I went to “Savvy Support Club” at the Horse First Farm last night. This is held once a month and a chance for people who work with their horses using Natural Horse Training methods to meet and share information. Last night there was a speaker, Anke Johnson, who was to speak on “Squashing Fear and Building Confidence”. The talk was not at all what I expected but I took a lot away from it. Anke is a life coach but as she said, she can’t motivate any of us to do anything, it has to come from within and what she does is help people find for themselves what motivates them.

Things We Fear

Anke had us draw a large circle then divide it into 8 pieces (like a pie) then label each piece on the outer circle with something that we fear.
She then had us rate each area with where we are from zero to 10 with zero being the worst. Examples for me on the circle were “fear of injury”, “fear of not being in shape” enough to ride better, “not enough time” to do what I need then what I want, “losing skills/forward progress” with my horse due to winter weather and not enough time , etc. She then pointed out how if you improve even one baby step in one area you will see progress in the other. Note that at least two of my pieces of the pie related to “not enough time”.

Then she asked people how much time they could give this week to make one small step in just one of those areas. She asked one person how long it would take to make one small step where she wanted to improve (riding bridleless at a canter was her goal). She said she needed 2 hours this week to work on it. Anke asked her if she could divide this time into 30 min. slots but she felt that 30 min. was not enough time to catch and groom her horse let alone ride him. Anke then asked her how she could make that easier. After thinking she said if one of the workers on the farm would leave her horse in his stall she would have saved time by not having to catch him. Anke then asked her when she would work on this goal and made her pick a day and time. She then asked her to have a support person that would help her achieve her goal and someone to hold her responsible for taking this time with her horse. She then is to e-mail or call that person and say “I did it”.

Finding Time

I started to relate this to my lack of time when she asked me if I had 5 min. three times per day to work on one of my goals. When I hesitated and said maybe 5 min. twice a day she said she could see that would be too big of a step for this week. She assigned me to take 5 minutes 3 times in the next week and by next Thursday I am to e-mail her and tell her that I did it. Neat system and although I can’t afford her classes or coaching I am definitely going to try to break things down in my life to smaller steps so they don’t look so impossible.

Anke also mentioned that often with time management issues it is procrastination or not prioritizing. I know my biggest issue is time management and it affects everything I do which causes me stress. Finding a few extra minutes is not easy so when I find them it is a blessing and I want to make the most of them. So this a.m. the class I attend on Friday a.m.s was cancelled. I have a 40 min. drive each way to get there. I now have an extra 2 hours and 20 min. in my morning! I already have the barn cleaned, the hay thrown down from the hay mow to the stalls (enough for the next week!), was able to work with grooming the foster horses a little bit, another row of snow and ice chipped off my patio/deck area and my weekly blog post written (one of my goals is to write more often) and now I have the hot tub open and running waiting for me to finish this post as a special treat for myself (it is a “balmy” 30 degrees out today but no wind and the tub is well over one hundred degrees). Wow I feel great and it is only 10 a.m.!!

So where can you find some “stolen moments” to catch up on something in your life or do something you really want to? I hope you have success in finding some this week.

Wishing all my readers a very Merry Christmas! My daughter and I are enjoying a warm Christmas with family in Florida while my poor husband holds down the fort in WI coping with snow, freezing rain, ice and now rain on the farm since we left. We really appreciate the opportunity to be with my family and are fortunate he is doing well enough to take care of things on the home front so we could come here.

Our part of Wisconsin got totally shut down by a huge blizzard that started 12/8 and went through yesterday. All schools and the university were closed, all government offices were closed, the clinic I work at was closed. We were totally stranded due to huge drifts in our driveway until someone could come last night to plow us out.

My a.m. started when I tried to turn the dogs out about 7 a.m. and could not open either of our doors to the outside due to huge drifts (which you will see in the photos). We finally had to take out a pane of glass on the storm door so I could climb through it to the other side, shovel out around the door and let the dogs out. The snow is extremely heavy and wet so I could only get it shoveled out enough to open the door wide enough for us to squeeze through. My husband, Kent, can do NO shoveling as unfortunately Kent had a heart attack last Friday so we aren’t going to be shovelled out for quite some time I’m afraid.

