Spirit Horse Equine Rescue and Education Center

Tommy's Blog

The road to recovery as told by Spirit Horse Equine Rescue, President, DeeDee.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Oh, how we are progressing! People who stop over are simply amazed at the difference in Tommy. He sticks his nose out to greet people even before they offer a “horsey handshake”.

Monday, after a session of approach and retreat with the halter and lead rope, our little mule was comfortable enough for me to put his halter on! I had been swinging the lead rope over his back and neck and he was very comfortable with that. Then he was okay with me holding both ends of the lead while it was around his neck. I did a lot of scratching of his neck, ears and face. He then accepted me handing the end of the halter from under his neck to my right hand over his neck. Finally I massaged the opening in the halter over his nose and tied the knot.

I just hung out with the halter and lead and let him drift and graze as he wished. Eventually I opened the gate and walked to the barn. He followed the feel and when I stopped and pointed into his stall he went right in. I held the rope and he bumped into the halter, then turned to face me. I was a little afraid he might try to bolt backward out of the halter when I was taking it off, so I put the lead rope loosely around his neck. He was fine, but it was a good safety net.

Yesterday I followed the same procedure, but haltered him in his stall and led him out to the round pen. After a couple of hours of eating grass and battling the vicious gnats he was ready to go back to the barn. I haltered him again and played approach and retreat with his legs until he let me put Swat on the cuts on his front legs. He’s had them for a month (from slicing himself with his long back hooves) and though the cause has been eliminated, the flies have been chewing on the sores. I think it bothered me more than him, but I finally got to put something on them without him freaking out. It’s good practice for eventual foot handling.

I also stood on his left side, at the neck and he let me scratch the top of his butt. He really liked it and I was able to get some of his winter hair off of him. It was a very mellow afternoon and evening.

Today was pretty much a replay of yesterday, with a bit more practice with the draw while on line and some sending to the left. Since he doesn’t want me to be on his left side, this is an important hurdle to get over. He got a little excited, but I was careful not to push through any thresholds. It is satisfying that head and neck scratches are now becoming as rewarding as treats.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Sorry to have been incommunicado for a while. My husband had surgery and I dislocated my shoulder, so things have been happening slowly around here. And that has not been all bad. It has forced me to take things slowly with Tommy, build his confidence in himself, his environment and in people.

To help accomplish that, I made a small round pen out of aluminum “alpaca” panels. I put it on the grass just outside our barn and built a bit of a gauntlet of additional panels so he could go from his stall to the round pen without having to put on a halter. Every day after work, I would let Tommy out to graze. Sometimes I would sit on a chair in the pen with him. I’d read a book and ignore him. I also loaded my left pants’ pocket with small apple treats. Pretty soon he was coming up to my sides and sniffing my arms, legs and feet. I’d reward him with a treat. When he’d had enough of that closeness he’d wander off and eat more grass. He was able to approach and retreat to his heart’s content.

Eventually, Tommy started braying for me as soon as my truck pulled up to the garage. I could hear him hee-hawing away in his stall to let me know he was ready to go out. Aah, human = good time.

I also encouraged other board members as well as co-workers, friends and neighbors to come over to see Tommy. I wanted him to see lots and lots of people who were either good to him (giving him treats) or neutral (just hanging out). He takes treats so politely, it’s sweet.

Another change I made was to his stall door. I noticed that Tommy had a lot more confidence with a barrier between us. When he eventually started letting me rub his forehead, it was over the stall door or wall. If I’d try the same thing while standing in his open stall door, he was too frightened to come close. Enter another panel. The small door-sized panel fit perfectly in his stall door. My husband made me some brackets so I could substitute the panel for the solid door. That way Tommy could see my whole body, yet have a barrier between us.

Every evening, after things settled down around here I would sit in my chair at his door panel. I faced sideways so as to be less intimidating. I always had plenty of treats. Curiosity and an interest in treats brought him to me. I’ve been rubbing and/or scratching his forehead, eyes, ears and neck as far as I could reach when sitting down. It was a singular thrill when his lips started to twitch while I was scratching him. He finally let go of the fear and gave in to the wonderful feeling.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

I was nervous about today. I tried to keep breathing when I played with Tommy before work. I do feel his trust has been compromised a bit from the round pen issue of yesterday. However, I was able to put his halter on and felt a bit better about the upcoming trim.

