Oh, and one more thing

I guess I am a Green Bean according to Green Bean Endurance's definition, so changed the name of the blog again.  Comments/thoughts are appreciated :)

Updates part 2

First, pictures of some of the mustangs.

8 yo sorrel gelding - this boy was a jerk to the other horses in his pen, but my eye was constantly drawn to him.

A very cute and in-your-face filly.  After our first encounter, I stayed away from this pen, knowing that if I wasn't careful I'd get attached.

This mare was another that I was drawn to. 

The same mare again.  Just a lovely girl. 

This gelding had an amazing presence.  He was also huge for a mustang, at least 15.2 and that's probably conservative.  A 5 yo, non-reactive, with a quiet intelligence shining in his eyes.  If I could have taken one home, I would seriously have considered him.

And again.  I wasn't able to get a full body shot - this boy was a master at keeping other horses between himself and the people milling around the pens.

Last but not least, a 3 yo sales authority gelding that ended up at Jennie's farm.  Look at those long legs!

Okay, so back to Vegas.  When I pulled onto the drive and got out to open the gate, I could see Vegas behind another fence, pacing and trotting and obviously agitated.  We drove through the pasture and pulled through the next gate, which is their yard.  I parked and got all of my horse stuff out, working stick, longe line, rope halter and lead, etc., and stuffed my pockets with hay cube pieces.  By this point, Vegas had stopped her pacing and was watching me.  I started to approach her with the rope halter and my working stick - as soon as I took a step in her direction, she walked happily towards me.  She waited patiently while I replaced the nylon halter with the rope halter, then I gave her a scratch and turned to her new owner.  I'm not going to lie - I was completely flattered by Vegas' behavior.  Here I thought I was going to have to really work to catch her; instead she showed me that she has bonded with me.  Her adopter was floored, and said something along the lines of 'No f-ing way...I can't believe it' and put his hands behind his head.  I told him that this was a very good thing.  She wasn't reverting like I'd feared - she was just reacting to a new place, new people, and new sounds.

We stood there and talked for a few minutes while I got the whole story.  Vegas had busted out of their pen (they were warned that she would probably try).  She'd broken the latch (that hasn't been fixed yet) but they tried to return her to the pen to eat her breakfast that morning.  Vegas was having none of it.  The first time they tried to put her in the pen, she'd shouldered them out of the way and taken off.   They tried again and again, and it had gotten to the point that she wouldn't let them take her within 50 feet of it before she pulled away from them again.  Okay.  It took us an hour to make it to the pen so she could eat.  We approached and I asked her to whoa before we completely left her comfort zone.  Stop for scratches and maybe a hay cube, stand for a second, turn around and go back to the safe zone and start all over again.  By the time it was too dark to see, Vegas was eating relatively calmly in her pen, by herself with no halter on.  That's when I heard a weird noise.  It sounded like a pig.  I turned and asked if they had pigs in the shed (that Vegas' pen butts up against) - they have two potbellies in there.  Aha!  So, not only is her pen away from the minis - who scream for her when they can't see her - but she's stabled next to pigs, which she finds terrifying.

It took me only a few minutes after arriving to realize that Vegas was in total sensory overload - their place was pretty overwhelming for a horse like Vegas.  They had very loud neighbors, re: screaming kids and babies.  At one point, somebody pulled into the neighbor's yard and laid on the horn for a solid minute and a half - according to the adopters, he does that every day when he arrives home.  Then there were the screaming minis.  And the barking dog that Vegas had to pass to get to her pen, the constantly crowing rooster, the calves crying to be fed, and the pigs.

By the time I left, Vegas was calm.  I told them that it was going to take a while for her to settle in and get used to everything that goes on there.  I explained that the fact that she approached me on her own showed that she was willing to take direction from a person even when she felt like things were out of control.  I suggested that for the next few days they go outside and hang out with her several times a day.  Practice putting on and removing the halter, give scratches, stand with her while she grazes - just be the calm in the eye of the storm as she comes to realize that everything is okay. 

I'm hopeful that even with the rough start, her adopters will be able to stick it out, for Vegas' sake.  

Miss Fuzzy-Face, the last day on Heather's farm. 

A few small updates

Fairly quickly before I head to the barn in the cold (it is a bone-chilling 46 degrees outside...).

