[canis,]

We recently got an urgent call from the local authorities. It seems that they were called in after a recent sighting of a very skinny, odd-looking horse left out in the freezing cold. Upon arriving at the scene, they discovered a huge Kleeare stable to be abandoned. The Kleeare were simply left, some in the pasture, some trapped in their stalls. And all extremely emaciated. We responded quickly, arriving at the stable and assessing the condition of each Kleeare. The sight shocked us, but we did not fret. We brought each one of the Kleeare back to our place, where they were evaluated by our veterinarian. Some cases were more extreme than others, but all of them had the chance to be saved. That's where you step in...

This Kleeare appears to be in fairly good health. However, it does show signs of aggression.

Username; lrrstudios
Name;
Gender;
Coat Colour; Silver Bay Tovero
Genotype; Ee/Aa/Zz/nT/nO/Frfr/StSt

[lrrstudios]

Name: Taz
Gender: Stallion

[lrrstudios]

1. First Meeting

I arrived to the abandoned Kleeare stable and looked around at all of the poor Kleeares who were underfed and scared. I walked down the aisle way to try to find the woman who was running the Kleeare Winter Rescue. As I turned the corner, I nearly ran into her as we both stopped abruptly. "Sorry," she said. "I'm Emily. Are you here for the 2:30 Kleeare Rescue?" I nodded and introduced myself. Emily told me to follow her to a stall where they kept my adopt. He was all the way in the back of the barn in the last stall on the left.
I gripped the medal silver bars keeping me from my frightened Kleeare. He stood in the back of his stall and looked at me frightened. I reached my hand out with a treat on it to see if he would come over to me. Surely he did, but not as I expected. My boy lounged forward toward my hand and nearly nipped it. I pulled it back before he reached it. "Oh yeah," said Emily. "I forgot to tell you that he can be very aggressive compared to the others here. Are you okay? Did he bite you?"
"Yeah," I said. " I'm fine. And no, he didn't bite me."
Emily called in her crew to help me get the stallion into my trailer. They arrived with a rope and some fences. They told me to back my trailer up to the barn door and leave it open while they set up the fences. I did as I was told and backed the old creaky trailer to the massive barn doors. The authorities opened the stall door where my Kleeare stood. He bolted out of his stall and dashed to freedom only to get stopped by my trailer. He slowed down, but still not fast enough to miss the trailer.

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[lrrstudios]

2. Welcome Home
After about an hour of getting my Kleeare into the trailer, I finally got to drive off with him. When we approached my barn, I slowed to a stop at the massive doors with the trailer doors facing them. My barn was small; there were four stalls, one feed/tack room, and a loft. There was also a good-sized pasture and an outside riding arena. Only one of the stalls were being occupied before my Kleeare. An old horse named Pal, a palomino mare of the age 23. She was a good show horse back in her showing days. Now, she was just good company for me.
I opened up all of the three other stall doors so that the Kleeare would have a chance to choose his stall. I then took Pal out to pasture so that she would not scare or intimidate the new boy. The regular sized door on the opposite side of me was closed so that he couldn't escape. I unlatched the trailer door and let him out. He bolted out into the barn, so I closed the trailer and barn doors so that he wouldn't get out. I climbed up the small ladder to the hay loft and sat there while I waited for him to settle into a stall. While up there, I brainstormed some names for him; Taz, Topaz, Diablo, Charlie, and Helado (meaning ice cream in Spanish.) I decided to go with Taz, because I thought it suited him the best.
After a long while, Taz found a stall next to Pal. I threw down some hay from the hay loft and filled up his water bucket. I went to get Pal out of the paddock so that he could have a moment to himself. I brought Pal into the stall next to him. She didn't know the stranger, and put her muzzle through the stall bars. Taz stood in the far back corner, before pouncing forward at her. He missed her, but it wasn't enough to stop Pal from being friendly.

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[lrrstudios]

3. A Spoon Full of Sugar
The vet came for the monthly check up. He first examined Pal, who was as healthy as ever. Next, he approached the stall next to her and was nearly bitten. He stood outside the stall to examine his thickness. The vet said he was healthy, minus his weight, but appeared very aggressive. I tried to put a halter on him, and finally got it on him after several minutes. I lead him to the cross ties in the middle of the aisle way. I clipped his halter to the long lead ropes on either side.
The vet came near him in a safe distance of his legs to fully examine him. He checked Taz for worms, which he didn't have, but the vet did find some sores that could get infected if not treated. The vet had some ointment on him, and put some on one of the sores. Taz didn't like it very much, and stamped his foot on top of the vet's. The vet pulled his foot back and said ouch. He told me to go grab a handful of oats or grains so that he could finish putting on the ointment. I grabbed a feeding bag and put oats in it. I placed it on Taz's head to distract him from the treatment. He had a total of eleven sores. The vet gave me the rest of the ointment and showed me how to apply it. He said to call back to get a refill when I needed one. The ointment had a good smell to it. It almost smelt like mint and chocolate to me.
When we were done applying the treatment, I re-clipped his lead rope and un-clipped the cross tie lead ropes. I walked him out to the pasture to give him grazing time. I took off his halter in the paddock, and walked out of the gates. I closed the gate and made sure to close the chains as well. I walked back in to thank the vet and asked him how much he would need for the ointment. The vet said that it was no charge for this one, but the next time it would be $30. I walked the vet out to his car, where we saw Taz frolicking and prancing around happily.

