Past 3 Weeks

All the horses are doing fine, which is surprising since Thistle and Aliy gave Keeley a lot of trouble while Cadence and Robin spent three weeks out in California visiting family for Christmas.

Archer:

During the three weeks Keeley had her Brother (Tim) and his wife (Ciara), along with their 2 year old daughter (Luna), out to visit the horses a couple of different times. Both Tim and Ciara got to ride Archer in the arena. Luna rode Archer, being lead, around the barn. Luna had so much fun she never wanted to get off. While Cadence and Robin where gone it snowed about 10 inches and Keeley hitched up Archer to a sled and had a fun time being pulled across the snow.

Aliy:

Aliy who is a “boss mare” want-ta-be started causing trouble as soon as Robin left. She wouldn’t let anyone halter her, she reared, and kicked when they did halter her and she even once again got loose from her pen and took everyone on a merry chase. Both Keeley and Aliy were very happy when Robin returned home. When Robin took Aliy out again she was just perfect. Aliy placed her nose in the halter when asked and lead just fine. It has also been well voiced that Robin’s husband also complained about Robin’s dog Toss, a recently retired Wilderness Search and Rescue dog. Moral of the story Robin’s Animals know who their owner is. However, in Aliy’s future training we will be working on “being nice to strangers”.

Thistle:

Thistle actually did better this time when Cadence was gone than she did the last time Cadence was gone for three weeks. Probably because this time she had Archer and Aliy as buddies which is also a problem. Thistle has become extremely bubby bound and it can make even cleaning the pens difficult. Cadence was working on the buddy issues before she left however it will more than likely be a constant problem. Archer isn’t helping since she is the herd protector and takes her job seriously and caters to Thistles calls.

Now:

Here in Colorado there have been several smaller snows on top of the bigger one but there has also been mixed melting as well as a freezing rain. So pretty much everything is coated in an unrelenting ice. Aliy is learning to slow down a bit but not quite enough yet to not be slipping and sliding everywhere. Thistle slips a little bit but she slips more because of being concerned about Archer and Aliy. Archer doesn’t slip at all. She picks her way over the ice to nicely find safer ground.

The downfall to this winter no ridding with all the ice and very little arena work even since it too is frozen in spots and rock solid everywhere else.

Winter just barely started and we are already looking forward to warmer days.