The Post I Never Published

Merry Christmas from Avalon! Every year I have ideas for Christmas shoots and fun training days, but college finals and holiday buzz foil my plans. This year was no different. But graduation is coming! I only have a semester or two left. 

I've been catching up in school, catching up with neglected friendships, catching up in my personal development journey. Finally, I am here to catch up my readers. 

This is from mid-November.

I shouldn't have to worry about putting more weight on her this spring.

We spent a lot of time hanging out. 

Isn't she lovely?

Here is the post from Nov 18th that I completed . . . only to abandon to the draft folder.

I love the way Avalon's coat complements any weather or background. She looks good no matter what season it is. 

After the last session, I came to two conclusions. 

First, my current saddle situation just isn't working. If it is tight enough, it pinches her withers. If it isn't, it slips sideways/under her belly. I'm thankful that she is such a smart, trusting mare. Many green horses are scarred when the saddle slips under their bellies or onto their sides. But Avalon always stops and waits for me to fix the problem. I have a temporary solution, but I'll post about that later. 

Second, it's time to pause all serious training until spring. Avalon's coat is long enough that I'm not comfortable with her getting sweaty. The last thing I want to deal with is another colicky horse. If I had a warm stall or I was planning on clipping her, I'd continue with training. But the best part of owning and training my horse is that I work on my own time table. I have all the time in the world. 

Avalon has had some rain rot over the last month or so. I treated it for about a week and most of it healed, but I noticed that some patches had started up again. I'm considering buying a light sheet for next fall. She tends to get rain rot during the rainy seasons of spring and fall. For some reason she can't be bothered to seek shelter. 

I'm hoping to have these patches treated and growing back before the real cold sets in. Bannix is my go-to. This isn't sponsored or anything, I just love the stuff. It kills rain rot so fast.

Since she is retired fro the winter, we spent some time just hanging out on the barn lawn. The pasture is empty of grass, they've been feeding hay all year, so Ava appreciates every second she gets to graze. 

Her mane is a wild, snared disaster.

**Back to the present**

Avalon's rain rot is gone and she has a thick, warm winter coat. She is a little on the chubby side, so I cut her grain intake in half. I visited her on Christmas day, but before that school and car difficulties kept me from the barn for weeks at a time. She doesn't mind, of course. She is more than happy to eat hay and run around being a horse. 

Always sniffing the camera. Sigh. 

The Time it Takes (Oct. 24)

"Take the time it takes so that it takes less time." ~Pat Parelli

This session wasn't outstanding or significant in any way. Avalon was spooky and gorgeous as always. I was still limping around with a broken finger. I considered tossing this post out or combining it with another. But it's so, so important to show these seemingly insignificant barn days. This is what horse training looks like, especially if you don't have a lot of free time. Days that are repetitive. Doing the same thing again. Learning the same lessons again. Checking and rechecking those basics. You have to put in all those boring, insignificant days in order to achieve the exciting breakthroughs and adventures.

Looks beautiful when she spooks.

Training is much easier with taped fingers that with the metal finger brace. I had some trouble with the tape tearing my skin, but otherwise I preferred this setup. 

The moment in the picture above was amazing. I let Avalon off of her lead rope and the first thing she did was walk over to the mounting block and start pawing it. I am in the process of teaching her to set her hoof on things. I used the mounting block and rewarded her with a treat whenever she touched it. Avalon is extremely food motivated. 

So. Pretty.

Although it is a long journey, full of steps forward and steps back, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love this beautiful horse. I love her spunk and energy. We get to build our confidence and skill together.

At Long Lining Last! (Oct 23)

artsy photo just cause

I've been promising a long lining post for a while now. Oops. One of the problems is that it is difficult to take photos of yourself long lining. I tried with my camera remote and tripod, but they didn't really turn out.

Can you even see me?

I may not have good pictures of the long lining in action, but I have plenty of Avalon looking cute!

I like to start out every session by trying to get Avalon into a relaxed, thinking state of mind. 

Lowered head, licking and chewing.

Here are a couple of pictures I took while long lining. The first few sessions were rough. Ava would overreact to every cue, trying to turn and face me. Until one day it clicked for her. That day we walked and trotted. I have not (purposefully) loped her while long lining yet. Now that she understands the concept, I can awkwardly long line with one hand while taking photos or videos.

