Bridgit

Bridgit’s adopter shared these lovely photos of her girl, as well as one of her good friend Oreo the pony! Photos by Jessica Farren.

 

For updates on many of your favorite adopted SAFE horses, visit our SAFE Alumni Facebook group! It’s where SAFE adopters can post updates, photos, and videos of their SAFE horses, to share their progress with the SAFE community!

Here is what volunteer rider Erika had to say about working with Bridgit this week:

“Bridgit: She was in the top turnout area above the arena while I worked Cam. And was pretending to be a bucking bronco almost the whole time. I thought it would be a “fun” or “exciting” ride, and it was. But only because Bridgit was a ROCK STAR!! Seriously. We worked exclusively in the round pen today, with no trot poles. Rode her in the K&S instead of the black synthetic. Going one direction, we went from Walk-Trot-Lope-Trot-Walk-Halt-Reverse with NO REINS. Yep, you read that correctly. We tried the other direction and we got all the way up and down, but didn’t quite get to a halt. I *THINK* we were going right when we went through everything, and then left was when we didn’t get to halt. At any rate, this may have been the best ride we’ve ever had, and I told her she was SUCH a good girl! Super proud of how far she’s come!”

Great work Erika and Bridgit!!

SAFE volunteer Harriet C finds Bridgit’s scratching spot! (photo by Jessica Farren)

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We are currently working to strengthen Bridgit’s hindquarters. We had Dr. McCracken come out and evaluate her and help us understand why she has such a sway in her trot from her hind legs. It is a little of “the needle in the haystack” for an answer so at the moment to help we are going to do a few things to make her stronger and rule out weakness as part of the problem.

To start we are walking her over poles and up and down low incline hills. Then as we progress we will add trot and trotting polls. As we can, we’ll begin to add slightly steeper hills and possible take her on walks up the hills here on the Hollywood Hills trails. This is a gradual increase of work and we will be working up to the full load over the next two months.

So far Bridgit has been doing well for her rehab work out and learning to pick up her hooves over the poles. She remains a very sweet mare and enjoys her time with the volunteers. Her future as a riding horse remains uncertain but we hope to have some answers from the work we are doing with her now.

We have been patiently waiting to start working with Bridgit again….She “popped a splint” on her left front a few weeks ago and we have been waiting for the heat and swelling to go down. Meanwhile the little munchkin has been enjoying long turnouts next to her buddy Phoenix. They could be caught grooming each other every day for long periods of time. She has been very well behaved and taking it easy. I was looking back through some photos and found these from earlier this summer. She is such a doll and as she fills out is going to make a great riding companion. Here are some of the pictures I found:

The nickering QUEEN! There is not a lot about this cute little mare’s personality that won’t make you fall absolutely head over heels in LOVE with her! She is the type of girl that when you come up to her stall or her turnout paddock, she will come RUNNING to greet you. She LOVES to work and while riding will actually NICKER when you praise her and pet her on the neck. Bottom line: Bridgit is a LOVE!

We have spent the last few months working to improve her balance and help her gain more awareness of her body. She needs to learn how to support and balance herself first and then the weight of a rider. She is still young and seems to be in one of those “all leg and no idea where they are underneath her” phase of her life. Hopefully she will be moving quickly through these “awkward teen” growth years but only time will tell what her abilities will be as a riding horse. We have had moments where she is able to find balance but the tripping and uncoordinated steps make her currently too unsteady for a beginner rider.

Our training plan is to help support through challenging her to focus and have more body awareness. We are using groundwork, obstacle work with ground polls and other exercises to help make her “think.” We’ve also got her in light riding with a couple of our volunteer riders who can balance her while keeping themselves balanced and safe when she trips. She is probably one of the SWEETEST horses I have ever met! We have hopes that she will continue to progress as a riding horse and we can find her a loving forever home. She is currently available for adoption but would only make a good match for a intermediate well-balanced light-framed rider who is willing to take her on as a prospect since her long term rideability is still in question. She gets along with many different types of horses and has great ground manners and no vices. 

From trainer Kim Lacy: “Bridgit is doing well. She’s very sensible, she just has a lot of energy. Now that we are doing more “work” she is better focused. The biggest issue with her right now is she is pretty weak in her hind end and over her back and she does get sore easily. So I have to be careful. She also trips a lot and has a bit of a hard time balancing a rider. I keep her rides short and sweet but I need to balance her riding with strengthening but not so she gets too sore. It’s a little challenging.”

