Sentimental Saturday on Monday. I'm growing up to be one of those people who is often late. I just wasn't feeling very sentimental over the weekend.

Today I was reorganizing some stuff and I came across Tonka's tag that he wore in the BLM corrals. It came off just before he loaded into the trailer to come home to me.
Someday I will make some sort of shadowbox frame to display his stuff in, but for now it stays in a file.

That made me nostalgic, and I had to go back and read my post about Tonka's adoption. Reading it brought tears to my eyes again. I love my horse. If you read it you'll see I write about Tracey and her darling daughter, and about Anchor, but with much less knowledge of them than I have now. They didn't have names then. Well, I'm sure Tracey and Darling did, but I didn't know them yet. :)

Also while transferring my files from a tiny file box to the bigger file cabinet I got today, I found this:

My baby boy's wrist was so tiny! The weird thing is, this comes after an afternoon of watching old videos of my adorable kids, and my sister telling me today that I have to have another kid since she can't. I know that's crazy talk, but they're so wonderful when they're little. I wish they didn't have to grow up. Not that I don't think they're wonderful now, and I'm sure they'll be wonderful as adults but in different ways. But they're so snuggly and sweet and hilarious when they're little. It would be a bad idea to have another, but apparently I need a toddler fix. Della? May I borrow yours? I know, he says, "My is a CHILD," but I think he's jumping the gun a bit.

Lea suggested that we all post something we're thankful for, every day between now and Thanksgiving. Today I am thankful that I have such sweet children.

I hope you all had a wonderful Monday!

Soxy is fine! He didn't even have to sedate her. He did all the things I had done, but I hadn't been able to see a thing. A more experienced set of hands (and an assistant, which I don't have) are absolutely worth the exam fee. I feel much better now. And I enjoyed visiting with my vet, which I haven't done since the spring.

In other news, I was able to trim Anchor's front feet today. First with the help of the rope, then without. He sometimes would regress back to needing the rope to get his foot up, but then he'd hold it up pretty nicely for me. He looks thrilled, doesn't he?

Check out these monster bars and ultra long heels:

I just couldn't nip some of that hoof one-handed, so I tried and was able to put his hoof behind my knee in my modified farrier hold. I don't actually clamp down with both legs like a farrier does, I just gently hold their hoof in the crook of my knee and they have to cooperate by leaving it there. He was a good boy, mostly. Sometimes on his bad side he'd try to scoot backward, which is awkward when I have my knee behind his foot. Had to get out of the way pretty quick, which kind of scared him.

But anyway, he's trimmed.

You can see where I sawed off a bit too much toe at 10:00 there. That was back when I took his toes off. It's an ugly mistake but it'll grow back.

Here's another before shot, but on the other hoof. I didn't get an after on that one. It looks much like the other, but without the too-short toe quarter. This frog had a rotten layer that needed to come off. Smelly.

I didn't have time to practice trailer loading with him, but if I get up early enough I can do that in the morning.

I finally got his feet! It took a couple hours, but with a long cotton rope and a LOT of patience, I eventually was able to pick out Anchor's front feet. One had a folded over broken bar that was poking his frog and I was able to get that off. I may be able to trim him later. I'm also going to work on trailer loading later. He goes home tomorrow afternoon.

Soxy goes to the vet later today. We were going to go this morning but they had an emergency come up. She seems pretty comfortable so our problem isn't really an emergency. I'll update on that later. Cross your fingers for me that she doesn't require an expensive extraction! I really think it's probably not going to be a big deal. It seems like it's got to be something minor since she's able to eat pretty well.

Today I asked him, "Would you care to take a walk with me?"

He wasn't real sure he wanted to."Are we okay? Are you sure this is safe?"

"Mmmm. This is the best time I've had in years."

It looks like he'll be leaving me this week. I didn't meet all my goals with him, but I think he'll get there eventually. He's pretty stubborn about picking up his feet, but if he can get out of the mud I think now he's halter broke enough that you could rope his feet and not have him freak out and get tangled up. By roping his feet I mean this, not some barbaric and rough practice.

Anchor is still making wonderful progress. Check out how well he's leading!

Yeah, it's not perfect, but it's great.

