Pony Gem of a Lifetime!

I was sitting here and got to thinking about how I have owned horses most of my life, but it wasn't until little rescue Rosie came into my life several years ago did I know what a horse-human bond truly felt like.  I think we all think we have it at various points in our horse life, but we seldom do have it. 


Rosie and I are bonded as if there is an elastic string that is connected to us--it stretches when we are apart but it never breaks.  That, my friends, is what connection feels like between horse and human.  I feel honored and so fortunate to have this little someone-else's-throwaway horse as my true heart horse.

Fitting the collar to the pony!

It never ends!  As with riding big horses, mini driving horse tack has to be just so.  Everything has to fit well, work well between pony and cart, adjusted as perfectly as we can get it.  Safety and comfort are on the line.  Last post found me needing additional harness parts and cart shaft adjustment.  It is so far above my brain that I must be honest and admit that I sometimes want to just give up and keep the minis as pets.  But, I always come back to my senses.  I want to drive Rosie.  I tell myself that I WILL learn about driving much like I have learned about riding.  It's just been so long since I have felt inadequate and inexperienced ... it gets tough.

Rosie's new collar arrived.  It's a 15".  Here are pictures of the new one.  I think it fits much better.  She has an over-full neck (AKA:  FAT).  She's likely to fit back into her 14" collar when she gets driving and loses weight.

The new 15” collar.

The 15" again.  There is a big gap at the base of the neck, but I think it’s ok and she will definitely be able to breathe ok.

Compare that to the 14" collar that sits on her neck, rather than against her shoulders.  I think you would agree the 15" is the better choice.  14" below.

Below:  The 14", Way too tight for her breathing. 

Drive on Rosie!

I bought a new cart for Rosie last year and never got around to using it.  I know--hard to believe. Who in their right mind would invest in a pony cart and not use it? Maybe you shouldn't answer the "right mind" question.  ha ha   Part of the problem was that Rex was all consuming and sucked the energy out of me.  And, part of the problem is that it has a lower line of draft than my EZ Entry cart, so I need to use a collar and hames.  That meant getting new harness parts and that took a while to get figured out.

To make things even more interesting now, it turns out the Comfy Fit harness I bought for Rosie early in her 5th year is too small in places now.  She has grown more between years 5 and 6!  Wow!  I really thought she was done growing way back because she has always looked more mature than her age.  Even when she was 5 months old, she looked like most yearling or 2 year old mini's.  Not just her size, although she was large for a young mini, but she also had a non-baby appearance.

Trainer Melody came to help me get the harness adjusted and new cart hitched.  First thing she said was the dreaded "Umm ... some of your harness doesn't fit."  Ugh!  Even her bridle browband doesn't  fit.  I bit the bullet and ordered new parts:  larger collar, overgirth extender straps, longer martingale to work with the collar, saddle connector strap to work with the collar (I know some people don't use anything, but her neck is so short that the collar ends up in back of her ears every time she puts her head below horizontal), larger browband, and something new--a neck collar.  Everything has pink accents!  I drive her with a side pull and I think a neck collar will be easier to work around than a halter.  It may be another couple of weeks before I receive everything, but at least it's a step in the right direction.  Oh yes, and the cart shafts need to lose 2 inches to fit Rosie better.  Better too long than too short--I can cut off, but I can't add on.  Melody's husband is doing that for me.

Her new custom Bellcrown Minicrown cart the day I picked it up from Carriage Machine Shop in Pennsylvania.  It's an absolutely wonderful cart.  VERY comfortable seat and spacing for my legs.  No where near as cramped as I was with the basic EZ entry cart.  I had them make it without the step-over bar, so I wouldn't be as likely to get tripped up getting in/out.  Rosie checked it out immediately after I brought it home.  I think she approved.

Rosie rocking her collar, saying "Someone save me!"

Jerry just watching the cart/harness fitting show, thankful it's not him.

