Our sweet Quarter horse Teak has been having a great summer. Since beginning regular work under saddle about six weeks ago, Teak has shown himself to be a true gentleman who takes everything in stride. It has been so interesting to discover what this boy knows: we imagine that he must have spent time on a ranch as he understands neck-reining, stops quickly with a ‘whoa’ command, appears to be unfazed by anything and even works cows!
From the first time that we sat on his back, Teak has proven to be a safe and steady partner. He clearly has positive riding experiences in his past, but also carries the physical signs of a lot of hard work. Although he is only 13 (at our horse dentist’s best guess) he had a great deal of stiffness and soreness throughout his body, and his feet were overgrown and neglected. Ideally our horses go barefoot, but for Teak we’ve had glue-on shoes put on his front feet and started him on a hoof supplement in hopes of developing healthy feet for the future. He has had bodywork done, and we’re giving him some extra support with a loading dose of Adequan injections. Teak had no physical fitness whatsoever when he arrived, and so we’ve been taking him on long, slow walk hacks up and down our hills and out on our trails. This gentle conditioning probably helps the most in terms of promoting the flexibility, relaxation and strength that this guy’s body desperately needed.
Teak loves hacking out and has yet to bat an eye at anything out on the trail. He is fine with a group, but is also just as happy to go out by himself. We’ve taken Teak on two ‘field trips’ thus far and he trailered and tied perfectly. Teak’s first outing was to the local fairgrounds, where he enjoyed a little trot and canter around the racetrack with three other horses. Teak’s second trip was to the ‘Flying M’ farm in Searsport, Maine for an intro to working cattle with horseman Elijah Moore. Teak and another of our rescue horses, Echo, were able to check out a herd of cows in a pen first, and then progress to undersaddle work. Although Echo was understandably leery of the cows at first, Teak was completely unfazed from the very beginning. Teak and his thrilled rider were able to move the cows around their pen, separate individual cows from the herd, and finally move the whole group out to their pasture. This horse is just an all-around good guy and we are so glad that we found him at the New Holland auction- he will make someone a lovely partner and deserves a fabulous, forever home.
