It's The Real Thing!

Summer is now in full swing and the weather has stayed warm and sunny this past week. I've had a chance to trail ride now both with hubby and with friends. Chanty had quite the challenge on the last ride going through deep mud and up and down hills, but she and I did great. I tried to stay as balanced and grounded as possible so as not to interfere with her on the difficult terrain. The woods were gorgeous, conversation lively and every one went home tired but happy. This past Monday, a group of us rode out from the stables and headed across the street to the river and had a great ride. I'm heading out tomorrow with another friend for a "ladies only" ride just an hour from home. Got to get all the riding in while the weather's good.


And, when I'm not out riding, I'm working with a new horse-a 12 year old bay arab mare. Her history is a bit sketchy, but apparently she was ridden in gaming shows and has had at least 2 other owners. Her current owner is trying to find a home for her, free of charge (is anything free when it comes to horses?) to someone who has experience and patience with horses. I was told by a friend who knows the horse, as he's been at the stables for the entire 5 years that the horse has been in her stall or babysitting senior horses, that I would love this horse and we would get along famously. I resisted getting involved with this horse for a long time, knowing what a responsibility it is to own one. And, once I have a horse, I try to keep them for life.

In the year I've been at the stables, the mare has been housed mainly on the other side of the barn, out of site. Now, because an owner with four horses exited the barn, several stalls opened up on our side of the barn and she was moved to a stall right next to Chanty. She goes out with Chanty and the two of them are now sharing the honor of having grazing muzzles placed on them daily to lower their caloric intake. Chanty gains weight just looking at grass and the new mare was a mom at one point, then was totally inactive and overfed for years, so she has the big belly and very little muscle tone. The two bay mares, housed and fed together are now unavoidably a part of my daily life at the stables.

I finally caved in and agreed to work with her for a month, emphasizing to her owner that I could not commit to ANOTHER horse until I was sure she and I would get along and only when I was sure that I was ready to let Rose go to the wide open green pastures in the sky. Her arthritis has gotten worse and she has lost weight since moving to my friend's stable. But, just when I thought she was on her last days, she rallied a bit. The weather turned warmer and she and Sally are both out in the pasture. That's right, even Sal's been out, ever since she began coughing and wheezing with asthma from the dust and sand of her stall, paddock and hay. It's a regular senior citizen's home for horses at my friend's stable.

So, before I commit to another horse and the expense that goes with that (I figured I spend $3-4,000 a year on my horses), I was going to take a 1 month trial period with the arab mare. I had noticed immediately that she was high headed, reactive and full of energy. Lots of go, very little whoa. And, her feet were in terrible shape, having been trimmed many months ago. It turns out that one of her "issues" was picking up her feet. Not surprising, since she had the reactive, extroverted, nervous, worried, run to escape personality traits that Chanty exhibited when I first owned her. Chanty, too, had not had her feet picked up or trimmed for YEARS before I got her. Her owner was afraid to pick them up as Chanty would pull the feet away and she was especially protective of her right hind. Over the years I've worked very hard at gaining Chanty's trust and although she'd rather not lift her back feet for me, she accepts it as long as I'm patient and pick up softly. I then began rewarding her first with "good girl" and then a small treat which she looked forward to each time she held her foot up quietly for me. The new mare also has an issue with her right hind foot and I'm hoping to trim her soon, one foot at a time.

So far we've progressed to the point where she comes up to me in the pasture, allows me to halter her, lead her through gates without rushing (that took several trips back and forth from outside her stall and back, through pasture gates, arena gates and on and on...), pick up her feet, brush her all over, throw the rope, stick and string on her and lunge her in both directions. We're working on leading quietly without rushing forward whenever she sees something around her. In short, she is becoming more trusting and confident around me as I remain calm, confident and consistent every day. I've worked with her 8 out of the last 11 days and it is paying off. It really warms my heart to know that all of the years of reading, watching, practicing and just plain old hard work has given me the knowledge and experience to help this mare return to a life with humans. She loves the attention and the interaction as most living creatures do. I know she wants to go places and be a horse again. What's wonderful is to see how quickly she has recovered and it gives me hope that I will be able to continue to progress with my horses and other people's horses without so much of the frustration and 2 steps forward, 3 steps back course that a lot of horse owners, including myself have struggled with in the past.

I love what I do now and it feels like it's what I was meant to do all my life. That's a pretty big statement, but when you are consistently rewarded with smiles and good feelings, you know it's the real thing. More good things to come, I'm sure.....