# Retraining Angel: The Chronicles



## clumsychelsea (Jul 9, 2014)

I have recently purchased a beautiful 9 year old quarter horse cross mare, and this journal will highlight the journey of her retraining. 

As a quick back story, she was ridden when she was younger, but her owners "lost their passion" for horses and left her to sit in a pasture for three years. (Along with their young gelding and mare. The mare had a stroke last winter and they didn't even come to see her, despite being told she would die!) 

I fell in love with Angel when I first met her. She had gentle eyes and a sweet disposition and all she really seemed to want was someone to feed her treats and scratch her behind the ears. She was not bad mannered or pushy. I bought her about a month after getting to know her. (Visited every day for a solid month, taking her out of the pasture, brushing, testing her around things, etc.)

Now, the reason I call this "retraining", is partly due to the fact that she hasn't been ridden in so long, but also because apparently her previous training was lacking just about everything that I would have done with a horse. In her youth after a winter off from riding, a young man (inexperienced with horses) tossed a saddle on her back and hopped on with no preparation, no nothing. She promptly bucked his amateur butt off her back, and because he broke his arm when he fell, she was labelled as "dangerous". 

I don't take this lightly, and I wouldn't have gone anywhere near this horse if I wasn't confident with my own abilities with horses. I also have an experienced horse trainer (our barn manager) by my side, and he's expressed that he's eager to help with anything that needs to be done. He was sick of watching her potential wasted and he's ready and willing to assist me whenever I may need it. 

With that said, here's my beautiful girl, Angel! Updates to come.


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## clumsychelsea (Jul 9, 2014)

Updating right after posting, but I meant to post the intro a week ago! 

When I first started working with Angel, she would kick out with her back feet when you asked for them and just plain wouldn't pick up the front ones. Now, she does it flawlessly and puts them back down gently, no stomping allowed! Her hooves are much longer than I am comfortable with, and getting chips along the edges and I'm desperate for a farrier to come trim her. I'm getting in contact with him this week as well and will hopefully have him out within a month. (He lives 6 hours away. Go figure.) 

This mare is so flubby!! She has been eating to her hearts content and not exercising, so there is no muscle in this girl. I'm starting her round penning this week as well to start working her back into a routine and build up some of that muscle she'll need when we EVENTUALLY start riding. Which I'm not even thinking about right now, there's too much else to work on.

Angel is going to be an incredible trail horse. I've seen her in several stressful situations since getting to know her, and she is not spooky. Another horse went into a bucking fit right beside her and she let me quietly untie her and lead her calmly out of the way. She was nervous, but she didn't react negatively. She also has no reaction to plastic bags, ropes, throwing brushes and rocks around, motorcycles, cars, children... Anything I've been able to throw at her. 

Tonight we worked on the ever scary fly spray. Paul (barn manager) told me she's terrible with it so I wanted to see what we could do. Started by holding her lead and spraying to the side. Didn't phase her. She didn't like when I started spraying her legs, and I let her walk, circling her around me. (Like fake lunging!) Her circles were calm, she was content to move her feet to ease her nerves. Once I whoa'd and she settled, I sprayed again. When she stood still and accepted the spray without walking off, I stepped back and praised her and let her have a break. 

I'm not sure if this is the conventional method, but by the end of the night she was being sprayed from head to toe with almost zero reaction. Paul was shocked. :lol: 

Also took her for a walk with another mare and her owner, and she was, well, an Angel. Other horse owners are starting to trust her now that they see me working with her and that she's not "scary" like they thought! 

These good things said, I also had a moment yesterday where I was leading from the pasture (had a good 20 acre walk to the gate) and the entire herd decided to gallop to the gate ahead of me. Angel immediately began trotting. I settled her down to a walk, but after probably three seconds she BOLTED. I'm talking full on gallop. Off she went, lead rope flapping in the wind! When I found her, she was looking miserable by the gate, standing on the rope with her back legs and unable to move her head. Quickly fixed her up, trotted her back down the field and walked back up with no bolting problems. 

Oh, she also follows me to the gate now without lead rope or halter, which I've begun utilizing so the bolting isn't an issue. I bring my rope and halter down wherever she is, show her an apple and walk away. She follows, no matter how far the distance is. At the gate she gets treats and I put her halter on and bring her out! Much easier. (People say she's hard to catch... Bah.)

