Tell me about your good horse/ experience

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Chisamba
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Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Chisamba » Wed Aug 24, 2016 1:40 pm

Sorry, very long : I think most of you know that "Mistake" was obese and lamanitic and sitting in a huge green field of grass. I drove past that field often, and there was an older gentleman there feeding treats to the horses over the fence. One day his dog ran off into the road, so i stopped to help him corral his dog. He told me about "mistake" he did not know her name, but he would stop and feed her carrots daily. She did not need the carrots, but he loved her, and felt sorry for her because no one ever did anything with her. He had been a horseman in his youth, and wished he had the youth and opportunity to work with the horse. She was dark grey, really really fat, and had sore feet. I told him he should perhaps not feed her carrots and so he switched to feeding her boiled peanuts in their shells.

I took pictures of her, posted them on the old UDBB, and considered getting her, but i had a PSG mare, and very talented younger horse, and lots of horses in training. Mistake kept getting fatter and more sore.

Then we had the fire. Everything was gone. I really had no income either, no tack, and i was emotionally crippled. I was in limbo, i did not know if it was some giant sign i should give up. Well, two things happened, first of all, a huge number of people, some who had even been very adversarial with me on UDBB, stepped up and started sending me things, bits of tack, grooming things, saddles, Smartpak ( an ex pupil of mine works there) sent me and each of my clients gift certificates, and some of you sent me donations of money. A wonderful woman who had lost her barn in a fire sent me a step by step of how she handled it.

To my absolute surprise, the one of my clients who i thought would give up, was the first to contact me and say, where are we moving to, I am looking for a horse. So i started to look around for empty barns, found one, and then needed at least one horse to move in, while i started trying to regroup my clients, find them horses etc. A good friend of mine, who had lost her young horse in the fire, offered to pay half of my horse, and half of her board, for a year. I negotiated the price for " Mistake" the owner drew blood and got her coggins, and gave her spring shots, my friend Kristin hooked up her trailer, and we went to the field. It was a rainy day. It took us four hours to catch her, walking up and down in the rain. She finally decided, darn you stupid humans, and stood while i caught her. She did not know how to lead, although she did know what a halter was, and her previous owner had told me that she was taught to lead and tie as a foal. It took two at her head, and one sort of herding her from behind to get her to the trailer, fortunately she is food oriented and she decided walking onto the strange sort of stall on wheels for food was not a bad proposition, so on she got. I do not like to change names, its a kind of thing with me, but I did not want her to be called Mistake her whole life, so we decided on Kimba. ( white lioness) when i lived in Zambia the natives used to call me little lion

I think that dear old man who fed her carrots, and then peanuts had started an important part of her training, the part where she looked to humans for nice things. I did each thing with her myself. From that devastating place of being scared, feeling alone, everything being new again, having to piece together tack and equipment, we worked together.

Each time i put together a piece of tack, i felt thankful for the kindness of others. Each time she improved her feet, or gave me a generous response to her training, i felt thankfulness for the joy of horses.

I think we saved each other. Other horses in that field were not as lucky. a young gelding was put to sleep for lamanitis. a big stock trailer came and picked up a group of six, i am not sure where they went. I am sure i saved her. I am aslo sure she saved me. I had Deneb, you see, and she was not doing my confidence any good. But for every bad and scarey day with Deneb, I had a generous and joyful moment with Kimba. Yes, Kimba did toss me a couple of times. as a result, she was terrified of being dismounted. We had to work through that. I got her one her for the first time, all by myself, in the barn. She said, wait, what are we doing? i asked her to move forward, and she said, well this is strange, but she moved forward in a very relaxed pace!! I took each thing slowly, I realized i had not lost my abilities, they had just going into hiding.

My friend and I found horses, my barn of training horses increased. and kimba lost weight, we managed her feet. Then the boarding barn put a new horse in their pasture. this horse was in her own way a Deneb, she backed into Kimba kicking and broke her rear leg just below the hock. It was like someone in a cartoon dropped an anvil on my head. Stall rest.

So, i started playing around with clicker training, to see if i could keep her mind occupied and her happy while the bones knitted and healed. Meanwhile, one of the horses I found a client turned out to have Lymes. we treated him but he got neurological deficits. Deneb ran into the wall with me one time to many, and i brought her home and turned her out. Another horse we had found turned out to have calcified hay string in his intestines and passed away from colic. Kimba, however, greeted me with joy every morning, she worked on her cone touching skills, she healed far better than the vets had prognosticated. She was back to walking in hand, then walking under saddle, then adding a few trot steps, a year of coming back into work. we spent a lot of time on slow work, learning not to pace.

At this last Clinic at least four times the clinician said, that is very good, this is a nice horse. My heart just nearly jumped out of my mouth, i was so happy. She just makes me happy. She is my joy. I posted a picture of her on facebook, and my friend, the one who helped me pick her up and sponsored her beginning said how beautiful she was looking. She mentioned how fat and lamanitic she was when we picked her up.

I thought, i am so glad I saved her, and I am so glad that she saved me.

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Flight
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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Flight » Wed Aug 24, 2016 6:15 pm

That's a great story, except for the fire - that would have been just horrific.
Interesting hearing Kimbas's story!

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby demi » Wed Aug 24, 2016 6:56 pm

This story made my day.

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby mari » Thu Aug 25, 2016 4:45 am

Lovely story! Mine is not nearly as interesting. But I have a good horse :D

He was born a thug, and as much as he often ignores me in favour of doing his own thing, he is also ridiculously brave and steady. He has taught me so much (even if some of the things were "yes, you CAN be run away with in trot"), and he absorbs all my many mistakes without batting an eye. He enjoys dressage, jumping and hacking, patiently stands while I faff with him, is happy to be the nanny for any nervous/green horse that needs to travel right up his bum to be safe, loads well, and is a pleasure at shows.
The aim of argument or of discussion should not be victory, but progress. ~ Joseph Joubert

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Chisamba
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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Chisamba » Thu Aug 25, 2016 11:52 am

mari wrote:Lovely story! Mine is not nearly as interesting. But I have a good horse :D

He was born a thug, and as much as he often ignores me in favour of doing his own thing, he is also ridiculously brave and steady. He has taught me so much (even if some of the things were "yes, you CAN be run away with in trot"), and he absorbs all my many mistakes without batting an eye. He enjoys dressage, jumping and hacking, patiently stands while I faff with him, is happy to be the nanny for any nervous/green horse that needs to travel right up his bum to be safe, loads well, and is a pleasure at shows.


