Yesterday I took time to give all three horses a lesson. We were going to have a despooking session but my husband was going off to work and despooking didn't seem a good idea alone so we worked on making a figure eight around two barrels. I positioned the barrels about thirty feet apart on opposite sides of the round pen. I took Thousand in first. We weren't all that successful as he and I don't work together often.  He tried hard to get what I was telling him but my cues just aren't as clear as my husband's to him so he was left confused. We worked on a few other things and I put him in the stall that connects to the pen and brought Shunka in. Shunka wanted to make an oval around both barrels or failing that to cut his eight so close as to knock the barrels over but we finally got two nice eights and earned him two peppermints. Finally I brought Pony in. Now Pony will not even lunge. Pony is a in your pocket horse not a leave you and do something horse so I had little hope of getting him to make the figure eight. We tried various things without much success. Then I remembered how well he shadows at your shoulder. So I asked him to do that and away we went. When we came to the barrel I stayed on one side and got him to go around on the other and off we went again with him next to me. All this was done with him on a lead. I then took his halter off and tried it at liberty. He did well but was becoming aggravated with me. We ended the lesson just after he had made the second figure eight completely at liberty but with his ears pinned back. He earned his two peppermints but his attitude was I'll do it but I won't like it.  I brought Thousand back then and he did an eight at liberty. He had watched the other horses and learned. 

Yesterday I rode Shunka for the second time this week. This time my new approach to getting him to move forward worked. I had been standing on the ground next to the stirrup and pressing lightly on the stirrup leather about where my calf would be and saying walk. When he took a step or two I clicked and treated him. We had also practiced backing and yielding on the hind. So yesterday when I stepped off the fence into the saddle I asked L. T. to stand at his shoulder and let me try what we had practiced. It worked. Shunka took a few steps twice. Of course L. T. was also urging him forward but I'm pretty sure the ground work was what turned the tide. I think in a week or two we will be going off around the round pen on our own. A red letter day for Shunka!
I worked L. T.'s Thousand also. I started out in the pasture with basic shadowing and then asked him to circle me. He walked off so I did what L. T. does I tossed the end of my throw rope at his hip. He circled me nicely a time or two but when I tried to turn him the other way he walked off around the pen and into his stall. I could not allow that so I took him into the round pen. That's when the problem really made itself known. He began circling me instantly. I had not even cued him. I just stood there with my arms down and my head down and repeated the command for him to stop. It took the longest time to get a pause then I clicked and treated him and off he would go again. The only time I gave him a cue was when he got too close to me, kicking distance- though he never kicks, then I would lift the rope and flip it again to get him out to the fence. He would gallop then for a round or two and I would go back into my no pressure mode. We worked quite a while that way till I finally got him to stop and back up on cue a couple of times. So I learned that control is what we lack when it comes to lunging. He did not at anytime challenge me. He just trotted or ran  on and on. He is a hot horse, perhaps with a lot of Spanish or Arab in him as when he runs his tail is up in a flag and he can float at a trot seeming to go on tiptoes. So we had a Red Letter day for Thousand too.
Pony was the last to train and we were on day three or four with the surcingle and a saddle blanket on him. After a little nervousness at first he settled down and went through all his ground schooling exercises just great. He'll soon be under saddle. He is so mellow. So it was a Red Letter day for all of us.

