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Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Wildairo teaches himself a lesson, maybe.

After Sundays excitement I wanted to have a stress free Monday but that wasn't to be because Wildairo gave us a real scare.

I thought I'd put Wildairo's halter on and brush him and maybe try to lift his long feet to get him ready for the farrier which I have been putting off because of his absolute fear of strangers.

I put his halter on and was brushing him and something bothered him and he decided to leave rather quickly, forgetting he was attached to a lead rope. I get mad at horses with bad manners and he knows it! I let him get to the end of the rope and I jerked him back around telling him "No"! He came back all sheepish and stood really nice. If he tries to walk into me or swings his head about too much, I tell him "No" and he really responds well and behaves for me. But that's only for me.

I asked Brad to hold his head so I could brush his back part. He likes Brad to scratch his neck but doesn't respect him like he does me. I loosened up the lad's halter to fit it better, he decided to leave and when Brad told him' no' he was like 'your not the boss of me' and took off and the underneath part of the halter went into his mouth and then all hell broke loose.

I'm pretty good about safety and being careful with equipment so I've never had anything like this happen before. Bloody hell! We had one very scared mustang racing around the corral determined to run away from the pain and perceived danger he was in. I think he considered going over the rock wall but decided it wasn't wise so he careened around the corral bucking and stepping on the rope and causing himself more pain. We were helpless. Luckily our good friend Foxsun came to help (again) he stood calmly by the gate and it helped Wildairo realize it wasn't a stampede event. Every time Wildairo stepped on that rope he hurt his mouth more. He knew the rope was the cause of his pain and looked at it like it was a snake when he went to stand with Fox (the other side of the gate) for comfort.

After another quick outburst somehow the halter came back out of his mouth and he stood still for Brad to go and retrieve him and walk him over to me. I was looking for signs of lameness. I was sure his long hooves had caused some tendon damage with all the acrobatics he did. He's still sound but how in the hell did those feet not chip on the rocks? Wow, he's got hooves made of granite!

His gum was a bit sore on one side, nothing too bad at all, just a tiny bit of blood. I was sure when I looked in his mouth I'd find horrible damage. He was pretty shook up and wanted me to comfort him, which I did. Brad reminded me he was a young mustang after all and said maybe he learned a lesson from it.

Wildairo needs to respect people other than me. He needs to learn to be tethered. (We bought a blocker tie ring to train him and will attach it to a sturdy post). I know he's not learning anything about being a domesticated horse when he's just behaving with me because he happens to like me. If I was a vet and a farrier maybe then I could be just his only trusted friend, but he's going to have to learn respect for all humans. He's a good horse and he tries hard to adapt to this new life of his.

That was Monday. Yesterday I played it safe and just took the horses carrots. Foxsun was hanging around the corrals and enjoyed the treat. Echo is all kissy face again and Wildairo wanted to whole bag of carrots.

The cow and twins are doing well. The tiny calf seems to be able to get to the milk bar but I think her huge brother might be drinking most of the milk. I will bottle feed her if she starts to look hungry. Her mother lets me pick her up and cuddle her.

Wildairo's title certificate application form arrived Monday. If approved, he won't be owned by the US government anymore and will be an official member of our family.

I have to get someone to certify he's been taken care off. It says the person can be a vet, extension agent, local humane official or a BLM approved individual. Does anyone know who else can sign it? He's never seen a vet and I don't know any of the other people mentioned above.

7 comments:

Kara said...

Hasn't the BLM been out to your place? They don't sign it then? What about a brand inspector? Hmmm, I haven't really thought about this because our mustangs are not in my name...they technically belong to Todd.

Kara said...

I guess I'll look into this when the new ones arrive.

arlene said...

Kara,
Someone has to certify that the horse has been looked after well for 12 months. The BLM has been out here twice but it wasn't for an official inspection.
I'm looking forward to hearing about your new horses.

Cheryl Ann said...

Arlene, I believe our vet signed ours last year when he came out and gave them theirr way and WNV shots. No. The BLM NEVER came out to see our two either and we received our title about a month after we sent in our paperwork.

Linda said...

I know Lea and Bob can do it. They'll come out and do mine. I wonder if mine came in the mail and I overlooked it?!? I better start searching. When did you adopt? I was May 9th, I think.

Scary thing, that halter episode. Who would have thought? I've never seen that happen before--but I'll file that one away and make sure my halter is tight! I'm glad he came out of okay and Foxsun was there to help you!

Kara said...

Getting something stuck in the mouth is a very scary thing. One of the very few times that Chico bucked me off (these were always panic or resistance moment and were long after I'd started riding him), he was interested in a new horse that was riding with us, and to prevent fight, I kept pulling his head away from the other horse (we were all walking in a big group across a field). At one point, Chico was reaching his nose out toward the other horse, and I pulled his head to the side rather strongly and the bit slipped so that the ring on one side was in his mouth. I noticed this and tried to pull it back through with the other rein, but the weird sensation caused him to panic and he bucked until the bit went right again (of course, I was on the ground at that point). Now I always use a chin strap with a snaffle bit. :)

Lea and her Mustangs said...

Arlene, The Mustang Club will be camping and riding the 2nd/3rd. of May at Lakeview Ranch, We could come do it at somepoint over the weekend. We are official BLM volunteers. Hope to get to see your babies.