Getting to Know Bella

Bella has been here for two weeks now. There have been no fireworks over the fence with my girls, so I thought it would be a good day to introduce her to the herd.

When I got home from work, I haltered April (my mini) to meet Bella first. That usually always works quite well, April is a gregarious sort, and loves everybody, she's also small and unassuming (and quick on her feet just in case!)

The two girls had a squeal at each other, Bella showed April her butt, but then .... she went and put her head in the corner and just stood there. April munched on hay, and you could see Bella glance at her over her shoulder a bit, but she wouldn't budge from the corner. She looked somewhat stressed, she was breathing heavily, her mouth and nostrils were tight, she was standing really still, she passed gas a few times, then swished her tail and kicked at her belly a couple of times.

Bella had lived with a mare that really beat her up a lot. I think Bella was afraid to approach April and try to make friends, and I think that made her quite stressed. Considering that she was kicking at her belly, I'm wondering if she has ulcers from the stress of moving to a farm where she was beat up, then moved again here. So I decided to nix the idea after about 20 minutes. I put April back with the other girls, then talked to Bella for a bit.

I've decided that I will treat her for Ulcers for a few weeks, then maybe try again in a different way. I think I'll put just a strand of electric between her and the others for awhile and see if they can work out some more over the fence before I introduce them again. Right now the fence is a bit seperated by brush and a hill, so they can't really get too close to each other, but can see each other easily.

I brought out some treats and a syringe dose of Nutrient Buffer, the ulcer supplement I have had good success with. I didn't even bother to halter her, I let her sniff the tube, she wrinkled her nose at it. I gave her a treat, then let her sniff the tube again and squirted it in her mouth. She did sling it around a bit, but I made it all better with a couple of more treats, after Bella made certain there was no NB residue on them, lol! I hope I can sneak it in her grain.

Since she still seemed a bit stressed I decided to do some Bowen bodywork with her. Its quite relaxing for horses (and humans too of course). I found that she seems to hold a lot of tension in her neck and head. She was a little resistant to my working on her neck, but I asked her to relax her head and neck many times, and when I was finished with the neck and did some work over her jaw and TMJ, her eyes just about glazed over and she totally relaxed, yawned a lot, blew, licked and chewed.

But then, she liked that so much, she really wanted me to continue working on her, brushing her or whatever, just some kind of attention. When she wants attention, she bullies you for it. She gets her shoulder in your space, then sticks her head right in your face! Its very similar to how Lakota asks for attention, but in a much more forward way.

I don't typically allow this type of behavior. I got into horses when my daughter was a year old, so I have been very, very picky about ground behavior. I had forgotten how hard I worked to teach my other 4 proper behavior around humans, and how to ask for attention in a polite way (which is always obliged).

So I stood with Bella for about a half hour, just being in her space and now allowing her to be obnoxious for attention. As long as she stood with her head a polite distance from me (about 8-12" is my comfort zone), we were fine. But whenever she pushed her shoulder toward me, she got backed up. Whenever her head swung toward my head, I shot my arm up in the air to block it. Soon enough, when she wanted to move her head for a different view, she tucked her nose in, dropped her head and moved it to the other side of me in a polite way. You could see her thinking, and the look in her eye as she would try the other obnoxious way again, get blocked, blow then drop her head and move the polite way. Finally, she wanted to move around me and instead of barging into me, she took a step backward so that she could stand on my other side. Not once did I move my feet at all during these half hour little battle of wills. I kept my feet rooted to the ground, and she is the only one that moved her feet (meaning that I was calling the shots, not her). She's smart, you could see her thinking and trying different things. Not once did I have to get really animated or aggressive. She was clearly testing her boundaries and seeing what is allowed, and what is not. Then I walked about 10 paces away, she came and followed politely, nose down. I stood with her a minute, then I walked off, and she headed to her hay.

I then went down to brush my other girls, they are all muddy from the mass-melting. I had 4 horses (two Curlies) all standing around me, waiting their turn to be brushed. Lakota gently touched my hip with her muzzle then presented her shoulder to me for brushing, looking expectantly at me. As I brushed her, I held out the palm of my other hand, and she likes to groom me back. I taught her not to use her teeth and she just rubs her lips on the palm of my hand in return for scritchies. When I was finished, she gently touched me again and asked for more, and I said "I'm all finished Lakota", and she was content to just stand there and doze next to me. Jen outstretched her neck as far as it would go and touched the brush, her way of saying "Can I get brushed, too?", and I obliged. I was pleasantly reminded of all the years of hard work teaching the girls that they can initiate contact and interaction with me, politely. And that I will not tolerate pushy, rude, or obnoxious behavior.