Farrier Visit

I had the farrier pull Chance's shoes today. He only had front ones but since I'm not riding much and the footing here is not rocky I decided to save some money and pull them. He has
beautiful strong feet, hopefully this will be okay.

Chance has struggled with having his feet done since I've had him. He used to let himself fall
down instead of holding his front feet up. Today was really good! He is only having a tough time with his back right foot now. Just a few tugs and he stood nicely. Progress in so many ways!

Shadow update

Shadow looks good. I think he is starting to put on weight. He looks bright eyed and energetic. I am going to start working him this week. I think it will be good for his mind and help build some muscle.

Breakthroughs

I had a wonderful lesson with Chance yesterday. We concentrated on ground work only and never left the paddock. By the end of the lesson I saw something in him for the 1st time. He was able to go from distracted and a little spooked to soft. He did not shut down at all. He actually has started to test me a little. Normally I wouldn't want to be tested but it was really refreshing to see some new stuff from him. He was using both eyes, I think he really just discovered the muscles that control them. It seemed totally new to him to be able to move them around like he was.

After the lesson I took the girls to the mall to look for dresses. By the time we got home it was dark and raining and Chance was still out in his paddock. I parked the truck left it running because the girls were still in it. As I walked him to his little paddock for the night he was actually snorting at the truck. It was making him uncomfortable and he wanted to 'run' past it. So I helped him run and get away from it. We turned back and did some lead-bys near it until he was able to drop his head and relax. I pet him and we continued our walk to his small paddock. The breakthrough here was that he was able to move his feet. He didn't freeze! He remembered that he has the ability to move when he is afraid and he didn't try to run me over.
He was able to think and look to me for help while moving. Progress!!!

Note about Shadow

I have started adding approx. 2 tbls of rice bran oil to his feed today. Other than the loss of weight he seems fine so I am continuing to watch him. He doesn't look like he has lost anymore in the last couple of days.

Trail Ride on a Different Horse

I went to a friends yesterday and rode her mare. It was really fun and a breath of fresh air to ride a different horse. I think I need to do this more often. I've known this mare for quite a few years now and only ridden her one other time about 6 yrs ago for all of 5 minutes. This time I spent quite a bit of time in the round pen with her first, did some rope halter work and then climbed aboard. My friend rode her new brown horse (he has a total of about 5-6 rides on him). It was a very successful ride and everyone-horses included- were left with a good feeling about the morning. It doesn't get much better than that!

My pony is loosing weight

I have noticed that Shadow has been looking thin. Too thin. He was a little on the thin side once he shed out but he had a belly. He is 29 now and with his health issues I thought he was looking pretty good.

I started giving him new hay last week. I have to go slow with him, so I started with 1 flake a day. Two days later he got 2 flakes a day, etc. The only problem with that is that he is a very picky pony when it comes to his food. CC is getting fatter as Shadow is getting thinner. My guess is that Shadow has stopped eating the older hay and CC is eating it for him. So, I've got Shadow who is starving himself because he only wants the new hay and CC who is porking out because he will eat anything!

I increased Shadow's grain and am only giving him the new hay now. If I don't he is going to starve or colic. The risk in doing this is that his insulin is going to climb to a dangerous level and he could founder again. Not many options to go with here.

Feeding changes:
Started with 1 flake of new hay a day on July 11th.
Gradual increasing of hay until July 14th.
Started with new hay only on July 15th.
Increased rice bran on July 13th.
Increased low starch grain on July 16th.

Up to date

Chance is now living at home. I love having him here! He gives me such a sense of peace. I love the daily care of the horses. If I'm not late in the morning Chance will give me a hug before I get his breakfast. If I'm late he can't be bothered with the mushy stuff, he's hungry! Shadow also loves having him here. Over the winter and in early spring I would put the 2 of them out in the big paddock together. They have a very nice relationship. I honestly can't tell who is the boss between them. It's like they are long lost friends who have been reunited. They are very respectful of each other and really enjoy being together. I haven't seen one pinned ear from either of them. Unfortunately now that the leaves have come out Shadow can't go out because of his diet. But they do spend lots of time next to each other at the fence. I wish I could understand what they talk about!

The hard thing about having him here is working him alone. We have been very busy with ground work, making leaps and bounds. We went to the Greg Eliel clinic and had a wonderful time. I really needed 5 days of uninterrupted horse time. I love the way Greg teaches, he is unbelievably patient, with both of us. Greg needed a horse to ride in the afternoon group for the cattle herding and asked if he could ride Chance. Of course I let him and had so much fun watching what somebody like Greg Eliel could do with my horse. Chance was so proud of himself and loved the job he was given. His face would light up when he saw the cows, what a pro! Coming from out west and seeing his reaction I am guessing he has already done this, but it was nice to see him in action.

We aren't riding very much right now. We rode alot when he first came. Went to the beach, a group trail ride and sometimes 2 trail rides a week at A's. He was pretty shut down. Who knows how much this guy has been through. He has 2 brands and from what Greg said he thinks he was a typical barn sale horse. Probably passed around alot, handled by kids, not ever properly started, kind of "flying by the seat of his pants" and hoping he did the right thing when asked to do something.

Now he is waking up. He is scared of everything. He's like a colt being exposed to everything for the 1st time. I'm glad he is not shut down anymore but I am really going to have to be on my toes and watching carefully for signs of fear in him. When he is afraid he stops, his feet get stuck and he thinks he can't move. Sometimes he even forgets I'm up there and that's when we really get in trouble. What an athletic horse! You wouldn't guess it by watching him in the paddock on a day to day basis. I think he saves it up for when he feels he really needs it. Or if he has a lot of pent up energy. The hard part is controlling my fear when I'm trying to help him with his fear. My fear has been such a consistent issue for so long now. It's getting better, sometimes I can get past it but other times it can be paralyzing. I have a good understanding of how Chance feels!

All in all we are doing great, my guess is that this guy hasn't had very much consistency and probably never the same person in his life for very long. That has changed now and within time
we will be riding everywhere!

A Name

Well, it's been a while since I've posted, I said I wasn't good a this!

After getting my horse and spending time with him I decided that he reminded me of John Wayne. He has this quiet confidence, definitely a western boy, kind, doesn't want trouble and able to get along with everyone. But if pushed I think he would stand his ground. He has a great sense of humor! (laying down in the brook with me on his back will always be a great memory!) He has all of the qualities a Marshall or Sheriff would have and he kind of looks like John Wayne too. We would laugh wondering if John Wayne had come back as my horse!

I called him Duke for a while but it wasn't quite right. P thought of Marshall, I loved it but it just wasn't sticking. A thought he might like the name Charlie, a nice name also, but it wasn't sticking either. So, I did some research on John Wayne. He played a character called Sheriff John T. Chance in the movie Rio Bravo. That was it, "Chance". I took a chance getting a horse I knew nothing about, he is taking a chance learning to trust me, he makes it easy for me to take chances with him, try things that I have been afraid to try. He is my "Perfect Chance". Don't get me wrong, things are not always perfect, but I love this horse and we work well together. I think we are going to have a wonderful partnership, we are learning to trust each other, we gain confidence from each other and he is a great teacher! Neither of us want to rush through anything, we want to have fun and enjoy the learning process. I have a vision of the two of us riding everywhere, we are on a journey and I don't want to miss a step. We are having fun doing all of the beginning stuff. The groundwork, the lead-bys, the walks and the quiet times.
I wouldn't change a thing.

I have finally found MY horse and he has HIS person and now a FOREVER home!