Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Oh I SEE

Dixie is in heat again. It's been all of 19 days so of course I should have expected it. :rolleyes:

Yesterday she was tremendously spazzy and squirrelly. I practiced all my equestrian skills - preventing a bolt by hollering "DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE," staying perfectly centered when the horse leaps 4' to the right to evade a jackdemon, and the emergency dismount. The emergency dismount situation actually was my fault; the rest of it wasn't. I was feeling exceptionally uncharitable toward her yesterday and I didn't even want to write about it til I'd had a better day.

Today I realized she was coming into season and I was much more patient with her. It took us two hours to ride like a mile down the road, but by god I was patient. I let her stare at the scary sagebrush as long as she wanted, and I only corrected her for trying to spin. I did not even lose my temper when she started trying to bite my boots. She was very brave, even though she clearly didn't want to be.

I clicked and treated her every time she'd voluntarily sigh and drop her head a bit. It only happened a few times, so I don't think she's figured out why she got treats. I hope it will be a little more intermittent positive reinforcement for self-calming behavior.

After we got back, I got Dixie moved from the far-away quarantine pen to a small pen near the pasture. She can see the horses in the pasture, but she can't kick them or bite them, and vice versa. In a few days she'll go into a pen inside the pasture, where everybody can sniff noses. Hopefully after that, there won't be any fireworks when she goes out with them!

Dixie did not really care about her new digs, because S was taking Summer out when I got back. Poor Summer. She won't even twitch an ear at him unless she's in heat, but today he's her best friend. Stallions have such a rough life.

4 comments:

  1. Mares in heat! Actually, I prefer mares - that probably means I'm crazy! Sounds like you managed some good work with her despite the heat.

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  2. You have my full sympathy! Fiddle is absolutely MISERABLE when she's in season (ahem, she is unhappy and figures that it's a good enough reason to make the entire world unhappy with her).

    I use Mare Magic (raspberry leaf) which is cheap and makes a bit of a difference, but not enough. I had a marble inserted in her last spring, but she cycled right over the top of it. As soon as I've saved up a little money, I'll make the appointment to spay the little bugger--I can't stand the thought of both of us being unhappy for the next 25 years!!!

    Hopefully, Dixie will settle down soon, and you won't have to go to such extremes!

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  3. Oh MARES! Well that always explains everything. At least Dixie doesn't stand there in the crossties trying to hump the walls next to her and pee all over whoever is poking their nose out over their stall gate like Gogo does. Or maybe she does...!

    I second the raspberry leaf, even though it doesn't really make them less stupid per se, but don't buy Mare Magic if you do look into it. 2lbs of Mare Magic (which is like 240 days) costs about $60. 2lbs of regular raspberry leaf costs about $6. No joke! Buy in bulk and WIN!

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  4. PS have you looking into hormone therapy, like Regumate or Depo?

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