Fritzy has been on stall rest for 2 1/2 weeks and is settling into her new stall quite well. She has been staying pretty quiet except for feeding time in the morning. She starts to buck and kick out. But there is nothing I can do about that. It doesn't help that Brandy and Chance are running all over bucking and kicking waiting for me to deliver breakfast and she can see them so she gets all worked up. For the most part she eats all day and she just loves her window. The majority of her time is spent standing with her head out the window and looking around. When I clean her stall, I brush her and pick out her hooves. The bar shoe really packs in the poo and shavings so I need to keep it cleaned out so she isn't standing with a ball under her foot. Since I have never had Fritzy in a stall for so long, I wasn't sure if she was going to be one of those horses that is a pig in the stall or if she would be pretty clean. She isn't too bad. She poops all on one side with an occasional poop by where her hay goes. And she pees all through the middle so when she lays down, she lays in her pee and with a black and white horse, you can probably imagine what the white looks like. Pee stains. Yuck.
I am thinking of blanketing Fritzy this winter, but haven't decided yet. I usually only blanket my horses when it is going to be under 30 degrees and/or snowing. She isn't growing much of a winter coat but that could be because we have had the most amazing weather this fall. We have set a new record of 80 days without measurable rainfall and you all know how we struggle with so much rain and mud September through May. It has been so nice out and my pasture's are MUD FREE, and it's October 10th!! I will probably never see that again. I know some areas really need the rain because fire season has been so bad. But I have to admit I really don't want to see any rain. But it is coming. This Friday. And it is supposed to rain off and on for the next week.
I thought that by putting Rio's lead rope back on that we would have a huge setback by the way she reacted to it. I couldn't work her for a few days because she just could not get over the rope following her. Well, on the 3rd day of having the lead rope back on, I said screw it. She has got to get over it so I went out and worked her in the round pen. We couldn't trot because she steps on the lead rope and she can't move forward until she steps forward. It is actually a real pain in the butt for what I need to do. But I just had her walk and she did really well. The day after that I round penned her again, at the walk. She is doing well with when I ask her to whoa, she faces me then steps into me a few steps. Which is what I am after. But I can't seem to get past that point. So after I was done round penning, I was just doing approach and retreat with her. I would walk up as close as she would allow, let her relax and then back away to relieve the pressure. I did this a couple times and by the 3rd time I approached her, I was within about 2 feet of her and when I backed up a few steps, she walked back up to me and put herself within 2 feet of me again. I cried. Yes, cried. She has never done this. She prefers to stay in her spot when I move away from her. So to me this was huge. After I got all my tears out, I started over. And guess what? Every time I stepped back, she walked forward and put herself right back next to me. This whole journey has been so emotional and any progress I get no matter how big or small just sets me off into tears. I just want to touch her so bad, but she just won't allow me to do that, yet.
