Bag Of Tricks

I only had to work a half day on Saturday, so that gave me plenty of time to come home and work with Chance, get a nap in, shower, then head off to our hockey game. The weather has been so unpredictable, with rain, severe wind, thunder and lightening, that to see the sun actually peek through for a bit, was a very welcome sight! A perfect opportunity to get outside and do some desensitizing! I loaded up my bag of tricks and headed off to see my baby.

What is in my bag of tricks, you ask? Well, I loaded up her other baby halter, a regular lead rope, my 12' lead, my handy stick, a rag and a towel for sacking out. I brought a towel because it was easy to throw in my bag and it is sorta like a saddle pad, plus she needs to get desensitized to everything, right? The jolly ball is not part of my bag of tricks, since Fritzy never played with it, we put it in Chance's pasture, hoping she would use it. In the pink and gray bag are my grooming supplies.



I start by walking up to her and she is a little timid at first. Once I pet her really good, I can get a hold of her halter and put the regular lead rope on. I lead her up to my grooming bag, but she decides to plant her feet and not move. Uh Oh. I think she forgot our leading lesson from 5 days before. Unfortunately, I have had to work late most of the week, so by the time I get home and feed, it is dark, so I couldn't work with Chance. I am going to be limited to 2 days a week, now that it will be getting dark earlier. So we had to work on leading again, and getting her to respond to pressure. I don't think she forgot anything, I just think she was being stubborn. Once I get her to the grooming bag, I curry her really good, use the stiff brush than the soft brush. I take the face brush and get her face really good. She is doing really good with having her ears handled, and her face rubbed all over. Anytime I tried touching her front legs, she would move them up and away. I took my 12' lead and attached it to her halter. I coiled it up and used the lead to sack her out all over with it, including her legs. Eventually she quit moving her legs from the touch. She accepted the lead rubbing all over her body and legs really well. So I went to get the handy stick. I wrapped the rope that is attached to it around the stick so it wasn't hanging off. I didn't need to use that yet. I just wanted to have an extension to my arm, especially since I wanted to touch her hind legs. She has never attempted to kick, nor show any aggression towards me. I let her sniff the handy stick, which she was very curious in. She sniffed it and was relaxed so I pulled it away from her. Once I took the handy stick and moved it towards her, she struck out at it. Oh dear! I kept it out at her, but it wasn't touching her and she struck out again. She calmed down and let me rub her wither with the stick. Once she realized it wasn't going to hurt her, she was fine. This is the first sign that Chance has shown any aggression, but it was not towards me. By the end of the lesson she let me rub her all over with the handy stick and I was able to rub up and down both front and hind legs. She never tried to kick as I rubbed her hind legs with the stick.



I then took the rag and let her sniff it, then rubbed her body with it. She didn't care about that at all. I even could rub her face, ears, everything. No problem. Time to move on to the towel. She again was very curious about it. I was able to put the towel folded on her back, she didn't care, than I rubbed her all over with it. She moved a little, but overall she handled it really good. I unfolded it once, and put it on her like a saddle pad. No problem again. I worked both sides, up and down her body. That's my girl! I even unfolded it all the way and waved it all over her body. No big deal.

I stopped with the desensitizing, and worked on putting her other halter on and off. She is doing well with that. I still am not quite ready to take off her other halter. She does fine with putting a halter on and off, but I am still a little concerned on the catching. Once I can get her to relax with the catching, then we can remove her halter.



I am thinking of taking some of my arena panels apart and making a round pen. I really need a round pen, and can't afford to buy new panels to make one. Even with a round pen, I will still be able to work my other horses. I just need a smaller space to do the work I need to do with Chance. I have so many things I need to do, and it is going to be so hard to do with the weather and daylight savings time ending, and no round pen.



On Sunday I went out again. Of course it didn't start raining until I had Chance on the lead rope. Figures! She again wasn't leading very well, so we went back to basics on leading. I think we have it figured out now. But it will take some consistency. She just wants to stop and plant her feet. She did good with all the desensitizing again. She did spook when I accidentally hit the side of her shed. So I continued hitting the shed to make that noise until she calmed down and then she walked up to me. I just need to expose her to anything and everything. She has been doing so well, and I am having such a good time working with her. I know we will have ups and downs, but we will get through them all. She also did fine with the handy stick. She now realizes that it isn't going to hurt her and it rubs her all over. I even took the hairbrush out for the first time and brushed her mane, she wasn't too sure about the sound it made, I had just been using a regular body brush for that. But she eventually thought it was no big deal. I even worked on her tail for a little bit.



I love this picture of her crazy eyelashes! They are so long and out of control!



On my way back to the house, I see something in the distance. What is that?



Ah! It is just a dirty, grumpy, spotted Appaloosa laying down!



Sunday was the first day it has been cold enough in the house to make a fire in the wood stove. I just love those kind of days, where I can stay toasty warm, watch football, eat a ton of food, and my cats are in heaven! Dakota, my million dollar cat, decided to make himself at home on the back of the couch, which is basically right next to the wood stove. I wish I could get comfortable like that!



Check this out. Do you see what I see? A collar with skulls and crossbones? Yep, you aren't imagining things. Dakota needed a new collar, so what does my OH do? He goes to the pet store and comes home with this collar! At first I was thinking "You bought him that collar?", but then realized it is very fitting for Dakota! He is a hellion on paws! Seriously! He is every cats nightmare, no one messes with this bad boy! You can even see the evil in his eye, and I am sure there are a lot of evil thoughts running through that head of his!