As many of you may or may not know, I just became the new owner of a lovely albeit immature, massive, registered, free, ten-year-old unbroke paint gelding. He's lived majority of his life as a pasture-ornament, doing little more than groundwork, but his potential is so obvious to me; the boy's brimming with energy and, not only that, but he will serve as a perfect introduction into the world of training. I've never started a horse myself, but I figure it's about time I try; so here I go, taking the road less traveled - it may not be easy, but I'm open-minded and absolutely elated.
We went to pick up the big guy (known as Blaze by his owner, but that will change once I get to know him) last night, and it took half an hour - at which time it started to snow, might I add - to get him loaded. He'd only been loaded once before when he was tiny, and it was with mom so he followed blindly. I'm super fortunate that I have my step-dad, Phil, because he handled the situation so well. I've never met a man more patient. He was a dream once he got in, and has settled in here quite nicely.
I need to get at least 100lbs on him and get his teeth done, but we wormed him tonight so hopefully he can start to gain some of that needed weight. Since we got him, though, we've been working here and there on leading and basic respect. In two days he's gone from a horse who I watched crowd, nip, and paw at his owner to a horse who respects space and will stop, back, and disengage without any sort of trouble. He hasn't even tried to attempt nipping and/or pawing, likely because he realizes we will not put up with it. After our little "session" tonight, he followed me afterwards which is a good sign! He seems to be a a really fast learner, but terribly stubborn; so, we'll see where things go!
On another note entirely, I'm considering naming him Roman (Rome for short), due to the little roman nose he's got going. I hadn't realized it until now! And, for those who had been asking in my previous thread, he doesn't seem to respond to "Blaze" or "Baba" which were the two his owner called him by. The woes of attempting to name an animal though, man.
I didn't get many pictures (mainly because by the time I had time, it was dark) but this is what we've got so far! The pink on his face is from bumping his head on the trailer, but not to worry; the only thing seriously hurt is, perhaps, his pride.(; I plan to get some pictures of him all squared-up as a starting point, to compare to in the future.
We went to pick up the big guy (known as Blaze by his owner, but that will change once I get to know him) last night, and it took half an hour - at which time it started to snow, might I add - to get him loaded. He'd only been loaded once before when he was tiny, and it was with mom so he followed blindly. I'm super fortunate that I have my step-dad, Phil, because he handled the situation so well. I've never met a man more patient. He was a dream once he got in, and has settled in here quite nicely.
I need to get at least 100lbs on him and get his teeth done, but we wormed him tonight so hopefully he can start to gain some of that needed weight. Since we got him, though, we've been working here and there on leading and basic respect. In two days he's gone from a horse who I watched crowd, nip, and paw at his owner to a horse who respects space and will stop, back, and disengage without any sort of trouble. He hasn't even tried to attempt nipping and/or pawing, likely because he realizes we will not put up with it. After our little "session" tonight, he followed me afterwards which is a good sign! He seems to be a a really fast learner, but terribly stubborn; so, we'll see where things go!
On another note entirely, I'm considering naming him Roman (Rome for short), due to the little roman nose he's got going. I hadn't realized it until now! And, for those who had been asking in my previous thread, he doesn't seem to respond to "Blaze" or "Baba" which were the two his owner called him by. The woes of attempting to name an animal though, man.
I didn't get many pictures (mainly because by the time I had time, it was dark) but this is what we've got so far! The pink on his face is from bumping his head on the trailer, but not to worry; the only thing seriously hurt is, perhaps, his pride.(; I plan to get some pictures of him all squared-up as a starting point, to compare to in the future.