I heard something VERY interesting on the radio the other morning about how the human brain doesn't fully develop until age 25. Until that age, people have problems with impulse control and poor decision-making not because they weren't raised right or whatever, but because their brain simply isn't mature. So I started thinking about that in relationship to riding as I drove along...what if we're all here wondering why we got chicken as we got older, when really all we did was develop better decision-making and that's what keeps us from riding as fearlessly as we did at 21?
Certainly food for thought!
Anyway, the update here is that the VLC pulled his stifle. Probably did it playing in the mud - he does not see the presence of mud as any reason he shouldn't gallop and slide stop and do rollbacks. So he is just taking it easy and I'm hoping he's back to 100% to go to training in November but you all know it'd just be Murphy's Law of Horses that he won't be...
On a better note, the two training projects have made major progress. Both seemed to turn a corner into the land of cooperation quite suddenly. The lazy little paint filly has developed forward motion and barely requires any leg now! I'm so excited. She was always this amazingly smooth and sane ride, but she went through this "no I WON'T" stage which involved a lot of ear pinning and cow-kicking. Thanks to longeing and "ground support," she caught on and is now just a joy to ride. She is heading back to Juliane's in a week to begin her drill team career, and I am getting Lucy back on the same trip - an adorable black Thoroughbred mare with 4 socks and a blaze that was rescued from the Enumclaw sale this summer. Lucy is doing great and it sounds like she's pretty much ready to adopt out, but I do want to work further on her headshyness issues. She appears to be totally convinced somebody is going to ear her down, even though that has certainly not happened since she left the auction yard!
The headshaking POA mare has calmed down considerably. She still plays with her head but she's not rooting and having a fit, and the spooking and propping episodes seem to have been worked through. (Good thing. Propping ponies are hard on the ol' back.). There's another POA show toward the end of this month so I'm hoping we'll get her to that and see how she does. Her owners and I had talked about hanging on to her and finishing her further but I think right now the decision has been made to sell, so if anybody wants a pretty darn fancy medium pony prospect, let me know! (put PONY in the subject line so I don't miss it.) I am going to try to get some video soon. She really is a wonderful mover.
I have my next project all picked out, if Lucy gets adopted and I have room. A Thoroughbred breeder I know has this to-die-for gorgeous 17 hand broodmare for sale. She's only ten so she's plenty young enough to have a riding career, she's a Northern Dancer granddaughter, clean legged and sweet and a whopping $300. So with any luck I will have space for her soon!
I'll also be getting in another POA to work with. This one is very well broke but pushy on the ground and needs finishing under saddle. She is much more classic POA type than the other pony - this one is a big, substantial thing. She is going to be interesting as she has a truly problematic ground issue - being SO aggressive to other horses that she will actually go for one while you're handling her. If we can fix that, she has the potential to be a terrific show pony - but the challenge is, how do you 100% fix that so that a kid will be able to handle her safely? How do you drill through the pony's head that she's just never, ever going to do that ever again? This should be an interesting challenge. She is a rescue and probably for that reason as I'm told she's a bombproof machine to ride. I'm looking forward to her arrival and would also love to hear everybody's bag of tricks for curing aggression toward other horses (both on the ground and under saddle - I don't know if she'll go for another horse mounted yet but I'm assuming she will).
So that's the update here. How is everybody else doing? Horses sound or lame? Behaving or not?
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It's also learned behavior. I learned while going through counseling for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (non Equine related) that our senses LEARN from traumatic experiences and we get "better" at sensing that things are dangerous. For example, a horse accident I had at 17 involved my mare tripping at the canter and the two of us sliding across the arena floor together. No real injuries for either of us, but NOW 12 years later my new horse has a tendency to drop his shoulder and stumble at the lope. I am very nervous about this. I don't know what it LOOKS like, but it FEELS like we're going to slide across the arena floor at any second. That's my brain combining the over 25 smarts with heightened senses I guess.
www.overanxioushorseowner.blogspot.com
My horses are all well **furiously knocking wood** but my friend Kimfer's gelding also has a stifle injury :(
Hey, great news on the prospects! Sounds like POA B*tch #2 is going to need a REALLY strong "come to Jesus". It will be interesting to see what things you come up with to try and what ends up working.
Ourguys are doing great - Mom's mid-20's AQHA mare is acting like a 5 year old, as always, and my "not so lame gelding" is getting less tender everyday. The only time he acts sor at all is on gravel, so we've been avoiding it like the plauge.
