"Zip" came to me from my in- laws. When I met Zip, he was a 2 year old gelding that had not been handled since his castration, running with a herd on 40 acres. 'K', my sister in- law, helped me round up all of the horses and sort them out, until all we had left was Zip in her 50' round pen. He was curious but cautious, with absolutely stunning color and conformation, and that cow- horse boldness and athleticism. We played in the round pen for about twenty minutes before his eye softened, and finally, he let me pet him.
That first touch is so incredible, every muscle trembles, every instinct in their body screams 'RUN!', but he chose to stay.
Pretty soon I was able to rub him down with the halter, and my hand, and he was follo
wing me around the round pen. Most horses, when you halter them for the first time, have to go through the same pattern of discovery. Zip just went, "Oh, you got me. OK, yes m'am".
Next I taught him to give to pressure, left, right, back, down, and then forward, and before I knew it he was leading pretty well, learning to lunge and finally to tie. Because leading outside of the round pen is a LOT trickier, and I'd rather like to keep the skin on my hands and all my joints properly secured, I started by teaching him to pony.
I usually prefer to take my time with a horse, and really get them comfortable and conditioned before attempting anything like leading for the first time, or trailer loading for that matter. But when you don't have that kind of time, well, you cowboy up
He pulled back once or twice before getting with the program, but my mare, like any good cow- horse, just dragged him along. Once he was leading well off of Hope, I tied him up and let him have a break. I was pretty happy when he then let me walk up to him and halter him in the herd after only 20 minutes of negotiation without fleeing. I was further impressed when he followed me out of the pasture he was born in, past every imaginable monster a horse could encounter, and into a two horse trailer. Without any major drama, trailer loading took about an hour, which is incredibly good for a horse who JUST learned to lead, and has never SEEN a trailer in his life. Here, Zip, do you trust me? Climb into this tin can!
I love this horse
Getting Zip here was the easy part of course. Once here, we had bigger challenges. His feet had never been done, he had not been wormed, and he had huge nutritional deficiencies. Selenium is big, as I learned with Jasmine (his sister), but he was also deficient in protein, copper, calcium, etc. etc.
Okay, I can fix that, but his feet would take time. He liked to grow a lot of heel, and wear his toe down, so his coronet band was pointing down, and he was at a pretty steep angle. I had my farrier out within days to get started, and of course, Zip was perfect for her. We started a schedule to get him trimmed every four weeks, until we could bring the angle down. If Zip was another year older, we would not have been able to correct his feet, and he would have probably been crippled
I continued to teach Zip his basic manners, and he continued to amaze me with his kind heart, eager and willing personality, and awesome work ethic. We covered all the basics, from catching and leading, to clipping and bathing, he learned to cross-tie, tie, lunge, wear a surcingle, and most importantly let me cuddle and kiss his little baby nose. Oh what a sweet face he has, from his big soulful eyes, to his soft dainty little nose, and striking markings to boot. His conformation promises for a big bodied, correct, working horse type build, at least 15.3hh.
I won't start a two year old, so Zip will have the year to grow and continue to learn, stay posted on his progress! He is available for adoption, with a discount on training offered to his adopters
*UPDATE: Zip is growing fast, maybe too fast. Dr's orders say to back off on feed until he slows down a little bit. She is worried about OCD, he had some fluid in one stifle, but we are hoping it was just a hematoma because he is 100% sound. We will keep you updated, if the swelling does not go down within a few days, we will be taking x-rays.