In other rather mundane news, I cleaned off my desk today! Seriously, I barely had room to use the mouse.

I thought I'd take a few pictures to share with you all.

A beautiful blue won by Tonka, a pot my daughter colored for me, inside which are some dried gingko leaves from my grandpa's tree. Lying flat is the one and only shoe I have that was worn by one of my horses, which I pulled immediately upon purchase and never had her shod again. The cool cowgirl postcard book I got at Cowgirl Chocolates.

Cards I made and never sent. I am horrible at sending cards, even Thank You cards. It's one of my bigger sources of guilt in life.Tonka! Tracey made this for me a couple years ago. It actually lives in a baggie because I can't stand the thought of it getting dusty.

Still a mess, but a more organized mess. Horse books, horse magazines, horse shoes, horse videos, papers about horses... I think I might be horse crazy. And I love that hat. I got it here.
My rope is now out where I must look at it and remember that I meant to make things. I'll make halters with the colored rope, maybe a few fiadors with the white, and I think I'll turn the half finished cotton lead into a couple sets of hobbles.

I adore this bumper sticker that Della gave me a long, long time ago. The cards - Christmas cards I never sent. Hoping to do so this year. Maybe I should start now. The pen cup is one of my treasures. It came from the Appaloosa Museum before they were forced to stop using that design.
So, I hope I didn't bore you to death! This is just a very small sample of some of the things I'm sentimental about. It could never post them all, and if I did it might drive you nuts! If I remember, I might start a Sentimental Saturday tradition here at Mustang Saga. That might be fun.

I challenge you to post pictures of some of your tiny treasures on your blog. If you do, leave a comment here so I can come look!

I have been unmotivated and somewhat busy lately, so Anchor has been on the back burner. Today I finally got some time with him. He's leading MUCH better now. I still wouldn't take him out for a walk, but it's possible that if I had to he would stay with me. I even got him started lunging a tiny bit. I'll have to get a video later.

He has a bellyache. I think it's just gas. Could be he's not drinking enough water, but I don't know. I'll keep a close eye on him.

I was able to get right up close to him while he was laying down, but then he decided it was too much of a risk and got up.

Here he is waiting for me to get done getting after Huckleberry, who'd gotten stuck in the round pen (where he isn't supposed to be) because his e-collar wouldn't fit under the rail he was trying to go under.
Cisco's been in the round pen since yesterday. Fencing issue... Took down the power to the barn, Scout figured it out immediately and plowed through the temporary fence keeping the horses separated, so they were all mixed together. Cisco tried to kill Soxy last time he got in with her so he's in time out now. I'll hook up my battery powered charger and move him back sometime before it gets dark. Isnt' he cute?

Is this not the saddest thing you ever saw?
Actually it bothers me more than it bothers him. He's looking at something intently, not sitting dejectedly like you'd think.

Cone-headed dog on the sledding hill.The view out my kitchen window. I love those tamaracks. Or larches. Is there a difference or do both names apply to the same type of tree?

I think I have the autumn sads. I don't like it. It's hard to get out of bed in the morning and hard to keep moving throughout the day. I haven't even wanted anything to do with the horses lately. Have to find some way to change that. I'm thinking vitamin D and maybe one of those light therapy thingies. And kicking myself in the pants to get up and get moving more. I really should quit drinking coffee but I'm not really willing to do that.

This is the calendar I'm ordering for 2010. You should get one too. Two adorable BLM burros are showcased throughout. I've always wanted a burro, but George and Alan have made me realize I can't possibly just have one. And I can't have any right now anyway, so this beautiful calendar of George and Alan will have to do.

In other news, Huckleberry is at the vet recovering from his neutering. Poor pup. I'll go pick him up this afternoon.

Today is a rainy, nasty day, but I did manage to play with the tractor some earlier. I pushed all the leaves that the boys raked yesterday into a huge pile.

Not much horse work done, other than getting after Scout for thinking he's king of the hill. Butthead thinks he can pin his ears at me when I feed. I think I'm going to have to get serious about putting a stop to that. I still haven't started working with him daily.

Anchor is sad and lonely, he kept calling when I was out and about. I'll go play with him here in a minute, but maybe not for long if it's raining too hard. Yesterday I loved on him, worked on his feet (he's not progressing there, just stays the same) and then stuck my fingers in both sides of his mouth. Today I think I'll squirt some applesauce in there with a syringe and see what he thinks.