I've been doing some exercises to encourage her to continue in a straight line without micromanagement. Basically, I point her in a direction, wait until she turns away on her own accord, and then turn her sharply in the opposite direction that she turned. As long as she continues straight I leave her alone. I'm only using a halter at the moment, since she is resisting the pressure a lot. I don't want to do any damage to her mouth. She seems to like contact, as much "contact" as you have in a halter. She is very forward unlike when I put a couple rides on her. She likes to march forward, with pressure on the long lines. 

I love it when she looks back at me, like she's asking, "What now?"

She even spooked for the first time (or three times) while long lining. I wasn't sure how that would go, but other than rubbernecking to avoid moving toward scary things, she was great! She didn't run through my "rein aids". It is hard to correct messy shoulders without leg aids though. 

Not food motivated at alllll. Not even a leetle. No ma'am. 

Appearances and Mishaps (Oct. 20 & 23)

I used to feel pressured by blogging. Back when I was writing about my journey with Gambler, I felt like if I didn't progress enough I would be judged or embarrassed. I don't feel that way at all anymore. I am confident and content in my journey with Avalon. It's about the journey, not how much we achieve in the end. 

The change in thinking has changed my content. Instead of focusing on my failures and struggles, I joke about the struggles and focus on the tiny victories. I didn't think too much about the effect this could have until recently someone complimented our relationship. An acquaintance of mine talked about how much she wanted to have a horse like mine. I was surprised. 

Of course, I want a horse like mine. I want a relationship like I have, but most people really don't. I have an unbroken four year old Arabian mare. She is dominant and tests me constantly. She bolts on windy days, or when she sees children running, or when trucks drive by. She still randomly bucks when wearing a saddle, or without one. Yesterday I spent half an hour trying to catch her because she felt like galloping around the pasture instead. Technically, I am not qualified to train this horse. Many trainers would not suggest pairing a horse of her training level with a person of my experience level. This is not an ideal situation. 

This works for us, because I have realistic expectations. I know the danger and my own shortcomings. I am willing to put in hours of work to study different trainers on line. Hours of watching YouTube Videos. I just spent $50 (an awesome discounted price actually, it costs over $200 now) on a colt starting documentary. I have Pat Parelli's colt starting video series on my book shelf at home. I am taking this process oh-so-slow. Profession trainers start horses in 30 or 90 days, I'm going on two years. That isn't because Avalon isn't ready - she was ready for a first ride the day I bought her, or very soon after. It's because I know that I need to learn. I need to be as informed as possible. Every time I hit a bump, I need to run to people who know what they are doing. Ultimately, if I can't figure it out on my own before Avalon turns six (the age when horses get harder to train), I'm going to find a trainer. 

It's a process, and a process that I love. I intend to be very good at this one day. At the moment, it's still a challenge For example, I thought I finally figured out a saddle solution. The western saddle doesn't fit perfectly, but it was stable and I could use it for long lining. Until it stopped being stable. Twice now, it has slipped sideways on Avalon while she was already afraid. When it's tight enough, it pinches her withers. When it isn't pinching, it's sliding and scaring her. So I need to reevaluate. 

That's when the relationship comes in. A lot of babies have terrible experiences with saddles that slip under their bellies. However, both times that the saddle slipped, I told Ava to "woah" and walked up. Even though she was shaking with fear, she stood still on a loose line while I fixed the saddle. If she didn't trust me enough to stand, she would probably buck the saddle off, or twist it completely underneath herself and traumatize herself further. 

Another mistake a made recently, was trying to tie my white Parelli 22' line to my nylon halter. You'll notice that I'm using my long line as a lunge line in the above photo. I usually tie the 22' line to my rope halter and it stays. It does not stay tied to my nylon halter, as I learned the hard way when Avalon bolted and the rope fell right off. Thankfully I was in the arena, so no real harm was done.

My point is: I will gladly accept compliments regarding my relationship with my horse. I am so proud of everything we have accomplished together. What I don't want, is for anyone to put us on a pedestal. This works for us, but it might not work for everyone. You can have an amazing relationship with your horse without half of this chaos. I love the chaos of baby horses, but I don't want to slip into only showing the highlight reel. We have our bad moments with our good. 

