What-A-Week!

First off, my post title is kind of a joke ;) We have a burger place down here called Whataburger, so I thought I'd be silly and use 'Whataweek' ;)

Secondly, WOW. What a week! And not in the good kind of way :/

I only got to see Gwen twice last week. I got down there last Monday, but we didn't do anything besides get a bath, and graze.  Sometimes at the same time.

Wet Gwen!

 Then we did a whole lotta grazing while she dried out. But of course, despite her being almost 100% dry, the first thing she did outside was... Roll!

Rolling...rolling...rolling...

But, thankfully, I had already loaded her up with conditioner, in anticipation of JUST such a thing, in hopes that it would help the dirt just slide right off rather than stick to her. Once she was finished rolling, she came back to say hi.

Hi Gwen!  That's Cool's tail...

And then... I wasn't able to get back to the barn until Saturday! :( Several things contributed to this, most significantly work. I had two days at work where I simply could not leave early enough to get there on time. And then there were errands and doctor appointments (btw, Tetanus shots HURT!!) and boyfriends who needed to be picked up from the airport... phew.  So it was Saturday before I actually got to see Gwen again.

And Saturday was a BIG day!  The people I lease Gwen from own a ranch (a real working cattle ranch) and Saturday was a big huge barn party. So Star, Cool, and Gwen all got loaded up, and I tagged along to be with Gwen and to help out with things. We spent the Whole. Day. There. From about 9am until 7:30 pm. Crazy. And we all worked our butts off, but the ranch owners were thrilled, and I think the party was a huge success, and I had a lot of fun with Gwen.  And.. Star and Cool did not come back with us. They stayed "home" at the Ranch.

I didn't get to see Gwen again until today, and I'd been a little concerned about how she was handling the loss of her two buddies. She seems to be OK. I think she's made friends with one of the mules.  Unfortunately, when I pulled her out of the turn-out, she had a boo-boo!

It looks like one of the other horses kicked her.  It's not bad, but it's definitely swollen and sensitive, and there was a bit of a puncture (a little blood, but nothing scary).  Barn owner said she should be just fine. I hosed her leg for ten minutes, then slathered the area with Swat to help keep the flies away, and then spent a TON of undemanding time just letting her graze.

Ouch! (the white stuff is Swat)

It was clearly tender, but she wasn't limping. I'm hoping by tomorrow it will look a lot better.

Nom nom nom. What boo-boo?

Boo-boo's and barn-parties aside... Something happened that weakened my relationship with Gwen. Not in a big way, and nothing that is irreparable, but she was regarding me a bit differently towards the end of our time together. I think I just pushed her a little too far today, asking for things a bit more firmly than usual. While we did spend a lot of undemanding time today, toward the end I played a little yo-yo and circle-game (well, I asked her for one circle, but that's it). I think I was a bit too aggressive with her. She takes things so calmly, and she catches on SO fast that I sometimes forget she's an RBI - it just hardly ever comes out! But today I saw a bit more of her RBI side.

While asking for Circle, she did a lot of stopping, tensing, looking unsure and unconfident, which is not how our circling usually goes. I abandoned the circle game after half a circle because I could tell her hesitation was not her asking 'what do I do now' but more of a 'I don't like this...' So I stopped, and did a lot of trying to entice her toward me. She was very resistant. She didn't want to move forward, and she had such a sullen expression it broke my heart! I crouched all the way down to the ground and just let my gaze go unfocused toward her feet/ground, and combed the lead until I got a step or two.

Her whole attitude was one of unconfidence and sadness. She just looked miserable. I did everything I could think of to try to repair the damage, mostly by just using the finger-comb method to bring her toward me a step at a time, and then spending a lot of time gently/slowly stroking her face and nose once she got there. Then I would ease back up, move off a bit, and see if she would come/follow me. If she didn't want to follow, I'd go back to the finger-comb/petting of before. After a few minutes, she would follow me willingly, and seemed to be a LOT happier (much happier expression, much more interested in what was going on around her, much more willing to move/follow me) so I did a bit more friendly-game/massaging her legs, touching her gently everywhere but around her injury, and then I turned her back out.

I think we're back on good terms, but I'm definitely using this as a reminder that she IS an RBI, and I need to remember not to push her just because she seems to catch on super fast.

J