Naturally, the storms rolled in an hour before the event was to take place. I know I was a little rushed about getting him haltered since it was thundering, lightning and raining on me as I played with him in his paddock. I didn’t want to switch things up too much and try to halter him in his stall, since the paddock venue had been where we’d had our successes. Tentatively he allowed me to halter him, but he wanted nothing to do with me clipping the lead on him. After an hour of approach and retreat with no luck, I decided to send him into his stall and take a break to think of a different plan.

When I approached him in his stall he swung his back end at me. He even refused to take apple wafers from me. He was really feeling skeptical. I needed to get the lead on him before the farrier (Stacy Anacker) and vet (Dr. Jim Schwisow) arrived, but I didn’t want to traumatize him. I finally decided to get one of my small aluminum panels and separate his stall. Since he feels braver with a barrier between us, I thought that might enable him to get close enough to take a treat and let me clip on the lead. It worked! By the time the two professionals arrived he was standing calmly just on the other side of the panel from me.

The panel helped Dr. Jim in his efforts to sedate Tommy without being kicked. The mixture of anti-anxiety, pain reliever and sedative worked so well I was wishing I could have some. Then Stacy went to work. He did not protest much about her working on his front feet. It took her quite some time to nip them down to almost normal. He had been foundered, as we guessed, but it wasn’t too awful bad. His soles were quite clean under the curled hoof, which was good. Stacy had thought he might be packed full of manure and mud and have a case of thrush, but fortunately not. The hooves were curled so much that she had to really chop them up to get them off.

Tommy put up quite a fuss when Stacy went for his back feet. She was extremely polite, starting up high and working her way down his leg. But he was very quick with his kicks (as I’d warned), but she dodged them all. Through passive persistence she finally got him to accept her and stood quietly while she trimmed off enough hoof for a whole other mule! After everyone left I took a couple hour break, then spent some quality hanging out time with Tommy in his stall. He’s on stall rest for now, getting mud in the laminae could lead to abscesses. I’ll give him some Bute for a couple of days to take the edge off his tenderness from standing on the soles of his feet for the first time in years! I will be able to hand graze him, so that will be a great reward for him to allow me to put on his halter and lead rope. I’m sure he’ll figure out “What comes before what comes before”. I look forward to continuing to build our relationship.

This whole thing would never have been possible without the skills and efforts of Stacy and Dr. Jim. A huge thank you goes out to them both (not to mention a whole bunch of good karma that will be headed their way)!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

What a day! Tommy was pretty cool about me putting his halter on him again, then I clipped on the 22-foot lead, which made him a little nervous. I took him out into the yard to hand graze and just hang out. I had him following the feel some and played a little “Yo” game (just the bring back part...he doesn’t need to be sent away) and treated him when he got close. It was a great experience.

I took him into the round pen to try to desensitize him to the string around his feet, but was very unsavvy when I went to snug up his halter. I did not put the rope around his neck as a safety net and when I untied the knot he pulled back. I had two choices: let him back out of the halter or move toward him in an effort to get the knot tied again. I decided the former was far less predatory, so I just let him go. Wow. I spent the next hour and a half trying to have him catch me. I was really hampered by not being able to do much to move him around; he is so clumsy and awkward on his feet. I didn’t want him to injure himself.

Tommy really got his adrenaline going and went into prey mode. I took all the obstacles I had and put them around the pen to cause him to change directions and get back to thinking. That worked to some extent. He would stop and turn and face me, but no amount of approach and retreat would enable me to get in a position to put his halter on. Hmmmm. Plan B.

He’s pretty attached to my horse herd already and I decided to use that to my advantage. I sent the horses back to their paddock from the pasture near the round pen. Tommy whinny-hew-hawed after them and got pretty excited. So I opened up the round pen gate and he scooted right after the horses and ran into his paddock! Whew.

Once back in the safety of his paddock, I went back to what had been successful before and I was able to put the halter on him before I called it quits for the night. I hoped we hadn’t had a set back in his confidence in me, but I smiled at the thought that it would be the last night I’d see him with those dreadful hooves!

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Big day...not that I’m goal oriented or anything, but we do have the Thursday foot trimming scheduled! It seems we must get that done without delay as he’s actually cutting the outside of his front legs with the sides of his back hooves. The flies are feasting on his sores, and I can’t get close enough to him to do anything about it, but swish the stick and string and shoo the flies away for a few seconds.

Anyway, Tommy let me put his halter on him today!! I’d been working at him letting me scratch the left side of his neck with it while standing next to his neck, but facing forward, not looking directly at him. He’s also becoming quite food oriented, now that his fear is diminishing. He gets excited when I reach in my left jeans pocket. He’s pretty crazy about the apple wafers. So I scratch and treat and scratch and treat. The actual haltering was quite the non-event, which is just what I was hoping it would be. I took the halter off and walked away, then went through the same procedure again.

