# Gotta Have Faith



## Prairie (May 13, 2016)

Bless you and your hubby for giving her a brighter future! Enjoy the adventure of training her to be a good horsey citizen.


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## GMA100 (Apr 8, 2016)

WOW! I've had my fair share of "stray" horses before, although I didn't keep them, so bless you for taking her.
She looks like a Faith to me!


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## Mulefeather (Feb 22, 2014)

At least now that you have legally purchased her, you don't have to worry about someone coming back and trying to take her! 

She definitely looks QH/TB to me. Good on you for giving her a great home and a chance to grow up into a good horse.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

What a story! Adding this to my list of journals to follow


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

GMA100 said:


> WOW! I've had my fair share of "stray" horses before, although I didn't keep them, so bless you for taking her.
> She looks like a Faith to me!


This also isn't the first stray horse we've had either. About 10 years ago, an unhandled stallion wandered onto the property. He had broken out of his enclosure, presumably because one of our mares was in heat. We contacted the inspector right away because he was dangerous. He also went to auction. 

ETA: This doesn't include some neighboring horses who have stopped in for a "visit" because a gate was left open. We've had a few of those over the years, but the owners have always shown up within hours. 



Mulefeather said:


> At least now that you have legally purchased her, you don't have to worry about someone coming back and trying to take her!


Agreed. I also take some comfort in knowing that if anyone did try to come and get her, there are security cameras with infrared capability, so if there was anything suspicious, it would be caught on camera day or night. 

I kind of felt like there are so many things in life, where you just can't do anything and have to let due process take its course. When I heard that she was going to auction, I felt like this was one of those few situations where I had the power to do something and make a difference for her. 

The auction was one of the saddest and misery-filled places I have ever been and I hope I never have to darken its doorways again. Even after I had the winning bid on her and I knew she was mine, I didn't feel happy. I was just relieved to be able to finally get out of there. I didn't think I would be so emotionally drained, but I pretty much went to bed as soon as I got home. It wasn't until I woke up yesterday and went for a long run that I finally started to feel a sense of excitement for the possibilities she now has.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

I was just looking through some of the photos I have and found this one. Faith immediately developed a very strong attachment to Lilly and stayed at her hip like a foal follows its mom. She also kept looking like she wanted to nurse, but would never quite follow through. I don't know if Lilly kicked her away at one point, or if she just saw there was nothing there to nurse from. She was obviously weaned late. Tomorrow I get to go pick her up!:biglaugh:

She is also pretty tall. Lilly is just a smidgen under 15 hh and Faith is nearly as tall as her.


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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

I've never been to a horse auction, but I can imagine it can be both heart breaking and at the same time, joyful.....

Faith is a great name.......and while I don't know for sure....I'd bet she's going to be a great companion. 

After all, the three greatest things in the world are......faith, hope, and love.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

what a fascinating story. I can't wait to see the updates. I hope things work well for you . she looks like a horse that will mature into a real beauty. she is most definitely thoroughbred in at least part.


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## TuyaGirl (Mar 14, 2014)

Subbing, so glad all went well for your girl. You have a wonderful heart <3


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Well, Faith came home on Wednesday and what an adventure it was for me getting out of the city to go meet my friend to pick her up. A massive thunderstorm with torrential rain came through right when I was leaving to pick her up and the freeway I was taking flooded. I got stuck in traffic and it took me almost an hour to get out of the city. 

When I finally arrived, my friend was there and Faith was ready to be loaded, standing in the aisle leading to the loading chute. She pricked her ears and came to sniff me when I arrived. We just chased her down the aisle and she hopped into the trailer. 

Upon arrival at my mom's farm, Lilly didn't even really seem to care that a horse trailer was being backed into her pen. She just stood there and watched intently. It was only when we opened the trailer door and Faith looked at Lilly and nickered that she had any kind of reaction. Lilly started arching her neck and acting really stud-like and squealing. I suspect she might have been in heat because Faith kept on doing the Flehmen response when she sniffed her. I've let them settle in for a couple of days and am going back out this evening to start doing some work with her. My first goal is to get her ok with human touch and contact, which will probably be the largest hurdle and I'm under no illusions that she will warm to me instantaneously. I'm hoping it won't take too long, but won't rush the process.

