gentle giants

I can't decide if its harder to halter a horse using one hand, or pick its feet. 
God, you have no idea! yesterday i headed out to the barn to start volunteer tasks. upon arrival, Bri told me first to go get Fanci and bring her in from her turnout time in the little arena. i ignored the little voice in my head that said "but you only have one hand, it's a HALTER, how the heck is THAT going to work?!" and went out to catch Fanci. now, this little bay mare could possibly be the tiniest pony ever; ancient and sweet. she watched me approach with the halter, and stood very still while i struggled to keep the noseband open at the sa,e time as pulling both sides up her face...if you've ever haltered a horse with BOTH hands, you know that its definitely a 2 handed deal. i had got the nose piece around her muzzle but then there was the question of swinging the unbuckled part around behind her ears and essentially buckilng the latch on the left side of her face. WTF?! Fanci complied by keeping her head in precisely the right position and, using my [considerable] height over her as leverage, i bolstered the left part against my chest and somehow managed to catch both buckle halves in my right hand, and got it latched. 

clearly using both hands

using the left to hold

i can never fully comprehend the big heartedness of horses.after grooming Fanci, there were 6 or so more i needed to do. next i went to Blaze, the oldest guy in the stable. a 12hh (give or take) Arab gelding who's partially blind in one eye. he also showed vast patience with the halter, and i got him groomed and put him back. Next came Mirage, also old, but notoriously more of a spunky guy, and slightly bigger than the first ponies. now Mirage kind of melted my heart, as when i moved to put the halter on i was getting rather frustrated because i kept dropping it. the problem was his head was much higher than the last 2, and the angle i had to reach up to him at granted me no leverage. Mirage literally bowed his head into the nose piece and SHIMMIED his lip to scooch it up his face. i almost cried. then he bobbed his head and helped me get it into position, and i proceeded to catch the ear band in my teeth (gross i know) and pulled it together and buckled it. 
now lets discuss the art of hoof picking. under normal circumstances, one will pick up the hoof with one hand, cup it in that hand and pick the dirt out with the other. it can be somewhat nerve racking as you are in rather a compromised position underneath a horse. now take away one hand, and just take a minute to think about that. i found on the right side of a horse, i could sort of grab the hoof and prop it on my knees, and as long as the horse was a kind sole, i'd just get it done as best i could. the problem came with the back feet. Mirage is somewhat arthritic in his hocks, so it's difficult for him to pick up his hind in the best cases. needless to say he kept stomping back down and i had a tough time with it, but finally got his feet done. i repeated the whole process from halter to hooves with Pippin next, but the real test came with mr. Cruz.
Cruz is rather a giant. well over 16 hands, probably close to 16.3, an ex showjumper, a big bodied warmblood. he was a true gentleman as i tried to get the halter on his massive head; however he wears a cribbing collar which meant there was almost no extra room to do up the halter over it. yea, that one took awhile. the sweetheart kept his head low and steady the entire time though! i took him into the big x-ties, and contemplated the matter of his plate sized feet. all went well, except that by that point my shot knees were desperately throbbing. i used the weight of Cruz's huge feet to counter my balance as i crouched. the back was rather more problematic. he hiked his leg way high up, and as i wedged it against my knees, he proceeded to LEAN on me. now its one thing if it's a 13hh pony using your quad as a footrest, they're so tiny you hardly notice. but we're talking 1300lbs of horseflesh in Cruz, so when he bore his weight down on my knee i had nowhere to end up but on my butt in the dirt! he was certainly surprised as he saw me down on the ground, but i picked myself up, tried again and eventually got the job done. 

make no mistake, horses truly understand more than most people give them credit for. never underestimate the generosity of our 4 legged friends!