Yahoo. (I am not goal-oriented)

Monday, June 9, 2008

More friendly games today. Tommy's starting to show his playful side. I had the string lying on the ground near him; he walked up to it and picked up the popper in his mouth. It’s so good to see him dare to explore! He mouthed it for a while and then spit it out, without even harming it, though a new popper would have been a small price to pay to see him being curious.

Later I tied the halter to the stick and casually and rhythmically moved it around him. He was a bit frightened so I did a lot of approach and retreat. He was finally comfortable with me flopping it over his back and even scratching him a bit with it. He definitely better about his left side now, but the right side is still preferred.

Taking treats is almost a casual thing now and he’ll take long grass from just about anyone who stops over for a visit.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Happy day! In addition to a good draw and taking treats from my hand, Tommy showed tremendous curiosity about me today. When I sat in a relaxed manner in a chair in his stall he came over repeatedly and sniffed my feet, legs and arms. His little whiskers tickled my bare arms, but I managed not to giggle and pull my arm away.

During time with the stick and string, he started showing more curiosity and play. At one point he picked the popper of the string in his mouth and held on to it for quite a while. He even tolerated me moving the stick with the end of the string in his mouth.

Further into our session I stood up and offered him my hand in a horsey handshake. He sniffed confidently and then pushed lightly on my hand as if he wanted me to touch his muzzle. Then he lowered his head so I could lightly scratch his forehead. He even turned his head to the side so I could scratch his left cheek. I can only guess how itchy he is in the places his too tight halter had been. He was very shy and unsure, but repeated the behavior so I knew he felt good about it. Thanks to Natural Horsemanship, he has come a long long way in just one week!

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Due to family obligations, I only had a short evening session with Tommy today, but it was a good one! I reviewed the friendly game with stick and string, moved him around the stall some and did quite a bit of scratching on his right side with the end of the stick. He even allowed himself to enjoy it...his lips quivered ever so slightly.

Tommy's draw is markedly improved. His steps toward me are steady and confident up until about two feet away. He took quite a few apple wafers from my hand today while I was standing up. If I withdrew my hand, he took a step toward me and stretched out his neck toward me. He’s doing well.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Breakthrough! This morning, before work, I held my hand over Tommy’s stall in a horsey handshake and he came and touched it 5 times! Then he took several mini carrots from my hand! Real measurable progress.

This afternoon we had a short friendly game session. There is continued improvement in his draw and his confidence with me on his left side. His threshold is down to about a foot. He did take mini carrots from my outstretched hand, as long as I was squatting or kneeling. He came within an inch of taking one while I was standing, but couldn’t manage it.

He seems very comfortable with me moving around his paddock as long as I don’t approach him straight on. I cut the angles around the area and he keeps his head down as he searches for something to nibble on. There’s no defense in him at all.

When I went out for evening chores he brayed at me, then didn’t know what to do when I went straight over to the gate to his paddock. He’s thinking, that’s for sure!

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Tommy is definitely figuring how things work around here. He pays special attention when I’m rattling around in the grain bin or fiddling with a bag of carrots. He watches me carefully when I drop something into his corner feeder, waits until I back up a step or two and then eats it. He seems to like pretty much everything: apples, carrots, apple wafers, butterscotch treats and of course sweet feed. I’m giving him just a bit of sweet feed to get the Missing Link into him.

He’s drinking plenty of water and his urine is now a normal pale yellow. He’s somewhat interested in the two different salt blocks, but not as much as I thought he would be. Perhaps he had been provided salt by his otherwise neglectful/abusive owner.

We reviewed our friendly games outside in his little paddock. His draw is becoming stronger and his threshold is now only about three feet. He is much more relaxed and doesn’t flinch when I throw the string over his back. He is showing me his left side a little bit and he’ll let me scratch him on the neck on the right side now, but he gets nervous when I try to scratch farther back. I use approach and retreat with that, so he should improve. He even roams around a bit in his paddock when I’m there, but won’t squeeze between me and the side fences as it must be just a bit narrow for his bravery level. I don’t want to push it because he’s making such nice steady progress.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

I put up a small temporary electric fence so Tommy could get out of his stall and into the paddock where my two ponies and goats are. He could meet them across the fence and, hopefully, start feeling like a part of a herd….besides his herd of two with me.

