SAFE Horse: HONEYCUTT

[shekaberry]

Any updates on the Handsome Honeycutt?

[jaybird]

here's a picture of Honeycutt I just took. As you can see, he is his usual handsome self:

[averyacres]

He is such a pretty boy!!! Looks very happy, too.

[hooti4me]

I second he looks very happy, and relaxed. I love that seahorse blaze, wow, just gorgeous. Your stalls are gorgeous too!!!

[Angel62197]

A third to the happy horse, and a second to the beautiful stalls! That barn is GORGEOUS.

I really hope someone steps in for Honeycutt... he deserves a forever home where he can relax and not have to worry about the pressures. He looks thrilled to be where he is. Who wouldn't?! I'd live in that stall...

[jaybird]

thanks guys! I am very lucky to have such a nice barn. My dad & I built it last summer. It's a BarnPros barn, and I absolutely love it.

Honeycutt is doing very well, and I do believe that he is relaxed and happy living here. He is quite well behaved and easy to handle, and I do feel that I have gained at least some of his trust. I subject him to being touched and petted and patted on a daily basis and he's quite tolerant of that, and will even approach me for attention. I'm trying not to baby him so much, so occasionally I will make sudden movements or appear suddenly and he will still jump out of his skin but then I pat him and tell him "Hey, it's no big deal, you're fine!"

We do groundwork exercises which he is really quite good at...in fact, a little too good...he is hyper-alert and always has his eyes glued to me to see what I'm going to do next. As a result he is really really sensitive to body language. But what we haven't achieved yet is relaxation...the whole business just makes him so tense and nervous, even though he pretty much never puts a foot wrong and so is constantly being praised and reassured. He just needs more time.

For something new, I brought him into the barn aisle and cross tied him (well, I only hooked up one but he stood perfectly in place as if they both were attached) and then groomed him for a while and worked on achieving some relaxation, and I'd say he did pretty well with that. He certainly was well behaved anyway and almost seemed to enjoy being groomed. Then I worked with picking up feet because he's desperately in need of a trim, and I wanted to see how he might do with having his feet handled (of course he's been trimmed numerous times by SAFE's farriers and his trainer's farriers). He did quite well with his fronts, a little iffy with the hinds, he would pick the foot up and relax it backwards, but then immediately pull it forward again...he appears to be a little stocked up in his hind ankles (he may have kicked something a few days ago...like the barn...) so it might have been a discomfort thing. Anyway, we'll keep working on it so that he can have a good experience with the farrier.

He has a lot of fun with Jay...the two of them run and play and jump in the air (although Honeycutt has a far more impressive buck than any of my other horses...) I'm not sure what is going on with him and Oliver...there may be a dominance thing going on between them, which is funny to me because Buckie used to push Honeycutt around a lot...but maybe HC sees an opportunity to move up in the herd now that Buckie is gone.

Anyway, that's pretty much what Honeycutt is up to. I enjoy having him here, he really is a sweet horse. Spend any amount of time with Honeycutt and you start to feel really protective of him. I find myself wanting to promise him that I'll take care of him forever. *sigh*

[jaybird]

Honeycutt got his feet trimmed yesterday, and he was a superstar for the farrier. Of course we did it all very gently and carefully, but still, he did great and I was very proud of him.

a couple days ago, I decided to try lunging him with a surcingle on...he stood stock still while I was putting it on, and then he kinda scrambled out into his paddock and I thought he was going to start bucking, but he didn't. (Of course Jay saw an opportunity to maybe bite him over the fence so he might have gotten distracted.) He stood there in his "horse statue pose" and then he slowly walked back to me to be petted and reassured. I wasn't sure if we should continue, but I decided we'd keep going as long as he wasn't too upset. I had no trouble putting a bridle on him, and to start with, I just led him around the pasture. Then we tried lunging...but it was not too successful since he was less likely to move forward and more likely to swing around to face me and start backing up. So I worked with him to try to get him moving forward and help him to understand that that is what I wanted him to do. Once he managed one full circle, I called it a day.

Again, this is totally in keeping with his normal behavior. He feels safest when he is facing you head on. So I am making a point of standing to the side of him whenever I can, and laying one arm over his back and rubbing his shoulder with the other. We also do carrot stretches which, I hope, reinforces the idea that good things can happen when a human stands to the side of you.

