This time of year...

Is what I call the crazy times. Siaga always has growth spurts at the start of spring, not in height (though I would much enjoy that) but in his hooves and his mane and tail. For the rest of the year, his hooves and mane will grow very slowly, but right now, his mane and tail will grow about two or three inches, and his hooves will have to be trimmed up nicely.

I'll have to get the farrier out to work on his feet. ... That ought to be interesting, since he doesn't let me deal with hooves very well, though he puts up with James, at least.

On top of the growth spurts, Siaga is not liking being confined in the barn and not being out in the paddock. I don't blame him. He hasn't been able to get out his energy in a while, in a way that he wants to, other than when he gets lunged, which is not usually what he wants to do, though he does it.

I am reconsidering allowing James to lunge him. It's great and all that Siaga gets a way to get energy out, but with the care thats been given to other horses there I'm nearly afraid Siaga would break a leg and they'd never tell me.

They didn't, after all, call me to tell me that Siaga apparently hates all the other horses there, though I have just determined that he has a case of little man syndrome and is not comfortable being with other horses, since he has never had a chance to get used to it till now. I suppose I have a lot of work to do this spring. I would like to get him comfortable with other horses so that he can be put in a regular stall, and let out with the rest of them.

He is also getting trained to ride, and while I will let James ride him while I'm there, I'll not let him up while I'm gone. So busy busy busy.

Respiratory Infections and Hay Dust

So another of the ladies at the barn, who happens to watch this blog even as I watch hers, contacted me a few days ago to say that her horse Rosie has a respiratory infection and that the vet said its very contagious, and that the barn manager had said he had heard Siaga coughing, which is usually a precursor to the infection.

I then called Shannon, the barn owner, to ask about his coughing and if a vet was required. She told me that Siaga tends to eat his hay very fast, and that he only coughs when eating his hay, be it either the hay dust or just from eating too fast that causes it.

He, being the spirited pony-sized horse with Little Man Syndrome, is in the quarantine stall, anyways, and gets turned out by himself, so little-to-no contact with Rosie is ever made, though I did have him cross tied outside of her stall the other day.

I also asked her to check on his legs and have James the barn manager watch him for any sign of lameness when he gets turned out. His back right leg had some problems awhile back, and while the swelling has gone away, I didn't want it to become too much strain on it with me riding him, and he also developed a bit of a limp on the front right leg after riding, but we aren't sure if he had stepped on something and bruised the hoof or if anything else was wrong.

Even though I have great people taking care of him and checking on him constantly, I always want to go check on him myself, being as I know him best and know what is normal for him and what isn't... Though it's not likely that his peak of health is very different from any other horses peak of health, you know? Perhaps a small difference here and there, the same as you could find differences in humans.

So anyways, I don't know when I'll be able to go check on him, but I will likely be working at the school on Saturday, so I can earn some $40 bucks or so to pay for gas money.

Speaking of money issues, I'll be selling my lovely, hated little car soon, the extra money will go to paying off the small loan we took on fixing Jonathons car, and perhaps a special commission for my graphic designs. :D

So very Stiff

I can't tell you how long it's been since I've truly ridden a horse. Years. Not decades, but years nonetheless.

So when yesterday I rode Reggie the school horse at a trot, I received many bruises all along the insides of my thighs and knees. He's a great horse, but he has a horrid trot. And he is so tall! I'm not sure I've ever ridden a horse that tall, other than the draft horses I used to sit up on.

After that, I rode Siaga. He did pretty well. He was very energetic at first, and nearly had me worn out and exhausted within the first three minutes of having him in the indoor. Needless to say, he got a very good warm up to put off some of the energy, then we tacked up. I got on him and then James the barn manager tightened the girth for me, and then he got on Reggie and we started riding.

Siaga did really well. It took him a while to understand that my squeezing on his sides meant go, but he understood very well the principles of turning left and right, and backing up very well. I refused to let him trot, and I refused to let him stop and stand still, I could feel the whole time he was like a squashed spring, just waiting to bounce up.

After making several laps of the arena in both directions, both leading and following Reggie, and also after getting close to the wall a few times, he decided it was time to get me off, and gave a little crow hop- a little rear, and then a buck. Some how, I stayed on, albeit with more bruising on the front of my thighs.

Thankfully, his previous forward movement kept him from getting a lot of power into it, so it wasn't major, and he undoubtedly learned it is not so very easy to ditch me in the mud, which is a good thing.

One thing he has issues with, is standing still while there is a person on his back. Or I guess with me on his back. He didn't have any issues with it when James was on him, in fact, he stood stock still. James squeezed, nudged, kicked, swatted with a crop, and still Siaga stood. Finally James pulled on just one rein and got him moving in circles and then walking, and Siaga did well with him riding, too.

