Moving with Animals

As you know, my husband and I just moved into our first home together – along with a feisty little Dachshund who likes to join in on this blog with the Trick Ponies from time to time.

So after reading a question about how to move with a dog on a blog I follow, called Who’s your Dachshund, I thought this would make the perfect time to discuss how I made my move to a new home with Ammo seamless. This may not particularly be “trick pony” related, but I think that the tactics I used in moving my Dachshund can be applied to moving any animal, even your horse.

My husband and I have had Ammo since he was 8 weeks old – and he’s only known our apartment as home for the last 9 months. We’ve never owned a Dachshund before – always had labs, I’ve since learned labs are much more adaptable to change. Dachshunds it seems are extremely smart, yet stubborn and sensitive at the same time. So I knew to be weary of the move ahead of time, my biggest fear was that he would become “un-house trained”. Dachshunds are known to be one of the hardest breeds to house train, and after house training Ammo, I totally agree.

But, with Ammo though our move actually has been quite easy (surprisingly) and here’s why I think it went so well…

First off I’ve always been big on taking Ammo to lots of new places, so that he gets used to experiencing new things. Friend’s homes, the park, pet shop, anywhere dog friendly. So that helped him become more comfortable with changing surroundings. Ammo also comes to work with me everyday so he meets my customers on a regular basis.

Second, I taught Ammo to ring a bell when he wants to be let outside. He learned that in order to do his business he had to ring a bell to be let out. So when we would visit friend’s homes I would put a bell on the door – so he learned that where you are might change, but the bell will always be there and your way outside.

Third, Ammo has a special basket that holds all of his toys. He knows that anything in that basket is his to do with what he wants. Towels for burrowing get put there, etc. So he knows that touching throw pillows is not ok, but shredding HIS blanket is fine.

So when it came time for the big move. The first thing we did was hang his bell on the door and show him. (familiarity #1) Then he got his basket of toys brought in (familiarity #2).

He has yet to have an accident in the new home (I thought for sure he would since other dogs lived there before and I’m sure the carpets must smell like other dogs). And he hasn’t destroyed a thing (that wasn’t his). I’ve left him home several times now and I give him his treat ball, which keeps him occupied. I haven’t come home to any messes or heard him crying to date.

I was actually quite shocked with how well it went. I was so sure Ammo would have accidents on the floor, or cry a whole bunch. Not only did we move to a new place, but Ammo’s sofa that he sleeps on is packed away while we re-do our hardwood floors so there has been a change in where he sleeps. Not to mention the fact that my husband and I are sleeping on the floor while Ammo is locked behind a puppy gate in the kitchen that he can see us from. Both these scenarios are out of the norm for him, and I was certain he would cry all night wanting to be in the room with us. But my little 11 month old Dachshund surprised me, maybe he’s growing up afterall. 🙂

-KD
www.ponypaintings.com

Tags : clicker training, dachshund, horse, iron horse farm, Kyley DiLuigi, pony, training

Passing of the Torch

There was another escape yesterday. Don’t worry – not nearly as bad as last time, but still gave me flashbacks to “the great escape”. I arrived at the barn on monday afternoon to find Nitro out of his stall again. This time I think he opened his dutch door himself. And when I found him he was glued to the stall door that holds my sisters mare. He was pacing inside and outside the open stall next to her – why – to keep the trick ponies away from her. Nitro obviously felt as if he had to claim Jet as his own, so he kept the trick ponies corralled in the back corner of the paddock. Poor ponies.

Nitro has issues with mares. He falls utterly and hopelessly in love with them. I guess you can’t blame him wanting a girl. His devotion is actually quite admiral – I think he would die for them if he had to.

The interesting thing is that he didn’t used to be like this. When Nitro first came to live with me he didn’t have an obsession with the mares, or a need to control everyone in the herd. In fact he had no interest in any of this for about 3 years of living with me. But I know exactly what changed him.

