Doing great!

Fred has been here for almost 2 weeks and is doing awesome. Everyone has fallen in love with him and he is finally coming out of his shell a bit. He is greeting us when we come into the barn in the morning, and expecting his nightly carrots after we feed at night. He finally figured out there is a window facing the barn aisle and is actually using it (before he only stuck his head out the outside window). Nancarrow came out and floated his teeth, he said they actually weren't too horrible...which was surprising considering he was have trouble chewing. But all is good now and he was given a clean bill of health. I am starting to see weight gain on him, and his coat is looking alot shinier.

Fred has his first lesson on Saturday and I am excited to see how he does. He is so awesome when I ride him, so it will be interesting to see how well he behaves with a beginner. Yesterday when I rode him we went on a mini trail ride out around the lake and of course he was a perfect gentleman! He walked right over our wooden bridge and everything. I will try to remember to get pictures of his first lesson, he is looking so good!

Finally Settled In

After 5 days of settling in and making his new herd feel like "home" I think it is safe to say Fred is fully adjusted. We went for a ride today in the arena and he was perfect and very understanding of me trying to figure him out. Like we had guessed before, Fred has definitely been shown, but what we didn't know was how extensively he was shown. He is 5 gaited, which in itself takes about 18 months of professional training just to get showable. He sets his head quite naturally and uses his hind legs very well. And I am beginning to figure out his cues to rack (completely foreign to me) and I love it! Although we are doing pretty much nothing except walking and a little racking (his preferred gait) he tries so hard to do everything I ask of him. Mom is convinced he was a champion show horse (as she puts it), we will never know but he sure has the pride of one.

It seems everytime I go out and spend some time with him I discover what might be a little part of his past. The other day when I was currying him I noticed a good size scar right down the middle of his belly, very old but noticeable. The more I curried, and the more winter coat that came off, the more prominent it became. Almost reminds me of a scar from a colic surgery, if it is, someone really cared enough about him to invest thousands of dollars in an unpredictable surgery.

He is really taking a liking to Fox and yesterday they actually shared a mutual pile of hay, which is a HUGE step for Fox in the acceptance department. He has also slowed down his eating, but still thoroughly enjoys his T&A hay. The Vet is coming out tomorrow to float his teeth, and give him a checkup. Hopefully all is well!

No pictures today but next time I saddle him up (maybe for a trail ride?) I will definitely snap a few!

Fred's 1st Day

Fred made it here today around 2:00 PM. Unloaded him and put him in his stall and he started chowing down immediately...needless to say he is already quite all right with his new "digs". As we were cleaning out the trailer he was getting very vocal about being the only one inside on such a beautiful day. We let him out around the barn so he could check everyone out while they were in their pastures. He made his rounds to say hello to all of his new friends, and then found some leftover hay and started munching away. He is VERY food oriented. He is settling in nicely besides the occasional squeal when someone sniffs too much, letting them know he means business! I have no worries he will be at home tomorrow once he gets a night under his girth!

I am going to try to get the vet out this week to get his teeth taken care of, and just a checkup to make sure he is doing good. Besides all that his feet are in great shape and he is shedding like crazy! The picture is of him from today after saying his hello's!

The Beginnings of Fred

<--Fred when he was first rescued

Since this is the first post on Fred I will let everyone know what little background information I have on this gentleman. Fred was rescued by a lady in Lake Helen named Monica, she found his ad on Craigslist. She said the picture was of this skinny, lanky saddlebred hooked up to a cart by someone who obviously had no idea what they were doing. She knew he had to be a decent horse to tolerate someone else's stupidness. When she actually went to see him she was appalled by what was standing in front of her. He was about a 2 on the emaciated scale but still had enough will to trot when being led. When she confronted the man who had him as to why he was so skinny, he simply said because he didn't have enough money to feed all of his horses so he figured he would let Fred starve. At that point Monica handed him $100 and loaded Fred up.

The following is all we know about Fred:

- He is a 20 yr old Saddlebred Gelding (5 gaited)

- His name was originally "Rouge" by the owners that starved him. Rouge is french for Red which then evolved into Fred

- He is registered but have no idea what his name is maybe something with "Rouge" in it

- Rides and Drives with the best attitude

What we are assuming:

- He has obviously been shown before, knows how to set his head...has a total show horse mentality

When Monica had the vet out the day after getting him he said he was probably a week away from dieing. She gave him all of his shots, had his feet done, and has slowly been bringing him back. I saw a post on the flahorse board about Fred and decided to email Monica since I had been keeping my eyes out for lesson horses for the new farm. I had seen her orginal posts when she first got him and remember thinking about how much he reminded me of my old Saddlebred Sonny. Needless to say I set up a time for myself and Chris to go take a look. We got to the barn a little bit before Monica and stood on the fence and watched him for a bit. After about 5 minutes he finally decided to come check us out. He had just gotten a new hay roll so he was much more enthused with eating then us! When Monica got there we went into his pasture and he stood there and hungout with us for about 15 minutes and let us rub all over him.

Leading him out of the pasture he pranced along side of me, not trying to get away or anything, just being happy. He stood perfectly to be saddled and perfectly to get on. He was a perfect gentleman and listened and tried his hardest. Needless to say there was no way I couldn't offer him a home to complete his recovery. He will come to his new home and meet his new herd this Saturday.

He needs about 100 or so more pounds and of course some muscle, to look his best. But what amazes me is that even though he was a week away from dieing he seems to hold no grudges. He has the spirit of a true Saddlebred, and has proved that it is unbreakable. I look forward to helping him with his Journey, and keeping ya'll posted along the way.