We've trailered them both to out local state parks to trail ride the past weekends in a row, and they were both terrific. My gelding is actually "growing a set" and is actually trying his hand at leading the pack!
All this saddle time has also been doing wonders for my arena-less fears, as well as mom's on-going communitaction challenges with her mare.
All in all, its shaping up to be a great end of the summer.
:)
Fugs:
You mention that the POA head shakes and roots. I have a horse with TMJ that roots when he needs an adjustment. Just some food for thought...
She shakes when her forelock's not braided because it touches her ears. Braiding the forelock reduces the behavior about 90%. So I'm pretty sure she's just a diva who doesn't like hair in her ears...PONIES! :-)
Sorry to hear about VLC's stifle, I hope he has an easy recovery. I've been loving my new horse, he is super quiet, which has lead to some problems getting the transition to the canter, but we are slowly improving.
Ellie and Werther Blog
Cathy, would you please blog about Lucy's headshy-ness and the work you two do? Casey is also headshy and we have to work on that.
I've also taken to blogging about Casey and whatever other drivel falls out of my head here:
http://oregonsunshine.wordpress.com
We are having a Halloween decorating contest at the barn where we board. I will put pics up on my site as soon as we get Casey's stall decorated.
Poor VLC! Give him a kiss for me!
It seems like they are getting hurt right in time for the most beautiful riding weather- fall. Go figure! Boomer damaged his paddock fence a few days ago and got himself hung up on a 1/5" bolt. He needed over 20 sutures in his shoulder. Pictures of the suturing process are up on my blog.
sabumi.blogspot.com
Hope all is well soon enough!
Heather
College started so working with the little WB filly has been limited. When we stopped consistant work at the start of september we had cantered about 5 times, never a problem, and always got leads in the corners. We rode a couple days ago, a light session, didn't even lunge first, and she was amazing! She's starting to give to pressure (in the littlest ways) takes a few steps of leg yeild, and WTCs. It's like I rode her the day before. We went on our first trail ride with a friend on a greenish 6/7 year old and her was more spooky than she was! I sure hope shes as quiet next year haha.
heey fugly in case you're interested i've started a blog to chronicle my horses rehab from epsm, equine polysaccharide storage myopathy. he's like...well...he can't have sugar. and it's kind of an interesting story, and an interesting rare disease. i've only made an initial post, but as you're always seeking to expand your horse knowledge (and since you're clearly a blogging fan...) i thought maybe you'd be interested.
My Icehorse (pony, whatever) is just going better and better. And I appreciate him more now that a friend told me about her first young Icelandic, who reared the first time she got on him, and then had problems w/ bucking and rearing for a long time. She told me to appreciate the great little guy that I have!
I also heard again from the lady I gave my rescue Arab to. She is riding him on trails (!), loves him, says he rarely spooks. Since she is reasonably close by, we are going to get together later this year and ride together. I'm glad to hear that he's happy and doing well now w/ his horse buddy.
Ms Foxy moved to my house this weekend finally. She was a bit nervous (understatement of the century) to load and unload, but willing. She was VERY nervous here and has just slowly started to calm down. She has been here since about 10:30 am on Saturday. We have been keeping her in the field fenced "doggie playpen" out back as it is smaller and since it has solid fencing I felt more comfortable leaving her there instead of the big electric fenced yard. She just finally started acting more like herself today. She has hit the hot wire along the top (polytape) quite a few times and it totally traumatized her for a while yesterday. She won't let my dad get anywhere near her. I just checked and she is finally laying down to sleep....for the first time since she got here. Poor thing has just been so nervous. The entire almost 3 years I've had her she has had a stall at night......the first night here she paced and paced waiting to be "brought into the barn". No barn here! The pen she is in now has a small tree but no shelter but the weather has been clear. We are starting to turn her out in the big yard now that she has some respect for the electric fence and is less likely to completely blow when she bumps it (as she did the first couple times).
Poor thing. She is getting better but it was a tramatic move for her apparently. Today she is more normal.....the last two days she has not been herself at all.
She is enjoying the all you can eat grass buffet (she is ignoring the hay I gave her "just in case"! first time ever!) though.....
Pretty sure she is going to either be permanently retired or at least....for a few years. Between the physical and mental problems....moving her here and seeing how badly she adjusted to "change"...kind of reinforces that she just needs to be a companion to a useful horse. Someday....
