Paragallo Refugees Update

[GenuineRisk]

As some of you know, friends of mine adopted three of the yearlings from Paragallo's farm- 2 fillies and a colt. They're currently in rehab/training- I thought you might enjoy an update. My friend sends me:

"When the horses arrived at her facility they were behind in development by several months in size and weight – their growth was of little more than that of late weanlings. Paula started them on a diet of all the best local organic hay they could eat and the amount of grain they were used to at Center Brook Farm but rather than feed them on the fence, where the dominant horse would steal from the other, she fed them in their individual stalls, where they could relax and eat in peace, each assured of a full share.

At task is to balance their physical growth with proper weight gain and exercise – the horses were dull and had little energy when they arrived and have since become alert, very active and even playful. Protein and fat intake is important for healthy bone growth but needs to be carefully managed to avoid contracted tendons, a result of bone growth too rapid in conjunction with the rate of soft tissue growth.

All three horses were barely halter broken and had not received any ground manner training before they arrived at Paula’s barn. At this time, only the Adonis filly is still afraid of human touch, the colt and the other filly can be full body handled. The colt will react with fear at attempts to touch his head and still reacts by backing away with his head high when the lead rope is being attached to his halter; he prefers to fight rather than allow his feet to be picked up, but he is getting much better as he learns to trust more and more. We can be fairly certain that his behavior and the fearful attitude of the Adonis filly are indications of not only mistreatment but complete lack of treatment altogether.

All three horses undergo daily training in an indoor corral to listen and respond to voice commands, walking and trotting on a lunge line and most importantly stopping when commanded. They all accept touch with the lunge whip all over their bodies and legs.

When they fully obey all voice commands and become more accepting of touching, lifting their legs, Paula will start the next training level of lunging them with surcingle and bridle."

Fingers crossed for the three horses (and their owners!). I went out to Center Brook with them when they were considering taking one of the yearlings (should have guessed they'd cave and take all three)- I saw some recent photos and they are definitely looking much better (and bigger!) than last summer.