Gracie

We are so happy to report that Miss Gracie is feeling happy and healthy! When the winter weather hit and turnout became limited, the amount of time outside or grazing for the horses was drastically shortened. While we work very hard to rotate all of the horses out into the arena or dry lot, there just is not enough space or time to equal what it was in the summer.

Gracie unfortunately had two very mild colics about 2 weeks apart when this transition to limited turnout occurred. She felt better each time with just a dose of bananime and the vet did not need to come out to see her but we new something needed to change. After talking to Dr. Fleck we suggested that we transition her over to a 3/4 senior complete feed mash and 1/4 hay diet. This made a world of difference and Gracie seems happier than she has ever been at Safe Harbor. Her eyes are bright and her personality and energy levels are very good.

One of the cutest part of our day is preparing and bringing her her mash. She LOVES it and LOVES you for bringing it to her. There is a lot of nickering and yummy yummy messy lips to show you how happy she is for the food. It is our hope that when she finds her forever home, her new people might have more turnout and grazing pastures for her to live on. She could then transition over to more of the traditional hay and grain as vitamin type of diet but for now she is really thriving on what we are doing for her.

Here are a few photos of Gracie and volunteer Melissa:

Here is what volunteer rider Erika has to report from working with Gracie:

“Gracie: Gracie wore the Back On Track underneath her blanket for an hour. It seems to help her be not so stiff when we start working. Gracie was in a good mood and was nice and forward for warm up. I’d planned to use both the round pen and the arena, but we ended up staying in the round pen. Gracie did really well today! We’ve been working on her transitions up and down, and we had VERY little rein contact for her Walk-Trot-Lope-Trot-Walk (in both directions) today!!!! We haven’t worked in Walk-Halt-Back quite yet, but I’m confident she’ll pick that up really quickly.”

Gracie has been making super progress under saddle, learning to relax and listen to the feel of her rider. She seems to have been ridden with a lot of rein aid in the past, so we are working on getting her to tune into the presence of her rider rather than relying on heavy use of the rein. Gracie is very sensitive to being asked to move forward, and she easily leg yields with very little asking from her rider’s leg. She’s also beginning to halt from the rider’s feel, which is great. Gracie had four days off before this video was shot, and it only took a little bit of work on the ground before she was ready to be ridden. She is a pleasure to ride, with soft, light, and smooth gaits. We’re still just working at the walk and trot, since Gracie can get a little excited in her upward transitions, but as soon as she learns to stay with her rider, she’ll be ready to start working in the lope with a more relaxed and trusting state of mind.

Round pen work with Terry:

Under saddle:

Just for fun, Gracie getting her blanket on:

New girl Gracie got her first spa treatment.…. she is SUCH a sweetheart!! Her tail was saved by Canter Main & Tail…Gracie says that if Canter is looking for a spokes-horse, she should be the one!

Gracie is a sweet and elegant half Arab mare who was surrendered to SAFE in July 2016. Her owner’s declining health and finances made it impossible for her to continue to care for her. She’s not been ill treated but she’s essentially spent the past 6 years turned out to pasture. As a result, she’s gone far too long without basic care, like teeth floating and regular farrier work. She came to us with badly cracked hooves, and teeth in desperate need of floating.

Since taking her in, we have been contacted by another past owner who provided us with full medical records as well as her AHA registration papers.

Gracie spent a few weeks in quarantine at Safe Harbor, giving us the chance to get to know her. She’s an incredibly sweet and affectionate mare, who nickers all the time. She nickers when you put on her halter, she nickers when you pet her or talk to her, she nickers as you walk past her stall. She really likes people! She also gets along wonderfully with the other horses she’s been turned out with.

Because she’s been turned out for so many years, Gracie definitely needs some refresher training before we can offer her as a riding horse. She does show some anxiety about things like girthing, so we’ve started her on groundwork. Like many of the mature horses that come to SAFE who have been shaped by the good and bad experiences in their lives, Gracie is not coming to us as a “blank slate.” She’s had to rely on herself for basic survival for so long that it can be difficult to connect with her at first. Being independent is her way of keeping herself protected, so it’s kind of her go-to frame of mind when being asked to do things. This is not to say that she’s disobedient…far from it! She’s quite cooperative and willing on the ground. It’s just that she sort of zones out during groundwork, and connecting with her is not easy. But the sparks of trust and connection are there, and with continued slow and patient work, she will come to understand that we mean her no harm, and in fact she can look to us for direction and reassurance when she needs it.

Physically she is in good shape, except for her feet and her teeth. Her feet were badly neglected and cracked when we took her in, and she is going to need probably 4–5 months of remedial farrier work to correct them. She’s had an initial float done, but again it’s going to take quite some time before her teeth are normal. She has such severe waves and shearing in her molars that the act of chewing forces her food outward into her cheeks. As a result we see a lot of quidding from her. The plan is to do another float in 3 months and again in 6 months. Because she’s relatively young (for an Arab!), our vet is hopeful that it is not too late to make significant improvements to her teeth.

Here are Gracie’s intake photos: