I'm tired of winter!

Today's weather was the high of 30, windy, and snow. I'm so over it!

I got off of work and headed to the barn. Cleaned his stall, haltered him, took him out, groomed him. messed with all four of his feet and off to go explore we went. We only walked across the road, which is a huge field. While walking down the road for get to a crossing (wooden fence lines the field) a Comcast truck drove by. I wasn't sure how Cobre' would react but told him to stop, watch it as it passed (he startled in place) and I told him to "get it!", meaning... "make it go away". Not really chase it, but we followed it while I praised him of being a good and brave boy. He snorted as it drove on and we continued out into the field. A short walk out and I was sinking in mud again, so we turned around and headed back to the barn.


I was half frozen so into the indoor arena we went. A group lesson was underway and I thought "Hey, let's stand around, hang out, and watch it together". Cobre' was abused by a trainer, he doesn't like loud noises and doesn't like people yelling. A controlled group lesson with one loud lady on the ground giving tips, and directions... he was curious about. After a few minutes he didn't care that she was yelling across a big arena, so we practiced how he ties. No real issue with that while I was standing there with him... but I do worry due to how he was trained that he has pull back issues.
(I might touch on that at some point, sadly the trainer is well loved in the horse world and any negative stuff that comes up on him, he threatens people and goes after them~What a winner he is! *GAG*)




Cobre' seemed to be getting bored, so I figured I'd see how he would take a bit/bridal. No issue and it gave him something to play with while we just hung out. I took it off after a few minutes and he just stood there and nuzzled me and licked my jacket. He's so sweet!




By that time, the barn manager was feeding so I wanted to take him back to see if he would eat his grass hay. I put him back in his run, and into his stall he went and started eating. I was so happy! At that moment I thought of a good idea and used the weather to my advantage. Cobre' doesn't like people around him when he eats, he gets kind of food aggressive. We suspect that the trainer would either take his food away from him if he was "bad" or "not perfect", or hit him while he ate or tried to eat. So off into the barn I went and hung out at his stall.

At first he wasn't sure and walked back outside... into the wind and snow.

He didn't seemed to thrilled and he must have been hungry because after a few he came back inside and started to eat while I was standing right next to him. No aggression or ears back or anything. He munched and I grabbed a handful of the alfalfa that I have for him and handed it to him. He happily took it from me without thinking he was going to get hit or punished.

I was frozen again and decided to call it a night and head home. I can't wait until spring!

Baby Steps

With Cobre's known and unknown past, he needs a lot of baby steps. He is very unsure and lacks confidence in himself. The first evening (2-25-17) he was at the new barn, he was terrified and pretty shocked.

 Everything that he knew was safe, was no longer in sight or smell. Thankfully Karen told him about me and I spent that first evening just talking to him.

He did allow me to pet him and did start to doze off standing next to me. It was amazing!

I told him to rest up and I would be back in the morning (Sunday) to hang out with him some more.




Sunday 2-26-17 
Around noon I arrived and walking down to his barn I turned the corner and yelled HI COBRE'! and he spun around and threw his head up and looked at me. He knows his name! :)  I ended up just eating my lunch and talking to him (mainly telling him that he needed to eat his grass hay). A bit later I went into his run and petted him for a bit then decided it was halter time. I was sure he was going to try to get away and at first he did move away but once I put the leadline around his neck, he was fine getting the rope halter on.

While standing there I did brush him a bit and he seemed a bit startled and scared of it. He flinched a few times but I let him know that I wasn't going to hurt him and he would look a lot better after a good grooming. He allowed me to pick all four feet up as well.

After that I took him for a walk around the entire property. He has the funniest nicker/whinny I have ever heard.  I'll have to try and get it on video at some point. He did great and at one point I was sinking in the mud and he had to help me out a bit and he knew how to do that without being afraid. I let him eat grass and every time something would make him unsure, he would walk and stand behind me and when he felt it was safe again, he would away back and graze.

We ended on a good note. I am not expecting much from him due to his past. One day at a time. Baby steps.


Monday 2-27-17
I wanted to take him for another walk, but Mother Nature had other plans in the form of wind, snow, rain, and the high in the 20's. ICK!  I decided that I'd clean his stall, see if he ate his grass hay (he eats the alfalfa just fine), groom him and probably call it a day.  I walked down to his barn and he was inside but came out when I called him and he saw me.

 I cleaned his stall and was happy to see that he had a solid normal poop right in the middle of his grass hay. LOL Sure tells me what he thinks of that. He ate all of the alfalfa though. I told him he wasn't getting anymore alfalfa until he ate the grass hay. We'll see tomorrow if he ate it or not.

He followed me around and wanted my attention, so I haltered him and took him out. Groomed him a bit, picked all four feet, and he seemed to not want to go back... so off to the indoor arena we went.
I wasn't sure how he was going to react but he was calm and took it all in. While there we met another boarder who made friends with him by giving him cookies only in return if she got to pet him. He liked her and liked the attention and thought the treats were great.

I walked him around the arena a few times so he could check it out. He seemed fine with it. I tied him up to see what he would do and he stood there just fine. A horse in the row of stall in the indoor called out to him, he answered back and made it a point to prove to me that he HAD TO go over and say hi to this other Paso. They sniffed and rubbed each other like they knew one another. It was pretty neat! Also this other Paso looks a lot like him too.

 

We ended the day on another good note. 

I hope the weather is better tomorrow.

When life throws you lemons... you adopt a horse?

It's been quite a few years since I've logged into this blog. A LOT has changed.
The good, the bad, and the ugly has happened, but I'm back and in a great spot in life. I can't complain.

I got out of the horse world back in late 2013 and ended up moving in 2014 to Cali. In spring of 2015, I ended up moving to Utah, and I'm still out here. Some days I think I'm crazy for staying... but over all I've kind of fell in love with this place, except for the inversions.... I don't love them at all. I won't bore you with my past, as it's over and done with and I've moved on. So with that said....

I adopted a horse and he arrived yesterday.

Please meet Cobre' <3

I adore him and have since December 2016. I only saw him from a distance while visiting my friend and my old mare Legacy.  I'm not sure what clicked but something did and I when I drove back to Utah after my December vacation, I pretty much told my friend "If and when he is put up for adoption, please let me know as I can't get him out of my head." So it began.