I'm really loving having just the two mini's.  Chores are so much easier.  I knew big horses were more work, but this is my first time actually experiencing only mini's.  I'm not completely closing the stall door on getting a riding horse, but for now this works very well.  I need a break, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

More Catch-Up and Future Plans!

After Rex was sold, I wasn't ready to give up my search for my unicorn riding horse, so I decided to approach it from another angle--a rescue. It really is sad that it's become common business practice for private sellers and dealers to exaggerate, lie, or do underhanded things to get the horse sold. There doesn't seem to be any ethics left in the business. Buyer beware is not only something to keep in mind--it's become the horse business overall M.O. I thought a rescue wouldn't have anything to gain by misrepresenting a horse. After all, wasn't the goal to match horses/owners carefully so the horse would have a lifelong happy home? Well, I thought so in my PollyAnna world.

The story:

I had been looking at Standardbred Retirement Foundation for several years. Their ads for horses sounded really great and I was just drawn to the Standardbred breed for no reason that I could explain. Some of it may have been because I simply liked the idea of helping out a rescue to get what I needed in a horse--a win-win situation for both. Since I kept coming back to it again and again, I thought I'd investigate further.

I phoned the rescue to get some general information, explained what kind of horse I was looking for--rock solid, gentle, relatively bombproof, etc. Could have some age on it, but it had to be sound enough for (mostly) walk trail rides in hilly terrain for up to 2 or so hours at a time, with proper conditioning of course. They had almost 400 horses in their care, about 120 riding-ready, and they thought of several that matched that description while I was on the phone. The representative said most of their horses were ex-Amish road horses, so they had been there, done that and had seen it all. They had them vetted and worked with them until they were sure they were appropriate to adopt out as riding horses. Adoption fees were low because
they were mostly late teens-early 20's. But these horses were tough and they often finished with the Amish still sound for general trail riding.

It all sounded pretty good to me! I completed an adoption application, sent them the requested pictures of all my animals and property. They checked all of my references--farrier, horse vet, small animal vet, neighbor, and friend. They interviewed me by phone for over 1 1/2 hours, asking me a lot of questions about general horse care, diseases, injuries, cost of horse keeping, etc, etc. I've had easier job interviews. But I thought this was a sign that they really cared to match the right horse to the right person.

My trip to New Jersey to see the horses was delayed for a couple of months due to COVID-19. They finally gave the all clear mid June. So down I drove with high hopes that I would find a great horse.

The horse I had been discussing with their trainer, Jenna, had acted up on a ride a couple of days before my visit, so I was greeted by Jenna with Giorgi, a 20 year-old chestnut mare, on the end of the lead walking in from the pasture. Their facility is nice--many board fenced pastures with run-ins or groves of shade trees, a tidy barn with perhaps eight box stalls, tack room, and a large run-in on the other side of the aisle that led to a small paddock where I'm guessing horses needing daily vet care or special feeding were kept due to a couple of them having bandaged legs.

I groomed Giorgi. She seemed patient but not very expressive--very stoic. Jenna tacked her up with my saddle and led her out to their nice sand riding arena. Jenna rode her first. Giorgi was SLOW. She needed prodding to keep a regular walk, and a lot of prodding to trot and maintain the trot for even part of the arena. Jenna told me she was just a slow and lazy horse. I had experience with lazy horses and that is actually what I was looking for--patient, not in a hurry to get anywhere.

I rode next. I hadn't ridden since I had fallen off Rex and landed in the ER. I was nervous. I fumbled my way into the saddle and then we walked off. Giorgi was very well behaved. She was indeed SLOW. I only got a few trotting strides out of her, but I wasn't concerned because Babe was like that when I bought her green broke and even though Babe was lazy she became much more responsive to my aids with time and consistency. Since Giorgi had been primarily a driving horse, I thought she was also simply green to riding and would improve with time much like Babe had. In fact, she reminded me so much of Babe in general. She was even chestnut, which is rare with Standardbreds.

