddle work I took it off but before I did I grabbed the stirrups and tossed them up over the saddle and let them flop back down her sides. I also pulled down on each stirrup (first left side, then right) and pulled on the saddle to simulate a rider getting on. She just closed her eyes.

Next I hung up the saddle and got out the bridle. I took the bit off one side of the headstall and laid it on her. She kept swinging her head to try and catch the bit on her mouth so I pulled it around and gently laid it against her teeth. She opened her mouth like she’d been accepting a bit for years and just stood there and chewed on it so I went ahead and buckled it to the bridle. After getting it all adjusted I buckled the throat-latch and off we went walking again. She does chew on the bit but that’s about it. I finally took the halter clear off and put the bridle back on but this time did it without taking it apart. I swear, she’s easier to bridle than a seasoned riding horse! As soon as the bit brushes her teeth she opens her mouth for it and pulling the bridle up over her ears doesn’t phase her in the least. I hooked a lead rope to the bit and tied it to the other side of the bit and we walked around some more. Each time I asked her to turn with the bit she did exactly as asked and with the slightest pressure backwards she would stop. 

I worked with her a total of about an hour and not once did she act like an untrained filly. She was completely mellow through the whole thing and nothing I did caused her to even bat an eye. I’m so proud of her!

We didn’t do much with Sally today. Cam spent most of the time just leading her around and letting her graze. At one point she decided to show him who was boss. For someone who is used to horses that’s normal and it’s dealt with but Cameron hasn’t grasped that even though she’s bigger than him, he needs to make her think he’s bigger. So he held Alex while I took off with Sally. We walked for a minute and she forgot who she was with. She tried pushing me around so we worked a few circles and she straightened right up. I handed her back to Cam and the lesson stuck, she behaved perfectly from then on. 

Because Alex was unhandled when I got her and I’ve done all of the work with her we have a pretty strong bond. I don’t have that bond with Sally because I don’t know what her early training was. She is one of those horses who will lay her ears back a lot, even when she’s not mad. It makes it a little hard to read her. She also threatens a lot. She’ll puff up and kind of prance and turn her hind end towards you. She hasn’t really kicked without provocation but it’s still something she gets in trouble for. So she’s slowly learning not to do that and I’m gradually learning her quirks. It’s a much slower process than it was with Alex though. I have to believe that Sally wasn’t handled well before she was rescued. She’s had some training, she lists her feet easily, gives to pressure (most the time all I have to do is point and she’ll move over), and doesn’t mind having her ears messed with or her mane and tail brushed out. But on the other hand, certain little things will cause definite fear. She is head-shy, the slightest sudden movement near her head will cause her to roll her eyes and jerk away. She is also nervous about her chest being touched but if you persist she absolutely adores having her chest scratched. Her personality is very different from Alex, I guess that’s a good thing, it’ll keep me from being complacent.

It’s also amusing to watch Sally with Cam. She does try to push him around but she also absolutely adores him. If a whole group of us walks up to the fence she will go right to him and unless Alex pushes her away, she won’t leave him. When he didn’t have her haltered today you could see she was torn about where she wanted to be. She was very curious about what I was doing with Alex but she kept turning and looking for Cam and would walk back over and just stand by him.

I still have no definite guesses as to her breed. She’s absolutely tiny compared to Alex and now that she’s shedding out and has lot the pot belly she looks even tinier. She has finally lost all of the really long, matted hair and now she’s slowly losing the normal winter coat. I see hints of a lovely dark red bay underneath and right now she has a definite dorsal stripe. She still has the feathering and a pretty thick mane and tail which originally made me think she had draft but there are a number of pony breeds that could cause those too. With proper food and worming she has lost some of the jug-headed look so I’m leaning less towards TB but she is fairly delicate and narrow so who knows. It’s just too hard to tell and whatever she is, we love her.