Blah. It's a very blah day.

Tomorrow I head up to hang out with my sister in the Chemo Suite. One of these days I'd like to write about that. It's quite an experience. So many people, all with different cancers. So many beautiful, bald women, with hats and handkerchiefs, wigs, or even going au natural. Somehow the men seem to lose their hair less. Different chemo I guess. People from all walks of life. Some are hopeful and bright, looking forward to their cure, some are barely hanging in there, not doing so well. My sister said last week, "You don't have to look far to find someone worse off than you. Especially here." It's sobering and sad but also surprisingly somewhat uplifting, seeing the love of a wife for her husband having chemo, or the courage of every person there. Lots of people sit and visit with their neighbors, or you can watch TV with headphones. Some sleep, or just zone out. A common thing to hear there is, "So, what's your cancer?" which leads to stories. Stories that make me wonder at how strong a person can be. Pretty amazing.

Anchor leads! He followed me all the way around his pen and then got some treats and gave a big sigh. I think he was relieved to realize that's all I really wanted.

However, going around the other direction with him wasn't as easy. He'd get stuck and he did bolt a few times, but he only spun and got the rope around his neck once. The other times he gave to my pull on the rope, turned toward me and stopped. I'd call that great progress.

In another exercise he was having trouble moving his hindquarters away and was crowding me with his head/shoulder so I did have to bring my hand up and block his head at one point. He didn't like that but he didn't crowd me like that again and he started paying more attention and moving his hindquarters the way I was asking.

I put more pressure on him today, just expecting him to step up to the plate and do what he was asked rather than being reactive. It worked beautifully. He was a little shaky but he was responding correctly and in the end he did lead around the pen in the way that had been difficult for him. I gave him the last of my treats (which he consistently takes from my hand all the time now!) and gave him a good jaw rub and called it a morning.

Anchor had a very big day today, with many visitors.

Anchor is such a handsome fellow.

Here we have just a touch of gore to brighten your day. My friend's horse Lyric had some stitches that needed to come out.

So I pulled them for him. Looks like the wound is healing very well! He was an angel, didn't even flinch.


Here we have Anchor learning to lead. I love the look on his face.Asking him to back for the first time. It didn't scare him as much as I thought it would.

He took a treat from my hand! I had to kind of make him keep his head in place and hold it on his lips. It took a little bit but eventually he took it. And another, and then a handful.

I stole a kiss too! I've been wanting to kiss his soft nose for a while now.

A classic Mr. Ed moment:

Things didn't go extremely smoothly today. He bolted away and got the rope stuck under his tail twice. He didn't like that. But we did manage to end on a good note, and I found out that he loves Berry Good treats. Unfortunately they're expensive and I'm out. I'll see if he likes peppermint horse treats tomorrow. I have lots of packer pellets and they work well for him, but they don't inspire him like the Berry Good treats did today.

Thank you everyone for your kind thoughts about Coda. It was harder than I expected, but I still believe it was the right thing and that helps.

I'm not sure where my camera is so I'll give you pictures from the other day. I never was able to edit the video. Just picture me on all fours cutting his toes and baby talking, with him watching suspiciously, checking with me every now and then by sniffing at my face.

Where'd my toes go?

Before:

After:

You can see he still needs his heels brought down as soon as we can manage it, and there may have been a little founder going on in that foot, but I think he'll be just fine.

John and I had a wonderful anniversary weekend. What's with all the anniversaries? Linda, Lea, and I all chose a great time of year to get married. Unless you were getting married this year. It's too darn cold this year. Although I suppose you could get married inside.

John bought me an awesome new saddle pad. I hope it's as great as I think it's going to be. It's a Classic Equine ESP contoured pad. I used to scoff at memory foam pads, because I know they compress when heated, but this one has so much felt bottom and woven wool top, I think it will be a good pad. The pattern isn't as pretty as the non-contoured pad they make, but it was so stiff and square I was afraid it would press down on his withers. On this one there's lots of soft padding through the bars and relief through the spine, without bulk at the bottom. Tonka and I tried it out last night but it was COLD and my legs were going to fall off so we didn't ride long.

