Shouldn't take it personally, but Oh - I do!!

Went to the barn this morning, and there was an incident that left me angry, a little scared and unsettled.

Lately Pippi has been, there is no other word more appropriate sorry, BITCHY!! She has been difficult to work with, pinning her ears and just being a giant grump. She has been on a SmartPak Energy supplement, and I can't help but think that this along with the move is the reason. Her field is small, and so giving her more energy, a small field, and basically no company (since the mini's are in most of the time) I think is making her nutty.

This morning after I gave her the grain, and came back in to water, she actually squeeled and then lifted her hind leg as though to kick at me. I went and got a crop, and came back in. This time I moved her to the side with the pressure of the crop, and she moved with no incident. Kind of wish she would have lifted that leg again, so I could have swatted her butt!

But I was still angry, a little bit scared (they are big animals after all) and quite irritated.

I called Daughter after I got to work, and we have decided to take Pippi off the energy supplement, and see if that helps her overall mood. If it does not, we will add MareMagic or some other supplement to stabilize her bitchy side.

I miss my sweet, gentle, kind Pippi........

Do you see what I see?

How many Horses ?



Love this one



How many Horses are in the painting above?

can you see a horse?

What is this?

I love that Feeling!

I was able to get to the barn yesterday, and I really needed a trip to the barn. For the last few days Daughter has been the caregiver, since I had to travel and was unable to make it, she was on her own.

Up until recently we have boarded Pippi at facilities, and so a lot of her care has been done by others. On October 23rd we moved Pippi to Donna and Kevin's house, in our neighborhood, and we are now taking care of her exclusively ourselves. For some reason I thought it would be a lot of work, but with only one horse it is not that bad. We also care for Pippi's stall mate, Chance (mini Pip), whose stall is the only other one in that building. But even so, we are LOVING it. Two stalls to clean, three water buckets, and two feeders, two meals per day, hay and sweeping the aisle; no big whoop! I think after sitting all day in an office, the motion of moving and working just feels like a break. Of course that is easy to say now, it is not winter yet.

Pippi was happy to see me, I was happy to see her. She had chosen to be outside even in the rain, so I dried her off and spent some time just grooming and rubbing on her. I love the deep exhales she does, and the way her body seems to settle as I touch her. I rubbed a towel all over he body, and gently stroked her face with it. She loves that, and will freeze in place for as long as I am willing to do it. I found the spot behind her ear that makes her eyes close, and she got that dreamy expression. She now picks up her feet with just the slightest touch, and was very patient with the long time it took me to clean out all the packed in mud.

We just fiddled around with this and that for a while. Did some clicker stuff as we waited for Daughter to finish her stall, and just enjoyed ourselves. Pawing the ground, touch the item, etc. Pippi will only do clicker training for a few minutes before she decides she has had enough treats and will no longer be manipulated. She then just stands and looks at me. She will comply with things that makes sense to her, but touch the item goes out the window. "Bored!!" she says, and there is a limit to what we can do in a small aisle.

I am so happy to have Pippi to ourselves like this. If you are wondering about taking your horse "home" - DO IT!! It is less work than you think, and it does strengthen your bond with the horse for sure. Pippi now knows for sure who her humans are, and relies on us for everything. Daughter says it has made training easier as well, even without the fancy outdoor arena and an indoor arena. (of course, it is not really winter yet!)

What I learn..(not really a horse post)

Blogging, both reading others and writing my own, has taught me so much. Much about horses, but also much about myself. My experiences with humans in the horse world,  and my job has given me a hard edge that I am not sure I like. But how does one turn back?

Recently I commented on a blog post written by Kelly at Princess Diva Diaries, and after reading my own comment I was shocked to realize that I can be a bit callous. Kelly was writing about the uncomfortable switch from one trainer to another, and about whether she should respond to the previous trainers seemingly terse response to being dropped. I wrote that Kelly should make sure she stated what she wanted in her email, and that unless she regretted writing something or felt that she left something out, should leave well enough alone. Although I agree with myself, I started thinking about how I have changed.
Years ago, before current job in Social Services, and Before Pippi, my response would have been different. I now seem to have the attitude "oh, well, if they have a problem they should bring it up" whereas I used to think "I should talk to them about it."

What changed? My feelings about people!

Yesterday I spent the day in a small rural court house, waiting to be called as a witness to a Child Abuse and Neglect case. I was subpoenaed by the Prosecuting Attorney due to this Defendant being a former client of mine. All day case after case was brought up; a never ending parade of defendants walked to the gallows and had their cases either heard (1) or moved to December 5th at 9am. (Yes -all those cases at the same time! No wonder I was there all day!)

There is a lot of client drama in my job (14 years in social services), and having Pippi and Boarding her has at times been quite dramatic as well. The fancy facility that we were at this spring was a nightmare; the manager was the sweetest little liar anyone could ever have the pleasure to meet, another boarder was a little shit stirrer, and meanwhile horses were underfed, feed was stolen, water buckets hardly ever filled, stalls left filthy, and horses left out unfed for hours (once in a huge storm). We moved! In the riding club there is never ending drama, and so I pulled out of that.

All of his has changed me, and I no longer feel as good about people as I used to. But I miss my old sweet attitude. I miss thinking well of people, and believing that people are essentially good. I don't think that now. Reading blogs are restoring some of my faith. People trying to do the right thing for their animals; Kelly worrying about her situation with former Trainer, reading about the meticulous care Chrome gets and his clicker training, and Amy falling off yet getting back to riding, warms my heart. And all the other blogs I read as well.
 So thank you so much for that. And if I sometimes sound hard or calloused in my posts, or in my comments, please call me on it. This is something I want to work on. I don't want to lose faith due to seeing a lot of crap, or hearing more likely, and I hope to find ways to turn back to a more positive frame of mind.