And he is cute!

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby mari » Thu Aug 25, 2016 12:39 pm

Aaaaaaaaw shucks, you know the way straight to a horse gal's heart :P
The aim of argument or of discussion should not be victory, but progress. ~ Joseph Joubert

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby khall » Thu Aug 25, 2016 1:21 pm

The best horse that I have owned and the easiest one I have started is my older mare Anna, the dam of my Lusitano filly. I bred Anna out of my TB mare, born 2000, same year as my son. She was the last foal of my TB mare Lis who ended up having to be euthanized 2001 from fractured leg. I kept Anna to keep those lines going. Anna hit the ground extremely friendly and sociable. A Han/TB whose TB will still come out occasionally with high jinxes but never bullish or stupid. Even if she is leaping around because of high winds (that is the one thing that gets this mare full of beans) she never tightens the line or jerks on you. She was started late (6) because we were in the middle of building our farm. She was one of those 3 yr olds who was not ready to be started and at 4 we were in the middle of our 2 yr farm project of clearing, building house, barn and fence. So she sat until we got to the new farm and then I had 6 months on a schooled horse to get my seat back. I did not ride for 18 months during the building of our farm. Nothing fazed her in the starting process, she was "born broke". You could ride her with a halter or bit, did not matter. Hauling to new place, no change, same horse. Just easy, light soft mare who was a joy to ride. We have had our fair share of health issues though, laminitic episode from shoeing issues, became a head shaker and now dealing with LF hoof issues from long ago changes from white line as a young horse. Foaling was hard on her, pregnancy was hard on her, but she was a wonderful mother and I love her filly. She is sound now and is ready to go back to work. Had her acupuncture and chiroed yesterday to prepare her for working again. Will see how it goes. Surprising that the head shaking is pretty much gone now. Found out in my management that gastric ulcers were the culprit and now she is managed appropriately and she has not HS since her filly was born 2014 except when I hauled her and she did not eat hay. 4 days of GG though and she quit.

The other horse was not mine but he might as well have been. Helped find him for a friend (he was 4), young rider who wanted a moving up horse. He was a young punk of a 17 hh ASB x that turned into the kindest and best horse. Safe to ride, safe to handle and quite talented. Fun horse. I rode him for several years off and on and always always enjoyed him. You could ride him bareback with a halter, ride him with idiot horses bouncing around you, take him on a trail ride or to a show. He had some quirks but he was always safe and fun to deal with. He is 26 now and has spent the last 3 years giving another rider her confidence back from having difficult reactive horses, the same rider who we just found the OTTB g for (who reminds me so much of the ASB x Indy, but even better).

My other mare Gallie has surprised me very much. I always enjoyed riding her, easy to start, easy to train, quite talented but not a pocket pony type of horse. Very workmanlike though. I did have some bilateral OCD stifle issues that bothered her as a younger mare just starting collection, but time off and conquer made all the difference. She had two foals for me, a good dam to her foals, could be difficult to handle very protective of them and her stall. Her two foals are the ones I ride now, the big gelding Rip and his sister Gaila. Gallie though has turned into one of the best school horses ever. Very tolerant of mistakes, I am very impressed with the old girl (she is 21 this year). I had her going several years ago as good as she had ever gone, then turned her over to a friend who had only ridden gaited horses to learn to ride trotting horses. She shined as a school horse. Gave the rider so much confidence and was starting to get feel when she found her own horse. Gallie foundered on me June 2015 quite severely from dex, she spent 10 months in the stall and was a model patient. She is back now and is starting back in work. Another friend with a young horse is wanting to ride her to get her feel/seat. Gallie is great for that. I can ride her bareback just for fun. Still has some kick up when the old girl wants to but never under saddle.

I tend to like mares more than geldings, just a preference. Why I was excited when I got a filly this last time.


Update: I lost Anna, my good mare, October 30, 2016. She coliced while I was at a horse show, I came home to her still not right. Nursed her through the night with IV fluids and NG tube but by the next morning I knew I had to make the decision to put her down. Never an easy one to make, but with Anna especially hard, I was not ready for her to go so soon. Unfortunately that is life with horses sometimes though. RIP my good girl Anna.
Last edited by khall on Mon Dec 05, 2016 11:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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orono
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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby orono » Thu Aug 25, 2016 4:16 pm

Wonderful story Chisamba, 'Mistake' certainly had some big shoes to fill, I'm glad she has worked out so incredibly well. Would there by any way to try and find the gentleman who fed her carrots? Imagine if he could see her now..:D

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby demi » Thu Aug 25, 2016 6:14 pm

Apache. I called him Pache, DH called him Patch. I bought him as a 6 yr old from an Austin newspaper ad. He'd had 7 owners before us and it took over a year to get his papers because not everyone had signed off. He was green broke; walk, trot, run, no left lead. The old guy I bought him from said he had a super good temperament. I trusted the guy and he was right. Anyone could ride him. He loved attention. He played with everything. He loved everyone (except my mare Rocky!) and everyone loved him(except my mare, Rocky!). He was mostly DH's horse but I used him to pony horses on trails, and also rode him up to 2nd level.

Pache was beautiful inside and out. I have friend who trail rode him with me for a few years. She worked for the DPS and did the photos of the TX state troopers for their yearbooks. One year, one trooper wanted his pic on a horse so Pache got the job. Then a bunch of the other troopers wanted their pics on him, too! There is one pic hanging in my friends office with a trooper and Pache standing next to a black and white patrol car.

