Cali is a real fuzzy wuzzy right now! You know, I hardly ever get photos of her face anymore because Scout is always chasing her away, but I did get these on Saturday. Thanks to Mikey over at The Horseshoeing Housewife, who posted about her wild horse, Sugarfoot, I'm going to work on her two front feet and even pick one up at a time until she doesn't move off. She has a bad habit of moving away the second she sees someone go for her feet!
Yesterday I stayed in my pajamas all day, took some antibiotics and NyQuil, and took a 3 1/2 hour afternoon nap! Oops! No time to go visit the horses! I was too weak anyway. Today I'm feeling better and I'll toddle off to school to join the rest of the hacking children in my classroom. And, yes, I'm taking Lysol to spray their desks after school! I have to take tomorrow off for my neurologist appointment, then I'm meeting my cousin Valerie for lunch. Hopefully he won't be giving me bad news! I had 10 vials of blood analyzed and a brain MRI to see what is causing my facial numbness and tingling. I may have time after lunch, to drive up to see the horses! We are supposed to get more snow today in our local mountains, so there may be fresh snow on them tomorrow!
6 comments:
They are so cute when they are fuzzy... though I much prefer the sleek summer coat my horse gets!
As for Scout chasing Cali away when you are trying to visit... In my own humble opinion, you shouldn't let him do that. He may be alpha over the "herd," but when you are out there, YOU should be alpha!
This is for practical reasons AS WELL AS for the sake of your safety. i.e., You need to be able to catch Cali without worrying about Scout chasing her off. However, the biggest issue to me is that a respectful horse doesn't chase other horses when a human is present. A fleeing horse is NOT going to pay attention to where she is going, and you are at risk of getting run over.
If I were you, I would just get into the habit of chasing Scout away every time he chases Cali away. Just wave your arms and growl at him and keep him moving away from you. When he's good and doesn't chase her, praise him and give him attention. He'll get the picture.
Just remembered Scout is a girl... Please read all the "he"s as "she." :o)
One more note -- when you are driving a horse away as "punishment," that's natural herd behavior to them. Facing them squarely puts pressure on them and makes them move away (some horses being more sensitive to this than others). If she starts working her lips and tongue, it means she's sorry and she's submitting to you. If you stop moving, stand quietly, and turn away from her about 90 degrees, it means you're not mad at her anymore and she's allowed to approach you and try again.
This is my primary method of disciplining my horse when he's being naughty in the pasture. We've got it down to a science now, and it's very effective at reminding him to use his manners even when he's not wearing a halter and/or lead rope!
Sounds familiar--we've all been sick around here, too--but catching up on books, television and movies. ha ha. Like we needed that!
Nice horse pics, hope you are feeling better.
What a pretty face.
Post a Comment