Vegas -  Yesterday morning about 8 am, I received a text from Vegas' adopter.  She was saying that Vegas had broken out of her pen that morning before they had a chance to let her out.  She had a scrape on her right hind and would not allow them to lead her back to her pen (where she gets fed and has water).  She was also being difficult about being caught, was calling frantically when she couldn't see their minis, and was being dangerously pushy every time they tried to lead her to the pen.  I told her that it sounded like Vegas was reverting and the behavior needed to be nipped in the bud - I was willing to come out that evening.  We made plans to meet at her place around 5:30 in the evening.

Abby - an 18-year-old pony mustang mare.  Jennie brought her to me for an under-saddle refresher the same day that she picked up Vegas.  She might be 13.2.  She's been with the rescue for over a year now, but without a lot of interest due to her size and age.  In case you're wondering, pony+mare+mustang = stubborness to rival any mule or donkey.  We had our first round-penning session yesterday and I was honestly beginning to wonder if she would rather collapse than yield/submit/join-up/whatever you want to call it.  This was after she threatened to run me over when I went to retrieve her from her stall in the morning.  It took me 15-20 minutes of work to lead her out of the stall safely *sigh*.  Apparently, though broke, Abby has some fear issues under saddle.  I will be attempting to work through those issues in the next 30 days.

Notice that although she is dripping sweat, she still has an attitude. I let her rest for a few minutes anyway because I was worried about her.

After barn chores, Heather and I headed over to Brandon to see the mustangs at the mustang adoption.  They were scraggly, dirty, wild, and scared but there were some beautiful horses there. 

Will finish updating in a bit!

A flash in the pan

A nice family came out to see Vegas yesterday morning.  I put her through her paces and she was a total rock star, even though it was windy and spitting rain at us.  I explained to them just how green she is and her quirks.  I told them how special she is and how amazing she is going to be with more time on her.  When they left, I did my chores then messaged Jennie and told her that I thought our meeting went well.  She said that they'd already contacted her and were very interested in adopting Vegas.

Fast forward to yesterday evening, I get a message from Jennie.  They may want to pick Vegas up on Thursday.  All I could think was, 'holy crap, that's really soon!'  They apparently finished the paperwork yesterday and after a property inspection later today, Vegas will be officially adopted. 

It feels like I'm having to return a half-finished book to the library.  I'm not ready for her to go and she's not ready to go, but it seems that our time is up. I've done what I can and she has come a long way but I'm pretty bummed that I won't get to see the final product.  And I'm going to miss her uber-fuzzy face greeting me every morning, wondering what we're doing today. 

So fuzzy!

For the next few days, as long as Vegas can handle it, we're moving into hyper-drive.  I'm going to attempt ground-driving today, as she is not yet making the connection between voice commands on the ground and in the saddle.   It's probably not going to go well at first, as I expect she will take off on me a few times before she starts to understand the concept.  The goal: Vegas walking quietly under saddle, with breaks and steering and no outside help, around the round pen on her own before her people take her home.   Fingers crossed.

Name change

I've been thinking about a name change for a while now.  "Back in the Saddle" was fine, if completely unoriginal, when I just started getting back into horses, but it no longer fits with where Ruby and I are at this point in time.  So here we are.  The name could change multiple times in the next few days, or not.  Time will tell.  For now, I can think of no better title to describe my (total lack of) status in the sport of endurance.

How about a Ruby update?

Ruby has been doing great.  She doesn't understand why we're not going places or why Vegas is getting so much attention (Ruby's favorite thing to do: make ugly faces at Vegas), but she's dealing and is being extra sweet to me...well, sweet for Ruby.  She hasn't been lame, other than the odd hock swelling she had a week or so ago.  She's at a good weight and is starting to shed her nearly non-existent winter coat.

Ruby, this morning, telling me that she doesn't care about the other horses - she wants to graze on the 'special' grass in the barnyard.  I totally caved; I'm such a sucker!  I just couldn't resist that face.

Last week, Jennie practically begged me to come on a trail ride with her and her mustangs-in-training.  She was hoping for as many steady-eddies as possible (I love that Ruby now has this reputation) to help get the baby mustangs through their spazzy moments.  I told her that I'd see how Ruby was the day before and the morning of, and let her know that I might have to walk Ruby out at some point during the trail ride.  She was fine with that so we made a date.

