Winter 2009!

Happy New Year, Everybody!  Well, I’ve gotten Turbo out a bit more over the past week. I usually take him to the field across the street. There is a busy road next to the field that has all sorts of cars and trucks going by that I am very careful not to get too close to, but I like that he’s getting used to big objects zooming by.  Naturally, he is very furry, but his coat has sort of smoothed out, so he looks really good. When I lunged (where he trots or lopes around me in a circle while I hold the line that is clipped to his halter) him in the field a couple of days ago, I snapped a picture with my camera phone. It’s not the best picture because I was moving, and after all, it’s only a phone, not a real camera. I’m trying to find a way to get the photo up here, I may have to put a link.

I am not a person that gives their pets Christmas presents, but I DID give Turbo a little extra grain and a chopped up carrot in celebration of Christ’s birth. Later I gave him part of a clementine, which he first refused, but once he found out how delicious they are (thanks to me sneaking one into his food), he was eager for more.  I’ve been cleaning his pen twice a day, in part because I want to go to my grandmother’s farm soon, and also because I may have gotten a little lecture…….

I still have not had the harness fixed, I think that will happen next week. I’m also going to look into having a new one made.

Christmas Photo

Here is the one of the Christmas photos we sent out to friends and family.

In other news, there is little to be said. It has been rather cold so I have not gotten Turbo out much. When it’s really cold I might make him a hot bran mash with very hot water, several large handfuls of bran, a handful of grain and sometimes a bit of sugar. Also, another piece on my harness broke so I need to get it fixed. The leather itself didn’t break ; it was the sewing. When I have it fixed, I am going to have the man who repairs it check out the rest of the harness to make sure something else isn’t going to snap :) Merry Christmas and have a Blessed New Year!

Farm Day and a bit on Crimsynn

Well, Farm Day has come and gone! Turbo did much better than last time in April. I took him out to the Farm the night before so I could work him and let him get used to the surroundings. We did have a bit of a problem with turning around (as we did last time), but I took him to a quiet area and made him do circles which solved that problem. We went from 9am to 11:45 (with some small breaks), and then took an hour-long break in which I un-hooked him completely and let him graze and rest, and then came back until 3. I think giving him that hour break made a difference in him not having a meltdown. When we drove by the petting area one of the goats inside went berserk and kept trying to jump out. Also, I’d like to give a big Thank You to the B.O.W.I.E. club for their help in getting Turbo and I back home. 

A bit on Crimsynn. He is a 16-year-old chestnut gelding ( with four perfect white socks, I might add), who has won too many awards to count. I will mention some of them in my next article. Anyhoo, he came back( he was born there) to Vanhoozer Farm two weeks ago. I will put up some photos and more info on him later.

An Explanation

A while back I posted photos of Turbo in “party mode”. Due to recent interest, here is an explanation.

Turbo can get pretty freaked out sometimes, so I like to de-sensitize him. For some reason, I was at a party supply store so I bough some fluffy leis and a shimmery table decoration. I wrapped one lie around each front foot because he’s not to crazy about stuff on his feet and this was a nice CONTROLLED situation were he could safely freak out. Then I hung the table decoration from a tree to his shed/shelter so if he walked under it it would brush his back. He wasn’t too keen on going under that weird, scary, blowey-thingy that was going to eat him, but after sniffing it and some coaxing, he was pretty good. Even though he wasn’t  too scared, I feel much better knowing he know how to handle it. I also draped it over his back and had him walk around so he could feel it and hear the noise of it dragging the ground. One thing I had to watch out for, Turbo is a goat. Literally, he will (and can) eat anything that he can get his mouth around, so I had to keep him from eating his cute lie-socks and I had to make sure to pick up all the little stringy thingys that fell off. If he really swallows one of those, it could possibly go through his intestines and cause a problem that was easily prevented. Any other ideas for de-sensitizing him?

Farm Day

Turbo and I have bee,n invited back to The World Hunger Relief’s Farm Day! They have two  farm days a year, one in April, which we gave cart rides at, and the upcoming one in October. 

http://worldhungerrelief.org/

 

A while back, part of Turbo’s harness broke, and I was unable to drive him. Last week, I took the harness to a young man in a local Christan community and he sewed back the leather while I watched. I suspect he did a better job than when the harness was brand new. We wanted to have it fixed as soon as possible so I would have plenty of time to work out some little kinks with Turbo, such as stopping and staying still, and turning. He is fine at turning right or left, but when I ask him to do multiple circles he throws a little fit. He will toss his head and back up ( and usually stumble). It’s quite unnerving for a little kid who has never been in a cart. So that’s why I’m training him at home, instead of having to deal with it on Farm Day.