Impulse had a big weekend. With all the weight she's lost, and given how slowly she was eating, a visit from the vet was in order once Grace was weaned so that we could deal with her teeth. While there were no points to have interfered, she'd recently lost her last set of caps, and that, he said, made it more difficult for her to maintain a good, healthy weight once Grace was foaled and began nursing. Thankfully, the past couple of weeks out on some (rather dry) pasture has helped her start to fill out again.
In addition to the vet, Impulse also had her feet trimmed for the first time. Farrier Andy Colton did the job, and I must say he's an excellent choice for a horse who's lacking in confidence when having feet handled. He took his time, but also helped her understand that she had nothing to fear.
The following day, with less toe to hinder her, it was off to the round pen where we worked a few minutes, then back to the barn where I tossed the saddle pad up onto her back. With no reaction (it's been done before, but she's not liked it and it's been a few months), I figured maybe it was a good day to also see what she thought of a saddle?
Turns out that while saddles have a funny look and smell, she didn't mind in the least when I set it onto her back. I didn't tighten the cinch yesterday, but today, I did. And I lunged her in the round pen with it, too! She didn't bat an eye. Didn't care one way or the other about being cinched up, stirrups banging, or saddle squeaking. What she's not so hot about is me bouncing alongside of her, so that is my project with her for this coming week...get her used to bouncing, so that we can start bouncing in the stirrups!
You may recall our Weekend Getaway from a few weeks back when we visited the wild horse corrals and spotted a couple of cute geldings. Well, when a local rescue hosted a clinician who wanted an unhandled horse for their demo, they came to me to see if I had a mustang that would fill the bill. I arranged for them to pick up that oh so adorable chestnut gelding that I'd spotted while riding the hay wagon. Once the gentling clinic was over, he needed a place to stay for a few weeks until the next adoption in WA state, so of course I was willing to do that for them!
And being as I can't just leave a horse sitting out there, especially not one as cute as this, I had to start messing with him. He didn't bat an eye about the saddle going on or being cinched up. The bridle made him wiggle his tongue a bit, but overall, this colt is an absolute dream. And I had to name him something while he was here, did I not? And since I'm always chasing a dream of some sort around here, Chasing Dreams, aka Chase, is his moniker.
Anyone looking for a nice colt? Three year old gelding from Three Fingers HMA in Oregon. 14.2 hands tall and an excellent disposition! Whopping $125 adoption fee. Seriously...take him before he ends up staying, please!
4 comments:
He can't stay without asking Tika first.
Oh, Shirley...Tika HATES him! Poor baby. He's so blasted good that I've been able to turn him out and catch him quite readily since the first week here, but Tika is downright crabby with him.
I must say, I really enjoy reading about your adventures with mustangs. When the time is right, my husband and I hope to acquire a couple. You're doing a great thing by showing people how good these horses can be, and by making them available.
I do find these Mustang posts excellent. As we dont have any really wild horses here, its interesting to read just how things work over there.
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