That's all for now! Things are going well.


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## clumsychelsea (Jul 9, 2014)

Had a visit with Angel this evening! I wanted to lunge her in the roundpen but it was so hot that I decided against it. Brushed her, picked out her hooves and checked them carefully to see what needs doing. Her soles and frogs are great, no thrush, but definitely in need of a trim.

Angel also seems to have a new favourite snack! Bread with olive oil and molasses. (Smells terrible!) She went nuts for it.

Trotted her up and down the road (and learned quickly that I am soooo out of shape) and she did well, up until she decided she wanted to eat instead. Hauled her out of the grass and did a trot circle with her and brought her back. 

Tried to do some fly spray work, but the area suddenly got crowded with cars and people from after the lessons and there wasn't really room for my "circling" technique. 

Spent the rest of my evening walking around the pasture looking for dangerous stuff, Angel following diligently behind. It was a good day.


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## Roman (Jun 13, 2014)

She sounds like an awesome but challenging horse! Kinda like mine :rofl: Good luck with her!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## clumsychelsea (Jul 9, 2014)

Roman said:


> She sounds like an awesome but challenging horse! Kinda like mine :rofl: Good luck with her!
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


"Challenging" is just another word for stubborn when it comes to my mare. :lol:

Thank you!


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## Roman (Jun 13, 2014)

I know stubborn... lol


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## clumsychelsea (Jul 9, 2014)

Visited Angel tonight... Not much to say since I didn't take her out of the field.  Fed her some carrots/apples, scratched behind her ears and checked her feet. (Making it a habit to pick them up in weird places/at weird times so she's used to it.) I kept trying to take pictures of her, but she always follows when I try to back up to get a nice one. Sigh.

Knees are hurting too bad to do much of anything so I'm happy enough that I got down there at all.

Here's a picture from this evening... Her sire is supposedly Quarter Horse, can you see it in her?


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## clumsychelsea (Jul 9, 2014)

Just got back from hanging out with Angel... Dragged my family along as well and they enjoyed feeding her treats and petting her. Not much happened, nothing interesting to talk about.

Here's a couple pictures! Also, I'm including a picture of me doing her back feet because that never would have ever happened when I first bought her.


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## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

She's cute  Blue looks fabulous on her.

Is your family very horsie?


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## clumsychelsea (Jul 9, 2014)

Zexious said:


> She's cute  Blue looks fabulous on her.
> 
> Is your family very horsie?


I do like the blue on her! It's funny because that halter was originally bought for a mostly white paint. 

My family can barely tell the front of a horse from the back!


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## clumsychelsea (Jul 9, 2014)

Frustrating night. :-( I knew things were going too well, so I'm not exactly shocked. 

First of all, it's been ridiculously hot here for weeks now with barely any rain at all and the horses are being eaten alive by flies no matter how much we coat them in spray. The heat and flies combined is making them fidgety and cranky, and who can blame them? I took Angel out this evening, and everything started off perfectly, although she was a bit bothered by the flies.

Then, of course, people decided to come by the truckloads to "look at the pretty horsies". Ugh! There were kids running everywhere, and EVERYONE had a bag of treats! Angel would not stop moving around where she was tied and she was getting visibly stressed out by the excitement. No matter how much I said not to, kids ran behind her and even when I told the parents to ask them to stop, they didn't. Angel didn't lash out but she was being disrespectful while tied and I wound up untying her and doing circles and backing up until her attention was back on me and she was behaving. Then I tied her back up to finish grooming her. 

NOBODY seemed to understand that I needed space and preferably a peaceful environment while working with my horse! When one family left, another two groups replaced them! It was aggravating having to discipline my horse when it REALLY wasn't her fault to begin with, but the disrespectful people around us. Regardless, I can't have her backing into me no matter what the situation is, so I corrected her each time. 

It just wasn't a good evening. I didn't enjoy the time I spent there because I was too busy worrying about the people running around me and my horse. I really want my BO to put a sign up telling people to not interact with the horses without permission. Angel is good up to an extent when there's people around, but when there are 15 people all with bags of treats and toddlers screaming and running and other horses kicking each other to get to the front of the fence for treats combined with heat and flies and stress... Doesn't go over well.

On the bright side, I'm leading Angel along for a trail ride tomorrow evening so she gets used to being out on trails with other horses again. Won't be riding, but it'll still be a good experience for her.


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