[SaddleHappy]

BIL came over to work with Buck in the round pen today. My son wanted to ride Midnight and was not going to have time later, sooooo I decided this would be an excellent time to discover 3 things:
1. How Midnight would behave outside the round pen just riding in the open
2. How Midnight would behave being ridden with Buck over in the round pen, when she'd really rather focus on him
3. How Dante would behave left in the pasture completely alone... a very important question, since he will probably never be able to be ridden and we need to know how he'll react if we are riding all the other horses.

I also thought it would be a good chance for my BIL to work on keeping Buck's attention while Midnight was out of the pasture. So my son rode around the driveway and surrounding area for a few minutes, everything seems fine, so he heads off on the trail that runs the perimeter of the property. Dante pitched a real fit out in the pasture and followed as far as he could but then everything seemed to be quiet and I thought he had settled down to wait for Midnight's return. I sat down in the swing to relax and see how things went. I had heard my brother in law over in the round pen, yelling and such, so I knew he was having a hard time making Buck behave, but then the yells got louder, and I looked over there, you can just barely see the round pen through the trees.... and I see what looks like Dante, RUNNING LOOSE! Next thing, Nick comes tearing out through the clearing, leading instead of riding Midnight, chasing Dante, all around the round pen. You can imagine what happened to Buck's trainins session from that point on! Turns out, Dante, in his desperation to get out, managed to find the ONE SINGLE area of the fence where there is barbed wire... we have removed it all except this one section which needed to be completely redone and the horses NEVER go back there. He tore completely through the barbed wire, tore it loose and evidently had followed along with Nick and Midnight on their entire ride. Fortunately Nick didn't panic and he handled Midnight beautifully, kept her attention and she rode fine. Also fortunately, Dante has only one small scratch on his leg to show for his rebellion. I think, however, that BIL is pretty disgusted with me, especially because right in the middle of the fracas, Flapjack (the dog) also slipped out the door and got loose, adding to the brouhaha! What a day! Nick and one of his cousins are now out repairing the fence, instead of working on his Spanish project that's due TOMORROW. And now I just heard they found a bomb in the Atlanta airport... my husband heard it on the radio and called to tell me. I think I'll go relax in front of the TV for a few minutes and watch some bad news that's not happening at my house! What should I do? Should I send Dante back or just keep trying? I don't mind giving him a good home even if we can't ride him, but we do need to be able to take the other horses out.

<small>[ April 07, 2004, 01:53 PM: Message edited by: SaddleHappy ]</small>

[HorseCrazy1981]

I think he would learn better eventually. Sometimes you don't have the time to wait for 'evenutally'. We use barbed wire. Both of my arabians have managed to run through it. They know where the fence is, it just looks like they forgot for a moment and went tearing through. We removed the fencing that the both ran through, just hoping that they always remember where the perimeter fencing is. I hope everything works out.

[SaddleHappy]

Well fortunately, the entire perimeter of the property is fenced, so there was no danger of Dante getting out in the street or running through the town. The real danger was he was in such a temper that we were afraid he was going to kick whoever tried to catch him. It's a real zoo around here some days.

[QHGirl]

Please don't take this the wrong way.. owning a horse is never easy... which is VERY hard on days... but it seems that you are going to get burnt out before you get to enjoy them.

What I would do... and this is just MY OPINION... if I were in your shoes, I would...

1st - fix the fence, run hot wire around it and get it fixed so if a horse tried, they would have to work pretty hard on getting it though it. I have 3 stands of that electric tape and it works great (everyone has opinions on each type of fencing) but it wasn't that expensive either.... making sure ALL parts of the fence, every paddock was done. Make sure you have a secure place to put them and you might have to put them into a stall while you are working the others so it is safe for them and doesn't distract the other horse too much...

2nd - Really step out and take a look, are these horses really what you want??? There are SO Many horses out there that are quiet and calm... since you are starting out again, I would search for these horses, have the person down the street possibly help you find some quiet horses to do what you REALLY want....

3rd - DON'T feel bad if the Rescue horses don't work out. They are at the Rescue, they are safe, so if you do turn them back in, nothing bad is going to happen to them.... SO don't feel like you are their last shot... because a rescue place won't take them to the auction... they will find people to take them. THEY deal with this all the time and Personally you need to enjoy your horses and have FUN, it doesn't sound like you are having fun and it makes me sad knowing this is what you ALL want for your family...

I hope I didn't cross the line, please understand I don't mean to sound grouchy, I just feel that you would have so much more fun with quality good horses that your WHOLE family can enjoy!!!!!

[SaddleHappy]

QH Girl, to "step over my line" you would have to pretty much do it on purpose.... I'm not that easy to offend! And if I didn't want people's honest opinions about Dante, I wouldn't ask. So don't worry... give your opinion freely. BUT.... I think in all the craziness going on around here, I maybe have forgotten to emphasize that Midnight, the OTHER rescue horse, is doing fantastic! We are hoping to find a saddle this weekend and get a less severe bit for her, but in the meantime, we're riding her bareback using a lead rope attached to her halter for reins. She behaves almost perfectly, even for my inexperienced 10yo. We are so excited! As for the rest, we are just laughing at ourselves as we learn... at least as long as no one gets hurt. I do hate to send Dante back, but I'm not deceiving myself about our experience level either. My son took him out later this afternoon and worked with him in the round pen and he did pretty well. He did try to kick, but Nick was able to bring him right back into line. And as for Buck, well I can't do anything about him... he belongs to my SIL and BIL and he came from an auction. But he's turning out to be a real good horse I think, despite coming from an auction where we didn't know what we were doing! He did cut up a lot today with BIL when Midnight and Dante were out, but nothing unmanageable. So really out of the three, we only have one I'm seriously thinking we can't handle. And the fence is in the process of being hotwired, my husband has about 30 free minutes a day, and that's after dark. It's their busy time and I'm thinking I may have to learn to do the hotwire myself... I'm not the most technically inclined person in the world! We bought wire, but I saw the tape you're talking about.. do you like it better than wire?

[Dawn]

What exactly is the story on Dante?

[SaddleHappy]

Dawn, check out the threads called, "We've already made our first mistake" and "Dante's training session" both in general horse chat. The two of them pretty much explain everything that's happened with Dante since he arrived.

[Dawn]

I mean, why was he at the rescue?

[SaddleHappy]

Ohhhhh, sorry. I guess I came in on the short bus today! blushing He was rescued from auction, so we really don't know his story. I knew that would be sort of a wild card. He was saddled up at the auction and being ridden by a grown, heavy man. They were reluctant to remove his saddle. He was skin and bones and swaybacked to boot. He had strangles at the time he was rescued as well. The lady who bought him was trying to save him from slaughter so she bought him and brought him to the rescue and that's as much of his story as we know. He was just going really cheap because of his skinniness and his swayback. But we don't know why he wound up at auction in the first place. He was fine to ride at the rescue. And he's fine here as long as he's in the pasture with the others. I think maybe he's panicking. Probably not treated too well in the past.

[Dawn]

Have you talked to the rescue about his change in personality?