Every day is a busy day here at Luso Towers, but some days are definitely busier than others. Yesterday was one such. Up early to ride Q, while T had a mad half hour charging around, bucking and doing caprioles for no apparent reason other than that he could. Poo picked (and for those who have never had the pleasure of dragging or pushing a wheelbarrow full of sodden poo through a mud bath, be glad that it's almost impossible to describe the experience), prepped a stable and then went off to the farm shop to collect Angie. She's a real darling, loves a fuss and I swear she recognised us from the last time we went to see her.
Rather than the sledgehammer/walnut scenario of taking the horse trailer to fetch her, we borrowed Karen's stock trailer. She loaded like a pro and off we went back home. Unloaded and put her in the stable, left Knickers with her while I took the trailer back.
There's a pen at the back of the boys' stables which we thought would be ideal for her so we took her in there to see what happened. Within seconds she'd put her head and a front leg through the lowest of the post and rail gaps, so back she went to the stable and we set to with a 50m roll of stock proof fencing. Within not very long at all (especially once we hit on the idea of using a large pair of pruning shears as wire cutters) we'd got the pen lined with stock proof fencing and were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves. 4:30pm and dark though so no chance to put her in there, and I had to go and run a few errands.
Sunday
This morning I had a lesson on T to look forward to. When I went to fetch him he came charging up the field doing a Big Trot (TM) which IMO is something of an achievement in such a wet field, apparently filled with the desire to urgently acquaint himself with Dan's horses, on the walker. Clearly a blokeish day. We had what can best be described as a dodge-off, with him wanting to charge off back down the field and me blocking him, which went on for a few minutes before he won. Off I tootled down the field to fetch him.
He hadn't been ridden or otherwise worked all week and was clearly feeling "well". What with that and the added complication of Angie's presence and her tendency to stand on her hind legs at the stable door, I was wondering how to minimise any potential surprises, particularly while sat astride half a ton of supremely athletic stallion. Put Angie out in her pen, or not? Tether her nearby? I'm not a fan of tethering tbh but there it is. In the end I decided it would be best to leave her where she was and introduce her and T before we went to the arena. T was ace - fascinated and pumped of neck for a while there but chilled and with a lovely soft look in his eyes. I have half a hope she could be a companion for him.
We had a good warm up with lunge and in hand work, and he was good as gold. Not fussed by Angie calling or indeed by me calling back to her to tell her everything was ok. Mandy arrived, on I got and he felt really good. We're working on him reaching out to the bit within a range of activities including LY, SI and transitions to trot. Each week I feel improvements which is quite a thing since I hadn't ridden him since the last lesson, but I feel he is more confident in reaching to the contact and we had some really nice transitions and sitting trot before the heavens opened and down it came. Lots of interesting feels to store away and think on. Really pleased with him. Even on a loose rein walking directly towards the girls he maintained focus so maybe next week I'll leave them in the next field. Or maybe not :)
The next order of business was to take Angie for a walk, once it stopped raining. Goats, you see, are very susceptible to bad weather. The immediate thing that did me in was how much better she was on the lead than yesterday. The mares came to the gate with that look of intense interest, to investigate. We went in the picadeiro, the mares came along and grazed apparently uninterestedly right by the fence. Then we went in their field and there followed a period of very interested sniffing on the part of the girls, and a study of standing still followed by huddling up to me for support on the part of Angie. Man, she's sweet.
We walked around the field so Q could see her and he was absolutely agog. He's such a drama queen. Big trots and snorting, then stopping, head right up on full alert like a big Portuguese meerkat, then trotting off to have a pop at T, presumably to reaffirm his manliness. He dursn't let us too near, and it seemed she was much less scary if she stood still than if she *gasp* MOVED! Horrors!
The plan for the afternoon was to build her a shelter in the pen, but we were stymied by a number of issues, not the least of which was the weather. So we will have to limp along for a while. But she does need a chum - she was bleating when Knickers went out first thing to feed, and also when I went out for my lesson, so this needs to be addressed asap. Poor girl. But as I said to her, better lonely for a few days than having your head chopped off.
Need to get vitnery to look her over as her feet are overgrown and need attention. Her knees already look better though.
I wasn't prepared for what an utterly charming creature she is. She loves a fuss, has bonded to us for reassurance and is just really sweet. The thing that really kills me is the noise she makes while munching - I've never heard anything so sweet. That's probably weird. Knickers suggested I record it and then use it as a ring tone. Genius! I bet noboy else on earth has the sound of a goat munching as a ring tone, and if they do I really need to meet them.
Otherwise, we did loads of yard doings in the rancid, pissing rain, cleaned the stables, cleared out the hay barn and had Pheel round to empty the muck clamp, before retiring indoors.
No comments:
Post a Comment