Lol thats so funny "I heard something VERY interesting on the radio the other morning about how the human brain doesn't fully develop until age 25. Until that age, people have problems with impulse control and poor decision-making not because they weren't raised right or whatever, but because their brain simply isn't mature. So I started thinking about that in relationship to riding as I drove along...what if we're all here wondering why we got chicken as we got older, when really all we did was develop better decision-making and that's what keeps us from riding as fearlessly as we did at 21?
Certainly food for thought!"
Because I've ALWAYS been afraid of heights, scared to climb to the top of our 10 ft apple tree, because I was convinced if I fell out of the tree, I'd surely die! and I am still scared to climb to the top of that tree.. probably cause it's old, and basically a dead tree.. and yet, I'd bridle my horse, put my helmet on, go under a wooden "thresh hold" type fence thing, like the opening to one pasture from another had a top board, and when I ducked, my helmet still hit it, so I couldn't think to stop him, and him being him, just walked on as I got shoved off by the fencing part! but just got right back on! lol. It was my helmets fault! lmao! maybe I should of done the limbo, and laid all the way back with my head laying on his rump, like those "for sale horse pictures"? lol... I wonder what I will be like in 7 years from now, when I am 25.. lol. Probably the same, but a tad smarter.. and hopefully still resilient as ever lmao. It'll probably take me 50 years to get scared of falling off and breaking any of my old bones! but then, think of the technology we might have in a 100 years.. I might be a robot with just my head, lmao.
I gotta admit, every time I ride, I feel like I learn something new.
I definitely learn NOT to ride under that part again! unless I am laying flat, lmao!
The POA#2 sounds an interesting bundle of fun.
With the mare - have you had her hormone levels checked? Sometimes ovarian tumors can cause off-the-scale aggressiveness in mares.
I've had one horse with serious aggression issues about other horses - he came from an auction and basically got hammered by a bunch of horses and then damn near killed by a crazy aggressive rig (that went to the meat man and good riddance) - he was wedged into a corner of the pen and down on the floor and literally being stomped on by the rig before they separated them.
He was bought for meat prices as a rescue - the dealer didn't want him and the meat man was at a loss to get him on the lorry (yes, he was that injured, it was touch and go whether they'd just shoot him)- the rescuer asked the auction yard owner nicely, and they managed to sling and hoist him into an indoor pen...
When he'd recovered physically he was sent for training etc with a view to finding him a home. At that point we discovered that he had apparently decided that other horses = BAD NEWS! and that he wasn't ever going to be beaten up by one again.
We had to do desensitisation therapy - he was so screwy to start with that if you put another horse's rug over his door he'd rip it to shreds. Seriously. Same with bandages / boots / tack. Never touched a person though, no matter how much time they spent with other horses before him.
In his case, it wasn't an aggression issue at all, but fear. Once he got used to his handlers and trusted them that nothing bad was going to happen, he started to be relatively safe. Took years before he was good to turnout with unfamiliar horses though.
The very last time that I was sitting on the back of a horse (one of the Arab ex-broodies from my failed breeding business) and had the thought "you know, this feels like a bad idea", but went ahead and did it anyway, I got summarily dumped on my butt.
So, you can't tell me that those little cautionary internal voices don't know what they're talking about.
My current project is the last unsold young horse that I bred, a 2 year old palomino Andalusian/Arabian cross gelding who is getting ready to pull a cart sometime this fall. He's been in full harness (as opposed to the training surcingle) for three days, now, and yesterday I introduced reins-on-the-bit, instead of reins-on-the-halter.
Oh, the drama! For the first five minutes, anyway. Nobody told him that that piece of metal (coated with delicious maple syrup-- yummy) could actually move in his mouth, and make him, y'know, have to do stuff! I guess he should have read the fine print in the contract.
Still, by about 10 minutes in, I got two fairly smooth figure eights on the driving lines, without all the horrible horse grimaces, and we called it quits. Be interesting to see how bridling goes next time.