In the photos, you can still see a sad attempt by auction staff to paint her lot # on her side... it ended up being just a big yellow blob. She looks like she may have lost a little bit of weight over the last week as well. I am not implying she wasn't well taken care of, but I think the stress of moving and going through the auction and all of the strange activity took a bit of a toll on her. She is otherwise in good spirits and trotted around the pen. 

I also suspect she was a late Fall or early winter born foal because the tips of her ears look like they have frozen off. Not a lot, but the little points at the end are missing.

The freeway I got stuck on - don't worry, my car isn't one of the floating ones. I just got stuck in the backlog behind this.








All loaded up and ready to come home.








Making faces


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## GMA100 (Apr 8, 2016)

What a sweetie!! Is she totally wild?


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## HeroAndGunner (Jul 25, 2016)

She is adorable, I hope she turns out well for you.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

GMA100 said:


> What a sweetie!! Is she totally wild?


Yes, she is wild. But I think it is because she's never been handled vs. any mistreatment by people. She is very curious about us.

The mosquitoes were so bad, I made them a smudge, which is the smoke you see in the pictures. She followed me around back and forth, from a distance, as I forked straw into the area where we usually put the smudge and watched very intently as I lit the fire and moved wet straw to generate smoke. She'll also come up to to us if we're standing on the other side of the fence and check us out. So I think there's hope for her yet!


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## HeroAndGunner (Jul 25, 2016)

Yes I agree there is definitely hope for her since you got her. At least she will have a chance at life now!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

I went out and did a bit of work with Faith this weekend. I'm mainly working on building trust right now and she really seems to be warming up to me. Lilly is her regular piggy self and was chasing Faith away from the feed. I used this to my advantage and stood nearby with a bucket of feed, so she had a decision to make. She could either brave cranky Lilly or she could try her luck with me. She very cautiously approached me, took some feed and backed away. When nothing happened, she got a little braver and eventually just stood there and calmly ate. I didn't try to touch her or make any move, but just stood and let her process that perhaps I wasn't going to eat her.

The mosquitoes out there are _horrendous_. I put fly wipe on Lilly but I may as well have not done anything because the mosquitoes continued to swarm. Of course, I couldn't do anything to help poor Faith as far as fly wipe, so I made them a smudge. She has very quickly learned that if she stands in the smoke, the mosquitoes don't bother her. She found the smokiest spot and would not move. 

The next morning, I thought if I could get out early enough, I'd beat the mosquitoes, but that hope was dashed as soon as I walked outside. I was immediately swarmed and even though I was wearing a long sleeved sweater and jeans, was being attacked incessantly. The horses were also being driven batty, so I decided to bring them both into the barn. Faith has been in the barn before, so it's not a completely new scene for her. I put Lilly in a stall and left Faith out in the aisle so she wouldn't feel cornered. I held the bucket of feed like I did the night before and she didn't even hesitate to come to me. This time however, she had to let me touch her. She wasn't too big of a fan at first, but finally let me stroke her neck and scratch under her mane. She figured out very quickly that if she had any hope of getting some feed, she'd have to let me touch her. Yesterday, I did the same thing - took them inside, put Lilly in a stall and she just followed me when I went to pick up the bucket. There was almost no resistance to touch and I was able to move in a bit closer and scratch closer to her withers. As soon as she is a bit more comfortable with being around me and used to me touching her, we'll move on to halter and lead stuff. But she really seems to be getting more comfortable with me and food is a really good motivator.

She does have one vice and that is cribbing. She has one of the planks in the fence chewed almost all the way through. I'm hoping that with the larger paddock and room to move around, she'll have the extra stimulation she needs and won't feel the need to do this. In the meantime, I'm going to start looking into some products that I can maybe put on the fence planks to deter her. She only seems to do it in one spot. 

