Sky and Mariah

 

This past summer I was allowed to bring some horses over to The Olive Branch to graze on one of their unused pastures.  This was symbiotic to both parties, as my horses kept the grass down so it didn’t need to be mowed, and it gave my pastures at home a bit of a break.  I should have taken more horses than I did, but since this was a first for me, I wanted to keep it simple.  I ended up taking three old fogies and two youngsters that were not yet available for adoption:  Semi, Junior, Stride, Mariah, and Sky. 

Semi and Junior have been married for many years so they were pretty much inseparable throughout the summer.  Stride has always been a loner so didn’t mind being a third wheel.  Which left Mariah and Sky, only one year apart in age, to become the best of buddies.

 

They didn’t seem to mind.

 

They ate out of the same tub every day.  I tried giving them separate tubs, but Mariah just couldn’t stand eating by herself, so they’d polish off one tub and move on to the other as a team.

 

When it was time to run and play the two were always within feet of each other, usually running belly to belly.

 

I originally took these pictures for the purpose of getting one or two good ones of Sky to put up on the website, but I could never get him alone!

 

Sky’s adoption is currently pending – it didn’t take long after I put him up as available for someone to fall in love with the handsome fella.

 

I know I’ll miss him, but probably not as much as Mariah will!

Dilbert Update

 

Remember little Dilbert, one of the minis rescued from the seizure outside of Fairmont, WV last year?  This is what he looked like when we rescued him.

 

 

This is him now!!!

 

Turns out, the little guy was broke to ride already.  I took these pictures at the fun show on October 8th, where he was ridden in some games, a walk/trot class, and then “ran” some barrels.

 

Too bad they didn’t have a dressage class… check out his extended mini trot!

 

I love happy endings!

Training Updates

 

It’s either feast or famine around this blog lately.  I either hit you with multiple posts in a week or zip, zilch, nada for weeks at a time.  Sorry about that!  Here’s what you’ve missed:

1.  Jethro was adopted and just left today.  The kids were also trying to sneak Amigo into the trailer without me noticing.  It didn’t work, but it was amusing to watch them lead him around with just their arms around his little neck.

2.  Traveler went for his fourth ride and first trail ride ever on Wednesday.  He was AMAZING!  Read all about his ride on Tamara’s blog.  Traveler heads over to my pony foster next week for daily riding and further training.  Then, it’s likely he already has a home waiting for him with Jethro’s adopter!

 

3.  At the same time Traveler heads to the foster, Chip will be headed to the vet for some much needed brain surgery.  Then he’s off to the foster as well for training.

4.  Did I tell you the story of Whiskers?  She was actually rescued by a friend, but turned out to be too dangerous and unpredictable for her to keep at her barn with larval humans running around.  She’s three, but I wasn’t going to start her training this year because we had so many other youngsters.  However, she kept hanging out around the round pen, watching everyone else and  looking left out.  So just to see how crazy Tamara really is, I asked if she wanted to work with Whiskers and see if she accepted the saddle as well as I thought she would.  Whiskers never batted an eye when she was tacked up, so Super Crazy Volunteer laid across her back, then swung on up.  Whiskers went berserk!

 

 

Can’t you tell?  I know it’s not a video, but that’s what happened.  Whiskers stood statue still, just swishing her tail at flies.  Tamara dismounted, untacked, and called it a day.  Now that we know Whiskers accepts pretty much anything, we’ll start her ground work and teach her voice commands and cues.  Once that’s done, the rest will obviously be pretty easy.

5.  Jasmine is doing so well that we’ll probably take her out on trail for the first time this week.  I’ll take pictures this time because I just know she’ll do awesome!

 

6.  Quill.. what can I say about Quill except that he’s incredible?  We should have him out on trail soon, too.

 

I never imagined having this many Maverick-wanna-bes in the herd!

