Inula

For the most part, once a horse comes to SAFE, they will stay on property until they make their way to their forever home. But on rare occasions, a circumstance arises that is too perfect for us to pass up. When an alumni adopter reached out to us expressing her interest in bringing a horse to foster, we could hardly say no. Her pasture acreage would be any horse’s dream summer residence, so the hard part would be choosing a horse. The vast majority of the horses at SAFE are active participants in our horsemanship program, working on going under saddle or becoming more gentle on the ground. Others are in the midst of their rehabbing, or otherwise require a more intensive feed or medication schedule.

Inula, because of her ringbone diagnosis, would not be a riding horse. And while she was learning and providing education on the ground, she is gentle enough to not require intensive work. She is also young — only just five. In short, she was a good choice to send to summer vacation.

So this week, Inula packed her bag (or we packed it for her, seeing as she lacks thumbs) and headed to her summer home a couple miles north. She loaded right up into the trailer, and was quiet on the ride over. Her foster mom took her for an introductory walk around her new home, and her new roommates were very curious about her, as was she about them. They will take their time getting acquainted through the panels first, and will eventually go out together. We are so happy for Inula to have the opportunity to summer somewhere with beautiful grass, and a wonderful foster mom to take care of her!

Inula’s ringbone will keep her from being a riding horse, but it doesn’t mean that she can’t develop and hone her skills on the ground. While she is still young and relatively new to everything, Inula has been a fast learner.

Our first impressions of Inula, when she was still sloughing off an unhealthy and smelly coat from her previous home, getting halter started under a warm May sun, were that she was a ‘nice horse.’ Personality wise, yes — she was sweet and curious and lacked some of the world-weariness of her peers, but mostly ‘nice’ as it related to her willingness to learn. She was, or rather is, the type to ask questions, to hunt for answers instead of assuming she already has them, to Try with a capital T. We get many unstarted, unhaltered horses here at SAFE, but rare are those who arrive as relatively blank slates with an open-mind.

Since last May, Inula has continued her work on the ground, learning how to free up her feet and how to hone her feel of people. She is a young horse, and has some ‘baby brain’ moments, but for the most part is a sweet, curious little thing and a real pleasure to spend time around. She has also reached a point in her education where she can begin to be the ‘teacher’ as well as the student. While her groundwork still needs direction (what horse’s doesn’t), she is familiar enough with the movements that she can be used to help educate people who are sharpening their groundwork skills. Her feel‑y nature makes working with her a fun experience, and as a companion, the more people interact with her, the more gentle she will ultimately be.

Horsemanship volunteers Casey and Carrie spent some time with Inula recently, and remarked on how soft (and fun!) she is to spend time with. She really looks for the right answers, and doesn’t take much convincing to move her hind a little bit more, or bring her front a little more intentionally. In layman’s terms, she is a pleasure to have in class, and who can resist petting that lovable face?

Following her working sessions, Inula always stands like a champ for grooming. She is shedding out currently, and offloads what feels like a ton of hair each day! For a little mare who was once incredibly herdbound, she has grown quite comfortable in her solitude, especially when supported by a human.

From not being halter-broke less than a year ago, Inula certainly has come far. This little lady is ready to hindquarters-frontquarters her way into your home and heart!

Just because you can’t (or shouldn’t) ride a horse doesn’t mean there isn’t a host of fun activities you can get up to with them! The basics are obvious — extended grooming sessions, hand walking and grazing, and the tried and true classic for any and all horse lovers: simply hanging out. But what about more advanced maneuvers? Riding a horse while also leading a horse, called ‘ponying,’ achieves the goal of not only getting two horses out at once, but also provides a new task for you and your riding horse to learn. But there are, as in most horse activities, multiple boxes that need checking before you’re ready to hit the trails with your two(!) equine friends. Obviously, learning how to pony safely is paramount to everyone’s success, but one of the other things you must ensure is that your ponied horse is up to the task. Making sure that they give to pressure is a big part of that. If the line goes taut on a horse with a pullback spot, there is a big chance you could get in a wreck, and potentially injure one or more of your party. That is why preparation is key.

Not every horse will be a perfect pony candidate, which is the nature of life, but we can say with a great deal of confidence that little Inula might be on her way to claiming that title. Last time Joel was here, he and his horse Shoedog, helped to show Inula the ropes, as it were. We had taught Inula how to tie already, after making sure she understood the fundamentals of giving to pressure, and because she had been doing so well with that, cleared her to try ponying. Joel and his mount are wonderful and experienced teachers, so we knew that Inula was in great hands, and that they would be able to help her if the situation went south, but we weren’t particularly worried. And rightly so — sweet Inula had no problem being led alongside Shoedog. Even when Joel asked for a trot, Inula was quick to understand, coming off the pressure as to not take the slack out of the lead. She enjoyed pets from the saddle, and took the whole process in — very cute — stride.

Even though Inula will not be a riding horse, that does not mean we do not teach her skills she can use to be successful on the ground. Learning to pony is a perfect example of this. Who knows, you might see this little cutie trotting alongside a buddy on the trails one day soon!

A few months back, we split up the Gig Harbor horses around the property — integrating them into herds, or otherwise facilitating a change of scenery from the paddock they’d been quarantining and living in up until that point. Mother and daughter, Ciara and Inula, were both involved in this separation, and at the time we had prepared ourselves to deal with the fallout of separating a pair who had likely never been apart. However, Ciara’s reaction told us she really didn’t mind the idea of being an empty nester, and Inula, who was integrated into one of our larger mare herds, hardly batted an eye. Like a kid going off to college and meeting their cool new roommates, Inula found fast comfort in a new home without her mom to cramp her style.

