In the Round Pen

I gave Khyber and Boone their first round pen sessions today.  I couldn't work with them yesterday because they had their teeth floated by the vet.  Both horses were very energetic in the round pen.  I had no trouble getting them moving, in fact, they often would gallop without me asking them to.  It was anger-galloping as they were not happy with me bossing them around.  Both horses kicked out at me, although from a safe distance.  I use a whip with a bit of plastic bag tied to the end of it so I can compel them to move without making contact with the whip.  It is very effective.  

Both horses, on a number of occasions, tried to crowd the center where I was standing, but I just pointed the whip at them and they would fade away like it was a cattle prod.  I kept them both moving, changing directions periodically, for a total of ten minutes each.  Both horses were sweaty, but not lathered.  It will not take them long to become strong.  I will eventually get them up to twenty minutes and teach them to turn in the direction that I specify--that is toward me or away from me.  They both seem reasonably smart, so I think they will pick it up quickly.  The important lesson today was for me establish myself as higher in the herd then they.  Both horses joined with me when I was done.  For the rest of the day, both approached me for affection each time I passed by their pens.  It is funny how a short session in the round pen can completely change your relationship with a horse.  

I received a good report about Cal's training last night. The first sergeant rode him again, and he performed well and mostly without incident.  He didn't blow up at the tie up post or throw a tantrum like last week.  Cal is a long way from being ready for the show, but we have a good base to work with.  

New Guys on the Block

Boone

I finally moved Boone and Khyber out to the stables today.  They have been at the ZERF since they arrived in November.  Debbie did enough ground work with them in that time to make it possible to start the next phase of their training.  We had some trouble getting them in the trailer, but Debbie finally enticed them in with a flake of alfalfa.  Khyber went after the alfalfa in a few minutes, but Boone had to be encouraged with a tap of the whip.  

The rest of the herd was still out to pasture, so moving them into their new pens was uneventful.  By the afternoon, they had accustomed themselves to their surroundings enough so that I could begin their first session of learning the Army routine.  Neither of them is very good at lifting their feet, so we concentrated on that and, with a little coaxing, had a normal grooming session.  Oddly enough, they are no worse than Cal, whom I groomed at the post solo today.  

Khyber

Boone and Khyber were fascinated by all the horses being brought in. They were curious about everything and everybody.  I think they will fit in well.  I'm looking forward to working with them and teaching them all the things an Army horse needs to do.    

Horse Dental Work Day

The vet showed up today to work on teeth.  He managed to get eight horses done.  The biggest challenge was Blade, which I warned him about, but also Cal, Ruger, and Chili put up a good fight also.  The good thing is that most of the difficult patients are done and he can cruise with the remaining horses tomorrow. 

While the vet was working on teeth, I worked on repairing a couple of tie up posts that the horses had damaged.  The posts are old telephone poles that were buried in the ground years ago.  They are too low--about three to four feet high--and they are mostly rotten.  I had to get creative to get the ring bolts through the rotten logs, but managed to get the job done.  I then went around and tightened up the bolts on all the other posts.  I have put in two work orders to get the posts replaced, but can't even get a response to the request.  

One of the posts destroyed by Blade last summer.

I tried tying Cal up again with his battle buddy, Duke.  I left him unattended for about twenty minutes without incident.  I think I have broken the code on his panic problem.  However, I heard one of the troopers had trouble with him last night while tacking him up.  Cal reared up and then ran over and sat down in a sand pile.  He got up and was fine after, but unlike the panic attack he gets when left alone at the tie up post, I think this is just bratty behavior.  Working with Cal is going to be very interesting.  

Horse Psychology

I mentioned yesterday that I would try tying up Cal next to another horse to see if he would remain calm instead of destroying his halter in an epic panic attack.  So, I tied Duke next to him today.  I hitched Cal to the post using a loop of bailing twine, so that if he did blow up, he wouldn't destroy anything valuable.  I then left him there to go muck out his stall.  He could not see me from where he was, so he was left pretty much alone except for Duke.  When I returned, he was still there happily waiting for me.  I will try this a few more times to determine if this was just a fluke.  If he continues to remain calm, I will try different horses and greater and greater distances between them to see if he can get used to being tied.  

I had a surprise visitor today while I was finishing up the horse shelter I am reconstructing.  The commanding general of the post showed up as he heard I was such an awesome guy and wanted to meet me.  Not really.  His sergeant major made him come down to see the deplorable condition of our horse facilities first hand.  We chatted a bit, he shook my hand, and then left.  You just never know who is going to show up down there.  It is ironic that I was in the process of rebuilding a shelter when he arrived.  

Debbie and I weighed all the horses today and were pleased to see that most of them had put on weight despite being out to pasture for almost three weeks.  Only one horse (Chili) lost any significant weight and he isn't showing any ribs.  Chili is old and has trouble with his teeth.  Fortunately, the vet will float teeth tomorrow, so hopefully we can make it easier for Chili to chew his food.  Unfortunately, Chili doesn't like anything getting poked in his mouth unless it is a carrot, so I expect a battle royal tomorrow.  