We rode right in front of Anchor's pen, and boy howdy did he think that was strange! He staaaared at us, and if we got too close he'd do a little spin and then stare some more. Funny. I wonder if his owners ever ride around his pen at home. I made sure to dismount while he was watching, then I petted Tonka a bunch and put away the tack. After that I took Tonka up to where I keep Anchor's treats and fed him a bunch right in front of Anchor. He got interested enough to come up and sniff real deeply, but he wouldn't take a treat from my hand. I've also been making sure to pick up all of Tonka's feet whenever I'm sure Anchor is watching. I don't know if it makes a difference, but I'd like him to see that it doesn't hurt.

Today Anchor made progress toward halter breaking. He's giving to pressure pretty well and was even following me around in one direction. In the other direction he'd cheat. He'd step sideways kinda sorta toward me, but the foot that was stepping would always sneak behind the other foot, so he was kinda sorta stepping back at the same time. He would also occasionally get overwhelmed and spin/bolt/rear away from me. Which would get the rope wrapped around his neck so I'd have to flick it forward over his head, which he didn't like but oh well, he made the decision to put himelf in that situation. After a few times of that he realized it was easier to give to pressure and get his release than it was to bolt. But we're really going to have to work on getting to the point where he realizes bolting isn't going to do him any good. Otherwise once he goes out he'll get loose.

All in all, things are good.

Yesterday was a good horse day. I let Anchor have the day off and I hauled Tonka over to my sister's. It was cold and windy so we never did end up riding, although I did ride for a few minutes when I got home. But I did work with him in the round pen a bit. He had more energy than I've seen in him for a long time. Probably mostly the cold and wind getting to him, but I haven't ridden him in a month or so either. He was offering to lope! He hates to lope. So I took him up on his offer and he threw in a rude buck or two but he did lope nicely around quite a bit. Perhaps we'll be able to get to work on that under saddle soon.

On another excellent note, I got to watch someone else toil away trimming his hooves. It was wonderful! His sole gets so hard and it's a job I really wish I didn't have to do. Now I may not have to, because I think I may have finally found someone who does a good job. I'm excited. A friend of Amy's is working toward certification as a Natural Balance trimmer. She's new enough to it that she still cares about doing a good job, and her trim looks great. I love it. I have a few reservations about Natural Balance, mainly how they do their rocker and dress the hoof wall, but I'm willing to give it a try.

So I think I'm a saddle junkie. My sister bought a Wintec western saddle, and aside from the fact that I'd be embarassed to be seen riding in a synthetic saddle, I really like it! It's way more comfortable than my heavy, expensive, custom saddle. Tonka seemed to like it too. And she's wanting to possibly get rid of it. But three saddles for one horse - ridiculous! Ooh, but hey, Scout will need a saddle next year... I wonder if it would fit him. And then I'd have to get a job to feed my saddle habit.

Oh, and Tonka kicked my puppy yesterday! The dumb puppy insisted on playing behind him, and I was distracted by my sister, so I didn't catch it in time, and next thing I know - yipe yipe yipe yipe yipe! He was fine, although my sister said he did get launched a little ways. Hopefully he learned a lesson. I got after Tonka too, but I'm not sure he really got it.

12 degrees when I got up this morning. Frozen pipes. Dang it, I forgot to close the pumphouse door. Luckily the pipes don't burst when they freeze. We've got a heater on out there now.

"School is a safe and inviting place to learn and take risks." This is something my son's teacher said, and I'd never thought of school that way. I've never really thought of taking risks as good, but duh, kids do that all the time in order to learn what works in the world and what doesn't. I myself could do with taking a few more risks instead of constantly worrying about what might happen.

I thought of the teacher's statement this morning as Anchor bobbed his head up and down, back and forth, unsure, obviously wanting to try something but not sure whether it would be okay. I love that he's thinking about trying things, seeing what works. I love that he's starting to see me as a safe place to try. I especially loved the two times he touched me today, even though he startled and thought something terrible was going to happen after he did it. He sniffed me lots of times today, and he wasn't willing to do that before, other than the one time a while back.

I will get back to Anchor in a minute.