It is Wednesday and rainy so I have time to write about Monday and sunshine. L. T. has a job now so he went to work. I stayed here and planted things. In the greenhouse I planted squash in pots and flats. Hubbard, zucchini, white scalloped, and vegetable marrows. Vegetable marrows sound so romantic and mysterious to me as I first read of them in British cozy mysteries like those of Dame Agatha Christie's. Then and for years I had no idea what they were. Now I know. They are very similar to zucchini but lighter green. My first try at raising them did not work out so well. Hopefully this years crop will fare better.
    After I finished in the greenhouse I went into the garden and planted a very long row with two varieties of peas. Sounds like a lot of peas but we love them both to eat out of hand in the garden., we call them nature's candy, and to cook. They are delicious creamed with new potatoes.
    I went on to plant two varieties of onions, celery and radishes.  I then turned to grubbing out the raspberry rows. 
    Our raspberries were up and doing well when we had 4 or 5 freezing nights. Those night killed a lot of the growth but didn't harm the dandelions and other weedy things growing up around them. I dug with my trowel, aggressively attacking everything but the raspberries. I managed to dig out several new leafy starts of berries from among the weeds.
    By now it was getting very warm, 80's, and uncomfortable as the freeze took many of the leaves off the neighboring trees so I stopped and took a reading and snack break.  I finished Jeffery Deaver's Garden of Beasts over lunch. Garden of Beast is a chilling book but I could not put it down till I had read the last page.
    About 1:30 I went out to clean the stalls and work the horses. Only Thousand was happy to have his play time with Mom. In fact after working on his yield on the forehand for some minutes we had him moving smoothly around in a 360 pattern then click and treat. He already yields his hindquarters beautifully. L. T. has him wonderfully calm and willing to do but I'm not L. T. so we have to work some things out. That day he wanted to circle me close up so we walked in circles with me keeping him at arms length with a hand on his withers. After a time he gave it up and stayed back. Later I asked him to line up at the fence for me to get on him. He walked right up to the fence, lined up nice and close and let me sit on him like a chair. I did this twice. Clicking and treating him each time I got off. 
    Shunka was bratty. He didn't want to play with Mom he wanted to play with Pony. I had to send him out for laps around the round pen a couple of times before he would line up properly and let me sit on him. He is a horse with a mind of his own. Though our games of "Who's the Boss" are few now and not at all exciting. The don't involve any kicking, bucking, or anything like the rowdiness they did when he was a colt. We still play the game and I still have to win each time. He did exhibit to me that he has the first step toward learning the Spanish walk down pat. I have only to point to his cannon bone on either right foot and he paws out. Now we must learn step 2.
    I never did get to play with Pony that day. He was very excited about playing with Shunka. They were being rowdy youngsters- shoving each other, rearing, nipping and so on. He didn't want to see me at all. I did not force the issue. A horse must be a little willing to learn to accomplish anything.
    I took them out to the grass then. And snapped his picture of Thousand running toward me when he saw me crawl under the electric fence to get some pictures of all three of our mustangs.  He always comes to make sure I'm ok if I go in the pasture.

Today after I had Shunka out in the yard grazing I took him down the lane toward the next road. We do this often, going a little farther each time. Today we went all the way to the first light pole on the other side of the creek. This meant we had to cross the culvert both directions. There isn't any bridge just the road passes over a big culvert.  Shunka don't like the culvert. He snorts and looks askew at it but we went right over it. We made our turn and came back over the culvert. He wasn't really happy about it but he came across with me. We started up the hill toward home when it happened. He saw a cow - a big black angus cow, or bull.  I swear that horse tried to get in my back pocket. He kept pushing up behind me. I would step to the side and he would be right back behind me. I finally got him next to me and started up the hill again but then he circled around and was looked back down at the cow or bull and the bull was looking up at him and coming toward the fence. Now I know I should have let Shunka stand there and look at the bull till he decided it wasn't going to eat him or whatever he was afraid of wasn't going to happen but to be quite frank I am not really comfortable being int he vicinity of a bull myself. I kept moving him up the hill toward home. When we reached the top and could see our yard Shunka put his head down and prepared to bolt but I am wise to that one so he didn't get away from me.   We went into the yard near the round pen we put up there int he spring and summer and began eating grass. Then suddenly he heard something he took to be the monster bull coming for him and spooked out and around me.  I finally convinced him it was time to go home and got him into the barn area  where I could turn him loose. I laugh now when I think of this half ton of horse thinking a cow is going to eat him but when he was trying to climb in my back pocket it wasn't quite so funny.
Still it was a good day. We got home with no injuries and later in the day I sat on Shunka twice and on Pony a couple of times too. Shunka was ready to walk for me today but I didn't have a saddle on him and wasn't sure I could stay on bareback so I got off and gave him a treat. I do not want to fall off him again. I did twice before and it scares him more than it does me.  Pony is just getting to the riding stage with us though I am pretty sure he must have been ridden when he was at Riverton.   I am teaching both Pony and Thousand to line up at the fence for people to climb on just as I have taught Shunka. Today Shunka went to the fence on his own, lined up and waited for me to get on. I didn't though as we had more ground work to do first. It was nice that he wanted me on his back. He is a sweet Brat.

