The Great Paint Project: Part II

Where we left the Great Paint Project last (yes, I am aware some of you have been waiting since April!) Maeve had just put down the new shoes she was buying and returned to the barn with her rescue money...

We made a plan to meet Billie Jean, the owner, for lunch to talk and sign the sale documents. Over soup & salad she explained to us that she'd been going through a rough time emotionally and that her husband thought that having a horse might get her out more and perhaps her mood would improve. They bought Sugar who turned out to be "Spooks Sugar Bar None", a APHA Registered Paint mare who happened to be in foal & brought her directly to KCJ Stables.

It turned out that the barn did not have the appeal that her family had hoped for her and the longer the time between her visits grew, the more she felt even worse than before. It got so bad that even when we agreed to meet, she specified that it couldn't be at the barn because she could not face the horses. I assured her that the horses would be fine and all would be forgiven if she showed up with a cookie...but she insisted that we meet outside and after talking to her, I think I understand how much it all reminded her of how difficult this situation was for her. I got the sense that she did want what was best for the horses and was glad that she could get some peace of mind knowing that people like Maeve and I would do everything we could for them. She did understand that they could have gone into really bad situations and admitted that the people her husband had lined up to come pick them up were contacts of friends who were not even horse people and she honestly had no idea what their outcome would have been.

We signed a Bill of Sale on each horse and out of randomness, Maeve signed for Sugar and I signed for the colt. Billie Jean did tell us why she had meant to name him "Spirit" and it was because she felt like her mother's spirit was guiding her. At the time I had thought something with "Joker" or "Fool" in it was fun because of his April Fools Birthday (shared with my husband, by the way!). We left with a bit of sympathy for this owner who was in over her head emotionally and her guilt over abandoning them at the barn was, perhaps, coming to some closure that I feel she desperately needed. Clearly the rest of her life needed her attention...and these horses did too...and now they had NEW Mommies....and we had new projects.

Now that we had the actual written right to do so, we rushed back to the barn to tell the horses the good news...and yes, I do believe they sense things. Sugar clearly was starting to open up to us. I think some treats and grooming helped that. The wild colt, however, was going to need some expert handling so we brought in Chrissy to help us halter train him. This was needed if we were going to have any hope of taking him out of the pasture he'd spent all but the first 17 days of his life in. That was a bit daunting but ... it had to be done soon!

We decided that the colt needed to be gelded ASAP! Sugar needed her teeth done so we made an appointment with Dr. Tooman to do both on the same day. We had about two weeks to get the colt lead-able so that we could do his daily exercising for the two weeks following his procedure. Chrisy came out and started working with him to get him to move in directions and some basic ground manners. I believe it was down to the wire in terms of feeling "safe" with him before his appointment day, but I guess there's nothing like having to do something to make you just do it and come gelding day, we just got through it. That's all we could do, no choices. Gelding was the sanest thing I could think of to give this colt a chance at finding a forever home. Despite how cute and how pretty his coloring was, the last thing this world needed was another nearly homeless stud. So we made a decision to make it the first priority.

In the two weeks before the gelding/teeth appointment we were able to track down his previous owners to Billie Jean. The breeder who owned his sire had once owned Sugar as well. She informed me that this pair made such good looking & gentle spirited horses that they bred them a total of SIX times in as many years. She also told me that the owner she got Sugar from had paid for 30 days of professional training for Sugar but had been afraid to ride her because Sugar refused to take a bit & would toss her head violently. She thought it had been because someone in her past (not the breeder, from my impression) had tried to float her without sedation. It was thought, however, that the trainer who gave her 30 days came back and rode her fine, even on trails. She did confirm a story that Billie Jean had told us: that Sugar could be ridden in a halter or hackamore but would never take a bit.

So Sugar had been bred five times with the breeder I talked to and then sold to her daughter who bred her to the same stud, Macho Dee Bar (who has since been gelded when the horse economy forced them to shut down their breeding operation). Sugar was sold, infoal, to Billie Jean. They had no idea that the horses had ended up in the situation they were in, which I think speaks to the method in which SAFE rehomes it's horses using reference and site checks. I wonder how many straight sales go through any kind of appropriate match up of horse and human... my guess is that once the money passes hands it's no longer an issue to the most sellers. I do hear, with some regularity, that breeders often stand up for the get they produce and will sometimes take it back or help to rehome it when things go awry. That was my initial hope when I got in contact with the breeder.

