Gracey Ranch Rescue Update

Saturday 15 August Update on the Gracey Ranch Rescue. This day was the day scheduled for a Veterinarian visit by Paws-n-Hooves Mobile Veterinarian Services, led by Dr Kassie Valerio and Vet Techs Brii Pineda and Joh Joh, Brii's husband Alexx came to help sort equines from the holding pen we constructed, so we could move the equines one by one (sometimes we would get two on accident) into the stock so the Vet could do exams. We started just before 7a finishing the gathering pen and stock, and pushed 51 equines into the pen. A panel failure where one of the larger horses jumped the panels knocking it down and letting all equines loose across the 2.5 acre turnout, had us restarting the gather. We had the 51 gathered back up just as the Vet and her crew were ready to start. It would have been hard enough gathering stud minis and stud colts, mommas and their foals on horseback, but we did all this on the ground as none of the rescues have been tested for EIA yet and none of us was willing to expose out horses to that chance.

We had to rope maybe a third of the horses to get them into the stock for an exam and worming. Most of these horses had not been handled much at all before and one spin of a lariat and they were all running around. I wanted to stress them as minimal as I could because of their condition and there were small foals in the bunch.

The rest of the others we were able to push and separate off from the rest into the stock. We were lucky to have two very capable young ladies, Chloe and Gabi, who proved to be the most valuable human work horses of the entire crew. One the ones I could rope, these young ladies were able to get halters on them, and with a butt rope, able to get hem into the stock. They caught several foals pushed to them and carried them into the stock. Rene and Desirae painted hip numbers and kept records from the Vet's exam. The Vet Exam included: taping them for a weight estimate to calculate initial wormer using Fenbendazole, estimating age by their teeth and Galvan's groove; noting the ones for anti-biotics; treating open wounds and such.

We moved on to the other 19 equines and had been previously been placed in pens as they could be built, and around 4.30p everything was done for the day. Thanks to the Paws-n-Hooves Vet team and everyone previously mentioned and all who showed up to help Mike Gracey and Micah Mayfield yesterday. All the rescue equines are doing good. Free choice grass hay, fresh water, salt blocks and above all good handling is paying off after the abuse and starvation they went through before being confiscated. The rescue if still raising funds to build more pens and to fund EIA (Coggins) testing.

Gracey Ranch Rescue Cash App Donation Site

Gracey Ranch Rescue Better World Org Donation Site

Trail Rides Okay, Arena Work is Not

I took a phone call from Cindy who wanted some ideas on how to approach a solution for her horse problems. She said her horse is good at trail rides, settling in calm walk along the shoulder of a county road, up on the top of a long water culvert then into a field and trees, and return to the barn. Cindy said her horse doesn't spook even when birds fly or rabbits jump out of the bushes near her. But going into the arena is a whole other world. She describes her horse as antsy, tense, and nervous saying her horse sometimes seemingly try's to anticipate what she is asking of her. She also said if she has to dismount to fix something, the horse makes it a little difficult with re-mounting by moving a step forward or a step sideways or both. This is kind of reverse from people who ask me what do about their horses okay in an arena, but on the trail they have problems.

Hey, here's an idea. To whoever is reading this, ask yourself what you would say to Cindy about fixing what she is talking about, before you read on.

I asked Cindy what she was doing in the arena and she replied different things, just training her horse....going over ground poles, backing serpentines, doubling on the fence, trotting small circles, doing figure eights with simple lead changes and such. Cindy also said that she is sure it isn't a buddy sour issue with her horse's stable mates being within sight of each other, and they are not a magnet for her horses when in the arena.

My advice to Cindy was it may be that her horse associates the arena with work,.....a lot of work, and that maybe she should try something different to see if she can get a change. I recommended that just take her horse into the arena and walk in a big lazy pattern around the arena, lazy turns to go the other direction and stop once in a while and just pet on her horse. Maybe even dismount and rub on her then stand quietly by her and see how she does. Does she take a big breath and exhale? Is she licking and chewing? How is her head set, ears and eyes? Is her body less tense? Will she soon cock a back leg and rest the toe of one foot on the ground? And that Cindy doesn't even have to re-mount at this point. If her horse seems less anxious and relaxed, then just take her out of the arena, brush her and put her away. Do this several times without "training" her in the arena and see if that brings about a change. If so, then maybe re-introduce some work in the arena, but with a lot of pauses.

I also asked Cindy to look at how she is asking her horses to do all the things she wants in the arena.  A horse being ridden always in contact with a rider asking just too much of a horse that is not quite ready to give that could be a source of anxiety in the horse.  The anticipation issue is sometimes the horse moving in anticipation and avoidance of pressure on the bit.  I think I'm guilty of that and am getting better at checking myself, slowing down and remembering slow is smooth, smooth is fast.       

As far as re-mounting, it may not be an issue after getting her to relax in the arena. We talked about making sure that she is not over bending the horse's head when she mounts, or mounts with her body aways from the horse and in effect, pulling him off balance. Those issues she was aware off and she assured me she mounts clean. So what I used to do when a horse moved when I was trying to mount, was first, do not throw a leg over if the horse is moving, and if he did I would jip the horse around with energy a few circles then stop the horse and offer it a chance to stand quietly while I try to mount again. But, for the past maybe ten years or so, I don't jip a horse around in circles if the horse was moving while I was mounting. I'll back him from the ground for or five steps, then ask it to stand quiet so I can mount and I think this works more effectively without raising the horse's anxiety level. Secondly, if I did have a leg over and the horse started forward movement, I would check it and back the horse. On a green horse it would be a pretty slow back. On a seasoned horse, I would back with a little more energy.