The first time I laid eyes on Chance he was standing in the back of a cattle trailer at the local auction that is held every Thursday. You could just about count every one of his ribs, he was lanky and not at all filed out, not to mention half of his tail and a big chunk of his mane had be chewed off. But there was something about that gelding that caught my eye, he had decent conformation which looked like it would only improve as he built up more muscle and got a healthy bit of weight onto him. And he had ‘the look’ now many of you I am sure have been given ‘the look’ before so you know what I am talking about. So we named him Chance as we thought it was only fitting as we were going to give the ragamuffin horse a real ‘chance’.
My friend and I bought him and began working with him right away. At the time we didn’t use Parelli methods because neither of us really knew anything about them, but both of us believe that horses should want to do what you ask them to do and be willing to do it rather then be forced into it. Chance caught on quickly to everything we asked and was very eager and willing to please. We were riding him in no time at all, he had a good solid walk, trot and canter on him, we were working on turns on the forehand and haunches, he could back-up and do it all ‘with a smile on his face’. We had had him for a few months when we started posting the ‘For Sale’ ads for him, it made my stomach turn thinking of parting with him, but at the time I wasn’t in a position where I could look after two horses, so we sold him.
It was probably one of the worst decisions I have made in my life, although at the time it seemed like Chance was going to a wonderful home where he would be loved and taken care of. The new owners had even booked another month training with a local professional trainer to put fine-tune him a bit. But he never went. The new owners came to my friend and I to show us their new saddle they had bought, we told them that they should return it immediately and buy a saddle that would fit him properly. The saddle they had bought had a very narrow tree and was designed poorly and Chance needed Full QH Bars. But they didn’t listen, they put the small saddle that pinched his withers and back painfully on anyways, and Chance tolerated that, but he couldn’t tolerate the pain any longer when they sat on his back putting even more pressure on him.
Being a natural-born skeptic, coward and panicaholic, Chance did what horses do, he panicked. He started bucked and crow-hopping trying to escape the pain. The owners were angry and they caught him and tried to get on again, he bucked even worse this time. So they ‘free-lunged’ him around the outdoor ring until Chance was hot and sweaty and completely panicked from being chased around and around and around in endless circles by multiple people all with whips of some nature. So they tried again, same result, they ended up in the dirt. So they began to gang up on him, two people held his head while another tried to get on, at this point no one could even get on his back. So their next plan of action was to kick and punch and hit the horse anytime he would flinch when they attempted to get on. This went on for three hours at least. I didn’t find this out until the following week.
I was absolutely livid. Unfortunately I was still not in a position to have another horse so I couldn’t do much about it at the time so I suggested a few good trainers in the area but still Chance never went. He became a handsome pasture ornament, he was well cared for, well fed and well loved, don’t get me wrong but they couldn’t go anywhere near him with a saddle without him panicking and running off, or trying to break the cross-ties.
In January 2007 I heard through the grapevine that they were looking to sell as they had bought a new horse. I instantly offered to buy him back, and so I did for less than a third of what we had sold him for, at least one of the owners had realized the damage that had been done, physically, mentally and emotionally.
When Chance got of the trailer it was like I was looking into the eyes of a strange horse, I no longer knew this Chance. He was frightened, trembling and had a cut on his forehead from when he had panicked in the trailer on the way to me. He couldn’t be lead off the trailer, a lead rope was clipped to his halter and the back ramp was opened. I caught the lead rope as he came off and took him to his paddock. For the next few days he wouldn’t let anyone come near him in the field, the other horses would come right over, but not Chance he would stand back in the farthest corner and snort. He had become scared and untrusting of everything, even his own shadow. It broke my heart to see how damaged such a beautiful and kind hearted animal had become.
Luckily I found Parelli shortly before Chance came into my life, so I started playing the games with him and he started to come around. I could halter him easily, walk him on a loose lead, rub him all over (he had become extremely head shy in his time away from me, and was very hesitant about you standing behind his shoulder). But slowly we began to build up the trust; there was a lot of approach and retreat. Sometimes we would take one step forward only to take two steps back.
In the late summer of 2007 I bought the Parelli Level 1 course online and began to work through it with Chance. I was absolutely amazed at how quickly he caught on to the seven games. I felt as if he had watched the DVDs over 20 times already! Unfortunately due to time and lack of facilities where he was being kept I wasn’t able to move through the games as quickly as I would have liked or as quickly as Chance would have been able to. But recently I bought my first home with my boyfriend and I finally have the horses in my backyard. I have been able to work with Chance almost daily and I can see a huge improvement in him this summer as compared to last already.
Recently I re-introduced the saddle to him, he had had it on the following year and a few times in the winter but he was often tense and unsure, but he isn’t anymore. I will play the seven games with him and make sure he is doing everything and is staying completely left-brained the whole time before I put the saddle on.
