Our weekend together was somewhat trying, but much better than last week. The other mares in her turnout were all in heat last weekend (which we discovered after her meltdown) and with a Stallion in the barn in training it was quite hectic. One of our goals for Kiki is to discover if her attitude is seasonal or if it comes with her heat cycle...So we are tracking every interaction on a 1-5 scale (5 being totally nuts). Last we qualified her at a 5+...this weekend she was much different. Saturday I went out in the afternoon to groom her and do a little ground work. She was fantastic for the grooming and we actually played a little game where she had to join up with me to get any more attention. As it turns out the diva looooves being groomed. B left me alone to work with her in a very quiet barn which allowed us some real one on one time. We were initially distrustful of each other and the second I put a shank on her she freaked a bit snorting and pawing the ground, so off it came, and then back on, and off again, and so forth. She has developed some pretty bad behaviors with her head and she uses it like a cannonball when you try to put her halter, bridle, lead rope, anything on her. It's just a small protest, but it could be a dangerous one if she does it with the wrong person, or if she catches you off guard. We went for a little walk, I hand grazed her, brought her in to the indoor where she proceeded to have a temper tantrum and a battle of wits with me, then we went back to the barn for more grooming and bonding time. I finished the day by taking some photos around the property including a portrait of "flashdance -- aka. Nikki" and Munchie (the most perfect shetland pony ever!
Today, she was turned out and she definitely recognized me when I went to catch her. She was much better than yesterday, no snorting or panicked look on her face, and we had a really nice time grooming. Afterward, L worked with us and he taught me how to long line her. She was pretty full of herself and it was nice to see the way he handles her antics, he mentioned that he is the ONLY person Kiki fears...she is after all the alpha mare. The long lining was really fun and it was a neat way to get a feel for her without being on her back. We agreed that 20 minutes is about her attention span for this kind of work and she had gotten herself nice and sweaty. We gave a quick bath and ended on a good note. L and I are going to try to work as much as we can together so I get really comfortable with her and he suggested I keep a notebook of everything we accomplish during our sessions with Kiki.
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