I took a little break from riding my appy since the Medal Finals. I've had a cold and got laid off from my job so I'm not only trying to rest, but hunting for a job. Possum has loved the time off and I finally went up to the barn last night after a week absence and saddled him up. It's amazing how fuzzy he's gotten in just a week. I'm dreading the coming winter here in Maine. He was a perfect boy. We went about ouir regular warm-up taking extra time o nthe walking and trotting since it has been a week. We worked on some of our playing changes and jumpes over some very small jumps. My roomie and I tried to go jump in teh field over some cross country jumpos but it was still too wet. We went back to the outdoor and took turns jumping out of the fenced in arena. It was a ton of fun and then I gave Possum a good brushing and let him loose to eat grass while I chatted with friends and then left. DOn't know when this week I'll have a chance to ride or see him again. I have a job interview Wed and other things to get ready after my last week of work. But O have all next week off so I'm looking forward to that.
My roomate is looking into buying a new saddle so me and her and possible the barn owner are taking a trip to Dover Saddlery in NH, which is always fin. Even though I have no money I can still drool.
Hope the VLC heals up soon.
If that aggressive mare is that way because of hormones, I used hilton herbs 'regulate' with huge success on my TB mare. She was NASTY. That stuff worked great. Never had another problem with her going after another horse again. (Yeah she still pinned her ears and stuff, but hey, she kept her personality w/o all the killer instinct).
My gelding is rehabbing from a broken p2 in his right fore. It's been over 2 years now, and he's getting better every day. I took him up in the hills on Sunday and he was amazing. The last time I did that I felt like I needed to dismount and walk him down some of the steeper hills (so I did), but this time, he was sound. It was awesome!
I'm sorry about VLC's stiffle injury. I hope it heals quickly.
Where/when is the POA show? I'd love to go!
My friend had a QH/Morgan cross that was very aggressive to other horses too. Lunging at them, dragging whomever was holding the lead. Attack the horses when she was loose in a pen and you tried to lead a horse in for turnout. She would even pee on the other horses and scream like a stud at them. Nasty Bitch. She was just like her dam.
Trying to control her on the ground didn't seem to work for her. But what did work for this mare was putting her in with a very dominant filly. I was shocked because this filly was much younger than the mare. But this filly kept at this other mare until she finally gave up and is bottom of the totem pole. Not sure if it would work on another horse, but TG it worked for this mare.
My TB mare restart ended up with thrush, possible founder and some nasty separation in her hoof walls. I have 3 horses and they all have it. One is a 2 yr old that shows no sign of founder but has separation too. My summer was daily cleaning of 12 nasty stinky hooves. For the 10 yrs I have lived here we have battled nasty fungusy stuff, but never this bad. My place is clean, they don't stand in poop. But it has kicked my ass this year. Seriously considering selling and moving, grumble, grumble, grumble.
I'm sorry to hear about VLC, big ole galoot!
Dobbs is still getting through his stifle injury. Unfortunately for him,
(1) former owner thought 6 months of stall rest was best for him.
(2)I don't ride enough.
I would LOVE to find him a home that will ride him 3 or 4 times a week - trails riding/pleasure riding because I think his show career is over. He is a very sweet boy with no real bad habits. I just can't get on him consistently enough.
Is there any way to use the Black Minx trick on the POA? You know, where they disguised a hot potato and let her bite it? I don't know how exactly you could do that with a horse blanket or something, but it might be possible and at least then she wouldn't BITE to show aggression.
There, that's my wild idea of the day.
Ah, to be young and stupid again. Probably only survived as well as I have because I didn't really have any opportunities to interact with horses outside of supervised riding lessons before I was in my twenties.
In other news, took my redhead on a cross-pasture ride last weekend and we met our old nemesis, the creek.
He tried to balk and run, I wouldn't let him. No rearing this time, but he did tuck his knees and give the poofiest little hop over a six-inch-wide rivulet. Holy hell, just wrap my fairy horse in pink and call him a queen. No bolting this time either; I think we've grown.
I love POA shows more than the breed itself. I've never experienced any of the drama or cattiness that's par the course with the local show club, and there are actual games.
An update on Cricket because I just have to share with someone or I am going to pop-Not enough "big" news to blog about yet but my little trainer has already riden her - says she was a little nervous about mounting but settled in quickly. Did mostly walking but also did okay with a little trotting. I feel like a nervous Mom with my kids first week at school. Will go out this week and try to get some pictures........
Hey miss a, how are your backing up issues coming along?
(That was you, right? I'll feel stupid if I was wrong.)
Hey,
Food for thought, Mugwump has an amazing blog topic about horses that kick and how to curb that behavior. You might want to read it and see if there is someway to modify it to work for the new pony. I think it was this month or last month she posted it, but it does say kicking in the title.
