Prepping for a 50, liberty, and new herd mates

Playing at liberty today

Conditioning has been going well. We are averaging about 20- 35 miles/week for the last few weeks. He has worn holes in the toes of his Renegades and a new set is already on its way.  Assuming he settles and fattens up, I am planning on riding Aprilfest barefoot with boots available if needed.  We also found some cross-country jumps in lovely fields with rolling hills and had a bit of extra fun yesterday! I have been riding out with Chrystal and she has been meeting us on the road between her place and Sonny's barn, so I haven't been particularly working on our 'tether' recently.  However yesterday I was early and she was running late, so Sonny and I rode all the way down the road, past the horse-eating cows, to meet her and all was well.  So with repetition and time our tether to the barn is sufficiently stretched :)

In-between conditioning (and work, and head-colds for me) I have been playing with a little more liberty/on-line play (as I have been too tired to actually ride!).  This is going really well and Sonny is becoming very connected to me.  We haven't played a whole lot online, so the obedience is lacking as we don't have our body- language communication together enough yet for things like downward transitions or changes of directions.  But, connection, is the point of our liberty game and it is amazing!! We are even getting canter circles both directions with him eagerly drawing back into me.  I found it very interesting in the indoor the other day (after putting him with the new herd). He was very connected, but I kept losing the connection during canter circles to the right -- he stayed along the long-wall of the arena rather than turning to circle around me, but would re-connect when coming back around and each time after a few circles he would manage to leave the wall and circle around me and I would immediately draw him in for a reward break.  However, after a few tries it wasn't changing; I then had the lightbulb moment! I was facing with my back to the long-wall and that was the long-wall where he could see his new herd.  With my back turned he lost connection to me and started to re-connect to his herd (or at least I think that was what was happening).  I turned around, faced the herd and long-wall and with that small change we kept the connection and had beautiful liberty circles again.  I love learning from my horses!  I also love that when drawn in, Sonny chooses to 'snuggle' with me. He is the first horse that has done this for me -- at liberty he comes and he lowers his head and neck and places me right behind his head, at his neck.  I lightly massage his ears and poll and neck and he becomes so relaxed and happy, he will move his head so I get the 'right' spot- it is heavenly 💗

Rogan moved to a wonderful new home on Tuesday; he will be a much loved and pampered partner! And he is < 1 hr away so I can visit frequently -- we may trail ride together this summer too!  I re-homed him because he basically has been in early retirement for about 3 years (since I started endurance) and now that I am paying board and he had lost his job as 'companion' horse it didn't make much sense to hang on to him if I could find the right home.  He didn't have to go anywhere but I felt very guilty not having time for him when he clearly wanted attention -- while it was a hard decision I think this is a win-win for all involved. Congratulations on a new best friend Deborah!!

Rogan and Deborah

Unfortunately, Rogan leaving has made the last week a bit hard on Sonny.  While I hauled Rogan, Sonny stayed in his paddock by himself (still near and in-sight of other horses), but paced and whinnied on/off for several hours and I don't think he ate or drank very much.  We had tried to put an older mare with him, but they couldn't have cared less about each other.  So that afternoon I introduced him to the herd of 11 other geldings (plus the older mare). I had been feeding him in the adjacent pen for the past week or so, so he had met of the herd over the fence already.  Introducing him was uneventful.  Some squeals and posturing, but no bites or kicks; after about 1-2 hours he was eating at the round bale with the others and I went home.  After I left, an owner had the audacity (LOL) to remove their personal horse out of the herd for riding, and that horse may have had the potential to be Sonny's new best friend (I don't even think they had sniffed noses yet!).  Sonny had a meltdown -- must have been the final straw for his poor introvert brain.  He galloped the paddock (apparently very fast) and when squeezed between another horse, mud, and the round bale feeder, he chose to go over the side of the round bale feeder. Thankfully he cleared it successfully and didn't hurt himself physically with the whole ordeal.  He seemed to settle in over the next few days, but now he has become infatuated with a QH in the adjacent pen. To the point he is aggressively defending his new love from all 11 other horses (who don't actually care about the QH, but occasionally need to go where the QH happens to be standing -- like to the gate or near the water, etc).  He is even blocking the most dominant horses of the herd.  I am concerned he is not actually leaving the QH even long enough to eat.  On the bright side, at least he isn't getting beaten up by the other horses.  Hopefully time will sort this situation out, between all of this stress, the cold weather, and conditioning, he is down in weight to about 4/9 and I am trying my best to fatten him up. If he doesn't settle and loses more weight I will be missing our first ride of the season :(   There are always more rides, and keeping him healthy and happy is a priority.