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Post by pdevlieg on May 22, 2006 14:19:17 GMT -5
Here are some pictures after working with Azalea last week, Friday the 12th. She's so much better behaved - obviously as two 7 year olds were in charge of holding her for the photo shoot! Girl's make up your mind - what am I suppose to do!
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Post by pdevlieg on May 22, 2006 14:30:52 GMT -5
Miss Azalea made quite a stir last week at my friend's house so she came home on Sunday. We'll just say it involved a gate, some hooves and a gelding doing things gelding's aren't suppose to, but she sure was happy! I spent Saturday doing lots of ground work with her and she is getting so much better. We used our new parelli halter and carrot stick (okay that is the real reason I went to the clinic, I like their doo dads and I will rehash that weekend soon too) and boy were those things scary at first. It took quite awhile to work through the issues with those scary things and I have the sunburn to prove it! First, can you believe I had the gall to put her in a halter with a WHITE lead rope! She had never seen such a thing before and let me tell you, it was SCARY! Snorting, running, pawing, leaping away, she was sure that white lead was out to get her. We worked and worked and finally I could touch her with it, rub her all over, flip the rope over her head and back, pull it between her ears (she doesn't like her ears touched so that was huge) wrap it around her hindquarters, legs, etc. Now, she didn't make it to the perfect happy horse with it but I was happy. Then I took this orange stick thing in my hand and she knew I had gone nuts! That things was going to KILL her! We went really slow, back and forwards (I'm sure there was a parelli game we were playing but just don't ask me the name ) and finally she sniffed it. I was so excited as I saw her reach for it - success - breakthrough - umm....maybe not. She touched that thing with her nose and exploded, rearing backwards - twice! Hmm, we needed some more work there. Again, back forward tricking her with rubbing my hand and switching to the stick. At the end I could rub her with it all over (well almost), fling the rope around her, let it sit on her back, walk with it and she accepted it, didn't love it...but accepted it. It was quite an eventful day! We also worked on walking on a loose line, stepping over poles backing from far (the parelli lead really did help with this, it is weighted around the latch - not that I'm trying to sell anything! ). She was such a good girl, little did she know it was in preparation for a scary walk up the trail to a new place with new horses!
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Post by schwung on May 22, 2006 15:44:10 GMT -5
She looks amazing Peri!! There is that beautiful sleek liver chestnut coat from last summer! Good job getting the weight back on her also!
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Post by cardicorgi on May 22, 2006 16:50:36 GMT -5
She looks like a Breck girl in that second photo! [dating myself, I know ] Funny account of your groundwork session - I'm cracking up at her freaking out at the white lead, in particular! She looks very interested and patient with your girls! Nice job! and thanks for the pictures..
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Post by horsekrazi on May 22, 2006 18:58:43 GMT -5
Wowza she looks awesome!
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Post by clearlybluebreeze on May 22, 2006 21:06:03 GMT -5
Azalea looks great! I am interested to hear about the Parelli Clinic...my daughter would have loved to have gone! Did you by chance get any of the videos that have the seven games? I have heard really good things about them - but have never tried it. What was your overall impression of the clinic???
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Post by gypsygirl on May 22, 2006 22:05:50 GMT -5
Azalea looks fantastic. You have done a good job with her Peri Your girls are so cute and it looks like Azalea likes them too. Summer is almost here, have fun with this little gem!
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Post by safehorses on May 23, 2006 14:48:46 GMT -5
Azalea is model pretty...simple as that. She would make a good catalog model because she's so striking to look at. Maybe she could be a Stateline Tack cover girl!
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Post by pdevlieg on May 23, 2006 15:55:01 GMT -5
Sunday was a huge day for Azalea. It included a walk for about 1/4 of a mile, maybe even 1/2 a mile with grass, ferns, trees, rocks, etc all around her! Let me tell you, this girl did not get out much in her previous life. She did amazingly well though. We kept a very loose lead the whole time, let her sniff, snort, paw, move away from, whatever she wanted. She only neighed frantically for about 3 minutes when she realized she could no longer smell her buddies. We only had one incident and that was on the road with cars coming both directions, my neighbors dog barking crazily and her three horses thundering over to see who it was walking down the street - them I had the gall to try and get her to stand on the side of the road by bushes - not going to happen. So, we just stopped traffic and continued the 20 feet to my house - it is nice to live in horse country. My three were just standing at the fence staring - I think they were in awe of this long legged beauty walking towards them! I took her to the adjoining grazing pasture and let her out. The pony (Skittles) and the white appy (Dancey) kept coming over to try and see what was going on but Azalea didn't pay much attention to them. I decided to bring the Arab (Quest) over to start introducing her to the herd...big mistake. My 7 year old daughter's sweet beginner horses turned into an insane and frantic beast, running the pasture line, screaming at my other two, pinning her ears at Azalea (from 20 feet away). Azalea looked on and thought she was weird enough that she would rather hang out with the humans so she went and stood by my friend Sue (who's place she had been boarding at). Okay, plan 2. I went to grab the other two and walk them back to the adjoining grazing paddock. Quest is running frantically and Azalea is handling it amazingly well. I decided to put Dancey and Quest together and Skittles with Azalea - he is the boss man with his harem and he would direct the behavior of the other 2 (all 13 hands of him). While Sue's son held Skittles at the pasture gate, I walked Dancey around to the other paddock and let her in, then opened the joining gate - Quest could not get away from Azalea fast enough. So, gate closed, time to move Skittles in. First, he totally ignored the beauty in with him to run the adjoining fence line. However, he didn't seem to scary to Azalea so she walked towards him and stopped him in his tracks. WOW who is that looker over there (oh yes, did I mention she's in heat?) It was love at first sniff and all the kids got a biology lesson that I wasn't prepared to give yet! They were very cute together though.
