I’d written an article some months ago documenting Tiva’s journey with the intention of having a video to accompany it, showcasing the immense amount of progress she has made since she first stepped off that trailer over a year ago, snorting and scared. But as it has a habit of doing, time got away from me, and the visual accompaniment to Tiva’s tale was delayed. However, in the months between Tiva’s last journal entry to now, a lot more of her story has been written, and while not all of it has been visually documented, a nice cross-section of her year here has.
Since she first arrived, Tiva has hit many milestones and conquered many fears. Not shown in the video are the baths she’s stood so well for, or the many times she’s been led in and out of her stall, or the trail walks she has taken in the neighboring park. Her introductions to her current herd are missing, as are the literal hours of footage of her taking naps in the sunshine amongst these new friends. It doesn’t show her getting her feet done, or her standing for a long grooming session, ground tied in a bustling arena. It also is missing some of the tougher moments – the times when her fear and mistrust made her slightly dangerous and unpredictable in those early days of paddock cleaning. The hours it took to get within a foot of her. The sweat (and tears, and blood, on the human side of things) required to repair and build a positive foundation for a horse who had for so long been shown that humans didn’t have a lot on offer. All those ‘ugly’ times are just as much a part of her story as the progress shots. These things you’ll just have to imagine, but below are some peeks of parts of Tiva’s journey I did capture, snippets of her months of hard, hard work condensed into a little under 5 minutes.
