The Ides of March

March 15th, the Ides of March is Kadance's birthday. She is two years old. And in true two-year old fashion, has temper tantrums.

The day before her birthday, I was at the barn working with the horses. I really want her to be a good horse that I can feel confident while riding and ride well. I know it will take a long time and a lot of work to reach that point. I decided to bring her in from the pasture, groom her and begin playing Parelli ground games.

Bringing her in from the pasture was easy. Having her stand still while grooming was difficult. Having her raise and hold up her feet for picking, impossible. Playing ground games, by this point, futile.

Kadance does not stand still for very long. She still has to learn that skill. She does enjoy being brushed, but looses interest quickly and investigates EVERYTHING around her: the groom bucket, the water dish, the lead rope, the cross tie ropes, the spicket, the hose, the barn cats, the bits of hay blowing around in the wind, bits of dried mud, my hair, my boot laces, the brush. I do mean EVERYTHING. Recognizing my effort to continue with grooming would be an exercise, I chose to stop while I was ahead and move on to the next task, picking up feet.

HA HA HA. It is to laugh. She takes no issue to having her feet touched. She will, with encouragement, pick up her front feet. Keeping them up...a completely different story. She prefers them to remain on the ground. Never mind that I am trying (trying being the operative word) to maintain proper foot care. The first time the foot came up, it was immediately placed down on top of the bridge of my left foot. Apparently, she was comfortable in that position because it took effort (porcupine game?...ha ha ha) to get her to shift her weight and allow blood flow to return to my toes. Next attempt ended with her foot atop the big toe of my right foot. The hind feet...well, I was successful in raising it a fraction of an inch off the ground and only for a fraction of a second. Kadance decided she didn't want to cooperate and walked off, taking my thumb with her. Talk about seeing stars.

I snatched my hand back and walked away fighting back tears of pain. Bent over and taking deep breaths, I contemplated how I was going to break through the communication barrier. I was frustrated, but not angry. The situation was making me more sad than anything. I so desperately want to have a melding of the minds with my horse. As she is curious, she meandered (yes, that is exactly what she did. She is a big fat warmblood, afterall.) over to see what I could possibly be doing. I stood up, pet her (lots of friendly game) and made another attempt. Same results.

Now, my thumb was throbbing and both feet were hurting, I decided that I needed to change focus. Okay, let's go with lots more friendly game. Well, remember when I said she is two years old? TEMPER TANTRUM.

She huffed and puffed and nearly blew the arena down. I let loose of the lead rope because there was no holding her back. She ran around, kicking up her heals, snorting and squealing. When she finally wore herself out, she stood still. I cautiously approached. She was breathing hard and moist with sweat. She was also ready for a scratch on the chin and a rub on the cheek.

Enough for today, but must finish on a positive note. I was successful in getting her to back up and to come forward; the Parelli yo-yo game.

By the time I returned to the barn from releasing her back in the pasture, I was disappointed, dejected, discouraged, and depressed.

The next day, I woke up with a big bruise on the top of my left foot, my big toe on my right foot nearly black, and my poor thumb...too painful to even open a bottle of soda. Once I got to the barn, I asked for help from Wanda. My girl is such a warmblood. She was none-to-happy about the driving game. More temper tantrums. At one point she spun around and presented her hindquarters to Wanda. Tsk, tsk, she shouldn't have done that. Wanda tagged her fanny. Now, Kadance was really put out and squealed and kicked up her heels. Lots and lots and lots of protesting and trotting in circles. Generally unhappy behavior. Eventually, she calmed down and when asked to pick up her front feet, she did. With no resistance, either. The hind feet, well...we need to work on that some more.

The good news is that I no longer want to put a For Sale sign on her stall.