My New Horse

Three days ago I bought a new horse.
Some people would say I "rescued" him, but since I cannot recall extracting him from quicksand, nor freeing his leg from a bear trap (my definitions of "rescue")... and my bank account seems to be missing $300... I'm pretty sure he was a purchase.

Whatta piece o' crap he is.
Whatta fabulous horse he's gonna be.

It's your lucky day... I'm not going to make my usual attempt to drill my personal philosophy on horses into your head (yay!)
Nope, just want to tell you about my new horse.



 So anyhow, my new horse is one sorry lookin' specimen, but he's a registered TWH with all the "right names" on his papers, a natural trail-type running walk to die for... and a lot of potential (in my opinion).

Let me tell you how we met.
I answered a local ad on facebook, spoke with the seller over the phone, and hauled a trailer along when I went to see him that same day.

The seller was a nice person, and she tried to be as helpful as possible in offering information about the horse, but she had just bought him about a month prior, so didn't seem to know much about him except that he was trying to kill her, and she wanted him GONE.
Her warnings of his poor ground manners, combined with her obvious fear of him, had me suspecting strongly that this was yet another case of "operator error"... and it piqued my interest.

He was paddocked in a dirt-lot... same as I have... except, instead of knee-deep hay, he had only knee-high weeds to eat.
Apparently, she considered this to be adequate forage, even though she admitted he had been rapidly losing weight.
Personally, I believe she was attempting to "starve him down" so that she could handle him, but it had become clear to her over time that the only way this was going to happen would be if he actually starved to death and she had him stuffed.

We walked out to catch him, and he waited until we were close, then began ritual aggression to drive us out... charging back and forth, close past us and almost running us over, until the seller snagged his halter and snapped on a leadrope, at which point I just hung back and watched as the gelding out-walked her and spun circles around her all the way to the gate as she cowered from him.
Once outside the paddock, he simply threw his head down, stiffened his neck, and took off at a brisk running walk (woo hoo... natural gait!) until he pulled the rope out of her hands.
At that point, he was so difficult to catch that it took 4 people to corner him... once again, not running away, but attempting to drive us away.  I tried to snag the leadrope one time, and he nearly plowed me down... but we finally got him (not) under control, and he proceeded to make more frenzied circles while being "led" to the barn by the seller.

I'd like to mention that I made repeated offers to lead the horse, but understand the seller's hesitation to hand me the leadrope, given the animal's unruly behavior, the fact that she didn't know me, and today's sue-happy society... so I just watched the fiasco with a mixture of horror and amusement.

Once tied at the barn, it took 2 people to saddle him as he fidgeted; and I must say the seller delivered an award winning dance performance as she boogalooed through getting a saddle on him.

Finally tacked, the white-with-fear seller "led" him to a very small corral, where with assistance from another person at his head, she managed to eventually scrabble aboard as he fidgeted and danced around.
He was perfect undersaddle... obviously, she hadn't been riding him much (if at all), and so hadn't totally ruined him.  yay!
At any rate, up until then I had been an observer... and liking this horse a lot.

He was obviously well-trained at some point in the past, and knew better than to act out, even though he was doing it... he was clearly defensive, confused, and short on patience, yet he exhibited a *kindness* as well.  He didn't want to hurt anybody unless he was forced to do so.
While aggressive, he hadn't pinned his ears, kicked, or tried to bite anyone...
I could see he was ALL BLUFF.

Hungry, confused by poor handling, and being a sensitive horse by bloodlines, he was mentally stretched to his limits.
Still, I didn't want to buy a major project, so insisted that the seller allow me to handle him before buying so I could get an idea of how difficult he'd be to fix.

This was probably a financial mistake on my part since I'm pretty sure that after the embarrassment of having him get loose while leading, and unable to tack or mount without assistance, she was so rattled that she probably would have GIVEN him to me on the spot.

Anyhow, I convinced her to hand over the reins by pointing out that if I bought him, I'd need to take him home and handle him... and had her leave the corral.
The seller had severe reservations, and informed me that a John Lyons certified trainer had already rejected the horse as "dangerous"; and I was the first person to come look at him since she decided to sell him... she was honestly worried about my safety.  Bless her heart.

I looked him dead in the eye, and maintained eye contact as I moved into his space one step. 
He stood his ground, so I pushed him roughly back a step with my hand while growling low and soft.
His ears came up... and his eye softened.

I spent about 10 minutes establishing clear lines of communication, defining space, and determining leadership... no longeing, just moving his feet where I wanted them, and he wasn't allowed to turn any circles around me.  Each time he tried, he was corrected back to his original position without completing his circle.
I had no whips or chains... just "projected" my dominance to him through body language (which all horses understand), while using a soothing, low, yet authorative voice.
He was intrigued.

I took him to the middle (he walked calmly beside me), and stood him up for mounting.  He side-stepped.  I shoved him back over.
He looked at me in surprise, then stood like a rock as I mounted.
When asked, he moved off nicely.

