Sue is an emotional wreck. She has emotional scars. We surely wonder what happened to Sue! She was sold only six months prior. She is a fruit loop fearful horse. It doesn’t get too much worse than Sue’s extreme people fear. I bought her to save her. I had really really liked Sue when she had been sold. I had some reaction when she was sold that she really should have been my horse. Everyone thought she was going to a new home with wonderful people. Something happened and Sue, a sensitive horse, was pushed over the edge. She was ruined. Her new owners wanted their money back. I made an offer and I owned Sue. She had been transported back to Pine Dell. Tony and Jenny had worked with her about a month. In the beginning, they had to lay her down to convince her that they were not going to kill her. Yes, she was that bad off. Her rehabilitation was going to take a while and she was not “sellable”. That’s why I bought her.
Day 1: I came to get Sue.
We did well. We walked down from the arena barn to visit and feed Velvet her supplement. I gently reminded Sue to stay behind me. No problem.
In the barn, I told Sue to stand on the rubber mat-don’t come over on the bare cement where Velvet’s food was. fine
We chatted with Velvet and then went to the trailer.
It was a scary trailer for a moment, but it only took about 2 minutes and she scrambled in.
I’m used to throwing the rope over their back as they get in, but I didn’t get that done. She was pointing straight ahead in the trailer and I had the 12′ rope in my hand standing back on the ground at the door. I gave a gentle toss of the rope to loop it over her back.
Whoops! One of our first tasks will be working with throwing that rope over her body and head!
Maybe she won’t explode in the trailer again.
Late in the evening. Sue has moved into the corral attached to the open side of the barn. JR fell in love with Sue immediately. He tries to keep Isabel from Sue. He screams at Isabel and whirls when she gets too close. He’s serious.
11:30PM-I took my kick-back chair out to the barn. I’m just going to sit in the corral with Sue. She snorts at my strange shape…with the chair. I find the perfect spot, unfold my chair and sit down. I have all three horses’ rapt attention.
JR sticks his head over the panel. He looks like a giraffe looking down at me. Isabel is held about 6′ away. Sue walks around and squirts. OH! That explains why JR took an immediate interest in her. Sue goes over and sniffs noses with Isabel…and squirts. JR remains right beside me on the other side of the corral panel. I tell him how wonderful he is.
Sue, the hard-to-catch horse comes to within a foot of me. I don’t move. She leaves.
About 15 minutes later, she comes over to sniff me again. Her nose hair MIGHT have touched my coat. She may or may not have caught me.