She’s Home and She has a New Name!

 

Sorry for teasing everyone in my last post with the ‘cliffhanger’. But yes, Apache, the horse formerly known as ‘Sugar’,  has passed every test and she’s now home….....at the Laughing Orca Ranch!!!!! Whooohooo!

I know that I’ve been very guarded and cautious this time around. But I almost caved completely when Jenna fell in love and felt safe with Apache. Apache takes such gentle care of my kids and she scored big there. In hindsight, I should have had my kids ride Baby Doll before I bought her, too.

I still love and miss Baby Doll. She was like my first love as my first horse. But I feel sort of  like I wasted 2 years of my life…….and went through way too much pain and suffering with her.  I think it’s best if I just rack it up as a learning experience and realize that if I hadn't went through what I did with Baby Doll, and had bought Apache as my first horse instead, I might not have appreciated a horse as special as Apache.

And I do believe that everyone is happy that Apache has found a new home here with my family. My friend, Colleen was very patient with me, but I'm sure she wanted to hit me over the head and tell me to just hurry up and buy this mare. In fact, she said that if I didn't, then she would! 

I didn’t want to say too much earlier because I was still in negotiations with the owner and trying to set up a meeting time/place. The owner has a very busy schedule but it looks like we’ll finally be meeting up on Friday and then Apache will officially be mine!

 

I’ve had Apache vet checked, had her treated by the chiro, and Colleen’s farrier trimmed her feet last Thursday. But she still needs her teeth floated, her shots done, and a coggins pulled. The owner said she never had Apache seen by a vet and just focused on her feet because they were so long. She is asking $1000 for her, so I offered $900, which is what I sold Baby Doll for. But the owner countered back that she'll accept $950. Oh well, I'll take it! It’s crazy to think about, but for the money I originally paid for Baby Doll, I could have bought THREE and a Half  'Apache' horses!

 

Maybe it’s too soon to tell yet, but I have a feeling that Apache is going to be one of those 'worth her weight in gold' type of horses anyway.

As for the new name, the moment I met Apache, that's the name that was in my head. It's as if she put it there. I never gave it any thought at all. Apache has never really been 'Sugar' anyway. Her owner said she thought that's what the previous owners called her, but she didn’t really use a name for her at all.

What do you all think of animals ‘giving’ you their names?  Or that a name just seems to be a good fit and an animal seems to like it and approve of the name. Apache already comes to me when I call out to her " 'Patchy Girl"!

It’s a good thing I was able to ride both Saturday and Sunday so I could finally decide if Apache would be a good match for me, because Sunday night it started to snow and left behind about 2-3” on the ground. Poor Apache. What a sad welcome that was. The snow isn’t so bad, but the winds have been horrible, and the only shelter I have for her right now is one large tree to stand beneath and a large grove of trees that serves as a useful windbreak.

Our llamas, goats and sheep are in the other stall in the barn, and Apache is still unsure about them. I wouldn’t force her to spend the night in the barn next to creatures that seem so foreign to her when she already has so many new sights and smells in her environment to get used to now.

That being said, Apache is much less spooked about the llamas than Baby Doll was when she first arrived at the Laughing Orca Ranch. And in fact, it took Baby Doll several months before she would even get within 40 feet of them.   Apache, on the other hand just eyes them with suspicion, especially Catlinite, the male guard llama, because he has a very rude habit of staring very aggressively at new creatures. He did the same thing with Val’s horses, when we first brought him home. He would even charge at them from across the fenceline. After a while, Val’s horses figured out his bluff and would charge right back at him, and with his bubble burst, he finally gave up pretending to be Mr. Llama Drama Tough Guy.

But now Mr. Rudeness Drama Llama is at it again with Apache. So to give Apache some self-confidence, I haltered her and led her up to the food and water the first day after she arrived, because she was just too worried about the llamas to leave the end of the paddock closest to Val’s horses and barn.

Plus I wanted to be sure she was drinking, eating, peeing and pooping, and I stood up there with her while she ate, and did her business. And every once in a while I’d turn around and catch Catlinite staring, and yell at him to knock it off. He’d go back into the barn or turn his head, but he’d come back. The fuzzy bugger!

Yesterday (Tuesday), Apache didn’t need me to halter her because she came up to the gate when she saw me, but I still stood out in the paddock while she ate. It was much warmer, too. So, I sat out on a stump and she hung out with me, letting me pet and scratch her until she became very sleepy. And the next thing I knew, she moved away from me about 8 feet and plopped down and promptly fell asleep!!!!

Maybe some of you are used to a horse just laying down at your feet and going to sleep, but I’m not. Baby Doll was very secretive of her naptimes, and if she even saw me looking at her in the paddock, from down at the house, when she was on the ground, she’d pop right back up and give me the ‘evil eye’.  In the two years I owned her, and the countless hours I spent  just hanging out with her, she never once laid down or even rolled within 50 feet of me. Thank goodness for camera zoom. I took this one very stealthily from the house. She still caught me, though. She was up the very next second.

So, I was really kicking myself for forgetting my camera on Tuesday, but I was afraid to move for fear of ruining the moment, so I just sat on my little stump, in the sunshine and chilly wind,  for 20 minutes while Apache stretched out and slept. Toward the end of her nap, Jenna came up from the house to see what I was up to, and I thought for sure that Apache would jump right up, but Jenna quietly walked down to us and stood by me and watched as Apache looked at us sleepily, and then flopped onto her side instead. I felt so privileged that Apache would trust us enough to let her guard down, close her eyes and allow us to be with her during one of a horse’s most vulnerable moments.

I remembered to bring my camera with me today (Wednesday), though, hoping that Apache would feel relaxed enough to let me be her guard while she slept……and she did, but she fell asleep on her feet instead. I sat out there on my stump for a good 20 minutes until my feet, nose and thighs were frozen and numb, keeping a watchful eye for Apache while she slept. You can also see Val’s sweet filly Yallah sleeping behind Apache, too.

When she did finally awake, Apache walked over to me for a nuzzle and a cheek scratch, and then walked a few feet away….plopped down and rolled……and rolled….and rolled. Check out the video! I was ready. haha!

(There’s really no sound in this video, except the wind and me laughing, but if you want to, you can turn off the music, by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking the double-lined round button on my Play List)

 

So, if you’ve noticed that I’ve not been by to visit many of you, please don’t take it personal……..this is the reason why. Between my normal daily activities/chores and homeschooling schedule, I’ve been spending every spare moment sneaking up to the barn, to freeze my extremities, and bond with my new horse, Apache.