Before loading up yesterday, Heather trotted Ruby out for me.  She looked great so we loaded Ruby and Candy and made our way to Lower Green Swamp.  When Jennie arrived, she had four horses in tow: Koa, a cute little 3 yo bay pinto gelding; Riley, a bay sabino mare (an older, broke mare); Rango, 3 yo bay gelding; and Jennie's trusty old gelding Paco.  S, who rode Vegas a week ago or so, was to ride Rango who is usually the problem child.  Ruby and I led the way through the gate and to the mounting block. 

S was the last to mount up.  Jennie requested that the rest of us to start walking off.  I guess it is usual for Rango to act up right after mounting and she wanted us to be safe and out of the way.  While I appreciated this gesture, I was also worried how Rango would feel about being left.  Jennie insisted, so we headed off with Ruby and Candy in the lead, Riley and Koa following.  A few minutes later we heard a commotion behind us.  S ended up riding double with Jennie on Paco, ponying Rango.

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful.  Ruby wanted to go through the creek but I didn't want her SMBs to get soaked so we took the bridge.  She pouted and tried to leave a few times while waiting for the other horses - she just wanted to go already.  When we started down the trail I noticed something odd...instead of avoiding puddles like they were gaping holes in the ground, Ruby seemed to be making beelines for them.  It took me a minute to realize that she was thirsty - she has never offered to drink from a puddle on trail, and generally won't drink from troughs or even water brought from home.  We stopped at a couple of larger puddles for her to drink while the other horses passed by.  Jennie and the other girls took their horses off trail a few times to walk over logs, etc. while Ruby and I continued on the trail.  I didn't want her to step in a hole, or hit a rock, or...I can say that while it was a fun ride, it wasn't a relaxing one - I was paying too much attention to how she was moving, waiting for any misstep.  But, there weren't any.  Ruby was happy and forward the entire time.

About halfway through the ride, Ruby noticed an armadillo ahead of us on the trail.  I pointed it out to Heather then watched it as we approached, expecting it to scurry off into the underbrush. I was beginning to think that it was sick, or deaf, but when we were 20 feet away it finally decided to move off the trail, though not in a hurry.  It sat next to the trail while we rode by, and probably went right back to the middle of it as soon as we were past.  We saw another one a little while later. I've never seen armadillos out like that before; honestly the only armadillos I've ever seen were dead.  Maybe it was the cooler weather.

Closer to the trailers she finally got to tank up at a water trough, and she peed as soon as she was tied at the trailer.  I wonder when she's going to figure out that she can pee on trail.  I do let her stop to poo hoping that she'll pee one of these days. 

And that was that.  First trail ride after her injury is in the books.  We went maybe three miles at a very slow pace.  No spooks and not one lame step.  Still, I had Heather trot her out for me again when we got home.  She moved out beautifully again, so I turned her out, did my chores, and went home.

This morning when I pulled Ruby out of her stall, her right fetlock was a little swollen and I started thinking the worst.  Heather trotted her out for me (again) and I could see nothing off in the way she was moving.  I sent the vet a text.  I never did call about an ultrasound because she was doing well, my car broke down, and the holidays were crazy (and various other lame excuses).  Her vet called me immediately and asked me what was going on.  I filled him in and asked how much he charged for an ultrasound.  He then asked me if she was sound.  I told him that she seems totally sound, so he instructed me to rub her fetlock down with liniment after our next ride and added that if she's moving sound there is no need for the ultrasound. 

So, here we are again.  Vet says no ultrasound is needed and has told me it's okay to ride at a walk, so he obviously believes it is a mild strain.  I would feel dumb if I paid for a second opinion and an ultrasound only to find out that he was 100% correct.  I feel that this vet is trustworthy and knowledgeable but I'll continue to play it safe by riding only occasionally on flat, solid ground and watching her like a hawk.

