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!!!

I haven’t written much about the little foster horses as progress is pretty slow. They are at a really good weight and have beautiful winter coats. Unfortunately their tails are matted with burrs and they are not at a point I can get those out. They will let me pull a burr or two out of their manes though. Today they both followed me into the barn and were poking around in there while I cleaned it up. I was able to run a brush over both of them while they were in there, even Sugar let me gently brush her with a lot of “approach and retreat” on my part. I briefly was able to touch Sugar’s lower front leg which is a first with her. They both enjoyed some apples while I was brushing them so it was a positve experience. They are getting curious about us and what we are doing and do seek out a bit of attention on their own now. Spice remains the dominant one of the pair but Sugar does not back down from her as quickly.
So that’s where we’re at after having them for 5 months — a slow progression.

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.

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.

I haven’t written about the mini foster horses in almost 2 weeks because progress is slow and I don’t want to bore everyone. In the last few days things have moved along a bit though.

The girls are spending much more time on grass now, their winter coats are finally all gone and their coats are pretty shiny and healthy looking. I still can’t brush them so their manes are pretty scruffy but hopefully in the next month I’ll be able to try, at least with Spice, the bolder one.

It has helped to take the advice about working with them “outside their bubble”. I have been hanging the carrot stick over the fence, flicking the rope around from the other side of the fence, letting the rope touch them briefly and finally (only with Spice) rubbing back, neck, rump with the carrot stick so they know it won’t hurt them. I think Spice is starting to think that feels really good as she is starting to stand still for the scratch with the stick. I can also drape the string that is on the carrot stick (Savvy String) around her neck, over her back and touch her legs with it. Sugar still is very wary of the stick and string although I’ve been able to get it a bit closer to her lately and she has sniffed it. Being able to rub her with the stick has been a huge breakthough. I hope Sugar will accept some rubs with the stick soon.

Tonight I made some great progress. I had the girls loose in our outdoor arena to graze. I went in the arena and start lightly flicking the carrot stick and string around as I walked then stopped and waited for the girls to come over to me. They both did and got treats for coming to me. Then I started walking around the outdoor flicking the stick rhythmically in front of me. They both followed me all over and when I ran, Spice trotted behind me and when I stopped she usually stopped although once I had to slap the ground with the stick so she didn’t run into me. I played this game for a while with them and occasionally doled out a treat to each one then left the arena without putting pressure on them to do anything.

Later tonight when I went to feed them they both came over the fence and Spice poked her head through at me. I was able to rub her face with my hand for many seconds then worked my hand along her neck and rubbed it for quite a while. When she seemed okay with that I touched/rubbed her chest then touched her upper legs. I was also able to run Sugar’s face for the longest time I’ve ever been able to touch her. This is a big change even in the last week.

Horses see us as predators and they are the prey so it takes a lot of work to earn their trust especially when they haven’t had much human contact. Here is a video showing the friendly game and how it is used to win the trust of and desensitize a horse.

Friendly Game

Eventually I should be able to do more of this with the girls. Of course right now they haven’t even had a halter on yet so everything is done with them loose in a fenced area and usually from more of a distance. I’ll do another update once we have made some more progress.

Cookie has returned from her “tryst” with OhBee. She was ultrasounded this a.m. and is in foal so Ed, OhBee’s owner, was nice enough to trailer her home to us tonight. Nick was so happy to have his friend back and the two of them happily cruised the pasture as soon as we put them together and tonight Nick is looking very zenned out in his stall. We are looking forward to a gorgeous foal next April.

Yesterday and today I have been attending the Parelli Celebration which is an educational event about natural horsemanship, a great way to train horses in a positive manner. This year they have a new format where some students are “spot lighted” showing what they can do with their horses then Pat (Parelli) gives them a score and his comments which include a lot of constructive “this is what I would like to see you do with your horse”. Pat then shows the students how to accomplish whatever his suggestions are. I thought it might be a little boring watching others work their horses but actually it has not been and I’ve seen some awesome partnerships between horse and human this weekend as well as heard suggestions that will help me with my own horses. I did end up buying the new “Parelli Patterns” DVDs and hope to actually find some time (probably late at night) to watch them and learn more.

I am hoping some of what I have learned will help with the mini/pony foster mares as well. I was disappointed to see that the rescue horse Pat Parelli chose to work with was from a rescue in another state rather than from a local rescue such as Spirit Horse Equine Rescue (where our foster girls are from). I hope that next time they will use a local rescue. Spirit Horse is doing some wonderful work using the Parelli program with their foster horses and it would be nice if the Parellis recognized that and worked with one of their horses instead of one from 4 hours away.

This is a quick update on the mini/pony foster mares. Spice has been quite feisty this week since she’s been in heat. She nipped at my arm today when I tried to touch her neck so I backed off. They are getting more curious. Today they both were sniffing at my shirt through the fence which is new. I just know we can’t push it with them or otherwise we will justify them being afraid of us. Approach and retreat is the way we work with them. As the Parelli’s explain it, we are predators to them and they think we are going to eat them. So if we move fast, yell, approach quickly, etc. we are only convincing them we really are going to eat them. Patience is the only way we will ever get these girls to trust us or any human. So in 3 weeks it doesn’t appear that there is a lot of progress but our patience is laying a foundation for future trust.