I received a call about another of our horses last night (Kidd) who had gone of his food, but didn't show any other signs of illness.  He was fine when I arrived this morning and had eaten most of his hay.  We give them bermuda hay when they are in the pens and many of the horses are not liking the winter, barn-stored hay. However, during the night when it is cold, most of them eat it anyway.  Hay digestion generates body heat, so most horses will eat it regardless of how finicky they are.   

Exploding Horses

Cal, when he's not exploding.

I recently inherited Big Cal as a training project as he seems to have regressed in recent years.  He has always had a problem with jumping, but that is not a particular concern as he doesn't have to jump in ceremonies--in fact, we'd prefer he didn't.  However, he has developed a problem with setting back while tied up. 

 

I'm not really sure what has happened to him, but he seems to develop a panic attack while at the hitching post.  He starts out okay, but gradually becomes more and more nervous until he decides to pull back on the lead rope until something breaks and he can get free.  If we loose-tie him, he quickly recovers once he realizes he isn't tied, but you can't leave him unattended for any length of time as he will just wander off. 

 

Today, I tried to cross tie him between two poles to see if that would hold him.  It didn't.  He just put all his weight against one cross-tie strap until it gave out.  He fell backward and will probably turn up  lame tomorrow.  He ran off, but I enticed him back with a carrot.

 

I think the only answer is to not tie him, but not leave him unattended.  The rider will have to pre-stage all the grooming tools and tack so Cal isn't left alone for any length of time.  I will continue to work with him to see if there is some specific issue that causes him to panic and blow up at the post.  He doesn't seem to have the problem when tied up in the trailer or on the side of the trailer.  That may be because there are other horses there.  It may be a problem with being separated from other horses. 

 

I may try to tie him up next to another horse to see what he does.  Another horse mystery to solve.   

Beginning a New Year

So far we have had a mild winter here in southeast Arizona.  The temperatures were in the mid 30s this morning, which was tolerable.  The sun didn't come up until about 0730, but since the stables are in the shadow of a ridge line, the whole valley was lit up with sunlight before the sun hit me while I was feeding the horses.  

The Wonder Horse helping me with one of the frame poles.  

After feeding the horses I went downtown to pick up some hardware for a pen renovation project I'm working on.  A bad storm had destroyed four of our horse shelters last summer, making the pens unusable, and restricting where I can put horses.  I decided to rebuild one of the shelters with materials I had on hand, but was running out of metal screws.  I need to get the shelter finished so I can bring in the new horses, Khyber and Boone, who are living at my house at the moment.  Unfortunately, I couldn't finish the project today as the wind kicked up and was blowing the sheet metal around as I was trying to screw it to the shelter frame.  

The rebuilt shelter frame.  

Instead, I spent the afternoon spreading manure.  I'm  making some progress in reducing the size of the manure pile, but it is so old that it is like an archaeological dig.  I may find some mastodon bones in there.  

We brought all the horses in from pasture tonight, even though it is Thursday and they will be going out again tomorrow for the weekend.  They have been out for two weeks and they were more than ready to come in.  My two, Blade and Duke, stood at the pasture gate and watched me the whole time I was spreading manure.  I bought them and the Wonder Beast in and they happily dove into their feeders.  There will be no leftover hay in the morning, I'm certain.  

Manure Removal and Flat Tires

Today was my first day back to work after being off last week for Thanksgiving.  I figured the email inbox would be full of nonsense tasks, but it wasn't too bad.  I had a chance to plan riding for the week and take care of some maintenance around the stable area. 

 

One on-going task I have, is getting rid of all the manure that we produce each week.  I spread it in the riding arena to mix into the sand and help keep the footing soft.  I compost the manure first, so I'm not spreading fresh manure and the parasites and weeds that go with it.  The manure pile generates its own heat, so it breaks down and kills all the nasty stuff hidden in the manure, if you leave it alone for a month or so. 

 

I have a small manure spreader that is just big enough to take one bucket full from the front end loader on the tractor.  I pull the spreader around the arena with the Gator which does a pretty good job.  If I have some help, the job goes pretty quickly, but if I'm alone, I have to jump back and forth between the tractor and the Gator.  I can get about a dozen loads of manure spread in about an hour by myself, not counting equipment prep and clean up after. 

 

I knew I needed to get the manure spread today as we are forecast to have bad weather the next couple of days.  You can't really spread wet manure, so it was today or not at all.  Of course, both the Gator and the tractor had flat tires.  Fortunately, the tires could be aired up so I didn't have to get them replaced.  It seems that I'm always dealing with some sort of tire problem. 

 

The composted manure was mostly broken down into dust, so every time I turned the tractor into the wind, I got a manure shower.  I wear sunglasses, hat, and bandanna over my face to keep it out of my eyes and lungs, but it is still nasty.  It spreads nicely though, and when I drag the arena, it will essentially disappear.  It's a lot of work though, and ends up killing a couple hours of the day even when you don't have flat tires.