This week I have been going back to sitting in a chair in her corral. The first day I did this (Monday) I took a flake of alfalfa and put half her grain (supplement) in a rubber feed pan. I put the flake of alfalfa between the chair and my legs and I put the feed pan at my feet. I took a handful of alfalfa in my hand and held it out to her. She does not have a problem taking hay out of my hand, but ever since the whole lead rope thing, she hasn't been so trusting in eating out of my hand. It took her a few minutes but she eventually came up and took the hay. She circled around me and sniffed. She knew I had grain in the feed pan and she just loves her grain now!! She ate hay out of my hand a few times, and then she went and stood behind me. I could not see what she was doing and I did not want to look. I don't make much eye contact with her when I am working with her. It's just what you do not do when working with Mustangs. They respond better without the eye contact. I could see her shadow out of the corner of my eye and she was bobbing her head and then I felt warm breathe on the back of my neck. She didn't touch my neck but she stretched her neck out and got close enough where I could feel her breathe. She then circled back around and came in front of me. She nibbled on some hay in front of the feed pan then she started eating her grain. She then put her nose in between my legs and grabbed a bite of alfalfa from the flake sitting behind my legs. She sniffed my legs then tried nudging my leg out of the way. She ate some more grain then she walked away. I moved the feed pan to my lap. She circled around, came back and was standing on my right side. She was only a couple feet away from me and stretched her neck out towards me and put her nose right on my forehead. She left it there and sniffed then just stood there. She hasn't made contact with me in a long time and the times when she has made contact she would sniff really quick and then hurry away. And she has never tried to make contact with my head before. She circled around to my left and came up and ate out of the feed pan in my lap. But she would never stay close for too long. She walks away. Then she went back to my left side and stretched her neck out towards me again, put her nose on my cheek and left it there and sniffed and stood there. At this time I couldn't even believe how she is making contact with me and so many times. She went back to eating hay between my legs and sniffing and nudging them. I was so proud of Rio for being so brave and making so much contact with me in one sitting. I have been sitting in Rio's corral and doing this twice a day but without the same results. She will eat hay out of my hand, but she hasn't made contact with me again, nor will she eat the grain out of my lap. So I am putting the feed pan back on the ground between my feet. I really thought that with all the contact she was making with me on Monday that she would keep doing it. But I feel like we are back at square one. I know this is part of the whole gentling process, the ups and downs (actually any horse training process, but it is a little different when gentling Mustangs!) and sometimes I feel like I am just never going to get her to trust me enough to allow me to touch her. I just can't get that breakthrough when it comes to touch. And I have been trying so many different things and I know it will come when she is ready. Not only is this process very emotional, but it does test your patience. You just want to say "Get over it! I am not hurting you and let me touch you!" but you CAN'T do that. They are all different and some take a few days to gentle and some take months and months. I am just hoping Rio doesn't take months and months because it has already been 2 months. But she has made progress and she does continue to make progress every week, even if it's just a little bit of progress.
This is definitely going to be a journey that I will never forget and I know it will be so rewarding in the end. It's just waiting to get to the end that can be so frustrating. But I can't let it frustrate me. I will keep plugging along........... and hope that one day soon Rio will allow me to touch her.
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15 comments:
After my summer long hiatus, I'm trying to get a handle on where everyone is at with their life...and blog!
Congrats on another mustang! Rio sounds like she wants to work with you...time and patience (as you well know). She's very pretty!!
Hope your summer was a good one!
You have a lot of patience!!
OK I have some questions,
Was Chance "wild" caught or raised in a holding facility? I dont remember her being so hard for you to get bonded to.
And Rio?
I was wondering if there is a big difference in the two or not.
Ah yes, I remember those days, and I still have them with my crazy little pony. But when the Mustangs figure it out, they lock on hard.
Did they put a pad on with the bar shoe? I don't remember mine collecting a lot of manure.
Reddunappy~ Chance's mom was in the wild for 11 yrs and came into the holding facility pregnant with Chance, and that is where she was born. Chance and her mom were brought up this way by Tracey Westbury when Chance was approximately 3 months old. I adopted Chance when she was 5 months old and was able to go to the location they were kept to start gentling her. She was super easy, although it did take a couple weeks for her to let me touch her. But she was so young and it is way different when they are that age versus Rio's age.
Rio was born in the wild and lived in the wild for approx. 8 months. The BLM paperwork says Rio was 8 months when she was herded up and lived in the holding facility for a year, so that would have put her at approx. 20 months old when I adopted her, but I think she is older then what they said. I think she is already 2 and could have lived in the wild for a year.
So to answer your question... Yes. I think there is a huge difference. Even though horses born in the holding facility aren't handled, they never lived life in the wild. But I don't have enough experience with Mustangs to say that for sure. I just know what I have learned and experienced with my 2. You could have a 4 year old born and raised in the wild and get adopted and be gentled in a week or you could have a 4 year old born in the holding facility, get adopted and take a year to gentle. They are all individuals. Rio is just having a tough time accepting human touch. But I have no doubt that she will come around. And she is going to be a total sweetheart when she does. I can see it.
