new horse

Okay. We finally had to sit on her. On Friday night, we were lunging Missy with the saddle on, and she was behaving so well that we decided to put some weight in the stirrup to see what she'd do. Using a bucket, Doug stepped up a few times, and finally, he was up and over! I led Missy around the roundpen twice, and then he got off. She was good! She was blowing a little bit, but not too badly. He walked with her, naturally VERY elated and was praising her profusely. Then he tried again. No problem. So, of course, I had to get on, and he led us around the roundpen once, and she was very good. I got off then, and we both praised her and untacked her, and led her to the pasture for a few minutes before dinner.

1) Clean and disinfect the stall where he'll be living. Even though I'm no neatnick, this is a step I never skip. There's plenty of disease out in the world that your new horse could get. Make sure you remove all the old bedding and scrub down the walls.

2) Check the pasture fences for any weakness. A horse in a new environment tends to wahoo around--make sure everything is safe, nails and driven home and there's nothing that could hurt him.

3) Hand walk him around the fence lines and the property so he gets a feel for his environment.

4) Bring hay and grain from the old place so there's no sudden change in diet. If he hasn't been out on grass don't turn him out right away. Give him a gradual introduction, starting with 10 minutes of hand grazing and adding time over the course of two weeks. Change his diet gradually and only if you must.

Mother's Day started off on the right foot for me. I woke up, took care of the kennels at the vet's, and went to load my NEW HORSE onto a trailer and take her to her NEW HOME! This was supposed to be done on Saturday night, while I was at work, but my fiancee' and the horse's owner couldn't get her to load. After about fourty-five minutes of "Missy" rearing at the trailer door, we took a chance and used a blindfold. It worked. She was loaded in five minutes, and standing quietly, eating hay. She rode like a champion to the new farm, just about a mile and a half away, and unloaded nicely. The barn door was another matter. We bribed and pleaded. Finally, she went into her stall. We left her alone for a few hours, and came back later to mess with her some more.