Sienna

Catherine N worked Sienna in the March Joel Conner clinic, and says the following about her experience:

“I worked Sienna in the groundwork for the March Joel Conner Clinic. I feel like we were both nervous at first, but quickly settled in. Sienna, I felt, was able to grasp what I asked quickly and was able to let me get my body and hand the way that I needed to be. There were moments that I would feel her leave me by looking at the other horses and people. But I was able to cue her back into me just as fast. It was a great clinic for both of us.”

Sienna has many fans here at SAFE. It’s not difficult to see why — she’s a true gentlewoman of a horse, with a kind demeanor that makes her easy to be around for even the most novice of horse people. Oftentimes when polled on who is their favorite horse, volunteers won’t hesitate to name Sienna.

On her way in from grass, volunteer Bob paused to share about some of what makes Sienna so special to both him and others here at SAFE. Sienna in turn said, ‘ok that’s nice, now take me back to my paddock now Bob! I still have hay in there!’

Sienna, Sienna, Sienna! This sweet mare remains a bit of an enigma to us. On the ground she is the model for so many things, but under saddle she remains tight. She does stay with you longer before checking out, and she is able to be talked off a ledge easier than she once was, both good changes. But we are also not always trying to talk her out of it — that trouble that exists within her still needs to be brought to the surface, and it does her no favors to keep that buried within her.

Sienna still needs a ton of groundwork and rope work before her rides. Rides in the outdoor arena, like the one shown below, come after a great deal of preparation beforehand. She is still heavy on the forehand, especially when tracking to the right. That spot, her heaviness on the forehand, is what causes her to buck. Until she really sets back on her hind and gets that weight off her front, the buck will still be in there, so a lot of work is being done to help her set back. You can see the tightness that remains in her tail, something that will remain until she really sets back and gets free.

But Sienna has made some really great changes, and we are excited to keep helping free her up so she can make someone a safe, lovely riding horse.

To work with a horse is to embark on an archaeological mission of sorts, uncovering within both the horse (and yourself!) hidden spots of trouble. Sometimes such spots are obvious — a horse who is worried about the flag flapping, or rope around their feet, or a stirrup in their blind spot. But sometimes these spots are buried deep, requiring what seems like a perfect storm of circumstances to rise to the surface.

Sienna is a stoic mare. While some horses wear their thoughts on their sleeves, you would be hard pressed to figure out how Sienna feels just by looking at her. She is a model citizen when it comes to being brushed, getting saddled, leading, standing tied — on a superficial level, she even knows all the moves in a groundwork progression. To see Sienna on any given day, the way she is around anyone who handles her, you might be reminded of an old been-there, done-that lesson horse. But don’t let that calm demeanor fool you — Sienna is ‘fine’ until she isn’t, and that isn’t can be sudden and explosive.

Sienna seems to be bothered by things on her outside eye. A leg squeezing her, a rope touching her, a stirrup bouncing against her side, all things that could – operative word – trigger an outburst. These things always bother her, but sometimes they bother her so much that she bucks, and a powerful buck at that. Trying to find this spot within her is difficult since she hides it so well most of the time, but the risk of leaving that sliver in there, the times when she can hide it no longer, is too great. It must come out before she can be safe for others to ride.

What it really boils down to is her feet are not free. When she feels ‘stuck,’ all bottled up inside, that pressure has nowhere to go but up and out. You see this when a certain spot is touched in a certain way, yes, but also in the stilted way she backs up – heavy on her front, unable to shift her weight to her hind feet. You see it in the kink of her tail, this lack of balance in her movement. All related to her lack of mobility, something in her telling her that she can’t move.

But we are doing our best to teach her that she can, to empower her to know she has options, that security is a possibility.

Joel took Sienna under his wing this year, and then turned her over to Terry while still overseeing their partnership and stepping in when asked. Sienna is a horse who requires full attention, whose tendencies to slip back into old, troublesome habits must be caught early before they crystallize even more within her. With each ride and session on the ground, we work to chip away at those deep set braces and instill the gift of freedom instead.