He coliced off and on so frequently that I had to keep banamine on hand. We never could figure out why, and it was always a very mild colic so we didn't want to send him to A&M. He would have been very unhappy away from home. The one time I showed him I ended up hauling him home each night because he looked very distressed when I left him in the stall alone.

We had him 15 years and lost him to colic April 2014. It was the only severe colic he'd ever had but we caught it right away and my vet was out 20 minutes after it was obvious that the first banamine shot wasn't working...

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby demi » Thu Aug 25, 2016 6:22 pm

Image

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Ponichiwa » Thu Aug 25, 2016 6:32 pm

Chisamba, what a touching post. Inspiring.

My story: My first dressage horse was an aged Hanoverian schoolmaster gelding, and looked every bit the coarse warmblood stereotype from the '80s and early '90s (he was a 1987 model). Huge head. Huge, tree-trunk legs. Where some horses have a 6-pack, AT had a keg. Bay with a huge white star right in the center of his massive face. About 3 hairs in his forelock and maybe 5 in his tail.

He put up with my many, many learning pains in this sport. He was uncanny in his ability to give you just as much as you were able to handle and not even a little bit more. And he was the consummate showman-- in more ways than one, because he did love letting down when I walked into the warmup like some sort of creepy old man hitting on all the younger mares. Once, when I was showing 1st level for the first time, I tried to post the lengthening. NO, said Tster, and he took a massive step with his hind end and sucked me back down into the saddle for the rest of the diagonal.

He gave me my first piaffe, pirouettes, and flying changes down to the ones. When he was in his late 20s, I took him for a field ride and asked for some canter. He wouldn't stop throwing one-tempis everywhere. He was still tearing down fences until the day he died.

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Chisamba » Fri Aug 26, 2016 12:23 am

Demi, Pache looks so good with the trooper on his back, no wonder others wanted their photo taken that way too. He looks like a remarkable horse.

Ponichiwa, He sounds like a tremendous character.

Khall, wonderful mares.

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Brydie » Fri Aug 26, 2016 7:00 am

I first got Red when I was 13 or 14 as a unbroken 3yo. My mum's ex gave him to my mum and he became mine. I had little experience with young horses (I had a 4yo pony when I was 8) and that's it. He's such a sweetheart, the only upset moment we had was him bolting when we first took him out in our field. I could road ride him at 3 years old, he didn't bat an eye. We did pony club things for a few years.

When I was 16 I moved out of home, Red came with me with the condition that I kept up with school. That didn't happen and a few months down the track my mum came to get him (without me knowing) so one day he was just gone. She sold him on to a 15yo where he was kept on a dairy farm with rye grass. A couple of years later he developed grass staggers, the owners couldn't move him so they had to sell him on. I ended up buying him back!

We then started eventing, placing well in the dressage pahases, jumping wasn't a strong point (I tried to push him too fast to keep up with heights for pony club events). Once I aged put of pony club we stepped down to 75cm and had a blast for a year, placing well. We also had a go at straight dressage, not scoring so well! Comments were always need forward. After having him back for a few years I decided to move to Australia (from New Zealand) but couldn't afford to bring him with me.

4 years later I hear he's for sale, not thinking much of it at the time. About a month after first hearing about it I had the money to get my own horse over here and after reading about a woman bringing her 24yo from US to Australia I thought what about Red? One month later he's getting off the horse transport in Australia after his boat ride from NZ.

And now here we are!!! We first started show jumping (my passion was eventing), but it's too hard to event here without my own transport. So dressage it is! With a bit of jumping here and there. He's been back in my life for two years now, and he'll be with me til the day he dies <3

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby PaulaO » Mon Sep 05, 2016 11:43 pm

Chi, have you seen the peanut gentlemen since you got Kimba? I feel like he was her guardian angel. Thank you for her story.

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Chisamba » Mon Sep 05, 2016 11:54 pm

PaulaO wrote:Chi, have you seen the peanut gentlemen since you got Kimba? I feel like he was her guardian angel. Thank you for her story.


I have not seen him since. The farm has most of their fields in corn, and a few old timer horses. The big horse herd that was there is gone.

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Chisamba
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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Chisamba » Mon Sep 05, 2016 11:56 pm

Brydie wrote:I first got Red when I was 13 or 14 as a unbroken 3yo. My mum's ex gave him to my mum and he became mine. I had little experience with young horses (I had a 4yo pony when I was 8) and that's it. He's such a sweetheart, the only upset moment we had was him bolting when we first took him out in our field. I could road ride him at 3 years old, he didn't bat an eye. We did pony club things for a few years.

When I was 16 I moved out of home, Red came with me with the condition that I kept up with school. That didn't happen and a few months down the track my mum came to get him (without me knowing) so one day he was just gone. She sold him on to a 15yo where he was kept on a dairy farm with rye grass. A couple of years later he developed grass staggers, the owners couldn't move him so they had to sell him on. I ended up buying him back!

We then started eventing, placing well in the dressage pahases, jumping wasn't a strong point (I tried to push him too fast to keep up with heights for pony club events). Once I aged put of pony club we stepped down to 75cm and had a blast for a year, placing well. We also had a go at straight dressage, not scoring so well! Comments were always need forward. After having him back for a few years I decided to move to Australia (from New Zealand) but couldn't afford to bring him with me.

4 years later I hear he's for sale, not thinking much of it at the time. About a month after first hearing about it I had the money to get my own horse over here and after reading about a woman bringing her 24yo from US to Australia I thought what about Red? One month later he's getting off the horse transport in Australia after his boat ride from NZ.

And now here we are!!! We first started show jumping (my passion was eventing), but it's too hard to event here without my own transport. So dressage it is! With a bit of jumping here and there. He's been back in my life for two years now, and he'll be with me til the day he dies <3


I did not realize Red was your pony club mount. How fabulous that you managed to him back. What a happy story

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Sue B » Wed Sep 07, 2016 4:39 pm

In my riding life, I have been blessed to have ridden/owned nothing but "good" horses, even though they come from varied backrounds carrying varied amounts of baggage. It makes choosing hard to do, but for reasons which may become apparent, I will tell about Scotty.

