The First Week

Published on by Amanda C

True to form, Henry seems to have settled in just fine at the new place. He might be the weirdest horse on the planet, but he’s definitely a good traveler, which I’m really thankful for.

fuzzyface

I got him all settled in on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday I hopped on. We pretty much just walked the perimeter of the giant hay field since the ground was still a little bit hard from how dry it’s been lately, but I just could not resist taking this giant green space for a spin. Plus Henry’s shoes were barely hanging on, so we couldn’t do much more than walk anyway.

The farrier came out the next day (thankyousomuch for making a special trip just for us) and got his feet all fixed up, plus it rained about 1.25″. I wandered back out into the field the following day and it was perfection. Just soft enough to be springy, but not so soft that we were leaving divots. Since his feet were fixed now, we trotted a lap both ways (I LOVE the little hill way in the back of this pasture, it’s so hard to find hills around here!), then I let him canter. He proceeded to try to run off with me (not that Henry runs particularly fast) and buck me off (not that Henry actually bucks), yet somehow, in the midst of all this spectacular flailing, he reached down and snatched a bite of tall grass. Henny is back, y’all, and I think he’s feeling just fine.

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He made this face the whole time he was getting his feet done

We’ve also been wandering around the property meeting all the various creatures. I have yet to be able to convince him to walk within 50′ of the baby cows (aka moo-demons) but he seems enthralled with the miniature donkey. Every time it brays he stands at full attention and stares at it. He’ll drag me over to it while he’s grazing but stop about 15′ away and just watch it. He can’t figure out this tiny mystical long-eared creature.

staring at said mini-donk
it’s very friendly

On Saturday I clipped him, because I already officially Cannot with his hairy self. I did opt for a chaser clip (or Irish clip, depending on who you ask) this time instead of his normal full clip. It looks a little goofy but I figured it’ll require a bit less blanketing and help keep his back/butt muscles a bit warmer, so practicality won out. At least for now.

now he’s 3 different shades of bay while he begs for cookies

It pretty much kept raining all weekend, so we were stuck riding in the arena. It’s only half covered, but the good thing is that it’s all fine sand, so even after a huge deluge it’s still 100% rideable in there. In fact, I think it’s actually better when it’s soaking wet. The driveway gets muddy long before the arena does. We did a dressage ride on Saturday (spoiler alert: having a couple months off did not make either of us a dressage whiz) and then yesterday I set up some trot and canter poles to work over. He was super excited as soon as he saw the poles, probably hoping they meant it was jumping time, but not yet. Hopefully next weekend, assuming all continues to go well.

For now he’s still relegated to his big covered round pen turnout, but once it stops raining and dries up a bit, he gets to start going out in a paddock. Under heavy supervision, of course, because Henny.

21 thoughts on “The First Week”

  1. glad he is all settled in and doing well. he is a goofball for sure (But we love him that way). Just think if you had a normal horse! How boring. I love the donkey (of course I do). Looks like a nice place and yay riding your own horse!! Ha can’t wait to hear about the dressage lesson…

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  7. im surprised hes more afraid of the cows than the mini donkey. i always wonder what horses think when they see other animals.

    i really dig the chase clip, i’m going that route this year. if we ever get back under saddle 😛

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      1. I have never had a horse NOT scared of cows. Remus (ahem a midwestern Quarter Horse no less) is pretty sure they carry axes and kill buckskins with one blow. Of course he feels the same way about bicycles, four-wheelers, and mopeds. HA but cows definitely bring out something with horses… I am sure a donkey smells like a horse (I assume)!

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          1. My horse lives next to cows and I believe grew up near cows as well. If he was scared of them, he has had no choice but to just get over it. I’ve never tried to ride him through cows or anything. That may be a different issue.

            I’m glad that Henny is doing well at the new place.

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  10. He’s such a champ. I’m sure that this feels like forever to you, but he seems like he’s getting back at it really quickly! So happy for you!

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  11. Woohoo! Glad to see Henrys still got it, and by that I mean he ‘thinks’ he’s got it. We’ll let him believe he’s wild 😉 Also donkey brays are the weirdest sounds ever. I swear the one near my friends farm sounds like its dying, like straight up “good-bye cruel world”- dying.

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