And then it was Sunday....or "Pony Spa Day and Tilly Ride Day"

Sorry it's been a while.  :)

Sunday saw me hustling out of bed early again (country living, am I right?  Can I get a high 5?) so I could hitch up the trailer, load Tilly and Zurkh and get them trimmed and then go for a 1 hour ride, assuming the trim didn't make her sore, on Tilly at McKinney Roughs.

Knowing myself as I do, and having Waze'd the length of time to drive from my house to Holly's, I gave myself 2 hours of drive time and 45 minutes to hook up and load horses. 

Hooking up went off without a hitch (HAH!  See what I did there?), but, Tilly KNEW I was up to nefarious goals when she saw the halter.  So, off the herd (except Zurkh, who just wants to hang out with the humans) raced.  Cue annoyed sigh as I go into the barn and grab a bucket of grain and start shaking it.  I know if I can just get Strider, I can get the rest of the herd.

*shake**shake**shake*  I walked the entire front part of the property, rattling the feed.  I walked to their favorite hiding places.  Nothing.  Puzzling. 

I keep walking and shaking.  Still, no horses.

Well, lately they've been interested in hanging out behind the tree line, so maybe they're back there.

To my incredible annoyance, and my concern, my back gate is open.  Into the back pasture that has uncapped TPosts, coils of wire laying willy-nilly and who knows what all else my horses could kill themselves on. 

I mutter under my breath and push through my anger and fear as fast as possible before I approach them.  I cannot and won't chase them ALL the way to the back of the property.

I tried to catch Tilly, but she just ran laps around Socks and Strider, and it was getting me no where, fast.  

So I hope that they won't bolt as I approach Strider, who is happily grazing away.  I dump a little bit of the grain on the ground, and halter him up.  Leading him off, I expect Socks and Tilly to follow him.  Which means they won't and they didn't.  Horses.  They'll fool you EVERY single time.

I get Strider up to the feeding pen, Zurkh following along like the sweet puppy dog he is as my time keeps ticking away.  Internally I'm groaning, but still knowing I have time to make it on time as I turn around and head back out to the pasture to get Socks and Tilly.

Socks is an easy catch, and again, leading him out, and Tilly just refuses to go back through the gate, so I flick the end of the lead rope at her butt, throw my energy her direction and point her through the gate.  FINALLY she goes through, so my little trio heads up front. 

Toss Socks in with Strider, Zurkh goes into his pen, and then it's the Tilly tango.  She and I dance back and forth and back and forth with one another.  If I can physically touch her with a hand, she will stop dancing.  But it's getting a hand on her that is a challenge.  And she KNOWS if I have a halter or if I don't.  I may need to just get a string halter for her.  And really and truly focus on my body language and emotions. 

And now comes the fun part.  Let's see if Tilly will go in my straight load.

At this point, according to the clock, I should be pulling out.

Except I know Holly will understand if I'm late because of loading.  So, time table is tossed, and we set to work.

Doors open, thread the lead rope through the bars of my divider, let's load up.

I put some pressure on her hind and she steps forward.  Sniffs the floor.  Is doing well. 

We have some refusals.  Rearing outside of the trailer.  Typical "NO!  I won't!" reactions.  Nothing I haven't seen before.

Step towards.  Get one foot in, think she's being pressured too much, so she rears, thwacks her head on the roof and squirts out backwards.

Okay then, no go. 


Let's try something else then.

Around the center bar?

No go.

Slide the divider over and run the rope through that?

Another negative.

Okay then...you win mare.

I remove the entire divider, and she hops right in.

Go figure. 

I close the door behind her and bring the divider BACK in, set it back up, slide and lock it and the butt bar into place then go get Zurkh.  Who has only been in this trailer one other time.

He marches right up, sniffs the floor, then hops right in.

GOOD PONY!!!

Leap into the truck, ask Joe to please let Socks and Strider out AFTER I've left so they don't try to chase me out the gate and I hit the road.

I send Holly a text, assuming I'll be closer to 11 than 10:30 getting there.

Go figure, for once, I'd have been RIGHT on time.  Except, having sent that text, I opted to stop, fill up the truck, grab a drink and some breakfast and show up at Holly's closer to 11, as I'd predicted.

We pull in, and immediately Holly starts laughing at the height discrepancy of the butts in my trailer.  And, I should have taken a picture because it really is rather funny.  Tall Tilly on the right, short Zurkh on the left.

I went to unload Zurkh, who just refuses to back out of my trailer.  I suspect because it's a LONG step down for his little self.

Tilly hops out without much fuss or muss.  She gets a little spazzy when Holly sets down her HoofJack behind her, so Holly brings it up, lets her sniff it and, I say again I'm really not sure how she'll do, but I've worked with her consistently the past few days and she was okay at home.

And then, Tilly stood like a rock.  She was fantastic for all 4 feet.

Initial thoughts; Tilly is laminitic.  She is cresty necked, has fat pads, and thin soled and lots of rings on her hooves.  I am currently reading and learning how to care for a laminitic horse as I've never had one before, so want to make sure I'm doing right by her.  In the spring, she'll be in a grazing muzzle, or I'll create her a dry lot, OR she'll stay in my feeding pens, OR I'll set up my hot wire fencing and create her an area all of her own. 