Scotty (Wintertime Sparkle) was born of royal blood, raised with only the best of care as the son of Seattle Slew would be, but respiratory problems kept him from ever setting foot on the track and so, at age 3 his life was turned upside-down. At 17hh, Sparkle was a bit of a handful so his well-meaning owner/breeder handed him over to a "trainer" who promised a competitive event horse in exchange for board and training fees. Fast forward 2 years or so, when a surprise inspection by said owner revealed a broken down, underweight 17.1hh nag turned out in the back pasture. A mere shadow of his former glory, he still perked up and nickered when she called his name. Both hips were "knocked down", and he sported a large "hunter's bump". Several phone calls later, I became the new owner of Sparkle for the mere fee of driving 150 miles one-way to pick him up. The trainer at first refused to hand over Sparkle, but eventually relented, even allowing me to keep his now dilapidated halter and helping me to load him on my little trailer. I'll never forget his parting words, "he's a great jumper right before he runs out of air."

Kandy50's remark in another thread notwithstanding, I cannot adequately describe the level of abuse this noble animal underwent at the hands of this "trainer." Suffice it to say that the knocked down hips and hunter's bump were acquired when he dismantled part of the barn while escaping a stall he'd been left in for over a week while "trainer" was gone on vacation. Perhaps the fact that he would turn into a quivering mass at the mere site of a lunge or dressage whip, or even jumps in an arena, might suggest some past indiscretion. Then again, how about the opposite reaction when a man would approach and Sparkle would raise up ready to do battle if need be. This past year, my friend actually witnessed what this trainer is capable of when a horse declines to do what is demanded and has apologized for being skeptical of my abuse stories regarding this person. At any rate, I renamed Sparkle, Scotty, because, to me, he looked like an overgrown Scottish terrier, and together we began the journey to recovery.

Training/rehabbing a severe abuse case is so very different from starting fresh on an untrained animal. I was fortunate in that, in spite of his recent mistreatment, Scotty had known humans who were kind, gentle and patient and he wanted/needed people in his life. In the first 6 months or so , he broke 2 lunge cavessons, 1 lunge line, 1 halter and 1 hand (mine, it was an accident) while I retaught him ground manners. Under saddle, he would periodically panic and either bolt off in a trot (later a gallop) or stay in one spot bouncing from hinds to fronts. He had a neurologic condition that would cause him to kick out with his right hind leg when under severe psychological stress; that's how I broke my hand and later acquired a bruised femur from a kick that sent me flying 10ft through the air. It took a couple of years but gradually he trusted me enough to go on the lunge nicely, w-t-c around the arena with minimal bolting and load on a trailer in under an hour. Fast forward to 6 years and my now dh could handle him from the ground and even ride him. I could take him to shows where we could warm up without clearing the arena with his occasional leaps and bucks and without worrying that he might bolt through the judges booth or take down that cute little white fence in a panic attack. By 14yrs old he was showing 2nd level and proved his absolute faith in me when an awning blew over and followed us down the center line--he never batted an eye, completing the test without a bobble while they gathered up the awning. I retired him from showing when it became apparent that 2nd level was as far as he could go in the show ring, but I continued to play with more advanced stuff like hp, pirouettes, passage and piaffe and I used him as a schoolie for beginners.

During this time, at age 41, I was blessed with the birth of my son. Scotty was always kind to him and very gentle. he would lower his giant head clear to the ground so 5yr old ds could halter him and lead him around. But at age 9, my ds was nearly subjected to a parent's worse nightmare when he was snatched at the local fair. The pedophile-in-training physically and psychologically tortured my young son for a mere 15 minutes or so (I wasn't there, so I don't really know, he was in the care of a friend) when an observant stranger chased the guy off before he could ds alone. It took ds 4 days to finally tell me what happened and only because I caught him looking at the most vile, sadistic porn on the internet I've ever encountered. As part of his PTSD therapy, his amazing therapist challenged ds to do something he had always wanted to do but was too scared to try. Turns out, he always wanted to ride Scotty on his own. I showed him how to bridle him, saddled Scotty up for him, showed him how to mount and dismount, and put him on the lunge line at first while he found Scotty's "buttons." Before long, ds was w-t-c around the arena and even going over cavelleti and small jumps! That fall Scotty gave me back my boy and for that I am forever in his debt.

Scotty passed away in our pasture a few years ago at the age of 24. He was truly a "GOOD" horse.

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Flight
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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Flight » Thu Sep 08, 2016 2:04 am

Loving these stories!!
Brydie, so interesting about your story with Red. Especially bringing him over from NZ!

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby piedmontfields » Thu Sep 08, 2016 12:57 pm

The stories and photos are amazing---thank you all for sharing.

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Boudicea » Tue Oct 11, 2016 5:16 am

There are a lot of reasons why Sol is the most awesomest horse on the planet. His temperament and how fun he is to ride, I could go on all day. But there is one memory I have that I think makes me the happiest to have him in my life.

I'm a slow walker. I don't mean to be but for whatever reason if I'm with a group of people I'm typically left behind. Even when I'm with my family or friends they often walk ahead of me without waiting. This has always been the case since I can remember and being overly sensitive it has often made me feel unwanted.

One day I was coming back from a trail ride with Sol. My mom had come with us to walk and since we were almost home I had dismounted and was walking, too. As I often did I tucked the reins up so they couldn't fall and I let Sol simply follow us (Sol is reliably a pig so I have no worries that if he chose to run off it would be directly to the front lawn to eat grass without fail--even if a swarm of bees were chasing him). For a reason I can't recall, I was walking extra slow that day and so mom and Sol had gotten maybe 40-50 meters up ahead of me on the road. As usual I am left to walk by myself because I'm apparently a sloth in human skin.