And this is happening, this excavation. Slowly but surely. Progress is not always linear, and some days feel more like going backwards than forwards, but strides have been made. It still might take a while before Sienna is ready to meet just anyone to be her riding partner, but we have faith that one day, hopefully not long from now, she will fully transform into the confident mare we know she can be.

Here is what Terry had to say about Sienna:

What an absolute gift Joel Conner is to SAFE and horses like Sienna. His resolve, knowledge and compassion for her success is unmatched. Joel made Sienna a “special project” in this past November’s horsemanship clinic. He worked her with purpose and dedication to fill in her insecurities while carrying a rider. This mare has a huge heart with a ton of try but unless we reach in and get rid of her insecurities, she will never make it as a safe riding horse. Things we know to be true: if you surface work her, all you are doing is hardening the brace within her. If you don’t get her to turn all the way loose and you leave a little brace inside, it hardens and next time you ask it’s a hundred times more stuck. If you’re not getting to her feet, you’re leaving a brace and if she isn’t sweating you’re not getting a change. These are the hard truths and the huge responsibility someone has to take on every single time they halter and work her. 

One of the biggest take-aways from Joel’s time with Sienna is that the brace is only fully gone when her feet are completely free. This is very clear when backing her up. When you’ve asked for the backup and as you finish she should still have momentum moving backwards and definitely not falling forwards. Our biggest hope is this final piece to Sienna’s recover is now coming into focus. We are all grateful to have Joel’s support and guidance for this mare. She will be a “special project” in 2022 and we hope to focus on helping her secure a home that can handle her needs. 

Sienna is one of the safest horses we have for groundwork, but right now, she’s one of the most dangerous to ride. In groundwork, she is soft and willing, and pretty enjoyable to work with. But when being ridden—especially if she gets tight or scared—she can start bucking. Sienna is bothered by things touching her sides, like the stirrups or the cinch. She gets scared, and then tries to evade what she fears by bucking. Terry continues to chip away at Sienna’s trouble to help her excavate her issues and get more comfortable with being touched on her sides. She’s also working with Sienna to have freedom while backing up, especially when backing in an arc, something that has been a challenge for this mare in the past.

To rule out a medical reason for her hind and cinch area sensitivity, we sent Sienna to the vet hospital for an exam to check for ulcers. The results of the scope were negative, so we’re glad to know that she isn’t experiencing pain. But her sensitivity remains a behavioral challenge that we want to overcome. Sienna remains a puzzle, but she’s such a nice mare, we don’t completely mind taking the time to figure her out.

At the end of 2020, Sienna was having several difficulties in training. She would get tight and panicky when she felt a rider’s legs on her sides and things on her back such as a saddle. She did panic bucking. The good news is that she is much improved since then, and during a recent clinic at SAFE, trainer Joel Conner said that Sienna was the highlight of his training visit. All our effort and hard work have paid off.

Sienna is an easy keeper and gains weight readily. Her hay is still being soaked in water to get out the sugars prior to feeding. Sienna shares her paddock with her newest SAFE buddies, Pepper and Veronica.

Sienna is what they call an easy keeper, or as her fans insist, “She’s just big boned!” We were giving her the minimum amount of hay that we could, but she still had some weight issues. The staff was stumped and even had her blood tested to see if something was wrong with her thyroid. There was nothing wrong. So, nine months ago we started soaking her Timothy hay twice a day in an effort to remove some of the sugars. It worked and she looks great as ever!

Sienna is a sensitive horse with a lot of life. She’s a BLM mustang who looks like she has a mix of draft horse in her, so people might think she is lazy, but she’s not at all. Terry, who rides her, has worked hard on getting Sienna to relax and just stand still. In the past, Sienna would canter off if she couldn’t feel you holding her back.

On the ground, Sienna is one of our most trusted horses with our volunteers. We often use her to teach new volunteers how to halter and lead a horse. She is patient, not pushy and does not spook easily when walking to her paddock. She shows off her skills to new volunteers who are learning how to ask a horse to stop, back up, and politely come out of a stall.

Sienna is an “easy keeper” and can gain weight easily, so the staff soaks her timothy hay twice a day in water for 30 minutes. This removes some of the sugars and lessens the calories, but still provides bulk for her to feel full and forage on.

