The work and rewards of Autumn
Nov. 10th, 2009 04:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
summer_jackelToday I accomplished two vital fall tasks. Now I'm on a bike, which you can tell because I am rambling on my LJ.
Most importantly, little Equinox Bey (aka X-pony, Doompony Jr., Wild Child, etc.) has been weaned, moved to a neighboring ranch from the one where he was born and haltered. On the high side of 7 months, he is quite old for that last piece and was getting scarily big and full of attitude for such a crucial first step. I didn't get it on him in the first couple weeks of life like you're supposed to because I followed some bad advice, and then he hit the really shy, hands-off stage baby horses go through. His dam's occasionally moody and standoffish personality didn't help, and they were on a big pasture with no stall to catch him in, so baby allowed light touch but no halter.
Getting him moved was definitely tense, but I don't think it could have gone any more smoothly. He followed as I led Bey through the gates and into the other property with lots of complaining and temper, and once there, was more into sniffing and stirring up every other horse on the place than following mom. The boy is definitely ready to wean, oh yes, although it's almost always a little sad to wean a colt. Once I got him in the stall and moved Bey back to her pasture, it only took me about 20 minutes to slip the halter on him. Once I could lay my hands on him and started petting, and he realized that he couldn't dart off, he really relaxed. By the time I got the halter on, he'd remembered that he enjoyed petting and hardly resisted the halter at all. Now I can train him to do the necessary basics.
I want his upbringing to be as trauma-free as I can make it, so this counted as a definite success. Horses are always trained with pressure and release, but first they must be desensitized to the close proximity of a predatory ape, which directly contravenes instincts written by several million years of evolution and is actually a huge step. The moment his eye softened and he shifted from trying to move away from the pressure of my touch to leaning into it and enjoying it---the shift was very obvious and sudden, as they often are with very young animals---was, I must admit, very touching and magical. I got a little misty.
After that was all accomplished, I bought, loaded and moved a truckfull of wood chips to mulch my yard with. Great upper-body workout. Everything now looks much nicer and less muddy, and my bamboo hedge, which was badly overdue for mulching, should enjoy the fresh nutrients in its growth season. I'm also hoping that it keeps certain dogs a little longer between baths and minimizes the effects of 8 sets of muddy little paws tracking winter in with them.
Speaking of cats and dogs,
Trucker is still settling in, but she has been calmer around the dogs, and actually didn't disappear in the presence of a guest recently...that's progress. She also has some weight on her, though her muscle tone isn't fantastic. You can see that she and Magic are comfortable enough with each other to share the bed.
Magic sez, "damned paparazzi."
Random me with chicken (that's Prelude, this tiny banty thing with a crest almost like a cockatiel)
Bliss Like Chaos (he answers to Chaos, Bliss and his entire name, as well as Snoutvark) is a completely ridiculous animal. Such a huge puppy, and still almost completely puppyish; barely a glimpse of adolescence so far. I think that his occasional flashes of elegant, grave and lovely Stereotypically Noble Colliness only add to the overarching silliness of the total package. Collies were probably the original fad breed, the goldendoodle (shudder) of their era, but for all their fashion-mania around the issue, I have to grant that those wacky Victorians ended up creating a very nice breed of dog. Even if they are just a little silly.
(Hm. As placeholder for a rant about that I may some day write, or not, I dislike the 'doodles' intensely as a dog snob, but I don't necessarily object to their existence on principal. Some people do, with good reason; the 'designer dogs' currently in vogue, in which practically everything but especially goldens and labs are crossed with poodles for a lot of money, are examples of a whole lot of stupid breeding and cluelessness. However, there are now a lot of major devotees of the things, breeders starting pure lines and carrying them out selectively to multiple generations, forming clubs and essentially doing the necessary work of establishing a new breed. I consider the shaping of dogs to be one of the more interesting human biological and cultural phenomena as well as one of our greatest collective works of art, and can hardly object to it if it's done well. Human generations will have to tell if these things become a breed that lasts over time or fizzle out. I'd never want one, but I'm not exactly in a position to complain).
Does this angle make my snout look big?
Honey, it isn't the camera angle.
I love to walk in the fall; Autumn is so beautiful. Here's my collie supervision, wanting to do anything but sit for a photo.
An old doug fir, probably the oldest tree within easy walking distance of me. It has lots of character.
Blurry, I know, but awwwwwwwwwwwww. We're looking at subordinate collie puppy loving on dignified alpha shelt.
Alert, lovely Jez
My other weirdly beautiful but definitely eccentric-looking dog.
Colliepup learning down-stay.
Jez, somewhat less alert. She got hold of the raccoon a few nights ago, and though she failed to kill it (at least on the spot) it has, to the best of my knowledge, not been back. She is almost but not quite to the point where I need to divide regular walks and the slow ones Jez goes on. As long as she's had a little walk or play, she doesn't seem to mind occasional outings where I take the collie and housefoxes but can't take her, which was very hard on Fen and Pryde. Getting her used to being left behind is more important than I'd imagined it would be. I am learning to age with them, and I guess Jez and Rogue will benefit from some of what Fen and Pryde taught me in the last part of their lives.
Awwwwwwwwwww cushionwolf.
