Fly Spray & Other Instruments of Torture and Death

So far I've been impressed with Halo's ability to learn and adjust to all the new things I ask her to do. Of course it probably doesn't hurt that she spends most of her days running with her other yearling buddies, AND we tend to feed her while we are working with her tied up.

The one thing she can't seem to tolerate is fly spray. While she's gotten over the sound of the sprayer for the most part, she spazzes out when the mist actually hits her skin. Silly sensitive filly. We've done a lot of work with a spray bottle filled with water, and slowly but surely she is making progress. However, her first reaction is always to back up at Mach 10 with her eyes bugged out like a frog.

Fortunately not all instruments of torture have been received with the alarm and disdain she reserves for fly spray. She had her first hoof trim last Saturday for which she stood remarkably still. She doesn't yet understand having her legs pulled forward to go on the hoof stand, but she's already learning fast. The rasp doesn't bother her at all, and she was minimally fidgety. This is the same horse who didn't even know how to have her feet picked up three weeks ago. Her toes are still a bit long in front, and she's tilted back onto her heels a little bit from lack of previous hoofcare. However, Steph is very confident that it will only take a few trims to get her sorted out, especially since she seems to have nice shapely feet to begin with. Lucky her, since her pasterns are crazy!

Out of curiosity I weighed her on Tuesday to see how she is doing on that front. She's already up to 615 if the weight tape is reading correctly. Although her ribs are still slightly visible, she is getting quite a belly! I hope it means her height is going to shoot up soon, especially in the front. She's got some catching up to do with that butt. Steph has started turning the yearlings out in the big 40 acre pasture at night, shutting them away from the round bale. I'm glad she's doing so - it is a good chance for the yearlings to do more real foraging, and get some good running in while it is nice and cool outside.

Henry and Lizzie are coming to visit Halo this weekend, so I will try to get some pictures of her and her admirers.