Tonka went back to the vet for a re-check on his eye today. The vet was stumped, because it's not bothering him. So the little bit of cloudiness that's left could be scarring, but it was never a big enough wound that it should scar. She introduced me to a new term. She told me to "benign neglect" it, which apparently means look closely at it twice a week, make sure no blood is pooling inside the eyeball, and leave it alone unless something is wrong.

I also got quotes on euthanasia for Coda today. WSU charges $265 including disposal. I couldn't possibly be the one to take him, they make you sit in the waiting room crying and filling out paperwork and then a foreign vet you barely understand comes and asks you questions. I've done this before, can you tell? John could take him though. As an alternative (and this was the original plan) this vet charges $150ish for a farm call and euthanasia and we'd bury him here, so would have to rent an excavator. I'm still not sure what we're going to do, but it needs to be done soon. I know we were so lucky to have him for so many years, he really surprised us all, but I wish we had more time. He's very unsteady on his feet and easily confused now. And the temperatures are really dropping. :(

Back to the good stuff. Why would you possibly need a hacksaw and a chisel in your horse work? Hoof trimming! I got Anchors toes knocked off on his front feet today. He wasn't ready to pick up his feet, and my nippers couldn't handle this amount of overgrowth anyway, so I bought a new blade for the saw and dug out a couple chisels and a hammer. He did SO FREAKING AWESOME! I would post a video but my computer is stupid and won't let me edit it, so I can't. I might ask John to figure it out for me, because it's so darn cool I just have to share it. It's the worst trim job I've ever done but it was a wonderful accomplishment. I think he feels better now. I also think he foundered on one front hoof at some point.

Overall, it was a wonderful horse day.

A few quick thoughts on Anchor. Linda asked if he'll keep his training when he goes home. I can't really say. I sure hope so. It really depends on his owners. It's going to be a huge time commitment.

Another thought based on what Linda said about having to hurry with Beautiful's training. I think everyone probably agrees that there's a happy medium. It's not good to rush faster than the horse can handle, but I also think it's not good to take your sweet time gentling a mustang. They're going to need their hooves trimmed and other routine care that you just can't give them if you don't get your work done with them. And wouldn't if be awful if they did something stupid and were really hurt and you couldn't get near them to treat them.

Again, it comes down to a huge time commitment. But all horses should be a huge time commitment. They deserve your time. Especially if they're kept in unnatural conditions (such as a stall). If they're in a herd they probably do just fine if you leave them alone, but you'll find out on farrier day or the day of the big ride whether your lack of time with them was detrimental to their training. Bottom line is, all horses need some care, which means they need some time and training. Whether you're able to worm them, trim their feet, have them treated by a vet, etc. is a direct reflection on the amount of effort and time you've put in. Who was it who said, "Show me your horse, and I'll tell you who you are," or something to that effect? Boy, I'd be nervous meeting that person. I think he's long dead though.

I'm not claiming I'm perfect. Tonka gets rude in situations where he's nervous, like at the vet's. He's fidgety most of the time. Scout still gives me some trouble at hoof trimming time. Everything is a work in progress. I'm just saying horse ownership should be seen as a responsibility, not a hobby, not just fun. Although I do think it's fun. :) And I know I'm preaching to the choir. I guess I just felt a little babbly this morning.

I haltered Anchor again last night, gave him a pile of treats, and then took the halter off.

Today was not a walk in the park. He didn't want that thing going around the side of his face and slipping over his nose. Or maybe he just didn't like the body position I have to get in to do that. Kinda threatening, really, with my right arm raised by his neck and my left arm coming at his nose. While we weren't progressing on that we were making a lot of progress on giving to pressure and even some lateral flexion with the halter on his neck.

I decided to give the other side a try, turned the halter inside out and turned him around. It was a no-go, I could tell right away he wasn't ready for that, but it made me realize how far behind he is on that side. So we got caught up a bit there.

So I went back to his left side and started again and ended up rubbing all over his face except his soft tissue on his nose. His chin was touchy too but I did rub there a bit. His lips were not as big an issue. I asked him to give to pressure off his nose bone, which he did beautifully. Also his jaw bone, but understandably his head had a tendency to pop up a bit. Then I reached under and rubbed his jaw and lips on the other side, eventually slipping the halter up that side and over his nose. Once I had it tied on I gave him several treats, then I took it off and put it on 2 more times, with rewards each time.