I also suspect that she has pin worms (among other parasites). I've caught her rubbing her butt on the fence a few times, so this is further motivation for me to get her halter trained and handled as soon as possible. As soon as I'm able to do this, both she and Lilly will be getting dewormed. Lilly is on a regular worming schedule and has already been dewormed once this year, but I see no point in doing it now until I can also deworm Faith. I'm sure that will also assist in her gaining weight as well.

I am not a professional trainer by any stretch of the imagination, but halter training and basic handling is something I have done before and I've been riding and handling horses for about 25 years. I've been running everything I do by the trainer who works out of the barn where I board Elsa and she thinks I'm on the right track so far and has advised me to just take it slow. I am under no illusions that Faith could be dangerous and wear steel toed boots, my riding helmet and long sleeves and pants when I'm around her. 

I didn't get a chance to take a ton of photos, but here are a few from over the weekend.

Standing and enjoying the smudge








Out grazing and relaxing


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Well, I intended to do some work with Faith, but when I went out there, Lilly was 3 legged lame and had a fever. So I ended up calling the vet and treating her instead. The vet prescribed her some potent broad spectrum antibiotics and Lilly was pretty much back to normal by yesterday with no fever and lameness almost non-existent. 

While I didn't do a lot of work specifically with Faith, she did get some lessons in patience. I put her in a stall in the barn and left Lilly out in the aisle for the vet. She was clearly pretty bored and started making faces at us and gave the vet a good view of her teeth. The vet confirmed my suspicion that she is about a year and a half, saying that she hadn't even lost her caps yet. She is definitely getting more comfortable around us and now that she's really settled in, I plan to really get to work on halter training her. If anyone has suggestions, please feel free to chime in. I have been speaking with my trainer and do have a plan, but I'm always open to feedback. 

My mom told me she made a concoction of hot sauce and vinegar and sprayed it along the tops of the fence planks. There are a few places where Faith has almost cribbed through the entire plank. It seems to have worked, because there hasn't been any fresh cribbing. Hopefully, that was enough to make her forget about that habit. She has plenty of mental stimulation out there, so she shouldn't be bored. 

She is starting to fill out and her coat is starting to come in a brighter red colour. Her colouring is quite interesting. She has a bit of dark brown/black in her mane and tail and has considerable amount of dark hair on the insides of her legs. Just above her socks, it lightens to a buttermilk colour. I look forward to see what shade she ends up. She is being fed a 14% protein complete feed and the new hair growth is definitely reflecting the improved diet.

After being in the barn for a couple of hours, she had some energy to burn off, so I managed to grab a few photos of that.


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## GMA100 (Apr 8, 2016)

Any update on Faith?


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## taryntaylor (Sep 26, 2016)

I absolutely love watching and reading the updates!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

*Happy New Year!*

Hello Everyone, 

I am sorry I haven't provided any updates for such a long time. I had some unexpected events happen and I didn't have much time to spend with Faith, so she had a few months to really settle in and get used to the farm. 

In hindsight, I don't think this was the worst thing for her. After working with her more, I think she has had some negative experiences with people. My mom didn't try to do anything with her and just let her be, but she does go out to feed them daily, so Faith was able to get pressure-free, but still positive interaction with people and she really started to relax around us. 

Over time, I started to notice that she would seek us out. I would chase her and Lilly out of the barn, and she would come back to see what we were doing. Here, I had the door open just a few feet to sweep out the aisle and she stuck around to see what I was doing. 









She's also gotten healthier and put on some weight and looks to have hit a growth spurt. I still couldn't touch her a few months ago but I wanted to ensure she was as healthy as possible, so I mixed liquid dewormer into her feed on two different occasions, a few weeks apart. She really started to look better afterwards and her appearance and demeanour changed dramatically. I know mixing, there is a risk she didn't get the full dose, but I suspected she was carrying a heavy wormload and wanted to try and get her as healthy as possible. 

I didn't start really working with her again until the end of October - beginning of November. The snow flew very early this year, so I moved our sessions indoors to a small 10X12 box stall. What I discovered is she wasn't entirely afraid of me, but afraid of my touch. I could stand right beside her and she wouldn't move, but the second I lifted a finger, she would bolt. I was only able to come out on weekends, so while I was seeing incremental progress, it was very, very slow. 

