Copper Casanova is Home (media heavy)

What a whirlwind today has been!

Jay was up bright and early this morning, but I wanted to stay in bed.  My logic was the later we slept, the less time we'd have to wait, but in the end, he won.  We got up, did some lawn stuff and I prepped Estes' pen for Skeeter.

I moved her purple blanket, Barney, to the gate in Estes' pen so she'd have her lovey with her and filled her kiddie pool with water in anticipation of her move.  The plan was for Copper to arrive between twelve and one p.m., so Bill was going to head out of the lodge as soon as he finished his chores.

Ready and waiting for Skeeter.

With our preparation done by nine-thirty, Jay and I sat down to watch a movie.  I called Mom at eleven to see if Bill had left the lodge and to let her know that Copper left Canon City at nine-fifteen.  We settled back in to watch the movie, and right as it was getting good, Jay glanced out of the window, "is that my horse?  Oh shit!  My horse is here!".

He was right.  His horse was here.  An hour earlier than we had planned.  Jay flew out the door to get the panel to build the chute and I quickly changed out of my shorts into jeans and boots to grab Skeeter.

Skeeter was amazing!  She's never been a problem to halter, so I threw her rope halter on and marched her out of the pen to Estes' pen. There was none of that Tomfoolery from earlier in the week.  She walked right alongside me like she was ten years broke already.  I met L.E. on the way and she asked if we needed help.  I pointed her to the pen and told her the driver was early and to help Jay.

The only issue Skeeter had was at the gate to Estes' pen, but when I pointed her to Barney on the gate, she sniffed and stepped right into the pen.  I pulled the gate closed behind us and let her hand graze.  She was amazing, but I missed seeing Copper get unloaded.

It seemed like no time at all when L.E. came back to the pen and said it was okay to bring Skeeter back.  Skeeter again acted like a pro.  We stopped to graze and talk to the driver, who was the same one who delivered Skeeter three months ago.  I beamed with pride when he told me she looked good and was coming along well.  I like to think so, but it's nice to hear from someone who hadn't seen her since she was dropped off.

Proud mama.

Skeeter didn't realize that anything unusual was going on until she was almost in the pen, then she saw Copper.

Aren't they stunning?

Once it was obvious there weren't going to be any fireworks, I turned Skeeter loose to properly meet her brother.

Turns out, Copper does a great giraffe imitation.  I actually was worried that the six foot fence wasn't tall enough when I saw his whole head clear the top rail.

He's learned so much today. He didn't really want anyone touching him, but finally allowed Jay a touch through the fence.

When Jay went into the pen, Copper didn't really want to have anything to do with him and started circling the fence.  Slowly he realized that Jay wasn't hurting him and started circling closer and closer until Jay could run his hand along his side.

That's close enough, human.

Well, I suppose you're harmless.

Jay's got a good sense of timing and kept the sessions short.  Once he got to rub Copper, he left the pen so Copper could think about it.

When he went back in, he was able to take Copper's neck tag off without any drama.

Copper was so happy, he immediately laid down to roll with Jay in the pen.  Guess he feels safe here already.

Soooo itchy.

The third time Jay went into the pen, Copper decided that his human was useful and not only allowed Jay to rub on him, but run the brush along his sides.

Copper enjoyed it so much that when Jay was done, he hooked on and followed him around like a puppy for a couple of figure eights.  Only when he realized the brush wasn't coming back, did he allow himself to be distracted by the hay in the corner.

About four-thirty Jay's family started showing up and by that time Copper had had enough time to think it over and decided that humans weren't too bad.  Every single one of Jay's family was able to pet Copper through the fence.

It was quite a difference from just six hours earlier when he didn't want anything to do with the human he picked out last week.

Tomorrow, Jay is going to introduce the halter and see if he can get a start on brushing out those dang dreadlocks.  Tonight, though, I bet Copper sleeps hard - he learned a lot in a very short period of time.

Oh. My. Lord.

Skeeter.

Sometimes she just makes me shake my head.