My mothers horse, Pippin, was always the herd leader. He worried, by weaving his stall, when the rest of the herd wasn’t in the barn, he watched over his mares, and called for the rest of the herd when they got too far out of site. He paced the fence when anyone left the farm. He basically was “head stallion” despite being a gelding. And when Nitro came to live with me he was sent to live with Pippin. I think Pippin took him under his wing – perhaps the son he never had. Nitro didn’t take on any of Pippins bad habits right away. It wasn’t until Pippin’s tragic death that Nitro changed.

I was away at my first year of college when Pippin died. Its worth noting that Pippin was my mom’s home-bred baby that she had had since she was 16. He was her “horse baby”. That being said it was even more devastating the way that Pippin died. At about 23 years old (the same age Nitro is now) Pippin started having seizures. They were strange seizures where he would go into a trance like state and not respond. His head would droop and he would become unresponsive. Then suddenly he would snap out of it and go back to eating. We called the vet many times during his episodes, but never once were they able to catch him in the act. Without a true diagnosis we ended up padding the walls of Pippin’s stalls and giving him rubber buckets. So that if anything worse happened while we weren’t there he wouldn’t becoming injured.

Several months went by – perhaps even a year – I can’t remember exactly how long we were aware of Pippin’s condition- occasionally we would witness his seizures, and likely he had them when we weren’t there too. Then one morning my younger sister and my mom were out feeding horses while I was away at school. My sister, who was about 12 at the time, went out to find Pippin who didn’t come in with the rest of the herd. Suddenly she came screaming back to the barn. She had found Pippin lying in a ditch covered in a pool of blood. As my mom rushed to his side she saw that he was still breathing. Vets were called and my mom scrambled to try to get Pippin out of the ditch. She had him up briefly before he collapsed into her arms.

His injuries were horrifying as it seems as if he had fallen into the high-tension electric fence at the farm we were renting before falling into the ditch. If you know anything about this type of fence you know that it is virtually unbreakable – and after you read what happened next you will know why I recommend NEVER having this type of fence on your farm. As Pippin fell into the fence it wrapped around him at his stifle – and for lack of a better work – sliced his back legs almost completely off.

My mom held him as his breathing slowed and he expelled his last breath. He had lost way too much blood to go on.

We believe that Pippin likely had had a seizure overnight which caused him to fall into the fence. After the horrifying ordeal was over it was noticed that Nitro was still in the pasture – watching as his mentor painfully passed away. In the months following Nitro refused to walk past the site of Pippin’s death. And slowly he began to change. I believe Pippin passed on the role of “head stallion” to his predecessor and is the reason Nitro is so concerned about the herd now.

I worry now that soon Nitro won’t be around to watch over his herd as my mom’s horse did. He’ll be 24 next year, and I know that he won’t continue on forever. Blitz has taken a liking to Nitro – and although he is not the top of the pack (Minnow is) he tends to try to emulate Nitro sometimes. As much as I love the idea of “passing the torch”, Nitro’s antics are less than desirable and it would be a shame if Blitz ended up with the job after Nitro is gone. I keep Blitz stalled as far as possible from Nitro, but with his recent breakouts I worry what he’s already taught to my unsuspecting Blitz.

I guess we will just have to wait and see and hope that it doesn’t happen anytime soon.

-KD
www.ponypaintings.com

Tags : assateague, Chincoteague, chincoteague minnow, chincoteague pony, horse, iron horse farm, Kyley DiLuigi, pony

The Great Escape x2

Meet Nitro. My 16.3 hand 23 year old (retired) second level dressage horse. I’ve owned him since I was 13 years old (12 years) and he’s still just as much of a pain as the day I brought him home. I love Nitro, and I owe much of my skills in being patient with horses to him. Nitro, who earned his name due to his EXPLOSIVE behavior, really tested my patience – a lot. You would think at 23 he’d be settling down in his later years. Definitely not. I took home what I thought was a sane 14 year old horse who had done some stuff in his life. What I got was a drugged horse that was a home-bred mess and had sat in a field for 10 years of his life – I paid way too much for him. Everything he knows/learned I taught him. We advanced struggled through the dressage levels together. Sometimes I smiled, sometimes I cried and threatened to sell him. Majority of the times I threatened to sell him. But he somehow wormed his way into my heart despite all of his flaws. He’ll live with me until the day he dies.