Linda~ No pad with the bar shoe. My vet wanted to keep it real simple and not do pads. It is basically the wet (pee) shavings I am cleaning out of her hoof. She is being good and pooping to one side of her stall so she isn't tromping all through it. But since she is peeing all throughout the middle and that is where she stands and it collects in there. I know it's the shoe that is holding it in, because when I clean her other hoof out, which just has a plate on it, it hardly has anything in there.
Boy that sure brings back memories of gentling my mustangs! I miss all the exciting baby steps.
I've had a couple that didn't want to be touched. I just touched them anyway. But that was just my answer, not necessarily the right answer. But it wasn't long before Bella would practically walk through fire for me, so I don't think it hurt our relationship.
The scarier of the two was Anchor, a 7 year old gelding who had been adopted 3 years previously but the owners had been unable to touch him. I started with a rope but the tossing of it was too scary for him, so I tried a stuffed glove on a bamboo stick, which worked well, and then I finally just had to get brave enough to touch his shoulder with my hand, even though he was shaking like a leaf. After that we made lots of progress.
Tonka was a whole different story. Puppydog from the get-go.
All of them had spent at least two years in the wild. I don't think that has much bearing on who they are, myself. I think it's more a personality thing.
I'm glad your mare is dealing well with the stall rest! That's not much fun.
I am sure this is going to have a very happy ending, but waiting and being patient are not my strongest points, I can only imagine how hard that is for you. I think you are doing a terrific job with her. I am glad you are sharing your experience on here.
That is huge!! I nearly cried reading it let alone being there I would have bawled! well done ,and hang in there you will succeed
It sounds like Rio is making strides; some big, some small. I can imagine that it's frustrating that she seemed to regress a bit after that big break through on Monday, but I know she'll come around! I bet once she does, she'll be positively amazing!
Andrea~ Thanks for sharing about your Mustangs and how they were to gentle! It is good to hear other's progress. And thank you for sharing the idea about stuffing a glove and attaching it to a pole! I am going to try that soon. I did some pole work with her for about a week and I felt she just wasn't ready to keep doing it. But I've got to start pole work again and the glove sounds like an awesome idea!
The bamboo pole was essential for Beautiful, too. I used it the Kitty Lauman way--24 x 24 pen. Beautiful was one of those that didn't like to be touched--scared to death--went right into the bars of the pen like they weren't even there. The bamboo arm extension made all the difference.
That is GREAT progress...helps to be retired, right?? Takes lots of time to do what you are doing. Keep up the good work!
I like Andrea's suggestions. I know that when I have started untouched horses, getting actual contact is like the big thing that breaks a lot of the barriers. I was not having any success with getting my hands on Beretta when I brought her out here...and I even had her in a stall. She was just a little whirl-wind whenever I would try to touch her...even though I could go in the stall and clean it without problem. I finally resorted to taking Shooter in the stall with her and grooming him. Beretta would stand on the opposite side and I would 'accidentally' touch her while grooming Shooter. The first few times she jumped and spun away, but after a couple of days...she decided that was too much effort and she started letting me touch her. Once I could do that...she was easy-peasy.
I think horses, especially young horses absorb behaviors by watching how other horses react to stimuli. I use gentle horses to help my youngsters learn and accept things all the time.
Wow, Paint Girl, your efforts with both horses are extraordinary. it is so Interesting to read about Fritzy and what you are doing for her, and Rio, and what you are doing for her. Amazing on both counts! I just can't imagine what that mustang breath and nose must have felt like on your skin. Just beautiful.
I was going to suggest the same thing as brown eyed about working another horse with Rio so she can see how relaxed the other horse is with you. I think that's a lot of what helped Faran was seeing how loveable Chrome is. I forgot to mention on your first post about Rio that Faran did the same thing where he would stand as far away as possible and stretch his neck out toward us. :) It took a while before we could halter Faran without him spinning away, but clicker training made it go faster than it would have without I think. :)
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