Zip, 2yo APHA gelding

"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 following 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.

Dixie the TB

Dixie's owners were at their wits end. They had purchased Dixie off of craigslist as a child-safe family horse, they even rode her before buying (she was reportedly dripping with sweat and already saddled when they arrived). When they got Dixie home you couldn't put a saddle pad on her, let alone a saddle without violent blind bucking. The owner had reportedly been deployed to Iraq, so they called Pilchuck. After several visits, and extensive chiropractic work etc. the vets at Pilchuck diagnosed it as a training issue and not pain related. After investing more than they could afford they called my friend Katie at Second chance ranch. Katie called me so I could evaluate the mare.

Dixie was so sweet when I did her eval. she was easy to catch, and had a kind eye. I put my arm over her withers and she held her breath, I applied pressure to her ribs and she launched herself into a bucking fit. This did not seem like merely a training issue. Still I put a saddle on her to try and get a feel, assured that the vet said she was in NO pain. She stood to be saddled, after a small correction, but held her breath. I asked her to take a step and she looked at me as if to say "I can't", I persisted and she finally tried for me but with one step she almost hit the floor and then launched into bucking. OK she tried but she is hurting. I told the owner I would take her for a few months, put some training on her and have some body work done.

Dixie was definitely OUT. her ribs were out so bad Sam couldn't even test her. Not surprising after finding out more of her history. She had been a brood mare for the past seven years with minimal care, a friend who recognized her and knew the past owner testified that she had never seen her without her hip bones showing, and she was never saddle broke.

Kids horse?

Dixie's first month here was mostly healing. I did some ground work, mostly just to start conditioning her. Free lunging was my only option as we worked through her pain issues, but she did well responding to cues and learned to be very respectful. It took a lot to get a 'WHOA'. But by the end of the month she would whoa on a voice cue. I started clicker training basics to lay a foundation for her saddle training. As with most of the trauma cases I have worked with I will be using clicker training to redirect her, and put a focus on a positive behavior. I never punish a traumatized or emotional horse for the behavior I am trying to extinct, this only reinforces the behavior. Instead you have to redirect and reward for something positive, this is the only way to break the whole emotional mindset the horse is in. Remember to only put energy into the behavior you want.

Month two; after I was confident she really was no longer in any pain I started desensitizing her to the surcingle, even just the lead rope around her belly. As soon as she would feel constricted (like it would pinch) she would flip. Ok I knew her trigger, now to work through it!

After two weeks of lungework she would still buck like crazy if ANYthing was on her back or around her. She would literally buck blind as soon as her trigger was hit. I couldn't snap her out of it or redirect her, she was to fast and powerful. I needed a new plan. I finally found a tool, well I made one, to get her attention whenever she would think about bucking. It is basically an overcheck (saddleseat tool to keep their heads up) slightly modified. I wasn't to sure about it at first, but it halted the behavior before it had a chance to escalate, and while she was going "WTF?" I was able to redirect and click her for a positive change. FINALLY I was making some serious progress! Through the following month I continued to use this tool while lunging and riding, then just lunging. And now finally I can tack her up in the crossties, lead her to the arena, lunge her and get on and go.

Month Three:
Dixie's owner decided not to put anymore training into her, but I talked them into just boarding her and I would try and ride when I could. Her third and fourth month she didn't get a lot of riding, but I did get Kyra to ride her a couple of times. And the few rides I put on I couldn't MAKE her buck. WOW with time off she was still solid! That goes to show the reliability of positive reinforcement.

Well it has been almost five months and Dixie is going home. Her owner is going to come out and ride her on Tuesday and then I will trailer her up the next morning. I rode her tonight and she was great, she has such a nice trot, tons of suspension she would make a fun dressage prospect. She was solid for walk, trot, canter, whoa, back, leg yield, shoulders in, haunches in. She had about 40 days of riding total. And it was quite the journey!