She's Heee-eeere!!!!!

[magical thyme]

They've spent an hour trotting around and around and around. Every so often Dahli would try to approach her butt to get a sniff, only to set off a round of bucking and counter-bucking. They've been taking turns playing follow the leader.

She's very respectful of my interior formerly electric tape fencing. One dangling strand and she turns away, lol.

I think she's closer to 14.1 than 14.3, but it may be Dahli's blanket that's making her look much taller. She has a real morgan carriage trot with very high knee and hock action, but swings her back nicely.

Her color is the same as in the pic -- very dark red chestnut. She wants nothing to do with me. Nothing. I haven't touched her since we turned her loose in pasture.

Up until the last time I came in, Dahli was coming over to me for loving. A little confused. Happy to have me scritch her face, and staring at Maizie in the distance.

Then 15 minutes or so ago, I headed out to bring them in for the night, with beet pulp mash and grain w/electrolytes. I brought Dahli in first and got her face into some mash.

Maizie was hanging around just outside the door, staring at Dahli. Apparently she was issuing silent orders to Dahli because when I went to get Maizie, the 2 of them took off and have been running around ever since. Now I can't touch Dahli either. Looks like they'll be spending the night outside

The balance of power just shifted. And not in the way I would have liked.

[femmocrat]

1. Hooray!

Is this all "normal" behavior for a new horse?

My experience is limited to much smaller critters.

[magical thyme]

3. all except maybe the part about having nothing, nada, nyet

to do with moi.

I feel so...rejected. And for Dahli to dump me like that....even when I was carrying food!

[In_The_Wind]

2. Do you think they'll wander in if you leave the barn door open?

[magical thyme]

4. I'm hoping they'll seek shelter there

but they may not feel the need to. It's relatively warm out tonight, and there's no wind. Dahli hates wind, so if it picks up maybe she'll head in.

The door is wide open, there are 2 piles of hay and 2 buckets with beet pulp mash and each end is well bedded. Hopefully I won't find frozen mash in the morning.

Boy, it didn't take Dahli long to dump me for the new horse.

[In_The_Wind]

5. They will both be loving you tomorrow.

Just wave some carrots and apples around.

[magical thyme]

6. I made one last check on them before heading in to bed

They're hanging out in the furthest back pasture. Apparently they've gone feral. There are 2 lovely piles of hay in the evil barn, and they're digging through the snow and eating dead grass. We'll see how long they last when the temps head south again.

Dahli did allow me to scritch her face and feed her a carrot. Maizie definitely got interested when she heard Dahli crunching the carrot -- she lifted her tail and pooped. I think she is starting to warm up to me. She walked toward me and came within about 5 feet of me before trotting off. That's considerably closer than before.

Holy craps -- I just checked the weather. It's supposed to drop to -7 tomorrow night. The pressure is on...

[mackerel]

7. Where are the pics?

[magical thyme]

8. soon....

No time yesterday or this morning, but then I'll have 3 full days to get pics.

In the meantime, big progess this morning. She investigated the barn with me right there, drank a sip of water and I was actually allowed to touch her and skritch her shoulder and neck. None of which killed her, so we're off to a great start.

[In_The_Wind]

9. That's a great morning update!

[img][/img]

[magical thyme]

11. Here's the full-on update :-)

She's slowed down today, tired from the excitement of yesterday although still enough energy to
investigate and sometimes trot around. Sometime during the night, they realized they couldn't filll their bellies on dead grass dug up under the snow. When I looked out this morning I could see her standing
outside the barn, pulling hay outside to eat.

My expectations were very low: 1. the dogs were finally going to go down to meet her, so I feared the worst, with them chasing her and barking at the top of their lungs, and 2. two pans of frozen mash.

So pleasant surprise #1 was she had no fear of the dogs, #2. they behaved extremely well, and #3. she had dragged her pan outside and cleaned up her mash plus Dahli ate hers inside.

She moved away while I cleaned up the couple piles of poop that Dahli had left inside the barn last night. I picked up a couple piles of her manure from outside the barn and moved them into the back
of "her" side, so inside the barn would smell like her.

Then she returned while I played with Dahli just outside the barn. She stood quietly eating while I scritched Dahli's face, this time she was just 3-4 feet away -- the closest yet. I fed Dahli pieces of carrot; she could hear the crunching. She approached to check it out and let me touch her nose with a carrot. No interest, and she moved away again, so I fed it to Dahli.

And then she really surprised me. She slowly walked into the barn and started walking around investigating. She drank a sip of water and continued investigating. I walked in behind her and was able to block her leaving, and then get hold of her halter just as she tried to push past me. I walked with her as she stepped back outside, and then stopped her with me safely back by her shoulder. I was able to scritch
her shoulder and neck -- and she enjoyed it. And then, before she could get impatient, I let her go.

That's important. You move into their space, but then release. The message is I'm not going to capture you, I'm not going to eat you, I'm not going to try to force you to stay in or force you to stay still. I'm just going to do something pleasant and then leave you in peace.

So we had our first contact, and it was very successful.

I'm watching from the house now. Dahli has been standing her ground all morning, hanging out just in front of the barn and in the barn. Maizie goes back and forth -- she leaves, walks around the pasture
investigating, and then returns to outside the barn. At this moment, Maizie is standing in the middle of the back pasture, napping in the sun.

[fizzgig]

12. excellent that you two had your first contact

i love horses, but don't know a thing about them and i am loving hearing about this.

i can't wait for the pics

[Tuesday Afternoon]

13. sounds like you all are off to a good start.

Napping in the sun

I can see my neighbor's horses do that on the hill across the creek. It always makes me smile. Gives a peaceful feeling inside.

[In_The_Wind]

14. Sounds like you've made your own spot of heaven.

I am so very happy for all of you.

[monmouth4]

10. I am so enjoying this adventure. Good luck to you all..n/t

[riderinthestorm]

15. Lol, by tomorrow morning I bet Maizie figures out you're the one with the feed!

I hate the "introduction" stage of integrating new horses. There's always a tense moment, even this many years on and literally a thousand or more horses come and gone.

So many things can go wrong but it sounds like they "like" each other which must be a huge relief. You can build your bond with Maizie slowly, knowing that with time she'll come around, but if the two horses hate each other, its hard to get around that in your backyard. I had one gelding that literally RAN down two of the other horses he was put in with. Got one of them on the ground by grabbing the withers, shaking, then kicking the shit out of her as she tried to CRAWL away. EVIL! It took three of us to corner him and get him out of there.

He loves the group of guys he's in with now. Everybody happy, happy but I will never, ever forget that miserable experience.

[magical thyme]

18. she ate a couple mouthfuls of beet pulp while I was holding the pan

and then Luna scared her off. Between Jake barking and Luna chasing, tonight ended up a big fail. Once she started trotting around the barn it was no go.

In the meantime, Dahli was scarfing down beet pulp mash as fast as she possibly could. At least I got an extra blanket on Dahli.

I was really hoping to get thim in tonight. It's going to be 7 below with wind chill of 20 below by morning. Maizie can take it -- she's been living out. But Dahli is just a little desert horse. It's too much for her.

[Tsiyu]

16. Awesome news

and they already love each other.

Now you're the monkey in the middle

[narnian60]

17. I wouldn't get anything done

because of wanting to watch them all the time.

[Ptah]

19. I am really enjoying your sharing this episode.

I am also looking forward to pictures.

Thanks, magical thyme

[magical thyme]

20. the pix are in...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018712332