Sweet Wild Syringa

*AWLT* and the nickname is way cute.

A year already! May the two of you have many more years together!

Syringa and I have been busy with stuff. @ninnymary suggested I list all the things she does now that she didn't when I got her. I haven't actually done that, but do think it would make encouraging reading for myself to see the measuring stick of progress. Of course the "does now" column would be pretty long.

In a nutshell she has transformed from a defensive, suspicious, very reactive mare to a compliant steady companion, who still retains some strong opinions and a little reactiveness.

I have never been sorry for a moment that my husband urged me to track her down and make her mine.

I think we are now at the point where I need to ride her, and start that phase of our partnership. If I had a saddle that worked I'd start today. I sort of threw in the towel on my hunt for a suitable used saddle and am having one built that fits us both. That unfortunately takes several weeks and the saddle maker is waiting on receiving his saddle trees (the foundation that the saddle is built upon ). So I'm impatient to begin, but in the meantime we can hone our pre ride skills.

For a little more exercise than she can get working in the round pen or going on walks, my husband and I take her for long trots around the neighborhood. He drives the quad, and I sit behind on the rack facing backward and hold Syringas line.
Initially she wasn't too sure about this, but had enough purposeful exposure to the quad previously to trust that it wasn't going to attack her.

Actually the first time we did it was kind of a fluke. *Story Alert!*

I got home from work one afternoon and had planned on doing some routine round pen training with her, but I was mentally tired and didn't feel up to the discipline so decided to change things up and just get out for a walk. There is a loop on our gravel roads that is 2.5 miles. Not very far, but far enough on my old knees and feet that I start feeling it at about the 2 mile mark. I was trudging along fantasizing about dh coming along with the quad to rescue me, knowing he wouldn't even know where I was because he wasn't home when I left.

On the last long stretch of road I heard a quad coming, and rounding the corner there he was! I was so happy. Syringa gave it the eyeball when he pulled up next to us, but I sat on the rack facing her and we started off slowly. She did fine. Next time we took her out I had a pocket full of apple chunks and she about crawled into my lap when she saw me fishing in my pocket for a chunk to give her. No worries about the quad now, it's the treat-mobile, haha.

Here she is trotting along behind the quad wearing my trail saddle.
(note the hay stem in her mouth, she's so casual...)




Trailering is also getting to be a pretty standard ho-hum affair.
I try to take her to the state park at least once a week, and we play on the obstacle course, or take a little walk or I turn her loose in the arena for a run.

Here she is having a good roll at the park arena.


She's had a first scrubby shampoo bath, on the lawn with her lead trailing on the ground, no problem. Kind of a trust thing with me because our property is not fenced. My reason for trusting her with this is another story that I won't bore you with.

I washed Luke and Huck that day also and the three of them grazed around loose. Huck must be kept a close eye on because that little mule thinks he's a travelin' man and will light off for other territory. Luke will be wherever Huck is because Huck is his pacifier.

I was pleased that Syringa didn't try to kick the stuffing out of Luke when they were close. She did that when she was new here and they shared a common fence panel. Bent the tar out of that panel and we had to make an alley between the pens. She's let them be part of "her" herd now.

Wash day.

i'm not going to resist saying i want the boring story too... so good to hear you are doing well with her and she's relaxing and being her fine self.

her pictures rolling are always so funny.

and she's such a beautiful horse.

Yeah, what about that boring story? LOL She is coming along nicely, she is beautiful, as always. Can't wait to see the new saddle!

Ok, the story... after feeding one evening I was inside sitting at the counter fiddling on my laptop. Syringas corral is only about 40' from the back door and I can always hear her munching her hay when the windows are open. It seemed like she was eating louder than usual, but I was absorbed in my task and didn't pay much attention for about 20 minutes.

I finally got off my stool and looked out the slider and there she was, grazing happily on the lawn just a few feet from the door. Yikes.
I tell my husband, Syringas loose! and stepped outside to catch her.
We were both on high alert, she had never been loose and unsupervised, (naturally!), and I half expected her to gallop off and take advantage of her freedom. I had just washed halters and leads and they were drying on the back of the patio chairs so I picked one up and casually walked towards her. She lifted her head to look at me,
and waited for me to stroke her before she dropped back to the grass.
I haltered her easy peasy and let her graze for another 5 minutes before putting her away.

I was impressed that finding her gate open she had opted for hanging out by the house instead of taking off. Of course the lawn is a great temptation, but it's nice to know she's so laid back and comfortable with hanging by the house.

I am ordinarily very careful about all the gates, all the time, but that night I had worked her in the roundpen and taken her out that gate and not latched it behind us. The roundpen and her corral share 3 fence panels, and I routinely open a panel up so she can move around in a bigger space. When I put her away I used her corral gate and didn't double check the other one.

She is such a sweetheart now, she can no longer be called wild. Of course she hasn't been "wild" for a long time now. I love that mare.

great story and wonderful progress. Thanks for sharing

That is so sweet!

thistlebloom said:

Ok, the story... after feeding one evening I was inside sitting at the counter fiddling on my laptop. Syringas corral is only about 40' from the back door and I can always hear her munching her hay when the windows are open. It seemed like she was eating louder than usual, but I was absorbed in my task and didn't pay much attention for about 20 minutes.

I finally got off my stool and looked out the slider and there she was, grazing happily on the lawn just a few feet from the door. Yikes.
I tell my husband, Syringas loose! and stepped outside to catch her.
We were both on high alert, she had never been loose and unsupervised, (naturally!), and I half expected her to gallop off and take advantage of her freedom. I had just washed halters and leads and they were drying on the back of the patio chairs so I picked one up and casually walked towards her. She lifted her head to look at me,
and waited for me to stroke her before she dropped back to the grass.
I haltered her easy peasy and let her graze for another 5 minutes before putting her away.

I was impressed that finding her gate open she had opted for hanging out by the house instead of taking off. Of course the lawn is a great temptation, but it's nice to know she's so laid back and comfortable with hanging by the house.

I am ordinarily very careful about all the gates, all the time, but that night I had worked her in the roundpen and taken her out that gate and not latched it behind us. The roundpen and her corral share 3 fence panels, and I routinely open a panel up so she can move around in a bigger space. When I put her away I used her corral gate and didn't double check the other one.

She is such a sweetheart now, she can no longer be called wild. Of course she hasn't been "wild" for a long time now. I love that mare.

Click to expand...

Tater knows who's got the apples!

I had not checked this thread for a while , it seems I missed some posts while I was on vacation in early July then did not see new posts until this evening. WOW the progress you two have made. Syringa is Beautiful and you both look so happy.