Riding in the Rain

I grew up being told "you can't ride in the rain." I don't know about you, but I know as sweet of a person I can be, for certain I'm not made of sugar. I won't melt and I'll say some of my best days of riding have been out in the rain. I've learned that on most rainy days, people aren't out on the roads, people aren't flocked at the barn, people aren't out hiking, and they tend to stay home. So that being said, after meeting up with friends this morning at Denny's for breakfast and short trip over to L's house to see her piece of Heaven, I decided that it would be a good day to ride outside. Off to the barn I went, Cobre' seemed happy to see me and happy that I brought him inside from the rain (little did he know).

We tacked up and outside we went. It was just drizzling and with the indoor arena being in use, we played and warmed up in the outdoor arena. I've been putting arena work back into his daily life a little bit at a time. Usually we take a lap or two around the property, then go into one of the arena's, do a few laps in there, and out back to plod around the property. He seems to like it like that, so we'll continue it. So far he hasn't had a arena melt down in weeks, so I guess I am doing something right.

After playing around on the property for a bit, he seemed bored. I figured with it now raining we could walk down to road to the fire hydrant and come back. It's not a far walk at all, but I just want to get him used to being okay to go out alone. We got to the fire hydrant and he seemed so happy and relaxed, I figured we could walk into the field a few feet and come back. He kept plodding on through the field with out any hesitation, so we continued on. At one point we came across a big pile of dumped straw, he wasn't too sure of that, but after a few neck rubs and telling him it was okay to walk over it, he went right over it. So we did a big loop around the field and came back up to the road and headed home. He did fabulous!

Looking like a drowned rat

Rain rain go away!

Six Years Old

Cobre' turned the BIG *6* on March 27th.

Cobre' as a baby

I actually forgot about it until after I had left the barn. The next day I brought him a piece of carrot cake. He didn't seem to like it, but I left it in his feed bucket. The next day I was presented a feed bucket full of a pile of poop on the carrot cake. I got the hint loud and clear, Buddy... no carrot cake next year! Noted! Seriously though, his bucket is hanging up, he had to use math or something to line all of that up perfectly. I did get a good laugh though!

Anyway... Cobre' was auctioned off in 2014 as a colt. His life went down hill from there until he ended up in my friend's Paso Fino horse Rescue. He is from a famous stallion named MarcaPasos from Colombia. His Dam is Piel Canele, she is from Colombia as well. Cobre's sister Doña Petra looks exactly like him, and she is very very famous in the Paso Fino world. They were hoping that Cobre' would be "the next big thing" due to how well he sister is put together and has done, but sadly he wasn't. Which is fine by me because I now have one freaking amazing all around horse. I'm sure politics, money, and broken dreams were involved when Cobre' was gelded and tossed away. He has amazing genes that he would have passed on, like his sister. Oh well, their loss is my gain!

Cobre's sister, Doña Petra~They look identical

MarcaPasos' promotional breeding video

Doña Petra's promotional video

Doña Petra

Cobre' at Bastrop KillPen

Last Saturday (3-25) was the spring vaccine clinic at the barn. I've never had a horse have a reaction before to any vaccine until now.  Shots were given at 9am and he received Vetera Gold. It is a 6-way vaccine that includes: 

• Eastern/Western Equine Encephalomyelitis
• Tetanus
• West Nile
• Influenza
• Herpesvirus, types 1 and 4 (Rhino)

I stuck around until about noon, and he seemed just fine. I went home and took a nap. Dummy me left my phone in the car and when I went out to find it at about 7pm, I had facebook msg's, voicemails, and text from people at my barn and the vet who administrated the vaccine. Most said "Ali, Cobre is shivering really bad; Faith and Connie are with him and have taken his temperature. I'll get back to you with Connie's number." I freaked out! A few phone calls and a plan to meet Faith back at the barn. He had a 103.9 fever. Vet was called and Banamine injection was given, along with a double dose of Fastrack gel for his guy, as he hadn't eaten any of his dinner. So hosed off his legs in hopes of cooling him down, lots of walking, and trying to get him to eat anything that he wanted. Thankfully about 10pm, he was feeling a tad bit better and his temp was back down to 101.3. By 10:30 he was wanting to graze on grass. By 11pm. he wanted his hay. I stuck around a bit longer and went home about midnight. Thank God for awesome barn cats! They sure know how you keep you company.

Sunday morning he seemed much more like himself and his temp was back to normal. I was happy to see a stall full of poop. I took him for a walk down to the river and came back. I biffed it in the mud really good and felt it all day Monday.

Tuesday I rode him for about 10 minutes. He was perfect.

Wednesday he got bit in the neck by his run mate, so he was very touchy and didn't want to be messed with.

