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T O P I C R E V I E W
zooscat
Posted - 24 Jul 2015 : 05:06:00 AM Hello again, dear Arabian Lines friends! . I'm back, too! After deciding that Aragon the Paragon would have a far better home with someone else (September 2012) I gave up all things Arabian. At one point, giving up on life was seeming like a sensible option, too: but, clinging on to The Grippet's scrawny tail, and Miss Cat's loud, demanding purr, I somehow floated through. In January 2013, I bought a roughly broken, very scruffy little 4 year old Exmoor cross who knows, probably cob, mare from some travellers. She reminded me off my first "proper" pony who I had from when I was six, until graduating to the big hunters at twelve. My rationale in getting her was as follows: life without a horse was thin and grey. Buy something low key and bring on quietly to potter about on, under the radar, whilst I produced a rounded, sensible, well schooled go anywhere, do anything,child's second pony. When I dropped off the earning enough/being mentally and physically fit enough to carry on bough, (I am 70 plus, and still in a full time demanding and dangerous trade), she would be reasonably assured of a good life as a reliable, fun Pony Club mount. At 13.3hh, sound, cheerful, fast, reliable and a very talented little 4x4 go anywhere, win anything jumping machine, (she does love her jumping)! that is exactly what she has turned out to be. She comes to call, lives on good grass and fresh air, (and a good multi-vit/mineral supplement) looks a million dollars with a glass-bright dapple brown coat, glossy black flowing mane and tail and a pretty head. She loads and travels like a pro, is in self carriage almost all the time, does low key dressage, medium height cross country, show jumping, Le Trec, pleasure rides dressed up as The Christmas Fairy, you name it, we can do it! She has been the recipient of huge amounts of time, money, thoughtful management and skilled quiet schooling (the latter supported by three times a week training with the lovely YM and input by my dressage instructor) and my usual Best Of Everything regime. It has paid off, big time. She also proved a brilliant mother to the exquisite huge Exmoor x ? Standardbred 15 month 13.2hh gelding tri-coloured Surprise she presented us with on April 21st last year! He's off in the bottom yard paddocks, with the other youngsters, preparing to be the YM's next Badminton horse. Utterly stunning and a lovely person. As well as being Miss Perfect Pony, Exxie can also be a very powerful, opinionated, pushy, 400kg thug. Not often, but the young cob mare/shut down/survival mode/deal with rough early life strategies occasionally arrive when she wants/doesn't want to do something. Usually coinciding with being in season: getting less on a herbal supplement. (£46 a pot - eek!). But. She's whacked me into the stable wall, pulled me sideways into a gate and been a bargey brat once too often. Again, very rarely. But enough. There is not a lot of me, these days (7stone 8lbs of determined Old Bones) and I rely on experience, a classical seat, long legs and good balance to survive my horsey enterprises. Those don't provide much padding or anchorage in times of Exxie teen tantrums. And - she isn't an Arab. That has turned out to be the fly in our otherwise very effective horsey ointment. The ultimate, unfortunate deal breaker. So, I have taken an opportunity which the gods of keeping one's nerve, kick on, and just do it, have kindly set in my way. All being well, (fingers and toes, paws and claws, hooves, eyes and teeth all crossed) a lovely relative of the beloved Ryazan (1989 -2010) will be in my permanent care from early August. Exxie is going to carry on her trade of being a cracking little pony with a good Pony Club family who have had, and still have two of my other, smaller, older rescue ponies. They also became star turns. I shall miss her bright little face with its "what you got and where is it?" expression over the door in the morning. But - I achieved what I set out to do with her, and she is equipped to go on with the life she enjoys, under my at-a-distance long watch. The gnawing ache of grief left by the loss of Ratty Ry has never gone away: it has stopped me truly bonding with any horse since, even A the P. But I have never ceased looking for the Ratty feeling, even though I knew he was gone. When I first met The Possibility, I looked, spoke, stroked and scratched. No: not Ratty. No good. Then I realised that it could be ok again. I rode him and that fabulous Ratty ride feeling was back. The glittering excitement. The feeling safe. Phew: home again. Thanks for reading.
25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)
Iris
Posted - 20 Aug 2015 : 12:55:24 PM You should pen a novel, Zooscat - you have a gorgeous way of writing. TAO sounds like the best kind of dream and oh, isn't he beautiful - I've always longed for a chestnut arab. Excited to hear more!
sammewl
Posted - 08 Aug 2015 : 7:53:06 PM What a lovely thread
When I read your first post I was hoping you would go with the horse that was 'yours' when you met - regardless of funny owners, age, heath issues, breeding etc. and you went and took home the horse who needed you, who you were 'theirs'.
