Feet Troubles

So I went to feed this morning (no, really?) and, lets just face it, today was bound to be a stressful day from the get-go. With the horses and without. But we're not talking about times without the horses, so lets deal with the horse issue.

Things have dried up. Well, not necessarily dried, but have frozen. They're now standing ontop of the frozen mud instead of sinking down into it. And because of that, I noticed one little glitch that just tore at my irritation. Graffiti has tiny little feathers. These feathers have dredlocked with balling mud. I must remove this, I thought to myself. So after graining and throwing hay, I dive on in there with a pair of scissors and try my luck at lopping those irritations free of my horse.

Only Graffiti doesn't appriciate this. Not at all. She keeps lifting her foot. Stomping it. Moving away from me. So I back off and grab a halter. She's young...she'll understand eventually. I halter her and try to touch her leg. She lifts it and stomps it...and there goes my patience. I'd understand a little bit if she wasn't constantly giving me dirty faces while dancing around her food. But she's basically telling me that she's eating, and that even though she allows me to groom her while she's doing this, feet are strictly off limits.

So I idley slip the chain under her chin. I have no time for such games. Normally I would gladly spend a few days working with her about lifting those legs, holding them until I drop them. Allowing me to touch and work around them. But here I am. I don't have a stall. This horse's legs will be untouchable with mud when everything thaws out, and I need to get this done now so it stops pulling at her skin. So I slip the chain on her. I reach down for her foot and she jerks it away from me.

Shank.

Wow, that woke her up. A little more work and I have her standing still, not bothering to eat while I work with her legs. If I can't work with her legs while she's eating, then she won't eat at all until I'm done. I trim her front two first and then move on to her back feet. I'm a little leery about her hind legs. She's never kicked at me yet, but you can never predict a horse. I have a hard time bending over now as it is and moving fast just isn't my forte' anymore.

Go ahead and challenge me because I went straight to the chain. I have a baby in my stomach to protect, I'm a lumbering beast, and my horse needs to know what I do and do not tolerate.

Anyways, the back legs were a little touchy. I stood off to the side and clipped and trimmed what I could. She kept trying to lift her leg, and I thought "Alright, so she wants me to pick it up". I pick it up and put it in a farrier hold and sh procedes to yank and pull on it. This fires me up, and I repremand her. The second time she stands well and I cut those little mud balls off. The other leg? A little more difficult than expected. I had to correct her several times before she let me handle her leg enough to do what I needed to do.

Afterwards I gave her lots of praise and pats, because I felt that she deserved them. This has probably been the first time in a while that anyone outside of a farrier has even touched her legs, so I wasn't expecting much. Just enough for her to understand that I will be touching her there, and she'll stand as quietly as she can for it.

I also take the time to pet around her face because she's been showing signs of being headshy. She doesn't appriciate it. Just another irritation she must endure in able to eat her meal. But she deals with it. Something I really like about this mare. Even though she finds what I do to be rather aggrivating to her on some level, she accepts that I'm doing it, and eventually she doesn't even take notice that its happening anymore.

No hissy fits, no nothing.

Good pony.