"The Gate, Stupid!"

When I arrived to clean the stall and feed Pippi last night, she was standing by the fence in the "run." I opened the car door, and she whinnied and gave me a look that clearly showed her frustration. She was not amused, and I had no idea why.

Walking towards her I said "what is it Pip? why are you standing here?" The run is just dirt for it is there that the weanling mini horses are turned out. The Mini horses tend to be turned out on dirt so that they do not overeat on grass and founder. Pippi goes from her stall into the run, and through an open gate into her little field of grass. Well, she normally does........

Pippi looked at me, let me pet her face for a minute, a scratch by the ear, and then she spoke again seemingly rolling her eyes." Oh stupid humans, they are fairly impossible to train, and they don't understand the simplest commands."

What is it, Pippi?  I tend to think things, imagining that she can sense my intent more that understand my "crude" human language. Like when I ride, I post a picture of what I want us to do in my mind so that my body will do it naturally, rather than tell myself what I should do. Does that make sense? Might be a bit of mumbo jumbo, but it works for me..........

Pippi at this point turned and walked to get the gate, bumping it to show me that it was closed. Not just closed, latched!! She slowly turned her head, and gave a me a "DUH!!!!"

Daughter had forgotten to unlatch and secure the gate after Chance was out yesterday. Pippi spent all day standing beside a lush green buffet, with no access.

No wonder I got a good cursing!!

The Kick heard around the farm

As you may know we moved Pippi to a new farm, where they keep Mini Horses. Among them is a mini we refer to as Mini Pip, as his coloring so resembles Pippis'.

Pippi, Daughter,( Mini Pip) Chance and Turnip



After being across from each other in the barn for over a week, and seeing each other outside for a few days, we decided to put Pippi and Chance together in one field. Pippi has been alone in that field since we moved. Chance was excited to be on grass, and ran right out and started eating. At first Pippi just looked at him, and kept munching away. She then moved closer and ate next to him. He never batted an eye.

Speaking of batting, I sent Daughter out there with a lunge whip just in case. Turned out to be a good idea.

Pippi soon circled Chance, ears pinned, and then ate some more. All of a sudden she turned her butt to him, signaled with ears pinned and waited for a second or two for him to move away, and then kicked. She caught him on the side. It was not a real hard kick, but he is a MINI!!!

I already had enough and yelled for Daughter to remove him IMMEDIATELY!!! Donna and Kevin were quite calm, and stated "oh well, we will try it again in a few days." Oh hell no, I can not have it on my conscience that Chance was mortally injured by my, until yesterday, sweet little mare.

I do think Pippi expected him to give ground, and signal to her that yes indeedy she was the Alpha Mare and that he would move when told. But Chance was so excited to eat, and being a mini, he just did not know the protocol and the rules for polite behavior when encountering a Beeyatch Mare.

Donna thinks we should leave the two alone in side by side fields for a few days, and see what develops. Anybody ever put a mini Gelding and a mean Mare together? Any advice?

(btw, Chance is fine. We gave him lots of carrots, and I checked him over this morning; not even a bruise it seems)

Persian Malaise UPDATE!!

I heard from the Vet, and I should add, I love our small animal vet. (I love our large animal vet too). JingleBelle has an upper respiratory infection. They put her on the nebulizer and it brought on a sneeze attack, and seemed to help. She was given a shot of antibiotics, and they recommend I come get her late this afternoon, as they would like to do another nebulizer treatment.

Since she is more likely to eat, and keep her spirits up, and be more comfortable, they are sending her home. She does not have a fever, but her lymph nodes are swollen.

So glad to hear that my little SmellyBelly is coming home. Isn't amazing how much love such a little creature can foster?

Persian Malaise

JingleBelle is under the weather.

When I came home from work yesterday, I was busy putting away groceries and was unaware that she was not feeling good. Well, that's not entirely right as I have been aware of a runny nose for a few days. She normally gets a bit stuffy when the weather turns cold, but this year we seem to be dealing with a little more than a few days of the sniffles.

She was cuddled up on a chair, with a blanket over her body (love my son's kind nature), and was just not being herself. She was listless, somewhat unresponsive, and disinterested. Her head was barely up, and she felt cold. I grabbed the phone and called the vet, and dropped her off this morning.

She did perk up a bit later on, and I handfed and she drank some water. She spent the night alone in the bathroom; I wanted to see how much she ate and drank, and wanted to monitor her little box. (She ate a bit, drank a bit, and her movement was a bit loose.)

JingleBelle is a true Persian cat, she is seven years old, and is on a strict diet of only Science Diet Hairball formula (due to the shape of the feed since it is the only on her flat face can pick up.) I even feed her the same thing as "treats."

She is spoiled and the Ruler of our household. If she wants a chair, she gets it! If she wants to snuggle at 3am, she gets to! When she tells me that the disgusting Pets (the other two cats), left hair in her water bowl, or used her little box, it gets cleaned out! She will meow and look at me with disdain at those times since it is my fault that we have "animals" in the house. "Animals" are gross in her opinion, and belong outside, and should be kept away from decent creatures like herself. Whenever they get too close, the get the claws, or a quick bite to show them who is boss.

I hope to hear from the vet asap, and will leave work to go take her home as soon as she is ready.