Paige’s Page

…ya just gotta try something different after a while!  Tonight I worked with Paige again on ground tying, which she did reasonably well with.  But when I started trying to pick up her feet, she was being *ahem* difficult.  I was pretty patient with her, but she kept trying to walk away when I would ask for her feet.

After a while, it was clear that I was only succeeding in teaching her a bad habit, so it was time to shift gears.  So I tied her up very short to the barn post, and when I turned around and asked for her foot, she picked it up immediately and held it up for me.  Little stinker.  She knew exactly what I was asking of her, but she was testing the waters, methinks.  I think when I tied her up really short, she could sense that Mom had had enough of it.  She certainly straightened right up!

I made a big deal about it when she picked up her foot so well finally, gave her scratches and pats and told her what a good girl she was.  Then I walked over to her other side and asked for that foot and she picked that one up and held it up for me, too!

You certainly can’t say this horse doesn’t have a lot of personality.

Goodness gracious, we had even more snow this morning when I got up! I almost didn’t make it out of my driveway this morning!

Tonight I worked with Paige (INSIDE the barn!) on ground tying. I’m going to try to do it at least every other day. She’s a bit stubborn at times, but I’m more stubborn. She was doing well by the end of our lesson. She had eaten her grain, but I hadn’t given her hay yet. Since my barn is small, she was standing ground tied within reach of the hay pile. Poor dear was pretty patient considering that.

I also picked up her front feet again, only this time I had a mission. This snow is a very wet, heavy snow–which anyone who has had a snowball fight knows, means it’s good snow for packing. That includes packing in large draft hooves, poor baby. One of her front hooves had a big frozen clump in it that raised her off the ground about an inch. So my mission was to get it out with the hoofpick. It wasn’t graceful, but mission accomplished!

Growing up here in Ohio, I always remembered having one last big snow storm in March. So hopefully that means we only have one more to go after this one???

Oh boy, you should have seen the show Paige treated me to tonight!  I wish so badly that I had my video camera with me so I could have shared it.  She took my breath away!

When I was taking the manure back to the manure pile (quite a workout in this snow!), I took my coat off and hung it on the fence.  Well, Paige came out of the barn on the other side of the paddock, and when she saw the coat she started snorting and prancing around.  She broke into this beauuuutiful floating trot, and she even flagged her tail!  Wow, was she beautiful.  She was so full of life and energy.  I just stopped and stood there, completely enamored of her.  She pranced around in circles a few times, gradually getting closer to the coat.  She finally crept up to it, snorting loudly all the way.  When she got to it and sniffed it, she seemed to realize it was Mom’s coat.  She looked a little sheepish after that.  Hehe.  Silly girl. 

I took Paige for another walk this morning, and she ROLLED!!! You have to realize that this horse has YET to lay down in my presence, so I was completely flabbergasted when she stopped, plopped down her front end and had a quick roll! I’m just so happy that she felt comfortable enough with me to do that. What a huge step in her trust and comfort level with me. We were walking around more of the pasture when she did it.

I’m so looking forward to getting that fenced in for her when the warmer weather gets here!  She really seems to like it back there.

I could tell she was feeling good after that and wanted to run around, so I took her back to her paddock and let her go.  She ran around once and kicked her heels in the air, but then she was done.  Completely mellow after that.  Once again, she hung out with me by the fence for about a half hour rather than eating her hay. 

What a beauuuutiful morning this is. The sun is shining, everything is covered in several inches of pristine snow, and it’s not terribly cold outside. After Paige ate her grain, she came out and stood by the fence with me rather than eating her hay. She seemed bored, so I decided to take her for another jaunt outside her paddock. This ended up being a much longer walk than last time!

For the first time, I took her out the other gate that leads to the creek, the pasture (which needs fencing), and the woods at the back of my property. I put her new rope halter on her that her “Aunt Lori” gave her. It gave me a little better control of her, although I need to adjust the noseband.

So we walked down to the creek (only about 30 feet away), and she walked right up to it with no hesitation. I let her stand and slosh around in it a little, which she seemed to enjoy. Then I walked her back to the paddock gate so she could see it all with the other half of her brain.

No problems, so we went back and crossed the creek and walked down the “Avenue” (a tree-lined corridor leading to the pasture) a little ways, then came back to the creek again. We kept doing this, going a little further every time so she could get used to things with both sides. We finally reached the pasture and walked around a little bit of it. She was alert but calm through our trip to the pasture. She got a little more lively at the pasture, so we just walked back and forth a few times near the entrance and I let her stand and look around. Then we walked back to the paddock.

She and I were both having so much fun that I hated to end it, so we went back out her other gate. We visited the house and walked around the yard. She seemed so happy to have something to do. Her response to things so far makes me think that she is going to make a great trail horse.

The funny thing is that even though she was experiencing new places, she kept looking for treats in my pocket. I’ll probably have to stop giving them to her except in her feed bucket, but at least she’s not rude about it.

I snapped some pictures. They’re not the best because I was more focused on paying attention to her response to things, but it’s fun to see her in new places. The cold kills my camera batteries pretty fast, so no movies today.

It’s funny because the only time she spooked today was when I sneezed. I always bang things around and make a lot of noise when I’m doing chores, and it never phases her. But while she was eating I sneezed and she ran outside! I think that was the first time she ever heard me sneeze. Hehe.

The animals get fed late on weekends so that Mom can sleep in. I took this picture of Paige through the window before I ever opened the door to go out. She is intently watching the house for any signs of life!

Some pictures at the edge of the pasture:

Enjoying the creek:

Checking out where her human lives:

A stroll around the yard:

“Hey, aren’t I supposed to be on the other side of the fence?”

I was trying to back up a little and get more than her head, but she kept sticking to me. I think that if she ever got loose, she wouldn’t go far away from me since I’m her only herd member.