[SerenWish]

Day Two- Wednesday, July 3rd

So, like I forgot to mention yesterday, I still cannot find the perfect name for this mare yet. I watch her, look her over, ponder name after name, but nothing jumps out, nothing suits her. It's only been two full days, I know, but it's still frustrating. I want to stop thinking of her as "the mustang" or "the mare". I finally broke away from watching her move in her pen, nice looking trots, and turned my attention to my striking tall bay, Galaxies. It was mostly just easy work, trotting over poles, practicing lead changes. Dressage stuff. But my mind kept wandering from our exercises, back to the dun mare standing in the pen behind the barn that separates the dressage outdoor ring from the isolated paddocks.

Galaxies did well, but she was just a bit antsy, so I cooled her down, brushed her off, and turned her loose with Casa and Sunrise. Surprisingly she's a full grown mare who does very well with younger mares. Sometimes I wonder who this mare would do well with. Petroglyph is probably out. Pet was a relatively sweet mare, as long as I didn't get too pushy with her and asked nicely. But Pet still had a bit of a wild edge, that I didn't feel the mustang was ready to deal with.

So I took a bit of a leap and, rather than walk a mare over, I brought over Homer, one of my freshly gelded stallions. He came to me a stallion, but I felt as though he was better not left intact. I have a few other stallions, and Homer is so sweet. While his foals would be beautiful, I'm fine with my other stallions. Homer still has a few stallion-like tendencies, but he's fine with mares most of the time, and my mustang isn't in season.

Homer stood calmly when I tied him up to a pole right outside of the mare's pen. At first she trotted around and stared at the pair of us, but she eventually settled down. I took my sweet time grooming and petting Homer, just letting her see me interact with another equine. And I kept my eyes off of her, focusing totally on the half-dozing gelding, who was thoroughly enjoying his grooming. I was surprised when I felt something tug on my shirt. In fact, I nearly stopped breathing! She was touching me- well, my clothes- and seemed curious and like she wanted to investigate me thoroughly. It was like nothing I had experienced in a long, long time, not since my first time bonding with a horse. I stayed totally still, until Homer shifted and I stumbled a bit. She jerked back with a slight squeal, but didn't step away.

It took many long minutes, but I was able to slide the loose, soft rope halter over her head. She didn't love it, shaking her head a few times, but it's such progress! Unfortunately a polka dot blanket that was draped over the fence slats blew off the fence right after that, and draped over her hips. She bolted, the blanket flapping a bit before finally sliding off. I shook my head at her bucking antics- at least we had something happen today.... my excitement is rekindled!

Schedule
6:00 AM : Woke up.
6:00 - 8:00 AM : Breakfast and morning chores, feeding animals.
8:00 - 9:00 AM : Spent time around mustang's pen, cleaning up and fixing a slightly worn fence.
9:00 AM - 11: 00 AM : Worked with Galaxies on dressage exercises.