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Post by pdevlieg on May 23, 2006 16:27:06 GMT -5
The comedy of the first day continued and it was a comedy of errors. Poor Quest and Dancey.
I brought Skittles and Azalea back over to my pasture first so she could explore it and get comfortable. Those two were joined at the hip - wherever Skittles went, Azalea was right behind. When she got brave enough to venture off on her own, he was right behind her.
Since her coming home was a bit earlier than anticipated, I don't have my corrals built yet (good thing a holiday weekend is coming up!) I decided to try her feedbag out before I brought the other two over to see how it went. She did quite well, better than Quest ever was! However, she got the hang the bag on the face thing better than the eat out of the bag philosophy. Add to that, Skittles doing everything he could to get in it and I realized everyone needed to be eating at the same time. I sent Jessica to get everyone else’s food ready and I went and brought Quest and Dancey back over. It was quite a spectacle watching us try to bring in the other two and deal with the food at the same time. I’ll chalk that up to lessons learned. Let me say, Quest and Dancey have never been this close before! The other three have been eating out of bucket and grain pans recently so when they were done, they were free to harass Azalea (well only Skittles because he won’t let anyone else close!)
While everyone else was done with grain and milling a bit, I gave Azalea a bit more time to eat. Well, that didn’t go over to well. Quest was still trying to figure out what to do with this newcomer (Quest was top dog until about a month ago when Skittles did his surprise jump up the heirarchy). She did the charge and ears pinned thing but never got to close because Skittles didn’t let her. Azalea really just didn’t understand what the commotion was about. There was one time when Quest tried to do a fancy roll back and charge and ended up on her butt and side – poor girl. She got up from that a little sore with Dancey consoling her. Next thing I saw Quest was trying to be a bit more dominant again and she got both of Skittles back feet on her side HARD twice in a row. She did not have the best of night! So, the two girls went to the back to lick their wounds and ponder the new situation. I decided to go for the hay distraction at that time even though Azalea hadn’t eaten all her grain. I put piles all over the front where I normally feed. Of course, Dancey and Quest were standing in the back peering through the trees trying to figure out what to do. Jessica and Marina came out and consoled them and moved some flakes some onto the gravel walkway that leads to the back. Skittles and Azalea were joined at the hip sharing piles in the front so Quest and Dancey timidly walked up to the piles on the gravel. Azalea decided to head back and say hi – she is really trying to get a long and is still mystified about how everyone is acting. Skittles follows her to protect his new lady and Quest and Dancey are now in the back of the pasture with nothing to eat and no way to get to the front because Skittles and Azalea are blocking them. It was time to bring in more hay, spread all over the back and the front and let them work it out.
So the herd dynamics are changing, but Azalea is just as sweet as can be. No agression to the other horses, but not a lot of fear either. My friend has the most accurate quote about her personality "you got yourself a super nervous nellie but awfully sweet horse."
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Post by horsekrazi on May 23, 2006 17:34:13 GMT -5
What a story! Love the news pics too
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Post by cat67 on May 25, 2006 15:45:57 GMT -5
She looks wonderful! Great job bringing her weight back up, I know it can be challenging with the older TB's.
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Post by pdevlieg on Jun 30, 2006 16:56:21 GMT -5
Ms. Azalea hasn't had any updates because she isn't really doing much. She hangs out and eats! I really need to start working with her! Here is a photo of her favorite time - grain! She is so good with her grain bag - she just drops her head right in and munches away.
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Post by schwung on Jun 30, 2006 17:06:27 GMT -5
Oh but she is SO pretty. I love her coloring, I have seen that liver w/orange mane coloring on Morgans but never on TBs. It's so striking!
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Post by cat67 on Jun 30, 2006 17:26:51 GMT -5
She's beyond beautiful.
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