Holly did say that, while I may have eventually gotten Tilly's feet set to rights, I may not have.  They were pretty bad.  She said that what she suspects is that, if Tilly wouldn't stand still for previous farriers, they wouldn't have done an in-depth job on her feet, thus allowing them to slowly degrade and get worse.  No one wants to be under a horse that won't stand still. 

She praised the work I did with Tilly for her feet, and said once again that I am a miracle worker with getting horses to give up their feet for trims.  Made me feel wonderful.  As I've said, I'm no trainer.  I don't really know what I'm doing, and I cannot finesse a horse, but I CAN install some very basic things on a horse.  And apparently, giving the feet is something I can do.  Go me.

Then it was Zurkh's turn.  Apparently, I should have worked with him some as well.  Holly said he wasn't BAD, just impatient about standing still.  He also said he had a negative palmar angle.  That is next for me to learn about.  Again, not something I could have corrected on my own, so, good that I brought them to her.  She said she also thinks he MAY have a slight touch of ringbone, but without X-rays we'll never know, and, even if he does, he's not carrying a heavy rider, so he should be just fine.

We stood around and chatted for a little bit, then it was time to load them up again.  Tilly took a little bit of time.  And, I wasn't thinking and had clipped her in the trailer, and then she had a freak out.  So, I was trapped in the trailer with a thrashing horse trying wildly to get out.  Once she stood still I unclipped her and she rocketed out backwards.  I was SURE she wouldn't get back in, and yet, brave mare did. 

Holly was like "You were so calm to just stand in there while she was in a panic.  Most people wouldn't have been so calm."

Honestly, the ONLY thought I had during that whole thing was "Please don't crush my toes Tilly."  She kind of pinched one of my toes, but nothing bad.  And I hadn't even thought of ducking behind the divider until after it was over and Holly mentioned it.  I was more focused on getting her unclipped to let her out.  Sometimes I'm not so smart.

I had asked Holly if she thought it would be okay to take Tilly across the road to McKinney Roughs on the Pope Bend side for a brief trail ride.  She she thought a walk only ride with a little bit of gait, as long as we were careful on the few rocks we encountered would be just fine, and probably good for her.

So, away we went.

Offload them again, put Zurkh in one of the permanent pens with a bucket of water and a big flake of hay, saddled Tilly up, and away we went.

Brand new set of ears!  Tilly girl!

When we first set off, she didn't really want to go.  She cried for Zurkh.  Was a little sticky until she realized I meant it.  Then away she went.  Down the trail we marched, her walk is HUGE and forward.  I haven't ridden such a big horse in....well...I can't remember how long.  Eyes on my Garmin, and already her walk sets her ahead of Strider.  *sigh*  Not fair.

Then we set into a gait.  And again, eyes on my Garmin.  Oh my gosh.  At a slow gait, we're down to 7 or 8 minutes a mile with minimal effort. 

I briefly ask for a canter, but she doesn't seem willing, and I'm not going to fight AND, knowing she's fresh trimmed (so everything must feel WEIRD to her), I don't ask more than twice, and just insist she gait a little longer.  Then back down to a walk. 

She was a champ about the Mule/Gator that came up behind us on trail.  Once we turned to face it, it was no big deal.  The horses and hiker who passed us going back to the trailers were a minor hiccup.  She wanted to turn around and follow them.  We got to a point on the trail where she did NOT want to go forward.  So she backed up.  And backed.  And backed.  Fine then, let's keep backing up.  I stopped, asked for forward, and got more back up.  Okay mare, gentle pop on the shoulder and it was a "Yes Ma'am" response as she moved forward.  And past whatever thing she didn't want to pass before.

Tilly ears on the Pecan Bottom trail.

After about 31 minutes, I turn us back around and start our way back to the trailer.  I had promised Joe I would only ride for an hour, and I was determined to stick to it.  I could tell she was sweaty, but not panting or super sweaty.  Nothing dangerous.  She was great for the whole ride.  Deer leaping through the brush and hopping across our path, no big deal.  In fact, I think she thought she WAS a deer and wanted to go bounding off after them.  The ONLY spook we had was when a leaf fell off a tree.  And her spook was a simple startle in place with a small drop.  I can handle that.

She could tell once we got close to the trailer.  She started to cry for Zurkh again.  And wanted to speed up.  And attempted to cut trail.  Naughty girl.  Can't do that!!!

Hey.  Aren't we done?  Why am I still dressed?!

We got back and I hopped off, really very pleased with her.  My hips hurt a little bit.  She's MUCH broader than everything else I ride.  But, I do believe she'll make a GREAT horse for Joe, and I think I'll enjoy riding her some myself.

No, seriously.  I'm DONE!  Get this off me. (Photobomb of the Red Draggin!)

Stripped tack, hosed her off and for the 3rd time of the day, popped her back into the trailer.  She was a little easier.  Not great, but better.  I didn't have to remove the divider, just slide it over again.

And Zurkh, just hopped right on in.  Sweet pony.

Overall, I was quite pleased with them.  And with my ride!!

4.08 miles in 1:07