Poor VLC, hope he heals up soon.
Horses are doing awesome. Took the project mare to a schooling show and she was great, so was McKinna.
She's a little sore for some reason or another. At this point the most likely culprit is hoof-soreness, but we're not sure. Nothing major, but she's more short-strided than I know she could be, so we're going to try to figure out what's going on.
Are you like me, where practically every day you come across a horse and say "Oh, I could do SO MUCH with that horse in a few months" ??
I do it ALL THE TIME. A little paint/TB weanling out at our barn -- owner doesn't know much. Sweetest-natured little guy, looks to be put together quite well. Could easily turn him into a nice horse after he has a few years on a big pasture to grow up, and he's for sale. Alas, not in the cards till we get our own place.
I cannot wait until I have my own property and can take in some of these cases.
My mare was coming along great, we had finally progressed to riding outside of the safe confines of the roundpen ... and now she is off with Thrush. Yuck -- this damn rain is really making my riding season miserable. Will the mud EVER dry up? Or do I just need to wait for it all to freeze?
Here I have these two horses to ride, and it's raining or the ground (wonderful Michigan clay) is too slick...and my mare injured her hind leg and it's all filled (but not lame), so she's getting a little break. My border is going to be converted to barefoot after 9years of wearing shoes on Thurs, so we'll see how he does. I think my mare will be better soon...I hope...it's frustrating, these two horses and can't ride either :0
My mare is coming along nicely, and I really want some time on my border as he can teach me a lot!
Well, patience is this lifetime's lesson for me ;)
As regards being aggressive to other horses when under saddle. If she is truly "a bombproof machine to ride" then she shouldn't be a problem as regards the other horses. One of my horses hates the other one, and used to try and attack him under all circumstances except under saddle. He could could ridden alongside the hated horse with no problems at all. My aggressive horse is now 16. He has mellowed out a lot and settles for nasty expressions and threats. The other horse is still really scared of him but will cheerfully ride out with him. Cheers :-)
Regarding the brain-age development, I also think that because of the bravery and possible irresponsible decisions, Young people should NOT NECESSARILY BE TRAINERS. I've heard so many very young people say they're trainers, or they have been training horses since age 9 or something ridiculous, and I cannot help but say, no, you didn't. You weren't telling a horse how to do things with your body position and cues, or dealing with its bratty behavior. If you did the latter, you have irresponsible parents/trainers. First of all, they straight up do NOT have the muscle and skill to ride effectively at such a young age, let alone the skills needed to make decisions on reprimand and reinforcement. Haha, sorry for the rant...
This must be stifle week -- my lesson mare pulled hers and came up lame in a lesson last week. She is recovering, but slowly, complicated by arthritis. She also had an attack of "cement neck" so stall rest is good for that and the stifle, but bad for the "arthur".
Meanwhile I'm having to use other horses for lessons, and while it is good for them and for my riders, I miss my old faithful teaching partner -- she can read my mind and we are truly a team.
QH project gelding put me on my ass (first time coming off in about 5 years so I was due). Something fell over in the arena -- my first thought was hmm that might spook him, my second thought was "where is he?" as he did the TB/QH fadeaway spin move and literally left me hanging in midair. I didn't even feel him bunch up. He came wandering up all apologetic and quizzical, as if to ask where *I* went, when HE is the one who disappeared -- cracked me up. The boy is quick. Sweet -- absolutely no malice involved, he got startled and reacted -- but quick. Very quick.
Client project colt has had feet corrected and chiro and is ready for real work -- he is super special.
I'm resigned to keeping all my training projects through the winter, no one is buying anything around here, but that's good as I get more time on them to solid them up. Is slow going as full-time job #3 behind making the $$ to buy oats, running this place and caring for the mob scene, and THEN training.
I second the notion that it's more common sense than fear -- but fear is about anticipation of the thousands of potential disasters, and can be a factor in CREATING those very disasters. The antidote I find is in being totally in the moment as much as possible -- therefore available for the kind of real-time connection with the horse that wards off many disasters, and freeing the mind from all the "uh oh, what if's". It's hard to do as it involves shutting off the ego and the internal monologue which I rely on (leg here, bend there, hmmm...). I compromise by keeping the internal monologue focused on the present.
