Desert Horses

Welcome to my horse blog, Desert Horses. We live in the desert southwest, near Palm Springs, CA, but board our horses up in our local mountains where it is cooler in the summer. I have 4 horses, all rescues. Here is the ranch up the mountains where the horses stay.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Scout yesterday~What me? Pay attention????


Oh, boy! Do I have my work cut out! I decided to take Scout up to the round pen and do "join up" with her. Er...nope. Not interested. Too many other distractions...the tractor, Gigondas down in the arena, screaming and running...the ranch owners loading and unloading two horses in their new trailer...NO DEAL! I ran her little BUTT around and around and she finally faced me, but then got distracted and moved off, so I sent her around some more. Now I know how Nuzzling Muzzles feels with her irritating neighbors! I did sort of get her to "stay" and praised her, but she'll be my project for the summer! And, Gigondas stepped on my foot when I was walking her back to her corral. She was a perfect lady walking down and back from the arena, but I wasn't paying attention at one point, and she stepped on my foot! I screeched, she jumped, but she stayed right with me! GOOD GIRL! It wasn't her fault! I was distracted. I also somehow managed to mangle one of my fingers and now it is stiff and sore. And, since Scout refuses to walk in a straight line, I've tweaked my back trying to get her to stay with me and walk and now I can barely walk straight! I'm going to have to take some some extra strength Tylenol to get through the day! Oye vei~~so much to do! I'm going to take Scout out EVERY time I visit and work with her! She's very smart, but getting her attention is a real problem..any ideas or suggestions? She's also an alpha mare and you know what THAT is like!

5 comments:

Cactus Jack Splash said...

Have fun working with her. Sounds like she doesn't miss a thing

Dan said...

Hi Cheryl Ann
I've just recently discovered your beautiful blog and look forward to hearing about Quad's progress. I do sympathise with Scout today though, as I have a very low boredom threshold sometimes - maybe tomorrow Scout will be in a better mood..?
Really looking forward to following their progress, and yours, between the back and the foot (not to mention the finger) it must hurt like mad!
best wishes
Dan
-x-

Kate/High Altitude Gardening said...

I recently put my easily distracted rescue mare on a feed called Strategy. This morning's round pen session was amazing. I really think it does what it claims - calming her down and helping her to focus. Just a thought... I don't know who makes it.

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

Yeah, I know people are always saying that all the distractions are training opportunities, but sometimes you just want to work with your horse without interruptions and noise pollution. I hope your back and finger feel better soon. When you do deal with ropes, make sure you don't coil them around your hand, even in loose coils, because if the horse pulls back, it can tighten the coil around your hand and drag you. I have to keep correcting myself on that, because I just grab the rope without paying attention to how I'm holding it.

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Yikes! Ouchies! Sounds like you should go out and buy some Sore No More cream. Amazing stuff!

I'm glad you're finding some time to get out and work with your horses. Just be careful, k?


~Lisa