The Dark:
The killings at Virginia Tech have spawned new controversy regarding gun control. I don't think it's about gun control. I think this kind of thing is the result of not one simple thing like who can buy a gun but of many threads that have become woven into the fabric of our society. I have no answers. I do have a question. Why, when there are many ways to solve any problem, do people choose to kill a ever greater number of people in an effort to solve their particular ill? Do members of our society feel so powerless, so overlooked, so insignificant that they can only see this one way to make their point? In most cases to write their epitaph?

The Light:
This morning I awoke early with a severe gas attack. I felt as though I had swallowed the Goodyear Blimp and needed to burp it out all at once. Not a pretty picture. But later I got this pretty picture out my dining room window. The deer are browsing our flowering quince and in one of our flower beds. The green behind them is a field of wheat.

Yesterday Shunka and I had a breakthrough. I saddled him and put on the sidepull bridle with a long lead rope fashioned to simulate reins and a lead. I did all this in the new round pen out in the yard. Then I had him practice backing off the reins and walking forward when I lifted them. I was standing at the stirrup. First I touched him behind the shoulder, our signal to walk forward and said walk. I quickly decided this would not work well from the saddle so I began to push on the stirrup fender as I said walk. It was slow progress but in the end he walked forward three or four steps. He backs beautifully off the reins but he is a backing machine anyway, so no surprise there. He is still clearly confused by the walk command but is trying very hard to understand and do what Mom wants. I see this as a breakthrough as now I have a plan. I will work on this from the ground and from the saddle, getting on and off as the need arises to reinforce the command.

Pony is now learning to leave the pasture when I ask him. He plants those little hooves and refuses so I have to pull him off balance and get a step or two then I click and give him a treat. He is already a little easier to get moving. Give us a week and he will lead out of the pasture like a lamb.

Easter has come and gone but this year Mother Nature gave us a little surprise. This year we got hard freezes for Easter. Luckily we managed to bring all our seedlings into the dining room(our little greenhouse has not heating system); but we couldn't bring in the Tulips, the peach and plum trees, the rose bushes, the lilacs and all the other plants that had begun to bloom or had bloomed. The English Walnut trees are hung with blackened blooms. Even the maple leaves look limp and sad. When Katrina came along and destroyed New Orleans someone said to me "Mother's  pi---d." I am beginning to believe that this is true. Mother Earth has cradled and fed man and the other creatures for millions of years and how have we repaid her? We had polluted her waters and blown up her mountains. We have cut down her forests and dug up her prairies. Perhaps she has a right to be angry, very angry. We might want to think about giving back to Mother. Without her we would not exist.

On Saturday we went to see the Lippizan Stallions perform.  It was a wonderful experience. I watched the horses and LT watch the riders. He was trying to see the cues they gave the horses. They were very subtle. No matter how you view the show it is well worth the money if you are a horse lover even if you are not into Dressage. I came away determined to teach Shunka at least one or two of their moves. I love the Spanish Walk and the trotting in place. Those I want to teach my Shunka.

The cold has kept training to a minimum this week but our grandson was here to visit on Spring break and he did get to play with Shunka and Pony a little a couple of days. Shunka likes him and will do  almost all his moves at Taz's cue.All but trot with him along side him. Shunka would not "hustle" for Taz, only for me.  Pony showed Taz how much he has learned in the last two weeks. He stayed the arms length away I taught him, lead beautifully and yielded on the fore and on the haunches just fine. Pony came to us with some training but with some bad habits also. He kicked when he felt threatened. He never kicked one of us but he kicked the other mustangs and kicked at us. He has stopped the kicking out at us completely and has stopped a lot of it with the other msutangs. He has also stopped crowding up on us. He is nearly ready to wear a saddle for us. I think he has been saddled before and perhaps even ridden. I hope to saddle him this week then we will know a little more about what he did before he came to us.

April Fools day and the wind was blowing strongly. A recipe for disaster for sure, but not today. Shunka has learned to trust me and I to trust him and today it saved us from a possible disaster.

I had taken him out into our yard to graze on the new grass. I was wearing my contact lenses with sunglasses over them because of the wind. In spite of that I got something in my right eye. I tried rubbing it away. My eye began to tear so I was sure that would wash it away. Instead it began to hurt so bad that my other eye wanted to close right along with the one that was hurting. All I could do was get to the first place I could think of to tie Shunka and run in the house and take them out. I tied him to the English walnut tree behind the house and ran in. I was in the house a couple of minutes. In that two minutes he managed to get one leg wound up in the rope and his head pulled down . He was stuck. When I came out his head was pulled down and his leg was pulled up and the rope was taunt between him and the tree.

