This isn't really about Jake, and yet it's everything to do with Jake.
I don't know who his mother is anymore. She's not the same lazy lump I rode before the blessed event of motherhood overcame her and I have the bruise on my butt to prove it.
Tatti is typically known as one of the seven dwarfs - 'Sleepy' - for the most part. She's the one you can count on to bring up the rear on a trail ride, sniffing every mailbox as we ride along, totally unconcerned about anyone or anything else, having a nice snooze while her feet rhythmically plod along. She does have a wicked little sense of humour that has left me and a few others in the dirt over the years but it doesn't surface very often and certainly not in the past few years.
Well, it's back! She's feeling good without young Jake to drain her resources, either that or she's celebrating his independence. I wasn't long out the other day when I realized I was no longer mounted on my horse. She spun out from underneath me just like in the cartoons, leaving that moment of hesitation before gravity took over and I went in the dirt, butt first. No harm done, I held the reins so she didn't leave me. I actually found myself laughing at her and at myself. We walked the rest of the way through the trail then I mounted up again to do about six laps of the hayfield at a good trot, then we tackled the trail again and came through just fine. Lesson learned: don't take a good horse for granted.
Funny thing, Harry asked me that evening: "Did you ride Tatti today?" "Yes," I answered. "Did you stay on," he asked? Harry has never asked that before. Strange.
Needless to say, she got cut off her oats. Her weight is coming back well now that she's not milking. She's also leveled out hormonally: I didn't expect such strong heat cycles after weaning but she was relentless within the first two weeks of weaning and I could tell that she didn't even recognize herself.
I'm pleased to report that she's come through the turbulence of weaning, she's getting rid of those pesky stretch marks from motherhood and she's giving me some of the best work of her life both on the ground and under saddle.
And as for Jake, by three weeks after weaning he didn't even look up when I took Tatti out riding. His friends saw him through the rough spots. I started him on some Purina Juvenile along with his Buckeye Gro'N Win now that Tatti isn't his nutritionist. I've just started putting the herd back together and I give him a swat in the nose from under the other side of Tatti if he goes to nurse that makes him think twice. He's catching on quickly. Hopefully I won't have to monitor them after a few days.
I don't know who his mother is anymore. She's not the same lazy lump I rode before the blessed event of motherhood overcame her and I have the bruise on my butt to prove it.
Tatti is typically known as one of the seven dwarfs - 'Sleepy' - for the most part. She's the one you can count on to bring up the rear on a trail ride, sniffing every mailbox as we ride along, totally unconcerned about anyone or anything else, having a nice snooze while her feet rhythmically plod along. She does have a wicked little sense of humour that has left me and a few others in the dirt over the years but it doesn't surface very often and certainly not in the past few years.
Well, it's back! She's feeling good without young Jake to drain her resources, either that or she's celebrating his independence. I wasn't long out the other day when I realized I was no longer mounted on my horse. She spun out from underneath me just like in the cartoons, leaving that moment of hesitation before gravity took over and I went in the dirt, butt first. No harm done, I held the reins so she didn't leave me. I actually found myself laughing at her and at myself. We walked the rest of the way through the trail then I mounted up again to do about six laps of the hayfield at a good trot, then we tackled the trail again and came through just fine. Lesson learned: don't take a good horse for granted.
Funny thing, Harry asked me that evening: "Did you ride Tatti today?" "Yes," I answered. "Did you stay on," he asked? Harry has never asked that before. Strange.
Needless to say, she got cut off her oats. Her weight is coming back well now that she's not milking. She's also leveled out hormonally: I didn't expect such strong heat cycles after weaning but she was relentless within the first two weeks of weaning and I could tell that she didn't even recognize herself.
I'm pleased to report that she's come through the turbulence of weaning, she's getting rid of those pesky stretch marks from motherhood and she's giving me some of the best work of her life both on the ground and under saddle.
And as for Jake, by three weeks after weaning he didn't even look up when I took Tatti out riding. His friends saw him through the rough spots. I started him on some Purina Juvenile along with his Buckeye Gro'N Win now that Tatti isn't his nutritionist. I've just started putting the herd back together and I give him a swat in the nose from under the other side of Tatti if he goes to nurse that makes him think twice. He's catching on quickly. Hopefully I won't have to monitor them after a few days.