Collision

Last week was busy, yet I have accomplished very little.  Go figure!

Many, many thoughts tumbling around inside the crowded space that I call my mind, yet I have been basically unable to get anything posted.  Ahh, another Go figure!  ( :

As I was feeding the horses and mules tonight I was thinking about the spring to do list I needed to get compiled and then get started on...its always long and I am sure that its been....well, since NEVER that I have completed it.   So tonight I am thinking my way through my list and flaking out a couple of bales of hay for everyone.  Since I have to make multiple piles on the ground to make sure everyone gets all they need from the top to the bottom of the pecking order, I am walking and dropping two bales of hay per feeding.  Walking and dropping, then returning to my Danger to get more hay and walking and dropping.  During my dropping in this crazy little cycle of mine, I dropped a hay string....so I stopped bent over to pick up the string and was rear-ended by Fiona.

Now Fi follows me a lot, and begs a lot...yes she is spoiled, but I do try and keep her within her own space and out of mine.  Apparently in my feeding and list making I didn't realize she had gotten close...too close.  In fact she was sooo close that she couldn't stop in time and smacked into my back with her head.  Not her nose, but her entire head. 

I figure that the one time contact would be enough for her to take a step back and maintain her space...  Then again, I think maybe she won't because I didn't give her any consequence of her action.  Hmmm, what to do, what to do...

Oh, I have it!!  I'll take random steps and then stop short!  Damn I'm a genius!!  So I did, 7 times.  Guess how many times my sweet little filly hit me in the back with her head?  Six times!!  The single time she didn't hit me, she had stopped to grab a bite to eat...so she wasn't anywhere near me.  Brat!!

This was funny to me, but I also realize that I need to do something about her crowding...so I am thinking on that.  She also seems to be pushing the "big horses" boundaries lately as well...  She is currently sporting several seriously bald and sore spots from being reprimanded by those older and wiser than she.

Just one of those baby things I guess!  This evenings events made me ponder for a minute or two on her mental maturity and riding her.  Now its been debated over and over again on the blogs I read and even more in the magazines I read at what age is it appropriate to start your colts/fillies.  I have always thought each answer lies within that particular horse.  Fiona is a big filly, and I had planned on starting her last summer which would have been her two year old year.  I have done it before...no serious riding, just the basics at a walk and trot.  Lots of flexing and just getting comfortable then as a three year old, we put in a lot more wet blankets... 

Thanks to Fi's accident last year, she wasn't started; she was doctored.  Handled a lot, also confined a lot.  I have no idea if her being somewhat immature had anything to do with being stalled and separated from the others for so long or if she is just a pea brain...but I wonder.  Although she definately can be taught...Missy taught her how to try and open gates...and I am sure she has succeeded at least once, little butt!  ( :

Sooo long of the short of my ramblings for today is....  I sure as hell hope that  Fiona "growing up" until her three year old year makes her REALLY ready to be started, because tonight she was acting a lot like a yearling rather than a three year old!!  ( :