Ocasionally we'll take in a horse that is really troubled. Most often we'll
try to help it out and send it on its way. Once in a while we end up keeping one.
River was adopted as a yearling by Mortisha Fairchild who tamed him and waited
until he was about three years old before sending him out for training. She had
a trainer that she trusted, but unfortunately River went to the trainer's while
he was having some serious domestic problems, he left and unbeknownst to Mortisha,
his wife tried to gentle the horse. When Mortisha went to check things out she found
a disaster. River had reverted to being wilder than before, and as a young stud colt
trapped in a pasture with three old studs that attacked him regularly, River became
compulsively neurotic.
|
Mortisha and her friends managed to get river into a trailer and back to a stable where
she boarded her horses, but the experience made River impossible to approach and handle.
We agreed to take River in as a project to rehabilitate and either place him in an
appropriate location or keep him ourselves. Aside from his issues, River is a real
sweetheart that enjoys interacting with people if doing something with his body is not
involved.
|
River at Mortisha's stable
|
River is primarily Sharon's project with her primary focus being getting River to calmly
process what is going on around him. When his mind is not focused on all the "yeah, buts"
("Yeah, I know you want me to stand still but a leaf just blew by...") he is nice to work
with. With some consistent handling and maturity we expect him to grow out of this neurotic
phase.
|
Getting used to the scary flag
|