First Ride – Bareback!

My IsabellHey Elizabeth,
Just thought I’d give you an update on My Isabell. She’s doing so great!!! I must admit when she first arrived I was a little scared I might have bitten off more than I could chew, but that’s turning out not to be the case at all.

Isabell (Izzy) has changed so much in the last 5 weeks it’s like she’s a different horse. When she first got here, she was so nervous. At feeding time she did not want me messing with her at all. She would walk away from me and if haltered, she would pen her ears and threaten to bite if I tried to brush her while she ate. That attitude has completely vanished. She stands so quiet now that not only can I groom her, pick her feet, etc while she’s eating, my husband who has no horse experience even enjoys petting her and loving on her during dinner time. Last night I even let my 19 month old daughter pet and brush her while she ate. Izzy seemed to enjoy that as much as my daughter did. She didn’t even seem to mind at all when my daughter accidentally kicked her in the belly a couple times.

Her manners have improved so much. She’s gone from trying to walk past me and ignore me to being very respectful of my space. She’s gone from wanting to constantly be on the move and never wanting to stand still to standing still for anything I want to do with her without being tied. She’s gone from being a little head shy and not wanting me to mess with her head to coming up to me with her head down for scratches and rubs and lots of kisses. I really could not have asked for a sweeter horse. She is so awesome. She’s packed on weight really easily too, mostly because I haven’t been riding her or anything yet, she’s just been doing some ground work and relaxing. Everyone who sees her tells me she’s just gorgeous, and they’re right. 🙂

Laura Gill has decided that she does not have the time to work with a new horse. She has offered My Isabelle for sale. Contact info:

Laura Gill
803-834-9299
ljlusaf@yahoo.com

 

Today I finally got on her bare back. I’d planned to wait to get on her until I do a complete retraining, but just for fun today I decided to hop on. She was being so quiet and sweet that I tied her lead rope to her halter, pulled a mounting block up beside her, and draped my arm over to pet on her. She was so relaxed with all that I decided to throw my leg over and the next thing you know, I was on her. She was so cute. She just turned her head around to look at me like, “Are we going somewhere or can I just continue to stand here?” She didn’t seem bothered at all by my legs dangling down on her sides and I had to turn her to get her to even walk. We went about 20 steps and then stopped to eat some grass so obviously she wasn’t too bothered by my lack of balance and dangling body parts. I only stayed on for about 5 minutes before I decided to get off before anything went wrong. I slid off her and again she just stood there looking at me like, “Is that it?” I can not even describe how much I love this mare. She is just so sweet. She always wants to please and will do anything to hear “good girl” and get a rub on the forehead. Thanks again for doing what you do.

P.S. I got a natural trimmer to do her feet and she’s progressing nicely barefoot. She stands a little under herself in back and a little behind vertical on the fronts which could indicate heel pain so we’re working hard to get her up off her under slung track hooves. She doesn’t seem to be off at all though, and is doing fine without shoes. I’m hoping her conformation will be better once she gets a more balanced hoof under her.