When I first started working with Chance he was an EXTREME Right Brain Introvert/Extrovert, here is a link to his Horseanality Chart that I did up in March this year:
My friend and I bought him and began working with him right away. At the time we didn’t use Parelli methods because neither of us really knew anything about them, but both of us believe that horses should want to do what you ask them to do and be willing to do it rather then be forced into it. Chance caught on quickly to everything we asked and was very eager and willing to please. We were riding him in no time at all, he had a good solid walk, trot and canter on him, we were working on turns on the forehand and haunches, he could back-up and do it all ‘with a smile on his face’. We had had him for a few months when we started posting the ‘For Sale’ ads for him, it made my stomach turn thinking of parting with him, but at the time I wasn’t in a position where I could look after two horses, so we sold him.
It was probably one of the worst decisions I have made in my life, although at the time it seemed like Chance was going to a wonderful home where he would be loved and taken care of. The new owners had even booked another month training with a local professional trainer to put fine-tune him a bit. But he never went. The new owners came to my friend and I to show us their new saddle they had bought, we told them that they should return it immediately and buy a saddle that would fit him properly. The saddle they had bought had a very narrow tree and was designed poorly and Chance needed Full QH Bars. But they didn’t listen, they put the small saddle that pinched his withers and back painfully on anyways, and Chance tolerated that, but he couldn’t tolerate the pain any longer when they sat on his back putting even more pressure on him.
Being a natural-born skeptic, coward and panicaholic, Chance did what horses do, he panicked. He started bucked and crow-hopping trying to escape the pain. The owners were angry and they caught him and tried to get on again, he bucked even worse this time. So they ‘free-lunged’ him around the outdoor ring until Chance was hot and sweaty and completely panicked from being chased around and around and around in endless circles by multiple people all with whips of some nature. So they tried again, same result, they ended up in the dirt. So they began to gang up on him, two people held his head while another tried to get on, at this point no one could even get on his back. So their next plan of action was to kick and punch and hit the horse anytime he would flinch when they attempted to get on. This went on for three hours at least. I didn’t find this out until the following week.
I was absolutely livid. Unfortunately I was still not in a position to have another horse so I couldn’t do much about it at the time so I suggested a few good trainers in the area but still Chance never went. He became a handsome pasture ornament, he was well cared for, well fed and well loved, don’t get me wrong but they couldn’t go anywhere near him with a saddle without him panicking and running off, or trying to break the cross-ties.
In January 2007 I heard through the grapevine that they were looking to sell as they had bought a new horse. I instantly offered to buy him back, and so I did for less than a third of what we had sold him for, at least one of the owners had realized the damage that had been done, physically, mentally and emotionally.
When Chance got of the trailer it was like I was looking into the eyes of a strange horse, I no longer knew this Chance. He was frightened, trembling and had a cut on his forehead from when he had panicked in the trailer on the way to me. He couldn’t be lead off the trailer, a lead rope was clipped to his halter and the back ramp was opened. I caught the lead rope as he came off and took him to his paddock. For the next few days he wouldn’t let anyone come near him in the field, the other horses would come right over, but not Chance he would stand back in the farthest corner and snort. He had become scared and untrusting of everything, even his own shadow. It broke my heart to see how damaged such a beautiful and kind hearted animal had become.
Luckily I found Parelli shortly before Chance came into my life, so I started playing the games with him and he started to come around. I could halter him easily, walk him on a loose lead, rub him all over (he had become extremely head shy in his time away from me, and was very hesitant about you standing behind his shoulder). But slowly we began to build up the trust; there was a lot of approach and retreat. Sometimes we would take one step forward only to take two steps back.
In the late summer of 2007 I bought the Parelli Level 1 course online and began to work through it with Chance. I was absolutely amazed at how quickly he caught on to the seven games. I felt as if he had watched the DVDs over 20 times already! Unfortunately due to time and lack of facilities where he was being kept I wasn’t able to move through the games as quickly as I would have liked or as quickly as Chance would have been able to. But recently I bought my first home with my boyfriend and I finally have the horses in my backyard. I have been able to work with Chance almost daily and I can see a huge improvement in him this summer as compared to last already.
Recently I re-introduced the saddle to him, he had had it on the following year and a few times in the winter but he was often tense and unsure, but he isn’t anymore. I will play the seven games with him and make sure he is doing everything and is staying completely left-brained the whole time before I put the saddle on.
When I first started working with Chance he was an EXTREME Right Brain Introvert/Extrovert, here is a link to his Horseanality Chart that I did up in March this year:
Since I’ve begun working with him consistently again he has gone almost to the exact opposite, he has become more of a Left Brain Introvert, here is a link to his Horseanality Chart that I did up just today:
November 1st, 2008
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