Thursday... Same as above, but the farrier came out to do a bunch of horses. I wasn't sure how he would be but he stood tied for over an hour and didn't move. The farrier got to Cobre' and Cobre' couldn't have cared less that there was a man trimming his hooves. I was very proud of him!

Donnie, Puffy, Hal

Cobre', Magnum and Redwood

 

Friday, I didn't ride. His neck was still a bit ouchie but the bite was almost gone. :)

  

One Month

Tomorrow marks one month of having Cobre'. He is such a fun horse to have and I can't believe how far he has come in this short of time.

I try to go to the barn every day to work with him, but some times the weather just has other plans, like the past two days. Last weekend up until late Tuesday it was simply gorgeous out and felt like spring. Come Wednesday, it was raining like we might have to build an Ark, I'm not even kidding. Thursday, it was warm and pouring and driving into work was fun because a lot of the roads were a bit flooded. By noon, it was in the low 30's and snowing huge flakes which lasted until last night. So I didn't go to the barn either day. Thankfully the barn manager is amazing and I know my horse is going to be cared for no matter what type of weather it is outside. Also having full care is nice too. I love this barn, I truly do! :)

Today when I did get to the barn, he seemed so happy to see me. I cleaned his run and while I did that, he was pushing on his gate trying to get it unlocked. When I finally got his halter out, he spun around and came up to me and pretty much put it on himself. He wanted out so bad.

Bridling him has been a chore, he doesn't like taking a bit. Usually it's the first thing I do is put the bridle on him as soon as we get into the arena. Usually it takes about 5 minutes for him to take it and it's usually after my arm is about half dead. Today he took the bit the first time without even a struggle. Nothing, he just grabbed it and was happy. I was amazed! Brushed him off and tacked him up and took for him a short walk on foot down the road.

We came back and I hopped on. He was great and we went all over the property without any issues. I guess the back 40 really flooded so the barn manager was out there with a tractor, a generator, and was sucking water up and moving it... or so it looked like. Cobre' didn't care one bit and we rode by it a few times. We also got to play in A LOT of puddles. I must have a horse that is well okay with water, and puddles. He didn't care one bit and we walked and largoed through them. He seemed to love the water and mud splashing all over the both of us. Fine by me!

 

We called it break time and back to the arena we went to just hang out. Unbridled him and sat there and ate my lunch. He didn't even care that I plucked his mane either for his DNA test that I have to send out tomorrow. I wasn't sure how he would do if I bridled him again but he did it again without any issues on the first time. YAHOOOOO! So we did that a bunch more and then we went back out on the property and rode around some more. He was doing so wonderful I felt safe and confident in both of us, that I asked him to walk out on the road down to the next barn over from ours. He was a bit hesitant at first but he trusted me enough to calmly walk on and walk back without any issue. I felt like we mad so much progress today. Maybe he just needed to have two days off to get bored enough to do fun things. Either way I am very very proud of him.

No longer scared of the horse eating rabbit

Puddles!

The river is very high.

A horse with PTSD

Cobre' definitely has PTSD when it comes to certain things. The round pen is #1, #2 is the arena (indoor and outdoor). So I've stepped back again and cut those two things out completely. Thankfully it's nice weather now and spring is just around the corner and riding around the property has been a blast for both of us. All last week I worked with him under saddle for about 15-20 minutes tops. I'd tack up and hop on and we would walk just outside in front of the arena, or walk down the drive way and come back. Every day I tried a little something new with him, from going in between the silos, to around the horse runs and pens, and along the out door arena. Just little things, just a calm and relaxed walk on his back. We'd call it a night and like always, end on a good note.

He has gained a lot more confidence in himself and hasn't had a freak out or melt down since taking arena work out. It is nice to see how he is improving and how other people at the barn are seeing his results as well. Just when I can't think I can be anymore proud of him, he does something even more outstanding and I'm just struck with awe and amazement.

Today I tacked up and hopped on and off we went around the property. We even took a walk down the road and back.

 He even calmly walked behind the house where it backs up to the interstate with vehicles zooming by at crazy speeds. At first he wasn't sure that was the best idea, but after a moment of rubbing his neck and tapping him and telling him to walk on, we did it. The highway didn't consume him or I. Thankfully there is a mote and area coverage from where the highway is and the barn grounds, so it's not like we're actually right on it. If that were the case, that would be a huge nope! I got him to largo a bit and man is that fun with him. We called it a day soon afterwards.

 

After out ride, I decided to give him a bath. I was expecting him not to be okay with it, but he acted like he couldn't have cared less.

His post picture bath face I call "I didn't sign up for THIS!"

He looks a lot less like a Yak now. 

I totally adore this boy!

Two Week Mark

Tomorrow will be the two week mark that I have had Cobre'.

