Spooky

I realize that this blog was dedicated to building a working horse farm, from nothing to actuality. There are still so many things that need doing. We have plans, we’ve made lists, we’ve revised lists, added, subtracted, underfunded, abandoned, and modified our plans.

You make plans, then find out the sequence of events must be changed or it will have to be undone, redone. Or something else comes up, not planned for, that needs to be dealt with. And we always need to find time to ride, that’s why we are doing what we’re doing!

Back in the day I had a green, ‘spooky’ horse. Spooky doesn’t mean he’s dark, or a scary guy, it means he was afraid of lots of things, so many things I couldn’t even keep track. Several times things scared him and I ended up on my back, under him. Not a good place to be with horses. The goal is to stay on top, keeping the horse between you and the ground. He was raised in an isolated bubble and it was my dream to have him be fearless, like me!

I definitely had my work cut out for me! I first had to build his trust in me; he needed to prove to himself that I could be brave for both of us. This takes time, if you don’t have the time you will not be successful.

Along the way I will admit I was lucky to escape without serious injury. I didn’t say I was injury-free, just that it wasn’t ‘serious.’ And he was getting better, all building blocks to lay the foundation and build up his resume.’

One great product I found was a CD of spooky noises from Clinton Anderson. I am not a paid endorser, but this CD saved my ass, literally. The CD has 58 or so random noises that we all take for granted, but to a young horse this is all new sounds, and potentially life-threatening. You can’t explain it to him; he has to figure it out for himself. What doesn’t kill him makes him stronger. No truer words were ever uttered.

This CD has the sounds of gunshots; roosters; cows; pigs; sirens; air brakes; motorcycles; parade noises; air horns; diesel trucks; lawn mowers; chain saw; turkeys; children loudly playing; fair grounds; fireworks and fire crackers; and many more. This one item prevented me from sending him to a trainer.

I still have that green horse, but he's not green any longer - he has grown into an awesome nearly bomb-proof horse. I don't stop him from 'looking' or 'thinking' but he has learned to trust me instead of falling back on his basic instinct of flight.