October 9, 2012

The Good & The Bad

After the first day of spending time with Woven Web I've already learned about her. Everything that I've learned has made me like this mare even more, and in return I think she's already starting to like me back. There's a few things I have concerns about but most everything has been good.

The Good
I got to the barn around Noon yesterday afternoon to meet the farrier. They had just finished with one horse so they asked if I wanted to try her right away. Well, she was fidgety so barn owner's daughter put her in the arena and got her to move around a bit to settle down. I went and grabbed Dakota and had her see if his shoes were still good or if they needed to be reset. He was good to go and she plans on resetting him in two weeks. I took over lunging on Woven Web while they got another horse trimmed. First thing to make me like her more... the way she moves. Absolutely love love love her movement. I had the barn owner watch, she was impressed and told me I better do dressage with her and it pleased her when I said that was all I planned on doing with her. 

After about 20 minutes of stretching her legs she was great for the farrier! She picked up all four hooves without issue. She put up a little resistance when her back's were up too long, but the farrier (Jen) never had to put her hoof down and get it back. Jen said her hooves look good, but are typically soft Thoroughbred hooves. I think with a few trims, some sort of conditioner she'll be able to improve her hoof quality.

Once she was trimmed and I had Dakota back outside, I took all of her grooming supplies into her stall and got ready do do a full body grooming and clean up. The farrier was still working on other horses so it was my goal to just stay out of the way. She was nibbling on her hay but as soon as I started with the curry she stopped eating and soaked up all of the attention.

She tolerated being fly sprayed and letting me use my Calm Coat Spray on her. She definitely didn't like it, but she stood for it which is half the battle. 

My friend Erin came out to see her. While I was on the phone with my KY bestie to give her an update on Woven Web, Erin took it upon herself to test out what she'd tolerate. She proceeded to rub the lunge whip all over her, let the lead line wrap all around her legs and even stood there when Erin decided to put her hands on Woven Web's back and jump up and down. I may have to redo training plans at this rate. She's taking everything in stride. Still won't be pushing her, but seems like she has a great mind.

The Bad
She is resisting eating her hay. You can tell she is wondering where her grass is. She definitely doesn't know what treats or grain are. She mouths her grain but doesn't gobble it up and will go sleep even if there's available grain. The only thing I can think of is that she doesn't like the electrolytes I've been putting on in attempt to get her to drink more water.

She's a bit pushy while she is being lead. We already made progress on that yesterday but it will be a few attempts to get it through to her that she can't bully me.

Only thing she didn't like when I was grooming was me messing with her ears or around her poll.

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