 |
| 23 August 2016 Someone is happy to be out of the trailer & munching on grass! |
I got a call in late July saying that the court case had been ruled on and that "the bay filly" was officially up for adoption if I still wanted her. The excited/nervous feeling set in and I began to coordinate all the things needed to really and truly become a horse owner.
I officially signed the paperwork for her in a Tractor Supply parking lot (haaaaa) & on 23 August 2016, transported her to her temporary home until I'm able to move her to my pasture. It's been 8 weeks since I officially became a horse momma and we're both settling in really well.
Although she has had a little bit of ground work training in the excellent foster homes that she had been in, I opted not to jump right into ground work with her. Instead, I took it really slow & easy and did some work with her to re-establish her trust first and foremost. Relationship is a very important component to owning a horse. Or that's my opinion anyway. It didn't take long for her to choose to want to come to me & hang out with me. I can now walk up to her & halter her without dramatics or her running off. This is a big deal! HAHA!
Once trust was re-established, I then spent a couple of weeks building on that trust by exchanging sniffs with each other & utilizing grooming as another tool to build up a more solid foundation of trust & what I hope is making her feel safe. With the help of a friend, I also began implementing some basic ground work. We worked on "walk", "back" and "whoa". Although I had taught her these at one of the foster homes she was in, I needed to assess where she was with this after several months of not being able to work with her consistently. She did great!!! She picked it right back up. Since then I/we have continued with this, along with some other ground work, all of which will continue for some time.
Last week was a very big week in training as she stood in the wash station in the cross ties & had her first bath. This was a really brave step for both of us. I took it really slow & steady and she did amazingly well.
I then moved her into the barn where she stood in the cross ties there for me to brush her out & do some work on her feet. She did really well with this too. Of course we'll have to continue to work on this over and over for her to really get comfy with it, but it was an exciting day to see the progress that she's continue to make.
 |
| Saoirse Mae getting her first bath!! |
 |
| Big Smile after doing big girl things like standing for a bath, standing in the cross ties AND accepting fly spray without acting like she was going to die! |
No comments:
Post a Comment