Zora's Evaluation

Today was such a beautiful day that I decided, after general housework and lawn care, that I would try working with Zora. Zora is a 20 something sorrel Quarter Horse mare, supposedly a veteran show horse with lots of training, so I didn't think it would be much of an ordeal. Live and learn, I guess.

Zora and her buddy Cora came to me in December from a trainer I used to work for. She had bought them from a friend to help her out, with the intention to use them as lesson horses. She ran out of time and room at her barn, so she boarded them out at another place while she tried to sell them. When she couldn't find a buyer, she tried to donate them to a local horse rescue, but they were full so she came to me. I took them in, fed them and cleaned them up, and pretty much left them alone until now.

The trainer had warned me that Cora was really buddy bound to Zora, and I kept that in mind when I went to the pasture. Zora walked willingly up to the barn, followed closely by Cora, and then veered over to say hi to Bahim, my aged stallion in an adjacent pasture.

That's when she started acting like a brazen harlot. Great, she's in heat.

I got the halter on her, brought her into the barn and cross-tied her. She danced a little, but not to bad. Cora was at the gate calling and tap dancing around, but Zora didn't say a word, just stood like a statue and took in what was going on.

I groomed her, put a topical ointment on the worst of her sarcoids, and sprayed on the fly spray. She seemed to enjoy it all, but was still alert and a little tense. Cora was still carrying on outside. You would think I was taking her best buddy ever away to do horrible things to.

*A word about Zora's sarcoids: she's got large patches of raised bumps on both sides of her neck, a bump on her leg, and some bare skin and bumps around her ears and poll. There aren't any in a spot that tack would cover and rub, they just look bad and sometimes she rubs the bumps open and they bleed a little. Before she came to me, the people taking care of her put some sort of paste on the bumps to try and get rid of them. It sort of worked, it burned off the bumps but also ate away the hair and skin too, leaving huge raw patches for the flies to get into (yeah, they did it over the summer). I left them alone, just focused on healing the raw skin, and everything looks better for the most part. I'm looking into a couple of treatments, as I can't remove them like I had done with Sketch.

After the grooming session, we went to the round pen to see what she knew. I started her going left, and she did pretty well at the walk and trot. She came to the center when I said whoa, but that's not a big deal with me. All seemed to be going well, so I sent her to the right. She tried to go left again. I turned her back to the right and she stopped. I coaxed her into moving again, she cut across the pen, hugged the fence close to the barn, cut across the pen again, turned to the left, got to the gate and stopped. All this time Cora is fussing and calling out of sight behind the barn. So Zora starts to think there's something to worry about. She starts calling and hugging the rail and fussing. So I keep her moving, hoping to burn some of that energy and get her focused on me. Right.

After fussing and arguing with her, I decided to see if my saddle fit her. So I tied her to the rail and went to get it and the pad. She was not happy. Dance, dance, dance, call, paw, paw, dance, call. I finally got her saddled (yay, it fit!), which was an entertaining experience, and sent her around again. A few more rounds each way and I put on the bridle with a loose ring comfort snaffle. The bridle was a little big, so I'm going to have to get her her own. Again, I worked her for a couple of rounds each way, and then decided to be bold and get on, even though she was acting like a pretty big butt-head. I was betting she wouldn't do anything more than hug the rail and walk a little fast. And that is pretty much what she did. She seems to neck rein, and backs up pretty well, and has a nice walk and not too bad of a trot. We did a few rounds, and I dismounted.

Again I tied her to the rail, and started to untack her. I had just gotten the cinches unbuckled and was starting to take it off, when a grain truck went by and blew it's horn. Zora had been dancing from the minute I tied her, and the horn startled us both. I'm just glad the jerk hadn't driven by earlier or else I may have had bigger problems.

I turned her loose in the pen, put all the tack away and got the hose ready for her bath. She was a little better, but still danced and called. After she was rinsed we went for a walk to dry off. She kept wanting to walk ahead of me, but I would change direction and get ahead of her. We went to the recently baled hay field so she could graze and see Cora and her antics from afar. Cora was running and calling and bucking, and the funny part is that 3 month old Alex was following her around, racing and bucking and having a great time! Willow didn't seem to mind that her baby was 'playing' with Cora. I think Alex is going to be easy to wean (fingers crossed). When Zora was dry, we went back to the barn, used the last of the fly spray on her, dosed her sarcoids again and turned her out to pasture. Cora became glued to her side.

I think Zora will be fine, she's just been left alone for a while and needs to be reminded of her job. Under saddle she's fine, but instead of the snaffle I may try a mild curb instead, as she seems to prefer to neck rein over direct rein. Given time (and maybe when she's not in heat!), I think she'll make a pretty nice trail horse.