He is such a sweet horse. He's starting doing things like following me around when I'm cleaning and hovering nearby until I come over and rub his face. He has this way of looking at me that just makes me want to cry....and promise him I'll take care of him forever...which at this point, I really can't promise so I don't say it...

Anyway, all mushiness aside, he continues to do really well. My farrier declared him to be FAT yesterday...bummer...so no more grain treats for HC for a while. I wish Jay had that problem...

[jaybird]

PS I wish I had a video camera so I could film him and Jay playing together. They are so funny together. Honeycutt can spring into the air with all four feet off the ground and his head between his knees like a rodeo horse. And man, can he rear!

[cat67]

Do you have a round pen? It's so much easier to get the ones that stop and back up moving with a round pen. It might even be worth hauling over to where you can use one, if you don't have one at home.

[shekaberry]

That news is great, JB! He isn't really dominant, is he? Sounds like he wants to please his person so much, but is unsure and scared. And scarred. I am so glad that SAFE has him, terrible to imagine where he would have ended up without you.

[Dakota]

I went over to Bonnie’s last night and did ground work with Honeycutt. He is one awesome horse! Bonnie showed me his likes as far as grooming (gentle) and what type of ground work has been done with him. He is the sweetest guy with no aggression issues that I could detect. He is still tense and cautious. I definitely shows that everyone who has worked with him has done a great job at calming him and building his trust with people. After grooming him we did some ground work. We spent about an hour working primarily on getting him to lower his head and neck (he carries it pretty high). He really understands what I am asking of him when I barely put pressure on the lead line to lower his head. I would leave the lead line loose so there was no force or pressure on him. He would leave his head down for several seconds on a loose lead line and I finally got him to a point where he had is head down for a fair amount of time and was yawning and relaxed. We walked around cones, stepped over low jumps; I rubbed him, spent time getting him familiar with me and to just really relax. He gave me love nibbles with his lips on my cheeks, ears, arms, and head lol. At the end of our session he was yawning and had nice relaxed eyes. I just adore this big guy. He is going to make someone who can give him a forever home and has time to work with him a wonderful companion. I have no pasture and am going to have to board once I get a horse or I would take this guy myself.

At Bonnie’s suggestion I’m going to start HC on clicker training and then target training with the clicker if he takes to it. I’ve used these techniques to great success with my rescue dogs. This training builds confidence and trust. If you are not familiar with it there’s plenty of info on the net. I will be going out on Wednesdays and Fridays or Saturdays and can juggle my schedule per the weather and Bonnie's schedule. This guy deserves plenty of attention to get him ready for his forever home. Bonnie spends lots of quality time with him but also has Jay and Oliver to handle. I really enjoyed meeting Bonnie – she also is terrific.

I’ll keep up the posts on his progress. I am proud to be part of SAFE and this great bunch of people.

[jaybird]

As Dakota has reported, we had a lovely evening this past week working with HC. I have to say that I was SO impressed with Honeycutt's behavior! He was a complete and total doll with her. We started off with her brushing him in the barn while I held him. Then we took him out into the pasture and I showed her what I've been doing with him in terms of groundwork, and then I let her lead him around and work on getting him to drop his head. She was really quiet and gentle with him, spent a lot of time just talking to him, and he really responded to her! He was soft and attentive and became really relaxed -- not just licking & chewing, but YAWNING (something Honeycutt almost never does!). It was really neat. We talked about what kind of things she could work on with the clicker training, and I think he might really do well with it.

It was cool! I am just so proud of Honeycutt. He was so good. And it was great to meet Dakota! I am just thrilled that she is willing to put in time with HC. I think this is going to be really good for him.

[jaybird]

Honeycutt got a new rainsheet yesterday. I saw this at the tack store and decided that I just had to buy it for him.

Isn't he handsome?









I filmed a short movie of Honeycutt in his new blanket, but it's not very interesting.

[pdevlieg]

He sure is a handsome fella. I love Oliver in the background - Mommy, look at me too!

[jaybird]

sweet Oliver! I recently roached his mane and he looks SO handsome!! I'm surrounded by gorgeous horses! ;D