He loved it! He rolled and rolled on the dirt and acted interested in his surroundings and fellow creatures. I sat outside his little paddock and quietly observed him. Once I knew he was comfortable I decided to get a bit of work done and drag the back paddock. After that I felt he was brave enough to manage me dragging the larger part of the paddock he was in, so I moved the ponies and goats out and started into work.

The head of my herd, Lucky, saw the gate was open and strolled in for a look-see. About halfway to Tommy’s pen he stopped abruptly. Tommy had started to bray at him. Lucky did not know what to think of that! The nosy two-year-olds decided they wanted to see what was going on and came trotting in. I didn’t want Tommy to be overwhelmed, so I sent the three horses back out to their pasture. They took off at a run, bucking and carrying on. Tommy spun and ran back into his stall, then came back out at a run, jumping and bucking in his little paddock. He even tossed his head around a bit. It warmed my heart to see the little guy exhibit so much exuberance. It made me think his feet might not hurt so much as I’d assumed.

After I finished my work, I closed Tommy’s stall door and went out into his paddock with the stick and string. At first he hugged the wall of the barn, keeping me on his right side. After some time he was turning to face me and even coming toward me a few steps. I started tossing mini-carrots on the ground and he would come as close as four feet to grab them and retreat a couple of steps to chew and swallow. Clear progress.

When I was in the house and my husband was out feeding the dogs, he came tripping into the house to proudly announce that Tommy had taken clover from his hand! He was on the outside of Tommy’s stall, but it was still a milestone! I went out and was able to get the little guy to take grass and clover from my hand too, but my husband will always be the first!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Tommy was much more confident today. He would stand diagonally to me and look at me out of his right eye. He was quite accepting of the stick and string, but when I took even one step toward him he wheeled his hind end around and put his head back in the corner.

As I played with him for several hours, he continued to grow in confidence, his threshold shrinking to about eight feet. Tommy did a lot of yawning, which indicated he was coming down off of adrenaline. It was a good sign. But it was very obvious that this project was going to take every ounce of savvy I’d learned in 15 years, and a lot more time than I’d figured.

After consulting with veterinarian Dr. Jim Schwisow and farrier Stacy Anacker we agreed that it would be best for Tommy’s emotional state if we postponed the trimming for another week. He’d lived with the bad feet for three years, and as anxious as we were to start his physical rehabilitation, a week would probably not make a difference in that regard and we hoped I would have him more mentally fit.

Monday, June 2, 2008

It has become exceedingly clear that Tommy is far more fearful of human beings than I initially thought. His 10 x 12 stall is not big enough for the two of us. Even standing in the open doorway causes him to put his nose in the corner and be ready to kick if the need arose.

The first thing I did was put a stool just inside the door and sit on it. I faced diagonally away from him, so I was putting very little pressure on him, but could observe him with my peripheral vision. I sat and read a book for about an hour, occasionally turning my head and looking softly at him. During that time Tommy would turn his head to look at me, then tuck it back into the corner. His ears flicked a great deal, but he did do some licking and chewing. He lowered his head and blew a few times which was a good sign that he was coming off adrenaline. He constantly shifted his weight on his overgrown feet, which seemed to be incredibly uncomfortable.

When I saw Tommy urinate yesterday, it was very dark and the stream was very thin. His manure was very dry and he was straining so much to pass it, he tucked his butt under and looked more like a dog. Today he’s passing manure much more comfortably and it’s much more moist. He’s been drinking plenty of water and eating alfalfa cubes soaked in water as well as some grass and clover I’ve been cutting and giving him. Hopefully all the moisture will improve both his urine and manure.

After a bit of a break I took my stick and string into the stall with me. I still stood at the open door since it was obvious I was already across his threshold, but it was the best I could do given the circumstances. I started gently moving the stick and string, it didn’t seem to bother Tommy too much, so I flicked it closer and closer to him. Just before the string would touch him he would tense up his entire body, tuck his butt under him and shake. Our little neighbor boy asked me if Tommy was cold. I continued to work with the stick and string. When I neared his hindquarters, he would cow kick mildly. If I persisted too long he would swing his hindquarters around toward me. I tried to read him and use approach and retreat until he was more comfortable. If the stick was near his shoulder, Tommy would turn his head and bite at it. Again, approach and retreat helped him to accept the stick and string in this new zone. I also used the stick to move Tommy forward and backward, trying to establish the beginnings of leadership as my main focus was building his confidence with humans and the stick and string.

In all, I was with Tommy for 5 hours today. It was a lot for both of us, but I felt I had to do my best to get him ready for his Thursday trim. It is so painful to look at him with those awful feet. Until tomorrow.