lingers forever as a part of me

Here I am on Sovereign as we headed out on our ride this morning.  It was 18 degrees, but it was sunny and less windy than yesterday.  I don't like cold weather at all, but I will do anything to ride, including wearing several layers and a helmet cover that makes me look like my head is ridiculously huge.  Sweet baystatebrumby has a similar helmet cozy but hers is in a soft pink color.  I bought this one a few years ago.  I thought the red color would be good for hunter safety, but I neglected to think about just how much bigger the red makes your head look!  

Of course, the attractive Carhartt coveralls and rectangular Sorel boots complete my high-end, upper-crust equestrian attire.  

And, here we have another equestrian dressed for success!

(I can barely type because I am laughing so hard - tears are rolling down my face.)  This is my mother and she wasn't riding today, but she did walk along with us on our ride around the farm.  She is absolutely hysterical looking in this get-up and I kept getting the giggles during the entire ride.  

Sovereign was such a great horse today.  He is always a great horse, but today he was exceptional.  I rode him on the buckle around the farm and through the woods.  February 9th, 18 degrees, OTTB, no bit, on the buckle!  I sure am lucky to have him.  He only had one little, tiny pause.  There is a pipeline that crosses under our property and they recently replaced the official marker.  I thought it looked different, but Sovey's reaction told me that it definitely was new.  He stopped and snorted and circled back.  I told mom to walk ahead by it and touch it.  She was talking and couldn't hear anything I was saying because of the crunching snow (and all the headgear she had on) so she just walked right on by the marker.  I thought she might stop and help me get Sovey by it.  No worries, he just followed her and never said another snort about it.

Next we stopped at the apple-barstool snack station.  Two apples greeted the Sovey-boy.  He gobbled them up slowly with his eyes closed.  We think they were frozen, but he didn't mind.  Mom said she was sweating from all the trudging through the snow, but I was freezing.  Riding just doesn't keep you warm at the walk, but it sure is fun.

This photo is out of order.  I took this right at the beginning of the ride.  You can see the mud I couldn't get off Sovey, and the mudball, Pie, in the paddock.  These two found mud yesterday afternoon and were covered in it.  It was super windy and they found the stinkiest mud to roll in.  It doesn't smell like manure, but it is mud where old hay is breaking down.  It has a pond/algae smell and I could barely stand grooming Sovey today.  I am a bloodhound, so it probably isn't that strong, but I thought both horses reeked.

On our way back around we saw the fox at the exact spot where Pie threw a wing-ding the other day!  Sovey was perfect but I bet that little fox was what caused Pie to jump around.  

I am so glad we were able to ride around the farm today of all days.   Today, February 9th, was my grandfather's birthday.  Here is the story of how he found our farm for my mother and her horses in 1957.   

  

Sometimes I flirt with the idea of starting another blog just to outline the wisdom this man passed on to me.  My husband, Brian, never got to meet my grandfather, but his philosophy about life and business and time and money inspire our daily choices.   Another Renaissance Man, my grandfather was an architect, a pilot, a hugely successful businessman (restaurant and motel) a tennis player and a golfer.  He rode horses a little, mainly because he was born and raised on a farm, but he wholeheartedly encouraged his wife and daughter to pursue their passion for horses. Mostly, though, I am in awe of how he figured out how to earn the most valuable commodity ever - TIME. 

My grandfather - 2 years old!

songbirds are singing like they know the score

Today was as perfect as a day could be for me and my sweet horses.  Yesterday was horrid and I was feeling very low, but it all went right today! Here is a photo (cell phone) I took this morning on Pie as we made our way out and around the tennis court.  The birds were singing almost like it was spring!

Yesterday I groomed and grazed each horse, ending with Pie.  Our Sovereign is a smart horse who likes to play tricks when I graze Pie.  I have posted before about his silly antics.  Usually, Pie is good about ignoring Sovereign, but now Sovey has a helper in Foggy.  While I was grazing Pie in the front lawn near the road, Sovey started racing around and whinnying like he was upset.  Foggy thought this was a serious situation and he started racing around too.  This time, Pie believed that there was real danger and stopped grazing and started snorting with his tail high in the air.  Next, he raised his head way up in the air and his heart was beating visibly through his chest.  This is Pie's "pre-freak-out stance" - he is going to blow, you just don't know how it's going to go.  The other two were racing around, screaming in separate pastures.  Pie started rearing and walking on his hind feet toward the barn.  As he got close to Foggy's pasture, Pie became uncontrollable.  He curved his neck tight and round and he kept pawing and snorting at Foggy.  I was hanging on to the lead, but I did not feel confident with his front feet flailing out at me.   I somehow managed to get him back into another pasture.

All of our introductions involving Pie and Foggy so far have elicited a strange "studish" response from Pie which was starting to worry me.  Pie is not a stallion, but I have a history of nutty experiences with stallions that I will have to relay some other time, and I was not thrilled to see Pie acting this way.  As I removed Pie's halter, I was shaken and annoyed.  Since November, my mom has been worried that if we brought Foggy home, he would hurt our boys.  Now that he is here with us, it is apparent that the concern should be quite the other way round.   Working with and around Foggy is like working around a little lamb.  He is tiny and not at all intimidating.  So yesterday afternoon,  as I removed Pie's halter, I have to admit, I was disgusted with his (Pie's) behaviour.  My perception was that he was a big bully, acting all stallion-y and aggressive trying to assert his pecking order in the herd.  I felt that this was normal and part of nature, but I was still sort of mad.  I shut the gate and my mother, who had witnessed the entire circus incident said, "Poor Pie, he is so scared." 