The other day, we went out for a short walk.  L.E. had her family over for dinner, but I didn't think anything of it.  Skeets, of course, had to be an absolute ass during our walk, which resulted in a lot of corrections (namely flailing and making the bad noise).  I don't think it's too much to expect her to walk nicely, with her head at my shoulder, one arm's length away from me,  at my pace.  When she gets in front of me, or gets in my space, then I kind of go ape-shit to move her back and out of my space.  So it really looks like a crazy lady trying to beat the hell out of the big black mustang.  A spectacle that L.E.'s entire family got to see from the dining room as we were going out for our "walk".  Great impression to make on people who were already concerned about their child being around a "wild" mustang.

Stupid mare.

Yesterday, I moved her to Estes' pen while Jay and I built Copper's gentling pen.  We figured it would be easier to work without her "help" and I thought it would be a good time to let her be in the pen by herself for the first time.

She followed me like a pro.  Stayed a polite distance from me, stopped and stood when asked, walked at my pace.  You know, everything she didn't do when we had an audience.

Stupid mare.

As food motivated as she is, I figured it would be a treat for her to be in Estes' pen where she could just relax and graze and chill.  Boy, was I wrong.  The fence in Estes' pen is only four feet, but Skeeter has never challenged a fence.  Ever.  And she didn't really challenge this one, but she was very concerned when I took her halter off and shut the gate behind me.  In the past, when she's gone to Estes' pen, she stayed on the lead and I just hand-grazed her.  This time, she had full access to anything she wanted to stuff in her mouth.

She was fine while she could see us, but was not so fine any time a vehicle passed on the road right next to the pen.  She spent the entire hour bolting from traffic, pacing, and worrying.  She still stuffed her face, let's not be stupid, but it was in between bolting, pacing, and worrying.

There were a couple of times when both L.E. and I were convinced she was going to try to jump the gate.  Luckily, she pulled herself up short each time. 

When Jay and I finally had the gentling pen at a point where we could close the gate and work from the inside, I went to get her from Estes' pen.  She was hot and sweaty and very glad to see me.

But that didn't stop her from being a complete ass on the way back to her pen.  She had worked herself into such a tizzy that she had a hard time focusing on me.  She threw her nose into her halter, but then didn't want to stand still long enough for me to tie it.  We had a bit of a discussion about the gate and how she wasn't going to charge through it, which she never does in her pen, but she was so distressed about being alone in Estes' pen she couldn't wait to get out of it.  We did eventually walk nicely through the gate without me getting run over.

Since her brain fell out of her butt, we had some discussions and practice circling on the way back to her pen.  We stopped at the mouth of the alley to the people gate and relaxed a bit before going through the alley.  Skeeter doesn't have a problem with it, but I do, so I always have to take a deep breath and relax before leading her those fifteen or so feet.  We did okay until we got to the gate, at which point, she decided she need to go through the gate right next to me instead of one step behind me.  I got squished a little bit, but not as badly as Jay thought I did.  When I realized she was coming through with me, I threw my weight into her shoulder as we squeezed through so she couldn't push me into the hinges.

Stupid mare.

Inside the pen, she got set to working on the circle again.  We're not very good at it, but it did help her start to calm down and focus.  I know that some horses just have to move their feet when they get anxious, and I'd rather be the one directing her movement.

Once she was back home and calmed down, she was her usual in-your-face loving self.  I've started extending my arm and reminding her "arm's length" any time she gets in my space.  She's a smart girl, I'm sure she'll figure it out soon. 

Jay's got some work to do on Copper's pen today, and we'll have to put the horizontal bars up on Friday morning, but we did get the panels and gate up last night.  Now, we're just extending the height to the required six feet.

Sorry it's so blurry. I had "help" taking the picture. Stupid mare.

Tag 8120

Yesterday was the big day.  Jay, his mom, my mom, and I loaded up and headed down to Canon City.  Jay had a list of horses he wanted to look at, thanks to Amanda who runs the Canon City Mustangs page.

Jay's list was just a starting point; he wasn't absolutely in love with any of the horses, but thought he could start looking with the list and go from there.  We learned from our first trip to the prison that their inventory list had notes on each of the horses, so with a list of numbers, the guide could look up which pens the horses were in.  It turned out that the numbers really just guided us to the pens, and while we looked for the listed number, only one of the listed horses made the finals.

