Every cowboy has a good string of horses and this spring we have been working on ours. We have two new mares that we have been working with. Both of them have been pretty labor intensive but with time we have seen some great progress.
The sorrel (red) horse with a white blaze is Loca. She is a baby from The Rancher’s mare when he was growing up. If you know Spanish, you know that Loca means crazy. She’s named that for a reason! For a couple of years now, The Rancher has been trying to work with her. She’s about to turn 6 (or maybe 7… I’m not quite sure) and for that many years she has been a wild thing. Too wild to really do anything with. We haven’t really even been able to get a halter on her, let alone try anything with a saddle.
One day The Rancher was working with her and he had a rope around her neck. She went to being crazy (like she doe)s and got the rope caught on the fence. She hit the slack and it tightened up around her neck. Being crazy already, she started working against the rope and before long it was tight enough that she passed out. When she tipped over, the rope broke free and loosened up around her neck. Slowly she got up and walked to The Rancher. It was like she was a completely new horse! And ever since that day, she has been a gem to work with.
The Rancher has been a little weary of her, knowing how she used to be a little crazy. But every time he has worked with her its like she has done it hundreds of times. Now all we need is to get a little experience on her and she is good to go!
Our other new horse is Sugar. We bought her from a family that had a few horses and other animals, but they really didn’t have the time to work with her. When we called to tell them we were on our way (it was a few hours to get there) they said, “Are you good with horses? I don’t think that she has ever been loaded in a trailer…”. Oh boy that was a great start!
Don’t worry, she practically loaded herself! The next day we saddled her up to see what kind of skills she had. After only a few minutes The Rancher said, “Well… she has no manners, no steering, and no gas.” I guess that left only room for progress! And boy have we made some progress- we can actually get into a good lope and move left and right. Its still rough, but with time she is going to be a great little pony!
Loca must have 'seen the light' while she was out?!?! Either way, I'm happy that she's working out for you and your family! I love her big ol' blaze! I can't deal with horses without manners, thankfully it's something that can be taught. And Sugar has a very kind eye! Happy Friday!