Since the horses have been home I‘ve been keeping things pretty lax with them. They’ve all been on a bit of a “vacation” since I now no longer have access to an arena (outdoor or indoor) to work them in. The ground has been so soft that I’ve been paranoid about destroying my property working just around my paddock (more on that later), so I’m very limited on options.
But it’s time for that to change.
I‘ve been noticing things changing dynamically. Especially since turning all five horses
out together as a group, it’s been very interesting to learn the herd dynamics and watch them figure each other out. They all spent the first two weeks getting used to each other over the fence, with Bug and Jazz on one side and Millie, Reign, and Harley on the other. This allowed everyone to at the very least acknowledge each others' presence safely before becoming a group.
With the ground taking literally forever to freeze and my patience wearing thin day by day, as well as the horses', I decided to rope off a small section of my bigger grass area to allow them all to have some more room but also so I could begin integrating them all as a group. The mini's got their muzzles put on with the new grass I was letting them into, and I kept everyone out together for about 2 hours on the grass before putting them back into their respective smaller areas. Things were very uneventful! Bug kept mostly to himself (and even had a little nap in the grass!) but occasionally circled around to hang out with Jazz or the minis, but stayed away from Millie and made faces at her to remind her that he's top horse.
When Millie and the minis came the day after I brought Bug and Jazz home I was able to see what I would call the height of his food aggression and "boss mare" attitude. He would charge the fence at Millie and herd Jazz away from the shared fenceline between them. It was obnoxious to watch him destroy the ground and turn it to a mud hole, but I can't blame him for doing what instinct was telling him to do. In that moment, he felt like he needed to be territorial and guard his food and his friend. The extremity of this dimished day by day as he learned that Millie wasn't a threat, and that both parties had their own hay that neither could steal from the other.
That translated to when I turned them out in the grass paddock with Bug not feeling territorial in a small area where he needed to protect his food. With grass surrounding them now, he could graze in peace whether by himself or with Jazz or whoever he wanted to.
With Bug relaxing a bit more each day being out in the grass, Jazz began to explore her independence as well as seeking companionship with Millie and the minis. She began by testing her boundaries with them all, seeing where she'd land in the pecking order as she was always at the bottom of the herd in her old paddock. Seeing as the minis are smaller than her, being above them in rank was a no brainer, and she especially enjoys the company of Harley and likes to play with Reign. With Millie, she asserted her dominance over Millie by using her body language to move her. Millie had no issue with moving where Jazz pointed her to, but would always come back to see if she could be by her. Knowing that she ranks above Millie, Jazz is comfortable sharing space with Millie and they've grown quite close recently and spend quite a bit of the day grazing next to each other.
It's been very cool for me to be able to spend time watching the horses whether in the barn watching through the run-in doorway or even from windows in our house, learning their behaviors and observing in further detail about their body language and how they use it to communicate with each other.
I finally decided to just kick everyone out into the entirety of the one acre paddock, and said "it is what it is" to the grass and ground. The ground has been partially frozen, and I roped off the area where Bug fell the day after Christmas and punched a literal hole in the ground, which in hindsight makes me wonder if there used to be an old fence post or something in that spot because of how the ground opens up where his leg went (but let's not get sidetracked with my scatterbrain...). I just have to say that it's amazing what providing your horses with more space can do for their mentality. Since I've turned them all out in the whole fenced paddock, things just seem so much more mellow and generally happy. Everyone takes their turns going off alone and having what I call "me time" or hanging with one buddy or staying together as a group. And they've all happily co-existed well together.
But the horses' dynamics with me have still been all over the place. As I too settle into a routine and figure myself out, I learned that I needed to take a step back in my expectations with everyone as we're all adjusting. We've had a couple of rough days here and there, the worst being after I took Jazz for a ride, and was putting her back out, I didn't get to close the door fast enough after taking her halter off and she went to move Millie out of the run-in and Millie panicked and ran through the open door out into the aisle way. The panicked baby didn't know what to do, and tried to run to Bug (who was on the cross ties) for comfort, and for whatever reason he panicked and reared and broke my cross ties. Tensions were flying all over the place, and it was just a messy moment in time. Not gonna lie, after capturing the escapee and getting Bug to relax as much as I could, I had my own little meltdown. I threw myself a tiny pity party of feeling overwhelmed as all heck.
Then I pulled on my big girl pants and had to remind myself that a moment in time is just that: a moment. I didn't need to let that ruin the rest of my day, or take away from the great ride I had just had with my mare! There's always bound to be messy, sloppy, obnoxious, whatever moments mixed in with the good ones, that's bound to happen on a farm! But it gave me a great moment of clarity, and I realized that I needed to readjust my own dynamics to mesh with the horses.
So, we've started getting on a schedule, of getting back to a sense of normalcy. I've been getting each horse who needs to be worked, out and about to work, at least every couple of days. Each horse has been coming in on the cross ties to get groomed daily, and everyone seems to be even happier doing these things, and so am I.
Routine has proven to be very important in keeping my horses in their best headspace, but of course it's not like anyone's going to self-destruct if their routine gets thrown off slightly. But I find that routine has helped everyone get back to their normal selves quicker and has made for much happier horses. Not to mention, regular and consistent handling reminds everyone that we all have manners and we need to not act feral (looking at you, Bug...).
With it being January and having typical gross January weather, the ground goes from a soupy mess to partially frozen in the blink of an eye. I've been so paranoid about destroying our land that I was hesitant to work the horses for a while, until my friend Lindsay said, "Grass will grow back, just go ride lady!"
Truer words were never spoken! I set out on foot with my dog, Herschel, one afternoon to figure out where the worst wet spots were, and where it would be more managable to ride or drive. We do have the benefit of having a fairly lush yard which almost seems to help protect the ground beneath and provide an extra layer of cushion so the horses don't sink quite as easily. Since doing that and figuring out the lay of the land, I said screw it and took Jazz out and about to explore our property, and I've been out daily since then! It's been a blast getting to walk out my back door, grab a pony, and go for a stroll around my own yard whenever I want!
We also go out for road hacks occasionally, but since we live on a 55mph road with regular semi-truck traffic in the morning and evening, I need to be strategic about timing my road rides to try to avoid the busier times of day, and always remember to wear my safety vest. Thankfully, both Bug and Harley are fairly desensitized to traffic and have both now experienced passing semi's on our road and haven't cared, but Jazz and Millie are more unsure when it comes to that. But we have all the time in the world to improve that.
In the last week or so that I've done all of the above things mentioned in this post, I've seen the herd dynamics and individual horses' dynamics change for the better. Everyone is even more relaxed, happier, and all seem content with life. And, honestly, I feel the same. I hope that as the weather will warm up come springtime and the sun will shine again, that everything will just keep getting even better!
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