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Fiona& her journey

4K views 24 replies 6 participants last post by  Tejas 
#1 ·
Today I have had Fiona for 1 week. She is a project filly. She is 18 mo. old. She came off the trailer with spooky dragon snorts, huge blue eyes, and not a clue what was happening to her.

For 3 days she had a drag line on in her paddock bc she was Miss Catch Me Not. As soon as I would get close enough and grab the lead rope she would relax and follow.

She is extremely head shy and refuses to allow her muzzle to be touched. Not her nose or her chin is allowed. She doesn't mind you rubbing her forehead though or belly, and even her butt!

Fiona has 0 trust in people. I am not sure if she was abused, or just not touched at all, but I know we have a lot of work to do.

I'm determined to make her into a gentle trail horse. I am planning on getting her gentle as she grows, and teaching her respect and trust during the process. I'm working on some Clinton Anderson methods as well as bringing in a few others. When she is old enough to get started under saddle she will be going to a professional trainer that can give her the education she deserves so that both of us will have a safe and happy future together.

Today we had a break through. Fiona took feed out of my hand. She refuses a carrot, hay, anything long enough to be more comfortable. She actually got enough courage to touch her mouth to my hand and take some feed. The sigh of relief she had when she realized that was her only task for the day was so sweet.

She leads just fine, and of course spooks here and there. She even gets a little too close, and we're working on that. She has accepted my presence and is now really starting to trust me. I'll be sharing our journey together with ya'll. :) And of course pictures also! :)
 
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#2 ·
Hello Tejas,
good to see that you started your threat about your new filly. Again congratulations! Spend a lot of time with her now and give her time to warm up to you - baby steps :) One suggestion I have that I forgot to mention to you in my filly's threat - try to keep her away from other horses for the next few weeks till she warms up to you, basically YOU should be her best friend - not another horse.. you will see - she will end up following you around in no time. Also I would do too much hand feeding and giving treats as that often times leads to nipping and biting once the horse is more comfortable with you - cause they are always looking for that yummy molasses cookie that they think you are hiding :-D
Good luck and keep us posted - oh and pictures please! :)
 
#3 ·
Pix as requested!
I took some shots of Fiona yesterday evening when I went to visit her. I'm sorry I didnt get to upload anything until today. :)

The lighting under the barn was not so great, and it was cloudy,but at least it is with a digi cam and not a phone!
A few days ago playing "you cant catch me hahah~"

Eating Dinner yesterday


Don't mind me. Please look at the horse



Getting prettier by the day!

You can see little brown hairs coming through!

I know you have a carrot somewhere!

Gimme!

Disgruntled "no carrot" face

Carrot?

Stop with the flashy box plz! kthnx!

Danty girl

More carrot?
 
#4 ·
Awww.. she is a cutie!! love her eyes - she has a nice expression in her eyes! She has got eyeliner!! Pretty pretty eyes.. I think she will be a nice gentle horse - in the past eyes told me a lot about horses personality.. she eyes are nice, big and soft.. and that is considering she's got blue eyes hard to get, cause blue eyes can look spooky sometimes..
- nice horsey, you and her will do just fine, just spend a lot of time together and love on her.. she will come around :)
 
#5 ·
Aww, so cute! Shes wearing knee pads,lol. You don't know her history? Sounds kind of like shes been twitched a few times, possibly nose and/or ear, which can cause some long lasting phobias. Will she let you touch her ears? Sounds like you're approaching this in the right way, just take your time with her. Personally my first goal would be to teach her that you can touch her everywhere and you're not going to hurt her. I am working on the same thing with a flighty weanling right now, the fact that I have long nails and he loves to be scratched helps;p. It is hard to spook when you're leaning into a hand that scratches oh so gooood. Good luck!
 
#6 ·
I thought the same. That she may have been twitched, but everyone is saying that she simply wasn't handled at all and everything to her is new and scary. I'm teaching her what you suggested. I want her to be comfortable with being rubbed everywhere and calm about me moving around her like normal.

I love that her blue eyes have become more relaxed and less psycho looking. lol. She is really coming around. I can't wait to see what a pretty young lady she will be~:)
Knee pads lol.. never thought of that! cute!
 