That being said yesterday was one of the days I threatened to sell him. Oh dear sweet Nitro, you make everyday an adventure!

I arrived at the barn around 5:30pm – slightly confused. Normally all of the horses are in their (correct) stalls, while the Trick ponies (Minnow, Boomer and Blitz) have access to their stalls with their dutch doors open to a small paddock. Two other horses have dutch doors that can open to the paddock if we choose, Nitro and my sister’s horse Jet. So when I arrived at the barn I was slightly perplexed as to why Blitz was locked in Nitro’s stall (happily munching his hay) and Nitro was wondering around in the paddock with the other ponies. My first thought was that someone made a mistake – we have a few self-care boarders. But upon further inspection I realized that the stall Blitz was in was actually just pushed shut and not latched. The conclusion – one of the ponies (oh those evil ponies) unlatched Nitro’s door and set him free. Blitz then went in his stall to eat and someone (or him) closed the door behind him. My guess is that it was Blitz. Blitz is the only one with real motive to do it. For one he idolizes Nitro, who is the herd leader and keeper of the farm, and two Blitz is very much guided by his rumbling tummy. I’m sure Nitro’s leftover hay looked like such a treat.

So you may think the story stops here, you would be wrong. Nitro, being the high strung horse that he is, was really worked up about being out with the ponies all day. Whinnying to his pal Diego who was stalled down the isle, worried about where his “herd” was. Only a daily basis Nitro is only in contact with one horse, a boarder named Diego – with a fitting show name of Outlaw. So noticing how worked up Nitro was getting I opted to turn him out in the pasture first instead of leading both Diego and Nitro at the same time like I usually do. So I turned Nitro out and went back to get Diego. Meanwhile Nitro was getting even more worked up out in the pasture. When I got back to the pasture with Diego Nitro had backed off some from the fence. I safely got Diego inside and was turning him around to shut the gate before I set him free. Just as I was slipping Diego’s halter off and starting to walk out the gate Nitro comes charging us. He proceeds to try to double barrel kick Diego – who rears in defense, knocking me to the ground. And just my luck the fence swings open and I have two huge horses barreling out of the pasture.

My first thought is oh crap please let them head back to the barn. With Nitro (who’s not the brightest crayon in the box) I should of known that wouldn’t happen. No, instead he takes off down the driveway with Diego in tow. Luckily the farm is tucked away off the road, surrounded by farmland. Except for one big house up on the hill. And of course they head for the big house – with their newly manicured lawn – and it had been raining for several days. As I watch them run through the neighbors lawn and over the hill and disappear out of sight I have a mini heart attack. I run to the barn grab halters and a bucket of grain. I sprint after them hoping to keep them in sight – which didn’t happen. As I approach the McMansion the neighbors appear saying they saw horses run past their house. I continue around to the back to see a view of rolling hills – and no horses – another mini heart attack. I shake my bucket of grain and thank the lord the horses appear in the distance. They begin running straight for me – then I realize they aren’t stopping. I shake the bucket feverishly as the barrel past me…almost knocking me over again. Diego, dear sweet, fat, Diego suddenly makes a sharp U-turn and b-lines it for my bucket of grain. Among pants for breath he scarfs the grain and I quickly halter him. Few – atleast the boarder’s horse is caught. I look up to see Nitro gallop off into the fields. For a moment I think maybe he’ll never return – then I remember I do love him and it would be a shame if he never came back. So I opt to take Diego back to the barn first and return to look for Nitro. The neighbor says he loved seeing all the excitement – I laugh but think to myself are you crazy?

