# Little Horse, Big Adventure



## Katstica (Apr 22, 2016)

My whole life I've grown up around horses and four days ago I finally bought my very first horse. I've spent the last few years leasing horses that just somehow fell into my lap, and each one of them has taught me a lot about myself and made me a better horsewomen. Of course as soon as I turned 18 I decided I was ready for a project to call my own and after months and months of searching I stumbled across an ad with a blurry picture of a lanky little mare that I instantly fell in love with. Cheesy I know, but something in the back of my head was telling me that this was the horse I'd been waiting for.

At the time there was another horse who I had made arrangements to see so I scheduled to meet both of them on the same day as they were both roughly 4 hours away from me. As fate would have it, the other horse sold while I was on my way to see them so I ended up only seeing one horse that day. The owner trailered her out to a trail for me to try her on, as there was no place to ride on their property. When they pulled up I was impressed with how nicely she unloaded, but was absolutely appalled by her condition. She was stick thin, I could count each rib and her hip bone and spine was very defined. She had a rugburn across her belly where a blanket had been put on too tight and was covered head to toe with rainrot. Large sections of her back and flanks were bald and her fur fell out in chunks as I groomed her. To make things worse they had tried to treat her by covering her skin with used motor oil so thick that if you ran your hand across her back your palm would come back black. I can't imagine ever using an environmental hazard on an animal's skin.. I wish I had taken pictures but I was honestly so speechless and sick to my stomach that I wasn't even thinking about that. They couldn't remember the last time she had been vaccinated, had her feet done, had her teeth floated, or been wormed. It was hard to believe that anyone would think this was an acceptable condition for an animal to be in, let alone showing them to a potential buyer like this.

Against my better judgement I decided to get on her anyways, even though the owner had not lunged or ridden her before me. Stupid, stupid I know. It was the first time this green broke mare had been ridden in about 5 months in a completely new place with tons of things to spook at. Kids screaming, families having picnics, ducks flying through bushes, cars driving by, whitewater rapids, loud sudden noises everywhere and she took it all in stride. She was very thoughtful about everything and stopped to think before reacting. She is was looky, but not spooky. I could tell as soon as I got on her that she didn't know much. Any leg pressure just meant "GO" to her, and she was completely used to only using the bit (which was very severe) to control her direction. But even by the end of a 40 minute ride she was already responding to leg cues. She walked up stairs, went over logs, in between narrow trees, and did everything I asked her to do. I could not bring myself to ask her for more than a trot as I already felt terrible for sitting on her back with all the missing fur despite the nice pad they had used for her. The only bad thing she did was roll with me unexpectedly but how can I blame her with all that itch on her back? Afterwards I decided that this horse needed someone desperately to take care of her, so I gave the owner my offer, even though everyone told me that this horse was ready for the glue factory, she had really managed to impress me.

He declined my offer but I gave him time to sleep on it. I told him some things he needed to do for her (medicated baths, wormer, and lots of groceries at the very least) and he seemed genuinely grateful for my advice, the owner wasn't a cruel person, just very ignorant about horses. The next few weeks I had so much anxiety, thinking what if somebody else gives him a better offer, but who would want to take a chance on a horse who needs as much work as she does? I have to be crazy to even want to try. Or what if something terrible happens to her? I wanted so badly to just take her then and there but I knew that it was going to take a lot of money to help her, so I couldn't give him what he was asking. A few weeks later he called me up and said he wanted me to give her a good home, we negotiated her price down to something I felt comfortable with, knowing that I would have enough funds for vet bills in the worse case scenario.

A few days later me and a friend trailered out to pick her up. I had forgotten how tiny she was but was very happy to see her condition had greatly improved! All her rainrot seemed to be resolved and it looked like she had gained a little weight. She loaded right into the trailer without any fuss and off we went. When we got home she was very calm about being in a new place and settled right in. First thing I did was vaccinate and worm her, then left her to explore her new home. Of course she is quarantined from the other horses for the next few weeks but she can see all the other horses from her stall and has her own little turn out. The next day I gave her a medicated bath for good measure, which she was mostly good for but I could tell she was uncomfortable. So far we have been working on ground manners and basics like turning on forehand, side-passing, ect. So far is learning very quickly! She is probably one of the smartest horses I have worked with. Today I lunged her for the first time just to get an idea of what she's like. Surprisingly, she has a lot of impulsion in her trot and can really extend beautifully! We also had our first semi-successful join-up before she got distracted by some grass haha. She has issues with willingness to canter. I am going to try using a larger area tomorrow to see if that helps her pick up her leads. I will probably also have a chiropractor come out if the problem persists just to make sure it isn't a pain issue. She sometimes stands with her back legs camped out behind her, I am wondering if this could be spine, stifle, or gut discomfort? Maybe sand in her belly?

The first pictures are from a little over a month ago before I even saw her, also before her fur fell out. You can see some scabs on her back and sides. (which I thought was dirt at the time, just by looking at pictures). When I saw her she had also lost a lot of weight from the time these pictures were taken. Her birth name is Tequila Rose, no papers of course. Nickname is Rose.


















And here she is now!! She decided that she wanted to be a varnish roan  Still has lots of wormy hair but all the fur she lost has grown back in spotted! I have had people ask me if she is a mustang, and saying she looks like a 2 year old. She is 8 supposedly. Also had some people tell me she looks like a little native american pony. I guess I will never know what she really is 

























Her mane is so short, I gave her a mohawk during her first bath









There there is my long winded story, I had to stop myself from making it too long so that hopefully somebody actually reads it! I want to make this journal to document our journey together.


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## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

Great to hear your story. Is she pony sized? She looks like some POAs I've known (Pony of the Americas). Good and tough little horses.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

So glad that you have her, she's pretty and sounds so sweet. She looks young to me too. It will be cool to see what she looks like in a couple of months time with more care. Good luck with her.


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

She looks good!  A chiropractor is definitely a great idea. She may need an adjustment.

Very cute.


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## Change (Jul 19, 2014)

Pretty little gal. I'm so glad she is in better hands now!


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

We have an Appaloosa mare that looks a lot like her. Even the short mane. Glad you took a chance and brought her home.


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## Katstica (Apr 22, 2016)

We measured her to be about 14.3 so not super tiny, but still way shorter than the warmbloods I am used to!

Tested her for sand and she does seems to have some small rocks in her droppings so taking care of that should make her more comfortable. Unfortunately the guy who does teeth around here is out of town till June! It's awful watching the food drop out of her mouth as she eats, I'm going to have to try and find someone else to float her. I can hardly believe she is 8 myself, but the teeth don't lie. Maybe when the vet comes out we can get a more accurate estimate on her age.


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## Katstica (Apr 22, 2016)

Got her teeth done a few days ago, dentist estimated her to be 7 so the owners were right on. She said her teeth are as soft as a 3 year olds though, and she suspects that it was because she was malnourished and lacked calcium. Her teeth were splintered and had small cracks in multiple places, needless to say I am glad we got her when we did. She was confident that with a few months of proper care her teeth will start to strengthen again. We've been doing a lot of desensitizing lately, lots of work with bags, walking over wood and tarps, carrying flags, ect ect. She also had her first lesson with clippers yesterday! She acted like our babies do when they're first introduced so I think it's safe to say she'd never had clippers before. Also her quarantine has officially ended without any drama so she gets to go out in the big girl pasture now. We are not turning her out with other horses yet though.

Here are some pictures of her after her second bath, my camera has bad quality but I can't believe she has improved so much in just two weeks. I can't wait to see what she looks like with a few months of consistent work.

















Not a great pic but look at that trot! Maybe someone wants to be a dressage horse when they grow up?










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