I spoke with a friend of mine who had a similar experience with a pony she bought and asked her what worked for her. She came over on December 28 and asked me for a longe whip. I had Faith in the same boxstall that she's been coming in for months and my friend placed the end of the longe whip on her shoulder. As expected, she bolted forward, but being in a confined space, my friend was able to maintain contact with the end of the whip from a safe distance. Faith circled us once and then realized that she couldn't escape and so she stopped. My friend then took the longe whip and started touching her all over with it, and Faith didn't move a muscle. She even moved it down her back legs, fully expecting her to kick at it, and she just stood there, watching very intently. My friend then started stroking her shoulder with the whip and inched closer. She removed the whip and continued stroking with her hand in the same place where she had been touching her with the whip. Faith remained rooted to the ground. She stepped back and I came and started scratching her. She still didn't move. 

We backed off for a few minutes to give her some time to process, then came back and started stroking her neck again. She started licking her lips and dropped her head and while I could see she was a little unsure, she seemed to be accepting us. 

Here is the first touch. As you can see, I'm pretty excited about this. 

















The next day, I went back out and was petting her. She seemed to be taking it so well, I brought in a lead rope and started rubbing it on her body. She was completely unphased. I draped it over her neck, practicing putting my arm over, like I would if I were putting on a halter. There was absolutely no reaction. She seemed to be so accepting, I thought, why not give the halter a try? I grabbed the halter, let her smell it, touched her with it and put it on. She didn't even bat an eyelash. I have halter-trained before and this is by far the easiest and fuss-free first-time haltering I have ever had. 

As you can see by her expression, she is _really _upset by all of this. 









She has been so willing to try, the next day, I went out, clipped on the leadrope and asked for a few steps. At first, she braced against me and it was a battle of wills for about 2 minutes. Then, I'm not sure if she shifted or if it was deliberate, but she moved a hind leg forward, so I immediately released and told her she was a good girl, giving her a scratch on the neck. It turns out, she _loves_ being rewarded. It didn't take her long to figure out that if she moved forward off the pressure on the halter, she would get more scratches and told she was a good girl. 

I had my mom come out and record us taking a walk out into the aisle. While it isn't perfect and is painstakingly slow, I was so proud of how willing she was to try, even though she was a little unsure. 

Don't mind her glowing eyes - my mom's camera automatically turned on the flash and so she looks a little bit evil. On the way back, she was a little afraid of the light, but still bravely continued foward. And yes, I realize after looking at this that I didn't bring the halter far enough forward towards her ears and it's a little high up her nose. Her winter fuzzies also aren't helping matters. I did adjust it after this video. 






I went out yesterday again and she had so much more confidence that she understood what I was asking. I had my mom take a short video of the difference between the two sessions, 24 hours apart. She needed much less reassurance from me. 






My next order of business will be to work on picking up her feet so they can get some much needed farrier attention. They're in decent condition for never being trimmed before, but I'm looking forward to getting them taken care of. I did pick up her fronts twice for about 2 - 3 seconds and she did really well. She felt a little off balance on the first side, but when I switched sides, she fully anticipated what I wanted and did really well. 

I'm so happy that she is turning out to be so calm, willing and full of try. I hope that the rest of her training is this easy. 

And just for fun, a few more pictures. 

She has a knack for making funny faces. 








Winter fuzzies















Showing that she can make nice faces too.


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## jgnmoose (May 27, 2015)

What a great story, and a great name.

I wish you a lot of luck. Hopefully this horse ends up being one of those kind you brag on.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Thank you. Now that she isn't afraid, she is certainly turning out to be very easy going and easy to train. And smart. It takes her no time at all to figure out what I'm asking. I'm hoping she continues on the upward trajectory. 