#7 ·
She does have a nice eye, and I am not partial to blue eyes. I can see how she is coming around just from looking at the pics. Shes not nearly as leary and nervous looking in the recent pics, just seems to be interested in what you're doing for the most part.
Have her feet been trimmed? I am not sure if it's the angle/light in the pic or if they're just long, but the left fore looks to have a slightly funny angle. In another pic it doesn't though.
She is super cute, I think you have found yourself a lovely girl in the making!
 
#8 ·
Ugh no :( She barley lets me touch her front legs. Her feet need to be trimmed :(
Everyone has been telling me not to fret over it until she is gentle enough to pick them up, but I know there are some farriers that can do the job. I just don't want it to be traumatic for my little girl. :(

We are working on the "picking up the feet " issue. She gets nervous when i barley brush her leggies :( I havent even tried touching the back ones just yet. I can brush her butt just fine though!
 
#9 ·
You're right, specifically because she is spooky I wouldn't want her to have a bad experience. Has she ever had them done? Do you think she might be a little more accepting if you worked with her while she had a big pile of hay? Sometimes it's a good way to give them a positive association with whatever you're doing and distracts them at the same time. May I ask what methods you're using? I have had good luck with the approach and retreat method.
 
#14 ·
How is she going? She is gorgeous!!
 
#15 ·
She did really well yesterday. I had no issues catching her at all. She came running to the bucket nickering at me. She was a little obnoxious about being brushed, but she got over it. When it was round pen time she did perfectly , and even did a "join up" a few times! :) I'll post pix this evening when I'm not at work!
 
#16 ·
She did really well yesterday. I had no issues catching her at all. She came running to the bucket nickering at me. She was a little obnoxious about being brushed, but she got over it. When it was round pen time she did perfectly , and even did a "join up" a few times! :) I'll post pix this evening when I'm not at work!
Glad to hear it! Can't wait for pics ! :)


 
#17 ·
I cant seem to get the computer to cooperate with the pix from the bf's digi cam. I'm working on it though! If anything I will use my celly to take some of her today! She's turning into a gorgeous young lady. I can't wait til she is finished shedding the winter off!
 
#18 ·
Pictures as promised!




I asked her to canter only for a minute for the picture. I really would rather her not run in circles while her bones are fusing together . I've heard it can cause problems, but I'm not sure what ?
She does trot fast and then gets a very comfortable jog that she seems to hold steady and happily. I love the way her legs just glide. I will have to take pictures. She looks like she is going to be so smooth.
OH! And a random pic of my DohDoh kitty. He's a ham!
 
#19 ·
I went to brush and feed Fiona this evening, and spent some time hanging out with her. She is shedding so much! She's also cleans up nicely! She let me clean her eye today! :) She comes to me when I go to see her, and has learned to stay out of my space. She's really coming out of her shell and I'm still waiting for her to test me :lol:

Here's a bunch of pictures I took of her with my phone. I didn't stop by the house to get my digital. :( I apologize for the quality. Doesn't she have a nice halter that Aunt Ashlee bought her? :D

First! Her healing scar.
Before:

After:





She is expressive nowdays





I have a friend at work dying to come out and take some pictures of her for his photography class. I hope to get some much better pictures soon!
Thanks for looking!
 
#22 ·
Thanks for the encouragement!

We will get there! I am cleaning my brushes this evening for her SPA day tomorrow. I'm going to boil crawfish ,corn, and potatoes, and take them to the barn tomorrow since we are spending the day there with the ponies:)

Im so excited to spend a relaxing weekend at the barn with good animals, and good munchies!

My dog has stitches from surgery yesterday, so he will be on bed rest this weekend. He had some lumps removed and sent off. Fingers crossed! At least he has a new bone and dog bed to recoup on! :)
 
#24 ·
Hi Tejas, have just read through your thread and it looks like you are doing a great job with wee Fiona :D. She has very unusual markings from horses that i have seen here in Scotland, i look forward to seeing pics of her when her summer coat has come through.

It is very satisfying to have an animal that had very little/no trust of humans start to trust and see their personality come through. :) enjoy all the time you are spending with her and i look forward to reading your and Fiona's progress :D
 
#25 ·
Thank you for reading it! I am glad others are excited about this journey like I am.
She has come around so much in a little over a month. She is very smart.
I am going to start working her brain more as I do ground work. I am looking into some horsey intelligence games where I can make her think and work with me as a team.

I need to post some more pictures! I posted some of the girls in the gallery. :)
 
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