All of a sudden Sol stops in his tracks while my mom kept walking. Sol turns his head around and looks at me for a moment. Then he turns completely around and walks back to me. Keep in mind I don't typically feed him treats because he can be mouthy (see the above pig comment). To this day I think it's the first and only time someone has actually turned around and come back to walk with me even though I was slow. And it was a horse. The best horse.

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby demi » Tue Oct 11, 2016 7:54 pm

Sol sounds like a nice guy! I am glad you told us this story and I'm glad you have such a good friend. I would guess that you are just as good a friend to him as he is to you, and that's why you're special to him. Friendship works both ways.

Please tell us more about him!

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby kande50 » Tue Oct 11, 2016 9:58 pm

Boudicea wrote: To this day I think it's the first and only time someone has actually turned around and come back to walk with me even though I was slow. And it was a horse. The best horse.


:-D

I'm jealous that you can turn your horse loose out on trail. We live next to a highway so I can never let go of my horse unless we're inside a fence and the gates are closed.

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Bats79 » Tue Oct 11, 2016 10:34 pm

Boudicea wrote:All of a sudden Sol stops in his tracks while my mom kept walking. Sol turns his head around and looks at me for a moment. Then he turns completely around and walks back to me. Keep in mind I don't typically feed him treats because he can be mouthy (see the above pig comment). To this day I think it's the first and only time someone has actually turned around and come back to walk with me even though I was slow. And it was a horse. The best horse.


Which shows that you are actually communicating with your horse and on the level of mates. :D Mates argue and bicker and one gets to be boss in some situations and the other at other times but even then, there is still an ongoing communication. Treats might be a part of establishing the language but they are unnecessary for the communication.

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby demi » Tue Oct 11, 2016 11:04 pm

Bats79 wrote:...
Which shows that you are actually communicating with your horse and on the level of mates. :D Mates argue and bicker and one gets to be boss in some situations and the other at other times but even then, there is still an ongoing communication. Treats might be a part of establishing the language but they are unnecessary for the communication.


I think that is a good point, Bats79.

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Boudicea » Wed Oct 12, 2016 3:00 am

Sol is one cool dude if I do say so myself. Level headed but hot off the aids. Not sure what I'm going to do when it's time for him to retire. I hope that day won't come for a long time. I had to move from where we were so no more off-lead walks on the trail. I miss having him at home. I always liked being able to go out and check on him at night and look out my window and see him doing what he does best....eating. LOL Really he loves his food. Even when he was a stud I bet if you had stuck a mare in heat in front of him and a pile of hay he'd go for the hay. And when I ride him in the mornings sometimes which is grass-time he is NOT happy. I try to not go in the mornings. :)

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Moutaineer » Fri Oct 14, 2016 1:54 am

Gosh, I've been blessed to have several really good horses in my lifetime. I guess the one that stands out, however, is Lucky.

I first met Lucky about 25 years ago, only a few years after we moved to the USA, I had my old horse, Captain, boarded in a barn In CT, and Lucky moved into the next stall. His owner was really too crippled to ride, and had purchased him on the hope that he would be able to cope with her knee brace and awkwardness. He was 6 or 7 years old at the time, and a failed barrel horse (why anyone would think that a quarter horse built like a dachshund and with a very conservative attitude towards the expenditure of energy would make a good barrel horse, I have no idea...) Our barn owner put some miles on him and got him going nicely as an "English" horse for her. My old horse was heading towards retirement, so I often took Lucky out on trail rides and to hunter paces.

In due time, I bought my self a new horse. One evening, my husband and I were eating dinner and he expressed an interest in learning to ride so he could come trail ride with me on the weekends. The following day, Lucky's owner finally admitted that she wasn't going to be riding again any time soon, and put Lucky on the market.

Needless to say, Lucky joined our household within a week and my husband learned to ride on his own horse...

A year later we moved out to Utah, and the horses came with us. DH continued to ride, learned to jump, and generally had a good time with his little buddy. When he wasn't around, Lucky was often pressed into service as a confidence giver for little girls. (One of his "little girls" grew up to jump round Badminton a couple of years ago.)

He could put in a creditable lower level dressage test if pressed, would tool around the trails safely, but his love was to jump. Put jumps in the ring and his eyes lit up, and a cross country course would really get him going.

A couple of years later, we bought our own horse property and moved him and my other two horses home. He's lived up here on the mountain ever since.

When he was about 18, he started to get grumpy about walking down hill. After some investigation, it turned out he had ringbone. My husband had both hips replaced in the same time frame and decided to hang up his spurs, so Lucky entered honorable retirement.

And here he remains. He outlived the two other horses we bought home, and now has new companions. He's very much the boss out there, even though he is pretty crippled now--we chemically fused one pastern and the other did it spontaneously. But he's fat and happy and knows exactly the amount of respect is due to him at his venerable age. Once a year he gets himself into some kind of pickle that convinces me that he won't make it this time, but so far he has survived. He is usually the ring leader on jail breaks, too.

He's just an ordinary, honest little chestnut quarter horse. He spent his working life looking after us, and we are honored to be able to provide him with a peaceful retirement. At 32, he's going very grey in the face,but he still knows where the carrots are...

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Rosie B » Fri Oct 14, 2016 12:29 pm

Boudicea and Mountaineer, those are lovely stories. Thank-you for sharing. :)

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby angela9823 » Fri Oct 14, 2016 12:53 pm

I so love reading these stories. I too have a great horse in Izzy. She turned 21 this year and is still strong. I don't ride much these days with work etc but when I do she's still exactly the same easy girl. This was the mare that at six, I was thinking of putting down. She'd started coming up lame pretty regularly and was having other issues including a diagnosis of COPD. I got her when she was turning four and she's just been the perfect beast for me since. I can't imagine any amount of money that would have ever pried her away from me but the lameness and coughing was enough.

