Goal #2: Accomplished!

Betty had her first "real" trim on Thursday. I'm particularly proud of her because it was raining, and she had to be trimmed in a stall. I was glad we had practiced with the scary mats because she marched right into the stall when I asked her to. It probably helped that there was food in there. Betty loves food.

Sadly, I have no action shots. I was busy shoving treats into Betty's mouth. As long as she was chewing, she could handle the scary guy working on her feet. I think she'll get much better with a little more practice, and John gave us a rasp to use to work on getting used to having her feet hammered on. I'll keep her barefoot as long as I can, but, when the time comes for shoes, she'll be ready. 

Since the weather was rotten, we decided to leave the horses stalled for the night. It was also a test to see how they got along in close quarters. The plan is to move them in together so that they can start going out in the big pasture to graze. When I came to turn them out in the morning, Betty was happy and relaxed. She didn't seem to mind her night in the stall one bit. 

I've been holding off doing a lot of "work" with Betty because I didn't want to chip her feet, but now it's time to get serious about conditioning. While I'm not in a hurry to get her started under saddle, I do want to start making baby steps toward it. 

A Mostly Blurry Pictures Betty Update

Even though the weather and an illness have kept me from getting out to see Betty as much as I'd like we are still making wonderful progress. We are doing so well, in fact, I've scheduled of Ferrier appointment for this Thursday.

Yesterday, it was really rainy so I decided to skip our normal work session in favor of a spa day. Since mostly spa day included standing around, I decided it was a good day to introduce tying.

After we conquered the obstacle of standing on the scary mats, Betty totally relaxed and went about doing her favorite thing... looking for something to eat.

Including coming all the way into the tack room with me. Her cookie search was not rewarded until she was back outside where a pony belongs!

Now that she was comfortable, it was time to tie her up.

While she nibbled from the planter, I trimmed her mane and tail, brushed them out, and used scissors to give her a bridle path.

Spa day was also a way to get her relaxed in the area where she will get her feet trimmed tomorrow.

So, we worked on holding her front feet between my knees like the farrier will. She did great and let me hold them for quite a while. She would occasionally struggle but quickly relaxed. Her balance has improved, and I think that makes it easier for her to relax.

Can't wait to get these bad boys fixed up!