# Big day for miss Nelly



## amysue (Jan 24, 2014)

So this past August I purchased 3 Shetland brood mares who were pretty much range mares. Every day is a new adventure with their handling and with getting them to trust me. Miss nelly ( mccalls kl janelle) was due for a hoof trim. She was too skittish to let me do it but every day I kept catching her and touching her hooves and rewarding her. Finally, today she let me trim het hooves. I prefer to get them to trust me, rather than have to drug or twitch them. So needless to say we are very proud of miss nelly!


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## Marsha Cassada (Jan 24, 2014)

What a good girl, Miss Nelly!

It takes a little time that way, but what a great feeling with each success.

btw, do you milk your nigerian dwarf goats? I have two friends here who raise them.


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## amysue (Jan 24, 2014)

Next i have to work on pokey and janey. Janey still wont let me actually touch her but i'll figure it out. I dont milk my goats yet, some day though. My sister in law is preparing to begin milking her goat herd. I am considering setting something up for the goats in the cows milking parlour.


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## chandab (Jan 24, 2014)

Yeah! I had a good day with my skittish mare, too. I trimmed her, which was fine, except for the catching part. The hard part was her deworming. Last time, I tried the applesauce in a syringe trick, after I had already fought with her awhile; today, I tried it first, worked like a charm today, got her dewormed and except for us both wearing a little applesauce, no one was stressed out after we were done. [We wore applesauce cause while she'll take the applesauce syringe, she is not lady-like about it.]


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## amysue (Jan 25, 2014)

Hs too funny. I hear applesauce is in this seasin, all the big designers are raving about it. That is where I am struggling with mo other pony, Janey. She not only is terrified of me but she kicks at me once I open the door. I dont want to just jump in there with a gate, corner her to catch her. But it is slow going with her. Glad to hear you're making progress with your's.


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## jeanniecogan (Feb 1, 2014)

Try just going in the stall for no reason with a little stool and sitting or standing in there for a while, talk to them, but don't do anything with them, wear a heay jacket in case they want to come up and nibble, do it for a few days, say 15 minutes. they will get curious and come closer and closer. eventually you can lightly touch them , and move on slowly from there, soon they will be coming to greet you when you come to their stall. it works well for me. that way you aren't just catching them all the time to do somethingto them. good luck.


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## amysue (Feb 2, 2014)

Nelly and pokey like when I visit. I clean their stalls with them inside. I sit on a bucket and read a lot and pet the cats who come to visit. I have had them since august and whe nelly and pokey are warming up to me, janey is still dangerous. I know that most of a range horses' handling is perceived as negative as they are not accustomed to handling. So I just visit them and give them cookies for the heck of it. The problem with janey is once I open the door, shes on the defensive. I have been sitting outside her stall and talking gentle to her and have tried just sitting there quietly for a while. She backs all the way up to the corner and just shakes until I leave. No matter how long I wait, she just wont warm up to me. She is more interested in my husband than me but he isn't a horse person so he gets easily intimidated by her. I know it takes a long time to win them over and they have to be shown that they can trust you but sometimes I wonder if janey would do better living outside so no one gets hurt. Pokey and nelly enjoy going out for walks every day. I cant quite turn them out in a paddock b/c I wont be able to catch them. But im wondering if janey will ever come around.


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## chandab (Feb 2, 2014)

You might have to try turning Janey out and seeing if she'll come around when its more her choice, perhaps she feels trapped in the stall, even when you don't come in and "invade" her space, perhaps it isn't big enough to meet her comfort zone needs.

While I can get Baybe in the barn, she rarely goes in on her own, unless following Tilly (donkey jenny) or she is certain no one is around. Its not easy to catch her outside, so I do have to run her into the smaller stall to catch her; but I can walk up to her in the big outside pen or get down to her level and she'll come up to me (yes, she's looking for treats, yes I did use food bribery to try to help her realized I'm not a pony eating monster, but its slowly working, she loves her treats).


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## amysue (Feb 3, 2014)

Chandab I am beginning to think that would be best for janey. The only problem is that I dont have any stalls with runs or paddocks with sheds available for just her. My boarders with big horses use them since i wont put big ones out with my minis. She doesnt like having a buddy either, as I already tried giving her a buddy in a paddock with a shed. She beat the snot out of the other mares in with her. So sharing with someone else is out. I do not want to put her in a pasture with no shelter since I can't catch her, i dont want her out in the elements with no cover. My other concern is that there is a good possibility that she was bred before I brought her home so I kind of need to wait and see if she foals first. Id hate to put her out and then have a wild foal on the ground with her that i cant take care of. I have to build her her own pen and shed as I think an in and out would make her more comfortable. I put the three mares in full size horse foaling stalls when I brought them home in August hoping to win them over. Pokey and Nelly are warming up to me but Janey needs more time I guess. Thank you for the help and encouragement.

The worst part, she is not even food motivated. Wont take treats, wont even eat them off ground or out of her bucket after I leave. It worked for the other two but not her.


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## chandab (Feb 3, 2014)

You might have to try a different treat or find a non-food reward she's interested in. So far, with mine, I haven't found one horse that didn't really like the Dumor Horse Treats that TSC sells; although, initially the only treat Baybe really liked (as in would do almost anything for) was ApplezzNOats (now she'll eat anything).
Do you have any portable panels that you can set up as a temporary pen for her? It didn't have shelter, but last winter/spring, my yearling colts were in the round corral for a few months, to which I had added a small pen outside the gate I could run them into to catch them when needed. Here's a picture of the set-up (ok, so the round corral isn't in the picture, but its to the left looking at the picture, what you see is the addition I added, and going to the right is temporary pasture fending):


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## amysue (Feb 3, 2014)

The only thing I can get her to eat is strategy pellets. My feed store orders me the big oval pieces so I can feed them like treats. I have corral panels that I plan to move to her stall in the spring...they're frozen into the ground right now. I think I can move her to the end stall and set a pen up so it is not in the way of everyone else and give her more space.


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## Marsha Cassada (Feb 4, 2014)

She sounds very challenging. Her "fight/flight" instinct must be very strong. Can you take her out into the larger area and do some lead work? Backing out of your space? Lunging on a long line? I don't see how she can make a bond with you unless you can somehow be her leader.

If she is this anxious, be very alert if/when a foal arrives as she may attack it.


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## amysue (Feb 5, 2014)

Unfortunately the only way to get ahold of her is to use a fence panel and close her in a corner so she does not kick. This is completely counter productive to getting her to trust us. The interesting thing is, once you have a hold of her, she is a cuddle bug. Its just dangerous as heck to get up to her. I mean if you just walk up to her space she kicks at you. I can lead her around, I let her graze and she sort of lunges on a line. At this point im not ready to let her loose and free lunge her yet. When we had the cold snap and she was shivering in her stall, we caught her (with not much argument) and she was fine for blanketing. She just does not want caught. I know she has foaled before but im terrified that either something will go wrong in labor and it'll be tough to relax her to assist or she will be even more dangerously protective with a foal and we'll get hurt. I guess time will tell. I appreciate everyone helping me with this.


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