After two years and lots of patience one of our little foster mares, Spice, has been adopted along with another one of her acquaintances from Spirit Horse Equine Rescue, Copper. She arrived frightened of everything (including people), a scrawny youngster and left as a beautiful, outgoing, confident mare. I was so proud of her when she got right into the horse trailer to leave. We will really miss her but she has a great opportunity to help others as she is being adopted by someone who does Life Coaching and Equine Assisted Coaching. Her “sister” Sugar is still here and actually is doing just fine without her. Hopefully she’ll come out of her shell more as time goes on but she has always been more cautious/wary than Spice so she may end up being a “permanent foster” here.

Our two little foster horses, Sugar and Spice, have been with us for one year now and we have made good progress with them, especially with Spice. Today the farrier that trims the horses for Spirit Horse Equine Rescue, Stacy, came out to trim Spice. Spice was a very good girl and let Stacy trim all 4 of her hooves in about 15 minutes! Sugar is still not at the point where we can pick up and clean her hooves and Stacy said they actually look fine right now so no hurry. I don’t want to traumatize her by tranquilizing her and risk ruining the bit of trust she does have in us so we will be patient and keep working with her with the goal of having her trimmed sometime this summer.

I know I haven’t updated about our little foster horses in quite some time. The last couple of months progress had seemed to be slower with the two foster mares but now, in looking back, having to put them in a stall most nights since December has further helped socialize them. They have gotten used to a routine and gotten to watch the other horses and mini donkeys being handled by us. They have gotten used to all sorts of different noises and activities while inside and we’ve been able to go in the stall with them and touch/brush them more.

Two weekends ago it was a bit warmer out and my husband and I each took one of the fosters to work with. He took Sugar, the least confident of the two, into the stall and just hung out with her. He had a halter and lead rope with him and played with having her touch it and giving her treats when she did.

I took Spice, the bolder of the two, who I have been able to halter now, into another stall. I worked on teaching Spice to be tied and it went really well. She basically showed no resistance to being tied, even stepped on the rope and did not freak out. I was able to brush her and touch her all over her body and legs and even pick up her front feet and for the first time actually clean out those hooves. Then I led her out of the barn and walked around with her. Because she was doing so well I asked Kent to try walking her as he hasn’t handled her much and to my surprise she did great.

The next weekend I played with her a bit more and decided to start doing more of the Parelli 7 games with her. A good description of what these games are can be found here. Well little Spice has made huge strides in the past 2 weeks. She now moves sideways with slight pressure, has learned the “yo yo game” where you ask the horse to back away from you then come back to you and the “circle game”. She even trotted on the circling a bit and tonight we tried “the squeeze game” for the very first time — success! Tonight in the pasture she walked up to me and let me put the halter on her then lead her around the pasture even with the other horses present.

The “polite and passive persistence practiced in the proper position” (a Pat Parelli quote) has really paid off with this little horse. Yes, we could have lasso’d her, tied her to a post and forced her to accept our attention but doing it a more natural way has built her confidence and eased her fears. She is doing well enough that an adopter could take her and move on from here with her nicely. Sugar will take a bit more time but she does seek attention, allows some touching/brushing and nicely takes treats so eventually she will come around.

If you’ve read some of my other posts about our foster mini/pony mares you know progress with them has been very slow. If you haven’t, briefly they are being fostered by us for Spirit Horse Equine Rescue and we have had them here since May. They were part of a neglect case where over 100 animals (llamas, goats, donkeys, horses, minis) were taken away from a gentleman who couldn’t care for them all. They had not been handled by humans.

The girls watch us interacting with our mini donkeys and horses and I keep hoping they can see that they are not afraid of us and it might rub off on them. It has taken a long time to even be able to touch them and they are finally accepting a little bit of brushing, Spice has had a halter on a couple of times and both will take treats from our hands.

The girls have beautiful coats with long gorgeous tails and manes that were long but due to the burdocks in them they have shortened up. I have so wanted to get a comb/brush on them but have had to be patient. Lately they will wander in and out of the barn while I am in there and I can touch them a bit more. They will even walk into a stall on their own which they were doing today when I got the brilliant idea to try squirting some mane/tail detangler on them as they walked back and forth past me. They did accept that so I tried closing a stall door on Spice (the bolder one) to see what she would do. She did not get upset so I decided to put down some hay for her to eat and see if I could touch and brush her a bit more. Much to my surprise when I started gently pulling burrs out of her mane she tolerated it. After about 30 min. I had her mane totally clear of burdocks and started in on her tail. I really didn’t expect her to tolerate such a long grooming session but she did. I even got the burrs out of her feathering on her fetlocks and got to pick up one of her feet.

So I decided to try one more thing. I got out a halter and rubbed it on her face. Then I put it on her and tied it. I let the lead rope drag and thought that would be all I could accomplish for one session. I opened the stall door with me holding the lead rope. She followed me! I got some apples and put down an apple ahead of her. She would walk to it and take a bite, then I would pick up the apple and move it ahead again. This worked great as that way she was following instead of me pulling on the rope to get her to move. After that I got her to follow me all over the barnyard before I took off the halter. This was a big day for little Spice. Now if I can get a comb/brush on Sugar’s mane and tail that would be great.

I haven’t written much about the little foster horses as progress is pretty slow. They are at a really good weight and have beautiful winter coats. Unfortunately their tails are matted with burrs and they are not at a point I can get those out. They will let me pull a burr or two out of their manes though. Today they both followed me into the barn and were poking around in there while I cleaned it up. I was able to run a brush over both of them while they were in there, even Sugar let me gently brush her with a lot of “approach and retreat” on my part. I briefly was able to touch Sugar’s lower front leg which is a first with her. They both enjoyed some apples while I was brushing them so it was a positve experience. They are getting curious about us and what we are doing and do seek out a bit of attention on their own now. Spice remains the dominant one of the pair but Sugar does not back down from her as quickly.
So that’s where we’re at after having them for 5 months — a slow progression.

I haven’t written about the mini foster horses in almost 2 weeks because progress is slow and I don’t want to bore everyone. In the last few days things have moved along a bit though.

The girls are spending much more time on grass now, their winter coats are finally all gone and their coats are pretty shiny and healthy looking. I still can’t brush them so their manes are pretty scruffy but hopefully in the next month I’ll be able to try, at least with Spice, the bolder one.

It has helped to take the advice about working with them “outside their bubble”. I have been hanging the carrot stick over the fence, flicking the rope around from the other side of the fence, letting the rope touch them briefly and finally (only with Spice) rubbing back, neck, rump with the carrot stick so they know it won’t hurt them. I think Spice is starting to think that feels really good as she is starting to stand still for the scratch with the stick. I can also drape the string that is on the carrot stick (Savvy String) around her neck, over her back and touch her legs with it. Sugar still is very wary of the stick and string although I’ve been able to get it a bit closer to her lately and she has sniffed it. Being able to rub her with the stick has been a huge breakthough. I hope Sugar will accept some rubs with the stick soon.

Tonight I made some great progress. I had the girls loose in our outdoor arena to graze. I went in the arena and start lightly flicking the carrot stick and string around as I walked then stopped and waited for the girls to come over to me. They both did and got treats for coming to me. Then I started walking around the outdoor flicking the stick rhythmically in front of me. They both followed me all over and when I ran, Spice trotted behind me and when I stopped she usually stopped although once I had to slap the ground with the stick so she didn’t run into me. I played this game for a while with them and occasionally doled out a treat to each one then left the arena without putting pressure on them to do anything.

Later tonight when I went to feed them they both came over the fence and Spice poked her head through at me. I was able to rub her face with my hand for many seconds then worked my hand along her neck and rubbed it for quite a while. When she seemed okay with that I touched/rubbed her chest then touched her upper legs. I was also able to run Sugar’s face for the longest time I’ve ever been able to touch her. This is a big change even in the last week.

Horses see us as predators and they are the prey so it takes a lot of work to earn their trust especially when they haven’t had much human contact. Here is a video showing the friendly game and how it is used to win the trust of and desensitize a horse.

Friendly Game

Eventually I should be able to do more of this with the girls. Of course right now they haven’t even had a halter on yet so everything is done with them loose in a fenced area and usually from more of a distance. I’ll do another update once we have made some more progress.

The foster mares have been here one month today. We have to keep them in a pen or “dry lot” except for a few hours a day as they cannot be on grass all day or they will founder (develop laminitis). They are now less skittish when we enter their pen and they do come right up to the fence when I am out in the barnyard or go to feed them. They do enjoy their time on grass and nicker at me when I go to open the gate letting them into one of the grassy areas of our farm. Tonight they got to go in the largest pasture we have along with my horse Nick. I thought they would feel more secure if they had him with them and they all played at first before they settled down to graze. I did not have any trouble separating Nick from them or getting them to move to their pen tonight after about 3 hours on grass. That was a pleasant surprise as I was a bit worried they would just take off and run and run since I can’t get a halter on to catch them but instead have to use the “driving game” to move them from space to space.

