Photos!
I have been remiss in not posting more about Miss Mary Berry but busy, busy with Livewires and every other spare minute I can be, I’m out with the animals. Mary (or Merry?) is a constant joy to have a long. It is a little like we are fostering a puppy and she just makes us all that much happier. Mary is liking her front shoes and I can see her filling out more and more. I have her on biotin for her hooves and hair, vitamin E, ground flax, high point general supplement, beet pulp, a handful of oats, a little magnesium and I think and hope that is it! She loves her nightly hot mash extra soupy so she can slurp and sip up the warm water. I’ve been taking her everywhere with us and sometimes she just runs and races and plays around and around while I work with or ride Arrow. When I lunge Arrow, Mary is like her outside of the circle shadow. She is getting used to trailering and I can now count on her to hop right in - even in the dark and cold. She likes her little wool cooler that I found in the free box at The Rusty Spur and I think feels a little like a princess. As she should. Mary is curious and a quick learner.
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One of the best things is that trainer Tom Mowery has been helping me with her for about half an hour every other week when he comes to teach me about training Arrow to harness/cart and help Chad with August (our donkey). Tom can immediately identify a few things that I need to work on with Mary and that has been invaluable. This week we worked on backing up in hand, lifting each foot with the rope- to the side, front, back etc. and to have the rope around her hind end and then disengage her quietly while she walks around the rope. It literally takes me three times to get how I am supposed to do something but it only takes Mary once to understand once I get it.
Other news: I bought August a ball for Chad’s birthday but Mary likes it the most and will tolerate it being set on her back and bouncing off. The best thing is that Mary is calmer and less anxious and guarded each day… now she walks up every morning for a big hug and she is always up for feeding time. She gets an extra big breakfast while Arrow eats out of her slow feeder and August gets a much smaller portion. Mary is very generous and shares with the goats when she has a lot of hay, but if she has a smaller serving she’ll protect it from little nibbling mouths.
Mary enjoys naps in the sun, is a little lazy when we go for run (we went five miles yesterday and Arrow led the whole way). Mary loves the creek and will happily weave around with her nose in the water for a long time. I am looking forward to riding her someday soonish here (working toward the goal of a very easy and not dramatic start) and I think she’d be a handy little jumper. She is very good at jumping up creek banks :)
