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Oh Hey, Kind of a PS. Will be down to the City week from today at big Barrel race deal to pick up one of my grandkids since mom will be working in the arena and her sister will be running and too busy to watch him till Sunday afternoon when it all ends. Maybe we'll see you down there. I don't get to the City often, even less now that fuel is so high and all we drive are 2 Duramax trucks because of our bricklaying business.

Good to hear from you Becky. Sounds like you have a real challenge with that horse. New one should be fun. We had an Arab gelding from the time he was 5 until he died at 20. Kids did everything on him, I mean EVERYTHING! He was shown Western, Hunt Seat, Over fences, Saddle Seat, Side Saddle, Trail, Cutting, Breakaway roping, Trail all that show stuff, 4-H to National Level against Quarter Horses. At the time we started showing him locally and in 4-H the other folks would say "Oh, there's an Aaarab, how funny" Soon it changed to "D****, there's that Arab again. Maybe he won't get High Point today" Sure was fun for the kids but a lot of work and expense for us. He finished out his days as transportation for our youngest daughter all over the country everyday in Summer, sometimes he'd to 20-30 miles in a day as a normal day. If you let him he would do a gaited horse gait, not sure what it was now but covered a lot of ground in a hurry. Took good care of the girls all the time with minor disicpline moves to keep them on their toes and not too rough..he was a good safe horse and we all cried when he died. Don't know if, at my age, there is still time for that forever kind of guy or not. So far I have one now who trusts me enough to be a friend and is sane and solid but still has a few hold over issues from a mysterious past. The new guy is a challenge on occasion but not at all nasty. I just don't know if I have or want to take the time to bring him along. My husband is 65 and I would really like to get a smooth Gaited horse safe enough for him and still not jar his bricklayer's back and knees. Would have to find a home for Snowman first and start the hunt all over. Decisions, decisions. I'm too old for this I'm afraid as well as not being wealthy enough to do unlimited shuffeling and loosing money on trade or sale after sale. We'll see where it goes if weather ever gets good enough long enough to ride 4 or 5 days a week that Snowy needs. Joel is out of it for another 5 or 6 weeks with sprained fetlock joint, hope persistent joint problems don't continue after initial healing. One dumb thing after another. Will post more photos of crew, equine, canine, and human when it gets prettier and wooly mamoths shed off. Good luck with new mare and your rescue guy.

Hi Becky, I have had experiences in the past with horses that I know have been abused but people deny it or weren't even aware that it was the reason the horse they had acted so wierd and scary. Building trust on a persistent, consistent and patient basis is the key. Find one thing that really bothers the horse and continue to expose them to it until it gets to be normal, so they know it isn't going to hurt. Be careful of exposing yourself to injury tho. These horses get pretty defensive trying to protect themselves most of the time. They will hurt you in a heartbeat if they become too scared or are already expecting the worst. Parelli training is good if you have the time to spend but if the horse has any sense left it can be very rewarding. It's a fine line between instilling trust and still getting the respect from the horses at the same time. I have two gaited horses, both boys have had some abuse in the past but are basiclly looking for a friend. One I've had a year and he is great now even non-riding husband can ride him but you can still bugger him up if you are not kind with him. Other I've only had since Nov. and with the weather this winter haven't gotten to spend the time with him he needs, however, he is improving slowly and is easy on the ground but expects to be hit or whipped if you pick up a training stick. Gets in a really big hurry riding but that too is coming around. Even worked well enough to head some escaped cattle and put them back in pasture Sunday, and he is a Tennessee Walker! Neighbor's Quarter mare was a useless basket case but their Rocky Mountain horse did OK. Do the friend invite thing and we can correspond more if you like. Grey horse you're on is a nice looking fello, girl? I'm in North Central Oklahoma and mostly road gait and occasionally get away to a real trail ride destination since that's all I get excited about at my age. Used to train all my own colts years ago when we raised horses. More later if you like.