While searching for a good new home for Brother and Nugget my family has been undermining my determination. The children all boo-hooed at the thought of rehoming Nugget because she's their favorite. It seems a little strange to me since she's the one that we can't even get on so far but I guess you'd have to meet Nugget to see just how darn sweet she is. She really is just so darn SWEET (repetitive, I know, but it's really the only word to describe her) that you just fall in love with her even if you can't ride her. Just hanging out with her is relaxing.
And for all his talk about rehoming Brother being the smart thing to do and how financially we'd be better off Brother has always been dear hubby's baby. The reason we got Brother in the first place was he and Eric seemed to have an instant connection of some sort. He's not as blatant about it as the children, of course, but he has been dragging his feet around when it comes to this whole rehoming thing. I found one place that has a special place in their hearts for OTTBs that would retrain them and keep them for their clients that come there for treatment which sounds like it could be a very nice place for Brother and Nugget but hubby's answer was "nah, they'll probably want us to deliver them which means we'd have to borrow a trailer or something." Sounds like a silly excuse to say no to me!
I'm actually surprised that someone hasn't grabbed them up! These are quality horses with some very rich blood running in their veins free for the taking but once I tell them that Nugget roars or that they'll need a very experienced rider to get them used to being ridden again the people that were so eager to hear about them just dry right up. I'm not really complaining since I'd rather keep them but it does make me wonder just what the heck people are expecting??? Do they honestly think that someone is going to hand them two blue bloods with perfect conformation, fully trained and bomb proof, no quirks or flaws whatsoever on a silver platter for free???
But the big news is...I rode Brother (sorta, a little)!! Eric was hemming and hawing about things and decided that he'd like to put Tina or Traveller's saddle on Brother just to see what he'd do. His idea was that maybe Brother just needed to "buck it out" so Tina's saddle which has a back cinch would be best since Brother's almost sure to buck not being used to that second cinch. This kind of talk was making me really nervous really quick so I decided that I'd best do something with Brother to thwart my sweet hubby's plans. I don't actually object to letting a horse "buck it out" to some extent as long as he's been prepared and the saddle fits well but neither Tina nor Traveller's saddles fit Brother properly!
So instead I asked Eric to hold Brother's lead rope while I got on and off him bareback. Every time I got on Brother got a cookie. That went so well that after several mounts and dismounts I had Eric lead us around the round pen while being generous with the cookies. It all went very nicely and Eric was satisfied so I was happy but I knew I still needed to find some way to put a complete end to this talk of using Tina's saddle on him. Yesterday I got my chance while Eric was at the band parent's meeting. I put both saddles on Brother in the round pen but took the back cinch off Tina's and only cinched them up enough to keep them from falling off. Brother was good walking the round pen carrying the saddles but now that I've actually seen them on him no, I do think that they sit too low over his withers. Plus although Brother was good about it he did seem a little tense and twitchy. Eric came home just as I was finishing with the 2nd saddle and disagrees with me. He says he thinks he could make it work with the right saddle pad. At the very least I know that I don't have to make any kind of solid stand unless he gets another saddle pad so for now we're safe on this point! And it's looking more and more like maaaaayyyybeeee we won't end up rehoming them after all! We'll just have to keep seeing what happens one day at a time I guess.
Showing posts with label Nugget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nugget. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
The blues
Yes, we did get a chance to ride since my last post but it wasn't until yesterday. It seems like the more I say I'm going to ride the more all sorts of different things try to get in the way. Maybe I should start saying that I'm absolutely NOT going to ride? Who knows, life might start throwing things at me to get me to ride then! We even rode off our property a little ways! It was a lot of fun but a little scary too. The last time I tried riding Traveller off property he bolted out from under me and I was hurting bad for awhile. This time I think it helped that he had Tina with him, he cozied up to her as if for comfort a few times, and I put a slightly tougher bit on him (an eggbutt snaffle) just in case I needed some emergency control. I really did my best to stay very relaxed and he actually did very well! He did swing his head around a lot looking at everything and felt tense under me like he could spook though he never did. Hopefully with some more practice and life experience he'll mellow out better. He's such a good horse I have to keep reminding myself that he's rather young and green!
But today I've got the blues. We have officially decided that it would be better for us and them to find Brother and Nugget more suitable homes. It just kills me because I've grown to love them so my heart doesn't want to but my head says it's the smart thing. They need someone who can tune up their training and get them under saddle, someone very experienced, and while at one time I was a very experienced rider it's just been too many years. They're both just loving being pasture pets for the most part, of course, but I also have to admit that if we're going to put out this much time and money on a couple of horses I'd like to be able to ride them.
