i need a phone call, i need a rain coat.
Oh, the joys of working at a stable.
The crazy weather and being in for two days upset Dante and he colicked. One of the scarier moments of my life, honestly. Nina (one of the barn owners) asked me to walk Dante around because he seemed restless with the day off. I walked him around, he was full of energy at first but calling to *everyone* and just being annoying. After I'd walked him for a little while I put him back, and he seemed quiet enough. Cathy (other barn owner, and my trainer) came to check on him and told me Nina was worried about Dante's tummy, which she hadn't told me. Dante was pawing and so Cathy told me that he needed to be walked - NOW - and asked, "Have you ever been through a colic before? You're going to learn something today." When I took him out and started walking him, he was really really hot so we put an anti-sweat sheet on him and I was walking him. He kept trying to roll while I was holding him for Nina to give him a shot, so she asked Cathy to hold him while she found a vein even as he was moving. (She later told us "That's why you go to college!"). He kept trying to roll, so Nina took him and I walked next to him, screaming at him and clapping and saying "DANTE GET UP!" whenever he'd roll. At one point, we had eight people yelling and clapping at him to get up. He kept trying to roll, but then Doc came and gave him two more shots and Eileen (sort of the trainer-in-training) and I walked him around. Nicole and Erica (two girls, who are 11 and follow me everywhere, they're great) were with us too, and I was being my nosy self, asking a thousand questions about treatments and what the shots did. After he calmed down, Nina spread some extra shavings and Nicole, Erica & I waited in Dante's stall with her, talking about his history and medical science and college and God. He started eating and drinking normally, and Nina just asked us to keep an eye on him.
Now I will interrupt and say that for a little while, I've had my eye on Buster. Y'all probably know this, he's the troublesome mommy-less '97 bay QH. Well, he was looking at us like "Do you have food? Or hugs? I'll take hugs!"
Nina told us that while we were keeping an eye on Dante, we could take Buster out and groom him. She told us to keep in mind though that he hadn't been worked with in a few years, and the last time he had a lot of contact with people he was horribly abused and got "expelled" from School. He's normally partially sane on the ground (a lot of games of 'What's Gonna Eat Buster Now?' when I'm leading in, though. He's deathly afraid of fans) but we decided against cross-tieing him. I asked Erica and Nicole to hold him while I very calmy took off his blanket in the aisle. He was kind of unsure of us, but stood quietly. I held him while the girls groomed him, and oh boy was he loving it! They weren't being rough on him at all, and he had his head down and let me massage his neck. He was rubbing his face on me and licking my hand most of the time. When I realized that he was standing quietly, I asked the girls to hold him while I brushed him a little and worked down to his legs. I didn't want to do more than ask him to pick one foot up. He shifted his weight, but didn't pick it up. While I was doing this, I explained to the girls that, since horses are flight animals, Buster's insticts tell him that if there is danger his only way to safety is to run. If he let me pick up his hoof, it would be the ultimate sign that he trusted me. If he didn't pick up his hoof, that was okay because even though he knows me, he's unsure of the situation and of them. It was getting cold, so I blanketed him (again he stood solidly, but I figure blanketing is a regular thing for him). I was going to put him away, but his licking and nuzzling convinced me to keep him out. Erica and Nicole looked at me and one of them said "Next lesson, teacher!" so I figured, Hey, why not? and Buster stood while I showed them parts of the leg and forehand of the horse. He scared himself by getting a part of the lead rope stuck in his mouth, so after we calmed him down from that we put him back in his stall.
Nina told us we could groom Buster whenever we get a chance. The girls can only take him out though if I'm around, understandably. I'm going to groom him and hand walk him 2-3 times a week until the weather gets nicer, and then maybe I'll groom him in the pasture or walk him outside. He's had time to wind down from the bad Cowboy experience, and if he learns to trust people again I'm hoping he'll make someone a nice little riding horse one day.
And while I know that won't be for a while, and I'm going to college in a year and a half, I still have that every-riders-dream of him being my Flicka/Pie/Flame/Black/Wonder/Sonya, y'know?
