Colleen and I went to pick up that little black mare today......but she refused to load. Colleen, with all her years of experience with rescued and troubled horses could have probably gotten Blackie loaded, but her owner was coddling her and kept playing Parelli games (while we stood outside in the freezing, furious wind...waiting...and waiting).
After 20 minutes of the mare stepping up inside and then barreling backwards, ramming her butt into the trailer doors the minute we tried to close them, rearing, dancing and pawing, etc I finally said, 'this isn't going to work for me'.
Blackie’s owner said her mare was just not used to the Colleen’s large slant load trailer, or the ramp. She said Blackie had no problems loading in her stock trailer (even though she only loads her when it’s parked, and the last time she was supposedly trailered and ridden was over 4 months ago.)
I knew that wouldn't work for me at all because my trailer has a ramp and is much narrower and smaller than Colleen's trailer and is only a two horse bumper pull.
Blackie was very sweet and affectionate on the ground, but also nosy and pushy and disrespectful of my space. When she turned into me while I led her, I poked her in the chest to get her to take a step backwards, but instead of moving away from me, she pushed back. When Blackie stepped sideways into my space and I poked her ribs, she pushed back into my fingers and refused to move.
And then when we were leading her the 1/4 mile down the muddy, icy road from the barn to Colleen's trailer, the mare continually spooked at the trees. Her owner said that her neighbors have horses and Blackie was probably just expecting them to show up. They never did, though. While Blackie’s owner was leading her and I was walking beside, looking to see how she moved, Blackie balked and then reared up. Colleen happened to look up at that moment and later told me that was an ‘uh oh moment’ and she knew that Blackie wasn’t the horse for me.
Colleen was fair, though, and she didn’t say anything at all, even when I looked at her with raised eyebrows during the trailering fiasco. She let me come to the realization that this horse wasn’t going to be a good fit for me. And she was very proud that I listened to my instincts because I also realized at the moment Blackie reared, while being led, that she was not the horse for me. But I did give her a chance to change my mind.
Curiously enough, her owner told me several times during our visit that she had had a long conversation with Blackie before we arrived. She had told Blackie, “If you don’t want to go with them, you don’t have to. Just make things difficult and you can come back home”
So during Blackie’s owner’s struggles in trying to load her mare (after Colleen and I tried to load her with no success), she kept telling her mare, loud enough for us to hear, “Looks like you’ve made your decision and you want to stay here. I promised you that you could”.
But the most surprising thing for both Colleen and I to see was that, when it was decided that Blackie was not going to go with us, Blackie’s owner said, “Watch this!” and she removed her mare’s lead from her halter. And we all watched Blackie gallop like a wild horse all the way back up the long muddy road towards home.
Yah. It was pretty impressive.
But I don’t think Blackie’s owner realized that she had just rewarded her horse for bad behavior. In the end, Blackie got her way. Through her owner’s encouragement to run helter skelter for home……instead of standing and waiting to be led back home.
In my eyes, Blackie was being trained to act barn sour, too. I dealt with barn sour issues with Baby Doll and it was a struggle and no fun. So I suppose it was good to see this behavior and to have the trailering troubles exposed before we managed to have Blackie finally load successfully and find out about these other issues later.
I’m so glad that Colleen suggested taking a potential horse prospect out of it’s comfort zone and working with it in a different setting, because it’s a much better way of truly seeing any and all issues that a horse may have.
(I edited this photo just for Janice of Own a Morgan )
Because my goal is to get back out and do more trail riding, any horse that I buy must be willing, calm, sane and comfortable in new and unfamiliar settings. Blackie did not seem to fit any of those requirements once she stepped off her home turf. Heck. She wouldn’t even load into the trailer.
So it looks like my horse shopping will continue.
I want to thank my blogger buddy, KD of Zambito Oaks Farm for trying out a horse for me, not far from her, from an ad I found on Dream Horse. Not only did she try out the mare, but she also gave me a full report with all of her experienced observations. KD, I wish I could have you try out all potential horses for me. Bah! Why do all my great blog buddies live so far away?
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I'm a little nervous about tomorrow’s Walk/Trot/Canter Class as Colleen said she wants me to ride a mare called Atta Bay, instead of good ‘ol Rosie. Atta Bay is Rosie’s barn buddy. Another rider who is battling fear and self-confidence issues with her Arabian mare, is going to be riding Rosie instead. Colleen says that Atta Bay is a ‘step up’ from Rosie and says that I'm ready for a horse like Atta Bay.
(Atta Bay is the little mare just to the left of me and Rosie in this picture. Second horse from the left)
I don't know about that. But I do realize it’s always good to ride different horses and challenge myself a little more, but I’m also concerned about moving too fast. It’s only been one month since I’ve gotten back to riding horses again, after a year of healing from my injuries and surgery. I’ll trust Colleen’s assessment, though, and just pull my big girl panties on and do my best.
At least we’ll be riding inside the arena down at Cedar Hill Farms again, and maybe on some of the trails around the property. The wicked, winter winds have returned to our mountains and even though our temperatures are supposed to rise into the upper 40’s and lower 50’s all this week, the bitter cold wind-chill will take the joy out of those balmy temperatures much too quickly.
(This is from my last trail ride with the Snowy Mountain Cowgirl Club. I’m taking the photo from Rosie’s back. You can see Atta Bay, the second horse from the right)
