Following my dreams of homesteading and having my own land with horses. I want to raise chickens, ducks, goats, and grow my own food. I want to raise horses and live off the grid. I want to help and give back to the world. This is my adventure. I like to research and learn all about these things. So come along with me and learn everything about raising a newborn Suffolk Punch/Percheron filly, setting up a homestead, and raising animals.
When I bought my new car I knew I would need to get the CV joint fixed, so today is the day. I had to drop the car off this morning and now I am waiting for them to fix it. I have not see Lilly yet 😟. I was hoping to still be able to go out twice. But the mechanic had to pick up a part in Cheyenne so he wasn't able to start on the car right away. He told me it will not be done until the afternoon. So I am waiting. This means I will only be able to see her once today. Very sad 😟
I got more pictures today of her NOT eating!
Had to fix my car today so I only got out to see Lilly once.
I practiced getting her to lift her own feet. It worked okay. The videos I found online - most say to move her chestnut. She didnt care it didn’t make her left her leg. I wiggled it, gently twisted it. Didn’t even phase her. The same with the skin on her jock. She didn’t care. Finally did get her feet up and cleaned and put the new clay. But boy it’s a good workout!
Lead her on a walk - did more hand grazing. She even takes hay from my hand now! worked on her politeness when going to her food. She only threw her head one time!
The horses were all acting different today. Lilly also had looser poop than normal. Going to check on her first thing in the morning.
Good day! But definitely different few at the farm today! Lilly was also a little more jumpy.....
I notice I take A LOT of pictures of her eating! I think that the only time I have "time." Going to try to take different pictures!
I am getting more and more confident everyday. It is a wonderful feeling. I know that my confidence in handling Lilly is being felt by her because her confidence in me is growing. It is really true that we are responsible for the relationship we want with our horse.
Today I really felt like I did a great job. I felt so connected to Lilly. I felt like we were really communicating. I really felt like she is starting to like me because I am "her" human. I think she is starting to love me! This makes me so happy because I love her!
I have changed up the routine to help her be more calm and less pushy when I come to get her for her supplements. I was coming into the pasture and asking permission and putting on her halter and immediately leading her out and straight to the food. But this caused her to build up a lot of expectation of us leaving immediately and going straight to the food.
Now we are taking things slower. When I arrive I still greet her and do the horseman's handshake. But then I let myself in the pasture and hang out with her a little. I help her investigate the feeding tires and help her find pieces of hay that are still in there but she can't reach. We walk around at liberty together. I give her scratches and just spend some time with her. I also say hi to the other horses if they come around. If there is a big pile of hay found I will keep the other horses back while she eats it. (side note - the horses are learning from me to turn their head and go into the tire to find hidden stores of hay - lol) when I went out there in the evening there was barely any hidden hay and I saw them turning their heads to get under the tire)
Then after we mosy around I ask her to put her halter on. Then we mosey around some more. Than I ask if she wants to go for a walk and attach the lead rope. Then we go for a walk. I lead her to the gate and open it. I am teaching her to bend around the gate and stay with me while I close it. When I first did it she did it naturally with me - but now she seems to not want to do that. So I will continue working with her bending around the gate and than waiting patiently while I open, close, and lock the gate.
Then we went for a walk. Smelling things and touching things along the way. I also worked on stopping and having her stop with me. If she stopped in front of me having her take steps back until she was in the right place. We did not have to do as many circles. She is pushing on me less. But when we got close to the food she didn't want to practice. So we practiced more. I even needed to make "the wrong thing hard and the right thing easy." We turned around and walked back when she really was unhappy about listening. Then we slowly made our way back to the food. Stopping and relaxing. Walking, stopping, relaxing. Walking, stopping, relaxing. Until finally I gave her the command to eat. I am soon hoping to get to the point that she stops right over the food and doesn't try to get it until I give her the okay. That is my goal. I also need to lead her on the other side. I notice that I feel the most comfortable with her on my right side. But I also need to practice her on my left side.
Than we relaxed while she ate. In the morning I did her feet. This was hard. She is very big and very strong. I need to work with her on HER picking up her feet and not ME picking up her feet. It was the first time I cleaned her feet! But I was able to pick up each of her feet, clean them and put the clay in the crevices of the frog and around the top of the hoof. This is really important as the snow is melting in the pastures and making a TON of mud and rivers of peed and poop. So the more I clean and protect her feet the better it will be. I also had her eat on the one dry spot I could find. I want her feet to have the chance to really dry out. Hopefully the ground soaks up all the moisture quickly. It really makes me think about my own land and how I want to do things differently. It was exhausting work but I am glad I was able to do it. I will need to do it everyday!
