My mare obviously hadn't been longed much before, but she caught on fairly quickly. Jim walked beside her to help her get the idea until she picked up a trot and he couldn't keep up. She still isn't totally sure about this longing stuff, but what a trot!
We've been transitioning them to grass slowly, so as not to cause colic. Luckily, the bugs aren't that bad right now and they can go out without fly masks or sheets.
Austin has been scratching his tail, so we took him up to the house to give his tail a bath. Of course, we can't take one horse without taking the other. Bathing the tail hasn't cured the itch. His sheath is clean. Anyone have any ideas about how to deal with this?
We brushed both critters to a high gleam.... so of course, as soon we let them loose, they both rolled in the mud to get all of that icky cleanliness off of them.
On Sunday we rode them for the first time since trying them out. We chose a cold and blustery day, but they were great.
Until, that is, we tried to put Monique, our autistic daughter, on Austin. Our original intention was to have Austin as a horse for Jim to learn on, that we could also put Monique on. He is a real trooper with Jim, but he wanted nothing to do with Monique. Her strange sounds and hand movements scared him, and he would only sniff her with his neck stretched out, legs braced for a bolt. As soon as we tried to move her to his side, he panicked. So, we tried her on the mare, who has only had about 50 rides on her. As Paul Garrison (the horse trader) said, they must have been 50 good rides, because she didn't blink an eye as Monique clung to her neck while mounting, and clenched her heels on the mare's side when she was unsure of her seat. That mare has some potential. If only she had a name! Suggestions, anyone?
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