Macho Dee Bar

I was told, however, that every single baby that Sugar produced got her easy going disposition and were easy to train. She went as far as to say that one person actually had two of the babies, liking one so much they purchased a second one. It was Cathy Atkinson, not the breeder, who informed me that their (former) stud, Macho Dee Bar, was the son of Barlink Macho Man, a multi-titled halter horse and Supreme Champion Sire. This colt was a grandson of this champion horse and was fortunate enough to get some of pattern genes ;-)

Interestingly enough, the breeder didn't seem to play up that breeding to any of the buyers who ended up with Sugars other babies. I've seen a few, perhaps three, on craigslist or Dream Horse and none have mentioned the amazing bloodlines their horses' have.

Barlink Macho Man

By the time the day came to start the horses on their way to recovery (and life as a gelding) the colt was showing his 'naughty' nature and Maeve started calling him Basil because his personality (or perhaps "horsenality") reminded her of her mischievous brother Basil (sounds like Razzle...not the herb). The idea of calling him anything with "Joker" or "Fool" in it now seemed inappropriate given the circumstances he came to us under.

When stories about free or abandoned horses circulate the crazies come out of the wood works. Early on in the process some 'friend of a friend' came out to see Basil and wanted to put him on an empty piece of property he owned in Gold Bar....but I had to wonder who would care for any horse(s) left there since this guy lived in Burien....and another former KCJ Boarder (who shall remain nameless) saw his photo and immediately wanted to take him to breed him to her mare. The overprotective mother in me thought "Good lord! he's not even a yearling yet!" and made me confirm his gelding appointment.

There was also a referral, a friend of the original breeder who was interested in taking the colt but when I informed them that I would want to do a site check, I never heard from them again. Even a fellow boarder was interested in him at one point but their other horse had some medical issues I wanted to see handled faster than I was seeing and I turned down that offer as well.

Maeve & I decided to test the waters, so to speak, with Sugar and see what she may/may not know. Maeve agreed to be the Crash Test Dummy but thankfully was neither! Sugar got saddled up and sat on with no indication of an issue. In fact, she was pretty agreeable!

The fist test of mutual trust was a Success!

So Basil's gelding/Sugar's teeth floating day came and Dr. Tooman breezed through the first half great! Basil left the stud world without a care but Sugar fought her floating and had to be given a (Tooman Equine) record FOUR doses of sedative to get her relaxed enough to complete the task.

Poor Sugar....after FOUR doses of sedative

It turned out that Sugar had probably NEVER had her teeth floated in her six year career as a broodmare and the story about the attempt at floating her teeth was probably more accurately a floating attempt with insufficient sedation. Two days later Chrissy came out to give us a hand with Basil's recovery exercise and to check Sugar out. When we told her that the last three owners all seemed to think that Sugar would never take a bit, Chrissy simply said "We'll see about that!" and with a minimal amount of fuss, got Sugar to take a snaffle bit. (have I mentioned that I think Chrissy's a horse-whisperer?) The following day Sugar took the bit with no issue at all and has never refused it since. I guess it's all in what you believe...the other owners believed she never would. Chrissy believed the opposite and my experience has always been to always trust Chrissy.

So I'm going to make this a stopping point with the hope that it won't be another 3 months before I pick it up again. I will, however, leave with a few photos we've collected of one of Sugar's Other babies....and Basil's Full-Sibling....

DIKOTA

The Great Paint Project

First off...Happy Birthday to Basil who turned TWO on 4/1/2010. I started writing the story as a way to honor his birthday but the right hand is still casted and it's slow going...and much like the Coconut Chronicles, much too much tale to tell in just one sitting so here's the first installment, Enjoy!

You’d think his story starts with his birth day, but in Basil’s case it goes back farther than any of us imagined so I’ll start with where I came into the picture. Back in September of 2007 a new boarder came to KCJ with her paint mare. At first I noticed how the coloring of the mare, sorrel spots on white, almost perfectly matched the three Bassett Hounds the family owned. The red on all four of them matched the hair color of the owner, Billie Jean. I wondered if it was coincidence or preference (and I’m not talking the hair dye brand!). We learned that the mare’s name was Sugar and that she was in foal.