As for miss Attack Pony -- gradually greater challenges with VERY strong but appropriate and well-timed corrections will probably rearrange her thinking -- she's at root probably insecure, and her bomb proof stuff may well be about being shut down. Correcting that may open up other facets of her personality.
It would be interesting as a graduation exercise to do drill team or quadrille work with her with a very experienced and assertive rider -- pay attention to ME, cooperate with THEM. Would be enough approach/withdraw as the other horses got by turns closer and farther away so she'd get a challenge followed by relief.
I'm a 32 year old re-rider that is new to this blog. I'm trying desparately to get back in shape. I started with an OTTB who raced until last year but has a great mind and I also ended up with a 12 year old mare. She was a A level medals jumper (I think that's right I'm still schooling level hunters) who was injured in a trailer accident. The vet cleared her to go back to work so I'm getting her back in shape too. I appreciate these blogs to have a sounding block for questions and people who understand my affliction.
" my first thought was hmm that might spook him, my second thought was "where is he?" as he did the TB/QH fadeaway spin move and literally left me hanging in midair. I didn't even feel him bunch up. He came wandering up all apologetic and quizzical, as if to ask where *I* went,"
This is *exactly* what my 15.3 hand Appendix mare did to me just over 2 weeks ago...what a great description! My husband is still teasing me about it (and is a bit worried)...and keeps reminding me that my 17 hand Dutch Warmblood boarder that I am riding is farther to fall yet - I try to explain that this horse is probably never going to do that, but he still worries!
I have heard about the whole "your brain doesn't fully develop until you're 25" thing, but I have to disagree as I am 16 and definitely understand the consequences of my actions. I tend to be very cautious, and I am definitely aware that I can get hurt doing something like riding horses or walking on an icy path. I guess it's an individual thing, as I know people my age who appear to be "fearless". I'm just not one of them.
My leased pony has been doing well, except the last time I went to see him he was having a very hard time adjusting to his new digs (his owner moved him to a barn with an indoor arena so that two other girls and I can share board and ride all winter). I'm hoping he's been turned out with other horses by now and is helped by their calming influence, and that I can actually ride today.
My sympathies on the VLC's pasture injury. I have a mule that has both bowed a tendon and cracked the coffin bone in one hoof in pasture incidents. Given the mare's nature, I suspect the cracked coffin bone occurred when she tried to kick one of the other mules and hit one of the support posts of the run-in shed instead. But the bowed tendon? Who knows how she did that?
Regarding working with headshy horses...
I took in a homeless, long-neglected mare a couple of years ago (she has since been happily re-homed). She had a huge sarcoid in one ear, one of those stalky cauliflower-looking ones, and was very headshy. First we got rid of the sarcoid, then I used clicker training to teach her to put her head down and let me handle it.
I am a complete failure at using clicker training for more complex tasks, but even in my rather inept hands, it is a miracle tool for stuff like this.
Hi May,
Yep, that was me. I've been using a crop and taptaptapping until it annoys him and he moves forward, it's worked really well! He still backs when we gets confused about what I'm asking when we're trying something new though, but we're working on it. Thanks for asking :)
Mulerider - my 28 year old never went lame once in many years of polo, jumping, etc...but she ALSO bowed a tendon in the field in retirement! Go figure!
The POA show is at Griffinwood Stables - click their events section for more info.
Keep in mind that there are plenty of small women (Hi!) who love to ride ponies. this little mare might not be a kid's mount but would do well for a more experienced rider.
Regarding the aggressive pony...first thing would be a vet check to make sure no hormonal problems are present. Then you'll have to see just HOW aggressive she really is. Assuming she is not just balls out batshit crazy psycho, I would put a muzzle on her and pony the living snot out of her. Let her see that another horse being there is OK and that she is not going to get hurt. Good luck!
Yeah, I'm curious to get her and see just what the extent of this is. She has definitely kicked another horse THROUGH the fence and she has definitely lunged with her teeth at another horse and gotten a human who was in the way.
Riding wise? Apparently no issues. Just have to fix the ground stuff.
My horses are mostly doing well... I have to deworm the big bratty gelding today, and that's always an adventure. I always make sure I have at LEAST an hour to do it, because sometimes it really takes that long.
Mugwump did a blog on horses who were aggressive towards other horses.. might be worth checking out if you end up working with that pony. Can't hurt :)
http://mugwumpchronicles.blogspot.com
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