Sigh..

I went to work with my yearling yesterday and I don’t know what happened. She is afraid of the lead rope and halter, like actually shying away like she had been hit with it. She followed me around like a puppy last time I was out, and now she was looking at me like I was an alien. She stood nice and still in her stall, with the lead rope threaded through the loop but not tied, for me to groom her all over and attempt to pick up her feet, but she was really spooky the whole time. And then when it came time to use the fly spray, she was flinching and moving away like I was gonna kill her.

After that, I walked her to the ring for some exercise as I am not working her at all yet, but I am trying to develop her leading manners. She was a cow about it, tossing her head and crowding me, and when I did let her loose.. she trotted out about 20 feet and kicked her back feet toward me. It wasn’t near enough to me for me to be scared, but the message was clear. I forced her to move out and picked up a whip for safety. She trotted around for about 20 minutes, and then stood quiet for me to catch her again. Leading her back she was a goof again, stepping sideways into me as if the world was scaring her to death.

She’s such a different horse. I will head to my coach’s after work for some advice before going back to the barn to work on her manners again.

Day Six - September 18, 2006

Did a 1/2 hour handling lesson then went and visited Tacia. She is sooo darn cute. It's too rainy to do much so I just did friendly lessons and got her more used to being touched all over. She looks at me and says, 'been there, done that'. She is very well started with ground basics, so I'm mostly doing the exercises for my own level of trust with her.

I can't get myself out of the gloom I'm in however. Maybe it's just the rain, and maybe it's the diet, but I just can't seem to think positively.

I started an Atkins type diet a week ago, and I'm down between 8-9 lbs. I have one more week of no-carb induction to go, then I start to add carbs slowly. Right now my energy is low, but I have started taking a multi-vitamin daily. My goal is to reach 140, then I will reassess my weight goals again.

September 17, 2006

I figured I better put some stuff up about my upcoming puppy adventures. Following is an ad I made up to put in our kennel club pamphlet. We are organizing a show on Oct. 15 .

RAIN RAIN RAIN

Day Five - September 17, 2006

RAIN - I skipped going to the barn yesterday to do housework and go out for the evening. Now it is pouring down buckets.... I am invited for dinner at Leann's tonight. Yesterday she gave me a tour of their new property and the plans they have for it.... WOW, it's amazing.

I'm going out to Karaoke! I haven't done that in a year and a half.. since the night I met my now-ex boyfriend. Woohoo! Probably looking forward to it a bit too much.. hehe

Day Three - September 15, 2006

Today I got various news, both good and bad. I started out freaked out at my money situation as I watched my savings account dwindle from all the cheques I have been writing lately.. then, a $500 education scholarship blossomed into a $2500 scholarship by noon! I was about to bounce off the walls, when I got home and found a message from the girl who was all set to move into my spare room and share living expenses, saying that she can't move in now... so poof I'm sad again. I cooked up some crab at lunch to eat after work and tried to figger some things out. I'll just look for another roomate.

Tacia is great, I went there after work and played with her a bit. Shawna helped me (read - did it all) worm her, which Tacia wasn't too thrilled about but was so very polite. I need to go buy brushes and other grooming products this weekend.

Think I'll munch on some leftover meatloaf and watch some mindless TV. Soon I need to buckle down and set up a workstation to get my darn research project done.. Kelly Johnsen, M.Ed.

(=

Day Two and a Half - September 14, 2006

Went out and visited Tacia again, tried to take some pics when I was in with her but she follows so close all I got were blurry pics of a nose, or an eye, or forelock. She is such a sweetie, she follows behind wherever I go. I worked on space with her and got her to lift one foot when I asked. I can touch her all over and she doesn't flinch or move away an inch, just stands quiet and still.

After Leann came to visit Tacia, we went and picked up a freezer. I thought I was gonna die when I tried to lift my end and it fell over onto my legs. With some help we got it into my truck, but on the way out, we got the news that alfalfa hay was being delivered. Oh my god that alfalfa is heavy. I tried to lift one but just couldn't.. so my job was to slide the hay to the edge of the trailer for Leann and two men to haul.

Day Two - September 14, 2006

More pics, and I am headed to the barn now to visit her and take new pics with my newly batteried camera!

Day One – September 13, 2006

Tacia came in at about 7pm. I was visiting with Leann a few blocks away and missed the unloading, but I was there at about 7:20. She was hyper and had her head high, but she was polite enough to not run us over. She sneaked under the electric wire in the first pen we put her in and was making friends with a grey arab, so we moved her to a bigger paddock. She didn’t look like she was going to respect the chain gate on that paddock, so we moved her again to a more secure paddock. She walked right through the enclosed stable breezeway with not even a flinch.

She is a beautiful slate grey in colour as she was born black and is graying as she ages. She will end up completely white grey. She’s BIG! At one year she was standing higher than the grey arab she snuck in with, but we haven’t measured her yet. I figure she is about 15 hh now, and will grow to around 16’3.