I started today with five emails from people all asking about them which bummed me out. Two of those are automatically out of the running just because I don't think Brother and Nugget are suitable for what they want. One wants to know if they're small enough to be used as polo ponies. I don't know just how small they'd have to be but I kinda doubt that at 15.3 and 16.2 they'll make the cut. The other really likes the looks of Nugget's bloodlines and would like to use her as a brood mare. On the one hand I think Nugget's personality would make an awesome brood mare! She's so sweet and quiet I can just see her loving having foals to nurture. Unfortunately, though I don't have an eye for judging horse conformation yet, I really don't think she's got the best conformation and she has the defect of roaring. I've shown and bred Great Danes and I would never, ever have bred one that was less than as close to perfect as possible, completely forget one that had any kind of major defect, and I would like to think that it's the same with horses!
We'll see what happens but I already know without a single doubt that I'll miss these guys so much. They're not even gone and my heart is breaking.
But today I've got the blues. We have officially decided that it would be better for us and them to find Brother and Nugget more suitable homes. It just kills me because I've grown to love them so my heart doesn't want to but my head says it's the smart thing. They need someone who can tune up their training and get them under saddle, someone very experienced, and while at one time I was a very experienced rider it's just been too many years. They're both just loving being pasture pets for the most part, of course, but I also have to admit that if we're going to put out this much time and money on a couple of horses I'd like to be able to ride them.
I started today with five emails from people all asking about them which bummed me out. Two of those are automatically out of the running just because I don't think Brother and Nugget are suitable for what they want. One wants to know if they're small enough to be used as polo ponies. I don't know just how small they'd have to be but I kinda doubt that at 15.3 and 16.2 they'll make the cut. The other really likes the looks of Nugget's bloodlines and would like to use her as a brood mare. On the one hand I think Nugget's personality would make an awesome brood mare! She's so sweet and quiet I can just see her loving having foals to nurture. Unfortunately, though I don't have an eye for judging horse conformation yet, I really don't think she's got the best conformation and she has the defect of roaring. I've shown and bred Great Danes and I would never, ever have bred one that was less than as close to perfect as possible, completely forget one that had any kind of major defect, and I would like to think that it's the same with horses!
We'll see what happens but I already know without a single doubt that I'll miss these guys so much. They're not even gone and my heart is breaking.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Catching up
Labor Day my hind end! It's been nothing but busier than a one legged man in a butt kickin contest for me since my last post! I did manage to get a little time in with the horses though! Friday Brother was a bit limpy in one of his front feet but I figured it was just tender from all the work the farrier did on him. Sure enough it seemed better later in the day and was gone Saturday. He's still got the shoes on! Keep your fingers crossed that he manages to keep them on at least until his poor bruised feet can heal up!
Sunday I watched a few Ken McNab shows where he demonstrated how he teaches his horses to follow his movements when being lead instead of pulling the horse along by the lead rope. It seems so silly basic but I realized how often we have to twirl the rope at one of ours while we're leading them somewhere because they get those I-don't-wanna sticky feet. This was the subject of Nugget and Brother's first training session since it really is so basic and would be easy enough on their couch potato-like present stamina!
The goal is to keep the horse's head roughly even with your shoulder with you leading from their left side. You want them to move with you as you move, to read your body language to figure out which way you're going to go. When you lean forward as if starting to walk off if the horse doesn't move with you reach behind with a *insert your own training tool here* (I used a dressage whip) to wave at/tickle/tap the girth area to get them moving forward with you. When you back up if the horse doesn't step back tap the ground in front of their feet, escalate to tapping their front legs if you have to, until they back up. To turn left you simply turn left and tap their hindquarters away if they don't move with you. If you want to turn right turn into their head/neck and push it away to make them move over for you. Seems simple enough, right???
Nugget didn't really get it, maybe she just doesn't want to get it? I don't know how to tell the difference yet. She caught on to how to go forward with me, though I had to keep correcting her for getting ahead of me, and she kinda sorta got backing when I walked backwards. Actually she caught on to taking one step back if I tapped her front legs firmly but she wouldn't progress to two steps. To give her legs a break from all the tapping I tried turns which didn't go well at all. When I tried to turn right she was really dull to me pushing her head away like she didn't care and was perfectly content to be pushed. Turning left was worse since she overreacted to me tapping at her butt like I'd thrown a rattlesnake at her. After awhile I was getting a little frustrated so did a few more backing steps and ended with lots of forward to give me an excuse to give her lots of praises and pats. Maybe next time will be better.
Brother, on the other hand, was my big super star with this exercise! After not being trained at all for so long I had to stop fairly often to reassure him that he was doing a great job because he kept blowing out hard like it was scary to him. He got the general idea very quickly on all four directions though which was very gratifying.
Tina got a break but I decided I needed to do a little riding. I just did not feel like lugging the saddle out so instead I took a ride with Traveller bareback. I didn't know if he'd ever had someone on him without a saddle so I stood on the ladder I mount from with one leg slung over his back for awhile to see how he'd react. He really wasn't bad, seemed more surprised than anything, and stayed quiet after a moment of shifting around a bit. I eased the rest of me onto him and voila!