Traveler’s first ride

 

Tamara wasn’t even going to get on Traveler the other day.  She’d already been there for a few hours, worked four other horses, and it was HOT.   Let me tell you a bit of a secret… it’s a LONG walk from the round pen to the driveway where she had parked.  After she was done with the last horse and had him untacked and turned loose, she was cursing herself for not leaving Quill tacked up and just letting him carry her saddle and bag down to the car.  Luckily, Traveler was standing right outside the round pen and he volunteered his happy fat butt to carry the saddle.  So I grabbed him and we threw the saddle on.  Then it was pretty silly not to go ahead and work with him.  So she put the bridle on him.  Since he has much the same attitude as Quill and she’d already done some ground work with him, we decided she should just mount on up and see what happens.

A whole lot of nothing happened.

 

 

Which is a big bonus since she forgot to put her helmet on before mounting up.

 

I let him follow me around the pen for a few minutes until he got his sea legs under him, then we called it a day.  Except that he still got to carry the saddle and bag down to the driveway for Tamara.  He’s such a gentleman.

 

Traveler will be going to the same foster that took River and Casper.  I can’t wait to see little Lexi riding him.  I think she’s really going to love the little guy!

Quill’s first ride

 

When Tamara was out the other day she got on Quill for the first time.  Let me tell you, it was devastating!  I thought for sure Quill was going to… going to… oh, I just can’t say it… I thought he was going to fall asleep!

 

He looks really upset about this whole human on his back concept, doesn’t he?

 

She only stayed on him for about 10 minutes.  Just long enough for him to find his balance with the extra weight, and wake up.  Just a little, mind you.  Not enough that he actually put any effort into the session.  I think Tamara worked harder than he did. 

 

Now I’m going to let you in on a little secret.  Quill has been worked with in the round pen a total of ONE time.  That’s just the way he rolls.  Crazy humans want me to do something? Okay, let’s do it!

 

 

I just love this little guy and I think Tamara feels the same.  How could she not?

Jethro

 

I haven’t been posting over on Training the Unwanted this year because I haven’t been doing any of the training.  Tamara has been volunteering her time to come out and work with these horses and she has her own blog to tell you all about it.  It’s over there on the right and it’s called “All about horses in training”.  Tamara helps other people with their horse troubles, so her blog isn’t just about the horses here.  Go check her out sometime!

Yesterday she came out and worked with Quill, Jasmine, Traveler, and Jethro.  This was Jethro’s evaluation ride and I was pretty confident that he was already broke to ride just because of his excellent ground manners and calm, relaxed way of handling new situations.

For instance, this was the first time Jethro had been introduced to the main herd.  The first time he’d been up on the ridge and in the round pen.  And it was probably the first time he’d ever had a little “helper” in a round pen with him.

 

 

 

 

I’m very impressed with the way Jethro handles himself and can’t imagine why someone would have turned him loose, or not gone looking for him if he had escaped.  He’s an awesome horse and I can’t wait to find the time to hit the trails on him for a more thorough evaluation!

And what do I say about Amigo?  How many times can I tell you how adorable he is before you get tired of reading it and find another blog to read?

Everyone should have a round pen

 

When I first built the round pen, my reasoning was simple.  I wanted a safe, confined place to work with all the green and unbroke horses that I have.  At the time, I didn’t have any ponies, so I wasn’t concerned with putting a third board down low to keep them from squeezing under.   I’ll never be able to work any small ponies in there, but at least Amigo still appreciates the hard work and time it took to build him a round place for scratching all the itchies.

 

 

 

At least someone is getting some use out of my round pen.

The new and improved Logan

 

Logan has been friendly towards me for a couple of weeks now.  He never let Glenn near him and I thought he might take a bite out of Brandi the other day when she was petting Eve, who is one of his herd.

 

He’s finally started playing with Calypso instead of running away from her attempts at fun.

 

He still has no interest in coming into the house, but that’s okay.  His job is outside and that’s where he needs to be.  He’s also really good at his job!  I haven’t seen the foxes or coyotes in the back pasture since Logan arrived.  I haven’t lost anymore chickens, either.  Go Logan!