In the meantime, I need to do some tweaking on my new saddle pad.  Because it has a grippier bottom than my Equipedic, I didn't have to tighten the girth as much (greatly appreciated by Ruby).  But those straps across the spine...usually this saddle pad is velcro'd to the bottom of the saddle so those straps are stuffed into the gullet of the saddle. Mine does not have the velcro and rubbed the hair a bit on her back.  I'll be picking up some strong velcro in the next few days.  I've also ordered Ruby's Equiflexsleeves and am waiting eagerly for them to arrive.  For anyone who's been thinking about ordering them, Schneider's has them on sale right now for $40: Equiflexsleeves. 

Vegas' short lunging session today

Luckily she forgave the fumbling of the rope in the very beginning.  She was a bit off today, and really good, so we kept things low-key.  When I let the crop get her, it's because she came in too close on the turn.  This is the first time that she's offered to drop her head within the first few minutes of the session - I am ridiculously excited about that.  Vegas is like the nursery rhyme of the girl who when she was good, she was very, very good but when she was bad, she was horrid.  Really though, we are having more good days than bad - I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

A long overdue update

This pom-pom (terrifying, shimmery, weird-sounding and -feeling, eater of all things equine) touching her face is a huge for her.

Working with and training Vegas is like trying to drive a truck uphill on an ice-covered road.  Every time I get a little closer to my goal, we slide back almost to our starting place.  Then I have to rev the engine to get a little further, only to slide back again.

I understand where she's coming from, but that doesn't make it less frustrating.  She has no real need for people, other than breakfast, dinner, and hay.  She owes us nothing and would much rather not deal with us at all, thank you.

Her skin is clearing up nicely.

Yet, she enjoys attention and scratches.  And is extremely intelligent.  Unfortunately at this time, that intelligence is only used part of the time to figure out what you want - it is generally used to get what Vegas wants...

So much better!  Sorry for the blurriness.

On Sunday, she broke out of her stall again.  Sunday was also the day that I finally saw and spoke with the girl who saw her break out (the 2nd time she broke out).  I was told by another boarder that Vegas had attempted to jump the door, but that isn't what happened.  What this girl told me was that Vegas reared up and put her hooves over the second highest rail on the gate.  She then stepped forward with her back legs until the rail was behind her elbows...then she rocked forcefully back and forth until she'd bent the gate enough that she could step over it.  This shows a level of critical thinking that is unimaginable to me.  Her third stall door/gate was bolted to a piece of plywood and mounted higher (this is the one that met it's demise last Sunday morning).  The plywood was mounted on the inside of the door, but she realized that the door was the same and repeated her escape by breaking the plywood between the 1st and second rails.  At this point, it's probably safe to assume that Vegas is smarter than me.

Getting some muscle!  And I finally got the larger mat worked out of her tail. 

 I cannot explain the frustration that I was feeling on Sunday when I got the phone call.  I messaged Jennie, who said that she had a tall, sturdy stall door that I could pick up, so we made the drive out to her farm.  By the time we got back, Heather and her husband were at the barn stringing up some hotwire for Vegas' stall.  We have (hopefully) built a mustang Alcatraz.  The door is about 5 and a half feet tall.  It has a plastic chain threaded with hotwire on the inside of the door.  The door opens in and there are blocks of wood screwed onto the door jamb to ensure she can't push the door outward.  Unless she figures out how to tear down the entire barn - which I would not put past her at this point.  Btw, I'm pretty sure that I mentioned on before that Vegas is stall-broke.  She was stall-kept at night at Jennie's previous barn, but that barn had the tall, pre-built wood and rail walls and sliding doors.  I foolishly thought her previous experience meant that at least staying in the stall at Heather's barn was a given.

So, this is her last chance to stay here, unfortunately.  I cannot afford to keep replacing stall gates/doors and I definitely can't afford to rebuild Heather's barn if she badly damages it.  Time will tell what happens.

As far as training, we have done no more riding since those last pictures were posted.  Ruby's girth is too long for Vegas so I was borrowing another boarder's girth.  I am waiting for the new girth to show up in the mail so we can resume her training under saddle.

So, we've been focusing on desensitizing, lunging, and tying.  Vegas was doing very well (for her) until the weather got cold.  There are several herds at Heather's barn that are kept separate for various reasons.  Unfortunately, when the weather gets cold, the horses that are normally turned out at night are turned out during the day.  And there really aren't enough pastures to keep everyone separate.  We decided to finally turn Vegas out with the other mares on Thursday for the first time.  We stood at the gate for a while to make sure there wasn't too much craziness; Vegas was very respectful and seemed to integrate into the herd well.