As months went by I began to ask if any of the other boarders had seen Billie Jean out because I certainly had not and it struck me odd. It was possible she just came during times I was not there but it seemed to be a common concern as no one had seen her out for quite some time.

Sugar was housed in a paddock with a wood shelter but it’s in a location toward the back of the farm that gets pretty muddy. When I used the round-pen I’d see her standing under her shelter but she never seemed to be curious about us enough to come to the fence even when I tried to bring her treats. I began to see her as disconnected or aloof.

As she got bigger and bigger under that blanket that had been in place for months now I began to wonder what they were going to do with her and a foal once it was born. There didn’t appear to be foal safe paddocks anywhere on the property and the April 14th due date was approaching fast.

On April 1st, 2008, Ken went out to do the morning feeding and discovered a newborn colt on the ground in the mud but Sugar attending to him. She’d foaled two weeks early, before anyone had prepared for it. Right there in her paddock, in her blanket and it was cold. Ken called Kelli to come down and help and she arrived to find him on the ground, spooning the colt trying to warm him up. They led Sugar and her new colt down to the barn where Kelli offered her stall to them before running out to get a foal blanket and halter.

The calls went out and by the afternoon we’d all been told that there was a new baby already. We were all very excited and everyone came down to the barn to meet the new arrival…everyone but the owner.

Sugar was a kind mother. She allowed us all to get in the stall with her and love on her baby. She appeared quite proud of him. In fact it was the first time any of us had really interacted with her and the first real inkling I had that she had any kind of personality. She clearly loved the attention. I brought my 3-year-old grandson, Daemon, down to see the new baby and to this day he remembers and reminds me when we pass the stall. The interesting thing is that while Sugar let us get in close to both her and the new baby, when my Grandson entered the stall, she carefully placed herself between Daemon and the colt. We tried several angles before I caught on that she wanted to keep them separate. I happily granted her that wish. So we held Daemon up so he could see from the gate. It was a happy day for most of us. New babies are adorable and he was probably the youngest horse I’d seen so far. I was smitten. A visit to the barn was not complete until I got to peek in the stall and see Sugar and her baby. Every day I gave her a smile and told her what a good Momma she was.

A few weeks passed before I heard that Billie Jean had come to visit the horses. Her husband had come down with their kids at some point in the first week, snapped a few photos to give her but I never quite got why she hadn’t come down herself until the following week. When I saw her I asked what she named him and she said she wasn’t sure but she thought she’d put “Spirit” in his name somewhere. I’m sorry, but to me Spirit is a stereotypical name for a horse, like calling your dog “Rex” or “Rover”. He seemed too cute to be saddled with some spiritual reference but it wasn’t my horse…

At 17 days old, Sugar and her colt were moved to an outside paddock where Ken had strung an extra line of hot-tape down low to be more colt-safe. That happened to be the day I met Leah Anderson when she came out to take photographs for a project she was working on about rescued horses: a photo book called “Forgotten”. As she was getting ready to leave I took her up to meet our newest neighbor and she took a couple of photos of him too. While we were there he came up and put his nose on the hot-wire and got his first lesson in fencing respect…poor little guy with his long legs and adorable face…. flying backwards unsure of why these ladies would do that to him!?

I believe he was six months old when I saw Dr. Best come out and was giving them shots. To my knowledge that was the first time a vet had seen either of them. The next day I noticed Sugar was gone, having been moved back down to her old muddy paddock with the shelter. Meanwhile high-pitched whinnies could be heard as the colt called for his Dam.

We have a rule at our barn that you stay out of other boarder’s paddocks and we don’t give other people’s horses things like treats or food without their permission. I’d go up and pet the colt through the fence but I could see his foal blanket, once too large, was now far too small & that his foal halter was looking pretty tight.

Late November I heard the rumors that the owner was behind on her board but I stayed out of it.