After a couple of minutes in the corral, I had the seller open the gate, and rode him all over her property.
Dismounted, stripped the tack, retacked him with the rein simply draped over my arm, remounted on a rock solid horse, and rode off again.

SOLD!!

Let me tell ya, there were a few jaws on the ground... but I don't really understand why.  Ground manners (especially in a previously well-trained horse) are the easiest thing in the world to fix.
It always amuses me that people assign so much importance to ground manners while having no clue of how to establish or maintain them... or spend months trying to accomplish something that can easily be done in a few minutes during a single session WITHOUT abusing the horse or using force.

3 days later, he has been nothing but calm and respectful... and leads on a loose rope without circles, stopping when I stop, backing on verbal command, and no more fidgeting.

Now to fatten him up... another easy project.  

As usual, nothing wrong with this critter except operator error... and in this case, a dose of unintentional neglect as well.

In my opinion, more horses suffer (mental) abuse at the hands of their "loving owners" than can even be counted.
... and causing a horse to be so confused that he acts out in a frenzied or dangerous fashion is certainly abuse.

The next time you hear about my new horse, he'll be gorgeous... one of our champion trail horses.
I might even give him a barn name.

Old Horses & Owner Insanity

Let's chat for awhile about older horses and the insanity that prevails amongst their owners; as well as sensible and realistic care for healthy senior horses.

I'd like to start by saying that many of the so-called "aged" horses I meet are actually in their prime, or late-prime, and are being rushed into old age by their owners (many of whom are also in late-prime, and apprehensive about aging)... coincidence?

These people seem to believe that they can stop (or reverse) the aging process by feeding their horse "senior feed" and joint supplements (along with everything else on the shelf).
There is no logical reason to feed a 12 year old horse senior feed unless he is toothless.

Senior feeds aren't *magic feeds*, and unless fed in the amounts listed on the bag, don't really have a nutrition edge over more traditional feeds (they usually run in the 14% protein and 6% fat range... the same as many other "traditional" feeds).
Senior feeds were developed to provide easily digested fiber to horses no longer able to masticate their food properly, and they're a very expensive way to buy roughage (usually they have a high percentage of Beet Pulp, ground hay, and assorted digestible grain hulls).
These feeds are boosted with the specific vitamins and minerals an older horse needs because his digestive system is no longer working at optimum... your younger horse (or your older horse with a healthy gastro intestinal tract) just pees out the excess, because he doesn't need elevated levels of the additional nutrients.

Also, if you don't feed senior rations according to the instructions on the bag (large amounts), you're actually shortchanging your horse on nutrition and calories.

In short, if your horse can chew hay, and doesn't have a problem maintaining his weight on a traditional ration, he doesn't need a senior feed, and it's probably NOT a benefit to either his health or your wallet.

Feeding senior feeds to young horses for weight gain is flushing money down the toilet.  There are far better ways to boost weight in a youthful horse than a senior feed. 

But I'm not here today to discuss being suckered into feeding a designer feed for no good reason... I'm here to discuss the basic insanity that surrounds older horses and their care.

Let's talk about exercise.
Just for the sake of argument, let's say you have a horse you believe to be in his teens.
He's healthy, sound, and in good weight... no issues.
You ride this horse several times weekly, usually just light trail riding, nothing really demanding, because you enjoy moseying along taking in the scenery... you and your horse both have fun.

BUT... when your Equine Dentist comes, he informs you that your horse is actually in his early 20's... about 5 years older than you previously thought.
Maybe he is, and maybe he isn't... there's a window during a horse's late teens and early twenties when it's very difficult to determine his correct age... even by an expert... your dentist could very well be in error... so your horse *could be* anywhere from 17 to 22 years old.

What do you do?
The SANE and LOGICAL answer of course, is to continue with your normal riding and care... your 20-something horse has been successfully passing himself off as a teenager, and is obviously healthy and happy... why change his routine?
If anything, the exercise is keeping his muscles toned and helping him retain his youthfulness.

Yet people tend to overreact to the news from the dentist (which *could* even be incorrect), and immediately scale-back their riding activities, switch the horse to senior feed, start cramming unneeded joint supplements down his throat, and basically shove him into retirement when he has many good years of riding left to enjoy.
It's nothing short of sheer insanity.

Yes, you love your unicorn, and want all the best for him, but you aren't doing him any favors (regardless of his age) by overprotecting him and treating him as a fragile retiree, when just yesterday, he was out there performing his job with no problems.
I'm just sayin'... use your HEAD... if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

That said, as usual, I have a specific horse in mind as I write this.
His quality of life is very good, he's sound, and he's the well mannered, seasoned, totally 100% SAFE trail horse that every little old lady dreams of as her personal unicorn.  

IF he's in his twenties, he doesn't know it... why rush him into retirement?

If you know me personally (not just over the internet), and would like a well-kept, completely safe and dependable easy-to-ride trail horse (with plenty of rides left in him regardless of what age he is), let me know, OK?
Horses like this can be very expensive... their safety is priceless.

IMO... putting this horse on forced retirement is nothing short of insane.