I think your idea of dumping all the 'baggage' is a good one. skin issues and alergies are often associated with stress. TAO will have known he was always the extra one that wasn't really wanted. He will have suspected that his old home and herd could be taken away at any time and that would have left him alone. Often when a animal is suffering from stress/anxiety/fear you can buy as many rugs and supplements to fix any symptoms but if they do not have a place they feel safe in they are only sticking plasters - if that. you can always add anything if he doesn't flourish on your regime and being 'the one' - but I think he probably will.
good luck with everything you do together.
FireLight
Posted - 05 Aug 2015 : 12:41:02 PM Happy Dawn Hacks Zoocat. I will think of you both when I am also enjoying my dawn rides!
zooscat
Posted - 04 Aug 2015 : 9:53:53 PM Thanks for the prayers, Firelight-as we both now know, he was the one who I am lucky enough to own. Exxie going to my friends next Tuesday. I feel very guilty about letting her go. I know I cannot keep her, because I really only have time to devote to one, and she deserves to be the centre of someone's life, not an expensive add-on, like TAO has been, and he did not do entirely well with that arrangement. I just worry that I cannot guarantee her a safe life for ever. Four days later, TAO and I are moving to my instructor's yard. (Well, I shan't actually reside there, but you know what I mean!). Lovely old place with majestic facilities, miles of off-road hacking and other 'get up at the crack of dawn and hack for miles before work' owners to go out with in the week. It's near to where I work, too, so a sloosh round with the wet wipes and a good dose of Fe-breeze after a spin round the Home Park after an early morning ride should remind me why I continue to do the sometimes hideous job that keeps us all. Fingers crossed for us all, please, as we make these life transitions.
ali bali
Posted - 04 Aug 2015 : 7:54:15 PM Wonderful news for you both Zooscat.
Congratulations, I wish you many happy hours in each others company :)
garnet
Posted - 04 Aug 2015 : 7:01:59 PM Wonderful!
FireLight
Posted - 03 Aug 2015 : 09:49:05 AM Zoocat, I have a feeling your new boy is one I have thought about, OH said no as I already have a 19 year old. It was his sad but beautiful eyes that I noticed. If he is I have prayed for the last week that someone special would come along for him! Good Luck and happy days to you both.
zooscat
Posted - 03 Aug 2015 : 09:36:07 AM Hi Debs! The "think the picture and the horse becomes it" technique is one I use, initially to overcome the blank my mind becomes when instructors fire instructions at me: I ask them to tell me what they want to see the horse doing, and why, think this picture and the horse magically, has a good go at becoming it! Not good at "do this, then do that, then do something else" instructions, which is why I stick to low level dressage, where I can have a caller. Show jumping, hunter trials, cross country is fine because I can see what needs going to next!
debs
Posted - 02 Aug 2015 : 11:16:08 PM So pleased for you both....looking forward to your lovely descriptive tales. I'm going to try and take a leaf out of your book, think the picture and he w il become it! :)
zooscat
Posted - 02 Aug 2015 : 10:22:25 PM I have spent about 24 hours with TAO over the last three days. He is a dream come true. We (The Owner on Whizzy Mare and I) went out for three hours, up hill, down dale, through dense woods, fast -flowing streams, along scree slopes, past herds of feral cattle, sheep and pigs, meeting every version of huge, clanking, grinding farm machinery imaginable, off road motorcyclists, (loud) ditto cyclists (silent), ponies and traps being driven by the fiends from Hell, aka persons from the local traveller site, snorting Aston Martins . Apart from bouncing around like Tigger when Owner suddenly shot off on Whizz, yelling "we usually gallop here" over her rapidly disappearing shoulder, TAO has been cool and calm throughout. He is fast and strong, but completely manageable by keeping a balanced, centred seat, and light hands. The more I have ridden him, especially by ourselves, pottering round the lanes and tracks, the more tuned in we have become. Amazingly easy to converse with, he really is a "think the picture and he will become it" horse. It took me a year to get there with A the P. RR always knew what was required, but was always in two minds as to whether to offer it or not, and if so, for how long! Having spent a number of hours with TAO's owner, I have learnt quite a bit about her and TAO's early life: she was a travelling head groom for world-beating riders in the1960's, and met Arabian breeders and judges of great renown, and she came by TAO and The Whizz by a quite fortuitous route. Because of the small - world nature of Arabians, I am choosing to say no more about TAO, The Whizz, his breeding/breeders or the people who originally broke him in and did his initial training. He has achieved great success in competitions in the past, but was, as The Owner put it, "ridden into the ground until he broke" . TAO cost a considerable amount of money to purchase in the first place, and The Owner reckons it cost at least £15k to put him back together after the catastrophic breakdown. He feels quite "careful" to ride, a lot of the time, as if he is anxious to protect himself. However, towards the end of the 24 hours, he was becoming more trusting, relaxed and beginning to use himself properly. So, the baton has passed from RR to TAO: he really does feel like the next Heart Horse. Thanks, Ratty, for staying around in spirit until TAO was available to take over from you: now you are free to do the your usual leap, buck and fart, and roar up Rainbow Fields to join Zoos, and Ze!
