HGG Community Forums

DivineDreams · Dec 8, 2018 12:53 AM

Hey All!

After 1 year and a half of being horse less, the universe has heard my plea!

I recently started therapy using the FEEL (Facilitated Equine Experiental Learning) to help with my scars from the past. This facility is called Heal With Horses and everyone is amazing. Besides FEEL, they also offer Horse Boy as well! Anywho, they have a boarder horse that is free to a good home and I've also been offered a position helping out and can work off the board! I haven't said a definite yes as I want to ensure this horse and I are a good fit, and Suzy the facility owner is on the same page. Right now it's ensuring we help this horse. She just returned to the facility for the winter.

The horse, is a 7 year old 16hh + Tb Bay mare. She is not in good condition due to having dental issues and had surgery last year. She is taking a long time to recover her lost weight, and I also believe she still has remnants of the infection, which I've been told was horrendous. The current owner has lost total interest in the poor mare. She is also in need of a Chiropractor desperately. From my tiny wee bit of experience, I believe her pill and TMJ is out, 2 vertebrae in her withers, pelvis and something funky with her chest. So she needs alot of work.

The current owners are going to have the vet out asap to reassess the teeth issue and possible infection, and potentially a chiropractor appointment before I make any decisions. So what Suzy has arranged for me to to spend time with her. She has been pretty much abandoned for the past 2 years and I see her emotional pain as well as her physical.

My question to you guys... Since she is in discomfort, I am not doing any lunging or anything beyond leading. What ideas do you guys have that I can do on the ground with her until she is in a more comfortable place. However she is desperately lonely. She does have a companion, an older paint gelding who is protective of her, but he has warmed up to me. I won't be working with her alone to respect her emotionally. She is already dealing with so much. But he is cool and allows us to spend time together. Sweet old man!

So long story short, I am looking for simple gentle activities to boost this mares confidence and abandonment pain.

And Go!

BlackWyld · Dec 8, 2018 1:52 AM

As I am also horseless I can't offer anything personally but there is an amazing FB group called The Non Ridden Equine and everyone there is very helpful and supportive and you will find tons of different ideas of stuff you can do with her there.

RutledgeRanch · Dec 8, 2018 2:01 AM

I would do lots and lots of leading brushing and loving, and picking up her feet. You can also work on getting her to disengage her front and hind quarters the point of this is to eventually get them to move their front or hindquarters just by you pointing at their shoulder or their rump. If you are going left you want their left hoof to cross over the right hoof and same for going right you want the right hoof to cross over the left hoof. I am currently doing this with my mare as she is 3 but will be turning 4 January 25th also remember that ground work on the ground doesn't always have to include lunging. You can also try teaching her to lower her head for whenever you put her halter or bridle on I put a little pressure right behind their ears so they'll lower their head release pressure at the slightest movement down. Also you can teach her to pivot. Which is keeping one of their legs perfectly in place while turning their body (that's probably a horrible description lol) if you go left you want her left hind leg to stay in place and the same if your going right you want her right leg to stay in place. You can also try and desensitize her to EVERYTHING from tires to tarps to balloons and pool noodles. I'll let you know if I think of any more I'm overwhelming my brain lol

supersarah · Dec 8, 2018 2:03 AM

What a lucky horse to have you, Divine :)

Try taking her out to graze in hand, rest your hand on her wither or gently brush her with a soft body brush, stand close so she knows you trust and she can too. Talk to her, tell her everything !

GeneverGinger · Dec 8, 2018 2:09 AM

Good luck with your bonding, and I hope this poor lady recovers from her troubles.

When I was young and had more time than I do now ('cause someone else was paying my bills ;) ), we used to just hang out with the horses... kind of like you do with people when you're that age? Just sitting on the paddock fence, or walking them to a tree that we could sit on or under, eating a snack or lunch. That's something that I think you could do with both horses if you were trying not to separate them. Or you could sort of do some baby steps hanging out by taking her out on a lead but keeping her close to where her friend is, so she can see and hear him.

It sounds like where the two of you are, you don't need "activities" so much as simple hang out time?

Lallyhop · Dec 8, 2018 2:36 AM

I agree! Lots of affection and love really sounds like the best thing right now :x

As Rutledge says, you can definitely use this time to work on desensitizing, too, as she gets more used to you, taking it as slow as you need to with lots and lots of positive reinforcement. I'd say don't start that until she knows she can trust you, first - think of it as desensitizing her to you - then you can go slow and steady and continue to teach her that even if the thing you're holding is a little scary she can still trust you to make sure she stays safe.

SweetGlow · Dec 8, 2018 2:45 AM

Aww good luck! One of my horses was left to himself for 5 years and had some abandonment and trust issues when I got him. He's come so far, and even though I was trying to teach him to trust me, he helped me identify trust issues that I had to work through too. It was rough in the beginning, but now I know he has my back in any situation. I wouldn't have it any other way!

I second Rutledge on teaching her to drop her head. That's a useful skill! The vet and chiropractor might have some stretches or exercises you could do with her too to help her rehabilitate.

-HTRanch

Amgr1992 · Dec 8, 2018 2:50 AM

I want to add to what everyone is saying as I dont see it. Make sure you build her trust to the point you can touch her absolutely anywhere. Take it slow. But you never know when it may be handy. Start with her face, neck, and legs and move from there. This can be done on a lead line with minimal stress when done right :)

DivineDreams · Dec 9, 2018 6:34 PM

I knew I could count on all of you! Thank you everyone for the amazing ideas!

One good thing is she and her buddy come into the arena every evening. So it is super easy to access her separate from the 17 other horses lol. Second good thing is she already carries her head at wither level naturally. And also lowers it for me, she is at least 16hh and I'm 5'2 on a good day

@RutledgeRanch I look forward to more ideas as you come across them. I do have to keep in mind her pain levels as she isn't my horse yet and waiting on the current owners to get a vet out. But I will try everything you suggested and if it's uncomfortable I will wait until things are in more alignment.

best friend · Dec 9, 2018 10:12 PM

Also I have 2 horses of my own. One is 16 who I have owned since he was 18 months. I just hang out with mine. I don't do a lot with them. I love to lead them around and do ground work with them. I am learning to do liberty work with mine. That will come. Right now you two just need to bond and that is just talking with her and spending time with her. Once she trusts you you will have her soul for life. I had a horse help heal my scars from the past and I helped to heal her heart and to forgive her past. She was the dam to my baby Caddo.

PaintedForestFarm · Dec 10, 2018 12:14 AM

Best of luck and thank you on behalf of the horse for working with her! Sounds like she is need of some special one-on-one love.

I got my first OTTB about a year ago and spent a lot of time doing ground work last winter: I don't have an arena, and when he was herd-bound it was clear to me that he just didn't trust me enough yet to see me as his "herd" when he was away from the other horses. Lots of leading over obstacles, and eventually we branched out into long hikes in the snow -- really good for slowly building stamina and muscling (for both of us!!!) Slow hill hiking is good as well. I did do all of this prior to starting with a chiropractor. It's difficult to injure a horse at the walk -- a good thing!

Bonus: all of that long, slow work has him looking like a million bucks a year later, and really built a strong foundation for our relationship when tackling some new obstacles at the biggest show of our lives in October. Whether or not you have big long-term goals, the foundation and relationship will be the same!

Members log in here:
Username:
Password:
By hitting the above you signify that you agree with our rules and conditions.
Forgot your password?

HGG Community Forums

Join our discord server!

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Who's Online (0)

Join our discord server!

Enlarge Your Pastures

Reminders!