Saturday ...

You know what I love about Page? She is always willing to help me whenever I ask.....she does sometimes give me "that look" like "how do you think we are going to do that ?"

So this morning as she feeding, I say "we are going to go and bathe the old Arab gelding, medicate his wounds, look the mare over, groom her........oh and then we are going to halter the stallion to see what he knows."

"WE are?" she says.

"Yes, WE are," I say.

Okay.

So in about an hour we jumped in the truck and left to go see the Arabians.

The gelding has a bacterial skin infection and so a bath was in order, however he wanted no part of the hose or cold water or us after he understood the plan. He danced around a little, screamed a little so I put a stud chain on him (I know, he hardly seems a candidate for a stud chain)......we didn't use the chain as he understood the message.....he stood like a good boy and we got scabs off and a good lather of antibacterial cleanser on him, then rinsed him, sprayed him with some anti-itch spray and he was good to go.

The mare was in good shape skin wise, she got some grain treats and some hand grazing.

Then I went to get the stallion. He did not want to be caught, although he did get close, then he would lay his ears back and snake his head at me.......so I sent him off and out of my claimed area. He finally came to me and waited, then allowed me to halter him. I told him that I might be his only chance out of here...I expected the worst. I am not a stallion handler , at least not a stallion who has had very little training and absolutely no discipline, but I had to try in order to see what we were dealing with and so I could tell folks first hand about his behavior..... I asked him to back up and he willingly did, he turned and came forward when asked, he lead next to me and he stopped and came forward again when I asked. I patted him and told him he was a good boy. Then I asked for his left front....he offered to bite me and he got a reprimand. I asked again and he offered to bite again......he got a sharper reprimand followed by some line work......I asked again and he was polite, lifted and held his foot.......no mouth, no ears back. He got a good pat on the neck and withers, then I asked again.......he lifted his foot and held it up.

Aw.. he is a smart one. I moved to his other side and asked for the right........he lifted it right up for me, no ears, no mouth. Good boy pat, withers scratch..... lesson over. Enough for today.

This horse needs gelded asap. We cannot place him without him being gelded or without a gelding contractin place. We cannot place him with an inexperienced handler. I don't want anyone hurt and I don't want him to end up on the slaughter bus due to him being too much to handle. He will need an adequate stallion pen/turn out with hot wire as he knows that his current fencing is not a challenge if he wants out.

He is smart, he has had work done with him that he remembers......he just has not had anyone to train him or teach him manners. He has had years of surviving on his own with his own rules. He wants to be friendly.......he does not come after you, he comes to you with interest but needs to learn his place and a job.

We would love to have an experienced trainer volunteer to work with this boy for 30 - 60 days in order to give him a fair chance at being placed. He will be gelded first in order to "get his mind right."

We hope to generate enough funds to geld him in the next week.

We hope to hear from folks who may have ideas, suggestions.......we welcome them. Time is running out for this guy.