Introduction to the Girls

With the Vet coming on Monday it was vital that I was able to catch him again.  I went up on Sunday and fed him some treats and tried to get a halter on him again, but he wasn't having it.  He wouldn't let me get close to his head at all.  However he knew he had to put his nose in the halter to get a treat, which he did quite willingly.  I spent the afternoon with him but didn't make much progress.  We are in a much bigger lot now, and not near as easy to stay with him as in a small pen.  So Monday when the vet was due to come I got the girls and brought them to the barn, and Vern came up and went to see if he could get a halter on Shoulda.  He walked right up to him, dropped his head and let him put the halter on without a struggle. I was like, "how'd you do that?"

While waiting for the vet I got them all a little grain, and he did a lot of hollering at the girls but basically stood pretty still. I had no idea how he was going to behave. The first shot he took just fine, the second one he went nuts over.  We asked the vet how old she thought he was and she determined that he must be about 15.  WHAT! Now with his behavior and his age, I'm wondering what I've gotten myself into.

Beings we had a halter on him, we decided we would take him in the barn and work on getting his tail combed out a bit.  I tied him to a post in the barn, and Vern and I took turns trying to keep him calm while one worked on the tail.  He stood quite nicely for it considering. I had read that WD40 was the best thing to use for the tangles and proceeded to use a whole can on him. All we accomplished was the making of two dreadlocks instead of one, and got a little poof at the bottom.  When we were finished I went to take the halter off of him and he was too high headed for me to reach him, so I put my hand on the top of his head and applied a little pressure to see if he would drop his head for me.  I did something to scare him evidently because he reared up and pulled back a couple of times, then he just came to a stand still, dropped his head, and let me take the halter off.  I'm reasonably sure at this point that there is no way I'm ever going to be able to do anything with this horse. Now that I've got him, what am I going to do.  I worried over him every minute.

Since we had all three of the horses together I decided maybe it was time to get them use to each other.  I had discussed this with Julia before I ever brought Shoulda home, and she told me to put them together and get out of the way.  She said it should only take about 20 minutes but they would work it out.  We put Shoulda in the upper lot first and let him go.  Vern led Dixie and I led Gracie. I let Vern take Dixie in first.  He didn't even get the gate shut when she went to kicking on Shoulda with him in the middle.  I thought he was going to get it good. They went at it pretty good, so while they were busy we put Gracie in the pen.  She wasn't nearly as aggressive about it all. We sit down and watched.  Dixie wouldn't let Gracie get close to him, and she seemed to be somewhat curious about the whole situation. After the initial kicking match was over, the girls just stayed away from him.  Now and then Gracie would try to break away and go visit Shoulda, but Dixie would get between him and her and herd her away from him. After a couple of days, I moved them down to the lower lot and I tried to get them to come to me.  Shoulda would come and take a treat, and if I moved ever so slowly I could get a halter on him.  The girls were a different story.  Dixie would keep Gracie away from me and not let her come. I had created a monster.  Her ears were pinned and she moved Gracie like she was a colt. Shoulda was still the outsider. The Kids Together

I decided I needed to separate them, so I got Dixie and took her to the other side of town. I put Gracie across the road, and I left Shoulda in the upper lot where the fence was best.  He threw a fit!  I had  trouble understanding why he got so upset with them being away from him when they wouldn't let him with them anyway and kicked at him every time he got close. After a couple of days I put Gracie back in with him to see how they got along.  They seemed to get along a little better and I didn't see any kicking going on but they would still occasionally put their heads together and disagree. At least that's what I thought they were doing.

Now it's time to get the farrier there to trim this boy's feet.  I had Vern go up with me to the barn and we got him haltered and tied, and I decided while we waited I would just take Gracie for a little ride. Little did I know this paint horse would go ballistic as soon as I rode Gracie out of sight so when the farrier showed up Shoulda was tied to a post rearing and yelling to beat the band, and the farrier thought we had a wild stallion on our hands. I of course came back to the barn as soon as I saw Terry's truck pull up and as soon as Shoulda saw Gracie he settled down, but he had himself so worked up that he was still nervous and jumpy.  Terry promised no guarantees, and we were all quite surprised as to how well the whole thing actually ended up. One more obstacle tackled! We are starting to like this guy better all the time!

