Posts Tagged ‘horse stalls’
Continuing Progress
After lunch yesterday, Cyndie suggested we try giving the horses another opportunity to wander into the barn for the second day in a row. I think it was great timing and resulted in another good experience for all. Even the surprise leap of Asher suddenly popping his face over the half-door to observe didn’t disturb the horses lingering nearby.
The horses milled about calmly and eventually, each one stepped into a stall to nibble the snack we had placed out for them.
The longer the horses linger in the barn without incident the greater incentive we begin to feel to successfully end the exercise on a pleasant note. Ideally, that means letting them make their way back outside of their own accord. Too bad ideals happen less often than we seek.
Something I’ve witnessed with our horses is a very common behavior of ‘almost’ moving all the way through a gate or door when we invite them to and then pausing for [usually] an extended time to look around and take in all the available scenery, apparently undecided about whether or not they truly want to comply with our desires.
As we began to verbally encourage the horses to move back out into the fresh air while all was calm, Swings decided to turn around and take one more look around. I was able to pull the gates closed so the other three wouldn’t change their minds and go back in as well but that led to an imbalance that Mix and Light were unhappy about.
It took the added persuasion from Cyndie who’d stepped inside the barn to convince Swings to join the rest of the herd again. Maybe the anxious whinnying from the two horses outside would have done the trick but I suspect Swings likes having the others fret sometimes and was just fine taking her merry sweet time.
We are optimistic about the horses being fine going into the stalls for the vet appointment in a little over a week and intend to give them even more free time inside before that day arrives to improve the odds.
In another area of continued progress yesterday, Cyndie had Asher off-leash while moving around the property down to the labyrinth where she intended to do some weeding and he did well with it.
I was very happy to find the maple tree we transplanted to the center of the labyrinth was casting enough of a shadow that Asher was able to take refuge from the hot sunshine by pausing (however briefly) beneath it.
Asher also did his darnedest to help Cyndie with her weed-pulling.
Take that image of dirt digging and multiply it by seven or eight and you can imagine how much Cyndie was appreciating his “help.”
It’s progress, but is it good?
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New Sitters
I’m not quite sure why, but something about this past weekend felt surreal. Part of it was probably a result of the extreme cold accompanied by a dangerous windchill, which limited my time outdoors. Part of it was the unnatural amount of time I spent in front of the television, watching NFL playoff games.
Playoff games can be disorienting, when you have no emotional attachment to the outcome. It means so much to the players and fans on the screen, but in my home, the drama and spectacle were meaningless. Delilah, Cyndie, and Pequenita were oblivious to it all.
Cyndie is preparing to visit her parents in Florida for a couple of weeks. That is a little unnerving for me, contemplating how I will manage both the day-job and the ranch detail without her. She has a plan for that. In an ongoing quest to recruit potential horse-sitters, she recently came upon an interesting combination.
Following up on a couple of leads, one from our vet, and another from a hygienist in our dentist’s office, she learned about two local people. It was a surprise to us that the two happened to be well acquainted with each other. One woman had been a babysitter for the other, years ago. Now they both have horses of their own and do pet sitting jobs regularly. Last Thursday they came to meet our herd and discuss the details of how they could give Delilah attention and feed our horses on mornings that I leave early for work.
What wonderful luck to find two people at once who can split the job and provide full coverage for us, despite their varied individual availability.
There is hope that the bitter cold will release its grip after today. That means we will be able to keep the horses outside at night again, which will save me from the chore of cleaning the stalls every day.
This is a view of the back side of the barn. Legacy’s window is on the left, Dezirea’s window on the right. When they are cold or wet, the horses congregate at the door, wanting to get inside.
The new sitters were surprised we didn’t just open the door and let them go inside on their own. We decided to give it a try. I was down cleaning the waterer when Cyndie let them in.
It was a little chaotic. She had put up a rope to confine them to the side where their stalls are located, but it was just enough change, on top of the fact they were free to find their way, that they seemed to get a little confused.
Dezirea went into her stall, but then came back out again, Legacy was checking out everyone’s stall, and Cayenne was flustered and just stood in the aisle-way. Hunter hustled in behind her and suddenly there was a traffic jam. It sounded kind of funny to me, but it was risky enoCyndie said she was going to walk them in individually again next time.
There isn’t really enough space for our 4 large Arabians to do a free-style entrance into their stalls. We’re going to stick with the routine that has been working well for us thus far.
If the weather warms up like it is expected to, it won’t be an issue for a while now, anyway.
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Relative Something 