>>>> I'm a big believer of giving horses a lot of time to settle in. I think I >>>> did too much too soon with Gloi and pushed it too much and it made us lose >>>> ground. He needed more time to settle in and learn to trust me. Moving >>>> here along with the other changes in his life in the year before he came >>>> here meant that he needed more time. I remember talking to Alexandra >>>> Kurland at the Equine Affaire about Gloi and she said that she wouldn't be >>>> surprised if it took him a full year to really be comfortable.
I know it varies from horse to horse, but honestly, I suspect that MOST horses need a full year to REALLY feel at home, although some seem settled enough to be ok in just a few weeks. But, like you, I prefer to take the conservative approach, and let the horses tell us when they are ready to move on. I CAN think of one notable exception where I think riding a horse pretty soon after he arrived was a good thing. Reddi is a little Icelandic gelding we got from Robyn 4-5 years ago. He was adorable (though gait-challenged) when we rode him there, and bought him even though we'd intended only to buy a couple of mares. When he arrived with the three mares, he seemed physically fine, but just looked like he expected the Grim Reaper to appear at any moment - he had this suspicious, Eeyore type demeanor, like he expected today to be the day when the meat man came to pick him up, but he was going to take it like a man, always doing his job. He wasn't at all like he was in Canada. Since the mares were all chipper on arrival, I'm pretty sure nothing happened to him in the trailer on the way down. On a hunch, my very low-key, low-pressure trainer/best friend, Shirley, decided to put a saddle on him less than two weeks after he arrived, with no intentions of riding him, just to gauge his reaction to saddling. His reaction was unexpected. He relaxed, almost like he was saying, "Oh, ok, I know how to do this, and this isn't bad!" Even though it wasn't planned, she hopped up and walked him around the yard - and he was just as great as he was in Canada when we tried him. He was always great about being ridden, almost seeming to take comfort in having a relatively easy job to do that he was comfortable with and could do well. Note though, that Reddi was NOT ridden hard at all while we owned him. He was one of the ones I could comfortably do some little relaxed walk/trot trail rides while I was overcoming the last of my fear and physical issues from my broken back. It took Reddi a full year to really relax here, but he did seem to be quite happy doing a job he knew well in the interim. It certainly does vary a lot from horse to horse. Reddi is the most extreme case I can remember like that...but the other two horses I've had that seemed to take the longest to settle were Trausti and Flekka. They never were problems during their first months here, but they both lost weight, and seemed very reserved (even for Icelandic's) for a while. I doubt that it's coincidence that Reddi is an uncle to both of them... I don't really think that any of the three show any signs of past abuse. I think they were relatively "clean slates" when they came here - although all three were also pretty much ignored by humans for their first few years. In their case, I think the tendency to be worriers is innate, made worse by lack of early human contact. They are all great horses, but I'd hate for anyone to ever own them and be oblivious to their quiet, stoic natures. Karen Thomas, NC No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.17/1176 - Release Date: 12/6/2007 11:15 PM
