just sheep things

Happy Saturday, friends! Let's enjoy a quick update of Mondeuse's first few days at the farm, mostly with pictures, less-ly with words. Bc it's a weekend and we're all busy, yes? Yes. 

post storm skies!

So! You all recall she came home Wednesday, and aside from a little paddock turnout, we mostly just let her chill and eat food and feel welcomed. 

shadowy figure of the dad bod himself, standing in the water feature on our xc course lol

I was a little disappointed in myself, tho, bc time got away from me when it came to Charlie. I had given him his 'third meal' + allergy meds earlier in the day when I stopped by to grab the trailer... But never found time to groom him. Which... Is not at all my intention with balancing two. So on Thursday, Charlie came first -- and we had a lovely stroll through the fields with friends!

oooooh and the red one! turns out she DOES hand graze, woot woot!

It did mean, tho, that I ended up a little crunched for time with Doozy, and we kinda ran short on daylight for our planned walkies.

was running out of daylight so all the pics are hella blurry

I'm going to give myself a little grace here, tho, bc it was my weekly 'date night with grandpa,' wherein we drink exactly two glasses of wine, from 4 to 6pm, and chat relentlessly about politics lol. It's very important time to both of us, but it did put me about 2hrs past my normal barn attendance timeline. 

yea it's a big wither, but i actually think a saddle should fit here no issue

Nbd, tho. We got our walkies in all the same. Not particularly significant distance, mind you. But enough to know that... Mondeuse is a very forward thinking horse. She is GOING FORTH, MA'AM. Doesn't really know where she is going, or why she's going there... But damn if she isn't determined to keep moving forward. I think I like this about her! 

day 2 of cross ties was not quite as good as day 1 lol

And while I can tell she's nervous, she hasn't displayed anything I'd quite categorize as a "spook" yet. Tho maybe she kinda internalizes like Charlie? Idk, I have seen her standing trembling, which is sorta what Charlie does vs any big movement. That's fine too, tho, bc she seems to recover. 

intermission hay barn toad to usher us into day 3

Anyway, it seems to be the theme of this week, my first week with two horses, that scheduling is squeezed lol... On Friday (yesterday), I had somewhat late calls at work, then had to do feeding / turn out / and stalls at the barn. Plus, again, Charles first!!!!

still solo in the paddock, she's not loving it, but c'est la vie

So I got to the barn later than normal for all those chores, checked on the mare (who is in reverse turn out still -- meaning she's out daytime and in overnight bc evening paddocks are currently full) and threw her some hay, then hustled over to Chuck for some quality time. 

more face time with charles tho!!

And Charlie is good <3 He's about halfway through his shoeing cycle right now, and was already looking a litttttttttle iffy on two of four feet. Luckily his farrier was out earlier in the day and tightened the clinchers on 3, and actually just reset the 4th entirely. Whew!

el - oh - el, hahahahaha

We didn't ride for super long, but we did ride. And it was nice! I think he's pretty sound right now (fingers crossed), he's not standing poorly at the moment, so I'm going to keep doing daily rides to see if he keeps holding up.  

it's ok, Dooz, not everybody loves Charlie lol

My schedule today is both far from ideal, but actually maybe pretty useful. I normally do all the Saturday morning chores etc at the barn, but will also be covering tonight for the evening person who is out of town. 

i love charlie tho <3

So that gives me alllllll day to just do all the things I want to do. Which.... Finally, lol.

and we'll enjoy our walkies, dammit!

Doozy will also get her first friend in paddock turnout today --- a cute little red pony mare you might remember from past outings, such as our wing-themed hunter pace a few years back. 

back to dooz nooz -- she has a new neighbor who will go out with her too!

She and her person went off to do working student things for a little while but they're back now - as of yesterday! Stella is an eminently sensible pony, plus she already knows the rest of the mares. So the plan is for her to buddy up with Mondeuse for a few days in a paddock, then the two of them will integrate together into the larger group. 

 

and we went on even more dusk hand walkies!

So I plan to let them spend most of the time together and not pull Mondeuse out too much.... But I do also want to use this full day of barn time to check a few more items off the list. Like.... Trying on tack. And.... Getting all the way up to the indoor! 

proof that she can eat while nervous --- i see this as a very good sign!

Our second day of hand walkies proved that, yea. The horse is fine. She got a little nervous at times, but seems open about it, and quite willing to be reassured. And then... Forward again!

The sheep were interesting but mildly insignificant. We looked at the ponies, but didn't really care deeply. The black drainage pipe was sliiightly concerning, but only temporarily.

sheeeeep!!

The horse responds really well to pressure, so far. She kinda wants to walk me instead of me walking her, but is open to input lol. AND. We discovered that while processed treats and feeds were a bit of a mystery to her, carrots are 1,000,000% A-OK. Whew, I was worried for a minute!

still pictures of a horse staring at shetlands, but at least this time it's red instead of brown?

The last little detail we worked on last night was finishing with grooming. She's not been good on the cross ties the last two nights, compared to her first day (when a horse was stalled next to her). The horse is exceedingly good about giving to the pressure when she hits the ends of the ropes, but she's just not super settled yet. 

Nbd, I will experiment with other grooming bays that are walls on three sides instead of two sides, since that configuration seemed to be the most successful for the OTTBs I knew in college, in Rochester NY. And she's a NY mare, so maybe she'll like the same? 

ok, still also kinda bad at cross ties. for now lol.

Eventually she'll figure out the open aisles, but when it comes to adding complexity like tacking etc, I want it to be as easy as possible for her to be comfortable. Tho, notably, even in the pic above, when I got around to treating the crud on her tail and hind legs, she stands like a statue. I think she likes being fussed over! 

So it's all good stuff. All going in the right direction. And hopefully this weekend I'll have time to check a few bigger milestones off the list. Or ya know. We'll just keep on as we are. Who knows! Hope you all have a nice weekend too ;)