Mojo is a good boy

When I got to the barn for the second time today.. Wait. Let's back up.

Yesterday was busy.. err, productive day. I went to the barn in the morning like usual and had dirt on my eyeballs. Cleaned both of my horses, their stalls to the bare mats, washed their water buckets and scraped up their feed bins. Xenia had a good inch+ of old beep and grain in her feed bin, which is how this all started. It was gross and I couldn't let her eat out of it with that there. I also fed beep and extra hay (that we had personally bought) before I left. I spent five hours at the barn. When I left, I passed by a hotdog stand that looked delicious. I wanted Mom and I to get lunch from there (she had mentioned before that she would like to) but Mom hadn't felt well and was taking a nap. I still wanted food, so I biked over the the stand. I needed a way to carry the food back home so the ladies used a bun bag. Haha. =) Later that night, Mom made dinner while I was back out at the barn.

I've been working on bareback mane mounting with Xenia the past few days. Once I get up there, I allow her to move forward and eat up some beep. After a while, I hop off and we do it again. She finished it pretty quickly and I rode around the arena for a while. I turned around and rode backwards. I asked her to whoa and was scratching her tail (she said it was itchy) when I noticed a massive lump on her rump. She has had lots of scratches and scrapes the past week, but nothing like this. It was bigger than my hand and sore when I touched it. It looks like my girl's been getting beat up outside by another mare she's been put out with lately. I spent a lot of time loving on her because I felt bad. I put her back out and came home to snuggle with my dog and do it all over again tomorrow.

Today I woke up, went to the barn this morning and had a nice surprise. John and Faye Silbaugh let me ride their half-Percheron mare Jenny. She's a beautiful buckskin with a black-and-white mane, and she is absolutely massive. (And I thought my mare was big.) It's like being on a barrel 6 feet in the air. She was a very good girl and I had a really good time. =) Thanks John and Faye!

I took Xenia out to the wash rack and cold-hosed her bump. She said it hurts lots and could I please not do that, so I was careful not to touch it directly. The pressure of the water must hurt like hell on a hematoma (most likely what it is) that big. I also worked on riding bareback. Hopefully all of the movement and using those muscles will help spread the fluid and help it be reabsorbed back into the soft tissue. The last time I rode, Xenia taught me something. She taught me that if I ask her for a hard trot - fast and almost a canter - for long enough, the canter was beautiful. She steered well and didn't try to run away with me. I remembered that and used it again today. Her canter was absolutely better. Xenia is a good teacher. I cold-hosed her one more time, cleaned stalls and talked about turnout arrangements with Cyndi. Mom and Cyndi had decided to keep Xenia, Paige and Mojo in one paddock. The horse that had caused Xenia's injury would be in the separate but share a fence line. I'm sure this will work out well. Mojo may be a boy out with two girls, but he's gelded and he just doesn't get into it with anyone. He's a very special little man.

I went home and surfed the interwebs. CollegeHumor.com is hillarious. Note: This site is exactly what it says - things a kid in college would find funny. I know my quite a few that would find it distasteful. However, if you do take a peek at the page, check out the POV videos and Roommate Confessions.

Back to the barn to torture Mojo with kisses on his face. I brought him in from the paddock and into the main barn aisle. Another barn member was already there. She said hello to me and let me know that her horse loose in the arena. I said that was okay, I'll just work with Mojo in the aisle. I snuggled with him for a few minutes, told him I loved him and kissed his baby nose. Then I got out a saddle blanket. This one unfolded into a fairly big rectangle and I waved it at him. He bobbed his head up and down but didn't particularly care. He is a good boy. As I turned around to give him some alfalfa pellets, I heard the arena gate open followed by hoof steps. The boy in the arena had managed to open the gate himself. He never gets out of his stall so boy was he excited. He really, really wanted to say hello to Mojo. Poor Mojo was scared, I think. He froze in place and looked at me like, "Am I allowed to say hello? He's big.." It was probably scarier for me because I was worried. Two horses who have never met before in a narrow aisle. I led him into the arena and the other horse followed like I had hoped. By then, the owner had come to get her horse. I clucked the other boy away and Mojo just stood there like the good boy that he is.

After we snuggled some more and (I) calmed down, I worked on the saddle blanket again. I asked him to touch it on the ground and to step on it. Then I threw it over him several times. I wanted to add the saddle, but I had to walk into the tack room to get it. And of course, fearless boy that he is, he tried to follow me right in. I let him get two feet in and sniff around for a minute and then asked him to step out. He was nice and respectful. When I put the saddle up to his back, he didn't move at all. I put it on him and he didn't really care. Good. We walked as much as we could in the aisle.

The other horse had been put back into his stall by now so I repeated everything in the arena. I tightened the cinch and he still was cool. Every time I put the saddle on, we walked around for a while. He got a few pellets now and then for being a good little man. I didn't use a clicker here because 1) I didn't have enough hands while putting the saddle on, 2) we weren't working on a specific behavior and 3) I don't want him to think of saddling as something he controls - it is just something that happens. I am very specific about clicker training as a way for the horse to make decisions. I enable them to do what I ask, but it is always their idea and choice to do it. This really teaches the horse to think through problems and not rely solely on the person. People are not always there and often the horses are smarter than people and notice things long before we do.

I worked for a while at getting up onto his back. It started by hopping next to him ("People are sooo weird"). Then I pulled on the saddle in different directions and let the stirrups fall into him. I started putting my foot in a stirrup, hopping up and then back down. He was really confused by this point so I stopped to pet him and tell him he's a good boy. The saddle I was using is one of Paige's - and the little mare is rounder than my little boy. We definitely are going to need a smaller cinch for Mojo. We did a good bit of hopping and pulling and loving before I put him back out with the girls. Mojo is such a good little man. He's an interesting combination of "I still move away when you touch my face even though it happens a millions times a day" and fearless. He is a special horse and very, very intelligent.


Mom always says I love everybody, and she's right. I love the horses and the dogs and the kittens at the barn. I love my family and spending time with them. I realize I'm a lucky kid.

(I hope this very long post makes up for not posting yesterday!)