When I went to work with her yesterday morning, we almost had to start from scratch.  She allowed me to catch her in the arena, but only after she thought about it.  When we started lunging, she snatched away from me (she is really good at waiting until I'm changing hands with the line, this is exacerbated by the fact that I also have some residual issues after leaving the military).  I worked with her for a long time, and with a lot of intensity, after that incident and she actually joined up with me.  That was not my goal, but it made me feel like maybe we were getting somewhere.   But when I tied her while cleaning stalls, it was almost as bad as that first day.  Unfortunately, if she was going to get any turnout at all yesterday, she had to be turned out with the mares again when I left.

I'm dreading what kind of monster I'll have on my hands this morning when I pull her out of her stall (assuming that she's still in it, of course!).  If she's an asshole again, she will not be turned out with the other horses for the remainder of her time here.  I talked to Jennie about this and apparently it is a common problem with mustangs; most end up being separated from other horses for at least a few months until they start seeing people as leaders and partners instead of as pests.

Just finished the first round of Sand Clear, then another de-worming next week, the following week more Sand Clear - when will those ribs get covered??? 

So, that's where we are right now.  I'm beyond frustrated and constantly on edge, waiting for her to try something.  I'm hoping that I can stick this out and make some permanent progress with this hard-headed mare.  I truly do enjoy working with her, when she is behaving herself.  It's safe to say that I am way over-horsed at this point, but I'm the only thing Vegas has right now.  Jennie has too many horses in training, and a local mustang adoption event in a few weeks is ensuring that she stays full - so if Vegas has to leave, she'll go back into a holding pattern and everything will have been for nothing.  In the meantime, at least she isn't getting worse. 

More Vegas

But first, a picture of her arch nemesis.

Beware of Daisy the Devil Pig

Vegas was amazing today.  Jennie came by this afternoon, to watch me work with Vegas and offer some pointers.  Her advice - more pressure so she learns the correct way to deal with it.  And she did, with the annoying plastic bag flapping under and touching her belly.  She tried to leave (though not as forcefully as the other day), and I followed so she learned how to deal.  Apparently, I've been way too easy on her.

Some pics of the redhead in question.  S is riding, I'm at the other end of the line, and Vegas was fantastic.  No saddle because she's shown no signs of exploding during riding, S is ridiculously brave, and her belly is scraped up from her run-in with the stall door yesterday.

And today...

Not a good start to 2015.  When I put Ruby's boots on this morning, I noticed that she immediately cocked her left hind.  This is abnormal so I started checking out her leg and realized that she has some heat and very slight swelling on the front of the joint....can I please get a break?  Please?!

And, I've needed to mentally regroup after the knock-down, drag-out that Vegas and I went through the other day (it wasn't really that bad but it felt that way).  Besides that, I was pretty damn sore the next day from being yanked around.  And it's been dreary and rainy, which makes me not want to go outside.  So, I've been checking her over, cleaning her stall, throwing her hay, but that's it.  I got a text this evening requesting that I call one of the boarders as soon as possible.  When I called, I discovered that Vegas had taken out her stall door, again...From what I was told, she ate her dinner, nickered at someone walking past her stall, and decided she wanted out.  She attempted to jump the stall door and bent it all to hell - luckily she was not injured.  Two of the other boarders put up another door for me.  Jennie is going to come out tomorrow to watch me work with Vegas and give me some pointers.  Vegas is so used to throwing her weight around that I worry about her.  If she doesn't get over this, I can't see her getting adopted.

Happy, healing (and in Vegas' case, tractable!) thoughts would be appreciated for both the girls.  

2014 - What a crazy year

Let's see if I can keep this short and sweet.

The day after she arrived.

January - I agreed to take a green 6-year-old Araloosa mare on a 90 day trial.  I really didn't think it would lead to anything permanent but I figured I could give her enough one-on-one time that she would be more likely to get adopted.  And I was tired of driving all over the state to see horses that didn't pan out for one reason or another.  Little did I know that Ruby (Ginger back then) would become my best friend, sappy but still true.  I restarted her under saddle.  By the end of January, I had figured out that she was something special.

First trail ride!

