New Pictures... Finally!

I finally remembered to take my camera down to the barn and get some new pictures of Piper. Sorry she isn't posed a bit more, but she was trying to enjoy munching on the grass!

Notice the place in the middle of her mane that is sticking straight up? Before I got her, I was told she would reach way into the hay rack to get every last bit of hay (which is totally believable... she eats every piece of her hay) and that in reaching way underneath, she totally wore away that part of her mane. I sure will be happy when it grows back to full length, but she has a long mane so it will be awhile.

Enjoy your weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Fly Spray and Hay

I know that heading sounds like a terrible combination. Piper may not have ever been sprayed with fly spray before we got her. That was another thing she had a strong reaction to ... and fly season is here so we have been working with her so she doesn't think it's so bad. The first technique was to spray pretty far away from her body and only a time or two. Then we thought about using a spray bottle with water in case it was a little less stressful if it didn't smell funny. That helped. The most help of all was today when I fed her handfuls of hay at the time she was getting sprayed. Yes, pleasant associations!

Piper in the Pollen

Although I meant to take the camera to the barn with me one day this week, I didn't manage it yet. I wanted to post a picture of Piper with pollen on her nose. I guess she grazes and pollen has coated the pasture. Why not? It has coated everything else! This week there is so much pollen that we have to empty and refill her tub nearly every time we walk to the barn. (She drinks from an old bathtub. Plenty of uses for old things when you have a horse!) I emptied and refilled the tub when I was there just before dark last evening. Then my husband went down this morning and refilled it and said there was so much pollen that it had built itself into a little "pollen island" in the middle of the tub. He had no idea I had cleaned and refilled it about 12 hours earlier.

We had a thunderstorm roll though around 2 a.m. - loud enough to wake us up, but we dodged the really bad storms yesterday so we need to be happy about that. Some friends came over to meet Piper this morning and I thought we would get rained on any minute, but it didn't happen. Piper was so impressed to have visitors! She really loves people, but she has been "nagging" me about getting some more of her pictures on her blog so I'll do that soon.  The weather totally cleared up after lunch. The sun was out and there was a nice breeze, so I spent more time at the barn. Piper's starting to shed and I'm eager to see what she will look like with a sleek coat.

That first picture I'm posting is from a dogwood tree in front of our house. Looking opposite the dogwood, you see these fantastic azalea bushes. They are at their peak right now! If only all those beautiful flowers could arrive without filling our world with pollen. Of course, I think it's mostly the trees that are the worst pollen offenders. They go from bare to having all their leaves in about a week. Certainly with the rain, the pollen will taper off soon. We can hope!

Meanwhile I've been busy planting my seedlings from my winter sowing season. I love winter sowing and typically sow about 100 containers! I guess I should be thankful the rain came along to water the plants. I've already used the hose to water several times on some of our extra warm and sunny days.

Have a wonderful weekend!

New and Improved Steps

A new horse brings all kinds of different dimensions to birthday gifts. Here are my new and improved steps, actually a mounting block. Can't wait to try it out. Several new training books as gifts also, so Piper will be having class soon!

The Stare Down

I had Piper doing really well with her meal time routine. I think she wanted to see whether she really had to follow the rules or not this evening. I told her to back away from the feed room door and waved my glove at her. She only moved back about 5 inches and was standing there staring at me. I was staring back. Yes, we were like two kids. After a minute I went towards her, pointed to he stall, and said "Go" using a commanding voice. She turned and walked into her stall. I felt great that she was following my commands so well.

Now I have a new worry. We never used to find her in her stall when we walked down to the barn. Both my husband and I have gone down several times now and she has been in her stall. I came back to the house this evening and started thinking that maybe when I tell her to go into her stall she doesn't realize it's okay to come out again after I've put her feed and her hay in there. What do you think? I went from thinking she was so smart to thinking maybe she isn't so smart after all!

Wild Woman Cracks the Whip

Well, perhaps that is a bit of an exaggeration. I was the wild woman and the whip was a hand towel, and I was only so bold and brave because I was carrying my red plastic wiffle ball bat. So what led up to me being so armed and dangerous? Piper, of course!

Piper came to us not really understanding a lot about a person's personal space. She would stand too close and move with not much regard to where a person was and thought nothing of pinning back her ears telling us to stay out of her space or that she didn’t like what we were doing. Most of that has already resolved. However, she was still a bit too eager at mealtime. Recently when I go down to feed her, as I open the door to the feed room, she is right at my back. On Saturday evening, she decided I should hurry along to she pushed her head at me, hitting me at the back of my head.

Okay, that was too dangerous. Sunday morning I showed up armed. I walked into the pasture swinging my white hand towel in her direction and threatening her and she looked at me as if to say, "Who is this crazy woman who showed up in my pasture?" Once in the feed room, I also had the wiffle ball bat and came towards her with that. (For all animal lovers - and we are animal lovers - I was not intending to hit her with any of this.) It took very little time for her to decide to simply walk to her stall and wait there until her food showed up. We are now several feedings later and she is staying out of my space at feeding time and typically once she sees what's going on, she will wait near or in her stall. Don't you love it when they learn something?

Hi-Ho, Piper

It was such a pretty day that my husband and I walked to the barn and worked Piper in the round pen. She did pretty well and I decided to ride for a little while and it's always a good day when my short little legs get me into the saddle! I can't say it was smooth and coordinated. She is still trying to figure out how I ride and vice versa.
The Hi-Ho, Piper title refers to the fact that when she was in the round pen, minus me thankfully, she reared a bit. I've never seen her do that before. Maybe she thought someone from Hollywood would cast her as a replacement for Silver in The Lone Ranger. (Okay, I remember that TV show and used to watch it.) Anyway, I hope from now on she decides to keep all four feet more towards the ground.
Yes, she had a bit of "attitude" today.
I need to bring my camera with me sometime soon and get more pictures. I know the posts without pictures are not so much fun to read. Piper says a talent agent will never find her if I don't post more pictures!