Then we went for another walk exploring things. I took her in the area and showed her the exercise ball. When I kicked it she jumped and snorted and her energy went high. We practiced me kicking it and her coming to check it out. She had lots of energy. I think she will enjoy playing with it. So we will practice again everyday until she gets more confident.
Then we went for a walk touching more things. When we got pasture I helped her find more hay. It was harder because they are all learning from me how to get to the "hidden" hay. Lol. But it was nice. I always help her get a drink and hay. Then remove her halter give her nice scratches and then say good bye until next time.
The evening session was really nice as well. We found a "secret" stash of hay that we will be visiting before she eats her supplements. From my research it said horses should eat hay before supplements. So I want to make sure she is eating hay first. I also thought I could take a bucket and fill it than put it out a the back of the pasture. It was a thought to help Lilly get back there more and moving. Back in the pasture, we got a drink of water and than we took a nice walk to the back of her pasture. Della and Nora followed us out. They were probably hoping I was showing them more food. But they walked with us. It was a nice little walk. I am hoping with going out there more and more Lilly will want to travel all around the pasture.
Shows me again what I want to do differently on my land. I might ask Jerry if I can have some feeders and put them at the back of the pasture and take hay out there. I will see what he says. I know they feed them in the front because they have a lot of horses and it is easier to feed them that way. But if I am helping then that should not be a problem. I don't want to step on toes - but I want Lilly moving around more. Especially since the snow is making a huge ice/nasty puddle of pee and poop in the front. I do not want her standing in that. I also want to see if he will let me figure out a way to drain that area. It is really gross and potentially dangerous.
We had a great day today. Lilly had her first visit with our new ferrier, Nell Hanley. She is a natural hoof care specialist. She was awesome. She was not a bully and introduced herself to Lilly and also was gentle, firm, and took her time with getting Lilly's feet trimmed. She said that Lilly's feet are looking great. She wants to see her again in 4 weeks. So I have 4 weeks to keep working on Lilly giving her feet. She is very big and very strong so picking up her feet is very hard. I am going to keep watching videos so I can continue to practice and work on Lilly giving her feet more successfully. I am also suppose to practice when Lilly does not have food. She wants to try it without Lilly eating. This is going to be hard to do. But I'm gonna keep trying. I will continue to do it 1 time a day WHILE she is eating and I am going to try to do it 1 time a day after she is done eating. We shall see how well that works.
I also asked the Nell about the hoof clay I got. She did not know the brand but checked it out and said she liked it. She said it was a good idea to use it preventively! So yeah! Lilly had two cracks in her frogs so I was able to use it right away. I am glad I had it to help prevent issues! I also put some on the outside white line of her hooves. I will start using it on her hooves to protect them from thrush - especially since the pasture is so muddy from the melting snow and all the poop.
Manners before eating seems to be getting better. She is following me better and staying with me. She is stopping in front of her food and not pushing as much. We will also continue to work on this.
I measured her again today. I will be making a new post to track all her measurements and what that all means for her and how much food she will be needing. Here is the Measurements Post. I took her measurements while she was eating but I was strategic to put her food on a level ground so she was standing much more even that last time.
I also took her for another walk around the farm. We met some little girls and their moms. The little girls came to say hi. She loves little girls. She allowed them so rub on her. We met a woman - she did not really like her. Lilly did not want her touching her. lol I can tell Lilly is getting more attached to me! Yeah! We also did grazing and stop grazing during out walk. This was good practice for us both. She did okay. She really wanted to stay and "graze." When Jerry feeds the horses he drops hay from the truck. So there are small piles of dropped hay on the "streets" around the farm. I would stop her and tell her to eat the piles of hay. She really liked that as it had been a while since she ate. I think I will do this everyday on the way to her supplements. So that she is eating more hay before she eats her grain.
She also likes to drink water after eating her supplements. I think this is very good for her to wash down any pieces in her mouth and throat so I will get another bucket and fill it with water and see if that helps her. I will put it next to her grain. I am looking for something that will work well for that. I am thinking a heated bucket so it does not freeze while I am walking her around.
So that was our day. Things are going really well. I am proud of us!
worked on her politeness when going to her food. She only threw her head one time! 