Look MOM! I'm riding!

I'm well on my way to riding now. Though I had to learn reining and how to sit a saddle. And I didn't do any of it right.  I thought you just crawled in the saddle and let the horse take you where to told them to go, but apparently that isn't the way it works.  You have to "RIDE" your horse.  I'm still pretty novice at it but I'm starting to get the hang of it.  My main problem was that I couldn't get the girls away from each other to really get any practice in as they are so buddy sour.  I did a lot of reading to see if I could figure out how to over come this and seems I was making a little progress. Gracie was a little more willing to accept a ride away from the lot than Dixie was.  From the beginning, I have been just a little more connected with Gracie than Dixie anyway, so I didn't let it bother me too much.  I just worked with Gracie more than I did Dixie.  But all in all things seems to be coming together, and I was getting out and having a ride now and then and enjoying every minute of it, and standing up to them when I needed too.

Around the end of March I took a visit to my niece, and nephews, down by Cawker City, Kansas. While out at my nephews, we walk out to look at the paint that he bought about six months ago.  Soan told me that he was a good horse but he was a little on the ornery side, and way spooky about things,  and that he just didn't have the time to ride him.  He was a little dirty and needed to be cleaned up, looked like his feet needed to be trimmed, but he was absolutely beautiful. Soan was worried that he was going to hurt one of the kids, and that he needed to look for a gentler horse.  I told him I'd take him.  I've always wanted a black and white paint, and this guy was beautiful.  He has blue eyes, with an eclipse in one, and more black than white, a beautiful mane and tail, though it appeared to be one big dread lock.  He could be a show horse, and I was sure I could work with him enough to get him ridable. From the information they gave me, he was about 5 years old, was raised from a bottle as his momma had died after birth, and that he had been ridden in parades, until sold to a girl who rode him in rodeo's. Soan said that he had gotten his halter caught on something in the barn, and he hadn't been able to get a halter on him since.

I was having the vet come out to give the girls their shots the first of May so wanted to get him home before then so that he could look at this guy too.  I name him Shoulda, as in Shoulda been a Gypsy.  (my dream horse) I figured he was the closest thing to a gypsy as I would ever get. I had a little trouble getting him home, as I don't have a trailer, and everyone I know that has one has a gooseneck. We don't have a truck that can pull a gooseneck. I called everyone in the country until I happened upon Jim. I told him of my dilemma and asked if he had a trailer.  He says he does.  I asked if it was a gooseneck, and he says it is.  So I'm like, dang it, that's my problem, every one I find is a gooseneck and our truck can't pull it.  He says, "Well, I don't let anybody drive my truck."  Now I wasn't born yesterday, I sorta know that! So I explained to him that I didn't want to borrow his truck, but if he could spare the time to run me to Cawker City to get this horse I'd be more than happy to pay for his time and gas.  So he agrees.

I called Soan and let them know I was coming, and they told me that we would probably have to trick him into the trailer, that we wouldn't be able to get a halter on him.  I brewed over it all night.  I was sure if the guys didn't hurry me I could get a halter on him if I was just patient and persistent, so I gave my husband strict instructions not to get pushy with me and to let me do things my way.  I was actually quite surprised when they did just that. I went through a bag of treats, and we did a lot of circling. Thank God the pen wasn't too big.  It took me right at two and a half hours, but he finally gave to me, and the halter went on.  He suddenly looked like a much bigger horse that I thought he was, and he wasn't just a little nervous he was a LOT nervous. I walked him around in circles a few times, and Vern came in the pen and took him to the trailer.  This was our biggest worry that once we got a halter on him we'd never get him in the trailer.  He walked right in like a pro, no problem. That is until Jim went to shut the door, and then he jumped right into Vern's lap!  He calmed right down though and we headed for home.  I was a smiling the whole way!  My Indian Horse!  Just what I'd always dreamed of !  I'm in heaven.

When we got home and took him out of the trailer, he came out a kicking, a dancin, and a jumpin.  I was pretty sure he'd be alright once he had a chance to settle down, so we put him in the lot by himself and took the halter off of him.  I stepped back and watched him.  He was a beauty for sure.  He was going to make me a good horse.