February - more under saddle time including our very first trail ride.  Lofty visions of Sheriff's Posse and a mid-March intro ride danced in my head.  Oh, and it was about this time that I figured out for sure that my 6 yo mare was actually 13-14 years old. And I decided that it didn't matter.  When I started this journey, my ultimate goal was to earn an AERC Decade Team award - we might get there but it's highly doubtful and that's okay.

Leading the way.

March - more trail rides, including our first ride with Jennie, who hadn't seen Ruby since she'd brought her to me in January.  No actual conditioning rides as I'm beginning to understand that if I let Ruby move out this early in her training, that was all she was going to want to do.  And there was no way in hell that she was ready to do an intro ride.  At the end of the month, Ruby fell in the trailer.  We pulled over but she was already up (at that point we weren't sure if one of the horses fell or they were just scrambling in the trailer).  When we unloaded at our destination, it was obvious that she'd fallen (manure on her right hind quarter and knees) but she was moving fine and feeling good so we rode.  The next morning, she was head-bobbing lame.  I had two vets take a look at her and they couldn't pinpoint from where the lameness was originating. No more adventures for us for quite a while.

April - Ruby showed intermittent though decreasing lameness.  

May - by the second week of May, Ruby had been consistently sound for at least two weeks so we started riding again, slowly.  We started walking down the road by ourselves and did a little desensitizing, as well.  I also started asking her to take a bit - which she hated and I eventually decided was unnecessary, since she goes so well bitless.

Poker ride

June - not much trail riding because Heather was out of town and Ruby and I weren't quite ready to go solo on the trails, however at the end of the month I loaded Ruby and we drove to Ocala and went on our first poker ride.  There were at least 100 horses there - it was a mad house.  And Ruby was a rock star but by that time, being a rock star was a regular thing for her.

Riding solo - woot, woot!

July - the month of our first solo trail ride!  I felt like this was a huge milestone, though many would roll their eyes at that.  It was also the month of our longest trail ride to date, 13.6 miles.  And it was the month that I figured out that with every single ride, I was hurting my horse who was being pinched by a too-long girth.  I still feel guilty about this...During this month, I also had my first lesson with a new riding instructor.

August - a lot of short rides, and one or two longer ones, nearly all in intense heat.  Towards the end of the month, I had a final ride with the new instructor from the previous month.  It was a disaster, with the instructor looking at me like I shouldn't be allowed near a horse, much less on top of one.  The entire ride, I felt like I was falling off the side of the lesson horse.  FWIW, when I was finally able to get a lesson scheduled with Marie, she had me straightened up and riding correctly within the first few minutes of the lesson.

September - first attempt to canter on Ruby, also Ruby's first ever buck with me...all in the same ride, of course.  Then something absolutely tragic happened in my personal life so I took a very short blogging and riding hiatus.  Towards the end of the month, Ruby bolted for the first time - and I failed miserably as a rider but still managed to stay aboard.  This is also the month that I found out who sired Ruby.

October - Ruby and I had a close call with us stuck between a loose dog and a speeding van.  Ruby handled the situation far better than I did!  We did more work with scary obstacles and Ruby started kicking out when asked to do something that she didn't want to do.  I got to dress Ruby up for the Pink Your Pony ride, and had a blast.  I was finally able to schedule a riding lesson with Marie during the middle of the month, and she convinced me that I actually could fix my riding.  We finally had our first, very short, conditioning ride and went on a fun trail ride with Jennie and two of the girls from her barn. 

 November - at the beginning of the month we went to our first obstacle challenge.  It was cold, and windy, and Ruby was a fruitloop but it was a good experience.  The photographer got some really great pictures of us - I just have to get around to ordering them.  A few days later, I posted that I would like to take Ruby to the intro ride at the Greenway Getaway (this coming weekend, btw); then she came up lame during an easy trail ride.  Vet told me that I won't know until May or so if endurance will still be possible for us.

December - the month of Vegas, a rescued mustang mare.  Easily the most bull-headed horse I've ever known, and yet there is something very special about her as well.  If I can just stay consistent and hang in there, I know that she and I will have that breakthrough moment where she realizes that she can trust me all of the time, not just when things are relatively easy.  

End of year pic.  I hope that you all have a fantastic 2015!