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Walking with the Girls

Sep 27, 2016

Walking with the Girls

The girls and I had a lovely walk today. It was a hot one and they both worked up a sweat, as did I! Sky was so funny because she kept trying to turn around and go home, but Bonnie was happy as a clam to be out walking. She had her ears up and trotted up the road without a hitch! They both wanted to stop and take a break at the canal. They took a few minutes to talk to each other and look at the big horses that were following us up the road. Then we went on our way. We walked

Natural Horsemanship & Feelings

Aug 17, 2016

Natural Horsemanship & Feelings

As I watch Bonnie go from scared to confident I’ve been thinking about her feelings. Natural horsemanship programs talk a lot about how the horse feels about what we are doing. Are they engaged, connected and responsive or do they feel like we are doing things TO them? That is the question I ask myself every time I DO anything with Bonnie. Don’t get me wrong. There are times I just have to do something to her so we can get something done. For instance if we are walking and sh

Bath Day!

Jul 8, 2016

Bath Day!

All four ponies have been so dirty. They are all itchy and were in need of a bath! So I hooked my hose up to the washing machine water so I would have warm water and lined them all up. Everyone was so patient waiting for their turn. Sky was the best about it all. I also clipped up her mane as it was heavy and thick. I thinned it for her and then bathed her. She likes to be pretty. On the left is Sky’s before Crypto Aero feed photo taken on May 23rd. On the right is Sky today,

Slow Feeders

Jul 3, 2016

Slow Feeders

I have been using some form of a slow feeder for several years now. The entire time I had Billy he had feed 24/7. He had a slow feeder, a slow feed net and/or access to pasture. Now that I have the minis I did not want that to change. Because I thoroughly understand the importance of a horse having access to forage all times of the day and night I knew I wanted that for my minis as well. I have three hay nets, the 70 pound bale nets to be exact. Forage is the foundation of ev

Short & Sweet

Jun 28, 2016

Short & Sweet

Tonight Bonnie and I had a lovely play session. It was short and sweet, just the way we like them! I focused on staying very calm and centered in my body first and foremost. I’ve noticed that Bonnie really doesn’t like to be touched so I figured the Friendly Game was a good place to start. If my hand offends her, I thought I would start with the stick and give her a little more room. She responded beautifully to this! Her ears were forward most of the time and she was really

Worming

Jun 22, 2016

Worming

Today was worming day. I don’t like to worm very often, but both Captain Planet and Zorro have been vigorously rubbing their butts on the fences. They have permanent “blue butt” from the fence grease staining their bums. I am going to give baths today or tomorrow as well, but started with worming. My main goal (besides getting the wormer INTO the ponies) was to walk away without having hurt any feelings or made anyone mad. I waited until they were done with their feed. They e

Before and After

Jun 14, 2016

Before and After

When I got Bonnie she was due for a hoof trim. I could tell by her feet that she had been living on soft ground. We have hard, rocky, sandy and dry ground here. If I didn’t trim her as soon as possible I was risking her soundness. So even though she had only been here two days as was still very skeptical of everything I was doing, I opted to trim her. I set it up for success as much as I could and she handled it very well. I believe she is innately a RBI (Right Brain Introver

Misery Loves Company

Jun 11, 2016

Misery Loves Company

Over the last two weeks I’ve been using Young Living Essential Oils and the Masterson Method on Sky to help with her soreness and hormone issues. At first she wasn’t so sure and let me know in no uncertain terms. She made me laugh as she stomped around, pawing my leg, as I bent over to drop the oils on her back, shoulders and poll. She pushed into me, trying to boss me with her shoulder. Her ears weren’t pinned, but she had a mad look on her face. That didn’t last long as the

Communication

May 27, 2016

Communication

What I’m about to share with you may turn some of you away from my blog, but it may help some others so I’m pressed to share. I’m known as the “Hippie Horse Chick” up here where I live in southwestern Montana. I was born and raised in Montana and spent many years being a cowgirl, riding colts, rodeoing, barrel racing and roping. I’ve definitely done my share of cowgirl type of activities, but noticed as I got older that being a cowgirl didn’t define me. The old ranchers that

Weaning

Apr 15, 2016

Weaning

There are many ways to wean a baby. (Or a yearling!) When we had the farm we tried a few different ways. First we tried taking the baby away, cold turkey, and moving it across the farm as far away from the mama as we could. There would be a couple of days of crying and whinnying from both mama and baby, but then things would settle down. The best was when we had two or more babies to wean at the same time. We would put them all together so they weren’t alone. This was worked