If you've never tried riding bareback I heartily recommend it! It's not something I'd want to do all the time but it's definitely one more fun thing you can do with your horse from time to time. I also really think that at some point when you're learning to ride riding bareback is a very valuable learning experience! You can feel SO much more of how the horse moves and holds himself, you can learn a ton about your seat and how to move with the horse, and it really forces you to improve your balance.
With the first few steps I learned that I've been sitting too far forward on my pelvis because I was like a weeble wobble! When I rolled my pelvis so I was closer to sitting on my jean's pockets I was way more stable. That last trainer I worked with told me a few times to "sit on [my] pockets" but I didn't truly get it till I felt it on Traveller the other day. I may've brought my knees forward too bringing them out of line but I couldn't really tell and since I felt so much more secure I kept at it. All in all it was loads of fun and I think my riding made a step in the right direction.
Sunday I watched a few Ken McNab shows where he demonstrated how he teaches his horses to follow his movements when being lead instead of pulling the horse along by the lead rope. It seems so silly basic but I realized how often we have to twirl the rope at one of ours while we're leading them somewhere because they get those I-don't-wanna sticky feet. This was the subject of Nugget and Brother's first training session since it really is so basic and would be easy enough on their couch potato-like present stamina!
The goal is to keep the horse's head roughly even with your shoulder with you leading from their left side. You want them to move with you as you move, to read your body language to figure out which way you're going to go. When you lean forward as if starting to walk off if the horse doesn't move with you reach behind with a *insert your own training tool here* (I used a dressage whip) to wave at/tickle/tap the girth area to get them moving forward with you. When you back up if the horse doesn't step back tap the ground in front of their feet, escalate to tapping their front legs if you have to, until they back up. To turn left you simply turn left and tap their hindquarters away if they don't move with you. If you want to turn right turn into their head/neck and push it away to make them move over for you. Seems simple enough, right???
Nugget didn't really get it, maybe she just doesn't want to get it? I don't know how to tell the difference yet. She caught on to how to go forward with me, though I had to keep correcting her for getting ahead of me, and she kinda sorta got backing when I walked backwards. Actually she caught on to taking one step back if I tapped her front legs firmly but she wouldn't progress to two steps. To give her legs a break from all the tapping I tried turns which didn't go well at all. When I tried to turn right she was really dull to me pushing her head away like she didn't care and was perfectly content to be pushed. Turning left was worse since she overreacted to me tapping at her butt like I'd thrown a rattlesnake at her. After awhile I was getting a little frustrated so did a few more backing steps and ended with lots of forward to give me an excuse to give her lots of praises and pats. Maybe next time will be better.
Brother, on the other hand, was my big super star with this exercise! After not being trained at all for so long I had to stop fairly often to reassure him that he was doing a great job because he kept blowing out hard like it was scary to him. He got the general idea very quickly on all four directions though which was very gratifying.
Tina got a break but I decided I needed to do a little riding. I just did not feel like lugging the saddle out so instead I took a ride with Traveller bareback. I didn't know if he'd ever had someone on him without a saddle so I stood on the ladder I mount from with one leg slung over his back for awhile to see how he'd react. He really wasn't bad, seemed more surprised than anything, and stayed quiet after a moment of shifting around a bit. I eased the rest of me onto him and voila!
If you've never tried riding bareback I heartily recommend it! It's not something I'd want to do all the time but it's definitely one more fun thing you can do with your horse from time to time. I also really think that at some point when you're learning to ride riding bareback is a very valuable learning experience! You can feel SO much more of how the horse moves and holds himself, you can learn a ton about your seat and how to move with the horse, and it really forces you to improve your balance.
With the first few steps I learned that I've been sitting too far forward on my pelvis because I was like a weeble wobble! When I rolled my pelvis so I was closer to sitting on my jean's pockets I was way more stable. That last trainer I worked with told me a few times to "sit on [my] pockets" but I didn't truly get it till I felt it on Traveller the other day. I may've brought my knees forward too bringing them out of line but I couldn't really tell and since I felt so much more secure I kept at it. All in all it was loads of fun and I think my riding made a step in the right direction.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Feet
Tomorrow the farrier comes out to trim up Tina and Traveller's feet. Having all four horses done at once is a bit of a strain on our budget so we just do two at a time every 6-8 weeks or so. Thank goodness Tina and Traveller don't have any problems with having their feet worked on! It's easy to get them to pick one up and after that they automatically pick up the next one in line for you. As a matter of fact Traveller once picked up his next foot for me before I was ready, was pawing it around a little expecting me to grab it, and almost set it down on my foot! And they both do so great barefoot! I'd swear that they don't really need to be trimmed yet but by the calendar it's time. I'd rather stay on a schedule to keep them well maintained then to start a problem that can go downhill in a hurry.
