Otie's First Week

This is going to be ridiculously long... but mostly because there are a lot of pictures. Otie has been moved in for a week now, and my first week of horse ownership has gone by so fast! Here's a recap:

Tuesday: Moving day! Let him explore the indoor, fed him dinner, groomed, took conformation shots, emptied my tack trunk into new tack locker, and fussed excessively over him (to his embarrassment). There's already a post about Tuesday so, not much more to say!

I could just stare at him all day long, he's changed so much in just the past
couple months!

Wednesday: Turned him out in the arena, and the barn owner told me he tried to turn him out alone for the day but had to bring him in after an hour and a half because he was just screaming for the other horses... wimp.  So I turned him out, tidied up my locker, and we recorded his weight so we can keep track of any loss/gain on the new feed. I also cuddled with the cutest kitten in the world, who followed me around all evening. Then I groomed the now dusty boat, hung out with the kitten in Otie's stall while he ate, and met a couple people. Fun day for me, but not so exciting for a recap!

Thursday: Otie was wormed to get him onto their worming schedule. I got there at dinner time so I just let him eat and groomed him. The BO told me that he lasted outside alone longer today, and that tomorrow morning he's going to go out with 2 other geldings that will hopefully be his turnout buddies. Crossing my fingers! It's so quiet at this barn, I've only run into one boarder so far and it was kind of a polite-greeting-then-go-separate-ways kind of exchange, which I am totally fine with! I also had a different kitten shadow today.

How Otis feels about seeing me every day.

Constantly in awe of my horse. This is a new development

for us since I have been home for 2 months straight instead of 

just twice per month so he's actually being groomed regularly.

Friday: Turned Otie out in the arena and he just followed me around the entire time and wasn't interested in anything else... so I guess he's bored and wants a job again! Then groomed him as usual. The BO told me that he went out this morning with 2 other horses, and it was as if they had been friends for 10 years. No squeals, kicks, or anything. So that's great! They were out for about 4 hours before it was like 95 degrees and they wanted in. Go Boat!

Saturday: My mom came out to the barn with me today, and I'll admit it wasn't the best day... Several boarders were there so after having the past few days with the barn to myself, seeing that many new people made me uncomfortable. Hopefully, I'll get over it. So the Boat was out with his new buds, and it was super cute, so I just brought him in briefly to lunge and get his feet moving a bit before I tossed him back out. Low-key day!

Mom saying "Hi" after not seeing him for a long time. Awh.

Sunday: 1st ride at our new home! Not gonna lie, it was pretty crappy. I was supposed to be out of work at 2, but didn't end up getting out until 5 and I had barely eaten anything all day. I was exhausted and a little grumpy, and Otis wanted to eat dinner and is still under the impression that he is retired. He was very tense and just unwilling to cooperate under saddle. I decided after fighting with him for a bit to just try to work on leg-yielding at the walk and shoulder/haunches in at the walk, and then after all that mentally hard work (he HATES lateral work...oops) he was a bit more willing to trot around so we ended nicely enough. Though the ride did leave me with a bit of an unsatisfied feeling and worries for rides to come.

Monday: Noticed his Micklem was fitting a bit weird... so I readjusted it. Placed some trot poles to give him something to focus on, and even before we did the poles he was SO much better! He was a lot more relaxed, and even though he was a bit lazy and ignoring my leg, he was so much better than Sunday. (Also it was super hot out and the bugs were bad so I don't blame him for lacking enthusiasm.) We even did some more lateral work (still his least favorite thing). I was supposed to do a conditioning ride tomorrow, but I kinda would like to just do dressage again. THAT'S not something I can usually say!

Can we just take a moment???

 "Mom! Did you see they took my friend in? Why did they do that??"

Trying to turn on puppy-dog-eyes so he can go in too.

Tuesday: And finally, the last day in our move-in week. I stuck to my training schedule (been developing it over the past few months) and just did conditioning today. We didn't do the full workout because it was 96 degrees, but enough that we were both tired! Little dude is earning his keep for sure, and I hope he's starting to like it at least a little bit.