About this time I received an email from Artist Maeve Harris inquiring about volunteering for SAFE and offered to donate a painting that we might be able to use as a fund-raiser. She was having a show coming up and wanted some info on SAFE so I sent her some brochures. In the email exchange we discovered that we didn’t live too far away from each other so I invited her to my barn and lunch at some point. I think it was late December when she came out and I gave her a tour. As I took her past Sugar and mentioned that her owner never came to see her or the baby. She agreed that it was a sad situation but remarked that she really didn’t like Paints that much. I thought that was pretty funny since the name of the breed alone would make me think she would automatically be drawn to them!

After the barn tour we had lunch and just really connected. I told her later that I really enjoyed the day and felt like I’d spent it with an old friend. She agreed, but neither of us knew how fateful that day would become. Over the next few weeks she confessed that she just couldn’t stop thinking about those Paints.

About this time Ken asked me to check with my sources to see if anyone was interested in taking either of the Paints. He informed me that they were several months behind in board and were looking to get rid of them. I did start asking around and mentioned to Maeve that the Paints were at risk because the owner was looking to unload them and had even advertised on Craigs List, lowering the price each week and finally asking $800 for the pair. No one was buying…or trading (for quads according to one ad!).

SAFE was full and so I worked hard to find a way other than to have them go into rescue but I was told at one point that someone was coming to pick up the horses the following week. When I asked who, all I was told was that it was a someone that someone knew that knew Billie Jean. This unknown factor sent my rescue gene into full-tilt and the sight of a generic gray stock trailer rolling down Pacific Highway had me panicked thinking Ollie the slaughter guy was coming to get Sugar and her baby. I called Maeve and we decided to do something ourselves making a plan that we’d take the horses and try to rehome them after we evaluated them but we’d have to get permission from Billie Jean first.

John, my farrier, happened to be coming by on the same day I had Dr. Tooman out to see Coconut and we talked to them both about the horses. With Ken’s permission, I had John go out and give a quick look/minor file to the colt and had him trim Sugar. We determined that it had probably been two cycles since her feet had been done and he wasn’t even halter broke enough to lead out of his paddock. He’d obviously never had his feet handled before but he was fairly cooperative. We all agreed that Sugar needed to have her teeth floated and she was just an awful mess. I doubt she’d been groomed in months. We groomed her up a bit and she seemed to enjoy that a great deal. After her trim, Maeve took her down to the arena and did some basic leading around and discovered that if she trotted, Sugar would too & when she stopped, Sugar would do so on a dime! She seemed engaged for the first time ever.

I called Billie Jean and left a message saying that I wanted to talk to her about her horses but for two days she did not return the call. Maeve and I both felt helpless and frustrated. I think we both decided that it wasn’t in the cards for us to step up for these horses. The day we finally gave in and decided we were not going to be allowed to help, we pretty much gave up & Maeve left to go shopping. I stayed at the barn with Coconut until my phone rang…

It was Billie Jean! She had just gotten my message and wanted to talk about the Paints. I explained my relationship with SAFE and warned her about the current horse market and the chance that her horses could end up at the auction and/or slaughter. She broke down in tears and asked me if I would please take both horses and help them!? It turns out that she was going through some very difficult personal issues and could no longer care for them emotionally or financially. She’d grown up around horses and when she hit a rough patch in life, her husband bought her the pregnant mare in hopes of helping her through it. It turned out that having the horses there just made her feel guilty. That turned into a sad state for all of them.

I quickly called Maeve and caught her mid-purchase of a pair of shoes with the money she had set aside to help out with the Paints. She put the shoes back and headed to the barn where we made our plans and came face to face with our new project and the precious faces that embodied it. That day…. everything changed!

Happy Anniversary to the Great Paint Project of 2009!

One year ago today, Maeve and I signed the documents to take on two Paints who'd been basically abandoned at KCJ. Their story will be a blog post later but I wanted to take the opportunity to say how happy I am that we were able to help (and then keep) two amazing Paint Horses.

You can't help but LOVE these horses. They make an impression on everyone who meets them.

So Happy Anniversary Sugar & Basil, your presence in my world has made me a better person.

...and Happy Anniversary Maeve, my artist friend (who appears to be very good with all kinds of paints) on our 3 month project that has turned into a dream come true in many ways. We've been through a lot in the last year. Thanks for sharing the laughter so intense that it brought me to tears and tears so hideous that eventually we have to laugh. I wouldn't have it any other way!

The never ending paint project....I can only hope!!!