Horse pictures anyone?

It's been awhile since I updated on our two newest girls. They were given to us in February, their previous owner couldn't keep them due to his own health reasons. The girls are doing great.

First Jet... she is the "baby". She is 15 months old and is 15.2 1/4 now. The first year of her life she had almost zero handling so she has been a challenge, especially with her size. She doesn't realize how big she is. She now leads fairly well, can be haltered and caught easily, and stands tied. She is a sweetheart with a puppy dog personality.

Please excuse her dirtiness, they're just now getting rid of their winter coats and look pretty awful at the moment!







First bath! She did surprisingly very well for never having seen a water hose before (other than it filling up her water bucket)











*More in the next post*

Now for my other girl. When we got her, we were told her name was Cheyenne but the guy had to think about it for a long time and said he thought that's what her name was (he had too many horses to remember for sure). We used it but it just didn't feel right and she didn't respond to it. So we started searching for new names for her but nothing seemed to fit and she would not respond to any of them.

I started my training with her. Despite being told she had been ridden daily, she is terrified of a saddle and bucks anyone off that attempts to ride her. She had horrible manners, and didn't know most of the basics. So we started at the beginning in her training.

She is doing wonderfully. I still haven't ridden her yet but I'm confident I'll be able to by summer. She is my girl, I love this horse so much, we have bonded so well. She is very well behaved and has excellent manners now. She will jump over, walk over, touch, anything I ask her to. She's an amazing girl.

But anyway, back to the name. I tried everything to desensitize her to the saddle and she still trembled horribly when she saw it. I wanted to know what happened to her. Some of you may not believe in this, but I contacted an animal communicator. They gave me a lot of information about why she is scared and what happened to her in the past. Using what they told me, we've now overcome most of her fear of the saddle and it's wonderful. But in talking with them, I asked if her name was ever really Cheyenne. The communicator told me that the horse told her that her name is Siennna. The communicator doesn't know if that's what her name really was or if that's just the name she picked for herself. Either way, I started using it and she responded to it immediately.

So here is Sienna...

They are gorgeous!!! I can't get over Jet just standing there while being sprayed with the water hose from that distance! She must be super mellow!

Originally Posted by taterbug

They are gorgeous!!!

I can't get over Jet just standing there while being sprayed with the water hose from that distance! She must be super mellow!

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She really is a very laid back girl. She lets her craziness out in the pasture with Sienna when they're let out. But she's very easy to handle and pretty much goes along with whatever I ask of her.

The first few minutes with the hose, she was really jumpy and kept kicking out with her back feet. When she realized the water wasn't going away, she just stood there and accepted her fate.

Originally Posted by bnwalker2

The first few minutes with the hose, she was really jumpy and kept kicking out with her back feet. When she realized the water wasn't going away, she just stood there and accepted her fate.

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But I LIKE dirty! They're both gorgeous!

Had someone offer me 3 horses for free....told her no way no how. Had little to no vet care...all 3 had rotten teeth, needed to be seen by a farrier desperately. I can't handle the costs of one horse, let alone 3, so I shall be horseless. (Did I mention they hadn't been ridden in over a year....one never at all?)

I don't have any current pictures of my boy...I haven't been to see him in quite a while I still think I'm gonna come and steal Jet...tehehehehe

When I got my boy two years ago, he was terrified of the saddle too...it just took alot of time, patience, persistence, and desensitization for him to finally realize that it wasn't a 'horse eating monster'...I believe like alot of other things when he was first 'trained' it was just slapped on him, even though he didn't understand what was going on...

Use alot of flags, blankets, lead ropes, even leg wraps (the polo kind) to help her get over things being 'flung over' her...never ever stop working on something until she is totally relaxed; I prefer to work with them when they are untied...that way they don't feel clausterphobic, and can circle you harmlessly, but you can still continue to 'touch' her with the tools. When I finally went to saddle Pride, I had gotten him so used to things flinging around and over, and under him (both big and small things) that he didn't really care so much about the saddle anymore.

What ever you do, don't rush her into riding...she may well have been a riding horse; but who knows what spoiled her...give her adequate time to 'get over it'...ground work is your best friend when rehabilitating, or retraining, or even just first time training a horse. I have never trained a horse that when I first got on, was not able to go just go for a ride like we had done it for years...the ground work was that complete; that is what you want; especially with a horse that has a bucking history...you want to erase what bucking tendency was there, but making sure that your bond is extremely tight, and that the working relationship is very clear.

They are both gorgeous!!! Seinna has a beautiful face! And what a wonderful story about her!

I just love horse pictures!

Originally Posted by EnzoLeya

They are both gorgeous!!! Seinna has a beautiful face!

And what a wonderful story about her!

I just love horse pictures!

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I horses.... beautiful animals. I miss my horses that I owned while in high school (many years ago). I'd own one again, if I had the money.

I bet sienna chose her name
she looks so happy with you and just perfecty content you did a great job with her

Very beautiful horses! They look happy and content. There is nothing better than spending the day in the barn.