 

He’s also become playful with me and is starting to come out of his shell.  When I come out with his dinner he bounces up and down, spins in circles, and barks excitedly.  He comes running to meet the truck when I get home and escorts me back to the house.

Have I mentioned that I just love the big lug?

We have a Monastery in WV? Really?

 

Last Wednesday I received a call from a Father (the religious kind!) at a monastery down in Wayne County, WV.  My first reaction was “Monastery?  In WV?  Seriously?”  The mental image that accompanied that consisted of toothless rednecks in patchwork robes riding donkeys, growing pot, drinking moonshine, and making up lewd jokes from the bible.  Sorry, that’s just the way my mind works.  I couldn’t stop it.  

Anyways.  The Father told me about four horses that had been running loose in the area since March and one horse had since died.  He thought the horses had belonged to someone who had committed suicide this past winter.  He had tried the local authorities several times, but no one would return his calls.  What a shocker.

He said the horses were dehydrated and emaciated.  The monks had been feeding them on and off, whenever they came on to the monastery property.  Two of the horses had halters and were very friendly, but the third was skittish and flighty.  They were covered in rain rot and their feet were overgrown. 

Since my quarantine paddock is still filled with studs, there was no way I was going to be able to bring the horses here. So I talked to the director over at Olive Branch and asked if they were interested.  They had rarely rescued starving horses before, but have a few old retired horses that people have surrendered, a beautiful farm with plenty of acreage, a nice barn… and a great little paddock with shelter for quarantine.

The horses arrived Friday evening.  They weren’t as bad as I had thought they’d be, but they’re not great.  The Father had said there were two mares and a gelding, but of course the gelding is really a stallion. 

 

The buckskin stallion is the friendliest one and looks to be about three or four years old.  The vet is coming to examine and castrate on Tuesday and we’ll know more accurate ages then.  I gave this guy a bath today and he was totally cool with it, like he’d been bathed many times before.  I named him Tristan.  You’re welcome, Brad Pitt.

 

This is the younger mare, I’d say around 6 years old.  She was the hardest one to catch, but is okay once you’ve got her as long as you don’t make any fast moves.  Her bath didn’t go very well and I stopped when she was comfortable with the water on her legs and chest.  She doesn’t have rain rot, so I’ll take my time with getting her used to the hose. 

 

She was really difficult to catch for worming and again for feeding this morning.  Luckily, we had her in the barn, but she still had enough room to get away from me.  After her bathing attempt later, I let her eat some grass and plied her with cookie after cookie.  When I fed this evening she walked right up to me and wouldn’t leave me alone after that.  Some people don’t like cookies, but I’m telling you right now… cookies make the world go round with these rescued horses.  We named her Breezy.

This is the older mare, I’m guessing between 10 and 12 years.  She’s friendly enough as long as you don’t make any fast moves around her.

 

There were three teenaged girls volunteering at the Olive Branch today and they named this mare Wendy.  She wasn’t so confident about a bath at first, but with slow moves and patience, I got her done.  She seems like she’ll be an incredibly sweet mare eventually, but for now she’s just wondering where she is, what’s going on, and when is dinner?

Olive Branch could use some help bringing these horses back to health so please consider a donation!  Any amount will help and they are a 501(c)3 charity!

Riley and Huey Return

 

Remember these two trouble makers?  This picture was taken last May, shortly after Huey was born, and about a month and a half after the horses were seized.  That’s Huey on the left.

 

Ginger, Shortcake, and Huey were adopted and Riley was fostered as a buddy for Huey to grow up with.  The adopter did a wonderful job with the two, but things have changed and she realized that she just didn’t have the time necessary to devote to the two munchkins and brought them back to HHH.

 

Little Huey hasn’t dropped his testicles yet, so they are both still stallions.  When I put them in with the stallion herd everyone took a sniff, Dagwood and Rusty chased them around for a minute, then everyone settled in to the hay like nothing exciting had just happened.

 

Both boys are friendly and love attention.  I can’t wait until they are old enough to send over to the foster that took River and Casper --  little Lexi will have a blast training these two cutie patooties!