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[lrrstudios]

4. Making Friends
Taz trotted around the pasture with glee that morning. He came to me when I approached the pasture now, and was way more relaxed. Taz was also good with Pal now. They were good pasture buddies and went everywhere together.
I got a phone call today from my good friend Jessa. She needed help with training her horse and came to me for the task. I told her that I could, but I was also in the middle of training my Kleeare. I heard the sound of her trailer rolling up the gravel road to my barn. She hopped out of the car and ran up to me to give me a hug. We said our salutations and went around to the back of the light pink trailer to see her horse. She opened the back as I went to the front door to lead out her stallion. He was very tall and was a black appaloosa. He snorted a bit of snot onto my shirt when I went to clip on his lead rope. I backed him out of the trailer and asked Jessa what his name was. She replied with a quiet "Nelson."
When Nelson was out of the trailer, I lead him over to the paddock where my boy was. I took off his halter and placed it onto a hook where Taz's was. Nelson took right to Taz. Taz trotted over to him and they sniffed each others' manes. Pal walked over to join in on all of the action. They frolicked around for a while before I lead them all into their stalls for the night. I filled up the feed and water bowl so that they could eat. The three of them were in stalls right next to each other and seemed to be getting along well.
The next morning when I was about to work with Nelson, he kept trying to go back to the barn. So, I told Jessa to go grab Taz from his stall, in hope that Nelson would follow him. He did, and so Jessa concluded that she would leave him here, and come to ride after work or on the weekends.

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[lrrstudios]

5. Exercise Routine
I woke up in the morning to Taz whining. So, I went to the barn to give him and the other two horses their morning feed and water. I went into the tack/feed room to find an old lounging set that had once belonged to my mother. I was a light lavender and had diamonds on the side. On the girth, it said "Sadie," my Mom's old mare who passed away years ago. She was the reason that my mother stopped ridding all together.
I pulled it out and put it on the ground next to Taz's stall. I slid open the door to his stall and picked up the set before entering. I showed it to him, let him sniff it, and rubbed it on his side. I placed on the headpiece, due to him being used to it. I placed the rest of the set around his rump and fastened the rein pieces to the rings on the shoulders. I gave Taz a pat and told him "Good boy," rewarding him with a treat. I reached under his stomach and grabbed the other side of the girth. I placed the leather through the round, enlarged buckle and slowly tightened it. I cinched it and pet his belly. I grabbed the rein pieces and lead him out to the cross ties, where I clipped the ties to the head piece so I could go get the lounge line. When I returned, Taz was stomping his foot, not amused with the tack on him. I attached the lounge line and detached the cross ties before leading him out to the small round pin.
I had placed some trotting poles down to work on his stride, and started to walk him over them. After walking several circles, I had Taz trot around for a few minutes. I spread out the poles, so that he didn't trip while cantering. I clucked and kissed at him to get him to speed up to a canter. He had an amazing stride, which I thought would make him a great hunter/jumper.
For the next few days, I continued with the lounging to keep Taz in shape before I decided to mount up. I used a bozal bridle (a bridle with no bit) and rode him bareback. His gaits were so smooth and he was very comfortable with me on his back. I only did walk, trot, and a bit of canter work with him for the first few weeks, until his muscles were fully built and he was comfortable with jumping.

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[lrrstudios]

6. Final Evaluation
I called the vet to come over and check out Taz for a final evaluation on how his health was. When the vet arrived, they noticed that all of his scars were gone and that the ointment had worked. Carl, the vet, check Taz's teeth for floating and his hooves to see if they were over grown. His teeth needed a bit of sanding and he needed some farrier work on his hooves. Dr. Carl noticed that Taz was no longer aggressive, due to his greet to the man. The vet gave me some numbers to call on for his teeth and his hooves. He also asked if I would like if he would give me a riding evaluation. I told him that it would be nice, so I tacked up Taz and took him to the arena. Dr. Carl admired Taz's muscle build up and how much he has come along.
I mounted up on the mounting block, and started to walk around, trot, and finally canter. There were some medium sized jumps set up in the square arena. The vet wanted to evaluate how he would do jumping. Taz cantered up to the jump and soared over it like an eagle flying through the sky. Dr. Carl was very impressed with how fast Taz had learned to jump, let alone being tacked up.
I called the numbers Carl gave me to work on his hooves and teeth. They showed up the day after, so that Taz wasn't over whelmed on his checkup day. First, the farrier came and clipped his hooves and added on horse shoes for no extra cost. Then, the other guy came and sanded down his teeth. Taz didn't like this very much, but he still behaved very well for the two.

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