garnet
Posted - 01 Aug 2015 : 7:42:20 PM He'll think he's gone to heaven when you get him home!
Ari
Posted - 01 Aug 2015 : 4:34:14 PM Really hope your hack goes well. I totally agree with you, some horses endure a very complicated and unnecessary regime with a coctail of contradicting feeds, chemicals and clothing. I am looking after a Welsh D for my pal and today it rained heavily, OMG do I put fly rug back on in case rain stops or lightweight in case she gets wet but then sun may come out. Decided to do same as I do with my Arab in August, out and naked. Allergy sufferers apart my pet hate is horses covered from nose to tail in thick mesh all summer or being rugged spring and autumn to keep clean. I am with you less is more, enjoy TAO he will do great on your care.
Callisto
Posted - 01 Aug 2015 : 2:10:50 PM I had a feeling which one would be coming home to be cherished by you Congratulations, and well done for giving the lad a loving home where he will be loved for himself, well away from scary teenagers dashing around. Keep the boots and stuff until you know which ones you need and sell the rest (if in sellable condition). Certainly throw away the straps etc. Don't keep him in a field with a double decker bus, an aquarium or anything else he could fall into!. As for all the gadgets/supplements/special feeds etc. some people are just victims of advertising/the latest thing at the feed store. Ours get turnout, hay in winter, a high fibre diet and a general vit and min supplement, with a joint supplement for the two in their mid twenties; while competing my girl gets Calm and Condition, chaff, the vits and mins, and electrolytes. I hope you have a lovely hack, and do keep us up to date - what is official name and breeding? Colour?
P.S. If amongst all those boots etc. there are some magnetic boots, keep them, they are very good for swollen legs (but not on their legs 24/7).
FireLight
Posted - 01 Aug 2015 : 12:14:13 PM Zoocat, I think your plan is simply spot on! What a complicated life and routine TAO has had. I think he will thrive on 'simples' and you will both enjoy your journey. I have 2 Polish boys, one 19 and one 6 both live on forage based diet and look a little too well! Had to smile though as my old boy has back boots on whilst in the field as he is very prone to self harming due to a very strange action from his racing days. Enjoy your hack today, the first of many I hope.
Goldenmane, what a soppy pair we are!
DianaSC
Posted - 01 Aug 2015 : 10:52:18 AM Zooscat, loved reading your posts. The best of luck with him. Your Plan makes sense, start from scratch and go on from there.
