We hear that so often and it’s certainly happened to us too.
You go to the holding facility or an adoption event to select a wild horse. The one you choose has soft eyes, appears curious, maybe even friendly.
You get the animal home and start working with it, only to wonder what happened to the nice one you thought you picked.
This new one wants nothing to do with you, it’s pawing at the gate, turning its butt to you, or it has a giant toddler meltdown the second you ask it to do anything, much less give to pressure.
That’s because we first saw the animal in its comfort zone, surrounded by friends and not asked to do anything unfamiliar or potentially scary.
Now it’s work time, an new environment and the Mustang is completely out of sorts, to the point that you may not even recognize it, or wonder if you made a mistake.
Sergeant here was one of those horses. He looked just like this in holding. Soft eyes, approached politely, even allowed a bit of touch.
Getting him home to Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy , we could go in with him and his buddy and pet him.
As soon as he was alone in a pen with me and I started asking things of him, he became much more challenging.
The soft eyed, calm horse is back now but it took some time. It’s good to know that that’s in there. And it’s important to remember that we all act very differently within vs outside of our comfort zone.
If we’re being honest with ourselves, sometimes that’s not all that pretty, until we learn how to deal with our discomfort in a non-destructive manner and to adjust to the new situation.
They’re very similar in that aspect, just much bigger and without a clue how to “people”, so it’s our job to help them understand and learn.
*He’s tied to what I affectionately call the “spider”. We don’t have tie rails, just trees and high lines. That’s not always the safest when you have a wiggle worm learning to pick up feet. So I clip them into the high line and two lead ropes. He has enough slack to be comfortable and move around, not enough to spin or get to the end of the high line rope, freak out, and jump forward. The ground rope is for steering and stays with me.
**Sergeant will be available for adoption through the Forever Branded program. Please hold off on inquiring about him until you see him posted as available with all relevant info.
