Sally has an
issue with her right hind hock. It
has some permanent swelling. Our vet believes it is from an old kick or
similar injury. He is also adamant that the injury doesn't bother her,
and she moves sound. She also has a scar on the back of her right hind
-- possibly both relate to a tangle with barb wire or other fencing.
Sally had a systemic infection upon arrival which lead to several
abscesses.
Otherwise she has had no health issues.
Sally is an exceptionally easy keeper, and spends her summers mostly in
our large dry lot with hay.
Ground
manners
B
Sally ties well. She dances mildly if tied for an
extended period, but never tests the tie, never panicks, even if she is
nervous about what the handler is doing (ie shots.)
Sally leads with ease, even if she would rather not go where her
handler is leading.
Sally still tests whether or not she "has to" when asked to trot on a
leadrope.
She walks from just her halter easily, even for novice volunteers.
Sally likes to be brushed, but her mane is sensitive to heavy brushing.
Sally is still mildly nervous about flyspray onto her hind end but
enjoys fresh
water spritzes on her face.
Sally lifts her front hooves reasonably well, but remains tense about
handling her hind hooves. She is good for the farrier for her front
feet.
We have not attempted to give Sally a fullblown bath but would be
surprised if she was not afraid of the hose on other parts of her body
besides her front legs.
We were told
sally has previously ridden, but
suspected it was 'cowboy style breaking' if at all. We have restarted
her
training
completely as if she's never been handled whatsoever. As of August
2009, she was literally ready for her first ride. She had carried
weight
across her back and seemed out of balance, so it seems very unlikely
she
has ever successfully ridden previously.
As of January 2010, Sally has had roughly 15 rides. Her current
skillset is:
Stands beautifully at the mounting block to
mount, waits to be asked to walk forward.
Accepts leg pressure without fuss, now
understands its meaning.
Walks confidently, halts occasionally on her
own.
Stops and stands calmly, easily, upon request.
Backs a few steps on command.
Pivots on forehand but has balance issues doing
so.
Still tossing her head rarely against the
hackamore, but steers very well.
Trots easily, comfortably, with no rush and
easy steering, and halts with confidence. Continuing work on figure 8s,
circles of various sizes, and leg yields at the trot.
As of May 2010, Sally has now been on several trail rides including
one, 4+ hour competitive orienteering ride (nacmo.org) at a state park!
Sally stood easily for mounts and dismounts as
needed at the event;
Sally rode easily up and down steep banks, into
the river, over streams, and through thick brush.
Sally had her first canter under saddle, and
did so with great manners and balance!
Sally allowed her companions to ride away from
her, even out of sight, without getting upset.
Sally allowed strange horses to ride close, to
pass, or passed them herself, without difficulties.
She handled all the trail obstacles easily,
surefooted and level headed!
Sally lead on several occasions during the
ride, without any problem.
Sally's rider was an intermediate rider with
limited trail experience.
Ideal Career
Sally has some old scarring on one hock and above
the other, we don't know the type of injury.
Two different vets have assured us that neither bothers Sally while
riding, but both would keep her out of any real competitive show arena.
Sally is a joy to do arena work at home, and has done spectacularly
well from very early on in her trail riding, including the nacmo.org
competition. She seemed to really enjoy the event, exploring new
places, and was confident and eager, even with an intermediate rider
who is fairly inexperienced at trail riding.
Medical
Care: C+
Shots: C-.
sally is afraid of needles, but a
patient handler can inject her fairly quickly.
Dental: B: once she has been injected with the sedation, she was
relaxed and easy to manage
Farrier: C: She now allows the farrier to trim her front hooves fairly
easily, but her hind hooves are still challenging to manage.
Wormer: B: Sally isn't crazy about being wormed, but she takes it
fairly well and without excessive head tossing.
clipping: NA
bathing: D-: We have only tried to rinse Sally's lower legs, as she had
an injury at the ball of her heal. She was nervous about the hose but
did allow us to wash down the leg. We have not made further steps to
teach her to bathe yet.
Stall
manners: B+
Sally walks
in from pasture with ease, puts
herself in a stall or enters a stall she's told without fuss or
hesitation.
She can be groomed and cared for in a stall without difficulty.
She will stay in her stall for longer periods of time and would likely
transition easily to stall board as long as she can see/hear another
horse near her.
She gets mildly impatient to go out once her companions have gone. She
always
waits politely at her door and leads out easily, halter only, even for
novice volunteers. She will call nervously if a close pasture pal goes
out of sight while she is stalled.
Trailering: B
Sally loads simply, if another horse is already
in the trailer.
Sally is
mildly nervous about loading alone, but will
load as long as her handler is patient and gives her a little time.
Sally rides reasonably, eats hay in the trailer.
Sally is mildly anxious to unload once the truck is stopped.
Pasture/Companionship:
B
Sally tends
to get depressed if pastured with a
bully. She is generally low in the pecking order, but is currently
thriving as the top horse in a smaller grouping in their own paddock.
