How Lucky are We???

(First off, I'm changing the order of the posts - today I was going to do a post with a video about River's session yesterday with the big, bouncy ball, but I don't have time tonight to get that all put together.  So, you'll get this shorter post from today's steps on our journey with River.) 

How lucky are we?  How lucky can we be that, not only did River come in to our lives here at Blue Fountain Farm, but that she is turning out to be such an incredible, sweet, smart, "normal" horse?  I keep shaking my head in disbelief at how trusting and calm this mare can be after all that she has been through.  I remember Jessi and I looking at each other at about 1 1/2 hours into trying to get her in the trailer that first day at Safe Haven Horse Rescue, and asking ourselves, "Have we bitten off more than we can chew?"  We couldn't catch her, she wouldn't get in the trailer, she had an umbilical hernia and a nasty old scar on her hind leg.  She  had a lot of things against her, but she had that look in her eyes that called to me to give her a chance, and I can't tell you how happy I am that I followed through with my gut feelings to get her in that trailer and bring her home.

River had a rough start - we still don't know  how rough - but they did wonders with her at Safe Haven.  They are an all volunteer organization, and from what I'm learning, River pretty much was only handled on the weekends because of her "wild" nature when she came in.  They took a starved and probably dying young mare, and gave her a life - they fed her and loved her as best they could, and got her to where she was when we picked her up a week and half ago.  This is River when they got her a year ago.

  

If you remember, after she got here, we had to keep a lead rope on her for a couple of days  or we couldn't catch her.  She spooked at sudden movements.  She was pretty picky about where she would let us touch her.  She had never had her feet trimmed.  Well, look at  her now!!!! 

River's new friend is a towel...........

We can put it all over her head and neck...........

  

 And she even lets me throw it over her back like a saddle pad.  I thought it was going to be a long time until she felt comfortable enough to do this.

We can even play "Peek-a-boo!"

Her next endeavor was to walk over the wooden bridge - no problem, in fact.........

........she can do it with "No hands"!

And the tires, which seem to give pause to a lot of horses, she literally "took in stride"!

The image below may not seem like much, but it speaks volumes to me.  Here River is standing "tied" (she doesn't really know how to tie yet, but doesn't seem to mind pretending), she has a "saddle" on her back (or, what will soon become a saddle), and she's letting me brush her tail, which was a no-no area to be touched before (I know they were able to do a little tail grooming at Safe Haven, but it had been a long time since it had been done).  

River let me put medicine in her "goopy" eye, she walked in and out of both of our wash racks, she had a little more trimming done on her front feet, and she's letting us pick up her hind feet.  She's like a normal, green horse - even better in some respects.  She seems to have developed such a level of trust now, that I think we will be able to do anything we want to with her.  She will make a fabulous riding horse, I'm sure.  

Speaking of which, Jessi and I are headed to Rancho Murieta tomorrow with our horses, Prado and Sombra, for some Cowboy Dressage schooling.  There is a two day show being held there.  This is the venue that I want to get River ready for, so if you get a chance, come take a peek.  There will be no blog tomorrow - we'll catch up again soon.