The Great Migration Part 1 if you want the full story... When last you heard from Rio & I we had just completed our move to a new barn. Rio's girlfriend Sky had refused to get on the trailer (long story short).
Today, I went back with the help of another boarder, and a small army of friends and attempted to load sky again... sorry no pictures today as I tried to stay hands free given her previous behavior. Come to find out that she not only hit her head and her leg on the trailer, but she broke 5 or 6 fence boards by falling on top of them. Being New years weekend it was impossible to get a vet out with Ace (a tranquilizer) so we had to settle for banamine to relax her muscles and 2 days of no food in hopes she'd get on the trailer to eat.
Sky's wounds the day after the first trailer incident... what a mess!
As I suspected neither really helped. While Don was very calm with her, and she stayed quiet during the whole process it was clear that now, not only is she a stubborn mare, but she is very very scared of getting on the trailer probably as a result of this weeks fiasco.
We came very close to getting her on using a step up open stock trailer parked in a ditch to minimize her need to step up or stand on a ramp neither of which she likes doing, but in the end we opted not to push her beyond her tiny TB brain's mental capacity... the more upset she got about it the more you could see she was just completely shutting down. Initially we'd agreed to try and load AGAIN next weekend with a vet present and some stronger drugs, but come to find out Crystal decided to ride her the close to 10 miles down back roads... she has yet to arrive and if she actually makes it alive in one piece there will probably be a third blog update to this saga.
In the meantime I have to brag on my pony. We went for our second ride at the new property today. The first one was in the ring yesterday and he seemed to really settle no major issues... even let the less experienced girl who rides/leases him take a spin. The trainer who comes to the barn a few days a week was there and watched us ride. She loved him which is saying something given her experience level as a classically trained dressage/event rider with a lifetime of experience riding and training others. Its refreshing to find a trainer who doesn't have her nose in the air when it comes to the idea of someone riding an Appy rather then a $30,000 warmblood. She seems to genuinely love horses and it will be nice to be able to work with her when the opportunity presents itself financially. I wish I had an extra $250 a month to take riding lessons twice a week consistently... we might actually get somewhere! But, alas I will have to settle for the fact that I at least have a trainer onsite and available to me for the occasional lesson for the first time in 2 years!
Today we went with a group of 7 other riders out on the trails. Even though he started out a little hot and nervous he road towards the front second or third from the line leader or out in lead himself the entire ride with only a minor spook incident here or there. The barn owners were super impressed with him. They love him already and offered to buy him from me if I ever sell ...yeah right... however the feeling is mutual. They are amazing. I actually had the thought that God forbid it ever comes to me selling him... cause lets face it... teachers don't make much and its hard to keep jobs in this economy... I finally have found a person I would consider selling to where as up to this point I would have literally died before I'd have let him go to someone else.... but I'm not going to think about that. I'm going to keep working my tail off to afford him because... he's just such an awesome once in a lifetime type of horse. I can't begin to explain how lucky I was to get this guy...
Trish has pictures from our ride and when I get them I'll post them for the handful of dedicated blog readers I have... one of my new years resolutions is to write more and maybe gain a following, but hey not gonna hold my breath!
Happy New Year to All! May 2013 be amazing! <3 Rio & Sam
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