Ok, yes, I hid at home til 3 pm today. But I have been planning for weeks to hide at home! Today was Equine Dentist day, and it gives me the heebiejeebies. I can't even bring myself to go to the human dentist unless I have a toothache. Yall know that I am a hands-on owner, but there is just no way I could watch somebody filing my horse's teeth down!
I got there shortly after the dentist and his (her?) Horror Show of Tools left. Dixie passed with flying colors, actually. No wolf teeth (I didn't think she had any...) and no retained caps or anything. Yay!
I decided I'd take it easy on myself today. I wanted to go over "whips are not evil" on the ground with her, but I didn't have any other goals. Today was sunny and 50s, but tomorrow is going to be rainy, so we headed outside. The grass is green and growing wildly, and the sky was robin's egg blue with picture perfect fluffy clouds in it. We had fun.
We went in the paddock that contains the round pen first. I unsnapped the lead and let her go explore - I don't think she's ever been IN that paddock. She did her snorty floating trot for a couple laps, then came back over to me. I put the lead rope back on her and started poking and thumping her with the dressage whip.
You would think getting whacked all over with a dressage whip was part of our daily grooming ritual. She did not react at all. Well, I take that back - when I poked her between her back legs, she kicked at the whip like it was a fly tickling her. But that was it. No reaction at all. Welp, mission accomplished, I suppose.
I let her loose to run around again. The round pen paddock and the outdoor arena both have sand footing, but there's some grass along the fencelines. Dixie settled down and started grazing, so I went over to the gate to the outdoor. I opened it and looked over - she flagged her tail up and floated over to me. We went through the gate and she did a couple laps around the outdoor, then settled down to graze again.
After she'd trimmed all the grass down, I took her back in. It was really nice, to take a break from pushing myself to Ride Better and Educate The Mare and Don't Freak Out. :) We both still have a long way to go, to get to where we're safe and have fun all the time.. but maybe it doesn't have to happen in April '09.
Dixie's feet look lovely. Not as pretty as Gogo's but she's getting there!
Tomorrow I'm going to work on The Evil Whip Under Saddle. The plan right now is to just touch her all over, climb on, touch her slowly and gently and deliberately all over, then get off, let her decompress, and repeat til we're both laid back about it. Before that, I'll get video of the Floaty Arab Imitation. It's pretty cute, yall will like it!
Wow, if you're afraid of the dentist it's a good thing you don't have MY equine dentist coming to your place!
ReplyDeletehttp://haikufarm.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-always-wanted-to-be-dentist-from-time.html#links
Sarah Metcalf DVM not only wants the owners on-hand, she's been known to grab my hand and guide my arm down a horses's gullet to feel the waves, ramps, and hooks on their teeth....
...which might be a little too intense for somebody who refers to the practitioner as carrying a Horror Shop of Tools! >g<
Ah, well. The important thing is that Dixie is good to go for another year.
Well that is good news on the mouth front...NO excuses Dixie girl!
ReplyDeleteThats alright that you can't do the on hand thing....my dad was a dentist, and really good one at that. He never caused me pain so I am trusting now, and like to watch.
Wa is a freak with the whip and the leg and anything she thinks of that pisses her off. I ususally only show her the whip when she balks..that does it for her. I motion it front to back..she movesforward or up in speed, almost everytime.
I took the darned lash off the dressage whip too..if it touches her flank-I am history!
I want to get a large "Indiana Jones" type whip and start to do that on the ground then up in the saddle.
I am with you...my goals are only as timely as my mare can accept them...I get in trouble everytime I move too fast on the goals..something always breaks those plans..so..I am taking it as it comes now!
Glad you had a nice visit with Dixie. :) Don't rush yourself! or Dixie! Everything will come together in due time.
ReplyDeleteI third the whole 'loose goals' thing with my mare. I set a goal but can't put a real time frame to it, because there is just no serious pushing with Gogo. She just has to figure it out on her own time, or otherwise, there is uckiness. A lot of reary, bolty uckiness.
ReplyDeleteYay for pretty feets :D Pretty bare feets can do ANYTHING!
I love those days of no pressure, just paying attention to each other; horse and human. I believe they do really deepen our relationship with our horses.
ReplyDeleteI love these kinds of days, too. Very low key, a nice bonding time with no pressures.
ReplyDeleteMichelle