Sorry for the long hiatus. School, work and a little mini-vacation seem to have eaten up all our time lately. Last night was our first trip out to the barn in a whole week - and boy what a mess we had to clean up! Unfortunately, Quinn prefers to use his stall as his bathroom too. This wouldn't be so terrible, except that he pees in the stall as well. Uber-gross! (Note to self: get some pellets for the stall!)
While cleaning, I decided to let Quinn loose in the round pen (mostly because he kept putting his big hairy body right in my path!). He was super happy to be led out of the stall and I was happy to see that he is remembering to stay behind me as I lead him. Such a smart boy! Anyway, I took him into the pen, undid his halter and then watched him run and buck and have a grand ol' time for a few minutes before I headed back to my chores. I felt good inside, being able to give him the pleasure of a little space to run around in. He's been cooped up in his stall and run for way too long now.
E was off taking care of Curly's stall. When she finished that job, she brought him out under the barn lights so I could pick out at least one of his dread locks. There are currently 3 snarls - well, actually 2 now, since I combed one out! - making a hideous mess out of his beautiful mane. It took quite a while to get the one out. The last two will be tackled this weekend, barring another run of bad weather. After that, we'll tackle Quinn's tail....the whole thing is just one huge dread lock. Uhg!
E spent some time with Quinn in the round pen and it became immediately obvious that he has never learned how to work in that environment. This was probably his first time in one, in fact. She had him moving in a circle at a fast trot at one point and when she tried to get him to stop, he freaked out (spooked by her hand? the halter rope?), he bucked, slipped and fell onto his side. Both E and Quinn were okay, but he was a bit of a nervous wreck at that point. She'll work with him on this on another day....
When I got home, M asked how my day had been. I answered, "Great!" His reply: "Ah, you spent time with your horse, I see."
