| On October 18, 2007 several months of waiting and planning were met with
finally having a horse at our home again.
When Saoradh was dying, I had the impression that I should adopt a
PMU Foal, that one would either be sent by him, or
would be his reincarnation, as we tend to believe our animals often return.
I had a feeling that if I felt I was right about the return and the foal
was a filly that she'd be named Saorsa, after Saoradh. "Saorsa" means freedom
as well, although "saoradh" has a "redemption" quality to it and "saorsa"
is more "liberty." And to those who might be reading this who have particular
care for that word as a political expression, I am NOT doing this lightly.
We decided to adopt through Spring
Hill Horse Rescue and applied on Saoradh's birthday. We waited to hear
if we got approved and began work on the barn (well, Aaron did most of it).
After our approval was the anxious wait for the actual event. And more work
on the barn. Until October arrived and eventually with the it the foals.
Due to a scheduling issue with the young woman hauling for us, we had another
wait...but at least we knew our little one was safe in Vermont.
The trip did not go as planned, of course. The plan was for Aaron and I to
pack up the pack and ride down separately
from the haulers. This was mostly as
Scolaighe has been quite ill. So, after
me getting only a few hours sleep due to work and a class, going to the class
and hoping to get in some nap time,
well...Bran refused to eat his dinner. When
BRAN doesn't eat you know he's sick. So I didn't sleep, staying up with him
instead. And then we decided he really needed to go to the vet, fearing that
if we carted him to the Rutland area he'd died somewhere along the way. So...we
decided that I would ride down with the haulers and Aaron would stay and
try to get Bran to the vet. (He did, they x-rayed and couldn't find anything...so
it was wait and see. I'm glad we didn't drag him out for the much longer
ride, but, you know, I was hoping for more of an answer than that. In a few
days it cleared up and was probably due to something he ate which he shouldn't
have).
Anyway, I didn't really sleep on the way down of course. Skipping to the
part you want to know we got there and this is what we saw:
That is her with a paint buddy keeping her company while she waited. Although
she's ignoring me at this point, she was very alert and taking things in.
It was love at first sight for me, but not so much for her.
She really didn't think leaving her buddies and getting in the trailer was
a good idea, but eventually complied. The trip home was even less sleep inducing
but I was actually feeling less physical affects. We stopped a few times
and I would talk to her, but she kept her distance. When we got home we managed
to make a chute out of metal gates and hay bales. She wasn't coming out of
the trailer now that she was in it. I got in and managed to touch her face
briefly, then she moved away from me, I hooked my arm around in front of
her to get her to move away from my hand and got her to finally move out.
 She
then walked right along the chute and into the stall, nosed the clean bedding
and pooped. That's that. She was home.
She is a dun American Quarter Horse, whose registration will probably remain
forever in the name of her breeder. Why? Because the AQHA is
pro-horse slaughter and
fought against the closing of the three plants in the US and are fighting
hard to prevent the Horse Protection Act, which will prevent shipping of
horses to Canada and Mexico for slaughter as well as prevent any chance of
a plant reopening or starting in the US, from going through. Because they're
"brilliant" breeding program is all about quantity over quality, wanting
slaughter as an option to cull. I know it will probably be a pointless act,
but I may be writing to them telling them that I refuse to join and transfer
because they're not getting one red cent of my money unless they change this
policy.
She has a great "oh, that's what you want? Okay" attitude. She responds to
pressure and release very well. I will have to start teaching her again to
move out of my way though, as she's gone from automatically moving away when
approached (after all, ALL her interactions with humans have been them chasing
her from one location to another, other than sticking her for a blood test
and possibly worming her) to standing in my way when patting her is not what
I want to do. I had given her a day off before starting touch training, which
went quickly, within minutes she was letting me touch her with my hands and
a rope. The next day we did halter training to prepare for the vet.
The vet freaked her out a bit, setting us back a little in the training.
Even now, a month later, she's still distrustful of
 Aaron
who apparently reminds her of the vet. But they have a long time to work
things out.
A month later she's settled in and starting to show some attitude and spunk.
The footing already is limiting some of our work together, although out on
her own she seems to have no problem.
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