She is sweet and patient with her infirm friend and the 2nd mare in her
grouping.
Summary:
Sally is a darling black paint mare
with a mix of a broad, classic QH back and very dainty lines and a
gorgeous solid colored face. She has
a white splash in her mane with a small bit of white running onto the
left side of her neck and a long, larger splash down the right side
(see photos). Four white socks round out a really flashy
presentation.
Sally fostered with an adopter all winter, while
she recovered from a systemic infection that may have caused or been
exaggerated by her depression. Sally recovered fabulously, maturing
into a horse who enjoys grooming and affection, has a softer
personality, and round pens exceptionally well.
Sally arrived back at CWER in the summer of 2009,
and AM began her riding training. In some areas, Sally acted as if this
wasn't new, but in others Sally seemed extremely unsure of herself. We
will never know for sure if Sally had ridden previously, but as we
always do when we don't know specifics of a horse's prior training,
Sally's riding began at ground zero as if she'd never seen a saddle. As
of August 2009, Sally is now riding and making fantastic progress, has
a very sweet personality, and is a joy.
In spring 2010, Sally was one of 3 CWER horses who
competed in a mounted orienteering (nacmo.org) scavenger hunt on
horseback in the woods, a 3.5+ hour ride through Middlefork's deep
hills, river crossings, and more. Sally did great!
We received a
nervous phone call in December 2007.
A woman called, saying her husband had purchased 3 horses from a 'bad
situation' some time before. One horse had been easy to manage and they
had rehomed her with a friend. The other 2 were still in his care. The
husband had some horse experience but not extensive. The wife had none
and was intimidated, particularly by the larger mare, Mia. Then, the
husband injured his shoulder at work, and was off work for weeks. He
struggled to care for Mia and Sally, and the wife was trying to find
the 2 mares new homes. When none could be found, they started calling
rescues.
At the time,
CWER was full and unable to take the
mares in, but we posted them to various lists for her, and soon heard
that another facility was going to take them.
Then, some
weeks later, a panicked phone call came. The
other facility hadn't taken the horses after all; the husband has had
surgery on the shoulder and is still trying to care for the horses. The
wife is at work, 45 minutes away; Mia has hit the husband's shoulder
with a gate and is running panicked in her yard as he let go and sunk
to the ground in pain.
As soon as
possible, we picked up the 2 mares and
brought them to CWER. Lee was so grateful that we were able to bring
them in to our facility and help this family before someone got really
hurt...including the horses. Lee explained that he was told both mares
had been
ridden before he took them in, but he didn't know much about the female
rider's skill, or about their level of training. He cautioned that Mia
could be pushy at times. Sally had always
been sweet and easy to manage with excellent ground manners.
March 2008:
Sally arrived a really sweet,
docile,
beautiful little mare. At just 3, Sally hasn't seemed to find her place
in the world quite yet. She often seems just a bit lost, confused,
perhaps even overwhelmed by the world around her -- depressed. She has
excellent
ground manners -- personal space, great with her feet, etc -- but
sometimes seems afraid to go where her human is leading. She had a low
level infection which we are currently treating, and hope to see Sally
come more out of her shell once that's resolved. She also has a
drooping lip which the vet says is likely a mineral deficiency which
should improve with time.
This
is one REALLY pretty little mare, and I hope to get quality photos of
her shot and posted very soon!
April 2008
April 08:
Unfortunately,
the first round of antibiotics did nothing to resolve the infection.
She now has an abscess (infection) in one hoof as well -- more proof
she has a system wide problem. We've ordered $150 worth of heavy duty
oral antibiotics per Dr King's guidance, and hope that this 30 day
regimen will be enough to solve the problem. Sherlock went through a
similar infection, and it took 60 days of the oral to actually knock
out the infection. Sally is going to stay at a local foster farm, where
life is quieter and slower, there is less day to day change, and more
one on one attention. We are hopeful Sally will bloom in these
conditions.
Spring
2009
Sally
is doing
exceptionally well, having wintered at a local farm and just gotten to
relax and take it easy. The hock swelling remains and will likely be
permanent, but it does NOT bother her in any way when moving. SHE IS
NOT UNSOUND IN HER MOVEMENT WHATSOEVER. She loves to race around the
pastures, often outrunning the others (including an ex-racer)!
Her personality
has really come out since getting over her infection and having such a
low key winter with regular attention. We look forward to her return to
CWER in early May 2009 and getting her future moving forward.
I'm so happy
with Miss Sally! Once sally had
found her way clear of the infections and found her personality, when
she came home from foster, she informed us that she wasn't actually
very happy with some of the things she'd previously allowed us to do,
after all. She disliked having her front feet handled, she HATED fly
spray, and she was panicky over needles.
