Meet Pearl, New Horse

[baymule]

I have haunted the Kill Pen facebook sites forever, looking for a Tennessee Walker that slapped me sideways. I found her. I showed her to my husband and he already named her. I called the location and paid for her. We are going in the morning to pick her up.

She is VERY skinny and will need lots of TLC. She is 12 years old and 14.3 hands.

Pearl's color markings are called Sabino.

https://www.twhbea.com/color/sabino/?v=7516fd43adaa

http://www.horse-genetics.com/sabino-horses.html

Horse colors and markings can get real detailed, DNA testing and so forth. I am quite happy without DNA testing to tell me something that is already pretty plain. She may/may not be registered, there are no papers. Don't really care about that either. She will be for our enjoyment, not for breeding. I see no point in adding to the over population of horses, it is much easier to go get one than it is to breed, raise, train one.

I don't ask for much. I am not a shopper. What I want is chickens, sheep, horses and pigs. Horses are a dead loss, everything else I can at least reclaim some of the money spent. LOL With 2 old senior horses that I can no longer ride, I have been wanting another Tennessee Walker. I see them all the time on the kill sites. Most get purchased, the horses that don't sell, get shipped to Mexico for slaughter. This one just "spoke" to me and I considered it for several days before showing her to my husband. We talked it over, slept on it and decided to get her. My husband is awesome.

 

[baymule]

I sure am glad that Pearl is a calm horse. Whether that is from age, been there done that, or just her personality, where ever it came from, I am glad. When we have our two little grand daughters, ages 3 and 4 (almost 5) they go with me to feed the horses. they pet the horses and chatter incessantly. I give them safety cautions and am trying to teach them proper behavior. I was setting out some square bales yesterday, both of them were petting Pearl. I told them to stand at her shoulder to pet her.

I turned around and two giggling girls said "We walked under her tummy!"

Before I could react, the 3 year old said "Watch!" and she took off. I barely got NO out of my mouth and it was done. She charged at Pearl from 5 or 6 feet away and scooted under Pearl's belly shrieking with delight.

Pearl startled, ears laid back, hind foot raised and just as quickly, she realized it was a small child and dropped her foot, ears forward and continued eating her feed.

Thank you Dear Lord for a good horse.​

 

[baymule]

Today was my first ride! Pearl is awesome. She is spirited and wants to go. And yes, she will”hit a lick”. She glides in that famous Tennessee Walker gait. She has a good stop, VERY responsive to neck reining. I only rode her up and down the driveway, we’ll go down the pipeline on our next ride, then out the front gate. We are so proud of her. I am thrilled with her.

Our oldest granddaughter and a friend are spending the weekend, so they rode while I led Pearl.

My husband took some great pictures. Do I look happy or what?

Isn’t Pearl beautiful?

She has gained a LOT of weight, still has some to go.

I love this picture. Mt husband captured the wind in my face, hair blowing, Pearl's mane lifted, and a big grin on my face.

 

[baymule]

I had a WOW! moment today. We have had Pearl for 2 years. She is fairly easy to catch, but walks away from me, usually annoyed. She will follow me with a feed bucket, but what horse won't? I let her out after she eats and if I want to pet her, I have to hold her halter to keep her from walking away. I always talk to her, always pet and scratch her, then let her go.

This evening I opened the gate to let her out and scratched her chest. I didn't hold her halter. Pearl wrapped her neck around me and I rubbed and scratched her neck. I rubbed her side, belly and ribs. Then I switched sides. Pearl still didn't walk away and again wrapped her neck around me. I gave her lots of rubs and scratches. In 2 years, Pearl has NEVER asked for attention.

I put out a few flakes of hay, Prince and Sparkles stood in the barn eating hay, so I put some flakes outside for her. She stood in the doorway, watching me instead of going to the hay. I closed up the door to the feed room and walked Pearl over to a flake of hay. I talked to her and gave her some more rubs and scratches.