It was a definite relief that the days following their separation were not marked by frantic cross-property calling, as we have experienced before. It seemed Inula was not the type to keep Ciara’s number on speed dial. She was adjusting well to her new herd, and finding herself comfortable enough for her sprawled out nap times amongst her new friends.

However, while we had tested whether or not Inula could be away from Ciara, we had not yet seen Inula on her own.

Here’s the thing about Inula — she is a sweet, kind horse, the type of horse you introduce to someone who is afraid of horses. Despite not having had much handling before arriving at SAFE, she was a quick study, lacking many trouble spots that so many horses who come through our program possess. Apart from the little quirks that come naturally to a young horse, she treated seeing the vet and the farrier like she was a seasoned (albeit lightly) pro, met the hose for a bath without issue, allowed for a rainsheet to be tossed on her as though she’d worn one all her life, and generally speaking kept a tremendously level head throughout mostly all new experiences. But the one thing that Inula had difficulty with, her Achilles heelbulb, was being alone.

With a friend around, all the above things were true. Inula was a wunderkind, cute and sweet and wise beyond her years. On her own, however, it became clear how much trouble Inula had finding comfort in anything but another horse. Horses are herd animals, not meant to be solitary. But there are times in life that call for moments of separation. If a horse does not learn how to find some manner of peace in being alone for periods of time, things become risky. Herdbound horses run themselves through fences, or work themselves up into such a state that they colic. These are worst-case scenarios, but it does not make them any less possible.

In Inula’s case, we’ve spent hours over the last few weeks helping her learn to be okay away from her friends. We pull her out of her paddock or her stall and bring her to hang out in the arena for a little while, speedrunning the same separation we achieve by splitting horses into paddocks, but still allowing Inula turnout with her buddies. It was also a great opportunity to teach her how to stand tied. A real win-win.

Inula did not think the same at first. She put up quite an ear-splitting fuss at having to spend time away from her buddies, and whenever a horse who was previously unknown to her would enter or leave the arena, she would hoot and holler like her life depended on it. While she was learning to tie, we would flag her back and forth along the wall to show her what her range of motion was and encourage her to move laterally versus pulling pack, and when she grew especially agitated at the absence of a horse she felt was supporting her, we would change her mind to thoughts of other things by moving her along the wall. But for the most part, we just hung out alongside her, showing her that apart from some mild frustration, nothing bad would happen to her were she to be left alone.

When she was quiet and calm, we would pay her lots of attention, brushing her coat or giving her a scratch. Those very first days, the quiet moments were few and far between, and so as soon as one of them lasted longer than a few moments, we took the opportunity to take her back to her buddies, rewarding her for her patience.

Over the days, these periods of peace got longer and longer, until Inula could stand for an hour or two in (mostly) quiet, napping with her head against the wall of the arena. It is actually what she is doing right now, as I write this article. Tremendous changes!

Inula was the youngest of the Gig Harbor horses, and despite not being a literal baby, she still had a youthful element about her that we made note of from our first meeting. A subsequent dental put her in her 4th year this year, but when you compare her to a horse like Addie, who was newly 5 when she came under our care, Inula felt so much younger. I don’t mean to make this out to be a bad thing — her youth just meant she hadn’t had a lot of experiences of any kind, and it was clear that she was very open to exploring the world with her whole heart open to it.

She and her mother, Ciara, were kept separate from the rest of the mare herd on the property from which they came. They both wore ratty coats that we couldn’t wait to get our hands on, knowing the lackluster tufts of hair that hung off their bodies would come away easily under a brush. They also stank, but a different smell altogether from just ‘dirty horse’ (which, in the right circles, might do well on the fragrance market). They smelled, as someone remarked from a good distance away, like death.

But it was just a product of their environment, and nothing to do with them internally. Unloading off the trailer onto the first solid ground they’d felt in who knows how long, they were curious and sweet — mostly baby Inula, who stayed close to mom while still making her own explorations of the world. Their feet were long, cracked and slipper-toed, and while we had a bit to do before they’d be ready for the professional rasp, we knew that the gravel they now called home would do a good deal in helping the mares self trim.

Those first few days in the round pen, we worked on getting a routine down to separate Inula from her mom, and vice versa. Our solution came as running them both into the pen, and then herding one out to sit and eat alfalfa in the attached chute. All of the horses were quite herd bound to one another, Inula and Ciara no exception to this, and in the interest of working on one thing at a time, we kept them within close range during those initial days.

Inula’s lack of handling came across to us immediately, but perhaps not in the way you might thing. True, she didn’t have a great understanding of what pressure meant at first, and was naturally a little wigged out by things touching her, but her foundation was built on a willingness to try. You could almost see the little gears working away in her head as she puzzled out what was being asked of her, and how she could achieve it. Because of prior handling, many horses come to us feeling like they already know the answer to the question they are being asked, but in Inula’s case, she was the one asking the questions.

She is also just tremendously sweet. She has within her an inherent kindness, an energy that radiates out from her and is easy to feel, I’d argue, even for non-horse people. As someone who loves all horses, it likely doesn’t sound like much coming from me, but Inula is one of the nicest horses to simply be around. She is truly a pleasure to have in class.

During her time at SAFE, she has hit many milestones, including having her teeth floated (she was a very brave little lady, walking into the barn, and standing as a nice support beside her mother while she went under the drill), getting her necessary vaccines (hardly blinking at the needle), having her feet trimmed twice (where she stood like a total pro), and separating from Ciara to join another herd (more on that particular story later). Even as the darker months loom, Inula’s future remains bright.