So I've picked out his show name: Raining in Baltimore.
The crazy weather and being in for two days upset Dante and he colicked. One of the scarier moments of my life, honestly. Nina (one of the barn owners) asked me to walk Dante around because he seemed restless with the day off. I walked him around, he was full of energy at first but calling to *everyone* and just being annoying. After I'd walked him for a little while I put him back, and he seemed quiet enough. Cathy (other barn owner, and my trainer) came to check on him and told me Nina was worried about Dante's tummy, which she hadn't told me. Dante was pawing and so Cathy told me that he needed to be walked - NOW - and asked, "Have you ever been through a colic before? You're going to learn something today." When I took him out and started walking him, he was really really hot so we put an anti-sweat sheet on him and I was walking him. He kept trying to roll while I was holding him for Nina to give him a shot, so she asked Cathy to hold him while she found a vein even as he was moving. (She later told us "That's why you go to college!"). He kept trying to roll, so Nina took him and I walked next to him, screaming at him and clapping and saying "DANTE GET UP!" whenever he'd roll. At one point, we had eight people yelling and clapping at him to get up. He kept trying to roll, but then Doc came and gave him two more shots and Eileen (sort of the trainer-in-training) and I walked him around. Nicole and Erica (two girls, who are 11 and follow me everywhere, they're great) were with us too, and I was being my nosy self, asking a thousand questions about treatments and what the shots did. After he calmed down, Nina spread some extra shavings and Nicole, Erica & I waited in Dante's stall with her, talking about his history and medical science and college and God. He started eating and drinking normally, and Nina just asked us to keep an eye on him.
Now I will interrupt and say that for a little while, I've had my eye on Buster. Y'all probably know this, he's the troublesome mommy-less '97 bay QH. Well, he was looking at us like "Do you have food? Or hugs? I'll take hugs!"
Nina told us that while we were keeping an eye on Dante, we could take Buster out and groom him. She told us to keep in mind though that he hadn't been worked with in a few years, and the last time he had a lot of contact with people he was horribly abused and got "expelled" from School. He's normally partially sane on the ground (a lot of games of 'What's Gonna Eat Buster Now?' when I'm leading in, though. He's deathly afraid of fans) but we decided against cross-tieing him. I asked Erica and Nicole to hold him while I very calmy took off his blanket in the aisle. He was kind of unsure of us, but stood quietly. I held him while the girls groomed him, and oh boy was he loving it! They weren't being rough on him at all, and he had his head down and let me massage his neck. He was rubbing his face on me and licking my hand most of the time. When I realized that he was standing quietly, I asked the girls to hold him while I brushed him a little and worked down to his legs. I didn't want to do more than ask him to pick one foot up. He shifted his weight, but didn't pick it up. While I was doing this, I explained to the girls that, since horses are flight animals, Buster's insticts tell him that if there is danger his only way to safety is to run. If he let me pick up his hoof, it would be the ultimate sign that he trusted me. If he didn't pick up his hoof, that was okay because even though he knows me, he's unsure of the situation and of them. It was getting cold, so I blanketed him (again he stood solidly, but I figure blanketing is a regular thing for him). I was going to put him away, but his licking and nuzzling convinced me to keep him out. Erica and Nicole looked at me and one of them said "Next lesson, teacher!" so I figured, Hey, why not? and Buster stood while I showed them parts of the leg and forehand of the horse. He scared himself by getting a part of the lead rope stuck in his mouth, so after we calmed him down from that we put him back in his stall.
Nina told us we could groom Buster whenever we get a chance. The girls can only take him out though if I'm around, understandably. I'm going to groom him and hand walk him 2-3 times a week until the weather gets nicer, and then maybe I'll groom him in the pasture or walk him outside. He's had time to wind down from the bad Cowboy experience, and if he learns to trust people again I'm hoping he'll make someone a nice little riding horse one day.
And while I know that won't be for a while, and I'm going to college in a year and a half, I still have that every-riders-dream of him being my Flicka/Pie/Flame/Black/Wonder/Sonya, y'know?
So I've picked out his show name: Raining in Baltimore.