Close-up. Jez sez SNORE whuff whuff whuff.
I leave you with that and keep pedaling.
Most importantly, little Equinox Bey (aka X-pony, Doompony Jr., Wild Child, etc.) has been weaned, moved to a neighboring ranch from the one where he was born and haltered. On the high side of 7 months, he is quite old for that last piece and was getting scarily big and full of attitude for such a crucial first step. I didn't get it on him in the first couple weeks of life like you're supposed to because I followed some bad advice, and then he hit the really shy, hands-off stage baby horses go through. His dam's occasionally moody and standoffish personality didn't help, and they were on a big pasture with no stall to catch him in, so baby allowed light touch but no halter.
Getting him moved was definitely tense, but I don't think it could have gone any more smoothly. He followed as I led Bey through the gates and into the other property with lots of complaining and temper, and once there, was more into sniffing and stirring up every other horse on the place than following mom. The boy is definitely ready to wean, oh yes, although it's almost always a little sad to wean a colt. Once I got him in the stall and moved Bey back to her pasture, it only took me about 20 minutes to slip the halter on him. Once I could lay my hands on him and started petting, and he realized that he couldn't dart off, he really relaxed. By the time I got the halter on, he'd remembered that he enjoyed petting and hardly resisted the halter at all. Now I can train him to do the necessary basics.
I want his upbringing to be as trauma-free as I can make it, so this counted as a definite success. Horses are always trained with pressure and release, but first they must be desensitized to the close proximity of a predatory ape, which directly contravenes instincts written by several million years of evolution and is actually a huge step. The moment his eye softened and he shifted from trying to move away from the pressure of my touch to leaning into it and enjoying it---the shift was very obvious and sudden, as they often are with very young animals---was, I must admit, very touching and magical. I got a little misty.
After that was all accomplished, I bought, loaded and moved a truckfull of wood chips to mulch my yard with. Great upper-body workout. Everything now looks much nicer and less muddy, and my bamboo hedge, which was badly overdue for mulching, should enjoy the fresh nutrients in its growth season. I'm also hoping that it keeps certain dogs a little longer between baths and minimizes the effects of 8 sets of muddy little paws tracking winter in with them.
Speaking of cats and dogs,
Trucker is still settling in, but she has been calmer around the dogs, and actually didn't disappear in the presence of a guest recently...that's progress. She also has some weight on her, though her muscle tone isn't fantastic. You can see that she and Magic are comfortable enough with each other to share the bed.
Magic sez, "damned paparazzi."
Random me with chicken (that's Prelude, this tiny banty thing with a crest almost like a cockatiel)
Bliss Like Chaos (he answers to Chaos, Bliss and his entire name, as well as Snoutvark) is a completely ridiculous animal. Such a huge puppy, and still almost completely puppyish; barely a glimpse of adolescence so far. I think that his occasional flashes of elegant, grave and lovely Stereotypically Noble Colliness only add to the overarching silliness of the total package. Collies were probably the original fad breed, the goldendoodle (shudder) of their era, but for all their fashion-mania around the issue, I have to grant that those wacky Victorians ended up creating a very nice breed of dog. Even if they are just a little silly.
(Hm. As placeholder for a rant about that I may some day write, or not, I dislike the 'doodles' intensely as a dog snob, but I don't necessarily object to their existence on principal. Some people do, with good reason; the 'designer dogs' currently in vogue, in which practically everything but especially goldens and labs are crossed with poodles for a lot of money, are examples of a whole lot of stupid breeding and cluelessness. However, there are now a lot of major devotees of the things, breeders starting pure lines and carrying them out selectively to multiple generations, forming clubs and essentially doing the necessary work of establishing a new breed. I consider the shaping of dogs to be one of the more interesting human biological and cultural phenomena as well as one of our greatest collective works of art, and can hardly object to it if it's done well. Human generations will have to tell if these things become a breed that lasts over time or fizzle out. I'd never want one, but I'm not exactly in a position to complain).
Does this angle make my snout look big?
Honey, it isn't the camera angle.
I love to walk in the fall; Autumn is so beautiful. Here's my collie supervision, wanting to do anything but sit for a photo.
An old doug fir, probably the oldest tree within easy walking distance of me. It has lots of character.
Blurry, I know, but awwwwwwwwwwwww. We're looking at subordinate collie puppy loving on dignified alpha shelt.
Alert, lovely Jez
My other weirdly beautiful but definitely eccentric-looking dog.
Colliepup learning down-stay.
Jez, somewhat less alert. She got hold of the raccoon a few nights ago, and though she failed to kill it (at least on the spot) it has, to the best of my knowledge, not been back. She is almost but not quite to the point where I need to divide regular walks and the slow ones Jez goes on. As long as she's had a little walk or play, she doesn't seem to mind occasional outings where I take the collie and housefoxes but can't take her, which was very hard on Fen and Pryde. Getting her used to being left behind is more important than I'd imagined it would be. I am learning to age with them, and I guess Jez and Rogue will benefit from some of what Fen and Pryde taught me in the last part of their lives.
Awwwwwwwwwww cushionwolf.
Close-up. Jez sez SNORE whuff whuff whuff.
I leave you with that and keep pedaling.
