Yearling

I seem to have neglected my blog lately, but with a new job and getting used to the 12 hour shifts I haven't found any time to write anything.

Anyways, Azula has finally hit the yearling mark and has been sticked at 12.3-13 HH.  She's also a fearless bugger, wasn't afraid of the measuring stick at all.

So far I'm just letting her grow now and handling her once in a while, but she stands quietly for haltering now, stands quietly for brushing, relatively quiet for braiding, quiet when I clipped her bridle path, picks up her feet, and recently started working on her getting used to having something on her back; just a saddle pad, but it's a start I guess.

These were when I sticked her at 12.3 hh in april.

And these four were taken in May, I haven't sticked her since April, but should do it again to see how tall she is now since she seems to be growing like a weed now.

~GRELL~

Ten Months Old

So some progress since the last post.  I can pick up all four hooves now and on command! :D

But that's not the only thing I've worked with her on, we've worked on opening her mouth when asked and very recently I've been using a red rope to get her used to things draping over her head, neck, back and butt.

As you can see she really doesn't give a shit about it :P (This is today; the second day)

Also there has been a change to her name.  Since everyone is having such a difficult time remembering what her name is I've changed it to Zoey.  It's not too drastic of a change since I would always shorten her name to Zoe and she's listening to it. 

and that's all for tonight, totally exhausted due to new job.

~GRELL~

Nine Month Mark and Spring Plans

Who all wishes this snow would just melt already?  I sure do, I'm sick of this weather!  In two months I only got out for one trail ride before a snowstorm took away our beautiful weather.

So Azula will be 9 months March 23rd, 9 days away!  She's not really growing a lot, though, but we string tested her and she should be getting close to the 15 HH mark.  Right now I'm skeptical, but she's still a baby, maybe she'll have a growth spurt this summer? :P

With the milder weather we've been having I've gotten back into working with her while the barn owner works with her half sister.  Lots of going from one stall together to a stall besides each other and leading and tying sessions.

Anyways, the big plan for this spring is that I may be bringing Azula and my older mare, Rosie, over here to keep them home for the summer!  Now I have to work the kinks out of my blueprints for the paddock and round pen set up, plus the expenses I'll have to pay out for everything, but it should look pretty epic once it's done.  I'll be sure to post progress pictures of that here along with Azula's training as with her closer to home I'll be able to devote more time to her training.

And now for updated pictures of my dirty filly!

but first a picture of her new sparkly brushes!

As you can see she's dirty XD curse my love for black and white horses!

And there's that forelock I love so much <3

~GRELL~

Eight Month Mark

Alright this is a little late, but Azula turned eight months February 23rd!

She hasn't gotten too big, but she has grown and so has her coat!  I swear it's at least 2 inches long now, but that's perfect, it means she won't freeze during this cold weather.

So not alot has happened, due to weather and work schedules.  But let's just say I ended up with the smartest horse in the world.  To me at least :P.

She lets me play with her ears, lean on her, give her hugs, picks up her feet, lets me rub her down all over with little to no fuss now, leads well, and can be seperate in another box stall away from her sister without through a big fuss.

So I thought I'd share a few pics of her now.

I find Tex babies seem to love close ups/blurry pictures.

It looks to me like her star and snip are trying to merge lol 

So that's all for today, I'll see what March brings in the line of posts :P

~GRELL~

Progress

Went to the barn this afternoon to help with the chores, what I've been doing since I haven't been able to ride due to the thick ice, and ended up doing more tying work with Azula and her half sister.  The barn owner was there and she owns Azula's sister and the two of them needed some tying work done so we separated them into two box stalls and tied them to the rings in the stall.  Then we stood at the entrance of the door and watched them to make sure they didn't get themselves into a wreck.

Well everything was going almost perfect, not perfect since Azula has had minimal tying work done with her, until Azula somehow got the rope pulled longer and around her neck.  All I can say is thank god for quick release knots.  And also thank god that Azula listened to me when I said 'whoa'.  It gave me enough time to quickly pull the rope undone and unravel her from it.  So we just stood there for a bit and let her relax and let me relax before I had an anxiety attack, before I brought her from the box stall and had her stand with me while we waited for her sister to put them back out.

After that it was a lot better, she walked out to the pen on a semi-loose lead and stopped when I stopped, backed up when I told her to with limited pressure needed.

I can't wait for when she turns three because I can tell she's going to be a lot of fun to ride, she's definitely not going to be a poky horse that's for sure.

~GRELL~

Pretty Shitty Winter So Far

So I haven't really gotten much done with Azula the past few weeks due to the very nasty weather and ice.  I've started up working with her again and the other day I went out to the  barn and decided to do some tying exercises.  This was her second time and again she did really really well :D.  Of course she did do her little rock back and forth thing, testing the rope, but only pulling enough to put a little pressure on her face before walking back to the hitching post.

And that's after almost a month of no handling :) very proud of her.

So this month I'm planning on doing alot more work with her.  I'm going to work on picking up feet and getting her used to brushing XD she really hates having her legs done.  As well as leading and tying.

~GRELL~

Training Begins: Desensitization and Leading

It's been a few days since my first post and December marks the beginning of Azula's training.  So far she's a doll to work with and willingly leads beside me through everything.  She's so careful of where her feet go (unlike her older half brother) and seems to be thinking through everything.  Now she's pretty attached to her half sister that she's been kept with during her weaning process and can get a little testy when she doesn't see her, but we'll work through that.

So the first day of desensitization, I had planned to lead her around the new obstacles, but it ended up being a "OMG EVERYTHING WANTS TO KILL ME" day so I let the two girls get used to having a bunch of stuff laying around in the arena.  The next day I took Azula out by herself and reset up everything with a few changes, but with the same objects, and led her through everything.

She walked over the tarp and stood on it with no problems except for a little spook, but she barely left my side.  Next we went over the ground pole and that's where I learned of how careful she is of putting her feet. She stepped over the ground pole slowly and carefully :3.  Next I set up pylons in a line with a space in between and weaved her through them, to work on flexing.  And let me just tell you, pylons are my friend now for flexing and turning work.  The first time I tried getting her to turn she walked side ways XD.  But with the pylon on one side and me on the other she bent around the pylon.

Now the difficult part was brushing her XD she hates having her legs and belly brushed, and again she will just have to get over the experience since she's mostly white :P.


So that's all for now, I'll keep you all update this month as we progress.

~GRELL~