Mustang Saga

Yesterday was another busy, busy day. I had to rearrange horses in the morning, moving Mack and Tonka out of an area where they'd block the haying machinery and moving Bella and Scout to where they'd be accessible for the chiropractor. I put a halter on both of them just for the heck of it, then took them off. Then I did a bunch of non-horse-related running around.

The chiropractor got here about an hour early so I didn't have Bella ready for him. I am sorry to say I had to bribe her with grain to get a halter on her quickly. I really should be haltering her every day. She's becoming hard to catch and she's worried about the halter again. She needed adjustment in both shoulders, or was it her neck? It was where the neck and shoulder meet. Then she had a spot in her back that was hard to get adjusted, but when it finally went it was very loud. She was still having trouble in her hind end afterward, but he said to give it 48 hours and if it's going to help I'll see it then.


After I got the kids fed I went out and had some nice quiet training time with Bella and Scout. Well, mostly Scout. He was leading really well! I haven't worked with him since that one day Bella stepped on my toe. Must have been about a month ago. He walks really nicely to the side and backs okay but sometimes throws his head up in protest while he does it. Moving forward isn't very smooth, but we get there. Pull, step, release. Pull, step, release. I often have to resort to moving him to the side.
When I went around to his blind side to ask him to drop his head he had trouble with that. He needs to keep contact with me so he knows where I am, and then he inevitably gets nibbly, which isn't okay. I tried to find a happy medium where I'd just keep my hand up by his ear/jaw and he'd keep in his own space. It kind of worked. We'll need to work on that more. He leads pretty well on that side, but there's a little bit of the same problem. He doesn't mind me being there, he's just in my space more on that side.

He's not consistent enough about giving to pressure to be tied yet, but I don't think it'll take long. Of course I'll be careful and not "hard tie" him for a long time. I love the Blocker Tie Ring.

After I let Scout go I brushed Bella's mane. It was kind of a mess. The little guy likes to chew on it. Luckily he doesn't chew it off, just messes it up. Then she got her bridle path cut for he first time. That area up by her ears is always such a mess, some wanting to go in front of her face and some hanging behind her ear. I only cut about an inch and a half off, but may have to do more. I noticed it was still not staying how it should. Here she is all groomed, but you can't see the bridle path. (Yeah, she has a baby belly. I hope we can get that trimmed back up eventually.)

You may be wondering what she's looking at... Her ever-so-helpful little man:

I tried turning them out with Coda. Then I figured if it worked out I could try Soxy out with them. They were cute.

But then Bella got offended and chased Coda off, which made Scout think he was tough, and he chased Coda too. Poor old man.
He still has some get up and go. But that's just not nice. He made a break for safety and I shut him in the little pen while I moved Bella and Scout.
I definitely don't want that baby getting the idea that he's the boss of anyone. He'll have to wait until he doesn't have mama for protection to go in with anyone other than Mack and Tonka.