What a difference your pics made! How wonderful you are to bring him home. Sometimes, all these horses need is a kind and loving human to make their lives complete. Best of luck with him.
Wow he is gorgeous! Very big boned… looks like a warmblood. I want to see jump chute pics/videos!!!
He seems like a total sweetheart. Even if he doesn’t work out as a nice hunter or jumper, with that attitude, he would probably make a great beginner horse. Updates needed on the jump chute! Hope it went well.
Quick update:
Yesterday went to go pick him up. We pulled up into his pasture and he came over and sniffed the trailer. We put the ramp down and it took some coaxing to get him onboard. He would come to the foot of the ramp and just plant his feet. He started to get a little nervous when we got a little more forceful (read:clicking, slap on the behind, etc.) About 5 minutes after this, with a chain just under his chin, he willingly walked in, stood, and enjoyed the praise for doing what we wanted.
We pulled away and his pasture mate (the appy) SCREAMED for him and obviously he screamed back. I feel bad, because it was just those two in the pasture, so the appy is now all alone.
He traveled well on his way to my trainer’s barn. Stood quietly and just wanted to look around.
He got there, unloaded cautiously, and heard the horses in the main barn hollering at him. He was to go into the quarantine barn since he didn’t have coggins or recent shots, so we stuck him in there. Having not been in a stall for a long time, I guess, he did the ole “I’m going to spin around, weave at the front door, and generally be antsy.” Understood. This is a lot for him to take in, in a very short amount of time. My mom brought out our little 12.2 hand pony for him to say hello and big mistake. This guy definitely has herd bound issues (duh), so when we took pony and put him in the paddock in front of him, he got pretty upset. And throughout the afternoon, every time he saw pony he would get a little dancey about him.
We bathed him, cut the dreads out of his mane, and started treated the fungus on his back feet and the AWFUL sunburn on his nose. He was relatively relaxed for the bath, but still was kind of animated and kept wanting to look for the other horses.
We dried him and decided to put him in the ring and let him go so we could see his gaits. We also had a jump chute set up (due to another prospect coming into the barn), so we set it super low (just flower boxes). Pretty, pretty mover. However, didn’t naturally take to the jumps in that he went up to them, stopped, crow hopped, and then cantered off. He eventually jumped them, and got his knees up. We called it quits after that (maybe 4-5 times through the chute).
Today he is getting his feet trimmed. May make him feel less ouchie. We also are going to assess him more by putting him through the jump chute, seeing if he’s chilled out some, etc.
Bottom line is he has herd bound behavior, which I am not used to. He was antsy and a little hot due to the new place, but seemingly didn’t loose him mind and walk all over me. He takes correction (a firm no) pretty seriously. What I’m really, really bummed is, is he is a “I” year horse, meaning he was born in 2005. That means he’s going on 9 years old. This is starting to get a little too old for me to have a dead green horse.
No pictures. Too exhausted from yesterday. I will get some up here soon and update this as I go. Thanks everyone for the kind comments! It helps to have a cheerleading squad whenever you feel like you’ve lost your mind a little HAHA. :lol:
I think he will settle in. This is a huge life change for the poor guy. I feel bad for the Appy, too. But you can’t save them all. 
I think you’re guy will do just great once he realizes he is staying here, and he’ll have plenty of new friends once he’s out of quarantine. And I don’t think 9 is bad at all. 
9 is not old unless you want to “flip” him. It sounds as though this guy has a lot going for him, so he still has a long useful life ahead of him. He looks lovely, and I look forward to updates.
Too bad about the appy–he looked like a cute horse, too. As Paradox said, you can’t save them all.
Put some Silvadene creme on his nose and the burn will get better almost immediately. Could you not read his tattoo before you took him out of his pasture, just out of curiosity? I would be less worried about the age than the bump. He is bound (pardon the pun) to act a little herd bound and crazy with such a big change. You might want to throw some ulcer guard at the poor guy. From your perspective you have have cleaned him up, fed him well and given him a better shot at life. From his perspective, you have taken him away from everything and everyone he knows and asked him to do things he thinks are crazy and potentially dangerous. Life’s all about perspective.