As usual, I forgot the camera today but as bright as it was I was able to use my phone to get some fairly decent pics. A few of them are blurry or have bad colors but most turned out OK.

We are seeing little patches of green grass sprouting up but are down to the last 20 bales of hay so I’m really hoping the rest of the snow melts soon so I won’t have to worry about it for a while.

The girls are getting along wonderfully. No more skirmishes over food or people, they’ve realized that sharing is not such a bad thing. Sally is still a bit touchy about us approaching her when she’s eating but she’s getting better about it. I have my suspicions that whomever owned her before she went into rescue was not exactly nice to her. She’s fairly head-shy and especially doesn’t like it if her head is down and you reach towards her face. But all things improve with time and the more she sees us handling Alex the more confident she becomes.

Alex is getting fairly sleek and turning back to her lovely grayish white, everywhere she’s not caked in mud that is! It’s obvious from looking at her that she’s much healthier than she was when she arrived here last spring. She hasn’t gone through the patchy, moldy stage like she did last year. Poor Sally really looks like an ugly duckling next to her. Sally is in similar condition to what Alex was when she arrived. She’s shaggy, patchy, itchy, and in general just a little ragamuffin. But proper nutrition and worming has already made a big improvement and soon she’ll be sleek like her big sis.

We haven’t taken many pictures of them recently but here are a couple that mom got today. They had a nice run in the new snow this morning and then settled down for a little nap. These photos show how well they get along.

There really hasn’t been much new to report. The worming went pretty well. Alex just stood there as usual, Sally fought us a bit but nothing too bad. I have noticed she’s a bit touchy about have a hand near her muzzle or eyes but Alex was too at first and Sally is getting better about it. I only gave Sally a half dose of wormer and will give her the second half this weekend. With not knowing her history I figure it’s better to be safe. Since the first dose she’s lost a little of her pot belly but she’s still a really scraggly little thing.

When Sally first arrived she was a bit aloof. We could approach her and pet her but she wouldn’t really approach us. She was more comfortable standing back and watching. That has changed in a hurry! Now when we go over there and whistle for the horses, they both come running and it’s not unusual for Sally to be in the lead. She comes right up to us for her loves and she’ll rotate herself between us, starting with one person and then after a minute or two she’ll walk away and go to a different person. Very unlike Alex who doesn’t care who’s petting her as long as she is getting petted!

A couple of times Sally has tried to assert her dominance over me. This is usually right after we toss the hay bales over the fence and she’s cleaning up the leaves and stuff that fall out (her favorite part!). If I approach her while she’s eating them she tries to pin her ears and the last time she did it she snaked her head at me like a dominant mare will do. She quickly realized though that Iam the lead mare and after a brief skirmish of me making her back up away from the food and stand there until I said it was OK she’s been better. Thank goodness she’s still small enough for me to push her backwards when she’s not haltered.

The weather is getting warmer and the girls are feeling spring in the air so they were quite full of themselves today. Especially Alex who decided we weren’t getting her food out there quick enough. She was running, bucking, getting quite aggressive with Sally, and making it too dangerous for us to try moving hay across the pasture so I got out the lunge whip and waved it to make the plastic on the end crackle a couple of times. She puffed up and snorted at it but straightened right up! I then went back to feeding and she stayed calm, even when Sally came over and insisted on sharing Alex’s grain. Sally won’t eat her own, she has to share with Alex and then they both go eat Sally’s. Surprisingly, Alex doesn’t try to run her off. They (mostly) take turns taking bites until Sally hooks the tub and pulls it away from Alex. The Alex head-butts her and they both stuff their noses in at the same time.

I know that just like me, they’re anxiously awaiting the arrival of spring. We’re all tired of slogging through snow and slush. We’ll be doing some serious work to the fencing this summer and Alex will be a 2 year old so we can start some more serious training. No real weight for another year but I’ll be able to work on getting her used to the tack and various commands. I really think she’ll enjoy it, she loves to learn!