Moshi

Last November, 16 horses came to SAFE as part of the Graham 27 seizure — now, a little over a year later, only two remain. Moshi is one of the two (the other being her near-doppelganger, Poppy). Neither of these cuties had experience under saddle, so they’ve spent their time at SAFE learning to carry first a saddle, and then a rider.

Moshi has been going well under saddle for some months now, and has started on some more advanced maneuvers. Casey has begun to pick up both a soft feel and a flag while riding, and Moshi continues to get more and more ready for her forever home.

Below is the first time Moshi was flagged off of — check it out!

Moshi is one of three Graham horses left at SAFE, and one of two currently available for adoption (Addie being the other, with Poppy still in her early days under saddle). While only started earlier this year, Moshi has made great progress as a riding horse, and is ready to start meeting adopters looking for a sweet little pony with a lot of spunk.

Indeed, Moshi is still a green horse, and therefore will need an adopter who is comfortable and familiar with what that entails, but she has a lot to offer that person. Even from the earliest days of her start, she was not one to buck, and has since continued to keep all four feet on the floor during her rides. She is in possession of a lot of life, however, which could potentially feel overwhelming to a rider more accustomed to a ‘woah’ ride. Because of this, she will need someone with a fair amount of confidence who will be able to support her through challenges under saddle. But Moshi’s life is also a gift, for it means she’s also very feel‑y of her rider, and makes for a fun little ride once she’s with them.

This is perhaps another main point of Moshi’s that needs addressing: she can still be herd bound. However, she has made tremendous strides in this department, for when she was first starting in work, it was nearly impossible to hear your own thoughts over the sound of her calling out to her friends. Now, while she will still call on occasion, it is taking her less and less time to “get with” her person and offer up her full attention. Yes, this attention needs some gentle managing to keep, but with the progress she has already made on this front, is is likely that with continued and consistent work, she will look to her person as her main support one day sooner rather than later. When she is really tuned in — which these days takes about 15 minutes — she is right with her rider, doing a great job of following a leg-defined line, and following a feel up and down.

On the ground, Moshi is a sweet girl to handle and be around. Perhaps it is her smaller stature combined with her curious personality, but she seems younger than her 6 years. Still, she is mature where it counts. And despite her monochrome color, there is something flashy about her too. It is easy to imagine her dolled up in a show ring. Maybe that’s where she will end up one day, with ribbons in her mane, and who knows, maybe it could be with you

Moshi has been under saddle for several months now, and is coming along very well. Recently, she had her first rides out of the walls of an arena when we put a round pen out in the big outdoor arena. While a round pen is still a contained environment, it is a less controlled environment outside those walls, and can feel a bit daunting for some horses. But Moshi was undaunted by this new location, and had a nice ride. She is turning into a swell little riding horse, and will be ready to meet adopters here very soon!

Being a horse at SAFE means many things: you get fed three times a day (if not more), you always have fresh clean water, you get daily vitamins and minerals, you make new friends on two legs and four, and you learn a whole lot of things. We do our best to prepare our horses to be the most well-rounded equine citizens possible, which involves things like holding their feet up for the farrier and loading on to a trailer in preparation for the day someone comes to take them home. It also involves things like being sprayed with the hose, for those inevitable bath times. Some horses are more keen on water, others not so much.

Moshi had her first hose experience here at SAFE recently, and did great! She had a few moments of insecurity as the air bubbles popped through the hose (always so annoying when that happens!), but quickly settled back down into standing calmly for a cooling shower. Check it out below!

Moshi, one of the Graham 27, had her first rides here at SAFE recently. From the first few times working with her, we had a feeling this little mare was going to make it easier on us than some. And this isn’t to say that there are not always challenges (both standard and unique) that accompany each horse we start here, but it seemed that with Moshi, said challenges would be rather manageable. Here you can see the first ride or two Casey A and Joel put on Moshi.

As is quite standard for first rides, the rider is meant simply to go with the horse as they learn what it is like to carry both a person and a saddle on their backs. The use of a flagger on the ground is meant to encourage the horse forward without a lot of effort from the person riding. The rider cues with their seat, but ideally is just going along with the horse as they move out.

First rides are not meant to be long. They are just supposed to be short, positive experiences that can be used as building blocks for subsequent rides. The goal is to get the horse to move out, come down off a feel (and practice a one-rein stop), and work on a little hindquarters / frontquarters from the saddle. Moshi checked all these boxes with relative ease. We are really excited about this mare’s future as a nice little riding horse for someone!

Of the Graham horses who came to SAFE, the majority were assumed (or known) to have at least some experience under saddle. A few, however, were wild cards. Moshi was one who fit into the latter category. Upon first glance, her small stature makes you think she is perhaps much younger than she actually is, but teeth don’t lie, and Moshi is around 6 years old, certainly old enough to have been started as a riding horse. But her initial assessment on the ground led us to believe that she had never been saddled before, so we worked on the building blocks to prepare her for that experience.

Lexee N spent the most time with Moshi in preparation for her saddling, and had the following to say about this cute little mare:

“Since day one this girl has been a sharp cookie. She gained understanding quickly, as well as some much needed confidence to be able to separate from her dear friend Poppy for work. It was clear that this mare had been used to pushing humans around and not respecting any boundaries set for her. However, after a few short sessions, her walls came down and she became much more open to learning a new way to respond to people.

Initially when roping her, she had a problem with changing eyes and pushing into pressure instead of away. But after a couple months of work things have been looking a lot better, and while those two issues are not 100% gone, she has been able to be successfully saddled.

It’s so exciting to see where this little black mare will go, and with her now wonderful disposition we expect her to go far.”

In the video below, you can see a snapshot of Lexee’s work with Moshi, practicing tossing the saddle up, as well as cinching her up for the first time. There were some bucks in there, and some concern with the outside stirrup, but overall she took the whole experience in stride. Like Lexee said, we are excited to see this little mare flourish under saddle.

Little Moshi is settling in well here at SAFE, and has begun work in our horsemanship program alongside volunteer Lexee N. Lexee has been putting Moshi through all the beginning pages of the ‘Red Book’ in preparation for saddling her for the first time. It is our belief that Moshi, unlike the majority of the Graham horses, has never been saddled, so we are working to prep her for it to make it as pleasant an experience for her as possible. Lexee has been having her change eyes on the rope and practice cinching her up by tightening the rope up around the area where she will eventually wear one. Moshi has proven herself to be a smart little cookie who learns quickly, so we are hopeful that her first saddle comes sooner rather than later.