First Time Horse Buyer, Day 2
Today I went to the barn, hoping to walk Delani around the barn and do some ground work with her in the round pen.
I found her much more relaxed in her stall, but still clearly a little overwhelmed. I slipped in with her and brushed her before putting on her halter and leading her out into the barn. Even though it was a quiet morning and there was almost no activity yet, she became noticeably more nervous out of her stall, and by the time I got close the round pen, I had decided to cut the "tour" short and go ahead and park her there.
I kept her there until she calmed down, about two and a half hours. She spent that time trotting and cantering around, bucking and kicking, whinnying, chewing on the wood, and pawing. I stayed with her (outside the pen) until she calmed down, petting her when she's come close enough. When she was finally calm with me there, I slowly backed off, letting her calm down again without my direct presence. I figure there's no point in doing ground work with her if she's not even comfortable in the arena yet.
By the end of the time, she was definitely calmer, and I went into the round pen, petted her all over, and she followed me around as if I had done join up with her. This, and the fact that while she was bucking and kicking not a single one was pointed in my direction, even from across the pen, are encouraging to me. I'm hoping that tomorrow I can walk her around the barn a bit more and maybe put her in the cross ties for a little while to pick out her feet (I tried that a little in her stall after I took her back, but she kept fidgeting and wouldn't keep them up for me)
I need to get a prepurchase vet exam done for her soon; hopefully if I can get her in the cross-ties tomorrow then Tuesday might be a good day for the exam.
I found her much more relaxed in her stall, but still clearly a little overwhelmed. I slipped in with her and brushed her before putting on her halter and leading her out into the barn. Even though it was a quiet morning and there was almost no activity yet, she became noticeably more nervous out of her stall, and by the time I got close the round pen, I had decided to cut the "tour" short and go ahead and park her there.
I kept her there until she calmed down, about two and a half hours. She spent that time trotting and cantering around, bucking and kicking, whinnying, chewing on the wood, and pawing. I stayed with her (outside the pen) until she calmed down, petting her when she's come close enough. When she was finally calm with me there, I slowly backed off, letting her calm down again without my direct presence. I figure there's no point in doing ground work with her if she's not even comfortable in the arena yet.
By the end of the time, she was definitely calmer, and I went into the round pen, petted her all over, and she followed me around as if I had done join up with her. This, and the fact that while she was bucking and kicking not a single one was pointed in my direction, even from across the pen, are encouraging to me. I'm hoping that tomorrow I can walk her around the barn a bit more and maybe put her in the cross ties for a little while to pick out her feet (I tried that a little in her stall after I took her back, but she kept fidgeting and wouldn't keep them up for me)
I need to get a prepurchase vet exam done for her soon; hopefully if I can get her in the cross-ties tomorrow then Tuesday might be a good day for the exam.