Talk about a light bulb moment for me.  I couldn't see it.  I hadn't seen it, but she was exactly right.  Pie was scared.  And, it hit me all at once, he wasn't just scared about them racing around.  Pie was scared of Foggy!  Pie has been acting weird since Foggy got here because he is afraid of this new horse.  Pie is big and blustery, and I assumed he was acting aggressively so that Foggy understands "who is boss around here."  That is what is so weird about Pie.  He is big and he does tend to throw his weight around about some things, but Sovey makes all the decisions about where they move and graze in the pastures.   Their roles of leadership are blurred, and I knew instantly that Pie hasn't been trying to dominate, he has been frightened. 

I stood at the gate and stared at Pie and all my stupid "stallion" worry just fell away.  I went back into the pasture with him and started brushing him and got him to calm down.  Next, I brought him outside and grazed him quietly.   Then, we retraced our steps back to the barn and forebay and he was perfect no matter what Sovey did to distract him. 

This morning, I got Pie out and  tacked him up.  Sovereign tried his tricks again, but Pie wasn't listening so Sovey stopped.  We rode all around through the frozen snow.  There were bright orange flagmen working on the road, but Pie was not phased.  He was the perfect angel.

After our ride, I introduced Foggy to a new pasture.  I arranged our gates so Foggy shared a gate for the first time with Pie and Sovey.  I did not leave the horses unattended with the shared gate setup because they could put a foot through, but I did allow them some time to get to know each other while I did pasture cleanup.  Pie was wonderful with Foggy.  They all groomed and the brothers made a "Pie sandwich" and everyone was grooming everyone else.  It was adorable and gives a hint that it might all work out in spite of my erroneous worries!

Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home

We have ice here after our storm on Tuesday and Wednesday, but I hate to complain because it is nothing like the snow my blogger friends got in the Midwest.  The horses have managed very well outside, although I did get Pie and Sovey's indoor stalls ready just in case. 

Our training days have been calm and uneventful, which is good.  Before Foggy came, I had started the very initial steps of clicker using targeting with Pie and Sovey.  I used a small, orange cone and they both caught on quickly.  After Foggy got here, I stopped mainly because of the weather causing time constraints, but also because I didn't want to overload the big Pie-Pie's brain.  I am aware that Foggy's arrival is causing some consternation in that quarter.  I use the word "aware" because I observe Pie's furrowed brow as he processes this new addition, but I am not attaching worry (yet) to my thoughts.  Pie has a HUGE heart, but he does bully humans and horses slightly when confused.  After some time, though, he is always open and loving.  It just takes him a little longer and I thought it best to delay clicker for a few days.  Tomorrow, I might try to begin again with all three horses.   

Sovey is having zero trouble with Foggy's presence.  I do not know if Sovereign and Foggy were stabled together at their breeding farm in Ocala.  They were born one year apart (almost to the day) and it is possible they were on the farm at the same time.  Their breeder has passed away, sadly,  but I did talk to his daughter, Sharon, who kindly commented on my blog when Foggy arrived.  I will ask her if they were ever together. 

After my ride on Monday, Sovey accidentally "bumped into" Foggy.  Foggy was out in a pasture near where I was hand-grazing Sovey.  Sovey pulled me over there at a weak moment and what I saw caused me to bust out bawling.  They started exchanging breath, which I expected, but then they started "rolling" their heads all over each other and both had their eyes shut.  I never saw anything like it.  Neither squealed or whinnied or said anything.  Then, they simultaneously put their noses under the other's mane and kept it there and again shut their eyes.  It was very moving.

Today, I walked Foggy all over the driveway and found some grass for him to nibble.  My mother drove up with two carrots and Foggy carefully stuck his head in her car window and daintily tried a carrot.  My carrots in the barn have been frozen (duh) and he hasn't been interested.  This was his first spoiling from Grandma Carrot and I think he has decided that he could get used to this life. 

Foggy is doing wonderfully learning to walk on the lead and hand-graze.  I mentioned that on my last post and I didn't mean to sound like I am some grand horse trainer "teaching" Foggy how to graze and lead.  Of course, these horses know how to do most things when they arrive.  It does take some time, though, to get them to walk at my pace, and graze calmly and stand for grooming and tacking up, etc.  In other words, do these things safely - daily.  Sovereign and Foggy both were raced.  I always say that Sovereign is unflappable because he stood in that starting gate with all its bells and whistles and adrenaline 26 times! Pie never raced at all, which is why he is the greenest of the green about most things.  He obviously was ridden and must have had a few track workouts (I honestly can't picture that no matter how hard I try) but he has put all of that WAY out of his sweet, big head.  Foggy raced 13 times, I believe, so he is somewhere in the middle.  He has the kindness of Pie and the mental quickness of his brother.  I am finding out that this is a winning combination.