Pretty quickly, Jay found a dark bay 3 year old with the cutest "poofy" forelock.  He was darling and really, really liked Jay.  Definitely a consideration.  The drawback was that he was 3 and still had some growing to do.

A few pens later, another dark bay with a wide heart-shaped blaze picked him out.  He wasn't overly friendly with Jay, but showed interest and kept his eye on Jay the whole time we were in the pen.  Contestant number two happened to be one of the numbers we had listed.

In the 5 year old pen, Jay was immediately picked by a flea-bitten grey gelding who was sweet as pie.  So very sweet, but severely cow-hocked and unable to do what we want to do with him.  Someone needs to go adopt that boy and make him a grandkids horse.  He has the perfect temperament for a kids horse (or a very small adult) and it broke my heart to leave him behind.  Truly, if we had space and time for a third ungentled horse, we would have adopted him in a heartbeat for all the nieces and nephews.

There was another couple with us who had their own list, so we took turns going to the pens we each wanted to take a peek in.  It was in one of "their" pens that Jay's horse found him.

We walked into the pen and a big sorrel looked up from across the pen, ears up, and started walking toward us.  I hoped he had chosen Jay, but Jay was walking right next to the male from the other couple and I couldn't immediately tell which one the horse had chosen.  I hadn't realized I was holding my breath until the other guy walked right past the sorrel and I could breathe again.

The big sorrel stopped and let Jay walk right up to him and pet him, but then two dark blue roans introduced themselves to Jay, taking his attention away from the sorrel. 

The "test" that any horse that Jay chose had to pass was that other people had to be able to go up and touch/pet it.  Jay's mom and I walked up to the roans and loved on them for a bit.  The darkest of the blue roans was definitely a front runner, but he was a bit pushy and did not make the best impression on me when he pawed me with his hoof.  We already have one paw-er, we do not need a second one, but if it was the horse that chose Jay, we'd just work on it.

We quit loving on the roan and looked back to see Jay and the sorrel.  He was letting Jay rub on him, up and down his legs, both sides of his neck and back and was eating it up.  I knew it was going to be a toss-up between the roan and the sorrel and it was going to be a tough choice, or so I thought.

Jay stepped away from the sorrel, who just stood like a statue and looked at him, while I approached.  The sorrel allowed me to touch him all over and stood like a rock star.  After making sure other people would be allowed into the horse's space, Jay came back to join us.  Mom, Jay's mom, and I stepped back and let the roans re-join the little love-fest Jay had going on with the horses.

Jay was still loving on the sorrel, with the roan right next to him when he said, "I like this one."  Mom asked him, "compared to the 3 year old, who do you choose?".  Without hesitation, Jay answered, "this one".  Same answer when Mom asked him about the second horse on his list, again without hesitation.

When asked to chose between the roan and the sorrel, the answer was the same, "this one."

We were done.

Jay's heart horse had found him.

Copper Casanova

"Copper"

Jay's heart horse

Is he handsome, or what?

Copper is a 4 year old gelding from Adobe Town, Wyoming, who was gathered in October, 2010.  My best guess is that he's about 15.1h and 1050#.  When he comes home next Friday, we'll put the tape on him and see how close my guess is.

Skeeter's New Hat

Bill found a cheap kiddie pool for Skeeter and picked it up.  Mom dropped it off yesterday, so when I got home from work, I decided to torture play with Skeeter.  Keeping in mind that I have to let go of having a lesson plan and just have fun, I put it on my head as I walked from the car to her pen.  I tried to be as big and scary as I could to get a reaction out of her.

Instead, I got a "hey, Mom" whinny as she trotted up to the fence.  I banged the swimming pool around a bit, balanced it on the fence, and just slid it from my head to hers.  She thought it was a bit weird, but didn't have too many issues.

When I was sure she wasn't going to kick the hell out of it, I took it into the pen with me and put it back on my head.  I offered to put it on her head and she wasn't entirely sure she wanted it there, but let me slide the edge up her nose and over her ears so that we were both wearing the pool.

