Saturday the weather was not cooperating so we did some errands around Fort Collins, then just headed home. Sunday the farrier was coming to the barn so I had to get my butt in gear. I was a little nervous about going to the barn after everything that happened last weekend. I guess you could say my confidence is a little shaken. When I got to the barn both of the stallions were in there getting shoes on so I was able to retrieve Rosie from the pasture without incident. I brushed her and fussed over her until the testosterone level in the barn went down a few notches. When I got in the barn only the black stallion had left and the red one was still in there. Thankfully he was in front of us so I could keep an eye on him. What I am about to say is probably going to offend some of you out there but I really don't think Arabians are ever going to be the breed of choice for me. Both of these stallions are Arabians and I just don't think I have the temperament to deal with them.
Rosie did well with having her feet trimmed. Before she was always good on the left but by the time they got around to her right side she had had enough of the hoof trimming thing. Yesterday she was good all the way around. Maybe she was distracted by Studly being a dingbat in the cross ties in front of her. Whatever it was, she was good. Afterwards, I lunged her for a bit and then worked on desensitizing her to the lead rope a little bit. Before last weekend's incident she really didn't have much of a problem with ropes being around her legs but now she is pretty worried about them. I spent a few minutes just throwing the rope around her back legs until she calmed down and stood still. It took a bit but she finally did. I did her left side first and then her right side. Her left side took a little while before she was comfortable so I figured her right side would take a really long time but I only had to spend about two minutes on it and that was probably longer than I needed to. I guess it makes sense though, the worst cuts and scrapes on her left hind leg. While I was applying some fly spray to her after our round pen work the barn manager brought the red stallion out of the main barn to be put in his stall in the south barn and Rosie still gave him googly eyes and peed everywhere so I guess she is still in heat? I thought a heat cycle only lasted about a week which I guess is where she is at but enough already!
2 comments:
Happy belated Birthday to Rosie! :)
I hope her legs are feeling better!
I've done a lot of rope work on the legs with my horse. I put my Parelli rope behind his leg and pull it up and down, I twirl the rope from my carrot stick all under his belly, around his legs, etc. He's really good and just stands there. I take this for granted, this kind of thing can freak a lot of horses out.
Her legs are looking better, in fact I wanted to get a picture of them tonight but of course the camera battery was dead. Thanks for the extra ideas on rope/leg work, I tend to get stuck in a rut and do the same thing over and over again.
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