Patience

Max is not a patient pony.  Since he came to my home at the end of 2013, I have rarely had him tied, especially for longer than 5 minutes.  I haven't needed to.  Even when I boarded, I never left him alone long. The few times I did, he would stand at the wall, holler, and paw.  The one time I took him trail riding, he stood patiently for a few hours only because he had a bag full of hay to occupy himself.  I've no doubt he knows how to tie and be patient, he just hasn't had the chance to do it for a long time.

Well, now he's going to learn how to high line.  This happened over the weekend.

First, we started with this:

Dafuq?  You took me out of the lush pasture for dis shit!

Then, he realized this....

This is a little better, but the pasture is longer.

 Then, I look back out to the pasture to see Cinderella running around upset that Max had left.  She slipped through the electric rope before I could catch her and went over to the pony, so then this happened....

Cindy: "WTF! I should have stayed in the pasture."  Max: "Duh!"

There was much circling on both their parts. I also need to learn to tie a better quick release knot. Mine always seem to loosen when horses pull. Not a big deal yet, but it will matter in the future.

So, after I was assured that everyone wasn't going to flip out and strangle themselves, I decided to up the torture pressure. There have been plans brewing in my head for a new obstacle, but it involved power tools. What better time than now?  I set up near by and got to cutting wood. Other than some "oh woe is me" looks from them both, neither cared about the circular saw and my swearing at making bad cuts.

They were out maybe 45 minutes at most and did very well. I was pleased and plan on upping their times on the rope in the future.  Cinderella is going to be included since she is clearly more attached to Max than I thought.

On a side note, that is totally my front yard, complete with homemade chicken tractor.

On another side note, exciting news coming Wednesday. Eeeeee!!!!

Hobby Farm Life

My husband and I knew when we bought our property, it needed a lot of work, especially to make it horse safe. Now that I can walk outside without the threat of freezing my ears off, I'm considering which projects I need to focus on this spring.  My main focus will be working on the pasture. So, let's have a look.

The back part of the pasture

 Right now I have a single strand of hot tape on step in posts.  The pony can and has jumped this line. Most of the time he doesn't care because he's all "OMG GRASS!!!"  There is also barbed wire on the property line along with some wire fencing.  The wire can stay, but I need to get the barbed wire out.  Then the trees.  There are a few cherry trees we had to cut down last fall that are in the pasture area.

The front area.

 Many years ago, someone leased the pasture area and had horses here.  They put up woven wire fence and a strand of barbed wire on top. Since then, that line of trees grew around all the fencing. Last spring I manged to get all that out but pieces still remain in the trees.  I just ordered some electric rope and insulators and will probably start there.  There's a pile of fence boards that need to go up. Also, some IBC totes that I want to use as rain barrels and some other experiments.

Pony in the mist.

 Along with warmer weather comes rain and mud. Max's paddock is a muddy swamp.  Last night he was slipping and spooking himself. He was huffing and puffing when he came to get his grain, but seemed okay.