A silver lining to a traumatic day

In my previous post, I discussed Siren's rough day. She had some problems with her legs. I at one point placed her in our new round pen so she could walk around a little bit. I did not want to leave her alone in the indoor arena due to the fact that that would make her more nervous so, I put Twister in the indoor on the outside of the round pen. I put him I put him on the outside of the pen and not the inside because he and Siren are not always kind to each other. Typically, Twister is a "bully" to her because he is jealous that I spend so much time with her. He is never extremely mean to her, he just displays cranky faces or will push her around a little bit. However, today, Twister displayed his true colors. He is truly a sweet pony who will always display affection and compassion, especially to those in pain. Rather than ignoring her, or bullying her, Twister stood by Siren's side the entire time they were turned out. He walked the perimeter of the pen following her around and exchanging friendly nuzzles with her. I truly began to tear up at this beautiful sight. It is times like this that remind me why I fell in love with these animals in the first place. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to be able to work with animals so pure of heart. I love both of these wonderful equine friends and could not imagine my life without them!

I only wish that the picture could show the true beauty of the moment.

A very traumatic day!

Today was not a very happy day at our barn! When I arrived, I noticed that her hind legs were swollen. When I got her out of her stall to examine them, I noticed that they were very swollen and had some cuts on them. Her left hind leg was the worst! I was very worried. I cold hosed her legs twice, once scrubbing them with betadine scrub, walked her around, applied a salve called Corona to help the healing process, as well as giving her some bute to help with the pain. Her legs hurt her so bad that she was not keen at all on the idea of me touching them to help. She was not limping at all, but she was clearly hurting. The cold hosing process was a difficult one as she has never been hosed before. Therefore, the new experience along with the pain made her very nervous. I am not sure where she got these cuts, though I believe they were from another horse in the pasture. Siren will have some cold hosing and hand walking in her future! Poor baby girl! 

This picture is of me cold hosing Siren's legs. You can see some of the cuts she acquired. However, it is difficult in the photo to see just how swollen her legs were. I was so scared at seeing her in this condition and seeing her in pain is torture. I will do everything in my power to ensure a speedy recovery for this special girl.

Round and round we go!

I purchased a round pen just the other day, and last night, we set it up. I think that working in a round pen will be good for training purposes with my young horses. Especially for Siren while working on our lunging.  She is very good at walking and trotting and changing directions. We are working on improving our canter. She pulls on me a bit while she is cantering and also has trouble picking up her left lead. I think that by working in this confined area, she will not only not be able to pull on me, but also, due to the fact that she will be in a much more defined circle, she will hopefully have more of the correct bend to pick up her correct lead. I worked Siren for the first time in the round pen and she did very well! At first she was uneasy at the idea of being in this new area so she turned to me for comfort, by following and chasing me! She is so silly and cute! She soon got the idea to stay on the perimeter and lunge. 

Happy 1st Birthday! 4/23/13

Last night, Siren celebrated her 1st birthday! She spent the entire day outside in the sun with all  of her friends nibbling on grass. She enjoyed an extra special long brushing! She also didn't mind wearing her special birthday hat and attending her birthday photo shoot! I can not believe that she is already a year old! It is said that "time flies while having fun". Time sure has flown by in the time that I have had her! I have enjoyed every minute we have spent together and look forward to spending much more time and fun with her! 

Minor setbacks towards progression

I realize that I have not posted for a short while. I have been very busy with a few other things that I have not done much special with Siren or my blog. So I am going to talk about the day that we had the other day. While she has become a very good little filly when it comes to lunging, the other day she was so hyper that she insisted on skipping the walk and trot and going straight into the gallop. From there she wanted to drag me around a little bit and not listen to me! I had to do what I consider a last resort, I put the chain over her nose to gain her attention. She was very respectful of that! Once she calmed down, I removed it and she was much better. I am desperately waiting for school to end so that I can have more time to spend working with her. 

I have been working on her changing directions with her while she is lunging. She has been grasping the idea well! While she is still at a moving pace (Walk or trot. I have not worked on the canter yet) I put my hands together, swapping the lunge line and whip between my hands, and changing my body position over a little bit until I am in front of her shoulder. She is quickly learning to roll back towards me and change directions. This is a nifty little trick! 

Over the creek and through the woods...

Now that the weather is clearing up quite nicely, Siren got to experience the great outdoors! I took her on a trail walk today. Even though I am not able to ride her yet, I still feel that exposure to the trails and woods are going to be good for her. She absolutely loves the water in the creek! She is great with walking over the logs and ditches. The biggest challenge for her was remembering to take her time going down the hills. However, when it came to going up the hills, she was very good! Although she had to deal with me, being much slower than her.

The nice weather is also allowing Siren to explore the pastures with all of her friends! She is loving it! I really love her super sweet personality. She comes to me from out in the pasture when I call her and she follows me around.

Becoming better everyday!

As much as I would love to get on this blog and write more, I simply cannot find enough hours in the day! I have however, gathered enough time to brag about how well Siren is doing! She is learning so quickly! She is side passing without the need for me to apply pressure, but by just listening to my voice and body language. She is side passing over ground poles and cones. She is also getting better at her bow. I am hoping that I can work with her on staying down while bowing for longer durations. Once she gains the muscles to do so and becomes more comfortable with this, I hope that I will be able to use this knowledge to lead to other tricks such as laying down. I have also been refining her current skills. She is getting much better at leading and lunging. While this may not seem like some great accomplishment, it truly is for us. She is growing and learning like crazy.
She has also been getting turned out in the big pastures now that the weather has been much kinder. She is absolutely loving the freedom to run and play with her friends! One of her favorite friends is an orange barn cat named Ginger. Siren finds this kitty fascinating!