Our monthly check-in

Eek; time flies, even as days crawl! Since my last post, I haven't been able to work with Stella as consistently as before, what with my son's graduation from high school and all that was involved with getting him across the finish line and on towards adulthood, plus a much wetter than usual June (after a much drier than usual winter and spring). I don't know if it's related, but twice now Stella has refused to be caught and spent the night out on pasture by herself with no water. Apparently playing the feral horse was more appealing than being near other horses or getting her evening hard feed (or being with me, obviously), even though me approaching her stall with her concentrates elicits the only vocalization I've hear from her, an almost inaudible low nicker. From now on, she only gets turn-out in the bottom pasture, because I can easily run her back into her paddock/stall from there. (I don't anticipate ever being able to turn her out with the geldings, as Oliver thinks he's still 'endowed' and acts all horny to the point of mounting mares in heat.) Anyway, as I said in an Instagram post, "It's a good thing she's so gorgeous, or watching her play 'Catch me if you can' would get old a WHOLE lot faster."

Lance actually got more rides last week than Stella got training sessions of any kind. But last weekend saw two more 'firsts' with Stella, so I want to document them here.

Riding at sunset past the house going up on the lot to our north

It's progressing fast!

Saturday night Rick tuned into something I didn't want to see and hear on TV, so I went to the barn to do chores and decided I might as well do something with my mare. Having introduced her to lunging with a line connected to the bridle, I decided to forgo the line attached to her halter this time and she did really well! So I did it again on Sunday, removing the halter completely and taking some pretty working shots of my shiny 'black swan.'

Then I took her back to her stall and mounted her from both sides while she stood quietly.

Funny thing about Stella in photos. She often looks much more substantial in them than she does in person. But she has gained some weight and muscle in six months, along with shedding out a lot of hair. Oooh; dapples!

Working her under saddle feels tantalizingly close now. If I had a round pen and a couple sessions with Brian's assistance I think we'd be on our way, but since I don't have either of those we'll just keep going at our slow pace. We'll be dancing partners eventually!

Progress in inches, not miles

Month three with Stella Bella Stella zoomed by, and here we are well into month four. Even as my life has changed little in that time, the world has turned upside down in many ways, which creates an undercurrent of stress. I am thankful to be able to continue to work with my horses, as they are an excellent diversion even if there isn't much visible progress.


There has been a wee bit of pasture time, something that has to be extremely limited in this season of rapid growth that can cause horses to founder – especially a metabolic syndrome horse like Lance.

I continue to ride Lance as often as possible to keep both of us in some semblance of riding shape and to help manage his metabolic condition. The arena footing was* getting trashed by Miss Stella's antics + weather conditions, so we were going down the gravel lane and back a lot, dodging (and sometimes absorbing) raindrops, and enjoying vistas, occasional sunsets, and even the 'supermoon' together. Now it's getting dry enough to cut through the neighbor's lot to ride on the gravel lane through the woods, too. Last Sunday I took that route specifically to look for my favorite wildflowers. I found ONE clump of wild iris, one of its several buds unfurling.

So what of my black beauty? There has been near-daily turn-out or lunging, with and without stirrups (yesterday I tried it with just stirrup leathers). Stella is still incredibly touchy about things moving along her sides, but her trust in me has noticeably improved outside of that. Catching her is never an issue anymore and she chooses to engage with me now. She has gained a little weight and lost a LOT of winter hair.

I have encouraged Brian to interact with Stella, because I want to use him as a training assistant. He turned her out for me a couple weeks ago and I got some cute photos of them together:

*You can see how pitted the arena was in the photos above. Stella not only makes good use of her turn-out time to run and buck, she also liked to paw in the puddles, making them deeper. Thankfully Brian helped me drag the arena and now the footing is MUCH better. But other than that and cleaning stalls (his twice-daily responsibility), I haven't been able get Brian to help me, so I forged on alone.

Before I even brought her home, I was hoping to use Lance to pony Stella for exercise and exposure. But the way Lance acted when he got loose in the arena with her that one time gave me huge pause. Would it be safe to try and manage both her and him from the saddle? Could I even manage to mount Lance while holding Stella's lead rope? There was only one thing to do: try.

Well as you can see, I not only managed to mount, but we successfully navigated our driveway, making several trips up, down and around. Lance was as good as gold, even when Stella got in 'his' space. I've since ponied her a couple times in the arena, where I feel more comfortable stretching her comfort zone a little. She startles when I  move my legs on Lance's sides or swing the end of her lead rope around, but I'm hoping that because Lance doesn't react and nothing bad happens to her, she'll settle. I'd like to take her off property, too, but only if one of our Western saddles, with a horn to dally to, fits Lance.

It's a long, slow process, but I truly believe that going about training Stella this way is best, and have had encouraging confirmation along the way. I shared the above video screenshot on Instagram/Facebook yesterday and a friend commented, "She is a frisky one. Will you actually be able to ride her?" The answer, I believe, is an unequivocal "Yes." Can I say when? No. Inch by inch; we'll get there.

These were taken yesterday. I have videos, but don't have them uploaded to YouTube yet. For now I'm headed out to pony Stella again!