I ran up to him as soon as I saw what he had done. I tried to loosen the rope but he had it pulled too tight. Now a lot of horses would have gone nuts and pulled and probably broken their leg but not Shunka. He relaxed as soon as I got to him. I got him to move up but had a bit of trouble getting the rope off his leg because he immediately went back to grazing. He was that sure that Mom would fix everything. I finally got him to move up enough to give me slack enough to make the loop big enough to slip down over his hoof. Then I had to get him to pay attention to me long enough to raise that hoof. He was much more interested in eating grass.  When his leg was free I turned to untie the rope from the tree. He had pulled the knot so tight I couldn't budge it. I went int he greenhouse and got a pair of hand pruners and cut the rope. Next time I think I'll just drop the rope on the ground and go do what I have to. It would be safer. And I have to get a knife I can carry with me at all times. Next time the hand pruners might not be handy.

It was a perfect spring day as far as weather. And the lilacs are blooming.

Mother Earth is awake and rarin to go. Every spring flower is growing rapidly and many are blooming. Flowers that bloom in sequence are blooming all at once. Daffodils, Narcissus, Tulips, Dogwood, and Redbud are all in bloom as well as fruit trees. The blooms are coming so fast that each morning brings new sights. On the down side the blooms seem to be fading extra fast also.   In the greenhouse the cauliflower plants are big enough to set in the garden but the garden is too wet to work enough to set them. The broccoli and basil are nearing transplant size also. Petunia seed I saved from last years blooms have come up thick as hair but the Petunia seed I bought have not done so well. In fact one batch of petunias I started from purchased seed completely died out soon after sprouting.

Cat, the black cat, who came to us a few weeks ago is doing better after a course of  kitty penicillin for his injured tail.  He follows us around "talking" to us and will even allow me to pick him up. He has been thoroughly socialized at some point in his life and knows exactly how to treat his humans.  He and our Grandma cat get on well most of the time.

At the barn training of the horses is going on with its usual ups and downs. Pony the little mustang we got last May has begun to learn what we want of him. He still will walk through anything to snuggle up to your side. We are working hard now to get him to stand away when we ask.

Spring has Pony and Shunka playing more. They shove and wrestle like boys let out of school. Thousand, the boss, of the herd sometimes looks on and sometimes breaks up the scuffles.  Thousand was doing a lot of snorting and nickering to us last night when we went down to feed the boys.  He wanted petted but at the same time was impatient for his grain. He hadn't finished the grain when we left the barn so we left the bucket in the manager. When we were halfway to the house we heard a noise and turned back to see what it was. Thousand had finished his grain and thrown the bucket half way across the barn. He is a character.
Spring is a wonderful time on the farm!

Yesterday, Saint Paddy's Day, the farrier came to trim our mustang's hooves.  He did Thousand's hooves first and a miracle happened right before our eyes. Thousand let him trim his back feet. Thousand has been very touchy about those back feet the whole two years we've had him (Thousand has been worked with day after day over those two years by L.T. and I trying to get him to trust us to lift and hold those back feet, but with only limited success.) Understand though, our farrier is a very good with the horses and very patient with us and our boys. Thousand gave him control of those feet after only one try to pull away.  Of course LT was at  Thousand's head the whole time feeding him treats and saying what a good boy he was being. 

Shunka was not so trusting and wanted to zero in on the farrier's bottom when he bent over to pick up his back feet but all in all he was good too. I had him show one of his tricks when he was done. The farrier told me I  had him trained good.

Pony, who we hoped to at least get to hold his front feet up long enough to get trimmed, also fell under our farrier's spell and got all four feet trimmed. I am so grateful to have found such a good man to work my horses' feet. Not all farriers are like this I am told. My daughter had one for her horse that struck the horse when he moved. Boy that would not go over at all with me or my boys and certainly not with my husband and his boy. But our farrier would never do that so I don't have to worry. 

Another good thing yesterday was our youngest daughter who is really interested in all animals go to see how the horses feet were trimmed. She said she was surprised he didn't check their legs more. I told her that his job is their "fingernails" and nothing else. Another great big RED LETTER DAY!