Day Two, Part One: Settling

Calypso's second day at the barn and she survived. Last night I heard the rolls of thunder and felt it through the ground, of course all I saw was the worst case scenario with my mare. I had wondered if she was still outside, or if she was brought in. The way the place is set up, she was probably left outside (pretty much out 24/7 excepting hail, freezing rain, freak storms, excessive heat, etc.). Nervous wreck= yours truly.

However, we arrived to a vibrant sorrel mare pacing the edge of the fence, recognising the sound of our car (don't you love it when the animals do that?). I was dropped off, and made my way up to her temporary field. Sizing it up, I almost wish she would just stay there. She isn't bothered by being in the pasture alone, especially with two horses as her pasture neighbours. By the time I'd brought her down, my mom had already left. I decided it was time to pamper her with some girl bonding, thus she had to be tied. Well, she had none of it. The clip rope was about a foot, which in her mind was WAY too short and there for a monstrous thing. At first she paniced and struggled, but eventually I was able to get her sane enough to give to the pressure just long enough for me to release her. I suppose the problem with that set up was not enough give in the rope. I could have left her to freak out, but then again I don't want to be the one paying for the damages when my mare rips out part of the wall via ragged out tie and clip.... Throughout the ordeal, I left her longer blue lead rope on (I always do this in case she escapes), and opted to just quick release tie her to a near by ring with that. Of course she was much more comfortable with an additional 6 or 7 foot of rope. Only twice did she end up too far and being pulled back by the rope, and both times she calmly gave to pressure and stood there while I gathered up grooming equipment from my tack. I started off sunscreening her little nose, picked her feet, then did the three step grooming (curry, hard brush, soft brush). I am glad the trimmer is coming out tomorrow, her feet need it- hind especially. After careful examination, I noticed she had some abnormal growth under her tail bellow her (for lack of better term) butt hole region. Warts, the looked like. Of course I jump to the worst case scenario: MY MARE HAS GENITAL WARTS, OMG STD HORSE. Yeah, reality check. ^^; I'm a nervous, irrational mommy. So, without anyone to ask about it, I just followed my subconscious, which in that case indicated my best solution was the cover it with something. I considered Swat, but for some reason that wasn't acceptable. Even I don't know how my mind works. <.<; (run, it's a crazy girl!) So I opted for the sunscreen. I took it and rubbed it on all the spots I felt immediately needed it, and decided to ignore it until later from there. Poor gal, what a sport though. THEN BEGAN THE PRETTIFICATIONS. I adore that long, blonde mane and tail of hers, but she was getting knots again. I brushed them all out of her mane to my best ability, and she tolerated it. I stopped before I got to the forelock- I was having one of my spontanious moments. It occured to me that soon I would be saddle shopping, so I needed to reaffirm that she could handle the saddle and pad. The rope had plenty length, so if she paniced she wouldn't panic-panic. I grabbed one of my saddle pads and walked out to her just as normal. She side stepped a bit and I changed my direction from her back to her face, allowing her to sniff it. A little trooper, she took a sniff and deamed it safe, in which case I tossed it on her a few times to make sure, and then left her with the pad on for a bit. Didn't phase her. I did not feel like taking down the saddle (a bum, I is) though, so that is for another day. She was fine the last time I put it on her though, no spooking, and in fact I left her with just the saddle and pad tied with a quick release while I watched from a reasonable distance (I used no girth because the saddle was not built to fit her and I did not want that kind of pressure on her back, the mere weight and presence was enough). When that was done and over with, I untied her and let her have a bit more freedom around the barn while I finished up her forelock, then I gathered a book, a brush for her tail, and my water and lead her back up to her pasture where I could read contently under the convenient and beautiful tree (which had a perfectly sized stump to sit on) while she grazed. It was when I set my water bottle down that I realised I needed to check her hydration level. She was not a sweating mess, nor was she particularly wanting for food (how could she, in a HAY field for heaven's sake!). Still, I pinched her neck and the skin took a second too long to revert to normal. The time called to test our herd relationship again.

"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. "-saying

True, but PB inspiration says tht you can show a horse and lead him to drink. I brought her over to the water, and lowered her head while swirling the water gently with my own fingers. I've done this twice before, once with a water bucket after a particularly long session in the indoor arena at the previous barn(success) again with the stream in her pasture (she wouldn't drink that time, lol). She followed my lead and drank, and drank, and drank some more. Poor camel mare. =3 All was well though, and when we both felt it was enough, I turned away and left her to her own devices, considering whether to bring her down.

She didn't have to be in, but the other horses were in and I wanted her to get aquainted to them and her new stall. As I walked down, a red truck pulled in and I thought it was the BO coming to give me back my purse (lol, left it in the truck of the hauler, who the BO was having dinner with and was gracious enough to pick up for me). This is why I need to remeber my glasses. It wasn't her red truck, but a very similar truck of a slightly darker hue that belonged to a boarder couple. I waved to them, left the paddock without my mare, and greeted them all the same. I remembered them from yesterday and they seemed quite nice, so I decided a chat getting to know my fellow boarders was in order. =)

The husband, who shall henceforth be called Jhub was tacking up his horse, Maverick, an adorable bay TWH gelding while the wife, who shall be refered to as Mwife unless otherwise noted, chatted and observed. I found out that she and Jhub had an ongoing jab with each other about whose horse was taller, I found it cute. =3 Mwife owns another gorgeous walker named Bucephulus (aka "Ceph") who is, you guessed it, black. Personally, I've never seen the two side by side long enough to pay attention, but I'm curious now. xD

Soon after, the BO swung by with my purse and I went up to grab Calypso for exposure. Jhub was still grooming Mav, getting ready for their trail ride, and Mwife casually, but firmly told him to move Mav's hind quarters over so I could pass, which he did with no protest. We walked by with no scuffle, and all the boys inside started flirting. I lead Calypso to her stall and stopped so see if she'd go in, but of course not, had to have me walk in first to show her how it's done. ;P So Mwife and I chatted some more as Calypso explored her stall, trying to find a way out. She's a total pasture baby now. I checked the time when Jhub started to leave, and grabbed Calypso to turn out. Jhub and Mav were a fair distance ahead, but they stopped and turned around to watch Calypso be turned out. She's a doll, that one. I turn her out, clucked to her after turning her to face me, and she spun around and galloped up to the comfort shade of the tree and the water. Mav and Jhub watched for a bit, then turned and flatwalked away. Calypso had no interest in anyone, and didn't even look up, let alone run after them, which makes me think she's content to having horses in sight, but not necessarily as company. Which is fine, so long as she's happy.

My mom arrived soon after to pick me up for my appointment. We did stay a BIIIT longer to chat with Mwife some more (she's a nice person, what can I say? xD), and then we had to go.

To be continued, this post ended up longer than I expected, and after all that, it wasn't even 11 AM!