So, Siaga is well on his way to becoming a great horse. :D

I must wait

I'm not going to get to visit my Siaga on Sunday, and now must wait till next Saturday, maybe. Jonathon is off only one day, and that is Saturday. Also, my best friend Jacy is home this week from her college, and I want to see her too... But it's looking like its either going to be me visiting Siaga or her, unless I can get her to drive an hour up to Dayton and spend time with me while I work Siaga.

I would love to have her there with me. I miss her so much and I miss Siaga too, though I haven't seen Jacy in a much longer time. :(

What to do, oh what to do...

Name Tags

Since I have discovered that everyone borrows everyone else's halters, I decided to have Jonathon make a name tag to put on Siaga's halter.

I mean, I don't really mind that people borrow it, but what I hate the most is that they borrow it... then they don't return it and don't set its settings back to normal! I mean, Siaga is the smallest horse there, being only 13 hands and 1 inch high at the withers. His halter is sized at "small horse" from TSC... and is set on the smallest settings in order to fit him, and it fits perfectly.

Also, I did need that halter for his indian hackamore, since it clipped onto his halter, and even though I don't now, still. Every other horses halter is too big for Siaga! If I still had to clip the hackamore on, and couldn't find his, I'd never be able to go riding!

Besides, don't you all have halters of your own, that fit horse better than Siaga's halter? I mean, I understand that if a horse gets out, you grab and go, catch said horse, return it, and then what do you do? Hang the other horses halter on your horses stall? That isn't right.

I don't want to have to go hunting mine down every time I go visit. SO....

I'm putting a name tag on it, and also hanging a sign on the hook that his halter hangs from saying that I don't mind if you borrow it but please return it in the original settings and stuff.

We are going to make the name tag out of a key blank, apparently, with the actual key blade removed.

Visitation

I should be able to go visit Siaga and start riding him sometime next week/end, either on Friday evening or on Sunday.

I'm so excited about it I can't hardly sit still. I crave something to do for him, even cleaning tack! I enjoyed cleaning the leather bridle, even though he wouldn't be using it, since I will have him bridled with the pretty red nylon one.

So anyways.

Shannon is going to watch while I train Siaga. That makes me feel better that if something happens, someone with horse sense is there to help. I have also decided that it wouldn't be too bad for him to learn how to trot with me up there, but of course I will only do that if I feel he understands how to stop and turn and go at a walk well.

When I feel, after riding several times, most likely, that he is understanding what is being asked of him, I will move on to riding outside of the indoor, probably in the outdoor arena. And, when he understands that the rules are no different outside than inside, we start desensitizing him to things we might find on the trail, such as ditches, creeks, tall grass/bushes or branches.

And my ultimate goal for this is, well, I want to be going out on the trail by summer. I don't really care when in the summer, just at some point in the summer. Shannon will go on the first rides with me just in case, but any of the others are welcome, we just have to be careful that Siaga doesn't try to fight any of the other horses. He is quite a silly horse.

How Excited I Am.

Because I have decided that I will be taking a break from my night club that I frequent in order to save gas money for visiting Siaga. I will be missing my weekend night out, but I will survive.

Especially considering that means that I will be saving up money and will be able to visit Siaga every two weeks. Or so.

Also. When Spring gets here, Siaga gets a bath. He is a funny horse, he's terrified of hoses and stuff, but doesn't mind getting his front legs and shoulders and neck washed and sprayed with a hose, but not anywhere else.

I'm hoping he will stand nicely on the cross ties or something... I'll have to ask Shannon how to do this. Or where, rather. I would rather him have a place that isn't going to get muddy and slippery, but I don't think there is a stall specifically meant for washing a horse.

Also, he has horrendous dandruff in his mane that I would like to get out. I'm not entirely sure how to go about that either. I mean. I can wash whatever needs to be washed, including his sheath and his bum, but... Scrubbing the base of his mane with my fingernails like a mother would her child... Disturbs me. I can't hardly stand to scrub my own scalp, let alone all of his. I'll have to grab a fine-toothed comb and go at it first to loosen some up, and when the worst of it is gone, maybe I can find some sort of rubber toothed brush or something to scrub there.

I also intend on learning how to french braid his mane when I ride, so that when I start teaching him to neck rein, the rein can sit flat on the right side of his neck, and not pushed against mane and then neck.

When Siaga was younger, in fact, when I first got him, his mane fell over both sides of his neck, all the way up and down, from ears to withers, equally. Then in the spring after I first had him, I took it all over to the right and braided it into place for a few days. Some of it still flopped to the left, but I don't mind.