Monday, May 5, 2014

Faran Update


Faran's new owner gave me permission to post the pictures and stories she's sending to me so I figured you guys would enjoy an update!  I'm pretty sure I already mentioned that he rode well on the trailer to her house, but was definitely ready to get off after such a long ride.  He unloaded well.  We were a bit worried since there was no divider, but there was the support post in the back that he had to go around.  He had no problem figuring it out.  :)


He went into the round pen near her other horses so he wouldn't be worried or lonely.  He settled in really well!  She spent a ton of time with him the first few days to be sure he was doing okay.  One funny story she told me is that he tried to bluff her about wanting attention.  When he started to turn away she quickly walked away, leaving him before he could leave her.  She went to her other horse at the fence.  Faran stared at her, totally confused and then walked straight to her asking for attention again hehe.  Silly boy!



He has definitely already decided she is his new human.  When she leaves and comes back he's already greeting her with a nicker.  :D  That makes me so happy!  She works with him every day which is what he needs.  She uses the massage techniques that I'm using (and still learning) with Chrome.  She gives him a full body massage every day.  He loves it!

 I love his pretty face and his almost roman nose hehe.

So everything was going great until last weekend.  She introduced him to one of her geldings and a yearling.  She wanted him to be out in the pasture since it had a shelter for some bad weather that was on the way.  They all seemed to be doing just fine.  She had to walk down the road to her sister's house to help with something and started hearing her yearling squealing.  She ran back to her house to find Faran attacking the other two horses.  My jaw hit the floor when she told me this!!  I had never seen him be mean to another horse.  He was chasing them so she ran out into the pasture and scared him away from them, then she got the other two out and put them in a different pasture.  They are fine, just some bites and scrapes.

She left Faran in the pasture so he would have shelter from the weather.  When she went back out there he went right up to her, even neighing at her, because he was lonely.  The big dummy just chased his company off lol.  Everyone was fine and settled back in.

His adorable dirty face from eating his mash.

Then Faran started getting out!!  She found him in the yard grazing and he let her walk right to him and catch him.  She put him up and then he was out again at three am the next morning, so she stuck him back in the round pen so she could go to work.  Later she put him in the pasture and watched him to see what he would do.  He walked right to a low spot in the fence and stepped over again like he was so proud of his accomplishment and had no clue he was doing anything wrong!  :)

He's definitely keeping her on her toes, but she's enjoying him so much.  He's letting her pick his feet up in the pasture without being tied up already.  She's been leading him around outside of his comfort zone (his comfort zone has always been his pasture, everywhere else makes him nervous), tossing the lead rope around his body to desensitize him and she's been standing on buckets.  Basically just doing all different kinds of things with him to get him used to the unexpected just like I did with Chrome.  :)  He's flourishing with the daily handling.  I'm so happy I found someone who has the time and desire to work with him every day.


Isn't he looking awesome??  Even with the glowing demon eyes hehehe!  So that has us caught up.  I'll update again when I have more pictures and (hopefully fun and happy) stories to tell. :D

P.S.  For anyone just joining the blog Faran is a fourteen year old 16hh black Percheron gelding that my husband and I got in 2011 from a lady who was terrified of him.  She had sent him to a trainer to break him to ride and the trainer ruined him, making him absolutely terrified of humans.  We spent a lot of time with him at first working on getting him to trust humans and to calm down, but due to bad stuff happening (husband's injury, job loss, moving back home, etc.) we didn't have the time to work with him and he reverted back to his half wild state.  So that's where his new owner is having to pick up with him.  Reminding him all over again that humans are okay and teaching him that he can trust people to do things around and to him.  He needs daily interaction to stay calm and relaxed.  She's doing a really good job with that and he's very happy in his new home!!

P.P.S.  All of these pictures were taken by and belong to his new owner.  I do not own them, but I do have permission to post them.  :)

6 comments:

  1. How did Faran, Chrome, and Zep react to each other when you brought Faran home? That's funny about him just stepping over the fence. I'm sure it's not fun for his new owner having to take the time to figure out how he was escaping, but your description made me laugh.

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  2. I am so happy to hear that it is working out for him.

    Isn't it funny how different horses react when herds change? He will probably get over his need to dominate, once he realizes that this is his new home.

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  3. I'm so glad you managed to find him somewhere. I know how much attention these sensitive types need, and it is so hard. Happy for both of you :)

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  4. Thanks for the update!!! Cool!!

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  5. I had to go back and look... we had Faran in the round pen and Chrome and Zep were on the lease land. Chrome and Zep let themselves into the paddock where the round pen was and were galloping around. That's what woke us up. When we let them out together Chrome was constantly pestering Faran and he was just walking away. Finally Faran got fed up and reared up at Chrome. He didn't hit Chrome or anything, but he got his point across and Chrome left him alone. Then Zep started doing the same thing. Faran kicked him with both hind legs, slamming him into a tree, then Zep left him alone (I'd forgotten about this!!). They never had another problem from that point on because he told them to back off and they listened. Faran has always been the dominant one in the herd, but he's always been gentle besides that first day so I'd forgotten that he kicked the donkey. No one saw what started the drama with Faran and her horses so I have no idea if it was unprovoked or not. Maybe they were pestering and he told them to stop and they didn't listen. I have no idea. We can only guess. It's still weird that he was chasing them though! I've never seen him do that. He's normally so lazy that he grazes while Chrome and Zep are beating up on each other (a.k.a. playing). Who knows. His whole world has changed so it may have been a stress response. She's not giving up on him and the other two horses are fine so it's all good. :)

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  6. Catching up on lots and lots of blog posts today...Haven't been keeping up this summer.

    Glad to hear that you guys found a new home for Faran! Sounds like it will be a good home for him and that he is going to get plenty of attention and love. :)

    cheers,

    Mary

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