I lock my hand onto Diego’s halter and clamp on with a death grip as I walk the prancing horse back to the barn. He spooks at the house, the barking dogs, the dump truck in the driveway, I hold on for dear life. We get back to the barn driveway and Minnow is bronco bucking around his pasture. I yell whoa to him trying settle him because he’s making Diego hard to hold. As I near the barn, there is dear sweet Nitro, staring at me with crazed eyes. Easy boy. He takes off straight towards me – mini heart attack #3 – I clamp onto Diego again. Amongst the rearing and flying fur I close my eyes and HOLD ON. I’ll be damned if I was going to let Diego go again. I somehow manage to keep in contact with Diego’s halter and lead him back into his pasture. Nitro follows. I get them inside, lock the gate, and collapse onto the picnic table. God I hate dislike Nitro.

As I turn out the rest of the herd (Boomer and Blitz along with my sister’s pony Jet and a near-30 boarder’s horse) I think about how I would take my stubborn little ponies over Nitro anyday. The ponies walk quietly to their pasture – two at a time and I hug them for being well behaved. I think maybe its the Thoroughbred blood in Nitro that makes him so wild, then I think maybe its the Welsh/Connemara pony blood. Then I think note to self – never breed a Throughbred with a pony…bad things happen.

I muck the stalls, sweep up and throw down hay. As I turn off the lights I think about a good friend that lost her 24 year old Thoroughbred today. Flyer was Nitro’s pas de deux partner in crime back in the day. I think despite Nitro’s flaws I’m glad he’s still here to fight another day. R.I.P. High Flyer.

-KD
www.ponypaintings.com

Tags : escape, horse, iron horse farm, Kyley DiLuigi, pony

Lazy Summer Days at the Farm

So I fully intended to ride Boomerang yesterday….I really did – I swear. My engine just sort of died when I got to the barn. Sometimes I wonder how I fit everything I do into a day. Its difficult to balance all of it. I’m barely getting much sleep lately – thanks to a cranky dachshund who can’t understand why I’m sleeping on the floor and he’s locked behind a doggie gate, I balance a full time job running a business – make that 3 businesses (Green Horse Studios, Pony Paintings, Studio 3), I then feed and care for 7 horses (which includes mucking stalls and daily feedings and turnout), I try to ride/train my horses 5 days a week, and then there is the house remodeling, not to mention having time to make dinner/spend time with the husband. I just made myself tired typing this list.

But honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m extremely happy (even if I’m sort of exhausted lately) and I enjoy having lots of projects to work on. I’m not one who enjoys “being bored”.

So that being said – yesterday I just didn’t have to energy to ride. I feel kind of bad about it actually – considering I have another competition coming up in 2 weeks and Minnow is set to perform again in a week. Ah – I need to get on the ball again!

Anyway, so instead yesterday, I enjoyed some time with my favorite Chincoteague Ponies. I discovered an apple tree in the back yard of my new house – and of course any loving horse owner like myself would bag up as many as they could carry and bring them to the barn for their horses. My ponies better love me after that.

So there you have it….a very rare lazy summer day for me and the trick ponies (and the dachshund too).

-KD
www.ponypaintings.com

Tags : assateague, Chincoteague, chincoteague pony, clicker training, farm, horse, iron horse farm, Kyley DiLuigi, pony

The Bronco takes to the Open Land

So my weekend was filled with heavy lifting due to moving all of my personal belongings into my new house. Lets hope I never have to do that again. I can’t name a muscle that isn’t sore right now. And while we are officially moved into our first home – we’re still sleeping on a mattress on the floor and living out of boxes in the basement. Hopefully this is only temporary as we plan to finish our hardwood floors in the next 2 weeks. The dachshund is utterly thrilled that we are sleeping on his level. He has been using our mattress as a wrestling ring with my parent’s dog, Trooper.

And while things are finally starting to settle down in regards to home life – I was actually able to get my first ride in over a week on Boomerang. On Monday my plan was to go on a nice quiet trail ride with Boomer while my mom rode Blitz. Now Blitz has turned into an exception trail horse (we all fight over who gets to ride him). He goes the pace you want, doesn’t try to grab grass, and is relatively non-spooky. Thanks to clicker training him to “touch the goblins”. Boomer on the other hand isn’t the dream trail horse. At 6 years old I think he still has a lot of growing up and maturing to do, I’ve been told that Chincoteague Ponies actually mature later than most horses. I’m hoping this is the case for Boomer anyway.