Over the next week, Sally and I worked together in the round pen. In an
afternoon, she allowed us to clean her front hooves then trim them. In
3 days, she found she loved the feel of fresh water sprayed onto her
face with a sprayer bottle, and fly spray wasn't such an issue after
all. She tolerated needles and got her spring vaccinations. And we
began pre-riding training ground work.
Now, this month, board member Angie came to visit, and she and
Sally
really seemed to connect very well. Angie, AnnMarie and Sally worked
together several evenings -- with Sally learning to be saddled with
ease, accepting a hackamore bridle simply, allowing a rider's weight in
her saddle, and leading in and out of the mounting blocks like an old
pro.
The day after Angie had to go home, AnnMarie and Sally started ground
driving. Sally wasn't sure what was expected of her, but by the 2nd
day's session with Mike's help, Sally was easily reversing direction
and walking and trotting on the long lines.
A few days later, after two more long lining lessons, Sally had a rider
fully settled into her saddle for the first time, at least at CWER.
Being extra cautious, AnnMarie chose not to ride sally yet that day,
but the following evening, she mounted Sally easily from a step, and
with Mike walking ahead, Sally eased away and began riding. At first
she seemed to have balance problems -- more signs she's likely not
ridden before -- but after a few laps seemed to settle into the process
easily. She walks forward comfortably even with Mike out of the arena,
halts easily, and doesn't show the usual 'steering disorder' challenges
of most first few rides as a horse finds her balance. Hope you enjoy
the photo, above, of her 2nd ride! (First ride photos didn't come out
well, darn!)
Sally's personality has come back wonderfully. She no longer
tries to push sideways into a person if she's
uncomfortable with what you are doing; she eagerly comes to the fence
to go out to work, and she gladly accepts new tasks presented to her.
We are confident this is going to be a very nice riding, very
pleasant, stocky mount very, very soon.
Sally is doing great under saddle! She can be
mildly nervous at times, and needs a confident but patient rider. She
is walking and trotting easily both directions, and halts very nicely.
As time allows, we look forward to continued riding progress for Sally.
January 2010
Sally has done very well in her riding time.
Weather and other time constraints have kept Sally's ride time low;
however, with about 20 rides under her girth, she is doing very well.
She trots with ease and steers well, and only rarely argues about going
forward.
Sally went with the 2 other horses to a
competitive mounted orienteering (nacmo.org -- scavenger hunt on
horseback) -- and Sally acted like an old pro!! She was superbly well
mannered, cantered easily (her first time under saddle at a canter!),
allowed her riding mates to go away, or to ride forward faster than
her, relaxed as her rider read maps and compasses and more!! Sally drew
a lot of attention with her gorgeous coloring and seemed to really have
a great time. We could not have expected her to do better!!!
See our facebook pages for an indepth description of the contest by
Gen, the limited-experience trail rider who so enjoyed doing this event
with Sally.
Sponsorship:
GRAIN:
Sally has a feed sponsor, thank you!! Sally's sponsor provides $35 per
month to cover her grain costs. While at foster, that feed was provided
to the foster farm owner.
MED:
Sally really
needs a med sponsor -- someone who agrees
to pay any medical bills she encounters. As of March 08, Sally's
expenses thus far have been worming and transportation to CWER with Mia
($175 total), plus the initial vet visit ($100) and antibiotics ($25).
In April 08 we had to order $150 worth of oral antibiotics for her.
In April 2009, we had a full dental done plus coggins and spring shots
$175. Regular worming costs approximately $10 every 8 weeks.
Adoption
Fees:
Generally,we
try to set our adoption fees at half
what we feel a similar
horse would sell for, but still making sure we are above $750 to ensure
the horse does not end up at a low end auction or worse, sold to
slaughter.
In Sally's case, she is a gorgeous mare with the perfect size and
stocky frame for many different careers. We're told she has ridden
before, and isn't nervous when a saddle is set on her, but seemed to
have VERY limited training. We have since done significant work with
Sally, both riding and ground school, and she has made good progress.
"As is" Sally would do well with an upper intermediate or advanced
rider. For a less experienced handler, we would strongly recommend an
additional 30 days riding training here prior to her going home, or the
same training with the adopter's chosen trainer at his/her home farm.
Sally's "as is" adoption fee is $1000. With 30 days additional
training, it would be $1,300, and we can do payment arrangements for
same.
The fee listed is as of 4/20/10, and is subject to change as training
and other variables effect. For spring 2010, we are
offering an additional $200 discount for an adopter that
contracts for Sally and takes her home by the end of June,
even with payment terms. Please email for details.
Please call or email for confirmation of the adoption fee and any other
questions you may have about this or any of our adoptable horses.
Please visit our adoption qna
page
for details on how our contract works, adoption application, and an
explanation of when and how we transfer ownership.
"Before
CWER:" The
results of our search for Sally's history.
Thus
far, we have no info on Sally's
history. We were told she was ridden by a skilled female rider but we
don't know how much, how skilled, or what she was taught. In fall 2009,
we have Sally under saddle and are teaching her to be an easy,
managable riding horse.