I returned home, thought more about Giorgi, and decided I would adopt her. At 20 years old, I knew my riding time with her would be limited, but my plan was to ride her for a couple of years, regain my confidence and improve my strength and agility, and then semi-retire her to guest horse status, and then eventually retire her fully as she aged. But I never wanted to adopt a horse that was a retiree from the start. I am planning to retire from my job in two years. After that, I will have more time to care for multiple horses, including a retiree if necessary. I am not in a position where I can do that now. Little did I know, I would have some tough decisions ahead.

Giorgi was not current on her 2020 vaccinations or her teeth. I had a local vet do these things before bringing her home. I needed a health certificate for trailering across state lines as well. Her feet were also in bad need of a trim. I had noticed was ouchy on gravel at the rescue, so I asked if their farrier was due any time soon so I could get front shoes and a rear trim as well. That all worked out rather quickly. All at my expense.

My friend Mike and I drove the truck and trailer to New Jersey to pick up Giorgi a week and a half later. The trip went well except for horrendous traffic for last couple of hours, as we neared Philadelphia and into New Jersey. I had never trailered in heavy traffic. I did a lot of white knuckle driving, but I did it! I really was quite proud of myself for getting through it. It wasn't easy. Whew!

The first thing I noticed when I arrived to pick her up was that her feet still looked awful. The hooves were out of whack (still)--left front 1/2" longer than the right (I measured them after I got home), the longer front hoof had a big medial flare and was longer on the inside compared to the outside of the hoof. Her back hooves hadn't been trimmed AT ALL. What?! I paid for this, but I just figured I would deal with it once she was home. Nothing to be gained by making waves about hooves already done and paid for. I put in an SOS call to my farrier, who was kind enough to squeeze her in several days later. He agreed that the shoeing and trimming job left much to be desired, but we would get her fixed up. He did a great trim and reshaped the shoes, trimmed her back hooves. They looked 500% better.

I spent a lot of time the first week just being with Giorgi while she grazed or stood in front of her stall fans escaping from the flies. She absolutely hated flies! She would leave her stall to graze, spend about 15 minutes out, and then literally RUN back to the barn to hide out again. At first she even stayed in a lot at night. One day early on, I stood next to her petting her as she grazed on a relatively fly-free morning. She was behaving as if her butt itched, so I gently lifted her tail to make sure she didn't have ticks or irritation there, only to be met by a swift kick and her head snaking around at me with mouth open. Holy Crap!!! I tried to make sense of the situation and thought perhaps her tail had been handled roughly when the Amish put the harness crupper around her tail head. I made a mental note of it as something we would work on in the future--I need to be able to lift a horse's tail for temperature taking and checking to be sure everything is OK under there.

Things went fairly well over the next few days, but Giorgi was still tense around me. It was like she was expecting things to go bad. But within a week, she had softened her demeanor and I had gained her trust. I rode her only one time she was here--about 15 minutes at a walk in the pasture. Her back seemed tense under the saddle. I re-evaluated my saddle fit and it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't as good as I like it to be, so I did research and ordered a new saddle online. Further riding would be delayed until the saddle arrived.

As the days went by, I fell in love with her. She did have a few odd quirks with her behavior, but in general, she was very sweet and kind. Then, one day a couple of friends visited to meet my new horse, we had been hanging out with Giorgi in the stall for a while. Everything seemed fine. But, then I ran my hand across the top of her ribs, while telling them that I thought she had already put on some needed weight. She snaked her head around with her mouth wide open and bit me in the back--HARD! I have never been bit that hard. It shook me up. Why on earth did she do that?

I began to add up the odd things she had done: The way she always stood with her back legs tucked up under her, how she was so slow and reluctant to move out when I rode her at the rescue, the way she didn't like to be groomed any further back than her withers, her tight back when I rode her, the kick, a couple of other half-hearted "warning" bite attempts, and, of course, the "big bite." Gentle, sweet horses do not do these things if they feel well. I palpated her body and got a lot of ugly looks and flinching on her back and her butt. My sweet Giorgi was in pain.