I’ve never been big on trail riding – mostly because I love to “fine tune” my skills in the ring. My mom loves to – so I mostly go for her sake and for my horses mind. They can’t be expected to do ring work all of the time. So that being said – lately Boomer has been making me despise it even more. When trail riding him, I admit he tends to push my buttons – my normal calm level headed personality gets pushed to the breaking point a bit. Let me explain.

Usually our trail rides start off with a bit of stop and go. Boomer puts on the breaks and refuses to move his feet. He doesn’t call back to the barn or act frantic about leaving home – he’s very calm about the whole thing. He just doesn’t want to do it. So we have a little battle – me asking him to go forward, him refusing (until we get the clicker dialogue going). Finally I get him moving and now he takes off in little spurts. He’ll be walking – then pow- we’re at a gallop and I can’t stop. He does a lot of tossing his head into my lap to evade the bitless bridle as I try to muscle him to a stop (mostly because my whoas and seat position have no effect on him when he’s like this). I finally get him settled and working on a pace I want. When he’s going along at a clam and relaxed walk I click and reward him. Now he starts trying to grab grass. He makes me feel like a little kid sometimes. My stubborn pony darts for grass while I try as hard as I can to pull his head up and keep him moving. And I’m telling you if he gets his head down – no amount of my muscle can get his head back up. I’m tempted to start using grass reins until I can nix this behavior. So now I’m riding with the reins braced in my hands – ready for the moment he tries to make a go for the grass again.

Once Boomer realizes his grass attempts are futile – then the bucking starts. Its usually only brought on when we start to move. And I don’t think they are angry bucks, I think they are yippee this is fun bucks. But either way a buck is a buck – and its unwelcome. Now Boomer doesn’t have an ordinary buck. Blitz has an ordinary buck, a little protest with the hop of his back feet – or a tiny jump for joy. No I wish Boomer had a buck like this. Instead I ride a bronco. Looking at him you would never guess that he could jump that high – even from a standstill. And the way he contorts his body – ow, it hurts me just thinking about it. I probably look like a rag doll bouncing around on his back. My mom’s jaw drops everytime she sees him do it.

Yesterday’s buck was exceptionally bad. Somehow Boomer managed to buck while we were crossing a big ditch. It was so powerful that he snapped my neck back (which cracked so loudly I think the neighbors could hear it). Needless to say I can barely turn my head today. I’m lucky he has NEVER (knock on wood) dumped me. I’m not really sure how or why he hasn’t – maybe its my long legs that can easily wrap around his sides. I think if he ever figured out he could dump me I’d be in really big trouble. Lets just hope that day never comes.

So by the end of this horrible trail ride I’m usually fuming (quietly to myself as I’m not one to show too much emotion). The trail rides are supposed to be relaxing and something enjoyable for both of us. Instead they end up being a battle of whits and skill. And I’m really not sure who is wining in the end – but I have a feeling its Boomer. Back at the barn I hose off and take care of my pony – making sure I mention to him that he is not getting rewarded for his bad behavior. After no treat he gets turned out to ponder why no jackpot at the end of the trail ride arrived. Or so I choose to believe….who knows if he understands why he’s not getting his special treat when we are done.

It seems to me as if the clicker and rewards are becoming no match for Boomer’s want for grass. I think all of the issues are revolving around him wanting to eat grass and being frustrated when I don’t allow him to. I’m thinking about trying to reward him with grass (from my pouch and not the ground). I’m not sure where to start with him and this trail riding business – but I do know that something needs to be done about it before I really lose my temper (something that rarely happens to me, especially when dealing with my animals). But we’re all human (or alive for that matter) and sometimes our emotions get the best of his. Boomer gets emotional about wanting grass – I get emotional when he wants that grass. Hopefully we can find a happy medium where neither one of us loses our temper.

-KD
www.ponypaintings.com

Tags : assateague, bitless bridle, Chincoteague, chincoteague pony, clicker training, dachshund, horse, iron horse farm, Kyley DiLuigi, natural horsemanship, pony, training, trick, trick horse, trick pony

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