Quick Check-In

I have little time to write and much to talk about. The big news is that Cocoa has been ridden several times now by Cordell.

This came about because I went down to Woodstock with some friends to attend a Green Mountain horse Association members-only trail ride (The picture above is from the trail ride. It's of Rachelle and her mom). The night before the ride we had dinner with some very nice people who seemed to have a lot of experience training Morgans. Cocoa is half Morgan and half Saddlebred, so I thought they might have something of value to offer. Well, they did. Not only the woman across from me, but the man next to her and the woman next to him all agreed that Cocoa needed was... treats.

Armed with this excellent advice, Rachelle and I brought Cocoa into the ring on Monday. We free-longed him as usual with a saddle on, and when he was calm and cooperative Rachelle started getting up and down off of his right side. He is extremely skittish about his left side. Cordell watched, but I know he's got half an eye on Cocoa for himself, so I invited him to participate. He came into the ring and immediately approached cocoa on his left side. But he is Cocoa's farrier -- Cocoa is used to having him ask for things that seem scary and that turned out all right. He accepted the approach. I kept feeding him treats. After a few minutes I realized that, without anybody really noticing, Cordell had hung off of Cocoa 's left side like a berry on a branch. Coco was bearing his full weight. Then Cordell stood on the ground again and put his foot in the stirrup. Then he lifted himself up a bit, then stood up in the stirrup. I raised an eyebrow at him. "You know, he's not wearing a bridle. If he decides to buck and puts his head down, Rachelle and I will not be able to stop him." Cordell said nothing, but within two minutes there he was, sitting calmly on Cocoa 's back while Cocoa calmly ate more treats. It was done.

I watched Cocoa and Cordell walk around the ring together for a little bit after that. Tears came to my eyes. When Cocoa first came to us he tried to kill people by striking out with his front feet, stallion style. He was crazy from being confined in a dark barn for his entire life, then suddenly finding himself out in place of strange sights, sounds, smells, where his body was moving in new ways (in straight lines rather than round and round endlessly in a small stall). It was too much for him, but he desperately needed to be free. For the first year I have worked on teaching him that freedom comes with cooperation. He finally figured it out. His manner with Cordell was gentle and curious and loving. And so very graceful.

So yesterday, we continued where we had ended on Monday. This time, Cordell tried to get on the left side and had no success. He did better on the right side -- got right up and over and onto Cocoa. I helped Cocoa figure out how to take one step, and then two steps, and then outright walk around the ring. At each step, Cocoa needed to find his balance all over again from the last step.

A whole new world has opened up for this horse.

In other news, Meg has a cut on her butt. It is very deep. We might not be able to write her for a little while, but she doesn't seem to be in any pain. We've cleaned and bandaged it and taped it shut. We have begun going over the paddock carefully to find out how she got it. She and cocoa were fighting so it may just have been a nasty bite from him. He always leaves marks on the other horses. We have him with Ed now, and he is not as aggressive with Ed because Ed never questions his authority.