To get to the barn I had to walk on the edge of the fence due to hip deep drifts and since no gates would open had to climb over the fence. Walking through the hip deep drifts was too strenuous for Kent right now so he managed to get into the hay mow (which is level by our driveway) then I lowered the stairs so he could climb down into the barn. We had to kick snow out of the way to slide open one side of the barn door.

Here are some photos from the farm showing the amount of snow we are dealing with.

Now the sky is a magnificent shade of blue today and the winds have started dying down but it is only zero out with wind chills in the minus 20s so winter has hit us hard in a very short period of time.

We are suddenly making faster progress in “taming” the foster mini/pony mares. Yesterday I was again able to groom Spice in the barn then put a halter on her and lead her around the barnyard. I also did some of the Parelli games with her — “friendly game” and “porcupine” went very well.
Today she came back into the barn and Sugar followed her into the stall where we keep some hay. I thought if I could close them in together and groom Spice in front of her then Sugar might be more accepting of some grooming. That was working until suddenly Spice decided Sugar was taking attention or hay away from her and started kicking out at Sugar with me in the stall. Note to self: do not close self in stall with 2 insecure horses in future. Fortunately I did not get hurt and Sugar wasn’t really injured either except for a little loss of hair and one small bump.
After that I just kept Sugar in the stall and brushed Spice out in the aisle. When I was done with her I returned to the stall with Sugar and actually was able to brush her a bit then started working on her tail as she seemed more accepting of that since it kept me far from her head. I got her tail totally cleared of burrs and most of her mane combed out, too. She wouldn’t let me touch her mane up closer to her ears but she would let me spray the detangler on her so hopefully I can work on it again soon. She isn’t ready to try a halter on yet since she is so head shy. See how pretty she is all cleaned up? Now I know why I liked playing with the “My Little Pony” dolls with my little sister — I was preparing for these guys!!!

If you’ve read some of my other posts about our foster mini/pony mares you know progress with them has been very slow. If you haven’t, briefly they are being fostered by us for Spirit Horse Equine Rescue and we have had them here since May. They were part of a neglect case where over 100 animals (llamas, goats, donkeys, horses, minis) were taken away from a gentleman who couldn’t care for them all. They had not been handled by humans.

The girls watch us interacting with our mini donkeys and horses and I keep hoping they can see that they are not afraid of us and it might rub off on them. It has taken a long time to even be able to touch them and they are finally accepting a little bit of brushing, Spice has had a halter on a couple of times and both will take treats from our hands.

The girls have beautiful coats with long gorgeous tails and manes that were long but due to the burdocks in them they have shortened up. I have so wanted to get a comb/brush on them but have had to be patient. Lately they will wander in and out of the barn while I am in there and I can touch them a bit more. They will even walk into a stall on their own which they were doing today when I got the brilliant idea to try squirting some mane/tail detangler on them as they walked back and forth past me. They did accept that so I tried closing a stall door on Spice (the bolder one) to see what she would do. She did not get upset so I decided to put down some hay for her to eat and see if I could touch and brush her a bit more. Much to my surprise when I started gently pulling burrs out of her mane she tolerated it. After about 30 min. I had her mane totally clear of burdocks and started in on her tail. I really didn’t expect her to tolerate such a long grooming session but she did. I even got the burrs out of her feathering on her fetlocks and got to pick up one of her feet.

So I decided to try one more thing. I got out a halter and rubbed it on her face. Then I put it on her and tied it. I let the lead rope drag and thought that would be all I could accomplish for one session. I opened the stall door with me holding the lead rope. She followed me! I got some apples and put down an apple ahead of her. She would walk to it and take a bite, then I would pick up the apple and move it ahead again. This worked great as that way she was following instead of me pulling on the rope to get her to move. After that I got her to follow me all over the barnyard before I took off the halter. This was a big day for little Spice. Now if I can get a comb/brush on Sugar’s mane and tail that would be great.