A friend asked me to bring her to a barefoot seminar one weekend; they made her sound and her coughing quit. We won the regionals that year and we've went on to have many wonderful adventures since. Because of her, I went to barefoot trimming school. As long as the trim was right, she was right and didn't cough. Moment her front feet hurt, she'd cough so she was a great teacher.

We went on to compete at third level and do a little low level jumping classes and she definitely said she could do more but the stress of work, going to school to be a trimmer, competing, going to banking school, having a young daughter AND bringing along another young horse got to me so I stopped competing and let my daughter take over her riding. She taught my daughter to ride; she was really safe when she needed to be put added a little more spice as my daughter's confidence grew. She wasn't brave about jumping but she is a good little jumper.

Other people have come over and said they knew how to ride (you know the ones) and she's bucked them all off. She doesn't put up with foolishness. But those that do ride well have no problems with her. For the most part, she just does what is asked and is a great ride.

She's got spunk on the trails. Piles of pine straw scare her but she'll cross a crawling snake with no issue. She was always the lead over the things other horses found scary but then had to follow another lead horse to make it past a pine cone...silly girl! And though she lives with a cow and wasn't scared of the ones she's lived with in the past, cows still scare her terribly when they are in a pasture beside her on a trail. She has airs above ground moments when they start coming over in their herds to check her out.

So that is a very brief 18 year history with her. I'm watching her out my window right now and just love even the sight of her. What a lovely girl....

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby jeniferkey » Tue Oct 25, 2016 6:10 pm

20 years ago I thought I wanted a draft horse. I browsed a lot on the internet and in my searching I saw a Belgian/Welsh pony gelding for sale up in Oregon. Back then I didn't know people who bought horses from across the US, but even then I could see a picture of a horse and know I wanted it.
He shipped down and settled in immediately. He was green broke, and kind. Then my life turned upside down a bit and I moved to Poland for a year. Thuy went to stay with my trainer as a lesson horse and I got monthly updates on how they finally got him to stay trotting on the lunge or got him to canter. And then introduced some jumping.

When I came back I played with him, but rarely took him seriously. He was always my second mount for guests or the spare for my trainer to ride out on. Then I had a couple of concussions from some falls and on went the Western saddle and he helped me get my courage back. Then came fox hunting and side saddle riding and competing Novice for the fun of it. His heart was so huge he would do anything. The little cobby guy qualified for the National Fox Hunting Championships and we went to Virginia and played in the mountains. That same year he taught my 9 yr old niece to ride and took her out hunting when I wasn't riding him. So many people had the pleasure of riding or learning on him and each time he seemed to be the horse they needed at the time. I lost him to colic two years ago now, and like so many I'm frequently searching for the horse who will be just like him.

Image
With my 9 yr old niece in the hunt field.

Image Image
Willing to try anything.

Image
That same niece 4 years later in her first show.

Image
The definitive Thuy.

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby piedmontfields » Tue Oct 25, 2016 11:08 pm

I always loved the stories about Thuy!!! He was such the fellow. The last photo sums it up for you both. I'm terribly sorry about your loss.

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Tuddy » Thu Oct 27, 2016 2:09 pm

I was bringing Tuddy in from pasture the other night. It was dark and there were three other geldings that wanted to come in from pasture as well. Two of the three were respectful and stayed behind Tuddy so that I could get him through the gate and close it. The third one took a chance with the open gate and zoomed right past Tuddy and I and started trotting around the yard.

My spooky horse just stood there and looked at that gelding as if to say - man, you are in soo much trouble, meh, your problem not mine. Then he looked at me as if to say, okay, lets go get the supper now. And he walked past the scary haybine and rake that the owners had parked for the winter without huffing and puffing at it, and followed me nicely while we wandered the yard trying to get the renegade horse, which we eventually did by the way.

I was pretty proud of how brave he was.

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby kande50 » Thu Oct 27, 2016 5:17 pm

Tuddy wrote:
I was pretty proud of how brave he was.


One good thing about already knowing what could happen, is that when it doesn't happen we can truly appreciate the progress they're making! :-)

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby greenholmeshandy » Fri Oct 28, 2016 7:47 pm

okay this is long so browny points if you get to the end!

I have posted before about my pony, I bought her after my old boy Brychen was pts at 22 years old. I had considered long and hard as he got older about my next horse, we had enjoyed 4 seasons of endurance before I lost my nerve hacking out after a traffic accident. I had moved to a different area in the UK with off road riding and determined on the following:
1.gelding
2. Grey or bay
3. Arab or high % arab
4. Lean built for endurance
5. Already fit and schooled
so I went out and bought
1.a mare
2.jet black
3. Fell pony
4. somewhat stocky (13.3 and 8 1/2 inch bone) with tons of feather and hair
5.very green could hack and walk trot in the school.

To be fair to myself there was a rational behind this. My son who was 8 at the time wanted to ride and I am only 5 foot tall so it made sense to have a pony to share, we live in a bleak area with restricted winter turnout and vey wet and windy. My idea was to have a phlegmatic hardy breed that would be cheap to keep, easy to manage and could cope with this and do lower level endurance and a bit of everything. So Shandy came into my life only two weeks after poor Brychen passed away, I simply couldn't bare being horseless.

The first two years were a bit of a night mare, I couldn't find any saddles that didn't shoot over her withers, she seemed soulless and a bit dull and my nickname for her was, I afraid, Moo as I had bought her a spotty nz rug and felt that she both looked like and was a bit of a useless cow really. Schooling consisted of falling in completely across the school on one rein and falling out to the point of nearly going through the arena rails on the other rein. V scarey as one side of the arena is 20 foot above a drop.I had lessons but we didn't seem to progress. Especially with canter which simply didn't happen.

I used to stomp down to the yard brew room and regulary rant about the F*** animal that couldn't even canter. The yard manager got on her one day and she could only get her to canter by kicking and hitting her which was truly awful and never repeated.

