Bellapetite – Kathleen Zweber

Bella was a good girl when it came to clipping.  we have been doing things with various objects that vibrate, make noise and feel weird, so the cordless clippers were relatively easy for her to accept.  at first she looked at them like they were the bogeyman himself, then after rubbing her neck with them she decided it was no big deal.  once I started clipping her whiskers, she acted as if she was insanely ticklish even though I was holding the clippers in a way that simultaneously massages the face as the blades clip.

ears, however, were another story.

she has always had an issue with her ears, as we have been working on the whole time (as seen in this photo from a few weeks ago).   it took a while to convince her that it is safe to lower her head and allow me to rub, play with and even moosh her ears.  clipping was a “no way!”.  this is purely speculation on my part, but I have seen similar reactions from horses that have been “eared” for “discipline”, by people who sometimes refer to it as “ear twitching”.    pardon me for being opinionated, but this really frustrates me.   grabbing a firm hold of a horse’s lip and applying a twitch triggers the release of chemicals in the horse’s body that create a mild sedating effect… as far as I know, grabbing ears for any reason just creates fear through pain.   the effects of inappropriate treatment of a horse’s ears are very difficult and time-consuming to un-do.   Bella will need more work than I can give her in order to gain the kind of confidence necessary to hold still for ear clipping.

mooshing and massaging Bella's ears is now possible

although I have only had Magical Realm since Sunday night, I am confident enough in her temperament and “can-do” attitude that I have decided to bring her along to the Challenge for presentation.
the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of how she works is the “Little Engine That Could.” she loaded on to the horse trailer fearful, insecure and confused, but in these few short days has opened up her heart… and it’s a BIG heart!
her secret was unlocked by the wise words of my teacher, the late Ray Hunt:
“recognize the slightest try, reward the smallest change”.
all this mare needed was a little bit of encouragement to try communicating again, and to know someone is listening to her when she does.
wow.
whoever adopts this mare will have a treasure. in addition to her huge heart, she is smart and ready to absorb everything a person could want to teach her. she is very aware of her surroundings, but does not spook or imagine bogeymen in every woodpile or doorway (like someone else I won’t name… who took a while to get over that. *lol*). she gets worried, but with a firm hand to guide and discipline her and some more encouragement to work through being unsure, she gets down to business. if she can do these things for me in less than a week, there is no limit to what she can do for the lucky person who takes her home for life.
please take a moment to check out these photos of her movement, shiny coat and sparkling eyes… just imagine how amazing she will be once she gains back her weight and tones up that “post-baby” figure.

triumph amid chaos.
when she saw me coming with the feed sack (and the camera), Bella was tempted by drama.
she fought that temptation…
…and she won.

as they have been known to do in the past, things in Bella’s world CHANGED again.
two of her American Saddlebred friends came for foster care, including a mare who had been returned to MHARF before completing Challenge training: Magical Realm. as soon as the new girls stepped off the trailer, it became a free-for all of calling and answering and dancing around. Magic was the only horse that seemed to keep her cool… until the Guinea fowl decided to flap down around her making a horrible racket. with all the horses talking and the birds squawking, it was a rather chaotic evening on the farm. evidently Bella used this as an excuse to imagine all of her favorite bogeymen: the old ones in the wood piles and in feed sacks and new ones waiting to jump out of any open door she walked past on the way to the round pen.
all I could say to her is “…seriously?!?”
we have less than a week before the challenge and we’re back to *this*?
as soon as we got to the round pen, I marched back to the barn and got a feed sack. I wasn’t about to let some bogeyman set Bella back after all that work we’ve done together…

Magical Realm (L) and Hawaii Phive O (R)

it seems like the prolonged heat and humidity has been taking its toll on everyone. the dogs lay flat on hard-surfaced floors to stay cool, the cats just seem to melt. every last one of my horses has lost weight; they just don’t want to do anything, including eat. …not that I blame them.
Bella has been a champ in every kind of weather. she is definitely what I would consider an “easy keeper”. she always has a good appetite, it just takes her a little longer to finish her food when the heat index makes life miserable.

speaking of HEAT, here is something notable for potential adopters: I have been with Bella through several heat cycles and I can say with certainty that she does not fit the “crabby mare” stereotype responsible for making a lot of people prefer geldings. if it wasn’t for the fact that my barn contains a stallion who notices the most minimal changes, I would have had a hard time telling that she was even in heat. when we are working, she is all business even if he talks to her as I walk her past his stall. it is only when she gets back to her own stall does she show any signs, and even then it is very subtle.
I am confident that Bella is the type of horse who won’t let her cycles affect her performance or her moods.
Bella is the kind of friend you can count on.

Team Bellapetite: it's fun to work with a friend.

a visiting friend was kind enough to get photos of Bella’s second trim (thank you, Nikki).
always a good sport in the cross-ties, her only issue is that she will start “counting” (pawing) if I turn my attention away from her. a quick “eh-eh!” or, as her foster would say “BELL-a!” easily re-directs the behavior and reminds her that we are still working.
the trimming and shaping itself is a breeze, as she holds her legs in the position I ask her to without wanting to take them back or getting lazy and leaning on me. a friendly nuzzle or ruffling of my hair is about all I have to contend with as I work.

yes, that is a chicken on the rail above her stall in the background. chickens, Guinea fowl and two peacocks share the barn with her, so she is used to them flapping up and down from their roosts, squawking and darting about on the ground. funny how she never had a problem with the avian commotion around her on a daily basis, but a simple feed sack hanging in her stall terrorized her for weeks. hmmm….

one thing to beware of when ground-driving…

beware of falling objects

I am still doing the training at home, where it would be foolish to put first rides on green horses because there is no one else around while we’re working.  we have been ground driving on and off for a while now, more so now that the hay field has been cut and we have plenty of places to explore.  Bella works just as well in a wide-0pen space as she does in the arena or round pen!

I still have a lot to learn about these exercises for yielding, flexing and bending, but I could immediately tell that Bella was a quick study when it came to sensing the slightest changes in pressure as I took slack out of either side.
the only drawback to using the hay fields is that Bella is constantly being tempted to stop for a quick snack.

sweet, friendly girl

driving in the hay field

my mentor / trainer once told me a story about being at a jumping show hosted by a stable west of the Twin Cities.  it was during hay harvest time, and neighboring farmers were racing the elements to get a field baled.  several of the horses competing in the event had never been exposed to agricultural equipment in action, and did not handle the distraction well at all.  at one point, someone had the nerve to ask:

“don’t they see we’re having a show?  can’t anyone make them STOP?”

most of us know how ridiculous that sounds, because we know what is involved with the production of the food products our horses need.  now Bella is, too.  as my Dad helped me cut, rake and bale our hay fields, I made sure that Bella was out there with a front-and-center seat for all the action and got back-stage passes to meet all of the equipment.

it doesn't get any fresher than this

at first she wasn’t too sure about the big, scary hay wagon parked in the driveway, then she caught a whiff of the fresh hay and realized what was on it…

I wanted to wait at least a week before posting this, just to make sure that I had, indeed, observed a change: Bella’s mouth is finally quieting down. she appears to be accepting the bits.
we rotate between several different ones, to get her used to a variety of shapes and tastes in her mouth.