Aweee what a great story! He seems fantastic <3
I second the vote for ulcer guard!
I’d also take it a little slower with the jump chute. Especially after trimming his feet he will struggle with his balance initially, and he’s not muscled enough to jump proper. May as well take a little honeymoon to get to know one another before you jump into real life, eh? 
Huge congrats! I’m rooting for y’all!
He is very cute, and I don’t think 9 is too old. Considering the dramatic changes in his life all of a sudden, I think he is handling it very well although I wish you could have brought the Appy home too. It seems kind of soon to be putting him through the jump chute, considering his feet and lack of condition.
how lovely that you got him, keep us posted and he is a lucky boy!
Even if she wants to flip him 9 is not too old if he has the brain. There are tons and tons of people that need a good brained horse to be their first, and age is actually beneficial in that scenario…even if the horse is still green.
He’s super cute, OP. I agree with the going a bit slower with the jump chute. Give him a chance to settle in, get used to the new routine, etc…then start evaluating
9 isn’t too old…while green, if he has a tattoo…he at least race trained. So it isn’t like he has done nothing his whole life.
I third getting him on GG like right now. That is a big change for him and likely part of the herd bound issues. It is too bad you couldn’t take his buddy as well.
At 9, once you take to time to get him settled in…they do typically progress rather fast. They do not have the minds with the attention span of a gnat that you are typically dealing with in a 3-5 year old!
The fact that he didn’t completely meltdown when you totally flipped his world says a lot for her personality. I think his behavior sounds very normal for a backyard ignored horse that is suddenly at a boarding facility without his buddy. Honestly, he sounds like he behaved BETTER than I’d expect a horse to under those circumstances. I’d chill on the jump chute and running him etc. and just work on getting him settled and comfortable first.
For some reason, COTH wasn’t working for me at ALL yesterday, so I am now just able to read all of your responses. Thank you guys, once again, for you encouragement and words of wisdom.
Farrier was a no show yesterday :no: So poor dude is still on long feet.
Today we are taking him to the vet for an evaluation. I will report back on what the vet says.
RE: Settling. You guys make good points. His life has been flipped upside down. He has been ripped away from his pasturemate he has known for more than half of his life. We are touching him, poking him, leading him, etc. when he is used to not being bothered. Despite all of this, he is taking it the best he can. He hasn’t had a total meltdown. He is actively looking at us to tell him what is right and wrong. When he is afraid he just freezes and looks to us to tell him it’s OK. Yesterday we had him walk over a wooden bridge and he put his foot on there and was like “wait, this is different what is this?” We pick up his other foot and put it on there to show him it’s ok. We then patted him and he walked right over the bridge. Then about 20 minutes later he passed over the same bridge with no problems. He has a good brain, despite it being a little ADHD right now, but that’s totally OK in my book.
RE: Ulcer guard. On it!
Re: Tattoo: The lady kept telling me she would give me the tattoo number over and over again, but never came to fruition. When we went to go get him and put on the trailer, the “I” looked a little like a “J”. But not until we really got him in the cross ties and holding his lip up did we see it is more of an “I” than a “J”. Just was more like a “Oh well, crap, he’s older than I thought. Oh well.”
Re: Appy: She was cute. But we can’t afford to take two in. Craigslist horse brings our horse tally up to #4. I hope some gets her and takes care of her.
Re: Jump Chute: We let him out in the arena and he willingly wanted to run around himself. No need to chase, but it was nice to see his canter finally. We did rush a little by putting him in the chute over 18" boxes. Part of the hurry is to see if he perhaps had a bit of a natural inclination to get over the boxes. He did not, yet, as you guys suggested and what we came to conclusion is, he is the equivalent of a couch potato. He doesn’t have really any muscle. If you asked me to sit on the proverbial couch for 4 years and then go jump some hurdles, I would look pretty god awful too. :lol:
I will get pictures of him today and post them up.