I tried a few pleasure rides . these initially went well but with high pulses at the end which I put down to build and fitness. So the second year I did more rides which ended in disaster, one ride she bolted down the road through on coming traffic and at another she was so beside herself before the ride that she knocked my husband to the ground before I tacked up, her pulses at the end meant we were vetted out.

I also tried showing which again was mixed success, at one breed specific show we placed second ridden novice and third below two stallions which I thought wasn't great, then we did the local county show, she panicked as horse drawn carriages came up to close in the warm up area resulting in her bolting and running over a small child (thankfully not hurt and had lovely parents who apologised to me as they were not supposed to be in the horse area). we did one dressage show walk trot test and she got placed fourth. Then to top it all her breathing in the second year over summer was suspiciously high, yep, she had hay fever. So all in all a blinking disaster.

It all changed, totally really, when I went to an unaffiliated trec event. I had fancied doing this for years, it comprises all the things I enjoy, orienteering on horse back on day 1, control of the paces section and then a handy pony/trail obstacle course on day 2. I was teamed up with a lovely girl on a fell x and gradually as we orienteered around for many hours (it was meant to be 3 but we got severely lost) Shandy went from so revved up that the organiser had to pin her down for me to mount up to relaxing coming in at a calm walk at the end. She tried her best at all the obstacles comprising of mock ditches made out of tarpaulin and western style s bend despite our preparation comprising of preciously zero practice and also tried to canter the canter section of control of the paces. At last we had found something we both liked.

I attended a few indoor winter trecs which miss out the orienteering phase and despite some howlers on my part we enjoyed it. Example of howler, I start course, judges ask me to stop, I ask why, they go Greek chorus style "what does an eventer do at the start of a phase", me "don't know never evented" them "okay what does a showjumper do" me "don't know haven't show jumped" them " what does...well you get the picture. Finally in a state of some exasperation they pointed out that it is usual to ride through the start flags when you, well, start!

So then I invested in a four day residential trec training course which really changed my relationship with the pony. Every one else knew each other except one other lady who it turned out also had a fell and was also new to trec. we buddied up and had a fantastic time learning from the trainers then going for long rides out in the wonderful Shropshire area. One trainer is a real old school eventer and when she asked what my main schooling problem was and I answered "we cant canter" she bellowed " what do you mean cant canter just bloody canter on the right rein around the arena" and transfixed by her eagle stare that's exactly what we did.

So last year comprised of about 1 trec per month in some truly stunning areas of the UK including North Wales, the lake district, Cannock chase ( originally a medival deer hunting ground) all with my pair on her fell. As a pair we came 2nd at our first trec, placed at others and came 9th nationally. We also ventured out for some jollys meeting up at x country venues and had a bash at dressage doing a series of 5 walk trot tests and placing second each time.

Part of the trec scene is camping over night with your pony in a coral, and a group meal on the Saturday. it is the most sociable horse discipline I have met since stopping endurance. I camp in a tent in my trailer and the bond this creates with your pony is quite surprising and strong. So gradually I came to appreciate my quirky little pony and she came out of her shell changing from what I now realise was a shut down scared animal hiding behind a not bothered stoic façade who six months before I bought her had been running as a feral unhandled brood mare to being an affectionate pony with a strong sense of humour and a keenness to please.

So this year we have done more trec, my poor partner Fiona's pony has not been quite right as transitioning to barefoot, so I did my first trec this year solo which was quite daunting but we placed fourth despite a disaster obstacle phase as shandy couldn't cope with doing obstacles before the orienteering phase which is what she had been used to the previous day. I did two as a pair with Fiona and we qualified for the level 1 national champs which was our goal as a par but sadly Fiona's pony was footy so couldn't go. My fourth place at my one solo trec though meant I could compete as an individual.

So off we trundled to our second ever solo trec, a national championship and much to my astonishment we lead on the first day and came third overall after the second day, being a bit let down by our control of the paces canter the idea is to do it slowly so max points are 150 metres in 40 seconds, and not blast up the canter corridor in under 20 but we are cantering. I was so happy, Shandy got a very big hug for being such a good girl.

we have done another trec since and came 6th due to getting lost a few times plus the usual issue with breaking speed records at canter. Overall we have come 7th nationally in the national league table, Im off to the national award ceremony after christmas and all this with a pony I felt was worthless and didn't have any kind of empathy with.

Looking back a lot of the "problems" with Shandy were in fact caused by me, I had such false expectations of what she could do and really didn't think properly and prepare her adequately. for example, with the long distance riding I thought it was fab that a little 13.3HH stocky pony who was only pleasure ride fit was keeping up with the big arabs doing the 60 mile ride when our paths converged at one ride, then I did two rides with other riders on much fitter more experienced horses who went like the clappers (14k per hour+) so no wonder poor Shandy's heart rate was so high at the end and she found it to much to cope with.

Also I think now the canter was all to do with using the wrong sort of pressure and force so it turned into a problem. I am now using an instructor who concentrates on exercises to build up straightness and control of the haunches and we now have a good canter on the right rein and left will come.

I know plans are bad but I hope to do some more trec next year either as a pair if my friends pony is back in action, or solo and also try some preliminary level dressage. I am so glad that I do finally appreciate my pony and can see why other people say how pretty and sweet she is.
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Chisamba
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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Chisamba » Sat Oct 29, 2016 12:54 pm

I love how you and Shandy found each others strong points.
Last edited by Chisamba on Sat Oct 29, 2016 8:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby demi » Sat Oct 29, 2016 5:44 pm

I read the whole thing and thoroughly enjoyed it. I like how you were able to look back and understand why you had problems. I liked how you were able to adapt. It isn't easy to be mentally and emotionally flexible. Sometimes we resist the way things seem to be working out, but if the resistance gives way to flexibility, we are pleasantly surprised. As you were.

Thanks for the good story. And you get browny points for the pictures!

