By: Admin
Day 15-16 - November 2007
This morning I brought Velvet home. She did not want to walk outside when I lead her toward the stable door. She had been mostly stall bound while I was away. After some coaxing she came outside. We had to walk down a hill to the trailer as it had rained for quite a few days, so the trailer could not safely come up the hill to the barn. As we walked down the hill Velvet's front feet slid and almost crossed. She stopped and was frightened to move forward. I tried to get her to walk in the patch of grass along the edge of the road, but that did not last long. She slid once more before standing on flat ground in front of the trailer. After a lot of coaxing and pushing from behind she jumped into the trailer to take one more ride to her final destination.
Velvet was ready to get off the trailer as soon as it stopped. I attached her lead and let her jump down to the ground. She is a little wobbly, still weak from weight loss and being stalled for so long without much exercise. She still had swelling in her hind legs. Once Velvet was off the trailer I let her decide when she was ready to move forward. As the trailer left she watched it go and whinnied once a good-bye to the horse smells. She walked through the yard and checked out the picnic table and then recognized the barn. She was headed straight towards it. The goats were staring out the door of the barn in complete silence to my amazement. The goats are always very talkative as matter of fact they rarely shut up when they see me.
I led Velvet to the gate of the pasture so I could allow her to familiarize herself with the fence line while on lead. She was not interested in venturing too far so we focused on the goats. I walked her to the barn door to look at the goats who were hanging out over the top of the dutch door trying to get a closer look at her. She never flinched. I led her around to stretch her swollen legs. She was taking everything so well that I decided to let my wisest goat, Trouble out first. They touched noses from outstretched necks and then Velvet reached down to grab some grass. Wow, she really took this well, so I allowed Sunny out next. Sunny is a very tall goat and marched straight on out to meet her, then he ran away a short distance. Again she was fine. Finally Peanut, he is a sweetheart and does not seem to know he is a goat. Peanut sniffed once and stayed his distance. This was the easiest introduction ever, no kicking or biting at least not yet. After about an hour of spending time with the goats outside I decided to lead Velvet inside the barn. The goats all followed, but stayed clear of Velvet. The goats were still afraid of her, but they knew they liked her presence. When I lead velvet back outside the goats were there trying to get a good sniff. This went on for some time and everyone seemed relatively settled so I put them all in the barn together. Now the fun began. Sunny already knew she was good enough for him and made a dive under her belly, this being the normal shortcut for the goats when Snow, my old horse was around. It was almost like a game to run back and forth under Snow, but one thing Sunny apparently did not know is that Velvet is a baby and her belly clearance was much lower than Snow's and Sunny had grown also over the summer. When Sunny ducked under Velvet he lifted her off her hind feet momentarily. It happened so fast and a split second of a possible catastrophe about to happen flashed through my mind, but in an instant it was over and Velvet stayed on her feet. I think since then Sunny realized this was not an option at this time and has not attempted to do this again. Otherwise everyone seemed pretty good. I checked on them all later in the evening and found Peanut stiff and not at all his friendly, loving self standing in the corner of the barn. He was afraid, so I sat down in the back corner of the barn and encouraged him to visit with me. Trouble joined him, but Sunny was laying down and did not seem bothered at all by Velvet's presence. I coddled Trouble and Peanut, finally Peanut laid down and he was set for the night. Trouble on the other hand had yet another issue. He wanted to dominate Velvet. So back and forth he threatened to butt her and she pinned her ears and nipped at him. After a little scolding to both they parted. I checked on them again at midnight and all three goats were laying down and velvet was also. She was sleeping so soundly she never knew I was there.
This morning everyone was fine and all ate well. Trouble was still dragging out the inevitable dominance issue with Velvet. They were a bit more aggressive today than yesterday, but by this evening I was scratching Velvet's neck and she was scratching Trouble's back. Trouble used to love it when Snow scratched his back and as soon as he sees me scratching Velvet he comes over and stands under her head. I think for the most part everyone is settled together at this point.
Again today Velvet amazed me. She is unshakable. Nothing really startles her and if it does she just stops and waits until she is sure. Velvet is an amazing horse. What great potential she has. She is stunning in every way. These three statements have run through my head all day.
Today Velvet spent some time in the pasture, but when it was time to go into the barn she was not ready. She is definitely a horse that wants to stay outside no matter how bad the weather is. Another very interesting trait I have noticed about Velvet is that she seems to really be thinking about what she is doing. She and I learned very quickly that she is willing to move forward only if she is not pulled, to be led on a loose lead she follows. Again, she is amazing. She does have stubborn streak and at times will not move at all, but as soon as I loop the rump rope on her she moves forward without pressure, she just knows.
Tonight as I walked from the barn she popped her head over the door and whinnied to me as I went inside. What a wonderful feeling that she was missing me when I left the barn. When I went back to the barn earlier this evening Velvet had rejected most of her feed, so I had to try again. This time she ate most of it. She hung her head over the door a lot with ears forward, because she just wanted to be outside, however, for safety I keep her and the goats all in at night. As she moved around the barn she turned and came towards me nickering softly to say I am here please love me. I truly don't know how I picked this horse from one photo and was able to find such a perfect match, but it could not be more perfect. Whether it was the big ears, the broad forehead or soft eyes, I will never know, but deep down inside I knew from the photo she was mine.