We checked in recently with SAFE horse Bridgit to see how she is progressing in her preparation for training as a saddle horse. Bridgit has been in a foster home for the past year to give her a little time to grow and mature. Her foster mom had some wonderful things to say about this beautiful little mare…

Bridgit has been with me for over a year now. In that time, she has grown a couple of inches and finally filled out from her ribby state. She has also matured emotionally and behaviorally and is a pleasure to work with. She still has moments of insecurity, where she looks to her person or her herdmate for comfort. This can include crowding into your space, which is something we continually work on. She does get anxious when her herdmate leaves.

Bridgit has been lunged lightly in a surcingle and recently wore a saddle for the first time. It was a non-event! She is carrying a bit as well, and looks very grown up wearing her big girl tack. She is doing very well with voice commands on the lunge in both directions.

Bridgit bathes, clips, stands for the farrier and she loads and trailers well. Recently she went on a field trip around the neighborhood in-hand. She crossed a wooden bridge, walked on pavement (with neighborhood cars causing no concerns). She encountered many suspicious looking mailboxes, which she was willing to investigate when asked. She was a little excited about the herd of neighbor ponies that came running over to say “HI!” but she settled quickly.

Bridgit is a sweet youngster who is nearly ready to get started under saddle. She will never be a big horse, but should be able to carry a petite rider just fine. Her future looks very bright!

She was a very good girl this year, so Santa brought a special gift for Bridgit…GrownUpClothes! She got her very own Pony size surcingle. Here she is modelling her Big Girl outfit. Isn’t she adorable? (the angle of the photo is exaggerating her current slightly butt-high build). Bridgit continues to learn and grow. She now straight ties and cross ties with confidence. She stands (mostly) quietly for the farrier. She is good about grooming, bathing, and clipping. She also loads herself in the trailer! She has a super cute little trot and we look forward to seeing her start her career as a riding horse, possibly sometime in 2014.

Bridgit is an endearing youngster, her occasional moments of baby brain are quickly forgiven when she looks at you with her innocent charm. She spent the summer in the company of my older boss mare, learning how to be a respectful member of a herd. She was a very quick learner, and the two girls are now pretty well bonded.

I have been working with Bridgit on learning the basics she will need to be a good equine partner. She is always willing to approach you to be haltered, even in a large pasture situation. She loves to interact with people!  She halters easily, leads and backs. Occasionally, when baby brain takes over, she rears while being led.  We are working on remembering to keep all four feet on the ground at all times.

Bridgit politely picks up all four feet for cleaning, though she is a little uncertain that she can actually hold her own self up…we are working on balancing and not leaning.  When she first arrived, she was highly skeptical of grooming tools. In particular, the sound of the mane brush through her tangled mane would startle her.  Now, she is a pro at full groomings and recently we even introduced clippers.  She tolerated the muzzle clipping with only a little coaxing, and while I got the clippers in the vicinity of the bridle path we didn’t quite get it clipped. Next time!

 Bridgit has mastered being straight tied, and we will work on cross-ties next. For the first time, she stood tied for her farrier appointment…she did great! She recently had her first full bath and took it very well. She handles new situations well with an approach-and-retreat confidence building strategy. And cookies, plenty of cookies!

 Bridgit’s personality is an interesting mixture of lack of confidence combined with an overwhelming sense of curiosity.  This makes for some interesting interactions…what is it? what is it? I really want to put my nose it…OMG it moved!! Aaaahhh!  Her expressions really convey her internal dialogue. The great thing is, her curiosity always wins out over her fear. Once she gains more confidence through exposure I think she will be an awesome partner.

Bridgit has moved to a new foster home with SAFE President Debi Shatos in Snohomish where she shares space with Debi’s mare, Summer. Bridgit is a confident youngster, but she has wisely decided that Summer is the boss mare and she needs to be respectful. With that established, the two girls are getting along quite well. 

Bridgit has made great progress with her foster mom, Jackie. She is nearing healthy weight and her coat looks so much better than in December. She is calm, curious and very friendly. She immediately comes right up to you in a big pasture looking for loves and scratches. She gets along well with other horses, but exhibits a little dominance when she chooses to. She currently stands a little butt high, so we hope that she has more growing to do.

Lots of photos from a recent visit to her foster home for worming and a checkup! Isn’t she a cutie?! Thank you so much to Jackie for taking such wonderful care of her!!

Bridgit left NWESC for her new foster home on Wednesday, where she made the acquaintance of our good friend Moonshine. The two youngsters hit it off right away!

But Jackie awoke the next morning to find Miss Bridgit had had a little too much fun the night before!