Permanent Resident

It's been a couple months of consistent work with this year's Loshenka from Sagebrush. She's a Raspberry Lapin, one of the newer colors that I've seen loshenka come in and I feel so lucky to have gotten her. There have been plenty of issues, mostly with groundwork, while some of those issues linger Spark has come a long way. She was meant to be a show horse for a teenager, bought as a yearling. She was treated more like a dog than a horse, allowed to get into personal space and had no experience with any form of discipline. She would walk with her head over your shoulder and step on your feet as you were trying to lead her. She was shockingly easy to get under saddle and almost turned into a different horse altogether, she collected easily and was responsive to rein direction, though she took a little longer to understand leg pressure. I am very happy with the progress we've made.

Spark also became quick friends with one of my horse selective mares named Storm. Storm is the black mare from my first try at the makeover with Sagebrush, she had been completely feral and horribly abused. It had taken much longer to get her settled in than it did with Spark, which I guess is to be expected with a non-feral horse. Though both have some issues with male horses, gelded or not. Pasture time with the two of them I really believe has helped get some extra energy out and having both young mares together has helped introduce them to other horses as a positive thing. I've spent more time with Spark and she never ceases to make me laugh, even when she does the stupidest things. I had grown up with horses who would do anything to entertain themselves and that didn’t seem to stop when I left home. 

Trail rides were an unexpected joy I found with Spark, she doesn’t spook very easily and looks at the world with a lense of curiosity instead of fear. It has gotten us out of more trouble than it’s gotten us into. Random people with their off leash poorly behaved dogs have come at us more than once, and Spark held her composure better than I was able to. I landed solidly on my butt in the dirt when she’d finally had enough and kicked out at the dog. The owner only proceeded to yell at me for an “out of control” horse who almost “killed her dog” even though the dog shook itself off and ran back in the direction the pair had come from. I told off the entitled jerk and jumped back on Spark, before they were able to spout more hatred than they already had. I turned my white mare and we rode back towards home. I was genuinely so proud of how calm she was as we rode toward home, though I did notice a small shake in her shoulder and her ears flicked back towards me more often. 

We got home and I relayed what had happened to my partner, and apparently he had a similar run in with this person on another of our horses and it hadn’t gone as well. He’d kept his seat but the horse he’d been on was now terrified to go down that trail. It also explained the small scars that had appeared on his brown stud. I rode over to the barn and dismounted, giving Spark some treats as I took off her saddle and bridle. She gave some really good stretches even without a cookie and followed a safe distance behind as I led her to the wash bay. She stood with only a flick of the tail every now and then, she perked her head up when Storm whinied from behind the trailer and I prepared myself for the squeal. When she didn’t do it, I looked up in surprise and I swear this sassy little white mare was smirking at me. I chuckled and untied the halter from the post and we walked around the trailer and Spark started a little side step prance that only ever happened when she saw her best friend. 

I opened the gate and watched happily as her long purple tail swished around when she turned to face me. I took off her halter and let her go meet the little black mare standing on the hill, bucking and farting the whole way.

While it had never really been a question, today would have been the day that cemented Spark’s place here.