Horse Talk

[ChickenLover200]

Nice picture! Maybe it's because of our lack of good pasture that makes me want to feed grain... :/

 

[abigalerose]

I tried to post more but I guess it didn't work!

She stood like this and waited in this exact spot while I walked back to the house and changed into jeans. How sweet is she?

Nosey audience of one

 

[Peaches Lee]

They look really happy together!

 

[abigalerose]

They're pretty much attached at the hip already!

 

[abigalerose]

So, this may be a dumb question, but I don't think you guys will judge me too harshly. June has been riding really good lately (we did several laps around the biiig pond today and she was perfect the entire time) and is starting (juuust a tiny bit) to pick up on neck reining, and I was wondering, if I ride her everyday (except for the week that I'm on vacation and if they weather is super bad) then by the time Penelope is nice and healthy, do you think I'd be able to pony Penelope off of her?

I was just as sweaty and gross as she was today

 

[abigalerose]

Penelope is limping! I'm really worried, but my grandpa says we should give her a couple days and if she doesn't improve then we can call the vet..
Her hoof looks fine and no scrapes on her leg and her leg temperature feels normal.

 

[ChickenLover200]

Penelope is limping! I'm really worried, but my grandpa says we should give her a couple days and if she doesn't improve then we can call the vet..
Her hoof looks fine and no scrapes on her leg and her leg temperature feels normal.

mayb she has arthritis? I hope not! I would wait a few days and see if it stays the same, worsens, or its better. My cinnamon had a previous barbed wire adcident at her old home and sometimes she has a day where she will limp. There's nothing wrong, but it must get sore sometimes. I work with a few horses with arthritis too...

 

[abigalerose]

My grandpa helped me clean her hoof out real good with the hoof pick, and although she's still not putting all her weight on it she does seem to be walking a little better. So hopefully there was just something sharp in there. I'll update in a couple days on that. She's got a long cut across her chest too, it's not very deep but it's pretty long and stupid flies keep irritating it. I've been fly spraying her and June twice a day and it just keeps getting rained off and now I'm about out of spray. Ugh. I hate flies. Penelope seems so happy though, despite her injuries and being underweight. She'll follow June everywhere while I ride, she follows me everywhere when I'm walking around by the barn and stuff, she likes to roll in the grass, she seems playful, and she's super attached to June already, she neighs ridiculously loud if I leave her penned up while I ride June. She sure is cute. Usually it annoys me a little bit when a horse neighs and acts worked up if I take the other horse away from it, but I'm just happy that they get along and that she's settling in and super comfortable with everything. June rides past her and everything just fine, but tonight while I was untacking her Penelope got too close (she was nudging her butt and chewing on the blanket) so June nipped her, June's good about keeping her cool with her though if I'm out there with them. I also rode June again tonight, she just gets better every time. We did two laps around the pond again, would've done more but it got dark and I had to wait forever to go out there because it was raining and my grandpa said I can't ride in the rain till we oil the saddle. I'm hoping tomorrow it's sunny, I'd like to ride her around the pond a while and then take her out in the bigger part of the pasture. I've also taught her a little trick, since she doesn't know how to side pass yet, I've taught her to back up beside the gate so I can unlatch it, and then push it open with her nose haha, it's really handy! And she spooked at something tonight, I couldn't see what since it was about dark but I'm thinking a frog or snake, it was a big spook (for her) she jumped sideways, but we both stayed calm and after she snorted a couple times we carried on without problems. I'm very impressed with her lately.
Oh, and Penelope is already gaining weight

Also, what do you guys think about trying to pony Penelope here in a month or so? I figure it would be a good way to exercise the both of them without working Penelope too hard right off the bat

 

[ChickenLover200]

Not sure about ponying, but Penelope is looking great!

 

[Bunnylady]

Quote: June was doing your job for you, and that's not fair to her. At 7 years old, Penelope is still young and clearly very insecure, so she may not know any better, but she should not be trying to interact with a horse that is being worked. June shouldn't have to choose between listening to you and dealing with another horse. I don't care if the horses are friends or not, when you are among them, their attention should be focused on you, not each other. What Penelope was doing wasn't cute or funny, it was potentially dangerous for you. That wasn't "super comfortable with everything," Penelope was testing the boundaries, and you should have corrected her by getting her out of your space (which in this case, included June). Remember, Penelope is the new horse, and one in very poor shape; this is your best time to get across to her that you are in charge. It's soooo easy to feel sorry for her and indulge her because of her poor condition, but if you don't want to be dealing with a pushy horse, you will nip this behavior now.

This is important - whether you ever try ponying one off the other or not, there are a lot of situations where you may have to deal with both of them (you may need to lead both of them somewhere, or just get one through a gate without the other), and you can't have them squabbling or playing with each other with you in the middle. Each needs to have enough respect for you to ignore the other animal and focus on what you are telling them to do. When they are on their own time, they can work out their dominance issues or whatever, but when they are on your time, they need to pay attention to you.

And I'm sure the rescue told you this, but don't get too impatient to see the weight come back on Penelope. It should take at least 3-4 months to get her back to good weight. Slow weight gain is safe; you can do her real harm by feeding her too much and trying to get the weight back too fast; at least to begin with.