First Day

Yesterday

If you would have told me that I would be riding him by himself, I would have laughed at you. In fact the second day I was at the new barn with him, L gave me a paper with all the ride dates on it. I crumpled it up and thought "Not this year! Not with how messed up this guy's head is... maybe next year, yeah next year." That night I grabbed it from my purse, uncumpled it and stuck it to my refrigerator and said "Maybe we'll get one in this year". I'm sticking to that plan. It doesn't have to happen now, or next month, or even until next October but that is my plan.

In the last two weeks he has come SO FAR with himself! I can't even tell you how proud I am of him. This week we've done a good amount of arena riding. Yesterday we started out by our selves but that didn't last long. He went into a spinning, backing panic, and popped up a few times. I laughed and said he was going to put a reining horse to shame with his antics. L yelled to me if I wanted her to come help me get off. I yelled back "NOPE! I'm not getting off! If you grab the lead rope that would be perfect! I'll be fine with whatever he does". So she grabbed the lead rope and we ponied him all over the place again at different speeds. After a while, we were off on our own with L and other horses near by in the arena. By the end of our hour ride by ourselves, he was doing everything I asked him today without any fear or confusion with his insecurities.

Today there was no ponying him, no lead rope, nothing. He did challenge me for about two minutes but after he threw his little spinning, backing, "scare tactic" to get a rider to get off, he gave up. I did have to tell him to GET UP! and WALK! We did everything again at all speeds in all directions the arena with him and his walk, corto, and largo. After an hour of riding him, we called it quits on a good note again. Always end on a good note. :)

I sure do love this little guy! I know he's going to be amazing with trail riding. In the last two weeks he is completely a different horse. I hope to one day do endurance rides with him.

A step back and two steps forward

Tonight was awesome! I am so proud of Cobre!

I tacked him up, took him into the arena, and climbed on. He stood stock still. I asked for him to move forward and his little brain just went "AHHHHH!" and he went into trying to Fino his little heart out. A few spins and some backing up, it was time to call a time out! A change needed to be made and a few steps back with how he thinks and has been "trained".

Most of these Paso Fino's are started way too young, are trained until their brains are fried, and when they "don't get it perfect", they get "taught a lesson" and nothing comes good from that, ever.

Cobre' doesn't Classic Fino (even though he comes from amazing lines). A Classic Fino bred to a Classic Fino doesn't mean your foal is going to have the natural Classic Fino gait. Cobre doesn't have a natural Classic Fino gait. Someone tried and tried to teach him how to be... what I like to call a "dancing, money making, show pony". When he failed at that... he lost all value.

So now the fun comes of trying to figure out what he has been "taught", and unteach it to him, while reteaching him with much more relaxed, undemanding, non abusive and understanding methods. He needs to know he can just be a horse and relax, we aren't going to hurt him.

This evening after his Fino melt down, I got off of him and let him get his wits back together. Linda mentioned trying to pony him. Awesome idea! Only problem is... I don't have another horse to pony him with. So Connie let us use her Hal to pony him around for about 10 minutes to just let him relax and know he can move forward normally without any pressure on him.

 

Linda told me to climb back on if I wanted to, for a second I thought that probably wasn't the best idea. Ponying him around by himself was fine but another part of me said "try it!" you have the help here now, take it. So I climbed back into the saddle. He didn't move.

Hal walked on and so did Cobre' without a care in the world. Ears were alert, not stressed or pinned, he was walking like a normal horse, no dancing, nothing. Calm and relaxed walking. I was on Cloud 9! Becky was nice enough to video it so I could send it to Jenn.

We did a few laps around the arena and called it a night. So proud of him and am so thankful for all the tips, ideas, and help these ladies are giving to me as well for him.


*EDIT*
I forgot to say what the Classic Fino gait is:

Windy Play Day

Our barn had a jumping clinic today.

It was fun to watch other people ride and just spend time with my guy.

Connie and Hal

Also how many times do you hear someone tell you, that you protect the dog from the cat? 

Today I had to do so. 

Poor Deja didn't know what I saved her from. 

Bruiser the cat, hates dogs and is one of the reasons why the barn has a "no dog policy". 

Today was an exception.

Becky was like "Hey! I know that dog!"

Small world.

When Linda and Becky arrived they thought maybe they could ride outside... but it was just way too windy out, worse than yesterday! We then just decided to let all our Pasos out in the outdoor arenas to let them run and play.  Cobre' had Donny, and Monte in with him. On the other side of the fence, there was Cree (the stallion who has never been turned out with other horses before~HE DID FANTASTIC!) and Cole who told Cree he was boss.

 Cree is so beautiful and smart and wasn't looking to be boss. He just wanted to play and run with the other horses. Everyone played, rolled, ran, rolled, ran, stretched and had a good time I would say for about an hour.

Cobre' really liked Cree

I wish I had my good camera with me. I have to start bringing it with me because my camera phone just doesn't cut it at all. Also I hope this wind stops soon. It is horrible!