debs
Posted - 01 Aug 2015 : 08:36:43 AM Yes! Go with your gut feeling... So looking forward to photos and progress!! :)
zooscat
Posted - 01 Aug 2015 : 08:05:53 AM Firelight, I read your post and had a bit of a snivel, too! TAO's situation is actually, physically, not bad. He has good-enough practical care, but, to me, he feels dreadfully emotionally impoverished. The Owner and her exquisite Crabbet mare, who have apparently won everything everywhere in their respective youth (mare is in her early twenties and looks ten and acts like a bumptious four year old) are obviously completely wrapped up in each other, and every other sentence from Owner was " I should have got rid of him years ago, he gets in the way of my time with her". TAO apparently suffers from cellulitus, azoturia, mud fever, allergies from A to Z, COPD, itchy skin, is completely accident prone and given to falling over, into and out of everything including, apparently, a double decker bus and a child's play area. The Owner said he fell into an aquarium, as well, but couldn't quite remember the circumstances!! Because of the above, TAO is permanently fully rugged, night and day (as is the mare) with a full face mask with nose and ears, wears tendon boots and over reach boots on all legs every day and stable wraps each night. He has soaked hay in summer and haylage the rest of the year, special chaff, competition mix, fast fibre, a balancer, livery nuts and six different supplements. He was tacked up in a three ring gag bitted bridle (single rein on middle ring) a grackle noseband done up tight and a running martingale. I enquired why the grackle noseband, gag bit and running martingale? I was told that the previous loaner couldn't stop him without them, and the people who had tried him since needed the neck-strap on the martingale to hold on to, because they kept falling off when they asked for canter: he rushed into it and swerved round the corners of the small school and that was that. Now, I am a very plain old-fashioned horse keeper: less is more in my experience. All my horses/ponies have prospered on daily long hours of turn out in well managed clean fields, ad lib good quality forage, chop, balancer and more or less of hard feed depending on work load. Usually less. Garlic and salt. Ratty Ry had a daily Danilon under careful veterinary advice and supervision. All ridden in snaffles or double rein Pelhams. No nosebands unless to show respect out hunting, showing or some such. No martingales, except on A the P going cross country, and then fairly loose. Rugged up from Autumn to Spring, but not overly so. Trace or bib clip, depending on work. TAO apparently has to be fully clipped out from Autumn to Spring, "because of his allergies and he gets *****ly heat". TAO, who I am buying, not loaning, comes with a vast wardrobe of boots, rugs, masks, bandages, bridles, martingales; and a very nice saddle. The rugs look old, grubby and in poor repair. I was shown so many assorted boots in boxes and bags that I was bewildered by what went where, when and why. Piles of supplements, bags of feed. Heaps of different feed bowls and buckets for mixing/feeding/soaking. Heeelpp! Pony has hay, chop, a balancer, salt and a daily carrot! A the P had the same, plus some hard feed when we were doing a lot of miles getting fit for some of our longer pleasure rides. RR was on the chop, balancer, garlic and salt plus ad lib hay diet too, as were Ghosty, and The Peacock beloved Arabians of earlier years, both wonderful old Polish chaps. My default position is throw the whole lot out (not the saddle!) ride in a nice Myler snaffle, slap on suncream on the pink nose, feed plain as above, with the joint/vits/mins supplement and observe like a hawk. The whole thing (TAO's alleged chronic ill health) seems a bit like a Munchausen by proxy syndrome. I will now await being shot down in flames by ALiners who will accuse me of being arrogant and careless. But, I did have a long conversation with my instructor who knows The Owner and TAO very well. Instructor is highly regarded elder, Pony Club DC. She said a number of things which did not contradict my gut feelings. Anyway, I am going out on him again today for a longer ride, and to do paperwork and hand over some money to ensure he doesn't go anywhere with anyone else in the two weeks before Exxie goes to my friends. Please don't scream at me for querying TAO's owner's management etc. it just seems so totally over the top, and he looks so miserable and poor on it. Dunno. Will get him home, continue with feeding regime and get my wonderful, clever, old fashioned vet out for a look, a feel and a think. Seems like A Plan, yes?
Goldenmane
Posted - 01 Aug 2015 : 06:45:03 AM I seem to be copying you Firelight!! Lucky TAO!
FireLight
Posted - 01 Aug 2015 : 05:09:50 AM Brilliant Zoocat. I am so glad you have found your Treasured One. For some reason your post gave me leaky eyes!
zooscat
Posted - 31 Jul 2015 : 11:44:08 PM Well, that's that, then: I duly trundled off to see The Aged One this afternoon. I wandered into a scruffy yard full of rather intimidating, scowly teenagers, with huge, young strapped-down show jumpers. These they later brought into the small school and roared around, flying over tall uprights and doing yank turns. The fact that TAO's owner had booked the school for 30 minutes was no deterrent. I got on TAO, amongst the teenage juggernauts, and he fled round, yanking at the reins. In my customary manner, I had a very light contact and an equally light 3 point seat. The Owner shouted lots of entirely contradictory instructions at me. Oh, heavens, why am I here. TAO is a 15:3hh tall, very bony 20 year old, with puffy legs, sunken sad eyes, and no muscle either side of his very prominent withers. He scuttles along underneath me, feeling unbalanced and anxious. Like me. I tuned out the juggernauts and The Owner, achieved a steady walk and concentrated on communicating "balance, steady, steady, balance," breathing slowly, rythmically. Success. Less scuttling, less snatching. Phew. We went for a nice hack with The Owner on her evil little Crabbety mare, a beautiful mirror image of naughty Ratty Ry. She kindly insisted that I ride her, later - utterly divine - but a fiend in a furry coat: do as I say or I"ll bite you! Meanwhile, the reason that TAO is coming home with me is that he has always been second best to the Evil Crabbety One. And he knows it. The Owner bought him as he is a half-sibling to The Evil Crabbety One. Their breeder thought it would be a good idea. And he was by himself in a field, looking sorry for himself. So, TAO has had a life of loaners, some of whom rode him very hard in over strong bits, show jumped him to a standstill, and then handed him back when they bought their own horses. TAO was alone in a field again, until the next loaner. The Owner hasn't found anyone to loan him now, for ages, he is expensive and tiresome to keep and she wants him gone.
