July 9th, 2008
Patience always pays off. Since Honey arrived she has been horrified, to put it mildly, by the fly
spray bottle. I attribute it to her time on the line, there is allot of washing and spraying at the PMU
farms, so it was understandable why she would hate, hate, hate the sound and feel of fly spray. Well,
today for the first time I was able to spray all of Honey, her legs, belly, back, neck, everything. She
was great, she tolerated it all with grace. I was so proud, to some this may seem like no
accomplishment at all, but to me, someone who works with lots of quirky PMU's and their offspring,
this was a huge milestone and a real testament to Honeys ability to forgive and move on. She clearly
is able to understand the difference between what I was doing and what the PMU rancher was doing.
I am so happy she is able to move past, her past.
October 13, 2008
Life has been so busy these last few months. There has been little time to do updates, let alone get
all my work finished. Honey is well. I have been working with Honey for the last few months on
softening up & bending. She tends to ride like a very green horse, which of course, she is, but she
also rides like a greeny due in part to her build. Shes not really constructed for delicate riding, she
was made for putting her head down and pulling. So we are going slow and teaching her the joys of
lite pressure.
October 30, 2008
Today was a big day for Honey. It was her first attempt at a little trail ride around the property. She
did well, despite the fact that I choose dinner time to work with her. She really has her issues
around food, some horses just do. Shes become so much better over the last year about being food
aggressive with others, and pushy with people when they have food. But when it comes to working
with her at meal time, shes very antsy, just wants to get back to her paddock and can even throw
little tantrums.
I worked her in the round pen for a while, reminding her how to bend, be slightly soft in the bit, and
of course, Whoa. An important skill to know well when your horse out weighs you by about 1800 lbs.
We opened the round pen gate and headed out onto the property. There was lots of activity going
on outside today, the dentist was here floating teeth, boarders were here getting there horses
ready for the first big rain of the season, dinner was being delivered to everyone but Honey.
We walked around the paddocks filled with her friends, she did seem to enjoy this activity, at least it
was new. We headed out to the parking lots where cars were coming and going. This did make her
a little nervous but she held it together. I waited until she relaxed at least a little, then I hoped off,
loosened her saddle and took her to the tack room for a cookie. It was good first venture out into
the busy ranch. Planning on increasing her thresholds over the next few weeks so hopefully I can
get her happily out on the trails someday, very soon.
On a sad note, Honey's best friend Jasper will be moving the middle of next month. He is ready to
graduate kindergarten here at Harvest Moon and move onto the world of dressage. Honey has
been very aware of the impending change, she has been quite down about it. I am hoping to pair
her with one of my other personal horses so she doesn't have to feel this kind of loss again anytime
soon. Although I don't really know who that would be, the only horse I have that might be a match for
her in size and ability to protect herself at dinner time, would be Lotta. And I just get the sense that
these two would not be happy to live together. They are to much alike, to competitive. We'll see.
Patience always pays off. Since Honey arrived she has been horrified, to put it mildly, by the fly
spray bottle. I attribute it to her time on the line, there is allot of washing and spraying at the PMU
farms, so it was understandable why she would hate, hate, hate the sound and feel of fly spray. Well,
today for the first time I was able to spray all of Honey, her legs, belly, back, neck, everything. She
was great, she tolerated it all with grace. I was so proud, to some this may seem like no
accomplishment at all, but to me, someone who works with lots of quirky PMU's and their offspring,
this was a huge milestone and a real testament to Honeys ability to forgive and move on. She clearly
is able to understand the difference between what I was doing and what the PMU rancher was doing.
I am so happy she is able to move past, her past.
October 13, 2008
Life has been so busy these last few months. There has been little time to do updates, let alone get
all my work finished. Honey is well. I have been working with Honey for the last few months on
softening up & bending. She tends to ride like a very green horse, which of course, she is, but she
also rides like a greeny due in part to her build. Shes not really constructed for delicate riding, she
was made for putting her head down and pulling. So we are going slow and teaching her the joys of
lite pressure.
October 30, 2008
Today was a big day for Honey. It was her first attempt at a little trail ride around the property. She
did well, despite the fact that I choose dinner time to work with her. She really has her issues
around food, some horses just do. Shes become so much better over the last year about being food
aggressive with others, and pushy with people when they have food. But when it comes to working
with her at meal time, shes very antsy, just wants to get back to her paddock and can even throw
little tantrums.
I worked her in the round pen for a while, reminding her how to bend, be slightly soft in the bit, and
of course, Whoa. An important skill to know well when your horse out weighs you by about 1800 lbs.
We opened the round pen gate and headed out onto the property. There was lots of activity going
on outside today, the dentist was here floating teeth, boarders were here getting there horses
ready for the first big rain of the season, dinner was being delivered to everyone but Honey.
We walked around the paddocks filled with her friends, she did seem to enjoy this activity, at least it
was new. We headed out to the parking lots where cars were coming and going. This did make her
a little nervous but she held it together. I waited until she relaxed at least a little, then I hoped off,
loosened her saddle and took her to the tack room for a cookie. It was good first venture out into
the busy ranch. Planning on increasing her thresholds over the next few weeks so hopefully I can
get her happily out on the trails someday, very soon.
On a sad note, Honey's best friend Jasper will be moving the middle of next month. He is ready to
graduate kindergarten here at Harvest Moon and move onto the world of dressage. Honey has
been very aware of the impending change, she has been quite down about it. I am hoping to pair
her with one of my other personal horses so she doesn't have to feel this kind of loss again anytime
soon. Although I don't really know who that would be, the only horse I have that might be a match for
her in size and ability to protect herself at dinner time, would be Lotta. And I just get the sense that
these two would not be happy to live together. They are to much alike, to competitive. We'll see.
