Maddy is starting to get bored in her stall. I think for awhile, it was a sanctuary for her, but I really see a shift in her behavior. She is burning through her hay and when she is out, she starts to paw the ground and gets agitated. Of course she is pawing with her fractured foot, which drives me crazy! I ordered two hay nets and am going to double bag it so it takes her longer to eat. I bought her a jolly ball and she is not really interested in it. I thought about a stall treat toy, but she would eat the whole thing in one day and probably make herself sick. She is at 5 weeks of stall rest, so we still have a long way to go. I worked with Queenie today on the ground. 
I have my first riding lesson with her on Friday. She is green broke and her owner started Parelli with her about 4 months ago. I worked with her on the seven games and she does pretty well. She still is a little reactive to big movement and the rope being tossed over her back, but she looks just beautiful on the lunge line. Queeine is the lovely paint draft cross in the photo. I think she is three, almost four. Her owner, Robyn, brought her all the way to Portland from Wisconsin. So I try to say "you know" and "you betcha" around her to make her feel at home:-)
5 comments:
Throw in some "alrighty then" and some "okay dokeys" and she'll feel right at home "dontchaknow."
And don't forget "eh?" LOL!
The one stall toy that included a treat that hangs from the ceiling, she wouldn't be able to eat in one day because it swings around. If it's hung at least 3 feet away for the walls, the horses can't get it wedged against anything to eat it. They can get little tastes as they're trying to figure out how to stop the thing but can't chew on it. Mine play with it for hours. The only one that was able to eat it down in a day was the one that Dave didn't hang it the whole three feet from the walls. Once we fixed that, he couldn't figure out how to eat it down fast anymore. The toy is two parts, the apple on top with the flavored thing and then a ball hangs under it. They have just the apple too but the horses don't play with that one, they like the one with the two parts.
I'm glad that you have another horse you're going to be able to ride while Maddy is recuperating.
This woman I work with says Uff Da a lot, you could try that out. Then again, I'm sure you don't have to work too hard to sound like a MIdwestern girl!
And here I though 'eh' was purely Canadian!
Be thankful that you've got another horse to lesson on, at least your skills can continue to be honed. I hope you can find something for Maddy to play with; that toy that MiKaela mentioned sounds good.
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