A Honey of a Tale - Part 2

She more or less hung out with the herd and was definitely last on the pecking order scale all horses keep. I wanted to begin grooming her and was told I would have a heck of a time getting a halter on her – well………I didn’t. I entered her stall (after months of talking to her and supplying her with goodies) and she came up to me immediately. I had a treat in one hand and a halter in the other. Just as the owner said, “ you’ll never get that on “, Honey went for the treat and I slipped the halter over her head. I was thrilled inside, but had to maintain my calm and lead her out of the stall and right into our next challenge – the cross ties. She paced back and forth for a while, but didn’t totally freak out. I simply kept telling her she was okay and she did settle down some…until…I sprayed the detangler on her mane and tail – then she freaked – went straight up and came down on her butt and froze. I stood by and watched and when she decided she didn’t die…she stood up and I resumed brushing her, as we danced back and forth. I did a little more each week and always put her back in her stall to be rewarded with treats. When it came time to pick up her feet and clean her hooves – the plot thickened. She was ready to kick, bite, and over all revert back to her old self. This is when I called in the troops and different ladies were positioned by her head, side and rear areas to see what part of her was going to try to damage which parts of me! In the beginning, we fed her carrots to try and distract her while I tried to lift a leg. It took many attempts before she got the idea, but then she raised whatever leg I was brushing. I always had a hairbrush in one hand to remind her that four on the floor was better than three and one in the air!

                         Honey munching away .....


The final test was the farrier….and she did well; minus a few test kicks and he quickly reminded her of what was acceptable. The first time I assisted – she was rock solid for him, even when she noticed a cat walking across the hay lift above her head. I swear the only parts of her body that moved were her eyes and she followed that cat til he disappeared in the hayloft.

When warm weather returned she was out with her herd and seemed to have a little bit more confidence – although – was still on the low end of things. To try and increase her confidence, I would bring her in first (after Bud, of course) and the remaining horses would just stare at us. She’d almost shut her eyes when we walked past them, just knowing they were going to take a bite out of her – BUT – I had my trusty lead rope swinging to fend them off. Pretty soon it wasn’t worth their effort when they’d see me coming and they would keep on grazing. I could tell they still picked on her by the bite marks I’d see on Saturdays…but…not on my watch.

When two mares delivered foals in the spring -she was very interested and she would check on them often (when socially accepted) and continually try to keep them together, while the mothers were happy to graze lazily in the pasture. This really increased when the moms left to return to their barns. I could see her confidence really growing and one Saturday…she even took on the alpha mare…not a good idea….but I was proud of her.

                     My little lovely mare - on a good day !

I bought her a halter and lead rope of her own and I was able to go out in the pasture and call her name and she would come running – whinnying all the way as if to be saying -“don’t leave I’m coming as fast as I can “. She would approach me now and lower her head getting ready for the halter and a treat. It was all so rewarding.