I'll be honest, I was beginning to think I had gotten in over my head so I'm happy I stuck with it over the last couple of months. Everything from hereon out I've done before so this is no longer unfamiliar territory, unless she throws me a real curve ball.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

I went out over the weekend to do some work with Faith. I brought her out of the stall and we started to learn about tying. She at first tried to come with me, but as soon as she felt the pressure on her halter, she stood still. I did a bit of brushing with her before but really gave her a full body grooming and she is discovering that brushing and scratches are really quite nice. I combed out her mane and pulled some hairs that I'm going to send away for 5 panel testing. Having no history on her and with there being a high likelihood of Quarter Horse breeding, there are more unknowns than known variables so I'd like to at least eliminate or conversely discover what I can and manage accordingly. 

After getting a full brush down, I picked up her fronts a couple of times for a few seconds and then we went for a walk around the corral. She's a little unsure of walking beside me and would much rather follow behind me, but is slowly becoming more sure of herself every time I work with her. She only spooked once and that was when I went to take off the halter. Something about that set her off and she went flying backwards. And by that I mean she very rapidly backed up about 10 steps and stopped. That little hiccup aside, she was a doll. 

I think she is going through a growth spurt and she's a little thinner than what I'd like. She has free choice timothy-brome grass hay and gets fed a 14% protein complete ration twice daily. I'm also used to my chubby easy keepers so it might be that my perception is skewed because she definitely isn't short on food. I have felt through her hair and I can definitely feel she's got some padding over those ribs but she is definitely in a bit of a gawky yearling phase. 

The farrier was out on Saturday for my mare. I scheduled the next appointment for 8 weeks from now and my goal is that the next time he comes, Faith will be ready to have her feet done as well. If I can get her ready sooner, I will see about having him come sooner.


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Awwww looks like a sweet girl.


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

*The best laid plans...*

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. My plan for Faith this weekend was to do more work picking up her feet. The weather has warmed (to about -10 C) and so I thought it would be a good opportunity to walk her a little further, outside of the pen. 

I walked outside on Saturday morning and saw her lying down in the snow. I thought she must be enjoying the warmer weather. As I got closer, things didn't look quite right. She was soaking wet and shivering. When I called out to her she got up and then immediately went back down and started rolling. Between rolls, she kept looking at her abdomen - all classic colic signs. I got her into the heated barn and called the vet. She showed very slight improvement as she started to warm up and my mom and I worked to get the snow and ice out of her hair and dry her out a bit. I listened to her abdomen and she had no gut sounds.

When the vet arrived, I forewarned her that Faith had been handled for less than a month so she was very careful as she listened to Faith's heart rate, abdomen and took her temperature. She was initially afraid that Faith would be hypothermic, being as wet as she was out in the snow, but thankfully her body temperature was normal. 

She gave her some pain killers and a sedative to do a rectal exam. I haven't had an opportunity to vaccinate Faith yet, so this was the first time she's ever had any needles. She barely flinched. During the exam, she was very quiet. Of course, being sedated helped. The vet couldn't feel any blockages and said nothing had been dislodged or was twisted as far as she could tell. 

She then advised she was going to flush Faith's stomach, to try and determine if there was a blockage further up. She said she usually had to twitch horses for this (even sedated ones) because they don't like the tube going down and have a tendency to jerk their heads up and give themselves a nose bleed. I told her to give it a try first and if Faith seemed like she wouldn't cooperate, then we'd go for the twitch. I'm glad we gave her the benefit of the doubt because she barely flinched the whole time. The vet said that the good news was that not much more came out than what she put in - but she still didn't know if there was an impaction and if there was, where it was located. She administered fluids and electrolytes through the nasal tube and said the only thing we could do was watch and wait to see if she passed anything. 

Only a horse owner can understand the joy of seeing poop in a colicking horse's stall. It took 7 hours before a teeny tiny pile showed up in her stall. She definitely started to brighten up and by morning, the state of her stall made it very clear that things were working properly again. I talked to the vet this morning and she said to give her one last does of banamine in case eating gave her some gastric distress and start her on small amounts of hay in the morning and then half of her normal daily intake in the afternoon. 