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Shirrine » Sun Oct 30, 2016 2:52 am

My good story/experience has funnily enough been the last 12 months.
Lewyn has pulled me through a double mastectomy, chemo and the after math. He has been at the gate to give me cuddles when I needed them.
The first ride back after 4 months out of the saddle for both of us was a 10 min walk in which he carefully carried me around the arena. He then waited for me to recover enough to get back to the stable and unsaddle.
We have built up slowly to the extent that it was time to go out and compete a year later.
I entered my first dressage test with a huge smile on my face and tears of joy as we finished. He got 63.5% in both tests, still looking after me. Last week we did our first saddle show and he won and was reserve champion, again looking after me. Everytime he heard me for the weekend away he would nicker and say hi. He is a very very special boy.
My very first ride back.
Image

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby demi » Sun Oct 30, 2016 8:19 pm

Lovely picture of you and Lewyn. And I am not just telling you what I think you want to hear! I really think it's a pretty picture of a rider and her horse working together. Thanks for sharing and personally, I want to hear more as you and Lewyn continue...

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby kande50 » Sun Oct 30, 2016 9:32 pm

Shirrine wrote:My very first ride back.
Image


Now *that* is a pleasant picture!

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Chisamba » Sun Oct 30, 2016 11:35 pm

Shirrine wrote:My good story/experience has funnily enough been the last 12 months.
Lewyn has pulled me through a double mastectomy, chemo and the after math. He has been at the gate to give me cuddles when I needed them.
The first ride back after 4 months out of the saddle for both of us was a 10 min walk in which he carefully carried me around the arena. He then waited for me to recover enough to get back to the stable and unsaddle.
We have built up slowly to the extent that it was time to go out and compete a year later.
I entered my first dressage test with a huge smile on my face and tears of joy as we finished. He got 63.5% in both tests, still looking after me. Last week we did our first saddle show and he won and was reserve champion, again looking after me. Everytime he heard me for the weekend away he would nicker and say hi. He is a very very special boy.
My very first ride back.
Image

Shirrine


It is really great to have a pony, ( or horse) to help you come back from a hard time.

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby M&M » Wed Nov 02, 2016 12:26 am

Sue B, with all due respect to the others, your story made gave me goosebumps on my head, no lie. The part about your son....wow. The part about your son and Scotty and a brilliant therapist....wow.

And Chisamba, I so understand a horse saving you by you saving a horse. I'll post my story soon, when I have time to write it.
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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Chisamba » Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:53 pm

M&M wrote:Sue B, with all due respect to the others, your story made gave me goosebumps on my head, no lie. The part about your son....wow. The part about your son and Scotty and a brilliant therapist....wow.

And Chisamba, I so understand a horse saving you by you saving a horse. I'll post my story soon, when I have time to write it.

look forward to reading it when you have time.

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Sue B » Thu Nov 03, 2016 2:27 pm

Thanks M&M. I look forward to your story.

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby goneriding » Sun Dec 04, 2016 3:51 am

After a series of horses I loved despite themselves, I am in awe of my good horse.

After we bought our farm in 2013, I contacted a local rescue and offered to be a foster home. When I told them I was a dressage rider, they knew just the horse; a young mare who might be a good dressage horse. "No, no, NO!" I said emphatically. "I'm not looking to acquire a horse, I just want to be a foster home." "Of course," they said (so smoothly, they are good). "We'd just like to know what you think of her."

Sure, I could do that. A volunteer delivered her to me. Out of the trailer stepped the most awkward big-headed 2 year old with a Yeti-like coat of white fur. She walked all over everyone, no manners in sight. But she was unfazed by the journey and settled right in.

Wookie, as I soon called her, is a purebred Shagya mare, part of a seizure which took 2 years to play out in the courts. She was a yearling when she was rescued, and had spent the first year of her life in a 12x12 mud pen made of pallets.

She was a pleasure around the barn and oh so easy. She loved mud more than any horse I've ever seen. She would find the wettest, boggiest spot in the field, give it a good pawing to stir it up, and submerge herself in mudpack up to her eyeballs.

As she turned 3, I thought I'd start her training. Just so she'd be further along when she went back. She learned to lunge, to wear a surcingle and a bridle, to do some simple work in hand. Soon she was wearing a saddle, and it seemed like the obvious step to just climb on. She would need to know that, right? It was all a non-event, despite her amateur handler who hadn't started a youngster in a good 30 years.

After I had her for a year, I started feeling like I needed to send her back to the rescue. The court case was settled, she was ready to go into real training, and I was just delaying them from getting her into a permanent home. But I couldn't do it.

My DH watched all this. When Christmas came, I got the gift every little girl hopes for - a pony for Christmas. He had secretly arranged her adoption, and she was mine!

She's 5 now. Some things have been a challenge. She came to me not knowing how to canter. I think not having space to canter her first year meant that she never patterned her brain for the gait. She couldn't coordinate her hind legs. I did a lot of trotting, circles big and small and she spent her days in a big hilly pasture free to move and gallop. She gradually (oh so gradually) improved. She has a way to go. But when she became mine, it was with my commitment - I would accept her for whatever we could do together. I would take the journey she brought me.

We ride the trails every chance we get, loving every moment. She loves the dressage work. She is the most wonderful mix of sensitive and forward, with steady and level-headed. You just click her into gear and off she goes, ears perked and eager. She is my old lady horse - she tolerates my smooches on her big nose, and my whole body hugs on the days when I need one. She has lovely gaits, learns quickly, and does her best without evasion. She is FUN.

My other horse is a complicated red-headed mare. SO complicated. Wookie is simple, and life with her is simple. I am so thankful, beyond measure.

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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby piedmontfields » Mon Dec 05, 2016 8:12 pm

I love your story about Wookie. But think it needs to be illustrated! (or at least we need photos of the good Wookie, dirt and all).

I, too, have the best mare ever (for me). It is really awesome.

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Chisamba
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Re: Tell me about your good horse/ experience

Postby Chisamba » Tue Dec 06, 2016 1:48 am

talking about the good horse and the complicated horse, Goneriding, i understand, i really do! I love them both, mind, that is not in question.


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