How much more amazing can this horse be?

Today I went out to see Faran and work with him some. It was amazing yet again. As you know I have been working with educating him to the round pen and the idea of lunging, and he did pick it up relatively instantly.

He has had about a week to rest up and recover from the hard work out I did just about a week ago, and he was moving much nicer. I'm still waiting for the farrier (this is getting frustrating.) Even though the farrier care is supposed to be included in the cost of board, he isn't coming. I went out there and his front right hoof is chipping up. I am just about to get my own out.

He however wasn't stumbling, and was moving out with some energy and not dragging his back legs and any point I saw.

When I went to catch him, he tried to avoid it for about 5 minutes or so, but I put my hand up at chest level and said halt, and he stood perfectly still for me. So amazingly well behaved.

I let him graze on the grass in the yard about an hour while I slowly desensitized him to the cavesson, the surcingle, the whip, and the noises the equipment makes when moving around. It didn't really seem to bother him a bit.

Today I went out set in mind to try to lunge him in the large arena pen and then if he was moving good and seeming comfortable to then try and drive him.

Let me tell you he did fantastically. Moving to the left he was more comfortable staying on the rail, and he did listen really well, and I even allowed him open up into an rolling lope since the pen was larger.

Moving to the right he was not as secure. He kept wanting to turn around, and he did cut the arena in half, but he did move, he did listen, and he did try.

Therefore I went ahead and decided to do an introductory session on driving, but I was going to keep it fairly short. He needs more work to the right to get comfortable with staying on the rail, so I will start tomorrow in the smaller pen, just at a walk to remind him at liberly, then on the line, then move him into the arena.

Anyway, back to today and what happened.

We warmed up slightly and walked around on the lead. Then I backed off and lunged him and got him up to a trot on the left, then even up to a lope. Then I hooked him up to drive, and even had him at an easy going trot.

He was thinking hard about the lines dropping around his hips and legs, and it was a little confusing when I wanted him to stop, and then tried to move up to the front to unhook him, but all in all he did fabulous!

I rewarded him with a bit of grazing then turned him out without over doing the work out. He needs some confidence building, and so this was the best reward I could possibly give him this time.

I did get a video, but I am having problems with my hosting at the moment. I will post them as soon as possible. Sorry for the delays. I promise they are coming. (And I remember the other ones below are missing too.)

Until later -
Happy Tails!
Lucy Roberts

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Day #7 7/24/2010

Today did not go at all like I had wished. I do dislike days like that.

On my way to work with Touch Diamond / Bravo / Name T.B.A. I started feeling sickly. When I pulled up to the gate of the property, I decided I had to go find a gas station or something to take care of it. I went about a mile down the road and there was no gas station or anything at the freeway like I had hoped there would be, so I turned around and came almost half way back to the house before I found one. By this time I was terribly ill feeling.

Once I made it to the horse for the day I was feeling better, but we were now at the peak of the heat of the day.

When I arrived, Cowboy and Touch Diamond / Bravo / Name T.B.A. were both out in the "yard" area practicing their function as lawn mowers / multi-processors. I took some photos while he was loose for further reference.


A reasonably good conformation photo from the near side. You can also see evidence of almost all the "issues" he has. One must remember this guy is a rescue. We are working with several unknowns when addressing his plights, and they do and will take some investigation as well as inference.

I checked his leg and the swelling had not gone up from working at a walk, so I took a few more pictures of him as reference photos of injuries and hoof issues. In fact, the swelling is almost not visible so I didn't photograph that.


He has some kind of "flakiness" and white around all of his coronet bands.


He has a "skinned" patch on the front part of his gaskin (which I would like to get the hair to grow back on, just because it is a bit unsightly),


and then a scrape (that is healing - it was open and fresh when he got here on the 18th.)


He has an old injury on his front off heel bulb that causes his hoof to grow damaged

and other than that, everything is fine.

Looking at this list it looks like he's in poor shape by sheer numbers, but all but one of these things I feel is superficial, and I hope to get them handled in short order. I don't think (judging from the fact his hoof grows with a crack where the injury is at the heel bulb) that particular issue with the hoof can be affected, but I will discuss with the farrier if that is the case when he comes.

I also think some of his toe out condition could be because of being long in the toe, because he walks normally and only shows this when he is standing for any period. When you halt him, he stops pretty straight (considering I don't think he has been conditioned to do so.)

After taking the photos, I caught him (never a difficult task), and lead him to the arena. Once in there, I worked him at liberty on the voice commands of walk, trot, woah, and easy. He did really well, especially considering the rescue said they didn't think he knew anything of it when they tried him out (of course, he was under saddle then too, which can make a difference.) He was reasonably calm, with only a couple outbursts of running / loping / bucking. They were mainly because he was confused about how to relieve the pressure. I wish I had done some video of it, but I didn't expect him to do so well. I will work on this again on Monday 7/26 and take video.

Basically, all I wanted him to do was react properly to the voice commands. I wasn't concerned with keeping him consistently moving. I also wanted him to learn the proper reaction to my hand signals (blocking his path and opening his path etc.) All of this was done without a lead rope or halter. Once he had stepped up to a trot I let him go where he wanted to relieve the pressure, and we worked only in about 1/4 of the arena. I also asked him to walk on command which he did exceptionally well, and I tried to get him to do circles (still needs a bit of work).

Without having any physical connection to him, he did marvelously!

We worked on this for about 20-30 minutes. By the end of the session, he was just beginning to break a sweat, but not frothing anywhere. I caught him (again very easily which was nice to see that he didn't take this session as a reason to keep running away every time I came near him), and lead him back to the yard again where I managed to rinse him down and let him stand in the shade to cool. Once his temperature had settled, I released him back to the ground and he quietly walked away and found a happy patch to munch on.

At this point I just got my drink to cool down myself, and sat down near him and let him graze without being worked, haltered, or "stressed". It is very important to me to teach him that just because I am there he isn't going to be prevented from eating, or worked, but when I want him to work he needs to focus in and work. So far we seem to have been accomplishing this well.

I left about 10 minutes later with the intent to come back, but later in the day I was still feeling nasty, so I stayed home.

Here at the end, I am posting a better "rear" and "rear 3/4" view to show he does stand / walk with his leg straighter (though I realize he isn't perfect) when he hasn't been standing a while. It's a bit like someone standing contraposto when they are standing a long time talking or waiting.


(And yes, he left a little present for me just before I took both pictures.)

Until our paths converge again -
Happy Tails!
Lucy Roberts

   [--;-/=_
     `-; \=_        ___
       ) ,"-... --./===--___
  ___|/       /   ]`
 /;- - > >...-\  <\
 `- < <,       7 /-.\,
     `-        /(  ' _