ThunderMoon (previously known as Simone)

[critterseverywhere]

Thunder pretty well has the winter off and is quite the wooly bear. (no, no Cushing's worries...just a really, dense healthy coat to deal with our icky winter weather)

Since we've realised that she's completely blind at night, we've modified plans to the new barn (just about done! hurrah!) so that her stall is now going to have a photo-cell light. So at dusk 150 watts of brightness will kick in so she doesn't have to feel her way around. The barn is a shedrow-style where each horse has their own stall with approximately 2/3 of an acre of private turnout off of their stalls, which they can go in & out of at will.

She's such a talker, it's funny. Anytime she sees a person she starts nickering and will keep up a low monologue until you come up and pet her.

I'm too embarrassed to post any current pictures of her (anyone ever notice how white horses have an ingrained desire to roll in mud at every opportunity?), but here's a picture of her with hubby from when she first came home...

[rainydayride]

How kind of you to make sure she can see her surroundings in barn.

Is Mr CE still riding her occasionally?

[critterseverywhere]

Not really...but I don't really expect him to during the winter. He just feeds her treats & rubs her forehead & talks to her while he's working on the barn. I'm just hoping she hangs onto what vision she has left for awhile so he can at least trail ride this summer.

[rainydayride]

Hey, a bit of food, a light massage, good company and good conversation - what more could she ask for?

[critterseverywhere]

Since Mr CE isn't spending much time with her and my usual riding horse (Brandy) has had a bad cold for a couple weeks (I don't really want to know what my vet bill is going to be from this week when she was getting worse...she's on stronger drugs now & looking much better, but I don't want to push her) I decided to haul Thunder into my trainer's arena to ride today. Of course, that little valley is pretty much always about 10-15 degrees colder than my house so I really bundled up. lol I bore a strong resemblence to the Michlene Man and could barely move, but it was still fun. She's such a nice old girl.

Mr CE has agreed to ride her in a clinic on New Years Eve with Bruce Hall & I'm pretty excited about it...it will be really good for both him & Thunder. (I'll probably attend with Brandy...she needs some confidence on trail-type obstacles).

photobucket.com/albums/a38/critterseverywhere/

[schwung]

Lovely photos!! And you must tell me all about that gorgeous chestnut horse of yours!

[critterseverywhere]

LOL...want her? The chestnut is Karma, the one I've had for sale forever. I should dig out the pictures of when I first bought her for the 'other rescues' forum. Saw an ad scribbled on a little piece of cardboard on a convenience store BB for a 16.3 TB mare for $900. It was right down the block so I went to look. Turned out she's only about 15.3, the woman had no money for hay, fly spray, farrier, etc. Told me just to grab her ear and twist if she wouldn't open up for the bit (but she was usually really good to tack up so she'd only ever done it a few times)...oddly enough the woman did love the horse, just didn't know much or have enough money. My trainer & I checked her over, then I bought her for $750. That was last year. My trainer (who is riding her in the pictures) has put a ton of work on her and she's turned into a mighty nice horse! She only gets ridden about once or twice a week but still is just trucking right along in her training and has absolutely the best ground manners. Went from being an unhealthy, barely-broke OTTB trail horse to doing a solid training level test in about 6 months. A little ear shy (there's a surprise!) but still let my trainer clip her ears and anyone can bridle her.

She really needs a rider with good body control though. She's so sensitive & responsive & is always trying to figure out what her rider wants that she gets frustrated with people (like me!) who's minds are willing but bodies are weak. (hey, you need a dressage horse while Slam is recovering!)

[schwung]

Well, she looks lovely, a very pretty mover! But um, I need another horse like I need a hole in the head. Let's see, right now I am supposed to riding Slam daily at a walk for rehab (not happening). Then we have Vanna that needs to get into a program and my yearling needs regular handling or she gets bored and starts looking for trouble, and then there is always Honeycutt who needs attention. So considering I don't have time for any of them, I think another horse is definately NOT in the picture.

But, give me the specifics, I'll ask around, mention her to my farrier, etc....she's really lovely.

[critterseverywhere]

What a great ol’ girl Thunder is!

The clinic was fantastic. Casey took Thunder & I had my mare Brandy, then there were 4 other horses and several auditors. For all his foot-dragging and griping about me dragging him to this, Casey had a fantastic time and I think Thunder may be succeeding in converting him into a horse person.

The clinic started with basics on how to use a rope halter, what the horse feels, body language, how a horse’s mind works, etc (review for most of us, totally new for others including Casey). We then did quite a bit of ground work. Bruce was able to do something I’ve never been able to...convince Casey that the horses aren’t going to stop liking them if he insists they do what he wants instead of doing whatever they want (it historically takes him a long time to lead a horse somewhere because he follows them wherever they want to go LOL). Pretty exciting! And sure enough, Thunder bore no grudges when he required her to back out of his space (not something she likes to do). She did all the yields quite well, despite her blind eye (we made some accommodations for that & her reduced range of motion in a hind leg).

When it came time to mount up, we had problems finding a saddle that fit both Casey & Thunder. The one I brought that I know fits Thunder turns out to be way too short for Casey (go figure, even on the shortest hole I can barely reach the stirrups in it! That man has some seriously loooooong legs). Eventually, he ended up just riding her bareback, which is his preference anyway. They did all the exercises just great...even the gauntlet! The Gauntlet is a big blue tarp shredded into roughly 6" strips then hung so you can ride through it (like a car wash). Most horses completely freak out about that. Thunder’s walking rhythm didn’t change a whit....just trucked right on through. She was a crack-up about the bridge though. The bridge is only about 5" tall, 4' wide, and maybe 12' long. When we were approaching the skinny side, she’d just casually step over a foot to walk alongside it. You could see her thinking “Stupid human, there’s a board on the ground right there, we need to move over a bit”. Casey isn’t a good enough rider (yet!) to keep her straight. When he switched so she was approaching the middle of the long side, she walked right over it. Funny.

It was a good day, all in all. So good, in fact, that Casey wants to know when we’re doing it again! (Feb, I think) AND wants to start hauling Thunder into my trainer’s once a month or so to take lessons! Amazing!

Thank you Thunder!

[nalasmom]

Sounds awesome!!! ;D