I had the vet out two days after the big bite. She found Giorgi was sore across most of her spine extending to her croup. She gave her vitamin B12 trigger point injections, prescribed a few days of bute, and asked me to do gentle carrot stretches. Re-evaluate and decide what to do next after two weeks. I tried to do carrot stretches with her but she bit my arm when her neck "snapped" and she took it out on me. That was the end of carrot stretches.

I had some tough decisions to make. Do I keep her knowing that a 20 year old former hard working Amish buggie horse may have something chronic and unfixable? Should I go through all the diagnostic testing and specialist exams it might take to find out what was wrong with her and if it could be rehabbed? None of this was looking good. I made the difficult decision to return her 3 weeks after I had brought her home.

During my decision making time, I was in contact with the rescue and explained everything that was going on and what my vet found. They said I could bring her back and her adoption fee could be applied to another horse at the rescue. The problem was that most of their horses were not suitable for a clumsy, partially disabled rider. Still, I decided the best thing to do was to return her.

The day I returned her I was met by a volunteer. I gave a quick summary of what had happened since bringing her home. When I explained how the "big bite" happened,the volunteer said something about Giorgi needing to learn better ground manners. I looked at her with this "Don't you understand anything I just told you?" look and said--"No, her ground manners are just fine when she isn't triggered by pain. She needs her pain figured out and resolved." I left her there reluctantly, but I trusted that those in charge would have her checked out by their vet and other professionals and give her the treatment she needed--we had discussed on the phone and by email. I didn't give the volunteer much thought because she didn't know the whole story.

Three days after I returned Giorgi, I saw an ad for her on the rescue's facebook page. She had a rider on her and they were advertising her for adoption as a riding horse. What!!!???!! I was so upset. Why on earth were they riding her so soon? There was no way she had healed by then. I immediately composed an email to the rescue pleading with them to stop riding her and to not adopt her until she was truly better. Not only was it unfair to Giorgi to ride her, but it was only a matter of time until she acted out again. Giorgi was the type that would put up with her pain until she "blew." She didn't give much warning. I was worried she might be adopted as a child's or beginner's horse and then that adopter would get bit or kicked the way I did--my "big bite" was severe enough to take off a child's ear or nose. This was nothing to be taken lightly!

I never received a response. As upsetting as it was, I had to let go of the Giorgi situation. But, I will never have any further dealings with this rescue. I believe they have so many horses that they are unable to screen them properly. A horse that can't be ridden is hard to adopt out--they have many companion-only horses already. I believe they overlook a lot of problems--both behavioral and soundness. Maybe inexperienced people don't notice? Maybe a pain issue like Giorgi's gets written off as a behavioral problem and the horse is punisheded so they just suck it up and keep going despite pain. This is not good. I like to hope they aren't doing this on purpose to get double adoption fees--once from the first adopter (me) and then another by the second adopter who comes along a little later. Adoption fees are non-refundable. I lost her fee in less than a month. I told my vet about this fiasco. Her response was: "Having too many animals in their care leads to making inappropriate decisions." So true.

**Update: After an acquaintance contacted someone she knows at the rescue about my situation, I received an email from the rescue stating that the picture and facebook write up was only a photo for general publicity. They will be getting a vet check done on Giorgi and aren't riding her. I have to say ... I don't believe they weren't riding her at the time the FB post was put up. They have MANY other horses to saddle up for a photo shoot. Why saddle up the one that was returned for a back problem?? I don't think they believed me and were just forging ahead. The facts are: I never heard a thing from them until a week and a half after I expressed by "unhappiness" with the FB post and saw a rider on her with her description, which related to her adoptable traits. They contacted me only after my acquaintance contacted the rescue with her concerns. Too much of a coincidence. But, regardless, the bottom line is that more attention has been placed on Giorgi's situation and she will be helped by it. And that's a good thing.**


Lessons learned from this:

Don't believe everything they tell you, even when working with an established rescue--just because they've been in business a long time, doesn't mean they do everything right. Sometimes they miss things or just don't get caught. Look for a reasonable number of horses for the staff and size of the farm. Ask about how they cycle through the horses--they should only have a small pool of adoptable horses. Although it's noble to want to be able to save every horse, look for a rescue that is realistic about what they can handle. Be suspicious of rescues where the horses don't have the basics up to date--hooves trimmed, teeth floated, vaccinations current. I ignored this because Giorgi's adoption fee was so low, but this should have been a red flag. Get a basic vet check--even on a rescue horse. I'm so sure a vet would have discovered her spine problems quickly and easily, saving me a lot of heart ache and damage to my bank account. I didn't get a vet check because this rescue founder's husband is a track vet and they talked about having horses vetted all the time, so I assumed they were correct when they deemed her sound enough for my purposes. Don't get me wrong--I knew a 20 year old was going to have some nicks and dings; she would need some extra TLC, which I was very willing to do. But maintenance care like joint supplements, routine chiropractic adjustments, etc. is a whole lot different than a horse that is just plain unsound.

Between Rex and Giorgi, I am worn out. I'm taking a break from looking for a riding horse. I lost most of my horse shopping budget between those two ordeals anyway. Not the smartest moves I've made, but I'm being honest about them hoping I can keep someone else from making my mistakes.

Sweet, beautiful Giorgi

My future plans: I have the perfect horse in a pint-sized package already--Rosie! I have put her driving training on the back burner. No more of that! Rosie is going to get back to work. She is already loving that there are fewers horses to take up my time and attention. She walks around with an extra spring in her step. I can tell she is dancing the jig because she knows she is number one again. She forgets that Jerry needs love too. But I do visit with her first because I know it's so important to Rosie to be my main sqeeze. Jerry is more mature and patient. He knows his turn will come next and seems fine with that. So onward Rosie!

Her recent birthday photo!

She looks so thrilled! lol

Catch up time!

Yes, I have been away a long time.  It really is true with blogs and Youtube channels that if you take a month off it turns into two months ... then four months ... and then before you know it, it's close to two years!

Well, I've decided I'm going to be more diligent with my blog.  Not only for my readers, but also for me.  It's a great way to map progress and growth.  What a great way this is to document my horsie life.  Sometimes I might not think I have anything interesting to say because it's just normal life for me.  But other people might find it entertaining or educational, so it's important to get my thoughts and activities out there.

So much has happened.  I'm going to catch this up in stages, one topic at a time.

When we last were together, I talked about possibly buying a horse.  Well, I did that.  I'll warn you about the story ahead--it didn't work out.  But, I promise you it's OK in the end.  Read on--

December 2018, I answered an internet ad from a high volume dealer in Pennsylvania.  A facebook horse friend who knew of a riding stable in her area who bought all their lesson horses from him told me they had good experiences.  She thought he was honest, at least with them.  He sold most of his horses within a day or two of posting them, so I figured he must be doing something right.  Ha!  I was so naive.  

After viewing videos and having lengthy phone conversations with the seller telling him about all my physical problems and specifics about the kind of rock-solid horse I needed and getting assurance that he was "the one", I took the plunge and bought Rex, a 7 year old grade Tennessee Walking horse gelding.  He is drop dead gorgeous, huh?!

He was a very pretty boy and very sweet--It was clear from the get-go that he was a lover and not a fighter.  Turned out, though, that although Rex was a nice horse, he was a bit emotionally unstable and very spooky.  I took a bad fall off him the second ride.  Went to the ER for CT scans of pretty much every part of my body that could break and was off work for two weeks.  Fortunately, I just had a lot of bruising that healed with time.  I was boarding him at the stable where I took riding lessons, just for a couple of months until winter broke.  This would give me time to get to know him with supervision if I ran into any problems.  Well, I soon discovered that these problems weren't going to be fixed any time soon.  