Brother and Nugget still need work on having their feet handled though they're much better than when we first got them. At first they were obviously very nervous about the whole thing, refusing to pick up their feet, trying to jerk them away, breaking out in a sweat, and such. Poor babies haven't had good foot handling experiences in their past. I hear that's not really uncommon with racing horses, that too often the track farriers are too rough with them. Even though Brother was just trimmed a few weeks ago he's getting more and more limpy looking on his fronts and his hooves are so chewed up looking already! We've ordered some supplements for him and we're going to have our farrier look at his feet again tomorrow. I'll get some before and after pictures and let you know how it goes.
Brother and Nugget still need work on having their feet handled though they're much better than when we first got them. At first they were obviously very nervous about the whole thing, refusing to pick up their feet, trying to jerk them away, breaking out in a sweat, and such. Poor babies haven't had good foot handling experiences in their past. I hear that's not really uncommon with racing horses, that too often the track farriers are too rough with them. Even though Brother was just trimmed a few weeks ago he's getting more and more limpy looking on his fronts and his hooves are so chewed up looking already! We've ordered some supplements for him and we're going to have our farrier look at his feet again tomorrow. I'll get some before and after pictures and let you know how it goes.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Get it together
Now that school has started it's even harder to find a good time to work on the horses. Because my sweet hubby has such a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep we're the sort that don't usually wake up until the crack of noon which means that horsey time is in the cooler part of the evening. But that means that we're trying to pack feeding horses, kiddo homework, eating dinner, going to pick up our oldest son from band practice, and riding into just a few hours. I could get up early to work with them but that means that dear hubs gets left out. Ah well it's starting to cool off so I'm sure it'll get easier and easier to go out more in the afternoons. How do others deal with this, I wonder? I guess after work they just tough it out whatever the heat is and do it. I guess we gotta get our act together!
Sweet hubby definitely wants to regain his riding skill and confidence plus riding would be so good for him so I definitely want to include him in working with the horses as much as possible! Yesterday he graduated to riding on his own outside the round pen for about a half hour or so. Yay for my sweetie!! He thinks it's kinda funny because we actually got Tina for me and Traveller for him but where he's at right now Traveller intimidates him a bit so he's been riding Tina. I can't blame him, if I stop to think about it Traveller intimidates me a bit! Which is exactly why I don't allow myself to stop and think about that part of things while I'm riding him! lol He's just young and green still, I'm not so young but just as green which could be a bad combination. Thank goodness he's really a very gentle horse that just needs a little "continuing education."
I'm happy that one of our son's, Stephen, is developing an interest in riding too. Stephen always had severe asthma and some minor heart problems, SVT, and so was never a really athletic kid. Thankfully he seems to have outgrown the asthma pretty much and last year had heart surgery which seems to have cleared up his bouts of SVT! If only changing his couch potato ways was as easy! But the last two nights he's gone out with me to ride Tina some and says he really enjoys it. I'll be so relieved if he continues to come out and ride so that I know he's doing something nice and active finally! But that also means if the two of them keep riding more and more on Tina the more we'll probably need another horse. Tina is in her teens and I don't want to push her past what she can comfortably do. So I'll have to dive back into training Brother and Nugget which once again means I gotta get it together! Whew, I wish I had someone to worry about pushing me past what I can comfortably do! lol
Sweet hubby definitely wants to regain his riding skill and confidence plus riding would be so good for him so I definitely want to include him in working with the horses as much as possible! Yesterday he graduated to riding on his own outside the round pen for about a half hour or so. Yay for my sweetie!! He thinks it's kinda funny because we actually got Tina for me and Traveller for him but where he's at right now Traveller intimidates him a bit so he's been riding Tina. I can't blame him, if I stop to think about it Traveller intimidates me a bit! Which is exactly why I don't allow myself to stop and think about that part of things while I'm riding him! lol He's just young and green still, I'm not so young but just as green which could be a bad combination. Thank goodness he's really a very gentle horse that just needs a little "continuing education."
I'm happy that one of our son's, Stephen, is developing an interest in riding too. Stephen always had severe asthma and some minor heart problems, SVT, and so was never a really athletic kid. Thankfully he seems to have outgrown the asthma pretty much and last year had heart surgery which seems to have cleared up his bouts of SVT! If only changing his couch potato ways was as easy! But the last two nights he's gone out with me to ride Tina some and says he really enjoys it. I'll be so relieved if he continues to come out and ride so that I know he's doing something nice and active finally! But that also means if the two of them keep riding more and more on Tina the more we'll probably need another horse. Tina is in her teens and I don't want to push her past what she can comfortably do. So I'll have to dive back into training Brother and Nugget which once again means I gotta get it together! Whew, I wish I had someone to worry about pushing me past what I can comfortably do! lol
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Plus two makes a herd
While my husband was recovering from his broken ribs I met a lady on Facebook with horses and we hit it off. Not very long ago she decided that she needed to cut back on the number of horses she had for health reasons and asked if I knew anyone who might be interested. ME!! ME!! PICK ME!! Of course I told her I was interested!! She offered me several wonderful horses and I wished I could take all of them but hopefully I chose wisely.
One was an Egyptian Arab gelding that simply took my breath away with his beauty, I admit that I have a soft spot for the look of Arabs, but he was young, just green broke. With regret I passed on him thinking that at my utter newbie level of training and really rusty riding skills he and I would probably not be the best match.
Another was a lovely little Paso Fino mare. She was bred to a drop dead gorgeous Andalusian and who wouldn't want an adorable little foal too??? *sigh* I turned down this exciting two-for-one too. The mare was wonderful but I felt like a foal, while loads of adorable fun, wasn't the best choice for us. If something went wrong with the delivery the vet bill could get insanely expensive, I'd feel so awful if the mare or foal weren't ok, and again, at my rank beginner level of training I didn't want the added work of training a foal.
She really wanted me to consider Tina, a Paso Fino mare. Tina was taken out of an abusive situation with a lacerated tongue and deep dislike of people. Carol babied her and worked hard to bring Tina back around. She said she really hoped I'd take Tina because she knew I'd be good to her and she really needed to know that Tina was safe and loved. After running my rescue for so many years I knew exactly what she meant. We want that for all of our animals, we'd never purposely rehome them into an abusive situation, but when you take an animal out of an abusive situation, work that hard to heal their body and mind, and make that unspoken promise that they will never, ever be treated so badly again it somehow just raises your desire to protect them.
My husband was most interested in Traveller, a Mustang/Quarter Horse gelding. Carol warned us that he had an extremely dominant personality and would almost certainly insist on being boss of any other horses. I worried that he and Brother might clash. He was also fairly young so I was concerned about being able to continue his training. I have to admit, though, that I just loved his looks, very sturdy with nice legs and these wonderful, huge, tough hooves. Not only was he exactly the type of horse that my husband liked he was also the spitting image of the Mustang my husband rode as a child which brought back sweet memories for him.
In the end we agreed on taking both Tina and Traveller home for a trial period just to see how things would work out. We had a good laugh about just how much Carol babied her horses and that she didn't call her place "The No Rib Ranch" for nothin! Tina and Traveller were both rather roly-poly! We got home, got them unloaded into the pen we had prepared, and waited breathlessly for the first muzzle to muzzle meeting with Brother and Nugget over the fence. It was nothing unusual but still a thing of wonder to us with lots of sniffing, squealing, bitey-face play.
We had planned on leaving Tina and Traveller in the pen for at least a week before trying to introduce Brother and Nugget without the fence between all of them but within a few days they were all so calm and easy around each other. They all stood close together just relaxing as if they were already a group and the fence wasn't even there so we decided to see what would happen. We took Nugget into the pen first since she has a very passive personality and were delighted at how easily the three took to each other! Traveller insisted on pushing her around the pen a little but Nugget didn't seem to mind so they all calmed down very quickly.
Then we brought Brother in holding our breath along with various ropes and whips that we hoped we wouldn't need. Traveller started marching purposefully towards Brother. Brother turned his butt towards Traveller and I swear I could hear him thinking "yep, you come right over here and I'm gonna show you who's boss at this house!" When Traveller got close enough he turned his butt towards Brother backing up the last step. Brother got his kick off just a split second before Traveller but when Traveller's kick landed Brother jumped out of his skin in complete surprise and ran like he'd been scalded! We felt bad for Brother's injured pride but couldn't help rolling with laughter. When everyone settled down we seperated everyone back out and went inside.
A little later that day we heard a commotion and went to see what was going on. Traveller was out of the pen chasing Brother and poor Brother was running like the devil himself was on his tail! We put Traveller back up and watched. Traveller promptly went to the gate, did some amazing horsey-limbo thing that I'm still not sure should be physically possible to squeeze under the bottom rail, and was right back on Brother's tail. Well we had tools, opposible thumbs, and big brains so that would be no problem to fix! I guess no one told Traveller that he wasn't supposed to be able to outsmart us because our fix absolutely didn't hold him in! We fixed and fixed all that day until finally we had a pen that would hold Traveller in as long as we were watching him and discovered we didn't need the pen anymore since Traveller stopped chasing Brother. We turned them all out together, watched for any signs of trouble for awhile, then dragged ourselves inside to lick our wounds.
One was an Egyptian Arab gelding that simply took my breath away with his beauty, I admit that I have a soft spot for the look of Arabs, but he was young, just green broke. With regret I passed on him thinking that at my utter newbie level of training and really rusty riding skills he and I would probably not be the best match.
Another was a lovely little Paso Fino mare. She was bred to a drop dead gorgeous Andalusian and who wouldn't want an adorable little foal too??? *sigh* I turned down this exciting two-for-one too. The mare was wonderful but I felt like a foal, while loads of adorable fun, wasn't the best choice for us. If something went wrong with the delivery the vet bill could get insanely expensive, I'd feel so awful if the mare or foal weren't ok, and again, at my rank beginner level of training I didn't want the added work of training a foal.
She really wanted me to consider Tina, a Paso Fino mare. Tina was taken out of an abusive situation with a lacerated tongue and deep dislike of people. Carol babied her and worked hard to bring Tina back around. She said she really hoped I'd take Tina because she knew I'd be good to her and she really needed to know that Tina was safe and loved. After running my rescue for so many years I knew exactly what she meant. We want that for all of our animals, we'd never purposely rehome them into an abusive situation, but when you take an animal out of an abusive situation, work that hard to heal their body and mind, and make that unspoken promise that they will never, ever be treated so badly again it somehow just raises your desire to protect them.
My husband was most interested in Traveller, a Mustang/Quarter Horse gelding. Carol warned us that he had an extremely dominant personality and would almost certainly insist on being boss of any other horses. I worried that he and Brother might clash. He was also fairly young so I was concerned about being able to continue his training. I have to admit, though, that I just loved his looks, very sturdy with nice legs and these wonderful, huge, tough hooves. Not only was he exactly the type of horse that my husband liked he was also the spitting image of the Mustang my husband rode as a child which brought back sweet memories for him.
In the end we agreed on taking both Tina and Traveller home for a trial period just to see how things would work out. We had a good laugh about just how much Carol babied her horses and that she didn't call her place "The No Rib Ranch" for nothin! Tina and Traveller were both rather roly-poly! We got home, got them unloaded into the pen we had prepared, and waited breathlessly for the first muzzle to muzzle meeting with Brother and Nugget over the fence. It was nothing unusual but still a thing of wonder to us with lots of sniffing, squealing, bitey-face play.
We had planned on leaving Tina and Traveller in the pen for at least a week before trying to introduce Brother and Nugget without the fence between all of them but within a few days they were all so calm and easy around each other. They all stood close together just relaxing as if they were already a group and the fence wasn't even there so we decided to see what would happen. We took Nugget into the pen first since she has a very passive personality and were delighted at how easily the three took to each other! Traveller insisted on pushing her around the pen a little but Nugget didn't seem to mind so they all calmed down very quickly.
Then we brought Brother in holding our breath along with various ropes and whips that we hoped we wouldn't need. Traveller started marching purposefully towards Brother. Brother turned his butt towards Traveller and I swear I could hear him thinking "yep, you come right over here and I'm gonna show you who's boss at this house!" When Traveller got close enough he turned his butt towards Brother backing up the last step. Brother got his kick off just a split second before Traveller but when Traveller's kick landed Brother jumped out of his skin in complete surprise and ran like he'd been scalded! We felt bad for Brother's injured pride but couldn't help rolling with laughter. When everyone settled down we seperated everyone back out and went inside.
A little later that day we heard a commotion and went to see what was going on. Traveller was out of the pen chasing Brother and poor Brother was running like the devil himself was on his tail! We put Traveller back up and watched. Traveller promptly went to the gate, did some amazing horsey-limbo thing that I'm still not sure should be physically possible to squeeze under the bottom rail, and was right back on Brother's tail. Well we had tools, opposible thumbs, and big brains so that would be no problem to fix! I guess no one told Traveller that he wasn't supposed to be able to outsmart us because our fix absolutely didn't hold him in! We fixed and fixed all that day until finally we had a pen that would hold Traveller in as long as we were watching him and discovered we didn't need the pen anymore since Traveller stopped chasing Brother. We turned them all out together, watched for any signs of trouble for awhile, then dragged ourselves inside to lick our wounds.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
The dream turns into a nightmare
When we started actively looking for a horse I was rather dismayed at our prospects at first. We ended up looking at so many half starved, sour, barely trained, no-manners-havin, sullen, dead eyed rejects I couldn't believe it! Heck, even the "rescue" we went to was so awful I left in tears wishing I had the resources to take every single horse out of there just to save them! It was heartbreak after heartbreak. Then one day out of the blue the trainer I was working with mentioned that she knew a guy that was looking for a good home for a few of his horses. Since we were first time horse owners the trainer agreed to go with us to advise us so armed with a professional we figured it couldn't hurt to just go look.
The owner was an older gentleman who raised Thoroughbreds for racing but was ready to retire. The first horse he pointed out was a mare that was munching hay among several others and a cute little donkey. When we approached her she flattened her ears back and moved away from us quickly. The trainer muttered to us under her breath that the mare had a bad attitude so we should pass on her. The second was a gelding, Brother Anthony. He seemed to be a nice enough horse and there was a fast connection between him and my husband. The owner said that Brother was doing well at the racetrack when he somehow got a leg hung up in his halter leaving him with a slightly bowed tendon which should heal just fine with about six more months of pasture rest for the kind of casual riding we wanted to do.
When we consulted with our trainer she felt he'd be great if we wanted to take him. The owner said Brother was "dead broke" and the trainer backed him up saying that she knew he didn't just ride his horses at the track, he rode them all over his ranch too. She also assured us that his injury should heal leaving him perfectly sound and added that she always had good luck with these off-the-track horses. We asked how much. When the owner replied "free to a good home" we couldn't believe it! Really we felt we didn't have anything to lose! But just to be safe we took him straight to the vet who did a checkup and coggins test for us. The vet also agreed that the tendon injury was very minor and he should be fine for the kind of simple riding we wanted to do with nothing more than a little rest.
We got him home and proudly turned him out into our newly fenced pasture and he went plumb berserk! He was racing up and down the fence calling for herdmates so frantically we were terrified he would kill himself! After calling we went right back to the owner who said that the sour mare was also free to a good home. Easter Nugget "roared" and when surgery didn't correct it they simply kept her for their own riding and never raced her. We figured even if she never sweetened up and hated us with a passion at least she could provide Brother with company.
Nugget was also "dead broke". The owner told us that very recently someone wanted to ride (a child or grandchild or something I can't exactly remember) so he pointed out a few horses that they could use. When he next looked out he realized that they were saddling Nugget by mistake but before he could say anything they jumped on up and rode off so he figured they'd be ok. We were hopeful that this meant many happy trail rides in our future, my husband on Brother, me on Nugget, but we weren't worried about riding her since she was just meant to calm Brother. Once again we took her to the vet who cleared her health-wise and we took her home. We were very pleased and relieved when Brother settled right down when we turned her out with him.
The vet said six months pasture rest but just to be safe we didn't try any kind of work with Brother for about eight months. I must admit, though, that we couldn't resist the children's excitement and several times let them get on Brother bareback holding him by a lead rope just to sit there which he took completely in stride. We doted on them finding out what treats they liked, spending time with them, long grooming sessions, and generally trying very hard to impress them. And we were pleased that it seemed to be working! Far from sour, Nugget was turning out to be a very quiet, gentle, sweet soul once convinced that we weren't going to interfere with her food and Brother's true silly personality started to shine. So we were confident when the day came that we decided to try riding.
We thought we were being very careful checking and adjusting the tack just so, slapping at the saddle, putting a little weight in just one stirrup, and on and on taking little baby steps watching the reaction the whole way. When we put any weight at all in the stirrup Nugget would immediately start bucking wildly so we knew right off that if she was going to be rideable we had a lot of work to do first. When we did the same with Brother I was able to get on him and walk in a small circle but he seemed VERY hesitant and shaky. We thought that he'd be fine as long as we were careful riding him to help him learn that we would be gentle, trustworthy riders. After all this was very different from what he was likely used to and I was giving feather light cues testing his sensitivity but surely with kind treatment he'd get used to it.
Then my husband wanted to try. Brother gave a few more of those unsure steps then did a strange wiggle-hop and exploded! Horrified I ran to catch him but before we knew it my husband came up out of the saddle and back down on Brother's rump just as Brother's rump was coming back up. Husband met horse rump and he was literally catapulted probably close to 20' in the air before landing on the tough Texas ground with a sickening whump. At first I thought he just had the air knocked out of him but when he finally did manage to drag in a breath and let it out in a roar I knew it was bad! When all was said and done he had most of the ribs on his left side each broken in more than one place and needed a chest tube to drain the blood from his damaged lung.
When my husband was healed enough to move around the house on his own I went back to work at the stable. Neither one of us blamed anyone really, least of all Brother. So when the trainer angrily dressed me down and told me to get rid of Brother and Nugget right away before my husband or I got killed I was shocked! I calmly told her that we didn't believe in "getting rid" of an animal just because there was an issue to work through. When she continued to argue and yell at me over it I honestly didn't know what to do because I didn't understand. So they needed some work! Why on earth would she be angry at us??? If anything it should be the other way around! My husband was seriously hurt and could've been killed due to her mistakes! All in all it took over a YEAR for him to fully heal and recover! She especially yelled that she never said the horses were broke, never said we should ride them. Maybe she was afraid we'd sue her???
Wow.
That is what passes for a professional horse trainer? It wasn't very long before I decided that maybe I didn't really want to learn from her example and left. I'd rather stumble along trying to learn on my own than perpetuate that pitiful excuse for a "professional" anything!
