by ♥ mizu » Tue Jun 04, 2024 5:24 pm
i'm not sure what i'll actually name her, but i think i'll just call her "moonie" for now :) this may change though!
First prompt: tell me how you came across this wildie at the Carnival - minimum of 150 words
it was approaching eleven o'clock and i was actually going to go after the late-night show had finished. there were some fireworks going off in the sky, and their booms were echoed by some frantic whinnying - wait, whinnying? i'd followed the cries and found a litte grey mare cowering in a now-closed booth. her beautiful grey hide was shaking and she looked genuinely terrified, eyes darting between myself and the sky. i couldn't tell if she'd crashed into the dunking pool or if that was sweat covering her, but she certainly needed help and i really couldn't leave her there.
knowing better than to try and tame a feral, panicky horse, i went to go and get some help. i found a few ranch hands putting away some tack for the night and told them of the mare i'd found. they didn't really believe me, but they sure did as they were confronted by the same sight i saw as i led them to the booth. it was really difficult to calm her down, so we waited until the firework show was over and tried to coax her out with some mints. turns out that she really, really liked mints and she let us put a rope 'round her neck. that was all that we could really do, though, so i just took her to a spare paddock and let her blow off some steam before i went back to the house.
Second prompt: tell me how you have started to gain their trust and halter break them - minimum 150 words
i named her "moonie" for her star-spangled coat and the circumstances that i found her under. i used a rather liberal amount of mints to try and at least show her i wasn't an enemy and scattered them around her paddock, just chilling in there with her. she was definitely really cautious of me and wouldn't come too close for the first few days, but, on the fourth day, i was absolutely delighted to find her curiously nudging my pocket to try and find some more candies. it was really surprising as she hadn't let me anywhere near her the day before, but i let her have some more as i stroked her soft face.
after a few more days of her letting me pet her, i used a few training halters and gently slipped the band around her delicate, small ears. moonie was really clever and i think she knew i wasn't trying to hurt her, so she let me. :)
Third prompt: tell me how they do first time under saddle and how their grooming went - minimum of 150 words
it took quite a few months to get her under saddle, but not by any fault of her own - i wanted to make sure that i had her full, complete trust before putting any amount of weight on her. that meant going through bags and bags of mints and spending a few nights under the stars in my sleeping bag alongside her. she made for a really good sleepover buddy, that's for sure!
anyway: her first time under saddle went pretty well. she definitely seemed unsure, but she let me take her around the paddock a few times before she indicated that she wanted to change the routine. i'd already taught her how to be groomed on the crossties (it was one of the first thing i'd taught her, aside from being haltered of course). her first grooming, moonie was definitely pretty unsure. i was also unsure, though - the amount of mud on her was CRAZY. she was filthy! i'd never seen such a messy horse. but she sure prettied up and i'm really grateful for her. she's a great mare. :)
