Meet Pearl, New Horse

[frustratedearthmother]

Thank you Dear Lord for a good horse.

Amen! So glad that worked out so well.

I had a very similar experience when my daughter was small. We were actually at our pasture burying a dog we had to have put down. Emotions were high and DH and DD were working on digging. I decided to feed the horses to get them out of our way and was in the feed room. The youngest mare was trying her best to get in the feed room with me, as usual, when I noticed my DD (maybe 3yr old at the time) was trying to squeeze into the feed room too. She had walked up behind that mare...mare picked up that back foot...and DD proceeded to hug her around the hock. All I could see in my worst imagination was that horse kicking back and my DD going flying. But, I softly "ahhhh'd" the mare and she set that foot down ever so gently. Whew...Thank you Dear Lord for a good horse!

 

[baymule]

Today we worked in the feed and tack room. We stopped for lunch and I decided to saddle up and ride Pearl. It was 70 degrees, sunny, breezy and beautiful. We went out the gate, I got on and she took off in that famous Tennessee Walker gait. She felt good and was excited to be going somewhere. Her ears were pricked forward. Those pointy ears frame the best pictures.

We rode about 2 miles, she only slowed down going up hill. Then the Chicago screw that held the rein to the bit shank came out and suddenly I only had one rein, and holding the other rein dangling. Hmmmm..... Pearl was gliding at high speed so I gently slowed her down. Finally I got her to stop. She was dancing, wanting to go. I was able to thread the rein through the shank of the bit, doubled it back to me and held both ends. It looked like a good time to turn around.

Pearl gaited almost all the way home, finally slowed to a walk. Old girl was hot and tired. My knee was killing me but I got off at the gate and walked her to the portable building, unsaddled and walked her to cool her off.

We both had a great time.

She is still thin. We built her a small pen so she can eat without the others trying to take her feed. I sowed rye grass and crimson clover on the pasture behind the barn, so I don't want her on it now. But in a few months, there will be some yummy grass!

I decided I am going to ride her, skinny or not. I am embarrased that she is so thin and have not wanted to ride her because people will think I mistreat my horse. She's an old gal, rides like a dream, maybe not for a long ways, but my crapped out knee doesn't last very long either. I decided what the heck, if this is as good as it gets, so be it.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

She looks like she's settling right in. How is her behavior? Load good, behave on lead?

We rescued a pony a bunch of years ago. He was in really bad shape and just the sweetest little thing. But, when he got all the medical attention he needed....wormings...teeth floated...groceries - he turned into a little holy terror, lol! Bad shape - great attitude....Great shape - bad attitude. He eventually came around to my way of thinking but I never did trust him around the kids so he found a new home fairly quickly. A no-child home.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

The first horse I ever trained when I was a teenager was a totally unhandled 6 year old mare off of a large ranch. She had never been haltered, didn't lead, load or trust humans in the least. She was a solid colored registered Appaloosa that went on to present me with several beautiful colored app foals.

As I said - she was unhandled when I got her. We put her in a shed (much like your hawg shed) with a small corral around it where she stayed for several months until she learned to love me. The first farrier that worked on her was awesome and taught me a tip that I ended up using on this mare and almost every other horse I ever owned. He took a branch with a bit of a "Y" at the end so that there was a small protrusion. He would tap her leg (not hard - just enough to be annoying to her and she'd pick the leg up). As soon as her foot came off the ground he'd take hold of it and reward her with a bite of grain. Of course his one session with her didn't "train" her so I worked with her every day. In a week or so that mare would pick up her feet on command. By then I would only use my fingers to tap her below the knee - tell her "UP" and she'd pick up her foot and hold it up until I took hold.

Every farrier I ever used for the next 20 years thanked me (and her) for that! Except the stupid one that thought when she picked up a back foot that she was threatening him. I set him right very quickly and all was good.

 

[baymule]

This evening when I fed Pearl, she really tried to get to her feed. I put up "talk to the hand" and she whammed her head on the ceiling again. She danced around, wanting to EAT and I put up my hand. When she finally stood for a brief moment, I gently pushed her chest, telling her Back, Back. She backed a few steps and for a mere moment, she stood still. I stepped aside and let her have her feed. I scratched her neck and shoulder.

I am teaching her to wait while I feed her. By making her back up, I am teaching her that I am in control. Even though it is for brief moments now, as she learns, the time will lengthen until she is calm and knows that she will get fed.

 

[Mini Horses]

Riding again will give her new interests and a "job". She will grow from here on. I LOVE HER!!

 

[baymule]

As long as people, both backyard, big time registered, and every type of breeder in between, keeps breeding more that what the market can absorb, horses will keep going to slaughter. I am not against slaughter, there needs to be a place for horse slaughter. Many sick, lame, old and sometimes just downright crazy and dangerous horses go to slaughter. The sad part is young yearlings, well trained 4-12 year olds, with a lot to offer, are unwanted. They go to auction, where nobody bids on them except the kill buyers.

Closing the slaughter houses in the US did nothing to stop horse slaughter, it only made it worse. Horses are shipped to Canada or Mexico. It should be brought back to the US and regulated, with on site inspectors.

Facebook drove most of the kill pen sites off, trying to be humane I suppose. In reality, FB shut down the only lifeline many of those horses had to escape slaughter. Way to go sh!t for brains zuckerberg.

Rant over.

 

[baymule]

I've hit the wall with Pearl. She gained weight and leveled off. I think the key is grass, but there isn't enough. I sowed bahia seed behind the barn, kept the horses off all summer. I've been letting Pearl graze all day on it, added cracked corn to her feed, feeding her twice a day. I set out to restore her to good health and weight. It has become evident that maybe she has never had good health and has always been underweight and starved. I've wormed her twice before I let her on the grass. She is systematically grazing it down. She is looking a little better, but still thin. I can't restore what she never had. I can't stand having a skinny horse.

Come early spring, I'll take them off the pipeline and dry lot them at the barn. I'll sow giant bermuda on the pipeline, then they will have to stay off it all summer. The bahia pasture will be in it's second year and I will be able to let them on it, but not a lot. They are going to hate me....... LOL But in another couple of years, I'll have 2 pastures to rotate them on and hopefully plenty of grass.

 

[baymule]

Almost home!

 

[baymule]

Loaded up.

Pearl is in quarantine on the Pig Palace, now named the Horse Hotel. She has hay, water, shelter and a little moving around room. She hasn’t stopped eating hay yet.

Pearl is going to get free feed hay and all the fresh water she wants. We got her a mineral salt block. This evening I will start giving her pellets, a cup or two, and increase it daily