The owner was an older gentleman who raised Thoroughbreds for racing but was ready to retire. The first horse he pointed out was a mare that was munching hay among several others and a cute little donkey. When we approached her she flattened her ears back and moved away from us quickly. The trainer muttered to us under her breath that the mare had a bad attitude so we should pass on her. The second was a gelding, Brother Anthony. He seemed to be a nice enough horse and there was a fast connection between him and my husband. The owner said that Brother was doing well at the racetrack when he somehow got a leg hung up in his halter leaving him with a slightly bowed tendon which should heal just fine with about six more months of pasture rest for the kind of casual riding we wanted to do.
When we consulted with our trainer she felt he'd be great if we wanted to take him. The owner said Brother was "dead broke" and the trainer backed him up saying that she knew he didn't just ride his horses at the track, he rode them all over his ranch too. She also assured us that his injury should heal leaving him perfectly sound and added that she always had good luck with these off-the-track horses. We asked how much. When the owner replied "free to a good home" we couldn't believe it! Really we felt we didn't have anything to lose! But just to be safe we took him straight to the vet who did a checkup and coggins test for us. The vet also agreed that the tendon injury was very minor and he should be fine for the kind of simple riding we wanted to do with nothing more than a little rest.
We got him home and proudly turned him out into our newly fenced pasture and he went plumb berserk! He was racing up and down the fence calling for herdmates so frantically we were terrified he would kill himself! After calling we went right back to the owner who said that the sour mare was also free to a good home. Easter Nugget "roared" and when surgery didn't correct it they simply kept her for their own riding and never raced her. We figured even if she never sweetened up and hated us with a passion at least she could provide Brother with company.
Nugget was also "dead broke". The owner told us that very recently someone wanted to ride (a child or grandchild or something I can't exactly remember) so he pointed out a few horses that they could use. When he next looked out he realized that they were saddling Nugget by mistake but before he could say anything they jumped on up and rode off so he figured they'd be ok. We were hopeful that this meant many happy trail rides in our future, my husband on Brother, me on Nugget, but we weren't worried about riding her since she was just meant to calm Brother. Once again we took her to the vet who cleared her health-wise and we took her home. We were very pleased and relieved when Brother settled right down when we turned her out with him.
The vet said six months pasture rest but just to be safe we didn't try any kind of work with Brother for about eight months. I must admit, though, that we couldn't resist the children's excitement and several times let them get on Brother bareback holding him by a lead rope just to sit there which he took completely in stride. We doted on them finding out what treats they liked, spending time with them, long grooming sessions, and generally trying very hard to impress them. And we were pleased that it seemed to be working! Far from sour, Nugget was turning out to be a very quiet, gentle, sweet soul once convinced that we weren't going to interfere with her food and Brother's true silly personality started to shine. So we were confident when the day came that we decided to try riding.
We thought we were being very careful checking and adjusting the tack just so, slapping at the saddle, putting a little weight in just one stirrup, and on and on taking little baby steps watching the reaction the whole way. When we put any weight at all in the stirrup Nugget would immediately start bucking wildly so we knew right off that if she was going to be rideable we had a lot of work to do first. When we did the same with Brother I was able to get on him and walk in a small circle but he seemed VERY hesitant and shaky. We thought that he'd be fine as long as we were careful riding him to help him learn that we would be gentle, trustworthy riders. After all this was very different from what he was likely used to and I was giving feather light cues testing his sensitivity but surely with kind treatment he'd get used to it.
Then my husband wanted to try. Brother gave a few more of those unsure steps then did a strange wiggle-hop and exploded! Horrified I ran to catch him but before we knew it my husband came up out of the saddle and back down on Brother's rump just as Brother's rump was coming back up. Husband met horse rump and he was literally catapulted probably close to 20' in the air before landing on the tough Texas ground with a sickening whump. At first I thought he just had the air knocked out of him but when he finally did manage to drag in a breath and let it out in a roar I knew it was bad! When all was said and done he had most of the ribs on his left side each broken in more than one place and needed a chest tube to drain the blood from his damaged lung.
When my husband was healed enough to move around the house on his own I went back to work at the stable. Neither one of us blamed anyone really, least of all Brother. So when the trainer angrily dressed me down and told me to get rid of Brother and Nugget right away before my husband or I got killed I was shocked! I calmly told her that we didn't believe in "getting rid" of an animal just because there was an issue to work through. When she continued to argue and yell at me over it I honestly didn't know what to do because I didn't understand. So they needed some work! Why on earth would she be angry at us??? If anything it should be the other way around! My husband was seriously hurt and could've been killed due to her mistakes! All in all it took over a YEAR for him to fully heal and recover! She especially yelled that she never said the horses were broke, never said we should ride them. Maybe she was afraid we'd sue her???
Wow.
That is what passes for a professional horse trainer? It wasn't very long before I decided that maybe I didn't really want to learn from her example and left. I'd rather stumble along trying to learn on my own than perpetuate that pitiful excuse for a "professional" anything!
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