She loves being in a herd with other horses and tends to be the boss mare. Sienna does well when we take her away from the herd to work with her and waits patiently in the barn each morning all by herself eating her diet hay.

We are looking for an experienced rider to take this sweet mare home.

Sienna, like all the SAFE horses, had some time off this summer due to bad air quality caused by forest fires. But when the smoke had cleared and we started working horses again, Sienna presented with a left front lameness. It appeared to be an abscess but after it was treated, she was sound at the walk, but slightly off still at the trot. Our farrier agreed it looked like she had some stone bruising on her fronts. We treated again with some poultice wraps and Venice Turpentine, and that seems to have cleared up the problem. 

So, here is a video of her first ride in three months! You have to admit, she vacationed well! We had started her back in Groundwork for about 2 weeks prior to get her fit to ride but this was the first time she’d been ridden. And it wasn’t just a fluke: the next day she was just as relaxed! Hopefully, we’ve turned a corner with this mare and she won’t fall back into getting tight or if she does, she can be talked back into relaxation.

Recently, Sienna showed up lame at the walk. Assuming she had an abscess, we soaked her foot and kept it wrapped in an Epsom salt poultice. When she seemed to stop favoring that foot at the walk, it appeared that she was still off on her front left at the trot. With advice from our farrier, we determined it was a stone bruise and continued wrapping in an Epsom salt poultice and duct tape boot for about a week. There is no apparent lameness now, so we’re optimistic that Sienna is recovered! She is off of her gravel turnout and back in with her friends on dirt, so this will hopefully prevent future soreness as well.

One of the ways we are working to help Sienna build a solid foundation is to get her operating better off feel. 1st goal was to get her to stop at a point away from the gate. Helping search for this point, we made the wrong thing (leaving the spot) difficult by sending her forward, and the right thing (stopping at the point) easy, full relaxation and petting when she chose turn towards the stop point or as we approached it. It took about 45mins for her to find the stop. Next day.…less than a minute to hunt and find the point.

After that we worked on establishing the leading leg. Helping her choose to follow the riders feel sent either to the right or left. Ultimately our goal is that our horses become an extension of our legs. In order to get there she needs to follow our feel. Again she has the choice. The right thing easy, turning with the direction the rider is sending the feel, and the wrong thing difficult, sending her when she chooses to go the opposite way of the riders feel.

Sienna is sensitive mare that even the slightest tension held in the riders leg or seat keeps her from turning all the way loose and coming to a stop or following a feel. In time she will get more with her riders and search for the peace offered when we are going together.

Before riding Sienna we run through almost all aspects of Buck Brannaman’s Groundwork book (The Red book). Checking out green horses is key to making sure you aren’t over looking anything and getting yourself into trouble. Sienna can be full of braces and you could surface ride her for awhile and think everything was good…until it wasn’t or some outside stress tips the scale in the wrong direction. It’s very important she learns to work through her braces and find relaxation even when put into binds.

Sienna is a lovely mare and going to with a lot of consistency and good horsemanship make a wonderful riding partner. She has come so far and her future is so bright!

Sienna has made some excellent improvements since we took a little extra time with her groundwork training. Our friend Joel Conner felt that Sienna started out training holding so much trouble inside of her that once she started to free up her feet, her residual anxiety started to come to the surface. This may explain why she did so well in the first months of training and then became so sensitive in her hind, especially near the back-cinch. 

Since August I have been diligent with her groundwork. I have been taking her through all Buck Brannaman’s “Groundwork” exercises and paying close attention to her “feel” or emotional state. Her ability to hold her feelings inside and hide her fears can be deceiving. It is crucial to not  expect her actions and responses to be mechanical. I have to be careful not to stop before she reaches true acceptance. Leaving just a little trouble in there, especially if it is allowed to build up, can make her very reactionary and frightened. I have seen big changes by drawing her troubles to the surface and supporting her so she can let them go and find true freedom, balance, and peace.

When I went back to riding her again, everything felt different. She was much softer, she would “feel back to me;” that is, when I asked for her to bring her head around, she was reaching for me as I asked for her. Most importantly, she was connected to me in a way that she had never been before. I am continually in wonder and fascination with how well this style of horsemanship helps troubled horses find peace. I am thankful we have the tools to help horse like Sienna. Through this work, she is able to partner with humans to experience a trust and friendship that she never experienced before.