So what started out rough today (and I admit I was getting frustrated) ended up passably smooth. I hope he remembers and is easier rather than harder next time.

I have so much to tell you today! I shouldn't have decided not to blog yesterday.

So.. Yesterday I roped Anchor. NOT in the classic sense of the word. I slid the rope over his neck and fed the other end through the metal ring on the end. Then I worked it up his neck and we worked a bit on releasing to pressure, but really most of his time was spent learning to cope with the rope. He'd spin away and get it wrapped around his butt or over his back and he didn't like that.


When we were finished I felt like this whole exercise really brought him forward in the trust department. He was scared to death, and then he was fine. It was a good learning experience.

Later in the day my sister was able to come over and visit with him for the first time. She couldn't stand it, she had to try "round penning" him. In her experience that's how you train a horse and she thought maybe it just hadn't been done right. She was very low key, no agression, just assertiveness when needed, and she just asked him to walk, with a few trot transitions, changing direction now and then. By the end of maybe 5-10 minutes of this he was stressed, breathing way harder than he should have been for that amount of exercise and he had checked out. Head turned away, wouldn't look at her, would do as he was told, would allow a touch, but wouldn't interact in any way.

This was a little bit of a setback for me, but not much, and it showed me that I hadn't misjudged when I decided which way to go with this horse. So really it was a good thing.

Someone commented that he's sure setting the pace. He is, and I'm totally fine with that. There are times when the horse needs to be allowed to set the pace, wouldn't you agree? He's been unhandeable for almost 3 1/2 years, I'm not going to feel bad that it's taken me almost a month to get a halter on him while keeping him mostly comfortable with the whole process. And that with over 9 days off because I had family obligations. This particular mustang needs humans even less than any other horse I've met. He could easily have been dubbed untrainable and sent to the canner. But he's coming around. To see his face asking me "What should we do now?" rather than resignedly waiting for what I'm going to do to him is like - well, I can't even tell you. It's beautiful.

This isn't to say I haven't ridiculed myself in my head over the time we're taking. Thinking proudly of how far we've come, looking forward to showing my sister our progress, I then imagined what people who watch Clinton Anderson would think of all this. Why couldn't I just put him in the round pen for a couple hourse and have him broke to ride? Well, I can't and I won't, and I'm not sure anyone could. So that's that. You take the time it takes, and you ignore the jibes, even if they're your own.

Oh wait - did you catch that? I said it's taken me blah blah blah to get a halter on him.

Look at my big brave boy today!
In the picture above he's enjoying his treat reward just after I tied the halter on. Not a flattering picture but it kind of shows my rope setup. The ring allows the rope to slide freely. Don't try this with a rope that's going to bind down on their neck and not come loose easily.

Then my versatile mustangin' rope becomes a very long lead, with just the addition of a snap.

He's doing just awesome.

He gives to pressure beautifully on his timid side, and not quite so well on his brave side. But that's normal. We didn't work long once the halter was on. We'd been at this for a while and I figured this was more than enough progress for one morning.

I told him I'd take it off again if he let me put it on, and I kept my word. We'll go through the whole process again next time. I can't wait to get back out there. But for now I've got a to-do list that's going to take most of the day.

The Many Faces of Anchor

Today we made great face progress, but also something more. It's that intangible thing that he's holding back. Trust, try, interest, working-togetherness, letting-down-of-the-guard, friendship? That thing you can't make them give you. You can't train them to give it to you. You can only keep giving your best until you earn it. All the good intentions in the world won't earn it, but time, patience, and quiet consistency will. I don't know what to call it. It's not really there with him, but there was something like that peeking through today occasionally. I think if I didn't have these human goals he might have an easier time giving it to me, but I'd like to send him home halter broke with his hooves trimmed, so I'm making sacrifices. Hopefully he'll get that "thing" with his owner. Then I wonder, have I got it backward? If I forgot about getting a halter on him, would that "thing" come? Would everything else then fall into place? I don't think so, not that quickly. But there's no guarantee this method will get me there that quickly either. For now I'll keep going, feeling out the situation, and trying to get a little bit of both.