It is all too easy to look at the good parts - the parts that people post to Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, or their blog - and create an ideal that doesn't actually exist. 

Leaves for Dessert (Oct. 18)

I love my horse so much. Yesterday, I was thinking about all the years I spent longing for my own horse. Coveting other people's horses. Bitterly judging them for taking their pets for granted. Thankfully, I realized how sinful and self-destructive that was and started practicing thankfulness and compassion instead. But now, looking back on those years of wishing and dreaming of my own horse, I'm filled with so much joy! I have so many ambitions for Avalon and I, but if we never get past groundwork in the pasture I will be content. I'm overjoyed just to have a horse to take walks with. 

That said, this filly is a pain in the butt. On this particular day, I drove out to the barn to find Avalon chasing down all the maple leaves that blew into the pasture. Notice - there aren't any maple trees in the pasture. She was eating all the leaves from a tree several feet away. You can see it to the left of the trailer in the above picture. Some maple leaves are poisonous, some aren't. I don't think she was ever in any danger, because she would have to eat about two pounds of leaves to die, but I wasn't about to take any chances. Did I mention that there was hay in the pasture? Plenty of hay. I guess the slow feed hay net was too much of a hassle. 

Lookit my cute lil car in the background. I miss it so much. 

Now miss sassy pants is getting grain every day. I don't usually grain her because she is an easy keeper. Also, when she gets grain the sassy factor goes waaaaaaaay up. Flash forward to when I visited the barn yesterday and she galloped in circles for five minutes. Sigh. Whatever it takes to dissuade Avalon from eating potentially poisonous leafies.

Training with a Broken Finger (Oct. 17)

Fun lil lady bug

I need to write these posts right away after the session, because I am forgetting so many things! Anyway, I will try to remember my first day training with a broken finger.

I switched from the rope halter to my nylon halter, because it has a throat latch clip. It is much easier to clip a halter on with a broken finger than it is to tie a knot. At this time I was still in a lot of pain if I put any pressure on my index finger at all. 

The fall colors were at their best mid October. I think that it lasted all of two weeks before rainstorms knocked all the trees empty. Good thing I took so many pictures!

I've been playing with Avalon at liberty in the arena lately. Mostly she grazes or gallops aimlessly, but I don't take it personally. Here I convinced Avalon to walk around with me away from her grass without bolting or bucking.

Sometimes I can draw Avalon to me. Other times, she doesn't feel it. I want to have a strong bond with her, but I have to keep reminding myself that she isn't Gambler. Gamby claimed me as his person right away. Avalon is a mare; an independent, aloof horse by nature. She will cuddle, but she doesn't care who she cuddles. Someday I will have the relationship with her that I'm looking for, but I'm going to have to earn it. Right now she works for me because she has to (her behavior is completely different in the exact same environment depending on whether she has a lead rope on or not). I want her to work with me because she wants to. 

So beautiful! I love this picture of Avalon.

Can you spot my new bestie in the picture above? If you can't, check out the next photo. 

Dinah is the newest barn cat and she is my lil buddy. The barn owner referred to her today as a pest, and he wasn't far off. She is a complete pest and I spoil her rotten. Someday I will probably regret this, but she is just too cute! I have no words for the cuteness of this kitten . . .but a picture is worth a thousand words. 

She's so smart too! When I was playing the circling game with Avalon, Dinah wandered around the edges of the arena mewing and watching us. She is smart enough to know not to run up to me when she could get run over. She waited until Ava was calmly eating in the background to chase me down and demand cuddles.  She climbs my leg when she wants cuddles, which is going to hurt when she is older. But she is so cute!

Overall, it wasn't too hard to train with a broken finger. I discovered that holding the rope between my pointer finger and thumb (like an OK sign) allowed me to avoid putting pressure on the broken finger, even when Avalon bolted. 

Finger-Breaking Good (Oct. 6)

I have a secret: I love drama. Depending on who you ask, it isn't actually a secret. Maybe it runs in the family. Maybe it’s a woman thing (although I’ll fight anyone who says it is). Maybe it’s a flaw. Whatever the case, I love a dramatic retelling. 