We had a chance to have photographer Alessia Rauseo visit Safe Harbor and take some beautiful photos of our sweet Sienna. Sienna has recently come home from Nick Donohue’s training barn and she’s doing very well. She is still fairly green but she is accepting me as a new rider. She still needs more miles and experiences before she will be ready for the public but things are progressing well.

A few new things since coming home from training. First, Sienna LOVES her buddy Zoe…maybe a little too much. But it’s so cool that she can be turned out with other horses and is doing so well with companionship! Second, she is an expert with the farrier. Happy girl for her toe trims! And lastly, she is even MORE of a sweetheart than I remember before she left. She loves grooming and spending time just hanging out with me. Such a quiet soul who was just needing to understand what people wanted of her to be gentled. Sienna is AMAZING!!!

This horse is helping me be a better rider, horseman, and hopefully, a better human being. Her try inspires me to work harder to be the partner she needs to guide her through this journey to adoption. Where she is today is light years from when we first met. Her transformation takes my breath away. A true testament to rescue done right and the power of horsemanship. I promise to keep striving to be the best I can be for horses like Sienna. 

Here is a little video of her working at home at Safe Harbor:

We have been getting wonderful reports back from Nick Donohue on Sienna’s progress. She settled in nicely to his training barn and Nick said that while she was a bit reactive and touchy at first, she is progressing well. Nick worked on getting her more comfortable with the saddle and more “turned loose” to both the act of being saddled and carrying it around without a rider. This is an important piece to helping make this first ride a success.

Thank you Nick for the wonderful video update and giving Sienna such a great foundation! We are excited to see how she progresses and to see where this journey takes her. She will always be a smart and sensitive mare and with the right start she has the tools to be successfully adopted as a riding horse.

Kaya has been diligently working through the groundwork steps to get Sienna prepared for a rider. Here is what she had to say about this experience:

“Sienna is, without a doubt, one of the smartest horses I have ever worked with. Having just been working with her for a little over a month, I’ve gotten to see some awesome changes, but watching videos and hearing stories from when she first came to SAFE, it is incredible how far she has come in the last year!

We have been preparing Sienna to go to training to be started under saddle, so my job has been to focus a lot on getting the trouble out. It’s been a great learning opportunity for me! We do a lot of work with the rope and a lot of touching all over and she has made some serious progress. Saddling can still be a little scary for Sienna, but overall, I am optimistic about her future as a riding horse! I can’t wait to see what changes she will make in the next year!”

Last week, Sienna headed down to Nick Donohue’s farm in Banks, Oregon. She will get settled in and start training in early February. We are unsure how she will take to a rider but if this mare has taught us all anything, it is that through patience and love anything is possible. She was an absolute gem to load in the trailer and was quiet the entire ride. Nick reports that she has settled well, and he will begin working her next week. We are all rooting for her and look forward to seeing her transformation!

Here are photos of Sienna taken at NWESC at the beginning of her stay there. You can really see how awful her feet were in these photos. It was incredibly difficult for her to walk with feet this long.

Here is an update from NWESC on Sienna’s progress:

Sienna is doing really well with her handling and hoof trimming. She is catchable although still very cautiously and she get spooked/nervous occasionally. She is good for the most part about being groomed and touched most places (probably not all the way under her belly or between her hind legs yet). Dr. Hannah has been able to do a very basic trim just to get some of the big slipper feet taken down a bit. She has been able to trim the fronts but haven’t been able to trim the hinds yet but she can pick up and touch her hind legs to pick out her feet. Daphne will be here December 8th so hopefully with another week or so of practice and with Daphne’s amazing way with horses she’ll be able to trim her hind feet as well. We are hoping to have some xrays before Daphne comes out so she’ll have a better idea of how much she can take off — at the moment the xray machine won’t accept running multiple extension cords up to their paddock but Sienna is very close to where she could CAREFULLY be brought down to the arena for xrays. She is wearing a rain sheet and is on a bit of a diet but with the slow feeder net shes had hay in front of her 24/7.