Now, it's like it never happened, but she sure did give me a scare. I'm very happy that it was warm and not -30 outside otherwise colic would have been the least of my problems. I asked the vet what she thought the cause could be and she said that with the major fluctuations in the weather- it was -30 out last week and went up to +8 this week- sometimes they don't drink as much as they should when it warms up. She said almost every call she's had this week has been colic. We'll still be keeping an eye out and hope this was just an isolated incident. Despite the less than optimal conditions, I was so proud of her good behaviour and willingness to cooperate and trust what we were doing. She's really starting to show promise.

When I first brought her in. She was drenched in water, presumably from melting snow.








Waiting for the vet. She wanted to lay down and roll. When I wouldn't let her roll, she settled for laying down. 








This morning. Looking like nothing exciting had happened at all in the last 24 hours. 
















And a picture I took last week. It would have been really nice if she didn't have such a snarky look on her face.


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## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

I'm glad she's ok!! So scary!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Thank you. I'm also glad she pulled through and is completely back to normal. I'll be honest, it was terrifying. 

The last year and a half has been an emotional roller-coaster and a continuous saga of things going wrong and I really didn't want anything more to go seriously wrong. In September 2015, my dad died very suddenly from a heart attack. The following February, one of the horses we'd had for 18 years had to be put down at the age of 32. In June, my brother-in-law had a heart attack at the age of 30, resulting in brain damage that he's now on a long road to recovery from. Just after that Faith showed up and she seemed like a beacon of hope. Following that, a family member suffering from some mental health problems started causing some major trouble for my sister and I that is still ongoing. In August, the other mare that is out at my mom's got really ill with a respiratory infection combined with a hoof abscess and I had to have the vet out. In the fall, my other filly went lame and I had to take her to the vet. The vet had no idea what was wrong and so she was prescribed stall rest for 6 weeks and she was an absolute basket case to deal with. Luckily, she recovered. To top it all off, the economic conditions where I live have been very poor in the last 2 years and so while neither my husband nor I have lost our jobs, job-losses in the industry he works are astronomical right now so we have that shining possibility hanging over our heads. 

I'm hoping now that every single horse I own has had to see a vet in the last 11 mos, that this is it and it's onward and upward from here!


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Oh my, that is scary!  I'm glad she's OK and pulled through. Thank goodness. That would be the last thing you needed.:|:frown_color:

Awww she looks beautiful!!!!


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## FrostedLilly (Nov 4, 2012)

Faith is doing just fine after her colic episode. Literally like it never happened. She is on grass hay and there is always free access to water and salt so the vet thinks that she just didn't drink enough when the temperatures increased. Which, speaking of, it was in the -30's here last week and this week it is 7 degrees above 0... I've been a little on edge. 

I finally got around to sending her 5 Panel test to Animal Genetics a few weeks ago and the results came in today. She is n/n for HYPP, HERDA, GBED, PSSM1 and MH. I have zero plans to breed her and I would hope that where she ends up also doesn't either, but with no history, having a genetic test negative for common diseases really can't hurt. 

Currently, we aren't doing too much new stuff, but just working on reinforcing what she already has started to learn which is leading, commands like walk-on, woah and back and grooming. She has no trouble picking up her front feet and I'm able to pick them out with a hoof pick. She's still a little wiggly on her backs, but that too is coming along nicely. She is also learning a bit about moving off pressure. Nothing really serious yet, but I've asked her to move her hindquarters over a few times as I move around her to brush and she's figured that out very quickly. 

Every now and then, she tells me a story about her history. Right now, if she's out in the pasture, I can't catch her. When I walk her around the pen, as soon as I take off her halter, she walks away. I wanted her to stay beside me after the halter came off, so I attempted to put the leadrope around her neck before taking off the halter. I've done this several times in the confines and security of the barn and she hasn't had any issue with it. Out in the great wide open, she had a bit of a freak out as soon as the rope touched her neck and took off sideways. So, I adjusted my plan and just rubbed the rope on the side of her neck until her head lowered and she started licking her lips. I didn't want to push the issue too much since this is clearly something stressful for her, so I took the halter off at that point and walked away. I suspect at some point, she was roped and that was not a positive experience for her. I plan to keep working on that until it's not a big deal to her anymore. She has come so far in such a short period of time, it' easy to forget that all of this is really new to her and she might still carry some negative associations with people. 










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