It’s November in WI, it gets dark at 5 p.m. and the weather can go from 60 one day to freezing rain and snow that night. So I am riding Nick outside as much as I can right now. Last Saturday some friends trailered horses over here to ride with us. It was the first time we had friends come over to ride and at first Nick wasn’t sure he wanted to share “his” outdoor arena with strangers. He warmed up to the idea after we played on line a while and after everyone felt comfortable we hit the hay fields around our property for some trail riding. It was so much fun everyone is coming back again tomorrow.

The girls are sadly starting to grow their winter coats. They also have managed to get into a few burrs which is problematic when they won’t get you brush them. I worked with Spice today on that and was actually able to brush her face, neck and back with a brush and get a few burrs out of her mane. That is huge considering she’s never felt a brush before. She also let me pick up one foot briefly and I was able to lead her a few steps using the savvy string around her neck.

Sugar comes right up for attention but as soon as you reach for her and hold another object near her she retreats. I just give her a treat and pet her face briefly so at least she allows that bit of human contact. I’ll just keep working with her and hoping that soon we’ll have that breakthrough with her, too.

As promised, I have finally taken a couple of new pictures of Sugar and Spice, our foster mini-horses. They are looking really good, okay slightly fat maybe.
Today Sugar let me touch the side of her neck — a first. Spice let me run over most of her body tonight including touching her hooves.

Two days in a row now I’ve been able to slip a halter on Spice.
I tie it loosely then just let it slip back off. I have not put a rope on the halter yet and I put no pressure on it. I just give her a couple of treats then let it slip off again. I also was able to comb my fingers through her mane yesterday, also a first. Sugar remains very wary although I did touch her face briefly with the halter a couple of times.

A couple of Pat Parelli quotes help me remember that patience is a virtue with these girls and to stick with my slow approach. Pat says “Take the time it takes so it takes less time.” and “prior and proper preparation prevents poor performance particularly if polite and passive persistence is practiced in the proper position.”

Sugar and Spice are progressing well and are looking for the right home(s) that would continue to provide a patient, nurturing atmosphere. In return they have much to offer. I picture them being trained to pull a cart in time. If you are interested in adopting one or both please contact Spirit Horse Equine Rescue. There would be much support available to help you continue working with them.

The mini horse/pony foster girls have been here 2 months now.
Here is a summary of where we are at with them.
To review we are fostering them for Spirit Horse Equine Rescue in WI and when they came to us they were pretty much wild, not used to people, touch, etc. They have slowly come to be more interested not only in us but in other people. When my agility students or neighbor kids are here they now come to the fence to see them and will take treats from them, too. We can touch both of their faces but Sugar is still much more skittish than Spice. With Spice I can now touch her front legs, chest, neck and back, also occasionally I can lightly touch her rear. I wish I could comb out their manes but they aren’t ready for that kind of touching yet, hopefully soon. I can also drape a light weight rope over Spice’s neck and back and scratch her back/rump with a “Carrot Stick”. They whinny or nicker when they see me and they love treats. Their coats are beautiful and shiny, their weight is normal now. I still have not seen Sugar come into heat but hopefully she just doesn’t show it and isn’t pregnant. Spice is a bit more obvious when she is in heat as she teases my gelding, Nick.

Because they weren’t used to pasture I have had to ease them into being out on grass starting with just an hour at a time but now they can be out all day as the pasture is not as rich as 2 months ago. They are able to be out with my mini donkeys or with my two horses. They especially enjoy their time with my horses as they all run and play on and off all day. They are beautiful when they run, Spice especially is well built and is a beautiful mover when she gets going.
I could picture them being trained to pull a cart or small wagon but they still need to find the right home.

It’s rainy and ugly outside today (and horribly cold for July, only 59 degrees!) but on a nicer day I will take new photos and post them.