On Sunday evening, we went to the Winfred area to pick up Sam. The previous owners had Sam out munching on some grass. The first picture is of Sam before I had the chance to put a brush to him to help shed him out. He had a few tufts of winter fur still and I was itching to get to it!
As they led Sam to the trailer, you could tell he was depressed. I’ve done some research and found that horses typically mourn for three days when they lose their friend. Sam’s buddy had been euthanized that Thursday. It hadn’t been a full three days when we picked up Sam. He seemed a little downtrodden at first until he realized there were horses in the trailer (Rain and King). There was a bit of whinnying back and forth between the three horses. I could tell right away that Sam was less depressed knowing there were horses near and he seemed a bit more relaxed.
I unloaded King and Rain so that I could load Sam in to the front of the trailer. I think there’s a bit more room in the front and it’s more protected from the wind. Oh what I would give for a nice enclosed slant load trailer.
Sam loaded like a gem. I put one trailer tie on him and he stood there with no problems. I then loaded King and Rain. There was a bit of pawing from both Sam and King but they both have that bad habit. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to cure either of them from pawing. But I guess I’d rather they paw instead of kick, rear, and tear apart the trailer.
Once the boys were loaded into the trailer, we hopped in and headed back home. It was dark by the time we got home. I backed the trailer in close to the smaller pen where Sam would go. I didn’t want to take the chance of someone spooking or getting upset out in the open.
I did some switching earlier in the week to get Brego accustomed to the big herd. I had to pull Brego out of the big herd and then pull Dude and Chaos out of the small pen. I prefer to keep Chaos away from Bob when his best friend, Rain is gone.
I was actually surprised that Brego seemed interested in all that was going on. He used to act so moppy, I didn’t think he’d be interested in what was going on. I unloaded King and Rain and tied them to the trailer. I didn’t want to leave Sam in the trailer by himself, not knowing how he would react to being left alone. I also didn’t want to risk getting squished in the trailer by him in case he freaked out because he was alone.
Sam unloaded like a champ. I was a bit worried that he would try and turn around. I’m sure he could turn around and not get stuck but I’ve been in a trailer where a horse tried to turn around and I almost got squished. So I asked Sam if he would back out of the trailer. He did without much issue. He did get a bit hesitant when we got to the end of the trailer. He knew the end of the trailer was near and wanted to see for himself. But he did trust me enough to get him out of the trailer without any harm.
We then walked over to where Brego was standing watching all the commotion. I had to shoo Brego out of the way just to get the gate open. Normally Brego doesn’t want anything to do with other horses so I was pretty shocked that he would be up front and center watching the activities. I’m pretty happy with Brego’s progress.
I lead Sam in and took off his halter. There was a bit of nose touching, sniffing, and a few squeals here and there from Sam. But all in all, it was a pretty quiet introduction. I typically don’t introduce horses to each other 1) when I myself am just meeting them and 2) when it’s dark. I’d rather let the horse have some downtime before introducing them to a member of the herd. Unfortunately I didn’t have a choice, so I chose Brego since he’s the low man on the totem pole.
I’m still not sure who is in charge, Sam or Brego. But it does seem to be working out ok for both of them. Neither is aggressive enough to really want lead herd man. Dude, Chaos, and King stood by the small pen gate. They know better than to push since the electric is up and running. I’m tired of horses pushing on the fence. So there wasn’t much interaction from the big herd.
So Sunday night was pretty exciting. Monday afternoon I went out and brushed Sam down. He seemed a bit standoffish and didn’t really feel comfortable with me grooming him down. But I was SO itching to get his winter coat off. He looked a million times better after jus t a quick grooming. He’s still too thin for my liking but my goal is to get him fattened up as quick as can be.
I did grain Sam Monday night with regular sweet feed and soy meal. He devoured it. I was rather pleased that he would be willing to nicker to me when he saw me with the grain. He did the same thing last night when I brought the food. I’m hoping he’s not associating me with some bad memories or associating me with his world changing completely. He has nickered to me a couple of times during the day yesterday. I did get a chance to groom him down again yesterday. He seemed a bit more relaxed Tuesday when I groomed him. I also put bug stuff in all the horses’s ears since the nats are out and biting like crazy. All of the horses are getting eaten alive by the nats.
I know Sam has only been here for two full days but he’s really taken a spot in my heart. He’s such a sweet old guy. I can see it in his eyes that he’s confused and still a bit depressed by losing his buddy. I can only hope that he buddies up to Brego at some point. I’m hoping that I can get out tonight and do some grooming on him some more. He’s looking a little tough. I hope he’s not going to be a hard keeper. Bob is my hard keeper and I struggle with his weight loss every day. Every time I see Bob I want to cry he looks so terrible. I’m not sure how I’ll handle a second hard keeper. My hope is that Sam just needs a few groceries and TLC to pull him out of his depression and to gain back some of his weight.
I’ll keep everyone posted on Sam’s progress. Here are a few pics of Sam that I took on Monday, a little less than 24 hours after arriving at Borderlands.
Love you Sam the Man!
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