Stella's new wardrobe

While Lance is mending, Stella is modeling!

Since she arrived, Stella's halter has been the hand-me-down from my first Morgan as that was the only web halter we had that fit her. She has pulled back a few times while tied, and the last time the ring that the lead rope attaches to gave way. I looked into replacement rings but ultimately decided that it would be better to replace the whole thing since it was nearly 30 years old. In the meantime, I used this 'giant' blue one with black trim for tying,

and this white/red/blue rope halter that Lance won in an online mustang show for her groundwork. (It's too small for Lance.)

I had gotten a sale email from Chicks Discount Saddlery advertising halters, so I checked out what they had. Lisa prefers a rope halter with integrated lead rope (no snap) for groundwork; so I looked at those, as well as web halters.

Even though bright blue is striking on Stella, I couldn't resist this black one with bright flowers when I saw it. Unfortunately, it's a bit too big as well; I should have ordered the "small horse" size instead of the "medium horse" for her fine head. But it would probably cost twice as much in shipping to exchange it than the halter's price, so I'm keeping it.

I also got a black rope halter; it is made of nice thick, soft rope and has a 10' integrated lead, perfect for our ground work.

And our ground work is going very well! At our second lesson Lisa told me to saddle her up for our homework sessions. Although Stella was still good, the saddle created some tension, which Lisa noticed at our lesson last week. After some initial work, we decided to take the saddle off for the rest of the lesson. She still seemed more 'stuck' than the week before, but Lisa ended with some work from the fence that was a big improvement over what I had been able to do. After seeing Lisa demonstrate how you can use the fence in training with her young mustang the day before,  I was excited to build on this.

Today, after doing our homework for a week (sans saddle for now), I was able to slide onto Stella's bare back from the fence. She has a very comfortable back. 😊

I can't wait to see what we do tomorrow!

Below are links to the three videos I shot during last week's lesson.

Third lesson with Lisa, part 1

Third lesson with Lisa, part 2

Third lesson with Lisa, part 3

Ratzenphooey

This evening I got Lance ready for a twilight ride. He walked out of his stall off or stiff, I wasn't sure which, so I led him to the arena (where we do our walking warm-up), cleaned out his feet, and got on. After a couple steps I jumped off; he was clearly lame on the left front. I called my 'built-in veterinarian' for the second night in a row (last night my Shetland ram had a goopy, painful eye), and Rick came down to check Lance out. After watching Lance walk in small figure-8s, doing a flexion test, blocking the nerves to the fetlock and foot, then blocking the nerves to the upper suspensory area, Rick narrowed it down to the upper suspensory. Neither of us could remember which legs Lance has injured before, so when we came to the house I checked my blog. Six years ago he tore his suspensory and his inferior check ligaments in his left front, the third of his four legs to sustain soft tissue injuries. 😖😖😖

My poor big red goober. He has had more problems than any one horse should have to bear. I am thankful to have an understudy in the wings, but I need Lance to keep my riding muscles limber to be ready for Stella. 😩

Movie night

It took awhile, but I finally got the five(!) video clips I took during Stella's first lesson with Lisa and the two video clips from her second lesson yesterday uploaded to YouTube. (There are no video clips from my Tuesday 'lesson' at Lisa's, working with two of her mustangs, because we were both busy.) If you want the CliffsNotes version, just watch the first and the last videos. I think even the uninitiated among you will recognize that Stella and I have made more progress in one week than we had in the 7+ months prior. She ground-drives now!

Here is Lisa checking in with Stella yesterday, after a week of us doing our homework every day.

First lesson, part one

First lesson, part two

First lesson, part three

First lesson, part four

First lesson, part five

Second lesson highlight

Second lesson finale

I would love to know what you see and think!

Hitting the reset button

I have been plugging along with Stella, feeling my way, making adjustments, evaluating her responses, building our relationship. She is also building new relationships. Recently Brian was out of town for work so Rick cleaned stalls, spending more time with her in the process. Since Brian is leaving soon for college (less than a month!), I've told Rick that I will be needing his help as a ground person; it would help if he's not a stranger. Our new neighbors on the lot to our north have also been building a relationship; Rebecca comes over to the fence and gives Stella carrots and attention.

 This is a good thing should we have a repeat what happened last month. Do you see what is wrong with this picture?

That's Stella on the wrong side of the fence. The neighbors called me at work one morning; Stella was on their property. What?!? Before leaving for work I had turned her out in the upper pasture for the first time and put the boys in the lower pasture. Lance had taken to standing at one of the apple trees all day eating green fruit and leaves, risking founder and colic, so I was trying a new arrangement. Knowing she wasn't likely to let the neighbors anywhere near her (this was pre-carrot times), I hurriedly finished what I was doing and dashed home. Would she be cut up? Would the fence be torn up? Nope; the fence was intact and I couldn't find a mark on my mare so apparently she jumped it. So she's back in the lower pasture and the boys have been staying in. 🙄

In spite of all the ground work, lunging, and schmoozing,

our progress still seems infinitesimal. Yes, I'm talking about YOU, you reactive creature, you!

Our future as dancing partners seems nearly as distant as ever. Maybe if I was still young and fearless, or had a round pen, I'd just get ON her and deal with whatever comes, but I'm not and I don't. And even if I was and I did, my accumulated knowledge says overfacing her like that would not end well; horses can't learn when they are in a state of panic. (That is probably true of all creatures....)

