This is the tale of a six year old,
unregistered, dark chestnut Quarter Horse gelding (with one white sock) named “Roscoe”
and his journey from skinny “homeless” horse to a wonderful, capable and
trusted equine citizen.
DAY 0: Horses. It
is a discussion that some couples have when one of them likes the idea of horse
ownership. It is often the topic of discussion when both of the individuals in
the relation are active horse owners. This is the case in our house. It is a
good thing for us. It probably gets on our non-horse owning friends nerves at
times. So be it. This is a story about a horse and his journey and the quote
“just because its banged up a little doesn’t mean you throw an entire life
away.”
The choice to take on a “rescue
horse” was made for two reasons. The first was that, due to various “life
factors” we had to sell our well trained, performance minded 15 year old
Quarter Horse gelding. This left our 6 year old Kiger mustang all alone in a
huge pasture. When other options for a “companion horse” fell through we
started looking on CraigsList for a horse. Secondly, the idea of taking in a
horse that needed a home combined with getting said animal into great condition
mentally, physically and spiritually felt like something we could do. We had
resources and support to make this a successful journey. We knew we would be
growing as horse-people while helping a noble creature become a productive
citizen. It seemed like the right thing to do. So began our research.
We had
certain criteria and we were aware of our limits. We wanted a gelding between
3-10 years old. A Quarter Horse was our first choice but we were open to breeds
that could do the activities we wanted to do. The horse had to be in overall
decent health, broke to saddle, be able to take a rider over 180 pounds and
have a willing spirit and teachable mind. We felt that having a set of “must
haves” and “wants” would make our search more productive and our journey a bit
easier. We came across several potential candidates from a variety of sources.
All of them tugged at the heart strings and each of them had something unique
and special about them. Still, we had to stick to our plan! So it came to pass
that we found Animal Rescue of Lathrop, Inc. at AT Ranch, which was founded in
1994 by Ms. Della Gaar-Todeschini.
What the team at AT Ranch looked for in their rescue horses matched pretty
closely with our criteria. So we made an appointment to meet a horse named “Razz”
and see if we fit one another.
DAY 1: We decided to take the trailer
because we really did not want to make the four hour round trip twice if we
liked the horses and he liked us. So off we went from Placerville,
CA. to Lathrop, CA. On the trip we reviewed our needs and
wants and our logistical plans so that when we arrived at the facility we were
united in our approach.
We also
began to discuss other names because Razz just didn’t seem right from the few
pictures we saw of him. We figured that once we met him a “real name” would
sing out to us.
Upon our arrival we met the staff,
the lead trainer Ms. Megan and Ms. Della. They were warm, practical and honest
folks. This boded well in our opinion. Then we got to meet “Razz.” We were told
he was “really skinny” when the staff picked him up a month ago. He stood about
14.2-14.3 hands high and had some nice conformation and a cute head. His
withers and croup were even and his natural headset was low and level. They
were able to get some weight on him and got about ten rides into his retaining
program up to this point. Our immediate estimate was that he needed at least
another one-hundred pound of muscle added to his frame. His hooves needed
attention as did some of the scrapes that looked well on their way to healing. His
mane was in rough shape as he scraped a large section of it off before he was
picked up. These conditions were expected and within our plan to deal with. The
trainer began to saddle him up and then noticed the rope halter in my hand.
Asking to use the round pen first w placed the rope halter on him, grabbed the “handy-stick”
and went to see if communication could occur. We spent about 30-45
minutes in the round pen establishing "respect" and we had it in
about 10 minutes. We got "two eyes" and he locked on pretty quickly.
We tried a variety of exercises just to see what he know and how he would
react. We increased pressure to push some buttons and the reaction was
minor…just a little sass. By the end of the session we had his brain focusing
on us and we began to establish leadership. At home that would be deemed a
“win” and the session would end there. However you don’t buy car without
driving it…and since “rideable” was in our needs list we asked for him to be
saddled up. The trainer did so willingly and we could tell that this gelding
had “been there, done that” quite a few times. She walked, trotted, loped,
stopped, spun and side passed him several times. He looked happy to be working.
She had mentioned she took him on the trails and he did well. Her thought was
that he may have had cutting or reigning training in his past and though his
skills were rusty she found him to be respectful and willing under saddle.
We liked what we saw. So then the moment of truth comes and
I, weighing in at about 200 pounds, mount up. He stood calmly when mounted from
the ground and from the mounting block. He flexed laterally with the bridle on.
He even tried to collect himself a bit. We moved out in the arena at the walk.
Nice and mellow pacing. No sense of revving up. He felt like he was more “slow”
than “go”. It took some coaxing to get him into a trot but when we did it was
not bad. I knew I was a little heavy but one of the other trainers there was in
my weight class and he rode Razz several times. By the end of the ride we had
done circles, flexes, serpentines and stops. He was happy and willing albeit a
little rusty and out of shape. We liked him. Papers were signed, a donation
made and we loaded him up without a fuss for the trip home. He got a vigorous
brushing and some forage for dinner and began to settle in to his new home.
DAY 2: Today is
all about the boy settling in. Some pictures will be taken. A “spa” session
will occur and some light groundwork will occur. The list of potential new
names hit eighteen on the way home! So far, Clay, Wade, Wyatt, Roscoe, Monty,
Luke, Mason, Dixon
and Ringo seem to be topping the charts. As we begin working together more we
are sure his personality will let us know what is best…or we may put it to a
vote! The boys were introduced this morning. The sniffed on another and then
shared a pile of hay before walking around together. This may just work out
No comments:
Post a Comment