Juniper.

[Mellu]

Well, we got her aswell!


Today I went over to see my new ponies.

I dewormed and groomed them. Joon has some troubles with her feetsies, well, picking them up.

She's had like zero work done with her feet. I picked them up and she'd just start to fall. I eventually got all four of them up with no instance of falling and got them all picked out. This is gonna make trimming her difficult for Kevin but she absolutely needs to be done, shouldn't be -too- bad since it's only a trim, and not a shoeing. Unfortunately not all four of her feet were as well shaped as the ones I took pictures of.

She has some thrush issues aswell, so that will have to be taken care of.
Another problem I had was SHE KICKED ME.

As you know Benny and Joon are living in box stalls with open backs. Benny is fine and won't kick out but boy she didn't hesitate. She kicked me, I dusted myself off and climbed up next to her and jamed my elbow into her to push her over. This all happened within five seconds, haha.

I kept going in and out of her stall for various reasons, to fill up her water bucket again, to fix her mane, any excuse I could think of so that she could start getting used to having me in her space. She was perfect on crossties, but that's just not safe.

Especially since my mom is going to want to get to know her and has no horse-sense yet.

So, any suggestions on that besides pushing my way through and pushing her over/making her do something she doesn't wanna if she goes to kick? Keep in mind I'm limited in what I can do space wise and HAVE to go towards her from the back.


Also, my little munchkins are sooo jelous of each otherI went up into Benny's stall to fix his bucket and give him a scratch and she started pawing and flhemening. Benny just pins his ears and moves around impatiently.

Cuuute. Gotta break her of pawing though.

[Kayla D]

aww!
congrats mel!

i dont have much experince with kicking horses so i dont have much advice for you.
sorry.
ill google it

[Amanda.]

congrats mel! i hope you have fun times with all your ponies.

[Emily C]

Ohh I have a kicking standardbred too Mel and it's no fun. Red has been doing that since I met him, I remember Gary saying "watch that red one he'll kick you".
He hasen't kicked me in a year or so but he kicked me so hard in the hip one time he drove me right over into sophie's stall a cross the aisle.

My advice to you would be always have a crop or dressage whip in your hand, that way you can teach her to be respectful of "over" etc.

I used to tie Red in his stall and groom him, practice moving away from me etc. and I'd reward him with treats. But the second he got pushy and threatned to kick me I'd just push him over or make him do something. Eventually he got out of it for the most part, Im sitll wary of him in his stall if I approach him from the back, but he's 99% better then he used to be.

[jessicab]

The 3 second rule Mel.. if she kicks you make her think she is going to DIE. Shout at her, wave your hands, smack her, throw something at her, spank her booty with the crop... whatever it takes for her to actually think shes going to die. For 3 seconds. Then just stop and go on like nothing happened. Repeat as necessary.

Kicking is not acceptable, under ANY circumstance. Especially if shes just doing it out of blatant disrespect.

The way I look at it is; if she was out in a pasture, and kicked at Benny, I'm sure he wouldn't think twice about lacing it into her, and he would probably hurt her way more than you ever could with your bare hands. Of course, he wouldn't then hold a grudge, and a few minutes later they could be grooming each other etc. So don't get angry with her, just sharply and firmly let her know, in no uncertain terms, that YOU are the boss, and that what she just did was NOT in any way acceptable. Then go on with what you were doing. You need her to view you as a horse in her herd that she needs to respect. If you let her push you around, she will not respect you, end of story. And if she doesn't respect you, she will kick at you whenever she feels like it.

Not very safe for mommy! ! !


Let me know how it goes next time, and remember to spank that booty (3 seconds) if she does it again. It should only take once or twice for her to get it.

Oh, and be safe... wouldn't hurt to wear a helmet for the first while, just incase she retaliates.

And get pictures!

[Jess]

^You took the words right out of my mouth, Jess. I've got a ZERO tolerance policy for kicking and biting. Completely unacceptable, not to mention dangerous especially if made a habit. Like Jess said, put the fear of God, or rather, Mel into her. It's not fun to have to do, but you're not gonna hurt her, whereas she could easily seriously injure you without much effort, and if she's smart it won't take her long to figure out that she under no circumstances kicks out at people.

[Mellu]

I was just over then and grained my babies.

I think since ealirer today with all the yelling and elbow in the ribbs she got it, but I was still careful and used the handle of the picthfork to push her butt over when I approached her. No kicking out.


I forgot to mention that when I gave her her dewormer she loved it, haha. It was bimectin(ivermectin) which is apple flavored, I gave her her dose and she just loved it.

When I put baby oil on her nose she flehmened, what a cutie.

But anyway, when I gave her her grain tonight(1/2 cup hi fat hi fibre and 1/2 a scoop of equimin) she seemed to have had a hard time eating it. She would pick some up, chew, nod her nose a few times and chew again. She didn't touch her equimin(so I poured it over her hay), do you think I should make her grain into a mash?

And is two too young to have her teeth floated?

I'm having Dr Peacock to Ben's ASAP, I think I'll get him to look at her too, but what do you think, is she too young?

[karlah]

I'm so happy you got her! She's beautiful
Her and Beny seem like they are going to be experiencing a new (better) standard of living from now on!
Good luck!

[Mellu]

Thanks .

Today I'm going to be bringing her outside for a hour or so, I have no where to tie her as attempting to clear my backyard went terribly. So I'll just walk her around and let her eat as much snow as she wants. I think that will help with her crabbyness in her stall. I'll do the same with benjamin.

Joe has a pregnant mare that I'm going to take over caring for. I'm going to give her some grain(hi fat- hi fibre as a mash with equimin and a tablr spoon of mollasses, Joe will get her a waterbucket(He told me he didn't give them buckets because thought they'd rip them out).

She worries me because she just practically runs around in frantic circles in her stall, I think she'll end up holding her foal as long as possible if things don't change. So, "Sweety" is now under my care.


BTW I named all of his horses and his cow, they're no longer all "Paddy" Haha.

Benny, Joon(mine), Amber, Sweety and Moo.

[Emily C]

Aww Mel I want to come out and paly with all these horses! And 2 isn't too young to have her teeth floated, well at least Im pretty sure it's not, I had Red donw when he was 2 and 4 months..

[Kayla D]

i say we make a trip up to see them!
road trip anyone?


good luck with the mare,
maybe you should try adn convince the owner to pay for a vet.

[Mellu]

I won't be paying for anything for Sweety, just looking out for her.

[Mellu]

Joon now has self- cleansing hooves!! Which is amazing considering she's holed up inside all the time.


My baby girl is losing her baby insicors and is nibbling on everything in sight. She's also sper duper itchy right underneath her halter. She needs a bath reeeeally bad she's full of dry skin.

My cousin and I just groomed her and snuggled her and I absorbined her because she fell down on her hind legs and side the other day(Slipped on slush) and she was finding it yesterday.


Emily's coming out over easter and having her way with her, I've very excited. She's gonna love her!!!

[Robyn]

She probably dosen't need to get her teeth floated, I'd say she just has ouchie teeth because she's teething

Sounds like you're enjoying her! Hopefully I'll get to see you're new ponies sometime in the future. My nan lives in Brigus, so I'm out that way a fair bit.

[Sarah and Rudy]

Joon sounds like such a sweetie!
I'm up for a road trip!