A Visit With My Sister... Part 1

I have been meaning to get this post done about my visit with my sister, but I had to work at the farm all last week. Then after work we were extremely busy getting hay and running errands. It was just a crazy week. Now I get this week off, so I will have time to do computer stuff and get ready for a visit with my mom, which happens next week. Oh goodness. Summer is half way over and I feel like I haven't gotten much accomplished. I never thought I'd be so busy.

Anyways, now on to my visit with my sister. The morning I was leaving, I finished packing and went out to get Chance and Brandy. I had already put Chance and Brandy in the same pasture the day before the 4th of July to get Brandy out of the mud. So I thought it would be easy to catch them and load them in the trailer. I got Chance first and tied her to the blocker tie ring down by my house. Chance usually stands tied quietly and patiently so I didn't think I would have any problems. I then went to get Brandy. I don't like to leave Brandy tied unattended for any length of time because she pulls back at the littlest thing and didn't want to start my morning off on the wrong foot, so that is why I got Chance first. But I was going to load Brandy in the trailer before Chance. By the time I lead Brandy out of the pasture and around the corner to the back yard, I could see that Chance had pulled her lead rope almost all the way through the blocker tie ring. She was almost loose. Great. So I start across the back yard and sure enough..... that little stinker got herself untied and was roaming around the back yard. I led Brandy over to her and caught and retied her. I saw this as a sign that my morning might not go to well. I groomed both horses real quick since they were both just filthy. I then loaded Brandy up in the trailer. I went to get Chance and headed for the trailer. I jumped in and Chance did the little "back and forth" sway hesitation, then jumped right in. I have not loaded Chance in the trailer for at least a year and a half, so I was hoping she would load okay and she did. The ponies were loaded and all my stuff was loaded so I got on the road. 

This was the first "long" haul Chance has been on tied like a real horse in the trailer (when they are hauled as "wild" mustangs, they are hauled loose in the trailer with no dividers). But I figured having Brandy along would ease any of her nervousness. After about an hour and a half of driving, I pulled off at an exit to check on Chance. I had seen Brandy poke her nose through the bars of the window, but hadn't seen Chance do that since I pulled out of my driveway. I wanted to make sure she was still standing. Sure enough, she was standing and munching away on her hay, with no care in the world. Whew. So I got back on the road. Oh and that new truck of ours? FANTASTIC! It is so nice having a truck that can pull a trailer over the mountain pass without any problems!! Yeah!!

When I get to the ranch, I parked and immediately went to get my girls out of the trailer. It was going to be a hot day at the ranch and they didn't need to sit in the trailer any longer then they already were. I was curious to see how Chance would react when she realized that she was somewhere very different from home. I untied her and turned her around in the trailer and I always make her stop before I exit the trailer. I hate it when horses try to run and jump out. She just stood there with her head up and looked around. I then asked her to walk out of the trailer, and well, so much for walking out quietly. She made a grand exit and jumped out. But that's okay. I walked her straight over to her corral. Chance has never been in a 12 x 12 area so I was curious on how she would handle that. 

Chance and Brandy in their corrals.

She didn't care about the size of the corral at all. Once I got Brandy unloaded, I got their muck buckets out to fill up their water. Then I threw them some hay. My sister was at work, so I just hung out with my horses until she got there. We weren't going to ride our horses that evening, but we did want to play with our 'stangs. We had to go to her house and get her 2 horses and bring them to the ranch. My sister lives right next door, so we just led them over. We then took her 2 yr old 'stang Luna to the arena to work on lunging. Once we were done with her, we went and got Chance. Chance did quite well with everything that was going on. On our walk to the arena, she just shied away from a few things and was soaking everything in. We took her into the arena, which is very large. Chance hasn't been lunged in an arena in a long time, since I have just been using the round pen at home. So I was wondering if she was going to try anything crazy on the lunge line. Nope. She was a super good girl. I then walked her around the arena. The ranch pool borders one side of the arena fence, and since Chance has never seen a pool, no less with people in it and jumping in it, I knew this would be quite the experience. She was not to happy with the pool. She had a couple reactions when kids jumped in and splashed. But I just kept her about 20 feet away from the pool/arena fence and let her just watch. She did not take her eyes off the pool. In the arena, there are poles, barrels and cones set up everywhere. I do not have anything set up in my arena at home because it has been a round pen for so long. But my plans were to get my poles and tarp out this summer and do some work with Chance. Well, apparently Chance doesn't care about any of that because she never spooked or even looked at any of it funny. That's good.

Chance's first day in the BIG arena!

My sister had to work the next day also. It was going to be HOT and I wanted to get Chance into the arena to lunge her. I also wanted to tie her to my trailer, which I have never done before. When I first tied her to my trailer, she was swinging her butt back and forth and not tying quietly like she does at home. I knew I had to leave her tied at the trailer for awhile, but I wanted to get her saddled and lunged, it was already at least 90 degrees. I had no problems leading her to the arena. We have to pass numerous buildings, backhoe, people, cars and so many other things. She just looked around and was a little cautious about what was going on, but she didn't try anything stupid. I lunged her pretty good and then took her back to the trailer.

First time saddled away from home!

Once I un-tacked her, I just left her tied to the trailer. She was going to stay there until she stood patiently. I stayed pretty close to keep an eye on her. I think I ended up leaving her tied for around 45 minutes. Another guest pulled in with a truck and trailer, and they unloaded 2 horses right next to my trailer. Chance didn't over react to that. Good girl. Once she was standing quietly, I put her away.

Standing patiently at trailer.

When my sister got home from work, we worked with Luna again, then we went on a trail ride. I had not taken Brandy away from Chance since I had been at the ranch, so once Brandy was saddled and I started leading her away, Chance through a huge fit. She was slamming into the panels and spinning in circles. I watched her for a minute, then continued to walk away. I get over to where my sister was getting her boy ready and I could see Chance from a distance. She was not happy. There were at least 15 more horses in her eyesight and my sisters 'stang, Luna was right next to Chance's corral, so she was not alone. She quit slamming into the panels and started to quiet down a little. Brandy whinnying back at her did not help matters at all either. My sister and I had the discussion that Chance will never get over it if I baby her. So I had to let my fears go of leaving her while we were gone on our ride. I have left Chance at home alone many times when my OH and I go on trail rides, so it's not like she has never experienced that before. But I get a little over protective at times. By the time we got on our horses and left, Chance was just standing there flirting with Luna. Whew!

We had a fantastic evening ride. The next day we had planned to go on 2 rides and we were going to spend time at the pool!! Another HOT day was coming and since I don't see those very often, I was really looking forward to it! We also wanted to get our 'stangs out again for some more work........... but things didn't go quite as smooth as I had hoped.

To be continued...........