June 22- Arrival

June 22- Arrival

Daren arrived today! Very tired from the afternoon but so happy.

I'm the tall dark and handsome one in the middle.

Daren was super good getting off the trailer- they couldn't find his lead rope so I used the one I bought earlier in the week out of sheer anxiousness. Good preparation!

He looked like he'd been sweated up and had dried but he stood calmly while I signed papers. I wanted to hose him off but decided to let him stretch first. I took him to the round pen, but as he followed me in, he bumped into the latch side of the gate. Then he didn't want anything to do with the gate. I did a bit of asking him to move away from gentle tapping pressure, but he didn't want to go forward if he couldn't see me ahead of him. He'd come right up to the gate and then get scared. It didn't help that a horsefly decided to attack us both.

Soon I was tired and I felt like my heart rate was too high for a calm hour working on the gate, which I had already messed up. So I closed the gate and opened the wall panel up, and he followed me right in. A little surprised when he realized where he was! I let him go and watched him walk the circle, a couple bumps but really handled the fence nicely. He got into trotting the edge. I went to get my water bottle and some water and bran for him and he blew up, bucking and rearing. I waited and got some pics as he calmed down a bit. I have video but it's not keen to load. Maybe tomorrow.

Then I returned with a bucket of water and a pan of barely-wet bran mash. Daren was excited about the bucket until he realized it was only water. He still had some but would often circle back and look in the bucket expecting something better. He tried the bran mash but also not real impressed. Some horses were calling and he got running again but then needed to roll. He didn't roll all the way over but did cover both sides pretty good.

Mudball the Magnificent

He started to settle and walk, and I set up a chair outside the pen next to the food and water. I left him a little longer this time and he wasn't so anxious. CC brought a tub full of water with the skiploader. He drank a lot, and I put the rest of my bucket of water in the bran mash, which he ate. Looks like he likes his bran mash soupy, like Lissa did.  I was glad he started to eat, and he created a few small manures. He started to come around more for a pat and a drink of water, and to rest longer.

Daren was keen to talk to a Paint filly that was walking by with her people, and they did stop in and ask if she could run in the arena, which surrounds the round pen. I said if he gets fussy I'll catch him. They let Tink go and she galloped off, which set him to running but he respected the fence and soon came to get some attention from people. Tink returned and they met over the fence with no drama.

One-Eyed Jack and his person arrived and met everyone very kindly, then Jack also had some turnout time. Jack lost his eye in a freak accident and has the empty socket look. Daren really was great with the other horses and will likely go in a paddock with one quiet horse tomorrow. He was fussy when I let the other horses and their people out of the arena, so I hung out a few more minutes until Jack came back in for lunging.  I did get brush on him a bit and he had a nice clean spot on his neck where everyone was petting him.

Tomorrow my plan is to do some groundwork, walk more of a tour, and work on a nice safe gate. I've already accidentally told him I will run him into stuff, and I need to fix that right away. So I need to get that trust back and let him know how I like to do gates for everyone's safety. A good first day with minimal problems if I can get the gate thing sorted.