Easy has never been a word one would associate with Quincy. He first came to SAFE back in the beginning of February 2021 as an anxious stallion, incredibly reluctant to be caught and very nervous to be handled. He was gelded here, and a lot of time was spent to gentle him: braiding his mane, brushing his coat, and teaching him some basics of groundwork to help him feel more comfortable in his body and by extension, more comfortable around humans. When he left for his adoption last summer, Quincy was the most ‘domestic’ he’d ever been.
But old habits are deeply ingrained. Quincy had spent the first 15 years of his life operating on his own terms. He had learned how to evade being caught, and with each failed attempt on the human side of things, honed his craft even more. The releases he was given for getting away from people calcified over time and made him into one very crafty pony. And there was a fear component too, a mistrust of people and their intentions. It took time while Quincy was at SAFE for us to whittle away at these spots, but such habits are not extinguished overnight. Like learning a language, new behaviors require upkeep and maintenance to prevent the old ones from slipping back to the foreground.
This is all to say that, when Quincy left for his adoptive home, he was by no means without baggage. Then a long winter season at his new house meant some time spent not getting caught on a regular basis, and a rapid slide back into his old evasive ways. Ultimately, it just wasn’t working out, and for Quincy, the best course of action would be to return to SAFE.
Once back, and in a paddock he had inhabited once before, Quincy took no time at all to feel at home. But that did not include feeling so comfortable that he was suddenly OK with being caught. We built a small catch pen in the corner of his paddock so we would have a smaller area to herd him into to get back in the habit of being haltered daily. We also kept his breakaway halter on 24/7 to make it easier for all parties, and to ensure that in the event of an emergency, we would have the best possible chance of getting a hold of him in a timely manner.
We started work on reminding Quincy what it was like to be alright with people from the moment he stepped foot off the trailer. Instead of unloading him and immediately leaving him to his own devices, we spent some time petting on him and walking him around his paddock, reminding him how it was to spend time closely alongside people. He was certainly skeptical, but we were confident that it would not take long before Quincy remembered all his positive past experiences.
Now, Quincy gets caught daily, usually multiple times by multiple people. Upon his return, it was initially taking upwards of ten minutes in the catch pen before he would get caught. Those times began to dramatically reduce as the days passed and he got back into the habit of having hands on him daily, and recently he has allowed for us to walk right up to him in his paddock, outside of the catch pen, and halter him right up. It will still take a bit more time before this stops feeling so delicate, but he is already making great progress and remembering so much about what we taught him when he was here the first time.