She allowed me to put the pool on our heads a couple of times before she was done, so I rolled it around on its side for a bit and let her lip at it.

When she bored of playing with the pool as a toy, I decided that we should fill it and use it like it was designed to be used.  She knows the sound of the hose filling her water trough and she knows the sound of the hose just running, but the hose filling the plastic pool was ... interesting, so she had to sneak up on it.

She had a couple of big drinks out of it and then pawed it.  I'm not sure what made her jump more, the feeling of water up over her hoof or the big clump of water that splashed on her belly, but that was all she wrote.

I spent a few minutes trying to convince her to come back to the pool, that it was just water, but she was having none of it until Allie-bird started drinking out of Skeeter's pool.

Suddenly, the pool wasn't so scary any more and Skeeter came back to drink out of it and remind her canine sister that it was her pool.  Jay and I spent a good bit of time trying to coax Skeeter to walk through the water.  It was a no-go.

Jay and Allie went back into the house and I grabbed a bribe from the tack room and set about trying to get Skeeter to at least put one hoof in the water.  After twenty minutes, the best I could do was get her to lift her hoof and touch the edge of the pool, so we called it a day.

I ordered a clicker-training book a couple of days ago, so I think we'll work on using that to train hoof placement.  I also have a much bigger, blow-up swimming pool that will be more difficult for her to step around or over.

I'm feeling pretty good about my choice to train her to cross water.  Despite being wild-born, she has spent the last three and a half years of her life in a BLM holding pen, where there wasn't any running (or even standing) water for her to play in.

(In roughly seven hours we leave to go to the prison for Jay to be chosen by a mustang!  Wish us luck that the perfect horse will chose him.)

Three Wake-Ups

That's it.  Just three more wake-ups before we had back to Canon City for another prison break.

Shoe's on the other foot this time. Jay is the one hoping to get chosen by the perfect horse, and I'm just going to look at and pet the pretty horses.

I'm sure he'll get chosen by a great horse and in about a week, Skeeter will have a new brother.

Is it weird that I can't sleep with excitement, and it's not even my horse?

From Dating to Living Together

Jay and I moved onto the same property that Skeeter is on over the weekend and it's already obvious that the move is going to change our relationship with Skeeter.

Before, when we lived away, going to visit was like dating.  It was a to-do.  I had to make sure I had an hour to "work" with her, I had to make time every day to go feed and I felt guilty when all I had time for was feed her.  I really enjoy and love Skeeter, but we didn't have a lot of "hanging out" time.  I felt pulled in two directions: I had Jay at home (who, by no means ever put any pressure one me) that I wanted to spend time with and I had Skeeter at L.E.'s who needed me to spend time with her.  No matter where I was, I felt like I was cheating one or the other.

Seeing Skeeter's head pop up when she heard my car come up the road and seeing her come running to the fence always made me happy.  It really was like having a 900# dog. (If the video loads sideways, I apologize, I don't know how to fix it without uploading it to YouTube.)

She got a rude awakening on Saturday when people showed up and didn't immediately run to her pen to fawn over her.  Instead, the truck and trailer pulled up and people completely ignored her while our things were unloaded.  It was a travesty, just ask her.  Oh, she hollered for a good half an hour before she gave up.  Welcome to not dating anymore, sweetheart.

When I woke up on Sunday, I couldn't wait to get out to talk to her and see what her reaction would be.  She appeared to me to be confused and wasn't quite sure how to react.  I was there, but I didn't drive up, which is not how things had been. 

We're easing into the living together thing and I think we're both going to enjoy it.  The other night I felt like going out and brushing her, so I did.  It wasn't a big to-do.  I got up off the couch, slipped into my shoes and went out to the pen.  It was so much nicer to be spontaneous and not have to worry about the whole process of leaving the apartment to go spend five whole minutes with her.

She has a deer fly who is loving to chew her to bits, so I've been putting first aid mud on it.  And it's not a big to-do.  I go out, grab the tube of mud, slather it on her, give her a kiss and go back inside.  It's bliss, I tell you!

