Sundance

Sundance

Curiosity, poking his nose surreptitiously from behind the shelter Sundance tentatively reaches through the fence to taste the bridle left hanging on the gate.  His lips touch the leather as he smells and tastes it, taking it in with all of his senses, in his own time, because he is interested, because he is curious.  It makes me immeasurably happy to see him investigate these tools that humans employ. He’s come a long way from the malnourished, timid, food aggressive, fearful of everything, angry horse we picked up last year.

This spring Sundance is a rough and tumble 9 year old.  He loves to play hard with his herd mates, his favorite games are rearing and ‘head wrestling’. He can duck under the bottom strand of electric tape like a fish, in one fluid, graceful movement, a trick that served him well in his early days as he explored his comfort level with the rest of the equine residents here.  It also gave him free access to the arena should he choose to investigate ‘what I was up to’ with another horse. He has been given free rein to go and do and be where he is comfortable.  He’s finding his place in the herd, he knows he will always have enough to eat, that we will never force him to do anything he doesn’t want to do.  He’s been here for a year and this was the first time I ever saw him touch a bridle of his own volition. 

During his first 6 months with us the mere sight of me putting a bridle on another horse would send Sunny running for the north end of the property where he would stick his head in a corner and stay there.  It was a gradual process for him to come to terms with his past that began with him ducking under the fence to come hang close, watching, touching, investigating while I worked with other horses.  He’d happily keep us company while I groomed but the moment a piece of tack or equipment appeared he was gone.  Over time he decided he could hang around and investigate as we tacked up, sniffing the saddle and pad as they sat on another horse’s back and watching with trepidation and interest as we put on the bridle.  He’d follow us to the mounting block but turn tail and run the moment I stepped foot in the stirrup.  Before long he began to follow me around while I rode another horse, sticking his nose under my dance partner’s tail and being generally very helpful!

I routinely carry a halter with me when teaching lessons because Sunny will randomly pop into the arena to interact with the horse being ridden and I have to catch him so he'll hang with me instead following the horse and rider around with his nose under their tail.

Sundance, like so many other horses, was likely misunderstood by the people who had him before he ended up at a horse rescue, he’s a very communicative, intelligent horse and that is not always appreciated by people who want a horse to do a job without sharing their opinions.  We will never know the details of what happened to him, what he did or what they thought was wrong with him to motivate them to donate him.  What is clear is that Sundance came here traumatized by his early experiences with humans.  He behaved as though everything had been done to him under circumstances where he had no control and no voice. He tells me his history, what’s been done to him, through his behavior, through his reactions to tack, to grooming, to being asked to do things and what he tells me is that he didn’t enjoy any of it, that at some point he rebelled and that’s probably what landed him at the horse rescue. 

Sundance and the herd, human and horse, supporting a rider as she worked through her fear. 

He spent this last year finding his way back, learning to trust people and other horses, releasing his fears and trusting again.  Touching that bridle was a big deal, it tells me that he’s not living in fear anymore, that he’s freeing himself of the burdens he’s carried.  Whether he chooses to ever be worked with or ridden again doesn’t matter to me, it will be his choice, all I care about is that he isn’t stuck living with the ghosts of his past.  He’s emotionally free, he’s healthy and his spirit is intact.

Alison, Sunny's sponsor, cold hosing his leg.  He was very good at wading into the herd and offending someone and had a nasty habit of getting kicked in or near the left knee.  So glad he learned to get out of the way!  Being hosed was another thing he had to learn to accept.

The day Sundance arrived here. He had to live in a solid run away from the other horses for a number of reasons, firstly that he was extremely, extremely food aggressive.  His left hind leg was always puffy from kicking the fence violently whenever another horse was anywhere in the vicinity, he'd charge, wheel and kick if a horse 10 feet away even LOOKED at him while he was eating. We had to be careful because if we were between him and another horse when there was food around he could easily forget we were there in his frenzy.  No, we did not punish this behavior, it's a bit like PTSD in humans, his reaction was outside of his control and punishing him would not have helped.  He came from a place where he was not fed enough and not fed quality food, once he learned to trust that he would always have enough he stopped the behavior.

Playing what one of my student's aptly calls the horse version of 'thumb wrestling' with his 30 year old buddy Aero.

Hanging around with Susan, my right hand (and sometimes my left too!).  It's incredibly important for these horses to have interactions with all sorts of people who are kind.  Susan and Alison do a fabulous job of spending time with these guys, vastly decreasing the amount of time it takes for them to begin trusting again.

Participating in a clinic with Jean Luc Cornille with his other human Hanna.  Jean Luc was very helpful in those early days in showing us ways to re-introduce things like the bridle in a way that worked for Sundance, no fight, no punishment, lots of room to make 'mistakes' and learn.  This was Hanna's first lesson too, they worked hard and learned a lot about each other.  One more step towards re-building trust that was so badly broken.  It was huge to be able to put a bridle and surcingle on him since both of those things were big triggers when he first arrived.

That's Sunny on the far left, laying down with the herd.  He was terribly intimidated by the other horses in the beginning so this was a big step for him.  Lately I find him lying down when I go out to feed breakfast in the morning and he'll stay there all through feeding.  Given his history with food aggression this speaks volumes about his comfort around having enough.

 

Huey showing Sunny how to remove a fly mask.  Huey is quite sure that fly masks and blankets are best used as toys, not apparel!

Allowing me to put poultice on his swollen leg from yet another kick.  One time he got a nick that I thought should be wrapped. Oh boy!  You would think that the vet wrap was deadly to horses by the way he reacted to the sound of the stuff.  He still has trouble trusting us around his legs, thankfully our farrier is endlessly patient and we're getting there.