So I continue to ride Lance to keep my riding muscles in shape and ponder what to do with my silly, stunning black swan.

a vineyard we used to ride around has been fenced off 😞

One evening Rick actually rode WITH me!

post-shower; my patent leather pony

Yesterday I decided to ACT on a recurring idea; I messaged Lisa Sink for help. She and her husband were trainers in the BLM's TIP (Trainer Incentive Program; currently inactive); they own Lance's sire, a Kiger mustang they adopted intact (allowed for Kigers) at age four, and have/had many other mustangs. In other words, Lisa knows feral horses. If anyone could help me move forward with this mare, I thought it might be her.

Lisa messaged me right back: Call me. I did, and gave her a quick summary. She said, "I know exactly what you need to do next." I didn't even ask what that was; I just asked "When?" This morning worked for both of us!

Lisa brought her own 'tools' – a rope halter with integrated lead rope and a flag on a stick. She said follows Buck Brannaman's groundwork methods, and proceeded to slowly and patiently work with Stella. She encouraged me to video what she was doing so I could refer back to it, because I am to repeat the work daily until she comes again next Wednesday (yay!), and I am to go to her place to work with her trained horse so I know what I'm working toward.

I won't go into great detail on what Lisa did for an hour, but will include a few photos and screenshots from videos, plus bullet-point things below as a reminder to myself (and will try to upload the videos soon). But basically we went back to almost square one, working with her as Lisa would a wild mustang, gaining Stella's trust, getting her 'unstuck' so she can easily and calmly move her feet and body around, giving her a chance to think and respond. Having never worked with a horse as 'untouched' as Stella was, I started training her as I would have a handled youngster, leaving behind a big gap that I don't think we would ever have been able to safely hurdle. Yep, I should have made that call to Lisa MONTHS ago, but I'm so glad that I finally did it now, so we can fill in that gap and move forward together.

• Backing (also standing, walking forward)
• Bending at the poll
• Moving the back end
• Head down
• Half-circles
• Accepting the flag
• Moving the front end
• Back a circle
• Rope around the butt and turn
• Handling her tail

Now if only we could hit the reset button on 2020!

A 'recipe' worth keeping!

More 'firsts' to report, right after I show you the constellation of white hairs scattered across Stella's flank. I think they are fitting on a horse named after heavenly bodies! 

Andromeda's/Stella's 'stars'

Last week I got an email from Dressage Today with links to some Dressage Today Extra content, including one billed as "A Formula for Starting Youngsters." I clicked on the link and read the article titled "Recipe for a Riding Horse." I really liked what Bob Orton had to say, and mulled over implementing it with Stella. In the six months I've had her, we've made only a fraction of the progress Bob's program makes in three months, largely due to my 'feeling my way in the dark.' So I decided to implement Mr. Orton's recipe as best I can from where we are now forward, starting with his longeing schedule.

Since Stella already knows how to longe (although her willingness to canter on the longe has backslidden) and accepts saddle, bridle and bit, it was time to add longing reins. I hadn't heard of Vienna reins before, but their mechanics are clearly superior to the side reins I have so I immediately looked on eBay to find some. There were very few options and the price point for something I may only use for a little while was steep. I looked around our tack room to see if I could jury rig something but came up empty. So I fell back on side reins as better than nothing, and we got to work with something new added last Friday.

I used a halter in case things went sideways with side reins (she was fine)

I also used my regular saddle on her to see how it fit with her girth (👍🏻)

Stella worked up quite a sweat in our short session, which I attribute as much to brain-work as to the hot noonday sun. I decided to add a second new thing to her world – a water hose! Yes, Stella got her first shower – and handled it surprisingly well. 😁

We interrupt this training content for a necessary part of owning horses: HAY. Our local hay guy has been holding some first cutting orchardgrass for us, but needed it out of his barn in order to bring in alfalfa. So we got a load late Friday afternoon, another load Saturday night, and two more loads Sunday, almost filling our barn. (There's just enough room for a couple tons of second or third cutting orchardgrass for the Shetland sheep.) It's a good feeling to have a full barn! And while these small squares were wonderfully easy to handle after the 100+pound buggers Brian and I got late last fall, getting in hay always sets off my allergies, and I struggled through the rest of Sunday and all of Monday with a headache, itchy eyes, running nose, and general malaise. 

Another interruption of the topic at hand. That Oliver. He is absolutely besotted with Stella, and I don't mean in a herdbound way. He has always acted 'proud cut' around mares; Rick says it's because in some geldings the adrenal gland kicks up its production of testosterone. Well, his testosterone is RAGING. We do our best to keep him farther away from Stella than he was in the two photos below, and he is getting thin because of fretting over her.

Yesterday we got back to following the 'recipe.' The few-days break also helped me brainstorm a homegrown version of Vienna reins. I found a contraption in the tack room, the origins and purpose of which are lost to memory. But it works perfectly; there's an adjustable 'neck loop' of wide black webbing, and attached to that with a generous ring is an adjustable white elastic strap with a clip on the end to attach to the girth. Add the side reins clipped to the ring at the chest, run through the bit rings and back to the saddle, and voila – Vienna reins!

I attached the longe line to the inside bit ring like Mr. Orton does as well. When we were done, the sides of Stella's tongue were irritated which I felt bad about. Today I'm going to attach the longe line via my usual method, which is to run the longe line through the near bit ring, over the poll, and attach it to the far bit ring to equalize bit pressure; we'll see if that works better.

But other than the tongue irritation, I am very pleased with how things are going! Whether it's specifically from following this program or simply following a program, Stella seems more focused (because I am???) and is making rapid progress. The lack of a helper to transition to under-saddle work is still going to be a hindrance, but the foundation laid before that is going to be much more solid, and her physical development is going to be enhanced with the sliding side reins.