Please Excuse the Pink

I know, it's Pepto Pink. Gross. Disgusting. And totally not me. But heck, Valentine's Day is only a day or two away, so I figured I'd toss up something remotely in honor of it. Time will tell if I get sick of looking at it before then.


The rain just doesn't seem to want to stop. Up until now, we've had three or four days of rain, then a day or two where it's dry, and the paddocks get just a bit of relief as the water manages to make it's way into the ground.

But not recently. I think it's rained for over a week straight now. My ground is packed down so solid that the water has no where to go, so sits on top where the horses (and Pokey the ram) slosh through it.

Despite this, I've been faithfully going out and working with Firecracker. Not gobs of time, but enough to at least get a halter on her, give her something good to eat, and take it off a couple of hours later. On Sunday she pulled a new one and gave me a hug. I was facing her, trying to get her to drop her nose and let the nose band slip over her muzzle. This is what she hates the most, and to avoid it she swung her jaw up onto my shoulder, pushing her cheek into mine. Our eyes were a mere two inches apart. And she wasn't ready to move, letting me rub on her cheeks and talk softly to her. Complete aversion to having the halter slipped on, of course, but I'll take all the close contact I can get, so let her hug for several minutes. It was nice while it lasted, but we had work to do.

Although I'm still having to push her a bit around the paddock, I'm finding that getting the halter slipped on becomes easier each time. Now if I could only get her to relax when it comes off instead of shooting backwards like a confused bottle rocket.

One thing that's been added to her daily routine this past few days is letting the lead rope drop over her back and bounce about on the off side. From there, I reach underneath and grab it, pulling it up like a cinch. No problems in this area! Front and back cinches shouldn't make this girl flinch as she could care less about anything rubbing or bouncing about under her belly.



Today we stepped it up a notch and pulled out the saddle blanket. It's been over a week since our scary flag bag incident and I've not gone back to her with the rake or anything else since then, letting her instead just relax and do nothing more than trust me with the halter.


The blanket was received just as well as the mustang eating sock. Her eyes bugged out like she'd never seen that blanket hanging three feet from her feeder all these weeks. After a bit of my flinging it about and slapping against my leg as she followed me around the paddock, I decided to have her step in for a closer look. This is where the time spent doing nothing more than 'hugging' has paid off. For comfort, she looked to me, putting her nose in my face, blowing on me, then finally reaching down to see that the blanket indeed was nothing to fear. Trembling just a bit, she let me then reach it out and rub her wet body with it from both sides before allowing it to straddle her back. Amazingly, it never took even one little nibble.

Sponsor me in the Mustang Makeover!
Desperate Horsewife

Please notice that I've got some links up to folks who've sponsored me! Join the Hay Burner's Club and donate $15 towards Sandy's upkeep and I'll send you a 5x7 photo (once the horse is here, of course.) Or buy advertising space in the form of a button.