Ok - he will be very soon. He's coming back to mine, to be carefully looked after, quietly brought back into steady work, and be a pampered only horse, appreciated and wanted for what he is. A nice, polite Crabbet Arabian, with a dash of old Polish. Who will live out his days in comfort with an owner for whom he is special, and the best horse ever.
TP is a lovely mid age horse with an aptitude for endurance. He will find a lovely home if and when his owner has time to think about advertising him properly. The Fabulous Youngster is just that - bred in the purple and related to A the P as well as RR. He will stay comfortably in his current home until he is found by his lucky new owner. TAO deserves to be the centre of somene's life for the rest of his . He will be. Mine.
Goldenmane
Posted - 31 Jul 2015 : 2:33:36 PM Firelight, you hit the nail on the head!!
FireLight
Posted - 31 Jul 2015 : 12:55:55 PM Go and see all 3, your gut feeling will tell you which is Mr Right! There are pros and cons for all 3, it is a case of which one you can't imagine being without.
Callisto
Posted - 30 Jul 2015 : 9:55:42 PM Zooscat, go and meet the new contender (How aged, what health issues?), and see TP again, and possibly the Young Contender, you will know which is the right one for you - this time you need to make the right choice, for you and your next Arab
And as for barge monsters, my welsh x tb pony is on enforced box rest for a splint at the moment, and he is being monstrous - runs you over as soon as you unbolt the stable door, spends his time kicking the stable door with his bad leg, burgles the feed room (up 3 steps and opens the door as soon as your back is turned) when allowed out in the stable yard, has opened the wheelie bin containing the fly rugs and thrown them all over the floor, has taken to chucking his feed bucket over the door as soon as it is empty, kicks his water bucket over, could hear him shrieking from over a mile away when out on a hack this morning (his cousin he has known from birth is also on box rest with laminitis, so not left on his own) terrorises the dog etc. etc. can't wait for him to recover enough to be turned out...
zooscat
Posted - 30 Jul 2015 : 9:14:11 PM Oh dear, slight hiccups and worries going on reTP - or rather - his current custodian. Don't want to say too much: Meanwhile, another (aged, with some health issues and a fed-up owner wanting gone) Ratty Ry relative for sale/loan has appeared 5 miles down the road, and well known to my instructor! And a third fabulous youngster, also related to the late RR is for sale on AL! Nothing, and then 3 of the creatures arrive at once! Going to see the old boy tomorrow afternoon and TP again, I hope, at the weekend. So - should I scoop up the old horse with alleged chronic health issues (good vet, experienced YM and calm consistent management usually make things better) and potter about hacking and low level everything else, or schlep across country for two hours to seeTP again, and ignore the worry that there is something not quite right - ownership, history, Something. Meanwhile, the lovely youngster flounces over the sales page saying - "who cares about the price - I am young, beautiful and will make a fabulous all rounder". WWYD? Meanwhile, Faymouse, how are you getting on? We can have them all, and share a herd! Exxie is doing her best to remind me why she is moving to my friends, when they come back from a good Hickstead. She has been barge-monster central, so it's back to ground work and staring at the mutinous gold dapple brown Exxie bum as she refuses to move it ANYWHERE at all where you intend it to go!
Kharidian
Posted - 30 Jul 2015 : 8:46:26 PM Great to have you back Zooscat, and look forward to hearing detailed and hilarious exploits!
. I'm back, too! 
. As for all the gadgets/supplements/special feeds etc. some people are just victims of advertising/the latest thing at the feed store. Ours get turnout, hay in winter, a high fibre diet and a general vit and min supplement, with a joint supplement for the two in their mid twenties; while competing my girl gets Calm and Condition, chaff, the vits and mins, and electrolytes. I hope you have a lovely hack, and do keep us up to date - what is official name and breeding? Colour?
Had to smile though as my old boy has back boots on whilst in the field as he is very prone to self harming due to a very strange action from his racing days. 