Jay and I discovered this morning that she can hear us with those big old bat ears of hers, so we spent some time torturing her by standing in the bedroom and calling her name.  Since she can't see us, she didn't think it was a very fun game, but we did.

What I Need to Learn

Yesterday was a big day for Skeets.  We brought in a lot of hay and had a lot of people there to help.  I'm finding that Skeeter and I are a lot alike in certain ways.  Neither of us is a fan of loud, sudden noises or crowds of people.

From the beginning, Skeeter has done well with people, but yesterday we had A LOT of people, which meant A LOT of activity.  When the crowd and activity is outside her pen, she does really well.  However, yesterday, she had to be tied to the trailer so we could bring the truck in to unload the hay.  Jay and I have done this before and she stood like she had been doing it her whole life, so I didn't think much about it.

I tied her to the trailer and didn't think twice about it.  I showed my brother  where to take the panels apart to get into her hay storage, pointed out to Mr. Nebalee where to dismantle the outside panels to drive the truck in and we all got to work.  When we swung the panels around the hay storage out, they made a loud pop/creak.  Skeeter had been doing okay with the activity, but the sudden loud noise was more than she could take.

She pulled back hard on the trailer and started fighting the tie.  Holy cow, I thought she was going to topple the trailer, she was fighting so hard.  We don't have a lightweight trailer, either.  The trailer is easily 30 years old and steel.  It is heavy and I wouldn't have thought she would have been strong enough to make it budge.  I looked up and hollered, "Skeeter! Stand!"  She quit fighting, but was still pulling back on the tie. I started her way, but saw Bill out of the corner of my eye already halfway there, so I let him go soothe her. 

Knowing she was in good hands, I went back to doing what needed to be done.  There were people unloading and stacking the hay, so I scooped poop.  I should have gone to stay with my horse, which I thought about, but I would have felt guilty "sitting around" while other people were working on behalf of my horse.  Instead, now I feel guilty about letting Bill be the one to keep her calm, when I'm supposed to be her person.  Sometimes I feel like I just can't get it right.  (And, for the record, I know Bill didn't mind babysitting at all judging by the big grin on his face.)

He sat with her and talked with her until she relaxed and then started messing with her.  At one point, I looked up to see that despite all of the noise and activity, he was messing around with her feet.  He had her standing quietly, still tied to the trailer, and was walking around, picking up her feet and banging on them with a rock.  She never flinched.  This is the horse, who just a few minutes earlier was a wide-eyed monster.

When we were all done in her pen, and the panels were all put back in place, he untied her and walked her around a bit before turning her loose.  As usual, she wanted to be right where all the action was, so she hung out by the fence while we stacked the hay that didn't fit into her hay storage.

You can see her in the background watching everyone.

Bill would occasionally "mess" with her.  Go over, pick up her feet (on time, she fell over!) and then go back to whatever he was doing.

After we were done with the hay, we were just sitting around under the shade tree, drinking adult beverages and eating very healthy snacks of chips and dip.  Bill would get up, go into her pen and mess with her some more.  Sometimes, he'd kick her big red ball at her.  Sometimes, he'd stick his fingers in her ears.  Oh, and her face, he grabbed her top and bottom lip and pulled them wide, made funny faces with her.

Always, he'd just spend a minute or two and then come back and join us.  Then he'd be back in her pen, spraying her with the hose.  Or kicking the ball at her.  Or pulling her mouth open.  Or sticking his fingers in her ears.

That's what I need to learn to do.  I'm so afraid of screwing her up or doing something "wrong", that I don't just mess around with her.  Maybe it's the teacher in me, but I always feel like I have to have a "lesson plan" when we "work".  Bill got more accomplished with her yesterday buy just being a pest than I would get done in a week.   And she loves it!  Grandpa Bill is her favorite toy.  He knows when to draw the line with her behavior, but mostly just makes it fun to be around him (he does this with the two-legged grandkids too).

She'll do pretty much anything for Grandpa Bill.  Including having a drink of his beer, which she didn't really enjoy, but tried it anyway.

What's that, Grandpa?

Sure, I'll try it.

You drink this?!

My take-away from yesterday: play with Skeeter more, worry less.