The timing for moving Odin the Mustang from a comfy boarding facility to live with his retired OTTB “brother” at a private pasture probably could’ve been worse, I suppose. How I imagined it would work and how it actually worked were entirely different. When he was at the boarding facility I worked hard and constantly on getting him to be comfortable walking into the barn. Since he was born on the range and lived there for most of his 6 years, buildings with roofs are simply unfamiliar and suspect to him. I don’t know what his experience was during the short time he was in a holding facility but it may not have been positive, especially the part about being chased into a trailer to get from one place to another. I understand his suspicion but for the entire time he was at the boarding facility the only bad things that happened in the barn were in his imagination. No one hurt him, he didn’t get hurt accidentally. Nothing. I gave him as many cookies as possible for being in the barn and standing quietly, hopefully relaxing.
Some of this work translated to trailer loading but it was still work. Every new enclosed space is a new experience and must be considered thoughtfully by Odin.
Riding Odin the Mustang is easy.
At the end of spring-like January, I moved Odin to be with his “brother” as I was tired of the windshield time going between horses, not to mention from home to barn, home to work, work driving, work to barn to home. Some weeks I drive 1,000 miles in several 30-mile chunks. Or perhaps that’s just my imagination, like Odin’s imaginary monsters in the barn.
Odin’s “brother”, Beege, did not make it easy on him. No welcome home party, so glad to see you Brother. It was more like Who the F are You and WHY are You Here? Odin believed him, especially since some of this “welcome” was happening under a roof, even though the three horses were separated by fencing. I visited Odin, mostly to give him cookies and let him know he was in a good place but he still didn’t believe me even though water and food were under the roof. He was fed under a roof at the boarding facility but the roof was at least 10′ high. This roof was just above his ears when in giraffe pose.
In the first week at the new place, I was able to trailer Odin to a trail ride and ride him a bit in the driveway. He was tolerant of the roof but definitely not a fan. I was hopeful about our future.
Then it snowed. And snowed and snowed. I was lucky to get to work 30 miles away. Going to the barn 30 miles away in a different direction could not be a priority. I got out there after the snow plows cleared and sanded. And then it snowed more. And then it melted. The footing was terrible. Ice balls were horrible. By then all three horses were living together rather peacefully and Odin decided he would not put up with Beege’s “leadership” and established himself as the leader. At least that was sorted out. The snow was stressful as the horses were confined to a lower pasture. It was probably boring for all of them since no grazing was available and hay is only interesting for a while.
Gradually the snow started melting. Just in time for a farrier appointment. Beege is a bit high strung anyway so we thought we’d bring Odin into the stall to be his buddy. I hadn’t been able to work with Odin much under the roof but I thought we had at least established a degree of comfort. Except snow kept sliding off the roof. Beege decided to be sensible but Odin lost his marbles and he’s usually the sensible one. Thankfully the farriers tag team and are great horse people in addition to their craft. While Beege made me mostly proud, I was embarrassed by Odin as he seemed to have regressed to his feral self. Odin was supposed to be a calming influence on Beege. Well that didn’t work. No one got hurt, except my pride and nerves. I also realized how much homework I have that I was not expecting at all. Based on previous history, I shouldn’t be surprised but I would’ve liked to have continued the slow forward trajectory we were making. The new place was one thing but the snow was a major complicating factor.
The day after the embarrassing farrier appointment, I worked gently and slowly with Odin under the roof. Then more snow fell off. Boom! All that great work undone. Off to the arena for completely different exercises. And no roof. We had to go back through the barn to get out to the pasture. Odin gave the hay steamer a dragon snort and the hairy eyeball but walked politely with me by it and out. Yesterday a lot less snow remains on the roof and we worked slowly and patiently. Very slowly. Got halfway into the stall, ate some cookies and called it a day. I let him go right outside of the roof. We walked in sync back up to his pasture. Odin still wants to be with me in spite of the exercises under a roof.