This has taken 2 years for Pearl to decide she can trust me. One of those WOW! moments I wanted to share 'cause I knew y'all would know how big it is

 

[baymule]

Today marks two weeks that we have had Pearl. She has gained some weight and must feel better. The dogs ran all around her, Carson the puppy ran under her belly. She finally got annoyed when Trip went up behind her to sniff her back legs. Pearl laid her ears back , began a squeal and was raising her back leg. I snatched at the halter, AAHHNNNTTTT!!!!!! And she stopped as quick as she started.

 

[Beekissed]

Earned her rescue right there, didn't she? I had a horse when I was a teen....a really GREAT horse. My sister came to visit and her daughter had been taking riding lessons, so they got her up on the horse to "demonstrate the proper way to ride"....and got really frustrated when the horse wouldn't move a step, no matter what she tried. Wouldn't even shift his feet. They started to tell me what a poorly trained horse he was and how I needed to get him to a trainer before anyone could ride him.

Finally, I had to inform them that he won't move a step when little kids are standing around his feet....which there was at the time. A 3 yr old nephew had wondered into the picture and was standing right next to his front feet. I was snickering inside all the while she was nudging his sides, holding the reins out, clicking, and trying to turn his head.....anything to get him to move. They left in a huff not too long after that.

A well trained horse stands rock steady when little ones are scampering around. Sounds like Pearl has had previous experience with little ones, huh? Good horse, Pearl!!!!

 

[baymule]

I had a breakthrough with Pearl. I found her scratchy spot, where the bottom of her neck joins her chest. I started scratching and she stopped eating hay, even stopped chewing the mouthful she had. I walked back a few steps and she followed, wanting more. I scratched some more, stopped and she went back to her hay. I went out the gate and she came to me, so I went back in and gave her more scratches.

Training note; always leave on a positive. Then their last memory of you is that it was pleasant. Walk away leaving them wanting more, don't keep on until you become annoying.

 

[baymule]

New Pearl pictures! She has gained so much weight, probably close to 300 pounds. Her backbone stuck up so far, her ribs showed and now she has muscle along her backbone. She still has a ways to go, but we are making progress.

 

[baymule]

I had to go back to page one and get the picture of her at the slaughter kill pen. She was so skinny, look at that scrawny neck. She didn't know where she was going, but I did. hmmmm…...it was love at first sight.

Then I had to get a picture from a few days ago to compare the difference.

Today we went for our second ride. I am pleased. We rode about 6 or 7 miles, through the woods on the property next door, down a dead end road, back to the county road, down another dead end road, then to the corner. At the corner, I stopped her, she was fidgetedy, wanting to GO. I turned her around and we paced the 2 1/2 miles back. During our ride, she passed several tests. Pearl is not afraid of flapping plastic bags. Pearl is unafraid of culverts and the horse eating troll monsters that lurk within. She went past with barely a glance at the dark interior. We went over a narrow one car width culvert that spanned a 20 foot deep gulley with running water at the bottom. It was a steep drop off. She never broke stride, didn't look over the edge and shy, snort, or even flick an ear. Pearl is unfazed by barking dogs.

On the county road, here came a neighbor in his John Deere cab tractor. Not knowing if she would turn inside out and go to pieces, I stopped her and spoke calmly to her. Our neighbor is a old cowboy, he knows and trains horses, one of his sons makes his living being a cowboy, the other son cowboys on weekends. He saw me and slowed way down and got over to the other side of the road. We waved at each other as he went by. Pearl was perfectly ok with the tractor. A neighbor drove by and stopped to admire Pearl. The only problem Pearl had with that is she wanted to GO.

She enjoyed getting out and going for a ride and so did I. She's no spring chicken, but neither am I. There's a lot of life in both of these ol' gals and down the road we go!

 

[baymule]

She has gained a LOT of weight, but still a bit thin for my taste. I don't know if she will ever totally recover from such starving. She has some muscle structure now where there was none before. She is a dream to ride and likes to go.