Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Carpe-ing the diem

I got enough stuff done around the house so I felt ok about going for a quick ride. Dixie was extremely skeptical of this plan.



I took Cersei and we went ripping around the flat part of the valley between the two subdivisions - maybe a 3-4 mile ride. Dixie spooked hard and even tossed in a buck (!!) at a flattened snow pole in a ditch, of all things, but after that she was a fine steed. I kept her in her nice slow gaits for most of the way, probably 7-9 mph - a good speed, but not as fast as a flying pace or a speed rack. When we got back near the house I had her walk home down a different road and she was nicely calm yet forward.

The death tinsel is getting closer and closer to her.


Remember how I said I was going to tinsel her up for Halloween, but she utterly freaked out about it? I tied the scary death tinsel to the fence where she eats dinner. The first day it was tied to the top rail starting a good 4' away from her bucket and it caused her great consternation. She snorted and stood at the end of her lead and glared at it for a good five minutes (while I calmly did other chores) before she decided it was ok to stick her nose in her bucket and eat. I left it there for a week and now I've been gradually moving it closer and tying it looser. It was flapping in the wind when we got back and I looped it over the post to give her a little break. :)

I don't know if you can tell, but from her stance, she's ready to leap backwards if it makes a move on her.

She needs a trim again but I'm pretty happy with her feet, especially her central sulcus.


Trimming is on the agenda for tomorrow and I'll get more pics.

Poor mistreated animal. I made her sweat, then I tied her up by mortal danger and didn't even let her roll for minutes and minutes.

Wham.


Straight over.


Itchy face.


So itchy it needed to be ground into the dirt.


She always sits up like a dog then stands up. Weirdo.

13 comments:

  1. Death tinsel. Snork. You silly mare. Tinsel isn't scary.

    Now GROCERY BAGS, those are some scary, I can tell you. Vicious, dangerous, scary-bad.

    Whoo boy. You gotta stay away from grocery bags, that's sure.

    But tinsel is okay.

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  2. Oh....me likes Dixie's rock hard hooves! ~ E.G.

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  3. Looks like great stuff to roll in (if you're a horse)!

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  4. She has great feet.
    Theres an old saying that goes 'you know you've got a special horse if she can roll right over onto her other side'.
    So many horses can't. Weird huh.

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  5. What IS it with mostly white horses and the over-the-back rolling technique? Plus the grind-it-in move? Cash does the exact same thing and always ends up Some Other Color. Maybe it's all part of the plan?

    As for the tinsel, pffft. It's the HORSE EATING DEER that you have to be careful of. Ex-specially the ones with ANTLERS. Those could stab you right through the heart, don't you know.

    Danger everywhere, I tell you. Best to run now and ask questions later. Well, after you eat, of course.

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  6. I see remnants of My Little Pony paint in that thar pony's hair! Hehehe!!!

    At least it was just dirt and not mud...mine prefer to grind themselves into the slimiest, nastiest, stinkiest mud they can find.

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  7. Death Tinsel! That's hysterical- but only because my mare would kill herself trying to get away from it, so I know exactly what it's like.

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  8. She doesn't always roll from one side to the other, but yesterday she went straight over.

    Jenn, I went looking for pictures of muddy Dixie and.. I don't have any. I know I've seen her wallowing like a pig but I guess I didn't take embarrassing pics!

    Terry - I bet that was a self-correcting mistake.

    sma, I kinda treated it like clicker training. If you really want your pound of grain, you can go within 4' of the death tinsel to eat it. Then 3', etc. One day it's going to be wrapped around her bucket.

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  9. haha, I was thinking tinsel torture as well. After all the stuff she braved at the parade I'm surprised she had issue with wearing the tinsel!

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  10. Death tinsel is too funny! I love how she's still giving it the stink eye... one eye on food, one eye on the tinsel. Gotta be careful!!

    My sweet, precious, angel never rolls in the mud. :)

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