His trot looks so nice!!! Can’t wait to see more pics! I have the same thinking as you, 9 is a bit old to start from scratch, but he seems like it won’t be too hard with him, and you definitely have the previous race training on your side. My guys is 6, almost 7 and hes just getting started. (Not an OTTB though) It’s better if you are going to keep him, and not try and do a re-sell. I’m keeping my guy forever, so it’s not a problem with me! He sounds like a very nice guy. Maybe the herd boundness will go away with time? Mine is a bit herd bound too… it’s extremely annoying and I’m not sure how to deal with it either. Good luck!
You should look up his tattoo and see what his JC name, and race records were. I always find that fun
He sounds like a gem, I think. The way he’s acting under those circumstances-- he’s going to be bombproof once he learns his new job. I think he sounds neat.
Horses are curious…if you haven’t done it already you could try walking around and showing him his new digs. But of course, do that slowly and casually. If he freaks at this, then stop. But most new horses seem to want to see the sights and the rest of the herd and it helps them get acquainted and to settle in faster.
He is quite the looker. Hope everything works out for everyone.
Post-Vet Update:
He got his feet trimmed this AM. He was a good boy for the farrier and stood still. We then loaded him up (walked RIGHT into the trailer) and took him to the vet with two other horses.
When we got there he got a little anxious; he wanted to kind of walk over you, wanted to walk so fast we were near a trot, and was being look-y. We put him in his stall to wait his turn. He promptly said hello to his neighbor and then just stared out the window the whole time.
For the exam, we just did vitals (all good), tested his feet (no soreness), poked around on his back (no pain) did a flex test. He did great on the flex test but showed a very, very small amount of lameness on the right rear foot. The vet was not concerned about this. He didn’t even mention the bump on his leg, even though he saw it and pressed on it. After discussing with him about the horse, we both concluded at this time X-rays are not a good idea (since it would be 3x the amount we’re buying him for). We will X-ray him once we get some muscle on him and when he becomes more apparent if he has some jumping talent.
He was quite good for the flexing. He was a little stressy about the hoof testing. The vet had to get after him. The vet remarked that “while he has nothing physically wrong with him, me personally, I wouldn’t get him for his brain.” However, the vet doesn’t know his back story and how far he has come.
After his exam and while the other horses were getting worked up, I took him out to graze. He didn’t really understand that he can graze on the line, so I had to show him it’s OK. Then he got the hang of it and thought it was pretty delightful. He would still look up and stand like a statue to look around from time to time, but then breathe and go back to grazing. He also saw some horses and called to them, but didn’t get as frantic that he wasn’t around them and by himself.
Afterwards he loaded beautifully back onto the training (walked in like he’s been doing it his whole life) and he went back home! He’s now at home gorging himself on hay. He definitely has an appetite!
So. It’s official. He is ours I have named him Kalcifer, which is after the Howl’s Moving Castle character who was a falling star and the main character, Howl, caught him before he fell to the ground and was extinguished. It’s one of my favorite Studio Ghibli movies and the name just seemed to fit (especially with his story). Totally cheesy, but I am a cheesy person.
Pictures and Video!
http://youtu.be/22QhlV3gg_Y
http://i.imgur.com/OZwBZ8a.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/9Ipq8On.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/w5PoxUs.jpg [Yes. He is eating hay off of the trailer ramp. He likes the trailer because food is in there].
Ooh! Forgot to add we found out his Tattoo number.
I16627 is his Tattoo number. That means he is definitely a 2005 model. His real name is “Winbridle”.
Here’s his auction results:
https://www.registry.jockeyclub.com/Free-Auction-Results.cfm?lookupAuctionResults=TRUE&search_type=HORSE&horse_type=ALL&horse_name=Winbridle&reference_number=7446768
Here is his pedigree:
http://www.equineline.com/Free-5X-Pedigree.cfm?page_state=ORDER_AND_CONFIRM&reference_number=7446768®istry=T&horse_name=Winbridle&dam_name=Rezzy&foaling_year=2005&nicking_stats_indicator=Y##
Here was his race record. Not much of a race horse!
http://www.equibase.com/profiles/Results.cfm?type=Horse&refno=7446768®istry=T
