A Rough Day Of Play!

 

(video not of today, but still cute! She is so speedy!)

I'm certain that Siren is completely tuckered out from today! Today's weather was absolutely gorgeous, (for the fact that it is the middle of February) being about 40 degrees and sunny. It was also the first day that we were able to turn out in the large pastures at our barn. She loved being free and running and playing with my other two horses along with another horse who's company she enjoys. However, at one point another horse got turned out and began causing trouble. He even chased poor little baby Siren across the field! He was a bully, but we still love him. It is a good thing that Siren is speedy and was able to outrun him! Don't worry, they were quickly separated and she was able to play for the remainder of the day. She was very sleepy when I brought her back to her stall full of hay. 

Playin' in the snow!

I will never forget actually laughing out loud at Siren's eyes doubling in size when she saw her first snow! She walked out of the barn and the ground was covered in a few inches of snow. She raised up her feet as she walked, snorting at the weird, new ground. It was funny to see! She soon realized that the snow is super fun! She now loves to roll in the snow every chance she gets! She also loves to play in it with her best friend, Atticus.

The essay they chose

As I stated, I had to write a 200 word essay to apply to be chosen for this program. This essay had to be about why I would want to be in this program. I love to write, especially about my favorite thing ever, horses! However, this was tough for me because 200 words is not a lot. So I felt as though I was not able to put as much as I would have liked to into it. But, I guess they liked it well enough! I have had a few people ask me about the essay that I wrote so I decided that I would just share with you what it said. Here it is:

There are many reasons as to why the American Quarter Horse is one of the most sought after breeds. People fall in love with their outstanding looks, sweet dispositions, and ability to perform in just about every discipline at any level. People pride themselves in owning one of America’s finest animals. Myself, being one of them.

         When the opportunity came about, to work with such an amazing animal from just a weanling, the thoughts of all the knowledge I would gain from this experience, the thought of how much fun I would have, along with the idea of watching something so precious, an animal whom I would hope to gain an impenetrable bond with, grow up before my eyes, went spiraling through my mind.

         I would absolutely love the opportunity to work with a weanling of my own. I would love to assert my knowledge towards a rewarding project such as this. I feel as though these experiences would help me greatly in life seeing as how I plan on making horses a part of my life forever, very possibly as a career. This is an opportunity I can benefit from greatly. I hope that I am given the opportunity to do so.

A lunge into training...

I would like to point out that this particular experience that I am writing about now is a recent one. Just occurring last night. We have many other exiting moments in the past that I do plan on writing about in time. However, I would like to talk about our excitement from last night.

I have been delaying the attempt to teach Siren to lunge for a while now. I do not want to put too much strain on her mind or body at too young of an age. I feel that she is ready now to slowly begin working. Especially with the poor weather impeding on her accessibility to the pasture on a regular basis, she needs some mind stimulation. With this said, last night I had her in the indoor and decided to try something new. I put the lunge line on her and held it so she was only able to go in a small circle. She, as expected, did not understand what I was asking at first and just stopped and looked at me like I was crazy. I clucked to her and tapped her on the rump with the end of the line. Se got the hint and began to walk around. From me leading her, she has become not only familiar with my voice, but voice commands. She knows walk, trot, and whoa. So as I half expected her to recognize them on the lunge line. I never in my wildest dreams to do so well! She is so intelligent! She, with a few glitches of stopping or tugging on the end of the line, picked up the concept of walk, trot, and canter in just a measly 10-15 minutes! She seemed to enjoy the job. She really enjoyed the scratches and praise she received afterwards! She obviously was not perfect, but I never would expect her to be. I do plan on continuing working with her but not too often, like I said, I do not want to strain her. I would rather her just run and frolic, having fun with her youth. I am so proud of her!