Rex kept getting spookier and whackier as the early days went by.  My riding instructor thought he had been drugged.  I don't know.  I didn't have him tested, so I can't make that claim.  I wonder if he had just maxed out on his ability to handle changes.  I did some more research and found he had been with a dealer in Kentucky, which is where the PA dealer bought him.  This KY dealer is known for getting his horses from kill pens and killer type auctions.  The nice story I was told about him being with "friends in Kentucky who owned him for a year and trail rode him all over" was not true.  The poor horse had likely been going from auction to dealer, rinse and repeat, so his brain was fried.  

I did some research on my dealer friend.  (I know--should have done that BEFORE--lesson learned the hard way.)  I found reviews online of people who had similar dealings with him.  A local experienced horse woman bought what she called a "bronc" from him two years earlier.  She ended up taking a big financial loss.  His folksy act was just that--an act to gain buyer trust.  He did offer to exchange Rex for a different horse, but some of the reviewers I read ended up with a horse with even bigger issues or unsoundnesses.  Since it was also going to be very expensive to truck horses back and forth, I decided to keep him and see if things would get better.  I brought Rex home to be with my senior QH Babe (more on her later).  I thought she would be a calming influence on him.  She helped, but Rex's problems were bigger than she could fix.

Rex was a sensitive horse--everything in his environment caught his eye or ear and made him tense or scared.  He spooked at unknown monsters just walking in from the pasture.  He spooked if  a neighbor 500 feet away started up his weed eater.  He was constantly on guard.  I didn't feel safe riding him further, but I could see his kind, sweet disposition and I thought maybe he just needed time and stability to trust in the world again.  I did a lot of ground work with him and spent one-on-one time with him to build a bond.  I had him evaluated by a trainer I respect.  She agreed with my feelings about him and said he was going to need a lot of time before I would even see what he was really like.  

I kept holding out hope that Rex would calm down to be the "generally bombproof, anyone can ride" horse I was told he was and what his video showed.  (I'm rolling my eyes!).  I bought Rex January 2019.  I kept him until June of 2020.  He did improve and settle down to a degree, but it was clear he wasn't ever going to be as bombproof as I needed him to be.  I need rock solid.  

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with him.  I was so worried about his future.  Horses like he could be often ended up being dumped at an auction, or at a slaughter house in Canada or Mexico.  Even if I found a buyer, I was so worried he would freak out again if he went to a new home.  I decided I would just keep him and think about it later.  That's the advantage to keeping horses at home.  It really isn't that big of a deal to keep an extra horse.  One day, I was messaging an acquaintance (friend of a friend of a friend) about a computer issue and we got on the subject of Rex.  He had met Rex in summer 2019.  He liked him and never forgot him.  Our conversation turned into a horse sale.  Rex had a new home!  His new owner is absolutely wonderful.  Kind to animals and also has the ability to provide for Rex's needs, including a stay at a trainer for a couple of months so they could work together to get to know each other.  

Before Rex left, I had a phone animal communication session to prepare him for the move.  A friend had suggested that because she believed it had helped one of her horses adjust to a move.  Since I was so worried about Rex's ability to handle a change, I thought it was a good idea.  Through the animal communicator, I told him what was going to happen, told him his new "dad" was going to be very good to him, and I encouraged Rex to trust that things would work out.  A horsie acquaintance told me that all the trust he gained in life and people while being with me would transfer to his new home.  I wasn't sure if that would actually happen.  But, I'm so pleased to say that Rex adjusted to the move to the trainer's barn and his new owner very well.  He and the trainer love him!!!  I am so happy that this all worked out for Rex.  He is set for life!

Rex with his new dad.  His beauty just takes your breath away, doesn't it?

Now ... The sad news ... Babe had worsening arthritis in her knees and she became too uncomfortable even just hanging out in the pasture. Her eyes told me it was time.  I had her put down mid winter 2020.  She was such a great horse and I think about her all the time.  She was with me for 16 years.  What a great girl she was.  She is buried in her pasture.  

Rest in peace, Babe.  You were definitely The Queen of my heart.  Saying good bye to Babe: