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DianaSC
Bronze Member
Spain
184 Posts |
 Posted - 01 Aug 2015 : 10:52:18 AM
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Zooscat, loved reading your posts. The best of luck with him. Your Plan makes sense, start from scratch and go on from there.
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FireLight
Gold Member
620 Posts |
Posted - 01 Aug 2015 : 12:14:13 PM
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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! |
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Callisto
Platinum Member
6905 Posts |
Posted - 01 Aug 2015 : 2:10:50 PM
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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).
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  Zahkira (GR Amaretto x Taffetta)
Linda
East Sussex |
Edited by - Callisto on 01 Aug 2015 2:19:18 PM |
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Ari
Platinum Member
1657 Posts |
Posted - 01 Aug 2015 : 4:34:14 PM
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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. |
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garnet
Platinum Member
2382 Posts |
Posted - 01 Aug 2015 : 7:42:20 PM
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| He'll think he's gone to heaven when you get him home! |
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zooscat
Gold Member
United Kingdom
882 Posts |
Posted - 02 Aug 2015 : 10:22:25 PM
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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! |
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debs
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
3218 Posts |
Posted - 02 Aug 2015 : 11:16:08 PM
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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!
:) |
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zooscat
Gold Member
United Kingdom
882 Posts |
Posted - 03 Aug 2015 : 09:36:07 AM
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| 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! |
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FireLight
Gold Member
620 Posts |
Posted - 03 Aug 2015 : 09:49:05 AM
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| 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. |
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garnet
Platinum Member
2382 Posts |
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ali bali
Gold Member
Scotland
641 Posts |
Posted - 04 Aug 2015 : 7:54:15 PM
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Wonderful news for you both Zooscat.
Congratulations, I wish you many happy hours in each others company :) |
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zooscat
Gold Member
United Kingdom
882 Posts |
Posted - 04 Aug 2015 : 9:53:53 PM
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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. |
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FireLight
Gold Member
620 Posts |
Posted - 05 Aug 2015 : 12:41:02 PM
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| Happy Dawn Hacks Zoocat. I will think of you both when I am also enjoying my dawn rides! |
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sammewl
Junior Member
30 Posts |
Posted - 08 Aug 2015 : 7:53:06 PM
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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. |
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Iris
Junior Member
44 Posts |
Posted - 20 Aug 2015 : 12:55:24 PM
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| 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! |
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I'm back, too!