I can now touch their faces pretty much every time I am around them, even Sugar is letting me push her mane out of her eyes. I would so love to get a brush on them but they aren’t ready for it yet.
At the Parelli event this weekend one of their instructors told me to try working with them from outside their “bubble” so I have been flicking the “carrot stick” (a long orange stick) with a rope around outside their fence then hanging the rope into their pen and letting them see it. I am calling it my horse fishing pole. I actually was able to drape the rope over Spice’s neck and scratch her back and rear briefly with the stick. Sugar will not let the rope be too near her yet but will let it touch her head briefly while she reaches for treats.

Their coats look much better as they have lost most of their scruffy winter coat and have a shine to their summer coats now. Spice especially has filled out and doesn’t look ribby any more. Sugar has filled out a bit but still looks too thin. I am still wondering if she may be expecting a foal due to the shape of her belly and that her spinal muscles seem dropped down from her spine as a pregnant mare can look. Time will tell……

I’ll write more about their progress and try to take some new photos of them soon.

This is a quick update on the mini/pony foster mares. Spice has been quite feisty this week since she’s been in heat. She nipped at my arm today when I tried to touch her neck so I backed off. They are getting more curious. Today they both were sniffing at my shirt through the fence which is new. I just know we can’t push it with them or otherwise we will justify them being afraid of us. Approach and retreat is the way we work with them. As the Parelli’s explain it, we are predators to them and they think we are going to eat them. So if we move fast, yell, approach quickly, etc. we are only convincing them we really are going to eat them. Patience is the only way we will ever get these girls to trust us or any human. So in 3 weeks it doesn’t appear that there is a lot of progress but our patience is laying a foundation for future trust.

Here is an update on the two mini/pony mares we are fostering.
They are well adjusted to their paddock and to spending a couple of hours per day on grass. They will come to the fence when we bring hay, water or treats and both take treats from our hands as long as we don’t make any sudden movements. I can touch both their faces and stroke Spice’s neck, chest and upper legs a bit more. I try to spend time every day just sitting in or by their paddock. They do usually approach me and sniff at my hand but any movement on my part and they jump away.

One of the girls is very clever — they figured out how to open the latch to the sliding door that goes out to the outdoor arena where Nick had been hanging out most of this week. Kent woke up at 5 a.m. the other day and happened to look out the kitchen door to see Nick zooming around in the outdoor with two small shapes also running and realized they had gotten in there. He thought he had forgotten to latch the door that goes into Nick’s half of the shed and out into the outdoor. Then it happened again a couple of days ago. When he closely looked at the latch he saw some reddish hairs on it and it was flipped up. He now has a clip on the latch so it can’t be flipped up by anything lacking hands!

Last night there was an incident with Chryssy (our almost 3 year old mini donkey). I went to turn them in and Chryssy wasn’t coming. I could see a dark shape running near the fence and realized she was on the other side of the fence (as in the neighbor’s yard). I had Kent run and get a flashlight and sure enough she had gone through the fence (which was a barbed wire fence in that spot and we are slowly getting rid of barbed wire as I hate it). She actually broke a strand and there was hair everywhere so I was worried as to what I would find. Kent cut the other 4 strands of wire so we could get Chryssy through the fence and we got her in the barn. She was very calm and only had a few scratches and scrapes which is amazing for having gone through barbed wire. A horse would have panicked and been all cut up. So at 7 a.m. today Kent was out stringing new electric fence to the inside of the barbed wire.

Not exactly sure what happened but Sugar and Spice had been out grazing with the donkeys and I am speculating that Spice chased her, it was dark and Chryssy ran through the fence. Although the donkeys have been out in the same pasture with the mini/pony girls for a couple of hours a day for a little over a week, they are still afraid of them and Spice is in heat which is making her more dominant. We have seen her chase Sugar, too. Needless to say the two groups are being kept separated for now. However I am able to let them out with Nick, who is still lonesome for Cookie and is happy for a little company (he chases the donkeys so can’t be with them).

Both girls have “worm bellies” but Spice doesn’t look too bad overall. They are shedding their winter coats. Poor Sugar is so skinny except for that round belly and I am hoping she isn’t pregnant (no signs of heat in her so far). I have dewormed them with small amounts of Strongid 3 times now but only use about 1/4 of their dose. There were various stallions left loose with them at the farm they were surrendered from so it is a possibility that she was bred. They were surrendered in Oct. so if she is bred a foal could be due as late as Sept. Only time will tell as there is no way a vet could get near her to examine her right now.

We accept that progress will be slow with them and just have to keep slowly building up their trust. I promise to post updates when anything interesting happens with them and once they have shed more will take more photos.