It's amazing how many training opportunities there continues to be with horses and endurance.
Occasionally, at a foul weather ride, I've considered putting Farley inside the trailer to keep her warmer and dryer. I've always decided not to because I don't usually ask her to spend long hours in the trailer just standing. I think the max I've ever asked her to spend in the trailer without driving is 1-2 hours.
A dinner engagement Friday night meant that as an efficient use of my time.....Farley needed to spend 3 hours standing in the trailer while I at dinner, before heading to Salinas.
What a great training opportunity! I would get to see how Farley handled the confinement without the stress of completing an endurance ride the next day!
I checked in on her several times throughout dinner. After the first hour she started pawing, but quickly settled down and for the rest of the time she slept with one hind leg cocked - just chillin'. She took advantage of the hay, beet pulp, and water I set up for her.
Options are good! Based on this, I would be comfortable asking her to spend the night in the trailer if we had awful weather at a ride, especially with handwalking throughout and offering water from a water trough several times throughout the night. I have a 3 horse slant that I leave open so she has quite a bit of space inside to shift position etc as she needs to.
Of course...in awful weather I'M probably going to be in the back of the trailer sleeping....so Farley and I will have a discussion of for whom it is more important to stay warm and dry...and as she has a warm, comfy, waterproof blanket (even if it's Minx's and WAY too big) I'm thinking I get the trailer.
BTW - new/cute thing #5 (and the last thing!) doesn't warrent its own post so I'll stick it here as a foot note....
Farley has never let me approach her laying down. On Sunday, when I went out to the pasture in Salinas to catch her, she was laying down, asleep with her chin propped up in the dirt. It was an especially cute picture as the herd on the other side of the fence were carefully watching over her. I walked up and she half opened her eyes. She let me rub all over her without trying to get up (in fact, I started worrying something was wrong!). Finally I decided that nap time was over and told her to get up. She did without complaint and looked perfectly fine. Maybe she's finally starting to trust me???????? :)
Will you leave her tied or loose in the trailer? I have often wondered about doing this as well. My inclination would be to leave loose with a few water buckets and hay either in a bag or loose on the ground.
ReplyDeleteOMG! I just had the exact same experience with my new mare, what a bonding moment!
ReplyDeleteAfter we were done with our arena workout, I took off all her tack so she could roll in the sand which she immediately did. But she stayed down on the ground, just hanging out, so I slowly approached her and sat down next to her head and started scratching behind her ears. She pushed into my hand like a cat and this went on for quite some time. It was the most adorable thing :) Our barn manager "walked in on us" and couldn't believe it.
Then I got up and she got up and we shook off the sand together, ahhhh... I love my horse :)
Ines - cool huh? :) Look forward to meeting you at Buckmeadows.
ReplyDeleteHeather - I left her tied. I might untie her if it was at a ride, but I really don't want her laying down because it's easy to get cast in a trailer. My buckets fit in a holder that is off the ground. I probably would just tie her and then hand walk her regularly and then tie her out of the trailer as soon as the weather cleared enough that it wasn't miserable.