Well, the hunt continues, but an interesting thing did happen to me…
A vet friend who lives relatively far from me called me to ask if I knew of anyone with a capital-P Private barn who might be able to take a three year old filly. This was a filly from a vet friend-of-a-friend, where an emergency farm call for the filly (mild colic) revealed a hoarding situation. Some, but not all animals were being neglected. The few horses were all in good condition; the couple who owned them were trimming their feet themselves and doing an okay job at it. Local SPCA was called in with help of vet to remove the neglected animals. The couple was understandably upset and negotiated that the horses could stay-- except that they couldn’t pay the vet. They were given x amount of time (this was vague, I’m thinking about a week to a month) to come up with the money via CareCredit, etc. They didn’t. Filly colics again and the vet thinks it might require surgery. The couple sign over the filly and two other horses with mild respiratory ailments to the vet. Filly recovers and does not need surgery.
Forty-eight hours later, they change their mind and want the horses back, claiming they had started a GoFundMe and had applied for CareCredit and the vet had unlawfully taken the horses from their property. They’d also started a smear campaign on Facebook toward this vet and the office and local SPCA had been receiving regular threatening calls. Police advised them to move the animals. The horses were privately adopted by the veterinary staff. I’m not sure what happened to the other seized animals. I assume they were moved to another humane society.
So now I have a filly living in witness protection in my barn (yes, I asked and was told it would be okay to post this without specifics after things had calmed down a little-- I’ve had her a few weeks). I’m assuming she’s TB or TB cross. She is deeply offended by having a three year old appropriate job. She leads perfectly, trailers, and eats politely, but has no concept of personal space and no emotional regulation skills. She is a VERY confident filly and has no issue letting you know what she thinks of something. She is great with the other horses. She stepped through the fence the first night because she was upset to be away from the other horses and has since learned what hot wire is, though I did move her in with the rest after a few days.
She doesn’t really like to be groomed, doesn’t tie, and isn’t interested in being told what to do. I think she was handled for the vet and farrier but otherwise was living in a field all on her own. My farrier has her on the schedule but I plan to have some sedation on hand. She made a half-hearted attempt to kick me while I was picking out her hind feet this week. I do recognize that all of this is a huge change and have been doing everything I can for her tum. We’ve been working on the non-negotiables-- tying and standing on the cross ties, moving your shoulders/hindquarters, backing up, and not mugging me for hand treats. She has tried to turn her butt on me on multiple occasions. Cross ties have been the biggest offense. She did eventually stand quietly, after an hour of head flipping and trying to pull on me and flinging her hind feet around and grinding her teeth. I have yet to get her tired-- she doesn’t longe, but I’m thinking we’ll learn this week. I think she’ll come around eventually, but I can tell it’s going to take a while of “too bad, so sad” and letting her fight with herself. Not my first mare-- she reminds me so much of my first mare, actually.
All this to say, I still haven’t found my dream pony, but at least I’ve got a project to work with for the time being. 
