Training Max – Update 14 «

Training Max – Update 14

Yet again it has been many months since I have written. Mostly because there hasn’t been anything to report. Max has been laid up all summer, and I’m not riding or showing with Sandy Point any longer. I miss it terribly, but being at the shows at the in-gate and announcing and judging has helped a lot.

Max and WallE are best friends. They are inseparable. No, I mean that literally. They cannot be separated. See:

Inseparable

WallE has been doing great with his training. He gets more mature-looking every day but is still under 14.2 hands. He’s so pretty that one day Jamie and I cleaned him all up and took some model photos. He is a pretty pony!

WallE Posing

Jamie is still not comfortable riding him and even took a fall off of him and I am just way too big on him, so I enlisted my friend Katie to ride him. She is a good rider and has enormous patience. She was very good for him throughout the summer.

Katie on WallE

As the fall came around, I was watching Max very carefully as he trotted across the field when he was turned out. He sure looked sound! But I kept resisting the urge to ride him or to even jog him. I rode him several times at the walk in the ring as the vet instructed me to, but didn’t trot him. Then, about a month ago, Max came in from the field covered in hives. He wasn’t acting like they bothered him at all, but he was absolutely covered!

Max' Hives

I called the vet. She came right out and gave him a shot of steroids. So now we had the fun job of trying to figure out what was causing it! While she was there I had her watch Max jog. She watched him and said he looked 100% to her. No, we didn’t flex him or x-ray or ultrasound but she said it was okay for me to start bringing him back slowly. If he wasn’t sound, I should call her. So we walked around the fields to see if there was anything suspicious growing out there…nothing. We washed his blankets, gave him a bath, and changed his shavings. Then eventually when that didn’t work, we changed his hay. The shot she gave him did wonders but as soon as it wore off he was right back to being covered in hives. I am waiting now for a bottle of long-term steroids that I will give him daily for the next month or two. At least until we get a good killing frost or two.

Then the time came that I knew would come eventually. Nora called to ask me if I wanted to buy WallE. I told her that I didn’t. I didn’t have the money but I also didn’t want to see a young pony with so much potential end up in a back yard for the rest of his life. He needs a kid to love him. He needs to go to shows. So Nora told me she wanted him back as soon as I could get a companion for Max. I started looking.

It didn’t take long for someone to let me know that a friend of mine had a Haflinger that she needed to find a home for. He was 14.1 and only 10 years old. He had been rescued from Camelot a year ago and was now being ridden on trails, learning dressage and swimming in the ocean. He was also very good with small children. She was from another country and her visa had run out so she had to find a home for him. She was very attached to him and wanted him to be in a good, safe, loving home. Everyone that knew me and knew about our place told her that I would be perfect. I went to see him with my two youngest boys and we thought he would be perfect for our house. Great on trails, great for the boys to hop on and walk around, and fun enough for some one that knew what they were doing to work on dressage. Stocky enough for most adults and easy enough for anybody to ride. We also found out he can drive. We thought he would be perfect for us.

Trying "Buddy"

We then made arrangements for a “pony swap.” Nora would go get Buddy and bring him to me then load up WallE and take him home, all at once. I knew this was going to be very sad for Max but it had to be done. Max was frantic as they led WallE away up the driveway and screamed and stared at the spot where he had last seen WallE get on the trailer. It was heart-breaking. He paid no attention to Buddy in his panic over WallE.

Where are they taking him?

There he goes...

: Still staring

After spending the night next to each other, it was time to turn them out together and see how it went. At first Max was still calling for WallE, but after a little while he sniffed Buddy and made friends. By the afternoon they were in Max’ stall together. I don’t see the incredible bond that Max and WallE had, but I definitely see that they like each other. We’ve taken them on a few trail rides together and they are very compatible on the trail. Max doesn’t even seem to mind if Buddy is in front of him and when Max is scared of something, Buddy will lead him through it.