However, I don’t like this about myself. My experiences with other people who love drama have left a bad taste in my mouth. Drama tastes like betrayal, lies, delusions, paranoia, broken relationships, lack of character. So, I try to subdue my dramatic side as much as possible. I’ve even started to cut all the obvious hyperbole out of my vocabulary.

The exception is when something good or bad happens to me that has nothing to do with anyone else. This is when I let my wild, dramatic side run loose. I still avoid lying and exaggerating, but when I break my finger (or crash my car, or my horse does something ridiculous) I reserve the right to relish every drop of dramatic goodness. Since it doesn’t involve other people, there is no way I can slip into slander, gossip, paranoia, or hurt the people around me in some other way.

I've already told the story of the broken finger, but I never wrote about my training with Avalon that day. Here is that post, and some broken finger follow-ups. 

(There are some bruised finger pictures later in the post)

Am I the only one who thinks pastures are absolutely beautiful, even when they are inches deep in "mud"?

I began my session with Avalon by tying her in the round pen. She has gotten really good at standing tied at the hitching post, but I want to start teaching her that it's normal to stand tied in other places as well. She pulled back once or twice, but only testing the rope. She never really threw herself into it or tried to get free.

Observing from a distance so I could rush over if she did anything stupid. Throwback to when I had my Kia. 

I returned to the round pen after a few minutes with the tarp. I flapped it around on her back while she stood tied. She was much more concerned about the wind than the tarp. After that I untied her and laid the tarp on the ground, leaving her to investigate on her own. 

Fun with tarps.

At first she did her own thing.

Her favorite thing: standing by the gate.

But then she came back to investigate.

Walked right onto the tarp by herself.

The weather was windy and cold, typical to October in Wisconsin. In the round pen, Avalon showed signs of relaxation by licking, chewing, and yawning. But once we moved out of the round pen into the yard, she became alert and anxious. 

To help her process the change in weather, I brought out a variety of scary objects. There was a feed bag, an umbrella, a jacket, and a few other items. After a while she ignored all the scary objects I could find, so I got creative. I found a plastic bag and tied it to the end of my lead rope. I waved the bag around and rubbed it on her body. Avalon handled it all very well. She was more nervous with the plastic bags than any of the other objects, but she still managed her emotions like we have practiced. 

Then I decided to flick the plastic bag at Avalon's front hooves. She spooked, reared back, and struck at the bag. Immediately after, she stopped and looked toward me for direction - the perfect response. However, the rope tangled around my right index finger as she pulled back. I thought right away that it was broken, but figured I was overreacting. I continued to use the plastic bags as a training tool for about five more minutes. Once Avalon accepted the bag with her hooves, I stood back to give her release. That was when I realized that my finger still hurt, a lot.  

I took this picture right before breaking my finger. 

The rest of the story is written in my broken finger updates post. Here are some fun pictures of the healing process.

Picture from the ER as I waited for xray results.

In the ER I was given a splint.

I became worried about the finger a few days after I broke it. The paperwork from the ER said I fractured my distal phalanx (fingertip), but most of the swelling occurred in in lower joint. That joint was flattened by the splint and turned purple and swollen. 

The finger turned purple, green, and black at both of the knuckles. 

I returned to the doctor for my follow-up appointment and discovered the paperwork was incorrect. I had broken the middle phalanx, the bone between the two finger joints. This diagnosis made sense with the pattern of swelling.

The doctor showed me the x rays. The break starts at the top of my middle phalanx and goes almost all the way through the bone horizontally, then takes a corner and stretches vertically through the bone. Enjoy this beautiful diagram since I didn't think to take a picture of the xray.

Thankfully, the break did not go all the way through the bone in either direction, which meant the injury was stable. I was able to take the splint off and buddy tape my fingers instead. The tape was more comfortable and more convenient since it was water proof (I couldn't get the splint wet).

Starting to look better.

I discovered the best way to continue working with horses was to hold ropes with my pointer finger and thumb. After a few weeks the tape started ripping my skin off, so I used gauze or tissue to protect my fingers.  

I'm writing this on the 10^th of November, exactly five weeks since the injury. It takes four to six weeks to heal a broken bone typically (at least a simple, straight-forward break), so I’m almost good as new. Every once in a while, I feel a twinge of discomfort, but I haven't taped my finger in about a week.