A BRIGHT NEW YEAR!

Jan 2, 2011

            Diana and Karla Axness came by to see the Icys. Diana is a very good photographer and took a lot of pictures of them. Wanda Walker came as well and did some of her Bowen work on each of their heads. I knew that Sam had a crooked jaw, but he wasn’t the only one who had his jaw out. Trick also suffered from that as well. She twicked and tweeted on each one and they were very good. Some horses are worried at first when Wanda does her moves on them, but these guys were pretty mild and mostly curious. They aren’t used to strangers and were kind of timid at first, but they warmed up to Diana and Karla pretty well. Once Wanda was done with them, she sat at the end of the arena to watch them cavort around and soon they were all clustered around her wanting to know her better. I’ve seen this happen many times. Horses don’t lie and if you do something to make them feel better, they want you to do it some more. I expect that when Wanda comes to the barn in the future, they will want her to come talk to them. I’m looking forward to seeing the pictures Diana took. I’ll put some up on the blog when I see them.

Jan 5

            Zane, my horse shoer, came to do horses today and he did what he could with the Icys. Bleu was very good and Zane was able to do all of his feet. There was only one little oops on a back foot, but then he was fine. Sam also was able to have both front and back feet done. The other three were only trimmed on their front feet. They were very good boys. Again, they are not used to very many different people and had to accept Zane, but he is a patient man and his confidence helped them just stand and tolerate the process. I will continue to work with their back feet so he can get them eventually. Bleu had the worst feet and so the rest can wait until they are more willing. I am very careful with my ferrier. A good one is hard to find and I don’t want one of my horses to injure him. Zane liked their short backs and short cannon bones. He thought they were pretty powerful little guys.

Jan 6

            I continue to touch the Icys all over. They are not flinching(well, maybe Trick and Shiloh a little still) when I pat them all over. I’ve been working on picking up their tails. Bleu and Sam don’t seem to care. Bleu even picks it up so I can scratch under his tail. Trick and Treat are letting me swish it more and I can pick it up and they don’t clamp it right down and move away. Shiloh is still the problem child. He at least lets me touch it without tucking it way down now, but if I swish it much he moves away.

            I was watching the horde play. They are so aggressive when they rough house. They stand straight up on their hind legs and bang into each other like rams. They run and chase around the arena in a game of tag that splits off into pairs or a threesome and then all take off again. It’s kind of like a bazaar form of soccer. I watch Trick and Treat move around together like they were a pair. The bays still hang out a lot and so do the chestnuts(Bleu and Shiloh). Sam still moves from one to the other pair at his will. He will also stand off by himself. He is not the underdog, in fact, I don’t think there really is a submissive in the group. Maybe that is why they are always fighting it out.

            I put a few of them at a time out in the round pen the other day. The space is too small for all of them at once, but I put Trick, Treat and Sam out together and then Bleu and Shiloh later in the day. They played just a much there, but they seemed to like being out in the open air. They were very easy to catch. This may be the best way to instill in them the desire to let me catch them. I have to lead them out and in one at a time. Tried to lead both Bleu and Shiloh in together and they Shiloh bolted. Luckily it was inside the arena. They are coming along, but I need to keep in mind that they still have hair triggers.